THE FALSE GOSPEL OF GOOD ENOUGH

[1]WELCOME: Good morning Church! Love being able to join you for worship today whether you’re here on campus or joining us online. I just wanted to welcome some of you who are with us online to say thanks for being part of the service. (names here) If you’re new with us my name is Nic Cook and I’m one of the pastors here at Cornerstone Church. In January we started our…

SERIES: called CHOOSE JOY. It’s based on a letter called Philippians. It was written by one of the early church leaders named Paul while he was in prison to a group of Christians in the ancient city of Philippi. Even though Paul is sitting in prison, he is intent on encouraging the church to live lives of joy. He wants to remind them that they are partners in a mission together. They are to have joy because Jesus loves them and has forgiven them, that his plans can be trusted regardless of the circumstances. He wants them to stand firm against opposition outside the church that wants them to compromise their faith. He wants them to stand united and not let arguments and fights divide them. These are things that steal our joy and destroy our community. Well today Paul is warning us against another threat to our joy. I’m going to call this the threat of…

·  THE GOSPEL OF GOOD ENOUGH: How many of you would say that you’re a perfectionist? How many of you would say that you absolutely hate to lose and do everything possible to succeed? If you’re joining us this morning online, go ahead and say, “guilty” or use the raised hand emoji. Here’s a different question, how many of you compare yourselves to other people to evaluate whether you’re a success or a failure? Now, I don’t want anyone to raise their hand on this one, but how many of you have felt like a failure or currently feel like a failure? These are all a result of the gospel of good enough. The reason it leaves us feeling either prideful or desperate is because it’s a false gospel. There is an answer to that relentless striving or that desperate ache to truly be good. It’s the true gospel. My hope is that this morning we’ll let go of the gospel of good enough and run towards the true gospel that actually sets us free and transforms us. So if you would, go ahead and pull out your bibles or open our app and go to [Phil. 3:1-11]. As you’re doing that, I’d like to pray.

(TEACH/APP) POINT 1 (God)

BACKGROUND: At any point someone decides to begin to study the book of Philippians deeper and start reading commentaries, you’ll find this book referred to as the letter of joy because Paul uses the word rejoice so many times. He talks about giving thanks, it’s got a lot of encouragement it in. The tone of it overall is really very upbeat. However, when you read the beginning of chapter three Paul comes out swinging calling a group of people dogs, evildoers and mutilators of the flesh. In the original language it comes out look out, look out, look out. It’s like firing warning shots. Bang, bang, bang in the air. Then he calls a group of people 3 names. Warning! Watch out for curs, criminals, and cutters. They’re like unwanted rabid scavengers. They’re dangerous dogs. They’re criminals, they break in to places they don’t belong to violently steal what isn’t theirs. They’re cutters, they harm and destroy the body with their methods. I’ll be honest, I think this would get Paul censored today. This would be considered hate-speech. The social media police would be like “you can’t talk about people that way Paul! You’re being a bigot and intolerant.” However, Paul feels so strongly about this danger to the church that he uses shocking language. So what has got him so fired up? Well there is a group of people that are spreading a false gospel of…

·  JESUS + JUDAISM: We know this because Paul mentions circumcision. While circumcision may sound unimportant to us today, it was incredibly important to the Jewish people. Way back towards the beginning of the story of God’s people, God chose a man named Abraham as part of his plan to build his kingdom here on this earth. From Abrahams family would come the Jewish people. As part of God’s promise to Abraham to give him a huge family, God called Abraham to respond by circumcising himself and every male in his household. God doesn’t say why he chose circumcision, he just says if you want to accept my promise to you, here’s how you do it. This was a way of being obedient to what God commanded. He said it, I’ll do it. God also said [Gen. 17:13-14] “Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant. Any male who fails to be circumcises will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.” For the next 1,700ish years till Jesus came, if you wanted to be part of God’s people, to be able to experience a relationship with God, you had to be circumcised. Here’s the problem, the act for Abraham was an act of obedience. God wants to be in a relationship with me and has expectations, so I’ll do what he asks me to. Over time, people thought that as long as they had been circumcised, that was enough to be good enough for God. Except later on we hear Moses tell them that physical circumcision isn’t enough to be considered one of God’s people. Moses says “Therefore, change your hearts and stop being stubborn.” [Deut. 10:16] A better translation would be “circumcise your hearts.” This meant, there had to be a deeper response than just something physical you do. There has to be a total commitment of your heart to God. Ultimately, this is one of the great problems of humanity. We can

o do all the right things on the outside, but our hearts remain stubborn. We want to be in control. It’s like the illustration of the little girl that that’s been told to sit down in her chair or she’ll get spanked and she says “I’m sitting down on the outside, but I’m standing up on the inside.” I’m obedient visibly, but I’m rebellious inwardly. I’m giving you control of the outside but not my heart. This is what Jesus later means when he looks at the religious leaders and says “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” [Matt 15:8] One of the reasons that the religious people of the day struggled with Jesus was because he kept pointing out that no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t be perfect. A young guy would walk up to Jesus and say, what do I need to DO get into heaven, and Jesus says keep these commandments. Don’t like, murder, honor your parents… But he doesn’t mention all the commandments, just the ones that the young man could say he kept. Then Jesus says, okay, you’re close, but you still have a problem with coveting and idolatry. Give up your money so you can follow me. And the young guy turns around and leaves. This young man thought he was good, and Jesus pulls back the curtain on the places in his heart that he is ignoring. Just when we think we’ve kept the rules and God owes us, we find out that that we’ve been disobedient in a hundred different other ways. This is what Paul is referring to when he talks about

§ RIGHTEOUSNESS: It’s not simply an action, it’s a state of being. I do what’s right in everything because my heart is right all the time. So, let me ask, anybody in here righteous? Your heart is right towards God and towards others all the time? Well, when I have my coffee in the morning, then I’m more righteous. When I’ve had enough sleep, then I’m more righteous. Well, I know I mess up, but I’m not nearly as bad as that person who… See? We don’t like to admit it and we start finding ways to justify ourselves. Yea, but I’m not that bad, look at what I’ve done that’s good. That’s what this group of people were doing. They were following Paul around to his churches and they were saying “Yes, Jesus is the Savior, but you still need saving by becoming Jewish, then becoming a Christian.” Do the right things so that Jesus can save you! Follow the rules, then God owes you! Paul says, okay, let’s play this game.

·  GOOD ENOUGH IS NEVER GOOD ENOUGH: Paul says let’s compare who’s got a better record of being good. I was circumcised on the eighth day. That meant he wasn’t a convert; He was born a Jew. Racially I’m good. Then he says from the tribe of Benjamin. That was one of the two tribes that stayed loyal to King David’s family after he died, and the kingdom split into two. David’s family was promised that one of his sons would inherit the kingdom forever. I come from a loyal Jewish family that’s not traitors. I’m a Hebrew of Hebrews. At the time many Hebrew people didn’t speak Hebrew, they had compromised and become like their Greek neighbors. I’m culturally pure. I’m a pharisee of pharisees. I keep the rules better than anyone keeps the rules. Paul says, wanna compare resume’s? Wanna see who gets high score? I win. But then he says, GOOD ENOUGH IS NEVER GOOD ENOUGH. You know what my high score is worth? Rubbish. Sometimes bible translators are embarrassed to translate it for what it actually means. The word rubbish means…excrement. Paul is literally saying, when I look at how hard I try to make God owe me, I end up with poop! No matter how hard I try, it’s tainted, it stinks because I’m really just trying to be good so God will reward me. I’m trying to put God in my debt. So, my best efforts are all about me. Just like the rich young ruler, when Jesus goes down the list of a life that is lived according to God’s design, there’s always ones we don’t want him to mention because we know we’re not perfect. We’re just hoping we can balance the scales enough for the good to outweigh our sin. Paul is saying, unfortunately the bad news is, you can’t ever be good enough. Then Paul says, when I finally saw myself for the sinner that I was and saw all of my good deeds as an attempt to control God and make him reward me, then I was finally ready for the real good news. Paul says his hope is not in his good works, but his hope is in the

(JC) RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST & BEING FOUND IN HIM (JC)

Remember what we said righteousness was? It’s not simply an action, it’s a state of being. We do right because we are right. We love others well because our heart is right. There is only one person in all of human history that was perfectly righteous. They always did right because their heart was right all the time. Jesus never once broke one of the ten commandments. Jesus never once sought his own way over his Fathers. Jesus wasn’t worried about looking good or impressing anyone because he was good and his Father was perfectly pleased with him. You know the people who were most drawn to him? Not the people who thought they were good or were believed they had built up enough credits with God for him to owe them. No, the people that flocked to Jesus were the people who realized they weren’t good. The ones who were broken, hurting, desperate, lonely, and outcasts came running to Jesus because they knew they needed help. When they did, they found that instead of being told they needed to clean their lives up for him to love them or to forgive them, they found someone who looked at them with love and acceptance who claimed he could clean them up. Then he made it possible for us to be eternally forgiven and made clean and righteous by dying on the cross. [2 Cor 5:21] says “21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” This has been what preachers and theologians have often called

the GREAT EXCHANGE. Can you imagine walking up to God and handing him our resume and saying, take a look. See all the stuff I’ve done right. You owe me a reward. I’m gonna go ahead and ask for my keys to my heavenly mansion and I’ll see you at the great banquet. Now imagine God having an angel drive out a dump truck full of paper with every single sinful thought you’ve had, every single awful word you’ve said to someone, every single mean thing you’ve ever done to someone, every selfish action you’ve ever taken on it. Then saying, well I’ve got something I’d like for you to take a look at as well. After you get done with that truckload of poop, I’ve got another one after that with your name on it. When you get tired of reading, there’s the down escalator. Now, imagine walking up to God and knowing he’s got at least 4 or 5 trucks with your name on it. And as you approach Jesus walks up next to you and hands you his resume. He says, don’t worry. Give my Dad this one. You timidly hand it to him knowing it has someone else’s name and accomplishments on it, and God says, right this way son, right this way daughter. Well done! I’m so glad you’re here. You know you’re getting credit for someone else’s perfection. That’s not fair! No, that’s grace. Jesus took our sin, our truckloads of junk and excrement and he accepted the punishment on the cross so that we could receive his righteousness. Paul then says his greatest gain is to be

FOUND IN JESUS: Listen closely, this phrase is huge and we’ve overlooked it for far too long in the church. Did you know that Paul uses the phrase “in Christ” 165 times in his letters? It’s almost like that’s important. Here’s one of my favorite examples. You know what a nesting doll is? It’s those dolls where you open one, and there’s a smaller one, then you open that one, and there’s another smaller one? Well God’s community is the trinity. Father, Son, Holy Spirit (don’t get hung up on the size of them, that’s not the point). God created humanity to be part of his community. Because of sin, we are separated from that community, We are unrighteous. However, when we give our lives to Jesus, we receive Christ in us through the Holy Spirit. The GOODNESS OF JESUS IS IN US! WE’RE NOT ONLY FORGIVEN, BUT HIS GOODNESS IS NOW LIVING IN US. AND GET THIS, NOT ONLY WILL WE GROW IN GOODNESS IF WE SURRENDER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, BUT WE ARE ALSO SEEN “IN CHRIST” BY OUR FATHER. CLOTHED IN CHRIST! HE LOOKS AT US AND SAYS “THEY’RE GOOD!” THEY’RE JUST LIKE MY SON! We are lovingly welcomed back into the presence of our God because of the Son and we get to begin learning to live well because of the Holy Spirit inside us.