Trustworthy Motivation - 1 Timothy 6:6-21

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

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

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

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

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

Proverbs 30 · chapter mention

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.

1 Timothy 6:9

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

1 Timothy 6:17

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.