WEBVTT 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:07.400 Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of 00:00:07.400 --> 00:00:10.000 Trinity Sermons. This week we're continuing our 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:12.619 sermon series, A Generous Life, and we're looking 00:00:12.619 --> 00:00:15.519 at the opposite of generosity, which is greed. 00:00:15.779 --> 00:00:18.960 And greed can be this kind of power that takes 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:21.920 over us. Just like in the Lord of the Rings, 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:24.940 the ring becomes this powerful symbol for something 00:00:24.940 --> 00:00:28.899 that can take hold of certain people. But the 00:00:28.899 --> 00:00:32.189 hobbits don't seem to be as bothered by it. They're 00:00:32.189 --> 00:00:36.030 happy with their simple life. So how can we learn 00:00:36.030 --> 00:00:39.729 to live simply and learn to live contentedly, 00:00:39.789 --> 00:00:42.770 more like a hobbit? That's what Rob's going to 00:00:42.770 --> 00:00:50.070 talk to us about, so let's listen in. Today's 00:00:50.070 --> 00:00:53.689 reading is taken from 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 00:00:53.689 --> 00:00:59.429 6 to 11, and then 17 to 19. But godliness with 00:00:59.429 --> 00:01:02.789 contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing 00:01:02.789 --> 00:01:05.689 into the world. We can take nothing out of it. 00:01:06.329 --> 00:01:09.209 But if we have food and clothing, we will be 00:01:09.209 --> 00:01:12.109 content with that. Those who want to get rich 00:01:12.109 --> 00:01:15.370 fall into temptation and a trap and into many 00:01:15.370 --> 00:01:18.930 foolish and harmful desires that plunge people 00:01:18.930 --> 00:01:22.750 into ruin and destruction. For the love of money 00:01:22.750 --> 00:01:26.930 is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager 00:01:26.930 --> 00:01:30.040 for money have wandered from the faith. and pierce 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:33.680 themselves with many griefs. But you, man of 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:37.319 God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, 00:01:37.819 --> 00:01:43.299 godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. 00:01:44.439 --> 00:01:47.420 Command those who are rich in this present world 00:01:47.420 --> 00:01:51.280 not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:54.959 wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their 00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:58.280 hope in God. who richly provides us with everything 00:01:58.280 --> 00:02:02.280 for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to 00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:05.680 be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:09.039 willing to share. In this way they will lay up 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:11.319 treasure for themselves as a firm foundation 00:02:11.319 --> 00:02:14.919 for the coming age, so that they may take hold 00:02:14.919 --> 00:02:18.560 of the life that is truly life. This is the word 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:25.150 of the Lord. To rule them all. One ring to find 00:02:25.150 --> 00:02:29.849 them. One ring to bring them all. And in the 00:02:29.849 --> 00:02:34.129 darkness, find them. That's right. If you know 00:02:34.129 --> 00:02:36.590 anything about the Lord of the Rings, then you 00:02:36.590 --> 00:02:39.490 know about this little ring of power. It's beautiful. 00:02:39.590 --> 00:02:42.689 It's small. It doesn't look like much. But for 00:02:42.689 --> 00:02:45.930 J .R .R. Tolkien, and his whole world of the 00:02:45.930 --> 00:02:49.610 Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. This ring symbolizes 00:02:49.610 --> 00:02:55.210 power. It symbolizes desire. It symbolizes greed. 00:02:55.930 --> 00:02:57.930 And actually, greed is a theme that comes up 00:02:57.930 --> 00:03:01.370 again and again in Tolkien's writings. He writes 00:03:01.370 --> 00:03:04.650 about dwarves that dig way too deep in search 00:03:04.650 --> 00:03:07.990 of treasure. He writes about dragons who sleep 00:03:07.990 --> 00:03:11.849 on gigantic piles of gold. He writes about armies 00:03:11.849 --> 00:03:14.949 that are willing to go to war just to get their 00:03:14.949 --> 00:03:17.990 hands on some of that gold. But of all the symbols 00:03:17.990 --> 00:03:21.090 and of all the things, it's the ring itself. 00:03:21.250 --> 00:03:24.490 It's the ring which is constantly whispering, 00:03:25.229 --> 00:03:28.550 You don't have enough. I can give you more. I 00:03:28.550 --> 00:03:30.689 can give you more power. I can give you more 00:03:30.689 --> 00:03:35.310 meaning. I can give you great, great things. 00:03:35.469 --> 00:03:40.430 But, but the ring lies, doesn't it? The ring 00:03:40.430 --> 00:03:42.990 promises one thing but delivers another. And 00:03:42.990 --> 00:03:45.389 what it actually ends up doing is twisting and 00:03:45.389 --> 00:03:50.229 tormenting and destroying your life. And in fact, 00:03:50.250 --> 00:03:53.030 depending on who you are, you react to the ring 00:03:53.030 --> 00:03:55.210 a little differently. Of course, there was Gollum. 00:03:55.729 --> 00:03:58.169 Gollum, he didn't just own the ring. The ring 00:03:58.169 --> 00:04:01.469 owned him. It was his, what did he call it? His 00:04:01.469 --> 00:04:04.469 precious, right? It was the thing that he all 00:04:04.469 --> 00:04:07.629 was thinking about. His mind was constantly focused 00:04:07.629 --> 00:04:11.229 on, and it caused his life to hollow out, and 00:04:11.229 --> 00:04:14.319 it ultimately destroyed him. Or there was another 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:15.879 character in the Lord of the Rings. This guy's 00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:18.540 name was Boromir. And Boromir was a good man. 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:21.120 And he thought that if he just had the ring, 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:23.839 then he could do good in the world. He could 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:26.879 do good things with it. But he was naive. And 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:29.180 he was foolish. He never could have handled it. 00:04:29.220 --> 00:04:31.420 It would have destroyed him too. And in some 00:04:31.420 --> 00:04:35.160 ways, it kind of did. And then there was Aragorn. 00:04:35.459 --> 00:04:38.339 Aragorn even at one point was offered the ring, 00:04:38.459 --> 00:04:41.180 but he refused to take it because he was wise 00:04:41.180 --> 00:04:44.019 enough to know that he could not handle it. He 00:04:44.019 --> 00:04:46.339 could not wield it. It would destroy him. And 00:04:46.339 --> 00:04:49.439 he would do horrible things if he had it. And 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:52.959 then there were hobbits. Now hobbits are very 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:54.699 interesting because they were like the smallest 00:04:54.699 --> 00:04:57.879 and the weakest of most of the creatures in Middle 00:04:57.879 --> 00:05:02.519 Earth. But they somehow... were able, more than 00:05:02.519 --> 00:05:05.959 others, to resist the power of the ring and not 00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:09.060 be consumed by the ring. You see, because hobbits 00:05:09.060 --> 00:05:11.759 weren't, you know, they weren't greedy. They 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:15.120 didn't want gold. They didn't want power. They 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:17.759 had very pure hearts. They had very simple lives. 00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:22.139 They had very pure motives. All the hobbits really 00:05:22.139 --> 00:05:25.620 wanted was like a good meal, some music, you 00:05:25.620 --> 00:05:28.879 know, some friends, a good drink, some gardens 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:31.720 that they could plant stuff in. And you know 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:34.980 what? That turned out to be their secret power. 00:05:35.720 --> 00:05:40.160 Their contentment gave them this ability to resist 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:45.480 the ring's power, at least for a while. So what 00:05:45.480 --> 00:05:48.120 we're doing is we're continuing on in our teaching 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:49.939 series this November. This teaching series is 00:05:49.939 --> 00:05:52.819 called A Generous Life. And we're talking about 00:05:52.819 --> 00:05:54.860 things like money and greed and contentment and 00:05:54.860 --> 00:05:56.839 wealth and all those good things. And I want 00:05:56.839 --> 00:05:59.079 to just admit that for some of us here today, 00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:01.860 we might be kind of like a hobbit, kind of like 00:06:01.860 --> 00:06:04.480 Frodo. And money has never been a problem for 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:06.339 us. It's never been a challenge. We've never 00:06:06.339 --> 00:06:10.540 felt particularly like destroyed by money or 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:13.079 felt its grip on our lives. Fair enough. There 00:06:13.079 --> 00:06:14.819 are others of us here today. Maybe you're more 00:06:14.819 --> 00:06:16.920 like Boromir. You don't have a lot of money, 00:06:16.980 --> 00:06:19.939 but man, oh man, if you could get your hands 00:06:19.939 --> 00:06:21.860 on it, you could do great things with it, right? 00:06:22.259 --> 00:06:24.360 And then there's others of us here who maybe 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:27.779 were more like Aragorn. And actually, we know 00:06:27.779 --> 00:06:30.199 that if we had money, we would do horrible things. 00:06:30.300 --> 00:06:32.259 It would change us. And so we're actually, we 00:06:32.259 --> 00:06:34.519 don't want more money. Even though we don't have 00:06:34.519 --> 00:06:36.259 a lot, we don't want to get our hands on it. 00:06:36.300 --> 00:06:39.439 And then, and then, maybe there are some of us 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:44.100 here today who are more like Gollum. And we have 00:06:44.100 --> 00:06:46.560 experienced and we have been through this time 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:50.379 where we have allowed money to warp our hearts 00:06:50.379 --> 00:06:54.079 and to damage our lives. So which one are you? 00:06:54.819 --> 00:06:57.839 Are you wise like Aragorn when it comes to money? 00:06:57.899 --> 00:07:01.779 Are you foolish, naive like Boromir? Are you 00:07:01.779 --> 00:07:07.379 greedy like Gollum? Or are you content like Frodo? 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:12.259 You know, Tolkien wrote that if more of us valued 00:07:12.259 --> 00:07:17.639 food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:20.800 would be a merrier world. Well, today what we're 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:22.079 going to do is we're going to take a little trip 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:23.600 through Middle Earth, but we're really going 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:26.019 to take a trip through the Bible. And we're going 00:07:26.019 --> 00:07:27.879 to look basically at three things. We're going 00:07:27.879 --> 00:07:30.829 to look, one, at the power of greed. Second, 00:07:30.910 --> 00:07:33.889 at the peace of contentment. And third, at the 00:07:33.889 --> 00:07:37.269 practice of simplicity. So the power of greed, 00:07:37.470 --> 00:07:39.850 the peace of contentment, and the practice of 00:07:39.850 --> 00:07:41.910 simplicity. I've given you guys notes. If you 00:07:41.910 --> 00:07:43.810 want to follow along and take some notes as we 00:07:43.810 --> 00:07:45.730 go, I would encourage you to do so. But let's 00:07:45.730 --> 00:07:47.889 start with this. Let's start with talking about 00:07:47.889 --> 00:07:49.910 the power of greed. Now, you got to be really 00:07:49.910 --> 00:07:52.129 quiet because you have to listen. Listen. Listen 00:07:52.129 --> 00:07:56.550 to what the ring is whispering. If you had just 00:07:56.550 --> 00:08:01.970 a little more. You'd finally be secure. You'd 00:08:01.970 --> 00:08:08.430 finally have enough. You see, the ring and greed 00:08:08.430 --> 00:08:13.189 and wealth whisper these things to us. On the 00:08:13.189 --> 00:08:17.189 other hand, the Bible shouts. loud and clear 00:08:17.189 --> 00:08:20.910 about the dangers of greed and wealth. Ecclesiastes, 00:08:21.029 --> 00:08:24.269 whoever loves money never has enough. Whoever 00:08:24.269 --> 00:08:28.029 loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. 00:08:28.149 --> 00:08:30.949 Greed, it just never ends. It's called the myth 00:08:30.949 --> 00:08:34.350 of more. Oh, if I just had a little more, then 00:08:34.350 --> 00:08:36.049 I would, then I would, then I would, then I would. 00:08:36.090 --> 00:08:40.049 But you never can get enough. Jesus actually 00:08:40.049 --> 00:08:43.279 says, watch out. Be on your guard against all 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:45.740 kinds of greed. Life does not consist in the 00:08:45.740 --> 00:08:47.700 abundance of possessions. Jesus does not say, 00:08:47.799 --> 00:08:50.820 oh, just be advised. He does not say, you know, 00:08:50.860 --> 00:08:53.860 try to avoid greed. No, he says, watch out for 00:08:53.860 --> 00:08:56.559 it. Why does he say watch out? Because we don't 00:08:56.559 --> 00:08:59.539 see it coming. Nobody thinks they're greedy. 00:08:59.720 --> 00:09:02.539 It just grows. It's like the ring that makes 00:09:02.539 --> 00:09:05.799 you invisible. Greed itself is invisible. I have 00:09:05.799 --> 00:09:08.360 never had anyone in my 25 years of ministry come 00:09:08.360 --> 00:09:11.559 into my office and confess to me, pastor, I'm 00:09:11.559 --> 00:09:15.480 greedy. Nobody thinks they are greedy. It's invisible. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:19.240 It lives in the shadows. And those who want to 00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:23.240 get rich, they fall into temptation. and a trap 00:09:23.240 --> 00:09:26.679 and into many foolish desires that plunge people 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:29.220 into ruin and destruction. The love of money 00:09:29.220 --> 00:09:32.539 is a root of all kinds of evil. You know, Tolkien 00:09:32.539 --> 00:09:34.980 actually wrote about something called dragon 00:09:34.980 --> 00:09:39.080 sickness in his writings. And dragon sickness 00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:41.679 happens when somebody gets so fixated on wealth, 00:09:41.740 --> 00:09:44.440 so fixated on money, that they start isolating 00:09:44.440 --> 00:09:46.600 themselves from others. They eventually, they 00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:49.740 run away to be by themselves and they slowly 00:09:49.740 --> 00:09:53.580 wither away and they end up dying. alone, right? 00:09:53.700 --> 00:09:57.379 That's what happens. The desire for riches tempts 00:09:57.379 --> 00:10:00.519 us and it traps us and it changes us until we 00:10:00.519 --> 00:10:04.620 become like Boromir or Smeagol or Thorin or Smaug 00:10:04.620 --> 00:10:07.620 or any of those characters. Now, if you were 00:10:07.620 --> 00:10:11.149 thinking this morning, okay, Rob, okay. You know, 00:10:11.190 --> 00:10:12.909 enough of the Lord of the Rings. It's a book, 00:10:12.909 --> 00:10:15.090 Rob. It's fiction. It's a story. It's not real. 00:10:15.190 --> 00:10:17.610 Calm down, right? That's just your wedding ring 00:10:17.610 --> 00:10:22.230 on a chain. But listen, the Bible says it's actually 00:10:22.230 --> 00:10:24.889 true. And not only does the Bible say this stuff 00:10:24.889 --> 00:10:29.070 is actually true, so does research. Let me show 00:10:29.070 --> 00:10:31.980 you this. This is a guy named Paul Pith. Now, 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:34.000 that sounds like a great hobbit name right away, 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:36.639 Paul Pith, Mary and Pith, or something like that. 00:10:36.659 --> 00:10:40.220 But Paul Pith is a researcher. He's a psychologist 00:10:40.220 --> 00:10:41.860 at the University of California. He gave this 00:10:41.860 --> 00:10:46.139 TED Talk called, Does Money Make You Mean? And 00:10:46.139 --> 00:10:47.960 you really should watch this. It's quite fascinating 00:10:47.960 --> 00:10:50.240 because they did all these studies to see how 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:52.759 money actually changes us. They did this one 00:10:52.759 --> 00:10:55.759 study with Monopoly where they would give one 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:59.360 player more money, more turns, and more advantage 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:01.360 in a game of Monopoly. And guess what happened? 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:03.779 Guess what happened? The rich players became 00:11:03.779 --> 00:11:07.460 loud. They became obnoxious. They became boastful. 00:11:08.059 --> 00:11:10.200 Even though they didn't earn any of it, in short, 00:11:10.299 --> 00:11:12.879 they just became mean because they were rich. 00:11:13.419 --> 00:11:15.639 They did another study where they watched cars 00:11:15.639 --> 00:11:18.740 as they approached pedestrian crosswalks. And 00:11:18.740 --> 00:11:21.639 do you know that the more expensive the car, 00:11:21.899 --> 00:11:24.279 the less likely it was for the driver to stop 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:29.360 for a pedestrian? Money makes you mean. Another 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:31.879 study, they just simply did this. They showed 00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:34.559 adults a bowl of candy and they said, this candy 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:36.379 is for children, the children down the hall, 00:11:36.440 --> 00:11:39.340 please don't eat it. And the richer you were, 00:11:39.419 --> 00:11:42.360 the more likely you were to take some of that 00:11:42.360 --> 00:11:44.720 candy. And the less money you had, the less likely 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:47.740 you were to take the candy, right? Which caused 00:11:47.740 --> 00:11:50.600 Paul Piff and his team to conclude that as a 00:11:50.600 --> 00:11:54.240 person's level of wealth increases, guess what 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:57.120 happens? Their compassion and their empathy go 00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:00.159 down and their sense of entitlement and self 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:03.059 -interest go up. In other words, it's dragon 00:12:03.059 --> 00:12:06.080 sickness, right? Now this, of course, is not 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:10.019 always the case. It's not always the case. You 00:12:10.019 --> 00:12:13.279 can probably, there's lots of people who don't 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:15.320 have money, poor people who are also very mean 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:18.039 too, right? But listen, as a general rule, right? 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:20.179 The more wealth you have, according to research, 00:12:20.440 --> 00:12:24.039 the more it will turn your heart away from people. 00:12:24.820 --> 00:12:27.320 And the more it will turn your heart away from 00:12:27.320 --> 00:12:30.700 God. You know, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that 00:12:30.700 --> 00:12:34.059 worldly possessions tend to turn the hearts of 00:12:34.059 --> 00:12:39.519 disciples away from Jesus. Now I know, listen, 00:12:39.659 --> 00:12:41.620 nobody wants this. Nobody wants to live this 00:12:41.620 --> 00:12:45.279 way. Nobody wants to be Gollum. So how do we 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:49.740 resist the lure of wealth, our desire for more? 00:12:50.179 --> 00:12:53.480 How do we resist the evil of greed? Well, there 00:12:53.480 --> 00:12:57.350 is another way. It's the way of the hobbit. is 00:12:57.350 --> 00:13:01.289 the way of contentment. You see, hobbits were 00:13:01.289 --> 00:13:06.850 not wealthy, but they were content. While greed 00:13:06.850 --> 00:13:09.889 drove the dwarves to do all sorts of horrible 00:13:09.889 --> 00:13:12.610 things, and while power drove the humans to do 00:13:12.610 --> 00:13:14.710 horrible things, hobbits, they just wanted a 00:13:14.710 --> 00:13:19.110 warm bed, a nice fire, some food, some cheer, 00:13:19.450 --> 00:13:24.220 some songs to sing, just the ordinary joys. of 00:13:24.220 --> 00:13:29.240 a shared life. And that contentment gave them 00:13:29.240 --> 00:13:33.080 this inner strength to resist the ring and to 00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:36.340 resist greed. And whether that is happening on 00:13:36.340 --> 00:13:37.980 Middle Earth or whether that's just happening 00:13:37.980 --> 00:13:41.399 here on planet Earth, it still holds true. The 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:45.740 Bible talks about this deep peace of contentment 00:13:45.740 --> 00:13:49.159 that can save us from this restless hunger for 00:13:49.159 --> 00:13:51.620 more and more and more. Contentment, I think, 00:13:51.620 --> 00:13:57.080 is one of the most underrated virtues of all 00:13:57.080 --> 00:14:01.759 time. Greed is constantly whispering, you don't 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:06.220 have enough yet. You don't have enough. Yet godliness 00:14:06.220 --> 00:14:13.519 with contentment is great gain. True wealth is 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:16.720 not having a lot, but it's being happy with what 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:20.700 you do have. To be content. You don't have to 00:14:20.700 --> 00:14:23.220 take a vow of poverty or become a monk. You just 00:14:23.220 --> 00:14:26.200 simply have to say, I have enough. I actually 00:14:26.200 --> 00:14:29.080 have more than enough. And actually, I'm happy 00:14:29.080 --> 00:14:32.399 with what I do have. Now, I don't know if you've 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:34.279 ever had that feeling. Maybe you've been sitting 00:14:34.279 --> 00:14:37.220 down at a table surrounded by friends or your 00:14:37.220 --> 00:14:39.419 family or you're in church and you're singing 00:14:39.419 --> 00:14:43.340 or you're praying or whatever. And you just have 00:14:43.340 --> 00:14:45.159 this moment, this feeling where you say, you 00:14:45.159 --> 00:14:51.539 know what? I'm a rich man. I am rich. That is 00:14:51.539 --> 00:14:57.279 contentment. That is true wealth. And Paul goes 00:14:57.279 --> 00:14:59.179 on to say, we brought nothing into this world 00:14:59.179 --> 00:15:01.960 and we can take absolutely nothing out of it. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:04.519 In other words, your net worth will not follow 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:07.220 you into eternity. Neither will your house, neither 00:15:07.220 --> 00:15:10.039 will your savings, neither will your car, neither 00:15:10.039 --> 00:15:12.019 will your clothes. As the old saying goes, you 00:15:12.019 --> 00:15:15.059 know, I've never seen a hearse pulling a U -Haul. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:21.080 Everything you own will one day belong to someone 00:15:21.080 --> 00:15:24.080 else. Think about that. Everything you own will 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:27.620 one day belong to someone else. You will lose 00:15:27.620 --> 00:15:31.320 every single dollar that you make. Some of it 00:15:31.320 --> 00:15:33.360 you will lose it in this life, and the rest you 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:36.139 will lose at the end of this life. So don't build 00:15:36.139 --> 00:15:40.179 your life around something that just cannot last. 00:15:41.259 --> 00:15:46.080 But if we have food, If we have clothing, we 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:48.179 can be content with that. The Greek word here 00:15:48.179 --> 00:15:50.320 for clothing literally means just coverings, 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:55.039 right? The basics, food, clothing, shelter, enough, 00:15:55.399 --> 00:15:58.240 right? This is how you live a lighter life, not 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:00.620 chained down by the need for more, not chained 00:16:00.620 --> 00:16:03.340 down to your bank balance. Contentment actually 00:16:03.340 --> 00:16:06.639 redefines what a successful life is. I don't 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:08.940 actually need one more purchase to be successful. 00:16:09.019 --> 00:16:11.200 I don't need one more vacation. I don't need 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:14.559 one more upgrade to be secure. If I have God, 00:16:14.580 --> 00:16:19.100 and if I have the basics, then I'm a success. 00:16:19.480 --> 00:16:24.399 I have enough. Randy Alcorn has this great quote. 00:16:24.460 --> 00:16:27.460 He says, contentment is being satisfied in whose 00:16:27.460 --> 00:16:33.799 you are, who you are, and then what you have. 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:39.259 Or Chris Austin said, it's for not to possess 00:16:39.259 --> 00:16:45.940 much, but to need little is to be rich indeed. 00:16:46.779 --> 00:16:49.320 I mean, don't we often say, you know, if I just 00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:53.500 had this one more thing or this one other achievement, 00:16:53.559 --> 00:16:57.200 then I would be content. It's a lie. When you 00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:00.299 get that one more thing or achieve that one more 00:17:00.299 --> 00:17:03.360 thing, you will feel exactly the way you feel 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:08.420 right now. now. But here's the good news. You 00:17:08.420 --> 00:17:11.519 can learn contentment. I mean, last week we talked 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:14.200 about how generosity is a practice that teaches 00:17:14.200 --> 00:17:16.299 us, and we can learn to be generous, and that 00:17:16.299 --> 00:17:18.759 teaches us to lead a joyful life. Well, this 00:17:18.759 --> 00:17:21.799 week I want to teach you another practice. It's 00:17:21.799 --> 00:17:25.619 a practice that we can employ whenever we hear 00:17:25.619 --> 00:17:28.990 the whispers of greed. And it's a practice, actually, 00:17:29.069 --> 00:17:31.630 that hobbits clearly have learned. Many people 00:17:31.630 --> 00:17:34.769 on earth, many saints have learned this practice. 00:17:34.829 --> 00:17:37.650 And Jesus, of course, demonstrates it more than 00:17:37.650 --> 00:17:40.349 anyone else. And that is the practice of simplicity. 00:17:41.150 --> 00:17:46.009 If contentment is this peace that you feel, then 00:17:46.009 --> 00:17:50.789 simplicity is the practice that you live. Say 00:17:50.789 --> 00:17:53.730 that again. If contentment is the peace you feel. 00:17:54.359 --> 00:17:56.579 then simplicity is the practice that you live. 00:17:56.700 --> 00:17:58.680 Well, you say, well, what is simplicity? Well, 00:17:58.759 --> 00:18:01.160 again, think about hobbits for a moment. They 00:18:01.160 --> 00:18:05.000 had simple lives. They weren't poor. Were hobbits 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:08.140 poor? No, they weren't poor. They weren't sad 00:18:08.140 --> 00:18:11.440 either. No, they had great lives, but they had 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:13.839 just made a choice. At some point in their culture, 00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:17.559 they had made a choice to live with enough so 00:18:17.559 --> 00:18:21.119 that they could focus on other things that actually 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:26.200 mattered way, way more. Justin Whitmill Early 00:18:26.200 --> 00:18:28.759 puts it this way. He says, simplicity is a way 00:18:28.759 --> 00:18:34.660 of saying yes to what matters by saying no to 00:18:34.660 --> 00:18:39.440 what does not. The reason I think we love hobbits 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:41.940 is because they learn to say no to the things 00:18:41.940 --> 00:18:44.299 that don't matter so they could actually say 00:18:44.299 --> 00:18:47.319 yes to the things that do matter. I want to close 00:18:47.319 --> 00:18:50.279 by just sharing with you four lessons from the 00:18:50.279 --> 00:18:53.289 Shire about how to live a simple life. First 00:18:53.289 --> 00:18:56.890 is this. Simplicity just simply means this, living 00:18:56.890 --> 00:19:01.150 with less, less stuff. Hobbits, if you read the 00:19:01.150 --> 00:19:03.329 books, they don't crave more stuff or bigger 00:19:03.329 --> 00:19:05.549 stuff or better stuff. Look at their houses, 00:19:05.730 --> 00:19:07.789 right? Have you ever seen a hobbit hole, right? 00:19:07.890 --> 00:19:11.009 It's very simple. It's very practical. It's very 00:19:11.009 --> 00:19:14.289 comfortable, but it's not luxurious or lavish 00:19:14.289 --> 00:19:17.910 in any way, right? They don't need much to be. 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:20.299 happy hobbits. In fact, one of the things that 00:19:20.299 --> 00:19:21.920 Tolkien says about hobbits is they have this 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:25.619 extreme dislike for complicated machines. They 00:19:25.619 --> 00:19:27.920 don't like complicated things. Hobbits would 00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:30.980 never have a cell phone. It's a way to, a smartphone's 00:19:30.980 --> 00:19:32.940 way too complicated. It's way too expensive. 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:36.240 Instead, Tolkien says that hobbits are fond of 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:41.240 peace and quiet and good tilled earth. There 00:19:41.240 --> 00:19:44.920 are two ways to get enough, Chesterton says. 00:19:45.140 --> 00:19:48.990 One is to accumulate more. The other is to desire 00:19:48.990 --> 00:19:52.549 less. There's two ways to get rich. One is to 00:19:52.549 --> 00:19:56.670 make more. The other is to want less. Hobbits 00:19:56.670 --> 00:20:01.150 chose the second way. You can be rich when you 00:20:01.150 --> 00:20:04.549 delight in what you already have and then you 00:20:04.549 --> 00:20:07.589 live with less. That's the first lesson. The 00:20:07.589 --> 00:20:09.869 second lesson the hobbits teach us about simplicity 00:20:09.869 --> 00:20:15.519 is that simplicity means giving away more. right? 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:17.740 Giving away your possessions, giving away your 00:20:17.740 --> 00:20:20.480 wealth, giving away your time. In fact, in Hobbit 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:22.079 culture, do you know what you did on your birthday? 00:20:22.500 --> 00:20:26.789 Does anyone remember what, right? Yes, you don't 00:20:26.789 --> 00:20:29.029 get presents on your birthday if you're a hobbit. 00:20:29.109 --> 00:20:31.869 You actually give presents away to people, which 00:20:31.869 --> 00:20:33.950 means a birthday is a very expensive thing to 00:20:33.950 --> 00:20:36.109 celebrate if you live in the Shire. You've got 00:20:36.109 --> 00:20:39.829 to give stuff away. Even the ring itself, though 00:20:39.829 --> 00:20:42.529 it was very costly and very valuable, was given 00:20:42.529 --> 00:20:46.690 as a gift from Bilbo to Frodo. Hobbits seem to 00:20:46.690 --> 00:20:50.009 have no trouble parting with their... possessions. 00:20:50.150 --> 00:20:54.250 In fact, Tolkien invented a new word. His word 00:20:54.250 --> 00:20:57.349 called them a mathem, M -A -T -H -O -M. A mathem 00:20:57.349 --> 00:21:00.329 was anything that you had, anything that you 00:21:00.329 --> 00:21:03.829 didn't need, that you could just give away to 00:21:03.829 --> 00:21:06.109 someone. So it might be an extra pipe, an extra 00:21:06.109 --> 00:21:08.349 hat, you know, might be that you had a teapot 00:21:08.349 --> 00:21:10.369 you didn't use anymore, right? And these items 00:21:10.369 --> 00:21:12.369 were just given away and they would travel from 00:21:12.369 --> 00:21:15.130 house to house and from hand to hand. And sometimes 00:21:15.130 --> 00:21:17.289 they would even return back to the original owner, 00:21:17.410 --> 00:21:19.779 right? They just had no trouble. giving stuff 00:21:19.779 --> 00:21:24.420 away. Saint Basil wrote this. He said, the bread 00:21:24.420 --> 00:21:27.720 in your cupboard belongs to the hungry. The coat 00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:31.279 hanging unused in your closet belongs to the 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:34.019 one who needs it. The money that you hoard belongs 00:21:34.019 --> 00:21:38.380 to the poor. The more we give away, the more 00:21:38.380 --> 00:21:41.720 room we have for freedom and peace and contentment 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:45.500 within us. But thirdly, simplicity also means 00:21:45.500 --> 00:21:49.059 putting others first. Putting community first. 00:21:49.240 --> 00:21:51.680 You see, greed always isolates you from community, 00:21:51.859 --> 00:21:54.500 right? Smaug the dragon, he slept alone on his 00:21:54.500 --> 00:21:58.640 pile of gold. Gollum lived alone all by himself. 00:21:58.980 --> 00:22:01.019 The dwarves, you know, they were always divided, 00:22:01.140 --> 00:22:04.079 fighting over treasure. But simplicity allows 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:07.539 you to be with friends and to be with family 00:22:07.539 --> 00:22:10.759 and to put them above all the stuff. Look at 00:22:10.759 --> 00:22:12.819 the hobbits. They eat together. They celebrate 00:22:12.819 --> 00:22:15.980 together. They look after each other. In many 00:22:15.980 --> 00:22:19.390 ways, they believe. belong to each other it's 00:22:19.390 --> 00:22:21.769 the same way that the early church lived right 00:22:21.769 --> 00:22:23.650 all the believers were together and they had 00:22:23.650 --> 00:22:25.910 everything in common selling their possessions 00:22:25.910 --> 00:22:28.849 and good they shared with anyone who was in need 00:22:28.849 --> 00:22:32.569 the first volume of the lord of the rings was 00:22:32.569 --> 00:22:36.829 called the fellowship of the ring fellowship 00:22:36.829 --> 00:22:40.950 i'm not naive i mean community can be a place 00:22:40.950 --> 00:22:44.200 where people get really competitive And they 00:22:44.200 --> 00:22:46.059 compare themselves to each other. But community 00:22:46.059 --> 00:22:49.859 can also be the place where we treasure each 00:22:49.859 --> 00:22:54.480 other. Okay? And finally, simplicity also means 00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:59.480 being available for God. Okay, so Bilbo and Frodo 00:22:59.480 --> 00:23:01.980 were both able to leave their homes and go on 00:23:01.980 --> 00:23:04.740 this great mission at the drop of a hat. And 00:23:04.740 --> 00:23:07.720 they weren't held back by their possessions. 00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:10.240 They weren't held back by their commitments. 00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:13.940 They held those things so loosely. That they 00:23:13.940 --> 00:23:18.460 left it all to pursue this greater purpose. Christians 00:23:18.460 --> 00:23:21.539 have a greater purpose. We have a greater mission 00:23:21.539 --> 00:23:25.519 to seek the kingdom of God. But many people can't 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:28.119 go on that mission. Why? Oh, because I bought 00:23:28.119 --> 00:23:31.039 a field. I need to go see it. Please excuse me. 00:23:31.059 --> 00:23:34.059 Oh, I bought five yoke of oxen and I'm going 00:23:34.059 --> 00:23:36.000 to go try them out. Please excuse me, Jesus. 00:23:36.099 --> 00:23:38.380 I can't go on that mission. I can't go with you 00:23:38.380 --> 00:23:40.839 today. These excuses are all based on the fact 00:23:40.839 --> 00:23:43.539 that they had material attachments. But simplicity 00:23:43.539 --> 00:23:47.900 of life allows us to focus on the mission before 00:23:47.900 --> 00:23:52.200 us and to be available to God to say, yes, Lord, 00:23:52.359 --> 00:23:58.269 send me, Lord. Use me, Lord. living with less, 00:23:58.309 --> 00:24:00.789 giving away more, putting others first and being 00:24:00.789 --> 00:24:03.529 available to God. Guys, what would it be, what 00:24:03.529 --> 00:24:05.750 would it look like for us to live like hobbits 00:24:05.750 --> 00:24:10.089 here in Streetsville? What would it look like 00:24:10.089 --> 00:24:12.269 for you to live with less? Well, it would probably 00:24:12.269 --> 00:24:14.589 mean a lifestyle change of some sort. It would 00:24:14.589 --> 00:24:16.750 mean that maybe you drive a used car instead 00:24:16.750 --> 00:24:18.509 of a new one. It means maybe you hang on to your 00:24:18.509 --> 00:24:20.450 clothes a little longer before you replace them. 00:24:20.509 --> 00:24:22.710 It means you probably brew your own coffee at 00:24:22.710 --> 00:24:24.990 home rather than constantly buying it at Starbucks 00:24:24.990 --> 00:24:27.390 each and every day. The point is that somebody, 00:24:27.630 --> 00:24:29.990 the world should be able to look at us and say, 00:24:30.049 --> 00:24:32.250 oh, there's something different about them. They 00:24:32.250 --> 00:24:34.269 don't seem to be caught up in that same rat race 00:24:34.269 --> 00:24:38.069 we are. They're choosing a simpler way of life. 00:24:38.619 --> 00:24:40.880 What would it look like for us to live like hobbits 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:44.779 and give away more? What kind of mathems do you 00:24:44.779 --> 00:24:47.279 have in your house? What could you give away? 00:24:47.420 --> 00:24:50.579 Sell it and then give the money away to someone, 00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:53.059 right? Just start, maybe even this week, with 00:24:53.059 --> 00:24:55.539 one or two things that you just do not need anymore 00:24:55.539 --> 00:24:59.019 and give them to someone who does. Many of us, 00:24:59.019 --> 00:25:00.740 it's really hard for us to imagine giving things 00:25:00.740 --> 00:25:03.900 away because we already spend just about everything 00:25:03.900 --> 00:25:07.000 we make right up to the limit, right? But as 00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:10.309 we simplify, our lives. And as we create space, 00:25:10.630 --> 00:25:13.329 we create this margin in our budgets and this 00:25:13.329 --> 00:25:16.670 margin in our schedules that then allows us to 00:25:16.670 --> 00:25:20.910 be able to give away to others. What would it 00:25:20.910 --> 00:25:23.269 look like for our church to live like hobbits 00:25:23.269 --> 00:25:27.349 and to kind of be this community that put others 00:25:27.349 --> 00:25:29.910 first? You know, the early church was incredibly 00:25:29.910 --> 00:25:32.549 economically diverse, and so is our church, by 00:25:32.549 --> 00:25:34.190 the way. Some of us here are living paycheck 00:25:34.190 --> 00:25:37.109 to paycheck. Others of us are doing really, really 00:25:37.109 --> 00:25:40.069 well. And there's others of us who are kind of 00:25:40.069 --> 00:25:43.990 somewhere in the middle. And I don't say that 00:25:43.990 --> 00:25:45.930 to shame anyone or to guilt anyone, but just 00:25:45.930 --> 00:25:49.230 to say that we cannot let wealth get in the way 00:25:49.230 --> 00:25:54.039 of community. And we can't allow money. To somehow 00:25:54.039 --> 00:25:56.440 determine how we value each other here at Trinity 00:25:56.440 --> 00:25:59.440 Streetsville. Imagine a church that instead of 00:25:59.440 --> 00:26:02.660 measuring ourselves against each other and hanging 00:26:02.660 --> 00:26:05.140 out with people who are kind of in our same socioeconomic 00:26:05.140 --> 00:26:07.799 bracket, that we actually honored one another 00:26:07.799 --> 00:26:11.799 by living simply and giving generously and openly. 00:26:12.039 --> 00:26:15.019 Imagine what the world would think if they saw 00:26:15.019 --> 00:26:18.359 this community that we formed where nobody was 00:26:18.359 --> 00:26:22.740 left to carry the fear of financial burdens alone. 00:26:23.049 --> 00:26:26.650 If we lived that way, I mean, simplicity, it 00:26:26.650 --> 00:26:28.289 wouldn't just be possible. It would actually 00:26:28.289 --> 00:26:32.049 be beautiful and so attractive. And finally, 00:26:32.089 --> 00:26:33.809 what would it look like for us to live like hobbits? 00:26:34.490 --> 00:26:38.190 By making ourselves available to God. To say 00:26:38.190 --> 00:26:41.630 yes when God calls. Is there something in your 00:26:41.630 --> 00:26:43.329 life that right now that God has been saying, 00:26:43.430 --> 00:26:45.589 I want you to go do this. I want you to go give 00:26:45.589 --> 00:26:47.970 this. But you're saying, I just can't do that. 00:26:48.069 --> 00:26:49.970 But if you were to simplify your life, you could 00:26:49.970 --> 00:26:52.509 say yes. If you were to simplify your life, you 00:26:52.509 --> 00:26:54.710 could serve. If you were to simplify your life, 00:26:54.829 --> 00:26:58.180 you could give. right? If I could simplify, I 00:26:58.180 --> 00:27:00.880 could be more generous and you could say yes 00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:05.680 and yes and yes to God. Simplicity gives us back 00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:11.359 the ability to say yes to God. So listen, the 00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:14.700 ring of greed, it whispers to us, it bends us, 00:27:14.839 --> 00:27:17.940 it isolates us, destroys us. But the good news 00:27:17.940 --> 00:27:22.359 is your story is not Gollum's story, right? There's 00:27:22.359 --> 00:27:24.599 another way to live. It's the way of Frodo, the 00:27:24.599 --> 00:27:28.980 way of It's the way of the shire. It's the way 00:27:28.980 --> 00:27:33.440 of simplicity. It's the way of contentment. But 00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:38.019 really, it's the way of Jesus. The ring whispers, 00:27:38.140 --> 00:27:43.440 I'll give you more. Greed whispers, you need 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:50.720 more. But Jesus whispers, my grace is sufficient 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:58.579 for you. In me. You already have everything you 00:27:58.579 --> 00:28:04.559 need. Thanks be to God. Amen.