A Generous Kind Of People

Today's Old Testament reading is in Deuteronomy 8, verses 11 -18, and this can be found on page 153 in the Kew Bible. Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His rules and His statutes which I have commanded you today, lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and test you to do you good in the end.

Beware lest you say in your heart, My power and the might of My hand have gotten me this.

Wealth.

You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers as it is this day. We'll also be reading from Matthew chapter 6, verses 19 through 24.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body, so if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

You may be seated.

Take your Bibles this morning and turn with me to 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 6. This is the last on our series on how we handle our money on giving. I hope that you have not in any way thought that I've been beating you up and telling you need to give more.

That's not been my intention. I have heard through the grapevine, one of my grandsons was telling me one day how much he was going to put in the offering and how much he's been doing that, and I found out he had said to his parents, Grandpa must need a lot of money.

I certainly hope none of you have walked away with that impression, all right? Before we look into God's word, let's pray. God of heaven, you're the giver of all good things, and we thank you that you've given us an abundance of things to enjoy.

We thank you that you are the giver of good gifts, and now Lord, as we consider your word, I pray first of all for the ministry of that word, that you would give me the words to say and the ability to say them in a way that would help.

I pray for the reception of your word, that your people here would be eager to hear it and eager to obey and eager to follow Jesus as their Lord. So help us now as we consider your word, in Jesus' name, amen.

What should wealthy people do with their money? Well, there's all kinds of ways of addressing that. Some would say, well, they have a lot of money, and I don't, and so what we need to do is to tax rich people more so all of us can have a better chance, and they need to pay their fair share.

And then there are others who say, I don't have any right to your money. You have your wealth, fine, I don't have a right to take it away from you just so I can have what I want. All those rich people, whatever they got, they ought to keep it, they earned it.

Well, what does God say about that whole situation? That's what we find in our text in 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 17 through 19. Now, recall that last week we examined what God told us. He told us that great gain is not accumulating things, not acquiring riches, but great gain comes with contentment plus godliness, verses 6 through 10.

Now today we look at verses 17 through 19. So you follow in the scriptures as I read. I'm going to begin reading in verse 11 so we get the whole context, but we're reading through verse 19. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness, fight the good fight of the faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time.

He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion, amen.

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Now the Apostle Paul has just spoken about true and real genuine gain, contentment plus.

Godliness.

And then he says to young pastor Timothy, instead of pursuing money, as many are eager to do, you must pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness, again, this will be true gain for you as a shepherd of God's people.

And then after penning that wonderful doxology to God, the great immortal one who lives in unapproachable light and glory should be to him forever, after he talks about our God, he then turns our attention once more to how we handle money.

And with that in mind, the nature of true gain and pursuing godliness as opposed to material wealth, what then should those whom God has blessed with wealth, what should they do? Well, let's look at our text one more time, verses 17 through 19.

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

What does God say? First of all, God charges you, verse 17. When you see that word charge in this epistle, it's a signpost that says, this is really an important matter. The word means to give orders, to command, to direct, to authoritatively instruct.

Look at it in this epistle. If you look at chapter one, verses three through five, at one point he says, charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. This is important. You charge them not to teach bad doctrine.

Chapter four, verse 11. After speaking about the last days and the value of godliness and the Savior, he says, charge and teach these things, and then enumerates them. Charge and teach these things. In other words, you've got to make sure they understand how important this is.

In chapter five, verse seven, after speaking of the church's responsibilities to care for its widows, he says, command, or that word, charge these things as well, so that they may be without reproach.

This is important, he's saying. And then in chapter six, verses 13 and 14, he says, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Timothy, this is important. I charge you to do this. So now, when it comes to the whole matter of what to do with our money, with our wealth, the following instructions possess something of vital importance.

He says, if you have money, the following instructions are vital. You must comprehend this. And he says, charge, command, direct those who have much of the world's goods what they must do. This is serious.

God wants you to get it. Now I know it's going through your head. As I first read through that text, and I read it through a second time, I know it's going through your head. You're saying, this is going to be a really interesting Bible study, because I get to see what God says to rich people back in that day, and I get to see what he's saying to rich people now.

This will be interesting, because, you know, it's not going to apply to us, I mean, because we're not rich. That's what you're all saying. Well, all of you aren't saying that. But my guess is some of you maybe have thought that, well, I think you would be very wrong on that account.

When you look at the people to whom this was written, most of them were slaves. Most of the Christians in the first century were slaves. I don't know if you knew that. Most of them were slaves. There were very few rich people.

There were some in the congregations, but most were slaves. And if they would look at Christians today, what do you think they would say? They would say, I cannot imagine how much wealth Christians have.

That's wild.

That's beyond my comprehension. They would hardly be able to comprehend the kind of wealth that we have. With what God has given us in this country, with tremendous opportunity and resources, surely what we read here applies to us.

I have no doubt in my mind that it applies to us. We are the, without a doubt, the richest, most prosperous nation and people in the world. So this is addressed to us. And so what God says is, if you have it, you have a responsibility with it.

So if you do have money and material possessions, as we all do, what is our responsibility? What does God charge you to do? In verses 17 and 18 then, God charges you with what you must do. Here's the first.

First thing, you must avoid the wrong attitude. What does he say in verse 17? As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty.

All right?

You have to avoid the wrong attitude. God forbids you to be arrogant. Often when God has blessed you with a surplus, and remember, everything comes from God, you tend to get a little haughty. Look what I have achieved by stint of my hard work, my discipline, and the smart choices I made.

And we look at wealth as something that we have accomplished. We look down on the poor peasants who just aren't as smart as we are, or just aren't as self-disciplined, who are just plain lazy. Of course, you don't have as much as I do because, look at you, you're lazy.

And we start looking down on people who have less. How many of you have known a proud self-made man, an arrogant self-made man? You know anybody like that?

Right?

By the way, and again, this cuts across the grain of us as Americans. There is no such thing as a self-made man.

Right?

There's no such thing as a self-made man. I remember how conservatives just blew their tops when Obama, President Obama, had said, all these people are succeeding. They didn't do it on their own. Look at all the things that the government did for them.

And conservatives just blew their top. What do you mean? Those people worked hard for that. They got it because of their hard work and their discipline and their entrepreneurial spirit and so forth. Listen, there is no such thing as a self-made man.

Why do I say that? I'm reminded of 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 7. Fascinating verse in which Paul says, for who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

The reason that why you are where you are is because God in his providence ordered your life so that you are where you are. You aren't there because of what you did. You are there because of God's purposes.

And remember what we just heard from the Old Testament in Deuteronomy chapter 8. Remember, God has given the Israelites this incredible land. They're going to go in and conquer this land. They're going to get all the riches of those people, right?

He's going to give it to them. And then he says to them, but when you get wealthy, don't forget me. I am the one who gave you the power to do what you've done. So let's get it straight. We have no reason to be proud.

And besides that, what does he just said in the compass of these verses? Who is it that gives you everything to enjoy? Who is it that gave you everything that you enjoy? It's God. So if you have it, don't look down on those who don't have it.

Second, he says, be careful not to misplace your trust. Notice, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. Be careful not to misplace your trust.

In fact, literally that verse reads, do not put your hope in the uncertainty of riches. Riches are terribly uncertain. They're on a shifting, unstable foundation. A great proverb is found in the book of Proverbs chapter 24, verses 4 and 5.

Get the picture in your head when it comes to riches. Do not toil to acquire wealth. Be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone. For suddenly, it sprouts wings like an eagle, flying like an eagle toward heaven.

Isn't that great? Be careful about acquiring wealth. Be careful because wealth has a tendency to sprout wings and fly away. So you go to your investment guy who's investing your money, and he says, wow, you know, you've got $250 ,000 here.

You're doing pretty well. And then an election happens, and you go back to him about two months later. And he says, you know, with the change of administrations, Wall Street kind of, you know, you only lost $25 ,000, right?

Goes like that. It goes $25 ,000. I didn't even see that money yet, and it's gone already?

Yeah.

That's what happens. That's what happens. And you may think, well, I don't invest my money. I got a good, solid job.

Right?

How many of you are driving Edsels today? Some of you don't even know what an Edsel is. There used to be a car company that produced this really wacky, wonky car, which may be a reason why they went out of business.

I don't know. But companies go out of business, right? They're gone. Don't put your trust in what you have. Instead, you must trust in the God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. Now, see the contrast here.

Wealth is uncertain. Don't put your trust in that. But God is absolutely dependable, because He is the one who gives you everything to enjoy. That's what He's trying to say. The purpose of that descriptive phrase about God giving us everything to enjoy is not that you are to enjoy everything.

I mean, yeah, I mean, He's assuming you're enjoying it. But it's not to tell you, you got to enjoy it more, nor is it to tell you, be grateful for what you got, because God gave it to you. No, it is rather He's trying to tell you, it is God who gives you everything to enjoy, so trust Him.

He's the only stable factor in all of this. He's the only certainty. It is God who gives you everything to enjoy. Therefore, your security is in Him, not in what you've accumulated. So, if you have it, trust in the God who gave it.

That's the bottom line. Now, with a humble spirit in place and a trust in God as your security, what does God call you to do? He says, use your money to minister. Notice what He says. They are, it's you and me, the rich people, they are to do good, to be rich in good works.

Use your money to minister. You must minister by doing good, by being rich, not so much in wealth as in good deeds. Now, use your money to accomplish those good deeds. God calls you to take your eyes off of your wealth and off of yourself and use it to do good, to be rich in good deeds.

Your possessions bring you more responsibility to minister. Brings you more responsibility to minister. You know what? In the way our civilization, if you will, has developed, we can do more than just give money away.

We can do more than just give it to people. As a Christian owner, for example, you can hire people, you can teach skills, you can even pay more than the minimum wage. I'm absolutely convinced of this, that Christian owners of businesses ought to do their best in paying their people the best they can possibly pay them.

I am convinced of that. We ought to stand out, Christian owners ought to stand out from the world as those who really treat their employees well. You know, I know of, I can't mention names. I know of a person, right, who invests in his business so that when people come to us and need help, he says, they can work for me.

They can work for me, right? That's the way it ought to be.

That's the way it ought to be.

Have you ever thought about this? Your brother or sister in the Lord doesn't have a job. You ever thought, well then, just bring them over to your place. Have them work on the things that you have no ability to do or the things that your wife wants done or your husband wants done, whatever the case, hire them.

Hire them for a while. Come and do work for you. There's all kinds of different ways that we can use our resources to help others. Use your possessions to open up, to be rich in good deeds, all right?

So what is God saying? If you have it, use it to do good. Use it to minister materially to others, okay? Look for those opportunities. Guys, look for those opportunities. You know, we grow up in a culture and I'm, okay, I'm not slamming anything.

I'm not making a political statement. I'm just stating the facts here. We've grown up in a culture that says if someone's in bad shape, the government will take care of them. If someone in this congregation is hurting, what are you going to do to help them?

What can you do? What can you do with your resources to help other people? We need to have the focus that says, it's up to us. Let's do that work. Let's be rich in good deeds, okay? What's the next thing that he says we ought to do?

He says, be willing to share, right? He says, to be generous and ready to share. God charges you to be generous and to express that generosity with sharing with others. Do you not find this is one of the most difficult things to do, to part with your money?

It's difficult to just give it away. Or to use it to help others. Of all things, our money is the hardest to part with, isn't it? Isn't it interesting? Well, one writer, I remember reading this years ago, one writer said, each increase in our income should increase our outreach before it increases our lifestyle.

Did you hear that? Each increase in our income should increase our outreach before it does our lifestyle. When I started at Brock Manufacturing in August of 1982, now for most of you, that is just history, long time ago, just yesterday for me.

I started working at Brock Manufacturing August of 1982. There were no jobs to be had, and Brock was just booming. It was a, Brock builds the bins. You know like the bins out here when you go north? That company manufactured bins like that.

I got hired on in 1982 at 4 .75 an hour with no benefits. I was a, you know, that subspecies that they called temporary hire, you know? You guys know what temporary is, right? I made 4 .75 an hour, which wasn't bad.

As a matter of fact, we were working 80 hour weeks, so, you know. Time at 40 hours at time and a half wasn't too bad, but it was 4 .75. When I left in March of 1985, I was making $7 .45 an hour. From 4 .75 to 7 .45, but it didn't seem like we were any further ahead.

Now that may be because my family was growing, but I think, I suspect it had to do with adjusting personal lifestyle to income. I'll admit it. I think that's what it was. You ever heard the adage, the more you make to live, the more it takes to live?

Isn't that the way it goes? Frankly, we don't often think an increase in income means an increase in outreach before it means an increase in my standard of living. I think we need to think that way. You know, do you remember, did you hear what Jesus said in Matthew 624?

You heard it this morning in the New Testament reading. No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. Money, listen to me now.

Money is another God competing for your affection. Jesus likens money to another God who is beckoning you and seeking your affection, and Jesus says, it is an impossible thing to serve me and to love money.

It is impossible to serve me and to want to just truly get all that you can get. And the best way to escape the power of that other God is to give it away. Or to invest it in ways that minister. So what does God say?

If you have it, share it. Now the last thing we find in verse 19. God charges you with this because it is a sound investment. It's a sound investment. Verse 19, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

By obeying God's commands here, you make the best investment you could possibly make. This sharing, this material ministry, these good deeds secure for you a firm foundation in the future. Remember what Jesus told us in the reading earlier, store up treasure in heaven.

Store up treasure that can never rust, that'll never be destroyed. These investments on this earth can disappear. The heavenly treasures that you make, how do you store up heavenly treasures? By doing the things that we've talked about, by sharing with others, by creating opportunities for others, right?

By doing these good deeds, that's how you store up treasure in heaven. But that requires faith because investment now, you can see the returns pretty immediately. These returns are much further in the future, but they are the only ones that will last.

Think about that. What I do with my money now, what I do with my money now is either acquiring earthly possessions or it's acquiring heavenly treasures. Now that's gonna require that you exercise faith because you don't see that yet.

But I want you to think about the fact of what will happen when you get to glory and you see that, wow, it was worth it all. All the money that I used for others, it was worth it. No, I didn't get to do what I wanted to do, but look at what happened.

I love the parable in the Gospel of Luke, and it's a parable that people always stumble over. It's where Jesus tells the parable of the rich, of the steward, where his master says, you're fired. So he goes around and he says, okay, you owe my master 100, let's write the bill for 50, you only owe him 50.

And now, is Jesus saying to be dishonest? No, he's saying, this guy was wise in this way, he knew how to make friends. He knew how to make friends. Jesus isn't telling us to cheat. What he's saying is, so use your money to make friends who will greet you in heaven.

You thought about that?

Isn't that amazing?

What a great treasure to have in heaven to get there and see that the money you use to help somebody, the money you use to take that guy out for lunch for six weeks so you can share the gospel with him.

The money that you use to help somebody, turn them to Christ, and they'll greet you in glory. Isn't that, what a great investment, right? That's what he's talking about here. That's what he's talking about here, treasures that will not rust, treasures that will be glorious when you get to glory.

Chase all the wealth you want, but when the day of judgment dawns, the only things left will be what you stored in heaven before you get there. When the day of judgment dawns, what will be there? Now look at the picture here.

Don't use the prosperity that God gives you to invest in your security to acquire a bunch of wealth and possessions. Find ways to minister, find ways to share with others. That will pay certain, as in sure, secure dividends.

That investment will never be destroyed. Well, what does that look like? You know how long it takes a missionary to get on the field? Two to three years, two to three years. Two to three years for someone to get enough money that he can go to a foreign country and support his family.

Now, think about this. Two to three years to get what it would take, a year's? Look around you, look at what we have. How is that possible that it takes them two to three years to get that money?

Right?

It's amazing, isn't it?

It's amazing.

Or how about your brother who has an incredible medical bill? His insurance has been maxed out. He still has a ton of money. You're sitting on a nice, fat retirement account. You willing to give any of that up?

Now, look, I'm serious. I'm serious when I say that. Are you willing to give any of that up to help him out? Write him a check. That's a lot, Pastor Tim, sure is. Listen, you may not get to Aruba, but what will you have in glory?

Hmm, Aruba, glory. This is fun. I've worked my entire life. I get to go places I never went to before. Or glory, hmm, that's what it boils down to. There's also another dividend that he mentions here, to take hold of that which is truly life.

I think what he's talking about here is you live a life of generosity, giving to minister, and you will have the best life you've ever lived. You can have your best life now, in a manner of speaking.

Right?

But it doesn't come from getting. It comes from giving. You see, that's the good life. That is the good life. Why invest in things with such poor returns? So what does God say? If you have it, make heavenly investments.

Now, does God charge us with these attitudes and actions to promote a kind of heavenly capitalism? That is to say, making investments that pay a better return? Is that what it's all about?

Right?

Is it a sort of spiritual self-interest that motivates me to give more? Is that what it's about? No, it's not. Absolutely not. In another place, the apostle Paul writes these incredible words, and he, referring to Jesus, and he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves.

But for him who died for them and was raised again. Jesus died so that you would no longer live for yourself. Nothing in your life is oriented toward yourself. All of life is oriented toward the Lord Jesus.

You see, we no longer live for ourselves because Jesus bought us. We belong to him. And so every aspect of our life, every, without exception, is devoted to him. Everything from your job to your family, to your wrestling, to your school, to your children, to your house, to your relationship with your neighbors, to your time in the hospital.

Whatever it is in your life is to be devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that includes your money. For we no longer live for ourselves, but for him who died for us and was raised again. All of my life is lived in submission to the Lord Jesus Christ.

All of it.

Now, one aspect of my life is outside of the Lordship of Jesus, and that includes our money. That God that's always beckoning you away from him. It's lived under the Lordship of Jesus. And so all of your money, not for yourself, but for him who died for you and was raised again.

You see, as a disciple of Jesus, you will use your money and resources in a way that looks different than the world around you. Does the way you use your resources declare, I belong to Jesus. Father, thank you for your word.

We are amazed at how it's convicting and encouraging. We're amazed, Father, at how you use it to change us. And so, Father, I pray that that truly would happen. Help us to be the kind of people that don't just give more to church ministry, but that use our resources to serve you and to serve others.

God, help us. Lord, make us distinctive. Make us a uniquely generous people that stand out from the people of this world.

Help us, Lord.

Oh, help us, we pray in Jesus' name.