What does it mean to be truly rich?
A few weeks ago I had a Saturday where I got to spend almost the entire day with my daughters. Alisha and Will were off doing some things together, so that meant that me and my girls got what we call a Daddy, daughter, daughter day! And we had fun!
We went to eat lunch at Chipotle. We took our dog on a walk. We went to Bahama Bucks. But before we did any of that, we went to one of their favorite places, the Coppell Library!
While they were picking out books and looking around, I went over to the biography section to browse. I stumbled across a book that peaked my interest. Some of you have probably read it, The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku.
If you don’t know his story, Eddie Jaku was an Auschwitz survivor. He just passed away in October of 2021 at the age of 101!
He grew up in Germany and belonged to a happy family, that is until what Eddie called a “cloud came over our happy family scene.”
Before the atrocities of World War II, Eddie reflected on his family life and I want you to hear something he wrote.
He said…
‘If you are lucky enough to have money and a nice house, you can afford to help those who don’t,’ he would tell me. “This is what life is all about. To share your good fortune.” – The Happiest Man on Earth
His father taught him something at a young age that we all know is true. To be truly rich is to share your good fortune.
How do we live richly?
We live in a world where everyone wants to get rich and no one really thinks of themselves as rich until they have more than the next guy. The problem is, there is always someone who has more than you do so it’s hard, actually it’s pretty much impossible!, to win the comparison game.
But the truth is, we are all rich! Even if you don’t think of yourself as rich, you are probably rich according to the world’s standards.
As of 2019, 34 million people in the US live in poverty, meaning they on less than about $35 a day. Some of you might think you could find a way to get by on $35 a day, but that would mean living on less than $12,880 a year.
But even if you were living in the US on $35 a day, you would still be considered rich by the world’s standards. According to the World Bank 689 Million people live on less than $2 a day! Can you even imagine that? And 1.3 billion people in 107 developing countries are are multidimensionally poor.
You may wonder, what does it even mean to be multidimensionally poor? To be multidimensionally poor means that you may have no access to electricity, clean drinking water, school, or a proper toilet. There are ten different categories of health, education, and living standards developed by the U.N. Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative and if you experience deprivation in three of these areas then you are multidimensionally poor.
The question isn’t, “Are we rich?”
The question for us as followers of Jesus is simply, “How do we live richly?”
Rich and Generous Lives
The good news is that God has taught us how to be rich and how to live rich and generous lives.
Paul was a seasoned minister and pastor who had served the church for most of his life, writes this to the younger minister Timothy:
Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable.
We see this in different places throughout the Apostle Paul’s writing, but Paul is highly concerned that Christians have the right attitude and perspective with it comes to their money and how they use it.
Paul knew 2000 years ago something that is still true today, that it is so easy for us to put our faith and trust in the gifts instead of the Giver. It is so easy, even for those of us who consider ourselves followers of Jesus, to struggle with pride — look how much I’ve earned! To put our trust in our money — look how much I’ve put into my savings, retirement, or rainy day fund. To think that what we have is what we’ve earned and what we deserve and to forget about the One who gave us the talents, abilities, and opportunities to work and earn the money we have.
That temptation is as old as time and our enemy loves to use it against us because MONEY IS SO UNRELIABLE.
But… he convinces us that it is reliable and that if we have it and hold on to it that we can control it and that we will be ok.
But Paul says… Teach those who are RICH in this world NOT to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their TRUST should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.
In other words, our God is a God of uncommon generosity who gives us everything we need for our enjoyment!
We know this. Most of us believe this and many of us have experienced this, yet…
Where do we most often put our trust?
In God We Trust?
If you look at a dollar bill, or any of our currency, you’ll see these words inscribed, “In God We Trust.” On July 11, 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed bill H.R. 619 that required this inscription on all our money.
The resolution was first introduced in the House by Representative Charles E. Bennett of Florida who said, “Nothing can be more certain than that our country was founded in a spiritual atmosphere and with a firm trust in God,”
Here we are nearly 70 years after it became law to put In God We Trust on our money and I’m not sure how true that inscription is for most people.
But I guess the real question is, Is it true for us?
Is our faith, hope, and trust truly in God? In our God who is reliable. Or is it in money, wealth, and riches that we all know, at the end of the day, are unreliable?
Trust God
I remember one year, Alisha and I thought we were doing so good. We were debt free except for the house. We had saved up more money than we ever had before in our savings account. We were on top of the world!
And then, we had a baby. And she was an expensive baby.
And then the transmission went out on the car. And come to find out, transmissions aren’t cheap.
And then we had a major plumbing issue at our house. And that was going to cost an arm and a leg to repair. All of a sudden, we realized… money is so unreliable. We are all one or two, or three events away from being broke!
Paul tells Timothy, tell the people in your church to put their TRUST in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.
Don’t miss this… our God is a God of abundance. He’s a generous God. In fact, you might say He’s the God of Uncommon Generosity. He RICHLY gives us ALL we need for what purpose? For our enjoyment!
We should recognize that everything we have comes from God and we should absolutely use the gifts He’s given us for our enjoyment. But not just for our enjoyment. Paul continues…
Do Good
Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.
By doing THIS… by doing what?
By trusting God with our finances…
By putting our trust in God, not money…
By using our money to do good…
By being rich in good works…
By being generous to those in need…
By always being ready to share with others…
This is how we live RICH and GENEROUS lives!
By doing THIS… we store up our treasure. It’s a different kind of treasure for a different kind of life.
This is the kind of treasure that gives us a firm foundation for the future, for the world to come. Jesus talked once about building our lives on a firm foundation, one that wasn’t easily wrecked when the storms of life come! Jesus also once said that where your treasure is, that’s where your heart is too!
And here, Paul echos those words of Jesus by teaching us that when we use the gifts we’ve been given for something bigger than ourselves, we are storing up our treasure as a good foundation for the future so that we may experience true life.
Another translation says it this way… “so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
I love that! Life that is truly LIFE!
So where is your trust?
Are you storing up treasure as a good foundation for the future so that you can take hold of life that is truly life?
Have you misplaced your trust?
We all do it from time to time. And perhaps the best way to test where you’ve placed your trust is to imagine what would happen if the location of your trust went away.
What would it look like for you to truly put your trust in God?
We can put our trust in God because we serve a God of uncommon generosity. Our God has given us everything. If all He ever gave us was Jesus, that would have been enough. But He doesn’t stop there. He continues to pour out over our lives blessing upon blessing upon blessing.
And we were created to reflect the heart of our God who is a God of uncommon generosity.
So may we…
Trust God with our finances…
Put our trust in God, not money…
Use our money to do good…
Be rich in good works…
Be generous to those in need…
And always be ready to share with others…
For this is how we live RICH and GENEROUS lives!
What does it mean to be truly Rich?
By the way, here’s the rest of what Eddie Jaku wrote…
‘If you are lucky enough to have money and a nice house, you can afford to help those who don’t,’ he would tell me. “This is what life is all about. To share your good fortune.” My father used to say to me there is more pleasure in giving than in taking, that the important things in life – friends, family, kindness – are far more precious than money. A man is worth more than his bank account. I thought he was crazy then, but now after all I have seen in this life, I know he was right. – The Happiest Man on Earth
May we live lives of uncommon generosity. For when we do we reflect the heart of our God who is the God of uncommon generosity.
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