The Art of Divine Contentment | 1 Timothy 6:6-10; 17-19

Senior Pastor Damein Schitter finishes our series, The Art of Divine Contentment, preaching from 1 Timothy 6:6-10; 17-19.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello everyone.
This is Pastor Damian.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Lead us and give us life through Jesus Christ, our
Lord.
Amen, please remain standing,if you're able.
Scriptures from 1 Timothy 6,verses 6-10 and 17-19.
But godliness with contentmentis great gain, for we brought

(00:42):
nothing into the world and wecannot take anything out of the
world, but if we have food andclothing, with these we will be
content.
But those who desire to be richfall into temptation, into a
snare, into many senseless andharmful desires that plunge

(01:04):
people into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is a rootof all kinds of evils.
It is through this craving thatsome have wandered away from
the faith and pierced themselveswith many pangs.
As for the rich in this presentage, charge them not to be

(01:27):
haughty, nor to set their hopeson the uncertainty of riches,
but on God, who richly providesus with everything to enjoy.
They are to do good, to be richin good works, to be generous
and ready to share, thus storingup treasure for themselves as a

(01:48):
good foundation for the future,so that they may take hold of
that which is truly life.
This is God's word.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
God Well, good morning.
My name is Damian.
I'm glad that you all are hereNow.
I know that all of the Bible isequally inspired, but, wow,
that one right there Everysingle time.
I think this is so important.
As Ben said earlier, we'recompleting a four-week series on

(02:20):
the art of divine contentment,and the last two weeks last week
and now this week we'repreaching on money, and I
mentioned last week that, if youtake the percentages of how
many parables of Jesus's arespeaking to the deceitfulness of
riches, the danger of riches,we would regularly preach every

(02:42):
other week on that topic, ortwice a month.
So this is the one week thisyear where we're going to do it.
But as we think about that, itdoesn't surprise me that the
feedback that we've been gettingin this sermon series has been
really positive, in the sensethat things like, hey, I really
needed that, or I'm reallychallenged by that, really

(03:06):
needed that, or I'm reallychallenged by that.
And what I've loved is ithasn't been in terms of some
strange guilt, but rather anincreased awareness, and the
reason we're so pleased by thatis, of course, we'd want that to
happen all the time, but therewas something about this series
that resonated with Ben and me,and to know that it's landing
with you is equally encouragingand not surprising, because when

(03:28):
we talk about contentment in aradically consumeristic culture,
it is either very attractiveSiri thinks I'm talking to her.
So many jokes came to my mind,none of which would have been

(03:52):
edifying.
So let's continue.
So, when we think about the factthat we live in a radically
consumeristic culture, when wespeak to contentment, it's
either going to be somethingthat's very attractive or
something that's verythreatening, and it could be
both of those in equal measure.

(04:14):
But what I'm hearing from youall is that it is attractive,
because when we begin tounderstand the Bible's teaching
on contentment, it's like wereceive the vision of an oasis.
As a stranded traveler in thedesert, we see that there's a

(04:36):
place where we can drink fromand be content, where we can
find rest, and, honestly, manyof us don't find rest very often
.
As Ben said, there's always thenext thing, there's always the
next goal, there's always thenext zero in the paycheck or in
the bank account, and so todaywe're going to be exploring, for

(04:57):
the second week in a row, thetopic of money as it's related
to contentment, and I'm going tojust suggest that for most of
us, without regular intervention, money plays an oversized role
in our life.
Without regular intervention,money plays an oversized role in

(05:17):
our life, and it could be forlots of different reasons.
I mean for one.
At the heart of it is moneymakes incredible promises.
Now, for some of us, we grew upwithout money or with less
money than those we were around,and so we begin to orient our

(05:38):
life around money, thinking thatit will give us the power that
we wish we always had.
It will give us the controlthat we longed and longed to
have.
It'll give us the prestige thatwe saw in others and felt
radically lacking in ourselves.
And money offers us a way toall of those things in the

(06:01):
version that we can think andimagine.
For others, you grew up andmoney wasn't the issue in terms
of not having it.
You had it, but what you sawyour parents do was spend it
frivolously, unwisely using it.
And so, for you, youexperienced as a child the

(06:24):
overwhelming comfort that wemust have a lot of money,
because look at all of thesethings that we have.
And then the pendulum swung andall of a sudden you weren't so
sure anymore, and so maybe now,to protect yourselves.
You want money to hoard, tokeep, because you looked at the
way your parents spent itfrivolously and now you vowed
not to live like that.

(06:45):
But it's still about control,isn't it?
It's still about power.
You've become stingy and youcall it frugality, all while
feeling more righteous thaneveryone else.
And so, everywhere in betweenand on those two extremes, money
without regular intervention, Ibelieve, plays an oversized
role in our life.

(07:06):
So how do we right-size it?
How do we right-size it?
I want to share a quote with youthat sort of sums up this
introduction to me.
What is it about money thatdoes these things for us?
Well, look at this quote by JHBovink.
He says money is itself nothing, but it contains the promise of

(07:30):
everything.
Money is pure possibility, purepotentiality.
That is the real romance ofmoney.
Think about that Money used bythe evil.
One hijacks this God-givenbeautiful thing about human

(07:50):
image bearers.
When God creates us, he says befruitful, multiply, fill the
earth and subdue it.
We are to spread God's gloryall over the earth and we're to
do so by developing the worldand culture.
Well, what else does it takebut to see potentiality, to see
possibility?
God has made us this way.
The thing is is that when weput ourselves at the center, we

(08:14):
now lack the resources to live alife overflowing, and the
biggest counterfeit we can getto the power of God is the power
of money, because it isultimately exchangeable for all
of the things that we desire,and presumably, the more we have
, the more we can do.
The more we have, the morepotential and probability I'm

(08:37):
sorry the more probable we canbring about our vision of the
world.
And so I believe that there'ssomething really true about that
, that the real romance of moneyand what we'll see more
specifically, the love of moneyis that it romances us with

(08:58):
possibility and potential.
Where we get to be at thecenter, we're independent,
self-sustaining and unable to beharmed.
Okay, just two points today.
One is Paul has a warning aboutthis for us in verses six

(09:19):
through 10, and then we'll skipdown to verses 17 through 19 and
we'll see Paul's instructionsregarding money.
Okay, so first let's look atPaul's warning.
This is one of those passageswhere the thought-by-thought
preaching expositionally, whichis what I normally do, isn't

(09:39):
going to cut it, so we're goingto have to go word-by-word today
because there's so many rich,nuanced words.
Several words in this passageonly show up here in the New
Testament, and so let's walkthrough it together at a good
pace and stop where we need to.
So that means please open yourBibles, click on the app

(09:59):
whatever would be helpful haveit in front of you, starting in
1 Timothy 6, verse 6.
But godliness with contentmentis great gain.
So the context here is thatthere are false teachers that
Paul is interacting with in thebackground of this passage,
which shows up directly earlier,and one of the key things that
these false teachers believedand taught is that godliness can

(10:23):
be peddled for material gain,and they, in fact, were doing
this.
And so what Paul is doing hereis flipping that and he's saying
godliness with contentment isgreat gain, but not how they're
teaching you.
First of all, he addscontentment, and this word great
in front of gain is where it'smega.

(10:44):
When you read it, it's mega,it's like megalodon, like huge,
bigly right, big gain, all right.
So Paul is emphasizing thatgodliness with contentment is
great gain, but then, in verseseven, he makes this really
helpful transition in seven andeight, and this is what he's
doing.

(11:05):
He's speaking to how do weappraise real wealth, how do we
appraise real gain?
And essentially, I'll say thisnow.
I'll read it and say it againis that what Paul is saying is
real gain is gain that can neverbe taken from us.
Okay, verse 7,.
Okay, verse 7,.
For we brought nothing into theworld and we cannot take

(11:27):
anything out of the world.
As some of you have heard,there are no U-Hauls behind
hearses Verse 8,.
But if we have food andclothing with these, we will be
content.
And so what Paul is speaking tohere is that the way we know we
can appraise what is trulyvaluable, what wealth truly is,

(11:48):
is that when we receive it, italso continues with us.
This is what Paul is saying istrue gain, actual gain.
Thomas Watson has this quote inhis book the Art of Divine
Contentment.
He says when we look at ourempty pockets, but it is not so,

(12:24):
god may presently seal awarrant for death to apprehend
us, and when we die, we cannotcarry our estate with us.
That's just a fancy way ofsaying as you're trying to build
bigger barns and fill them up,your life could be required of
you.
And what gain was that right?
He's just saying it in a veryPuritan way.
And what gain was that right?
He's just saying it in a veryPuritan way.

(12:45):
He says honor and riches do notdescend into the grave.
Why then are we troubled at ouroutward condition?
Why do we disguise ourselveswith discontent?
I love this.
Oh, lay up a stock of grace.
Think about stocks.
Lay up a stock of grace.
Be rich in faith and good works.
These riches will follow us.

(13:06):
No other coin but grace will beaccepted in heaven.
Silver and gold will not gothere.
Labor to be rich toward God.
So this is what Paul is saying,is he's trying to reorient not
our desire for riches, but toorient and invest ourselves in
riches that last and mega gaingreat gain, he says.

(13:30):
He says be a better investor,invest in things that cannot be
taken away, that will alwaysincrease.
Now I want to say something hereabout verse 9, as we continue
on Particularly pay attention tothe word desire.
Here he says but those whodesire to be rich fall into

(13:57):
temptation, into a snare, intomany senseless and harmful
desires that plunge people intoruin and destruction.
I mean so graphic.
This word desire at thebeginning of verse 9, is a
different word than harmfuldesires.
So this is our first word, thatthis is the only time this word

(14:18):
for desire, the Greek wordshows up in the New Testament
and the word outside of the NewTestament always speaks to.
Let's read it, so I don't messit up to desire is to have or
experience something, with theimplication of planning
accordingly.
So here's the point.
As Paul says, those who desireto be rich, what he means is

(14:40):
those who have decided in theirmind I will be rich, come hell
or high water, I will be rich.
And then not just say that orwant it or think it, but then to
order their lives around it, todo everything, what you study
decisions, you make friends,that you spend time with

(15:02):
networks, that you seek to enterinto people, that you look over
the shoulder of the personyou're talking to in a room to
find those people, becauseeverything in your life is
oriented around this one aim,the center of the bullseye,
which is I will be rich.
That's what he means by thosewho desire to be rich.

(15:22):
And he says when we order ourlives in this way, we fall into
temptation, into a snare, intomany senseless and harmful
desires.
Harmful here.
Another one, a word that's onlyused here in the New Testament.
Outside of the New Testamentit's used as the opposite of
profit.
Think about that.
So profit is what we want, butthis word that is translated

(15:45):
harmful, here would have beenused as the opposite of profit.
So, for example, we might saydid you make a profit on that
investment?
The response here, to use thisword, would be no, it was a
harmful investment.
It actually was the opposite ofprofit.
It harmed me, it took from me,it wounded me, and so we have

(16:06):
these desires that aredisordered, that we think will
profit us, but they actuallyharm us.
This is what Paul is talkingabout.
This word plunge people intoruin and destruction is so
powerful and I'll get to verse10 in a second.
But here's the idea so far ofwhat Paul is saying.
And I'll get to verse 10 in asecond.
But here's the idea so far ofwhat Paul is saying Is, when we
organize our life, we alwaysorganize it around a telos,

(16:29):
around something that's worthyof giving ourselves to.
And Paul is warning the peoplewho make money or riches, the
thing this is what will happento their life.
This phrase fall into temptationis present tense, which simply
means that it's likely to happen.
Whenever it's used in this way,it's just it's likely to happen

(16:51):
.
Paul's saying high probability,very high probability, that if
you set your life on riches youwill end up destroyed.
So he's saying that when youorganize our life around the
desire for riches, the desireonly gets frustrated.
So then we aspire to striveharder and organize more and
plan better.

(17:12):
All he says for a false sourceof life.
And so what he says is thatreal gain, gain is found in
godliness and contentment, andcontentment refers to
satisfaction with one'scircumstances.
It's been unpacked for us sowell the first two weeks.

(17:34):
Now what Paul is saying here isthat whatever exceeds the basic
necessities of life but is notturned into a necessity, let me
say it this way what Paul issaying is that contentment finds
itself resting in thenecessities of life.

(17:55):
And when we have excess ofnecessities which I'm just gonna
go on a limb and say all of ushave the excess of necessities
of life and when we have excessof necessities which I'm just
gonna go on a limb and say allof us have the excess of
necessities we should receive itwe'll talk about this more
later we should receive it withgratitude.
But the danger is we will makethat excess of necessities no
longer excess but necessity.
And anytime we make excessnecessity, we lose all

(18:18):
contentment.
This is what Paul is saying.
If we make excess necessityinstead of gift, we will not be
content.
But if we keep necessities,necessities and enjoy excess
above that as a gift to bereceived, we still can
experience excess andcontentment.
Okay, let's keep going.

(18:44):
Last word I want to point out isit is through this craving that
some have wandered away fromthe faith and pierced themselves
with many, and piercedthemselves with many pangs.
Craving here could betranslated immoderate desires,
foolish desires and seeking toaccomplish as a goal.
So the reason I'm pointing thisout is because he starts this

(19:06):
idea with those who orient theirlives around money.
He uses a certain word, acertain idea, and then he uses a
different word to communicate avery similar idea.
At the end it it's this craving, and so he's bookending it.
Making sure we understand moneyis not the issue.
It's our craving, disorderedhearts that are the issue.
It's using money to be our Godas opposed to looking to God to

(19:32):
provide what we're demanding.
Money provide Power, control,safety, prestige.
This is what Paul is warninghere the false teachers I mean.
The good thing is is that wedon't have any false teachers
today telling us that money willgive us everything, like Paul
did.
You know what I mean, so Iunderstand that it's relatively
benign nowadays.

(19:53):
We certainly don't havepreachers using godliness as
financial gain.
We certainly don't havepreachers using godliness as
financial gain.
I mean, can you imagine that?
I mean, can you imagine ifthere was a whole industry made
to decide where to put things onthe shelf, to stir up in you
competition and craving to getmore money, to get that thing

(20:15):
Like billions of dollars pouredinto this?
Can you imagine if there was awhole industry of marketing and
commercials to find out whatyour exploited weaknesses are,
based on your internet searches,to show you exactly what you
think you need and you want toorient everything around?

(20:37):
I mean, if that were true, thiswould be insanely relevant.
So let's just imagine that it'strue as we keep going.
So I want to illustrate thisfrom a person, a woman, who's
not a Christian, as far as Iknow.
I first came across thisarticle in Fast Company online.
It's called Three Common Traitsof Workaholics.

(20:59):
She wrote a book.
This excerpt is from one of herbooks and her name is Manisha
Thakur.
And listen to what she says.
She says, having worked inmoney management for over three
decades, I've seen how anobsession with work, money and
career advancement can destroyrelationships.

(21:19):
Now, what am I illustratinghere?
I'm illustrating everything.
But think about particularlyhere, for the love of money is a
root, not the root.
A root.
The word the is not there inGreek, so if it's translated,
the, it's a presumption, a rootof all kinds of evil, harmful
desires, senseless desires.

(21:40):
So this is multifaceted.
What this orientation of lifeand the corresponding snares and
traps produce, it's ourrelationship with ourselves,
with God and with others.
So hear some of those things inher testimony here.
She says ironically, in my owncase, it wasn't until I faced a
serious health crisis on thecusp of turning 50 that I paused

(22:03):
long enough to realize I haddone exactly this to myself.
So here's the picture she's inthe financial industry, working
with people that she's seeingall around her giving way to
this temptation.
She's watching their lives blowup and she's secretly thinking
man, I'm glad that's not me, I'mglad that's not my life.
Then she gets sick and looks upand guess what?

(22:25):
No one's around her.
This is what she says in thatreflection.
I had optimized my entire lifearound, remember.
Remember Paul's word Right here, verse eight, but verse nine
rather, but those who desire tobe rich, those who orient their
life around riches money.

(22:45):
This is what she says.
I had optimized my entire lifearound the equation net worth
equals self-worth, she goes onto say, convinced that the more
money I earned, the morevaluable I was as a human being.
I simply would not step awayfrom my desk, no matter the
trail of wrecked relationshipsin my wake.
She goes on.

(23:07):
What I call self-worth equalsnet worth mindset psychologist
Deborah Ward describes as quotefinancially contingent
self-worth or quote a desire toachieve financial success.
Translation Financialcontingent self-worth is

(23:31):
organizing one's life around thesuperordinate goal of becoming
rich, because self-worth equalsnet worth equals self-worth.
So Ward and her co-authorstudied nearly 2,500 subjects.
That's a lot, in case you wantto know, it is a lot.
They studied nearly 2,500subjects to find that people who

(23:52):
exhibit high levels offinancially contingent
self-worth suffer fromloneliness, disconnection and
self-imposed pressure to workmore, which then in turn makes
them more lonely and puts evenmore stress on their
relationships.
In a follow-up study, theyturned their attention to
couples and found that those ofus who tie our net worth to our

(24:16):
self-worth experience lesssatisfying relationships, in
part because we prioritize moneyover relationships.
So she goes on to reflect onthis.
And she says I'm embarrassed toadmit that I've chosen to earn
more money rather than invest inmy relationships.
Many times over I even skippedmy grandmother's funeral because

(24:38):
I was too busy with a projectwhich I can't even recall today.
She said I remember thinkingwell, gran knew I loved her, but
she's dead now and I haveimportant work to do.
End quote.
She said it hadn't occurred tome that funerals are not about
the person who passed.
They're about those who aregrieving and need support and, I

(24:59):
would add, and self-reflectionhave you ever been to a funeral?
Have you ever left a funeralfeeling more invincible?
Have you ever left a funeralthinking, man, I need to go back
to work?
I doubt it.
And, in all seriousness, if youhave most people don't.
Most people don't leavefunerals and think that Most

(25:23):
people leave funerals and thinkabout how vulnerable we are.
Most people leave funerals andthink about how do I enrich
relationships, how do I repairwith those who I've ruptured
relationship with?
Who do I repent to?
Right Now?
Listen as we close here, paul'swarnings.
This is not a pronouncement ofjudgment on wealthy people.

(25:46):
It's not.
And if that's what you hear sofar, you're hearing what I'm not
saying.
Okay, but we'll say more aboutthis.
Paul actually wants to speakdirectly to wealthy people.
No, what this is is Paul'smaking a point that the pursuit
of riches is spirituallyhazardous and does not

(26:07):
contribute to contentment orgodliness.
Net worth and godliness are notdirectly correlated.
Contentment and net worth arenot correlated directly.
This is what Paul is saying.
If you organize your lifearound that thing which you want
contentment in, he's saying,you won't find it.

(26:27):
Now.
I drew this out earlier, butbefore we move on, I need to
draw it out again.
Love of money.
Again, this is one of thoseother words that it's the only
time it's used in the NewTestament.
This particular word, and whatit's describing as we look at
its uses outside the NewTestament, is the person who

(26:48):
sets their heart on possessingmoney and thus breaking the
first commandment, becausethey're setting their heart on
possessing money, having it, andthey do everything to have that
thing.
Now, in Jesus's parables if youremember a parable, jesus says
there was a man who was wise,who had a lot of money, and he

(27:11):
did something because he sawsomething worth giving
everything for and orienting hislife around.
And what he actually did was hetook all of his money because
he found a treasure buried in afield and he sold everything he
had.
He put it all to buy that fieldand I'm sure all of his friends

(27:32):
looked around and said thisguy's foolish.
He has no idea what he's doing,but rather what he recognized
as the thing that I think richeswill give me.
I've actually found somewhereelse, and of course the parable
is that it's in Jesus Christ,the Son of God, the true

(27:53):
treasure hidden in a field.
He was willing to giveeverything for that, and so Paul
, over the place, is alludinghere actually to the Sermon on
the Mount.
Ben and I were talking aboutthis earlier.
So many allusions to the Sermonon the Mount, for example.
Almost a direct quote.
But if we have food andclothing with these things,
we'll be content.
This is almost a direct quoteof Jesus, from Jesus, rather.

(28:17):
And so when we make riches ourgoal, we fall into temptation.
Paul's making it clear I'll sayit one more time the pursuit of
riches as your life aim willnot lead to contentment, because
contentment is found inrelationship with Christ and
experiencing him as enough,because he cannot be taken away.

(28:38):
You did nothing to earn hislife, death and resurrection for
you.
You received his gift and hecan never be taken away.
And so, if these are thewarnings, pretty heavy.
What are Paul's instructionshere as we close?
Well, look with me in verse 17.

(28:58):
As for the rich in this presentage, charge them to feel
terrible about themselves.
No, that's not what he says.
What he says is charge them notto be haughty.
What is this?
This is a warning againstself-sufficiency, because

(29:19):
haughty people look around andthey think good thing, I don't
need anybody else.
Good thing, I'm superior thaneveryone else.
Good thing, I have more control, more power, more influence
than everyone else.
That's what haughty people do.
But Paul says charge them notto be haughty, right, in other

(29:44):
words, warn them of thetemptation to self-sufficiency.
And then he says History showsthat riches are uncertain, and
not only that.
Several of us, statisticallyspeaking, will find ourselves at
some point, no matter howwealthy we are, no matter how

(30:04):
connected we are.
We will receive some diagnosisby which the connection to
certain hospitals and physicians, the amount of money we can
deploy to something, will notsave us.
We will find ourselves there.
And then we will read verse 7and we'll think oh, I get it,

(30:26):
for we brought nothing into theworld and we cannot take
anything out of the world.
Paul is saying warn them againstself-sufficiency and not to set
their hope on the uncertaintyof riches.
Okay, but where do we set ourhope?
But on God, who richly providesus with everything to enjoy.
I love this.
God wants us to enjoy theexcess that he's given us the

(30:53):
excess, of course, inrelationships, the excess in
friendships.
So many of us are so wealthyand yet we're so distracted by
what we don't have that we can'teven enjoy the excess, the
riches that God has given to usas a gift.
And Paul is saying remind themthat it's God who richly

(31:19):
provides everything for us toenjoy.
There's something so powerfulhere.
But then he goes on in verse 18.
How do we enjoy the excess wehave?
And, by the way, if you'rewondering, am I rich?
The answer is yes.
I mean, historically speaking,yeah, where we are right now, I

(31:40):
mean you are in the top, like 1%globally, of human beings who
live right now.
If you make the, I think, likethe median household income,
even a little less than that,and certainly in human history,
this is the wealthiest time thatany person could experience
life.
And so, yeah, we should enjoy it.
We should receive it, but thenthe question is how do we enjoy

(32:02):
it?
How are we to enjoy it?
And Paul tells us they are todo good and to be rich in good
works, to be generous and readyto share this word share.
What Paul's instructing us richto do is that we are to utilize
both our riches and our livesin truly rich ways.

(32:24):
I love that, just how manytimes he's using the word rich
To use our lives and our richesin rich ways, that is to say by
sharing and being rich in gooddeeds and investing in our lives
and our wealth in that whichwill lead to permanent treasure.
That's what he says in verse 19.
Thus storing up treasure forthemselves as a good foundation

(32:46):
for the future, so that they maytake hold of that which is
truly life.
And that last sentence we'llcome back to at the end.
But I just wanna pause for amoment and think, like
self-diagnostically how often dowe enjoy what God has given us
I mean truly enjoy and how busyare we rather than not enjoying

(33:13):
and rather grasping for more?
Because here's the thing, thisis really what I'm getting at no
matter how wealthy you are, ifyou have a little bit of excess
or a lot of excess until youlearn to enjoy it.
You cannot be generous Becauseyou'll always be holding on,
even if you're letting go yourheart's holding on.
You're thinking, ah, I just,it's a zero-sum game.

(33:37):
I can't, I can't, I can't letgo of this because, because
you're so acutely aware of whatyou don't have, it causes fear
and it causes miserliness.
But rather, if, if we can learnto enjoy whatever excess we have
, we begin to loosen our grip,because what we're doing is
receiving rather than grasping.

(33:57):
We're saying, oh Lord, thankyou for these gifts.
Thank you for these gifts.
I want to share them, I want tobe open-handed with them and,
as Ben has said, I think in bothsermons, so hopefully in the
first two weeks, wherever ourattention goes, our awareness
grows.
So if our attention goes to thezeros we lack, the things we

(34:17):
lack, our awareness will grow ofall the other people around us
who have those things, whichwill shut down our heart and our
hands.
Our generosity will shrinkBecause, listen, however wealthy
you are, you will always findyourself in a group of people

(34:37):
that have more than you.
That's just how it is.
Some of you are recent collegegraduates and you think, man,
once I get a full-time job, andyou're gonna get that full-time
job and you're gonna be hangingout with your friends who also
just recently graduated andyou're gonna be acutely aware of
the people who are in yourstage of life, who are making
more money than you, and thenthat's just, without

(35:00):
intervention, going to continue.
Those people who are reallywealthy, who are millionaires,
they're always aware of who's inthe next bracket above them.
Those who are millionairesalways have at least one person.
They know truly who's abillionaire, and there's a big
difference between a millionaireand a billionaire.
My point is our awareness anduntil we enjoy, until we learn

(35:24):
how to receive as gift, wecannot be generous with anything
that we have Our time.
If you think, man, I can't geteverything done, how likely are
you to be generous with yourtime, your energy, your
attention, your emotions and, ofcourse, your finances, any
resource you have?
Have you ever heard of CharlesFeeney?

(35:47):
Probably not.
He wants it that way.
Feeney was raised in a workingpoor household, but he ended up
quietly becoming amulti-billionaire and gave
nearly all of his $8 billionfortune to charity In his life.
He left $2 million for himselfin his last years of life.

(36:09):
He lived till 92.
He just died a couple years ago.
He gave nearly all of his $8billion fortune to charity, much
of it as quietly as he had madeit in his lifetime and that is
to say, how quiet Anonymously.
By the early 1980s he wasfunneling tax-free annual
dividends of $35 million a yearinto hotels, land deals, retail

(36:33):
shops and clothing companies.
He later invested in techstartups, multiplied his income
exponentially by age 50, he hadpalatial homes in New York,
london, paris, honolulu, sanFrancisco, aspen and on the
French Riviera by 50.
But all of a sudden he becametroubled by what he called an

(36:55):
opulent life of black tiedinners, grand yachts and values
, far from his family andfriends where he was born, in
New Jersey.
He was beginning to have doubtsabout his right to have so much
money.
That's what he said Hisbiographer wrote of Mr Freeney
in the book the Billionaire whoWasn't.

(37:18):
When asked many years later ifhe was rich at this point in his
life after all those things, hereplied how much is rich?
How much is rich?
That's what he wanted to know.
What do you mean by that?
How much is rich?
No one thinks they're rich, not.
Ultimately, they're most awareof who's more rich than them.
But then he said, yes, by allexpectations, he's rich Beyond

(37:40):
all deserving, so to speak, hesaid.
He said I just reached theconclusion with myself that
money buying boats and all thetrimmings didn't ultimately
appeal to me.
But check this out His nameappeared on none of the 1,000
buildings on five continentsthat he gave $2.7 billion to
build.

(38:02):
He gave grants to institutionsand individuals that were paid
by cashier's checks to concealthe source.
By the way, he never got taxbenefits because he didn't want
to be able to be known that itwas him.
Beneficiaries were told thatthe money came quote from a
generous client who wished toremain anonymous end quote.
Those who learned his identitywere told not to reveal his

(38:25):
involvement.
Forbes magazine said that noone of such riches had ever
given away a fortune socompletely while still alive.
But as Mr Frini said as hesigned on to the pledge quote, I
cannot think of a morepersonally rewarding and
appropriate use of wealth thanto give, while one is living, to

(38:47):
personally devote oneself tomeaningful efforts to improve
the human condition end quote.
Warren Buffett later said thatmost people don't know who he is
, but if they did, he would betheir hero like he is mine.
We've heard of Warren Buffett.
Now, the point, of course, inthis illustration is not that
money must be given anonymouslyand that you're somehow doing it

(39:08):
wrong if you don't.
No, that's not my point at all.
The point I'm trying to makethat I was so like overwhelmed
by, is that, from all intentsand purposes, from what I read
on him, I don't think that heeven did this as a Christ
follower.
I think what happened is thathe tapped into a reality that
many of us need to experience,and very few of us will get to

(39:29):
experience the extreme to whichhe experienced it.
And we have to, by faith,listen to Mr Freeney.
But guess what?
More than that, a moretrustworthy witness might be
Jesus and Paul.
And I think he discovered whatPaul is teaching here Is that,
again to quote him, I cannotthink of a more personally
rewarding and appropriate use ofwealth than to give while one

(39:50):
is living.
He could have just left it tosomeone else to make the hard
decisions of where to give itand how to give it and how much
to give it.
He could have done that, but no, he organized his life in such
a way not to pursue it but togive it.
And if you read on, he said Igave my, my children, uh,
something like a reasonable orresponsible amount, nothing over

(40:12):
the top.
Gave the rest away at fivechildren gave the rest away and
kept two million to myself tolive the rest of his days.
He had to close down hisoffshore.
He put his organization that hegave through offshore so that
he didn't have to follow taxcode to reveal his identity.

(40:33):
So it wasn't to like scam moremoney, it was so that I don't
have to tell people who I am.
And when people found out whoit was, it's because he closed
it down, because he had givenall the money away.
You see, the point is that hecaught a rare glimpse of a true
fact that money did not bringcontentment.
You see, to be like God, goingback to verse six, godliness

(40:57):
with contentment is great gainis to live a life full and
overflowing with love andgenerosity, not a life that's
inward oriented and grasping indesperation.
And you don't have to be poorto be desperate.
You just have to be acutelyaware of the fact that you've

(41:18):
organized your life aroundriches, around potential, around
possibility.
That romance, oh my goodness, Ideeply resonate with this.
I mean studying these last twoweeks has shown me, when I think
of money and making more money,my first thought is not

(41:46):
generosity.
My second thought also notgenerosity.
It's not until I feel convictedthat my first through five
thoughts should have beengenerosity.
It's not until I feel convictedthat my first through five
thoughts should have beengenerosity.
Like I'm not exaggerating, Ijust realized how much how I

(42:07):
have a miserly heart, a heartthat is not so often in this
area, is not filled andoverflowing, but it's actually
close-fisted and doubtful.
And, honestly, I don't thinkit's ultimately because I think
my net worth equals myself-worth.
I think it's just because Ithink about all of the ways that

(42:31):
I wanna make my life easier,all the ways that I wanna make
my life less dependent on others.
I mean, there's a whole movementto retire as early as possible,
not to be necessarily generousalthough that does exist,

(42:53):
because you can be generous withyour time, you can be generous
with your resources, but it's sothat I don't have to answer to
anyone.
It's so that I can be incontrol of my life like I've
always wanted to.
It's so that I can do whateverI want, and I resonate with that
so badly.
Oh, if I was independentlywealthy, I think what would

(43:15):
happen is it wouldn't change mycharacter, it would reveal it.
I think that it would reveal tome how real it is in my own
heart that I think having moremoney alone will make me more

(43:36):
content.
And I just have to believe thatmany of you feel the same way,
that you resonate with thisexperience that I'm trying to
communicate to you.
And so what have I done andthis is where I'll close, what

(43:58):
have I done this week, as I'vejust become acutely aware of the
temptations that Paul say comeuniquely when your heart begins
to love money, believing it willgive you what only God can give
you, which is what I'veuncovered some this week in my
own heart.

(44:19):
It's that godliness is toreceive an overflowing abundance
, a generosity that once wereceive we can actually give.
And in not only receiving, butonly receiving and giving, do we
experience the contentment,because we recognize that that
generosity we receive from Godwill never end.

(44:41):
It will never end, and what wesee is to be like God, is to be
full and overflowing with loveand generosity.
And of course, we see thisultimately in our Lord, jesus
Christ, who is seated at theright hand of the Father, equal
in power and glory.
Yet he emptied himself.

(45:02):
He emptied himself so that hecould fill us with his power,
fill us with his righteousness,fill us with his joy, fill us
with his righteousness, fill uswith his joy, fill us with his
contentment and, ultimately, tomake us like himself.
This is the goodness, this isthe invitation we have to

(45:26):
experience godliness withcontentment, which is great gain
.
And so, before I pray, I justwanna prime you for the
reflection which I'll come to ina minute, which is join me
today, even now and this week,to enjoy the goodness of God and

(45:50):
his gifts to you, so that inthat we can begin to take one
more step towards godliness,towards contentment and towards
generosity, because it's onlywhen we let go of that which
we're grasping on that we thinkis truly life, but it's not.
We let go of that so that wecan take hold of that which is

(46:14):
truly life, which is JesusChrist.
Let's pray.
Father, I ask now that youwould come, send your spirit and
that you would do two thingssimultaneously that you would
reveal any love of money in ourhearts and separate that from

(46:42):
money itself.
That we would know that theissue is our hearts.
We have a good desire to befilled, to be overflowing, to be
secure, yet our bad strategymakes our hearts turn to money,
to love money, as we ought tolove you.
We trust money so often insteadof trusting you to provide.

(47:02):
And the second thing I ask isthat you would give us insight
into how richly you've blessedus and that we wouldn't turn our
face in shame but we wouldactually receive it with
thanksgiving, that we wouldreceive with open hands and then
experience both contentment anda generosity that wells up from

(47:23):
within, that doesn't come froma guilty conscience, and we pray
these things in Jesus' name,amen.
Now I just invite you to take amoment and reflect on anything,
of course, that you've heard inthe sermon, but maybe you can
turn your attention to whatfears you have after hearing
this.
What fears do you have and whatdesires do you have?

(47:45):
Whichever one's stronger?
Take a fear, take a desire and,rather than sort of cowering
inside, away from the presenceof God, come boldly into the
presence of God and be honestand let him heal you, let him
speak to you in this moment.
Let's take a few moments.