The Screens are Lying

On September 26th, 1983, Stanislav Petrov saved the world. This man stopped World War III. He passed away earlier this year in his small Moscow apartment, but not before he gave a reporter an interview about a little-known disaster that he personally prevented. As a young man in the '80s, he was a Soviet military officer. The Soviet Union and the U.S. were completely at odds. Earlier that month, a Korean airliner had been shot down by Soviet fighters. All aboard perished, and Soviet leadership was bracing for possible U.S. retaliation.

So Stanislav's job was to monitor his country's satellite system, looking for any possible missile launches. And he was working the overnight shift. September 26th, 1983, when the computers sounded the alarm, "The U.S. is launching several nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles aimed right at the heart of Russia. What to do next?" The response was entirely on the shoulders of this one young man. And he knew he had to act fast because U.S. missiles could reach Russia in 20 minutes.

All he had to do, all he was supposed to do, was pick up his phone and call his superiors, and they would launch a counter-strike leading to all-out nuclear war. But, as he told the interviewer, the computer system was brand new, and he didn't completely trust it. Here's how he described the scene in his own words. "The sirens howled. The screens flashed the word 'launch,' 'launch,' but I just sat there and asked myself, 'Are these screens telling me the truth? I think the screens are lying.'" And so, he sent no warning. He decided he would gamble everything and just wait to see what happened next.

23 nerve-jangling minutes later, his suspicions were confirmed when nothing happened. There were no U.S. missiles. The screens had lied to him. Historians, who've verified the whole story multiple different ways, believe now that is the closest the U.S. and the USSR ever got to all-out nuclear holocaust. He never considered himself a hero, but he did say to the interviewer, "They were pretty lucky it was me working that night." Amazing story.

But you know what? You and I need to take his quote to heart because in less dramatic but still destructive ways, the screens are lying. All the screens in your life, your TV screen, your phone screen, your laptop screen, your pad screen, and I'm not talking about fake news, I'm talking about this. You are exposed on average to 3,500 ads every day of your life. 3,500. And here is the lie. They are all crafted around creating a gap, a gap between your sorry life and the beautiful life you see people living on screen.

And it's designed, really these days, scientifically to keep you discontented, to have you looking at the screens going, "My car's not cool enough, and my hair's not soft enough, and my knives aren't sharp enough. I'm just not content." The ads are no longer about the products at all. They're all about the gap. There's so many examples, but for example, this TV spot for Bud Light. It's not about the beer. It's about, "Look how much fun these people are having. They're having way more fun than you're having. They're at a giant street party. They're riding go-karts. They have a robot bartender. They're flying to parties. They're doing lots of fun things. I don't know what she is doing. They are jumping into pillows of fun. They are worshipping at the Pentecostal Church of Beer. And what are you doing?"

You are sitting there watching TV. You are lame. Creating the gap. They're not talking about what the beer tastes like or what it's made of because all that is swill. Or this ad. There's David Beckham, "Much cooler, much richer, much better looking, much more athletic than you. The world loves him. Inanimate objects love him. Women notice him. They notice especially his shoes." So, you can close that huge gap between you and David Beckham if you start with his shoes. That's just the commercials.

What about the TV shows? There's so many examples, but famously Friends. Remember how Rachel and Monica have this gigantic apartment in Manhattan? And Rachel's a waitress and Monica's a cook. This is impossible. But you and I look at this and go, "Man, why can't I live like they live?" But you've got to remember the screens are lying. And if you believe what is on the screens, you will take action. You will pick up a phone. You will click the buy button. And a chain of destructive consequences could result.

Check this out. The level of personal debt in America has never been higher. The number of people in money trouble has never been greater. Counselors now say financial difficulties destroy more marriages than any other factor. So, you and I need to learn how to say enough in a world that is fine-tuned for more. And we need to learn this so we can lead a richer life.

Grab your message notes. Richer Life is our series on generous living, enjoying the generosity of God, enjoying being generous. And this morning we're going to look at a great passage from the Bible. It's in the book of 1 Timothy, chapter 6, verses 9 through 19. And we are going to answer these three questions this morning. How do you say enough in a world that has fine-tuned its messaging to make you continually dissatisfied? How do you find contentment in a media-saturated culture? How do you develop the willpower to say no when technically you can afford to say yes?

Now, some of you might be going, "Listen, this is like this 21st century problem, the ad culture, and the culture of more and more and more. What can a 2,000-year-old book of the Bible possibly have to tell us how to deal with a media-driven economy?" Well, let me just give you some background. This book we're going to look at this morning, 1 Timothy, it is written almost 2,000 years ago. But check out the context. It was written by the Apostle Paul, this was one of the first Christian leaders, to a young pastor he's training named Timothy.

Now, Timothy leads a church in Ephesus. This is a beautiful coastal city in what is now modern Turkey. Its location is still stunningly beautiful today. The city was wealthy, the city was influential, there were lots of rich people there. In fact, archaeologists are just now opening to the public these hillside mansions they've excavated from the first century. We were there a year and a half ago with a group from church that we took there on our Acts Odyssey study tour. And look, this is unearthed. This is just the dirt being pulled away from these glorious mansions. They're still pretty stunning today, even by our aesthetic standards.

So there were very wealthy, very comfortable people living there in Ephesus. There was a thriving, massive indoor/outdoor mall, a big agora, bigger than most, where lots of merchants would come and sell their wares and the rich people would buy them. So this was very relevant to our situation today. As Paul says, here's some words of wisdom for the wealthy people that live there in Ephesus. And here's our key verse for today. It comes from the beginning of 1 Timothy 6.17. And let's all read this together as a church. Ready? Here we go. "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God."

Now, probably you read this and you said, "Hold on. It says those who are rich in this present world, well, clearly not me." I can just get up and look at the art show because this is not addressed to me at all. You know what I've noticed? Almost no one sees themselves as rich. Almost nobody. Everybody thinks, "Oh, the rich? Well, that's one or two notches above me. That's somebody else." Well, check this out. I found this website, globalrichlist.com. I mention it in the book. You really ought to try it. It does not ask for your name or email or anything else. You just type in an annual income and then it calculates where you are among the richest people on the planet.

Now, I chose a random low number just to see what it would say, 33,000 a year, typed it in, clicked the button that says, "Show my results," and it calculated that that would put you in the top .95 percentile of rich people in the world. So you know that 1% that everybody's been protesting, right, those 1%ers? At 33,000 a year, that's you. You're in it. Now, sure, there's almost 57 million people in the world that are richer than you, but you're richer than over 7 billion people. To them, you're the elite, and probably most of us are making more than that.

Now, I know it's expensive, of course, to live here in Santa Cruz, but on a global scale, on a historical scale, we're rich, and on a practical scale, if you brought people from the first century or people from most of those 7 billion that you're richer than, if you brought them to your place and they saw your fridge, they saw your car, they saw your TV, they looked at your Wi-Fi, they'd be like, "This is stunning wealth. We're just the frogs in the kettle here." When it comes to riches, Paul's words here, that's us. You and I, we're all rich. In fact, say this with me. Say, "I am rich." Say that. "I am rich." You can't dodge a bully here because this relates to every single person in this room. So we need to hear this, to see past the lies of materialism.

I got to understand what Paul says in this passage. There's three things. Number one is this. I need to see the blessing of my stuff. I need to learn to see the blessing of my stuff. I need to enjoy what I've got. Verse 6, Paul starts with this. "Godliness with contentment is great gain, for after all, we brought nothing into the world. We can take nothing out of it, so if we have food and clothing, we'll be content with that." I want you to circle the words if you're taking notes, contentment and content. This is not something that you're going to see on the screens. The screens want to keep you discontent because that's driving ad revenue and sales, generally speaking.

But Paul says contentment is actually great gain. And what he's saying is psychologically, when you look at stuff that you've already got, and suddenly you appreciate it that more, psychologically, emotionally, spiritually, that feels like gain to you. And I know you've experienced this. Haven't you ever had moments where you look at the beauty around you and it suddenly stuns you? And you're walking and all of a sudden you're aware of just the moment that you're alive and the chance to just breathe the air. And you look at the faces of friends and family and you realize how lucky you are, how blessed you are, how much you love them.

You think of your relationship with God and all of a sudden the feeling just floods your soul and you feel like you're rich, you feel like you just won the lottery, right? And that's what he's saying. It feels like gain when I appreciate all these blessings around me. And this isn't just in the Bible. Modern research verifies this new study published in Psychological Science Journal, the headline, "Why Aren't Richer People Happier People?" And here's what they say. Because money allows us to enjoy the best things in life. We can stay at expensive hotels, eat good sushi, buy nice gadgets. We actually decrease our ability to enjoy the mundane joys of everyday life.

And their list of mundane joys includes sunny days, cold drinks, and chocolate bars. And they say since most of our joys are mundane, no matter who you are, how rich you are, you can't sleep at the Ritz every night, our ability to enjoy life actually goes backwards when we expose ourselves to all those other things. Isn't that interesting? So they're saying the solution is learn to enjoy again the everyday joys. I love that. We were babysitting Freddie. Did I tell you? I have a grandson. His name is Freddie. And he was over at our house the other day, 15 months old, and we gave him some Cheerios. And he took so much joy out of eating every Cheerio. He's just -- he literally was going, [Chewing noises] Ah! Just like that.

I thought, man, you are my tutor in learning to enjoy the very mundane joys of everyday life, right? Look at this. Later in the same chapter, Paul says God richly provides us with everything for our what? Say it out loud. Enjoyment. God wants you to enjoy your stuff. Don't feel guilty about enjoying your stuff. It's kind of like if you give a kid a bike, you know, you don't want him to go, "Well, thanks for the bike, but I don't deserve it. I feel guilty. I think I'm going to go inside. I'm not worthy of riding that bike." Of course, what blesses you is to see them ride their bike around with exuberant joy. And God wants you to ride your bike, to escape the lies being told to you by those screens that you always need more.

You need to see the blessing of your stuff. And then number two, page two, I need to see the danger of my stuff. See, the danger of my stuff. If you give a kid a bike, you're also going to teach him about the dangers of biking, right? Enjoy your stuff. But Paul says, "Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction." If you want to get rich, if you're eager to get rich, if you make that your primary goal, it's just going to wither your soul away.

Now, we know that that's what the Bible says, but is that really true? Because we live in a culture where the lifestyles of the rich and famous are lauded, right? Well, check this out. This isn't from a Sunday school pamphlet or something. This is from a pretty pro-rich periodical, the Wall Street Journal article, headline, "Don't envy the super rich. They're miserable." I want you to check this out. This is about a study done by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Now, Bill and Melinda know a few wealthy people, and their researchers actually did lengthy interviews with 120 people with a net worth of $25 million or more.

And here's what they found. "The respondents turn out to be a generally dissatisfied lot whose money has contributed to deep anxieties involving love and work and family." Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. "Indeed, most of them still don't consider themselves financially secure. For that, they say, they would require on average one-quarter more wealth than they currently possess." And haven't you ever said, "If only I had $5 million more, then I'd be happy"? That's where they're coming from. But the point is, that's what all of us think. And that's just what Paul is saying in these verses. If you're focused on it, as your main ambition, it's so elusive, enough is never enough. He says, "It's a trap. Stay away from it."

And then next comes probably the single most misquoted verse in the Bible. "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." Well, I thought the Bible said money is the root of all evil. Does it say that? What's it say? "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." Just like that Wall Street Journal article talked about. Now, some of you are going, "Well, this is for people who love money. I don't love money. These people are eager for money. I'm not eager for it, you know? I'm just normal."

Well, skip a few verses ahead and go to our key verse again, verse 17. Paul says there's two common problems that all human beings have, all of us. And they tend to be amplified by money, for all of us. Look at what he says, "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be..." And the first problem he mentions is arrogance, pride. No matter who you are, pride is going to be a struggle at some point, thinking you're all that and putting your hope in your own pride. And then when your pride gets dashed and you feel insecure, then you feel like your idol was crushed because your idol was yourself and your pride and your sense of capability. It's a disaster. It keeps people from God.

Well, Paul says that pride can actually be accentuated by wealth because you look at yourself as better than others who have less just because you have more. There's a famous science fiction writer who was a scientist long before he became a successful writer. He's got a great quote. Listen to this. "When I was only an expert in physics, I didn't think I knew everything. And when I became a good writer, I didn't think I was good at everything. But once I started making money, the temptation was to start thinking, 'I'm an expert on everything.'" Very honest quote there, and that's just what Paul is saying here. Arrogance is a danger that comes with wealth.

And then he says there's a second danger to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain. There's a great pastor in Atlanta named Andy Stanley, and he has a term for this. He calls it the migration of hope, where your hope migrates from hope in God, and you're just trusting God for your security and your identity and your purpose in life and for your destiny. But slowly, all the things that God wants you to put hope in Him for, you start attaching those hopes to your stuff or stuff associated with your stuff, your status and your security and your trappings of success.

You start thinking, "If only I had more, then I'd be secure." And really, my purpose in life revolves around this, and my identity revolves around this. It's the migration of hope. There's a great story, conversation, really, in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 18. Jesus is approached by a guy, and the Gospel writers tell us he is a rich, young ruler. Rich, young ruler. So he is wealthy and healthy and powerful. Three things that probably everybody would love to have a little bit more of. Health and wealth and power, right? And he comes up to Jesus, and he says, interesting question, he says, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

He doesn't say, "What must I surrender? What must I yield to God? Who must I trust?" He's cocky. He doesn't come from a position of humility and powerlessness. He comes from a position of, "You know what? I've been successful at everything else. I'm going to be successful working my way to heaven. What do I have to do? You just tell me, Lord." And Jesus says, "Well, let's start with the Ten Commandments." And he names a few, and the guy basically stops Jesus before he can get to all ten of them. And he says, "You can stop right there." Have you ever known somebody with such a know-it-all that they stopped experts?

The guy's talking to Jesus, he's going, "You can stop right there, because I know what you're going to say. I know all the commandments. Not only do I know them, but I've kept them all since I was a little boy." What he's saying is, "I'm not perfect, but some may think I am." You know, completely cocky. And Jesus looks at him and sees right through him. And he realizes this is a guy who is outwardly religious, but his religion is just a checklist. Really, his religion is himself and his stuff. And so he's thinking, "I'm about to set you free, my friend." And he says, "Then go and sell all your stuff and give the money to the poor, and then come and follow me." And the Bible says, "He went away very sad because he was very rich."

Now, what happened there? I want you to notice something. Never in the Gospels does Jesus ask anybody else to do that. Only this guy. "Sell everything and follow me." So why did he ask this guy? Well, Jesus was cutting to the core of this man's problem, which was idolatry. He was idolizing his stuff, and it is so easy for our stuff or our money or the related trappings of success to become our idol, a thing that we trust in for security. Somebody once said, "Idols are good things that become God things." And that is the danger of my stuff. The danger comes when I move from treating my stuff as God's blessing to treating my stuff as God. Does that make sense? And my hope starts to migrate.

Now, I want to make something clear. Paul is not saying money is 100% bad, wealth is bad, wealth is never a blessing from God. He's not saying that because wealth is actually really good for certain things. So what's he saying? Again, Andy Stanley summarizes it like this. He says, "Paul's saying if wealth came in a bottle, like medicine, it would have a label on it that says, 'Caution may cause arrogance.' While taking this medication, extra caution should be taken not to look down on others if taken for a prolonged period may impair perception causing hope to migrate."

I was thinking about this. I thought if you could take wealth, if it came in pill form, like a pill on one of those long TV commercials for a new pharmaceutical, it would be like one of those commercials that show happy couples and so on. Everything's cool if you take our medicine. And then for legal reasons, the announcer has to reel off something like, "Caution, for some this may ruin your kidneys, rot your stomach, cause a third eye to sprout, lead to sudden heart failure and destroy your life. Consult a doctor before using wealth." Right? That's what Paul's saying.

So what's the best way to escape the danger of my stuff? Well, that's number three. I need to see the purpose of my stuff. Here's the thing. I bet you have met some rich people in your life who are really good at being rich. And what I mean by that is they're humble. They're not arrogant. They're not know-it-alls. They're generous. They own stuff, but stuff doesn't own them. What's their secret? How can they avoid the dangerous of stuff and see the blessings of their stuff? Well, it's because they see the purpose of their stuff. And consciously or subconsciously, they're following Paul's command here in verses 18 and 19. "Command them," he says, "to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. And in this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."

He's saying when you're generous with your wealth, when you do good with it, that's really living. Then wealth is doing for you what you hoped it would do. It's a blessing to you and it's a blessing to others. There's a brand new book out called "Happy Money, the Science of Happier Spending." This is by two Notre Dame researchers, Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton. They've done all kinds of research, gathered all kinds of studies. I love this line. They say, "If you think money doesn't buy happiness, then you're not spending it right." Watch this.

Thanks to decades of research, we now know what kind of spending does enhance our happiness? Spending money on others. From giving to charity to buying gifts for friends and family reliably makes us happier. So they say, "Ask yourself one question every time you reach for your wallet. Am I getting the biggest happiness bang for my buck?" I love that. The biggest bang for the buck, that's a way of saying the life that is truly life. So Paul's saying, "This is how you really live. Be generous." And so that begs the question, what does it mean to be generous?

Because the problem with the word generous is like the problem with the word rich, just like nobody thinks they're really rich. Everybody thinks they're pretty generous. But the kind of generosity that the Bible talks about that really deflects the lies on all the screens is this. It's got three characteristics. Number one, it's prioritized. You make it a priority in your life. Now, most of you have heard how when my dad was very young, my little sister and I were left alone with mom when he died suddenly of cancer. And our family was plunged into poverty for eight years. And my, at that time, immigrant, non-citizen mom who had to work for peanuts, taught me and my sister, giving is our number one priority.

I mean, we did not have enough. We were dependent on rescue missions and food banks. But she said, "Renee, Heidi, every single time God blesses us with anything, our first reaction is going to be a gesture that acknowledges how grateful we are for where all this comes from." Giving back was number one on the priorities list for her. And my sister and I grew up with that. That is part of our family DNA. And parents, I'm telling you, you have a chance to develop in your children generosity that lasts for a lifetime with your children. Share with them your values. Share with them our family's about giving. Our family loves to give. And that can become part of their DNA too. This is what we do with our money. We like to be generous. Prioritize it. Before you feel rich. Because nobody ever feels rich enough. You make it your priority.

Second, it's proportionate to your income. In other words, it's a percentage. Just not what you happen to have left at the end of the month. Base it on a regular, consistent percentage. How much? I talk about this in the Richer Life book. But the most important thing is to start somewhere even if it's like 1%. But it's a percentage that you are consistent with. And the third P is planned. It's a planned part of your budget. You have a spending budget, saving budget, giving budget. Now, look at these three P's. You know why the idea of giving stresses most people out? Most people when you say give and be generous, I would say probably most people kind of go, "Oh, that stresses me out." You know why? Because their giving is exactly the opposite of these three P's.

Think about it. It's spontaneous, not prioritized. Now, I love to give spontaneously at times. But if your giving is only spontaneous, then it's stressful. Because it's based on being guilted into it and it's based on whatever appeal you happen to get at the cash register at the store. And for most people it's sparing, not proportionate. It's based on whatever they got left. They never feel like they have enough left, so that causes guilt. And it's sporadic, not planned. It only happens when something tugs at your heart. And so you have this behavioral conditioned association that when I give, I feel guilty. When I give, I feel coerced. Listen, this is why giving is stressful for so many people.

Paul is saying the kind of generosity that is enriching and fun and life giving is the kind that's planned and prioritized and proportionate. The kind that's a part of your lifestyle. So that you're never guilted into anything. You are never coerced into anything because you've already got a giving plan. Paul says that is really living. Here's another way to put it. Quick show of hands. Let's take an audience poll here. How many of you have ever gotten in your life buyer's remorse? Can I see a show of hands? Anybody? Most of us here, right? I have experienced buyer's remorse many, many times. But let me just give you one example.

One day I see an advertisement for this. A monopod. You know what a monopod is? A monopod is something that you put your camera on. It's like a tripod. It's only got one leg. I know, completely pointless, right? But I looked at this and I thought, I need that. Can you get a crush on stuff? I don't know, but I had a stuff crush. I really did. I became enamored of a monopod. I must have a monopod. It became the answer to everything. What do you want for your birthday? Monopod. What do you want for Christmas? Monopod. And I'm like, why am I not getting this? And Lori said, Renee, honey, calm down. I see how you take pictures. You take a lot of photographs.

I said, yeah, I do. I need a monopod. She said, no, you never carry our cameras around. We've got nice cameras. All your pictures, 100%, are just your phone. You whip it out, you take a picture. We could get a monopod. You will never use a monopod. I guaranteed. I said, no. No, I need a monopod. It will make my photos better. It will make my life better. It got to the point where, you know, I'd have a faraway look in my eye. Penny for your thoughts, thinking about that monopod I don't have, you know.

Finally, I go into Best Buy and I, with trembling hands, I lay down my credit card. I buy the monopod and I felt this rush of endorphins and I take it home. And you want to know how many times I use that monopod? One time, total, once, the day I bought it to kind of show my wife, look, I'm using it, and I never used it again. She was right. I'll admit, you were right. I finally sold it at the world's biggest garage sale. That was the destiny for the monopod. But the monopod has become emblematic in our family for that tendency to crave something you really want and then rue the money that you spent on it.

I definitely get buyer's remorse when I think back on some of my purchases. But you know what? I have never, ever, ever had giver's remorse. I've never looked at the money we've given to support ministry, our school, or our camps, or our church, and regretted what we've given there, not even for one second. I've never looked at what we've done for the children's home in India, Little Flock. And as you know, as part of the 20/20 vision, we built a clinic and a classroom building there. And I look at that... I mean, there's zero regret. What's that? Zero regret. There's only joy. Only joy.

And you know what else? Not only do I not regret the money spent on generosity, I don't even miss it. I'll tell you something personal. Laurie and I decided four years ago to really sacrificially give. To really make our pledge to the 20/20 vision project just really kind of... I won't tell you how much, of course, but for us it was really a lot. And I thought, "Wow, I'm going to miss that amount. I don't know how we're going to live without it." You know what happened? I never missed it. I got used to it almost instantly. And so glad that we gave that. My point is, there's often buyer's remorse, there's rarely giver's remorse. In fact, it's fun. And that's why Paul calls it the life that is truly life.

But I want to make something clear as we bring this in for a landing. The most important question I can ask you today is not, "Are you generous?" That's putting the cart before the horse. The most important question is, "Where's your trust?" Have you truly placed your trust in the Lord and not anything else? Because when 3,500 times a day the screens say, "You need this, you need to get this, you need to buy this, because your life stinks." The only thing that can protect you from that message is knowing to the core of your being that the God of the universe already unconditionally loves you. Do you know that to the core of your being? Then you will be free to live this happy, generous life.

See, the best reason to be a giver is because God's a giver. God's not a taker. God didn't send his son Jesus Christ into the world to collect from everyone who owed him. He came into the world to give to everyone who owed him. And when you realize how much he gave, then you want to give. So here's the bottom line. Another quote from a man I've quoted a couple of times, Andy Stanley, I love this. It summarizes the whole message. "I will not trust in riches, but in God who richly provides." Would you say that out loud with me? "I will not trust in riches, but in God who richly provides."

Let's pray together. Would you bow your heads with me? Let's bow our heads as we prepare our hearts for prayer. I just want to address something because maybe you're suspecting that that saying we just said together isn't really true for you. Maybe it used to be, but your hope has migrated. Or maybe you're not sure if you've ever placed your complete trust in Jesus as your Lord. Well, I want to give you a chance to do that right now. I just want to urge you to pray this prayer of freedom from stuff. The world, words aren't magic. It's the intent of the heart. But if this reflects your heart, silently consider in your heart repeating these words after me.

Lord, I give you my heart right now, today. I surrender it to you. I don't want to walk away sad like that rich young ruler who held onto his stuff instead of Jesus. I choose to place my trust not in my stuff or my strength or status or success, but in Jesus. Thank you for dying for me on the cross. Help me to understand it more and to live only for you. In Jesus' name, amen.