Phil 3:1-11
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 5 viewsNotes
Transcript
Handout
Northside Church Jamey MIlls
Aug. 9th. 2020
Northside…. It’s always good to be with you guys!! My name is Jamey Mills and I am the lead pastor here at Northside… so glad we’re able to meet here this evening…
Before we get in too far I need to ask you’re help with something. I realize it's a touchy issue with as many thoughts as there are people… but in an attempt to do what's asked of us… and even to honor and respect the community around us… I just want to keep this idea of social distancing in front of us. I realize there is only so much we can do… and that's why we are still online and have places people can participate from their car… but please help us in being mindful It really does help us show care to the community around us.
As we get started this evening I thought I’d ask a fun question… Has anyone ever mistaken you for someone else? I’ve been on both sides of it.
I remember in highschool there was a young lady named Jen…she had long brown hair… and drove a red car… and I thought she was pretty neat and one day, this read car pulled up at the bank and I ran over and gave her a hug from behind… and when she turned around it wasn’t Jen at all… crazy awkward… right… what do you say in a moment like that? I think I just said your it… and ran away.
About 20 years ago… I was at a Christian camp on the Oregon coast. I met a youth pastor from the portland area named Scott and evidently we looked alike, especially from behind… and right after a basketball game, this lady came up from behind and put her arms around me and said he baby… and I turned around… and it was scott’s wife and she literally hid for the rest of the camp she was so embarrassed. It didn't help that I kept referring to her as sweety while asking her to get me coffee and things like that.
For the last 10 years or so, I have had a few people tell me that I look like someone… and that if I ever shaved my head. We’d look a ton a like, so I'll let you be the judge… (SHOW PICTURE OF RIC) This is Ric from the movie Pawn stars… and it's important that you hear me correctly… I said PAWN stars… What do you think?
I figured the best way to tell is to get a side by side… so here is a picture of Ric and the most recent picture of me since shaving my head (show Picture of Ric and Dwayne Johnson)... personally I don't see it.
A couple years back my daughter and I were watching the show Pawn Stars… and people come in to sell all kinds of crazy stuff to this nationally known Pawn shop… and one this particular episode, someone brought in an old silver dollar… and it was interesting as they talked about all the things that made it unique… and I sorta noticed my daughter was paying unusual attention… and they continued to talk about what made it special… and then the expert gave them a price… said it was worth 40K… That's when my daughter jumped up and said… Dad… I have that.
And Like any good parent I laughed it off and said whatever.. And she continued to insist she did… so, again, my excellent parenting skills kicked in and I asked… Ky, you know where liars go right… Vegas… which was odd, because it turns out… that's where this pawn shop is… and she immediately ran up stairs and came down with it. She was right.. She had it. The exact same coin, same year, same markings, it was completely the same based on their description.
So, again, like any good parent, I offered her $20 for it, which.. I guess I was sorta proud when she told me to take a hike… so… I pulled the… I think I better hold on to it for safekeeping. And… my parenting skills have paid off… because… here it is and she’s completely forgotten…
After calling several travel agents, we went to a pawn shop here in town… to set up this transaction, and well… when it came time for me to ask what they’d give me for it, I was shocked when they said… a dollar
When I asked why… they said… well sir, its a silver dollar and that's what it was worth… and so I told them my twin brother in vegas paid 40K for one.. To which they asked for his phone number…
I learned a lot that day… about buying fur coats before you actually have the money… about making travel plans before you can actually pay for them….
But also… about making sure you know what something is really worth.
We’ve all made bad investments… put too much time, energy or money into things… to realize it was sort of a huge waste of time.
And have you ever wondered… is what I spend so much of my time, energy, and resources on… really worth all I give it?
And so today… I want to give you a gift, that I think… has incredible value. How many of you would say life is busy? I totally agree… and one fairly major oversight I think we often make, is that we don’t often stop to ask the important questions… so, tonight… I want to give us 90 seconds… to ask a BIG ONE. If you’d humor me… I’d ask you to not talk, or distract others… get out your phone… not to talk about what your crazy pastor is making you do… but to jot down your answers…
What is it that you really value in life. Maybe try to come up with your top 5.
or so… 90 seconds starting now. (Sound person can play music).
Philippians 3:1–11 (NLT)
Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.
2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. (REALLY CHANGED) We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, 4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!
5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.
7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
Paul tells them that no matter what happens… rejoice in the Lord. That
there is a joy that comes in knowing Jesus that is untouchable by circumstance, stress, anxiety, sadness, or oppression…
and so today I want to remind you too… Rejoice in the Lord… take Joy in Him… Remember who He is… and what He can do…
And Paul tells them that he continually reminds them of these things for their own good… because there were many… in that day as well as our own… that were teaching things… and forcing things on people that were/are more than just dangerous…. But als damning… and that these messages were even coming from inside the Church…
Paul calls them dogs… which is not like this (Pic of Bailey)... think more garbage eating, vomit sniffing street rat… He called them mutilators of the flesh… Paul’s encouraging them to see them and their message for what it really is…
And the example Paul gives are those who were teaching that changing things on the outside… in this case circumcision… is how we find acceptance before God… how we get right with God… and Paul is saying… Been there… done that…
Chancing things on the outside does nothing to address the real need, or even what God desires in our lives.
and it does nothing to address the real need… or what God really desires.
Paul reminds them… of what God really values… what God really looks for… Drawing near to God… knowing God is such a way that it actually changes your heart… God desires us to be changed on the inside… some translations read… circumcision of the heart…
set apart by what's going on in our hearts.
Paul is saying that approaching God based on who you are and what you’ve done… won’t get you anywhere.
And Paul uses his own life as an example… and his example is crazy. The truth is if anyone could approach God… having confidence that’s wrapped up in who they are and what they’ve done… it's him.
He was front he right country… he had the right family… and was from the right tribe… out of the 12 tribes that made up Israel… 2 really stood out… and one of them was Benjamin. They were warriors… in fact an old saying Israel had in going off to war was something like this… Oh Benjamin… after you! The very first king God provided Israel was from Benjamin… which is Saul. Paul was saying that his heritage… which really, he had nothing to do with right… he didn't choose any of that…. Didn’t do anything to address the real need… did nothing to make him right with God.
Paul went on to talk about things he did do… he was a Pharisee, a small group of influential religious leaders that were hell bent on doing… on keeping the law… and forcing others to as well… it’s what caused Jesus to clash with them more than ANY other group of people…
Even among them, he stood out… He was passionate… he lived it out better than anyone...and even found himself persecuting Christians just like the ones that he is writing this letter too… believing he was doing a good thing… by arresting and even doing away with those who taught what Jesus did… which is relational… That God actually cares more about you and the condition of your heart… than who you are and what you’ve done… for the good or bad.
Paul wasn't just an up and comer… many believed he was the future of the Pharisees… and in that… could have had it all… Power, influence, respect, popularity, and more…
If any person could have earned it… by who he was or by what he’d done… if anyone could make themselves right with God within themselves alone… Here he was.
What caused Paul to change?
But something happened… something that changed his life… changed what Paul valued… and what he trusted… in radical ways.
Ways that others had a hard time believing, questioning him… when Paul began to teach people about what he had personally experienced in Jesus… even Christians said… isn't this the one… who was making life hell for us.
Acts 9 says that while Paul was uttering out murderous threats against Christians… asking the high priest for help in arresting anyone who followed Jesus… and on his way to Damascus… God confronted Paul… took away his sight… helped him see what really matters… he encountered Jesus and was never the same.
Paul stepped out of his misplaced confidence in the superficial… and began to trust in Christ alone…
And the result of that… was that Paul would literally travel the world… telling people what he’d experienced… finding himself imprisoned, beat, left for dead on more than one occasion… impacting the world more than any other person other than Jesus Himself.
Paul says all of it… His heritage, his efforts, his accomplishments, all his religious work, all that he lived for, all that he valued, all that might have been to his credit… was worthless… Garbage… Paul swears here… like crap…
He’s saying ALL OF THIS… doesn't compare… nor could it ever accomplish what is found in the reality of knowing Jesus and what He’s done.
All of this is like crap, compared to the unspeakable value of knowing Jesus and what Jesus has done.
Compared to the unspeakable value of knowing Jesus.
Unspeakable… more than he could say… more than he could express…
That phrase had just been hammering away at my heart this week… Is that how you see it? The unspeakable value of knowing Jesus?
All the world offers, all that he could achieve, all that effort could accomplish, and all that he could earn…. Doing all the right things… being born in the right place, to the right people and within the right tribe… Paul says… is dung… it’s crap…
Compared to knowing Jesus… and the fullness and freedom that knowing Jesus brings. Those things could never justify him before God… or earn God’s love…
What does Paul mean when he says I want to know Christ?
Paul says… I want to KNOW Jesus… he did… but the way he communicates is telling… he doesn't want to know about Jesus, to know of Jesus, he doesn’t simply want to know people Jesus knew… he would not be satisfied with some half cocked surface relationship… Paul is saying he wants to experience… Jesus… completely. To press in… draw near… knowing real change… and real value is found there.
All that Paul worked so hard for, took pride in, accomplished, had confidence in, and valued… was misplaced. Who he is, what he’s done or not done, who he’s aligned with… could never replace what happens on the inside when we step into a relationship with Jesus… authentically… pursuing to know Him more everyday.
Paul is saying that if our confidence isn’t in Christ alone… it’s misplaced. We are valuing the wrong things.
Putting our trust in Him; valuing Him and what He’s done… Not as a top 5 thing or even first among other things… but also first IN all things.
Having our confidence in Christ; not just first in my list of values but first in my marriage, my finances, my family, employment, my present and my future… It’s in Christ and in Christ alone!
My hope is that we used those 90 seconds with purpose… that as you think about those things that you value or have confidence in… you're
Are courageous enough to ask the hard questions… Is your list of values really reflecting the right things? Is Jesus present at all in them? Is He first among them? Is He first in all of them?
If your confidence is misplaced… if your values are off… you can’t “work” your way out of it. You can earn your way back. The answer is found in knowing Jesus and placing your confidence in Him alone.
There are unending stories of those who spent their entire lives working… achieving… trying… without ever having the wake up call Paul had. People that found when it was all said and one… any hope they put in those things… didn't deliver. They valued… had confidence… clung to things that could never deliver what their soul needs most.
What about you? Is your hope found in who you are? Where you come from? What you have? What you do? What you haven’t done? By being a good person?
Are you clinging to things in life that are only distracting you from the 1 true thing which is knowing Jesus.
The unspeakable value of knowing Jesus…
Years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night… and I felt like God was dealing with me… Jamey, what are you working so hard for? Who… are you working so hard for? What are you trying to accomplish? What are you trying to prove? Who is this really about?
Maybe those are good questions for all of us.
COMMUNION:
As we move into a time of worship I want to invite you to take communion with us… communion is a time that we pause and reflect this unspeakable value of knowing Jesus and what He’s done. Jesus took the break and broke it… and he took the cup and gave them to us as memorials… that as often as we gather… we do
Conclusion MATT
Than you guys for coming… we hope you guys have a great evening… Don’t forget that if you like to serve here at Northside or if you’re interested in baptism or hearing more about baptism email the office at office@northside-albany.com.