Page1 SERIES: Death to Selfie [Freedom from the Flesh] SERMON: Why am I here? From Passiveness to Mission SCRIPTURE: Genesis 12:1-4; 25:19-34; John 18:33-40 FLESH: We ve been looking at the freedom we have in the Holy Spirit, who is God actually living inside Christians and transforming us into the very likeness of Jesus Christ. And that s where we have to pause for a second. There seems to be a lot of confusion over Christianity even inside the church. Christianity does not teach you how to live a better life, but how to die a better death. Christianity is not about making this life a little more comfortable or making us into more morally good boys and girls. It s not about making us ideal citizens. And it is not just a get out of hell free card, something to pacify us from the fear of death or ignore the problems of this world. Instead it is simply this: The Lord God, the Creator of everything, the King of everything, the definition of love and holiness and mercy wants to have a personal relationship with you. He has a call on your life: to come to Him and live out for Him. The Bible is a great connected story about that call: God draws near and humanity draws away. God seeks us but we spoil it all; He loves, we rebel. He wants so much of us; we want so little to do with Him. This rebellion, this running away from God s call is deep inside us, it is the reality of our sin and flesh. Go ahead and pinch yourself. You feel that? That s your flesh but flesh is more than the skin covering us. When you look around there are basically two competing worldviews that sum up most religions and thoughts. The first is Materialism this is all there is, we are material and the earth is made up of material and when we die we go back to smaller pieces of material in the great circle of life. The other is an escape from Material a belief that what s actually wrong with the world is the material world and true freedom is an escape from this shell into a better world or in realizing that material isn t really real after all. Christianity doesn t fit in either camp. God made the world and everything in it and said it is good, and then he made you, flesh and all, and said, very good. [And God came down, taking on flesh in the Incarnation so we know it can t be intrinsically bad]. But after the very good part, came the great rebellion and everything turned very bad, very quickly, including us, all of us, and every part of us.
Page2 That is the flesh your body, soul, reason, thinking, desires running contrary to the things of God, in every area of life. The flesh Babels Let us make a name for ourselves, drowning out the name of God. The flesh strives to be myself, be authentic, while building my kingdom and making sure my will is done. Every time you sin your flesh sings this out loudly. The flesh is me. So when the Bible says we have to die to our flesh, we have to die to ourselves, and that my friends is the crux of it all because my flesh is bent the other way, to make my agenda, my plans, fill my stomach, make my dreams come true, to fight for me, love me, care for me, and seek first the kingdom and glory of me. If Jesus is not your Lord today, the Bible says your flesh, you, is your biggest enemy. If you have accepted Jesus as the true Lord of your life, the Bible says flesh, the old you, is your biggest enemy. For many of us who follow Jesus, we do this sad dance back and forth between our flesh and our Jesus, between me first and Him first, between that old me and the new me. And that s where we are in this series death to myself. What we re after is to drill down into the hallmarks of the flesh: passiveness, pride, disobedience, addiction, self-centeredness, and self-consciousness to discover that they practically look like in our lives, why they are so powerful in getting us stuck on ourselves, and how and why Christ frees us from each. Our goal is simple: That our hearts and minds be transformed from broken me to perfect Christ, from all eyes on me to all eyes on Him, from my kingdom projects to His kingdom come, and from self-glorification to all glory and honor for Christ Jesus. To be people not ruled by flesh but by the Spirit. The Spirit is working in us to shape us, cutting and repairing, breaking and molding, to make us more and more to look, think, act, love, and live like Jesus and with Jesus. Are you worried yet? Because those are big words and amazing claims. And it means that there is a real sense less and less of me and more and more of Christ. Is anyone sitting thought thinking, But I kind of like me? I like me some Kyle too. But Christ holds out a promise: I will make you more if you let go. You ll actually come more alive if you can die to yourself. Are you up for that? WHY AM I HERE: So each week we ll answer 1 question and we ll be looking at one family to see what all of this means for us. So let s get to it: Why are you here? Why are you sitting here today? And why were you born? Life is so precious, so fragile; so full of hope and disaster. Life is so valuable and yet often treated so cheaply.
Page3 Some of us treat our own lives kind of cheaply. We take our breath and our purpose for granted. Sometimes we re in no hurry to do too much. Just a shrug and a wait till the weekend. For some of us, life is aimless, and we re lost; for some the future is bright and long and there are many more days ahead to get serious. Some others of us are very busy making a way for ourselves guarantying a future, studying and working hard to make a way, to be secure, to be someone. Some of us are even breaking our backs and relationships to make sure we re successful, at least in our own eyes, or that we have enough, live enough, or save enough. Most of us are probably somewhere in the middle We still have some dreams, but a lot of them have been forgotten, some ambitious days, some lazy ones; some seasons of hard work mixed with a lot of doubts if what we hope for our lives will ever come true. Some have already lost hope, fearing our best days are long behind us. Why are you here? Why were you born? And if you know, are you living that out? Today I want to turn two brothers, twins, with very different answers to that question. But first we need to look at their grandfather. GENESIS 12:1-4 1 Now the LORD said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Genesis is this amazing narrative of that word call The Bible opens with creation and call to one family to multiply and subdue, to know and be in relation with God as His agents on the earth; then the call is rejected and forgotten then it comes down to one family again, down to one man, without a family yet, Abraham. And we re left in tension, in rising and falling hopes, as this family faces such massive obstacles to that call: barrenness, a dangerous journey, old age, armies,
Page4 impossible requests, great sin and almost impossible sacrifice, all emerge. And we are left asking, wondering, Will it really happen? When? How? Will people mess it up or will God come through again and save the day? And that takes us to Genesis 25:19-34 and those two brothers we were getting to: 19 These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham fathered Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. 21 And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren (another major obstacle to the call). And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. (another obstacle overcome by the Lord) 22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, If it is thus, why is this happening to me? So she went to inquire of the LORD. 23 And the LORD said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger. [Primogeniture We ll come back to this in the next weeks but an important key here is the ancient tradition of giving the firstborn son the blessing, a much larger percentage of the inheritance and the place of honor and respect. The Lord is here reversing that order and giving the fortune, prestige and place of the call on the younger brother. Later New Testament writers will speak of this very episode as a wonderful picture of God s sovereignty] 24 When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob [We will also come back to this very telling name which translates as heel-grabber or liar]. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
Page5 27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. [Here we see the fleshiness of their parents in the favoritism that will break up this family. Here too is another obstacle though God has given prophecy that the younger will be blessed, Isaac favors the wrong child] 29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted! (Therefore his name was called Edom.) 31 Jacob said, Sell me your birthright now. 32 Esau said, I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me? 33 Jacob said, Swear to me now. So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Again the whole promise is in danger; the blessings and inheritance promised to Abraham are on the edge of disaster. And for what? Two real answers to that question Why am I here. Let s take a look at both: ESAU: PASSIVENESS (Disengagement from the call & kingdom of God) 1. The Pull of Me (Flesh): Quick, feed me some of that red, red stuff for I am starving. a. Esau is painted like an impulsive animal, crude in broken, guttural language. Quick now, I have to have it. Not only does Esau demand food but he demands to devour it. The word translated feed me, is like gulp down, which in Hebrew often describes cows eating. Even the grammar contributes to this as he literally says Give me that red red. b. Ruled by desires: Rules by his flesh, Esau says he is starving meaning, his emotions, his felt needs drive him and will even move him to squander the big picture to satisfy his stomach. The hunger of the flesh, to be satisfied is a massively strong pull. His desires so match him, he is so ruled by his desires that the writer says Esau is his desires, his identity is marked by desire. The red man desires the red stew. In effect, Esau cries out,
Page6 Give me some red, give me some of me, give me more of me, and give me what I want; Give me (desire) to me (flesh) now. Esau, the firstborn, is on the brink of disaster because of his relationship with his desires. c. Epithumia Christianity is not Buddhism it does not say desire is bad, but what is sin are our over-desires which can end up ruling us. This means we desire so much because we think there is ultimate satisfaction in fulfilling the flesh, it promises us ultimate satisfaction (also called idolatry). This is not wanting bad things; but wanting things so badly. 2. The Irrationality of Me: I am about to die what use is a birthright to me? a. The addiction of sin Part of any addiction is a justifying you don t understand I need this, I have to have this, and the flesh is very skilled at justifying itself. b. There is an insanity in sin - Part of the life of the flesh is the attempt to live out what is irrational to God because it makes perfect sense to us, while the the things of God though seem insane, upside down. His birthright looks less than a bowl of lentils, his life looks to him to be on the line because of his stomach. He completely forgets the miracles surrounding his birth and the birth of his father Isaac and God s continually amazing provision for his family. c. He is in effect saying the irrational statement, I m going to die what good is life to me? Such irony here. His birthright has no value since he feels what is supreme is the moment and his own ability to satiate his lusts. When the flesh rules, our felt needs become supreme and cloud out anything else they become exaggerated, irrational, and possessive. 3. The Indifference of Me: He ate and drank and got up and left. a. The rhythm of life by the flesh: The staccato nature of the Hebrew
Page7 gives a cadence, a rhythm that is brutal. It implies that Esau himself was as crude and unreflective as his speech. Eat. Drink. Get up. Be on your way. Feed your desires. Go home and sleep or onto your next hobby or interest as your flesh leads. Take what you want and leave. b. Life is in the balance: This stunning promise of God to his grandfather, for which is own father was put on an altar and had a knife put to him, the promise that came miraculously through two barren women simply has not captivated Esau. c. He got up and left: The writer of Hebrews later in the New Testament warns us against being like Esau who is called godless and never even finds it necessary to repent; he has satisfied himself and doesn t have the space to care about the grand things of God. The relationship with the living God is forfeited for a bowl of beans. i. Sin is ultimately never as good as it seems in the moment. ii. How cheaply do we trade in relationship with God for something cheap? Everything else, no matter how noble it seems, is lower and cheaper than a relationship with God. While we may laugh at Esau trading his birthright for a bowl of lentils, how often do we disregard and trade off the things of God for such lowly things? God I don t have time for your Word, but hours to flick through my phone; Prayer puts me to sleep but I can binge watch Netflix and play a video game for 3 hours straight, barely blinking. Food, hobbies (hunting), other relationships, often satisfy our felt needs, emotions, our desires. How often are these pursuits and longings distracting, replacing, and rejecting God s call on our lives? iii. Are you reflective on the big picture or living day to day, minute to minute? Often we are passive in believing (James would say arrogantly and incorrectly) there is more time tomorrow. For many of us the big questions of life just aren t that interesting, compelling, and we move though life just trying to soak it up. iv. Some of our passivity is maybe from the burden that we know it s true The call of Esau s life is massive live out a promise full of verified miracles and promising to bless the world. This is overwhelming if we think we have to do it on our own and earn our way to God and keep His blessing. Perhaps for Esau, trying to live out such an epic calling got to him. Instead we see him living out,
Page8 Nah, I m going hunting and I ll be back to eat, drink, get up and go sleep. v. By despising his birthright, Esau held God s promises in contempt (Heb. 12:16, 17) AGGRESSIVENESS (My agenda, living out of my brokenness) Sell me your birthright now Swear to me now Jacob is a quiet man (which means contemplative, mature, refined); he s not a brute. His mom loved him because of the promise or in spite of it; she thought he was special. He might have grown up believing very well that he was. But he was also out to prove to his father that he was worthy of love, respect, of the family title, of the birthright. One day the brother he has always resented comes in from a long day out in the field of proving himself the favored son. Jacob had been inside all day cementing his place as the out-of-favor son working in the kitchen and cooking a stew. When Esau comes in he s famished. Food is all that is on his mind. Jacob doesn t hesitate. He s been waiting, watching for this moment his whole life and his quick response betrays a ruthless and premeditated exploitation of his brother s moment of weakness. He knows his brother s character and how ruled he is by the flesh and the cooking was likely prepared with manipulative intent. Think about Jacob for a moment: Every day Esau comes in from the fields with some big game hung over his shoulder, getting the praise and favor of the father. Every time this happens, Jacob has to endure hearing how great Esau is, how loved Esau is, and by extension how bad and unloved he is. Jacob has longed to hear that praise. To be that son. Life has been unfair, done Jacob wrong, so he s going to make it work for him now that he has a chance. Ruled by my own agenda and out of my own brokenness - Jacob s flesh is ruling him and he s out to make a name for himself. Jacob sees the big picture but the
Page9 problem is that it s got his name all over it; not Yahweh s. He knows the value of the birthright; maybe he s even heard that it belongs to him, and he will make it his. Some in our culture would applaud his initiative. A fool and his money are easily parted, so it might as well be parted over his way. It would be a sin not to take this candy from the baby; he is too stupid to take advantage of this, we might here Jacob justifying. The flesh, again is amazing at justifying itself. Notice that Jacob isn t waiting on God. He is cunning, a trickster, and perhaps he s done waiting to see if things will really be reversed so he takes life into his own hands. He s not passive, he s aggressive, but for his own kingdom. Often we tell children not to be Esaus, but we re really telling them to be Jacobs. Don t waste time on lowly passions, video games and jokes, instead get serious about school, stick your nose in a book, and take initiative so you ll be Ok, you ll be secure, and you ll be somebody. Nothing wrong there again, just like their nothing wrong with good food but is this flesh or Christ speaking through us? Are we encouraging people to die to self or live for themselves? Are we saying find your future or seek God s call? Jacob is seizing and taking, and in the process rejecting the grace God has already poured over his whole life when He announced that the older will serve the younger. Prophecy rejected as God s way is traded in for my way, now! What a story. The quiet man Jacob is hunting after the birthright but the manly hunter is passive about it, not living it out. There is no hero here. Esau is exploited by his desires. Jacob exploits for his desires. Both Reject God s mission, reject God. Sin is not merely the big bad things in life but the chief of all is pretending life is about something other than it really is; living focused on me as I push God quietly or violently out of the picture. Look at the contrast. We hear God saying to Abraham and by extension his family, I am holding out promise, relationship, grace, epic battles between good and evil, the chance to be part of saving the world by connecting them to the one true God who by the way wants to know you intimately and give you life abundantly and everlasting? And we hear both brothers responding, Nah, really not that interested. I have other plans, if you ll excuse me. I want to close by turning to a man who knew exactly why he was here and lived and died for God s call. Jesus, the Son of God, who has come down to save Israel, has
Page10 been turned over by Israel to the Roman authorities to be killed. The governor meets with Jesus to see what this is all about and if his agenda is to compete with Caesar. JOHN 18:33-40 33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, Are you the King of the Jews? 34 Jesus answered, Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me? 35 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done? 36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world. 37 Then Pilate said to him, So you are a king? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. 38 Pilate said to him, What is truth? After he had said this, he went back outside (Like Esau, on with life) In the first chapter of Colossians, there is a beautiful passage in which Paul describes Jesus, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. In the famed John 3:16, Jesus speaks of Himself this way: For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten Son Jesus fully God freely took on flesh to free us from ours. He came in God s agenda to free us from our agenda. Jesus is the firstborn who did not despise his birthright His calling. Jesus Christ knew exactly why he came into the world: His a King who came to kick off His kingdom in a whole new way, a revolution inside of our hearts that starts with His cross-work that pays the costs to liberate us from sin, resurrection that breaks the justice of death, and the sending of the Spirit to continue towards His mission end of making us become more and more like Him.
Page11 And this means He had to reveal the truth. And what is this truth exactly? It means the Truth Himself reveals exactly who God is and precisely what He desires from His beloved creation, and the truth of exactly who we are. He came because of the sad truth that we re all Jacobs and Esuas. We re all bad older brothers and conniving younger brothers wasters and schemers, sinners the whole lot of us, coming out of the womb as sinners, heel grabbers trying to make our own way, despising the ways of God. We are all passive-aggressive in a sense. But our older brother, Jesus came to reverse the order again in the most stunning trade. He didn t get a bowl of soup He got a death sentence on a Cross and a lonely burial in a rock tomb, so that he could get you. But he knew that is exactly why He came to die the death we deserved, to give us the life we didn t deserve; to bring us back to our Father and make us all the first child, redeeming our birthright by giving us a new birth certificate signed with his blood, written by His hands, in His name we are children of the Most High God, children of Jesus freed to worship God as sons and daughters. CHRISTLIKENESS - Some thoughts to help us work this out. Am I here for a Bowl or a Call? Satan can t take your life, but he s more than happy when you hand it to him. He offered Jesus bowls, big bowls, but still bowls. Satan was saying, Have the world, have prestige, have honor, make people love you, get a crown without a Cross, make a new agenda about you and forget the Father s call. But Jesus said, I am here to do the will of the Father, to make true what was promised to Abraham a blessing for the whole world will come out of Israel, through one Man, the Messiah, and God who Saves. How about you are you here living out God s call or living for bowls? Or are you trying to mix the two? Whose kingdom am I living for? A few years back I went to a World Series game in New York. I think it was the Yankees versus the Rockies, but I m not sure. I think it was game three. As you can tell, I m not that interested in baseball. And I had amazing seats in a box behind third base. I was kind of rooting for the Yankees, but more for Jay-Z than Jeter. There was this epic, amazing game going on in front of me but I really couldn t care less. If someone had tried to convince me by telling me
Page12 stats or impressive Yankee history or telling me I should be interested, it wouldn t have worked to well because my heart and head weren t there. I won t belittle you for your choices or beat you up into following God s call. I don t think it will work anyway. I won t guilt you for things you don t desire. But ask yourself why you don t desire these things. If you say you don t believe in God, that s OK as there s a starting place; If you say you re kingdom is more interesting, OK, try that out, we have someone to start. My only hope is that the Spirit uses my words not to condemn you but convict you today. If you re on the fence and want to live more for Christ there is an amazing resource and his name is Counselor, Comforter and the Holy Spirit. Let Him work in you completely and let Him have His way in you today. He s ready to listen. Reach out to Him and say, God I want your kingdom come in me, through me, make me into the man or woman you want me to be. I want your call, to really know it and live it. Make me less so you can become more. Spirit come and have your way in me, I don t want my flesh to reign in me anymore but I need you. There is more than an epic game going on in front of us brothers and sisters, there is life on the line. Let s no longer be sitting on the sidelines or making this life all about ourselves. Am I Passive or Missional? Paul said, Him (Jesus) we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. Colossians 1:28-29 True faith is not passive but active. It requires that we meet certain conditions, that we allow the teachings of Christ to dominate our total lives from the moment we believe. The man of saving faith must be willing to be different from others. The effort to enjoy the benefits of redemption while enmeshed in the world is futile. We must choose one or the other; and faith quickly makes its choice, one from which there is no retreat. A.W. TOZER What woe would Christ say about our church? I hope if Christ were speaking of our church, like He does of other churches in the book of Revelation, our Lord would not say, Woe to the lazy Americans! Woe to the passive Christians sitting there at 3131! But I hope He will say we faithfully received and lived out the call on our lives. Pray for boldness as they did in Acts 4 Let s see each moment as a chance to share the Gospel, to be about God s promises and fulfill His call on our lives. We are not supposed to do this on our own but have the Spirit to fill us, empower us, and live in and through us.
Page13 In the original church, there were no audiences. Rather, everyone was a contributor and participator which led to the tremendous growth of Christianity. Key: When we know God s mission we are motivated to follow; Christ came in mission for us, the opposite of indifference and passivity in His kingdom each moment is infused with meaning, passion, urgency, and a desire to save, to cure, to heal. Do you know why you re here today? Maybe this is the message God is trying to whisper into your heart. You are not merely flesh and bones, you are made for something so grand, made for so much more than your own stomach or your own agenda. Are you passively shrugging off the possibilities? Are you scared and trying to grab all of life aggressively? Or are you actively resting in the kingdom pursuits resting from trying to earn your way and push your agenda through but active in seeking the Lord and following through in commitment to the great adventure he has called you to. We are part of something epic, this church, our church, the church called to be a blessing to the world by sharing a story about a firstborn Son who gave up his life so you could have life in Him This place, our church, is an active place. I hope you catch God s vision, understand your birthright and what you re called to do in this time, in this life, for Christ, with us.