What Do You Live For? | True Satisfaction

You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. Laurie points out every party comes to an end, but sometimes regrets never do. Living for that experience, living for that rush, living for that buzz, living for that excitement. Man, that is just a really lame way to live. So many people post pictures of their food on social media, and admittedly, a lot of it looks really good. But have you noticed the food that's to die for is also the food you can die from?

Isn't that true? And in the bigger picture, that's the way sin is. Sin first says, live it up, then says, you'll never live that down. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out where we can find real satisfaction in life. We go to the author of life himself to find out what he recommends. And we pray. Father, as we open your Word now, we believe it's alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. We believe that it has the answer for every question we have, and even answers to questions we haven't come up with yet. We believe, Lord, if we believe these words and apply these words, it can change our lives. But most importantly, it's not just the words of the Bible.

It's you living in us. That's what being a Christian is. It's Christ. Christ in us. The hope of glory. So, Lord, help us to grow spiritually. Help us to learn more. Help us to grow in our love and our discernment. As we look at your Word now, we commit this time of Bible study to you in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Again, the title of the message is What Do You Live For?

I saw an advertisement in, I believe it was a computer magazine, quite a few years ago. And it's a picture of a guy shaving in the mirror. And it asks this question, is it an alarm clock or a calling that gets you up in the morning? I thought, well, that's a good question.

And they were selling some who knows what computer item, but I thought it was a bigger question. Is it an alarm or a calling that gets you up in the morning? I mean, what makes you tick? What do you get fired up about?

Everybody is passionate about something. What do you get up for in the morning? I know it doesn't hurt if I smoke coffee in the morning. I found some bacon and eggs and now we're talking. Come on, the smell of bacon in the morning for you vegetarians. The smell of Brussels sprouts.

Kale or whatever you enjoy. But I'm talking about more than that. I'm talking about what really gets you moving in life. What gives your life purpose or a sense of meaning. Raising it above the level of mere existence. Because, you know, we don't want our lives to just be some blip on the screen.

We don't want to be just another statistic. We want our lives to matter. So my question is, what is your master passion in life? If you were to sum up what you live for in one word, what would it be? If you were to sum up what you live for in another word, what would it be?

Man, that is just a really lame way to live. Number two, there are some that would say, well, for me to live is pleasure. You know, just living for pleasure. Living for that experience. Living for that rush. Living for that buzz.

Living for that excitement. They might seek it through drinking. They're not happy until they get that buzz, right? Or some, they're not happy until they're passed out, I suppose. Because they do it every night. Or they want that drug high. They want that adrenaline rush, or whatever it is. They live for pleasure. One person said, living for pleasure is one of the least pleasurable things a person can do. And I think that's really true.

The Bible even says, she that lives for pleasure is dead while she's living. And by the way, this is not new to our time. It's going back 2,000 years. Popular philosophers of the day were called the Epicureans. And the teaching of Epicurus, their founder, was that the chief purpose of life is pleasure.

So they were living for that as well. And in fact, Caesar Nero was in power at this time. He was the Caesar, or the emperor, of Rome. And he himself said to live was to be like an unbridled beast in pleasure, passion, and partying. Man, Caesar would have fit in with everybody else today, or many people today. Maybe our modern equivalent would be what we call the playboy philosophy.

Maybe the patron saint. So if you want to end up as an old guy in pajamas wearing a captain's hat, go for it. Pretty sad way to live a life, I think.

Chased after pleasure his whole life. But this is the idea that cast off all restraints. No absolutes. You do whatever you want to do.

If it feels good, do it. That's what some people live for. The Bible tells us this is a dead end street. Others might say, well you know what, I live to get even. I don't get mad, I get even. Their philosophy is not live and let live. Their philosophy is live and let die.

If you get me, I'm gonna get you back. A lot of these people happen to be driving cars, I think. You know, like you're at the light and the light turns green. It's not even the second. It's not a half a second.

It's just like a fraction of a second. They lay on the horn behind you. They tailgate you the whole time, cut you off. They are basically always in a perpetual bad mood. And they're always at war with someone. They always have their nemesis. They always like to be in a fight.

They love to be in a conflict. There are people like this that live for these things. Another might say, well man, I live for possessions. It's to get stuff. And then when I get that stuff, I want to get more stuff. And then when I get that other stuff, I need to get rid of this old stuff so I can make room for new stuff. It's not items and objects and it's always that next shiny thing. It might be a shiny car or a shiny ring or a shiny computer or whatever it is they're chasing after.

But it's an object or a thing. Their philosophy would be he that dies with the most toys wins. And I would just add a dot, dot, dot. He that dies with the most toys wins. Dot, dot, dot. Nothing. Because Jesus says, what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?

As I've often said, you've never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer. You know you're going to leave everything here on this side in this life. I mean Solomon who lived many years ago was a man known for his wisdom and also had incredible possessions. And he said this in Ecclesiastes 2.4, I tried to find meaning in my life by building huge homes for myself and planting beautiful vineyards and I made gardens and parks and I collected great sums of silver and gold that were the treasure of kings and promises. I heard wonderful singers, men and women and had beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire. Anything I want, I took. And I did not restrain myself from any pleasure. And he says, one day I looked at all the things that I had accomplished and all that I had acquired and it was all meaningless.

It was like chasing the wind. There was nothing, Solomon concludes, really worthwhile anywhere. Solomon said, well I live to acquire knowledge.

You know I want to learn. I want to discover new truth and that's actually a pretty good thing. It's a lot better than just living for pleasure or living to get even. But if in your pursuit of knowledge you leave God out of the equation, you're just going to end up as a well-educated fool. And I look at a lot of the universities today and I'm not so sure if people are getting an education or if they're getting an indoctrination. You know and usually in a world view that's contrary to scripture. I mean you look at a lot of these colleges and you have these safe spaces.

You know where you won't have any conflict or disagreement. It's pretty amazing to me. But this is not new to our time either. A philosopher of that day, during Paul's day with Seneca, he said the purpose of life is to enjoy oneself in the realm of ideas, to think, to learn, to master the laws of nature, then make the mind the master of men. But again, if you forget God in your pursuit of knowledge, you will have learned nothing. Solomon also went after the pursuit of knowledge. He was known at one point as the wisest man who ever lived and he said to increase knowledge only increases sorrow. That's in Ecclesiastes 1.16. But students, don't go home and quote that verse to your parents when they tell you to do your homework.

They say, sorrow, shut up and do your homework, okay. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about pursuing knowledge without God. We're grateful to hear how Pastor Greg's daily devotionals are touching lives. And if you'd like to send a note to us, email Pastor Greg, greg-at-harvest-dot-org.

Do it today, would you? Again, that's greg-at-harvest-dot-org. Well, the title of Pastor Greg's message today is What Do You Live For? We're evaluating our priorities and learning to make some adjustments.

Let's continue now. So what are you driven by? What do you dream about?

What are you passionate about? I think some people are just enduring. They're just waiting for the next thing. Their favorite day of the week is someday. You know, someday their ship will come in. Someday their prince will come. Someday they'll get that promotion.

Someday they'll build that dream house. Or someday they'll retire. I read a stat that said 94% of people who responded to a survey said they were enduring the present while waiting for something better to happen. But the problem is life passes by so quickly. And before you know it, a good deal of your life may be behind you instead of before you and you'll find that you've been living for nothing. So we need to think about this because then the after life comes. So listen to this. Only those who are prepared to die are really ready to live.

Let me say that again. Only those who are prepared to die are really ready to live. Now I've talked about what people live for. Let me tell you what the apostle Paul lived for. Philippians 1 21. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Oh I love that. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Now we're going to explore that a little bit more.

But let's just do a little backdrop on what we're looking at here. We're looking at the book of Philippians. And the theme that keeps bubbling up through this great epistle is happiness and joy. In fact this is probably the most buoyant, happy letter that Paul ever wrote. Not that there is not happiness and joy in other epistles he wrote.

But it just seems like there is a lot in this one in particular. At least 19 times in these four chapters of Philippians Paul mentions joy, rejoicing, or gladness. But yet circumstantially he really had nothing to rejoice about. I mean if we read that Paul wrote this book kicking back in the Mediterranean enjoying life we'd say well yeah I get it. But he actually wrote this under house arrest. This wasn't as bad as some of his imprisonment where he might have been like in a dungeon. But this is where he was chained to a Roman guard.

And he was under the control at this point of Caesar Nero. And his case was waiting to go to court. And Paul had no idea what was about to happen. He might be acquitted.

He might be beheaded. But all he knew was he was a prisoner. He could not walk about freely as he wanted to. And if that wasn't bad enough some of the believers in the church were against him. Some were even spreading lies about this great apostle. But he knew God was in control.

And here's what he wrote. Philippians 1. We're going to start in verse 12 and we'll read down to verse 16. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and strife.

Some also from good will. The former preach Christ from selfish ambition not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my chains but the latter out of love knowing that I'm appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way whether in pretense or in truth Christ is preached and in this I rejoice.

Yes I will rejoice. So here's Paul chained to a Roman guard writing these words. Can you imagine being one of those guards? I'm sure they didn't like that job at first. Oh no I have to be chained to this stinking preacher. All he does is talk about God.

This is insane. But guard by guard they were coming to Christ and then they were probably standing in line as to who would be the next guy to get to be chained to the apostle Paul for that particular period of time. Because Paul writes in verse 13 it's become evident to the whole palace guard. Now who are the palace guard? These most likely are the praetorian guard. The praetorian guard were the cream of the crop of the Roman military.

They were 10,000 hand picked soldiers. They were initially established by Caesar Augustus who by the way was the Caesar that gave the decree that all the world should be taxed causing Joseph and Mary to go to Bethlehem. But the praetorian guard they were very powerful people.

In fact they were king makers. Sometimes they would play a key role in deciding who the next Caesar would be and these were the ones who were chained to the apostle Paul and that brings me to point number one. When you live for Christ you will accept God's will for your life. When you live for Christ which we all should be doing you will accept God's will for your life. See Paul went to Rome to preach but he ended up under house arrest.

Now how is that a good idea? Well he was reaching an elite group of people that would have not been reached otherwise so Paul understood God had his hand in it. Look at verse 12. The things that happened to me have turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. Did it ever occur to you that you are where you are because God wants you there right now? Maybe in effect you're chained to someone and by that I mean maybe you're chained to a non-believer.

Maybe it's a non-believing husband or a non-believing wife or kids that don't believe what you believe or parents that don't believe what you believe or a argumentative co-worker that you sit next to in your office space or some guy on your construction site that's always giving you a hard time and you're thinking why do I have to be here with this person? Did it ever occur to you that God wants you there to reach that person? So Paul is reaching the Praetorian guard.

Really quite significant. And he says in verse 14 most of the brethren in the Lord have become confident by my chains and are more bold to speak the word without fear. You see examples of evangelism spark others to be more evangelistic. So they're saying wow Paul's chained up in a under house arrest and is willing to share the gospel with a Praetorian guard.

Certainly we who have freedom right now mobility we should be doing the same. You know if you've ever been around an evangelistic Christian it can be quite contagious. And there are some people man they're just always finding opportunities to share their faith and you think how do they do that?

They're just tuned in I think. Tuned into the Lord, tuned into opportunities, looking for opportunities even. And you get around a person like that and you think well I think I could do that.

Yes you can as a matter of fact. God has put you where you are for his purposes. Pastor Greg Laurie urging us to follow Paul's example in being a light for Christ no matter where we are. And there's much more to come in Pastor Greg's message a study he's titled What Do You Live For? Pastor Greg has a final comment before we go today as well.

Well Pastor Greg we're making available a great book by Dr. Tony Evans and actually all of his kids as well. It's called Divine Disruption talking about hope in spite of tragedy and crisis and loss. That's right. Is it fair to say that we're all either going through a crisis or we've gone through a crisis or are about to go through a crisis? Yeah.

Well the person who says no crises here I don't need that book. That's just foolish isn't it? It is. Give it time. You know as I've often said you're either going into a storm or you're pulling out of one.

Hey enjoy those in between times for sure. But you know here's the reality Dave. In our times of crisis, in the storms of life if you will, we learn things that we don't learn anywhere else. As I've said before fruit does not grow on mountaintops. It grows in spiritual valleys. So if you're going through a valley right now, a hardship, if you've lost a loved one recently or you yourself are suffering, this book is really going to be an encouragement to you because it's written in real time. This is a book that is honest, it's heartfelt, it's candid, it's biblical, it's hopeful, it's encouraging. So it kind of fires in every cylinder as you mentioned written by Tony Evans and members of his family in light of the loss of their wonderful mother and Tony's wife Lois Evans.

But this is a book that just tells you how to deal with these issues, how to grapple with it. Because you know when we lose loved ones as Christians we mourn and we should mourn. In fact it's very important to mourn. The Bible even says there's a time to laugh and there's a time to mourn. But during that time of mourning, during those times of sorrow, you come closer to the Lord. Jesus said blessed or happy are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. It's almost as though you can translate that happy are the unhappy.

I know that doesn't make sense but here's what it's saying. It causes you to turn to God and find the strength you need. This little quote in the book that I love goes as follows, there is no better summary of a successful life. Lois Evans served the purposes of God in her generation and then she fell asleep. You know Dave, this phrase falling asleep is used in the Bible and it is only used of a believer dying, never of a non-believer. And I think it's just the perfect picture because when you think of falling asleep that is not the worst thing that can happen.

In fact as you get older you start enjoying naps, right? And I love this part where they write Lois served the purposes of God in her generation. Look, every one of us has a beginning, a middle, and an end to our life. Here's the question, how are we going to live that life? We have nothing to do with the date of our birth, really nothing to do with the date of our death.

But we have everything to do with that dash in the middle. Lois Evans lived her life well. She served God's purposes in her generation, raising amazing children that all love the Lord and are serving the Lord today.

Also there alongside Tony, I know he misses her so deeply. But you're going to be blessed by this book because it's going to help you as you go through your times of difficulty as well. And the title of the book is Divine Disruption. And we'll send you a copy for your gift of any size, whatever you can send in return, we will invest in this ministry so we can continue to bring a message of hope to people literally around the world. Yeah that's right, when you give to us, you're really giving through us. We take your investment and put it to work reaching those who need biblical hope and direction, those who need to hear the gospel. We hear from people every day who've had their lives impacted and changed through this outreach. And you can have a part in helping us continue with your donation today. When you make that donation, be sure to ask for this new book, Divine Disruption. And this is our last opportunity to mention this, so be sure to contact us today. You can call us at 1-800-821-3300, that's 1-800-821-3300, and you can call anytime 24-7. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514.

Or go online to harvest.org. Well next time, Pastor Greg continues our study of happiness and where to find it. More counsel from his message, What Do You Live For Next Time. But before we go, Pastor Greg closes with these insights. You know sometimes the people that argue the most are actually closer to coming to the Lord than those that say nothing. I think a lot of times we think if someone is pleasant and nice and we share the gospel, we think that's a good thing.

And then when someone's argumentative that's a bad thing, but sometimes it's a very opposite. Because it's been said, when you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the one that barks the loudest is the one that got hit. Try it after church. Find some dogs, throw a rock.

No, don't do it. Find a pack of cats. But see, you never find a pack of cats. They're very independent creatures. But the idea is the dog that barks the loudest is the one that got hit. So when you share the gospel with someone and one objects and they protest and they scream and they yell, it might be because they're under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And God's working on their hearts. So don't be discouraged. Be encouraged.