Timothy, the very last chapter, it's page 994 in your pew Bibles. And we are drawing very near to the conclusion of our long series in First Timothy. Children, here are your questions for this morning. First, why is Paul concerned about the rich people in the church? Two, how much of what people have on earth will they take into eternity? Three, what does he say the people should be rich in? And four, what can you do this week to be more generous? Tell your parents what it is today. 1 Timothy chapter 6, beginning in verse 17. This is the word of God. 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. Therein's a reading of God's word. Let's pray together. Almighty God, we do thank you for your word. And Lord, we know that you always speak to us in your word, in and through your word. And we pray that your Holy Spirit would touch us now through the reading and the preaching of your word. Minister to us, we ask, as we come to you in the name of Jesus. Amen. What is rich? How do you define rich? I don't know how you define rich, to be honest with you. I have been to Ghana, and I have been in what was probably one of the wealthiest homes in Ghana, but I was also in a dirt hut in Ghana. I've been in some of the richest areas in our country, and I've also been in some of the poorest areas of our country. In my own hometown, there was a distinction between one side of town and the other side of town. On one side of town, there was actually a mini, what we called, the castle. On the other end of the road, at the end of the road, when you passed a house that still had an outhouse, when I was young, there was a virtual shack where one of my friends lived. How do you define rich and how do you define poverty? I'm not sure it's that easy. It seems to me to be a relative thing. A relative thing. For all of us, we need to understand what Paul is saying to us in this passage. This passage is for all of us and I'm very much aware that most likely in a church like ours, there are some people who are struggling just to make ends meet. There are others who are in fixed incomes. There are others who may have a really good nest egg put away, and there may be others who are well-heeled. My guess is that compared to much of the world, almost everyone in this congregation would be considered rich. compared to an awful lot of people in the world. Whatever the case is, Paul is telling Timothy that he needs to address the rich people, the wealthy people in his church. And there may have been many. The city of Ephesus was very wealthy. And undoubtedly, some of the wealthy people were converted and were actually a part of the church. And they needed to have a reminder to keep things in perspective. Timothy needed to be unintimidated and untempted to address them directly. That might sound like an easy thing, might sound like an easy thing for a pastor to address people specifically in a congregation, but I can tell you that it's not. I have never in a church I've been in wanted to know what anybody made in the church. I've never in any church wanted to know what anybody contributed to the church. The downside of that is that if there's not direct thanks, then the pastor might seem unthankful. The positive side is you're not beholden to anyone, which is something that can very easily happen. Timothy had to make sure that he wasn't tempted to show favor to those who had money, to pander to them, to be persuaded by them, and to be afraid that they might withdraw their money from the church if he confronted them on any particular issues. So maybe you can see why this could have been very intimidating for Timothy, but this is really a kind thing. because Timothy's concerned, Paul's concerned, that Timothy's concerned for their souls. There is a very real issue in the early church. If you jump ahead in your Bibles to James 2. James 2, beginning in verse 1, kind of describes the problem that Timothy could well face. My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and 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 sit over there, or sit down at my feet, Have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? And I'll end reading there. Now, James is dealing with a particular problem with some very arrogant, wealthy people in the church. And he goes on to lay into them, and he'll do so more later in his letter. That's not really the tone that Paul has in instructing Timothy. I don't read that tone in here at all. It almost seems to be less of a rebuke than an encouragement. It's more of an encouragement, I should say, than a rebuke. But you see how the problem can happen in a church. Charles Dickens has a book called The Bleak House. And there's a scene in the book, and it's depicted well in a movie, where there's a very, very wealthy family who probably built the chapel that all these people are meeting in. And all the servants and all the townspeople, it's not a big church, are seated in the church. But then there's a moment when a bell rings. The pastor's up front. He looks nervous. And in walk Mr. and Lady Dedlock. very wealthy, and immediately the congregation, in somewhat of a sense of awe, stands in the presence of Mr. and Lady Dedlock as they come into the church and take their seats up front. And you can see the nerves on the pastor's face as these people come in, and then they're finally seated. Now, Dickens had no particular love for the church, but he had a keen sense of hypocrisy. And he's very concerned about that. We understand that the Bible never condemns wealth. There are plenty of woes in scripture to the wealthy people who abuse their wealth, especially to unbelievers, but here, believers are being encouraged. It's a charge to the rich. While it's not a rebuke, it is a charge. There's some things that I've noticed in scripture, particularly in the Gospels, about the way Jesus addresses the wealthy. Three things came to mind. First of all, there's a danger of losing focus on eternity. Think of the rich man, the rich fool who spends all of his time accumulating things on earth and then suddenly he dies and he's standing in the presence of God. And we can assume naked because naked we come and naked we go, but we could also almost imagine him in the filthy rags of his own sin and unrighteousness instead of the righteousness of Christ and he has nothing to say. And God himself says, you fool. Lost focus on eternity, the things that matter. Secondly, an inordinate love, a distracting love, an attachment to material stuff. Think of the rich young ruler. Two-fold problem. One is that he thought that he was actually righteous, which was mistake number one. But two, he had a real passion for his stuff. He loved his stuff. So much so that Jesus said, if you're going to follow me, if you want the kingdom of heaven, this is my power. Paraphrase, you've got to get rid of that stuff. It's your God. Third, neglecting the poor. Think of the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Some say it wasn't really a parable, but perhaps a real life story that Jesus tells. of this rich man who constantly steps over, as it were, Lazarus, who was writhing in his poverty, dogs licking his wounds. But the rich man finds out that when he steps into eternity, because apparently he was relying on his riches and not on grace, but also neglecting to care for the poor, his end wasn't very pleasant, shall we say. So those are three things. Another thing that the wealthy can deal with, even Christians, and this may be in particular Christians, is complacency. Cotton Mather, in early New England, I read recently, was lamenting the fact that the very thing that brought wealth to New England, that Puritan Christian work ethic that brought wealth to New England, had brought them into spiritual complacency, so that by the mid-1700s, church attendance in New England was abysmal. And so these are all cautions for even Christians, who should find themselves in a whole different place than some of these others that I mentioned, because they're right with God, but there are still temptations. And so I've put what Paul writes to Timothy in five points, beatitudes, if you will. Be poor. Be wise, and not to try to sound Irish or Scottish, but be trusting God. It's pretty poor wording there, I admit. Be generous and be investors. First of all, be poor. Be poor not in your pocket, not in your bank account, but be poor in spirit. That's part of being a Christian. Doesn't Jesus himself say, blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Paul says, teach them not to be arrogant, not to be haughty, but instead to be humble. I'll never forget standing next to a pastor in a worship service as we're preparing, as we're singing, actually. We're singing an old song that some of you probably know. Give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks to the Holy One. Give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ his son. You know that song, some of you? Give thanks to the Holy One. Give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ his son. Amen. But then we're supposed to sing one thing. The pastor standing next to me sang this. And now let the rich say I am poor and let the strong say I am weak. It was one of those moments where you almost couldn't stop laughing, although we're reverent in worship. We're supposed to sing, let the weak say I am strong, let the poor say I am rich, and he had flipped it. But in retrospect, there's truth in his error. The rich still need to say, I'm poor in spirit. And the strong need to say, I'm weak in myself. My riches are in Christ and in his grace. So be poor. Be wise. Be wise about the value of material things. Don't trust in riches. Riches have, along with them, a lot of advantages. For instance, you may be able to get better medical care in this life. You may be able to eat better food. You may have more comforts in this life that help you to be more healthy. But your riches can't save or feed your soul. Again, money can certainly be advantageous in many ways. But it has its limitations, doesn't it? And it won't last. Be wise. And in contrast to that, be trusting in God for all you have. Be thankful. If you've inherited everything you have, if you're rich, be thankful. If you've worked hard for everything you've had, be thankful because the Lord is your provider. And give thanks. And don't worry. It's very interesting to me that sometimes wealthy people worry more about their money than poor people. I think Paul's point to Timothy to pass on to them is you have so much more from God than you can imagine. Be generous. Some of the poorest people I know are the most generous people I know, but so are some of the richest people I know, or some of the most generous people you'd ever want to meet. But there is a temptation. There is that miser element that can easily come in, that miser syndrome. Paul says, teach them to be generous. First of all, generous with good works. There's something very satisfying to see the wealthy serving and working alongside everybody else in church. There's something very satisfying to see someone who may be a hard-working tradesman who works for every penny they have, instructing someone very wealthy, I'm not saying anything in this church, but who maybe never lifted a hammer in their life, that one teaching that one to swing a hammer. There's something great in seeing that. Get in there and help do stuff. Do good works. Well, isn't it easier just to give money? A number of years ago, here's an example for you. We sent a group to Mexico. And frankly, in those days, it was a lot of money to fly there, to get all the arrangements. The kids that went and the adults that went worked very, very hard to raise that money. Impact fund kicked in, but everybody worked hard to get there. But still some questioned the amount of money we spent to get us there. So we simply asked the question, to the poor people in Mexico that were trying to build a church, would you rather have us just send the money, or would you rather have us there? Now, because of the context of the story, if I were to take a vote and say, what do you think they said, you would all get it right. You'd say, they want us there. They wanted us there. You think about what they could have done with the cash. They could have done a lot, but they wanted people on the ground. They wanted people who could afford to get there to work alongside them to build their church, and so we did. Be generous with your works. Be generous with your goods. Give generously, not to bind anyone's conscience, but let your conscience be guided by scripture, be biblically informed. Turn to Matthew chapter 6. There's an assumption that those who can give will give, but Jesus gives some strong words about how we go about it. Just four verses in Matthew 6. Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sow no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. I can tell you very honestly this morning that I did not purposely time this on the very same day that we have our benevolence offering. But isn't that interesting? I don't know exactly how the next point being investors works. But I do know this, that what we do here in life with the time we have, even with the money that we have, does have bearing on our reward. I don't know how it works. But I do know this, still in Matthew 6, now pick up in verse 19. Do not lay up for yourselves treasure 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 also be. 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 the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. And so Paul is telling Timothy, tell the rich people to keep things in perspective. And if you keep things in perspective, your life will be much more abundant now. Because your eyes will be fixed on the riches of heaven above all things. In the meantime, think about what you do with what you have. One of our members asked the question, do we have riches and enjoy them richly because they're God-given, or do we enjoy them poorly and selfishly? But here's the main thing. It's the riches that we have in Christ. In the end, Paul says, help them to take hold of life. Take hold of what they have in Christ. When I thought of this, that there is life here, have them take hold of life, I couldn't help but picture someone on vacation, It's imaginary. All the bills are paid. Sitting back with a nice cold drink. Their feet on the beach. They're in their lounge chair. And they actually say, this is life. This is life. Said it myself, I'm sure. Nothing wrong with it. We're enjoying it. We're even told in this passage, enjoy the things that God gives. But this is not life. Ultimately, life is in Jesus Christ, and it's much more luxurious than anything we could imagine in this world. Take hold of that. Build on the foundation of faith, because building on the foundation of faith has to do with forever. So finally, the heart of what Paul is saying to Timothy to pass on to the others applies to the poor, the middle, the rich. Take heart. There's so much more. James says, let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass, he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass, its flower falls and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. But the word of God endures forever. And he's promised us in his word eternal life. We come into the world naked with nothing. But maybe you could be born into wealth. You can be poor in this world and be rich with blessing. And you can be rich in this world and have poverty of soul. But in Christ, you have everything. Grace is both the great leveler, but also the great exalter. But then death is the great leveler too. And none of us will take anything with us. Someone in our small group said, when people come to the hospital, you can come in dressed in rags or you can come dressed in fancy clothes, but you all get the same blue gown. Death is the level or two, but there's eternity. And none of us know just how glorious that is. But it sure puts the things of this world in perspective. And so what I hear Paul telling Timothy to tell the others is be entirely sincere and unafraid. Be entirely sincere with your concern for the rich. Be concerned for their souls. And don't be afraid to remind them of the things that last, the things that are important. What you have in Christ is the greatest riches. And what you have stored in heaven is beyond compare. Let's pray. Lord our God, you are so good to us in so many ways. Lord, we thank you for all that we have from the very breadth of life and the life you've given to us, to every material blessing, great or small, that you've afforded us in this life. But above all, we thank you that you have saved our wretched souls through sending the one who enjoyed the riches of heaven. who became poor for our sakes so that we might be rich. We might be rich with new life and all the treasures of heaven. Blessings now and blessings for eternity. We thank you and we praise you for your goodness to us. And we give you thanks in the name of our Savior Jesus. Help us to keep him always in view. And let us seek your kingdom always above all other things. Amen.