September 30

1 Timothy 6:6-12

The Content Of Our Contentment"

Kermit THE Frog has a famous little song that goes like this:

It's not that easy being green
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold
Or something much more colorful like that

It's not easy being green
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're
Not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water
Or stars in the sky

But green's the color of Spring
And green can be cool and friendly-like
And green can be big like an ocean, or important
Like a mountain, or tall like a tree

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why
Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful
And I think it's what I want to be

While I am hesitant to use a puppet, no matter how famous, for a model for Christian living, I do think that, generally, Kermit exemplifies our text from 1 Timothy today.  At least in his signature song, Kermit combines godliness with contentment.

Contentment.  “A state of happiness or satisfaction” states the Oxford Dictionary.  That's all good and well, and fits with what I believe the scripture is getting at.  But then when I looked at the thesaurus it expanded the concept of contentment a bit more.  First it had “peace, serenity, tranquility,” and I said, “Alright!  That's what I'm looking for from my faith!”  But then it moved into what I saw as a different direction: “satisfaction, gratification, fulfillment, and ease.”  No, no, I might have a hankering for those things, but try as I may, I can't see these as goals to be attained in 1 Timothy 6.

These different interpretations beg me to ask the question, “What is the content of contentment?”  What are those things that bring about a state of satisfaction, peace, and serenity?  What is it that makes up this desirable but elusive goal of contentment?  Well, in order to discern what is the content of our contentment, I believe we must first deal with the “components of our complacency,” and that's where we run into “satisfaction, gratification, and ease.”

The author of this letter is stated to be the Apostle Paul writing to Timothy, his younger co-worker out in the mission field of Asia Minor probably serving the Thessalonian and Corinthian churches.  It is the first of a three-part grouping of letters known as the “Pastoral Epistles” because of the large amount of advice about church leadership and management.  Much of the counsel given in these letters is in the form of contrasting the godly life with the worldly life.  And here, the contrast is starkly made with those who have money and are trapped by it in a particular lifestyle.  It should be noted that later in the same chapter it is acknowledged that it is certainly possible for those who have money to live a godly life… it is just harder.  This echoes Jesus curious comment, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matt. 19:24)

I would contrast the more godly path of contentment with the more worldly path of complacency.  Oxford defines “complacency” as “a feeling of smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements.” 1 Timothy says, “But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”  I am taken by the dictionary's use of the word “uncritical” and the Bible's use of the term “senseless.”  To me, that is at the very heart of complacency.  Thus, one of the components of complacency is a failure to think intentionally and carefully about our resources and our wealth.

And if we are honest, isn't this the purpose of most advertising?  Clearly, advertising doesn't need to tell us what we need, we know that instinctively, but rather to convince us of what we need and that this company or that company has what will fill our need? And while there is the rare exception and an ad actually provides one with discernable qualities to a product that might be the basis for a rational decision, when one examine them closely, most ads are void of substance. Therefore, they simply must be designed to get us to make an uninformed or irrational decision to buy one brand over another, or - heaven help us - to buy something we never needed in the first place.

+ By the age of 20, the average American has seen some one million commercial messages.

+ Advertising accounts for 2/3 of the space in newspapers, and 40 percent of our mail.

+ The average American spends one year of their lives watching TV commercials.

+ Children are the fastest growing segment of the consumer market. In 1995 alone, companies spent $1 billion marketing their products to young people. (1)

Each year advertisers spend millions of dollars trying to convince people to buy products. Most people don't know that advertising is not free to the buyers of products. This business expense is added to the cost of the product so that we pay more at the store. In fact, you are paying for products you don't buy!

And this endless barrage of persuasion convinces us to buy what we do not need and, more dangerously, to buy more than we can afford.  And the inevitable happens: we fall into temptation, are trapped by senseless and harmful desires and are “plunged into ruin and destruction.”  Tony Campolo, the wise and wonderful Baptist preacher and commentator, first introduced me to the made up word, “Affluenza” to name the disease we are infected with in this culture.  “Affluence” melded with “influenza.”  Some of the “symptoms” of this disease?
 

+ In 1958, only 4 percent of American homes had dishwashers. Now more than half do.

+ Less than 1 percent had color televisions. Now 97 percent do. In addition, in the '50s there were no microwave ovens, VCRs, or personal computers.

+ Today, many new homes have three-car garages and are nearly 900 square feet (the same as an entire house in the 1950s).

+ Although Americans had fewer material goods, the number of Americans who say they are very happy peaked back in 1957.

+ Seventy percent of Americans visit malls each week, more than attend churches or synagogues. On average, Americans shop six hours a week and spend only 40 minutes playing with their children. (2)

Another component of our complacency is to buy and consume more than we need!

Then we come to perhaps one of the most famous lines in the Bible: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”  Not money itself, but the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.  And do we love our money.  We have become obsessed with having it, while at the same time fixated on spending it.  The statistics tell the truth:
One-half of American households have accumulated less than $1,000 in net financial assets and $35,000 in net wealth.

+ Consumer debt (SPENDING) is a significant reason for low net financial assets.

+ The one-fifth of households with the lowest financial assets held, by far, the highest consumer debts, most of them unsecured (mainly credit card debt).

+ A majority of Americans in households with incomes of $35,000 or less believed that they are more likely to accumulate a $500,000 nest egg by winning a lottery or sweepstakes (40%) than by patient saving and investing of relatively modest sums (30%). (3)

So a final component to our complacency is the love of money without the necessary respect for it and responsibility in using it.

Thus the components of our complacency are:
¢     failing to think carefully about our resources and our wealth.
¢     buying and consuming more than we need.
¢     Loving money without respecting or responsibly using money.

But 1 Timothy does not leave us there, thankfully.  We are reminded that what all of this is about is not the components of our complacency, but the content of our contentment.  In no uncertain terms, we are painfully reminded of our place in the scheme of things: “For we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it.”   In the words of The Message, “Since we entered the world penniless, we'll leave it penniless.”  Or, as a new-old adage claims, “I ain't never seen a hearse with a U-Haul!”

So, the content of our commitment must be that which is meant for the here and now and which can also be taken with us into eternity.  No matter how hard the ancient Egyptians tried, burying their dead with wine and money and favorite objects did not mean they passed onto the other side with such items.  No, rather, the content of our contentment includes such eternal qualities as righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.  We could probably roll in the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5 without much trouble: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Not one of these can be bought.  This content takes time to develop, as well as intentionality and patience. 

If we spend our time, energy, and money developing and nurturing the content of our contentment and less and less on the components of our complacency, then, we may end up with only enough food to eat and clothing to wear, but it will be enough and “we will be content with these.”  After all, 1 Timothy reminds us that this is part of the simple statement of faith when we offered the good confession in the presence of many witnesses: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. understood the nature of the content of our contentment when he said,
I look forward confidently to the day when all who work for a living will be one with no thought to their separateness as Negroes, Jews, Italians or any other distinctions.  This will be the day when we bring into full realization the American dream -- a dream yet unfulfilled.  A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few; a dream of a land where men will not argue that the color of a man's skin determines the content of his character; a dream of a nation where all our gifts and resources are held not for ourselves alone, but as instruments of service for the rest of humanity; the dream of a country where every man will respect the dignity and worth of the human personality.

I think that Kermit was more prophetic than even he might have imagined.  You see, to live a lifestyle of contentment is to live in a way that is sustainable, that is, living on this earth so that not only your life can be sustained, but others can be also.  To avoid taking on the components of complacency, one ends up living an ecologically aware life.  It means going GREEN!  Kermit was speaking truth to the powers of this world when he said, “It's not easy being green.”  Truly, it is not easy resisting the temptations of this world to senselessly consume all that we can and more than we could ever need and loving money without respecting its power. 

I have discovered a wonderful new internet-based game called “Consumer Consequences” by American Public Media which asks you questions in order to determine how many planets - yes, I said “planets” - it would take if every single human on earth lived as you lived.  I've prepared these little sheets if you want to try it out, but the web address is: www.ConsumerConsequences.org. 

And let us end on a note of celebration.  A traditional African American song reminds us that the important things in our lives are not things of this world which can be bought or sold nor even money which can be saved or spent, but rather are gifts given from God.  Let us sing “This Joy That I Have.”

This Joy that I have the world didn't give to me
This Joy that I have the world didn't give to me
This Joy that I have the world didn't give to me
The world didn't give it the world can't take it away

This Love that I have the world didn't give to me
This Love that I have the world didn't give to me
This Love that I have the world didn't give to me
The world didn't give it the world can't take it away

This Faith that I have the world didn't give to me
This Faith that I have the world didn't give to me
This Faith that I have the world didn't give to me
The world didn't give it the world can't take it away

Amen!


(1) Affluenza Teacher's Guide can be found at: http://www.pbs.org/kcts/affluenza/
(2) Ibid.
(3) The U.S. Department of Agriculture, The Financial Security in Later Life National Initiative, through Cooperative Extension has identified some disturbing statistics found at:  http://www.projectcash.unh.edu/savingStats.htm



Rev. Allen V. Harris
Franklin Circle Christian Church
www.FranklinCircleChurch.org


 

Copyright 2007 -- The Rev. Allen V. Harris

Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1688 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113-3096