Something’s Missing Week 2

  "Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

-

"…..earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.

--C.S.Lewis, from Mere Christianity, pp. 135-137.

 

  "I give painful evidence every day. I experience it in predictable and unpredictable moments. I guess I should know better, but I am often caught off guard. There is an insatiable longing inside of me, a thirst that never seems to be quenched. This deep hunger doesn't go away no matter how busy I get or how hard I work to be distracted. I long for Justice Love Hope Peace Perfection Satisfaction Mercy Contentment Rest Harmony Joy and none of these longings ever gets fully satisfied. And so in my quest for more I am faced with the incontrovertible daily evidence that this simply is not all that there is and the sure truth that I was hardwired for another world.

--Paul Tripp, A Quest for More: Living for Something Bigger Than Yourself.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)

  I pity celebrities, I really do. Celebrities were once perfectly pleasant human beings. But now, their wrath is awful. They wanted fame so they worked, pushed, and shoved. Yet, the morning after each one of these became famous, they wanted to take an overdose. Because that giant thing that was going to make everything ok, make their lives bearable, give meaning and purpose to their lives, happened, and they were still them. The disillusion turned them howling and insufferable!

--Cynthia Heimel, The Village Voice, January 2, 1990

The Story

King Nebuchadnezzar has had a dream:

  "In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep."

Daniel 2:1 (NIV)

  "Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled."

Daniel 5:19 (NIV)

  The dream is simple, yet profound:

• The Great King sees a Great Statue of Great splendor!

• The Head: Pure gold

• Chest and arms of silver

• Belly and thighs of bronze

• Legs of iron

• Feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.

• A little rock “not made with hands” strikes the statue and knocks it down.

• And then the little stone grows into a huge mountain.

  King Nebuchadnezzar is trying to produce a “good future.” He wants to be worshipped and adored by future generations.

  Chaldeans (The wise men of Babylon): People who had been trained in the pseudo- science of divination, and in the occult and communication with evil spirits.

  "This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death."

Daniel 2:12-13 (NIV)

  "When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. He asked the king’s officer, 'Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?' Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him."

Daniel 2:14-16 (NIV)

  God told Daniel the dream and the interpretation!

  "Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king."

Daniel 2:20-23 (NIV)

  Daniel Interprets the Dream for the King.

  "Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold."

Daniel 2:37-38 (NIV)

  "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces."

Daniel 2:44-45 (NIV)

  The Warning!

  The minute you ask the question of pain and suffering you are assuming the existence of God and the intrinsic value to human life.

  God can recover from all seeming injustice.

• Only God can replace life that is lost.

• The life to come is far more glorious than the life lost.

• Life must be viewed through the lens of eternity.

• Without which—All is meaningless!

  There is no pathway to paradise that bypasses the dark side of human nature.

-–Dr. John Lennox

  God is reminding Daniel and the King that history WILL ONLY REACH ITS GOAL by supernatural action from outside the earth.

  What is the overarching truth for us?

  "While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth."

Daniel 2:34-35 (NIV)

  "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever."

Daniel 2:44 (NIV)

  Nebuchadnezzar comes to Babylon with a dream! The dream of a kingdom—His kingdom!

  So, he builds a stature in chapter three to His glory. A towering Colossus—looming over the people! But then the dream comes and shows him that all kingdoms have feet of clay! So he can’t sleep. He walks the halls at night! He is under duress. He becomes angry and bitter.

  What is his real problem? His identity—his foundation is tied to something that is so weak that all it takes is a small stone to knock the whole thing down.

  God is saying to the King: If you build your life on anything other than me, you are going to be haunted with these types of fears. Everything has feet of clay and at some point, the real kingdom, the kingdom of God is going to bring it down! Something will come into your life to show you what your foundation is, and it will cause you many sleepless nights!

  

  Every time you gain that which you thought would save you, the hole in your heart just gets bigger.

  Everyone gets to decide which kingdom they will build! You will either use everything God has given you to build your own kingdom or you will choose to use all that God has given you to sustain you and enjoy the pleasures of your life while at the same time, building the Kingdom of God.

  Your emotional health and stability will be determined by which kingdom you choose to build.

 

  Working and building are good things! God wired you to work and build. But when you begin to think of work mainly as a means of self-fulfillment and self-realization, it will crush you!

  God uses the weak to confound the mighty.

  "That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

2 Corinthians 12:10 (NIV)

  The reason the seemingly weak confound the mighty is because they have a supernatural source.

• A shepherd boy slays a giant and becomes King: David.

• A young man from the weakest tribe in Israel defeats the Midianite army. Gideon.

• A little boy pulled out of the water becomes a Prince and saves all of Israel. Moses.

• A little boy named Samuel given to a barren woman named Hannah, becomes the prophet of all Israel. 

  It’s not a huge rock that smashes the statue. It’s not a huge kingdom that replaces the old kingdom. It’s a small thing that crushes the world system and then grows gradually into a mountain! And fills the whole world!

  The Kingdom of God begins with great humility.

  "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Matthew 5:3 (NIV)

  "To this John replied, 'A person can receive only what is given them from heaven.'"

John 3:27 (NIV)

  "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: 'When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.'"

Ephesians 4:7-8 (NIV)

  God gives everyone talents, gifts, abilities and resources, but Satan hijacked them for his purposes,and we hijacked them for our purposes.

  Through the Spirit of God—we must allow God to reclaim those gifts, talents, abilities, and weaknesses, to build the only thing that lasts.

  The moment you begin to see that you were made for a purpose greater than yourself is the moment you begin to truly live! And the moment you begin to see that what you thought was a weakness is the very thing God can use to build His kingdom.

  Every individual is a result of the handiwork of God.

  "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

  You have been shaped in a particular way to achieve a particular objective to advance a particular kingdom—The Kingdom of God!

  Whose Kingdom are you building?

1.Talents: What gets the best of you?

2.Money and Resources: What gets the best of you?

3.Passion: What are you most passionate about?

  "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!'"

Matthew 25:23 (NIV)

  "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV)

  “When you are right with God, a tidal wave of joy sends you out into the world to change it.”

--Tim Keller

  If you spend all your time taking your happiness pulse and focusing on your next pleasurable experience, your life will become unstable! But if you spend your time focusing on the bigger picture, trying to align your life with God’s purpose in the world and the way He designed you to play your role, your little dots, your life, will come into focus. You will find it by letting it go!

  True happiness will come when we become preoccupied:

1. With looking at where God is moving.

2. Being absorbed in what He is doing.

3. Discovering what role you were meant to play in it all.

Make a Decision