Philippians 4:10–20; 1 Timothy 6:1–19

Bible Studies for Life
Assistant Professor of Religion, Department of Religion, Samford University

How Much Is Enough?
Philippians 4:10–20; 1 Timothy 6:1–19
Sometimes great abundance and convenience lead to great discontentment. I am writing these June lessons from Israel because I am here on an archaeological expedition with students. For three weeks, I am away from my wife and can only speak to her at odd hours and over spotty connections. I have few sets of clothes with me. The street outside our Nazareth hotel is noisy. I cannot open a fridge and prepare myself a snack. There is no computer printer or scanner at hand. Every day, I spend hours hiking through kilometers of thistles in the hot sun, hunting for archaeological remains. And worst of all, the TV in my room has not worked since I arrived. Yet I feel great contentment here. I suppose the reduced conditions lead me to reduce my expectations, to be happy with what I have.

On the other hand, the hotel staff spoils us as if we were royalty. Every morning at 5, Atef prepares cappuccinos for all who want them. For the past four days, he has been on vacation, and I find myself irate that no one is serving me a cappuccino at 5 in the morning! Perhaps abundance and convenience are not the gifts I thought they were. Any good thing — any thing at all (object, condition or person) — is a temporary gift and can be gone tomorrow. True contentment lies not in the thing but in the giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17).

Godliness — Companion of Contentment (1 Tim. 6:1–8)
Despite the history of the abuse of verses 1–2 (they were once used to construct biblical defenses for slavery in America), the passage still teaches a powerful lesson through the admonishment to Timothy that godliness is its own reward. What? Since when? I rejoice in sumptuous meals and fine, new, fashionable clothing. Contrary to our cultural training, from these verses, we learn that we rejoice in (insert “enough”) food and clothing.

We never hear what exactly “the teaching that is in accord with godliness” (3) means, but from the list of vices in verses 4–5, we can surmise that it brings about the opposing virtues: humility, wisdom, pursuit of peace, satisfaction, unity, telling the truth, trust and so on. Notice how seamlessly contentment fits into this list. Godliness and contentment, therefore, go hand in hand. The person who is godly is content with God’s gifts. The person who is content is grateful for all that God has done. I think we can safely say although we do not pursue godliness in order to gain contentment (for contentment would then become the goal, not God, and paradoxically we would remain discontent), godliness is the true route to contentment.

Greed — Enemy of Contentment (1 Tim. 6:9–19)
Greed is the very opposite of contentment. Can you be grateful to God and regard His graciousness as deficient at the same time? Greed destroys contentment. Notice that the things that Timothy is to pursue have nothing to do with personal gain of any type. Even “eternal” life is not the goal (or he would be pursuing eternal life rather than God). Eternal life is offered now and is to be grasped now. It is yet another of God’s unmerited gifts. How then can there be any room for greed?

Faith — Key to Contentment (Phil. 4:10–20)
These verses are some of the best-known and most-beloved in all of Scripture and for good reason. Could Paul have given us any better gift than this encomium (word of praise) on contentment? It is because of Paul that we know that contentment can come in any circumstance — indeed contentment is independent of circumstance. Did you notice the paradox in this passage? Paul said he learned how to be content even when he was hungry and in need, and then he said God will supply all believers’ needs. What are we to make of this seeming contradiction? As I read things, Paul could be saying when one’s life is in God’s hands, everything but Him — even food, shelter, dare I say life itself — becomes a want. When all is taken from us, as it eventually will be, it is revealed that God is the only thing we truly need.