This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis
Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland
County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he
continues teaching through God's Word.
Paul was called to communicate the heart of God.
So Paul wasn't there to protest against slaves.
And we see the word slaves. This is not slaves the way that,
you know, certain groups of people had to endure.
Obviously I'm African American, so my experience and
understanding about slaves is much different.
He's not talking about a group of people who's being oppressed.
Slaves are actually people who serve other people, and some of
them give themselves to do it. What does it look like to speak
God's heart instead of just protesting the world's wrongs?
In today's message, Pastor Lewis explains that Paul was sent to
reveal the heart of God, not to March against every injustice.
When Scripture speaks of slaves, it's not describing the brutal
oppression some groups have endured.
It refers to servants who willingly bound themselves to
another. Paul's calling was bigger than
political reform. How do you focus on sharing
God's heart above every other 'cause now?
Here's Pastor Lewis in the Book of First Timothy, chapter 6,
with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
First Timothy Chapter 6. Now as we go into First Timothy
Chapter 6, this is going to be more about instruction, more
instruction that Paul is giving to his young son, Timothy.
And as I asked you, what helps me because I'm kind of my wife
and myself are kind of visual people.
And I like to envision Paul not just handing Timothy a letter,
but I like to envision Paul sitting before Timothy and
instructing him. Much like the way that you have
mentors that you sit in front of or people that you spend time
with. And I like to envision Timothy
sitting before his father in the Spirit and receiving all these
truths and receiving these instructions and how personal
Paul is about giving those instructions, both corporately
for the church. Because Paul knew that this
would be read. It was intended to be read
before the church, just like it was intended in God's
foreknowledge that it would be read before this church.
Amen. But I'd like to imagine the fact
that Timothy is getting this first hand instruction, these
things that can have serious impact on his life and also on
the life of the church. So as we read through this,
we'll begin to see how God in his foreknowledge and in his
sovereignty, how he speaks to very important situations,
specifically giving instruction to his young pastor Timothy.
So we start with verse one, and he says, let as many bond
servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy
of all honor, so that the name of God and his doctrine may not
be blasphemed. And those who have believing
masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren,
but rather serve them because those who are benefited are
believers. And beloved, teach, teach and
exhort these things. Timothy.
So basically what we're seeing here is that Paul is now
speaking to those who are in the church or about those who are in
the church who are slaves. Now when we see the word slaves
and now a lot of people, you know, feel like, well, wait a
minute. Why is Paul giving him
instructions about how to act as slaves and not being a little
harder about the fact that there are slaves?
And it's a very simple explanation for that.
Paul wasn't called to do that. He wasn't called to protest
against being slaves or not being slaves.
Paul was called to preach the gospel.
Paul was called to teach doctrine.
Paul was called to communicate the heart of God.
So Paul wasn't there to protest against slaves.
And we see the word slaves. This is not slaves the way that,
you know, certain groups of people had to endure.
Obviously, I'm African American, so my experience and
understanding about slaves is much different.
He's not talking about a group of people who was being
oppressed. Slaves are actually people who
serve other people, and some of them give themselves to do it
because they can't pay debts or they can't feed their families
or or they can't take care of themselves.
Or maybe they owed something and because they couldn't pay it,
they were sold into this. So Paul is saying it doesn't
matter about the fact that you're a slave.
What matter is that you are demonstrating godliness in the
fact that you are being a slave. So as we look at this today, how
will we communicate this today? We all have employers and we are
employees, so it would be the same thing.
How do we act on our job? How do we treat our bosses?
How do we respond to things on the job?
Now, this is particularly personal for me because just to
give you a little quick illustration of how wrong we can
do this thing, there was a time many years ago when I worked for
a company and I was one of the only salespeople in that company
and I had a boss. She was a little younger than
me, but she was ambitious. She wanted to work her way up.
So as we were going through different things, there were
some misfilings, there were some sales that got dropped.
And it wasn't me that did it, it was her who did it.
But she was the one who met with the Home Office and she blamed
it on me. And when I found out about this,
I confronted her and I was saved at the time.
And I confronted her and I wanted to know why.
And she admitted that she panicked.
And then she threw me under the bus because it was convenient.
She admitted that. So I had to do a lot of praying
because at that particular time, my heart went cold.
It went very cold. And I said I will no longer go
above and beyond again. I'll only do the bare minimum.
I won't even speak to her anymore.
I'll just come in, go in my office and do what I'm supposed
to do. And at that particular time, I
had a friend that I was in very close contact with and we would
get together from time to time and get into the word of God.
And he called me out on that. He said, brother, you are wrong.
You are wrong and God is not going to do anything to move you
out of that situation until your heart changes hit me right
between the eyes. So I had to repent.
So Paul is saying here, look, it doesn't matter whether they're
believing or unbelieving. You are to honor them.
That means respect them. You're to respect your bosses or
your owners or your masters. You respect them.
Why? So that the name of God and his
doctrine is not blasphemy. I was not being a very good
witness for Christ. Why would this woman ever even
consider being a Christian or giving her life to Christ if
this is how a Christian acts? I was called on that.
So Paul is saying to you just like he's saying to me, we got
to be a witness no matter what situation we're in.
We got to be a witness for Christ.
We have to be an example of testimony so that the name of
God is not blasphemed, so that the doctrine of God, the gospel
is not blasphemed. So then he goes on in verse 2
and he says, and those who have believing masters, let them not
despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them
because those who are being benefited are believers and
beloved. You know, sometimes we can think
that if we're, if we're working for somebody who's a Christian,
you know, we think that we can slide a little bit, then we can
get some privileges that other people can't get.
You know, I can push things a little further to the to the
line. You know, I can push the
envelope a little further because hey, he's a Christian
just like me. You know, he ain't going to tell
on me or he's not going to come down hard on me or he's not
going to hold me accountable. Paula said no, no, we should
honor them and respect them as well.
In fact even more so, we should serve them even more because
they benefit. They benefit from our service of
them and they are brothers or sisters in the faith.
Why we wouldn't want to do anything that would bring or put
them in a position that they would have to make a tough
decision. Why put them in that position?
Why put them in a position where they may have to consider firing
you because you come in late all the time or because you're doing
things that you shouldn't be doing on company time, or
because you're disrespecting them or because your work is
half of what it could be? That's not a good testimony and
you're believing boss doesn't benefit.
So Paul deals with that right from the beginning and then he
goes into verse 3 and he says if anyone teaches otherwise and
does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with
godliness, in other words of the doctrine which conforms with
godliness or the doctrine that teaches godliness.
He is proud verse 4, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with
disputes and arguments over words from which come envy,
strife, revelings, evil suspicions, useless wranglings
of men, of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who
suppose that godliness is a means of gain.
Paul says from such, withdraw yourself.
So he says if anyone teaches otherwise, that means if anyone
teaches against the gospel, against the doctrine, against
the words of Jesus Christ, if anyone teaches against that, as
Christians we should not ever put ourselves in a position to
even listen to or to be persuaded by any doctrine or any
word that is contrary to the word of Jesus Christ, should not
even put ourselves in that position.
But Paul says if anyone teaches that way, you know, they're not
consenting to hold some words. So we shouldn't listen to them
if they're not consenting to hold some words, which are the
words of Jesus Christ and the things that he teaches and to
the doctrine which conforms with godliness.
We know what godliness is. Anything that someone would
teach that's contrary to godliness or God likeness should
not even be listening to that. We should not even be listening
at all. He says that.
Now this is the character of a person that does that.
Verse 4, He's proud. This is a person that's puffed
up with pride. They're teaching because they
want to just spell out their knowledge.
I'm deep, I'm deep. Listen, how deep this is, I'm
going to take another vantage point.
Look at this from another vantage point.
No, we only need to see it from 1 vantage point.
That's from the point of Jesus Christ.
So they start to talk about all these deep words and they get
obsessed. And this is a person who gets
obsessed over disputes. And really, when you study it
out, it's, it's really like a, a very sick desire to argue, a
very morbid desire to get into arguments.
And this is a person who's spilling out false doctrine, but
then they want to argue about it.
They want to create division about it.
They want to dispute with you about it.
You're sharing the word of God. They're talking about their
doctrine and trying to argue, to try to justify it.
And Paul says it's an obsession, it's a evil desire.
It's a sick desire to dispute and argue over words, over words
that they take in A twist to mean what it is that they want
the word to say. Paul said be careful with that.
Now, from this, from someone who teaches that the only things
that come out of that, the result of that kind of teaching
is what follows envy, strife, revelings, which is basically
abusive language, evil suspicions or evil surmisings,
useless wrangling. That's constant friction,
constant friction. People constantly opposing you,
constantly opposing you. You're teaching the gospel and
they're constantly opposing it with their own thoughts, their
own ways, their own words, their own theories, he said.
These are men of corrupt minds. That means their minds are
corrupt. They're defiled corrupt minds
and destitute of the truth, robbed of the truth.
They're robbed of the truth because they've abandoned the
truth for so long. So they're robbed of the truth.
Who suppose that godliness is a means of gain?
This is nothing more than the bad teaching of prosperity
gospel, nothing more than that. To see godliness as a means of
gain. It's a way to get money for
them. It's not about building up
lives. It's not about building people
up spiritually. It's not about for them.
It's not about edifying people or bringing in souls.
It's not about that for them. It's about let's teach this
prosperity message because it entices people and they make
money from it and they're using the gospel as a means, a means
of gain. That is not what the gospel.
That's a covetous attitude. It's a covetous attitude.
And then he says here in verse 6, now godliness with
contentment is great gain. And I just want to talk about
contentment just for a second. Contentment is basically an
inner sufficiency that keeps us at peace despite outward
circumstances. Some people can only be content
if they have enough money. Some people can only be content
if they're with the person that they want to be with.
Some people can only be content if the circumstances are in
their favor. That's the only way they can be
content. Paul is saying contentment is an
inner sufficiency, not based on anything outside of me.
It's not based on my bank account.
It's not based on the size of my house.
It's not based on me driving the car I want to drive.
It's not based on me being with this person.
Not because I like what's inside of them, because I like the way
they look on the outside. Paul is saying that's not what
contentment is. Godliness in the heart is true
contentment. Wealth can't even purchase that
wealth. Can't purchase that kind of
contentment wealth can't purchase it no matter how much
money you get, you still won't ever achieve contentment because
you're going to always want more.
These who depend on your wealth and your riches for peace and
contentment will never be satisfied, will never be
satisfied. But Job looked at it from a
different way back in Job chapter 1 and verse 21, he had a
very healthy perspective of contentment and money.
He says, listen, naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked
I shall return there in the Ecclesiastes 5 and 15, Solomon
said as he came from his mother's womb, naked shall he
return to go as he came, and he shall take nothing from his
labor which he may carry away in his hand.
So contentment has got to be our godliness, because it's our
godliness that goes beyond this world.
Riches only go as far as this world goes.
But once we leave this world, riches does us no more good.
It only goes as far as this world goes.
And Paul says from such people, people who have that attitude,
people who preach those things, he said withdraw yourself.
And he said godliness with contentment is great game for
seven. We brought nothing into this
world and it is certain we will carry nothing out of it.
And having now this is what Paul is saying is that shows
contentment. He says having food and clothing
with fees, we shall be content having food and clothing.
Those are the particulars. Those are the necessary things
that we have. Even Jesus himself said, look,
you know foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but
the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his own head.
He has nowhere to lay his own head.
Matthew 633 said, But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and these things, these necessary things will be
added to you. Contentment is being satisfied
with the situation ordained by God.
So then we go into verse 9, which begins to talk about two
types of people as it relates to wealth, Two types of people.
The first one is those who desire to be rich.
Now these are people here in the church.
We're talking about the church. We're not talking about the
world. The first group of people that
he's talking about are those who desire to be rich.
And he says, so those who desire to be rich fall into temptation,
in a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which
drown men in destruction and perdition.
That's a very interesting picture when you think about
that, being a pitcher person. It says that those who desire to
be rich, they fall into temptation and a snare.
And we know that those things all have to do with what's going
on the inside of us. And the snare are pitfalls that
we fall into. And it says and have fallen to
many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction.
Now it's the picture of a man being taken down underwater,
being taken down and held down, weighted down by destruction by
their lusts and by perdition by their lusts.
They got so many things that they're lusting for.
It's like a weight on them because they can never attain it
all. So it's just constant, constant
worrying and constant striving for something that they can
never really achieve and be satisfied with.
And it's like a weight that takes them down and holds them
and drowns them in it. And then it says here in verse
10. And this is a very well used
scripture, but probably one of the most quoted scriptures.
That we have in the New Testament, it says for the love
of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
Now, money is not evil. God created money, Money is not
evil, he said. The love of it is what's evil.
Because once we develop a love for money, it becomes an idol
and we put it in a position that's even higher than we put
God, and we begin to do all the kind of things in order to
obtain money because of our love for money.
And it said it is not the root of all kinds of evil.
The Bible says it is a root of all kinds of evil.
There are many different paths and ways to end up on an evil
path. Money is just one of them, money
is just one of them. But it is indeed a way to end up
on an evil path. The love of money for which some
have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows, The love of money.
And what is so sad about that? Because the love of money leads
men into many, many ways of air, many ways of air, the desire of
riches are traps. It leads us into bondages and it
causes the word of God to become unfruitful.
It being choked out the cares of this world and the deceitfulness
of riches and the desires of other things.
That's the word speaks about in Mark chapter 4, verse 18, which
in the parable, the sober, it chokes out the truth of the word
and instead people focus on the cares of this world and the
deceitfulness of riches and riches are deceitful and the
desire for other things. These foolish and harmful lusts
will take us down. And it has destroyed many of
people. It's the love of money that has
destroyed marriages. It's destroyed companies, it's
destroyed relationships. It destroys families.
Someone gets a trust or something and and you know,
someone passes and when it's time to go read the will, Oh my
goodness, people begin. I mean, they stop speaking
because they got more than they got.
It breaks up families. People stop speaking for years
over money and the bad thing about it and I've watched this
happen before when it says here for some have strayed from the
faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with
many sorrows. There's so many people that I've
seen I've witnessed myself that has a gift given by God to
either sing. There are great musicians or
very gifted communicators of the word of God, and they may start
out using that gift to serve the Lord.
They start out using that gift to serve the Lord.
But as the love of money creeps into their hearts, because
somebody said to them, you could be making so much more money.
You could be driving so much of A better car.
You could be living in such a bigger house, You could be
having so many more things at your disposure, and they begin
to leave the faith and begin to sing for the world.
And I've watched people as their lives crumble as a result of
that. This has been another
encouraging edition of Living Waters of Grace.
Pastor Louis Harrell has shared some good reminders for us to
learn and walk in today as he's teaching through the books of
First and Second Timothy. There are useful practices and
advice that the apostle Paul offers to Timothy in these books
from a fellow pastor, Paul imparts some wisdom to Timothy
about solid leadership and what some of the criteria should be
for leadership. There are specific passages
directed toward men and women, respectively, and All in all,
there's much to gain in coming to an awareness of God's heart
for each person and God's purposes for each one.
We're happy that you've taken the time today to listen.
We invite you to come here the next edition.
In the meantime, when you have some time to spare today, go
check out our website, calvarychapelonline.com.
There you'll find additional messages as well as a variety of
resources and information about how to meet with us in person.
We're also on Facebook, so you can be a part of what we share
there as well. You can stay plugged in with
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into our live stream. Living Waters of Grace is a
ministry of Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.
Before we go today, we ask that you share this program with
others and invite them to listen on Grace FM at 91.7.
That's all we have for today, but we're so glad that you've
been with us. There's more to dig into here in
First and Second Timothy, so let's gear up for some more
great teachings from Pastor Lewis next time here on Living
Waters of Grace.