Cheap Imitation

Message Transcription

All right, good morning, church. It is good to be with you. There we go. That's power right there, baby. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Fathers, we wrestle today with our lives, with what's happening, with the chaos and uncertainty, with the craziness, with the anxiety. Lord, we gather in this place at this time to be reminded that we are your children. And we are heirs. Heirs of the promise, co heirs with Christ. Father, I pray that those words would take on a new meaning for us, perhaps, or a deeper meaning, maybe a renewed meaning. Scott, I know we gather this morning from all kinds of places. Facing all kinds of situations and circumstances. They got some of us are overwhelmed. And it took just about all the strength we had to show up today. Maybe the log on online. So, God, I pray that you'd honor that that decision. You meet us here by your presence, by your spirit. You do and us what only you can do. You got to pray that you would help us to be as open as we can be to your word this morning. So what it is you have to give to us? So, father, we pause now for just a moment to ready our hearts and our minds to receive whatever it is that you have to give. God, would you hear us as we offer our hearts to you and prayer? Thank you, father.

Thank you for knowing what we need. Even when we can't bring ourselves to ask it. Thank you for being more willing to give than we are to ask. Father, we have suffered many losses in these last few years, especially even this week. So we ask for your grace and your mercy to be with McWilliam's family and the Bryan family. For all those in our church who have been touched by these passings. And we feel the weight of the brokenness of our world, we feel it every day in the anxiety that that threatens to overwhelm us at times. And so God. We cry out to you, the one who can do something about it. Oh, God, would you do for us today what only you can do? And now, Lord, may the words in my mouth and the meditation of each and every heart be acceptable and pleasing unto you. Oh God. Our rock and our redeemer. I'm in. I'm in. Well, this morning we're continuing on our series in Anxiety, where we're trying to take these words of Jesus more seriously to live into them as best we can. Don't worry about your life, but seek first the kingdom. What does it mean to to be anxious for nothing, how do we not worry when there seems to be so much to worry about? We started in week one talking about everybody gets anxious. That's just a reality of life. In fact, research bears this out that we're.

Some of us are genetically predisposed to be more anxious and some of us less like, that's just a truth. We can't change that. Our brain chemistry, that's not something that we have the power to just think our way into or or want our way into. Rather, that's how we were created. And so we're not going to judge each other no matter where we fall on that spectrum. And just because we fall on one end or the other doesn't mean we're better or worse or we're more spiritual or less spiritual, or we're more faithful or less faithful, it just means we have a brain that operates a particular way. And so we face maybe some unique challenges that some others, they face those challenges in other areas. And so we're going to have lots of grace. Only God sees our brains and knows what we're dealing with. So our goal is not perfection is to take the next step on the journey for us. How do we take that next step in living a life that's not consumed by anxiety or worry or fear? And so we said we're going to really try to reframe anxiety, and I've gotten tons of help from one of my favorite books on this topic by a guy named Steve Kuss. And he said, let's try to reframe anxiety to think about it as a gift of grace to us that no one, it points out those things in our life that we think we need that we don't actually need.

When I'm feeling anxious about something often what's driving that is I'm feeling or sensing. I need something to be OK here. When I don't really need that, what I need is to have more Christ in me. But at the other way we're trying to reframe Grace is that it's reminding us we're following a false gospel, we're trying to trust ourselves for something that we really don't have any business trusting ourselves on, right? That's God's job to take care of, to lead, to provide, to give to us what we can't give ourselves. So we said breaking that cycle is learning to recognize those times in our life when we're needing something we don't need or when we're trying to trust ourselves following that false gospel and to name it, to be able to identify it, to say it out loud so that we can then die to it and lean into the gospel. And I want us to think a little bit more intensely about that today. Last week, we looked at Romans six and kind of Paul's explanation of this reality. He says there's this sin problem in our lives and and reframing even that to think about sin as this condition, rather than just these bad behaviors that we do, but rather this idea of being sick, our condition of being in sin. And so Jesus heals us from that condition, he frees us.

We've been set free, so we no longer have to try to meet that need or take control. Steve says that how we deal with anxiety is borne out in this, he says, where we put our attention defines our spiritual growth. Where we put our attention defines our spiritual growth through there in Romans six, when Paul says, don't give yourselves to sin, don't offer your bodies over to sinful behavior, what he's talking about is what we give our attention to, drives our spiritual growth. Instead, we offer ourselves to God, which kind of changes the way we think about sin and its work in our life, that our goal in not sinning is not to avoid going to hell when we die. My pal says sin kills. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. You see, avoiding sin, not offering ourselves to sin so that we can offer ourselves to God, who gives us life. And so that becomes then our focus. This question lies in front of us each day as we get up where we off offer ourselves or who rather will we offer ourselves to? You see, anxiety is directly related to that. And so he says, as we become more confident in that and our trust in our hope in Christ, and then it creates this opportunity for us to say Jesus died, so I don't have to.

Fill in the blank anymore. Jesus died, so I don't have to control everything in my life anymore. Jesus died, so I don't have to pretend everything is OK anymore, I don't have to solve everyone's problems, I don't have to be perfect or avoid conflict. Though each one of us may have a different fill in the blank answer, what we've learned is that Christ has set us free, so we no longer have to meet that need that we feel like we need or we have to take that control. Instead, we get a chance to name it and to die to it, and then to lean into the gospel of grace. And that's the question I want us to chase after together this morning for a little bit. If you have your Bible turned over to Romans Chapter eight, we'll be there in just a minute and again I'm using some of Steve's works, his questions as as we chase this question around together because he names this dynamic and it's one that I've had in the back of my mind and I've wrestled with. Maybe you have as well, but when I hear this reality of leaning into the gospel, what I hear is follow Jesus, we need to follow Jesus. But but that then also gets translated, changed even into trying to be like Jesus. Right? Now, Charles spoke to this just a minute ago, and I want us to to be careful to really hear what I'm saying here because I think this idea of being like Jesus, I think there's truth in that.

But I think it's also become co-opted and also actually leads some to anxiety. If we misunderstand what Paul is talking about, what Jesus is talking about because we read these verses like in Philippians Chapter three, maybe you're familiar with this? I want to know Christ. Yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings becoming like him in his death. And so somehow attaining the resurrection from the dead. And we hear those words. We read them and we think, OK, so then the goal is to become like Christ. And it seems right. But what if that's not really what Paul's saying? See, Steve says too often we turn being like Jesus into mimicking Jesus, we're just supposed to mimic him. If he does this, then I just I pared it back. I mimic him in the same way, which at first glance may seem a little semantic, but but Steve says, can actually be dangerous for us. And here's why he says trying to be like Jesus, this side of heaven is a no win scenario. It's not possible. We can't do it. We can't do it consistently, and it's therefore it's a pathway to failure, which I don't know about you, but whenever I fail at something, I feel a little anxious.

Because I don't need to feel this, I need to feel successful, I need to feel like I'm getting things right, I need to feel like my life is headed in the right direction and failure totally torpedoes that. Now again, it may sound a little bit semantic, but I think it's it's a life changing difference to say what if, what if we're not being called to mimic, but rather to manifest Jesus? You see the work of following Jesus is much more difficult manifesting him, it's way more difficult than just mimicking, but it's also more freeing. It's not about us, it's about God in us. You see, this idea of dying to self actually plays a larger role in this dealing with anxiety thing, then we may care to admit because there's a world of difference between dying to self and trying to manage my behavior. One leads to legalism and exhaustion and the other leads to freedom. And one day transformation. Now again, you may be thinking, well, so what do you do with Paul's words in Philippians three, Carl? I mean, it says becoming like him? Well, yes. In fact, there are a few places in the New Testament that talk about becoming like Christ. But the way they talk about it, they actually use what's called the passive voice now a little Greek grammar lesson here. If you want to know more about this fine Fred and Berg, he'll he'll give you the ins and outs or my buddy Eddie Harris, who's been studying this the last two semesters.

He'll give you a little insight, but in Greek, just like in English, you have the active voice and the passive voice. You actually have the middle voice. I'm going to give that one right now. Active and passive and the active, the subject of the verb is is doing the action. They're performing that action in the passive voice. The the subject of the verb is being acted upon. So we hear in this what Paul is saying, actually, if you look at the verb tense, it's the passive becoming like him. See, the job of transformation in Philippians, Paul says, is not your work in you, it's God's work in you. Another example to the churches in Galicia, he writes these words my dear children, for whom I am again and the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. Until Christ is formed in you, God is the active agent in this process, he is forming Christ in you, you're not forming Christ in yourself. Now that doesn't mean we don't have a part to play. Absolutely, we do. It's just not trying to be like Jesus, we can't do it. In fact, the work we have to do, it's way more challenging. It's way more rigorous, but it's way more fruitful. Our work is to die to self. For it's there when we die to self that God can do as best resurrection work.

There's a challenge in that. Because if you're like me. Nobody likes to die. Right. There's the old saying goes, everybody wants to go to heaven. Nobody wants to die. Trying to become like Jesus puts us on this road toward toward legalism, where anxiety and death we can't, and so we feel bad about it, so we just try a little harder. Only we find we we stay strong for a while, but then we fail again. And so we we feel bad, which leads us to to try a little bit harder. Just try a little smarter, just try a little more energy. Only the cycle repeats over and over again. We just keep trying to be like him, and it just doesn't work, I mean. But if you think about it? In this the road that got us in trouble in the first place. Look back at Genesis three. When Adam and Eve attempted, what was the temptation that they were given? When the Serpent asked him about eating that fruit. Leaf says I can't can't eat it, got told to speed it will die, this is what the Serpent says. You're not going to die. You're not going to die. The Serpent said to the woman for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be. Like God. Knowing good and evil. Instead, the goal to a following Jesus Jesus is pretty clear on this, he says whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross daily and follow me.

Do you hear the difference? Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me and the life I now live in the body. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me. And who gave himself for me? I invite you to turn to your neighbor for just a second, if you got one next to you and just tell them one thing that Jesus can do that you could never do. Just turn to your neighbor real quick. What's one thing that Jesus did that you could never do? Ready, go. Take like 10 seconds. One thing that Jesus could do that you could never do. Ok, so Steve was leading a retreat, a men's retreat, and he got the men to do this exercise. They said, I want us to make a list of all the things that Jesus could do that you could never do. Here was some of the things that were on that list. Maybe this was one of yours that you shared with your neighbor. Feed 5000 people with a kids meal. Ok. Walk on water. I tell a storm to be quiet, still chill out. Race someone from the dead. Be tempted to sin, but never sin. It's a big one. How about this one? No, the right thing to do every time.

And do it every time. And maybe this one. Die for the sins of the world. See, these are just a few of the things that Jesus did that we could never do, no matter how hard we tried. No matter how long we tried, we'd never be able to do it. That's because these things are only something God could do. And Jesus was God. So as it turns out, this is actually a list of the reasons why we worship him. Why he is God and we are not. So Steve pointed out the retreat and I point out to us today. So we stop expending our energy trying to be like Jesus and instead die to self. And worship Jesus. Which is actually been our calling all along. Died itself. Worship Christ, allow him to manifest his power, his strength, his spirit in your life. Now I know this is a very different way to think about discipleship and based on your upbringing and my upbringing. When I heard it the first time, I thought This sounds kind of heretical, right? You go to the office cooler tomorrow morning and they say, Hey, what'd your preacher talk about? Because everybody gets asked that question at work, don't you? And if you don't, don't tell me everybody gets asked, Would your preacher talk about at church yesterday? Oh, check this out. He told me not to try to be like Jesus.

Isn't that amazing? What? Ok. You think that's where there's more. Just wait, there's more. You think that's bad? Steve keeps pushing, he says trying to be like Jesus is actually a sophisticated form of idolatry. Think about this for a minute. And instead of creating this golden calf or graven image like we've see sometimes in the Old Testament and even the new. They said we try to imagine Jesus being the best version of ourselves, and then we try to become that. And being a Christian means to be the best version of me, and so I tried to become that there's a word for that making God in my image, what's that word again? Oh yeah, idolatry. You said the goal of following Jesus is to die to self, so much so Paul says that it's no longer I, but Christ who lives in me and the life that I now live. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me gave himself for me. You see, it's not me anymore. It's Christ in me. As Charles correctly pointed out, Christ in me is the hope of glory. See, so it's not the best version of me. It's Christ in me. Which brings us back to Romans eight. Paul says this, therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh. God did. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering, and so he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh. But according to the spirit. We're spirit people Jesus did for us what we could never do for ourselves. He freed us. He set us free from the power of sin. But there's another power source now available to us, the Holy Spirit, and if we will open ourselves up to him, Paul says, listen to what he says. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires. But those who live in accordance with the spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death. But the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace. Friends, do we need any life or peace? I don't know. I've needed more life and peace than this week. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however. Y'all. However, are not in the realm of the flesh.

It's not a realm anymore. We're in the realm of the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, they don't belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you. Then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the spirit gives life. And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead. Is living in you? He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit who lives in you? And if you're a Bible marking kind of person and you hadn't marked that verse, mark that verse. And I invite you just to commit that to memory. Paul says we're not in the not in the realm of spirit anymore church. We're in the realm of awe, excuse me, of the flesh. We're in the realm of the spirit. And it's the spirit that gave life to Jesus body in the tomb on the third day and raised them back to life. Paul says that spirits now available to you. That spirit is now in you. That's an amazing thing. You see, everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. And I imagine Paul asking, why not? Why not? Why wouldn't you want to if the spirit of the one is the same one that raised Christ from the dead was, is that work in you? And what it requires is for you to die to self? Paul says what? Who wouldn't want to have a mind controlled by the spirit? Who wouldn't want to have a life controlled by the spirit? Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation.

That's not to the flesh. Not to live, according to it, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death, the misdeeds of the body, you will live. So, church, what if becoming a follower of Jesus and learning to live a life anxious for nothing had less to do with trying to be like Jesus, but instead had more to do with manifesting Jesus dying to self? Opening up my heart in my life to the one who can do what only he can do. It even changes how we view anxiety when we're feeling stressed or worried or anxious about something, we receive it as a gift of grace reminding us, Oh yeah, there's another part of me that needs to die to itself. There's another part of me that needs to let control. To give it up back to God. God, I don't need to be in control here, though it really feels like I do. God, I don't need to be perfect here, though it really feels that way. And I don't really need to pretend that I have it all together. Four other people find out about that.

God, I can't walk on water or feed 5000 people. Erase someone from the dead. God, all I can offer you is this simple life. All I can offer that is, is me. Got it, cheers. And so in this moment at school where I'm tempted to cheat or I'm tempted to pretend or attempted to exclude someone. Oh, God, would you have your way? In this moment at work where I'm tempted to step on someone to climb up that next rung in the ladder or God in this moment when I'm behind the wheel and I'm tempted to lash out at that knucklehead driver who just cut me off. We're not in this moment of relational insecurity where I'm not sure where this is going to go and I'm not sure how this answer is going to come or how this question is going to land. And I'm tempted to want to take control or got in this, this moment in church where I'm tempted to pretend to have it all together around me. So the people around me don't suspect anything. Ok, I'm tempted to settle for this cheap imitation of following Jesus. Well, I'm tempted to settle for a faith that's just not. That helpful. Instead of really diving in and asking hard questions and being open to to answers that challenge me and stretch me and push me. God, I want to tie to that self so that your spirit. The spirit that raised Jesus from the dead would raise me from the dead as well.

But you help me to die to myself. And raise me back to life so that I could be the person. You've created me to be. So don't have to be trapped in a life of anxiety and worry and fear, but instead God can walk and freedom. God, that's my prayer for us this morning. And he would show us the way. I got I know for each one of us now, there is something in our life that you are calling us to die to. And I don't know what it is, but but Lord, you do. How would you give us courage? As best we can this morning to humble ourselves as best we can this morning, they just offer it over to you? God, I can't. But you can. So I think I'll let you. Got that may that be our prayer this week in the midst of anxiety, when we feel that that feeling that comes when we're when we're anxious, when we're worried. God, I can't. But you can I try to let you. Now, may that be our mantra this week is I know we're going to face some things that we don't want to face. Some realities about living in a broken world that we don't want to have to deal with. Oh, God, my response be. I can't. Jesus died to freed me from free me from having to to pretend or to manipulate.

Or to lash out. What a step on. Or to belittle. Or to cut off. But to run and hide. Or to walk away. God, I can't. But you can. Is what you've given to us is the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. That same spirit that was that creation. The same spirit that renews and revitalizes every day. Oh, God. Would you unleash that power, that spirit in us today, would you meet us where we are? Would you give us courage to face it, to name whatever it is that we think we need? We don't really need. Yeah, but you show us whatever way we're following that false gospel of self-reliance. I'm just trying God just mimicking things. Instead, father, would you help us to go into training? To die to self. See the time this week that we have with you in silence and quiet, in your word, in prayer and study, together with our friends or alone, glad to see that, not not just as checking off. A to do list, but might see it as a way we're trying to die to ourself. To allow your word to live in us. A lot, your thoughts to live in us now that you would manifest yourself so that it would be Christ in us? And that's the hope of glory. Oh God. May it be this week. Give us courage, Lord, strengthen us, we pray in Jesus name, Amen.