Rick Warren - Relaxing in God’s Goodness—Part Two

Hello, everybody. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.

I'm really glad you're here today. We're continuing our series

from Psalm twenty three called living in the Goodness of God.

It's all about how God's goodness meets you right where

you are and brings hope even in difficult seasons. Up next,

part two of a message called Relaxing in God's.

Goodness Ecclesiastes, chapter four. And remember Solomon was the wisest

man who ever lived, and he says this, here's another

thing I've seen on earth that makes no sense. Some

people don't have any kids, or family or even friends.

In other words, no relationships. Yet they work obsessively, never

taking a break. There's no end to their toil, and

they're never content with what they've done or earned. They ask,

and then he asked them very important questions that if

you're in this category you probably.

Not ask them yourself.

They never asked, why am I always working to do more?

Why am I always doing that? Why am I always

working to do more? And why don't I let myself

enjoy life? And here's a big one.

Who cares? Who cares?

Who will get what I leave behind. I don't have

any relationships, So what's this big career that I'm working

for in a massive accomplishments and achievements and a pile

of money. Who cares? Who's going to get what I

leave behind? What a senseless and miserable way to live.

He says, You're better off having someone to enjoy and

share the rewards of your work. When I value achievement

more than relationships. God did not put you on earth

to mark things off your to do list. He put

you here to learn how to love. He says it

over and over in scripture, to learn to love God

with all your heart and soul and mind and strength,

and to learn to love your neighbors yourself. Tom preached

a classic sermon on this three weeks ago that that's

what matters, not how many accomplishments I have in life,

not how many achievements I check off in life, not

how many goals I reach in life. When you get

to heaven, God isn't going to say, tell me your

goals and did you reach them. He's just not going

to say that. When you get to heaven, God's going

to say, tell me about your relationships. Did you get

to know me? Did you get to know my son

Jesus Christ? Did you love God with all your heart

and soul on my strink? And how about other people?

How did you score on relationships with other people? Because

you had home runs all day and strike out in

relationships and God saying ah wrong answer, Sorry, you missed it.

I did not put you on earth simply to accomplish goals,

to make a lot of money, to do really cool things.

I put you on earth first of all to learn

to love. And you can't learn to love if you

don't have any deep relationships. Wow, this is why we

don't relax. Misplaced identity. I base my worth on my work,

so I pour all my energy into that, or materialism.

I always want more, so I got to get more

money to get more, or envy. I want to be

like what other people are like, and so I'm following

their ridiculous lifestyle too, and they're stressed out. Or I

value achievement over relationships. He goes, why am I doing this?

They never ask why I A'm I always working to

do more? Why don't I let myself enjoy life? And

who cares?

Who's going to get what's left behind? Anyway?

There's a fifth reason that people don't relax, and it's insecurity.

It's insecurity insecurities when I'm afraid I won't have enough.

I was once sitting at a dinner table with some

people who were fabulously wealthy in the multi million dollar category,

and I asked that person, so, how much more do

you think you need to be secure? And the guy

looked at me straight in the eyes and he said

about twenty thirty million more. I'm going he has no

idea that when he gets that, he's gonna say it's

not enough, because it's never enough. You cannot have security

if it can be taken from you, and you can

have a lot, a lot of money, and it could

be taken from you, but it's always more. And I'm insecure,

and I'm afraid that I'm not gonna have enough. So

I keep working, keep working, keep working, keep working. Here's

what the Bible says, please you ask me six y seven.

I love this in the message, we worked to feed

our appetites, but meanwhile our souls go hungry.

Bam, our souls go hungry.

Does that sound familiar. I'm so afraid I'm not gonna

have enough physically, materially that I'm giving up my spiritual

depth in order to get it. We work to feed

our appetites, but meanwhile our souls go hungry. Or how

about this verse p One twenty seven, Verse two, God

says this living Bible, it is senseless, senseless for you

to work so hard from early morning until late at night,

fearing and worrying. There's the reason insecurity, fearing and worrying

that you won't have enough for God. Let's read this

aloud together, for God wants his loved ones to get

their proper rest. So go home right now and take

a nap. All right, that's probably some of all you need.

As we looked at the causes of our difficulties. So

how do you do this? How do I learn to relax?

How do I live a more sane life, a more

balanced life, a less stressed and more blessed life instead

of living a restless life. How in the world do

I live a rest filled or RESTful life. Well, I'm

gonna show you the antidotes to all five of these,

because God in his word gives us the antidote to

every one of these causes. So let's look at the solution.

If you want to get off the rat race. If

you want to relax in God's goodness, you want to

have a more rest filled life, regardless of the way

it's been in the past.

What do you do well?

You trust your shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I

will lack nothing, I have everything I need. He makes

me lay down in green pastures and he will lead

me beside still waters.

If you're following God, if you're following.

The good shepherd Christ, he's not going to lead you

in the pathway of the rat race. He's going to

lead you to lay down in green pastors and he's

gonna lead you beside stillwaters signs of tranquility and peace.

How does he do that? Here are the five antidotes.

Number one, remember my value to God. That's the starting

point for getting a more sane schedule. Remember my value

and my worth to God. This is the exact opposite

of basing your worth on your work. It's the opposite

of basing your identity on your career. Now this is

so counterculture because when you go to a meeting and

somebody says who are you, one of the first things

they ask is what do you do? As if what

you do is your identity. And the first thing you

tell him is your job. You don't tell him about

who you are. You tell him about what you do.

But he says, if you want to get off the

rat race, remember my value to God.

Okay, how valuable are you? Let's think about this.

The Heavenly Father created you, which means God doesn't create

anything without value. And God doesn't create anything without purpose.

And God doesn't create anything without intention. The fact that

you're alive means God loved you and wanted you alive.

So the Heavenly Father created you. That's your value. You're priceless,

You're a masterpiece.

You're unique.

Nobody's ever made like you. God didn't make any clones

or copies, So the Heavenly Father created you. Jesus died

for you. That shows your value. Jesus didn't die for junk.

And the Holy Spirit lives in you. God puts his

spirit inside you when you trust him. All three of

those show incredible value, incredible worth. I want you to

write this down in your outline. It's not what I

do that gives me worth, but who I belong to.

It's not what I do that gives me my worth,

because what happens. If you're disabled, then all of a sudden,

you have no value anymore. Now it's not what I

do that gives me my worth, but who I belong

to and I For some of you, this is going

to be a major change in your thinking because you

grew up feeling I'm a nobody. I'm not priceless, I'm

not a masterpiece.

I'm not unique. I'm not extremely valuable.

Yes you are, but growing up, somebody told you, maybe

a teacher, or maybe a peer, or maybe even a parent,

said you're nothing. You're nobody, you're worthless, You're never going

to mount to anything. And in the back of your

mind you filed that tape, and ever since then you've

been saying, I'll show them, I'll show my mom, I'll

show my dad.

And that is driving you to work, work, work, work, work,

And that's the true of everybody.

But for some of you, this is the motivation, that

little voice that says, you've got to prove you matter.

You got to prove you're not normal, you're not ordinary,

you're not average, You're a superstar. Maybe you were even

compared to a brother or sister. Are you compared to

your parent or your dad or your mom, Why can't

you be like And that has driven you and driven

you to overwork, and years later you still hear that

inner voice, And the truth is you can't afford to

take time off because you've got to keep paddling. And

you're paddling up a stream and the stream is come

in the opposite direction. And you have to prove your worth.

No, you don't. You don't.

You don't have to prove your worth. You're already extremely value.

God created you, Jesus died for you. The spirit lives

in you. You're unique. You don't have to prove anything

to anybody. You don't need their approval to be happy.

You don't need their approval to be worthwhile. God says

you're worthwhile, Jesus death says you're worthwhile. The spirit living

in you says you're worthwhile. What in the world are

you afraid of? The antidote to this building? My worth

on my work is to remember my value to God.

You'll never be any more valuable to God than you

are right now. You'll never be any less valuable to

him because.

He made you. He's your father.

My kids are valuable to me, not because of what

they do because I created them with my wife and

I love them. And it doesn't matter who they are,

what they've done. It's they're my creations. You are God's creation. James,

Chapter one, verse eighteen. This is what God says about you.

God decided to give us life, that's a big deal,

through the word of truth, the word is Christ, so

that we might be circle this the most important of

everything God has created. Do you realize you're more important

than the moon? Do you realize you're more important in

the milky way? Do you realize that in God's eyes

you're more important than all of the extinct animals combined?

Did you know that in God's book you're more important

than all of the rare flowers and all of the

trees and all the beauty of all the other creation.

Look at that verse again. God decided to give us

life through the Word of Truth, so that we might

be the most important of everything God created. You matter

more than the rest of creation. So what does it

matter what somebody else says about you? If God likes you,

they got a problem.

So you can relax.

And one of the reasons you don't have to work

is you don't have to prove yourself. I'm a daughter

of God. I'm a son of God. I'm a child

of God. He made me, he made me, he wanted me,

he loves me. He created me, and he made me

just the way He made me to be. And I

don't have to be somebody else. I remember my value

to God Isaiah forty eight, Verse sixteen. God says, I

have engraved you on the palms of my hands. And

we've talked about this cherished verse many times. When Jesus

Christ was nailed to the cross and those nails went

through his hands, God permanently showed how much.

You matter to him. When you get to heaven, the.

Only person in heaven who's gonna have scars is Jesus Christ.

So for the rest of your life you will be

able to see in eternity, you'll be able to see

how much you matter God. I love you this much

you mattered to me. I have engraved you on the

palms of my hand. That's how valuable you are. God

has a tattoo of you. When people fall in love,

sometimes they'll get a tattoo of their lover their girlfriend,

or their husband, their wife. God has a permanent tattoo

of you. I have engraved you on the palms of

my hands. Why in the world are you trying to

prove your worth through your work? You're already infinitely valuable

according to the Cross. And at the Cross he says,

this is how much you matter. I want everybody right

now to just close your eyes. Okay, just close your

eyes for a minute and think inside yourself and take

a deep breath, and just say, Father, help me to

feel loved by you.

Just say that, Father, help me to feel your love.

And then say Jesus, help me to feel how valuable

I am to you. And then say, Spirit of God,

help me to feel how important I am to you.

Amen? All right?

So the anidote to looking for the work as you're

worth is it just realize how worthwhile you are to God.

Are you broken? Yeah?

Are you a sinner?

Yeah?

So am I Are you perfect? Absolutely not? Are you

deeply loved by God?

Yes?

Are you flawed yes? But are you infinite value yes? Also,

I've engraved you in the palms of my hand. Why

are you trying to throw or feel your work a

worth through your work? You don't need to Number two

second step and this is the anidote to materialism, which

is always wanting more and.

More, And it says, enjoy what I already have.

If you'll learn to enjoy what you've already got, then

you can get off the rat race. Now this is

called being content. Contentment does not come natural to human beings.

You are not, by nature a contented person. By nature,

we are discontented. By nature, we are not resting sheep.

We are restless sheep. And by nature we are discontented.

We always want more, we always want something different, And

yet it can be learned. In Philippians four. Up Here

on the screen verse twelve thirteen, Paul says, I've learned. Notice,

contentment is something you learn.

You can be educated in it.

I've learned the secret of being content And every situation,

whether I'm well fed or hungry, whether I'm living in

plenty or in want, I can do everything through Him.

That's Christ who gives me strength.

So learning contentment means I don't have to have this

incessant graph for more, grabbing for more, grabbing for more.

Can we become so preoccupied in getting more we don't

enjoy what we have? Yeah, yes, of course, you know.

It's amazing. In southern California. You go down to the

beach or just any place, and you find these amazing homes,

over the top, beautiful homes everywhere, but the people are

never around to enjoy them, because there are always a

work because somebody's got to make the payments on those

massive house mortgages. That's what I call the saddleback syndrome,

and I've watched it for over thirty years, and what

it is is we get extended with the desire to acquire.

I gotta have that, I gotta have that, I gotta

and the desire to acquire pushes you to buy something

you really can't afford, particularly a mortgage that's over your head.

And then you get over extended financially, and then you

have to constantly hust to make ends meet because you're

overextended financially, and soon, because you're over extended financially, your

relationships start to deteriorate, and then you don't really even

have a reason for that fancy home. The Bible says

this Ecclesiastes for six up here on the screen, a

little food eaten in peace. It's far better than happened.

Twice as much earned from over work and chasing the wind.

You know, it's better to have a little in peace.

The greatest things in life aren't things. I couldn't count

the number of deathbeds that I've stood by where people

took their last breath. And in all the years that

I've been a pastor, I've never had anybody say in

their dying breath, man, I wish I'd spent more time

at the office. I've never heard that one man, I

wish I'd spent more time work. And I've never ever

actually had anybody ask for a particular object or thing

that they loved, value to worship. Please bring me my

bowling trophy. I want to see it one more time.

Please bring me my degree from community college. Please bring

me I want to see my coin collection. Nobody's ever

said that in their dying moments, nobody ever asks for

things in the final moments of their life. They always

ask for people, because eventually everybody learns that it's all

about relationships. I just hope we learn it before the deathbed.

You're gonna learn this one day when you're dying. You're

not gonna ask for any Show me my car one

more time, show me my fancy television screen, are my house. No,

you're not going to ask for it. At the very

last moment of your life, you're going to realize it's

all about people you love, loving God, and loving your neighbors, yourself.

Can we not learn that sooner? It's you're relieve an

awful lot of stress. It would sure make life more fulfilling.

It's not about achievements. It's not about accomplishments. It's about relationships.

You know, I've said this many times. You're not gonna

take anything with you. You never see a hearse pulling

a U haul. If you laughed at that, kay, they

laughed it. How many times have you heard me say that? Thousands,

thousands of times?

That's what I thought.

You're never going to see a hearse pulling a U haul.

You're not taking it with you. You know, it's so funny.

In America, it's considered a track entity to quote die penniless.

You know, Oh she died penniless.

What a better time to go? I mean, really, the

moment you've been your last set boom, I'm out of here.

I call that wise, not stupid. I'm out of money.

Let's go. That's just brilliant living. If you ask me,

and then it still irks me. You can still see

those bumper stickers around everyone. He who dies with the

most toys wins? Are you kidding me? We need the

bumper sticker. He who dies or the most toys still dies,

and he didn't win anything all likely he probably lost

a lot of relationships building up those toys. Ecclease ask

these three thirteen says this, all of us should enjoy

what we have worked for.

It is God's gift.

God says, enjoy what you've got while you got it.

Enjoy what you have while you've got it. Well, look

at this verse up here on the screen, Matthew six

thirty one.

I love this.

In the message PayPhrase, Jesus says, you know what I'm

trying to do here is get you to relax, to

not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond

to God's giving. Did you realize that relaxation is a

spiritual issue, That resting is a part of trusting. Resting

is a part of trusting. Resting is the way to

bless him.

What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something

I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to

tell you how you can help support this ministry.

Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives

already to five specific purposes. He said, you've got to

love God with all your heart. That's worship, and love

your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.

And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism. Baptize

them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign

of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything

I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the

Great Commission. We believe it daily hope that a great

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