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A Hot Take on Misplaced Confidence | Hot Takes
In a world obsessed with self-confidence and "doing you," is it possible that we’re trusting the wrong thing? 🚩
This first message in our new Hot Takes series tackles the truth about misplaced confidence—why relying on your own strength will eventually fail you, and how putting your confidence in God’s wisdom and righteousness leads to real, lasting peace.
Hey, we're starting a brand new series today, guys. It is called Hot Takes and I'm really excited to get into it. We're going to be in it for several weeks and some of you know what a hot take is, right. You know like it's a hot take is. You'd see this on social media. Someone gets on video and they're like I'm going to give you my hot take on whatever Hot take means. I'm going to give you something that is a little bit bold. I'm going to give you something that is a little bit bold. I'm going to give you my opinion. I just interact with this thing. I haven't had a lot of time for reflection. I'm going to give you my bold opinion instant, let's go. Here's what I think. It might be a little bit controversial there might be a little bit heated, a little bit passionate about it. So, in other words, you might see somebody get online and say, hey, let me give you my hot take on Patrick Mahomes and his Super Bowl performance, and you can bet they're going to tell you what they think and they may not like everything. Or they might, next weekend, get on and say let me give you my hot take on the Thunderbolts movie. There's been a lot of Marvel bad movies lately Bad is too strong Poor movies lately, and hopefully they're going to pull it out on this last one. They might get online and give you a hot take on Rachel Zegler and the latest thing that she said. By the way, let me just start a little petition. Grace for Rachel. That's one. I want to start a petition. Grace for Rachel. I don't know about you, but if you put stuff online that I said when I was 21, oh my gosh, dude, it would be so ridiculous. So let's wear our Christianity well. Grace for Rachel Zeger. God bless her. God bless her heart. But if someone gives a hot take, you can say grace and patience. That's what you put in the comments. The Bible also has some hot takes Not hot takes in the sense that they're brand new, but God is passionate about some things that happen here on planet earth. He also has been known to bring a contrary, or at least controversial, perspective into a situation, and God is very much one who doesn't shy away from letting his opinion be known. He'll say it boldly, and even though it's not new, it's always a brand new word for us today. So I know that God's in the house to help people and he's going to share some hot takes with us today. So I know that God's in the house to help people and he's going to share some hot takes with us. We're going to start with talking about misplaced confidence, a hot take on our misplaced confidence, but in the coming weeks, some other things that we're going to talk about. We're going to talk about a hot take on the environment, a hot take on mental illness. We're going to do hot takes on the Bible itself, and so I want to encourage you. There's some hot takes coming up, and you should be around Some of you.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you know these people. I'm suspicious that you probably don't know who these are, but let's see on the screen Jim Thorpe. Jim Thorpe you might not know this guy. He was one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. He was an Olympian, he was a football player was one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. He was an Olympian, he was a football player, he was a baseball player, and now most people have no idea who he is.
Speaker 1:Fanny Bryce Some of you might know Fanny Bryce because the musical Funny Girl is about her, but other than that, you might not have any clue who Fanny Bryce was, but there was a time, dude, when she was like the top comedic, actress and musician and singer. She was a big deal. She's a big deal. So was Jim Thorpe, someone else who was a big deal. Marie Carelli she was a best-selling author of her day. She beat out people like Arthur Conan Doyle from the Sherlock Holmes fame. She beat out HG Wells War of the Worlds. She was the it girl as authors. Go back in her day and you look at all three of these folks and here's what we know. However much concern they gave to the world knowing who they are, within a few decades that was all over. Nobody knows who they are Almost nobody. History people type, people know who they are, but that's about it. The grains of sand of time just wash over everything and things disappear. Even though the whole world may have thought they were a big deal, now they've forgotten.
Speaker 1:We're going to talk about the Corinthians today. Now, the Corinthians. For all that you might know about the Corinthians, they had some comparison problems. It's kind of funny because they were like, really gifted. In fact, paul points out in his letter these guys are really gifted. Like you're good at speech, you're good at. You got all these different gifts. But the problem with knowing that you're good at something is it leads to comparison to other people who might be a rival at being good at something. And so we see these Corinthians and Paul's like addressing fights that they're in or disagreements that they're having. And they're in or disagreements that they're having and they're not getting along, and partly it's because of their comparison problem.
Speaker 1:One thinks I'm really good at this, or one thinks I throw in my lot with this teacher because I really believe they're right and what they're doing is they're boasting a lot, they're having a lot of self, maybe overconfidence, and Paul's going to take issue with this. Paul's going to say, hey guys, when you do that, when you compare with each other and you kind of like shout that you boast, hey, my way is the right way or their way is the right way, and I'm in with them what you're doing is you've got the fingerprint of the world on you, and that's a weird contradiction, because that's not how you got into this, like shouting about how good you are, how good your team is, how good your thing is, not in a playful, sportsy way, but in a like, hey, I'm all in on this thing and we're the really best. Such boasting what it does is it tends to deafen our ears to the call of God. It tends to blind us to the work of God. Here's what Paul's going to try to help them and us understand. Here's the hot take.
Speaker 1:When you self-assess, when you assess yourself and in your secret heart, if no one was to know and you really kind of like I'm kind of a big deal, like I'm really good at this, I'm really the best, or I'm better than all these schmoes I don't know about them, I'm kind of the best. When you decide I'm kind of a big deal, guess what? You're not. That's what Paul's going to say. It's real simple, it's actually very kind. It's very helpful of him to tell us that You're not a big deal. You weren't a big deal, you didn't start a big deal. You're not a big deal now.
Speaker 1:Now, some of us, we're kind of coming at it the other way. We think other people are a big deal and we are defective, or there's something wrong with us, or we are less than. And I've got great news for you too. When you self-assess, if you think that you're not very much, here's some great news no one is very much. Men of rank are a lie, like it's all. It's all coming and going. Man, it's going to be gone as quickly as Jim Thorpe was gone, as quickly as Marie Carelli was gone. It's all going to be gone. And so let's listen to Paul. He's going to give us some advice on how to shape our hearts instead.
Speaker 1:1 Corinthians 1.26. For consider, he's telling them. Consider, okay, guys, think about this, reflect on this. Let's reflect on this. For consider your calling brothers, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. He's talking to them. He's saying you guys weren't all that when you first came to know Jesus Christ, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong and the base things of the world and the despised. God has chosen the things that are not so that he may abolish the things that are, so that no flesh may boast before God. He's saying hey, guys, just so you know, no one ever is going to be able to stand before God and say God, isn't it cool that I'm better than all these other people? He said that's never going to work, guys. That's not how you started and that's you're not Like everything you are. God gave you by grace. It was his mercy. He didn't have to do it and yet he still did it, something we need to know about this boast word though this will be really helpful to understand this Boast can also be translated confidence.
Speaker 1:So it's not just something that you would say kind of proudly like this is my team. It's something you put confidence in. It's something like this this is the right one, this is the best one, I'm the best person for the job. I have confidence in X, y, z. That's a boasting when it's not based in Jesus. That Paul's taking issue with here, verse 30,. Here we go. But by his doing, you are in Christ Jesus. That's so dope right there. Oh, my gosh dude, that's a whole sermon right there. You could chew on that for an hour. You could chew on that for an hour. By his doing, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. So that, just as it is written, let him who boasts boast in the Lord. Or maybe a different way to say it let him who is confident, be confident in the Lord.
Speaker 1:So let's consider some of the following things he's saying consider, consider. First, y'all aren't like born nobility. Most of you aren't kings. You weren't born duxing In Paul's time. Remember that wealth is not even as meaningful as the class you were born into. Okay, so even if you had a little bit of money, if you weren't royalty, you still weren't anybody. And he's saying you guys remember you weren't a big deal when God first called you and even if you'll notice people listening you, corinthians, the world kind of considers Christians foolish, base, like, kind of dumb, like why do those Christians even do that? You know God's not really reliable, right? Why would you put so much confidence in him?
Speaker 1:And yet God says there's going to come a day. It's going to seem like that right now. It's going to seem like there's a certain amount of shame that you might be called upon to take from time to time. At the office or at the work site or among your group in class, you might be called to wear the name of Jesus and even some things are going on and you feel called to speak up about it a little bit and there's a shame that comes with that that the world's like what are you doing, man? You mook, get out of here. And that's a call for sure.
Speaker 1:But what God's going to do at some point, he's going to abolish all the things that seem like they're so important, everything that everybody values. Everyone thinks that's a call for sure. But what God's going to do at some point, he's going to abolish all the things that seem like they're so important, everything that everybody values. Everyone thinks that this is the thing. God's going to come along at the end. He's going to make the first last, and the last first is going to say I know you thought that God was unreliable and how can you trust God and why would you make your life about that? But really, god is the only one who is reliable, and that's what he's going to point out at the very end. That's what he's wanting to remind the Corinthians in there that, guys, it's not that you guys are so cool, it's that God is so cool. He's ultimately going to shame those who think they are so wise. They're called.
Speaker 1:Consider your calling. Your calling was to come to know Jesus Christ by grace, through faith, relationally, be a part of his kingdom, walk with Jesus, walk before him and walk with him by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the word of God and of God, you are in Christ. God took you, he picked you and he put you in Christ. Not of your own doing. This is a weird kind of thing. You chose Jesus if you've decided to follow Christ, but in your own doing this is this weird kind of thing. You chose Jesus if you've decided to follow Christ, but in a different, higher way. You didn't choose him, he chose you. He gave you the understanding that you needed him and so, in his mercy, he chose you to reveal to you that, yeah, you do really need me. And as he did that, he was tremendously gracious and put you in Christ. When my wife married me, it was the best day of my life, for sure, and she got into the Carter family.
Speaker 1:In fact, her old identity in some ways doesn't even make sense anymore. If you call her Mackenzie Cantor that was her maiden name that's really not who she is. That's not how she's Mackenzie Carter. She has been for a long time, but that clicked one moment. She went from not being Mackenzie Carter to being in Carter, so to speak. And check it out, dude, like it doesn't matter now. Kenzie never does anything wrong. But if she ever did, it wouldn't remove her from being in Carter, right, it wouldn't like cancel the name. She just she's just in.
Speaker 1:When you've trusted Jesus Christ, you're in. He gives you his name. You are in christ and you can't get out of it because he picked you and he put you in because of his great favor and he did this. Paul's wanted to remind everybody he did it for the child, like he didn't do it for the people that thought they were all that.
Speaker 1:Usually, when you think you're all that, you don't recognize your need for christ. You're like I'm good, what would I need? It's only when, maybe, the trials of life have brought you a little bit low. It's only when you start to reflect. And it's not that you know. You're aware that you're good at things, but you're also aware I'm incredibly needful of a Savior, because even my good things are not good enough.
Speaker 1:When you get there, that's when you begin to hear the call of God. And so God says there's a day when everybody who appears slick, they're going to be stripped down to nothing. Everybody who appears powerful, it's going to be demonstrated that they weren't really that effective at all. Everybody who thinks that they were a big deal on planet earth if they weren't doing it. In Christ, god's going to show this was of no consequence eternally. This didn't really matter because they weren't doing it unto me and for me and that's a big, bold statement, man, what are we saying? We're saying Paul's saying when you found your way to Jesus, most of you, paul says, did that because you were already brought low.
Speaker 1:How does it make sense, then, that now you're trying to lift yourself high in front of each other? You're supposed to be a family. Why are you boasting about all the things that you do or you think, or you're better than this person? That's not the way. The way this is. The way is the same way that you heard the gospel. And here it is. This is a hard lesson, but it's so golden, so golden.
Speaker 1:Lose confidence in yourself. You won't hear the world say this. This is a hot take. Lose confidence in yourself and gain confidence in Jesus. Lose confidence in yourself. That doesn't mean you walk around like I can't do nothing. No, in fact, it's kind of the opposite. You feel so like God is with me, god is so empowering me. Dude, I'm going to run through a troop and leap over a wall. I'll take them on with 10,000. Let's go. I'm ready to fight now because it's got the God of heaven running through my veins. It makes you more confident, but there's also a different sense of but I'm learning to lose confidence in the things that I thought were so important at one point. We're going to probably do we'll probably only get through two of these, but let's start. Four brilliant things to lose confidence in. Four brilliant things to lose confidence in. We're going to connect this to baptism, because we're going to see some folks get baptized in a few minutes and when they're getting baptized, what they're saying is they're publicly saying it, they're getting up in front of everybody. They're saying I have lost confidence number one in my own wisdom. I've lost confidence in my own.
Speaker 1:It takes a certain loss of confidence in your own wisdom to embrace the wisdom of the gospel. What do you say, christ Jesus, who has become to us? Wisdom from God, wisdom from God. Now there's a dope, awesome version of wisdom. That isn't necessarily spiritual wisdom, but it is even spiritual wisdom to seek wisdom. So getting understanding, like going to school, finding out all the stuff you can, that is wise, that is good, that is something we add onto ourselves. But there's also a dark wisdom. The dark wisdom is wisdom that believes its own press and starts to too easily think that it's great. I know everything. See, even when you know a lot, you only know a little. Think about all there is to know. I know a lot about this little thing, but there's all this other stuff. But when you're high on your own wisdom, what does 1 Corinthians 8 say? Knowledge puffs up, it inflates itself. I'm so awesome.
Speaker 1:And God says that's that's messing with how you're approaching life. Rather, lose your own wisdom. Your own wisdom might say that you can save yourself. Your own wisdom might say I'll just be a really good person and that'll be enough. And God says no, the gospel is the wisdom of God. You weren't even wise enough to figure this out. The wisdom of God is you can't save yourself. A savior must be crucified in order to cover you and take the penalty for your sin. He is the wisdom of God and he, if you let go of your own wisdom, he'll go with you and be your wisdom. From God. Oh, baby, it gets better. He says be careful when you're really tempted to glory or boast, or be confident in your own wisdom. Rather glory or be confident in that Jesus has promised to everyone who has trusted him I will be your wisdom and I will go with you. Dude, this is so powerful.
Speaker 1:There's a bazillion questions you're going to have in life. Dude, you don't have the bandwidth to even think through all those questions. You don't know the answer to that. But when you've got Jesus as your wisdom, you have a sovereign shepherd who is just doing the right things around you, leading you the wisest way, even when you don't know the wisest thing, because he's good Jesus. Here's what he does. He doesn't just like tell you wisdom from over there. Jesus puts you in Christ and now you two are one. Do you know that when you're a Christian, you're one with Jesus? And because you're one with him, you have access to all his wisdom? He says I'll never leave or forsake you. I have all wisdom.
Speaker 1:There's a gentleman in my life Some of you know him. His name is Adam Bitts, and, guys, he's a hero. He's like my do-it-yourself carpenter hero, because he can do anything in my mind. I have learned over time I've gained a little bit of wisdom to not try to fix very much at my own house because I'll make it worse. That's what happens with me. Okay, now, even if I call Adam and be like, hey, man, I don't know what I'm doing with this, even if he tries to walk me through it, I'll still probably jack it up. That's how good I am at the stuff. But you know what is awesome, I have access to the stuff.
Speaker 1:That to my friend Adam, and what I do is I say, adam, would you just come over? Dude, I'll hold the hammer for you, but would you just come over and you can do all the things? And guys, there's something different about see, when Adam's in my house, I can do anything. Anything can happen Like it can all go right because I've got access to his personalized wisdom for me. He looks at my thing. He's like Carter, don't do that man. And he gives me personalized wisdom. When you're united with Jesus and he's in your house, you don't need your own hammer wisdom. Okay, you can go to him and say what do we do, jesus? He says, hold the hammer and I'll help and I'll bring you lots of good ideas and good ways to go, because I am your wisdom. Have confidence my friend. Jesus is your wisdom. Jesus is your wisdom.
Speaker 1:Now, if he is my wisdom, then it makes sense that I want to be drawing nearer and nearer to him. So it's more and more likely that I'm going to discern his wisdom. As I'm spending time in God's word, I'm going to see his wisdom out before me. I'm going to be able to sense his wisdom more clearly If I put myself around Jesus-filled people. I'm going to hear the wisdom of God through them, because they are also connected and unified with Jesus. And when I hear his counsel, check this out. When I hear his counsel, I ain't going to wait forever to obey it because it's wisdom. Are we hearing that? I don't know God. I don't know if that's the right way.
Speaker 1:Didoi, Jesus is your wisdom. It is wise. If he's commanded you to do it, it's wise, it's helpful to you. Do it because he is wisdom and he is your wisdom. And if you'll just cooperate, you'll find out. That goes very, very well.
Speaker 1:But it also means I'm one of them going to suspect my own wisdom. I'm going to lose confidence over time in my own wisdom. I wasn't even wise enough to know that I needed Jesus, had he not revealed himself to me. So instead of be all high on my own wisdom well, you don't even know who I am. I know this and that Simmer down. Now. Jesus is your wisdom. So you don't need all that boasting and all that confidence in yourself. Lose confidence in yourself. Surrender to Jesus.
Speaker 1:God, you're the one and I'm going to seek your wisdom daily and then I'm going to believe, I'm going to ask for wisdom. I'm going to believe you're putting wisdom in my spirit, in my heart. You're leading me to the wisest things. And if you're really bold, here's what you do. You ask Jesus, would you give me wisdom on the things I'm doing that are unwise and causing damage? You lay it out before him. You say what's wrong with this picture? Jesus, you are my wisdom from God. What could I be doing wiser? Whoa, watch out, that's a scary prayer, but, baby, you'll start to walk in more and more and more wisdom. So what are we saying? We're saying there's too many questions in life. You cannot answer them all, especially in fallen wisdom. But with Jesus as your wisdom, have confidence, glory and boast in. I have Jesus himself as my wisdom and he goes with me everywhere I go.
Speaker 1:I feel like it would be wisdom for some of you to say amen more than you are, because it would make the preaching better, and then you'd get a better product, as you're sitting through the sermon anyway. So even if you people online, if you just want to shout amen louder, I believe I'll feel it through the screen and this will go better. So four brilliant things to lose confidence in your own wisdom and your own righteousness. That's what the folks getting baptized today have landed upon. Oh, I'm going to lose confidence in my own righteousness, because what I really need is Jesus's righteousness.
Speaker 1:Think about it this way Sin disturbs everything. Sin causes unpeace. If you have a lot of sin in the home, you're going to have a lot of unrest and unpeace in the home. If you have a lot of sin in the nation, you're going to have a lot of disunity in the nation. You're going to have a lot of unpeace in the nation. If you have a lot of sin, you're going to naturally have even as you're born. You're going to have unpeace with God Until someone else comes along and reunites you.
Speaker 1:Now, if you could just stay righteous, that'd be great. You could then keep the peace. If you had your own righteousness, you could just stay righteous with God and it'd be all good. But the problem is you and I don't, and we sin all the time and we constantly start to think I need to get back better with God. I need to get back to good so peace can come, because I feel out of sorts, I feel disharmonious with God because I sinned again and I'm afraid to go to him. Unless someone else is your righteousness, unless, okay, I don't need to keep the peace because someone already resolved the disharmony. Are we hearing this? That? What did Jesus do on the cross? He resolved forever the disharmony. Are we hearing this? That? What did Jesus do on the cross? He resolved forever the disharmony. So, even when you're in disharmony, ah, but devil. Let me remind you, jesus is my righteousness and he doesn't wear off and he doesn't go away.
Speaker 1:Okay, so here's a theological idea for you to chew on. Jesus was your substitute, for sure, on the cross. He died, paid the death penalty in your place, but he wasn't only a substitute. Check this out. Jesus is your eternal credit. It wasn't just a substitute. He's your credit. You were united with him and he has eternal credit. So my wife and kids and I, we went to the water park a month or so back, a couple months, whenever it was, and what they do is they give you a little bracelet. Now, with this bracelet, you get in the park but you can also buy stuff. You can, like go up and just charge a candy bar on your wrist, you have credit. Now you don't have eternal credit because mom and dad don't have eternal credit, but you feel a little bit free like, wow, I just get that and that and that you just get it.
Speaker 1:When we come to Jesus by grace, through faith, and he becomes our righteousness, he has an eternal reservoir, a bottomless reservoir of righteousness. So, no matter what you did wrong, yeah, but Jesus is still right Whatever you did wrong, I recognize that. I recognize it was wrong and I turned from it. But I don't have to keep my own righteousness. I don't have to wait till I do more good to feel better. I can feel better right now because he's such a great savior that I have access to his eternal righteousness. It's just always true, always, always, always, always.
Speaker 1:No matter what you did, it's there. You can't get it off. Some of us think about it like this Okay, let's imagine a glass of water and it's half full and we would say that half full water, that water is my goodness. And then Jesus comes along and tops it off. He's like no, you're not quite enough, so I'm going to give you a little bit more. I'll give him my righteousness. Now you have a full glass. Yeah, that's really not how it works at all. Here's what it is. Your glass is shattered into a thousand pieces. It has nothing. It has negative space. If that were possible, because you didn't just not do good, you did a ton of bad. So you don't have like a half full glass. You're not adding anything. The only thing you added to your salvation was the sin. That was it, and the brokenness and the damage that was done by all that. What Jesus does is he comes along and he gives you.
Speaker 1:I'm going to introduce you to this. This is my Stanley thermos. Some of you heard about these. They're a big deal. I guess I'm not into thermoses, but they're a big deal to thermos people the thermoses, but they're a big deal to thermos people. The reason they are is because they're so tough.
Speaker 1:Okay, there was like a viral moment. Some guy dropped this off of a multi-story building. He was a contractor building something up there. It fell off, it dented a little, but it kept the coffee warm and safe and didn't even break a little bit. And so people are like Stanley, this is the perfect, it's so strong. It's not really so strong. There's something stronger. This is the perfect, it's so strong, it's not really so strong. There's something stronger.
Speaker 1:It's called adamantium. It's not real, but I want you to imagine, instead of I have a glass that Jesus has for us. Let's say this is an adamantium thermos. It is what covered Wolverine's bones, just so you know. Let's say it was melted down and then it was shot into your bones so that your bones are plated with.
Speaker 1:We'll call it Jesus adamantium righteousness. Okay, it's not just something you have anymore, it is something that is in you and it doesn't go away. So, no matter what comes, no matter what accusations come at you boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, dude, it can't break you because, no, no, you don't get it. I've got permanent adamantium righteousness. I can't even affect it, it is on me, no matter what I do. That's what it means that Jesus is my righteousness.
Speaker 1:So if you say, well, you know, I feel like I just feel bad because I didn't pray enough and maybe that's why this bad thing happened You're thinking about it like it's your righteousness that you have. No, you have Jesus's righteousness. Well, I'm afraid you know I didn't move fast enough and so that's why this. No, you have Jesus's righteousness. I'm really stressed out and I feel like God is punishing me. No, no, no, he's not punishing you. You have Jesus's righteousness. Jesus was already punished for you. You don't have to worry about that.
Speaker 1:I feel like if I could just do more, if I could just keep more people happy, then I'd finally feel good. No, you're not getting it. Feel good now because you have Jesus's righteousness. Now you don't need to go get it. It's in your bones, baby. It ain't going away, it's unbreakable and it's untakeable. It is there.
Speaker 1:So, whatever it is that bugs you during the day and says, yeah, but you didn't do this, or you didn't do this, or you didn't do this, you got to like look that thing in the eye and grab it by the neck and say, maybe you don't know who I'm united with. I'm united with Jesus, and his adamantium blade's about to go through your neck, because I don't receive condemnation anymore, because I have the righteousness of God in Jesus and it's mine because he is mine. Come on somebody. Yeah, you guys got it at the end. Man, good job, that was good. Hey, thanks for tuning in today. If God has used the ministry of Fierce in your life, please consider paying it forward with a financial gift at fiercechurchgive. If you want more resources like this, check out all of our channels at YouTube, tiktok and Instagram. Like this, check out all of our channels at YouTube, tiktok and Instagram. Check out our podcasts and check out our blog at fiercechurchblog. If you haven't already, please consider sharing this to help people you know take their next step. We'll see you next time.