1 Timothy 6V2-10 - Nathan Howard (17th May 2026)

Find out more by visiting www.turkeystreetcommunitychurch.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

These are the things you are to teach and insist on. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the psalm instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarries about where that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions, and constant friction between people of corrupt mind who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a mean to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that thread people into rain and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from the fate and precise themselves with many grief. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Okay, you can trust a friend to do that. There you go. Is that better? You can hear us now. Wonderful. Um back in the 1970s, Coca-Cola ran an advertising campaign really pushing their strap line. Okay, now before I put up on the screen, does anyone know what Coca-Cola's strap line is? It's the. I'm astonished. It's the real thing. It's the real thing. Thank you, Garrett. Here we go, okay? 1970s. It's the real thing. Anyone know that strap line for Coca-Cola? And it's actually been their strap line since they were invented, but in the 70s they went big on this advertising that Coke is the real thing. It's the original. It's the authentic. It's the one that came first. And they went big on this advertising campaign in the 1970s because so many people were making fake coke. They were making imitations and they were serving people up fakes. And so they were like, no, we are the real thing. We're the original, we're the authentic Coke. So that's why you got this strapline. It's the real thing. Now the key question is though, could you tell the difference between real coke and fake Coke? If someone served you up a fake Coke, would you know? Tim, Tim is backing himself. Any other young people backing themselves as to whether you could tell the difference? Let's have a hand up if you think you could tell the difference. Grown-ups, you can do this too. Yeah, some people back themselves. Well, it's a good job that I have a cup of fake Coke and real Coke here today. So who do we want to come and test it? Is do we think Tim's backed himself enough? Should we get Tim up to do it? Yeah. Unless any of the young people want to do it, then uh no. Do you want to do it? You can do it. No. Tim, come on then, my friends. Here we go. Um, so we've got cup A and cup B. It's not a wine tasting session, so you know we don't have to get a little bucket out and have all of that. Um so let's try. Um see which one you think is real. Oh, it's smelling. Oh, I kind of smell over the coke, because I didn't realise. Is it is it A or B? Oh He just wants to drink the whole of them. Let's have a drum roll. Right, let's have a look, let's have a look at the letter on the outside. You think that's the real one? My friend, you have been duped. There you go. You you can sit down in shame now, Tim. There we go. So, Tim, Tim couldn't tell whether I served him a real coke or a fake coke. Now the reality is it doesn't really matter that much for coke, does it? Like, if if you someone serves you up a fake coke, like you know, Tim's gonna be alright, he's gonna survive. Um, and you know, only only Coca-Cola's profit margins get affected if you drink a coke, a fake coke. It doesn't actually matter that much. But here's the thing I want us to think about this morning. Actually, it really matters when it comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ, whether you are drinking the real thing or whether you are drinking a fake. It really and deeply matters. You see, what has happened with Coca-Cola, that there is an original, an authentic, but people ever since have been making imitations, has happened with the gospel down the centuries. There is an authentic, there is a real thing, an original message, God's gospels that have come to us through Jesus, through the apostles. That is God's authentic gospel. But down the centuries, people have been making fakes. Ones that look and smell like the real thing. You see, if I put these two cups up, you see, you can't tell the difference looking at it, can you? You can't tell the difference. And the gospel, fake gospels are like that. Looking at them, just at the surface, you think, well, they look the same, they smell the same. So how do we distinguish between a fake and a real gospel? And that, friend, is the subject at the center of our Bible reading today. Okay, if you have a look down at chapter 6, verse 2, the second half of verse 2, where Mermay started reading, it says, uh, Paul says to Timothy, these are the things you are to teach and insist on. Now, Paul, you're gonna it's a letter, but you've got to imagine Paul eyeballing Timothy, this pastor, and he is saying to him, Timothy, you have to teach and insist on in church life the real and authentic gospel. Churches need pastors who will serve them real coke, not fake coke. That's what he's saying. The authentic message about Jesus Christ. That's what these things are. Do you look at that, verse 2? These are the things. You say, you could read that and say, Well, what things, Paul? But it's the authentic gospel. So come back with me. If you've got your Bible, turn back to chapter 1 and verse 15. Chapter 1, verse 15 says, here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's the authentic gospel. That Jesus Christ came and gave his life on a cross to save sinners like us. And then if you flip over to chapter 3, verse 15, people who believe that message, chapter 3, verse 15, he says, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household. Here's a message that, if you believe it, comes with a right conduct. And by the time we arrive at chapter 6 and verse 2, he's saying these are the things, Timothy, that you should teach. As a pastor of a church in Ephesus, you've got to teach these things. Churches need pastors who teach the truth. But here's the danger. This is what Paul wants to warn Timothy about. Verse 3 it says, if anyone teaches otherwise, if anyone teaches otherwise, what's going to happen? There are going to be people who teach a different gospel, who teach something that is not the original, a different message on how you are saved, and a different message on how you are to live as a follower of Jesus Christ. Now we're just going to get a bit geeky for a moment, okay? Have a look at that word, teach otherwise. Okay? That's actually just one word in the original language, and it's actually where we get the word heterodox from. Anyone heard that phrase? Heterodox? No one's heard that phrase. Okay, well, that's a pointless thing to say though. So that we we have this word, okay, there's you'll hear it bounded around in Christian circles about being heterodox. That's the it's the Greek word here, and it means other teaching. And that's why we have another word, which you will have heard of, orthodox. You heard that word? So I'm not talking about the Orthodox Church or the you know that this those strands of the church. I'm talking about the word orthodox. So think about when you go to get your teeth done. You go to the orthodontist, because they put your teeth straight. Yeah? An ortho. Ortho means straight. So orthodox teaching is straight teaching. That's that's the authentic gospel. Heterodox is a compound word that means it's other, and it's calling people to something other. So you've got these two contrasts, heterodox and orthodox teaching. And here, Paul is saying to Timothy, look, there is an orthodox gospel and a heterodox gospel, a real coke and a fake coke. And there's gonna be people who are serving up, teaching otherwise, teaching things different to what I've passed on to you. Now, note this is really important that Paul is not saying that someone's gonna come along and try and serve you up a different drink. He's not saying that someone's gonna walk in and say, Oh, look, here's a lemonade. Why don't you put down your coke and have a lemonade instead? He's saying that someone's gonna come along and say, I'm serving you up coke, but it's not the real coke. It's an other teaching, it's a it's different, but it's all packaged up in the same way. Now, what does Paul think about people who are gonna do that kind of thing? Have a look at verse 4. He doesn't pull his punches, does he? He says, if anyone teaches otherwise, which he's implying they will, and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. What does Paul think about people who are gonna serve you fake coke? He says they are conceited. That word means arrogant, they think they know it all. You get this vibe of, oh, I know best. And they are, what does it say there? They understand nothing. He says to them, if someone serves you up a fake coke, they don't, they just don't know the real gospel, and they're serving you up something fake. Now, people who serve up a fake gospel are actually very dangerous, and it's very dangerous because it leads you away from Christ, it leads you away from salvation, it leads you away from the one who can help us. And for 2,000 years, ever since Paul first wrote this to Timothy, people have been serving up an imitation gospel alongside the real one being preached in the world. In fact, um, those of us sitting here today, we have more access than anyone through history to the real gospel and to fake gospels. Did you know that? Um, just a quick show of hands. Anyone, anyone watch kind of Christian content or listen to Christian content on YouTube or Instagram or TikTok? Anyone watch those things? Yeah, so there's we're just surrounded by it. God TV, pop Christian culture. We are absolutely soaked in Christian teaching. We can gather it from anywhere we want. But if you're anything like the church family I belong to, the reality is that some of us will be lapping up fake coke and we don't even realize it. We'll be listening to these teachers that have become so popular, so big, they're the ones that just pop up on our feed, and yet what we're drinking is not the real thing. Bit like Tim, who thought he was drinking the real Coke. Sorry, Tim, you're never gonna live that down now. Um bit like Tim, he thought he was drinking real coke, but actually, it wasn't. It was Tesco's finest Coca-Cola. And the question then I've got for us this morning is this Am I being served the real gospel? How do you know? See, could could any of us in this room, if we went on YouTube or we went on God TV, or we went on TikTok, could any of us spot whether we're being served the real thing or a fake gospel? How do you know when your pastors here are teaching you the real gospel or whether they're serving you up or fake? How do you know what you're being served up? It's pretty tricky, isn't it? How do you know? It's a good question. Like it's it just feels like a maze of Christian content everywhere. How do I know? Well, thankfully it helps at hand because Paul today gives us three tests, three questions that we can ask of any teaching. And I don't just want to point the finger out there, I want to look at myself and I want to look at Gareth and I want to look at David, the elders, the pastors of this church, and say, How do we know if we're being served up? The real thing. So you ready for three questions? Here they are. Question number one Does the teaching I'm listening to agree with Jesus and the apostles? Um, look again at verse 3. Does it agree with Jesus? If anyone teaches otherwise and does not, you notice that word? Agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching. If it agrees, the first and most important test of what we're listening to is whether it agrees with the things Jesus and his apostles said. Now I'm not a builder, but I know that uh builders use something called a plumb line. Have you ever seen one of these? So it's got a weight at the bottom. Boys and girls, have you ever seen one of these? So it's called a plumb line because it hangs straight. And if you ever build a wall, sorry, there's probably some builders in this room who are looking at me going, he's not he's not talking right. But normally I've seen this happen, okay? If you're gonna build a wall, this hangs straight, and they hang one of these down, and then they build a wall next to it. And if the bricks start moving away from the string, they know that it's not a straight wall. So they build it up the string because they know that the string will be straight. It's called a plumb line. Now, in many ways, for Christians, what's our plumb line? How do we know when someone's teaching something that we're fitting and building in a straight line? How do we know that we're teaching the truth? And the plumb line that we're given is the words of Jesus and his 13 apostles who he gave specific authority to. That's the plumb line. And so every time I'm hearing some teaching, I get out my plumb line and I say, okay, does what I'm hearing fit with what Jesus said? Does it fit with what his apostles taught? Does it fit with the words of the New Testament? Now, even that can get a bit tricky. Do you understand what I mean by that? Even that can get a bit murky, can't it? Because I guess that lots of people that we listen to will be quoting the Bible at you. They will be saying, This is what Jesus said. This is what the scriptures say. And so the content, it's not as easy as, oh, it did it doesn't come from the Bible. Sometimes you need a little bit more discernment than that, don't you? Quoting the Bible itself doesn't mean that they're teaching the meaning of the Bible. Let me just put it like this for a moment. Uh, even the devil quoted the Bible. Did you know that? When in the temptations of the Lord Jesus Christ, at one point in the temptations, the devil starts quoting scripture to Jesus. So quoting scripture doesn't mean you've got the meaning of scripture. And so when we're when we're listening to Christian content online or from the front at a church or whatever it is, whatever platform, the question is: does it fit? Does it agree with not just the exact words what Jesus is saying, but the meaning of what Jesus and the apostles are saying? See, the real gospel is a message of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. That leads to a transformed life. And that's the teaching of the New Testament. So the first test of whether we know we're drinking the real thing is. Can we say this one together? Does it agree with Jesus and the apostles? You have to say it a bit more enthusiastically than that, if you're gonna remember it for the week ahead, okay? Should we say it together? One, two, three. Does it agree with Jesus and the apostles? Great. Here's the second question. Does it divide or unite the church? Does it divide or unite the church? That's another thing you can ask about the teaching that you're listening to. Or you could ask, what are the results of false this teaching you're listening to? What's the fruit on the tree? Come with me back to uh verse four. Um it says about that these teachers are conceited and understand nothing. Then look at verse four. They have, these teachers have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions, and constant friction between people of corrupt minds who have been robbed of the tree. Let's break that down, okay? Let's have a think about that. So they have unhealthy interests in controversies and quarrels. So, so teaching that that's gonna send us off track is fake teaching, very often kind of narrows in on things that are just a bit controversial. Issues that aren't, you know, are not actually building the church up, but just making the church argue about stuff. And there's lots of those kind of issues in church life, but they tend to focus on those things. But the key word, if you look at verse 4 and 5, there's a key word in there, which is they these things result in. You notice that? What's the fruit of this teaching? If you listen to this teaching long enough, what's the fruit of it? And you'll notice that there are five words there. And the first one is envy. You notice that? Envy. Um, so so there's this kind of as you see the fruit of this teaching, actually, there's a sort of an unhappiness with what's going on in other people's sort of ministries or things. It's an envy about other teachers. Strife. There's a sense of competition. Um, as you kind of maybe move in on this teaching and listen to what's going on, there's a sense of competition with other other teachers, other ministries. There's malicious talk, the heaping of abuse on rival teachers, evil suspicions, thinking of the worse of people, of other believers rather than the best. There's a constant friction, irritable conversations if challenged. And friends, I want to say that if if any of the fruit, any of the result of someone's teaching is is like that or smells like that or feels like that, then that's not the fruit of the true gospel. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is a message that results in a group of people who are progressing towards unity and love and care for one another, not envy and strife and malicious talk. Now, of course, we fight those things in our heart, but the fruit of the gospel, if it's preached truthfully, if we are drinking authentic coke, the fruit of the gospel is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. And so when you're hearing teaching, you've got to push it a little bit. And the problem is with the stuff we listen online, you can't see what the results of their ministry is very often. But but if you are, you know, come to a church and you're thinking, well, what's the fruit of the gospel that's being taught here? Is it these things? Does it unite the church or divide the church? Does it cause arguments or debates about secondary issues? Does the teacher's manner match their message? That's a really key thing, isn't it? Does the person preaching the message match um the fruit of their message? Test the teaching. Does it unite or divide? So can we say this one together? Number number two, one, two, three. Does it divide or unite the church? And here's the third test that Paul gives us. Does it promote contentment or does it promote coveting? How do we know if we're drinking fake or real coke? Does this teaching provide promote contentment or does it promote coveting? Look at the end of verse five. Halfway through. He describes these false teachers as those who think that godliness, that's following the Lord Jesus Christ, seeking to live the godly way, the right way, that godliness is a means. To financial gain. Now, what seems to be motivating these false teachers is money. I'm gaining something in this world. Now we don't know. We can have some guesses. We don't know when Paul wrote this letter to Timothy exactly how these false teachers were using their godliness to make money. We don't know how that happened. It was in Ephesus, and there was a big kind of occultic kind of Diana sort of worship of this goddess, Artemis, and all these kind of things. So perhaps it was all tied in with that and kind of the money that you could make out of that. We don't know. But somehow the point is that they were using the gospel to get gold. That's what they were doing. They used the message to make money. And we don't know the details of that. But we don't have to try too hard today, do we, to work out what that might have looked like. Because there are so many teachers today that have been doing that ever since Paul wrote this letter to Timothy. Who are using their ministry as a way to make money. Who are using their relationship with God as a way to get stuff, to make my life more comfortable. You know, whether that's in the Middle Ages, if you know your history, people sold indulgences. You know, you remember that phase of history? People would sell indulgences, and you know, the church would go around and say, Well, if you buy one of these, you can get your family kind of out of hell and into heaven, you know, that kind of idea. They'd sell these things so that the church had enough money to do what it wanted to do. That's that's twisted. But it was a godliness to make money. Um, today, uh, you don't have to look too hard, do you, to find TV pastors who who say to you, hey, if you give, you will get. If you do this, then you'll be wealthy and healthy. You don't have to work too hard, they're everywhere. But it comes in more subtle forms. I've kind of put the big caricature up, but it comes in more subtle forms, doesn't it? These are the kind of people that Paul warns about. People who who get you to think that, oh yeah, being Christian will it makes me covet for a better life now, more stuff now. It it it makes you covet for for the this life rather than for the world to come. Um ministries that cause you to want things. This is still true today, isn't it? I I Googled this week just to find out. I was intrigued. Who is the wealthiest pastor? Uh I thought my name was going to come up top, but nah, sadly not. Um this this is staggering. Some of you will know this guy. I'm I'm really not sort of trying, I want to look in before we look out, but but just this was this was staggering to me, okay. Um a pastor in America, Kenneth Copeland. Some of you may have heard of him, he's got a very big internet presence. Um, he is worth an estimated$760 million as a pastor. Um, he has an estate uh in Texas, 1,500 acres, which includes a private airport, a multi-million dollar mansion, and a fleet of private aircraft. Um I'm in the wrong job. I've got the wrong job. But you know what he says when he's challenged on it? He says, Well, that's just a sign of God's blessing on me. But do you know where that money comes from? People who he has caused to covet with his teaching, who think that if I give, I'll get. And that's where his wealth has come from. Now, you know, I don't I don't know his heart, the Lord knows his heart, and I and I don't want to be bashing somebody else. So I want to look in. But do you think a ministry like that is encouraging people to contentment or to coveting? What do you think? What do you think motivates him? Now, again, I don't know his heart, but is it saving souls or is it stashing stuff? It looks to me like he's got a real heart to stash stuff rather than save souls. And yet, literally, millions of people are drinking his gospel like it's the real thing. And the true gospel, you see, the true gospel promotes contentment. And I just want to unpick that for a moment because it's so easy. Like, guys, I'm I'm aware all of us live in London, okay? So that that puts us at a disadvantage straight away because we're living in one of the most expensive cities in the world. So all of us are going to be struggling, right, for money. I get that. We're going to be struggling, cost of living, you know, all of us just want that little bit extra. Perhaps some of us are having to use credit cards and things to keep up. I get that. But I want us to hear that the true gospel, even in our struggles, helps us to have contentment and not coveting. The message of Jesus Christ is teaching us to be content with what we have, content with what Jesus has given us, rather than coveting for what we could have and what we don't have. And Paul says, look, just as he finishes off this, and then we're done this morning, he says that don't get sucked in to the wanting more stuff way of life. Don't get sucked into a gospel that that promises you better. And here's what he says, okay? First of all, he says, look, don't get sucked into money because money won't make you content. Look at verse 6. He said, godliness, the way of life, trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, secure for the future. Like that's the life, that's the path to contentment. Money won't make you content. One writer puts it like this: true contentment comes from godliness in the heart, not wealth in the hand. And we will know that, won't we? The perpetual cycle of never having enough. You know, it doesn't matter if you work for Asda or you work for Armani. Everybody is thinking, I wish I had more. You know, it doesn't matter if you're taking home five pounds a month or five thousand pounds a month. Everyone in those places is saying, I wish I had more. Because money doesn't make you content, doesn't make you happy. The second thing Paul says is that money won't last. Don't chase it. Don't listen to teachers who make you covet because money won't last. Verse 7. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. You know, you didn't, you weren't born carrying a bank card. And you won't, well, you might die carrying a bank card, but you can't take it with you. Um me and um the boys the other day were were watching the tail end of a documentary on the the pharaohs in Egypt. Um, we don't normally do that kind of geeky sort of thing, but we were, and uh, or me and Zeb were anyway, and we were we were watching this, and then all these pharaohs are buried with their treasures. They didn't take them, they're just still there. People come in and take them. And so don't be sucked. And Paul says, look, don't listen to teachers who are going to tell you to covet because actually you can't take it with you, it doesn't last. So don't chase it. And so instead, our security comes from the life to come. And third, he says, money, or the love of money more accurately, creates or leads to all sorts of sin. And it's not, it doesn't lead to godliness. Um, notice three times in this tale section, he talks about either wanting money, loving money, eager for money. It's a way of life, isn't it? If you want those things, if you love those things. Now, Paul's not saying that money's bad, right? Because if we kind of had that attitude and we're like, oh no, money's bad. Well, it's not bad, you need money. Like, how you how are you gonna eat and pay for your house and all those kind of things? Money's money itself isn't inherently bad. It's it's the love of money, it's that hungering after wanting it more and more and more. And that's why he says that that money, loving money, is like a trap. You see that verse 9? 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. You've seen those movies where people are walking along a path just innocently, walk over leaves, and then this great big net scoops them up. Well, the love of money's like that. You'll be walking along and thinking very innocently, oh, I'm having a great time, and then the love of money will scoop you up like a trap. That's the picture we're given. And then you'll be caught in this trap of perpetual cycle of just wanting and wanting and wanting and never having enough. It's a root that produces terrible fruits. That's stealing. Where does that come from? Because people want more. Lying, where does that come from? Because people want more and they they think if they they lie they can get it. Family breakups and friendships falling apart, families neglected because people are working so long that they're not with their families, and um the pursuit of wealth is destroying people, but we don't see it. Um sadly, uh, debt actually is one of the highest causes of suicide in the UK. People wanting more and more and more, and then they build up the debt because they that's the only way they can get it. See what Paul says? He's not lying, is he? I'm just I'm just trying to spell out. Paul's Paul's telling us the truth, isn't he? Plunge people into ruin and destruction. And the most devastating thing of all, verse 10, is that the love of money has caused some people to wander from the faith. So rather than teaching that leads you to Jesus, it's teaching that leads us away from him. So Paul says, don't listen to teachers who cause you to covet, who lead you to want stuff in this world rather than in the world to come. So come, can we come back to me to my Coca-Cola? Here there is. Sorry, Tim, to rub your nose in it again. A real Coke and a fake Coke. Um could you tell if someone was serving you up a fake gospel? Could you tell if someone was serving you an imitation of the true gospel of Jesus Christ, the original gospel, whether here or online? And here's three questions. Can we say them together? Does it agree with Jesus and the apostles? Does it divide or unite the church? Does it promote contentment or coveting? Friends, churches need pastors who will serve up the authentic gospel. As Christians, we need people who will serve us the original, the authentic gospel. And we need to watch out, carefully watch out for those who will serve us a faith. And this morning, if you're here and you're looking into the Christian faith in some way, then take it back to its origin. Take it back to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because here is Jesus, who though he was rich, beyond all splendor, for our sakes became poor. Not to pursue a life of wealth, but to give himself for people like us. So that the trustworthy saying that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners could be true. And if you haven't put your trust in him yet, then I'd urge you to do so today. I'm going to give us just a moment to reflect on that, and then I'm going to pray, and then I'm going to hand back to Gareth. Gracious and merciful Father in heaven, we thank you again this morning for the authentic and real gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you that he came into this world to save sinners. That though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor. So that through his poverty, through his death, we might know the riches of relationship with you and of eternal life. Father, help us to be those who keep consuming the real gospel, the authentic gospel. Father, help us too to watch out for those who would serve us up a fake. Help us not to be drawn into coveting, but teach us what it is to be content. To be content with Jesus and all that He's done for us. To be content if you've provided us with our basic needs. Father, teach us true godliness. And this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.