125 Christian Atheist: I Believe in God but Trust in Money

This message is for those who are rich. That’s who Paul directs his instructions to in 1 Timothy 6:17. “Command those who are rich in this present world…”

Now, before you let yourself off the hook, consider this. Did you know that more than half the people in the world live on less than $2/day?

If you make $24,000/year you are in the 90th percentile of the world’s wealth.  If you make at least $80,000/year you are in the top 1%.

I would suggest that biblically speaking, to “be rich” is to have more than what you need to make it from one day to the next.     

So, back to the text. Paul says “Command those who are rich in this present age”... (that’s you and me)… “not to be arrogant.”

How might money make you arrogant?

1.     In how you see yourself.

You see yourself as the creator of your wealth.  “All I have is because of me – my hard work, my financial planning, my strategic investing.”

Christian atheists fail to see that all they are and all they have is a gift from God, who “richly provides us with everything…” (v. 17)

2.     In how you see others.

Down through history, there has been this mindset that there is something innately good about those who have and something innately bad about those who don’t have.

This isn’t a new issue.  One of the great challenges in the early church was showing favoritism to the rich while undervaluing the poor. They failed to see people like Jesus had seen them. 

3.     In how you see money.

In verse 17, Paul warns his readers not to “put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God.”

Money simply cannot be trusted. You dare not base your ultimate security on something that shaky.  Only God is unshakable.  And, as a result, God must ever and always be that which is trusted in. 

How should money be handled?

1.     With appropriate enjoyment of the present.

Look at the last phrase of verse 17.  “…God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”

Our God is not against our enjoyment.  He doesn’t begrudge us nice things.

2.     With profound awareness of our responsibility.

Verse 18 continues, “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”

From the beginning, God gave mankind a responsibility to be stewards of His kingdom.

3.     With abiding confidence regarding the future.

Verse 19 wraps things up with this: “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.”

In a very real sense, you and I are being invited to invest our time, talent, and treasure into a kingdom that will never end.

Can you see how money is such fertile ground for Christian Atheism?  We say that God is our source …that we trust Him… that His promises of caring for us as we partner with Him are true.  Yet we clutch and hoard because notwithstanding what we say, we’re afraid that God won’t come through and we won’t have enough. 

Coming to grips with this is an integral part of what it means to be a disciple. 

This series is based on the book “The Christian Atheist” by Craig Groeschel.