17.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• An overseer must be free from the love of money. (This is the eleventh qualification in 1 Timothy 3:1-7.)
• The love of money is a snare.
  - When you love money, money will begin to control you.
  - When this happens, you will sin for the sake of money.
• When overseers love money, the church of God is used, abused, and destroyed.
• When overseers love money, justice in the church is perverted.
• To be safe from the love of money, we need godliness and contentment.
  - “Godliness” is devotion to God.
  - “Contentment” is to be satisfied with what God gives you.

17.2 – 1 Timothy 3:1-3←⤒🔗

^1. This saying is trustworthy: 'If someone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a good work.'

^2. The overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, an able teacher,

^3. not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not contentious, free from the love of money.

© NET Bible

17.3 – 1 Timothy 6:6-10←⤒🔗

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

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

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

^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.

^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

17.4 – Titus 1:7-8 (ESV)←⤒🔗

^7. For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain,

^8. but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.

© NET Bible

17.5 Where we are now←⤒🔗

In Lessons 13 to 16, we looked at six qualifications that are found only in Titus 1:5-9:

1. Not arrogant
2. Not quick-tempered
3. A lover of good
4. Upright
5. Holy
6. Disciplined

With this lesson we are back in 1 Timothy 3:1-7. It is time to look at the eleventh qualification in these verses. That is, an overseer should be “free from the love of money.” (Or, as we read in Titus 1:7, he should “not be…greedy for gain.”)

17.6 A Dangerous trap←⤒🔗

It is not wrong to have money. It is also not wrong to have a lot of money. But it is wrong to want a lot of money. In 1 Timothy 6:9-10 Paul warns Timothy,

Those who long [desire] to be rich, however, stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils.

Paul says that the desire to be rich leads us into a “trap.” A bird does not know about a trap until it is caught. In the same way, the desire to be rich may not seem dangerous. But it leads to all kinds of evils. In the end it will lead to spiritual death.

Why is the love of money so dangerous? Because when you love money, money will begin to control you. You will never come to the point where you say, “Now I have enough.” If you desire to be rich, you will always feel the need for more money (or more things).

When this happens, you will sin for the sake of money. As Paul warns Timothy, “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.” Here are some examples of evils that come from the love of money:

• Parents become so busy with work that they do not have time for their children.
• Family members fight over an inheritance.
• Leaders abuse their power.
• Workers steal from their employers.
• People lie awake at night, thinking and worrying about their money and possessions.

In Titus 1:7 we read that an overseer must not be “greedy for gain.” This is almost the same as saying that an overseer must not be “a lover of money” (1 Timothy 3:3). But the words “greedy for gain” means that you wish to make money in sinful ways. Sadly, that is what the love of money leads to.

17.7 An overseer and the love of money←⤒🔗

The love of money is always dangerous. But when an overseer loves money, the danger is even greater. In the time of Ezekiel, the overseers of Israel were lovers of money. Hear what God said to these overseers:

Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the sheep! You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled over them. They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast. Ezekiel 34:2-5

When overseers love money, the church of God is used, abused, and destroyed. Poor and sick members are not helped. Members who are weak in their faith are not strengthened. The gospel is not preached clearly and people fall away from Christ. This happened in the time of Ezekiel–and it is still happening today.

17.8 The love of money perverts justice←⤒🔗

There is another reason why an overseer who loves money is a danger to the church. The love of money perverts justice.

God calls overseers to be judges in the church. They have to “judge the people fairly” (Deuteronomy 16:18). (That is one reason why Titus 1:8 says that an overseer must be “upright.” In Lesson 15 we saw that being “upright” means living in a way that is right in God’s eyes. In a leader, being upright also means judging in a way that is right in God’s eyes.)

In John 5:30 Jesus says this about himself: “My judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.” An overseer who loves money cannot say this. If you love money, you cannot seek the will of God (Matthew 6:24). This means that your judgment will not be just.

An overseer who loves money will protect the rich people in the church, even when they are guilty. He will be tempted to take bribes. He will be afraid to stand up against evil.

That is what happened in Ezekiel’s time. Because the shepherds only cared about their own wealth, justice disappeared from the land. Rich and powerful people did as they pleased, and the poor suffered (Ezekiel 34:17-21).

17.9 Staying away from the trap←⤒🔗

If a bird knows that a trap is waiting for it, it will fly away to a safe place. In 1 Timothy 6:6-11, Paul tells Timothy of a place where he will be safe from the love of money. That place is “godliness combined with contentment” (verse 6).

The word “godliness” means “devotion to God.” An overseer must train himself for godliness (1 Timothy 4:7). Every day he must practise thinking, speaking, and acting in a way that pleases God. If he does this, he will have no time for the love of money!

“Contentment” is to be satisfied with what God gives you. If an overseer is content, he will truly enjoy God’s gifts of money, food, clothes, and other good things. He will use these gifts in God’s service. He will also remember that “we have brought nothing into this world and so we cannot take a single thing out either” (1 Timothy 6:7).

As the people of God, let us choose overseers who are rich in godliness and contentment. And let us follow in their footsteps, keeping ourselves free from the love of money.