Northside Church - Sydney
Overflow – What Goes In Must Come Out Week 1: It's Source
You're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. Happy New Year. Yeah, it's that time of year for me, right? First time up, straight up, straight up the New Year. Have you got the resolutions down in the journal? If you don't, I've got a few suggestions for you already. I will no longer waste my time relieving the past, instead I'll worry about the future. I'll not bore my boss with the same excuses for taking leave. I'll think of some more excuses this year. I'll do less laundry, use more deodorant. I'll give up chocolates 100% seriously, totally. I'll listen to less Justin Bieber. Youth girls, I'll think of a password other than password. That's just some suggestions. But it's that time of the year, isn't it? We love to make resolutions. And why? I think fundamentally, if you're anything like me, you go back, you look at the journals from all these years past and you think, "Man, I never got around to that in the first place." I think in some ways there's something I'll put it to tonight, there's something fundamentally deep within all of us, in particularly the uncertainty that's going around the world, there's a real restlessness for stability, that somehow if we could write these things down and resolve to do them, then life's going to work out okay this year. And they're always the same things, right? I hope the career is really going to take off this year. I've got to get a better job. I've got to get a different boss. I've got to earn more money, I've got to get fit. And what's really funny is Google's Ike is. It's this funny site, Google it, because Google owned it. And you can look up what everyone around the world has done with their resolutions. And it was just those five broad category, career, job, health. And see, here's the funny thing, I mean, what are they, they're the externals. And quick question for you guys, exercise on your resolutions, if you've got them down, how many of your resolutions this year are what I would call the fruits of your life, the external, the product of your life, rather than the roots of how to get there? In other words, how much are your resolutions, the what, rather than the why of how you're going to move into this year. You see the job, the money, the weight loss, they're all outcomes of something far deeper in us. And look, here's the thing, this year's going to change. It's going to be different as a team, you know, Graham and I have been the optimist that we are already, we're already saying week one, this is going to be the best year yet. And yet I wonder in saying that I don't want to confuse us because there's the best year mean that it's going to be a year without trials, doesn't mean it's going to be a year without hardships, doesn't mean it's going to be a year without challenges, or calling us into something bigger or greater, like because I think realistically for us as a church, if it's going to be the best year yet, that it's going to be a year in which some of you step into levels of service for God that you've never thought of in your life before. For us to be the best year yet means that some of us are going to endure trials and sufferings and push through that to the other side with a resource deep down inside of us that a lot of the world just doesn't know. And that's exactly what we get to tonight because look, here's the question, what if, what if in 2013 you were a person who didn't run away from the hard things in life? If you were a person who endured and stepped into the challenges, if you were a person who ate pressure for breakfast, what if you could be that sort of person? How would you be that sort of person? Well, God prepared a little recipe for us earlier in the Psalms. So we're going to read from the word tonight. I'm going to read from a different version. Take a look at this one. Blessed is the man. Girls stay with the sexist language. It means blessed is the person that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor siteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring forth his fruit in season, his leaf also shall not wither. And whatsoever he doth doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but they are like chaff, which the wind driveth away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteousness, for the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Now if that's different from the way that I read before tonight, it's for a good reason. That's from the King James Bible. It was written in 1900. So you've got to understand the language difference. But the reason why I chose that version tonight is for this reason, that the NIV's translation is not the best for it. The NIV says, you know, blessed is the person that doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked. And when we read that, we sort of think blessed is the person that doesn't walk in the presence of bad people. And in fact, the underlying word is much closer to Godly. And here's why God is so important because the Psalmist is summarizing really succinctly for us the one resolution that you need to make this year. That is, the Psalmist is saying there's a difference between two different lives here. One is making a resolution to center the life around God. That's the Godly person. The other person has a life that is unscented around God. They're ungodly in that sense. And a lot of good people can be like that. Look, how I still put it. You know, there's two ways to blow up a balloon scientifically. One is that like we all do, stretch the thing a bit, blow into the center of it and it blows up, right? The other one is to suck all the air out of the room. And here's what the Psalmist is getting at. And this is why it's so important for us to understand and be welcome to the principle of overflow. Guys, which way are you going to live your life this year? Are you going to look at every aspect of your life, the health, the job, the friendships, the relationships, and are you going to expect all of those things to align or are you going to look to a resource from within, blow the balloon up from the center or are you going to always try and suck all the air out of the room? One's a lot easier to do. And in that sense, that's what we're looking at this principle of overflow. The Bible always talks about it in fruit, in terms of fruit. I know it sounds very organic, but Jesus always said that out of the mouth is the overflow of the heart. And then Paul said that the fruits of the Spirit are love and joy and peace and patience. Now, what are they getting at? They're saying here that there's this mysterious dynamic in the Christian life that eventually what goes into you eventually flows out. That it is possible through reading a God's word that a power, a force can come into your life and you can change and you will change and you will be different. And so in that sense, God holds where and we're not just what we say who we are. We're not just what we say or do, but where the accumulation of everything that overflows from our life. And so therefore, the question is if you thought 10 years or 20 years or 30 years, how would people remember you? They wouldn't remember the conversation that you've had tonight. It would have been that accumulation of the acts of kindness and of love and of gentleness, it would be the fruit. So the Psalmist says, "There's two ways you can go to have either good fruit or bad fruit." It's one way to say it. It's the promise, first of all, of the godly life. Look, look, look, here's a great promise for you tonight. You can be a tree. You can be a tree tonight. It says it right here in verse 4, "And they shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring forth their fruit in their season, their leaf also shall not wither, whatever they do, they shall prosper." You know, what's that? Look, let's make a couple of observations here. The psalmist is likening the godly person to a tree and they're saying that in that sense, first and foremost, they're stable. They're planted. The tree's the stable things, right? You only have to look at the big ones in the botanic gardens, they're stable things. But most importantly, does a tree plant itself? I mean, does a tree think I'm over this part of the botanic gardens? I'm going off over to the other side of the botanic garden? No. Someone plants the tree. Someone moves the tree to where it is and, you know, that's a wonderful parallel to the Christian life because this time of year with New Year's resolutions and Sydney is a great big place. You can do all sorts of different stuff here. I mean, it might be on your resolution list. You could take up classes, you could do dancing, you might do Zumba this year, you could do Zumba, do yoga, do some classes. And it's all sorts of cool stuff this year and see what look, what is all these things got in common? You take them up. You're the one that's in control. I'm going to take this up and, ironically, Christianity is exactly the opposite. When the Psalmist is saying that the Christian life is like a tree, it's saying you don't take God up. God takes you up. What is the one who plants you into this soil and grows you and it's totally different? And see, look, it's cool to be checking out Christianity at this time of year, but you must be totally clear on what it's all about. Christianity is not just an addition to the New Year's resolutions. So it's stable. You're planted. The other thing is that the Christian life is productive. The life like a tree is productive. It says, "By the rivers of water," you know, what's the difference between trees and moss? What do you botanists do? Trees and moss. What's the difference? You see, a moss, if you go down into the beautiful places of the Blue Mountains at Grand Canyon, the moss exists on all the rocks and moss only lives so long as the external environment is wet and fertile and it's on top of the rocks there, but throws some moss in the desert and it ain't going to last long, but a tree on the other hand, even when it's out in the middle of the desert, what the Psalmist is saying if it's next to the streams of living water will prosper. The roots go deep. In other words, here's the thing. The tree, and that's what the Psalmist is saying about the Christian life, a Christian thrives regardless of the external circumstances. They're roots go deep, and friends, some people have drought years. Some people have amazing years, but the person that's a tree thrives. They're productive by the rivers of water. The third thing they are is they're wise. I love the way it says it brings their fruit in their season. How real is the Bible? How real is the Bible? I love the way the Bible talks. Because for some of you, 2012, it could have been, maybe it was a shocker year for you. Maybe for some of you tonight, 2012, you'd just rather resign to the history books. Maybe for some of you are looking, and even though it's January 1st and we're in the first month of the year, and we should all be positive, you're saying, "You know, I'm staring down stuff this year that is just, it's going to be horrible." And yet the word, the Bible's real, it says it's in season. I learned that the hard way when I bought a lime tree, you know, did you know that lime's got the $25 a kilo last year? I was horrible. I know you're horrified, aren't you? I was absolutely mortified. I... What's my baby? Okay. What'd I do? I cried and I was supposed to say that. I bought a tree. Thank you. I bought a lime tree because I was so horrified that lime's were $25 a kilogram. That's just extortion. No wonder Woolies is raking it in. The problem is, you go to the nursery, you buy this lime tree, and that thing's still growing limes. I bought it midway through last year. You see, like it didn't say on the instruction manual that it takes time to grow, that lime's will have its season. But the funny thing, going out and watering it and fertilizing, caring for my little baby that's going to save me a heap of money in about 50 years' time, is that even in the coolest and the wettest of months, it still grew. And friends, if you're approaching this new year thinking, "Man, I've got nothing to look forward to. Can I encourage you?" As the psalmist says, "No, your season." You know that the person who is planted by the streams have their season, their appropriate time in which you're going to reap a harvest. And that's why the person that's a tree is wise, their productive, they're stable, they're wise. And so what I'm saying to you tonight is, "What if you could have a year in which you are like a tree, grounded, stable roots going in to the streams of water that is God?" Now, some of you are saying, "I do that. I do do that. I'm a good tree. But do we?" Do we? I mean, let's be real, this is my seventh year of ministry now. And I know for sure I can look at the stats on the graphs of our attendances. You know, by the time we get to about June or July, 15% of our attendances will drop off. That's accounting for those that are going for great reasons. About 15% of the congregation at any point in time begin to wither away. You see it, and I know it's the same in my life. You know, what do we like by August, September, October, "Oh my goodness, work so stressful and it's crazy." And this godly life seems to receive into the distance, doesn't it? The godly life becomes a resolution. And that's because, well, why has the pull of the ungodly life? That's the challenge. I mean, that's a life where God is often on the edge of where we know that he should be, that God has drifted to priority number one, or two, or three, or four, down the ranks. That's a great tension, isn't it? I mean, let's be real here. I could tell you straight up, you're probably going to get pulled in in two different directions this year as we head into 2013. The first one is, for this reason, we want our freedom. I mean, a life with roots, it's a great life, but the problem with roots is that they restrict your freedom. Just ask a tree that. I mean, it's like, have you seen that Foxtell ad where they're promo-ing their latest no contracts? It's the wedding of the two people, and it says, "Do you, Bruce, take Julia knowing that at any point in time you can cancel and bail out?" And he says, "I do." And Julia, do you take Bruce knowing at any point in time you can bail out? And she smiles and says, "I do." So it's funny, it's supposed to be funny, but at the same time, isn't it tragic? Because is it me or are we beginning to move more and more into society that deals in relationships like that? Because of what we want to do and how we live our own life, we want to go our own way at any point in time. We don't want a commitment here. I mean, how many times have you had a friend or a work colleague or a family member cancel on a commitment because they essentially wanted to do their own thing? I mean, I haven't forgotten how many times have you ever canceled on a commitment because you wanted to do your own thing? SMS, SMS. Why? Because we want our freedom, guys. And you know, the Bible talks about that way of life as chaff, as chaff. Verse 4, it says, "He had not so the wicked they are like chaff that the wind blows away." Our chaff is a funny word because we buy all our flower from white wings, but chaff is a part of the wheat when you get the little husk of the wheat that was the outside of the wheat. And when you want to grind up flower and stuff, you just want the inside. That was a bit with all the nutrients and protein and the good stuff. But the chaff was like this husky, lightweight, external type of stuff. And so when they would harvest the wheat, you would literally separate the good stuff from the bad stuff by throwing it around in the wind and it was chaff was so lifeless and weightless and useless that it would just blow off in the breeze. And so that's what the Psalmist is saying here is, is when the Bible talks about life of chaff, it's describing a life with roots in nothing at all, a life that's constantly in the externals focused on facades and faces, impressions that we want to put with people. And here's the irony. Look how I still put it, you know, what's the difference between a tumbleweed and a fig tree? I mean, the tumbleweed has got a great life, it can go wherever it wants to go. It can cruise all the way across Arizona if it likes. A fig has to stay there in the Botanic Gardens, but at the end of the day, the tumbleweed is at the mercy of wherever the wind blows it. And the Bible says, friends, if you're not grounded, if you're not rooted in God, this year 2013 for year, 2013 will be a year for you in which you'll just get blown by the winds of opinion, the winds of relationships, the winds of your circumstances. That's what it's saying, the life of chaff is in this way. See, you see the paradox of freedom, on one hand, roots give you stability and endurance and endureability, but at the same time, they restrict your freedom. But the Bible says, if you live a life of freedom, then you'll be grounded in nothing at all. Have nothing to stay firm on and you'll be easily blown away. So that's the problem. You're going to be pulled by the desire to have your own freedom. The other thing you're going to be pulled by, as it says, verse 1, blessed is the person that does not walketh in the counsel of the ungodly. You know, here's the thing, what it's saying is that the advice of the world around us is constantly pushing in on us, right? I mean, how many different magazines you've been reading that tell you how to live like this or live like that? Bosses that tell you how to live like this, live like that, except for mine, of course. He's a great boss, he preaches well. What I'm trying to say, guys, is how many of us live our lives in step with the rhythms of human beings and not our god and maker? If we look deep down at how we go by the end of the year, look, you know, how often do we take these messages of telling us who we are and what we should be and how much, but we're worth from bosses and boyfriends and BFFs. That means best friends forever for those that are over the age of 15. But you know, isn't it interesting? They will be the ones, right, that will have the loudest voice in your life this year if we're real with ourselves. And here's the thing, did your boss create you? Did your BFF design the intricacies of who you are? Did your boyfriend, is your boyfriend been around since the beginning of time? How would any of these figures know what is best for you and how you're wired the way that God does? I mean, it's like taking a beautiful $12,000 targe who are intricately designed watch when it's beautiful back in the clock and the timepiece is ticking away inside, it's like taking that thing out of the velvet box and giving it to a two-year-old to use as a rattle. What's the first thing the two-year-old is going to do with that? Smash it on the ground. I have a bit of fun. So it's not the kids fault, they're not a bad person for being like that. It's except the kids not the watcher's designer. It doesn't understand the intricacies and the purpose for which the watch is built for friends every time that you and I wander or base our life on the advice of the ungodly on people who are not God, not saying they're bad people, on people who are not God. You know, without first filtering it through the lens of the word of God, you know what we're doing, you're treating your life like a Rolex or a targe you are in the hands of a baby. Ephesians 2 says your God's workmanship, Ephesians 2 says your God's targe you are. Friends, don't let this year be a year in which you put it in the hands of people that don't understand what you're designed for, but could it be possible that Cleo or Dolly or men's health or self-help or your boss is a greater authority in your life than the manual from God himself? That's what's going to pull you in that direction. That's the problem of the ungodly life. It's a foxtail mentality. Tap out whenever it doesn't suit you because you'll want your freedom or get advice from other people who are not the watch designer themselves. Can you see the one resolution you're going to make this year? The life of chaff or be like a tree. How do you do that? As we finish up verse 2, "But delight in the law of the Lord, and his law doth he meditate on day and night, meditate on the law day and night, delight in the law of God." It means to anchor yourself quickly. It means to anchor yourself. We've seen Cyclone Norel. Is it Norel? Cyclone Norel's about to hit, you know, the weather men are getting blown away. You know, the one side of a saving thing, you know, what's a saviour in a Cyclone? A street pole and people getting blown down the street. Everyone's looking for a street pole, something to grab onto that in the midst of the storm will not move. When it says delight in the law of God, it's saying look for the ultimate street pole in the Cyclone. Look for the thing that will not change a truth, that will not change. We're going to explore this next week, so I'm not going to get into it too much tonight. But it says meditate on it day and night. Meditate means to mutter to yourself under your breath constantly. You need to meditate on it and here's why, because, you know what, there will be resolutions that you will set up in your heart this year, either consciously or unconsciously. That friends, as you move throughout the year, hope, maybe of new relationship, or the better job, or the change in your circumstances, you know, look, all of these things, whilst they're good things and they're wonderful things, you've got to understand their nature, they're like a kite in a cyclone. You want to hold onto that thing, that's going to throw you around. You need the street pole, and so we constantly need to talk to ourselves throughout this year and say, what is the thing that I'm really anchored to? And so in that sense, it's find the law of God. So as I finish tonight, we go, okay, that's cool, I just find the law of God, and I stick to that and meditate on that. No, no, no, it's not enough to read the Bible like a rule book, because the picture here is like a tree, the roots take in life. The tree's fed by it, it's transformed by it, produces fruit by it, it sucks up this living water, and it's exactly the principle of this guy who lived about 2,000 years ago, he says in John 738, he says, "Whoever believes in me, as the scriptures have said, streams of living water will flow from within them." Another way to put it is, he says, "Whoever believes in me, as the law has said, will overflow." Can you see what Jesus is saying? He's saying, "I'm the stream that someone's talking about. I'm the stream that you need to plant yourself next to." He's saying, "If you're thirsty, come and plant yourself here." And so in other words, don't look to the law, don't look to the rule book for the life, look to the life beyond the law. Look to what this book is saying about me, and when you come, you will be filled and you will be overflowed. Look at my life and see the life of Jesus is a wonderful thing. It shows us exactly what happened when a human being delighted in the law of God, and meditated on it day and night, and whatever he touched prospered. And so friends, in that sense, how do you get planted? Look, Jesus did something in his life that makes this Psalm palatable, because in verse 5 to 6 it says, "The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation in the righteousness, in the other righteous, for the Lord noeth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish." You know, without Jesus, we read these phrases and we flench. But when you understand the gospel friends, that Jesus Christ lived verses 5 and 6, Jesus at the cross was the one who stood in the judgment. Jesus at the cross was treated as if he was ungodly outside the will of God in that sense. So you don't. So you don't, even when you come up against this incredible law and know that you can't possibly fulfill it, you don't carry the burden that you must always be living up towards standards. And the minute that you trust in that, you know what's happening, the minute you trust in that, you get planted. If you're already a Christian, the more you trust in that, your roots grow a little bit deeper, a little bit deeper, a little bit deeper, so that you might stand firm throughout all of your circumstances. But look, here's what I'm getting at. Jesus is the source of overflow. That's week one. How we tap into that? We're going to look at for the next couple of weeks. But just the one question, if you take anything away from tonight, what I want to ask you is, look, did you look back at 2012 and by the end of the year, were you running crazy? And did you feel like you're falling across the finish line? I mean, did you feel like a five-year-old kid in a swimming pool, you know, when they get those skinboards, you know, those funny skinboards, they get a bodyboard on the surface of a pool and they sort of psych himself up at the side of the pool and then they run and they jump onto the bodyboard and it just sort of skims across the surface. You ever done that? Oh, good. It's not just me. Yeah. You know, I think we approach the new year like that. And we think at this time, if I can just conjure up enough effort and enough strength and enough momentum to jump on this skidboard for 2013, then I might make it. And friends, what I want to say to you tonight is that will your life in 2013 be one of overflow? Instead of trying to conjure up momentum, will the roots go deep? That is, will your energies be focused on tapping your roots deeper into God? Or your energy is going to be focusing on the facade, on the externals. Tonight, I just want to start the year with this, which resolution will you make to be like a tree or to be chaff? I'll leave it with you. Let's pray.