by Nathan Soto
"2-...Teach and exhort these things. 3-If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, 4-he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from whic come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, 5-useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. 6-Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7-For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8-And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9-But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10-For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
17-Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. O Timothy! Guard what was commited to your trust, avoiding profane babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you." (NKJV)
Notice that the context of verse 9, "those who desire to be rich fall.." has to be connected with the phrase of verse 5: "who suppose that godliness is a means of gain." Otherwise, it would seem to indicate that it is wrong to desire more income. This is not the case. It is actually the using of the gospel to as a means of gain for verse says: "If anyone teaches otherwise." Paul is talking about false teachers who abuse the word of God and have a love of money and greediness. Paul instructs Timothy to "from such withdraw yourself."
We can clearly see also that he is not saying to be rich is wrong as you can see in the next set of verses from 17 and on. He intructs these to not "trust in uncertain riches...ready to give, willing to share." It is the way that we use our money that pleases God. I learned that both poor and rich theologies are extremes. We must practice the biblical stewardship principle. The more wealthy must be "ready to give, willing to share." The share part is what I want to discuss in this article. Today, what we see is making the poor poorer telling them to plant a seed of faith. This is proposterous. Paul says in I Corinthians 16 ..put aside and save, as he may prosper..." He recognizes the different imcomes or wealth the saints had even back then. He also says that "...God loves the cheerful giver." This is how we show our love to God. Not always is God looking to bless people with money. In reality, people today are giving to do so. They are hoping to get out of debt by giving in to these false preachers. Only God knows the hearts of some sincere saints but the command is to withdraw from such. Many suffer because they are bad stewards of the money they have. Remember I Timothy 6:8 "And having clothing and food, with these we shall be content." Too often are people charging credit cards to have fancy luxuries. Not that it is wrong but sometimes we need to stop thinking about ourselves and help the work of God and the needy.
I was also shocked that teachers like T.D. Jakes would say that Jesus and his disciples were very wealthy. This is far from the truth but I will cover that towards the end of this article. It is interesting to note that the American slaves who worshipped God desired to be free and have a better lifestyle. Was God not in their midst? Yes! God has a purpose for the called as Romans 8:28 indicates. We forget that the first church suffer many persecution and martydom. We are too comfortable in America! This prosperity gospel cannot work anywhere else. We need to be real to the suffering brethren in Asia, Africa, Latin America and even some parts of Europe.
The Bible talks about the principle of sharing from the Greek word koinonia. Let take a look at Acts 4:32,34,35:
"32-All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possesions was his own, but they shared everything they had...34-There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35-and put it at the apostles' feet and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." (NIV)
This is how God took care of the church by the brethren helping one another and showing "koinonia." This is the principle of the New Testament church. No one thought what he had was his own and were generous to thier fellow brethren. The more wealthy helped the less fortunate and everyone was content with the essentials of life.
Teaching stewardship and being content with what we have is the way people can live in a peace of mind. As mentioned earlier, too many Christians waste so much money on the things they do not need and forget about the poor and the missionaries in other lands.
Regarding Jesus being rich and other suffering Christians, let us consider 2 Corinthians 8:
"1- Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; 2-how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality..
9-For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though HE was rich, yet for your sakes HE became poor, that ye through HIS poverty might be rich."
Obviously, Jesus became a man and became a servant (and poor) so that by that we might be justified. (No one denies God's abundance of riches since He is the Sovereign, Almighty Creator.) There is no implication here that Jesus was wealthy. [GO TO PAGE 2]