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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I think I could not do so much better than this passage. The one thing I might add is to invest in eternal things and realize that all of who we are, including our money, ultimately comes from God and belongs to Him.
Luke 12: 13 – 21: Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”14Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”16And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’20“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’21“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
Psalm 50: 9 – 12: I have no need of a bull from your stall
or of goats from your pens,
10for every animal of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11I know every bird in the mountains,
and the insects in the fields are mine.
12If I were hungry I would not tell you,
for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
Thank you, Rich!
Great passages! The Psalm reminds us of who our LandLORD is, and Jesus reminds us that we don’t always know when our lease will be up. 🙂
How would you encourage people who have money to live generously?
Living generously begins as we receive and grow in Jesus Christ, and our concerns for self decrease as our concerns for others increase. We become more generous with all we are and enjoy sharing with others what we have received from God.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Ron,
I appreciate the reminder that our focus shifts as we get closer to Jesus. Instead of “self,” we become more concerned about “others.”
Thank you!