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Paul's final words on the subject of money are directed to wealthy Christians. While it may be hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 19:23), some do by the grace of God, and face a unique set of challenges in serving their Lord and Master in a needy world. It is such people that Paul is addressing in these last paragraphs of his first letter to Timothy.
Timothy is both to warn and encourage such Christians. He is to warn them, firstly, of two perils associated with material wealth. There is the peril of being arrogant (1 Timothy 6:17). Wealth can make people feel superior to those with lesser houses, cars, yachts and bank balances. John Stott puts it well when he says, "wealth often gives birth to vanity. It tends to make people feel self-important, and so 'contemptuous of others'" (p. 161).
Then secondly, they are not to put their hope in wealth (v. 17b). Rich people can easily, like the wealthy landowner in Jesus' parable (Luke 12:14ff.), put their trust in accumulated possessions. But to do so is foolish, Paul says, because wealth is "so uncertain". It can quickly 'vaporize' and be lost. "Many people have gone to bed rich and woken up poor," Stott notes (p. 161). Fire, floods, stock-market crashes and mismanagement can sweep away the treasure of a lifetime in a single moment. To rest our hope on such an uncertain foundation is folly. Far better, Paul insists, to put it in a Person - the living and eternal God, "who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment" (v. 17c). Placing our security in a generous and faithful Creator is a much wiser strategy than trusting in money.
This is not to suggest that possessing wealth is necessarily wrong. Paul is no advocate of asceticism - rejection of the material creation. Stott is right to say, "We are not to exchange materialism for asceticism. On the contrary, God is a generous Creator, who wants us to appreciate the good gifts of creation" (p. 161). Wealth is good - it is just hard to handle.
From warnings to the wealthy, Paul turns to positive, practical counsels to guide them in the use of their possessions. Firstly, they are to "do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share" (v. 18). He wants them to be active and busy in using their wealth for good causes. "Wealth can make people lazy," Stott observes. "Since they have everything they want, they have no need to exert themselves for their living" (p. 161). But this is not how wealthy Christians are to live. On the contrary, they are to use the time and means their wealth gives them to abound in doing good to those in need.
In doing so, they will not only be imitating their generous Creator, but 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" (v. 19). Jesus taught that the wise use of material wealth would reap riches in the life to come (Matt. 19:21). Paul here does the same thing. He wants the rich to get an eternal perspective on possessions, and to see in their present wealth an opportunity to invest in the true riches of the life to come - that "authentic life," Stott says, "which begins now and ends in heaven" (p. 162)
Looking back over the paragraphs on money we cannot but be impressed by the balanced wisdom of the apostle Paul. To uses Stott's words, "Against materialism (an obsession with material possessions) he sets simplicity of lifestyle. Against asceticism (the repudiation of the material order) he sets gratitude for God's creation. Against covetousness (the lust for more possessions) he sets contentment with what we have. Against selfishness (the accumulation of goods for ourselves) he sets generosity in imitation of God. Simplicity, gratitude, contentment and generosity constitute a healthy quadrilateral of Christian living" (pp. 162-3).