1. Albrecht…July 19^th, 2026…Trinity 7…1 Tim. 6:6-12…The Fight of Faith Guarantees Wealth…

⁶ “Now Godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. ⁸ And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. ⁹ But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. ¹¹ But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, Godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

INJ Who preserves our body and soul throughout this life in expectation of the life to come, DFR:

Barry Minkow is known for founding ZZZ Best. It was a Ponzi scheme in the 1980s that claimed to be an insurance restoration business. But by the late 80s, Minkow and others were charged with 54 counts of racketeering, security fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, mail fraud, tax evasion, and bank fraud.

Believe it or not, this wasn’t the end of Minkow’s story. After spending some time in prison, he claimed to find religion and became a pastor. But his actions never matched his confessed turnaround. He was again charged with defrauding both the federal government and his own church, embezzling over three million dollars from his congregation, and sentenced to four more years in prison.

It makes you shake your head, doesn’t it? And yet there is never a shortage of those who, as Paul warned to Timothy a verse before our text, suppose that Godliness is a means of gain. Paul reminds Timothy of what Godliness actually means for the individual Christian. Godliness is not a means to an end for gain in this life. It is desiring that which is in accordance with God’s will. Godliness with contentment isn’t just being happy with what you have, even atheists can do that. Rather, it is being content with what you have because you know that God has given you a wealth not measured by human standards. A wealth eternal. It is why Paul encourages a young pastor Timothy and us today to fight the good fight of faith, for it guarantees that wealth eternal. With these thoughts in mind, let us pray that the Holy Spirit may bless our study of his word.

Sanctify us by your truth, O Lord. Your word is truth. Amen.

Paul does not write these words to Timothy out of ignorance. Throughout his travels and visits to the various congregations, he saw people who had come under the influence of greed. He makes note how some have strayed from the faith in their greediness. Money was their passion and said passion replaced their desire for God and the gospel.

Again, Paul reminds Timothy of what Godliness should be. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Paul does not condemn wealth, nor those who work hard to make good money. The problem isn’t even with money itself. That is a blessing from God that he endows to people in accordance with his good and gracious will. No, the problem is with the heart.

When the heart replaces the love for God, with the love of material things, it is not Godliness. It is sin. Jesus warned about trying to serve both masters. To try and have one foot in the Godly camp and one foot in the love of money camp. He said you will love one or hate the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Everything in this world is transitory. We brought nothing into this world, Paul says. Even in the Old Testament, Job knew this truth. He said, Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. No matter the wealth, prestige, glory, or other earthly gain we may achieve in this life, we ourselves bring nothing out of this world. Psalm 49:17 reminds us, for when he dies he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend after him.

The question, then, is simple. Why do we strive after those things that are present but for a short while? The answer lies in our heart. The heart tells us that in these things there is satisfaction. There is what I need to have enough, and to finally get over the hump and find happiness and joy. But it is a vain promise that the heart makes. A promise that it cannot follow through on.

No, the answer that aligns with Godliness is not that we should strive after these things that are temporary but strive for what is necessary in life. Paul tells us it is food to sustain our bodies, clothing to cover our nakedness. With these we ought to be content. How hard of a lesson is that for us to learn? Especially when we look at our society today. How many of you can imagine going to buy a house and say, “Well, indoor plumbing, that’s not that big of a deal. I can live without it.” We wouldn’t dare do that. No, our needs for this life often expand as our life goes on. It doesn’t’ mean they are wrong in and of themselves.

We might gain much in this life as God dispenses richly upon us. But it is not these things that make us rich towards God. In Luke 12, Jesus told a parable about a rich man who planted his field, had abundant growth, so much so that his storehouses couldn’t fit it all. He built bigger storehouses and finally said, “Soul, you have done well for yourself. Rest and be merry.” But that night, his soul was required of him. And what was of those great storehouses filled with all that grain to him?

If God requires your soul tonight, what good do these things do? Nothing. Rather, it is that wealth eternal, faith in Jesus as your Savior from sin that makes you rich toward God, that allows you to lift up your head at the coming of your Lord Jesus in joyful expectation because you have not laid your treasures here on earth, but with Him in heaven, where moth and rust cannot destroy. In this, we can find our contentment that is truly Godly.

But Paul also warns us of the temptations that we face here on this earth.

Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

Take a look around. It’s impossible to miss how this applies today. Our society is driven by one desire: money. It doesn’t matter whether you are rich or poor. If you are rich, the heart fears it isn’t enough. I need more and more. And if you’re poor, the heart cries out against God for not giving you what you think you need.

People of the sort whose entire mission in life is money have little trouble finding temptation to fall into. Think how the devil laid such a snare for Judas or Ananias and Sapphira. These let their desire of gain cloud their judgment, led them into sin that they would never have thought possible. And yet how great was their fall.

We may think ourselves shrewd, boast of our business, judgment, and ability, glory in our successes. But if it means that we allow these lusts to have free range, we are the fools.

Day after day, this desire becomes food for other sin, physical, mental, spiritual. And rather than bringing the satisfaction it promises, it leaves a gnawing hunger for more until you are dragged down into deep destruction. The church father Augustine said, “A greedy person is dropsy in the heart. The more they drink, the more they thirst.”

It is like that rich man whose soul was required of him. Like Judas when too late realized his foolishness and hung himself. Like Ananias and Sapphira when God’s judgment came upon them. The desire of money brings blindness. Blindness leads to destruction and the destruction that blindness, this desire brings is a very opposite of salvation and eternal blessedness.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. There is no evil that cannot stem from the love of money. And what is often the excuse given for such a desire? Well, it’s I want to make enough so me and my family are happy. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to provide for your family, but what does it cost you? In the pursuit of such a goal, how many have replaced the love of God with this love for money? For how many does desire become their God? And in such a heart, the love of God cannot dwell.

Even when considered successful. What sacrifices are often made? Is it to your family? Who you neglect because of your need to be in the office? Is it to God? Whose house you avoid because you have to make more, or you want to avoid the guilt knowing that what you’re doing is wrong. Or was it about the care, the worry, anxiety, and disappointment that still forces its way into your heart? Because no matter how much you get, it can never quell these things.

One commentator said, “When the love light goes out and the metallic glitter of gold takes its place, all the joys of love fly away and the demons of evil passions assemble soon to pounce upon their helpless victims.”

Let us not be ignorant as that these temptations cannot reach us. Or supposed to test our strength that we might be strong enough to stand. If you see a flooded street, would you think, “Oh, I’ll test my strength by going and standing in the middle of it? No, but the current that is underneath, that you cannot see will sweep you away. So it is with the desire for money. We will quickly be swept away and foolish would be our downfall.

One pastor said, “Faith is a remedy for the garden of sorrows.” Paul would not withhold from Timothy the encouragement he needs to stand against these temptations, a reason to fight the good fight of faith.

 

But you, oh man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, Godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness. Paul’s encouragement to Timothy hinges on him, and us, being a man of God. That is, one who has been called to faith in Christ Jesus, who has the rich treasure of heaven already in our possession. And what are we to do? Flee these things as if they are poisonous serpents, a dreadful disease or the manifestation of the devil himself. But don’t just flee these things simply because they are sin. Rather flee them because in doing so, then we pursue something else: These true virtues of the Christian life.

Righteousness is the very opposite of what we are to flee. It is a right relation that we are have before God and man to be right in character and judgment. And Godliness is the heart of true righteousness. It is a fear, love and trust that looks to God for all that we need in this life, that obeys His word and desires to do His will. And both are built on faith.

Faith apprehends what Jesus did on the cross. His righteousness and godliness far exceed that of our own. His avail before God. And faith then receives His forgiveness for our unrighteousness. And in its place, the righteousness that God gives to us is the very righteousness of God Himself. Faith makes this your own.

Such a faith will then be active in love. The love with which Christ loved you and gave himself for you that now flows through you. And we know what that love is, don’t we? Love is patient and kind. It is long-suffering, free from anger, jealousy and resentment. It is full of gentleness.

These are the chief marks of the Christian life. How different are they from the empty sorrows of a heart that belongs to mammon!

For these virtues cannot help but remind us of our Father’s love, His long-suffering, gentleness, grace and mercy toward us. And do you know the best part? God doesn’t just say, “Here, take enough food and enough clothes to get by. I’ll see you on judgment day. Hope you make it.” No, He actively fills your life with these virtues. He makes you rich day after day with His grace and forgiveness.

As many times as you and I have given place to greed, the desire of worldly gain, God has been faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He reaches out to the heart that struggles with this sinful vice with the Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ reminds us just how rich we are. That our wealth is paid for by the blood of the Son of God, not for strangers, or others who are more virtuous, but for you and for me.

The Lord calls you to flee sin, to pursue godliness with contentment. But it’s not left to you to do alone. He brings that godliness close to you in the pages of Scripture, preparing you to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on the eternal life to which you have been called.

This fight is impossible to avoid for those who have made confession. But it is a confession to which you have been called. How before the foundation of the world, God had already determined to give this inheritance to you. So that before you even had breath in your lungs, how rich were you already!

This fight to hold on to this inheritance is before us day after day. But the weapon with which you have to fight is sharp, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit. And the strength to fight is amply supplied by your Lord, who promises to uphold you with His righteous right hand.

This eternal prize cannot be earned. It is only given by God through His grace. But He gives it to those who believe and maintain the faith, by His grace, in the end. After all, on the Last Day, it is only the hand of faith that is able to lay hold of eternal life.

The one who fights the fight of faith will not be left empty, for they are led by the grace of God. And you will receive that which the desire of money in this life could never fulfill, happiness and joy that has no end.

In this world, we will see many characters like Barry Minkow. We might even find ourselves falling into the same temptation. But God has a solution. He offers to you, forgiveness for sin when we fail and become discontent in what we have or what we’ve been given. But He also gives you the strength and hope to fight the good fight of faith. For by faith, you have laid up for you a wealth eternal, life everlasting. This is your prize. Jesus has guaranteed it. Amen.