Adam Hince

The musings of Syndal Baptist Church's Gen Y and Beyond Pastor

Syndal Baptist 6pm service

Posted on | January 18, 2010 | 1 Comment

These are the notes from the message shared by Darsh Ayton on January 17.  All the work is hers, so don’t credit me with any of it! With her permission I’ve posted it here for those who like to have a closer look.

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Syndal Baptist Church :: 6pm Service, January 17, 2010

 Philippians Chapter 3

 Message Preached by Darshini Ayton

 Culture is a strange and wondrous thing. We live in a multicultural society. And I really understand this because my parents are Sri Lankan, however from the time I was three I have lived in Australia. So two cultures have influenced my life – the Sri Lankan culture and the Australian culture. I feel like I’m in a unique position because I can adopt what I like from both, and disregard what I don’t like. One cultural thing with Australians is they like the great outdoors – and often experience this through camping. Scott’s family spent a large part of their summer holidays camping on the banks of the Murray river – it was time they treasured, they would swim in the river, go water skiing, have bbq’s every night, sleep in caravans and tents for weeks and not shower for days. I could not think of anything worse. And the whole time we have been together he has not convinced me to participate in this Australian cultural norm.

 Scott on the other hand has been adaptive in adopting the Sri Lankan culture. For example, Sri Lankans eat curries with their fingers – it is a technique and a cultural norm. It didn’t take much persuasion to get Scott to eat with his fingers. The thing is, Scott has always wanted to eat with his fingers, but Australian culture said you eat with a knife and fork. So when given the excuse of conforming to Sri Lankan culture and giving in to his lifelong desire to eat with his fingers, Scott was a happy man. The thing is my relatives consider Scott as very cultured when he eats with his fingers and think it’s great that he participates in Sri Lankan culture so well…but really he is just a grub at heart and is just looking for any excuse to not use cutlery.

 Tonight we are looking at a Chapter in Philippians where Paul is addressing culture and how we should redefine this around Jesus. This chapter is amazing – understand what this chapter is saying and it will give you freedom as well as leaving us with a great challenge. So let’s get it into it.

 We are in week 3 of a series on Philippians. Chapter 3 starts with a warning.

 Whatever happens, dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord give you joy. I never get tired of telling you this. I am doing this for your own good. Watch out for those dogs, those wicked men and their evil deeds, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. For we who worship God in the Spirit are the only ones who are truly circumcised. We put no confidence in human effort. Instead, we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us.

 May the Lord give you joy…Philippians has been described as book of joy. The first part of Philippians Paul encourages us with the fact that even when life isn’t going well, we can still rejoice because we know Jesus Christ. Paul was writing this letter while he was in prison – not the best circumstance to be in however he saw it as an opportunity – in the midst of suffering to talk about Jesus. His faith in Jesus and his ability to share it bought him joy. In chapter 3 though – he is warning the church of Philippi that there are people who are trying to steal their joy. Who are these people?? It is most likely that they were teachers of legalism – they believed that salvation required both faith in Jesus and also Jewish traditions and customs such as circumcision. The joy of Christianity is removed and is replaced by a merciless, rule keeping faith. Jesus’ death it seems is not enough, their faith was ultimately defined by adherence to Jewish culture.

 They were saying, you are not saved and we will not accept you as truly part of us if you don’t follow our traditions. You need faith in Christ, and more.  So try to imagine how you would feel as a Gentile in Philippi – so you weren’t Jewish – you believed in Jesus Christ yet these teachers of legalism were saying because you weren’t snipped down there you weren’t saved. It is so easy to belittle the achievement of the cross and hold it hostage to our culture and agenda. Here some Jewish people say to truly be a Christian you needed to have faith; but you also needed to look and act like them.

 Today in church we don’t talk about circumcision as a means to be saved or as an identity of someone who follows Christ. But we do have other customs and traditions that we may use as an indicator if someone is truly a Christian.  They do not seem so obvious and defined to us, we are not going around asking all the boys to be circumcised. But one of the hardest things to understand about culture is what your own culture looks like.  An individual understands their culture only by how it is different to other cultures. We are good at picking apart other cultures and sub cultures and condemning them.  We may think that people in that denomination are not truly Christian, because their worship is different to ours. Or that the group of people who sit in that part of the church aren’t truly one of us, look at what they wear. Or  people of that generation aren’t really Christians because they are so boring and conservative. Or maybe the people of the younger generation aren’t really worshipping God  the music is so superficial and loud and they use smoke machines. We have standards of what we expect of a Christian, and sometimes if someone or a group of people aren’t adhering to our standards we either think that they shouldn’t be at church or that they are not  “saved” or aren’t likely to be “saved”. It is important however that we as Christians, as Baptists and people who call Syndal Baptist their home church, are aware of the culture that we have here.

 For example – for our church the cultural norm for a Sunday is to come to church, to sing songs as worship, listen to some announcements, the Syndal news and to listen to a sermon. That is the structure of what is typical. Worship for us at a church service – is singing worship songs. And we have an amazing music and worship team who lead us in doing this. And while we may define worship as more than singing – on a Sunday at church – worship is emphasised through singing. This isn’t bad but it is something to be aware of. Because say you have someone who doesn’t really get into music, who doesn’t like to sing, who feels quite awkward with the whole “worship” component of a church service. It may be easy for them to think that they are not worshipping God because this isn’t something that they naturally participate in.  It could be easy for those of us who do like singing to think that someone isn’t getting into worship because they aren’t singing.  Music and singing is one of the cultural ways we worship and praise God. But because we do it every week at church we could think it is the way to worship God or the best way to worship God. But it has not been documented that Jesus ever worshiped God through music.  Be careful to be aware of what is cultural and what we have embraced as Christian culture. Sometimes it’s easier to allow our Christian culture to define what is Christian rather than allowing Jesus to define what is Christian.

 Our culture surrounds us and it’s sometimes hard to identify it. We use it to make judgement, to define what is normal or not normal, acceptable not acceptable. I want to pose some questions to you:

 What if someone came to our church, and later on you found out they were a smoker – would you still consider them a true Christian? Many would not. We are defining who we think are Christians based on our Christian culture – which is a bit ridiculous when you consider that in Australia the number of people diagnosed with lung cancer is similar to the number of people diagnosed with skin cancer. But it is not within our Christian culture to think that someone who sunbakes may not be a true Christian. It isn’t common for us to talk about how hanging out in the sun is bad and not godly behaviour. And we wouldn’t use that as a point of difference between each other. Our culture has defined smoking to be sinful and sunbaking to be a past time.

 What other things do we use from our culture to define what it is to be a true Christian?

Like the teachers of Legalism that Paul was talking about? For example

 - Would you consider someone who drinks a few glasses of wine on a Friday night a true Christian?

- Would you consider someone who lives in a nice expensive house as a true Christian?

- Would you consider someone who believes in evolution a true Christian?

Last week Adam spoke about how humility is the key to unity. It is difficult to be unified if we let Christian culture divide us. And if we let our Christian culture divide us, we are not being humble. We may have the camp of Christians who believe in evolution sitting over there – the camp that believe in creation over there – we may have the group that have a drink or two sitting over there while those who believe that Christians shouldn’t drink at all sitting over there.

 When are we going to look past our Christian culture and recognise that what matters is faith in Christ? When are we going to look past the wall of culture that we surround our faith in and proclaim and embody that you are one of us if you believe that what Christ did was enough. Faith in Christ. It is saying that I am not even going to try and save myself because I believe that Jesus’ death was sufficient. It is risky, all or nothing and radical. It is saying I believe that I can do nothing because Christ has done everything, and I will not require that of anyone else.  I will call you a Christian if you believe the same, not only if you look like me, worship like me, understand like me, dress like me, act like me, be “sinless” like me, don’t swear like me, abstain from alcohol like me, don’t smoke like me, don’t take drugs like me, be sexually pure like me.  Believe it – Christ’s death is enough and nothing else comes close.

 Paul goes on to write…. For we who worship God in the Spirit are the only ones who are truly circumcised. We put no confidence in human effort. Instead, we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us. He is talking about human effort in the sense of pride in our actions. Our pride in our how we pray or how much we pray, our pride in how we come to church and are involved in ministries, our pride in singing songs, our pride in reading the bible.  Paul knew all about pride in human effort – he goes on to say:

 Yet I could have confidence in myself if anyone could. If others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! For I was circumcised when I was eight days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish family that is a branch of the tribe of Benjamin. So I am a real Jew if there ever was one! What’s more, I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. And zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault.

 Two things – Paul had the ancestry – he could trace his family back to the tribe of Benjamin which for a Jew is a big deal. He also had the Jewish customs and society – he was circumcised on the 8th day – he was a strict Pharisee – he persecuted the church. He was faultless! A perfect Jew. He was a good guy, he kept the rules, he lived the Jewish life. Today what would that look like? Paul had every reason to boast. Many of us have reason to boast – we are trying very hard to live a good Christian life. However even though Paul used to boast in these things – he now considers them worthless.

 I once thought all these things so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God’s law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead!

 He is using this change in perspective to illustrate that despite being an amazingly good Jew, this was all worthless compared to what Christ has done. Christ’s death has triumphed over all his works. Even if he was a really bad Jew, this is meaningless in light of Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection. In the same way whether we are a good or bad Christian – Christ has triumphed. Are you struggling with some behaviour that you know is not right, are you finding it hard to pray, spend time with God, can you be bothered coming to church, did you accidentally swear on Christmas day, did you drink too much at New Years – Did you have a cigarette after church? Christ’s death has triumphed over all of it. Believe it if you dare. You can’t out sin God and there is no room for guilt. By the actions of Jesus, God gives us grace not guilt.

 Or have you been doing hours of choir practice, music practice, spent your last week writing bible study notes for the next term of your life group, have you been volunteering at the soup kitchen, evangelising on the train, have you spent your whole summer on different mission trips – all of it is worthless compared to what Christ has done. Don’t think that this human effort is what has saved you. Don’t get me wrong – it is not that this behaviour is bad or that it isn’t worthwhile – but it’s important to realise the magnificence of the actions of our messiah. Our salvation is found in Jesus Christ, not in our human effort or lack of human effort. Are we basing our salvation status on our Christian culture, on what we consider to be the best expression of faith? Or do we live knowing our salvation is assured through our faith in Christ – do we accept His grace and his grace alone?

 In terms of Christian culture I’ve experienced it. As someone who has grown up in the church I was helping out in church and being a good Christian most of life. I was a youth group leader here for 6 years. However, if my salvation was based on my ability to be a youth group leader, then there would have been many times that I would have doubted my salvation. Many times when the study fell flat, many times when the conversations with my youth group girls were in monosyllables, many times when the clinker game just did not work! If a night at youth group went badly and I felt that my human effort wasn’t great, then did that mean my salvation was not assured? It is easy to think that way sometimes without even knowing it. Nothing you do for the church or in ministry should be because you are trying to earn your salvation.

 The thing is, for someone like me, and potentially for someone like you – we like to have control over our destiny. We like to have faith in our ability. And so to be told that we can’t do anything to earn it, to earn brownie points in regard to our salvation – makes us feel uncomfortable. It is a risk to let go of our human effort and trust in Jesus.

 As Paul says: ‘I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God’s law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. That is all we need – faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 However Paul does not say that acknowledging Jesus as your Lord and Saviour is the end of the story. The first part of this chapter Paul is emphasising that belief in Jesus Christ is enough – belief in Jesus Christ leads to salvation – you do not need anything else, you cannot do anything else. We should not be judging someone’s salvation status on anything else but their proclamation of their belief in Christ. However, the rest of this chapter has a different focus – when one believes in Christ, they make a commitment to follow Him. And that is what the second part of Chapter 3 is about:

 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Jesus Christ saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling from heaven.

 Firstly to understand this – the prize – the goal of the “race” is not heaven. It is so tempting to casually read this and think that when Paul is talking about a prize, he must be talking about heaven. But Paul has spent the entire first part of this chapter saying heaven cannot be achieved by anything we do, the goal of salvation cannot be achieved by us as it was already given to us.. The goal cannot be simply heaven, it must be something different.

 The second section of Chapter 3 is summarised in this one line: “I keep working toward the day when I will finally be all that Jesus Christ saved me for and wants me to be” This is his occupation, this is his goal, this is his prize… he is working towards it, running towards it….being everything that Jesus Christ saved him for and wants him to be.  His goal is being everything that Jesus Christ saved him for and wanted him to be. And as people who believe in Jesus Christ it needs to be our occupation as well. What has Jesus saved us for and what does he want us to be. From this chapter – it is one thing

 Paul concludes this chapter by saying: “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives”.

 Jesus wants us to live as citizens of heaven.

 What does it mean to be a citizen of heaven? When I was a kid I would often wonder what would happen if someone did whatever they liked their whole life, and then when they were on their death bed they prayed the ‘prayer’ and became a Christian so that they would end up in heaven. I would often think this when I found living a Christian life hard. I thought it wouldn’t matter if you waited til the last minute to give your life to Christ so that you could live in heaven. But that is not what Paul means when he writes about being citizens of heaven. It’s not about what happens when you die.

 The people of Philippi would have understood this letter because it is related to the context in which they were living. You see Philippi was a Roman colony and was located just across the sea from Rome in Northern Greece. The Philippians were proud to be Roman and therefore did their best to make sure that their society matched that of Rome. If someone in Philippi was to say “I am a citizen of Rome” they did not mean that they lived in Rome or were looking forward to living in Rome. A colony does not work that way. It was not about Roman citizens in Philippi packing up and moving to Rome. The task of the Roman citizen in Philippi was to bring Roman culture and rule to Philippi – to expand Roman influence there.

 Jesus has called us to live as citizens of heaven. Not living waiting to go to heaven but to live as a colony of heaven on earth. It is our task to bring the culture of heaven to earth, to bring the rule of heaven to earth, to bring the influence of heaven to earth. Do we get that? Do we actually understand that? We are a colony of heaven on earth. And everything that we believe of what heaven is – is what we need to be doing here on earth. A place of peace – be bringers of peace, a place of grace and mercy – be givers of grace and mercy, a place of joy, a place where those who are poor, unfortunate, not quite right, the depressed, the lonely, the perfectionist, the unemployed, everyone – is loved and treasured.

 If we continue with Paul’s analogy of running the race – we have already qualified for the games – we have already qualified for the race because we believe in Jesus – Because we believe in Jesus we are on the running track – and now our life should be focused on running that race. Paul says that he is focused on running the race, because this is the reason why Jesus saved him and what he wants him to do. Remember, don’t put your efforts in qualifying for the race, salvation has been assured by Jesus. Put your efforts in running.  With all your efforts, and with desperation, live as a citizen of heaven in a foreign colony of earth. 

Our society thinks it understands Christianity. It thinks it understands Jesus. They have written it off as a system of rules to get into heaven. But for so many they do not believe in heaven and they do not see the need for Christianity. They haven’t seen heaven and so therefore they don’t believe it. For some of them, and I’ve met them and tried this…you can talk about Jesus and how he loves them until you are blue in the face…but they don’t want to hear it, they do not want to be part of it. So what do we do….as citizens of heaven? Let us show them heaven. Let us not show them a religion, or a culture of Christianity which dictates that we should look, dress, behave a certain way. For those who do not know Christ let us not show them Christian culture, let us show them heaven. Even for us – let our goal not be to conform to Christian culture, let it be to live a life that reflects Jesus and heaven.

 How do we do this and what does this look like.  You may have heard this preached before – look after the widow, the orphan and the poor, advocate for those who have no voice, be there for the lonely. We are called to show heaven to those for who life on earth is hard and miserable. Not as a token effort, or when you get the chance, or if the opportunity presents itself. Seek out those who are hurting and bring comfort. Seek out those who are lonely and befriend them. Seek out those who no-one loves and offer friendship. Seek out those who are the have nots, and give as generously as you would a family member.

 But also as a colony of heaven – this is reflected in the way we treat the other citizens of heaven. Let us reflect heaven in the way we love each other – that will speak louder than any words we may preach to those who don’t believe. Let us love each other, let us not judge each other’s salvation status or spirituality, let us be involved in discipleship, let us be disciples, let us encourage and challenge each other to bring the influence of heaven to our communities, let us be a colony that is united in their belief in Jesus. Let us centre, once again our salvation on Jesus and not our culture. Let us not be known as a colony of people who gossip, judge or argue – because then how are we different to the society we live in. Let us be known as people who live and love in such a radically different way that people want to be part of it – because they see the difference of living with the influence, rule and culture of heaven. And maybe then it will be something they want to be part of.

 We don’t do this for salvation sake because that has already been granted – we do this for heavens sake and for the sake of earth.

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Comments

One Response to “Syndal Baptist 6pm service”

  1. Susannah
    January 28th, 2010 @ 11:04 am

    Very encouraging sermon. Learnt alot from it

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