This transcript was generated by whisper.ai. I want to welcome you back to our second day of looking through Matthew chapter 20. Yesterday we looked at the parable at the beginning of this landowner who had hired different people throughout the day and paid them all the same. And it's a parable that teaches us a lot about why we serve God, that we serve under the grace of God, not under some expectation from God. But within this parable that teaches us God's right to show His grace, there's also within this parable a great teaching about contentment. This story actually teaches us two great truths we need to be content. First truth that teaches us is if you're going to be content, number one, you've got to recognize the danger of comparison. That's what's happening through this parable. The people who had worked all day long compare themselves to the people who had worked just one hour. If you take a longer look at the parable, there are people that were hired all throughout the day. And they all are getting paid one denarius, which by the way was a good wage in that day. They're not being cheated here. They're being paid a very good wage. But the landowner makes sure that they get paid last first and first last so that the first ones can see what's going on, can see His generosity, can see His spirit. At the end of this, they see the ones who worked one hour, they got paid this much. We should get paid more. But then the ones who worked three hours got paid the same, six hours got paid the same. They should have been getting the idea, but they didn't. So they felt cheated at the end, even though the landowner paid them exactly, exactly what he said he would pay them. And there's this question in verse 15 that the landowner asks that just hits my heart when it comes to contentment. The landowner asks them, because they're jealous others have been paid more, "Are you envious because I am generous? " Now there's the kind of question that will change your soul, that will change the way you think and act and feel about life. Are you envious because God is generous? You look at life and you look at what other people get, the blessings they get, whether it's financial or family or whatever, and you think, "It's not fair. It's not right. I work much harder than they. It's not right for them to be blessed. I'm much more faithful to God than they are. I mean, I don't want to over-spiritualize this or be prideful, but I know I'm more faithful to God than they are. Why should they make more money? Because I am more faithful. Why should they have a better job? I've had better experience. Why should they get that position? I had better schooling. I had better training. " What happens is we start to compare. And any time you start to compare, you're going to find something that's unfair. Any time you compare, you'll find something that's unfair, because the world is unfair. So you're thrilled to have the job you have until you start comparing. And you think, "How do they get that job? That's better than my job, but they don't have the training I have. " You have this great joy that God was using you to make a difference in other people's lives until you look at another person and say, "I wish God was using me like he's using that person. " You were content until you began to compare. The danger of comparison. That's why Chuck Swindoll once said, "If you want to be a miserable mortal, then compare. There's no better way to make yourself miserable than start comparing yourself to other people, because there's always some place you're going to be able to find where it just doesn't match up right. " We live in a world where it doesn't always match up right. And the problem, the deep problem with comparing yourself to others, is you let what others have start to determine your happiness. When you don't even know how happy they are with what they have, you don't know why God has given them what they have. Jesus said, "If you want to compare yourself to anyone," in the "Servant on the Mount," He said that we studied earlier in Matthew, "compare yourself to the birds and the flowers. " Look at the birds. Compare yourself to them. He said, "They don't work or do anything, but God feeds them. " Look at the flowers. They don't toil or spin, but God clothes them. Birds and flowers don't worry. They don't worry that they don't get as much as the other birds and flowers. That bird got more worms than I got, but I'm a better bird than they are. That flower is brighter than me, but I've been around longer than they have. That's not how they think. No, they just do what God made them to do. The Bible tells us, Jesus taught this at the end of the "Servant on the Mount," that God makes the sun to come and the rain to come on the evil and the good. I don't know why God blesses both the evil and the good. I don't know why God allows troubles in the lives of both the evil and the good. And we're never going to sort all this out until we get to heaven, if God needs to sort it out for us then. But for now, we have to realize that when we start to compare, there are so many things we don't understand. Why God is working in this way? Why God is giving that blessing? Why God is withholding that blessing? Or maybe why Satan is withholding that blessing, and the evil one has gotten into that situation. There's so much that we don't understand on the spiritual side of this that to compare is to work from ignorance. Instead, we look at the blessings that God has given. One of the great lessons about contentment in this parable is watch out for the danger of comparison. And then the second great lesson of contentment is you trust in the provision of God. You trust in what God gives. You put this into perspective. When you compare yourself to others or you start to envy others, what you're really envying is God's wonderful love and generosity. Instead of that, instead of envying God's love and generosity, we should appreciate it. You trust in it. You trust in the provision of God. When you trust in God's provision, he gave me a denarius. He knew I needed a denarius. I'm going to use it for his glory and the way that I feed my family and the way that I give back to him and the way that I give back to him. And the way that I give back to him and the way that I minister to others. You trust in the provision of God. When you do this, it does three great things for you. First, it makes you able to be content whether you have a little or you have a lot. Contentment, the Bible teaches us, is actually not a matter of how much you have. If you do surveys of how much people think they have to have to be content, it's always just a little more than what they have. Of course, contentment instead of being fulfilled no matter what the circumstances you are in. No matter what the circumstances. And several places, Paul talks about this. He learned to be content with a little or a lot. What's the minimum daily requirement for contentment? In 1st Timothy 6, 6 to 8, Paul says, "If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. " Food and shelter. Food and something to cover me. That's enough, he says. I can be content with just a little. Epicurus once said, "To whom little is not enough, nothing is enough. " Because you always need a little bit more. So what is your contentment level? Is it basic needs? Is it financial security? Is it financial luxury? What do you think it is? The Bible teaches it's very little. When you recognize your contentment is not in things, but it's in him. You are trusting in the provision of God. Now, this also means you're content if you have more. Which can be more difficult because when you have more, it's easier to compare. When you have more, it's easier to think, if I get just a little bit more, I'll be even better off. Some think that there's something wrong with having more than just the basic needs of life in our hands. But the Bible often talks about the fact that God has given some more. And when he does give that to you in life, that greater wealth adds up to a greater responsibility before God. And so you're content with more by using it to serve others, by making a difference in other people's lives. Content with little or much. That's one of the things that trusting in God's provision does. The truth is joy is not found in what you make. It's found in who made you. So you focus on God. That's where contentment comes. A second thing that trusting in God's provision does is it changes what you pursue. Think about your life right now. What are you chasing? What are you pursuing? If you pursue the wrong thing, the only possible results are frustration or disaster. I have to have that job. I have to make that deal. I have to get that person's approval. I have to live in that neighborhood. My kids have to go to that school. Those are all pursuing statements. Now, I hope your child does get to go to that school, but are you pursuing it? It is the most important thing in life. If the wrong thing is what you're chasing after, you're either going to get frustration or disaster because the thing has become the most important thing in life instead of God being the most important one in life. When you pursue the right thing, though, you grow as you pursue the right thing. You have fulfillment as you reach the right thing. What are you chasing after in this life? What gets the energy of your pursuit? The Bible says, "Run away from the love of money and pursue righteousness and godliness and faith and love and endurance and gentleness. " So you pursue character. You pursue love, relationship with other people. Pursue those things and let God work out the rest. When you're content by recognizing that God is the one that provides, then you're able to pursue the right thing. When you think about what you're pursuing, what got more of your emotional energy this last week? Financial things that you're pursuing or things that you want to have happen that you're pursuing for you, for your family, or righteousness, godliness, faith, love, and endurance? We all struggle with this one, don't we? Let's just be honest. God needs to change our hearts so that we pursue the right thing. The more he does that, the more joy you're going to have in life. When you trust in the provision of God, rather than thinking that somehow it's your own provision, it helps you to do a third thing. It helps you to rely on the strength of Christ. There are so many people that try to find contentment in their wealth, and it's never worked for anyone. So many people who are waiting for just the right circumstances to be content, and it never works because life in this world is not perfect. Happiness is not a matter of what you have. It's a matter of who you are, and you're his child. When you come to faith in Jesus Christ, you're his child. Contentment is not found in your circumstances. It's found in Christ. You have to watch out for the contentment-stealing trap of trusting in things. Trusting in things to make you happy, or to make you feel secure, or to make you feel more important. God is the one who provides joy. God is the one who provides security. God is the one who provides significance. When you find those things in him, then you find contentment. Now, contentment is elusive for all of us because we live in a very materialistic world. We need God's strength for this one. So let's ask for it. Would you pray with me? Lord, we want to live with contentment. We don't want to be envious because you're generous. We want to rejoice in your generosity, whether it's towards us or towards someone else. But we have to admit we don't always do that. Instead, we compare, and we miss out on the joy. Or we focus on what we're able to provide, and we miss out on what you're giving. Lord, forgive us for chasing after things that leave us frustrated. And put in our hearts this desire to chase after you, to run after you, to run after your things, righteousness and faith and godliness and love. Put that into our hearts today, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Tomorrow, we're going to listen to Jesus talking to us about blessing and suffering.