Living By Faith: Contentment

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You know, we're naturally bent toward belief in karma, the idea that our actions are the deciding factor for our future well-being. We crave justice and rightness.

It is something to grapple with when we see the evil person prospering. Thankfully, Psalm 37 reminds us of the framework from which we can view life. And when we look at life through the truth of God's Word, it can inform our attitudes and our emotions.

Let's listen in to this message from Psalm 37, one through two, titled Living by Faith, Contentment. So what is faith all about, after all? A lot of people would say today that faith is an escape from the realities of life, the harsh realities of life.

Because life gets hard, we need something out there to look to for our own escape, just imagining that there is something bigger and better beyond. We don't know what it is, but it's out there. Is that what faith is? Maybe for some people, if that's what your faith is, I'm sorry, but it needs to be more than that, because it can be. We're going to be looking at Psalm 37 as we continue the series Living by Faith. What does it look like to live by faith? Psalm 37 is a very practical Psalm. Faith is not an escape from life.

It is not the imaginations of mere humans. But living by faith means that we deal honestly with the realities of life as we see them, as we experience them. And Psalm 37 does just that. There's an honest with the realities, an honest dealing with the realities of life, which is why in Psalm 37, David begins, fret not yourself because of evildoers, be not envious of wrongdoers.

That's quite a way to begin a Psalm. It's all about faith, isn't it? He's dealing with the issues of life. What are the issues of life that we deal with day in and day out? We deal with issues of reward and punishment with issues of what we deserve, what we think we deserve or what we don't deserve. And we need to be faith launches us above thinking merely at an under the sun level. And it gives us perspective in reference from beyond the sun. But here's the problem. We exist under the sun.

So let me tell you what part of that problem is. We, you and I, human beings, naturally, what do I mean by that? In our natural state, it is our propensity. We naturally believe in karma.

We do. Now you say, Rich, that's an Eastern religion. Yeah, but it flows out of natural thinking. That's why it's not of God. See, but we naturally believe in karma and Hinduism and Buddhism.

It's the belief that all of person's actions in this state of existence are the deciding factor of their state in future existence. That's the basic essence of karma. You and I naturally believe in that. Did you know that as human beings? And it's even been scientifically demonstrated. Such beliefs were first demonstrated in the now classic research from 1966 by two American psychologists, Lerner and Simmons, in their experiment in which a female learner was punished with electric shocks for wrong answers.

Women participants subsequently rated her as less likable and admirable when they heard that they would be seeing her suffer again, and especially if they felt powerless to minimize the suffering. Since then, research has shown our willingness to blame the poor, rape victims and others who are downtrodden for their fate so as to preserve our belief in a just world. By extension, the same or similar processes are likely responsible for our subconscious, subconscious, rose-tinted view of rich people. Hence, celebrity worship today. You know what this is telling us?

Here is my brief abbreviation of what we just read of the scientific research. Partiality is pandemic in our Adamic DNA. In the human race, partiality is part of our DNA. We live in a cursed world. It's a fallen world.

But here's another side of that truth. Because we carry the Imago Dei, you and I have the image of God, we crave what? Justice. We crave justice. We naturally believe in karma, but we crave justice. That's why he writes what he does, fret not yourself because of evil doers, be not envious of wrongdoers. We want the satisfaction of justice, and we loathe the inequalities of life except when those inequalities benefit us.

Right or wrong? You have to agree with me. We loathe, we crave justice, we loathe inequalities except when those inequalities benefit us. What are the implications here of the terms that he uses evil doers and wrongdoers? Evil doers and wrongdoers, the implication there is that there is a standard. There is criteria for terms like just, something that is just or something that is right. The very idea of something being just or right assumes that there is some kind of standard or criteria for that. And a deviation from that standard makes it wrong, right? So, ultimately speaking, as scripture reveals, what departs from anything that departs from God's character and purpose is by definition evil.

And it's not any physical substance in any way. Evil originates in the heart and mind of the created being. Only the created being with the Imago Dei can depart from God's character and purpose. That's where evil originates.

And so this is what David is referring to with the titles evil doers and wrongdoers. In other words, they are people who are missing the why of life. What is the why of life? Another way of saying that, what is the purpose, the meaning of existence? The meaning of existence answers the question why. Why does anything exist at all? Why do we exist?

Why am I here? All of that is the why of life. You and I cannot look to ourselves for the answer to that question. We are not capable of that. We are utterly insufficient to be able to answer that question simply looking to ourselves.

What is the why of life? So the evil, the wrongdoers are those who are missing the why of life. They are the ones in scripture that are referred to as the unrighteous or the ungodly. Those who oppress, those who cause harm for position, possessions and power.

Yes, that is very much standing out in here, but they're not the only ones. It includes them, but it could be, simply speaking, those who do not acknowledge God. And in this life under the sun, if you do not acknowledge God, you live for yourself.

You are a self-referenced individual. If you do not acknowledge God, you're living for yourself. That is by definition evil. It is wrong because if you are living for yourself, you are utterly missing the why of life.

Now, we want to be careful about this because we don't want to take a verse like this and say, well, you know, anybody who's prosperous materially, they're just by definition an evil person. Wrong, absolutely wrong. That is categorically false because it's not about the prosperity. It's not about the possessions.

It's not about the positions. These things are even God-ordained. It is never right to be envious of another's productivity or prosperity.

It's never right to be envious of them. But sometimes the ungodly are productive and they are prosperous materially or other ways. But God-ordained work and he ordained work to be productive. And that's across all of humanity. And there may be many and there are many who work and are productive and yet may still be missing the why of life. So not only are the many owners, military, political leaders and rulers who oppress for their advantage, yes, it includes them, but there's plenty of people who are quote-unquote making it in this life but do not trust or acknowledge God. So what do we do about that? David addresses that because you might be wondering if they're making it, they don't trust or acknowledge God, then what good does it do me to trust and acknowledge God?

They seem to be making it just fine. This is what David is addressing here. I love what Janice said, just before the last song, all I have is Christ.

Isn't that tremendous? I could have said, there's the sermon, let's pack up and go home. What else needs to be said? Well, here we go, let's look at Psalm 37. Why does David say this? Fret not yourself because of evildoers, do not be envious of wrongdoers. In the implications you will see through the Psalm of the prosperity of the wicked. People who seem to be flourishing and making it in life even though they have no acknowledgement of God in anything they do.

What is the impact of their prosperity on me? If I fret, if I look at them and I ask myself the question, why bother follow God? Look at, they're making it okay. David says, don't go there, fret not.

Two good words to remember, fret not. We're going to talk about that very, very clearly here in just a moment. What is the impact of the prosperity of the productivity of those who do not acknowledge God but they seem to be making it in life? Well, two things, they can produce negative emotions and they can also produce the neglect of the soul. Let's talk about negative emotions for a moment. The first negative emotion that it can produce when I'm fretting, when I look at those who are making it and they don't acknowledge God at all, I can look at them and a negative emotion that can arise out of that is comparison.

I compare myself to them. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.