Havasu Christian Church
I Timothy 6:1-21
November 16, 2025
Paul’s “last say!”
INTRO: As we come to the end of the book of First Timothy, we see Paul trying to get a lot packed into this last bit. I can almost imagine that whoever is going to be delivering the letter, standing impatiently, waiting for Paul to finish! “If I don’t leave right away, I’ll miss my boat!” “Hurry up!” Paul responds, “Hang on, I’m almost through!”
In this last chapter, Paul speaks to Christians who are slaves, he speaks to Christians who are rich. And he speaks to those of us who are somewhere in-between.
1 All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against.
2 Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more, because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. Teach and preach these principles
- Paul speaks about the proper conduct for Christian slaves.
- Regard your master as worthy of all honor.
- Regard is the key word here.
- If they are worthy of honor, LUCKY YOU!
- If they are NOT worthy of honor, you honor them anyway.
- WHY should they be treated with honor?
- So that God will not be dishonored.
- So that what the Church teaches will not be dishonored.
- If you are fortunate enough to have a Christian for a master, don’t take advantage.
- Don’t be disrespectful.
- Serve them all the more.
- You are benefiting a brother in Christ!
- Teach and preach these principles.
Conclusion #1: What can we take away from this message?
- First off, we are fortunate to live in a time and in a society where we aren’t going to be held in slavery.
- This is a blessing!
- If you don’t like your job, you can quit!
- Your boss has every right to tell you to do difficult things.
- Your boss has every right to be unfair to you!
- “You have to do this, because I said so, and I’m the boss.”
- But you also have the right to quit!
- If you choose to continue to work for someone, REGARD them as worthy of all honor.
- Not because they deserve it.
- But so that God and His Church will not be dishonored by what we do.
- If you are fortunate enough to have a boss who is a Christian, don’t take advantage!
- “I can’t work… I have a church activity.”
- “We’re brothers in Christ… You have to forgive me!”
- Don’t Do It!
- When you have the opportunity to work hard for a Christian Boss, your work also benefits the Kingdom.
- His ability to give to Kingdom work depends on making money in his business.
- YOUR ability to give to Kingdom work depends on your boss being successful.
- Make sure you believe and teach sound doctrine!
3 If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness,
4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions,
5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.
- The word doctrine has kind of gotten a bad reputation lately. “Are you trying to tell me what to believe?” Actually, yes!
- Truth about God and godliness comes from the Word of God, the Bible.
- Where the Bible plainly sets forth principles, we would do well to follow those principles.
- Where the Bible tells us that there are right things to do, and wrong things to avoid, we would do well to listen and obey.
- When people inject their own opinions, we would do well to take them for what they are. Opinions!
- There is objective truth, and there is objective falsehood!
On Halloween morning, 1938, Orson Welles awoke to find himself the most talked about man in America. The night before, Welles and his Mercury Theatre on the Air had performed a radio adaptation of H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds, converting the 40-year-old novel into fake news bulletins describing a Martian invasion of New Jersey. Some listeners mistook those bulletins for the real thing, and their anxious phone calls to police, newspaper offices, and radio stations convinced many journalists that the show had caused nationwide hysteria. By the next morning, the 23-year-old Welles’s face and name were on the front pages of newspapers coast-to-coast, along with headlines about the mass panic his CBS broadcast had allegedly inspired.
Archaeoraptor (Ar-kao-raptor)
In 1998, the fossil of a prehistoric bird was illegally smuggled out of China. It was imprinted in a flat slab of slate, shattered and glued back together. The slab was purchased by a museum in Utah, which then called paleontologist Phil Currie and the National Geographic Society. As Currie and his associates studied it, problems began to emerge, and it became clear that it was a composite of three to five different fossils. The journals Nature and Science both rejected the team's paper on this basis, but National Geographic — a consumer publication with no peer review — went ahead and published it anyway. They even assigned this nonexistent bird a scientific name, Archaeoraptor, ((Ar-kao-raptor) and called it a missing link between dinosaurs and birds — to much well-deserved criticism. Fortunately, by 2001, both Nature and National Geographic had published complete explanations of how the process went wrong.
Edgar C. Whisenant was an American NASA engineer and Bible student from Little Rock, Arkansas, who predicted the rapture and World War III would occur during Rosh Hashanah in 1988, sometime between September 11 and September 13. Through studying the Bible and using numerology, he gathered 23,000 clues which he used to predict the date. Other information used to predict the end times included "sources as varied as U.S. Defense Department manuals and opinions by radical Rabbi Meir Kahane and pop scientist Carl Sagan." Whisenant believed the description of the sun being blocked out in Revelation chapter 11 was a prediction of nuclear winter.
He initially published two books, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988 and On Borrowed Time. Both were published by World Bible Society with financial backing from Norvell Olive, a Christian radio broadcaster. Eventually, 300,000 copies of 88 Reasons were mailed free of charge to ministers across America, and 4.5 million copies were sold in bookstores and elsewhere. On Borrowed Time was said to have reached the hands of 3 million people. 88 Reasons reached number two on the Christian Bookseller Association's list that year.
Whisenant was quoted as saying "Only if the Bible is in error am I wrong; and I say that to every preacher in town" and "If there were a king in this country and I could gamble with my life, I would stake my life on Rosh Hashana 88."
When his predictions failed to materialize, Whisenant claimed the event would still happen that year and initially updated his prediction to October 3. He later stated his calculations were off by one year as he had not factored in the lack of a year zero, which he said gave Christians more time to prepare. He then published The Final Shout, giving a date of September 1, 1989, and later updated his prediction to 1993.
Whisenant's books were met with differing responses. Some believers sold their belongings to prepare for the end times. Some maxed out their credit cards buying copies of the books to give away. They didn’t expect to have to repay the money. Other Christians were appreciative that the books could lead to increased prayer and spiritual growth even if untrue; still others referred to the books' theology as "unfortunate and overly literal" or advised against date-setting.
- How many people believe or disbelieve something does not have any bearing on whether it is true or false.
- Deciding that you have a “better idea than what a faithful church teaches from Scripture, comes with some big problems.
- You are conceited.
- “I just know better.”
- You lack understanding.
- You just don’t have the knowledge you think you do.
- You have a “morbid interest” in “fussing!”
- This causes lots of problems…
- Envy
- “I want what you have!”
- Strife
- Causing trouble with others.
- Abusive language
- Name calling, personal attacks… the last resort of the ignorant who can’t support their opinions with logic.
- Evil suspicions
- “Everyone else has bad motives!”
- Constant friction
- between men
- of depraved mind
- A group of people with this attitude will soon “eat their own.”
- deprived of the truth
- People who want their own version of “the truth” will never get along.
- who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.
- These guys are wanting to appear godly because they think they can profit by it.
- Pharisees come to mind.
- Typically, godliness doesn’t have an earthly “payout.”
- Often, being godly costs you.
- But being godly never costs you something eternal!
- You will only lose something that is temporary.
- Instead of “thinking you know better…” it might make more sense to concentrate on real godliness.
6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.
7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.
8 If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.
9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
11 But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.
- Godliness = The reverent awareness of God's sovereignty over every aspect of life, and the attendant determination to honor him in all one's conduct.
- Godliness is best when it is accompanied by contentment.
- Contentment means being ok with what you have.
- Doesn’t mean you won’t accept more.
- If you want to be content, it’s good to remind yourself about what you came into this world with…. NOTHING!
- Bumper sticker on a motor home: “We’re out spending our Children’s inheritance.”
- It’s theirs, not mine.
- Food and covering… that’s enough.
- We don’t have to “keep up” with anyone.
- Wanting to be rich is a trap!
- It comes with “Foolish and harmful desires.”
- It’s easy for priorities to get messed up.
- We should have God first, followed by our family, followed by our Christian family.
- When being rich is the priority, we make the wrong things our priority. That’s never for the best.
- Your bank account won’t cry at your funeral.
- Neither will it follow you to heaven.
- Putting money first causes ruin and destruction.
- LOVING money is a BIG problem!
- It’s the root cause of LOTS of evil.
- Wandering away from faith in Jesus.
- Priorities shift for the worse.
- People cause themselves a lot of pain.
Conclusion #2: How do we keep this from happening to us?
- FLEE!
- Run away from these wrong attitudes!
- Pursue!
- Chase after Righteousness!
- Chase after Godliness!
- Chase after Faith!
- Chase after Love!
- Stick with it! Don’t quit!
- Make every effort to be gentle in how you deal with others.
If we live our lives in proper conduct with those we work for or those who work for us, and we make a point to be faithful to God’s Word,
- We’ll be better prepared to “fight the good fight of faith!”
12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate,
14 that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.
17 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,
19 storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.
20 O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”—
21 which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith.
Grace be with you.
- Getting a good grip on eternal life is Conclusion #3! HOW?
- Live up to your promise!
- Live faithfully!
- Live in a way that honors your profession of faith.
- “I Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God!
- How did Jesus profess this to Pilate?
John 18:36–38 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate *said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and *said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.
- This is a snippet of what was said between Jesus and Pilate.
- Remember Who we are dealing with!
who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see.
- Jesus is the only Sovereign.
- “One who possesses supreme or Ultimate power!
- Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
- Paul is re-emphasizing that Jesus is THE TOP! No king above Him, No one who is called a “Lord” is above Him either.
- Remember that Jesus is the One Who “Possesses immortality!”
- Jesus died for us so that He could give us immortality!
- It is His to give! Ours to be given!
- WHAT A GIFT!!!
- Jesus sits on the throne with God!
- You and I, this side of eternity could never be anywhere near Him and live!
- If you are wealthy, (and that’s all of us in America) use it for Jesus!
- Don’t be conceited about what you have.
- If things were a little different, you might not have what you have!
- Don’t trust your riches… possessions and money.
- It could be gone in an instant!
- Trust God instead!
- He will supply our NEEDS!
- He also supplies us Richly, with things to enjoy!
- Use what God has given you!
- Do good!
- That’s pretty open ended, so Paul got a little more specific.
- Be rich in good works
- Be generous
- Be ready to share
- These attitudes will keep money from being a “root of all kinds of evil” in your life!
- When we do this, we store treasure in the only place it will never be lost!
- Treasure gets lost all the time…
- House fires.
- Robbery.
- Sinking ships.
- We just misplace things!
- Nothing we do for God, EVER gets lost!
- Keep the main thing, the main thing!
- Being faithful to our King, Jesus!
- Paul has some final advice for how to do just that!
- Don’t argue with ignorant people who just like to argue to hear their own voice!
- If you stay away from those kinds of silly arguments, you don’t have to worry about being led astray and falling from your faith!
Final Conclusion: As Christians, we are called to FAITHFULNESS!
- Faithfulness to what we believe.
- Faithfulness to what we KNOW is truth.
- Faithfulness in what we do!
- It all boils down to Faithfulness to our SOVERIEGN LORD, JESUS CHRIST!
