Instructions to Comfortable Christians about Wealth


Sermon by J. Ligon Duncan on October 29, 2000 1 Timothy 6:17-19

I Timothy
6:17-19
Instructions to Comfortable Christians about Wealth

If You have your bibles, I’d invite You to turn with me
to First Timothy, chapter 6. That picture from Vaughan Williams, of the
thousands upon thousands “streaming from ocean’s farthest coast, into the gates
of pearl between the Father, Son and Holy Ghost,” never ceases to grip me, and
to move me, and its something for which I long, and I know you long for it as
well.

This morning will be thinking about the subject of the stewardship of
life. The session of this church has never asked the minister to become a fund
raiser, and for that I am thankful; and, indeed, the goal of our session is for
the congregation to become so committed to our churchly stewardship
responsibilities that there will come a day when there is no longer a need for a
stewardship season. Nevertheless, the stewardship committee has seen a wider
pastoral use for the stewardship season, and for that I am also thankful. The
stewardship committee sees this time, not only a time to draw your attention, to
draw your support to the church’s work for the coming year, but to address the
broader issue of ‘stewardship of life’ – those ‘stewardship of life’ issues
that all of you need to face as Bible-believing Christians. And, that is what
we are going to do today, as we look at Paul’s words here, in First Timothy 6,
verse 17 through 19. So let’s hear God’s holy and inspired word:

“Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix
their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God , who richly supplies us
with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works,
to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a
good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life
indeed.” Amen.

And thus ends this reading of God’s holy and inspired word. May He add his
blessing to it. Let’s pray.

Our Lord and our God, we bow before You and we ask that You would enable us to
submit ourselves to the lordship of Jesus Christ even in the area, and
especially in the area, of our stewardship of possessions – all of our
possessions – to Your praise and glory. Help us to understand what your word
says to us. Give us the grace of obedience to these things. Enable us to say,
O Lord, “Search our own hearts to see if there is any
unclean thing in us.” And then, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, change us,
transform us, renovate us so that we might be pleasing in thy sight, and bring
glory to Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Now, there are a number of important reasons for why we ought to address
the issue of stewardship. Stewardship of life is a standing Christian concern,
and I’d like to share a few of those reasons why it is important to address the
matter of life stewardship. By the way, by life stewardship I’m not
simply referring to what you do with your possessions. I’m asking the question
of the stewardship of your whole life: what you do with your time, what
priorities you make, what commitments You make in terms of your energy and your
talent. I’m asking a total life stewardship question. And though this passage
today focuses specifically on money, on financial resources, on wealth, I’m not
simply talking about what You give to the church. I’m asking questions, with
Paul today about what you do with everything that you have; not just what you
contribute to church, to Christian causes, or to charitable organizations, but
what you do with everything that God has given you in regard to wealth.

There are several reasons why it is important to address an issue like
this. First of all, we are among the richest Christians who have ever lived.
This congregation is among the richest churches that have ever existed in the
history of the world. That is very important for us to remember. We may not
think of ourselves as well off. Individually, we may see ourselves with lots of
financial struggles, but we are among the richest congregations that have ever
existed. We are probably well into the 99th percentile. It is important for us
to remember that even in this world, today, as we verge on this new century and
millennium, most Christians are in poverty. Numerically, most Christians are
very poor and marginal. We, however, have been singularly blessed by God, and
therefore, the issue of our stewardship of life and of our wealth is a very
important issue as Christians for us to face.

Secondly, we live in a day and age which oozes materialism. Even if we
don’t buy into the philosophy that the things of life and the wealth of this
life are what make life, even if we don’t buy into the philosophy that he who
dies with the most toys wins, we are impacted by that philosophy, and we even
unwittingly imbibe that philosophy, even if we reject it formally. I suspect
that if I, this morning, we were to ask each one of you to stand and state your
philosophy of material possessions, there would be very few, if any of you, who
would stand up and say, “Well, I think that money is the most important thing in
life, and getting money is my most significant endeavor.” I don’t think that
there would be many people who would stand up and say that, even if we were all
speaking absolutely honestly. Nevertheless there would also be no one who has
not been impacted in any way by the materialism of this culture, and
unwittingly, thus, been giving in to alien ideas.

We live in a day and age when you cannot get away from the consumer
culture. Doug McDaniel, in his report, mentioned the
way that commercial advertising works to appeal sometimes to our worst
instincts, in order to get us to buy things that we do not need, and to think
that having those things will make us to be happier, better human beings, and so
gives in to a very alien concept of life, a way of life very different to
Christianity. Now, let me just give you an example
about just how much we are bombarded by this kind of stuff. There is an
interesting book that has just been published called Lead Us Into Temptation,
which is a study of the impact of consumer culture on this earth over the last
century or so, especially here in America. In 1900, we are told, during a
period of a week, you would come into contact with three advertisements, or
images, during the period of a week. Today, in 2000, in the United States of
America, you come into contact with 3,000 separate commercial advertisements or
images every day, whether it be through a bill board, whether it be through
radio advertising, whether it be through television, or through print media, we
are bombarded with consumer, commercial, advertising. That, in and of itself,
apart from their content, puts us in a dangerous position to unwittingly give in
to the thought forms and the mind set of the age. And so the issue of
stewardship of wealth, as a part of the stewardship of life, is a very important
issue for us to think about as Christians.

Thirdly, your approach to money is an important index of whether the
gospel has taken hold of your heart. And, again, I am not just talking about
what you give to the church, what you give to Christian causes, what you give to
charitable organizations. I’m saying your total approach to money is an
important index of whether the gospel has taken control of your heart. Many of
you who have been around long enough here at First Presbyterian Church to have
heard John Reed Miller, would have heard him say on more than one occasion, “If
you really want to see if the gospel has taken control of a man’s heart, then
touch his wallet.” You can see a great deal about a person’s profession of
faith through their stewardship of their wealth, because stewardship is a
lordship issue. Stewardship is one of those practical issues that allows you to
show whether you really have submitted yourself to Christ, as Lord, in all of
life.

Fourth, while I would rather not talk about money, its interesting to me
here in First Timothy 6:17, that Paul explicitly instructs Timothy to talk to
the congregation in Ephesus about money. Now, Timothy was a timid soul, and we
would surmise that he would have been less than enthusiastic about the issue of
addressing money matters to wealthy people. But Paul explicitly commands him to
address this issue to that congregation, and through Timothy, he commands all
faithful preachers to do so. So if I fail to minister God’s word to you in this
area, then I fail.

I was speaking to the staff not long ago, and I said “Given that we
minister to a congregation that lives in a materialistic age and which, by and
large, has a great deal of personal resource, if we fail to help them in this
area, we fail.” We get a failing grade in terms of ministering. We have a
fairly comfortable or wealthy congregation, and we live in a very affluent
society. Even secular sociologists are talking about the impact of affluence on
us as a culture. If we fail to address these kinds of questions to Christians
in this congregation, then we fail.

Now, let me pause and say, I know that not everyone here is, or thinks, of
themselves as wealthy. Very often, even those who are wealthy don’t think of
themselves as wealthy, and so I’ve used the word “comfortable” in the sermon
title. Now, I know that many of you don’t think you’re comfortable! You think
that if you could only add an extra $10,000 every month, you might be able to
make it work! And so I recognize that not everyone here thinks of himself as
comfortable, and I also recognize that there are some who are genuinely
struggling financially in our congregation. We are not all alike, and we may
not even be like the stereotype of First Presbyterian Church. We are a rather
diverse bunch, actually. But there are still further issues there. For
instance, You may be struggling financially because of certain life style
choices that you’re making. Some of those choices may be legitimate, and some
of them may not be legitimate. And then, there are others who may be struggling
not because of life style choices. So there are all sorts of factors. But
those are very legitimate things. Those are things about which I have had
conversations with many people here at First Presbyterian Church. It’s
gratifying, in fact, for me to see Christians wrestling with those kinds of
issues. So if you want to talk about those things, I’d love to have an
opportunity to talk with you.

Sometimes there are Christians who want to do right, not only in their
giving to the church, but in their total stewardship of funds, but they are in
such a mess, financially, they don’t even know where to begin. And those people
perhaps need a little extra help and council and encouragement. So if You want
to talk about those things, I would be delighted to talk about those things with
you, as would the rest of our pastoral staff and our elders and deacons.

But today, I want to focus on what Paul says here in First Timothy,
chapter 6, verses 17 through 19, about our use of wealth. For sake of argument,
let me just say that all of us, all of us, even those who are on the lower end
of the socio-economic scale here at First Presbyterian Church, fit into this
category of those who are comfortable – those who are wealthy with regard to
this present age, because, even those of us who are on the lower end of the
scale here in Jackson are on the upper end of the scale amongst Christians
today. And therefore what Paul says is for each of you, and not for someone
else. It’s very important that you have that attitude in mind as we approach
this passage together. Paul, here, gives both negative and positive instruction
about the use of wealth. I’d like to look at those positive and negative
instructions with You and then draw your attention, especially, to three
important ideas that we get from this passage. Let’s begin in verse 17.

I. The negative consequences of wealth.
First Paul deals with the negative consequences of wealth, and He
says this: Christians, whom God has blessed with means, must be on their guard
for the negative consequences of wealth. Look what he says in verse 17:
“Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited, or to
fix their hope on the uncertainty of riche.” Paul knows that there are two
temptations that comfortable Christians have; that is, those Christians who are
relatively comfortable financially, and because of that relative comfort, have a
tendency to fall into these two particular sins.

The first sin is conceit, or pride, carnal security; comfortable because
of the specific benefits that we’ve received in terms of wealth. The second sin
is fixing our hopes not on God, but on worldly wealth. Look at how he addresses
these things. In verse 17, he says, “Instruct those who are rich in this
present world, not to be conceited.” Now, did you notice in the very first
sentence that Paul speaks in this section, he is already emphasizing the
difference between true riches and worldly wealth? Look at his language:
“Instruct those who are rich in this present world,” Paul doesn’t even say,
“Instruct those who are rich.” He has to say they are rich in this present
world. Why? Because richness in this present world does not count as richness,
necessarily, in the eyes of God. We, as Christians, live in two ages, the “now”
and the “not yet”; the kingdom which is and the kingdom which is to come. And
we are looking for a city which has foundations, whose architect and maker is
God, and therefore, the rewards that we are striving after are not ultimately
the rewards that will pass away. And so the apostle begins by making the
distinction between true riches and riches of this present age.

In doing so, in making that distinction, Paul is actually supplying the
directive to this problem. Paul knows that those who are wealthy, in fact the
more wealthy they are, tend to accrue to themselves a great deal of power and
influence. I’m thinking of a man right now who had accrued such an amount of
wealth that he treated people horribly, because he didn’t need people. He was
just absolutely horrendous. He was rude to them, he would interrupt them, he
would badger them. He had so much wealth, he didn’t care what they thought of
him. And Paul is pointing out the fact that those who are rich in this present
world are, and often, tend to be arrogant, and to feel a power from their riches
which is not a power that derives from godly riches.

Paul recognizes the potential for arrogance because of riches and power.
In fact, Paul is reflecting an idea which you will find in the old testament.
Turn back to Proverbs, chapter 30; Psalms, then Proverbs, then the book of
Ecclesiastes. At the very end of Proverbs, in Proverbs 30, verse 7 through 9 we
read this: “Two things I ask of Thee. Do not refuse me before I die: keep
deception and lies far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me
with the food that is my portion, lest I be full and deny thee and say ‘who is
the Lord?’, or lest I be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God.”
Wealth, or comfort, or earthly security can lead a person to deny their need for
the Lord. Paul knows that, and he emphasizes that we must be aware that there
is a difference between riches and true riches. And we cannot amass riches on
this earth that translate into those true riches, from those things that are
going to pass away.

Secondly, Paul says that wealthy Christians must not fix their hope on the
uncertainty of worldly wealth. Paul knows the temptation of the rich to fall
in, or to find their security in, temporal blessings. And again, notice that
Paul supplies the remedy to this problem even in his announcing of it.
“Instruct those who are rich.” Verse 17; “Instruct those who are rich in this
present world not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches.” Paul reminds
us that earthly wealth is uncertain. He tells us that it is uncertain and it
is, thus, worldly by its very nature. We can’t take it with us. And so in
these two ways he argues with us to be conscious of the negative consequences of
wealth. There is no trial like prosperity. There is no trial like affluence.
People who bear up in times of leanness and need, often stumble when they are
given much, and become secure with what they have been given, and forsake the
God of their youth. That’s why the writer in Proverbs prays, “Give me neither
poverty nor riches, lest I say, ‘Who is the Lord.’” Paul is warning against
precisely that in this passage. Christians who have been blessed by God with
means must be on guard for the negative consequences of wealth.

II. The positive consequences of wealth.
And then, again – verses 17 through 19 – Paul goes on the positive
side, and says several things about the Christian’s use of wealth. In fact, he
says that those Christians whom God has blessed with means must endeavor to use
their wealth ‘christianly’, and he gets very specific. He says 7 things in this
short passage, from the second half of verse 17 down to verse 19, about how
Christians who have been given means are to use their
wealth.

First of all, he says that we must make every endeavor to fix our hope on
God. He has said, “Don’t fix your hope on worldly wealth.” Now look at the
second half of verse 17. He says, “Instruct those who are rich in this present
world to fix their hopes on God.” Now, Christians who have been made
comfortable by God’s blessings may have a harder time of doing this and may have
to work harder at this than others, because when you have been given means there
is a temptation to become comfortable because of your situation, rather than to
be comfortable because of God; God, who richly supplies us with all things to
enjoy.

Isn’t it interesting. Even as Paul is trying to balance out some of the
struggles of those who are wealthy, those who are rich in this present age, does
not do so by denigrating wealth. He doesn’t try to demonize wealth. He doesn’t
engage in class warfare. “Wealth is bad; poverty is good.” No, God richly
supplies these things for us to enjoy. Wealthy Christians must remember that
all good gifts come from God. His solution to their problem of fixing their
hope on wealth is not to say that wealth is bad, but it is to recognize that God
is the source of wealth. Wealthy folks tend to think of themselves as
self-made. They are people who have made their fortunes. They have
accomplished this. And the apostle Paul says, “No, these things come from God.”

But I want you to note here, especially, this appreciative attitude toward
wealth. Remember I said in the beginning that not all of us think of ourselves
as wealthy or even comfortable? Well, Paul knew that was the case in Ephesus as
well. But he still tells Timothy to address those Christians who are relatively
better off. But, those words to these wealthy Christians
are words that are important for every Christian in Ephesus to understand. Now,
that’s an amazing thing, isn’t it? Most early Christians would have been poor.
Some of them would have been slaves. Some of them would have been ex-slaves,
just freed, and therefore with very few financial resources. And yet, in this
congregation, You have both poor people, and You have wealthy people. But you
know, the poor people in that congregation could have learned from what Paul
just said. It would have been very tempting for them, wouldn’t it, to have
looked to those in the congregation who had more, and resent it. “Well, you
know Lord, I’d like to have some of those blessings.” “Well, Lord, I’d like to
have some of those challenges of affluence.” “Well, I’d like to have the trial
of prosperity.” “Come on, Lord, test me!”

My wife was in a Bible study back in Columbia with a group of ladies who
were getting into their late twenties and early thirties and as yet unmarried.
They studied together and prayed that the Lord would give them husbands, and one
of them said, “I’m never going to leave Columbia. Don’t want to leave Columbia
at all.” She met a fellow from Memphis and she lives in Memphis now. Anne
said, “I’m going down to Jackson to study, but I’m coming back to Columbia.
I’ll never marry someone from Jackson,” and she married me and she is here.
Another one said, “Why I’m never going to marry a doctor. That’s not the kind
of life I want to live,” and she married an orthopedic surgeon. Well, the
fourth girl in the group said, “That’s it. I’m never going to marry a
millionaire. Not going to. No, not going to do it!” She wanted to experience
the trial of prosperity. Now, that reverse prayer I don’t think has worked
yet. But she wanted to experience the trial of prosperity.

A lot of us can look up and say, “Well, look, I’d like to have that kind
of problem, Lord. I’d like to have that prosperity. I’d like to have that
affluence.” But you can also begin to resent those who have it, and Paul
doesn’t foster that kind of an attitude. He doesn’t foster the attitude where
those who are poor in the congregation resist those who have these things. Now,
these things come from the Lord. You praise the Lord, and you pray extra hard
that wealthy Christians will not squander those resources on things of no value,
but will use them for the kingdom. That’s what you do.

Thirdly, notice what He says here in verse 18: “Instruct them to do
good.” Wealthy Christians must use their resources to do good. “To whom much
is given, much is required.” That is a dominical principle. Jesus sets that
principle down. Paul reiterates that principle. “To whom much is given, much
is required.” You instruct them to do good. Those who have been given
resources have been given those resources to do good.

And again, my friends, I’m not just talking about that which you give to
the church. All of what we have is to be used with the view to glorifying God,
doing good, helping our family, but being a blessing. Paul makes that very
clear. Those who have been given a special temporal blessing have an especial
responsibility to do good with those means. And again, my friends, that means
training our children in that habit and pattern, as well.

One of the challenges that is specifically ahead of us, my friends, as the
greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the world begins to occur, is
training our children in how not to use that wealth for themselves, but for the
sake of the kingdom. That is easier said than done.

Fourthly, the apostle goes on to say, in verse 18. Look again. “To be rich
in good works.” Wealthy Christians, those Christians who have comfort and
means, must strive to be rich in good works; not just in earthly riches, but to
be rich in righteousness, the only kind of wealth that heaven sees. They need
to be aiming to be counted as wealthy in the realm of righteousness if they want
to be rich.

And again, what is Paul doing? He is reminding us of the difference
between true riches and earthly riches. If you look in verse 18: “To be
generous and ready to share.” Those Christians of means need to cultivate
generosity. They have a greater responsibility than others to share with and
care for those who are less fortunate. Now, that’s an interesting thing. Paul
definitely says that comparatively – by the resources that God has given us – we
have a comparatively greater responsibility to care for those who are poor.
Now, that’s interesting and you know what? The fact of the matter is,
statistically, ever since we have been keeping statistics on these kinds of
charitable things – I would say the last two centuries – those who are poor,
percentage wise, give more to charity than those who are wealthy. And Paul is
saying, “Brethren, in the Christian Church it should not be that way. Those who
have more, ought to be leading the way in generosity.” Not only because they
have a responsibility to help those who are without, have lesser means, but
because of the comparative temporal blessing that God has given to them. They
attain to a greater responsibility in giving. That’s a very important point to
remember. That’s even worked out statistically, recently.

You’ve seen the index on charitable giving. Mississippi, that is not at
the top of the list of states in terms of personal income, is at the top on the
United Sates in personal charitable giving. Now, its still not much. I think
its something like $2,000 per person, per year, given by Mississippians to
charitable causes. But you know what? It doesn’t surprise me that Mississippi
leads the way. This is probably the most churched state in the union. There
are a lot of Christians, a lot of evangelical Christians in Mississippi and it
doesn’t surprise me that Mississippi leads the way in charitable giving, even
though its not one of the richest states. But again, that simply shows up that
often times charitable giving does not correspond, in kind, to the wealth that
the Lord has given us. Paul is challenging those with much to give much.

Furthermore, look at what he says in verse 19: “Storing up for themselves
a treasure of a good foundation for the future.” This is the sixth thing that
he says, that Christians must lay up treasure in heaven. Our tendency is that
the more that we have, we pay more and more attention to the stock market, more
and more attention to our earthly inheritance, more and more attention to our
portfolio, more attention to our family fortunes, and not to give correspondent
attention to the use of what God has given us for the needs of others and for
his purposes. And Paul says, “Store up for yourselves of a good foundation for
the future” – for that age to come, not just for this age, not just for
retirement, not just for when you’re not around, but for the age to come.

And finally, again in verse 19, he says, “So that they may take hold of
that which is life, indeed.” Christians are to take hold of real life, not just
apparent life, not just that which appears to be the life. All of us have heard
the joke about the man who was buried in his Cadillac.
And the man’s looking over the grave and they are filling in the dirt on him,
and he says, “Man, that’s living!” And we know what’s being poked at there.
Those who see life in their possessions. But, my friends, the apostle Paul is
saying, “Don’t be fooled by that. Don’t be fooled that – if you only had a
little bit more, You’d be happy”. My father quoted many times, an old saying
that his dad had said to him from the days of the depression. He’d say, “Son,
the difference between a happy man, and a depressed man is 30 days – 30 days
ahead or 30 days behind.” And there’s a lot of common sense truth in that.

Nevertheless, Paul is saying that real life is not in possessions. Its
very easy for us to think, “I’m making $30,000. If only I was making $45,000,
I’d be okay”. Or, “I’m making $45,000. If I were only making $60,000.” or,
“I’m making $60,000. If I were only making $80,000, I’d be okay”. Or, “I’m
making $80,000.” Or, “If I were only making $100,000.” And look, you can keep
on going up. Satan can keep holding that carrot out in front of you, thinking
if there were just another $20,000 in my income this year, everything would be
fine. It’s not going to be fine. I promise you. There is always going to be
something else. And the Apostle is saying, “Look, take hold of real life, not
something that just appears to be life. It is in kingdom riches that
contentment is found.”

Now, look, most of us don’t want to study to be content. I remember when
I first pulled out Jeremiah Burrows’ book, The Rare Jewel of Christian
Contentment
to do a devotional with Anne. Anne
said, “Oh, no, not contentment!” And that’s how most of us respond. Who wants
to be content? “I want to be satisfied with a lot of stuff!” But Paul, here,
is asking us to place our hopes in the riches that do not pass away, that are
certain.

III. The use of wealth is a spiritual issue.

Now, I want to say one more thing. Paul talks negatively about
what we need to be on guard against. He talks positively about what we need to
do. Make it clear in your own minds. Paul considers the Christian’s use of
wealth as a function of, and a measure of, the lordship of Christ. It is a
spiritual issue. That is the third and last thing I want to say to You today.
The use of wealth is a spiritual issue. When we look at Colossians 3:23 and 24
next week, what you will see is that Paul continues to bring us back to this
point: we do everything, we spend everything, we use everything knowing that
Christ is Lord. Do we realize that is the measure of wealth? Are we using it
in conscious submission to the Lord Jesus Christ? So everything that we have is
used in such a way as to glorify Him. Certainly, to legitimately help our
families, but ultimately for His glory. That is the measure of our
stewardship. That is what it means to be a good steward in the eyes of God.
That costs, especially, for you who have more. But Paul is calling you,
according to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to be faithful in this area.
May God help you to do so. Let’s pray:

Our heavenly Father, Your word is practical, and its also piercing. Wound us
today, O God, if we need to be wounded. Comfort us, encourage and strengthen us
if we need Your strengthening. Help us, by grace, to live a life of willing and
grateful and joyful stewardship. And we pray, O God, that in doing so, we would
remember the Savior’s dying gift for us, and we would give in light of His
gift. These things we ask in His name. Amen.

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