Page 69 - Pastoral Epistles student textbook

What do you say to someone who makes comments like that?
V4. They understand nothing of the true Gospel.
V5. They think godliness is a means to financial gain.

Paul is saying that ... teachers who promote gain rather than godliness are not from
God.

Sound doctrine - spiritually healthy doctrine - is not focused on personal gain, either for the teacher or
the pupil, but on godliness.

Quite often, you can spot a false teacher by his wrong values. If he is living for the things of this
world, it should send up a red flag.
 Paul is saying that teachers who promote gain rather than godliness are not from the Lord.

Identify one or two theological issues which are significant enough to stand up for
what is right and then identify one or two issues that are not worth fighting over.

7
6
1 Timothy 6:6-8. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought
nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and
8
clothing, we will be content with that.

Materialism has blinded many of us from seeing the things God would have us see. In our culture, in
our churches, and in our own lives we have many times failed to take notice of some pressing needs all
around us. We must wake-up in order to see the urgent spiritual needs in the world. Out of the seven
billion people in the world, only one-third claim to be Christian. That leaves us with 4.7 billion people
in the world today who are on a road that leads to an eternal hell. And two billion of those 4.7 billion
unbelievers have no access to the gospel. That's a sobering reality. To put that in perspective, think of
one particular region in northern India. Given that the death rate in this region is about five thousand
people per day, and the number of evangelicals is estimated at less than .01 percent, about 9,999
people enter into hell every two days. That is an urgent spiritual need.
We also need to see the urgent physical need in the world. Today over one billion people live and die
in desperate poverty on less than one dollar per day. Close to a billion others live on less than two
dollars per day.
Consider that more than 20,000 children die every day due to starvation or preventable disease. In the
country of Somalia, for example, more than 750,000 people are on the verge of starvation at this
moment, and most of them are without Christ. These individuals are poor and powerless, and they are

68