So today is Resurrection Sunday, and today Dale is gonna stick to her notes because Bingo depends on it. All right, so today we remember and we celebrate the good news declared by the angels. In the passage that beautiful Iris read for us a little while ago, he has risen three little words that are full of an eternity of meaning and significant street little words that truly mean the world. Three little words that are the good news.
So the phrase, good news, it's one we're all pretty familiar with. In church circles, the gospel of Jesus Christ is called the Good News. And what is news? What is news? News is an announcement, isn't it? That something has happened that makes a difference in the world. Something has happened that now change is how things are. The angels made an announcement to the women who came to the tomb. He, they made the announcement of what he is.
Risen, even though the women wouldn't have fully comprehended it at the time. This was the very best announcement. This was the most good of all the good news, and so to help explain this a little bit more, and I thought to help our younger folks stay a little bit engaged throughout this as well, I'm gonna allow our friends from the Bible project to teach us a little bit more about. The good news and the good news specifically of today. Are we good, Sarah? Thank you. Have a look to the screens.
If you know any Christians or if you happen to be one, you've probably heard the word gospel as a kind of summary of Christian belief. Connected to phrases like God loves you, or Jesus died for your sins, but over time, religious words like gospel can lose their power and meaning by becoming too familiar. So let's take a moment to rediscover what this important word gospel meant to the people who wrote the Bible. Gospel translates the Old Testament Hebrew verb beir and the noun rah.
The Greek New Testament equivalent is gelian, which is a compound word. You means good, and gelian means announcement. All of these words mean good news, but what kind of news well in Hebrew be is what we might call national news or a royal announcement. Like when King David hears a messenger beir, that his army was victorious in battle, that means he still rules on his throne over the people of Israel.
And after David dies, his throne is passed on to Solomon his son, and when he was inaugurated as king in Jerusalem, a Herald spreads the rah that a new ruler is in charge. But after Solomon's death came a bunch of bad news kings whose corruption led their nation into self-destruction. This is why the prophet Isaiah announced the good news that one day. The God of Israel would come as the cosmic king to confront all corrupt and violent kingdoms and restore his rule over all nations.
And so when Jesus of Nazareth hit the public stage, he continued Isaiah's gospel when he went around announcing the Yuang Gallian of God's kingdom, Jesus claimed that God was restoring his reign over his people, Israel and over all nations, and he was the one bringing it all about. Now the Yuan Gallian about a new king in charge means a new way of life.
Jesus said that living in God's kingdom meant following him by putting down the sword and seeking peace through radical forgiveness and generosity even toward your enemies. His good news required people to make a decision. This is why Jesus took his yuan gallian to Jerusalem to confront the corrupt and violent kingdoms of his day. But he challenged them in a surprising way with the power of God's generous love.
As Jesus was being executed by his enemies, he received his crown and was mocked as a fake king. But he displayed true royal authority by forgiving his tor mentors. Jesus was the one in charge that day giving his life for the sins of others. And then a few days later, everything changed. Jesus rose from the dead as the true king whose love is stronger than death.
He appeared to hundreds of his followers and told them to spread the Yung Gallian, that all authority in heaven on earth now belongs to him, and they did share this good news. All over the ancient world. They did it by writing the four accounts of Jesus' life that are the gospel. That is, they tell the story of how Jesus brought God's kingdom, how he lived for others and died for their sins, and then was raised from the dead. Jesus' followers also shared the good news by simply talking about it.
This is why Peter and Paul, or Priscilla and Aquila traveled all around sharing the royal announcement. While it might look like the rulers of our world are in charge and can do whatever they want, the good news is that the crucified and risen Jesus is the true Lord of the world, the real king of all creation. And in Jesus' kingdom things are different. It's where the real leaders are the servants, because the last are first and the first go to the back of the line.
It. Beautiful. Thank you Sarah. That is good news, isn't it? So good. So the good news we remember and we celebrate today, is that the risen Jesus is now king. So as many of you would know, we've been in a series in Philippians and after this somewhat extended introduction this morning, we're gonna continue, actually continue in our series today, because as Providence would have it, the passage scheduled for today actually centers on the resurrection.
Praise the Lord. So this series is about joy. Yeah. Defiant in joy. And as we focus on the resurrection today, the good news of the empty tomb, may we find our joy deepened and widened and expanding joy, that expels or fear or shame, and expanding unshakeable joy that fills our hearts. Settling our hearts in a posture of freedom. Free to love and serve the one who sacrificed his life for us.
And so may we rejoice greatly this morning as the apostle Paul calls us to do right from the beginning of this passage in Philippians three verses one to 14. Let's have a read of it now further. My brothers and sisters rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again. And it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those evil doers, those mutilators of the flesh for it is we who are the circumcision?
We who serve God by his spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus and who put no confidence in the flesh. Though I myself has reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more. I was circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews in regard to the law of Pharisee as zeal persecuting the church.
As for righteousness, based on the law, I was faultless as Paul, but whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. Yeah. When we hear the word Christ there, I just wanna pause there for a moment. You know the word Christ isn't just another name for Jesus. Christ means king. Christ means anointed one. And so when Paul is using this phrase, he's saying, king Jesus. Yeah, so he just don't just hear Christ as interchangeable for Jesus.
It's a description of who he is, that he is king. So for whatever reason, again, to me, I now consider loss for the sake of King Jesus of Christ. What is more? I consider everything a loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.
I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings becoming like him in his death, and so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead, not that I have already obtained all this.
Or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind, straining towards what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward In Christ Jesus, all of us, them. Who are mature should take such a view of things. All right, so quick overview of what Paul is talking about here.
Firstly, he issues a deep warning to the church in Philippi and to us here today. But then he also declares a deep wanting. And so we're gonna explore both of these because both of these actually connect deeply to the resurrection. And so firstly, what is the warning? What's the context of this warning that Paul is issuing here to this church that he so dearly loves and cares for? So there is this bunch of folks that are on the scene at this time in history called the Judaizers.
And they are teaching a distortion of the gospel. They've already hit the Galatian Church pretty hard, and Paul's kind of concerned they're gonna be coming for the Philippian church as well. And so they're teaching these judais eyes as a teaching that in order to be right with God, trusting the good news about Jesus is not enough. There is other stuff that you have to do, and specifically in this context that what they're teaching is you need to be circumcised.
And Paul's like, do not fall for it to do so. It's just to have your body mutilated. It's the equivalent of just having your body mutilated. That was the old covenant marker. The new covenant marker is now the Holy Spirit. You trust in the good news, you declare your allegiance to king Jesus. And the marker sealing that covenantal relationship is the spirit. You do not need to go slicing up your body. And so how is this warning relevant to us? 'cause it's probably not a lot of folks.
Male folks in particular sitting here this morning wrestling over whether to get circumcised or not in order to be pleasing to God. Sorry, you probably did not come to church expecting to have a conversation on that particular topic this morning, but hey, welcome to church. Welcome to the Bible. So how is this warning relevant to us? Paul says, is an act of righteousness. This is worthless. And so what is righteousness? It's a really important word, particularly in light of today.
Righteousness is right. Belief and behavior that leads to right relationship, specifically. It's right belief and behavior that leads to right relationship with. God. So the old Covenant had as a part of the law, and what was the law? It was the established and agreed upon behaviors and practice that enabled the Israelite people to be in right relationship with God.
If they obeyed the law, there was the promises of blessing and peace and prosperity, but also that they would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. What did that mean? It meant they would be a light. They were intended to be a light to the world around them, to the gentile world around them, a source of God's blessing to the world, and circumcision was a sign and a seal of that covenant. It marked them as covenant people, people in a covenant relationship with God.
And the sacrificial system that was a part of the law was the way that the people of God were able to stay in right relationship with God when they inevitably broke the terms of the covenant. And so Paul here says that he kept the law perfectly, but now in light of the good news of King Jesus, his righteousness earned through obedience to the law is now less than worthless. What he's saying here is to put faith in obedience to the law as a source of righteousness.
It's not just worthless, it's actually a liability. It's a loss. So Paul goes on to list his Jewish credentials, his heritage, he's zeal, he righteousness under the law. Paul isn't denying their value, but he's saying they do not define him anymore. What matters now is that he is in Christ. That is what defines him. So Paul's argument is essentially this. If you wanna play the game of boasting in the flesh, I can beat you all.
But I've left that whole way of measuring value behind because I have seen the Messiah and everything else is garbage in comparison. So the good news is that Jesus has done it perfect. Righteousness is now ours by faith. It is absolute garbage rubbage. Rubbish dung poo poo is what he's saying. It's a pretty intense word he actually uses in the Greek here. So he's saying it is dung. It is absolute doodoo. Do trust in your own obedience to be right with God.
To behave this way is to enslave oneself all over again. Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf. Now it's by grace alone through faith alone in the finished work of Christ Alone, that we now stand in right relationship with our Heavenly Father. And that is very good news. So Paul's warning here is about false teachers whose dodgy theology if followed, will prevent those who are part of this church that he dearly loves from experiencing the kind of joy that. Fills Paul, even in chains.
Remember, Paul is in prison when he is writing this. Yet Paul is expressing the deepest and profound as joy throughout this letter. Why? Because of the good news that he is free and he's now in right relationship with God. And this is a freedom that surpasses chains, that surpasses prison itself. A beautiful and eternal and liberating freedom that comes from being. And a relationship of peace with God. His death and his resurrection has brought us peace with God.
It is such a blessing to have peace in our relationships, isn't it? You can have everything in the world if you don't have peace in your relationships. It's done, isn't it? You can have everything. You can have everything this world can offer, but if you have no peace in your relationships and how much more so relationship with our Heavenly Father.
But the good news is today is we now have peace through faith in the finished work of Christ, we now have peace with God and we didn't earn this and so nothing we can do can actually maintain it. It is all by faith. It is an act and a gift of sheer grace. Paul had a deep joy that came from the freedom that he now had no longer burdened by securing his righteousness, a righteousness of his own. Because to live that is such a heavy burden. Always wondering, have I done enough?
Are my works good enough? Have I sacrificed enough? Have I obeyed enough? We are free from that bondage now. We now have the yoke of Christ, which he says, my yoke is easy and my burden. It's like, come to me, all you who are weary. Take that old yoke off. And so Philippians three, it's actually three nine. I've got three 10 there. That's wrong. It's three nine.
And he says, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. We now. Stand in a new covenant, bought and ratified by the blood of Jesus, the perfect sacrifices that covers sin now and forevermore. We now have peace with God.
A performance free relationship with the assurance of complete and total forgiveness, the guilt of every sin now covered by the blood of Jesus, a resurrection, the vindication, the proof of the sufficiency, the perfection, and the power of his sacrifice. Friends, are you still striving to earn what Christ died to give you as a gift of sheer grace? Peace with God. It comes by faith. It does not come by works.
And that is what Paul is saying here, and this, this is a warning we must heed in hear because we fall prey to it just as much as the early church, not around the issue of circumcision, but in a myriad of other ways. Different ways, different things that we look to in order to earn our right standing before God. And it's amazing the things that we will turn into the gospel. Good things like do you, do you treat your Bible reading as a gospel?
Yeah, I need to read my Bible more in order to be okay with God. That's a workspace. Righteousness. I need to pray more in order to be right with God. That's a workspace, righteousness. That's the equivalent of what Paul's saying here. Circumcision. 'cause what? When have you read enough of your Bible? When have you prayed enough? Where is there enough? Where is this magical line of enough?
If you are using that as your good news, as your gospel, okay, yes, you should pray, and yes, you should read your Bible not to earn approval before God, but because you already have it, and that's how you enter in and deepen your relationship. The peace you already have, your Bible reading, your good works, your giving. All of these things are not gonna get you that peace. That comes by faith and trust in the work of Jesus Christ and everything that this weekend represents.
But yes, we pray and yes we serve and yes, we give and we read our scriptures so that we can know him, and that's where we come to next. So in a very passionate way, Paul declares the deepest desire of his heart. In this passage, and he practically shouts it through these words Here, I want to know Christ. I want to know King Jesus. And you know what?
Whether you know it or not, this is the deepest desire of every heart here, because this is the reality in which every human soul was created to exist. As Jesus says in John 17, eternal life is. Knowing God, this is our heart's true home. Not a place, but a relationship. Everything you are pursuing in this life is ultimately trying to fulfill the deepest longing of your heart, your heart, finding your heart's true home, your soul's true home, and that is with. God. And you know what?
Because of Easter, the way is now clear, the veil is torn by the spirit. We now dwell in the presence of God, not by our righteousness of our own, but by that of Jesus. So Hebrews 10, 19 to 22 says, it's so. Beautifully and clearly, therefore brothers and sisters, since we have a confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is his body.
And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, we can now draw it near, freely, all banged up. And as broken as we are, in all the ways that you have fallen short this week, none of them prohibit you from drawing near because of the completed work of Jesus Christ because his blood has made the way clear. We don't have to settle for just knowing about him.
We don't have to settle for learning about him through a priest, through a sacrificial system. We can know him. Do you wanna know him? Do you want to know him? Does your heart echo and resonate with the cry of Paul? I wanna know Christ. I wanna know King Jesus. Of course you wanna know him. Everybody wants to know the person who saves their life, don't they? Imagine you're driving along a road one day and a critter of some description jumps out in the road and you swerve.
You go off the road, you're in a river, your car's filling up with water. You're stuck. You're unable to save yourself, you're going to drown, but suddenly a face of the window of your submerged car, they wrenched the door open. They pull you out. They get you to the river bank where a bunch of onlookers have now gathered. You'll savior, make sure you're okay, and the next thing you know, he's gone from your sight. Do you think in that scenario you would want to know the person who saved you?
One of the onlookers might say, oh, that's Josh King. Do you think you're gonna be satisfied with just having a name? No, you're gonna wanna know the one who saved your life. It's because Jesus loved me and gave himself for me that I want to know him. For Paul, this was his all consuming desire and passion, and in light of who Jesus is and what he did, this really is the only true and right response, especially when it cost him so much to make the way clear for us to know him.
Know him, not just know about him. Too many professing Christians settle for a life of knowing about Jesus and not pursuing as Paul displays here in this passage, a pursuit of actually knowing personally, king Jesus. Imagine, you know, you, your life has lived in a cave and you've read all about this amazing thing called the Sun. And you know, there's a certain degree of wonder, right? And just understanding how the sun works and what it is and that it exists.
Like there's a certain degree of wonder in that, and you could marvel over that. But it's a very different thing to actually stand in the presence of the sun and experience the sun. We are way too easily satisfied church with a life of knowing about Jesus.
Than actually pursuing a life of deep and abiding relationship with him, and only one will truly satisfy the deep desires of your soul because this horrible thing happens when we just settle for a life of knowing about, and that is what we pursue. Knowledge puffs up. That's what the Bible talks about. Hey, and we become prime to become joyful Pharisees in this life. Based on a self-righteousness, not the freedom and the joy of just knowing him and abiding freely in his presence.
So do you know him? Do you know him? If you do not, I invite you to just breathe a silent prayer now. Lord, help me to know you. Help me to truly know you. You know, Jesus says to Philip one of his disciples, don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? And I wonder if he might not say the same to some of us here today. And the more you know him, you know what happens the more you wanna know him. So my friends do not be satisfied with the secondhand knowing.
Don't be satisfied with knowing about all that knowledge about Jesus without actually truly knowing him. Only puffs us up. At the end of the day, there is no true lasting deep joy and life to be found there. Consider this in Revelations three 14 to the church in Laia that was neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm, such that the good Lord wanted to spit them out of his mouth. What was the Lord's cure for their lukewarmness? Was it doctrine? Was it a biography of his own good self?
Was it a set of instructions? No. It was his presence, wasn't it? Those I love. I rebuke, I discipline. Be earnest and repent. Here I am. Here I am. I stand at the door, I knock. If anyone hears my voice opens the door, I'll come in and eat with that person and they with me. His presence was the cure. The company of Christ is the cure for the deepest need of our souls. And he stands at the door and he knocks. And the resurrection means that the way to our hearts true home is now clear.
Good news, good news of great joy indeed. And so I could stand here and I could encourage you and implore you to pursue a life of knowing, but I think it would be remiss to not actually present a practical element to this and go, she go, well, how? How do we know him wanting his one thing, but actually how? How do you know him? Well, first it begins with what I just said. First, you must want to first, you must want to, and how do you stir up a wanting?
How do you tap into that desire that is in you? It is there. I think Psalm 27, verse four, Psalm 27, is one of my favorite Psalms, but says in verse four, one thing I ask from the Lord this only do I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord or the days of my life to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. Gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. See the face of the Lord looking at you with eyes of love and devotion. See him as beautiful and you will be hooked.
Your heart will be eternally captivated because we love being in the presence of beauty. Oh, could we just take that down, Sarah? I'm not quite there yet. Gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. I challenged, I challenged you on this a few weeks ago. You know, it's that temptation for Jesus just to become useful, but Jesus must stay beautiful. Yes. In terms of what he has done, there is a sure, in a practical sense, there's a usefulness to it.
But if you do not see what he has done for you, if you not see the way he loves you as beautiful, your heart will not be captivated to pursue him. Do you see him as beautiful? So how do you know him? Second, you must settle that he wants to be with you, that he wants to be known by you, that the deepest and most intimate of relationships is what he desires to have with you. So how do you know him? The same way you know anyone. You dwell and you abide in their presence.
You be with them, you listen to them. You give them your attention. You direct the focus of your heart and your mind toward them. The brother Lawrence, the 17th century CARite Monk in his book, the Practice of The Presence of God. Who's read it? You ready? Oh, there's so not enough hands just went up of that. Okay. I'm pretty sure it's like free and the, what do you call that thing when books become free?
You know, that thing, whatever that word is, that phrase is, I'm pretty sure you can just access it for free, if not like a dollar on Kindle or something. It's a, it's a beautiful, beautiful little book. So, brother Lawrence, the 17th century CARite monkey's book, practice of the presence of God lived a life in the pursuit of a rested, abiding in God's presence in every moment. And this is how he teaches, we can practice God's presence in daily life. Let's have a look.
Let's go through these just quickly. Make it a habit to talk with God constantly. Seek a continuous, informal conversation with God throughout the day. Do you live in conversational relationship with God or are you stuck in that horrible mode of just your prayer? Life is just all one way where you just tell God your problems and your wants, and that's not that. That's not, that's not valid, right? But you can't know somebody unless you actually have a conversation with them.
A natural turning of the heart and the mind toward God, whether you are doing the dishes, you're walking, you're working, whatever it is. So Brother Lawrence says here, there is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. All right, next. Number two, turn ordinary tasks into acts of love. See that no task is too small or too secular to be sacred. I love that. Washing pots and pans, mending shoes.
Probably not many people here are mending shoes, but you know, put in changing nappies or something. Do everything for the love of God, and that intention transforms the task into worship. We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, for God, God regards, not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed. Isn't that beautiful? That is so. That is so good. Number two, I mean, number three, develop an ongoing awareness of God's presence.
Practicing God's presence means training yourself to remain aware that God is always with you. As it say at the end of Matthew's Gospel when he gives the great commission, I am with you always. I am with you. Always gently turn your attention back to God. Each time your mind wanders without guilt or frustration.
I. Again, the temptation here, to go back to Paul's warning at the beginning is that you start to use this as another workspace, righteous of righteousness, and then you come to the end of the day and you go, oh my gosh, I did such a terrible job of being with the Lord today. I'm such a bad Christian. All right, then you've missed the point. Okay. You are now trying to use condemnation again, the old way to bring you in to God's presence. And it won't work.
So when you fail and you will, you just quietly return, quietly return. So the most holy and necessary practice in our spiritual life is the presence of God. That means finding constant delight in his divine company. Oh, how lovely. Number four, begin with times of set prayer, but don't stop there. Formal prayer is a starting point. The goal is not just to pray at set times, but to become prayer.
To be in a state of connection with God at all times, we ought to act with God in the greatest simplicity. Speak to him frankly and plainly and implore his assistance in our affairs. Beautiful. Number five, stay humble and gentle with yourself. Don't over overanalyze failures or spiritual dryness when you fall short. Simply acknowledge it before God and move on in peace. The key is love and trust, not perfection.
When we fail, we must only humble ourselves before God and ask his forgiveness, but not be discouraged. We must take heart and go on. Beautiful. So Brother Lawrence's practice is deeply deceptively simple. Turn your heart to God in every moment. Offer him your love in every task, and live as if he's right there because he is. It's a spirituality of simplicity, humility and devotion, a spirituality of knowing him and you. What happens when you live this way?
When you live in the presence of the sun, you become the moon. And what does that mean? The moon has no light of its own. The moon reflects the light of the sun. And so remember in all of this, this isn't about just your own selves, right? Your own joy, your own peace and satisfaction. It's about you fulfilling what has always been your purpose, to be the moon, to be an image bearer, to be one who reflects the light of the sun to the world around us.
There is nothing more joyful than being in the presence of a true moon. Go with me on this one. All right. Somebody who simply reflects not their own light, but the light of the sun. They are the most. Peaceful, joyful, encouraging life-giving people to be around the world needs more moons. It doesn't need more fake sons. There is one son is doing a stellar job. Doesn't need help. Yeah. We all just need to resolve to become moons. It's just a shame. The word moon has been so corrupted, isn't it?
Anyway, purify your minds. Um, but be a moon. Think about that as one whose sole job is to reflect the light of the sun, to bring light into the darkness. Why are we given the moon to bring shine light into the darkness? Why do we even being called to be image bearers, to be his? We sang that song. You know, I'm no longer a slave. I'm a child of God. Well, that's great for you. Yeah. And that is great for you.
But there's a world out there that needs to know and needs to see that truth reflected, that they would come to know the goodness of God and the glory of God. All right. That was off script, so back on script. All right. Practical, practical ways to begin. I wanna kick us. I, I'm doing this because, you know, last Sunday Luke preached such a great message, right? And the practical element of it was just so good. It's like, oh yeah, we need more practical stuff.
Like, how do we actually do this stuff? It's one thing to. Preach about it thing. How do we actually apprehend it and, and bring it to bear? So start the day with intention. Before you check your phone or start your task, take a moment to simply say, God, today is yours. Help me walk with you through it all.
You know, I just wonder how many of you do not actually begin your day with God because you had this idealistic notion in mind of what a devotional time at the beginning of the day should look like, and you go, this must be, well, at least if I can't do at least an hour, well then what's the point if all you've got. You know, moms of small children, busy, overwhelmed people, is a few minutes to breathe a prayer.
Do that and see what the good Lord will do with your little offering of loaves and fishes to sustain you and to make his presence real with you throughout that day. Don't set these idealistic goals that tend to become crushing weight that you then just go, oh, beat yourself up with at the end of the day. If this is how you start your day, brilliant. Today is yours, Lord, help me walk with you through it all and then set reminders through the day. Little cues you find buzzes.
There's a specific sound or a task like washing your hands. News them as a reminders to pause and acknowledge God presence. To direct your heart's, focus towards him next. Bring God into mundane tasks. You're cooking, you're cleaning, you're driving, replying to emails. Inwardly say something like, I do this with you, Lord, be with me in this. Check in throughout the day. Pause now and then even for a breath, and ask Lord. You here with me? Yes. You are here with me.
What would you have me notice right now? That is such a great question. You know, word and why this week? You know, we were talking about, um, this, um, the passage that actually was part of Luke's passage from last week when he talks about Paul talks. People aren't, um, they don't have the interests of Christ in mind, and we were wrestling with that question. What are the interests? Of Jesus.
And what if in any given moment throughout the day, what if when you go out in your day, the lunches that you go to, the dinners that you go to, whatever you are doing, what if you to pause and go, Jesus, what are your interests in this moment? What do you want me to know about this moment? And you're inclining your ear. All right, next end the day in gratitude before sleep.
Replay the day in your mind, and thank God for being present through it all, you know, even if you forgot to draw your attention to him, which you will fail to do. And here is just some simple, short prayers that can help keep your heart towards him throughout the day. My God, here I am all for you. Help me to stay near to you in this moment. I am yours. Do with me as you. Please. Thank you for being with me. Even when I forget. Let this task be done in love for you.
Let this task be done in love for you. Imagine conversations that you go into during the day. Let this conversation be done in love for you, Lord. How does that change your posture in things? A few little words that can just shift everything, more of you and less of me. So Brother Lawrence said, we shouldn't try too hard or get discouraged if we forget God a hundred times, we simply return 101 quietly, peacefully, and with love.
All right, so as I bring this home, so Paul presses on, he says he forgets what's behind and he's straining towards what is ahead. He's not chasing perfection in his own strength. He's pursuing a person. He's running after Jesus, the one who has already taken hold of him. And here's the joy for us, because of the resurrection, we're not trying to earn God's approval. We already have it. Jesus rose from the dead to make us right with God, not with the righteousness of our own, but with his.
And that changes everything. This means we don't have to hide anymore. We don't have to strive. We don't have to pretend. The resurrected Jesus has opened the way to truly know God, to walk with him, to talk with him, to enjoy him, and to reflect his light into a dark world that so desperately needs to know him. And that's a source of our joy, not in our achievements, not in our religious resume, but in him in knowing Christ. And more than that, in being known by him.
So church, we press on, not to prove ourselves, but to take hold of the one who already holds us. And in that we rejoice. Amen. Now, how about you bow your heads and let's pray as the team comes up. Lord, my prayer for us all this morning is that deep cry of I want to know you, Lord. Would you stir every heart here this morning in that direction? And Lord, for those who are bow, still bound up in this work of self-righteousness trying to earn right relationship with you.
Holy Spirit, would you come bring your illumination, your revelation, and would you set free those who are in those chains of bondage? But Lord, would you set all of our hearts a blaze this morning with a deepening understanding of what the, what this day means, the significance of it, that the tomb was empty. That you rose, that you defeated our greatest enemy, what separates us from the one who is life himself?
Our creator, God, you defeated death on our behalf that we would now stand guilt free before you. Lord, may this truth pierce our heart. May this truth change how we go out those doors this morning. And Lord, would you set in us a desire to wanna reflect your heart to the world around us. That, yes, you did this for our own sake, but you did this so that we would be brought back to a place of being able to fulfill the purpose for which we were always created.
To shine your light, to bear your image, to share the glory of who you are with those who don't yet know. What may we bear the truth and the beauty and the wonder of your good news in simple, yet powerful and profound ways throughout this day, Lord, lead us in the paths of knowing you. In deeper and deeper ways, may our hearts just be full with an inexpressible joy. We are home. We are home in you. We are at peace with you. What a gift, what a life altering, blessing, reality, and truth.
Amen. Hi, church. How. Stand, let us worship.