Rick Warren - Happiness Can Be Learned—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. I can't

wait to dive into today's message. So here's the final

part of a message called happiness can be learned.

Number two. Not only do I live with integrity, I

keep my promises. This is the other way you learn

this second quality, keep my promises. Psalm fifteen four talks

about they are always these people always do what they promise,

no matter how much it may cost them. I actually

like this verse better in the King James English, where

it says God blesses the person who sweareth to his

own hurt swear it to his own What does that mean?

He means you keep a promise and then you find

out it's going to cost me more than I thought

I was gonna cost me, but I still keep my promise.

I said I'd do it for that price, and I'm

going to take a bath on it. But I'm going

to do it because I keep my word, and I'm

going to keep my promise no matter how much it costs.

So if I want to be happy, then I've got

to first shift the focus away from myself. It's not

about me. And second, I've got to become somebody that

people trust. And we see those from Timothy. Now, Paul

is a superstar. I mean, this is the guy who

wrote most of the New Testament part of the Bible.

Paul is a superstar. Yet Paul knows that we get

more done by working together. So here's the third skill

that you got to learn in order to be happy

in life, and that is this number three. Learn how

to work well with others. And you know what, they

don't teach you that anymore. And if parents don't teach

their kids this, they may not learn it in school.

You must learn how to work well by the way parents.

These are four things you need to teach your kids.

If you want your kids to be happy, they've got

to learn to switch the focus away from themselves. They've

got to learn to become someone that is trustworthy, and

they've got to learn how to work well with others.

What am I talking about here, I'm talking about the

skill of being a team member. The skill of collaboration,

the skill of working together. If you don't know how

to work with other people, you're going to be unhappy

much in your life. Well, what do I need to

learn in order to work with other people? You need

to learn two things, the Bible says. Write these down. First,

learn to cooperate. I need to learn how to cooperate,

and that's not something you automatically do. That's one of

the goals of parenting is teaching your children how to

share their toys, teaching your children how to put away

the toys together, teaching your children how to cooperate, often

with people who are very different in personality. Learning to

cooperate and Paul gives the second guy a paphorditis as

an example of this quality. In verse twenty five, he

says this, I send back to you a paphorditis, my brother,

my fellow worker, and my fellow soldier. Circle those three terms.

We're going to come back to it. Brother, fellow worker,

and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you

sent to take care of my needs. Remember this is

the guy that the church in PHILIPI sent with an

offering a gift of money, financial support to tell Paul

while he was in prisoner Rome. Paul says, he's my brother,

my fellow worker, my fellow soldier. He's worked and fought

by my side. What is Paul Singer? This guy knows

how to be a team member. This guy knows how

to work in a group. He's not a lone ranger.

He's not a prima donna. He's not a he's not

a a you know, a maverick. This is a guy

who knows how to work with other people. Now, I

just want to tell you real surely, the better you

learn this skill, the happier you're going to be in life.

If you don't know how to work with people different

from you, you're in You're in deep, deep guacamole. Because

let me tell you something, most of the world is

different from you. And if you don't know how to

work with people who are different from you, then you

don't You just shut yourself off to most of the world. Now,

Paul uses here in this passage three relational metaphors their

their teamwork terms, and he says, my brother, my fellow worker,

and my fellow soldier. What does he say? He's saying

that life and ministry. Life is a family. It's a fellowship,

and it's a fight. It's a family. It's a fellowship

and it's a fight. It's family, he says, He calls

him my brother. The church is the family of God.

That means every one of you are related to each other.

If you know the Lord, the people you're sitting next

to are your brothers and sisters. In fact, for thousands

of years, when people went to church, they used to

call each other brother and sister, brother so and so,

brother Bob, sister Sue, brother Tom, sister Janice. You know,

maybe we ought to bring that back because we've kind

of lost the attitude of we are family. One hundred

and thirty three times in the Bible, God uses family

terms to refer to the church. So we're a family,

he says, my brother. Then he says, all, we're a fellowship,

a fellow worker. We're to work together, to serve together.

We've been given the same tasks, we have the same

great commission, we have the same common goal. Where a family,

we're a fellowship and wear a fight. He says, my

fellow soldier. Would you agree that life's a battle? Would

you agree that sometimes you feel like you're at war, yeah,

and that forces are against you. Yeah. Well, he says,

you know what, it's a battle, and we all have

the same enemy, Satan, and we need to support each other,

we need to defend each other, we need to encourage

each other. And there's a word for that. It's called

small groups. Where do I learn to be a family,

a fellowship and to fight for each other in a

small group. You don't learn it in a big meeting

like this. You learn them in a small group. We support,

and we defend, and we encourage each other. I love

what Jesus said. I love this message. Paraphrase of one

of the beatitudes. Jesus said, you're blessed when you can

show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight.

Why if you learn to cooperate with others, your happiness

is going to go up exponentially. Now, Not only do

I need to learn to cooperate, here's the second one.

I need to learn to be considerate. The more considerate

you are of other people in life, the happier you're

going to be. The more inconsiderate you are of people

in your life, and learning clerks and people who serve

it fast advice. The more inconsiderate you are of waiters

and waitresses and people who serve you, the more unhappy

you're going to be. When you see somebody in a

restaurant being inconsiderate to a waiter or waitress at that point,

are they being happy? No, they are not. They are unhappy.

It's because those two things don't go together. And he's saying,

Paul saying, you got to learn to be thoughtful. You

got to learn to be kind, sympathetic and understanding of others.

And again he gives epaphorditis as an example. Verse twenty six.

There in your outline, he says, now I must send him,

that's a paphorditis. I' must send him back to you

because he longs to see all of you. And he's

been worried about your distress. That's called consideration. He's worried about,

not his distress, worried about your distress since you heard

that he was sick. Now, notice in this verse we

see two examples of consideration. Paul is considerate of his

coworkers concern and he said it paphridiitis. Really, he's homesick.

He wants to come back home. He longs to see you.

Paul is considered if his coworker's concerned, and the Paphroditis

is considerate of the philippians concern. They had heard that

the Paphroditis on the way to Rome had gotten sick

and nearly died, and they were afraid their friend had died.

And the Bible says in the message, he wants to

get back and reassure you that he's fine. This is

a key to happiness. The more considerate you learn to

be of other people's needs, other people's doubts, their fears.

The more considerate you learned to be as a husband

as a wife, the happy or your marriage is gonna be.

If you are inconsiderate, you're gonna have an unhappy marriage. Now,

First Corinthians one to ten says this you must this

is not an option. You must get along with each other.

You must learn to be considerate. Circle the word learn.

You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating

a life in common. I think every marriage ought to

learn that verse. We all want to memorize that one.

You must learn to be considerate because you were about

nature not not naturally considerate, and you have to cultivate

circle that word, cultivate a life in common. He's saying

it takes work. You know, I grow a garden of

vegetables every year, and it takes cultivation. They don't just

grow on their own. I have to go out and

prepare the soil, you know, break up the dirt cloths.

I have to add in the nutrients, after water, after weed,

feed I cultivate. And he's saying it takes work to

cultivate a life in common. You know what the problem

with most marriages today. They've stopped working. They've stopped working

on the marriage, So the marriage stops working. When you

don't work on the marriage, then the marriage doesn't work.

That's obvious, and a lot of people would rather give

up on a marriage than work on a marriage. He says,

you got to cultivate a common life together. And what

is it? He says, it's through consideration. We have to

be thoughtful of the effect of our words and the

effect of our actions. That does not come natural to me.

Maybe it comes natural to you, It doesn't come natural

to me. I don't naturally think about how my words

are gonna affect you, or how my actions are gonna

affect you. Now, sometimes you'll hear people say, well, I

just believe in I just say what I think. Well,

there's a word for you, rude. You're proud of that

a parent can say what it thinks. It takes intelligence,

and it takes character to be considerate, to not just

run off at the mouth, to not just say whatever

you think, but to stop and before you say go,

how will this affect somebody else? Paul is an example

one Corinthians ten thirty three. He says that don't just

do what I like. I don't just do what I

like or what's best for me, but I do what's

best for everyone so that they may be saved. Paul says,

I put the conversion of others before my comfort. I

put the conversion their conversion before my comfort. This is

the fourth quality. If I want to be happy, I've

got to learn these things. I've got to learn how

to shift the focus away from me to others. I've

got to learn to become the person, a person that

people trust by doing what I say, I do keeping

my promises. Then I got to learn how to work

well with others, learning to cooperate, learning to be considerate

at work, at home, in the neighborhood, whatever, and that'll

increase my happiness. There's one other one, and this is

a really big one. If I genuinely want to be

happy in life, the fourth choice you need to make

to be happy in life is to live for something

worth dying for. Until you have that, you will not

have ultimate happiness in your life. I must learn to

live for something worth dying for. Most people are giving

first class allegiance to second class causes, and those causes

are betraying them. I talked to one time to a

guy who said I climbed the ladder of success. When

I got to the top, I found it was leaning

against the wrong wall. And a lot of times we

give big time commitment to small time causes that aren't

going to last. The question you need to ask yourself

that you're given all your time, all your energy, all

your thoughts, whatever you think about most, and you're given

all your time and energy and money to these things.

Ask how much is this going to matter five years

from today? How much is it going to matter ten years?

How much matter is it going to end up matter

in a thousand years? The best use of your life

is to invest it in that which outlasted. You need

to live for something worth dying for, and you are

not ready to live. You're not ready to live, to

really live until you know what's worth dying for. If

you've never figured that out, you're coasting. You're not really living,

you're existing. You're not ready to live till you know

what's worth dying for. Now, Paul ends with these words

about Epaphroditis verse twenty seven and verse thirty. He says, indeed,

talking about paphard isis, he was very ill, and he

almost died. He risked his life. That's lived for something

we're dying for. Risked his life for the work of Christ.

And it was at the point of death while trying

to do for me the things you you, my friends

back in Philippi couldn't do because you were far away.

Now let me give you the background again. This Paul

is in prison in Rome. The Philippian Church is in Greece.

It's eight hundred miles away. Okay, The Philippian Church decides

to send a care package to Paul in prison. There

are no planes, there are no trains, there are no automobiles,

and it's eight hundred miles and there's only one way

you can get to roam walk. It's going to be

an eight hundred mile walk to deliver this offering that

the Philippians have decided to take. Pafford, a member of

that church raises it, I'll do it. I'll do it.

I'll walk eight hundred miles through thick and thin, through robbers, thieves,

battling armies, and all kinds of things that I'll walk

eight hundred miles just to take a gift from our

church to a guy who's in prison eight hundred miles away.

It says he risked his life. The Greek there literally

says he hazard his life. It's a gambling term. Epaphroditis

is God's godly gambler. He gambled his life for Jesus Christ.

Now on this eight hundred mile walk to take this

offering to Rome. Doesn't tell us what he got, what

kind of disease, whatever. But he got so sick he

nearly died, and that's what everybody was worried about. He

nearly died. But in spite of persistent pain, he completes

his mission and he finishes what he starts. Now, let

me ask you two very personal questions for you this

year two thousand years later. Here are my two questions

of you. What commitment have you started that you haven't

yet finished? What if the paphroditis in the middle got sick?

It does that? I give up? I'm going back to Philippi.

He wouldn't have completed his mission. What commitment have you

made that you need to keep? Maybe it's a commitment

to your spouse, a commitment you made to your husband,

A commitment you made to your wife that I'm going

to do this, I'm going to work on this, but

you haven't. Maybe a commitment you made to one of

your children or to a friend. Maybe it's I don't know,

a commitment you made to God. What have you started

that you need to complete? What have you begun? You

made a commitment to God and you need to keep

that commitment. You need to finish it. You need to

be consistent and you need to be reliable. Let me

ask a second question. Is your commitment to Christ deep

enough to cause you to risk your life? This is

why these people, Timothy and a Paraphroditis are so rare.

There aren't many people like this. I mean, if your church,

if Saddleback Church asked you to walk eight hundred miles

to deliver a gift. Would you do it? Would you

do it? There are many people like this. Guy, Sure,

I'll do it. I'll go walk eight hundred miles to

take a gift to a guy in need. Would you

do that? There aren't many people like this, It's rare.

That's why the Bible says honor them. He says, you're

to honor Timothy, You're to honor men like this. See.

Most people say, well, I'll live for as long as

it's convenient, But right now there's a good game on.

Excuse me. Most people will be happy to live for

Christ as long as it's convenient and it's comfortable. Are

you willing to live for Christ at work when it's

inconvenient and it's uncomfortable. Well, no, then you're not much

of a Christian. This is why God says honor people

like this. God says, honor those who take risks sharing

the gospel. I want to honor you. If you went

on a peace plan anywhere, would you stand up right now?

I want us to honor you. Just stand up. If

you've gone on a peace plan trip anywhere. God bless

you and all of our campuses. I want you to

stand up in all of our campuses too, people who

have gone on a peace trip. God bless you, and

I honor you for that. And let me give you

a little secret. Whether you stood or you didn't, God

is not finished testing your faith. So get ready. You

think God's gonna let you just coast the rest of

your life. Really, you think God's gonna say, oh, all

of the big risks in your life are behind you, now,

are you kidding me? As long as you're alive, God's

gonna keep testing you with risky decisions for his sake.

To test your faith. God is going to call you

to be a part in some way, to play some

role of what He wants to do through this church.

I'm absolutely certain of it, or he wouldn't have called

you here. And all I'm ask you to do is

to pray this week, say God the most dangerous prayer

in the world. Remember it's two words. Use me. I

dare you to pray the most dangerous prayer in the world.

Use me. I'm afraid to pray that. Pray it because

it is the secret of happiness. You don't know really

how to live until you know what's worth dying for

I want you to write this down, the last thing

to write down. Happiness comes from putting service before security.

Happiness comes from putting service before security. God blesses those

who serve Him even when it's inconvenient and uncomfortable. Happiness

comes from putting service before security. Not doing the safe thing,

but doing the thing that stretches your faith. And if

you say God, use me, he'll figure out what that

is for you, and he'll let you know. Now we'll

end with Jesus' secret of happiness, which sums up what

we've looked at this weekend mark eight thirty five. Jesus

said this, Only those who give away their lives for

my sake and for the sake of the good News

will ever know what it means to really live. Only

those who give away their lives live for something we're

dying for for my sake and for the sake of

the good News, we'll ever know what it means to

really live. You're just existing until you have a purpose

greater than yourself to get out of bed for in

the morning. Now, let me summarize it. The happiest people

in earth are caring, consistent, cooperative, considerate, and courageous. That's

what we just looked at. They're caring, they get the

focus off themselves. They're consistent, they learn to be trustworthy,

they're cooperative and considerate. They know how to work with

other people on a team. And they're courageous. They're willing

to take risks in faith. Let's bower heads. If you

want to be happy, I invite you to pray this

prayer with me. Dear God, I want to be like

these guys. I want to learn to be happy. I

realize that happiness isn't a matter of luck, it's a

matter of learning that I can choose to be happy.

I can make decisions to be happy. I can develop

character that will make me happy. Help me to get

the focus off myself. Lord, I'm really sick and tired

of looking at me. Help me to become somebody that

people can trust, reliable, dependable, trustworthy. Help me to do

what I say I do. Help me to keep my promises.

And Lord, I need to learn how to get along

better with others. I need to learn how to cooperate,

and I need to learn how to be considered. I

need to learn how to be a team member, how

to work with people, who are different from me. I

want to be like Paul, who said, I don't just

do what's best me, what's best for everybody. If you're married,

say Lord, help me to cultivate a life in common

with my spouse. Say Lord, help me to learn to

be considerate of my spouse and my kids. And Lord,

help me to live for something worth ying for. I'm

going to pray the most dangerous prayer right now. Lord,

use me. I don't know what that means, but I'm

open and I trust it. You'll show me what you

want to do in my life that will stretch my faith.

Use me the way you plan, not the way somebody

else plan, but your plan. If you've never invited Jesus

Christ in your life, say Jesus Christ, come into my

life and save me and forgive my sense, change me,

and make me the person you want me to be. Father,

I thank you for these who've prayed this prayer today.

We know that holiness leads to happiness, that happiness actually

comes from holiness, and as we become more like you,

we become more happy. I pray a blessing on every

person here that whatever you've called us to do, we

will do. Whatever commitments we've made we will keep. And

I pray this blessing in the name of the Father

and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 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 pastor

Rick 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.

What a moving message from Rick, and I'm also so

moved when we hear from you. In fact, here's Rick

with a letter from one of our listeners.

Have you ever taken a step of faith with no

idea what's next? Well, with the help of Daily Hope,

Nicole did just that. She wrote this note to me, Hello,

Pastor Rick. A close friend of mine suggested I listened

to Daily Hope four years ago, and while I had

faith and I loved the Lord, I was lost. But

Daily Hope rescued me. My relationship with Jesus grew in

ways and I never knew possible. I was soon baptized,

and over the next four years I grew in boldness

and in faith in the Lord, and I even left

a high powered and high salaried position to follow a different,

purpose driven path with the Lord's guidance. It's been a

literal step forward in faith without knowing the next steps,

certainly not something I was capable of years ago. And

already God is showing me his goodness. You know, as

my husband explores his own relationship with Jesus again, your

ministry is literally a God's sin. Your ability to teach

the good news and ways that are easy to understand

and apply, it is just amazing. We also follow your

suggestion to find a good local church. So thanks for

all you do for believers and those who are seeking

Christ around the world. Rick You're loved and appreciated and

no doubt a vessel of God's grace and mercy. Signed Nicole, Well, Nicole,

I'm so glad that you've grown in your relationship with

Jesus and you've taken the important step of getting baptized.

What an important step this is. Finding a church home,

really listening to the Lord and living a purpose driven life.

All of that happens when you take time to listen

to God's word. I love how your friend shared daily

hope with you, and now you've shared it with your husband.

You know, any of you can do this. Anybody can

do this. You can share daily hope with your friends,

and with your relatives and with people you don't even know.

And well, then watch how God brings life to others

through his words.

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