1 Timothy 6

Chapter 6. Our TrusteeshipThat conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. (1 Timothy 1:11)Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. (2 Timothy 1:14)Almost everyone is familiar with the idea of trusteeship. The figure is frequently used in the Scriptures to illustrate our responsibility as individuals and as bodies of Christians.

The Truth

The TruthFirst we are trustees for the truth. The epistle of Jude tells us of “the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 1:3). This was a great committal and commission which involved a corresponding trust. In his epistle to Timothy Paul tells us the Church is “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15); that is, it upholds, as pillars in a great architectural front, the arch on which God has inscribed His message to the world. As trustees for the truth we should uphold the integrity and authority of the Bible, and work for its wide and universal circulation. More especially should we stand for the emphatic and special lines of spiritual teaching which God has made so real and significant to us, and has literally inscribed upon our own lives and incarnated in our own very bodies. God has given to us a message for His people, and we cannot afford to be lax in it without losing our own peculiar blessing and being set aside from our high calling as His witnesses.

Our Own Age and Time

Our Own Age and TimeNext we are trustees for our own age and time. It is said of David that he served his own generation by the will of God. The men of Issachar had understanding of their times to know what Israel ought to do. God wants us to live in this century and to know its spiritual conditions, to meet its peculiar perils and opportunities, and to be true to the emergency work which belongs to our age. “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is” (Ephesians 5:17). “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15).

The Future

The FutureWe are also trustees for the future. We are all heirs of the past and have received a heritage of truth, privilege, and responsibility from our fathers. It is a costly heritage, and we are not only to be true to its improvement, but to pass it on undiminished and enlarged to those who follow us. David did not build the temple, but he had the privilege of preparing the materials for the work of Solomon, his son. We also are laying foundations and working for the ages to come. What a glorious thing if we should be permitted to do things that will last till Jesus comes! Is not this the meaning of that great promise, “I have… covered you with the shadow of my hand— I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth” (Isaiah 51:16)? Let us be true to this holy trust.

Our Country and Community

Our Country and CommunityWe are also trustees for our country and our local community. In this land, citizenship is a sovereign right and solemn responsibility for every man and woman. We may not necessarily mingle in the noisy and unholy arena of present-day politics, but we can be loyal to the highest interests of the nation; and if we are watchful, we shall find God laying many burdens of prayer upon us for conditions in public affairs that greatly affect His kingdom. In this respect we can be the salt of the earth, and the 10 righteous persons who would have saved Sodom and Gomorrah. Especially is this true of our local community. Perhaps we have done a little to meet that responsibility, but we ought to have a larger ministry, a wider and deeper influence for the gospel.

Our Brethren in the Churches

Our Brethren in the ChurchesWe are also to be trustees for our brethren in the churches. As our Lord looked out upon the multitude that fainted and were scattered abroad like sheep without a shepherd, His heart was moved with compassion. What multitudes of hungry hearts there are around us today. How many are starving for bread and getting a stone! Perhaps God has scattered us that we might be as a light in a dark place. We cannot do this by being harsh, self-important and out of sympathy with those around us. We may so commend Christ that though they may not believe all that we believe, and have all that we possess, yet at least they will be attracted and drawn to the Master by the light of His life which we reflect. The apostle said that he was glad to make manifest the sweet savor of Christ in every place. Are we fulfilling this delicate and divine trusteeship?

Our Children

Our ChildrenWe are the trustees for our children. The future of the rising generation is the most serious question before the Church today. The spirit of independence has largely destroyed family discipline. The atmosphere of our schools is largely materialistic and hostile to the Bible. Our textbooks represent a standard of scientific teaching which wholly leads toward evolution and the worst forms of modern philosophy and psychology. The amusements of our young people are perilous, and the moral conditions of both sexes, even of the most tender years, have recently been shown to be appalling. All this has created a great necessity. The first remedy, of course, is prayer and faith in God for our own children, a constant reliance upon His covenant promise for us and our seed. Along with this is the maintenance of family discipline on the part of parents notwithstanding the spirit of the age and the difficulty of holding the reins of authority. Let it not be harshness, but the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And there must be a holy and courageous separation in our social life from the world and its associations and pleasures.

The Evangelization of the World

The Evangelization of the WorldWe are the trustees for the evangelization of the world. This is the ultimate goal of all our plans and preparations. We have been put in trust with the gospel for the whole heathen world. This is peculiarly our trust as a people. This work has brought to us a greater blessing than we have ever brought to it. It is the true outlet of the spiritual forces which God is developing among His people. It is the only thing that is large enough for the message He has given us and the Spirit He is pouring upon us.

A Missionary Trust

A Missionary TrustWhat constitutes a missionary trust?

1. The Missionary Idea What is God’s thought for the evangelization of the world? Is it the conversion of everybody everywhere? If that were so, we might well confess that Christianity is a failure, and that God has been baffled in His purpose. There is no more prospect of the conversion of the race than 2,000 years ago. The prospects are growing dimmer every day for the conversion of the people of Christian lands. It surely would be a forlorn hope to look for more in the blackness of heathen night. No, God has a more practicable program. It is the gathering out of a few as samples of the race from every clime and tongue, to form the Bride of the Lamb and the people for His name who shall constitute the leaders of the new dispensation which His coming is to bring. This is the outlook of every scriptural scheme of foreign evangelization, and this is the keynote of our Christian missions, not the conversion but the evangelization of the world in the present generation.
2. The Missionary Conscience Having caught the divine idea, we need to have it become the center of our moral nature and the conviction of our conscience. Henceforth evangelization is not merely a passion but an obligation, a necessity, and a debt. “I am debtor” (Romans 1:14), says the apostle; and a debtor is one who has something which belongs to somebody else. That is a very awkward place for a consistent Christian to stand. An unpaid debt, when you are able to pay it, means sin, and calls for conviction, repentance and restitution. When the Church of God and the conscientious Christian deal with missions in this way, something will come to pass.
3. The Missionary Heart This means the love of Christ. It is not mere charity, but the passion of God, the love that moves us as God’s love moved Him to give and sacrifice; not only the divine passion, but the divine passion for perishing men, that sees them and pities them as Christ Himself would. It is the heart of Christ within, loving and giving as He Himself loved and gave. This will lead to sacrifice. “For God so loved… that he gave” (John 3:16), and divine love never stops short of giving to the point of living sacrifice. This will also lift us to the plane of divine enthusiasm. The missionary heart is an intense heart—a heart that glows and burns. A heart that exclaims like Paul, “Christ’s love compels us” (2 Corinthians 5:14). Literally, he means it is like a great mountain torrent, cleaving its way in spite of every obstacle and becoming the overflowing, resistless river. That is the true secret of the missionary movement which the world needs today.
4. Missionary Feet It will lead some of us to go. It will lead all of us to be willing to go. It will make the obligation so personal and overpowering that we shall not need a divine commission to go so much as a divine permission to stay.
5. Missionary Hands It will become missionary hands, the hands that are lifted up in intercession, definitely, systematically, perseveringly and believingly. Unselfish prayer, prayer that moves us and moves the hand that moves the world. It means the hands that toil, for our missionary money will not drop from heaven upon us, but will be the fruit of painful labor, the sweat of brawn and brain, and the sacrifice of many an hour of leisure and comfort. It means the hands that give. The ministry of giving is as much a grace as faith and love and prayer. If you do not love to give, it is because you have not received the full baptism of the Holy Spirit. Christian stewardship means more than Jewish tithes. You do not give under restrictions or requisitions, but you give in holy freedom, the liberty of love; and liberty and love ought to mean much more than law and necessity. You can live a selfish life if you please. You can use your money for your own indulgence and let the crowd of the perishing pass away. God may send no judgment upon you. He may not withdraw His presence from you, for there are selfish and stingy Christians who may get to heaven. He may not take away your means as a judgment upon your unfaithful stewardship. He may let you pass smoothly through life to its last chapter. It may be with you as with the rich man who fared sumptuously everyday, and perhaps looked kindly at the beggar who lay festering at his door, and who certainly never said a rough word or did an unkind act. He simply lived for himself and was not rich toward God. But oh, what a change when the tables were turned and the dreadful revelation came! In hell he lifted up his eyes in torment and begged for a single drop of water from the man on whose misery and poverty he had looked down upon through all his earthly life. God make us to understand and to be true to our holy trust, and to answer back to Him: Lord, Thou hast given to me a trust, A high and holy dispensation, To tell the world, and tell I must The story of Thy great salvation. Thou mightest have sent from heav’n above Angelic hosts to tell the story, But in Thy condescending love On men Thou hast conferred the glory. We all are debtors to our race; God holds us bound to one another. His gifts in providence and grace Were given thee to give thy brother. We owe to every soul on earth One chance of life and hope and heaven: Oh, by the love that brought us in. Let help and hope to them be given.