Safe Journey - Brian Taylor

 If you have ever seen the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, you know that one of the major events was Frodo and Sam’s journey to Mordor. In order for Frodo to fulfill his task of destroying the Ring created by Sargon, he had to journey into the heart of evil Mordor, to Mt. Doom (where the ring was created) and cast into in the lava pit. One particular memorable scene has Frodo and Sam, after journeying through Mordor for a period of time, stopping and realizing that they have been going around in circles. They have no idea how to navigate through Mordor to get to their appointed destinies. And Mordor was no place to get lost, for it was loaded with dangerous hazards. They needed a guide to lead them through their hazardous journey, and a guide they did get, though not a faithful guide. 

In this present evil age, we too are on a journey, but, thankfully, not to Mt. Doom. Rather we are on the journey to Mt. Zion, the city of our God, to that heavenly Kingdom of our God. Yet, we are traversing through a hazardous place right now, as the Scriptures call this present age we are living in an evil age. We need a guide ourselves and our God has supplied us with that guide. But unlike Frodo and Sam, ours is a faithful guide, for it is the infallible and inerrant Word of God. By following its counsel, we can avoid the hazardous terrain before us, with full confidence that we will arrive at our destination, the heavenly Kingdom of our God. Indeed, the Holy Scriptures, specifically 1 Timothy 6:2-8, warns us to avoid three hazards. Because we aim to safely arrive into God’s heavenly Kingdom, we must avoid false teachers, discontentment and the allurement of riches. 

First, our guide warns us to αvoid false teachers, a warning we find in 2b-5. As Paul is drawing to the conclusion of his epistle to Timothy, he echoes his initial comments to Timothy back in chapter 1 (vv. 3-7), reiterating his warning to Timothy regarding false teachers. Paul, in v. 3, even employs the same word to describe the activity of these false teachers that he utilized in 1:3. Paul says they teach a different doctrine. Paul also offers a description of these teachers. He says that they are puffed up with conceit and understand nothing. He further describes them as having an unhealthy craving for controversy and quarrels about words. Such teaching has deleterious effects upon the church, as Paul also makes clear.  Because of their unhealthy desire for controversy and quarrels over words, such will produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. When false teachers are tolerated, such will have a devastating effect upon not only the purity of the church, but the peace and unity of the church, as they will stir up dissension, especially amongst those who are not true believers.

Of course, this is why we as a church must avoid such teachers, so as to not only protect the purity of our doctrine but also the peace of our community. Now how we avoid such men in the life of the church does involve many factors. In our setting, as Associate Reformed Presbyterians, we have a doctrine of ordination, which indicates the necessity of an educated ministry. Also, referring again to our setting, should you fear a minister or elder to have strayed from the truth, you have a place to turn to get relief; namely what we call the courts of the church (session, presbytery and synod). But let me especially emphasize we have a confession and catechisms that contains the system of doctrine as taught in Scripture. We have the Westminster Standards, to which we can turn to learn sound doctrine and find our needed shield against error and falsehood. I sense in the broader Reformed and Presbyterian world a renewed emphasis upon a more vibrant confessionalism. And I am a great advocate of this renewal, as it does provide the church and her members with great help in avoiding false teachers. Make sure to learn your confession and study your catechisms and so arm yourself against those who expound a different doctrine. 

Our guide, Holy Writ, not only warns us to avoid false teachers, but it likewise warns us to avoid discontentment. The last descriptor in v. 5, imagining that godliness is a means of gain, is perhaps referring to the motives of the false teachers themselves or is speaking of the type of “Christian” who is susceptible to the false teaching. To whomever the phrase might refer, the thought is simply that such see godliness as a means to personal riches. 

Paul indeed admits that there is great gain to the practice of godliness, but it is not financial gain. The gain we accrue from the practice of godliness is the joy, the satisfaction, the peace that springs from living a life of obedience to our God; a life in which our conduct mirrors our faith in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Such a life is of great gain, as long as we rightly deal with the financial component of this life.

And that is Paul’s focus in vv. 7-8, being content with our financial situation and the life such provides. As we read v. 7, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world, one cannot but help to think of the words of Job, after he had lost his material possession: 

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." - Job 1:20-21

One is additionally reminded of the teaching of our Lord (Matt. 6:19-21)

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. - Matthew 6:19-21

What we possess pales in comparison to our relationship with God, as one of our Lord’s parables points out (Luke 12:15f):

And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry."' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” – Luke 12:15-21

Do we so value our relationship with God that should we lose all things, we could still say with Job: The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD? Far too many Christians have not learned to rely upon Christ and his strength whereby we are enabled to be content with whatever state of life the Lord has called us. If all we should have is food, clothing and some sort of roof over our heads, then we should be content and even give God great thanks for his bountiful gifts. No, I do not believe God has called Christians to a life of impoverishment, but rather to a life of contentment. He has called us to a willingness to accept wherever the lot should fall, without seeking to make the goal of our life financial gain. 

Saints of the Living God, to find the sort of holistic gain which godliness does provide, we must avoid discontentment. To be transparent, this has been a great struggle for me. I have been, too often, driven by a sense of personal discontentment (and not of the godliness kind). My own struggle was not so much with money, but with other facets of life, such as influence and recognition. Yes, I know our culture says and does otherwise. I know our culture stresses financial gain and its accompanying lifestyle as the highest goal of life. But this is not the truth, for it is not the guidance of Scripture. Contrary to the falsehood of our culture, one who believes Christ and lives a godly life, will find greater satisfaction, joy and peace than the richest unbeliever in the world.

And belief in Christ is all-important, for one cannot live according to godliness if one has not believed upon Christ. The only way you can live a godly life is by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and receiving all of his salvific benefits, including the desire, inspiration and power for godliness. My friend, if you want a life of holistic gain, then the godly life is for you. Today, that life can be yours if you will but believe upon Christ Jesus, trusting him and his atoning work for you forgiveness before God and spiritual renewal, by which you do begin to live a godly life. We must avoid discontentment because our ultimate aim is not what this present life provides but what life we will enjoy in God’s heavenly Kingdom. And for that reason we must also avoid discontent and it’s flip side, the allurement of riches. 

To avoid the allurement of riches is the third lesson our guide, Holy Scripture, does teach us, specifically in vv. 9-10. Paul, again, returns to the desire some have for riches and in doing so, he has a stark and sober warning: 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. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. Here we potentially see a certain progression of experience. An unbeliever, because of their corrupt desire for riches, opens himself to temptation, such as the temptation to rob, kill and destroy just to obtain those riches. This provides opportunity for Satan to trap him in his snare, which results in many senseless and harmful desires. Their end, though, is not happiness and a blissfulness, but ruin and eternal destruction. As a secondary cause (with the primary cause being the election of God, or non-election in this case), how many have turned their back on the Christian gospel because of their love for money? How many compound their sin by committing all kinds of evil deeds due to their love for money? 

But before we point an incriminating finger at the rich man and think such a passage applies first and foremost to him, I would caution the poor man of his vulnerability. To be clear, Paul is not here stating that to have riches is wrong. The warning is for those who desire riches, which can and often does include the poor. The senseless and harmful desires of envy and covetousness is often a special problem for the poor man. So regardless of your financial situation, you must seek to avoid the allurement of riches. 

We must further note that while the warning of v. 10, concerning the wandering from the faith, deals with the unbeliever and his plight, true believers can fall into the snare and, for a time, wander from the faith because of the allurement of riches.  And though we are promised the Lord’s eventual restoration, we will, in that temporary state of apostasy, pierce ourselves with many pangs. How much better to heed the guidance of Scripture and avoid the allurement of riches, as we journey to the heavenly Kingdom.

But the allurement of riches is such a powerful passion, however can we avoid it? For that matter, considering our weaknesses and imperfections, how can we trust in ourselves to avoid any of these hazards. While we must harken to the guidance of Scripture and seek to so obey its counsel, we do not place our trust in our own wisdom, strength or ability to avoid these hazards. No, to safely arrive in God’s heavenly Kingdom, we place our trust in the God who has revealed himself in Christ and claimed us as his own by the effectual working of his Spirit in our lives. As Paul himself declares in 2 Tim. 4:18: 

 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 

Our guide, Holy Scripture, does assure those who have placed their trust in God of a safe arrival in his heavenly Kingdom.