We Trust Part 1 Series: In God We Trust 1 Timothy 6:17-19 November 18, 2018 There s a story about a small church located in a farming community. The pastor would call on every member of the congregation as part of the annual pledge campaign. He eventually made it to Farmer Brown, who was known in the community to be very frugal with his finances. The pastor asked Farmer Brown. If you had ten brand-new tractors, would you be willing to give one of them to the church? Surely pastor if I had ten brand-new tractors, I would gladly sell one and give the money to the church. Farmer Brown, if you inherited $2 million, would you give a tenth to the church? O Pastor I would surely give a tenth to the church. The pastor went on. Now Farmer Brown, if you had ten pigs. Just then Farmer Brown interrupted, You just wait a minute there pastor, you know darn well I ve got ten pigs. Giving and finances can be a great challenge for all of us. Or, perhaps I should say, MOST of us. One guy said: I never worry about money. I have enough to last me the rest of my life unless I buy something. Once, there was a wife who had been working over next year s budget, poring over figures. She came out to her husband, who was sitting in the family room watching TV, and said, Well I ve worked out the budget, now you work out a raise. He decided he would have a go at the budget, so he worked on it the next night. He came into the kitchen and told her, Well, I ve worked it out, but I need a little help. I ve figured what we ll need for food, clothing, and shelter. We have a choice of any two. We are continuing our series called In God We Trust. It is on our money. Since 1957, it has been there. During our series, we are learning what it truly means to say, In God We Trust and what it says about us to not only believe it, but practice it. So, turn to page 6. There, you will see the key notes of each of the last 2 messages. Today, we continue with We Trust Part 1: What does the Act of Giving say about Our Obedience? The closing verses of 1 Timothy contain some of the greatest teaching in the Bible on the use of money and possessions. In verse 10, we have that famous verse: For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. 1 Paul addresses those wanting to be rich and those who actually are. Of course, none of us are wealthy, so we can skip over this section. Or can we? Wealth is relative. President Trump wouldn t see me as wealthy, but 90% of the world s population would, so Paul is speaking to us. I d like to look at 1 Timothy 6:17-19: Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in 1 1 Timothy 6:10 (NLT2) 1
good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life. 2 Since all that we have actually belongs to God, we are responsible to manage what He has entrusted to us. How are we to handle and use the wealth God has given us? Paul has 3 guidelines for us. First, Be Humble. Verse 17 states: Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud 3 Actually, Paul says, keep instructing, not merely teach and the matter is ended. Paul knew that materialism is so deceitful that we must constantly be warned about it. It is so easy to be caught up in the materialism of this age. Awhile back, some hoodlums broke into a Los Angeles department store. They didn t steal or destroy anything; they just had a wonderful time switching price tags. The next morning, customers were puzzled and delighted to find fur coats selling for $5. Cold cream was priced at $150, a silver service for $1.75, and a pair of lady s hose for $390. There were umbrellas for $1,000 and diamond rings for $2. Has this happened in our lives? Has materialism crept in and switched the price tags? Are the things of today of more value to us than the things of eternity? We need this constant reminder against materialism. Possession of wealth ought to humble a person and motivate them to praise and glorify God. If a person becomes conceited because of their wealth, they are clearly using a false standard of measurement. A lot of people are proud of something about which there is really no glory. Usually the things that we are proud of are things about which we had nothing to do. Someone has said that pride is usually pride of race, or pride of face, or pride of place, or pride of lace. Paul tells us that our pride is misplaced. The only pride that we should have is pride of grace: the marvelous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The next time that you are tempted to be proud, ask yourself the question, Proud about what? Since God is the one who gives us the power to produce wealth, there is no basis for pride. The second thing we are to do is to Trust In God Not In Gold. The second half of verse 17 reads: Teach those not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God 4 Jesus told a parable about a rich farmer who thought he had everything, and he warned: Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own. 5 Yet, we so often put our trust in our possessions, and you can tell it by how devastated we are when those possessions are wrenched from our grip. Do you set your hope on God or on your possessions? 2 1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NLT2) 3 1 Timothy 6:17a (NLT2) 4 1 Timothy 6:17 (NLT2) 5 Luke 12:15 (NLT2) 2
Why not trust in riches? Because they are so uncertain. Solomon, who had plenty of experience with wealth, said: In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle. 6 Life itself is uncertain. Riches are uncertain because they constantly change in value with the shifting circumstances of life. Jesus said: Don t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 7 Riches may be lost; they may be stolen, destroyed by fire, devastated by bank failure, business failure, a market crash, or simply eaten up by inflation. We can t afford to trust anything but God. He alone never changes. Oswald Chambers said this: Faith is a tremendously active principle which always puts Jesus Christ first. Faith says, Lord, Thou hast said so and so. It looks mad, but I am going to venture on Thy word. 8 Thirdly, Paul tells us to Enjoy What God Gives Us. He tells us our: trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 9 God is rich. The Bible says that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. All the gold and all the silver is Mine, declares the Lord. 10 But not only is God rich He gives to us according to His riches. Paul reminds us: And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 11 Legend has it that a certain country, in search of a king, sent two ambassadors to choose between two infant twins. They found the little fellows asleep, and they noted that one lay with his little fists tightly clenched, while the other had his hands wide open. It was the latter that was chosen. And so great was his generosity that he became known in his country s annals as The King with the Open Hand. We have a God with an open hand, and what God gives us, He wants us to enjoy. Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. 12 God wants us to enjoy life, not merely exist. Physical pleasure is not in itself sinful when sought within the structure of God s will and pursued for His glory. One of the most deceptive lies in Satan s arsenal is that God calls us away from pleasure to asceticism. Some Christians look like they were baptized in lemon juice. Did you hear about the church ladies sewing circle that were playing a game to see who could look the saddest, the meanest, and the ugliest? The lady that won wasn t even playing! The Christian life is to be a life of joy and enjoyment. The teachings of the Bible are often falsely construed as joy-killing and pleasure-stifling precepts, designed to make us sad and somber. But the Bible has much to say about happiness, joy, and a 6 Proverbs 23:5 (NLT2) 7 Matthew 6:19 (NLT2) 8 Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, October 30. 9 1 Timothy 6:17 (NLT2) 10 Psalm 50:10; Haggai 2:8 11 2 Corinthians 9:8 (NLT2) 12 John 10:10 3
sense of humor. The only things God forbids of us are those things that, if pursued, would ultimately diminish our joy. So, how do we employ what God has given us? What do we do with it in obedience? First, we are to be Rich In Good Works. Paul tells us in verse 18: Tell them to use their money to do good. 13 Did you know that 80% of all the money used for ministry, for evangelism, for missions, comes from the American middle class! We are the ones God is counting on. It has been said that if we could reduce the world to a global village of one hundred people here s how it would shake out: 70 would be unable to read, 1 would have a college education, 50 would be suffering from malnutrition, 80 would live in housing unfit for human habitation, and 6 would control half of the money of the entire village. If those of us among the 6 that are Christians are going to take Jesus seriously, how much longer can we justify controlling, spending, and hoarding half of the resources intended for all 100 of us? If we are not tithing, giving freewill offerings, or failing to meet the needs of others when we see them, then consciously and intentionally, we need to spend less on ourselves and deliver more help to the poor and more evangelists to the over 3 billion people who have not yet heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. The wealth we possess imposes a heavy responsibility, not only in giving, but also in serving. We are also to be Generous And Ready To Share. Throughout its pages, the Bible teaches proportionate giving, that is giving a generous portion or percentage of your income. The base percentage is the tithe, 10% of our income. We need to give proportionately. The percent we give stays the same, but the amount we give fluctuates with our income. I read a rather shocking report awhile back. If every church member in America lost their job and went on welfare or unemployment, and then gave a tithe of their government check, giving in U.S. churches would rise by 30%! That really puts American Christians to shame! Many of us are simply disobedient on this point and not generous. We may not be thinking. It might be a fruitful exercise to take the amount you gave last year and divide it by your total income to see what proportion you are sharing. A pastor was once visiting his parents. The family went to church, and he noticed his dad put $20 in the offering. At Sunday dinner, he asked him if that s what he usually gave. He said, Yes, that he d been putting a twenty in the offering every week for as long as he could remember, even when the pastor was a kid. Yet his income during those years had nearly tripled. When the pastor mentioned that, and showed him God s commands to give proportionately, the father said he d never really stopped to think about it, and he made the appropriate changes the very next Sunday! 13 1 Timothy 6:18a (NLT2) 4
GRANDPA HUDSON. A QUARTER TO EACH GRANDSON. THAT $6.17 TODAY. UNFORTUNATELY, THERE ARE PEOPLE IN CHURCHES TODAY THAT ARE NOT GIVING EVEN A GRANDCHILD S OFFERING. How much are you giving to the church today? Is it the same as you have always been giving even though your income has changed? Maybe it s time to see what you should be giving. The third thing we are to do to employ what God has given us is to Lay Up Treasure In Heaven. We read in verse 19: By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future 14 Jesus said in Matthew 6: Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. 15 Termites can never undermine heavenly treasures, for they rest on the Rock of Ages. Fire cannot destroy it. Floods cannot wash it away. No locks or bolts will ever be placed upon its doors. It will be there ready for you and me to enter in and abide in peace eternally, without fear of ever being rejected. That s the assurance God wants each of us to have. Are you laying up treasure in heaven and building for eternity? Finally, we employ what God has given us when we Take Hold Of True Life. At the end of verse 19, Paul says that if we do all this, we may experience life. 16 Life with a capital L, that which is really life. The Apostle John wrote: And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God s Son does not have life. 17 How often are the rich fooled as they enjoy all the temporal pleasures worldly wealth brings and then remark: Ah, this is the life. But Paul says: This is not life at all. Real life is being alive to God and enjoying the peace and contentment of eternal life in relationship with Him. Riches can lure one into a make-believe world of shallow and temporary pleasure! The Bible tells us not that wealth is a sin, but that it is a very great responsibility! Peter says, make every effort to respond to God s promises 18 Our giving tells us about our obedience and if we believe the phrase, In God We Trust. 14 1 Timothy 6:19 (NLT2) 15 Matthew 6:20-21 (NLT2) 16 1 Timothy 6:19 (NLT2) 17 1 John 5:11-12 (NLT2) 18 2 Peter 1:5 (NLT2) 5