Vision Series 2023
Series: Jesus. All about Satisfaction
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 26th February 2023
Passage: Ecclesiastes 2:1-24
00:00:00 --> 00:00:12 I have been put under strict instructions not to sing, not to dance or even attempt
00:00:12 --> 00:00:13 to air guitar this morning.
00:00:15 --> 00:00:21 Much as it would bring no satisfaction to my family, I'm sure it would to you, I'm convinced.
00:00:22 --> 00:00:27 It would be great if you could turn to your St Paul's app if you've got it in front of
00:00:27 --> 00:00:35 you and get an outline for today's talk and to keep the Bibles open at John 6 and Ecclesiastes
00:00:35 --> 00:00:35 2.
00:00:36 --> 00:00:41 I think I mentioned before, there was an article in the Sydney Morning Herald a number of years
00:00:41 --> 00:00:41 ago now.
00:00:42 --> 00:00:43 In fact, it was 2015.
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 It was just before, this is pre-COVID, right?
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 And the article was titled Cheer Up Sydney.
00:00:50 --> 00:00:50 Sydney.
00:00:51 --> 00:00:57 The article suggested that Sydneysiders possessed a legendary preference for complaint.
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 Things like the cost of living, I mean, it was a lengthy article, cost of living, traffic,
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05 housing affordability, the most pressing concerns.
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 That's, again, before COVID.
00:01:09 --> 00:01:14 And for some, it was just the general frustration with the pace and the stress of life.
00:01:14 --> 00:01:20 Now, ironically, this is also mentioned in the article, ironically, Sydney is regarded,
00:01:20 --> 00:01:26 it was ranked, regularly ranked among the top 10 livable cities in the world by reputable
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 things like the Economist Intelligence Unit.
00:01:30 --> 00:01:35 And so one of the conclusions in the article by psychologist Susie Green, who's the CEO of
00:01:35 --> 00:01:41 the Sydney Positivity Institute, said that Sydneysiders have got plenty of reasons to cheer
00:01:41 --> 00:01:41 up.
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 And so this is a quote from her.
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 We live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 We aren't living in a war-torn country.
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 In other words, cheer up, Sydney.
00:01:52 --> 00:01:53 It's not Ukraine.
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 That's kind of the conclusion.
00:01:56 --> 00:02:01 Sense of satisfaction is from the circumstances around us right now.
00:02:01 --> 00:02:02 You should be happy.
00:02:02 --> 00:02:03 You should be content.
00:02:03 --> 00:02:08 You should be satisfied because the circumstances in which you live call for you to be happy.
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 So just cheer up.
00:02:11 --> 00:02:15 So what happens if the circumstances aren't lining up?
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 Is there no place for contentment at that point?
00:02:22 --> 00:02:29 Is it possible to have deep satisfaction in life that isn't based on circumstances?
00:02:29 --> 00:02:32 Now, I want to say yes.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 I want to say Jesus is all about satisfaction.
00:02:35 --> 00:02:40 If you just joined us right now, if you're just connecting online for the first time or
00:02:40 --> 00:02:44 you just joined us in the building for the first time, we are partway through our annual
00:02:44 --> 00:02:45 vision series.
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 The first week of this series laid the foundation, if you like.
00:02:48 --> 00:02:55 We saw that there is no 100% watertight argument for the existence of God.
00:02:55 --> 00:02:59 You can't prove it as an experiment.
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 You can't stick it in a laboratory and prove it empirically.
00:03:02 --> 00:03:09 But neither is there 100% watertight argument for the non-existence of God.
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 You can't prove that by experiment either.
00:03:11 --> 00:03:20 So both the religious person and even the atheist views the world through a system of belief.
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 Every single person views the world through a system of belief.
00:03:24 --> 00:03:33 So which belief system delivers the best solution to what every human being needs to flourish in life?
00:03:33 --> 00:03:41 And today, I want to look briefly at is it possible to have a satisfaction in life that is so deep,
00:03:41 --> 00:03:47 deep enough to endure even the most difficult circumstances in life?
00:03:49 --> 00:03:50 So let's get going.
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 First of all, can't get no satisfaction.
00:03:52 --> 00:04:02 I've had that song from 1965, Rolling Stones, can't get no satisfaction, rolling around in my head all week.
00:04:03 --> 00:04:07 And I've tried, and I've tried, and I've tried, and I can't get it out.
00:04:09 --> 00:04:16 In his book, The Happiness Hypothesis, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt looks at the history
00:04:16 --> 00:04:26 of both Eastern and Western thought to see how people approach the issue of satisfaction in life.
00:04:26 --> 00:04:29 So he scanned the centuries, if you like.
00:04:29 --> 00:04:37 And he concluded that the consensus of the ancient philosophers and sages of time,
00:04:39 --> 00:04:49 that even if all the deepest desires of success and love are fulfilled, it won't be enough.
00:04:50 --> 00:04:51 Eastern and Western thought.
00:04:51 --> 00:04:56 You get everything you possibly can, and it still won't be enough.
00:04:56 --> 00:05:01 A person will still be deeply, deeply dissatisfied.
00:05:01 --> 00:05:06 He even quotes from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes chapter 2, which we just read out.
00:05:06 --> 00:05:12 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in all of their toil,
00:05:12 --> 00:05:13 because that's it.
00:05:14 --> 00:05:15 There's nothing else.
00:05:15 --> 00:05:25 And yet that satisfaction that Ecclesiastes 2 is talking about will still elude you anyway.
00:05:28 --> 00:05:32 A little earlier in the chapter, the writer describes a life of success,
00:05:32 --> 00:05:39 a life of accomplishments and pleasure that very few in our world would ever experience.
00:05:40 --> 00:05:41 I undertook great projects.
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 I built houses for myself and planted vineyards.
00:05:43 --> 00:05:48 I amassed silver and gold for myself and the treasure of kings and provinces.
00:05:49 --> 00:05:53 I acquired male and female singers and a harem as well, the delights of a man's heart.
00:05:53 --> 00:05:57 I denied myself nothing that my eyes desired.
00:05:57 --> 00:06:00 Very few can ever say that in life.
00:06:00 --> 00:06:06 I denied myself nothing that my eyes desired.
00:06:06 --> 00:06:14 Then in verse 17, we read, I hated life because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me.
00:06:15 --> 00:06:16 And all of it is meaningless.
00:06:16 --> 00:06:17 A chasing after wing.
00:06:17 --> 00:06:18 Again, verse 20.
00:06:18 --> 00:06:24 My heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.
00:06:24 --> 00:06:30 So the author of Ecclesiastes, and I think this is a real crucial point.
00:06:30 --> 00:06:35 The author of Ecclesiastes wasn't just battling the fear of meaninglessness.
00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 He was battling the disappointment of success.
00:06:40 --> 00:06:54 There is a very weak correlation between wealth, fame, success, and satisfaction.
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 But this, of course, is not just an ancient problem.
00:06:58 --> 00:06:59 It's a modern problem too.
00:06:59 --> 00:07:13 Cynthia Heimel, a columnist for the Village Voice in New York, knew a few, three particularly, but probably a bit more than that, great celebrities in the 1980s.
00:07:14 --> 00:07:18 Big celebrities who weren't big celebrities but became big celebrities.
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 And she knew them before they became big celebrities.
00:07:21 --> 00:07:25 And this is what she wrote about the success and fame and what it did to them.
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 I pity celebrities.
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 No, I really do.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Barbara Streisand, she knew them all.
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 Were once perfectly pleasant human beings.
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 But now their wrath is awful.
00:07:40 --> 00:07:49 I think when God wants to play a really rotten practical joke on you, he grants you your deepest wish and then laughs merrily when you realize that you want to kill yourself.
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 You see, Sly, Bruce, and Barbara wanted fame.
00:07:53 --> 00:07:54 They worked.
00:07:54 --> 00:07:55 They pushed.
00:07:55 --> 00:08:11 That giant thing that they were striving for, that fame thing that was going to make everything okay, that was going to make their lives bearable, that was going to provide them with personal fulfillment and happiness, had happened to them and still, and they were still them.
00:08:13 --> 00:08:17 The disillusionment turned them howling and insufferable.
00:08:17 --> 00:08:35 Wealth, power, achievement, family, material comfort, security, the external goods of the world can only lead to a momentary satisfaction which fades away.
00:08:35 --> 00:08:48 And later on in the article, in the words of Cynthia Hemel, fades away, leaving you emptier than if you had never tasted it in the first place.
00:08:50 --> 00:08:50 Emptier.
00:08:50 --> 00:08:58 C.S. Lewis sort of summarized the idea of the ancients in his BBC radio program during World War II.
00:08:59 --> 00:09:09 Most people, if they really learn how to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want and want acutely something that cannot be had in this world.
00:09:09 --> 00:09:17 There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never keep their promise.
00:09:18 --> 00:09:34 The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love or first think of some foreign country or first take up some subject that excites us are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning can really satisfy.
00:09:34 --> 00:09:40 I'm not speaking of what would ordinarily be called unsuccessful marriages or trips or so on.
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 I'm speaking about the very best possible ones.
00:09:43 --> 00:09:51 There is always something that we grasp at in that first moment of longing that just fades away into reality.
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 The spouse may be a good spouse.
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 The scenery may be excellent.
00:09:56 --> 00:10:05 It has turned out to be a good job, but it, the it, still evades us.
00:10:08 --> 00:10:14 So what happens when we discover the successes and desires in life don't give us the satisfaction that we hope for?
00:10:14 --> 00:10:19 There are really two basic ways over history that people have sought to deal with their dissatisfaction.
00:10:19 --> 00:10:37 The traditional way is to live with the conviction that there is no it out there to be got, and that is the sense that deep satisfaction is in fact not possible in life.
00:10:37 --> 00:10:48 The modern way is to live with the modern way is to live life assuming that deep satisfaction is possible and it is out there and that it can be got.
00:10:50 --> 00:10:55 And so the Sylvester Stallone's and the Barbra Streisand's, well, they just missed something.
00:10:55 --> 00:11:07 The traditional ways to include that our expectations of the world are out of line and our desires need to be suppressed.
00:11:09 --> 00:11:13 And so there are three ways to live if that's the case for you.
00:11:14 --> 00:11:15 Firstly, it's altruism.
00:11:16 --> 00:11:24 You start out in life seeking advancement, but this thing called a midlife crisis hits, and you discover it is all dissatisfying.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:34 And so you turn away from it into social causes, basically seeking the advancement of others for their satisfaction.
00:11:35 --> 00:11:47 Now, of course, I want to encourage those things, but problems can soon arise when people turn to benevolence, social activism, as a way to find more fulfillment for themselves.
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 The irony of that.
00:11:51 --> 00:11:59 The poor and the vulnerable get exploited to improve my satisfaction in life.
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 It's about me, not about them.
00:12:05 --> 00:12:06 Secondly, cynicism.
00:12:07 --> 00:12:10 This is where a person just lowers their expectation of life.
00:12:10 --> 00:12:14 But what makes us human beings is, in fact, that we want joy.
00:12:15 --> 00:12:15 We want meaning.
00:12:16 --> 00:12:16 We want fulfillment.
00:12:18 --> 00:12:25 And if we decide that that's not possible, our hearts become hard and we dehumanize ourselves.
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 And thirdly is detachment.
00:12:29 --> 00:12:33 This is the suggestion not to love anything or hope for anything too much.
00:12:33 --> 00:12:35 Cynicism moves to detachment.
00:12:35 --> 00:12:36 Cynicism moves to detachment.
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 The Greek philosopher Epictetus wrote,
00:12:40 --> 00:12:48 What harm is there while you are kissing your child to murmur softly, tomorrow you will die?
00:12:51 --> 00:12:52 See what he says there?
00:12:53 --> 00:12:58 In other words, don't love too much and you won't experience dissatisfaction too much.
00:13:00 --> 00:13:03 Keep everything, every love at an arm's length.
00:13:03 --> 00:13:09 This ultimately hardens your heart and it dehumanizes you.
00:13:10 --> 00:13:13 The modern way is the opposite.
00:13:14 --> 00:13:21 We deal with our dissatisfaction by attempting to pursue satisfaction with everything we've got.
00:13:22 --> 00:13:24 And there are four ways you do that.
00:13:24 --> 00:13:28 If you're young, the normal way is to start the outer life thinking.
00:13:28 --> 00:13:36 If I get the right love partner, if I get the right spouse, if I get the right career and I make some money, then I'll be satisfied.
00:13:37 --> 00:13:49 That is, in our modern era, the pursuit of jobs, family, sex and so on are the usual distractions by which we hide from ourselves the emptiness of our modern life.
00:13:49 --> 00:14:08 I spoke a while ago with someone who, in their own confession, had slept with more than a thousand women.
00:14:08 --> 00:14:15 And he said it just got emptier and emptier and emptier and emptier and emptier.
00:14:15 --> 00:14:38 We may be quite discontent in life, but we don't recognise it because we are so, so busy in the process of getting ready to be satisfied.
00:14:38 --> 00:14:50 We think we've just got to get over this hill, just got to get around that bend and then things will be great.
00:14:50 --> 00:14:54 Then you move from the young.
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 The next step is the resentful.
00:14:56 --> 00:15:01 As time goes by, we begin to realise that we're getting, we are not getting it.
00:15:02 --> 00:15:08 Yeah, sure, the mortgage is paid off, the kids are growing up, I've got a stable job and yet I am still restless.
00:15:08 --> 00:15:20 One of the main reactions is to blame the obstacles that have kept us from achieving the things that we think will satisfy us.
00:15:21 --> 00:15:28 We'll identify social structures or individuals who have blocked our progress or who have wronged us in some kind of way.
00:15:28 --> 00:15:42 We blame them saying, I would be quite satisfied if it wasn't for religion or if it wasn't for this job or it wasn't for that relationship or it wasn't for the fact that I was dropped on my head as a baby or something.
00:15:43 --> 00:15:45 And so when that happens, we need a third strategy.
00:15:46 --> 00:15:47 And that is the driven.
00:15:48 --> 00:15:54 What happens if we find we reach many of our material goals and we still find something is significant happens?
00:15:54 --> 00:15:55 Missing, sorry.
00:15:55 --> 00:15:56 What do we do?
00:15:56 --> 00:16:02 Many people blame the things that they have, the things themselves, not other things, but the very things that they have.
00:16:03 --> 00:16:11 We assume that if you've got a better spouse, we get a better job, if we get a better income, a better home, then we will feel much better.
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 Constantly renovating our places.
00:16:19 --> 00:16:25 And if you take that path, we may become among society's most productive members,
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 the most driven members of society.
00:16:27 --> 00:16:32 And for the driven, life is like running on a treadmill.
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 The change of speed does happen, but the location never does.
00:16:39 --> 00:16:42 Go faster, you're still in the same spot.
00:16:42 --> 00:16:50 And you run harder to maintain your position and eventually become too weary to keep on going.
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 And all that's left now is despair.
00:16:54 --> 00:16:59 Rather than blaming other things, rather than blaming other people and other structures,
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 rather than blaming the things that are in front of me,
00:17:02 --> 00:17:03 I start to blame myself.
00:17:03 --> 00:17:12 I might be a deeply unsettling feeling that there is something wrong with me.
00:17:13 --> 00:17:15 I haven't done well enough.
00:17:16 --> 00:17:18 I haven't gone far enough up the career ladder.
00:17:18 --> 00:17:21 I haven't attracted the best romantic partners.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:23 I am the failure.
00:17:23 --> 00:17:30 However, most people don't allow themselves to slow down long enough
00:17:30 --> 00:17:34 so that they can hear that voice reverberating around in their hearts
00:17:34 --> 00:17:35 and hear the cry of despair.
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 We just jump on the treadmill again and keep going harder and harder.
00:17:41 --> 00:17:47 Oh, the crucial, crucial part of a day of rest and reflection
00:17:47 --> 00:17:52 to assess life, to hear in the quietness of the heart what's going on.
00:17:53 --> 00:18:01 Wow, that silence is amazing.
00:18:04 --> 00:18:07 It's remarkable how deep this issue of dissatisfaction is.
00:18:08 --> 00:18:10 When you scan the centuries,
00:18:11 --> 00:18:14 you scan the centuries from the ancients until now,
00:18:15 --> 00:18:18 how remarkable little progress we've made on this issue.
00:18:18 --> 00:18:24 We have surpassed our ancestors in our accomplishments
00:18:24 --> 00:18:26 in travel, science, medicine, communication.
00:18:27 --> 00:18:31 We are unimaginably wealthier and more comfortable,
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 and yet not a single person is suggesting
00:18:33 --> 00:18:36 that we are more content than what they were.
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 Not a single philosopher is saying that.
00:18:40 --> 00:18:48 Well, let me go back to one ancient.
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 The great Christian philosopher, St. Augustine,
00:18:52 --> 00:18:56 wrote that the reason our dissatisfaction is so deep in life
00:18:56 --> 00:18:59 is because our loves are disordered.
00:18:59 --> 00:19:05 Augustine taught that we are most fundamentally shaped
00:19:05 --> 00:19:07 not by what we believe,
00:19:08 --> 00:19:10 not by what we think,
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13 not even by what we do,
00:19:14 --> 00:19:18 but we are most fundamentally shaped by what we love.
00:19:18 --> 00:19:23 Now, that is a very clear word
00:19:23 --> 00:19:26 to us reformed evangelicals who love to think.
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 We are what we love.
00:19:36 --> 00:19:37 The dissatisfaction of our lives
00:19:37 --> 00:19:40 is caused by the disorder of loves.
00:19:41 --> 00:19:44 We often love less important things more
00:19:44 --> 00:19:46 and the more important things less.
00:19:46 --> 00:19:49 And every cultural system does it differently,
00:19:50 --> 00:19:53 but we all fail to order our loves correctly.
00:19:54 --> 00:19:57 There is nothing wrong with loving your work,
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 but if you love it more than your family,
00:19:59 --> 00:20:01 then your loves are out of order
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 and you may in fact ruin your family.
00:20:04 --> 00:20:06 If you love money more than you love justice,
00:20:07 --> 00:20:08 then you will exploit your employees.
00:20:10 --> 00:20:12 But the ultimate disordered love
00:20:12 --> 00:20:15 and the ultimate source of our discontent
00:20:15 --> 00:20:17 discontent in life
00:20:17 --> 00:20:20 is a failure to love the first thing first.
00:20:21 --> 00:20:24 And that is a failure to love God supremely.
00:20:25 --> 00:20:27 The Bible says that human beings
00:20:27 --> 00:20:30 are made in the image of a tripersonal God,
00:20:30 --> 00:20:31 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
00:20:32 --> 00:20:33 From all eternity,
00:20:33 --> 00:20:35 these divine three persons of the Trinity
00:20:35 --> 00:20:40 have been loving each other
00:20:40 --> 00:20:45 in infinite degrees of joy and glory and contentment.
00:20:45 --> 00:20:49 They are fully, completely satisfied
00:20:49 --> 00:20:50 in and of themselves.
00:20:55 --> 00:20:58 Human beings were created to know that joy
00:20:58 --> 00:21:02 of being loved infinitely
00:21:02 --> 00:21:06 and the joy of loving and glorifying God preeminently.
00:21:06 --> 00:21:11 And since we were created for that love
00:21:11 --> 00:21:13 and for that joy,
00:21:13 --> 00:21:16 we will always look for the infinite joy
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 that we were designed by God
00:21:18 --> 00:21:20 to enjoy elsewhere.
00:21:21 --> 00:21:25 You don't stop becoming a worshipping being.
00:21:25 --> 00:21:29 You just change the direction of your worship.
00:21:29 --> 00:21:31 This is all Augustine.
00:21:33 --> 00:21:36 If we reject God, which we all do,
00:21:36 --> 00:21:39 then we will look elsewhere to fill that void.
00:21:42 --> 00:21:45 And the reason even the best possible things
00:21:45 --> 00:21:47 in this world will not satisfy
00:21:47 --> 00:21:50 is because we were created for a degree
00:21:50 --> 00:21:52 of delight and satisfaction
00:21:52 --> 00:21:53 that this world cannot produce.
00:21:53 --> 00:22:02 The most famous modern expression of Augustine's view
00:22:02 --> 00:22:07 was the ending of C.S. Lewis's World War II radio talk.
00:22:08 --> 00:22:10 Creatures are not born with desires
00:22:10 --> 00:22:13 unless satisfaction for those desires exists.
00:22:14 --> 00:22:15 A baby feels hunger.
00:22:16 --> 00:22:17 Well, there is such a thing as food.
00:22:18 --> 00:22:19 A duckling wants to swim.
00:22:20 --> 00:22:21 Well, there's such a thing as water.
00:22:21 --> 00:22:23 A man feels sexual desires.
00:22:23 --> 00:22:25 Well, there's such a thing as sex.
00:22:25 --> 00:22:27 If I find in myself a desire
00:22:27 --> 00:22:30 which no experience in this world can satisfy,
00:22:30 --> 00:22:32 the most probable explanation
00:22:32 --> 00:22:35 is that I am made for another world.
00:22:39 --> 00:22:41 Augustine also helps us to see
00:22:41 --> 00:22:43 how it's possible to become deeply satisfied.
00:22:45 --> 00:22:48 Don't harden your heart against love,
00:22:48 --> 00:22:49 Augustine says,
00:22:50 --> 00:22:53 but don't give your heart ultimately things
00:22:53 --> 00:22:54 that you will lose.
00:22:54 --> 00:22:55 That you will lose
00:22:55 --> 00:22:56 and you can never,
00:22:56 --> 00:22:58 that can never satisfy you.
00:23:00 --> 00:23:01 Very simply,
00:23:02 --> 00:23:03 even the best,
00:23:03 --> 00:23:05 the very best marriages
00:23:05 --> 00:23:07 in this world,
00:23:07 --> 00:23:10 the very best marriages in this world,
00:23:10 --> 00:23:13 always end badly.
00:23:13 --> 00:23:19 They always do.
00:23:21 --> 00:23:24 One is going to be left without the other.
00:23:26 --> 00:23:26 Most of the time.
00:23:30 --> 00:23:34 To the degree that we move towards loving God supremely
00:23:34 --> 00:23:35 as the deepest source of our satisfaction
00:23:35 --> 00:23:39 is the degree to which we can enjoy his gifts
00:23:39 --> 00:23:40 for what they are.
00:23:41 --> 00:23:43 Money and career, for example,
00:23:43 --> 00:23:46 become just what they're supposed to be.
00:23:46 --> 00:23:47 Work becomes work,
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 a great way to use your gifts
00:23:49 --> 00:23:49 to be useful for others
00:23:49 --> 00:23:51 for the advancement of society.
00:23:52 --> 00:23:53 Money becomes just money,
00:23:53 --> 00:23:55 a great way to support your family,
00:23:55 --> 00:23:56 feed the poor,
00:23:56 --> 00:23:57 advance the good news of the gospel
00:23:57 --> 00:23:58 of Jesus Christ,
00:23:58 --> 00:23:59 the ends of the earth.
00:23:59 --> 00:24:01 Some have changed,
00:24:03 --> 00:24:04 sorry,
00:24:04 --> 00:24:05 some have charged
00:24:05 --> 00:24:07 that religion itself
00:24:07 --> 00:24:09 drains ordinary life
00:24:09 --> 00:24:11 of its joy and satisfaction.
00:24:12 --> 00:24:14 And it does it by devaluing
00:24:14 --> 00:24:15 the things of this world.
00:24:15 --> 00:24:17 So it's a straitjacket on you
00:24:17 --> 00:24:19 that means you can't enjoy life.
00:24:20 --> 00:24:20 For sure,
00:24:20 --> 00:24:22 I think that there are some religions
00:24:22 --> 00:24:24 that value detachment from the world.
00:24:25 --> 00:24:26 Buddhism is one of those.
00:24:26 --> 00:24:31 This is not true for Christianity.
00:24:32 --> 00:24:33 It is not true for Christianity.
00:24:33 --> 00:24:34 In fact,
00:24:34 --> 00:24:35 Christianity does not say
00:24:35 --> 00:24:37 that we merit blessing
00:24:37 --> 00:24:39 through depriving ourselves
00:24:39 --> 00:24:40 and turning our backs on the world
00:24:40 --> 00:24:42 to earn heaven.
00:24:42 --> 00:24:43 Christianity teaches
00:24:43 --> 00:24:45 that we are saved
00:24:45 --> 00:24:47 by God's free grace and pardon.
00:24:47 --> 00:24:49 Christianity says,
00:24:49 --> 00:24:50 against the ancients
00:24:50 --> 00:24:51 and against the modern,
00:24:52 --> 00:24:52 Christianity says,
00:24:53 --> 00:24:54 don't love anything less
00:24:54 --> 00:24:58 instead learn to love God more.
00:25:00 --> 00:25:01 And you will love other things
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03 with far more satisfaction.
00:25:05 --> 00:25:06 That's it.
00:25:06 --> 00:25:07 That's the unique contribution
00:25:07 --> 00:25:08 of Christianity.
00:25:09 --> 00:25:11 You won't over protect those things
00:25:11 --> 00:25:13 and you won't over expect things from them.
00:25:13 --> 00:25:15 You won't be constantly furious
00:25:15 --> 00:25:16 at those things
00:25:16 --> 00:25:18 for not being what you hoped
00:25:18 --> 00:25:19 that they would be.
00:25:20 --> 00:25:23 Redirect your greatest love towards God
00:25:23 --> 00:25:24 by loving him with all your heart,
00:25:24 --> 00:25:25 soul, mind and strength.
00:25:28 --> 00:25:30 Not just for what he can give you,
00:25:30 --> 00:25:32 but purely because of who he is.
00:25:32 --> 00:25:33 He is.
00:25:33 --> 00:25:35 And only then satisfaction
00:25:35 --> 00:25:36 will start to come.
00:25:38 --> 00:25:38 You see,
00:25:38 --> 00:25:40 the Christian view,
00:25:40 --> 00:25:41 the Christian worldview
00:25:41 --> 00:25:44 avoids the pitfalls
00:25:44 --> 00:25:46 of both the ancient strategy
00:25:46 --> 00:25:47 of satisfaction
00:25:47 --> 00:25:48 through detachment
00:25:48 --> 00:25:50 from the world
00:25:50 --> 00:25:51 and the modern strategy
00:25:51 --> 00:25:52 of satisfaction
00:25:52 --> 00:25:54 through acquisition.
00:25:54 --> 00:25:56 because the fundamental
00:25:56 --> 00:25:57 of the Christian gospel
00:25:57 --> 00:25:59 is it's a gift.
00:26:01 --> 00:26:01 It's not a,
00:26:02 --> 00:26:03 you don't acquire it,
00:26:03 --> 00:26:04 it's a gift.
00:26:04 --> 00:26:06 It's where it all starts.
00:26:11 --> 00:26:12 And when you see life as a gift
00:26:12 --> 00:26:14 and the grace of God as a gift,
00:26:14 --> 00:26:16 you see everything that flows
00:26:16 --> 00:26:17 from his hand as a gift.
00:26:19 --> 00:26:19 But they are gifts
00:26:19 --> 00:26:20 from the good gift giver.
00:26:20 --> 00:26:24 So how then do we love God?
00:26:25 --> 00:26:25 Well,
00:26:25 --> 00:26:26 in the same way
00:26:26 --> 00:26:27 that children learn to speak.
00:26:28 --> 00:26:31 Only by responding to speech.
00:26:32 --> 00:26:33 And learning to love
00:26:33 --> 00:26:35 only by reciprocating love.
00:26:38 --> 00:26:40 We cannot love God
00:26:40 --> 00:26:42 just by thinking
00:26:42 --> 00:26:44 of an abstract deity
00:26:44 --> 00:26:47 who is loving and kind in general.
00:26:47 --> 00:26:50 We must grasp
00:26:50 --> 00:26:51 and be gripped
00:26:51 --> 00:26:53 by the true story
00:26:53 --> 00:26:55 of God's actual sacrificial
00:26:55 --> 00:26:56 saving love for us
00:26:56 --> 00:26:57 in Jesus Christ.
00:26:58 --> 00:26:59 In John chapter 6,
00:26:59 --> 00:27:00 which Anne read out for us,
00:27:00 --> 00:27:01 verse 35,
00:27:01 --> 00:27:03 Jesus speaks to a crowd
00:27:03 --> 00:27:04 about the bread of life
00:27:04 --> 00:27:06 such that whoever eats it
00:27:06 --> 00:27:09 will never go hungry.
00:27:10 --> 00:27:11 Eat this bread
00:27:11 --> 00:27:12 and you'll always be satisfied.
00:27:13 --> 00:27:15 Drink from this well
00:27:15 --> 00:27:16 and you'll never be thirsty.
00:27:16 --> 00:27:20 He's talking metaphorically
00:27:20 --> 00:27:21 about something
00:27:21 --> 00:27:22 that gives both strength
00:27:22 --> 00:27:23 and delight
00:27:23 --> 00:27:25 an image of fulfillment
00:27:25 --> 00:27:25 and satisfaction.
00:27:26 --> 00:27:27 He also observes
00:27:27 --> 00:27:29 that human beings
00:27:29 --> 00:27:30 seek this
00:27:30 --> 00:27:31 in all the wrong places.
00:27:32 --> 00:27:33 He warns against
00:27:33 --> 00:27:34 in verse 26,
00:27:34 --> 00:27:35 sorry, 27,
00:27:35 --> 00:27:37 working for food
00:27:37 --> 00:27:37 that spoils.
00:27:38 --> 00:27:39 In other words,
00:27:41 --> 00:27:42 for trying to find satisfaction
00:27:42 --> 00:27:43 from that stuff.
00:27:43 --> 00:27:46 And then he says,
00:27:47 --> 00:27:49 I am the bread of life.
00:27:52 --> 00:27:53 And he holds out
00:27:53 --> 00:27:53 a piece of bread
00:27:53 --> 00:27:54 in Luke chapter 22.
00:27:55 --> 00:27:56 This is my body
00:27:56 --> 00:27:58 given for you.
00:28:02 --> 00:28:02 You see,
00:28:02 --> 00:28:03 the heart of the
00:28:03 --> 00:28:06 Christian faith
00:28:06 --> 00:28:08 is a simple gospel message
00:28:08 --> 00:28:09 of sin and grace.
00:28:09 --> 00:28:13 Sin and grace.
00:28:14 --> 00:28:15 Because we fail
00:28:15 --> 00:28:16 to love God supremely
00:28:16 --> 00:28:17 and our neighbor
00:28:17 --> 00:28:18 as ourselves,
00:28:18 --> 00:28:19 we sin
00:28:19 --> 00:28:20 and for God
00:28:20 --> 00:28:21 to forgive our sin,
00:28:21 --> 00:28:22 the Son of God
00:28:22 --> 00:28:23 became human
00:28:23 --> 00:28:25 and graciously died
00:28:25 --> 00:28:26 in our place
00:28:26 --> 00:28:27 on a cross.
00:28:30 --> 00:28:31 And there are two ways
00:28:31 --> 00:28:32 that this message
00:28:32 --> 00:28:33 can bring about
00:28:33 --> 00:28:34 the love relationship
00:28:34 --> 00:28:34 with God
00:28:34 --> 00:28:36 which solves
00:28:36 --> 00:28:37 our satisfaction dilemma.
00:28:37 --> 00:28:39 Firstly,
00:28:39 --> 00:28:40 the knowledge
00:28:40 --> 00:28:41 of sin
00:28:41 --> 00:28:42 against our Creator
00:28:42 --> 00:28:44 starts to soften
00:28:44 --> 00:28:45 our hearts.
00:28:46 --> 00:28:48 If there is a God
00:28:48 --> 00:28:49 who created us
00:28:49 --> 00:28:51 and keeps us
00:28:51 --> 00:28:52 alive
00:28:52 --> 00:28:53 every minute,
00:28:55 --> 00:28:56 then the love
00:28:56 --> 00:28:57 that we owe
00:28:57 --> 00:28:58 this God
00:28:58 --> 00:29:00 is infinitely great.
00:29:02 --> 00:29:03 To not love
00:29:03 --> 00:29:04 Him supremely
00:29:04 --> 00:29:06 is infinitely wrong.
00:29:07 --> 00:29:08 If you believe
00:29:08 --> 00:29:09 that,
00:29:09 --> 00:29:10 you begin to see
00:29:10 --> 00:29:10 how much
00:29:10 --> 00:29:11 you have wronged
00:29:11 --> 00:29:12 Him
00:29:12 --> 00:29:13 by loving
00:29:13 --> 00:29:13 the gifts
00:29:13 --> 00:29:15 He has made
00:29:15 --> 00:29:17 rather than
00:29:17 --> 00:29:17 Him,
00:29:17 --> 00:29:18 the gift giver.
00:29:19 --> 00:29:20 And it begins
00:29:20 --> 00:29:21 to draw your heart
00:29:21 --> 00:29:22 outward towards
00:29:22 --> 00:29:23 Him in humility
00:29:23 --> 00:29:24 and grief.
00:29:26 --> 00:29:27 But then secondly,
00:29:27 --> 00:29:28 the knowledge
00:29:28 --> 00:29:29 of His grace
00:29:29 --> 00:29:31 just ignites
00:29:31 --> 00:29:31 your heart.
00:29:32 --> 00:29:33 It ignites
00:29:33 --> 00:29:34 your heart.
00:29:34 --> 00:29:34 for God
00:29:34 --> 00:29:35 to forgive us,
00:29:36 --> 00:29:37 He had to pay
00:29:37 --> 00:29:38 the debt
00:29:38 --> 00:29:39 Himself
00:29:39 --> 00:29:40 because we
00:29:40 --> 00:29:41 can't do it.
00:29:44 --> 00:29:45 Jesus Christ
00:29:45 --> 00:29:46 pays it on the cross
00:29:46 --> 00:29:46 for us.
00:29:49 --> 00:29:49 I wonder
00:29:49 --> 00:29:50 if it dawns
00:29:50 --> 00:29:51 on you
00:29:51 --> 00:29:52 at least
00:29:52 --> 00:29:52 three times
00:29:52 --> 00:29:53 a day
00:29:53 --> 00:29:58 that outside
00:29:58 --> 00:29:59 of salt
00:29:59 --> 00:29:59 and a few
00:29:59 --> 00:30:00 minerals,
00:30:01 --> 00:30:01 everything that
00:30:01 --> 00:30:02 goes in your
00:30:02 --> 00:30:03 body has died
00:30:03 --> 00:30:05 so that you
00:30:05 --> 00:30:05 can live.
00:30:08 --> 00:30:09 Ever thought
00:30:09 --> 00:30:09 about that?
00:30:13 --> 00:30:14 If you're
00:30:14 --> 00:30:15 eating bread,
00:30:15 --> 00:30:16 not only did
00:30:16 --> 00:30:17 the grain die,
00:30:17 --> 00:30:18 but the bread
00:30:18 --> 00:30:19 must be broken
00:30:19 --> 00:30:20 up into pieces.
00:30:20 --> 00:30:21 If the bread
00:30:21 --> 00:30:22 stays whole,
00:30:22 --> 00:30:23 you starve.
00:30:26 --> 00:30:27 If the bread
00:30:27 --> 00:30:28 is broken
00:30:28 --> 00:30:28 into pieces,
00:30:28 --> 00:30:29 you take it
00:30:29 --> 00:30:29 in,
00:30:29 --> 00:30:30 then you live.
00:30:30 --> 00:30:32 So when
00:30:32 --> 00:30:32 Jesus Christ
00:30:32 --> 00:30:33 says,
00:30:33 --> 00:30:33 I'm the bread
00:30:33 --> 00:30:34 of life
00:30:34 --> 00:30:35 broken for you,
00:30:35 --> 00:30:36 He is saying,
00:30:36 --> 00:30:37 I'm your God
00:30:37 --> 00:30:39 broken for you.
00:30:39 --> 00:30:40 I die
00:30:40 --> 00:30:41 so that you
00:30:41 --> 00:30:42 might live.
00:30:45 --> 00:30:45 Seeing
00:30:45 --> 00:30:46 and savoring
00:30:46 --> 00:30:47 what He has
00:30:47 --> 00:30:47 done for us
00:30:47 --> 00:30:48 begins to
00:30:48 --> 00:30:48 change your
00:30:48 --> 00:30:49 heart.
00:30:50 --> 00:30:51 He suffered
00:30:51 --> 00:30:52 and He died
00:30:52 --> 00:30:53 for your sake.
00:30:54 --> 00:30:55 At the very
00:30:55 --> 00:30:55 least,
00:30:55 --> 00:30:56 friends,
00:30:56 --> 00:30:56 it's why
00:30:56 --> 00:30:56 we just
00:30:56 --> 00:30:57 prayed,
00:30:58 --> 00:30:59 be today
00:30:59 --> 00:30:59 my daily bread.
00:31:01 --> 00:31:01 Not just
00:31:01 --> 00:31:02 give it to me,
00:31:02 --> 00:31:03 but be
00:31:03 --> 00:31:04 my daily bread.
00:31:05 --> 00:31:05 It's why
00:31:05 --> 00:31:06 we keep
00:31:06 --> 00:31:07 encouraging you
00:31:07 --> 00:31:07 to have a
00:31:07 --> 00:31:08 devotional life
00:31:08 --> 00:31:08 four or more
00:31:08 --> 00:31:09 times a week
00:31:09 --> 00:31:09 to have that
00:31:09 --> 00:31:10 gospel message
00:31:10 --> 00:31:11 of God
00:31:11 --> 00:31:11 and His
00:31:11 --> 00:31:11 goodness
00:31:11 --> 00:31:12 to you
00:31:12 --> 00:31:13 hit you
00:31:13 --> 00:31:14 again and
00:31:14 --> 00:31:14 again and
00:31:14 --> 00:31:15 again and
00:31:15 --> 00:31:15 be reminded
00:31:15 --> 00:31:16 of it because
00:31:16 --> 00:31:16 you are
00:31:16 --> 00:31:17 confronted
00:31:17 --> 00:31:18 every single
00:31:18 --> 00:31:19 day with
00:31:19 --> 00:31:20 images and
00:31:20 --> 00:31:20 words that
00:31:20 --> 00:31:21 are saying,
00:31:21 --> 00:31:21 be satisfied
00:31:21 --> 00:31:22 with this,
00:31:22 --> 00:31:23 with this,
00:31:23 --> 00:31:23 with this.
00:31:23 --> 00:31:23 face.
00:31:26 --> 00:31:27 If you
00:31:27 --> 00:31:27 don't have
00:31:27 --> 00:31:28 your face
00:31:28 --> 00:31:29 in the
00:31:29 --> 00:31:29 Bible,
00:31:29 --> 00:31:30 you are
00:31:30 --> 00:31:30 already
00:31:30 --> 00:31:31 losing the
00:31:31 --> 00:31:31 battle.
00:31:38 --> 00:31:38 You cannot
00:31:38 --> 00:31:39 force your
00:31:39 --> 00:31:40 heart to
00:31:40 --> 00:31:40 love,
00:31:41 --> 00:31:42 but it's
00:31:42 --> 00:31:42 the good
00:31:42 --> 00:31:43 news of
00:31:43 --> 00:31:43 Jesus Christ
00:31:43 --> 00:31:44 that will
00:31:44 --> 00:31:44 change it.
00:31:45 --> 00:31:45 The love
00:31:45 --> 00:31:46 of Jesus
00:31:46 --> 00:31:46 Christ
00:31:46 --> 00:31:47 draws out
00:31:47 --> 00:31:48 our hearts
00:31:48 --> 00:31:49 and it
00:31:49 --> 00:31:49 draws out
00:31:49 --> 00:31:50 our hearts
00:31:50 --> 00:31:50 and takes
00:31:50 --> 00:31:51 them off
00:31:51 --> 00:31:52 inordinate
00:31:52 --> 00:31:54 attachments
00:31:54 --> 00:31:55 to other
00:31:55 --> 00:31:56 things,
00:31:57 --> 00:31:58 good things
00:31:58 --> 00:31:59 but not
00:31:59 --> 00:32:00 ultimate
00:32:00 --> 00:32:00 things.
00:32:02 --> 00:32:02 And to
00:32:02 --> 00:32:03 the degree
00:32:03 --> 00:32:04 that we
00:32:04 --> 00:32:05 find our
00:32:05 --> 00:32:05 satisfaction
00:32:05 --> 00:32:06 in Jesus
00:32:06 --> 00:32:07 Christ is
00:32:07 --> 00:32:08 the degree
00:32:08 --> 00:32:09 to which
00:32:09 --> 00:32:09 we will be
00:32:09 --> 00:32:10 radically
00:32:10 --> 00:32:11 generous
00:32:11 --> 00:32:12 with our
00:32:12 --> 00:32:12 time,
00:32:13 --> 00:32:14 our talents,
00:32:14 --> 00:32:14 our testimony
00:32:14 --> 00:32:15 and our
00:32:15 --> 00:32:15 treasures.
00:32:16 --> 00:32:16 And so
00:32:16 --> 00:32:17 once again,
00:32:17 --> 00:32:18 I commend
00:32:18 --> 00:32:18 to you the
00:32:18 --> 00:32:19 project card.
00:32:20 --> 00:32:23 the more
00:32:23 --> 00:32:24 satisfied we
00:32:24 --> 00:32:25 are in
00:32:25 --> 00:32:25 Christ,
00:32:26 --> 00:32:26 the more
00:32:26 --> 00:32:27 free we
00:32:27 --> 00:32:28 are with
00:32:28 --> 00:32:29 all of our
00:32:29 --> 00:32:29 possessions.
00:32:32 --> 00:32:33 To the
00:32:33 --> 00:32:33 degree that
00:32:33 --> 00:32:34 we find
00:32:34 --> 00:32:34 our
00:32:34 --> 00:32:35 satisfaction
00:32:35 --> 00:32:35 in Jesus
00:32:35 --> 00:32:37 Christ is
00:32:37 --> 00:32:38 the degree
00:32:38 --> 00:32:38 to which we
00:32:38 --> 00:32:39 can say
00:32:39 --> 00:32:39 with the
00:32:39 --> 00:32:40 psalmist,
00:32:40 --> 00:32:41 because your
00:32:41 --> 00:32:42 love is
00:32:42 --> 00:32:43 better than
00:32:43 --> 00:32:43 life,
00:32:44 --> 00:32:44 I will be
00:32:44 --> 00:32:45 fully satisfied
00:32:45 --> 00:32:46 as with the
00:32:46 --> 00:32:47 richest of
00:32:47 --> 00:32:48 foods.
00:32:48 --> 00:32:50 friends,
00:32:50 --> 00:32:50 we're going
00:32:50 --> 00:32:51 to pause
00:32:51 --> 00:32:51 and then
00:32:51 --> 00:32:51 we're going
00:32:51 --> 00:32:52 to pray.
00:32:53 --> 00:32:53 Just bow
00:32:53 --> 00:32:53 your heads
00:32:53 --> 00:32:54 for a
00:32:54 --> 00:32:55 moment and
00:32:55 --> 00:32:55 just take a
00:32:55 --> 00:32:55 moment to
00:32:55 --> 00:32:56 allow that to
00:32:56 --> 00:32:57 sit and reflect
00:32:57 --> 00:32:57 in your
00:32:57 --> 00:32:58 hearts.
00:32:58 --> 00:32:59 gentle
00:32:59 --> 00:32:59 extent,
00:32:59 --> 00:33:01 do you
00:33:01 --> 00:33:02 love
00:33:02 --> 00:33:04 teaspoon of
00:33:04 --> 00:33:04 love
00:33:04 --> 00:33:05 конечно,
00:33:05 --> 00:33:07 you
00:33:07 --> 00:33:08 can't
00:33:08 --> 00:33:08 hvor
00:33:08 --> 00:33:09 Maybe
00:33:09 --> 00:33:09 perhaps
00:33:09 --> 00:33:10 maybe
00:33:10 --> 00:33:11 transmit
00:33:11 --> 00:33:12 you
00:33:12 --> 00:33:12 or
00:33:12 --> 00:33:13 your
00:33:13 --> 00:33:13 love
00:33:13 --> 00:33:13 how
00:33:13 --> 00:33:14 yourself
00:33:14 --> 00:33:15 maybe
00:33:15 --> 00:33:15 like