Jesus Is Better Than Everything

By Bobby Blakey on September 1, 2019

Philippians 3:8

AUDIO

Jesus Is Better Than Everything

By Bobby Blakey on September 1, 2019

Philippians 3:8

This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:03] I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to Philippians 3 as we continue our series, "Jesus is Better."

[00:00:14] And the last week if you were here, we went through Philippians three verses, one to nine. And usually what we do is we finish one passage and then we go through the next verses the next week. But tonight we have a unique opportunity together to double down on one verse. Philippians, chapter three of verse eight that we kinda skipped over last week.

[00:00:41] We were learning about Paul's religious testimony, his Reza man, and how he was ready to count everything that he had done as loss had to gain Jesus and to get the righteousness that can only come from Jesus Christ. You to stop trying to do it yourself and you got to transfer your trust to Jesus because he's the only one who can save you. Can I get any man from anybody on that? That's what we learned last week.

[00:01:09] Now, verse eight, though, verse eight. He takes what he's saying and he amplifies it. He takes it up a notch. This is Philippians, chapter three, verse eight.

[00:01:22] He says, Indeed, I count every thing as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for his sake. I've suffered the loss of all things.

[00:01:37] And count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.

[00:01:46] So he started by giving us a list of things of how he was born, how we grew up, things that he had done in his life that he thought made him write with God, religious things, that he had kind of a sense of self righteousness in an inverse seven. Look at verse seven. He said, whatever gain I had, referring to his resum� there, whatever gain I had, I count it as loss for the sake of Christ.

[00:02:12] But what he does here in verse eight now is he takes it from the past tense of something that he counted, lost in the past. And he takes us into the present and he says, indeed. Oh, and you this this indeed here, it's strong in the Greek language. It's really three different words. It's like, yes, even the. Indeed, yes. Even more so. I count everything as loss. So he he first said whatever was gain, I've counted as lost. Now he's ready to take it up to I count everything.

[00:02:50] All things as loss because of the surpassing worth.

[00:02:56] He says, year of knowing Christ Jesus. My Lord. I mean, those are three different names he uses for Jesus. They're the Christ the Messiah promised of all by the prophets.

[00:03:09] Jesus, the name that he was given when he came, became a man on a mission to save us the Lord, the name he's been given now, the name above every name on how he's going to reign forever. It is so worth it to know Jesus that everything, all things are lost compared to knowing Jesus. So you see how he's taken us now beyond his own personal story, beyond his own religious resum�, beyond in the past, when he had to realize it wasn't about being a religious Jew, it was about being righteous by Jesus and he had to change from one to the other. Now he says, now, I don't care what it is, everything all thing. It is in the loss. Call them and Jesus knowing him. That is in the gain column.

[00:03:55] So you've got the cross chart there on your handout. If you're taking notes, we want to fill this in and really think through what he's saying in this one verse. So let's start with the loss column here. We've got our two columns. The first one is the loss column. He's kind of adding in up like, what is he profiting here? Kind of a ledger. Where's he getting? Well, he's got a lost column and then he's got a gain column.

[00:04:20] And last week we saw him put his resum� in the loss and the righteousness that only comes from Jesus was in the gain. Well, now he's saying everything is in the loss column and Jesus is gain over every possible thing. All things he opens it up universal, world wide, you name it. Pick something. I count it as loss compared to knowing Jesus because of how much greater it is, how much superior, as we're saying, better it is to know Jesus than everything.

[00:04:59] Now you think, well, that's a pretty dramatic statement. He really took that up a notch. He goes even deeper. Look at the next part of the phrase here. He says, for his sake. Because of Jesus, I have suffered the loss of all things.

[00:05:12] OK. Now, that is not really a Greek word, therefore suffered. It's just now the verb, i.e. saying I have lost all things. Not only do I count them, not only in my thoughts do I think of them as loss. It's actually happened to me. I've lost them and I've lost all things.

[00:05:29] And then Liquidy says, this is a word that's been in my head now for weeks, he says, and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Kreiss.

[00:05:39] It's a fun Greek word to say Scooba. LA is the word. All right, Scooba le you say a practicing Scooba le all right. Yeah, it's catchy. It's fun. Take it. Rubbish is a is a fun translation. I even like how we don't usually use that. That's kind of fun. It's trash is how the cool kids say it today. Right. That's trash. Meaning they don't like it. That's what it's saying right here. This is a kind of trash literally.

[00:06:05] It's like you would throw this to the dogs is the idea like and literally this word Scooba, Allah can refer to like like sewage kind of trash. All right. I don't know if you heard what happened this week in Huntington Harbor. Did anybody hear the news that 60000 gallons of raw sewage got spilled into the harbor? Who heard about that?

[00:06:30] Did anybody hear about that? A few of us. If you didn't hear about it. Is that not gross and disgusting guy you're thinking about scuba aula all week and then you see that on the news feed that that'll work right there. Right. It turns out. Where did all this scuba le come from? I mean, picture a gallon right now. Can you picture a gallon of milk.

[00:06:49] OK, now picture a gallon full of raw sewage. Now picture sixty thousand of those gallons, OK, and we're just over here dumping them in the harbor. Hey, beautiful day. And only to be dry. What happened? Well, it turns out that it came from Stanton. Have you ever heard of Stanton before?

[00:07:08] Who's ever heard of Stanton? You've probably driven through it, right. Some of you might even live there.

[00:07:12] This is really awkward to talk about because we have people at our church who lived in who live in Stanton and we have people at our church who live in Huntington Harbor. And this happened on Wednesday night into Thursday morning. We're on Dale Avenue in Stanton in Stanton's like this little city of above the twenty two on Beach Boulevard. You, like, drive for two blocks. You just went through the entire city of Stanton. All right. I know how it's maintained its steady city status all these years. Anybody want to own Stanton and say that's where they live right now? Probably. Probably. OK, I appreciate that. God bless these guys.

[00:07:44] God bless them.

[00:07:45] Honest people at church, because here's what happened on Wednesday night. People in Stanton. Started flushing and it showed up in the harbor on Thursday morning. All right. Which is pretty gross. OK.

[00:07:56] There was a manhole that got backed up on Dale Avenue in Stanton and 60000 gallons of school bullah wind from the manhole to the rain gutter. And they ended up in the harbor.

[00:08:09] And now they've closed all the beaches in the harbor for Labor Day weekend. And you read the news reports. And it's like you don't go swimming. No, it's like swimming in sewage. Like, it's gross. Like, that's the that's the official news from the health expert. Right. If you fall in the water, take a shower.

[00:08:24] Is what you saying? That's the word we're talking about here. OK, so look at we look at what he's doing.

[00:08:32] He's saying I ready to count my past history, my religious life. I'm ready to count it as loss compared to Jesus. Actually, let me take it. Yes, indeed. Even more. All count. Everything is loss compared to Jesus.

[00:08:44] No, let me take it even further. I'm an account. Everything as scuba le compared to knowing Jesus.

[00:08:53] So he's getting emphatic, he's trying to make a point.

[00:08:58] This is the kind of thing we can just kind of read right through and keep on moving on. But I want to ask you a very important question. Can you say that you have counted everything is loss. In fact, you consider it trash compared to knowing Jesus Christ.

[00:09:12] Can you say what he's saying here tonight?

[00:09:15] Do you think this way in the present tense? Do you really believe in your soul as you sit here tonight that Jesus is better than fill in the blank? Anything in this world? Anything. I mean, when he says all things, he's open and completely open. What is it that you really think is great about life?

[00:09:38] What is it that you really find some sense of value or meaning or worth thing about living in this world? Are you ready to say all throw that in the trash? Compared to how awesome it is to know Jesus Christ.

[00:09:53] That's what the man is saying.

[00:09:56] And go with me to Matthew 13, look at how Jesus says it. A lot of the ideas we're gonna get from Paul are really said by Jesus Christ. This is how Jesus expected us to think about himself, to think about the salvation we have in Jesus, what it means to be in the kingdom of heaven, to live life where Jesus is our Lord. We confess him. We know him. We have a relationship with him. It changes everything about us. Jesus gave this analogy in Matthew 13, verse 44. He said, this is a great summary of what it means to be saved.

[00:10:34] It says, The Kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. So the man finds this treasure in a field. He hides the treasures. Nobody else will find it. Then, in his joy, he's ecstatic about finding this treasure and his joy. He goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

[00:11:01] That's what it's like when you discover Jesus Christ, when your eyes are open to the good news of the gospel, that Jesus died to pay for all of your sin. And he rose again so you can have a higher quality life, a life with God and abundant life that goes on forever. And you realize that it's so worth it to have Jesus that you'll sell everything else you have.

[00:11:24] Point number one. Let's get it down like this and we're going to put it in our chart here, point number one. You need to trade your trash, your school bullough, trade your trash for treasure, which is Jesus Christ.

[00:11:36] That's what Paul's saying. He thinks that's what Jesus is teaching in this parable, that it's worth losing everything else to gain Jesus in your life to have a relationship with him. In fact, Paul's saying, hey, I have lost everything else compared to Jesus. And it's great. I consider everything else trash compared to the treasure, the surpassing value, the infinite worth of Jesus Jesus is better than anything else I can think of.

[00:12:10] And so that's a question for you. This is what it means to be a Christian. We're not talking about like AP Christians or extra credit Christians, right. We're not talking about, like the super spiritual people versus the common normal Christians. No. To be a Christian person. It means that you believe Dree Jesus is a treasure worth selling. Everything else you have for.

[00:12:34] That's that's the definition that Jesus gives if you're in the kingdom of heaven. This is what it's like. There's so much joy in the treasure of Jesus that everything else is trash to you. Compared to Christ. That's the idea. And a lot of people there just mixing in Jesus with the rest of their life. It's not Jesus is better than everything, it's Jesus blends in with everything.

[00:13:01] Jesus makes all the stuff that I really like a little bit better when you mix Jesus and. A lot of people aren't selling out and and leaving the world behind it and saying goodbye to their old life and valuing Jesus is more they're just bringing Jesus in to their life and they're trying to have it all.

[00:13:16] Just be happy and get along. And when eating says that everything is considered trash, I mean, let's really let our minds go.

[00:13:26] Let's meditate on that scripture here. What are all of the things?

[00:13:34] That you personally are willing to leave behind.

[00:13:38] Because you believe Jesus is so much better than that fake.

[00:13:43] I mean, to start with, we know that when we follow Jesus Christ, we repent of our sins and we trust in Jesus for his righteousness. We know that Jesus, when he was on the cross, he died for our sins. So surely we have to consider sin trash Scooba, love raw sewage compared to knowing Jesus Christ. So let's turn to Romans six. Let's think about that. Let's think about, first of all, the fact that we cannot blend Jesus and put him in some kind of mixture with our scene. No, what you are leaving behind to gain Jesus is the scene that used to define you.

[00:14:25] You are repenting of that. You're turning from that. And you're trusting in Jesus in your identity is now in him, not in whatever it was that your sin was before. So we're starting with everything. But hopefully as we continue to think about this, you're going to start getting very specific. In fact, hopefully you'll write it maybe even while you're taking notes on the front or there's a whole cross chart for you on the back. What are the sins that you've had to say?

[00:14:52] You know what? That's not a good thing. That's not a pleasurable thing. That's not a satisfying thing in my life. That's actually trash in my life. That's destructive.

[00:15:01] I'm going to lose that to gain Jesus. What are those things for you? Romans Chapter six, verse 20 puts it like this. This is page 943. If you got one of our Bibles, Romans six, verse 20 says when you were slaves of sin, where you used to live in the practice of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

[00:15:23] So a lot of people think today they think they're free to do whatever they want with their life. Yeah, when you're free to do whatever you want, when you're free to live in your sin, that means you don't have the righteousness of Jesus.

[00:15:34] That's what you're free from. You're free from salvation. And he says, no, that's not you anymore. Verse 21. What fruit? Look at this question. What fruit were you getting at that time? From the things of which you are now ashamed for the end of those things is what does he say? They're the end of those things is what? It's death. So he's right here to Christian people and he's saying, hey, all that scene that you used to do that used to define you when you were a slave to that said, hey, what did that what fruit did that bear in your life? Did anything good come from all of your sin? Maybe, you know, somebody they keep going back to the same scene over and over. And it's just this cycle of destruction in their life.

[00:16:17] And it's like it's like they think somehow it's going to get good or it's going to work out some time. But in the end, it's just, hey, is there's no fruit in it.

[00:16:26] Nothing profitable in it doesn't give him anywhere.

[00:16:30] Always searching and coming up empty with the promise of going home for only to just have nothing.

[00:16:39] And he says, look, now you're ashamed of that, saying you used to do. As a right now, you look at it and you feel shame, there's so many people walking around ashamed of what they've done. Feeling guilty. He says, no, no. The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and now you've become slaves of God.

[00:17:00] Now you're living for Jesus as Lord. Now the fruit you get leads to sanctification. Now you're set apart from that sin you're live in for God's purpose. And it's and eternal life for the wages of sin is death.

[00:17:16] But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ, Jesus are Lord. So point number two, in the last call that we've got it for sure, everything has to include ah, sin. That's point number two, our sin, which is going to earn us or married us death.

[00:17:34] That's where sin up sin and works up a promise of death. That's what all your sin is, is leading to sex.

[00:17:44] So clearly, if you're gonna think from a Christian perspective, if you're gonna trade the trash of this world for the treasure of eternal life and Jesus, one of the things you for sure have to count is loss and you have to throw away and your life is your sin that you used to identify with, that you used to pursue thinking it was going to bear fruit. But now you're ashamed of it. You don't want anything to do with it.

[00:18:09] You've got to count that as trash.

[00:18:11] You cannot keep living in sin while all the same time saying that Jesus died for your sin. Which one is it? Has Jesus freed you from saints or are you still live in verson? It's one or the other.

[00:18:25] And that's what it's saying here.

[00:18:27] You're either right now still in the pattern of sin on your way to death and destruction, or you have Jesus Christ and you are on your way to eternal life. You either gotten a gift from God or you're working for yourself. And death is what you're gonna get for all of your work.

[00:18:47] So even the world understands that sin leads to death. Even the world knows, as so many people are dying of drug overdoses these days. People are dying, choking on their own vomit because they were so drunk out of their mind. Even the world has a basic fear of sexually transmitted diseases, even the world that's out of control.

[00:19:08] Run by Satan and the demons. People doing whatever they want. Even the world knows there's limits. And there's things that are only for each image. Only for adults. And shouldn't be for children.

[00:19:20] And you shouldn't drink that and then drive over there like even the world knows. Sin is bad. How much more should God's people say that that sin is trash in my life?

[00:19:33] And I want nothing to do with it. It's in the last column for me. And I'm not going back to it.

[00:19:38] I'm freed from that. And I'm living over here with Jesus because Jesus is better than my sad. There is no such thing as a live in for Jesus and live in forseen, it's one or the other. And have you traded that? Have you counted your sin, his loss?

[00:20:02] Have you gained. Jesus Christ, a gift of eternal life. It says here a relationship with God through his son, Jesus. When we hear eternal life, the problem is the first thing we go to when we hear eternal life is like heaven when you die. Forever eternity. But eternal life is not about how long it lasts. It's about a quality of life where you know God and your soul is satisfied.

[00:20:29] And you don't need sin anymore because you've got Jesus.

[00:20:35] That's the idea.

[00:20:37] We've got to at least be able to agree as Christian people that sin is loss and Jesus is gain. Can I get a man from anybody on this here?

[00:20:47] Hey, so what are your sins? What is the sin that was going to kill you? Maybe it still is killing it. Maybe you're still giving into it. Maybe it's still owns you and you're still a slave. What is the sin that was going to take you down to death where you would be judged for all of eternity and now you have a whole different view of that sin. You're a shame that sin used to define you.

[00:21:10] You see it for how worthless it was. And you consider it now. You think of it in your head.

[00:21:16] You count it as lost as trash. It's like raw sewage to you. You wouldn't want to get anywhere near it. You wouldn't want to touch.

[00:21:24] Because now you've got Jesus. And you're seeking him in your life.

[00:21:30] And you're knowing it and you're thinking, man, knowing Jesus right now in my life is so much better than when I used to do that.

[00:21:35] What is that for you? Every single one of us in our old life before Christ, we had sins that defined us, that owned us, that were killing us. What are they for you? What have you counted? Loss compared to the surpassing worth of Jesus. Now let's go. Let's go.

[00:21:55] Continue in our fight here and let's think about the game. The game here, it says, is sanctification. Any Turnell life. That's the other side here. OK. So this is this is the game. What do we have now in Jesus? What have we really gained in Christ? Well, there's now we can be set apart from saying that sanctification.

[00:22:15] See?

[00:22:15] And when we think about being in Jesus, it's not just the sins that we stop doing. It's now the purpose of God that we can start doing. Like, what are the things now? You put off the old and you've put on the new instead of being selfish and hating people and getting angry all the time. Now you can love people and put other people is more important than yourself. And what are the things now as it read in the word? Is he praying? Is it telling other people about Jesus?

[00:22:44] Is it fellowship with other believers? Like, what are the things that you got in your relationship with Jesus that now excite you in your life where you find value in these things and they actually bring joy into your soul rather than as sin used to take it away. So it's not only what if you counted loss? That's that's only half of our our ledger here.

[00:23:05] It's what are the good things that you found is gain?

[00:23:09] What are the acts of obedience, the commands of Jesus that he tells you to do, that you actually find now identity and maybe as a husband who loves his wife or as a mom raising her children in the way of the Lord or as somebody who actually goes to school or goes to work because you're doing it to not serve people, but you're doing it to serve Jesus Christ. And in Jesus, you've actually found meaning in things in life that you would have never seen before.

[00:23:38] Things that are really gained to you that have surpassing value in Christ. So so there should be this clear transformation in every single one of us.

[00:23:50] Being defined by sin to now being defined by sanctification instead of on our way to judgment in hell, we're on our way to the presence of God and eternal glory, and we can see the difference in the way that we live. But when we use the word everything.

[00:24:08] And he says all things.

[00:24:11] He's not just talking about the bad things. He could have said, and I count everything bad.

[00:24:19] As loss compared to knowing Jesus Christ, but he didn't say everything bad or evil or sinful, he just said everything. He just said all things, so he's talking about more than just leaving his son behind. Now, in the resum� that Paul gave us, if you want to go back to Philippians three and look at it with me, he gave us his resum� starting here in verse five. He says, hey, you want to bring out your resume and have confidence in what you've done in the flesh? Let me tell you, circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. As to the law, Pharisee as de Zeil, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless gay. Well, clearly, when he was Saul.

[00:25:06] And he was out killing Christians and throwing them in jail. That was sin. And the reason he was doing that sin is he was so full of himself. And there was so much spiritual pride in thinking that he could keep the law. He was puffed up on his own self-righteousness. Clearly, a lot of that is sin. But is there anything sinful about what it said there in verse five, being circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin being a Hebrew of Hebrews?

[00:25:35] I mean, is there anything sinful about souls, parents naming him Saul, after the first king of Israel being happy that they have their boy, that God gave them circumcising him on the eighth day? I mean, is that a sinful thing, that he grew up a Jew, that he was born of the tribe of Benjamin, that he grew up to be one of God's chosen people, and he had great promise and potential because of his family? That's that's an.

[00:26:01] But that's what he's saying is trash.

[00:26:05] She got to see what this guy's saying. He's not saying, hey, there's bad things out there and I can now see that they're trash and I can see the Jesus has value.

[00:26:13] He's saying everything out there is trash to me. Because of the surpassing greatness.

[00:26:21] Of Jesus.

[00:26:23] If you go to one of the trendy places today, one of the places that really wants your business, a big corporation and all the corporations today, they want to let you know they're friendly with planet Earth. You know what I'm talking about, right? You go to Starbucks, you go to to play places like this, you're gonna go throw something away. Well, now you've got options of where you're gonna throw something away. Right. And you see this like this is going straight to the landfill or this is calm post. Right. And then this over here, this trash actually has some value. This trash is what what kind of trash are we talking about? Oh, see see, this is how we do it. All of us are like Starbucks or propose that we start rate in our trash. Well, that trash is completely disposable. That trash has no value to me. This trash over here is recyclable. I think there's a lot of value in this trash. I really like this trash. I'd like to hang on to this raw sewage over here. Please get a little closer. Right. That's what we're doing. We're raiding our trash, right?

[00:27:21] We're saying they'll all throw away all the bad stuff, all throw away the sin, all throw away this and that. No problem. Get it out of here. That's trash to me. I'll flush it down. I don't want to see it again, but this is pretty good over here.

[00:27:36] There's some value in this. See, this is how we we rate things here, we have things that we think are are meaningful, valuable.

[00:27:46] And then what happens is we don't flush those things. We don't consider them Scooba. They're actually kind of nice trash. And we want to recycle it and still get some value out of it. And then what happens is, instead of throwing it away and really count, everything is lost. We don't count it as loss. We just count it as less than Jesus, not complete loss compared to Jesus, but just a little bit less than Jesus. And then in our hearts, those things start to compete with Jesus for first place in our heart and we allow it to happen.

[00:28:18] We don't think in our head that Jesus is up here and all the good things I have in Jesus those are to be valued. Everything else is to be trash. In comparison to Jesus we start to think, well, that's not so bad. That's pretty good. We couldn't live without this. This is a blessing from God. And then we let the blessings from God start to become more important than God.

[00:28:41] So if I see the word idolatry.

[00:28:44] We have such right away, if I use that word, such chronological snobbery is what immediately we have because we haven't bowed down to a statue and worshiped it like it was alive or could do something for it. That's what comes into our mind when we hear the word idolatry. Go to First Thessalonians, Chapter one, just a few pages over to the right here from Philippians three, First Thessalonians one, verse nine talks about when these people got saved, what they had to count as loss was their idols.

[00:29:16] So if you've read through the Bible, you know that every nation had idols in the time of Israel, every nation.

[00:29:24] And in fact, a lot of them had many gods and they had actual statues and structures that represented these gods. But these people, they understood their God was something more than a statue. They thought their God could actually do something for them. By the time of Jesus and the Apostles, Idolatries got a little more sophisticated. A lot of the idols had temples and they had these more philosophical world views. And a lot of times you would go to the temple if you were in Thessalonica, you might go to the temple. There might be some sexual immorality going on in the temple is a part of your worship. You might be gaining some kind of social status and some kind of acceptance with other people. By going to this temple and they had understandings from their idolatry, they they they invested in idols because they thought they were going to get something in return. There was going to be something a lot of the idols were going to send rain are going to make their crops go grow and from their crops from there, that was their livelihood. That was how they were going to make a living. So they thought the idols were going to bless their their crops and then that was going to support their family.

[00:30:36] A lot of that what they were worshiping for back in the day was fertility that was a big part of idolatry that the gods were going to bless them with offspring. And through those offspring, they would grow strong and have a future and prosper. So people really thought that idols were going to give them money and family. Are we starting to talk about idolatry now?

[00:30:57] We starting to talk about things that we want to recycle and not consider trash because they have value to us. And then we let these idols compete in our hearts for the first place that only Jesus should have.

[00:31:09] Good, he says about the fence saloon lenience here in First Thessalonians, chapter one, verse nine, he says, for they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you.

[00:31:23] So Paul is now writing to the Thessalonians and he's saying, hey, let me tell you what other people are saying about how you guys got saved. How you guys responded to the gospel, other people. Paul was there. He saw it. But now he's somewhere else. And other people are telling him how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to calm.

[00:31:59] Paul says, I can't go anywhere because you guys have become such a famous church. Your response? The word of the Lord. Word of the Lord echoed it, sounded forth. It resounded from you. The gospel rang out in such an amazing way that other people are telling me what you guys did, how you turned or repented from your idols and worshiped God, and then how you have such faith that you think Jesus Christ is coming back any day to save you from the coming judgment, from the wrath that's going to come upon this planet.

[00:32:30] And you're just waiting for Jesus. You know, he's in heaven. You know, he's coming back and you're just waiting for him to come and get you.

[00:32:38] That's a great description right there of what it means to repent and believe in the gospel. People were letting nothing else be worshiped but God.

[00:32:47] And it was like they were hanging in every day on the edge of their seat, like, is Jesus coming back?

[00:32:55] Now? And so they turned, it says here from their idols.

[00:33:02] OK, so let's get that down for point number three here, let's put let's put that in the last column. What are the idols that you might have that rival for our hearts here? What are the things that are not sinful? They're not evil.

[00:33:20] They might even be gifts from God in your life, things that we need, maybe even like money to live this life, things that God has blessed us with, like our family.

[00:33:34] And yet we're letting these things not be counted as loss compared to Christ. We're actually letting these things be counted with Christ.

[00:33:45] See, the question you got to ask yourself is there is the reason you love your family because you've got Jesus? Or do you just love your family?

[00:33:54] Is the reason you go to work to try to make money because you're doing that work for Jesus? Or do you just want money?

[00:34:03] It's supposed to be Jesus first in our hearts and everything being a response to Jesus Christ. I love my family because that's what Jesus commands me to do. I go to work for the Lord, not for man, not for money.

[00:34:19] But we don't count these things as trash. Money has real value.

[00:34:24] Family comes first. I've been living in the church, mostly in Southern California my entire life. Do you realize how many people I've heard, say, family comes first?

[00:34:40] When God introduced himself for the first time, when there was a written revelation from God to man before there was any scroll written from God to man. There were two tablets of stone.

[00:34:52] And the first commandment was that you shall have no other gods before me, for I the Lord, your God. I am a what kind of God did he say was?

[00:35:04] He wants it so bad. He knows he made you. He knows he sustained every single breath that you've ever taken, more than you could possibly count.

[00:35:15] And every single thing that you've ever held dear. He gave it to you. And now you would take that gift and you would put it in his place and you would think that he would be okay with it. When the very first thing he ever said to us was, I'm not.

[00:35:37] I'm not okay with it.

[00:35:40] I hate idolatry. I hate it when you put anything before me. I will be your God.

[00:35:51] That's what he says.

[00:35:55] It's not just the bad things that you've got to count. Trash, it's all the things. In your life and you think, wow, we're really getting deep into this verse. Yeah, I hope we're getting deep into this verse. Maybe you think overstretch in this verse when it stretch in this verse.

[00:36:12] This is core what it means to follow Jesus. OK. Following Jesus is a transaction. If you're going to follow Jesus, then you have to deny yourself. If you're going to follow Jesus, then you have to take up your what?

[00:36:28] You don't just follow Jesus.

[00:36:31] And not lose anything, not count anything as trash. That's not how it works.

[00:36:37] That might be what we're trying to do today and are American Christianity. That's not what Jesus or Paul are saying in the holy scriptures of the living God.

[00:36:47] They say and you count it all.

[00:36:49] Everything is trash. I was born. He's thinking of his parents.

[00:36:55] He's thinking of how they gave him the name, saw how he was the tribe of Benjamin. He's thinking of the smile on his mom's face when she took him in on the eighth day to be circumcised.

[00:37:05] Even that doesn't compare to Jesus. I won't let anything compare to Jesus because the moment it compares to him, it's an idol.

[00:37:16] He says, I'm not having anything, I count all things as loss.

[00:37:22] Joining me now, Matthew, Chapter six and let's hear straight from Jesus about the two biggest idols that we have in Orange County, California, and L.A. County, Southern California. People who know what I mean by the four or five freeway. We've got two big idols and one of them is money. I don't know if you ever watch It's a Wonderful Life come around Christmas time.

[00:37:45] But one of the favorite lines, to quote at the Blakey house growing up was when he says it comes in pretty handy down here, bub. You know, when I was talking about money, right?

[00:37:55] I mean, money is something we need. It's a necessity. Give us this day our daily bread. That's going to involve money.

[00:38:02] Every single one of us, we've got to interact with money. That's how it comes in pretty handy down here. This is what Jesus Christ said. Your relationship is supposed to be way about money.

[00:38:17] And we're living in some of the richest times and on some of the richest places in the history of planet Earth, so we need to really heed what the Bible says about our finances. Matthew six verse 19 page 811 Jesus told us something not to do and something to do.

[00:38:35] He says, do not lay up for yourselves. Treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there your heart will be also.

[00:38:58] How do you know he's talking about money? Maybe he's talking about the good works that we do and the good works that we do. Stores up treasure in heaven. So we need to go serve more, do more good works. Skip on down verse 24 just to make it very clear that he is talking about physical money here. It says no one can serve two masters.

[00:39:18] Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

[00:39:30] Take your pick. But we ain't doing this whole competition for your heart thing.

[00:39:36] We are doing there some days, I'm live in for money, some days I'm live in for Jesus, Jesus says he can't do that. I'm either gain to you. You either love me or you love money and you want more of it. Which one is it? D.A. me. And love the money or Jesus hate the money and see how Jesus Christ doesn't let us have the middle ground. We all naturally want to cling to where it can be.

[00:40:01] OK, we can have a lot of money. We can store for ourselves great treasures here on Earth and we could still be tight with Jesus at the same time. We'll have great treasures on Earth, but our heart will be with Jesus in heaven. He says, no, that's not how it works.

[00:40:15] You either got treasure here and that's where your heart is or you got treasure in heaven and that's where your heart is. It is one or the other. You cannot serve them both. So what is money trash to you? Is it lost to you? Because if it's not, then you're trying to serve both God and money.

[00:40:32] And Jesus tells you you can't do it. That doesn't work. Jesus gets to decide the terms of your relationship, Jesus gets to define what your relationship is going to look like, and Jesus tells you, I'm not splitting your heart with money.

[00:40:52] I mean, we have turned in our culture. We have turned storing up treasure for yourself on Earth into a virtue.

[00:41:03] If you have a lot of money saved up and you've got a nice plan for the rest of your life financially, that is something that people don't count as loss. That is something that people greatly value.

[00:41:15] And Jesus Christ is here saying to you, do not do that.

[00:41:20] Do not store up for yourselves treasures here on Earth, flat out direct quote from Jesus Christ when Jesus speaks. It means something. What does that mean to you that Jesus says you should not be storing up for yourself? How could we see that you're not storing up for yourself? If we if we looked at your bank account, if we looked at your investments, how would that show that you're storing up your treasure for heaven? And you've counted financial security and success in this world. You've counted as loss even so far to say money is trash compared to the glory of knowing Jesus.

[00:42:00] Can you say that?

[00:42:03] Because that's got to be included in the everything that Paul is talking about. And here Jesus is singling it out.

[00:42:10] He's not splitting time with that.

[00:42:14] Now, maybe the hardest one for us is our families. Go to Luke, Chapter 14 and look what Jesus says. In Luke Chapter 14, starting here in verse 25, I need everybody to see this here. This is the height of the popularity of Jesus Christ.

[00:42:31] This is when he had crowds of thousands. And today, as Christians were so desperate for crowds of thousands, but when Jesus had crowds of thousands, he actually made his message so clear that if you weren't sincere in following him, his message was going to be come across as hard. And it was going to drive you away. So when Jesus got popular, when he got big crowds, he didn't say things to try to woo the people in.

[00:42:58] He said straightforward things to define what it really meant to follow him so they could see clearly if they were really all in to count him as surpassing value and consider everything else lost or not.

[00:43:13] And so when he's got these massive crowds, he says this. Can you imagine a more inflammatory statement than what Jesus says in Luke 14, verse 26? This is not how to win friends and influence people right here. This is not how to keep yourself at the most popular place with the crowd.

[00:43:30] He says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters. Yes.

[00:43:39] And even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

[00:43:51] I mean, that's that's hard for us to even process what that could possibly mean, because one of the first commandment with a promise is to honor your father and mother husbands.

[00:44:02] You need to love your wives wives.

[00:44:06] You need to submit to your husbands. Children need to obey their parents.

[00:44:11] And definitely parents should be investing everything they've got into disabling their kids in the way of Jesus Christ. And yet he says here that think of all your close family relationships, all the people you love the most. Yeah. I'm calling you to hate them if you're gonna follow me.

[00:44:35] If you don't hate everybody you love, you cannot be my disciple. So who is it for you? Who is the hardest person for you to count as loss compared to Jesus? That's what he's saying you have to do.

[00:44:51] You know, we know from the rest of scripture, we know that there is no contradiction in God's word. Are we supposed to love our family or hate our family? What's the attitude we should have in our hearts towards our family? Which one?

[00:45:04] So what does this mean that we hate?

[00:45:07] What it means is that Jesus Christ is such the first place that you're always going to obey him first, you're always going to think of him first, you're always going to follow him. First, that to your own family members, it's going to feel like you're rejecting them because you're choosing Jesus over them time and time again.

[00:45:28] And if they don't believe in Jesus with you. They're not going to understand. And it's going to cause great tension in the family. We've got some people here tonight who, when you chose to follow Jesus and you gave your life to him. It's never been the same between you and your family. There was a sword that divided you from you and your family because you chose Jesus over your family. And to them, it feels like rejection. And you know why you made the right choice to put Jesus first.

[00:45:55] That's a message you're not going to hear very much around here. That family does dot com first. Can I get name in front of you on it?

[00:46:03] Let's get it on the other side. The game that we find is Jesus is first. There is nothing second.

[00:46:10] OK.

[00:46:11] The idols of money, the idol of family. If you are letting your family compete.

[00:46:19] In your heart.

[00:46:21] For the first place of Jesus Christ, then you are not counting your family as loss. Look, if you found a wife. If you're a man here and you found a wife, you found a good thing and obtained favor from the Lord of God blessed you with kids. That was a blessing that God gave you. All right. The parents that you have, you should honor them even if your parents are no longer alive. You should speak in them of such a way that you value them as your parents.

[00:46:47] But if you let any of those people compete in your heart with Jesus Christ, you cannot be one of his disciples. He's drawing the line right there. You might call yourself his disciple. He's not calling you.

[00:46:59] Has to say. This is the standard that Jesus and.

[00:47:04] In fact, you know what he says here, you know, with this family that you want, so that might really be about, you know, what this money that you're working so hard for might really be all about. He says you have to hate your own life.

[00:47:17] You know what needs to become Scooba flow to you? You know what you need to consider trash. That selfish desire that has driven you so much of your life. You're got to count that as was. You got to lose yourself. You've got to lose your life to be found in Christ.

[00:47:42] Yes, indeed.

[00:47:44] I count every thing to be lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

[00:47:53] In fact, I count all those things as screw bullough. Suzanne, I might have cried because the way policies are, it's either Jesus or family. It's either Jesus or money. Maybe that's why the guy's in prison and they have to send him money to survive.

[00:48:09] Maybe that's why the guy is writing that he loves being single, because then there's nothing distracting him from full time, undistracted devotion to the law because the guy saying everything is loss compared to Jesus.

[00:48:24] Everything.

[00:48:27] And Jesus didn't just say, hey, Christians try to get up to that level. He said that's the first step, everybody. Your serve and money, then you ain't serving me. You're not going to hate everybody else compared to me. You're not going to put me first and love me the most. Then you can't be my disciple. This is entry level Christianity. This is what we're all supposed to be thinking in the present tense that I'll tell you right now when it comes to my life. I can honestly say Jesus is better than the on the.

[00:48:59] He's better than that to me.

[00:49:01] Tonight, when I go home, tomorrow morning, when I wake up, I'm going to live like Jesus Christ is my ultimate passion and desire and nothing competes with that.

[00:49:11] That's what it means.

[00:49:14] Go with me to the song Song 63, this idea that the relationship we can have with God is better. This isn't something new that I'm bringing. This is this didn't just even come with Jesus Christ. This idea that I have to have and not not just this belief.

[00:49:31] See, so many people today think they're a Christian because they believe that Jesus is to be a Christian. You have to believe that Jesus is better. You can't just believe that God is. You have to believe that God is good. And he is a reward.

[00:49:44] Or of those who seek him and those who seek him with all of their heart will find him. I'm not asking you, do you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose again? I'm asking you, do you believe it's better to know Jesus?

[00:50:00] Then just to know what he did. That's what it really means to be a Christian in here in Psalm 63, David. He said, oh, God, you are my God.

[00:50:10] And and he understood what that means all the way down to the first commandment. There is nobody else before you.

[00:50:19] Earnestly, I seek you my saw thirst for you, my flesh, Thain's for you as an a dry and weary land where there is no water army out here in the desert. Nothing else can satisfy me. Nothing else can fill me up.

[00:50:32] We got to go to the place in Israel where David wrote this, this little wasis, this little stream in the midst of like this barren wasteland of wilderness.

[00:50:44] That's what he's saying, like, I'm walking for miles and I'm not seeing anything that compares anything that competes to you.

[00:50:52] Liquidy goes on to savors, too. I've looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.

[00:50:59] Here's something you should write down. Here's here's what Paul's saying in Philippians three eight.

[00:51:03] Here's David saying it in Psalm 63, verse three. Because your steadfast love is better than what?

[00:51:10] It's better than life.

[00:51:13] It's better to be loved by God through his son, Jesus Christ in a forever relationship than anything else you could possibly have in your life or out of everything else you could possibly have in your life. It's worth counting all of that as loss just to get the love of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Because your steadfast love is better than life. My lips will praise you. I will bless you. As long as I live in your name, I will lift up my hands. Go to Psalm 84. Look at how this same idea that God is better. And I want to know him. I want to see Kim.

[00:51:49] He's my driving passion. He's my number one pursuit. So I'm 84. Verse 10. Top of page four hundred and ninety three. If you got one of our books. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere, just break that down. Just think about ever say it. How much better is it? The surpassing value?

[00:52:14] The epic greatness of Jesus over everything else in life that we're supposed to consider screwball compared to Jesus? Well, what's the ratio of how much better Jesus is than everything else? Well, the ratio is one day with Jesus equals a thousand days somewhere else.

[00:52:32] Just three years of family vacation, three years of all the money you could think about, three years of doing whatever it is you want one day, really, you and Jesus right on time.

[00:52:45] Heart to heart. Better than all of that. Anybody want to say amen to that? That's what he said, in fact. Look at this. He says, I'd rather be a door keeper. In the house, got it. Then dwell in the tents of wickedness. I'd rather be the guy standing at the door letting everybody else in.

[00:53:04] Just getting a glimpse of the worship, just getting a glimpse of the video or the sermon. I'm just the guy at the door just getting a glimpse inside of what's going on with the Lord then to be the Mr. Cool, Mr. Popular, Mister Famous, Mr. Rich, right there in the middle of everybody living in sin. I'd rather be the guy at the door welcoming everybody. Still a barely even in the room meant to be the guy who's right there in the middle of the tents of the wicked.

[00:53:32] Just give me one day, just give me the guy at the door. And even that is better than anything else.

[00:53:41] For the Lord, God is a sun and shield, the Lord bestows favor and to honor no good thing does he withhold from those who walk up rightly? Yeah, I might be feel like I'm losing some things. I might be count some things trash. Am my only if I really lose an out if I gain Jesus Christ. No, because if there's really anything good for me, if there's really something that's going to give me good soul, if there's really something that's a pure blessing.

[00:54:14] God's not holding back any goodness to those who walk upright, to the people who put God first.

[00:54:22] They're not really missing out on everything. They're the ones really gaining everything.

[00:54:27] Ask the idea if there there's something really good and you'll be able to see it for what it is a good gift and you'll be able to see it as a gift. And still in your heart, you'll keep in first place the giver.

[00:54:40] No good thing. Does God withhold from those who walk upright?

[00:54:47] You think, wow, this is kind of an intense statement. That's why we're taking a whole night to talk about it here. Wow. This is kind of an intense commitment.

[00:54:55] This all in Jesus has to be first. Nothing else can compare. No.

[00:55:01] This is just a response to an intense commitment. You think you're giving up a lot? We talk about what Jesus gave up for a second. Let's talk about the family that he left behind.

[00:55:17] Let's talk about the riches that he had in there in the heavenly places where he was with his father, a perfect relationship between father and son. For all of eternity, that's what Jesus left for you. When he came down from heaven, you want to talk about an intense korbin? I mean, there is nobody has ever been mistreated in the way that Jesus was.

[00:55:39] I mean, there's nobody has ever been marked like that.

[00:55:42] Nobody, whoever it has been that innocent, treated that wrongly. I mean, the physical pain that he went through. Watching Disciple's betray him or flee from him.

[00:55:54] Even the father, he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[00:56:00] Because he had to go and bear the wrath for your son. And he had to shed his blood and sacrifice his body. You want to talk about leaving everything and losing your life? That's not what we're doing. That's what Jesus did for us.

[00:56:17] And this is just a small response to offer our little lives. Because we're gaining so much.

[00:56:27] No one. We're here tonight to remember what Jesus did. And the only appropriate response is to offer yourself as a living sacrifice. Because Jesus offered himself as a dying sacrifice. So the ushers are going to get up right now and they're going to go get the elements of communion for us. The band's gonna get ready. Ron's gonna come up here and he's gonna play and you're gonna have a moment.

[00:56:52] To ask yourself if you can count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, not just your counting at less than Jesus, you're counting it trash compared to knowing Jesus.

[00:57:07] And I think it's so appropriate for us to examine our life. Maybe you even want to fill out the cross chart on the back.

[00:57:13] What are the sins that you're counting his loss? What are the idols that you're not letting? Compete? What are the good things that you're gaining? Because you have Jesus. What are the good gifts that he's given to you that you can see are not equal with Jesus and Jesus is better than those gifts, but yet they're blessings and you appreciate them.

[00:57:32] It's appropriate for us to evaluate our lives as we remember what Jesus Christ did with his life.

[00:57:39] The Jesus Christ.

[00:57:42] He did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped. Even the son of man gave his life as a ransom for many.

[00:57:53] That's what Jesus did for you. What is your response? If Jesus gave everything for you, how could you not respond in kind? You can't say I'm a I see what Jesus did for me. He shed his righteous blood. He sacrificed his perfect body. And I'm gonna give Jesus most of my life in response. I'm going to give Jesus the bad parts of my life. In response.

[00:58:18] I'm going to give Jesus most days more than my family or money.

[00:58:23] No, the only thing that makes sense is you've got to give Jesus all of yourself. Because Jesus Christ is better than everything else you've got.

[00:58:32] So let me pray and then we'll pass the elements and then go ahead and get that bread in that cup and then we'll take it all together. Let's pray. Father in heaven. Will you please speak to us through this verse? How will you please show us through this little chart where we're really at?

[00:58:48] We can say we've really given everything away. We've lost our life. We hate our loved ones. And we're not serve in money because we want Jesus.

[00:58:59] Because he's we're so much more than anything. This world of words today.

[00:59:06] Father, I pray that we would be able to say this here as your people with you being our God, that we will set no other thing both for you, whether it's sinful, whether it's one of the gifts that you've blessed us with. But we will consider. Surpassing worth of knowing Jesus. Greater than anything else. And we'll count it all as loans so that we might gain. Christ. Please put this on our hearts. God, speak to us now in our souls. While we remember Jesus, we pray in his name.

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