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A craving for money, we saw last week, is a mark of false religion. The Spirit of Jesus living in genuine Christians produces a different attitude toward wealth. Yet for all that, they still need teaching on this issue. Paul certainly thought so. In countering the wrong ideals of false teachers regarding wealth, he gives Timothy instructions for the poor, for the rich, and for himself as a "man of God." His words are as much needed now as when he wrote them.
First, what does Paul say to the Christian poor? Picking up on the perverse interest of the false teachers in godliness as "a means to financial gain" (1 Timothy 6:5), he responds by saying that "godliness with contentment is great gain" (v. 6). His use of words is clever. Rather than denying the value of godliness as a means of gain (see what he has written earlier in 4:8), he affirms that it is. However, the kind of gain he has in mind is not financial, but spiritual and eternal. And what is more, godliness is particularly a source of gain when it comes to issues of wealth only when (or because) it is coupled with contentment.
Contentment is the key word in Paul's mind when it comes to speaking to the poor about material possessions. Echoing Jesus' words (Matt. 6:19ff.) he says, "If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that" (v. 8). Contentment is an attitude of settled calm, or of satisfaction, irrespective of circumstances. What Paul means is that provided they have enough to eat and to cover themselves (including shelter), Christians should be satisfied.
This is not to say that we have it within ourselves to be content with mere necessities. That's not the case. We all by nature want more than just enough to survive. No, contentment is not something we find within ourselves, but only in Christ. "This Christian 'secret'," writes John Stott, "is not to be found within ourselves... as Stoics taught and as New Agers teach, but in Christ... genuine contentment is not self-sufficiency, but Christ-sufficiency. That is why godliness plus contentment equals great spiritual gain" (p. 149).
Paul adds a reason why Christians should be content with having "just enough" when he writes, "For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it" (v. 7). This is a sobering but seldom considered reality. Stott captures its importance well when he says "In respect of earthly possessions our entry and exit [into this world] are identical. So our life on earth is a brief pilgrimage between two moments of nakedness" (p. 150). He then adds, "It is a perspective which should influence our economic lifestyle. For possessions are only the travelling luggage of time; they are not the stuff of eternity. It would be sensible, therefore, to travel light and, as Jesus himself commanded us, not to store up for ourselves (that is, to accumulate selfishly) treasures on earth" (p. 150).
It would be wrong to take from this that there is any virtue in poverty, or that there is anything inherently wrong with possessing more than what we need to survive. Paul is not saying that - indeed, he has already said that God is the bountiful and good Creator whose blessings are to be received thankfully (4:3ff.), and he will soon add that this same Creator "richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment" (6:17). What he does mean is that we ought not be agitated and envious when we find ourselves with only the bare essential of life. Or, as Stott puts it, "he is not advocating austerity or asceticism, but contentment in place of materialism and covetousness" (p. 151).
Living simply, with a firm trust in Christ (that is, with godliness), is a recipe for great gain. Christian contentment, as one of the Puritans once put it, is a "rare jewel". But it is one well worth possessing.