A New You: The Life We Want

Transcript

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

— Colossians 1

(ESV)

King Jesus, we love you and we ask for your help this morning, Lord God. These truths are so awesome and mighty—that the transcendent God of the universe would enter into history to save us and make us his own. Lord, you have shown us a life, a beautiful life, and yet we’re so tempted to pursue the ways of the world. May you light us up afresh for the gospel and a life lived in response to it. Jesus, please be with me as I preach this morning. Illuminate your text to our hearts. Whatever is just of me may be forgotten. May the things of you sing in our hearts today. Jesus, we love you and we pray these things for your glory and for our joy in your name, Jesus Christ, amen.

The Search for the Good Life

Brothers and sisters, I bring greetings from the Saints in Whatcom County. We love this church. We pray for this church. We’re so thankful for the work that is happening here in Portland. We want to see God do mighty things in Portland and in Bellingham, in Seattle, and in the Pacific Northwest. Thank you for the honor to be with you this morning.

If you would please open with me to Colossians chapter one. If you don’t have a Bible, I think I saw some in front of you. My favorite thing as a guest preacher: if you don’t own a Bible, I’m begging you, please take that thing and read it. Take that Bible, read it, believe it.

The first time I preached at Trinity Church of Portland, I quoted a famous British poet who said, “the good life is out there somewhere.” This is still true. There’s still a searching and a longing in the world to try and find this good life.

If you’re in here today and you’re not a Christian, you may be here seeking that truth. But I think if we’re not careful, dear friends, we can be in the same conundrum—seeking out what is this good life anyway, if we’re not rooted in the truth of who Jesus is and what he has done in this world.

We have this sense that we can get the life we want by having a bigger house or a nicer car or more money or more influence or different friends. And yet we miss that we have everything in Christ.

If you’re in here today and you’re not a Christian, you need to know that we are here because we actually believe and are convinced that the God of the universe entered into human history. He set aside his divine rights and came here and walked among us. He came to pay for our sins—for all the wrong things I’ve ever done, for all the right things I’ve done for the wrong reasons, for all the good things I’ve left undone. But he came to give us life and life in abundance. And that amazing eternal life doesn’t begin when I go to heaven or when he comes ripping through the sky, but when I’m born again in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayers That Move Heaven

“From the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you.” This is a beautiful thing we can do. Portland has a lot of spiritually dead people who need to be resurrected in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And what I love about Trinity and what we try and keep front and center at All Saints is that this is a miracle.

Here’s the amazing thing about prayer: when we pray, our prayers are not as effective as we feel or as authentic as we feel. Our prayers are not effective because we got in the mood. Your prayers are effective because Jesus Christ is sitting on the throne and he hears you and he uses our prayers on earth. It is a means of how he works on earth—to save sinners from death to life, to plant churches, to lead us, to guide us, to help us to love him more.

Pray, please pray. Please take seriously the prayers that Thomas threw out for our church. We’re in the middle of a battlefield and so are you. Pray for your elders. Pray for your fellow members. Pray.

Spiritual Wisdom in a Techno-Pagan World

“Asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” Paul thinks this is possible for them. Wouldn’t you want to be someone who is told that this is reality for you—that you’re living in the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom?

We live in the world of techno-paganism. We live in the world of the psychedelic renaissance. We live in a world where people are looking for knowledge and wisdom, specifically spiritual wisdom and knowledge. And in Christ, this is something we can actually have. We’re not perfect, we’re not perfected. We won’t have all the knowledge, but we’ll have enough to live faithfully in Jesus and love God and love people and live in response to the gospel.

So as we’re thinking about the life we want, we live in a world where we often want knowledge and wisdom and we often look to broken cisterns to find it. God’s given you his word, God’s given you his spirit, God’s given you the church, and yet sometimes we’re busy looking elsewhere.

A Life That Actually Pleases God

“So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.” When we think about the possibility of living a pleasing life to God, we have to address something. I am ride or die for the book of Romans. Romans 3

—all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. This is true. All of our empty religious works are in fact filthy rags and I want nothing to do with them. They’re empty, they’re hollow, they’re displeasing to God.

But sometimes we act as if we could never please God.

Brothers and sisters, if you are in Christ, you have a new heart. You have the Holy Spirit indwelling you. You have God’s word to lead you. And the Lord is pleased when you share the gospel. The Lord is pleased when you participate in disciple making. The Lord is pleased when we come together to worship his holy name. We’re not just singing into thin air. He is on the throne and he hears you when you sing.

He is pleased when we live in the grace-based response to the gospel. He’s pleased when we don’t forget that he made everything good. He made you to enjoy the life he’s given you. Sometimes we can get so distracted with the big, giant stuff that we simply forget that God has given me people in my life to love, people to share the gospel with, people to disciple or to have into my home. These things are pleasing to him. Love God, love people.

Strengthened in the Hard Times

“Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy.” This doesn’t mean you go from zero to hero. This means we’re strengthened in the way Paul talks about in Philippians: “I know how to be brought high and I know how to be brought low.” We’re strengthened in the good times. We’re strengthened in the hard times. We’re strengthened when we’re healthy and things are well and we’re strengthened when we’re in pain or suffering.

He strengthens us all the time. When you get married, you probably heard “for better, for worse, for richer, for poor, in sickness and in health.” And if we’re being really honest, especially if you’re young and getting married, all you hear is “better, richer and healthier.” But I have good news for you, brothers and sisters. He strengthens us when we’re sicker and poorer and weaker and he holds us up.

There’s a vision here for our lives—that with endurance, there’s this rugged, robust thing in us where we can hold fast and have a long fuse where we can be patient. And in part, we can hold fast because Jesus is holding on to us. And in part, the greatest medicine, if your fuse is short, is to daily remember how patient the Lord has been with you.

:::pullquote You’re not extending patience to others based on atomic habits or box breathing or life hacks. Those only work so long. It’s realizing that if this person sinned against me, how they have sinned against me pales in comparison to the things that put my Lord on the cross on my behalf.:::

I’m getting impatient with them because I’m on I-84 and I have somewhere to go and I’m late. That’s not even the same kind of patience Jesus has shown me in life. I was cursing his name and he saved me from death to life.

I’m going to argue that the life Paul’s praying for the Colossians is a good life. Knowing God, loving God, loving people, being equipped to survive and live in this world that is so tumultuous in a way that feels really countercultural. Brothers, sisters, I would contend Portland’s looking for this. You might be in here as a non-Christian. You might be looking for this. But again, we can’t life hack our way here. We can’t podcast our way here. We can’t information our way here. This is supernatural.

God Came Down the Mountain

“Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you.” Why are you a Christian? What makes you a regenerate individual? You are here because the God of the universe and the second member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, came to rescue you and to save you and to make you his own.

At the white throne of judgment, what has qualified us? We live in the Northwest. This is where the gospel is so contrary to every other disposition. Very common: “It’s many paths up one mountain. They all lead to God. Pick your path. Choose your own adventure.” That sounds really humble at first. It’s not humble. It’s pride. You’re the one that’s not blind in this equation.

:::pullquote In the gospel, we don’t go up a mountain to get to God. God came down the mountain to get to us in the person of Jesus.:::

In the good news of the gospel, what qualifies us is not that we’ve meditated or prayed or even read our Bibles enough or come to church often enough. We don’t gather as the people of God on Sunday so that he will love us but because he came for us. He who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God. That’s the stuff we sing about. That’s the stuff Portland needs.

They need an encounter with this Jesus. If you’re in here today and you don’t know him, you need to understand that as you search for transcendence you will never find it because it’s God who has to come for us in Jesus.

The amazing thing about the gospel: “Look to me all the ends of the earth and be saved.” You can’t earn it. You turn from your sin and you turn to this Jesus and you know him and you receive him and you love him and he will save you. He will save you from yourself and he will save you from Satan and he will save you from hell.

A Nameplate at the Greatest Party in History

“To share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” This means life before God enjoying him forever. Why do we get to do that? Because of Jesus. We have this inheritance. Brothers and sisters, this is as good as done. It’s like when you’re at a fancy wedding—they have a card with your name on it. When you receive Christ there is a card waiting at the greatest party in history.

Jesus noted that he’s not going to partake of the communion cup until he returns. He’s holding out to party with us and it’s going to be glorious. And we’re qualified to that party not because of what we have done but what he’s done on our behalf.

Transferred from Darkness to Light

“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” This means when we’re saved we don’t just wander around and find Jesus. This means that apart from Christ we’re trapped in darkness. We’re trapped in death. We’re on our way to hell and Jesus picks us up and transfers us through the gospel. The father through his son transfers us into the kingdom of light. We were in the domain of darkness. We are now in the kingdom of light.

“In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” I want you to think of a friend who stabbed you in the back. But here’s the wild thing: God in his sovereignty knew every way that you sinned against him before he saved you. All of it. Frankly, his knowledge is so deep that he knew sins you committed that you don’t even remember before he saved you. He washes you with his blood and he makes you his own.

:::pullquote God knew all of the ways that you would sin against him after he saved you and he saved you anyways. It is finished. You’re forgiven.:::

Because he transferred you from the domain of darkness. He has a plan to redeem you and you’ve been redeemed and you’re being redeemed and you will be redeemed. It is finished. You’re forgiven.

Living as the People We Already Are

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

— Colossians 3

(ESV)

If you are a Christian, you have been spiritually raised with Christ. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things above, not on the things that are of earth.

Now this doesn’t mean spiritual things are good and material things are bad. When we set our minds on Christ, when we look to him in all things, it changes how we deal with everything. As the vertical changes, it changes the horizontal. It changes the way I understand the depth of relationships. It changes the way I understand the mission Jesus has given me on planet Earth. It changes the way I relate to the church.

When we have a heavenly understanding of what we are doing right now, where I as the preacher am opening up God’s Word by the power of the Spirit for God’s people, God reveals Jesus to us by the Spirit and by the Word. That is a real transcendent thing that’s happening right now. Where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I among them. That’s not a joke. That’s not theoretical. Jesus is among us right now.

Trinity Church of Portland, you all love Jesus in a world that doesn’t, in a city that doesn’t, and you tell the truth to a world that needs to hear it but doesn’t want to, and that honors the Lord. Keep going. Fortify. Endure. Be patient. Put one foot in front of the other. He’s with you, brothers and sisters.

Set your minds on things above. That changes how we do things. All of a sudden, when I understand that I’m going to have a dinner party, but this dinner party is an echo of the big party—the marriage supper of the Lamb—it changes everything. Jesus is King. He has transferred you. It changes it all.

“For you have died.” There’s a sense in which your baptism is a funeral and a birth. You’re dead, and now you’re alive. It’s a funeral and a party all at once. For you’ve died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

“When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Christ is your life. Let’s talk about the good life. When he comes, then you also appear with him in glory.

Why We Get After the Good Life

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

— Ephesians 2

(ESV)

Portland’s a beautiful city with amazing image bearers of God who need Jesus so desperately. And when you have those challenging folks in your life, and you think, “Why don’t they just get it?” You need to remember, you didn’t get it either. We don’t look at the people of Portland and say, “What an idiot.” We look at the people of Portland and say, in a sense, apart from Christ, I’m just like they are.

Except for verse 4. But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up with him. He’s saying it again. You are, in a sense, raised already. You have a nameplate at the party.

Why is he telling them this stuff? He wants it to be the fuel on the fire for their life, that they would dare to reckon the gospel true, that they would experience this reality and live it out every day.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and it’s not your own doing, it is a gift from God. Which begs the question: well, if he did it all, now what do I do with the rest of my life? We live in this worshipful response to him.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” God has good things for us to do, and we get to lean into these good things in this amazing way, knowing that I do these good things in response to what he’s already done on my behalf.

When we understand that the sum total of my Christian life is 100% a gift, and I’m redeemed as a gift, and I’m forgiven as a gift, and it’s this gift I can never repay—oh, I want to sing. I want to sing loud. I want to hear the saints sing. I want to worship. I want to tell people about him.

Press On Because He’s Made You His Own

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count 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 that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

— Philippians 3

(ESV)

We would value Jesus more than a bigger house or a nicer car or more influence or more money. If you had that thing, your life would be complete? It won’t. You have these moments where maybe you even get everything you always wanted, and without Christ, it sucks. We find our satisfaction in Christ alone.

That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings. Usually when people preach on this, they fix on the fact that we’re going to share in Jesus’ sufferings. We live in a broken world, we suffer as faithful Christians. But what I don’t want to miss is this: that I may know him in the power of his resurrection—resurrection power, the power that rose Messiah from the dead. I can know this kind of power.

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own.” I keep putting one foot in front of the other every day to live into this good life that God’s given us. But I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I’ve made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal of the prize, the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

You’re Already New

So how do we get this good life? In so many ways, I think we live in awe of our God, Jesus, day in and day out.

He entered into human history as our great high priest. He was made like us in every way, but knew no sin, so he could be a faithful high priest. He actually knows what it’s like to be you so he can care for you in this unique way. The God of the universe did that.

But he also came as our example to show us what the good life actually looks like. Human flourishing is found in the life of Jesus where he loves God and he loves people perfectly.

But not only that, he came to have victory over Satan, sin, and death on the cross. He came as my propitiation to absorb the wrath I deserve, to drink the cup of wrath I deserve in my place. But he also came as my expiation to wash me clean from all these awful things. You’re clean. You’re new.

:::pullquote The Christian life is about taking off the person we once were and putting on the person we actually are. You’re already new.:::

Because here’s the wild thing about all these things. Jesus atoned our sin. He died in our place. He saved us from ourselves. He’s given us life with God. He’s made us new. The good life that Jesus gives us, you already have if you are a Christian, brothers and sisters. You’re already new.

And so then we’re actually in the process of just taking off the person we used to be, taking off the family we used to belong to, taking off all the family resemblance from the domain of darkness, and living as the people we are today if you are saved. In Christ, you’re his.

Portland Needs This Jesus

If you’re in here today and you’re not a Christian, I’m pleading with you. This is the truth. Jesus will save you. He will change you. He will give you a new life. He will forgive you for your sins. You must repent of your sin and turn from the darkness and turn to Jesus and receive his forgiveness.

And for those of us who are in Christ, I don’t have a bunch of homework for you to do today. I’m pleading with you. Believe Jesus. Make it your aim to see him in your life more and more, to see him for who he is, to keep him on the windshield of your life. The good news of the gospel—we would dare to reckon this thing true.

That doesn’t just mean I can do a checklist on the Apostles’ Creed. This means I’m daring to reckon the gospel true as I live in union with Jesus, empowered and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, in the communion of the saints, with the people of God, as they are discipling me and as I am discipling them, as we are straining forward together and friends on the mission.

:::pullquote Portland needs Jesus. The king has sent you here as his ambassadors. You all are God’s chosen instrument to be his representatives to this city right now.:::

Portland doesn’t really need Trinity Church because he’s king, except for the fact that the king has sent you here as his ambassadors. At this moment in history, you all—not just your elders, not just the liturgists, but you all are God’s chosen instrument to be his representatives to this city right now.

King Jesus, we’re made new. I pray we lean into that reality. We live in response to the gospel. We press on because we know we’re already forgiven. We’ve already inherited this thing. There is a nameplate for us at the grand and greatest party in history. Help us to live every day in that truth. Because it is true. Help us, Jesus, we need you. Please save as many people as possible in Portland. Please redeem this city and do glorious things here. We love you, Jesus. Amen.