Rick Warren - The Humble Path to Happiness—Part Two

Hey, thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,

the Bible Teaching Ministry of Rick Warren. And today we're

continuing our series called the Habits of Happiness. In this series,

Rick dives into the Book of Philippians and helps you

discover God's path to true and lasting happiness. And now

the final part of a message called the Humble Path

to Happiness.

This morning, I went to pick up my mother in law,

K's mom. Sweet mom. She's in her eighties. She's an

assisted living place. And when I pulled up, I got

out of my car and she walked out and helped

get her in. And as I got back around to

the other side to get in the car, an aid

was pushing an elderly woman down in front of the

car in a wheelchair. Well, I just paused, and you know,

it's not a rocket science, So I just walked over

and said, how are you today, patted her and you know,

on thing, and I said, you look really great, and said, ma'am,

can I say you look beabelicious?

Now?

As a ninety year old, she probably had no idea

what I was saying. I didn't even know what the

word meant, but she kind of figured out it was

a compliment, and she smiled, and you know, it was tough.

It was no big heroic act. It was just the

kind thing. I just started getting in the car, walked

over and said that. I got in the car and

my mother in law said, thank you, Rick, I said,

what mom, She goes. Most people are too wrapped up

in themselves to notice us. I thought that took me

a whole eight seconds. There was nothing to it. It

was just being nice to the people around me. It

was no skin off my back. I took nothing, but

it might have brightened that lady's day. Maybe her kids

don't live in the nation in America, don't live in

the state, or maybe don't pay attention to her.

How many people do.

You up every day? And you have lost the art

of paying attention because it's all about you, and it's

all about your agenda. And I got to get to

my next meeting. And if as a good Samaritan, some

of whos lying on the slider road, you might not

even see them. If you're going to be humble, you

got to learn the lost art of paying attention.

Here's what the Bible says. It's the next verse, verse four.

Don't be interested only in your own life, but be

interested in what others care about too. In other words,

don't just be interested in your agenda, your career, your

favorite hobbies. Be interested in what other people are interested in.

Be interested in their needs.

Let me say.

Dads particularly, this is a simple but powerful tool in

helping raise your kids. You just got to be interested,

not in what you want them to be interested in,

but have them be interested. Be you be interested in

what they are interested in. There's a word for that,

it's love. There's another word for it, humility, And the

Bible says those are the kind of things that build relationship.

Don't be interested only in your own life, but be interested.

Are you interested in what your wife says? Are you

interested in what your kids say? Are you interested in

what your husband says? See again, this is not natural

because by nature, I couldn't care less what you think.

By nature, I really don't care what you're interested in.

I'm only interested in what I'm interested in. And if

you're not interested in what I'm intered in, why should

I even pay attention to you. Let me give you

an example. If I were to stand up here right

now and take a picture of the thousands of people

sitting right here, right now, and then I gave each

of you a copy of the picture. Who is the

first person you'd look for? Oh yeah, there's no doubt

you'd go straight to where am I? Where am I?

Where am I wearing it? And you and you need

to go, Wow, my hair looks good today? Or I

look fat in that color? Or you know what I mean?

Do you have all these comments? And if you thought

you looked good, it's a great picture, all right, all right?

And if you don't look good at that picture sucks?

You know, it's just terrible.

It's so good.

Well, that is the human nature. You think about you

more than anything else. God says you want to really

be happy, you got to change your frame of reference.

Because harmony doesn't come from you thinking about you all

the time. It comes from you being interested in what

other people are interested in, and caring about what they

care about, and being concerned with what they're concerned about.

So let me ask you a very blatant, frank question.

Are you interested in only what concerns you? Do you

get bored when you talk to friends and they talk

about things they are interested in, and you couldn't care

less about wow?

Wow wow wow? Wow? Why and why?

And something in your mind goes, get me out of

this place. You find your attention drifting. You need to

learn the lost art of paying attention. That's an act

of love. The greatest gift you can give somebody is

there is your attention. Because your attention is your time,

and your time is your life. You're never going to

get it back. If I give you money, I can

always get more money. But if I give you my attention,

I'm never getting that back. When I look you in

the eye, it is saying to you you matter to me.

What you're saying to me is important. Now you can

listen without paying attention. In fact, you can get real

good at it as a parent, as a partner, as

a friend. You know you're listening, and you can even mmmmmmmm,

and you're thinking about a million other things yeah, oh yeah.

And they're telling you all about your day and you're

already thinking about something else. That's paying attention. That's listening.

It's not paying attention. Learn the lost art of paying attention.

Don't be interested in just your own life, but others.

What others care about? To the number four, the fourth

thing you need to do is you ask what would

Jesus do?

Now?

I know this sounds like a trite question, but it's

really true, and it comes from this verse Philippians two,

verse five. Your attitude should be the same as that

of Christ Jesus.

And so if I really.

Care about relationships, if I want to lower the conflict,

then I want to raise the harmony in my life

so we can have more happiness in our lives. I

got to never let my pride be my guide. I've

got to always be humble or a stumble. I've got

to learn the lost art of paying attention. And then

the fourth thing I have to ask myself in this situation,

in this conflict, what.

Would Jesus do in this problem?

What would Jesus do in this time when somebody's feeling guilty?

What would Jesus do in this time where somebody's worried?

What would Jesus do? What would Jesus do at the

office in this situation? What would Jesus do out out

on the golf course? What would Jesus do As I'm

driving down the freeway and somebody just tried to run

me off the road, what would Jesus. Do you ask

that over and over again and you'll always come up

with a humble answer. You always come up with the

one that builds harmony and happiness rather than difficulty, defeat, bitterness,

and resentment. Now he said, well, I don't know what

it means to act like Jesus. How would Jesus act

at my school? How would Jesus act in my marriage?

How would Jesus treat my wife? How would Jesus treat

my husband? Well, fortunately, we have three examples in the

next couple verses as me in this passage, Acting like Jesus.

Means three things. To write these down.

Number one, it means I don't demand what I think

I deserve.

That's acting like Jesus.

I don't I never demand what I think I deserve. Now,

we go through life thinking we deserve a whole lot,

and when we don't get it, we get demanding, and

if some clerk doesn't meet our needs and we think

that clerk's a jerk, then we start getting demanding. But

Jesus didn't do that. Philippians two six and seven says this,

though he was God, he did not demand and cling

to his rights as God. He emptying himself of all

he had. Now, notice is here. Jesus is God, he

comes to earth, he becomes a human being, and even

though he's God, he doesn't demand his rights.

He empties himself.

All he had. Now, do you realize how counterculture that is?

Because you were brought up, if you're brought up here

in America, you were brought up with this.

Well, I have my rights. It's my right to do this.

Yes it is, but it doesn't mean you demand it.

It's my right to do this, and I demand my rights,

then you're not like Jesus. There's a better way to

do it. There's a better way to get your needs

met than demanding your rights. They are better ways. In fact,

demanding just makes people more resistant. It makes a more

retaliatory towards you. The Bible says, though he was God,

he did not demand and cling to his rights as God.

He said, I have this right as a husband, Yes

you do. I have this right as a wife, Yes

you do. But you're not going to get what you

need by demanding your rights. The christ Like thing to

do is I don't demand what I think I deserve.

You know, I actually use this verse as a test

when I'm hiring staff here at Saddleback Church, I'll take

a potential staff member out to lunch, and then what

I'll do is I will watch how they treat the waitress.

Are they understanding or are they demanding? And if they're demanding,

that they don't deserve to be here. This is not

a place for them. Are they You can be You

can be tender without surrender, and you can be understanding

without demanding, and you can get your needs met without

blowing people away, and you can do it by being

nice with them. Are you understanding or are you demanding?

So if I want to be like Jesus, I don't

demand what I think I deserve. Number two, I look

for ways that I can serve. I don't just demand

what I think I deserve. I don't demand. I look

for ways that I can serve. Verse seven says this,

and Jesus took on the nature of a servant, becoming

a human just like a If you want to be

like Jesus, you're going to have to learn to serve. Now,

that's the exact opposite of our culture, because our culture

says the whole goal in life is to get other

people to serve you, and the more people you have

serving you, the more important you are. That's what the

world says. But God's value system is the exact opposite.

It's not the more people serving you, the more important

you are.

It's the more people you serve.

The more important you are. Self esteem does not come

from your salary. Self esteem does not come from your status.

Self esteem does not come from your stuff. Self esteem

comes from service. And the more you give your life away,

the more God blesses you with honor. I call it

the Mother Teresa principle. Mother Teresa gave her life hoping

the least influential people in the world, beggars, dying in Calcutta,

and God raised her up to a position of influence

that she had influence over the United Nations.

And the US Congress and all kinds of things.

Why because God says the way up is down, and

God says before honor is humility. And God says, if

you want to be great, learn to be the servant

of all. Now you can practice this. It's a habit

you can develop, and you develop the habit not in

the big things in life, but in the little things.

God tests your humility every single day of your life.

When you walk out of this service and you walk

across the campus and you see a piece of trash.

That's a test. Will I pick it up? Oh?

No, that's for other people to pick up. That's beneath me.

I'm too good for that. I should now to pick that.

They pay staff to pick that stuff up. Yeah, you

can make up all the reasons, but this is a test.

How humble are you? Are you a servant? Do you

see a piece of trash? Do you pick it up?

That's a test. You're tested in the little things of life,

and then it's shown in the big things in life.

Character is revealed in the Great Crisis, but it's built

in the little day to day things, liked returning the.

Grocery cart to the lot.

How many times do you walk out of a grocery

store and you brought the grocery here and then you're

tired and.

You go, oh, I don't really want to take it back.

I'll just put it right here because other people will

do this. This is a test, and you just failed.

It's a test of your pride, it's a test of

your humility. It's a test of whether you are genuinely

have a servant and have a servant heart or not

so well, I'll let other people do that. Well, you

have just proven my point. You think you're better, and

if everybody did what you did, nothing would ever get

put back. I'll never forget one time, my friend true

At Kathy's son Dan Kathy. The Kathy's founded Chick fil

A and they're a great Christian family, and they were

opening a Chick fil A restaurant in Foothill Ranch and

Dan was here one day and we went over there

and it wasn't open yet.

We were looking at the building and while.

We're there, we were hungry, so we went next door

to I think it was a Taco Bell, but it

was some other fast food in competition with Chick fil A.

And we'd been out and our hands were all sweating

and dirty. We went into the end of the restroom,

used the restroom, washed our hands, and then I watched

Dan take out extra sheets.

This is the CEO of a chain of restaurants.

And I watched him pull us out and I watched

him hand clean the sinks of the Taco Bell bathroom.

We were just den and I looked at him and said,

thank you for doing that. Dan he said, Rick.

We teach our staff to always leave any place they

are better than it was when they found it, whether

it's our place or not. And I thought, nobody in

that Taco Bell, and nobody at Taco Bell Corporate will

know that the CEO of their competition just cleaned their

bathroom for free. That's called the heart of a servant,

and it's why God blesses Chick fil A. They have

a whole book on it. It's called of Course, It's

good Food Do. But they're a book called second Mile Service,

How we go the extra mile? And that is if

somebody asked you to do a one mile, you go

with them too. If they ask for your coat, you

give him your shirt. You go the second mile. God

blesses that. And when you do good, God does good

to your business. So I look for ways that I

can serve. Then finally, number three, I do what's right,

even when it's painful. That's what it means to do.

To act like Jesus. What would Jesus do? He doesn't

demand what he thinks he deserves. He's understanding, not demanding.

He looks for ways that he can serve. He's a

servant in every situation. That's what Jesus did, and I

do what's right even when it's painful. Verse eight says this,

while living as a man, Jesus humbled himself even more

by being fully obedient to God, even when that meant

his death on the cross. He did the right thing,

even though it is excruciatingly painful to him. That's what

it means to do what's right, even when it's painful. Now,

because Jesus is the ultimate model of humility, is there

a reward? Oh, yes, there's a reward. And God, because

Jesus was the greatest example of humility, God has given

Jesus the greatest honor in the universe. The last couple

of verses say this because of this, the example of

humility that Jesus showed. Because of this, God exalted Jesus

to the highest honor and made his name greater than

every other name. That at the name of Jesus, every

knee will one day bow in heaven and on earth

and under the earth, and every tongue will confess one

day that Jesus Christ is Lord and give glory to

the Father. Now, it says, Jesus has a name greater

in every other name. Have you ever wondered why people

use Jesus's name to swear?

Thought about that.

I mean, nobody ever says oh, Rick Warren, Nobody ever

uses your name to cuss. Why because we don't matter

that much? Why do people use Jesus name? Because there

is no other name higher in the universe. People who

swear don't even realize when they're swearing why they're using

Jesus name. There is no higher name. There is no

greater name, and this is why they use it. If

there was, they'd be using that name. There is no

greater name. They don't even realize that when they're swearing,

they're actually affirming that Jesus name is unlike anybody else's name,

and that's why it's the one that gets used as

the cuss word. Nobody says, oh Buddha. They say Jesus

when they say God because there are no higher and

greater names. Now, notice it says one day, one day

in heaven that everybody is going to be gathered at

the Judgment day. Every person who's ever lived will be

gathered before God, every human being has ever lived. And

it says at that time, every knee one day will

bow every human being has ever lived going to bow

before Jesus. This is the highest honor. And every tongue

will confess, in other words, will finally admit that Jesus

Christ is Lord and give glory to God the Father.

Every day, one day, even atheists, they're going to acknowledge

the truth. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.

At that judgment day. When people say to you sometimes

what is the world coming to, you can say it's

coming to this?

What is the world coming to?

One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will

confess that Jesus is who he said he was, that

he's the Son.

Of God, that he is the Lord.

And it is encouraged to me that someday all of

the arrogance and all the idolatry, and all the denial

will end. And at that scene when every person who's

ever been created by God bows before Jesus and confesses

who he is, every nationality will be there, every age

will be there, every religion will be there, every political

strife will be there.

Everybody is going to be there, all.

The politicians and all the rock stars, and all the

businessmen and all the scientists, and all the homemakers and

all the athletes, they'll.

All be there saying Jesus's Lord.

It's not a matter of if you're ever going to

admit this, It's just a matter of when. You will

either do it now in love, or you will do

it later in judgment. One day you will acknowledge you

are not God. Only God is God, and he sent

his son to die for you, and you don't have

any way of getting into Heaven except through the grace

of Jesus Christ. And if there was any other way,

believe me, God would have used it and he wouldn't

have wasted his son. You're not God. Jesus is Lord.

When you say Jesus is Lord, that is a humbling

statement means I'm not Lord. I'm not the master of

my faith. I'm not in control of my life.

Are you kidding me?

You didn't choose when you were born, where you were born,

how you were born, where you die. You didn't choose

your natural giftedness, most of the things that make you you.

You had nothing to control. You're not in control. Your

control of your choices, but you're not in control. You

didn't get God gave you the brain, He gave you,

gave you the body he gave you. One day, everyone

will confess Jesus is Lord. Now when we remember that

Jesus is Lord, you know what means, we stop pridefully.

Pretending that we're God.

So I want to urge you as a close to

discover the power of this phrase. Discover the power of

this phrase. When you're discouraged, say Jesus's Lord. When you

are tempted, say Jesus is Lord. When you are worried

and fearful and stressed out, say Jesus is Lord. When

you are fatigued, say Jesus is Lord. When you're lonely,

say Jesus is Lord. When you are grieving, say Jesus

is Lord. It may look like the wrong side is winning,

but Jesus is Lord. It may look like your problems

are insurmountable and you're never going to get out of debt,

but Jesus is Lord. It may look like you feel

you can't cope with one more day, but Jesus is Lord.

It may look like we're never going to resolve these

marriage problems, but Jesus is Lord. It may look like

circumstances are against me and people want to defeat me.

But Jesus is Lord, he is God, and I'm not.

That's called humility, and it's the path to happiness. Power heads,

but you pray this prayer. Dear God. I want to

be what you want me to be, and I want

to live a happy life, and I want to live

with harmony in my relationships, and I certainly don't want

to live with conflict. Help me to do it your

way instead of the world's way. Help me to remember

to never let my pride be my guide. To not

let the attitude of it's all about me or I'm

always right get in the way of what you want

to do. Help me to be humble so I don't stumble.

Help me to be honest about my weaknesses. Help me

to think not less of myself, but less about myself.

Help me to think more about others and more about you.

To not be so self obsessed with what do other

people think about me? And Dear God, help me to

learn the lost art of paying attention. To not just

be interested in my sports and my hobbies, my school,

my career, my interest, my family. Help me to be

interested in what other people are interested into, and to

show it in love by paying attention by listening. And

when I am in the tough times of life, help

me to ask what would Jesus do? Help me not

to demand what I think I deserve, but to be

like Jesus. And when I think life is unfair, help

me to remember the Cross and how unfair that was.

And help me to look for ways around me every

day where I can serve in this leak this week. Lord,

when I'm tested on the these principles and these habits

in conflict with others, help me to do what's right

even when it's painful. To be understanding, not demanding, to

be tender without surrender, to be forgiving, to be willing

to compromise. Help me to be humble and willing to

back down, to willing to say I was wrong. Please

forgive me, Lord. I know that if I walk in

humility and dependence for you, you have promised to reward

me with the promises of your word. And so I

say to you, Jesus, I want you to be the

lord of my life. I want you to be the manager.

I want you to be the director. I want you

to call the shots. You are God, and I'm not.

Help me to remember that I humbly ask you to

save my life in your name. I pray Amen. You know,

if you just prayed that prayer for the very first time,

or you just recommitted your life to Jesus again today,

would you let me know about it. There's something real

about sharing your commitment. So write me Rick at Pastorick

dot com and say, Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment.

I gave my life to Christ. And I'll send you

some material that will help you on your journey with Jesus.

And I'll also pray for you. God bless you.

Wow.

Some powerful words from Pastor Rick today. And now this

is really one of my favorite parts of the broadcast.

This is letters from our listeners, and now here's Rick.

Have you ever noticed that your day goes better when

you start with God's Word. That's been true in my life,

and I'm certain it'll make a difference in your life.

To you when you choose to get into God's Word

first thing every day. It's one of the most important

habits you can develop. Here's an email from a man

named Jeremy who says connecting with God every morning has

made such a big difference in his life. He says

you know, Rick, Daily Hope fills my mind with truth.

When I begin each day at three a m. Wow,

I realize that Daily Hope helps fill my mind with

the good stuff and crowds out all the negative because

truth and hope have really changed my attitude throughout the day.

So you can take it from Jeremy, God's word at

the start of your day will change your day in

a positive way. Thanks for listening today, everybody. I love you,

I thank God for you, and I'm praying for you.

Did you know that you can start every day with

hope and encouragement from Pastor Rick, Well, you can when

you sign up to receive his life changing Bible study

teaching delivered directly to your inbox. Just go to Pastorick

dot com and sign up for this free Daily Hope devotional.

You'll love it.

Be sure to join us next time as we look

into God's Word for our daily hope. This program is

sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.