REFORMED WITNESS
Volume X, December 2002, Number 12
Content With Food and Raiment
By James D. Slopsema, former pastor of the Protestant Reformed
Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.Meditation from the November 15, 1986 issue of The Standard Bearer.
Also in this issue: Abundant Thanks - Rev. Cornelius Hanko
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. Having food and raiment let us be therewith content. - I Timothy 6:6-8
Thanksgiving Day is almost upon those of us residing in the States. The saints in Canada have already had their day of thanksgiving.
The key to giving thanks is contentment.
Contentment is satisfaction with your lot in life. Contentment describes the person who is of the opinion that all his needs are being met; and therefore, is quite satisfied with life. He has enough and has no real desire for more.
How few in our day and age are really content. Most today are dissatisfied with life. They are dissatisfied with their financial situation, their social standing, their job, their family, their prospects for the future. Very few are truly content.
Without contentment there can be no true thanksgiving. The person who is not content is of the opinion that what he has really isn't all that much. His possessions, his social standing, his job, his family, his future really don't amount to much. Neither therefore, does he appreciate what he has; nor is he thankful to God for what God has given him. No one appreciates what isn't enough. Only those who are satisfied with life can be thankful.
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Having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
Food and raiment represent the basic necessities of life. Food and raiment are contrasted with material wealth. In the preceding context we read of certain evil men who supposed that gain is godliness. In other words, they saw that an outward show of godliness could be a source of great financial gain. So they put on a show of godliness and gained for themselves a great deal of material wealth. In contrast to the great wealth of these evil men we read here of food and raiment -- the basic necessities of life.
Food and raiment are usually the material lot of the children of God. Very seldom are the saints numbered among the rich of the world. Most often they have just enough to get by. They work hard and long; they scrimp and save. But even then there is hardly enough to provide for food, clothing and shelter as well as for the causes of God's kingdom.
Should God in His good providence provide us only with food and raiment, we are therewith to be content. We must not envy the riches of others. We must not be all upset with the little we have and wish for more. No, we must be content with what we have. There must be a perfect equilibrium between what God has given us and our desires. We are to be of the opinion that what we have, even though it be very little, is enough, and having enough, let us be thankful to God Who has provided for all our wants and needs!
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Being content with mere food and raiment is possible only if we first see the limited value of material things.
We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
The meaning here is that we enter this life without any material wealth, and that's how we leave this life. When we're born, we're born stark naked. We don't own so much as a suit of clothes. At death we take nothing material with us. When we die, our loved ones don't pack our possessions into a trailer to be pulled behind the hearse to the grave. All our material wealth is divided among our heirs. This is a simple fact of life.
This is called to our attention here to remind us of the limited value of material things.
First of all, material possessions, because they pertain only to this life, are of significance only for this life.
Because we do not take our wealth with us through death, our material wealth will certainly not afford us any joy and comfort in the endless ages of eternity. The benefits we derive from material possessions are limited to the few years of our existence on this earth. Nor will our material possessions be of any benefit to us when at death we must meet our Maker and give account of ourselves. When we sit one day in the seat of judgment, the Lord will care not at all whether we were rich or poor in this life. The Lord is no respecter of persons. He will judge each one of us according to our works, and so, if we can present to the Lord nothing more than our riches and wealth in this life, our wealth will be a noose around our neck to drag us to the depths of hell.
Material possessions are of significance only for this life. How short is our earthly life when compared to the endless ages of eternity?
In the second place, material possessions are of only limited importance in this life.
The world is mistaken in its assumption that the key to happiness is to possess and enjoy great riches. Nor has God given us material things to enjoy as an end in themselves.
The only value that material possessions have is to enable us to serve God in this life. As long as we are flesh and blood here on the earth, we need food and drink, clothing and shelter, effectively to serve the Lord. As long as the kingdom of God is represented in this world, there must also be material means to support the kingdom. There must be the material means to support the gospel ministry of the church and the training of covenant children in the Christian school. For these purposes alone God has given to each of us the material possessions we have. For these purposes alone they are to be used. They have no more significance than this.
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If we will be content with mere food and raiment we must; however, also see the great value of godliness.
Godliness is piety or devoutness. Godliness is to be completely devoted to the service and glory of God. True godliness arises from a heart that is filled with loving gratitude to God for the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. What a great treasure godliness is!
Godliness, we are told, is great gain. The meaning is that true godliness is the source of great gain. Godliness brings everyone who walks in it a great gain.
The great gain derived from godliness is sweet fellowship and communion with God, and what joy that is! Many today think true joy comes only from an abundance of material things. The pleasures we derive from material possessions; however, are small and insignificant compared with the pleasures of God's companionship. In God's fellowship there is true joy. This wonderful joy of fellowship gained from godliness is not something that is limited to this life. It is ours for all eternity. We don't take our material possessions with us through death to enjoy eternally, but we do take our godliness with us. We take the godliness of this life into eternity, and in eternity we will enjoy the fruits of that godliness as we never enjoyed them here.
What a treasure is true godliness!
In light of all this, we certainly can and ought to be content with mere food and raiment.
Were material wealth of tremendous importance we certainly could not be content with just food and raiment. If for example we could take our material possessions with us into eternity and they would be the only source of eternal joy, no one could be content with mere food and raiment. And if material abundance were necessary to insure God's favorable judgment in the day of reckoning, none could be content until he had wealth untold.
But material possessions are not as important as that. Godliness is! Godliness is great gain. Godliness alone affords us true joy both now and in eternity. Material possessions only serve the purpose of making it possible for us to serve God in this life in true godliness.
God in His good providence gives to each of us the material possessions necessary to serve Him in godliness. Whether you have much or little of this world's goods, it is just what you need to serve God and find the great joy of His companionship.
Let us set our hearts then on the great riches of godliness and the joys of God's fellowship.
Understanding the true value of things material in relation to things spiritual, let us be content with such things as we have, even if it be mere food and raiment.
Let us be thankful.
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Abundant Thanks
By Rev. Cornelius Hanko.
Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches.
Meditation from the November 15, 1995 issue of The Standard Bearer.See more articles by this author
For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
- II Corinthians 4:15"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits!"
That expression of thanks finds its echo in the text above. The keynote here is abundance.
God has prepared an abundance of things, in fact, all things, for our sakes. He also bestows an abundance of grace upon us, that the thanksgiving of many may overflow in an abundance of praise to God.
That is true thanksgiving!
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An Abundance of Things
On Thanksgiving Day we count our blessings. They are so many, but let me try to mention a few.
The Lord sustained us in health and strength and cared for all our needs during the past season. He gave to all of us our daily bread, our home, our place in our family, our place in the church. He gave us work for our hands and prospered our labors.
Besides all that, the Lord gave us numerous possessions and luxuries, many pleasant times and experiences, many hours of enjoyment with our family and friends.
There were also, not to be forgotten, an abundance of spiritual blessings. God speaks to us, revealing Himself unto us through His Word and by His Spirit in our hearts. He has given us faith, a living, powerful gift of faith. He assures us: "I am thy God and the God of thy seed after thee." That includes all His blessed, glorious promises for time and eternity.
As family we could gather about the dinner table to begin with the Lord and end with devotions. We can still freely read the Word of God, hear the sound preaching of the Word, and worship in the communion of saints.
We have so much. But there is more. The text speaks of "all things." That must also include suffering, pain, trials, afflictions. That includes the attacks of Satan, the oppression and persecution of an evil world, the struggle against sin in our own lives. Yes, that includes the loss of our dear ones, the awareness of the approach of our own departure from this world.
That even includes all the events in the course of history, all man's ingenuity and resourcefulness, but also all the corruption, lawlessness, wars, and tumult of the nations. In one word, the sun rises and sets, the stars move in their courses, the day follows the night for the sake of God's church, His chosen people, and therefore for you and for me.
The list grows. It seems endless. For all things are for your sakes, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's!
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An Abundance of Grace
All these things come to us from the hand of Almighty God, who exercises all power in heaven and on earth. We can not, we may not, we must not make distinction between pleasant and unpleasant things, as if the appealing things come to us from a merciful God, but those that do not appeal come from some other source. No, all things are for our sakes in God's abundant grace in Christ Jesus!
Let us never forget nor ignore the fact that our God is the God of infinite perfections, the only true and living God, who lives His own blessed covenant life of intimate fellowship as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He has no need of men's hands, to be worshiped by them. He is the God of all grace, the exalted, adorable Jehovah.
His favor is upon His people. Even as His consuming wrath burns upon all the workers of iniquity now and forever, so His love abounds upon those whom He has chosen from eternity and redeemed through the cross of our Savior Jesus Christ. The Father gave His Son, and the Son gave His life, that His glorious grace may abound in us, His chosen possession.
On such wretched sinners as we are, who deserve only everlasting condemnation, God bestows His grace, even an abundance of grace that delivers from death unto life and transforms us from children of Satan into sons of the living God. We are justified, freed from all sin and guilt and made worthy of eternal life. We are sanctified as saints in Christ Jesus. He bestows grace for grace, one gift of grace upon another. God is for us, nothing can be against us.
He withholds no good thing from those who fear Him. Therefore, through an abundance of grace we receive an abundance of gifts which serve to bring us to glory.
The greatest of these is that we may know and confess that all these things come to us from His Father hand!
Grace Abounding!
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An Abundance of Thanks
Thanksgiving is not a mere expression of thanks, a mere "thank you." It is not a formal prayer of an individual, or of a family, or of a congregation in a special worship service. Nor is it an attempt on our part to recompense God for all His benefits.
Thanksgiving arises spontaneously from a thankful heart. Thankfulness is also a matter of living; our life must be a life of thankfulness.
Since we know how great our sins and miseries are, and also the wonderful manner in which we are delivered from our sins and miseries, it must certainly follow that we should know how to live in thankfulness before the face of our God.
Thankfulness is a deep awareness of our unworthiness, but also of our dependence upon God. He is our God from whom all blessings flow. As dependent creatures, we wait upon Him, lifting up needy hands to Him in prayer. We experience intimate communion of life in fellowship with Him. The result must be that we rejoice in God, our Maker and Sustainer, who is also the God of our salvation. We sing His praises. We worship Him in humble adoration. Even though this is still done in all the weakness of sinful flesh, thanksgiving is comely for God's children.
Nor are we alone, as individuals, in this thanksgiving. It is a blessed privilege that we as families may join our hearts in song, in prayer, in worship, and thanksgiving in the presence of our God.
We also have our church, the communion of saints, in which to join hearts and voices in thanks and praise to God. We worship Him with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. In our churches the Psalms of the sweet singer of Israel are still sung. Think of that! For many, many generations, in many languages and in all sorts of circumstances, the church of God has given expression to all their experiences with the Psalms of Scripture.
God not only has preserved His church, but He has prepared many hearts to give Him thanks for all His benefits.
The abundant grace through the thanksgiving of many resounds to the glory of His Name.
O give thanks unto the Lord. For He is good; for His mercy endures forever.
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An Abundance of Praise
A small stream of water from melted snow trickles down from some mountain peak. It grows, broadens, and deepens until it becomes a rushing, roaring river that flows into the sea.
In that same way the grace of our God abounds through the thanksgiving of many to the praise of His Name.
All the angelic host hide their faces in worship before Him as they declare, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, heaven and earth are filled with Thy glory."
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows wisdom. All the works of His hands shout the praises of their Maker. His might sets fast the mountains. His hand controls the raging billows of the sea. The mighty oak, the delicate lily, and the lowly dandelion tell of His greatness.
All history declares that He is God, and He alone. His counsel stands, and He does all His good pleasure. Nations may rage and peoples may imagine vain things, but God has set His Son as Lord of glory over all, to carry out His purpose even until He comes again with the clouds of the heavens.
Who is worthy? Who is fit to join his voice in praise to God? O the depths of the riches of the mercies of God, that we should be privileged and qualified by the Spirit of Christ to tell His praises! More amazing still is the fact that we may join our voices with all the saints, the church of all ages, to glorify our God!
Praise Him all ye myriads of angels!
Praise Him all ye vast and wide creation!
Praise Him all ye works of His mighty hands!
O church of our God sing His praises!
And thou, my soul, above all, praise thou Him.
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A Foretaste of an Eternal Abundance of Joy!
Now yes, praise Him in a special way on Thanksgiving Day. But let us praise Him every day until we are ready to join that multitude that no man can number before the throne.
With eager anticipation we can look forward to the day when we, without sin and with all tears wiped away, shall join that multitude to declare: "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor, and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created!"
"And I heard the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, for the Lord omnipotent reigneth!" Amen.
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