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"Satisfied, Yet Hungry"
Jim Newcomer, Associate Pastor
 
Paul’s passion for the “surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:8, NASB) reminds me of a chorus that is special to my own heart.  The lyrics give wings to my worship with affirmations that Christ is my “all in all” and the “treasure that I seek.” 

Why is He our “all in all”…the “treasure” that we seek?  I think that A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) powerfully answers that question when he writes,

The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One.  Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness.  Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight.  Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever.  (Parsons; Emphasis added)

Tozer’s words remind me of Christ’s own words recorded in Matthew 6:21—“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  He also taught that  “the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matt 13:44).

Isn’t it true that the more we taste the sweetness of Christ, the more we embrace the treasure of Christ, the more we glimpse the glory of Christ…
    1. The more we will want to taste and embrace and glimpse His sweetness, treasure and glory!

    2. There will be a godly frustration with what we call “religion”—Our Christian “routine”…Our scattered thoughts during worship…Our smooth knees that support our daily weight…Our passionless pursuit of Christ and our tireless trek towards evaporating, substitute messiahs…Our fleeting years and opportunity to worship and enjoy Him by faith before sight…Our daily fatigue from chasing after the wind of riches, reputation and Christian ritual.
What I am saying is this:  The more we taste, embrace and glimpse all Christ is, the more rapid will be our pace Christward as we flee with great resolve the shallowness and emptiness of mere “religious” exercise.  We’ll pant after the Pauline passion—“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ” (Phil 3:7-8).

We may even begin to pray like Tozer (Pursuit of God)—“O, God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more.  I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace.  I am ashamed of my lack of desire.  O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.” (Emphasis added)

So, let’s taste the sweetness of Christ…embrace the treasure of Christ…glimpse the glory of Christ as we head into autumn.  He’s not a principle to memorize; He is a person to know and our God to worship.