Grace Be With You

Over the last few months, we've had the privilege of walking through Paul's first letter to this young pastor named Timothy.

Timothy was shepherding this church in a city called Ephesus, and Paul had much instruction to give this young pastor as there were a lot of issues going on in this young church.

And so Paul felt the need to address these things.

He didn't, however, do it in a heavy-handed way.

He did it with such encouragement and such grace along the way.

He reminded Timothy of the gospel.

He warned him of false teachers.

He encouraged him not to avoid prayer.

He gave him instructions on how to seek out and raise up leadership within the church.

He shared some really hard truths and he gave him some really practical counsel for pastoral ministry.

And now, as we get to these closing paragraphs of this letter, Paul gives Timothy a few more instructions and then he bids him farewell with a benediction, or as Pastor Jordan often says, a blessing for the road.

If I could sum up these last few paragraphs of 1 Timothy in one sentence, I think it would be like this.

This is our summary for this morning.

If you get nothing else, if you tune out the rest of the time, I hope you hear this and meditate on this.

Grace has been given through Christ Jesus.

So there is hope to be found in Christ Jesus.

Grace has been given through Christ Jesus, so there is hope, friends, to be found in Christ Jesus.

As we work our way through the text this morning, we're mainly going to look at four things, and I'll give them to you, but and then we'll kind of progressively work our way through them.

Here are the four.

First, hope in God, not in wealth.

Hope in God, not in wealth.

Number two, steward your resources with the next world in mind, not just this world.

Number three, guard your doctrine.

And number four, grace be with you.

Let's start with number one and work our way through the text.

Hope in God, not in wealth.

Verse 17, Paul writes, he says, As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides everything to enjoy.

This address to the rich among the church is not a new address for Timothy, nor is it new to the Ephesian believers to whom Timothy has been ministering.

In fact, Paul has already warned against the dangers of placing one's identity in riches earlier in chapter 6, verses 9 and 10.

If you look just a few verses ahead of where we are, verses 9 and 10, it says, But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

Verse 10.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

It's through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains or many emotional and even physical stresses and anxiety and pains, difficulties because of this love.

Paul's telling Timothy to charge or to command the wealthy in his church to be careful about the pitfalls surrounding those who have an abundance of earthly riches.

And here in verse 17, he specifically charges them with two things.

First, he says, do not be haughty.

That is, don't be proud, don't be arrogant.

And then second, he commands them not to set their hope in their riches, but to set their hope on God.

Primarily, I think, is this false hope that riches provide.

It gives the appearance of hope apart from Christ, and then therefore gives place to pride and arrogance based on a perceived self-justification.

Look at all that I have, therefore, I don't need anything from God.

I can be proud.

It presents us with this false sense of self-justification that leads to pride.

This is where a, I would say, a false gospel, often called the prosperity gospel, plays into the natural tendencies of our heart to hope in other things besides Christ, namely wealth.

It's that way of thinking that says, if I can just get more money, then I'll be happy.

Or then I'll be whole.

Surely he doesn't want me to suffer, so he must then want me to have more and more money.

This is a false hope.

It's a false gospel that proclaims that it's not ultimately Christ who gives us hope, but Christ can give you riches.

And that's where you find hope.

Surely He doesn't want us to suffer.

It makes Jesus a means to an end.

And friends, listen closely.

Any gospel, any doctrine, any word that makes Jesus the means rather than the end is a false gospel.

It only leads to destruction when what it promises is redemption.

Hope.

But it cannot provide it.

It's a facade.

And it only leads to destruction.

And Paul, in our text, shows this stark contrast, this juxtaposition between earthly riches and the rich provision of God from whom all blessings flow.

Earthly provisions, he says, are uncertain.

They're untrustworthy and fleeting.

They come one day and they're gone the next.

We all know what this is like.

They're unstable and create this false hope that we're talking about, which then leads to pride, causing us to shift our attention away from Christ and toward our own false sense of self-justification.

They're unstable.

They're uncertain, he says.

Then he contrasts this with God.

God, on the other hand, provides richly for his people.

He's not fleeting, but he's eternal.

His goodness and presence is not determined by the marketplace, but by his eternal self-existence.

He is sure and steady in his presence, unlike the uncertain riches of this world that simply come and go.

Then, not only that, but he richly provides for us everything to enjoy, Paul says.

That is, he doesn't simply give us things to survive, kind of begrudgingly dropping things at our feet because he just has to or he needs to, as if it's some chore of his.

No, he richly blesses us with all things to stir our hearts to joy.

He gives us all that we need and grants to us these good gifts here in this world in order that we ultimately may find hope and joy in the giver rather than the gift.

But to place our hope in riches is to worship the gift rather than the one from whom the gifts come.

He gives us these things with joy to stir our hearts, to cause us to sing.

Willow, my six-year-old daughter, she's learning how to ride her bike without training wheels this week.

And as she should be, she's very proud of herself as she kind of positions herself on the bike just right.

She works the pedals until they're in the right position that she thinks they have to be in for her to go, and then she'll thrust off and she'll inevitably go 15 or 20 feet and then get a little wobbly, let out a quick a quick squeal and jump off and abandon the bike, right?

I picked her up from school one afternoon this past week, and as soon as we got home, got out of the car, she began to beg me to open up the garage, get her bike out, and let her ride.

She's so excited.

So she and Roe and our little one, they get their bikes, they begin to ride around in the street in front of our house.

So, as any good dad would do, I grabbed a cigar and I lit up while they're riding their bike.

Watched as they went back and forth in front of the house, and as that as I stood there with this cigar, as I watched my little girls ride with such joy around, so elated to be outside on their bike.

This phrase kept coming to mind as I was meditating on this passage throughout the week.

God provides richly all things for us to enjoy.

And as I watched my little girls, as I enjoyed these good gifts, my heart began to sing because of the God who provides such things.

Not simply so that we can enjoy a nice day, but so that we can extend our heart and our affections and our eyes toward God who gives us those things.

To ultimately stir our hearts for Him.

Wealth, money, riches, these things come and go, and they cannot and will not bring hope.

Only God does that.

And how does He do it?

Not through uncertain riches and momentary pleasures, not through fleeting things that come and go, but through the certain and lasting forgiveness of sins through the work of Jesus Christ alone.

See, it's not merely the fact that God meets our physical, earthly needs that brings us hope.

If that was it, friends, that would not be hope.

That would simply be transitory and pushing off the inevitable condemnation because of our sin.

Simply giving us the things that we need here and now is not hope, friends.

This is why money is an empty promise.

Because it doesn't last.

No, we need so much more than earthly provision.

Friends, we need our sins forgiven.

We need our debt paid, our ledger cleaned.

And that kind of hope only comes through Jesus Christ, who is our ultimate provision.

See, through his sinless life, he did what you and I could not do.

He kept God's law perfectly, earning righteousness for all who would believe.

Through his substitutionary death, that is, through him dying in the place of sinners.

He eliminated the debt owed and made provision for the forgiveness of sins for all who would believe.

And through his resurrection from the dead, he secured for all those who believe not only the forgiveness of sins, but an eternal hope of life in fellowship with God.

See, that is good news.

Simply having our temporary, momentary needs met is not ultimately and eternally good news.

Good news is that the God who gives these good gifts forgives sinners.

And he makes us right with God by faith alone in Christ alone.

That, friends, is good news.

Wealth cannot provide that for you.

Only God can.

So Paul says, hope in God, not in wealth.

Number two, steward your resources with the next world in mind, not just this world.

Look at verses 18 through 19.

They're to do good, Paul writes.

To be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Paul gives us here a better vision of what it looks like to be good stewards of our resources.

And he grounds this vision, not ultimately in what we do with our resources here, but rather in how the use of our resources here speaks to how we view the world that is to come.

That is, eternity.

See, as Christians, we don't simply view ourselves as the result of time and chance, but it's created beings, created in the image of God, who not only live in this world, but will live in the world that is to come.

This is foundational to our faith.

It's in the Apostles' Creed.

I believe in the resurrection and the life everlasting.

It's in the Nicene Creed.

We look for the resurrection of the dead and for the world that is to come.

This is a foundational reality to the Christian faith.

We believe that we are not only living in this life, but we are looking forward to the life that is to come.

And Paul seems to make the connection here that the two are not mutually exclusive, particularly as it pertains to how we steward our resources.

That when God has blessed us with abundance, then we are to use those blessings not simply as means of amassing more and more wealth to ourselves, but as a means of doing good, being generous, sharing with those who are in need.

And Paul says that what this reveals is a wealth that is far greater than money.

A wealth of good works that builds upon the foundation of that life that is to come.

Now, quickly, Paul says nothing in this text about the inherent morality of money or riches themselves.

We want to be clear.

And so don't read something into this text that's not here.

Paul is not speaking to the inherent morality of riches.

He's speaking to the heart behind how we as people use our riches or whether or not we worship the gift rather than the giver.

And ultimately, what this reveals is that we're not placing our hope in a false gospel of riches.

But rather, we're hoping in the rich grace of God shown to us in Christ Jesus.

And that our resources are a means given to us to accentuate the beauty of Christ.

And to truly, Paul says, grab hold of the life that we are given in Him, not just now, but for eternity.

Take hold of that which is truly life.

If we try to hold on to our wealth, thinking that it will save us, thinking that it will provide us hope, friends, it will flee from us every time.

Every time.

But Paul says if you steward your resources not just to accumulate things in this life, but if you will see your resources through the lens of the world that is to come, we begin to loosen our grip on these temporary, momentary, transitory things, and we begin to cling tightly to Jesus Christ, who is our true hope.

I do want to mention, though if we're honest, it's probably not the temptation of most of us here, but there is an unhealthy pendulum swing by the way of kind of kind of to the far opposite of this, that some have called a poverty theology.

That is this idea that, okay, uh the scriptures say the love of money is the root of all evil, and so therefore, if I just get rid of everything that I have, then I'll be made right with God.

If I'm poor, then I'll truly be made right with God.

The problem is both of these things provide for us a false sense of hope, and they shift our attention away from Christ.

Neither poverty nor abundance will save us.

Only Christ can do that.

And in Christ, Paul says we can learn to be both rich and poor for the glory of God and for the good of our neighbor, for the good of our brothers and sisters.

I can do all things.

I know how to have excess and I know how to have want.

I know how to lack, Paul says.

I can do both in Christ, because neither are my hope.

Christ is.

Foundational to the Christian religion, to the Christian faith is the belief that ultimately, undergirding everything else that we believe, is that there is a God who has revealed Himself.

And He has revealed Himself not just through nature, when we look and we see the created order, we see the laws of all of these systems that have been put in place that are inexplicable, that are beautiful, that hold things together.

We see those, and yes, that's general revelation.

We see that, and we have to say somebody created that.

But revelation goes so far beyond that, not just to nature, but more specifically through the scriptures.

And if God has revealed Himself in this way, then it's not our revelation, it's not our doctrine to create or distort or shift to match the swaying tides of whatever culture in which we find ourselves or the whims of our own heart.

No, it is his word about himself.

And therefore, friends, we do not get to determine how God reveals himself and who he has revealed himself to be.

John Chrysostom, he was the archbishop in Constantinople in the fourth century.

He wrote this.

He said, It's not thine own, speaking of doctrine.

Thou art entrusted with the property of another, so do not lessen it, he says.

Therefore, we're to receive by faith.

We're to share it generously with others, and brothers and sisters, we are to guard it.

Because it is not ours to distort or change or redefine.

Because foundational to who we are as Christians is the idea that God has revealed Himself.

And we don't get the right as the clay to tell the potter who he is and how he works.

Some would say we simply need to stay away from that doctrine stuff.

It divides people.

And so we seek to find kind of the least common denominator.

Paul, however, in verses 3 through 5 of chapter 6 would argue that it's not sound doctrine that divides, it's false doctrine.

False doctrine divides.

He says, if anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he's puffed up with conceit, he understands nothing, he's an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words which produce, he says, envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

It's not sound doctrine that divides, it's false doctrine.

Therefore, we have to guard, to keep watch, to hold closely our doctrine.

And this is especially true for pastors as Paul is speaking to young Pastor Timothy here, telling him how to care for his church.

We must fiercely guard the doctrine that we teach and preach.

This doctrine that undergirds all that we do in the ministry.

We must guard it well.

We must guard it with care and precision and grace and courage.

As not only are there competing and oftentimes compelling arguments from outside of us, from culture, from other religious systems, but friends, there is oftentimes a war even within our own heart.

To distort what God has said about Himself, to distort what God has said about us, to make it more palatable, more comprehendible, more appealing to the masses.

We try to find the least common denominator, but what we do is we distort who God is because it's his revelation.

It's how he has communicated who he is.

And therefore, it is not ours to change or shift.

It's ours to guard and to believe and to share.

It's not just those outside things that are competing, it's our own heart.

That's why we need to guard against even within ourselves this doctrinal drift.

We will not stumble upon continued faithfulness and orthodoxy.

This is a lifelong prayer-soaked grace clinging, lifelong pursuit.

This is what God has called us to.

And it's what his spirit equips us to do.

So guard your doctrine.

Fourth and lastly, grace be with you.

This is how Paul ends his letter to young Timothy.

I can imagine this young pastor weary from the struggles within the church, weary from those who are trying to come in and distort what is good and right, weary from his own heart, his own, even at times his own physical ailments.

He's tired.

And perhaps he writes to this father in the faith, Paul, and he says, Paul, I need help.

What do I do?

These guys who I thought were my friends are coming into the church and they're preaching something contrary to the gospel.

What do I do?

I've tried to communicate with them.

What do I do about my own heart tendencies toward not joy but depression?

What do I do about my physical ailments that are at times keeping me from doing what I need to do as a pastor?

Paul helped me.

What do I do?

And Paul beautifully and pastorally gives him all of this instruction.

And I can imagine if Timothy is anything like me, he reads, he sees all of these things, and he begins to be overwhelmed with this calling once again.

How do I do this well?

How do I do this faithfully?

And then Paul in the end comes and he builds, he undergirds, he holds Timothy up with everything that he has just commanded him to do.

He comes in and he puts a crutch underneath of him.

He puts a sure foundation and he says, This is how you will do this.

Grace is with you.

Grace.

Not self-sufficiency, not self-justification, not his own gifts, grace.

So I was preparing for this.

I kept wanting to write this point as go in grace.

Right?

I wanted to kind of keep the flow of the imperatives that we've seen in the text.

But the more I tried to make that fit, the more just out of place it seemed.

Why?

Because this is not an imperative statement.

This is not a command to be followed.

It's a pronouncement of good news.

It's a blessing into which Timothy and by extension, brothers and sisters, you and I have been welcomed.

It's telling the good news that grace has been given.

And so Timothy, and you and I, when we begin to feel overwhelmed by this calling, guard your doctrine.

When we begin to be overwhelmed or feel our own the tendency of our own heart to drift toward hoping in lesser things, grace comes through and lifts us back up to Jesus.

The only sure and lasting and solid foundation.

This is a pronouncement.

Grace has been given, brothers and sisters.

It's a Matthew Henry, he's a late 17th-century Welsh pastor and theologian.

He writes regarding this benediction of Paul's.

Listen to this, it's on the screen.

He says, This is a short yet comprehensive prayer for our friends.

For grace comprehends in it all that is good.

And grace is an earnest, yea, a beginning of glory.

For wherever God gives grace, he will give glory.

And he will not withhold any good thing from him who walketh uprightly.

And so you think, man, Paul must have been in a hurry.

He signed off with this quick little snippet.

No, this short statement, grace is with you, is a comprehensive pronouncement of all that we need to live a life of godliness.

A pronouncement that good news has happened, that something has been done.

And it was not us, friends, who did the doing.

It was Christ.

And so this is a comprehensive promise that all that Paul has written to Timothy in this letter, all that he's charged him with, all that he's warned him of, it is all rooted in the fact that God has provided abundant grace.

Grace to save sinners in chapter one.

Grace to establish his church in chapters two and three.

Grace to provide good shepherds in chapter three.

Grace for when enemies are trying to come in, chapters one and four to destroy what is good.

Grace for when you're tired, grace for when you're tempted to trust in wealth rather than God.

Grace for dealing with false doctrine.

Grace upon grace upon grace.

This is not something that we have to earn.

This is something that has already been given to us in Jesus Christ.

And so what do we do?

We sit back and we soak it in.

Rejoicing in who God has revealed himself to be, who he has provided for us to reconcile us to God, to give us that hope.

And then what he has called us to do.

Our primary call as believers is to live out of the abundant grace of God shown to us in Christ Jesus.

This is not something, friends, that we work for.

We do not strive for it.

We have been given every ounce of grace that there is to be given through Christ.

And therefore, friends, there is hope to be had.

If it was simply a gift of temporary pleasures to enjoy, that would not be good news.

But that's not the promise.

God has given us something greater than temporary pleasures.

He has given us himself and the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And he has said, where money demands that we chase it more and more and more, Jesus says, Come to me.

All who are weary and heavy laden, mom, when you're tired at home because you never get a break from your kids and you feel as if there is no way I can be faithful to this gospel.

All I do is change diapers all day.

Jesus says, Come to me.

He says to you, Mom, you do not have to seek your identity and your hope and your pleasure and other lesser things.

Find it in Christ.

Come to me.

To the brother or sister who feels as if they have to climb the ladder as high and as fast as they can in their place of employment, in their career.

I simply need the next promotion.

I simply need the next raise.

I simply need the next bit of uh good, seemingly good things to be added to me at work.

Then I'll have hope.

Then I'll be pleasured, then I'll have all that I need.

And that gets exhausting, but Jesus says, Come to me.

All who are weary and heavy laden and do not find your hope in lesser things, find it in me.

I will give you rest.

To the pastors who feel as if they cannot keep up.

The problems of the congregation, the problems of their family continue to crush them, and they can't seem to keep their head above water.

Jesus does not say, Pastor, you will be justified by your ministry.

He says, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

And friends, it's from that rest, it's from that grace that we then work and live and hope.

We can go in grace because grace has been given to us in Christ Jesus.

Pray with me.

Father, we do not deserve your temporary good gifts, and we certainly, certainly do not deserve the eternal good gift of your Son, poured out on the cross, raised from the dead, ascended into heaven, all that we may be reconciled, that we may be forgiven, that we may rule and reign with him forever.

We certainly don't deserve that.

And yet the call stands.

Come to me, all who are tired and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Why?

Because grace has been given.

Father, thank you for this grace.

I pray that you would continue to shift our eyes toward Jesus in a way from lesser false hopes that we tend to cling to in order to justify ourselves.

Help us to cling to Christ.

We pray this in his name.