Generosity // Greed and Contentment

Coming soon!

All right, all right. Hey, just so you guys know, one more, come on Ron. How many times are we gonna clap for them?

Then they're gonna get big heads and then they're gonna think they need like waters in the break room or something. Too much.

Hey, just so you guys know, at the end of this service, we are gonna be giving you guys and we, I will be giving you an update on our Destiny Kids Floor Remodel Project and we've got some big news to share with you today and we're gonna get a chance to keep giving towards that project, but we got some exciting news. So that's just a little teaser. But before we give them that, we have this sermon, which I'm really looking forward to. So do this, stand with me to your feet for the reading of God's word this morning. We're gonna be reading at a Timothy , verse six.

And it says this, "But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. But if we had food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and are entrapped into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all of this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness." Father God, today we just come before you in this moment in time, and we thank you for this time that we get to worship together, that we get to learn from your word, that we get to be in community with each other. Lord, we thank you for everything that you've given us through the mighty work of Jesus. Lord, I pray that you just bless these words today that we get to hear us. Your Holy Name we pray, amen.

 Amen. All right, you may be seated. You may be seated.

 So I wanna describe something to you, and I'm sure it's happened to you. I think it's happened to everyone. Have you ever been having a conversation with some friends

 or enemies maybe, and in this process, a particular thing comes up, like maybe a particular car or a type of shoes or a vacation destination, something you have this conversation, and then the next thing you know, you open up your phone or you open up a web browser, and wouldn't you know it, there's like an advertisement for that thing. Has that happened to anyone else here in this room? And you're like, they're spying on me. They are literally listening to me, and this is happening. And this happens all the time. Like we live in this world where marketing is at a whole new level. Marketing has always been wild and has always been targeted, but now it's even more targeted because it's literally spying on you, and you can't even complain because you clicked, I acknowledge and agree, and you gave away all your rights. That's just how it works. It's okay. That's just how life works. And this is not some conspiracy on big business or like the greed or big brother watching over us. This is just a reality of what is happening, and you are exposed, this is something that's wild to me, the average American person, it really doesn't matter the age, it's exposed to between , and , advertisements a day.

 A day.

 Some of them are very direct, some of them are indirect, but three to , ads a day. And like I said, it's becoming more and more customized because it's listening to you, it's recording your searches, it's knowing all the things. And so now it's not just a complete chaotic thing or it will become very, very specific. What gets really confused, mine gets really confused is because even though Vivi has a phone and Vivi has Google, I think she prefers for me to be her Google. So I searched many things on her behalf, which is very much confused my social media platform. It's not sure who I am or what I'm into. It's very tricked up. And it's just a wild, wild time.

 I mean, the weirdest time was when one of our kids, and you know, she was still nursing, and boy, I searched a couple of things, and boy, the things that was advertising me on Amazon the next day, it just was not the right thing that I was looking for.

 But here's the thing, we walk through this, right? This is part of our process. And here's what's amazing about marketing and advertising. Marketing and advertising, it is not going to your logical mind, right? Like it is not something you're saying, like we're trying to appeal to your rational, logical mind for your need for this product, or this service, or whatever it is. Maybe there was a time that that was marketing. It was like, we wanna give this logical appeal. Any more, and this has been happening since the s on, it's not appealing to your logic. It's actually appealing to your subconscious.

 It's appealing to this internal desires and needs. And many times it's appealing to fears and maybe even anxieties, because it is trying to create or project this thing that you need. And it's gonna speak in a way that all of a sudden spawns something that says, "You know what, I do need that. "I do need another shoe or a new car or a bigger house, "or fill in the blank." Like if there's so many things out there, we could go on and on and on, and we would just be wasting our time. But it's very, very easy to realize that they're trying to prey on your hopes and your dreams and your desires and your fears and your anxieties. Like those are the things that they are going to be able to project on. And companies spend billions of dollars every year because it works.

 They wouldn't spend billions of dollars on these marketing ads if they weren't getting anything in return. They do it because it works. If they can sell you something, they will do it, and they will do it in a way that that happens. And our hearts often will be believing these things or moving these things sometimes, even without consciously thinking about them. And it shows this condition that is kind of innate in humankind. Ecclesiastes chapter five verse , it says this, not to steal Pastor Andrew Stunder and his favorite book of the Bible, but I'm gonna occasionally will read from it. Chapter five verse , it says this, "Whoever loves money never has enough.

 Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.

 This too is meaningless." And I bring the scripture up because ultimately, the reason that they're advertising is the ultimate, the key thing is like, hey, you need more.

 You need more. You need more clothes, more shoes, more cars, more whatever, more, more of something, right? And less is weight, then you need less of weight, but you can spend money for that too, right? Like you need more.

 And so therefore in our culture, the way that things work now, the way you get more is you have to have more money. And if I have more money, then I can buy more things and I can give it, and then sometimes we can even look at it altruistically, like it's not just for me, it's also for my family, it's for my wife, it's for my kids, it's for my parents, it's for my grandkids, like, and we need more. But the problem is when we're so focused on this idea of we need more, we need more, you realize that more actually never exists.

 I love the famous quote from Rockefeller where then they asked him, it's like, hey, you've already got so much money, he was the richest man on the earth. I mean, like if you put it in today's standards, I think he would still be the richest man on earth. And they were asked him like, hey, you've got so much money, you've got so much power, you've got so much influence, how much more money do you need to make before you are happy and content? And his answer, I love this answer, he said, just a little more.

 And if we're being honest,

 that's how most of us here in this room are.

 Just a little more, just a little more. I remember when I was working here at the church

 and my wife was home, she was a stayathome mom with our kids and I was here and I was working and I got paid $, a year.

 And I remember thinking, boy, this is a little tight, but we can do it, we are living. And I thought, if I could just make $, a year, my life would be great. We would have no once at that.

 And then at some point I made that and I was like, well, if I could just make , if I could just, if I could just, and somehow no matter where you ever get,

 it's never there, you never arrive.

 It's this carrot and the stick, like you just keep going and you hear people and you think, well, surely if I made a hundred thousand or surely if I made , or surely if I made , or surely if I made a million. And yet you see on the news all the time people who are making astronomical amount of money. And they're like, I gotta keep working because I don't know if I'm gonna be able to provide. And you're like, hmm, how can this possibly be?

 I heard a pastor that was in Orange County and he said that they started this Bible study and a bunch of people came, it was a women's Bible study and they were coming and everyone was coming. They were pulling up in their G wagons and all these Porsches and all this kind of stuff. And then at one point after a while, they thought, you know what, this would be great. We're gonna add food to it. And they're like, we're just gonna charge $ a Bible study for people to come so that they can come and eat as well and whatever it is. And the number of people who had to apply for scholarship because even though they were pulling up in the G wagon, they couldn't afford a $ lunch

 because they were completely out of bounds in their living.

 This myth of wealth is such a problem. We think that if we just keep getting a little bit more, we're gonna eventually be happy. We're gonna find the good life. But often, the more money we get, we actually get less happy and we become more anxious, more distracted, more discontent, and even lonely.

 You know, when Vibi and I were college kids and we had like literally nothing and we were living in our ghetto apartment over on Riverside that my parents begged us not to move into, but we're like, it's safe, it's safe. And after the third person was murdered in that complex, we were like, maybe it's not as safe as we thought.

 And we were like, you know, maybe we should move. But when we were there, we worried like, you know, about some things, but the truth was, we didn't have to worry about our money because there was none.

 When you have no money, you don't worry about it. It was like, we paid the rent, we bought groceries, that was it, that's all we had. A place to sleep, food to eat, and praise God we had that. And we didn't have to worry about any money. But you know, when you get more and more, all of a sudden you gotta worry about it. And then all of a sudden you become responsible. So now it's like, well, I've got a k and then you gotta worry about that. Am I diversifying it properly? Hasn't been that, what's my returns been like on there? Do I need to restratify? What am I, all this kind of stuff. We all of a sudden you gotta, I gotta have this investment over here. And all of a sudden when you have money, you become anxious about managing just the money. Am I saving enough? Am I saving my kids' college enough? Am I saving my kids' college enough? My inflation college is gonna be $ million by the time I great chair and children go to school.

 And that's for their associates at TCC. Like this is what's happening.

 There's not enough Oklahoma Promise to go around.

 And you just, I gotta manage, I gotta manage. It's like, and it creates more. The more, and you know, just to quote the great poet, "Mo money, mo problems." You know what I'm saying? That's just how it works.

 Life has not been more real than that. Mo money, mo problems.

 And that's why when we look at it, when Jesus talks about money,

 almost all of Jesus' teaching on money is warnings about money.

 It's warnings about money and what money can cause.

 It like, listen to this. This is in Luke , verse . Just to put it in context, this is right after that story where like Jesus is teaching and it's weird because he's not really teaching about this and he kind of comes to a pause of a teaching. And then all of a sudden some guy's like, "Jesus, tell my brother to split the inheritance with me." Which is a super random thing to say. Like that'd be like literally I'm here talking and I stop for a second to read and one of you is just like, "Johnathan, can you tell my brother to give me my inheritance?" Like I'd be like, I don't, not my job.

 So it's like, give me my inheritance. Like tell him to give me my inheritance. Like super random.

 And in the middle of this, this is what Jesus says. He said to them, "Watch out,

 beyond guard against all kinds of greed.

 Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."

 And then he continues to give the story, the parable of the rich man who realizes that he has enough and he's like, "What should I do? I already have enough. And then he says, "I know I'm gonna build up these store houses so I can store it all." And then God basically says, "Oh, you fool. Don't you know that by tonight you'll be dead and you won't get to use any of it."

 So this is where Jesus died, but he gives us, watch out and many of his things are this idea of like, watch out because you see when we desire wealth, it produces something inside of us, which is this idea of greed. The reason we always need a little bit more and the reason that we're always looking for like that next little upgrade and the next little thing and the next new trend is because inside of us is this thing that we call greed.

 And here's what's great. I wanna make sure that we know. Greed is like lust, but instead of sexual things or sexual desires, it is the lust for things, physical things. That's what greed is. It's the desire for things in our life above what we desire in God. And listen, there's all sorts of, we could break this down, but there's kind of two major categories of greed. There's things like crass materialism, right? Like, so that's like things like, I gotta have a bigger house, I gotta have a bigger car, I gotta have a bigger TV. Like everything's gotta be bigger and better and I have to keep up this appearance and everything needs to be to a certain level. This is this like crass materialism, but it's not even just that. There's also things like bespoke greed, which is like, I gotta eat out at all of the exclusive restaurants. And we have to have like these really exotic travel plans because I gotta be able to put the pictures on the gram. And I only shop at boutique fashion because that's what kind of creates this status that I'm wanting to live in. And here's the thing, I want you to tell me, there's nothing wrong with all these things. And we're gonna talk about this on the surface,

 but the condition of our heart and what's motivating us is what we're looking at. And that's what Jesus is always looking at. And he gives these strong warnings. And Matthew, sorry, Mark chapter four, verse , he's talking about the ground. Remember when he's talking about the parable with the four types of ground and the seed that's sown, he says, still others like seed sown amongst thorns, they hear the words, but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire of other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Do you notice here that when he's talking about wealth and money, he doesn't say that it's evil.

 He says it's deceitful.

 It's deceitful, it lies. It promises you something that it can't deliver.

 Wealth promises you that you're gonna be happy and fulfilled and content and have everything that you need. It promises you something and yet it cannot fulfill it. We don't have to look very far. You can look at Hollywood, you can look at sports, you can look at business and you see people who make more money than we could ever fathom as someone just of an average income. And yet they are so unhappy because it's deceitful.

 It tells you that you can get contentment and identity and purpose and safety from it and yet it will not deliver that.

 Wealth and money cannot deliver that because that's not what it is. It has a power, it has a purpose, it has a place, but it will lie to you and make you believe that if I can just get that right amount or I can just get that raise or I can just get the house, that's when I'm gonna be content and happy and yet it will never come.

 And we fall for this lie all the time.

 And many times wealth and this pursue of wealth and greed and everything that comes along with it is the very thing that's keeping us from the good life that we are hoping to achieve with it.

 We're trying to find it and we can't. I wanna read here in Luke chapter , verse , he said, "Then the Lord said to him, "now then you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup "and the dish, but the inside you are full "of greed and wickedness." The word for wickedness there is like a real general term for just like general sin, but he specifically calls out greed in this religious people. He said, "You're full of greed."

 And what's interesting is religious people

 often have a very low tolerance for sin, but a really high tolerance for greed.

 I was listening to a podcast and the pastor, he was geared towards other pastors was why I said that. And he asked this question, when was the last time that someone came into your office or into a conversation and confessed to you that they'd been struggling with greed?

 And he said, "I've never had it happen."

 And I started thinking about it. I realized I've never had it happen.

 I've had people come in and confess many things to me, many different sins, many different things that were done to them are done by them. I've had people come in and confess affairs and loss and lying and stealing and all sorts of different things that they've been honest about it. And yet I've never once had someone come in and say, "Hey, can you pray for me? I've been really struggling with greed."

 Because in our culture, because in the way we live, we don't even look at greed as a sin.

 We don't even think it's something that we have an issue with

 because it's been so masked and so changed. We think, "I'm not greedy. I'm not greedy. Those other people are greedy."

 And yet God asked us this question of how we can look around and how we can live in a way that looks different.

 And if you keep going in Luke chapter , the very next verse, verse four, he says, "You foolish people, do not the one who made the outside make the inside also, but now as for what is inside of you, be generous to the poor and everything will be clean for you."

 You see what Jesus is teach is the way to watch out for greed, the way to combat greed in our life is to be generous.

 And we'll break this down more in some weeks to come, but places that the Bible specifically talks about generous is being generous to the poor, being generous to the church and being generous to your fellow believers around you. Like those are three major categories, although it's not exclusively what the Bible talks about but being generous. But there's something that happens in this process because being generous creates this ability to combat the power of greed in your life.

 And when we're generous, there's something that also that happens and this is a big part is being generous and seeing what you have creates thankfulness and thankfulness also combats greed and all sorts of discontent because they're the opposite and they're the opposite of what we get to walk for.

 That's why in first chapter, what we read it for our verse when we started today's message in first Timothy chapter six, he talks about that you can experience contentment

 and that when you have godliness with contentment, you experience great gain,

 that you can experience great gain, that we can walk in this process.

 And I love this quote from Randy Alcorn in a book called "Giving the Good Life." He says, "Contentment is being satisfied in whose you are, who you are and what you have.

 Those who love and serve Jesus can be truly content. Those who love and serve money can never be."

 You know, the thing that you get to wrestle with and the thing that I have been wrestling with is what areas of my life am I serving anything other than God?

 What areas of my life am I allowing to have a greater expression or a greater permission in my life than God himself? Who do I need to ask permission to before I can do something? And if the answer really is anything or anyone other than God then what we're experiencing is how the Bible would define idolatry.

 And sometimes I feel like God is leading me to do something and my first reaction is I need to check my bank account to see if I can do it.

 Which means I'm asking permission to my money if I can be obedient to my God.

 And that is out of order in my life.

 That is not the way that it should work. Because going back to last week, if I truly believe that God is who he says he is and that he abundantly provides for all my needs and will give me more than I ever asked and even before I asked, then if he asked me to do something, even if it makes no financial sense in my life,

 that if I'm obedient, then he'll make sure that he makes a way.

 That's what he'll do.

 But how often do I think, I can't buy their cup of coffee, then I won't get my cup of coffee tomorrow

 and then I would die. So he can't be asking me that. He wants me to live. It says that in the Bible.

 So I'm not gonna buy that person's cup of coffee. Praise God.

 He is good all the time.

 You see, we get to ask ourselves,

 has money and greed put itself into place

 that it has too much weight in my life?

 And if we're being honest, probably for most people in this room, the answer is yes.

 That's not an accusation. That's not to make you feel guilty. That's not to do anything. That is just the reality of the society and the culture that we live in.

 That money has become too big a part of our life

 and has too much influence and power in our life.

 And one of the things that Jesus is calling us to and the very reason that he kept teaching about it and teaching about it and teaching about it is because he knew that wealth and money could be the very thing that holds you back and your spiritual growth and your spiritual formation because it becomes the idolatry that does not allow your heart to be free and fully trust him.

 So he gives warning after warning after warning.

 I mean, there's not much better warning than watch out.

 Like it's not even, you don't need the Greek for it. You don't need anything for it. Watch out, like that's the greatest warning that anyone can get. That's what I tell my kids when they're afraid they're gonna get hurt.

 You do that when it's serious.

 Not when it's like, whatever.

 Like you probably could live through it. So here's the thing.

 God says, be generous and that allows you to combat greed. But the problem is for many of us, it's really hard to be generous because the lifestyle that we've built

 gives us no margin to be generous.

 We have no time to be generous with. We have no money to be generous with because we're living right up to the very margin of what we have or maybe even beyond.

 So I can't do what I feel led to or what I feel asked to do because I haven't actually allowed any margin in my life

 because I've been just going and going and going.

 And we keep thinking because again, we're combating this. Maybe we can get out. I just need to get enough if I can get enough. And sometimes we realize we hit this wall where God is asking us to live a certain way and to be generous and to do something and then we realize we don't have it to give.

 And I've been there. I've been in the place where I felt like God was asking me to do something financially and then I knew like I couldn't do it.

 And that created all sorts of guilt and shame inside of me.

 But you know, here's something that we can look at because we're still here.

 We're still in this process. We're still in growth. There's a reason that we're here together talking through this very uncomfortable subject. At least it's uncomfortable for me.

 And it's because God cares about your heart and He wants you to be free. And one of the reasons that God so much gives these warnings about wealth is because wealth can make you its slave and Jesus came to set you free.

 So He doesn't want you to slave to your wealth or your money.

 He wants you to be able to use those resources to not just live and sustain, but to live in abundance, both for your family and for those around you. It'll be a blessing. And here's the thing.

 When it comes down to this whole idea of like, "But how do I get enough? Where do we get there?" There's this great quote from G.K. Chesterton and it says, "There's two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more and the other is to desire less."

 Some of you say, "Ah, man, I can't just do it because I can't get enough money. I can't get a raise. I'm gonna get the ceiling." There's a way to get enough.

 And it sounds tongue in cheek, but it's true. Once less.

 Once less.

 There is this idea of being able to say, "You know what?

 Enough is enough.

 I have enough."

 And whether I get a raise or not or whether my income goes up or not or whether I make  times more or  times more, I have enough.

 This is enough. And listen, there's no set rule in this idea.

 Different times and different ages and different lifestyles and points in life and kids and where you live. It's all different. Like this is a really relative thing. Anytime you talk about money and stages of life and what's enough and what can be, that is so uniquely individual to your particular set of sight. But what I can tell you is there is a place and there is a point where if we were to look at it, we can say, "I can do without this."

 And even though I desire it, and even if I can afford it,

 I can still say no.

 Because I wanna live with the margin to be able to do what God has for me

 and to be able to be generous whenever God asks me to be generous.

 That at some point I can say it's enough.

 And that's really hard. Because sometimes you'll have something that you can afford, that you can want, that you can enjoy, that could be for others, and you have the desire for it and you think, "I should just go get it." But we need to start asking ourselves a question of,

 "But do I actually need it?"

 Or is this just greed in my heart? Now not every desire you have is greedy. I'm not saying that. Not everything. There are necessities. You need to live. You need things in this life. The place where we live, guess what? You gotta have a house. You gotta have food. In Tulsa, you have to have a car.

 You can't walk. This is not a walking city, you know?

 That's okay. I'm not sitting here telling you to do this, but there are certain things in our life we have to realize. Because not only do we have to understand that the thing has a cost, but then there's also costs associated with the thing.

 Sometimes we buy something and then we have it, and then we don't even have the time to use the thing.

 I love friends who have lake houses, because I love to go use friends like houses.

 But the thing that I hear all the time about lake houses, I have no problem with lake houses. If you have a lake house, I hope it's awesome. Invite me to come.

 Same with boats. You have a boat, invite me to be on it. I love when friends have toys.

 But I hear this all the time, like, "Oh, I got this lake house. "This is awesome lake house." Yeah, we just never get to come up here and use it, though, I just don't have time. It's like they could afford it with their money, but they couldn't afford it with their time. And then they just had this thing, it's like they can't use it.

 Because sometimes we don't ask ourselves that question. And sometimes we can set boundaries. The Bible will call this simplicity,

 where we can say, "Hey, I have enough. "I don't need another one.

 "I don't need another pair of shoes."

 Like, I've been going to the gym, and I've been thinking, and I've been thinking, "I need some new gym shoes." Because I've been looking at the style and it's changed a lot since the last time I bought gym shoes, which was like eight years ago.

 And the gym shoes I bought was because they were on sale, and so they're red. So I look like Ronald McDonald walking around.

 And I've been like looking around at the fashion, I'm like, "Ooh, the fashion has changed. "Like, there's some cool gym shoes out there now. "And I should get some because I'm super fit." That's not true.

 I need some of those gym shoes. So I start looking around. And then I was like, "Ooh, those are cool." Or maybe those are cool. Or maybe I need those. Or maybe I should get two pairs. Or maybe I should have a pair to run and a pair to lift. And then a pair also just to look cool at the gym. And then maybe I need five pairs of shoes just for the gym. And then at some point, there's this question like, "But actually, don't the ones you have still work?"

 And I'm like, "But God, I look like Ronald McDonald.

 "Doesn't that matter to you?"

 And he said, "No. "It doesn't matter to him at all." And so then it's like, "Well,

 "I guess I'll still use these Nike Medcon ones. "You know, God, they're up to like Nike Medcon  "or something.

 "But no, that doesn't change your mind. "Okay, fine. "I guess I'll just be content with these "until they explode."

 And given the veracity of my current workouts, that's never gonna happen.

 (Congregation Laughing)

 So they're gonna last until Jesus comes back.

 It is okay to have a desire and even to sit with that desire and then say, "I'm still not gonna do it

 "because I wanna have more room for something else

 "because sometimes my strongest desire "is not actually my deepest desire

 "because I have a deep desire to live in a way "that I can be generous.

 "And even though I have this real strong desire

 "for this pair of shoes or for that new car "or for filling the blank of whatever it is, "it may not align with what my deepest desire is. "And so I'm gonna put aside my strong desire for this moment "so that I can find and achieve the deep desire "that God has inside of me and who I wanna become (Gentle Music)

 so that I can find what the Bible says, which is contentment.

 You see, you can find contentment, not because you get more, but maybe actually because you get less.

 You can find contentment because contentment is not found in your paycheck or your title or your wealth or your possessions. Contentment can be found in knowing that you are his and he is yours.

 And so my soul is content.

 And he has invited me into this journey and how I can live. And I would like to participate with him.

 And I can limit these certain things and I can flip the questions.

 Instead of asking the question, what else do I need? I can ask myself, what can I live without?

 Instead of asking the question, how much do I give? I can say, how much should I keep?

 I can flip this way of thinking and I can stop trying to conform to the pattern of this world and instead have my mind transformed into the pattern of his kingdom and realize that the one who said he would supply everything has already given freely in Jesus. And so guess what? I can be content.

 And when I have a lot, I can be content. And when I have a little, I can be content. And when I wear my Nike Medcon ones when the relative gym and everyone else looks cooler than me, I can still be content

 because the new shoes would actually not make me content.

 So I get to look at this process and realize

 that I can find true contentment in him.

 And here's the verse I wanna leave us with thinking about.

 Hebrews chapter , verse five, it says, "Keep your lives free from the love of money "and be content with what you have."

 Because, why, why? God said, "I will never leave you or forsake you."

 I don't need anything else.

 God said, "I will never leave you or forsake you." So I don't need to love money and all the trappings that come with that. I don't need to be constantly looking if I can acquire or great. I don't have to allow greed to rule