House Rules: Week 16, 1 Timothy 6:3-19

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Now let's get started.

Alright, so 1 Timothy chapter 6, it's the last chapter of the book of Timothy.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

And so what you'll often find as you look at what at Paul's writings in the New Testament is that when he gets to the last chapter, I don't know, I mentioned it last week if he's running out of parchment or what's going on.

But when he gets near the end, it's like he goes, Oh my goodness, I've got all this stuff that's really important that I've got to talk about.

And so it just becomes just this lightning round.

And last week, we looked at 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 1 and 2, just two verses.

1 Timothy 6:1

And in two verses, Paul picks up the topic of slavery.

There's an easy topic, right?

We can just cover that, no problem at all.

And so we looked all over scripture to try to understand what the Bible says to us about this incredibly important topic that is still a big part of our national conversation.

And even in our experience, just living life here on the earth.

We we know there are people who find themselves into slavery in all manner of ways.

And so if you're curious about that topic and you weren't here last week, you can go and you can uh listen to that uh that sermon, check that out, once you know all about it.

And so today we come to kind of like the next part of the lightning round, and it's another really easy topic.

Just like slavery is easy.

This topic today, really simple.

It's just the topic of money, that's all.

Right?

And everybody knows, right, how much we love hearing you know sermons about money when you come to church.

Well, hey, I've got an out for you if you feel that way.

Today is not about money per se, it's about our relationship with money, so it's a little bit, you know, a little bit off the mark there.

And I want you to think about that for just a moment.

I want you to think about your relationship with money.

Just right now, if someone said, Hey, tell me about your relationship with money, it's probably not the way you've thought about money.

But what would you say?

How would you describe your relationship with money?

Right?

If you think about it, our relationship with money sort of falls into two parts.

It's kind of like I'm either here in my relationship with money or I'm over here in my relationship with money.

And the first part is trying to get money, right?

And it's it's really a lot like a guy pursuing the girl of his dreams at that point, right?

Okay?

You put on a full court press to win her affection, right?

And that's sort of our relationship with money if we're in that season of life where we're trying to accumulate it, right?

Most of us are either there right now, we've been there before, we realize we'll never not be there, right?

But for a lot of us, that's a big piece of our relationship with money.

It's just working incredibly hard to obtain it.

But there is another side to our relationship with money, isn't there?

And that means that that side is all about, well, what do I do if I obtain money, right?

If I if I generate a measure of assets, of riches, of wealth, whatever term you're comfortable there, what do I do then?

You know, do I do I take those dollars and simply increase my standard of living with it?

Do I just pursue more more luxury?

What does God expect me to do when I have actually gotten some money?

And so today here in 1 Timothy chapter 6, Paul's going to address both of these two parts of our relationship with money.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

He's gonna talk to us about, well, what do I do if I'm pursuing money, right?

What do I do if I'm in that season of trying to accumulate wealth?

And he's gonna talk to us about, well, what if I have achieved it and I have some resources, how do I live there?

And he's gonna begin this conversation in kind of an odd way.

He's gonna reach back into a topic that he's been talking about much uh a lot about all through the book of First Timothy, which is uh these false prophets that he sent Timothy there to deal with, right?

And that's where he's gonna find his kind of his genesis of this idea of talking just about our relationship with money.

So let's read real quickly what he says about these false prophets as he moves into this different topic.

It's found in 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 3.

1 Timothy 6:3

He says, If anyone teaches false doctrine and does not agree with sound teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and with a teaching that promotes godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in disputes and arguments over words.

From these come envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions, and constant disagreement among people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth, who imagine that godliness is a way to material gain.

Wow.

You know, I think it's fair to say that if the Apostle Paul comes after you for something, you've been gotten after pretty good, right?

I mean, he just goes after these false teachers.

Basically says, hey, these false teachers, Timothy, that I've been telling you about this whole letter, they they are arrogant, they are ignorant, and they are belligerent, and they're up to no good.

Now, you might have met somebody like that before, right?

And then that's how you would describe them.

Well, they're they're arrogant, they're ignorant, and they're belligerent.

And that's just sort of how you would see that person.

And you might wonder, as you read through this description, why were they that way?

What was it that they were hoping to gain?

How did these false teachers expect that kind of behavior to benefit them at all?

And he gives it to us here in the last two words of that fifth verse.

Do you see it?

What is it?

Two words.

What are those last two words there at the end of that verse?

Material gain.

So here's what's going on.

The false teachers that were being such a big problem for this church believed they could flip godliness into cash.

So they really weren't interested in serving God.

They were interested in using God to serve themselves.

And I would submit to you that throughout church history, we've always had people in and around the church who that's been their approach, right?

I mean, if you follow church news, Christian news in the United States at all, I promise you you won't have to go back four weeks before you come across a story about someone who took advantage and got money out of the church illegally and improperly, right?

It's still something that we see happening even today.

And so Paul says, hey, you've got to watch these guys.

They're creating all this trouble, and their real goal is to get money out of the church.

They're in it for financial gain.

That's all they really care about, right?

And we want to be so careful, you all here at Celebration.

You all give so wonderfully, and I just appreciate your giving so very, very much.

And we've got a wonderful church administrator.

Her name is Natalie Thomas, and Natalie is amazing.

And I want you all to know she is so wonderfully serious about watching over every dollar that you all give.

And we have an annual budget that we vote on every year in May, and we follow that budget.

The staff treats it like a contract.

Natalie takes it extremely seriously.

And we've got a stewardship team that looks over everything every single month.

We have annual audits, all of that is in place because we don't want to be a church where this is who we are, right?

And Paul says, I want you to be aware this is who these false teachers are.

They're trying to enrich themselves.

And as Paul's thinking about that measure of greed, right?

That that attitude toward money, he seizes on it and he says, Let's just use this as a teachable moment to start thinking about our relationship with money.

And that's where the conversation begins to pivot.

And it does so beginning in verse 6.

Look at what he says here.

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it.

If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.

So Paul's thinking about these guys who are pursuing false teaching in the church in hopes of turning a prophet.

He says to him, So, hmm, you want to know how you can turn a real prophet?

Pursue godliness with contentment.

He said, That's that's how you find the real win.

In other words, the greatest thing you can gain in life isn't more money.

The greatest thing that you can gain in life is real excitement about what God is doing and then being satisfied with how God is providing for you.

I want you to think about a word that we use all the time.

Think about the word vocation.

Everybody got it?

And I want you to think for a moment, as you've got that word pictured in your brain, brain, vocation.

What does that word mean?

A lot of us would say, well, that word vocation is just a fancy word for saying job.

That's not what it means.

The word vocation actually means calling.

It's a reminder that all of us ought to look at our job, at our career as our calling.

We ought to see it as a God-given opportunity to participate in what God is doing in the lives of the people that are all around you.

So the way that you work, the way that you treat people, the integrity you demonstrate, it's all a part of what He is doing.

Now, while you're at the workplace, God uses that as a means for you to make a living.

Praise God for that, right?

I mean, I don't know about you, but I like having clothes and food and shelter and all that goes with it.

I'm glad that I'm paid to go to work.

But our workplace is more than that.

The main reason that we're there is to represent Christ in that place to the people with whom we work.

How many of y'all have ever had that moment where you woke up in the morning and you're like, I don't want to go to work?

I'm tired of work.

I'm tired of those people.

I don't want to do that anymore.

I just want to be done, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.

Right?

Ever felt that way?

Or was that too specific, right?

Someone's like, how did you know?

Right?

When you feel that way, you know what you need to do?

Just check into this and say, you know what?

I don't go there for the money.

And some of you all thought, if you see my paycheck, you would know that's already true, right?

I don't go there for the money.

You know why I'll go there?

It's my calling.

I go there so that I can show Christ to that group of people, whether that it's the customers who come through the door or the other people that I work with, whatever the context.

But I am there to put flesh and bones onto the cause of Christ and live for Jesus in front of those people.

That's why I'm there.

And while I'm there doing that, God does this really cool and wonderful thing.

He gives me the resources that I need to live my life.

Praise God for that.

So that's the that's the benefit.

It's not the purpose.

The purpose is to show Christ to the people who live there.

And then when I'm there for that purpose and I realize, well, God is meeting my needs.

See that work?

That's great.

That's awesome.

You know what I find?

Contentment.

Because I realize that while I am about doing what is important to the cause of Christ, God sees my needs and He's meeting my needs day after day after day.

Now, I want to be real clear here, and I'm gonna say this a lot throughout the course of this morning, so I want you to make sure you get this.

I'm not telling you that it is wrong for you to have ambition.

I'm not telling you that there's something wrong if you chose to advance your career or want better for your family.

That is not what I'm saying.

But you shouldn't let your desire for more to become your driving force for going to work, right?

You shouldn't look at your job and say, oh, that's my cash cow.

That's all it really is.

Don't look at it that way.

That's that's your calling, it's your chance to show Christ to those people.

And with the pursuit of godliness as your as your motivation, then when I go to work, I work hard, I want to see good results, I want to honor Him with my work.

And I'm not just looking at my circumstances or my bank account for my satisfaction.

And so if you've got one of those jobs and you're just like, man, I could always use a bigger paycheck.

You find your satisfaction not in the money, not in what happens to your bank account, but from knowing that you're right where God wants you to be so that you can do what He is calling you to do as your part of the kingdom, right?

A lot of years ago, you all know that Pam and I lived in Ethiopia.

And while we were there, we had some great wonderful missionary friends who were named Jeff and Margie.

And Jeff and Margie lived way out in the countryside.

It was ours to drive to their home over the worst roads you can imagine.

Four-wheel drive required all that kind of stuff.

And they lived above 10,000 feet above sea level.

I know we live like a foot above sea level here in Florida, okay?

It's like, oh, there's the water.

Okay, that's that's our life here.

Okay, but there, I mean, 10,000 feet above sea level, and I don't know if you've ever spent any time at that altitude, but one thing that you often have, especially in the evening at 10,000 feet, it's cold.

Okay.

So they live out in this country, out in the middle of nowhere, right, down all these awful roads at 10,000 feet above sea level in a house with mud walls, a tin roof, and bare concrete floors, and no central heat or air.

Okay.

In fact, no heating of any kind.

And so you would go there and you would be like, hmm, they're doing without a lot of the modern day conveniences, right?

And yet, you know what?

Jeff and Margie, they were incredibly content.

In fact, they they loved it.

Jeff was a civil engineer, Margie was a nurse, and they just loved using the skill set that God had blessed them with to make the lives of the people in that region a little bit better and to show them the love of Jesus Christ.

They absolutely loved it.

So they were pursuing godliness with their vocation and with their character, and they loved it.

And so whenever I would go and visit them, they would always show me like the little things they had done to kind of trick out their house, you know.

Hey, check this out.

Brand new water filter, baby.

Whoa.

That puppy will filter a lot more water than the old model we had.

You know, he was just always so proud of everything that they had, you know, the the ways they had made this home work for them.

And when you would get to their house, I love this part.

It was always, like I said, cold in that little tin building and concrete floors, no carpet, no nothing.

He goes, You look a little cold.

Here, how about a blanket?

He would wrap a blanket around your shoulders.

He goes, These blankets are awesome, they're the best.

I mean, I just love snuggling up in one of these nice warm blankets.

And he and Margie and the kids would walk around the house wearing blankets, you know.

It's like, okay, this is what we do, you know.

They weren't complaining about the lack of heat.

They weren't complaining about any of that stuff.

They were content.

Why?

Why were they so content?

Because they were living their lives for the glory of God, they were honoring him and what they were doing, and they could see how God was providing for them day after day after day.

What does Paul say here?

Godliness with contentment is what?

That's gain.

You want to turn a prophet?

That's gain.

Right?

And that's what we ought to be about.

And that brings us to what Paul says here in verse 7.

Take a look at that verse.

For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out.

That is a true statement right there, isn't it?

That is a true statement right there.

And here's the point from him saying that to us.

Every single thing that we work so hard to accumulate in our lifetime, it's absolutely temporary.

Right?

Ever been around somebody who's at kind of at the end of their life and they're looking at their household of stuff, and it dawns on them that nobody else wants their stuff, and they realize they gotta offload all that stuff, and suddenly all that stuff they spent a lifetime trying to accumulate, you know what they now have to try to do?

Shed it all, get rid of it all.

Why?

I can't take it with them.

You came into this world with nothing, you're gonna leave this world with nothing.

So, why in the world would you spend your lifetime trying to accumulate stuff that's only temporary?

That's the that's the question that Paul is asking right here.

Wouldn't it make more sense, he says?

Wouldn't it make more sense to pursue the life that God really has for you?

Wouldn't that make more sense?

And the obvious answer to that question would be what yes, it would make a lot more sense, right?

Now, let's just make this really practical.

Let's assume for a moment that that you've got an opportunity for a promotion or a new job elsewhere, whatever it might be, and it's a lot more money.

And the lot more money part of the the whole thing, right?

You know, your boss or or the the other company owner, whatever it is, he says, Hey, here's this job, and you you get to a lot more money and you immediately stop paying attention.

You're just like, whoa, a lot more money, and that's all you hear.

That's what's ringing in your ears, right?

And so suddenly you're like, Yeah, I'm gonna take that promotion, or I'm gonna take that new job.

Why?

It's a lot more money.

But you don't stop to think about, well, what will that mean for my family?

Will I spend more time with my kids or less?

Will I spend more time you know working on my marriage and making that healthy or or less?

Or will I have more time to pursue a real strong, passionate, healthy relationship with Jesus or or less?

What does that actually mean for the things that matter long term?

And then that that leads to another question is you consider that same thing.

How much money is enough?

I mean, how much money do you really actually need?

Where's where's that line gonna be?

Because if you already have enough, and your main reason for taking the new job is that you get more money, well, does that make any sense at all?

Would it make sense to to make your life more difficult so that you can have more of what you already have, too much of to begin with?

Right?

Would that make any sense at all?

And so I just want to say, sit down this week, have a conversation with your spouse or somebody who knows you well enough to be honest with you, and then just be real candid about your financial ambitions, just sort of lay them out there and ask yourself, am I pursuing the life that God has called me to live, or am I just pursuing a life so that I can afford more stuff that I can't take with me anyway?

Now, I'm gonna come back to this.

I told you all before, I was gonna say this a lot today.

Am I telling you that you shouldn't have ambition?

No, not at all.

I'm telling you to make sure that your ambition is surrendered to God because if you have to sacrifice your godliness to achieve your financial goals, your goals are costing you too much.

Don't make that mistake.

Our goal ought to be what?

Godliness paired up with what?

Contentment.

That's great gain.

Now, Paul's gonna move on from here.

He's kind of laid out that as a standard, and now he's gonna talk to us about what happens if we get it wrong.

Okay?

So look at verse 9.

Here that comes.

But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Hmm.

So Paul says, Hey, listen, the danger, there's a danger when your relationship with money becomes unhealthy.

And here's the danger if if the desire to accumulate more and more wealth becomes more important to you than godliness and contentment, that will wreck you.

You see that that word um plunge in this translation?

It's the word plunge.

Do you see that word there?

The word literally means a shipwreck.

So Paul says, if you get this out of whack, if your relationship with money gets messed up and you begin to value accumulation rather than godliness with contentment, it's going to shipwreck you, right?

That's a lot of destructive power, isn't it?

And think about some of the great shipwrecks over the years and thousands of lives lost, right?

That's what that's what he says will happen to you if you get this wrong, right?

And so for starters, how does that happen?

How does how does that desire shipwreck us?

Well, the more you love money, uh, then the more you're tempted to look to it to do only what God can do.

I mean, if I get this upside down, if I'm not looking to my relationships with God, he provides me.

I'm content with what he provides me.

If my rel my instead, if I'm going, no, my relationship is with my money and I see that as super important, I'm going to pursue that, then where do I begin to look for what is going to sustain and support me?

I'm going to begin to look to my money to do something that really only God can do for me.

You look to money for your security, your satisfaction, your peace of mind, and that mindset will wreck you.

And that desire for more wealth, simply for the sake of having more wealth, it can sneak up on you, can't it?

I mean, let's say that you get that promotion at work.

That's awesome.

That is a great thing.

Now you've got a little bit more money, okay?

Which is great.

You get a nicer house, you get a better car, your investments start growing.

And there's nothing wrong with any of that.

But somewhere along the line, if you're not intentional in your relationship with money, that success begins to change you.

You begin to start measuring yourself and your worth by what you have.

You compare yourself to other people, you become very protective of your money.

You start making decisions based on what will make you wealthier versus what will help you honor God better.

And your contentment is displaced by discontentment.

And here's the question: At what point did money start stop being something that God gave you to enjoy and start being something that you just can't live without?

And Paul's point is, man, that is where the love of money gets a hold of your heart and it wrecks you because it makes you self-centered.

It can make you cruel.

It can derail your marriage and destroy your friendships.

It can turn you into something that you never imagined you would ever actually become.

So how do you prevent that from occurring to you?

All right.

Well, Paul has already told us to pursue godliness and contentment with contentment as we earn money.

And so now he's gonna turn the tables and he's gonna talk to us about well, what if I've I've actually arrived to a measure of success?

There were some people in the Ephesian church who had real money.

Okay, and so Paul's probably thinking about some of the folks in the church who have a bit more, right?

What happens when God has blessed us beyond what we just need?

So we've moved past his food, clothing, shelter.

We've moved past that.

How do we enjoy what God has given us without allowing what he's given us to take his place in our life?

Does that make sense?

So he picks that up in verse 17.

Look at what he says.

Instruct those who are rich in the present age.

Notice how he puts that?

They're rich in the present age.

Meaning, you could be rich today, but who knows about tomorrow, right?

You could be rich today, but what about an eternity?

That's that's for later, though.

Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy.

I love that last statement.

Provides us with all things to enjoy.

So now Paul says, okay, let's let's say for a moment that you've accumulated a measure of wealth.

He says, Let me give you a warning if that's where you find yourself in life at this time.

He says, Don't let your wealth change the way you see yourself.

Is that a danger?

Yeah, it's a huge danger.

Absolutely it is.

Because money has a way of making us feel important, doesn't it?

A lot of years ago, Pam and I were flying somewhere, and I don't know why, but they took sympathy upon us and they moved us up to first class.

And we get into first class, and y'all were the only people in the first class cabin on about a three-hour flight.

Okay.

And so, you know, we had like we were outnumbered by flight attendants at like, you know, two to one or something like that.

I mean, they were everywhere, and it's just me and Pam, they're all sitting there just, you know, can we get you anything?

You know.

And it wasn't long before, you know, we were flying and all of this, and I'm like, can you close those curtains?

Those people back there, and they're disturbing me.

Oh, well, Mr.

Emmer, of course.

And I mean everything.

And then, you know, they they brought us silverware.

I mean, not the plastic stuff, but I mean actual knife and fork.

And I'm like, whoa, look at me here.

Can you cut this for me?

You know what happened in that moment?

In that moment, I began to believe that that I actually had wealth.

I didn't, but I just let me have my moment, right?

Yeah.

Is that a real danger?

Does can the presence of wealth can it change the way we begin to see ourselves?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

It has a way of making us feel important.

It's as if when our net worth rises, our self-worth kind of rises with it.

And and when you when you make more money than the night next guy, right?

And you live in a nicer house than the next guy, or drive a better car than the next guy, or enjoy opportunities that the the next guy doesn't have, it's easy to begin to tell yourself, well, I'm just smarter than he is.

I'm just better than he is.

And I'm no better.

I just somehow, I don't know why, but I wound up here in first class.

I had nothing to do with it.

And that's true in real life.

If you have all those resources, where is where does it come from?

Who's the source?

God's the source.

God gave you the mental capacity, God gave you the physical strength, right?

God gave you the opportunities, the relationships, and so on and so on, and so on in your life, right, to have what you have.

You didn't accomplish it on your own.

So, what is there to be arrogant about?

And that's what Paul is taking on here.

Then he gives us another warning.

He says, Don't put your hope in wealth, because if you do that, you're gonna be you're gonna be disappointed.

If your hope is in your wealth, then what's gonna happen to your peace of mind when the stock market drops, right?

We've all you know seen people, or maybe you've had that experience, right?

You buy a stock, you feel really good about yourself, it shoots up in value, and you're and then the next day it just faceplants.

What happens to your confidence when that occurs?

What happens to your confidence when you think, I've got my retirement plan right where I want it to be?

And then the market goes through a major reversal.

And suddenly you're like, Will I have enough money?

Will I be able to, you know, will I outlive my money?

What's gonna happen?

You know, those are those are real concerns, you all.

I'm not making light of those.

But if your hope is anchored in your wealth, when something like that happens, it feels like your whole world is falling apart.

And it's like when your your financial security disappears, your peace disappears with it.

So again, I told you I'll say this a lot today.

Should you invest?

Yes, you should.

Should you save?

You absolutely should.

Should you prepare for retirement?

Absolutely, yes.

Your kids are begging you, please prepare for retirement.

All right?

It's all important.

You want to make sure you do that, but don't put your hope in those things.

Where should you put your hope?

You should put your hope in God because He is able to not only meet your need, but I love this part of the verse, but to richly provide for you, uh provide us with all the things to enjoy.

I love that idea.

God's desire is not just to give us enough, it's to give us a measure of which we can actually enjoy, right?

But God didn't bless you financially just so that you could enjoy a better life, and that's it.

There's more to it than that, right?

He also blessed you so that you can make life better for somebody else.

Look at verse 19.

Okay?

Instruct them, those are people who are who are blessed, they are in that relationship with money where they they have some resources.

That's who the them is.

Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share.

So let's say that you've worked hard and God has blessed you beyond what you need.

You find yourself in that place in your relationship with money.

Praise God.

That's awesome.

What should you do with that abundance?

Well, instead of just automatically using those extra dollars to increase your standard of living, why not use those dollars to increase your impact on the kingdom of God?

Use God's generosity by living with your own generosity.

So, in other words, you match God's generosity with generosity of your own.

And so you look at your resources not just as a way to enrich your own life, but as a tool to be a true blessing and a real benefit to other people.

We got something coming up here in just a few weeks.

If you've been around celebration a while, you've probably experienced it before, but I'm thinking about the season of compassion.

It's gonna start here in just a few weeks.

If you don't know what the season of compassion is, it's a big emphasis that we have every year from the Sunday before Thanksgiving to the Sunday before Christmas.

And we just look for all different kinds of ways to meet needs for people in our community.

It is awesome.

I love the season of compassion.

And y'all, it's coming up here in just a few weeks.

You're gonna start getting shopping lists and all that kind of stuff.

It is just a great way to bless our community.

And here's what I would say to you why not use the season of passion as a way for you to practice being generous.

Because generosity, it takes practice to really do it well into a level that it honors the Lord.

And we live generously, we start making investments that are gonna outlast other financial decisions that we might make.

Look at what he says here in verse 19.

Storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of what is truly life.

And I want you to think about that for a minute.

You can spend your life, and we've already talked about this, you can spend your life accumulating stuff that you can never take with you, right?

You can spend your life that way.

Or, look at what he says here.

You can use what God has given you to invest things that will have an imprint into eternity.

He just says, Hey, man, there's a different way that you can invest those resources.

That's what Paul means here when he says to us that we should take hold of what is truly life.

I mean, if if if I'm living for God's kingdom, knowing that what I'm doing for him has significance that reaches into eternity, you all that, that's truly living, isn't it?

That's something that I can really be excited about because I can I have the satisfaction of knowing, man, eternity is gonna look a little bit different because God used me in this way today.

I love that.

All right.

So I want you to think about your relationship with money for a moment.

What is it like when you're working to accumulate it?

Okay, what do you do?

How do you live when that's the season you're in?

Well, you don't make the accumulation of wealth the primary goal.

You pursue godliness, right?

And you learn to be content with what God provides.

And as you're doing that, and as a God blesses you financially, what do you do?

Yeah, you what do you do when you have those resources?

Well, you become increasingly generous.

And you look for opportunities to use what God has entrusted you with to advance his kingdom, and you discover a satisfaction that money on its own, it can never buy for you.

Because the richest life isn't the one where you accumulate the most stuff, it's the one where you honor God with what he has entrusted you.

All right?

Now I want you to think about this whole conversation we've just been having.

It's all it's all rooted, it's all predicated on one central reality.

God has been extremely generous with us.

Right?

Everything that we have is a result of God's generosity toward us.

So everything we've talked about today is rooted in God's generosity toward us.

And God's generosity towards us is something that the Bible celebrates over and over and over again.

Here's just one example.

2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 9.

2 Corinthians 8:9

It says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

Wow.

I want you to think about that, okay?

Jesus possessed all of the riches of heaven, but he willingly laid aside his heavenly glory and entered into our broken world and gave his life on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins.

And why did he do this?

So that you and I could receive something that we could never earn, something that we could never, ever afford.

What's that?

The forgiveness of our sin and eternal life with God.

And you know what that is?

That's the greatest act of generosity in all of human history.

And it's a reminder that the greatest riches we're ever gonna possess aren't just the ones that are sitting in our bank account, right?

The greatest riches that we're ever gonna possess is that gift of eternal life that Jesus has given to us.

We've received it from him.

And I just want to be real clear.

If you've never trusted him as your savior, this, believing in Jesus, this is where a relationship with him really truly begins.

I would I would hate for you to I would hate to think that that you left here today going, the preacher said that if I gave a lot of money, I would be okay with God.

That is not what I'm saying to you.

Okay?

Our relationship with God is predicated on his generosity towards us.

Okay?

And when we receive what he's done for us, it stimulates us to be generous with other people.

But I don't want you to miss that first part.

If you're here today and you're not in a relationship with God, you desperately need to receive.

You need to receive what Jesus has done for you, what he's purchased for you through his death and through his resurrection.

Because the greatest treasure that God has ever given us isn't something that we can hold in our hands, as nice as all of our stuff is.

Now, Father, for those who came into this room today, outside of our relationship with you, I pray that today is the day for salvation, that today is the day that they receive the incredible gift that you have made available to us through the shed blood of your son Jesus Christ.

Let them leave here today, permanently and for all eternity changed.

We pray this in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ.

And everyone agreed and said, Amen.

Thanks for joining us on the Celebration Baptist Church Podcast.

We hope today's conversation helped you take another step in your faith journey.

For more resources, upcoming events, and to join us live, visit iCelebration.org.

Until next time, keep connecting with God, connecting with others, and living on mission.