V 6.
and of course, religion does yield high dividends, but only to the man whose resources are within him.
NLT.  Yet true religion with contentment is great wealth.
NIV. But godliness with contentment is great gain.
TEV. Well, religion does make a man very rich, if he is satisfied with what he has.
The Message:  A devout life does bring wealth, but it's the rich simplicity of being yourself before God.
Nettleton paraphrase:  The keys to a truly rich life are to model yourself on God and to find contentment in
simple things.

Being a Christian - having a personal relationship with God - has definite advantages, although these may not be financial advantages.  This thought is contrary to what many of the 'religious' people of Paul's time understood.  They thought that material wealth was a sign of God's favour.  Many people who serve God with all their heart and mind and soul know better. - and don't care, because the rewards they reap seem infinitely greater.

When one of Australia's major airlines, Ansett, collapsed and many people lost jobs as well as money spent on travel, one of the ladies at my church was one who had paid for her air fare to go for a short holiday interstate.  She lost around $1000 (AUD), which, for a retired pensioner, is no small amount. Her reaction was "It's only money.  But look at all those families who are in strife because they're out of work."

The joy of knowing God puts other things in the shade.

Quest Study Bible note, p 1646.  Paul take a term popular in stoic philosophy at the time, contentment, and invests it with  Christian meaning.  For the Stoics it meant the feeling of being self-sufficient.  Paul says it's the feeling that comes from finding sufficiency in Christ.  Godliness is profitable, but not in a financial sense.  Rather, godliness yields peace of mind - contentment.
Contentment is both the sign of true godliness and the reward of true godliness.

V 7, 8.
We brought nothing into the world; for that matter we cannot take anything with us when we leave,  but if we have food and covering we may rest content.
TEV. What did we bring into the world? Nothing!  What can we take out of the world? Nothing!  So then if we have food and clothes, that should be enough for us.

Paul is stating the obvious, reminding us that the material goodies we accumulate while here on earth are really temporary. As long as our basic needs are met, we are indeed wealthy. Those who are truly poor are those who do not have adequate food and covering.

Jesus made similar comments about not worrying about the material things of life, but trusting God to siupply what we need.
(Matthew 6: 25 - 34) V 25 says (NLT) So I tell you, don't worry about everyday life - whether you have enough food, drink and clothes.  Doesn't life consist of more than food and clothing?

But what of those who don't have enough food and clothing?  How does God provide for them?  Maybe he does....but the rich are not listening!

In one of his books, How to Be Happy Though Rich (pub. House of Tabor, South Australia, 1984), Christian businessman and entrepreneur, Peter J.Daniels, wrote: p. 15
     'Wherever money is concerned, we always tend to measure ourselves against someone who has much more, rather than
someone who has much less.  We fail to consider the relative difference from where we are against those who are pitifully poor;
and we fail to relate that against where we are now and how far we can go to stretch ourselves in at least an effort to meet the
urgency and magnitude of the need.
     The point I am making is simply this ... it doesn't matter whether you are a labourer, a technician, an executive, a company director, a house-wife, or unemployed and on welfare benefits.  You are rich compared with those who are disadvantaged by real poverty and famine or those war-torn refugees who represent the untold millions of this world for whom Christ dies.  The argument for your disadvantaged position, whether it is imposed by others or by yourself, is a very poor argument against such overwhelming, universal need.'

V 9.
Those who want to be rich fall into temptations and snares and many foolish harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and perdition.
Concise Oxford Dictionary: perdition = eternal death, damnation
NLT.  But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

I note Paul was not talking simply about rich people.  He talks about those who desire to be rich - or richer.  We all know of high fliers who have been discovered to have acted immorally, if not downright immorally, in order to increase their wealth.  We also know of people who have brought ruin to themselves and their families through attempts to take short cuts to wealth and people who will stop at nothing to walk all over others in their work situations desire to gain higher paying jobs.

V 10.
The love of money is the root of all evil things, and there are some who in reaching for it have wandered from the faith and spiked themselves on many thorny griefs.
TEV.  For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil.  Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows.

This statement must be one of the most misquoted ever!  (Most people will tell us the it says that money is the root of all evil)
Money can be used to do wonderful things when it is used by people who are motivated by selfless desires.

New Bible Commentary p 1303.  When Paul describes the love of money as a root of all kinds of evil (NIV), it is important to draw a distinction between money itself and the love of it.  As a commodity there is nothing wrong with it, but when it becomes the object of overriding desire it leads to evil. There is no suggestion that love of money is the sole or even main cause of evil.  Paul's concern here is to point out the spiritual risks involved in money-grabbing.  This is what he means by wandering from the faith.  Paul does want us to see, however, that wherever any kind of evil occurs, money easily gets mixed up with it.  Illicit sex become the business of prostitution; the problem of drug abuse is as stongly empowered by money as it is by addiction;  the love of power is inevitably tied to the deployment of wealth, and so on.  It is significant that Paul speaks of those concerned as having pierced themselves with griefs (NIV)  The results are seen a self-inflicted - the inevitable result of loving the wrong thing.

V 11.
But you, man of God, must shun all this, and pursue justice, piety, fidelity, love, fortitude and gentleness.
NLT.  But you, Timothy, belong to God; so run from all these evil things, and follow what is right and good.  Pursue a godly life along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

Paul reminds Timothy of his roots in Christ.  Timothy was a relatively young man, given the job of leading the church at Ephesus.  He would have many pressures on him and distractions being thrust before him.  He would need to remember his commission was from God and trust God to supply his needs and for his support.  The qualities Paul mentions here are similar to   some of those he calls fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5: 22, 23.

New Bible Commentary, p 1303.  The six words of v. 11 sum up the character of the Christian of which Timothy is to be and example.

V 12.
Run the great race of faith and take hold of eternal life.  For to this you were called; and you confessed your faith nobly before many witnesses.
NLT. Fight the good fight for what we believe.  Hold tightly to the eternal life that God has given you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses.
TEV.  Run your best in the race of faith, and win eternal life for yourself;  for it was to this life that God called you when you made your good profession of faith before many witnesses.
NIV.  Fight the good fight of the faith.  Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Some translations liken our life of faith as a race, and others call it a fight.  Either word suggests that maintaining our faith involves effort - training, energy, perseverance until we 'win'  Sometimes maintaining our faith is hard work with many temptations and distractions.  Just like Timothy, we are constantly faced with distractions in our faith journey so we need to hold tightly onto the assurance we have when we first come to Christ.  We need to keep reminding ourselves of the promises of God and of the things he has done for us.

V 13, 14
Now in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Jesus Christ, who himself made the same noble confession and gave his testimony to it before Pontius Pilate, I charge you to obey your orders irreproachably and without fault until our Lord Jesus Christ appears.
NLT.  And I command you before God, who gives life to all, and before Jesus Christ, who gave a good testimony before Pontius Pilate, that you obey his commands with all purity.  Then no-one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ comes.

Paul commissions Timothy, reminding him that he did so in the presence of God and through Christ.  It was with the authority of Christ that Paul acted.  Paul charged Timothy to do his work as a church leader in total obedience to the commands of Christ and in a way that was above reproach.  His commission was until Christ comes again - whenever that might be.  It is by a similar commission that we are all called to do God's work in whatever way he calls us.  We, as the church - the body of Christ - are given the responsibility of continuing his work on earth until he returns.  This is the commission, responsibility and the authority given to all Christians.  I wonder how seriously we take it.

V 15, 16
That appearance God will bring to pass in his own good time - God who in eternal felicity alone holds sway.  He is King of kings and Lord of lords; he alone possesses immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light.  No man has ever seen or ever can see him.  To him be honour and might for ever!  Amen.

Only God knows when Christ will return.  There have been many efforts throughout the past 2000 years when people have tried to predict when he will come. That seems to me a pointless exercise.  Jesus himself told the disciples that it was not for them - or for us - to know when these things will happen. (Acts 1: 7)  So we should trust him and not try to predict things that we are not meant to know.  It will happen in God's good time - that is all we need to know.  Worrying about it or spending precious time and energies trying to work it out is a waste of time and energy that we could be using to further the Kingdom here and now.

The rest of these two verses seem like a hymn of praise.  I can almost hear Paul break out in a song of worship to the God who is supreme over all earthly rulers; who is immortal and the only being who controls immortality; who is so brilliantly beautiful that it would seem he is like a pure, strong light which we just could not look at safely.  No human being has ever been able to do so.  He is worthy to be honoured and he is so mighty that he will rule for ever.  These are facts which, those who know him agree, cannot be argued against.

V 17 - 19
Instruct those who are rich in this world's goods not to be proud, and not to fix their hopes on so uncertain a thing as money, but upon God, who endows us richly with all things to enjoy. Tell them to do good and to grow rich in noble actions, to be ready to give away and to share, and so acquire a treasure which will form a good foundation for the future.  Thus they will grasp the life which is life indeed.
NLT.  Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone.  But their trust should be in the living God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.  Tell them to use their money to do good.  They should be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need, always being ready to share wioth others whatever God has given them.  By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of real life

A word for those of us who are rich - which is most of us who live in 'western' society.  We must not be proud of our wealth or forget who is ulitmately in charge of our lives and of the world we live in.  Material possessions are not permanent and not to be relied upon.  We are to use the good things God has given us not to surround ourselves with more and more, but to share it with those who are less fortunate.  In doing so, we will grow in our faith and learn to depend more and more on the God who is always dependable.

John Wesley's advice to his followers about money is worth remembering.  He said something like this:
Gain all you can through honest toil
Save all you can
Give all you can.
And he followed his own advice.

Peter J. Daniels wrote (p 106, How To Be Happy Though Rich)  We should realise that we possess incalculable wealth.  If not in money, then in ideas, labour, care, counsel. knowledge and, of course, love.  The way to expand it - to ensure its retention - is to give it away.

Quest Study Bible note, p 1646.  One can desire money for Christ-centred, not self-centred purposes.  Paul assumes some will be rich (vv 17-18).  His counsel to the rich is to be humble, to trust in God rather than money, and to be interested in good deeds, not bank accounts.  The key is to focus on the right things.