1 Timothy 6 will be our text. We're just going to be looking at three verses there towards the end of that chapter. Paul is drawing to a close his letter to his young apprentice Timothy. 1 Timothy 6. I've talked with you about my disdain for scams. And none of us like it, right? To think that in any way we've been taken So we've become, I know I've become somewhat jaded with little offers and things, or, you know, you've won, you know, the grand prize, and I'm, yeah, right. You know, I am looking for the small print, you know, and trying to sort through that. We know when the person from the bank calls and asks for all of your financial information that you shouldn't give it to them, right? Right. Okay. I'm just making sure everybody else is scam-proof out here today too, okay? You know when you get the email saying, you know, this inheritance, this vast inheritance has gone unclaimed. You know, usually it has a lot of broken English. It's coming from some other country. If you just send us this information, we'll be able to transfer it into your account. You know? Of course, we wouldn't fall for such things, right? We think ourselves quite shrewd. Hopefully we are quite shrewd when it comes to these matters. We wouldn't give way to such unsophisticated scams. But here in 1 Timothy 6, Paul, talking in the financial realm, outlines another far more devastating scam. And I believe it's one that many were falling for in his day. And I believe it's one that the church is very prone to today. That many don't see the scam. And so as we move through this text, by the end you'll see what I'm talking about and what Paul is sort of warning Timothy about and really wanting to warn the church about. Don't fall for the scam. So let's look at 1 Timothy 6 beginning in verse 17. Brief verses. 1 Timothy 6, 17. Hear 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." May God add His blessing to the reading of His Word. So two questions that sort of jump out at me as I've just thought through this text. I think we need to address these two questions before we can really move through and understand. The one question is how does this particular section fit within the context? It seems on the surface a rather rough transition from verse 16 to verse 17. So Paul has given Timothy this great charge in verses 11 through 16, reminding him again as he gets ready to close the letter, this is what I want you to do, Timothy. And then we think, okay, the letter is wrapping up, right? That's his final message to Timothy. Do what I've instructed you to do in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and until the appearing of Jesus Christ. Carry out your task. As for the rich in this present age, where is he going with this, right? I think when we consider chapter 6 more broadly, we can see some of the ways this is being developed. In chapter 6, verses 3-10, he's talked about the false teachers. One of the areas he really zoomed in on was this issue, the heart issue of greed. And he talks about how the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. So he talked about that. And then he tells Timothy in verse 11, you, oh man of God, flee these things. Don't give way to this mindset of greed and just pursuing selfish gain. This is a dangerous path, right? So he's kind of been developing this theme of money, the love of money, the danger of loving money and being fixated on material possessions. Timothy, I want your pattern to be different. Now, as for the rich, as for those who have money, let me give some instructions to them. So when we think about it in the context of chapter 6 here, we can sort of piece together a little bit of what Paul is trying to do. Perhaps even a bit of a caveat here. He warns against the love of money, charges Timothy to adopt a different pattern. But I don't think Paul is saying that money is inherently evil. He clearly is not. So he wants to sort of maybe give an additional perspective before he closes this topic, okay? So that's one question I think we have to ask. We always want to be reading scripture in context, right? We don't want to pull out one verse and kind of make it say what we want it to say. We want to understand the flow of God's text and make sure that we're reading it and interpreting it correctly. The other question that seems to sort of demand an answer is who are the rich? Those who are rich in the present age. Who are the rich? I don't encounter a lot of people who describe themselves that way. Who self-identify as the wealthy. And I have a certain frame of reference myself. I grew up back in the 80's with a certain very wealthy Brit named Robin Leach. who talked about the lifestyles of the rich and the famous. And he took you into the homes of these people who were ridiculously wealthy. And you got to see how people live when they have all of that money and all of that stuff. And we're interested by that, right? So I'm thinking rich, I'm thinking rich. And I would suggest that that might be more adequately described in the Scriptures as those who are exceedingly rich. There is another category, right, beyond rich, and that is those who are ridiculously rich, exceedingly rich, you know, making the list of the top 100 richest people in the world in Time magazine, you know, this sort of thing, these outliers. But I would encourage you that we shouldn't be distancing ourselves from this particular category of the rich. John MacArthur and his commentary suggests that to be rich is to have more than the mere essentials of food, clothing and shelter. To have margin. And I think we have to remind ourselves that we live in the most prosperous country on the face of the planet. Reality is that the vast majority of us have some measure of margin. if we choose to maintain it, that is. Because that's the other challenge, isn't it? Even those who make more spend more, and they adjust their lifestyle accordingly, so that many times people who make more than the average person feel financially strapped and feel a great deal of stress. But when we really break it down to needs and necessities, then we have to acknowledge that for most of us, we have margin. For most of us, we have discretionary income that is above and beyond what is needed to provide for our basic necessities. Who are the rich? I think we have to be convicted by that question as we open this text. So we're gonna look at three particular pieces of financial advice. that are conveyed to the church here. And again, as we come to the end of that, you will see what I'm calling the great scam. The great danger for believers in the church. The first piece of financial advice is this, guard against the inherent dangers of prosperity. Number one, guard against the inherent dangers of prosperity. We don't have Paul sort of vilifying the rich. He doesn't encourage people to sell all that they have, as Jesus had challenged the rich young ruler. Matter of fact, he talks about God having given us what we have for us to enjoy. Okay, so this is not a denigration of the physical world or of material possessions. But it is simply an acknowledgment that when we have margin, when we have more than basic necessities, there are some dangers. And we need to be aware of them. So he highlights two. The first is pride. It is arriving at the conclusion that I have what I have because I am a hard worker. I have what I have because I am somewhat shrewd in my financial dealings. And of course that creates certain lenses by which I view other people, right? That if that person was a harder worker, they wouldn't have some of the financial problems that they're having. Right? This is a danger here. My mind was thinking this week about Joshua chapter 24. And you'll remember children of Israel coming out of Egypt and God establishing them in the promised land. And we have a couple of these texts that describe that particular shift because things were going to change for the people of Israel. They were sort of getting by on daily provision of manna. God was taking care of their needs in the wilderness. But when they entered into the promised land, it was going to change. They were going to have houses and homes and permanent farms and vineyards and all of these things. And Joshua, at that juncture, as they've defeated the enemies and they begin to establish themselves and now prepare to dwell in the land, Joshua reminds them of how they've gotten to where they are. And he talks about God's provision and how God defeated Egypt and Pharaoh's armies and brought them through the Red Sea and just kind of traces out their story. And then he even gets to how the enemies were defeated within the land of Canaan. You went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand, and I sent the hornet before you." There's some imagery. I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you. The two kings of the Amorites, it was not by your sword or by your bow. I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant. And Israel was warned in that whole approach to entering the land that they would not come to think that they accomplished all this by themselves. God is the one who went before them. He's the one that made a way for them. He's the one that defeated their enemies. He's the one that prospered them and positioned them in the land. So I'm assuming you could think about the money that you have or the possessions that you have and you could somehow trace it to your own hard work. Or maybe some very intentional decisions that you made along the way that had good results. But remember that it was God who gave you a mind to think. It was God who gave you health to be able to work. It was God who allowed you to be able to be born not a slave, to be born free. It was God who allowed you to be uniquely positioned in a country where there was not war and complete devastation of natural resources. All of these things are attributed to God. It is God, according to 1 Timothy 6, it is God who has richly provided you with everything to enjoy. And so pride is certainly something that we need to be aware of. Also, misplaced confidence. Notice again verse 17, "...as for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty or proud, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches. So here would be the other danger, not just that I would take a posture of pride and I'd forget that it's God who's given me this and I'd forget not to exalt myself over someone else, but there's also a tendency that just within myself, I could begin to look to these things for my security. This is my anchor here. I have these things. I have these possessions. I have this much money in the bank account. Paul wants to remind Timothy of the uncertainty of riches. This made me think of Proverbs 23. We have this text here. Proverbs 23 verses 4 and 5. Do not wear yourself out to get rich. Have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches and they are gone. For they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle. So we know that one health crisis could devastate a person's life savings. We know that the loss of a job or the inability to work completely reshape and recast what you thought was so secure. So we are not to place our confidence in what we have, but rather place our confidence in God. That's a very real danger for us. I also thought here of Matthew 19, where Jesus talks to the rich young ruler. And he says here, again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. This is pretty drastic terminology. It was a really small, narrow pedestrian gate that would allow in foot traffic into most cities in the ancient world. And then, of course, you had the larger gate where wagons could come through. They're saying it's easier for a camel to go through the little human-sized gate than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. I think this is the issue right here, is misplaced confidence. That a rich person doesn't feel like they need anything. They don't humble themselves before God. They don't come as beggars Seeking God's grace the Bible says blessed are the poor in spirit blessed are the beggarly For theirs is the kingdom of heaven That's a prerequisite To coming to God is that you first have to recognize your abject poverty that you have nothing to bring him and That's a hang-up Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress talks about going through the narrow gate where you have to shimmy through and you have to leave everything else behind before you can get on the path to the celestial city, to the city of God. You have to surrender everything. And that is the catch for a person who has wealth. and what makes it so difficult for them to respond. So we have to understand these dangers, inherent dangers. Nothing wrong inherently with wealth, with possessions, with having more than enough. But it does come with some inherent dangers. Joseph Tisane was a Romanian believer who was nearly martyred during Ceausescu's purge back in the 1980s. He made a very profound statement in the wake of his experiences. He said 90% of Christians pass the test of adversity, while 90% of Christians fail the test of prosperity. We're inclined to think, you know, I wonder how I would respond if someone were to threaten my life, right, because of my faith. Happening all over the world. Isis and all these different things how would I respond it's a sobering question and a good question for us to ask we ought to think about seriousness of our faith, but We have to ask ourselves our question the question of are we are we passing the test of prosperity? Are we maintaining our faith? When everything is good, perhaps that's the bigger test. I Guard against the inherent dangers of prosperity. Number two. Second piece of sound financial advice. Use money and possessions for the purpose for which they were intended. Use money and possessions for the purpose for which they were intended. So Paul says be aware of this, be careful of this. And then into verse 18. Positively speaking They are to do good To be rich in good works to be generous and ready to share So he wants to understand how these resources are to be stewarded And I've paraphrased them like this number one act for the good of others act for the good of others text just simply says do good and It's a unique word. It's only used twice in all of Scripture. The other count is in the book of Acts, and it refers to God who has sent rain, caused the crops to grow. He has been good to us. He's poured out His resources. He has been benevolent. There's a great scene in the Chronicles of Narnia, where the Pavensi children are talking about Aslan, you know, the Christ figure. And the youngest is a little bit concerned about all these descriptions of a great lion and asks, you know, is he safe? And the response was, whoever said anything about safe, Aslan is not safe, but he is good. So God is all powerful. God is all wise. But the thing that makes those attributes encouraging to us is the fact that God is good. He is inclined toward us. He loves us. And that ought to characterize us as well. We ought to be inclined towards others. We ought to be acting for the good of others. So do good or act for the good of others. Amass acts of extravagant beauty. Very interesting phrase here. Do good and be rich in good works. You want to be wealthy? You want to accumulate? Then accumulate good works. And here's Paul's word, kolos, which he uses over and over in this letter, which means beauty, nobility, excellence, over the top. We should be collecting incidences of beauty. Jim Bartels is a pastor at Berean Baptist Church, one of our sister churches here in town. I've gotten to know Jim over the last few years. And I remember he was not well. He wasn't in the office, and I wasn't getting some real clear answers. I was trying to get ahold of him, and finally ended up talking to him afterwards. He had befriended an African-American man in the context of church ministry there. They're in a diverse demographic there at Berean. And this man had come to Christ, and Jim had a role in discipling this guy, and he needed a kidney. And Jim was a match. And so Jim not only contributes to this guy's spiritual life and leads him to Christ, but he gives him his kidney. He had a couple of months off from work as he recovers and in the process of recuperation. But what a tremendous, outstanding, beautiful act of love and compassion. That ought to be what we are being rich in. Those kinds of things. Looking for opportunities to do extravagant acts of beauty. And then go over and above in sharing with others. The text says, be generous and ready to share. Be liberal. Don't be stingy. And ready to share. We get our word for fellowship from this word. To have in common. So there's something that happens when we give that does something to relationships. We enter into people's plight. There becomes a solidarity. I've been on the receiving end of some of those gifts. along the way. And boy, the way that we find ourselves just drawn into relationship with people who've been generous to us and have entered into some of the darkest moments of life with us. And you've been recipients of some of those things too. And you know what happens when that takes place. And so He says to enter into, to share with those who are in need, to enter into their plight. So use money and possessions for the purpose for which they were intended. It was 2010 when a large-scale earthquake hit Haiti, already an impoverished nation, and this devastated not only the economy, but the lives of the Haitians and people. There's an outpouring of generosity. Red Cross came under some significant critique during that time it was nearly 500 million given in aid relief and Red Cross could not identify or give account for the allocation of those funds President of the country said 500 million goes a long way in Haiti Where did it go? Red Cross at the time put out a little pie chart. This is kind of the percentage of allocations of where we put our money, but no detail. And it kind of makes us mad the more the story develops. You know, I find my blood pressure kind of rising. You know, people give and sacrifice to help people specifically. And then where's the money going? I think we have to ask ourselves if we have not, to some degree, been guilty of misappropriation of funds. God has given us funds to help care for people in need. Where's the money gone, right? We have to think through that issue. It's a very important issue. Paul wants to drive this home to Timothy, what the use of those funds is for, how they should be used. Finally, number three, acquire what is real and enduring. The final piece of financial advice as you look to utilize your money, to invest your money, think in terms of what is real and enduring. This text, very interesting, does appeal to what might be called a treasure mentality. Paul doesn't say, you know, just be selfless, give all your money away. Paul says here very specifically we are to store up treasures for ourselves. This isn't the only time this language is used, is it? Jesus used the same terminology. Not lay up treasure where moth and rust can corrupt, right? Lay up treasures in heaven. So He appeals to this natural desire for us to plan and to set aside and to invest. The issue here is where are we investing? Where are we making that treasure hoard as it were? And he points them to the future. He says here, "...so that they may take hold of that which is truly life." That's good investment terminology. To acquire. That's why I use the word acquire. To take hold of. To get. To grasp. To receive. that which is truly life. I mentioned before that there's a scam here that Paul's uncovering. And here it is, okay? So, if you get nothing else, check in here for a moment, alright? They may take hold of or acquire that which is truly life. So Paul's used this terminology one other time in the letter, and that's in relationship to widows in 1 Timothy 5. He talked about those who are truly widows. Church had a particular responsibility to care for those who were truly widows. widows. In other words, there are some widows whose husbands have died, but they have children to care for them. They have other family that are able to care for them. But the church was to have particular concern for those who had no one to care for them, who were truly left all alone. They were truly widows. Now he uses this terminology to talk about true or real life. We should be investing and laying up treasure for the life that is truly life or for real, genuine life. He's talked about the present age. Those who are rich in the present age. And now he's talking about laying up treasure for the future, or as is often described, the age to come. I don't think we're often real excited about laying up treasure in heaven. I think there's various reasons for that. I think sometimes we've conceived of the eternal state very poorly. You know, the earth is like... my life right now is like textured. I mean, there's flavor and there's color and there's smells and there's all these different... there's cold and there's hot and there's the mountains and the valleys. And heaven is sort of... you know, it's sort of bland. It's sort of... I can't really touch it, right? I mean, how long can you play a harp, you know, and sit on a cloud? So we've cheapened our view of what that age to come is going to be. Paul says, let's skip ahead here to the Philippians 1 passage, Josiah. I think we have that one here, don't we? For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. Paul had a robust view of the life to come. And I think we've lost that. He says that to be with Christ is far better. Let me just remind you again of the contrast that's being put out here. It is not a contrast between earth and heaven. It is a contrast between this age and the age to come. The Bible describes the creation of the new heavens and the new earth, Revelation 21 and 22, where sickness and death are put away. The curse is extracted out of creation, all of the brokenness of creation. And God establishes His presence among us. Our home, the home of righteousness, is the new heavens and the new earth, according to Peter. So heaven has an important place It's where we go when we die. But when our bodies are raised on that great day in the resurrection of the dead, and we receive glorified bodies that are no longer subject to death and disease and aging, then ultimately we will be placed on the new heavens and the new earth. We will live a physical existence. And God will presence Himself among us in an amazing way. experience fellowship with us on that new earth. This is real life. This is true life. This is life as it was meant to be lived. And the problem comes when we invest all of our resources in this life and we ignore The real life. The life to come. The true life. We think we're planning ahead because we're planning for 30 years down the road. We're planning for retirement. But we've actually been very short-sighted in our planning. We've bought into the cultural notion that we're supposed to get everything we can out of those retirement years, and that's it. Put everything there. That's a lie. That's a scam. God gives us the opportunity to lay aside and to store up treasure for the life to come. So we ought to, with our material possessions, acquire what is real and enduring. You wouldn't be real interested in buying swampland in Florida. And I hope you're not interested in pouring all of your money into something that won't last. But you will instead look to acquire what is real and enduring.