Looking at my text this week, 1 Timothy 6:3-10, there are a lot of words here that make us uncomfortable. Reading through it is like putting a thick wool sweater on in the heat of summer. It pricks and scratches us. Words like, “puffed up, cravings, controversy, quarrels, constant friction, depraved, deprived, snare, pangs” just to name a few. I wonder how the original audience reacted when this was read to them. Did they squirm in their seats? Did they look around the room to see who else was squirming?
I struggled with my outline all week. Since the focus is always on “the root of all evil” I chose to start there and work backwards to the source of the root: a lack of contentment and a lack of godliness. I wasn’t terribly comfortable with this approach and Saturday morning I sat down to rewrite the whole thing. However, after another read-through I realized it actually preached fairly well. I had good reactions afterwards too.
So far in this series on “Did God Really Say . . . ?” I’ve chosen to title my sermons after the misunderstandings or false proverbs I’m preaching on. So last week’s title was “God Helps Those Who Help Themselves” and this week’s was simply, “Money is the Root of All Evil.” I’ve had more than one person correct me with, “Not so! It’s ‘The love of money is the root of all evil!” I’m not sure if I’m pleased that they know better or agitated that they didn’t bother listening to what I actually had to say.
