Drowning Man 2022 06 05
1 Timothy 6:6 – 12
“Some people are never satisfied.” Many things may catch our eye that we don’t need but would like to have. In fact, most of us have far more than we need, even as we see more we want.
Yet just this month, we have seen or heard the news of the utter devastation in Ukraine, where entire, modern towns have been destroyed and a simple thing like clean drinking water has become difficult or impossible to get. People have lost their homes and everything in them in these once modern and beautiful cities.
What if it happened here? What if you lost everything you now possess? What if you were suddenly like those people in the beautiful resort city of Odessa who were one minute working at their jobs, going to school, and playing in the parks, and the next minute running for their lives as the bombs and rockets from both sides destroyed their homes and lives? What would you do?
Our passage warns about being like a drowning man, washed under waves of destruction and despair… are you in such danger? Could you be like a drowning man?
1 Timothy 6:6 – 12
The world values ownership of personal property, tangible goods, things you can hold in your hand, look at, use, enjoy, of just simply be able to claim ownership of. There is a saying in the world that the one with the most toys when he dies, wins. I am here to tell you that he is a drowning man!
God says from such thinking, from such teaching, to withdraw yourself, for such teaching is perverse, foolish, corrupt – filled with trouble, fighting, arguing, envy and gossip, based in pride, and as we see today, drowns those who believe this way in destruction and perdition.
I Godliness With Contentment is Great Gain
- There is a true saying that money does not buy happiness. Some would say that it can make your misery a lot easier to bear….
- This goes back to the very beginning when God created Adam and Eve.
- Before they sinned, Adam and Eve were perfect, they were completely dependent on God, and they were content.
- Before they sinned, Adam and Eve were godly, they were content, they trusted God completely, and they had everything they wanted, all the time.
- The simple definition of contentment is having everything you want. If you want more than you have, you are not content.
II You Came in with Nothing and you Leave with Nothing
- You did not bring anything with you when you came into this world. That may sound like an obvious statement, but what it means is that you did not add any material wealth to this world when you were born. There was not a net addition of ‘stuff’ to the universe!
- You had no ‘stuff’ when you were born.
- What you have right now is what God has provided.
- What makes people think they should have more? Why are so many people always trying to get more stuff? When you die, all the stuff you gained while here is totally useless to you.
III Food and Clothing Are Enough
- Here in North America, we are spoiled more perhaps than in any other area on earth.
- Not only do most of us have plenty of food and clothing, but we also have houses or apartments to live in, beds, endless running water, entire wardrobes, cars, T.V.s, smartphones, computers, games, vacations, bank accounts, etc., etc…
- What most of the world sees as luxuries, we see as necessities and get all stressed out if we don’t have them.
- The fact is, if you have clothing to keep you warm and food to nourish you, you have enough. That, along with the air that you breath, is enough. Everything else is a luxury!
- Trust God and be content with what you have! God has been SO good to you
IV Chasing Riches Will Drown You vv 9, 10
- While godliness with contentment is great gain, chasing riches will drown you in destruction and loss.
- If your time is being focused on getting rich, you are a drowning man, burying yourself under the filthy waters of vanity, filling up bags with holes with great heaps of nothing!
- If your sights are on wealth instead of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a drowning man, suffocating under the waters of destruction and spiritual ruin, desperately searching for you know not what and never satisfied with anything you find!
- The love of money is the root of all evil
- Note that our Bible does NOT say that money is the root of all evil. It is the much-misplaced LOVEof money that is the root of all evil.
- Money is a tool, just like a shovel or a hoe. Loving it is just as stupid as loving a shovel or a hoe, yet many, by their actions, aspirations and anxieties prove they do.
- But loving money is more than stupid. It is the root of all evil. At the bottom of all the evil in this world you will find this ugly, idolatrous love of money. The love of money is somehow inseparably involved with every evil that man can imagine in this corrupt world we live in.
- Christian, if you covet after money – if you put making money first in your life – you have erred from the faith.
- Question – if you are sick, what are you more likely to miss… work or church?
- If you have put making money first in your life, or even going to work ahead of obeying God, then you have erred from the faith. Your priorities are turning you into a drowning man or woman. You have pierced yourself through with many sorrows.
- Do you ever feel like no matter how hard you try; it just doesn’t work? Are you drowning under a sea of debt? Are you overwhelmed with sorrows and stress? Where are your priorities?
- We may say we do NOT love money, but what do our priorities say?
- Are you a drowning man?
V What do WE Do?
- The Bible says, “But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.”
- Get away from the pursuit of gain. Flee from it! Do not allow the love of money to take hold of you, drowning you under destruction and spiritual ruin, piercing you through with many sorrows!
- Follow after the fruits of a Spirit-filled life. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Gal 5:22, 23
- These come from having your eyes focused firmly on the Lord Jesus Christ, putting him firmly on the throne of your life and planting your feet firmly on the narrow road to heaven that is Jesus Christ! He is our Creator! He is the way, the truth, and the life!
- Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life that comes by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and don’t be a drowning man! Submit to God and live a victorious life! Be holy as your Father in heaven is holy and be content with what God has given you. Let your light shine before men, so that they may glorify your Father which is in heaven!
- If you’re not saved yet, if you haven’t put your faith in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, who came as a man, died for your sins on the cross, was buried, and then rose from the dead, you are in BIG trouble. You need to accept what the Bible says, that you are a sinner, the wages of sin is death, and you’re on your way to hell and eternity in the lake of fire. You need to turn to Jesus Christ, right now, and trust Him to save you and give you eternal life. He already paid for your sins with his own blood. Now you need to trust him and accept his gift of eternal life.
- Christian, you need to take stock of where you are in your relationship with Jesus Christ, right now.
- Is Jesus Christ your friend? Good!
- Is Jesus Christ ONLY your friend, someone you think of now and then who pulled you out of a major jam and continues to pull you out of minor ones until you get to heaven? You need to make him Lord of your life, right now! Put the Lord Jesus Christ on the throne of your life, right now.
Conclusion
Get your eyes back on Jesus and off the temporary glitter of this world. He has promised to look after you. “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” John 14:21 If you love Jesus, live in obedience to him. He will take care of all your needs.