Learn to be Content
Tom Shrader explores Paul's formula for true wealth in God's economy: godliness plus contentment equals great gain. He challenges believers to define 'enough' in their material pursuits and find satisfaction in what God has provided - whether possessions, spouse, children, or gifts. Shrader warns against the love of money while addressing contentment as a learned spiritual discipline essential for effective Christian living.
“You live in an environment where you are constantly assumed to be discontent.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: How to Stay Straight in a Crooked World (2001)
Recorded: March 15, 2001
Duration: 44 min
Themes: contentment, money, wealth, materialism, satisfaction, greed, provision, stewardship, struggling with materialism, financial stress, young adult, new believer, parent, spouse, feeling discontent, consumer culture
Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:6-10, 1 Timothy 6:6, 1 Timothy 6:17-18, Philippians 4:13, 1 Corinthians 7:39, Matthew 6:33, Luke 5:27
Theological Themes: godliness, spiritual discipline, biblical authority, sanctification, christian living, spiritual maturity, biblical worldview, discipleship
Full Transcript
We are in week 8 of what will be a series, probably 12 weeks. The title is "How to Stay Straight in a Crooked World." The title can be misleading. In fact, if you have ideas for a better title, let me know, not now, but sometime here, because I'm constantly redefining it to find something that says it better.
When we talk about a crooked world, we're not talking about a corrupt world, though we know it's corrupt. We're talking about how do I stay on track in a world that's changing constantly. The things that were absolutely taboo 10 years ago are edgy today and will be mainstream in 5 years. How do I stay on track in that world?
Our Starting Assumptions
We started with two things. Number one, here's the first assumption: you're all Christians. Now, I know that you're not. I know there's some pagans in the room, and we're glad you're here. Hope you don't feel uncomfortable. We're glad you're here, but this information is just going to help you navigate your way through this world, but still, you're eternally separated from God at death. There's still hell for you. So you've got deeper issues to deal with than how to stay straight in a crooked world.
The Bible as Final Authority
Here's the issue, though. If you're a Christian, how do I stay straight? First, I established the Bible as the final authority of my life. The Bible is inerrant. There's no errors in it, cover to cover, without exception, no flaw, no error, no contradiction.
We use the illustration of the election this year. We had all sorts of moving around in courts, and this hour we're here in Secretary of State, Florida Supreme Court. But when the United States Supreme Court said, "That's it," that's the end of it. Well, there has to be something in your life that's the parallel of that. When it speaks, that's it, we're done. That would be the Bible.
Making Godly Decisions
Now we progress through our study. Then I say, I'll commit myself to the process of learning. Now I'll make godly decisions. So decision making becomes very easy.
I got an email last night, a long email, a passionately long email from a gal who is in love. She's dating this guy, and they've been dating for a while. I might know her barely to see her a little bit. I don't know him at all. She's talking about we're romantically involved. We're thinking about getting married. We have some issues, though. Our issues are he's Jewish, and I'm a Christian, and what faith? How do we raise the kids? Then she apologized at the end for a lengthy email, but it was important.
I wrote back and said, "My reply is equally important but short. Run away from this guy. Have nothing to do with this guy. Move away. This isn't even an option for you. You have to not marry him, and I think you would be a fool to date him." I put a line in there about I know this is hard emotionally, but the point is real simple.
She's agonizing over this decision. It's a no-brainer. It's a no-brainer because the Bible's the final authority. What's the Bible say? First Corinthians 7:39. She can't marry a nonbeliever. It's easy. It may be emotionally difficult, but it's easy to execute.
So now I make good decisions, godly decisions, and my life, which is always going to have circumstances, may go like this but not because I'm making stupid decisions along the way. It's because that's the cycle of life.
Making God Visible and Speaking Truth
The last two weeks we said, here's your task, and you cannot separate them. It's to make the invisible God visible and speak the truth boldly. If you make the invisible God visible but don't speak the truth boldly, you're a coward. If you speak the truth boldly without having made the invisible God visible, you're a hypocrite. We can't separate them.
The Missing Ingredient
Today we look at something different. I gave you a little misinformation last week. I said we were going to talk about freedom today. We're going to talk about freedom next week. We're going to talk today about something that if you've been around here at the studies for any length of time, you've heard me come to this theme again and again because I'm convinced that for most of the people in our culture, this is a missing ingredient.
It presents a major frustration and a gigantic obstacle to your ministry. Though the conversation will start on a material, physical plane, quickly I want you to see that this is a gigantic spiritual issue.
Paul's Secret to Every Situation
I'm an infomercial guy. I watch hours and hours of TV, and I'm an infomercial guy, and I watch every one of them. There was a new one on last night I hadn't seen, so I had to watch it all the way through just to watch it. But imagine if I'm flipping, and I come to an infomercial, and the guy says, "I have the secret of living in every situation." Even if it's some old washed-up movie star selling toothpaste, I'm going to watch this. I would think you'd stay for a second, if nothing else, just a little sport watching to see what it is he's got.
How about this? How about if the Apostle Paul said, "I have the secret to living in every situation"? That's what he said in Philippians 4:13. That's the New Living Translation. He said, "I've learned the secret." You want to know what the secret is?
In fact, in Philippians 4:13, it says, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Years ago, the USC football team, when Rodney Peete was there, he had a little towel that they wore that said Philippians 4:13 on it. "I can do all things through Him who strengthens
me. Well, we hear that, and we've made a whole cottage industry out of this verse with bumper stickers and screensavers and bookmarks, but we never put it in context. What's the context there? The context is, I've learned to live with a lot. I've learned to live with a little. I've learned the secret to life. I've learned how to live in every situation. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
If you have your Bibles with you, here's point number eight: Learn to be content. Let me tell you what this is not. This is not a call to apathy. It's not a call to mediocrity. In fact, I'm going to go ahead and tell you, I think there's a godly discontent that ought to be present in your life. Maybe sometime during the day, we'll talk about it.
The Formula for Being Rich in God's Economy
1 Timothy 6, verse 6. In my Bibles, all of them, that's a worn-out passage because I go through that passage again and again and again. I'm convinced in 1 Timothy 6, verse 6, Paul gives Timothy the secret for being rich in God's economy. Here's what he says from the New American Standard. Here's Paul's formula, verse 6, and put it in the form of an equation: Godliness plus contentment equals great gain.
I'll give you a little definition. Godliness we simply identify as a consistent, genuine, authentic walk with God. It's Matthew 6, verse 33. It's losing yourself in obedience to Him. "Seek first His kingdom," and all this other stuff is somehow going to be taken care of. That's godliness.
Contentment, here's what Webster says contentment is. Webster says contentment is "happy enough with what one has or is, not desiring something more or different." Synonym: satisfied.
Now, hang with me on this. Godliness plus contentment equals great gain. If it's an equation, let's put a numerical value there, just for sake of illustration. Let's say godliness is 9, contentment is 1, that equals what? If you're from the U of A, let us help you. 10. 9 plus 1 equals 10. Numerically we know 9 is much more valuable than 1. But the point is this: the 1 is as essential as the 9, if I'm to complete this equation accurately.
The Missing Ingredient
What I'm saying to you is, you can go around on Sunday, pick five churches, and you've got a pretty good shot that you'll hear something about godliness on Sunday. But I'll bet you don't hear much on contentment. It's not fair to take a Sunday. Take the balance of a year, and I guarantee you, pick five decent churches. Don't go to some mainline denomination thing that's turned liberal on us. But I mean something good. Take these five churches, I guarantee you, you'll hear something on godliness. I'll bet you have to squint to see something on contentment.
That's why I'm telling you, it's the missing ingredient in your life. You live in an environment where you are constantly assumed to be discontent. In fact, listen to Paul's words: "I've learned the secret." You know what that tells me? If I've learned it, then it wasn't something that I had naturally. That would be my point to you. I had to learn this. I didn't just pop out of the womb and say, "Man, I'm content. I've got food, covering, this is perfect."
The Reality of Our Spending Culture
There's a book that we've talked about a lot in here lately. Let me mention it again. It's titled "The Overspent American," and it's got a great cover on it. It's subtitled, "Why We Want What We Don't Need." There are some fascinating statistics. Statistics are boring to look at. They're really boring to have somebody read to you. But let me just highlight two things.
They make two different statements in there. The first statement is this: "I spend nearly all my money on the basic necessities of life." Of those making $75,000 to $100,000 a year, 33% said they spend nearly all their money on the basics of life. Of those making over $100,000 a year, 20% said they spend all their money on the basics of life.
Here's the second statement: "I can't afford to buy everything I really need." Those making $75,000 to $100,000, 40% said, "I can't afford to buy everything I really need." Those making more than $100,000, 27% of the people said, "I can't afford to buy everything I really need." Does that strike you as remotely true?
There was a magnificent ad that Radio Shack ran last year. The tagline on it was this: "We have thousands of things you never knew you needed." Not dozens. Not hundreds. We got thousands of these things you never knew that you needed. Thousands of them. See, you live in that world.
Defining How Much Is Enough
So how do I try to figure out how much is enough? How do I reach what Paul says is essential to be rich in God's economy, to be really where God says, "Now that's worthwhile"? I've got to be content. How do I get satisfied? Let me give you just a couple of things.
The first thing is, you've got to put some definition on this. You've got to define in your own mind how much is enough. Here's a great illustration. I used to go to Vegas a lot. Every time, without exception, either on the plane, in the hotel, at the cab, somewhere, I would hear somebody say, "When I lose $1,000, I'll quit. When I lose $1,000, I stop."
I would frequently see those people, and I would see them at the craps table, and there would be chips in front of them, and I could look and see there's $2,000, $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 worth of chips. And here's what they're saying: "Give me the dice. I'm hot." And they're going to throw and throw and throw. You know why? They're goal-oriented people, and they have a goal. What's their goal? Lose $1,000, and they're not stopping until they do. That's exactly what happens.
Here's what's fascinating. If you had that discussion with them on the plane, and said, "Well, that's interesting. If you lose $1,000, you'll
Stop. What would you do if you won $500? I've never won. I don't know. No, but would you be happy? I'd be as happy as you could be. If I could win $500, I'd be so happy. Here's what I want you to see. In the tray right in front of them is what they said would make them happy, but because they never defined it, they didn't realize they were there.
Isn't that funny? How about when you're sitting around this house, and you're saying, this is so exciting, and the furniture's not going to be there until tomorrow, and you've just painted, and you've recarpeted, and you're just moving in, and it's just you and the spouse. You're sitting there, and you've got the Pepsi and the Diet Coke, and you say, this is so exciting, this is exciting, oh, this is really exciting. Honey, this is ours. We could live here the rest of our lives. This is all we ever need. That was three houses ago.
What happened? What took place? I'll tell you what took place. No definition. There's no definition around any of those things.
The Problem of Undefined Expectations
I have this frequently with guys. I'll sit with a guy one time, and He's talking about how busy He is, and how miserable He is, and how difficult life is, and how people are calling Him all the time, and how people are always wondering. And I said to Him, finally, after a while of this, I said, pardon me, you're a doctor. This is what they do with a doctor. They call you all the time, you're a doctor.
Didn't you understand this when you were going to med school and your internship? Didn't you understand that this is what they do? You're offended by, this is like a real estate guy going, man, I wish this phone had stopped ringing. Why do they call me about these signs we have out there? You're a doctor.
And after a while, and some casual conversation, I was able to say to Him, if you could rewind back ten years, when you saw your perfect life, what did it look like? And when He started to define it, He realized that He had not only achieved it, He'd exceeded what He thought was going to make Him happy. And that's my contention, by the way, for most of you guys. That's my contention for most of you people.
Living in an Environment That Thrives on Discontentment
Now you live, and this is why, let me spend a second and then we'll move on. You live in an environment that thrives on you being discontent. We worship. Well, I've got a place that's one of my favorite places to go. I love, like when we go to San Francisco, every third year I'll do a cathedral trip where I'll go and look at these old cathedrals. I love it.
But there's a cathedral here that I really love in Phoenix. I love to worship at the cathedral of consumption called Fashion Square. I love Fashion Square. Fashion Square is one of my favorite places on the planet. But see, you see people walking through there with racks and racks of stuff, and if there's no definition, or if you know what you say, look at them, I don't have what they have. If that's the environment, there's no end to this.
Let me give you the punchline again. You've got to ask yourself, why do you continue to pursue these things in spite of the fact they're costing you spiritually?
The Education Example
I'll give you another example. Education. You want your kid to grow up. You want your kid to go to college. Why? I'll tell you why. To get a good job. Isn't that interesting? I want my kid to go to school. Why? To get a good job.
If you go down to ASU today, there's 44,000, 45,000 kids, and you ask them why you're here, and they'll say, I'm here to get a good job, get an education, get a job. I'll bet you couldn't find two people on that campus that are there to learn. I'll bet there wouldn't be two people who'd say, well, I've always been interested in American literature, and I'm here to learn.
God's Standard for Evaluation
Here's the danger, see, is that you've got to take your life, and you have to take your own life, not mine, or not your neighbor's, or not your friend's, and you have to take it and put it under the microscope, and you have to understand that you're going to evaluate it by God's standard, which is this, godliness plus contentment equals great gain.
We talk and talk and talk in here about godliness. Are you godly? Are you walking with God? I'm saying, are you content? Are you content with the material things that God has given you? And one of the ways to understand whether you are or not is to see if your kids are content, because they probably caught your value system and your attitude.
Teaching Contentment to the Next Generation
I had an opportunity a few years ago. It was miserable to be invited to speak to a junior high group, and it's just not my target market. So the night before, I got a call from one of the parents saying, what are you going to talk about tomorrow? And I said, well, I really don't know. And they said, why don't you talk about peer pressure? And I said, that's perfect. Thank you.
So I got up before the junior highs, and I said, you know, I had one of your parents call me and said I should talk about peer pressure today, so I want to do that. Let me tell you how much peer pressure your parents are under. Because for you, it's just a backpack or a shoe. For them, it's the right car in the right garage attached to the right house in the right neighborhood.
But see, they learned that the shoe is important because you taught them the car is important. They learned the backpack is important because you taught them you got to have the right driver. And that's a poor illustration, because you really do need to have the right driver. See how that works?
Anti-Materialism, Not Anti-Material
Now, let me expand this for a second, because rarely do we push this out. At this point, most guys now make you feel guilty about the stuff you have. I don't care. Knock yourself out. What I'm saying to you is this is not an anti-material message. It's anti-materialism. You go ahead and get stuff, but if you think you're going to find the meaning of life there, you're nuts.
Let me give you some more. It's not just being content with the stuff
Be Content With Your Spouse
This gets a little dicey now. It's being content with the spouse God's given you. Gals, start with you. It's always easier.
Some of you, by your own conclusion at this point, have married some guys that I have to admit I would never have picked. But let me help you out here. There's a lot of fish in the sea, and this is the tuna you hooked. You could have done a catch and release, but you didn't. This is yours. You picked him. Out of all three billion guys in the world, this is the one you picked.
I don't relate well from that perspective. Guys, I can talk to you. Be content with the wife God's given you. For most guys, this begins in the physical area, because time tends to take its toll on the human body, male and female. But for guys, that seems to be such a gigantic issue.
In fact, somebody said this is a great quote, and I think it's true: Women marry men hoping they'll change, and they don't. Men marry women hoping they'll never change, and they do. That's a pretty good rule of thumb.
The Comparison Trap
Here's what happens. Guys, I'm just telling you up front, you're putting yourself into self-destruct when you do this. You're watching TV. You're flipping along, and you're in your chair. She's in her chair. You're flipping along, and all of a sudden, you come to Baywatch. Into that icy, cold ocean water at Baywatch.
You've been flipping now, because you've got 400 channels most of the night, so you need a rest. You start watching these Baywatch babes come out of that water. You're just riveted to this. After a while, almost unconsciously, you're kind of watching, and then pretty soon, you're just kind of going.
Two things. This 45, 55-year-old gal can't possibly compete with a 21-year-old gal. It ain't going to happen. Number two, you're too cheap to pop for the surgery that's going to allow it to happen. As of now, your insurance doesn't cover it.
Guys, you can't do this. You can't start this game. It's not fair to her. I'm a simplistic guy. I'll tell you how to be married to a 10. It's very simple. Consider your wife a 10, value her as a 10, you're married to a 10. It's a no-brainer, guys.
The Grass Isn't Greener
You can't go around saying, "Boy, I'd be happy if I had that." There's no empirical data that says that's true. In fact, the empirical data goes the other way. You know the statistics. Second marriages fail at a higher rate than first. Third, higher than second. Fourth, higher than third.
Advice, real simple advice. Gentlemen, I've seen the 2001 models, and they're very expensive. It's going to cost you everything. Be content with the spouse God's given you.
Be Content With Your Children
Two more. Be content with the kids God's given you. Remember when you said, "Oh, if it's just 10 fingers and 10 toes, we'll be happy." Boy, you count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Oh, we're so happy.
Then after about a week, you go, "Gee, that's a funny little nose. Not much hair. I got your chin. They're not talking. They're two, and they're not really talking much."
Sarah came home, graduated from first grade. First one from our family ever to do it the first try. Graduates from first grade. About two weeks later, we get in the mail an envelope: Iowa basic skills scores. I opened this up, and I literally began to shake. I looked at this, and I discovered I have an average daughter.
I had to sit her down. I said, "Honey, I got some news for you here. I just went through these tests for you." She's first grade. I said, "Do you see these graphs?" She goes, "Yeah." I said, "Let me tell you what this all means. You're average. Now, it's very important for you to understand. This comes from your mom's side of the family. You didn't get this from me. You're average."
Why We Push Our Kids
I didn't do that. But I did. I got it. I'm traumatized. You know why? I'm going to tell you why. I'm traumatized by it, and I want my daughter to be kind of a combination of Cindy Crawford and Mother Teresa and Margaret Thatcher.
You know why? I'm going to tell you why, and this is pathetic. The only reason I'm comfortable sharing it with you is I know you're equally pathetic people. Because I want you to look at this combination of beauty and brains and compassion and say, "She must have a great dad. She must really have a great dad."
See, that's what drives all that stuff. That's what all this basketball and soccer and all this stuff is all about, as you drive these kids and push these kids.
A Real-Life Example
We haven't talked about this in here in a long time, but this is a true story. When our girls were cheering, I had to go to all these games. I'm at a basketball game, halftime score 34 to 4, final 64 to 4. I'm walking out, and a guy is walking with his kid, and here's what he says.
He said, "Boy, that Billy, that Billy on your team, that Billy can jump. Boy, can Billy run. I've really watched Billy. Billy plays great defense. Billy can really shoot. Billy just seems to have court sense. Billy's really quite a player."
Here's what the kid hears: "I wish you were Billy."
I believe that children ought to obey their parents. But this is one occasion where I'd like to hear the kids say, "You know what, Dad, you're right. Billy really can run. Billy really can shoot. Billy really can play defense. Billy really does know how to manage the court. I'll tell you why, Dad. He's got Billy's dad's genes, not yours. That's the problem, Dad. That's the issue, Dad."
Be Content With Your Gifts
I'll give you one more thing, because I see it repeatedly now, even in the Christian community: contentment with the gifts or the talents God's given you. I guarantee you I did not watch the equivalent of an entire half of an NFL game in the whole year last year. But I happened to have on Monday Night Football, when Dennis Miller made a comment. It was a fascinating comment. He said, "Tiger Woods
is the only man in the world that can make Michael Jordan wish he was somebody else. There's always that other thing out there. I watch it in the Christian community where we have gift envy. I wish I had that. I wish I could do this. If only I was there. I wish I had all that.
Here's my observation. Some of you are so busy mourning over the things you don't have that you neglect to thank God and worship God and praise God for the things He has given you. We're getting ready a week from today. We go over to... I'm taking the band and we're going over to Forrest's home. It will be terrific. I would love to be able to play the music that these guys play. I can't play a lick. I can't tell myself one day going, "What am I doing," as the band guys are saying to me, "Man, I'd love to be able to teach." And it's a great reminder.
See, I don't know how God's gifted you. I know this: He's going to judge you by how you handle the gifts and the resources He's given you, not by how somebody else handled theirs. I see so many people so worried about so-and-so's not doing this and so-and-so's not doing that. God's not going to judge you by so-and-so. He's going to judge you by you.
The Secret to the Secret
Now, look at the text, and I'm going to point out something that I think is the secret to the secret. Godliness plus contentment equals great gain. We brought nothing into the world, so we can't take anything out of it either if we have food and covering with those we should be content.
Let me make two observations. Verse 8 assumes you need stuff. Verse 8 says you need covering and you need food. Verse 8 acknowledges that you have certain needs that can only be met with a person or a place or a thing. That's the assumption.
The secret to learning to be content is in verse 7, in my estimation. I came into the world with nothing. I'm leaving the world with nothing. Now I'm content. Here's what Paul's saying: You live in this world where you need material things. How do I guard against my need moving to want, moving to obsession? Paul says, remember this. You came in with nothing and you're going out with nothing. No matter how much you accumulate here, it isn't going to matter because none of it is going to transfer into the next kingdom.
A Dead Man Doesn't Need Pockets
Ray Stedman. This is my favorite illustration. This is years ago. Ray Stedman's going to Boston to teach at a Bible conference. And at a Bible conference, you need a suit and tie. Ray Stedman lands in Boston. His luggage, his notes, none of it's there. It's gone. So he checks into the hotel and he's a little bit frustrated.
Then he's walking along and there's a window. He doesn't even see the overhang. He just sees a window. He sees a Navy suit in there with a price tag, 15 bucks. So he looks. He says, "That's 15 bucks." And he looks up and it's a pawn shop. He goes in and he says to the guy, "I don't imagine there's any chance that's a 40 regular, is it?" And he said, "I'm a 40 regular." And he said, "No, it's a 42 long." But he said, "40 regular." He said, "Come on in the back. Let's see if we can help you."
He goes in the back and there's a rack of Navy suits. And Stedman says, "We've got a 40 regular?" He says, "Yeah, a 40 regular. Here it is." He said, "Wow." He said, "What are you doing with a rack of Navy suits? It's a pawn shop." He said, "Well, there's a mortician about a mile or two away who just went out of business. And apparently, and I've never quite understand this, people who don't want to live in a suit want to spend eternity buried in one, which seems really stupid to me. But apparently, they keep in stock, specifically made for them, these Navy suits so that when somebody dies, boom, they've got a suit for them."
Stedman says, "This is perfect." He said, "It's not going to fit." He said, "Where are you standing?" He said, "Right on the other side is a department store. A friend of mine is there in the alteration shop. Hang on. I'll explain the situation. Go on over there. They'll take care of you." Hems it, cuts it, moves. Everything there.
The next day, he's getting ready, doing what you do. So he's got his coat on or he's got his shirt on. He gets the tie on, puts the pants on, goes over to the dresser, picks up his wallet and his keys, and there's no pockets because a dead man doesn't need pockets.
And I'm telling you, I'm just telling you, if you can take that and every time you reach in your pocket, if you can just take that and remember that, there's this secret to being content.
The Danger of Wanting to Get Rich
Let me finish this up because he gets after it here. He gets pretty aggressive. Here's what he says in verse 9: "Those who want to get rich," not those of you who are rich, "those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish, harmful desires which plunge men into ruin." That word plunge there is used only one other time in the New Testament, Luke chapter 5, verse 27, as Luke describes this ship sinking to the bottom of the sea. If you want to get rich, if that's your desire, if what you think about when your feet hit the floor in the morning and the last thing you think about when your head hits the pillow at night and stuff, you're destined to a snare and trap and ruin.
Verse 10, you know it: "For the love of money," not money itself. The love of money is a root of all sorts of evil. What he means there is money will make you do all sorts of things, evil, that you'd have never done otherwise.
Instructions for Those Who Are Rich
We've got about seven minutes. Let me jump to verse 17 because I think it really applies to us. Paul says, okay, here's all this warning. Here's this formula. Be content. Don't focus on this world. Focus on the next world. Now if you're rich, here's what he said: "Instruct those who are rich." Let me spend a second on that because I've learned that the word rich presents a problem. When I say rich, you instinctively think of somebody who has more money than you. It's a very hard term to define.
I was sitting one day with a guy who I think, from what I've heard from different people and
I know from deals he's done, has a net worth in excess of $10 million, and we're talking about rich, and he said, "I'm not rich. I'm not rich." That was a great moment for me. All of a sudden I realized, oh wow, I thought he was rich. I guess he isn't rich. And then I realized, all of a sudden, there's people looking at me that say, "Well, he's rich."
When he says instruct those who are rich, that's you. Put your name in there. Don't put the asterisk that says anybody has a dollar more than you. Instruct those who are rich in this world two things. Number one, don't be conceited. Number two, don't fix your hope on riches.
The Danger of Conceit
See, the tendency, the minute you accumulate, or the minute you have success, or the minute you have an achievement, the tendency is to think you're really something special. That's a tendency. Or the minute all of a sudden, you finish in the top ten in the office, and so now they give you an award, and then they actually say, "Why don't you give us some tips?" You really think, somehow, you bring something to the party. Like, you figured it out.
I'll help you out here. God blessed you. And we have no reason to believe or to understand why. He just decided to bless you. You know that. Haven't you done that? Where you've spent a day or a week, and you've cold-called and cold-called and cold-called, and I mean, nothing happens. You did it your way, by the book, with all the expertise you know, and nothing happens.
And you're sitting in the office, and the phone rings, and the guy says, "Hey! I'm looking for widgets. Do you make widgets?" "Yeah." "Well, I need some widgets." "Well, alright. How many widgets do you need?" "I don't know, like a million?" And you've never sold ten widgets in your life? What happened there? God said, "I'm going to have this guy call you, and you're going to answer the phone." So don't get conceited.
The Uncertainty of Riches
Here's the second thing, and don't fix your hopes on the uncertainty of riches. I think there's two sides to that. The uncertainty of riches is one, you may have them, and you may lose them. There's the USA Today, I saw the headline, "Market Sinks." There's a whole bunch of people who are millionaires today, but there were even more a week ago. The uncertainty of riches.
I think it's deeper than that. Here's what he says, "Instruct those who are rich, in this present world, not to be conceited, or fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God." Here's what he's saying, the tendency is to say, if I've got my pension plan funded, if I've met with a guy, and I'm taken care of, BAM! I'm secure. I'll be happy.
We did a little on the street interview, we were at P.F. Chang's, a couple of nights ago, doing the video interviews, for "Are You Content," for the talk I did the other day. And it was incredible, people are so predictable. They cannot tell you the truth. And I'm just saying, "Are you content?" "I'm content. I'm content. Yep, I'm content. Yep, I'm content." I heard that all night.
So finally, all I did was shift the question a little bit. "Are your friends content?" "No. No. No." They're all lying. They're exactly lying. And here's what they say, I say, "Why are you content?" Here's what I heard all the time, "I can do whatever I want. I'm retired, I've got enough money to do this, I can do whatever I want to do." And they think they're going to find happiness there, and he says, "No. Don't fix your hope on the uncertainty of riches, because they're not going to make you happy."
What Money Can't Buy
Hey, you know this full well. Money will buy you medicine, but it won't buy you health. You know that. It'll buy you a house, but not a home. It'll buy you a bed, but it won't buy you sleep. You know that. Don't fix your hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with everything.
So here's what you do, verse 18, "Instruct those to do good, and to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share." See, that's you. That's what we were talking about giving the other day.
The Question of How Much to Give
And I was making an observation. I've never had anybody say to me, "Should I give?" I've never had anybody ask that question. "Should I give to my church?" Here's the question I get. What is it? "How much? How much should I give?" Give me a formula. And what they're looking for is a formula that would put a smile on God's face and a smile on their face. A win-win situation. That's what we want.
So I always give them back. The question really isn't how much you should give. The question is this. How much of God's money are you willing to keep? Well, I can't give any more instruction than that. And that's exactly the way I'm going to end this lesson.
No Universal Standards
How much is enough? What's the right car to drive? What's the right thing to do? How's this over here? I don't know. I can't tell you. I wrestle with it for myself, man. A guy the other day is talking to me about a car that he's looking at that costs like $147,000. And I said, "That's exactly what I paid for my house." And he said, "What do you think about that?" And I said, "All I know is that at this point it's not about transportation." But I make no value judgment. I make zero value judgments on that.
When you say, "I've got a 10,000 square foot house," well, it's about more than covering. But you know what? You can say that about a 5,000 square foot house or a 2,000 square foot house. See, there's no end to this thing. And the minute we set down a bunch of rules, here's what we've got. Now we've got legalism, which I guarantee you will put you in bondage and will puff you up and make you, "I only have 2,000 square feet and that guy has 3,000 square feet. I must be godlier than that person."
I'll tell you what. I know a guy who used to drive around town in an old beat-up Volkswagen and I'll tell you what he did. At every stoplight, he looked left and right and he was very proud of how humble he was in that little Volkswagen.
Look at me. I just got a Volkswagen. This is dicey stuff. You know why? It's like everything. It's between you and God. You don't need us to figure it out.
And by the way, let me give you a little warning. You don't need to be judging the other people here. Don't be sitting out there with a little scorecard seeing who's leaving and what they're driving when they're leaving this morning. That's dangerous stuff. You worry about you. God's going to judge you with how you handle this.
The Real Cost of Our Obsessions
And the deeper issue, and we stop this, your obsession with stuff robs you of the time to be pursuing the things God would have you pursue. I'm telling you, there's a get out of jail card that every one of you has. When somebody calls you and they say, "Hey, we need you to do what?" There's one thing you can say that stops it cold. What is it? "I'm too busy."
Why are you too busy? Because you're feeding this $147,000 car that you've got in this garage with this 5,000 square foot house. How much is enough? And how foolish is it to say, "I'm rich in what God says will pass away. I'm poor in what God says will last."
A Broker's Perspective on Panic
Think about this. I got people, I talked to my brother who's a broker, and he said, "My phone's ringing off the hook. Guys are moving money around and they're panicking." He said, "There's nothing I can do. There's a mutual fund. It's doing this. It's doing this. It's not going to happen." Going over there, and we're talking about one guy who said this is exactly the wrong thing to do. But people are scared to death.
It's headlined USA Today. "Market sinks further." That's this morning's headline. And people are concerned about getting a quarter of a percent, a half a percent. And God says, "That's all passing away." And you've got five guys in your office that are on their way to hell, and in a year you've never said a word to them. And God says, "There's real value."
Learning to Judge What Matters
See, that's how you start to judge. That's how you figure this stuff out. God just starts to work in your life. I don't need to be the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does that.
Now, I promise you next week, next week we're going to talk about, we kind of touched on it here. What's this legalism thing? Is it alright for me to have a beer? Have a glass of wine with dinner? Can I go to an R-rated movie? But how do I figure this stuff out? We'll give you some instruction next week, and some principles that you can take. They'll help you make those decisions as well.
Let's pray together. Father, thank You for this morning. Thank You for Your Son Jesus. Thank You that we find life from death in Him and Him alone. God, thank You that You've moved us from darkness to light. God, thank You for saving us. Now we pray we walk and live in a way that exhibits and is worthy of that calling. We pray it to You in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a great week. We'll see you next week.