0:00 1 Timothy chapter 6. Um, this is a message for spiritual people. Are you are you spiritual people? Are you uh spiritually people spiritually strong people? I hope you are. Then this message is for you. And I also want to say that imagine imagine 0:17 with me for a moment that you were u the maybe the greatest man of God that's alive at this time. Let's whoever he might be. We don't know who he is. But let's say this this mighty apostle, mighty man of mighty great man of God 0:31 who had been used by God to write scripture and all that said of you, you're a man of God or you're a woman of God. And you'd be really excited, I'm sure. And yeah, that's a great thing. What do you think that this great 0:47 apostle who just called you a man of God would say to you? Imagine. And that's exactly what's what we're dealing with here. the my the the man Timothy to whom this letter is addressed was the man about whom Paul said he is the only man I know on this 1:04 earth who really seeks after God's interests not his own. He says I have a lot of other co-workers who they're part of Paul's church and they're actually Paul's special co-workers but they all seek their own interests. They all love 1:18 money. They all chase after the things of this world. But Timothy, now he is the one guy I can pick out who does not seek his own interest. He seeks God's interest. Paul said that about Timothy in another letter. And it is the same 1:31 Timothy to whom he's writing. And he calls him um in one of these verses. Uh you man of God. He says, "Timothy, you're a man of God. I know you're a godly man. You're not just one of those half-hearted interested in one foot in 1:44 the world, one foot in in the church, one foot here, one foot there, really want to make a lot of money, but also want to go to heaven." You're not one of those. You're a man of God. You're really sold out. You're all in. But you, 1:54 man of God, given that you are a man of God and that you're so committed to God's work in your life 100%, I have some things to say to you. And that's what we've been reading. Do you realize that he's not talking to half-hearted 2:06 people? He's telling Timothy, you're wholehearted. Prescribe and teach these things. Take this attitude to heart and teach it to the other who you find who are wholehearted. And if you want to build a wholehearted church, he's 2:19 telling Timothy, teach them to live this way. So this is a the what um I title my message the godliness doctrine. I'll explain what I mean by that. But these are exhaltations to a man of God. And listen to this. Listen carefully again. 2:33 I want to set the context there. To this man of God to he's saying, I know Timothy, you want to build godly churches of spiritually minded people. They're not half in the world and half here. They're they're sold out to God. 2:45 So what should you teach them? 1 Timothy 5:7, we saw this earlier. Prescribe these things as well. Why should you teach these things? That's the first question I want to ask you. So that they may be above reproach. He goes on to say 3:00 in verse 14, I want younger women to gets married, bear children, keep house, giving the enemy no occasion for reproach. And then he says again in this verse we're going to read here in chapter 6:3 um no 6:1 and 2, let all who are under 3:17 the yoke of slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine may not be spoken against may not be reproached three times in the same context in the same paragraph if you will where he's 3:31 talking about Timothy and how he's going to lead the church. He says, "This is what I want you to be careful about, Timothy, that you don't bring reproach on the name of God." Who would you say such a person to? To the godliest man on earth? I 3:45 mean, to the man who's really doesn't seek his own interest. To Timothy? Do you think Paul really has to tell Timothy, a wholehearted, soldout Christian, be careful that you don't bring a reproach on the name of God? And 3:58 that's that's really interesting because I would think okay I would tell somebody who's he's just in the church and he just flirts with all the women and commits adultery and uh this other person he's just uh just angry all the 4:11 time and this other person steals from uh from other people and this person just loves to gossip. Such people maybe I can say hey you're bringing a reproach on the name of Christ. But to Timothy, the godly man, the one who is really 4:24 serious after God, he says, "Don't bring a reproach on God, on the name of God, and tell the others in your church also." So this is for spiritual people. These are for people who have said, "Lord, you have everything I I have. 4:35 It's all yours." And he says, "Now walk carefully in a way that you don't bring reproach on the name of God." And then so let's read first the uh 1 Timothy chapter 6. I'm going to read 10 verses uh and just talk about two aspects here 4:49 in these 10 verses. And we may not get to all of it in these 10 verses, but 1 Timothy chapter 6, let all who are under the yoke as slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and our doctrine may not be spoken 5:06 against, may not be reproached. And let those who have believers as their masters not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren. But let them serve them all the more because those who partake of the benefit are believers 5:19 and beloved. Teach and preach these principles. If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, the godliness doctrine, if you will, he is conceited. 5:37 If anyone preaches a godliness, a doctrine other than this godliness doctrine, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words out of which arise envy, strife, abuse of language, evil 5:53 suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth who suppose that godliness is a mean of gain. But godliness actually is a means of great gain, which when accompanied by contentment, for we have brought nothing 6:10 into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which 6:24 plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil. And some by longing for it have wandered away from the fate and pierced themselves with many a pang. What Paul is saying here is that this 6:42 doctrine that I've been teaching you, even though I see, Timothy, that you're the most wholehearted coworker I have and you're trying to build a church of wholehearted believers, here is the thing you have to worry about the most. 6:53 This is how you will bring reproach on the name of God. If the doctrine that you preach does not match your life, if there the evidence of godliness in your life does not correspond to the preaching that you you receive or teach. 7:10 If you sit in a church where the teaching is up to a very high standard and you think, "Wow, I love to go to this church because the teaching is to such a high standard." Do you know that we bring reproach? Such a person brings 7:21 reproach on the name of God if their life doesn't match that teaching. It's better to leave that church and go to some half-hearted, moneyloving, lukewarm church if the life that I want to live is a lukewarm life. You see what Paul's 7:35 saying, what Paul's telling Timothy here says the way you will bring reproach is not by just living a carnal life. Yes, that that's just coldness. But the lukewarmness brings a greater reproach to the name of God because you sit under 7:49 teaching which is of a high standard. You say, "Well, I don't go to that church because I like this church. The teaching is much stronger." They really preach from the Bible, but inwardly I have really no interest in living up to 7:59 that standard. He says, "Then you'll bring reproach to the name of God. You'll bring reproach to God's name if this life and godliness does not correspond." See, he uses that phrase in verse three that I have up there, the 8:13 doctrine that corresponds to godliness. You know what corresponds means? That means it's it's it's it's equivalent. You have doctrine and godliness. You can't have doctrine and godliness down here. You can't have a life or be 8:25 interested in a life that's in the pits, half-hearted, moneyloving, lustful, angry, gossiping life and claim a doctrine that's up here. That's a mismatched doctrine in godliness. I think a few weeks ago I talked about doctrine doctrine and godliness like two 8:38 legs. Imagine if one of my legs was super short and another one was super long. I'd walk with a limp. I'd really would be very ineffective in my life. I'd be hampered by this. Or think about it like another way. Imagine that. You 8:51 know, I think a doctrine that fits godliness. I think the the King James perhaps, I was looking at it the other uses the word, how does it say corresponds or fits verse three, which is according to to godliness. Or maybe I was thinking of a 9:06 different translation where the the doctrine that that fits with godliness. That means I you think about a pair of pants, let's say, that fit you well. They they fit you well. Imagine if I had a super long pair of pants that just 9:17 drags and I I have godliness that's really short, but I have a long pair of pants that just drags wherever I go. That's a not fitting pair of pants. Or the other way around. My the pants are too short and my legs just sticking out. 9:30 That's not a fit. He's using that same analogy. He's saying here's the contrast you need to look at. Your doctrine must fit. You must have a godliness, a life that fits the doctrine. Now, that doesn't mean that you say, "Okay, well, 9:44 I guess I'm not really going to live a godly life. I'll go pick a a lukewarm church and be be satisfied there." God says, "No, this is the doctrine. You must preach the doctrine, but make sure that you don't bring reproach on the 9:55 name of God by living a life that's substandard to the doctrine." You know who will bring reproach? The devil will. He'll say, "Look at that so- and so living sitting in that church where the preaching is so good and look at their 10:05 life." Others around it will say, "Oh, you go to such and such church, but I see how you are at work and I see how you are with your wife or I overhear you talking like this and you go to that church." The teaching and the doctrine 10:18 corresponding. And so God's name is reproached, I believe, most by Christians who preach the doctrine but don't demonstrate godliness in their everyday life. God's name is reproached the most. I don't and I I I I I felt 10:32 convicted that God God's name is not as much reproached by the people who are not even taking his name. The people out in the world who don't even claim Jesus, who live their sinful worldly lives. Yes, it grieves God, but that's not as 10:44 much of a reproach as us who take the name of Christ, who say we're married to Christ, but cheat on him with the world. That's a reproach to him. I I'm a reproach to Christ when I claim to be married to him and he says, "Yes, I'm 10:56 married to you, but I'm flirting around with the world and the spirit of the world and committing adultery with the world and fornication with the world spiritually." That's a reproach because then they say, "Oh, you're Jesus's wife. 11:06 Really? You're married to Christ and look at how you live your life." Now, if I didn't claim to be married to Jesus at all, well, then you're just living a carnal life. And God will judge that, too. But the reproach comes in. And 11:17 that's why Paul was encouraging and urging Timothy, pay attention to this. Make sure your life matches your doctrine. Make sure that when you say you're married to Christ, you really live that pure and holy life. God takes 11:28 this seriously. And it's interesting that this life of godliness that he's talking about, it's not when you think of godliness, do you think of oh, you know, fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace. You do you think of that as godliness? 11:41 Yeah, I I usually do, too. But it's interesting that when Paul says, Timothy, okay, I want you to think about godly, what what am I talking about when I say godliness? You know what he talks about? work. That's what he's talking 11:52 about in in verses 1 and two. He says when you go to your work, that's where your godliness is proved. It's not when you sit in church and how well you sing and whether you're a committed brother or this or that. It's how are you in 12:03 your workplace? What's your relationship with your boss like? In other words, God is telling Paul, Timothy through Paul, okay, Paul, Timothy, you consider yourself godly. Let me ask your boss what he thinks of how godly you are. How 12:14 many of you would raise your hands and say, okay, Lord, you can ask my boss whether I'm a godly man or not. Or you can ask my wife and you can ask my husband. The people who are close to you, who see you in those unguarded 12:24 moments, can they attest, yes, that's a godly man. Then your godliness is real. So he talks about two um he talks about the workplace. And I'd like to go back to to to borrow from what we heard from David Posson about two basic wrong 12:40 attitudes with work. And I just like to mention here u I don't want to I'm not going to preach his message. Go back and listen to that. We as men watched it on a Wednesday evening and encourage you sisters to watch it too. It's a really 12:51 really good message. But he talks about two things there. Two ways of looking at work. Uh and I just want to use that as as as an example to highlight and share that with you as well. He talks about the immorality of the workplace and the 13:04 idolatry of the workplace. So there's two ways to look at work. We're talking about work now. And this is not and and it's I'm talking about work like whatever you do for work. Where do what are you going to do Monday morning when 13:13 it's time to show up for work at 8:00 9:00? every time you start work. That's what I'm talking about now. Not the Sunday morning, we all look nice and prim and proper here on Sunday morning. I'm talking about Monday and then 13:22 Tuesday and Wednesday and that customer you deal with and that rel that work relationship you have to build and your boss and your coworker and the person under you. Those relationships now that's the test of our godliness. That 13:33 is the test of our godliness. We've already established that. And he says you can look at your work in two ways. You can have the the perspective of the immorality of the workplace or the idolatry of the workplace. And the 13:44 difference is essentially this. In the in the immorality of the workplace, I think too little of my work. The immorality of the workplace and this is again borrowing from Pawson. The immorality of the workplace is the perspective that my work doesn't really 13:57 matter to God. So he doesn't really care about my relationship with my boss because that's not spiritual. The spiritual part of my life is Sunday between 10 to 12 or 10 to 1 or whatever it is. Monday through Friday, that's 14:09 that's not really God doesn't really care about that. I think too little of my work. That's immorality. And I'll tell you why what I mean by that. And what and the idolatry of the workplace is the opposite of that. Where I think 14:23 too much of my work where I make it a god. That's what it means to make it an idol. I start to worship my work. So these two contrasts. And I'll tell you the majority of people and perhaps the majority of Christians that I have met, 14:33 including myself for many years, fell into one of these two categories where we're either guilty of the immorality of the workplace where I just think, well, it's work. Who cares about work? God doesn't care about that anyway. Or the 14:44 idolatry of the workplace where I make that my idol. And both of those are a trap. And it's interesting that Paul in these verses that we just read, in the first five verses, I think he's talking about the immorality of the workplace. 14:55 And in the second half, verses 6-10, he's talking about the idolatry of the workplace. two basic wrong attitudes to work. First of all, the immorality of the workplace is essentially this mindset. What I do to earn a living 15:07 isn't important to God. Listen to this carefully. This is what it means to have the spirit of immorality with regard to my work. What I do for a living does isn't important to God. So, I will do as little work as possible for as much 15:20 money as possible. You follow that? I what I do for work that's not God is not really looking at that aspect of my life. So, I can do as little work as possible. Maybe do 4 hours work and get paid for 8 hours uh worth of work or do 15:33 as little as possible. What can I get away with? The boss is not looking. So, I can cheat here and I can uh do this there and take a longer break and all that. I can do as little work as possible and get the maximum financial 15:44 benefit from that. That's the immorality of the workplace. It's immoral because there's a moral standard that God is establishing in our workplaces that Paul's talking about here. There is a moral standard that God says, "I know 15:56 you think that that boss is is your boss, but I am your boss and I'm his boss, too." And he's talking about unbelievers and believers. It doesn't matter whether your boss is a Christian or not. There's a moral standard that 16:08 God has established any more than it wouldn't make a difference if you committed adultery with a believer or not. It's still adultery. Right? You see that if I commit adultery with an unbeliever or a believer, it's still 16:18 adultery. If my boss is a believer or an unbeliever, it's still immoral. If I take advantage of him, if I cheat him of that which is rightfully his and that is my working for him, my giving him that which he expects me to give. So read now 16:32 again verses chapter 6:es 1 and two. Let all who are under the yoke of slaves and this is I the way I apply this today is for us who work any of you who are employed. You have a boss. You have an employer. Let all of you, if I could 16:46 rephrase, let all of you who are employed, regard your boss as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and our doctrine may not be spoken against. Really? You mean the way I speak to my boss at work is going to bring reproach 17:02 on the doctrine? I believe I mean, we we understood the mystery of godliness. We've been through all of that. Christ manifested in the flesh and all these wonderful, glorious truths we've been studying. He says, "Well, I'm going to 17:12 make it real to you now. It's going to come down to how you speak to your boss tomorrow when you go to work and to your coworker and how you treat your boss with worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine may not be 17:26 spoken against." And he says, "Well, okay, so you have a a believer boss. What are you going to do?" Well, my boss, he goes to the same church or he's also a Christian, so he doesn't mind if I, you know, we're Christians. We're 17:36 good like that. And so, I take advantage of him and he he doesn't mind it so much. Really? No. Read what he says in verse two. Let those who have believers as their masters, not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren. In 17:48 other words, don't just because he's a he's a brother in Christ or a sister in Christ think, "Oh yeah, I can take advantage of him. Don't take advantage. Don't be disrespectful to somebody just because they're a brother in Christ 18:00 because but let them serve them all the more. Serve him extra." He says, "If he's a believer, you actually probably want to work even harder for him." Why? Because if he gets more profit, he goes on to say, because those who partake of 18:12 the benefit, that's profit, are believers and beloved, teach and preach these principles. You see how practical Paul is making it. He's saying, Paul, Timothy, I think this is, if I can understand the tone that Paul's saying, 18:23 he's telling Timothy, Timothy, you could get so caught up with this spiritualization of the truth and think of yourself as a Christian that you forget that. No, I'm talking about your workplace. I'm talking about your relationship with your boss. I'm talking 18:34 about your relationship with your wife. I'm talking about those things that you think of as earthly. How is that an indication of my godliness? But Lord, I preach to I go to the street and I witness and I I give tracks to people 18:46 and I have a good testimony and I come to church and I'm involved in the church and I I use my gifts here and there, but my work situation. Yeah. No, you don't really care about that, right, Lord? He does. And that's where the our godliness 18:58 is tested whether the godliness matches uh the the doctrine that we preach. what I do to earn a living isn't important to God. This is the mindset. So, I will do as little work as possible for as much money as possible. The consequence of 19:11 this is that we avoid work as much as possible. In other words, I find well, can I get by without doing this, without doing that? Can I can I just just do the bare minimum that's required for my boss just or or take advantage of him and 19:24 think I I'll just do that. That's all I need to get by with. And Paul says, you know, that verse in 2 Thessalonians, you've seen that. Or I think, well, I don't really need to work. I I find an option not to work. But God has designed 19:35 this and again that the message that David Pawson preached talks about that that we are built to work. We're designed to work and if we don't work if we have an lazy mentality if I think well I'm just going to be dependent on 19:47 somebody. I don't feel like working so I'm not going to work or I'll just get by. If we have that mentality 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says for even when we were with you we used to give you this order. If anyone will not work neither 20:01 let him eat. Now you you see how this is building on where we were talking about earlier meeting needs in the church family is like okay if you're going to meet needs in the church family and you come across somebody who doesn't even 20:11 want to work. They could work the work is available. He's not talking about cannot work. There are some people that maybe they're disabled or they're they're injured and at a certain time in their life they cannot work. But 20:22 somebody who will not work is available to such a person and he chooses not to or she chooses not to. to such a person he says if any man will not work neither shall he eat and this is the consequence of that immorality of the workplace 20:35 mentality where I think God you don't really care whether I work or not it's okay with you right if I just sit home and and live off the help that people give me or live off uh uh social security or unemployment I just collect 20:45 it I'm not even trying to work you're okay with that Lord no I don't think he is he says if you can work and you don't you can't eat you better go on a fast for as long as you take that time as long avoid work as much as possible. 20:59 That's the ment that's an immoral mindset. Also another another consequence of this mindset is that work loses its purpose. I start to think of work as a means to an end. In other words, I'm working so that I can get money so that I can get a bigger house 21:15 or buy that other car or go on a vacation. I'm working for something. I'm working because of this. and and the the the what God has shown us and I think you'll see and I'll I'll talk about this towards the end of our message today is 21:27 that God designed us for work, not for that other benefit that we're looking for. And when we see and when we can wrap ourselves around and and get gripped with this truth that God wants us to work because there's an enjoyment 21:39 that once we press through the sweat of our brow and the toil of our hands, we will experience the joy and the fulfillment in our work. Then we have understood godliness. And that's what God created Adam for. We'll look that 21:51 towards the end in a little bit. So the the con one of the consequences is that I lose this I lose this purpose and work itself loses its purpose because I'm just working because I want to make more money and I'm just making more money so 22:04 that I can get this and get that and get that other thing or I can have a nice weekend and and the other thing I think talked about this too is that the weekends become the highlight of my life. It's like I can't wait for the 22:14 weekend because guess what? I don't have to work today. I have the day off. Now, please don't misunderstand. It's possible to have a false understanding of this too, I think we'll all enjoy weekends better because we don't have to 22:23 go to work and we can spend time with family. But if I go into Monday morning in any way discouraged or depressed because somehow I think, God, you're not going to be able to do anything with me today. I can't wait for Friday night 22:33 when the week will be over. There's that aspect of my life, that majority of my life that I'm missing out on. And God says, "If you had more faith, I could make that Monday through Friday portion of your life enjoyable and satisfying 22:48 and successful and blessed and it would be godliness to you." And the third consequence is that is I look at that place as the world and this as church. Sunday morning is church, Monday through Friday is the world and the world is compromising. And 23:06 so I think, well, I can I can compromise, too, because I'm just in the worldly system. They have they're a bunch of people just using foul language. I guess I'm stuck with them. I might as well use the foul language, too. They're cracking dirty jokes. I 23:15 would never partake with such a joke at church, but it's the world. It's the compromising world anyway, and I'm in that system. I might as well listen to that joke and laugh at it. That's that divided life, you know, where Sunday all 23:26 of a sudden, I would never listen to such a joke or entertain such thoughts and such conversation with my church brothers, but these are my work friends. They're my unconverted friends, and they talk that way. say oh well what can I do 23:36 that mindset again where that somehow that's the compromising as for them it is for the rest of the world it's a place of compromise for you and I it's not we are not allowed to have this divided life where somehow that part God 23:50 hides and says yeah I know that's your you have to go to the world and work I can't wait for you to come to heaven then you don't have to work anymore I'll talk about that also in a moment um so we we have this attitude of compromise 24:01 towards it you know I like what John Wesley said his famous quote, John Wesley, you know, godly man uh changed the face of England spiritually, brought so many to the Lord. One of the godliest men you can think of in his generation, 24:14 John Wesley, do you know what he said? He said, "Earn all you can." Good news for the prosperity preachers. Own all you can. From John Wesley himself, one of the godliest men who preached repentance and preached and lived simply 24:27 himself, he says, "Earn all you can." But he didn't stop there. He says, "Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can. Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can. This is godliness. Really? You mean Santos? 24:42 After all, after all we talked about prosperity preachers, you're telling me I should earn all I can. Yes, I am. Cuz that's what the Lord is telling us to. He says, take your work seriously. Work diligently. Do you have an opportunity 24:52 to make a little bit more money? Yes, do that. If you can do it righteously, and if you can do it without compromising God's call over your life, and if God is leading into it, yes, make a little bit more money, earn a little bit more 25:04 money, but do what with it? Save all you can, too. And then give all you can, too. When you have an opportunity to give to somebody in need, do it and earn a little bit more with that in mind, thinking, Lord, you'll give me a little 25:15 bit more to save for some for some some time when I need it. And so that I'm not dependent on somebody else. I don't just live monthtomonth and just, okay, I have enough money. I'm going to make it. I'm going to get another paycheck and use 25:25 all of that. No, I have this mindset of earning so that I can save so that I'm never going to be dependent on the church. See, he talks about that in chapter 5 that we we don't we don't want to be dependent on others. We want to be 25:37 able to provide for ourselves. That's the purpose of work. So, you earn all you can, save all you can, and then you think, well, maybe I God can use me with the extra I make to give it to somebody else because I see this all my earning, 25:49 my saving, and my giving as all gods. What I it belongs to God. Not all like God's but it all belongs to God. That's what I meant by that. It belongs to God. The earning time belongs to God. The saving time belongs to God. The giving 26:02 time belongs to God. It's all God's. It belongs to him. And so he says in 6 verse one and two, treat your work situation like that. Honor your uh honor your master so that the name of God and the doctrine may not be spoken 26:19 against. And if you have a believer as a master, don't be disrespectful to him just because he's a brother. But let him but serve all the more because those who partake of the benefit are believers. And beloved, teach and preach these 26:31 principles. If anyone, and look at the sternness with which Paul warns about this, if anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words that I just told you about, those of the Lord Jesus Christ himself and 26:42 with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he says, Timothy, this will be the proof that your doctrine conforms to your godliness. If anyone teaches you otherwise, he's conceited and understands nothing. He has a morbid 26:54 interest in controversial questions and disputes about words out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, suspicious. You see the consequence. You see the path that you see the end of the path of this mindset that God doesn't 27:07 really care about my work. The consequence is this. Envy, jealousy, strife, abuse of language, evil suspicions, constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. The immorality of the 27:22 workplace. The other is the idolatry of the workplace. And that is this mindset. Money is my god. And so I make all of my life's decisions based on how they will impact my opportunities to make more money. That's when my job or my my or 27:37 money becomes an idol in my life. I money is my God and God Jesus talked about there's two masters God and Mammon God and the things of this world. And so the other cliff, the opposite cliff of what I've just been talking about is 27:48 when I make money my god or even my work my god where I become a workaholic and I'm attached to my work and that's all I do and I'm I'm in interested in this and I'm thinking of scheming of ways to do this and I'm compromising time that I 28:01 should be doing spending in God's word or investing in God's kingdom spending with my family because my mind is taken up with this and it can be a it's a mindset the love of money is in our minds it's not in our actions and you 28:13 know I I found this this this danger in my life too that I can be away from work and I you know I I work with computers and so it's it's it's a little bit more uh you know the line maybe not as clear but I can be away from my desk let's say 28:24 away from my work but my mind is there I'm thinking about that thing and I can you know I can get a promotion or I can do this or perhaps you guys who have customers or you have other relationships where your mind is preoccupied with how to make a little 28:35 bit more money in this business deal or this other situation and if that occupies my mind or I'm thinking about I can invest a little bit more money here and invest a little bit money And it takes up my mind where it should be mind 28:47 that I have that I set in heaven that is set on investing in my wife and my children or our family in God's kingdom in work on this earth on his word in prayer and meditation those sorts of things. But if my mind is taken up with 29:00 with either making money or spending money think about it. You could have that too. It's like oh man I I can sit there and look through all these things that I can buy and I can have a better life. I think if I can buy this product 29:09 and I go shopping and just window shop and think I'm going to buy this and buy that and buy that. That's a mind that is set on mammon. What the Bible calls mammon. That means I'm always looking at commodities and things and thinking how 29:20 I can get more of this or earn more of this because that's what money does. Gives us the the power to buy. So this is the idolatry of the workplace that this is essentially saying money is my god and so I make all of my life's 29:32 decisions. All of my life's decisions are determined are factored by how will it impact my opportunity to make more money. If I do this, I I I I this customer really wants me to meet him on a Sunday morning, but yeah, I'll have to 29:45 miss church. Yeah, I I'd rather take the money. I'd rather go and do this business deal because church is okay. God God's not going to mind if I miss a Sunday. In fact, the preacher said it was okay, so I'm going to go ahead and 29:55 do that business deal. If my decisions are factored by I can make a little bit more money, money's my God. And that's the the other cliff is that the idolatry of the workplace where I make my work my god. He says 1 Timothy 6:6 addresses 30:11 this very issue verses 6-10. But he says you know you these people suppose that godliness is a means of great gain. I became a Christian and guess what my business is is through the roof now. God you really blessed my business and I'm 30:25 so glad I'm godly because I'm making more money now than before I was born again. Is that the kind of gospel you're hearing or want? But he says actually godliness is a means of great gain. If you know what I mean by gain, that's 30:38 what I understand Paul is saying. He says if you're thinking gain in terms of a little bit more money in the bank account or a bigger house and an extra car, whatever, that's not gain. Godliness is actually a means of really 30:50 real gain when accompanied by contentment. And I think if I could paraphrase this verse, this verse you probably heard a lot. godliness with contentment is great gain. You know, that's I memorized that when I was a kid. But here's what I think he's 31:03 saying. I think he's saying that we haven't really understood true godliness. We haven't really understood the benefit of godliness, the profit that comes from godliness, the gain that comes from godliness if there is no 31:15 contentment in my life. And so, if I'm a person that I go on my life and I call myself a Christian, I'm on my way to heaven, but my life is characterized by discontent. I'm always unhappy with this and always unhappy with how they treat 31:28 me and always unhappy with how much money I make or always unhappy with this. Always grumbling and complaining. Discontent. Then he says, you haven't really understood what godliness is all about. Godliness with contentment is 31:41 great gain. Then you've understood godliness. If you find that there's a contentment in your life, you know, contentment is the opposite of covetousness. The in in God's law, the tenth commandment says, "Thou shalt not covet." God contentment is the opposite 31:54 of covetousness. And so that's why contentment is so key to godliness. The test I'll I see it this way. The test of my godliness is is there a contentment in my life with the circle that God has drawn around me. Lord, you're allowing 32:07 me to have make this much money. This is the amount of money you allow me to make. I'm content with that. If I see an opportunity to to to move up in my company or get a little bit of a promotion or a bonus, I'll work hard for 32:18 that. But that's not my goal. I'm content with the circle that you've drawn around me. I'm content with how many children you've given me. I'm content with where you've allowed me to live or what you allowed others to think 32:28 of me. There's a contentment that characterizes my life. If it's not there, I'll tell you this is how I see it now. I'm examining my every aspect of my life is Lord, Lord, test my heart. Test the motives of my heart. Test every 32:41 moment of my day and see that it's through and through contentment. Send that sonar. You know how they send sonar to test the depth or send that rod if you will and see that all the way through it's cooked. You know, maybe a better example is when you 32:55 when you see a turkeyy's cooked, you put put a fork in there to see, is it really cooked? You you look in there, is it cooked all the way through? Is there contentment all the way through your godliness, then you're then then you're 33:06 you're godly. That's the purpose of godliness. That deep down in the motives of my heart, in the unguarded moments, in my thought life, there's a contentment. Godliness with contentment is great gain. He goes on to say in 33:19 verse 7, why? Because we have brought nothing into the world. So we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering which is food, clothing, shelter, covering for my body and covering for my my myself. If we have food and covering 33:36 with these we shall be content. You see how basic he makes contentment. Every single one of us has more than food, clothing, and shelter. Every single one of us. I I I think the majority of people in the United States, if not 33:48 everybody, at least has that. Now, you can go to certain parts of the world where you really see poverty. The poverty line is is a is a is, you know, it's a misconception because you want to see real world poverty, you probably 33:59 have to go to some of these other countries in the world where they don't even have that. The Bible defines what the poverty line is. You have food and covering. You have that, you'll be content. You know how it'll change our 34:09 lives where it takes away grumbling and complaining about this and that because I realized, well, guess what, Lord? I ought to be content if I just had food and clothing, food and covering. You've added so much more to me. I can spend on 34:20 this and spend on that and I have the flexibility to do this and do that. I have a car to get around and food and clothing is the bare minimum for contentment. Now, if you don't have that, I'm not saying that the Bible's 34:30 giving you an excuse. Perhaps you have an excuse to say, "I have a little bit of discontent because I don't have any food or clothing or shelter. With food and clean clothing, we will be content." He says, "But those who want to get 34:42 rich," this is the opposite of this, this contentment, the opposite of that is covetousness. Those who buy into this covetous mentality, fall into temptation and a snare, it's a trap. You know what a snare is? It's a hidden trap. You're 34:54 looking at the ground thinking, you know, like the deer or they set traps for animals. You're just walking around thinking, "Well, that looks good. That's the way I can make more money." Boom. You're in a trap in debt. and your 35:04 marriage is suffering or the children are suffering because I wasn't I was pursuing this mentality of making more money. It's a snare. It's covered ground where there's a pit underneath that looks like brush. It looks like it's 35:15 leaves and all that. I'm just I think it's solid ground. That's what a snare is. And you see how he says that this those who want to get rich who buy into this covetous the opposite of content who don't have contentment in their 35:25 lives that mentality will be a snare to you and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from 35:41 the faith and pierced themselves with many a pang. You can hear story after story after story of people who have gone into serious debt. I mean I hear I heard about it in India a lot more than here. People who in India it's very 35:53 common when you get into such debt you don't even have an option. They just will commit suicide. They'll take their lives and the lives of their children. You hear about this all the time and I know personally of of people who were on 36:04 the verge of that and they came to the church were introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the church didn't pay off their debt but the Lord showed them disciplined ways so that they could faithfully make those payments and make 36:15 that a priority in their life that they would not be in debt because the Bible says that debt is wrong owe no man anything except to love and they took that seriously and walked faithfully and they're debtree now and the Lord has 36:25 blessed them. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Where I learn to be content with less because I realize the standard that God is calling me to. I don't treat my workplace lightly. I don't treat it immorally, but I don't 36:36 make it my God either. I answer to God. You know this uh he says that we brought nothing into the world and so we can't take nothing out of it. You know that even I thought about it like this that even if I buy something it's really 36:51 not mine cuz he says everything in the world is the laws, right? You know that verse in 1 Corinthians 10:26 the world and all in it is belongs to the Lord is his. So you think you know there's this mentality that just because I paid some 37:04 for something maybe my car or that that that table or that chair I can have a sense of ownership to it maybe you know whatever it is I I spent my money my hard-earned money and I bought that and so that's mine. Well the Bible says that 37:18 no it's not yours because everything you look around whether you paid for it or not it belongs to the Lord. All of it belongs to the Lord. that sense of ownership. Sure, you spent your money, but where did that money come from? You 37:28 used the Lord's money to buy that thing. It still belongs to the Lord. And when we live with that mindset, we realize, Lord, I don't have ownership over any of this. Some somebody came and steal it. Well, Lord, they stole it from you. It 37:39 was yours. You better deal with them. Somebody steals your car. You tell the Lord, Lord, that's your car. You need to go find it. Get it back for me so I can use it. But that mentality is, Lord, I'm just borrowing the stuff that you gave 37:49 me. Let's say, um, we'll use Cliff as an example. You know, let's say we own cattle and I thought about that too. You know, when we were up there, Cliff, coming back from your house, let's say I own some head of cattle. Could I have a 38:03 sense of ownership of that? And then immediately the Lord said he owns the cattle on a thousand hills. It's not just freerange cattle. It's not like nobody owns that cattle. So the Lord owns it. This is cattle that belongs to 38:13 somebody. The farmer or the ranch man has a sense of ownership of that cattle, but the Lord says, "No, actually that belongs to me. You came, that farmer came into the world with nothing. He's going to leave the world with nothing. 38:24 Who's is that cattle? Even though he paid so much ahead for it, it belongs to the Lord. When we have this mentality towards the commodities and mammon, that's what mammon is, the things of this earth. When we have that mindset, then we're living with God's 38:37 purpose in mind. Then we have understood godliness. This is the secret of godliness that I understand that I I don't treat my work too lightly, but I don't take it my idol either. I don't treat u the things that God gives. Think 38:50 about it like commodities as well. I don't treat the precious things that God has given me lightly. I'm not careless with my with my money. I'm not careless with the objects that I purchase. I don't just lose stuff all the time. I'm 39:00 not careless with it. That's immorality with the things God gives us. But idolatry of the things that God gives us is just as bad where I make that what I live for. I want to buy more and more of these things. And those objects in my 39:10 home are precious to me. And you know, I make those my idol. I can't live without that. A lot of advertisements will tell you you can't live without that. man lived for 2,000 years or 6,000 years without it. You know, and Jesus says in Matthew 39:25 6:1 19-34, you can read that this that the the contrast between God and man, he makes it very clear. I thought about it like this that you can tell a dog's master by whom he responds to. You know, let's say you you had a dog and let's 39:40 say we're talking about Mist. If I try to call Mist, I think it would be a little bit questionable, but Heidi tries to call Mist, Mist will come right away. You can tell who the dog's master is by who that dog responds to. And I believe 39:53 in exactly the same because he uses the word master there. You can tell whom a Christian's master is by who they respond to. If money is what I respond to, an opportunity to make a little bit more money or I I make this decision 40:07 because I can make a little bit more money. That's my master. I can call myself a Christian, bloodwashed and whatever on my way to heaven and all that. Doesn't really matter. My master is money because that's who I I answered 40:18 to. He is the ultimate authority. Money is the ultimate authority. That's why Jesus said you cannot serve two masters. A dog does not have two masters. One or the other. You watch that dog and see who uh that dog responds to and says 40:31 that's the master and you can look at your own life and look at the lives of other Christians around you and you can see who their master is. Who are they responding to? I also believe that Jesus in the same context talked about anxiety. And 40:42 this is some something that hits home to me and maybe it will to you as well. I believe that if we ever demonstrate anxiety in our lives, it means we love money because he said in Luke 6:34, "Therefore, do not be anxious." Why? 40:56 Because you only have one master. If you if your master is money, you will you will uh be anxious. Let me show you that verse just so you see it in its context. Luke chapter 6. No, I'm sorry. Matthew chapter 6. This has really helped me. I'll tell 41:12 you in in this area and taking the matter of anxiety seriously because I think most Christians um myself included for many years struggle with anxiety and fear and worry and yet if you read the New Testament and the gospels one thing 41:25 Jesus said over and over again was don't worry don't fear and yet these are the two commands of Jesus that Christians are most guilty of and again I'm not here to point fingers at anyone I look at my own life and see how as a 41:37 Christian for so many years my life my Christian life was characterized by fear and worry. Fear and anxiety, the two things that Jesus said you should not. Now, the do not murder and the do not kill, that part, I've never committed 41:50 that part. But the do not fear and do not anx be anxious. He's not really serious about that. He is. Luke chap Mark Matthew chapter 6 verse 20. If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, 42:06 how great is the darkness? 24. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, he's talking about masters, and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon for this 42:23 reason. Goes on to say in verse 25, I say to you, do not be anxious. Why should you not be anxious? Because I said so or because it feels bad? No. Because it's an indication of who your master is. If my master is money, then 42:34 I'm going to be filled with anxiety and fear and worry. If my master is mammon, I'm going to be filled with fear and anxiety. And I'll tell you this, it has helped me take fear and anxiety seriously. That's my honest testimony. I 42:44 treat fear and anxiety seriously because I say, "Lord, perhaps you're sending that thermometer deep down and showing me that deep down in here, my master really is mammon." Deep down there, I thought, "Yeah, I'm free from the love of money, 42:57 the love of money." But I dug deep enough and realized it's not cooked all the way through yet. There's an there's a part of my godliness where deep down I really do love money or I love mammon or I have some earthly interest contrary to 43:11 God's. That's the source of all fear and anxiety. And I decided Lord I want to be done with it. Help me to serve you through and through that in my unguarded moments when the moments don't really m when nobody's looking you I demonstrate 43:25 by my life and by my actions and by my thoughts that I serve one master and one master alone. For this reason, do not be anxious. Um, I'll close with that. But, you know, I believe God intended us to work. And, 43:43 um, I I'll I'll close with this question. You know, you think about I I see that work was created by God for man um for man to do. He entrusted Adam with this responsibility to work before the fall. Work was an aspect of Adam's life 44:01 and mankind's life before the fall. So work is not a curse. The curse is on the ground and the work is toilsome because of the curse. You can say it like that. The work seems you know when I when I work I sweat and it sometimes seems 44:14 laborious. That's because there's a curse over that. But work itself is the work of God. Work itself is a part of godliness. It's part of being like God is I work. the I've really understood godliness when I realize you're calling 44:28 me to work and I treat my work seriously. Imagine if Adam had said, "Okay, Lord, you've given me this this garden to take care of, but yeah, I just want to have fellowship with you and I just lays around the whole day and it 44:38 says that God used to come in the cool of the day and walk with Adam." Imagine if God showed up one day around 5:00, the cool of the day says, "Adam, let's go for a work." And he finds Adam just snoozing, taking it easy. It's like, 44:47 "Ah, God, you don't really care about the trees, right? You just you just care about my fellowship with you." No, God would have said, "No, you're failing in your responsibility that I've asked you to do work." And I think the fellowship 44:58 that God had with Adam and Eve was sweeter because he saw them working in the garden. And that cool of the evening fellowship with and worship and time of fellowship that they had with God was the consequence of their time during the 45:10 day. That chart up there, you don't have to worry about it too much, but essentially what I'm trying to say is that we spend the majority, the biggest part of that pie is the time we spend at work. I'm talking about waking hours 45:20 there. you know that we spend more of our life at work than anywhere else. Forget leisure uh with our family. We spend especially as men and and since you know often times men are away from the home, this applies to mothers as 45:33 well. You're you spend more of your life perhaps even more than us men working in the work that God has entrusted to you. raising the family or if you go to a workplace, um raising the children, providing uh taking care of the home, 45:46 whatever you do, you realize that that work that you do fills a majority of your life and that's God's way. That's God has just designed it like that. Given that, do you think God cares about that aspect of our life or is it only 45:57 the small part when I go to church on Sunday morning that he cares about? He cares about that aspect of my work. He wants to see that this whole pie is his. If I go out and play basketball, God is glorified through that. If I go out and 46:09 go out to eat with my family or with friends, God is glorified in that. If I go to work and work hard and I honor my boss, whether he's a believer or not, God is honored by that. And then when I come to church on Sunday morning, God is 46:18 honored by that, too. And my fellowship and I meet somebody and I go witnessing on the street, that's not somehow more spiritual than the fact that I went to work on Friday morning. I don't feel more spiritual when I'm out there 46:29 handing a track to somebody or giving them the gospel than when I'm working for my boss on an earthly thing building perhaps building a shed or trying to fix a computer program. When I see that God godliness ought to go through and 46:42 through when I don't have I don't treat my work lightly don't make it a god then I've understood the secret of godliness. I'll ask finish with this question. If you're bored with or complain about work here on earth you'll 46:55 be out of place in heaven. I don't know what heaven's going to be like, but I can't imagine that. Well, we know that God doesn't change. I think there's going to be some aspect of work in heaven. And if I've been so waiting to 47:06 get rid of work on this earth, I'm going to get to heaven and realize there's more work to do. Whatever that might be, it won't have the curse of the earth anymore. Please understand that. But God is a working God. And he rested on the 47:19 seventh day, but he is working to this day. Jesus said that. My father works and I do. I work too. Jesus said that. And those who have understood godliness, we're not looking at our work and thinking, "Oh man, can't wait for this 47:30 life to be over. Never have to pick up and do another day of work again." I think we'll be surprised when we get to heaven. Says God will put you to work in heaven in whatever that beautiful in a beautiful sense in which there will be 47:41 no cursing. It'll be a wonderful thing. But think about it like this that heaven is prepared for those who have understood the heart and the nature of God through and through in work, in play, in fellowship, in doing in in 47:55 evangelism, in ministry, the church ministry, in family time, in all of those things. If we have understood the heart of God in all of that, we won't get we won't be surprised in heaven when we get there. Heavenly Father, I pray that you'll seal 48:09 these words in our hearts and help us, Lord, to I I I know that you're drawing me to a higher standard of life where I'm not divided in my emotions and my attachments to things. I'm not divided in how I look at others or despise them 48:22 by what they do or what they don't do. Help me to be diligent, Lord, in every aspect of my life. I pray that you'll find a diligence, a faithfulness in my work. Whether it's the secular work that I do here on this earth or any other 48:34 work that I do that uh for the building up of your church, let it all be Lord for your glory. Knowing that you make it all count for your glory when we do it with that spirit of surrender to you in Jesus name. Amen.
