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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way, 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. 1 Timothy 6:17-19
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Today, we come to our fifth message in this series on hope which is the main theme of the first week in the Advent season. To date, we have learned the following from the scriptures:
1. Hope is found in God.
https://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com/2025/11/advent-series-hope-is-found-in-god.html
2. Hope is found in God’s Word.
https://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com/2025/12/advent-series-hope-is-found-in-gods-word.html
3. Hope is found in the Lord who brings strength.
https://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com/2025/12/advent-series-hope-is-found-in-lord-who.html
and
4. Hope develops patience through the waiting.
https://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com/2025/12/advent-series-hope-develops-patience.html
And this brings us to today’s text from Paul’s first letter to Timothy, the young pastor who was his protégé. Look again at these words of exhortation here:
“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way, 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.” 1 Timothy 6:17-19
We can really sum up Paul’s words here with the following:
Don’t trust in the world. Put your hope in God and in Him alone.
Specifically, we find Paul centering on the rich in these three verses. Timothy was carrying out ministry in the Ephesian church at the time so we get a sense of the affluency that existed within the body of believers.
Ephesus itself was a very important center of commercial trade by land and sea during New Testament times and so it should be of little surprise that the Romans made it the provincial capital of Asia. It was also a center of polytheistic worship practices as the great temple of Artemis, also known as Diana, was in the city. The temple, dedicated to this goddess of Greek mythology, was renowned as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. You can read about her and how Paul caused a real uproar within the city when he brought the Gospel there and spoke against false gods in the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Acts.
Back to our scripture passage and Paul’s words to Timothy where we find him telling the young minister to have the rich place their emphasis on the following instead of their wealth:
“Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way, 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.”
So how could these rich Ephesians shift their behavior so radically from self-centered riches to selfless sacrifice through helping others by serving or giving?
They would have to first put their hope in God, the God who would help them become the people He wanted them to be, the people they needed to be.
And the same applies to us today.
When it comes to living this thing called life, it’s critical that we keep the main thing, the main thing, and the main thing is our Lord. For in the midst of a world that would convince us we should place our trust in everything except God, we need to resist the temptation to go there. The bottom line is that anything outside of God is totally unreliable and that goes for ourselves. He was, is, and will always be in control, the only One in our lives who can do all things.
Nothing is beyond the work of His almighty hands and if anything needs changing, He is the One to do it if it is in accordance with His will which is the only thing that really matters.
Friends, it’s hope in our God that allows us to focus on what is certain, not just in this life but in the better one to come for all who have placed their belief in Jesus as Savior.
So don’t place your hope in money or possessions or power or position that can be here today and gone tomorrow. Jesus had something to say about this too in His Sermon on the Mount:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Matthew 6:19-21, 24
The call here is to store up treasures in Heaven and we can go a long way toward doing that by following the words from our opening passage from 1 Timothy as we “do good” being “rich in good deeds” as well as “generous and willing to share”. Paul says that “in this way”, Christians “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”, the eternal life only found in Christ.
Also, don’t place your hope in political parties who dabble in current and near future events but have no real authority when it comes down to it, especially in things that are eternal. Remember the words of the prophet Isaiah when he said this about the coming Jesus:
For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders.
And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of His government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. 9:6-7
When it comes to matters of government and politics, put your hope in the Lord who has all government on His shoulders and has been given authority over all things in Heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).
Finally, don’t place your hope in yourself or anyone else because we humans have definite limits to what we can do while our God is limitless. Going back to Jesus, He proclaimed this in Matthew’s Gospel:
“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 19:26
During Advent, we as believers are to spend time preparing our hearts so to celebrate the birth of a certain hope, a hope that is born out of trust in a certain Lord. The season helps us to keep our focus where it should be in life, on the God who made us, the God who sustains us, and the God who will save us from Hell through His Son so we can spend all eternity with Him in His Kingdom.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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