10.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• To glorify God and have contentment in our lives, we must look at the good things of this world in the right way.
• We must know:
  1. The good things of this world are gifts from God.
     - We should enjoy them with thanksgiving.
     - We should enjoy them in obedience to God.
• The good things of this world will not last forever.
  - The only thing that can give us true joy and contentment,
  - now and forever,
  - is the relationship that we have with God.
• The good things of this world can become dangerous for us,
  - because of the sin in our hearts.

10.2 – 1 Timothy 4:1-5←⤒🔗

^4:1 Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings,

^4:2 influenced by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.

^4:3 They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

^4:4 For every creation of God is good and no food is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.

^4:5 For it is sanctified by God’s word and by prayer.

© NET Bible

10.3 – 1 Timothy 6:3-10←⤒🔗

^6:3 If someone spreads false teachings and does not agree with sound words (that is, those of our Lord Jesus Christ) and with the teaching that accords with godliness,

^6:4 he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in controversies and verbal disputes. This gives rise to envy, dissension, slanders, evil suspicions,

^6:5 and constant bickering by people corrupted in their minds and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a way of making a profit.

^6:6 Now godliness combined with contentment brings great profit.

^6:7 For we have brought nothing into this world and so we cannot take a single thing out either.

^6:8 But if we have food and shelter, we will be satisfied with that.

^6:9 Those who long to be rich, however, stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

^6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evils. Some people in reaching for it have strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains.

© NET Bible

10.4 Godliness and the good things of this world←⤒🔗

In this Bible study, we have seen that contentment is only possible when we have the same desires and goals as God. God wants to glorify his name in our lives. He wants us to enjoy fellowship with him. He wants us to become more like Jesus Christ, his Son. These things must also be our goal in life.

Another way to say this, is that there must be godliness in our lives. As 1 Timothy 6:6 says, “godliness combined with contentment brings great profit.”

But what about all the good things of this world? Should we not care for things such as marriage, sports, music, homes, and friends? Should we not want these things?

This is an important question to think about. If we want to glorify God and have contentment in our lives, we must look at the good things of this world in the right way. That is what this last lesson is about.

From 1 Timothy 4:1-5 and 1 Timothy 6:3-10, we learn three things about the good things of this world:

• They are gifts from God.
• They will not last forever.
• They can become dangerous for us.

10.5 The good things of this world are gifts from God←⤒🔗

Timothy was a pastor who had to protect his people against many false teachers. Some false teachers were telling the people that it was wrong to get married. They also said that it is wrong to eat some kinds of food. In 1 Timothy 4:1-5 Paul warns Timothy against such false teachings. He reminds Timothy that God made everything good, for us to enjoy (verse 4).

Marriage and every kind of food are good gifts from God. We can also think of the many other things that God gives us: children, friendships, sports, education, houses, beautiful sunsets, music... The list goes on and on! It is right for us to enjoy these things. We should enjoy them “with thanksgiving” to God (verse 3).

Also, we should enjoy everything in obedience to God. We may not sin when we are looking for good things to enjoy. For example, children are a gift from God, but God does not want us to have children outside of marriage. Food is a gift from God, but God does not want us to eat too much. Good movies are a gift from God, but God does not want us to watch movies the whole day!

In other words: We should enjoy everything with godliness. Then God, the Giver of these good gifts, will be glorified.

10.6 The good things of this world will not last forever←⤒🔗

The false teachers made a lot of rules. They seemed to be very serious about doing God’s will. But they were “liars” (1 Timothy 4:2). They only pretended to care about God. In their hearts they cared only for themselves.

In 1 Timothy 6:3-10 we see what was really going on in the hearts of these teachers. It was money that they wanted! They wanted to become rich through their preaching (verse 5).

Paul warns Timothy that he must never become like these teachers. He must not use godliness to become rich. He must have “godliness combined with contentment” (verse 6).

It is foolish to chase after money–why? Because “we have brought nothing into this world and so we cannot take a single thing out either” (verse 7).

Yes, we must enjoy the good things that God gives to us. But we must remember that these things will not last forever. And when God takes these things away (for example, when our money gets stolen or when we lose our health), we must not be too upset.

In the end it is our relationship with God that makes us truly rich. We must love the Giver more than we love his gifts. He alone can give us true joy and contentment, now and forever.

10.7 The good things of this world can become dangerous←⤒🔗

We saw that the things of this world are good gifts from God. But, because of the sin in our hearts, these things can also become dangerous for us. That is why we must always be careful.

Paul writes that a believer must be content if he has food and clothes (1 Timothy 6:8). When a believer starts to wish for wealth, he is in great danger. “Those who long to be rich… stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction” (1 Timothy 6:9).

Paul is not saying that money or wealth is the problem. Think of Abraham and Job, for example. Both these men were rich, and both of them used their wealth to serve God. No, the problem is “the love of money” (1 Timothy 6:10). If you love money, you are in danger of losing your relationship with God (1 Timothy 6:11). As Jesus also warns us, “You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24).

So, let us enjoy the good things of this world. Let us use them with thanksgiving and to the glory of God. But let us remember that these things will not last forever. And let us be careful that they do not turn our hearts away from God. Let us always strive for true wealth: godliness combined with contentment.