07-21-13 That I May Know Him Pt. 3

Phil. 3:8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ,

Phil. 3:9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,

Phil. 3:10 that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

Phil. 3:11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

The knowledge of Christ

is the lens through which

all the rest of life is brought into focus.

In one concise, powerful passage

here in Philippians chapter 3

the Apostle Paul tells us

that the knowledge of Christ

is of such incredible value to him

that anything else he might have possessed

is like garbage by comparison.

For the past two weeks

we’ve been talking about why that is.

And I have to tell you

that I am thrilled with what I am seeing our Lord accomplishing with this passage

in the lives of a number of you here in our fellowship.

Following our time together last week

I was involved in several conversations

that gave me just a tiny glimpse

into that amazing work of the Spirit of God

that only He can accomplish in the lives of His people.

And it is so thrilling to see it.

Knowing our God has forgiven us is a good staring place in our walk with Him.

But knowing He delights in us and enjoys us and celebrates His friendship with us

is altogether different.

And it is a far more difficult truth for us to grasp,

even briefly.

But some of you are making huge progress in that discovery

and it will transform your life forever

and free you to be exactly the person He designed you to be

and live the life He has called you to live without fear, without regret.

Two weeks ago

we spent the whole morning

talking about how it is only through

the knowledge Christ

that we can gain a true and accurate knowledge of ourselves.

Outside of Christ

all we have to rely on

in trying to figure out

who we are

and why or if we have value

is the feedback we get

from other human beings.

The problem, of course,

is that they are also trying to figure out

who they are.

Everyone is competing with everyone else

for some measure of affirmation

and acceptance.

But there is no fixed point,

no absolute, reliable center

by which we can know ourselves,

and know that our knowledge is correct and accurate

no matter what others may or may not say.

Only the Creator

can affirm His creation

in a way that brings us peace

with Him,

and with ourselves.

Paul told us that he gladly exchanged

his position of great social prominence

within the Jewish community,

he turned his back on it

in exchange for the knowledge of Christ.

Why? Was it because he was deeply spiritual

and pious,

seeing the eternal perspective

rather than the temporal view?

No!

He did it in part

because the knowledge of Christ

could give him something

that all of his social success

could never give him -

an accurate knowledge of himself.

Of course a statement like that

can’t help but bring out the question,

“Just how do we go about

hearing that voice of affirmation

from our Creator

in a way that brings that inner peace?”

How can we find freedom

from our addiction to the affirmation

of those around us?

Finding peace with God

is inseparably linked

with finding peace with ourselves.

In fact,

though we try hard to separate the two in our minds,

I have come to the conclusion

that it is impossible for us to like God

any more than we like ourselves.

Let me restate that from the other direction

and maybe it will make more sense.

The degree to which we experience

true peace with God

is determined by the degree to which

we experience true peace with ourselves.

Want me to try again?

My true heart attitude toward my Creator

will be determined to a great degree

by how I choose to evaluate His creation,

and the one part of His creation

that I know better than all the rest

is myself.

Now let me try to explain.

There is a world of difference

between accepting God’s forgiveness

and truly being at peace with God.

We can look at our sin

and our load of guilt

and our shame

and then hear the affirmation of God

that the death of Christ

paid the price for the sins

of the entire world.

We can confess our sin

and thank Him for His payment of that debt,

and know we have eternal life.

But we can do that

in a way that never allows us

to believe that God really likes us personally.

Its like being hired by a large corporation

and being allowed to sign up for their health insurance

because we are an employee.

It has nothing to do with us personally.

We qualify simply because

we are an employee of the company.

In the same way,

when we are told that Christ died

for the sins of the whole world,

and we accept His offer of forgiveness through faith in Christ,

emotionally we can find ourselves

feeling grateful that the debt is paid,

but at the same time

feeling as though

it wasn’t us personally

that God loved and died for

so much as it was the whole human race.

My point is this -

I believe the real test

of our understanding of God’s personal love for us as an individual

is most accurately mirrored

in our own attitude toward ourselves.

When we look at ourselves

and say to ourselves,

“That’s no good...

(and I’m not talking about

good or bad choices here,

I’m talking about who we are

by design, as an individual human being,)

when we say,

“I should be taller,

or I should be shorter,

or I should be smarter,

or I should be shaped differently,

or I should have better athletic potential,

or I should have a better a singing voice,

or more musical talent,

or more charisma...”,

whenever we look at ourselves

and find ourselves lacking,

or defective,

or wanting,

what we are really saying is,

“God you goofed!

God, you blew it.

God, you either didn’t care,

or I didn’t matter enough to you

for You to make me the way

I should really have been made.”

It is impossible for us to criticize ourselves

without that criticism

having a powerful impact

on our attitude toward God

and our trust in Him.

And when we hear David saying,

Ps. 139:13 For You (oh God) formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb.

Ps. 139:15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;

we know that who we are

is a direct result

of the active designing work of God.

If I do not like me,

then I will not like the One who made me.

I may worship Him because He’s bigger.

I may submit to Him,

but I will not like Him,

and it will be very hard for me to trust Him.

If I couldn’t trust Him to do right by me

on the day of my creation,

then how can I trust Him now?

So, one of the many things

that God seeks to accomplish in our lives

when we come to Him

is to free us from the critical self-evaluation

that robs us of true peace with ourselves

and makes it impossible

for us to have a true heart of gratitude

toward the One who created us.

And all of that was to say

that if we don’t like ourselves

we’re not going to like God very much either,

because He is the One

who designed us.

Now, there are at least three great forces

used by Satan

to keep us from finding peace with ourselves.

1. Our preconceived idea of who we are.

2. Our preconceived idea of who we should be.

3. And lies we believe about the way God views sinful impulses

and the effects of sin in our lives.

And I want to say a little bit

about each of those three.

The first is our preconceived ideas

about who we are.

During the past several weeks

I have talked a lot about

the way in which our self-concept

is shaped by the kind of feed-back

we get from other people around us.

The more significant they are to us

the more powerful their influence on us.

Maybe the easiest way I can show you

what I want us to see here

is to share with you something I witnessed a number of years ago,

back in Joni’s college days.

Sandee, Joni, and I were eating in a restaurant.

While we were waiting for our food

a family sat down at the table next to us.

There were at least five or six in the family.

The father sat down

along with several of the others

including a son about 11 or 12 years old.

As soon as the son sat down

the father verbally blasted the boy by saying,

“Don’t you dare sit down there. You’re so stupid. Can’t you see there’s no chair for your mother?

Have a little consideration for someone besides yourself.

Find your mother a chair

and bring it over here.”

OK,

in that little speech dad helped to shape

his son’s self-concept.

He told his son:

“You are stupid.

You are selfish.

You are thoughtless and inconsiderate.”

And by attacking only the boy

he strongly implied

that the boy was of less value in the family structure than anyone else,

and dad’s tone throughout the entire message

told the son clearly that dad was

generally deeply displeased

with who his son was as a human being.

Now, if that father’s input

into his son’s life

continues in the same vein

throughout the boy’s childhood

he will grow up

with a grossly distorted concept of himself.

He will enter his adult years

mentally and emotionally programmed

to believe that he is a rather pathetic excuse for a man,

desperately looking for some external affirmation

to help him feel a little better about himself.

He won’t like himself

because the self he knows

is all twisted and distorted

by the messages he has received

from those around him.

And the truth is

even the most skilled, loving parents

pass on all sorts of distorted messages

to their children,

just as our parents did to us.

And these, combined with the messages

that come from brothers and sisters,

and other children at school,

and an endless stream of well-intended but exhausted teachers and coaches

leave all of us with a deeply distorted concept

of our true God-designed identity.

2. The second major enemy

to finding peace with ourselves

is our tragically flawed perception

of who we think we should be.

How do you think you should look physically?

How did you arrive at that mental concept?

Most of us look at the athletes

or the movie stars

or the popular people around us

and attempt to conform ourselves

more closely to their standard.

And just as powerful

are the lies surrounding how we think we should perform.

It’s impossible to be in the Christian community for long

without developing a vivid image

of how the “good Christian” handles his or her life.

Early in my Christian life

I was told by a powerfully persuasive

Christian speaker

that whenever he is with another person

for more than 10 minutes

he considers it a divine appointment

to present the gospel.

The implication was obvious -

anyone who’s really devoted to Christ

will follow the same pattern.

For months following my exposure to that fellow

I made sure I never had a conversation

with another person

that lasted longer than nine minutes.

For years I was certain that

the only people God could really use

were extroverts.

For a while I tried very hard to be one,

but it just exhausted me.

I also believed and was told by many people

on many occasions

that I could never hope to be

a truly effective Bible teacher

until I got to the place where I could teach without notes

so that the Holy Spirit could move through me unhindered.

I was never real clear about why it was

that the Holy Spirit could only work

at 11:00 a.m. Sunday mornings,

and why He was utterly unable to work through written communication forms,

but it seemed to be a well known fact

among those who were in the know.

When I first started handing out my printed manuscripts

I can remember feeling terribly embarrassed about it

because it was this glaring proof

of how far short I fell of the goal of a truly Spirit-led life.

And my point is simply this -

we are all fighting two huge lies

that war against a true heart of gratitude to God for His careful design of us.

The first is a distorted concept

of who we are,

and the second is a distorted concept

of who we think should be.

Much of God’s healing process in us

is the process of His correcting

our distorted concepts

in those two areas.

It is a learning process

that continues in one form or another

for our entire lives.

Continued exposure

to the truth in God’s Word

is a crucial ingredient in the healing process.

The careful, personal work of God’s Spirit in our lives is essential.

There will be times

when He will allow us

to try to be like someone else,

to try to force ourselves into the mold

we think we should fit.

And we’ll be able to keep it up

for a few hours

or a few days

or a few months.

But it will exhaust us,

and life will become

an overpowering burden.

And then, in His own perfect way,

we will hear His voice saying,

Ps. 46:10 "Stop your striving and know that I am God...”

And we will hear Him saying,

Matt. 11:28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Matt. 11:29 "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.

Matt. 11:30 "For My yoke is easy, and My load is light."

And we will suddenly realize

that the yoke we have taken upon ourselves

is not the one He gave us to carry.

It’s crushing us

because it does not fit

who we are

or the way He designed us.

We didn’t get as far with this as I had planned,

and we’ll go back into it for a little while next week,

but I’ve brought this whole thing up

because I believe it is essential

for a truly effective walk with God.

Man-made religion will hand you

a preformed mold you must attempt to squeeze yourself into.

God, on the other hand,

shatters that mold

and offers each of us the freedom

that can only be found

in living in harmony

with our individual, unique personal design.

And let me just end by saying you can trust His voice.

He truly has loved you with an everlasting love.

Since the day of your birth

He has been calling you to Himself,

not because He wants one more person in His camp,

but because He wants you, He treasures you, He delights in you,

and no other human being can ever replace or duplicate

the friendship that the two of you will share together.

He did not make you for His work,

He made you for Himself,

and your only real calling in life is to know Him

and everything else He chooses to accomplish through you

will take place as a direct result of that growing knowledge of your God.

You, my friend, really are that lost sheep the Shepherd went out to find,

and He is well pleased having you secure in His arms

as, together, He carries you home.