Enjoy and Employ God's Good Gifts

Father, we thank you for the ways that you have spoken to us clearly through your word over the last five weeks. You have been faithful in every way. And we trust that you will continue to be faithful to meet us where we are today. This is the most preaching that I've ever done on a subject like this.

This is probably the most teaching a lot of people have heard on a subject like this before. And so we pray that you would give us ears to hear. what you are saying to us. We pray that we would embrace what you are calling us to. We pray that we would be asking the questions that you want us to ask, that we might be set free to live lives of joy and freedom in Jesus Christ.

God, we pray that our lives would look different as a result of the efforts and the investments that we've made. We want to be people who are generous and therefore are joyful and people who are joyful and therefore generous. And so we pray you would continue to work on our hearts, work on our minds, work on our lives that we might bring you glory.

In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Well, friends, we wrap up our joyful sermon series today in 1 Timothy 6, verses 17 through 19. And Paul is writing in this letter to his beloved disciple, Timothy. And Timothy, at this point in his life, is pastoring the church in Ephesus.

Now, Ephesus. Was the most important city in the Roman province of Asia. It's on the western coast of what we call Turkey. You can go visit the city today. You can see a lot of the ruins from Paul's day if you go there. And it is very clear from the letter that many people in the church at Ephesus were well-educated and wealthy.

Very clear from that in the letter, because as Paul closes, he gives Timothy instructions for the rich in this present age. And he doesn't say that to a lot of other churches in the New Testament letters, but he says that to Timothy, pastoring the church in Ephesus. And I think when a lot of us read the rich in this present age, we automatically think that somebody else is being talked about.

Because we all know people who have more money than we do. We all know people who have more stuff than we do. So when we hear the word rich, we think that God must be addressing someone else, not us. But, friends, as we've talked about throughout this series, compared to most people in human history, compared to most people alive today, we are rich.

We have more time, more energy, more resources, and more money than most people in human history. And so when Paul says, the rich in this present age, We shouldn't assume that he's talking about someone else. We should assume that he is talking to us, that he is addressing us.

We are those that God has enriched in every way to be generous in every way. And, friends, there's nothing to be ashamed of in that. There's nothing to be ashamed of in that. Time and resources, energy, and money, these are all good gifts from a good God. We don't need to feel ashamed about being wealthy any more than a poor person needs to be ashamed about his poverty.

But we do have to think about God's good gifts, and we do have to use God's good gifts according to his will that's revealed in his word and not according to the world's wisdom. And so, that's what Paul is going to help us do today. He's going to help us understand and embrace a biblical view with respect to the riches and the wealth that God has entrusted to us.

And so, Paul is going to instruct Timothy to give you and me four charges. We'll put these on the screen for you. Paul is going to instruct Timothy to charge us: don't be haughty because of God's good gifts, don't hope in God's good gifts, enjoy God's good gifts.

And employ God's good gifts. So let's look now at verse 17 as we see that first point, that first charge. Don't be haughty because of God's good gifts. Look at 1 Timothy 6:17. As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty. Haughty is a great word, isn't it?

It means prideful or arrogant. It can mean disdainful of others. Haughty even sounds haughty. It's like one of those words that you hear it and you're like, yeah, that's right. Well, Paul tells Timothy to charge the rich in the present age not to be haughty. Well, why would he need to do that?

Why is haughtiness a unique temptation to those who have riches? Well, it's because riches set people apart, don't they? I mean, you can think about it, and you can tell a wealthy person from a poorer person almost immediately. You can tell it by what they're wearing. You can tell it by what they're driving or where they live.

You can tell it even sometimes by how they carry themselves. But it's not just those things, it's more than that. Riches give people access and opportunities that poorer people simply don't have. As the old saying goes, money talks. It opens doors. It gets you into circles and into rooms that those who have less means simply cannot get into.

And the result of all of that can be pride. It can be haughtiness. It can be leading you to look with disdain on other people. Because you wear different stuff or you drive different stuff or you live in a different neighborhood or you have access to certain opportunities, it can lead you to look down on other people.

You can wrongly conclude that you have earned or that you deserve everything that you have. And that leads to pride. Friends, this is the very thing that God warned his people about before they entered the promised land. I want to look at a lengthy portion of scripture in the book of Deuteronomy because this whole thing is so important for us to grasp.

Look on the screen at Deuteronomy 8. Here is God's warning to the people. Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules. Rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you to do you good in the end.

Beware, lest you say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth. You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is to this day.

Friends, America is not Israel. But you can clearly see the parallels. Our ancestors came over from the old world with basic. Nothing with the whole intention of establishing a country where there would be freedom of religion, where they could practice particularly the Christian faith without fear of persecution.

And these people scrapped it out for years and years and years, trying to give their children and their grandchildren a better life. And you can trace it like a mathematical chart that as our country became more and more and more prosperous, we turned further and further and further away from the Lord.

We have mirrored and paralleled this very thing. We have become haughty and proud, and we act as though we earned and we deserved all of this stuff, which, apart from any reference to God, isn't true. Our great-great-great-grandparents worked and bled and cried to get us to where we are today.

We didn't do that stuff. But we know that it is the Lord who gives us power to be where we are today, and yet we've become proud. We've acted like we deserve all this stuff, like we earned it all. And so, what is the answer to our haughtiness?

Look at the end of verse 17. The answer is to remember that. It is God who richly provides us with everything. God richly provides us with everything. However much we have, time, energy, resources, money, it is God who has richly provided. He has generously given to us those good gifts.

Look at James chapter 1 on the screen. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. So friends, instead of pridefully, haughtily looking down on others who have less than we do, we should humbly acknowledge that every good and every perfect gift that we have comes from a good heavenly Father.

And if God has given us more good gifts than he has given to our neighbors, then we have a greater stewardship, a greater responsibility entrusted to us. Look what Jesus said in Luke chapter 12. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required. So friends, if we've been given much, if God Has enriched us in every way, as we've seen, that should humble us, not make us proud.

Don't be haughty because of God's good gifts. Let's look now at the second charge that Paul instructs Timothy to give to us: don't hope in God's good gifts. Verse 17 again: As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God.

Why would the rich be tempted to set their hope in riches? Why are we tempted to set our hope in riches? It's because we're tempted to think that money is the answer for everything. And don't get me wrong, money will solve many problems. When you are wealthy, you can make a lot of problems disappear by throwing money at them.

But money, as we know, will not solve every problem. Money cannot cure loneliness or buy love. Money cannot save a failing marriage or grant saving faith to anyone else. Money cannot. Change the human heart. There are so many things that money cannot do, and even if money could do those things, as we've seen, money can be stolen, money can be lost, and money just seems to disappear, doesn't it?

Look at Proverbs chapter 24: Do not toil to acquire wealth. Be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven. I think we've all experienced that. Riches are so uncertain, so it's foolish to set our hopes on them.

But it is wise to set our hopes on God, because God is not uncertain at all. God does not change. God does not lie or change his mind, and God keeps his promises. First, God does not change. Look on the screen at Psalm 102. Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work.

Of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain. They will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away. But you are the same, and your years have no end. The New Testament says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

God does not change. Second, God does not lie or change his mind. Look on the screen at Numbers 23. God is not man that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

Friends, God doesn't lie, he doesn't change his mind. He knows the beginning from the end. He knows all things. He has perfect knowledge. And so everything he does, he does with intention. He does with his plans and good purposes in mind. And then third, God keeps his promises.

Look at Hebrews 10. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. You see, friends, riches are uncertain. They sprout wings and they fly away. Your bank account, your retirement account, it is different day to day and week to week.

But God doesn't change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God is certain, and so we should set our hopes on him. But that is easier said than done, isn't it? One thing that we've learned is riches are deceitful. And here's the thing about deceit: if you have been deceived, you don't know that you've been deceived.

That's the whole thing with deceit. You don't have an accurate view of the truth. So here's what can happen to us. We can read our Bibles regularly. We can pray regularly. We can attend worship and church events regularly. And all the while, we can be setting our hopes on the uncertainty of riches.

I want you to think about the parable of the four soils. Look what Jesus says in Matthew 13 as he's explaining the meaning of the parable. He says, as for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares Of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful.

May God have mercy. Friends, we can hear the word day after day, we can encounter the truth, and yet we can be deceived into setting our hope in the uncertainty of riches instead of on God, because riches are so deceitful. And so, friends, one way that we can set our hope on God instead of the uncertainty of riches is to prepare for the moments in life that we are going to be tempted to set our hope on the uncertainty of riches.

And those moments are usually when riches fail us, when our money is no longer working, so to speak, when we're tempted to feel insecure and anxious, as though our security rests in our money and our possessions. In those moments, it is helpful to have scripture memorized. Verses like Psalm 37, look at this verse.

This is a great verse to memorize. I have been young and now I'm old. Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children. Begging for bread. Brothers and sisters, set your hope on God. He doesn't change. He doesn't lie or change his mind. He always keeps his promises.

In an uncertain world, God is certain. So we've seen what not to do. Don't be haughty because of God's good gifts. Don't set your hope on God's good gifts. But what should we do positively? What does God call us to do? Look at the third charge. Enjoy God's good gifts.

Back to verse 17. As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. I think many people would be shocked to learn that that's in the Bible.

God richly provides us with everything to enjoy. Do you know that most of the false teachers in Paul's day taught the exact opposite? Ironically enough, these false teachers were greedy for gain. They wanted money and material gain. They actually embraced a form of stoicism. They taught that the material world is inherently evil and we need to separate ourselves from it.

They taught people that you need to adopt an ascetic lifestyle where you deny yourself pleasure and comfort. Well, what does Paul think about that preaching? Look at Colossians chapter 2. He says, If with Christ you die to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations?

Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used, according to human precepts and teachings. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Paul tells the Colossians: not only is asceticism unbiblical, it doesn't even work. It has an appearance of wisdom, but it will not get rid of your sinful desires. You cannot beat your body enough. You cannot deny your body enough to change your heart. God is a generous. Creator.

And when he created the world, he looked over all that he had made and he said it was very good. All of it, very good. I want to remind you of what Paul told Timothy just a few chapters earlier in 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 4 and 5.

Look on the screen. For everything created by God is good. And nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. For it is made holy by the Word of God and prayer. Now, obviously, these verses don't cancel out all of the other commands in Scripture. As though Paul is saying, as long as we pray before we eat, we can become gluttons.

Or as long as we pray before we drink alcohol, we can get drunk. Or as long as we pray before we view illicit material online, we can become adulterers. No, he does not say any of that. What Paul is saying is that God is the giver of every good and perfect gift.

And so when they are used righteously, as God intends, everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. So friends, we should enjoy God's Good gifts. Every good gift that God gives us now is a foretaste. It is an appetizer of what is to come in the new heavens and the new earth.

In this series, we have heard lots of warnings about money, and we need to heed all of those warnings. But our tendency as Christians is to swing from one extreme to the other and to go from hedonism to asceticism, to denying ourselves no pleasure, to living as though life is all about pleasure.

We tend to just go back and forth between extremes as Christians, but that's not what God wants for us. Look at what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7. He asks, Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, we'll give him a serpent.

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Out of his generosity, God has richly provided us with good gifts to Enjoy. And friends, we honor the Lord by enjoying those good gifts.

So, yes, we need to consider how we are stewarding the good gifts that God has entrusted to us. Yes, we should consider how can we simplify our lives so we are not so distracted by the clothes and the things that we own and cars and homes and all of the things that pull us away from serving the Lord.

Yes, we should consider how can we store up less treasure on earth and more treasure in heaven? All of that is right and good, but let us never forget that God is a good father who gives good gifts to his children and he richly provides us with them so that we can enjoy them.

We should enjoy God's good gifts, but that's not all we need to do with them. And that takes us to the fourth and final charge: we should employ God's good gifts. Look at verse 18. They, that is the rich in this present age, they are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, and ready to share.

Now, that statement basically confirms all that we've heard. Heard so far in this series. We've been enriched in every way to be generous in every way. We aren't just supposed to enjoy God's good gifts. We are to put them to use. We are called to employ God's good gifts.

But how do we do that? Well, first, we are commanded to do good. Do good. That's about as general as it can get. And I think it's supposed to be general because Paul is not commanding a certain type of good. And that tends to be a struggle for people in the church.

All of us have different passions and talents and gifts. And we think that good as a Christian should be done in one particular way. And we tend to think that if other Christians don't feel that way or aren't gifted in that way or passionate in that way about doing good, we tend to think that they are less than.

We can even become haughty, proud, and look down on them for the different ways that they use their gifts. But the charge here is do good. That's not defined. You can decide what that looks like based on your calling from the Lord and your passions and the gifts that he has given you.

But the charge is to do good because when we do good, it brings glory to God. Look at Matthew 5 on the screen. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand.

And it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. So, friends, we are commanded to do good and by doing good, bring glory to God.

But we might be tempted to think that that just means occasionally. And so, the next charge is: do good, be rich in good works. Isn't that a great phrase? Be rich in good works. So, this is not like once in a while, if my schedule is open enough and my energy level is high enough, and my bank account is full enough, I will do good.

No, this is a constant thing to where people could say they are rich in good works. Like, if they had a nickel for every time they did something good, they would be millionaires. That's what Paul is getting at: that we are to be rich in good works. And, friends, we are blessed with many people in our church who are rich in good works, many of whom you are never going to know about.

Because the ways that they do good and are rich in good works are largely outside of the church in the community. Others you're not going to know about because they're behind walls. They are serving in our next-gen ministries or in our production booth at the back of the room or on our advisory teams, which meet in the evenings and on weekends and over lunch breaks.

There are some people in our church who, every single time there is a need, it doesn't matter what it is or when it is, they respond to meet it. And those saints, God knows who you are, those people are rich in good works. And friends, we should aspire to that.

And then finally, Paul commands us to be generous and ready to share. Generosity is giving more than is necessary or expected. That's what generosity is. And ultimately, we are called to be generous because God is generous. Look at Ephesians 1:7 on the screen. This is one of the great statements of God's generosity in Scripture.

In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. That is generosity. By definition, grace is undeserved favor. We do not deserve God's grace, and yet He has lavished it. It upon us. Friends, think about what we have earned through our sin.

The wages of sin is death. That is what we have earned. That's what we deserve from God. We deserve discipline and punishment eternally. But what has God done? Instead of requiring us to pay for our sin, a debt that we could never repay, he sent his only begotten Son, Jesus, to leave the riches that he had from eternity past in heaven with the Father, to leave all of that, to take on flesh, the form of a servant, to live in such a way that he obeyed every one of God's commands and then went to the cross, offering himself in your place and mine for our sins, so that through his death and resurrection, God could lavish his grace upon us.

As Paul says in Romans, he who did not spare his own son, how will he not with him graciously give us all things? Friends, the gospel is God's greatest depiction of his generosity, how he lavishes his grace upon us. And so we are called to be generous, to give our time and energy.

Our money and our resources to give more than is necessary or expected because that's what God does. He is a generous God. We're called to be generous and ready to share. Not just like if there are no alternatives, if nobody else steps up, then I'll do it. But as in, we are hoping and praying and looking for opportunities to be generous.

That's what it is to be ready to share. Me and Kendra have two very dear friends, Rodney and Laura. They are two of the most generous people I have ever met. Back in about 2013, right after Yeti started producing those cups, you remember the original silver ones? I was looking at buying one of those things, but they're $178, you know, and I was like, I don't know.

And I go to Rodney's house and he's got a new one sitting on the counter, like the stickers in it and the lid is off and it's sitting there. And I was like, man, I've been thinking about getting one of those. And Rodney says, it's yours. And he just gave it to me.

Crazier story. About the same time, we are at an event together with Rodney and Laura. And Kendra and Laura go to the bathroom. And during that trip to the bathroom, a lady sees Laura and she compliments her necklace and says, That's the most beautiful necklace I've ever seen.

I kid you not, Laura took it off of her neck and put it around that lady's neck and gave it to her. Friends, that's a picture of being generous and ready to share. You don't necessarily need to take off your jewelry and your clothing to give it to people who compliment you, but it's a picture.

So, friends, I want you to take stock of how you are employing the good gifts that God has entrusted to you. Should you be enjoying them? Yes, but you should also be employing them, using them to do good, not just once in a while, but so often that it could be said of you that you are rich in good works.

That's what we're going for. Our generosity and readiness to share points people to our Heavenly Father, who generously shares everything with us, including His only begotten Son, who held nothing back, not His blood, not His very life. And so, why do we do all that? Look what Paul says in that last verse, 19.

He says, We do all of this stuff, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. Have you ever been on an amazing vacation where you did exactly what you wanted to do in a beautiful place?

Like, if you're old enough, a place like Kokomo? Sometime during vacations like that, I think we all have the same thought, or we like to sigh and say to the people that we're with, I wish we could stay here forever, but this is not real life. And what we mean is that our real life, our everyday responsibilities of work and school and chores, and all of the challenges of life in this fallen world, our real life is not like our vacation life.

And so we say, this isn't real life. But that statement is true in another sense. Vacation is not real life because real life is actually not found in pursuing pleasure and leisure forever. True life, real life, is found in not just enjoying, but employing God's good gifts. It's found in doing lots of good works.

It's found in being generous and ready to share. It's found in living out the truth that it really is better to give than to receive. Friends, that is true life, real life today, and it stores up treasure as a good foundation for the future. That life that we are going to enjoy in the new heavens and the New earth where we will continue to enjoy and employ God's good gifts forever without a trace of sin.

Friends, only you can know how much joy you were experiencing when we started this journey six weeks ago. I will tell you that I was not experiencing a whole lot of joy in Jesus. By God's grace, I think today, six weeks later, I am experiencing more of the joy of Jesus than I was at that time.

I'm not where I want to be, and I bet you aren't where you want to be either, but I am further down the road. Today is the end of the joyful sermon series, but it is just the beginning of the joyful journey that we are on together. This is a journey for us to grow as disciples of Jesus who see investing our time and our energy and our resources and our money into God's kingdom as the wisest and best thing that we could possibly do because that is how we take hold of that which is truly life.

And so, friends, let's stay on the journey together. God has made known to us the path of life. At his right hand are pleasures forevermore. By faith, let's embrace them together. Let's pray. Father, we do want to take hold of that which is truly life. We don't want to grasp at that which is not real life, that cannot ultimately satisfy us, that cannot ultimately provide the joy that we want, that we're looking for, that we're pursuing.

So we pray that by doing good, by being rich in good works, by being generous and ready to share, that you would help us to take hold of that which is truly life. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.