How to Be Rich
Have you ever discovered that something you owned was worth more than you realized?
As a teenager, I inherited an original Civil War musket with a bayonet from my grandfather. He received it from a relative who fought in the war. In my early years of marriage, I sold it to an antique dealer for $700.
In 1997, a woman brought a grungy card table to the Antique Roadshow. She had purchased it at a yard sale for only $25. To her surprise, the appraisers told her it was a special piece of federal furniture designed by John and Thomas Seymour, worth up to $300,000.
In 2005, a man brought a Patek Philippe watch to the Antique Roadshow. It had been handed down from his great-grandfather, who received it in 1914. The appraisers informed him that it was the only one of its kind and valued it at $250,000. To their surprise, Sotheby’s actually appraised it at up to $3,000,000.
If you were in one of these situations, what would you do with your newfound cash? I used the $700 to make ends meet for the year, but I’m not sure what the table and watch owners did with their extra money.
If you’re a follower of Jesus, then you’re probably much wealthier than you realize.
While you may not own an antique worth lots of money, if you’re a follower of Jesus, then you’re probably much wealthier than you realize. That’s what you discover when you learn to be content.
- When you stop indulging in the coping mechanism of covetousness, you stop wasting your resources on things and experiences that won’t satisfy your soul (Heb 13:5).
- When you realize Christ himself is all you need – that he’s always with you and will always meet your needs – you’ll stop wasting resources on other things (Heb 13:5-6).
- When you learn the difference between a need and a nicer thing of life, then you stop wasting money on things you don’t need after all (1 Tim 6:6-8).
Guess what? You’re rich!
When you cultivate a close relationship with Christ and properly identify your basic needs, then you discover that you have more resources than you realized. And guess what? That means you’re rich!
Being “rich” or “wealthy” means that you have more than you need. In NYC, you need the resources necessary to provide food, clothing, a place to live, health insurance, and in some cases a car. If you’re able to do more than that, then you’re rich in God’s sight. You don’t need anything more than what you already have to make a difference for God.
You don’t need anything more than what you already have to make a difference for God.
Today, we describe “being rich” the way we describe whether a person is good or bad – we compare ourselves to others. Rather than ask whether we are good or bad in God’s sight, we say whether we are better than someone else who is “worse” than us.
In the same way, we compare our wealth to someone who’s “wealthier.” If they have more money, a higher income, and nicer things than us, then they are rich. The funny thing is that even those people who are richer than us have labels for people who are richer than them, labels like “super-rich” or “ultra-wealthy.”
This approach fuels discontentment, so we need to set it aside. We need get comfortable believing that if we have Christ as our God and Savior and our basic needs are met, then we’re rich in God’s sight if we have anything else.
What should you do with the rest of your money and resources?
So here’s the question. When you learn to be content with Christ and to meet your basic needs, what should you do with the rest of your money and resources? That’s what 1 Timothy 6:17-19 is all about.
In these three verses, Paul told Timothy what to tell the people in the church at Ephesus. Today, these verses teach members of any church what to do with the resources they have beyond Christ himself and their basic needs. These are God’s instructions for wealthy Christians, which is a group – believe it or not – that probably includes you.
These are the five instructions for rich Christians (1 Tim 6:17-18):
- Don’t look down on other people.
- Trust in God, not your wealth.
- Enjoy the things God gives you.
- Involve yourself in hands-on service.
- Look for ways to meet financial needs.
Let’s talk about these five things together.
Don’t look down on other people.
“Don’t be haughty” (1 Tim 6:17). This instruction is a warning. It speaks about an attitude that thinks too highly of yourself and looks down on others who have less than you.
It is true that when God entrusts you with wealth, he increases your net worth from a financial standpoint. Yet he does not increase your value as a person.
When God entrusts you with wealth, he increases your net worth, but he does not increase your value as a person.
A human being is a human being. Every one of us has equal value and worth in the sight of God. A rich man is no more valuable in the sight of God than a poor man. From the day you are conceived to the day you die you have equal value in the sight of God.
When you’re around people with less resources than you, do you look down on them? Do you expect them to give you special attention? Or do you behave as their equal?
In South Africa, many native Africans are discouraged by the way many whites have treated them. The whites tend to be wealthier and live in more affluent neighborhoods. But when native Africans succeed financially, do you know that they often do? They also move into nicer neighborhoods and affluent society, leaving their African brothers behind.
As Christians, we should not behave this way. We should treat one another as equals no matter how much wealth God gives us.
Trust in God, not your wealth.
“Don’t trust in uncertain riches but in the living God” (1 Tim 6:17). Material wealth is not a bad thing, but it is deceptive. The more money we have, the more comfortable we feel. The more money we have, the less inclined we will be to trust in God
Money gives us the illusion that we can meet our needs and solve our problems by ourselves. We feel as though we don’t need God because all we have to do is write a check or swipe a card.
Though money can meet needs and solve problems, it’s not reliable. It can be there one day and gone the next. When it’s there, we feel good, but when it’s not, we get scared.
Though money can meet needs and solve problems, it’s not reliable.
In the recession of 2007-2009, people experienced the uncertainty of riches in a painful way. Many who planned to retire, buy a house, or make big financial decisions in those years faced a terrible reality that their accumulated wealth was gone. That’s why suicides spiked dramatically from 2008-2010, according to a study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. It traced over 10,000 suicides during that span to personal economic crises, such as job loss, home foreclosures, and debt.
As Christians we should thank God for our wealth, but not trust in it. We should trust in the God who gave us that wealth because he is always alive and ready to meet our needs.
Are you confident about your future because you have a good income, tenure, and a comfortable pension? Or are you confident because of your relationship with Christ? As simple as this question may be, it’s difficult very to answer, isn’t it?
Enjoy the things God gives you.
“To enjoy” (1 Tim 6:18). This phrase gives us a reason why God gives us wealth. He gives us wealth so that we can enjoy it. He actually wants us to have fun and find pleasure in the nice things he provides.
As your heavenly Father, God enjoys giving you gifts, just as parents enjoy giving their children gifts at Christmastime and birthdays.
In fact, when he placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he told them, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat” (Gen 2:16). We focus on the one tree God told them not to eat from but forget the many others he gave them. He wanted them to enjoy all of them to the fullest.
We focus on the one tree God told them not to eat from but forget the many others he gave them.
If you are (or were) a parent, how would you feel if you bought your child some really nice presents at Christmastime, but your child turned around and gave them all away to other children? I know this sounds admirable, and you would appreciate your child’s generosity. But wouldn’t you be at least a little disappointed that your child didn’t even keep one of your presents to enjoy for himself?
Let’s not be “super spiritual” about this. God gives you more than you need so he can enjoy seeing you enjoy what he gave you. Have a hobby, pastime, favorite food, or some other thing that you like to splurge on sometimes? Go for it! God blesses you with more than you need so that you can enjoy his blessings. Sometimes it’s really that simple.
Involve yourself in hands-on service.
“Let them do good, that they be rich in good works” (1 Tim 6:18). Though God blesses you with more than you need so you can enjoy his blessings, that’s not the only thing he wants you to do as a “rich Christian.”
Do you find it fascinating that Paul speaks about serving before giving? About doing good things before meeting needs with money?
I would like to suggest that the order is important. It’s too easy for a wealthy person to see a need and throw money at it. It’s too easy for a rich person to feel good about himself because he gave some money to solve a problem.
It’s difficult, however, for a wealthy person to roll up his sleeves, get dirty, and do the hard and humbling work of serving people in practical ways. Hands-on ministry is not just for people without money. It’s for every Christian.
It’s easy for people with resources to buy into the idea that other people exist to serve them, to meet their needs. Yet Scripture paints the opposite picture. God tells wealthy people to serve those who have nothing, not the other way around. (Read that again.)
It’s easy for people with resources to buy into the idea that other people exist to serve them, to meet their needs.
People with resources from God should not want a patron/client relationship with people in need. They should have a “serve first” mentality, one that helps out before a handout. They should be so committed to this that they are rich in good works, doing all they can besides giving money. Serving should be their first option and giving money their next.
Look for ways to meet financial needs.
“Ready to give, willing to share” (1 Tim 6:18). When people with resources meet the needs of others in hands-on ways, they often discover the nature of a person’s or church’s needs. As they do, they should be ready to use their money and resources to meet those needs beyond what they are able to do with their hands.
When you get involved in hands-on ministry, you realize that your skills and ability can only go so far, or you discover some needs that money alone can meet.
A church is a good example of how this works. God places people into a church family from all kinds of backgrounds and in all kinds of situations. Regardless of your financial situation, you should offer to serve in various ways, as an usher, choir member, nursery workers, Sunday School teacher, or Saturday cleaning volunteer.
When you get involved, you discover needs and opportunities you never would have realized before. God will place in your heart a desire and burden to contribute to the church in a financial way beyond your hands-on service as you get a first-hand, up-close, behind-the-scenes vision for what God is doing.
When you get involved, you discover needs and opportunities you never would have realized before.
Years ago, I directed a weekend ministry to children and teens in the underprivileged neighborhoods of Milwaukee. We visited homes on Saturdays and drove children and teens to church on Sundays. I invested nine years of my life into that ministry, bringing the love and truth of Jesus to people in need.
One year I realized these young people couldn’t afford to attend a week of Christian summer camp. To solve this problem, I gave some money and raised money from others in the church to form a “camp scholarship fund” for young people in need.
The first year, we raised enough funds to send Jacob Evans and Virshawn Hammonds to camp. The next year, we did the same for Virshawn’s twin brothers, Javon and Jaquon. Those weeks made a deep impression on their lives for Christ.
When you serve and give generously, you pave the way for a better, brighter future for yourself.
When we follow God’s guidance for living as “rich Christians,” here’s what happens. We “store up for ourselves a good foundation for the time to come, that we may lay hold on eternal life” (1 Tim 6:19).
The phrase “eternal life” can be translated as “the coming age” and it contrasts with the phrase “this present age” mentioned before (1 Tim 6:17). It causes you to consider whether the decisions you are making with your money and resources today, beyond your basic needs, are focused on temporal priorities or eternal ones.
The phrase “for themselves” is interesting too, because it sounds kind of selfish. When Christians give money and resources generously for God, they end up benefiting themselves. They set themselves up (“a good foundation”) for a very special time in eternity, ant they really get ahold of (“lay hold on”) eternal life.
I’m not exactly sure how this works, but I can at least say this. Those who serve and give generously will enjoy their future in God’s eternal kingdom in an extra-special way.
Those who serve and give generously will enjoy their future in God’s eternal kingdom in an extra-special way.
Think about it like this. Today, many Americans receive Social Security at age 62 or later. This resource provides them with a basic income in old age.
Other Americans plan for more than this. They pay off a house, save money in a bank account, or make regular installments into a 401(k). They choose not to use money for immediate things to set it aside for the future instead. While they “miss out” on some things in their working years, they will enjoy some better things later on.
Though people who take these additional steps to plan for old age will also receive Social Security (in many cases at least), they will enjoy their “retirement” in an extra-special way.
We need to think and live this way in a spiritual sense. Though God wants us to enjoy what he gives us today, we shouldn’t squander everything on present enjoyment. When we redirect our money and resources to meet important needs around us, we end up preparing the way for an extra-special experience in eternity with Christ.
Are you ready to spread the wealth that God has given you?
As we look ahead to 2020, let’s ask ourselves three exciting questions about how we’re going to handle the wealth God will give us. Are you ready?
First, what are you going to enjoy?
Name an interest, resource, opportunity, or possession God has given you to enjoy? Identify what this might be and enjoy it. God wants you to enjoy his blessings and it brings him pleasure when you do that.
Better yet, invite someone else who’s either attending or is a member of Faith Baptist Church to enjoy that blessing with you.
- David Speal is an avid fisherman, for instance, and last year he invited me and Joshua to join him on a day-long fishing excursion. We had a blast and God was delighted!
- As another instance, Susannah Romero thoroughly enjoys the Nutcracker ballet. Last year she invited Sarah and Emily to watch this production with her and they had a wonderful time together to the glory of God.
Let’s go through 2020 enjoying together the blessings of God together for his glory.
Second, how are you going to serve?
Let’s make this easy. Name one or two ways that you can get involved in the ministry of Faith Baptist Church.
- Ready to be a greeter? We need some!
- Willing to help the Swansons with a children’s Sunday School class during the worship service, or fill a monthly spot in the nursery?
- Could you help clean the church for an hour or two one Saturday a week, volunteer for some secretarial tasks, or sing in the choir?
- What about hosting a Bible study or game night at your house sometimes, or inviting another family to your home for the first time ever?
- Would you be interested in serving as a deacon?
- Could you join us in passing out gospel tracts once a month on Saturday morning?
There are so many ways to get involved and make a hands-on difference at Faith. Are you up to the challenge? Are you ready to get involved? To be rich in good works?
Third, what are you going to give?
For nearly forty-five years (almost half a century!), God has provided for the needs of Faith Baptist Church through the generous giving of his people, and in a place like NYC, we know what a miracle that is.
Are you ready to be a part of that miracle? If you’re already giving generously and giving what you can, then praise the Lord! May God continue to enable you to do that.
Yet as we move into a new year together, we know that we will face new financial challenges. These challenges are not a setback. They are a tremendous opportunity to see what God will do as we draw together to see his work accomplished.
For some, that will mean taking new and bold steps to give generously to support the mission of our church for the glory of God. And what is our mission? To demonstrate our love for God in the Queens Borough, leading people of all ages to become joyful followers of Jesus.
To make a difference for God, you don’t need anything more than what you already have. So let’s do it. Let’s give generously, serve faithfully, and enjoy the blessings of God together for the glory of Christ.
By presenting this message to you, I have done what Paul told Timothy to do for his congregation. I pray that we will all rise to the challenge in the year that’s before us. I look forward to what God will do, not only in the year that’s before us in this world, but when we all reach eternity together.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could all share an extra-special time together when that day comes at last because we contributed served and gave generously to in this life now?