9/29/24 1 Timothy 6:6-19 “Whose Money Is This?”

26 Sep 9/29/24 1 Timothy 6:6-19 “Whose Money Is This?”

9/29/24   1 Timothy 6:6-19    “Whose Money Is This?”

We are a people of schedules; patterns and we get very comfortable in the way we do things.  For the most part we don’t like change.  I wish I could shake us up a little and help us to make one particular change.  Just as we have seasons of the year like fall, winter, spring and summer, we have seasons in our church.  We are just beginning to go into our season of starting the fall programs like Sunday, school, confirmation and new Bible studies.  But there is one season that we don’t give a lot of thought to and that is the season of our giving.  Just about every church in the country is talking about stewardship at this time of year.  Personally, I think stewardship is a word that has been make up to we don’t have to say, ‘Please give to the church!’  That sounds a little too much like begging!  I once served two churches where they did not have so-called stewardship campaigns like this.  So, one year I decided that we should have a money drive of sorts.  The churches came to me and said, “That is a very fine idea for raising money and if we ever need an idea for raising money, we will be sure to consider this one as it is so good.”  I was a little shocked.  What a wonderful way of saying ‘no’ to me.  I have been impressed by this for years now.  So, they never did have any stewardship campaigns.  When they needed money, they would just ask for it and it would come.  However, that did not keep me from talking about it.  This is because money is one of the most talked about subjects in the Bible.  It is very Scriptural so I will keep talking about it.  Paul is talking about it in our reading today as he writes to Timothy.  He has been giving Timothy advice on being a pastor.  Let’s see if we can learn a little on how to handle our money.

There are thousands of stories about money and these two come from Gene Barron.  It seems that the wife was working on the family budget when she said to her husband, “I’ve worked out the budget.  Now you work out a raise.”  The next night the husband said, “I’ve worked it out but I need a little help.  I figure we need food, clothing and shelter.  We have a choice of any two.”  Or how about this one?  A few years ago, some hoodlums broke into a Los Angeles department store.  They didn’t steal anything or destroy anything.  They just had some fun as they switched price tags.  The next morning, customers were surprised that fur coats were $5, cold cream was $150, a silver set for $1.75, an umbrella for $1000, and diamond rings for $2.  If we seriously look at the materialism in our lives, I think we will find many places where we have the wrong price tag.  Think about that!

The very first thing Paul tells us today is that godliness with contentment is a great gain.  How many people here today can say they are content?  Don’t feel bad if you aren’t.  It is a hard place to achieve.  However, it is an impossible place without Jesus.  You might be thinking about now that I am the pastor so I have to say things like this.  But you should all know by now that I mean every word of this.

Paul tells us that we came into this world without anything and we will leave this world without anything.  We all know that this is the way it is and there is no changing it.  Then why don’t we live our lives like we believe in this?  For the most part, our society and maybe the whole world lives like the almighty dollar is the most important thing in the universe.  We will work and work and work to get an extra dollar even when we know we cannot take it with us.  We will take chances that are unbelievable just to get a little bit ahead.  If there is a false god in this world that most people follow, it is money!

Now please, don’t get me wrong here.  We need money.  We need ways to make money.  We have to be able to pay the rent, buy food, clothing and shelter.  Our system of living, our government, our society would not function without money.  There is no doubt that we need money or something that is equivalent.  But the trouble begins when we make money into our false god.  Anything that is a false god is serious trouble.

What Paul is really trying to tell us here in the opening is to be humble!  I just talked about this a couple of weeks ago.  Humbleness is the beginning of happiness.  When Jesus came to be with us, He didn’t come as a big shot king or president.  He came to serve us who are the lowest of lowly creatures.  This is to be our mindset also.  You will always feel better when you are serving others.

One of the big misconceptions that we have about all of this is that we own something.  We work hard and we buy this and we buy that but we will never really own it.  If you think that you do own it, then I would like to see how you take it with you after you die.  Please understand that God owns everything, everywhere, period!  That is a fact of life.  We own nothing.  This thought should make you very humble.  It is hard to be proud if you don’t own anything.  What God does in His wonderful love for us is that He allows us to use what He has.  If you think about it, that is pretty generous.  We can use it all and all He asks for in return is that you give up 10%, a tithe.  I think that is pretty cheap rent.  I would suggest to those who give less than 10%, a tithe, that you get on your knees and talk to God about this.  I won’t tell you what to do but God might have a couple of suggestions.

He gave me one many years ago and I will pass it on to you today.  I will give you this very neat formula for giving and it really works.  For example, if you are giving 1% or less of your income, you need a way to get this up to 10% in a fashion that won’t hurt.  I suggest that starting now, you give 2% for a year or double what you are giving.  Then 4% for a year, then 8% and then 10% or basically double it every year until you get to 10%.  If you do this at a gradual rate, pretty soon you will not even notice the increase.  It becomes part of your character, part of who you are; a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.  I have been tithing for over 30 years.  I think that most of the blessings I have are because I love Jesus and I try to do what He tells me to do.  He told me to tithe in a conversation like the one I just asked you to have with Him.  He told me to tithe and I have so many blessings that are a direct result of that.  I dare you to try it and find happiness and contentment through tithing.

This is why Paul is telling us that godliness with contentment is a great gain.  It was as hard then as it is now to get this money first mentality out of our minds.  This is why we gradually increase our giving.  We not only have to put our old life behind us when we come to know Jesus, but we have to put our old way of doing things behind us.  It is not good enough in our new lives to put a dollar in the collection plate and call it good enough.  Jesus wants the very best for and from you and that begins with tithing.  And this is also done with a humble attitude.  I you have food, clothing and a place to rest, you should be content.  That is all you need.  Let God take care of all the rest.

You need to learn to trust in God and not in gold.  When was the last time you prayed to your money god and it gave you directions on how to do something?  Let me help you with the answer.  It did not happen.  Those who say money talks, don’t know what they are talking about.  God talks!  Money does nothing.  However, God may tell you how to use your money but the money does not talk.

God not only talks but He also provides your money.  He also provides your place where you live, the clothes your wear and the food you eat.  God has thought of everything.  All you have to do is trust Him in everything.  Sometimes you will forget and make mistakes.  That is ok.  Remember the best part of the love of God is that He forgives you.  He has cleared your sin debt so that you can start new.  I would like to see your beloved dollar god do anything similar or close to this.  There is no forgiveness with a money god!

Just a little sidebar here, I would like to comment on verse 10, the most misquoted verse in the Bible.  It does not tell us that money is the root of all evil!  I have read books that have quoted this misquote and it has made me wonder what else in their book is false.  Paul tells us that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, not the root and not money.  Money is not evil but the love of money can be.  There are many other kinds of evil.  Paul is saying that it is our worship of money that causes problems.

But I digress, so let’s move ahead.  We are to be humble and trust God in all we do.  Then we have permission to enjoy what God has given us.  I talk to people all the time who tell me that they cannot follow Jesus because there are too many rules.  They don’t know what to do so they just don’t follow or they follow something false like money.  You know what I found when I first started following Jesus?  I found just the opposite.  I found that there really are no rules.  For the first time in my life, I was truly free.  I was free to do anything I ever wanted.  Knowing Jesus is the most freeing thing that you can ever do.  There are not rules except to love Jesus.

What happens is that people think we are following a bunch of rules because they don’t understand.  When we come to Jesus, we are changed.  We no longer want to hang out with the boys or the girls all the time.  We don’t want to do the bad things that are all around us because we only want to please God.  This is because He has helped you so much and will continue to do so if you just follow Him.  I follow God because He makes my life worthwhile.

Most people, who don’t know Jesus, don’t feel worthwhile.  That is why they never have enough.  Have you ever seen a millionaire who is satisfied with just a million?  No!  They will always try to get more and more.  It is like that with everything.  Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are always looking for more money.  Championship players and teams are always looking for more championships.  They want more.  One of the emptiest feelings you can have is to wake up after winning a championship in anything, only to find you have one question: “What’s next?”

God doesn’t want this emptiness.  If you work for Him, He will provide you with satisfaction that you will find at no other place.  If you are part of His flock, He will give and give and give to you.  You will find satisfaction in doing His work, using His resources, and proclaiming His word.  He wants you to use everything that He has given you so that you may have a better life.  But it is your choice.  There are no rules, just your choices.

The last piece to this puzzle is that we are to use the things He has given us in a way that is pleasing to Him.  We have been talking a little about this all along.  If you are given extra health, you should be looking after or out for those who don’t have health.  If you are given extra money, give some away.  Learning to give away money, or any of the blessings you get from Jesus, is a very positive thing for you to do.  It means that you are finally getting it as far as knowing Jesus is concerned.

One of the things I would like to see in churches in the area or everywhere is a program where we buy our coffee from a third world producer.  I might be a little bit more expensive but it is nothing compared to paying $5 for a cup of Joe from Starbucks or Caribou.  This way you would be helping some poor coffee grower in another part of the world to simply exist.  Or maybe you could find a catalogue that sells jewelry from third world countries.  There are many things you could do to help out our neighbors who have so little.  By doing some of these things, you would be doing things with your money that is pleasing to God.

Once again, I use an illustration from Gene Barron.  He said that if we lived in a global village of 100 people, this is what we would have.  70 would be unable to read.  One would have a college education.  50 would be suffering from malnutrition.  8 would live in housing unfit for human habitation.  6 would control half the money of the entire village.  My friends and neighbors in Jesus Christ, no matter how you look at it, no matter how poor you think you are, you are among the very richest people of the world.  Compared to other parts of the world, we are all very, very rich.

We need to get a different mindset on our giving.  Many of us think only of giving to the church which is wrong thinking.  We need more and more mission projects like Christmas shoe boxes, maybe coffee, maybe gifts.  We need to be the outreach for the poor in our community.  There are people who need jobs.  They need food and some may even need shelter.  You know these people!  Look for them and find them.  I don’t think that your church would ever turn down a good local mission project.  To be right thinking is that you are not giving to the church but you are giving back to Jesus what is already His.

Think about these things as you go about your week.  Think about how you can work better for Jesus Christ.  When you start to do some of these things, you will find blessings that you never thought possible.  That is because you will be following Jesus and His Word.  He wants us to do these things so that you can have a better life, a great life and maybe someone else can too.  Jesus loves you and He is always looking out for your interests.  Follow Him and do what He tells you.  You will never regret a life with Jesus.  Praise the Lord! Let’s pray