Livinhg 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.

This is part two of a message first preached on January 20, 2019 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. 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. They're more prosperous than I am. They don't acknowledge God.

What good is it for me to acknowledge God? That's comparison. Comparing yourself to another person is foolish. What we do, what that leads us to do is determine my needs by what others have. That's foolishness.

That's the wrong criteria. Why do I need to follow God to make it in this life? A lot of Christians struggle with that question today because we live in such a prosperous society and we're always judging our needs by what other people have. And look at all these godless people who are just thriving and seem to be royally enjoying life, seem to be, and yet they don't acknowledge God.

So why do I need to acknowledge God? See, that's the comparison. That's a negative emotion. Another negative emotion, he deals with them right here. Fret, envious. The idea of fret is resentment and jealousy. To burn.

The idea is kindling. To be enraged. To feel like you need to compete in order to keep up. And what that produces in us, that resentment and jealousy, produces a distorted definition of success. What is success? Well, when I fret because of those who do not acknowledge God and yet they seem to be making it in life, it's going to distort my definition of success.

If I have my focus in the wrong place. You see, in order to define success, are you a successful person? You cannot possibly answer that question until you have answered the question, why do you even exist?

You have to answer that first before you can even begin to determine whether or not you're successful. And success is functioning according to design. What were you designed to do?

You were designed to know God and enjoy him. That is success. Whether you have a lot or nothing. You have that, you are successful. And see, we need to make sure we have the right understanding of success.

The third negative emotion is a negative effect. It's myopia, right? You can only see tunnel vision. You can only see like what's right in front of you have limited sight. You lose sight of the big picture. You lose sight of what God has promised and prepared. And day in and day out, I'm dealing with people who have who are suffering from this myopia.

Am I pronouncing that right? So you know what I'm talking about, right? They lose sight of the big picture. Oh, oh, this bad right here in front of me.

Oh, this is so bad. And they lose sight of the big picture of all that God has for them. That is a negative effect of fretting. That's not living by faith. Not only does fretting the impact of the prosperity of those who do not acknowledge God, not only does it produce negative emotions, but it leads me to neglect of the soul. Neglect of the soul.

This is something that I really want to focus on in my studies this year and present to you. I think it's a huge challenge to Christians, to the church and to God's people today. And that's neglect of the soul. You see, when I'm fretting because of those who are prospering, even though they have no knowledge or acknowledgement of God, I become distracted. Neglect of the soul. I become distracted. I neglect the soul in order to satisfy the senses. I neglect my inner being in order to satisfy my senses.

That is the American way, by the way. In a culture of entertainment that is neglecting the soul to satisfy the senses. Not only do we come to become distracted, but we become secularists. This is a problem.

This is a huge problem today. A secularist is one who is focused only on life under the sun, believing that that's all there is. There is only life under the sun. There is nothing else. There's no spiritual, no metaphysical. You are simply a material being.

Period. Nothing else. That's secularism, and therefore secularism does not deal with anything spiritual. It does not acknowledge the soul of an individual. To every need and question in life, there is a material answer. That's secularism. It's infiltrating the church.

This is a problem. There's nothing more than material to my existence. It is the abandonment of spiritual. And therefore, if it's the abandonment of the spiritual, it is also the abandonment of the moral. If everything is material, if everything is only matter, then truly nothing matters. You've got to think through that. That's secularism, though.

It's looking for material answers to all of life's needs and questions. This is why David says, fret not yourself because of evildoers. Be not envious of wrongdoers. Don't let that produce negative emotions. Don't let it lead you to neglect the soul.

Now, there's a reason why he says this. What is the blunt truth? What is the blunt truth of verse two?

Tell me, Psalm 37 two, what is the blunt truth of Psalm 37 two? They will soon fade away and wither. The temporariness, the fleeting nature of life. They will soon fade away and wither. Why does grass fade away or wither? It's not getting any nourishment. Why would something not get any nourishment? It has a surface existence.

It's not getting any nourishment. And that which has a surface existence is going to fade and wither very soon. But also something might fade and wither because it is burned up by the heat. Or something will fade and wither. The idea, the nuance there of fading away. Some fades and withers.

It's because it experienced the scythe of death. You're born. You live this mortal life. This mortal temporary life comes to an end. Then what? Death for everyone.

Statistics show one out of one people die. Then what? And if you are pursuing prosperity in a material sense, whether it's material or possessions or power or whatever, if you're pursuing prosperity but you're missing the why of life, it is tantamount to chasing shadows. Chasing shadows. A shadow exists only because there is a reality creating that shadow. But if we are pursuing prosperity and we miss the why of life, we are chasing the shadows to the neglect of the reality.

And that makes life meaningless. What does Paul say? 2 Corinthians 4 verses 17 to 18. Read this with me.

Let's all read this together. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal.

There is a reality and if you're chasing prosperity without understanding and pursuing the why of life, you are chasing shadows and that makes life meaningless. So what does this rope represent? This rope represents eternity. This rope represents where God exists. Time from eternity. God is an infinite being all the way back there. And all the way back there, which in itself is an enmisnomer, God purposed His love through Him to create mankind, to draw mankind to Himself, because that's what love does. So in the scope of all eternity and the infinitude of God, here it is, the history of the universe. Boom, right there. Can you see the colors?

I hope so. I mean, I spent a lot of time putting those... No, never. The green, there's green, that's creation, right? And then there's black, what does that represent? That black represents the corruption, the fall. Corruption that comes into the creation and the red represents what? Redemption. You know the colorless book, right? And then yellow is the consummation.

I mean, the wordless book, not the colorless book, thank you. I saw my daughter talking to my wife like, dad messed up. The thousands of years of human history, boom, right there. And we're fretting over this?

When you can enjoy God for all... Get out of there. All of this. All of this, all the way down there. And you're fretting over this? Doesn't make sense, does it? This is what David says. Because you know what's going to happen?

Regardless of what you're going through right now, it might be chronic pain, it might be a fatal disease, it might have been just losing a loved one, it might be, man, I just went bankrupt. And you're down here 10,000 years from now, let me tell you what you're not going to do if you're in Christ. You're going to say, man, I'm glad I was really fretting about that back there. You see, it doesn't make sense, does it? David had this in mind. This represents very, in a very limited fashion, it represents the infinite existence of God. And when you and I are in Christ, then the rest of all eternity is ours with Him to enjoy Him. That's why He made us. Keep that in perspective and don't fret.

Don't fret. Because it's God's universe. And if you're in Christ, you're His.

And nothing changes that. And then I would say, remember what Janet just said, all I have is Christ. 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.