Episode 195: Rubbish | +Quigg Lawrence

Introduction

Oh, Mrs. Doubtfire. If it isn't Oh, Howard. Our friend Howard from Scotland. He made the bulletin. Isn't that precious, cousin Cozy? You guys, last week, we had a guy from Scotland. He was awesome and he was so worried. He was trying to talk about beauty and all this stuff and he, he said a word that was a little raw for some people but let me just say that he was beating himself up all day. And I'm like, dude, what you said was true? Relax. You're under grace. Don't invalidate 99.9% of your sermon for one little word. It slipped out. It happens. Okay. It happens.

But we're not here to talk about our friend Howard and his Scottish brogue today. After 09:11, an amazing football player, Pat Tillman, he just couldn't take that people were bombing our country. And he made Sports Illustrated All Pro. That's not the same as All Pro, but it was Sports Illustrated All Pro. He's a great player. And when he thought about that they're attacking us in our country, people died, innocent people died. He said, I'm signing up. I'm gonna enlist. Imagine, you're in the NFL, fame, fortune, contract deals, all this, and you're gonna go enlist for what? 20 some thousand dollars. And he did it because something greater pulled at his heart than tackling people with an inflated pigskin.

The Example of Pat Tillman

So he and his brother enlisted. They became rangers. They went over there to the sandbox. And ultimately, he gave his life. I'd like to tell you he gave us, he was a ranger. I'd like to say he gave his life rescuing people out of a building and doing some heroic thing, but actually he was shot by one of his own men. But the point was, when he waited, love for country or tackling people that are carrying a football. He loved his country more. So he gave up football completely.

Maybe you could name some people. Brian Welsh from Korn, Kat Stevens, Barry Sanders, John Michael Talbot, Shirley Temple. No. I thought about Gail Sayers and Sandy Kofax, though probably arthritis took them out. Fair enough. Tiki Barber. A lot of people give up things in the prime of their career.

Counting the Cost: Sacrifice for What Matters

But I was thinking of Lizzie Kaj's father. He's now with the Lord, and he's kind of a big deal. He's a big deal. And I'm, and he just carried himself so well. And I, I said, Lizzie, what exactly? What exactly? Timer's starting. Good. Lizzie, what is your, what does your dad do for a living? And she said, well, it's kinda hard to explain. I'm like, well, just try me. You know? She said, well, okay. If somebody's gonna build something like the Golden Gate Bridge and they need financing, they call my dad. Woah. Big time. Not like I grew up in Big Lake, Virginia. I'm talking about big time, big time.

And you know what? One day the Lord said, I want you to leave your job and what you've been doing on the weekends, I want you to do full time. I want you to be an itinerant preacher all over South Africa in the poorest places where the people haven't heard the gospel. And so he gladly, he joyfully counted the cost, and it was, it was an easy decision for him because he loved the Lord. And he said, Okay, Lord, I'll go. He gave up his job and he served the Lord that way.

After six, seven, eight years, he said the Lord actually called him back. The Lord often will do that. He says, I just want to see that you love me. I want to see that you'll serve me. I want to see when I tell you to go here, you'll go here. Just like he called Brian Welch back into the band Korn, once he was established and rooted in Christ, he called Lizzie's father back to business later. But the point was, Lizzie's dad was willing to give up everything, every worldly thing—money, wealth, fame—all of that for Jesus, for his kingdom.

The Main Passage: Philippians 3:7-11

Now, we're in Philippians three. If you have a Bible, if you have an app, I'd love it if you would go there. So we start in Philippians three. We begin in verse seven. And Paul starts out talking, and he's—we're gonna have to go backwards in a second, but for now, grab verse seven.

Whatever gain that I had, I counted as lost for the sake of Christ.

Did you get that? Whatever gain I had, I counted as lost for the sake of Christ. Now, that makes us ask a question. The first question is, well, what gain did Paul have? Well, fortunately, you don't have to be Einstein to figure it out. You just have to go up a couple verses. Look up in Philippians chapter three, verses four and six.

So, he's talking about the life he had previously that he gave up to follow Christ. He says,

Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone else thinks he has a reason for confidence in the flesh, I, Paul, have more.

In other words, I'm the greatest. He kind of reminds me of Muhammad Ali. I'm the greatest. And you guys think you have something to brag about? I got more to brag about. That's what he was saying. If anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.

Then he describes his Jewish heritage, his religious pedigree.

I was circumcised on the eighth day. Check. Of the people, the people of Israel, God's people. Check. Of the tribe of Benjamin, that's the same tribe Saul, the first king, came from. Check. A Hebrew of Hebrews, check.

As to the law, a Pharisee. And the Pharisees were amazing. Unlike the Sadducees who just got their hands around the first five books of the Old Testament. The Pharisees put their hands around all—well, not 66, all 39 books. Thank you. 39 books, but also the oral traditions and the teachings of the elders, rules upon rules upon rules, and he was keeping all of them.

He says,

As to zeal, I was a persecutor of the church. As to righteousness under the law, I was blameless.

Excuse me, if there's any word of scripture I struggle with, it's that statement. That doesn't mean God said he was blameless. He said he was blameless. But what do we know about that scripturally? What does 1 John 1 say?

If we say we don't sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

But from Paul's perspective as a person, he said, there's no greater person. There's no more faithful man of God. I am a man of God. I've put it all on the line. And that was his pedigree. But then he says in verse seven,

But whatever I gained, I now count as lost.

Just like Lizzie's father said, you know, love all this business stuff. I love making millions of dollars. But what I really love is Jesus and his kingdom. That's what completes me. That's what gives me joy. There's no greater worth than serving Christ.

Now let's go on. In verse eight, Paul continues. He says,

Indeed, I count everything as lost.

So, not only is he counting his religious pedigree as lost, he basically says the whole world is awesome as it is. And there's some awesome things in the world, right? Some awesome things in this world. But he says, now I even count all that as lost. Why? Is it because I'm good? Because I'm religious? No.

How is he could say everything? Everything that I was attracted to before, everything that pulled on my heart, everything that motivated me. Now, I count as lost for the sake of Christ.

Let me share a story. Before I got married, I hunted. I like to hunt. I was a redneck. I hunted squirrels. I gigged frogs. I hunted deer, usually not so well. Deer 300, quig one. I mean, just I was a maniac. I remember in high school getting up at like 4 a.m. and driving way out in Goochin County, and I'd be up in a tree an hour before it would start to get light. No tree stand, I just climbed up in the limbs. I was like Barney Fife and who's that other fellow? Shazam. Right, that guy. I loved hunting. It's all good thinking about it. I sit in class, read hunting magazines. Hunt, hunt, hunt, hunt.

I remember we moved to Roanoke and we started having lots of little kids and I said, Honey, remember? Remember we got married. I told you, I'm a hunter. In other words, that thing's off the table. There ain't no negotiation like some of you golfers. Honey, you married me, I'm a golfer, I'm still a golfer. And so my wife is raising three kids. I'm getting up at 4 a.m. I’m going up to Floyd this time. I'm up there. I come back middle of the day, say hello to everybody. Hi, I hope you're doing well. And then, oh my gosh, it's almost time to go to Bent Mountain to hunt. On and on and on and on.

And let me tell you, there's no dollar you can't spend for your addiction. No dollar. Honey, don't you understand? I'm providing for the family. And then I was like, hey, can't you just go to save some of that money and go to Kroger and get us some meat I actually like to eat. But friends, I was eating up with it. And, I don't know what happened. I mean, I still hunt. Mean, I still probably went out 25 times last year. Short times. But I missed opening day. You know why? Because it no longer has the same hold on me. I actually discovered grandkids. They're amazing. I like them and love them more even than deer hunting.

And so I know what he's talking about. Like, you love something and maybe you love it too much. And there's nothing you would not spend on it. Your time, your money, your energy, your focus. But then you, as Tim Keller says, you learn to love something more than that. And so then, you can break away from this other thing.

Indeed, I count everything as lost for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ my Lord. Now, this next verse, like there's a lot of times to sleep during a sermon, and I get it. I slept so many times growing up. It's embarrassing. In fact, I have a video I'm gonna try to post later of my granddaughter Sage falling asleep while she's eating her dinner. And she has the same look in her face that a lot of you have right now. Like that. It's cute. It's cute. But I want you to hear this stuff. This is important.

Paul goes on. He's this is kinda like the punch line here. It's the main thing. He says, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law. See, this is pretty mind-blowing stuff. This man who said, I was as to the law blameless. But now that he has Christ in him, he realizes, no. No, I wouldn't. He said, I don't have a righteousness of my own. You can't get right with God by obeying rules. That's what he's saying. Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law or following the law, but that which comes as a gift through faith in Christ. It's something received, not worked for. Not having a righteousness of my own that comes by the law, but faith in Christ—the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

Now, how many would acknowledge that sometimes, quick, I just don't get your humor? My wife would raise her hand. Quig, that ain't funny. Don't try to be funny. It's like, honey, I'm not trying to be funny. I just think differently than other people. But I have this thing, and it probably comes from fraternity days when we had pledges and we bought these big old blue fish, right? And we made them wear the pledges, wear them around their neck in August while they're running and doing, you know, all that stuff and push-ups and fall to the ground till the fish guts were coming out.

I remember fish. Do you remember fish like that? Big blue fish. And so I have this strange thing in my head. Can you hit the GIF on that? Yeah. Well, anyway, of somebody just whacking you in the head with a big fish. A lot of times when you come to church, that's how it feels. We're talking about tithing or you shouldn't do this, shouldn't do that. You just feel like, quick, stop it. You're hitting me in the head with a fish over and over again. Today, I'm happy to do that.

So, we're gonna try to drive home from a few scriptures this point: that we don't have a righteousness of our own that comes from the law or following God's law but it's a gift that comes through faith in Christ. That's how we become righteous. It all depends on faith, which is a gift.

Let's go to Romans 1:17. Can y'all see that? It looks so big on my laptop. Maybe not so big now. Is it? Can you see it? Do you know this is the verse that launched the Reformation? Martin Luther was on the loo. He was easing himself, so the historians say. Martin Luther, Catholic priest. And don't tell me you don't have time to read the Bible; he read it in the loo. Okay? So he's sitting there, reading the scripture, and this Catholic priest that loved God and loved the church reads this,

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, for as it is written, and I bolded it so you wouldn't forget it. The righteous, what? Shall live by faith.

Luther heard that, and you might go, so what? Luther is like, are you kidding me? I've been in seminary for what, eight years? I'm a priest. Nobody ever told me that the righteous shall live by faith. I thought the righteous live by doing this and that, and this offering and that offering, and this thing with the beads. No, the righteous shall live by faith. And so that changed Luther and led to the Reformation.

Let's look at another passage in Romans.

Romans 3:22 — The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ is for all who believe. There is no distinction.

Again, I'm hitting you in the head with a fish, and the fish I'm hitting you with is we have no righteousness. We can't earn it. It's a gift that comes by faith in Christ.

Now, Romans 4:13. Do we have that one? It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be the heir of the world. But it was through what? The righteousness that comes by faith. I could give you 30 other verses. It starts in Genesis. Abraham believed God or trusted in God and was credited to him as righteousness.

Last verse, we're gonna skip over to Galatians.

Galatians 2:16 — We know that a person is not justified or made righteous by works of the law, but rather through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus.

Wait, I got out of sync, didn't I? That's what happens when you use paper. Okay. Fine. Anyway, do you see the point? Romans one, Romans three, Romans four, Galatians two, or here in Philippians three, not having a righteousness of our own that comes by the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. And it was because of that that Paul was willing to count all things as rubbish.

The Meaning of Rubbish

I don't know about you guys, but I hate trash. I hate vomit worse, but I really hate trash. And I hate it like when the thing sits in our house, a barbaric idea to put dead animals and food and all that stuff in a bag and let it sit in your house for a week as it degrades and it smells up your house, and you come with Febreze. Friends, it's disgusting.

Let's go back to the Bible. What verse are we on? Oh, here we go. Here we go. So, we start in verse nine. It says this,

that I may gain Christ and be found in him.

I will count all things, count him as rubbish, as rubbish. Now, that's an English word. That's a word you don't say often. When's the last time you said the word rubbish? What do we say as Americans? Trash. Trash. Take the trash out.

But if you call Howard in Scotland or somebody in England, they'll say something about the rubbish bin. I'm like, what? Rubbish. Rubbish is trash. It's disgusting. It's smelly. And so what Paul is saying is, all these things in my life that made me happy, that made me feel good about myself, that were my investment for my future, all these things I was living my life for. He goes, I now count him as rubbish for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.

He says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.

Here's the problem: so many people in church, they know the facts. They know the facts. You ever wonder why the church is not strong? Why it's not powerful? Why we don't see the kingdom coming as we pray every week? Because a lot of us know facts, but we don't know him.

I know I sat in church so bored for twenty-one years. Oh, how bored I was. I knew about God. I didn't know God. And so I gave maybe five dollars a year. I didn't serve. I didn't care. I honestly didn't care. It's not until you know the surpassing worth of Christ that you'll count anything as lost.

I mean, I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but you got to measure it somehow. How do you know if you actually love Jesus and his kingdom above all things? Even that, friends, is a gift. But there have to be some external actions or cessation of actions—things that would show, do we really love him or we're just talking through our mouth?

Do you make time to spend with the Lord? And when you do, do you see it as I have to do this? Do you make time to worship the Lord? Friends, we have people that go on mission trips every year. They raise their hands, go on mission trips, and I never see them at church. Where are they? Where are the people that talk about spreading the gospel through the whole world? Zero givers. Where are people talk about, oh, the kingdom, and, oh, we're praying for these kids. We want to have Christian flags, and this, and this, and this, and this. Well, why don't you bring your kids to church then?

You see, I'm just dumbfounded. Tim Keller says, until you find something of greater worth, you'll never get up and give up the thing that you cling to that you think has ultimate worth. And so God is not calling us to ramen and burlap and a miserable life. He's calling us to the kingdom. He's calling us to the kingdom and to joy and to know him.

The Call to Know Him

The worst thing in the world is to know about God but not know him. Do you know him? And what would be the evidence that you know him? I asked myself the same question. What would be the evidence that you know him? I raised my hand when I was 12. Great. Say that Adolf Hitler. I was baptized. Did you know Adolf Hitler's baptized? Friends, do you know him? It’s in the intimacy of that relationship. The one Howard was trying to talk to you about last week and kind of fumbled on. It's in the intimacy of that relationship that you realize the riches of who he is.

And so, like Paul, you could say, count all other things as rubbish.

Indeed, I count everything as lost for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus.

Alright, let's look at maybe one or two more verses. Goes on and says, for it says this, in verse 10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and I may share in his sufferings.

Well, I don't want to share in any sufferings. I like to be comfortable. It's not until you know him that you can trust him. Do you think that all these people that gave their life for Christ were just that much more bold than you? No, I tell you. No, they're not more bold than you. But they knew Christ. They knew his love. They knew his security in him. They knew their future. They knew the Lord had them.

It says in verse 11, this is the strangest verse. It says this,

That by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

So this is confusing to me. Okay? Confusing. This whole passage is talking about the just will live by faith. Righteousness is not by following the law or rules, but it's a gift that we receive from Christ. Righteousness is from God, not earned.

And later in verse 12, it says,

Christ Jesus has made me, Paul, his own.

So do you see the security in that? So now, in verse 11, when he says, well, hope by any means I may attain the resurrection from the dead, we're tempted to say he's not even sure if he's going to heaven. See, that would be our reading, but what I would say is if you read a verse that goes, well, that doesn't seem right, you gotta look at context. The context is God is faithful. God is doing this. This is not of yourself. If you read all of Romans, if you read Ephesians two, faith is a gift. This is not of your own doing. It's a gift of God, this not of yourself.

And so, friends, as we—we may not agree with the commentators about everything, but what we know is when he's talking about the resurrection from the dead, it is his greatest hope that he would be with the Lord face to face. Paul said that, didn't he? He said, you know, maybe the Lord will let me hang out with you guys longer, but really, my home is in heaven. I'd rather be with the Lord, but maybe for your sake, he'll allow me to be here a bit longer.

He knew his home was with the Lord. I want to challenge you this morning to say, let's not read a story about Paul and go, hey, that is great. Let's not read a story about Pat Tillman, who gave up his career in the NFL, and go, wow, what a guy. Because guess what? Pat's dead. Paul is dead. And so this word, which is living and active, comes not to the dead, but to you. The question is, do you know the surpassing worth of Christ? Until you do, you'll never count it all as rubbish. And you'll continue as C.S. Lewis says, contenting yourself making mud pies in a slum rather than going to a holiday at the sea.

Conclusion

The blessing of God Almighty, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.