Longing for God: Navigating Earthly Desires Spiritually

In this sermon, I explored the profound theme of longing, a universal experience that transcends our immediate desires and points us toward a deeper, heavenly hunger. We began by acknowledging the complexity of our discussions on body, gender, and sexuality throughout our series, emphasizing the importance of respectful dialogue despite differing views. Our focus has always been on fostering a community centered on Jesus and the Bible, striving for clarity and compassion in our approach.

We delved into the concept of earthly longings as indicators of our heavenly hunger. These longings, whether they are for relationships, achievements, or personal fulfillment, often leave us feeling incomplete. This dissatisfaction, I argued, is not a flaw but a divine discontentment meant to draw us closer to God, the only source of true satisfaction.

I highlighted the biblical narrative of the Garden of Eden as the last moment humanity experienced life without sin and shame. This historical longing for a return to Eden reflects our deeper yearning for reconciliation with God, others, and the world. However, the reality of sin means we cannot return to Eden in this life. Instead, God is preparing something even better, a restored creation where our longings are fully and finally satisfied.

Throughout the sermon, I used the Apostle Paul’s teachings to the Galatians as a framework to discuss how we might navigate our longings. Paul warns against using our freedom in Christ as an opportunity for self-indulgence, which leads to the works of the flesh. Instead, he calls us to live by the Spirit, producing fruits such as love, joy, and peace, which align with God’s desires for us.

I also addressed the tension between following our hearts, which can be deceitful, and the cultural messages that encourage us to pursue our desires without restraint. By contrasting our strongest desires with our deepest ones, I encouraged our congregation to seek fulfillment in God rather than in temporary pleasures or achievements.

As we concluded the series, I urged everyone to consider how they might align their longings with God’s promises. This involves a daily commitment to pursuing holiness over wholeness, recognizing that while we may not experience complete satisfaction in this life, we can enjoy a foretaste of the heavenly fulfillment to come.

### Key Takeaways

1. **Earthly Longings as Heavenly Signals**: Our deepest longings, whether for love, purpose, or belonging, are not just fleeting desires but signals pointing us towards our need for God. These unfulfilled desires remind us that true satisfaction can only be found in a relationship with our Creator. This perspective helps us navigate disappointment and align our desires with God’s will. [05:10]

2. **Freedom and Responsibility in Christ**: The freedom we have in Christ is not a license for self-indulgence but an opportunity to serve others through love. This teaching from Galatians challenges us to use our freedom responsibly, avoiding the pitfalls of legalism and license, and instead, cultivating a life marked by the Spirit’s fruit. [09:10]

3. **The Deceitfulness of the Heart**: Our culture often tells us to "follow our heart," but the Bible warns that the heart is deceitful and desperately sick. Recognizing this can lead us to seek guidance and transformation from God rather than relying solely on our flawed instincts and desires. [10:29]

4. **The Narrow Path to True Life**: Jesus’ call to enter through the narrow gate is a reminder of the challenging yet rewarding path of discipleship. This path, while restrictive, leads to true life and freedom from the destructive patterns of this world. It invites us to a deeper commitment and reliance on God’s strength. [20:15]

5. **Living Between the 'Already' and 'Not Yet'**: As followers of Christ, we live in the tension between the already of God’s kingdom and the not yet of its full realization. This tension should inspire us to live with eternal perspective, engaging with the world in a way that reflects our ultimate hope in God’s promises. [25:43]

### Youtube Chapters

- [0:00] - Welcome
- [01:07] - Introduction to Final Week
- [02:26] - Prayer and Longing
- [03:50] - Reflecting on Glory Days
- [05:10] - Longing for Eden
- [06:32] - Personal and Universal Longings
- [07:50] - Paul's Letter to the Galatians
- [09:10] - Freedom and Responsibility
- [10:29] - The Deceitfulness of the Heart
- [13:14] - Destination of Our Desires
- [14:33] - Works of the Flesh and Fruit of the Spirit
- [16:11] - Following Jesus in Brokenness
- [17:38] - Sanctification and Eternal Perspective
- [18:52] - Closing Remarks and Invitation

### Bible Reading
1. **Galatians 5:13-14 (ESV)**: "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."
2. **Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV)**: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"
3. **Matthew 7:13-14 (ESV)**: "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

### Observation Questions
1. What does Paul warn the Galatians about using their freedom for in Galatians 5:13-14?
2. According to Jeremiah 17:9, how is the human heart described, and what implications does this have for following our desires?
3. In Matthew 7:13-14, what are the two paths Jesus describes, and what are their outcomes?

### Interpretation Questions
1. How does Paul’s teaching in Galatians 5:13-14 challenge the idea of using freedom for self-indulgence? How does this relate to the concept of serving others through love? [09:10]
2. What does Jeremiah 17:9 suggest about the reliability of our own hearts and desires? How should this influence our decision-making and pursuit of longings? [10:29]
3. How does Jesus’ description of the narrow and wide gates in Matthew 7:13-14 relate to the sermon’s message about the challenging yet rewarding path of discipleship? [20:15]

### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a time when you used your freedom in Christ for self-indulgence. How can you shift your focus towards serving others through love in your daily life? [09:10]
2. Considering Jeremiah 17:9, identify a recent decision where you followed your heart. How did it turn out? What steps can you take to seek God’s guidance in future decisions? [10:29]
3. Jesus calls us to enter through the narrow gate. What are some specific challenges you face in following this path? How can you rely on God’s strength to overcome these challenges? [20:15]
4. The sermon mentioned the tension between following our hearts and cultural messages. How do you discern between your strongest desires and your deepest ones? What practices can help you align your desires with God’s will? [11:54]
5. The concept of living between the "already" and "not yet" was discussed. How does this tension affect your daily life and decisions? What can you do to maintain an eternal perspective in your actions and thoughts? [25:43]
6. Think about a longing you have that remains unfulfilled. How can you reframe this longing as a signal pointing you towards a deeper relationship with God? What practical steps can you take to seek fulfillment in Him? [05:10]
7. The sermon emphasized the importance of pursuing holiness over wholeness. Identify one area in your life where you can commit to pursuing holiness. What specific actions will you take to grow in this area? [18:52]

Day 1: Earthly Longings Point to Divine Desires
Our deepest yearnings for love, purpose, and belonging often manifest as earthly desires, yet they are profound indicators of our inherent need for a relationship with God. These longings, which can sometimes lead to feelings of dissatisfaction or incompleteness, are not mere whims but signals that true fulfillment can only be found in God. This perspective not only helps us navigate through times of disappointment but also realigns our desires with God’s will, encouraging us to seek satisfaction in what is eternal rather than what is fleeting. [05:10]

Psalm 63:1-2 (ESV): "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory."

Reflection: How can identifying and understanding your deepest longings change your approach to daily living and decision-making?

Day 2: Freedom in Christ Calls for Responsible Living
The freedom we receive through Christ is not an excuse for self-indulgence but a call to live responsibly, serving others in love. This teaching from Galatians encourages us to avoid the extremes of legalism and license, focusing instead on cultivating a life characterized by the fruits of the Spirit. By living in this manner, we not only adhere to God’s desires but also positively influence those around us, demonstrating the transformative power of God’s love. [09:10]

Galatians 5:13-14 (ESV): "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Reflection: In what ways can you use your freedom in Christ to serve others more effectively this week?

Day 3: The Heart’s Deceit and the Need for Divine Guidance
Our culture often encourages us to "follow our heart," but Scripture warns us of the heart's deceitfulness. This realization should prompt us to seek wisdom and transformation from God, relying not on our flawed instincts but on divine guidance. By understanding the true condition of our hearts, we can pursue a path of spiritual renewal that aligns our desires with God’s purposes, leading to genuine life transformation. [10:29]

Jeremiah 17:9-10 (ESV): "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 'I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.'"

Reflection: What is one area in your life where you need to challenge the guidance of your heart and seek God’s wisdom instead?

Day 4: Choosing the Narrow Path to True Life
Jesus’ call to enter through the narrow gate is not merely a warning but an invitation to a fulfilling life under God’s reign. This path, while seemingly restrictive, frees us from the destructive patterns of this world and leads to true freedom and life. It requires a deep commitment and reliance on God’s strength, but it is here that we find the peace and joy that come from walking in obedience to God’s will. [20:15]

Matthew 7:13-14 (ESV): "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

Reflection: What does choosing the narrow path look like in your current life circumstances? How can you more fully embrace this journey?

Day 5: Living in the Tension of the ‘Already’ and ‘Not Yet’
As followers of Christ, we exist in the tension between the present reality of God’s kingdom and the future fullness of its realization. This position should not lead us to disengage from the world but to live with an eternal perspective, actively participating in God’s redemptive work. By maintaining our hope in God’s promises, we can navigate the challenges of this life while looking forward to the ultimate fulfillment of God’s kingdom. [25:43]

Hebrews 6:18-19 (ESV): "So that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain."

Reflection: How can you better embody the hope of God’s promises in your interactions and decisions this week?

Well, hey, good morning, Menlo Church, and welcome to our final week in our Wonderfully Made series, where we've been trying to offer compassionate clarity around the body, gender, and sexuality.

Some of you are like, "Wait, this is the last week?" And some of you are like, "Thank God this is the last week." I heard it put this way: this week we want to offer the widest welcome to the narrow path of following Jesus. That's our heart as a community.

A special welcome to all of our Bay Area campuses in San Mateo, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Saratoga, and those of you joining us online. We're so thankful that you have chosen to continue with us in this conversation, not just in our weekends together and services and messages, but through all the other resources and events that you can learn more about at menlo.church/wonderfullymade.

Now, a couple of reminders as we finish up this series today.

Number one, we don't have to agree in order to show respect. There are lots of people who will see and understand this differently, and we want to be accountable. We want to be accountable. We want to be accountable. We want to be accountable. That brings hope to everyone.

With that in mind, please don't clap at any point. What encourages you may be actually painful for someone else to hear, and we don't want to create an unnecessary barrier to them listening and processing this in their life.

Number two, we are a community centered on Jesus and the Bible. This conversation represents our best understanding of those topics through the whole of Scripture, not a handful of passages that we've pulled out of context to prove a point or to take a side. I'm not trying to debate. I'm not trying to argue. I believe that clarity is kindness, and this has been our approach to model that.

And then number three, we are trying to build bridges, not walls. In our church, we recognize regularly that we are all sinners in need of grace. If you think you hear me single out a person or a group, just listen again, because I'm aiming to make sure that we are all at the foot of the cross together, myself included. I've needed grace in this series.

We are wonderfully made and broken by sin, and we need grace. We need grace. We need grace. We need grace. We need grace together at the same time in need of a Savior universally. So I hope that that's been made clear over these five weeks together.

So with that in mind, kind of as our disclaimer today, we are talking about longing. Some of this series, so much of this series points to the brokenness of our world and the longing that we have collectively and individually for connection, community, and fulfillment that even in the best earthly circumstances, even if your life is going well, you still feel these deeper heavenly longings that we're going to take a look at.

Before we begin, I'm going to pray for us. And if you've never been here or never heard me speak, before I speak, I pray kneeling. Part of the reason that I do that is to serve as a reminder to myself about those deepest, truest longings inside of me that I want God to be more deeply the thing that's driving my life and the lesser longings of my life to submit more fully to Him.

Would you pray with me?

God, all of us came into this room with expectations met and unmet from the week past and the weeks to come. And so I pray, God, that you would work in the circumstances of our life, that we would see you, that we would understand we can only be fully and finally satisfied in you, and that over the next few minutes together, you would help all of us to come to the foot of the cross and to see our need for a Savior, not just one time, sometime, but every time, every moment of our lives. It's in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now, as we get older, we all have the glory days moment that we can think back to. All of us have some version of that. For some people, it's high school. Maybe there was a peak moment. Maybe it was a sport or a club that you were a part of. It was like a varsity jacket that every now and then you pull out and see if it still fits.

Maybe it was a peak moment in your career, and you have that plaque above you, behind you, as you're on every Zoom call just so people can see it. Maybe it's a huge athletic feat that you experienced as a kid. Maybe it's a huge athletic feat that you experienced as a kid. Maybe it's as an adult or some milestone in your family.

We can all look back, but I actually think it's bigger than even that. For years, my wife Alyssa was a CrossFit trainer, and she would talk about the people that were the most difficult to coach as the glory days athletes. It wasn't the inexperienced people. They knew that they needed help. They were open to it. They were coachable.

It was the people who were trying to, after not working out for a decade, immediately return to their decade-old maxes in whatever lift they were doing.

Whether you can relate to that or not, I think we all have glory days that don't just point back to peak moments in our life. We all have actually the same glory day, in a sense, in the Garden of Eden. Genesis, the first book in the Hebrew Scriptures, records it this way: "And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed."

Now, we are not going back to the sexuality talk. That's week two. You can go back and listen to it if you missed it. But in this, beyond the reminder and the description of marriage, we see the last described moment when humanity existed without sin and without shame.

Ever since the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden, we have longed for this moment inside of us, whether we're people of faith or not. I believe that you have a longing. I have a longing to live in harmony with the world, with other people, and with God. But we can never seem to quite reach it.

For some of you, it always feels like it's just a matter of time before you can reach it. But for some of you, it feels like a little bit of a reach out in front of you. For others, it feels like this massive reach that's completely unattainable.

But see, God is bringing something better than Eden because we can't get back to that one. And for that reason, we're going to look at this idea that all earthly longings point to heavenly hunger. This appetite, this deeper hunger and longing that you have inside of you is on purpose and for a purpose.

And if this is true, and we can all acknowledge that of our lives, it begs an important question, which is, what are you longing for? Is it as simple as a superficial bump at work, right? "Oh, I got that promotion. I got that pay raise."

Maybe for you, it's the special someone that you hope will notice you. Maybe you're a student, and the thing you're hoping for is to just survive the next few weeks. Some of us, we're longing to go back in time to change a critical decision that now we see as a mistake we made somewhere in our life.

You're longing maybe to be physically restored or to be healed from something that you are not in control of. You feel no power. Maybe you're longing to have your kids talk to you again, or you're longing for your marriage to feel like more than a roommate.

Some of you, you're processing longings around the vision of gender and sexuality from the Scriptures that we've been talking about in this series, and it feels impossible. Maybe you even agree that it's what we find in the pages of Scripture, but you can't imagine living that way. And I can't imagine what that feels like.

In Scripture, we are all called to die to ourselves piece by piece as we follow Jesus, but you feel like you have to do it all at once. You aren't dying to yourself; it feels like your self is dying, and I don't want to minimize that. But I want to highlight how universal this need is for all of us.

Even if you have maybe felt singled out through church world, through a church, through a conversation like this one, which I'm so sorry, like we all have longings that are unsettled and unsolved.

I want to open a letter with you written to a group of churches in the first century in the region of Galatia, what we now know to be modern Turkey, as Paul addresses a young group of Jesus followers who were battling, on the one hand, legalism and on the other side, license, this battle that actually we still have today.

These early Christians had been doing so well beginning to follow Jesus until a group known as the Judaizers came in and disrupted this movement. They were insisting that Gentiles, or non-Jewish people, that were trying to follow Jesus had to also follow the Jewish law in order to follow Jesus, especially circumcision.

Now let me be very clear. When you come to a Next Step environment at Menlo, we want you to take a step. We have lots of opportunities for you to get engaged and for Next Steps for you to take. I want to be very upfront: circumcision is not on that list here at Menlo Church, right?

Paul is trying to help them understand that Jesus came to set them free. He fulfilled the ceremonial and civil laws so that we don't have to. And he makes such a strong case in the book of Galatians that now he's actually writing to retort the extremes of his own argument.

He says it this way: "For you are called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another."

The flesh here is one of the three enemies that the New Testament describes that we really should be cognizant and looking out for as we're trying to follow Jesus. Our internal longings, which are rooted in earthly desires, have divine roots. But the tangible appetite is often very dangerous and damaging for all of us.

One of the things that's said a lot in our culture is the sense in which God didn't make a mistake on me. Or something like, "Follow your heart." It's this sense in which if you feel it, if you want it, you should do it. It's this rationalization for approving the temptations of our flesh, and we see it everywhere.

It's true, by the way, that God didn't make a mistake on you. That's very true. It is also true that humanity made a mistake on humanity. In the Garden of Eden and ever since, we are simultaneously created in the image of God with infinite dignity, value, and worth, and terminally ill with the answer of sin.

We are both of those things at the same time. It's the grace and truth of Jesus, like we talked about last week. We aren't all as bad as we could possibly be, but we're also not all good either. And evil has infected us at levels as human beings that we aren't even aware of.

Jeremiah, a prophet known so clearly for sharing for God's people Israel what it meant to understand really the bad news of who we are in some ways, he actually was known as the weeping prophet. He described it so clearly. He said it this way: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it?"

And then you think about that cultural statement: "Just follow your heart." That's the heart we're talking about.

When I was in high school, the moment that I got my driver's license, I was free. I was free of an abusive father. I was free of an overwhelmed mother. I spent as little time as possible from that moment forward at my house as I could.

And I was going to get as far away from there and as fast as I could as possible, which I took a little too literally based on my high school driving record, right? I wanted an adventure with safe people that wanted to know me. I wanted to be known by a community of people that I could discover over time.

My longings, they were rooted in good things, but I settled for something less than what I was made for. And we all do that. I wanted wholeness, not holiness. Now, they are related, but they are not the same. And oftentimes we will settle for the lesser of the two.

When we aim at our appetites, we miss the substance that God has really given to fuel us. Author John Mark Comer puts it this way: "Our strongest desires are not actually our deepest desires."

My point is simply this: our deepest desires, usually to become people of goodness and love, are often sabotaged by the stronger surface-level desires of our flesh. All healthy, free people self-edit this inner mix of desires.

We all have these, what sometimes get called intrusive thoughts. We all have these desires that are true desires. And if we were following our heart, we would follow them, but we know they're not good for us. And so we don't.

We just inform those sometimes culturally entirely by our moment, entirely by our desires and not God. Again, I don't want to minimize your desires. I think that we actually often desire too little and in the wrong direction, myself included.

Whether we have made maybe our present or maybe for you a future marriage into an idol that it can't withstand the pressure of your life, or maybe a vision of sexual fulfillment that will never leave us fully satisfied. Because remember, all earthly longings point to heavenly hunger. None of them will be fully and finally satisfied this side of eternity.

Now, in the same letter, the Apostle Paul expounds on the concept of how we make a choice about which desire we will honor in our lives, not just our instant appetite, but our heavenly hunger, which can only be satisfied in God.

And it asks the question, what's the destination of your desires? If everything that you wanted in your life and you just kept following it, where is it taking you? What is the end result of it?

Have you ever gotten what you wanted only to realize that it didn't have the power to fully and finally satisfy you? We often forget about it because we're so quick to think about the next thing.

But maybe it was that girl or that guy that you just knew they complete you until they completely frustrated you. For some of you, that's how you feel about me, and that's hurtful.

But all of our relationships, if we ask them to be divine, all of our relationships, if we ask that person to be Jesus, they will disappoint us. We feel this way if we think back at any point in our lives about a decade.

Think back a decade ago and think about the decisions that you were making. Can you even remember? Can you remember what you did? Can you remember the things that you desperately had to have?

Here's what I'll tell you. There are things that a decade ago God said no to, and you are saying now, if you can think of them, you're saying, "Thank you, God, for saying no to that request." Because we are terrible judges of what's good for us.

That's why God shows us a path, this narrow way to follow Him into this better life and kingdom. It couldn't hold the weight of our expectations because your expectations are divine. They're longing for something deeper.

Paul warns the churches in Galatia, in the region, about following their flesh and what it can do. He says it this way: "Now, the works of the flesh are evident. They're obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies."

And if you're thinking, "My thing's not on the list," he says, "and things like these." Like, whatever you're thinking about right now, he's going, "That one too."

He says, "I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law."

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Now, I want you to notice something. There are multiple desires in this list around the flesh that focus on sexuality, but they aren't specifically calling out any single community. Remember, we are all sexually broken, and this list reminds us that we are all completely broken without Jesus.

That without Jesus, there is no performance to the level necessary to get to God on our own. That's why Jesus had to come. As a matter of fact, one of the things that we said was we're going to follow Jesus and we're going to remember that he is the only means by which any of us can be saved.

He's the only means by which any of us can grow and change over time. Paul says that if we want to grow, we have to remember that we have crucified the flesh, those natural impulses and instincts of broken self.

We said that we wouldn't pursue the destinations of our desires when we said we would pursue Jesus instead. That saying yes to Jesus means saying no to many other things. It's the widest welcome to the narrow way.

We want to commit to letting Jesus change our appetites every single day. That's true for all of us. As a matter of fact, the good news of that is that God gives us our entire lives.

Now, we know that because maybe you made a decision to follow Jesus and you thought everything in my life is going to be fixed, and you discovered the truth, which is when we make a decision to follow Jesus, not everything in our life is all better.

It's a lifelong process of transformation. It's been said that when we choose to follow Jesus, we are freed from the eternal penalty of sin. It's this word justification that when God sees you, he sees Jesus in your place.

That as we grow in Jesus, we are increasingly freed from the power of sin. That's the word sanctification. It's a process that God is faithful, and he will work on you and work to redeem you and change you to look more and more like the best vision of you following him every single day of your life.

And in heaven, the new heavens and the new earth, eternity with him, we will be free from the presence of sin. And understanding that over time, this is not once done, and if something's wrong, I must have done it wrong. It's that this was always the path that God had in front of him.

Now, again, it's easy for me to say, right? The cisgendered, heterosexual, married pastor is telling me to just remember heaven's coming. Yay, thanks, Phil.

And here's the thing. I'll say to those areas, they're absolutely easier for me than someone in the LGBTQ community or maybe you're facing a season of unwanted singleness and a longing in this area.

I don't know why God has allowed that season for you, those desires for you, that dysphoria for you, that discomfort for you. I have my own story, my own pain, my own temptation to battle with.

But for so many of you, the sexual ethic of Jesus, it feels like a weight you can't carry. And I wish that I could give you a more emotionally satisfying answer. But I hope that what you've seen is a compassionate clarity and a community that says, we want to walk with you in it together.

This side of heaven, we may never feel wholeness, but we can pursue holiness more and more every day toward a deeper wholeness than the world has to offer. Even if it's incomplete, it will look much closer to the one God's made us to experience.

Classic pastor and author Charles Spurgeon puts it this way: "We must strive after holiness with an agony of desire."

We have such an instant satisfaction culture around us all the time. And this idea that there is something we would long for and pursue that would take a long time to get feels totally counterintuitive, but we're built for it.

Remember the words of Jesus about this unique and special call to a life that is impossible without him. He says, "Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

Look, we can offer the widest welcome to the most people, and I hope we do. But we offer the widest welcome to the narrow way.

There are desires that God has allowed, I think, in all of us whose primary purpose may be to remind us of our dissatisfaction with a broken world and the promise of a restored one.

Even if you're not a person of faith, even if you wouldn't call yourself a Christian, that longing inside of you that no matter what you've achieved, no matter what you've chased, no matter what you found, it hasn't satisfied you. I think that's a divine discontentment.

Jesus isn't using this language to condemn people, but to highlight the true cost of pursuing the way of this better kingdom. Many that had come to see, they were always receiving the invitation from Jesus to come and die.

They'd come and see, but they would need to come and die. And I think that transition of come and see to come and die, we have not always done a great job of communicating, but that is always the path of the follower of Jesus.

Author Ruth Haley Barton, she points to this deeper longing this way. She says, "Your desire for more of God than you have right now, your longing for love, your need for deeper levels of spiritual transformation than you have experienced so far, is the truest thing about you."

You might think that your woundedness or your sinfulness is the truest thing about you, or that your giftedness or your personality type or your job title, your identity as a husband, wife, mother, father somehow defines you.

But in reality, it is your desire for God and your capacity to reach for more of God than you have right now that is your deepest essence.

One of the things that I love about you, Menlo Church, is how much you think about and ponder the ways of God in your life and in the world. I'll mention a book, and you've read like every book of that author the next week. It's crazy. It's amazing.

In this series, specifically, I've had many conversations over coffee and email, everything in between, about how you're processing and praying through what you're learning and what we're talking about. I'm so thankful for that. I'm like that too, actually.

But there is a reason why I'm so thankful for that. There's a shadow to being introspective that I want to make sure we are clear about. The shadow of a deep faith of the mind is that there can be a barrier between the faith of our mind and the faith of our life.

We think very deeply, but we don't live as deep as we think. We have become educated beyond our obedience. And so I want to make sure that we take just a few moments as we wrap this to be able to say, what are the next steps that I might want to take?

Especially if God has revealed in me a distance that I might want to take. I want to make sure that I have a disconnect, a gap between this biblical ethic we've been talking about and my own impulses, temptations, and desires.

Well, the first thing is your choice would be with this dissonance that you feel is to maximize pleasure. It's what our world is telling you to do. It's the oppression and repression conversation that we had in the second week of the series.

We live in a culture that is regularly evangelizing you to this worldview. This isn't about any single group, by the way. We all face this temptation. All of us.

And really, here's just a quick caution in maximizing pleasure. It will never be enough. Whatever pleasure you think you can get through that action, activity, identity, it's like chasing a high that neurologically we know every time you chase it, you need more of it to get the same thing that you experienced before.

And if you want to hear how the Bible might describe that, go to the book of James written by Jesus' baby brother. James chapter 1, verses 13 through 15 will give you the story of the book of James.

And if you want to hear how the Bible describes the spiritual trajectory of what happens when we chase this unfulfilling path on our own. So that's one option.

The second choice is to minimize the problems. It's not really that big of a deal. They're exaggerating. It can't really be that problematic in my life. I can just pretend.

I can pretend that I don't have these desires. I can live separated and bifurcated in my life where I do this over here and do that over there. It's not that big of a deal.

I would say this usually leads to self-hatred. And it's marked by false senses of self-righteousness. As you see people choosing other options, you feel very, very bitter and angry.

And then finally, we could choose to magnify the promise. With this choice, we choose to live surrendered lives where we submit our immediate desires to point to God's eternal promises.

Promises of eternal wholeness and holiness that are offered in one incredible vision. A return to Eden that waits for followers of Jesus. And this time, there are no trees that are off limits.

There are no decisions you could make that would get you banished because the same thing that qualifies you for entrance is the same thing that keeps you in. That's no longer your obedience, but the obedience, standing, and status of Jesus.

The same Jesus that saved you will keep you forever. For some of you, there are big, big questions that you're bringing to the Press and Sprinkle events this week, and I'm so glad for that.

For others, you've signed up at menlo.church/wonderfullymade to indicate interest in specific groups or other events that you're going to be a part of. I'm so glad for that too.

Remember, this series was designed not to build a wall, but to build bridges, to open up a conversation, to make this to be a place that you can be open and honest about what you're experiencing, thinking, and enduring.

That through the pain and the shortcomings that we all face, we can find Jesus together. Our lives are supposed to show the forever promise of living with longings today that can never be satisfied without eternity.

I want to finish with an excerpt from Ruth Cho Simons' book, *Now and Not Yet*, in which she provides a liturgy for when expectations are unmet.

And then I want to play a spoken word video for you from Brie Erb, a single woman who beautifully described some of her own pain in this journey. Some of this may be helpful for you.

So maybe as I read this, I would just encourage you to steady yourself. Maybe that's turn off your phone right now, but if you're taking notes, set those aside. If there's distractions, remove them.

I know that might mean you got to get up and sit down. I'm just playing. Maybe just put your palms up if you feel comfortable, eyes open, eyes closed, whatever allows you to be present in this moment as I read this excerpt for you.

"I have expectations, Lord, buried so deep inside me that most friends are not. I have expectations, Lord, buried so deep inside me that most friends are not. My friends and family will never fully know until my expectations erupt, boil over, and spread to reveal my secret longings.

I am neither the master nor the ruler of my life. So teach me to acknowledge what is true and to submit to your rule and reign, your wise ways, your perfect timing in all things, your purpose in pain, your allowance for disappointments, your delay in deliverance.

Right now, may not be what I want, but tune my heart to sing your grace. Even here, where I feel the dissonance of being out of tune, let me lean in and listen to the melody of your faithfulness today so that even my expectations are transformed into longings that reflect your heart for me.

Do what feels impossible for me, but is more than feasible by your hand, O Lord. Amen."

### Quotes for Outreach

1. "Even if you're not a person of faith, even if you wouldn't call yourself a Christian, that longing inside of you that no matter what you've achieved, no matter what you've chased, no matter what you found, it hasn't satisfied you. I think that's a divine discontentment." [20:15](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)

2. "One of the things that's said a lot in our culture is the sense in which God didn't make a mistake on me. Or something like, follow your heart. It's this sense in which if you feel it, if you want it, you should do it. It's this rationalization for approving the temptations of our flesh, and we see it everywhere." [09:10](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)

3. "Our strongest desires are not actually our deepest desires. My point is simply this. Our deepest desires, usually to become people of goodness and love, are often sabotaged by the stronger surface level desires of our flesh." [11:54](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)

4. "We all have these desires that are true desires. And if we were following our heart, we would follow them, but we know they're not good for us. And so we don't. We just inform those sometimes culturally entirely by our moment, entirely by our desires and not God." [11:54](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)

### Quotes for Members

1. "Our lives are supposed to show the forever promise of living with longings today that can never be satisfied without eternity." [25:43](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)

2. "The freedom we have in Christ is not a license for self-indulgence but an opportunity to serve others through love. This teaching from Galatians challenges us to use our freedom responsibly, avoiding the pitfalls of legalism and license, and instead, cultivating a life marked by the Spirit’s fruit." [09:10](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)

3. "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? And then you think about that cultural statement. Just follow your heart. That's the heart we're talking about." [10:29](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)

4. "Jesus’ call to enter through the narrow gate is a reminder of the challenging yet rewarding path of discipleship. This path, while restrictive, leads to true life and freedom from the destructive patterns of this world." [20:15](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)

5. "As followers of Christ, we live in the tension between the already of God’s kingdom and the not yet of its full realization. This tension should inspire us to live with eternal perspective, engaging with the world in a way that reflects our ultimate hope in God’s promises." [17:38](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)