SOUL KEEPING - Blessing, Satsification and Gratitude
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This morning I want to close out our time of exploring keeping our soul.
I want to mention that if you want to go deeper in this area of study for yourself a book by Jon Ortberg of the same title
Soul Keeping...
I would like to look today at three other things the soul needs, but the way the soul attains these needs is by letting go or offering up, not by taking in and receiving.
Counter cultural to our society - we are always trying to “GET” thinking what we can attain in praise, power, position and pennies will make us happy and our soul fulfilled. IT IS REALLY QUITE THE OPPOSITE!
1. Blessing Others
1. Blessing Others
The soul needs to be blessed in life. We do thrive receiving the blessings of others. In our moments of doubt, discouragement, questioning, hardship - the blessing of another lifts our souls.
It can be quite humbling to receive blessings from others and sometimes we resist being blessed because two often we think the blessing of another requires us to return it to them.
It could not be further from the truth - blessing given with expectation is no blessing at all...
However, we are all aware that it seems like the world is full of takers. Those who want something for free, or will take something they are not entitled to or that belongs to them.
In example: the Student Loan Forgiveness act has released the worst in people on Social Media. Regardless of anyone’s political stance, and no one should be bought by the actions of government - i have watched people speak shame on any who would accept that benefit or blessing on their life as their own personal robbery or affront.
The reality is none of us will truly feel that difference as government sets wasteful budgets all the time and it generally makes no difference in our daily lives how they spend those monies.
What this reveals however, is the lack of human desire to bless others. Not buy someone or control with finances, but to be offer blessing in our actions, attitudes and words.
9 “You must not oppress foreigners. You know what it’s like to be a foreigner, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.
The Lord reminded Israel that they are not to oppress a stranger because they were once that stranger.
Today, we are quick to complain about the foreigner or immigrant in the land. I am not saying our system is not broken and needs repair, but we quickly forget there are real people and real lives - there are SOULS with depth and dignity.
How do we treat others - because the SOUL NEEDS TO BE BLESSED!
We are called to be the blessing as Ambassadors of Christ.
4 I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars of the sky, and I will give them all these lands. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
In blessing Abraham the Lord pronounced that through his offspring all people would be blessed - and they are through salvation in Christ.
Every day we encounter others and our interaction either blesses or curses them.
That driver in the car that stares you down and gives you a dirty look or the finger - is cursing you -
Cursing can come in an eye brow lift, a pause before a satirical statement or a snotty smile...
On the other hand blessing comes in genuine kindness, a smile, a kind word spoken...
Consider this quote by Dallas Willard an author and professor at University of Southern California on spiritual disciplines...
“There are two great words in the Bible that describe the posture of our souls toward other people. One is to bless Te other is to curse. We are creatures with wills, and in every encounter with other people we will what is good for them, or we fail to do so: we will what is bad. We cannot help ourselves.”
Blessings projects good into the life of another and we must communicate that with our whole being.
One of the oldest blessings comes directly from the Lord given to Aaron the Priest over Israel to speak over the people...
22 Then the Lord said to Moses,
23 “Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing:
24 ‘May the Lord bless you and protect you.
25 May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.
26 May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’
27 Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them.”
Protection, Prosperity, Peace and favor spoken from our mouths to others...
To bless others is to love others ---
10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!
Instead we are told by Christ to
31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
The example of the Good Samaritan speaks loudly to us and being moved with compassion and blessing others, even the stranger.
As much as our soul receives blessings, our soul must be willing to bless ---
Our soul is completed when we become givers and not just receivers.
2. Finding Satisfaction
2. Finding Satisfaction
Mic Jagger had a famous song -
“I can’t get no satisfaction”
The soul craves satsifaction — it longs to find fulfill and satiation in something...
It is why people gorge themselves on cravings in life!
Food, alcohol, drugs, pornography, sexual partners, material stuff, etc.
When we cannot get enough of something, when we are continually striving for things, constantly craving and jumping from one thing to the next we realize our SOUL IS NOT WELL!
When the mind is obsessed with the object of its desire ---
When the appetite of the body is the master and not the servant
The soul is out of order!
4 “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.
5 Wealth is treacherous, and the arrogant are never at rest. They open their mouths as wide as the grave, and like death, they are never satisfied. In their greed they have gathered up many nations and swallowed many peoples.
Habakuk goes on this entire chapter to talk of the greed, drunkeness and unsatisfied souls of men
Drew Carey once said,
“You hate your job? There’s a support group for that. It’s called everybody. They meet at the bar.”
The University of Chicago did a study that showed the ten least happiest jobs were more financially lucrative and offered higher status then the ten happiest jobs which had a higher sense of meaning.
Here is the crux of the matter,
THE SOUL IS INCAPABLE OF SATISFYING ITSELF!
Its appetite is unfulfilled and searches to satisfy it, but nothing will satisfy our souls until they find fulfillment in JESUS!
Listen to the Psalmist describe His need for the Lord...
1 O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory.
3 Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you!
4 I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer.
5 You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy.
6 I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night.
7 Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.
8 I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely.
In order for our soul to be satisfied it must DIE TO SELF and then CHRIST LIVES through us and we find true satsifcation.
In order for our soul to be satisfied it must DIE TO SELF and then CHRIST LIVES through us and we find true satisfaction.
25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
the NLT says satisfied!
A paramedic called to an abandoned building discovered a heroin addict about to die. The place was utter filth, garbage everywhere, foul smelling with drug paraphernalia littered everywhere as well...
THe paramedic then exclaimed he now sees what true worship was...
The addict worships the drug that never brings satsifaction...
We are called to worship and give all for Christ who alone can satisfy our longing soul!
Only when we die to our self can our soul truly come alive in Christ.
1 “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free!
2 Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.
3 “Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.
3. Benefits of Gratitude
3. Benefits of Gratitude
A few years ago I preached a thanksgiving sermon on the benefits of Thanksgiving....
The reality is that our soul thrives when it is grateful!!!
There are BENEFITS when we are thankful people. One of the reasons why we spend time in praise and worship at the start of a service is to allow our soul time to express itself to God.
In other words if you sit there and stare, or think you are watching a praise team perform and you are not entering in, you are missing the opportunity not only to THANK THE LORD for all HE HAS DONE -
You are missing out on the benefits to your soul that come from our gratitude!
There are three BENES to pause and remember...
BENEfits - all that the Lord has provided - which is everything!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:
Are you saved? Do you have a bed to sleep in? Clothes on your back? Food to eat? a job? etc
These things are not at your hand, but because of...
BENEfactor - THe LORD HIMSELF WHO PROVIDES!
17 Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.
What we have is from our BENEFACTOR the LORD
BENEficiary - which is you and I
Gratitude comes from a position of humility not pride. As long as we think we earned or deserved something we won’t really be grateful.
If you walked into a dealership and bought a new car and went home with it you would be excited and maybe even thankful you could do it from savings or loan....
But if I drove up to your home with the luxury car of your dreams and handed you the keys to it free of charge as a gift - I am pretty sure your gratitude is going to be far greater and expressive!!!
Do we approach life thinking everything is owed to us, or we are entitled or deserving....
You have heard me say it before and I will again...
Marketing and Media have a favorite expression - YOU DESERVE IT!
If we deserve it and we don’t get it than we become UNGRATEFUL
Entitlement and ungratefulness eat this nation up — jealousy and lack of rejoicing for another ---
It leaves the soul back in an unsatisfied position!
If we have breath and Jesus, what more can we really expect?
When we begin to count our blessings — gratefulness fills our hearts and changes our outlook...
OUR SOUL begins to thrive again instead of being weighed down with pride or discontentment...
6 Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have found myself so miserable because of discontent that I couldn’t stand to be with myself!!!!
The only cure - was taking a humble posture of thanksgiving!
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
12 They sang, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Your soul will benefit from GIVING THANKS!!!
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Blessing others
Dying to our own desires and living to Christ
Being thankful instead of entitled
The soul thrives in each of these areas.
Perhaps the misery we feel in our soul is because we have not kept our soul healthy!
We have adopted the world’s ways of cursing those we disagree with....
Or craving that which will not satisfy us...
Or being entitled to what we think we deserve because we forgot the BENEFITS OF OUR BENEFACTOR TOWARD US HIS BENEFICIARIES....
The Bible’s instruction to us is to help our soul to thrive! In order to do that we have to adopt God’s plan for thriving and not the culture in which we live.
Try it!
Choose to be thankful to the LORD not just in general
Choose to bless and not curse
Choose to surrender your desires and put Christ in their place
Then see if IT IS WELL WITH YOUR SOUL!