1 Timothy Episode 7: The Eternal Danger of Loving Money

Paul gives a serious warning about false teachers who love money and teach false doctrine based on money, urging the need to guard one's own heart in this area.

- Podcast Transcript-

Wes 

Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study Podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you're interested in learning more, just head over to twojourneys.org. Now, on to today's episode. This is episode seven in our 1 Timothy Bible Study Podcast. This episode is entitled, The Eternal Danger of Loving Money, where we'll discuss 1 Timothy 6:1-21. I'm Wes Treadway, and I'm here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we're looking at today? 

Andy

This is a very important chapter, in terms of dealing properly with money and being careful to not love it. It's one of the number one idols and competitors to God in the world. Jesus said, "You cannot love both God and money." And so, it's clearly the competitor Jesus wanted to raise up and compare. You see, you got to make a choice. You can't love both. Money represents the world, it represents the pleasures of the world, opportunities, trips, possessions, pleasures, food, drink, clothing. Just money gets you those things, and it can be a substitute god, a surrogate god that can meet your needs and be the focus of your life. It meets the definition of an idol. 

And this chapter tells us how to be careful about money, but not that money intrinsically is evil. One of the most misquoted verses in the Bible is in this chapter. It is not true that money is the root of all evil. So, we'll walk through that today. But also, that you can be a rich Christian. Just because you're rich, it doesn't mean you're going to hell. There are wealthy Christians. The question is, what should they do with their wealth? And he gives clear instructions here, very beautiful. Also, by the way, one of the most beautiful doxological statements is in this chapter, and I can't wait to just talk about it, "God dwells in unapproachable light." What a great statement. So, I'm looking forward to that. 

Wes

Let me go ahead and read chapter six in 1 Timothy for us as we begin:

Let all who are under a yoke as bond servants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers. Rather, they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these things. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.  

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 

I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time. He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. 

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called 'knowledge,' for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you.

Andy, as we begin in verse 1, how do we explain the Bible's acceptance of slavery to 21st century Americans that rightly see slavery as evil? And why didn't Paul simply abolish slavery in the church? 

Andy

That's the question, isn't it? As I walk through this and also Ephesians, Colossians, has kind of slavery management passages rather than abolition passages. It raises the question. And I think it makes the Bible suspect, especially recently I think, in American experience. There's been a lot of deep concern about America's history with chattel slavery- America's history with slavery, race-based slavery. And then the racism that followed, the Jim Crow era, the civil rights era, things like that. And the pulling down of statues, looking back at famous individuals and thinking of them differently because they were slave holders. And then the Bible itself on trial because of this very issue, the fact that it's not clearly abolitionist, and that slave holders frequently cited Bible verses in reference to their views. And there's many in the Old Testament as well, "The slave is so-and-so's property." In terms of injury or damage between a master and a slave, and the eye for eye, tooth for tooth statement is in the context of a slave that was abused, et cetera. And it's like, "Why this issue?"  

I will say this. The last mention of slaves in the Bible is in the last chapter in the Bible, which is instructive because that's Revelation 22, and it says something that, actually Paul says, that God dwells in unapproachable light whom no one has seen or can see. Except in Revelation 22, we will see God's face. And his slaves will serve him. So, doúlos, slaves, it's a lowest level, they'll be up there in heaven. So, I think the reason the Bible is not clearly abolitionist is it wants to maintain that office, that role, forever so that we can understand an aspect of our relationship with God. We are multiple things to God. We are wife, we are bride to Christ, we are sons and daughters adopted and heirs with him. We are also bond slaves or doúlos, slaves, just simple slaves to him. 

So, let's talk about one thing. It doesn't seem that we are his employees, right? What's the difference between an employee and a slave? Wes, how would you answer that question? 

Wes 

Well, an employee has the ability to walk away. If things aren't going well, they say, "Well, I'll take my skills elsewhere." 

Andy 

Exactly. And pay. The employee gets paid and can negotiate his wage. If the wage isn't successful or isn't good, as you said, he can walk away. Can we walk away from God? No, and especially in the new heaven and new earth, there is nowhere else to go. And do we get paid for our services? No. We're sons and daughters. We render our services freely. We're also slaves. So, in that sense, also, Jesus himself is called a doúlos, he's called a slave, the Servant of the Lord passages, servant is a gentle way of putting it. Jesus was God's slave and did his will even to the point of death.

"Jesus was God's slave and did his will even to the point of death."

And so, I think the reason it's not clearly abolitionist is because there is something in the institution of slavery that accurately represents our relationship with God, but not alone. There are other roles that triangulate and keep us from thinking too much one way or the other. So, I think that's why it's not clearly abolished. Furthermore, I will say in Greco-Roman society, slavery was different than it was in the American South. There are just different aspects to it. Also, it's very clear that any physical abuse or even emotional abuse of slaves by masters was forbidden in the New Testament, clearly forbidden, "Do not even threaten slaves," think about that. Think about in the American South, the pre-Civil War South, people quoting some of the verses but not the others. "You can put a piece of iron around a slave's neck or cut off his foot because he was a runaway or whatever. But you can't threaten him." "I didn't threaten him. I cut off his foot." I mean, it's so clearly wicked what was going on there. 

So, this is a complex issue, but the Bible cannot be trifled with or thrown out on the charge because it upheld slavery, and we all know that slavery is wrong. Furthermore, I want to say, how do we know that? It wasn't the Vikings that came up with the idea that slavery was wrong, it wasn't the Romans or the Greeks, it wasn't the African tribal chieftains, it was Christians. It was Bible believers that led out on the abolition of the slave trade and eventually of slavery itself in every political nation on earth. So, it's because we read the Bible that we know fundamentally the idea of owning another person is not an optimal situation. And it's a good thing that it's illegal all over planet earth now, that… we were delighted in that. 

Wes 

How then does the openly submissive behavior of Christian slaves make the gospel attractive? And what mentality does Paul command Christian slaves to have in these first two verses? 

Andy 

"Don't take advantage of a Christian master." So, imagine this, aside from our 21st century sensibility, to say, "The thing itself is evil. I can't even listen to any management of the master slave relationship." Well, we're going to read the text and try to understand it. So, there would be Christian masters and Christian slaves, and the Christian slaves are forbidden from taking advantage of the kindness of their masters. Imagine they're literally worshiping side by side at local church on the Lord’s day. They're singing, they're embracing each other as brothers, but then they have work to do during the week. And it'd be easy for the slave, the one who has to submit to the master's authority to start to take advantage, to cut some corners, to not work as hard. And he said, "No, don't do that. Serve him even better because he's your brother, and he benefits from your service and he's dear to you." So, it's a whole different approach. Be like Jesus who was the servant of God and of others. 

Wes 

What does Paul say about false teachers in verses three through five? And conversely, how does he describe sound doctrine? 

Andy 

All right, so, the false teachers here clearly are addicted to money and do what they do for money, right? So, the great motives of false teachers are money and sex and power and possessions. Those are the big ones. That's what all people want. And so, you look at the cults and there's always kind of a sexual side to it, like a harem, women that are being groomed, and it's really pretty disgusting. And that's in 2 Peter where it says, "With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning." So that's lust. Here it's money. And so, you think about some of the pyramid schemes, things with the prosperity gospel, and all that, and you can send your contributions to the following P.O. Box, and all that. It's like these people are false teachers that are in love with money, and they're trying to use piety, so-called godliness, as a means to get money. And so that's the problem. 

But he goes beyond that. He talks about the false teachers. They're not submitting to sound instruction, they are prideful, they are ignorant of sound instruction, they love to bicker and quarrel. There's lots of this in the New Testament, a lot of this arguing over genealogies and bickering. There's a lot of this debating and quarreling, strife over words. And the result is envy, strife, malicious talk, and suspicions, and just constant warfare and battle. That's what these individuals do. So, watch out for them and be aware of them, and these particular ones are in it for the money. 

Wes 

Conversely, how does he describe sound doctrine? 

Andy 

So sound doctrine establishes our Lord Jesus Christ. He fundamentally understands that money is a means to serving God and serving others. So, godliness with contentment is what the goal is here ultimately. So that's sound doctrine. And there's so many ways I could answer what is sound doctrine. It is fight the good fight of the faith, et cetera, and guard the deposit that was entrusted to you. This is sound doctrine. 

Wes

Now, in verse five, Paul says that these false teachers are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth. How does this verse describe the true heart problem with these people? 

Andy

Well, we'll start with depraved of mind means they're unconverted. It's just Ephesians 4. The mind of the flesh, the unconverted mind is depraved, it's wicked. And what they want is money and what the money can get them in this world, the pleasures, and the possessions, and the power, and all that. And so, it has a depraved mind, and they are, secondly, beautifully in that translation, deprived of the truth. First of all, they don't want it, they don't love it, that's why they're depraved of mind. They're not delighting in the truth, and they don't have the truth. They're ignorant, they don't know sound doctrine, they don't understand the incarnation, the atonement, the bodily resurrection, they don't understand eschatology, soteriology, healthy church doctrine. They're just deprived of the truth. They're ignorant. What is it they're about? They're about money, they're about controversies, and pride, and power, and getting money. 

Wes

In verse six, what statement does Paul make concerning the link between godliness and gain? And how can we grow in contentment in the area of money? 

Andy 

Right. So, godliness is the goal and not money. In verse five it says, "They think that godliness is a means to financial gain." So, these are masquerading as the angel of light. They look moral, they look so beautiful, I'm going to give money. But Paul says, "Actually, godliness with contentment is great gain." What could you have better in this world than godliness and contentment? Contentment is with the physical provision. God will meet your needs, food, clothing, and shelter, but it doesn't mean you're going to get wealthy. If you would just be content with what you have, the basics as he lists there, if we have food and clothing, I know he doesn't mention shelter, but I think ultimately if you're going to settle, especially in the North in some wintry place, you're going to want shelter, but anywhere, et cetera. So fundamentally, to be content with what God has provided and to be godly, meaning conform with Christ, that actually is to be wealthy in this world. 

Wes 

How is verse seven just a helpful reminder in this context? And how then does verse eight serve as a correction to the materialistic concerns that hurt so many American Christians? 

Andy 

Well, this is where the statement, "You can't take it with you," comes from. And then Job had it this way when he lost all his wealth, said, "Naked I came into the world and naked I will depart." So, everything I have has been added to me, and it really isn't who I really am. It's not my genuine being. So fundamentally, it's good to know that these possessions that we so clamor after are very insignificant compared to the real issues of life. We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 

However, as Randy Alcorn said, you can send it on ahead. I love that. You can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead. And how's that? By generosity. He's going to talk about that later. Be generous with your money. And in so doing, you'll store up treasure in heaven, you'll lay up treasures for yourself in the next life. So, I'm already anticipating that great moment, but he's like, "You can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead." Thank you, Randy Alcorn. Great statement. 

Wes 

I think verse eight is so helpful because often, at least in my experience, the word need gets thrown around a lot. When we talk about what we need, we can put a lot of things in that category that are beyond these things that we've been talking about, food, clothing, shelter, the things that God graciously provides. We lump a lot of things in there. And so, verse eight just helpfully reminds us, if we have food and clothing, with these, we will be content. You might even say, with these, we can be content because God has provided them graciously for us. 

Andy

It's beautiful statement. I love the topic of contentment, wrote a book on it called The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs. The Power of Christian Contentment is my book. Jeremiah Burroughs is better. So, you could go after that. But the idea of contentment is just peace and joy with what God provides in this life. And to have that peacefulness is a beautiful thing. And so sometimes I go in a sermon, I came up with the three categories of our possessions. They're in three categories. They are necessities, luxuries, and mementos. Those are the three basically. Necessities are things you need to stay alive, that you need for basic life. Anything that's beyond keeping you biologically alive is a luxury. It's like, "I have a lot of luxuries, man." You really do. And then there are the artwork from your kids when they were six, things like that or photos, things like that.  

Wes 

We're going to turn our attention now to verses nine and 10. And you mentioned even in the introduction that verse 10 is just one of the most famously misquoted verses in the Bible, usually goes something like, "Money is the root of all evil. Money itself is the root of all evil." But verses nine and 10 both really address the root cause of this whole problem, which is the heart's desire for money. How is understanding this the key to our healing from materialism? And what dangers does Paul list in these verses for those who yearn to be rich? 

Andy 

Right. So, what this means is rich or poor, money can be your number one problem. You could have somebody that's extremely, a poverty-stricken person in India, somewhere in Bangladesh, and money's their number one problem. Why? Because they want to get rich. They think about money all the time. Even if it never happens to them in life, it's the number one idol of their lives. But people that have achieved some financial success and they become addicted to it, and it's just gain, gain, gain all the time. It's destructive. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap. And so, Satan lays snares for people. Think of what he offered Jesus. He offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in their splendor. And so, he'll give a portion of the world to people, offer it to them to get them off the track. So that's the temptation and snare or trap.

"Satan lays snares for people. Think of what he offered Jesus. He offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in their splendor. And so, he'll give a portion of the world to people, offer it to them to get them off the track."

And then he says they fall into foolish and harmful desires. The stupid things people will do for money. They're willing to do things that they didn't want to do, the very thing that they said they would never do, and now they've gotten to this place, they're like, "How did I get here? What happened?" It's like boiling the frog thing. Little by little by little by little, they got to a place that they never thought they would get, making compromises, doing things because they wanted to get rich. 

And then as you said, the real statement in verse 10 is not money is the root of all evil. That's the misstatement. It is the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. So, it's moderated several times. It's not money but the love of money. It's not the only root of evil, but it is a significant root, and it's all kinds of evil, all manners of evil, I think. Not necessarily all evil comes from money. There are some evils that have nothing to do with money. 

Wes 

The end of verse 10 is striking because often I think we think of finances, we think of money, and we think of this life, we think of temporal consequences of giving our lives over to these things. But what happens to people who claim to be Christians but love money and make its pursuit central to their lives according to the end of verse 10? 

Andy 

Very possible for them to wander from the faith, to apostatize. Demas, because he loved this present world. He went after money, went after silver. And Judas, of course, clearest example. Although he was never a believer, he was a devil. But at any rate, it's one of the reasons. I think also sex, a desire for a member of the opposite sex. A lot of times people will leave their spouses for somebody they meet, or college student will leave the faith for a non-Christian person of the opposite sex. They're willing to make compromise in that area. And so, this is one of the ways that we wander from the faith and pierce ourselves with many pangs. So, it's very stern warning here.

Wes 

In verses 11 through the end of the chapter, we have Paul's charge to Timothy to fight the good fight of the faith. What charge does Paul make to Timothy in verse 11? And how are the verbs flee and pursue helpful in the Christian life? 

Andy 

Right. So, he tells him to flee the love of money and all the stuff that money gets. We haven't mentioned it yet, but it's worth mentioning, 1 John 2, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life. That's what the world offers. That's the list. A picture, the satanic restaurant, and he's the satanic waiter, and he comes out with the menu, and it's the same three things every time. "We have for you today, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life," same thing over and over. And money is a means to having those lusts satisfied. Flee, man of God, flee from these things. Get away like Joseph with Potiphar's wife who tried to seduce him day after day, and one day he had to just leave his garment in her hand as she had taken hold of him and run for his life. And so run away from this. 

So, there are sometimes we have to, Ephesians 6, put on the full armor of God and take our stand. We need to stand. Other times, we need to run, get out of there. Lead us not into temptation. So, flee all this, and instead, pursue. So, you're going to be fleeing something and pursuing something else. What are you pursuing? Ultimately godliness, Christlikeness, sanctification. Go after the good things, these qualities, these virtues that are really ultimately summed up in Christlikeness. Be like Christ, be righteous like Christ, be godly like Christ, faith in Christ, love characterized by Christ, the love of Christ, love for Christ, that we would love him, love like Christ loved, and endurance, generous, all these beautiful attributes. 

Wes 

What then is the good fight of faith? How do we fight it? And how is it that by fighting, we can take hold of the eternal life to which we were called? 

Andy 

Right. So, we are assaulted at every moment by the world, the flesh and the devil. Therefore, the good fight is opposing the world, the flesh and the devil. Fighting the good fight of the faith is generally doctrinal to fight for sound doctrine. But here it seems to be more experiential, practical, like experimental Christianity. The good fight of the faith is to be a godly person, to not be wrapped up in the things of the world, wrapped up in money, but instead, pursuing godliness. So, I think that's the faith here where in other place it has to do with sound doctrine. I think here it talks about godly living and godly motives. And so that's the fight, and it's going to be hard, let's be honest. We're all tempted with money, but we are tempted either to be anxious about it or to pursue it too much or to be selfish with it, to not be generous. So, it's an issue for all of us.

"The good fight of the faith is to be a godly person, to not be wrapped up in the things of the world, wrapped up in money, but instead, pursuing godliness."

And how is it that by fighting, we can take hold of eternal life? There's a sense here in which we don't have it yet. We do have eternal life now, but there's still a heavenly future that we're pursuing or running after. And so, we're going to take hold of that eternal life to which we have been called. And so fundamentally, we're not there yet, we've not reached the destination. So, we've got a fleeing from and a pursuing after and a fighting a good fight. All of that adds up to the internal journey that we talk about here on Two Journeys is that journey to heaven, which is hard. 

Wes 

At the end of verse 12, what is the good confession that Timothy made in the presence of many witnesses? 

Andy 

I would think it would just be Christ is Lord, I'm a Christian, I believe in Jesus, I want to live for him, I want to live for the glory of God, I want to live for the kingdom of God. So, you could say different things, but Jesus is Lord. I think that's the good confession. If we confess with our mouths Jesus is Lord, and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead. So that's what I think it means, "Your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." Probably at his baptism, I am a Christian, I believe in Jesus. Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? We have those five questions we ask, which I won't go over here, but there are those baptismal questions that are basic doctrine. Yes, I believe those things. 

Wes  

This phrase "good confession" appears again in the immediately following verse when it says, "I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession." What's the connection here between what we just discussed, and Timothy making this good confession and Jesus' good confession here? 

Andy 

Well, I don't know what Jesus's good confession was before Pilate. All you have to do is look at the four gospels and look at all the things he said and find somewhere in there the good confession. But let's imagine that they're the same thing. Let's imagine that Timothy's good confession in the presence of many witnesses is essentially the same as Jesus's good confession in front of Pontius Pilate because the phrases are the same. So, what in fact is Jesus's good confession that he made before Pilate? Well, if you look at Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he only says one thing in the red letter edition. He answers the same question all three times. In red letters it's, "Yes, it is as you say," or something like that. And the question he asks is, "Are you the king of the Jews?" 

Now, in John, you have a little bit more, but all he says in John is the nature of the kingdom, "You are a king then." He said, "For this reason I was born and for this I came to the world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." So that's fundamentally the nature of his kingdom. And then later after being flogged, Jesus is silent before Pilate, says literally nothing. And then Pilate gets angry that he won't answer him and says, "Do you refuse to answer me? Don't you know that I have the power to crucify you and the power to set you free?" And Jesus said, "You would have no power over me if it were not given you from above."  

So summing it all up, I think the good confession Jesus made before Pilate is the nature of his kingdom, that he is king, and fundamentally that he is the king of truth, his kingdom is based on truth. Big picture I would say, the good confession though is the identity of Jesus, Jesus is Lord. 

Wes 

On the heels of this then, why does Paul point Timothy to the second coming of Christ in verse 14? And when will that happen according to verse 15? 

Andy 

Well, he wants him to continue to flee evil desires and pursue righteousness until it's done, until the coming of Christ. And obviously there's two ways that the world ends for us Christians. And one is with our own death and the other is with the second coming of Christ. So, either way, keep fighting the good fight, keep fleeing sin, keep pursuing righteousness until you're done, until you have hit the finish line, and specifically here until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Or he may appear to you personally, individually, and take you out of this world. I don't know if that happens. We don't have any testimony from saints that, "Yes, by the way, when I died, Jesus appeared to me in the heavenly realms, and I saw him like Stephen, and the heavens were torn open, and he invited me to come up." Maybe that's exactly how it's going to happen, but we don't know because they don't come back and tell us. But it could be the appearing, but usually the appearing here is second coming language.  

Wes 

Verse 15 says that that will happen at the proper time.  

Andy

Yeah. So, it's definitely second coming. So, it's not an individual's appearing, but it's the second coming. So, I mean, in his own time, it's not for you to know the times or dates the father set by His own authority. Basically, he said it, that is when it will happen, which God will bring about at the appearing, the parousia, the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then he goes into a beautiful doxology. Should we talk about it? 

Wes

Yes. Help us understand what verse 15 and then 16 mean when they say that God alone is immortal. What does it mean that he dwells in unapproachable light? And why is it impossible to see him? 

Andy 

Wes, does your translation in verse 15 say, "He's the only ruler"? 

Wes 

The only sovereign.  

Andy 

Only sovereign. And he is alone immortal. So, the things he has in and of himself. So, the first is absolute sovereignty, right? Only one being can be absolutely sovereign, and that's God. All right? So, he's the only sovereign, and he's the blessed and only sovereign. So blessed means happy. He's a happy king. He's not angry, frustrated, annoyed. He just enjoys being king because he knows everything he does is right, and all his ways are just. And he just loves his kingdom, and he loves what he's doing with it. So that's God, the blessed, happy and only sovereign, and he is the King of kings and Lord of lords. So, there are other lesser sovereigns, but he's in charge of them, he rules over them. And when he chooses to, he's going to end history. He alone is immortal. 

And in other words, I think what that means is self-existent. He alone derives his existence from himself. As we've said before, all the entities there are in the universe are in two categories: creator and creature. And the big difference between creator and creature is the creatures are totally dependent on the creator for their continued existence. Whereas the creator is in no way dependent on the creature for anything. So, he alone is immortal, meaning he cannot die. Our immortality is derived immortality because God has chosen to sustain our existence forever. And so that is the idea of being immortal, contingent immortality because God wills that we continue exist. But God's immortality is not contingent. It is an absolute immortality, he cannot die. 

And it says he dwells in unapproachable light. Now, I definitely picture the sun here in this case. The sun, 93 million miles away with a surface temperature of 27 million degrees, I think, something like that. I think 27,000 on the surface, and then down in the nuclear fusion, that's going on, gets to the tens of millions of degrees. How they know that, I'll never know. All right. 

Wes 

The instrument to measure that…

Andy

Well, let me tell you about instruments. NASA has had a solar probe, and the closest it's ever been able to get is 3 million miles away. That's called unapproachable. We cannot make anything that can get close because it will just cease to exist. God is similarly unapproachable in and of himself. So, this is the thing. We talked today in Bible study about the curtain in the temple torn in two from top to bottom. And God's saying we can come near, and that's amazing, but in and of himself, God is a consuming fire. You're not getting near him if he doesn't let you. He will destroy you. And so fundamentally, he dwells in unapproachable light. So, there you get the idea of it's not heat at that point, it's brightness. It's so bright you can't get any closer. It's overwhelming, you're on the ground. It's just the infinite majesty of God. 

He dwells in unapproachable light, and no one has seen him, all right? God said to Moses, "No one can see my face and live." But here I think it's even different than that. It says, "God cannot be seen." Earlier in the same book, in 1 Timothy 1:17, it calls God invisible. It's because God- light bouncing off something on the surface and then going into my eyeball, that's what seeing is, isn't it? Well, God doesn't have any stuff to bounce off of. So, he isn't made up of stuff, and therefore he is invisible. He cannot be seen. But he dwells in light, so he puts out light, he just shines it out. But it's not who he is. He's just saying, "I'm here." It's like the glory cloud coming into the temple, that kind of thing. But he isn't the glory cloud. It's a manifestation of where he is, like the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud. He isn't the pillar of fire, and he isn't the pillar of cloud. He's saying, "I'm here," but he isn't made up of stuff. 

He dwells in unapproachable light, and it is impossible to see him, and we can't see him, no one has ever seen him, and no one can see him. This does not contradict, "They will see His face," in Revelation 22. That clearly is a manifestation of a theophany, a presentation of God, because he doesn't have a face. And so that's the idea of presenting some symbolic physical expression of himself. Of course, we've got Jesus who exists, and he is the radiance of the invisible God. So, in some sense, we'll see him there as well. To Him be honor and might forever. That's worship language- is may God be glorified. 

Wes

In verses 17 through 19, Paul returns to the issue of wealthy people. What do these verses teach us about the responsibilities, dangers, and opportunities that wealthy Christians have? And why is this such a challenging topic to address in our present culture? 

Andy 

All right. So going back to what we said a few minutes ago, it is possible to be wealthy and go to heaven. It is possible to be wealthy and be a Christian. There are some verses in the New Testament that are very hard on rich people like the beatitudes in Luke say, "Woe to you who are rich. Woe to you who laugh now, for one day you'll mourn." So, it's like you just have to take those verses in context like, "No, I've just laughed. Now I know I'm going to mourn." So, he's not saying that. He's just saying people who live a certain kind of self-gratifying life, who don't care about other people, who are just living for their own pleasures, that's what he's addressing in Luke's beatitudes.

Here these are some of the most vital verses, three verses that really, I think, wealthy Christians should memorize. And just about all, I don't actually know any truly poor American Christians. I don't think I've ever met one. Because I've been to Haiti. I've been to some poor places in other parts of the world, in India, and other places. We Americans don't know what true poverty looks like. True poverty means not only are you poor, but you don't know anybody from miles around you that's not poor like you are. There's just no resource, nothing falling off the table near you. So, we're all pretty wealthy and the people that we spend most of our time with, we need to read these verses because we're wealthy. We're wealthier than 98% of the Christians that have ever lived, or maybe 99. 

"So, command those who are rich in this present world." First of all don't be arrogant. Don't be prideful, all right? Don't think you're better because you're wealthy, and don't put your hope in the money. Don't think, that is my security. That is an idol. If you put your hope in it, it is an idol, all right? It's what you're pursuing. We talked earlier about wanting to get rich. That's an idol. Don't put your hope in wealth because it's uncertain. "Cast but a glance at riches and they fly away, they sprout wings like eagles, and they're gone." Anybody that's invested in the stock market in the last five years, you know exactly what that's about. And so, that's gone. So, it's uncertain. 

But instead, put your hope in God. God is the one that gave you the good things you have. It's not an evil thing to have money, it's not an evil thing to have a nice house, a nice car, and nice clothes. Those aren't evil things. It was, however, God that gave them to you. And he didn't give them to you without a requirement to ask, "Lord, why did you give this to me? What do you want me to do with it? Do I have enough? Should I give away the rest,” those kinds of things. And so, we put our hope in God, and God is the one that richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. So, we should enjoy good things, but still be careful about it. 

"Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share." Use your money to do things that you can do because you have the money. Start things, start ministries, give to missions, give to the poor and needy, and be generous, be willing to share. And if you do, you're going to store up treasure in heaven. You're going to be, like Randy Alcorn says, you can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead. And so, in this way, you're going to lay a foundation for the coming age for your own wealth. You're doing your real retirement planning because your real retirement is after death. So, by following these verses, you will be laying up treasure for yourself and taking hold of that which is truly life, and that is Christ.  

Wes 

How does the book end, and what final thoughts do you have for us on this chapter and what we've discussed in 1 Timothy? 

Andy 

So, it ends with an exhortation of Timothy to guard what has been entrusted to his care. So that's the gospel, doctrine, it's people that he is required to shepherd. So, he needs to protect them, he needs to guard them, he needs to turn away from godless chatter, just empty words. And don't debate these false teachers who love to wrangle over words and this emptiness of knowledge. Don't do any of that. In doing that, they wander from the faith. Second time that he's talked about wandering from the faith. These people wander from the faith through loving controversy and bickering over words. Earlier in verse 10, they wander from the faith because of their love of money and their pursuit of material wealth. Let's not wander from the faith. Instead, be strong in the Lord in his mighty power and continue to flee ungodliness. And then he finishes the epistle where he says, "Grace be with you." So, what's been entrusted to your care here, Timothy, are these beautiful six chapters of this epistle I just finished writing to you. So, guard these truths with all your heart. 

Wes 

Well, this has been episode seven in our 1 Timothy Bible Study podcast. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys Podcast. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.