Your Best Life
Today’s the last week in our summer teaching series on a book of the bible called Psalms. Next week we'll be starting a new 4 week teaching series we’re calling Kingdom Thinking, where we’ll be providing biblical responses to four relevant questions.
· Week 1 = Are Moral Truths Universal or Personal?
· Week 2 = Are Christianity and Science Friends or Foes?
· Week 3 = Is Artificial Intelligence Helpful or Harmful?
· Week 4 = Is Social Media Connecting or Changing Humanity?
So starting next week we’ll be providing biblical responses to these four relevant questions, and it’s a great opportunity to invite your friends, including those who are skeptical or exploring faith. On your seats are some invite cards to remind you to invite your friends, and to remind you to pray for those you invite. Remember it’s invitations that leads to transformations. So let’s invite and let’s pray for those we invite, so we can keep seeing more people’s lives transformed by Jesus.
But today we’re wrapping up our summer in the Psalms, and the specific psalm we’re studying today is about the desires in our hearts. It’s about the deep yearning, the deep inner quest we have, to satisfy the desires in our hearts, so we can live our best life. What are those desires for you?...What are the desires in your heart?...Do you desire more wealth, a nicer house, or a nicer car?...Do you desire a better body, a more meaningful job, or a luxurious vacation to get away from your job?...What are the desires in your heart, and can those things really provide you with the better life you’re seeking?...Today’s psalm teaches us that we all have desires in our hearts, but not every desire can provide us with the better life we’re seeking. Let’s turn to Psalm 37 and get into it. You can find Psalms in the middle of the bible, and we’ll be in Psalm 37:1-40. Title of today’s message is Your Best Life, and the big idea of the message is your best life isn’t now, it’s later...Your best life isn’t now, it’s coming later, for those who delight in the Lord over the world...
Here’s your context. The book of Psalms is an Old Testament biblical hymnbook, and it contains various songs and prayers that can help give us daily encouragement. They’re written by Old Testament historical leaders who are expressing their real, raw, honest emotions we can all relate with. Psalm 37 was written by King David, who’s known as one of the greatest kings in Israel’s history, and in vs. 25 he mentions he writes this as an older man. So this is a wisdom psalm, where he’s sharing some of his older wisdom about the desires in our hearts. We don’t have time to cover all 40 verses, so we’ll focus primarily on vs. 1-11, which summarize David’s major points. What we’ll learn, is wisdom about satisfying the right desires in our hearts. So let’s check it out.
Psalm 37:1 states, “Do not be agitated by evildoers; do not envy those who do wrong. 2 For they wither quickly like grass, and wilt like tender green plants.” What David’s teaching us is to guard our hearts by not envying others. He says don’t envy, don’t compare your life to other people’s lives, because it poisons your heart. It can cause your heart to become jealous, discontent, agitated, and envious. When we compare our bodies, our families, our house, our car, our lives to others, it robs our joy and can cause our hearts to become jealous, discontent, agitated, and envious. David says this is especially true if we’re trying to follow the Lord and do good things, but we see people who aren’t following the Lord and aren’t doing good things prospering more than us. In vs. 2 David says don’t envy them, don’t compare your life to them, because their prosperity will eventually wither like grass and wilt like plants. So the 1st thing David’s teaching us is...
#1 Don’t Envy The Temporary! = Don’t envy the temporary. In vs. 2 David says it might appear that people who are doing bad things are prospering, but their prosperity is temporary. It’ll eventually wither like grass and wilt like plants. David repeatedly mentions this throughout Psalm 37. He says in Vs. 10, “A little while, and the wicked person will be no more.” Vs. 17, “The wicked will be broken.” Vs. 20, “The wicked will perish...and they will fade away like smoke.”David’s repeatedly saying don’t envy their prosperity, because their prosperity is temporary. He’s speaking wisdom into an issue that so many of us wrestle with. I mean we spend much of our lives envying all kinds of people and chasing after all kinds of temporary desires. We see ads promising a better life or posts from someone’s polished Instagram life, and we start envying and chasing the temporary desires they have. But why kill yourself envying and chasing something that’s only temporary?...Why poison your heart chasing desires that’ll just wither like grass and wilt like plants?...Is that really the best life, a life built on temporary prosperity and desires?...That isn’t the best life, it’s a temporary life with temporary prosperity and desires, that’ll eventually just wither and wilt away...Every desire in our hearts that isn’t aligned with God’s eternal kingdom is temporary, because we can’t take any of it with us when we die. John Rockefeller was once the richest man alive. He even controlled 90% of the U.S. oil. When he died someone asked his accountant, “How much did Rockefeller leave behind?” His accountant replied, “All of it...He left all of it!” He couldn’t take any of it with him when he died. As rich and powerful as he was, all his prosperity was only temporary. In the words of C.S. Lewis,“Aim at heaven, and you’ll get earth thrown in. But aim at earth, and you’ll get neither.” Both Lewis and David are saying the world’s version of the best life, is temporary without God. It’s all temporary prosperity and desires that’ll eventually wither like grass and wilt like plants without God. So don’t envy the temporary...
Again vs. 1, “Do not be agitated by evildoers; do not envy those who do wrong. 2 For they wither quickly like grass, and wilt like tender green plants. 3 Trust in the Lord and do what is good; dwell in the land and live securely. 4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Okay so we need to be clear about what this means, because it doesn’t mean the Lord will give you whatever you want. It doesn’t mean you can treat the Lord like he’s a divine vending machine, where you insert a few faith coins, and out comes your dream spouse, dream car, dream job, the desires of your heart. What it means is the Lord will give you whatever desires are in your heart, that are aligned with his desires. The order of how things are worded in vs. 4 is important. It says first delight in the Lord, then he’ll give you the desires of your heart. You need to first delight in the Lord, because when you delight in the Lord, your heart will start sharing the same desires as the Lord. The Lord will give you those desires, because they’re aligned with his desires. So the 1st thing David teaches us is to not envy the temporary, but the 2nd thing he teaches us is...
#2 Delight In The Lord! = We need to delight in the Lord, over the temporary desires in the world. Our consumeristic culture teaches us to envy others and that we’re missing out if we don’t delight in certain temporary desires. But David’s teaching us not to envy others and that we’ll be missing out if we don’t delight in the Lord. He’s saying the real thing you’re missing out on isn’t a promotion, product, or possession; it’s the presence of God. He’s teaching us that there’s nothing more delightful than the Lord. The more you delight in him, the less you’ll feel the need to envy, crave, covet, be discontent over not having certain temporary desires. It's because you’ll still have your greatest delight and desire, which is the Lord. It’s like the old hymn says: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim. In the light of his glory and grace.” Now this doesn’t mean you need to detach yourself from everything that’s delightful. It means you’ll be able to enjoy delightful things more fully, in the right way, as the Lord intended. You’ll be able to enjoy delightful things without turning them into idols and obsessions, that poison your heart causing you to envy, crave, covet, and be discontent. So your best life won’t come if you delight in the world over the Lord. It’ll come when you delight in the Lord over the world. Have you been doing that?...Have you been delighting in the Lord over the temporary desires of the world?...Have you been delighting in the Lord, or treating him like a divine venting machine?...David’s teaching us instead of envying everyone else and chasing their temporary treasures, we need to delight in the Lord, and view him as our greatest treasure!
Again vs. 4, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. 5 Commit your way to the Lord! Trust in him, and he will act, 6 making your righteousness shine like the dawn and your justice like the noonday. 7 Be silent before the Lord, and wait expectantly for him. Do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way, by the person who carries out evil plans...9 For evildoers will be destroyed, but those who put their hope in the Lord will inherit the land. 10 A little while, and the wicked person will be no more; though you look for him, he will not be there. 11 But the humble will inherit the land, and will enjoy abundant prosperity.” This is the third and last thing we’re learning here. We learn 1st not to envy the temporary, 2nd delight in the Lord, and...
#3 Wait For The Better Life! = We need to wait for the better life that’s coming. In vs. 7 David says we need to wait expectantly, meaning we need to wait with faithful confidence that the Lord will fulfill his promises. The Lord will give us a better life with more abundant prosperity, than those who reject him. But we need to understand two things about this better life with abundant prosperity. The 1st thing is that abundant prosperity once again doesn’t mean we’ll get whatever we want. It means we’ll get whatever desires are aligned with God’s desires. That’s far better than anything we’re currently desiring, because God has an infinitely greater mind with infinitely greater desires than our finite minds can imagine. In the words of C.S. Lewis, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered to us! We’re like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum, because he can’t imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.” Both David and Lewis are saying the abundant prosperity the Lord promises, is far greater than the mud pie desires we often settle for.
The 2nd thing we need to understand, is the abundant prosperity isn’t something we’re promised we’ll have now. It’s something we’re promised we’ll have later. Vs. 10 says we’ll have it in a little while, meaning not now, but later. Psalm 37 consistently points to the future, to a final day when those who reject the Lord will lose all their prosperity, but those who delight in the Lord will have abundant prosperity. It’s all pointing to the Lord giving us our best life not now, but later, in a little while. It’ll be a time when we finally get to be in the presence of our delightful God, and he will give us infinite pleasures, infinite joy, and abundant prosperity in his eternal presence. Psalm 16:11 states, “You reveal the path of life to me; in your presence is abundant joy! At your right hand are eternal pleasures!” City Awakening don’t settle for temporary joy and pleasures, when you can have eternal joy and pleasures in the Lord. Don’t settle for mud pies in a slum, when you can have an endless sea of pleasures in the Lord. Why settle for temporary pleasures in the world, when you can have eternal pleasures with the Lord?...Jesus said in Mark 8, “What does it profit someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” The good news of the gospel is that Jesus didn’t die for your sins on the cross so you could gain the world, live a good life, and lose your soul. He died for your sins on the cross to save your soul and give you a joyful eternal life in heaven with him. He came to give up his life, for your life, so you can enjoy the best life in heaven with him. Your best life isn’t now, but it’s coming later for those who put their faith in Jesus. It’s coming later for those who delight in Jesus.
The big idea of the message is that your best life isn’t now, it’s coming later...Your best life isn’t now, it’s coming later, for those who delight in the Lord over the world...Years ago Joel Osteen wrote a book titled Your Best Life Now, and it sold over 8 million copies. Why? It’s because he tapped into a deep longing many people have, which is to live their best, most joyful life now. Our culture is filled with books, people, podcasts, and products all promising to give us our best life now. But in Psalm 37 David teaches us our best life isn’t now, it’s later. He teaches us our life can certainly be better now, if we stop envying what others have and start delighting in the Lord. Our life can certainly be better now, if we start delighting more in the Lord than the world. But he also teaches us that our best life is coming later, when we finally get to enjoy eternity with our delightful Creator. The reality is we’ve all desired and tasted some of the temporary desires in the world, but none of it’s ever been able to satisfy the desires in our hearts, and it never will. So let’s not envy the temporary, instead let’s delight in the Lord, as we wait for the better life that’s coming. You can have a better life now, if you walk through daily life with the Lord. But it won’t be your best life, because your best life is coming later, for those who delight in the Lord over the world.