27th June 2015 Radio Message by Pastor Isaac Peter Oyako
[Text of Radio – Discipleship Program – 92.1 FM OPMRadio Jinja, Uganda]
A.TEXT: 1 Timothy 6:3-11 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, 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, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. 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. 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 grief. But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. 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.
INTRODUCTION: The above is an extract from apostle Paul’s letter to his spiritual son Timothy who was overseeing pastoral work in the city of Ephesus. Paul wrote out of concern to instruct and caution the young church leader on the eminent danger the church was facing in a big city of about 200,000 residences. He himself was in Macedonia at the time he wrote to Timothy.
The Church in Ephesus was begun by Priscilla and Aquila, a devout and a gifted Christian couple. Paul joined them in Ephesus during his second missionary journey. Paul pastored the church in Ephesus city for three years before moving to another region.
Ephesus was a big city and was the provincial headquarters of the Roman administration in Asia Minor. It ranked with Alexandria in Egypt, and Antioch in Greece. The City of Ephesus was known for its famous Temple of Artemis or Diana, one of the seven wonders of the world by then. Paul wrote to instruct and caution Timothy to deal with four major problems the church in the community of Ephesus was facing:
(i) To counter false teachings some of the influential church elders had introduced. The key among the elders were Hymenaeus and Alexander who were attempting to divert the attention of Christians from the main doctrines to endless myths and genealogies. Paul disciplined them by putting them outside the church (1 Timothy 1:3.20) As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.
(ii) To put in order, the worship in churches, conduct, dressing of women particularly and generally family and other relationships in the church
(iii) To address the challenge of inadequate qualified church staff and their qualification and
(iv) Correct money related attitudes among believers and church leaders.
THEME: The Christian’s Correct Attitude to Money
Money and material things are necessities for livelihood and comfort of mankind, including Christians, on earth. Money is a means of exchange for material goods and services, therefore an inevitable commodity in life. Money, per se, is not an evil thing but the position it occupies in man’s life determines whether it is an idol or not. Money is meant to serve man by facilitating him and not to be worshiped and served him.
Apostle Paul’s advice to young and a bit timid Timothy is not only relevant here in Uganda, but long over due. A week hardly passes without money and sex-related scandal involving a pastor, a prophet, a bishop etc in the press. The title, ‘a Pentecostal preacher’ no longer sells, but is synonymous with scandals. For example, the newspaper (Sunday Red Pepper) of Last Sunday, on pages 14 and 15 carried nasty stories about pastors involving naked women, and drinking detergents and grass in the name of anointing.
From the advice of apostle Paul to pastor Timothy, contained in our text above, we can derive three applications a church of today needs to correctly adjust the attitudes about money and material possessions. I would like to split the text above into three main components:
[To read the complete message, please click on this PDF file: 6-27-15-Christians-Correct-Attitude-to-Money]