17.1 Key themes⤒🔗

The seventeenth mark of a mature Christian is that he is free from the love of money.

• 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 church leaders love money, the church of God is used, abused, and destroyed.
• 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.

17.5 Where we are now←⤒🔗

In Lessons 11 to 16, we looked at six marks of maturity that are found only in Titus 1:5-9:

1. Focused on others (not “arrogant”)
2. Patient (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 another mark of maturity from these verses. That is: a mature Christian is “free from the love of money” (verse 3). The same mark is also found in Titus 1:5-9. There we read that a mature Christian is “not…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…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 he is caught in it. In the same way, the desire to be rich may not seem dangerous to us. 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 and 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.

From Titus 1:7 we learn that a mature Christian is not “greedy for gain.” This is almost the same as saying that a mature Christian is “free from the love of money.” But the words “greedy for gain” mean that you seek to make money in sinful ways. Sadly, that is what the love of money leads to.

17.7 The love of money and church leadership←⤒🔗

The love of money is always dangerous. But it is especially dangerous when you are a leader in God’s church. In the time of Ezekiel, the leaders of God’s people were lovers of money. Hear what God said to them:

“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 church leaders 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 Ezekiel¾and it is still happening today.

17.8 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.” As Christians, we must train ourselves for godliness (1 Timothy 4:7). Every day we must practice thinking, speaking, and acting in a way that pleases God. If we do this, we will have no time for the love of money!

“Contentment” is to be satisfied with what God gives you. If you are content, you will truly enjoy God’s gifts of money, food, clothes, and other good things. You will use these gifts in God’s service. You 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 be rich in godliness and contentment, and keep ourselves free from the love of money!