This sermon was preached by Scotty L Killingsworth to the Evergreen Church on November 9, 2003
This sermon is the last in a series of sermons from 1 Timothy called The Biblical Church.
The title of this message is The Biblical church is right on the money
Biblical Text First Timothy chapter six
Once in a while my grandson Jason comes to our house for the day. He is two years old and his little hearty is totally transparent. You can see what is in his heart. He hasn’t learned to hide it. He announces his entire agenda for anyone interested to hear. He keeps nothing secret.
My granddaughter Amanda is in the sixth grade. She is loosing her transparency and what is in her heart is very hard to detect. In fact she will soon be to the point where she doesn’t want her parents or grandparents to know her secret life at all. Her heart is about to become an adult heart. The human heart is well hidden and deceitful.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can
understand it?
I am still being surprised by my heart. I thought I knew it very well, but every once in a while something will pop out I had no idea was lurking there. A temptation that I thought would never bother me walks up and tests me again. Or, some temptation I was sure would never tempt me all of a sudden has a tremendous attraction. My heart still surprises me.
Sometimes God uses trying circumstances to show us what is in our hearts. We rarely will ever know the deep issues that exist in our hearts while we are on vacation, but in tough times we see it very well. What is really there pops out.
I’ll bet Abraham was surprised by what was in his heart. On his faith journey he found himself in a strange place. The ruler of this place had a thing for Abraham’s wife Sarah and made a move on her. Out of Abraham’s heart of faith leapt a huge dose of fear. He was afraid if it was discovered that he was Sarah’s husband he would be killed to get him out of the way. So he told Sarah to tell the man she was Abraham’s sister. Who saw that coming? I t is good to see what is in our hearts even though it is not always what we hoped lived there.
Noah built a boat and saved the righteous race. Upon landfall he planted a vineyard, made wine and got drunk and had incestuous sex with his daughters. Was that in his heart all the time? Where did that come from?
Moses the deliverer was God’s chosen leader and accomplished an amazing thing by his amazing leadership skills and obedience to God. On one occasion when the people he was leading began to get negative and complain he lost his temper and instead of speaking to a rock, as God had directed, he hit it. Temper and disobedience jumped out of his heart and derailed his leadership permanently. Where did this temper come from? His heart had hidden it for decades. His heart had deceived him.
Martha Stewart, the sweet home-making guru, in a moment of weakness may have found greed in her heart and acted on insider information that was unlawful for her to have. Was avarice and greed hidden behind that sweetness all the time? Did her heart deceive her and in turn all of us? At least she now knows that she is capable of greed.
When God uses life to reveal our hearts we get an opportunity to grow from the experience. The tough times in life test us, but the tests are not for God’s information-
He knows everything already. When life challenges pop up they become opportunities for us to learn what is hidden our hearts.
How we use our money is a great tool for us to look deep into our hearts and see what we have been cultivating under the surface. Don’t allow yourself to remain in denial about what your heart is hiding in regards to your money.
A Biblical Church is right on the money. A Godly person has mastered certain principles and gained certain insights about money.
What will life teach me about my money?
Money can’t buy what you really need
1 Timothy 6: 1All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered.
What you really need is love, forgiveness, acceptance and respect. There is no price tag on any of these items.
The Roman Empire had more slaves than it did free men. Ephesus was a Roman colony and many of the new Christ followers were slaves or slave owners. A huge issue arose over this vile practice. Should a slave owner set his slaves free? If you were a slave should you respect and serve someone who owned you?
Paul instructed all Christ followers whether slave or free to give respect to both master and slave. In humility believers are to serve as if we were serving God. Christianity poisoned the roots of slavery even though it didn’t demand its immediate end. No culture can live with slavery and follow the teachings of the Bible for long.
Larry Flint uses his money to influence the politics in California, but he will never have my respect until he has the respect of heaven. You can use your money to gain respect when you are generous and selfless and seek the Kingdom of God with it.
A life application for us today is that treating people well and doing unto others as we would have them do unto us is the only way to be respected. A person who invests his money, time and talent in God’s projects and in needy people is a person who will gain respect in this life and reward in the life to come.
Use your money to relieve suffering and become respected.
Use your money to give a person a hand up and not a hand out and become respected.
Have you had this test yet? You will.
How about this one?
Following Christ is not about material abundance
V5b “ . . .Who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
Oddly enough following Christ is about giving. We give our lives away so that we may live. We surrender our control so that we may be in control of another. We give away our resources so that others may be blessed. Someone in our culture has really messed this concept up.
Financial freedom and abundant life comes only after sound financial living.
There were those in Ephesus who used Christianity to make a living. They thought “Ministry”, seemed like a great way to have an easy life and make a few bucks at the same time. They were bilking Christ followers out of money in the name of religion.
A man named Simon in Acts 8 sought to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit so that he might profit from the power. The Apostles told him what he could do with his money real fast.
Tithing 1/10th of your increase to the work of the Lord is God’s equal standard for his children. When you put God first and live by sound financial rules given time your financial life will become abundant. But if you give God your last $100.00 don’t expect a $1,000.00 in the mail Monday. That is not to say that there will not be money in the mail.
Tithing is about giving and trusting. If we tithe to become rich we have been robbed of the truth and think godliness is a means to financial gain. Tithing is a means to spiritual growth and faith, but not necessarily financial gain. God’s children are promised that all their needs will be met.
Why do you tithe? Make sure you give for the right reason other wise you are guilty of the same thing the Ephesians were.
If you are tithing to get rich you may have a few more life lessons to learn.
How did you do with this test? This one was a hard one to stay convinced about because there is so much materialism in our contemporary Gospel. Not only does Christianity not promise wealth it warns us over and over that –
Loving money will lead you away from God
9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs, but godliness with contentment is great gain.
I recently joked in a staff meeting that we have been severely tested with too little resources. Now I want to be tested with too much. The truth: we probably would pass the first test easier than the second. Too little resources help us to depend on God while too much causes us to depend on God very little.
The Gospels make it clear that no man can serve two masters. You will love one and hate the other. You can’t serve two God’s at the same time no more than you can fight with two armies at the same time.
Money gives you a false sense of spiritual security. You think if you have much you must be under the blessing of God, but that is not necessarily true.
Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven. Why? Money will lead you away from God.
When I am introduced to a rich person I pray for them because I know their spirituality and walk with God is in grave danger. They are all set up for a lot of grief. It will be so easy for them to wander from the faith.
If a person can combine godliness and contentment they are the truly rich of this world.
V7 For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that
So a life lesson that we need to learn is that loving money will lead us away from God and when we are away from God we are not content with anything.
V17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
So, we have to learn some time or another that Money can’t by what you really need, and that following Jesus is not about material abundance. We need to wake up to the truth that money can lead you away from God, and finally we need to learn about our money is recorded in vs. 18 and 19.
God puts money and extra resources in the hands of Christ followers for a reason
18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
The first reason we have resources entrusted to us is so we will have the free time and the where-with-all to be rich in good deeds. God may have given you more than your needs to get resources into his projects. He may be waiting for you to become trustworthy before he trusts you with more.
How we invest heavens resources in earthly life connects directly to how much we will have in the next life-which is founded on how much we believe. If our faith is weak we will invest more here and less there. If our faith is strong we invest in heaven. When we invest generously in God’s work and in God’s favorite projects we form a foundation for the coming age.
What have you learned about your heart this AM? What have you learned about how you have been stewarding God’s resources? If you have heard God’s clear voice and your life has been out of step with his plan the way back is simple-repent and return.
If your life has been all about you completely and you are ready to move to a new level in your journey and begin to use your resources for their real purpose then get started and don’t let anything keep you from your dream.
How we use God’s resources matters very much.
Our hearts can deceive us.
Some have said that the major competition for our souls is in the area of resources. Matthew 16:26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?
