Build a Lasting Foundation for Enjoyment | A Christian’s Guide to Joyful Wealth Management

Don’t become less rich: Diversify!

1 Timothy 6:17-19 explains how to enjoy wealth. It does not tell the wealth holder to become poor. In fact, it says the opposite. It tells the wealth holder to become rich in even more ways. It tells the wealth holder to diversify.

We may have wealth. That’s great! But there’s a problem. Our wealth-holding is temporary. It’s precarious. It could end at any moment. We could end at any moment! So, it makes sense to diversify. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – especially not one that’s soon to disappear. Move some wealth into a different asset category.

Wealth holders are to be “rich in good works.” They become rich in beautiful, visible, noble good [kalos] works. This is different from just being rich, because it’s a status that never disappears. It’s like winning a championship ring: You can wear it for life. Being “rich in good works” endures no matter what happens to your other assets.

Don’t become less rich: Store up for your future!

Paul directs wealth holders to “store up for themselves.” What are they storing up for themselves? They are

“storing up for themselves the treasure of a good [kalos: beautiful, visible, noble] foundation for the future” (1 Timothy 6:19b).

This Greek word for “foundation” is investment language. It refers to a financial fund.¹²⁹ It’s like a bond that pays interest forever.

This foundation is “for the future.” Is this future heaven? It can include heaven, but it’s not only heaven. It’s also next year. It’s also next week. It’s now and tomorrow. It’s immediate and lasting.

A reputation of being rich in beautiful-good [kalos] works is valuable even here on earth. This was explicit in the church of 1 Timothy. A reputation for good [kalos] works was required for poor widows to access financial support (1 Timothy 5:9-10). A good [kalos] reputation with the public was also required for paid (even “double paid”) leadership (1 Timothy 5:17-18).¹³⁰

This reputation is also valuable outside the church. Corporations are pure profit-making entities. And yet, many still make donations. Why? Because it builds an economically valuable reputation.¹³¹

The same is true for people. In experiments, charitable people are more likely to be chosen for leadership positions or joint ventures.¹³² A charitable reputation has real economic benefits, both right now and in the future.

Don’t become less rich: Enjoy your lasting foundation!

This passage gives instructions for enjoying wealth. Indeed, it gives instructions for enjoying “all things” that God richly provides. This enjoyment happens now. And it happens later.

Any enjoyment from bingeing is only right now. It’s extremely short-lived. The inevitable consequences of depression and addiction follow. Bingeing makes the future worse.

Any enjoyment from burying is not right now. It’s only someday. Except that someday never happens. The habits of accumulation never change. The hoarder never stops hoarding.

These don’t create lasting enjoyment. No one faces the end of life and thinks, “I wish I had fed my addictions even more!” No one thinks, “I wish I had hoarded up even more stuff to die with!” We won’t look back on these things with enjoyment. We may even look back on them with regret. And if we’re eternal, we’ll look back on them for a long time.

The enjoyment from accomplishing good works is different. It happens right now. It’s enjoyable right now. It’s also enjoyable to look back on in the future.

It’s enjoyable today. It’s enjoyable tomorrow. It will be enjoyable next year. It’s like a financial fund (or foundation) that just keeps paying enjoyment dividends. It is storing up for ourselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future (1 Timothy 6:19).

And when we’re facing the end of life, it will still be enjoyable to think about. Even after we die, the enjoyment continues. Using wealth in this way results in enjoyment now and later. It’s the path to maximum enjoyment.

Don’t become less rich: Poverty is not the goal!

This passage gives instructions for wealth enjoyment. But underlying this good life advice is a spiritual conflict. Paul is fighting a two-front theological battle. Of course, he’s fighting a theology of greed and endless accumulation (1 Timothy 6:5, 9-10). But he’s also fighting a theology of asceticism (Colossians 2:18-23).

What is asceticism? Picture the “holy man” of eastern religions. He owns nothing. He rejects holding and enjoying material things. This might appear religious or wise. But it’s not Christian.

Paul says that trying to become righteous this way is actually opposed to Christ (Colossians 2:20-22). It even risks disqualifying you as a Christ follower! Paul warns,

“Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism” (Colossians 2:18a ESV).¹³³

Don’t be fooled by the voluntary poverty and physical self-denial of the eastern mystic. Paul explains,

“These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” (Colossians 2:23 ESV)

This isn’t just a historical issue in the church. It’s a modern problem. Asceticism in the church treats the rich Christian as just barely a Christian. It says the real Christian would demonstrate their righteousness by becoming voluntarily poor.

But this is a lie. Poverty is not a spiritual discipline. It’s just a circumstance. The real Christian can say,

“I know how to get along with little, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.” (Philippians 4:12)

The greedy hoarder can’t “get along with little.” The ascetic can’t “live in prosperity.” The Christian can do both. Poverty and riches are just circumstances – not spiritual conditions.

1 Timothy 6:17 does something theologically powerful. It defines God’s identity. It describes

“God, the One who richly provides us with all things for [the purpose of] enjoyment.”

Notice the contrast. The ascetics’ god rejects enjoying material things. Their god is a different god.

Enjoyment is God’s plan. It’s not more spiritual to reject God’s rich provision. It’s not more righteous to avoid enjoying it. At best, that frustrates God’s intentions. At worst, it’s an attempt at righteousness that’s an alternative to Christ.

Misunderstanding sacrificial gifts as painful gifts

Joyful giving is nice, but isn’t painful giving more righteous and sacrificial? Wouldn’t it be more spiritual to give away everything? No and no. Paul writes,

“If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:3 ESV)

We can’t give more than everything we have. We can’t endure more pain than being burned alive. Does that make it a good gift? No. Paul says it all amounts to nothing.

The goal of giving is to feel and share joy and love.¹³⁴ Without this, the gift is pointless. Just making it bigger or more painful doesn’t help.

This also reveals a modern misunderstanding about “sacrificial” giving. A donation can be a sacrifice (Hebrews 13:16; Philippians 4:18). But in Scripture, sacrifice means offering. It’s a binary (yes/no) quality. It describes the use of a gift.

In the Old Testament, a bull, a dove, or even some flour can be a sacrifice. A bull costs more than a dove. But a bull cannot be “more sacrificial” than a dove. Either the gift is a sacrifice (an offering), or it’s not.

In Bible terms, asking “How sacrificial was this gift?” makes no sense. It’s like asking, “How dead was the dove?” Either it was sacrificed, or it wasn’t. Either it was offered to God, or it wasn’t. The question confuses an English meaning of sacrifice (“painful”) with the Bible meaning of sacrifice (“offering”).¹³⁵

The real question is, “Was the sacrifice pleasing (or acceptable) to God?” Old Testament sacrifices from the ungodly and unjust were not acceptable.¹³⁶ These gifts were still sacrificial.¹³⁷ They were still offerings to God.¹³⁸ But unless the giver’s heart was right, they weren’t acceptable.

So, too, in the New Testament, the giver’s heart and emotion must be right. Otherwise, the gift, offering, or sacrifice won’t be acceptable. It won’t be pleasing to God, no matter how big or painful it is.

If we’re not experiencing love and joy, we’re doing it wrong. This doesn’t mean we don’t give big. It means we do it with the right emotion. We do it as a means of experiencing joy. We do it because we love to do it, not because we think painful giving is more righteous.¹³⁹

Even if a gift happens to be costly or painful, the pain isn’t the point. The joy is the point. This was true even of Jesus,

“who for the joy set before Him endured the cross.” (Hebrews 12:2b)

Paul describes the costly giving of those in Macedonia this way:

“They gave as much as they could afford and even more” (2 Corinthians 8:3a CEV).

They gave a lot. They gave even beyond their ability. Does Paul praise the painfulness of their giving? No. He does the opposite. He describes how much fun they were having. Paul explains,

“They gave as much as they could afford and even more, simply because they wanted to. They even asked and begged us to let them have the joy of giving their money for God’s people.” (2 Corinthians 8:3-4 CEV)

Giving a lot is great. But we should do it because it’s joyful. We give as a means of wealth enjoyment. That’s God’s plan. That’s why He richly provided it to us in the first place.

Our good-stewardship playground

In the Parable of the Minas, Jesus provides two examples of good stewards. The first delivered a 10X return. The second delivered only a 5X return. Did the master scold the second steward for not doing more? Not at all. Instead, he rewarded him enormously. He gave him five entire cities.

Being a good steward doesn’t mean being a perfect steward. Scripture gives us enormous freedom in our own good-stewardship playground.

Are there limits on our giving within this good-stewardship playground? Sometimes, yes. Giving so much that it leaves our dependents a burden on the church is not okay (1 Timothy 5:8, 16). Providing the regular food, clothing, and shelter needed for contentment is our first responsibility (1 Timothy 6:8). Ignoring family needs and saying it’s all “a gift to God” is not acceptable (Matthew 15:5-6; Mark 7:11-13).

Yet, beyond these basic obligations, we have great freedom in our joyful wealth management. We can choose to give a lot – even extravagantly and abundantly. Like the Macedonians, we can sometimes give even beyond our ability.

And yes, we can also choose to give much less. That’s acceptable, too. Of course, we’ll miss out on a lot. Paul explains,

“the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows generously will also reap generously.” (2 Corinthians 9:6)

All of these are acceptable options in our good-stewardship playground. But it helps to remember that it’s a playground. Have fun! The purpose is “for enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17). God loves a “hilariously” joyful [hilaron] giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).^¹⁴⁰ If we give big like the Macedonians, we too should do it “out of abundant joy” (2 Corinthians 8:4). If we aren’t experiencing joy and love, we’re doing it wrong. Those gifts do us no good at all – no matter how big they are (1 Corinthians 13:3).

Wealth is just a tool

Wealth and possessions are tools. They are temporary, disappearing tools. God puts these tools in some people’s hands. He puts other tools in other people’s hands. God provides the tools for a reason. He provides the tools so that we can use them.

The proper response is not to bury the tools. (We don’t bury wealth just so we can die with it.) That defeats the tools’ purpose.

The proper response is not to reject the tools. (We don’t live in self-righteous poverty like the ascetics of eastern religions.) That also defeats the tools’ purpose.

The proper response is to use the tools. Put them to work. Use them to do good works. Use these temporary, disappearing tools to build something lasting.

Peter, Paul, and Mary sang the song “If I Had a Hammer.” Like a hammer, wealth is a tool. If God richly provides us with a hammer, what are we to do with it?

Some would say, BINGE! See how hard you can hit yourself with that hammer. You and your friends can get really “hammered!”
Some would say, BURY! Bury the hammer. That way, you can trust that it will always be there for you.
Others would say, TOIL and bury! Do whatever it takes to get as many hammers as you can. You can die with a huge hammer collection!
Still others would say, REJECT! The truly spiritual never carry tools. They are above all such material things.

But what does Scripture say? Tool collecting misses the point. Tool rejecting misses the point. What’s the point? The point is enjoyment. Enjoy the tool by putting it to work. Use it to build good things.

We’ve been given a disappearing tool set. If we have many tools, that’s great! We can put them to work. If we lose those tools and get a different set of tools, that’s great, too! We can put those to work instead.

That’s how we use the tools. That’s how we enjoy the tools. That’s their purpose. That’s the reason God gave them to us. That’s joyful wealth management!

For more on this topic, see Chapter 14 in

Joyful Wealth Management: A Bible Study Discussion Guide 141

Final Advice:

Notes and references

One commentary notes of themelion, “Thus, the word seems to have taken on a meaning approaching the ambiguous word ‘funds.’” Dibelius, M. & Conzelmann, H. (1972). The Pastoral Epistles: A commentary on the Pastoral Epistles. Fortress Press. p. 91. Different translations render the phrase as “storing up for themselves a good reserve” (Holman Christian Standard Bible), “laying up for themselves a good deposit” (Charles Thomson Translation), “treasuring up for themselves a good fund” (Riverside New Testament).
↩
1 Timothy 5:17-18. This church leader cannot serve unless he has a good [kalos] reputation with those outside the church. (1 Timothy 3:7).
↩
Brammer, S., & Millington, A. (2005). Corporate reputation and philanthropy: An empirical analysis. Journal of Business Ethics, 61(1), 29-44.
↩
Barclay, P., & Willer, R. (2007). Partner choice creates competitive altruism in humans. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 274(1610), 749-753; Hardy, C. L., & Van Vugt, M. (2006). Nice guys finish first: The competitive altruism hypothesis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(10), 1402-1413.
↩
The Holman Christian Standard Bible uses, “Let no one disqualify you, insisting on ascetic practices … although these have a reputation of wisdom by promoting ascetic practices.” The Christian Standard Bible uses, “Let no one condemn you by delighting in ascetic practices.” The Amplified Bible uses, “These practices indeed have the appearance [that popularly passes as that] of wisdom in self-made religion and mock humility and severe treatment of the body (asceticism), but are of no value against sinful indulgence [because they do not honor God].” The Weymouth New Testament uses, “an affectation of humility and an ascetic severity.”
↩
The word here in 1 Corinthians 13:3 is echō. Its meanings include “experience” as in “experience not love.” This is often a relational word describing a shared experience. Thus, this donor, although extreme in sharing, is not sharing the relational experience of love.
↩
For additional discussion see, The Biblical fundraiser in ancient words: The historical ministry of major gift fundraising, Chapter 7-14.
↩
Amos 5:22; Proverbs 15:8, 21:27; Isaiah 1:11-15; Jeremiah 6:20; Malachi 1:10, 2:13.
↩
See, e.g., use of sacrifice, זֶבַח – Strong’s H2077, in Jeremiah 6:20b, “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.”; Isaiah 1:11, “‘What are your many sacrifices to Me?’ Says the LORD. ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fattened cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats.’”; Proverbs 15:8, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, But the prayer of the upright is His delight.”; Proverbs 21:27a, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination”
↩
Amos 5:22, “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fattened oxen.”; Mal 2:13, “because He no longer gives attention to the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.”
↩
This doesn’t mean that it’s bad to live a simple, or even a monastic, lifestyle. It means if we intentionally live this way then we should be doing so because we enjoy living this way. It must not be a painful demonstration of personal righteousness. Instead, it should be just our particular means of maximizing enjoyment from our life. Notice how using this motivation removes the egoism from a simple lifestyle. It’s no longer displaying an earned righteousness that supplants the work of Christ. It’s not asceticism. It’s just an application of joyful living for our particular preferences.
↩
Hilaron. “From the same as hileos; propitious or merry (‘hilarious’), i.e., Prompt or willing -- cheerful.” Strong, J. (1890). A concise dictionary of the words in the Greek New Testament. Thomas Nelson. p. 37.
↩
Available for free at EncourageGenerosity.com. See also, The Biblical fundraiser in ancient words: The historical ministry of major gift fundraising, Chapter 15; and The Biblical fundraiser in modern practice: Helping Christians enjoy their wealth, Chapter 15.
↩