How to handle the gifts of God.....not least money - Midweek Message 26th August 2020
Dear Friends,
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.
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous
and willing to share. 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. (1 Timothy 6.17-19)
There are so many warnings on the lips of Jesus and in the
writings of his apostles about the dangers of money and wealth. As we saw last
Sunday, Jesus warned his disciples against seeking treasure on earth which does
not and cannot last, but rather encouraged them to seek lasting treasure in
heaven. Yet that raises the question of how here on earth, a Christian is to
handle their money, their wealth. It’s relevant question given that though we
may not regard ourselves as particularly wealthy or rich as we compare
ourselves with our immediate neighbours, yet relative to our global neighbours,
we all undoubtedly belong to the richest section of the world’s population.
In these words to Timothy above, Paul echoes much of what
Jesus says in Matthew 6.19-21 as he warns Christians from putting their hope,
their trust in money (i.e. giving their
heart to money) and encourages them rather to foster an outward looking and open-handed lifestyle which doesn’t store
up treasure on earth for selfish purposes but rather seeks to give of itself
and its wealth for the sake of others and by so doing lays up treasure…for
the coming age. Yet that doesn’t mean despising or feeling guilty about the
wealth, the money we have, for notice Paul also speaks of the character of the
God in whom we are to put our hope as one who richly provides everything for
our enjoyment. Earlier in the letter, he also warned Timothy of an
unhealthy and unholy ascetic spirit which refused the gifts for example of food
or marriage and reminded him everything
God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with
thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4)
So how do
we handle good things, created things, God given things that come to us in this
life, including money and wealth? In answer to that I hope a further look this
coming Sunday at Matthew 6.19-24 will shed some light on this but in the meantime
I wanted to complete the quote from CS Lewis, which I included Sunday past, for
I think he strikes the right balance:
'Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction
for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as
food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel
sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire
which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is
that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it,
that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures
were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real
thing’…..and then he continues:
‘If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand,
never to despise, or to be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the
other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a
kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my
true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get
snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press
on to that country and to help others to do the same.’
Yours in seeking that balance,
David
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