A Life of Satisfaction
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Sermon Teaser
Sermon Teaser
What would it take for you to feel truly satisfied in life? A different job? Better health? More money? Fewer problems? Today, we’ll open God’s Word to see that real satisfaction isn’t about changing our circumstances—it’s about devotion to the One who never changes. From Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 7, we’ll learn how to live with peace, joy, and purpose right where God has placed us.
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Opening Prayer
Opening Song
Kids Time
Oliver, Charlotte, and Elliot.
Hey kids!
Ready for school?
I was always wanting what others had growing up. Name brands, better looking stuff, and I was not happy with what I was given.
Douglas - backpack.
Sermon
Sermon
Illustration
The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott Eating with No Satisfaction
Eating with No Satisfaction
Themes: Contentment; Idolatry
[A] strange plant called nardoo grows in [the] deserts of Central Australia. [It is] like a fern, and natives eat its seeds when they can obtain no other food. One peculiar property [is that] it satisfies and produces [a] pleasant feeling of comfort, but it does not nourish.
[A] party of explorers, crossing this central desert, [once] ran out of food. [Their] leader, Captain King, recommended nardoo as he knew [the] natives ate it. Day after day they fed on it. At first [they] felt satisfied, but soon [their] strength began to fail. Finally, it killed them. They wasted away, lay down and died of starvation. A solitary survivor was discovered under a tree, and he told the story.
You ever look at your life and think, if only my situation would change, I’d be better?
How satisfied are you with your life?
For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
Marketers, and social media today, feed off of dissatisfaction. They tell you of their “cure” for your dissatisfied life.
Car commercials speak to your desire for a nicer car.
Lots of commercials make us feel bad about our weight, our looks, or our age.
Posts on social media show us how others are living it up, while we may be stuck at home, or having to do without a special yearning… a child, a family, a spouse, a vacation, some sort of notoriety.
How can one find satisfaction in life when are constantly bombarded with temptations of desiring what we don’t have.
All of this we see, and then we also have that knowledge of our own faults, issues, desires, that drive us to those other struggles:
Health issues, mental and physical, loneliness, defeatedness, pain, daily suffering, never feeling as though you’ll be better or feel better than you do.
No doubt, we are are maybe too familiar with, and have told someone else or been told, Paul’s words on contentment in Philippians 4:11 and how he learned to be content in any situation.
For me personally, it has been work, or my financial standing.
Different incomes brackets
Different careers
Entrepreneur
Ministry
Always just something better than I have right now.
Truth be told, for some 26 years I’ve been discontent and tried numerous things, or spent money, time, and effort on things that didn’t work out.
How much better would our lives be, if we could find satisfaction in our current circumstances?
If this is what you desire, then I hope today’s word will speak to and encourage you in just that.
"A Life of Satisfaction: Learning to Live Where God Has Placed You"
Bible in a Year series - today’s readings.
“Enjoy Life in the Present”
Nicky mentions how a friend pointed out to him that life is just a series of problem-solving exercises. Saying, “If, in the midst of all the challenges, you cannot learn to thrive in the situation in which you find yourself, you will never find contentment. If you do not, life will pass you by and you will never enjoy where you are right now.”
He goes on to speak on the idea of FOMO, and leads into Paul’s words from 1 Cor 7:17
Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.
He hits on 3 areas as examples: Marriage, slavery, and circumcision.
Married or single? - Stay that way for now.
Enslaved? - Stay that way for now.
Circumcised or not? - Stay that way for now.
Sermon Outline
Sermon Outline
1. Satisfaction Begins with Devotion
1. Satisfaction Begins with Devotion
Paul’s call in 1 Corinthians 7:17 — Stay where God has placed you and serve Him there.
Circumcision he says, doesn’t count for anything. What matters is your devotion to God. “keeping the commandments of God.”
Were you a slave when God saved you? Don’t let it overly concern you. (get your freedom if you can). Focus on being a slave of Christ!
Married or unmarried - Don’t seek to be free, and don’t seek a spouse. These things are focuses of worldiness, and the world is passing away. It is temporary.
I want you to be free from anxieties.
The picture of the married man vs the single is of how our minds and desires can cause us to focus on the here and now verses the eternal devotion to God we should be focused on.
This isn’t about staying in a bad or harmful situation, but about recognizing God’s presence and purpose where you are today.
If you have become a born again believer in Christ as a slave, and God doesn’t give you a miraculous freedom, does that mean He is not with you in the situation?
If you’re a saved believer and in a bad marriage, has God abandoned you?
If you’re single and battling loneliness, has God left you?
When you are anxious: God is not surprised by your fear.
He is there.
In all of these He wants you to find your satisfaction in Him, not a change of circumstances.
Quote: Warren Wiersbe – "Contentment is not escape from the battle, but rather an abiding peace and confidence in the midst of the battle."
Where does that peace and confidence come from?
I know, this idea of contentment is not an easy thing. I’ve wrestled it most of my life. That’s why Paul himself speaks of it as being learned.
If devotion is the starting point, learning is the journey…
2. Satisfaction is Learned, Not Found
2. Satisfaction is Learned, Not Found
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Paul learned to be content (Phil. 4:11–13) — it didn’t just happen.
How did he learn it? From going through situations causing him to learn it.
Quote: Corrie ten Boom – "You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have."
Prayer for patience right? A closer experience of God may require us to go through some things where He is all we have.
Quote: Elizabeth Elliot - “It is the Lover of Souls who hands me the cup of suffering, giving me the priceless privilege of learning a fellowship with Him which can be learned in no other way.”
This is not the way we might choose, but it is the way we learn.
Contentment is a discipline — choosing each day to see blessings instead of only problems.
Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
Ecclesiastes 6:9 reminds us to enjoy what we have instead of living in the “if only” mindset.
Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.
To accept his lot and rejoice in his toil, is the gift of God.
Contentment and satisfaction is a gift of God once we take hold of it.
This gift is also a trust in God for where we are in life… even when we feel limited.
The Psalmist attested to this idea of trusting God’s placement when he wrote Psalm 16:5-6.
3. Satisfaction Trusts God’s Placement
3. Satisfaction Trusts God’s Placement
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
The Tony Evans Bible Commentary Psalm 16
In other words, he had great joy in knowing that God—not his possessions—was his true inheritance
God has drawn your boundary lines for a reason.
This is freeing for:
The one who feels left behind
The one who feels too old to make a difference
The one overwhelmed with young kids
The one fighting illness or anxiety
God hasn’t misplaced you. He is working in you and through you right where you are.
Quote: Elisabeth Elliot – "The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances."
4. Satisfaction Frees You from Comparison
4. Satisfaction Frees You from Comparison
Yet when we look at marketing, social media, others who we may compare ourselves to, we may become depressed because they have what we desire… or maybe even feel we deserve.
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Satisfaction is resting in God’s promise: "I will never leave you or forsake you."
Remember from the Psalmist, “You are my portion, You are my cup.”
Is He enough? Will we be satisfied with Him alone if He is all we have?
Quote: John Piper – "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."
Life is hard. For some of you it may even seem unbearable. But will you hold on?
Will you put all your hope and trust in Him alone? Not in His giving you all that you desire, but all that all you would desire is Him.
Closing Encouragement
Closing Encouragement
A life of satisfaction isn’t about having it all, fixing it all, or understanding it all. It’s about:
Devoting yourself fully to God
Learning to be content in His daily provision
Trusting His placement in your life
And letting go of comparison so you can live with peace
An English Puritan from the 1600’s:
Quote: Jeremiah Burroughs – "Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition."
If we desire to truly be content in this life, then it begins by being satisfied in the Lord alone. It begins with trusting that as He is our good Father, He knows better what is best for us, and seeks to use us for His purposes, which is higher and grander than anything this world has to offer.
Let us pray…
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Closing Song
Closing Song
Closing Encouragement
Closing Encouragement
Friends it may well be in our nature to desire more and more of whatever it is that we feel we do not have in this life. But I pray that you go forward from this Word today knowing that the Master and giver of all things desires to be all that you need to be satisfied in this life He has given you. Good and bad, pain or toil, without Him, this life has no meaning worth living for.
Walk in faith, and trust that He is with you and love Him as your portion and cup.
Download this week's Personal Study Guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nCJtppi1kSGpCYr4DCEHt7AiwnU5l_vL4CnyVKrzSiI/edit?usp=sharing
