Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Timothy 6:17-19

A Charge to the Rich

 

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.[1]

Once there was a street vendor who sold hot dogs—the best hot dogs in town.

Because he was hard of hearing, he didn't have a radio; because he had trouble with his eyes, he didn't read a newspaper or watch much television.

But he sold delicious hot dogs.

He started with a few signs on the highway advertising his hot dogs.

Every day he was at his favourite corner crying, “Hot dogs; get your hot dogs here!”

Soon the word was out about his great hot dogs.

He increased his meat and bun orders.

He bought a bigger grill.

And he sold lots of hot dogs.

One day his son was home from university and decided to help out.

He said, “Dad, haven't you been listening to the radio?

Haven't you been reading the newspapers?

These are tough times.

There's a recession on.

The stock market is collapsing.

The dollar is falling.

Nobody's buying hot dogs any more.”

The father thought to himself: “My son's been to university; he reads the newspapers and listens to the radio, so he ought to know.”

So, the hot dog vendor cut back his meat and bun orders, took down his few highway signs, and no longer went out with his hot dog cart.

His sales fell overnight.

“You're right, son” the depressed hot dog vendor said.

“I had no idea times were so hard.

We are certainly in the middle of a big recession.”

Qoheleth, the Preacher, has cautioned:

 

he who observes the wind will not sow,

and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

[*Ecclesiastes 11:4*]

 

If we try to time our service to when it is convenient or when the time is propitious, we are living for the moment and we have ceased living in the light of eternity.

Churches that wait until the time is “right” to evangelise will never grow or advance the cause of Christ.

Christians that wait until they are “ready” to witness to lost friends and family members will never bring them to faith.

Likewise, if we wait until we have enough money to support the cause of Christ, we will never invest in His glorious cause and the church will become stagnant and grow senescent.

We must not sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the temporary.

I am not pleading for us to become ecclesiastical Pollyanna’s with a perpetually rosy outlook, but I am warning against becoming so focused on the moment that we miss the future.

In the text, Paul instructs Timothy to charge rich Christians to soberly assess what they have and who they are.

Modern Christians increasingly attempt to find their identity in what is possessed, instead of discovering worth in who they are in Christ Jesus.

Regardless of what we profess, what we value is evident through our investment.

The Dangers Associated with Wealth — Charge [rich Christians] not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches.

The Apostle first addressed those who do not have wealth, but long for it.

He cautioned them not to let their desire for wealth rule them [*1 Timothy 6:9*].

Now, he focuses attention on those who actually possessed wealth.

Wealth is a relative term, and we in our contemporary western society would certainly qualify as rich in comparison to the Ephesians whom Timothy was then serving.

Two grave dangers are specifically identified for those who have wealth—becoming haughty, and setting their hopes on riches.

The two dangers merit a closer look, especially since we are not immune to the dangers presented in this apostolic admonition.

Wealth tempts us to become arrogant.

The Greek term translated into English by the phrase, to be haughty, could easily be translated by the phrase, “don’t regard yourself as better than another.”[2]

The arrogance in view is that which deceives us into thinking that worth is attached to what we have.

When we fall into this trap, we begin to look down on others.

When we are haughty, we justify our attitude through imagining that we deserve what we have and that we perhaps have a special standing in the eyes of God.

This dark, dangerous attitude leads the people of God to segregate fellow Christians, categorising one another and assigning worth according to an artificial standard of our own making instead of accepting one another because of what Christ has done for us.

Instead of rejoicing in the salvation of fellow believers, we isolate one another in order to ensure that we associate with the right people, worthy of our presence.

Soon, we fall under the condemnation James pronounced.

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 stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts [*James 2:1-4*]?

The Puritan Cotton Mather, alarmed by the trend toward materialism in New England society, made this statement in his famous book Magnalia Christi Americana: “Religion begat prosperity and the daughter devoured the mother.”[3]

Mather was noting a common effect of Christianity.

Genuine conversion to Christ changes people’s lives.

Bad habits are set aside when people are born from above, and they become better workers and better managers of what they possess as they live godly lives.

Tragically, in many instances, the new prosperity and material wealth devour the very Christianity that gave them wealth, especially in the second and third generations!

This ubiquitous tendency is the basis for a warning God issued through Moses.

Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.

Beware lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.”

You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day [*Deuteronomy 8:11-18*].

Ezekiel exposes the downfall of the Wicked One, condemning through censuring the Prince of Tyre.

Ezekiel states, your heart has become proud in your wealth [*Ezekiel** 28:5b*].

It is significant that the Prince of Tyre was corrupted through his wealth.

He trusted in what he had, instead of trusting in the One who gives all things richly to mankind.

He found worth in what he had, instead of finding worth in who he was.

Consequently, he earned divine condemnation, thus serving as a picture of the corruption of Lucifer that led to his fall as the Guardian Cherub.

The other danger to us who have wealth is that we begin to trust in our wealth.

Instead of rejoicing in the Giver, we begin to rejoice in the gift.

We begin to trust what we have, instead of trusting Him who gives richly to all mankind.

Perhaps you will recall a parable Jesus told about a rich fool.

The story is related in *Luke 12:13-21*.

Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’

And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’

But God said to him, ‘Fool!

This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’

So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

Money is not evil; money is only a tool.

However, as is true of any tool, money can be misused with disastrous results.

Not only can we hurt others through misusing wealth, but we can destroy our own souls when we imagine that we deserve what we have or believe that our worth is defined by what we possess.

I am compelled to point out the obvious and caution against overreaction.

Paul does not direct the rich to divest themselves of their riches.

God does not condemn riches; He warns against finding one’s worth in riches, or in depending upon wealth.

Undoubtedly, materialism—the acquisition of things as the greatest good—is condemned in the Word of God.

However, we are not to exchange materialism for asceticism.

It is one thing to associate with the poor or adopt a simple lifestyle because we seek to identify with the impoverished in their poverty; it is quite another thing to imagine that we honour God solely because we happen to adopt a simple lifestyle.

We honour God through accepting what He gives into our hands, rejoicing in His goodness and wisely employing whatever He has entrusted to our oversight.

The two dangers to which the rich are exposed are a false pride and a false security.

We must guard against looking down on those who have less than we do; and we must watch out that we do not begin to trust in the gift instead of the Giver.

Let me turn this cautionary note to a positive index to assist in building us to the glory of God.

Be humble.

If we become proud because of what we possess, we understand neither wealth nor our own hearts.

We are not owners; we are administrators—stewards.