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. [1 Timothy 6:9 ESV]
Towards the end of the 20th Century, there was considerable publicity over American evangelists who were accused of preaching a "prosperity Gospel." There were big names associated with this movement - Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart. This was a very attractive message to people in Africa or areas throughout the world where poverty was rife. These television evangelists used the media to preach a very powerful message which could be summed up as follows: "If you join this Church and give generously you will be blessed with material prosperity." Some evangelists became obscenely wealthy from the generosity of their expanding congregations. Basically the simple message was that God would give you your heart's desires: money in the bank, a healthy body, a thriving family and boundless happiness. Sounds good, eh!
This is a world away from the values of my family who were devout Christians and who lived simple, unpretentious lives. The Bible teaches that salvation is not something we can pay for or earn. We do not deserve anything from God. That is contrary to the current assumption that we are entitled to so many things from God. We are entitled to good health, good weather, a good job, a good house and the list could go on. For some people, the list would include a cruise several times a year and a meal out in an expensive restaurant at least once per week.
The word 'entitlement' is not found in the Bible. When I was much younger I was an assistant head teacher at Garnock Academy in North Ayrshire and I attended meetings of TVEI - short for Technical Vocation Education Initiative. At that time, there were hardly any computers in schools. Children did not get access to exciting new information technology. TVEI was all about forcing changes in secondary schools across Scotland to make the curriculum more relevant to the modern world. They came up with a series of 'entitlements' - every young person was 'entitled' to a number of things. This was their right. And parents were informed in the press about these things that every child was entitled to receive in school. I cannot remember the list- I guess that every child was entitled to spend a certain amount of time on a computer- and computers were only in a small number of classrooms such as computing and business education. So many young people did not have access to a computer in school. Another entitlement was that every young person in fourth year at school was entitled to a week's work experience.
This was in the 1980s and we heard a great deal about people's rights. Everyone had a list of things they thought were part of their entitlement. The list would include a job which paid a good wage. It would also include a car and a holiday abroad each year. The list of things we felt entitled to was growing all the time. And the whole idea of entitlement led to dissatisfaction. If we are missing out on something we regard as important and even essential, we become unhappy and restless. This was the age of blatant consumerism and materialism. If someone we knew had a better house than we had, we became envious of them. People borrowed freely to satisfy this urge for more and more material things. They got heavily into debt.
Janie and I looked into the history of the Neilly family who came from Northern Ireland with nothing much more than the clothes on their backs. My great grandfather had failed to make a living in the USA and the family had come back to Northern Ireland and then tried their luck in Scotland. They were not Christians. In the village of Barrmill in Ayrshire, all four boys and three girls became Christian - against the wishes of their parents. They married and set up homes for themselves. In the town of Barrhead in Renfrewshire were two brothers - James Neilly and Joseph Neilly. They never became wealthy. They were both married to Christian wives and they loved the Lord. They lived very simple lives in a tenement building - probably a room and kitchen. They had no desire for wealth or fame. Material things did not matter much. They worked hard in manual labour in Shanks factory in Barrhead. They loved the simple meetings in the Gospel Hall. They never had a car or a telephone or a television or a holiday abroad. They had learned Paul's secret for happiness.
Paul writing to Timothy spoke about contentment.
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. [1 Timothy 6: 6-8 ESV]
Paul has been talking about a group of false teachers who were teaching that 'godliness is a means of gain.' In other words, if you want to be well-off materially, become a Christian. This is still taught in some churches today but Paul said a definite 'no' to this. He turned their formula on its head.
Here is the formula of the false teachers Godliness = profit [The word gain means 'profit']
Here is Paul's formula Godliness + Contentment = Great profit [Again he uses the word 'gain']
Paul is not thinking of material profit or financial gain. He is talking about spiritual profit. He points out the harmful consequences of a desire to be rich. These people who are so desperate to be wealthy are at risk of falling into temptation. The love of money is a snare that will plunge them into ruin and destruction. He concludes with the phrase which is often misquoted
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. [1 Timothy 6:10 ESV]
This sort of teaching is not popular in our materialistic society. I am more and more convinced that Paul is right. If we want real contentment, then we make the kingdom of God our priority. If we want spiritual profit, we make Jesus Lord of all our life and we discover the blessing of real spiritual contentment whatever our circumstances. The idea of entitlement is harmful in spiritual matters. It has crept into our thinking. The dangers of the 'prosperity gospel' are much deeper than we might think. The rewards we expect from God are not just monetary or materialistic. We expect that God will give us a good quality of life and that anything which disturbs this must be removed. Paul had 'a thorn in the flesh' which he does not define or elaborate but he prayed three times to ask God to remove this from him. God's answer provides a basic lesson for us all. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" [2 Corinthians 12: 9a) Sometimes we pray selfishly - I have done that many times. And we are disappointed when God does not answer our prayer. God may permit things in our life for our good - so that we will learn to trust Him more.
God wants us to learn the lesson of contentment which is completely independent of our circumstances. Christians in Scotland don't seem to be learning this lesson. Maybe God will have to use drastic measures to teach us this basic lesson in the pathway of faith.
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