Text: 1 Timothy 6:6–10, 17–19
Date: September 18, 2022
Event: Proper 20, Year C
1 Timothy 6:6–10, 17–19 (EHV)
But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly cannot take anything out. 8But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be satisfied.
9Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into complete destruction and utter ruin. 10For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evils. By striving for money, some have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.
17Instruct those who are rich in this present age not to be arrogant or to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches, but rather in God, who richly supplies us with all things for our enjoyment. 18Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share. 19In this way they are storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
How to Get Rich
Not too many weeks ago, the Mega Millions lottery prize was over a billion dollars. A billion. I can’t even process that number. I once heard a way to try to distinguish the difference between a million and a billion. A million seconds is 12 days; a billion seconds is 31 years. It’s an astronomical number for anything, including dollars. Of course, if you win that, a huge percentage goes to the government in taxes. But even still, winning hundreds of millions of dollars? What would you even do with all of that money?
Several years ago, another lottery total was up around that much and I remember doing a lot of daydreaming about the good we could do if our family won that amount of money. What could be done for our family? For those suffering with homelessness and poverty? What could be done for our congregation and synod and the spread of the gospel at large? In fact, I can remember standing in line at a convenience store thinking, “I should just buy one ticket,” but they only sold them as a cash purchase and I didn’t have any cash, so I didn’t buy a ticket. But the result was the same as if I had bought a ticket—we didn’t win.
But you’ve likely heard the horror stories of people who win the lottery thinking it will make their lives better and it just ruins them. All of their relationships become strained. All the good they wanted to do seems impossible, and oftentimes, even those who win ridiculous sums of money, are bankrupt within a few years.
Having a ton of money isn’t all its cracked up to be. In fact, it can often be a burden rather than a blessing. Money in general is a tool, but it’s not an end. It’s a means to an end. So what is the Christian’s relationship with earthly wealth? And how do you manage that against the world’s view of earthly wealth? How do you get rich while taking God’s perspective on the matter?
Sometimes there’s a view that the church should’t talk about money. And if all we were going to talk about is how you should give more money to the church and end there, then that sentiment is probably right. But God’s Word is overflowing with verses guiding, advising, and warning about earthly wealth. So if this is important for God to say it’s probably important for us to hear and consider.
In our Second Reading, Paul is writing to Pastor Timothy with advice and guidance for him as he approaches his work shepherding God’s flock in the city of Ephesus. One of the topics he spills considerable ink on in this relatively short letter is money. The very first thing in our reading that Paul hits on is that of contentment. Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly cannot take anything out. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be satisfied.
That is not the way the world looks at wealth. The world’s advice is always get more, buy up more, hoard more, have more. And this is why greed is not a problem for rich people nor is it a problem for poor people, it’s a problem for people. Because whether I have a lot of money or a little bit of money, if I’m pressing on toward wanting more and focused on accumulating more, that’s going to lead me into trouble no matter what I’m starting with: Those who want to get rich (or we might insert the “richer”) fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into complete destruction and utter ruin. A lack of contentment leads to wanting more wealth, and wanting more wealth leads to complete destruction and utter ruin. In other words, continually seeking after more wealth leads to earthly and eternal loss.
How do you get rich? The first step is by realizing that earthly riches are not something to be pursued, but something to be received. When it comes to earthly wealth here, no matter how much we’ve been given, the goal is always management, it’s faithfulness, to what has been entrusted to us. So if you are barely scraping by and just barely making ends meet to feed, clothe, and house your family, that is being faithful with what God has given. If God has given you an abundance to manage, you have the responsibility to use that abundance in a way that pleases God. And no matter where you find yourself on the poor/wealthy spectrum, contentment with what has been given is paramount.
But we know that we’ve not always been faithful, we’ve not always been content. We’ve dreamed about and lusted after more wealth for ourselves, be it adding to a considerable amount we already have or pulling us out of what feels like a low pit of no resources. There have been times, even if not constantly, where money and material things have become an idol for us, a god that we worship because we prioritized it above all other things. And that’s why Paul reminded Timothy that such attitudes lead to complete destruction and utter ruin, because they lead to focusing on worldly things instead of eternal things. In our Gospel, Jesus said that you cannot be a servant to both God and money at the same time (Luke 16:13), and Paul underscores that truth: By striving for money, some have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.
But Jesus came to save us. When writing to the Corinthians, Paul put it this way: You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). Jesus not only didn’t reach for things that hadn’t been given to him, in order to save us he actually gave up what was rightfully his. There was no reason for Jesus to take on our human nature, but to save us. There was no reason for him to give up on the glory he rightfully has as God the Son, but to save us. There was no reason for him to allow himself to be nailed to a cross and suffer the punishment of hell, but to save us. And saving us was of the utmost importance to him, so that’s what he did. He gave us the power and glory and riches he has as God in order to be our Savior.
Because he gave up those things for us, we are forgiven for the times we have let the desire for and worry about material things drive our lives. We have been forgiven for our discontent. We have been forgiven for prioritizing earthly treasure over true, eternal wealth. Jesus paid the debt we owed in our sin and he freely gives us the most precious gift of eternal life.
So what now? How do we get rich? First and foremost, recognize that you already are. You have the treasure that no amount of money could ever buy. You have the love of God freely given to you in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. You have faith given to you by the Holy Spirit through his Word and sacraments which enables you to trust that these things are true and certain.
With that certainty of our eternal wealth established, Paul gives us the secret to getting even richer in this life: Instruct those who are rich in this present age not to be arrogant or to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches, but rather in God, who richly supplies us with all things for our enjoyment. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share. In this way they are storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
Want to be rich? Don’t focus on money or possessions or anything else the world might consider wealth. Rather, focus on being rich in good works. What does that look like? It means living your life in thanksgiving to God—every conversation, every interaction, tackling every moment of every day with the goal of bringing glory to God through it. It means being generous with what you’ve been given in treasures or talents or time, and in whatever degree God has allowed you to have those things.
God has given you the ability to be generous. Now, maybe you can’t write a check and pay off someone’s mortgage or singlehandedly support a new mission congregation somewhere in the country. But perhaps you can do some smaller-feeling things—helping someone who needs some water or a meal, spending time with someone who needs an ear to listen to them and support them, spending some time teaching someone a skill or some facts they need in their lives. There are many, many ways to be generous, and few of them require a giant vault of gold to do so.
So let those earthly resources that God gives be used in his service and in the service of one another. Don’t let earthly things become an all-consuming force. Put them in their place and use them for what God has intended: take care of your personal and family responsibilities, see to it that the message of the gospel goes out from this place and elsewhere, and take the opportunities to be generous to others so that you reflect God’s eternal generosity to all people.
How do you get rich? You let God give you true riches that endure now and forever. Thanks be to God! Amen.
