Live Free with Josh Howerton - God Is After Your Heart | Ep. 54 | Thursday April 20, 2023

Episode Date: April 20, 2023

What’s the difference between religion and a relationship with Jesus? A lot! Tune in to today’s episode as Pastor Mike shares how God isn’t looking for rule keepers or hard workers. He is a loving Father who is longing for your heart. So, if you’ve ever felt like God is mad at you or disappointed in you, today’s episode is for you. It’s time to understand the difference between religion and faith in Jesus. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome to the Daily Drive, whether or not you're actually driving. We're praying that these few minutes together may drive you closer to God. And it's so honored that you would tune in today. My name is Mike, but that's not important at all. Just thrilled to spend a few minutes talking about the one who's changed my life and could do the same for you.

And his name is Jesus. And we've been walking through a book in the New Testament called Philippians. Actually, it's a letter written a brand new Jesus followers in a city called Philippi. And as we've already seen, it's a letter of joy. and gratitude and light and hope and humility. Now, chapter 2 is one of the coolest sections of scripture you will ever read. So if you miss any of the prior episodes, you can go back and catch up, or you can just open up a Bible or a Bible app and just read it for yourself. And you will be moved, I guarantee you, by the humility of Jesus. So we're starting chapter 3 today, and this is one of my favorite passages in all the Bible.

And I'll think you'll see why, as Paul, the author, just gets super vulnerable. I don't need to tell you that we are living in uncertain times. We see it every day, and that's why I keep saying that this letter is so relevant today as it was to the original readers. Now, these brand-new Jesus followers in the city of Philippi, they were also living in shaky times. They were getting heat from the Roman Empire for their beliefs, which would only intensify in some pretty horrific ways. And they were getting harassed by the religious people. This group of rigid zealots known as the Judaizers who practiced this very hate-filled, godless form of Judaism.

They were constantly ripping Jesus and saying that he was an imposter, and they taught, even if he was a good guy, following him is certainly not enough. You have to follow our prescribed list of ritualistic rules. So Paul had to battle these guys a lot. Pretty much everywhere he went, These were the same guys who crucified Jesus. These were the same guys responsible for Paul now being in jail.

They were non-inclusive, hard-hearted people who were relentless in harassing the followers of Jesus, especially as they saw them as these unworthy outsiders called Gentiles in places like Philippi. They had such a disdain for, you know, those people that they referred to them as dogs. So Paul writes this letter to encourage them, and as you'll see, he writes from a very unique place of understanding. I love how he kind of tongue and cheek turns the tables and puts the labels back on these guys when he says this, verse one. Watch out for those dogs. See what he does there? Those people who do evil, they're the real dogs.

Those mutilators who say you must be circumcised in order to be safe, for we who worship by the Spirit of God, we're the ones who are truly circumcised. This has never been about an outward physical sign. It's always been about the heart. You might remember a time that Jesus was sitting by a well, and he told a woman there who was considered to be an outsider by these same guys, that God's always been after those who just worship in spirit and in truth. It's never been about rituals. It's never been about regulations.

It's always been about the heart. So Paul goes on to say, we rely on what Jesus Christ has done for us. We put no confidence in human efforts. It's not about religion and rules. It's about a love relationship with the lover of your soul. And then he opens up and gets pretty vulnerable and very personal. Now, some of you may know about Paul's former life as a guy named Saul. If you had some of these, you know, Jesus people infiltrating your little religious empire, then better call Saul.

Saul was a bad dude, dangerous guy, zealous guy, religious guy, racist guy. He called people dogs. He used to be one of the guys he's now talking about. So he's saying, I know, I know. I used to be exactly like that. Verse four, though I could have confidence in my own effort, if anybody could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more. You want to talk about religious rulekeeping?

You want to see my resume of self-sufficient arrogance? I got one. I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I'm a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin. I'm talking to real Hebrew if there ever was one. I was a member of the Pharisees who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that are harshly persecuted the church, and as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. Paul said, these guys who are harassing you, trying to get you to abandon Jesus and conform to their religious ways, they got nothing on me.

I used to be all about it. Years ago, I heard it put like this, religion is spelled D.O. what do I have to do to appease of God I've obviously ticked off in some way just show me the checklist tell me what I need to do when to show up

what to wear what to say when to stand when to kneel what days to keep holy what foods to avoid what kind of prayers really count what words do I have to say in order to get on this good graces so religion is spelled D.O tell me what I need to do

Christianity on the other hand is a relationship that is spelled D.O. O-N-E. It's all about what has been done for us. And now out of gratitude, we do live a new way, but it's all about what Jesus Christ has done on a cross and an empty tomb. We trust him to do for ourselves. Well, we cannot do for ourselves.

Paul says, verse 7, I once thought these things were valuable. I was a rulekeeper, too. I was good at it, too. Found my self-worth, found my identity in that. But now I consider them worthless because of what Christ, Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for his sake, I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage so that I could gain Christ and become one with Him. Now, the word is used for

garbage here is much stronger than that. Much stronger. He's actually saying all that stuff I thought was so important. Honestly, it's a bunch of crap. Manure, dumb, even extrament is what the word means. And compared to knowing Jesus, let me tell you, it really is, because I've been there. I grew up in church, spent so much time trying not to tick God off. I was scared of death him, thought he was mad at me, disappointed at me, even disgusted by me. And when I encountered the love of Jesus, it changed everything for me. I learned that God had been longing to love me, to call me as treasured child to welcome me home as a loving father. And I started reading all about Jesus. And I saw the kinds of people he hung out with it. I thought, you know what,

they're a lot like me. He might even want to hang out with a guy like me. I heard somebody say one time, the people that were least like Jesus, liked Jesus, and Jesus like them. And I discovered a real everyday relationship with God, and that's why I connect with Paul so much as he continues, verse 9. So I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the laws or rules. Rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ, for God's way of making this right with himself depends on faith. I just want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him if need be sharing his death so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead. Paulson, I used to be so proud of how much I knew. Now all I want to know

is Christ, and I'm proud to suffer with Him. I know that because of him, no matter what this light throws at me, whether I rot in this jail that I'm riding from, whether I get crucified or beheaded for my faith, I trust him, and know I will experience eternal life through Him. Gang, those are timely words for us today. Our hope is not in religion. It's not in Washington. It's not in education.

It's not in Wall Street. Our hope is in the love of Jesus Christ alone. So I'm praying you'll walk in the freedom of that living hope today. I'll see you back next time. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m.

and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.com. Thank you.