Short-Lived Satisfaction
Sometimes searching for more is hard work.
A chain of fast-food restaurants was seeking to sell more milkshakes. They asked customers what would make milkshakes more satisfying. More chocolate, perhaps? Did they want them chunkier? More fruit? Chewier? Sweeter?
This chain of restaurants worked hard to satisfy customers’ desires with tasty milkshakes. But sales didn’t increase until they asked customers this question: “Why are you buying milkshakes in the morning?”
These milkshake sales spiked in the early morning, before their daily drive to work. People weren’t ordering anything but milkshakes. Researchers wanted to get to the bottom of these orders.
Why were people buying milkshakes so early in the morning, presumably not long after breakfast?
Battling Boredom
Simply put, they were used to battle the boredom of a long commute to work. Milkshakes gave them short-lived satisfaction through distraction…making customers happy and cash registers ring. Until the next morning…when the drive for more reset.
Short-lived satisfaction never lasts. The eyes of man are never satisfied. That includes every eye here this morning and those watching online. Our natural view of the world, all it contains, and everyone in it will always disappoint us in some way. Why?
Short-lived satisfaction depends on change. Like a good milkshake that disappears too quickly, our drive for more always resets.
It comes up short because there’s always the new flavor or the next whatever, that’s ever-changing. How do we see beyond this short-lived satisfaction?
Ultimate Satisfaction
Nothing short of seeing the Son sent from the Father will ultimately satisfy us, because Jesus is the fullness of God.
God made us see his fullness in Jesus Christ. But, to see God’s fullness we need to see the Word of God and share what we’ve seen in fellowship.
Fellowship means to have Christ in common. We see the fellowship of God in his saints when we share what we’ve seen and heard about the Word of God, Jesus Christ with one another.
We all feel like we were created for community—to see and be seen—as people who matter to God and others. The fellowship of Christians is like no other community in that it blesses each other because it is blessed by God.
Seeing the fullness of God through the Word of God in fellowship shows us unlimited satisfaction because Jesus is the fullness of God! That’s worth seeing and believing, would you agree?
Abundant Life
Let’s learn:
1. How to see Jesus as the fullness of God because
2. The Word gives abundant life.
3. Life seen together in satisfying fellowship.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
John 1:1-2
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Seeing the Fullness of God
Jesus Christ has forever shown himself as the fullness of God by who he is and what he did during his life on earth. God wants to express Himself; to make Himself known so that we’ll see and believe.
He chose to reveal his majesty and splendor by showing us the fullness of who he is in Jesus Christ. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke record a lot of these gracious encounters where Jesus displays his undeserved favor or grace towards sinful people like us. They record what Jesus did, which is inseparable from who Jesus is.
But in the gospel of John, we’re given an exclusive invitation to come and see who Jesus is.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
Intentional Sight
When John wrote “we have seen his glory” in verse 14, the word seen, theaomai, doesn’t just mean seeing something and interpreting what it is.
It’s not like seeing this red thing that’s somewhat round and looks like an apple and we soon forget all about it.
It’s actually a careful, intentional sight used to retain something. This something is belief in Jesus Christ. Seeing the only perfect man to ever live, full of grace and truth.
A passing acknowledgment of Jesus as merely a good person or a moral teacher doesn’t reflect this intentional sight. Seeing the only Son from the Father is glorious because it contrasts his perfect fullness against our utter emptiness.
Seeing What We Can’t
Like a jeweler placing a radiant diamond against the absence of light (the color black), God directs our eyes to see what we can’t. John writes so that we’d see, believe and have life in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:31
Whether we see Jesus Christ for the very first time or daily; seeing Jesus Christ comes through the good news of the gospel.
The gospel imparts eternal life to the one who believes. Jesus Christ grants us grace to see him. Don’t we all need to see Jesus?
But, how can we see the Light that shines so brightly that darkness has never overcome it? The Son of Man is so glorious that he’s simultaneously full of grace and full of truth, it’s not a 50/50 split.
Can we see him now with our limited understanding and earthly perspective? We’re living in the now, but not yet kingdom of God. Can we now see and know God or is that meant for the future?
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
1 Corinthians 13:12
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
1 John 3:2
The Objects of His Love
In one sense, we don’t see God as he is. But because of Jesus, something eternally better happens. We are seen and known by him as the object of his love. That’s how John described himself. The disciple whom Jesus loved. The object of Jesus’ love.
Christians are seen and accepted by God because we trust Jesus Christ, the fullness of God. Full of grace and truth. Overflowing with undeserved favor for all. Believe him!
Do you believe that Jesus grants us overflowing grace to fail, change and grow? Is the privilege of building others up in this fullness of Christ our priority?
Grace empowers us to live for God.
Grace is beautiful, not some flowery sensation.
It’s the catalyst for life-altering outcomes, but it’s not cheap.
You can’t have grace without truth. Love rejoices in the truth. Over and over again in this gospel people are responding to the fullness of God’s grace and truth in Jesus Christ by sharing an effective message or witnessing to the truth that Jesus is the fullness of God.
For example, in John chapter four the Samaritan woman set aside what she needed to live—she just left it and her emptiness behind—to tell a bunch of people in her community about meeting the fullness of grace and truth, Jesus Christ.
He knew all of her sins and spoke the truth to her in love as the Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Imagine someone who knows everything about us AND loves us enough to speak that piercing truth in love.
Jesus showed her undeserved favor by confronting her adultery with the fullness of truth. She saw and believed in the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ,
“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”
John 4:29
Satisfying the truth of the law’s requirements, Jesus Christ, God’s full gift of grace and truth was given so that we would believe.
To be saved from every wicked thought, every wicked thing, every requirement of the law that we’ve failed to keep, and the eternal consequences of our spiritual blindness.
We’re saved by grace…through faith because Jesus came full of grace and truth. Jesus is the fullness of God!
Seeing is Believing?
You may have heard the phrase seeing is believing before. Restaurants in Japan are good at visualizing short-term satisfaction. The eye-catching shokuhin sampuru makes plastic food appear almost life-like. It draws customers inside to enjoy delicious food.
What does it mean to see and savor Jesus as the Word?
Why The Word?
Through John’s gospel, we read John’s eyewitness account and see the Word, Jesus Christ. John heard the Word, John saw the Word and touched him with his hands.
John cared for the woman who raised Jesus, all as the disciple whom Jesus loved. John experienced the fullness of an intimate relationship with the Word made flesh along with the other disciples. He invites us to see this fullness in the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ.
Why was the Gospel of John Written?
The gospel of John was written to help people believe in the Word, Jesus Christ. Let’s look at the Word.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
John 1:1-2
We see that:
1. The Word was never limited by time.
2. Jesus Christ was never created, like things that have a beginning and an end (mankind, and milkshakes 🙂 ) or even silence.
Silence begins as quickly as it ends. In some western cultures, silence can make interactions a little awkward and too much silence can be considered downright rude.
In Japan, silence seems to be golden. Spaces between words seem to be important as evidenced by words like “ma” and “chinmoku”. The silence has meaning.
John the author of this gospel as a Jewish man was careful and intentional in how he described the Word, Jesus Christ. Remember that Jews would take the Word to mean God himself.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. John 1:1-2
God spoke about the Word in the beginning, but there was a long silence between God speaking at the beginning and the Word, Jesus Christ appearing in the fullness of time.
This beauty and meaning of the Word weren’t limited to the Jews only. The Greeks saw the Word as the ultimate reason for everything.
The Word fulfilled the silence that God spoke from the beginning. This event was no empty word, but the perfectly timed Word of God was never created and never limited.
God revealed himself as meaningful to all cultures through The Word, Jesus Christ, the fullness of God!
Believing in Jesus Christ is not a one-time box to be checked like voting, but eternal life to be lived now. Abundant life lived in a community called the church or body of Christ.
Jesus Gives Abundant Life
Jesus is the fullness of God because he gives abundant life.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
John 10:10
In a restaurant, when every order is fulfilled, have you ever had the chef and owner come out of the kitchen and greet you after a satisfying meal?
God has come close to us in Jesus Christ. The Son of God stepped into time and took on flesh and blood in the person of Jesus.
Why do I keep repeating this idea that the Word was made flesh? It will protect you from false teachers who set up shop on the sidewalks in Osaka with literature that says Jesus was just a god.
Jesus, the fullness of God, steps towards sinful people to display his majesty, as the Son of God from the Father.
He’s full of mercy towards us. That means we don’t get the separation and eternal punishment our sins and our sinful nature deserve. He holds back what we deserve. But he also came to us full of grace.
Drawn by the Seeker
We didn’t seek him like a customer looking for a new restaurant. Truthfully, we never knew where to find him in our sinful rebellion against God.
Instead, He draws us to himself through his loving-kindness. He extends the fullness of grace to mankind and gives us faith to believe.
The Fullness of Fellowship
Belief in Jesus as the fullness of God will rewrite our lives in joyful fellowship. This satisfying fellowship happens with other Christians in the local church and the church universal. It’s not limited to a local church building but is seen and savored by Christians. Fellowship.
The fullness of God in Christ Jesus builds the boat of joyful fellowship.
The word for fullness in John 1, plērōma (play’-ro-mah) paints a picture of many soldiers filling a ship. To be in full accord means to be together with the inner life.
United in Purpose
I’ve been impressed by people’s passion for unity to complete a task on a few different occasions. We have an upcoming opportunity with the Christmas musical!
As a young man, I was interning with a Sheriff’s department in the U.S. pursuing a childhood dream of law enforcement. I heard them before I saw them coming. Big black boots dragging and stomping in unison made evil resistance tremble.
Special forces units in prison are elite teams united by task but forged through their experiences and commitment to one another.
Clothed in black uniforms—familiar with the battles that rage “behind the line” in prison—they face these together as a team.
Different team members were assembled and given different pieces of gear. Each member had a distinct role. One role was quite different. It required strong leadership, interpersonal and communication skills, we’ll see why in a bit.
The rest of the team wore black battle-tested helmets, puncture-proof vests over their unnamed uniforms, and gas masks to step into smoke that targets the body’s pain receptors and oils that cause really bad pain.
The front officer had a shield and was powered not by 2 legs, but by the collective strength of the team behind. Propelling that shield to knock down evil resistance with pinpoint precision.
It was like nothing I’d ever seen. In unison, their presence was heard, seen, and finally felt. In fullness, they came together to create a more powerful weapon against evil than each one could individually.
The Final Word
Do you recall that unique leadership role mentioned earlier? The fullness of that task is filled by the sergeant who stands as the final word before sending in the team, which at the end of the day no one really wants. Not inmates or officers. Violence never solves the problem in full, but God’s justice will truly set all things right.
The Sergeant talks with the non-compliant inmate one word away from being forcefully extracted from his cell by this special forces unit.
“Sarge’s” role is incredibly stressful. He’s not trying to protect himself at all costs but has the authority and power to call in the special forces unit if de-escalating the situation fails.
The Sergeant tries to squash violent situations through his or her skills. Graciously leveraging leadership, interpersonal and communication skills inside prison walls ensures mayhem doesn’t break out!
Sergeants aren’t always equipped like the special forces units. They don’t walk around with riot gear on and their names aren’t hidden. They’re inside the prison housing units each day carrying out the warden’s orders. You won’t see wardens in many prisons. But inmates see sergeants walking and talking with their officers and inmates alike.
The Cost of Fellowship
As you might imagine, short-sighted violent payback is a reality in many prisons. And sergeants have a big bullseye painted on their backs. They are incredibly brave in extremely stressful situations.
Like a sergeant working with these special forces units, Jesus Christ emptied himself so his church, his body could have abundant fullness. Unity in the inner life. Fullness in fellowship.
A New Category of Community
He made a new category of community through belief in him: fellowship in the church. Being together in the inner life! This is impossible with us, but what is impossible with man is possible with Christ.
So, we synch with self-controlled steps propelling our:
• feelings,
• desires, and
• affections to love God and each other.
Lock-step living in the fullness of God through fellowship, not in a boat or in a line, but in the church. Together in the inner life!
United Freedom
Imagine souls released from darkness into His marvelous light!
I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
John 17:23
He’s preserving us through every predicament, sustaining us through every suffering, and pointing us to overcome evil with good for his purposes and inheritance in Christ. And when we slip and fall, The Word speaks through the Bible full of grace and truth for all who believe.
The good news that Jesus Christ died for us and rose in victory, provides abundant life in Christ, with fellow Christians. He sees us, he extends grace, and he prepares us for battle.
Fullness of Grace
God’s fullness in Christ has turned the tide. God’s love is bottomless.
There is no part of our lives that cannot be filled with all the fullness that Christ wants us to have because Jesus is the fullness of God.
We can’t line up, or do this or that to push our way into God’s “good graces”. God’s mercy draws us to the fullness of his grace in Jesus Christ. Believe it!
It means rewritten lives read by others in joyful fellowship.
Sailing across the sea of God’s love—carried by winds of grace, enduring every storm because Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, is the fullness of God.
Wayne
