Submit and Go

Transcript (Auto-generated)

Good morning church. It's good to see you here. Welcome if you're joining us online as well. Before we get started, I've got two announcements. Announcement number one, if you own a dark Subaru with the registration 140WBR, your lights are on. If you want to leave after the service, I suggest you go turn them off. So that's that one. Kids, I know you really want to be here for the sermon, but Kids Church is now open. If you want, you're welcome to leave here and now, and that will be okay. It's good to be here this morning. It's good to see you all. This morning, I want to start with an illustration by Damond Hicks. Do so, to do so. There we go. Can I get everyone to raise your hand? Everyone raise your hand up.

Now, raise it higher and ask yourself this question. Why didn't you give 100% the first time? If you've got your Bibles there, open up to Proverbs chapter three. We're going to be looking at verses five to eight, and we're going to adapt this illustration to unpack God's word this morning. Proverbs three, chapter three, verses five to eight. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning. Thank you that we can gather together as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Thank you that we can lift your name in praise. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you that you've revealed yourself to us, and you've revealed the way in which you call us to live as your disciples. As we unpack this morning, would you by your Holy Spirit lead us and guide us? Reveal yourself to each of us that we may be able to respond appropriately. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Why didn't you give 100% the first time? It's an evicting question, and it's one that's applicable far beyond the context of raising your hand when the preacher asks you to. See, over the last couple of weeks, we've been unpacking what it means for you and I as disciples of Jesus to apply our faith practically as we leave here on a Sunday across the car park and go into our mission fields, wherever they may be, work, hobbies, whatever your week looks like.

That's your mission field. And we've unpacked this in a couple of different ways, but today we're looking at what I believe is the foundational truth to this whole idea of crossing the car park, of being good witnesses of Jesus out in the world. We're looking at the non-negotiable, the reality that for you and I to be effective disciples who leave our gathering together on a Sunday and go into mission Monday through Saturday, we must submit and go. The key to crossing the car park is simple to say, and yet very difficult to apply. We must trust God completely and obey his commands to us. Let's read this chapter, this couple of verses of chapter three again. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Problem church, we struggle to give 100% to Jesus. It was interesting when I asked you to raise your hand, there were some very distinct categories of people. The first group when the pastor is not talking to me, they might have thought, this is a Baptist church or at least I thought it was, we don't raise hands. They might have thought, I don't like what he's asking me to do, I'm just not going to do it. There was this group of people that even though I said, hey raise your hands, hands stayed by their sides, in fact some of them went a little bit lower.

And that's okay, you don't have to participate, that's fine. But as we unpack this, this represents a large group of humanity. There is a large group of humanity that do not submit to God and do not obediently respond to his commands. I'm not saying that the people who didn't put their hands up are those people, but the illustration tracks. It's the reason that we're talking about crossing the car park, it's the reason that Jesus gave us this commandment to go out and make disciples, because there are so many people in this world that do not know the hope of Jesus, who do not spend time listening to what God is saying, who do not submit their lives completely to God and follow his commands. They reserve that place of Saviour, of Lord of their lives as themselves.

Thinking it's the best way, but it's not. So that means we have work to do. There was a second group of people who did raise their hands to their credit, but it was sort of like a little bit covered. I didn't disobey what was asked of me, I did raise my hand, it's here. But also I don't want to be seen, I want to hide this. I don't want to stand out. What if he's asking for volunteers and he points at me? I wouldn't do that by the way. But here's this group that in our illustration represents, sadly, a lot of Christians. This group who maybe give five percent, who with their lips will say, yeah, I trust in the Lord with all my heart, but all is down here. I trust with all my heart. It does not work to me.

I trust God, all my heart. In all my ways, I'll acknowledge him. But he better not ask me to do anything I don't want to do. I like the idea of Jesus. I like what he stands for. I like that I get to hear about all these other Christians that he's using in remarkable ways. I love hearing the work that they're doing for the kingdom of God. I believe with all my heart, as long as I don't really have to do anything. Maybe we know some people like this who with their lips will declare Jesus as Lord and Savior, but you look at their lives and nothing has changed. There was a third category of people, most of you, that range between sort of here and here. The majority this morning, is this getting in and out really bad?

Move to that. Please stand by as we incur technical difficulties. No, we're good. Do we have me? Yep, amazing. I've got the thumbs up, we're good to go. Most of us, when I said put your hand up, were somewhere here, right? A lot of us were somewhat high, but not all in. There was still room when I said raise your hand even higher to move higher. Somewhere between 50% and 99% effort. This morning I reckon that makes up probably the majority of us here. We would say if I was here, I trust in the Lord with all my heart somewhere here, depending on the day where you catch me. Somewhere I believe in all my heart, I submit all my ways to Him. I'm putting in the work, I'm serving with the gifts that God has given me.

I'm reading scripture regularly, somewhere every day, other weeks, maybe once. I'm listening to Him, I'm praying. Jesus is my Lord and Savior, and I'm eager to follow Him. Do we feel like that resonates? What about this part? I'm eager to follow Him, Jesus is my Lord and Savior, but I reserve the right to say no. If His plan becomes too costly, if His plan pushes me too far out of my comfort zone, if His plan doesn't really align with my dreams, my desires, my plan for my life. Church, this all, this all, and this all are not the all that God's looking for. It's not the all that we read in Proverbs. See, God doesn't say trust in the Lord with all your heart. He doesn't say trust in the Lord with all your heart.

He doesn't say trust in the Lord, I'm not even going to put my hands up. He says trust in the Lord with all your heart. No room for more effort. All your hearts. And it's important that we understand this, we understand where we are on that scale as we read this couple of verses. Because very truly Solomon writes in Proverbs, trust in the Lord with all your heart. And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. You will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Church, I'm convinced as we've been going through this, as we've come off the back of the discipleship weekend, the integrated study, as we've come into this Crossing the Car Park series, I'm convinced that the biggest hindrance to our discipleship journey, the biggest hurdle in our walk with Jesus is not a problem of not having enough knowledge.

It's not. The problem is obeying what we do know about God. It's putting into practice the things that have already been revealed to us. How do I know this? Because I'm fairly certain that in this congregation here and now, there are a plethora of people who know a lot more about the Bible and a lot more about walking in faith than I do. I would hope so. A lot of you guys were pivotal in teaching me as I went to Kids' Church. The issue in our discipleship journey isn't the knowledge God's revealed at all in Scripture. It's obeying. And to obey, we need to submit entirely. We need to be all in for Jesus. Maximum effort. So, with all this, can I please get everyone to raise your hand up? That's better.

We've got maximum effort. Keep those hands up. And with this amount of effort, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways. Acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Here's the Danger Church. See, periodically, whether it's through Sunday services, whether it's through something that we're reading, periodically, we will be inspired to do this. We'll be reminded to give 100% to Jesus, to be entirely submitted to Him and obediently follow wherever He tells us to go, to do whatever He tells us to do. But as we read in this proverb, after some time, might not even be a long time, there's a temptation to lean on our own understanding and to trust in our own wisdom.

Take a moment, look around the room. How many hands are still up? Significantly less than we started with? Okay, now you can put your hands down. That was maybe a minute and a half. That's being generous. A minute and a half with your hands up. And when we look around the room, so many had dropped. Even those that started really strong were starting to get tired. I saw second hands going to help. But church, this is the reality. We can be inspired by sermons. We can be inspired by scripture. We can have moments where we go, yes, I am all in. I trust the Lord with all my heart. I submit entirely to Him. I will go where He tells me to go. I will do what He tells me to do. And then things become difficult.

Or it just drags on. And we get tired. We lose focus. Our all becomes slightly less. I'm still committed, God, but there's this thing next Saturday that I really want to go to and it's going to move over to Sunday. I'm still committed, Lord, but my hand's getting tired. I just need a break. Our own wisdom, our own understanding, our own observations for life can be a temptation to steal back control from God. We can have moments of Jesus, I'm all yours, you take the wheel. But when things change, we slowly go, actually you can't tell me to do that. I reserve the right to say no. To say that we will trust in the Lord with all our heart is easy to say. It's difficult to do and it's difficult to maintain over time.

The reality is, if we want to cross the car park effectively, it can't just happen this Sunday. It's got to happen next Sunday and the week after and the week after and the week after and the week after for years to come. Because God's got a plan and He calls us to join Him in it. It makes intentional effort to submit. It really does. We're so good at taking control of our own lives. We like to be in control. We like to have a plan. We like to know what we're doing and where we're going. It's so easy once we are all in to slowly take back control. And so I want to urge you each and every day, let the first thing you do actually be submit to God. Everything. Not only every day, but every situation.

Build the habit of God, not my will, but your will be done. Why do we do this? Well Proverbs tells us, if we submit entirely to God, if we obey His plans for our lives, then He will make straight the path for us. The straight path will turn us away from evil, from sin, because we will be following Him. It will be healing to our flesh and refreshment to our bones. Obey and go. Two very small words. Easy to say, difficult to do. And so I want to challenge you. We've been going through this series for the last two weeks. What has God been saying to you recently? As you've sat here in church, what did God say to you over the last two weeks? As you delved into His Word. If you weren't here for the last two weeks, maybe you've been away in your quiet time with God.

In the last time that you engage with Scripture, what is it that God was saying to you? And if the answer is nothing. If the answer is, I'm not sure, I'm reading my Bible, but there's just nothing here. Can I encourage you? Our God is a God who speaks. And so go back, watch the last two weeks' sermons that encourage, exhort us to meditate, to retreat and meditate with God, to pray and to listen to what it is that He's saying. Because that's the beginning point. And if you're sitting here this morning, when you get to that place of, this is what God's saying to me, maybe it's a command to go and do something. Maybe it's a command to start something. Maybe it's a conviction. Maybe it's something that you need to deal with before God.

When that's there, can I encourage you? Submit trust in the Lord with all your heart. Give it over to Him. Pray very openly, God, I give myself entirely to you. Let your will be done in and through me. Don't leave without doing business with God. There's a couple of ways that this can look. I want to invite Trent up, because he's going to help me with this final exercise. We've got one exercise and one challenge. For those who don't know Trent, he's my younger brother. He's also one of our youth leaders here at Kabuchah Baptist. And the reason that he's up here is because in trying to figure out an illustration, I went, I need someone who I can genuinely trust. And my first thought went to Zali, but then I couldn't genuinely trust her to catch all 100 and something kilos of meat, because she's significantly smaller.

And so I went, well, Trent, we've grown up together. I feel like I can trust you. We'll see. No, I'm sure it will be fine. And so in this illustration, Trent is going to be God for us. He's going to give me instructions. He's not actually God, but he's going to represent God for us today. And I am just going to be you, me, all of humanity. At some point, we end up over here. We go, is there a God? He's revealed Himself in some way to us, and we start seeking Him. We start seeking direction and answers for life. And He says something like, Take a step back. Okay. That was weird, but I've made some movement. Nothing crazy happened. Cool. I'm going to be praying. I'm going to be, whatever you say God, I will do.

Take a step to all that. Are you sure? Yes. That's closer to the edge. God, are you really sure? Take a step to all that. Okay, you're pushing it. But, okay, Lord, what am I doing? What's the plan for life? Take a step to all that. God, are you really sure? This is pushing me out of my comfort zone, and that's scary. I've seen people fall off ledges before, and I actually just want to, I don't think I can do that. But what do you want me to do? I'm still following you. What do you want me to do? Take a step to all that. I've been there before, so that's okay. Take a step to all that. You know, God, I'm going to trust you on this one. Thank you. Thank you for keeping me safe. You've got a plan.

You know what you're doing. That's great. You know what? I'm actually so thrilled that you've kept me safe. Following Jesus is great. If I could just tell everyone about it, I would, because he brought me so close to the edge, he pushed me right out of my comfort zone, and here I am. I feel so close to God here and now. There's literally nothing that could happen that would bring me closer to him. I'm content. I can't wait for other people to follow Jesus as well. Church, what's happened is my all-in has turned into an all-in. I'm now sitting uncomfortable and not listening to God. I've blocked him out because I think the mission's complete. And yet, I've still got a long way to go. So, let's see what happens.

God, you're still there? Yeah, happy with me here? All right. Okay. This feels better, doesn't it? Thank you, Jesus. Okay. But I started all the way over there. Man, I'm so mature in my faith. I'm actually amazing. Look at that. This part was a little bit hairy. There was a little bit of a slow down there. But, man, I'm just trusting in God all-in. God, whatever you tell me in the next two steps, I'm good. Yeah, let's do this. I'm on fire for Jesus. Yeah! It doesn't feel like I've moved. God, I don't feel any closer to you. I was literally just over there. It's all right. God, what's the plan? We're getting somewhere. I'm feeling good where I'm on fire again. This feels tedious. Man, why couldn't we just finish over there?

Like, I know you've done amazing things, but surely you're done with me. Yep. What's the plan? I'm getting awful close to this edge. Okay. Okay, God, what's the plan? It better not be left. Did you say, full back? No. When God pushes us out of our comfort zone, we can have a tendency to run. Some people let go, completely go, God, this is too much. I just don't even think you're there. We can run away. Our hand goes from this to gone. Let's try this again a little bit more succinctly. God, what's the plan? It's still tedious. Full back. Okay, God, I'm going to do it. Man, that was wild. God, I just really feel like you've taught me so much. I couldn't have done it in your strength, but thank you for giving me the strength to do it myself, because that's what you had planned for me, isn't it?

No. Church, sometimes we can take God's plan and remove him from it and start to do it our own way. Trent, you didn't want me lying on the floor looking at the roof, did you? No. One final time. This is what we need to be doing. Take a step back. Take a step back. Take a step back. Take a small step forward. And full back. Now, that all seems entertaining, but I hope the illustration hits home. Very truly, if we are disciples of Jesus Christ, very truly, if we want to be more than pew warmers on a Sunday, if we want to actually be used by God, if we want to partner in the work that he's called us to do, we cannot be comfortable and content. We can't look back and go, oh, those younger Christians, they'll do it for me, my time's done.

We can't take God's plan and do it our own way. Each and every day, each and every step, we must decide who is Lord of my life. Am I going to cease control and do things my way? Or will I trust in the Lord with all my heart? Will I choose not to lean on my own understanding? Will I acknowledge him in all my ways? Trusting that he will make straight my paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord. Turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. A final challenge, we've unpacked this this morning, but we highlighted, even through this scripture, we're quick to forget and fast to lean back on our own wisdom and understanding. And so, before you leave today, I want to give each and every one of us a challenge.

A challenge that I want you to report back to me. Tell me how you went with it. And that is, before you leave today, I want you to find one person that you trust within the church family. Ideally, not a spouse or a family member. You can if you need that security, but be bold. Ask someone outside of those circles. Ask someone to keep you accountable. To check in at least three times over the next three weeks. And ask these three questions. Number one, are you giving 100% to Jesus? Or have you reserved some for yourself? Number two, what has God been saying to you? And number three, what are you doing about what God has been saying to you? Can I challenge you this morning? Find someone, ask for accountability.

And if you get asked this morning to keep someone accountable, don't take that responsibility lightly. Make sure at least three times in the next three weeks, you ask these three questions to that person. Encourage them. Spur them on in their faith so that as a church, we don't just grow in knowledge, but our knowledge informs our practice for the rest of our lives. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are God. Lord, thank you that through Scripture, you have revealed yourself to us. Thank you that through history, you have revealed yourself to us that you, our God, are all-powerful, ever-present, and all-knowing. Lord, thank you that there is no one more powerful than you in whom we can put our trust.

Thank you that there is no one who has a better plan for us and our life than you. Thank you that you are patient when we run. Thank you that you are patient when we turn the other way, when we question. Thank you for your love and for your grace. Thank you that it is you who draw us nearer to yourself. Thank you for Jesus who's made it possible to be reconciled with you, our God. Lord, we pray for each and everyone here, either in person or online. Lord, we pray that you would be at work within us by your Holy Spirit. Lord, as we come to read Scripture, as we come to seek you, our God, Lord, we pray that you would reveal yourself to us, that you would reveal what it is that you're saying to each and every one of us.

Lord, that you would empower us by your Holy Spirit to respond in obedience, to very truly give you our all, to submit entirely and to go in your strength alone. We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.