Heart Check on Christian Contentment:

Diagnostic questions designed to help detect a love of money in my heart*: 

• Do I think more about how much money I make or the quality of my service?
• Am I ungrateful for the basic necessities of life and feel entitled to more than the basics?
• Am I generally dissatisfied with what I do have and find myself craving what don’t have?  
• Do I desire to get more money so that I can buy things in order to flaunt them? 
• Do I let an eternal perspective shape the way I view my money?
• Do I resent giving money?
• Am I willing to sin to get money? 
• In what current circumstances am I most temped to be discontent?
• What do I do when I sense discontentment in my heart?
• Have I redefined what is entailed in God's goodness?
• Am I believing that God is not being generous to me?
• How aware am I that God's provisions are meant to fuel God's mission (His glory, His kingdom, His will)?
• What are things that I seem to be trying to find security in above and beyond basic necessities mentioned in 1 Tim. 6:8?

Truths about God to help me fight for contentment: 

• Remember that God promised to give you all you need to honor His name, advance His kingdom, and do His will (Matt. 6:9-11)
• Remember that God knows best and is keenly aware of your real needs (Matt. 6:8; 32)
• Remember that God is an attentive and generous Father (Matt. 7:7-11)
• Remember that God will supply all your needs as you live on mission (Phil. 4:19)
• Remember that God did not spare his own Son (Rom. 8:32)
• Remember that God will never leave you or forsake you (Heb. 13:5)
• Remember that you have the Spirit of the content one inside you  (2 Tim. 1:7)

*Note: A few of the these questions were adapted from John McArthur's questions mentioned in his sermon on this text.

Christian Contentment (1 Tim. 6:3-10)

Outline: Christian Contentment (1 Tim. 6:3-10): 

1. Godliness with greed
2. Godliness with contentment

Summary:  In 1 Tim. 6:3-10 Paul begins his conclusion to the letter by again taking up the topic of false teachers.  This text focuses not on the content of their teaching but on the motivations beneath their teaching.  For the false teachers, godliness was a means to a much more desirable end, namely, financial gain.  In other words it was greed, a desire to be rich, the love of money that was driving them.  For the true teacher, however, godliness with contentment is itself great gain.  Ironically, greed never results in real riches while contentment is the tranquil recognition that one is already rich in Christ.  When we remember how generous God has been toward us in Christ we find it quite reasonable to be content with the basics in this life.  We know the stuff of this world is temporary, but the riches we enjoy in Christ are eternal.

Main Point: It is contentment, not greed, that makes one truly rich.

Discussion Questions:

• What are some of the characteristics of false teachers mentioned in this passage?
• What is the distinguishing feature between false teachers and true teachers?
• What effects stem from a greedy heart that is in love with money? (vv.4-5, 9-10)
• What are some indicators in our lives that may suggest we have a love of money?
• What are the basic necessities in v.8 that God says we are to be content with? How would God have us think about the abundance we experience as American Christians? 
• How should the fact of v.7 shape the way we view our stuff? (cf. Job 1:21; Eccles. 5:15)
• How is it that contentment makes one truly rich?
• How do we see contentment modeled in the life of Christ?
• How does Christian contentment find its roots in the gospel?
• What does our contentment tell the world about Jesus? 

Application Questions:

• What indicators in my life suggest that I may have a love of money?  
• In what current circumstances am I most temped to be discontent?
• What truths about God can help me fight for contentment? 

Prayer Points:

• Praise God for the generosity He has shown us in Christ
• Praise Jesus for becoming poor that we might become rich in Him
• Praise God for how He has provided everything we need to live for His glory 
• Ask God to help us to, by the Spirit, sever any root of greed or love of money in our lives
• Ask God to help us fight greed with gratitude and discontent with contentment in Jesus
• Ask God to help us be content with what we have and show the world how sufficient Jesus is

Praying in Light of Our Real Needs

Outline: Matthew 6:11-15

1. Petition #4: Provision (v.11)
2. Petition #5: Pardon (vv.12, 14-15)
3. Petition #6: Protection (v.13)

Summary: Jesus teaches us to pray by giving us an example, a model prayer known as the Lord's Prayer (6:9-15).  The Lord's model prayer includes six petitions that are to be infused into our everyday prayers, shaping our communion with our heavenly Father.  The first three petitions teach us pray in light of our Father's top priorities: His glory, His kingdom, and His will.  In the last three petitions Jesus teaches us to pray in light our real needs: provision, pardon, and protection. It is when the Father's priorities become our priorities that we we are able to discern what our real needs are and to confidently ask our heavenly Father to meet those needs.

Discussion Questions:

• Review: What does it mean that the Lord's Prayer is a model prayer?
• Review: What is the basic structure of the Lord's Prayer? Significance? 
• Review: What two truths must we keep in mind when addressing God in prayer? (v.9) 
• What is meant by "daily bread" and how should the Father's priorities shape these prayers?
• How does asking God for forgiveness relate to forgiving others?  
• What is the relationship between "lead us not into temptation" and "deliver us from evil"?
• Discuss this statement: "God tests, Satan tempts."

Application Questions:

• To what extent are my Father's priorities shaping my prayers?
• How aware am I of my real needs?  
• Do my prayers align more with what I think I need or what God knows I need? Explain.
• Am I withholding forgiveness from anyone?  If so, how might this me effecting my relationship with God in general and my prayer life in particular?
• In what areas of my life do I tend to fail often when tempted and thus need extra protection?

Prayer Points:

• Confess to God your tendency to pray in light of your priorities instead of God's and your wants instead of your real needs.  
• Praise Jesus, the Bread of Life, who has come to satisfy your deepest needs.
• Thank God for providing so bountifully, above and beyond the basic necessities of life.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to help more consistently pray in light of your real needs.