I recently heard a woman tell of her experience in falling for a check clearing scam. An individual told this woman that they had $450,000 for her. They simply needed her checking account number so they could transfer the money to her account. Of course, she was ripped off. I think that many fall for such scams because they are having a love affair with money.
The scams are there all the time and those who are unwise fall into their trap. A couple of years ago I received a request to transfer 10 million dollars into my account from a gentlemen who didn’t know me but somehow thought he could trust me. Now I get these emails all the time. But what made this one different was that in the same week I received a request for help from a woman claiming to be involved in the devastation of the horrible tsunami. Of course she was destitute, however, still had email access. It was at that moment I had one of those perfect ideas that you get once every 50 years or so. I emailed her back and gave her the address of the gentlemen who wanted to give out 10 million dollars.
Well the author of Hebrews details for us the correct attitude that we, as Christians, are to possess concerning financial matters. If we receive this message then we can be assured that we will be good stewards of that which God has entrusted us. But if we neglect the Word we can be just as assured that we will pierce ourselves through with many griefs. The key idea that the author presents to us in this passage is the covetous nature of the world must not be allowed to take hold of us as Christians but instead we must allow the gracious character of God to rule our hearts and lives.
I. The Call to Contentment
There are three actions we must carry out if we are to heed the call to contentment.
A. We must bring our lifestyle under control
The first action we must carry out is that we must bring our lifestyle under control. In verse 5, the author says, “Make sure that you character is free from the love of money.” The word translated “character” is literally, “your way of life.” What is it that characterizes who you are when it comes to money? The author says that your character, shown by your lifestyle must be devoid of the love of money. What does this mean? I think we could point to several places in Scripture that help to define the fact we must bring our lifestyle under control.
The first principle we could glean from this is you must not be consumed with the latest and greatest. Paul describes this in 1 Timothy 6. In verses 6-8 he says, “Godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.” You are consumed with the latest and greatest if you are not content with food and covering. But this is not something unique. We are not the first generation to desire what is fine and new. It is not the generation of the cell phone and palm pilot and executive style vehicle that began this descent into the love of the latest and greatest. It has been around for millennia.
In Luke’s gospel, he describes the Pharisees of Jesus’ day as “lovers of money.” They scoffed at Jesus when he spoke about the proper use of money. And look at the man, Achan, from the time of Joshua. Israel was commanded to enter the city of Jericho but not to touch any of the possessions of the people. From Achan’s own account he said, “When I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle (cloak) from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold of fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them.”
Unfortunately many in the Christian realm do not check their passion for the latest and greatest. Of course they have all kinds of excuses for this but refuse to stop and listen to what they are really saying. “You don’t want me to be out of date do you?” If I get the generic sneakers instead of the custom sneakers that cost $80 more everyone will think I’m weird. I must have a new car, after all mine has almost 40,000 miles on it. I’ve got to have a cell phone, and cable and high speed DSL to keep track of everything that is going on around me. You don’t want me to be out of touch do you? I need a new pair of shoes because mine are scuffed. I need a new coat because mine has a tear in it and it would look silly to walk around with a coat that was re-sewn.
The love of newer or better things than we have is a sign that our covetousness is showing. You may have chuckled at the examples I used only because I didn’t hit on your particular one.
The second principle from Scripture we can glean to show that we must have our lifestyle under control is that you must not succumb to the weighty pull of advertising. In Ephesians 5:3 the apostle Paul says that greed (or covetousness) must not even be named among the saints. But what is advertising? It is the attempt to cause you to desire something you had not previously needed. In other words advertisers are attempting to cause you to covet. Now I suppose that there are some actual items you discover you really need from advertising but think about what normally happens. You are listening to or watching a commercial and within you there develops this feeling that you are truly missing something. You now have a “need” for something you didn’t previously recognize as a need. Why is this? Because you are not content with “food and covering” as the apostle Paul says. Coveting is one of the subtlest of sins because we are such good justifiers. And if we don’t check the weighty pull of advertising then we will succumb to it. Why do we buy things just because they looked neat or interesting? We are covetous. We desire things that we do not need for their novelty.
The third principle from Scripture we can glean to show that we must have our lifestyle under control is that you must learn to live below your means. Yes I said, “below your means.” In Ephesians 4:28, Paul says, “He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.” As Christians, our minds are to be set on meeting the needs of others. If we find ourselves continually in debt up to or beyond our ability to pay, how will we ever be able to help those around us who are truly in need? Don’t think helping those in need is singularly relegated to the work of the church. Individual believers, who see individual needs, should look to meet those needs out of their surplus. Paul said that we cease to become thieves, not when we work, but when we “have something to share with one who has need.” Paul stated the principle clearly in 2 Corinthians 8. Giving to help meet needs is not “for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality.” We don’t give to cause ourselves to be afflicted. Unfortunately so many Christians are slaves to their wants they cannot give because they have nothing left over to give. We are to provide for our needs, but as God gives us opportunity, we are also to look to meet the needs of others. If you are to do this you must learn to live below your means.
The fourth principle from Scripture we can glean to show that we must have our lifestyle under control is that you must determine to serve God or you will find yourself serving money. You cannot do both. Those who make a pretense of doing so are liars. In Luke 16:12, Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money].” Money is not evil. The Bible says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Either you are going to use money and serve God or serve money and use God. Even in the realm of Christian ministry this can be prevalent.
Jim Cymbala, pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle relates these words in his book “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire.” He says, “I am dismayed at the contracts required by some contemporary Christian musical groups. To perform a concert at your church, the stated fee will be so much (in either four or five figures) plus round trip airfare – often in first class, not coach. Every detail of the accommodations is spelled out, down to ‘sushi for twenty persons’ waiting at the hotel, in one case. All this is done so that the group can stand before an inner city audience and exhort the people to ‘just trust the Lord for all your needs.” The commercialization of Christianity has become its bane. We must ask ourselves if there are those who are not willing to serve the Lord except for so much are they really serving the Lord or themselves?
Let me quickly list some steps that we can take in overcoming covetousness so as to bring our lifestyle under control. First, accept the love of money as an ongoing battle. We must recognize that if we cannot serve God and money then we must crucify the love of money as a part of the flesh that seeks to set itself against God. Secondly, recognize the emptiness of the material and temporal and the fullness of the spiritual and eternal. The material and temporal leave us empty because they never satisfy. Thirdly, develop a wartime lifestyle. John Piper says, “There is a war going on. All talk of a Christian’s right to live luxuriantly ‘as a child of the King’ in this atmosphere sounds hollow – especially since the King Himself is stripped for battle…A wartime lifestyle implies that there is a great and worthy cause for which to spend and be spent.” Fourthly, explode the omnipresent economic lie of American merchandising that the only sin you can commit in relation to money is stealing. Lusting for it is equally destructive and anything that feeds that lust should be repudiated. The American lifestyle has caused us to focus on ourselves and our ultimate comfort. When we do this we neglect Scripture that is replete with examples of the righteous person lending to those in need. The Scripture says that He who is gracious to the poor man lends to the Lord.
B. We must bring our thought life under control
The second action we must carry out if we are to heed the call to contentment is we must bring our thought life under control. As the author continues in verse 5 he says, “being content with what you have.” Contentment is primarily a matter of the thought life that leads to a way of life. If your thought patterns are not controlled then neither will your lifestyle be. You can cut up credit cards but if you do not change the way you think you will not go far in the battle.
In his letter to the Philippians, the apostle Paul described his trek into contentment. He called it a learning activity. He had to think rightly concerning the sovereignty of God in bringing him into differing circumstances. In 4:11-12 he said, “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.” This learning process required that he rely completely on Christ’s strength to enable him to think right in the midst of hardship.
Contentment begins in our thought life. Paul reflects earlier in the chapter on the necessity to have our mind set on those things that are right. We cannot overcome in this area if we are not thankful for where we are and what we have right now.
C. We must listen to the Word of God
And this brings us to the third action we must take if we are to heed the call to contentment. We must listen to the Word of God. In the middle of verse 5, the author says, “for He Himself has said.” The basis for this call to contentment is God’s Word. God continues to call us to content ourselves in Him. If we are not listening to the Word of God or twisting the Scripture to make it say that we must be rich if we are to be obedient Christians then we will never be content. There are people today whose “health and wealth prosperity gospel heads in the completely opposite direction as the Word of God. But again this is not something new. Paul dealt with it in 1 Timothy 6. He says, “If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words…and the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words…men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain…but those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction…and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith. What is this faith from which those who see godliness as a means of gain leave? It is faith in the Word of God. The Scripture says nothing about wealth and prosperity as the goal for the Christian unless you are speaking of spiritual prosperity. God may prosper the believer financially but this is a far cry from those who would say that this is God’s will for each believer. These who teach this have left the faith.
II. The Secret of Contentment
We have looked at the call to contentment now let’s look at the secret of contentment. And the author describes two places in which the secret of contentment is found.
A. Confidence in God’s faithfulness
First, the secret of contentment is found in having confidence in God’s faithfulness. At the end of verse 5 the author says, “for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.” The quotation is taken from several Old Testament passages. The author is referencing Genesis 28:15, in God’s promise to Jacob, Deut. 31:6-8 & Joshua 1:5 in which God reassures the Israeli leaders of His continued sustenance of their mission.
The author wants us to understand that we can have confidence in God’s faithfulness. As His children through Jesus Christ we can trust in the fact that God will not forsake us. Since we are in Jesus Christ, the Father will not turn His back on His own Son. We can rest assured that the faithfulness of God extends to us.
Inordinate desire to be satisfied with things instead of with the living God takes place when a person will not put their trust in God through His Son Jesus Christ. Things, objects, people are needed to comfort this individual because they can find no comfort trusting an unseen God. But the God of Scripture is faithful. He always fulfills His promises and what He says He will do.
Let me ask you, “If you were to have everything on this earth taken away what would you have left?” One day everything you have here will be taken from you. Are you content in that? You can’t be unless you are trusting in the God of Scripture who is faithful.
At the end of 1 Timothy 6, Paul tells Timothy these words, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future.” Paul doesn’t say that being rich is wrong but that trusting in the riches rather than trusting in God is wrong. And he makes it clear that they are to use their wealth to advance the cause of the Gospel by being rich in good works and sharing.
If you are going to be content, your trust needs to be in the faithful God who will never leave you nor forsake you. Others may have left you and forsaken you. But God will not. He is faithful. Remember that covetousness does not mean you have a lot. You can be dirt poor with almost nothing and not be content. It is the attitude of the heart not the amount in your account.
God will be faithful to meet your needs. Sometimes when it seems that people’s needs are not met it is not because God is unfaithful to His child but because God’s child has wrongly assessed his or her needs. I was listening to Crown Financial ministries radio program once and a woman called in to describe her situation and seek their counsel. She said that she had been disabled. She received an amount of money from the situation but it was not sufficient for her to stay in her home. But it would be sufficient for her to move into an apartment and she was looking for the opportunity to sell her home and move. Now how many Christians finding themselves in a similar situation would complain that God was not meeting their needs by not letting them stay in their home? Show me in the Scripture where it says that every Christian is entitled to a home? If we have food and covering let us be content. We must be careful that we do not confuse the American dream with God’s plan. Let us not allow convenience and necessity to overlap in our quest to serve Jesus Christ.
B. Confidence in God’s righteousness
Secondly, the secret of contentment is found in having confidence in God’s righteousness. The author of Hebrews says in verse 6, “so that we may confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?’” The author is quoting authoritatively from Psalm 118, verses 6&7. The theme of the psalm is that the plans of the wicked will be thwarted because of the righteous action of God. The great reassurance of saints in all ages is that God is righteous. Abraham made the declaration in Genesis 18:25, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do justice?” All those who have trusted God have realized that though life may not be just, God is. And those wrongs we have received because of our faith in Christ will be made right. This should be a great source of contentment for us.
Too often we look at what we miss out on because of our stand for Christ, but if we do, we are looking in the wrong place. It’s not fair that I can’t make as much as the other salesmen because I won’t lie. It’s not right that I lost my job because I wouldn’t cook the books for the boss. I can’t stand that my co-workers ridicule me because of my faith in Christ. Viewing these unjust conditions in this way is shortsighted.
Confidence in God’s righteousness makes any inconvenience (whether little or big) for the sake of Christ appear insignificant. If God is truly going to make all things right (because He is just) then we should rest in this truth. We should live in light of the righteousness of God. This is why Paul was able to call the tribulation, persecution and hardship he endured, “momentary, light afflictions.” Think about what he called momentary light afflictions. In 2 Corinthians 11 he described them as, imprisonments, five times he received 39 lashes, three times he was beaten with rods, he was stoned by a mob, he was shipwrecked, he spent a day and night in the sea, etc. Why was he able to endure these gladly? God is just. He will make all things right in His time.
We must repudiate the love of money. Money may be our tool but it cannot be our master. Are you content with what you have and who you are and what you are doing? Find contentment by having confidence in God’s faithfulness and God’s righteousness. Only by setting your mind on the God of Scripture, who will never forsake the believer and who will bring justice to every matter, can you be content. And as you do, live like a Christian. Bring your lifestyle under control, bring your mind under control and listen to the Word of God. Make sure your character is free from the love of money. And where it is not repent.