The Church of Eleven22 - S01 E58 - To The Rich...

Episode Date: July 22, 2020

Hey, church family. It is time for Devo. If you got your Bible, 1 Timothy chapter 6, is one of my favorite relationships in the Bible. It is the relationship between the Apostle Paul and young Timothy, the pastor at the Church of Ephesus. You know, we studied 2nd Timothy last year, and you know this relationship is incredible. And so we're going to read a bunch of verses, probably too many, but it's all set up for when we get to verse 17. and Paul, the mentor, the father is teaching Timothy how to talk to rich people at his church. And so buckle up for that.

Here we go. Paul says to Timothy, teach and urge these things. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.

He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and quarrels about words. Maybe we should stop there. Paul says, Hey, Timothy, if the people in your church's Facebook is all and only quarrelsome and just controversy about words,

then you need to say something about it. So Church of 1122, I need to say something about it. Watch yourself online. Watch yourself online. If you were a believer in Jesus Christ, your words, according to Ephesians chapter 4, should be edifying to the needs of the hearer.

please, please, please don't get caught up in some kind of social media frenzy and all this kind of stuff, taking people's eyes off what matters most and what matters most is the gospel of Jesus Christ and its implications. So I digress. He says, because when you do these things, here's what it produces. Envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and depraved of the truth. imagining that godliness is a means of gain. Okay. But, now here's where he shifts gears. So he's warning, if you think godliness is a means of gains.

By the way, that is an anti-prosperity gospel verse. If you think you can use God because God will help you, then you've not actually surrendered to God. You've asked him to surrender to you. And God will not be an idol in the hands of a person. But, however, godliness with contentment is great gain. Let's just say that again. But godliness with contentment is great gain.

Can you imagine as you lean into your relationship with God that you know the secret of being content in any and every situation? Like, regardless of who gets elected, you have godliness and contentment. Regardless if you get passed over on that promotion or not, you have godliness with commitment. Contentment. Regardless of whether your team wins or not,

you have godliness with contentment. That is a great game. Four, we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing with these, we will be content. Can you imagine just taco and pants? And you're like, I'm all set.

I'm all set. because oftentimes the things that we worry about are the things that we want. And we think if I could just get that thing, then I would be content. And Paul is saying, Timothy, to teach your people, watch out for that, man. We live in a world, now we live in a world that spends billions of dollars a day to try to prove that you that you are not content. They want you to know. Like, your drinks don't taste good enough, your razors don't work good enough, your clothes don't fit good enough. and if you just had our product,

your car doesn't drive straight enough, and if you just had our product, then you would be fully and finally satisfied. And Paul says, why don't you teach your people because of the gospel of Jesus Christ? If they had food and clothing with these, we will be content.

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation. Now, I don't know anybody that doesn't want to be rich, but when this becomes your primary desire, when it begins to drive you more stuff, more money, Paul warns us is that those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires

that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. The Bible does not say money is the root of all evil. it says the love of money. Jesus is going to say you can't serve two masters because you'll love one and hate the other. So the Bible, in the Gospels and the epistles, make it clear that money is to be a tool

to be used by God's people, but not to be an idol to be worshipped by God's people. One of the ways we can look at this is, do you love God and use money or do you love money and try to use God? Because it is a root of all kinds of evils and it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

That when money becomes too important in your life, and listen, it's the easiest thing in the world for us to slide into this Western American dream mentality that everything we have is for our own comfort and that we deserve it because we work so hard. And Paul is saying, just be careful. It is a slippery slope, and you do not want to get to the end of that path. And he says, but as for you, O man of God, flee these things, but pursue righteousness and godliness, fake love, stashfastness, gentleness, fight the good fight of fate,

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, he's talking to Timothy, 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.

In other words, he is reminding Timothy that we're not going to live here forever, that we are passing through this life. So don't treat the temporary things of this life as if they are internal. Get your eyes focused on the eternal, and then it will help you appreciate the temporary things and not be ruled. by them. He who has, 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, eternal and eternal dominion. Amen. And then this is how you know

Paul was a preacher because he says amen, but he's going to keep going. I think it's like, oh yeah, Timothy, and there's one more thing I want to point out to you. Verse 17, he says this, as for the rich in this present age. Here's what we say, Timothy, when you talk to rich people, that's what you need to do. Here's what you need to tell them. And he's going to tell us what I'm going to tell you. Now here's the problem. When we hear that, as for the rich,

almost nobody says, all right, pay attention, family. They're talking to us. Now there's some of you that realize that you're loaded, even compared to American standards. But in the first century, when he writes this, as for the rich, he is talking to us. He is talking to us. Like, if you're watching this on an iPhone or a laptop, you're rich. You're rich.

The majority of the world lives on two billion people live on $2 a day. If you have a car, you're rich. You're one of the richest people on the planet. If you walk into your closet and you match clothes, like you're going to wear this, you have have different belts to match different shoes. That's what rich people do. That the, if you're, if your annual household income, annual household income is like $37,000,

you're in the top 2% of richest people in the entire world. Now, if you were in the top 2% of tallest people in the entire world, you would say, I'm pretty tall. Well, the reality is if you, if you're an average American, then compared to the rest of the world, you're rich. Now, the problem is, is rich is like a feeling, and we don't feel rich, because we spend all our money. So we don't feel rich, but the reality is, the facts are,

99.9% of the people at 1122 were rich. So he's talking to us. So listen, rich people, me too, I'm rich. Our entire staff on our church, rich. So all of us, here we go. As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty. It's number one charge. In other words, you can either, we all live on this continuum of either gratitude or entitlement. And if you are haughty about your wealth,

what you're trying to do is diminish God's role in your wealth and expand your wall. And when you do that, watch out, because pride comes before the fall. And you're like, yeah, but I'm a self-made man, and I worked on this. Oh, really? Did you decide who your parents would be? Did you decide what country you would grow up in? Did you decide the decade in which you were born? Did you give you all of those opportunities? Uh-uh. The first thing that you should do is be grateful to God for every good and perfect gift that comes from above. So number one, don't be haughty. All right? When you're haughty about your wealth, what you do is you look like the teenagers is driving his mom's BMW, BNW, and he thinks he's awesome. Everybody knows that punk is in his mom's car.

Don't be that kind of punk. Charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God. Your riches cannot sustain you, only God can. Should we talk about the stock market? And if your hope is in your investments, then what are you going to do?

You will never be hopeful. You will only be uncertain because your foundation is uncertain. Look, the stock market is going to rise, the stock market's going to fall. We should be investors and take care of our children and their children. He's not saying any of those things are wrong. What he is saying is if you put your hope in the wealth that you want to accrue, you will be a hopeless person because of its uncertainty.

But if you put your hope in God, he never changes. So let me read it again. As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty. Don't think you're awesome. hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. So while the poverty, the prosperity gospel is a lie, the poverty gospel is a lie too. You see, we know, we talk about this all the time, that we are to bring our first and our best to God, that God's given us everything we have and we bring back to him our first and our best.

The Old Testament calls that a tithe. The News Testament says you don't even have to stop at a tithe you ought to keep going and live a radically generous life. And God richly provides us with everything to enjoy. And let me tell you what, so this means when you're giving God your first and best, you don't have to feel guilty about every other thing you buy. God delights in you enjoying stuff, as long as you don't put your hope in that stuff. So when you get money, you should give first to God. You should save some for you and yours. And then, you should enjoy the rest to the glory of God. He says that God has given us, richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

They are to do good. This is what rich people. This is what we're supposed to do with our lives. We're supposed to do good. How can we use these resources to do good in our community and around the world? Now, the thing that's crazy is the more you abide in Christ, the more your heart will change in regards what you enjoy most. We're to do good.

we are to be rich in good works. We are to be generous and ready to share. That's what you're supposed to do. So rich people, don't think it's you. Don't put your hope in money. But instead, use the resources that God has given you to do good things, being generous, ready to share. Thus, here's what happens.

The storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the first, future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. I mean, how many stories do we have to hear to believe that the riches of this world will never satisfy our soul? I mean, read about Rockefeller in the last few years of his life. Read about Carnegie in the last few years of his life. Read about Elvis and how miserable he was the last few years of his life. And we follow a peasant man who had no place to lay his head, although today he is not a peasant. Jesus is a king sitting on the right hand of God the Father, and he has given us everything that we have,

and we should, out of gratitude for him, and in response to his character and nature, first and foremost, enjoy bringing our ties and offerings, our gifts to him, and then understanding that all of it, not just 10%, but all of it is his. All of it is his. and then we should be radically generous people, understanding, figuring out how we can use God's generosity towards us, and we should enjoy it. So I dare you to take a look at the way you have been spending money

and just ask this question, have I been making much of me or am I putting God first in my finances? Not just in my first ties and offerings, but does do my finances do they reveal my heart towards the Lord and for everybody else that he is the one thing that drives everything and if you're not enjoying it then you're not doing it right because we have a good good father who richly provides us with everything to enjoy let's pray father in heaven we know that money is a

sticky, sticky issue. That Jesus implied that money was the number one competitor for our heart. So Lord, I pray that even just through this little bit of time and this devo today, and more importantly, through your words by Paul to Timothy, that you would set us free to honor you with our finances. The way we give it, the way we spend it, the way we save it. And that we would be generous, that we would be rich in good works, And that because of the cross of Jesus Christ, that we might grab hold of that which is eternal life.

We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.