The Law of Contentment - Part 1

0:34 Now the Bible is full of money management advice. I don't know if you know this or not, but there are two books of the Bible particularly. One's called the book of Proverbs and the other is called the book of Ecclesiastes, which are filled with the laws of money, the principles of prosperity, the rules for wealth. Now let me make it very clear. We are not a, quote, prosperity gospel church. We are not. We do not believe that God wants everybody to be a millionaire. We don't. In fact, Jesus taught the exact opposite of that. But the Bible is filled with principles that he says, if you will do it God's way, then you get God's blessing on your finances. And the Bible is filled with principles of how to invest wisely, how to save wisely, principles of saving, of investment, principles of spending, principles of managing your money, principles of insuring.

1:29 There are many, many laws of financial freedom in both Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. We're going to look at these in the weeks ahead. And I hope you'll not only be with us in every one of the series, but that you'll bring people with you who you know are going through tough times. Because I guarantee you, these principles are going to help them get out of the hole that they're in. It's not easy, but it is possible to do. Now, the first law of financial freedom is the one we have to look at today. Because if you don't get this one, none of the other ones will work in your life. I can't take you into the principles of how to invest wisely, how to save, how to spend wisely, how to budget, all of these principles, until first you get this first one, which I call the law of contentment. Now, this is very important because as long as your yearnings exceed your earnings, you're gonna be in deep doo-doo.

2:31 You're gonna be in trouble. You're gonna have debt. And your entire life, you're gonna be frustrated with your finances because your yearnings are always going to exceed your yearnings. and until you learn this principle of contentment, you're always going to be frustrated by your money and you're never, never going to have enough no matter how much you make. Now, this is not only a problem for individuals, it's a problem for our entire nation. The chickens have come home to roost because for decades the government has been spending more than it makes. Recently, Time Magazine did an article on this and explained that for every $1,000 that Americans make, we put $1,300 on our credit cards. Hello?

3:26 It isn't rocket science to figure out why people are stressed out, why people are in debt, why people are going into foreclosure, because our yearnings are exceeding our earnings. Now here's what the Bible says. If you pull out your message notes, and we're going to look in the book of Proverbs in the book of Ecclesiastes today. The Bible says in Proverbs 14, 30, let's read this verse aloud together. It's healthy to be content, but envy will eat you up. It'll eat you up. He's saying it's not only financially good for you to be content, it's actually physically good for you to live a contented life. The Bible says a heart at peace gives life to the body. It is invigorating. It is good for your health to be at peace, to not always be under tension, to not always be stressed out, to not always be worried.

4:19 He said, envy, this desire to always have more, will eat you up. It will eat you alive. You see, when it comes to your health, it's not just what you eat that matters. It's what eats you. And if your life is filled with worry, or bitterness, or guilt, or resentment, or anxiety, it's what is eating you that is going to cause you to be in bad health. Now another verse in Ecclesiastes, also written by Solomon, these two books were written by a man named Solomon. Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, the Bible says. God says he was the wisest man who ever lived, so he's got some good advice for us. He was also the wealthiest man in the world when he wrote these two books with the principles of money management in them.

5:07 Ecclesiastes 6.9 says this, it's better to be satisfied with what you have than to always be wanting something else. That's the principle. That's the law of contentment. It's better to be satisfied with what you have than to always be wanting something else. Now, I can't think of a more timely subject for us to study, particularly not just this series, but this message, as we're beginning the next two months, which are commonly known as the season of discontent. Because there's more discontent and more overspending in this time of year than any other time of the year. And over the next 60 days, your mailbox is going to be filled with catalogs. Now, as your pastor is somebody who loves you, I just want to tell you quite bluntly, catalogs are from the devil.

6:02 and they will get you to buy things you don't need with money you don't have to impress people you don't even like. And you look at these catalogs and you think, I gotta have this, how did I ever live without this? And you see it and you want it, and it creates discontent. Any retailer will tell you that you spend most of the year in the red until you get to the last two months. and then in the last two months, particularly after Black Friday, which is the Friday after Thanksgiving when sometimes some businesses turn a profit for the first time in the year and in the last two months of the year, people are spending, spending, spending. Before you get into that season, to counter that, I want to just quickly show you what the Bible says are the effects of always wanting more.

6:59 Now the Bible says that there are five damaging effects. That when I want more, it brings a lot more with it. Not just wanting more material goods. It brings five other things. And they're all in the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Number one, the first effect of always wanting more is that wanting more brings more fatigue. More fatigue. You're going to be more tired. If you're always wanting more, you're always working harder and you are tired all the time. Being tired all the time is a symptom of your trying to do too much. The race to get more drives us to overwork, and we see that constantly all over Southern California. You know, Tolstoy, you know, 100 years ago, told the story of a peasant where his master said, I will give you as much land for you to keep as you can walk around in one day.

7:54 And so the peasant started running, and he ran so much and so far, trying to get so much, by the end of the day, he died of exhaustion. And we're dying of exhaustion for things. Giving our life. Most people give up their health in the first half of life in order to get money. They give up their health in order to get money. And in the second half of life, they give up all their money to try to get their health back.

8:24 Be wise and figure that out in advance. The first thing is more fatigue. Proverbs 23, verse four, the Bible says this. Do not wear yourself out to get rich. Have the wisdom to show restraint. He says it's dumb, it's foolish. To wear yourself out trying to get more things. Because even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat. Now number two, not only does bringing, having more, wanting more bring more fatigue, it brings more expenses. Did you know that? It always costs more to have more. It always costs more to have more. It brings greater expense. You know, I always say that if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, so is the water bill. Because somebody had to pay for that green.

9:18 Now, Ecclesiastes 5.11 says this. The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. I like that. It's true. The more money you got, all of a sudden you got to have an accountant. Or you got to have a housekeeper. Or you got to have somebody mowing your lawn. The more money you have, the more money you spend. And it says the more people you have, the more money you have, the more people help you spend it. So what's the advantage of wealth except perhaps to watch it run through your fingers? I saw a bumper sticker the other day. It said, I used to dream of the salary I'm now starving on.

9:53 You know, that's not funny. That's reality. You used to dream of the salary that you now are finding it hard to make ends meet on. And just about the time you get ends meet, somebody moves the ends. You say, I'm trying to keep up with the Joneses. Well, don't, because they just file for bankruptcy. Now, we think that we don't make enough. We think that's the problem. We think we don't make enough. The truth is we want too much. That's the real problem. We want too much. And a lot of things we think are needs are actually just greeds. Now God has said, my God shall supply all your needs. He has not said, I will supply all your greeds. God is not obligated to just give you anything you want. So it brings more frustration. It brings more fatigue.

10:47 It brings more expenses. The third thing wanting more does is it brings more anxiety. More anxiety. because the more you have, the more you have to worry about. If you don't have it, you don't worry about it. You know, I have to be honest with you. I never, never worry about my yacht getting barnacles. Just never worry about it. Why? Because I don't own a yacht. And if you don't own something, then you don't worry about it. And the fewer things you own, the fewer things you have to repair, the fewer things you have to maintain, the fewer things you have to insure, the fewer things you have to pay the taxes on, and all these other things. And now, we have so many things, you can't even keep it in your house, you have to buy a place to rent to store the things. Now what's the logic of that one?

11:41 You're paying rent on stuff you're not even using. Okay? So more anxiety. The more you have, the more you worry about. Ecclesiastes 5.12. A working man can get a good night's sleep, but the rich man has so much that he stays awake worrying. What's he worrying about? How to save it, how to invest it, how to maintain it, how to insure it, how to avoid taxes. I read a study once that said insomnia increases with income.

12:11 Isn't that interesting? That the more money you make, the more likely it is you are to have sleepless nights. Why? Because you worry about more. You've got more to worry about. Now, if you have more fatigue plus more expenses plus more anxiety, you know what that equals? Number four, more conflict. you're going to have more conflict in your home because of these things because when you're tired and you've got more expenses and you're more anxious you get in more fights you have more conflict it causes more turmoil in your family Proverbs 15, 27 says a greedy man brings trouble to his family and we know that today the number one cause of divorce is financial tension Every study shows this.

13:05 The number one cause of divorce is people divorce over money. Money issues. It is now till debt do us part. 1 Timothy 6 verse 7 says this. People who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin. He's talking about debt, financial ruin, and destruction. Why? Because when you long to be rich, you are a sucker for get-rich-quick schemes. If you are contented, you don't fall prey to get-rich-quick schemes. Nobody can scam you. You're not going to take risky things because you are contented. People who are discontent are always looking for a way to make a fast buck. They're always looking for the get-rich-quick scheme.

13:58 They're always looking for the fast solution. the double your return on your money instantly, and all of that. And the Bible says over and over and over and over again, we'll see this when we get to investments, do not ever get involved in get-rich-quick schemes. If it's too good to be true, it is. And people who are always in a hurry to pay off their debts, instead of what the Bible teaches, little by little, systematically, sequentially, they're always in a hurry to get out of debt. They're always in a hurry to make it big time. They are setting themselves up for temptations, traps, foolish desires that plunge them into ruin, debt, and destruction. People, when they're not content, fall prey to get-rich-quick schemes. They're always looking for a fast way. Now, Buffett, Warren Buffett, the wealthiest man in the world, his number one rule of investment. You know what it is?

14:55 Very simple. Buffett's number one rule is this. never lose the money you've already earned. In other words, it's more important to keep what you've got than to take the big risk on it. Never lose. It doesn't matter if you make a high return. If you keep losing stuff, you're going backwards over time. Buffett's number one rule for becoming a billionaire, never lose what you've already earned. And yet people lose it all the time in an attempt to get rich quick. And it's foolish. I'll have to tell you, Kay and I have never lost a penny to get-rich-quick schemes. I've never lost a penny that I've earned on the lottery. I've never lost a penny in Vegas. Why? Because I'm not about to involve myself in those easy-come-easy-go, get-rich-quick schemes, which really, you're going to lose it.

15:52 You may as well just go to Vegas and just hand them the money and come home. the house is going to win. Somebody pays for those tall buildings. It's you. You pay for it. And the odds are not in your favor. And the Bible says that's foolish. When a contented person is not lured, ever lured by the lottery. Because you're contented. So you're keeping what you've got. And as I said last week, Albert Einstein said, The single most powerful force in the universe is the power of compounding interest. That you set it away a little bit at a time and you let compounding interest, it'll make you rich. Not instantly, but over time. I started putting away 50 cents a week toward my retirement at age 17.

16:45 And that's why I've served this church for free for 10 years. Because essentially I retired 10 years ago. Because I don't have to take a salary. Why? Because I had been saving since I was a teenager. And the power of compounding interest builds up over time. It's called the little by little principle. We'll look at that. Now, he says you're going to get trapped if you're not contented. Now, there's one other problem that happens. The effect of always wanting more is that wanting more brings more dissatisfaction. It brings, number five, more dissatisfaction. You see, we think having more will make me more happy. Having more will make me more secure. Having more will make me more important. Having more will make me more loved. None of that is true.

17:39 Now, it is true that you can buy happiness for short term. But it doesn't last. The feelings don't last. They go away very quickly. It's true. You can go out and buy a new car, and when you get that new car, you're going to be happy. You can buy happiness for a short period of time. And you'll be happy, and you get in the car, and it smells, you know, that new car smell? Ah. How long does that new car smell? About a couple weeks.

18:10 And then, you know, the moment you drove it off the lot, it was less $10,000 than what you paid for it because it's not new anymore. and you just lost $10,000 in equity just right there, bam, just like that. And then in a couple years, you don't care about it anymore. Now this is true with everything you buy. You go out and you buy a piece of art and you go, man, I just love that art. And you put it up in your house and it's beautiful and it looks so great and it makes you happy for a while. But after a while, you're not happy anymore. And you get new drapes and you love those drapes. But after a while, you're not happy anymore. Why? Because things, people change and things don't. Things don't change. So we get bored with them. And we have to redecorate and we have to remodel and we have to refurbish and we have to rearrange and we have to replace.

19:02 And we are addicted to upgrades. And you get a new dress or you get a new shirt or you get a new pair of shoes and the first time you put it on, you walk out, you go, I am sexy. You know, you're looking good. You know, you're feeling good. The fourth time you wear that shirt or that dress, you don't feel sexy anymore. It doesn't even bother you anymore. You don't even think about it anymore. Why? People change, but things don't. So contrary to what you may think, the Constitution does not say every American has the right to life, liberty, and the purchase of happiness. Because when you purchase it, It's not going to last. What a great message from Pastor Rick. I hope it touched you just like it touched me today. And now let's end our show with a closing thought from Rick.

19:59 God has five purposes for your life. He wants you to know and love him. That's called worship. He wants you to belong to his family. That's called fellowship. He wants you to grow in character, to be more like Christ. That's called discipleship. And he wants you to learn to serve using your gifts and talents. Serve God by serving others. That's called your ministry. Finally, he wants you to share the good news and your life message with other people around the world. That's called your mission. I'd like to close today to talk to you for just a second about your personal mission. Did you know that the Bible says every time somebody accepts the Lord, they throw a party in heaven. Did you know that? It's right there in Luke 15, verse 7, where the Bible says there's more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes his heart and life than over 99 who don't need to turn to Christ, who are already there. The day that you accepted Jesus Christ, there was a party in heaven for you. And by the way, the day that you helped somebody else come to know the Lord, there's going to be a party in heaven, but there's also going to be a party in your heart, I want to encourage you today to look outward, to look around you and see the people who need to hear about the love of God, about the message of Christ, about the purpose of life, about the daily hope that we have in our hearts. The Bible says, always be ready to share the hope that is within you. Could I pray for you? And as we bow in prayer, you might want to pray this prayer with me. Say, Father, I want the joy that you've given me to be shared with other people. And a lot of times I'm afraid or hesitant to talk about you to others. Would you give me so much love for other people that the love overcomes my fears and gives me the right words to say as I share the hope that's in me. Allow me to help others find you, to find real

22:06 hope, to find joy through knowing you. Thank you, Lord, so much for trusting me to help bring others to you. I want to accept my mission, and I want to use it for your glory and in the power of your Spirit. Thank you, Jesus. Put somebody in my life today that I can tell about you. In your name I pray.