Finding Contentment | Reordering Your Life | Full Experience

What's up, everybody? We're glad that you're here today. I want to invite you to stand to your feet. Let's have some fun worshiping Jesus together now, come on. Sing this with me. Say it. ♪ I'm praise in the valley ♪ ♪ I'm praise on the mountain, yeah ♪ ♪ I'm praise when I'm sure ♪ ♪ I'm praise when I'm doubting, yeah ♪ ♪ I'm praise when I'm numbered ♪ ♪ I'm praise when surrounded, yeah ♪ ♪ Cause praise is the water, my enemies drowning, yeah ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Oh yeah, I'm praise when I feel it ♪ ♪ And praise when I don't, yes I'm ♪ ♪ I'm praise cause I know you're still in control, yes he is ♪ ♪ My praise is a weapon, it's more than a sound, yeah ♪ ♪ My praise is the shout that brings Jericho down, yeah ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Oh I won't be quiet, my God is alive ♪ ♪ So how could I keep it inside, tell me ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ Hands up, come on right here. Let's tell them this together now, sing.

♪ I'll praise cause you're sovereign, praise cause you reign ♪ ♪ Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave ♪ ♪ I'll praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true ♪ ♪ Praise cause there's nobody greater than you, I'll praise ♪ ♪ Praise cause you're sovereign, praise cause you reign ♪ ♪ Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave ♪ ♪ I'll praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true ♪ ♪ Praise cause there's nobody greater than you, I'll praise ♪ That's right, sing. ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ And I won't be quiet, my God is alive ♪ ♪ How could I keep it inside? ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ And I'll praise the Lord, yeah ♪ ♪ He's the God of all creation ♪ ♪ He's been good through all the ages ♪ ♪ For sure, poor, He never changes, He never changes ♪ ♪ And He's the God who moves the mountains ♪ ♪ He reconciles the brokenhearted ♪ ♪ And in Him we found redemption, we found redemption ♪ ♪ And we sing, glory to the one who holds it all ♪ ♪ Glory to the one who saved my soul, we sing ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, glory to the one who reigns on high ♪ ♪ Glory to the God who saves my life ♪ ♪ To the one who I adore ♪ ♪ Oh, we praise the Lord ♪

♪ He's the God who never leaves us, oh no ♪ ♪ His faith falls through the generations ♪ ♪ So what else can we do but worship, come on and worship ♪ ♪ Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus ♪ ♪ And glory to the one who holds it all ♪ ♪ Glory to the one who saves my soul ♪ ♪ To the one who I adore, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ And glory to the one who reigns on high ♪ ♪ Glory to the God who saves my life ♪ ♪ To the one who I adore, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ To the one who I adore, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, fill this room with your worship ♪ ♪ He deserves all glory, all power belongs to Him, we sing ♪ ♪ All honor and power to Jesus forever ♪ ♪ All honor and power to Jesus forever ♪ ♪ All honor and power to Jesus forever ♪ ♪ All honor and power to Jesus forever ♪ ♪ All honor and power to Jesus forever ♪ ♪ All honor and power to Jesus forever ♪ ♪ All honor and power to Jesus forever ♪ ♪ All honor and power to Jesus forever ♪ ♪ Glory to the one who holds it up ♪ ♪ Glory to the one who saves my soul ♪ ♪ To the one who I adore, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ And glory to the one who raised our hearts ♪ ♪ Glory to the God who saved my life ♪ ♪ To the one who I adore, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ To the one who I adore, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ All honor and power to Jesus forever ♪

♪ It is yours today, Lord, forever ♪ ♪ All honor and power to Jesus forever ♪ ♪ All honor and power to Jesus, to Jesus ♪ ♪ Yeah, Oh, my word is for sure ♪ ♪ I've got the victory before me ♪ ♪ I've got nothing new ♪ ♪ How could I express all my gratitude? ♪ ♪ I could sing these songs as I often do ♪ ♪ Every song must end and you never do ♪ Come on now, you know it, sing it. ♪ So I put my faith in you, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ It's all that matters when I'm with you, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ I'm all that matters when I'm with you, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ And I know it's not much, I'm nothing else before a king ♪ ♪ Except for one thing, I'm nothing else before a king ♪ Yeah, amen. ♪ I've got one response, yes I do ♪ ♪ I've got just one move, with my arms stretched wide ♪ ♪ I will worship you, oh, so I'll throw up my hands ♪ ♪ And praise you again and again ♪ ♪ Cause all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, and I know it's not much, I'm nothing else before a king ♪ ♪ Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh, come on my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me ♪ ♪ Lift up your song, cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord ♪ Come on now, like you mean it, let's hear it. ♪ Oh, come on my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me ♪ ♪ Lift up your song, cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs ♪

♪ Get up and praise the Lord, get up and praise, hey ♪ ♪ Oh, come on my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me ♪ ♪ Lift up your song, cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Get up and praise, He's worthy, yes, He's worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ And so I trust, yeah, all that I have is, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, and I know it's not much, I'm nothing else ♪ ♪ Than for a king, except for a heart singing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ So I throw up my hands and praise You again and again ♪ ♪ It's all that I have is, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ And I know it's not much, I'm nothing else ♪ ♪ Than for a king, except for a heart singing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ Amen, CCB, we love worshiping together with you. You can have a seat. My name is Leo, and I get to serve as one of the pastors here at our Peoria campus. And a couple of weeks ago, in our small group, we were talking about the best invitation we've ever received. And people were talking about concerts and sporting events and trips and weddings and vacations. And I realized something. I need to find better friends. No, but what I realized is that an invitation is so powerful. You see, an invitation tells you

that somebody was thinking about you, that somebody wanted you there with them. And last Monday, I was standing in front of our baptistry, and Four people were getting baptized together, and right next to me was one of our pastors, Ray, so I asked him, Ray, what's their story? And he goes, Leo, it's actually pretty cool. You see, back in 2020, this friend invited this friend, and then this friend invited the other friend, and then guess what, this friend invited the other friend. And now four people were in the water declaring their faith in Jesus Christ. And that was just one invitation, just one. And you see, what this moment is, communion, is just that, we are remembering the greatest invitation ever given. You see, Jesus tells us, come, follow me. He says to us, come to me, all of you who are tired and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. His invitation is full of hope and grace and forgiveness and the promise of a new life. And for those of us who follow Jesus, the reason why we take communion is because we have accepted that invitation, and maybe you're here tonight because someone invited you, and you're trying to figure out who Jesus is, and you have questions about your faith. This I know, the same invitation is available to you too. So as we take communion together,

let's remember his body being broken for us. Let's remember the blood that he shed for us. And as we pray, let's say thank you to Jesus for saving us, for inviting us in, and for allowing us to continue to extend that invitation to those around us. Would you pray with me? Father God, thank you so much for your son, Jesus. Lord, during this time, we remember the prize that he paid for that, the invitation. Lord, we're so grateful, and I pray that tonight, every single person in this room, Lord, knows how much you love them. It is in the mighty name of Jesus that we pray, amen. Amen. Come, come, come, come. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... So I want to start today with a tough question. And my challenge to you is just to answer this question as honestly as you can because you're really only as good as you are honest. And here's the question. When is the last time you were truly, truly content? Can I ask it differently? When's the last time you said to yourself, what I have, it's enough. I don't need anything else. Can I tease that out with you a little bit? When's the last time with your house you thought, I don't need bigger, I don't need better, I don't need to upgrade one thing. When's the last time with your car you said, my car is perfect.

Perfect, I do not need anything nicer. When's the last time you looked in your closet and you said, I need no more clothes, none. You saw a husband elbow his wife, you know, it's like. When's the last time you said with your house, you know, I don't need anything more. With your iPhone, you said, this iPhone 13, perfectly fine for me, right? How about with your tools in your garage, the size of your TV, your golf clubs, your gun collection, your shoe collection, the number of pillows you ladies need for your house, right? That one may have been for my wife, I'm sorry, Jamie. When is the last time you were content? For most of us, the answer is, it's been a long time. In fact, Jamie and I were having this conversation this Wednesday night over dinner, and I just told her, I said, honestly, for me, I'd have to back up, maybe like fully, fully content, maybe to when I was 17 years old. When I was 17, my dad had just lost his job. We had, most of my life, one teacher's salary, four kids, we didn't have a lot already, and I had this vivid memory in my mind of walking through Walgreens with my mom. I was passing the sunscreen section, I needed sunscreen for a job I was starting the next week as a lifeguard. I couldn't afford it, I knew she couldn't have afforded it, and I just, I remember thinking to myself

during that season, what I have right now, it's enough. But that was a long time ago. Can anybody else relate that it's been a long time since you've been content? And some of you might be thinking this, should we be content? Like, is that even a good thing? I thought we're supposed to be driven in this life. And I would say, you know what, you should be driven. You should be driven to make a difference with your life. But when it comes to your stuff, when it comes to always wanting more, what this world has to offer, God's word is actually really, really clear on this. First Timothy chapter six, verse six, says this. "'But godliness with contentment is great gain.'" Godliness with contentment. Now the word contentment in the New Testament, the Greek word, means this. It means enough, it's sufficient. What you have is enough. Not just godliness, but godliness with contentment, a life that's content. Mark pointed out a few weeks ago that when it comes to, when you read the scripture, the New Testament was written in Koine Greek, and in the Greek language, Greek sentence structure, the first word in a Greek sentence is the most important word the author wanted to point out. And in this verse, what's really interesting

when you look at this verse is, "'But godliness with contentment is great gain.'" Godliness is not the first word in this Greek sentence, and contentment isn't the first word. You know what it is? Great gain. Great gain is, that's the first word. So if you read this in Greek originally, it would say great gain is to have godliness with contentment. What do we mean by great gain? Well, great gain is a very powerful word. Number one, gain means promisos, which is profit or return. And great is megas, which means remarkable or to a magnitude out of the ordinary. So if you were reading this, what God is trying to tell us is that one of the greatest gains, one of the biggest returns you will ever experience in your life is when you learn to be content, godliness with contentment. Now, would you see investing in contentment as having one of the greatest gains or profits in your life? And the answer for some of us is be like, well, no, I think the greatest gain I can have is if I invest in the stock market in like a high-performing stock, right?

Like, do you know what the highest performing stock is over the past 10 years? Anybody know? It's not even close, it's NVIDIA. AI, they make AI chips for the AI industry. In fact, if you look at a chart, this is the growth of, if you invested in NVIDIA 10 years ago, $1,000, it would be worth close to $300,000 as of last year. Into this year, it's worth well over $300,000. Now, look at this chart for a second. If you could have gone back 10 years ago and invested in NVIDIA and seen that kind of return, would you do it? You're like, duh, of course I'd do that. Most of us wish we would have. But what if, looking at this chart, what if God is telling us, if you invest in contentment, that's how great, you can see gains like that in your life. That's what God's telling us, Godliness with contentment is great gain. Now, this is why so many of you are so wise to be in church today. Did you know that? If you're like, man, I'm new to church and I didn't know I was that wise to be here. You are, and let me tell you why. Because what we're gonna talk about today, contentment, you will hear.

You're gonna hear this nowhere in the world today. Almost, I mean, outside of church, the only thing you'll hear in the world today is that you need more. And why is that? Because every ad, every commercial, every marketing campaign that you see all day every day tells you you're not enough until you get more. And what God is whispering today is, come on, come on, there's a better way. And it's a whisper because the world shouts, you gotta have more. And why do we think we need more? Well, Jesus tells us what the opposite of contentment is. He's really clear and he says, this is the issue. In fact, in Luke 12, verse 15, Jesus is speaking to us and he says this, he said to them, watch out! Now it's with an exclamation point. So Jesus is like, watch out! And you're like, what should I watch out for, Jesus? Like, should I watch out for terrorists, Satanists, Seahawks fans? Like, what should I be watching out for? Like, because Jesus is like, you gotta watch out for something in your life. Watch what he says, watch out, be on your guard against all kind of greed. And most of us are like, whew, because I'm not greedy. None of us think we're greedy.

In fact, I've been a pastor for a long time now and I have never once have someone come to me and say, pastor, I need to confess something. I've had people confess all sorts of things. I've never once had someone confess, I'm greedy, ever once. And yet, do you know what the New Testament definition of greed is? Can I show you? It's actually a compound word. It's pleiosnexia in Greek, and it translates this way. Greed is wanting more ishness. That is the definition of greed. Have you ever been in a place where you've wanted more ishness? Well, yeah, that would be every single one of us. So we all have to wrestle with this idea of greed. And Jesus says, I want you to wrestle with it, to be on your guard against it, because he goes on to say this, because life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. Your life, the one who wins in this world is not the one who has the most. In fact, you're not rich when you get everything you want. You're rich when you want what you already have. Can I say that again? You're not rich when you get everything you want. You're rich when you want what you already have. It's called contentment. And Jesus doesn't warn us about greed

because he's trying to rob us of our joy. Jesus is not a killjoy. He's warning us about greed because you will find and discover over time that greed is what robs you of all joy. In fact, greed is a parasite that eats away at our peace because greed convinces us you're just one purchase away from happiness. You're one upgrade away from happiness. You're one new house away from happiness. And Jesus is gonna teach us very clearly throughout his word that when you learn to be content, that's when you find great gain in life. It's contentment. So we're gonna learn to reorder our lives, and we're gonna start this weekend talking about contentment. I wanna give you three big ideas if you want to learn to be content, and this is huge. If you're taking notes today, number one, contentment is learned. It's not natural. You know, no child wakes up one day and says, "'Mom and Dad, I don't need any more toys." And no adult wakes up one day and just by osmosis says, "'You know what? I don't need anything else.'" But we think we're gonna get there. Here's what so many of us think. We think, if I get to a certain income level, I'll be content.

And I have worked with hundreds of high, I'm talking people that are very, very wealthy, and I will tell you, it is 100% the opposite. You have to feel and understand this before it ruins your life. The more you get, the more you want. It does not go away. So contentment is learned. It's not natural. It's not a place you arrive in the future. In fact, the Apostle Paul says it this way in Philippians 4, 12, "'For I have,' say it out loud, "'I have what? Oh, he learned it. "'I have learned the secret of being content "'in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, "'whether living in plenty or want.'" How did Paul learn it? He oftentimes had to learn it the hard way, like many of us. Paul had a lot at one point in his life. Pre-Jesus, he was a big-time leader that came with, wealth, and status, and stuff, he'd had a lot, and then there were times in his life when he wrote this, he was in prison, he had little, and Paul says, I have learned a secret. I can be content in either situation. I can be content. So he learned it, and what we're gonna learn throughout scripture, even today, this is the big idea today,

is contentment isn't a place you arrive in the future, it's an attitude you embrace today. You don't arrive at contentment in the future, you have to embrace it with what you have today, it's an attitude you have to carry with you throughout your whole entire life, and the challenge is, this is so hard, again, because of marketing, media, especially social media, which is driven, you understand social media, the funding of social media is all through ads, and ads are there to convince you that you are not enough until you purchase what that company's offering. You understand that, right? So everything you get is an ad. In fact, when my kids were growing up, I used to watch TV with them on the couch, and when a commercial would come on, I would tell my kids, look, they're trying to trick you. I wanted them to learn at an early age what marketing is trying to convince us of. It will never help you become content. It's driven on greed, and you're wanting more-ish-ness. So Jesus is just like, come on. The world shouts, more. Jesus whispers, there's a better way. Contentment isn't natural. In fact, it's so hard to develop this, that do you know what Paul says next?

When he says, I've learned the secret of being content, that's Philippians 4.12. Philippians 4.13 is probably the most misquoted verse in all of Scripture. Here's what Paul says next. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Do you know where you see that verse? You see that verse on a football field, on sports t-shirts, you see it in the weight room, like someone's getting ready to squat something really heavy and they're like, I can do all things. It's like on the squat rack, you know? It's like, that's where you see this verse. Had you ever seen this verse or heard this verse in the context of someone saying, I'm gonna learn to be content? Now, I just ruined that verse for so many of you, right? But you can't ever take a verse out of context. Now, of course, Christ gives us the strength to do all sorts of things, but do you understand where the context of this verse is? I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Paul's saying, I can do it, I can learn to be content. And some of us are gonna need Jesus's strength to do this in our life. Let me just watch the verse again. I've learned the secret of being content, and all of a sudden, what's the very next verse? I can do all this through him who gives me strength. You need strength.

You need your eyes focused on Jesus and more of Jesus in your life, not less of him, if you're ever gonna learn to be content. In fact, some of you heard me tell my life story. I've told it many, many times over the years at CCV, but Jamie and I would tell you that when we first got married, our life was just driven by consuming. In fact, post-Bible college, I didn't go to the ministry right away. I went into the business world, and when I went into the business world, my goal was to make as much money as I could because I thought that was gonna make us happier. And I don't know how to explain this because I've been there. The more we got, it did not make us happier. In fact, it was almost the exact opposite. The only way I can describe it is that chasing more is like drinking salt water out of the ocean. When you drink salt water, it only makes you thirstier. It doesn't satisfy. And some of you are drinking salt water thinking it's gonna make you better. In fact, to get more only makes you want more. Do you remember the song? You remember the song? I can't get no, say it out loud. I can't get no. Why does that song resonate so much?

Because that's what so many of us feel. It doesn't matter what you have. Jim Carrey said it this way. I think everyone should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see it's not the answer. That's coming from a multi-multi-millionaire. God's trying to warn us, you can't consume your way to happiness. You content your way to happiness with what you have. Now, it's so hard. The second thing we have to learn on contentment is this. Contentment begins when comparison ends. So much of our discontentment is driven by what we see that others have and we compare what they have to what we have and we want what they have. In fact, the wisest man on earth, Solomon put it this way in Ecclesiastes 4. Then I observed that most people are motivated to success. because they envy their neighbors. Envy is a word that means I want what they have. And he says it's meaningless. It's a chasing after the wind. You'll never get it when you're comparing and going after what everyone else wants. In fact, one of the 10 commandments, think about this, this is one of God's top 10. This is the 10th commandment, the one we forget a lot, says this in Exodus chapter 20.

You shall not covet your neighbors. Do you know what he says next? Most of us think he says wife. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You know what he actually says? You shall not covet your neighbor's house. He goes on with wife and other things. You shouldn't covet anything they have. But he says house first. This cracks me up. This was written thousands of years ago. They were living in huts. Like apparently back then, the hut I was in, I was mad about your hut. Your hut's a little bit bigger. Now we have mansions and we compare like crazy. Have you ever in your life walked into someone else's house and said, I was content, now I'm not anymore? That's every single one of us. When Jamie and I bought our very first house and we were both working in the business world until the time we bought a large house, larger than we needed, and here's what we told ourselves. This is our what? Say it out loud. It's our forever house. No, it's not. You can convince yourself of that. It is not.

That's an excuse to get something more. It was not our forever house. And by the way, when we bought it, we were 100% content, 100% content. Until two months later, we walked into one of our friends' house. I'll never forget it. We're driving home. They had hardwood floors. We had carpet. We were content with carpet. Until we saw their hardwood floors. And for the next six months, we taught ourselves, bought, and installed ourselves hardwood floors throughout our house. We're barely married after that, okay? It was so tense, us doing that. And it's like, we just realized we're, like when we see something else that makes us discontent, which somebody needs to hear this today. As long as you compare, you'll never be content, ever. And I wish you outgrew this. I wish you'd got to a point where you saw what someone else had and you thought, I don't need that. No. In fact, this is embarrassing, but I'm just gonna tell you out of transparency, okay? Earlier this year, we had some good friends of ours.

They built a place in a remote part of Colorado. It's beautiful. It's this amazing, like large cabin. And they let us take our leadership team there. I mean, they let us stay there for free. And we got away and we got a new house. And it was amazing. They just let us stay at this retreat. And while I was there, I was staying in one of the bedrooms and it was their bedroom. And he said, hey, make sure you check out the bathroom. So I'm just gonna show you the video I took when I walked in the bathroom, okay? I took this, I walked in the bathroom. And when you walk in, the seat automatically pops up for you. Right, like that, right? It lights up. It's a heated seat. And do you understand how your mind starts saying tricks with you? I was like this. I was like, wait a second, I might need this. I mean, not that I'm content with what I have, but this could be like a safety feature. You know what I mean? Like in the middle of the night, people trip going to the bathroom. I mean, I don't want Jamie to fall and break an ankle. So if it automatically opens and lights up,

this could be really, really good, you know? And you can convince yourself of anything. You know what I'm saying? And heated seats, oh. Don't we play mind games to convince ourselves of what we need that someone else has? By the way, this is why you should go on a CCV mission trip. I'm serious. Every person here should go on a CCV mission trip because you can go overseas. You can even go down to Mexico, build a house for someone that's living in extreme poverty. And I promise you, you will come back with a completely different perspective. We have to stop comparing our lives to what people have that we don't. And as long as you compare, you'll never have enough. In fact, there's an interesting study done in the early 90s by Harvard. Harvard did a study where they just simply asked people this question, all things being equal, would you rather make $50,000 a year or $100,000 a year? Duh. Every single person chose $100,000 a year. Then they added one small caveat to see if it would change their answers. They said this, would you rather make $50,000 a year but others make $25,000 a year

or would you rather make $100,000 a year but others make $200,000 a year? So it's the same, 50 or 100. It just changed what other people have. What do you think most people chose in this scenario? Almost every person chose this answer. I will make less money as long as I have more than the people around me. In other words, this is crazy. I can't be content unless what I have compares as more to the people around me. Do you see the sickness in this? Do you see why Jesus said be on your guard against all kind of greed? It will destroy your life. So what do we do if we have to learn contentment and contentment will never come unless we stop comparing to each other? What is the answer for us being content? And I'm gonna tell you the third thing, and this is the most important point of the whole entire message, if you want to be content, if you want purpose and joy in your life, and here it is. Contentment requires a vision to consume less so you can blank more. You have to fill in the blank. You need a vision for your life that is bigger than consumption so you can learn to be content. Now, what would that vision be for you? What is your why?

Like, do you remember Simon Sinek years ago did a TED Talk. It's maybe one of the most famous TED Talks. He said you have to start with why. Because if you start with why, whether an organization or an individual, your why drives everything. And what I'm telling you is if you want to be content, you need a why. It has to be something that causes you. What's your why? What would you fill in the blank? Like, to say, man, I want to be content. So some people would say this. My why would be to eliminate debt. And that would be some of your whys. And by the way, that's a good thing. Some of you are in too much debt right now. And how did you get in debt? You weren't content. Almost all, I mean, unless it was a medical emergency, most of us, the reason we got in debt is because we weren't content. So getting out of debt could be your why. And that would be a really good why. But let me tell you why it will never lead to a life of contentment. Because the moment you get out of debt, you will have more money. And what will you likely do? Just consume even more.

And that's why some of you got out of debt and you went right back into debt. So your why can't be get out of debt. That's not a long-term solution for living a content life. Some of you, your why might be this. You're like, well, I'm gonna unclutter. I'm gonna simplify my life. That'd be great as well. Like some of you have garages full, closets full of stuff, drawers full. So you're gonna, I'm gonna be content and just kind of unclutter. That's awesome. But when you unclutter, what happens naturally? You just clutter back, right? Some of you, that's why you spring clean every single year. Here's another good reason. Some of you might say, my why is I'm gonna save more. I'm gonna learn to be content, consume less so that I can save more. Another good why. Most people in America today are not saving enough for their future. But let me tell you why saving will never be a long-term goal to get you content. Here's why. Most savings goals are usually just a delayed form of greed. Most savings goals, so I can retire earlier, which means what? So I can do what I want, play more golf,

go on more vacations, relax. That's just a delayed form of greed. I wanna save more so I can buy that second house, get the vacation home, buy someone, so I can go on bigger vacations. Do you understand our savings goals are usually about who? That's me. And that's why saving, like if savings is your why, it's a wise thing to do, God says, to save, but that will never help you really be content long-term. There's only one thing you can invest your life in that's your why that God says, Jesus confirms, and all the writers of scriptures tell us this is the only why that will allow you to live a content life, to have a filled-up life, to have a life of purpose, joy, and peace in this life that doesn't chase everything the world says is gonna make you happy, and can I read you what it is? Let's go back to the very beginning. First Timothy 6, six said what? But godliness with contentment is great gain. Let's keep reading. The very next verse says this. We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. In other words, there's no hearses behind, or there's no U-Hauls behind hearses, right? There's no U-Hauls behind hearses. When you die, everything goes back in the box, and when you get to heaven,

there's only one thing you get to take with you that you invested in on this earth, and that is people you impacted for Jesus, period. Nothing else will show up in heaven, nothing. So he goes on. I'm gonna say a pretty convicting verse, verse eight. But if we have food and clothing, we'll be content with that. And some of us are like, no, no, no, no, no. I want more than that. Listen, Jesus really cares about you, but he cares about your contentment so you can live the life he wants. And he goes on to tell us why this is a big deal. Verse nine, those who want to get rich and fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. And this is some of your stories. Some of you have a dad that chased riches and he wasn't there for you. Some of you have a family that your riches have divided your family. And now you're chasing the same thing. How crazy is that? Verse nine, verse 10, for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. All kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

And Paul goes on in verse 17 to say, command. This is a command to us. Command those who are rich in this present world. And by the way, that is all of us. If you live in America, you are richer than 90% of the world. Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant or put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, which richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. God does that. So what is the secret to contentment? And then Paul tells us, remember, this is a verse. He says, godliness with contentment is great gain. He's telling us how to get there, and he lands here. Verse 18, command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be what? Generous. To live a life where your why is generosity and willing to share. In this way, they'll lay up for themselves treasures as a firm foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. Contentment requires a vision to consume less so you can give more, so you can live a generous life. Now listen, some of you are thinking this. Of course that's what he'd say. He's a pastor. It's not me saying it. It's God saying it.

This is God's word. God says if you wanna truly learn to be content and consume less, the bullseye of your life cannot be what the world offers. It has to be you living a life of generosity. And don't take it from me. I want you to see one of the most powerful stories I have seen in a long time of someone in our church named Joshua Becker. For him and his family, he reoriented his life this way. Watch this. 15 years ago, my life changed dramatically. I was living in Vermont. It was my wife and I and we had two kids. We had been married 10 years. At the time, we had three pretty significant pay increases during those 10 years. With each pay increase, we assumed we would be able to get ahead financially, but we were never able to do that. It just seems like the more money that came in, the more money went out. Meanwhile, I got a garage I can't park in and closets are so full that they don't close. And I woke up on a Memorial Day weekend to do our spring cleaning. I had this vision of my five-year-old son helping me clean the garage, which as any parent would know, lasted about 30 seconds. He finds his baseball bat and a wiffle ball

and runs in the backyard, asking me to come play catch. I said, I can't because I need to work on this project. I start cleaning out the garage. One thing leads to another. Hours later, I'm still cleaning out the same garage. My son's running up about every 20 or 30 minutes, asking if I would come play catch with him. And I just keep pushing him off, like one more minute, one more minute, one more minute. A couple of hours into this project, my neighbor June, she's in her eighties, she's doing all of her yard work. We happened to walk past each other on the boundary line. And I think she sensed the frustration that was growing on my side of the hedge. And she says to me, the joys of home ownership, huh, Joshua? Very sarcastically. And I said, well, you know what they say, the more stuff you own, the more your stuff owns you, which I don't think I had ever fully processed before. But she changed my life with one sentence. She says to me, yeah, you know, that's why my daughter is a minimalist. She keeps telling me I don't need to own all this stuff. And I stood speechless as if this was the first time in the world somebody had told me that I didn't have to try to own everything. And I remember looking at the pile of dirty, dusty possessions I had pulled out of the garage, looking at the pile of things,

I would have said just like anybody else that I'm not looking for happiness in my possessions. My things aren't making me happy. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw my five-year-old daughter. old son swinging alone on the swing set in the backyard where he had been all morning long. And I suddenly realized not only were all my possessions not making me happy, but everything I owned was actually taking me away from the very thing that did bring me happiness in life. And not just happiness, but meaning and purpose, significance, joy, fulfillment. For me, that was the light bulb moment. We went on a journey, took us about nine months, got rid of 60 to 70 percent of our possessions. Three years later, moved into a smaller home and got rid of even some more stuff. Never really missed anything that we got rid of. In fact, just the opposite. The more we got rid of, the more we started to see our life improve in very practical ways. As we owned fewer possessions, it means that we had to spend less time cleaning. It means that we had more money. It means that things were easier to find in our life. It meant that we had more energy. We had more focus. We had fewer distractions. We had more time to spend on things that actually matter in life. The primary thing that we discovered in our life is that intentionally owning less stuff freed up more opportunity for generosity than we ever thought possible. The world will tell you that you will find more happiness in buying whatever they're selling. But in reality, giving away what we have to solve problems that we're passionate about is the best way to find happiness, meaning, fulfillment, well-being. All the things that we're chasing from the world are what is preventing us from being the generous people that we want to be. Wow. I could listen to Joshua for a long time because what he said is they have—he just discovered a secret that Paul talked about. He's learned the secret of living a content life, not chasing the things of this world, so he can have a bull's-eye in his life to be more generous and give to what matters. You know, Joshua Becker would never, never tell you this. He'd probably be mad at me even saying this, but he's one of the experts in the world today of kind of living this way. He has many books written if you want to go on Amazon. He serves every weekend at CCV. He's just all in. He's just a guy that's living this out.

But to me, it's a great example about how you reorder your life so you don't waste your life. It starts with contentment, and contentment isn't a place you arrive in the future. It's an attitude you embrace today. And how do you embrace that attitude? Remember what we said? Number one, it's learned. It's not natural. You got to put some work into this. And then two, you have to begin to realize that contentment begins when comparison ends. We have to stop comparing or you'll never be content. But where the rubber hits the road is right here. Contentment requires a vision to consume less so you can give more. That's to be the bullseye is living a generous life. Some of you heard Jamie and I tell our life story. Over 20 years ago, Jamie and I's bullseye for our life was consuming. We've been there, and we radically reordered our life. So for the last 20 years, our bullseye for our life has just been living a generous life. And it's changed everything. We say it saved our marriage. We believe nothing we have given our kids is more important than teaching them about generosity. It even teaches them about Jesus. Because who is Jesus? What's at the core of who Jesus is? John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he said out loud, he gave. He gave his one and only son. When we give, we are most like Jesus. Jamie and I would say nothing we have ever done has drawn us closer to God than putting the bullseye on generosity. And listen, we still have a long ways to go. We still struggle with trying to be content. And this message is convicting for me as it probably is anybody out there, because I want to live, I want to have the secret in my life of being content. Do you believe that living with contentment, with a bullseye towards generosity, would be the best life you could ever live? How will you ever know unless you reorder your life in that way? Until you do something like this. Life. Life is the free and joyful pursuit of self-interest. The generous may doubt this, but we know life offers more than a dedication to serving others. A spirit of love in the heart of God, we've moved on to something better. Money is what really matters. We don't believe all the hype about transforming our world. No, we want to live an extraordinary life of convenience and luxury. The sense of status and wealth, the power of instant gratification. We are uninterested in conforming ourselves to living with open hands, setting our eyes

on the everlasting. The better way forward? To build a world around ourselves. This is the mindset of our day. We would be foolish to live the generous life. We don't believe it is worth our time. But when we encounter Jesus, he reorders the priorities of our heart. It is worth our time to live the generous life. We don't believe the mindset of our day. We would be foolish to build a world around ourselves. This is the better way forward. Setting our eyes on the everlasting, living with open hands. We are uninterested in conforming ourselves to the power of instant gratification, the sense of status and wealth, convenience and luxury. No, we want to live an extraordinary life of transforming our world. We don't believe all the hype about money is what really matters. We've moved on to something better. The heart of God, a spirit of love and dedication to serving. Others may doubt this, but we know life offers more than a pursuit of self-interest. The generous life is the free and joyful life. Oh, I watched that, and it just messes me up. Because what I know is what would transform our world is when a group of Christians decided to live like that. To give up, trying to pursue what this world wants, and to say, Jesus, I want to live for you in something more eternal, something bigger than just more stuff. I want to live a generous life. And man, if you're motivated today, if you're inspired today, I praise God for that. Can I tell you something? That will wear off as this world pumps more ads and marketing at you. So you've got to take some action today.

You need to do something. So here's my challenge. It's a very simple challenge. And you do whatever God's telling you to do. That's the most important thing you do. But can I ask you one, issue you one challenge today? It would be this. I'm going to issue you a four-week no-spend challenge. Some of you are like, what? I just want you to pick one thing in your life that you know you are very discontented with. It could be clothes. It could be, for some of you, shoes. It could be something that you're always upgrading in your house. It could be something, who knows? Whatever it is for you. I just want you to pick one thing in your life that you'd say for the next four weeks, I will not spend anything on that. Because I want to reorder my life and be able to be a more generous person. Now, I don't know what that is for you. But God has something for all of us. And I think it's so beautiful that it's barbecue weekend this weekend. Do you know why we do barbecue weekend? By the way, it's such a great opportunity to just get out and have some community and meet people and just do life around a table because greatness happens. The conversations are so great around a table. I challenge you this barbecue weekend, go grab some food. You will not find a better deal anywhere. Grab some food and have a conversation with the people that you came with. Or maybe just a new friend about what does it look like in your life to give up that one thing for the next four weeks so God can begin to reorient your life.

Remember, contentment isn't a place you arrive in the future. It's an attitude you embrace today. And I just believe with everything inside of me that God has someone here today. Because it's time to reorder your life so you can have the life you've always wanted. Father, I pray for every person here today. We hear stories like Joshua's. We hear the upside down world of not living for everything in this world, God, but living more for you in eternity. And I know there's people here that want that so desperately, and yet we're so drawn to the things of this world. I know I am. And so, Father, would you just transform all of our hearts that we would be more content, we would consume less, so we can live a life of generosity for you and to change our world. I pray all this in Jesus' name. And all of a sudden, amen. Have a great barbecue weekend, everybody. We'll see you next week.