(Opened message with showing of U2 “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” Music Video)
Even though that song is now pushing 20 years old, it may more than any other song continue to describe our culture today. A culture littered with people who are searching, running, scaling, looking for something but not finding it. And unfortunately many people think they’re going to find it in the accumulation of things.
A typical grocery store in the United States in 1976 stocked 9,000 items; today that same market carries 30,000 different items. More choices, for people that want more things. The average American adult receives 32 credit card offers per year, regardless of their credit history, and the average American has four major credit cards with an average total credit card debt of $9,000.00. More spending, for people that want more things.
If you have a balance of $3,900 of credit and you pay the 3% minimum it will take you nearly 42 years to pay off the debt, and those monthly payments would total $14,530.44. But we still haven’t found what we’re looking for.
What do you think that the favorite pastime of female teenagers is? In a recent survey, 93% of female teenagers said that shopping was their favorite pastime. Dating was a distant second. One Father said, “If my girls don’t go to the Mall for 3 days, the mall sends them a get well card.” And they still haven’t found what they’re looking for.
The average American is exposed to 3,000 advertisements a day that promise happiness.
So we look for the get rich quick scheme. Gambling for instance. People gambling in this country lose more than $50 billion annually in legal wagering, a figure that has increased every year for over three decades. Today, all but two states have some form of legalized gambling from lotteries to river boats. Surveys show that about 20% of those that declare bankruptcy do so primarily because of debt incurred through gambling.
Running, scaling, looking, but we still haven’t found what we are looking for. The most toured home in America is the White House. Does anyone know where the second most toured home in America is?
The second most toured home in America is in Memphis, Tennessee. It’s the 23 room home of the King of Rock and Roll - Elvis Presley. (thank you, thank you very much).
Graceland is toured by hundreds of people every day. 15 million dollars a year is brought in by those visiting and looking at the cars, clothes, airplanes, records. And few people in his time made as much money as quickly as he did. Elvis seemed to have it all: money, airplanes, cars, mansions. But most of us know how that story ended.
In fact, if you go fifty yards from the back door of Graceland you find a tombstone. August 16, 1977, just 42 years old. An overdose of pills. Depression. The story goes that he was so drugged in the last days of his life that he passed out while he was eating dinner alone and he nearly drown when his face fell in his bowl of soup.
He had as much as anybody in his time, and he said at one point, "I would give a million dollars for one day of peace." It appears that he never did find what he was looking for.
There was a similar man of similar wealth thousands of years earlier. We read about him in I Kings, chapter 21. His name is Ahab. He is a King. He has a huge palace, power, control, every material thing he could want. Well. . .almost every material thing he could want. You see, he doesn’t have this little garden plot owned by the King’s neighbor Naboth. Look at this story. I Kings 21 (read through verse 4).
What a big baby. He can’t have this little piece of land for a vegetable garden, so he is going to starve himself, and pout on his bed. Verse 5 (read through verse 16).
Ahab’s greed leads to the death of an innocent man, and we don’t have time for the rest of the story today, but if you follow the remainder of I Kings you will find that gaining this new piece of land did little to bring any peace or contentment to Ahab’s life. He still didn’t find what he was looking for.
Jesus was teaching in the book of Luke, and he declared, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (12:15, ESV) If you look to money, material things to satisfy your life... you still won’t find what you are looking for.
So Paul encouraged the young pastor Timothy to teach and live true, Godly contentment. Turn with me to I Timothy 6. Verse 6 (read through verse 9).
Let’s look at a few thoughts Paul communicates in these words. First. . .
1. A GREATER GAIN OF GODLINESS IS FOUND WHEN CONTENTMENT IS ADDED TO THE MIX.
Ever met anyone who was living a godly life? They were focused in on holiness. Their thought life was pure. Their actions were righteous. And they seemed 100%, through and through, entirely miserable! Godliness by itself is an important character challenge, but if you can add to your life of godliness some internal contentment, what a great gain.
Look at what it says in Psalm 37:16 to help us understand this combination. “Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.”
Solomon echoes these thoughts in Proverbs. “Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice.” (Proverbs 16:8, ESV)
If you are striving to live a godly life. If you desire to please God with your actions and behaviors, add to the mix contentment. Be at peace with what you have as you live that life, and you will experience great gain.
How do you achieve that contentment? Well, look at what else Paul says. Verse 7 (read). Paul says. . .
2. YOU DIDN’T HAVE IT. YOU WON’T HAVE IT. WHY WORRY ABOUT IT?
Do you remember how this whole thing called life started? It looked something like this. (show picture of newborn baby). Now you can stare at this picture for hours, and I can pretty much guarantee you, you aren’t going to find any bling. When that dude came out, he had nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nadda.
And as the old play declares, “You can’t take it with you.” When it is all said and done, you will be right back where you started, and you still won’t have anything.
There was an elderly man who was desperately ill. Knowing the time for his departure was near, he called for his closest friends to come see him one last time. Attending him were his doctor, his pastor and his business manager.
The old man said, “I know you can’t take it with you, but who knows for sure? What if the experts are mistaken? I want to account for all possibilities. So I’m giving you each an envelope containing $100,000. When I die, I want you each to slip the envelope in my jacket pocket at the funeral service. Then, if I do need money in the life to come, I’ll be ready. And I’m giving the envelopes to you because you are my most trusted friends.”
Shortly thereafter, the man did die. Each of his three friends was seen slipping something into the deceased’s coat pocket as he walked up to the casket to pay his final respects.
Following the service, while these friends were visiting with each other, the doctor, with a sheepish look on his face, said, “Guys, I have a confession to make. You know with the cost of medicine today, I don’t make that much money. The hospital is desperate for funds. We can’t even replace the CAT scan machine that’s broken down. So, I took $20,000 for the new CAT scan and put the rest in the coffin.”
The minister cleared his throat and looked down at his shoes. He said, “I, too, have a confession to make. As you know, our church is seriously overburdened by the needs of the homeless. I couldn’t just see burying that money. So, in hopes of helping the homeless, I took $50,000 out of the envelope and put the rest in his pocket.”
Looking sternly at the doctor and the minister, the businessman exclaimed, “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I am astonished and deeply disappointed that you would treat a solemn trust so casually. He was our friend. I want you to know that I placed in his casket my personal check for the full $100,000.”
You can’t take it with you. You didn’t have it to start with. So why spend your short time here on earth worry about it? Why allow the great gain that awaits you in life to be blocked by worry, and stress over things that are so temporary?
Rodney Buchanan wrote a poem, or reflection of sorts entitled –
I AM REALLY CONTENT...
I am really content — until I start looking through the Sears catalogue.
I liked my car — until I saw the new P T Cruiser.
I am satisfied with my clothes — until I stroll through American Eagle, or the other Mall stores.
I love our home — until I think of what it would be like to own a log cabin on the shore of some remote lake.
I am satisfied with every area of my life — until I start comparing with someone else’s life.
I feel like I have enough of everything — until I see someone who has more.
It is so easy to get derailed from monetary contentment. And this doesn’t just apply to those things we don’t have. How about those things we do have?
Psalm 62 says it like this, “Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.” (62:10, ESV)
Even if we do prosper financially, don’t let that be where our heart falls. We didn’t have it when we came. We won’t have it when we leave. So don’t let it be the source of our contentment. In fact, Paul even goes on to suggest that. . .
3. MATERIAL CONTENTMENT SHOULD BE FOUND IN MINIMAL MATERIALS: FOOD & CLOTHING.
We talked a few weeks ago about riches. And when we broke down what Paul refers to here in this passage, the words he uses don’t just mean the clothing on your body, but shelter. A place to live.
But that is it. Paul says, as far as being content financially, that is all you should need.
John Ortberg, a Christian author, writes about living in Chicago with his wife and three small children. As you might guess, when they went out to eat, there was only one place the kids ever wanted to go, "the shrine of the golden arches." He said his children seemed to be convinced that they have a McDonald’s-shaped vacuum in their souls.
He said the kids always wanted the same thing. And you know what it is, the same thing all kids want. It’s a combination of the food, about which they really don’t much care, and a little prize. It’s not much of a prize, really, just some cheap little plastic thing. Usually a hideous little toy that captivates the child’s interest for all of 15 minutes.
But in a moment of marketing genius, the folks at McDonald’s gave it a particular name. They called it the Happy Meal. It is "the meal of great joy." You aren’t just buying chicken McNuggets and a tiny plastic Hercules ring. You’re buying happiness.
And in some ways there is a lesson to learn from those little meals and from children in general. Any of you parents remember the tons of money you forked into Christmas presents for your children when they were little, bitty things. And after shelling out all that cash, they tear open the present, and spend the next four days playing with the wrapping paper and the box. I don’t know why I didn’t do all my Christmas shopping the first four or five years at the U-Haul supply store.
But children can experience joy over such little things. We lose that as we grow up, don’t we? For all of you home owners out there. . .you might try to remember the first time you got to buy a home. You finally owned your own home, or so you thought. The bank knows the truth, but it felt good anyway. It was like a dream come true. But how long before you wanted your home to have this or that? Before you wanted to upgrade to a larger home? Before you began watching “Extreme Home Makeover” and thinking you deserved one of those kinds of houses.
Paul says, it shouldn’t be that difficult to find material contentment. If you have clothes, food, shelter. That should do it for you. If you can find contentment in that, and then combine it with a life in pursuit of godliness, you will experience great gain!
A different kind of gain than we so often pursue, and Jesus refers to in Mark 8:36, “What good is it, to gain the whole world, and forfeit your soul and what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
“I have climbed the highest mountains. I have run through the fields. I have crawled, I have scaled city walls. But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”
I want to share one more important truth today. For there would be something incredibly erroneous, or at the very least wanting about a sermon that tells you what should be taken out of this contentment space in our lives. A sermon that tells us money shouldn’t be what does it for us, but doesn’t tell us what should.
Look at what Paul tells Timothy. Verse 11 (read through verse 16).
4. CHRIST IS THE KEY TO TRUE CONTENTMENT.
Remember, this is about behaving like believers. This is a letter to a pastor and his church. This isn’t the world’s economy that we are to be living by. It is the Kingdom of God’s. And within that Kingdom, the experience of knowing, growing, and becoming more like Christ is where true contentment can be found.
Paul writes as the voice of experience. This is something he has wrestled with and conquered. Turn to Philippians 4. Verse 10 (read through 20).
Paul had found the key to contentment and it was found in Christ who strengthened him. It was found in God who supplies all his needs. It was found in his Father to whom all glory and praise is due.
John Wesley was a firm believer in practical application when he preached. He said, “What avails the clearest knowledge, even of the most excellent things, even of the things of God, if it go no farther than speculation, if it be not reduced to practice?”
In fact, he preached the following regarding today’s passage:
“I ask, then, in the name of God, Who of you "desire to be rich?" Which of you seriously and deliberately desire to have more than food to eat, and raiment to put on, and a house to cover you? Who of you desires to have more than the plain necessaries and conveniences of life? Stop! Consider! What are you doing? Evil is before you! Will you rush upon the point of a sword? By the grace of God, turn and live!
“By the same authority I ask, Who of you are endeavoring to be rich? To procure for yourselves more than the plain necessaries and conveniences of life? Lay, each of you, your hand to your heart, and seriously inquire, "Am I of that number? Am I laboring, not only for what I want, but for more than I want?" May the Spirit of God say to everyone whom it concerns, "Thou art the man!"
“I ask, "Thirdly, Who of you are in fact "laying up for yourselves treasures upon earth?" increasing in goods? Adding, as fast as you can, house to house, and field to field! As long as thou thus "dost well unto thyself, men will speak good of thee." They will call thee a wise, a prudent man! A man that minds the main chance. Such is, and always has been, the wisdom of the world. But God saith unto thee, " ’Thou fool!’ art thou not ’treasuring up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God?’ "
He went on to preach, “O ye lovers of money, hear the word of the Lord! Suppose ye that money, though multiplied as the sand of the sea, can give happiness? Then you are "given up to a strong delusion, to believe a lie;" -- a palpable lie, confuted daily by a thousand experiments. Open your eyes! Look all around you! Are the richest men the happiest? Have those the largest share of content who have the largest possessions? Is not the very reverse true? Is it not a common observation, that the richest of men are, in general, the most discontented, the most miserable? Had not the far greater part of them more content when they had less money?
“O ye that desire or endeavor to be rich, hear ye the word of the Lord! Why should ye be stricken any more? Will not even experience teach you wisdom? Will ye leap into a pit with your eyes open? Why should you any more "fall into temptation"? There is no necessity for this: it is your own voluntary act and deed. Why should you any more plunge yourselves into a snare, into the trap Satan has laid for you, that is ready to break your bones in pieces? To crush your soul to death? After fair warning, why should you sink any more into "foolish and hurtful desires?" Desires as inconsistent with reason as they are with religion itself; desires that have done you more hurt already than all the treasures upon earth can countervail.
And he closed with, “Thus have I given you, O ye gainers, lovers, possessors of riches, one more warning. O that it may not be in vain! May God write it upon all your hearts! Though "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven," yet the things impossible with men are possible with God." Lord, speak! and even the rich men that hear these words shall enter thy kingdom, shall "take the kingdom of heaven by violence," shall "sell all for the pearl of great price:" shall be "crucified to the world, and count all things dung, that they may win Christ!"
And in so winning, will find true contentment.
Let’s pray.
(My heartfelt appreciation to a number of SermonCentral contributors who provided illustrations and reflections on this passage and the theme of "contentment" for this sermon.)
