Northside Church - Sydney
What is the Good Life? - If God is with me why am I suffering? - Sam Haddon
Here's another inspiring message from Northside Community Church, Sydney. Hi, yes, we've been trying to work out what is the good life, what is the good life? And we have been working and discovering that, on one hand, the good life for some represents any geographical region, north of Port Macquarie, south of the Sunshine Coast, that's where the good life exists. Last week, Oscar from Chatswood West realized that the good life is basically to be an angry, scary CEO with a hundred million dollar net worth, that's the good life. Or we're going to listen to what Jesus has to say. Last week, he said the good life is those who hunger and thirst for all that is good and right. Ask this question, why stand for good, Jesus, in a world where standing for good doesn't seem to do any good? And I think the deeper question for us this morning is not so much why stand for good, but why don't we stand for good in a world where standing for good seems to do no good. Why don't we? And I think my answer to this, and we've all felt this right, I feel that we don't stand for good at times because we fear the word that Jesus is going to talk about in the final conclusion to this section of his sermon called the Beatitudes, and it's because we fear this word that he talks about persecution. Haven't you ever been in a situation? Maybe you can think about it now where you've been in a situation where you've sensed that it's going to cost you to stand for your faith, to stand for good, to make a difference, to be different, to be distinct. There's a cost, and we've seen this throughout history, and it's so hard because I get stuck. I don't know about you, but I get stuck when I hear the stories that Sarah has shared with us this morning on her interview, and if you're just tuning in now, you've got to go to nolsochurch.info to go and watch that whole interview, or if you're watching this back during the week, you can go there, and they've got to nolsochurch.info and watch it, but I struggle because I see the reality of some of these persecuted Christians, and we've seen that throughout history. We've seen people who were crucified upside down. We've seen stories of the Boxer Revolution in the 1900s in China where students were forced to come out of a building and trample over the top of the cross, and if they didn't, then they were shot for what they did. We've seen all sorts of people burnt at the stake and martyred for their faith, and if you're anything like me, I'm kind of like, we struggle in the Western world because it's like we don't have to deal with anything and it's close to that, right? And yet, we still have to acknowledge that for those of us in our context, there can be a cost. It can cost you for standing for your faith. You can feel persecuted. I know that because I've spoken to some of you. There are north-siders here. There was a north-sider I spoke to once who refused to get involved with his company's celebrations around a Muslim festival, and so he got called in front of HR, raked over the calls and given a formal warning by HR because he said he didn't want to participate in that because he's a Christian. And so he said to HR, he's what? So well, everyone else is allowed to celebrate Islam, but the minute I say I don't want to do that because I'm a Christian, I get in trouble. That's what we tolerate everyone else's religion, but we don't tolerate Christianity. At the more practical level, there's the north-sider who, because of his faith, standing up for all that is good and right, refused to just give in to the bullying that was happening in his workplace and the sexualized slurs and all that was being thrown at him. And so he stood up for that. He said no to that. He wouldn't stand for that and the culture, and as a result, he's getting tired, slashed, he's getting all sorts of horrible things set against him. It's real. It may not be as real as big as what we see over the world, but we've got to deal with what we've got to deal with in our context, right? It can be a cost associated with having faith in Jesus. And if you're anything like me, when we're in those moments, everything within us wants to react, everything within us wants to fight back, to say something, to do something to say, "This is not right," to stop, to do whatever we can because we've been mistreated. And yet what Jesus is going to say to us today is that he's going to give us a dynamic to turn the world upside down. In fact, haven't you ever seen this? Haven't you ever seen the power of a life-giving, mind-changing, disturbing, over, underreaction? You know the ones. You've seen that? That person where they've been mistreated, and you see them and there's everything they had every right to go back and to retaliate and to gossip and to slander and to put the other person down, and they didn't, you've seen it in their reaction that they had every reason to get angry and to fight and to do something, and yet they didn't. And maybe you had hurt them, and you're the one who'd been mean towards them, and they had every right to come back at you, and yet they forgave you, and they moved towards you, and you think you did what? And over, underreaction is this disturbing, different way of operating in the world, and it's the over, under-reaction stories that are the ones that are worth telling, right? They're the ones that you remember of that time. I can't believe they didn't do something, they were so distinctly different. So what Jesus talks about at the end of this beatitudes is really of the seed dynamic that he plants into a community that changed the world through a series of historical, over-under reactions. That's what the end of the beatitudes are, the conclusion to all of this, and I mean, you don't have to be a history buff to know some of the over-under reactions, Christians in the Colosseum. You've got people running into the plagues in Rome, people burnt at the stake, confessing their faith. You've got the people being persecuted for trying to abolish slavery, right? And so, here's this seed for all of these incredible lives that we've seen throughout history, and this is what is available to us, and if we take this to heart, then regardless of the scope of the persecution we endure as Christians, there is still something powerful in it. And I always think back to this, I go, "Can you imagine what Matthew must have been thinking when he heard Jesus say this?" And first of all, Jesus is saying, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." And then Jesus says, "Maddy, write this one down, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And I can imagine Matthew, if Matthew's anything like me or you, I can imagine we're like, Matthew's going, "Yeah, this peacemaker is poor in spirit, humble only. That's really good." Jesus, sorry, I didn't quite get that, it sounded like you said persecuted, could you say that again? I didn't quite get that right, it sounded like it, but surely that's not the case. If you're anything like me, I can deal with the poor in spirit, I can deal with God, me too, at the end of your robe, I can deal with being lowly, I can deal with being humble but persecuted? What's with that? Jesus goes on to say, "Blessed are you who are persecuted because of righteousness." Blessed are you when you are persecuted. For Jesus, Jesus says, "It's not if you are persecuted, but it's when you are persecuted." It's not an if, but a when. And if you are a follower of mine, it comes with the territory. Whether you when people insult you, not blessed are you if people insult you, when? So the first thing we have to understand that if you are a Christian and a follower of Jesus, it's an inevitability that this is going to come towards us, to which we think, "What a wonderful uplifting sermon we've got this morning." But we've been talking about this, every beatitude is a characteristic of the Christian. These are not tasks that we try and tick off on our little discipleship to do this. In fact, all of these eight different characteristics are basically Jesus' version of what would become Paul's fruit of the spirit if you know that term Christians. So this is Jesus' version of the fruit of the spirit. This is Jesus' version of the characteristic of the kingdom life, the poor in spirit, those who mourn their selfishness, those who assuming lowly position, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. And when you do all of these things, you actually become a different state of a person. You become a different type of a person. You become a kingdom person. And so what we have to understand that this persecution is really a reaction to the state of the Christian's character. It's kind of like two magnets, you know, you've done this in science class, you don't have magnets repel each other. You know, I was felt for that little magnet over the left there. You should have taken that so personally. No one, he's stick to me. I was nice to him. I was a nice magnet. I'm as good as magnets come. There's a reality that no matter how nice that magnet is, there will be a repulsion. It's a function of their state. This makes sense? So firstly, Jesus says this persecution is a reaction to the state of the kingdom life. And what Jesus sets up here, and I want us to stop and to take this in because in our culture, it can be so easy to miss the beatitudes for you and I after we've been looking at this for a good three or four weeks. The beatitudes, and this is the threshold where we're at, the beatitudes can either be a bunch of pretty proverbs, nice sayings, or they are the pathway to persecution. And what is so uninspiring about that is that when we understand that it's the pathway to persecution, what I want to show you this morning is first of all, we need to understand what that persecution is and does to us. But understanding the upside down world of the kingdom that there is a power in the persecution that is not only applicable for those around you, but in your own life. And so you're ready to see what this persecution is? First and foremost, Jesus says this persecution is because of me, not you. He says, blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil, because of me, because of me, not because of you. You need to circle that if you've got your Bibles out, or if you're doing it digitally, as Tom would say to us this morning. If you've got a digital Bible, you need to highlight that, right? The first thing what you need to get is that Jesus says the persecution is because of me, so don't take it personally. Don't let it dent yourself esteem. A classic example of this persecution is many of us would have seen because it's Olympic time. And if you stayed through the whole four hours of whatever that ceremony was up the river, you would see that there's been a really controversial scene in the opening ceremony, in which a bunch of drag queens reenacted their own interpretation of the Last Supper. And there are a lot of Christians around the world, understandably, absolutely livid, with a world that we live in, where people can take all that we believe to be most sacred and flaunt and twisted around in that matter. You only have to see the other opposite way that it goes if you draw cartoons of Allah and Denmark and see what happens with the protest there. Wendy Francis of the Australian Christian lobby says the games had disgracefully besmirched the Last Supper with sexualized men pretending to be women parroting it. And there are a lot of people out there that may be you that are saying, "How dare they make fun of my faith, of my faith?" And I cheekily want to say that for all of the things that they could have featured in such a worldwide event, I find it absolutely fascinating that they're going to have a go at the Last Supper. For all the things that the world could be talking about, guess what they're talking about, Jesus, Christianity. And you know what? For some people, that may really, really offend you, and you might think that it's about your time now to make a stand and take a fight and get up there and say, "How dare they say that about my faith?" And all I want to say to us before we go out there and go crazy and on all the blogs and all the rest of it is that Jesus himself expected this from day one. Didn't he, at that supper, at that dinner, say to his disciples, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." John 15. And so what we have to understand, Church, is that Jesus is uniquely hated in the world in a way that a lot of other leaders are, right? So don't take it personally. Jesus already told us, "They're going to hate me, and so as a result, they're going to hate you. It's going to rub off. If you are a follower of mine," he says, "Guys, I'm just going to give you the heads up. If you want to come follow me, I'm kind of uniquely hated in the world. And so eventually, that's going to rub off onto you." Just saying. Part of the reason is there's such a bias to the way that people study Jesus and try and put down Jesus, and they kind of do it in a way that's so skeptical of him, kind of treat him like a fool. They study him like no other character in history. I mean, like if you studied Queen Elizabeth I with the level of skepticism and downright hatred towards Jesus, people just don't do that, right? And here's the reason that even if the claims of what Queen Elizabeth I says about herself are absolutely true, her claims don't require you to change your life. And so Jesus says, "They're going to hate me, they're going to hate you too." So don't take it personally, okay? It's him. It's not you. But here, get this, in light of this too, particularly if we're going out on crusades for all that's been put into the Olympic ceremony, our understanding of this next aspect of persecution is absolutely crucial, right? Because this persecution, not only should you not take it personally, it's him, it's not you. But this persecution should be a result of the fact that you are glorious, not obnoxious. Jesus says, "Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you because of me, not because of you." And here's the reality. You can be persecuted because you're obnoxious. You can be persecuted because you're glorious and it's your job to know whether you're the difference. Hey, man, I remember back over Christmas when we were at, we were coming out of our Disneyland trip at the end of the day in Disneyland, which all of my in-laws paid for, by the way, for the record, what sort of past is this off to Disneyland? We're coming out of Disneyland, you know, it's a small world, after all, we're coming out of Disneyland as just being like the most magical night of our life is like artificial snowflakes coming down everywhere and we're crossing the traffic lights on Harbour Boulevard there in Anaheim. And as we cross the light, there is this guy on the other side of Disneyland with giant signs everywhere in this loud music saying repent or you're all going to hell, straight outside of Disneyland, to music. And I said to the kids, this is what we define as juxtaposition, children, right, outside of music, out of Disneyland. That, my friends, is an example of obnoxious and you could hear people walking past them and go an idiot, you could just sense it in people and I can imagine that type of Christian being the sort of person goes home to their wife after packing everything up and all the signs and stacking them back in the garage and just feeling almost self-righteous in and of himself and the wife said how did it go to go tonight, and he said I got so persecuted, I did it all for Jesus. And the reality is, it's not being persecuted because he's glorious, he's being persecuted because he's an idiot, it's obnoxious, it's biblical by the way, in first Peter, one Peter verse 14, Peter says you are suffering persecution but don't let any of you suffer as a medler and the Greek word for mended there is fascinating, it means to be a busy body or tactless, right. So when Peter and Jesus talk about persecution, what they're both saying is there are better ways to win people to Jesus than being obnoxious, so don't be obnoxious, be persecuted because you are glorious, because there is steady graciousness about you, because these characteristics of the kingdom life are in people's faces not overtly but covertly and you are so different that they begin to react to you. So look, don't say I'm being persecuted for Jesus sake, no you're being persecuted for your sake buddy outside of Disneyland, I will say the one thing that I will give him credit for because you know my kids my kids said to me, oh dad that's you in 30 years. I would ask state for the record, it wasn't because of the big obnoxious science, it's because he was doing all of this whilst playing a ketar and so I figured to the Jew I became a Jew, to the Greek I became a Greek, to the musicians I played ketar and tried to evangelise. Anyways, moving right along, make sure you're being persecuted because you're glorious, not obnoxious. Here's the third one this morning, we need to understand that this persecution and this is the deep mystery of all of this, this is what is so weird about all of this, persecution, the persecution that Jesus is talking about is actually formative, it's not punitive. Here's the difference, in fact there is a dynamic within this persecution that you experience as a Christian that actually shapes you and molds you and crafts you into the sort of person that he wants you to be, he says there, blessed are you when people persecute you because of me, rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven. Now we know through what we've preached before that heaven is not in the mind of Jesus a place in the sky where you go to die, NT Wright does a lot of work around that, it is heaven is not a place in the sky where you go to die, heaven is now, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, it's right in front of your face. So another way to paraphrase this is Jesus is saying rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in the heavens now, right in front of your space, starting now lasting for all eternity, there is something happening now that is rewarding in the persecution and it's this, there is a possibility and some of you know this, that in the loss, that in the heartache, that in the pain you can become a person that doesn't get bitter but better. And here's one way, the only way that you will know that when it comes to the beatitudes that you are not treating them like a bunch of poetic proverbs, the only way that you will know that whether you are the difference between a believer and a follower of Jesus, the only way that you know whether or not you are living this or just mentally ascending to this is through opposition. And when that opposition comes against you, then we know that that is the very thing, the very forces at work that craft you and shape you into who you are. The psychologist called this the gift of self differentiation, anyone heard that term before? It's the gift of self differentiation, self differentiation as Pete Scazero puts it, involves remaining connected to people and yet not having your reaction or behavior determined by them. It's remaining connected and being able to have a life giving liberating over underreaction. It's to be interconnected, not withdrawing from people who are very different from you and even persecuting you and be distinctly different. And is it this exactly what Jesus then says, and I never got this, you've got to look at this in your Bible's church. This leads directly into one of my favorite passages in the Bible and you know it because I call you this just about every second Sunday fireflies that Jesus says that in light of this, then remember you are the salt of the earth and if the salt loses its saltiness, how could it be made salty again, what's Jesus talking about, self differentiation, that there is a distinct difference between you and the rest of the world around you. And so when this opposition comes against you, it's probably the only context, right? And you might have experiences where you come to realize, hang on, this is what I really stand for, this is who I am, this is what I value. I think what Jesus is saying to us is only until you get opposition will you know whether you're a person who's just listening to this and go, I'd love to sit on the mountain, it's beautiful. Only until you get the opposition, I don't know, let me ask you the question, do your values change based on whether you're at work or you're in worship? Do what you stand for differ between the opinion of this friend and that friend? Are you one who has a different opinion whether you're behind a keyboard or a screen or face to face for someone? You'll never know this until the work of self differentiation happens through the work of opposition, there is something that can happen in all of this. And some of you know, I've got to be conscious of this down how much I do and don't share, but some of you know my journey through the COVID season that we had in this place. And it was a period where as a leader, I'm not the only one, lots of leaders in workplaces and church land understood the verse, blessed are you and people falsely say all kinds of things about you because of me. And some of the different situations I have to endure whether people are loved dearly and I still love them, but loved me dearly up until things happen, I supposedly lock them out of their building, don't let them do church. And anyone close to me has walked with me, knows the paradox of when you begin to face that sort of opposition and version of persecution so to speak, there's never been a more formative time in my leadership and came to this fresh hold where I said, you know what? This is who we are, this is who we stand for. This is who we are, this is what we do as a church and if you're going to get caught up in minutiae about whether you're in or out of a building or that someone's sitting in your chair because that's where you've always sat for 20 years or all of the peripheral stuff to Jesus and maybe this is not going to be the right sort of place for you. And it was the one time in my life where suddenly I had to make a call, was I going to be the same in every context. This is what I stand for and this is what I'm about. It doesn't happen unless there's the opposition. If you're a leader you know this, talking to the mayor of North Sydney about this, she knows this too, certainly as she goes into a campaign season, there is something happens in the process of opposition that gives you the gift of self-differentiation, almost like the way that acid washes away all of the impurities so you can get to gold. Does that make sense? Sorry, it's an all-sided online messaging me saying good point. Thanks, Becks. Appreciate that, brother. So, guys, here's probably one of the saddest ironies you're going to find when it comes to Western persecution. You're probably going to be more likely to be persecuted by Christians than you are by non-Christians, if you haven't already. But Jesus says it's not if but it's when, it's not if but it's when. More positively if we are to be salt and light, and if we read this passage within the context of being salt and light, salt is self-differentiated, it's distinct, it stays salt, otherwise it's not worth anything but also it's not only salt but it's also light, and so what it means that not when but if this, but when this persecution comes, there will be a dynamic where some people in the world will hate you, but more wonderfully, some people in the world will love you. And that people won't just be repelled by you, but people will be drawn to you because you've been glorious, not obnoxious. And so our sweet spot is to work out how am I living in that sweet spot between being someone who stands for something and is being distinctly different, and then someone who is not being difficult. How do we live in this sweet spot where people are both repelled but also attracted? And I just got two questions for you as we finish. The first one is this, the first one you need to work out is, is there any persecution in your life? Is there any persecution? Because if there's no persecution, then what's the problem? If there's no persecution, what it means is potentially you're not salty enough. If there's no persecution, you're not different enough. If there's no persecution, it's either that you're not salty or different enough in different contexts, you're not as much as a contrast, but even at the worst end of the spectrum, it means that maybe there's just cowardice. Maybe the fear has taken over too much, and you never say anything. And so is there any persecution in your life? And then obviously, secondly, are you being persecuted because you're glorious or because you're obnoxious? Is there a sense in which the persecution is a reaction to the state of who you are, not because of what you are saying? That's the sweet spot. And when we come to understand that, then really, it means that at the end of the day, if we speak truth without love, there'll be no persecution and there'll be no attraction. But then if we only love people and we don't speak the truth, then you might be attracting, but you're never persecuted. Are you living in the sweet spot? Because it's possible that when, underlined, the person that the persecution comes against you, there is the opportunity for a life-changing, liberating, mind-changing, over-under reaction. And that is the reactions that change the world. Actions speak louder than words, but reactions, who you are in that state, speak even louder. And so as we finish this morning, all I wanted us to get is to realize that as we hear these stories of people throughout history, and as we've heard the stories of people within the persecuted church from Sarah, the thing that got me most from hearing that story this morning is there has to be something, right? There has to be something, there has to be a value, there has to be a beauty, there has to be something that they've discovered that we haven't, and there has to be something that only persecution brings in order to discover that. The extended version of her story is that, you know, one of these families just walk around their area, there of the Middle East, with outdoor furniture only, because in case they either have to just pick up and go, it's easy to carry, carry, or at worst, it can be used to shelter from bombs, right? So as you and I are struggling this morning with the fact that we are so far removed from the persecution that we see of other Christians around the world, let's just use their example as a way to say they are the blessed ones, they're the lucky ones, lucky are you, because they have unlocked the full value of the blessed life, of the resource that this life is, even in the face of persecution. Now if we want to get really grounded in all of this, dare I say you want persecution, you want opposition, because at the end of the day, is it just me or aren't all the great stories in life, the stories of ones where persecution comes, and then you remain steadfast and victorious, right? Can you imagine Lord of the Rings? If the story of Lord of the Rings was just really a documentary where we traced the career progression of a young hobbit called Frodo, as he diligently climbed up the corporate ladder of the Shire and moved himself into a middle management position of Middle Earth, wouldn't that be inspiring? Some of you asked this morning, hang on, but Sam, this could hurt me and this could cost me this Christian life, of course it's going to hurt you and cost you, but that's what the great adventures are about, the stings, the scars, the removal from family, the enemies that you think are just absolutely unbeatable and then somehow through the smallest, you beat them, you know, we all want the big life and the big story, and Jesus's promise is, you live my life, my way, the big enemies will come and the persecution will come and the scars will come and the stings will come, but I will use those things such is my power, such is God's glory that I will use those things, not only to turn you into a person of greatness, but to glorify my Father in heaven, let's pray, Father, these are these moments where we with all humility would say to you in this moment, we've got no idea what it is that we want to pray for, because we kind of know that we don't even know who we will be or what it would be like if we come up against what you say is possible in this world, yet we lean on the truth that your Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf, speaks to you on our behalf in this moment. Father, God, I believe that there can be no more powerful prayers than when your children say, Lord, I don't think I could comprehend the type of life that I've seen of others before me and others in the world thrust into my life, but Lord, I do pray this morning that for each of us it wouldn't just be, I hope, I hope that I've got what it takes, I hope that I wouldn't walk away from you, I hope that I'd remain firm, I pray that this would be the sort of prayer where seeds for the future would be sown, that as you look down upon this prayer that you would smile because on one hand you would understand the heart by which we offer this up to you. I think your heart would also break because for whatever it might mean for some of us, Father, I don't think it brings you any pleasure to see your children in the pain and the suffering that we do see around the world at the moment. And so Father, in the deep mystery that we experience that there is somehow a dynamic in this world that is on one hand absolutely and vehemently opposed to you and your people on the other we declare that there is a shining light in spaces of darkness all around this globe. That we lift up those in the persecuted church to you Father God, we humbly declare that we can't come close to comprehending their plight but as our brothers and sisters we commit them to you. We thank you for their example, we thank you what they show to us, we thank you that they preach to us and say all that we have heard from you this morning Lord Jesus is entirely possible. May that continue and may it continue through us in those moments where we need to stand firm. May your spirit meet us in those moments right at the right time and in so doing may we bring you glory in Jesus' name. Well thanks for tuning in, if you'd like to find out more about Northside visit northsidechurch.org.au . [BLANK_AUDIO]