Rick Warren - The Law of Contentment—Part Two

Hey, everybody.

Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Well, we're talking about

your money.

That's right.

We're continuing a powerful series called Financial Fitness. Rick is

opening God's Word and showing us how to manage what

we've been given with wisdom, faith, and purpose. And I

know if you apply these biblical principles, you'll start to

experience true financial freedom and lasting peace. Okay, and now,

here's part two of a message called The Law of Contentment.

How many of you are still thrilled with the things

you got at Christmas last year? You can't name what

you got at Christmas last year. If I said tell

me right now the five things you got at Christmas,

name them right now, you couldn't name them. That's how

temporary possessions are. They are short-term pleasure.

It's a little fix.

So what's gonna happen is you're gonna become what you

thought you were so thrilled with, you're soon dissatisfied with,

and you gotta get the newer model. It's not gonna

bring you permanent happiness. It's not gonna bring you permanent satisfaction.

Ecclesiastes 5.10 says this. If you love money, and remember

last week we talked about money is a tool. You

use money and you love people. Use money, love people.

Money is to be used.

If you start loving money, you're gonna use people to

get more money. Money is not to be loved. It

says if you love money, you will never be satisfied.

If you long to be rich, you will never get

all you want. Somebody asked Howard Hughes, how much does

it take to make.

A man happy?

He said, just a little more. He said, it's useless.

He says, you will never be satisfied. 2000 years before

that great theologian Mick Jagger, Solomon was saying, I can't

get no satisfaction. And he's the wealthiest man in the

world when he is writing this. He's not some poor guy.

He's got more than you or I will ever even imagine.

He says you'll never be satisfied. Living Bible says it's

foolish to think that wealth brings happiness. So let me

ask you a question. Let's get gut level honest here.

How many of you would say I would like to

live a life of less fatigue, of less expenses, of

less anxiety, of less conflict and as less dissatisfaction. How

many say, I'd kinda like to live that life? Yeah,

I think that would be all of us. You must

learn the secret of the law of contentment. Now Ecclesiastes

6-9 says, it's better to be satisfied with what you

have than to always be wanting something else. That is

the law of contentment. It's found all through the scriptures.

It's in the book of Hebrews chapter 13. Paul talks

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

about it in Philippians chapter four. Look at the bottom

of your outline. Paul says, I have learned the secret

of being content, whether living in plenty or in want.

Now I want you to circle the word secret. It

is a secret.

Most people don't know how to be content. And notice

it is something you have to learn. It is a

secret you must learn. I'm gonna teach it to you

this morning. Now, we are not by nature contented people.

By nature, I am discontented. I'm always wanting to change things.

You're always wanting to change things. I'm not satisfied. You're

not satisfied. It is not natural to be contented. You

must learn the secret of being content.

Now how do you do that? Because it's not automatic.

Well, the Bible tells us that there are four steps,

four keys, four principles to the law of contentment.

Here they are.

Number one, first, stop comparing myself to others. That's the

first step in becoming a contented person. You've got to

stop it, stop it, stop it. Stop comparing yourself to others. Now,

God made you unique. You're not one in a million.

You're one in billions. Nobody is ever like you. God

doesn't make clones. He never makes copies. Even identical twins

are different. So it's really foolish to think that you

have to be like anybody.

You can't copy anybody else. You're unique. They're unique. And

2 Corinthians 10, 12 says this.

We do not dare. He says, how dare you do this?

It's a rejection of God. How dare you do this?

We don't dare classify or compare ourselves.

It is not wise. He said it's foolish, it's immature.

Now the problem is, we naturally do it. And we

do it all the time. It is America's favorite indoor sport, comparing.

We love to compare. You walk into somebody's house and

the first thing you do is you start making comparisons.

Ooh, I like their floor. Ooh, that's got a nice, ooh,

look at that drape replacement.

Look at that TV. Whoa, wow, what a television. And

you're making comparisons all the time. You walk up to

somebody and say, wow, I like the way she did

her hair. Mine looks sucky today.

You know?

And you know, wow, I wish I had his wife.

I wish I had her husband. I mean, Why are

my kids like that?

You know?

And I wish I had that job. And look at

that car. I wish I had that job. You are

constantly comparing. And you do it all the time. And

that's what keeps you frustrated. You've got to stop it.

If you're going to learn contentment, you've got to stop

comparing everything around you. I heard about this couple in

our church who, they were in deep financial problems and

they went to a small group and the people's house

was a pretty nice house and When they left, she

said to her husband as they're driving, did you see that?

He said, what are you talking about?

She said, their furniture goes back to Louis XIV. He said, yeah,

and ours goes back to Ikea on the 15th. Because

we don't have the money for what we got, so

don't even think about getting their furniture.

Don't even think about it. And we're doing this all

the time. I want you to write this down.

I must learn to admire without having to acquire. That's

the principle of contentment. I must learn to admire without

having to acquire. You need to learn to rejoice in

other people's prosperity without you getting jealous and envious and

feeling like you have to have it too and then

being bitter or mad because they've got something you don't have.

You must learn to admire. Wow, that's a nice.

Painting you've got, wow, that's.

A nice backyard you've got, without having to acquire. Now

this is one of the great principles that Americans don't understand.

I don't have to own it to enjoy it. I mean,

a lot of times you think, you know what, I

like to do jet skiing. So you go out and

you buy a pair of jet skis and it sits

in your garage 90% of the time. Why not just

go rent it the three times that you're gonna use

it that year and not have to keep it in

your garage? Just go rent it, okay? I mean, you say, well,

I like to go camp out in the mountains. Well,

why do you have to go buy a mountain cabin

when you can just rent it the one time a

year you're gonna go to the mountains, okay? I don't

have to own it in order to enjoy it. I

learned this a long time ago. I don't have to

own it, I just use your stuff. Which by the way,

if you got a good mountain cabin, let me know,

I'll be glad to use it for you. Get the

cobwebs out for you, I'll be glad to do that.

And so you don't have to own something. And you

may have a friend in the church who has something you.

Need, well just borrow it.

Don't feel like you gotta go out and buy everything yourself,

you don't. Because once you own it, you gotta repair it,

you gotta maintain it, you gotta store it, and all

these other things. I can learn to admire without having

to acquire. Now here's what you do. The next time

you walk into somebody's house and they got something nice

that you don't have, instead of starting to get discontent

and envious, you just pray a little prayer that says this.

Thank you, God, that I don't have their payments. Because

they're paying for that. They're paying for that. And maybe,

just maybe, you don't want to put your money there.

Maybe you want to put it in the bank and

save it and make your money work for you instead

of putting it on your wall where it's not making

any money. The money you put on the wall isn't

helping you. The money you put in the bank and

saving is making you money. While you're sleeping, it's making

you money.

So, This is so important.

And when I'm talking to you about stop comparing yourself,

this is not just a good idea to make you happy.

Comparing yourself to other people is a sin. In fact,

it is such a serious sin that God.

Put it in the big 10. Yeah, the 10 commandments.

It's in there right along with don't murder, which you'd

never do, don't commit adultery, don't rip somebody off and steal.

You know what the 10th commandment is? Don't compare yourself

to anybody else. It's there on your outline. It's right there.

Exodus 20, 17. You shall not covet anything that belongs

to your neighbor. Don't look at it and go, man,

I wish I had that. And you start comparing and coveting. Now,

what is coveting? It's a word we don't use a

whole lot today. so let me define it for you.

Coveting means the uncontrolled desire to acquire.

That's what it means, to covet.

The uncontrolled desire to acquire covet.

And when everything.

I see and I've gotta get it because somebody else

has got it, that's called coveting. And it's such a sin,

it's right up there with don't murder. It's that important

to God. He says, I don't want you coveting. Now

the word covet in Hebrew, in the Old Testament, literally

means to pant after.

I gotta have it. It's to pant after.

The word in Greek means to grab or to grasp

so tightly that your hands are tight you can't even

let it go.

Now if God ever gives.

You something and he tells you to give it away

and you can't give it away, you don't own it,

it owns you. And you are possessed by your possessions.

You don't own them, they own you. Now he says

don't covet, yeah you should not covet. Now let me

make this really clear. God is not saying you should

never have any desire for anything. No, no, no, that's

not what he said. In fact, that's not Christianity, that's Buddhism. Buddhism,

do you know what Buddhism is? Buddhism says, the basis

of Buddhism is that all suffering is the result of desire.

That all pain is the result of desire.

And the whole goal of Buddhism is to get rid

of human desire. And the goal is if you can

get rid of all your desires, then you'll never have

any more pain. And if you can get rid of

all your desires, then you'll never have any more suffering.

This is the philosophy of the Buddha. And if you

can reach that state where you have absolutely no desires

at all, then you'll have no pain and no suffering.

And that state of no desire is called Nirvana. Now

Nirvana does not mean pleasure. It does not mean heaven.

Nirvana means nothingness.

That's what it means.

It means a state of nothingness, a state where I

have zero desires so.

Nothing can hurt me.

And when I can get to that state of zero desires,

I have entered into nothingness and I will not suffer.

Well, that's nonsense, folks.

It is the exact opposite of what everything in human

behavior teaches us. Everything ever accomplished in life is created

by human desire. Every great city is built because somebody

desired to build a great city. Every great nation is

built because somebody desired to build a great nation. Every

great business is built because somebody desired to build a

great business. Everybody gets married because they desire to get married.

Everybody has kids because they desire to have kids. Everybody

makes money because they desire to make money. Desires are

not wrong. In fact, your desires come from God. We're

not talking about desire being evil. It's the uncontrolled desire.

When a desire is uncontrolled, it becomes a lust. And

when a desire is uncontrolled, it becomes a coveting And

when you desire something that is not righteously yours, like

I want your wife, that's evil. But desire is not

a negative thing. And nothing can be accomplished unless you

desire to do it. You can't become more like Christ

without desiring to become more like Christ. You can't desire

to be a good person without desiring to be a

good person. So he's not saying desire is bad. He

is saying coveting is bad, which is I've got to

have more, more, more, more, and more of what you've.

Got instead of what I've got. So never compare.

This is the first key to learning the secret of

a contented life. Why should I never compare? Because comparing

always leads to coveting.

Number two.

The second secret, key to the secret of contentment, is

enjoy what I have. Too often, we're so busy going

after what else we want that we don't stop and

enjoy what we've already got. How many people do you

know who go out and go overextend to buy a

beautiful house and then they are never at home because

they're busy.

Paying for it? They don't enjoy what they've.

Got because they're busy making money to get more. And

beautiful backyards sit empty and swimming pools sat unswimmed in.

People don't enjoy what they've already got because they're always

going after more. You've got to enjoy what you have.

Did you know that God wants you to enjoy life?

Not to just endure it, but to enjoy it. Life

was meant to be enjoyed, not merely endured. A lot

of people think God is some cosmic killjoy that God

wants you to frown through life and never be happy

and never laugh and never have any fun and never enjoy.

Absolutely not. God created it all for your enjoyment. Okay?

God created taste buds and then gave us Cinnabon. God

created eardrums and then gave us music. There is no

single purpose for.

Music except enjoyment.

If you believe in evolution, you can have no explanation

for music because music is not essential to survival. The

only reason it's created is purely for enjoyment. It has

no survival capabilities to it. It is simply God's way

of expressing emotion and every emotion can be created through

music and God gave it to us because God is

an emotional God. And God gave us skin that can

feel touch and can experience pleasure. And God gave us

eyes and he created a world with color. He could

have made it.

All black and white. It is all for our enjoyment.

Sunrises and sunsets and beauty is.

For our enjoyment. God did this for our benefit.

Now the fact is God enjoys watching you enjoy what

he's given you.

Now any parent understands this.

I enjoy giving gifts to my kids, and then I

enjoy watching my kids enjoy what I gave them.

That's kind of obvious.

God enjoys giving stuff to you, because he's a generous God,

and then watching you enjoy.

What he's given you.

So God says, in fact, the Bible says in Timothy,

everything on earth was given for our enjoyment. That's the

kind of God we have, that we serve.

It's for our enjoyment. But here's the problem. We're so

busy getting more, we don't enjoy what we've got.

The second principle, the secret of contentment is to learn

to enjoy what God has given you. Here's what it says,

Ecclesiastes 5.19. If God gives a man wealth, if God

gives a man wealth and property, he should be grateful

and enjoy what he has.

It is a gift from God. That is a command.

You are commanded to enjoy what God gives you. You

need to pay more attention to what you do have.

You need to open your eyes.

You need to.

Appreciate what God has already given you. You need to

be grateful for it. You need to enjoy what you've got.

And it doesn't have to be a lot. Just enjoy

what you've got.

We really appreciate you joining us today on Pastor Rick's

Daily Hope. And Rick felt like he wanted to end

today's show by sharing a word of encouragement.

Jesus said, heaven and earth will pass away, but my

words will never pass away. Did you hear that? The

Bible is going to outlast the earth and the universe.

Why?

Because God's word is eternal. Because truth never changes. If

it was true 5,000 years ago, it was true 1,000

years ago, it's true today, and it's gonna be true

a million years from today. This is why it's more

important to know God's word than anything else. Opinions change,

but truth never changes. It's why we focus on studying

it here on our Daily Hope broadcast. Thanks for listening,

and let me hear from you. My email address is rick,

at PastorRick.com. Now that's two R's in the middle, Rick

at PastorRick.com. I'd love to hear from you. And thanks again.

Be sure to join me next time as we look

into God's.

Word for our daily hope.

This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and

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