Hi, but let me invite you to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 13. I think as we come to our text in verses 5 to 6, you'll see why we sang that. It's all about what a hauntingly beautiful melody it is. And just think of those words, God never yet foresook at need the soul that trusted Him indeed.
We'll hear that in our passage this evening. We're on the third week in Hebrews 13 now. And on the subject of Christian love, actually what we saw in the first three verses was that we are to have continuing love for our brothers and sisters, and we are to love strangers, to show hospitality, and we are to love the persecuted, those imprisoned or mistreated. Last week we looked at the subject of love regarding marital love.
We're to hold marriage in honor, and to keep the marriage bed undefiled. Our even our sexual love is to be expressed and enjoyed what God intended in the union of a husband and wife. We've been thinking about love, and last week we said, it's not hateful to believe and preach these things, but it is loving for our Creator knows what's best for us, what's good for us, and it's loving to want that, not only for ourselves but for others. Now, this evening we come to another passage about love.
And I just want to remind us, why are we here? We're here because God is love. Says the scripture. And he, being the God who has given his son in love, and given us the spirit to bear the free of love, is the God who knows best how our love should be directed.
And so this evening we hear him tell us as well, in the whole passage we've been hearing who we're to love and the way we should love, and that's a night in verses five to six, actually what not to love. In the passage you'll say don't love money. So let's think about these things this evening, and we'll begin with a reading from the scripture in Hebrews 13 beginning at verse five. This is the holy and inspired word of God.
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have. For he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what can man do to me? Amen, this is God's word, let's pray.
Our Father, we pray that you would write this word, the word of truth, this word of confidence and assurance, this promise of your nearness and presence and sustenance and hope. We pray you would write it on our hearts. And so bring good to ourselves and glory to you as God our provider, in Jesus name we pray, amen. Start with a story about a Jewish man in Hungary who went to his rabbi and complained, life is unbearable.
There are nine of us living together in one room. What can I do? The rabbi answered, take your goat into the room with you. And the man was incredulous, the rabbi insisted, do as I say, and come back in a week.
In a week later, the man returned, looking more distraught than ever. We can't stand it, he said. The goat is filthy. The rabbi said, go home and let the goat out and come back next week.
And a week later, the man returned, explaining life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat, just the nine of us. Contentment is more a matter of our perspective than our circumstances, isn't it? So I want you to think about contentment and money and possessions and love this evening.
Here in the passage, short passage, we have a twofold command and then, well, he tells us how we can do it. First, there's the command, don't love money. Then there's the command, be content with what you have. And then he tells us how, by counting on the Lord and his promises.
So let's begin with the first command. Don't love money, he says. Keep your life free from love of money. Now, why has he turned to this topic?
Well, I think we could say, bad theology, hard circumstances and fallen hearts, certainly our reason to have this subject before us. I mean, some have had bad theology. They had heard him say, at the end of chapter 12, we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, an enduring kingdom. And some of them might have said to themselves, see, I knew it, everything is better with Jesus.
I mean, he's got a kingdom and he's giving it to me. And God obviously wants me to be a rich citizen in his kingdom, even in the here and now. So I'm gonna get riches and I'm gonna file them up and it's God's will for me. And those who buy that lie tend to say to others and look, brother and sisters, if you're not accumulating, maybe you're not receiving this kingdom.
And well, it's certainly my job to see that you do, but if you had more faith, you would grow richer. And folks who hold these kinds of views, forget that the kingdom we're receiving is not a kingdom of this world. It's true we are co-heirs with Christ of all things, but we share in his sufferings now that later we might share in his glory. And so be careful about theology, but also recognize, you know, there were people hearing this who were suffering very hard circumstances.
And his here is needed to be reminded of these things because back in Hebrews chapter 10, it's been a while, but at verse 34, he said to his here, you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession than a abiding one. He says, I know some of you, people ripped you off, people persecuted and took the stuff you had. And you were joyful and ready to give up everything for the sake of following Jesus. But he also knows the human heart and the world of sin and misery that it would be tempting for them to grow increasingly resentful.
And perhaps then we're locked into profess their faith in Jesus if it might mean for them plundering of their property. Not unlike how it is today when people fear to share about their faith in Christ openly, for fear of losing clients, for fear of offending a boss, for fear of deals going away, for fear of suffering financially on account of following Jesus. And so he has to say a word to them. But then of course, there's also just simply our fallen hearts, even as Christians who struggle, we're not yet make perfect.
And we're always tempted to be tugged away from God's instruction for us. And we saw that in see it throughout verses one to six. As another put, well, few Christians haven't felt the tug of their sinful hearts. And whether it's the things of verses one to three, the desire to pull away from people and not engage them and love them, or whether it's verses verse four, the desire to engage in intimacy in a way that's not with a spouse as we're commanded.
Or here, the desire for income, we don't get from our work. The lust for pleasure, the lust for possessions that our father hasn't seen fit for us here now. In my youthful Christian exuberance, I encountered that section of the book of Proverbs in chapter 30, where the author prays, and I prayed right along with him very sincerely, give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.
And yet I have to tell you that more times than I can count, I've wished that the Lord wouldn't answer that prayer, not to not give me poverty, you understand. But to positively give me riches, we all struggle with these things. And notice the writer here, what he's not saying. He's not saying, keep your life free from money, but keep your life free from the love of money.
Because it's not that money itself is bad. We know that Abraham and Job in the Old Testament, we're both extremely wealthy believers in their own generations. Just as the problem in verse four was not sex, but lust, adultery and so on, the problem here is not money, but the love of money. It's not money, the Apostle Paul will also say, but the love of money, that is the root of all kinds of evil.
So we could say this, how much money you have isn't really the point. And it doesn't really determine whether you love it. You can have a lot and not love it. And you can have very little and love it.
So the issue is not do we have money, but does money have us? The issue is not is money our servants or our master. And if we don't master our money, then it will master us. And so then we should ask the question, well, okay, how can I enjoy the good things of this life that even my heavenly Father has seen fit to give me and yet not be ruled by them or make them an idol I worship and serve?
And the way to do that, the scripture is clear, the New Testament proclaims, 1 Timothy chapter four, that we are to receive the good things and even God's pleasures that he designed not to be their slave, but to be grateful to God and to serve him with the purpose that he gave them. So Paul will say 1 Timothy four, to those who, for instance, would forbid marriage to Christians and therefore the marriage bed. Paul would say, look, everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with Thanksgiving. It's not that we must not enjoy the good things of life, whether that's the marriage bed or prosperity or possessions, but we are not to put our hopes in them.
Paul in verse 2, and he says, as for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, notice that their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, but their hopes on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. So you see then that this is ultimately a matter of our hearts, that we need to repent of ingratitude to God who gives us all things, we need to cultivate and express gratitude to our heavenly Father, and it's our failure to do these things that opens the door to many other kinds of sins. It's striking that the list of perversions and other various rebellions in Romans chapter 1 begins with idolatry and describes it this way, for although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile when they're thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. This is where sin begins.
They don't honor God, we don't honor God, we don't give thanks to God. And so what do we do? We take the things of God and we worship serve and serve the creature rather than the creator. So that the writer is reminding us that it's the failure to be thankful to God for the things he's provided that produces the distorted and twisted love of other things, even the love of money.
And so we need to examine our own hearts and repent of the failures and sins of our own hearts. Don't love money, he says. Do you love money? Should love money.
Okay, be grateful and thankful to God. But second, be content with what you have. That's the second command, verse five, keep your life free from love of money and be content with what you have. So don't be eager to pile it up and don't be restless about what you don't have.
Remember the words of our Lord Jesus, a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Let me encourage you to measure wealth then, not by the things you have, but by the things you have for which you wouldn't take money. There's so many other things, family, friends, brothers and sisters in the faith, the unsearchable riches of Christ and every spiritual blessing that we have in him. These are the things we need to appreciate and give thanks for.
And there were far more than money in this world. Regarding money, not only do we need to look at our own heart and ask, what do I really love? What is my treasure? But we need to ask, am I content with the condition that I'm in?
Beware of discontentment with God's fatherly provision. Beware of the covetousness that breeds discontentment. Covetousness follows a principle of increasing desire but decreasing satisfaction. It's a form of the law of diminishing returns.
You get something and it means less for you over time. It takes more to be satisfied. We all experience this probably at Christmas if you're in a family where there's gift giving. And the thing that you really loved and long for and hoped you would finally get at Christmas about two or three weeks or two or three months later, it just doesn't mean merely as much as you thought it would.
It's a law of diminishing returns. So we need to be careful of covetousness, that breeds discontentment and be careful of discontentment without fatherly provision of us. When J.D. Rockefeller, the oil industry magnative of generations ago, when he was young, a friend asked him how much money he wanted and his answer was I want a million.
And after he earned a million, his friend asked him how much money he wanted. He said I want another million. And that's the way it is so often. We smile at that.
I mean, oh, the cares of the Uber rich. How greedy? If a million is there, I don't know, a hundred million now. He knows.
But so often we say to ourselves, I just want 10% more of what little I have. And then I would be content. If I just got 10% more. But Ecclesiastes 5, verse 10 is waiting for us all.
Ecclesiastes 5, verse 10, he who loves money, will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income. I love the story of the rich industrialist who was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting lazily beside his boat. Why aren't you out there fishing? He said to him, because I've caught enough fish for today, said the fisherman.
Why don't you catch more fish than you need? The rich fantastic. Well, what I do with that, said the fisherman. Well, you can earn more money.
Came to get a patient and patient replied, and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets and catch even more fish and make more money. And soon you'd have a fleet of boats and be rich like me. And then the fisherman asked him, then what would I do?
And he said, well, then you could sit down and enjoy life, said the industrialist. What do you think I'm doing now? Said the fisherman. Oh, discontentment.
If you love money, you'll never have enough. And you'll never be satisfied with what you do have. Now the writer, of course, here, isn't saying that all ambition is therefore bad. He's not saying to a businessman or a businesswoman, for instance, that it's wrong to want to have a larger yield next year than this year.
He's not saying that's really a question of add to it. Self-regarding ambition is destructive. It's dominated by greed with little attention to the needs of others. But he's not saying, if you really don't love money and if you really contend with what you have, then you can go ahead and be a slouch at work.
That's not what he's saying. All of us are called to serve the Lord wholeheartedly in our job, Ephesians 4 verse 28 says, let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands so that he might have something to share with anyone in need. Don't be a thief, but rather labor, doing honest work so that not only can you provide for yourself and your family, but so that you can actually provide for others in their time of need, so that the Bible views making money and being honest and industrious and providing for ourselves and being generous with others as commendable, and even commanded. So being ambitious isn't necessarily contrary to being content.
Just because you're ambitious doesn't mean you're not content with what you currently have. It's really a question of motive. Once as I'm gonna go out and perform and rise, get more all the while frustrated with those who stand in their way, angry at their bosses who don't reward them, envious of colleagues who get promoted, irritated with family who divert so much energy from them and grumbling against God for holding them back. That's one way to live life.
But another works hard and says, the Lord is my father and he loves me. And he knows what is best for me. And I'll take as he gives to me, and I'll be happy with what he provides. I'll share with those in need.
So Kent Hughes says this, a boatload of discontented materialists, lovers of money, will not do well in financial storms. Those who always want more will turn away from God when their Christianity brings material subtraction rather than addition. But on the other hand, those who are content who have found their ultimate treasure in the unflagging presence and care of God will carry on. So contentment sends to our fellow Christians into the world that Christ is that we believe.
Christ is with us, Christ is for us, Christ is enough, even more than enough. So contentment, he says, it needs to be cultivated and covetousness needs to be constantly dug up from its roots. So how can we do this? How can we keep our lives free from the love of money?
And how can we be content with what we have? Well, by counting on the Lord and his promises, that's the last thing here in verses five and six. Keep your life free from the love of money, be content with what you have, where he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. Contentment comes from believing the promise of the Lord.
When he says, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you. And the promise is emphatic, right? God has his hand on us, he holds us in his hands and he will never let us go. Captured well in that, in that, in that, in that, in that, in that, in our firm of foundation.
And we didn't sing it tonight because we just sang it recently and I'm OCD that way. But there's that stanza in that hymn, the soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose. I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul though all hell should have never to shake.
I'll never, no, never, no, never forsake. I will leave you. I want to abandon you. I am watching out for you.
I have your best, your eternal and everlasting best in my heart for you and in my plans for you. Says the Lord who did not spare his own son, that he might generously give us all things, all things he thinks wise and needful for us at their proper time. And so, but my car broke we say, and now I've got all these unexpected expenses and life's not fair we complain. And of course your car broke.
They don't make cars to last forever. Well they can't and it just might be, as I have more than once said to my mechanic, I guess you've been praying to your Father in heaven, give me this day my daily bread. And the Father said sure. And my car broke down and here I am.
Because it's the manner in which God provides for him. The Lord is said to us, dear brothers and sisters, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. And so what should we say to that?
The writer tells us, verse six, so we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? He's quoting Psalm 118 here.
Why is he talking about the fear of man? Because trusting in the Lord and professing Jesus before others. Could lead to impoverishment. As others who don't follow Jesus make life difficult for you.
That's a reality of all in the world. Because not trusting in the Lord might lead you to be willing to do evil at the request of men and for money or to keep a job. And so you are tempted to fear people and go along with them. But trusting the Lord gives you the freedom to say no to people, even if it's to your financial injury.
So we see that confidence in the Lord is the antidote to fear. There's a story from a great preacher from the fourth century, John Chrysostom. He was called before the Roman emperor for challenging the emperor's authority. And the emperor said to John Chrysostom, if you don't stop saying what you're saying, I'll banish you.
And Chrysostom said, this is my father's world. Where are you going to send me? I don't know if he was laughing at the notion as he said it. And then the emperor said, OK, I'll kill you.
And he said, no, you won't. My life is hit with Christ and God. And then he said, well, I'll drive you away from all your friends. And he said, well, I have such a friend in heaven who will never leave me nor forsake me.
And then the emperor said, well, then I'm going to take away all your possessions. And he said, no, you won't. The Lord is my treasure. You hear what Chrysostom will say.
The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what can man even an emperor do to me. That's a man who's content in the Lord. And the writer of Hebrews is calling us to that same contentment.
So let's cultivate gratitude and thankfulness. Let's cultivate contentment and let our contentment become vocal. Let's be a people who give thanks to the God, who freely, generously gives us what he's given us. And let's be a people who give thanks to Jesus, for giving us himself, for blessing us in Jesus with every spiritual blessing.
And let's be a people who trust that he is holding on to us, even when in our weakness, we don't know if we can hold on to him. Because he holds us in the palm of his hand and he will never let us go. Let's pray. Father, thank you.
Thank you that you are more committed to us than we are to you. Forgive us where we do and have loved Bonnie or loved our possessions and to the exclusion of you or more than you. Forgive us, change our hearts, grant us to be a repentant people, help us to always be thankful to the giver of every good gift. And so to love you more than the things of this world.
And thank you for that Savior who delivers us from our sin in his name. I pray. Amen. Amen.
Let's stand together and sing.