Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Contentment . . . and How to Miss It │ Msg 710 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Contentment . . . and How to Miss It │ Msg 710 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: We can all look good from a distance.
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  Speaker 2: Have you noticed that well dressed, nice, smile, friendly, looking,
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  Speaker 2: under controlled, at peace with ourselves?
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  Speaker 1: But put a difference it.
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  Speaker 2: Makes when someone comes close and gets to know us.
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  Speaker 2: The real us is well a little less than we'd
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  Speaker 2: like to be, especially when it comes to contentment. I'm
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  Speaker 2: convinced that's why our Lord means so much to us.
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  Speaker 2: He is intimately acquainted with all our ways, He sees
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  Speaker 2: it all, and amazingly he loves us still. As someone
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  Speaker 2: has written, the one who knows us best loves us
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  Speaker 2: the most. But he loves us enough not to leave
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  Speaker 2: us that way, to help us become more than we
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  Speaker 2: could ever envision on our own. I want to read
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  Speaker 2: from first time of the chapter six. I'll begin our
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  Speaker 2: reading with verse six, going through verse ten, and then
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  Speaker 2: will drop down to seventeen through nineteen. We'll begin now
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  Speaker 2: with first tim of the chapter six, verse six. But
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  Speaker 2: godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied
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  Speaker 2: by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world,
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  Speaker 2: so we cannot take anything.
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  Speaker 1: Out of it either.
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  Speaker 2: If we have food and covering, with these we shall
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  Speaker 2: be content. But those who want to get rich fall
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  Speaker 2: into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and harmful
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  Speaker 2: desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the
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  Speaker 2: love of money is a root of all sorts of evil,
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  Speaker 2: and some, by longing for it, have wandered away from
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  Speaker 2: the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. And our
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  Speaker 2: verse seventeen instruct those who were rich in this present
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  Speaker 2: world not to be conceited or to fix their hope
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  Speaker 2: on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly
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  Speaker 2: supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to
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  Speaker 2: do good, to be rich in good works, to be
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  Speaker 2: generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the
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  Speaker 2: treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that
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  Speaker 2: they may take hold of that which is life. Indeed,
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  Speaker 2: some of us have lived long enough to remember a
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  Speaker 2: very successful advertising campaign of yesteryear. Interestingly, it became as
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  Speaker 2: successful as the familiar line from Wendy's advertisement Where's the
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  Speaker 2: In fact, I talked to the man who dreamed up
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  Speaker 2: that particular line, and he said it has absolutely surprised
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  Speaker 2: all of them in the upper echelons of the world
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  Speaker 2: of advertisement. Little did they realize how emminently successful that
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  Speaker 2: single line would be in the selling of the hamburgers.
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  Speaker 2: Years ago, there was an advertising that came out of
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  Speaker 2: the large dairy firm here in these United States, and
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  Speaker 2: it pictured contented cows.
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  Speaker 1: Some of you will remember that. In fact, it talked
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  Speaker 1: about how contented these beasts were as they walked around
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  Speaker 1: lazily in the grassy meadows and just sort of chewed
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  Speaker 1: their cud and cultivated their milk, and just lazily gave
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  Speaker 1: that rich milk for America to drink and to enjoy.
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  Speaker 1: I think when I mentioned the word contentment, that some
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  Speaker 1: of you might have that picture in mind, And so
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  Speaker 1: I want to start there and put a big circle
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  Speaker 1: with a mark across it that says that's not what
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  Speaker 1: I have in mind. That probably best describes complacency, not contentment.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, it is understood by some of yesteryear that
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  Speaker 1: contentment is an enemy. A. W. Tozer in his book
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  Speaker 1: Root of the Righteous, entitles a chapter our enemy Contentment.
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  Speaker 1: He says, one of the greatest foes of the Christian
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  Speaker 1: is religious complacency. See how he has taken the idea
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  Speaker 1: of contentment and seen complacency in it. Orthodox Christianity has
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  Speaker 1: fallen to its present low estate from a lack of
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  Speaker 1: spiritual desire. Among the many who profess the Christian faith,
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  Speaker 1: scarcely one in a thousand reveals any passionate thirst for God.
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  Speaker 1: Now Tozer, as he often did in his lifetime, and
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  Speaker 1: certainly as his books seemed to drip with the subject,
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  Speaker 1: was a great one for zeal and discipline and determination,
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  Speaker 1: quite the opposite of complacency. Now by contentment, I don't
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  Speaker 1: have that in mind. Complacency is sort of a nonchalant,
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  Speaker 1: careless self satisfaction with one's lot. To be complacent is
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  Speaker 1: to be unaware of danger and to be unconcerned about
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  Speaker 1: deficiencies in our lives. Philippians three, verses eight through fourteen
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  Speaker 1: helped put the perspective back together for us. If you
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  Speaker 1: have a Bible near, look at Philippians three eight and
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  Speaker 1: following be familiar words to many Christians who hear these verses.
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  Speaker 1: Read more than that Philippians three eight. I count all
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  Speaker 1: things to be lost in view of the surpassing value
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  Speaker 1: of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have
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  Speaker 1: suffered the loss of all things, and count them but
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  Speaker 1: rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. And be
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  Speaker 1: found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own
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  Speaker 1: derived from the law, which is through faith in Christ,
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  Speaker 1: the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
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  Speaker 1: that I may know Him. I get the passion of
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  Speaker 1: this verse, that I may know Him, that I may
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  Speaker 1: know the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of
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  Speaker 1: his sufferings, being conformed to his death, in order that
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  Speaker 1: I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, not
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  Speaker 1: that I have already obtained it. He's not complacently leaning
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  Speaker 1: back on his laurels, not that I've already arrived or
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  Speaker 1: have already become perfect. But I press on in order
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  Speaker 1: that I may lay hold of that for which also
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  Speaker 1: I was laid hold of by Christ. Jesus Brethren, I
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  Speaker 1: do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet,
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  Speaker 1: But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and
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  Speaker 1: reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on. There's
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  Speaker 1: no complacency in these verses. There's no place for complacency
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  Speaker 1: in the Christian life. I press on toward the goal
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  Speaker 1: for the prize of the upward call of God in
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  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus. Okay, then what do we mean by contentment
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  Speaker 1: if it's not complacency, and it certainly is not. What
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  Speaker 1: is it. It's being free of turmoil. It's being satisfied
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  Speaker 1: with one's financial, material, physical life. That's contentment. Regardless of
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  Speaker 1: what I make, regardless of what I own, regardless of
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  Speaker 1: how I feel, I have peace. In the words of
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  Speaker 1: the songwriter, it is well with my soul. That's a
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  Speaker 1: contented statement. It's an absence of worry, fear, panic, and
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  Speaker 1: especially competition. It is laying down my arms a fierce
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  Speaker 1: competition that force me to be better than someone else
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  Speaker 1: or to have more than someone else. For example, let
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  Speaker 1: me show you some statements in the New Testament. Look
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  Speaker 1: at Luke three, verse fourteen. John the baptizer is ministering
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  Speaker 1: and he is cutting a new swath, and people can't
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  Speaker 1: believe him. Finally, when they realize the man spoke from God,
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  Speaker 1: they had questions to ask of him. Various questions were
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  Speaker 1: being thrown in his direction. Verse ten of Luke three,
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  Speaker 1: multitudes were questioning him, and he would answer. In verse eleven,
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  Speaker 1: verse twelve, tax gatherers came with questions and he answered them. Now,
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  Speaker 1: it's the soldier's question in verse fourteen that interests me.
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  Speaker 1: The soldiers question him saying, and what about us, what
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  Speaker 1: shall we do? I mean, you talk about a life
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  Speaker 1: of commitment, John, what does that require of us as
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  Speaker 1: Roman soldiers? And he said to them, don't take money
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  Speaker 1: from any one by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and
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  Speaker 1: be content with your wages, see it, be content with
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  Speaker 1: what you make Chapter twelve of Luke, Verse fifteen. Luke
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  Speaker 1: twelve fifteen, Jesus is speaking, beware and be on your
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  Speaker 1: guard against every form of greed. For not even when
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  Speaker 1: one has an abundance, does his life consist of his possessions.
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  Speaker 1: Isn't that true? Not even when you have all you
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  Speaker 1: thought you would ever want, as your life consist of
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  Speaker 1: those things. Now, the word content or contentment does not
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  Speaker 1: appear in verse fifteen, but the enemy of contentment does greed.
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  Speaker 1: Yesterday morning, my wife and I enjoyed such a great
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  Speaker 1: time on our patio out back. I read her almost
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  Speaker 1: all of the excerpt from Ayacocca's autobiography and the Man
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  Speaker 1: who has helped put Chrysler back into the black. In it,
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  Speaker 1: he makes a very interesting statement. He says, of the
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  Speaker 1: seven deadly sins, greed is the worst, and he confesses
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  Speaker 1: to it in his own pursuit of success. And we
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  Speaker 1: all must, we all must. We're bred by a greedy society.
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  Speaker 1: We were perhaps raised by greedy parents. Now they didn't
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  Speaker 1: act like that, or I should say they didn't announce that.
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  Speaker 1: That's the way they were. It's just the way we're made. Greed,
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  Speaker 1: the determination to have more and more and more and more.
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  Speaker 1: That we can't put it to bed, you know. Hebrews
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  Speaker 1: thirteen also talks about it, and I'd like to have
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  Speaker 1: you look at couple of verses in the early part
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  Speaker 1: of that chapter Hebrews thirteen, Verses five and six. Let
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  Speaker 1: your way of life be free from the love of
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  Speaker 1: money and be content circle the word. I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: come back to it and be content with what you have,
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  Speaker 1: for he himself has said, I will never leave you,
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  Speaker 1: I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,
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  Speaker 1: so that we may confidently say the Lord is my helper.
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  Speaker 1: I will not be afraid what shall man do to me?
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  Speaker 1: Verse five? Being content with what you have? See, contentment
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  Speaker 1: is connected with what we have. Our oh, not urco,
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  Speaker 1: but our cat oh is the word. It means to suffice,
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  Speaker 1: to be sufficient, one of the synonyms. Interestingly, in the
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  Speaker 1: Greek lexicon. I checked is enough. Say that's enough, that's enough.
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  Speaker 1: Some of us are learning to say that in our lifestyles.
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  Speaker 1: All of us must learn to say it in the
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  Speaker 1: place we live. That's enough, that's sufficient, that'll do it
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  Speaker 1: has in mind the idea of being possessed of sufficient
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  Speaker 1: strength so as to defend our ward off that which
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  Speaker 1: would invade. The root. Term appears in Second Corinthians twelve,
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  Speaker 1: where Paul says his grace is sufficient for me. Remember
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  Speaker 1: the words. After he hassles the battle with the thorn
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  Speaker 1: in the flesh. He says, most gladly, will I therefore
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  Speaker 1: live with this as it were, that the power of
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  Speaker 1: Christ may rest upon me. I say, before my God,
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  Speaker 1: it is sufficient. His grace is sufficient, and I'll rest
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  Speaker 1: even though I don't have the steak removed. The thorn
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  Speaker 1: is not taken from me. Now, what are the benefits
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  Speaker 1: of contentment? I can think of three right away. Right away,
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  Speaker 1: I can think of three blessings. Number one is current
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  Speaker 1: enjoyment rather than constant striving. I don't have to put
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  Speaker 1: my contentment on hold until someday when I reach six
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  Speaker 1: digits in my salary. I don't have to wait until
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow when I own something to be happy. Contentment is
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  Speaker 1: current enjoyment rather than constant striving. By the way, if
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  Speaker 1: you're a family person, your family gets this rubbed off
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  Speaker 1: on him. If you live with a greedy parent, it's
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  Speaker 1: awfully hard for you to find peace in your home
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  Speaker 1: because your dad or your mom are both are pressing
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  Speaker 1: on to get more, to gain more, and that washes
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  Speaker 1: over into the family. It's a continued unrest. It's like
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  Speaker 1: a big stick stirring a pond that has silt that's
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  Speaker 1: settle to the bottom, just keeps stirring up the water.
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  Speaker 1: Contentment is current enjoyment rather than constant striving. Another benefit
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  Speaker 1: it is freedom to recognize and applaud another's achievement without envy.
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  Speaker 1: When I am contented and I see someone else succeed,
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  Speaker 1: I can applaud it. I can say that's good, I'm
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  Speaker 1: happy for her or for him, and I don't have
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  Speaker 1: to compete with that. I don't even have to reach
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  Speaker 1: even near that level. I can say, God bless her,
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  Speaker 1: God bless him for reaching this achievement. And I'm contented
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  Speaker 1: where I am. I don't have to be near that
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  Speaker 1: level to applaud it. To recognize it. It's freedom to
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  Speaker 1: recognize and applaud another's achievement without envy. Envy eats away
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  Speaker 1: like a cancer, doesn't it. Third, another benefit is the
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  Speaker 1: development of a genuinely grateful spirit. If I haven't contentment,
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  Speaker 1: I do not know gratitude. I call this the foundation
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  Speaker 1: stone of the servant heart, gratitude, development of a genuinely
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  Speaker 1: grateful spirit. Now, toward the end of this sixth chapter,
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  Speaker 1: in fact, toward the end of the Letter to Timothy,
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  Speaker 1: the first Letter to Timothy, the writer talks about contentment,
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  Speaker 1: and I am so glad he does. Remember Timothy is
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  Speaker 1: a pastor, He's a vocational Christian worker. We would call
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  Speaker 1: it today, and I could think a few people who
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  Speaker 1: need the Council on Contentment more than vocational Christian workers.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure many of you have had to endure the
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  Speaker 1: complaints of many vocational Christian workers as they have bemoaned
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  Speaker 1: their lot, talked about the burden of serving Christ, kind
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  Speaker 1: of a slump and eyes like a Bassett hound, like,
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  Speaker 1: oh how bad? How hard I have it?
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  Speaker 2: Wash?
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  Speaker 1: It's the greatest thrill in the world. To serve Christ
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  Speaker 1: isn't a burden, It's a blessing. It's the most enviable position,
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  Speaker 1: the most enviable of professions. It is magnificent. I would
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  Speaker 1: do it if they didn't even pay me to do it.
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  Speaker 1: I don't tell the board that. But no, I have
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  Speaker 1: to do it. It's a debt I have to discharge,
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  Speaker 1: and I give God praise for the privilege of doing it. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Paul writes a young man who is a pastor, and
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  Speaker 1: he addresses contentment in four areas, contentment and godliness, contentment
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  Speaker 1: and possessions, contentment and riches, contentment and character. I want
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  Speaker 1: you to see how it unfolds. We're beginning, Actually, we're
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  Speaker 1: interrupting a context. The context starts not at verse six,
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  Speaker 1: where we want to start, but at verse three, where
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  Speaker 1: he has come down with both feet on those who
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  Speaker 1: are enemies of the faith. Those who verse three advocate
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  Speaker 1: a different doctrine, not doctrine of sound words, not doctrines,
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  Speaker 1: the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ that conforms to godliness. No,
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  Speaker 1: not that they are people verse five who have depraved
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  Speaker 1: minds and are deprived of the truth. They are people
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  Speaker 1: who cynically look at ministry and say, ah, that's the
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  Speaker 1: way to get rich see verse five. They suppose that
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  Speaker 1: godliness is a means of making a pile of dough.
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  Speaker 1: It's kind of a paraphrase of gain. They look at
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  Speaker 1: godliness and they say, why sure, I'd like to get
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  Speaker 1: in that racket. That's the way you make a pile
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  Speaker 1: of money. See, they have depraved minds and deprived of
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  Speaker 1: the truth. They don't even understand ministry. They look at
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  Speaker 1: at a few freaks in ministry and they then draw
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  Speaker 1: the standard and they say, that's why everybody is in ministry,
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  Speaker 1: just to make money out of it. Now, it's in
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  Speaker 1: that context that Paul plays on the word gain verse six.
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  Speaker 1: And he I think might have smiled when he added
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  Speaker 1: godliness is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.
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  Speaker 1: And right away you know he doesn't have in mind
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  Speaker 1: financial gain or material or monetary gain. Here's another kind
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  Speaker 1: of gain in mind, you'll gain a lot by a
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  Speaker 1: godly walk if it's if it's accompanied by contentment. Now
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  Speaker 1: here's the word. We're at it when it is accompanied
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  Speaker 1: by contentment. Kenneth Weiste says contentment is the possession of
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  Speaker 1: a godly piety that makes a person independent of outward
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  Speaker 1: circumstances and self sufficient, enabling him to maintain a spiritual
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  Speaker 1: equilibrium in the midst of favorable and unfavorable circumstances. Godliness
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  Speaker 1: is a means of great gain when it's got that
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  Speaker 1: accompanying it. Practically speaking, you can talk all you want
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  Speaker 1: to about walking with God, but if you haven't put
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  Speaker 1: your greed to bed, you're just mouthing it. We have
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  Speaker 1: to learn to live within what I call circumstantial limits,
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  Speaker 1: and we all have. I can never live with myself
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  Speaker 1: physically if I constantly compare myself to those who practice
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  Speaker 1: for the Olympics. I can never be satisfied with my condition.
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  Speaker 1: If my comparison is always the starting lineup for the
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  Speaker 1: Los Angeles Rams. I have to stop comparing. I have
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  Speaker 1: to leave that off. I have to answer to God alone. Now,
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  Speaker 1: what is true physically is true spiritually. Godliness is a
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  Speaker 1: means of great gain. It brings great benefit if it's
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  Speaker 1: accompanied by a sense of inner peace, satisfaction with one's lot. Now,
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  Speaker 1: contentment and possessions that naturally leads to this leads into
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  Speaker 1: that subject. See the word four in verse seven. It's
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  Speaker 1: explaining what he just said. For example, verse seven, we
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  Speaker 1: have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take
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  Speaker 1: anything out of it either. There's an old line out
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  Speaker 1: of the Talmud that says we came into the world
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  Speaker 1: empty handed. No, it says, this man is born with
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  Speaker 1: his fist clenched, but dies with his hands wide open. Interesting,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it, which, being translated says, you've never seen a
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  Speaker 1: hearse pulling a U haul. It's that kind of thing.
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  Speaker 1: You cannot take with you into the grave, anything a
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  Speaker 1: material benefit. You die empty handed. I have never ever
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  Speaker 1: buried a corpse that took anything with him, except as
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  Speaker 1: the loved ones chose to leave a ring or a
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  Speaker 1: watch or some possession on the person. He took nothing nothing.
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  Speaker 1: That's what his point in verse seven is, we brought
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  Speaker 1: nothing into the world. A baby isn't born with a
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  Speaker 1: ring on his finger, a little girl isn't born with
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  Speaker 1: a necklace around her neck. There are not little earrings
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  Speaker 1: in her ears, nothing but a little naked body. And
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  Speaker 1: that is exactly the way we depart. And when we
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  Speaker 1: forget that, we get into trouble. We start amassing all
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  Speaker 1: kinds of a pile of fortune, and we focus on that,
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  Speaker 1: and we have to have that in place, and then
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  Speaker 1: that becomes the reason for living. Look at the next verse.
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  Speaker 1: If we have food, and if we have covering, the
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  Speaker 1: term means covering not just clothing, but it would include shelter.
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  Speaker 1: Having food and clothing and a roof over our heads.
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  Speaker 1: With these, we shall be content. All right. That's not bad, council.
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  Speaker 2: Is it?
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  Speaker 1: Not necessarily chateaubriand not necessarily Gucci clothing, not necessarily a
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  Speaker 1: nine bedroom home on a seventeen mile drive in Modterey.
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  Speaker 1: If you have to have that, you won't find contentment. Now,
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  Speaker 1: don't misunderstand this. I'm not saying if you have it,
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  Speaker 1: you're wrong. I'm saying, if you have to have that
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  Speaker 1: to be happy, you will not know contentment, because once
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  Speaker 1: you get that, you'll have to have something else. You'll
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  Speaker 1: have to have a big yacht. You'll have to have
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  Speaker 1: a place in the mountains. You'll have to have a
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  Speaker 1: couple of maseratis. You will have to have a silver cloud.
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  Speaker 1: You will have to have have to have, have to have,
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  Speaker 1: and there's no stopping, there's no end to it. So
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  Speaker 1: we come back to food and clothing and shelter. And
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: it is remarkable, men and women, when you find contentment
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: in that, how God can trust you with all kinds
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: of things, and then on occasion to teach certain lessons,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: he can slip his hand into your life and take
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: them away, and you're right back to basics. But you
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: haven't missed one step in your walk. What he takes
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: or what he gives us shows the father's love so precious,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: and you roll right on. You know how to be abased,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: and you know how to abound. You know how to
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: live in the penthouse, and you know how to live
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: in a one room flat. You don't have to have
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: to be contented, you simply are. You have food for
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: your stomach, You have clothing for your back to keep
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: you warm in the winter. You have shelter over your
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: head to take care of you in times of intense
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: heat or the rain or the snows. Those basic things
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: are in place. You've got it. Now. With that in mind,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: he has some things to say about riches. See he's
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: building toward this climax. He begins with you personally in
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: verse six. He goes to possessions in verses seven and eight.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Now in nine, ten, and seventeen he talks about wealth,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: talks about riches. It may surprise some of you when
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: you hear what he has to say because he does
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: not condemn riches. The Bible doesn't condemn riches. The Bible
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: doesn't condemn having an abundance. It just has a lot
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: of warnings. Now, look at what he says about wealth,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: what he says about riches verse nine. But those who
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: want to get rich? Careful how you read that? Those
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: who want to get rich? The term is bulamai translated want.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: It is desire coming from reasoning faculties, not a passing fancy.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: It is desire based on the reasoning process. The word
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: applies to all whose aims are controlled by the passion
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: to increase their financial means. It is being driven financially.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: Those who are driven to get rich. I suppose we
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: could paraphrase it fall into a number of temptations. We'll
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: look at them in a moment. W want you to
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: take the time to go back to Proverbs and check
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: out with me a couple of three verses Proverbs twenty
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: eight twenty is the first stop off twenty eight twenty.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished. Look
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: at verse twenty two. A man with an evil eye
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: hastens after wealth and does not know that want will
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: come upon him. I found another verse interesting in this
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: light Chapter twenty of Proverbs, verse twenty one, a little
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: different slant, but nevertheless applicable. Twenty twenty one, and inheritance
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: gained hurriedly at the beginning will not be blessed in
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: the end. Ever seen that verse? A person who suddenly,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: in a moment of time gains an inheritance, not having
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: been prepared for what it will bring, will in the
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: end not be blessed. My heart went out to the
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: guy who won the lottery up in Chicago, who really
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: had nothing. As I recall, he hardly had a job
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: when he got this enormous amount of wealth, and I
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: was happy for him. I just wondered, is he going
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: to be able to handle that? Will he be able
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: to take those millions and keep an equilibrium? Rare? Indeed?
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: Are the people who can do that? You say will
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: to be worth a try? I like to give it
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: a whirl and see it. Can you imagine how many
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: relatives are going to come out of the woodwork, and
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: how many people are gonna get his address and start
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: in Imagine how his life has changed there's one more
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: I want you to look at twenty three verses four
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: and five twenty three Proverbs twenty three, four and five.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Do not weary yourself to gain wealth. When you set
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: your eyes on it, it is gone. I love this
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: next statement, for wealth certainly makes itself wings. It flies
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: away as an eagle toward heaven. Haven't we seen that happen?
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: You amassed this fortune and then it is, it seems
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: in nothing and no amount of time. Virtually it's gone.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: The bottom drops out of the market or whatever. Now
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: it's with all of that in mind that Paul says
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: what he says. By the way, just as an aside,
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: you're hearing these words, and you may be thinking, because
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: you may not be adept in Bible study, you may wonder,
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: how could I find verses like that? I would like
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: to do my own study. You need a concordance, which
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: is an alphabetical listing of all the words of the Bible,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: nice thick, expensive book a concordance, and you need to
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: check the word wealth, the word riches, and related terms,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: and simply trace each one of the verses through Old
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: and New Testaments, and you can do your own study
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: from the scriptures on whatever subject. It is one of
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: the most helpful tools you could own. Now that's elementary
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: for some of you, and you're going, why do you
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: take our time for stuff like that? And others of
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: you are saying, tell me more, I've never heard of
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: anything like it. So remember, when we're in a gathering
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: like this, we've got people from all walks of life.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: Some of these who are here just come off the
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: street and you're brand new in the family, and others
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: of you have been around for forty or more years
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: and you've used concordances. Just understand that sometimes these tips
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: need to be given for the sake of those that
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: are just getting started. It's kind of like an an
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: answer book from the Bible. You just get a concord
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: dance and check out the words alphabetically, take whatever subject,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: and you will have the If it's an exhaustive concordance,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: it not exhausting exhaustive concordance, then you you can go
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: through all the verses and find everything the Bible says
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: using that word. It's wonderful tool. And that's all I've
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: done in tracing these words through the Book of Proverbs,
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: and I've just selected a few. Now, contentment and riches
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: is the subject. Back to verse Timothy six, verse nine.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: Those who want to get rich. Here's the person driven
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: to get wealthy will fall into a four step spiral
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: downward path. Look at this number one. He will tumble
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: into temptation. He or she. Number two there will be
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: a snare, a trap. Number three, many foolish and harmful desires,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: and those things will plunge you into ruin and destruction.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: That's a scary versus scripture. Not scary in that it's foolish,
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: but scary in that it's true. Time doesn't allow us
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: to illustrate it. But I forcefully, purposely set aside several
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: illustrations that would be familiar to all of us. People
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: you know, and maybe it's been for some of you yourself,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: tumble into temptation, fall into a trap. This is accompanied
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: by many foolish and harmful desires, and then you're plunged
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: into ruin. It's a tragic set of consequences. Here's the reason.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Because verse ten adds the love of money, not money.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: It's one of the most misquoted verses of the New Testament.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: The Bible never says money is the root of all evil,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: says the love of it is. The love of money
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: is the root of all sorts of evil. Literally, it's
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: not a universal attack on the rich. It's carrying that
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: to the ultimate extreme. Those who want to get rich.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: They have. The word literally means a fondness for silver.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: They think of it in the daytime, they dream of
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: it at night. They plan on it on the weekends.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: They work at it in their part time the job.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: They add to it in their casual and leisure moments.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: It is a pressing, driving, demanding idle. That's the picture.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: The love of money is the root of all sorts
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: of evil, and some, by longing for it, have wandered away.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: There's a one to two punch that follows such a desire.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: One punch is the spiritual punch, and it hits you
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: in the right across the face. You wander away from
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: the faith. The other is a personal punch that hits
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: you right in the solar plexus. You are pierced through
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: with many a pang. It attacks your faith, and when
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: you're reeling from that, it punches you in your personal life.
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: It attacks your marriage. If you happen to be married,
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: it affects your relationship with your family. It affects your
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: response to leisure. Recreation is no longer a possibility. You're
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: driving to get rich, and you'll someday recreate, but not now.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: You'll take time for the things that are sort of
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: secondary as you see it later on, but not now.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: You've got to get that wealth going, and it eats
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: away at you. That's what verse ten is talking about,
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: wandered away from the faith. We are pierced through with
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: many a pang. Seventeen. Instruct those who are rich now.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: Paul is telling Timothy, who is a pastor, to talk
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: to people who are rich. On occasion, I have the
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: opportunity to that. I may be doing that right now.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: I don't know who of you happen to be rich,
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: and I don't care. I think it's great if you
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: earned it. Honestly, I praise God for your wealth and
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: your prosperity, and I am instructed by God to give
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: you some information Verse seventeen. I want to instruct you
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: who are rich in this present world with a couple
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: of warnings. Don't be conceited. It's a loftiness of mind. Second,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: don't fix your hope on a false security. Riches are uncertain,
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: warn them. Instruct them who are rich not to be conceited,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: and second not to fix their hope on the uncertainty
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: of riches. But the positive side is to fix your
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: hope on God, who richly supplies us with all things
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: to enjoy. There it is again I love verses like that.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: God is there to say, I want you to enjoy
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: what I've given you. Enjoy it, don't make it an idol.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: Enjoy it, and I will help you with a number
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: of ways to make it happen. And that deals with character.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: Verses eighteen and nineteen talk about how to have contentment
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: with real character. I find three areas that are addressed
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: in verses eighteen and nineteen. Instruct them see He's continuing
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: verse eighteen. Instruct them to do three things. Number one,
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: to help others to take the genuine role of a servant,
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: even though they're rich, play the role of a servant.
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: Help others. Second, get involved, be rich in good works.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: Let your involvement match your income. Be rich in good works.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: And number three, be generous. Help others get involved. Be generous,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: that they may take hold of that which is really living,
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: taking their wealth and investing it in things that are eternal. Now,
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: I want to commend all of you who have been
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: especially blessed with financial security and as much as I
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: can use the word security, and I want to say
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: that you have the means to encourage so many who
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: are not so blessed. You need discernment, you will need
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: a lot of wisdom. You will need the controls that
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: you know where to place your riches and when how
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: to do it, but that you do it is extremely important.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: It's a sign of character that you can handle your
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: wealth with a servant's heart. Now, with that in mind,
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: I want to apply contentment on the outline. To keep
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: from missing it. Let's make the sentence read we'll miss
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: contentment if think of that statement, and I want to
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: give you three statements that follow it, we will miss
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: contentment if okay, here's the first statement. We'll miss contentment
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: if something other than food, clothing, or shelter becomes essential.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: We will miss contentment if something other than food, clothing,
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: and shelter becomes an essential. Now those words are carefully chosen.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: It isn't that we will not have other things. It's
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: that they will not be essential to us. If you
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: haven't food, and if you haven't clothing, or if you
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: haven't shelter, you have need to be concerned because you're
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: missing the basics. You can't find contentment without those basics.
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: But if other things become essential like that, you'll never
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: have contentment. You'll miss it. Here's a second statement. We'll
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: miss contentment if having more money than we currently make
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: becomes a fixation. We'll miss contentment if having more money
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: than we currently make becomes a fixation. I've talked to
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: the wealthy. Now I want to talk to the rest
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: of us. Some of the most envious people in the
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: world are not the wealthy. They are those with just
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: a bare amount of money. And we can be terribly,
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: terribly envious. We can have more of a fixation on
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: money than those that have wealth, and indeed we occasionally do. Third,
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: we will mis contentment if keeping, rather than releasing becomes
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: our objective. We will miss contentment if keeping rather than
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: releasing becomes our objective. You know, what's fun is to
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: is to get God's blessing in some material way and
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: to think right away Let's see who we can share
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: this with. Let's see who we can benefit in giving
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: away some of the things God has granted with. I
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: have talked in my family for years about four words
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: things and people, love and use. And I've talked to
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: our children for years about how to put those four
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: words in proper order, things and people, love and use.
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: And if I've said once, I must have said dozens
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: of times to our family as they've gone through these
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: growing up years. Children, you love people and you use things.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: We don't love things or use people. And when you
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: miswire your life, that happens, by the way, when we
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: lose contentment. When we miswire our lives, we begin to
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: love things and use people. But God has given us
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: people to love to use. Try to keep those things
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: in the right order. Now, to put all of this
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: in a positive manner, I enter into the world of
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: contentment when three simple statements, I'm grateful for what I own,
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: I'm satisfied with what I make. I am generous to
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: those in need. That's contentment. When I'm grateful for what
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: I own, when I am satisfied with what I make,
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: when I am generous to those who are in need. Now,
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: you've got a checklist. Are you contented? What do you
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: own well compared to? No, wait, we're not talking comparison.
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: I know a family in our church that could own
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: a very, very large place to live, and they've chosen,
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: believing that it's God's will for their life, to live
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: in a rather small place. That's their choice. They're not
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: saying to the whole world everybody ought to live like
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: we live. They're saying, we want to live like this
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: because this is the way we want to use what
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: God has given us, and they've found a marvelous contentment
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: in that way. I know another family in our church
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: that owns a lovely place, and it is what you
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: and I would call luxurious, But they also have a
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: giving heart and they also find contentment with their lot.
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: So you see, the answer is not to take a
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: look and see how sacrificial everybody's living according to my standard.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: Then everybody take all the surplice and give it to
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: me so I can live like I want to live.
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: The answer is, Lord, how would you have us? How
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: would you have me live? How would you have me
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: handle what you have entrusted to me? How may I
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: use this for your glory? In whatever way, and Lord
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: keep me generous. That's a wonderful, wonderful way to live.
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: I would have that for all of us. And few
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: are those people who find a real delight in their lifestyle,
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: because all around us we are being told to get more,
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: get more. Every once in a while, I just want
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: to ask a simple question. Why. Why. It's a hard question,
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: but it has to be answered. Let's about together. Christ
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: Jesus is the model of this life, the possessor of
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: the riches of heaven, which would make Solomon's wealth look
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: like a pauper though he was rich. Yet for our sakes,
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: he became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be rich.
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus be longs to take control of our thought, life,
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: our desires, our motivation, even our fierce competitive nature. He
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: longs to be in first place, and once there, it
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: is remarkable how things fall into place. I plead with
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: you to put him there. Maybe it just took this
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: concentrated period of time to convince you in these messages
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: that that's what's been out of place in your life.
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: Contentment is the thing that's been missing. Maybe that's why
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: you churn, Maybe that's why you become argumentative, and irritable.
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: Maybe you've got more than you ever realized you had,
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: and you just haven't learned to say the word enough,
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: that's plenty. I point you to Christ, who alone can
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: give you that equilibrium. How grateful I am, Father for
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: your patience with me, as my family and I are
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: learning how to live and how to be content with
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: what we have. I thank you for teaching me through
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: friends and colleagues, through fellow ministers and wives, through contacts
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: in my life. I thank you for models of generosity.
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: I thank you that I have been the recipient of
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: more than I ever deserve. And I pray Lord that
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: you will be honored through these days of our lives.
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: I pray for the ability to maintain a contentment regardless
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: of what is given or what is taken among the
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: material possessions of our lives, even a contentment with our
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: physical conditions, and in many cases when we're able to
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: do relatively nothing about it. Give us a peace like
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: a river as you take charge of our minds and
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: calm our spirits. And I pray for my friends who
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: struggle with this love for money, and I ask you
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: to give each of them real help in coming to
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: terms with what's necessary to put the controls on their lives.
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: May we not become complacent. May we use our skills
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: to the maximum, but may we not build out of
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: this desire for more and idle that will someday crush
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: and fall upon us. Thank you for these moments we've
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: had to consider, your counsel. May we hear it well.
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: May we not miss contentment, which basically is found in
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: the person of Christ, in whose name we pray Amen.
• 53:35
  Speaker 3: The preceding message, Contentment and how to miss It, was
• 53:39
  Speaker 3: copyrighted in nineteen eighty four, and the sound recording was
• 53:42
  Speaker 3: copyrighted in twenty fifteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All
• 53:46
  Speaker 3: rights our reserved worldwide.