Being Rich in What Matters Most

I know for many of us, it's a fair while ago, but do you remember being a kid?

I'm sure, I know we all do.

And as a kid with a kid's perspective, what did rich look like?

Who was rich when you were a kid?

I immediately think of Gilligan's Island.

Gilligan's Island, and a couple of people, five or six people stuck on a deserted island, but there was one man who was a millionaire.

Do you remember his name?

Thurston Howell III, those of us who were around probably the western end of the world.

Yeah, Thurston Howell III and his wife, the millionaire and his wife, Lovie.

And for me, they were an example as a little kid of what rich looked like.

And I grew up at French's Forest Baptist, and there were a couple of people there that were quite rich.

I can just think of them now.

And there was one family that some of you would know, and there were two brothers who were from a wealthy family.

And for me, when I think what was rich, what is rich as a kid, I think of them.

And I'd watch as a kid and be interested about their new cars.

One would drive a Jaguar, and one would drive a Volvo, and then a new version would come out.

And I was friends with one of the sons, and I ended up going out on their 40-something-foot cruiser one day.

And so for me, I thought growing up, that was rich.

And they lived in the upper North Shore down the road.

So some of us, maybe in this room, think, I'm rich.

But probably more of us would be reluctant to admit that, because we actually don't think we are.

Let me read again what Sirene just read for us.

Paul writes to his young protege Timothy, command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.

In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

And again, the problem with this instruction is it's given to people who are rich.

But most of the time, we don't think we are.

In fact, it's actually quite hard to cross the rich line, would you agree?

It's hard in your own mind.

Gallup, who do lots of studies in the US and around the world, they asked people some years ago, how much do you need to be well off, to be rich?

And it goes exactly like you'd expect.

They asked people that were earning $30,000 a year, how much would you need to be okay, to be well off?

The 30,000 people wanted to have 50,000.

And then it was 74,000 a year wanted 100,000, and 100,000 wanted 150,000.

And those earning 150,000 were asked, how much would you need in assets?

I know it was 200,000, the people earning 200,000 a year, how many assets do you need to feel rich and well off?

And they said, 5 million.

Because it just keeps going, doesn't it?

I used to be able to find this, and I couldn't find it this last week, but I know I've seen it before.

There was a global rich list, and you could put your earning into the global rich list, and these were the figures I had a little while ago.

If you earn 10,000 Australian dollars per annum net in your hand, that you were in the top 20% of the richest people on earth.

We have some students who don't think they're rich, but well, you're in the top one-fifth.

If you earn 50,000 dollars after tax on the global rich list, you're in the top 1% of the richest people on earth.

70,000 per year, top four out of every 1,000.

100,000, top two out of 1,000.

150,000 dollars a year, as your family, you're the richest person out of every 1,000.

So there is some good news this morning and some bad news.

The good news is you're probably rich, and the bad news is, yeah, you're rich, and there's a responsibility that we carry with being wealthy in this life.

And, you know, we have to point out the obvious.

You can be in a pretty tough space financially in the cost of living in Australia, can't you?

I mean, that's the discussion.

If you're having an honest discussion, you'd be like, well, cost of living, how do you compare to the people living on 70 cents a day in the Philippines?

Look, it's a genuine discussion, isn't it?

I'm just pushing into it a little bit.

I want to acknowledge people have financial hardship, for sure.

But if you just lift your eyes up a bit out of your problems and look at the world and look at the roof over your head and look at the clothing on you and the blankets in the cupboard and probably the food, we might think, yeah, I'm maybe not as badly off as I could be.

So the easiest thing in the world is to believe that we are not actually rich.

Would you agree?

It's a very easy thing to believe.

And therefore, if I can establish that in my mind, I don't have to worry too much about being generous because I just don't have much to give away.

Verse 17, Paul writes, command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth which is so uncertain.

I love the context of this punchy, little in-your-face couple of verses.

They're in the context where Paul's writing to Timothy, and there is a theme, a recurring theme for his disciple, this young up-and-coming teacher, leader, Timothy, Paul writing to Timothy, and Paul says, I want you to fight the good fight.

There's a fight to be taken hold of.

It's not passive, Timothy.

That's the context.

Let me read it.

The lead-up to the passage about money is this, verse 11.

You, man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.

Hear the word pursue.

Fight the good fight of the faith.

Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

In the sight of God who gives life to everything, and of Jesus Christ who, while testifying before Pontius Pilate, made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time.

God, the blessed and only ruler, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honour and might forever.

Amen.

Them is preaching words, aren't they?

They don't sound good enough in Anglo-English.

I looked up, it sounds more like a Latino take hold of the life eternal.

It's como control de la vida eterna.

It just sounds better.

But that's the way he's preaching, isn't he?

That's the way he...

Could you hear what he said?

It's one thing after the other.

It's like, come on, skirt up the loins, let's go, young man.

You need to give everything to live for the glory of the one who deserves it, the one and only God.

That's an amazing passage just before he says, command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain.

Clearly, he's tapping into heart language, I think.

Where our passions lie is where we put our money.

Paul says, don't be arrogant nor ignorant, because someone who puts their hope in a completely uncertain thing, like worldly riches, is foolish if not ignorant.

But you can also be proud and arrogant.

So I think he's saying, avoid both.

Avoid the arrogance that wealth can bring and avoid the ignorance that it can bring.

1 Timothy 6.10 says, For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Press pause on the sermon and just think about your life.

Think about the times when you've chased money above all else.

Think about the times when you knew people you went through school with, and then in the 20s and 30s, if you're a little bit older, are there any examples where these scriptures are true?

That people chasing after the love of money can be pierced with many griefs.

It's the story of the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, isn't it?

Getting that ring, if only I could get it, I'd get power.

And the love of money can so often be like that.

It clearly can become an idol that scripture says will ruin you.

And I think that the main reason a lot of us chase money is that there are some really wholesome things like the security for our family, obviously taking it seriously, our responsibilities.

But I think the main reason we love the thought of having a bit more money is it's the power to choose, don't you think?

It's this idea, this concept that freedom comes through unhindered power to choose.

Who's learnt or read in the Bible that unhindered power to choose is not normally good?

That's a deception.

That's a lie from the enemy.

If only there were no barriers.

If only I could do everything I want.

That is categorically false.

We need barriers.

We need restraint in life in general.

And it's true with money.

Christianity teaches to be aware of too much upward mobility towards freedom of choice and power.

In fact, the opposite is what we're led towards, downward mobility into servanthood and submission.

In serving, we find freedom from the self.

Of course, we don't have to go too far from Jesus to find challenging words.

Matthew 6, no one can serve two masters.

Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and money.

Did he have to use those words?

Love and hate.

Isn't there a middle ground?

But Jesus, in his way of hyperbole, he uses very strong words.

He says you'll either love one and hate the other.

So he's suggesting that you could very easily be a follower of Jesus, a child of the living God by faith, and live in such a way that it looks pretty much like you hate God and love money, because you love money so much.

But I'm sure we don't want to serve the money God, mammon, over the one true living God.

Do you know typically how much more money you need to be totally secure?

The answer is...

Normally, normally, there's this sense that if only we had more.

But Ecclesiastes 5 from Solomon, a collection of wise sayings from hundreds, thousands of years ago.

Think, look at this text.

Whoever loves money never has enough.

Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.

Isn't that just...

just sort of true?

It's weighty, it has gravity.

If you love money, you'll never have enough, which means you'll never be satisfied.

You'll be a restless soul chasing the ring of power, an illusion that if only I had it, everything would be better.

Our text that we keep coming back to is command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God.

There are two options, hope in wealth, hope in God, God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

Paul instructs the rich to put their hope in God because he gives it to provide for his kids that you might have a fulfilling life.

What keeps us healthy and happy as we go through life?

Many of us in this room probably deep down, even though we have on our bookshelf the beliefs that say God is more important than money, many of us probably believe that a healthy, happy life will be on the other side of financial security.

If only I could get enough money, I would be healthy and happy.

Well, I've mentioned this before a number of times.

I'm going to mention it again.

This was the opening line of Robert Waldinger's TED Talk delivered a few years ago in Boston.

He is the fourth director of the longest adult development study ever done.

It was at least 75 years.

It could have been a little bit longer than that.

And it was basically a study that in 1938 involved collecting young men.

724 men were chosen for the purpose of understanding what is needed to provide a healthy and happy life.

Human flourishing, what is required?

So they grabbed a whole bunch of Harvard wealthy family, old money type people, most of them, young, intelligent Harvard young adults.

And half of them were those types of people, and half of them were young men from broken homes around Boston.

And so they followed these disparate groups of men to find out how did life treat them.

And so they studied them year after year for 75 plus years, and they didn't just do a survey, they interviewed them, they spoke to their doctors, they took their blood, they spoke to their children, their spouse, they spoke to people that were employed by them, their employers, they did a full gamut, how many friends they have studied their brains, they did brain scans.

So after all these years, the results were absolutely clear.

It wasn't ambiguous at all.

After the longest study in adult development, the results came in, money is not the key.

Isn't that interesting?

The Bible was true.

He had it right, the writers of scriptures.

This is what the results from the study concluded.

What makes a person happier and healthier is quality relationships.

Deep, abiding, safe, loving relationships were the biggest defining factor for longevity and happiness.

So where do you find the most secure, deep, abiding, safe, loving relationship on the planet?

With the eternal God who made you, amen?

You can't get a more rock-solid relationship, the one who knows us completely and demonstrates his love for us in sending Jesus to die for us.

That's where you find the bedrock of a safe, deep, loving relationship with God himself, through Jesus.

Proverbs 15 and 16 says, better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil.

Is this an accurate statement about the nature of reality?

The Bible says it's better to have a right relationship with the Lord and others than great wealth with turmoil.

Is that true?

It's what the Bible teaches.

But common wisdom from the world, if you don't think about it and reflect, says basically this, more money in the bank means more peace in the heart.

But the Bible counteracts that and says that's categorically untrue.

It's not that you can't have a lot of money in the bank and have peace in your heart, but one doesn't come from the other.

Jesus said in Matthew 13, The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

Isn't that poignant?

Seeds of truth from God can go into a person's heart.

This is the Gospel.

This is knowing God through Jesus, the grace of God, knowing about the most important stuff on earth, the greatest truth.

That'll find a home in the soil of a heart and start to grow.

And Jesus says, sometimes it's like seed among thorns.

And this is the problem.

Anxiety, the worries of the world, of life, and the deceitfulness of wealth choke out the life of God.

The text says, command those who are rich in this present world to put their hope in God.

Clearly and very importantly, it doesn't say God despises the rich.

It doesn't say that nobody is allowed to be rich.

It actually says God is the one who richly provides.

It's God who, if you're rich, and we've established, I think, that many of us are, it's God who made you rich.

Hallelujah.

It's God who made you rich.

That's what the Scripture says.

James says every good gift comes from above.

God has made us rich.

Now, you can trust in the riches, or you can trust in the God who gave you the riches.

Amen?

You can trust in the riches, or trust in God who gave them to you.

So why has God made us rich?

Command them, Paul says, these rich people, to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.

How does the word command sit with you?

I don't think many of us appreciate command.

Command them to be rich in good deeds.

Well, this whole book, the letter to 1 Timothy, has these ideas where Paul says to Timothy, Timothy, I want you to know you're not just a civilian.

Remember when he says that?

You're not just a bystander watching the athletes running in the races, though you are not underneath a discipline, a regime.

No, you're a soldier, you're not a civilian, so there's a command coming.

God needs you to do this.

We have a commanding officer, and his name is Jesus, and we're living for his glory if we belong to him by faith.

Our resources are therefore at his disposal.

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds.

It's what Ephesians talks about in chapter 2, that there have been good works prepared in advance for us to do, because God loves doing good works.

So, there will be time for us that is required to give, to do good works.

Amen?

Because that's what God's done.

He's prepared them in advance.

We can expect that he will require our patience, because good works require patience often, and often our smiles.

Are you ready to give them away?

We have smiles, facial muscles, that need to be used by the Father, used by God.

There's good works prepared in advance.

Some people don't get smiled at at all.

So, if you've got a great smile, he might use you to smile.

Some people are good at hugs, and God's like, I've got some good works for you to do.

I've got some hugs to give.

I don't have arms on earth.

So, I need you.

I want you to bring your problem-solving capacity to do good works, your resources.

I command you to use your ears.

I don't have them on earth.

I need ears to listen, to give presence to people today who need to talk.

And sometimes, God's good works will also involve our money.

They're just all of our resources that we have been given the opportunity to use to do good, to be willing to share.

This is a probing question.

As the years go by, are you getting more generous or less?

As the years go by, are you getting more generous or less?

Well, it's your experience with finances.

My experience with finances, it's a little bit like surfing.

Sometimes surfing is so great, you know, you get a wave and it works, and you get a bigger wave.

You take more risk, you get a bigger wave, and then all of a sudden, the wave throws you, and you're like, that wasn't very nice.

Has anyone else found that with finances?

Sometimes it's going great, and you ride that wave, but sometimes the wave throws you.

And when it does throw you, we should never complain because it was always uncertain, wasn't it?

Because it's worldly wealth.

It's not worldly, I hope you know what I mean.

It's wealth in and of itself, it is uncertain.

Worldly riches.

I knew a very wealthy person in another church who is a lawyer, and he earned unbelievable amounts of money.

And God took him on a trip to Ethiopia, and he was struck by the needs of a particular community in Bahidai in the top of Ethiopia, and it led him to follow an interesting path.

He ended up hiring, because he's a really smart guy, he hired a house, and that included workers, and he ended up buying a full drive that became available, so that could be there.

And we partnered with the church, and he did a lot of work flying over there and finding out what they needed, and we were able to then raise funds and build part of a church and a Bible college to service 20 million people in the top of Ethiopia.

Other missionary agencies found out that there was this great house with live-in paid helpers, and so they would come and use that, and now church mobilized people for mission.

Lots and lots of short-term mission trips happened over there, and I reflect on that, and I think it's interesting that he used to always say he earns a lot of money, so he had reflected about money, and he always used to say, every dollar gets spent, Jono.

You either put it under your pillow or under your bed, and it's spent there, not being used, or you put it somewhere, you invest it somewhere, and you tend to invest in two things, people and things.

And he said, I like to invest in people if I can.

And certainly that's what God often is wanting to do with money, isn't he?

He tries to do good and invest in people, command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.

In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

It seems like what we do with our resources is sowing into what God wants to do now, and even beyond, a sense of reward, a sense of firm foundation for the coming age.

When I think of rewards, I always think, well, it's just got to be something to do with God because we don't want a bigger house in heaven.

I don't want a golden pavement in my house or something.

I just want more of God.

So we don't know what it does, a firm foundation, when it talks about rewards, but it's to give God glory, isn't it?

The Scripture is clear.

There are habits to be learned about being generous.

Have you found that in your life?

Generosity is a habit.

And you know some of us, we never learned the habit.

We never learned the habit.

Because we've been convinced, maybe by a lie of the enemy, that we've never been rich, so we never need to be generous.

And generous looks different for different people, doesn't it?

Have you learned the blessing of being generous?

Through habit.

Can I encourage you that it's not that complex?

You used to be able to write out a check, or most of us don't have cash, but you get cash, you've got to take yourself up to a teller or something or a bank and get some cash out and put it in an envelope if you're giving it away anonymously.

And you've got to go and surreptitiously find out how you're going to give that money to a person without them.

It's just you learn how to do it.

Or you just put some numbers in the bank account online and you give money away.

And of course, you can give and be generous using finances in all sorts of ways, but the Bible talks a lot about supporting the local church.

God didn't design Parachurch though they're great, but He did design the church.

We are the body of Christ.

We're the main idea that God had to do good works out of.

And out of the local church come the Parachurch organisations.

So I just want to encourage you, I know many of us do give and support the work of the local church and the work of NorthernLife, but to be rich in good deeds, it's probably going to involve a continuing appreciation of the importance of the local church and what we can do together.

And maybe you've just never got around to doing it.

Can I encourage you?

In Jesus' name.

Think about being generous outside the church and also inside the church.

Let me finish with just this scripture, Luke 21.

Jesus looks up and He's in the temple and He saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.

And it's a true story, the rich used to hire trumpeters.

I love just saying that because it's just so in your face.

The rich would hire the long trumpets and they would come and they would clatter, make a noise with their coins in the treasury, and then they would go, da.

It's horrible, isn't it?

The idea of giving going.

And of course, Jesus and the Father, they say, you have received your reward in full.

I hope you enjoy that trumpet because that's all you get.

But what's the rest of the story?

Jesus doesn't care about the rich making a big deal about it, but he did see a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.

Truly, I tell you, he said, this poor widow has put in more than all the others because they gave out of their abundance.

But the woman, she gave and it cost her.

Are you rich?

Are you rich?

Jesus says, where our heart is there, our treasure will also be.

And that wants to be in the things of God.

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous and willing to share, because our Father is someone who shares.

This table is about sharing the grace and forgiveness of God.

In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Lord God, we commit our future to you and invite you to bring wisdom.

We invite you to marinate conversation in community such that we would be helped by one another as we consider what it means to be rich in good deeds.

And we pray that you would do a work amongst us like you've been doing in the prayer dome.

You'd fan into flame the good works that are already happening.

And I thank you, Lord God, that you have proven yourself time and time again that you support gospel ministry, that you own the wealth of a thousand mines, the cattle on a thousand hills.

You have enough.

And we just pray that you would mobilize your people so that we could enjoy what it means to be generous.

For your glory, Lord Jesus.

Amen.

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