1 Timothy 6.6-19 (i) (NRSV)

⁶Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; ⁷for we brought nothing into the world, so that^* we can take nothing out of it; ⁸but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. ⁹But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

The Good Fight of Faith

11 But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made^* the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. ¹⁶It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honour and eternal dominion. Amen.

17 As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, ¹⁹thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

When one is in a right relationship with God, things fall into place. I well remember when I came to Christ, my intellect was set free and I rejoiced in the new found liberty to think and question and challenge and grow. But this alone does not always lead to contentment. Barclay suggests that the original word used can best be translated as self-sufficiency. The Stoics, when they used this word, referred to a frame of mind which was completely independent of all outward and external things. Barclay writes: “Content never comes from the possession of external things ... Contentment comes from an inward attitude to life.”

Epicurus, that much misunderstood Greek philosopher stated: “To whom little is not enough, nothing is enough. ... Add not to a man’s possessions but take away from his desires.”

This is echoed in the ancient Rabbinical schools where there was the saying: “Who is rich? He that is content with his lot.”

This is something that our society has forgotten and so, while we might be in a bit of an economic pickle at the moment, we are still (materially speaking) much better off than we have ever been. Yet people have seldom ever been quite as miserable! This is because they fail to realise that  “... it is never in the power of things to bring happiness ...”

Happiness comes from personal relationships. Without friendship and love, no matter how much money we might have, we will never be happy. Happiness lies in people and never in things.

Seneca made the obvious statement: “You cannot take anything more out of this world than you brought into it.” But we can take our ‘self’ and so we would do well to build up a self and a character – a heart and soul – that we are proud to take with us into the presence of God. If the secret to happiness lies in relationships, then the most important of all the relationships is the one we have with God. Barclay concludes:

“Content comes when we escape the servitude to things, when we find our wealth in the love and the friendship and the fellowship of others, and when we realise that our most precious possession is our friendship with God, made possible through Jesus Christ.”

What lovely thoughts from Barclay as he reflects on verses 9-10of this wonderful epistle.

Barclay suggests that there are the following dangers associated with money:

Firstly, the desire for money can become an insatiable thirst. There is a Roman proverb that states that wealth is like sea-water: the more one drinks – the more one needs to drink because the thirst is never quenched. For many people, there never comes a time when they can say that they have enough;

Secondly, the desire for wealth is founded on an illusion: the illusion that wealth will provide security and the illusion that wealth will provide comfort and luxury. But wealth cannot buy security and it cannot buy true comfort and luxury because the most important things cannot be bought: love, health and safety from sorrow and death.

Thirdly, the desire for money tends to make people selfish because this desire makes a person focus on himself and not the needs of others, indeed ‘others’ can becomes mere means to his ends.

Fourthly, the desire for wealth tends to lead to worry and anxiety. The more a man has to keep, the more a man has to loose!

Fifthly, the love of money can lead people into wrong ways of getting money and this leads to pain and regret and remorse. It can even be literally true in that it can affect a person’s health and realise too late the damage he has done to others.

Barclay concludes:

“To seek to be independent, to be able to pay one’s debts and to provide a house and a home and an opportunity for one’s family, prudently to provide for the future, is a Christian duty; but to evaluate everything in terms of money, to make the love of money the driving force of life, cannot ever be anything else than the most perilous of sins.”

In verses 11-16, Barclay sees great significance in the title the author uses for Timothy – ‘... man of God ...’ This is one of the great titles of the Old Testament and was used for Moses, Samuel and the prophets. It is wonderful to note that giving Timothy this title the author is not being reminded of his sin and inadequacy or helplessness, rather he is being reminded of his great honour of being’s God’s man. Timothy is being challenged to be what he can be. Barclay comments:

‘The Christian way is not to fling man’s humiliating past in his face, but to set before him the majestic splendour of his potential future. The very fact that Timothy was addressed as “Man of God” would make him square his shoulders and throw his head back as one who has received his commission from the King.’

The virtues that he needs to aspire to are set plainly before him as we read in verses 11b-12:

‘...pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made^* the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.’

Timothy is also to ‘remember’: He is to remember the fact that when he came to faith, he made the same confession that Jesus made before Pontius Pilate that he was King. When a Christian confesses their faith, they do what Jesus did, when a Christian suffers for their faith, they suffer what their Lord has already suffered. Barclay suggests that we can say the following:

‘Brothers and sisters, we are travelling where the saints have trod ... I stand with Christ ... and surely such a memory must life up our hearts and inspire our lives ...’

We know that Christ will come again and so it is our duty to make sure that what he finds what we have done and are doing is fit for him to see. We are not working to please people, we are working to satisfy Christ. Barclay continues:

‘We must take every task they do and offer it, not to men, but to Christ. The question which the Christian must always ask himself is not: “Is it good enough to pass the judgement of people?” but: “Is it good enough to win the approval of Jesus Christ?”’

We must remember God! We remember that the one who is king above every other king, and Lord above every Lord, the one who possess the gift of eternal life to give to people this God loves us and only wants what is best for us. ‘...to him be honour and eternal dominion. Amen.’

Good challenging thoughts from our friend William Barclay yet again ...