When my granny died some years ago, she left
me a stack of Charles Dickens books, of which
this is one, and they all look like this. And
I felt they were lovely, a beautiful bit of the
past. And then last Christmas, I realised I'd
never read A Christmas Carol. I'd seen it on
screen. I knew the story about the grumpy guy
and the family and the greed and all of that.
But I thought, I have to read it. So I got this
book. These old books are so heavy, they're really
hard to read in bed because you're trying to
hold it above your head. So they weren't designed
for that. But I thought, it's a beautifully drawn
picture. If you've read the story, you've seen
the story. Scrooge. is a disgustingly greedy
man isn't he only such a guy is there is there
another portrait of financial greed in all of
literature or film as good as him he's so well
drawn you know he's he his business partner Marley
is dead but it doesn't seem like he ever liked
him anyway he is a nightmare to work with he's
got the one employee Bob Cratchit who's a nice
bloke but um Scrooge sits next to this little
coal fire which Dickens says is quote a very
small fire because he's too stingy to put more
fuel on the fire. But then Cratchit is only allowed
a smaller fire than Scrooge. So Cratchit is allowed
one lump of coal on his fire. He is so greedy,
this man. Everybody is glad when they hear Scrooge
is dead in his vision of the future, even his
distant relatives. And then Dickens draws the
contrast with the Cratchit family, which is utterly
beautiful in my mind, especially Tiny Tim. Scrooge
gets this vision of the Cratchit family on Christmas
Day. They live in a humble home. There's Peter
who's hoping to get a job and he's practicing
being a man of business. So he's got a big collar
and stands up really tall and he's practicing
what he'll say and everybody laughs at him. And
then Martha has a job as an apprentice milliner
and she's just got one day off on Christmas Day
and she's really looking forward to a lie -in.
They pass the chestnuts and the jug round and
everybody is happy and Mrs. Cratchit's made this
tiny little Christmas pudding which she's so
pleased with and everybody gets a spoonful. And
then Tiny Tim comes in with his crutch and he
sings a song in his little voice. There you go,
there's a picture. Then Dickens says, thank you,
let's have the quotation. There was nothing of
high mark in this. They were not a handsome family.
They were not well -dressed. Their shoes were
far from being waterproof. But they were happy,
grateful, pleased with one another and contented
with time. Scrooge had his eye upon them and
especially on Tiny Tim until the last. How can
we be a tiny Tim for our generation? How can
we be aware of money but unspoiled by money?
How can we, in other words, be content? I was
asked to preach on 1 Timothy chapter 6 for a
church last Sunday. They needed help and they
needed 1 Timothy chapter 6. So I preached, I
agreed to preach the whole chapter. I basically
regretted it because there's so much in 1 Timothy
chapter 6. And I thought, oh, goodness. So thank
you for the opportunity to have me this lunchtime.
And I just thought, well, let me try and just
do it shorter and better and hone in on the one
paragraph where I really felt the Lord was speaking
to me. And I hope this might be a blessing to
you. 1 Timothy 6, 6 to 10. 1 Timothy is a pastoral
letter. It was written to a junior leader. And
although it covers many topics and there are
many... topics that young leaders need to be
addressed with. The focus on money in 1 Timothy
chapter 6 is striking. We have it there in front
of you, just money services in verse 5. It talks
about godliness being a means of financial gain
to some people. It runs into the next paragraph,
6 to 10, where we'll focus. But then it repeats
again at the end of the chapter in verses 17
following. It's as if the apostle couldn't conclude
his pastoral letter to his young pastor in training
without saying, Tim, look out for money. I know
ministry brings its own pressures and trials
with money. So I'm speaking to myself as much
as to you when I say, should we just come back
to this issue of greed and money and search and
ask God for contentment such that we could say
in every season of life, I have God, I have his
gospel, I'm okay actually. I don't need anything
else. If you're interested in that, then I'd
love to speak to you. Because it's financial,
it's quirky, but I'm going to try and do this
in two financial equations. Okay, so the first
one goes like this. Godliness plus contentment
equals great gain. This is verses six to eight,
first of all. Godliness plus contentment equals
great gain. Let's begin in verse six. But godliness
with contentment is great gain. Do you see how
the apostle deliberately reaches for a financial
word to describe a non -financial thing? Gain
is a profit word, it's a financial word. So he's
saying, you actually are rich if you have godliness
with contentment. I think the way he contrasts
it with verse five means you are richer if you
have godliness with contentment than if you had
it. A bank account bursting with cash. Godliness
is a key word in 1 Timothy. It comes up in chapter
2, chapter 3, chapter 4, several times in chapter
6. Let me just show you one which I think helps
inform this. If you have a Bible there, chapter
3, verse 14. Chapter 3, verse 14. Here you find
the author's purpose in 1 Timothy, as you may
know. Paul says, although I hope to come to you
soon. I'm writing to you with these instructions
so that if I'm delayed, you will know how people
ought to conduct themselves in God's household,
which is the church of the living God, the pillar
and foundation of the truth. Beyond all question,
the mystery from which true godliness springs
is great. And then he goes on to talk about the
Lord Jesus Christ. He appeared in the flesh,
was vindicated by the spirit, was seen by angels.
was preached among the nations, was believed
on in the world and was taken up in glory. So
godliness for Paul springs from Christ. It's
this deep appropriation of the mystery of God
the Son incarnate, the risen and reigning Lord.
Okay, can you come back with me to chapter six
and you just use that to flesh out our statement,
godliness plus contentment is great gain. Can
I... Can I therefore fill in that word godliness?
I think what he's saying there is I have Christ
in everything that comes out of him, Christ in
all the gospel, and I'm content with that. That's
great game. That is enough for me. I think I
would say if I could have that godliness and
contentment, then that is a warm -hearted evangelicalism
that I can spend my life in. By implication,
I think it's possible, would you say, to have
godliness without contentment? I think the apostle
is implicitly saying, you could have godliness,
you could have the gospel, you could know doctrine,
but not be content. And that, to my mind, is
a kind of miserable orthodoxy. Like, oh, I know
the truth, I'm just not happy with it. I'm not
content. I'm not interested in that. I am interested
in that, but it just didn't go far enough for
me. I was here as a student 10 years ago and
graduated nine years ago from Oak Hill. I feel
now my Oak Hill friends' main ministry to me
is to pick me up off the floor when I'm very
weary and discouraged and saying stupid things.
And they say to me, come on, Pete, you have Christ.
He is enough. Go and tell them about Christ again.
So if you feel you might need that today or at
some point, then can I say to you, Godliness
with contentment is great gain. Let's continue.
Verse 7. We brought nothing into the world and
we can take nothing out of it. When a baby is
born, they don't come with luggage, do they?
As their life goes on, they acquire clothes and
books and appliances and all sorts of things.
We brought nothing into the world and we can
take nothing out of it. Yesterday, I phoned up
a removal company. And I said, this is going
to sound crazy, but you actually moved me last
time I moved house. Could you just tell me, I'm
a vicar researching a sermon. Can you tell me
how many boxes on average does a person move
with? And the woman on the end of the phone,
she was so nice, but she said, you're crazy.
But since you ask, it's between 100 and 150 boxes,
she said. 100 and 150 boxes. I said, okay, here's
another question since you're so nice. do you
think that over time people are acquiring more
possessions so you need bigger removal lorries
and they are getting more and more boxes she
said yeah absolutely that is happening she said
i was speaking to one of our removal men last
week he's been doing this job for 30 years he
says people have more stuff than they used to
have and not only that they have more valuable
stuff so in the old days when he started in the
90s people basically had white plastic garden
furniture kind of what everyone had And nowadays,
he says, she says, that they all have these heavy
metal garden furniture, like statement furniture,
and people have an outdoor kitchen that also
needs moving and all sorts of stuff. So we have
more stuff and we have more valuable stuff that
we're like dragging around with ourselves. 100
to 150 boxes. And yet, do you know how many boxes
we all end up with? Right, it's one box, isn't
it? Because... However much stuff you accumulate,
there's one box that you're going to get buried
in. You get taken to the crematorium or you get
taken to the cemetery in one box. It doesn't
matter how many things you accumulated into your
life. We brought nothing into the world and we
can take nothing out of it. Could the church
not stand out in the years to come by being content
with a simple life? As the West just accumulates
more and more staff and the removal lorries get
bigger and bigger and bigger to accommodate it,
could we not stand out simply by saying, are
you okay? I shouldn't have got God in the gospel
and I'm content? Maybe that's a more radical
thing than we ever thought it might be. Stick
with your white plastic garden furniture and
you'll be like the counter -cultural guy in your
neighbourhood. Verse 8, let's carry on. If we
have food and clothing, we will be content with
that. I found this a useful principle for thinking
through social action and giving. I think the
implication of verse 8 is it is hard to be content
if you don't have food and clothing. It's hard
to actually genuinely be content if you're hungry
or cold. So why don't we work to feed and clothe
people the world over. Aren't we keeping a sort
of Christians who can see orphans and widows
and foreigners and say, you don't look like you
had enough food or you look like you need to
be warm or sheltered. Can we help you? One in
12 people in the world don't have enough food
today. Chronic hunger is increasing. So now I
try and say to my own church, if God has given
you enough food and clothing, if you are blessed
to be above like a basic. poverty line, then
please consider giving some of your excess away.
I'm trying to challenge myself and them to give
away 10 % because I think although that is a
principle that's out there, it's not often attained
by our brothers and sisters in the church. I
say to them, please give some of your giving
to the local church and then just give some away
to other people who need it or don't mind where
you give it. Just be generous. And when I see
people thinking, they don't always say it out
loud to me, when I see them thinking, do you
know what you're asking? 10 % of my income is
such a lot of money. Do you know what that means?
I'm going to try and gently say back to them,
do you know how rich you are? If you type how
rich am I into Google, there is a wealth calculator
that will tell you how rich you are in global
terms. Have you ever done this? Here's some statistics
that I did so you can tell it, okay, my household
income is £25 ,000 a year and I live in the UK.
It will tell you this answer. You are therefore
in the top 5 % of the global population. Isn't
that something? £25 ,000 because you're in the
top 5%. You are eight and a half times richer
than the median person in the world. Or if you
say, next slide, my annual income is £45 ,000,
which if you have a stipend and an accommodation
package, you're blessed to have that, then I
think that's basically where that puts you. Then
you are in the top 2 % of the richest people
in the world. That's me. I am 15 times richer
than the median person in the world. And as Richard
Garnett used to say when he was here and you
got him onto the subject of money, if God wanted
to talk to the rich people in the world, he would
come and talk to us. And he would say, could
you help out those other guys? So godliness plus
contentment is great gain. There's one other
mathematical equation I want to give you, and
that's the second one. greed plus time equals
many griefs paragraph starts off with these positive
statements about contentment and then it finishes
with these negative statements about greed so
let me try and put it this way greed plus time
equals many griefs versus nine to ten those who
want to get rich Okay, it doesn't use the word
greed, but you recognize the concept of greed.
Those who want to get rich fall into temptation
and a trap and into many foolish and harmful
desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money, the love of money is a
root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager
for money have wandered from the faith and pierced
themselves with many griefs. You see how the
last statement in the paragraphs, many griefs,
it actually negatively parallels the opening
statement in the paragraph which talks about
Great gain. Great gain? I draw on many griefs.
I don't know which one I can say. Thank you very
much. The apostle has seen greed often enough
to generalize in these verses. Greed is such
a boring trick of the devil, but he just is such
an effective one. He keeps using it. Make people
greedy. Trap them in their love of money. Of
course, he would love to trap us with other things,
sex, power, other boring tricks of the devil
that he continues to use on us. But how many
Christian leaders have been led astray by a love
of money? I say greed plus time because greed
is shy. It's a shy vice. It doesn't get out there
and go, whoa, sexual temptation is like, I'm
just going to grow quietly. You're going to be
too embarrassed to say that you're greedy, but
I'm going to grow quietly in your heart. It takes
time to show itself. And when it says it is a
root of all kinds of evil. You don't see roots,
do you, until they put forth a shoot and they
put forth growth and produce bad fruit. But it's
there. It also causes people to wander from the
faith. And wandering takes time, doesn't it?
That's not a quick word. It's a slow, tragic
word. Until you pierce yourself with many griefs.
Ebenezer Scrooge, I think he was pierced by many
griefs. If you know the story, he is so lambly.
Even his distant relatives hate him. His employees
despise him. The people down the street know
how greedy and obnoxious he is. He is discontent
despite having all the money and he is filled
with regret. His working relationship is actually
brittle and difficult because of his greed and
the way he treats people because of it. So don't
end up like a Christian version of Scrooge. Greed
plus time equals many griefs. Okay, let me try
and wrap this all together. How could we be like
Tiny Tim? How could you be like the Christian
Tiny Tim in your generation? Because that's what
I'm interested in. That is, how could we be content?
Well, fascinating in the story, Tiny Tim had
a family and particularly had a dad. And there's
a bit near the end of the story where Tiny Tim,
his dad just comes really close to him and he
holds his hand. he pulls him close. And I think
we're given to understand that Tiny Tim knew
he didn't have lots financially, but he knew
that he had a father who loved him. In New Testament
terms, of course, you have a father who loves
you. You have the assurance of his undying approval
and his never -letting -go love. You could say,
I may not be financially rich, but I have everything
I need. And the thing the apostle goes on to
say is verse 17, flee from greed and flee, if
I can put it simply, to God. I mean, he lists
a bunch of virtues. Flee towards righteousness
and godliness and holiness and truth. But he
goes on to give this doxology. So I think he
is saying flee to God and all that comes with
it. Flee, keep fleeing from greed to God again
and again and again, taking with you a knowledge
of your own insignificance. But you, man of God,
speaking to a pastor, but can we say to any Christian,
to any leader, flee from all this and flee to
God. I say taking with you a knowledge of your
own insignificance, because as Christians, we
go to God knowing we're not that big a deal and
we're going to die soon. I'm basically a one
box person. And I've got nothing, Lord. I'm going
to come to communion today. I've got absolutely
nothing to bring you, Lord. But can I come back
again? But I know you're a big deal. And I know
your gospel will never die. So to be content
with God and his gospel while I live is huge.
Wealth. Unlike all other investments, God's stock
will not decline. He will remain valuable forever.
Unlike all other variables, God is unchangeable.
He will remain certain forever. Unlike all other
possessions, you don't need boxes or a moving
lorry for God. He's just with you wherever you
go. Unlike all other Christmas presents, God
will never get boring. You won't get to next
year and think, ah, that was last year. I remember
when I was excited about that. But he's endlessly
fascinating. Unlike most other economic realities,
God's gospel will not diminish if you share it.
Because if you share something around, you've
got less of it. But God and his gospel just increases
in value as you give it away. And unlike all
finite things in the universe, you cannot get
to the bottom of God. You can't complete him.
You can't fathom him. You can't master him. You
definitely can't possess him. In fact, he possesses
you. Amen? Amen. I think closing thought, I don't
know how long I've been talking for. Can I do
a couple more minutes? I think it would be good
for us to learn generosity. Verse 18, command
them. I think I picked the right verse. Verse
18, command them to give generously, to learn
to do good, to be generous and share. There's
a very rich Christian businessman called Jonathan
Ruffer. who I found inspiring on this. He was
interviewed in the New Statesman and he said,
what a lot of money does is poison you. Quote,
it's like the digestive system. Okay, this is
kind of gross, but please, if you could bear
with, I found it's a helpful thought. It's meant
to flow through you, he says, not stop flowing.
Okay, told you it was gross. But money is supposed
to flow through you, not get stuck inside you.
I find that a helpful way of thinking about it.
Money flows through my hands. It flows through
my bank account. It's not supposed to get stuck
there. I can channel it. I can say, oh, thank
you, money. I'm going to send you over there
to a really useful end, but it's not supposed
to stop with me. And if Christians actually tithed
10 % of their income, just to circle back to
that idea, it would change the world. According
to Stewardship, they published a generosity report.
just earlier this year, the average UK adult
gives £65 per month to charity. But then they
said, the average UK Christian adult gives £124
per month to charity. That's encouraging, isn't
it? That means that the gospel changes people
and Christianity influences their generosity.
However, that's 5 % of people's income. So we're
not tithing as a UK church. But they said, The
average UK Christian adult, if they gave 10%,
would give £236. That alone, if the Christians
in this country tithe and gave 10%, that would
change so much. Feed and clothe and evangelise
so many people. We could change the world if
we embraced generosity from a standpoint of contentment.
If you feel poor in ministry and discontented,
then why not figure out, do I have enough money
for food and clothing? Why not establish clear
expectations with your church or the church that
you're going to so that they understand what
enough is and cultivate contentment? If you're
leaving this college soon, then please just be
aware of greed. It's one of the tricks the devil
will try and pull on you. He would like to trip
you up with it. But if you practice generosity
now and cultivate contentment, it could keep
you. And if you have any influence over Christians
in the years to come, would you just encourage
them in contentment and generosity? Like verse
18 says, be generous and willing to share. I
wasn't giving away 10 % of my income until embarrassingly
recently. And I wish I'd got there sooner. So
maybe you won't be as slow as me learning these
things. My friends, God is the one thing worth
fleeing to forever. Moths can't eat him, rust
can't corrode him, thieves can't steal him, fire
can't touch him, floods can't destroy him, and
death can't stop him. Amen? Hallelujah.