Be rich in God

1 Timothy 6:17 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. ¹⁸ Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. ¹⁹ 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.

What would you say is your most valuable earthly possession? Home, career, income, investments, spouse, family, health? What are you going to do when that most valuable earthly possession is gone?

“I don’t like money, actually, but it quiets my nerves.” The “Brown Bomber,” boxer Joe Louis, said that to laughing reports. The truth is that every last dollar, our home - whatever we worked so hard for and considered valuable – will be taken from us by force when death comes. Our heirs, lawyers and the government will get it all. If money or possessions are your greatest treasure, then prepare to be robbed big-time.

But it doesn’t have to be death that takes those things away. It could be the loss of your job, the downturn in the economy, bad investments, a divorce, or a serious accident that rips those things out of your hands. And then the trauma begins.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

God called Abraham to leave his home. He left Naomi and Ruth without husbands, and allowed the devil to take away Job’s health, livestock and children. Jesus called some of His disciples to follow Him full-time and leave their jobs. He commended women who spent way too much on extravagant offerings. He praised a woman for giving her last cent to the Lord. All of these faith-filled followers may have lost a lot, but they remained rich – for they were rich in God. 

This Thanksgiving, God’s Word tells us what it means to be rich in God. “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.” Can you make my job easier today and just admit that the title “rich in this present world” applies to us in this building, even the jobless, the foreclosed, and college grads strapped with debt? As Americans we are rich. We have the technology and the time to spend an average of 10 hours per day connected to some kind of media, whether that’s a smart phone, iPad, iPod, or TV. The average American net worth has historically amounted to more than ten times higher than the average Indonesian, whose net assets total only $1,000. In the 4 minutes it’s taken for me to get this sermon going about 75 children in Third World countries have died of preventable diseases that don’t have the same negative impact on us. And we purchase more than 31 billion bottles of water per year, even though time after time tap water wins in taste tests and any plastic bottles we throw away are creating an environmental disaster.

Listen, it’s not wrong, bad, or sinful to be rich in this world. God made people like Abraham, Job, and Solomon rich. It’s okay to be a rich American! However, it is bad, wrong, and sinful according to the word of God, “to be arrogant” about it. That means our attitude — more than the amount of our paycheck (or lack of paycheck) — makes the biggest difference when it comes to our money. Arrogance says, “I’m not rich, the Bible’s warnings about greed don’t apply to me, and the church shouldn’t be talking about money.” Arrogance can make us “put [our] hope in wealth, which is so uncertain.” Hope. A joyful certainty about the future. A working partner with faith. If your joy or your certainty about the future is shaken by unpredictable interest rates, market plunges, or unemployment then you have arrogantly put your hope in wealth. The wisest man in the world and the richest man in the Bible discovered that the hard way.

As wise and as rich as King Solomon was, he needed to listen to the apostle’s warning centuries later: “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. … Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:9-10).”

Very early in Solomon’s reign, God was so pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom that God also gave him great riches. But as the years passed, as Solomon amassed worldly wealth and political power, he invested himself less and less in God’s treasures and more and more in his own. Solomon pawned off God for the riches of this world.

Later in his life, Solomon realized the error of his ways, repented, and by the grace of God returned to the faith-filled young man he once was. He explains in Ecclesiastes, “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” He was rich in the world until he put his hope in God. Solomon continues, “I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will revere him” (2:10,11; 3:14).

The sin that God condemns today is not an innocent mathematical error we make when reconciling our checkbook. It is much worse. Our sin is the faithless, self-inflated arrogance that thinks I am the exception, that God’s guidelines for wealth and warnings about greed don’t apply to me. Our sin may be over-confidence in the riches of this world to take care of our needs. Or our sin may be our lack of confidence in God to take care of our needs when our worldly riches are removed from us. Don’t worry, there’s no shortage of sinning when it comes to money. For if even the wisest man in the world falls into the deception of wealth … then we’re more than a little smart to sense its danger in our lives, and to repent to the God who “richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”

Rick Norsigian is a commercial painter who lives in Fresno, California. Rick Norsigian is also a very blessed and a very rich man. Let me explain: Ten years ago Norsigian picked up some old photographic glass plates at a garage sale. For years Norsigian stored the two boxes containing those newspaper-wrapped glass plates under his pool table. He's not storing them there any longer.

It appears the plates are original Ansel Adams plates – some of which escaped the fire which destroyed the great photographer's studio. This means the photographic plates Norsigian paid $45 for are worth somewhere around $200 million.

Now you may be wondering why doesn't something like that happen to me? But if you trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior, I assure you that it already has. What are you worth to the Lord? Well, you’re worth more than many sparrows (Luke 12:7). You’re worth the holy, precious blood and innocent suffering and death of the Son of God. You have been given the greatest treasure in the forgiveness of sins through Jesus’ shed blood. It is that forgiveness that guarantees that you may call yourself Jesus’ brother or sister and claim heaven as your own. That kind of worth isn’t something you can take to the bank, and it’s not going to get you on the cover of a money magazine, but it still counts. It means you are more blessed and far richer than Rick Norsigian – unless Rick is a believer, too.

Though you may be hoping for a better car, a nicer house or a bigger paycheck, you don’t really need those things. Because you are already rich in God. Though Christ was rich in heaven, with the praise of the saints and the adoration of the angels, yet for your sakes He became poor in humility and poverty, so you might one day become rich in Him (2 Corinthians 8:9).

You really are wealthy, you know. Jesus Christ has made you a spiritual billionaire. Everything on this earth is fading; only what is in heaven will last. Possessing cash is like playing a temporary board game – you have a little fun and then it’s over. The Bible tells us the marvelous story of how God’s Son, Lord of the Universe, impoverished Himself on this planet so that He could give us access to the eternal joy of heaven. And heaven eternally is better than cash now.

Many people don’t like the pastor speaking about money. But we need to talk about money in church and we need to talk about Jesus forgiving for our failure or arrogance or doubt when it comes to the use of our money. No financial advisor or money magazine is going to teach you repentance and forgiveness when it comes to money and possessions. You’ll only hear this in church and in your Bible.

So, if you’re looking to be less rich in greed, less rich in worry, less rich in self, and to be rich in God, then trust that God “is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 8:8). Another market plunge? A deeper recession? The economy is uncertain, but God’s riches never lose their value because they’re based on the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Anxious about retirement? Stressed out about your job? Resist the urge to be rich in self, and go to God poor in spirit, confessing your sins, empty-handed and eager for his generous grace. “He has filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he has sent away empty” (Luke 1:53). 1 Timothy 6 continues by explaining what it means, in our actions, to rich in God.

Being rich in God means that we will live differently than everyone else around us. We will “do good,” when it comes to making decisions about money, meaning that the primary criteria for financial decisions is not just “can I afford it” but “is this good?” Sometimes good means saving for the future what I’d like to spend now. Sometimes good means spending for others what I’d like to spend on myself.

Being rich in God also means being a Good Samaritan and being “rich in good deeds.” You know that good deed you’ve been putting off because you’re not sure you can afford it? Being rich in God means you can afford it—you can give your time, adjust your calendar, spend a little extra, invest yourself and enrich the life of another because God makes you rich in Him. When asking whether or not you can afford more good deeds, don’t ask, “Can I really do this?” but, “Can God underwrite this with His treasures?” And He already assures you: yes.

Being rich in God also means that we are “generous and willing to share.” Donating dollars for our artwork, cookies for Calvary Academy, warm clothing for Girl Pioneers and food for the less fortunate. Look for other opportunities to be generous and willing to share of your time, your money, your prayers and your encouraging words to help others. (Although I don’t expect the Packers to be generous and share any victories with the Lions tomorrow.)

And remember God’s promise that when we are “generous and willing to share” our charity is sown like a seed in the ground, and God makes it grow and produce fruit in our lives many times the amount we had sown.

One memorable quote says, “The real measure of our wealth is how much we would be worth if we lost our money.” Be rich in God. Believers who trust God more than money, who love God more than money, and use money to serve God instead of God to serve money, “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.” Be rich in God. Amen.

Thanksgiving Eve at Epiphany on November 23, 2011