seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 Timothy 6:1 All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered. 2 Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even better because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers and are devoted to the welfare[a] of their slaves.
These are the things you are to teach and insist on. 3 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, 21 which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith.
Grace be with you all.
a. 1 Timothy 6:2 Or and benefit from the service
I've been using the easy English all along....
Some masters did not believe in God. To a master like that, the slave was something that he owned. Slaves were there to do what the master wanted. They had no rights of their own. They were just tools of the master. Not all masters were bad but many were.
The slaves had to do what their masters told them. But Christians who were slaves should respect their masters. And they should give them honour. The masters may not be good but the slaves should serve them. Their attitude as they do their work should be that of respect. They should try to do well for their masters.
The reason why the slaves must serve like this is that they belong to God. What they do shows what they believe. Their masters will not speak evil about God if the slaves have the right attitude. But if the slaves do not show their God by their actions, the masters will not turn to God. They will refuse to accept what the Christians teach. They will blame the gospel for the poor performance of their slaves.
They must not make the beliefs that they hold in common an excuse for poor service. Instead, they should work harder and serve better. In this way, they would benefit those who were their brothers and sisters in Christ.
The love of God for both slaves and masters has made them as one in his family. They must then love each other. So, the slaves should love their Christian masters and do their best for them.
Timothy must teach these things to the church members. He must urge all who are slaves to give good service to their masters. They should see this as a duty given to them by the Lord.
The false teachers are vain. They think that they are superior. And they think that they can know the truth by using their own minds. But it is the Lord who shows us what is true. So, by their own efforts, they are not able to understand the truth. They claim to know what is right. But they have no knowledge of the truth.
They always want to discuss things that do not help people to believe in the Lord. They ask questions. And they cause doubts about what the Lord and the apostles have taught as the truth. They like to argue about the meaning of words. They waste time on things that do not really matter. They do nothing to spread the good news of the gospel.
Paul lists five things that result from their arguments. These are envy, spite, bad words, doubts and quarrels.
What they say and do leads people to envy each other. They want to have what someone else has. When they cannot have it, they are jealous.
They have ruined their minds because they refused the truth. They think that they will gain by their religion. But they are wrong. They may get money or fame but there is no real gain in false religion.
So then, we should be content with the things that are necessary for life. We should only want to have the food and the clothes that we need. That should be enough for us.
There are many dangers for those who want to be rich. When they want to gain wealth, their desires tempt them to do wrong things. Once they start doing those things, it is like falling into a trap. It is easier to do worse things than to break free from this trap. It is as if the devil has caught that person. And he will not let go. This trap consists of strong desires that seem to force that person to do more evil.
Those who want to be rich and make that their purpose in life will never be content. They will never have enough. And what they get will not satisfy them. Such desires are foolish and they will cause hurt and ruin in the end.
The love of money is the strong desire to get wealth. It is greater than the desire to love and serve God. It becomes the main purpose in life. That love is like a root. It is like the root from which plants grow. From that source, there come all kinds of evil.
There are people who, because of their desire to get money, have gone away from the faith. It is not possible to serve both God and money. One or other of them must be the more important. Those who reach out to grasp money will lose their grip on the Lord.
There is a danger for those who are rich. The danger is to think that they are better than other people. They may have more wealth and a higher rank in this world. But that does not make them better persons. Such rich persons should not be proud because of what they possess.
They must not depend on what they own. All that they have could vanish in a very short time. They cannot be certain that they will always be rich. When they die, these riches will have no value for them. They will go to someone else. All the money in the world cannot buy life after death. It is foolish to trust in riches for this life and for the future life.
Instead, they should trust in God. He is rich because he owns all things. And all things belong to him. God is great and he is generous to us. He gives to us all that we need for this life. The blessings of God are true riches. He blesses us so that we can enjoy his life. That means the life that he gives.
Rich persons are responsible to God for how they use their wealth. The more they have the greater their duty to use it to do what is good. So, Timothy should tell those who are rich that they should use their resources. Rather than to be rich in money, they should do many good works. This is how to have real riches.
Rich persons have more than enough for their own needs. There is no benefit to them in owning an excess of wealth. They should be generous. And they should share what they have. They should use their wealth for the benefit of those who are in need of their help.
this is from bible_studys.org.The humble servant accepted Christianity willingly with the doctrine of serving. The converted Jews were constantly questioning the doctrine of the Christians. The law, with its class separations, had caused many to reject Jesus and His teachings, because they did not conform to what they had been taught.
This Jewish element in the Christian movement, questioning at every turn, were causing strife among the brethren. They were arguing to keep all the customs of the law. This caused problems with the new Christian converts.
Notice the key words in this: will be. In other words, he is not already rich, he wants to be rich. This means that the person has his mind stayed upon being rich. Sometimes it is a temptation to take short-cuts to get to where you want to be financially. It is not riches that send a person to hell, but the lust of riches.
It is not a sin to be rich. It is a sin to lust to be rich.
The godly do not follow after riches, they follow after righteousness. Those, who are seeking wealth, have no time for other things. Not only are we not to seek riches, but we are to flee from the lust of riches. These things, that are mentioned, are opposite of lust for riches. These are things that come from a humble heart stayed upon God.
To be "righteous" means we are in right standing with God. "Godliness" means that we have patterned our life after His life. Faith is the ingredient that pleases God. To have faith and trust in God means that we are satisfied with the position He has placed us in.
Seeing that these things are just here for us to manage for the Lord, they should be used for good. Possibly, Paul placed this in this letter to Timothy, because the Jews really thought themselves to be better than other people. He is telling Timothy; teach them that these earthly treasures really do belong to God. Teach them to use the treasures the way Jesus would use them, if He were here.
Many decades ago... [I'm old].... I sold a house and made a huge profit. I put the money in the bank but I kept a few thousand dollars just to be stupid with. I actually took all those bills into the bedroom... sat in the middle of the bed... tossed the money up in the air.... and let it rain.... I was so stupid.... so ignorant about money... I thought it would go up... get big... and shower me.... but it didn't... it was the most ridiculous waste of time... the "raining money" experience was a total dud. That's the day I learned... money cannot buy happiness.
I've known a lot of rich people. I was a bookkeeper for over 35 years. I was responsible for accounting for the rich man's money. I had to put the ink on the sheet that I handed to him. He would take that ink on a sheet and compare it to the last ink on the sheet to make sure his riches were safe and growing. I think all of my bosses were the same. The ink on their sheets of paper was what they ran their life by. If their ink was in black they would be happy all day long... but when their ink turned red... well one boss I had would throw things. Those rich people didn't even really possess all their own little shiny baubles... coins... papers.... idols.... they had so many little shiny baubles.... coins... papers... idols... that they had to be counted as ink on a sheet of paper... but they still lusted to have more... more more more... black ink on the sheet of paper.
Yeah I know.... others would say.... given the money they could "make it rain" and they would enjoy it for both of us. Others would say... given the money... they would be generous... they wouldn't get addicted to it.... but as Jesus said... it's easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle than it is for him to give it all up. But I know... [because I tried it again] the "raining money" experience is just really just messy. After all is said and done... those bills just lay there.... they can't even move themselves. I had to clean up the mess.... both times. I've been rich... and I've been destitute, having to break up my family so they could survive.... destitute.
The problem with being rich is the disappointment of it all. Humans who are addicted to money want it all. They want all the money in the whole wide world. They keep bumping into other rich people who want all the money in the whole wide world too. Neither of them can have it all because there are at least two of them addicted to the same limited supply. On top of that... there are lots of rich people... all after the same limited amount of paper.... it's not even living... that thing they are addicted to... it's dead... paper. Sometimes it's just ink on a sheet of paper... but they just have to have it... all of it.... they just have to have it.
Meanwhile.... Christians crave more Jesus..... rich people crave money the same way. Christians, however, have something to share while the rich can only be happy when they have taken everything. Christians have the Spirit that fills them with peace. Rich people have a hole that craves to be filled...
A friend of mine, here in my apartment complex, passed away a few days ago. Her family has been cleaning out her apartment. She was a collector.... not a hoarder... a collector. She had hundreds of little glass figurines. Her apartment was packed with collectables... and fine furniture... and good snacks... she always had good snacks. My friend passed away... and when they started to empty her apartment... you could hear the glass rattling as the box, the pieces were loaded into, slid across the bed of the truck. She had so much stuff... that she loved.... they didn't even bother to wrap the glass in paper. All her wonderful keepsakes... that she dusted so lovingly.... didn't mean a thing.
I'm happy with what I have. Sure... I'd love to move to a cottage on a lake where the summers are cool and the winters are mild. I love to sit on a dock and fish all day... watch the calming ripples on the water..... but I'm happy where I am. My money isn't even ink on a sheet. It's a number on a screen that hubby and I check out when hubby has to make a run to the dispensary or the grocery store. There are a few dollar bills in my purse but they've been there for over a year. We just don't need anything much. I make dolls and bears out of used, worn, t-shirts and other used fabrics. I use what others toss to keep myself amused. We don't need much. When they pack up my stuff.... it'll only take a day.
I have Jesus.... I'm happy.... I don't need any ink on a sheet to make my day.
