1 Timothy 6:13-16, 19 How To Be Rich: Firm Foundation
The Dot, and the Line
I want you to imagine going on a long airplane flight. Perhaps flying to Hawaii, or Australia, or something like that. Lucky you!
If you’ve ever been on a long airplane trip, you know it’s not the most comfortable experience. Those seats are pretty tightly packed together, and there’s not a lot of room to stretch out. The best strategy is to dress comfortably, bring a book or load a movie on your phone, and just get through it.
But how would you feel if a passenger in your row started hanging curtains over the window, taped up photographs of her family on the seat in front of her, and started painting murals on the cabin wall? What would you do if she really started to settle in?
You’d think it was weird, right? You’d think: “I know it’s a pretty long trip, but it’s not that long. Once we get where we are going, none of this stuff on the flight will matter.” Even on a long airplane trip, the time spent on the plane pales in comparison to the destination.
Well, Randy Alcorn uses that illustration to think about our time on earth compared to our time in heaven. Our time on earth is the airplane ride. However long we have in this life, it pales in comparison to the time we will have in eternity. This life is the journey. The next life is the destination. So why would we spend so much effort trying to make the plane ride feel like home?
Alcorn also uses the image of a dot and a line. Each and every human being is an ever-living, never-dying soul. And our lives all have two distinct phases: life on earth, and life in eternity. A dot. And a line.
Our present life on earth is the dot. It begins. It ends. Some people get about 100 years. Some much less. But no matter if we get 9 months or 90 years, our life on earth is relatively brief. A dot. That’s the plane ride.
But from that dot extends a line that goes on forever. The line is eternity, which Christians will spend in heaven. That’s the destination.
The question is: how do we spend our time in the dot? Do we make it all about the time we have here, or do we prepare for our time on the line? The shortsighted person lives for the dot. The person with perspective lives for the line.
Review
Today is the final day of our series called “How to Be Rich.” Not how to get rich. But how to be rich. How we should view our money and possessions if we find ourselves in a position of having more than most of the people alive in the world today. It’s a series we have been basing on 1 Timothy 6:17-19:
17Command 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. 18Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19In 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 key phrases I want to call your attention to are found in verse 17 and 19. Paul talks about “this present world” and “the coming age.” That’s the dot and the line.
Paul wants us to think about how we use our money in the relatively short amount of time we have in this present world–the dot–as a way of preparing for the much longer time we will have in the age to come–the line that goes on forever and ever.
As we’ve been saying throughout the series, Paul wants us to avoid a “migration of hope.” He wants us to take a long view of things. Instead of making a nest for ourselves on the airplane ride, he wants us to invest in our eternal future.
And when we do, our grip on our money will loosen and money will loosen its grip on us.
Which leads us back to our game changing declaration, the main thing I’m hoping to accomplish through this series:
I will not put my hope in riches, but in God who richly provides.
And so far in this series, we’ve had three messages. We said, looking at 1 Timothy 6, that if we want to be good at being rich then: 1) We need to learn to love money less. “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” A lot of pains and temptations come with an outsized devotion to money. 2) We need to learn to be content. “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” If we aren’t happy now, more stuff isn’t likely to be the answer. And 3) we need to practice being generous. “Be rich in good deeds and…be generous and willing to share.” Learn the 3 P’s of giving: priority, percentage and progressive.
Now, at the end of our series, we are going to see:
If we want to be good at being rich, we have to increase our trust in God.
If we’re going to avoid the migration of hope that causes us to trust more in our riches than in God; then we need to get a clear picture of this God who is calling us to put our hope in Him.
Do you see what I’m saying? I mean, it’s one thing to say: “Don’t put your hope in money, because it is temporary;” but it is something else entirely to say: “Put your hope in God, because He won’t let you down.” The obvious question is: “How do I know He won’t let me down? How do I know that the Bank of God is any more secure than the Bank of wealth? What does this passage say that will help increase my trust in Him?”
Treasure in Heaven
Let’s go back to 1 Timothy 6:19. The last of our three key verses, and the one I haven’t said much about yet:
19In 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.
Here’s the reason rich people in this world should be generous. Here’s why we should be willing to share what we have. Because when we do, we are laying up treasure for ourselves in the coming age. We are building a firm foundation for the life that is to come. And that life, as we mentioned last week, is “the life that is truly life.”
In other words, this passage is saying that we should imagine that there is a bank in heaven. And every good deed we do in this life, every sacrifice we make, every dollar we give away to God’s work, is like making a deposit under our name in that heavenly bank. There is an eternal reward for us waiting to be experienced for everything we give here on earth.
And this idea is not original to Paul. Jesus talked like this repeatedly. For example, Matthew 19:21, talking to the rich young ruler:
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
“Give to the poor...and you will have treasure in heaven.” Sacrifice now, and you are making a deposit in your heavenly bank account. Or, again. Matthew 10:42. Jesus tells us that He is keeping track of even the smallest acts of kindness:
42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”
Some people might be uncomfortable with this language. You might say: “I don’t give my money away for recognition. I’m not doing it for what I get out of it.” I get that. And I’m not saying that you always need to get your picture in the paper or your name on the side of a building. But this is the language Jesus uses. He’s telling you: there’s a reward. You’ll get treasure in heaven. Consider Philippians 4:17:
17 Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account.
Imagine a scribe in heaven, keeping track of each of your good deeds on a ledger. The bike you gave to the neighbor kid, the books to the prisoners, the monthly checks to the church, to missionaries, to the pregnancy center—it’s all being credited to your account. This language is all over the New Testament. One more example, Matthew 6:19-20
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
The Bible’s point, again and again, is that when we are generous with our money we are building up treasure in heaven. Our sacrifice today will reap us great reward tomorrow.
And as this passage from Matthew says, those deposits we are making in the bank of heaven are secure. Our treasures in heaven are safe from moths and vermin and thieves. It is protected by the true FDIC, the “Father’s Deposit Insurance Corporation.”
What we keep, we will lose. But what we give and what we share and do in Christ’s name will ultimately come back to us in heaven, in a far better and more permanent form.
We can’t take it with us. But we can send it on ahead.
It’s a point the New Testament makes over and over. And it’s the point of 1 Timothy 6:19:
19In 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 key to being generous now is knowing that we are making an investment in our future. It’s living for the line, and not the dot. It’s preparing for the destination, not feathering our nest for the plane ride.
To Him be honor and might forever. Amen.
If we want to be good at being rich, we need to increase our trust in God. How do we do that? How do we really know that treasure stored up with Him is safe? In other words: how can we be certain that He will, indeed, richly provide?
For an answer, we can go back just a few verses in 1 Timothy 6:
13In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the king of kings and Lord of lords, 16who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
As we’ve been seeing throughout this series, 1 Timothy has two sections that talk about money. We’ve been looking at verses 17-19 as our key verses, but we’ve been seeing that it parallels the teaching of verses 6-12. The verses in between though—these verses— look sort of off-topic. They don’t say anything about money. It looks like a side-track that Paul goes off on to talk about God. It’s often called a doxology, an ascription of praise.
But these verses do appear in the middle of this discussion about money, and I don’t think they are out of place. In fact, I think they are very important to the discussion. Because here is a description of the God who is guarding our treasure in heaven.
If we want to be good at being rich, we need to trust God more. I see here 5 reasons we can trust God.
Number 1: we can trust God because He is the Creator. The first half of Verse 13:
13In the sight of God, who gives life to everything…
God…gives life to everything. It all comes from His hand. It all sprang into being at His command. So look around, everything you see owes its existence to Him. And it all speaks of His glory. Ed Welch writes:
The blue of the sky reflects his royal garment. The clouds are reminders of his presence (Ex. 19:9), they are his chariot as he oversees his creation (Ps. 104:3). The winds are his messengers (Ps. 104:4). They come from the storehouses of God (Ps. 135:7). The sun comes forth like a bridegroom…(Ps. 19:5). The heavens truly praise his wonders (Ps. 89:5), they declare his glory (Ps. 19:1).
Every animal you see drinking or feeding on the grass is being sustained by the Most High God (Ps. 104). The farmer did not cause the crops to grow. The crops come from the ground as a gift from God. Rain is an expression of his care, lightning of his power. (Edward T. Welch, When People are Big and God is small, p. 104)
We can trust God because He is the maker of everything. Which leads to point number two:
We can trust God because He is Sovereign. Skip over the second half of verse 13 and verse 14 for a moment (we’ll come back to them) and look at verse 15:
God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
God is the blessed and only Ruler. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. In other words, everybody has to bow to Him. Not only did He make it all, but He owns it all as well. As Ed Welch says, wherever we go “we are walking on privately owned land.” (ibid, p. 105)
There are a lot of scriptures I could cite, but I’ll limit myself to two. Job 41:11 says:
11Who has a claim against me that I must pay?
Everything under heaven belongs to me.
It’s all His. Everything you see. Psalm 24:1:
1The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10), He owns the silver and the gold (Haggai 2:8), He owns the ocean depths and the mountain peaks (Psalm 95:4); He even owns you (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
The implication of this, of course, is that we never really give anything to God. At least, not in the sense that we are transferring anything from our ownership to His. Rather, since He already owns it all anyway, anytime we give to God’s kingdom work we are merely returning things to their rightful ruler. King David got this when he led the way in giving for the construction of the temple. 1 Chronicles 29:14:
14 “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.
Can we trust God with what we give Him? We certainly can. He made it all. He owns it all.
And third, we can trust God because He is Utterly Unique. Back to 1 Timothy 6, verse 16:
16who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
The hymn Immortal, Invisible is based on this verse:
Immortal, invisible, God only wise
In light inaccessible, hid from our eyes
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days
Almighty, victorious—Thy great name we praise.
The point is that God alone is immortal. The Greek word used here is a word that literally means “no death.” Only God is not subject to death. Only God has no beginning and no end. And He is so glorious that it is as though He is hidden in a sunburst of impenetrable light.
God isn’t like you or me. There’s no category for God. He’s sui generis, One of a Kind. So where people will let you down and fail you. Where people are bound to disappoint you. Where money entrusted to a human bank, or the stock market, or stuffed in a mattress is always at risk of failure or crash or out of control inflation—money entrusted to God is completely safe.
Or, fourth reason to trust God: because He gave us Jesus. Go back up to the second half of verse 13:
13In the sight… of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession.
Now this seems a little weird: why throw Pontius Pilate into the discussion? In part, it’s a play on words. Paul is challenging Timothy, and us, to continue confessing the faith. So he looks back to Jesus on trial before Pilate, and notes how He held fast to His confession of faith even in life-threatening circumstances.
But I think it’s instructive for another reason: because the trial before Pilate reminds us of the death of Jesus, and the death of Jesus was the whole point in Jesus’ coming to earth at all. It was at the cross that Jesus paid the penalty of death that our sins deserved. It is Jesus’ mission to substitute for Himself that defines the giving heart of God.
Here’s how Paul says it elsewhere, in 2 Corinthians 8:9:
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Randy Alcorn says: “Our giving is a reflexive response to the grace of God in our lives. It doesn’t come out of our altruism or philanthropy—it comes out of the transforming work of Christ in us. This grace is the action; our giving is the reaction. We give because He first gave to us.” (The Treasure Principle, p. 31)
How do we know we can trust God? Because He’s already given so much to us. We’ll never outgive God. It’s not possible. Because He’s already sacrificed the most valuable thing in the entire universe for us: His own Son.
And then, finally, we can trust God because He is coming back. Verses 14 and 15:
14to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15which God will bring about in his own time
Jesus Christ will return, and it will be at that point that all accounts will be paid. It will be then that we discover just how much treasure we have stored up for ourselves. And the judgment of Christ at that moment will be the one judgment that really matters. As C.S. Lewis says: “We shall not only believe, we shall know, know beyond doubt in every fibre of our appalled or delighted being, that as the Judge has said, so we are: neither more nor less nor other.”
And so, Lewis says, we should be living now with an eye cast toward that inevitable day. He goes on:
We can, perhaps, train ourselves to ask more and more often how the thing which we are saying or doing (or failing to do) at each moment will look when the irresistible light streams in upon it; that light which is so different from the light of this world—and yet, even now, we know just enough of it to take it into account. Women sometimes have the problem of trying to judge by artificial light how a dress will look by daylight. That is very like the problem of all of us; to dress our souls not for the electric lights of the present world but for the daylight of the next. The good dress is the one that will face that light. For that light will last longer. (quoted by Alcorn in Money, Possessions, and Eternity, p. 150)
We must look at our money in the light of eternity. Because when we do, we will see much more clearly what is most important. That which truly prepares us to live for the line, and not for the dot.
You’ll Never Regret It
Five reasons we can increase our trust in God. The heavenly bank is a bank that will never fail because: He’s the creator. He is sovereign. He is utterly unique. He gave us Jesus. And He’s coming back. Money deposited with Him is establishing a firm foundation for the coming age.
As we finish this series, let me just say: you’ll never miss money that you give to God’s kingdom purposes. You’ll never miss money you give to the church, to missions, to bless the poor, or for some other kingdom honoring purpose.
You will miss money that you waste, say money that you gamble. You’ll miss money that you spend. You’ll miss money that you invest poorly. And you’ll miss money you loan to your brother-in-law.
But money you give you’ll never miss.
So, one more time, let’s all make this game changing declaration:
I WILL NOT PUT MY HOPE IN RICHES,
BUT IN GOD WHO RICHLY PROVIDES
