What This World Needs

What this world needs

is not another one hit wonder with an axe to grind,

another two bit politician peddlin` lies,

another three ring circus society.

What this world needs

is not another sign wavin` super saint that’s better than you,

another ear pleasin` candy man afraid of the truth,

another prophet in an Armani suit.

What this world needs

is a Savior who will rescue,

A Spirit who will lead,

A Father who will love them in their time of need.

Introduction:

The verses of this Casting Crowns song illuminate some of the things that we don’t need and quite well I might add. Let me ask you all, who here thinks we haven’t heard enough about Brittney Spears or Paris Hilton or even Mylie Cyrus? Who here is frustrated that they haven’t seen enough commercials with Barak Obama or John McCain telling us they approve this message? Well nobody really want more politicians and we don’t really need any more super market tabloids telling us about the latest celebrity break up or pregnancy or visit to rehab. How about the “good” celebrities, like Joel Osteen or TD Jakes? Sure they’re great guys and I suppose we’ll even worship with them in heaven one day but do we really need another mega-church pastor telling us about the 7 steps to living life to your full potential. Not that these kinds of ideas are bad I have preached similar sermon series myself. The point is that there are plenty of self help and self improvement techniques out there, I am not sure we need any more.

So we don’t need politicians or celebrities or self help guru’s, Christian or otherwise. But what about guys like Benny Hinn. Obviously science isn’t winning the battle against cancer and sickness and such. Maybe we need another faith healer like him Living in a 7 bedroom 8 bathroom 7000+ sq ft home (Valued at around $10M) and shopping at Louis Vuitton on Rodeo drive. Well Maybe not... What we really need is Jesus.

The song says a savior who will rescue, a spirit who will lead, a father who will love them in their time of need. That in itself would make a great 3 point sermon but were going to stick a little closer to scripture because, ironically, we don’t need another Christian music group telling us how to live either.

I did a lot of research on the study of basic human needs. I looked at Maslow’s hierarchy of Human needs. I looked others like Burton, Sites, and Hegel. The interesting thing is that few of them agree on what the needs are and at one point a study referred to Maslow’s hierarchy as “nothing more than a fools daydream.” I think the reason that all of these discussions of human need stop short of addressing the eternal soul of each and every human being. So the needs I am going to talk about this morning address that very issue. I have listed 5, there may be more, but these 5 are certain. Not necessarily ranked by importance they are as follows:

1. The need to have fellowship with God

2. The need for salvation from Sin

3. The need for guidance in life

4. The need for spiritual sustenance

5. The need for immortality

Starting with the first need, the need for fellowship with God you will see a pattern of how Jesus fulfills each of these needs. So let’s get started.

The need to have fellowship with God

It is easy to deny that we have this need, but just look at history. Every civilization in some way bears record of man’s search for God. The concepts of God over time may vary but it is undeniable that mankind through out history has been united in this need to know God. Paul explained why this need is instinctive in the heart of mankind in Acts 17:24-28. He created us this way.

Everyone who denies this need goes through life constantly searching yet never finding full satisfaction. Whenever you hear about someone who has exhausted their search looking for satisfaction without God they often agree with King Solomon when he said “All is vanity and grasping for wind” Ecclesiastes 1:12-14.

It is only when we come to have fellowship with God that life can be complete. King Solomon later in the book of Ecclesiastes that man’s purpose is to fear God and keep his commandments – Ecc 12:13-14. Jesus in quoting the OT said “man does not live by bread alone.” Mt 4:4

However it doesn’t stop there Jesus demonstrates to us how he meets our need for fellowship with God. In John 14:7-9 he says if he know him and have fellowship with Him; in that we have fellowship with God. The verse right before that, verse 6, we learn that Jesus is the one and only way to God. Faith in and a relationship with Jesus is fellowship with God.