Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Rich is a moving target. If I can just make $10,000 a year more, I’ll be rich. Then the target moves. Well, it’s more like $30,000 more. If I can get there, I’ll be rich. Then the target moves. I need to make a six-digit salary each year…then I know I’ll be rich. Oops. Target moved again.

The thing about being rich…the target never stops. And if getting rich is our focus, we’ll never be satisfied. We’ll never be content. We’ll never live with joy. We’ll be consumed with worry and anxiety and stress. Most importantly, we’ll never live a life that honors God. If the goal of our lives is simply to ‘get rich,’ we’ll miss everything that God had in mind for our lives because we’ll be involved in a chase that never stops.

Today we’re kicking off a brand new series called How To Be Rich. Pay close attention to the title. This series isn’t How To Get Rich. There are plenty of people telling you how to do that. But there really isn’t anybody saying, “Here’s how to be rich.” That’s what this series is all about.

As we get started, I need to thank both Craig Groeschel and Andy Stanley for making this series available. This is an amazing series and as soon as I heard it, I knew I wanted to preach it. Craig and Andy have graciously made the series title and some of the video and message content available to us. So this is a little different. Some of what you will hear in this series is from me. Some of you hear is from them. But all of what you hear is true.

I’ve got a question and I’d like you to simply raise your hands. How many of you, when you were a kid, hoped one day when you grew up that you would be rich? I did. How many say, “Yeah, I hoped to be rich?” Almost every hand goes up.

But now, let me ask you another question? How many of you are rich? I’m talking filthy, stinking rich. Raise your hands. Not too many.

But here’s the truth…many of you are rich…you just don’t want to admit to it. You’re thinking, “I’m not rich. They are rich. They are rich. But me...not me. I’m not rich.”

We’ve got people who want to be rich, but then, they don’t admit it when they are rich. But what’s even more interesting is, we have a lot of people who are rich, but don’t even know they’re rich.

If you asked me, “Mike, are you rich?” I’d typically say, “No. We’re not rich.”

There are people who are richer than I am, so I don’t feel rich. But there are also people who aren’t as rich as I am. They would look at me and say, Yeah, he’s rich.”

Today, we’re going to chase after some perspective on all this. And to get that perspective, we’re going to go where we always go: the Word of God. Let’s open up the Bible and see what He has to say about all this.

We’re starting in 1 Timothy 6. The books of 1 & 2 Timothy are letters that the Apostle Paul wrote to his young protégé, Timothy.

In 1 Timothy 6, Paul told Timothy, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” (1 Timothy 6:17-19, NIV)

Let’s go back and unpack this text because there is so much here. Go back to verse 17.

Paul told Timothy, “Command those who are…” what’s the next word? Rich.

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be,” what? Arrogant. Ever know any rich, arrogant people?

Paul said to tell them, “Don’t be arrogant, and don’t put your hope in wealth.” Why is it foolish to put our hope in wealth? Because it is so uncertain.

You don’t need to look any further than our current economy to know that’s true. You can’t find a better example of the uncertainty of wealth than America in 2011. Why are so many people in turmoil during this down economy? It’s not just because they are struggling to make money. It’s deeper than that. It’s because money has been their hope, and now the rug has been pulled out from under them. This economy hasn’t just exposed our financial problems. It’s gone a lot deeper than that. It has exposed our heart problems. It has exposed something that is broken inside us. It has exposed that we have disobeyed God’s Word and we’ve put our hope in wealth, and now we’ve learned just how uncertain that really is.

Instead, Paul tells us to put our hope in God. He told Timothy, “Go tell those rich people, ‘Don’t trust in your wealth; trust in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.’”

It is God who provides everything. It is not your employer. It is not your job. It is not your paycheck. It is not your 401k. It is not the government. None of them provide anything for you. Everything you have…everything you ever will have…is a gift from God.

In verses 18-19, Paul goes on to say, “Tell these rich people to do good, and to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and to be willing to share. These rich people, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so they may take hold of the life that is,” what? That is truly life. Not take hold of the imitation life, but take hold of the life that Jesus wanted them to have.

This is God’s desire for rich people. This is how a rich person can live in a way that pleases and glorifies God.

Paul said that these commands are meant for “those who are rich in this present world.” I want to go back to my original question. Are you rich? Do you see yourself as rich?

I’ve got some good news and some bad news for you. Let’s start with the good news. This is really, really, really, really, really good news. The good news is, you’re rich!

Yeah, I’m talking to you. I’m not talking to the person next to you. I’m talking to you. The good news is, and this is very good news, you’re rich. God has blessed you, and you are rich.

Now, I just want to say up front that I acknowledge that some of you right now are hurting financially. Maybe you went through a messy divorce and, along with a broken heart, you are broken financially.

Some of you may have had medical challenges and you’ve got bills that are just so high, and you’re looking at this mountain going, “There is no way.”

Others of you, you might be a single parent and you’ve got a job that doesn’t pay that much, and someone is supposed to help you, but they’re not helping right now and you’ve got several kids, and it’s, it’s just really, really tight.

You say, “You know, I, I don’t feel rich.” I want to acknowledge, there are some significant and serious needs.

But even some of you who would say, “I don’t feel very rich,” and whine about not being rich, you do it while you are watching cable TV and eating the pizza that was delivered to your house. You didn’t even have to leave your house. Your dinner was brought to you.

Are we tracking? Most of us are doing okay. When God speaks to rich people like He did in our passage from 1 Timothy, typically, we say, “Well, that’s not me, because I know someone else who is rich.” But when you look at our lives compared to the rest of the world, you have to acknowledge we are rich! Very rich!

Let me just tell you, if you ask someone in the rest of the world to describe rich people, here’s what they might say. “There are some people who are so rich, they own a car. Not many people, mind you. Only about three percent of the people in the world own a car. But can you imagine how rich those three percent really are?

Some of them, though, they’re so rich…this will blow your mind. They have two cars! Two of them, one and another one! And some of these people, they’re so rich they have a house for their cars. Oh, yeah, when there are many people who don’t have homes, these rich people, they have homes for their cars. They call it the garage, and they park their cars inside this garage to protect them from the elements! Some people, they even have three-car garages: one for both their cars and a third garage for all their junk! That’s how rich they are.

Some people, they’re so rich they even buy cars for their kids. Then, what do they do? They get in these cars, these rich people, and they drive by like twenty of these things called restaurants and talk about how they’re not any good, and they fight over which one to go to.

And they’re so rich that they go places, and they pay people to make their food. That’s how rich they are. Some of them, they’re so rich, they even eat more food than they actually need.

I know there are all of those people starving all over the world, but some of these rich people just eat and eat and eat because they can.

And then…you’re not going to believe this…some of these rich people have this thing called a closet. Some of them even have walk-in closets. You walk in them and you like do exercises in them, they’re so big.

Some even have one closet for the man and one for the woman. I know. I know, but it’s true. And, and not only do they have these closets, but you should see what is in them. These rich people have closets that are full of all these clothes. It’s like a mountain of clothes. And these people are so rich, they walk into their closet and they’ll look at all these clothes and they’ll touch them all, and they’ll say things like, “I’ve just got nothing to wear.”

That’s what rich people do. I’ve never seen that with my own eyes, but I’ve heard about it.”

Let me ask you again. How many of you are rich? We are. We are so, so rich.

In fact, let me show you just how rich I am. This will blow your mind. I’m so rich, I’ve got two dollars, two one-dollar bills. Two … watch this. Watch this. You’re not going to believe this. You’ve never seen this done before? Okay?

I just threw them. No one dove on those right now. They’re just sitting there. There’s no fight going on. There’s no guy sitting on the back row telling his wife, “Dang it, Velma. I told you we should sit up front. We could have gotten one of those.”

There’s no one going to walk out going, “Man, you’re not going to believe what Edmisten did today. He, he’s out of control. The dude was throwing one-dollar bills. Not just one of them. Two of them.”

Nobody is saying stuff like that, but think about this. I just threw two dollars on the ground. No big deal to us. And yet, over 3 billion people will work all day long today to earn less than what I just threw on the ground. That’s over 50% of the world’s population. More than one in two people. Over one in two people alive today live on less than that every single day, and I just threw it away and none of you even care. That’s how rich we are.

According to the latest census, the median household income in Clermont County is $57,877. No big deal, right? Do you realize that the average household in Clermont County is among the top 1% of people who are earning money today. You are in the top 1% of wage earners on this planet. That’s how rich we are.

I am rich. Say it out loud with me. “I am rich.”

There’s a gentleman in our church named Ralph. Ralph has been part of our church for decades. Ralph always likes to tell people how blessed he is. He tells them that he is rich. Now, most people wouldn’t look at Ralph and think that he’s rich. But Ralph is mature enough and wise enough to see that he really is rich.

Are you rich? Yeah. Am I rich? Yeah. Now, if that feels weird, because it does to me, ask yourself why. Many of you don’t feel rich even though the vast, vast majority of people in the world would think you are filthy rich. You don’t feel rich because you want more and think more would make you happy. And you look at someone that has more and, and you think, “I’m not rich because they have more”.

That comparison is a losing game. In Ecclesiastes 4, Solomon wrote, “And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 4:4, NIV)

Comparing ourselves to other people…envying what other people have…it’s meaningless. It’s like chasing after the wind. It’s chasing a target that can never be caught.

Also, if you are like me, it makes me feel guilty. When we see how many blessings we have, we feel guilty.

Have you ever thought about this? For most of us, financial blessings will be the only place in our lives that we would ever make an apology for the blessings of God. It’s the only place we would ever make an apology or offer an explanation.

If someone says, “Mike, you are blessed with a great marriage, I’d say, “You’d better believe it. My wife is the bomb diggety.” That’s what I’d say. I wouldn’t apologize for it and say, “Oh, no. You know what? We’re not that happy, and you know, she can be pretty mean now and then.”

If someone told me that I had a great marriage, I wouldn’t say that. I would just say, “Thank you. We’re blessed.” I wouldn’t apologize for the way that God has blessed me.

But on the other hand, if someone says, “Mike, I like your shirt,” I start saying, “Dude, I got this 90% off, you know. I had a coupon. They paid me to go away”, and you know, “I like your house.” “Let me tell you about the deal I got on it,” and we seem to apologize for the blessings of God, because so many of us, we feel guilty when we shouldn’t feel guilty at all.

We should feel grateful and acknowledge the fact that God has blessed us and we are rich. It’s hard to admit to this. It’s hard for me. But instead of guilt, we should respond with gratitude.

I am grateful because God has blessed me with more than I need. And that makes me rich. That’s the good news.

Now, I’ve got bad news for you, and this is really bad news. I cannot tell you how bad this is, but the bad news is, you’re rich, and that’s very, very bad news, and let me show you why.

Jesus had an encounter with a very rich guy one time, and Jesus was trying to get this guy to let go of his stuff, because this guy loved his stuff. And He said, “You’re going to have to let go of your stuff if you are going to follow Me.” And the guy said, “I just can’t, because I love my stuff.”

And here’s how Jesus responded in Luke 18. “Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:24-25, NIV)

How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. In fact, it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

My family went to the zoo not too long ago. And we saw the camels while we were there. These are not small animals. These are pretty big animals.

I’ve got a needle right here. It’s so small that a lot of you can’t even see it from where you’re sitting. But it’s there, trust me.

I’ve seen camels. I know how big they are. And I’m looking at this needle, and I see that there is no way that a camel is going to go through the eye of this needle. You would have to put the camel into the world’s biggest blender. You’d have to make a camel frappe. And even then, it’s going to be tough to pour that through the eye of this needle.

But according to Jesus, it would be easier to shove a camel through the eye of this needle than for us rich people to enter God’s Kingdom. That’s why it is very bad news when I say that we are rich.

It’s bad news because we don’t think we need God all that much. We’ve got our stuff. That is why it is bad news to be rich. It is probably our greatest spiritual disadvantage.

Let me show you three problems with being rich. The first is, it’s harder for us to depend on God. Most of us have never had to pray, “Jesus, give me today my daily bread.” Why? Because you have a cabinet full of bread.

A few weeks ago, Nicki and I had a disagreement over the type of bread that we buy. She wants me to buy the healthy, whole grain kind of bread. But I like white bread. Good, old-fashioned, unhealthy white bread. And that’s what I bought when I went to the store.

We were disagreeing over the kind of bread, but we have never had to go without bread. Many people in the world wouldn’t quibble over the brand, they would just be grateful for the bread.

A lot of us have never really known what it’s like to trust God to provide for you today, because you’ve got today and tomorrow provided for. Some of you, you’re doing so good, you got your 401K going, your retirement stuff. If you do a good job, you’ll make it to where your kids never have to depend on God, either.

The second problem is, because we are rich, it distracts us from our true priorities. It distracts us. Let me tell you, you are rich and you’ve got all sorts of opportunities. You can go to all kinds of places. You can not be at church all of football season, and some of you are not. You’ve got season tickets and you’re gone every time the Bengals have a home game. I can say this today because the Bengals are in Denver today and the season ticket holders are here.

Some of you can not be in church all summer. Some of you aren’t because you’re at your rich lake house or driving your rich car to see your rich grandma, or you’ve got your kids in activities, and during basketball season or wrestling season or baseball season, you don’t even go to church because you’re taking your kid to another state because he might just go pro one day.

Oh, yeah, and you’ve got your kids in all of these activities and you don’t even see them, because you’re their chauffeur. And then, because of all this, you’ve got to work harder, and you’ve got all of these things, and you’ve got to keep them working, the cars and all of the air conditioners and the house and the sprinkler system, and you’ve got to call the yard guy, because he didn’t show up again, and all of these rich people problems. You are distracted.

If you ever go to a third-world country, you would see these people that have nothing. We’re talking nothing, like not even a floor nothing, like they live on dirt nothing. No indoor toilet nothing. No food nothing. Don’t know where dinner’s coming from nothing.

All they’ve got is Jesus and each other, and their life is so full. At times, I’m almost strangely jealous of how full they are. You know why? Because they don’t have the distraction of riches.

The third challenge with being rich is you have a far greater responsibility. Do you really think that God made you rich so you could consume it all? That’s not how to be rich. That’s how to be selfish.

In Luke 12, Jesus said, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:48b, NIV)

To whom much is given, and hear it clearly, much has been given to us. Jesus said, “To whom much has been given, much will be demanded.” That’s bad news! There is far more expected of us, because God has already made us rich.

The question is, what are we going to do with it to honor Him? You can talk all day long about how to get rich. How about talking about how to be rich in a way that honors God, because He has already made us rich.

So, what we are going to do in this series is this: We are going to learn how to trust God instead of trust the things that we so often pursue. We are going to learn to prioritize our lives in a way that will honor God. And we are going to learn how to be truly rich, to be rich in good deeds and to be rich in a way that God says, “That’s how to be rich.”

No talk about how to get rich, because I want you to recognize you already are rich. Now we need to learn how to be rich in a way that pleases God.

Today as you look at your life, you might say, “Yeah, I may have material things, but spiritually, I’m bankrupt. On the inside, I’m horribly empty.”

In Revelation 3, Jesus said this to a church in the city of Laodicea. “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” (Revelation 3:15-17, NIV)

Jesus told them, “You say you’re rich, but really, you’re pitiful, you’re poor, you’re naked, you’re wretched. You’ve got a little bit of God, and you’ve got a lot of things. You’ve got a little bit of God and you’ve got a lot of things. You’ve got a little bit of God and you’ve got a lot of things, and I can’t believe how tightly you hold onto these things. You, you’re spiritually bankrupt. You’ve got nothing.”

And Jesus said, “That makes you lukewarm. You’re sort of in, but really you’re not. You’re sort of pursuing God, but really, you’re not..”

And God said, “That is so disgusting to Me that I want to vomit you out of my mouth. I want to spit you out … I cannot even fathom how you could let go of Me to go pursue the things of this world that just don’t matter and just don’t last. You’ve got a little bit of God, but a lot of the rest,” and God says, “That makes Me sick.”

I’m so afraid for so many people, not just in our church, but in, in the churches across our very blessed country. There’s people that are lukewarm.

You say, “Well, can you be lukewarm and really a Christian?” I don’t know. Wretched, blind, pitiful … are those words describe, describing true believers? You tell me.

“I want to spit you out,” God says. Sometimes I look at my own life and I think, “God must want to spit me out.” Am I really fully committed to Jesus?”

The gospel is about self-denial. It is denying what I want and pursuing what Jesus wants. Scripture says if we want to follow Him, we deny ourselves. It’s not about our desires. We deny ourselves and we follow Him.

Some of you have tried to keep your desires and follow Him, and that’s not real Christianity. You turn from your sin. You turn to Jesus, and you say, “All of me, every bit of me, every bit of me … every bit, every bit, every bit, every bit. The things of this world don’t matter. You matter, Jesus. Don’t just be my Savior. That’s too easy, too selfish. Be the Lord of my life. Be first. I want You to matter. I want to pursue You. Jesus, save me. I don’t want to be lukewarm, half in. I don’t want to believe in God, but not follow Jesus. I want to be all the way in. Jesus, the things of this world, there’s nothing in this world more important than You. I surrender my life to You. Don’t just be my Savior. Be my Lord. I surrender my life to You. Be everything to me.”

Mike Edmisten

Tags: 1 Timothy 6, How To Be Rich, money, rich, wealth