Coming Home To Contentment

I read a story many years ago about two teardrops that were flowing down the river of life and one teardrop looked at the other and said what you and that teardrop said I'm a teardrop from a girl who fell in love with a guy, but lost and then that teardrop 10,000 and who are you she said well on the teardrop out of a girl who got him. I couldn't help but think of how this is a picture and how this picture really goes a long way toward illustrating the fact. And the reason why 5/6 Americans say that they are discontented with life. I couldn't help but think of that I believe every one of us without exception. At some point in our lives. Somehow, somewhere, we have been conscious of the what I called the doll home in the back of our minds of dissatisfaction of discontentment in our life. Somehow in the back of our mind.

There is a deep-seated discontentment that most of us feel at some point or another in our lives. We just since since that though home of discontentment that though home in the background of dissatisfaction with life is not limited to those who are suffering or going through a great deal of pain is not limited to those who are experiencing life hurts. It's not limited to those who are experiencing life's tragedies, not just limited to those folks are. I think many believers are discontented. Many believers are discontented whether they are discontented and their discontentment stems from disappointment with God. Disappointment with church disappointment with other believers disappointment with family members. Whatever the disappointment stems from. But there is that discontentment is that nagging feeling that says this mortal life.

I know there's more to life than this.

Something is still missing in my life and I'm not fulfilled in what I'm doing. I'm still missing out on something. This can't be older is surely that though home that I call keeps on humming keeps on humming.

We try to quiet it by making some changes in our lives but end up being the surface he changes anyway. We tried to quiet that by acquiring some things and then we tried to quiet that by going from one unhealthy relationship to the next, but nothing seems to be working. Nothing is working. Have you ever asked yourself made in your almost a moment. Just when you alone with God. Have you ever sat down and said what really lies behind his drive for contentment. What really is the main clause. What why we all looking for that contentment. Have you ever thought of as that question and try to come up with some answers well. I have I've asked myself the question on numerous occasions and then when I found the answer. I decided to put it in the book, and I'm calling the book divine discontented for the massive when the what what what what what kind of a title is that will explain it to why the book is called divine discontent is there are two components to discontentment. The first component is the fact of sin. Sin with which we are born. The second component is the grace of God and the mercy of God, in the hope that Christ gives us. Hence the word divine discontented those who focus mainly on one component and that is a component of sin, they live a morbid life they live a discouraged life they live a guilt stricken life.

Those who focus only on the mercy of God and the grace of God and ignore sin, live a shallow life they live a mercurial life.

They are up one day and down the next in up one day and down the next, because in reality until you come to grips with the two components of discontentment in life until you come to grips of understanding that those two go together. You will not find contentment. I am absolutely convinced of one thing and it is this failure to understand these two components that make up discontentment in our lives is the reason why 5/6 Americans say that there are discontented and dissatisfied in life.

I'm convinced of that. This is you can pursue all kinds of answers and you can go to the end of the earth. You can accumulate truckloads of things you can play hard, you can tried to drown yourself in the pool of Jack Daniels. You can try to pursue one failed relationship after the other. You can go from church to church to church to church.

You can do all you want, but until you come to grips with those two components of sin and grace. You will not experience inner contentment. In fact, reminds me of an inscription on the in English graveyard and their marker on one of the tomb said she died of one of things I'm right next to her.

There is a marker that says and he died trying to give them to her but to see God's word makes it very clear that discontentment and dissatisfaction in life is a spiritual matter. It's a spiritual issue and spiritual matters must be dealt with spiritually. You can try all the solutions that the world offer and you can try for days.

You can try for months he can drive for years. It will not work.

I wanted to hammer out on this one.

Loss of contentment can push us in one of two ways. It can either push or lead us to the path of cleverness, cluttered with with with with broken promises of fulfillment but no fulfillment or it could leads us up to the place of turning to God. The search for fulfillment will either lead you down the road of more discontentment, more tears and grief or it will take us up only to the one where he gives us the place of rest and refreshment. You know, we often make the mistake of thinking that the discontentment is a 21st-century disease.

We really do rationalize and say we live such rushed lives with all the technology and all the advances in all the things are happening that this discontentment must be a modern day plague and it's not, in fact, discontentment is as old as humanity itself.

What is making it worse today. What is making it worse is that we are trying to apply human solutions or spiritual problem we are trying to apply earthly solutions to a spiritual problem and therefore with failing over and over and over and over and over again.

The Bible tells us that this spiritual problem began with Adam and Eve in the garden. The moment they wanted to go in their way there loss of peace. The moment they declare their independence from God. Discontentment set in the moment. They thought they knew better than God, restlessness took over and from that time on discontentment has been the legacy of humanity has been the legacy of everyone of us. So what's the answer I tell you what the moment you recognize that your discontentment is a spiritual issue in a spiritual matter, you are halfway to the solution. The moment you recognize that your discontentment is rooted in sin, you are halfway to the solution to the answer. The moment you recognize that your discontentment of life is rooted in your desire to go it alone without God's instruction book your halfway there. I do not want to contrast to individuals to biblical examples, the Bible gives us an hour to contrast them because if you read the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

Probably the honor to greater contrast. Of course, the Bible was not written so that they can give us those people is a contrast was word of God being offered by God from beginning to end is just makes it very clear as you read the word of God to men stand in contrast to each other they are thousands and thousands of years apart, but they stand in contrast with each other. One of them kept on pursuing human solution is discontentment. One of them kept on applying earthly answers to his spiritual problem and he failed and he lived in discontentment a miserable life until he died. The other one allowed his discontentment to be an opportunity to drive him to God and receive the grace of God. One is K and the second one is the prodigal son.

I wanted focus will be just for a little bit between those two guys came restlessness began with jealous aunt tell you something. If jealousy is eating you up is going to destroy your life. Eventually, unless you deal with it. Jealousy is like the strong nail in your shoe that is going to keep absolutely nagging you until you remove it until you deal with that issue.

It can destroy a life.

As we see in the case of K because canes jealousy of his brother Abel, the obedient one. He in a fit of anger killed how the contraceptive for you two brothers say mama send daddy and those amazing kids in all different same genes that are so different able learn from me, even daddy Adam of their failures he learned from the mistakes he learned from their sin able learn from mommy and daddy that the root of discontentment is disobedience able learn from his parents that failure to please God. God's way causes disaster. Abel responded to his parents teaching he learned from the teaching. He listens to their instructions and he listened to the importance of obedience to God and well understood that living in defiance to God's directions and defiance to God's instruction is not worth it. Abel sought to live his life God's wife, not his own and so he offered to God. The sacrifice that is pleasing to God. He offered to God LM he shed the blood of an innocent lamb because that's exactly what God taught his mommy and daddy when God took him out of the garden of Eden he shed the blood of an innocent lamb which is of course a foreshadowing of the perfect son of God and the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ dying on the cross of Calvary and by the shedding of that innocent blood in putting that the covers the skin of the land to cover them. They learn the lesson of atonement and Abel learned that lesson he learned it well and so he sacrifice to God and animal and innocent blood was shed the sacrifice for his sin and that sacrifice was accepted by God. Cain on the other hand decided that he is going to give God what he thinks God should have, not what God wanted, not what God asked for. So he offers Green's knowledge did listen carefully to this work because there is a possibility. I have no evidence of that. But there's a possibility that Cain's sacrifice was just as costly as a base there is a distinct possibility that Cain's sacrifice was just as sacrificial as Ables but that's not the problem that is not the issue, not the value of the sacrifice.

The problem was the problem of the heart that the value of the sacrifice. The problem was that Kane dented his way not God's way.

The problem was that he did it with the wrong motive and for the wrong reason and therefore his sacrifice was rejected by God.

And so, in a fit of anger and jealousy. He killed his brother. His obedient brother he killed his obedient brother, and then he lived in restlessness for the rest of his life. Listen to what the Bible said the Bible said Cain went out and built a city and became a restless wonder. Yeah I am convinced my own heart knowing the revelation of the character of God and the word of God that even at this point in his life.

After killing his brother had Cain asked for forgiveness. God's grace would've given it to him convinced of that missing capital going to tell you, my beloved friends because, like Cain. There are so many people running away from God, looking for answer to the discontentment, like Cain are so many people take refuge in all kinds of cities that are built on their own image, in an attempt to quiet. That's restlessness in the heart discontentment in their heart like Cain. Many people are running away from their past. Instead of confronting the past. There are many people like Cain who are looking for something or someone to fill their inner void that only God can fill. There are so many people like Cain who are running away from instead of letting the discontentment drive them to God is only one who has the answer, because by running away from God never alleviates a problem running away from God never quells the guilt running away from God never quite needs the conscious running away from God never cures the restlessness and the discontentment running away from God never heals your memory only running to God will find healing, restoration, joy and peace. But you know the sad part is Cain never went to the one the only one who could have given him rest and refreshment have you here today and you like Cain. If you are, where Cain was replete with you come to the only one the only one who can give you rest and rest your heart and give you true contentment, but then Jesus gives us an example of a man in Luke chapter 15. If you want to follow the second example is in Luke 15 I think most of you are familiar with a young man. We don't know much about him. Really we don't know his age we don't know his name. We really know very little about him, but we know it's a true story because Jesus told it is not a parable. It's a true story is a true story.

And we know him as a prodigal son. But you see he too was restless in his that is all he too was discontented with his family's life he to wanted to go to the far city where he could find himself he would be regarded as a I was going to go try to find myself as a bell. Wasted time and energy and money. I can tell you what you find yourself heat too was looking for answers away from God is looking for solutions away from the word of God. He too thought that his contentment was to be found in doing his own thing, but he soon discovered. As soon as he ran out of money. His Fairweather friends dumped him as soon as he ran out of money. His Fairweather friends who he thought to give him contentment.

They ditched him the people whom he thought could fulfill him, disappointed him. Are you surprised by the that's how it is the very people who thought that they could meet your needs will turn your back on you in the times of trouble until this man found himself eating from the trough of pigs and that is the worst condition that a Jew can find himself not just eating pigs were eating the food of the pigs as worse, my beloved, I want to tell you there is a world of difference between Cain and the particle son the material about the difference is very important that you get it and that you learn unlike K, the prodigal son came to her senses. Unlike K the prodigal son did not allow his pride to get the most of him.

Unlike K in the prodigal son began to deal with his spiritual problem of dissatisfaction and discontentment spiritually do something that might be new to some of you will be new to a lot of you, but might be new to some of listen carefully. It takes more courage to come to God in repentance, then persist in foolishness. It takes more courage to admit and confess, then pretend that everything is fine.

It takes more courage to acknowledge sin, then trying to explain it away only courageous people can say to God, God, I've sinned, God I was wrong and foolishly thinking that I can make a life without you it's impossible for me to read the story of the prodigal son knew Christine without the lump in my throat and you know what it has nothing to do about the boy finally faced up to his the errors of his way, and the fact that he repented of his sins. I don't get a lump in my throat because finally the boy came to his senses and returned to his father under a lump in my throat as much about even the story of the boy as much as I get a lump in my throat when I think of the father. In fact, the whole story that Jesus still is not the emphasis is not on the prodigal is not on his legalistic older brother no the whole story. The focus of the story is on the father. It's on the father and that's where I get totally undone. Every time I read the story.

When the boy came back after squandering his inheritance and in the Middle Eastern culture, if you ask your daddy to give you your inheritance while your daddy was alive. It is nothing short of wishing that your dad was dead. That's what you say.

That's what the boy was saying when he asked for his inheritance is it that I wish you wouldn't dare give me my inheritance. Now I'm not gonna wait after he squandered his inheritance after he disgraced and shamed the family name. After he messed up royally. The father never condemns a him.

The father never prods in the father never retaliates another father never asked him to jump through hoops in order to get back to the whole.

The father never send them to a halfway house in order to get them cleaned up before he can come to his presence of father never asked him to pay back for the misery that he caused the family all the money that he wasted none of my beloved friends.

I want to tell you this is the amazing grace of God. Did you know that all religions all religions have certain hoops that you have to go through you have to jump through in order to be part of that religion and in the Buddhist have their hoops. The eightfold path and the and the Hindus have there, and the Judaism has its rituals and Islam has its five pillars in all religions and even Catholicism. You have to do certain things to be accepted by the church, but you know none of them can truly guarantee the relationship intimacy with God, the forgiveness of God and the assurance of heaven because all these hoops you have the assurance of receiving forgiveness from the hand of God, and that your sins not only forgive a newer short of it on the life none of them when you come to Jesus Christ is only three words you need to say father forgive me. I do know that when the boy came back and he prepared his speech and he was cuffed and identify all say this and I'll say this is all equity practicing and you've probably is practicing his speech of defendants… Father forgive me and the father so that's about a friend if you get tired of wondering get tired of searching.

You get tired of restlessness. When you get tired of discontentment.

You can come to God the father through Jesus the son, repent of your sins and God the father through Jesus the son welcomes you and forgives you, he will never tell you all foolish one. Why did not come to me sooner. All you foolish one. Why did you do that all your foolish one. Why did you wonder away from me for so long. None of that he welcomes you with open arms. He forgives you all of your sins and adopt. Soon, his family, he closes you with his robe of righteousness, and he feeds your soul.

You have a decision to make.

You can be like Cain and keep on wondering in your restlessness and your discontentment. All you can be like the prodigal and come to your senses, father, only the Holy Spirit can open a blind spiritualized to see and therefore we ask for the Holy Spirit to perform a miracle right now and open some eyes those of been wondering for so long, like Cain than they become like the prodigal turn to you and those of us who know you and yet we live our lives in discontentment because we allow sin to come into our lives. We ask you to forgive us. Father I pray that heaven will rejoice today in his name I pray, amen. Thanks for listening to this message from Dr. Michael.

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