Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
Summary: What is a person who has money to do when they give their hearts to Jesus?
There is one thing we should clear up before we get too far down our meditational road: Is Paul really commanding Timothy to “command” as much as it sounds like he is?
In the prior verse, Paul tells Timothy to “command those who are rich…” not to be arrogant, etc.
In the original Greek, Paul uses the word “parangellō” for “command.” The NIV adds the second “command” in verse eighteen as an interpretive clarification. This captures the meaning of the Greek grammar, but the word itself has more meanings.
The word “parangellō“ can be translated as meaning “command,” or it can mean “charge,” “urge,” “direct,” “teach,” or “instruct” people in how they should behave. Much depends on how we understand these words when we read them.
In verse seventeen, Paul describes what the rich are not to be. In this verse, he describes what they are to do.
They are to “do good.” Not by human standards of doing good, but by God’s standard of doing good. They are to be “rich in good deeds,” and “generous and willing to share.”
What does that look like?
This is one of those topics where it would be nice to have a checklist of things we could do that qualify as “good” in God’s eyes. Instead, God leaves us to consider what we know of his Word, and what the Holy Spirit might be leading us to do, but he does offer some suggestions.
Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God speaks about the kind of fasting (sacrifice) he has chosen:
“Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” (Isaiah 58:7)
In short, God wants us to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:29).
Rich and poor both have much to offer when it comes to helping our neighbors. Sometimes what is needed is only a smile and a listening ear. At other times, money might be the answer — something the “rich” can provide. Both are valuable in God’s eyes. Both have a place in the Kingdom of God.
Application: Live large, give generously.
Food for Thought: How would you encourage people who have money to live generously?
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