Good morning and welcome in today. Today we’re going to take a look at a passage of scripture from 1st Timothy Chapter 6 but before we do that…..
It’s the time of the season up here in northern Minnesota when you begin to hear the sound of lawn mowers. It seems like hearing them is as common as hearing the birds in the trees. When people first cut their lawn it looks like a golf course but later on the week, the dandelions start to show up once again. No matter how many times people cut their lawn they just grow back and back again.
When I was very young I remember that we had a tool in the garage that you would stick into the ground next to the dandelion and then step on it. This would pop the entire root system right out of the ground. Nowadays they sell all kinds of things such as stand up weeders and weed killer which are made for one purpose, to get rid of that root.
1 Tim 6:9-10
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
In order to overcome this world, there is a giant root that needs to be removed from a person’s life, it’s called the love of money. It’s a terrible root that has to be pulled up because from it springs a dreadful weed that produces all kinds of evil.
Just like the dandelions take over the lawn, this weed takes over a person’s heart and life. It can ruin their entire existence. It’s a weed that destroys families and relationships. It’s a noxious weed that can destroy a marriage. The worst thing of all is that it has the ability to ruin your relationship with God. In order to get rid of it, you need to pull it up by the root.
Rich is defined in the dictionary as having a great deal of money or assets. It means owning a lot of money, property, or valuable possessions.
Many people have a great desire to be rich and pursue their love with great eagerness. Those who do fall into temptation and a snare.
Temptation is something that causes a strong urge or desire to have or do something and especially something that is bad, wrong, or unwise.
For example, someone may want to be rich so bad that they decide to go steal from their neighbor or rob a bank.
A snare is a noose that gets tighter and tighter on an animal when it gets caught in it. The desire to be rich can choke your life in the very same way. You have to be capable of turning away from those desires because they only lead to misery and destruction. You have to be capable of cutting off the root so that this weed does not appear in your life anymore.
It’s not a sin to be poor in this world, or to have nothing at all, but the love of money is the root from which all evil springs.
Matt 19:16-24
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
The love of riches and wealth can be very deceiving. It can make a person feel like they’re on the right path while they are headed the wrong direction. Remember that everything on this Earth was given to us freely by God. The sun in the morning the stars at night the water to drink and the food that grows right out of the ground. Our God is the greatest giver there is.
Luke 12:16-21
16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
God gives us things so that we can help other people.
Luke 12:15 – And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
God has given us life and the air that we breathe.
1 Timothy 6:17-19 – Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
Matt 6:19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
When you love money you will not let it go to help the poor in the church. We are supposed to love others, and this means with the things God has given us.
1 John 3:17 – But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
Lastly, a warning from the book of James.
James 5:1-5. Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
The kingdom of God is a kingdom of perfect charity. Money and possessions cannot leave this world, only the memory of what you did with them to help others in need.
That’s where I’m going to stop for right now but Lord willing I’ll talk to you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye-bye everybody♥️
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