SPEAKER_00: Thanks for checking out this podcast from Carterville Christian Church.
SPEAKER_00: We're so glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: Our hope is that through these messages you'll grow deeper in your faith and experience the life-changing hope of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now let's jump into this week's teaching.
SPEAKER_01: Well, good morning, C3.
SPEAKER_01: Good to be with you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and grandmothers out there.
SPEAKER_01: Can we just give it up for our moms in the room right now?
SPEAKER_01: Grandmothers of the room.
SPEAKER_01: And we really do love you, appreciate you, really, really are just so thankful for you.
SPEAKER_01: Many of you are in here this morning because mom literally dragged you here this morning, you know?
SPEAKER_01: Like you're coming with me to church, and we're so thankful that you're here.
SPEAKER_01: And in a much more real sense, like many of you are here sitting in this room and are sitting in this room week to week because your mom dragged you over and over and over again and made it a priority, made it a habit for you.
SPEAKER_01: And then we we I don't think we'll see on this side of heaven just the amount of impact that that mothers and mother figures have had in our lives and in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And so thankful for you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh again, I think it's already been mentioned or will be mentioned, but moms, make sure you stand or stop by the atrium.
SPEAKER_01: We'd love to just give you a little a little gift and say, we we love you.
SPEAKER_01: Hope you feel celebrated well today.
SPEAKER_01: We're continuing this study that we've been in through the through the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're gonna be in chapter three.
SPEAKER_01: If you if you have your Bibles or you have your scripture journals this morning, uh go ahead and turn there.
SPEAKER_01: What we've seen so far is that Paul has been like radically changed by the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: If you know anything about Paul, know anything about the Bible, then you probably know this to be true.
SPEAKER_01: He's been radically changed by the gospel in such a way that everything is different, everything is changed for him, everything's different.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel isn't just a cherry on top for Paul's life, it is everything to him.
SPEAKER_01: And as a result, he's been urging the church in Philippi, and he's been urging us as well through his writing that we would give more weight to the gospel, that we would really give it the appropriate weight in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: There's a question that uh Michael DeFazio asks in his next Ozark Christian College next level study when it comes to this text in particular, and I think it's worth us kind of meditating on.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to just give you this question right now to start start our time, and I I want you to I want to urge you not to rush into an answer for it, but I want you to meditate on it as we're as we're going throughout this time.
SPEAKER_01: It's this question Do you believe life with Jesus is better than life without him?
SPEAKER_01: And if so, why?
SPEAKER_01: Again, I want you just to just kind of reflect on that question and think about that as we as we go through our time this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians chapter 3, verse 1 says this.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: To write the same same things to you is no trouble for me and is safe for you.
SPEAKER_01: Paul starts off in this in this way in Philippians chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: That seems like he's wrapping up his letter in a bit.
SPEAKER_01: Like it seems like he's landing the plane, it seems like he's bringing everything to a close, and he's still harping on this same message, this message of joy, of rejoicing in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Like our joy is found in him and in his gospel and what he has done, and he's still writing about these same things.
SPEAKER_01: But then Paul's tone abruptly shifts here.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like I don't know if you've been in a conversation or if you have somebody in your life that you immediately think of.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever you get into a conversation with them and you can't get out of it.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody been there before?
SPEAKER_01: I was there at a graduation party yesterday.
SPEAKER_01: I was stuck in a conversation with a man that I met that day and then could not get out of it, right?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, like that happens sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: You get in a conversation like that, or you get in a conversation, you know, you accidentally open the door because you thought it was your neighbor, but it's a salesperson, right?
SPEAKER_01: And then they say something along the lines of, while I've got you here, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: Like it's and then you know the conversation's about to double in length, at least.
SPEAKER_01: You know, like it's just gonna get way longer.
SPEAKER_01: And you can tell Paul's a preacher here because he says finally, and he's halfway through his message.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: Like that's this is what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I want to do for the rest of our time this morning is just kind of walk through verse by verse a little bit and see what Paul's trying to tell us, see what he's trying to communicate in these 11 verses right here.
SPEAKER_01: What we're gonna see is we're gonna see Paul's warning, and we're gonna see Paul's garbage, and we're gonna see Paul's treasure.
SPEAKER_01: Look with me first, Paul's warning in verses two and three.
SPEAKER_01: It 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.
SPEAKER_01: It's interesting in this passage because Paul is calling out a problem that is like nowhere else in the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: Like he's not, he's not, that he's not mentioning this problem as to be present in this church anywhere else.
SPEAKER_01: It's almost as if Paul's addressing a problem that's not yet present in the Philippian church.
SPEAKER_01: That's a that's a potential, that he's addressing something that's not happening, but he knows it's happening elsewhere.
SPEAKER_01: You know, Paul's well traveled and he has planted a lot of churches and he's heard a lot of stories and he's and he's gotten reports from a lot of different people about what might be happening here, and it seems to be the problem that that Paul's addressing here is hey, watch out for the people that are infiltrating your church that are saying you need to earn your way to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: You need to earn your own salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Like you're only saved by your good works.
SPEAKER_01: Like he's a he's addressing it using these three words, and he kind of uses these three words almost like tongue in cheek.
SPEAKER_01: Like he's almost like he's on on the attack here when he says, watch out for the dogs.
SPEAKER_01: The dogs were like, it's not like, you know, 21st century uh United States, like how we how we treat our dogs here, you know, like that they're like basically uh extra family members, you know, they're gonna be buried next to us in our in our graves and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not it's not that level.
SPEAKER_01: The dogs were the lowest of the low, like the scum, the scum of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: There were there was like nothing, nothing more unclean.
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times those inside the church who were so concerned with their good deeds would refer to those outside the church, those sinners, as dogs.
SPEAKER_01: And so Paul is flipping this on his head and said, Hey, I'm not talking about those outside the church.
SPEAKER_01: The threat's not outside the church, the threat is inside the church, those who are trying to say, you earn your way to salvation, you earn your way to God because of your good work.
SPEAKER_01: Watch out for them.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Watch out for the evildoers.
SPEAKER_01: Because of Paul's understanding of grace, he's saying that those who point to these works of the law as righteousness, he's like, like they are they are the ones who are actually doing evil, pulling people away from the heart of God, pulling people away from his grace, like they are they are the evil workers.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, watch out for those mutilators of the flesh.
SPEAKER_01: What we don't see in our text in English is what Paul's doing in the original language that he's writing in in Greek, because he's actually doing a play on words.
SPEAKER_01: The Greek word for mutilation and circumcision like sound the same.
SPEAKER_01: They're very, they're very similar, but they carried completely different connotation.
SPEAKER_01: Like these people that would have been like works-based righteousness people inside the church, they would have called themselves the circumcision.
SPEAKER_01: We are the circumcision.
SPEAKER_01: Like we are the ones who are set apart, who are called like called by God.
SPEAKER_01: We're the descendants of Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: We are like the true Hebrew people, like we are the true Jews here.
SPEAKER_01: And he's calling them out and saying, You call yourself the circumcision, but you're actually just mutilating the flesh.
SPEAKER_01: Like it's not an act of worship at all.
SPEAKER_01: And what Paul's really getting down to is as he gives this warning, he says, Hey, look out for those who heap this burden of the law on top of your head in order that you may be right before God.
SPEAKER_01: Like to say, this is necessary for you to be loved by God.
SPEAKER_01: Look out for those who practice the law but haven't submitted their heart to it.
SPEAKER_01: Like, look out for those who are circumcised in the flesh and not circumcised in the heart.
SPEAKER_01: Look out for those whose ultimate confidence is in who they themselves are and what they themselves have done.
SPEAKER_01: Like, watch out for those people.
SPEAKER_01: And it's interesting, Paul goes on a tangent as he often does.
SPEAKER_01: It's like Paul's anticipating a response from those people that he's calling out.
SPEAKER_01: As he goes into this next verse, he's he's anticipating their rebuttal.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but you don't understand it, Paul.
SPEAKER_01: Like, we are better than them.
SPEAKER_01: Like it seems like that's what he's what he's getting ready to answer, and this is what he does.
SPEAKER_01: And in verses four through six, he talks about this is Paul's garbage.
SPEAKER_01: Paul's garbage right here in four through six.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.
SPEAKER_01: And listen to this list 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.
SPEAKER_01: There's these seven different things that Paul lists out here.
SPEAKER_01: And like four, the first four are all kind of like his by birth.
SPEAKER_01: You see what he says.
SPEAKER_01: He says circumcised on the eighteenth.
SPEAKER_01: This was the on the eighth day.
SPEAKER_01: This is the this is the true Jewish way.
SPEAKER_01: This is what was commanded to Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: This is what was passed down from generation to generation.
SPEAKER_01: This is how they were to do things.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I'm from the people of Israel, the race of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: This is my, these are my people.
SPEAKER_01: I'm from the tribe of Benjamin, the one tribe that remained loyal to Judah whenever they split, ten and two.
SPEAKER_01: And the first king of was from the tribe of Benjamin.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, that's probably where Paul originally got his name, was from King Saul.
SPEAKER_01: That's what that was his name before he came to encounter the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I bet in the tribe of Benjamin there's a lot of little Sauls running around because they were pretty proud of this first king that was from their tribe.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, a Hebrew of Hebrews.
SPEAKER_01: Like I have real, authentic Hebrew parents.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not like this half-blooded Hebrew.
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm not scattered, I'm I'm true-blooded, I'm a Hebrew.
SPEAKER_01: And then all these things by his birthright, and then he starts moving into like all these other things he could boast in that are really all about what he has done, what he has earned.
SPEAKER_01: He says, as to the law, I'm a Pharisee, I'm a separated one.
SPEAKER_01: I've been through all of those tests and that education.
SPEAKER_01: I've done all the right things to be included in these groups of people, as to zeal, like one of these like highest virtues of a Jew following in Jesus' day.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a persecutor of the church.
SPEAKER_01: Like I can't, there's not very many people who are more zealous than I was.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, as to righteousness under the law, I'm blameless.
SPEAKER_01: Like even whenever I've sinned, I've gone through all the right processes to be made pure again.
SPEAKER_01: I'm blameless and I'm pure.
SPEAKER_01: Paul, Paul's boasting, it comes from a this combination of things that he was born into and things that he has worked hard for.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul's like sharing kind of his testimony here to the Philippian church.
SPEAKER_01: He's sharing his testimony, but not as a way to brag, but as a way to say, hey, I understand the temptation that you're facing.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the temptation I think that we all face.
SPEAKER_01: The world has a lot to offer.
SPEAKER_01: I don't need to tell you that.
SPEAKER_01: The world has a lot to offer you.
SPEAKER_01: And the question is, like, is it is it really enough?
SPEAKER_01: Is it really enough?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I so I guess we gotta we have to look at ourselves here and we have to ask this question like, what am I tempted to put my confidence in?
SPEAKER_01: What am I tempted to boast in?
SPEAKER_01: What am I tempted to cling to?
SPEAKER_01: Like, similar similar to Paul, we could we could boast in or we could find our confidence in things that we were born into.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: We could be like just boasting in uh our our country.
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm the biggest patriot that there is, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like I am I'm love love for God and country, right?
SPEAKER_01: Or we could boast in our community, right?
SPEAKER_01: I I ble I bleed baby blue, right?
SPEAKER_01: If I'm if I'm a web city person, right?
SPEAKER_01: I bleed royal blue if I'm a Carthage person.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: Like we could boast in our community, or we could boast in our family, you know, in our upbringing.
SPEAKER_01: We could, and similar to Paul, we could put confidence in the things that we have worked hard for, right?
SPEAKER_01: Our achievements and our jobs and our success and our possessions or things, or even like trips or experiences, or our education or our awards, whatever, whatever the case may be.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the temptation that Paul is getting at.
SPEAKER_01: If we're honest with ourselves, we need to be confronted with this temptation.
SPEAKER_01: We need to we need to have this shown to us.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, the world has a lot to offer, and sometimes we're content with what the world has to offer.
SPEAKER_01: Like sometimes that's what it comes down to.
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm fine.
SPEAKER_01: Like I'm my life feels pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: Like just with what the world has given me, I feel pretty good right now, you know?
SPEAKER_01: Like I and here's the here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: I even if it's for a moment, what the world has to offer is pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: Then we're going off the rails.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you found yourself in that in a spot where it's like, man, my like my family's just kind of in a sweet spot right now.
SPEAKER_01: Like everybody enjoys being together.
SPEAKER_01: Like this is kind of nice, you know?
SPEAKER_01: Or my job, like I finally feel like I'm in a groove and a good groove in my job.
SPEAKER_01: Like this, this feels good right now.
SPEAKER_01: Or you know, I'm finally like building up that savings account, and uh it's it's nice to have that security.
SPEAKER_01: It's nice to have that that with me.
SPEAKER_01: And even if it's just for a split second, even if it's just for a moment, that we would rather have the things of this world than we're then we're going wrong.
SPEAKER_01: That it should be warning signs going off in our minds.
SPEAKER_01: I was talking to a man in our church this week and he shared this quote with me that was convicting.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if it's gonna be convicting for you.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Do we irgend eagerly long for the coming of Christ?
SPEAKER_01: Or do we want him to wait while our love affair with the world runs its course?
SPEAKER_01: That's the question that tests the authenticity of our faith.
SPEAKER_01: Man, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Like, do you want Jesus, can you just wait?
SPEAKER_01: Like, I I feel it feels really good.
SPEAKER_01: What the season that I'm in right now, can you just wait a little bit longer before you return?
SPEAKER_01: Like, I feel like I got something good going here.
SPEAKER_01: Can you just hold on for a second?
SPEAKER_01: Or, like, do we have this longing for Christ that that, like everything else, doesn't satisfy?
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what Paul has.
SPEAKER_01: Or are we kind of okay with what we have?
SPEAKER_01: With what the world has offered.
SPEAKER_01: Like, this is Paul's response, Paul's response to all these things, which are not small things, by the way, that Paul's that Paul's listing out here, all the seven boasts, like they're not small things.
SPEAKER_01: He says, All of the gains I count as loss.
SPEAKER_01: Like it's an economic term, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like they would all seem to be gaining interest and gaining gaining profit for me, but they're all a loss when it all comes down to it.
SPEAKER_01: He says, indeed, I count everything as a loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I count it all as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That word rubbish is it carries the meaning of garbage or dung.
SPEAKER_01: It's actually like a slang, a slang term for animal excrement.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Like, and so like Paul is reaching for a word.
SPEAKER_01: This is the only time it's used in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: Paul's reaching for a word to describe just how bad what the best the world has to offer is in comparison to what Jesus has to offer us.
SPEAKER_01: It makes me think of um years of taking students to CIY Move.
SPEAKER_01: We go to CIY Move, and sometimes we go to Colorado, sometimes we go to Tennessee, and we we the lot for the last several years we've been taking charter buses, we've been chartering buses to go.
SPEAKER_01: Um it's just a safer option for us to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_01: And we've rented charter buses, and every year we tell the students, hey, the bathrooms at the back of the bus are emergency only, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Like we're not using those on the regular.
SPEAKER_01: You're not using those 10 minutes in.
SPEAKER_01: We're not even out of Missouri yet, and you're still trying to use the bathroom.
SPEAKER_01: We're stopping every four hours.
SPEAKER_01: You can hold it, you know?
SPEAKER_01: Like, anyways, and the reason there's a reason for this, and it's because one year a student on this trip, you know, typical high schooler, thought it was a good idea.
SPEAKER_01: Why wouldn't you?
SPEAKER_01: Thought it was a good idea to chug a monster energy drink and a half gallon of sweet tea in the back of that bus, you know?
SPEAKER_01: Why wouldn't you?
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's a great idea whenever you're a freshman in high school.
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, as you know, like that's not gonna stay down for him.
SPEAKER_01: This is an emergency situation, right?
SPEAKER_01: So he used the bathroom, of course, right?
SPEAKER_01: Another student on that same trip had an emergency situation, had to use the bathroom.
SPEAKER_01: Wasn't very pretty.
SPEAKER_01: There was an aroma making its way through the bus, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to be gross, but I need you to understand this, right?
SPEAKER_01: They made a nice, a nice aroma, you can imagine what it is, and that's not even like scratching the surface of what Paul's getting at.
SPEAKER_01: Because actually, what happened was uh like the bus company came back to pick us up for our extended rec day.
SPEAKER_01: They have like an extended rec day on like the fourth day of move, and they came back, and what the bus company had neglected to do was to empty the waste from that from that bathroom.
SPEAKER_01: So it had been roasting for four days in the sun of Colorado, and it became more and more pungent as the four days passed.
SPEAKER_01: And when you stepped onto that bus, it was like you got hit by a wall, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: Of the nastiest smell you could ever think.
SPEAKER_01: And Axe Body Spray covers a multitude of smells, but not that.
SPEAKER_01: Didn't touch it, you know?
SPEAKER_01: Didn't touch it.
SPEAKER_01: This is what Paul is comparing even the best things of this life to.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, even what the best that the world has to offer is like that.
SPEAKER_01: It's like this this dung, this garbage, it's rubbish.
SPEAKER_01: What good is it for any man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul?
SPEAKER_01: And all else is garbage in comparison.
SPEAKER_01: The question is, in comparison to what?
SPEAKER_01: And that's what Paul's treasure is all about.
SPEAKER_01: Read with me in verses 7 through 11.
SPEAKER_01: But whatever I gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
SPEAKER_01: For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I 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, that I may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: See, Paul right here is he's passionate, and I think he's putting into words what Jesus talks about when he talks about the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: When he says the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field.
SPEAKER_01: And a man found it and he covered it up, and then in his joy he went and he sold everything else, and he came back back and purchased that field.
SPEAKER_01: Paul's confidence comes from knowing Christ personally.
SPEAKER_01: Like this is his treasure.
SPEAKER_01: Do you notice how personal this text is?
SPEAKER_01: Do you notice how like it's so personal to Paul right here?
SPEAKER_01: He says, I count everything I gained for the loss as a loss for the sake of Christ, the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ, my Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Like I want to know him.
SPEAKER_01: This might be the most personal passage that Paul has that we have recorded in our in our Bibles.
SPEAKER_01: He's convinced of this.
SPEAKER_01: He's found this one treasure in the field.
SPEAKER_01: And it isn't, it's it's not that nothing else is important.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying everything else pales in comparison to this.
SPEAKER_01: I found what is most important.
SPEAKER_01: And it is this it is knowing Christ, it's having a personal relationship with him, it is everything to me.
SPEAKER_01: And you can see this personal encounter, what it has done for Paul.
SPEAKER_01: It's done a couple things, it's given him perspective.
SPEAKER_01: We've already talked about this back in chapter one, when he says, no matter what happens to me, to live is Christ, to die is gained.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: No matter what comes my way, like this joy that comes from knowing Christ gives us perspective.
SPEAKER_01: No matter what circumstances may come our way.
SPEAKER_01: Paul has suffered the loss of all things.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, it's all rubbish, anyways.
SPEAKER_01: Like all these things that I've lost, they're all earthly things.
SPEAKER_01: They're all gonna pass away.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: I count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ himself.
SPEAKER_01: He says, like, I hope that I may be able to share in the sufferings of Christ, is what he says in verse in verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: And that word share is the same word he's used a couple other times.
SPEAKER_01: It's this word partner, the word koinonia.
SPEAKER_01: I hope that I may like share and partner with Christ in this suffering.
SPEAKER_01: Paul has this perspective because his treasure is in knowing Christ personally.
SPEAKER_01: His treasure is all found in him.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the deal: like if this is you, and I don't know what you're facing right now, but if Christ is your treasure, then whatever you're facing right now, you can get through it.
SPEAKER_01: Because he is your strength, because he is your peace, because he is your life, because he is your source of joy, he is your strength and your fortress, like he is everything to you.
SPEAKER_01: If he's your treasure, you can get through what you're facing right now.
SPEAKER_01: But Paul, his personal relationship with Jesus also brought him righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see this in verse 9?
SPEAKER_01: He says, I want to be found in him, not having this righteousness that comes from my own, what he's already been talking about.
SPEAKER_01: Not this righteousness that's built on my own good deeds, but a righteousness that doesn't come from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a righteousness that's that's based on his own performance because he knows, like all of us know, what Isaiah says, that our righteous acts are like filthy, dirty rags.
SPEAKER_01: Like we cannot earn our way.
SPEAKER_01: We need something better, we need someone better to represent us.
SPEAKER_01: And that's exactly what Christ has done.
SPEAKER_01: Like a righteousness that comes from Christ is based on his obedience on our behalf.
SPEAKER_01: Like, and when we place our faith in him and in his perfect life, in his spotless sacrifice by the blood of the perfect one, you and I are declared righteous.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul says, this is what matters more than anything else to me, is knowing him personally, having his perspective, and gaining his righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: And I think what it comes down to is Paul understands this simple equation, this very simple equation that we need to understand.
SPEAKER_01: Everything minus Jesus equals nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Like I it doesn't matter if I gain everything this world has to offer.
SPEAKER_01: If I don't have Jesus, I have nothing.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing left for me that has really any value.
SPEAKER_01: But he understands.
SPEAKER_01: The second part is that Jesus plus nothing and equals everything.
SPEAKER_01: Like he is absolutely everything for me.
SPEAKER_01: He's everything to me.
SPEAKER_01: Christ is life.
SPEAKER_01: He is ultimate gain.
SPEAKER_01: Like there is no gain greater than him.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the deal: when we live in such a way, when we live in that way, the Bible speaks of this aroma that follows us, that goes with us, that other people will see and will hear and will smell the aroma of Christ on us.
SPEAKER_01: It's like a good candle in the middle of a room that just like just fills it with a way better smell than was there before.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: Like this is what we're supposed to walk around with as Christ is our life.
SPEAKER_01: Like people are attracted to us.
SPEAKER_01: They're attracted not to us, to what?
SPEAKER_01: What we have that they desperately need, that this world desperately needs.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the thing: I've heard it said this way, one commentator said it this way.
SPEAKER_01: Like we can't do this thing where we want everything that the world wants, and then we just put Jesus over the top of it.
SPEAKER_01: Like we can't do this thing where we just, you know, have the same wants and desires as the world and then just sprinkle a little bit of Jesus on top for a little bit of extra flavoring.
SPEAKER_01: That's not how this works.
SPEAKER_01: Like if your neighbor looks at your life and how you spend and how you live and how you prioritize and the things that are important to you, and it looks the same except for you give Jesus a little bit of time on Sundays when you're in town.
SPEAKER_01: Like what's what's attractive about that?
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing distinct about your life.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing distinct about my life.
SPEAKER_01: But if Jesus is our life, then that's a compelling life to follow.
SPEAKER_01: That's a compelling life.
SPEAKER_01: That's a that's an aroma that follows you.
SPEAKER_01: Like our treasure cannot be copied and pasted from the world.
SPEAKER_01: Our treasure must be Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It must be Christ.
SPEAKER_01: All else counted as rubbish for the surpassing worth of knowing Him.
SPEAKER_01: A friend of mine is a preacher outside of Indianapolis, and he said it this way Man, if you are not surrendered to Jesus this morning, if you haven't been changed by His gospel, haven't been made new in Him, but instead you're just content with saying that what this world has to offer is enough.
SPEAKER_01: And he said it this way, then I hope you enjoy your life.
SPEAKER_01: Like I hope you enjoy your title.
SPEAKER_01: Hope you enjoy your success, your money, your vacation.
SPEAKER_01: I hope you enjoy this Mother's Day and the spring weather that's coming today, because this is the closest to heaven that you will ever get.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't say that as a way to scare you, but to lovingly warn you.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible is very clear, if you are apart from Christ, then you have no hope in this life.
SPEAKER_01: Like you are heading for an eternity of misery apart from him.
SPEAKER_01: But church, the good news is that if you are walking with Jesus, you come to know him.
SPEAKER_01: You've been given his righteousness that's based on his obedience, like your life, like life isn't perfect, neither are you, but you are putting your confidence in the flesh, you're putting it in Christ, submitting to him daily.
SPEAKER_01: If you are in Jesus, then the good news is that this is as close to hell as you're ever gonna get.
SPEAKER_01: Like there is a day coming.
SPEAKER_01: No matter how bad it gets, just hold on.
SPEAKER_01: There's a day coming that our that our Bible tells us our king's gonna return, and he's gonna part the clouds, and you're gonna see him face to face, and he's gonna wipe away every tear in your eye.
SPEAKER_01: Like you can press forward.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna make all things new.
SPEAKER_01: This is as close to hell as we're ever gonna get.
SPEAKER_01: So I need to ask this question again.
SPEAKER_01: Like, do you believe that life with Jesus is better than life without him?
SPEAKER_01: And if so, why?
SPEAKER_01: I asked our elders and staff this question this week, and a lot of them got back with me.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of responses.
SPEAKER_01: I want to read all of them to you, but I don't have time to read all of them to you.
SPEAKER_01: So here's just a couple.
SPEAKER_01: This is what Dave McCune, one of our elders, said.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Better doesn't even do it.
SPEAKER_01: Being with Jesus is life.
SPEAKER_01: Like living without him has highlights, but it is an empty shell.
SPEAKER_01: Every good quality I have, every good relationship I have, every good experience I have, they're inseparable from life with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I am perfectly safe, loved, understood, and forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: No one else can offer that.
SPEAKER_01: I asked Kristen Stroud, like, Do you believe life with Jesus is better than life without him?
SPEAKER_01: And she said, Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: Like trials, pain, suffering, they're still present, but they're present in a life without Jesus, too.
SPEAKER_01: However, a life with Jesus also has peace beyond understanding, joy beyond circumstances, healing beyond explanation, freedom beyond what we deserve, and hope beyond this life, all while we also get to be partners in God's work.
SPEAKER_01: That's the best life.
SPEAKER_01: I've studied for this passage, my mind kept coming back to a couple in our church, Brandon and Sarah Marker.
SPEAKER_01: They started coming to C3 last summer.
SPEAKER_01: They shared with me that they had gone through a rough patch in their marriage.
SPEAKER_01: They're trying to work on some things and go into counseling together, and things were starting to get better.
SPEAKER_01: And Sarah was honest, and she said, there was like he was like Brandon was starting to, you know, become a better husband, more like a better father, all this kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: But there was something else in him that was becoming different.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, We both like, you know, we both grew up in church, but had like kind of went away from that.
SPEAKER_01: It's all just made-up stories, anyways, you know, like like there's moral teachings in the Bible, but that's basically it, you know?
SPEAKER_01: And she said there was something else changing in him.
SPEAKER_01: And she said about a year and a half ago, she looked at him and said, If you become a Christian, I'm out.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't want any part of that.
SPEAKER_01: Fast forward a few months and things kept progressing, things kept getting better, and Brandon went to Sarah and just said, Hey, you know, I think I think we should give church a try.
SPEAKER_01: I think we should, I think we should go back to church.
SPEAKER_01: I think it'd be good for our marriage, I think it'd be good for our family, I think it'd be good for our kids.
SPEAKER_01: I think we should try it.
SPEAKER_01: Soon after that, Sarah's cutting hair like she does at her job.
SPEAKER_01: That guy came in and sat down in the chair, and she started cutting his hair, and she started telling her story little by little, just a little bit at a time, and she talked about her marriage, she talked about the counseling, she talked about her family and her kids, and she talked about her husband, had just suggested they should go back to church, and she's like, I don't know how this is gonna work, though, you know, like I haven't been to church in a really long time.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna go back to the church I grew up in this this weekend with my parents, but I don't know, I feel like it's gonna be weird.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not I'm not super sure about this.
SPEAKER_01: After that, she looked at the guy whose hair she was cutting and she said, So what do you do?
SPEAKER_01: And it was me who was sitting in that chair.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Well, I'm a preacher.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, No, you are not.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yes, actually, I am.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a preacher at Carnival Christian Church.
SPEAKER_01: She started asking me questions about our church.
SPEAKER_01: I've been going to the same place to get my hair cut out for five or six years and never had a conversation.
SPEAKER_01: Like sometimes God just gotta slap me upside the head and say, Hey, I've got somebody here for you that needs this.
SPEAKER_01: She started asking questions.
SPEAKER_01: She actually sent me a text that night.
SPEAKER_01: She said, Hey, sorry, this is Sarah from the barbershop.
SPEAKER_01: I got your message from our database, and my husband's asking about your church.
SPEAKER_01: I want to know.
SPEAKER_01: They came a couple weeks later for the first time.
SPEAKER_01: Sarah and Brandon did.
SPEAKER_01: They came with their kids, they started gathering to worship with us, to study with us.
SPEAKER_01: They jumped into a short-term group in January.
SPEAKER_01: And the week after Easter, they both stepped into these waters of baptism.
SPEAKER_01: I think we have it right here.
SPEAKER_01: Think that's worth celebrating, church.
SPEAKER_01: And if so, why?
SPEAKER_01: Here's what they said.
SPEAKER_01: Brandon said, a life with Jesus gives me purpose that isn't found elsewhere.
SPEAKER_01: Gives me for forgiveness and the ability to forgive.
SPEAKER_01: It gives me a sense of inner peace and being a moral foundation to guide my life upon, and it gives me something to strive for and being more like him.
SPEAKER_01: Sarah said it this way: turning back to Jesus has given me peace that I've never had, deeper understanding of everything, hope and strength to get through all challenges.
SPEAKER_01: He takes away my guilt.
SPEAKER_01: When we are pushing God away, we were pushing God away, we may have survived, but with Jesus, I feel like we were actually living.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think we were ever without him, but man, life with him is on another level.
SPEAKER_01: I love how Sarah put that.
SPEAKER_01: Life with him is actually living.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know who's who needs to hear this this morning, but that life is yours for the taking today.
SPEAKER_01: It is offered freely to you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: If you submit your life to Christ, you can have this same life.
SPEAKER_01: This life that is that has surpassing worth to everything this world has to offer.
SPEAKER_01: And I my my hope and my prayer is that as a church we would come to a deeper and more full understanding that even the best the world has to offer, it pales in comparison.
SPEAKER_01: It pales into in comparison to what we have, what we have, what we are sure that we have in Christ Jesus our Lord.
SPEAKER_01: May it be so.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray this morning.
SPEAKER_01: So thankful for so thankful for the the relationship we're able to have with you because of what you have done, because you have pursued us.
SPEAKER_01: But as James said earlier, that even while we were still in our sin, you came and you died for us.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that for anybody who's outside of your grace this morning, they would turn to you.
SPEAKER_01: They would be made new in you.
SPEAKER_01: They would have life to the full in you.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that anybody right now who's clinging to something else other than you right now in this life, Lord, I pray that we would freely release it.
SPEAKER_01: And we would cling to you.
SPEAKER_01: We would have a desire to know you.
SPEAKER_01: We would want to gain you.
SPEAKER_01: We would be found in you and in you alone.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, help us not to boast in anything in this world that is gonna fade away.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to boast in you and in the life that we have eternally because of what you have done for us.
SPEAKER_01: We love you, we give you all the honor, all the glory, all the praise, because you will never fail us.
SPEAKER_01: And so we stand and we sing and we lift up our voices to you right now.
SPEAKER_01: In your name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for listening to the Carterville Christian Church podcast.
SPEAKER_00: Our prayer is that today's message has encouraged you and drawn you closer to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: To learn more or get connected with our church family, visit CartervilleChristian.com.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love to walk alongside you in your journey of faith.