Northside Church - Sydney
Ditto Week 2: Depend as Jesus Depended
You're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. Guys, one of the nicest things that can happen to any one of us and it happened to me recently and it happened from time to time and I'm sure it's happened to some of you. I was at my mother's birthday party in Melbourne, she just turned 85 recently on Anzac Day. And a person whom I hadn't seen, one of her friends, one of her elderly friends, hadn't seen me for years, came into the room and did a real double take and like actually stepped back and said, "Oh my gosh, Graham, looking at you, it is just like looking at your father." Now, if you know the person or rather if you love the person with whom you're being compared and I certainly had a deep affection for my late father he died eight years ago, it was a really nice affirmation. It's been said before, she was talking mainly about mannerisms, it's not necessarily a sort of a physical likeness, I mean he went ball prematurely, he had a big nose. So it's more of a gesture thing, and people said, "Wow, just like your father." Now Jesus said, "If you've seen me, you've seen the father." Jesus was a, he was a ditto version of the heavenly father. And guys, how does this apply to you and me? Well, let me say this, our primary task is Christians. It's not to win people for Christ, does that, does that shock anybody? That's not our primary task, it's one of our tasks, it's not our primary task. Nor is our primary task to overturn the evils of society, to identify and denounce all the sins and all the wrongdoing. It's not even to minister to the problems of the world. We do that, and it's one of our tasks, but it's not the primary task. Our primary task as Christians is to be like Jesus, and all the rest will follow. Our primary task as Christians is to reflect the life, the love, the justice, the grace, the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. That's heavy. That may seem unrealistic, people think, "Whoa, hang on, Brad, be like Jesus, whoa." We never make it this side of heaven. Of course we don't, it's an impossibility, but people fill with the Spirit of God. People who've been, who've been grabbed by the Holy Spirit, it's amazing how close they can come to being like Jesus. We prove it every week in this church. Some of you exhibit Christ-like qualities in the way you live, the way you speak, the way you move in your circle of influence. It's possible when you are gripped by the Holy Spirit to really reflect the love and the grace and the justice of Jesus Christ. Let me throw some more light on this with a few Scriptures. Look at this. Romans 8, verse 9, we read it a moment ago. Let me highlight it. "Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him." Now let me say straight off, that's not meant to be a statement of exclusivity. That is meant to be a statement of inclusion because the Bible teaches that if you are a Christian, if you've received Jesus Christ, you have the Holy Spirit. I'm going to come back to that in a moment, but it's not something, it's not an add-on. You may have come from a background where that was taught. In this church, we don't believe that is the case. We believe that the overwhelming evidence of Scripture is that once you receive Jesus Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit. Here's a second reference from 1 John. Love is made perfect in us, so we may have courage on the day of judgment, and we will have it. Courage that is, because our life in this world is the same as Christ. In other words, as we reflect His love and His light in our lives, we are intended. We are meant to resemble the life of Jesus. And here's one from 1 John 2, 6, the one that's at the heart of this whole series, whoever says they remain in union with God should live just as Jesus did. I mean, it's pretty clear. And here's the daddy of them all. Is that a term? The daddy of them all? Here's the daddy of them all, right? Here's a statement from Jesus which at first glance, it appears to be unbelievably presumptuous. It's very confronting. It almost makes us think that couldn't possibly be so. What was he thinking when he said this? Look at what he says. This is Jesus in John 14. "I'm telling you the truth, whoever believes in me will do what I do." Yes, they will do even greater things because I'm going to the Father. How does that strike you? I mean, some of you are familiar with that verse, others of you might be getting that for the first time. It's very confronting. It's presumptuous. It just seems unbelievable at first glance. Guys, I believe this verse on its own, just this verse, has the potential to unlock this entire subject of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, his dependence on God, the Father, through the Holy Spirit, and how that in turn impacts us as disciples, our dependence on the presence and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. I want to take you to one more scripture. Because this idea of living as Jesus lived, there's a verse tucked away in Acts 10. I really love this verse because in answer to the question, well, what did Jesus do? How can we summarize it? Is there a verse, a statement that really encapsulates exactly what Jesus was doing? I believe there is. The setting of this verse is Peter, and he's talking to Cornelius. Cornelius was a Roman centurion and his family had received the Gospel, and here's Peter unpacking the story of Jesus in terms of this guy I can understand. He's assuming a fair bit of knowledge already when he talks to Cornelius, and this is what he says in verse 38 of Acts 10, listen to this, "You know about Jesus of Nazareth and how God poured out from him the Holy Spirit," or sorry, "poured out on him," I should say, "poured out on him the Holy Spirit and power. He went everywhere doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil. For God was with him." Now, that's a beautiful statement to summarize what Jesus was doing. Can I read that again? He went everywhere doing good, healing all who were under the power of the devil for God was with him. And earlier he had the Holy Spirit poured out on him. What a beautiful summary of the life of Jesus Christ. We know from the Gospels that this is true. We know from what we read about Jesus when he saw those who were hungry, he fed them. When he saw those who were cold, he clothed them. When he saw those who were weary, he strengthened them. When he saw little children, he blessed them. When he saw those who were grease-stricken, he comforted them. He blessed those who cursed him. He loved those who hated him. He prayed for those who abused him. He never sought revenge. He never tried to get back at anyone. When one particular follower betrayed him, he called him "friend." When people reviled him, he did not retaliate even while he was hanging on the cross. He prayed, "Father, forgive them, they don't really know what they're doing." Now, guys, when you think about it, you combine these. These incredible characteristics of Jesus. Throw in all the healings, throw in all the miracles, and you soon realize nobody ever lived like that, either before or since. This man is unique in all the world. Nobody has ever lived a life like that. Jesus went everywhere, says Peter, doing good. Now, I want to pause for a moment. On that word, everywhere. You think about it. Jesus went everywhere. That everywhere was in a section of countryside, 120 kilometers by 70 kilometers, or there abouts. Jesus went about everywhere, 70 kilometers by 120 kilometers. In a little country, in a small part of the Middle East called Israel, China never saw him, Africa never saw him. The great continent of America never saw him, Russia never saw him, no part of Europe ever saw Jesus, our indigenous Australians who predated Jesus by tens of thousands of years, they never saw him. He didn't even make it to the great cities of the world as he knew it, never went to Rome, never went to Cairo, never saw the Colosseum. Never went to see the sphinx, the pyramids. I mean, he was doing public relations back then. I mean, that would have been a huge photographic moment. Jesus straddling the sphinx, doing a one hand handstand on top of the pyramids. Tremendous publicity. Put it up in the sky and use for sure. Jesus never saw any of that, okay? 20 Ks by 70 Ks, Jesus went everywhere, yeah, right. Now guys, you see what I'm getting at here. When we say that Jesus went everywhere, rather when he said, "Greater things than these will you do." I mean, how do you get greater than healing blindness? How do you get greater than enabling a crippled person to walk? How do you get greater for goodness' sake than raising somebody from the dead, as he did with Lazarus? Oh, greater things than these will you do. Come on, Jesus, what are you talking about? You know, number one, we can't aspire to that. I think what Jesus was talking about was the influence of his church. I think that's what he's talking about, because he knew that he'd only been visibly seen, 120 Ks by about 70 Ks, but he knew that his church, empowered by the Holy Spirit, he knew they would go all across the world, and you know, today, in virtually every country they tell us, in every country of the world, somewhere there's somebody with allegiance to Jesus Christ. They might be getting persecuted, they might have to keep it a secret, they might be getting suppressed. But the gospel is such that just in virtually every known country of the world, there's somebody who professes the name of Jesus Christ, and it is still the largest organized religion in the world. I think that's what Jesus was getting at. It's about the enemy who can explain that, and of course, that's where we come in. I mean, that's where we're part of that spread, we're part of that greater things, because your friends deserve to hear about Jesus. Your workplace deserves to hear about Jesus. Your family deserves to hear about Jesus. And it could be you're the only one, you're going to be the only Jesus they'll ever see. You're going to be the only Bible they'll ever read, your life, the quality of your life. How important is it to be drawing on God's Holy Spirit, to resemble, to be like Jesus? Let me take you to John chapter 16, verse 7, John 16, verse 7, look at this, "I'm telling you the truth," says Jesus, "it is better for you that I go away." Because if I do not go, the helper will not come to you. But if I do go away, I will send him to you. The helper, it's one of the descriptions used for the Holy Spirit. The helper will not come to you, says Jesus, if I don't go away. It was necessary for a physical Jesus who only had influence in that little tiny part of the world. It was necessary for him to go so that the Holy Spirit could come live within you, within me, within you, and be part of this worldwide spread. Let me go back to what I said earlier. Every follower of Jesus Christ, everybody who names his name, has the Holy Spirit. It is not an optional extra. It's not something you kind of work up to. It's not something you get after. You've been a Christian for 10 years when you go to a meeting and somebody says, "You may know Jesus, but do you know the Holy Spirit?" It's a one-stop shopping, you receive Jesus. Sometimes in some churches and among some Christians, the presence of the Spirit has been confused with the manifestation of the Spirit. And the way of telling whether a person has the Holy Spirit or not has been in the manifestation of certain gifts, like speaking in tongues. Oh, must have the Holy Spirit speaking tongues. No, this is one of the gifts. It's a gift. This is one of the gifts. I work with the guy once who drove me insane, wondering why I didn't have the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of speaking in tongues. I tried, I'd been open, but this didn't happen. And then when I went to college, I asked him why I didn't have the gift of preaching. He said, "Oh, that's different, is it? Is that different?" And then I knew I was on a roll, and so he kind of shut him down, like Paul says it's all about gifts, and everybody even says in verse 7 of 1 Corinthians 12, he actually says, "The Spirit's presence is shown in some way in each person," he's talking about the body of Christ. It's shown in some way in each person, what's the reason for the good of all? So any gift is meant to uplift the body. It's not meant for personal gratification or, you know, so you can say, "Well, you know, Gee, I've got that gift, and you haven't had to show them about that." It's meant for body life, and we can unpack that if we had time in terms of the way in which the Holy Spirit expresses Himself through gifts. So, guys, look, how can we say we all have the spirit—so we can say we all have the spirit, right? Okay, we can say that. But, okay, we're meant to live like Jesus. That's easier to say, but I know what you're thinking, and I'm thinking, but how does that work? You know, if you're in my situation, Graham, if you're the kind of people I deal with, man alive, you know, I just make it a Sunday, I'm getting hammered, man. It's really rough out there. I know that. I think it's rough for all of us. I said the other week, you know, we're going through a period where it's never been so tough to be a fear-negan follower of Jesus, because the forces of atheism and the forces of evil are really circling. I mean, it's, I don't know, if some kind of conspiracy—I read in the paper this week—you know, godlessness now outpaces Anglicanism. There are more people in Australia who say they don't believe anything than there are Anglicans. That was certainly our peace, Church of Christ, you know, we wouldn't even get a mention there. So, look, it's pretty tough. Okay. What does it mean? How do we live like Jesus? Is it about being good? I hope not, because, like you, I fail a lot. Is it about going to church? I hope not, because a lot of people go to church, and you can do that with that necessarily being a disciple. Is it about serving on rocers? Actually, it could be. Yeah. I think that's it. That's it. Yep. You want to be like Jesus. You get on a roster. That's it. Okay. Let's pray. No. No, no. I'd like to be able to say that. I mean, we're going through tough times, guys, where we're looking for all the help we can get. Partner with us. It's up the back there. Come on. Like, is it about doing some things, avoiding other things? No, no. Is it about trying really hard going to really try this week to be like Jesus? Well, no. I've tried that. You have many of you. That's not where it's at. Let me illustrate this way. In the beautiful Italian city of Florence, chance to brag, who's been to Florence? Uh-oh. Who hasn't been to Florence? That might be easier. Yeah. Right. I think that was easier. Less hands. Typical north side, okay? Well, in the city of Florence, that's where the original statue of David is, okay? Beautifully created by who? Michelangelo. And the one thing that's going to hit you on a trip to Italy is just what a freaking genius that guy was, right? Not only as a painter, not only as a sculptor, but a builder. I came away from my first visit to Italy just I couldn't believe so much creativity. So much genius could be put into one life. And between 1501 and 1504, he created the statue of David. For those of you who don't know the statue of David, it's kind of David, kind of early in the morning as he's kind of like getting into the shower, you know? And he's already left his towel on the rack, okay? Now, that's, you get the picture? I would love to have shown an image, but we don't have pixelation facilities here at north side. And we would have needed that, okay, pixelation. It's quite large, the statue, oh, that is, it's quite large. It's 5.17 metres high, okay? That's about 17 feet for those of you who you have to make the transfer seat. Now guys, what about if somebody said, okay, we want you to create, we're going to infuse you with the spirit of Michael Angelou, okay, we're going to infuse you with the spirit of Michael Angelou. And well, first of all, what if somebody said, look, we want you to create something like the statue of David. You choose the character. Just do something like it. Now, how would you go? I mean, I've not worked with marble, but I have worked with clay. And my fruit bowl in high school resembles something you'd expect a three-year-old to produce with Play-Doh, I mean, it was just shocking, I'm just not into that. But what if somebody said, okay, we're going to infuse you with the spirit of Michael Angelou? Just like the Holy Spirit is supposed to infuse us with the spirit of Jesus. Now then we'd be able to maybe do a statue of David, but it still doesn't satisfy us. We know that that's, you know, like how would that work? Here's the key. If we're going to use that analogy, here's the thing. We are not the sculptor. We are the marble. That's how this works, okay? We are the marble. And Michael Angelou, his genius, was to take a piece of rough marble, and there are many different types of marble around the place. He took a particular kind and he shaped that into a thing of beauty. And so Christ's likeness is being willing to submit to the Master Craftsman, being willing and open to allow God over the years through the power of the Holy Spirit to chip away at your points of weakness and my points of weakness to create something beautiful out of something that starts off as just like a block of marble, you know? And we could take this further. I believe that's why, you know, like God works within our own personality types. All marble is different, different colors, different sort of density, and that allows for different kind of personality types, but it does mean that the process is uniform. The process of the Holy Spirit shaping a life, shaping the marble, there's uniformity there. And guys, that's what we're talking about when we're talking about Christ's likeness. It involves that availability. God, you're the Craftsman. We can't do that. That's not possible for us to do the shaping, but we can be available for the shaping. You look back, some of you could, if we had a chance to get you up here, you'd say, you know what? That's been my journey. Guys, if you could see where I am today, compared to where I was five years ago, ten years ago, in some cases, one year ago, I'm a different person, people would say. I know, we get this in past work all the time. And so availability to the Holy Spirit, that's the key to Christ's likeness, and it's a gradual process. Sometimes it's an instant thing, but in my experience, not all that often. Generally, it's a gradual process. I'm going to let the Bible itself have the last word tonight, and we're going to take that original reading, but I'm going to read it from the message, which, you know, sometimes you just got to draw on this Peterson translation to really get, to bring a passage to life. Have a look at this. We've put up on the screen for you. This is that original reading from Romans 8, 9 to 11, but it's in the message version. Look at this. And let this, let God speak to you through these words, because here's the crystal summary of what I've been trying to say. But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of himself than of him, anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him in whom he dwells, even though you still experience all the limitations of sin, you yourself experience life on God's terms, it stands to reason, doesn't it? That if the alive and present God who raised Jesus from the dead, moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself. When God lives and breathes in you, he does as surely as he did in Jesus. You are delivered from that dead life, with his spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ. Wow. Does that resonate with you tonight? Have you welcomed him into your life? Has he taken up residence in your life? Are you a fair dinkum in your desire to be like Jesus? You'll never make it perfectly in this life, not this side of heaven, not even mother Theresa made that level of holiness. You read her stories. She struggled a lot with her relationship with Jesus Christ. Many of us do at different seasons. If the desire is there, if the intention is there, if the availability of the marble is there, the master craftsman will do his work and progressively, piece by piece, you will become the person God intends you to become. It's an exciting journey. So many here have already started. If you haven't, you can tonight. That's what the ministry time's about, it'll be part of it. So where are you tonight, guys? You love the hymns, love the songs, love the fellowship, love the friendship, love all that. But what about Jesus? You know? What about him tonight? Are you making yourself available to be Christ-like in your world? It's a world that desperately needs more Christ-like figures. He moves in a limited area, but his people have moved worldwide.