Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Church.
[00:00:06] All right. I am going to wrap up this series we've been talking about for the last couple of weeks. But before I do, I want to say a prayer for us. Dear Father, I love you. I trust you. I am very, very thankful for who you are. I pray, Father, like we sang, that your holy spirit would be present with us this morning. I pray that you would be alive and active in our thoughts and our hearts and in our souls. I pray that you would draw out of us that which is very, very best and point us in the way that we should go. The men and women you've called and created us to be, help us, I pray, in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:00:42] So some time ago I read, I came across a short story by Leo Tolstoy.
[00:00:46] And it's called How Much Land Does a Man Need?
[00:00:50] If you've never read Russian literature before, this is good. It's a short story. But some of them are thick and massive and you gotta work for it so hard. It tells the story of a man named Paham.
[00:01:01] And he's a farmer, he works the land and his whole life he just dreams of owning more land.
[00:01:07] He thinks if he had the land he really wanted, it would solve so many of the day to day problems and the hassles that he faced. And so he finds out there's a lady in the village, she has about 400 acres of land that she's gonna sell. So he and his wife, they sell things, they borrow money, they piece everything together and they have enough to buy free 40 acres of this land. And he's just sure this is it. When he gets this land, life is going to be good.
[00:01:35] So what he finds is he starts working the land and leasing the land that all of a sudden he has new problems that he has to work through. He has new complaints from other people and now it's just adding up. So he realizes that there's another region and maybe he's just farming the wrong thing. So if he could go to this other region, get land and he could sow wheat instead of what he's sowing now, then that would be the answ and fix everything. And so again, he and his wife, they sell everything, the land, the farm, he packs up, they move across the country.
[00:02:09] Now he moves up to 125 acres of land, he's going to make a better profit, he's going to sow the wheat.
[00:02:16] But eventually again, with more land comes more responsibility, more problems. He's trying to figure out how to navigate this. When he hears a story From a traveler. And the story is that there's this land of the bakshirs, and he bought 13,000 acres for only 1,000 rubles, which, in our money, american money, that's about a little under $12. So this seems like the greatest idea ever. With land like that, life would be great.
[00:02:47] So, paham, he travels to the land of the bakshirs. He meets the leaders, the officials there. He sits down the. They go back and forth, they navigate. Like, here's what he wants. Here's what he's hoping for. And they agree on. He can have whatever land he wants for 1,000 rubles. But there's one stipulation.
[00:03:07] He has to walk around whatever land he can walk around in one day from sunrise to sunset with his own feet. That's the land that he can purchase.
[00:03:19] So that seems great. So all night, he's like, strategizing in his mind, like, here's how I'm gonna do it. Here's. Here's what it's going to look like. Gets up early the next morning. He meets the leaders.
[00:03:30] They put the fur hat down on the ground. He throws his thousand rubles in as the sun rises. This is his spot that he has to get back to.
[00:03:39] Or if he doesn't make it back, he doesn't get the land and the money is lost.
[00:03:45] So he sets out. He takes a little shovel with him so that he can mark the places along the way.
[00:03:51] He takes a little bread and water for the journey. He sets out and he starts walking Kind of like an easy pace. He's got all day to do this. He makes little holes in the ground to mark the spot for the land lines that he wants to own.
[00:04:04] So the day starts to wear on. He starts picking up his speed, like, I want to get more land in here. Starts to get hot. So as the day gets hotter, he starts to take some layers off. Then he's been walking for a while. His feet get irritated. He takes his boots off.
[00:04:21] So he starts to, like, really get. It's hot. He's been walking all day. He starts to slow down and say, okay, I think I've covered enough land. I'm gonna head back to where I started.
[00:04:30] But then he sees this beautiful land, and surely he can't leave that out. It's lush. It's got pastures in it. Even though he's tired and hot, he makes that extra circuit around it, and he just has to squeeze it in before he gets back. So at this point, he's miserable, he's hot, He's Tired, he's gone through his bread and water. His feet are starting to get bruised and cut up. He can't sit down because he know he won't make it back. So he's just got to push through, get to the end of where he started. So he sees the sun is starting to set. He sees the hills in the horizon. He sees his starting point and realizes if he doesn't really push himself, he's not going to make it back to the starting point and all will be lost. So he starts to run harder and harder, and he's soaked with sweat. He's desperately thirsty. He starts to see the leaders waving their hands and screaming in the horizon. And he sees that it's insight. He pushes beyond his capacity. And just as the sun is about to set, he collapses right at the starting point.
[00:05:32] But what Tolstoy says is he pushed himself so hard that when he reached it, his legs gave out, his lungs gave out, and he died.
[00:05:42] And he ends it by the servant digging a grave for Paham. And he says, how much land does a man need?
[00:05:50] 6ft from head to heel was all he needed.
[00:05:54] So they're not really Russian literature doesn't end well. Sorry to drag you through that, but it's interesting because Tolstoy used that story to illustrate something he struggled with his whole life. If you've ever read any history about Tolstoy, he was very successful. He had made some name and money for himself with his writing. He had accomplishment. He had a family, a wife. But he struggled with, what does it all mean? What really makes a person happy? He said, at what point? What will come of what I'm doing today or tomorrow? What will come of my whole life?
[00:06:32] Why should I love? Why wish for anything or do anything? Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?
[00:06:43] And he struggled with this. At one point, he, like, moved into the woods, into, like, a really simple life, trying to navigate the meaning of his life.
[00:06:51] Now, we might not be like Pahom, like, trying to get all the land, but we all have this myth, this picture in our head. If I could just have this life would be better. If I could just accomplish this or get this or buy this or not have these problems or these stresses or these worries, then surely my life would be better.
[00:07:11] Or like Tolstoy, we reach points in our life with, what is the meaning of it all? What is the purpose of it? Why do I exist? Does any of this really add up to anything?
[00:07:24] And. And so we go on this search of what's gonna make us happy? What's really gonna add value and meaning to my life? And we think maybe it's more of the right things or more accomplishments or more attention or more stuff. And we do this lifetime pursuit of. There's this gap I'm trying to fill, and surely the next thing will fill it, or some of us. It's not more. It's.
[00:07:51] I find meaning in who I am in what I do, right? So I am what I do. And when I'm doing good in what I do, life is great, right? I'm a parent, so that defines me. Or I'm a spouse, or your job or your title or your career, or the amount of money you make, right? The influence you have. These things become what defines us. And think, when I get to this level, or the kids are happy or the bills are paid, or when I reach this point hard, or if I make this amount of money or I don't have this debt to pay off, then I'll feel good.
[00:08:27] And we work and we work and we work, thinking we'll find meaning here.
[00:08:32] But it always seems just a little bit elusive, just a little bit out of reach. Happiness is just going to happen here, but not quite yet.
[00:08:42] And the good things get old and the great positions go away.
[00:08:47] Or we get the thing we thought we always wanted that at one point we desperately pleaded with God for. And what we find is new problems, new stress, new concerns. And we struggle with what does it mean and the purpose of it all.
[00:09:03] And even worse, if you read any of the studies or the statistics today, all the things we thought would make us happy, they aren't.
[00:09:11] And all you see is a rise in mental health problems and depression and anxiety and suicide and addiction. And it just keeps going up.
[00:09:23] Because what we thought would solve the problem or make us happy didn't.
[00:09:28] And then we feel like Tolstoy, what does this all mean?
[00:09:32] What does it even add up to?
[00:09:34] So I don't know where you are in any of that, but I do know I want us to look at this all differently. And we're going to do it looking at a story that Jesus Christ told in the Gospel of Luke. Because when we think about the meaning of our life, when we think about our purpose and who we were created to be, the world has a lot of answers for us. A lot of us are wearing a lot of labels that we inherited along the way. And they're not making us happy.
[00:10:00] They're not solving the problems, and we're not finding the joy and purpose of life that we were meant to.
[00:10:06] So we're going to shift our paradigm. We're going to look at this through a different lens, looking at the story that Christ told. So it's in Luke chapter 18, starting at verse nine.
[00:10:16] What's interesting is when Jesus tells parables, they're stories with a point. They're meant to teach a lesson, but you always have to look at who's standing around, who is he telling the story to? Because the audience always ties into the story that he tells.
[00:10:31] So in verse nine, Luke tells us Jesus told the story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else. Jesus said two men went to the temple to pray.
[00:10:43] One was a Pharisee, the other a despised tax collector.
[00:10:47] The Pharisees stood by himself and prayed this prayer. I thank you, God, that I'm not like other people, cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I'm certainly not like that tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give you a tenth of my income.
[00:11:03] But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, oh, God, be merciful to me. I am a sinner.
[00:11:18] Jesus said, I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
[00:11:31] So Jesus tells us this story, and he wants us to draw comparisons between the Pharisee and the tax collector. Outwardly, the Pharisee was seen as a leader in their community. They knew the law, they knew the rules. They were righteous. They knew the right things to do and someone that you could be. They were respected and looked up to.
[00:11:51] And in contrast, outwardly, the tax collectors were looked down on. They were the people that were seen as thieves and liars, and they betrayed their own people to make a couple extra bucks.
[00:12:04] And if a teacher in this time was gonna tell a story, then surely the Pharisee would be the good guy and the tax collector would be the bad guy. But Christ is so good at, like, flipping the script and making us look at things differently.
[00:12:17] Instead, he shifts how we look at the identity of these people. He goes from the outward appearance, what the world sees when we look at them, to the inner. And he shows us the appearance of their hearts through their prayers.
[00:12:33] And so I want to look at these prayers and I want us to dig into here. What is Jesus trying to teach us? So look at the Pharisees prayer. What did he pray?
[00:12:40] Thank you, God. I'm not bad like those people.
[00:12:43] Thank you, God. I'm not a cheater or a sinner. And I don't cheat on my spouse. And look at what I don't do.
[00:12:50] And his identity is based on, here's what I do for God.
[00:12:55] I fast, I make myself go without, because that outward aestheticism shows I mean business and I give generously.
[00:13:06] So he's built this identity for himself on what he does for God. God, I'm such a good person. Aren't you glad to have me? God, look at the bad things I don't do and the good things I do.
[00:13:19] And his confidence is built on his own good behavior.
[00:13:26] He has managed his sins so he doesn't do the bad things and the good is what he does.
[00:13:32] But he turned that confidence into a superiority where he looked down on others and he gained confidence for himself by comparing himself to other people and saying, well, at least I'm better than them, as long as I'm better than them. Then I check off my good person column. I don't ever want to dip below because then I lose my status as a good person. But I'm here, so I'm good. That's where my confidence comes. And you look down on other people.
[00:14:00] And then you have the tax collector who just says this very, very simple prayer.
[00:14:06] He won't even go up. He stands in the back.
[00:14:09] He won't even live. He doesn't even feel worthy enough to look up to heaven. And he hits his chest in sorrow and says, God, be merciful to me. I'm a sinner.
[00:14:21] And when we look at what his prayer shows us about his heart, it wasn't focused on anything he could do.
[00:14:29] It was focused on what God could do.
[00:14:32] His confidence wasn't in his good behavior because he acknowledged, I'm a sinner.
[00:14:38] His confidence, it was in the mercy of God.
[00:14:43] And when he prays, he doesn't talk about what he does or he doesn't do. He speaks to who God is.
[00:14:49] God, you are the one who's merciful to sinners. His identity wasn't a ranking of good versus bad behavior or sin management.
[00:14:58] It was on the ability of God to show grace to broken people, just like you and I.
[00:15:04] And Jesus tells us the story because it illustrates the very heart of the gospel.
[00:15:11] God doesn't love us and show us grace based on our good behavior.
[00:15:17] See, somewhere along the way, we heard the message of the gospel that Christ came into the world and died on the cross for you. And I and through him, we have the ability to live a new life and be who he called us to be. And then we read and we go to groups and we listen to sermons and we talk about, like, how do I grow up in Christ? And somewhere along the way, what clicked in our head was, oh, I have to do the right thing. And doing the right thing makes me a good girl or a good boy. And surely God loves me when I'm a good girl or a good boy. So I gotta manage the bad and just do the good.
[00:15:48] And we slowly move away from the heart of the gospel.
[00:15:52] I'm not saved by anything that I've done, guys. If that was the case, nobody let me up on this stage. Let's just be honest.
[00:16:03] None of us would be here because none of us have ever done enough good to earn or deserve what Christ did on the cross when he gave his life for us.
[00:16:13] We are saved by grace. We aren't saved because we're good. Christ saves us and gives us the faith to grow into being better people. But it all is dependent on grace. First, I don't even know I need God until God shows up and shows me that I do.
[00:16:33] My heart isn't longing for God until God does something in me to say, hey, you need better than this.
[00:16:41] And he calls something better out of me. Faith itself is because of the grace of God, which is huge, because my faith in your faith doesn't matter how strong or how weak they are, because it's not the strength of our faith, it's the strength of the one we put our faith in.
[00:16:59] And his strength is unwavering and it does not change.
[00:17:05] And Jesus says, both men walked away that day, but only the sinner was right with God.
[00:17:12] Only the one who recognized his identity was dependent on the mercy of God, not what he could or couldn't do.
[00:17:22] He walked away right with God.
[00:17:26] And when we miss this, it twists religion into something it was never meant to be.
[00:17:31] What happens is we twist this just enough. All the religious words are there. The right showing up, doing the right things are there. But there's this little bit of shift that in my heart, I find superiority in. Well, God saved me. I'm a good person. And clearly you're not a good person, so I'm better than you.
[00:17:51] And religion was never supposed to be the thing that gave us permission to look down on other people.
[00:17:57] Religion was never supposed to be the thing that said, hey, you're up here, they're down here.
[00:18:04] But so many times I see people acting terribly and they say it's in the name of God, but there's nothing Christlike in their behavior. Again, the religious words are there. They say all the right religious words, the do's and the don'ts, and they'll even find a scripture to put with it.
[00:18:22] But is that the heart of the gospel? If I use my rightness to squash the well being of somebody else, is that the grace that Christ showed me? If I use the mercy that he gave me and called me into his light to hurt other people?
[00:18:39] And so Jesus wants us to see this contrast because there's an arrogance in the religion of the Pharisee and there's a humility in the simple claim of being a sinner in the tax collector.
[00:18:53] One built their identity on their moral goodness and the other built an identity on the grace and mercy of God.
[00:19:03] And it causes us all to ask the question, what have I built my identity on?
[00:19:10] Am I trying to build an identity that I am a good person who does good things?
[00:19:16] Or am I trying to build an identity on the mercy and the grace of Jesus Christ?
[00:19:22] One of the pastors who talks about this the best is Timothy Keller. And in his book the Prodigal God, he says there's two basic ways people try to find happiness and fulfillment. There's either the way of moral conformity and then there's the way of self discovery. Each acts as a lens coloring how you see all of life, or as a paradigm shaping your understanding of everything.
[00:19:44] Each is a way of finding personal significance and worth, of addressing the ills of the world and determining right from wrong.
[00:19:52] As a person in the way of moral conformity says, I'm not going to do what I want, but I'm going to do what tradition and the community wants me to do.
[00:19:59] The person choosing self discovery says, I'm the only one who can decide what's right and wrong for me. I'm going to live as I want to live and find my true self and happiness this way. You've had conversations on both sides, right? Like, you can't break tradition, guys. You might as well just be sinning right now if you break the tradition of what we've been doing for 150 years, right? Or you can't tell me how to live. I can figure it out for myself. I got to make my own way and find my own truth and my own path.
[00:20:30] But look, Keller says the message of Jesus is that both of these approaches are wrong and both are forms of rebelling against God.
[00:20:39] See, we look at sinning, we Think sinning is primarily the doing of bad things. And if I'm going to follow God, I don't want to sin and I don't want to do bad things.
[00:20:48] But Keller and other awesome thinkers have pushed that to say sin isn't primarily the doing of wrong things. It's me putting anything in the place where only Christ should be.
[00:21:00] In fact, the actual definition of sin is I make something central to who I am in the place that only Christ should be. The essence of sin is me putting myself or something else where Christ should be. The essence of salvation is Christ putting himself where I should be.
[00:21:20] And so what happens is we think we've managed sin because we don't do the bad things.
[00:21:26] And we never challenge our hearts and say, am I pushing God away in other ways?
[00:21:32] Maybe by my moral goodness, I'm pushing God away. Keller goes on to say, you can avoid Jesus as your Savior by keeping all the moral laws. If you do that, then you have rights. God owes you answered prayers and a good life and a ticket to heaven when you die. You don't need a Savior who pardons you by free grace. You are your own savior.
[00:21:56] He said, the goal in this is to get leverage over God to control him, to put him in a position where he owes you moral. People can avoid Jesus and Lord as savior just as much as those who say they don't believe in God and define right and wrong for themselves.
[00:22:12] You guys, I was an adult person before I understood this idea. And I'm a girl who grew up in the church.
[00:22:18] And I always thought, like, oh, good behavior, good person, God loves you, right? Like, we have this image of sin management, and we think that's what it looks like.
[00:22:30] Missing what's the heart of the gospel? A relationship where Christ is a part of my life, where Christ has the room to change and develop and grow. Me and some of us have built an identity on the doing of good things. I'm a good person.
[00:22:47] I show up. I do the right thing. I go to church. I know the songs, I know the verses, I know the prayers. I don't do anything bad.
[00:22:56] But instead of it drawing us nearer to Christ, we become arrogant, we become superior.
[00:23:08] We become confident in the ability to control our behavior, to do enough good things. I do the right thing. I'm in control.
[00:23:17] I do good. Good things should happen.
[00:23:21] And we push God and others away because we think we've got it. I can do this on my own. Without ever realizing we've now pushed God out of the central spot of where he's supposed to be.
[00:23:35] All of us need to examine our hearts.
[00:23:38] Some of us have pushed God away and said, I can do this on my own.
[00:23:42] I don't need you to tell me how to live. I'll figure it out.
[00:23:45] Some of us have pushed God away and said, God, I'm doing really, really good things. Now, here's what you owe me.
[00:23:51] And honestly, what I love about Jesus Story is if you want to know your heart, look at your prayers.
[00:23:57] What happens when God doesn't do the thing you've been pleading with him to do?
[00:24:03] What happens when you pray and the thing that you thought a good loving God was supposed to do happen?
[00:24:11] What happens in your heart? What happens in your identity?
[00:24:16] See, this matters because as long as the meaning of my life is wrapped up in what I do, it's always going to affect my identity. We've been talking about generosity for weeks. It's going to affect my ability to be generous and it's going to affect my ability to love.
[00:24:35] So I want to dig in these a little bit.
[00:24:38] Let's start. We've been talking about your identity, who you are. Okay, if my identity is based on what I do, let's see how that just twists a little bit.
[00:24:48] What if I make a good thing, Everything. When it comes to my identity, good things are good things. But when it becomes my everything, what am I doing? I'm putting something else in the place of my heart where Christ should be.
[00:25:03] So, for example, being a parent is a good thing. Having kids and loving your kids, It's a gift. And it's brutal and beautiful all at the same time. Is there one parent in here who has an amen?
[00:25:17] Did not know how much I needed God till I had kids.
[00:25:22] But what happens if being a parent, a good thing, becomes my everything?
[00:25:26] What happens when kids become adults and they move away and you have an empty nest? Then who are you?
[00:25:34] What happens when your kids struggle and you're doing everything you thought you were supposed to do and it's not working?
[00:25:42] Some of us go into, like, hide it mode, like, nobody can know.
[00:25:47] Keep the curtain closed. There's no struggles here. Everything is perfect.
[00:25:50] Or we go into a spiral and say, God, I'm doing all the right things. Why is my kid struggling? We're wracked with guilt because it's our fault.
[00:26:00] How about your job? Jobs are good things. You should have a job. You should have a work to do that's meaningful and pay the bills and be able to set up a life that you want. But what Happens when you make a good thing, your everything. What about when your job becomes your identity? You are who you are because of what you do. You have a great job, a great title, a great position, people look up to you, the paycheck is right, the numbers are there.
[00:26:23] What happens if you lose that job?
[00:26:25] What happens to your identity then?
[00:26:28] What happens if the company stops existing?
[00:26:32] Who are you without that company?
[00:26:37] Typically, when we make a good thing, our everything, our identity is wrapped up in that thing. And guys, we do this with so much.
[00:26:44] We do it with religion, we do it with politics, we do it with our family, we do it with our work, we do it with the labels we've been given our whole life. And when things, something disrupts our identity, our well being is disrupted. Who am I without that thing?
[00:27:01] Who am I now? And we see God, we get frustrated with God, like why is this happening? Why are you doing this? Why are you letting this happen?
[00:27:10] And when our identity is based on what we do, there's so much pressure to always get it right. There's incredible frustration when things get off kilter and they go wrong.
[00:27:22] And I don't know about you, but it's exhausting.
[00:27:27] What about generosity?
[00:27:29] When who I am is built on what I do, that's my identity.
[00:27:34] How does that affect my view of generosity?
[00:27:37] For some of us it becomes, well, everything I have, I worked for, it's mine and there's only so much to go around and so I have to control that because I worked really, really hard for it. And there's the fear that there's never going to be enough and it's going to go away. And the reality that the not enough is possible or the resources will run out is a constant fear that consumes our mind, our thinking and our well being.
[00:28:06] And we might be occasionally moved or maybe guilted into being generous, like, okay, there's a hungry kid, I can pay for it meal.
[00:28:14] But it never really becomes part of who we are.
[00:28:18] I don't want anything from anybody else. I can do this.
[00:28:22] I don't need to help anybody else.
[00:28:25] What about through the lens of love?
[00:28:28] My identity is built on what I do. It's easy to love when people are lovable.
[00:28:34] It's easy to love when life is good and there's rainbows and Sunshine and it's 72 degrees outside.
[00:28:44] It's easy to love when everything feels good. It's easy to love when people do the things I want them to do, when I want them to do it, when I ask them to.
[00:28:56] It's easy to love.
[00:28:58] But when I'm basing my identity on what I do, I think the love I get from other people should be equal to the love I give to other people.
[00:29:11] And sometimes we start keeping score in our head.
[00:29:15] Why aren't you doing this? I did this for you.
[00:29:18] Do you remember this time two years ago? You already did this. We talked about this.
[00:29:22] Anybody, a scorekeeper.
[00:29:24] And every time life gets a little wonky or the fighting starts happening, you pull out your sheet and you are ready to declare business. Here's what you don't do and here's how many times you don't do it. And for five years been pleading with you, right?
[00:29:40] Love gets just a little shifted. And I think if I act in loving ways, people should act in loving ways. I'm kind, people should be kind. What goes around comes around, right? That's how it should work.
[00:29:57] People should know what I want.
[00:29:59] People should just intuitively get it and give me what I need. That makes sense, right? Why can't you guess?
[00:30:05] I just simply don't understand.
[00:30:08] But I don't know about you. Does life work that way?
[00:30:12] Families would never have fights if life worked that way, right? No family tension ever. I can pour myself out to help somebody else and they could absolutely not care.
[00:30:22] Have you been here before? You can go out of your way and kill yourself to help somebody and maybe they didn't even notice, maybe they didn't even appreciate what you did for them.
[00:30:36] Or I could be having a really, really hard moment where it just got heavy and it added up and the weight on my shoulders is heavy and it's just pulling me down. But everybody else goes about life as usual and nobody sees.
[00:30:54] Or maybe some of us turn this into people pleasing.
[00:30:58] I'm loved for what I do, so therefore I have to keep everybody happy. And our people pleasing tendency goes into hyperdrive.
[00:31:07] And people's opinions of me define who I am. So as long as they're happy and they're liking me, then I'm good. And I have to manage it so that people like me and there's no tension and there's no problems and they have to think I'm good all of the time. Love is being liked and that is exhausting.
[00:31:25] Because guys, you could break your back for people and it doesn't mean that they're gonna love you the way that you wanna be loved.
[00:31:36] And see, this is the contrast that Christ wants us to make for ourselves. This is the thinking that Jesus wants us to make personal and say, where is arrogance driving My identity. And where is humility? Because when arrogance is in charge, I'm right, I'm good, I'm in control. I am in the driver's seat. I am the captain of my own destiny. And I pick what happens.
[00:32:00] And it affects my identity, it affects my generosity, it affects my ability to give and receive love.
[00:32:09] But in contrast, when humility steps up, when humility is in the driver's seat with us, it changes everything.
[00:32:19] My identity is no longer built on what I can do. It's built on who God is and what he's already done.
[00:32:26] Can we just be honest for a second, guys? You're really capable.
[00:32:30] I'm capable. There's a lot of things that we can do and thank God for it. The world is better. The church is better. Your family, your business, your people, they're better for what you can do. But there's some problems that you've been trying to solve, and you're killing yourself trying to solve that problem. You're giving it everything you have. You're doing everything you know how to do. And it's not getting any better.
[00:32:50] It's not changing. No matter how much you try, no matter how much you do, no matter how much you change, you can't fix the problem.
[00:32:59] And there has to be a moment of recognition in all of our lives that says, I can't, but God can.
[00:33:07] And maybe it's time I let God see there's something you've been trying to do, whether it's for yourself and it's something that you're trying to fix or break or change, and you can't. Cause you're the problem, you can't also be the solution. Or maybe it's somebody you love and you've killed yourself trying to make them better, trying to make them healthy, but they don't do what you want them to do and you can't make them do it. And every one of us have to have a moment in our lives where we say, I can't. I can't on my own, I can't. But God can.
[00:33:44] And in his strength and in his goodness, he's really, really good at doing what only God can do.
[00:33:51] Maybe it's time I let God try.
[00:33:54] Maybe it's time that my sense of self stops being from what I can do and what I can accomplish and who I can please and who I can make happy. And instead my focus turns heavenly to Jesus Christ.
[00:34:08] And I say, there but for the grace of God, I go, I, God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
[00:34:16] And when we step into this place where humility takes the front seat and we say I'm not enough, what I've been trying to do isn't working. The identity I've built, the life I've been trying to live, the generosity, the love, it's not going the way I want it to go.
[00:34:34] Maybe it's time for the mercy and grace of God to shape who we are and what we can do.
[00:34:41] I love Soren Kierkegaard. He's a really deep, deep thinker. And he says, only if your identity is built on God and His love can you have a self that can venture anything, face anything.
[00:34:52] See, when my identity is built on only what I can do, guys, it fractures really easy because we all have a capacity that runs out. And there will come a day where I can't.
[00:35:02] But when my identity is built on Jesus Christ, I now have a new sense of self that can face anything. And it is driven and motivated by the love of Jesus Christ.
[00:35:15] See, humility changes how I look at myself. Instead of it being God, I'm such a good person. Aren't you glad you saved me? Humility says I am so flawed that it required the death of Jesus Christ to save me. There is no arrogance in the presence of Christ on the cross.
[00:35:33] But I'm so loved, I'm so genuinely loved that he willingly and lovingly gave his life.
[00:35:41] That humility changes the trajectory of my heart. It's not arrogance, it's humility. I know I don't deserve it, but I will be so grateful my whole life for the faithful, loving goodness of Jesus Christ.
[00:35:58] It changes my identity.
[00:36:00] God doesn't love me because I'm useful.
[00:36:03] You're more than your usefulness in the things that you can accomplish. At the end of the day, let's just be honest. God could get a whole lot more done without me.
[00:36:13] It's a gift that he includes us.
[00:36:16] He doesn't need me. He includes me. And because he includes me, I'm always going to be a better person because of it. And so are you.
[00:36:23] God loves you for more than what you can accomplish. He's using the things that you do to grow and develop your personhood, your character, your life.
[00:36:34] It changes how I see being generous.
[00:36:37] There's this really cool book called the Paradox of Generosity. And he says the paradox of generosity is we don't go broke by giving.
[00:36:46] We don't end up in the negative or losing out. Instead, the more we give of ourselves, the more we grow in our own well being. The more we Flourish. When we learn to share our resources with others, we end up happier, healthier and more personal in life.
[00:37:02] It's not a Christian book. It was a study they did on the paradox of generosity.
[00:37:07] And it tells us the same thing that Christ has been telling us all along. We find more meaning in life by giving than acquiring.
[00:37:15] We find more meaning and purpose in living a life of generosity than just an outward, wealthy, pleasing life.
[00:37:23] I can be generous with others because of how generous Christ has been with me.
[00:37:29] Arrogance says, I worked hard for this, it's mine. Humility says everything that's good in my life is a gift from Jesus Christ.
[00:37:38] Everything good and you might work hard. God bless you. You need discipline and you need a work ethic. God bless you. But we are who we are because of the grace of God. And when I have this identity, it changes not just how I think about myself and how I live generously, but how I love.
[00:37:57] I love others because Christ first loved me.
[00:38:02] Instead of my focus being on what I deserve and what people should be doing for me and what I'm owed because of what I've done and what I've given, humility opens my eyes to see all the times what I deserved wasn't good, but God gave me better instead.
[00:38:21] Humility directs my vision to see that grace, the grace of Jesus Christ, takes deserve completely out of the storyline and puts the focus on the saving work of Jesus Christ.
[00:38:32] Instead of basing my love and what I think people deserve, I follow the model of Jesus Christ and my love is based on Christ.
[00:38:41] I love others because he loves me and I don't deserve it. I didn't earn it, but he gives it again and again and again.
[00:38:50] So here's why I want to challenge you.
[00:38:54] If you're wondering what your life focus is, if you're wondering what you have been leading with arrogance or humility or what you can do for God or what God has done for you, I want you to think through these areas. I want you to think through how you build your identity.
[00:39:11] How do you think about your life? Are you focusing on what you do or what Christ has done for you?
[00:39:18] Think about what generosity looks like in your life.
[00:39:21] Is it a hassle or a blessing?
[00:39:24] Is it annoying? Or is it a genuine honor to be able to give in the way that Christ has given to us?
[00:39:32] Think about how you give and receive love.
[00:39:35] Are you keeping score or are you loving freely, richly and generously because that's how Christ loves you.
[00:39:45] See, when we really challenge ourselves in these areas, God starts working into us, a sense of humility and purpose. And instead of being frustrated or upset, we see a new way to do life that gives purpose, purpose, and meaning.
[00:40:01] And for my really deep thinkers, I'm giving you one more way to think about this, because I want you guys not to just come to church on Sunday and say that, oh, that sounds like a good idea. I want you to take this home and think about it. And so if you're taking notes, write some of this down. Or if you have the app, it's in your notes app. I want you to go home and I want you to think your way through these big ideas. Because the meaning of life isn't something that's easily handed to you. You have to think about it.
[00:40:26] You gotta practice it. You gotta experience it. I love Arthur Brooks. I've heard him speak and read a bunch of his books. And he wrote a book called the Meaning of youf Life. He said meaning is a different kind of question, one that must be lived, not solved with a Google search or simulated using AI. Look, you can go online and say, what's the meaning of my life? And it'll give you something.
[00:40:46] Doesn't mean it's good, doesn't mean it's right.
[00:40:50] Doesn't mean it's your unique purpose that God has given you.
[00:40:54] He says it requires deep contemplation and a commitment to living a real life full of unsolvable secrets, puzzling riddles, unexplainable bliss, and terrible suffering.
[00:41:07] To really, really understand the meaning of your life, you have to think about it and live it. So I'm going to give you his formula for how to do this. And please, if you do anything, think through this this week and see what God doesn't stir up in your imagination and in your heart.
[00:41:23] He says, here's the elements of meaning. He always likes a formula. Meaning equals coherence plus purpose plus significance.
[00:41:30] Coherence is how the events of your life fit together. Some of us look at life and it's just random and things happen here and there. But the things in your life happen for a reason. They're not random. They're not chance. Your life has a coherence to it.
[00:41:47] So this is the question you have to ask for coherence.
[00:41:51] Why do things happen in my life the way that they do?
[00:41:54] Have you ever thought about that? Like, go back and think about your life. Why do things happen the way that they do?
[00:42:02] Was it my decision that got me here?
[00:42:04] Was it my choice or the choice of somebody else?
[00:42:07] Could I have done Something differently and been in a different place because none of it's wasted. All of it, for good or for bad, comes together to cohere into the meaning of your life. The second one he talks about is purpose. And purpose is the existence of goals and direction.
[00:42:25] You are alive to do something. What's the roadmap that tells you how to live and where to go? And the question he asks for purpose is, why am I moving in this direction?
[00:42:39] Have you ever just stopped and asked yourselves that before? Like, why am I doing life the way I'm doing? Like, why am I working where I'm working? Or why am I going to school where I go to school? Or why am I doing these things for fun or these hobbies? If you never ask yourself why you live an unexamined life and you're gonna coast along with bad habits that you never even thought about, hey, that might be doing more harm than good, but why am I doing this? Why am I moving in this direction?
[00:43:06] And then the last part of the equation is significance. And he says, this is the inherent value of your life to yourself and to others. You, the world would be worse for someone you love if you didn't exist.
[00:43:18] That's a powerful statement. And the question for this is, why does my life matter?
[00:43:23] I promise, you might not see it, you might not feel it, but your life matters.
[00:43:30] You are not here by chance. You are not a random accident. You were created on purpose, for a purpose, and your life has inherent value and dignity because you were made in the image of a loving and good God.
[00:43:46] And you gotta dig in and you gotta think, why were you born? Why did God create me if it's not an accident, if it's not random chance, why was I born?
[00:43:58] And this is a hard one. I heard these questions a couple years ago, and when he first asked them, I'm like, I don't know. That's a good question. Anybody got an answer? Like, who's gonna answer this for me?
[00:44:08] But I thought about it, and the second one is, for what would you happily give your life at this moment? And some of us were like, easy. My kids, easy. My spouse. Easy. My family, easy. My friends. Then what? What else do you see in your life? A higher call, for a greater purpose. That you would gladly draw your line in the sand and say, I am made for this time, this purpose and this reason. And if I never move from this spot, I will die on this hill because this is who God created me to be.
[00:44:37] Some of us have been searching our whole life for an answer like that, and I'm not giving you the answer, because the answer is in your relationship to Jesus Christ, will you find your meaning and your purpose? But you need time and you need to think through the hard stuff outside of yourself. Think about who God created you to be. Spend some quiet time with him. Let him move you and call you and direct you.
[00:45:03] Change your identity from what you do to what Christ has already done.
[00:45:08] Look at your life as a person who gives something away all of the time.
[00:45:14] And love God and love others. Well, spend some time with God, and I promise when you do, you will not be disappointed in the meaning, the purpose and the value of your life. Dear Father, I pray that you would help us. I recognize that when it comes to building our life, we get lost, we get distracted, we get overwhelmed. Life is loud and it's urgent and it's messy, and sometimes it's just mean.
[00:45:37] So I pray, Father, that your grace, your mercy, your light and your hope would shine in the darkness and show us the way that we should go. I pray that you would give us a new way to think and a new way to focus about who we are and who you've created us to be. I pray for those who've tried to create an identity and we've tried to focus on what we do, that you would give us a greater vision of who Christ is and what he he's already done. I pray for some of us, Father, that for the first time we would let you in and let you be our Father, our Savior, and our Lord. And I pray that all of it, you would direct us in the way that we should go and Christ would be glorified. In his name, I pray. Amen.
