Bible Passage: 1 Timothy 6:17-19
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: July 30, 2023

Bulletin July 30, 2023

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Last week when Sue and I were traveling, we listened to a book about the Vanderbilts of New York.  Cornelius Vanderbilt acquired a massive fortune in the shipping and railroad industries in New York in the 1800’s.  When he died in 1877, he left a fortune of $100 million dollars.  That would be about $2 billion in today’s money.  His son doubled the fortune to $200 million dollars.  In just two generations, the Vanderbilts had become the wealthiest family in America.  They went on to become the most famous family of what is called the “Gilded Age” of American history.

Now this is where you may think we begin to decry the evils of money and wealth.  But we will not.  We will not, because God does not.  There is nothing inherently “unholy” about money, any more than there is something “unholy” about a poached egg.  Some of the heroes of the faith in the Bible were very wealthy.  Abraham, Job, David.  All wealthy.  We just heard about Solomon who was given wealth as a sort of “bonus blessing” from the Lord.  It is no sin for the Christian to be rich.  But wealth does present some unique challenges and temptations.  And that is why the Lord passes along some instructions in our text.  Instructions for the Christian Rich.

Paul writes to Timothy, his young friend and colleague in ministry, Instruct those who are rich…(v. 17)  Two things worth noting here.  Paul’s words acknowledge that there are Christians who have money.  Jesus does not require a vow of poverty to follow him.  The other thing worth noting is Paul’s use of the word “instruct.”  Timothy is not to rebuke or scold.  He is to “instruct” them.  He is to give them evangelical advice on how to live as a Christian with money.

Instruct those who are rich in this present age not to be arrogant. (v. 17)  Arrogance, pride can often go along with being rich.  The person with wealth imagines that their wealth is due to superiority.  Maybe superiority of birth and breeding, or superiority of intelligence or industry.  From there it is not a far step to looking down one’s nose at the “unwashed, unlettered, uncultured” masses.   To the Christian rich, the Spirit of God instructs, “Don’t be arrogant.”

The instruction continues:  …not to be arrogant or to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches (v. 17)  Here Paul gets to the greatest danger of wealth.  People “put their hope” in it.  It becomes God.  They don’t trust God for daily bread, they trust their bank account.  They don’t trust in God for shelter from the storm, they trust in their well-built mansion.  They don’t trust God for care and protection, they trust the protections money affords – a home in a good, safe zip-code, the most state-of-the-art security system.  When sickness comes, they don’t trust God, they trust the best doctors money can afford.  They do not trust God for the future, after all, Wall Street always eventually turns “bullish.”  Money is God.  But it is an uncertain god.  Fortunes are made and lost in less time than you think.  In less than 100 years the Vanderbilt fortune is gone.

Rather than trust in money, we are instructed to place our hope in God, who richly supplies us with all things for our enjoyment. (v. 17) Pay attention to how God is described here!  He is the one who richly supplies all things!  The rich fall into thinking it is money that gives them all good things.  This was Martin Luther’s definition of a “god” in his Large Catechism.  He defines a god as “that from which a person expects all good things.”  Paul reminds us it is God who gives us all things out of his gracious largesse!  And he does so that we might enjoy all that he gives us.

But this enjoyment isn’t meant to be ungoverned personal consumption.  Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share. (v. 18)  Christian, you are what Martin Luther called “God’s mask” in the world.  You don’t look like God.  When you walk into a room people don’t exclaim, “God just walked in!”  But God wants to love people through you.  And so whatever we take into our hands becomes a way to show God’s love to other people.  The rich Christian has been given the opportunity to handle dollars, more so than many others, and to use them to love other people.

The fact that we must be “instructed” about this is significant.  That means this doesn’t come naturally.  By nature our hearts – yours and mine included – are little “idol-factories.”  We make idols out of just about anything.  And money is our “go-to” idol.  But something has happened to disrupt the work in my little idol factory!  The real, one true God has broken through the doors!   And he has entered in the person of Jesus Christ!

Jesus, who always had the right relationship with wealth.  Oh, the devil tempted Jesus with all the power and glory and wealth of the kingdoms of the earth.  “All this I will give you, if you bow down and worship me!” said the devil.  Said Jesus, Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. (Matthew 4:10)  Jesus’ heart was no idol-factory!  Sure, Jesus and the disciples had a money-purse.  There were people who helped support them with gifts and donations.  They had to buy groceries and so forth.  But Jesus loved his Father, and people, not his money.

And Christ has entered your life with his cross.  The cross is where the most extravagant expenditure has ever been paid for anything!  There Jesus shed his precious blood for a world of sinners.  He did it to forgive you for the idols you have made in your idol factory.  He did it to free you from your idols to love and serve him.  He did it to give you clear title to a mansion in heaven.

The Vanderbilt name will forever be associated with the “Gilded Age.”  But the real “Gilded Age” is coming!  Paul says at the end of our text that the Christian who loves Jesus more than money and uses money to serve others is laying a foundation for the age to come, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. (v. 19)  Even life in a Vanderbilt mansion was not truly life.  All that is gilded here is not lasting.  This is not real.  This is not “life.”  That which is truly life is coming.  The real “Gilded Age” awaits us…in heaven!  For Jesus’ sake!

Amen.