Here is a point that may not need to be said. Contentment is destroyed by sin! There’s no nice way to say it, so there it is. Sin has this ability to totally devastate our lives. At times its devastation is direct and at other times it is subtler. But make no mistake, sin will destroy your contentment.

As we turn to the Book of 1John we look at chapter 3. In verse 8 the Bible says "He that does what is sinful is of the devil." And it continues..."No one who is born of God will continue to sin.". We need to keep these words in mind. As we come to chapter 5 we find these words: "This is love for God, to obey his commands. And His commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world." As we turn to the Gospel of John we read these words in chapter 15. "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Fathers’ commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."

Contentment from God comes to those who allow God to be in control of their lives. It can not be said any clearer or easier. The joy of the Holy Spirit will not rest on you if you are not in obedience to the commands of God. Let me argue this from a minor point to a major point. Since joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, when joy is not present the tree is bare. There is no love, joy, peace, patience, etc. They may be present in worldly form but not in the soul satisfying proportion that Jesus describes.

The process of contentment, true godly contentment is a road that is long fought. It begins by accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior. It grows as we become obedient to Christ. Now along the way we are going to sin, but the general trend will be to overcome the world. We all have ups and downs but there is a consistency in fighting sin. We have that consistency because we have Christ. Without Christ it is not possible to fight sin. Without Christ, fighting sin will be an empty, hollow fight. Without Christ fighting sin will leave us empty and we will begin to wonder why we even come to Church. In Chapter 2 of 1John it speaks of the Anti Christ. Those who used to go to Church but gave it up because Christ really wasn’t part of their lives. If he was they would have overcome the world.

That leaves us with a duty. Knowing that sin is so deceptive and that it totally erodes our contentment, we need to get it out of our lives. And we need to watch each other lest a sin overtake one of us and we need to help someone else get it out of their lives.

It is interesting to note how sin destroys our contentment. First of all sin is a breaking of God’s Holy Law. What it in effect does is separate us from God. Sin takes us out of fellowship with Jesus. It focuses our hearts on something other than God to give us meaning in life. Instead of God being in control, we give that control to someone or something else. Next week we are going to talk about giving control of our lives to someone else. This week we are focussing on giving control of our lives to something else. That something else is sin. When sin takes control it pays its wage....death. The soul that sins, it will die. Be assured of this: Sin will not go unpunished. It will strike at the very fabric of our humanity and break it down like acid. The resulting pain and emptiness is a result of drinking from a broken cistern. There was no water in it. It didn’t satisfy. We still thirst. Sin has no power. It only robs us of what little contentment we had and leaves in its place, hardship, shame and guilt. It may be fun for a little while but eventually it will suck the life out of us. What we have ended up doing is trading enduring contentment for momentary happiness. And that doesn’t last long...does it?

We are in a world that is addicted to happiness. And they trade true contentment for a momentary piece of happiness here or there. They search for thrills but the high of the thrill doesn’t last long. They go to amusement parks or parties or this or that. But the happiness only lasts for a short time. Eventually they are less satisfied with the everyday pleasures that life has to offer and they go deeper. Deeper into the happiness addiction hoping that it will hide the deep emptiness down inside. But it never lasts and we are eventually left with the emptiness inside. Won’t you trade your idol of happiness for Godly contentment? For deep soul satisfying contentment that will free you from loneliness, guilt, shame and emptiness?

There is another way to avoid God’s call to contentment. Keep yourself busy with some other addiction. Some people keep themselves busy at work, or drunk, or whatever just to escape that awful feeling that something is wrong. It never works. All of our addictions just push us to destruction. You feel something is wrong and you turn to a chocolate bar, or you go out to buy the latest fashion. Or you get drunk, or get popular, or use a new drug…But again it all ends the same way. You are just running from the fact that deep down inside you want something to make you feel better. That something has always been, and will always be, a relationship with Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can heal you from the inside out. Band-Aid shopping sprees and alcohol won’t.

If we want lasting contentment, it can only be found in obeying Christ through love. Only by allowing God to be in control of our lives can we begin to live like authentic human beings. God has called us all to be a great people. That greatness is realized when we allow the Spirit of God to grab us and begin to mold us into that person God wants us to be. Let me tell you now...you don’t need sin in order to be happy. If you think you do then you are living a lie. You are merely trying to be happy to hide that emptiness inside. Suck it up and get right with God. Only then will you know true peace and contentment. Only then will you begin to feel good about yourself.