Sermon 1Timothy 6:6-19

Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon 1 Timothy 6:6-19
Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church

September 30, 2007

This week churches throughout our denomination are talking about evangelism. Evangelism is our way of reaching out to people with the love of Jesus Christ. It all starts with each of us talking with our friends and inviting them to walk with the Lord. Invite your friends to church on Sunday. Tell them about the love you have found in this church. Invite them to worship and Bible study where they can experience for themselves God’s love. Will you pray with me?

Father in heaven bless us this day with an understanding of you word. And send us into the world to proclaim your good news and as bearers of your love. Prepare our hearts to minister to those in the community who long to know you. And bless us with more members of this church so that we can do better in your mission to the Eagle Rock community, in the strong name of Jesus, Amen.

When I was growing up I heard that the best way to get ahead in life was to pursue an education. I was told to work hard in school. Then I would get a good job at a big corporation where with hard work I could work my way up. Along the way I would be able to purchase larger and larger homes and nicer automobiles. This was the American Dream and for a kid in the suburbs it seemed like the path to riches.

By the time I graduated from college in the mid 1970’s the path to riches was in owning your own business. In a job you worked for someone else and got paid whatever that person offered. In a job you could never get rich. Your only hope was to make enough to pay the bills and maybe have a little left over for savings. But it you owned business and worked real hard to make it successful then you could make a lot of money and become rich. So I started my own business and worked real hard because this seems like the path to riches.

In recent times people have believed that the path to riches was by investing in tech stocks, or speculative real estate deals. This belief led many people to go further into debt than they should have. As a result, now that housing prices are going down, many people find it impossible to sell their homes or refinance there home mortgages. Many now face the prospect of losing their homes to foreclosure and bankruptcy. In most of these instances people saw a home investment as a way of providing their family shelter. But in far too many circumstances the motivation for real estate speculation was simply the desire to be rich.

In our Old Testament reading today Jeremiah made a terrible real estate deal. The Babylonian army had arrived at the gates of Jerusalem. The puppet king Zedekiah whom they had placed on the throne ten years earlier had revolted again Nebuchadnezzar. He had to be punished. So the army had occupied the farmland surrounding Jerusalem and now encircled and besieged the city. Hanamel, Jeremiah cousin, had fled from Babylonians and had taken refuge in Jerusalem. Once a proud land owner, Hanamel was now penniless. Normally in this situation he would sell his land to an older member of his family who would be obligated to buy the land. But in this case the land was gone. It had already been captured by the Babylonians. The old concept of tribal ownership of the land had been shattered by the invasion. The land no long belonged to the people of God, but to Babylon the conquerer. So the land was worthless. But Jeremiah bought it anyway. He knew that it was a terrible real estate deal, but he did it because he knew that he could depend on God. This is how faith works; you can rest in the knowledge of God’s faithfulness. Jeremiah believed God’s promise to restore His people to the land, and bought the field based on this faith.

For Jeremiah the purpose of money was to express his faith. But in first century Ephesus there were people who reversed this and exploited faith to get money. They were motivated by the desire to get rich. So the Apostle Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus to correct the situation and told him that the purpose of money was not to make someone rich, because when you use money to become rich the result is envy and dissension, and you become trapped by foolish and harmful desires. A desire to become rich is especially dangerous because it leads you into temptation, destruction and ruin and leads you away from faith. Paul said, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”

Jesus once told a story about a rich man. He wore the finest clothes, had a large Malibu estate, ate at the best restaurants and flew around the world in his private jet. But he never noticed the homeless man who sat outside his gate every day hoping to sneak inside to eat a few scraps of food from the dumpster out back. Never once did the rich man give the hungry man something to eat. Never once did he give eternity a thought. But when the rich man died he was sent to Hades for eternal torment, and he looked up to see the hungry man in heaven with Abraham. The first had become last and the last first. The sin that sent the rich man to hell was not his wealth. Rather it was indifference. He was only concerned for himself and failed to see the need around him. It was too late for the rich man to change his ways. But he wanted others to hear about his story before it was too late so they could change theirs ways and avoid his fate.

Let’s face it. We love money. It gives us identity, power and the ability to accomplish our dreams. But the love money has power over us. If forces us to expend energy pursuing unrealistic dreams; we work all the time just to wake up to find that our spouses and children are strangers. The love of money often leads us to the addiction of ever increasing debt which now even plagues college students.

Consider for a moment the plight of OJ Simpson. He grew up here in Los Angeles and was a football star at USC winning the Heissmann Trophy. He went on to work as a television sportscaster, had major roles in movies, and acquired great fame and wealth. But all of his riches never brought him contentment. He was never satisfied with what he had. And out of his riches grew evil that shocked all of us. Don’t ever let a love of money cloud your judgment and lead you to evil like this. And pray that somehow OJ will experience the transformative power of the love of Christ.

Paul’s message to Timothy is that to be rich is to be content with what we have because when you combine faith and contentment you become richer than you could ever imagined. The riches we receive are faith, love, endurance and gentleness. And the ultimate riches were secured for us in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, eternal life. So rather than pursue riches we should pursue righteousness. And we should place our hope not on the uncertainty of wealth but on the faithfulness of God, realizing that we are rich because we have been blessed by God. Paul has a special message for those who do have money, and have been blessed with substantial incomes and years of rising real estate prices. We need to be generous and willing to share with those in need. This is really a good investment because helping people to live quality lives in the present is a solid foundation for our future.

Speaking about the future, it has been shown that six out of ten Americans do not have a valid will. Many people have no idea how much they are really worth or how their wealth will be distributed when they die. The only way, that you can be certain that your estate is distributed according to you wishes, is to have a carefully constructed legal will. If you don’t have a will state law takes over and this could cause your family many problems and expense. Without a will no gift to the church will be made. There may be dissension among your heirs. Additional fees, taxes and expenses may subtract from your estate. And California law rather than your desires, values, beliefs and intentions will be followed.

With a will you decide to whom, how and when your property will be distributed. You determine who the guardian will be for minor children. You select who will administer your estate. You can reduce taxes and administration costs. And you can make charitable contributions to the church and other organizations. If you need to write a will I urge you to contact legal counsel, and consult a lawyer.

One thing you should put into your will is a Statement of your Christian Faith. This will be a great comfort to your family and friends by assuring them that a loved one died in faith, confident of Christ’s promise of eternal life. In a Statement of Christian Faith you can provide your family with encouragement by urging them to trust in Jesus Christ and strengthen their own faith. And your statement will be kept forever on file in the courthouse possibly providing someone far in the future with the encouragement of your faith.

Of course you can make a gift to the church in your will. This is part of your faith commitment to use the gifts god has provided to you for God’s work and mission in the world. Gifts by will have been an important part of our philanthropic tradition because you are able to make the kinds of gifts that are not possible in your lifetime. You might consider a general gift of money or a percentage of your estate. You might also contribute specific investments like real estate or stock. And remember that what you write in a will can be changed right up to the time you leave this life to be with the Lord.

So the message for us today is to be content with what we have. Don’t crave money so much that your life is consumed with accumulating riches, because riches will never satisfy you. The only true satisfaction that you have is the love of God which has blessed you richly. Money is like a rose. It is beautiful to gaze at but you have to be careful not to be pricked by the thorns. If you are rich then be generous to those who have little. This is a good investment in heavenly assets. Caring for those less fortunate than you is what you were created to do; it is your real life.

We confess Lord that we have not loved you with our whole heart and we have not loved others as we love ourselves. We have placed our own silly desires and self interest before the needs of others. Forgive us and pour out your spirit among us that we may serve people in need. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.