Reflections on a “Good and Beautiful Foundation”

Kyle Fever, Director of Academic and Contextual Formation

1 Timothy 6:17-19 

Communicate to those who are rich in the present time to neither be high-minded, nor to build hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but upon God who richly furnishes us all things for enjoyment; to exercise goodness, to be rich in actions that are good and beautiful, to be generous, giving and receiving all things with others, storing up for themselves a good and beautiful foundation for what is to come, in order that they might take hold of that which is actually life. 

I really like the show Restaurant Impossible. The show is about completely gutting a restaurant that is not flourishing – from the building, to the cooking methods, to the menu, to the management practices – and turning it into something new. At the same time, this “new” restaurant holds something of the old place with it. The new restaurant is not so different that it’s unrecognizable, but it is clearly not the old restaurant, either.

There’s a tension. It’s not the restaurant itself that is the problem, though it is failing. It is the ways of operating the restaurant that are causing the restaurant to not flourish. The owners have been formed into a certain way of operating the restaurant that they need to be deformed of. Conforming to a new way of things needs to take place. 

This is what Paul is telling Timothy to be in the business of as he instructs him in his role as “pastor” to the community in Ephesus: to be an agent of deforming of accepted ways, and of conforming to Christ. Paul is not writing to Timothy about dealing with pagans who don’t believe in Jesus. He’s writing to believers who have been deeply formed by practices and thinking that do not flow from the grace of God. 

There were expected and unquestioned ways of thinking and living associated with wealth in the 1st century Roman empire. It was important to have extravagant outward displays that communicated your wealth. And your wealth gave you the right to think highly of yourself, to have an elevated status, a right to the head of the table, to only hang out with the “cool kids” (which were chosen at your discretion). Wealth and status were visible signs of divine favor on you and your family. You wanted to have it all on display. You wanted everyone to know that you must be so blessed! It would be silly to think or do otherwise. 

This way of thinking is not distinct to first century Roman culture. And it doesn’t have to do with only wealth. It’s not one’s money or wealth that is the problem. It’s that we as human beings think we’re something because of it all. It’s our broken lens for evaluating what’s good and beautiful and worthy of pursuit.

What is not working any longer (if it ever did) is a human puffiness about our own stuff, accomplishments, and status. Somehow we forget that it is all a gift from God to be utilized in the manner of the giver. 

Yes, wealth has its problems, distractions, and temptations. And they’re very real. But denunciation of wealth doesn’t solve the problem. Paul didn’t tell Timothy to have the wealthy sell all of their stuff and rid themselves of the wealth problem. It’s not like Paul is like, “Ewww. Riches. Go awah!” The problem would still remain: we’d still have people who are puffed up and conceited, who imagine their own piety in their humble state is the equivalent of the favor of God that the wealthy feel because of their many blessings.  

Paul counsels Timothy to instruct the people to gut the system and conform their lives to a way of living and thinking that reflects a generosity of spirit that mirrors the God who gives. Paul is counseling Timothy to be conformed to a way of living and thinking that does not see one’s life (or that of others) through the lens of the hierarchy of wealth, achievement, and status.  

Paul exhorts Timothy by contrast to instruct both in life and teaching in a life of open-handedness, not to grasping and showing off, but to be rich by letting go. God gives richly to all, for our good. So live like that’s your starting point. Stop thinking more highly of yourself than you ought. Your wealth and status (accomplishments, smarts, athletic performance, etc.) are not for your own ego. In this “letting go,” Paul says, you will “store up a good and beautiful foundation” for the future. In this letting go, one takes hold of true life. We die every day, we participate in our own undoing, only to find that it is Christ who takes up residence in us.

The churches you are and will be in, the people you are and will be sharing life and faith with, will need constant deforming and conforming. YOU will need constant deforming and conforming. The cultural liturgies that form us are strong. They are tempting. We all want the status. We want to be known, to be seen, to have the likes. The gospel says that it’s a broken system. The good and beautiful foundation for living is not what we can show of ourselves. The good and beautiful foundation is Christ in us, and Christ does not wave a flag, sound a horn or megaphone, or insist on looking “successful.” Christ is lowly, meek, and unnoticed amid the noise of culture. In this lies the power of God.