This one comes to us from SM White.
I can’t get no satisfaction…I try and I try and I try and I try…When I’m watchin’ my TV and a man comes on and tells me how white my shirts can be. But he can’t be a man ’cause he doesn’t smoke the same cigarettes as me – The Rolling Stones, 1965
I can’t get no satisfaction. That song was written over 40 years ago, and yet Mick Jagger’s anger at the demands of consumerism still rings true today. “Your life can be improved; it needs to be improved–in fact, you aren’t complete, you haven’t made it until you own this thing.” Whether it’s our desire to have (according to Mick) whiter shirts or the right cigarettes, we sense that there’s something missing, and we have to have it in order to be complete. This is the law of consumerism: Your current life status is lacking, incomplete, or at the very least under-optimized, and the remedy–the salvation–is as simple as owning stuff.
It seems at one level like we are wired to be unhappy with the status quo, and it doesn’t help that we are bombarded every day with consumerist sales pitches. Modern society runs on our buying something to replace the something that we consider is inferior. “I can’t wait to get that car I want, because then I’ll have arrived”–whatever that means.
If we think that the problem is all about consumerism, however, we miss the real issue. Climbing up the corporate ladder, being respected by our peers, getting the perfect body–these too are things towards which we strive for the promise of fulfillment, or happiness, or perhaps just meaning. The pursuit of happiness through improving our state of being is what Americans are all about. This is part of our exceptionalism, right?
It’s a difficult thing for us to find value only in Christ, especially when our possessions, our education, our looks, our good decisions and our levels of success define us so much. This is one reason there are so many unhappy people. So many people who can’t stop working. We must progress, we must improve; we’ll get it right finally, it’s just around the next corner.
Now if you think that I’m arguing that the real enemy is the desire to improve our own estate, through striving to improve yourself, I’m not. There are plenty of people who have sought the same happiness by checking out of any sort of competitive culture, minimizing their possessions, and getting by with less. We could perhaps call this the law of underachievement. It promises a better and more fulfilled life through trying to get by with less. Ironically this isn’t always the end of competition. How small a house you can live in, how little trash you create, how green your car is–it seems like a furious competition to win at less, and there is a whole cottage industry that has popped up for those who choose to define themselves, or make a difference with this lifestyle.
It seems that consuming the right things is an easy way to define or justify ourselves. As long as we have the credit to buy it, we can have that level of success, impress our friends, get that girl. We don’t have to become better people or work really hard to finally be worth something. It’s obvious that we’re worth something–just look at that car!
This form of self-justification reminds me of Steve Martin’s character, Navin R. Johnson, in the comedy movie The Jerk, who finally became somebody just by getting his name in the phonebook. When the phonebook delivery driver showed up, Navin ran over and excitedly grabbed one, furiously flipped through it, and upon finding his name declared: “I’m somebody now! Millions of people look at this book every day! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity–your name in print–that makes people! I’m in print! Things are going to start happening to me now!” But even that tiny attempt at making his mark didn’t turn out like he expected, as he was targeted by a random sniper who picked his name out of the phonebook. Don’t worry Navan survived it, but the oil cans didn’t.
The problem we all have is that all these things that we think give us our meaning and value soon lose their luster. They are all temporary, and sometimes we very quickly get buyer’s remorse. Often the things we desire are never as good as we imagined, and we are left feeling empty, feeling let down, and eventually we move on to the next thing that promises to meet our felt needs.
Our real problem is that what we ask something of possessions, achievements, and of other people that only Christ can fulfill. We ask them to give what only He can give. Because we are broken people in a broken world, we too often have these broken and even unhealthy desires for things that never ultimately satisfy us.
It’s not that we have simply broken God’s law’s but that we have broken ourselves on his law. There is no one of us who is not broken, and so broken relationships, broken homes, broken hearts, and broken lives are everywhere, both inside and outside of the Church–but Christ our great physician has not only saved us from the curse of the Law, but He also saves us from its tyranny. He gives us a new heart, He gives us His Word, by the Holy Spirit He daily renews our minds and even strengthens us in the inner man (Eph 3:16)
Even so, we are never perfected here in this world, and so even ‘In Christ,’ we’ll never be fully satisfied until we are with him in person, in glory. So even being born-again, and knowing all about all that we have in Him, even though we can do all things through Him who strengthens us, there is still a war being waged within us where we often find ourselves right back to seeking fulfillment and satisfaction through all of these things that are so much smaller than Christ, and that ultimately never satisfy us in a way that lasts.
This is why Gospel-centered preaching that rightly distinguishes between law and gospel is what we Christians need, simply because among other reasons, it actually addresses the issue the war between the flesh and the Spirit (Gal 5:17) raging within all believers. There is no way around that central and continual issue, and so there is no other emphasis in preaching that will help us. We must hear Law and Gospel. We need to hear the truth about ourselves, that we are still desperately wicked (Rm 3:10; 4:5-8), and we need to hear the freeing good news that we are Justified (declared righteous in God’s eyes) by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone (Rm 3:21-25). We need to hear it regularly, because we forget it.
So, the fact that we can’t get no ultimate satisfaction through consumption is actually good news. We can’t get no satisfaction, because we were never meant to find our ultimate satisfaction in anything smaller than Jesus Christ, who finds us. We can’t get no satisfaction because He loves us too much to let us find our satisfaction in anyone or anything besides Him. He loves us so much He’ll even make us unhappy, even miserable until we fall back into His arms where it’s safe, where there’s joy, and where we’ll say, “How long O Lord?” till that day when we are fully satisfied, feeling those arms around us in person, in glory.
COMMENTS
14 responses to ““I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”…and That’s a Good Thing”
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I like this article.
I wonder, however, about saying “we are still desperately wicked.”
Are we?
When we are “in Christ”?
Is that what He says to us?
Isn’t knowing “who we are in Christ” what it’s all about?
Hi Paula,
I understand that it can be controversial to say that, because there are some who teach that we should only always look at ourselves as Saints. There are many who look at Romans 7 and believe that Paul was speaking entirely from his pre-conversion experience, however since the times of the Reformation the classical view is that when he said that he keeps doing evil, that he was speaking of himself in the present converted state.
There are many theologians who would agree that we are still “Desperately Wicked”, and so not being one, I did lean on them. Here is a statement from one:
Are we still desperately wicked in our hearts after we become Christians?
by Matt Slick
Yes, we are still wicked in our hearts even after we become Christians.
Biblically speaking, the unbeliever is completely and totally affected by sin in every area of his being: heart, soul, mind, body, emotions, etc. In this sense he is desperately wicked (though not all unbelievers are as bad as they can be in the manifestation of that wickedness). This is why the Bible says that man is deceitful (Jer. 17:9), full of evil (Mark 7:21-23), loves darkness rather than light (John 3:19), does not seek for God (Rom. 3:10-12), is ungodly (Rom. 5:6), dead in his sins (Eph. 2:1), by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3), cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14), and is a slave of sin (Rom. 6:16-20).
However, when we become regenerate we are new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). Yet, we’re also still desperately wicked. We won’t be delivered from this until we receive our new bodies in the future resurrection (1 Cor. 15:35-45). For now, we still live in fallen flesh and struggle with the sin nature that affects all of who we are. It is in the battle between our old sinful selves and our new redeemed selves that our victories overcoming sin, and failures in sin, manifest. So, even as Christians, we are still touched by sin in all areas of who we are; hence, we are desperately wicked — in that we are still completely touched by sin. The difference is that we also now struggle against our wickedness because we have been changed by God. We have been made new creatures, and because of that work of God we can now recognize our sin and seek to turn from it, where the unbeliever will not.
https://carm.org/are-christians-still-wicked
Blessings,
SM White
Thanks for that lengthy response.
I don’t resonate with simul iustus et peccator.
It’s like a slap in the face of our Saviour to me.
Assuming I understand what Luther meant by it.
And there is always the possibility that I don’t.
I am who God says I am.
I am “in Christ”— thanks be to God.
Seeing oneself as simultaneously “saint and sinner”
reeks of spiritual schizophrenia to me.
My identity is not “sinner.”
Because I am “in Christ.”
God put me there!
Paula:
I think RC Sproul does a good job of explaining what Luther meant by it, and why many Christians are greatly encouraged by it: http://www.ligonier.org/blog/simul-justus-et-peccator/
Blessings,
SM White
This good news never gets old. It’s just what this old sinner needed to hear (again). Thank you.
TheRev72: Amen! Thank you!
This was sooooooooo good! Especially the affirmation that being In Christ does not preclude or insulate us against our hearts continuing to desperately seek out other lovers. I think a common misconception is that being In Christ and understanding identity in Christ always must translate into better performance and a fully content heart…and it doesn’t. You’re right – we can’t be fully satisfied until we see him in glory. Interesting that Paul says ‘I have learned to be content’, but in the same epistle, he writes that has not yet arrived/keeps pressing on. So, it’s really both/and. Insisting that we now apply ‘In Christ’ truths and live in light of them is another Law. The good news is that Christ’s acceptance of us does not hinge on our appreciation or apprehension of the gospel.
Jason: Absolutely! Because of indwelling sin, we’re gonna fail at sanctification, but because we are alive in the Spirit we’re also gonna repent, and express faith in Christ. The Christian life was once described to me as the “Christian 2 step”, which is: repentance and faith, and repentance and faith and repentance and faith. This is because there truly is a war going on in us, and, yet in our own weakness, He is strong. In our own failures, we are driven back to Him who Loves us most, and who will complete His work in us.
How can we “fail at sanctification” ?
It works like “justification”?
It is given.
I guess maybe what you mean by “repentance” is just remembering who we are in Christ.
Intuitively, I know Jesus is enough, but experentially and emotionally I rarely believe this. Objectively, yes he is enough all the time in all things. Subjectively, this is true sometimes. Again, here’s where I believe many confuse law and gospel in their understanding of sanctification. A local pastor where I live (Pat Griffiths) is apt to say, “Jesus is all we need… and someday, He will be all we want!” He also says, “What we were in Adam, we no longer are… but still have”. Expecting the gospel to be the cure for the “sanctification blues” is a setup for disillusionment, despair, and discouragement. Sanctification (functionally and horizontally) is by nature very ‘blue’. It’s just… the way it is. Yet, it’s perfect! B/c all throughout the process, the law is doing it’s perfect work: making us feel our blues in a very visceral manner… so we can at times increasingly experience gospel melodies. As 80’s hip hop performer Rob Base put it, “joy and pain, sunshine and rain”. Or Paul, “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing”. I think the true measure (if one exists) of knowing you are In Christ, is having assurance that Gal 5:22,23 is true about you in your worst moments!
*By the way, this writing is a total confirmation of something I was thinking on in the summer of 2014: Jagger’s refrain “I try, and I try, and I try, and I try…” reveals the legalism behind our insatiable, desperate, and relentless quest for more satisfaction outside of Jesus (yes, legalism and idolatry have much to say to one another). We “try” to find happiness outside of Christ and fail every time. Jesus successfully “did” seek those who were unhappy with Him and THIS is our hope, our righteousness, and our identity.
Hey, keep writing!
My friend Paula baited me to respond 🙂 I’m not a theologian (so I’m sure there are many who can run circles around me with knowledge), but I am a perpetual student. One day a few years ago I had a life-transforming encounter with the truth of my identity in Christ. And interestingly, two of the scriptures mentioned in this blog were key to my understanding – but perhaps not in the context of their usage here. So here goes… Romans 3:10 does say, “There is none righteous, no, not one,” but we must read it in context. This was surely the condition of anyone under the Old Covenant. It was the purpose of the law to point out that there was none righteous: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. BUT NOW the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed…” (Romans 3:19-20) The scandal of the Gospel is that this righteousness apart from the law is revealed to everyone and anyone who simply believes. The just now live by faith, not by a system of law. We are truly righteous in Christ because the Lamb of God has washed our sin away. We are a new creation in Him, nothing like the old. We should never mistake the flesh with our identity in Christ and fall for the lie that we are just sinners saved by grace, wicked to the core, and doomed to a life of dissatisfaction! No! Is the work of Jesus finished or not? Did His blood remove our sins or not? What the law couldn’t do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did in sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh! He made it powerless to identify us or control us or even separate us from God. David looked through the corridors of time and dreamed of the New Covenant: “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.’” (Romans 4:5-8) There are two distinct blessed states described here: 1) The first blessed state is that our sins are forgiven. Our debt has been paid – the wages of sin is death and Christ has died for us. 2) The second one, “blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin” says that the record of our debt has been wiped out! It’s as if we never sinned. God does not count our sins against us because the record of our sins does not exist in heaven! We still sin, but this passage does not say we are blessed because we don’t sin. It says we are blessed because when we do sin, God does not count it against us! God will not find fault with me because He found fault with Jesus for all my sins! After being a Christian my whole life and in ministry for decades, this truth completely un-did me a few years ago, and I have been undone every single day since! For some of us the “flesh vs spirit” challenge isn’t the perpetual competition with the Jones to win the prize of acquiring the most or getting by with the least. For some of us the “flesh vs. spirit” battle is between us and God – the endless striving to be right with Him and the battle against unbelief in what Christ has truly accomplished in doing just that – making us right with Him! We all have an insatiable desire to be close to God so we can gain the love, acceptance, and approval that our souls are dying for. Only in Christ do we find it, and when we do, we realize that there’s no goal to reach because He reached it for us. We are complete in Christ! And once I saw it, I could never un-see it. When Jesus is unveiled to us, we can look beyond the seen to the unseen: “seated together with Him in heavenly places,” and rest! Truly rest! And from my experience, this rest brings satisfaction. “I can’t get no satisfaction” may apply in this world, but it needn’t apply to believers. We CAN get satisfaction today – here and now – by beholding Jesus in His amazing grace.
Paula,
Not to take anything away from these fine answers that others have given, I want to try and answer the terms that you stated more by way of definition.
First off, I’m defining Sanctification in terms of being conformed more into the image of Christ that is a response of what Calvinists and Lutherans would both call the third use of the law (didactic), or the law as a tutor. I fall in line more with the teachings of the magisterial reformers Calvin and Ursinus (Primary author of the Heidelberg Catechism) in terms of my view of historical Covenant theology.
In more recent years some theologians have diverged from the classic views of covenant and have developed a mono-covenantalsim view, where Justification and Sanctification have been collapsed into each other. Writers like NT Wright and the “New Perspective on Paul” would harmonize with these views.
In that perspective Union with Christ, is seen as the central focus of faith.
A proper understanding of both the covenant of works and the covenant of grace is helpful in understanding the Reformed view of the law and gospel distinction.
As far as the term Repentance, as all Protestants, I simply based it in the Greek term meaning to do a u-urn, or as Luther defined its use in the scriptures, as more of a turning away from and sorrow for ones sin, and then turning to faith in Christ. The very first item on his 95 theses was that repentance was not a singular event, but that it was continually done throughout ones entire life.
Please feel free to hit me up in my Facebook page linked here, and I can hook you up with some info you could read or listen to on the subjects.
-Blessings
SM White
In continuing to think on the term “repentance”— if we talk about it being “a turning from sin”— then “the sin we are turning from” is “the sin of disbelief in the finished work of Christ.”
My sins are taken care of, thanks be to God: past, present, and future.
I personally have to be diligent about not forgetting this fact.
I have to remember that He has taken care of everything.
And, yes, I am more in line with those who focus on our union with Christ–
this amazing ontological truth!
We are not “arguing”—
we are just “thinking together”!
I enjoy that..
Paula,
I think you are on to something with the root of all sin being unbelief. I believe it was Luther that noted that. Per the centrality of Union with Christ vs the centrality of Justification by faith. Here is an article that I found helpful.
https://www.whitehorseinn.org/2012/01/historical-claims-concerning-union-with-christ/
Blessings,
-SM White