Kingdom Contentment Part 4

I have two brothers, I am the middle one, I have an older and a younger. Many, many years ago, my older brother was still at that teenage age where he was a part of the scouts. And what I mean by scouts, as they develop different skills, they are encouraged to get their different badges that represent their different skills. And you get teenage boys sewing, starting fires and being kind to grannies to get all kinds of things to get those badges. One of those badges happens to be the cooking badge. This may prove to be an interesting scenario because my older brother, let us just say that now he is married to a chef and now she does all the cooking. He decided in his wisdom he was going to bake, he got hold of a banana loaf recipe, which, I cannot understand why it was complicated, because it was just bananas, a bit of flour, a bit of milk and whatever else. So, he set about producing this banana loaf to get his cooking badge. All went well until one of the items in the ingredients, I know it had something to do with bicarbonate of soda, I cannot remember if it was a quarter of a teaspoon, or three quarters of a teaspoon, but the emphasis here was on the word teaspoon. But you know, teaspoon or cup, they look so similar. Needless to say, three quarters of a cup of bicarbonate of soda was placed in the mixture. And it was stirred and baked and twenty five minutes later, out comes this magnificent looking banana loaf. I love banana loaf, when it is warm and the butter melts, and the anticipation of the moment, and the moment arrived, was he going to get his badge or was he not? It was a chemical reaction, it was like something exploded in your mouth, it fizzed, it was bitter and it was sour, but here is the point. Whenever you put bitter things in your mouth, somehow there is a connection to your brain, like your tongue is connected to some face muscles. You know like when you taste something really bitter, it is like it is connected to your face muscles. I do not know how it is connected, but your face is connected to your facial expression. What I want to talk to about this morning, we are finishing off this series on contentment, on learning to live in content before God. What I want to highlight this morning is this thing of bitterness. What we are going to discover this morning is not just the power of bitterness to our own lives, what I want to show you from scripture today, is that if we  live lives that are consumed of bitterness, then very much we become like that bicarbonate of soda. What I am saying is that if we allow bitterness to come in and settle upon our lives, then as you enter into a conversation, as you enter into a community of bananas and flour, sugar and all those things. You come in as the three quarters of a cup of bicarbonate of soda. What happens when we allow bitterness to rest upon our hearts, we become a toxic ingredient to the people around us. That is not God’s plan for our lives. God’s plan for our lives is e should be the salt of the earth. We should be the light of the world. We should be the aroma of Christ of life into a situation. But sadly, what we are going to discover today is if we let bitterness settle upon us, instead of bringing a good flavour, we bring bitterness. For the last couple of week, we have been looking this thing called contentment. God’s desire is for us to walk at peace and content with our God. What we have seen is that with Christ as our strength, our contentment has nothing to do with our circumstances. Normally, our brains are connected, things go well, I feel well, if things go badly, I feel badly. But what we have discovered in scripture is that actually I feel well if I am strong and I feel well in my relationship with God. Jesus said it like this; I can do all things, I can endure all things, I can be content in all things through Christ who strengthens me. The secret of contentment that Paul discovered was not god circumstances but good strength in Christ. What we discovered is what David learnt, and he wrote this famous Psalm where he said; “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.” That is contentment right there. To live a life want free is contentment. And he discovered the secret of not being in want, is to let Jesus be our shepherd. Which means in a situation where we are fearful, worried, anxious, what does the future hold for me? The secret lies in letting Jesus shepherd you. That means sometimes letting the shepherd to lead us, and guide us, and make us lie down, and feed us, and nudge us, and rebuke us at times. It means even when we go through hard times, He is with us. The secret of contentment is in our shepherd. What we discovered thirdly, is that we can actually live lives with what it feels like if pieces of our live is missing. Sometimes we feel like the puzzle of our lives is incomplete, if I had a wife, I would be happy. If I had kids, I would be happy. If I had a job, I would be happy. There is some piece of my puzzle missing. And you feel how could I ever be content without that piece of my puzzle. What we discovered is the beautiful fact that Christ is enough for me. What that means is in the sufficiency of Christ, He holds all the puzzle pieces, and we can find grace and peace in Christ to fulfil that missing puzzle piece when we let Him. What we are going to discover today, is all about the sovereignty of our God. We are going to study someone’s life who has every reason to be bitter. And I am hoping that as we go through some examples in his life, you will realize you will be able to identify with him. But you will be able to recognize that even though he faced the temptation of letting bitterness settle upon him, he did not, and we are going to see the result. So, I am going to take through some examples this morning of that man Joseph. If you do not know anything about the Bible, or done the Sunday school thing, Joseph was famous for having a technicoloured coat, he was the favourite of his dad’s sons, and he went on to be the ruler in Egypt, that is the back story. But along his journey, he could so easily have been derailed. I want to take you through three examples.

Him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it. ²⁵ As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. ²⁶ Judah said to his brothers1. Genesis chapter thirty seven, verses twenty three to twenty eight: “²³ so when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— ²⁴ and they took, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? ²⁷ Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed. ²⁸ So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels^[b] of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.” I want you to think for a moment, have you ever felt the pain of betrayal of those who are supposed to love you? That must have been probably the most excruciating levels of emotional pain. When the very people you look to for love and support, and strength, they are the ones who actually betray you. And sometimes, the closer they are, the more the pain is. You expect it from an enemy, but not from your own family. They themselves said he is their own flesh and blood; have you felt the pain of betrayal from someone close to you? And when that happens when someone you trusted, someone you love, someone you respected betrays you; it is like this cloud of bitterness wants to settle on your heart. It is a natural response, if someone I loved and is supposed to love me betray me like this, and you felt that excruciating pain, the natural thing to do, is to say I am not going to let that happen again. And we begin to close our heart and begin to become cynical with every relationship. It is just a matter of time before they turn, just a matter of time for them to hurt me. So, the temptation is to get bitter and is to let our hearts grow hard. Jesus knows what it felt like, Jesus had one of His closest friends, can you imagine Jesus and Judas, and we always think that straight away, there was this for three years, Jesus had been with Judas. Three years on a camping trip, three years walking together, three years ministering together, three years investing into his life, and Judas betrayed Jesus. Jesus knows that pain of betrayal. If one example is not enough, the story gets worse. Joseph has been sold, he travels down to Egypt, he gets sold as a slave and gets sold to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s servants, and it says in Genesis chapter thirty nine verse eleven to nineteen: “¹¹ One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. ¹² She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. ¹³ When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, ¹⁴ she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. ¹⁵ When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” ¹⁶ She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. ¹⁸ But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” ¹⁹ When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. ²⁰ Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.” Now, I want you to think about what this must feel like. Have you ever been in a situation where in all honesty, you are doing the best you can? You might be serving hard, working hard, doing your best with good intentions, only to have someone lie about you. To have someone falsely accuse you because they made a mess. And instead of owning up and taking responsibility, it is easier for them to turn on you and lie about you to let you carry the can. That is painful, Jesus felt that also. Jesus, who we know was sinless, was turn over to the Pharisees, and started looking for witnesses, paying witnesses to come and make up stories to lie. Can you imagine for Jesus, who knows everything, has all wisdom, can refute any accusation, has to listen to all these lies and false accusations, knowing that those accusations are going to result in His death. And He does nothing, Jesus felt that pain. If that was not bad enough, things got worse. Joseph was thrown into prison, and he continued serving, he did well in prison, Pharaoh throws two of his servants, the baker and the wine maker into prison also, and somewhere along the line, they have dreams. Joseph steps up to the plate and interpret their dreams, the creams come true, and here is what happens, in Genesis chapter forty verses twenty: “²⁰ Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: ²¹ He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand— ²² but he impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation. ²³ The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him. 41 When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream:” Think about that for a moment, the scenario was interprets the dream, and says the king is going to restore you, do not thank me, just tell Pharaoh to let me go. No problem, I will do anything to pay you back. But the servant forgets Joseph. Have you ever had that pain of someone just overlooks. But it is not just overlooked, they have given you their word, and then they do nothing about it. Have you ever had that feeling of you have pegged your hopes on someone because someone has said something. And you have trusted their word because they said something; you have put your hope on that, only for them to forget you. Three times Joseph faced these situations, which could have resulted in such bitterness in his life. Bitterness is one of those deadly things I want to look at in a moment. I do not know about you gardening types, you probably have noticed that good plants take a lot of work and effort to get them growing well. You have to plant them well, you need ideal conditions, good soil, lots of water, lots of care, just to get them flourishing. Weeds naturally grow, they do not mind if the ground is hard, they do not mind if the sun shines, they do not mind if there is no rain, they grow anywhere. It is the same with bitterness; you actually have to work hard to not let the weeds grow. You have to get the good plants to grow; you have to work hard to stop the weeds growing. Bitterness is one of those weeds; you actually have to make a choice to not let that thing grow in your heart. Joseph had every temptation to let bitterness grow, but he did not. I want to take a moment just to have a look, just how dangerous it is to let bitterness grow in our hearts. Hebrews chapter twelve verse fifteen: “15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” I want you to meditate on that verse just for a moment. You see, bitterness grows in our heart, if you allow it into a situation, if you allow bitterness, even for a while, to begin to settle over your heart. Those family members who turned against me, I was overlooked who have broken my trust. Whatever, I was falsely accused when someone lied about me, you allow the bitterness to settle in our hearts, begins to grow, begins to produce a root inside our hearts. And it says that root grows up to cause trouble. Now, this series is all about contentment, all about how do we walk content, satisfied and at peace before God. Now, here is a big enemy. That root produces in our lives, and when someone has a root of bitterness in their lives, they will never be able to walk in peace. If you allow bitterness to grow in your heart, that root will continually release things like frustration, cynicism, anger, defensiveness, it just keeps on producing them. If you have allowed, and it is so easy to allow bitterness to grow, we sacrifice our contentment. And my prayer through this series is: “God, I want to learn to walk content before you.” If we are serious about it, saying; “God I want to walk in your peace and contentment.” Then, it means saying no to bitterness no matter how easy it is. No matter how justified we think it might be. But that is not all, it says: “See to it no one misses the grace of God, but no bitter root grows up to cause trouble, and to defile many.” Here is the thing about bitterness. Bitterness can never be kept to yourself. You think I am angrier on the inside but everyone else is fine. What is happening is you have now become a bitter ingredient to the community around you. What this means is that every community that you are in, be it a group of people at work, or at school, or your family, whatever community you step into, you step in as that bicarbonate of soda. You step in with the toxicness in your heart that defiles many. You say it does not affect others, but it does. The Bible is clear, do not deceive yourself, you cannot keep bitterness to yourself, it will affect your whole family. It is going to affect your marriage, it is going to affect your friendships, it is going to affect the community around you. The Bible is clear, not only does bitterness will affect you, you lose your contentment, but it defiles. Defiles means pollute, it is like in every friendship you are dropping pollution because of that root in your heart. I know I am making it sound serious, but it is serious. It is a crucial thing, and that is the good news. That is the easy part, the real bad part is the way the verse starts, it says: “See to it that nobody misses the grace of God.” As much as bitterness affects the quality of your heart and contentment, as much as bitterness is toxic to the people around you, Jesus, is one of the most terrifying things He ever said, He was teaching His disciples to pray, He said: “Forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us.” And then to drive home His point, He said this: “For if you forgive men who sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” What happened is by allowing a bitter root grows in our hearts, you have affectively started missing the grace of God. We did a whole series last year called the grace zone, the grace zone is that zone of God’s blessing and favour and His will. I picture a shower, when the shower comes the water falls; there is a zone where the shower is falling. You can step into it, or you can step out of it. And God’s desire is that we step into His grace, and experience the power and the strengthening peace of God. But we can also choose to step out of it. What Jesus says here, if you choose not to forgive someone, you are choosing to allow bitterness to start growing; you step out of God’s grace, God’s forgiveness for your life. I want you see the gravity of just how big this thing of bitterness is. If we are going to finish this series of contentment, and learning to walk in God’s contentment, we cannot unless we have faced up to this real issue, I am never be able to walk in contentment if I am walking with the root of bitterness that grows in my heart. So, let us deal with it. How did Joseph do it? Joseph, who faced at least three opportunities to allow bitterness to take root. His family, or loved ones who had betrayed and hurt him, people who falsely accused and cheated him. People he put his hope in, only to have them forget him. How did Joseph respond? How did he live in victory here? I want to read the next passage from the story of his life, he has now taken out of prison after two full years, and now he becomes second to Pharaoh, God’s hand was upon him, he becomes the ruler of Egypt, there is a famine, and God is using him to store up the grain. Lo and behold, his brothers return. The source of all his bitterness has returned. All of this bitterness comes from that bitterness. If it was not the brothers who have sold him here, Potiphar would not have sold him here, and then Pharaoh’s servant would not have sold him there longer. So we trace it all the way back to the very source of the bitterness, his brothers. And here they come and bow before him. This is the moment, if you have a bitter heart, and you now have the source of all your bitterness, all those years of suffering, are now begging in front of you. Let us see how Joseph responded. Genesis chapter forty five verses four to eight: “⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! ⁵ And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. ⁶ For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no ploughing and reaping. ⁷ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.^{[a] 8} “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. ⁹ Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘this is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay.”  How did Joseph face the hurt and pain of betrayal, being overlooked, being lied about, how did he face that potential bitterness? Here is the secret, and this is huge. Joseph was able to look and not just see what is in front of him; he was able to look through what had happened to him, and behind that see the sovereignty of God. And this is the great secret, when we have a perspective, when our theology, our understanding of Jesus, our understanding of God is such that we understand that our God is sovereign. If you believe that God is sovereign, then you cannot be bitter. Let me say that again, if you really believe our God is sovereign, then there is no room in your life for bitterness. What it means to believe that God is sovereign means that God is over all. Yes, Adam and Eve sinned and opened the door for Satan to have his way, which means there is a mess in their lives, and hurt, and pain. Things happen and become victims. There is a lot of suffering, but when we believe that God is sovereign, it does not mean Satan and God are on the same level, God is over all. Jesus himself said in Matthew chapter twenty eight verse nineteen: “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” Someone once said, if Jesus has all authority, it means someone else has no authority. You see, this is the power of understanding our God, We begin to realize that yes, because of man’s sin, Satan is allowed a certain freedom, and he uses it to try to destroy our lives, but our God is sovereign, our God still puts boundary lines on what he can do. So Joseph, looking into that situation, was able to look beyond the hurt and pain and injustice. And see the hand of a sovereign God at work. When Jesus was on the cross, he was abused, he was lashed, we was bleeding, he was nailed to the cross, he was mocked, he was naked, he was humiliated, and in the midst of all that, He was able to look beyond the suffering now. The injustice now and it says for the joy set before Him, He was able to endure the cross and scorn the shame. He looked through the injustice and the hurt now, and saw the sovereignty of God behind it. That is the secret, people who can walk content before God, it does not mean to say they will not get hurt, they will, but through the hurt, they see the sovereignty of our God. People who only see the hurt and pain now, sadly usually fall into bitterness and live in that pain. I am not saying it is easy, but |I am saying that is where freedom and joy and a victory life. The sovereignty of our God means that God is over all, means that God is above all, and it means that God has the final say in all things. It says in Philippians chapter two verses nine to eleven: “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” That means Jesus is sovereign. I quoted it now, Matthew chapter twenty eight verse eighteen, Jesus came to him and said: “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” That means Jesus is sovereign. That is why we get a verse in Romans chapter eight verse twenty eight, Paul understood this, he understood that God is sovereign, and he could say, we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. Why? Because Jesus is sovereign. We have to let that revelation drop into our hearts today. It is not easy, but when we get this understanding of faith, no matter what happens to me God, I know that a greater hand is still over my life. No matter what happens to me now, I am going to still trust, still believe, and still persevere, because I have learnt to see through the hurt and pain of now the sovereignty of God. That means practically Joseph saw the sovereign hand of God, so he could forgive his brothers. As much as they thought they were doing wrong, no, God’s hand was behind this. And that is why I could forgive you. Jesus saw the sovereign of God, and so he could say to those who were crucifying Him in Luke chapter twenty three verse thirty four: “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Jesus saw the sovereign plan of God. What about Stephen? Stephen was the first Christian martyr after the church has been established, and he was preaching, and God was using him powerfully. So the Pharisees turned on him, they wanted to make an example of someone, and they chose to stone him. How did he respond? In Acts chapter seven verse fifty four: “When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him, but Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” Even in that situation, can you imagine a roll of people, angry, with rocks in their hands, you know exactly what they are going to do to you. Even in that situation, of all that hurt and pain coming his way, he looked through the situation, and says look. It carries on, verse fifty six, look, I see heaven open and the son of man standing on the right hand of God. At this, they covered their ears yelling at the top of their voices, they rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, they laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul while they were stoning him. Then, Stephen prayed and said: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he said this, he fell asleep. How do you do that? Stephen saw the sovereignty of God in the midst of his hurt and pain. That is the great secret to contentment in our lives. Can you, right now, in the situation you are facing, whether it is hurt or pain or fear or frustration, whatever it might be, blessed are those who have learnt to see the sovereign hand of God that rests on us. Bitter people can only see the injustice and pain that has been caused to them. Content people can see the sovereign hand, the sovereign plan and the sovereign God seated on high, and therefore can forgive. Here is the bottom line, all of us, the way we live our lives, the way we behave, is always based on what we believe. That is just the way it is, what we believe shapes how we behave. And the way we behave shapes how we are feeling. And so the root we have to deal with is what do you really believe? Do you really believe that Jesus is strong? Because when we believe that Jesus is strong, we learn to draw strength from him no matter what the circumstances. Do you really believe that Jesus is our shepherd? When we believe that Jesus is our shepherd, and even when we face fearful and difficult times, we can have the faith that He will lead us and guide us and feed us and take us through. Do you really believe that Jesus is the all sufficient one? That in Christ is everything we need for life and godliness. Because if you believe that, even if you feel a lack in your life, like a piece missing from your life puzzle, you will know the answer lies in my relationship with Jesus. His grace is enough for me. I want to ask you, do you really believe that Jesus is sovereign? Because if we believe that Jesus is sovereign, then there is no place left in our hearts to allow bitterness to settle and to take root. I started the series with this quote, and I am going to finish it saying God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. And the way we are going to be satisfied in Jesus is when we see His bigness, His strength, Jesus the shepherd, Jesus the all – sufficient one, Jesus the sovereign one. As we are satisfied in him, He becomes glorified in us, in Jesus Name.

Senior Pastor: Brent Brading

Website: Outlook Church