Partners Confident in Christ

Where is Judson?

So sleeping quietly.

So I better not do anything to disturb him.

Okay, let's bow our heads and pray.

Heavenly Father, we pray that as we come to your word now,

as I preach it, that you would speak to us by your spirit,

that you would grow us in Christ,

and that you would help us to stand firm in Christ,

holding onto the righteousness that you have given to us in him.

And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Who am I?

You put your hand up quietly if you think you get this one.

And if you're at the first service, you're not allowed to say.

I was one of three brilliant brothers,

all trained at Eton and Cambridge in England.

The three of us were in the Eton Rowing 11 in the same year.

I was described as the best all-round English batsman in my day.

My brothers and I were all converted to Christ independently on the same day.

Well done, well done, Vanda.

I played with other notables, such as W.G. Grace.

I was part of the English team which lost to Australia in 1882,

and the Sporting Times published the following epitaph after the match.

In affectionate remembrance of English cricket,

which died at the Oval on the 29th of August, 1882.

Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances.

R.I.P.

Note well, the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.

That was a lie, wasn't it?

They've kept them.

I inherited a large fortune.

I gave it all away and became a missionary to China.

I was distinctive because I was amongst the first missionaries

to try to take on the culture of the people that I was trying to witness to.

My name is C.T. Studd.

The biography of C.T. Studd is the story of a man who became passionate about his faith.

In human terms, he had it all before him.

He had wealth.

He had popularity.

He had great sporting ability and he had brains.

And probably things that we crave for our children.

And he turned to Christ and he was no longer satisfied with what he had

and he was no longer satisfied with what most people crave for.

When his brother nearly died, C.T. Studd wrote this.

He said,

All those things that had become as nothing to my brother,

all those things had become as nothing to my brother,

he only cared about the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And God taught me the same lesson.

And in his love and goodness, he restored my brother to health.

And as soon as I could get away, I went to hear Mr. Moody.

And there the Lord met me again and restored to me the joy of his salvation.

And still further and what was better than all,

he sent me to work for him

and I began to try to persuade my friends to read the gospel

and to speak to them individually about their souls.

And I cannot tell you what joy it gave me

to bring my first soul to the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have tasted almost all the pleasures that this world can give

and I do not suppose that there is one that I have not experienced.

But I can tell you that those pleasures were as nothing

compared to the joy that the saving of one soul gave me.

So the Bible passage I'm preaching this morning and was just read

is Philippians chapter 3 and it begins with these words,

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.

And it's a call which comes several times in Philippians.

It's there again in chapter 4.

Rejoice in the Lord always.

I will say it again, rejoice.

Rejoice in the Lord.

And it's not really like this call to happy, clappy feelings.

It's a call to the deep joy that comes from a thriving life

lived in faithful service to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Last week I spoke about Philippians chapter 2,

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

not in this service but at 8.30,

and God calling us to a life of humble service of him.

Verse 3, chapter 2,

And that is the life that we are called to live in response to the humble service,

the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the one who, though he was in the form of God,

did not count equality with God something to be grasped,

but made himself nothing,

taking the nature of a slave,

and he humbled himself and became obedient to death on a cross.

And so really in simple terms, a simple summary,

our wonderful saviour left the safety of heaven,

was executed by his creatures,

and God lifted him back into heaven

and gave him the name which is over every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven

and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord

to the glory of God the Father.

Christian joy comes from receiving and following

the humble servant-heartedness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the themes of this letter to the Philippians

is that not only has God humbled himself,

Paul and his team have humbled themselves,

and we are to humble ourselves

if we are to be true partners of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 2 is a real change in tone,

and it contains a passionate warning.

It says,

Watch out for those dogs,

those men who do evil,

those mutilators of the flesh,

for it is we who are the circumcision,

we who worship by the Spirit of God,

who glory in Christ Jesus

and put no confidence in the flesh.

It's a pretty ugly contrast.

It's a hot denunciation of a group

whose teaching and ways pose

a considerable threat to the Christians

in the early church,

and especially here at Philippi.

The enemy is not identified,

but what they teach is.

They could be some zealous Jews

who are forcing their true blue Judaism

in the face of Christianity,

or perhaps they are Christians

like some of the Christians

in the early church in Jerusalem

who do not know yet,

or don't yet know how to let go

of their Jewish ways,

and are pushing them against

the international believers.

When he says,

Watch out,

it means consider carefully their ways

and beware of them.

They are a formidable enemy

who needs careful watching.

Their beliefs might not seem so bad,

but they are a disaster to Christian faith.

They're people who probably take away

from Christ as the centre,

and they might be pushing law,

and they might be pushing

Ten Commandments,

and they're certainly pushing circumcision,

but they are not pushing Christ.

And he calls them dogs,

men who do evil,

the mutilation.

They're great words to bandy

around the church, aren't they?

Don't really encourage you

to do that at morning tea.

But he's using biting irony,

and he is ripping apart

those who are trying

to push their Judaism

against Christ.

The things that they are proud of,

he tears apart.

He calls them dogs.

These are people in the church

or around the church

who think of themselves as clean,

who think of themselves

as the holy people of God,

and he calls them dogs,

unclean animals,

unable to come anywhere near

a holy God.

People who do evil,

not keepers of God's holy laws,

the mutilation,

a clear reference to circumcision,

not a sign of consecration to God.

A little bit hard for us to identify,

but it's almost like coming into a church

where people are not really on about Christ,

but they're on about tradition,

and they're on about the outward things,

and so people might be saying to you,

I've been baptised,

I've been confirmed,

I've been ordained,

and Paul is ripping in and saying,

just because you've got the outward things

doesn't make you holy at all.

And it's a tremendous insult.

He castigates what they're preaching.

He wants believers to understand

how wrong these peddlers of religion are.

And he contrasts it with true Christian faith,

and he reassures the Christians

with the words in verse 3,

these guys haven't got it outwardly perhaps,

but they've got it inwardly,

and he says,

we are the circumcision,

we who worship by the Spirit of God,

who glory in Christ Jesus,

and put no confidence in the flesh.

We mightn't have it outwardly,

but we do have God's grace inwardly.

Don't be put off, friends.

When we cling to Christ,

we have what it means to be truly circumcised.

We do worship by the Spirit of God.

We don't trust in our own religious acts

or achievements.

I think I had the experience

very early in my Christian life.

I came to Christ in February,

and by the middle of the year,

I was really actively involved

in my local church,

and probably three-quarters of the way

through the year,

I was also involved in the Christian group

at New South Wales University,

which in those days was student life,

or one of them was.

And we would get together in small groups.

We'd go out witnessing.

We'd have our big group meeting

through the week.

But one of the things that also happened

is pastors would come in from churches

sometimes to get alongside

and encourage the students.

And one of the men who came alongside us

seemed like a guru.

He was from an independent Baptist church.

He was an older man.

He was opening up the scriptures.

But on reflection,

he was always opening things to us

like the book of Revelation

and the book of Daniel.

And explaining the end times

and how everything was going to work out.

And we were sort of goggle-eyed in amazement,

wondering how it was going to happen,

and marvelling at the wisdom of this man.

And I was a young Christian

who had outwardly changed.

And my friends knew I'd changed.

My family knew I'd changed.

And I was eager to speak about

the Lord Jesus Christ.

And this man discovered one day

that I was an Anglican.

And I'd been baptised as a baby.

And he asked me if I'd been baptised.

And I said,

oh yeah, I think I was baptised as a baby.

And he said,

no, you haven't been baptised properly.

And he pushed that line over a period of time

and actually became a considerable stumbling block

to me and my faith.

Because I was a young, tender-hearted Christian,

eager to serve the Lord Jesus

and do what he wanted me to do.

And this man was actually,

started to say to me

that I was a disobedient believer

who wasn't honouring the Lord Jesus Christ

by doing the externals right.

And it's a longer story

how God brought me out of that,

but it took three or four years.

And I look back

with a different sort of maturity now

and think that my brother,

as well-meaning as he was,

threw a considerable stumbling block at my feet.

Paul is passionate and strong here.

These are people who look religious

and may be intimidating to the people of God,

but they actually pull people away

from Christ at the centre.

And he comes back and he says even more,

verses four to six.

If anyone else thinks he has reasons

to put confidence in the flesh,

I have more.

Circumcised on the eighth day.

Of the people of Israel.

Of the tribe of Benjamin.

A Hebrew of Hebrews.

In regard to the law,

a Pharisee.

As for zeal,

persecuting the church.

As for legalistic righteousness,

faultless.

He says,

I know about these things.

I know what I'm talking about.

If anybody's a true blue Jew,

I am.

Cut in the flesh.

On the right day.

In the right way.

An Israelite.

From the tribe of the first king,

Saul.

Born of Hebrew parents.

He can trace his genealogy.

There's no dark skeletons in the closet.

He's a Pharisee.

He's won by conviction.

He's bound himself not only to obey the law of Moses,

but also the hundreds of commandments contained in the oral law.

He's absolutely faultless in keeping the legalistic requirements of the Pharisaic regulation.

He tithes his mint and cumin.

If he was a kid at school,

he would have been bringing home achievement awards by the bucket load,

and we would have been praising him for it.

He was a very,

very good man.

He's proved his zeal by being a persecutor of the followers of Christ.

In Acts,

Paul was there nodding with approval as Stephen was stoned to death.

Paul was standing there thinking,

this is a righteous thing to do.

And so as a Jew,

he is as good as they come.

Faultless.

He had it all.

One of the Bible study questions this week

is to write your own pedigree.

Write your own religious CV.

So I'll give you mine.

Baptised by Bishop Dudley Ford in 1958.

Something I remember well.

Not.

Confirmed by the Bishop of Grafton

before I came to Christ.

That worked, didn't it?

Nurtured amongst a wonderful group of believers,

Christian believers at Narrabeen.

Tutored in the scriptures at Mork Theological College

by Archbishop Peter Jensen.

Ordained deacon by Archbishop Donald Robinson.

Ordained presbyter by Archbishop Harry Goodhue.

Numbers of years in full-time Christian ministry

at Currajong and Normanhurst and Macquarie Fields

and Weewall and Norwest and now at Chatswood.

Those of you who are believers,

you can write your own.

But then he writes,

whatever was to my profit,

I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

And what is more,

I consider everything a loss

compared to the surpassing greatness

of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For whose sake I have lost all things.

I consider them rubbish

that I may gain Christ and be found in him.

Not having a righteousness of my own

that comes from the law,

but that which is through faith in Christ,

the righteousness that comes from God

and is by faith.

Our English Bible softened the impact of these words.

Whatever was to my profit,

I now consider rotting, stinking garbage

for the sake of Christ.

I consider them dung that I may gain Christ.

It's a load of crap.

It's as bald as that,

what it says in the scripture.

I've invested in junk bonds

that have taken me backwards and not forwards.

Knowing God,

knowing Christ,

becoming righteous

has nothing to do with the life that we live.

It is a gift of God

which only comes through faith

in Jesus Christ.

He was an outstanding Jew.

Very religious man.

astonishing pedigree.

And by the grace of God,

he was brought to Christ

and he was able to look back at his past

and see that everything he did to please God

was an absolute and total waste

in terms of knowing him.

Rubbish,

dung,

stinking garbage.

The things that he used to glory in,

the things that made him a big man

in other people's eyes,

actually made him less in God's economy.

And that's why he's so opposed

to these peddlers of religion.

Dogs,

doers of evil,

mutilators of flesh.

They're peddling a way of pleasing God

which was totally focused

on the life that we live,

wearing the right badge,

keeping the law which cannot be kept,

having the right surgery,

it's all outward human observance.

Stuff that can be seen.

They're focused on the outward,

they're not focused on the inward.

And Paul has been through a reversal.

God has turned him around in his tracks.

He's come to know Christ.

He's been brought face to face with him.

He's come to see

that you can only become acceptable to God

through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Total dependence on him

and on what he has done to save us.

We trust him.

For our salvation.

And that's where the rubber

really hits the road for you and me.

The new St. Pauls,

we are the new St. Pauls.

Steve used that expression the other week

in the Vision Sunday service.

It's made up of people with a long,

proud evangelical history

which goes back more than 100 years.

And we are also a young,

ethnically diverse church with hope

who became the new St. Pauls

in January this year.

And the combined experience

of all our members

brings much to thank God for.

So, you know,

across our body,

we've taught scripture

and Sunday school

and we've knocked on doors

and we've done evangelism in the mall

and we've served full time

on parish council

and we've looked after the grounds

and given generously

and preached

and led services

and we've cleaned

and served

and given

and we've worked hard

for God's church.

We've been baptised.

We've been confirmed.

We've attended prayer meetings

and Bible studies.

We've led people to faith in Christ

and you name it,

we've done it.

And if you haven't done it here,

you've probably done it in church

somewhere else.

And they're all great things to do

but when you recite a list like that,

like I've just recited a list like that,

it really is about what we have done.

It's about us.

It's a list which is focused on us

and our service

and we need to be really careful

when our eyes are on us

and what we have done

that the focus has not slipped off Christ.

Paul was warning people

who thought of themselves

as close to God

who were actually a long way from him.

That's what the Judaizers had become.

You can do the externals

and you can actually lose your heart and soul.

It's a terrifying thought.

More than anything,

the Christian is called to be on about

what Christ has done.

Not who I am,

not what I have done.

He has saved me.

He has given me faith.

He has made me acceptable to him.

He is helping me to grow in righteousness.

To him be the praise forever and ever.

Amen.

C.T. Studd came to the point

early in his life

where cricket,

national acclaim

and even international acclaim

no longer satisfied.

Even as a Christian.

And he was passionate

for that greater goal

of serving Christ

and seeing men and women

won to him.

And God brought Paul

to a point

where he saw

that his old ways

of pursuing righteousness

through the Jewish system

were absolutely futile

in the face of what Christ

had done for him

and he turned his back

on the lot

and his creed

became

what's written here

in verses 10 and 11.

Very personal words.

He says,

I want to know Christ

and the power

of his resurrection

and the fellowship

of sharing

in his sufferings

becoming

like him

in his death

and so

somehow

to attain

to the resurrection

from the dead.

I think

that's a magnificent

creed

for every one

of us.

It's not about

who we are

it's about Christ

it's about

what he's done

it's about

what it might

cost us

to follow him

and to know him

and in the end

we're called

to follow his humility

we are brought low

as we share

in his sufferings

and our eyes

are fixed

on the hope

of sharing

in his resurrection

after death.

Not about us

it's about Christ

it's about us

humbling ourselves

and giving him

the glory.

It's an unforgettable

moment

there was an

unforgettable

moment

at the 1996

Olympic Games

in Atlanta

Georgia.

Australian

Samantha Riley

was our

golden girl

and she was

the absolute

hot favourite

to win the gold

medal

in the women's

200 metre

breaststroke event.

It was one

of the goals

that we were

just bound

to win.

and the

South African

Penny Haynes

beat her

in a

magnificent

race

and the

Aussie

interviewer

Channel 7

got to her

first out of the

pool

dripping wet

puffing

had just

finished the

race

congratulated

her on her

swim

and her

first words

out of the

pool were

I just

went out

there today

to try

to do

my best

I put

everything

into the

Lord's

hands

and he

really

honoured

me today

and I

give him

all the

praise

they edited

those words

out of every

replay

a gold

medal

victory

and her

words

and her

testimony

were not

focused on

what she

had done

she was

centred on

Christ

and she

gave him

the glory

in a

most

magnificent

moment

when

Qantas

Flight

32's

engine

blew up

the other

night

and more

than 460

people realised

that they

could have

died in a

catastrophe

and we

have listened

to story

after story

after story

being told

about that

event in

the media

through this

week

not once

have I heard

somebody say

thank God

for his

mercy

and kindness

and protection

in that

circumstance

it's not

about us

it's about

Christ

it's about

his glory

I think

I wonder

whether you

do something

with me

this morning

and that

is to

take these

words to

heart

and even

to make

them your

personal

creed

I want

to know

Christ

and the

power of

his

resurrection

and the

fellowship

of sharing

in his

sufferings

becoming

like him

in his

death

and so

somehow

to attain

to the

resurrection

from the

dead

will you

say that

with me

if I say

it out loud

will you

repeat it

with me

I want

to know

Christ

and the

power of

his

resurrection

and the

fellowship

of sharing

in his

sufferings

becoming

like him

in his

death

and so

somehow

to attain

to the

resurrection

from the

dead

I wonder

now whether

we might

just bow

our heads

and pray

about those

things in

our mind

and I'll

finish by

praying in

a minute

Heavenly

Father we

thank you

for this

most

magnificent

scripture

and for

the

extraordinary

transformation

you brought

in the

life of

the

apostle

Paul

and for

the way

that he

could throw

all his

human

achievement

and ability

and status

to the

side

for the

absolute

joy

of knowing

you

and we

pray Lord

Jesus

that as

men and

women

at St

Paul's

Chatswood

that we

would be

people who

are absolutely

on about

your glory

who delight

to do

your will

who

thrill to

know you

who deeply

desire to

grow and

know you

even deeper

and we

would pray

that from

the overflow

of our

lives that

many people

would be

brought to

faith in

the Lord

Jesus

Christ

help us

to give you

glory day

by day

to realise

that every

breath we

take is

by your

mercy

and that we

would live

lives of

humble service

to you

Lord Jesus

and we

pray this

in his

name and

for his

sake

Amen

will

be

who

know you

want to

to come

to you