The Danger of Discontent (And The Key to Contentment)

The phrase “money is the root of all evil” is so commonplace that many who use it may not even be aware that it comes from Scripture — specifically 1 Timothy 6:10. However, this verse actually tells us that it is “the love of money” that is the root of all kinds of evil.

The distinction is important. It’s not money itself, but the love of money that brings forth all kinds of evil.

You can have money without loving it just as much as you can love money without having it.

It is an inward disposition of the heart that is at issue, and a desire for wealth and riches can (and does) bring about all kinds of evil.

Does that mean that every sin you commit can be traced back to greed? Not necessarily; What Paul is getting at is that there are no kinds of evil, no sins, that a love of money cannot lead to: theft, assault, murder, adultery, lying, cheating….you name the sin and someone, somewhere has committed that sin out of a desire for wealth and material possessions.

The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. But as we read in 1 Timothy 6:6-11, there is likewise a root to the love of money: Discontentment.

…godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 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. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

This passage is focused on the issues of contentment and the dangers of seeking it outside of Jesus Christ.

At the outset, it is important that we define our terms. What do we mean by contentment? If you look it up online you’ll see it defined as “a state of happiness and satisfaction.” An older definition, like from the Webster’s 1828 dictionary, says that it is the “rest or quietness of the mind in the present condition; satisfaction which holds the mind in peace, restraining complaint, opposition, or further desire.”

That’s getting closer to what we mean biblically by being content. Perhaps the fullest definition was supplied by the Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs in his excellent work The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. He writes: “Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.”

No matter what condition we find ourselves in, to be content is to be at peace, not only submitting to but delighting in what God has provided for you at that time. Do you hear the echo of the Apostle Paul’s words to the Philippian church in Philippians 4:11-12?

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

While contentment with godliness is great gain, discontentment cause us to give our hearts to the pursuit of something else — in this case money, and wealth, and the comforts they promise.

So our passage is not condemning productivity or ambition or having nice things; nor is it advising those in abject poverty be content to remain in their condition. Rather, it is a warning against the love of money, the desire for wealth and luxury that can “plunge people into ruin and destruction” verse 1 Timothy 6:9 tells us.

And we can all offer examples of people who — out of a desire for more — have plunged headlong into self-destruction. And yet, the allure of riches are still a temptation for each and every one of us.

As American Christians living in the 21^st Century, we are at a greater risk of falling into discontentment and a love for money than perhaps ever before. Every form of media delivers constant messages that we are just one purchase away from happiness, just a few dollars away from the good life. This temptation is a snare, and it is all the more dangerous for being a trap with bait that is so appealing to each of us.

So let’s examine the passage before us so that we might first see the dangers of discontentment, and secondly that we might discover how to be content in Christ.

The Dangers of Discontent

Our text begins with a warning against false teachers who pursue godliness – or perhaps more accurately the appearance of godliness – only as a means of financial gain.  From here the Apostle Paul warns of the dangers for any who would likewise allow their hearts to be drawn away from Christ in a pursuit of the wealth.

The serious danger that a love of money presents is laid out in verse 9: “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.”

And yet money continues to be appealing to us. Perhaps you are inclined to see more money as the means of less worry, or you desire the social status you see displayed by others on Instagram, or you’ve convinced yourself that a few more material comforts would bring you happiness, or think a nicer house is the way to a better home life.

There are a thousand such snares laid about in our society – some more well hidden than others. Many are even disguised as virtues worthy of your pursuit. All of these prey on our discontentment and all of them present the same dangers: ruin and destruction.

How does ruin and destruction come from a love of money? Despite its promises to satisfy, it never will. Ecclesiastes 5:10 says “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income.”

Pursuing money to satisfy your soul is like drinking seawater to satisfy your thirst.

The more saltwater you drink, the thirstier you become. If you continue to drink you will ultimately destroy yourself. When you pursue money as a means of contentment, the more you gain the more you want until you ultimately have destroyed your happiness – and in some cases your life – in the relentless pursuit of more.

At the core of a love for money is a love of self, and when we allow self to displace God in our hearts there is no limit to the ruin that we are capable of.

Could we not give example after example of millionaire and billionaire who confessed that all their wealth had not brought them happiness, but misery? How many examples where a love of money drew people into other harmful desires, ruining their lives, harming others, and jeopardizing their own souls?

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? (Mark 8:36-37)

Many have found enough prosperity and security in this life that they give no thought to their eternal soul. Their wealth has robbed them of heaven. Many believers have had their fruitfulness in ministry ruined and their sanctification slowed by a love of money. Their preoccupation with possessions has hindered their true satisfaction in Christ.

Paul continues in verse 10: “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.” This phrase “pierced themselves” carries the imagery of being stabbed over and over, all the way through, all over your body.

When believers wander from the faith in pursuit of money, this is what they can expect for their efforts. Paul no doubt had painful examples in mind. By the time he wrote his second letter to Timothy, he would have yet another: That of Demas.

We read of Demas in Philippians 1:24, where Paul refers to him as his fellow worker along with Luke, Mark and others. In Colossians 4:14, Paul sent greetings to the church from both Luke and Demas who were with him. This is a man who labored side-by-side with Paul and other key figures in the early church.

Yet, just a few years later, we read in 2 Timothy 4:10, “For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.”

How did that happen? How does it continue to happen today? Did not our Savior warn us?

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24)

No one can serve God and money. You will not be the first Christian able to successfully pursue comfort and Christ simultaneously.

We easily convince ourselves that if we have not abandoned our family to climb the corporate ladder, or embezzled funds, or robbed someone that we have not succumbed to a love for money.

But are you attempting to serve two masters? Is your desire to serve the Lord overshadowed by you desire to obtain and enjoy the comforts of this life? How often does a desire to acquire or enjoy money and possessions take priority over the things of God.

We cannot service two masters. But how can we assess whether or not a love for money has begun to take root in our own lives?

Diagnosing Discontentment

Here are a few questions to help us examine our own hearts:

• Do I place my hope in riches or in God? In 6:17 Paul address the rich [and as those who live in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, we all need to listen up here]. He says: “charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.”
• What am I setting my hope on? Is my sense of security tied money and possessions or do I rest in the promise that “God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19)?
• Is my hope in life tied to my faith or to my finances?
• Am I envious of what others have or thankful for what I have?
• Do I spend more time dwelling on what I don’t have than in giving thanks for what I do have? 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

To be jealous of others, or to envy, or be upset at what someone else has reveals that our contentment is founded not on the promises of Christ but on our possessions.

Am I selfish or generous? Nothing reveals our feelings towards money like how tightly we hold on to it. Are you generous with what God has given you, or are you reluctant to bless others with what you have been blessed with?

In verse 18, Paul exhorts, “They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”

Are you using your money only to enrich your life, or are you using your money to take hold of that which is truly life? We are commanded to be generous towards others, and generosity is one of the greatest tools God has given for severing the root of our love for money. This is why itis important to read this verse as the love of money being the root of all evil; to love Christ more than money allows you to use it effectively as a Christian.

There are many other questions we could ask – such as how we spend our time, make our decisions, and prioritize the things of God. But I am confident that these three questions will be enough to cause each of us to reflect on our views of money and contentment.

So how can we avoid the snare of a love for money and how — if we have already been caught — can we be free of it?

Let’s consider some practical steps towards discovering contentment in Christ.

The Key to Contentment

The first method for cultivating contentment we have already seen, and that is to recognize the dangers associated with loving money. Do not forget that the promises of worldly wealth brings a snare; the bait is less enticing when you see the hook. As CH Spurgeon said, “Where one man has been ruined by adversity, ten thousand have been ruined by prosperity.”

“Where one man has been ruined by adversity, ten thousand have been ruined by prosperity.”

CH Spurgeon

Secondly, remember that worldly wealth is fleeting. Even if you were to escape the pitfalls associated with pursuing wealth, you cannot escape the fact that you can’t take it with you. Verse 7 is clear: “we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.”

Don’t waste your life accumulating stuff you’ll only leave behind.

A third important step we can take is found in verse 11: “But as for you, O man of God, flee from these things.” Flee from greed, covetousness, the desire for money.

If there is something in your life that brings about discontentment; that causes you to be envious; that makes you think little of what God has blessed you with… Run from it!

Too many Christians today have confused wise boundaries with legalism – If Christ Himself taught that “if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away,” certainly it is not too radical for us to give up a favorite TV show that causes us to be dissatisfied with what we have.

It is not too much to leave social media because it makes you envious how others pretend to live.

It is not going overboard to sacrifice an opportunity to acquire or enjoy material comforts in order to prioritize service and giving.

Flee from the love of money and all that whispers discontentment in your ears.

Of course, we cannot run away from something without running towards something else. And that’s just what we are called to do. A fourth step: Pursue godliness. Look at the rest of verse 11: “…flee these things…Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.”

Replace a desire for the world’s riches with a desire for the riches that are found only in Christ Jesus. Turn your eyes from temporary wealth to eternal treasures.

This is just as Christ taught in Matthew 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.

Where is your treasure being stored? Our final means of avoiding the dangers of discontentment and for discovering contentment in Christ: Treasure Christ above all else.

This is the key to contentment. The other steps are helpful and biblical, but if they are not grounded in a desire to pursue Christ they are nothing but empty works.

If you do not want to be discontent – if you want to escape the dangers of loving money – you must find your contentment in Jesus Christ.

Nothing else on earth can satisfy, and nothing else can compare to the inexhaustible riches we have in our Savior. Think much of Jesus, and you will not esteem anything else more highly than you ought.

Do not forget Ephesians 2:5-7, which tells us “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Recall that it is “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.”

Think on 1 Peter 1:4-5: “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

In Christ we have received grace, forgiveness, reconciliation with God, hope, countless blessings in this life and the secure promise of eternity with Him in the next. What more could we possibly need!?

If Jesus is not enough for you to be content, it can only be because you do not know enough about Jesus.

When you realize that you are Christ’s treasured possession, you will no longer treasure your own possessions.

Keep your eyes on Jesus. This is how we can be content even if our finances are meager and our possessions few. It is in Christ that we can be content with what we have and say with Paul “if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”

We can be content. We can have “that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.”