Anti-Gambling Sunday
A Temptation and a Snare
1 Timothy 6:9-11
INTRODUCTION
In a small Tennessee community, a woman gambled away so much money that the bank threatened to foreclose on her home. It took a year before her husband even knew that she was gambling. By the time she told him, she had taken more than $28,000 from their home equity account. In order to stop the bank from taking the house, her husband divorced her and filed criminal charges against her. The wife explained that she continued to gamble, because “she was just hoping she could win and get it all back.” The explosive growth of gambling in America is destroying lives across our country. It is imperative that we understand what is behind this gambling epidemic and that we find God’s answer to this problem. In 1 Timothy, chapter 6, God gives us guidance.
THE ROOT OF GAMBLING (1 Tim. 6:9-10)
In these verses, Paul describes three inter-related attitudes that lead most people to gamble. The first attitude is the desire to get wealth (v. 9). Paul’s statement does not mean that it is wrong for someone to want to improve his or her life. Paul’s statement addresses people who place an inordinate priority on acquiring wealth. These people exhibit the second attitude about money that Paul describes. They love money. For these people, the desire to get more money controls their lives. This is certainly true in the case of gambling.
Surveys have confirmed, time after time, that most people say they gamble in order to win money. This all-controlling desire for wealth is characterized by the third attitude that Paul identifies—covetousness. The word translated, “coveted,” in KJV is a rare term. It is formed from the root orego. Paul used this same root in 1 Timothy 3:1. In that context he spoke about men who “desire” (orego) the office of bishop. The word speaks of a person who is committed to attaining the wrong thing. He has committed his life to getting money.
This love of money will lead a person into temptation and many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown the one so possessed (v.9). Gambling fills all of these characteristics. It promises wealth with ease, but in reality takes wealth away. It caters to a person’s base materialistic desires and capitalizes on his lust for gain. In gambling, a person is at the complete mercy of chance at best. In some cases, however, a person is also at the mercy of manipulators. There are those who will readily cheat and misrepresent the facts in order to deceive. Just recently, a man was indicted for shoving sponges into the nostrils of horses at the Churchill Downs racetrack in order to affect the outcome of a race. Some people are deceived because they are manipulated by the promoters of gambling. Even the states have engaged in such manipulation through their advertising of easy riches. Millions of people spend money on lottery tickets every year, hoping to be the next “lucky” winner. What they do not seem to realize, and what the states do not tell them, is that nearly everyone must lose money in order for someone else to win. In fact, it is more probable that a person would get struck by lightning, than that he would win a state lottery.
Nevertheless, some people are so enamored with wealth, that they will throw their lives to the wind in the hopes of striking it rich. Paul tells us the results of such attitudes about wealth.
THE RESULT OF GAMBLING (1 Tim. 6:9-10)
Paul describes five specific results that occur when a person places inordinate priority on wealth. All of these results can be seen with frightening regularity when people engage in gambling. First, Paul says that these people are snared (v. 9). The word refers to a trap. One is reminded of the technique for catching mice with traps. The procedure is quite simple. One merely sets the trap, places a piece of cheese on it, and waits. The next thing one hears is the snap of the trap.
Gambling is just as dangerous. Indeed many people begin gambling because it looks fun. They see it as a form of entertainment. But for many of these people, it entraps them. Soon these people are spending their entire paychecks on gambling. Some continue to gamble because they are desperate to win back the money they have lost. Others continue to gamble because they are attempting to re-experience a feeling that they had when they won. Either way, these people are trapped in a vicious snare from which they find it nearly impossible to escape.
Today there are more than eight million people who cannot control their gambling habits. These people are literally ensnared by gambling. Second, these people often find that this trap has only one release—destruction. This is what Paul says will happen to people who are consumed with the desire to win money (v. 9). The inordinate pursuit of wealth will lead one right into the jaws of a trap which, for many, will be their ruin. Couples have divorced because of the problems brought on by gambling. Many consider suicide; many commit suicide. The evidence of the destructive results of gambling can be seen in communities where gambling is available. Wherever the opportunities for gambling increase, you will find growing numbers of pawn shops and Gamblers Anonymous groups. Too often, such kinds of growth represent lives that have been trapped and destroyed by gambling.
A third result from an inordinate desire to win money is perdition. This is a strong word. Jesus used this word to refer to Judas Iscariot. He was the “son of perdition” (John 17:12). There are spiritual connotations to this word. Not only is the life of a person destroyed through the love of money, but his very soul is affected. A person, who is consumed with the desire to get rich, loses something spiritual. His appetite is so tied to the accumulation of the things of this world, that he gives little thought to the spiritual realities. His heart is where his treasure is. When that treasure shows itself to be cheap and elusive, this person faces the reality of his own spiritual bankruptcy.
Paul says that a fourth result of this downward plunge is error from the faith (v. 10). This brings home the reality that Christians are not immune from the results of the love of money. A Christian can also love money. This person may actually find himself choosing money over the things of God.
Unfortunately, in too many situations, we are hearing about local church leaders who have embezzled money from their churches in order to support gambling habits. In breaking the trust these individuals had with their congregations, they have placed everything in jeopardy, including their Christian testimony—for the sake of money. We can be grateful that God promises us eternal security. No matter how wicked and malevolent our behavior, God still reserves a place in heaven for His own. However, the road to heaven can be very painful. For those who have been trapped by gambling and have ruined their lives with it, there may be nothing left for them in this world. Having lost family, friends, and church, they are miserable.
The fifth result that Paul identifies is sorrow (v. 10). In fact, he uses the plural form here. This person’s life will be plagued by grief and guilt. This word carries the idea of pain. The person destroyed through love of money experiences a grief that exceeds regret. One person translates this phrase, “They have pierced themselves to the heart with many pangs” (Bauer, Arndt, and Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the NT and Other Early Christian Literature, 557). One can see the results of this kind of pain in the lives of people who have been trapped by gambling. One expert has observed that in the latter stages of their gambling, pathological gamblers experience depression, insomnia, intestinal disorders, migraines, and other stress-related diseases. These and many other pains accompany the person locked in the jaws of gambling.
So, what is a person to do? Paul has two words of advice.
THE REMEDY FOR GAMBLING (1 Timothy 6:11)
Paul issues commands with two imperatives. First, Paul says to flee these things. The word flee is pheuge. It is a common word in the New Testament. It means just what it says. There is only one solution to the love of money. Flee from it. One who does not love money will not turn to gambling to get it. But Paul’s command is not only negative. There is also a positive command. Paul says to “follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness.” The word translated “follow after” is the Greek word dioke. Paul uses a form of this word in Philippians 3:14 to describe his lifelong ambition to measure up to the calling of God in his life. The word conveys pursuit as a consuming passion. One who makes these attributes his or her life pursuit will never be in danger of the love of money or the pursuit of the kinds of activities that promise easy riches. By juxtaposing these two actions of flight and pursuit, Paul makes it clear that one cannot love God and Mammon. It is impossible to live with these two priorities. A person must give first place to one or the other.
In this age of moral degeneracy and materialistic pursuit, we should see gambling for what it is. Gambling is the result of a society that has lost its moral bearings. In the absence of real spiritual meaning, people are turning to other forms of fulfillment. For many people, the accumulation of wealth is the only gauge that they have to measure the success of their lives. When money becomes the defining issue of success, then those who do not have enough money will flock to any opportunity to get it. Gambling is promising millions of people the success that they believe has eluded them. God tells us that money is a poor gauge of success. The true gauge of success is godliness and personal spiritual growth. As God’s people, we must make these our consuming passions—not money, and certainly not gambling.
(Used With Permission by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission)
