Kingdom Offerings
Exploring the offerings of scripture concerning the Kingdom of God and becoming aware of the handwriting of Jesus Christ across all of history.
Contentedness
March 10, 2025
Transcript
Hi, this is Dave Scherrer from One Hundred Fold Ministries. And I guess I want to say today that I really would kind of like a truck. The picture that I’m looking at here in front of me is of a 2024 Toyota Tundra TRD. I don’t even know what that means. It’s an off-road truck and the picture that I have is this kind of beautiful burnt orange four-door truck that’s about, I don’t know, six, eight inches off the ground, kind of busting through the air and it looks like a pretty nice off-road truck.
And I wouldn’t mind having something like that. I’m currently driving a 2012 Ford Escape. A little silver job, kind of some rust in the wheel wells. It doesn’t look at all like this 2024 Toyota truck.
Now I did a little research. The Tacoma is priced at a little under $40,000. So that would cost me about 750 bucks a month for six years. That’s a little bit much for my blood and my budget for that matter. And the 2012 Ford Escape that I’m driving right now doesn’t look as good as that truck, but it is paid for.
So as it turns out, I don’t really look at used trucks online as much as I used to, even though I’d kind of like a truck. For one thing, I’m still making payments on my other car, which happens also to be a Ford Escape. It’s a 2018. I’m almost done paying for that. And I don’t really need two car payments right now. So that keeps me from looking too much.
And secondly, and maybe most importantly, I don’t really need a truck. My little Ford Escort is an all-wheel drive, and I really can’t put heavy things in the back of a pickup truck without hurting myself. So I’m trying to be content with the very practical and perfectly usable car that I have.
But I still seem to kind of want a truck. So welcome, you have found Kingdom Offerings, and here at this podcast, we try and explore various aspects of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Exploring and celebrating the good news of the Kingdom of God is the heart and soul of the umbrella ministry of One Hundred Fold Ministries. So here at the podcast environment, what we call Kingdom Offerings, we’re in the middle of a series called The Kingdom Disciplines.
And the thinking in this series is to take a hard look at our lives and to imagine what would it take to become even more an effective Kingdom citizen? What would it take? The last time we were together, we examined the discipline of generosity, that if we practice generosity, it would help us become increasingly comfortable, not only comfortable, but satisfied in our Kingdom expressions. So I want to build on that subject for today.
I want to take it just a little bit farther, because I think the Kingdom discipline that goes hand in hand with our previous subject of generosity is the discipline of contentedness. And then again in a few weeks, I want to explore the Kingdom discipline of gratitude. Those all three kind of go together. They’re a little bit different, but they go together as disciplines that help move us forward in our Kingdom living expression.
So to unpack this idea of practicing contentedness, our subject for today, I think we have to back up and face what all of us are up against. And that is that the world is lying to us all the time. I should say that again, the world is, indeed, lying to us all the time. The marketing and advertising world is all about making you to feel discontent.
We’re talking about contentedness, but the advertising world wants to make you discontent. You see, they think that if they can make you feel discontent, then they can maybe persuade you that if you just buy this product they have in mind, then maybe you’ll be content. And of course, when the new product line comes out on next year’s shopping list, then they want to convince you that what you just bought 10 months ago is no longer sufficient to make you happy.
They’re going to say you need a new one of these. And this is the present game of discontentedness that’s going on in this business cycle. Because you know what? Money talks. And this cultural phenomena is staggeringly effective, so much so that we’re tempted to go into thousands of dollars in debt just to be content.
One time, when asked how much money is enough, it was John D. Rockefeller, an incredibly wealthy man, who responded to the question with the simple answer, “Just a little bit more”. It’s kind of crazy. At the peak of his wealth, Rockefeller had a net worth of about 1% of the U.S. economy. He owned 90% of all the oil and gas industry at his time. That kind of makes Bill Gates and Warren Buffett look like paupers, and yet he still wanted just a little bit more.
So I want to say that if I do not buy that truck that I spoke of earlier, I will have over $750 a month to give away to overwork missionaries and people who are down on their luck. If I can just become content with what I have. So this is where I said that contentedness and generosity go hand in hand because if I can be content with what I have, that lets me give away more.
The happier that I am with what I have, the more generous I can be. So I’m asking you, don’t listen to the world of lies. They’re going to tell you that you need more.
And not more of this things of the world. That’s never going to satisfy you. But you do need more, but you need more of God. You need more of Jesus Christ and His rule and reign in your life.
We need to practice contentedness. And there’s some Bible verses that go along with this. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, Paul writes to his good friend, he says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it.” That makes sense.
The writer of Hebrews in chapter 13 says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have. Because God has said, ‘I will never leave you, never will I forsake you.’ “
Our God is enough. Jesus, he talked about this in the Sermon on the Mount in chapter six. He says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you’re going to eat or drink, about your body, what you will wear? Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they are?” A little further in that chapter, he says, “But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well.
Paul writes to the church in Philippi, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I’ve learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” And then he says this famous sentence, “I can do all this through Him who strengthens me.” That verse is all about being content. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” isn’t about facing temptations and lifting heavy objects. It’s about becoming content in who God is and who I am.
So this is Dave Scherrer, and I’m working on being content with what I have. In fact, I have it in my mind to keep downsizing. There is far too much stuff left in my garage that I can never use. So I’m going to ask you, join me in pursuing contentedness as a discipline.
And let’s walk deep into the Kingdom of God together, with a much lighter load on our shoulders. So I guess, for now, I’m not going to buy that truck.
Take care.
And I wouldn’t mind having something like that. I’m currently driving a 2012 Ford Escape. A little silver job, kind of some rust in the wheel wells. It doesn’t look at all like this 2024 Toyota truck.
Now I did a little research. The Tacoma is priced at a little under $40,000. So that would cost me about 750 bucks a month for six years. That’s a little bit much for my blood and my budget for that matter. And the 2012 Ford Escape that I’m driving right now doesn’t look as good as that truck, but it is paid for.
So as it turns out, I don’t really look at used trucks online as much as I used to, even though I’d kind of like a truck. For one thing, I’m still making payments on my other car, which happens also to be a Ford Escape. It’s a 2018. I’m almost done paying for that. And I don’t really need two car payments right now. So that keeps me from looking too much.
And secondly, and maybe most importantly, I don’t really need a truck. My little Ford Escort is an all-wheel drive, and I really can’t put heavy things in the back of a pickup truck without hurting myself. So I’m trying to be content with the very practical and perfectly usable car that I have.
But I still seem to kind of want a truck. So welcome, you have found Kingdom Offerings, and here at this podcast, we try and explore various aspects of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Exploring and celebrating the good news of the Kingdom of God is the heart and soul of the umbrella ministry of One Hundred Fold Ministries. So here at the podcast environment, what we call Kingdom Offerings, we’re in the middle of a series called The Kingdom Disciplines.
And the thinking in this series is to take a hard look at our lives and to imagine what would it take to become even more an effective Kingdom citizen? What would it take? The last time we were together, we examined the discipline of generosity, that if we practice generosity, it would help us become increasingly comfortable, not only comfortable, but satisfied in our Kingdom expressions. So I want to build on that subject for today.
I want to take it just a little bit farther, because I think the Kingdom discipline that goes hand in hand with our previous subject of generosity is the discipline of contentedness. And then again in a few weeks, I want to explore the Kingdom discipline of gratitude. Those all three kind of go together. They’re a little bit different, but they go together as disciplines that help move us forward in our Kingdom living expression.
So to unpack this idea of practicing contentedness, our subject for today, I think we have to back up and face what all of us are up against. And that is that the world is lying to us all the time. I should say that again, the world is, indeed, lying to us all the time. The marketing and advertising world is all about making you to feel discontent.
We’re talking about contentedness, but the advertising world wants to make you discontent. You see, they think that if they can make you feel discontent, then they can maybe persuade you that if you just buy this product they have in mind, then maybe you’ll be content. And of course, when the new product line comes out on next year’s shopping list, then they want to convince you that what you just bought 10 months ago is no longer sufficient to make you happy.
They’re going to say you need a new one of these. And this is the present game of discontentedness that’s going on in this business cycle. Because you know what? Money talks. And this cultural phenomena is staggeringly effective, so much so that we’re tempted to go into thousands of dollars in debt just to be content.
One time, when asked how much money is enough, it was John D. Rockefeller, an incredibly wealthy man, who responded to the question with the simple answer, “Just a little bit more”. It’s kind of crazy. At the peak of his wealth, Rockefeller had a net worth of about 1% of the U.S. economy. He owned 90% of all the oil and gas industry at his time. That kind of makes Bill Gates and Warren Buffett look like paupers, and yet he still wanted just a little bit more.
So I want to say that if I do not buy that truck that I spoke of earlier, I will have over $750 a month to give away to overwork missionaries and people who are down on their luck. If I can just become content with what I have. So this is where I said that contentedness and generosity go hand in hand because if I can be content with what I have, that lets me give away more.
The happier that I am with what I have, the more generous I can be. So I’m asking you, don’t listen to the world of lies. They’re going to tell you that you need more.
And not more of this things of the world. That’s never going to satisfy you. But you do need more, but you need more of God. You need more of Jesus Christ and His rule and reign in your life.
We need to practice contentedness. And there’s some Bible verses that go along with this. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, Paul writes to his good friend, he says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it.” That makes sense.
The writer of Hebrews in chapter 13 says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have. Because God has said, ‘I will never leave you, never will I forsake you.’ “
Our God is enough. Jesus, he talked about this in the Sermon on the Mount in chapter six. He says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you’re going to eat or drink, about your body, what you will wear? Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they are?” A little further in that chapter, he says, “But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well.
Paul writes to the church in Philippi, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I’ve learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” And then he says this famous sentence, “I can do all this through Him who strengthens me.” That verse is all about being content. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” isn’t about facing temptations and lifting heavy objects. It’s about becoming content in who God is and who I am.
So this is Dave Scherrer, and I’m working on being content with what I have. In fact, I have it in my mind to keep downsizing. There is far too much stuff left in my garage that I can never use. So I’m going to ask you, join me in pursuing contentedness as a discipline.
And let’s walk deep into the Kingdom of God together, with a much lighter load on our shoulders. So I guess, for now, I’m not going to buy that truck.
Take care.