We are going to be in First Timothy for the very last time,
at least in this little series and season through First Timothy
as a church. So turn to First Timothy Chapter
6. We are going to finish off this
study that began at the beginning of the year and to
finish it off, we we find ourselves appropriately in the
perfect season to get an overlap for something that's happening
just in the season of the world we live in.
And that is the graduation season.
I see so many photos and posts and invitations in the mail of
all of the the graduates, high school and college that have
have finished their race. They've ended well.
And in a sense we're we're ending our time.
We're graduating from this book and on to the next chapter, as
it were. And so when that happens, maybe
you've been to some of these graduation ceremonies.
There's often the commencement speech.
So I want you to think of what we're about to study today as
Paul's commencement to Timothy to to give him inspiration and
motivation for how to do everything that he has been set
out to do in this letter. But before we get to Paul's, let
me share with you a brutally honest commencement speech that
you might hear in summation of the world's commencement in a
commencement speech that's making the rounds called Welcome
to the Real World, congratulations and welcome to
the real world. Your new worth is now your net
worth. To make it in the real world,
you must fight the good fight of finances.
You must chase cash over calling.
So I hope you've picked a major that pays, because money is all
that matters now. Your success used to be measured
in grades. Now it's measured in buying
power and credit scores. So follow the money wherever it
leads. Greed is good, greed works.
Ethics are expensive. The meek shall inherit the
earth, but the greedy get the mineral rights.
Don't bother with contentment. The joys of life are actually
just a waste of time. Endure for the income.
Remember, you can do any job, no matter how grueling or soul
crushing, for the right amount of money.
The poor and needy aren't your problem.
Friends will come and go. You can see your family on
Thanksgiving. Don't slow down for any of them.
Stack the cash while you can. The faster you get to the top,
the sooner you get to do what you really want to do.
So save everything, give nothing away, hustle and grind for a few
miserable decades and you enjoy an early retirement full of all
the earthly pleasure that money can buy.
And in the words of the great professor that came before you,
$0.50, get rich or die trying. So this is brutally honest if it
was a completely unfiltered speech to motivate what awaits
the graduating class in the world that they step into.
Get rich and die trying. And like any good commencement
speech, the design is supposed to inspire and to motivate for
what you have to do to find success.
And I bring that up because in the commencement we will read in
First Timothy, we are going to get, as often is the case, the
exact opposite of what the world is going to tell you.
Paul is going to say, don't fight the good fight of
finances. Fight the good fight of faith.
With everything that we've been studying, you're going to need
to fight with faith for all that you're called to do.
And for our final view in the Trustworthy series, we might
call this the trustworthy motivation in everything that
we've studied and all Paul has exhorted Timothy.
And none of it works if you're not motivated for the right end.
And So what we will look at today is how to overcome the
temptation to be motivated by anything but Christ, how to
overcome the temptation to be motivated, namely by money and
all the things that you can do with it.
And we'll also look at how to fight the good fight of faith
with the only motivation worth living for.
So as we we read through this final section in first Timothy,
we're going to look at how to overcome temptation to be
motivated by money or wealth or personal gain and how to fight
for the right motivation. What what is actually worth
living for when you leave this place to go do what God has
called you to do. So with that in mind, we'll be
in first Timothy chapter 6. Now starting in verse 6, it says
now godliness with contentment is great game.
So as we walk through the verses, this is just a reminder
to where we were last week when we had this warning that there
is there are some who have a form of godliness that is a
means to an alternative end that some want to appear godly so
that they can actually acquire personal gain.
And we condemned that all last week as we looked at that
passage. But today we're reminded that of
course, with the right motivation in your heart, it is
wonderful to be Christlike or to be godly.
It is wonderful to try to understand the way that God has
designed you to live and to pursue it.
And he says the key to having godliness that actually does
give you in a gain, or what Jesus would call an abundant
life, is godliness cannot be motivated by money and earthly
gain. It has to be coupled with
contentment and so this is going to be one of the, the keys to
overcoming the temptation we see in verse 7 through 8 free for we
brought nothing into this world and certainly we can carry
nothing out and having food and clothing with these we shall be
content. I, I, I so appreciate Paul's
determination. He doesn't say with these
things, do your best to be content.
He says this is a mindset of victory.
We will be content with these things in mind and what are
these things? He gives 2 perspectives for all
of us to overcome the temptation to live for anything but Jesus
in this world. And it is the big picture and
the basic needs. And this is the perspective that
Paul wants Timothy to have so that he's not swayed into some
other motivation of his life. We look at the big picture verse
7. He says for we brought nothing
into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing
out. The big picture is your birth
and your eventual death. And what Paul is saying is when
you were born you had nothing and when you leave this earth
you will take nothing with you. So keep that in mind as you try
your best to not fall into the temptation of acquiring a bunch
of personal wealth. I think my favorite ever lesson
on this or teaching on this comes from a pastor named John
Ortberg who was teaching a similar passage.
The parable of the rich fool who who lived his whole life to
acquire wealth. And by the by the time he
finally built the big enough barns to fill all of his his
with all of his grain, his, his life was over.
And John Ortberg compares all of that to the simple game of
Monopoly. And you think about what the the
game of Monopoly is designed to do.
It's to teach you how to acquire, how to cheat and steal
and do whatever you have to do, make trades to eliminate your
opponent and acquire all the wealth.
And, and, and this pastor tells the story of learning this game
with his grandma and how how ruthless she was to to take all
of his properties and he could never beat her until 1 summer.
He dedicated his whole summer to finally beating his grandma at
Monopoly. And he finally bankrupts little
old granny. And he was so excited that he
had actually acquired all the wealth on the board.
And then she looks at him and gives him the lesson of life,
the lesson that we are being reminded of right now.
He writes in his excerpt on this.
She looked at me and said, now it all goes back in the box.
All those houses and hotels, all the railroads and utility
companies, all that property and all that wonderful money.
Now it all goes back in the box. He says.
I didn't want it to go back in the box.
But she continued, None of it was really yours.
You got all heated up about it for a while, but it was all
around long time before you sat down at the board.
And it will be here after you're gone.
Players come and players go, but it all goes back in the box.
And so for us houses and cars, titles and clothes filled barns
and bulging portfolios, even your body.
Because the fact is that everything you clutch to and
consume and hoard is going back in the box.
You are going to lose it all. It all goes back in the box and
one of the keys to contentment right now, the the weapon of
warfare against the need for more.
This ruthless desire that will never be satisfied in one more
thing. One of the weapons is to say I
had nothing and I'm going to have nothing.
Everything you hold loosely, nothing is actually yours.
Someone else will drive your car and live in your house and you
donate your clothes. All of it's going back in the
box. And that's the big picture that
stirs in you the discipline of contentment.
It is something to be learned. It is something to be fought
for. He says we will be content.
So you have the big picture and you have the basic needs in
verse 8 and having food and clothing with these, we shall be
content. So here's my working definition
of contentment under the perspective of your basic needs
are met. Contentment is to be so secure
with your basic needs. Food, shelter, the things that
you you need to live. You're so secure in your basic
needs that you are not tempted to strive for what isn't
necessary. Most of the luxuries, all of the
luxuries are in the category of unnecessary but nice.
And we we spent so much time striving and longing and
desiring for things that you actually don't need for your
life. One commentator said contentment
is the master key that locks every door temptation tries to
open. So you think about all of the
ways that you will be tempted in this world.
And contentment is this beautiful defense.
It's a shield against temptation coming into your heart that the
great temptation of marriage. Well, if you're content with the
relationship you already have, you will not be tempted for the
unnecessary relationship of more you think about the possessions
you have. If you can be content with what
is yours. You have food in your belly.
You have a place to sleep tonight and shelter over your
head. By God's grace, you don't have
to walk into the temptation of what else you could acquire if
only you had a little bit more money, a little bit more buying
power. And all of this is a reminder
that to be content in Jesus, your most basic need is your
born again life in Christ. And to be content in Jesus is to
say you are not going to be tempted to worship anything that
isn't Him. Now the only necessary thing in
your spiritual life is a vision and knowledge of Christ, your
Lord and Savior and the Holy Spirit that makes you born
again. And everything else is an
unnecessary temptation unless it's in the Lord's will to
freely receive it. I love what it says in Proverbs
chapter 30. Give me neither poverty nor
riches. Feed me with the food allotted
to me. Why, Lest I be full and deny
you. You have so much food, you don't
even need to think about blessing God for the the
provisions of your meal or and say, who is the Lord?
Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of God.
Contentment is to see that the hand of God is on your life and
you have just enough. You need to worship him and say
thank you and not deny him and also worship him and say thank
you and not depend on anything else.
So you have this big picture. You came with nothing, you're
leaving with nothing and you have your, your basic needs in
this place right now. Consider the basic spiritual
needs that we're, we've, we've been met with today.
We have the word, we have song to praise the name of Jesus.
We have seats to sit in. We have people to commune with,
but we have everything we need to be a thriving body of Christ
right here and right now by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And so you have those two things in mind.
But as he goes and continues, he's now going to give a picture
or a consequence to avoid, as often is the case in first
Timothy. He'll he'll give us these rules
to live by, disciplines to navigate life, and he'll also
give a a warning. And so that's now what we have
in First Timothy 6, verse 9, he says.
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare
and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in
destruction and perdition. There's your caution.
Many people have this desire and it goes where does it take them
in the end? He says for the love of money is
a root of all kinds of evil for which some have strayed from the
faith in their greediness and pierced themselves with many
sorrows. Now I want to point out what
it's not saying. He says those who desire to be
rich, there's something in their heart that is aiming or being
motivated for wealth. Paul does not say those who are
wealthy, those by the circumstances of the place they
were born and the family they were born into and the ingenuity
of the mind that God gave them to acquire some wealth.
It is not a condemnation on having money and we know that
because if you survey the Bible, you will see many people that
God uses and blesses and calls a men after his own heart are
extremely wealthy. Abraham had wealth that we can't
even comprehend by today's standards and same with David
and his son Solomon and and these are people that God
blessed with wealth. So being poor does not make you
more godly and being rich does not make you ungodly or vice
versa. This is not a vow to poverty
that any of you have to make. And in fact, as we skip ahead to
some of the the verses that are connected to this later in the
passage, Paul will actually give instructions for those that are
in the gathering that are part of the community that happened
to have wealth. Look what he says in First
Timothy 6 verse 17. He says command those who are
rich in the present age and the command is not sell everything
you have, give it to the poor so that we're all equal and no one
has more money than the next person.
He doesn't say that. He says command them who are
rich in the present age not to be haughty nor to trust in
uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly
all things to enjoy. Then he says with this position
in your life, let them do good, that they may be rich in good
works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves
a good foundation for the time to come that they may they hold
of eternal life. So for those that are in
Ephesus, a vibrant New York City type of a place where there are
going to be a different hierarchy of wealth, he says
some of them may be believers. And here's your instructions.
Be humble, don't be haughty, don't be a showsman.
Don't use your wealth to to gain status within the community.
Don't be haughty, be humble. Then he says keep trusting God.
Don't put your faith in the uncertainty of riches because
surely riches can come and riches can go.
And James, he says don't make a bunch of plans and say we're
going to do this and that and gain a bunch of wealth.
You don't know what tomorrow brings.
He also says enjoy the good things that God has given you.
So this again is not a condemnation on those of us who
live and happen to live in a world that is by and large
wealthy. Your life compared to most of
the world. You have been given a great
amount of buying power. And the answer to the American
church is not to feel condemned because we're not the church
that lives in the poorest of the poor.
Some of the answer is use this as a way to enjoy what God has
given you. Enjoy the finer things in life
that you can because God has placed you where he has placed
you. But he says be willing to share.
May we be people who never fall into the trap of consumerism and
and the the desire to continually have more and to be
selfish because we're continually practicing
generosity. 1 commentator said generosity is like the vaccine
against greed. If you are a person that has
much freely receive and freely give, and then he says lay hold
of eternal life and he says those who have riches in this
present age, meaning you too, your wealth is not something you
can take with you. You have present riches, but the
real riches are the eternal riches that await all of us.
There are those who have more riches in the coming Kingdom of
eternity then we can fathom of those that are materially wealth
on earth. The psalmist says if riches
increase, do not set your heart on them.
So we are not a church or a people or families or people who
are following after God. That sets our hearts on riches.
And when they increase, we're doing really well.
And when the the the market's down, we feel really sad.
Whatever God gives you beyond food and shelter, enjoy and use
it with a heart of generosity. So with that in mind, it's not
condemning wealth in itself. We go back to verse 9 and we
look at what Paul is actually warning against.
He says those who desire to be rich fall in temptation in a
snare. In this word desire, Paul is is
pointing towards something that we saw earlier about people who
had kind of the obsession for disputes and arguing they
couldn't get over it. The same idea those who have an
obsessive desire that everything they do is filtered with how
they can manage to have a little bit more.
He goes on to say that they have harmful lust.
It's eventually going to destroy their life, but lust is desiring
something that God hasn't given you.
He says that when you have this, this obsessive desire to be
motivated primarily for your status in the world that you're
walking into a temptation and A and a snare.
What is the temptation? The temptation is don't ever be
satisfied. Don't ever be content.
You should always have a little bit more.
And here's the snare. Snare means trap for people who
have this obsession. They're walking towards
something that will eventually trap them into a harmful,
destructive life. The trap is that it's never
enough. We already quoted $0.50, so
let's quote another great thinker, Bob Marley.
Bob Marley says money is counted in numbers and numbers have no
end. You will never find the last
dollar that you need to finally have enough.
You will always need just a little bit more.
And the heart of discontent that is not satisfied.
It is not a cultural problem. It's not something that existed
in Ephesus and then uniquely again in our time.
This is a problem of sin. It exists in the heart of every
person. You do not have to teach it to
children. They have it from a young age.
I I say that quite aware just in the the recent view of my own
parenting, I have a child that it must be around the age of 5
where they become collectors, obsessive collectors.
They want it all. And so my son is using every
opportunity to receive from birthday to Christmas to just
little, little times out. If he has any opportunity to buy
anything, he is buying a superhero action figure.
He loves them, he stacks them, he counts them and he he
actually has more than he can count.
So now he brings them to me and he says, dad, count them for me.
I'm like his little accountant. He's like a acquirer of gold.
You know, I'm accounting. He's like louder.
I need to hear. I'm like 1516.
And the shocking thing is we all we continue to add to the
number. He wants more and yet he
continually walks away sorrowful.
It's like a madman pace. And he's like, it's not enough.
I need more. I still don't have this guy.
I need more of this guy. And he's he's just plotting the
acquisition of his category, which is toys.
And the category will change eventually.
It will go from toys to shoes or clothes.
And we all have our categories where we obsessively want more.
And the ultimate category is money because it gets you all
the categories. And he says Paul is saying
you're walking into a trap. He says those who have fallen
into this temptation and snare fall into many foolish and
harmful lusts. Listen which drown men in
destruction and perdition. Perdition is the state of
absolute spiritual chaos where you're you're completely
shipwrecked in the soul and you're drowning in that
shipwreck says you're drowning in destruction.
And so maybe some of you can think through the obsessive
patterns you've had to navigate and being shifted by motivated
simply by what God has for your life to be motivated for what
will you want for your life? Maybe you've experienced, maybe
you've seen it in someone else Drowned by workaholic being a
workaholic, you just can't turn it off.
You're like TGIM. Thank goodness it's Monday.
I got more time to work. And through that you are so
addicted to work, you will put everything else on the back
burner, including relationships, including time in the word,
including time with your children.
And you neglect all the things you should be doing because
you're drowned by the desire to work to get more.
And you can get drowned by greed.
You're unable to see the needs of others.
You're unable to to see anything beyond your own desire to have
more. And you step over the people
that God has in your path to, to bless and to care for.
And your greed is unwilling to open your hands to what God may
be desiring to use your life for.
You can drown in fear because it's never enough.
And there's someone that's probably always after your
little corner of the market or your little treasure.
Thieves will rob, rust will destroy.
And at any moment, if you're not careful and you're not
obsessively thinking about how to maintain your empire, it'll
be gone. And so you're drowned by fear.
And ultimately in this trap, this snare that holds people,
you will drown with dissatisfaction.
There, there, there will be no joy in your heart.
You will never reach the top of the mountain.
And in this be as you're drowning, you're opening up your
life to everything Paul has been warning Timothy against.
Paul's says Timothy, fight for sound doctrine.
And in this destruction that people can walk through for the
ways of the world, they can walk towards all sorts of evil.
It says for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
Now this is often misquoted as the root of all evil.
Of course, there's other roots to things that we do in our
sinful and evil hearts. The root of all evil is sin
itself. But one of the great roots that
will, that will turn someone into a compromised a person of
morality and character and virtue is the desire from for
more money. One commentator puts it like
this. There's not a single evil in
this earth, not a single form of immorality, not a single form of
murder, not a single form of injustice, not a single form of
violence that will not be practiced for the sake of money.
One of the great temptations is your life in your in your call
to be holy as God is holy is if I pay enough, will you do it?
If it has a big enough price tag, would it be worth your
morals and your character? And he says for when this
happens, for which some have strayed from the faith in their
greediness and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows. Now we started this with a view
of the commencement speech of the world.
And if you want to make it in the world, you got to get rich
or die trying. But once again, Paul is
reminding Timothy that this is not an Ephesus problem.
This is a church in Ephesus problem.
This is happening with those who have strayed from the faith.
This is happening to those who came in to be motivated by what
God had for them and they got dollar signs in their eyes and
they walked away. And so this is our chance to do
a modern rebuke of anyone who is strayed from the faith but still
represents the name of God. And how often in the Trustworthy
series, we said, Lord, cleanse our church age of one of these
problems. That there are leaders and
preachers and pastors and alleged prophets and writers of
books who have have begun a work in the name of the Lord, but
strayed towards their own empires and their own private
jets and their own cars and their mansions.
And it says that because of this, they are piercing
themselves with sorrows. Let their lives be a warning to
anyone who would stray from being motivated by the will of
God for your life. What awaits them is many
sorrows. It will not end well.
They will not be an example of someone who ran the race well.
They'll be an example of someone who got strayed from the faith
and went down a path of utter destruction.
It's a problem as old as the Bible.
And I have to say, I don't often find a reason to say something
positive about the celebrity culture that we live in.
But this might be the only reason that because we all have
a front row seat into the the celebrities and the the people
of our world that have wealth. We all have a front row seat to
the reality of this warning that that read the headlines, read
the tabloids, read the the the billion dollar divorce cases and
the drama that ensues flowing from the the elites of our
world. Money does not solve problems,
it actually enhances them. Sometimes all that money does is
show you what you would do in the deceitfulness of your heart
if you had more buying power. And so may we be people who
listen to what Paul is saying to Timothy, to be disciplined in
contentment. It is our only shield against
the temptation of more. And also to have a view of the
consequences of those who have strayed from the faith.
And now they have arrows in their back for the destruction
of naming the name of the Lord, but living in the strategy of
the world. And so as we've done throughout
this series, and we now have this grand finale that Paul will
take Timothy through, there is this principle that Timothy
needs to implement into the church for this.
It is to have the purest of motivations.
And then there is an exaltation of the only thing that can
actually make a church trustworthy.
And now for this last section, we get a vision of what is worth
living for. Verse 11, he says, But you, O
man of God, a title that he's giving Timothy so uniquely
actually in the New Testament, you are not a man of the world.
You're a man of God. You, O person of God, living in
the world, flee these things. Don't don't fall into this the
trap of the ways of the world. And whenever you flee something,
you turn, you pursue something else.
And So what is Timothy now supposed to pursue?
Don't get rich and die trying. Get godly character and die
trying. Pursue righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, patience, gentleness.
Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold of eternal life to
which you are also called, and have confessed the good
confession in the presence of many witnesses.
This is the pursuit, this is the motivation, this is the over the
overflow of sound and healthy and good doctrine for your life.
The fruit of studying a book like this is that we would stop
pursuing the ways of the world and we would start pursuing the
ways of God. Pursue righteousness, pursue
godliness. Become more like Christ with
your life, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.
The Proverbs say a good name is to be chosen rather than great
riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold and, and, and
here is our great fork in the road with the culture.
I have to say as a dad, if, if, when I, when I think of the
fruit of all of the discipleship I'm giving to my kids and I have
a desired outcome in mind. I don't care how much money they
make in this world. If they make make a lot, they
may make a little. But you know what I do care
about? I care that they would become
righteous and godly people. That is what we're aiming for.
And the Lord will bless them for that.
He will care for their ever need.
They will learn to be content in whatever they have because they
know that pursuing God with their life, when they seek first
His Kingdom, He will take everything else and fulfill it
for them. And I have to say, as I think
about, you know, my personal family also think about this
family. I think about being a pastor and
and what is the fruit the, the, the, the desired outcome for a
church that gets together and gets in the word and pursues God
and praises his name and looks for opportunities to serve
people that I don't care how much stuff we have.
I really don't if the Lord, you know, increases and we need more
than according to his plan for our church.
I don't want to be a pastor that measures success of a church in
stuff and resources and programs and material gain.
If God has it for us, great. But you know what I do want to
be known for man. A good name is better than
riches. Families who are uncompromised
by the ways of this world, families and believers and a
church that is so trustworthy because they are not for sale.
And that is what Paul is giving to Timothy now.
And you know what that requires. He says you got to fight the
good fight of faith. But we're not looking for the
fight of finances and the corporate ladder and the rat
race. What we are is people who are
willing to stay in the game for the name of God, to fight back
all of the distractions of the world that creep into the
church. And so as we think about closing
this sermon series, I just we got to fight on our hands.
When you study first Timothy. This is not a book designed to
say, hey, study it, memorize it. Good luck.
This is now the church that is cleansed and trustworthy because
we have declared the the power of God's design through the
preaching of God's word. What what actually happens is it
should stir your hearts to say, Lord, may we be people who fight
for these things. I mean, I only consider all of
the things that Paul has presented to Timothy that are so
worth fighting for in our day. He says, fight.
The good fight of faith in doctrine to be people who love
God's word and will not allow it to be compromised in the way
that it's taught or followed. He says fight to end quarreling.
Don't be an arguing people that gets in all of the the the the
ways of the world that just tribalism and our way against
your way. He says end it and and look for
ways to be united through prayer and the teaching of the word.
He says fight for good leadership, fight for for for
men that are qualified to serve the church that have the example
that's worth following. He says fight for faithful
servants, people that are willing to actually get in the
game of what it means to be part of a church.
Fight for a culture of honor. Widows, men, women, young
children, We honor one another. And he says fight now to be
motivated by nothing but our faith in God.
You have to fight for it. You have to stay in the game.
It's a fight as old as the New Testament church.
And I have to say, I'm so grateful that you even would
come to church today. There are so many people that
listen to the things that we've had to discuss doctrine and
leadership and the ways of church in the to, to counteract
the ways of the world. And they say, you know what?
I'd rather just not go to church anymore.
I'd rather just, you know, me and the devotional and you know,
the walk that I'll take. And I'll just raise some
disciples in my own home. And church is drama and church
is tragic and church is hard and they're right.
But you guys have heard this call.
You've heard that to be a trustworthy church takes people
that are willing to fight the fight.
The sideline people, the people that have looked at the church
and seen it with much need of improvement are not in the
fight. So Paul ends to Timothy and I
end with you keep fighting. There will be all sorts of ways
that we have to fight for sound doctrine and good leadership and
a culture of honor. And it's as old as the church.
And it will happen. The fight will continue until
the Lord comes again. And with that in mind, we now
get a vision of the only motivation to want to be part of
a trustworthy church to to follow Jesus and to live in this
world and to fight against the ways of this world.
Verse 13 I urge you, I motivate you in the sight of God who
gives life to all things and before Christ Jesus, who
witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you
keep this commandment without spot.
Stay in the fight blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's
appearing. This is the timeline of this
command. He did not write to Timothy and
say put things in order and then you'll be finally the church
will be good and you can kind of sit back and it'll all work like
a like a giant mousetrap. He says this is going to
continue until the Lord comes. The church age that we live in,
we are called to be part of how God wants to raise up people
that are living by faith, that are giving glory to His name and
His name alone. And are an example to a lost and
dying world of what it means to live out the call of God in
their lives until the coming of the Lord.
And this is the motivation that I leave all of you with.
Now in the trustworthy motivation gospel, Luke says
when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?
When the Son of Man comes, will he find people that have not
stopped waiting for his return? They stepped, they kept on
waiting and trusting in his ways.
And when will his return be? Verse 15.
He will manifest this in his own time, He who is blessed the only
potent, the king of kings and Lord of Lords, who alone has
immortality, dwelling in in unapproachable light, whom no
man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power.
When Paul ends the commencement speech to Timothy by having
Timothy lift up his eyes in the middle of the trench warfare for
the Church of Ephesus, in the middle of the chaos of the
church age we live in, Paul says, look, that's worth
fighting for. That is a motivation that is
worth anything you could ever trade your soul for on earth.
The king of kings is on his way, the Lord of Lords, who alone has
immortality, who alone has everlasting power.
What Paul is saying is you think that earthly wealth means wealth
means anything. What do the rich want?
They want to live forever and have endless power.
And guess who has that? The only one who has that, he
will. He alone is immortal and he
alone has endless power. He alone is the King of Kings,
He alone is the Lord of Lords. He is on top of the ladder to
success and he is the only motivation for your life.
He is coming quickly and you will meet Him in the blink of an
eye. And all of the things you could
be distracted by to hold in your hands, to acquire for the wealth
of your life to live for, to be trapped in the temptation, in
the snare of the deceitfulness of riches will vanish away.
And you will stand in His glory. And He will either say, well
done or I never knew you. The trustworthy church, the
trustworthy believer, the trustworthy person has one aim
for his life. It is not money.
It is not gaining a church full of followers.
It is not being right about every doctrinal issue.
It is a vision of the glory of God that is so real.
And you've put all of your faith in the person of Jesus.
And a church that does that is a church that God will bless.