Instructions for the Rich | 1 Timothy 6:17-19

Instructions for the Rich | 1 Timothy 6:17-19

One of the great things about getting the opportunity to preach occasionally is that you all get to know a little more about me. So, I want to establish one thing right up front before I get too far into this sermon that you should know about me. I’m rich. Seriously; I am extremely wealthy. I know you may not be able to tell by looking at me or my clothes or inspecting the car I drove here today in all its Gorilla-taped glory. In fact, I think the Gorilla tape has 100,000 miles on it. Or, my house; I don’t think visitors getting this view will be impressed with my wealth. But, nevertheless, I am filthy rich. You see, I went to globalrichlist.com and plugged in my annual income and found out I was in the top 0.05% of the world. For those of you who maybe aren’t as good at math, you know, for Jonathan when he listens to the sermon later, picture grabbing 10,000 people at random from around the world, I would be the 5^th wealthiest person in that group. I am pretty sure that is the only thing I am in the top 0.05% in the world. You can use that website from an asset point of view as well, which for me didn’t make me as wealthy, but if you are retired, have a house that is paid for and a big 401K, even with no real income, you could be considered one of the wealthiest people in the world.

This website didn’t take into account how many people are in my family, but I went back in and plugged in the Massachusetts poverty line income for my family and found out I would still be in the top less than 1% of the world’s wealthiest people. You know what? That leads me to believe that I have some really good news for you this morning. It is highly likely that you are also rich! I mean really rich.

If I haven’t made my point, let’s look at a couple photos.

Since we just finished a sermon series, Jonathan told me I could preach on whatever I wanted. We will have to see if that ever happens again!

You might be starting to wonder what this has to do with our Scripture passage. You see, 2 Timothy 6:17-19 follows a section starting in verse 3 that warns against having a love for money. Verse 10 is very famous (and often misquoted), it says, “For 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.” This is the context under which Paul writes the text we are focusing on this evening. It is important to look at a short passage like this in context, and it is important to me that you feel the passage is written for you. In your Bible, you may have a heading over this text that says something like, “Instructions for the Rich”. It is really easy for me, and probably all of us, to think this passage is not for me, I am not rich. But, hopefully, everyone here now is thinking that maybe Paul is speaking to them and not just other people. Please turn to 1 Timothy 6:17-19 as I would like to read it again. “¹⁷Command 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. ¹⁸Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. ¹⁹In 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. God wants us to place our hope in Him, rather than money. (V 17)
   1. “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.” Here Paul provides us with a very practical reason not to put our hope in riches. They are uncertain.
   2. In the Financial Crash of 2008 the average person lost 1/4 of their retirement savings (talk about a problem only rich people have), house values plummeted, people lost their jobs, houses were foreclosed on. How would you feel if that happened to you? Maybe it did. Imagine if your hope was in being wealthy, having a home, having a job? What would you do if you lost one of those things? What if you lost all of those things?
   3. Some people like to tell us what we need to be prepared. Maybe they recommend 6 months of salary stored up for an emergency. Maybe they tell you that you need $1M dollars to retire, or more likely $2M. I am not saying you cannot do those things, or that they aren’t smart in many cases, what I am saying is that you can’t count on them, and you must not put your trust in them. This is not a sermon about finances, this is a sermon about where you place your hope how that makes all the difference.
   4. Let’s look again at the second half of verse 17. “…but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” We cannot trust in riches, or in our ability to provide them. We are to put our hope in God who provides everything that we have. This is key; God provides everything that we have; it was never ours to begin with. We just finished a sermon series on Philippians, and in the final section Paul shares his secret to being content in every circumstance, whether living in plenty or living in want. He says he can do that through God’s strength and because his hope and trust are in God knowing he will provide all of his needs.
      1. George Müller: One morning, all the plates and cups and bowls on the table were empty. There was no food in the larder and no money to buy food. The children were standing, waiting for their morning meal, when Müller said, “Children, you know we must be in time for school.” Then lifting up his hands he prayed, “Dear Father, we thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat.” There was a knock at the door. The baker stood there, and said, “Mr. Müller, I couldn’t sleep last night. Somehow I felt you didn’t have bread for breakfast, and the Lord wanted me to send you some. So I got up at 2 a.m. and baked some fresh bread, and have brought it.” Mr. Müller thanked the baker, and no sooner had he left, when there was a second knock at the door. It was the milkman. He announced that his milk cart had broken down right in front of the orphanage, and he would like to give the children his cans of fresh milk so he could empty his wagon and repair it.

Transition: How is it that the Christian can build that hope and trust in God? How can we know and show that we have our hope in God rather than money?

1. In sharing what God provides, we are building a foundation for the future. (V 18 & 19a)
   1. “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age…” Paul rightly points out that one way to prove that we do not have our hope in riches is by choosing to be rich in good deeds rather than money, to be generous, and to share. The great thing about this is that in living in this way, we are able to be a blessing to other people, be a witness for God, and store up treasure as a firm foundation for the coming age… heaven.
   2. Paul’s teaching probably seems familiar to some of us, and it should. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus said this “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Jesus says that our treasures here on earth are uncertain, but we should store up treasure in heaven, where it will be certain. Paul says that this is exactly what we are doing, storing up treasure in heaven, when we do good and share generously. Jesus also adds that our heart will follow our treasure. I want to store my treasures in heaven, and more importantly, that is where I want my heart to be. How about you?
      1. Our Daily Bread 11/13/17: Cheryl was in for a surprise as she pulled up to deliver her next pizza. Expecting to arrive at a home, she instead found herself outside a church. Cheryl confusedly carried the pepperoni pizza inside, where she was met by the pastor. “Is it fair to say life hasn’t been easy for you?” the pastor asked her. Cheryl agreed it hadn’t. With that, he brought out two offering plates that church members had filled with money. The pastor then poured over $750 into Cheryl’s delivery bag as a tip! Unbeknownst to Cheryl, the pastor had asked the pizza shop to send their most financially strapped driver over. Cheryl was stunned. She could now pay some bills.
         1. One of the cool things about when the church helps people, or even if we help people anonymously, they don’t have someone in particular to thank or to pay back. They have to thank God.
      2. The best way to reinforce that our hope is in God rather than money is to generously share with others what God has given us.
      3. 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 The Collection for the Lord’s People
         1. And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”
         2. Yezelalem Minch http://www.yezelalemminch.org/history/ (We watched the video in the sermon) [The vision for Yezelalem Minch began with a young woman named Birtukan Sinshaw. Birtukan was once a child from poor family, raised by her dedicated and disciplined single mother. She became a sponsored child in World Vision Ethiopia’s local support program. As a child, Birtukan always assumed that all child sponsors were wealthy. After completing school, Birtukan got a job in the local World Vision office under the custody of her local church. One day, she read a letter from an American sponsor to a little boy, which changed her perspective completely. This sponsor was an elderly man, in a wheelchair, and was poor himself. The man wrote, “I am a crippled man and I do not have much money. However, I have a strong love for you and that is why I wish to help you.” In Ethiopia, a disabled person is considered one of the poorest of the poor – someone who cannot be expected to help anyone else. Birtukan was amazed at the man, and prayed, “Here I am, Lord! I have hands, I have feet, and a full body. What can I do to help these children in need?” Years later, Birtukan took notice of many street children near her home. She started by helping two orphans, taking them into her home as a single woman. Fortunately when she was married, her husband, Nesibu, was in agreement with her vision, and as a family they continued to care for children orphaned by AIDS and other tragedies. Before long, they began hiring staff and assisting a growing number of children – now more than 1,500 in multiple communities. Yezelalem Minch was founded as a legal entity in 2001. Nesibu serves as the managing director of Yezelalem Minch, and Birtukan serves extensively as a volunteer and local donor for the program.]

Transition: If we hold tightly to the money God has given us, we have one more problem. Our hands are full.

1. We can’t take hold of eternal life while holding on to money.
   1. “¹⁷Command 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. ¹⁸Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. ¹⁹In 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.” Let me read that last line again. “so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” Why do we do all of this? So that we may “take hold of the life that is truly life”, or as it says in the King James, so that we may take hold of eternal life. We can’t take hold of eternal life while holding on to money.
   2. There was a rich man who approached Jesus. He asked him what he needed to do to take hold of eternal life. After concluding that the man had done a good job of keeping the commandments (which I know I can’t say) Jesus told him he lacked one thing. Jesus told him he needed to sell everything he had, give it to the poor, and follow him. Well, this man went away very sad because he was very wealthy, and he loved that wealth. His hope was in that wealth. What prevented this man from taking hold of eternal life that day was that his hands were full and at least for that moment, he refused to let go. We can’t take hold of eternal life while holding on to money.
   3. I know there are people who want to say that you can have God and money. That’s true. God may decide to bless you over and over. You can have God and money. There are, and will continue to be rich Christians. I am one of them, and likely you are too. But you cannot love both God and money. You cannot put your hope in both God and money. As Jesus went on in the Sermon on the Mount that we touched on earlier (Matthew 6:24b), he said “you cannot serve both God and money”.
   4. We can’t take hold of eternal life while holding on to money. I know which one I choose to take hold of, I know which one is more important. I pray that you do too. We can’t take hold of eternal life while holding on to money. Let’s pray.

Andy Bradshaw wrote and preached this message for the people of Cornerstone Congregational Church. Click here to listen to more sermons or click here to read our story.