Visiting Orphans (Play Day) Sat 10:00am
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A message from the Rolling Stones
Aug 20, 2009
“I can’t get no, satisfaction, no, no, no, yeah, yeah, yeah.” The famous song by the Rolling Stones is an outcry from the worldly prophets of the last 4 decades. Somehow they manage to capture the inability of all humanity to gain satisfaction from this world.
Ah, but you are quick to cry out: “Not true!” Surely there are many joys and pleasures in the world. How did you feel when the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup, or when Usain Bolt ran the 100 meters in 9.58 seconds. What about the day you got married, or when you stood next to your wife at the birth of your children. What about listening to good music, sipping on a good glass of red wine next to a fireplace? How do you explain the thrills you experienced when you signed off on that multi million Rand deal and everyone at the office looked at you with envy?
All these pleasures are valid and real but they tend to fade away in a fleeting moment. Paul mentions to the Philippians that he has an eager expectation and hope that he will not be ashamed in any way, but with full courage Christ will be magnified in his body, whether by life or by death. For Paul to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Phil 1:20-21)
Paul makes it very clear that the purpose of his life on earth is to magnify, to make great, to honor, to celebrate Jesus in his living and dying. He did not waste futile hours in trying to persuade himself to put to death even some of the worldly things so that he could lay hold of more of Christ. Why would this be? Either Paul was on something, or he knew something!
Like many others in the Bible, Paul tasted the goodness of the Lord. He experienced the fullness of joy in God’s presence and He encountered the pleasures at His right hand. In God’s house we can feast on His abundance and drink from the river of His delights. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!!
In the words of John Piper: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Paul was prepared to die to temporary pleasures so that he could lay hold of the mother load, the ultimate pleasure. God is your chosen portion and your cup. He is the culmination of your inheritance both in this life and the life to come. Jesus is before all things and in Him all things hold together, he is preeminent in everything. So the Rolling Stones are dead wrong, I can be satisfied, but only from heaven.
