Northside Church - Sydney
DNA of the Christian Life – Week 3: Simplicity
I'm listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. I'm a gamer. I just need to make that confession. I love playing playstation. I'm a gamer. It's part of my generation back in the 80s. We were the gaming generation. This is what we've got to get this straight. I love it. Now, here's a challenge though. I stopped playing a while back, probably around about year six or so, back when we had Mario Kart and all that sort of stuff. And then I get into post Uni and I see the first modern day console. This looked like something out of science fiction. It was this big bulky controller with 50 different buttons and knobs. I was vibrated in your hand whenever you hit someone and it was just crazy. It fell out of my hand the first time. I thought, "This is just crazy." I was so out of the loop, you know, but you've got to understand, you see, I grew up on a Atari. Right, right on. I said, "That's pure gaming." You know what I'm saying? One joystick, one button. If you want to go left, you just take the joystick left. If you want to go right, you take the joystick right. If you want to shoot the guy, you just push the one button that's on the controller. Now, learning how to play like that was easy. It was real easy. When you think of the Christian life, do you see the Christian life as this fan dangled controller with 50, 60 different buttons, shakes in your hand. It's crazy. You don't know what to do. You just look at it staring. Do you see Christianity as this bunch of all these do's and don'ts? Do you see it as complicated? Good news tonight is. Good news. Guys, I'm about to give you your Atari joystick back. Paul is. Oh, yeah. That's right. Preach it. Because he says that. It's around this one word that makes Christianity simple. It's called righteousness. And so we've been going through the book of Philippians in this series called the DNA of the Christian life. We've been looking at some of the fundamental parts of being a Christian. And we've been looking at what it is to be a live a worthy life. Last week we looked at the essence of Christianity, which is humility tonight. We're going to keep it simple. We're going back to the joystick. And it's all to do with righteousness. Let's have a look here in chapter three. I'm going to read from verses three through to nine. And you can read along with me in Philippians chapter three, verse three. It is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus and who put no confidence in the flesh. Though I myself, this is Paul speaking, have reasons for such confidence. So if anyone else thinks that they've got reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I've got more circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews in regard to the law of Pharisee as for zeal, persecuting the church, as for these legalistic righteousness, faultless, but whatever was to my prophet, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything I lost compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ, Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I've lost all things and considered them rubbish that I make my game Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own which comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ Jesus, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. There's his joystick, one or two different ways, either a righteousness from God or a righteousness from yourself. That's simple Christianity. Now part of the challenge is that when we hear the word righteousness, we think that, well, what do you think? You're thinking good and bad, you're thinking right, you think people who are so superior, you're thinking self-righteous, it's a type of personality trait, but here's the thing. Always defining righteousness in the wrong way from a biblical perspective, righteousness means acceptance. Now what am I getting at? Take a look at this clip for a second. Hey, they're saying this phone is going to be like a precious, hey, hey, they're saying this phone is going to be like a precious jewel, I love that. The headphone jack is going to be on the bottom. I heard the connector is all digital, what does that even mean? Who knows? I'm saying, all I'm saying is that they should have a priority line for people who have waited five times. I heard you have to have an adapter to use the dock on the new one. Yeah, yeah, but they make the coolest adapters. Welcome back. It's like Galaxy S3 didn't work out. No, I love the GS3, it's extremely awesome. I'm just saving it spot in line for someone. That's not cool. Yeah, man. This year, we're finally getting everything that we didn't get last year. Yeah. The big screen. True 4G. Yep. What is that? Hey, what'd you just do? Oh, I just sent them a playlist. Like touching phones. Yep. Simple as that. It's the Galaxy S3. Hey. Hey, mom, dad. Oh, thanks for holding our spot. Hey, man. How's it going? Save just spot. We moved on. But you're not going to miss all this. I got the Samsung GS3 now. Yeah. Is that a Samsung? That's a new Samsung. It is. It's pretty cool. But I kind of like it. This one's 4G. Yeah. We've had that for a while. This one's got a big screen. Okay. This one has a bigger one. And we can share videos instantly. You can watch a video while you're sending an email. But we're going to get that for sure. Maybe not this time, but the next time, right? The next big thing is already here, the Samsung Galaxy S3. If you haven't picked up, there is a battle going on of apocalyptic proportions between the iPhone and Samsung. Now look, what are they really selling there? Look, is it the touch screen? Is it the headphone jack? Is it the functions of the phone? Look, you know what they're selling? Righteousness. Because the whole ad is geared around who's in the line and who's not. Who's cool? And who's not? Who's on the inside and who's not? The selling righteousness. It wasn't about the technology. They're not appealing to your technological taste. However, you don't give a rat as to what, you know, the chip speed of the new Samsung S3. You just want to be in. Now can you see that, guys, that no one, you know, no one likes feeling like they're on the outside. And really when we talk about righteousness, it's about acceptance. Are we in? So in that way, look, you know, you're thinking yourself, come on, I'm not like that. I'm not like that. You know. I'm fine. Hey, look, here's the thing we all must feel like we're acceptable before someone. Like, do you think about it socially? Look, think about it yourselves, you're socially, are you constantly thinking yourself, what clothing, what language do I have to use, what dance style do I have to somehow need to know these days in order to be socially accepted, you know, or romantically, you know, what persona, what interests, what language, what restaurant, what financial backing, what beauty do I have to have in order for them to accept me? In your careers, have you ever found yourself thinking and pondering at your desk during the day, which person, which boss, which conversation do I, no, not romantically? Which boss, which person, which conversation do I have to be in this Friday night in order to be in the in-group? You see, we all must feel like we're on the inside with someone. That's what the Bible's talking about with righteousness. Beblicuet means I'm acceptable, but here's the thing, you know, in all of those, they're all noble areas of life, but guys, when the parties have faded and the dance styles have gone and the careers of long being run and gone over, do you think that the question and the restlessness deep inside of you is really going to fade away? Because there's a question, there's a much bigger question, there's an eternal question, it's the only question that you're asking yourself, are they consciously or subconsciously, you don't have to be a Christian to ask this, you're asking yourself, am I acceptable, not just socially and romantically and career-wise, asking yourself the question, am I acceptable before God? How do I get in? Will he let me in? That's the question that we're always asking, it's the question that's fueled religions for hundreds of years. That's the question, we all must feel like we're acceptable for someone, but look, here's the thing, you know, what happens if that feeling runs totally unsatisfied in your life? What if that feeling is allowed to run unchecked? We've got to have it, I'll put it to you, we've got to have it. What happens if it runs unchecked? You're going to go one of two ways here. First thing we'll learn from this passage tonight is that you can go and find this righteousness acceptance, as Paul says, verse 9, by building a righteousness of your own. Build it yourself, he says in here, you know, I consider him rubbish and I want to be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law. You know what I call this, it's the LinkedIn principle. I don't know if Hamie Codes, or Scott Mitchell's, they're not here tonight, they both work for LinkedIn, so just want to be careful, the room's clear. I don't know if you've heard about LinkedIn, but it's this new craze, it's like Facebook for the professionals, because we don't go on that child stuff, but we're on LinkedIn. And basically what you do is you build up this professional profile, right? So you enter pretty much what is your resume online and you list all your different achievements and your merits there, you even get people to come in and endorse you. I think L.E.L. endorsed me the other day in preaching or something like that, that was good to know. I'm endorsed, I'm linked in for preaching. And you build this online profile up and it goes around the world and you have all these sorts of connections and ultimately I think part of the deal is that you can eventually hear, people can view your profile and a big boss might see your profile and I might look at all your merits and they think that person looks really good and they give you a call. What are they really selling? Class, righteousness. Can I get into that next level? If I list everything well enough in, if I look good and I can get all that sorted in my profile can be as slick as can be and I get endorsed, I might get in. And that's exactly what Paul was saying. It's a way that the world has been doing it for years just because they're online doesn't mean they thought of it. Paul's saying if anyone has reason to put confidence in the flesh, I've got more. He says, I've got more. He says, circumcised on the eighth day with the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews in regard to the law of Pharisee as for zeal, persecuting the church as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. It sounds obscure and we haven't got a lot of time to talk about what he really means here but let me just summarize it. What he was saying, I'm circumcised on the eighth day, he's saying I was a Jew from the beginning. It's part of Judaism right from the very beginning. From the tribe of Benjamin, he's saying I'm one of the only two tribes that was true to the house of David. So in other words, first he says I'm religiously pure, then he says I'm racially pure, then when he says I'm the Hebrew of Hebrews, you see lots of people had converted to Judaism but they were Greeks, they were Hellenized Jews, they were Greek Jews and Paul's saying Hebrew of Hebrews, I was a Jewish Jew right from the beginning. I was ethnically pure and then I was culturally pure and then as a Pharisee, he's saying I was a learned man, he was like a university professor of the law of Judaism and so he's saying I'm educationally pure and as far as the law is concerned, faultless, big call. You know what Paul's doing? He's giving you his LinkedIn profile. He's giving you his LinkedIn profile and he's listing on his profile and it's impressive, it's impressive. But look, here's what he's saying, before you meet God outside of God, doing this will be default. This is what you will do outside of God, you will list your merits, you will list your achievements, you will do your things because whether it's socially or religiously or professionally, we want to be accepted, we want to be on the inside. Now here's the problem with building your own, look let me see, here's the problem, have you guys ever been invited to a wedding, when you know the date and the time but you've lost the invite, and you've been invited, what's the first question you're thinking to yourself as it's three hours to go, you're about to get in the car to go there, you're in a cold sweat, I only question that you're asking yourself, what's the dress code? What's the dress code? I mean is it formal, semi-formal, cocktail, casual, semi-casual? What does it mean? And here's the reason why, why do we ask that question because you know the recurring nightmares that we have turn up to this wedding and everyone's in a tuxedo and you look around the room and there's bow ties and there's beautiful flowing gowns and you see everyone there sparkling and teeth whitened and it's glistening and you're there in a pair of jeans. And for that moment guess where you are on the outside? You see we want to know what the dress code is because we want to know what the standard of righteousness is. And so this is part of the problem with self-righteousness first and foremost is how can you ever get the sense when it comes to God, the assurance that you've got the dress code right, that the standard by which God accepts in his great party is the one that you're living up to, if it's all come from yourself it's like going to a wedding and starting your own wedding invitation. I'll just turn on whatever but you're going to get there and whoops. But here's the other challenge, why I always feared that dress code because look I could get a nice pair of flat fronts going any day and I could get a nice colored shirt happening and that sort of thing but there's one thing that I don't own and that is a tuxedo and if I'm going to a really smart black tie event and that sort of thing I've got to know ahead of time because I don't own one, in other words I lack the resources, I lack the resources to live up to the standard of the wedding invitation. So you see, let's bring this back down here, can you see what the problem with self-righteousness is in first and foremost when it comes to the great wedding banquet that is God's? How do you even know what the dress, how do you know what the standard is and more importantly have you got the resources to fulfill that in the first place. That's the problem with self-righteousness. Now can you see why Paul says in verse 3, I've got no confidence in the flesh, I've got no confidence in what I do myself, self-generated acceptance is not going to get me anywhere, I've realized that it's not going to get me anywhere he says and he says, look he's saying if I approach acceptance with God by myself after all of these years I'll have absolutely no assurance and I've had an even greater awareness that I lack, he's saying I don't have the black tie, I don't have the tucks, I lack the resources even as a great man of the Jewish faith that he was, that's the problem with self-righteousness, the righteousness of your own and here's what, look here's the other side, in verse 6, verse 6, he says here, verse 7, but for whatever, but whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ, he's gone, he says, all of this achievement, all that I had done, the LinkedIn profile, I consider loss now, how can he say that, how can he say that he counts out as loss as he begins now to look at not the righteousness from himself but the righteousness from God, it's a bit like when you go and gaze at the stars all night, they look wonderful and beautiful and bright and then the sun comes up and something that you thought was dazzling and wonderful and incredible gets totally eclipsed by something more wonderful and new, that's the righteousness of God that Paul is starting to get at, that's the gravity by which he's talking about here, he's saying it's this righteousness from God, what is the righteousness from God, here it is, what is the righteousness from God, it's the ultimate I accept you, I call this the voice principle, we've seen that show that swept channel nine and actually it's the spite of a whole different range of different shows, what are some, the other ones it's on at the moment, X Factor, is it, X Factor's the other one, like Michael McQueen said this week at the ministers of white news, a guest speaker there he said, isn't it amazing that the only reason that these reality TV shows survive is because there's a plethora of young people who are totally unaware of their lack of talent and that's what provides entertainment value, they go absolutely no idea they suck and here's the reason why, you see it's one thing to go and look in the mirror with all of your one direction stickers up there on the mirror and your shampoo bottle singing into it and singing your guts out and telling yourself that you're beautiful and you're wonderful and you're special and then you know what happens after that, then the parents get on the bandwagon, oh she's just gorgeous you should see her here I see, oh she's fantastic, oh you're a beautiful press, those parents they're just fantastic, you know, where are the parents, you know when they get about to go and sort of declare their lack of talent in front of people all around the nation, where are the parents in that situation, they're in the wings, you see look it's one thing to tell yourself that you're wonderful, it's one thing to tell yourself that you're brilliant, it's one thing to have your parents telling yourself that you're brilliant but here's what I like about the voice, what I love about the suspense, the voice was different right, three judges stand there with their backs to the person, they look at nothing else except just listening to the wonderful tones that are coming around them and that great sense of anticipation where the show worked that you were accepted if before the song was done they would hit that button, the big chair would swing around and Seal would have some crazy sort of look on his face, see it's one thing to tell yourself that you're wonderful, it's one thing to have your parents tell yourself that you're wonderful but when the song finishes it's another incredible thing to have the best of the best and seal himself turn around and tell you that you're wonderful and the righteousness of God is the fact that no matter how much you've been telling yourself and trying to talk yourself up and self-esteem yourself into a wonderful sense of self-worth that at the end of the song the God of the universe the ultimate judge hits the button and swings around and says I want you on my team, I can't you see this is what you're looking for, whether you're a Christian or not tonight, can't you see that this is what you are searching for in your job and in your social relationships and in your social groups the righteousness of God is an acceptance that comes outside from yourself and you can't manufacture that and that's what Paul says is the simple Christian life, you're accepted from a source outside of you the ultimate authority from someone outside, the one who can really sing and hasn't got weird moves like seal. Now let me set this up, so we've been asking why is Christianity so complicated, it's two simple things it's either going to be the righteousness of your own or it's going to be a choice to receive the righteousness from God and so that is the choice that you're left with this evening. So I'll put it to you which one do you have? Most of you think it, I got the one, I got the God one, the answer is Jesus, that one day. You're saying yep I get it, I understand, I get what you say, I get it, no you don't. I don't mean to be rude but look, let me prove it, is it possible for you to be a Christian and still feel guilty? Is it possible for you to be a Christian and still feel anxious? Is it possible for you to be a Christian and still feel jealous and jealous and judgmental? Have you ever felt that? I don't know, I could be talking to myself here but I know I've been like that and can't you see if those feelings are beginning to emerge, have emerged in your life, it's a sign that at that point in your life you are still building your spiritual LinkedIn profile. There's still a hidden standard buried deep down inside you that says either I'm not good enough or it's saying I am good enough and they're not good enough. One results in guilt, one results in superiority, one results in judgment but either way you're building an online resume. If ever you've felt that, you see it's not your mind that will make this decision for you tonight, it's going to be your heart. There you go, that sounds weird, what are you getting out there mate, what are you saying? Look at what Paul does, verse 8, what is more I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whose sake I've lost all things, I consider them rubbish that I might gain Christ. Look at the way that he describes his degree and his pedigree and his ethnic purity, look let me get across what Paul is saying, he's saying my three degrees from Sydney Uni and the Masters from UNSW and the MBA from Stanford, my Order of Australia medal that I've earned, crap. I'm not being rude, that's what the Bible says. If you translate what the word rubbish says it means excrement. He says all of these things are crap. The crap, how is it, is he overreacting, is he sort of trying to hand things up a little bit here, look guys, when the sun comes up, the glorious stars that you thought were glorious don't seem so glorious anymore. When the sunrise guys in your life accomplishment, honour, the job, power, influence, those things that shine so brightly in your life today, when the sun comes up, when it comes up there is a surpassing greatness that super thing that Paul talks about it wipes it all away. And so look that's the thing, why is it, why is it for you and I that we can say yes, we'll rest in the righteousness of God and yet we see a character like Paul doing amazing things with amazing zeal and looking like a superhuman Christian. It's because at most points and times we don't get the gospel. We don't take it into the very depths of our hearts. How did Paul do it? Paul got the gospel and you need to do a little bit of research here in order to understand this. But he says that in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 onwards, he said here's the gospel in a nutshell, God made him who had no sin to be sinned for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. You know how the message puts it? He says God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong so that we could be put right with God. The gospel is this, it's an ultimate truth. It's a truth like the sun that came up in Paul's life. That's how he can call these achievements. That were good things, crap. It came up in his life and the gospel went like this. The gospel is that there's an ultimate wedding party that you're invited to. And we go up to it and we know that we've been invited but there's a dress code and we get to the front door and everyone is dressed in the most glorious, wonderful outfits that you've ever seen. And at the entrance to God's great party we stand there and we hear the laughter and we hear the wonderful music and we hear the trink of all the bells and the clinks of glasses and food and fun being happening. In our regular genes we stand outside and we say I haven't got a hope of getting in. And yet, like a wedding reception, and yet the groom himself peers out the window and sees you standing there. And he puts whatever he's doing down. He excuses himself from the conversation at the head table and he walks out and he walks down through the front door and he walks down into the cold sandstone steps into the dark night in which you've been hearing all of this and he begins to strip his clothes off. That tuxedo that you never ever owned. You could never afford to own the tux if you're a guy at least. And he puts it on you and left naked. He stands outside in the cold and he ushers you inside into the party, girls. He doesn't have a gown for you but he puts the coat over. You get the illustration, you get where I'm saying. And you look back and he says no, he ushers you in. He says you go ahead. He said at my place at the table. Can you guys, can you see what's happening at the cross? Can you see that what Jesus has done? Jesus lived the perfect life. Jesus lived the life that we should have. Jesus lived up to the standard. That is the wonderful and the good and the holy and the inexplicable law of God. We have to understand that Christianity is not a religion where God says ah, it doesn't matter. No, his law is perfect and he's a God who is good and just and there is one of all humanity in Jesus Christ who lived that perfect life and lived that perfect standard. He lived up to the dress code. He met it and he had the resources to do it provided by God and he takes his life and he stands to the outside and what we deserve, the night in the cold and a night listening to the party going on the inside, he takes on for us at the cross and then he gives us the coat over our shoulders and he says come into the party. The penalty we deserve, he takes and the life we could only dream of, he gives to us at the cross guys. Can't you see at the cross? The ultimate insider became the ultimate outsider. So you could be accepted. Paul got it. All his study, all his striving to be good, all the legalism, all his zeal, all his racial purity, all of those things, they were good things but here's what happened. You know what happened to those things? They got superseded. The son came up. Look, how else do I put it? I hate the burst Samsung's bubble tonight but you know I'm on a bit of a crusade against Samsung at the moment. I didn't think of that line. The next best thing is already here. The ultimate thing is already here. Guys, there is an acceptance that will supersede everything that you have been looking for up until this point in your relationships and your jobs. There's an acceptance that is even powerful enough to take an iPhone junkie like myself and find it acceptable to wait until the day after Apple launches its product to go to the mobile phone store. I'm kidding. There's that level of power in his acceptance tonight. Do you have that? Would you like that? Would you like that? The place you faith in Jesus at the back of auditorium tonight, look, it doesn't mean that you have to do away with your intellect. Paul is a smart guy. It doesn't mean that you take up a whole new level of religious exercises. He was getting rid of that. It doesn't mean that you've got to make some commitment to pray harder or to go to church more. That would be building your spiritual profile. The place your faith in Jesus tonight is to have the assurance and the resources to relax and declare that regardless of your own striving. God hit the button and said, "I want you on my team." And now the choice is up to you. Are you voice-contestant you? Stand on that stage and look at which one of the judges in your life you want to sit with. You want to learn from. You want to be with. Would you like that? You can have that tonight. But Christian, I speak to you also and say, "I need to ask you and I the hard question from God's word tonight." Are you and I still willing to stand in line for three or five hours or ten hours for things that are not Jesus Christ? Are there things in our life that have us so consumed? Paul's saying, "You've got no idea I looked at stars, but once this is all done and the striving and the goodness and the law and all that sort of thing, it means nothing. Nothing. Stop being distracted from silly little bits of technology and get the next, the ultimate thing." The ultimate thing. For him, I got a lot of processing to do tonight and I preach that to myself and if any of you want to get on the bandwagon and what the word of God is saying to you tonight, then so be it. Let's stop lining up for things that are not Jesus Christ. Christianity is simple. You're either trusting in your efforts or God's efforts. You're either trusting in your LinkedIn profile or the one that God gives you in Jesus Christ. You're either trusting in your righteousness or the righteousness that comes from God. There's the Atari joystick you're working out this week.