Introduction
Are you following Jesus for Jesus, or are you tempted to use Jesus to get something else? The central lesson I want to press into your heart is this: a trustworthy church is built by trustworthy people who pursue Christ Himself, not “godliness” as a tool for personal gain.
As we near the end of our study in 1 Timothy, our Trustworthy Church series, it’s worth asking what makes a church trustworthy at all. Paul’s repeated concern is not just structures, titles, or programs. A church becomes a safe, clear place for God’s people to seek Him and make Him known when it is filled with people who (1) honor what is worthy, and (2) identify and separate from what corrupts. Paul began this letter warning Timothy about false teaching and twisted motives, and as we close, he returns to that same reality: not everyone who talks like a Christian actually loves Christ. Paul gives us a profile, almost a resume, of those who appear religious but are using religion as a means to an end. Then he gives a protocol for how we respond. Our anchor text is 1 Timothy 6:3–5.
Main Points
Are you following Jesus for Jesus, or are you tempted to use Jesus to get something else? The central lesson I want to press into your heart is this: a trustworthy church is built by trustworthy people who pursue Christ Himself, not “godliness” as a tool for personal gain.
As we near the end of our study in 1 Timothy, our Trustworthy Church series, it’s worth asking what makes a church trustworthy at all. Paul’s repeated concern is not just structures, titles, or programs. A church becomes a safe, clear place for God’s people to seek Him and make Him known when it is filled with people who (1) honor what is worthy, and (2) identify and separate from what corrupts. Paul began this letter warning Timothy about false teaching and twisted motives, and as we close, he returns to that same reality: not everyone who talks like a Christian actually loves Christ.
Paul gives us a profile, almost a resume, of those who appear religious but are using religion as a means to an end. Then he gives a protocol for how we respond.
Our anchor text is 1 Timothy 6:3–5.
Godliness Can Be Used As A Tool
Paul is realistic: there will be people in the church age, right up until Jesus returns, who wear godliness but don’t want God. They treat Christianity as a pathway to something else.
You can see how this works in obvious places:
- Political gain: “God bless you…” can be used as a religious-sounding stamp to gain trust and win votes.
- Relational or sexual gain: “Christian” can become a label used to gain quick trust rather than a life of cross-bearing obedience.
- Platform and financial gain: there is a “Christian industry” around books, music, platforms, and influence. Not everyone with a microphone is aiming at Jesus as the end goal.
I want you to hear this soberly: it should not surprise us when some claim Christ but pursue an alternative “gain.” Paul is preparing Timothy, and us, to recognize it and to guard our own hearts from it.
Watch What They Reject, Not Just Teach
Paul begins the profile here:
“If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness…” (1 Tim. 6:3)
One of the clearest warning signs is not merely what someone promotes, but what they refuse to embrace. Paul calls Jesus’ words and apostolic doctrine wholesome, sound, healthy, life-giving truth that leads toward godliness.
Sound doctrine is not meant to crush you; it’s meant to help you flourish in the “abundant life” Jesus gives. So be alert when someone constantly dismisses Christ’s plain teaching as beneath them, “too simple,” “too milk,” “not enough meat.”
Jesus’ teachings are often stunningly direct and practical: love God; love your neighbor as yourself (cf. Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:37–40). Yet people who want control, status, or controversy will always try to complicate obedience: “Yes, but who is my neighbor?” (cf. Luke 10:29). They may obsess over secondary matters while resenting the Beatitudes-shaped life, humility, poverty of spirit, peacemaking (cf. Matt. 5:1–12).
A trustworthy disciple receives Christ’s words as good, not as an inconvenience to work around.
Prideful Confidence Without True Substance
Paul continues:
“he is proud, knowing nothing…” (1 Tim. 6:4)
This is the delusion: pride that sounds like certainty, but lacks true knowledge of God.
Sometimes it’s easier to spot “out there”, the door-to-door confidence of groups that deny the true Christ while speaking with great assurance. But Paul’s warning also lands uncomfortably close to home. We live in a generation with unprecedented access to Christian resources, Bibles, commentaries, sermons, historical theology, right in our pockets. That’s a gift, but it also carries a danger: knowledge can puff up (cf. 1 Cor. 8:1).
So I want to disciple you gently but directly: you can collect information about God and still be spiritually hollow. You can learn Greek or Hebrew and still be wrong. You can have a “spiritual resume” (who you studied under, who baptized you, where you were saved) and still not be pointing people to Jesus.
Jesus rejoiced that the Father reveals truth not to the self-impressed, but to the humble:
“You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.” (Matt. 11:25)
God loves humble hearts, like good soil, ready to receive, obey, and bear fruit.
An Unhealthy Craving For Controversy
Paul’s next description is piercing:
“obsessed with disputes and arguments over words…” (1 Tim. 6:4)
The ESV calls it an “unhealthy craving for controversy.” This isn’t the same as thoughtful discernment or careful theology. This is a heart that needs to fight, needs to win, needs to be seen as right.
And if you’re honest, you can feel that impulse in yourself. We all have moments where we think, I cannot let this go. I must be right. That same impulse can hijack Christian conversation, turning fellowship into sparring.
This shows up in endless debates that may not be worthless topics in themselves but become toxic when they become obsessive: salvation mechanics, baptism timing and mode, church methodology, end-times charts, culture-war labels, and a dozen other “singular issues” that dominate someone’s identity.
The question isn’t, “Can Christians discuss hard things?” We should. The question is: what is the fruit of the discussion, and what is the aim of the person?
Fruit That Divides Instead Of Builds
Paul says these disputes produce a predictable harvest:
“from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions…” (1 Tim. 6:4)
Jesus taught us, “You will know them by their fruit” (cf. Matt. 7:16). So look carefully at what consistently grows around a person’s teaching and influence:
- Envy: resentment toward others’ role, fruitfulness, or influence in the kingdom.
- Strife/quarreling: constant friction; arguments fueled by pride and rivalry.
- Reviling: abusive speech; the inability to speak edifyingly about other believers, churches, or ministries.
- Evil suspicions: a reflex to assume hidden motives behind every sermon, every act of compassion, every call to holiness, every teaching on authority, every biblical instruction.
When that’s the ongoing atmosphere, it is not the Spirit producing unity. It’s a different spirit producing fragmentation.
Paul adds:
“useless wranglings…” (1 Tim. 6:5)
There’s a tragic irony here: you can “win” debates and still lose people. You can win an argument and lose a soul. Endless wrangling doesn’t advance the gospel; it often distracts from it.
Withdraw From Gain-Seeking Religion
Paul finally exposes the root and gives a clear command:
“who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.” (1 Tim. 6:5)
These people are “destitute of the truth”, not necessarily mentally unwell, but unrenewed, thinking like the world thinks. The world is happy to turn anything into a means to an end: attention, money, status, control, a following. And when that worldly mindset enters church life, it produces worldly fruit.
So what do we do?
Paul tells Timothy: withdraw. This is not petty hostility. It is spiritual wisdom. It is refusing to partner with, platform, or normalize a form of Christianity that treats Christ as a tool.
And I want you to apply this in two directions:
- Outwardly: be discerning about who you listen to, who you follow, and what voices you allow to shape you. Ask: Does this person lead me toward love for Jesus, humble obedience, and unity, or toward suspicion, arrogance, and endless fights?
- Inwardly: ask the Spirit to cleanse your motives. “Lord, where have I tried to use You to get what I want? Where have I pursued ‘Christianity’ more than Christ?”
A trustworthy church isn’t created by hype; it’s built as we become trustworthy disciples with renewed minds.
Conclusion
As we close out this portion of 1 Timothy, Paul brings us back to the burden he started with: guard the church from teaching and teachers that twist doctrine for personal gain. The marks are clear: rejection of Christ’s wholesome words, pride without substance, obsession with controversy, and fruit that divides. The root is even clearer: treating godliness as a pathway to “gain.”
I’m calling you to something better and simpler: pursue Jesus as the treasure, not as the strategy. Receive His words as wholesome. Walk in humility. Refuse the addiction to quarrels. Evaluate fruit. And where gain-seeking religion makes itself known, obey Scripture, withdraw, so that the body can stay healthy and the gospel can keep advancing.
Father, in the name of Jesus, thank You for speaking plainly through Your Word. Please search our hearts and expose anywhere we have tried to use You as a means to some other end. Give us a sincere love for Christ Himself and a hunger for wholesome doctrine that produces real godliness.
Protect our church from false teaching, pride, and a craving for controversy. Make us humble, teachable, and quick to obey the simple commands of Jesus: to love You and to love our neighbor. Help us recognize fruit that divides and give us courage and wisdom to withdraw from what corrupts, while still walking in gentleness and truth.
Renew our minds by Your Spirit. Make us trustworthy disciples who build up the body of Christ and keep the gospel central. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
Conclusion
As we close out this portion of 1 Timothy, Paul brings us back to the burden he started with: guard the church from teaching and teachers that twist doctrine for personal gain. The marks are clear: rejection of Christ’s wholesome words, pride without substance, obsession with controversy, and fruit that divides. The root is even clearer: treating godliness as a pathway to “gain.”
I’m calling you to something better and simpler: pursue Jesus as the treasure, not as the strategy. Receive His words as wholesome. Walk in humility. Refuse the addiction to quarrels. Evaluate fruit. And where gain-seeking religion makes itself known, obey Scripture, withdraw, so that the body can stay healthy and the gospel can keep advancing.
Closing Prayer
Father, in the name of Jesus, thank You for speaking plainly through Your Word. Please search our hearts and expose anywhere we have tried to use You as a means to some other end. Give us a sincere love for Christ Himself and a hunger for wholesome doctrine that produces real godliness.
Protect our church from false teaching, pride, and a craving for controversy. Make us humble, teachable, and quick to obey the simple commands of Jesus: to love You and to love our neighbor. Help us recognize fruit that divides and give us courage and wisdom to withdraw from what corrupts, while still walking in gentleness and truth.
Renew our minds by Your Spirit. Make us trustworthy disciples who build up the body of Christ and keep the gospel central. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.