Good morning.
That's pretty good.
Welcome if you're here for the first time.
My name's Chris.
I help oversee the community groups here.
And I'm on the staff team here.
If you notice in the summer, there's a lot of in and out coming and going.
I know some of you are going to be going away.
Some of you are coming back.
We're called Watermark Community Church.
One of the things we want to be about is community.
Even in the midst of the summer where things are transitioning in and out,
I encourage you, even after the service, don't just kind of run away.
Spend time getting to know people.
There's coffee downstairs.
There's great opportunities just to be able to connect with people.
Don't make the summer like a time where you kind of spiritually take your foot off the accelerator.
Let it be a time where we actually kind of move even deeper into God in this season.
So we're in this season as a church of looking at the Psalms and looking at how the Psalms take us through all the seasons of life.
Winter, spring, summer, autumn.
And that's very much a metaphor for our lives.
That our lives pass through different seasons and go through different realities of life.
We've looked at happiness.
We've looked at unhappiness.
We've looked at discouragement and depression.
And today we're going to look at envy and contentment and doubt.
There's a song in Watermark, which we may even sing later, which is called,
Christ is enough for me.
Everything I have is in you.
Now, I don't know if you ever look at the song lyrics.
I really encourage you to actually look at the lyrics and what you're saying.
Don't just sing them.
But look at what they're saying.
Because when I read the words to that song, it's saying what the Psalmist in Psalm 73 says.
He says,
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And what do I desire on earth but you, God?
If I have Jesus, then I am content no matter what.
That's what he's saying.
But I don't know if you've thought about that.
Because I thought about that and I thought, is that true of me?
Is that true of me?
I want it to be true.
Deep inside of me, I want to say, yeah, Jesus, you're everything to me.
But actually, a relative of mine is getting married.
I think, in about two weeks.
She hasn't booked the venue yet.
It's in France.
She hasn't actually chosen the exact date yet.
And we, me and my wife, we can't organize anything.
We want to book our holiday in advance.
But we can't do anything.
And it's driving me nuts.
And Christ is enough for me.
But I would like to say, yes, Christ is enough for me and a little bit of organization.
Because that would help me.
And I don't know about you, but maybe you have lots of Christ and, you know, Christ and my kids' education is enough for me.
Christ and my grades is enough for me.
Christ and lots of likes on Facebook is enough for me.
Whatever the fill in the blank is at that point.
And if God were to take away that and part, take away the plans, the dreams, whatever I have for myself, you know, strip me of health, my job, my holiday.
Is Jesus enough for me?
Can I be content if I never go on that holiday?
That's a real question.
And I'm wrestling with that at the moment.
So this is a sermon for myself.
Okay.
But as we think about it, you even think about that question, sometimes we can look at kind of people who are like the spiritual greats and say, those people are the people who can say that.
There's a guy called C.T. Studd.
I don't know if you've heard of him.
Unfortunate name.
But in the 19th century, he was an English guy, son of a wealthy businessman.
And he was an international sportsman.
He played cricket for England.
He was one of the most promising sports stars of the time.
He graduated from Cambridge.
He had a potential political career ahead of him.
And then at one point, he said he heard God speak to him.
And God told him, I want you to be a missionary in China and then in India and then in Africa.
And he gave away an inheritance of about 30 million Hong Kong dollars.
He endured hardship and sickness.
And when people asked him, how can you do that?
He said, if Jesus Christ is God and he died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him.
Because Jesus is enough for him.
But I look at that.
And we can look at that.
And we can look at the psalmist prayer.
And you say, yeah, if you're a Christian, yeah, I want that.
But I have a lot of ands in my life.
And sometimes it doesn't feel real.
I just wonder, that's maybe just unrealistic for me to ever live like.
I'm just an ordinary Christian.
Well, if that's how you think, well, this psalm has actually got some hope for you.
So have your bulletin open, please.
We want to just, the Bible is important.
I want you to just look along, check at what I'm saying that's in here.
It's not just me making this up.
But let's go in.
I want to talk about two main things.
First thing, I'm slipping.
I'm slipping.
Second thing, I'm regaining my balance.
I'm slipping, I'm regaining my balance.
So I'm slipping.
The psalmist, whose name is Asaph, starts out with a bold declaration of faith.
He says, surely, truly, God is good to Israel and to those who are pure in heart.
Now, this guy, Asaph, who wrote this, he is one of King David's key music leaders.
He was there.
He was a songwriter.
He was an expert cymbal player.
You know, he would have been on the drums here this morning.
And he's a good Jew.
He's been well taught by his family, by his pastor, by his friends, that God is good and
he blesses people who follow him.
He knows it.
He's done the Sunday school.
He knows it.
But then, verse 2, he says,
He's saying,
God was at the top of the escalator and I started sliding down towards the bottom.
And what was the great banana skin that caused him to nearly lose his godly balance?
Well, it's verse 3.
Envy.
Now, in a competitive society like Hong Kong, I'm sure none of us have a problem with envy.
That's a joke.
Hong Kong breeds envy.
And we repackage it as something like ambition.
But actually, there is a very different ambition, which is usually a selfish ambition.
But envy is wanting someone else's talents, someone else's life, someone else's possessions,
someone else's opportunities for yourself.
And envy, at root, says, God's not really good.
It doubts God's goodness.
It says, God, you're not really giving me what's good in life.
If you were really good, you'd give me those opportunities, not these opportunities.
You'd give me his life, not my life.
That's what envy says.
It's like what Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, you know, they've got thousands of trees to choose from.
And what do they do?
They fix their eyes on the one tree that they can't have.
But that's the one they want.
And the lie comes in and says, if God is not giving it to you, then maybe God's not really good to you.
He's holding something back from you.
And you begin to doubt.
And that's what's going on in this psalm.
Asaph sees the prosperity.
And that word prosperity is actually the word shalom, which means not just financial prosperity.
It means every part of life seems complete and whole and well-being for them.
And he says he sees the prosperity of the arrogant, and he starts comparing his life with their life.
And, you know, envy always starts when you see, and then you start comparing.
Because his life is hard.
It's tough.
But then he sees their life, and it's amazing.
You know, he looks at the guys all around him, and look at verse 4.
There's no pangs in their death.
They don't get arthritis or back pain or asthma.
They're fit and healthy.
Even when they get into retirement, they kind of glide easily into death.
They don't kind of crawl there in pain.
Their body is fat and sleek.
Now, that doesn't sound something to be jealous of, you know.
I don't know many people, you know, I'm like, man, your obesity is really making me jealous, you know.
Yeah, I'm not sure I can trust God if I look at your beer belly.
You know, that's not what goes in.
But actually, that's not what's in a culture where there's poverty and malnutrition.
Fatness is the symbol of health and wealth and vitality.
These guys are successful.
They're not in trouble as others are.
Everything seems easy for them.
And they're even popular.
Verse 10.
Therefore, his people turn back to them and find no fault.
Everyone else thinks they're great and are following their advice, too.
And they're getting rich.
These are the guys.
They're only 30.
They're already buying their second house on the peak.
And the worst thing about it, if that's not bad enough, is they're not the good guys.
It'd be easier to accept if they're like nice people, but they're not.
They're arrogant.
They're self-reliant.
They cut everyone else down who doesn't do things as well as they do.
They're ruthless at getting their own way.
And everybody else seems to celebrate their success and look up to them.
And you're stupid if you do it any other way.
And isn't this so often our experience in Hong Kong?
I mean, think about it.
Maybe you've tried to be ethical at work.
You've been really hardworking.
You've got out of your way to work overtime, even for your boss when you didn't have to just to get him out of a hole.
You've tried to honor God in the way that you're working.
And yet, there's a guy in the office.
And he's a two-faced so-and-so.
Lies to get himself out of trouble.
Blames his mistakes on everybody else.
Cuts corners with his work.
Totally thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread and tells everybody about it.
He's a complete jerk.
And promotion time comes around.
And you think, I've given myself this company.
I should get this promotion.
Who gets it?
Demonic Damon in the corner.
And you think, it's not fair.
Or maybe you're single.
And you've been trying to lead a God-honoring life.
You've actually stopped having relationships with certain people.
You've not wanted to settle for anything less than someone who loves Christ in your life.
But you're still single.
And yet, the person who's just been going around with everybody, a promiscuous lifestyle, they come in and they announce their engagement.
And it's the engagement to the cutest person you know.
And you're like, outwardly, you say, oh, congratulations.
I'm so happy for you.
And inwardly, you're like, I want to take that ring.
I want to throw it in the South China Sea.
And you with it.
It's not fair.
And that little thought comes in.
What's the point in trying to honor God?
Trying to be ethical.
Trying to be pure.
Verse 13.
He says, all in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.
Why don't I just lie a little bit if that's what it takes to get ahead?
I can cut a few corners, make myself look good because it pays off, even with a few lies.
Because it often does.
And Asaph is really honest here.
Many of us, including myself, are not as honest as he is about this issue.
Because we kind of hope it's not true if you're a Christian.
You know, and we can even play this little game where underneath, we kind of make ourselves feel better by saying, well, but they're not really happy.
You know, really underneath, they're miserable and lonely.
And then you go and ask them and say, you must be miserable.
And they say, no, I'm really happy.
And you say, but you don't have Jesus.
How can you be happy?
And they're like, but I am.
And then you say, but when you're lying on your bed at night, that little voice comes to you, doesn't it, and says, oh, maybe my life is empty and meaningless.
And they say, no, I just turn on Netflix and it's great.
And they look at you and they say, but you're a Christian.
And you look like you're missing out on all the fun.
And you're saying, no, no, no, I have a deep joy.
It's so deep that it's like a submarine that hasn't surfaced for years.
And deep inside you, there's that voice which is like, but I'd like Jesus and just a little bit of what you've got.
Right?
Anyone tracking with me?
That's envy.
And envy says, God's not really good to you.
Look at what he's keeping from you.
Because if he was really good, he'd have made your life so much easier, so much better.
And those doubts just start coming in and you start slipping.
Why do we do that?
One of the reasons we do that is because, like Asaph, we believe sometimes a version of Christianity,
which he's been told, which is actually superficial.
And the tragedy is actually preached in many churches today.
Here's how one guy, the pastor of the biggest church in America,
says this.
He says, right now, something is looking for you.
Something already has your name on it.
As long as you're doing your best to honor God and you have a heart to help others,
an explosive blessing will find its way into your hands.
We know that God's plan always leads to peace, health, and prosperity in every area of your life.
That's what Joel Osteen says.
It's the biggest church in America.
And he'll quote the Bible to show it.
He says, if you follow God, he'll bless you with a materially prosperous life now.
But the problem with that idea, Asaph believed it,
that the problem with that idea is the timing's wrong.
God does promise physical blessing,
but Jesus says, your treasures are stored in heaven, not on earth.
There is a promise of physical blessing, but it's for a new creation.
And it's not guaranteed now.
Now, God does bless us.
Many of us, we know God does bless us physically with things now.
But the point is not to make you comfortable here.
The point is to make and point you to the goodness of God so that you trust him
and find your treasure in him because you know that he really is good.
And the testimony of faithful Christians throughout generations shows that Joel Osteen's view of Christianity is so far wrong.
Take this guy Rashid.
He's a Pakistani man who, after converting to Christianity, he was disowned by his whole family.
Here's what he says.
Some might conclude that my life is pitiable.
After all, every evening after I finish my shift, I go home to an empty flat,
one not filled with the gleeful shouts of a six-year-old child.
When I go to bed at night, there is no one beside me to say I love you.
I expect never to hear from my parents on my birthday or on any other day for that matter.
The only noise in my home comes from a television set that I do not watch very often.
But to pity me would be to miss the joy I have experienced.
I believe things are better now than they were before I was a Christian.
My heart might be quiet, but I'm not lonely.
My family may have forsaken me, but I'm not abandoned.
I have Christ, and that is enough.
Indeed, it's more than enough.
In my eyes, I've been blessed beyond measure,
far greater than I deserve, and more than I could have hoped.
Osteen would say, Rashid, physical blessing is coming.
Rashid would say, I'm already blessed with the greatest blessing of knowing Christ.
Everything else is bonus.
Now, which version is more Christ-exaltering, God-honoring?
That's why Asaph has believed that, and he's starting to slip.
And when doubts come, they test the superficiality of your faith.
Because when that meets the reality of the world,
when the spoon-fed kind of childish faith that we think that,
okay, if I just put enough coins in the God slot,
then he gives me enough blessings in return,
that is childish faith.
And you can't just live off what everyone else has told you.
When doubts begin to come into your life,
it's like a diving board.
You either walk away slowly
because you can't see how the water can be good,
or you plunge deeper than ever into the beauty of God,
and you begin to really know his goodness.
He's slipping, Asaph.
And just as an aside for kind of the flip side,
that if you're thinking,
okay, yeah, I hate those arrogant, successful people too,
be careful.
Because, you know, when we're successful,
can't we be exactly the same?
You know, when things are down, we often run to God.
When things are good,
don't we become kind of subtly,
you know, we don't say it out loud,
but kind of self-reliant.
You know, I can do this.
I'm pretty good.
You know, it was down to my cleverness,
my hard work that I got that job,
that I got that opportunity.
Because when your success is going up,
all too often your prayer life is going down.
Have you noticed that?
It's so easy to think that it was all down to me.
And I don't really need God now.
Yeah, I'll come to church,
but I don't really need him.
But everything we have is gift.
Your talents,
many of your talents are shaped by your genes
and are shaped by the opportunities you've been given.
If you were born in a remote village in Angola
with a disability,
your life would probably be very different now.
Everything we have is grace.
And in every community,
it doesn't matter whether it's in Hong Kong,
whether it's in your sports club,
whether it's in the playground at school,
whether it's in the church,
those at the top are proud,
those at the bottom are envious,
and God is calling us to something better as a church.
Asaph slipping.
But now, second,
I'm regaining my balance.
Have a look at verse 16.
With me.
He says,
but when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task.
He's tried to understand it.
He's read all the apologetics books.
He's read all the things,
and it's not getting him anywhere
until he enters into the sanctuary of God.
The sanctuary of God is the tent of meeting,
which later became the temple.
It was a symbol of where God's presence dwelt.
And that's the place where the Jews would go up
to worship God.
So he's going up.
He goes to worship God,
as his habit was.
Like many of you,
you come every Sunday.
His habit.
But suddenly,
as he enters into worship,
he suddenly sees life
from a different perspective.
He gets God's perspective,
and he realizes he hadn't seen the full picture.
Because someone said,
life is more like a cube than a square.
A cube has many sides to it.
Many different facets.
If you just look at one angle,
all you do is see a square,
a 2D image.
But you miss the depth.
You miss the reality and the contours of life,
which is so much more complex
than just a 2D image.
You know,
it's like,
you know,
if you watch a magician
doing the soaring,
like soaring the lady in half,
you know that?
And you just see it from a frontal angle.
That's a very different perspective you get
than if you can actually see
all the way around.
Right?
You get a totally different understanding
of what's going on.
That's what Asaph is saying.
He's only been looking square
in a 2D image of life.
And in God's presence,
he's beginning to start seeing 3D.
And so what are the kind of sides
that Asaph is seeing here?
Three sides
that I like to think about.
One,
eternity
resets
the balance.
Eternity.
When he goes
into the sanctuary,
then in verse 17,
he discerns the end
of those
he envied.
He says later,
it's like life
is like a dream.
And for those
who've trusted in themselves,
the arrogant,
the ones that we envy,
who seem successful
without God,
they'll wake up
to a nightmare.
He says,
the short-term forecast
may look sunny,
but the long-term prospects
are bleak.
He says,
there are two fixed days
in your life
when you're born
and when you die.
And over both of them,
we don't have
that much control,
particularly over the first one.
And between those two dates,
God is going to hold you
accountable
for how you've related
to him
in your life.
Judgment
that God will bring
is like the great audit.
It sets
an unfair world
to rights.
And Tim Keller
says this,
that the rich
without God
will be eternally poor.
Celebrities
without God
are on their way
to being
permanently ignored.
It resets
the balance.
I don't know
if you remember that.
There was a Miss Universe
contest about two years ago.
Now,
I don't normally watch
Miss Universe,
just...
I could get in trouble here.
But two years ago,
I watched
because it was on the news.
Okay?
That's my get out class.
It was on the news.
And Miss Columbia
got crowned the winner.
Does anyone remember this?
Yeah?
Sorry?
Was it last December?
Oh, wow.
I know it was recently.
You see,
I'm getting old.
I'm getting close
to that final date of death
and the...
Is it only a few months ago?
Okay,
it was a few months ago.
That's why it's so fresh
in my mind.
And...
But do you remember?
Miss Columbia
got crowned the winner
until someone told the presenter
that he'd misread the name
on the card.
Remember that?
And she hadn't won.
And her joy
instantly
turned to sadness.
She was stripped,
like literally stripped
of her success
in front of everybody.
Her crown
was taken off
and given to someone else.
Remember that?
That's what
Asaph is saying here
when you have eternity
in perspective.
God has a card
with the names
of those
who will enjoy
his heaven
in a renewed earth.
And the only names
on his card
are the ones
who will run
and trust
in Christ.
the temporary joy
of Miss Columbia
wasn't actually real.
If only she knew
the end result.
If only she knew
the end result.
Eternity changes
all your envy
in perspective.
You see,
when the game of life
is over,
everything goes back
in the box.
Your success,
your money,
relationships,
but what do you have
that outlasts the game?
If you're not a Christian
or if you think
that you're just
a spiritual person
who doesn't really know
what I mean
when I say
you need to find
treasure in Christ.
If you don't get
what that means,
if you don't get
what that means,
do you actually think
you're okay with God
if you were to meet
him right now?
Or have you even
thought about that
at all?
Life is too short
for us to ignore it.
Life is like a countdown
where the clock
is ticking.
It's your name
on the card.
Because if it's not
or if you're not sure,
today is the day
where God actually
wants to say to you,
you can get right
with me
because my son
has died on a cross
for you
so your name
can be engraved
on that card
and there won't be
anyone misreading it.
But if you are
a Christian,
in 2 Corinthians 4
it says this.
He says,
Paul says,
to paraphrase,
the scratches of life
we receive now
are nothing compared
to the eternal
void of glory
that is beyond
all comparison.
When Jesus
rose from the dead,
he has inscribed
your name
on that card
to receive
a lasting crown
which is better
than Miss Columbia
would ever get.
It's one
where you come
into a restored
creation with Christ.
C.S. Lewis
once said this.
He says,
there have been times
where I wonder,
I think we do not
desire heaven
but more often
I find myself
wondering
whether in our
heart of hearts
we have desired
anything else.
all the cravings
for acceptance,
for love,
for prosperity,
for health,
for security
all met
completely in God
in a new creation.
That's the promise
for you and me
as a Christian.
And we won't be saying,
well wow,
now I see
why I suffered
all those bad things.
We won't be saying that
when we see Christ
face to face.
We'll say,
what bad things?
Because the painful
training for the Olympics
is seen in a new light
when the gold medal
is hung around your neck.
And that prize
for the Christians
is Christ.
Laura Story
is a Christian
singer-songwriter.
She's successful.
Everything seemed
to be going well
with her.
And then her athlete
husband got a brain tumor.
Her life started
collapsing.
But then she
wrote a song.
It's a famous song
called Blessings.
It goes like this.
I'm not going to sing it
to you,
so you're okay.
That's right.
Some of you
are getting worried.
Because what if
your blessings
come through raindrops?
What if your healing
comes through tears?
What if a thousand
sleepless nights
are what it takes
to know you're near?
What if trials
of this life
are your mercies
in disguise?
What if my
greatest disappointments
or the aching
of this life
is the revealing
of a greater thirst
this world
can't satisfy?
For the believer,
the brief pain
of this world,
someone has said,
is the closest
you'll come to hell.
And for the unbeliever,
the pleasures
of this world
are the closest
you'll come to heaven.
So are you seeing
life in eternity
3D perspective
today?
That's the first side.
The second side
is how he sees
his relationship
with God,
how he views God.
Verse 21.
When my soul
was embittered,
when I was pricked
in heart,
I was brutish.
We don't use that
very often.
It means I was stupid.
That's what it means.
The Bible does call
people stupid sometimes.
He says,
I was stupid
and ignorant.
I was like a beast
towards you.
He's saying,
when I got to that point
of comparison
and resentment
and envy
with other people,
when I got there
and I started doubting
in God's goodness,
I was like an unthinking
beast towards you, God.
Not a little
kind of cute dog
kind of animal.
I was a complete
unthinking,
unfeeling slug
towards you.
He's saying,
I wanted your stuff
more than I wanted
you, God.
And that's where
the rub, I think,
really hits me
when I think about
my envy.
Because when I get
those little doubts,
I get disillusioned
with God,
or when you actually
get to that point
of being mad
with God
at something,
it's always
because I want
something more
than God.
It's always
because I want
something more
than God.
Tim Keller again,
he gives this example.
He says,
imagine you meet
someone,
you start falling
in love with them,
and you kind of
agree to get married,
and before you do,
you tell them
that you're going
to come into
a whole load
of money.
You've got this
huge trust fund
that's going
to come to you
after marriage,
and they say to you,
okay, that's fine,
but I'm not
marrying you
for your money.
I just love you.
And so,
you get to the
wedding,
just before the
wedding,
and you then
tell your future
spouse,
actually,
I'm really sorry,
but I've just
found out that
actually my brother's
going to inherit
all of this stuff,
and I'm not going
to get any of it,
and your fiancé
turns around
and calls off
the wedding
and says,
sorry, it's over.
How would you feel?
You'd be absolutely
devastated, wouldn't you?
You'd say,
you never really
loved me.
You only loved me
because you wanted
my money.
Well,
you were just
using me
to get what you
wanted,
and that's
what Asaph
has realized
in God's
presence.
That's how
he was treating
God.
He was a user,
not a lover.
He realizes,
his envy
realizes,
it shows him
that I was
treating you,
God,
as just a tool
to kind of
get what I
wanted for myself,
and when you
weren't giving
it to me,
then I was
going to run
away from you.
And envy
reveals what the
Bible calls
idolatry.
It's when you
want something
more than God.
What does
your envy
reveal that
you want
more than
God?
I've had to
think about
this myself,
because the
call for you
when you see
that in your
heart is to
run to God,
repent,
and confess
as honestly
as Asaph
does.
Run back
to a God
who loves
us,
and he
doesn't use
us like we
try and use
him.
That's the
second side.
He sees how
he views God.
The third
side is
he sees
that God,
that Christ
is enough
for him.
Whom,
verse 25,
whom have I
in heaven
but you?
And there
is nothing
on earth
that I
desire
besides you.
My flesh
and my
heart may
fail,
but God
is the
strength,
literally the
rock of
my heart.
And then
verse 28
he says,
for me
it is good
to be
near God.
One
translation,
I like
this translation,
it says,
the nearness
of God
is my
good.
The nearness
of God
is my
good.
You see,
Asaph's gone
from having
this square
shaped view
of God's
goodness,
where it's
just about
getting the
blessings,
to seeing
that God,
when he
promises
blessing to
us,
he's
promising
above all
himself
to you.
Because when
we get
physical
blessings,
our response
should be
gratitude
and thanksgiving
to God
for his
goodness.
And Asaph
has gone
from seeing
his greatest
good as
getting a
healthy body,
as getting
a successful
career,
as God
and something.
He's gone
from that
to seeing
the nearness
of God
is my
good.
shift.
You see
the shift
in perspective.
And you
know,
the problem
is if you're
a Christian,
you kind
of know
it.
You know,
if I tell
you,
okay,
what's the
answer?
What's the
answer in
church?
Jesus.
Right?
But the
thing is it's
so cliché
that we get
to,
we think,
if you've
been in
church a
little while,
you know,
okay,
I know
that.
Now can
you move
on to
something else
that I'd
really like
to help
which can
help me
with the
and parts
of my
life?
Right?
Can you
inspire me
so I can
enjoy a
good life?
I kind
of know
the Jesus
bit.
That's
the superficial
faith that
Asaph had.
But this
psalm is
saying everything
that causes
you to envy
in others
is a desire
for what
Christ alone
can satisfy
you and
fully provide.
Think about
it.
Do you
crave
acceptance
and love
from others?
Do you
envy when
other people
are more
popular than
you and
get more
likes on
Facebook
than you?
Well,
verse 23
he says,
I am
with you
continually.
How?
Well,
the psalmist
only knew
this in part,
but we know
this more
fully,
because Christ
was Emmanuel,
God with
us,
he came
down to
us,
he was
nailed on
a cross
with nine
inch nails
hammered
through his
hands for
people like
you and
me who
treated him
as a
beast,
who were
beasts
towards him,
who rejected
him, and yet
he still
said,
Father,
forgive.
And we so
often live
like that,
and yet he
still says,
I died to
bring you
into relationship
with me,
not just to
say,
oh yeah,
thank you for
that,
but here's
all the other
stuff I want,
but no,
to give you
full acceptance
and approval
with the most
powerful king
of the whole
universe.
Why do I
need approval
from those
who care far
less about me
than I care
about them
and their
opinion?
It's true,
isn't it?
When Christ
is enough
for your
need for
acceptance.
Do you
crave
security
and envy
those who
seem to be
more financially
secure,
more job
secure,
more housing
secure than
you?
Because he
says,
you hold
my right
hand.
Do you get
that?
You know,
the kid who's
walking along
on a climbing
frame,
and they're
tottering along,
afraid they're
going to fall,
and they cling
to anything
for security,
and then her
father comes
alongside her
and grabs
hold of her
hand and
says,
I'm not
letting you
go.
We're going
to walk
through this
together.
How much
difference does
that make
now to that
child?
Because her
father is
holding her
right hand.
He holds you
more secure
than any
financial market
can be secure,
more than any
house or
accommodation
can be secure,
more than any
job can give
you security.
If you're a
Christian,
you're the most
secure person
in this city,
because he
holds your
right hand,
and we
forget it.
Is Christ
enough for your
security today?
Do you crave
success and
envy those who
seem more
talented,
more successful
than you?
It says,
God is your
portion.
Now,
I don't know if
you know what
portion is.
Your portion
is what you're
allotted when
a father is
about to die
and he's going
to distribute
his inheritance
to his sons
or to his
family.
You know,
and your
portion over
there,
you get
ten million
dollars.
Your portion,
that guy's
portion,
it's a house
on the peak.
That guy's
portion,
it's an
amazing six
pack.
That guy's
portion,
it's a holiday
in France.
Your portion
is the
God of
the universe
who owns
all the
other stuff
anyway.
Christ is
enough for
your success.
And if he
gives you the
other stuff,
it's because
he is good
and he wants
to show you
his love,
but his love
is not conditional
on you getting
good things or
not in
physical terms.
Christ is
enough for
your success.
You can be
incredible
successful,
you can be
in the world's
eyes totally
unsuccessful,
but he will
receive you to
glory and you
will receive the
crown.
Is Christ
enough for
you?
If nothing
else changes
in your life
right now,
can you be
content in a
city that lacks
contentment?
This church
is called to be
a people who
are content
in Christ.
Let me finish
with a quote.
John Piper
says this,
you cannot
show the
preciousness of
a person by
being happy
with his
gifts.
Ingratitude
will certainly
show you that
the giver is
not loved,
but gratitude
for the gifts
does not
prove that the
giver is
precious.
What proves
that the giver
is precious
is the
glad-hearted
readiness to
leave all his
gifts to be
with him.
Do you hold
what you have
in open hands
knowing that he
is enough for
you?
Let me pray.
Father, as we
think about
what it means
to, for you
to be enough
for us,
Lord, I just
pray you would
show us what
we're envying
right now.
It's so easy,
Lord, to
focus on
what,
everything that
we don't
have, and
to miss
everything that
we do have.
Father, I pray
that we would
not take you
for granted.
Forgive me
where I do
that so
often.
Thank you
that you
are enough
for us, and
Lord, when you
say that, you're
going to provide
everything that
we need.
I don't have to
cling for security
worried about
whether you're
going to provide
or not,
because you
will.
But I pray
for those of us
here who don't
know you, who
that idea that
you can be
somehow enough
just seems
crazy, I pray
that you would
show them how
beautiful you
are, that you
would die for
us, to bring
us in a
relationship with
a holy God.
I pray for
those of us who
are Christians.
May we not
treat you as
just a cash
machine to get
what we want
when we can.
I pray that you
would really help
us to run and
chase after you,
to know that
you're enough for
us, whatever's
going on in our
lives, in the
craziness of the
world at the
moment.
Let us find our
hope in you,
our contentment
in you.
In your name.
Amen.