A Prayer For The New Year

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Because for most of us in this room, you are at the center of it all.

You are the thing that exerts gravitational influence over us.

It keeps our life in orbit around you.

It keeps our planets of our being from colliding into each other and catastrophe ensuing.

Because only you have the weight, the thickness, the mass, the being to hold sway over us.

That's why you're at the center of everything.

And for anybody in this room, if anything else is at the center, help them to see the insufficiency of that today.

So, Lord, we uh we just stand in awe of the fact that you're at the center of everything.

So we're not here today to increase our determination.

We're here to ask you, Holy Spirit, to enlarge our understanding from the word, illuminate the word.

Holy Spirit, Jesus said when you come, you'd lead us into the truth.

And so lead us into the truth today.

So we walk out of here freer, wider, juicier people than we were when we walked in.

This is our prayer, God.

We pray it in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You can have a C if you have a Bible.

I invite you to take it and open up to Philippians chapter three.

Philippians chapter three.

And I want to talk to you this morning about a prayer for the new year.

A prayer for the new year.

Typically, we're we preach expositorily here at Grant Parkway, which means we go through books of the Bible in the month of January, which starts next Sunday.

We're going to do a series called the M-Word on different things like our mouth and my body and my money and that kind of stuff.

And then we're going to get into the epistles of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John.

So today's kind of a one-off.

And I just kind of been thinking and praying, spending time in the Word.

And this is, I want all of us to begin to pray these things going into the new year for yourself, okay?

And I want to read from Philippians chapter 3, verses 1 to 11.

Philippians 3:1–11

And I'm going to come back and point at some things in the text because look at me.

I, in and of myself, I cannot help you today.

I am not that clever.

I'm not that funny.

I'm not that interesting.

But here's the thing about the Bible: the more you understand it, the better your life will get.

The more you understand it, the more free you will become.

Okay?

And so that's what I want for you.

I want you to be free.

Jesus said, You'll know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

So I want you to walk out a little freer than you were when you walked in.

And so let me give uh our attention to the text.

Philippians chapter 3, verse 1.

Philippians 3:1

Uh the Bible says this finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.

To write the same things to you is no trouble to me, and it is safe for you.

Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.

For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also.

If anyone else thinks he has reason for 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, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

For his sake, I suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order 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 comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

A prayer for the new year.

There's three things in the text that I want to encourage you with this morning.

And the first thing is it's found in the first verse, and I want you to I want to remind yourself of some things.

Remind yourself of some things.

Don't make new year's resolutions.

Remind yourself of some things that you may or may not have forgotten.

Verse one, this is what Paul says to these people.

He says, Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.

And then he says, This to write you the same things, uh, to write the same things to you is no trouble to me, and it is safe for you.

In other words, it doesn't bother me one bit to remind you of some things.

One of the things in our culture, especially in the church, is that we get so addicted to the new and the next that we forget the old and the timeless.

And Paul comes along and says, Hey, I just want to remind you, I don't want to be novel.

You've got to be really confident in God and in your own self.

As a preacher, for Paul to say to these people, hey, I'm not here to tell you something you've never heard.

I'm here to tell you something that you knuckleheads keep forgetting.

So I want to remind you of a few things.

And so going into the new year, one of my prayers for us is that you would remind yourself of some things that you have the tendency to forget.

Like if you want to have an interesting lunch conversation today, just go around the table and ask everybody, hey, what's one thing that you need to remind yourself of going into the new year?

Uh I started making a list.

It's dangerous.

I got a little list in my mind.

Like I'll give you two of mine today.

Here's one of mine.

It's Proverbs 18.21.

Read it years ago.

Kind of think I understood it, but I kind of forgot, I just forgot.

I just forget it.

I just, not that I don't remember it, but I stop experiencing it.

Do you hear the difference in those two?

It's not that, oh, I don't remember that.

No, I just stop.

Sometimes it's easy for me to stop experiencing this.

Proverbs 1821 says this death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

Now, I I it's that first part.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

There's power in the tongue.

That's not that's not up for debate.

The issue is what will it be used for?

Life and death are in the power of the tongue.

So this is both warning and invitation.

It's a warning, don't speak death.

But so don't get hung up on that.

It is a warning.

Hey, don't be a person who speaks death.

When you walk up on a conversation at high school and they're all talking about somebody, do you join in and just crucify that person they're talking about by agreeing to speak death?

Or do you are you the person that can speak life?

Because the power of both life and death, there's power in the tongue.

And you're going to use it for life or you're going to use it for death.

For a person who talks for a living, that's that's deadly territory.

And so one of the things I want to be reminded of, and it's not just a, hey, don't speak death, but I want to really focus on the other part.

I'm focusing on the other part because it's warning and it's invitation.

It's invitation to speak life.

One of the questions I get asked by people in my congregation, if you're visiting today, uh, the people over here, I get asked this a lot.

And it's some form of this question, hey, uh, how do you get in these situations where you talk about where you're talking to a waiter or you're talking to this guy at the auto repair shop or whatever?

Uh, I don't go looking for those things to happen.

But here's what I do: I look for, I look for places where death is reigning and I want to speak life.

Now, why do I do that?

Because the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 that the mindset on the flesh is death, but the mindset on the spirit is life and peace.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

So if I'm around somebody and I just sense spiritual death, there's no life here.

What I what I deduce from that situation very quickly is this person has their mindset on the flesh.

They haven't thought about spiritual things.

And so then I ask myself the question, what can I say?

What life can I speak to this person to remind them that there's more to life than what they're experiencing?

If that makes sense, would you say amen?

You see, you have that power in your tongue as well.

The power of life and death is in the tongue.

There's power in the tongue, and so will you.

So I'm reminding myself, going into the new year, hey, I want to remind myself that I have the power to speak life into all circumstances in which I find myself.

And let me be clear.

By that I'm not saying be some shiny, happy, clappy person that smiles all the time.

Because if you smile all the time, I don't trust you.

I just put my hand on my wallet and my watch, and I don't even wear.

I'm just kind of like, oh, why is this person always happy?

Now, why do we say that?

Because life is textured and jagged, and sometimes it's gonna be sad.

It's just gonna be.

And so it's not like, oh, hey, hey, we're all Christians.

Let's be the phoniest person anybody knows.

No, no one will trust you.

I was sitting standing in a situation when a friend of mine is has a cancer diagnosis, it's come back, thought it'd gone away, and now it's back.

And I was just sad.

And somebody looked at me and said, How do you feel about that?

I said, I'm just sad.

Oh, don't be sad, brother.

You're the pastor.

Be quiet.

I'm just sad.

It's not like I'm doubting God, I'm just sad.

This is my friend.

I know it just stirs up in them.

So it's not about putting on some phony grin.

Hey, brother, good to see you.

Avoid that person.

No, so you have the power.

See, I'm reminding myself.

Here's another thing I'm reminding myself of going into the new year.

That I want to be motivated by consequences.

Um, excuse me, I don't want to be motivated by consequences.

Instead, I want to be motivated by understanding.

I don't want to be motivated by consequences.

I want to be motivated by understanding because if I'm always motivated by by consequences, then I'm just managing old things.

But if I let myself be motivated by understanding, then I'm experiencing new things.

You hear the difference in those two.

If you're always motivated by consequences, it's about what you don't want to do, what you don't want to avoid, what you want to avoid, don't do that, don't do that, don't go see that kind of movie, don't hang out with that person.

It's it's a life of avoidance.

And if you parent your children that way, when they get 16 and get car keys, they will get off the reservation lickety split.

Because all they've heard is don't, don't, don't, don't.

And all you do is make them curious about what's out there, where the wild things are.

But if you if you uh teach, raise your children, parent your children based on understanding, then when they get out there where the wild things are, guess what they have with them?

This sense of understanding.

And they're not affected by what's out there.

They see it and they come home, you're like, Well, how was school today?

You won't believe how wicked, sinful my friends are, Dad.

But you don't panic, like, we're gonna pull you out and put you in private school.

No, because you're like, now, son, how is your understanding serving you these days?

This is how you engage your kid, you parent your child in such a way that they're like, oh, wow.

Huh.

Big difference in consequences and understanding.

Uh, and then now, I would have if I if I want to, uh consequences remind me of what I don't want to do.

So if I want to just go through life, focus on what I don't want to do, after a while I'm gonna infect myself with this fear of what I'm missing out on.

However, if I'm motivated by understanding, it reminds me and reorients me around what I do want to do.

And so if you want to accomplish more going into the new year, you need to enlarge your understanding.

This is crazy talk.

Maybe turn off the TV and read a book.

And I just saw some of you out there like, click, I listened to a podcast.

Okay, start there.

But but but but the thing about podcasts, and they're good, I uh, but but but if you're not careful, it's all secondhand information.

You're not really digesting, you're not kind of ruminating on what you like.

I'm reading a book right now on the rise of what they call the expressive individual.

Fascinating book.

They talk about the rise of the expressive individual and how it's led to the sexual revolution that we have going on nowadays.

And the people in the book, they say basically this, I'll boil it down for you.

368 pages, you don't have to read right here in 30 seconds.

Who's for that?

Say amen.

Aren't you glad you came to church?

You can go to lunch and people say, What'd you do this morning?

You say, I read a book.

And just be like, What kind of book was it?

Was it like 368 pages?

Basically, the rise of the expressive individual.

We live in a day and age where the individual used to institutions ruled the day: law, government, church.

Institutions.

There was a long time, there was a point in time a long time ago, students, where nothing was open on Sunday.

If you remember that, say amen.

That's all the old people in the room, kids.

Yeah, nothing was open on Sunday.

They didn't schedule baseball or soccer, they wouldn't even have school activities on a Wednesday because everybody went to church on Wednesday.

Remember how long ago that was?

You're like, no way, way.

So we we used to live in a day where the institution, great book, we used to live in a day where the institutions carried the day and people had reverence and respect.

Go to the mall nowadays and sit down with a cup of coffee and just watch people walk by and listen for reverence and respect.

You will want to yank your belt off and whip every kid down there.

Save yourself.

But we had we had to back to the visual.

Institutions were here, and and and individuals had reverence and respect for the institutions.

We have slowly but methodically switched that.

And now the individual is sovereign, and all the institutions serve the individual.

This is why you can riot and burn stuff down.

This is why you can shoplift in San Francisco, and as long as it's less than$900, they won't even press charges.

Because the individual is sovereign and all the institutions, law, government, church.

And one of the great points they make in the book is say, well, how do you get to the sexual revolution?

Because they figured out if the institutions do not have the authority to tell me what I do to your body, like I can steal stuff from you and I have rights and you don't, then if you can't, if the institutions can't tell me what I do in relation to your body, then how in the world can the institutions tell me what I do in relation to my body?

And you have what's called a sexual revolution, which is really no revolution at all.

It's people that are just searing their conscience.

See, see what happens when you read books?

Now, two things.

You can go to lunch today and say, hey, what's something you want to remind yourself of going into the new year?

And secondly, you can just say, Hey, I read a book, it's 368 pages about the rhyme of uh of the expressive individual, the modern self, the sovereign institutions are down here.

Now the individual is up here.

And by the way, don't be depressed.

That is a ripe environment for the gospel.

That is a great environment.

Don't be mad, don't go down and pick it.

Just engage those people in conversation because about two sentences in, they're out of ideas.

I mean, they're just like, mmm.

And by the way, those are people that Christ died for as well.

No one's ever told them.

They just lob verbal rocks back and forth at each other over the fence.

I just want to just say, hey, remind yourself of some things.

Paul says right here in Philippians 3, verse 1, hey, to write the same things to you is no trouble to me, and it is safe for you.

Philippians 3:1

Reminding yourself of things safeguards yourself.

Here's the second part of the prayer.

Define Christianity biblically.

Define Christianity biblically.

We define Christianity according to the culture.

Or again, the individual defines, you know, well, I'm I'm I I love Jesus, but I don't like the church.

We got this churchless Christianity, and this is not a commercial for church.

It's just that, again, when you become a Christian, you submit to some things.

It's not your faith, it is the faith.

And you submit to the Christian faith, the historical tenets and teachings of the Christian faith, or you're not a Christian.

Now, I had this conversation recently in a store right here in my city with a guy.

I just said, Hey, do you have any are you a part of a faith community anywhere?

No, no, no.

I'm spiritual, but I'm not religious.

Oh boy, here we go again.

Another pot smoker that likes to talk.

Anyway, and sure enough, he told me, Yeah, I smoke, I smoke.

Now, by the way, when anybody under the age of 30 tells you they smoke, they're not talking cigarettes.

It's just a free, you can just assume that.

I said, Hey, you you you you like you you tell me what you in what do you engage in that you really enjoy?

He goes, Well, you know, I like to smoke.

And I said, them left-handed democratic cigarettes, it's just a joke.

Republicans smoke weed too.

He goes, Yeah, I mean, if since we're going there, I said, Oh, we're there.

We're not going there, we're not on a journey, we have arrived.

And he's like, Oh, I mean, I mean, and he just began to recount to me.

Basically, here's what it is.

He's a Christian, and I said, Tell me on what basis do you define yourself as a Christian?

And he said, I've been a Christian my whole life.

And I said, That's biblically impossible.

And he goes, You can't judge me, bro.

And I said, I'm not judging you, I'm just telling you, Jesus talked to a man named Nicodemus in John's gospel, chapter three.

Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, as that he had memorized the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus.

Have you read Leviticus, dude?

He's like, No, I just read it, try memorizing it.

Numbers, Deuteronomy, read them all.

And Jesus said to this very religious man, hey, don't get it twisted, bro.

You gotta be born again.

Unless you're born again, you cannot get a sniff of my father's kingdom.

Unless it's your opinion.

No, it's not.

Just because somebody has faith in the gospel and you don't, doesn't make them opinionated.

He's like, I mean, you're you're you're you're all like coming at me and stuff.

I said, No, I'm just talking to you.

After you kind of make three sentence statements, you're out of ammunition.

I have a reservoir over here.

He's like, Well, I mean, you you seem to know what you're talking about.

No, no, no.

I don't know what I'm talking about.

I know God.

Big difference.

I'm not trying to master a subject, I'm trying to just immerse myself in this intimate acquaintance with all that God is.

And I say, I just think you've kind of set your life up.

I'm just trying to just this one fundamental sticking point, because see, we let culture define Christianity, what it means to be a Christian, and if you're not careful, you fill the church with people who don't know Jesus.

And then need a lot of baby food every Sunday.

It's like in Hebrews, where he says, I wanted to give you meat, but I couldn't because you're still addicted to the milk.

Whatever you do to get them, you got to keep doing that to keep them.

And so the church gets watered down, and to quote Jesus, the salt loses its saltiness.

So I say, define Christianity Christianity biblically.

What do you mean?

Look at verse 2.

He says, look out for the dogs.

And let me just give you the context here.

There's these people called the the circumcision.

These were Jews, religious people, and they just believe you had to be circumcised.

That's what made you Christian.

And you you you could have a born-again experience, you could be walking in the spirit, you could be an incredibly intimate relationship with God.

But I'll tell you what, if you hadn't been circumcised, you're not in.

And Paul speaks to that in verse two.

He says, Look out.

See, they define Christianity according to their preference, not what the Bible says.

He says, Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.

For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

According to the Bible, it's not a procedure we undergo that makes us Christian, but it's the life we live because of a changed heart.

For them, the the procedure that you had to have this experience, that's what made you Christian, was circumcision.

For us, it's baptism, catechism, confirmation, youth camp, church, D now, community group, lots of procedures.

And look at me, I'm not knocking any of those.

So if you come from any of those faith traditions, do not get offended.

Stay with me.

Lots of procedures we undergo, but the Bible's always pressing the issue inward.

And look what Paul says.

He says, We are the circumcision.

In other words, hey, these people that are undergoing these external rituals, like my guy that's I've been a Christian my whole life.

He goes, Yeah, yeah, I went to church and I got baptized when I was 11.

I've been baptized.

And I said, tell me what that means for you.

That seems to be really significant because you keep coming back to that like the fat kid in Freeze Tag.

You're like, I'm on the base, I've been baptized.

And I'm like, Well, tell me what that means.

I've been baptized, I was 11.

My parents learn everything.

I said, I'm not knocking baptism.

I'm just saying, how has being baptized affected the way you live your life?

Because you said earlier you smoke, right?

Well, yeah, I mean everybody smokes.

I'm not talking to everybody, I'm talking to you.

Don't make it general.

Let's keep it specific.

Is the spotlight a little white hot right now?

He goes, Well, what's the big deal?

I said, the big deal is you profess to be a follower of Christ and yet you live in active open rebellion to the clear teachings of the gospel.

Well, what are you saying?

You're like a fat man trying to sell me slim bass.

That's what I'm saying.

He said, What?

I said, like the whole weed thing.

I said, I'm not I'm not here on a campaign against smoking weed.

I am Romans 13:1.

Romans 13:1

Let every man be in subjection to the authority of the land, for there's no authority except that which is given of God.

Well, and then it's oh, there's 20 states where marijuana is legal.

Texas ain't one of them.

And you live in Texas.

I appreciate you trying to wiggle off, but I ain't letting you get off there.

Again, tell me how being baptized has affected the way you live your life.

Does it make you submit to the teachings of the gospel?

And he goes, I mean, how can it?

I said, That's a great question.

You get baptized like you just saw my friend Hayden get baptized.

He's like, I wear this ring.

Like I lost my ring the other day and I couldn't find it.

I said to my wife, I don't want to leave the house without my wedding ring.

I don't want to give false hope to all the women in the world.

That was her response.

She said to me, I think you can go to Home Depot, you'll be safe.

No, I didn't put on this ring until I got in a relationship.

This ring signifies that I'm in a relationship.

Hayden was baptized by his father to signify to you.

His faith community and to the world, hey, I'm in a relationship.

And I said to the guy, I said, Bro, I'm not trying to jam you up.

I'm just, you need to think about it.

He goes, Man, this has been confusing.

I said, or revealing.

Let's shake on one of those words.

Which one you're gonna shake on?

Confusing or revealing?

How about both?

All right, I'll go with both.

Now, again, you may be thinking, What, what?

See, we we can't let the church can't let the culture define Christianity.

Paul was like, hey, these people going around religious people saying, Oh, all you gotta do is this, and boom, you're in.

And Paul refers to those people as dogs, evildoers, and people who mutilate the flesh.

And then he says in verse 3, we are the circumcision.

You you want to know people that really know Jesus?

He says, This is how you know.

Uh, a Christian is someone whose life is characterized by three things.

Then he says this they worship by the Spirit of God, they glory in Christ Jesus, and they put no confidence in the flesh.

Let me just let me tease out each of those just briefly.

And when it says they worship by the Spirit of God, uh, it's kind of a confusing word.

The New Testament was originally written in Greek, and the Greek language is very textured and beautiful, and it's got a lot of build-out to it.

And so the word worship there is a Greek word latruo, and it really means serve.

Serve.

And so when it says worship by the spirit of God, you can say, Oh, I had my hands up earlier.

Check that box.

Not what he's talking about.

For them, hear this, church.

For them, service was an act of worship.

And so when they say, Hey, you worship, they say you serve by the Spirit of God.

In other words, we serve God because the Spirit of God inside of us is moving us away from ourselves and towards God.

Serving in the Spirit means I can be exhausted and yet full.

Exhausted.

One of my children asked, I said, Dad, you had two Christmas Eve services.

They had Christmas yesterday.

Yes, where y'all just suck the life right out of it?

Yes, go ahead.

And you're gonna preach again?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm I'm I'm I'm tired, but I'm full.

Here's how you know that you're serving in the spirit, not in the flesh, is you can be really busy and a lot going out, and yet you you you maintain this fullness of spirit.

He says, We glory in Christ Jesus.

This means basically to put one's full trust and confidence.

You this is what you brag about or you boast in.

There's some people, here's how you know you're talking to a person who glories in Christ Jesus.

You cannot compliment them.

Very simple, you just can't compliment them.

And they don't say, Oh, take that back.

No, you compliment them and they say something like, Man, God has been so good to me.

Thank you for your kind words, but I just need you to know that God has been so faithful, and anything you see in me is an overflow of who he's been to me.

And then you're like, bye.

It's just because here's what they're really telling you.

I don't boast in the things you boast in.

And then thirdly, he says, This is what it means to be a Christian.

It's not some just external procedure.

He says you put no confidence in the flesh.

This is not about self-hatred, but it's about self-awareness.

It's not about putting no confidence in the flesh.

I was talking to this young lady the other day when it was cold.

Remember, it was cold?

It's 82 today.

It was 42 that day.

She had on a midriff.

And she found, and I got nothing against a midriff.

It's your belly.

You want to see my belly?

I'll show you.

You're like, but it's 42 degrees outside.

And she realizes that my preacher starts pulling on it.

And I said, Hey, just relax.

And she said, Well, I'm not a bad person.

I said, I don't think you're a bad person, I think you're greedy.

Remember that word from Christmas Eve?

You're like, what?

She goes, What?

I said, Yeah, I think you're greedy for boys to notice your body.

I don't think you're a bad person at all.

Well, that hurts my feelings.

I don't want to hurt your feelings.

But it's 42 degrees.

You got half your stomach hanging out.

You might as well just put a sign on you.

Look at me.

She says, I don't want to be that way.

I said, Yeah.

But again, this is what happens when you put confidence in the flesh.

And by the way, that's no, oh yeah, get those people, those immoral kids nowadays, dressing like a bunch of Jezebels.

No, that's not what it's about.

By the way, for all you church people, you put confidence in the flesh when you go days without practicing spiritual disciplines like prayer, fasting, and study.

What you're saying is, I got it.

I got it.

I ain't got time to read.

I got it.

I got it.

I'm feeling good.

It's a new year.

I'm resolved.

Big difference.

Over time, when you put confidence in the flesh by neglecting spiritual disciplines, over time God becomes relief.

Somebody you go to to feel better, but never the truth.

Someone you experience to be different.

Big difference in those two.

People have always had external rituals that they think make them right with God, but the Bible over and over and over says it's not anything external, but it's a change that happens internally that makes someone a Christ's follower.

Paul, the same Paul, who under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit records Philippians 3, writes in Romans chapter 2 these words for no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical, but a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the Spirit, not by the letter, the law.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

His praise is not from man, but from God.

I have a friend that uh is is of the Jewish faith.

Last time we had lunch, I said, by the way, I'm more of a Jew than you are.

I thought he was going to come across the table.

And I and I referenced this, and he's just like, never say that to me again.

I said, okay, just it's not external, it's internal.

Ask yourself this question: Has your internal, has your insides ever been changed by God such that who and how you are outwardly is different?

Because the Bible's saying this is what it means to be Christian.

Thirdly, and the last thing is prayer for the new year is let the gospel change what you value.

Let the gospel change what you value.

Look at verse 4.

He says, though, after he says that glory in Christ Jesus, I mean put no confidence in the flesh.

And then Paul, he kind of says, Hey, since you're going to put confidence in the flesh, let me just tell you about my flesh.

He says, verse four, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also.

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.

Why?

I'm circumcised on the eighth day.

What does that mean?

Yeah, read things in the Bible and you're like, what in the world?

When he says I'm circumcised on the eighth day, that what he's really saying is I'm a Jew by birth.

And when you convert to Judaism, you're circumcised as you're circumcised when you convert.

If you grow up, if you're if you're born a Jew, you're circumcised on the eighth day.

That's part of the covenant with Abraham.

So he's saying, I'm the real deal.

I didn't come over from somebody else.

I was born, I'm the real thing.

Of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, of the tribe of Benjamin.

Uh Benjamin is one of the only uh sons of Abraham that was born in the promised land.

Uh and the tribe of Benjamin, the most famous descendant of the tribe of Benjamin.

I know you were like, I hope he gives us some Bible fun facts today.

The most famous descendant of the tribe of Benjamin was King Saul.

Why don't I tell you that?

Because before Paul's name got changed by God, his name was Saul of Tarsus.

And a lot of Bible scholars believe his parents named him after King Saul.

He says, dude, I've got pedigree.

Okay?

I'm of the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews.

I'm a Hebrew, my parents are Hebrews, we've been keeping the rules for a long time.

Now hear this part as to the law, a Pharisee.

It gets no more legalistic than that.

I mean, this guy, he never broke the speed limit.

That just eradicated 99% of you.

He always used a blinker.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yes.

As to the law, a Pharisee.

As to zeal, a persecutor of the church.

When he says as to zeal, a persecutor, they always say, Hey, I used to beat up your grandma when she was going to church and take her tithe money.

How much of a bigger religious jerk could you be as to righteousness under the law?

Blameless.

What does he mean?

He said, Righteousness under the law.

He says, I kept all the law.

I kept all the rules.

No one could blame me.

And then he switches in verse 7 and says, But whatever gain I had, I count as loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

This is what we mean when we say, let the gospel change what you value.

Paul lists out his resume.

Hey, look, I am spotless, flawless, rule keeper, extraordinaire.

I am as a teacher's pet from kindergarten all the way through college.

I had a 4.97, I had a 5-0 on a scale of a four-point grading thing.

I'm the dude that never did anything wrong.

And then something happens in his life, and he looks at all of this resume and says, all of this stuff that once mattered to me so much, I count it all as lost.

Matter of fact, I think it's garbage.

Why?

He tells you right there in the Bible.

He says, I count as loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

For his sake, I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, as garbage, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having, hear this phrase, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

It's that's two phrases, through faith and depends on faith.

This righteousness, righteousness, by the way, is just basically think of it like this: it's how a person gets right with God.

And what Paul is saying is hey, for most of my life, before I came to faith, I thought I had to make myself right with God by behaving, by keeping all the rules.

And I was great at keeping the rules, and yet something was missing.

And he says, now that I'm a Christian, now that I have a relationship with God, I don't care what any of those people think about me.

I don't care that I was the number one student in Hebrew school.

I don't care about any of that.

Why?

Because knowing God, knowing Jesus Christ, it has this surpassing value, this worth.

It's always increasing, it's becoming more valuable to me.

And as that becomes more valuable, everything over here becomes less valuable.

So ask yourself this simple question: Is there anything in your life that is losing value because of the gospel?

Is the gospel exposing the insufficiency of the things that you've overvalued in life?

Because this is what the Bible tells us here.

He goes on to say in verse 10, hey, that I may know him, the power of his resurrection, I may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain a resurrection from the dead.

This is not about, hey, by any means possible, like I hope and I pray and I try.

No, no, no.

He's like, hey, no, you know what?

I I am so, I so value God, the things of God, that I've lost everything over here, but not only that, but anything I experience in the future, it's not gonna change my mind.

For a lot of people, if your boyfriend broke up with you right now, you would doubt the existence of God.

How can a good God let this happen?

You don't understand the value, the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

And so as we roll into the new year, I just want to pray a three-part prayer that you'd let the gospel change what you value, that you define Christianity biblically, and that you and I would remind ourselves of some things.

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest, just relax.

We like to teach the Bible and then give you some soul space to think about it.

So I'll pray a prayer.

Some questions come up on the screen.

We believe Christianity engages your mind and your emotions.

So you can just spend the next maybe minute just asking God, hey, what do I walk away and think about?

Let me pray.

God, thanks for the Bible.

Thanks that it's true, it's relevant, it's consequential, it's causal, and it's comforting.

Oh, it's like a blanket right out of the dryer on a cold day.

It's like, oh man, thank you, mom, for doing that.

It warms us at the deep places in our soul, and it sustains us, and it changes the value of everything.

And so we say to you, Holy Spirit, if there's anything we're overvaluing in our life, in this world that we're overvaluing, got too much hope in, and if we're devaluing God or the gospel, correct that in us, Lord.

Correct that in us today.

The Holy Spirit, speak to us as we just wait and listen.

Lord, thank you that there's value in knowing you, not just initial value, but surpassing value.

It just appreciates, it just becomes more and more valuable.

The longer we walk with Jesus, we see things more clearly.

The longer we walk with Jesus, we don't get meaner and more hateful and more narrow-minded and more bigoted.

No, we become more loving, more juicy, more inviting, more alluring.

We smell more like Jesus with a fragrant aroma of Christ, those who are perishing.

So we're standing in the tire store.

People want to talk to us.

Even when we disagree, they want to shake hands and go, man, this was enjoyable.

Thank you.

It's because you're at work in us.

We are humbled, God.

We're not who we used to be, but we're not arrogant and we're not content.

We want to forget the things which lie behind and just keep pressing on, God, to what's next and what's more.

Because you're never done working in us.

So keep working, Holy Spirit.

Keep working.

We're counting on that in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

Let me just say thank you for being here today.

If you're our guest, you're always welcome.

If you don't, if you're not meaningfully connected to a church anywhere, you're always welcome here.

We ask this of you as our guests.

If you'd pull those guest cards in your seat back pocket in your row, if you haven't already, fill that out and just drop one of the wooden boxes while the doors on your way out.

We'd love to have a record of your visit.

Uh uh, and so we're not gonna show up unannounced.

We just want you to know that.

Uh, and also if today's if you consider this your church, and today's the day you worship God through obedience or generosity when it comes to giving, that's where you take care of that as well.

Now, one last thing.

I talked a lot about understanding.

Remember that?

About you want to be motivated by understanding, not consequences.

Uh, and so we don't just talk about understanding, we give you opportunities to expand your understanding.

So give your attention to our video announcements this morning.

Thank you for joining us today.

Here's some things we want you to know.

New midweeks, new morning Bible studies, and community groups are all beginning in the next few weeks.

Find the best fit for you and register at grandparkway.org slash events.

If you're new or would like someone to pray with you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

If you're new to our church, we have midweek classes.

Uh they start, they go for like uh 10 weeks in the fall, about eight weeks in the spring.

Uh, but basically it's opportunities to expand and enlarge your understanding.

So if you go to our website and look on events, there'll be a list of Sunday morning Bible studies and Wednesday night.

We have a meal right here in this room.

Uh, and then we have classes over a variety of subjects.

We want to give you opportunities.

We don't want to just say enlarge your understanding.

We want to give you opportunities to expand that, to actually uh experience what you desire, okay?

If you have any questions about any of that, some of us will be available down front.

Blake, our spiritual formation pastor, is over that.

He'll be available down here, so you can just come and ask him, say, hey, what are some of the classes?

Because they started in a couple weeks, so we need you to go to the website and look and see, and then sign up and get and get ready, okay?

We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.

So if you would stand to your feet, hold your hands out.

Remind yourself.

You're not dumb.

Just because you forgot.

You might be too busy.

Don't indict yourself.

Invite yourself into all that God has for you by reminding yourself what will always be true.

Depart now into this beautiful opportunity in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.