I
. ME a. Tonight our topic is taken from the end of Matthew 10, it talks about what a person has to do if they want to be a disciple of Jesus. Part of the reason why I wanted to tackle this topic is because I was finding myself struggling to submit to the authority of God.
b. In studying this topic a passage that I came across was:
Luke 9:23-25
23 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 24 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 25 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?[1] c. I found this to be a tough passage because it seems that Jesus is saying that to be his disciple, his follower, I have to give up my desires? I have to do what he wants me to do? What’s this with the cross? A symbol of pain and death? I have to take one up to follow Jesus? I don’t think I want to sign up for that.
d. Here are the lyrics to a song I came across that talks a little more about submission
e. “Jesus, I my cross have taken”
1. Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou from hence my All shalt be.
Perish every fond ambition,
All I've sought or hoped or known;
Yet how rich is my condition!
God and heaven are still my own.
2. Let the world despise and leave me,
They have left my Savior, too.
Human hearts and looks deceive me;
Thou art not, like them, untrue.
And while Thou shalt smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate and friends may shun me;
Show Thy face, and all is bright.
3. Go, then, earthly fame and treasure!
Come, disaster, scorn, and pain!
In Thy service, pain is pleasure;
With Thy favor, loss is gain.
I have called Thee Abba, Father!
I have stayed my heart on Thee.
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather,
All must work for good to me.
4. Man may trouble and distress me,
'Twill but drive me to Thy breast;
Life with trials hard may press me,
Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh, 'tis not in grief to harm me
While Thy love is left to me;
Oh, 'twere not in joy to charm me
Were that joy unmixed with Thee.
e. None of the stuff in that song seems like something anyone would want to volunteer for. I was thinking, man I don’t want to be destitute or despised. Come disaster, scorn and pain??? I don’t want that in my life.
f. Going back to that passage in Luke it says that if you want to keep your life safe, if you want to save it, that you must lose it. And that if you give up your life for Jesus that you will save your life.
g. That doesn’t seem to make any sense does it? I mean that’s a lot of trust Jesus is asking me to have in Him. Jesus is asking me to believe in Him and the stuff that He says. When it comes down to it I just don’t think that I can. I don’t think I can give up control of some areas of my life.
II. WE
a. I don’t think that I’m alone in feeling like I can’t trust God. We all have something that we just aren’t sure we can trust God with.
b. A recent reminder of something a lot of us have trouble trusting God with, myself included is relationships. Yesterday was Valentine’s day. It’s a day that the single become very aware that they aren’t in a relationship with someone else. Some of us may be tempted to not wait on the Lord to provide a spouse for us. Instead of looking for the things that God wants us to have in a spouse we settle for what we can get. We settle for something that is good enough for now. Some of us would rather not have the complexities of relationship and just want to get off. So we look at porn and masturbate.
c. Something else we don’t trust God with is our time. How many of us get caught up in the activities of our life and become so focused on accomplishing tasks that we put spending time with God off to the side? Instead of seeking God first and spending time with Him we say, I need to get x, y, and z done. Some of us become so caught up in activity trying to keep our lives going that we neglect sleep and our health.
d. Some of us, myself included have trouble trusting God with finances. We may be in majors or jobs that we hate. But we stick with it because in the end we can get a good job that will make sure we have enough money to do what we want.
e. When it comes down to it we just don’t trust God. Some of us may say that we do believe in Jesus and that we trust Him. But our belief ends in our mouth. The way we live our lives doesn’t reflect the trust and belief that we say we have in Jesus.
III. GOD
a. Well let’s see what God has to say about all this, if we go back to the passage in Luke it says:
Luke 9:25-26
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. [2] b. What does all of this mean? It’s hard for us to imagine how any of this relates to us. The Son of Man coming in glory? What is all of that
c. A passage that God showed me that illustrates what is being talked about is:
d.
2 Corinthians 2:14-16(NLT)
But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. 15 Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. 16 To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?[3] e. Now I know what you’re thinking this doesn’t make any sense, but bear with me for sec and let me give you some background into this.
f. The image painted in this passage is one of a triumphant Roman general returning home after a conquest. It’s like in Gladiator where Joaquin Phoenix is riding at the head of huge parade.
g. You have this general that is revered like a god leading a train of captives, the triumph of his victory, the spoils of war.
h. If you’re a slave, one of the conquered people that refuse to accept the authority of the Roman government then seeing this Roman triumph is depressing. It’s a reminder that you’ve been conquered and that you’re not in control. It might even scare you because you’ll be reminded that you can’t escape or overthrow the government because here are a bunch more people that have been subdued being paraded down the street.
i. If however, you are one of the Roman citizens, one of the people that accepts and submits to the authority of the Roman government then seeing this parade is a joyful thing. You don’t have anything to be afraid of. You’re government is kicking butt and taking names. You feel safe and secure knowing that the government you serve and are a part of is conquering everyone.
j. Jesus is the conqueror. He is the victorious general, the God and Master of all things that has authority over all creation.
k. Here is where this ties into the passage in Luke. Whether or not we submit to the authority of God, He is still in control.
IV. YOU
a. That revelation that God is in control whether or not we submit to Him had never occurred to me before. But thinking about it that way changed everything for me.
b. If God is in control then if I resist and rebel against Him I’m just making life harder for myself. I’m making life miserable for myself
c. Teacher and student relationship/Driving directions
d.
James 4:1-4
What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. 4 You adulterers!* Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.[4] e. Here’s the thing. We don’t have to be enemies of God. God offers to make us His children.
Galatians 4:5-7
5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.* 6 And because we* are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”* 7 Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child.* And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.[5] f. God is calling you; He wants you to submit to His love. He is pursuing you. Last semester that’s something we talked about. Jesus came and gave up His life for you.
g.
Colossians 1:21-23
You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. [6] V. WE
a. We’ve come around full circle now. We all have something that we don’t want to give control of because we don’t trust Him.
b. But the truth is that whether or not we recognize God’s authority, He is in control.
c. By not submitting to God’s authority we make life miserable for ourselves. And are enemies of God.
d. The grace of God is that we don’t have to be enemies of God. God offers to make us His children. To share in His glory.
e.
James 1:22
But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.[7] f. We’ve heard a lot of things tonight but none of it will matter if all we do is stop at listening. None of this matters unless we change the way we live.
g. The practical question remains, “how do we submit to God’s authority? How do we learn to trust Him with control of our lives? How do we live lives that show we believe in Him?”
h.
James 4:8-10
Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.[8] i. Testimony
My life can be can be characterized as one long battle with God. My whole life I’ve struggled with submitting to God’s authority. A troubling verse for me is
Jeremiah 1:5-7
“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.
Before you were born I set you apart
and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”
6 “O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!”
7 The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. 8 And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken![9] My parents met doing ministry together planting churches. And when they got married they spent a long time thinking about what they would name me. My name Timothy Kirk, means “the one who honors God” and “one who dwells in the house of the Lord.” For a long time I really resented what I had been named. I had no choice in picking my name, but they were constant reminders of God’s authority over me.
Growing up as a kid I was in and around ministry all the time. Whenever the church doors were open I was there. I got drug along to all the different ministries my parents were participating in. I didn’t have a choice but to go with them and help them with whatever they were doing.
Being in church all the time I was exposed to this idea of surrendering control of my life to Jesus. And while I knew what that meant and maybe believed that I was a sinner and that Jesus had died for me, I didn’t want to make a public declaration of my faith. There were a few times I had prayed some prayer and asked God to forgive me, but it wasn’t until September of 1993 that I felt God calling me out. I was sitting in a pew during the invitation to respond and they were playing “I Surrender All.” The weeks before that they had played that song again and again, so by this time I had the words memorized. My heart was beating so hard that my chest hurt. I knew that God was calling me to surrender my life to Him. I was fighting this war inside of me where part of me wanted to go up but the other part didn’t. But I’d put it off for weeks and this time it was unbearable. So that Sunday I made a public profession of faith, surrendering my life to Jesus.
Later that year I was at Royal Ambassadors Camp, like Christian Boy Scouts. The last morning of camp they extended a call to people who felt God was calling them to full time ministry. Again I felt that boiling up of emotion in me. I knew that God was calling me to serve Him in ministry as more than a layperson in the church. I knew He was calling me to serve differently than my parents. And again I didn’t want to go up. I had grown up around lots of vocational ministers and I didn’t want to live having to trust God to provide for my needs. But I knew God was calling me, so near the end I finally stood up and said yeah God is calling me.
The next 15 years from age 9-24, I spent my life trying to come to terms with God and His call on my life. I had said I surrendered control of my life to God but I didn’t really want to give up on what I wanted. I went through a series of life paths where I tried to find something that would be “Christian ministry” but pay tons of money. I thought about being a Historian or Archaeologist specializing in the Old Testament so I could be like Indiana Jones. See the world, have fun and make lots of money. Because I knew that God was calling me to serve in a church and I didn’t want to get stuck or tied down. Then I thought about becoming a psychologist and doing family counseling. I could honor God’s call on my life by making lots of money doing Christian Counseling. I thought about doing anything and everything except accepting and responding to God’s call on my life. I was running away.
In 2003 everything came to a head my freshman year at the UofA. I was running out of time to figure out how I would be obedient to God’s call on my life. I wasn’t really in church anymore. I said I was a Christian but God was at the end of my list of priorities. All of my friends were really intelligent and headed to and some coming from very affluent lives. I was concerned about getting serious with a non Christian girl accustomed to an affluent lifestyle. So I was trying to figure out how I could have job security, great benefits, retire and have pension, and fulfill God’s call on my life. So I enlisted into the Army my freshman year. I thought that decision would take care of all my problems. I could do the reservist thing as a psychologist or Chaplain and serve God part time. Then the rest of the month do what I wanted to do with my life.
I went to basic training and I had some new perspective on life. I mean, prior to leaving I was having trouble letting go of things in my life cause I was a control freak. Now I was finding myself in a place where I couldn’t decide where, what, or when I could eat, sleep, or wear. Everything in my life was dictated by someone else. After I came back I was aware of what God was saying to me, but none of it really sank in until the summer of 2005.
I was in summer school and I got an email saying that I was going to be deployed. My orders didn’t say where or for how long or even who with. And I had three days to report in or go to jail. I was in crisis mode. Logistical things aside, I knew that this deployment to the desert was about more than just my life in the Army. I knew God was saying to me, “I know you have a hard time trusting me, but I will grow your faith.”
I desperately wanted to talk to someone about this. I tried calling anyone and everyone in my address book. I couldn’t get a hold of any of my family or Christian friends. The friends that I could reach who weren’t Christians couldn’t relate to me. In the midst of me going insane, the only person that got back to me was my friend Aileen. She told me to calm down and to meet her at the Union. So I met up with her and told her about my situation. And after all that she simply handed me this card with a verse on it.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.a[10] After that she handed me another card with this on it:
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.[11] Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.b I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” [12] So as I prepared to leave everything, to just pick up go. I left with that encouragement in mind. Over the course of my deployment I committed to studying and knowing God’s Word. I committed to trusting Him. I committed to seeking after Him first.
Obviously, I made it through the deployment alive. But there definitely many situations I faced that year that I still don’t know how I survived. All I know is that I sought after the Lord, and He comforted me giving me peace of mind. I prayed for my needs and the safety of the people I went on mission with. God provided for my needs. And out of two battalions my company was the only one to come back from the deployment without losing a single soldier. Every mission I went on no one died or sustained any serious injury. God showed me that He was real. When I prayed I wasn’t just speaking to the air. I was praying to the Lord of All Creation.
Tonight some of you may be where I was in 1993, when I was having trouble surrendering control of my life to God. Some of you might have already made the decision to surrender your life to Jesus, but you’re having trouble living a life that reflects that decision. You’re finding yourself running away from God instead of toward Him.
We’re going to have a time of response, and as this next song plays I want to ask you to think through some of these questions.
What fears and doubts do you have about God?
What areas of your life are you finding hard to hand over to God?
What is keeping you from accepting God’s invitation to join His family?
How long will you continue to run from God?
As this song plays think through some of these questions. Be honest with yourself. If you need talk to God about it pray to Him now. If you need help getting started grab someone here to pray with you. I’m up here, Julie, Alex and any of the small group leaders would love to pray with you. But please don’t wait. Don’t be like me and waste the next 15 years of your life. If I’ve learned anything from all my experiences it’s that the only way to live is one day at time. To make the most of today because that might be all I have. The only way to learn to submit to the authority of God is to seek after Him everyday and allow Him to reveal Himself to you. Will you give Him that chance?
[1] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 2nd ed. (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), Lk 9:23–25.
[2] The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), Lk 9:25–26.
[3] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 2nd ed. (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), 2 Co 2:14–16.
* Greek You adulteresses!
[4] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 2nd ed. (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), Jas 4:1–4.
* Greek sons; also in 4:6.
* Greek you.
* Abba is an Aramaic term for “father.”
* Greek son; also in 4:7b.
[5] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 2nd ed. (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), Ga 4:5–7.
[6] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 2nd ed. (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), Col 1:21–23.
[7] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 2nd ed. (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), Jas 1:22.
[8] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 2nd ed. (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), Jas 4:8–10.
[9] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 2nd ed. (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), Je 1:5–8.
a Or will direct your paths
[10] The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), Pr 3:5–6.
[11] The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), Je 29:11.
b Or will restore your fortunes
[12] The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), Je 29:12–14.
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