WWUTT 663 Be Rich in Good Works?

The Lord has blessed us with so many good things, and everything that the

Lord has given to us is just but a glimpse of the eternal pleasures that we will experience in His Kingdom forever when we understand the text.

You're listening to When We Understand the Text, an online Bible ministry so that we may know all the riches freely given to us by God.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Well, I do believe we are going to finish our study of 1

Timothy today and then jump into 2 Timothy on Monday of next week.

So here the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6, 17 to the end,

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.

O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, for by professing it, some have swerved from the faith.

Grace be with you. So as Paul is providing some of these final instructions here at the end of his letter, this statement where he says, as for the rich in this present age, this is completely separate from a statement that he made earlier about those who desire to be rich fall into temptation because that was linked with false teaching.

What he mentioned in verse 9, that had to do with those who teach a different doctrine.

They are teaching a different doctrine because they love the things of this world. Those who do not follow the sound words of our

Lord Jesus Christ will probably desire to be rich, therefore fall into temptation.

They will compromise the word of God if they desire the things of this world in order to have the things of this world.

So that was connected with false teaching where Paul was addressing that earlier, even in this chapter, just a few verses ago.

So when we get to verse 17, and he says, as for the rich in this present age, this is a completely separate piece of advice or growth in godliness that Paul is giving

Timothy as he goes to Ephesus. There were very likely some very rich men in that church, men who had a lot, people who had made investments in shipping and trade since Ephesus was a very prosperous port city.

And so they themselves were very wealthy because of their investments. And so you had various classes represented there in the church in Ephesus.

You had men who were rich and men who were poor. But those who were rich, in particular, faced the most temptation because they had much in this world.

Therefore, they had much to lose. And so Paul means to encourage Timothy to instruct those men in a certain way, to be content with what they have in Christ Jesus and to use that which

God has blessed them with to be a benefit to other people. If a person is wealthy, yes,

God has blessed them with that wealth unless they came about it through crooked means like Zacchaeus, for example,

Zacchaeus as a tax collector. He was a very wealthy man, but he acquired his wealth through sin and deceptiveness and taking advantage of people, robbing from others to benefit himself.

And when the Lord Jesus came into his house, Zacchaeus was so caught by the holiness of Christ that he said,

I'm going to pay back everything that I have taken plus extra. And and the

Lord Jesus said that righteousness has come to this house today because that was Zacchaeus conviction.

So he was a man who was wealthy by sinful means.

Paul is talking about men here who are wealthy and they've acquired their wealth honestly because they have been blessed by God, because they are good, hard workers, and therefore they have been blessed with much contrasting them with the false teachers that Paul had talked about earlier in the chapter who gained their wealth because they were tempted by the stuff of this world and so compromised the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Totally different scenario than what it is that we are addressing here. Those who have gained riches here in this present age charge them not to be haughty.

Don't store up for themselves these treasures. Don't be stingy. Don't cling to this stuff as though it is important to you, that it means something to you or it is your identity somehow.

Do not set your hopes on the uncertainty of riches. You might be rich today, but all the things that you have invested in that have resulted in the money that you have accumulated, all of that could disappear tomorrow.

I mean, you put this in a modern context, the stock market could crash and everything that you have gained through stock market investments, you lose everything and all of it is totally gone.

I mean, the American dollar could actually have absolutely zero worth tomorrow because of something economic, some great economic catastrophe that takes place.

There's just absolutely no guarantee in the wealth or the money that we have today that it's even going to be worth anything tomorrow.

There is no guarantee that your means by which you receive money to be able to pay your bills, that you will still have that means tomorrow.

You will still have that source of income or that provision for you. I remember when my wife and I were applying for a home loan, our first mortgage, we were buying our first house and all the paperwork that we went through in order to get approved for that loan.

One of those things that we kept getting asked by our bank over and over and over again was the certainty of my employment, my job.

How sure are we that you are going to have this job next week and continue to be able to pay your bills and be able to pay your mortgage?

The bank is risking much in us to give us these tens of thousands of dollars that we're borrowing from the bank in order to purchase a home.

And so the bank wants to protect their investment. So I need to be a sure thing. The job that I have needs to be a guaranteed deal.

And I remember some people at the bank being a little bit skittish because I was a pastor and they knew nothing about what that meant and what my job security was.

And so over the course of that process, as I was telling people what I did as a pastor and how the church provided for me, and I was able to even share the gospel with a few people giving them my job description.

So that was kind of fun. But over the course of that process, I remember my wife and I talking about it and going through different scenarios and saying, you know, if the

United States government should decide that Fort Riley just isn't a needed military base anymore, and they were to shut that down, it would shut down our entire town.

We would lose more than half of our congregation. And then that would be, you know, those people that give to the church and help to provide for my way of life.

I remember a few years ago, me preaching about certain things that were making people angry. It was mostly related to the sovereignty of God and the elect that have been predetermined from before the foundation of the world.

As I was preaching on some of those things, it made people mad and they walked out of our church. And I had one person come up to me and say, you know, if you continue preaching like this, people are just going to leave and you're going to lose your income.

We won't be able to provide for you the income that the church has agreed upon for you anymore. If there aren't people here that are giving their tithes and offerings.

And I said to that individual, I said, look, no one is more starkly aware of that than I am, but it is not going to prevent me from preaching the truth.

If it so happens that I lose all the income that I receive right now, and I have to sell my house and we have to go back to living in the parsonage, or I even have to take on a part time job.

If I have to do that to proclaim the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, so be it. But I am not going to bend on the truth.

It certainly was a time of testing for me that produced perseverance and steadfastness.

And I never did have to take on another job or something like that. The Lord did provide for us and people who love to hear the word of God taught from the pulpit.

Those are the people that are populating our church. So here, Paul, once again, encouraging

Timothy to tell the rich not to be haughty or set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but set their hope on God, riches and money and material possessions and all these things all limited.

All of it is going to disappear. Some of it could even vanish on you tomorrow. But God is eternal.

And it is God who has given us our salvation. It is God who will deliver us. It is on him that we are to place our trust.

He richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

Everything that you have has been given to you by God to enjoy. As we're teaching our children how to pray, one of the things that I've taught my kids how to pray is to be thankful for what we have.

Thank you, God, for our house. Thank you for our cars that we have to drive.

Thank you that there's food in the cabinet. Thank you that you have provided for us in such a way that we can homeschool and we have the homeschool materials that have been provided for us for our kids to be able to have an education.

My kids even thank God for their toys. And I try to teach our children what it means to do everything to the glory of God, even play to the glory of God, even play with Nerf guns and shoot each other to the glory of God.

I hope nobody takes that clip out of context. Anyway, so, excuse me.

My respiratory issues that I've been struggling with the last couple of weeks, I'm still not totally healed from that yet.

So if I laugh too hard, I'm going to go into a coughing fit. Anyway, so we teach our kids to be grateful for the things that they have and they can give glory to God and all of the good things that God has provided for us.

He richly provides us with everything to enjoy. The illustration that I've given many times before is related to good food and friends around a table.

For those of us who believe in God, our hope is set on Jesus Christ. We can enjoy good food and fellowship around a table to the glory of God.

The food that you eat rolls up into praise to God. In fact, you may look at this time of fellowship and feasting as like a small glimpse and a picture of the wedding feast of the

Lamb, as talked about at the end of the book of Revelation that we are all going to enjoy together in glory at the end of all things.

This eating food and laughing and sharing good thoughts and talking theology and having good memories and things like that.

Those kinds of things are just a taste, just a glimpse of that eternity that we're going to experience all together with our

Lord in glory. So these things roll up into praise to God. But the person who does not know

God and a person who has not set their hope on Jesus Christ, these things terminate on the experience.

So the joy, the enjoyment, the happiness, the pleasure that one feels because they eat some good food or tell a good joke and share a good memory with somebody else, it terminates on that experience.

At best, they walk away with a good feeling of a time that once was, but they're going to hit some tough times later on down the road in which even the memory of those good times is not going to sustain them.

The pleasure of that experience terminates on the experience. They can't take it with them.

It does not endure for them, and it does not give them any lasting sense of pleasure whatsoever.

Only the person who is in Christ can enjoy those things in such a way that it rolls up into praise.

It has eternal significance because we see in the small pleasures that we enjoy now glimpses of the eternal pleasures that we will enjoy with God forever in glory.

And even when it comes to the relationships that we have in our life that give us pleasure.

So the relationship that I have with my wife that is full of joy and good moments and memories and laughs and good times and even intimacy and some of those things, all of that is a picture for me of the relationship that the church has with Christ, who is our bridegroom.

And we as a bride are being prepared to meet the groom on that day and we'll be with him forever in glory.

The enjoyment that I have with my wife, as great as it is, is still not as great as the joy that we're going to be experiencing with Christ forever in glory.

But I enjoy these moments as a picture of what that joy is going to be like.

Likewise, the moments that I'm experiencing with my kids and the joy that I experience with them.

This is but a picture of the joy that we're going to experience in heaven forever when we get to see those that we impacted with the gospel of Christ, who became like our spiritual children because we shared the gospel with them and they repented and believed.

And so all of this points toward even something eternally significant.

God has provided us with all good things for his glory.

As Paul said to the Corinthians, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy for his good pleasure, for his name's sake.

Paul goes on talking about the rich and how they are to conduct themselves there in the church among their brothers and sisters in the

Lord. Verse 18, they are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.

We've seen Paul say this already in this letter, as a matter of fact, when he was talking about what godliness looks like in men and women in the church.

He said of women, this was back in chapter two, verse nine, women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self -control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness with good works.

And so Paul comes back to that instruction here yet again, those who are rich, what they really should be rich in is good works.

They're to do good and be rich in good works and be generous and be ready to share.

And Paul gives no obligation on them to have to share this amount. They must give this percentage, but rather they are to give what they in their heart believe that they should give, that they who sow generously will reap generously and they who sow sparingly will also reap sparingly.

As Paul said with the Corinthians in second Corinthians chapter nine. So these who are rich should be rich in good works and be generous and be ready to share the storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future.

And as I read to you, what was it Monday on the podcast that where our treasure is there, our heart will be also as Christ talked about in Matthew chapter six.

And so that's where we're supposed to store up treasure for ourselves in heaven.

And so as we do heavenly things for one another, we are storing treasure up for ourselves in heaven for the future so that we may take hold of that which is truly life.

Everything spiritual that has been provided for us in Christ, that which has been promised us in the gospel of Jesus Christ and leads to eternal life.

So here's the conclusion of Paul's letter to Timothy. He says, Oh, Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you.

This message of the gospel, again, keep it unstained from false teachers, free from reproach.

Keep yourself from the temptation of sin, walk in righteousness, correct false teachers.

Don't let anyone teach any different doctrine. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.

For by professing it, some have swerved from the faith. There's going to be those things that sound good to our ears, but it's worldly wisdom and it's false knowledge.

Paul warned the Colossians about this as well. He said, reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is

Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. We find those treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Christ Jesus, our

Lord. And Paul goes on in verse four, this is Colossians 2, 4 to say, I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.

And then he goes on to say in verse eight, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ.

There's worldly knowledge. It's going to sound good to our ears, but if it does not come from the sound teaching of our

Lord Jesus Christ, it is falsely called knowledge and those who profess it, some of whom will swerve from the faith.

And finally, Paul says to Timothy, grace be with you. May the grace of God continue to save you from sin and lead you in righteousness for the sake of the name of Christ.

As the apostle John said, 1 John 2, 12, I am writing to you little children because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake.

All of this has been done to the glory of God through Christ, our King. Praise be his name.

Let us conclude our study of first Timothy with prayer. Oh, wonderful God, our heavenly father, we thank you for these words that have been given to us, how we love the word of God and desire that it would fill our hearts and transform our thinking, renewing our minds that we might see your will.

We know the will of God according to what is written in the word of God, your good, pleasing and perfect will and help us to guard the deposit that has been entrusted to us.

The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that was proclaimed to us, the word, the good word of Jesus who left his throne in heaven and became a man who lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, rose again from the grave, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God where he is interceding for us and all who believe on his name will be saved.

Help us to keep this message unstained by the world and consistent with our conduct that we show ourselves as those who have repented of worldliness and instead are pursuing godliness so that we might present this gospel message to the world and they would believe in this word that we share.

Help us to avoid irreverent babble and contradictions, those things that are falsely called knowledge.

Help us to do as Paul instructed the Corinthians, not to go beyond what is written, but that we would love those precious words, thus saith the

Lord. Grace and peace be with us in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We ask this in his name and all God's people said, amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.