HOW TO BE RICH
TEXT: 1 TIMOTHY 6:6-10, 17-19
THEME: YOU ARE RICH SO ACT LIKE A RICH PERSON.
It was a terrible day. I remember this day too well because of the feeling I had. It all started in a positive way. Uncle Ernie was up from South Carolina. He was there with his family and Nick, his two boys, and me went down to the brother-in-laws to watch the Tennessee Volunteers against the South Carolina Gamecocks. The game was not a positive experience, but soon the game became second in my mind. See, I was getting super hungry. John, the brother-in-law told us that we could eat some of the food but Uncle Ernie would not let his boys eat anything. So I felt bad in eating all the stuff in front of them. So I went with nothing for hours to be nice. Of course I was thinking that we would eat something after the game was over. But we all loaded in the car and headed for home. Home was about a two hour drive. So I started to hint around at stopping at Wendy’s or some pizza place for supper. But uncle Ernie would not stop and kept saying that the women at the house will have supper ready for us. I knew in my heart that this was a big lie. It was nine o’clock. The women were not sitting around waiting for us to arrive home to cook us a feast. This was ridiculous. But he kept saying that they will have supper cooked. So Ernie would not stop. Not even to buy pizza. I know he thought that he would have to chip in for the 14 dollar pizza. In fact, I would have bought the huge pizza if he would have just stopped. But Ernie is cheap. He is the cheapest man I have even met. There is nothing wrong with not wasting your money. But when you are about to pass out because of hungry, you need to stop for some food. But he would not. What really made me mad was that I was making like 16,000 dollars a year and he was making over 60,000 dollars a year. He could have pitched in 4-5 dollars for pizza. But he was too cheap. Too cheap to stop. He had the money, but he was too cheap.
At that moment, I realized something. I do not want to be like that. I do not want to be cheap in a bad way. You know people like that. They have never given you anything before. People who never give to the church even though they have money at the end of the month. You know people who watch every penny, every nickel, making sure they are never taken advantage of. People who never tip or provide some extra money for good service. People who are terrible when it comes to money. People who are always worried about what you are making or people who are worried that you might have a nickel more than them. People who are so jealous of others because they have a nicer car. You know cheap people. The people who give cheap people a bad name.
Personally, I have struggled with this problem. I have not been as giving as I needed too. I do not mean that being the opposite of cheap as someone who buys everything they want. Someone that spends money on themselves. I do not mean this. I mean someone that is cheap is someone that is not giving even though they have been blessed. They have extra but they hoard it to themselves. But I have a problem with this. I rather stick my money in the IRA or saving them to give to others. Maybe you have this problem too. You are not as giving as you need to be or should be. You are always worried about having enough money for the rainy day or for the next week. You are constantly being cheap towards others because you feel this gives you security in life.
The reason that people who are rich act cheap is because they do not believe they are rich. Everyone is always looking to someone else as the true rich people. It is impossible for us to even admit that we are rich. There is this sense of guilt or denial to this confession. You are not the rich one, the other person is richer than you. In fact, there was a study done on people and wealth. Did you know that every group of people considered the next group to be the rich ones. Those who made 15,000 believed that if they made 30,000, then they would be rich. Than those who had a household income of 30,000 believed that if they made 60,000 than they would be rich. On this went, the people who made 100,000 believed that those who made 200,000 were the rich ones. It seems like everyone will never admit that they are rich, it is always someone else. In fact, according to studies, those who have a 30,000 a year income are in the top 4 percent of the riches people in the world. Those who make 40,000 household income are in the top 1 percent in the world. In America, we are rich.
Let me tell you about what the rich are like. Us rich people are always complaining about being rich. Being rich causes stress in our lives. For an example, when I was 18, I owned a motorcycle, a car, and a stereo system. In one week, the motorcycle broke down, the car broke down, and the stereo system blow a fuse and did not work. I was so stressed trying to deal with all this stuff that money bought me. I was complaining to my friends about all my problems. You know these types of problems. You have to hire a lawyer because we have some much money that when we die we want certain people to have it. And then there are the problems within families of who is getting what. We have to have people invest our money for us. And we are unhappy about the interest rates that our money is paying us. We have problems fitting our two cars into the garage.
Let me tell you about these rich people. You might not believe this but rich people have this thing called a “guest bedroom.” Yea, a real room in the house that people do not even use. It is for these people that we might not even know who might want to come over. These rich people also have this thing for their cars. Some of them own cars, and have a box that they pull around the car to protect it. I think they call it a garage. Also, they have these things called a washer and dyer, you might not believe it, but you do not even have to go outside to wash your clothes. These rich people work for places that even give them a real car to drive around in and they have this idea of taking a day off work and getting paid. Yes, you get paid to not show up. Someone will paid you to not be there. Also, these rich people have this thing called T.V. and most of them have some funny looking dish thing that picks up like 50 channels. And they can talk to people anyway with this device called a cellphone. You might not believe this, but real rich people have stuff like this. These rich people even play to watch people skate around a rink, they will hit a little white ball over grass, and yes, even watch grown men play this funny game called football. This all cost money, but rich people do this stuff. They do not have to work every day to have just enough to get by.
This is way people that are rich like this need to listen to these words from Paul in 1 Timothy 6:6-10 “But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang.” See these rich people can get so caught up with people that they quit focusing on godliness. They are worried about what the next guy has when these rich people have a ton of stuff already. They have cars, T.V. these phones, but they will get jealous if someone has a nicer phone or car. These are the people who are lovers of money. These are the ones that Paul is talking about. These people will not give because they are so worried about having enough money that they will never drop anything in the collection plate or be happy when a friend makes a bunch of this money stuff too. They are always in competition with others over who are the riches. They are never content with what they have. They are never giving of what they have. Because they are like the people Paul is talking about. These rich people are acting cheap because they are in love with money and this is the root of all evil.
In fact, some biblical instructions are given to specific people. In this letter to Timothy Paul wants Timothy to tell them these instructions. In gives this to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:17-19 “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” There is a certain way that the rich should life. Paul tells these rich people how to act. They are not to be placing their hope in money. There is no certainly in riches, but in godliness. In fact, the last thing God wants these rich people to do is act cheap towards others. They are to be doing good works with their money. Not spending it on creating more problems. Not buying more to be stressed out about more. But to be using their money to help others. They are to be ready to share with others. There is nothing worst in the world than a cheap rich person.
In fact, I was listening to sports talk radio, and the commentator was talking about a certain football player. This particular player makes over 5 million dollars a season. But he has a policy of not tipping the waiter in the Restaurant. He will not give someone who is a lot worst off then he is any money for good service. He is a cheap rich person. But we Christians who are in the top 4 percent in the world when it comes to wealth will not even give five dollars each week to God. Do not point fingers at the player; we are no better some times.
So this week, I want us to admit something, this is something I need to work on too. I need to admit to myself that I am rich. I am rich beyond my dreams. I have two cars and I even life in a house that has a garage. I am so blessed by the Lord that I even save money. Yes, I save money. Some people might be thinking that well, lets pay the preacher less, since he has so much, and this is the perfect illustration of the cheap person. Someone that cannot give money away to others. Someone that likes to hoard it. The first step in becoming a good giver is admitting that you are rich. You have money. This way you will be giving of your money.
My friend Burnice went to a congregation that had a 80,000 dollar saving account. He told them that before he went, that they would have to give it away to good works in the church. This congregation was saying no to missionaries, to great works in the church because of we do not have enough money. They saw themselves as poor, but really they were rich, but would not admit it. We will never give as long as we deny the truth that most of us are rich.
