Matthew 6:24-34
Philippians 4:12-13
“What the World Needs Now—Contentment”
By: Rev, Ken Sauer, Pastor, East Ridge United Methodist Church, Chattanooga, TN
Paul, a human being just like you and I, found the secret of contentment, but I am afraid that there are very few of us who make it to this blessed place!
But isn’t this what we desire more than anything?
To be content is to be at peace no matter the circumstances…
…whether we are going through economic hardships or are making a million dollars a year…
…whether our refrigerators are full or empty!
The secret of this contentment, says Paul, is to completely trust in the sovereign will and love of God and to believe that we can “do everything through [Christ] who gives [us] strength.”
This is the secret, this is the Way, and this is what the world needs now more than anything!!!
It doesn’t mean that we will never be sad.
It doesn’t mean that things will not get rough.
What it does mean is that whatever happens—we can be at peace!
We are all searching for peace.
We often look for peace through our careers, our hobbies, or our money.
But these things will never bring the lasting peace; the contentment we need and yearn to have!!!
It is only through understanding the greatness of God’s power that we are free to live…really LIVE!!!
Jesus tells us, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body what you will wear…”
“…do not worry…
…do not worry…
…do not worry.”
Raise your hand if you have gotten to the place where you “do not worry.”
As I just read, the New International Version of the Bible reads, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
Did you know that there are over 2,300 references to money and possessions in the Word of God?
At the same time prayer is only mentioned 500 times.
Yet prayer is the very oxygen by which our souls breath!
I think that the reason money is mentioned so much is because it is what so often gets in the way of our relationship with God and thus our ability to be content!
The word Jesus used for “Money” is the Aramaic word “Mammon.”
“You can’t serve both God and Mammon,” Jesus says.
Mammon means “accumulated resources.”
Mammon means “stuff,” as in, “We have a lot of stuff around here.”
Or “Please go into your room and pick up all your stuff.”
Or closer to the point: “You can’t serve God and stuff.”
Now, raise your hand if you have too much “stuff.”
How many of us have a lot of “stuff”?
How many of us have a garage full of “stuff”?
I certainly do!
How many of us have a closet full of clothes and yet we still scan the pages of a catalog looking for more?
Most of us have so much stuff that we can’t stand up under it…
…it threatens our very existence!
Many of us are about ready to drown in our own STUFF!
We worry.
We rely on self rather than God.
We are insecure.
We want to protect our STUFF!
We don’t trust others with our STUFF!
We don’t trust God with our STUFF!
And we suffer from this—contentment is lying hidden beneath a bunch of STUFF!!!
“You cannot serve both God and STUFF.”
This is not a threat, but a comment on life that speaks its own truth.
A lawyer, who had spent his life accumulating vast amounts of wealth through frivolous lawsuits was on his deathbed.
He told his wife, “When I die, I am going to take my money with me.”
“How in the world are you going to do that?” asked his wife.
“I have a plan,” the lawyer replied.
“I want you to grab two of the biggest pillow cases you can find, and go down to the bank.
Have them open my account and stuff those pillow cases full with my cash.”
“Then I want you to go up into the attic and hang those pillow cases to the ceiling.
When I die, I’ll grab them on the way up!”
The man’s wife did what he had asked.
Some time after the man had passed away, his wife went up to the attic to clean up a few things.
While in the attic, she saw that those two pillow cases—filled with cash—were still hanging from the ceiling, just as she had left them.
“Darn,” the woman snapped, “I knew I should have put that money in the basement!”
We can’t take our money, our mammon, our stuff with us…
…and yet, many of us guard it as if it were the most important thing in the world…
…as if it were, so to speak, our very salvation!
Let’s ask ourselves this question: “If I were to receive a million dollars tomorrow, what would I do with it?”
What comes first to our minds?
Yes, we must think about food and clothing, but we shouldn’t think about them first.
In verse 33 of our Gospel Lesson Jesus tells us, “seek first [God’s] kingdom and [God’s] righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
This does not mean that if we seek God’s kingdom first we will become millionaires…
…it means that if we seek God’s kingdom first…
…we will find the secret of being content.
Put Christ first, and everything else will fall into place!
Do we have that much faith?
Do we trust God that much?
A church member was having trouble with the concept of tithing.
One day he revealed his doubts to his pastor.
“Pastor, I just don’t see how I can give 10 percent of my income to the church when I can’t even keep on top of our bills.”
The pastor replied, “John, if I promise to make up the difference in your bills if you fall short, do you think you could try tithing for just one month?”
After a moment’s pause, John responded, “Sure, if you promise to make up any shortage, I guess I could try tithing for one month.”
“Now, what do you think of that,” mused the pastor.
“You say you’d be willing to trust a mere man like myself, who possesses so little materially, but you couldn’t trust your Heavenly Father Who owns the whole universe!”
The next Sunday, John gave his tithe and has been doing so faithfully ever since.
It’s amazing, but when we tithe, we don’t miss the ten percent.
Instead, we are blessed beyond measure with a sense of peace and well-being.
Because our faith and trust in God grows—and we are further along the road to contentment.
A dear saint sat in my office two churches ago discussing how he was able to put God first in all he did.
“When I get my paycheck at the beginning of the month,” he told me, “I lay aside my tithe to the church.”
“Then I pay my bills.”
“If I have enough money left over, I will spend it on things I want.”
“If I see that I don’t have enough money left over, I will go without some of the extras that month.”
That’s what it means to live a life fully dedicated to Christ!
How many times are we unwilling to put a few bucks in the offering plate because things are tight this month…
…but if there is a movie we want to see…
…a dvd we want to rent…
…a restaurant we want to eat at…
…we will find the money to pay for it?
The secret to contentment is about choices, is it not?
And it’s about priorities.
“No one can serve two masters.”
We have the freedom of choice.
We are given the shrine of liberty!
Every invitation, every warning, every condemnation, every regret, every approval infers that we do have an unimpeachable power of choice.
In our passage from Matthew, our freedom of choice is narrowed down to two things—God and Mammon.
Jesus taught repeatedly that we must choose between two masters…
…we are to be sheep or goats…
…figs or thistles…
…we are to choose between right and wrong…
…the world or the Father…
…the broad road or the narrow road…
…time or eternity…
…heaven or hell…
…yes we must choose!
What is our Center?
What or Who is our Lord?
The answer is THE ANSWER to our ability to be content!
Martin Luther once wrote, “My conscience has become free, and that is the most complete freedom. Therefore I am a monk, and yet not a monk; a new creature, not the world’s, but Christ’s.”
Please notice the yellow sticky note in your bulletin this morning.
I want us all to think about the STUFF we are carrying or trying to carry right now!
I want us to think about the things that are weighing us down and making life nearly unbearable.
I want us to think about the things we worry about.
I want us to think about the things that keep us up at night.
I want us to think about the things that are keeping us from being content!
Let’s think about all the STUFF!!!
Let’s start writing down on those yellow sticky sheets the STUFF that comes to mind…
…but don’t put your name on it…
…this is an exercise between you and God.
This world is filled with folks who are living with too much “STUFF.”
There is no shortage of folks who fit this category, and I include myself in this equation!
This world is filled with people who are carrying so much STUFF…
…that if they don’t learn to trust the Lord and give that STUFF over to God…
…they will be crushed by their own STUFF!!!
In the Letter to the Philippians Paul proclaims, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.
I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”
This applies to all of us!
It is the “incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him.”
I want to find the secret of contentment more than anything in the world!
I want my friends to find this as well.
I want strangers to understand this power.
I want enemies to find the great clue to life!
How about you?
Jesus says to you; Jesus says to me, “You cannot serve both God and Stuff!”
“Therefore, I tell you, do not worry…”
Let’s all take that STUFF we have written down on the yellow sticky sheets to the chancel rails—give it all over to God and continue to seek to live more and more into being content!
