Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hey, thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Today, we're continuing our series called The Habits of Happiness. In this series, Rick dives into the book of Philippians and helps you discover God's path to true and lasting happiness. And now, the final part of a message called The Humble Path to Happiness.

Rick Warren: This morning I went to pick up my mother-in-law, Kay's mom, sweet mom. She's in her eighties and she's at an assisted living place. When I pulled up, I got out of my car and she walked out. I helped get her in. As I got back around to the other side to get in the car, an aide was pushing an elderly woman in front of the car in a wheelchair.

I just paused and I walked over to her and said, "How are you today?" I patted her and I said, "You look really great. Ma'am, can I say you look fabulicious?" Now, as a ninety-year-old, she probably had no idea what I was saying. She didn't even know what the word meant, but she kind of figured out it was a compliment.

She smiled, and it was nothing. It was no big heroic act. It was just a kind thing I just said instead of getting in the car. I walked over and said that. I got in the car and my mother-in-law said, "Thank you, Rick." I said, "What, Mom?" She goes, "Most people are too wrapped up in themselves to notice us."

I thought that took me a whole eight seconds. There was nothing to it. It was just being nice to the people around me. It was no skin off my back. It took nothing, but it might have brightened that lady's day. Maybe her kids don't live in the nation, in America, or don't live in the state, or maybe they don't pay attention to her.

How many people do you walk by every day and you have lost the art of paying attention because it's all about you? It's all about your agenda. "I've got to get to my next meeting." If, as the Good Samaritan, somebody was lying on the side of the road, you might not even see them. If you're going to be humble, you've got to learn the lost art of paying attention.

Here's what the Bible says. It's the next verse, verse 4. "Don't be interested only in your own life, but be interested in what others care about, too." In other words, don't just be interested in your agenda, your career, your favorite hobbies. Be interested in what other people are interested in. Be interested in their needs.

Dads, particularly, this is a simple but powerful tool in helping raise your kids. You've just got to be interested not in what you want them to be interested in, but you be interested in what they are interested in. There's a word for that. It's love. There's another word for it: humility.

The Bible says those are the kind of things that build relationship. Don't be interested only in your own life, but be interested. Are you interested in what your wife says? Are you interested in what your kids say? Are you interested in what your husband says? This, again, is not natural because by nature, I couldn't care less what you think.

By nature, I really don't care what you're interested in. I'm only interested in what I'm interested in. If you're not interested in what I'm interested in, why should I even pay attention to you? Let me give you an example. If I were to stand up here right now and take a picture of the thousands of people sitting right here right now and then I gave each of you a copy of the picture, who is the first person you'd look for?

There's no doubt. You'd go straight to, "Where am I? Where am I? Where am I?" And you'd either go, "Wow, my hair looks good today," or, "I look fat in that color," or whatever. You'd have all these comments and if you thought you looked good, it's a great picture. And if you don't look good, that picture sucks. It's just terrible. It's no good. Well, that is the human nature. You think about you more than anything else.

God says if you want to really be happy, you've got to change your frame of reference because harmony doesn't come from you thinking about you all the time. It comes from you being interested in what other people are interested in and caring about what they care about and being concerned with what they're concerned about.

So let me ask you a very blatant, frank question. Are you interested in only what concerns you? Do you get bored when you talk to friends and they talk about things they are interested in and you couldn't care less about? Something in your mind goes, "Get me out of this place," and you find your attention drifting? You need to learn the lost art of paying attention.

That's an act of love. The greatest gift you can give somebody is your attention because your attention is your time and your time is your life. You're never going to get it back. If I give you money, I can always get more money. But if I give you my attention, I'm never getting that back. When I look you in the eye, it's saying to you, "You matter to me. What you're saying to me is important."

Now, you can listen without paying attention. In fact, you can get real good at it as a parent, as a partner, as a friend. You're listening and you can even go, "Mhm, mhm, mhm," and you're thinking about a million other things. They're telling you all about your day and you're already thinking about something else. That's not paying attention. That's listening, but it's not paying attention.

Learn the lost art of paying attention. Don't be interested in just your own life, but others, what others care about, too. Number four, the fourth thing you need to do is you ask, "What would Jesus do?" Now, I know this sounds like a trite question, but it's really true.

It comes from this verse, Philippians 2, verse 5. "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." And so if I really care about relationships, if I want to lower the conflict and I want to raise the harmony in my life so we can have more happiness in our lives, I've got to never let my pride be my guide.

I've got to always be humble or I'll stumble. I've got to learn the lost art of paying attention. And the fourth thing, I have to ask myself in this situation, in this conflict, "What would Jesus do?" In this problem, what would Jesus do? In this time where somebody's feeling guilty, what would Jesus do?

In this time where somebody's worried, what would Jesus do? What would Jesus do at the office in this situation? What would Jesus do out on the golf course? What would Jesus do as I'm driving down the freeway and somebody just tried to run me off the road? You ask that over and over again, and you'll always come up with a humble answer.

You'll always come up with the one that builds harmony and happiness rather than difficulty, defeat, bitterness, and resentment. Now you say, "Well, I don't know what it means to act like Jesus. How would Jesus act at my school? How would Jesus act in my marriage? How would Jesus treat my wife? How would Jesus treat my husband?"

Fortunately, we have three examples in the next couple verses as we end this passage. Acting like Jesus means three things. Number one, it means I don't demand what I think I deserve. That's acting like Jesus. I never demand what I think I deserve.

Now, we go through life thinking we deserve a whole lot. When we don't get it, we get demanding. If some clerk doesn't meet our needs and we think that clerk's a jerk, then we start getting demanding. But Jesus didn't do that. Philippians 2:6-7 says this, "Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He emptied himself of all he had."

Notice says here, Jesus is God. He comes to earth, he becomes a human being, and even though he's God, he doesn't demand his rights. He empties himself of all he had. Do you realize how countercultural that is? Because you were brought up, if you're brought up here in America, you were brought up with this, "Well, I have my rights. It's my right to do this."

Yes, it is, but it doesn't mean you demand it. "It's my right to do this and I demand my rights." Then you're not like Jesus. There's a better way to do it. There's a better way to get your needs met than demanding your rights. There are better ways. In fact, demanding just makes people more resistant. It makes them more retaliatory towards you.

The Bible says though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. You say, "Wait a minute. I have this right as a husband." Yes, you do. "I have this right as a wife." Yes, you do. But you're not going to get what you need by demanding your rights. The Christlike thing to do is I don't demand what I think I deserve.

I actually use this verse as a test when I'm hiring staff here at Saddleback Church. I'll take a potential staff member out to lunch and then what I'll do is I will watch how they treat the waitress. Are they understanding or are they demanding? And if they're demanding, I say they don't deserve to be here. This is not a place for them.

You can be tender without surrender. You can be understanding without demanding. You can get your needs met without blowing people away. You can do it by being nice with them. Are you understanding or are you demanding? If I want to be like Jesus, I don't demand what I think I deserve.

Number two, I look for ways that I can serve. I don't just demand what I think I deserve. I look for ways that I can serve. Verse 7 says this, "And Jesus took on the nature of a servant, becoming a human just like us." If you want to be like Jesus, you're going to have to learn to serve.

That's the exact opposite of our culture because our culture says the whole goal in life is to get other people to serve you. The more people you have serving you, the more important you are. That's what the world says. But God's value system is the exact opposite. It's not the more people serving you, the more important you are. It's the more people you serve, the more important you are.

Self-esteem does not come from your salary. Self-esteem does not come from your status. Self-esteem does not come from your stuff. Self-esteem comes from service. The more you give your life away, the more God blesses you with honor. I call it the Mother Teresa principle.

Mother Teresa gave her life helping the least influential people in the world, beggars dying in Calcutta. And God raised her up to a position of influence that she had influence over the United Nations and the US Congress and all kinds of things. Why? Because God says the way up is down. And God says before honor is humility. God says if you want to be great, learn to be the servant of all.

You can practice this. It's a habit you can develop. You develop the habit not in the big things in life, but in the little things. God tests your humility every single day of your life. When you walk out of this service and you walk across the campus and you see a piece of trash, that's a test.

Will I pick it up? "Oh, no, that's for other people to pick up. That's beneath me. I'm too good for that. I shouldn't have to pick that up. They pay staff to pick that stuff up." Yeah, you can make up all the reasons, but this is a test. How humble are you? Are you a servant? Do you see a piece of trash? Do you pick it up?

That's a test. You're tested in the little things of life and then it's shown in the big things of life. Character is revealed in the great crisis, but it's built in the little day-to-day things like returning the grocery cart to the lot. How many times you walk out of a grocery store and you brought the groceries here and then you're tired and you go, "I don't really want to take it back. I'll just put it right here because other people will do this." This is a test, and you just failed.

It's a test of your pride. It's a test of your humility. It's a test of whether you are genuinely a servant and have a servant heart or not. You say, "Well, I'll let other people do that." Well, you have just proven my point. You think you're better. And if everybody did what you did, nothing would ever get put back.

I'll never forget one time my friend Truett Cathy's son, Dan Cathy. The Cathys founded Chick-fil-A. They're a great Christian family and they were opening a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Foothill Ranch. Dan was here one day and we went over there and it wasn't open yet. We were looking at the building. While we were there, we were hungry, so we went next door to, I think it was a Taco Bell, but it was some other fast food in competition with Chick-fil-A.

We had been out and our hands were all sweaty and dirty. We went into the restroom, used the restroom, washed our hands, and then I watched Dan take out extra sheets. This is the CEO of a chain of restaurants. I watched him pull this out and I watched him hand clean the sinks of the Taco Bell bathroom we were just in.

I looked at him and said, "Thank you for doing that, Dan." He said, "Rick, we teach our staff to always leave any place they are better than it was when they found it, whether it's our place or not." I thought nobody in that Taco Bell and nobody at Taco Bell corporate will know that the CEO of their competition just cleaned their bathroom for free.

That's called the heart of a servant. It's why God blesses Chick-fil-A. They have a whole book on it. It's called, of course, it's good food, too, but they have a book called Second Mile Service, how we go the extra mile. That is if somebody asks you to go one mile, you go with them two. If they ask for your coat, you give them your shirt. You go the second mile. God blesses that. When you do good, God does good to your business.

I look for ways that I can serve. Then finally, number three, I do what's right even when it's painful. That's what it means to act like Jesus. What would Jesus do? He doesn't demand what he thinks he deserves. He's understanding, not demanding. He looks for ways that he can serve. He's a servant in every situation. That's what Jesus did.

And I do what's right even when it's painful. Verse 8 says this, "While living as a man, Jesus humbled himself even more by being fully obedient to God, even when that meant his death on the cross." He did the right thing even though it was excruciatingly painful to him. That's what it means to do what's right even when it's painful.

Because Jesus is the ultimate model of humility, is there a reward? Oh, yes, there's a reward. And God, because Jesus was the greatest example of humility, God has given Jesus the greatest honor in the universe. The last couple verses say this, "Because of this, the example of humility that Jesus showed, because of this, God exalted Jesus to the highest honor and made his name greater than every other name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee will one day bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess one day that Jesus Christ is Lord and give glory to the Father."

Jesus has a name greater than every other name. Have you ever wondered why people use Jesus' name to swear? Have you ever thought about that? Nobody ever says, "Oh, Rick Warren." Nobody ever uses your name to cuss. Why? Because we don't matter that much. Why do people use Jesus' name? Because there is no other name higher in the universe.

People who swear don't even realize when they're swearing why they're using Jesus' name. There is no higher name. There is no greater name. This is why they use it. If there was, they'd be using that name. There is no greater name. They don't even realize that when they're swearing, they're actually affirming that Jesus' name is unlike anybody else's name, and that's why it's the one that gets used as the cuss word.

Nobody says, "Oh, Buddha." They say Jesus. They say God, because there are no higher and greater names. Now, notice it says one day in heaven that everybody's going to be gathered at the Judgment Day. Every person who's ever lived will be gathered before God.

Every human being who's ever lived. It says at that time, every knee one day will bow. Every human being who's ever lived is going to bow before Jesus. This is the highest honor. And every tongue will confess, in other words, will finally admit that Jesus Christ is Lord and give glory to God the Father.

Every day, one day, even atheists, they're going to acknowledge the truth. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess at that Judgment Day. When people say to you sometimes, "What is the world coming to?" you can say, "It's coming to this." One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is who he said he was, that he's the Son of God, that he is the Lord.

It encourages me that someday all of the arrogance and all of the idolatry and all of the denial will end. At that scene when every person who's ever been created by God bows before Jesus and confesses who he is, every nationality will be there, every age will be there, every religion will be there, every political stripe will be there.

Everybody is going to be there. All the politicians and all the rock stars and all the businessmen and all the scientists and all the homemakers and all the athletes, they'll all be there saying Jesus is Lord. It's not a matter of if you're ever going to admit this. It's just a matter of when. You will either do it now in love or you will do it later in judgment.

One day, you will acknowledge you are not God. Only God is God and he sent his Son to die for you and you don't have any way of getting into heaven except through the grace of Jesus Christ. If there was any other way, believe me, God would have used it and he wouldn't have wasted his Son.

You're not God. Jesus is Lord. When you say Jesus is Lord, that is a humble statement. It means, "I'm not Lord. I'm not the master of my fate. I'm not in control of my life." Are you kidding me? You didn't choose when you were born, where you were born, how you were born, where you die. You didn't choose your natural giftedness. Most of the things that make you you, you had nothing to control.

You're not in control. You're control of your choices, but you're not in control. God gave you the brain he gave you. He gave you the body he gave you. One day, everyone will confess Jesus is Lord. When we remember that Jesus is Lord, you know what it means? We stop pridefully pretending that we are God.

I want to urge you as I close to discover the power of this phrase. Discover the power of this phrase. When you're discouraged, say, "Jesus is Lord." When you are tempted, say, "Jesus is Lord." When you are worried and fearful and stressed out, say, "Jesus is Lord." When you are fatigued, say, "Jesus is Lord." When you're lonely, say, "Jesus is Lord."

When you are grieving, say, "Jesus is Lord." It may look like the wrong side is winning, but Jesus is Lord. It may look like your problems are insurmountable and you're never going to get out of debt, but Jesus is Lord. It may look like you feel you can't cope with one more day, but Jesus is Lord.

It may look like we're never going to resolve these marriage problems, but Jesus is Lord. It may look like circumstances are against me and people want to defeat me, but Jesus is Lord. He is God and I'm not. That's called humility and it's the path to happiness. Let's bow our heads.

Would you pray this prayer? Dear God, I want to be what you want me to be and I want to live a happy life. I want to live with harmony in my relationships and I certainly don't want to live with conflict. Help me to do it your way instead of the world's way. Help me to remember to never let my pride be my guide.

To not let the attitude of "it's all about me" or "I'm always right" get in the way of what you want to do. Help me to be humble so I don't stumble. Help me to be honest about my weaknesses. Help me to think not less of myself, but less about myself. Help me to think more about others and more about you, to not be so self-obsessed with what do other people think about me.

Dear God, help me to learn the lost art of paying attention. To not just be interested in my sports and my hobbies, my school, my career, my interest, my family. Help me to be interested in what other people are interested in, too, and to show it in love by paying attention, by listening.

When I'm in the tough times of life, help me to ask, "What would Jesus do?" Help me not to demand what I think I deserve but to be like Jesus. When I think life is unfair, help me to remember the cross and how unfair that was. Help me to look for ways around me every day where I can serve.

This week, Lord, when I'm tested on these principles and these habits in conflict with others, help me to do what's right even when it's painful. To be understanding, not demanding. To be tender without surrender. To be forgiving. To be willing to compromise. Help me to be humble and willing to back down, to willing to say, "I was wrong. Please forgive me."

Lord, I know that if I walk in humility and dependence for you, you have promised to reward me with the promises of your word. And so I say to you, Jesus, I want you to be the Lord of my life. I want you to be the manager. I want you to be the director. I want you to call the shots. You are God and I'm not. Help me to remember that. I humbly ask you to save my life. In your name I pray, Amen.

If you just prayed that prayer for the very first time or you just recommitted your life to Jesus again today, would you let me know about it? There's something real about sharing your commitment. So write me, Rick, at rick@pastorrick.com and say, "Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment. I gave my life to Christ." I'll send you some material that'll help you on your journey with Jesus and I'll also pray for you. God bless you.

Guest (Male): Wow, some powerful words from Pastor Rick today. And now this is really one of my favorite parts of the broadcast. This is letters from our listeners. And now here's Rick.

Rick Warren: Have you ever noticed that your day goes better when you start with God's word? That's been true in my life and I'm certain it'll make a difference in your life too, when you choose to get into God's word first thing every day. It's one of the most important habits you can develop.

Here's an email from a man named Jeremy who says connecting with God every morning has made such a big difference in his life. He says, "Rick, Daily Hope fills my mind with truth when I begin each day at 3 AM." Wow. "I realize that Daily Hope helps fill my mind with the good stuff and crowds out all the negative because truth and hope have really changed my attitude throughout the day."

So you can take it from Jeremy. God's word at the start of your day will change your day in a positive way. Thanks for listening today, everybody. I love you. I thank God for you and I'm praying for you.

Guest (Male): Did you know that you can start every day with hope and encouragement from Pastor Rick? Well, you can, when you sign up to receive his life-changing Bible study teaching delivered directly to your inbox. Just go to pastorrick.com and sign up for this free Daily Hope devotional. You'll love it.

Be sure to join us next time as we look into God's word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.