Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / August 12, 2018 | Game Changing Moves - Growing Small - Timm Collins

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August 12, 2018 | Game Changing Moves - Growing Small - Timm Collins · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Good morning, Topeka Bible Church.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: How are you?
0:06
SPEAKER_00: Glad to hear it.
0:07
SPEAKER_00: You uh I certainly judge your level of spirituality based on whether or not you clapped along with that song.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna tell you which way I judge it.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: Could go either way, right?
0:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh you're not allowed to have fun in church.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: You should have learned that by now.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh welcome.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Mulvey.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to College Avenue Building.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: Those of you who are tuning in from across the street, um we are glad that you're here.
0:36
SPEAKER_00: Today we are gonna wrap up a sermon series called Game Changing Moves.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: And the premise for this series has been that in uh across uh all different uh types of sports, uh you may be behind, you may have your back up against the wall, but there can be a game-changing move that can position you for success.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh we know that football season is right here, right?
0:59
SPEAKER_00: Somebody knows it for sure.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: I think they heard that in the College Avenue building.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm a football guy, so I'm excited that football's here.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: It can be, you know, one Hail Mary, it can be one uh end run, it can be anything that can turn the turn the uh change the tide of the game.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: Baseball, it can be one at bat.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: Um basketball, it can be one possession, you know, hockey, soccer, it can be one shot on net.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: Um curling, I'm sure there's some kind of an analogy.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what it is.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: I don't now I'm gonna hear from the curling people, right?
1:38
SPEAKER_00: Uh so yeah, you can email somebody else and let them know.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: Uh so today we're gonna talk about a game-changing move that can take place in your life, specifically as we think about spiritual growth and how we grow spiritually.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and it's not that I want to redefine spiritual growth because I think most of us kind of understand the elements that are involved, but I think maybe we leave some things out or really one specific element that's involved that can kind of hijack the whole thing.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: So we don't want to redefine as much as we want to refocus and clarify some things that maybe you know, and if you're like me, maybe you uh forget these things uh at times.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh the truth is that most of us uh would probably define spiritual growth in the same way.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: Uh, this is the way that I was taught to define it as having been a pastor for you know a couple decades now and having grown up in church my whole life.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: Um I was really taught that there are kind of two elements to spiritual growth, and and again, maybe you would track along with me on this.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: One is that we would have knowledge, in other words, we would know what it is that we're supposed to do and what it is that we're not supposed to do, and you know what there's some things that we need to know before we do anything, and so uh where do we get our knowledge from?
2:50
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's a pretty important question to ask in a church service.
2:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh where do we get our knowledge from?
2:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, some some answers you have to nail, and that's one of them.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh so yeah, the Bible is a really important source for us.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: In fact, we believe it's the authoritative source for us, and maybe you're not a church person, maybe you're not a God person, but this is what you wandered into, and I have some feeling that you already had figured that out by now, that we are a church and this is what we believe, and we don't demand that you believe what we believe, but we're gonna talk about what we believe because we can.
3:21
SPEAKER_00: Uh so it's knowledge, but then it's also there's another element to it, which is obedience, which is that we're not just here for information, we're not just here to learn some things, we're here because we want our lives to change, right?
3:34
SPEAKER_00: We want to grow closer to God, we want to grow further away from our sin.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: And and I will I will tell you that throughout this morning's message, uh, I'm never gonna depart from that, I'm never gonna disagree with that.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: It's not that anything that I'm gonna say would contradict that in any way.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: That is true.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: In fact, many of you have probably heard a sermon at some point in your life that had to do with the disconnect between these two things, haven't you?
3:59
SPEAKER_00: That it's not just about knowledge, it's also about application or obedience or behavior, or however you would say that.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: That learning just for the sake of learning doesn't necessarily move you closer to God.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands, but I wonder how many of you have heard something like that.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: You've heard a sermon like that over the years.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: In fact, uh some of you may have heard me talk about that before, because that's a really important point.
4:23
SPEAKER_00: It's a really important subject.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: So then what happens is you kind of get these two elements that begin to creep into this mindset.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: If you believe that knowledge and obedience is all there is to spiritual growth, if that's just, I mean, that's it, lock, stock, and barrel, don't add anything else to it, we don't need to know anything else.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: This is what we have to have knowledge and obedience, then you get two things that kind of creep in.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
4:48
SPEAKER_00: One is what I call information intake, which is we just focus on getting as much information as we can get.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: Again, not a bad thing.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, in our culture with technology and the things that are available to you, uh, you have at your fingertips, quite literally, you have at your fingertips, if you have the internet on your phone or at home or at work or wherever, maybe not at work, you shouldn't do this at work, maybe.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you can, I don't know.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: Uh you have information at your fingertips that Christians for for, you know, hundreds and thousands of years would have loved to have had access to.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: Um the the interesting thing about uh preaching or pastoring in this age is that you you know it they can listen to anybody.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: They can listen to the best guys every week.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: You can listen to the best guys' sermons.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: Used to be that you could listen to Charles Stanley, and that was about it, right?
5:39
SPEAKER_00: Well, podcasts now you can listen to any sermon that you want to listen to.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: So that's not a bad thing.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: Information intake can be a great thing.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: And then this other thing, which some of you have already read, and you're kind of wondering where am I going with this?
5:54
SPEAKER_00: Behavior modification doesn't sound very fun, does it?
5:57
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't sound very spiritual.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: In fact, you may be thinking something like what I would think if I uh were sitting and I heard someone bring this up.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: I would think to myself, well, I'm not a third grader.
6:09
SPEAKER_00: That sounds like something you would do with third graders.
6:12
SPEAKER_00: Or I'm not a dog.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: I don't need behavior modification.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: We we can go a little deeper than that, right?
6:18
SPEAKER_00: But if we're not careful, we begin to define spirituality in and spiritual growth in these two terms and only in these two terms.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: Not saying these things aren't important, but this is not all that there is to it, and I think I can prove that to you because I'm gonna tell you what happens.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: In my life, there are some things that I struggle with spiritually, and you'd probably tell the same story.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: There are things that I struggle with spiritually, but there are also things that I don't struggle with spiritually.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: I have some weaknesses, but I also have some strengths.
6:51
SPEAKER_00: There are some things that I see other people struggle with, and I think, well, thank God, that's not my burden.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: I have a different burden.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: That one, you know, I there are some areas where I don't spend as much time focused because I read what the Bible says and I do it, and that's it.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: And and most of us would probably tell a similar story to that.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: There are just some areas where that I'm stronger than others.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: So for just a second, when we talk about spiritual growth, I want to talk to about a talk about your response and my response when we're in some of those areas where we're stronger, where we feel like we have grown, where we feel like we're kind of getting it together.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, there are some losses that happen if we're not careful.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: If we're only focused on these two things, there are some losses that happen.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: Um this is the first one.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: It's a loss of what I call the loss of humility.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh and the definitions, you know, here in yellow.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh what happens if I lose humility?
7:40
SPEAKER_00: What happens when I get it right?
7:42
SPEAKER_00: I become proud of it, right?
7:44
SPEAKER_00: It's not just that I get it right, but I'm I'm I'm proud of getting it right.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm I'm pretty good at that.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know if you guys knew this, but I'm uh when it comes to that area, I'm I'm I'm I'm really raising our game, some.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: In fact, uh it's no doubt I really can understand why God would, you know, have called me to be a Christian because He needed me to be an example in this area, right?
8:14
SPEAKER_00: That's that's really that stinks, right?
8:16
SPEAKER_00: That's smelly.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: We don't like, no, we don't want to talk about that.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: But if we're not careful, we can, and again, I'm not saying that that this happens all the time, but if we're not careful, we can begin to drift in this direction.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: We can have these things, these thoughts can be like flares that kind of flash across our soul, and we, oh, that was horrible.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: I don't need to think that way, but you may think that way again in a few days or a few hours or a few minutes.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: What's the second loss that happens in my strengths?
8:46
SPEAKER_00: I can have a loss of stability.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: I call this a loss of stability because it can undermine your standing before God and the way you see the world and it kind of throw you off balance because I I when I have a loss of stability, I pay attention to how often others get it right, or say it with me, I pay attention to how often others get it.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: You already know where I'm going with this, don't you?
9:09
SPEAKER_00: Because we go there together.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: I pay attention to how often they get it right, I pay attention to how often they get it wrong, and I compare notes.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm seeing how I do it this, but I'm also seeing how you do it this.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: And I'm telling you, comparison is the thief of joy.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: Comparison is the thief of joy.
9:29
SPEAKER_00: Because it really all matters.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: Who are you comparing to?
9:35
SPEAKER_00: You know that there are some people that you compare favorably to.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: You know there are some people that you don't compare favorably to.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: And what happens?
9:42
SPEAKER_00: Suddenly your stability is based on who you're comparing yourself to at the moment.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: And then I say something silly like, why don't you just compare yourself to Jesus and oh my goodness, here we all go, right?
9:52
SPEAKER_00: Loss of stability because I thought I was doing pretty good in that area.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: I thought it was up to me, and I thought I had put the ball through the net.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: I thought I was doing pretty good.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: What's the third loss?
10:03
SPEAKER_00: It's a loss of transparency.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: A loss of transparency, which really means I don't want to admit that I'm wrong.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: I don't want other people to know that I'm wrong.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: I certainly don't want to confess to someone or apologize to someone that I've sinned against.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: So it becomes a game of let's hide it.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: Let's not tell anyone, because listen, I think I already referred up here to the fact that in this area I'm kind of the standard bearer.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: So if I actually make a mistake in that area, I can't go and let everybody else down because everybody's depending on me, right?
10:41
SPEAKER_00: You can kind of innocently drift into these areas, but these areas themselves are not innocent.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: And the piece that's missing in this is the gospel.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: See, the gospel's not about performance.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the whole point of the gospel, as Paul says repeatedly in the openings of his letters, is that it's the gospel of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ, the gospel of grace, the gospel of grace, and grace is not about performance.
11:12
SPEAKER_00: Grace, in fact, is about the opposite of performance.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: Paul wrote some words like this in Galatians chapter 3.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: This is what he says.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: Oh, foolish Galatians, who has what's the word?
11:27
SPEAKER_00: Bewitched.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: You mean that word's in the Bible?
11:31
SPEAKER_00: It really is.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: Who charmed you?
11:35
SPEAKER_00: Who fooled you?
11:36
SPEAKER_00: It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: Hey guys, you know this.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: You got this.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: You understood the gospel, that's how you became a believer.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: Because the gospel, understanding, acknowledging the gospel, putting your faith in the gospel message is how you become a believer.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: You put your faith in Jesus Christ and in his sacrifice on the cross for your sins, not for his sins, not for my sins.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: That's how I that's what I put my faith in.
12:07
SPEAKER_00: That's how we get there.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: But he keeps going.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you only this.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law?
12:17
SPEAKER_00: Or by hearing with faith?
12:18
SPEAKER_00: No, it's a capital S, so it's the Holy Spirit.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: So what he's saying is, let's review.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: Because we're thinking in terms of, you know, we know that the gospel is kind of how we get into Christianity, but once I become a Christian, once I become a believer, and I want to start growing in discipleship and growing in obedience and growing and following God and learning about God, the gospel's for somebody like the you know, that's that's rudimentary.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: That's the entry fee.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: That's how you get into Christianity, but you move beyond the gospel.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: You grow past the gospel.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, wait a second.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: So you started off, you you received the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
13:01
SPEAKER_00: Which was it?
13:03
SPEAKER_00: We would say hearing with faith, right?
13:05
SPEAKER_00: We know that that's the answer.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so then he he gives us this gut punch.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: Having begun by the Spirit, you now be imperfected by the flesh.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: Ouch, Paul?
13:20
SPEAKER_00: That's personal.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: Why would you say that's not very encouraging?
13:24
SPEAKER_00: Why would you say such a thing?
13:26
SPEAKER_00: Because you and I need to be reminded that the gospel isn't just how you come into Christianity, the gospel is Christianity.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: A continual knowledge of the fact that you and I need Jesus Christ desperately, that we're sinners every day on our good days and on our bad days, right?
13:47
SPEAKER_00: Shake your head like this, because it's true, whether you want it to be or not.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: It's true.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: That's not an asking for agreement, that's just stating a fact.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: This is huge.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: Having begun by the Spirit, are you now So do you think that you got into this thing through faith and through not through any kind of action that you took or through something that you've done, but you now think that you're being perfected?
14:11
SPEAKER_00: Does that sound like spiritual growth?
14:12
SPEAKER_00: It does to me.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: You're maturing some other way?
14:18
SPEAKER_00: That suddenly it's about your effort and about how faithful you are and about how much you know and about how much you obey.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: You think that's the whole story?
14:26
SPEAKER_00: Those things are important.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: But do you think that's all that there is?
14:30
SPEAKER_00: Tim Keller, um a little over a month ago, tweeted this out, and I I robbed it because I'm not as smart as Tim Keller.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: And all God's people said, Amen.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is not the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: It is that, but it's not more than that.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: It's more than that.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is not the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom, but the way we make all progress in the kingdom.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: It's not something you grow past, it's not something you move past, it's not something you go beyond.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: It is the foundation that all of these other things rest on information, obedience.
15:15
SPEAKER_00: Great, fine.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: You need those things.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: Your spiritual growth will not be complete without those things.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: But they rest firmly on the foundation of the gospel, which is the finished work of Jesus Christ for you and I, not because of anything that we've done, but because of how good God is.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: So if you brought your Bible with you, I want you to turn with me to the book of Luke, chapter 18.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's gonna be probably two-thirds of the way through your Bible if you're not a Bible person.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: Also, I think we don't do this often enough in church.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh, just use a table of contents and figure out what page it's on and go there.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: Because not everybody can find all these uh books in the Bible.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: Matthew, Mark, Luke, this is one of the Gospels.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh really interesting time in Jesus' ministry.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: The Gospels are the story of Jesus Christ and of his coming here and his teaching and his ultimately his sacrifice for you and I.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: Um Jesus taught a lot in parables.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: So a parable, I think everyone knows this, but for the sake of clarity, a parable is a story that's not true, but it could be true.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: And uh people teach in parables, illustrations are forms of parables.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: Uh so parables are a really powerful way to teach.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was a master teacher, and as we're gonna see in a little while, he was able to pack so much content and so much knowledge and so much truth into just a couple of sentences because he used a parable.
16:34
SPEAKER_00: In fact, uh, from the the spoken words that we have recorded of what Jesus said, about 35% of what he spoke, he spoke in parables, at least what we see.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh and this is one of the final parables.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: In fact, uh, so if you rewind, don't turn there.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: But if you were to rewind back to Luke chapter 9, you'll find that Jesus started a journey toward Jerusalem.
16:57
SPEAKER_00: And this was the final Passover.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: He was going there for the feast of the Passover, and he's journeying there with a group of pilgrims.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: He started in Galilee, started to work his way south toward Jerusalem.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: Uh, in fact, in Luke chapter 9, I don't know if you remember this.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you do remember this verse, but you didn't know where it was.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: There's a verse that says, He turned his face toward Jerusalem.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: He set his face like a flint toward Jerusalem.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: That's in Luke 9.
17:19
SPEAKER_00: So then obviously, over these next few chapters, you just have these teachings of Jesus along the way as they're making this journey.
17:25
SPEAKER_00: He's teaching about the kingdom.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: And what we come to in Luke 18 is that they're really close to Jerusalem.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: They're in Samaria now, and Jesus is teaching.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: These, this probably, probably this group of pilgrims has grown quite a bit.
17:38
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and he is the master teacher.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: He's at the end of his ministry, so he had, you know, some fame and some notoriety, some popularity.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: So he's teaching these folks, and he gives us two parables, and this one that we're gonna read is one of these parables about what our posture should be when we approach God.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: What should be our posture when we approach God?
17:57
SPEAKER_00: In other words, how should we view ourselves in light of who God is, and how should we view God in light of who we are?
18:04
SPEAKER_00: So he gives us this parable, uh, really interesting stuff.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: We're just gonna kind of jump into the beginning of it.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 18, verse 9.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: Uh Luke, the apostle that wrote this gospel, says that Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: Now, commentators aren't all united on this, but there are certainly some who would say this, and I would agree.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think that there were Pharisees present when he told this story.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if you jump back to Luke 16, you see that there were Pharisees present then.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: So I don't think there's any reason to believe that there weren't Pharisees listening in.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: But like it or not, this was a group of religious people that he told this story to.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: But it's not just any kind of religious people, it was people who trusted in themselves that they were what?
19:00
SPEAKER_00: Righteous because of their own actions, is what that means.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: I trusted that because I have knowledge, I have information intake, and I have modified my behavior, I'm good.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: I got this thing under control.
19:15
SPEAKER_00: I have confidence, but my confidence is not in God.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: My confidence is in me.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: And because of that, they treated others with what's this word?
19:25
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we don't all agree about what spiritual growth looks like.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we would use some different terminology, some different words to describe it.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: Can we all agree that if you're viewing others with contempt, you're not growing spiritually?
19:39
SPEAKER_00: Can we all get on board with that?
19:40
SPEAKER_00: If you can't get on board with that, don't say it out loud.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm just telling you, most of us are just thinking, yeah, that's not good at all.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: That's not growth, that's not spiritual depth.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: That's not you like that's the opposite of what we should be doing.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: You're exactly right.
19:58
SPEAKER_00: Here's his parable.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: Verse 10.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: This is known as the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: You've probably read it before.
20:12
SPEAKER_00: You've heard it before.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: I've preached it before.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: It's a great parable, a powerful parable.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: This sets the stage for it.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: Pharisees were known for being righteous.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: Listen, when it comes to information and obedience, they were at the top of the heap.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: They were known for their information.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: In fact, they were known as interpreters of the law because they were so good.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: They knew so much about Scripture.
20:43
SPEAKER_00: So information wasn't a problem for them.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: But also, as we're going to find out in just a couple of verses, obedience also wasn't a problem for them.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just that they knew, it's that they had changed their behavior based on what they knew and what they had learned.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: So who was the other guy?
21:00
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisee and the tax collector.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: Who's that guy?
21:08
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you have this gro this spiritual spectrum or however you want to describe it, if the Pharisees are over here, if you do a 180 and go all the way to the other end of the spectrum, that's the tax collector.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: So here's what I want to ask you.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: I want you to imagine with me that America was conquered.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: We were invaded and conquered by some overwhelming force.
21:25
SPEAKER_00: They invaded us.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: And what they did was they went to the IRS and they eliminated the IRS and they said, here's what we're going to do.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: From now on, we're going to put out tax collecting to bid.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: And whoever gives us the highest bid, you think you can turn in the most taxes?
21:38
SPEAKER_00: We're going to give you the job.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: And you go collect taxes from your fellow countrymen, and anything above and beyond what you told us you were going to collect for us, you get to keep.
21:48
SPEAKER_00: Now I know you probably hate the IRS right now.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: How much more would you hate it if that happened?
21:59
unknown: How?
22:00
SPEAKER_00: How much would you view those people as sellouts?
22:03
SPEAKER_00: Wait a second.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: Invading army?
22:06
SPEAKER_00: You took their side?
22:07
SPEAKER_00: And you've basically turned in the mafia and you're extorting us?
22:10
SPEAKER_00: This is like organized crime stuff.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing?
22:14
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: Pharisee and a tax collector.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisee, let's talk about him first, was standing by himself.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: Why?
22:27
SPEAKER_00: He was a cut above everybody else.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: Why not stand by yourself?
22:31
SPEAKER_00: When you stand apart, then stand apart, right?
22:35
SPEAKER_00: Standing by himself, he prayed thus, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: That sounds horrible, doesn't it?
22:53
SPEAKER_00: But have there been times when you and I have had those flares shoot across our spirit?
22:59
SPEAKER_00: Now, it's one thing to say, God, thank you that you've spared me from some things.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that you've kept me more out of the fire than I have been.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: I get that it's a different posture.
23:09
SPEAKER_00: But to say, God, I thank you, I'm not like.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: In fact, some commentators that I read said, and this just cracks me up, that they believe that as he started this list, he actually was leading up to.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: In other words, he already had this guy in mind.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, that sounds like a tax collector to me.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: Unjust, that also sounds like a tax collector.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: Adulterer, not a stretch of the imagination.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: And then he points to him.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: Isn't this awesome?
23:40
SPEAKER_00: Or even like this tax collector.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: I thank you that I'm not like these other folks.
23:46
SPEAKER_00: Hey, listen.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: Strictly speaking, it's very likely that everything that he said was true.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: So if this is our only method for gauging spiritual growth, we're in trouble.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: Strictly speaking, it was probably true.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: Now, again, this is not a true story.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: It didn't actually happen, but it's not a stretch of the imagination to say that he would be telling the truth.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: He goes on, verse 12.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: I fast twice a week.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: I fast twice a week.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: Well, originally the law prescribed one fast a year, the Day of Atonement.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: The Jews added a couple through history, but even three, if you let's say three a year, he's fasting twice a week.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: Listen, he didn't just have information.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: He had obedience.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: That's a big deal.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: And I give tithes of all that I get.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: They weren't required to tithe on everything that they received.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: That's not what the law prescribed.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: He was going above and beyond.
24:51
SPEAKER_00: And it is as if he's saying to God, God, I have seen the scoreboard, and I'm doing pretty good.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: You're welcome.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm on your team, God.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: You got a superstar when you got me.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: It is funny, right?
25:12
SPEAKER_00: This is the posture.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: What about the tax collector?
25:24
SPEAKER_00: But he beat his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, sinner.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: I think this sentence reveals two things.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: First of all, the power of teaching in parables.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: And second of all, the absolute brilliance of Jesus as a master teacher, of what he communicated in this one sentence about us and about God through the eyes of someone that we're not supposed to talk about.
25:54
SPEAKER_00: Through the eyes of an outcast, this is what he communicates.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: The first thing he communicates is our view towards ourselves.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: This is what it says.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: Let's walk through it.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: The tax collector was standing where?
26:05
SPEAKER_00: Come on, say it like you mean it.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: Far off.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: He was standing far off.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: Why?
26:10
SPEAKER_00: Because he probably wasn't allowed in the court uh past the court of Gentiles.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: He was an outcast.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: You don't come close to God.
26:18
SPEAKER_00: You don't deserve to be close to God, and he wouldn't argue with you.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: He just stood far off.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: I don't deserve to be anywhere near God.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: He wouldn't even lift his eyes to heaven.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: Does that sound like shame?
26:30
SPEAKER_00: Sounds like shame to me.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: And then this one.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: He beat his breast.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: In many cultures, beating your breast is a sign of grieving over death.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: And I tell you what I think.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: I think this guy was grieving the death of his character and his integrity.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: I think he knew.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: He knew that he was a sellout.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: And I think deep down you and I know that we still sell out God when it's convenient.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to admit it.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: And we certainly wouldn't say it out loud.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: But in our worst moments, we do things and think things and say things that we hope nobody ever finds out.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: And we think the solution is to hide those things and to pretend that those things didn't exist.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: He has a different view of himself.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: He also has a different view of God, and these are the two elements that you need if you're going to understand spiritual growth.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: It's not just about how you view yourself, it's also about how you view God.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: So he said, say it with me, God be merciful to me.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: Stop right there.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: God be merciful to me.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: If you look in the original language, it literally says, God be propitiated towards me, and you think, well, that doesn't mean anything to me.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: It's this big theological word.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: It basically means God be satisfied by me.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: However, I've already admitted you're not going to be satisfied by me.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: Listen.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: He was probably days away from going to the cross.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: And he said this.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: God, somehow, my prayer is that you would be propitiated by me.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: I know that I know you're not satisfied by me.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: I know that I don't deserve to be anywhere near you.
28:21
SPEAKER_00: But my posture is that somehow, someway, it has to be outside of me because I can't do it.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: Somehow there would be a propitiation.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: There would be a sacrifice.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: There would be something that would eliminate this shame and this sin and this guilt that I feel.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: God, somehow, if there's something good that's going to happen here, it's not in me and my posture.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: It's in you and your posture.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: So, God, somehow, be merciful to me because mercy's not deserved.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: And I'm admitting that I don't deserve it, but man, do I need it.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: God, be merciful to me.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: God, be propitiated to me.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: What's the last two words?
29:02
SPEAKER_00: A sinner.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: In the original is the sinner.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm not focused on that guy or Doug or her in the back.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: Just right here.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm focused on me.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: I'm the sinner.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: On my best day, I deserve nothing from God.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: On my best day, if there's anything good in my life, it comes from Jesus Christ.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: There will never be a day, you've heard me say this before.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: This is why I say it.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: There will never be a day that you don't desperately need Jesus Christ.
29:42
SPEAKER_00: There will be a lot of days when you feel like you don't need him.
29:45
SPEAKER_00: But there will never be a day when that's true.
29:49
SPEAKER_00: We can't live without Jesus.
29:52
SPEAKER_00: And it's foolish to try.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: Even when we think we have it all together, especially when we feel like we have it all together.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: So here's what I think spiritual growth looks like.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: This is not mine.
30:05
SPEAKER_00: This comes from we did a Bible study in our Sunday school class called the Gospel-Centered Life, and I saw this diagram there, and it just really stuck with me.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: The spiritual growth looks like this.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: Now I need everybody to dial in because we're finishing up here, but you're gonna don't mishear anything that I say, okay?
30:22
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual growth looks like this: that we grow in our knowledge and our understanding and our realization of how sinful that we are.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: Now, hopefully spiritual growth means you're sinning less, right?
30:35
SPEAKER_00: Shake your head till it rattles.
30:38
SPEAKER_00: That's a really important point.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: We're not saying that spiritual growth means you sin more.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully you sin less, but simultaneously you're becoming more and more aware of how sinful you actually are.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: In other words, as you're growing spiritually, I'm less impressed with me than I used to be.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: At this point, I'm more surprised when I don't sin.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, really?
31:00
SPEAKER_00: Somebody write that down.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: That's a big deal, right?
31:03
SPEAKER_00: My wife's laughing pretty good over that one.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: My sin, I'm growing in the knowledge of how sinful that I am.
31:10
SPEAKER_00: That's my posture towards me.
31:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm not more impressed with myself, I'm less impressed with myself.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: What's the other half of the equation?
31:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm also becoming more and more aware of how holy God is.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: See, I knew there was a gap.
31:24
SPEAKER_00: When I was saved, I knew there was a gap between God and I.
31:28
SPEAKER_00: But spiritual growth causes me to understand just how wide that gap really is.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: And as I have more information intake and obedience, which are both good things, but in light of the gospel, this is what's happening.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm growing in my understanding, my realization of how sinful I am.
31:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm growing in my understanding of God's holiness and how holy God is.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: How do you bridge the gap between my sinfulness and God's holiness?
31:54
SPEAKER_00: Can somebody tell me?
31:57
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that what the cross does?
32:00
SPEAKER_00: Okay, here's the clincher.
32:03
SPEAKER_00: Because maybe some of you are looking at this and you're going, I'm not too sure about this.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: I think you made this up.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: I don't have that diagram in my Bible.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: I don't think this is accurate.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: To me, this is the clincher.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: Here's what spiritual growth looks like.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: The cross just gets bigger.
32:23
SPEAKER_00: That sounds like spiritual growth to me.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: I become more aware.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: Even as I hopefully am sinning less, I'm becoming more aware of the vast gulf that God spanned.
32:39
SPEAKER_00: In light of how I didn't know how sinful I was, and I didn't realize how holy God was.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: And I become more in awe of the cross, and we're about to celebrate communion, and every time communion happens, I just break inside because I think to myself, the God of the universe provided his perfect son to die on a cross because I'm so sinful.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: And I just weep.
33:01
SPEAKER_00: And every time they strap a microphone on me and they say, Go up and preach, I get excited.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: Why?
33:09
SPEAKER_00: This is a big deal.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it may be the best, the biggest deal you and I will ever hear about.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: In fact, this might not just be good news.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: This might be the best news that you and I will ever hear.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: And it may be exactly what your heart has been longing to hear.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: And you think to yourself, Tim, I've been saved for 15 years or 20 years or 50 years.
33:30
SPEAKER_00: You haven't outgrown this.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: You never will.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: You want to know what we're gonna do when we get to eternity?
33:39
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna celebrate the great big cross.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna go, I didn't realize it was that big.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: I was I was growing in my understanding of how big the cross was, of how big the gap was.
33:53
SPEAKER_00: God, I had no idea it was that big.
33:56
SPEAKER_00: I hear this all the time.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: I heard it recently, somebody said how scandalous it was that Jesus hung out with like filthy sinners.
34:06
SPEAKER_00: And I get it.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: I know that scripture says that, and I know that it was controversial.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: But do you know what the first thought was that flashed through my mind when I heard that?
34:14
SPEAKER_00: It's scandalous that Jesus hung out with filthy sinners, and I immediately thought, isn't that all there was?
34:22
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't trying to be smart or funny, I thought it to myself.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that all there was?
34:30
SPEAKER_00: Who else was he gonna hang out with?
34:34
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I love you, but you're one of them.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: That's not the end of the story, though.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: The God of the universe loved you enough to send his son to die on your behalf.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't it make you want to learn more about him?
34:59
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't it make you want to dig in and get some information?
35:02
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't it make you want to obey?
35:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: That's a God that I want to connect with.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: That's a God that I want to become more like, but not out of guilt and not out of performance.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: We do it for a different reason.
35:15
SPEAKER_00: So this is how he wraps up the parable.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: Why?
35:22
SPEAKER_00: Because everyone who humbles who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: This is why Psalm 138.6 says, For the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.
35:37
SPEAKER_00: I grabbed another tweet.
35:39
SPEAKER_00: This is from Paul David Tripp.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: Corporate worship thrives at the intersection of grief over sin.
35:45
SPEAKER_00: It's one part of it, and celebration over the forgiving and transforming power of God's grace.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: Because we are quite literally worshiping something that is unique in the universe and it's unique to human experience.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: It's the most powerful force that we can reckon with.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: So what do we do?
36:04
SPEAKER_00: How do we apply this quickly?
36:05
SPEAKER_00: Three things.
36:06
SPEAKER_00: Number one, let's not lose our humility.
36:08
SPEAKER_00: Let's not use our humility.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean, Tim?
36:10
SPEAKER_00: Don't take yourself too seriously.
36:12
SPEAKER_00: Don't become too impressed with yourself.
36:15
SPEAKER_00: Try not to take credit for things.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: There may be good things that happen.
36:19
SPEAKER_00: Maybe good things that happen in your life.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you are obeying, maybe you are growing.
36:23
SPEAKER_00: Just because of God.
36:25
SPEAKER_00: It's just because of God.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: Second, don't lose your stability.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: Listen.
36:29
SPEAKER_00: Look at me.
36:30
SPEAKER_00: Do yourself a favor and quit comparing yourself to other people.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: Good or bad, it's just not going to go well.
36:38
SPEAKER_00: Just figure out are you making progress in your own journey?
36:41
SPEAKER_00: Are you moving in the right direction in your own journey?
36:45
SPEAKER_00: Third thing.
36:47
SPEAKER_00: It's transparency.
36:48
SPEAKER_00: Don't lose your transparency.
36:50
SPEAKER_00: When you get it wrong, own it.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: Say I'm sorry.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: Say I was wrong.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: Say I'm a knucklehead.
37:01
SPEAKER_00: Come out and say, listen, I'm a sinner.
37:03
SPEAKER_00: News flash.
37:06
SPEAKER_00: Here's a chance for God's grace to be operational again.
37:09
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying we have to, you know, publicize our sins and we don't have we don't need public confession or anything like that, but you know who you need to be talking to about this stuff.
37:22
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna celebrate communion.
37:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pray, and the men are gonna come forward and we're gonna serve communion.
37:29
SPEAKER_00: And what I really want, we're just gonna take a minute or two.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: This is a time to reflect.
37:35
SPEAKER_00: Maybe close your eyes, listen to the music.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: Think through this sacrifice that God made on our behalf.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: Think through all that's been made available to you and I.
37:46
SPEAKER_00: By faith, not by works, not by performance.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: We've begun by the Spirit, but guess what?
37:53
SPEAKER_00: We're being perfected by the Spirit as well.
37:55
SPEAKER_00: That's the business the Spirit's in, and He's really good at it.
37:59
SPEAKER_00: So he's just cooperate with Him.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you so much for your blessings, for all that you do for us.
38:06
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for Jesus.
38:07
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the cross.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: Uh thank you that you made it possible for us to have communion with you.
38:12
SPEAKER_00: I pray now that as we take the bread and the cup, um, that we'll be reminded of the body of Jesus that was broken and the blood that was spilled out on our behalf, and that we would do this today in remembrance of Jesus.
38:25
SPEAKER_00: It's in his name that we pray.
38:27
SPEAKER_00: Amen.