Romans: No Condemnation…

If you want to have a lot of policemen follow you around in Central,

in IFC you carry a big green bag with me written on it.

And you have somebody follow you with a video camera.

I guarantee you, you'll have a lot of people follow you.

You know, we all kind of carry stuff on our journey.

We're all carrying stuff.

We talk about it often when we're on journeys.

And we have this baggage that we carry with us.

Sometimes we carry stuff that is harmful.

We think it's good.

We think it brings life.

But we grab onto it like it's going to give us all that we need.

But it actually ends up killing us.

And so we're packing for these journeys.

And I think some of us right here are packing right now, right?

Some of us are about to go on these journeys.

And some of us are leaving Hong Kong for good.

And some of us are going on vacations.

And we're packing all our stuff, everything we think we need, everything we think that's vital.

And I got to confess to you guys, man, I just, I hate packing.

And I've been trying to figure out why I hate packing and unpacking.

And I think I realize it's because I'm just terrible at it.

I mean, I'm just terrible at packing stuff.

I always pack more than I need.

And I don't ever use what I bring.

And so we started this thing about four years in our family that before we go on a trip, all of us packed the night before.

And then we all bring our luggage out.

And Christina checks our luggage to make sure that everything is in there that we need.

And, you know, I'm always like, well, I'm going to read 20 books.

And I put 20 books in there.

And she goes, you're only going to read like half a book.

And so she takes 19 books out.

And she's taking stuff out of the kids' stuff.

And, you know, we do this because four years ago we didn't do it.

And four years ago we were going on home leave.

And we figured out that we'd send Christina back with the kiddos two weeks earlier.

And so we packed them up and we took them to the airport.

And, you know, it's always humiliating as a dad, right?

You walk in there and you have, you know, five passports.

And the lady looks at you and she goes, okay, so one adult and four children.

And she looks at you and you're like, yeah, I'm a terrible dad.

You know, I'm sending my wife home with the kids all by herself.

And the lady kind of scorns.

And we kiss and they go off.

And I come home and I'm just, I'm kind of tired.

And we did a lot of packing and traveling and getting there.

So I sit down on the couch and I want to, I want to watch TV, right?

And so we had cleaned the house up because we were leaving and keep the house clean.

And I'm looking all around and I cannot find the remotes at all.

And I'm walking in their house.

I'm looking around.

I'm like, okay, so this is like, you know, we cleaned up.

Where would the kids put the remote?

Where would they put that?

And then I start looking around and the telephones are missing.

I mean, the handheld, and they were like those big ones back then.

They're not this big, right?

They're missing.

So I can't, I can't find anything.

And so I'm walking around for two hours trying to figure out where, where would they put this?

If I was a kid, where would I put this?

I have no idea.

And so finally I just give up and I go to bed.

The morning I wake up and I call Christina because they're in San Francisco.

And I say, hey, how's it going?

And she goes, you never guessed what happened.

And I go, what?

And she goes, well, we're going through customs.

We had, we were pushing the baby stroller and, and you know, and it keeps beeping.

And the guy goes, well, you have anything in there?

No, I promise we took it all out.

There's nothing in there.

Beep, beep, beep.

And so he reaches his hand in, I mean, that little basket thing right behind that holds everything.

He reaches his hand in there and he pulls out the telephone.

But he reaches his hand in there and he pulls out the remote controls.

And so my kids, you know, they figured, well, these are important things.

We use them every day.

So we need to carry them with us wherever we go because we never know where we're not going to need them

or where we're going to use them.

And, you know, so I'm sitting there listening to that and I'm doing the calculations.

I'm going, okay, so this is two weeks in a house with TVs and electronics without any remote controls.

That, ladies, that's like, that's like the worst thing you can do to a guy.

I mean, that is like, the only thing you can do worse than that is you can put on a dress and you go to your boyfriend or your husband

and say, does this dress make me look fat?

That's the only other thing that you can do worse than that.

But I was walking around there going, okay, so for two weeks I have no control over my life.

But the kids packed everything that they thought was necessary.

They packed everything that they thought was important, everything that they thought they would need.

But they forgot what their dad would need.

And I don't know.

But, you know, it seems like this passage is talking about some of those things to us.

It says that we go on these journeys and we carry stuff with us.

We carry things with us that become burdens.

We carry guilt.

We carry shame.

We carry regret.

We carry condemnation.

We carry hurt.

We carry bodies to sin.

And all of these things that we're carrying in this backpack or a suitcase or however you want to think about it,

they just, they hinder our journey.

And so we're in the book of Romans and we're going to look at the first 11 verses in Romans.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Chapter 8 because we've been going through Romans.

And what I want to look at in this passage here is I want to look at,

Paul's going to talk about two types of journeys we're on.

Two types of people.

There's only two types of journeys we take.

Only two types of people, two types of mindsets.

So I want to look at those two people.

I want to look at the things that we bring with us in the journey.

And then I want to look at the things that we shouldn't bring.

And so two people, two journeys, the things we bring and the things we shouldn't bring.

Does that make sense?

So hopefully we'll kind of tie this all up in the end in a bow.

Remember last week, if you were here, we finished up Romans chapter 7.

Romans 7 · chapter mention

And in it, Paul, after going through his life and trying to figure out what does it mean for him to live?

How should he live a life that's pleasing to God?

How can he do it?

And you read in the passage that he used I, I, I, me, me, me.

He used it over 30 times.

And at the end of chapter 7, he cries out, who will set me free from the body of this death?

I mean, he realized that his whole life, he's been trying to live the life on his own power.

He's trying to focus on himself.

And all of a sudden, this thought comes into his head.

And he goes, why am I focusing on myself on this journey?

I should be focusing on Jesus.

We're like that, aren't we?

And sometimes we go on these journeys and we become so tied up in ourselves and in our stuff

and we just focus on our stuff and the next place we need to get.

And we forget about the God who put us there and the God who's leading us and the God who's taking us.

We forget Christ.

We leave him behind.

We carry everything else with us.

When I was growing up, I was trying to understand this idea of the Christian life.

And I know analogies are not perfect.

But this is the way the guy explained it to me.

He was discipling me.

And I know we made fun of, what did we make fun of?

Soccer the other day.

But this is a pure sport.

It's baseball.

And the guy told me this.

He said that when you're up there batting and baseball, so there's a ball and there's a bat and there's a pitcher

and there's bases that you run around.

And if you are focusing on just that first base, you want to get to that first base,

and you're focusing on that first base, you're never going to get there.

The way that you get to first base is you focus on the ball.

And if you focus on the ball, everything's going to work out okay in our life.

And that's the way many of us are.

We focus on other things, and we're looking at the next step, and we're looking at how we're going to get there.

But what Paul says is we need to focus on the person who's taking us there.

Does that make sense?

I mean, it's really simple, but, you know, I forget it all the time.

I find myself going off and focusing on the next thing, but I'm not focusing on the person who's taking me there.

I'm not focusing on Christ.

And so I end up becoming frustrated because things aren't working the way that I want them to do.

And Paul says in this passage here, he says from verses 4 on down, he says there are two types of people.

There are two types of walks that we can take.

There are two types of journeys.

And so everybody here in Watermark today, you are only on one of two journeys.

Paul's been making it really simple through Romans.

He doesn't give like ten choices.

He says there's two choices, this or that, this or that, this or that.

And he says in this passage, we're all here.

We're either on one of two types of journeys.

We're either one of two types of people.

And the first group of people he talks about are those people in verse 5, those in the flesh.

He says they're walking, and the word walk in Greek means to order your life.

And so it means that you're in the center and you've just kind of ordered your,

it's like you go to a new desk and you order your desk around and you make sure that everything works.

You go to a new home and you order your home around so you know where everything is.

He says those people who walk in the flesh, they order their lives around themselves.

Their mindset is of the flesh.

The mindset, the word there means to focus.

They focus on themselves.

Now I don't know what you think of when you hear the word flesh

because often what I think of is the body or I think of sex or I think of skin.

But that's not what Paul is talking about here.

When Paul uses the word flesh, it's even, it's huge.

It means it's very difficult to interpret and translate in English.

Sometimes people say, what's the best translation?

And you know, there's certain words that are just incredibly difficult to translate from Greek to English.

Sometimes it takes like three sentences to get the idea.

And this word flesh is one of these.

But basically what it means is that it's our nature.

It's who we are.

It's our desires.

It's our passions.

It's our self-centeredness.

It's who we are apart from God.

It's who we are apart from spiritual things.

It's us in the center of our world.

And Paul says there are people on this journey and they put their self in the center of their world

that their mind is focused on themselves.

The question he asks and we ask sometimes is what is our mind focused on?

What do we intently think about?

The passage says that whatever those things are, they're going to flash into your head.

And if you're on the journey of the flesh, you're going to think about, ultimately, you're going to think about yourself.

You're going to put yourself in the middle.

You're going to think about what's going on there.

And Paul in verse 7, he says that this will always lead to hostility with God.

The word there actually means like fighting and anger and war.

And so the people who are on the journey, they of the flesh, they put themselves in the center of their journey,

the center of their world.

And he says in verse 6, if you do that, verse 7, you're always going to be at hostility with God.

The word there is condemnation.

We're going to talk about that a little later.

And in verse 6, he says, if you walk in the flesh, you're ultimately going to lead to death.

If you walk in the flesh, you're ultimately going to lead to death.

It's a spiritual death and it's a physical death.

Fleshy people live independently of God.

They depend upon themselves.

They want control of their lives.

Romans says that they're the people who want to save themselves.

They know what they need.

They know how to get it.

And the religion is Tobin.

Or themselves.

Those are the people on the journey of the flesh.

One author said it this way that I thought was really interesting.

He said, your religion is what you do with your free time.

Your religion is what you do with your free time.

Whatever your mind goes to naturally, whatever your mind goes to freely,

this is what you really live for.

Whatever your mind goes to naturally, whatever your mind goes to freely,

when you're not inundated by a billion things, whatever your mind goes to,

this is what you really live for.

This is what shapes your journey.

This is what causes you to put the bag and the stuff into your bag.

You can carry it with you.

This is what your mind is set upon.

What is your mind?

So one of the questions we have to ask ourselves is,

what is our mind set upon?

What preoccupies you?

When you have free time, what pops into your head?

What are the things that keep going over and over and over and you're worried about?

What are those things that preoccupy your mind?

And Paul says, whatever those things are, you are a flesh person.

Your mind is set on the flesh and you're journeying with you in the center of your world.

And ultimately, you're always going to come in conflict with God

and you're going to end up getting in trouble.

So what is it that we focused on?

Paul says there's a second person, a second journey, a second people going on this journey,

a second mindset, and it begins in verse 9.

You can look at it.

He's talking to Christians.

Remember, he's been talking to Christians in Romans.

He says, however, you're not in the flesh, but you're in the spirit.

If, and the word there means since, since indeed the spirit of God dwells in you.

But if anyone doesn't have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to God.

These people he calls, these are the people who are on the spiritual journey.

Their mindset is on the spirit.

The word there again is, the spirit actually just means God.

Their mindset is on God.

God is at the center of their world and they've ordered their life around God and his word.

And those are the people on the spiritual journey.

Remember, there's only two types, fleshy, spiritual, self, God.

Now, the spiritual person, and I've struggled with this for a long time trying to figure out

what does a spiritual person look like?

Because I grew up in a church where you had super spiritual people.

I mean, they were just the people who quoted Bible every time they talked

and their head was in the sky and they tripped over things

and they were just too worried about thinking God thoughts instead of thinking people thoughts.

And they were too busy reading their Bible and praying to be engaged with people.

And that's not what Paul is talking about at all.

That's not a spiritual person.

I mean, if that's true, then the Pharisees were the most spiritual people in the New Testament.

And the Pharisees were the people that Jesus went after over and over and over

because they were whitewashed tombs.

Outwardly they looked perfect, but inwardly they were dead.

And what Paul says here is to have your mind focused on God,

to be spiritual means just to think of Him.

To think of grace.

To think of the cross.

To think of community.

To think of His creation.

To think of people made in His image.

I mean, to have your mind set on the Spirit,

it just means to live in a way that you want to honor God.

Live in a way that you want to honor God.

Live in a way that you want to make God's name great.

Whose name do you make great?

I mean, my experience in my life, and I'm just talking for Tobin,

is that either I'm making God great,

or I'm trying to make myself great.

Who are you trying to make great today?

What does it mean for you to walk with the Lord?

Now, what does this look like at work?

Well, it might look like different things for different people,

but I think what it really means is just this.

You're walking into your work,

and you just have this thought come into your mind.

Okay, God, you put me here.

You've given me gifts.

You've given me talents.

How can I make your name great today?

How can I honor you?

It might mean you just say,

God, I want to honor you today.

Show me how to do that.

Show me how I can obey you.

It's not this huge thing where you say,

great job, and you go, praise the Lord.

God made me do it, and God is all great.

It might mean you just say,

I had a great team around me.

And you're taking the focus off of yourself,

which fleshy people do.

And you're putting your focus on other things.

So what does it look like for us on this journey?

What?

And everybody's really quiet here.

Because I have to ask myself this all the time, guys.

What journey are we on?

are we living for ourselves let's be honest

are we living for christ and paul says in this passage that there's only two journeys there's

not a third journey there's not a journey for super spiritual person and then for non-spiritual

people he basically just says you're either walking in the flesh or you're walking in the

spirit and there's just no dividing those things that's the journeys the next thing that paul says

in this passage is this he says no matter which journey you're on no matter whether you're walking

in the flesh or whether you're walking in the spirit everyone everyone is going to struggle

with two things in our lives we're going to struggle with the idea of being condemned and unworthy before

a holy god and we're going to struggle with the reality of sin which indwells in us and we struggle

with that thing and paul talked about that we're going to struggle with the idea of coming before

the lord that's a holy god and realizing we're not holy and that we're condemned and we're going to

struggle with the idea that we walk around and we do the things that we don't want to do

paul says everyone's going to struggle with that the spiritual people the people on a spiritual

journey they're going to struggle with that right now here and now the people who are of the flesh

we're told that they're going to struggle with that later when they come before the lord

but if you're spiritual and you're on that journey you know what i'm talking about

i mean you know that the minute you fail it the minute you um i i think of sin is when we love

something more than we love god and the minute you love something or someone more than you love god

the bible says that we sin and all of a sudden this little voice comes in the back of my head

and it says things like wow when you call yourself a christian

wow you're a pastor and you did that you must not be a very good pastor

or you must not be a very good christian sometimes there's a big voice

and i make a mistake or we make a mistake in front of people

instead of that voice in our head talking sometimes there's people around us and they say

man shame on you

how could you do that i can't believe you did that

you know in this chapter here paul has the best news for us

he has the best news for those of us on a spiritual journey look at verse 4 1 look at what he says and

we're going to walk our way through it and then i'm going to give you some application points

number one verse 1 therefore therefore remember all the things we've talked about before remember all

the things we've talked about in romans remember jesus remember the cross remember making being made

right remember justification remember grace therefore remember everything that's come before

remember that there is now it hasn't always been this way it's just this way now since we gave our

life to christ there is now we've changed our journeys we're living differently we're going on a different

journey there is now no in greek it would be sound no i mean it was the strongest word you could use

and we again we can't translate that in english it was actually at the beginning of the sentence so it had

this incredible amount of strength that meant it's not possible there's no way not at all not one not a

chance there's no way therefore there is now no condemnation it's a legal term it basically means in law

terms it means to be pronounced guilty and then have your sentence taken out i think i scared her when i yelled no

condemnation condemnation there's actually two greek words together the greek words mean down and judge

so literally in greek the condemnation word means to judge down and so the idea was this caesar's sitting

on his throne and all the prisoners came in before him or all the people with the different cases and

problems came in before him and he heard their cases and caesar after hearing their cases above them

he either judged up

or he judged down

he either said judged up great or he either condemned them so this is the word there is therefore now

no condemnation for those of us

who are in christ jesus

remember we've been talking and romans says

that you and i deserve

to be condemned

there's nothing good within us

we've done nothing to deserve

god's gift

none of us are righteous not one all of us are broken romans 3

and what he says here is that yes you deserve to be judged down

but god sent his son

god sent his son in the likeness of our flesh verse 3

it means that he was just like us

but without sin

god sent his son

verse 4 so that he could fulfill all the requirements of the law

what's the requirement of the law

obedience

perfection

and the passage says that you and i cannot do it

because we have this sinful nature in us

we have this indwelling sin

and this thing that was meant to be good

this law that was meant to save us

we were meant to give it and say okay now i know what god's like

now i know how to walk with god

when we got this law

the sin in us

came out

and it made us even worse

you ever had that experience

you're driving on the highway

you see the sign that says 40 miles an hour

and you know wow this is the longest stretch in hong kong

you should at least be able to go 60 miles an hour on this

only 40 miles an hour

that's terrible

and this law that was good

comes into you in our sinfulness

makes us disobeyed

now if you ever repeat this

i'm going to deny it

totally

but the way i first saw this in my life was

or in somebody's life

we used to go to the beach

on the summers

we used to go to

to grand bay

and fort morgan

and there was this brand new

and at that time there was nothing

just beach houses

just so people lived on the beaches

or we slept on the beach

and all of a sudden this really nice hotel

got built in it

and it was right on the waterfront

it was incredible

and so we went down there for a year

and we vacationed with my friends

it was really really good

and stayed there

we'd go out and play

the next summer we came back

you know what

we walked into the same room

and there was a sign

it said do not fish

off of this balcony

you know i never thought about fishing that way before

i never thought wow what a great thing

we could turn the air conditioning on

we could just throw our poles out there

when it was right in the water

we can go fishing

i never thought about that

how dumb am i

but this sign

this sign

just kind of

made me do it

all of a sudden we get this knocking at the door

they said

excuse me

but people are eating down on the second floor

and they see these fish

being pulled up

up the windows

can you please stop that

it's not my fault

the sign

i've been here before

i would have never done that

but the sign made me do it

that's what paul's saying here

you know what happened

the next year we came back

we came back next year

guess what happened

there was no sign

they took him out of the rooms

because i knew if they put the sign there

people are going to fish

but they don't

put the sign there

people aren't going to even think about that

and what paul is saying here

is that on this journey

we're going to struggle

with this thing called the law

because we are sinful

but god brings his son

and his son fulfills everything

so that when god sees us

he judges up

in the passage says

he judges up

because he judged jesus

down

he judges up

we're not condemned

but he judges down

you know the problem

with being on a spiritual journey

we forget that

we struggle with that

we want to please the lord

we want to do the right thing

but we forget it

and verse 11 says

and so that you don't forget it

i've given you my spirit

and this spirit is going to be inside of you

it's going to dwell in you

and so the spirit is going to talk to you

and know that you're my child

don't forget that you're not condemned

don't forget that you're judged up

don't ever think of yourself judged down

but the passage says

on this journey

we forget that

and we struggle with that

and like the video

we carry these big bags

full of shame

and guilt

and hurt

and Paul is yelling at us

no

no

no

followers of Christ

because all those things

have been taken away

some of us are going to leave here today

and the minute we walk out that door

we're going to have all these thoughts

enter into our head

and they're going to be thoughts like this

because these thoughts are going to come from an enemy

and this enemy doesn't want you to walk

the way that God wants you to walk

he doesn't want you to walk in the spirit

and freedom

he wants you to be in bondage

he wants you to be in condemnation

and the thoughts are going to be something like this

we're going to find ourselves

not living the way we expect ourselves to live

we're going to look at other people around us

and this voice is going to say to us

man look at them

they got their life together

man look at them

they got their family together

man how come you're not a Christian like them

and all of a sudden you're going to feel guilt

and shame

and frustration

and what does Paul say?

verse 1

what's he say?

there is therefore now no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus

some of us are going to walk out of here

and we're going to start thinking

that God must be really angry with me

because things aren't going the way

that I expect him to do

I haven't gotten married yet

or my kids are crazy

or I haven't had kids yet

or my husband or my wife is not understanding me

or my job is terrible

or my boss is

and God must be really, really angry with me

he's getting at me

because of all the past failures I had

he's punishing me

because all the mistakes I've made

and all the times I've blown it

I don't know if you have those voices come in

but I have those voices come in

what does Paul say?

oh come on guys

this is the second time

what does he say?

well I didn't hear that

what?

okay

that's okay

some of us are going to walk out of here

and we're feeling like we're a failure

our relationships are falling apart

no one really cares about us

the people that we thought were our friends

have stabbed us in the back

they've destroyed our reputation

we feel totally unworthy

we feel like we deserve it

maybe we picked the wrong friends

maybe we weren't good enough

maybe we just didn't trust God enough

and what's Paul say?

you gotta get this down

because you're gonna walk out there

and it's gonna happen

there is therefore now no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus

no, none, not ever

you're not ever judged down

you're always judged up

why aren't we ever judged down?

because Jesus was judged down

don't ever forget that

Jesus was judged down for you

so that when God looks at us

He can judge us

some of us are gonna walk out of here

and we are gonna have somebody

we care about deeply

we're gonna have somebody

that we love incredibly

it might be a good friend

it might be a spouse

it might be our parents

and they're gonna look at us

and say you are a failure

didn't I tell you

this was gonna happen?

I can't believe

you're such a disobedient kid

I can't believe

you don't care about me

more than you should

I can't believe

you missed this birthday

or this vacation

I can't believe

you did this

you are worthless

you're worthless

what's Paul saying?

you guys are getting it

kind of right?

there is therefore now

no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus

some of us grew up

in religious homes

or religious schools

and growing up

in these religious homes

and these religious schools

caused us to carry

an incredible amount of shame

guilt

conviction

about ourselves

about our families

about things we've done

the things we shouldn't have done

and we walk around

always in guilt

and we hear messages

like today

and we go

yeah sure

not for me

God would never say that

for me

I'm a bad person

what's Paul saying?

there's therefore now

no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus

finally some of us

are scarred beyond recognition

we've had terrible bosses

terrible relationships

terrible friends

and our self image

is about this small

and when we think of things

we should do

the first thought

comes in our mind

that will never work

because you're not worthy

you failed before

why do you think

we'll succeed this time?

everyone knows

what you're really like

no one wants to be around you

that's why people

don't call you anymore

what does Paul say?

very good

there's therefore now

no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus

the passage says this guys

the passage says

that no matter how much

condemnation we feel

no matter how much

struggle we deal with

as Christians

as people on the

spiritual journey

as people taking the journey

with these backpacks

and things are being

pushing our backs

no matter how bad we feel

no matter if the condemnation

is inwardly

no matter if the condemnation

is outwardly

no matter how strong we feel

no matter how strong we feel

like sin has a hold on us

it doesn't have a hold on us

no matter how shameful we feel

no matter how much sin

has paralyzed us

fear

doubt

guilt

God knows it all

God knows it all

and he put it on Jesus

on a cross

and he judged him down

so he can look at us

and judge us up

does that make sense

as you go on this journey

you have to remember

these things

and the question is

as we carry these things

as we pick up new bricks

as we add bricks to us

and take bricks off

we need to ask ourselves

the questions over and over

are we going to surrender

this to God

are we going to give this to God

do we know that God

has already given this

do we know that God

has judged us up

or do we think that God

has kind of judged us this way

and if we think God

has kind of judged us this way

what we've done is

we've separated ourselves

from the gospel

the gospel is like a train

Jesus the Holy Spirit

is like this engine

and we come alongside

and we click up

but the minute we

allow condemnation

to come into our life

that click is broken

we've de-gospeled ourselves

I don't know

I make up words all the time

but we've de-gospeled ourselves

that's what condemnation does

condemnation comes in

and it de-gospels us

and Paul says

don't allow it to happen

it's going to happen

you're going to be tempted

you're going to walk out here

and you're going to feel these thoughts

it's going to be from your spouse

or your friends

or yourself

and it's going to look at

this past track record

and you're going to say

I'm going to feel these things

you're right

and I'm going to have pity

and the minute we do that

we've lost the power of God

in our life

we've lost the power

of the gospel

I'm going to end

with just two thoughts

three thoughts

four thoughts

first thought

on this passage

as I read this

and I've been praying for this

in our church

over and over

I think that some of us

in here need to be honest

some of us need to be honest

what kind of journey we're on

some of us need to be honest

are we on the journey of the flesh

or are we on the journey of the spirit

I mean some of us

we prayed the prayer

we accepted Christ

yeah we're going to heaven

but our lives

have no change whatsoever

if people were to look at us

they would say

well we're the center of our world

we've put ourself in the middle

we've ordered everything around us

some of us need to be honest with that

and we just say

you know I thought

I was doing that

but you know

I realize it

I don't even know

what it means

to have a relationship with God

maybe this is the time

we need to come clean

and ask people

what that looks like

some of us

we've been walking

in so much shame

and so much guilt

and we just

and we accepted Christ

in our life

but we just feel worthless

and some of us

need to wake up

and say

hey I should say

stop playing God

you're not God

there's only one God

and he's forgiven you

accept it

move on

walk the life

love him

be empowered by his spirit

all of us in here

need to become honest

and we need to come clean

and say

what journey are we on

stop playing around

life is too short

for those of us in here

who are not in Christ

for those of us who say

yeah you know

I'm in the flesh

I'm not in Christ

my prayer is

you need to consider this

you are carrying

this huge load

of baggage

and you're carrying

these things

that are ultimately

going to consume you

condemn you

and destroy you

my question for you

who've been on this

journey of the flesh

are you sure

you want to do that

because there's a God

who loves you

incredibly

and he's giving you

his son

so that you don't

have to be condemned

he's giving you

his son

so you don't have

to carry the baggage

he's giving you

his son

so that he can

judge you up

and not down

will you do that

and there's some

of us in here

who are on this

spiritual journey

but you know

we just don't

check our bags

very often

and we're carrying

all this

can I say it

in church

crap

and some of the

things are going

to kill us

you know

when we did

this exercise

of opening up

the bags

last year

Christina opened

up KK's bag

our seven year old

and she had

actually had

broken glass

that she was

carrying in the bag

broken glass

some of it

fell out on the

floor

Christina didn't

see it

and she stepped

on it

and she sliced

her foot open

that wide

and she had

to go to the

hospital

get stitches

some of us

are carrying

broken glass

and things are

going to hurt

us in our bag

as followers of

Christ

because we

don't check

our bag

and we don't

realize what's

in there

and for some

of us

we need to

check our bags

and have people

around us

check our bags

and ask us

do we understand

the gospel

are we gospeled

up or are we

de-gospeled

because we're on

this journey

and we're carrying

things in us

that we don't

need to be

carrying

and they're

going to

destroy us

but condemnation

embodies the

sin

one last

thought

as we've been

teaching Romans

one of the

things we've

been trying

to get to

you over

and over

and over

Christianity

is so much

different than

every other

religion

I mean some

of the values

are the same

some of the

morals are the

same

you find in

philosophy

classes

you go to

philosophy

but the

difference in

Christianity

is this

in Christianity

it's God

who always

acts

and you and

I respond

God acts

we respond

Paul's sermons

and talks

are always that

way

this is what

God has done

for you

this is what

you need to

do

God acts

you respond

God acts

you respond

God acts

you respond

every other

religion

every other

philosophy

says this

you do this

then God

will do this

you be this

way

and God

will be this

way

you do these

things

and God

will do

these things

to you

and Christianity

says that's

not true

Christianity

is about

God

pursuing

you

do you

know how

much

God

loves

you

do you

know

how

crazy

God

is

for you

in the

90s

I was

teaching

English

in China

it was

very interesting

I'll never

forget it

we were in

class

and we had

this discussion

and the

discussion

was about

the value

of humans

and I was

very careful

about what

I was going

to say

and I was

listening

and listening

to my

students

and listening

to what

they're

saying

and also

one of the

students

raised his

hand

he said

I think

that we

in China

value people

so much

less than

you in

the West

I'm like

well

explain

he goes

well this

airplane

just crashed

and CAA

C

used to

we were

living in

China

with CAA

C

China Airways

always

cancels

or China

Airways

always

crashes

so they

changed

their name

I don't

know what

they call

them now

but they

didn't

want to

have

CAA

C

and the

CAA

airplane

had just

crashed

and 100

and something

people lost

their lives

and the

student said

to me

you know

when people

die in

China

like an

airplane

crash

we give

them

a thousand

US dollars

that's how

much a person

is worth

1,000 US dollars

in China

but when an

airplane crashes

in America

you guys

or in the

west

you give

them

like half

a million

dollars

it's clear

to me

that you

value

life

and people

so much

more than

we do

how much

does God

value you

what did

God

pay for

you

you know

I don't

think we

realize that

sometimes

I think

if we

thought about

that more

we allowed

that to

permeate

into our

hearts

and our

souls

it would

change

everything

that we

do

it would

change

everything

because God

loved us

so much

he gave

us

so we

might be

judged up

because he

was judged

down

we're on

a journey

we have

choices to

make

what journey

are you

going to

be on

what kind

of love

you are

you going

to carry

all that

determines

your outcome

and where

you end

up

God

loves you

so much

dedicated

son

our prayer

is that we

are a

church

that thinks

about that

often

and that

changes us

in everything

we do

father we

thank you for

this day

we thank you

for your

mercy

we thank you

for your

grace

we thank you

for your

word

we thank you

for your

son

who came

like we

were

but without

sin

you paid

the penalty

that we

could never

pay

because you

love us

so much

I pray

for us

I pray

today

before we

leave

we would

make a

decision

and be

honest

and come

clean

what journey

are we on

are we on

the journey

of the flesh

are we on

the journey

of the spirit

are we on

a journey

where you're

at the

center of

our lives

are we on

a journey

where we're

at the

center of

our lives

and realizing

it's never

too late

to change

and to turn

because you

love us

so much

and you're

the god

of second

chances

father I pray

for those of

us who are

walking

in the spirit

on this

journey

who have

guilt

and shame

and pain

and hurt

all these

things that

cloud our

lives and

make us

forget who

we are

and whose

we are

what journey

we're on

I pray for

us lord

I pray that

we would have

people around

us who love

us enough

to wake

us up

I pray that

we'd always be

a church that

would speak

the truth

of your word

and not

flower coat

things that

make people

feel good

about themselves

but realize

that we're

we're

we're condemned

but for some

reason you

judge us up

because you

condemned your

son

father I pray

we'd be a

church that

would help

each other

understand the

gospel and

stop carrying

this luggage

and baggage

in our lives

it's killing

us

destroying

us

it's not

allowing us

to be the

people that

you've called

us to be

help us

to understand

your mercy

and help

us to

understand

your grace

lord most

of all I

pray that we

would be a

church

I pray that

we would be a

church that

never forgot

what it was

like before

we knew

you

I pray that

we would be

a people who

never forgot

what it was

like to

walk in the

flesh and to

surround their

world with

just themselves

and things that

mattered for

them and how

empty that felt

and how lonely

that felt

and how guilty

that felt

and how we

had to try to

reinvent things

just to hide

those shame

and all those

other things

help us never to

forget what it

was like before

you brought your

son Jesus into

our life

and as we leave

here today

realize that 95%

of the people that

we're going to run

into in Hong Kong

are walking that

journey of the

flesh

and they're

hurting

they're

desperate

they're

looking for

something to

numb their

lives and

their purpose

and their

meaning

help us to

realize and

keep our eye

focused on you

and what you're

doing and be a

part of what

you're doing

instead of our

own agenda

may we be a

people who share

your son with

everybody

because we want

them on the

journey with us

father we love

you

we need you

we pray

in your son

Jesus name

amen