Seek First: The Gospel

I don't know about you, but I don't have to think very hard to know where I'd be without Jesus. Quick glance in the mirror, I know who I am. I know what's in me. To think that his grace is enough. It's a beautiful thing.

Good morning. Good morning. It's good to be together. And if you're a guest here today, my name is Josh, and I'm glad you're here. I'm glad all of you are here.

I really believe, actually believe that God has something in mind specifically for each one of us today, that he has something in mind for us. I don't know what that is, but my prayer is that you'll be open to whatever that is, because God is an endless well, and I can say the same sermon, and 27 of you can receive it in different ways, and the Holy Spirit can stir you up to different things. And so my hope is that you'll be open to whatever he's got in mind. If you are a guest and you'd like to connect here at Whitewater at all, the best first step you can take is by heading out to the foyer and going to the information desk after the service. We've got a team there.

They'd love to answer questions you have, get you connected, or help you take a step. So we hope that you'll do that. Two weeks ago, I had the incredible pleasure of standing here and just unveiling this beautiful picture of the type of church that we would like to be over the next three. Three years. And that vision, if you missed that Sunday, I just want to encourage you to go and watch that, whether you're new or you've been here a long time, because that was a stake in the ground kind of moment for us.

And it's this giant flashing arrow pointing at where we'll be going over the next few years. And at the root of that vision is this idea that we are committed to making more and better disciples. And we gave a definition, a working definition of a disciple. We said that a disciple is an everyday person, you and me, growing to be more like Jesus by studying and practicing his ways and helping others do the same. And we're committed to making more and better disciples both here and not here.

Here is just any time that Whitewater is the one doing the resourcing. Whitewater is the one doing, supporting, and making something happen. And not here is when any of us are not here. And that's in our homes and workplaces and everywhere we go. But we are Making disciples more and better disciples here and not here.

Now, we said that the only way that we're going to be successful at doing this, the only way we stand a chance, is by doing what Jesus said to do first. That's what this series is all about. Seek first. Seek first the kingdom. Seek first the kingdom.

And that's going to require each of us to view ourselves as disciple makers, as ambassadors of reconciliation, and each of us to view our gifts and our resources and our spheres of influence in our time not just as amenities for our own consumption, but as tools for expanding God's kingdom here on this earth. Now, last week, Russ did a fantastic job of laying the groundwork of what the kingdom is, what are the building blocks of the kingdom. And he used this great quote from Dallas Willard. It's such a simple quote for such a genius guy. If you like chewing on books really like gristle, go read some Dallas Willard.

But he said the kingdom of God is simply where what God wants done.

That's the kingdom of God. And we're seeking that everywhere. And while we think that we are ruling and reigning our own kingdoms, the ugly reality under the surface of all of that is the deception, the lie that underneath that says, really all that's happening is we have given in to Satan. Because there are only two kingdoms. There's God's kingdom and the kingdom of this world.

And the kingdom of this world is where what Satan wants done is done. This is the war. These two kingdoms are at war. This is the war that we talked about during our Armor of God series. Two kingdoms raging at war around us and in us and through us.

And the truer truth. The real reality is that everything we do is an act of affection, allegiance, and ultimately worship to one of these two kingdoms. Nothing is neutral. We'll talk more about that next week. Now, just like every club or team or nation or community or country that we want to be a part of, there are both benefits to membership or citizenship, and there are expectations for its members and its citizens.

The Kingdom of Heaven has some very significant benefits. That's what we've been singing about all morning, these beautiful benefits of the Kingdom of Heaven. But it also has a great cost, a great cost to God himself and a great cost to us as well. First, while this kingdom is open to, let me be clear, it is open to anyone who would seek it. The truth is, citizenship in the kingdom of God as described to us in the Bible is wildly and perfectly exclusive.

It's wildly and perfectly exclusive. There is only one king in the kingdom of heaven, and that is King Jesus. And while Satan and this world would want us to believe otherwise or believe that the terms to entry are not fair, the truth is. And the Bible very clearly tells us that King Jesus is the only entry point into the kingdom. The Bible does not tell us that all religions eventually get us there.

The Bible does not tell us that all roads lead to salvation. The Bible tells us in Matthew 7:13, enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few will find it. We read this over and over.

This is not just one time. This is on repeat throughout the Bible. One of the places it's hiding that we miss all the time is in John 3, starting in verse 16. We just sang these lyrics. We love this scripture.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned. And we close our Bibles and we're done. But there's a comma and it's not finished.

It says, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. This word condemned means separated. Those who do not believe are already separated because of their sin. Jesus uses this language of separation over and over again. He says, the goats will be separated from the sheep, the chaff from the wheat, the weeds from the crops, the foolish from the wise.

Whoever does not believe in the name of the only Son of God will not be included in the kingdom of heaven. It doesn't matter how I feel about it. It doesn't matter if that makes you uncomfortable. This is what the Bible says. Acts 4:12.

Salvation is found in no one else. For there's no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. John 14:6. Jesus says it himself. I am the way, and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father, except through me. Entrance into the kingdom of heaven is wildly and perfectly exclusive. And while it makes us really uncomfortable, and it certainly makes us very unpopular in this world, if God is who he says he is, he alone gets to make the terms. Not me, not you.

And today we're going to look at what the Bible says about all this to see what terms God has given us to get into the kingdom of heaven. We're going to hear some very bad news and we're going to hear some really good news. But before we do, I know that Satan would long and want for us to be disappointed, disrupted by this in all of the worst ways so that we can't even hear what the Bible has to say. And so I want to pray and ask for God to open our hearts and ears as we get into his word. Will you pray with me?

Heavenly Father, you alone are the source of truth and life. You alone are the perfect judge. You alone are the one who gets to set the terms. And God, I pray today that you would open our minds and open our hearts hearts and open our eyes and our ears today. That we would not be deceived by the enemy so that we will not be blinded by the kingdom of this world.

Holy Spirit, give us understanding, unlock these things for us. Illuminate the truth for us today, even as we are unwilling, stir up in us this burning desire to get to the truth and to please you with with our lives, to know you. In Jesus name. Amen. So we'll start in one of the greatest books in the Bible, Romans, right out of the gate.

In chapter one, the writer Paul establishes that he has been set apart to proclaim or preach the gospel. And that word gospel, what does that mean? It just means the good news, he says in Romans 1, starting in verse 16. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Why?

Because it's the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. Why is this such good news? Because as Paul continues and quickly gets to here, there is very bad news. There's very bad news.

And I think we have lost sight of how good the good news is because we've forgotten about the bad news. He goes on in verse 18 he says, the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse. Paul says that every single one of us, just by looking around, there is an ache built into us, stirred up by creation.

And this ache and longing points us to the fact that there is a divine God who is all powerful. So much so creation on its Own is enough to say that we have no excuse. He says, therefore the wrath of God is being revealed. But wrath against what? It's wrath against sin.

Romans 3:23. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 6:23. For the wages of sin is death. Here's the message.

All of us have sinned and sin equals death. This is the equation. This is the really bad news. Paul uses very clear and direct language. Very clear and direct language.

One of my favorite places that he talks about this. I've used it so many times already, I'll use it a thousand times more. Ephesians chapter 2, starting in verse 1. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live. When you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the earth, you were following Satan, is what he's saying.

The spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. The word here is wages due. You did the work, you get the pay.

Sin equals death. Again, this is bad news. And it's news that many of us are unwilling to swallow, unwilling to share, unwilling to believe. Matt Chandler says this. He says we've lost the language of sin in our time.

No one sins anymore. They just struggle. The problem is that while we have lost the language of sin, we have not lost the effect of sin in our lives. What is the effect of sin? Paul describes our relationship with sin as a slave master relationship.

The moment that we sin, our sin is our personal signature signing our lives away to death. And it is an ironclad contract that we cannot get out of. We are now slaves to to death. This is bad news. This is uncomfortable news.

And it leads us to this really nasty question that all of us have. How could a loving God pour out wrath on the creation that he says he loves? How could that be?

Love and wrath seem incongruent to us, don't they? They can't coexist. Here's the thing. Wrath can't exist without love. Wrath cannot exist without love.

Because true wrath is fundamentally a response to the violation of what is loved. Wrath arises when something precious is threatened, is corrupted or destroyed or without love. Without love, there is no standard that could provoke such a passionate response as wrath. In fact, the intensity of the wrath reflects the intensity of the love the greater the love, the greater the wrath when that love is threatened. Think of it this way.

We've all probably heard of the drug fentanyl. Fentanyl is this super potent opioid that is about 100 times more powerful than heroin. Just the amount that could fit on the end of a pencil tip can kill a person. Now, everybody has a different response to this. Some it might take a little more, some it might take a little less.

But let me just ask you, how much fentanyl would you tolerate someone putting in your dinner tonight before you had something to say about it? Parents, how would you respond if you found out that the schools have been putting fentanyl in the chocolate milk cartons in the lunchroom? And you go to the superintendent and you tell them about this atrocity and his response is, that's just a little bit.

We would be outraged. Why? Because we know fentanyl is poisonous. Death. This is how God views sin.

He knows that the tiniest bit can kill us. He knows that sin equals death. For God, wrath is not the opposite of love. It is the expression of love. Because wrath is exist without love.

And all of this is terrible news. It's terrible news. But it is exactly why the good news is so good. So good. Ephesians 2 finishes this section with this.

Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It's by grace you have been saved. This is good news, Church.

No matter what we believe about sin, no matter how much we struggle with the idea of a God who would pour out wrath, the Bible tells us that sin equals death. But God. But God has provided life. God's love is so profound that despite our sin, the Bible says even when we were enemies of God, that he sent his perfect son to die on a cross for us. This is good news, Church.

Here's the picture. Imagine there's a courtroom. God is seated on the justice seat and you're on trial. He knows you're guilty. You know you're guilty.

The whole room knows you're guilty. The entire jury knows you're guilty. You still have blood and dirt on you from the crime itself. And there's a smoking gun in your hand. And he renders you not guilty.

Not because you deserve it, but because he says, I'm going to give my perfect son in place of this slug. This is the picture, but it's better than that. Then he gets off of his seat and he pulls off his robe and he walks down to you and he puts his hands on either side of your face and he says, there's more. There's more. You have been an orphan.

You have been dead long enough. Today's the day I'm adopting you. You are my child. You are my son. You are my daughter.

But there's more. You don't just get to eat the scraps from under my table. You don't just get to live in my basement. You don't just get to stay in a tent in my backyard. There's more.

You get to call me dad. You get to call me dad. Not your Honor. You get to call me dad. But there's more.

I have an inheritance that is so endless that you can't find. Fathom it. And today I am writing you into my will as coheirs with Jesus. This is good news. Church.

Paul. We'll read it here in a minute. He uses this word abba. You get to call me dad. And you've probably, if you've heard of this, you've probably heard it said that this word abba, means daddy because it's an affectionate term that Middle Eastern children will use for their father.

And there's no doubt that's built into it. But I love the way that Matt Chandler says, this thing is loaded with way more than that. This word abba holds with it the connotation that my dad could beat up your dad.

That's good. The moment the judge renders you not guilty, you can look Satan and sin and death in the face with no hesitation. And you can say, I don't belong to you anymore because my dad bought me back. And did you see who my dad is? My dad is the almighty creator God of the universe who spoke life into being, who has more power in his pinky than you have in your whole body.

His power is endless. His love is endless. His grace is endless. And he bought me back. That's my dad.

This is good news.

Now, all that's exciting, right? All that's good, right? But we said there are terms to entry into this kingdom. There are terms, but it's not work. It's not effort.

It's something else. Let's pick up in Romans 8, starting in verse 15. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, abba, Father. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and If children, then heirs. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.

And gosh darn it, there's another comma, provided that contingent upon this, that we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. I was tracking with Paul right up to that comma. Man, I'm liking this Almighty God, I got bad news. Jesus is taking care of all this. Co heirs with Jesus.

I can sit at the table, man, I'm in. But suffer, really, I mean, Paul, come on, anything other than that. Anything other than I got to mow the grass, but suffer. And I'll be honest, I read this and I thought to myself, I have given more than half my life to ministry. I went to Bible college, I'm a pastor, I'm standing here preaching the gospel to you today.

But if my salvation, if entry into the kingdom is contingent upon this thing, I don't know that I qualify. Because when I think of suffering, I think of Stephen. He was stoned to death for his faith. I think of all the apostles who were crucified and burned at the stake and murdered. I think of people in prison, all of our brothers and sisters all over the world, all across time who've been beheaded and captured and enslaved for their faith.

What have I ever done? They pay me to do this.

When I think of suffering, I don't think I qualify. And quite honestly, I spent a lot of time really grappling with this. This kind of wrecked me.

How could I do this? Do I need to completely rethink my life and my faith? And it's easy to write off and say, oh, suffering's for some and not for others. But that's not what Paul says. And so after spending a lot of time praying about this and reading about this and studying about this, I'm not sure that I have a full grasp of it.

But here's what I think that I know about suffering for Christ. And there's a lot more. There's a whole sermon, maybe a whole series wrapped up in this. Today we're just going to scratch the surface, but here's what I think I know first, suffering is relative. Suffering is relative.

If you will just imagine with me for a second, a two year old, your favorite two year old, and an Olympic weightlifter. A two year old and you're a favorite Olympic weightlifter. If you hand a two year old a feather and ask it to carry around, ask him to carry it around. That's not suffering. No one would consider that suffering.

If you hand a feather to an Olympic weightlifter and ask him to carry it around, no one's thinking that they're suffering. If you hand two five gallon buckets full of water to an Olympic weightlifter and you ask him to carry it around, it's not suffering. But I guarantee you, if you ask a 2 year old to carry around two 5 gallon buckets full of water, there's gonna be some suffering going on. There's gonna be some suffering. Suffering is relative.

What's suffering for one isn't necessarily suffering for others. So we can't say there's the threshold. If you suffer at this level, then you can get in. Second is this. I think there are three types of suffering that are definitely suffering, but not suffering with or for Christ.

First, they're suffering because sin, death and disease is in this world that brings with it suffering. They're suffering because there are evil people. Evil is real, and evil people do terrible things to other people. That's suffering. The third is this.

This one's a little harder to swallow. Sometimes we do stupid stuff and it makes us suffer. Just me, okay? Now, while all those things are suffering, I would argue they are not suffering with or for Christ. So how do we know that we have indeed suffered with or for Christ?

Well, if Jesus is our example, then we should look to the way that he suffered to see how to suffer. He was in the garden desperately praying the night before his crucifixion. He was so filled with angst that he was sweating drops of blood. And he's praying to the Father. We read in Matthew 26:39.

He says, My Father, if it be possible, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. This is the prayer that Russ encouraged all of us to be praying over this last week. Your kingdom come, your will be done. Not my will, your will. This is pure obedience from love.

Pure obedience from love. And obedience from love, I'm convinced, is the key that unlocks our understanding of what it is to suffer with or for Christ. Without an act of obedience rooted in love, there is no suffering with or for Christ. I'll put this in an equation form so we can see it here on the screen. An act of obedience to God, which.

Come on. You can't be obedient to something you've not been asked to do. So let's not turn this into something it's not. But an act of obedience to God for his glory or for the expansion of his kingdom plus personal cost equals suffering with or for Christ. The cost of obedience will be different for everyone and every situation.

But suffering with or for Christ only comes when we are obedient to the Father and it costs us something. So let me ask, are you being obedient to the Father? We've just covered what the Father has done for us. He came the whole way, he provided the sacrifice, he ransomed us out of death with the death of his perfect Son. And the terms for entry into this kingdom is obedience.

That costs us something. So I ask you, Christ follower, most of us would be in that category today. Are you being obedient to the Father? And when we ask that question, most of us are thinking about the long list of rules that we think that we're supposed to follow. Did I make sure I didn't do that and didn't do that and didn't do that and didn't do that?

My question to you, and I think this is way harder, is, are you obedient to what you know God is asking you to. To do? Because I think most of us have a list like that, or short list, maybe, maybe a really long list. And we're unwilling to do the things that we know we're supposed to be doing because it costs too much. Are you being obedient?

Because I want to challenge you today with this idea that obedience is the branding iron mark seared into our skin that proves that we are His. That's the entry into the kingdom. There's a great quote from a guy named Thomas a Kempis. He was a theologian in the 1400s. He's a genius.

And this is a brutal quote. This is a brutal quote. And it's amazing how aligned thinking from the 1400s is with us today. So brace yourself for this quote. He says, for a little benefit, great journeys are undertaken, but for everlasting life, people will scarcely lift their feet once from the ground.

A thing that is of small value is many times busily sought. Great contention sometimes rises over a penny. And for the promise of a little worldly gain, men do not shrink to labor and sweat both day and night. But alas for sorrow, for everlasting goods, for the rewards that cannot be rightly valued by man's heart for the honor and glory that never shall have an end. Men are slow to take any kind of pain or labor.

And then these brutal words, be ashamed, you slow servant of God, that they are found more ready for the works of death than you are for the works of life, that they rejoice more in vanity than you in truth.

Every one of us wants the benefits of the kingdom. But narrow and difficult is the path.

Some of Jesus most difficult words are found in Matthew 16, starting in verse 24, Jesus says, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves.

There's nothing in us that wants to do that. Everything in this world says, never deny yourself. And Jesus says, you must. You must deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it. But whoever loses their life for me will find it. These are the terms of surrender to the kingdom. They're simple, but they're costly. All of your life.

For all of your life. Those are the terms. All of your life. For all of your life. There is no way that we can sit down and deal with terms and barter with God.

There is one term. 100% of your life for 100% of your life. Now, I imagine after hearing all of this, there's got to be somebody in this room listening online. Maybe you've never done this. You've never considered giving up your life for such good news.

Maybe you've never understood how bad the bad news was. And today, if that's you, I just want to invite you to a conversation. Invite you to a conversation. If you're listening online and that's you today, email infohitewatercrossing.org we would love to connect with you if you're in the room today. We're gonna have a team over here praying on the ramp during this last song.

And at the end of the service, I want to invite you to a conversation. Come, just come, come ask, come pray, come struggle. Just come seek and trust that King Jesus will take care of the rest. Adoption as sons and daughters of the Creator of the universe, becoming co heirs with Jesus. This is what's available today.

This is good news. But for all of us Christians in the room, it's important that we note that almost every single time that the Gospel is recounted in the Bible, the audience is us. The audience is is a bunch of people who already believe. In the same way. We gotta remember Christ's suffering on the cross every week.

We gotta remember our salvation. We gotta remember the bad news so that we can remember the good news. The Gospel doesn't just save us once, it is constantly and always and regularly saving us even now. And if you're already a Christian, but you know that you've been walking in disobedience to what you should not be doing or to what you should be doing, here's my challenge to you today. Repent.

Repent. Not with shame. Not with guilt. Not because of shame and guilt, but because of his kindness. The Bible says that his kindness leads us to repentance.

Not as shaming, not his tongue lashing, not his lecture. His kindness leads us to repentance. Repent today. Repent. Take this time.

Recommit. Recommit to obedience. Recommit to paying the price for obedience. Will you stand? Let's sing together.