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True Contentment: Needs and Fears
Pastor Rollan Fisher
Focus: True contentment comes as Jesus meets our greatest needs and puts to rest our greatest fears.
The Oxford American Dictionary Definition
Contentment : A state of happiness and satisfaction Of late Middle English Origin denoting “the payment of a claim”
Ironically, it is daily that we have things making claims on our contentment, primarily in the way of our needs and our fears.
Now the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.” He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.” So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.
-2 Kings 2:19-22
The Scripture
The city was pleasant but the water was bad.
The water hadn’t always been bad, lest the ancient city could not have grown up around the source. Something had changed.
The water was what was used to meet the needs of the land.
The lack of fruitfulness came from the water that was contaminated in some way.
Elisha called for a new bowl.
The answer was to throw salt in the bowl for the supernatural healing of the water so that the land could be fruitful.
We’re going to come back to this...
Our Greatest Needs
God designed our greatest needs
Relationship, Provision, Purpose.
When we have these things in life, we are truly content.
A 2018 Psychology Today article by Dr. Suzanne Degges White summarized our greatest needs to achieve a state of contentment with these highlights:
Human beings need relationships to enjoy optimum well-being and happiness.
Being kind to others is essential to finding a sense of personal happiness. Our human brains are wired so that we feel joy when we behave in altruistic ways.
Acknowledging the abundance of your own life—no matter how austere or extravagant it might be—and experience gratitude for these people, experiences, and things also positively contribute to a sense of well-being.
Finding a sense of meaning and purpose in your pursuits in life are necessary to contentment and happiness. Believing that you are contributing to something beyond yourself and being a part of something larger than your individual existence is also necessary to experience a feeling of peace that is a part of happiness.
Making healthy lifestyle choices in terms of your basic needs—sleep, nutrition, and exercise—also contribute to your happiness in life.
Source here.
Whether acknowledged or not, all of these insights have their roots in Biblical mandates.
Our Greatest Fears
God knows our greatest fears.
*When the water is bad, the counterpart to our needs are the fears that our needs won’t be met, choking out our contentment.
The needs and their counterparts:
Relationship - Loneliness
Provision - Lack
Purpose - Death (the end of all earthly purpose)
The good news is that God gives us a remedy to deal with every need and fear.
Loneliness
“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.”
-Mother Teresa
Fear: Am I Going to Be Forgotten?
The cataclysmic shift in our culture:
If people don’t see what you do, it doesn’t count
If I’m not seen (on social media, etc.) I don’t matter
Even as we look forward to being together again in the flesh, embrace virtual community.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
-Hebrews 10:24-25
Lack
When you have provision, there’s instruction for contentment:
Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”
-Luke 3:14
But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
-1 Timothy 6:6-12
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
-1 Timothy 6:17-19
When provision is momentarily reduced, there’s equal instruction:
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.
-Philippians 4:11-13
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.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
-Hebrews 13:5-6
Death
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
-Hebrews 2:14-15
Jesus’ gospel is the salt that goes into the bowl to heal the water.
From the ExploreGod.com website:
“So,” the Apostle Paul wrote, “we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”19
C. S. Lewis hinted at this idea when he famously suggested, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”20
What kind of “another world” did Lewis mean? The new world described for us in the book of Revelation:
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” . . . And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”
-Revelation 21:1,3-5
https://www.exploregod.com/articles/the-importance-of-contentment
Meeting Our Needs and Ending Ours Fears
Our greatest needs are met and our greatest fears are overcome in Jesus Christ. The city is pleasant but the water is bad making the land unfruitful. The water is what we use to meet the needs of the land (our needs)
The lack of fruitfulness comes when the water is bad (fears destroying our contentment)
Elisha called for a new bowl (new habits and disciplines).
The answer was to throw the salt (the Word of God, the gospel, holiness) in the bowl for the healing of the water so that the land could be fruitful (contentment)
Out of its contentment, the church has a divine purpose during this time. Because my needs are met and my fears laid to rest in Christ, I can live this way during this time:
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
-Matthew 5:13-1613
The cross of Jesus Christ made this all a possibility for us. At the cross, Jesus became a substitutionary sacrifice that we might first be reconciled to God. As turn from our sin and put our faith in Jesus, we’re adopted into the family of God with a Heavenly Father who provides saying that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, we have a heavenly home being prepared for us so that death no longer has a sting. And in these ways, we can live all of our days contented and full of praise.
Study
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Second City Church - True Contentment - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020