The only way that we can find
true contentment is in the service of others, and that means that
we are found in Christ. And until we are found in Christ,
a lot of our motives are going to be based on selfishness and
what's in it for me, the bigger, better deal, all that kind of
stuff in comparison. That's not true service of others. You're helping somebody to make
yourself look good. Because of our discontentment,
we seek out what gives us pleasure. We don't like the discontentment.
The discontentment is uneasy. It doesn't feel good to us. So
what is our natural proclivity? It's to do something that makes
us feel good. We are after that dopamine hit.
We're after the serotonin. We're after the norepinephrine
up here. We want to feel good. And we want to feel good not
only physically, but we want to feel good mentally, and we
want to feel good emotionally. And what is one of those things
that help us do that? It's sin. Think about how many
times you have been upset or discontented in some way and
you end up doing things that are absolutely Unbelievable. You would look and say, wow,
I can't believe I just did that. I can't believe I just thought
that. I can't believe I just wished that on that person. I
can't believe that I am moving in that direction. See, the problem
with self-absorption is that it's antithetical to Jesus' teaching
to love our neighbor as ourselves. But that's where it becomes hard
because we're too busy loving ourselves all the time to love
another person. Serving others is what we are
free to do as Christians. The young ruler comes to Jesus
and says, what do I need to do to inherit the kingdom of God?
What does he say? Love the Lord with all your heart, all your
mind, all your soul, and Go serve your neighbor, go take care of
your neighbor, love your neighbor as yourself. And so there's always the other-centeredness
in the gospel message. Christ did not need to come for
himself. He needed to come for the sinners
that we are that need to be saved, that need to be removed from
the wrath of God. He was other-centered all the
time. He even says in the garden, if
this cup can pass from me, let it pass from me. He knew what
was heading his way. But he says, not my will, not
my self-centeredness, but your will, another centeredness of
his Father who is in heaven. The only person enslaved to Christ
is the free person to love and serve another person. Can there
be a great deal of satisfaction from helping someone else out?
Sure. There's nothing selfish about
having a satisfaction of knowing you're helping somebody out.
I mean, that's good. That's what we should have. When
the ends of helping somebody out and the means of helping
somebody out is only for your own gain, you're no longer in
the right game. You've stepped over into the
selfishness of, what's in it for me? How am I looking to the
outside world? Do I always look good to somebody
else? Am I heading in the right direction? Because, gosh, Kyle's
gonna look at me and say, yeah, man, what a great guy, he's heading
in the right direction. That's the wrong attitude to have. I
want to help because it's the right thing to do to have help. As Tullian to Vigin says, look,
God doesn't need your help, but your neighbor does. Go help them.
And sometimes that's hard. That means you're going to get
punched in the face. You're going to get kicked in
the you-know-what. It's okay. Those are all baked in the cake
when you're helping somebody else.