“We are so blessed (by God)!” Perhaps you have heard others say those words or have said them yourself. What prompted that exclamation? The greater gifts of forgiveness, life, and eternity with God? Or an abundance of earthly blessings? In the closing remarks in his first letter to Timothy, Paul tells Timothy how to instruct his wealthy members about their lesser gifts. He also tells Timothy to guard the great treasure that has been entrusted to him.

¹⁷ Τοῖς πλουσίοις ἐν τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι παράγγελλε μὴ ὑψηλοφρονεῖν μηδὲ ἠλπικέναι ἐπὶ πλούτου ἀδηλότητι, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ θεῷ τῷ παρέχοντι ἡμῖν πάντα πλουσίως εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν, ¹⁸ ἀγαθοεργεῖν, πλουτεῖν ἐν ἔργοις καλοῖς, εὐμεταδότους εἶναι, κοινωνικούς,  ¹⁹ ἀποθησαυρίζοντας ἑαυτοῖς θεμέλιον καλὸν εἰς τὸ μέλλον, ἵνα ἐπιλάβωνται τῆς ὄντως ζωῆς. 

Translation: As for those who are rich in “the now age,” instruct them not be haughty and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches, but rather (to put their hope) in God who provides us with everything, richly, for our enjoyment. (Instruct them) to be doing good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous, sharing freely (with others), laying up for themselves a good foundation/treasure for “the coming age,” in order that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

The translation above divides this single Greek sentence into two English sentences. Even then, the sentences seem long. There are four distinct parts:

• Instructing believers who have earthly riches to avoid two pitfalls (17a)
• Instructing those believers about their relationship with God (17b)
• Instructing those believers how to use their God-given wealth (18)
• Instructing those believers about the benefits of pursuing God’s ways in the use of their wealth (19)

Earlier Paul had said that people who want to become rich fall into all kinds of temptations, a trap, and many foolish desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction (1 Tim 6:9). Having a heart focused on getting rich is spiritually and eternally dangerous.

And yet God’s people might find themselves in a position of having many earthly blessings. Being wealthy is not a sin, but there are pitfalls to avoid.

Paul identifies two of them: being haughty because of those riches and relying on the riches. Having many earthly blessings might lead us to think that we are more important than others. We might think that our hands have produced the wealth. Or if we are willing to call God the source of our gifts, we might think that God gave them to us because of our goodness. Our pride may lead us to sin in the way we think, speak, and act. The second pitfall is even more frightening: relying on our earthly riches instead of relying on him who gave them. Because our sinful flesh is so intent on erecting idols in our hearts, and because our riches so easily become the building materials for a popular god called Mammon, we need to keep warning ourselves and our people about the pitfalls.

We have a much greater God than Mammon. We have the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, the author and perfecter of our faith, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our greatest treasure. When our eyes are focused on the life-giving Son of God, there will be no room in our hearts for soul-destroying idols.

Instead of fashioning earthly riches into idols in their hearts, believers are to use their riches to help others and give glory to God. Earthly blessings are gifts from a God who does good, who gives richly, and who shares generously. The recipients of God’s gifts will imitate him.

God gives generous gifts to his people so they can do two things: 1. Receive his gifts with joyful and thankful hearts; and 2. Employ those gifts to serve others, physically and spiritually. In that second way, Christians become “distribution centers” of God’s good gifts.

But doesn’t that mean that those Christians will forfeit the gifts they received? Paul’s statement in v. 19 makes us rethink that. Somehow our godly giving away of God’s good gifts will lay up treasures for us in heaven. We don’t know exactly what that means, but God does, and it sure sounds like grace upon grace. If nothing else, our voluntary and generous letting go of God’s earthly gifts will help us stay focused on his kingdom and on his righteousness, setting our hearts on things above, where Christ is seated in the heavenly realms.

²⁰ Ὦ Τιμόθεε, τὴν παραθήκην φύλαξον, ἐκτρεπόμενος τὰς βεβήλους κενοφωνίας καὶ ἀντιθέσεις τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως,  ²¹ ἥν τινες ἐπαγγελλόμενοι περὶ τὴν πίστιν ἠστόχησαν.

Ἡ χάρις μεθʼ ὑμῶν.

Translation: Dear Timothy, guard what has been entrusted (to you), turning away from the godless empty talk and contrary doctrines of what is falsely called knowledge, which some by professing have departed from the faith. God’s grace be with you.

How blessed we are to be spiritual shepherds in our church body! Sacred things have been put into our hands: the gospel of Christ, the administration of the sacraments, the care of Christ’s holy people. We must guard what has been entrusted to us by God, handed down to us by the saints who have gone before us. We must refute the lies of the devil and his agents. We must preach and teach the whole counsel of God. Like the priests of the Old Testament who had the job of teaching the Israelites how to distinguish between the holy and the profane (Lev 10:9-10), pastors are the teachers of God’s people today, helping them distinguish between true knowledge and what is falsely called knowledge, between eternal and temporary riches, between the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked.

“The grace” is God’s eternal grace—promised to us, given to us, and assured to us by the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear Brothers, stand strong in that grace and do all you can to invite others to stand in it with you. “All depends on our possessing, God’s abundant grace and blessing.”

Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, we give you thanks and praise for all your good and perfect gifts to us, especially your Son and your Spirit. Help us to sit loosely to the lesser gifts and to cling strongly to Jesus in whom we have every spiritual and eternal blessing. Help us to guard the great treasure you have placed into our hands. Amen.

P.S. For further reading, we recommend Pres. emeritus David Valleskey’s recent book, The Splendid Task of the Ministry: A Pastoral Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles (NPH, 2023).