Northside Church - Sydney
The Good Life - Where's God in all my trouble? - Sam Haddon
Here's another inspiring message from Northside Community Church, Sydney. Well, in preparing for this new series on the Sermon on the Mount, I've been doing a lot of research, a lot of wondering, and I've been wondering what you might be wondering about when we think about the good life, in other words, what type of life do you think would make you happy? And I know as you're past it, you pay me to do all sorts of research and basically just give you the answer on a Sunday so we can just get our answer, go home, we know what it is. And I've been doing a lot of research on this sort of stuff and I've come, I think I've already, let me just give it to you, straight up front, the good life, what the good life is. I've come to find that the good life is basically geographically based anywhere between Byron Bay and the beach at surface paradise, wouldn't you agree? Just in that, anywhere in that geographical reason is the good life. You've got the nature and there's tourism, Queensland says, the weather, the laid back vibe, the multiculturalism, the night life, world class universities, employment opportunities, good public transport access and of course the beaches. Haven't you found yourself, certainly over the last three to five years as everyone's dispersed, that it just kind of feels like anyone who found this mysterious, beautiful secret to the good life moved either to Byron or the Gold Coast? And if you're willing to admit that there have been moments within yourself where you've been quite frustrated, dare I say even angry, as to why I haven't been able to move to Byron and the Gold Coast. It's the good life, the good life. We all seem to be frantically pursuing happiness, if only I had, if only I drove, if only I knew, if only I did, if only I won, if only I lived. And I think undergirding this good life and this presupposition of the good life is this. This thought that somehow life is manageable, that somehow if I can just get to surface and if I work hard enough and I try hard enough and I'm fine, diligent enough and I find a good enough group of friends and we all just get together and hold hands and form community that somehow life would be manageable. And this is why I love being in a church across the generations because older generations help us out here. You've already lived a little bit of life and you've discovered that as time goes by, the good life gets harder to find, the happy life gets harder to find and it doesn't matter where you are geographically, if the diagnosis doesn't go the way that you want it to, then life is difficult. That no matter how hard you try, if the people that you want to be with and no longer with you, then happy is harder to find and so we go through life, don't we, we get a little bit older, I think that's the difference now as I've been reflecting on 10 years, you learn that there are stings and there are hurts and there are pains to life that come and hit us and so we're kind of stuck. We're kind of stuck because we all want to be happy, by the way, shortcut God wants you to be happy as well, but we're stuck because we feel these pains and we sense these pains and we see that happiness is harder to find and we start to get disillusioned, which is nothing new, by the way either, all the great songwriters, a band Kansas from the 70s, this song Dust in the Wind said, "Now don't hang on, nothing lasts forever, but earth and sky, it slips away and all your money won't buy another minute, dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind." We're stuck and how can we be happy when life gets harder or hardship hints and a glimpse the possibility of this good life, the one that we're going to talk about this morning. If you haven't picked up by the way, I started sarcastically, I should kind of put that in the subtitles, just hashtag sarcastic tone for anyone that's watching online, I really didn't mean that if you moved to the Gold Coast it's a good life. I've seen the glimpse of this contrast that Jesus will take us into, it was when I was listening to a colleague of mine, Steve Chong, he was heading up the Rice Movement and Steve had been on a trip to Syria right in the middle of the war in Syria and he was hosted by a minority group of Syrian Christians and when he was over there what blew him away as he told the story to a bunch of senior pastors was that what struck him is that he couldn't believe the way that these Syrian Christians were absolutely nothing and ripped from their home and some of them with family members killed just with simply a Bible and their faith and those around them were happy and what tore him up so much is then he comes back down to Sydney and he gets into Sydney and everyone's unhappy, everyone's moaning about what we don't have or what we could have had or what everyone else has and he just couldn't believe the fact that there seemed to be in these people this resource which what we're going to see this morning is like hiding underneath our noses this resource that they were genuinely happy. So it's possible they were happy, he felt everyone here was unhappy and so in London I wanted you know can we really have the good life and so Jesus thankfully addresses this in what we call his Sermon on the Mount and now straight up anyone that says to you oh I love the Sermon on the Mount oh it's beautiful I love the Sermon on the Mount really doesn't understand the Sermon on the Mount if they say that to you you know they really haven't read it they don't understand it because when you see it this is like to gouge your eye out cut your arm off you know go walk the extra mile if someone slaps you turn the other cheeks you remember that sort of stuff and so if anyone loves the Sermon on the Mount doesn't understand the extreme nature of what Jesus is talking about but in essence the Sermon on the Mount is this the Sermon on the Mount is what your life would look like if God was totally in control and when I say in control I don't mean like in a manipulative puppet strings force you into this sort of stuff I mean that if his kingdom if you live totally within his kingdom within his governance policy model of doing life that's what a kingdom is a kingdom is I used to work for a guy at then least called in or he had this catchphrase he'd always say new rule new rule and he would come in he'd say to management new rule right that's kingdom kingdom is the extension of a person's effective will it's why like my little niece once we're at we're at a birthday party all the families around the table and and she went stop like this and everyone went oh and she thought it was absolutely hilarious and she went stop and everyone's oh and this went on for about 15 minutes and she was absolutely enthralled because what was happening for her in that moment is that for the first time in her life she saw an expansion of her effective will I can say stop and the people around me move that was her experience of kingdom you seen this right and so when Jesus's primary message of repent which by the way is not turn around from your bad deeds I got taught in the Anglican church it was like door 180 repentance was door 180 from whatever horrible stuff you're doing over there no the Greek word was metinoyete which meant think about your thinking the kingdom of God is at hand right in front of your nose in other words God's effective range of his will is is available to you right in front of your face and if you step into that life and live by God's policy governance model what we read these characteristics these eight characteristics become the characteristics of this group of people living the kingdom life making sense so here's Jesus imagine this this is Jesus is made in speech department this is this is this is his state of the union address if we've Eric's from America so I have to contextualize okay this is his state of the union address this is his maiden speech department if you are God and you've gone to all the trouble to make yourself into a human being and you have this audience of people and whatever comes out of your mouth needs to give birth to a community of people that from these next 20 minutes worth of words would be so radical and so changed that would turn the world upside down what would you say how would you start I'd have a bumper video how would you start what word would you use what what's the first thing out of your mouth and you know what the first thing out of his mouth is happy blessed mccarios is the Greek word means to be fortunate happy and we can only assume that Jesus says happy to his audience and ultimately to the watching world because his audience then and you and I now truly don't know what happy is and so he says let me teach you of all the things that I have to say of my state of the union address I'm starting with happy and here it is now here's what I want you to listen for too if you've got your notes with you I want you to listen for a common denominator on this because I'm going to ask you at the end of the message what's the common denominator in all of this what what what do all of these things have in common you're ready for it here's what he says he says blessed happy mccarios so the poor and spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven happy blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted happy are the meek for they will inherit the earth to which we look at that and go that's it that's what you're running with that's the first thing out of your mouth that's the first hint like where's the bumper video where's like where's something let's start big you know that that's what you're going with like why why didn't Jesus go or Tony Robbins on everyone like why did he why did he get up there and go you could do it you can do it you you have the power it is within you like he should have gone full Tony Robbins and he starts with happy are the poor in spirit what's he saying in his first beatitude did he say he says no listen listen to the nagging doubts listen to the negative feelings he's not saying actualize your potential believe in yourself you have what it can take he says no what he's what he's doing is he's setting up for us here at the very beginning of his sermon three gates you know like those funny gates turnstiles that you have when you go to a core stadium or ace arena he's saying here are here are three turnstiles like if you're coming out of the crowd that is the world here are the three turnstiles into the kingdom of god right here here is the narrow way into which you enter the kingdom of god if you want to come and experience the beauty and the joy and the peace and the wonder and the power of my kingdom it's all inside ace arena that you just got to get through these three gates and you're ready for the first one the first gate has a big sign over the top of it that says god's street address happy those who realize that god's street address is at the end of your rope that's what blessed of the poor in spirit means happy are those who realize that god's street address is at the end of your row and so blessed are the poor in spirit now poor doesn't necessarily mean economically poor here people kind of argue that luke chapter six the sermon on the plane to eyewitnesses accounts of this same message from jesus in matthew and luke luke says blessed is the poor matthew says poor in spirit is matthew just getting more spiritual than luke i think it's pretty clear that jesus is not saying that you have to be poor in order to be happy he's saying poor in spirit essentially is means this a poor person is someone who realized that i don't have the capacity to deal with my major problems in fact you know what is what is the first be attitude of the greatest recovery program in all of the world it has 12 be attitudes in its recovery program some of you know it but the first be attitude of alcoholics anonymous is we are powerless over our problems it's effectively saying blessed are the poor in spirit blessed are those who realize that you don't have the power to control the world around you and that is so true in our type of low and or short type culture where we think if we do and we achieve and if we have and if we moved at that point then somehow life's manageable because we can control it and jesus is just real he's saying blessed are those who are going through recovery programs because they understand the principles of my kingdom that blessed is the person who says i lack the power to control the world but more importantly i lack the power to control my world and you know i think we've all experienced this didn't we a couple of years ago i think called covid-19 comes through and was it was it just me or was i the only person that when shopping centers are totally empty and everyone else is going crazy that we came to the realization that like i lack any power whatsoever to deal with the major problems of the world and so consequently as people went through this great inner struggle with jesus's first be attitude that's why all sorts of crazy behavior manifested and people moved to baron bane goinsland right so happy are you and this may be the best news for you this morning happy are you blessed will you be if you are at the end of your rope happy you will be because you're already in the turnstile you are this close to understanding the power and the beauty of god's kingdom and so first step into the kingdom is to understand that we like the power to control the world and look the reason this is so important by the way is because you know so many people treat jesus like anthony robins they treat christianity like a tony robin's workshop you know i see it all the time as a pastor i'm like it's a it's a new year it happens in january people like you know new year new you new you know i'm gonna i don't know i'm just it's a new year i'm gonna take up yoga i'm gonna take up pilates and i think i'm going to take up jesus right i'm gonna take up christianity i want to try it this year sorry this is a little tip you don't take the god of the universe up either the god of the universe is not a trial subscription for one month and then we charge your credit card right you don't take him up he takes you up and so that's why jesus then says blessed are those who lack the power to control their own life but happier though secondly who realize that i might be the problem not only do i lack the power to control my own problems but happy that people are actually brave enough to go maybe maybe i'm the problem this is great scene and what about bob anyone who's been at northside over that 10 years understands that this is canon in the northside scripture great scene and what about bob bill bill marries character comes in bob comes in for an appointment with dr leo marvin a psychologist that he meets for the first time dr marvin says you know bob you you married he says no i'm divorced dr marvin says tell me about a bob bob says well there's two types of people in the world those who like niel diamond and those who don't and my ex-wife loves him and dr leo marvin says okay bob so you know help me understand this so you've come to me and you've said you basically uh almost paralyzed multi phobic personality who can't walk down the street but uh your wife didn't leave you you left her because you don't like niel diamond and to which point bob goes ow ow ow in that moment happy was bob blessed was bob because in that moment he had the revelation that maybe i'm the problem maybe there's something within me and that that's why jesus's way of viewing the world is to understand that blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted it's not just a grief to do with death but it's actually a morning over the fact that we are the essence of the problem of most of the problem if i look back on my life most of the things that i've done wrong or done stupid i was kind of in the middle of i don't know why it kind of worked out that way but every stupid thing that i've kind of done i was there i don't know if you've had the same experience blessed are those who begin to mourn over this dynamic that we have underneath the surface we see all the horrible things that have happened in the world and little three-year-old kids ask us you know mommy daddy why are kids so bad why are they so mad and christian say that is because we're dealing with this thing called sin we've just spent a whole bunch of time on it in our back to basics series and sin is not that you're a bad person sin is that there is something inherently self-interested in myself and so happier those who realize i might be the problem but not only that happier those who grieve over their own sinfulness and there's a type of morning that jesus is saying here there's a morning that you can have a grieving that you can have that actually leads to happiness because it leads to freedom and we experience this too i'm in a lockdown mode at the moment i don't know why i'm so obsessed with lockdown um we had this in our final our final weekend of lockdown i don't know if you remember your final weekend but our final day of lockdown on on the sunday night uh before all the kids were due to go back to school um we all lay in our bed together and the kids were bawling their eyes out and they were they're all crying and and we said what's up guys and they said we're gonna miss lockdown life we're gonna miss lockdown life to which we're trying to say yeah but it's lockdown life you can go to school you can go out you can walk around you can hug your friends you can do all that sort of stuff and and essentially what jesus is saying is happier those who grieve their sinfulness and the revelation of the sinfulness is that's a type of crying that then leads to freedom it's a morning that says yeah cry over the fact that you are in lockdown spiritual lockdown but i am leading you into freedom there is real pain and and it is a real pain i see this in people i see this in in guys that i speak to and counsel that they don't understand what's going on in their life right because they want to climb the corporate ladder but they've got so many issues to deal with anger and so they're constantly angry and if anyone disagrees with them you know it's it's not a difference of opinion it's disloyalty and then suddenly they find around them that they can't manage relationships around them but before they know it they're not going up the corporate ladder they're going down the corporate ladder and then suddenly it's like oh it's my parents fault and it's the way that i was raised and it's my spouse's fault and it's all the rest of it and so underneath all of this stuff is like it's everyone else's fault except for the beautiful and the glorious moment that i see happen time to time in this church and it's when these types of people come to the realization that they're having a what about Bob moment and i say to him and you know so what what are you saying there is that you know you're constantly angry and everyone disagrees with you and you never getting anywhere in life and and yet it's all the rest of the world's fault it's not yours and they go ow ow happy are those who come to the realization that maybe i'm part of the problem that this thing that we all wrestle with this self-interest nurtured sin is the thing that leads us not only into our own problems but the great problems of the world and so finally then Jesus says okay you've got the poor in spirit you're you're going through that gate when you go through that gate then there's also the gate where it's blessed are those who realize that they're actually potentially part of the problem they grieve that and they see that and then when we get to that point at your eighty 90 percent of Christians they get through those two gates that's fine but there's a final gate that that if you don't get then you miss the whole thing altogether and in fact a lot of people get to this final gate and there's one of two ways that you can deal with this final gate you either do the first two and then this is what religious people do they beat themselves up for the rest of their spiritual life they go yep i can't handle my problems the preacher said that i'm the problem and so i'm just going to be down and dirty for the rest of my life and i'm such a filthy rotten sooner kind of like passive aggressive christianity and just walk around just being spiritually passive aggressive their whole life you know i know i'm rotten i'm the problem right but there there is a gift that Jesus gives us in the first of his three beatitudes he says happy happy are the meek happy are those who realize more importantly that meek does not equal weak he says you're blessed when you're content with just who you are no more no less this is the message translation that's the moment that you find yourself proud owners of everything that can't be taught right happy are the meek the meek the word the greek word for meek literally is the greek word praise which is kind of weird because it's the word praise but literally the word for me meek literally means tamed wild animal isn't that a great image blessed are the tamed wild animals now it feels true in my life sometimes if i'm real okay my emotions under check all right we feel this meek isn't weak and we know that because to move to a position of loneliness to move to a position where we don't say what we want to say and we don't do what we want to do and we do humble ourselves that is a powerful position and here's how we get there the power that you do that is to realize that there's one thing it's one thing to to be angry and upset about the fact that there is an inherent sinfulness within you it's another thing to get upset with the consequences of your sin it's one thing to get upset with the nature of self-interest within you it's one another thing to get upset because your self-interest got you into trouble and now life's not fun you hear the difference and what i'm saying there is that there is a difference between true repentance and self-pity true repentance thinking about your thinking is to go hey you know i i don't have the power to control my problems hey maybe i'm part of the problem but true repentance is thank you jesus that i am as loved as i ever will be and that you've come in with this incredible message to lead me into the way that human life is meant to be lived thank you self-pity self self-pity is just getting upset because you got yourself into trouble and what's crazy about self-pity is that there's actually a sinfulness in that form of repentance can you hear that you're actually being self-interest thinking about your self-interest am i confusing you all now this is like the inception of of messages today i'm just i'm going into multiple levels for you most christians spend their life in self-pity they're not truly sorry for their own sense of self-interest they're just sorry that their self-interest got them into trouble and so a meek person is someone who genuinely thinks about their thinking generally thinks about they way they are and says help me jesus help take me out of this which is where we finished this morning jesus says this is how you live the blessed life this is what it means to be happy these are the activities these are the gates this is the way that you do it pour in spirit these are these are the ways that you get there but i ask you the question what's the common denominator in all of this class and there's a few people here wanting to get a gold star it's a common denominator in all this and the common denominator is this the common denominator from what we've read is that happiness is an outcome happiness is a fruit of a much deeper root system happiness is not something that happens now happiness is something later happiness is something that is ripped from seeds that are sewn way back here in our life and some of you know that because you've sewn things into your life that have led to unhappiness and you wish you could get out of it and you come to messages like this and you come to days like this and and at the essence of it when we feel that and we're unhappy we just kind of want to say jesus can you just fix my problems and i'll be happy and what i want to say to us this morning is what jesus wants to say to us this morning is that jesus says i haven't come to fix your problems i've come to fix you kind of like going to jesus so jesus i've broken i've got a broken arm can you give me a panadole or at least a nurifen and jesus is i'm a doctor i'm not in the business edition out panadole i'm in the business of of realigning brokenness i haven't come to fix your problems i've come to to fix you and to lead you into my kingdom in a way of life that is going to feel so counter-cultural and so different so stupid let's be honest she's just dumb this is just dumb and your workmates are going to think it's dumb and the world around you's going to think it's stupid and everyone else around you's going to think it's silly that you're not going to mouth off or fight back or hit back or whatever it might be and yet every moment that you choose not to do that you you sow a seed you sow a seed into your life you sow a seed in your life that it's going to continue to to grow and to be happy maybe just maybe that was the secret of that syrian crew and when all the rest of the stuff around them is taken from them all the stuff that if we are real with ourselves all the stuff that we lean on and we hang on for our happiness all of that gets stripped away there is a root system within them that continues to feed and bubble up this happiness and so jesus is the good news for you this morning is you can sow your way out of this just the same way that you sow yourself into unhappiness you can sow yourself into happiness and it's it's it's not going to happen overnight but it will happen tell who all the aussies are in the congregation it's a v-o-5 principle won't happen overnight but it will panting okay thank you for the correction so i love christian community guys happiness is in the outcome i love the way that bobby shawla my mate over there in california says you know don't pray for better pray for stronger well thanks for tuning in if you'd like to find out more about north side visit northsidechurch.org.au bye! 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