DUNCAN/God’s command for stewards

DUNCAN/God’s command for stewards

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Please turn to 1 Timothy 6:17-19. In this passage, Paul is giving us God’s commands for stewards. He is not just talking about what we give to the church, he is also talking about the way we view money in general. This is not the only place where Paul addresses the issues of stewardship and money. In 1 Timothy 6:9-10, he speaks about an inordinate desire to get rich and the trial of the love of money. Furthermore, in 2 Timothy 3:2, he speaks of the last days in which men will be lovers of self and lovers of money. And so Paul is reminding us that our approach to money is an important index of whether the Gospel has taken control of our heart. This passage can be divided into two sections. First, Paul says nine particularly important things to us about the way we approach money. Secondly, Paul also addresses stewardship as a spiritual issue.  

I. The Way We Approach Money. 

First, Paul says, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited.” In other words, Paul is saying that Christians must not become prideful because of their worldly wealth. Having much may tempt us to think that we do not need the Lord. There is such a thing as a wealth-induced pride. And he supplies the corrective to that pride in this very passage with that phrase “those who are rich in this present world.” He is reminding us that all of us must live in light of this world now and the world which is to come. And he says that if we live to be rich in this world, then we must remember we may be paupers in the next. Therefore, we are not to be prideful because of worldly wealth.

Secondly, Paul says, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world… not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches.” He is telling Christians not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of worldly wealth. He is bringing up the problem of a wealth-induced misplaced hope. Sometimes we put our hope in the wrong thing or in the wrong place. And one of the things that worldly wealth can tempt us to do is to find our security in that worldly wealth.

Thirdly, Paul says, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world to fix their hope…on God.” As an antidote to finding our security in temporal things, Paul says, “Christian, make sure your trust is in the God who gave the wealth, not the wealth God gave.” When you have much, it is so tempting to find your security in worldly wealth and to try to ensure that you don’t lose that earthly security. But Paul says here to positively cultivate your hope in God. 

Fourthly, Paul says, we are to hope in God, “who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.” Paul is instructing us to remind ourselves that every good gift comes from the Lord. He is reminding us that the solution to greed is gratitude to God. It is a humble recognition that the reason that we may have more is not because we are better or smarter or faster, but it is because God has been good.

Fifthly, Paul says, “Instruct them… to do good.” Because of God’s temporal blessings to us, we have a special responsibility to do good with the means that God has given us. Do you remember Jesus’ story about the faithful and unfaithful stewards? Two of them took the money that had been given to them by their master and they cultivated it. However, one of them squandered that trust. And Jesus’ point was that we are not to squander the resources and the means and the gifts that God has given to us, but instead, we’re to use them for the Kingdom.

Sixthly, Paul says, “Instruct them… to be rich in good works.” Christians are to strive to be rich in good works, the kind of wealth that heaven sees. Paul is raising the possibility that we can have much material wealth, and we can be thought of as wealthy by the world around us, but in fact, we can be paupers. We can be impoverished, because we are not using what God has given to us for good. 

Seventh, Paul says, we are to “be generous and ready to share.” Our natural inclination when God gives us much is to use it for our own advancement and comfort. But God says here through the Apostle Paul, “Cultivate generosity. Be ready to share.” Those of us who have been given much have a privilege and a greater responsibility to share with others and to care for those less fortunate, especially believers.

Eighth, Paul says that we are to be “storing up for ourselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future.” God has given us much. And we must deliberately be laying up our treasures in heaven instead of putting our hope in the things of this world. 

Ninth and finally, Paul says at the end of verse 19 “…so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” In other words, wealthy Christians must take hold of real life, not just that which merely appears to be life. He is saying it is possible to look at worldly wealth and to imbibe the philosophy that says, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” However, Paul says that is not wealth, it is poverty. It is in the kingdom of God that the only true life is found. But when we seek after the “all things” we lose the kingdom.

II. Stewardship is a Spiritual Issue. 

The over-arching issue behind Paul’s message is that our use of wealth and our stewardship of what God has given us is a measure of whether we understand God’s lordship. In other words, how we use what God has given us is an especially important spiritual issue. Our attitude towards money and our use of money is an index of our sense of mission in this life, and it is also an index of what the ultimate object of worship is. 

Our Christian giving and our use of wealth shows us whether Christ is really Lord.  Just how we spend our money tells us who we are worshipping. In the way we give to the Lord we join our profession of belief with the affections of our hearts, and we say, “Lord, I believe that You are Lord. Let me prove it. Here is that which You have first given me. It’s all Yours, and You’ve asked me to give back to You, and so I am joining the profession of my lips with an action flowing from the heart to show You that I mean it when I say that You are Lord.” May we pray that our use of wealth and our giving to God’s  kingdom would be a reflection of hearts which know and have experienced the grace of Jesus Christ. 






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