Because if people go on vacation and drive nice things and have nice things, then they’re taking hold of life that is really life. But again, the Bible screams at us. That is a lie. That is a mist. You want real life? Learn to do good deeds. Learn to be generous, to put your hope in God, and then you’ll be able to take hold of life that is truly life. Today, we’re finishing a four-week series about what it means to be rich. And what we’ve been saying all along is that the Bible specifically talks to people who have a lot of money, who have money, about what it takes to be rich in the Lord. Over and over and over Again, the Bible tells us, Here’s what we want you to hear if you have resources. If you are someone that has money, here’s what I want you to do. And most of us who are rich, because we live in America and we have… Most of us, if not all of us, are in the top 4% of wage earners in the world, which means that most of us, if the world looked at us, if the world looked at your life and looked at your opportunities and looked at the things that you have, most people would think, Wow, this man or this woman is rich.
But if you were to ask yourself if you’re rich, you would say not quite. And the reason you would say that is because none of us really feel rich. We don’t feel like we’ve passed over from the not rich to the rich. And so our very first lesson in this series was all about to convince you that, you know what, and help you admit that you are rich, that God has blessed you. God has blessed me with more than I need, and I am rich. And then the second lesson, we talked a little bit about this idea that we have been so rich that one of the temptations of rich people is to put their trust in their wealth. And so we said, hey, number two, I will not trust my riches. And then lesson three, that was last week, we said, since we have more, what we should do is we should do more and we should give more. Since we have extra, we should leverage that extra for the sake of others, for the sake of God’s Kingdom. Don’t allow your riches and your rich people options to suck up all your extra, all your extra time and all your extra money.
And don’t allow your life to be so just consumed with stuff that you can’t do a little bit more and you can’t give a little bit more. And then you look back on your life after 40 years and you wonder, well, what did I do? You said, well, I had some good vacations, and I had some not good ones. I bought a nice car. And you really have nothing of good deeds to show for it. And we said, that’s not really how you want to be rich. You want to be rich by doing more and giving more. And the cool thing is that we’ve gotten most of our teachings from this series out of one passage of scripture in the Book of first Timothy, which is the place we’re going to begin today to end our series. So if you want to follow along, you could turn with me to first Timothy first Timothy 6. This is a letter written by a guy named Paul, who wrote it to his mentee named Timothy. And in this section of scripture, Paul is trying to teach Timothy how to minister to those who have wealth. How do you minister to those who have wealth?
And he says, we read this already, but he says, hey, tell them that this is how you pass the test of affluence. And it’s not easy because as Jesus says, it’s not It’s not easy for the rich people to enter the Kingdom of God. It’s not easy. And so he gives them this very specific instruction. We’ve been reading this all month long. We’ll begin our service by continuing it now. Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant. That means don’t think that because you have more, that you are better than other people, nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain. But to put your hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. This was last week, Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. And then verse 19 begins with these three words, In this way. I got to explain that before we finish the sentence. In this way, hangs on the command to be rich in good deeds and willing to share. Paul says, by being rich in good deeds, that is that you take the extra margin of your life, the extra margin of your time, and you leverage it for the sake of people.
You take a little bit of the extra money of your life and you give it to others so that they can blossom as well. When you do this in that way, when you’re generous and do good deeds in this way, they will lay up treasures for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age. So that, and here’s the result of laying up treasures for yourself as a firm foundation, so that, here’s the result, so that they may take hold of life that is truly life. See, Paul knew something about us that we might not know about ourselves. And it’s this, that every single day, you you and I who live in this wonderful, developed nation, this nation with every opportunity we could possibly imagine, this nation with more wealth than every nation that has ever existed since the beginning of time, that we who live here sitting today with cell phones in our pockets and cars in the parking lot here, that we here who have air condition, blowing in our homes and electricity and can get annoyed by the silly things because the ice cream machine is not working at McDonald’s. We here who have all of these opportunities in life are tempted to take hold of a life that is not truly life.
Every day, you and I are tempted to equate our lives with the things that we have and the money in our accounts. We are tempted to blend our personality ouralities and our giftings and the wonderful things that God has given us. And we’re attempted to blend all that in with the material possessions in our homes and the cars that we drive, and the places where we go on vacation. And we’re tempted to think that if we have a lot of the stuff in this category, the material category, that makes life worth living. Every day, we are tempted to take hold of life that is not really life. So Paul tells Timothy to tell the rich that if they learn to be rich towards God, if they learn to be generous, then they will find life that is really life. Tell them that the stuff-focused society, this is what Paul is saying. Tell them that the stuff-focused society, the status-focused society, the numbers in your bank account-focused society is like the matrix. And it feels like it’s real, but it’s really not. That it feels like it’s important, but it’s really not. That we are all tempted to think that that is where joy comes from, and that is where life is found, and that is where pleasure really is.
And in that way, we begin to hold on to something that the Bible authors tell us is just a mist. Life, the temporary, is a mist. We grasp, but we cannot truly find it. It’s misguided at best, and it’s lethal at worse. So, Timothy, Paul says, you need to remind them that isn’t real life. And the only people who achieve life are those who are generous in this life. And that, even though those rich people look like they are taking hold of life. And I know it looks like rich people are taking hold of life, right? Because you jump on Instagram and you go, well, I want to go to vacation in the Maldives. That’s real life. And you look at the car they just bought and you think, oh, that must be life to have a car that can drive itself and to have an infotainment system that can hook up to your phone. My daughter has become obsessed with Teslas. She is seven. And the reason she’s obsessed is because her aunt bought a Tesla and the car can dance, apparently. The windows can open and close and it could drive itself. And so she asked me every time we rent a car or something, she says, Can this car drive itself?
Does it does it dance? And she thinks that if she captures that, she’s tempted, even at the age of seven, to think that that is life. And we’re tempted to think that if you can wear something nicer, then you found life. That’s how to find real life. Because if people go on vacation and drive nice things and have nice things, then they’re taking hold of life that is really life. But again, the Bible screams at us. That is a lie. That is a mist. You want real life? Learn to do good deeds. Learn to be generous, to put your hope in God. And then you’ll be able to take hold of life that is truly life. And it’s a question, really, this all hinges on one question. It’s all about whether or not you believe this, because you know these passages. I’ve shared this passage for four weeks in a row. Life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions. Do you believe this or not believe it? Do I believe this or do I not believe it? That’s what this hinges on. It all hinges on whether or not I trust that God’s words are true, or if I trust what the commercials on my television say, or the commercials on my Instagram feed say.
These are the questions, which do I trust? And so here’s where we’re headed. I think the idea is that you need to loosen your grip on your stuff so that you can take hold of your life. You need to stop thinking about all your things as you so that you can take hold of life that is really life. But let me just tell you, if you’re going to do this, it’s going to take some effort because you live, and I live in a culture that every single day wants us to take hold the stuff we have and the stuff we don’t have and the stuff we think we need and the stuff we used to have and the stuff we think we might have. And all of a sudden, we start grasping those things, and those things hold back onto us. And they clamp down harder and harder and harder and harder and harder. And they hold on to us so that we feel anxious and frustrated and indebted and disappointed and disturbed. And God is just saying to you, God who loves you, is saying, no, no, no, no. That’s not the right way.
I don’t want it to own you. I don’t want it to control you. And why, you may ask, does God not want it to control you? And here’s a morbid thought, but hang with me. There’s a morbid thought, because you’re going to, and this is true for everyone here, you’re going to run out of time before you run out of money. That’s true for everyone here. You think, well, I may retire and not have anything. Well, let me just tell you, you live in the United States of America. There is no chance that you’re going to have no money when you die, not zero. This is just the way it works here. And you might think there’s one random situation, but I bet you that’s not the the majority of you all. So here’s the idea. So while you have time, you should be rich towards God, because you’re going to run out of time before you run out of money. You should be generous. Otherwise, you run the risk of total loss. We’re going to run out of time before we run out of money, so we should learn how to be rich towards God.
Let’s be rich right away while we have time. If you do, you’ll take hold of life that is truly life. I have an illustration. It’s a stupid illustration. I’ve actually shown this before to you guys, but Katie is going to bring me something. Can you guys see this? Here, do you see this? You want some of this? Do you know what this is? This is moldy bread and also moldy cheese, which someone said you could eat, but I don’t think you should. This is moldy bread. You see, it’s beautiful. Here, you want cameras? Look at Here we go. Here’s the problem. Moldy bread. Do you know how bread gets moldy? You don’t consume it in time. You don’t consume it in time. So we went away for a couple of days. We took a trip, and this is what happens to all of us. You have things in your fridge, you take a trip, you didn’t consume it. And eventually, what happens? It becomes gross. Mold spores begin to grow and infect the entire piece of the bread. By the way, do not just cut out the mold and eat the bread. Whoever does that, there’s mold in the bread.
This is just like the blossom of the of the fungus. Just so you know, don’t do that. I’m just trying to help you. That’s a warning, a health warning. Mold spores have consumed what I did not consume. And now it has to be thrown away. It It sat too long, and it’s no longer good for anyone. It should have been used. It should have been used to feed my family. It should have been used to help my children go to lunch and go to camp with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. This cheese should have been used at some point, but instead it sat there and it rotted. And I just want to share with you, in similar fashion. These are some final convicting thoughts in this series before we wrap a bow on this. And they’re given to us by James, the brother of Jesus. And this is what it says. I want you to hear these words. By the way, if you want to know what this sermon is about, this is a very silly phrase. Maybe you’ll remember it. Others, I preach this before, so you might remember it from before. But here’s the conclusion of it, and then we’ll look at the Book of James.
Start giving while you’re living because what you’re holding is molding. Works for you? Is this good poetry? No. Is this funny? No. But it’s the bottom line, just in case you fall asleep. Okay, this is terrible, but here’s what James says. James 5:1, Listen, you rich people. Paying attention? You’re paying attention? Now, listen, you rich people. Weep and wail because of the misery that is coming to you. What is he saying? Well, exactly what we’ve been talking about for the last couple of weeks. He’s saying, Rich people, your future is not secure because you’re rich. Just because you have money doesn’t mean your future is secure. Just because you have a completely funded 401k, your future is not secure. Weep and wail because there is a misery coming. What’s the misery? Well, the misery is this. Your wealth has rotted. And moths have eaten your clothes, and mold has grown on your bread. Your gold and your silver are corroded. Your wealth has rotted. The end is soon. There’s no way to save your stuff. Your gold and your silver are corroded. You’ve stored up so much gold. You’ve stored up so much silver. You’ve stored up all of your wealth and all of your wonder and all of your possessions.
You put them away. You kept them for a rainy day, and they began to tarnish. And moss got in them and ate holes in them. And the metal began to chip and tarnish. And what is he saying? You held on to it so much for too long, and now it’s no good for you or anything or anybody else. The outcome of your stuff. What happened? You held on to too much for too long, and now it’s beginning to chip and spoil and fade. You think about the pyramids. You think about the kings or the pharos who were put into the pyramids, and they were put in with all of their treasure because they thought they would have it in the afterlife. Then 2,000 years later, some pillager basically comes in and steals the stuff from the tombs. And it was not good for that Pharaoh’s family, for his children, for any of the people that he was oppressing to build these stinking pyramids. It was only good for the people who stole it thousands of years later. They held on, and it was no longer good for anyone that they loved. And I bet you’ve experienced this thing, right?
Does anyone have a drawer in their house that they call the junk Does anyone have this drawer? Maybe it’s like a closet in your house, the junk closet. Maybe it’s an entire garage. I needed something. This is like a year ago. I needed something, and I’m like, oh, I’m wondering where those batteries are. And I’m like, I think it’s in the junk drawer. So I go to open the junk drawer. And when I open the junk drawer, what I found is a cell phone. It’s like an iPhone 5G or something like that. I open the drawer, and there’s an old cell phone. And do you know that old cell phone is perfectly worthless? It’s absolutely worthless. I try to sell it. You know how you’re like, oh, you go on eBay and it’s like, you can get 499. And the shipping is 499. But if I had given it away when I got a new phone, it would have been worth it for someone. Someone would have not spent some money on some phone. They could have used it. Or if I would have that day I decided to sell that thing and maybe give that money away or use that money on something, it would have been worth it for something.
But instead, you know what I did? I did what many of us do is I took what I had and I stuffed it away. And eventually, It lost all of its value. It lost its value, and it disappeared into a drawer, and it’s no longer good to anyone. And James is just reminding us that the issue is not about how much comes in. The issue is about how much you just put away and forget all about, because eventually, that will become something that actually judges you. I want to read it. He begins to shift the illustration a little bit and starts talking like an attorney. This is what he says. He’s a prosecuting attorney. Their corrosion, which means the corrosion of the stuff that they put in the drawer. Their corrosion will testify against them. Their corrosion will testify against them. You think you’re doing a good thing by hoarding it, that you’re doing a good thing by saying, Keep your hands off my stuff. And James tells us that actually what you’re doing is you’re showing that you did not do good with what God gave you. That God gave you something and you said, you know what I’m going to do?
I’m going to dig a hole. I’m going to stick it in the ground. And one day God will return and say, what did you do with what I gave you? And you’ll say, Lord, I stuck it in the ground. I hoarded it. I was afraid. I was fearful. I thought about retirement. And I thought about this. And I thought about this. And I thought about my great, great grandchildren and their futures. And I thought about all that stuff. And I pulled it from the ground. Here, Lord, take back what you gave me. And he will say, you wicked and lazy servants. You think you’re doing good. But James tells us that the corrosion of your wealth speaks against you. It speaks to your selfishness. Maybe it’s not selfish. Maybe it’s just a spirit of worry you have. Maybe it’s a spirit of fear, a lack of faith that God will provide. The fact is that most of your stuff is wasting away to be no good for anyone. Their corrosion will testify against you. It says this, And eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. The implication here being this, that the end is near.
So why are you storing up for yourselves treasures when you know your life is just a mist? Why would you hoard for such a short time when you can store away treasures on heaven or in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thief cannot break in and steal. Or maybe you’re sitting here and you’re going, Look, I’m not a religious person, and I don’t even believe any of that stuff. And that’s fine. And maybe you’ve embraced some other religion. But I actually want to tell you that this is a big deal, because if you wrestle with this, you could think of it this way. When you die, if you believe in the fact that you’re just going to disappear and die. When you die, what did you do with the wonderful blessings of the gift of life? What did you do? To have a 401k that’s fully funded that you just give away to whom for what? What does that do if you could have done good in the world today? I’m just saying, whether you’re a Christian or not, this is not a Christian or not a Christian issue. This is an issue of whether or not you want to see good done in the world today.
And I sure do. Because here’s what we all know, you’re going to run out of time before you run out of stuff, and you’re going to run out of time before you run out of money. And what James is saying, and what Luke 12 saying that we read last week is that is just foolish. So what Why are we doing? Why are we hoarding? Why are we doing that? And you think about just the general idea of inflation. You think, okay, well, you know what I’m going to do is I’m going to put my money away in a bank. If you put $1,000 away, A hundred years ago, you would think you were a millionaire if you put $1,000 away in a bank. Today, your money would be worth what a cell phone is worth. Think about that. Today, you’re going to put a million It goes away in a bank account. You’re going to think, wow, I’m crushing it. And then in three years, that’s going to be worth a Snickers bar. You know what I’m saying? Because this is the way… The things that you have are wasting away. They’re wasting away. And if they waste away, it will be a testimony against you.
It will be a testimony against you. Do not store up for yourself treasures on Earth or moth and rust destroy. I think about the story of manna in the desert. You know this story? Jesus, sorry, God sets the people out of Egypt, and they cross through the Red Sea, and they get to the other side, and they have no food, and they have no bread, and they can’t. They have nothing to eat. And so God decides to rain down manna from heaven. And each person is allowed to pick up an omer a day. An omer is like two or three liters. It’s the amount that one person, that each person can be sustained by. You’re allowed to collect just enough for one day. And if you collect more than enough for that one day, do you know what happens to your stuff? Worms grow in it. That’s what happens. It begins to become moldy and disgusting. On the Sabbath, you’re allowed to pick up for two days because you’re not allowed to work on the Sabbath. And what was God trying to teach the people? That he is worthy of being relied on. And what is generosity supposed to be teaching all of us?
That he is worthy of being relied on. That if you give some away, it is a symbol that you trust in God. That’s what he’s saying. We’re going to go back to James because he’s not done yet. You’re rich people. This is what he says. You have lived on Earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You You have fattened yourself in the days of slaughter. You’ve become so greedy. You have not learned to be content. You just learned to consume that you have fattened yourself up. Now, James is using language that’s hard for us to understand, but it would have been easy for his people to understand. To have a fattened calf is to have something that you’re going to celebrate with at a wedding or a feast or a festival. And so you would choose a single calf. And what you would do is if you grabbed a calf that was ready for the feast that’s in six months, you would just fatten him up. And you fatten him up because the feast is coming in six months, and you want to make sure that he is plump and ready to consume. And what he’s saying is that if you just are indulging yourself self, what you’re doing is you’re becoming the fattened calf.
You’re becoming the fattened calf. And it’s not for a celebration that you’ll be a part of, but it’s a celebration that people will slaughter you to consume. Now, that sounds crazy. But what’s interesting is you have to go back into history and discover something really cool. James was martyred in about 62 AD. He was stoned by the high priest. This is not recorded in the New Testament, but Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us the story. And what’s interesting is that this letter that he wrote to Jewish Christians, that he’s teaching, and he’s telling them about giving and about who to be. What’s interesting is that seven years after he died, all of Rome would be besieged. I’m sorry, all of Jerusalem be besieged by Rome. And basically, the Roman legions would eventually kill most of those people. And most of these people would die either of starvation or of disease or would have been murdered. And every single one of them who died, all of the rich people that he’s talking to would die with, you know what? Nothing. They had, in a matter of speaking, fatten themselves up to be carded off to Rome.
And most of these people would have lost everything. And look, I don’t know what your circumstances are. I don’t know what’s happening in our lives. I don’t know when God’s going to call you. But one day, our lives will be over. One day, our lives will be over. And what we did with our stuff and with our money will be either a testimony for our faith or a testimony against it. One day, we’re going to die. And what we did with what we received from God will either say that we trusted in him or that we did not. I don’t know what’s going on with your life, and I don’t know what’s happening with you, but here’s my encouragement. You should start giving while you’re living because what you’re holding is molding. Now, let me just lay this out and say this personally, because truthfully, and I said this already, I don’t know your situation. Some of you are Christians, some of you are not Christians. Some of you are exploring faith Some of you are members of this church, and some of you are like, he has been talking for a long time, and I would like to go to lunch.
And amen, I get that, too. But I want to tell you, all of you are going to have to give an account. You’re all going to have to I’m going to give an account on what you did. And I hope that the last four weeks have convinced you that when it comes to your money, you should think a little bit more about what you’re doing with it. And you’re going to have to sort this out individually, right? You’re going to have to sort it out individually. I I don’t know the answer for you. Let me give you some questions and then answer them. Should you save for your future? Yes. That’s the short answer. But here’s the long answer. How much should you save for your future? I don’t know. I don’t know. Should you start giving while you’re living, though? Absolutely. Absolutely. Should you save up something for your children? You probably should. A good man leaves an inheritance for his children. That’s what the Bible teaches us. But how much should that be? I don’t know. You’re going to have to sort that out. But if you keep all of the extra, you are not obeying the scriptures.
Don’t become a hoarder. Don’t just save everything because you’re scared to death of what might happen to you. Trust in Jesus, not in dead presidents. Next question, how much should you give? You should work that out between you and God. I’ll let you work those things out. I’ll let you figure it out. You just need a pray, and you need to consider who you should give to. Again, you need to figure that out. You need to find some organizations you feel excited about. Again, last week, I’ve been saying this the whole time. I don’t care if you give it to the church. I’ve been saying that the whole time. And last week, one of the board member said, I care if they give it to the church. I said, that’s right. Amen. That’s good. We have different roles. But truthfully, more than anything, I just want you to not let your stuff have a hold on you. Because if you do, then you’ll be free. But again, is it right to give to the local church? I think so. Is it biblical? Yeah, sure. But more than anything, this series is not about that. This series is about your heart.
So what does it mean for all the stuff that’s piled up in the junk drawer and all the stuff that’s piled up in your garage? Let me make a push for this. You should have a garage sale. You should get rid of some stuff. You should get rid of some of your stuff. You should get rid of some stuff that you think you shouldn’t get rid of. You should. This thing that you think you’re going to use one day, you should get rid of it. You should get rid of it. You should sell it, and then you can give it away to the poor. How wonderful will that be when you take that money, that 30 cents that that random person gave you, and you just hand it to the poor? It’s so much of a better decision than just keeping it around, hoarding it, because one day you’re going to die, and one day your children are going to walk in and go, Why do they have so much stuff? And you know where it’s going to go? In the dump. It’s going to go in the dump. So get rid of some of it.
Sell it. Sell some of the stuff. Some of you may need to think about what you’re doing in your lifestyle. Some of you may need to get off Instagram completely because every time you look at an ad, you think, I want this. No, no, no, no. I need this. Get it off of it. You don’t need it. You want it, but you don’t need it. You don’t need it. You’re going to have to change. You need to… Some of you need to delete Amazon. Delete? Just delete. Delete. You do because it has a hold on your heart. At the very least, you need to go in the cart and just delete all the stuff that’s in the cart. You’re laughing because it’s true. This is crazy. It has a hold on you. It has a hold on you. It has a hold on you. And I believe believe in this church, you worship one God. That is the Lord of Heaven and of Earth. You do not worship the God of money or worship the God of pleasure. They are terrible gods. They make a lot of lies, and they tell you to do things that are just not good.
So hopefully at the end of this series, you came away with those convictions. And I do want to say this. We have not even shown this one time. But if you want to give to the church, this is how you do it. I’m not going to talk about it. Legitimately, this is how you do it. There you go. I’m done with the slide. I’m done with the slide. I don’t want it to have your heart anymore. Hopefully, again, I said this already, but hopefully in this series, you built some convictions about money. You realize that you have more than you need. You have more than you need. You make a commitment not to put your hope in that stuff. You start thinking about giving and doing good, because in that way, you will store it for or you will find life that is truly life. And you’ll store for yourself treasures in heaven, where nothing, nothing will be able to take it away. Amen.