How Should Wealthy Christians View Money?

Introduction

Tonight we’ll be finishing our sermon series through 1 Timothy. We started this series back in the Fall. And for the past several months, we’ve been seeing that Paul – an early Christian leader who was commissioned by Jesus – he gives a series of instructions to Timothy, one of the young men who’s been working with him. And these instructions aren’t just for Timothy – but they’re for the Church, even for churches today. The instructions here have ongoing authority, showing us what Jesus’s desire is for our relationships, for church leadership and structure, and for the spiritual health of churches – including churches like our church in Mt Pleasant, MI. And in the last section of our text – which we’ll get to tonight – Timothy makes some closing remarks, making some final appeals to influential (wealthy) Christians in the church, and also giving some last words to Timothy here. So if you haven’t already, please turn with me to 1 Timothy, Chapter 6. And in just a moment I’ll be reading verses 17 through 21. But before I read our text, let’s ask for God to help us tonight in the preaching of His Word. Let’s pray:

[Pray and Read Text]

What Investment Will Make Me Wealthy?

Recently, my dad’s cousin gave him a collection of old letters that had been collected by my great-grandfather, Wells Reid. He lived as a doctor in the Flint area through the Roaring ‘20s, the Great Depression, and World War II. And as I was looking through some of these letters – one of the letters in the collection was from my Great-grandfather’s nephew, Alfred. It was 1938, and Alfred was asking for financial advice. He had recently received some inheritance money from a family member who passed away. And he noticed that the stocks for the General Motors company were priced rather low – again, this was toward the end of the Great Depression. And he wanted to know, would GM stocks be a good investment? Uncle Wells, where can I invest myself, such that there’ll be a good return for the future?

Of course, it’s common for people to have questions about good financial investments. Certainly, as faithful stewards of God’s gifts, it makes sense that we’d want to make wise decisions about things like this. And yet in this letter, in our text today – as Paul gives Timothy advice on how to guard his wealth, and how to make wise investments, the concern here isn’t about amassing earthly treasure. Instead, Paul gives instructions here about maximizing eternal treasure. The types of investments that matter most aren’t related to how we make use of our money – but how we make use of God’s spiritual gifts to us, and how we invest our lives. Paul wants Timothy, and other Christians, to remember the value of the spiritual riches that are coming, so that they’ll be content and consistent in their service to others and their perseverance in the faith. Because Paul recognizes that this is important for the long-term health and vitality of the Church.

So as we work through these final words from Paul, in this letter, we’ll look at three different points that come up in this letter. First, we’ll consider the dangers for those currently wealthy. Second, we’ll walk through the directions that lead to true richness. And we’ll reflect on the deposit, that Paul says should be guarded and treasured. (The dangers for the wealthy, the directions that lead to richness, and the deposit to be guarded.)

The Dangers for Those Currently Wealthy

So first, Paul explains a few of dangers – spiritual dangers – that those who are currently wealthy can expect to be tempted with. You might remember, just from a couple weeks ago, Paul had already taken some time speaking about money. Look back at 1 Timothy 6, verses 9 and 10: Paul warned that “those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”

And so the first danger that Paul has already pointed out is the love of money – the craving for earthly wealth and possessions. And this is a problem because it usually ends up competing with and taking priority over love for God. And the love of money is often the motivation that causes people to make bad long-term decisions, for the sake of short-term gain. For example, the love of money is often what motivates working fathers to spend long hours at the office, even though it means that they’re neglecting to provide relational and spiritual care for his family. The love of money is what propels businessmen to make unethical decisions to maximize profit – even though it might mean contaminating a local community’s groundwater supply, or doing something illegal. Judas Iscariot was driven by the love of money when he stole coins from the disciples money sack, and betrayed Jesus himself for 30 pieces of silver. The love of money leads to all kinds of terrible evils – not only for those who are already wealthy, but even for those who simply crave it.

But in our text tonight, as Paul revisits common dangers around money – he identifies two more areas of temptation that especially affect people who have earthly wealth. And even though we may not consider ourselves to be particularly wealthy – as Americans, especially when we consider the quality of life that people have had throughout world history – as Americans today we’re unbelievably well-off. We all need to recognize that the warnings here aren’t just for billionaires, but it’s very much for people like us, too.

First, in our text, Paul warns the wealthy about pride. In verse 17, Paul says, “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty.” In other words, people who are wealthy shouldn’t look down on people who aren’t. It can be easy for people to assume, “I’ve made myself rich. I’m wealthy because I’m smarter, because I worked harder, because I’m better.” It’s tempting for wealthy people to think this way.

And yet whatever it is that we have, it’s been a gift to us from God. We didn’t create ourselves. We can’t take credit for our bodies, our brains, or our upbringing. We didn’t place ourselves into a society with special educational and employment opportunities – but all of resources and opportunities we’ve ever had have been given to us as a gift. And so having wealth isn’t any reason for us to boast, or to think of ourselves as bring more deserving of money than other people. Instead, we should have the humble awareness – that if God has given us good minds, and good jobs, and good-sized bank accounts, it simply means that we have a greater responsibility to use these resources in good ways.

Pride says, “It’s mine, I earned it, I deserve all this wealth for me.” But humble faith says, “All I have is God’s, he gave it to me, and I have a duty to use my wealth in a way that serves others. Given the lingering inclinations toward sin in our hearts, we’ll be in danger of reverting back to haughtiness and pride. But given the powerful work of God’s Spirit in His people, we have the ability to offer our resources freely to God, as an expression of our gratitude and worship.

But pride isn’t the only danger that Paul identifies, here. He also warns those with earthly wealth about having their hope misplaced. As we see in verse 17, not only should Timothy charge the rich not to be haughty, he should also charge them to not set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches.

People in the workforce shouldn’t set their hope on their weekly paycheck – because jobs can be lost! Investors in rental properties shouldn’t set their hope on what they think is easy passive income – because rental properties can be ruined, and the population of good renters can evaporate. People getting close to retirement shouldn’t set their hope on Social Security and stock market performance, because Social Security funds might dry up. And the stock market might crash. I remember, when I was graduating from high school in 2010, two long-time teachers at the school were retiring. And they were lamenting – because of the recession in 2008, their retirement savings had fallen by 30% or so. It was at least tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And this just underscores the reality of how uncertain worldly wealth is. All it would take is one major war, or one financial crisis, or one unexpected natural disaster – and all the resources which have been so carefully stacked up can collapse like a house of cards. And by acknowledging that this is the case – the point isn’t just to get us thinking about how to diversify our investment portfolio. But Paul’s point is that wealthy people need to have 0% of their hope set on their riches, and 100% of their hope set on God.

Earthly riches can disappoint us. And they will disappoint us. Because there are cancers and diseases that money can’t fix, no matter how much you have. And finding true peace and security is something that money can’t buy – especially in an eternal sense. If when you think about the future, the main thing you comfort yourself with is your property, or your 401k, or the family members you’re depending on to take care of you in your old age – if those are the primary things that you’re comforting yourself with, then Paul’s words here are for you. Do not set your hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God.

Otherwise, you’re trusting a Savior that has no power to save! Instead of relying on God for your future, you’re leaning on broken crutches and rotten pillars that have no strength to stand. It’s so tempting to set our hope on earthly riches – because those are the things that we see, and those are the things that the world considers to be precious and important. But in the life to come, our most precious treasures won’t have any buying power.

The Directions that Lead to True Richness

And so asks Timothy to give directions to the church, so that they’ll pursue true richness, rather than trusting in money. This is my second main point from the text: the directions that lead to true richness. There are a number of directions that Paul gives to those with earthly wealth.

First, we’re told that we should set our hope on God, who provides us with everything to enjoy. And this is important. As he warns Christians about the deceitfulness of earthly wealth, Paul doesn’t just say, “Stop loving money. Stop setting your hope on riches.” But he reassures us that there’s something even more powerful and precious that we should be setting our hearts on instead. Look at the end of verse 17: We have a God in heaven, we’re told, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

You may remember from last week, Paul had just been marveling over the majesty of God in verses 15 and 16 – this high, Sovereign God who’s the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, who’s described here in terms of his intense brightness and divine bigness. And Paul here assures us, that this infinite, incredible God is dead-set on providing us for us. In the ages to come, people who trust in Jesus won’t just be given a living stipend from the Social Security Administration. The provision we gain won’t just be a billion-dollar inheritance from rich uncle Bill – or extraordinary gifts from angels and heavenly being. But Paul wants Christians to understand – God himself is the one who will richly provide for us. We’ll be given everything that’s worth desiring – everything that’s needed to maximize our joy – to perfect our happiness in God. As a result of Jesus’s saving work, this is the hope that’s set before us – a perfect treasure, bringing perfect joy, from a perfect God.

And Paul wants Christians like you and I to be convinced of that hope. Because we’re confident of God’s future provision – it allows us to hold on to our earthly resources more loosely. The schoolboy won’t have a problem giving his peanut butter sandwich to a hungry friend, if he knows that his father will soon be coming to take him to a Steakhouse. And so after Paul expresses this concern – for the wealthy to set their hope on God, he then adds a few other directions. He practically describes how Christians should live according to the true richness they have from heaven.

In verse 18, he tells them to do good – to be rich in good works. And Paul’s point here isn’t do good, so that God will be obligated to do good to you, or so God will let you into heaven or something. But instead, Paul is speaking to people who have already received the rich mercy in Jesus. And he’s urging them to live in that richness, instead of lusting after earthly money and self-indulgence. Because Paul’s reminding us – money isn’t what makes us rich. The value of a man isn’t measured in dollars and cents. But if we’re rich in love, rich in compassion and Christlike character, thoughtful in how we care for others with wisdom and mercy – that’s what true wealth is. And that’s the sort of richness that Paul wants us to pursue – a richness in good works.

Of course, the fascinating thing about this is that when we do good – even though it might seem like we’re giving something of ourselves up for other people – God’s actually the one giving to us. Because he’s the one who gives us the physical ability to work and the inward ability to love. He’s the one who gives us the resolve to persevere through manual labor. And he’s the one who enables our character to shine more and more brilliantly with the radiance of his holiness. If you want to experience and enjoy more of God’s goodness, you’ll find it as, by faith, you pour yourself out in doing good to others. The man who most often takes hold of the God-given opportunities he has to do good – the man who most cheerfully gives to others – that’s the man who’ll abound the most with spiritual wealth. When we’re receiving strength and grace from God, to do good to others, that’s when we’re most rich.

You’ll notice, later in verse 18, Paul adds similar directions. And he specifically urges the wealthy to be generous and ready to share. People who are wealthy have a unique opportunity that resource limited poor people don’t have. The rich in this world – again, not just the billionaires, but probably just about all of us – we have a unique opportunity and calling from God to use our earthly finances for the physical and spiritual benefit of our community and world. But, interestingly, Paul doesn’t just say “Be generous and ready to share” because it’s kind and compassionate – even though it is, and that would be a good enough motivation. But Paul gives another motivation. He insists that people who give generously are actually storing up treasure for themselves for the future. And he wants wealthy Christians to take this seriously – and to use their money as a tool to demonstrate, practically – perhaps even publicly – that we really are convinced that the rewards that come from God are better than the richness of our bank accounts.

We’re given assurance, here, that those who look to God for their reward as they give to the needy – they’ll be enriched beyond their wildest imaginations. But the flipside is also true. Those who harden their hearts and close their coin purses – those who store up earthly wealth for themselves will ultimately find themselves empty and undone, forever. The question is – do you believe it?

Paul gives these commands about doing good and giving generously because he wants wealthy Christians to understand: our beliefs must impact our behaviors. That’s how true faith operates. If you believe that your treasure comes from God, and that true life is found in Jesus – it will affect your relationship with money. It has to! Those who have their hope set on God will see their wealth as a tool for showing generosity and mercy, just as God has freely given out of his richness for us. If we bear the image of God, if Christ’s Spirit is at work in us – we will desire to use our time, money, and everything else to display the glorious grace that God has shown to us.

The Deposit to Be Guarded and Treasured

And yet in the final verses of this letter, Paul makes it clear that his concern isn’t just about stewarding money. But in these final verses, he turns his attention directly to Timothy – and he insists that there’s a treasure that Timothy needs to guard that’s even more wonderful and valuable than the Crown Jewels of England, or the golden sarcophagus of King Tut. Paul tells Timothy to guard the good deposit of the true Christian faith.

And this brings us to my third point – my last point – concerning the Deposit to be Guarded. Look at verse 20. Paul says, “O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” for by professing it, some have swerved from the faith.” You can tell here, Paul’s concern is to preserve the true Christian faith.

And that’s why he tells Timothy, there’s a deposit you’ve been entrusted with. And you must guard it at all costs! Every other type of treasure – crowns, territories, oil fields, diamond mines – you can lose those treasures, and it’s okay. Your soul can still be safe. But if you lose this good deposit – if you lose the priceless treasure of God’s good news – eternity is lost! If it is no longer proclaimed, that evildoers like you and I can be rescued from death and hell and reconciled to God through the work of Jesus Christ – if that message is lost, then all happiness and hope is cut off from mankind forever.

And so Paul brushes aside all the distractions of houses and fields and gold and silver – and he reminds Timothy – this is your treasure. Guard it. Watch over it. Be rich in it. And don’t let anyone corrupt the precious metal of the gospel by mixing it with cheap aluminum. Don’t allow the sound, fruitful teaching of God’s Word to fall into disgrace, by getting caught up with irreverent babble and false spiritual knowledge.

And even though Timothy, and other leaders who are called and ordained to serve in Christ’s church – even though we especially have a responsibility to guard this deposit, at the same time this good deposit has been entrusted to all of us. And it’s important for us to make sure that we steward the wealth we have well. Every day, we have opportunities to make use of God’s Word, for our comfort, for our courage, for our compassion, and for our conversations with others. Every Christian is sent out into the world, each day, with a precious treasure that hundreds of millions of people in the world know nothing about. We’ve been given the opportunity to take hold of that which is truly life – and yet people you see at Aldi, and at the bank, and outside of the bars on Friday night – so many of them are perishing in the darkness.

God has put us here, at this time, for a reason. And he’s given us a good deposit to protect, and also to proclaim. And as we’re sent out into the world – we’re given the same words that Paul gives to Timothy here at the end of his letter. Grace be with you. The richness of God’s grace – his unearned favor – it goes with every Christian, to strengthen us, to help us remember what’s true, to arouse us from drowsiness, to give us the hope that’s needed to keep going. And as you’re sent out with God’s grace, glory in the Christian faith. Give generously as someone who has been made rich in Christ’s fullness. And guard the good deposit entrusted to you. Let’s pray: