Showing posts with label Contentment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Contentment. Show all posts

Monday, February 27, 2017

1 Timothy 6:2b-10 “False Teachers stir up Discontentment- The Sound Words of Jesus produce Godliness with Contentment! ”

Contentment! We find that word at the heart of our passage. Paul says in v.6, “Now there  is great gain in  godliness with contentment. To the Philippians he writes,  “ ... I have learned in whatever situation I am  to be content.”  To be content means to be in a state of happiness or satisfaction. What  a satisfying  word   that is, and  yet, what an elusive word that is.  Can you say with Paul, “... I have learned in whatever situation I am  to be content?  An answer to  this question would be multifaceted, as I  have realized when  in recent times I had made  a  study of   the subject of contentment. 

Here then  is a further contribution to  that investigation, and my  further  thought  on the matter,  as it arises from  our text, is this: False teachers or false teaching  are  a major source of    our discontentment, whereas the sound words  of our Lord Jesus Christ  are the true source of real contentment!  This text teaches me that  there are thoughts and ideas   promoted by false teaching  that lead to discontentment and there  are thoughts and ideas  promoted by the  sound words  of our Lord Jesus Christ that  lead to godliness  with  contentment. 

In our recent studies in Paul’s first letter to Timothy we have seen that Paul has stressed the importance of the maintenance of good relationships in the church.  He does this in a number of interesting ways. In Chapter 5 we have seen how he counsels Timothy, pastor at Ephesus, to deal well and wisely with older men and women, and also with younger men and women in the church.  In particular, he stresses the importance of looking after genuine widows in the church, whilst helping families also to take care of their   widows. He counsels younger widows to remarry and so to become settled, and not restless and problematic in the church. He also counsels that the fulltime elders of the church, those that labour in preaching and teaching, should be well looked after. Too many pastoral families have   had their relationships soured  because the church did not obey this basic  injunction which  underlies  the support of  those  who work  for the  church: Don’t muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain.[1]    Furthermore, Paul teaches that good relationships between Christian slaves and their masters   (or between employees and employers) were needed to reflect the worthy name of God. 
Nothing adds more to our discontentment than unstable relationships fostered by unstable teaching or emphases. Paul teaches us that it is important to  promote  stable relationships in the church at many levels through wise, biblical counselling  that leads people to godliness with contentment.

And now Paul says: “Timothy, teach and urge these things”[6:2b]. These few things or  matters  that we have  considered in chapter 5 and into chapter 6 are of course  illustrative and not exhaustive, and it is in this context that  Paul  provides  further  counsel for maintaining  sound  and stable relationships.  

Stable relationships must be built on sound, balanced doctrine. Balance means that biblical truths are taught in context and that these truths are weighted appropriately. Terms such as ‘law’ and ‘grace’, for instance, must be understood against the entire emphases of the Bible. Wrong emphases here can easily lead to lead to legalism (Galatians) or antinomianism (Corinthians). Furthermore, sound doctrine must not only be believed. It must be practised. Otherwise it becomes hypocrisy. Paul has already reminded Timothy (and us) in 4:16 to “keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching” (doctrine). It is not just doctrine (correct belief). It is also yourself, how you live out to that sound doctrine! There are people that are thoroughly orthodox in their beliefs, but they themselves live and behave in contradiction to the doctrine which they say they believe.  This contradiction always produces conflict in the church, in the home and at work.
I needed to remind you of this as we now come to the next statement: “If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness…”
Let us stop there for a moment!  Paul makes a contrast between different doctrine and the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ.   What is the difference? The   outcome is different:

(i)                 The different doctrine (Gr. heterodidaskaleō), in Paul’s own words   leads to this:  “he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant frictions among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.” [6:4,5].

Three things are characteristic of false teachers: pride, ignorance, and preoccupation with obscure things. All you need to be a heretic is a little pride, and a little intelligence plus  the gift of speaking,  and you've got the perfect ingredient for heresy.  But there’s more to be considered. In vv.9-10 Paul adds this : “But  those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction, For the  love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”  

The outcome of  ‘different doctrine’  is  that it produces an unhealthy desire for financial gain. The  false teacher  thinks of godliness in a very  different  way than Christ had intended. For them “godliness is  a  means of gain”. And so we find that prosperity  teachers  have a very different goal in mind  in their teaching.  They  redefine terms.  Godliness  to them means,  being healthy , happy and wealthy. Thus they are successful because they give people what their  depraved  hearts  want to hear  (6:5)   and  in the process  they  get very rich from their conferences and books they sell. A visit to the local bookshop confirms this. The religious section  carries  by far more books by false teachers.  The irony is that although these authors  outwardly promote  the pursuit of contentment, yet in very real terms they actually breed discontentment by replacing Christ  with  material emphases! If you were to turn on the television today or any day of the week, most of the so called Christian TV channels do exactly what Paul is speaking about here. They are turning Christianity into a means of gain.  And they teach that  that God wants you to be physically healthy and materially wealthy and that if you’re not, it's because you don't’ have enough faith or because  you haven't yet  bought the holy anointing oil or water, consecrated by the apostle  from them.  So, it was very common then, 2000 years ago. It is common now. . Paul  makes it clear that that is not what Christianity is about. The gospel in fact does bring great gain ,though not the kind false teachers are looking for.

(ii)               The  sound words of our Lord Jesus, by way of contrast, “accords with godliness”(v.3)   or “godliness with contentment”(v.6).  This is  the sound doctrine that Paul  and the other apostles taught. It is true apostolic teaching. It is  Jesus’ teaching . The apostles were literally  the messenger boys  (Gr. apostellō) of Jesus. They had nothing new or novel to say. They spoke  the balanced truth  and in  the tone that  Jesus taught them. This teaching leads  to godliness with true contentment, and it applies whether you are rich or poor, healthy or sick, happy or in emotional turmoil. The sound words of our Lord Jesus  transform your life so that the truth is lived out in godliness. It leads to  a life of true  holiness, in commitment to God in  Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And it leads to contentment.

EXHORTATION

I remind you again that the  NT epistles constantly warn us to be on the  watch against false teachers – those who would rob us of  our true peace and contentment in the Lord Jesus.  Paul, in his three so-called “pastoral epistles” has a lot to say about false teachers and teaching[2] and the outcome of their teaching. And its’s all focused on  stuff that Jesus never focused on: “myths, endless genealogies which promote speculations… certain persons  … have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying, or the things  about which they make confident  assertions” [1 Tim 1:4-7]. They are led by  “deceitful spirits and teachings of demons…” [1 Tim 4:1]. They are focused on material gain [1 Tim 6:9,10,17]  and engage in irreverent babble and quarrel about words  in the name of wisdom  and godliness. They are fixated on controversial questions and disputes about words.  This was the problem of the Pharisees.  Jesus said that they would strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. They get fixated on some aspect of truth and make that secondary or tertiary aspect a major aspect of their teaching.  One man tells the story of  how  he was once introduced  to someone  in the congregation  and as he struck out his hand to greet him the man said, not   “Hi, Hello, I'm  Peter...”  but,  “What do you think about the little horn of Daniel?” There are people who  fail to  read the moment. They  have  an unhealthy interest in the obscure. But mostly, they oppose   true, sound doctrine [2 Tim 3:8]. Paul says: “They profess to know God, but  they deny him by their  works “ [ Tit. 1:16]

Sound doctrine is plain. Its results are plain. It leads to godliness with contentment.
False doctrine leads to personal ungodliness and discontentment at many levels: home, work and church. Please note that whereas sound doctrine is plain and straightforward in appearance, this different doctrine has many ugly tentacles and faces (see vv. 4,5)
Now, we are not suggesting that sound doctrine is easy to grasp. Many struggle with it, and we must struggle.  We are fallen beings. The gospel is contrary  to our sinful nature and therefore contrary to our natural thinking. Sin must be unlearned, and replaced with biblical gospel thinking. That takes time, and it takes repeated reminders  and sitting under  the teaching of the  sound gospel as long as we live. And how do we know that we have it?  When sound doctrine  leads to sound living.
Our fundamental concern must be that  the truth as it is in Jesus  should lead us  to transformed lives [see Romans  12:1,2] characterized by love for God,  and by loving service for  one another and  by loving service to a lost world. 

True godliness may be firm and bold, because it believes the truth as it is in Jesus,  but is not contentious for the sake of being contentious. It is not quarrelsome. It is kind and gracious and patient.    One way to guard against  sliding into  false doctrine  is to consistently  check  whether the truth  produces more Christ-likeness in us , leading us to more godliness and true contentedness. The gospel does bring great gain, but it's not the kind of gain that the false teachers are talking about.
May the Holy Spirit  be pleased to deeply embed the truth in our hearts , to make us  able to discern different doctrine   from  the sound words of our Lord Jesus. Amen !



[1]  Deut. 25:4 ;  1 Tim. 5:18;  1 Cor. 9:9
[2] See 1 Tim 1:3-11 4:1-5; 6:3-10,20 ;  2 Tim 2:16-18,23 3:1-9,13; 4:3-4,15; Titus 1:10-16 ; 2:9-11

Sunday, December 18, 2016

PSALM 73 - THE DILEMMA OF THE DISCONTENTED MAN

(NOTE: this sermon forms part of a series  of 4 sermons on Contentment and Discontentment, preached at the Swakopmund Baptist Church  on the 11th and 18th December 2016) 

The great value of the Book of Psalms is that  here we have godly  people  sharing  their very  real experiences, both in terms of  their  joys and  their struggles. For this reason the Book of Psalms has helped many Christians.  They see themselves in it as in a mirror. They can say, “This is my experience also.”  

We have an example of that here in  Psalm 73. The Psalmist Asaph  tells  us that  that he had  nearly slipped – not literally of course, but in a spiritual sense. He  confesses that  in that time  he had become  embittered and  that he had behaved  like  a beast toward  God (73:21,22).  

So what had happened?

A situation had arisen in which he had become discontent with his  position as a believer before God. What honesty, and  again I remind you that this  where the  great value of the Psalms is found. There is nothing more discouraging than to meet  people who  give the impression that  they are always on top of things. That is certainly not true in the Bible and  of  the  Psalms. Here we meet people just like ourselves…. struggling with bitterness and discontentment. 

There was a time in the Christian church when  a doctrine of “Christian Perfectionism” was  a popular expression  of faith, particular in the  so-called "Holiness movement".  People were saying that  they were not struggling with sin any longer, and  every testimony they bore  was a testimony of victory. The truth is that such people weren’t allowed to be honest.  Perfectionism  is simply not true to the experience of the people who teach this, for we know that they are fallible creatures like the rest of us. They put their teaching of perfection forward theoretically, but it is not true to their own experience. Thank God  that the Psalmists do not do that. They tell us the plain truth about themselves and  they give glory to  God, and do not draw attention to themselves.   The motive  of the Psalmist  was not to boast in himself. There is a confession of sin  which can draw  an unhealthy attention to ourselves. This  is a very subtle danger.  Asaph  does not  want to  do that. He tells us the truth about himself because he wants to glorify God.

PSALM 73 IN A NUTSHELL 

Asaph starts with a summary  of his experience, being thankful that he has come through this trying and difficult time: "Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart".  That is the  theme, and the outcome  of this Psalm.   

Asaph had drifted from his spiritual moorings, but the important point is  that he came back, home to God  again. We all know something about that kind of experience in our own lives. We start in the right place and then we make a wrong decision  which takes us into a spiritual wasteland. 
Thank God for the turning point!

But  how did he get to this point of despair  and how did he come to the turning point? 

In vv. 2-15  he tells us about an  experience which left him  shaken, and that he very nearly fell. Now, he was clearly a man  who  sought to live a godly life.  He  was keeping his soul from sin. He was meditating upon the things of God.  He  was  in the habit of examining his life.  He  was devoting himself to a life  pleasing to  God. Yet, although he was doing  this, he was having a great deal of trouble, as vv. 13 & 14 reveals.

We  are not told the exact nature of his troubles.  It  may have been  sickness or  trouble in his family or something else. It is clear that he felt severely tested, and nothing seemed to be going right for him. But there was an even  greater issue which he struggled with.  He saw a striking contrast between  the lives of the arrogant, the wicked, the ungodly  man and himself.    The wicked seemed to prosper in the world.  Everything seemed to go smooth with them (v. 4ff). They are  not in trouble, they were not stricken,… they were proud and affluent.  They were self - assertive and confident, and they  were even confidently challenging God  and heaven (vv. 9-11). The same sort of thing happens today. You have people  who are not faithful believers. Things are going well with them, and they make  blasphemous statements about God. They say, "How does God know”, and “is there knowledge in the most High?" They see themselves as prosperous and successful, and by contrast they see you, the true believer struggling  in every way.  This can lead to real discontentment in one’s  soul.  So, let us try to understand this  phenomenon.   

Perplexity Is Not Surprising

The first  thing we want to note  is this. Don’t be surprised  when this happens. Remember  that  God has a fundamental principle written in the Bible. It says,  "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" (Isaiah 55:8).  Much of our  trouble  arises from the fact that we do not understand  this basic principle. We forget  that  we  are  dealing with the mind of God, and that God's mind is not like our mind. We see everything  as  cut and dried and simple. We think  that life is one big formula. Do this, do that,  and all will  work out alright. We  tend to think  and feel that there should never be any problems or difficulties. We tend to think that God should always be blessing His own children,  with health, wealth and prosperity. 
But it is not  that simple. 

The Bible  teaches us that the ways of God are unsearchable. The  Bible teaches us  that  His purposes are so great,  that our sinful minds cannot understand them. God  can never be reduced to a formula, and when He is dealing with us, it ought not surprise us if, at times, things take place which are perplexing to us.

Common perplexities are these:  
Why is it that God allows political  tyrants to rule? 
Why does He allow war, and suffering and natural disasters?  
Why does He not deal with the godless as soon as they sin? 
That is our way of thinking. But it is based on a fallacy. God's mind is eternal, and God's ways are so infinitely above us that we must always start by being prepared  by God’s unusual providences.   If we do not do that we shall soon find ourselves in the place where Asaph found himself.

Perplexity Is Not Sinful

Furthermore, it has to be said  that being perplexed is not sinful. Paul himself confessed in  2 Corinthians 4 that  he was "perplexed, but not in despair."  Please note! It  is not wrong to be perplexed, but it is wrong to be in a state of despair and hopelessness. Job was  perplexed, but he continued to hope in God (Job 13:5).   So, when you are perplexed about something that is happening to you, this  does not mean that you are guilty of sin. You are in God's hand, and you say: I do not understand. There is nothing wrong with that. 
But here is the problem…

Perplexity Opens the Door to Temptation

This is what happened to Asaph.  His own suffering as a believer in God,  compared with the seemingly blissful state of the wicked  became a snare and a temptation to Asaph.    He is being tempted so badly that he is becoming discontent with God … and so his spiritual feet were slipping and he was in danger of doubting God.  
This temptation has a blinding effect.  
He says,  “I was envious of the arrogant… the prosperity of the wicked…”  (v.3). This  is the blinding effect of temptation. It comes with such force that we are no longer able to think clearly. The effect  is so powerful,  that  we forget everything else. We forget the primary truths about God  and we begin to believe the lie of the devil who  whispers into our heart, "Don't you think you have kept your heart clean in vain, and washed your hands in innocence?" (v.13)  You pray and you go to church.  There is something wrong with this outlook of yours. You believe the gospel; but look at what is happening to you! Why are you having this hard time? Why is a God of love dealing with you in this  way?  You are making a mistake; you are not fair to yourself." 
Oh, the terrible subtlety of it all. Paul talks of "the fiery darts of the evil one." (Eph. 6:16)
Again, understand that being  tempted in that way is not sin.  
But how  do we deal with  that temptation?   

The Turning point : vv.16, 17 

When did the perspective change  for  Asaph? 
Before all this happened, and when he was trying to figure it all out in his mind. 
It became to him a wearisome task. 
But it all changed when  he went into the sanctuary of God (v.17). 
Getting into the presence of God and under His Word brings  a perspective which we are not capable  to obtain by ourselves. 
This is  a huge insight. 
This is true wisdom.
 Asaph is laying hold of God's wisdom. 

Our generation quickly runs to all sorts of counsellors  and get all sorts of man-centred opinions,  and very often the Word of God becomes  only the last resort.  
See how everything changes for Asaph when he  takes himself into the presence of God.  

See how everything  now falls into place from vv.18-28 .
(i)                 He  clearly understands the outcome of the lives of the wicked (vv.18-20,27)
(ii)              He understands the nature of his own unbelief (vv. 21-21)- that he is embittered  and  like a brute  beast.
(iii)             He understands  what the future holds for  him (vv. 23-26;28)
(iv)              And this brings him back  to the conclusion in v.1

Conclusion 

May God grant us grace to  think biblically about our discontentments.  


Monday, October 22, 2012

Hebrews 13:5 - "Challenges and Encouragements on the road to Contentment"


TEXT :  Hebrews  13:5

TITLE: Challenges  and  Encouragements  on the road to Contentment    

Date:  14/10/2012

The letter to the Hebrews is a letter to  a group of  (Hebrew) Christians  who are  tempted to compromise  their faith- this being tantamount to abandoning the gospel. They were tempted to withdraw from the good fight of faith… enticed by the teachings which threaten the uniqueness of Christ ; they are in  danger of squandering  their birthright in order to purchase temporary relief…”. [1] 

At the heart of the letter to the Hebrews   the writer addresses to deep discontentment  that has crept into  the hearts of these Hebrew Christians. Christ  no longer is sufficient  and supreme  in their lives. When  this happens – when  the first love  for  Christ  is lost (see Rev 2:4)  from the heart of the professing Christian, other loves ( called idols) very quickly  take   the place  that  was  His place. John Calvin is right. The human heart is an idol factory (Institutes). Just as nature abhors a vacuum, so the human heart abhors a vacuum. The heart does not remain in neutral. It soon engages another  love. To the Galatians  who had a similar problem, the apostle Paul wrote: “I am  astonished that you are  so quickly deserting Him  who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning  to a different gospel…” (Gal 1:6)

It is against this background that we need to see the closing  exhortations  of the  writer to the Hebrews in Ch. 13, and particularly this one:  “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  (Hebrews 13:5 ESV)

At the heart  of this text  is the  phrase,  be content with what you have”.  On the left side of that   is   an exhortation  and a  warning: “Keep your life free from the love of money”. On the right side is a promise: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Another way  to  say this  is, at the heart  of this text  is the  phrase  be content with what you have”.   On the  left side is    the  cause of that  which makes us discontent  (the love of money)  and on the right hand  is   the  cure for our discontentment  (God’s provision).

The love  of money is  clearly  another  temptation to the Hebrews who were giving up on Christ  and looking for other loves. Here the writer is echoing something of that which Paul has said to Timothy, pastor of the church in Ephesus (1 Tim 1:3) :
But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.  (1 Timothy 6:6-10 ESV).  Advising his  young pastor friend  in many ways, he addresses  the discontentment  of many church members.

The  Hebrew Christians  apparently did not always struggle with  discontentment. Listen to  this:
“But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.”  (Hebrews 10:32-34 ESV)

This  Hebrew Christian group  to whom this letter is addressed  once   had a Christ centered perspective . They had it in the midst of many trials. They had Christ, and  they lived their lives in sacrifice  for others, knowing  that  they had treasures in heaven (Hebr. 10:34 ; Matt 6:19ff). Those were the former days,    BUT now  they were struggling. They were struggling  among many things  to keep their lives free from the love of money, because somewhere, as I suggested earlier, they  had lost perspective of  their greatest treasure,  who is Christ. 

Let us learn from this that yesterday’s  experience of Christ  isn’t sufficient for today! Christ  must  be  continually walked with, relied upon, and spoken to … daily! God help us  a to guard against  a  religion of yesterday!  Hebrews Chapter 2 is  a chapter that warns us against  neglecting our salvation. Yes, it is true that we are saved  by God’s grace  minus any of our own effort. But how do you know that you  are saved, Christian?  You  must walk in obedience to Christ. And that faith is called the “today   faith  (see  Hebr.  3: 8,13,15; 4:7). In this regard I want to warn you in particular  against  living in the past; living on past victories  (i.e.  falling prey to the Elijah syndrome – 1 Kings 17-19)  where the prophet  fought tirelessly against  evil  and overcame by the power of God, but  lapsed into a deep depression – essentially  because  he  was not careful  to keep  God at the center of his perspective.  Satan  knows when to attack you – when you have  experienced spiritual victories, and  when you are tired and vulnerable  and you are off guard. When you are tired it is not time to take a rest  from spiritual vigilance. You must continue to diligently pray, read the Bible and  worship. Otherwise discontentment or disillusionment  will  catch you quicker than you think. 

With these thoughts in mind then  may I present to you  a very real  dilemma  which I am afraid, many of you are  presently facing  with respect to  the love of money.   

Leo Tolstoy  (1828-1910)  a famous  Russian writer of  short stories and novels, wrote a  short story entitled : “How much   land does a man need?” He verbalizes this problem very well. 

The  central character of the story is a peasant named Pahom. He  complains that he does not own enough land. He says:"if I had plenty of land, I shouldn't fear the devil himself!". Unbeknown  to him, Satan is present sitting behind the stove and listening. Satan accepts his challenge and also tells that he would give Pahom more land and then to snatch everything from him.
A  little later, a landlady in the village decides to sell her estate, and the peasants of the village buy as much of that land as they can. Pahom himself purchases some land, and by working off the extra land is able to repay his debts and live a more comfortable life. However, Pahom then becomes very possessive of his land, and this causes arguments with his neighbours. Threats to burn his building began to be uttered.  He decides to sell  and relocate to another commune  with more available land. Here, he can grow even more crops and  so he  makes  more money.   However he has to grow the crops on rented land, which irritates him. After buying and selling a lot of fertile and good land he is eventually  introduced to the Bashkirs,  who own a huge amount of land which they are  willing to sell. Pahom  seeks  to negotiate as much of their land for as low a price as he possibly  can.  Their offer is very unusual.  For a sum of one thousand roubles, Pahom can walk around as large an area as he wants. He  starts at daybreak, marking his route with a spade along the way. If he reaches his starting point by sunset that day, the entire area of  the land which he has marked will be his, but if he does not reach his starting point as the sun goes down,  he will lose his money and receive no land.
He is delighted as he believes that he  has  hit  upon the bargain of a lifetime. That night, Pahom  has a  dream in which he sees himself lying dead  at the feet of the devil, who is laughing.
The day comes. He stays out as late as possible, marking out land until just before the sun sets. Towards the end of the day, he realizes  that he is far from the starting point and runs back as fast as he can to the waiting Bashkirs. He finally arrives at the starting point just as the sun sets, but he has utterly exhausted himself  from the run,  and Pahom drops dead.
His servant buries him in an ordinary grave only six feet long and three feet wide , thus ironically answering the question posed in the title of the story : “How much land does a man need? The writer to the  Hebrews  reminds us : “Be content with what you have.”

Allow me then  to summarize my observations   concerning  the lack of contentment,  as observed   from the  life of the Hebrew Christians  and from this moving story:

1.     Loosing Christ  at the center of you earthly perspective leads  you to seek for other  things  (counterfeit  gods). Tim  Keller in his book “Counterfeit gods“[2]   writes:  “A counterfeit god is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living. And idol has such a controlling position in your heart that you can spend most of your passion and energy, your emotional and financial resources, on it without a second thought. It can be family and children, or career and making money, or achievement and critical acclaim, or saving “face” and social standing. It can be a romantic relationship, peer approval, competence and skill, secure and comfortable circumstances, your beauty or your brains, a great political or social cause, your morality and virtue, or even success in the Christian ministry. When your meaning in life is to fix someone else’s life, we may call it “codependency” but it is really idolatry. An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel significant and secure.”

2. The end of the story is that your idols (who   stir up continued discontentment) will kill you and  they will leave  dead  at the  feet of the devil, who will be laughing !

CONCLUSION :
   Which side  of the  statement “Be content with what you have “ are you on?
           On the left side ? “Keep your life free from the love of money
           On the right side ? “… for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 

Diagnostic Questions
        1. What do you presently  have in your hand?  Is it really not enough? 
        2. What are you chasing,   and why is it causing you to be breathless  and exhausted, robbing you of your joy and contentment in the Lord?
       3. Is Christ  not sufficient for your needs,   or is He? Answer this question honestly  (if necessary, use  Keller’s checklist again), and then read Matthew  6:25-34  . 



[1] Philip  Edgecombe Hughes : Hebrews, p.12/13
[2] Intro p.18

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