Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: God is at work. I believe right now in the age that we're living in that God is working overtime right now. He's not shaken by this global crisis.

David J: This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I'm David J, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's word, the Bible.

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Narrator: The Happy Birthday America booklet, helping the next generation discover the founding truths of our nation. Get your copy today for free. Just pay shipping at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com.

David J: On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series now called Disciplines of Life and a message titled Discipline of Discontentment. If we're always feeling unhappy or dissatisfied, that's something that the Christ follower really has got to learn to control.

Discontentment comes when our focus is not on the right things. When we focus on what we don't have instead of what God has already given us, or compare ourselves to others, or expect life to go our way, our complaints overshadow the good things in our lives.

Today, Pastor Jack teaches that discontentment doesn't stay small. It grows into complaining, bitterness, and sadly, a lack of gratitude. But at its core, discontentment shows a lack of trust in God and knowing that he wants what's best for us. Before we jump into the message today, I had a chance to sit down with Pastor Jack to talk about the message. Let's look at that.

Pastor Jack, talking about the disciplines of discontentment, is it possible to be content but still be hungry for spiritual growth at the same time?

Jack Hibbs: It's a moving target, so to speak, because first of all, the Bible says—Paul wrote to Timothy and told Timothy—godliness with contentment is great wealth. In other words, if our heart is right, in the right place, it doesn't matter if we're rich or poor or in the middle. It simply doesn't matter because our contentment is found in God.

After saying that, let me give you the sanctified version of discontentment. Jesus said if you drink of the water I give, you'll never thirst again. Jesus said if you eat of the bread of life, you'll never be hungry again. That's because he satisfies.

There's a sanctified discontent, meaning I'm satisfied in Jesus but I must have more of him. I hope that makes sense. The world—you can have all of the world and never be satisfied. You can have Jesus and be satisfied and yet hunger for more of Jesus because now you know he is the very source that brings satisfaction to you. I wish Hollywood or Wall Street would discover the gospel truth about this.

David J: Excellent. Good stuff, Pastor Jack. I appreciate you being here. So, the disciplines of discontentment. Let's get into it.

Jack Hibbs: Father, we ask that you'd bless your word to our hearts right now. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, grab your Bibles tonight and turn to number 22 in our series. Thirty-one-week series, we are in week 22 already. My goodness, it's gone by kind of fast if you ask me. We're looking at the Disciplines of Life series. We've gone through so many disciplines and we've come now tonight to discontentment.

Matthew 28:18, Hebrews 13:5. We're looking at the discipline of discontentment. Why do I do that? As you turn to those two references, I was hoping to show you some YouTube broadcast of spoiled children. That's what I did tonight. I thought maybe I can show them something about—so I YouTubed spoiled children and either A, they were pretty boring, or B, they were so bad I can't share it to adults, these kids going ballistic because they didn't get their favorite toy for Christmas.

What's my point? That discontentment can be a very volatile issue. Why do we have these feelings of discontentment? I'm going to ask you this question. It may sound like a trick question. Is all discontentment wrong? Is all discontentment bad? You might be surprised by the answer tonight.

As we look to this, Matthew chapter 28, our theme verse for the series, verse 18. Jesus spoke to them. He said to them, all authority has been given to me. You guys, that's a lot of authority. In heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Notice that verse 19 is the response of the believer in light of the fact that Christ has all authority.

We get to do this. We get to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.

Now, we go to our verse for tonight on discontentment and that discipline. Hebrews 13:5 says, let your conduct—the way that you act—be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. Whatever you have, be happy with that. For he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

The Christian's comfort zone comes from the fact that Jesus Christ, no matter what happens in life, will never leave us or forsake us. Because we have Christ with us at all times and he will never leave us or forsake us, that's how and that's why you and I can be content in whatever situation we are in. Why should I be content if we're losing our home? Why should I be content if I can't get this for Christmas? Why should I be content if I lost my job? Listen, because number one, Christ is with you. If Christ is with you, then everything else is going to pan out. That's a fact.

We get so caught up into the things of this world and life that we think Jesus gets knocked off his throne because we lose our job. He doesn't get knocked off his throne. Maybe God is taking you to a better job. Maybe God knows more about that situation than you do and he's setting you up for a great blessing.

We are such an emotional knee-jerk culture that if something challenges us instantly, we immediately think it must be because I'm bad. Why do we think like that? We naturally think this is happening because I've done some great evil. Not necessarily so.

God is at work. I believe right now in the age that we're living in that God is working overtime right now. He's not shaken by this global crisis. You know I love to quote Noah Webster and Noah Webster says discontentment is the state of being uneasy in mind. He says it's an uneasiness.

A modern rendering of the word discontentment means the absence of contentment. To be unsettled or restless in the mind or soul. A sense of being dissatisfied. You ever feel like that in life? A person unable to find rest. A comfortless individual. There's a lot of people like that. More than ever, I think maybe in America at a time like this, people are feeling the sense of being dissatisfied.

Maybe life didn't turn out the way that they expected. We've got people reaching a certain age, people seemingly from 40 to 50 go through a tremendous moment of evaluation and some people call it midlife crisis. They start buying everything. They get gold chains around their neck. They were never prone to wearing gold before, but now they're wearing gold and they were fine with a truck or with the family caravan bus or whatever, but now they got a little Hugo red sports car or something. I don't know.

But they go through a crisis. Why discontentment? Why? Because we get our eyes off God being the target. We begin to look at our neighbors. You know the old saying of keeping up with the Joneses? That's a trap and it pulls us away from focusing on Christ. Or we reach a place and we begin to evaluate. I haven't measured up much in life and you become discontented. You become dissatisfied.

Young people today—it's not limited to older people—young people today are dissatisfied. I am personally very concerned about this. I know many of you are. We have bred a generation—it's our fault, not theirs—we've bred a generation of entitled people. They don't want to work or if they do work, they want to start out at $100,000 a year. They want to have a company car. They don't believe in working through the ranks and rolling up your sleeves. They don't know what that's like. They haven't had to have that. We have raised them that way. Just handing them stuff is a dangerous thing and it breeds discontentment.

It's a great thing to learn dependency upon God and to pray and to work hard and to fight for things. When things get handed to us, we have no appreciation. Then when we don't have what others have, we want to take what they have. That's why the Bible says thou shalt not covet. Or if we don't take it, then we want everything distributed among everyone the same and that's a very dangerous thing.

So, a couple things we need to look at. Keeping this in mind as we look, we'll have four simple points tonight. Most of us being humans, we're not living in that place that God designed us to live in. Did you know that? You say I thought we prayed about our house. I'm not talking about that. That you and I as spiritual creatures, remember this. The real you is housed inside this body. This is not you. This is the vehicle. This is an earthbound biochemical machine that God has given me to articulate and to relate to you back and forth in this realm.

When you and I die or get raptured, we are going to be given a new body to relate and to express ourselves in a new realm, a spiritual realm. You are spirit uppermost. Your body contains the part of you that will live forever. You say, Pastor, I don't believe in God. I don't believe in what you're saying. Doesn't matter. You're going to live forever in a resurrected dead body. Read John chapter 5, read Daniel chapter 12. The Bible says everyone will be resurrected in the end, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting death. Notice those that are resurrected to an everlasting death, they don't die. They're just dying. They're in a state of dying forever. You don't want anything to do with that. God doesn't want you to have anything to do with that.

But you and I are not living in the place that God originally intended us to be living in. God intended us to live like Adam and Eve lived before they goofed up. In paradise with God, fellowshiping with God in the cool of the day face to face. Amazing. It kind of reminds me of that little kid because when we think about how we were originally created to live in the presence of God, now you and I are struggling with not living in the presence of God.

But we need to understand that this discipline of discontentment needs to be managed. Reminds me of the little boy and I'll read it to you. The little boy heard his dad pray every day, "Father, we now enter into your presence." The little boy's listening to his dad pray. "We enter into your presence, we sense your presence, Lord, and we need your presence in our lives. So Lord, please give us your presence always in Jesus' name. Amen." At that, Johnny just couldn't take it anymore and he said to his father, "When? When are we going to get these presents, Daddy?" One guy speaking spiritual, the other guy speaking carnal or of this world. Let's get those presents on.

Narrator: You're listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. To learn more about this ministry or to catch up on some previous episodes, go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. And now, let's get back to today's message. Once again, here's Pastor Jack.

Jack Hibbs: As we get into this, mark this introductory verse down. Romans chapter 8, verse 20 says, "For the creation was subject to futility." When Adam and Eve sinned, everything that was normal was turned upside down. The Bible says death entered into the world at that moment. Animals began to die. In fact, technically Adam and Eve began to die. It took them 900 years to die, but from that moment they began to wither.

Spiritually they died in an instant. That had to be freakish. Remember when God said, "The day that you eat of it, you shall surely die"? He was talking about their spirit. That's why you have to be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven. We are born spiritually dead and our life and our bodies decay. Physicists tell us the moment a child is born, the child is on his path toward death. Well, that's encouraging.

I find it interesting that in the medical world, in chemistry and biology, did you know that your body doesn't understand why it's dying? Did you know that doctors will tell us that the heart—there is no reason why a heart should stop beating? Did you know that your liver—that's why they call it the vital organs—did you know that your liver, your kidneys, did you know that they were designed to work forever? There's no reason why they should stop. And did you know that every seven years your body chemistry goes through a revamp? It tries to reboot itself every seven years. It goes through a restart. It tries to recover. Death technically is a mystery. You don't often think about that.

God has made you. The Bible says you are fearfully and wonderfully made. But one of those things that we have to grapple with is that the whole universe, including our lives, is subject to futility, frustration, discontentment.

Point number one, jot it down if you would regarding this. It is that the discipline of discontentment requires us that we would recognize that physical discontentment can be bad. I want you to write that down. It can be bad. Recognize that physical discontentment can be bad. When I talk about physical, I mean the things of life that we deal with. The things that you and I see with our eyes every day. I want you to think about that. It can be bad. It's not necessarily having to be bad, but it can be bad.

Number one, jot it down. Proverbs 27:20 says, "Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied." Mankind's eyes are never satisfied. Apart from God, we're never satisfied. That's why when you read Ecclesiastes, this is Solomon who started with God, was blessed by God, and then in his wealth began to forget God and he went off on all kinds of experimentations of life. He had all the women he could ever have, he had all the wealth, he had all the power. What does scripture tell us? It's all vanity. It's ridiculous.

The man that had it all. People say if I just could have it all. If you could have it all, you'd be discontented because only God can satisfy your soul. You can be sitting on a yacht in paradise, having the best looks, all of this stuff, and be absolutely having a storm in your soul and not be satisfied.

Discontentment, it can be bad. Why can it be bad? Why is that? Well, again, listen. Now, this part's kind of negative and then it's going to go positive and then it's going to go negative and then we're going to end positive. So just don't leave now. You'd be all bummed out all week.

James 4, listen. This is amazing. James chapter 4, verse 1. James says, "What causes fights and quarrels?" Do you have any kids? "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Do they not come from your desires that battle within you?" Is that not true? You ever seen kids in the playground and you see a kid get in a fight because they don't want to share their toy? Where did that come from? From inside that kid.

"You want something, but you don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight and you do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." Oh God, if I just win the lotto. If you just win the lotto, what? Any person who prays that prayer, I can already tell you what's going to happen to their life. No.

Matthew 27:3 says, "Then Judas," talk about discontentment, "Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned, was remorseful." Isn't it interesting your Bible doesn't say he repented? He was sorry he got caught and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." Notice that's a true statement. He sinned against Jesus. It is true, but he's not repentant. He's sorry he got caught and they said, "What's that to us, loser? We don't care about you. We just used you and you were a sucker enough to turn Jesus in. You see to it."

Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and he went and he hanged himself. By the way, even today in Israel, though they don't read the New Testament, when you drive in the bus, you drive to the Kidron Valley on your left, the Temple Mount on your right, then you come to the tomb of Absalom and then the city of David excavations are right there. Then you turn right and you go to the Valley of Hinnom, Gehenna, the valley of burning. That's where they would burn the trash. It's the Valley of Hell. It's a picture of Hell to the Hebrew mind. That's where it comes from.

Then you come around to the field of Akeldama or Hakeldama. It's a steep cliff. It's beautiful, by the way. Nobody goes there. There's nothing built there. It's really pretty, but the Hebrews there in Israel say that's a cursed place. They don't even know if you say why is it cursed. "Oh, it's just cursed." They don't know the New Testament story. They won't read it. They'll tell you it's cursed. Now, I don't believe it's cursed. I don't believe in that stuff, but they do.

When you drive right there and you look over, there's steep cliffs and rocks. It's about a 120-foot fall. It's there where Judas hung himself from a tree and the gospels tell us that the tree busted after he hung himself and he fell down and all of his guts came out. He hung himself falling and hanging himself and he burst open on the rocks and that spot is right there today. Still today, 2,000 years later. It's amazing.

How did that happen? Discontentment. Why do people kill themselves often? Discontentment. "Oh man, if I don't get that iPad, I'm going to lose it." You have set yourself up, my friend, for destruction. We may laugh at that and think it's almost kind of cute, but listen, that is what's wrong with America today. "If I don't get this, well, I tell you what, I'm just leaving. If I don't have, if I can't, if you don't get me this, I'm going to quit or I'm going to whatever." Wow. You can just see a 40-year-old guy in his diapers throwing his rattle down in his crib. That's exactly what's going on. Discontentment. Yes, it can be bad.

There's a great emptiness and frustration that comes when we pursue things. Here's the funny thing. You can spend your whole life pursuing things. God will maybe be protecting you from getting them. And then there's the dangerous situation where people pursue things and get them. And then a month later, wake up to the fact that they're empty inside. Can't admit it to anybody because then you'd look a fool. This is real stuff.

In Micah chapter 6, verse 13 to 15, the Bible says, "Because of your sins, you will eat, but you'll not be satisfied. You will sow, but not reap. You will tread the olives, but not anoint yourself with oil; and you will make sweet wine, but not drink any of it." Isn't that the ultimate frustration if you think about it?

People today—now listen, I don't often bring this topic up, but it's exactly what's going on in our culture today and seemingly physically it makes no sense. But Christians today say things like, "I can't tithe. These are hard times. I can't give God anything because I got to keep my DirecTV going and my cell phones going."

Listen, you are on the brink of absolute discontentment. Number one, if you're a Christian, giving to God is part of our Christian discipline. Not only that, listen, God doesn't need your money. "Well, then see, there you go, Pastor." You and I literally need to give it away.

What? Yeah. Listen, if the offering goes by on Sunday or Wednesdays and you go, "Oh man, here it comes, oh man," you know what? Keep your money. The Bible says God loves a cheerful giver.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs. Here on Real Life Radio with his message called Discipline of Discontentment. Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called The Disciplines of Life. It's a series highlighting the disciplines of a Christ follower and the high cost of sharing our faith with others. We'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

Narrator: Looking for an inspiring way to pass some time? Or maybe just need some help to get through your workday? How about listening while you work? The Jack Hibbs Podcast brings you real stories, real people, with real-life experiences. From inspiring journeys to thought-provoking conversations, we've got it all. So discover a world of knowledge, laughter, and connection. The Jack Hibbs Podcast and so much more are available on our website at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com, where faith meets real life.

Jack Hibbs: Hey, thank you again so much for listening. And if you'd like to hear or see more of what we do here, you can always go to jackhibbs.com for all the latest on what's going on with this ministry. And please, if you're ever in the Southern California area, come see us at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. We'd love to see you there in person. It has been so good to be with you today and I pray you find yourself in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. See you on the next episode.

David J: This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in his word. We'll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.