The Treachery of Trusting Treasure Text: 1 Timothy 6:17-19
Introduction: The Right Use of the Right Stuff
We live in an age that is profoundly confused about money. On the one hand, our entire culture is a monument to Mammon. We are driven by a consumerist lust for more, bigger, faster, and shinier. On the other hand, within the church, there is often a pious suspicion of wealth, as though poverty were next to godliness. Some Christians feel a vague sense of guilt for having a full pantry and a reliable car, while others have made it their life's mission to prove that God's chief desire is to make them fabulously wealthy so they can buy a private jet.
Both of these impulses are carnal. Both miss the point of what God gives and why He gives it. The Bible does not teach that money is inherently evil. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, which is a very different thing. The problem is not the stuff; the problem is the heart. Sin is a parasite; it cannot exist on its own but must always attach itself to something good and corrupt it. And wealth is one of God's good gifts. The question before us, then, is not whether a Christian can be rich. Abraham, the father of the faithful, was a very rich man. The question is how a Christian is to be rich.
Paul, in his closing instructions to his young protege Timothy, does not mince words. He gives a direct charge, a command, to be delivered to those who are wealthy in the congregation at Ephesus. This is not a gentle suggestion or a helpful hint for financial planning. It is a divine command that strikes at the very heart of our relationship with our possessions. It teaches us that God gives us good things not so that we might terminate our affections on them, but so that they might be a platform for a particular kind of character, a character that reflects the lavish generosity of our God. Paul is going to teach us that God makes men rich so that they can learn how to be rich toward God.
This passage is a divine diagnostic tool. It reveals where our hope is truly located. Is it in the shifting sands of the stock market, or is it in the unshakeable rock of the living God? Is our identity tied up in our net worth, or in our standing as children of the King? Paul's charge is designed to dismantle false hopes and to build a true and lasting one.
The Text
Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Command them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.
(1 Timothy 6:17-19 LSB)
The Negative Command: Two Prohibitions (v. 17)
We begin with the first part of the command, which contains two sharp prohibitions.
"Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches..." (1 Timothy 6:17a)
First, notice the audience: "those who are rich in this present age." By North American standards, that includes just about all of us. We have to make a distinction between absolute poverty, a man starving in a cardboard box, and relative poverty. Most of us who think we are "just getting by" are fantastically wealthy compared to the vast majority of human beings throughout history, including those to whom Timothy was ministering. So we should all lean in and listen. This is for us.
The first prohibition is "not to be haughty." Or high-minded. Wealth has a powerful tendency to breed arrogance. It creates a false sense of superiority and independence. The rich man is tempted to think that his success is a result of his own cleverness, his own hard work, his own foresight. He starts to believe his own press clippings. This is the pride that Proverbs warns against, the pride that comes before a fall. It is the delusion of the self-made man, a creature who does not exist. Every breath you take is a gift. The mind you use to make your business deals is a gift. The stable society that allows for commerce is a gift. To be haughty is to forget the Giver and to worship the gift, and by extension, to worship yourself as the one who acquired it.
The second prohibition is linked to the first: "or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches." Haughtiness is the spiritual posture that results from a misplaced hope. If your hope is in your 401(k), you will be arrogant when it is flourishing and terrified when it is plummeting. You are riding a rollercoaster of circumstance. Paul points out the sheer foolishness of this hope by highlighting the "uncertainty of riches." Riches are slippery. They can be lost through foolish decisions, economic collapse, theft, or moths. As Proverbs says, "riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven" (Proverbs 23:5). To place your ultimate hope, your security, your sense of well-being, in something so notoriously fickle is the height of folly. It is like building your house on a sandbar during a hurricane warning.
The Positive Command: The True Foundation (v. 17b)
Having torn down the false hope, Paul immediately erects the true one.
"...but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy." (1 Timothy 6:17b LSB)
The contrast is absolute. Do not hope in uncertain riches; hope in the living God. He is the source of all wealth, the fountainhead from which every good and perfect gift flows. Our hope is not to be in the gift, but in the Giver.
And notice the character of this Giver. He is not a stingy, tight-fisted deity who must be coaxed into blessing His people. He is the one who "richly supplies us with all things to enjoy." This is a direct assault on the miserly spirit that sometimes masquerades as piety. God is not an ascetic. He is a God of abundance, of lavish generosity. He made a world bursting with color, flavor, and texture. He gave us taste buds, and then He gave us strawberries. He gives us things to enjoy. This is a radical thought in both a hedonistic culture and a pietistic one. The hedonist believes enjoyment is the ultimate goal and pursues it apart from God. The false pietist believes enjoyment is suspect and feels guilty for it. The Bible teaches that true enjoyment is found in receiving God's gifts with gratitude and thanksgiving, as gifts from a loving Father.
God gives us abundance so that we might learn the blessing of giving abundantly. He wants us to become like Him. When a wealthy person follows this command, he is not getting rid of a curse; he is expanding a blessing. He is learning to handle wealth the way God does, with an open hand.
The Active Command: Wealth in Motion (v. 18)
So, what does it look like to have your hope in God and not in money? Paul gives four practical outworkings.
"Command them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share." (1 Timothy 6:18 LSB)
First, "to do good." This is a general principle. Wealth is not a private pond to be admired; it is a river to be channeled for the good of others. It is a tool, a resource for kingdom work.
Second, "to be rich in good works." This is a beautiful turn of phrase. Paul is telling the rich not to be rich in dollars, but to be rich in deeds. Their true portfolio is not their stock holdings, but their acts of mercy, hospitality, and support for the gospel. This redefines what it means to be wealthy. The man who has millions in the bank but is a spiritual miser is, in God's economy, destitute. The widow who gives her two mites but is rich toward God is the truly wealthy one.
Third, "to be generous." This speaks to the disposition of the heart. It is the opposite of the clenched fist. It is an attitude that looks for opportunities to give. It is the spirit of the cheerful giver whom God loves. This is a character trait that must be cultivated. We are not naturally generous; we are naturally selfish. Generosity is a fruit of the Spirit, grown as we fix our hope on the generous God.
Fourth, "ready to share." This is generosity in action. The Greek word is koinonikos, from which we get our word koinonia, or fellowship. It means being willing to hold our possessions loosely, recognizing that what we have is for the good of the community of saints. It is a practical outworking of the truth that we are one body in Christ. If one part has a need, the other parts with abundance are called to meet it.
The Ultimate Return on Investment (v. 19)
Finally, Paul reveals the glorious paradox of Christian economics. By giving away earthly treasure, we secure a heavenly one.
"...storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed." (1 Timothy 6:19 LSB)
This is not works-righteousness. We are not buying our way into heaven. Rather, this is the logic of the kingdom. Jesus told us not to lay up treasures on earth, but to lay up treasures in heaven. Paul is simply applying that teaching. When we invest our resources in the kingdom of God, in the spread of the gospel, in the care of the saints, we are making a deposit in an account that is eternally secure. We are sending it on ahead.
Notice the language: "a good foundation for the future." This is in direct contrast to the "uncertainty of riches." Worldly wealth is a rotten foundation. It will give way. But a life characterized by God-honoring generosity builds a solid foundation for the age to come. It is evidence of a true and living faith.
And the ultimate goal of all this? "So that they may take hold of that which is life indeed." The man who trusts in riches thinks he has a hold on "the good life." But it is a phantom. It is an illusion that will vanish at the moment of his death, if not before. He has grasped the shadow and missed the substance. True life, eternal life, the life that is truly life, is found not in possessing things, but in possessing God. It is found in a right relationship with Him, through faith in Jesus Christ. And a life of open-handed generosity is one of the chief evidences that a man has truly taken hold of this life, because he is living for a reality beyond the horizon of this present age. He is living for eternity.
Conclusion: Your Treasure and Your Heart
Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." This is not a suggestion; it is a law of the spiritual universe. It works like gravity. If your treasure is in your bank account, your portfolio, your real estate, then that is where your heart is. Your affections, your worries, your security, your identity, will all be chained to those things.
But if, by the grace of God, you begin to strategically and joyfully move your treasure into the kingdom of God, you will find your heart following close behind. Your affections will be set on things above. Your worries will diminish, because you are invested in a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Your security will be in Christ, not in cash. Your identity will be that of a steward, a son, an ambassador.
This is the path to freedom. It is freedom from the tyranny of things. It is freedom from the fear that accompanies trusting in uncertain riches. It is the freedom to enjoy the good gifts of God without idolizing them, and the freedom to give them away with joy, knowing that in doing so, we are becoming more like our generous Father, and we are taking hold of that which is life indeed.
So, the command comes to us today. Do not be proud. Do not trust in your money. Trust in God. Enjoy what He gives. And then, for the love of God and the sake of your own soul, put that money to work. Be rich in good works. Be generous. Be ready to share. Build a foundation for the future. Take hold of real life.