- Last summer, as most of you know, my family took a vacation to Colorado. It was the first time Emma had visited the state, and Michelle and I hadn’t been there in years. We stayed mostly around Colorado Springs, which is a great area for tourism. Some of you saw the pictures I posted on Facebook.
- One of the activities that Emma and I did while we were out there was to go on a river rafting trip. It was just a couple of hours one afternoon, and we found a really great deal on Groupon, which is an internet site where you can buy things at a great discount.
- We drove way out into the country and got suited up with life jackets and helmets. A group of young men half my age explained how we were supposed to do everything. Then we and another couple got in the raft and started going down the river.
- Our guide was great, and he was really funny. He kept us from flipping the raft over and steered us through some pretty serious rapids. It was a blast. At one point all of the guides pulled their rafts over to the river bank and told us to get out and take a rest.
- So we got out. They invited us to climb up on this large rock on the river bank, and they told us that if we wanted, we could jump off the rock into the river. Emma wanted to do it, and, against my better judgment, I agreed to go do it with her.
- They told her where to jump and how to keep from being swept into the current. Sure enough, she jumped in, helmet and life jacket and all, and went under. She came right back up and swam to the riverbank.
- But when I looked at that rock and told myself I was going to jump off, I hesitated. How sure were these guys that the water was deep enough? What if I didn’t hit the spot where they were telling me to jump? They didn’t give me an accurate number of people who had died jumping off this rock.
- And I remember the moment when I just said, “Stop it. These guides know what they’re doing. Don’t let your daughter see you be afraid to jump. You’ll never hear the end of it.”
- So I ran off the end of the rock and jumped in. It was the most incredible feeling. Even though I was free falling for about a half second, it was fine. The water picked me right up. I swam to the river bank. Emma said, “Dad, let’s do it again!” And I followed her back to the rock for another jump.
- It was one of those times in life where I put aside my fears and went for the gusto. It was like one of those beer commercials you see while you’re watching the football game. People just having fun and living it up. Only it was me doing it.
- There have been too few of those instances in my life. Usually my behavior and my choices are severely limited by my fears, by this set of rules that I have created for myself, and by the consequences of my previous choices in life.
- But what if we could feel that kind of freedom and vitality on a regular basis? What if every day brought the kind of wonder and carelessness that I felt that day? Part of the reason why many of us feel so hemmed in by life is because our lives are so entirely dictated by the opportunity to earn money or save money spend money in a certain way.
- How many of us do what we do or live the way we live because in doing so, we have the opportunity to live a certain lifestyle, one we may have never enjoyed before, one we could easily lose if we were laid off or became ill?
- We guard our lifestyle by working feverishly, by trying to earn more qualifications, by competing with other people for a better job. We happily accept all of that stuff as the American Way.
- But what gets lost in the process? What are we willing to sacrifice so that we can live that way? And do those things we earn and hold onto really make us feel alive?
- That’s the heart of the question I want to raise with you this morning as week reflect again on the letter of 1 Timothy. I want you to ask yourself what is real life? What would you have to do in order to really be living? Is the answer to that question intimately associated with a dollar amount, or is real life to be defined in other ways?
- The answer we read in 1 Timothy may surprise you. This passage is from a letter written by a seasoned church leader to a younger pastor of a church in the late first century, several decades after Jesus’ death.
- The author writes the letter because he has become aware of a situation in a particular church that this young pastor is trying to lead. Most scholars don’t think this letter was written by the apostle Paul to his protégé Timothy. But the author uses the imagery of Paul and Timothy as a template for the conversation he needs to have with this young pastor. This kind of writing was very common at the time.
- The author knows that during “Timothy’s” time serving the church, other people have come in and challenged his authority. They have told people that Timothy is teaching people the wrong things. They claim that what they teach people about Jesus is more correct.
- The author, who we’ll call “Paul” reminds Timothy to stick to his guns, to trust in what he has been taught, and not to be intimidated by the people who are challenging him. He gives Timothy lots of practical advice on how to lead people. He tells Timothy how to recruit and train leaders.
- Another problem Timothy faces is a dynamic that formed when some very wealthy people joined the church. Timothy found that some of the people in the church were intimidated by the wealth of other people in the church who were wealthy.
- In fact, they found themselves wanting to also become wealthy. They wanted so much to be like those other people in the church with money that they started engaging in all kinds of chicanery so that they could become wealthy.
- Paul tells Timothy to pay attention to this dynamic. In 6:9-10 he tells Timothy “But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.”
- These Christians, whose measure of wealth should be the kind of treasure they’ve stored up in heaven, have made themselves miserable by trying to become wealthy. God freed them from sin, but they traded that freedom from sin for a slavery to money. And it has made them unhappy.
- Paul encourages Timothy to steer clear of that dynamic. He’s worried that young Timothy would also get caught up in the trap of trying to make money for the sake of making money. He reminds Timothy that instead of pursuing money, he should pursue godliness, righteousness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.
- Granted, none of those things pay the mortgage. But they are what the Christian faith is all about. They are the currency of our faith. When you know someone who claims to be a Christian but doesn’t exhibit any of those traits, their behavior seems pretty out of place.
- You see, the life that Timothy’s wannabe parishioners are seeking is one in which they are not truly free. That’s the key truth I want you to take away today. They don’t control their money. Their money, or their quest for it, controls them.
- They are not free to do a lot of things that they could do in life because their purpose is no longer to enjoy life. Their purpose is to earn and spend money. They are no longer free to be the kinds of people they could be because of Christ’s grace.
- They can’t spend time with their kids because the time they spend could be spent making money. They have no time to enjoy their spouses or put into their marriages. Theycould spend that time working extra hours.
- They have no time to be with the poor or help the needy or care for the sick or support the elderly. Because none of those activities pays. And if they don’t pay, then you don’t do it. I know so many people who are like that these days, especially with all the layoffs and the price of health insurance and the cost of living.
- All of their life and their health and their energy and their happiness are sacrificed at the altar of wealth, at the altar of money. They could not live with themselves if they couldn’t impress their friends with their nice house of their nice car or their nice vacations or their nice electronics or jewelry or clothes.
- Paul tells Timothy that he is not to be a party to any of that. But he also tells Timothy to speak in a prophetic way to those in the congregation who do have a lot of money. The passage we read this morning is directed not at the wannabe’s, but at people who have been blessed with great wealth.
- He tells Timothy to remind the wealthy in his congregation not to be arrogant about their status. As I mentioned last week, he tells them not to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on the certainty of the God who gave them everything they have.
- He wants Timothy to tell his wealthy parishioners that they should concentrate on a different kind of wealth. In fact, their financial wealth will allow them to also be spiritually wealthy if they use it in the right way.
- As things stood, Timothy’s wealthy parishioners used their wealth to buy things, which made them look greater in the eyes of others. Instead, Paul tells Timothy to encourage his wealthy parishioners to use their wealth to be rich in good works.
- He tells them to use their financial resources to be generous. He tells them to share what they have with others. He says that if they do so, they will not be lessening their own wealth. In fact, they will be creating greater spiritual wealth for themselves than they ever had on earth.
- And to cap off his remarks, he tells then that if they do so, the life they live will be real life. A life that is real. Not the kind of artificial life that so many people of means create for themselves as a way of insulating themselves from the realities of the world around them.
- Now, I understand that when pastors says stuff like that, people hear it and think, that’s just something poor people say when they lack the initiative or work ethic to do what it takes to become wealthy.
- People talk about storing up riches in heaven. But aren’t they really just being envious? Aren’t they really just putting successful people down? If you really had a choice to be rich here or not isn’t it really better to rich here and take your chances with the next life?
- If you have a lot of money and you fail to share it, won’t God just forgive you anyway? It’s not like you’re not going to go to heaven just because you make a lot of money. Is there really such a thing as being poor in heaven as opposed to being rich in heaven? Doesn’t everyone live at just about the same level in heaven? There’s no one up there keeping score, is there?
- Those are fair questions, but they really miss the point of what Paul’s saying here. The point is not your financial status in heaven. The point is whether or not you get to live this life in happiness or in misery.
- The point is that the love of money acts as a straightjacket on people who God designed to live freely. It is like a cold, wet blanket that always blocks out the light. It causes people to betray one another, to neglect one another, to disrespect one another, and to forget that our family, our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors, and yes, even the other people at church are gifts to us from God.
- I encourage you to be free from all of that worry. I encourage you to jump off the rock and into the river and stop worrying about all of the things that might happen. I’m not urging you to be careless or undisciplined. But I am placing before you the opportunity to do exactly what Paul says when it comes to your giving in 2016.
- In 2016 be rich in good works. In 2016 be ready to share. In 2016 store up treasure in heaven. In 2016 establish a good foundation for the future. In 2016 take hold of the life that is real life.
- Let 2016 be the year that you break the cycle of worry about money. Let 2016 be the year you support the ministries of this congregation in ways you’ve been afraid to before. Let 2016 be a year where we as a church have enough to fund our music program so that our musicians can go out into the community and share the love of Christ.
- Let 2016 be the year when we hire an associate pastor to provide our youth and young adults with the kind of ministry they need and deserve. Let 2016 be the year we finish the last of the large projects we need to make sure our building is a safe, comfortable place for us and this community to worship and fellowship and learn about our faith.
- Let 2016 be the year when we as a church step forward in ministry in ways that we haven’t in the last few years. Let it be a year when our visitors and our new attenders can see clearly why we love this place and these people so much, and why we would love to share it with them.
- Let 2016 be the year when we make even greater strides in our efforts to be more diverse, to engage cultures here in Peoria other than our own. Let 2016 be the year when we send a group of people from our church to do mission work in Costa Rica, rather than just sending a check in to International Ministries.
- Let 2016 be the year when we ramp up even more our ministry to people in nursing homes and people who can’t get out of their homes. Let 2016 be the year when we intentionally ask ourselves, “What can we offer this community so that they know we’re serious about living out Jesus’ words, ‘whatever you’ve done for the least of these, you’ve done it unto me.’”
- 2016 can be that year. But we have to live free. We have to take hold of life. We have to go for the gusto as a church. We have to take the plunge.
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