Hear: Worthless Doing + Priceless Knowing
On Sunday I was privileged again to preach in Wilsonville at Canyon Creek Church . This time the text was Philippians 3:1-11 , and my title: "Worthless Doing and Priceless Knowing ."
Asked to give a little synopsis for the church bulletin, this is what I wrote:
We have natural bent towards religion. That is, we tend to find our identity by what we do, rather than in Who God is. It is easy to think we have done so much on our own, for our "gains" are clearly seen by looking at our own religious resumes and feeble good works — especially by comparison with others. Yet, in the Gospel, the ground has become level for everyone, from the talented and motivated to the least gifted. The common thread is God’s grace in Christ, and our response in humility (looking out to Him, not into ourselves).
The Gospel of God’s glorious grace is the only means God has designed to set us free from empty religion. We no longer come to our Creator as ones holding our great accomplishments in our hands. Instead, we along with the Apostle Paul, can rightly say, "whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ" ( Phil. 3:7 ). Our empty doing is traded for priceless knowing. We now can know, love and enjoy Jesus our Savior as the supreme object of our affections and the true desire of our hearts. Does that describe your trajectory?
Knowing I would be speaking to (almost?) all Christians, I was quick to remind us that the Gospel is for Christians to. We never outgrow our need for Christ, and the good news of His glorious grace. Aimed at helping us all discover grace-renewal in the God of all grace, and be people who "worship in the Spirit" ( Phil. 3:3 ), I wanted us to see that knowing, loving and enjoying our Savior above all else is the goal of God in the Gospel.
We can truly say to Jesus, "Nothing compares to the greatness of knowing You."
Listen below [or download]:
September 11th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Did you forget the listen link…?
September 12th, 2008 at 6:25 am
Zach,
The player may be difficult to see (gray right below “Listen”). Also added a download option. Note that the first few minutes have a low volume, so may have to crank it up!
September 12th, 2008 at 10:38 am
I didn’t have that on my screen, I clicked all over the place. Thanks for the link.