A Treasury of Life in Community
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
March 8, 2026
Good morning, friends and welcome to Light Reflections. This morning the scripture I have chosen to support my message is from 1 Timothy 6:6-12, 17-19 from The Message version.
A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that’s enough.
But if it’s only money these leaders are after, they’ll self-destruct in no time. Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.
But you, Timothy, man of God: Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life—a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses.
Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.
With all that is happening in our world and in the news, I continue to ask myself some difficult queries. Some are simply “why?” - others I am unable to even vocalize or develop as the atrocities of our world continue to unfold.
As I try and ponder all of this, I am led to ask myself,
What can I do?
What can we do?
What can our Meeting do?
This may be the same for you, as well.
This morning, the catalyst we are going to explore that brought back my joy was “community.” Now, you might think that we already discussed this last week, with gather, but there is so much more I want to unpack to help us see the foundations of true community.
You may have missed it, but we heard them being described at the end of our scripture for this morning. As well, some of this has its roots in what I spoke about last week.
Before we get to those, let us look at something Leadership and Organizational expert, Margaret Wheatley in the beginning of her book, “Turning to One Another” says,
“As I listen to many people, in many countries, I’m convinced we are disturbed by similar things, I’ve listened carefully to many comments and included some of them here. Taken as a whole, they paint a picture of people everywhere troubled by these times, questioning, what the future holds. Here are some of the comments and feelings I’ve heard expressed:”
See if what she has heard resonates with your own feelings deep down, currently,
· Problems keep getting bigger; they’re never solved. We solve one and it only creates more.
· I never learn why something happened. Maybe nobody knows, maybe it’s a conspiracy to keep us from knowing.
· There’s more violence now, and it’s affecting people I love.
· Who can I believe? Who will tell me what’s really going on?
· Things are out of control and only getting worse.
· I have no time for my family anymore. I’m living a life I don’t like.
· I worry about my children. What will the world be like for them?
She continues,
“Confronted with so much uncertainty and irrationality, how can we feel hopeful about the future? And this degree of uncertainty is affecting us personally. It’s changing how we act and feel. I notice in myself and others. We’re more cynical, impatient, fearful, angry, defensive, anxious; more likely to hurt those we love.”
OK, if this is true and resonates with you, and much of the world, currently, our scripture text may get down to the fundamentals of how to begin making a shift. Something I want us to consider in light of thinking about our need for community.
In our scripture text, we find Paul writing to Timothy to advise, and counsel him on ministry. Most of Paul's epistles were written to churches or faith communities or gatherings (thus the names Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, etc..), but 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon were written to individuals.
In this first letter to Timothy, Paul focuses his attention on several main subjects.
Law
Prayer
Bishops and Deacons
Advice to young pastors
And finally…Faithful Living.
Paul was often more radical than we allow him to be. And often his writing has been more studied and even followed than the actual life and ministry of Jesus. I think for this morning, we need to look in more depth at what Paul is presenting us from at least two different vantage points.
1. What is Paul telling Timothy about how he should live within community?
2. What are we to glean from this last part of Paul’s letter for our questioning condition?
Before we even explore the scripture or look at Paul’s words, let’s take a moment and look at what Paul and Timothy’s relationship can teach us.
Paul was Timothy’s mentor. It was Paul who told young Timothy,
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and purity.”
Paul and Timothy were not of the same generation. Some have described it as a Boomer and a Millennial relationship for their time.
Let’s be honest, too often, we have a hard time with this in community. We deem people as “out of our circle” simply because of their age. Sadly, we consider people outdated or too immature all the time, before we ever even listen to them.
Folks, the young and old have wisdom that can be shared and learned from. This is so important for us to grasp within community.
And what about mentorship? Being a mentor is more than hobby or a friendship, it is often a calling of the Spirit.
To mentor someone younger is to be willing to be vulnerable about your own life and struggles, while also living empowered by the Spirit’s nudging to be a worthy model. And to become a mentoree, it takes being open to listen, a humility to learn, and ultimately a willingness to act.
Just take a moment and recall the people that have been mentors in your life. Who were they? Were they your same age? What wisdom did they share with you?
Also, have you experienced this mentorship within our Meeting? How or when have you committed to mentor someone younger or allowed someone older to mentor you?
When I started my training as a minister, we often focused on Paul and Timothy as a model. I remember being taught that if you didn’t have someone pouring their life into you while you also had someone you were pouring your life into, that you would never be a good leader
I might say, today, that if we don’t allow people to pour their lives into us, as we pour our lives into others, that we are not fully embracing all that our community has to offer us.
That is why I love our community at First Friends. We have mentors, we have Pauls mentoring Timothys, Elizabeths mentoring Marys, Different Generations learning from each other. We have parents who have grown children sharing their struggles and joys with young parents just starting out. We have young people following career paths that are being mentored by those already successful in their careers. I could go on and on, but I think you are getting what I am saying.
Paul and Timothy’s lives are first and foremost a model of what it means to be part of community.
With that in mind, we can now transition to what Paul was actually saying to Timothy. He said,
Remember to be yourself (who God created you to be!)
This is something we all have a problem with in our world. Too often we want to be anyone but ourselves. And when we are not living our life out of the Light within us – we live a life that creates anything but what Paul describes as a “Righteous life.”
And notice, Paul didn’t just want Timothy to be a “cookie-cutter” of himself. I think too often, today, people take on mentoring for the wrong purposes. Not to help the mentoree embrace their true selves and full potential.
Paul also warned Timothy of the dangers of money, and many, still today, need to head his warning,
“Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.”
Money as well as its partners…power and control are far from the life and community that Jesus modeled…and Paul wants Timothy to know that going down that path leads to destruction.
Instead, Paul encourages Timothy to “Run for your life from all of this.”
Paul’s warning seems rather simple.
Don’t be full of yourself but remember to be yourself.
Don’t be obsessed with money or any material possession for that matter.
Rather pursue a life of
Wonder
Faith
Love
Steadiness, and
Courtesy
And as Paul finishes his first letter to Timothy, he says…
“Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.”
Now, we are getting to the fundamentals of a life in community with those around us.
· Do good to others
· Help others
· Be extravagantly generous with others
Let me go back to Margaret Wheatley for a moment, she realized that life comes from us making a change in how we act and feel and how we respond to those around us.
Much like what Paul was helping Timothy understand. After Margaret Wheatley asked “What can we do now to restore hope to the future?” she said this,
“I’ve found that I can only change how I act if I stay aware of my beliefs and assumptions. Thoughts always reveal themselves in behavior. As humans, we often contradict ourselves – we say one thing and do another. We state who we are, but then act contrary to that. We say we’re open minded, but then judge someone for their appearance. We say we’re a team, but then gossip about a colleague. If we want to change our behavior, we need to notice our actions, and see if we can uncover the belief that led to that response.”
And I think this is exactly what Paul and Timothy are getting at about truly living within community. You and I need to get honest and ask ourselves some tough queries:
Are we contradicting ourselves? Do we act contrary to that in which we are called by God?
Are we truly being ourselves?
Are we trying to do good?
Are we being rich in helping others?
Are we extravagantly generous?
These are what I would call “Community Queries” that I want us to ponder and reflect upon in the upcoming months.
Just maybe if we were doing those things well, we would not have so much worry in our lives.
Maybe those problems wouldn’t seem so difficult.
Maybe there would be less violence and more love, and people would be valued above the color of their skin, their political power, or marketable influence in our world.
Maybe there would be less conspiracy and more trust among us. And just maybe we would find more time for what really matters – like our family, friends, and yes, our community.
Or better yet, as Paul (through the eyes of Eugene Peterson) put it,
Just maybe we will gain a “life that is truly life.”
Amen.
Now, as we enter waiting worship this morning, take a moment to return to those queries and ask yourself,
Am I contradicting myself? Do I act contrary to that in which I am called by God?
Am I truly being myself?
Am I trying to do good?
Am I being rich in helping others?
Am I extravagantly generous?
Who is my mentor and who am I mentoring?