Cultivating Contentment & Advent Hope in the Noise of this Season
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Good morning once again! If you’re new here, I’m Aaron - one of the guys mostly working behind the scenes these days and teaching as needed. Tony is on the mend and since I love this season and I was already introducing Advent, I volunteered to preach in his stead this morning. My sermon for this morning is called: “Cultivating Contentment & Advent Hope in the Noise of this Season.”
And my aim this morning is to exhort and encourage us all to build our muscles of contentment and hope in Christ to the glory of God this morning. It can be so easy for us to get caught up in the cultural traditions, the great bargains on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the meals, and a dozen family events during Advent, and in so doing miss out on the glory of Christ in this season and it’s my hope that this morning, we could all take a collective deep breath and align our hearts towards Christ together before we dive into the season headfirst. That we might drink deeply and prepare ourselves to make much of Him in our lives this Holiday season. That we might find true rest and peace in Him.
How does that sound? Does that sound good? Then let’s dive in, open your Bibles to 1 Timothy 6:6-19. I’m going to read the whole passage, break it down, and tie it into an Advent exhortation for us all this morning.
Vs. 6 Godliness w/ contentment is great gain. Contentment comes to those who know the full story - that Christ has come, that he was crucified, and that he was raised and through that act has reconciled us fully to God forever. The Christian has an untouchable hope and therefore an untouchable peace. Peace comes from confident hope and there is no greater hope than the Christian hope bought by the precious blood of Christ who freely came in the flesh to gladly take away the sins of the world.
Did you catch that? Contentment is not for sale. It’s not on a shelf or a car lot. It’s not found in memories with family or friends or under the tree. But everything around you for the next 30 days will be telling you that it is. Don’t believe the lie. Fight for contentment and cling to Christ.
Let’s read on
Vs 7 -10 Why are we content? Because our ultimate and truest and most real hope is in found Christ’s finished work. If you believe that with me, say Amen. Amen.
Our deepest hope is not in a spouse, a house, a gift, or a job. If you believe that, say Amen. Amen.
It’s not in being the best father, or mother, son or daughter, brother or sister. Amen church?
It’s not found in any earthly accomplishment or the praise and approval of the people around us. Amen, Church? We’d give those things up in a moment to cling to Christ, Amen?
If we’re honest that’s not an easy Amen in practice.
Comfort is nice.
Being well-liked, and being highly regarded feels good. Watching our children’s faces glow on Christmas morning is sweet and precious. Memories we carry for a lifetime. Seeing our living rooms and dining rooms full of those we love and who love us is such a wonderful gift. And these are all good, godly, and wonderful things! But they are not the ultimate thing. And that is why Paul exhorts us - those of us who desire to be rich in anything but Christ - to keep our minds fixated on Christ.
Jesus said that we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and all else will be given to us even if following Christ means we suffer the temporary loss of all those things. Right now there are Christians who are celebrating the advent of Christ in secret. Hushed tones and quiet hymns, in illegal gatherings in the midst of COVID with minimal access to medicine, and in some cases food and water, because of their status as cultural pariahs. To them, it is better to worship Christ and celebrate his coming than to enjoy any other earthly blessing.
For us, right now, it’s easy to forget that we are those very people being challenged here.
We don’t find ourselves in such harsh conditions where the choice to be faithful to Christ could cost us anything. And we think because most of us don’t make much money, we aren’t tempted to desire riches. We figure we won’t ever be rich. But having riches isn’t the warning here, it’s being possessed by the desire for wealth. In other words, it’s the desiring comfort above Christ that we are exhorted to watch out for. We seek wealth because we seek power - or stability - or put another way, we seek riches because we think we’ll find true comfort and true life in them.
Our culture is so intoxicated by comfort - as was the case in the early church - that unless we actively fight for contentment and godliness, we will find ourselves caught up in seeking comfort (riches) above Christ. This is why we are given the following commands in verses 11-16.
Read Vs 11-16.
Contentment is something you must fight for.
“Flee” “Pursue” “Fight” “Take hold” “Keep”
Listen to those active words. We are told here that acquiring Godliness and Contentment takes work. It’s a muscle that we need to exercise. If we don’t, we’ll become soft and comfortable and we’ll be prone to trade Christ for comfort. This holiday season, you’re being tempted to choose comfort over Christ.
To think “Ahh, THIS is the life” instead of “Ahh, how wonderful will those days be when we are all together with Christ.” Or If this is THIS sweet, how much more sweet will life with Christ be? I can’t wait.”
Advent is God’s active war on Satan, sin, death, and Hell itself. And it is his grace and mercy showering over us through the lived life and freely given life of Christ. It was purchased for us.
Because God has been so gracious, because his Kingdom is coming and his will, will be done, because Christ has come - therefore we should fight hard to not be lulled into sleep, to be caught unaware, to drift peacefully into the kingdom of comfort and there find it ultimately empty. We should see through the good gifts and see our Lord behind them. We should be fueled in righteous desiring of his kingdom as we have an anticipatory taste of the Kingdom to come!
This is Paul’s argument. Not that good things on earth are bad, but that good things on earth should cultivate in us a desire for the better things that are surely coming. They should fuel our hope in Christ, stoking the flames of the fires of our faith. And we should be active participants in building that fire of faith so that when the temptation to choose comfort or convenience of Christ comes our way, we don’t fall prey to it.
That’s why he gives practical suggestions in verses 17 & 18. Active ways we can practice our faith in Christ and exercise that muscle, seeing the gift of life and the hope of the life to come clearly. Ways we can flee the tempting call of comfort and ease that wealth affords us, so we can see clearly Christ and then use the wealth he allows us to cultivate to build his kingdom and spread his joy.
So what can we do this Holiday season to savor Christ more than Christmas?
Well, today as a church we will take communion, confessing our sins, repenting of those sins, and reminding ourselves of the depth of the love of God for us in Christ Jesus, that we’ve been bought with a price and should glorify God with our bodies. And every week through Christmas, we will be reflecting on an aspect of Advent and the arrival of Christmas.
What else can do you do?
Pray, daily for God to work in your heart to reveal where you might not be living as if his son really did come to earth and reconcile all things to himself.
Seek ways to glorify God in action this season.
Remind yourself of the true Kingdom coming and the lengths to which God was willing to go to establish that Kingdom with us in the sending of his Son by reading scripture and books on the topic.
Find ways to bless others within your means this season.
What are we (my family) doing?
This year our family is doing a weekly devotional, lighting our own advent candles, and singing advent songs together every week. Jasmine also does a TON of extra baking with the girls, celebrating Jesus and the gift God gave us in sending him. We look for excuses to bless our kids with a little extra and direct them to the blessing that is God in the flesh, Jesus Christ. Christmas morning we delay giving gifts until we enjoy a meal together and reflect on the greater gift that is Christ. You don’t have to do all or even any of these things. But this is what we’re doing.
But for now, today, we can practice our faith in communion. As the worship team leads us in worship, I encourage you to reflect on this sermon, confess to God any sins exposed today or earlier that you ahve yet to repent of, and prepare your heart to receive communion. Ponder the mercy and goodness of God the Father, the love and faithfulness of the Son, and abiding help and grace of the Spirit given to us because of the coming of Christ. And then as you’re ready, come and take the elements back to your seat. Once everyone has had opportunity to come up, we will take communion together.
….
At the last supper, Jesus took a loaf of bread and broke it and said, “this is my body, broken for you. Whenever you eat it, remember me.” Then he took a glass and raise it saying, “this is my blood, poured out for you, whenever you drink it, remember me.”
The disciples concluded the meal with a song, so lets join them in that. Would you stand and sing with me?
