How can I share what I don’t have?

Hey, thanks again for sending in your questions related to our recent sermons. As you know, we have just completed our six week series on Christ as a better story that anything else the world is offering, any other view the world has on our six topics that Christ really is a better story. And so this last week when we finished up, we talked about the topic of self worth, that whatever else we look to will ultimately leave us unsatisfied or will always demand more and more and more from us in order to give us satisfaction. And that Christ is different that he first gives to us or he first approves of us. He first lifts us and then we give our lives to Him as a response to what he has done for us.

So the question comes in this week asking and I love this question and I really appreciate somebody being willing to express their concern with this question. But the question is, how can I convince any of my non Christian friends that Christ is satisfying when I, as a believer, don’t really find satisfaction in Him? How can I point other people to the answer when maybe I haven’t found the answer? Seems to be the question. So we love that.

We love the transparency of that question. We really appreciate you sending it in.

So many dynamics to try to cover in just a few minutes. And so first, anyone who’s feeling that way, I’d love to have many follow up conversations about your experience of Christ.

Have you ever found Him satisfying? Why would you identify what’s compelling about Christ that you identify as a Christian? And there’s lots of reasons that maybe we aren’t finding satisfaction in Him right now. Way too many than we can even cover again, just a few minutes. But I mean, there are times we all feel that way.

There’s nothing strange or nothing wrong going on with the person who sent us in. For any of us who feel that way, there are times, there are seasons, there can be very long seasons of dryness. Authors throughout history have called that dark night of the soul. So there might not be anything going on on our end that has produced that. It could be things as simple as how’s your sleep?

How’s your diet? How’s your exercise? Like all those can’t your thyroid acting up. There can be all kind of things going on with our physical bodies that really diminish our joy in this life. And so we want to check all those things out.

Doesn’t have to be like, oh, I’m in rebellion against God and that’s why I’m not satisfied in Him. That might not be it at all. Of course that might be it. And we’d want to dive into that to see if there is some way that some kind of sin or rebellion is causing us to be unsatisfied in Christ. And so we’d want to talk about all that individually.

Love to talk about that with anyone who’s feeling this way. I’ve certainly felt that way at different times in my life. But the question is, how do I point others to Christ as satisfying when I’m not finding Him that way? And so I want to focus mainly on that part of the question. This goes back to something we really said after our first week, that you just think about if you’re ill, if you’re sick, you can still point other people to the hospital, you can still point other people to the doctor, even if you’re not well yourself.

We look at Christ as sufficient, even if we are feeling insufficient. That’s our faith. It’s not I’ve got it right, it’s that he is right. And I have faith that he is right. And you can have faith that a doctor could make somebody else well, even if you aren’t well yourself.

So that’s kind of high level. We can always point to Christ as the answer. I gave the example of when I was in college ministry always had college students ask me, how can I talk about how can I share my faith in Christ when my life is really messed up? I have all kind of sin in my life. How could I tell other people to follow Christ when I’m failing?

I’m like, you can tell people, it’s amazing that Jesus would still come have me even when I’m such a wreck. Like, you can always say that. You can always say that you point to Him as the answer, like you are not the answer. So that’s still the case. But with this specific question, maybe I would add, you compare what Christ is offering even if you’re not feeling it, okay?

You just compare what Christ is offering to what anything else in the world is offering. And the offer is different with Christ. Everything else in the world says, be good enough, right enough, long enough, sacrifice enough for me, and then I will satisfy you. That’s their offer. Now, whether it actually satisfies or not, that’s a different story.

We’re just comparing offers right now, materialism or relationships or success in your work or getting approval from other people, right? It’s earned it, and then satisfaction will be delivered. But Christ is different, right? Christ says, I’m coming for you, even when you haven’t earned it. Christ is saying, I’m giving you my status.

I’m giving you my approval. Even when you’ve done nothing for me, even when you’ve countered on things for me, like, you’ve sinned, you’re running in the opposite direction. You’re not running toward me. You’re not achieving anything for me. You’re going negative, and I’m still coming after you.

Nothing else offers that, and that is different. And so if you’re actually having a conversation with somebody, I would say, let’s compare the different offers that are out there. And Christ’s offer is strikingly different from the offer of anything else. In the world. And I think you can always point to that, even if you’re not feeling it right, like that’s the offer.

And so you can share that the person who sent this question in, I might ask, which offer in the world do you feel yourself drawn to the most? If it’s not Christ right now, where is it that you are looking for satisfaction? And maybe it’s nowhere. And this is an individual conversation, so we would have to have that conversation. But wherever you’re really counting on to give you this satisfaction or this self worth, is that working or is that falling short?

And then in that moment, can you see Christ is still coming after you? Like, maybe I have no idea, but maybe you were banking on something else, which we said in our sermon was idolatry and that failed you. But in that moment right then, do you see Christ still coming to you to give you his worth, to give you his status, still wanting you, still loving you, still saying, I’ve died for you. And maybe that’s a place to start, to start looking for your own satisfaction. Again, we really hope that was helpful.

Again, we really appreciate the question and we really appreciate all of you following along for our a six week series. We will see you next time.