The chapter opens (v 1-2) with instructions on how bondservants should honour their masters and whilst this does not directly apply to us today, the principles outlined are still important.

Paul is urging Timothy to teach that believing slaves should treat their unbelieving masters with “all honour” or respect so that their actions were representative of their Christian faith and Christ Himself. If their masters were believers they should not despise them but serve them all the more. This is exactly the same for us today in the way we act in both our workplace and in our relationships, since it is extremely important that our actions testify of the faith we have and show the reality of Christ living within us. We should not seek to take any advantage should those around us be believers, but should serve them all the more because they are part of the family of God.

After addressing “false teachers” (v 3-5) and instructing Timothy to withdraw himself from those who “do not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine which accords with godliness,” Paul makes this statement as an objective for Timothy (v 6), “Now godliness with contentment is great gain.”

Paul is encouraging Timothy to recognise and understand the passing nature of life; the things of this world are here when we arrive and are left behind when we leave. Neither godliness nor contentment can be found in accumulating the things of this world. Paul understood, and wanted Timothy to understand, that if godliness (our desire to see God’s character reproduced in us) and contentment (our acceptance of God’s will for our lives) depend on our circumstances or our environment, both will always be unstable.

Developing godliness with contentment is beyond our abilities but we have a source that can help us achieve it, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). Let us appeal to that source so that we develop godliness with contentment!

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NEWBOLD COMMUNITY CHURCH