Satisfied - Pt. 3

Satisfied  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  37:41
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Welcome back this morning to week 3 of our new series “Satisfied”.
If you have been able to join us in a service or catch up on our website, you know, that we are learning how being grounded in the Gospel leads to contentment.
We are seeing how the scriptures drive home the truth and the ability to be:
Content with our Possessions
Content with our People
Content with our Position in Christ
Last week we gave you a homework project called the bowl of blessings, with the intent to battle comparison with contentment in the blessings of God in your life. I’d like some feedback.
Two Questions this morning:
Was it difficult to write out your bowl of blessings?
Name one thing that you wrote down this week.
Opening Illustration:
I Read a story this week of a man who:
While walking through the forest one day, a man found a young eagle who had fallen out of his nest. He took it home and put it in his barnyard where it soon learned to eat and behave like the chickens. One day a naturalist passed by the farm and asked why it was that the king of all birds should be confined to live in the barnyard with the chickens. The farmer replied that since he had given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken, it had never learned to fly. Since it now behaved as the chickens, it was no longer an eagle.
“Still it has the heart of an eagle,” replied the naturalist, “and can surely be taught to fly.” He lifted the eagle toward the sky and said, “You belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly.”
The eagle, however, was confused. He did not know who he was, and seeing the chickens eating their food, he jumped down to be with them again.
The naturalist took the bird to the roof of the house and urged him again, saying, “You are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly.”
But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self and world and jumped down once more for the chicken food. Finally the naturalist took the eagle out of the barnyard to a high mountain. There he held the king of the birds high above him and encouraged him again, saying, “You are an eagle. You belong to the sky. Stretch forth your wings and fly.”
The eagle looked around, back towards the barnyard and up to the sky. Then the naturalist lifted him straight towards the sun and it happened that the eagle began to tremble. Slowly he stretched his wings, and with a triumphant cry, soared away into the heavens.
It may be that the eagle still remembers the chickens with nostalgia. It may even be that he occasionally revisits the barnyard. But as far as anyone knows, he has never returned to lead the life of a chicken.
From Theology News and Notes, October, 1976, quoted in Multnomah Message, Spring, 1993, p. 1
This morning we are going to look at what God says about our Identity - The facts of who we are as believers in Christ. Who are we, and where do we find our identity, satisfaction, and contentment.
If we’re honest with ourselves, we often feel insecure. Those who hide it best often feel it most. But our insecurity is an invitation from God to escape the danger of false beliefs about who we are and find true peace in who he is.
Some people have a hard time (like the eagle) to fully respond to who they are and what they were created for. Others don’t: I read about:
Christian Herter was running hard for reelection as Governor of Massachusetts, and one day he arrived late at a barbecue. He’d had no breakfast or lunch, and he was famished. As he moved down the serving line, he held out his plate and received one piece of chicken. The governor said to the serving lady, “Excuse me, do you mind if I get another piece of chicken. I’m very hungry.” “Sorry, I’m supposed to give one piece to each person,” the woman replied. “But I’m starved,” he repeated, and again she said: “Only one to a customer.”
Herter was normally a modest man, but he decided this was the time to use the weight of his office, and said, “Madam, do you know who I am? I am the governor of this state.” “Do you know who I am?” she answered. “I’m the lady in charge of chicken. Move along, mister.”
There is a temptation to forge our identity around what we earn, what we buy, and what we own.
But Jesus said,
Luke 12:15 NKJV
15 And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
There is equal temptation to forge our identity and satisfaction on the people we know and the positions we hold.
But as we will study out Paul’s letter to Ephesus this morning, we will see that, as John Piper says,
“Christian selfhood is not defined in terms of who we are in and of ourselves. It’s defined in terms of what God does to us and the relationship he creates with us and the destiny he appoints for us. God made us who we are so we could make known who he is. Our identity is for the sake of making known his identity.” - John Piper
You see:
“Uncle Sam’s armies of statisticians don’t really ask questions about the cleanliness of the old man’s flannels,” an article in NEWSWEEK writes, “But they do ask about the state of the arches in our feet (2.6 million are flat or fallen)… They can expound on life and its quality and on death and its causes. They can analyze gender and birth, divorce and income, crime and eating habits.… As a result, America knows more about itself than ever before.”
That may be true—yet people are still confused about who they are and the roles they are to fill. Could it be that in the thousands of questions, the census takers have overlooked the most important ones'
Story from Jeff Manion’s Book Satisfied: Discovering contentment in a World of Consumption:
I ran into Tony at the fortieth birthday party of a mutual friend. The party was hosted at a gorgeous home, and guests mingled on the spacious patio overlooking the manicured lawn and pool. It was a beautiful setting for a midsummer gathering. Tony and I had not connected in years though we attended college together and live in the same city, and we welcomed the opportunity to catch up on each other’s lives. Our small talk quickly moved through the usual paces, sharing about work, children, and what we’d been up to recently. But then it took one of those rare and refreshing turns toward honest vulnerability. Tony confided that he and his wife, Karen, were suffocating beneath a weight of financial pressure. This was not simply a temporary setback; they faced the very real prospect of financial ruin. The number of guests milling about made the patio an awkward atmosphere for such an intimate conversation, yet I felt his brutal honesty welcomed further dialogue. When I asked if he was interested in continuing our conversation over coffee, he seemed eager to talk. I suspect he had been carrying this weight for some time and was relieved to unburden himself in trusted company. The following Monday morning we met at a downtown Starbucks a block from Tony’s office. Thankfully, we had the outdoor seating area to ourselves and could converse freely and without interruption. As Tony chronicled the financial drama they were facing, it became clear that adequate income was not the problem. Both Tony and Karen were employed and earning strong salaries. The issue, as Tony explained it, was an inability to keep spending under control. Tony confessed that the responsibility for runaway spending was overwhelmingly his fault. He felt an urgent, inner compulsion to keep up the appearance of someone who is well off. This compulsion drove not only his choice of a home but what kind of vehicles they leased, their expensive taste in clothing and restaurants, their decision to purchase a summer cottage, their desire for a country club membership, and plans for costly vacations. The sum of these commitments was enough to capsize their financial stability. Tony had amazing clarity as to what was driving his consumptive lifestyle. He described a childhood of scarcity, shortage, and embarrassment. His father moved out when he was six, leaving his mother to support three children on an income that fell below the poverty line. One of Tony’s most painful memories was being mocked by other kids in seventh grade for wearing pants that were way too short. He had experienced a growth spurt over the summer, and there was no money available to purchase clothing for the new school year. The ridicule took the form of that well-worn joke that Tony’s pants were so high because he was preparing for a flood. This in turn led to the shorthand nickname “Flood” (or in some cases “Noah”) — a moniker he wore throughout middle school, even after better-fitting clothes were purchased. There were other memories — an empty refrigerator, subsidized school lunches, and his mother’s constant fretting about overdue bills. But the laughter he endured over the short pants left the most indelible mark. Reliving the experience made it difficult for him to even make eye contact. As Tony shared these reflections, he stared down at his espresso cup, which rested on the table between us. Shame has a long memory. As a seventh grader, Tony made a silent, determined vow that he would never, ever look poor again. Now sitting in front of me was a fairly successful forty-three-year-old man, strained to the breaking point financially in an attempt to fulfill that vow. Every purchasing choice was calculated to make an impression. But it seemed that no matter how much money they earned, it wasn’t enough to compensate for the humiliation that had etched itself into his identity. As we talked at the coffee shop that beautiful July morning, it was obvious that Tony’s money crisis was the result of an identity crisis. The grown man sitting across from me in a smart business suit drinking espresso had scripted his lifestyle to outrun a childhood nickname: Flood. Though Tony had a great deal of clarity on what was driving his spending, he seemed powerless to alter his compulsive behavior. Keeping up the appearance of wealth had become so central to his sense of self that not spending was like not breathing. To delay a purchase felt a bit like drowning. His identity, his life, depended on it. For Tony — as for many of us — transforming the way he views spending, saving, and giving will require a transformation in the way he views his core identity. For the Christian, the issue of identity cannot be overestimated, for it is new identity that propels new behavior.
Manion, Jeff. Satisfied: Discovering Contentment in a World of Consumption (pp. 90-91). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
We will see this in Ephesians 1
When Paul leaves Ephesus, the new Christians there were not fully formed spiritually. They had new hearts, but with old habits.
In the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul talks about identity; then he spends three chapters on behavior change.
Paul uses the imagery of adoption to reach a culture known for child abandonment.
So later in the chapter he is going to address behavior, but long before that he is going to establish the bedrock of identity:
Ephesians 1:3–8 NKJV
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
These believers share a new community as the adopted.
Paul’s message: Your most defining reality is not who threw you out, but who took you in — not the parent who abandoned you, but the God who adopted you.
This reality of adoption has the ability to reshape every aspect of life, including what we own, what we need, what we think we need.
Fred Rogers said, “The older I get, the more I’ve come to believe that nothing I buy can take away my loneliness, fill my emptiness, or heal my brokenness.”
What this means: I don’t get my identity from my car; I bring my identity to my car. I don’t get my identity from my house or my career; I bring my identity to my house and my career. Not in who I am with here on earth, but who I belong to in Heaven.
Your new identity is based on who you belong to, and not on what belongs to you.
Ephesians 2.
Ephesians 2:1–10 NKJV
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
1. The Believer’s Past Realities (vv. 1-3)
Paul says, you used to:
A. Lived in Death (v. 1)
B. Lived in Deception (v. 2a)
C. Lived in Disobedience (v. 2b)
D. Lived in Depravation (v. 3)
This is what you used to be - this was your old identity - BUT...
Look back at v. 1 - And you He made alive!
No longer do we live in death, separated from God. Now:
2. The Believer’s Present Realities (vv. 4-6)
We live in:
A. God’s Love (v. 4)
B. God’s Grace (v. 5)
C. God’s Power (v. 6)
3. The Believer’s Future Realities (v. 7)
There is coming a day when the not yet aspect of our conversion will be made sight!
The means of this transformation in vv. 8-9 is for the purpose of v. 10
In Christ, we are fundamentally new, and belong to the people of heaven. The language, values, customs and expectations of this world increasingly feel foreign to us. We have been born again for another world, to a greater kind of existence.
Before Christ, our identity is tied to our actions and affluence, but after Christ, our identity is tied to His actions and His affluence.
Practically,
The reality of our stuff is that it falls apart and fades away.
The reality of our relationships with people is that they are not eternal.
Lasting contentment is found in Christ alone, who has
Made you Alive
And Who
Never Changes.
Then we see the cost of such an adoption - a placing in His family -
Ephesians 2:13 NKJV
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Last week: You wrote out, or hopefully at least thought through, your blessing bowl.
We are a blessed people!
Weekly Project:
The challenge this week is to go on a seven-day spending fast. Aside from essential food and medication, make no purchases. Use and enjoy what you already have — your clothes, music, electronics, books, objects in your home.
The purpose of the fast is not to avoid spending money, though that is a great side benefit! The purpose of the fast is to practice contentment by taking a break from the need to shop, consume, and accumulate.
Throughout the week, if you find yourself preoccupied with trying to find a “cheat” or a work-around, refocus your attention on the purpose of the fast, which is practicing contentment.
The other is to
Manion, Jeff. Satisfied Study Guide: Discovering Contentment in a World of Consumption (p. 58). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
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