Sermon - Kingdom Confidence: "Citizens of Heaven" Series

Sermon Outline
Focus: True confidence before God is not built on what we achieve, but on what Christ has accomplished. In Philippians 3, Paul calls us to lay down self-reliance and find our righteousness in Jesus alone.

I. Where does your confidence come from? Effort? Morality? Success? Christ alone?
       Tim Keller: “The default mode of the human heart is self-salvation.”

II. Misplaced Confidence Will Always Fail (vv. 1–6)
       Paul warns against confidence in the flesh (human effort, achievement, morality).
       If anyone could trust a résumé—it was Paul.
       Yet even the best résumé cannot stand before God.
       Anything you build your identity on—other than Christ—can be taken from you.

III. Kingdom Confidence Is Found in Christ Alone (vv. 7–9)
       Paul counts all his achievements as loss compared to knowing Christ.
       True righteousness is not earned—it is received through faith.
       The Great Exchange: Jesus takes our sin; we receive His righteousness
       You don’t stand before God based on your performance, but on Christ’s perfection.

IV. Religion Cannot Replace Relationship (vv. 10–11)
       Paul’s goal: “That I may know Him…”
       Christianity is not about improving yourself – it’s about knowing Jesus.
       You can do religious things and still miss a real relationship with Him.
       The gospel doesn’t come to make you better – it comes to make you new.
       On Suffering: Charles Spurgeon: “I have learned to kiss the waves that have cast me upon the Rock of Ages.”

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Friends, let me ask you a question this morning. Where does your confidence come from? Where does the confidence in your existence come from? Does it come from what you've built with your own hands? Or does it come from Christ in Christ alone?

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Welcome to the Church of the Lakes Weekly Sermon Podcast. We're so glad that you've joined us, and we're honored to be part of your spiritual journey. Today, Pastor Jared continues our new sermon series, Citizens of Heaven, using the book of Philippians, written by the Apostle Paul. Today's message is titled Kingdom Confidence. True confidence before God is not built on what we achieved, but on what Christ has accomplished. In Philippians 3, Paul calls us to lay down self-reliance and find our righteousness in Jesus alone. And now, here's Pastor Jared. Be blessed.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Mother's Day is an acceptable day to wear pink, right, ma'am? We wear them for our mamas, and uh my mom would be proud that I'm in a pink shirt and a tie today. Uh, so I'm wearing that for her. Uh may God rest her soul. And I know where she is. I miss her every day, uh, but I can't wait to see her someday again. Uh, but it's a joy to be with you. Uh thank you for being here. Uh we are continuing on in a series of messages we started five weeks ago called Citizens of Heaven. And what we've been doing is just simply methodically walking through Paul's letter to the church at Philippi to the Philippians. And uh, we've been saying it every week. I need to say it again this week. What makes this letter so amazing to me is that Paul is writing it from inside of a prison cell, yet it overflows with joy, which begs the question. How can somebody who's facing persecution for his faith, who's in this uh season of uncertainty and suffering, circumstances are not not what he would wish, how can he write with such joy in the midst of such dire circumstances? And the answer we keep going back to each week is simply this uh friends, your your joy will rise or fall with whatever kingdom you're living for. Again, your joy will rise and fall with whatever kingdom you're living for. There, for instance, if you're living for a kingdom of this world, maybe you're building a kingdom for yourself that is rooted primarily in your comfort, your success, reputation, your family, um, financial stability. If that's where you are rooting your life in a kingdom like that, your joy will be fragile because everything I just mentioned are all things that are fragile. They can be here one day and gone the next. However, if you have rooted your life in the kingdom of God, that this place where God rules and reigns that is steadfast, that is immovable, that will endure forever, guess what? Your joy will be steadfast, immovable, and will endure forever because it's tied into your proximity to King Jesus. Well, today the Apostle Paul is gonna move in his in his letter to the Philippian Church with another ingredient that is necessary for us to be able to kind of develop this joy, that this everlasting joy that is not rooted in context, company, and circumstance, but rather rooted in our proximity to Christ. And it has everything to do with confidence, where we place our confidence. Is our confidence placed in ourselves? Is it placed in something of this temporal world? Or is our confidence, true confidence, placed in our living God? Listen to what the Apostle Paul says. In like one of my sermons, you know, he's he's only three chapters into a four-chapter verse, and he starts with finally. He's not gonna end there, he's gonna keep going. So we got a few more weeks of the series. But I that aside, let me read you the Apostle Paul writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He says to the church, Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh, for it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, even though, by the way, I too have reason for confidence in the flesh. In fact, if anyone else has reason of confidence in the flesh, I actually have more. Circumcised on the eighth day a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet, whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as lost because of Christ. More than that I regard everything as lost because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I now regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Jesus, the righteousness from God based on faith. For I want to know Christ. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his suffering by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may obtain the resurrection of the dead. I want to know Christ. The power of his resurrection and even share in the fellowship of his suffering. Friends, this is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Let us pray. Lord God, I thank you so much for this morning, this chance to gather again in this space. Lord, I never take Sunday morning for granted, but it is such a joy together with my faith family to worship you, to hear your life-giving word proclaimed, and now, Lord, to offer up reflection on that life-giving word. And I just pray, as I do every week, that you bless the words of my mouth, the meditation of all our hearts, that they be of profit to us and acceptable to you, for you indeed are our rock and our redeemer. Amen. Well, a few years ago, I was talking to a gentleman after a worship service, and he's a really sharp guy, a really great guy, accomplished, successful, uh, good job, beautiful family, lived in one of those really nicer communities within the area. Uh just kind of had everything going in his favor. And as we were in conversation with one another, uh he kind of shared something that hit me kind of profoundly. He said, You know, Jared, I'm doing all right. Now, from an outsider looking in, he had a very accomplished life. But that statement, you know, Jared, I'm doing just right, he wasn't talking about the life he had built for himself. Wasn't talking about his success or his family or his finance. As the conversation went on, I realized that he was talking more about his spiritual spirituality, where he was in his relationship with the Lord. It was as if he was saying, based off of what he built for himself, I have worked hard, I've made good decisions, I've stayed out of trouble. Again, I'm doing pretty well. I think if the Lord was gonna call me yonder today, I've done enough good to make it in. He didn't say it in a loud and arrogant way. It was more subtle, it was more respectable. And if we're honest, church, this guy's story is not just his story, it's also our temptation. Why? Because we live in a world, we are part of a community. Let's be honest, we're in Jackson Township, we're in the suburbs, middle to upper middle class, maybe higher. We have nice communities, we've built nice lives for ourselves, and we live in this community in this world that says to us that we can trust what we have produced with our own hands. Our education, our careers, our decisions, the way we figure things out, the portfolios we have acquired. And if we're not careful, we don't just live that way out there. We start relating to God that way in here. And the traction of our faith becomes all about performance and effort and achievement. The late Tim Keller, incredible pastor, theologian, author from the New York City area, said this in regard to what I'm sharing. He said the default mode of the human heart is self-salvation. In other words, we are always trying to prove ourselves, aren't we? Or is it just me? Or we're always trying to justify ourselves, always trying to build a life that says, I'm enough. I deserve. And Paul is going to step into this mindset that we have been conditioned to have and say something like this that kind of confidence, hear me, that kind of confidence will never give you this security that you think it will. Friends, let me ask you a question this morning. Where does your confidence come from? Where does the confidence in your existence come from? Does it come from what you've built with your own hands? Or does it come from Christ in Christ alone? Paul's going to share us three things in regards to confidence in this text that I kind of want to pull out this morning. And simply the first is this misplaced confidence will always fail you. That's where Paul starts in verse 1. If you have your Bibles, open them up for me. Paul starts this section with a warning. He says, look out. Look out. Look out for those who put their confidence in the flesh. Maybe it's translated as human effort, human achievement, human righteousness. So Paul says, Be care, be careful of those who put their confidence in the flesh. And then he goes on to say something even more shocking. He says, by the way, those people who have put confidence in the flesh, if we were playing that game, please realize I have more confidence to put in my flesh than you have to put in yours. And then he starts listing his credentials like he's some hotshot who deserves the golden chair in a sanctuary of people. Listen to this credentials that he starts listing. Paul says, again, if anyone has reason for confidence in the flesh, verse 4, I have more. Verse 5. Circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Judah or of Benjamin. Benjamin is royalty. King Saul was the first one in Israel to serve as king, and he came from the tribe of Benjamin. Goes on, a Hebrew born of Hebrews, as to the law, I was a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. In other words, if this was a resume contest, guess what? I win. No argument to be had. Now, to the modern ears, we're looking at this list of credentials as resume being like, I don't get it. Okay, you are circumcised. That's great, Paul. Really don't want to know that. That's between you and your mother, okay? Like, okay, contextualize it. If Paul was with us today, he'd say something like this. I've got the degrees. I've built the business from the down ground up. I've climbed the corporate and the social ladder. I have done everything right. My life is even squeaky clean. And let's be honest, this hits close to home, doesn't it? I mean, many of you in here today, you have built for yourself a pretty good life. Right? You've worked hard. You've achieved things. You have taken care of yourself and your family really well. But here's where this becomes dangerous, church. It becomes dangerous when we start to trust in those things that we have built for ourselves, hear me, as the foundation of our identity and as uh the legitimate legitimacy to our standing before God. We may not say this out loud, but deep down I think we start to believe, you know, I'm doing pretty well. I'm a good person. I pay my taxes, I drive the speed limit most of the time. I can get things done. I got it all together. And without realizing at church, the confidence, your confidence shifts from Christ's finished work to your ongoing performance. But Paul makes it clear today: anything you build your confidence on other than Jesus Christ is gonna fail you. It's gonna fail you because achievements come and go. Reputation can crumble in a moment. Your strength as you get older will fade. You may even lose family. But on that day, friends, when you stand before God, hear me, in that moment, your resume will not matter. What you've built for yourself will not matter. I remember hearing the story about a man who uh who spent his entire life building something beautiful, grand, a successful businessman. I mean, really successful, build a business from nothing into a multi-million dollar uh just machine, respected in the community, beloved by his family, financially secure. This guy didn't have a worry in the world. People looked at this guy and said, Wow, that guy has made it. That's the kind of guy I want to be like. That's the kind of guy maybe I even want to be with. And then one day, out of nowhere, it all started to unravel. A diagnosis, terminal cancer, unexpected, aggressive, and suddenly everything that once defined him all of a sudden didn't seem to matter quite as much anymore. The meeting stopped, the email slowed, the decisions that once felt so urgent began to fade. In conversation at the end of his life, he said something so striking. He said, I've spent my whole life building a resume. And now I'm realizing that it may not have been the right one. Because, friends, when everything else is stripped away, this guy's not asking how successful was I? He's not asking, what have I accomplished? The only question he's starting to labor with is simply, Am I right with God? And that is exactly what Paul is trying to show us here in Philippians chapter 3. Listen, if your confidence is built on anything that can be taken away from you, if it's built on anything that can be taken away from you, it will fail you. That's why Paul's gonna move on. Not only is he gonna say that um you don't put your confidence in earthly things, he's gonna say kingdom confidence, the kind of confidence we're trying to develop and generate, is actually found in Christ and Christ alone. Look at verse 7 to 9. So Paul gives us this incredible resume, right? Verses that preceded it. And then he goes on to say, Yeah, whatever I've gained, I now consider loss for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus. Like everything he once trusted, everything he once put his confidence in, hear this, he now calls loss. The actual word we translate out of the Greek is um scublon, right? Close to that, scubalon is a kind of a funny word. It means rubbish, but more than that, it actually means garbage, refuse, excrement. That's what it means, kind of gross. But Paul is saying, he's making this dramatic uh contrast because he's saying, compared to Christ, everything else worthless as a source of righteousness. Made for toilet paper. Now, don't mishear me. Please don't mishear me. Being responsible, pursuing goals, taking care of yourself and your family appropriately. That isn't a bad thing. And there are letters Paul writes to the early church that speaks to that reality, how that's not a bad thing. That is an important thing to pursue. It's good to achieve and succeed and take care of yourself and those you love. Paul, again, is not dismissing those things. But he is saying that all of those things are worthless, friends, as a source of righteousness. Look at verse 9. If you had your Bibles here, as some of you do, I'd have you underline verse 9. Paul says this. And be found in Christ, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. If you have your Bibles under that alignment, put in the margin heart of the gospel. Theologically speaking, this is what's called the great exchange. What does that mean? It means when you one day go stand before your God and Maker, you will not stand there. You will not bring with you your righteousness before God. No, you bring with you what the righteousness you have received in relationship with Jesus Christ. Okay? So let me say it again. You don't stand before God based on your performance. As amazing as your performance might be. You stand before God based on Christ's perfection. Friends, this is the good thing. This is the great exchange. We give Jesus our brokenness, our sin. He takes it to the cross and endures the punishment for us. And in exchange, he gives to us his righteousness. Friends, it don't get better than that. Imagine standing in a courtroom. You're the defendant. You're at your little table, you got your defense attorney standing right next to you to represent you. Judge walks in, you all stand up. And he he brings the verdict: guilty. Guilty, guilty, guilty. He gives you the sentence. You are condemned to die. Before the executioner can come in and take you off to the gallows or the electric chair or the gurney where you'll get a needle in your arm, the back doors fly open, and someone yells, Stop! I will take that person's place. Friends, that's what Jesus did. He took our sin, he bore our judgment, and in exchange, he gave to us his righteousness. So now when you go stand before God, he looks at you and he doesn't see your failure. Guess what? He doesn't even see your achievements. You know what he sees? He sees you cloaked, clothed with the righteousness of his son Jesus Christ. And man, when that when that reality grips your heart, you look to God and say, God, you have done something so holy, so great, so undeserved in me. How dare I ever treat that casually anymore? Let's pause for a moment. If everything Paul just said here in Philippians 3 is true, and I'm gonna hedge my bets that it's true, because it's in the canon of Scripture, and we believe that all of God's word is inspired by the Holy Spirit, maybe written through the pen of people, but inspired by the Holy Spirit to write what they wrote. So if everything Paul says here is true, if your righteousness doesn't come from you, if your confidence isn't built on what you've done, if if if everyone or everything you once trusted is laid aside, then what's left? Let me ask you personally, if everything is stripped away, everything you've built gone, your success, your reputation, your family, your portfolio, your 401k, if it's all stripped away, what is left between you and God? It's not a system, it's not performance, it's not a portfolio. All that's left is a person. Jesus. Friends, Christianity isn't ultimately about what we are doing for God, it is about whether you actually know Jesus Christ. Listen, Paul is not just trying here to get you to change where you place your confidence, he's trying to get you and me to change what we actually treasure. He's moving us from confidence in something to a relationship with someone. And that's exactly where Paul goes next, verse 10 and 11. I love these two verses. He speaks to religious effort is a poor substitute for a real relationship with our living God. Listen to how he says, Paul says again, another one to underline, verse verse 10, that I may know him. That I may know him. Not just know about him, but actually know him. Friends, this is not about religion, it is all about a relationship. And this is where I think so many people kind of get hung up, get stuck. Because let's be honest, man. Many of you have built a very respectable life. You can build a very respectable life, even in the church, and still miss Jesus. You can attend worship every Sunday, you can give generously, you can serve faithfully and still hear me, still be trusting in your own effort. You know, I I've been in pastoral ministry. July 1 will start my 20th year in vocational ministry. And I am here to tell you the hardest people to reach are not the obviously lost people. The people who know they're broken and that they are almost beyond salvation. Those are not hard people to evangelize and to reach. You want to know the hardest people to reach the quietly self-reliant ones. And our churches are full of them. There are people who say things like this. I'm fine. You know, I'm a pretty good person. I keep my morals. Again, I pay my taxes, I drive to speed limit most of the time. I don't need saving. I just need improving. Friends, Jesus didn't come to improve your life. He came to rescue you. Yes, you, even you, were dead in your sin and trespasses. Yes, you, even you, were in need of a savior to come and pay your sin debt and make you whole. I love the way Paul just articulates his desire here in verse 10-11. He says, I want to know Christ. Again, not know about him, but actually know Christ. I want to experience the power of his resurrection. And I also will even say this: I want to share in the fellowship of his sufferings. Why? Because when you truly know him, friends, everything else loses its grip. Like to get to the point of knowing him so deeply that you will even embrace suffering if it means to know him deeper still. And suffering, the Prince of the Pulpit, a guy named Charles Spurgeon said this. He said, I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the rock of ages. The rock of ages is a name that we give the living God. Let me say it again. I have learned to kiss the wave. I love that we sang oceans today. I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the rock of ages. Friends, let me speak very plainly and directly to you in this moment. Some of you here today have built your life on the wrong foundation. You have rooted your confidence in the wrong place. You've trusted your effort, your morality, your success. But hear me, none of those things can save you. They can't. Only Jesus can. He came and lived the life you and I could not live in perfect obedience. He died the death. You and I were destined to die by taking our sin to the cross. And he rose from the grave to give you access to new life. Friends, the blood of Jesus paid for your sin. The resurrection of Jesus gives you access to new life. And the Spirit of Jesus gives you the power to walk differently. So let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question. You have a choice. You have a choice to make. Will you trust in yourself and what you've built? Is that where you will where you will root your confidence? Or will you trust and put your confidence in Christ in Christ alone? And I want to give you all this morning a chance to respond to the proclamation of God's word. And the majority of us in here will respond by just standing and singing our closing hymn. And I pray you sing this as if these words are your own, uh, nothing but the blood of Jesus. You know, what will wash what will wash me um white, but whatever.

unknown 26:09

Yeah, we'll get there.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

We'll get there. I'm missing the lyrics in my head. We will respond by standing and singing. Yeah, what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Thank you. We'll stand and sing that beautiful song. But for some of you, I think it needs to be movement. Like if the Spirit of God is stirring in your soul, don't be afraid to come and kneel at the altar. Come and surrender your life to King Jesus. Maybe today is that call. You've realized I have, you know, I have trusted in what I have built for myself for too long. Today, Lord, I'm going to make a statement before you and before this congregation and kneel in an act of surrender that I trust in you and you alone. Maybe today is the day of your salvation. Maybe you come up and kneel at the altar rail simply because you need deliverance. Something has gripped your life for far too long. You need to just unload it before the Lord and have him break those chains. Maybe for you it's healing. Maybe you've gotten a diagnosis or you're struggling mentally. And come and just lay that burden here before the Lord and let him be the great physician for you. Maybe for you, you're doing really well. But somebody in your family is a prodigal, a child, or maybe a grandchild who's not being raised in the faith and it breaks your heart. Or maybe it's a friend of yours that is far from the Lord. Maybe today you come up and kneel at the altar rail for them and seek God's presence in their life in such a way that they can't ignore. Whatever it is, friends, sometimes the most eloquent prayer we can pray is not with word, it's with movement. It's with standing and stepping and coming and kneeling. And I want to give you that opportunity today. I'm going to pray here a moment. And if you want to get up and come to the altar rail, we have two of them up here today to pray, to kneel and surrender. Please do that. If you want to do it during the closing hymn, do that as well. Um, I will be on point. If you want me to pray on your behalf, I will come and kneel next to you and pray for you. But put your confidence in Christ. In Christ alone. Stop relying on what you have built for yourself. Will you pray with me? Father God, I want to start just simply in confession. Public confession. I want you, Lord, to ask that you'd forgive us for trusting in ourselves. God, forgive us for building our confidence on things that cannot save us ultimately. And Lord, I ask that you would turn our hearts again to Christ. Lord, let us find our righteousness, our hope, and our confidence in Him and in Him alone. And Lord, I pray in the midst of this moment, because I know you're present by the power of your Holy Spirit, that you would draw people up to these altar rails today who are in need of salvation, who are in need of healing, who are in need of deliverance. Or maybe we're coming for the sake of another. God, renew those who have drifted and make us a people who live fully dependent on the finished work of Jesus. Lord, we love you, we need you, and it's in Jesus' name we pray all these things. And all God's people said.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

Thank you for listening to the Church of the Lakes podcast with Pastor Jared Priestett. If today's message encouraged you and helped you grow as a devoted follower of Christ, we invite you to subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also help others discover this podcast by leaving a five-star rating for review and sharing it with your friends, family, co-workers, and others in your circle of influence. We're also very grateful for your generosity, which helps make messages like this available to more people. If you feel led to give, please check the link in the description. And if you're in the Kent, Ohio area, we'd love to invite you to join us in person on Sunday and worship together. To learn more about Church of the Lakes, visit church of the lakes.org or click the website link in the description. Until next time, stay encouraged and keep walking in faith.