Supposing Gain is Godliness

In his first epistle to Timothy, Paul warns about perverse men who “suppose that gain is godliness” (1 Timothy 6:5). Though, I’ve heard plenty of sermons on the next verse about godliness with contentment, I don’t think I have ever heard anyone teach on it.

But what does it mean to “suppose gain is godliness”? Well, it means to assume that your financial or physical situation is proof of your godliness, or that your godliness will lead to financial gain. It can apply to an individual person or to a group of people. For example, a church assumes because it keeps receiving money in the offering plate that they are a godly church. Or a pastor assumes that because people attend services he is preaching the truth.

The Catholic Church springs to mind as an example of this. Being worth over an estimated $200 billion, owning priceless art, and having more than 1.4 billion followers doesn’t mean the Protestants will be capitulating any time soon. Though it also applies on a smaller scale. Just because your church has money in the bank and people attending doesn’t automatically mean you are godly and God is blessing. After all, cults have money in the bank and people attending. (And so do brothels.)

And while we are happy to recognise this in other denominations or churches, we still fail to recognise it in our own church. Rather we tend to see financial contributions and people attending as proof that God is blessing our godliness; even as the mega church down the street adds their fourth extension.

But we shouldn’t suppose that gain is proof of our godliness. That is what “men of corrupt minds” who are “destitute of the truth” do (1 Timothy 6:5). It is one of the main lessons from the book of Job. Job’s friends assumed his changing financial situation was proof of his godliness or lack there of. They were wrong. Likewise, if gain means you are godly, then the apostles can’t have been very godly men. Paul says of himself, that he was often tired and in pain, hungry and thirsty, often fasting and, often cold and naked (2 Corinthians 11:27). Yet we all know that Paul was a godly man.

Rather we are to pursue godliness in and of itself (1 Timothy 4:7-8). Godliness itself is the real gain. And godliness with contentment is even greater (1 Timothy 6:6).

Now, I’m not suggesting God doesn’t bless or answer prayer, he definitely does. Years ago, while Chris was in Niugini, I was left in Australia with the task of finding a bigger car pending the arrival of our fourth child. I was looking for a particular model in a particular age range, kilometre range, and price range. I quickly realised I did not have the knowledge or expertise for the job. So I prayed about it and felt led to stop looking for a car altogether. Less than 2 weeks later my brother-in-law rang and asked if we were still looking for a car as his friend was selling one. It was the right model, right age, right k’s and right price. But that car wasn’t proof of my godliness, it was proof of God’s goodness.

When we were missionaries in Niugini, we needed to purchase a new vehicle from Australia, we had been saving for it for months and our home church had given money to help too. Not long before our flight to Australia, I checked the prices online, it was a Thursday, but when I saw the prices, I sighed “Lord, an extra $5000 would be good, an extra $10,000 would be better.” On Monday we got a text from a pastor in Australia telling us a personal cheque for $10,000 had been put in the offering for us the day before. But that cheque was proof of God’s goodness, not proof of our godliness.

We lived in a part of Niugini were it rains almost every day of the year. The church had a tin roof without lining and it was so loud in the rain you could barely hear the person next to you talk. In 7 years it never once rained during Sunday School or Main Service. It would rain before church, it would sometimes start raining during the final song, but never during the preaching. Except once. During the height of COVID, we were having our Sunday School classes outside, and it started to rain. I stopped teaching and prayed aloud. I asked God to stop the rain if it was his will, to show my class that he was the one true God, to demonstrate his power to them, and that these children would always remember the time God stopped the rain during Sunday School. The rain immediately stopped. But that wasn’t proof of my godliness, that was proof of God’s goodness.

Paul gives a further warning to us in his second epistle to Timothy: “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12) Godliness produces persecution, not gain. Again, godliness produces persecution not gain. If you try to live a godly life you will be persecuted. That is an extremely humbling thought.

When Job loses everything: his livestock, his servants, even all his children, he says,

Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. (Job 1:21)

Whether we live in a state of gain or loss is not an indication of our godliness. And that is where the contentment part of godliness comes in. Our godliness does not change our gain, neither should our gain change our godliness. Rather we should pursue godliness and be content in whatever state of gain or loss we find ourselves (Philippians 4:11-12), because God is good, whether he gives or takes away.

In 2022, when the borders finally re-opened after COVID, we came to Australia to visit family. We came on a holiday with a few suitcases. While we were here, I had a mental breakdown and we were forced to re-locate to Australia permanently. We lost almost every physical possession we owned. But God is still good.

So don’t use your physical situation to measure your godliness or that of your church. And please, please, please don’t use it to measure the godliness of someone else. Cause even as I write this, I’m recovering from the worst boils I have ever experienced in my life.

All Glory to God