(S)

6 All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered. ² Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even better because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers and are devoted to the welfare^[a] of their slaves.

False Teachers and the Love of Money

These are the things you are to teach and insist on. ³ If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, ⁴ they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions ⁵ and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸ But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 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. ¹⁰ For 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.

Final Charge to Timothy

¹¹ But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴ to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

¹⁷ Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸ Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. ¹⁹ In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

²⁰ Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, ²¹ which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith.

Grace be with you all.

(O)

I want to talk about the first couple verses. We don’t have slavery around here anymore, but often the master/slave relationship is compared to the employer/employee of today. I think it is very fitting and let me give you an example of this in my life. I worked for a company for 20 years. It was very quickly apparant that the owners were Christians, and they were not afraid to have that as public knowledge. I was not a believer when I joined the company, but they treated me very well and I really felt compelled to work hard for them. When I became a believer a few years into my employ there, they were really supportive. When myself and others would evangelise in the shop, they gave us full reign and were ready to supply us with bibles, study material and so on for whoever might be interested. We decided to run an Alpha program during lunch hour, which the company supplied catered meals once a week for the duration. I could go on, but the fact is, it was my joy to work for a company with such incredible passion for Christ and who stood up for the Lord, even if it could have got them in legal trouble by today’s standards.

(A)

We all have jobs, and some of our jobs may not be exciting or maybe you aren’t where you would ideally like to be. But I want to encourage you today, you are exactly where God needs you today. I had breakfast with a guy today who drives truck for a living, and therefore is not home regularily and not able to volunteer at the various church programs like he would want to. So he decided to start on online bible study for whoever wanted to join, so many truckers and people from right across the country and even into South America I believe, joined this study. He is right where God needs him right now, because those followers need what he is giving them. Look around you today and ask God how you can make an impact in your workplace today. Can you be more cheerful? Can you put more effort into your work? Maybe you steal the company’s time with extended coffee breaks or looking at your phone while working. Is there someone in your workplace that is a loner and needs a friend? The workplace is our greatest mission field, ask God to open our eyes to it.

(P)

Lord help us to see the needs all around us. Give us contentment in where we are and give us love in our hearts for our company and co-workers today. Amen