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Credits Growing Together in God’s Household: A Devotional on 1 Timothy © 2016 Church of the Resurrection, Illinois. Editors: Ellen Richard, Mathew Woodley Design: Alan Miller Production: Bethany McLellan Copy Editing: Anna Robbins Writers: Joel Willitts, Kevin Miller, Ellen Richard, Valerie McIntyre, Drew Boa, Meghan Robins, Brett Crull, and John Raines Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Hoy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked The Message are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of the NavPress Publishing Group. Church of the Resurrection 935 W. Union Ave, Wheaton IL 60187 www.churchrez.org
Contents
P assage
Dat e
A n I n t r o du c t io n to 1 Tim othy
P AGE
2
A d v a n c i n g G o d ’ s W or k
1 :1 -1 1 , 1 8-20
MAY 22
5
Th e Wo r s t o f S i n ne r s
1 :1 2-1 7
MAY 29
7
O n e G o d a n d O n e M ed iator
2:1 -7
June 5
9
L e a r n i n Q u i e t n e ss an d F ull Subm is s ion
2:8-1 5
June 1 2
11
A N o bl e T a s k
3:1 -1 6
June 1 9
13
S o m e W i l l A ba n don the F aith
4 :1 -1 6
JUNE 26
15
C ar i n g f o r W i do ws , E ld e r s , and Slav e s
5:1 -6 :2
July 3
17
G o d lin e s s w it h Co nte n tm ent
6 :3-21
July 1 0
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This devotional will help you go deeper in studying 1 Timothy as you follow along with the weekly sermons. Listen to the sermon series online at churchrez.org/growingtogether.
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Growing Together in God’s Household An Introduction to 1 Timothy b y Joel W i l l i t t s First Timothy is a little letter that lands a big punch. And while it was written by the apostle Paul to his younger ministerial protégé and disciple Timothy, the ancient church wisely included it in the collection of Paul’s letters for the whole church. Since Paul was an advocate that “every member is a minister” (1 Corinthians 12) the instruction Paul gives to Timothy is important for each of us and for our collective ministry at Resurrection.
Both n e ar an d r e m o t e In this eight-week summer series, called “Growing Together in God’s Household,” we will be reading through the letter of 1 Timothy and reflecting on some of Paul’s most significant instructions. As a framework for the study, I hope to provide you some background that will help you to become an informed reader. Whenever you engage with a book of the Bible, especially a letter like 1 Timothy, there is an important truth that must be named: the Bible was not written to us, but it was written for us. This means that when reading 1 Timothy we must always keep this key in mind: that the message of the Bible is both near to us and remote. Through the Bible God speaks to us directly as the Holy Spirit illuminates the truth in our hearts and minds. But we must acknowledge that this text was written two thousand years ago by an ancient person to another ancient person. Its message then is conditioned by the circumstances, the place, the language, and the historical-cultural elements of the mid-first century, Greco-Roman world. To put this plainly, Paul’s message is both divine and human: divine because its inspired by God, human because it is conditioned by his historical rootedness. The job of twenty-first-century readers like us is to pursue that message with an openness to obey what is discovered, while also to use every available resource to read it on its own terms as a first-century text. So what do we know about the historical context of the letter of 1 Timothy?
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W hat i s 1 T i m o t h y ? First, I’ll ask the odd question: What is 1 Timothy? This may seem strange, but I ask it this way to underscore that this is an ancient letter. We don’t usually give it any attention, but it is important to reflect even for just a moment on ancient letter writing. How we imagine Paul writing a letter actually will affect our reading and interpreting of it. First Timothy not only reflects the conventions of ancient Greco-Roman letters, which we know more about than ever before because of archaeological finds, but also it is crucial to know that Paul made use of a secretary in the writing all his letters, like most everyone else at the time. It’s not at all like we might imagine it today—say how a business manager may use an assistant to dictate a letter to a client or employee. In the Greco-Roman context, where most people were illiterate, secretaries were an important resource for everybody, and especially for those who couldn’t read or write, which was 95 percent of the population according to historians. In the local market there would be a shop where an amanuensis, the ancient Greek name for secretary, would provide materials and expertise in writing letters, of course for a price. Papyri, the ancient equivalent to paper, was not cheap. What is more, the secretary’s level of involvement in the actual writing of the letter varied. We know, for example, that secretaries often wrote notes in shorthand and then later crafted the letter for the customer. There are then two important implications from these observations. First, Paul’s letters cost him significantly. In today’s dollars, Paul’s largest letters, Romans say, would have run into the thousands of dollars according to one estimate. Writing letters was no insignificant endeavor. This is foreign to our social media age. Second, since Paul used a secretary, it is much more difficult than previously thought to deny Paul’s authorship of 1 Timothy on the grounds of vocabulary and style as has been so often done by many modern scholars. The traditional view of Pauline authorship of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus (the Pastoral letters) is perhaps more secure than ever in light of the practice of ancient letter writing uncovered more clearly by recent archaeological discoveries. One more aspect of ancient letter writing is important. How did we end up with a copy of 1 Timothy in the first place? The answer is that the author of an ancient letter would have a secretary make two copies
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of a letter: one to send, one to keep. The reason for this is that a sender would keep a letter because of the unreliability of sending letters in the ancient context. The loss of letters in the delivery was a regular occurrence in the ancient world. Given the investment in time and resources, Paul undoubtedly kept copies of all his letters. He even may refer to them at the end of 2 Timothy (4:13). So it is most likely Paul himself we have to thank for his letters collection. The early circulation of a “Pauline Collection” is evidence that the collection itself took shape very early.
W ho w as T i m o t h y ? Timothy had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father. According to Acts 16:1-3, he first met Paul when he visited Lystra a second time on his so-called Second Missionary Journey around Asia Minor (that’s Turkey today) and Greece preaching the Good News about Jesus the Messiah somewhere between A.D. 49–52. The interesting thing about Timothy was that he was Jewish, unlike Paul’s other young protégé Titus (see Galatians 2:3). So because Timothy was Jewish, Paul had him circumcised after Timothy’s conversion to Messiah-Jesus faith. From that time on, Timothy was a trusted teammate of Paul. First Timothy was written over a decade later.
W he n an d w hy w a s 1 T im o t h y w r i t t e n? While there is debate about the chronology of Paul’s apostolic career, and particularly on his later years, it seems most reasonable to assume that Paul’s house arrest in Rome (see Acts 28:30-31) ended with his release. After which he conducted further apostolic mission work both west in Spain and then back in the eastern empire around the Mediterranean in Asia Minor (1 Timothy 1:3; 3:14-15; 4:13; Titus 1:5; 3:12; Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.22.2-3; 1 Clement 5). It is in this later period of apostolic work, between A.D. 62–64, that Paul most likely wrote the letter now known as 1 Timothy. Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to lead the congregations of house churches who were vulnerable to false teaching (1 Timothy 1:3-7). After some time, he then wrote a letter with the intention to bolster Timothy’s pastoral identity and clarify his militaristic fight (1 Timothy 1:18) against the false teaching as a faithful pastor of the Messiah Jesus. The following devotionals will provide a reflection on a portion of 1 Timothy each week and help us dig more deeply into this passionate and insightful letter for God’s household.
M AY 22
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Advancing God’s Work: 1 Timothy 1:1-11, 18-20 b y k E V IN M I L L E R Timothy’s church had a problem with teachers who were leading his congregation astray. Because the impact of false teaching is so deleterious, Paul tells his “son in the faith,” Timothy, to stop people who are teaching false doctrines (1 Timothy 1:2-3, NLT). To describe these teachers and their doctrines, Paul uses the words “endless” (1:4) and “meaningless” (1:6), and he declares, “they don’t know what they are talking about” (1:7). Paul’s key point is this: The truth promotes “a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith” (1:5). But false teaching destroys your faith and your conscience (1:19). What happens to a Christian who gets pulled in by false teaching? The result in someone’s life is tragic loss, like a ship blown against the rocks in a storm and damaged to the point that it is irreparable (1:19). If someone says, “The Holocaust never happened,” does it matter? Is this a point on which we can agree to disagree, or is this an idea that must be stopped? The problem with this falsehood is this: If you can make history say that the Holocaust is a myth—when the bleak, gray death chambers of Auschwitz still stand— you can make history say anything. A disregard for the deaths of 6 million people gives you permission to follow anti-Semitic ideas, far-right nationalism, and even neo-Naziism. If the church is like an iPad, then false teaching is a virus that destroys your hard drive. If the church is like a river, then false teaching is lead in the water. If the church is like today’s nations, then false teaching is a terrorist movement like ISIS. The reality is that every false idea ends up hurting people. So in a Christian church, each member—and especially the leaders—must be able to recognize and stop any teaching that is “contrary to the truth” (1:3).
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RESP O N D What wrong ideas about God have you had in your life? How did those affect you? What words or phrases does Paul use to describe those people in the church at Ephesus whose teaching is “contrary to the truth� (see 1:3-7)? What happens to a person who gets taken in by false teaching (1:19)? This passage has an obvious application to the pastor or elder in a church: Stop people from teaching false doctrines. How could a member of such a church apply this passage?
M AY 29
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The Worst of Sinners: 1 Timothy 1:12-17 by Ellen Richard Human beings are often driven by the quest to be the best at something. Some of us have made childhood hobbies into professional careers. Most of us spend inordinate amounts of time, money, and energy achieving in school, sports, or the arts and then advancing in our career. We strive to be the best—or at least to do our very best—at whatever we do. We also admire others who are the best at what they do. We watch the Oscars and the Super Bowl, we read the novels at the top of the New York Times Bestseller List, and we admire the annual winners of the Nobel Prize or an athletic MVP. But we never want to “achieve” the status of the “worst of sinners.” When Paul writes this letter to Timothy, he is near the end of his illustrious missionary career. However, when he looks back at his previous employment, he sees “a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man” (1 Timothy 1:13, NIV). Rather than looking to God for mercy and seeing the truth in Jesus as the Messiah, Paul had condemned and persecuted those who followed Jesus. Paul details his exploits as a persecutor of the Church in other places (Acts 22:1-21; 26:1-23), but in a letter to his “son in the faith” and protégé, Timothy, Paul succinctly declares himself to be the “worst of all sinners.” Another wording could be “chief” or “first” sinner. Paul places himself at the top of the heap of all sinners. His denial of the truth of Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God and his violent treatment of others had made him one of the most infamous sinners in all of Christian history. He had put much effort into being the best of all the sinners—even while he thought he was serving and pleasing the Living God! When we dig deeply into the idea that we are also the worst of sinners, it can feel uncomfortable. We don’t like to think of ourselves as bad people who need to stand at the front of God’s line to receive mercy. Christians certainly don’t want to think of themselves as the kind of people who would offend God. But in this passage, we see that Paul’s claim to be the chief-sinner is not a sentiment of self-loathing. In fact, he rejoices that in his place as “the worst of sinners,” Jesus Christ is intensely glorified because it shows the power and abundance of his mercy to forgive all our sins. Instead of wallowing in regret, Paul now views
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his sin in light of God’s mercy and as a calling to exhibit that mercy to others. Paul steps up to the front of the line for mercy, embraces his need for mercy, receives God’s mercy in abundance, and then becomes a breathing, walking, living exhibit of God’s patience and Christ’s power to transform sinners. When we acknowledge our own desperate need for mercy, we, too, can queue up to receive the watershed of mercy from “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God” (1 Timothy 1:17).
RESP O N D In what ways are you or have you been on a quest to perform and achieve? How does the phrase “worst of sinners” strike you? How does recognizing your need for mercy lead to receiving and living in that mercy? Would people around you (especially those who don’t know Christ) see you as a living, breathing exhibit of God’s mercy? If not, how do you need to ask Christ to transform you?
J UNE 5
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One God and One Mediator: 1 Timothy 2:1-7 by ELLEN RICHARD As God’s household, Paul encourages us to pray for all people. He specifically names kings and those in authority. As Anglicans, the Book of Common Prayer encourages us to do likewise. It even gives us the exact words to pray for our government officials (BCP, 820-823). Like praying for our government officials, praying for “all people” seems abstract and distant. Even when we can pray for specific people in a specific far off country with a certain need, it can be difficult for us to identify with people who are not like us. Yet Paul calls us to pray for all people for a specific reason: There is only one God, and that one God wants everyone to know his Son, Jesus. The exclusivity of this claim offends many people in our age, but there has never been a time when declaring that there is only one God and that we can only know him through his one mediator, Jesus, was uncontroversial. At one point Paul was even killing people for this claim. In Paul’s world, the people of the Roman Empire were supposed to pray to the emperor, but since the first Christians were so similar to the Jews, they received a special pass to pray for the emperor instead. This was a small concession to a greater rebellion: Caesar would never be their lord. Only God is Lord. This is why, in one brief section, Paul reminds the church to pray for the government. All need to know that there is only one God and that we know him through Jesus. As Christians, we have one primary goal in mind: “Your kingdom come.” We know Jesus, and we have experienced the forgiveness and grace available since he is our mediator in the presence of God and the ransom for our sin. Thus, we long for the day when it will be known to all the people of the world that God is also their Lord and Jesus is their only mediator. We pray fervently for all to know this, because we know it to be true. As it was Paul’s calling to announce this truth to the Gentiles, so we are called to tell this truth to the whole world. Let us pray that we would not take this lightly.
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Re sp o n D How global are your prayer requests? How do you and your family pray for all people, even political leaders we may not support? “There is one God and one Mediator—the Lord Jesus Christ.” It’s a simple statement with profound implications. How is (or how isn’t) this truth being put into practice in your life? As “the household of God” (Paul’s image for the church in 1 Timothy 3:15), how do we and how can we live out together the urgency to share the one mediator, Jesus Christ, with “all people”?
J UN E 1 2
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Learn in Quietness and Full Submission: 1 Timothy 2:8-15 b y V al e rie M c I n t y r e Imagine a renowned New Age guru converting to Christ, coming to church, and offering to help with the preaching on Sunday mornings. In the early centuries of the church, that was a common scenario as men and women from numerous mystery cults found their way to Jesus and into the church. Paul and the apostles had their hands full trying to love and encourage these enthusiastic new converts while preserving right doctrine in the church. Many scholars believe this is exactly the situation that Paul and Timothy faced in Ephesus. Paul’s words about women in this passage occasion serious consternation, with good reason, for any student of scripture. Arguments abound about how to distinguish which bits are applicable to all Christians at all times and which bits were specifically for Paul’s first—century audience. Many scholars point to the uniqueness of this passage. For example, Paul uses verbs that are not used anywhere else in the New Testament, which means that we can’t do a simple word study to uncover their meanings. And it is hard to make a coherent argument in favor of universalizing the instructions Paul gives, though it has been attempted. There are modern cults, for example, that follow these instructions precisely, including the prohibition of wearing jewelry and convincing women that their salvation is dependent on having lots of children—sometimes by more than one husband! Jesus teaches that the heart, which is hidden, manifests itself in observable behaviors which reveal its true character: virtue and vice, holiness and sinfulness. Throughout this epistle, Paul exhorts his readers to discern the hidden virtues of the heart that are made visible through observable behavior, especially the moral virtues that are necessary for leadership in the church and for the health of the body of Christ as a whole. This passage addresses a virtue that is rarely spoken of in modern discourse: docility. In moral theology, “docility” means openness to instruction. Etymologically, it is connected to the words “doctor” (teacher) and “doctrine,” and the three go together. Right doctrine in the church depends on both
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sound teachers and humble, teachable learners. Submission, in this case, is not about who gets to tell whom what to do but about the relationship between teachers and learners. Apparently the men in Ephesus were also prone to a lack of docility (1 Timothy 2:8), so Paul exhorts them to lift their hands in prayer (a sign of submission) and to steer clear of anger and quarreling. Though men and women in Ephesus were expressing their lack of docility in different ways, one could argue that women are equally as prone to expressing their pride through anger and quarreling and that men are not above expressing their hubris in the way they dress and keep their hair! The point is that those who lead others must exemplify docility—they must be teachable and submissive to Christ and to the apostles. A person is not ready for leadership unless docility is plainly evident in his or her life. Tenderhearted openness to those in authority is essential to the unity of the church as a whole.
Re sp o n D Prayerfully read Luke 2:41-52, and reread 1 Timothy 2:8-15. Notice how Jesus demonstrates the virtue of docility in his relationships with the teachers in the Temple and with his parents. Spend a few minutes in silence. Ask the Holy Spirit to illumine the condition of your heart. In what ways is the virtue of docility evident in your life? Allow the Holy Spirit to help you recognize ways in which you are not teachable and open to godly instruction. Ask for the grace to become more like Jesus in this area of your life.
J UNE 1 9
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A Noble Task: 1 Timothy 3:1-16 b y D rew B o a The health of a local church often rises or falls on the integrity of her leaders. As a mentor and spiritual father, Paul instructs Timothy on how healthy church leaders should live. In 1 Timothy 3:1-16, he gives us a vision for godly leadership based on character development. At Church of the Resurrection, we call this the work of “equipping everyone for transformation.” We want to see everyone growing in godly leadership. Even if you’re not a pastor, priest, or deacon, you can be a leader in the church by growing in Christlike character. The heart of the local church is helping people become more like Jesus. So, naturally, we need leaders who can model integrity and Christlike character for us. Notice how almost all of the requirements for church leaders are measurements of character, not skills or competencies: “self-controlled, respectable, hospitable . . . not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything” (1 Timothy 3:2, 11, NIV). Evidently, strong character ranks higher on Paul’s list than many of the criteria we consider important. He did not say church leaders must be polished, persuasive, popular, or in possession of an advanced degree. While we might be tempted to see those things as the ingredients for success in ministry, they are not the ingredients of a healthy church. Without Christlike character, those attributes mean nothing at all. Although Christlike character is essential for church leadership, it takes time to recognize true Christian maturity. Because of this, Paul warns that any leader in the church “must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited” (3:6). He knows how easy it is for immature, inexperienced leaders to “fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap” (3:7). That’s why the process of raising and choosing new church leaders is often slow and frustrating—“they must first be tested” (3:10). It takes time to test the integrity of a person’s daily life, not just when they’re trying to impress you. Paul teaches that Christlike leadership requires mature beliefs and mature behavior. Therefore, leaders “must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience” (3:9). Paul’s instructions are simple: Grasp the gospel and live the truth. Ultimately, this advice is not only for clergy, but for the entire church. Paul is “writing you these instructions
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so that . . . you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household” (3:14-15). In other words, these are God’s family rules; clergy should pay close attention, but the rest of us also have something to learn as we all grow in equipping everyone for transformation. So how can we grow in godly leadership, and where does it come from? In verse 16 Paul spells it out for us: “The mystery from which true godliness springs” is Jesus himself. Jesus is the standard and the source of true transformation. Mature character and godly leadership are always the result of his Spirit at work in us. After all, he became like us so that we could become like him.
RESP O N D What is one way you have experienced Christ transforming you? What is one virtue or character quality in which you know you need to grow? Who is mentoring and equipping you for transformation, as Paul mentored Timothy?
J UN E 26
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Some Will Abandon the Faith: 1 Timothy 4:1-16 b y B ret t C r u l l Imagine that you’re at a party, and you’re craving a cool and refreshing Coca-Cola. The most disappointing thing that can happen in this moment is to go up to the big bowl of ice with all the soda cans and find that all the Coca-Colas are gone. All that is left is RC Cola or Mr. Purple or some other generic brand of soda. It’s very disappointing, and you think, “No thanks. Maybe I’ll just drink some of the melted ice water out of the bowl . . .” In this moment, generic cola tastes like a poor imitation of the true Coca-Cola you wanted. You’ve tasted the real deal before, and it’s difficult to settle for anything else. First Timothy 4:1-3 describes some of the false teachings of Paul’s day. It is sobering to note that the false teachers were once in the church and that they were likely notable people within their community. Paul says these false teachers will “depart from the faith,” implying that they used to be in the faith (1 Timothy 4:1, ESV). As a result, false teachings will look a lot like the truth. An obvious lie is easy to avoid; a lie mixed with the truth is more likely to deceive. This leads to what I call “Jesus . . . and” syndrome: simple faith in Jesus is not enough, so extra requirements are added. Examples from the New Testament include: • Jesus . . . and getting circumcised • Jesus . . . and keeping strict diets or strange asceticism (like forbidding marriage altogether) • Jesus . . . and following a certain religious calendar that has little to do with Christ • Jesus . . . and gnostic “wisdom” teachings of secret knowledge And it is still a problem today. The Devil would have us believe that Jesus alone is not enough. Jesus . . . and educating your children in a certain way. Jesus . . . and whether or not you went to college. Jesus . . .
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and how you prepare food (amazing how that one carried through the centuries!). Jesus . . . and having your life put together (or at least looking like it). This is why throughout the Pastoral letters (including 4:7) Paul directs our attention to the essentials of faith. Keep the main thing as the main thing, he says, and avoid pointless quarrels and controversies. Those are just another form of “Jesus . . . and.” As Anglicans, we may be especially prone to “Jesus . . . and” syndrome. We can forget that things which may be powerful and enriching for us are not always essential to the Christian walk. Avoiding the “Jesus . . . and” attitude enables us to richly enjoy the distinctives of Anglicanism without inadvertently establishing our own false religion around liturgy, feast days, knowledge of the ancient church, etc.—as great as all this is. After all, our tradition is meant to lead us more deeply into Jesus Christ, who leads us to the Father. And the Father’s heart is that “real deal” that our hearts long for—for which there can be no substitute—and anything else is but a generic counterfeit that can never satisfy our true desires.
RESP O N D What are some of the “Jesus . . . and” ideas you encounter today? Are there any by which you personally feel pressured? What is the responsibility of every believer to guard the faith? What is the responsibility of church leadership? In 1 Timothy 4:6-7, what does the idea of “training” imply about the Christian walk? What does it mean to “train” or “be trained”? What is needed to make that happen?
J UL Y 3
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Caring for Widows, Elders, and Slaves: 1 Timothy 5:1-6:2 b y Meg h a n R o b i n s This passage reads as a master class in the practical, nitty-gritty details of running a church. Right before these verses, Paul has been giving Timothy advice on how to prepare his own heart and mind for the work of leading a church. Now, Paul turns his gaze outward and guides Timothy through the challenging work of creating healthy community within the close, deeply relational quarters of the church. Paul does so in chapter five and the beginning of chapter 6 by giving Timothy very practical advice on the discernment necessary in helping the most helpless (widows and slaves) and guiding the most powerful (elders). He encourages Timothy to not simply treat relational situations on an ad hoc basis, but to also build a healthy system wherein the members of the church of Ephesus can thrive and have an effective witness in the emergent world of Christianity. This idea of witness colors all of Paul’s detailed advice to Timothy on how to build an effective support structure for widows, given the church’s limited finances and the breadth of need. While some of his statements may sound harsh to our ears, Paul is trying to help Timothy do the difficult work of discerning the true needs and motivations behind every petition for help that the church in Ephesus receives. For instance, “Don’t give money to a widow who is already supported by her family!” is an exhortation to discern the greedy from the truly destitute. Paul’s concern is for the entire community of the church to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to lead lives marked by a desire for genuine relationship with God, not to be individuals looking to sinfully work the system. This is also true in his advice about managing the powerful elders in the church: “Take care of the good ones!” he says. “Rebuke those who persist in sin!” All of this is said in the context of a culture in which Christians becoming organized into large churches is a new occurrence, and therefore under intense scrutiny. Paul longs for the church to shine with the gospel, not to be marked and defined by unhealthy community practices.
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The passage clicks into place as Paul finishes with these words: The sins of some people are blatant and march them right into court. The sins of others don’t show up until much later. The same with good deeds. Some you see right off, but none are hidden forever. (1 Timothy 5:24-25, The Message) Paul highlights for Timothy the nuances of leading a church full of sinful people and the importance of discerning the heart of each member in any situation, whether pastoral or logistical. Whether it be slave, widow, or elder, the actions and requests of every member of the church are to be viewed in light of what is healthy for the community and most clearly reflective of Jesus’ gospel message.
RESP O N D Have you ever been part of a community (a workplace, church, family, or even your hometown) where there were more needs and wants than there were resources? How did that feel? How did you and other leaders handle it? (That’s a clue about the intent of this passage.) Have you ever been part of an unhealthy community? What were some of its markers? Think about some of your closest relationships. Are there unspoken rules you abide by in order to keep those relationships thriving?
J UL Y 1 0
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Godliness with Contentment: 1 Timothy 6:3-21 b y Jo h n R a i n e s If I am being honest, I often do not want to be content. What I want is one more thing. Not a hundred more things, or even ten. Just one. Maybe two. That is the rule I find: The desire that spoils my contentment is not boundless in its greed. It’s for something out of reach, but only barely. Not for a private jet, but for a car that’s just one tier nicer than mine. But it’s not just a car, is it? It’s a job that is just one level up. It’s just a little more respect from our community. It’s just one piece of clothing out of that gorgeous catalog. It’s that relationship. It’s the child you long to parent. It’s the financial room to enjoy yourself just a little more. And it would be so much easier if those were bad things! The temptation to disorder our lives around them would be so much less seductive! But the things themselves are not the issue here, really. In this passage Paul points to that urge to have just one more thing as that which draws many away from the path of faithfulness to fall among thorns. Let’s dwell with the text some. It begins with Paul warning Timothy against the type of people who distorts the gospel. Paul’s description of such people is impressively negative. He empties his thesaurus on them. Not only are they corrupt individuals, but they have a corrupting effect on their community (1 Timothy 6:3-5). People are sucked into these distortions of the gospel by “imagining that godliness is a source of gain” (6:5, ESV)—by imagining that godliness is somehow the way to get that one more thing they want. When we live the one more thing life, we begin to subtly bend everything in our lives, even our faith in Christ, into tools that serve us in gaining that one more thing. The end of this, Paul says, is sorrow and pain (6:10). But there is another way. There is a different kind of gain. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever
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comes to me shall not hunger” (John 6:35). When he said this, he was not spewing lofty, impractical platitudes. The next time your heart reaches out for just one more thing—if you’re like me, it will be about thirty seconds from now—turn to the words of our Savior. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called. The power to escape the one more thing way of living is given in the bread of life himself. The one who has eaten this bread lacks nothing and does not hunger. Flee the one more thing life the next time it entices you. Pursue godliness with contentment. Fight the good fight of faithfulness. Take hold of the bread of eternal life. Keep this commandment with the sure hope that Jesus will not disappoint us.
RESP O N D Are there times you think, “If I just had . . .”or “If I just were more . . .”? Take a moment to name those points of discontentment before God. Recite the promises of Jesus—that he is your shepherd and you lack nothing, that he is the bread of heaven and you do not need to hunger for anything. Ask God to free you from the craving for something more and for the gift of repentance from living the “one more thing” way. Read 1 Timothy 6:17-19, in which Paul encourages the rich to be generous. What are some ways in which you are rich? How might God want you to be generous and to share what you have? How is this another way of living in contentment with Jesus? In 1 Timothy 6:13, Paul sets his charge to Timothy “in 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.” Spend some time picturing yourself in the presence of the Father and the Son as Paul has described it here, and feel the love they have for you. How does being in their presence change the charge to “keep the commandment?”
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This devotional accompanies our summer sermon series. It is intended to help you go deeper in studying 1 Timothy as you follow along with weekly teaching. Listen to all the sermons online at churchrez.org/growingtogether.
Listen to the sermon series online at
churchrez.org/growingtogether