Living the Rich & Satisfying Life

Intro

Each of us has just one life to live and it should be an amazing life. However as I look all over, I see people not living amazing kind of lives. I see people struggling emotionally and just existing. Many people struggle with anxiety, sleeplessness, and worry. Through that on top of depression and there are a lot of people not doing well…certainly not amazing.

Have you ever thought about what kind of people should we be? What kind of life does God want us to live in this culture that’s going all over the place?

Jesus answers that through Paul in

Galatians 5:22–23 NLT

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

So in response to the question of what kind of people we should be? We should be people with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in our lives.

God wants us to live lives with those qualities shining through us into the dark world around us.

God wants us to live amazing lives. We are not supposed to live a passive life that just sits around waiting for Jesus to come back. People who live rich and satisfying lives have traits like self discipline, Faith, trustworthiness… How do we get that into our lives?

We get that through a growing relationship with Jesus.

John 10:10 NLT

10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

Sounds like life beyond amazing. I want to live a rich and satisfying life. I think we all do, but there are road blocks that keep us from living that kind of life. Let’s look at some.

Roadblocks to a Rich and Satisfying Life

We have to get these out of the way. If there is a gap between what the Lord wants us to have and what we are experiencing, what is causing that to happen. What is keeping us from living this abundant life that Jesus wants to live.

Here are a few.

I. We Misunderstand Salvation.

Too often, we see salvation as a point in time. We view salvation in past tense. It’s something we did or a decision we made. We see it like it’s a done deal.

But the bible doesn’t view salvation like that. The Bible views salvation in three different tenses,

There are Three tenses of Salvation

The Bible teaches that we can in fact say, I have been saved. But the Bible also says that we being saved. One day we will be ultimately saved.

1. Past Tense - You are saved from the penalty of sin

I have been saved on such and such a date. This is when you invite Jesus to come into your life and forgive you of your sins. And he does.

Once you are saved,

2. Present Tense - you are being saved.

This is the daily growing in your faith.

You are gradually being saved from the power of sin in your life.

We call this sanctification. It’s the daily growing closer to the Lord. We grow stronger and the power of sin grows weaker in our lives.

3. One day we will be saved from the presence of sin.

This is when we reach heaven. In heaven there is no sin.

If you get stuck in the past tense, you will never enjoy the amazing life God has for you.

Romans 13:11 NLT

11 This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

He is talking about the ultimate salvation when he comes back. Soon this world will come to an end and it will be too late for those who don’t know Jesus, but it will be living in the presence of Jesus and with the absence of sin.

Sometimes

II. We Misunderstand the concept of works.

Make no mistake, we are saved by GRACE. But now what do I do?

Paul said we are saved by Grace…

Ephesians 2:8–9 NLT

8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

If we could do enough good to be saved, we would do it and we would become prideful about doing it. Here again in Titus.

Titus 3:5 NLT

5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.

Who cleansed us? Jesus does. He did this because of His mercy and grace and he gives us a new birth and a new life when we are born again.

Both of these passages show us that we are not and cannot be saved by works. We were saved by the Grace of God. But look at this,

We are created to do good works.

Ephesians 2:10 NLT

10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

We are not saved by good works, but we are saved for or so we can do good works. God has good works fo reach of us to do. Just think, He had a purpose for you before you were ever born.

Titus 3:8 NLT

8 This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone.

God wants us to do good. Why? Because it’s beneficial to everyone. The Gospel is good.

Sometimes we don’t get what God has for us because we misunderstand Salvation and sometimes we misunderstand works and how we are commanded to do them.

III. We have a mistaken idea of Spirituality.

The NT calls on Christians to take action. It does not say that the work of sanctification will be done for us. We are told to fight the good fight of faith. And we can.

When we were born again, we get the Holy SpiritGod gives us the ability to grow… But we have to decide to grow.

Let’s look at the road map to living a life beyond amazing.

IV. The Road map to a Rich & Satisfying Life

Philippians 2:12–13 NIV

12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

You may be going… didn’t you just say we can’t do anything to earn our salvation. I sure did. Look at this verse though. In the NLT it says to work to show the results of your salvation. You work out what you already have.

You don’t work out to get new muscles, you work the muscles you already have.

in the last part of the verse, it says

God is working in us giving us the desire and the will to act upon His purposes

It is God that is working in you. We are to work out what God is working in. God has given us everything that we need to grow. What is responsible for your Christian growth? We don’t need to sit back and wait for the HS to zap us. God has a part and we have a part. The bible holds the tension between God’s role and Man’s role in perfect balance.

When you became a Christian, you got everything you needed to live for the Lord. He put his spirit in us. On top of that, He gives us precious promises.

What would it look like for us “work out” our salvation?

Philippians 2:14–15 NIV

14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky

Why did he say this? Because we have a tendency to grumble when someone sits in our seat or when we don’t get our way…

One thing you would not see is a bunch of grumbling. It’s easy to grumble, but when we get busy for the Lord, we are to do it without grumbling and arguing. And when we do this, we will shine like stars n the sky. One reason we don’t make a difference in the world around us is that we dont’ take seriously the opportunity to take the things that God has given us and max them out for His good.

He doesn’t want us to sit on our blessings. There seems like today in the Christian world to be a movement today away from Christian responsibility. We are industrious and energetic in our businesses but we tend to be lazy when it comes to our own spiritual lives. We would rather ask God to make us godly rather than working out our salvation daily.

Jay Adams

You may have sought to obtain instant godliness, but there is no such thing.

We want someone to give us 3 easy steps to godliness, but godliness doesn’t come that way.

God saves us by His grace, but we are to work to show the results of our salvation.

In other words, act like we are saved.

1 Timothy 4:7 NIV

7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.

Train - Gymnazo

Greek word for Gym. Paul is saying to Timothy, go to the gym and work out your godliness. Work on it every day. does that seem like we are to lay around and let God… Here is something interesting.

The last fruit of the spirit is self-discipline.

Aristotle -

Just as we become builders by building, and lyre player by playing the lyre. So we become just by doing just acts, we become temperate by doing temperate acts, we become brave by doing brave acts… Virtue is not an emotion but it is a quality that is gained by practice.

Tom Landry -

The job of a foot ball coach is to make men do what they don’t want to do so they can become the men they always wanted to be.

Christians are called to do what they don’t want to do so they can become what they always wanted to be.

We are to discipline ourselves for godliness sake. Take the things that God has given you and use them. If you are siting back waiting you are going to miss it.

We are not saved by good works but We were saved for good works. And in these things that we do to develop the qualities in our lives, there is effort to be used.

We as believers have a job to do on ourselves to become more like Christ… to study the WOG and ask God to give us what we need … to give ourselves wholly to the HS. Some of you can do these easy… but some aren’t so patient… maybe…

V. The Result of a Rich & Satisfying Life

What are we supposed to do between salvation and heaven.

Develop Character. It’s the only thing that will go to heaven with us.

What matters after you believe is not about rules, it is to become more like the one who saved us… Jesus. We know we cannot do this on our own but with God doing what He does and helping us to do what we are to do, we can.

Scriptures teach us to …

Put on the new Life… take off the old life.

What is character?

People with character have fortitude, they have strength. These will distinguish you from those who do not have character. You will shine as a light int e darkness. It’s being on time for work and keeping appointments… choosing the harder right instead of the easier wrong… honoring your commitments and keeping your word… Being committed to your family … self disciplines… to stand what is right… being truthful while being sensitive that sometimes truth hurts and doesn’t need to be said. Character is the only thing that will go into the casket with you when you die, and it’s the only thing people will remember about you when you are gone.

We used to teach character in our schools. One of the great needs in our culture is more people with character. Don’t you want to be a person of character? I do. Why is this important? Because people will be watching us. We may not know it, but they will be watching. Everytime you involve yourself with someone, you have the opportunity to impact that person because of your character.

What I have been talking about is sanctification.

Sanctification - becoming in practice what you already are in position

ILL - God loved us before the foundation of the world. And that would be enough. But God didn’t leave it at that. He loved us and he sent his son to prove it. If you have never received that love because you have never understood how much he loves you, let to day be the day. He loved you so much that he sent his own son so you could be saved.

If you have never trusted Jesus, ask yourself why not?

Salvation Prayer

Prayer Time -