Oct. 15, 2017 PM Service: To The Rich by Pastor Josh Sheldon

Riches, Pride, and False Confidence in 1 Timothy 6

Turn please to 1st Timothy 6, pretty close to the end of our study in 1st Timothy. I will read verses 17 through 19, and God willing next week, 20 through 21, we'll complete this study with perhaps one more sermon to circle around and sort of give a summary and quick review of the truths that we have learned in this epistle.

So, for this morning, 1st Timothy 6, 17 through 19, Paul's instruction to young Timothy is this, the word of the Lord. 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.

You know, our temptations to sin can come from a wide number and variety of sources, the devil with his wiles constantly setting before us something that might work to weaken our attachment to Christ, our attachment to each other, our attachment to the Word of God.

Oftentimes, it's the very advantages in life that we have that cause us maybe to grow proud, to forget that everything we have, from that credit card in our wallet, to the car that we drive to work, from the salary we earn, to the home we return to, the food we bless, and everything that we have, that all this is from our Maker, who has given it to us to be turned to His glory and to the good of others.

There is no Platonic dualism in the Scripture, much less in 1 Timothy, where we could say that the enjoyment of the temporal blessings we have are somehow evil or of a lesser quality, or that if you enjoy the good things that God has given you in this life, how does Paul say it?

If you enjoy them, you are somehow less spiritual. We don't want to return at all, even the slightest bit, to the medieval times when the ascetics, when the monks, when the people who would go out into the desert, the hermits, were considered to be somehow more holy, more advanced in sanctification and doing what the Lord would have.

Nothing could be further from the truth. If you read Ecclesiastes, if you read what Paul says right here, God gave us what He gave us for us to bless it as we enjoy it, and then to enjoy it, but not with haughtiness of spirit, not with a forgetful mind or spirit or heart that forgets that it is God who gave it to us, and it is God to whom we will give an account for everything, including how we utilize, if we are one with wide and vast resources, how you utilize those to His honor and to the good of others.

And I would suggest even the things that we have, even if we have little. Of course, this idea of having much or having little, how do we gauge that? What's the metric? Too often that metric is what others have, and we lose sight of the fact that what I have is sufficient for the day because that's what God has given me.

When we first started using a trailer, a small travel trailer, it was many years ago. None of you ever saw this old 1977 Ford pickup that I had. It had no air conditioning. It didn't even have a vent.

You had to open the vents near the floor. They would allow wind to pass through as you're driving. So if it was a hot day, you're better off without them. I was so proud of that truck. It could go where Willie's Jeeps wouldn't go.

We bought ourselves a small used 20-foot travel trailer just to drive around and see if we even liked that kind of vacation when our son was small. We pulled into our first campsite in Oregon. I pulled in, I went and I stabilized the trailer, and I got everything working, which wasn't that much stuff, and I was so proud.

I thought, this is the life. Thank God that I have this old green 1977 Ford pickup and this old 20-foot travel trailer behind it. And a guy pulls in in a brand new Ford, and he's got this fifth wheel, and he pulls in with his diesel running, and he pushes a couple buttons, and I'll go the slide outs and down go the automatic stabilizers.

And also I felt about that big, which is a terrible thing, forgetting that God blessed me with this for me to use and enjoy. I completely lost sight of it. There's no platonic dualism in the Scripture.

We need to understand that as we look at these few verses, among the final instructions for Timothy from the Apostle Paul. We all have our custom-made temptations, don't we? Good looks, athleticism, wealth, either earned or inherited, all these blessings that can be used for good or noble purpose.

On the other hand, they or anything really though neutral in and of itself can be too easily turned to our harm. And all this by simply forgetting that it is God who gave it for us to enjoy. And the more you have, the more he gave it for you to share to the good of others.

Remembering God’s Provision in Deuteronomy 8

It's that simple. Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 17 admonishes Israel this way, and this will ring true through the centuries to our day. Beware lest you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.

Speaking to Israel as they're ready to go into the promised land and take over what was there because God was giving it to them, you're going to dwell in cities that you did not build, you're going to eat from vines that you did not plant, and so forth.

Do not say in your heart, beware of this. Have constant guard in this matter, that you do not say in your heart, and how easily we slip into this, how simple it is to cross this line, my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.

I think more than almost any other condition we find ourselves in, it is riches that most tempt us to forget from whence they came. Riches inherited become deserved, because I was fortunate, of course, in God's providence to be born to this family that would have something like that to leave me.

Riches earned, say through smart investing, because I was smarter than the next guy, and if he was as diligent as me and watched the market as well as I did, he'd have what I have. Never, never go there.

Paul attributes no particular spiritual power to money itself. Rather, he warns us who have much of it, how easily it can sway us off the path of righteousness. And that's the warning here. It's not the money itself.

It's not the things you have themselves. Whether you earned them in your life, God bless you. Whether you honestly inherited, because in God's providence, Acts 17 says you were born right where we'd have you to be born.

You inherited them. Just remember where they came from. Don't let them drive you off a path of righteousness where we ever say, my, anything. Accomplish this. So the two primary dangers we're warned of here, first is pride, and second is false confidence.

Pride in ourselves, as I've been saying, false confidence that these things are ultimately our security. And the more those are ultimately our security, the more focused we are on this life and forget that we are waiting for our blessed hope, the return of our glorious Savior, our God and Savior, as Paul calls Him, Jesus Christ.

So Paul doesn't say here that the wealthy at the church at Ephesus some 2 ,000 years ago, he does not say that they are high-minded. Neither does he accuse them of being haughty or prideful or selfish.

You notice that there's no such accusation here because I think if it were the case, he would say, tell them to stop being this. Rather, it's a warning. As far as trusting your life to the money, to the things of this world, many years ago when I was still rock climbing, I've told a few of you this, there were some people in trouble once, way up on a wall in Yosemite, pretty high up.

Athleticism will get you up, and then when you can't go further, you have to get back down, and that's where the experience comes in. And I was able to leave my climbing partner in one place, and I kind of sided, got over to where they were, and they were getting ready to rappel down.

And to rappel down, of course, you need an anchor for your rope. You need something secure. Just like getting through this life, you need something secure. You need some money for retirement. You need to invest and to watch and to be smart the way the Proverbs would have us to be wise and saving up for that day when we can't work anymore, not in fear and trembling of this world, but simply because wisdom, according to the Word of God, would have us go that way.

But they were going to entrust their life to a manzanita bush coming out of a small crevice in the rock. And I stopped them, and I was able to show them that this manzanita bush was no anchor because I was able to take it out with one hand.

And it's that kind of thing that I think we're warned against, putting our trust and our hope and our confidence, our life, if you will, on something that is just like that bush. You can pull it out. No, you need a better anchor.

You need something more firm. You need something you can really put that rope around and put all your weight on and put your life on it and not fall to the bottom of the valley. The problem with money is the elixir of self-sufficiency that it brings.

Like the Deuteronomy passage warns, it's just too short a road from God sending that special blessing to thanking ourselves for being so shrewd as to bless ourselves. And that is pride, and that is what we're warned against.

As soon as we take the position that my power, my might were the cause of it all, then we fall into the risk of despising others whose power and might might have achieved less. And that then leads to even more sin as it creeps into our mind that as such a wondrous achiever, I am due some special deference, some measure of respect beyond what others might expect for themselves.

And then we stop associating with those children of a lesser God, or when we do, there's a measure of condescension. We fulfill what James warned of, how we're tempted to over-respect wealth. James 2 .3, it is sinful partiality, he says, if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, you sit here in a good place, while you say to the poor man, you stand over there, or sit at my feet, in a word, sin.

The other risk, especially faced by those with wealth, is self-sufficiency. Again, the Deuteronomy quote. Do not say in your heart that my power, my might have done this. If I did it, then I must be pretty special.

In fact, if I did it once, maybe I'll go right back and do it again. Ignoring what James later admonishes, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. So the idea here is that if I'm rich, I'm in control, because money is quantifiable.

This is why that is. Because money is something we can touch, we can count, we can picture it on a financial report, it could be withdrawn from a bank in cash, or if I check, it is something tactile. We can grab onto it and say, I have this much of it.

In Germany, between the world wars, there was such inflation that a worker's buying power could be halved before his shift was over. We've never had anything like that, and I'm not saying we should plan for it.

I mean, if it ever got like that, planning wouldn't have done us any good. But it's a good illustration of money's uncertainty. Paul says not to set our hopes on this uncertainty. To apply this, first you have to acknowledge money itself is an uncertain thing.

We don't need to be paranoid about it, because my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. All our need here, even while storing up treasure in heaven where moth and rust cannot enter or destroy, is in God's direct providential care.

What Paul tells Timothy to tell them is not to set their hope there. Not to set their hope on the riches. Hope is a word that's usually used particularly of God and His promises. 1 Thessalonians 5 .8 speaks of the hope of our salvation.

1 Corinthians 15 .19, of those who have hoped in Christ. I mean, hope is a fruit of salvation, whereby our trust is transferred from one, from anything in this world, really, to the other, which is to Christ and the hope of eternity in and with Him.

The one is transient at best, the other a firm and immovable rock. In the one there is no real hope. In Christ, hope is realized. Now in the salvation that we own and hope one day to see Him as He is.

I love what Paul says about God giving us whatever we have that we might enjoy it. And that's rich, that's poor, that's middle class, or just slightly wealthy. Let us keep our hope where it must be, in Christ Jesus, in the salvation that He won for us at the cross.

We enjoy that how? By keeping a right perspective on it. By always remembering that it was directly from His hand that He gave it to us. It is, as all else of any lasting value, a matter of faith away from riches and towards God who richly provides for us.

Generosity, the Widow’s Mite, and Storing Up Treasure for the Future

So that's the one temptation. There's another temptation that comes with riches, and it's not exactly what Paul deals with here, but it is derivative, and that's jealousy. Jealousy of the kind that led to the first murder when Cain killed Abel.

Jealousy of the kind that caused Ahab to allow his wife to murder Naboth for his vineyard. If someone has what I have not, we're tempted to think ill of how he got it. I mean, Psalm 73 speaks of how the wicked prosper, and he means materially, and he means he was looking upon that with envy.

We're tempted to see someone with money and assume they're haughty and won't want to deal with me, poor man that I am. There's a sort of spiritual pride that can develop where I'm sort of holier because I'm able to be content with so little.

It's a reversal of James' instruction and it's no better for the poor to think poorly of the rich than vice versa. So riches really can tempt both ways. It's sort of insidious like that. And here's what Paul warns us about.

And the great elixir against this, the great protection that we have, is so simple, trusting God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. Verse 18 actually puzzles me a little bit. Timothy is told to tell the rich these four things.

Do good, be rich in good works, be generous, be ready to share. It puzzles me because this is for all of us, isn't it? It's not just for the rich. It's for all of us. 2 Corinthians 8, 1 -4. We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches in Macedonia.

For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.

I think the widow's mites also apply here. Generous, sacrificial giving is for all of us, not just for the rich. The rich are just more disposed to give small portions because even a small amount to them is impressive to the rest of us.

At least that's the temptation. Remember what Jesus said of that widow. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on. There's great reward, you know, in loosening our grip on money.

And however balanced your viewpoint of money is, I would suggest there's great reward in whatever you can, or however much you can, loosen the grip on it. Loosen the trust in it. I speak to all of us on this.

There's a range here, of course, but we are all blessed of God to live in a nation of such wealth as the world never saw. The poorest among us can go into most of the world with the resources that here make them a poor man and be wealthy beyond the imagining of the people who would be around him in another place.

It's all very relative. All around the world, people live in conditions that if they could trade with the poorest among us, that would improve them beyond their wildest dreams. As our attachment weakens to these things, we find that something more than larger accounts is being established.

What do we have? What Paul says, a good foundation for the future. A good foundation for the future. Where your treasure is, said our Lord Jesus Christ, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Of course, heavenly treasures, the ones that Jesus says are being built up and guarded by God and waiting for the day of salvation, they're not earned beneath anything so crass as expenditures. Paul says to tell them to do this so that they may take hold of that life which is truly life, this rather than being taken away in a flood of worry and pride and self-sufficiency.

The Rich Young Ruler and Zacchaeus

So what do we do with all this, these final words of instruction to us in 1 Timothy 6? Well, rich or poor, it's the heart that matters. Consider that Jesus dealt differently with the two wealthy men. The one, the rich young ruler, remember that?

He wanted to know what he could do to attain eternal life, and Jesus said, sell all you have and give to the poor, then come and follow me. And he left sad. I should say he was allowed to leave sad. He had much wealth, and his attachment to it, his hope in it was just too much for him.

By money he had security, power, prestige, all a man in this world could want. And that was as far as he could see. But then there was Zacchaeus. Do you remember Zacchaeus, the tax collector, the man of short stature?

He had to climb the tree in order that he'd be able to see Jesus because he couldn't see over people's heads. Luke adds, this says Zacchaeus, of Zacchaeus, and he was rich, so we know he was really rich because taxpayers in general were rich.

And if it's added to his description as a tax collector, he was really rich. And Zacchaeus stood by the Lord, stood and said to the Lord, this is Luke 19, verse 8, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.

And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore fourfold. And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house since he is also a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

It's a matter of the attachment we have to it, the hope we've put into it, how much security we think we have because we have X amount of dollars in our investment accounts or our salary or our savings, whatever the case is.

To the one, he declined to follow Jesus because he couldn't follow an instruction like what Paul had here. Do not be haughty. Do not set your hope there. Enjoy it. Enjoy what God has given you. That's what he gave it to you for.

I mean in the physical, temporal, here and now sense. Enjoy it. That's God's blessing upon it. Don't put your hope in it. Remember where it came from. It came from God. It came from God's hand to you.

And the more you have, the more you are responsible to share and do good for others who have less. I'll simply close with 2 Corinthians 9, verse 6. The point is this, says the Apostle Paul, Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Now if we hear that, we say, I know how to make more money. I'm going to give more to the poor. Come back to class. We have to go right back to the beginning. That's not the point. The point is this. Our hope and our trust is in God and what he has done for us in his son Jesus Christ, what we will celebrate at the table in just a few moments.

That's our hope. The promises of God that never fail. The scripture that contains those promises of God, most prominently his son Jesus Christ. This truth that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief.

There's my hope. There's a sure anchor that will never be pulled up. There's a rock upon which the storms can beat and will never fail. The point is, where's our hope? And what do we trust? And the more we trust in God, the more able we are to be generous the way Paul would have the rich to be generous.

Let us remember that it is God who gives, it is God who expects the account, it is God who has provided for us everything, most prominently, most importantly, the Lord Jesus Christ from whom we have everything else.

Amen? Let us prepare for the Lord's table with hymn number 193, O Jesus, we adore Thee.