Introduction
Are you fighting the “good fight” for faithfulness to Jesus, or are you quietly fighting for comfort, status, and a bigger life in this world? The central teaching of 1 Timothy 6:6–19 is that godliness only becomes “great gain” when it is joined to contentment, and that we must fight the good fight of faith rather than the world’s fight for money. As we finish Paul’s letter, it helps to hear this passage like a commencement speech to Timothy, a final charge meant to motivate him to live and minister for the right end. The world’s “commencement” says, “Welcome to the real world: your worth is your net worth… chase cash over calling… get rich or die trying.” Paul gives the opposite: don’t fight the good fight of finances; fight the good fight of faith.
Main Points
Are you fighting the “good fight” for faithfulness to Jesus, or are you quietly fighting for comfort, status, and a bigger life in this world? The central teaching of 1 Timothy 6:6–19 is that godliness only becomes “great gain” when it is joined to contentment, and that we must fight the good fight of faith rather than the world’s fight for money.
As we finish Paul’s letter, it helps to hear this passage like a commencement speech to Timothy, a final charge meant to motivate him to live and minister for the right end. The world’s “commencement” says, “Welcome to the real world: your worth is your net worth… chase cash over calling… get rich or die trying.” Paul gives the opposite: don’t fight the good fight of finances; fight the good fight of faith.
Godliness With Contentment Is Great Gain
Paul begins with a corrective to false motivation: “Now godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6). In the previous context, some were using “godliness” as a means to personal gain, performing spirituality to get money, influence, or advantage. Paul doesn’t condemn godliness; he redeems it by aiming it properly.
I want you to see this: Christlike living really is the abundant life Jesus promised, but only when we refuse to use God as a tool for getting something else. Godliness becomes joy-filled “gain” when Jesus is the treasure, not the strategy.
So I’m discipling you to ask, honestly: Am I pursuing holiness to get Christ, or to get the life I want?
Two Perspectives That Produce Contentment
Paul gives us two simple, powerful lenses to fight discontent:
- The big picture: “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out” (1 Timothy 6:7). Your life has bookends, birth and death, and you take nothing with you. This is warfare against the illusion that what you own is truly yours.
A helpful picture is the Monopoly lesson: at the end of the game, it all goes back in the box. Houses, hotels, railroads, cash, back in the box. So it is with cars, titles, wardrobes, investments, even our bodies. Players come and go, but it all goes back in the box. Holding that truth close loosens the grip of greed.
- The basic needs: “And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content” (1 Timothy 6:8). Paul speaks with resolve, this is not “try to be content,” but “we shall be content.” Contentment is learned and fought for, and it grows when you’re secure that God will provide what you truly need.
Here’s a working definition to disciple you with: contentment is being so secure in God’s provision of necessities that you’re not enslaved by the pursuit of what is unnecessary. Many things are “nice,” but not needed, and chasing “nice” can quietly become a new master.
Contentment Locks Temptation’s Doors
Contentment is not passive; it is protection. One commentator called it “the master key that locks every door temptation tries to open.” That’s true across life:
- When you’re content, you’re guarded against the temptations that promise “more” (more experiences, more status, more relationships, more possessions).
- When you’re content in Christ, you’re guarded against idolatry, because you’re not looking to created things to do what only Jesus can do.
Proverbs 30:8–9 captures the wisdom: “Give me neither poverty nor riches… lest I be full and deny You… or lest I be poor and steal.” Contentment sees God’s hand in provision, enough to worship Him, not deny Him; enough to rely on Him, not profane Him.
And I want you to include spiritual basics too: if you have God’s Word, the Spirit of God, the people of God, and the worship of God, you have what you need to thrive as a Christian. Don’t let “more” become the enemy of grateful obedience today.
The Desire To Be Rich Is a Trap
Paul then warns us plainly: “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare… which drown men in destruction and perdition” (1 Timothy 6:9). Notice carefully: the issue is not having money; it is desiring to be rich, an obsessive aim that filters decisions through “how do I get more?”
That desire becomes:
- A temptation: “Don’t be satisfied; never stop; always upgrade.”
- A snare (trap): it’s never enough. Numbers don’t end, so the “last dollar” never comes. The heart becomes trained to say, “Just a little more,” forever.
This isn’t merely cultural; it’s sin-level human nature. You can see it even in children who become collectors, counting, stacking, craving, and still walking away dissatisfied. The category changes (toys to shoes to status), but money sits above them because it can buy every category.
Paul says this drowning can look like:
- Workaholism that sacrifices relationships, Scripture, and family on the altar of more.
- Greed that steps over people God put in your path to love.
- Fear of losing what you’ve built, because riches are uncertain.
- Dissatisfaction where joy evaporates, even if the bank account grows.
If you’re feeling that waterline rising, where “more” is choking gratitude and obedience, don’t call it normal. Call it what Scripture calls it: a snare.
The Love of Money Grows Many Evils
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). Not the root of all evil, but a root that sprouts countless evils. If the price is high enough, what would you compromise? Integrity? Purity? justice? truth? relationships?
Paul’s warning is severe: some, “in their greediness,” have “strayed from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10). This is not just “out there” in the world, it happens in and around the church. People can begin in devotion and end in dollar-sign discipleship.
Let that sober you in a healthy way: the danger is real, and the cost is sorrow, self-inflicted wounds that come from worshiping a cruel master.
Wealth Is Not Condemned, Pride and Trust Are
Paul is not calling all Christians to a vow of poverty. Scripture shows God using wealthy people (Abraham, David, Solomon), and Paul explicitly addresses believers “who are rich in the present age” (1 Timothy 6:17).
Here are the commands:
- Don’t be haughty (1 Timothy 6:17). Wealth must not become status, superiority, or a tool to dominate.
- Don’t trust uncertain riches, but the living God (1 Timothy 6:17). Money fluctuates; God does not.
- Enjoy God’s gifts rightly: God “gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). Enjoyment isn’t sin; idolatry is.
- Practice generosity as warfare: “Let them do good… ready to give, willing to share” (1 Timothy 6:18). Generosity functions like a vaccine against greed, freely receive, freely give.
- Think eternally: store “a good foundation for the time to come” and “lay hold on eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:19). Earthly riches are “present age” riches. The real riches are eternal.
So if God has placed resources in your hands, I’m urging you to hold them humbly, enjoy them gratefully, and deploy them generously, because our goal is not to build private empires but to lay hold of eternal life.
Conclusion
Paul’s final charge exposes a fork in the road: the world tells you to graduate into the grind, measure life by net worth and chase money at any cost. Scripture tells you to graduate into faithfulness, measure life by Christlikeness, pursue godliness with contentment, and fight the good fight of faith.
You came into this world with nothing. You will leave with nothing. But in Christ you can have everything you truly need, and you can live free from the trap of “more.” Whether you have little or much, don’t set your heart on riches. Set your heart on Jesus, and let your money become a servant for good works rather than a master of your soul.
Father, I ask You to train our hearts in godliness with contentment. Forgive us for the ways we’ve chased “more” and called it wisdom. Free us from the love of money, from greed, fear, workaholism, and dissatisfaction. Teach us to trust You as the living God who provides what we need. Give us humility if we have much and perseverance if we have little. Make us rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, and help us lay hold of eternal life. We want to fight the good fight of faith with our eyes fixed on Jesus. In His name, amen.
Conclusion
Paul’s final charge exposes a fork in the road: the world tells you to graduate into the grind, measure life by net worth and chase money at any cost. Scripture tells you to graduate into faithfulness, measure life by Christlikeness, pursue godliness with contentment, and fight the good fight of faith.
You came into this world with nothing. You will leave with nothing. But in Christ you can have everything you truly need, and you can live free from the trap of “more.” Whether you have little or much, don’t set your heart on riches. Set your heart on Jesus, and let your money become a servant for good works rather than a master of your soul.
Closing Prayer
Father, I ask You to train our hearts in godliness with contentment. Forgive us for the ways we’ve chased “more” and called it wisdom. Free us from the love of money, from greed, fear, workaholism, and dissatisfaction. Teach us to trust You as the living God who provides what we need. Give us humility if we have much and perseverance if we have little. Make us rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, and help us lay hold of eternal life. We want to fight the good fight of faith with our eyes fixed on Jesus. In His name, amen.