October 6, 2021
Hello dear friends,
My the love of Christ fill your hearts to overflowing with His insatiable joy,
In 1 Timothy 6, the Apostle Paul instructs Pastor Timothy to do something that seems directed at us today? I think it fits perfectly, and we could learn something here. Listen to what the Spirit of God led Paul to write in verses 17-19.
“17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life,” 1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NIV2011)
In every generation there are those who are wealthy and those who are poor. Jesus said that the poor would always be with us. And His church initially was embraced by the poor. Jesus says in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The idea here is that you don’t have to have money to enter the Kingdom of God, even the poor can enter! So, you can be blessed even if you are poor. (The word for poor carries the idea of those who are bankrupt.) The destitute can be blessed. Why? Because they too can enter the kingdom. But there are those who are wealthy by comparison and one would expect them to be doubly blessed. But Paul here points out to some dangers that wealthy people have. These are dangers that we face today. You may be thinking… “This doesn’t pertain to me. I’m not rich.” But wealth is a relative term. I would argue, compared to those in the first century church, we are all wildly rich compared to them. Not a single one of them had hot and cold running water. Electricity, phones, internet, cars, health care, a refrigerator, a computer, nor any of the other conveniences of this modern age. By comparison—we are rich.
So, what are the dangers of those who are rich in this present world? Well, for one, there is the danger of arrogance. This particular sin feeds our own idol of self. It sets us apart as we think that we have accomplished more than others; accumulated more than others; are smarter than others; and do more than others. Arrogance is being unpleasantly proud and behaving as if you are more important than, or know more than other people. Now, doesn’t that describe our current culture and climate today? People have forgotten civility, decorum, humility, honesty, and respect. It seems that everyone is yelling over everyone else trying to make their point. The media intensifies this—and it is infiltrating the church. If other people don’t agree with you, then they must be stupid—or other people think you are stupid. That’s arrogance. A different point of view isn’t a matter of intelligence—it is looking at a situation from a different perspective. And people are different in their approach to life. Poor people are far more lenient towards others. Why? Because poverty doesn’t lend itself to arrogance. There is nothing to be arrogant about.
Another danger rich people (us) tend to fall into is that we put our hope in wealth. Why do we do that? We tend to do that because we believe (consciously or unconsciously) that our wealth will save us from our problems. If our house has a problem—money can fix it. If our car has an issue—money can fix it. If our health is an issue—money can fix it. If our community has a problem—money can fix it. Our national motto is, “In God we trust.” We put that on our currency, but I’m not so sure that we really believe that. It seems that the “god” that we are “trusting in” happens to come in “Greenbacks.” Our country only knows how to throw money at every problem that comes along. Even now, there is a debate taking place about the Trillions of dollars we need to spend in order to “fix” America’s problems. It doesn’t sound like we are trusting, asking, or even interested what our Heavenly Father would want or thinks?
There are dangers in putting our “HOPE” in wealth. We don’t often talk about it, but the Bible does. Jesus says that no one can serve two masters. Why? Because inevitably, one will exclude the other. You cannot serve both God and money. See Matthew 6:24. Put your hope in wealth and you will find that the desire for wealth is insatiable. After all, if money is your savior—then you can never have enough. The promises of wealth are illusory… as if it can solve all our problems and make us happy? But as we learn from those eminent theologians, The Beatles, “Money can’t buy you love.” Wealth also promotes anxiety, because the more you have… the more you have to lose. And what if you lost it all? What then? Another thing is, wealth tends to promote selfishness. Why? We tend to fall in love with our wealth and don’t want to share it. We want to spend it on ourselves. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” See Matt. 6:21. Indeed, just as the Apostle Paul wrote a few verses before in 1 Timothy 6:10, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
If you put your hope in wealth you will be disappointed. The reason God says is because wealth is uncertain. It is not trustworthy, nor can it ultimately deliver us. God says that it is “so uncertain.” Would you really want to trust in something that is uncertain? Proverbs 23:4-5 has some good insight. “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust you own cleverness. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.” In a conversation with a guy who worked the Oregon Lottery, he said: “Most of the people who win big at the Lottery are usually broke within a year or two.” And often times they wind up divorced, bankrupt, and miserable. That’s what happens when people “win it big.”
So, what should we do? First let us put our hope in God. He IS trustworthy. He IS capable. He IS caring and compassionate. The Bible says that God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. So, we don’t have to be ashamed of what God has given us; nor do we need to live such an ascetic lifestyle that we give everything away. Yet, at the same time we are to consider doing something with what God has given us. We are stewards of God’s goods, and not owners. When we have that proper mindset, we can protect ourselves from indulging in “our” riches.
Paul tells us to do something here in verse 18. He tells us to “do good.” Jesus said that in Matthew 5:16 saying, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” So, we have good deeds to do. What do they look like? Paul breaks them down and gives us three examples. 1. We are to be rich in good deeds. That means we are to practice “hands-on” giving to others. Come alongside them and help them close-up and personal. Not from a distance. 2. We are to be generous, meaning ready to respond quickly and effectively to others. We are not to help out in a begrudging fashion—rather we can lend a hand wholeheartedly. 3. We should be willing to share. That means that we learn to do with less in order that more will be able to do with some. This really strikes a blow against self-centeredness. We begin to see ourselves as part of something much greater—The Kingdom of God.
And it is good for us to do this because as vs. 19 says we will lay up treasures for ourselves as a firm foundation for the coming age. Yes! We want to lay up treasures there. Why? Because when we lay up treasures in heaven—those treasures cannot be taken away. Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount that if we store up treasures here, we can expect them to be taken away. But if we lay up treasures in heaven, no moth, vermin, or thief can break in and steal them. And then He said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” See Matthew 6:19-21. We will be sending treasure ahead of us to the coming age. I like that! I don’t want to enter heaven as though I escaped from a fire—i.e., with only the “clothes on my back.”
Now if we will do that—focus on heavenly treasure and invest there—then there is a significant earthly result that will happen. This is part of the “Upside-downness” of the Kingdom of God. If we give ourselves away, we will “take hold of the life that is truly life.” Because God is the source and sustainer/provider of all life, then all those who live this way will experience real living. It’s like what Jesus said in John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full.” Now to really do this, we will be required to exercise faith and trust in our God and Savior. You can’t fake this. God says, “taste and see” that I am good. And all those who take Him up on His offer will find that He is truly GOOD.
Two more verses wrap up the book of 1 Timothy:6:20-21…
“20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, 21 which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith. Grace be with you all.”
Verse 20 commands Timothy to “guard what has been entrusted to [his] care.” In other words, Timothy—don’t forget OR neglect the gospel. That is central to all of this. The gospel must be front and center in your ministry and your conversations. Don’t lose sight of it. It has been entrusted (like a valuable treasure) to your care. And then he says, “Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge.” You see friends, we can get sidetracked in our conversations. In the context of 1 Timothy, Paul was referring to false doctrines, myths, endless genealogies and such. See 1 Timothy 1:3-7 But we can get sidetracked in more than that—we can go on and on about Covid, politics, endless theories and conspiracies—you name it. Instead, let’s focus on what is of first importance—the gospel of Christ. See 1 Corinthians 15:1-8. Let’s feast on that, because it is food for our souls. We have all kinds of ideas that are falsely called knowledge today, only to find out that many of these ideas change tomorrow.
Now those who have professed to have “knowledge,” and are consumed by them—are not served well by such things. The Apostle Paul says that if we don’t stick to the gospel entrusted to us, then we may find ourselves in trouble. Why? Because some purveyors of such knowledge have departed from the faith. They have put their trust in a “non-gospel” and trusted that. And when the “non-gospel” showed itself to be false… they simply gave up on God’s truth all together. I’ve known people like this—and you probably have heard of some too. For one example, some I know have believed the “health, wealth, and prosperity gospel,” and when they didn’t get their healing, or their tithe returned 10-fold—they simply considered it all a sham. God wasn’t real. God left them with unmet expectations and they couldn’t reconcile it. So close—and yet so far from taking hold of the life that is truly life.
The last words of this book are simple yet profound. “Grace be with you all.” The “you” is plural in the Greek, and what this means is that Paul is asking that grace would be with all the believers—not just singularly with Timothy. And that is so true—because we have a God who is rich in grace. We cannot fathom His grace; we do not deserve His grace; and we cannot stop His grace from flowing. Grace is a key distinctive of our faith and it has been richly poured out on all who believe in our Great God and Savior, Jesus. Grace was not a social courtesy—rather it is the costly gift of God. Never grow tired of His grace to you.
Benediction:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV2011)
Pastor Russ Hilsinger,
Grace Baptist Church of Dallas, Oregon
One more reminder: Sunday School begins at 9:15 and Worship is at 10:30. We would love to see you here this Sunday when I will be preaching on, “Hope for the Underdog.” It is an encouraging message calling us to attempt some things we never before thought we could do. If you are not able to join us, please pray for God’s blessing on our gathering. Thank you.