Full On Surrender, Sacrifice and Worship // Overboard with Jesus, Part 4

Christianityworks Official Podcast

There’s a description of God’s people that pops up several timed in the Bible. It’s the adjective “stiff–necked”. An interesting way to describe the stubbornness of God’s people. I’m guessing that it points to their unwillingness to bow down their lives in worship to God. I wonder … I wonder if you know anyone like that!!

FULL ON SURRENDER

We live in a world where we’re taught to be proud of who we are. You can be who you want to be, you can do whatever you want to do, if you work hard you can achieve whatever you want to achieve – and when you do, be proud of what you’ve achieved. The problem is though that pride so often comes before the fall.

I remember when I was a young lad, learning to ice skate. Now, physical coordination isn’t one of my strengths. So my bottom spent a lot of time making contact with the ice. And every time I thought, here you go Berni, you’ve got it, you’re doing well and I’d look over at my mum and dad to show them how clever I was – whoompa! Down on my backside on the ice.

Pride is actually quite a terrible thing – it’s something that God always, always, always opposes.

James 4:6 God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

But pride takes all sorts of different forms. As we chatted yesterday on the program/ last week on the program, sometimes pride stops us from admitting that we’re wrong.

The more you invest in a course of action, or in a way of life, the harder it is to admit that it was the wrong way to go about things. I mean, you’ve invested a lot in your approach – people have watched you, some have even admired you. To turn back from that, to turn away from that, to admit that you were wrong – well, you lose face.

Losing face is only a problem if you care what other people think about you. And I used to care a lot what other people thought about me. I wanted them to think well of me. I wanted to impress people. I wanted them to speak well of me behind my back. When you think about it, that’s why some people by the most expensive car they can afford – to make a statement.

That’s why some people by grand houses in grand suburbs – with so much space and so many rooms that they don’t need, and swimming pools that they don’t swim in. To make a statement that says “Look at me. I AM someone. I’ve made it.” Not everyone, but a lot of people are like that.

Never mind that they’re desperately unhappy in their flashy cars and grand mansions. And even if you’re not rich, you can find yourself clamouring after a successful career or a bigger pay cheque or a promotion … whatever it is … to build up the image that other people have of you.

And when you do that, let me tell you from experience (because all the things I’ve just described … I’ve been there, done that you understand) … when you do that, you start believing your own propaganda. You get a puffed up image of who you are and what you’re worth, as you look down your nose at the mere mortals who surround you.

Moses is up on the mountain with God, receiving the ten commandments. Have a listen to this:

Ex 32:1–9: When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from them, formed it in a mould, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well- being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt! ’” The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff- necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.

Isn’t that what we do? We say that we believe in God, but left to our own devices, we become stiff–necked. Prideful. We make idols of the things of this world and the more we chase after them, the less inclined we are to bow down our lives to God. And when that happens, God’s anger burns against us. Let’s get a revelation about that today. Yes God loves you … but when you’re more inclined to chase after the things of this world, than to bow down your life to worship Him, in His eyes you’ve become stiff–necked and His anger burns.

We’re in the middle of a series of messages called “Overboard with Jesus” – about living our lives full on for Christ. But so often in our pride we delude ourselves into thinking that we can put God on a leash and have Him follow us around to do our beck and call. But if you want to live your life full on for Christ, that’s not the way to live.

Who or what is your golden calf? Who or what in your life, in your possessions, in your priorities are you putting before God? Hmm? You see the alternative is to have a heart like the psalmist who wrote:

Psalm 95:6,7: O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

There’s a man with his life bowed down to God. Can’t call him stiff–necked.

FULL ON SACRIFICE

Come on, let’s be honest, none of us likes to give up the things that we like. I remember, when our children were young, Saturdays were a day of racing around doing this, doing that. Taking them to sport and all the other things they had going on. I mean, I’m someone who works hard, so come the weekend, I would love to be able to put my feet up.

But there was the running around of the kids, the lawn had to be mowed, the car had to be washed. All I wanted to do was rest, but … that’s what it is right?!

And you mothers, you know that being a mum is simply a life of sacrifice. Children demand so much attention and effort and time and emotional energy and sheer hard work. You pour yourself into them. It’s a life of sacrifice.

In fact pretty much anything worthwhile in life, requires sacrifice. Studying, getting a degree, learning a trade, bringing up children, saving money, building a career … they all involve sacrifice. So … what exactly is sacrifice? Have you ever thought about the? Well, my friendly online dictionary comes up with a variety of definitions, but the most appropriate one is to give up something you value for the sake of other considerations.

You work hard to grow your business at the expense of your social life for instance. Sacrifice always involves giving something up, something that you want NOW, in order to have something better later.

And it seems that you and I are prepared to make all sorts of sacrifices to get the things in this world that we want. The question though is, whether you and I are prepared to make the sacrifices that are required, to get God what He wants in this world. Well, are we? Yesterday on the program/ before the break, we had a look at that powerful, pivotal passage in Romans Chapter 12.

Let’s go back there, because it’s quite illuminating – but this time we’ll read a bit more of that Chapter:

Romans 12:1–4: I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Now I remember one of my lecturers back in Bible college telling me that whenever you find a “therefore” in Scripture, you have to ask yourself, What’s the therefore there for?! Could question, because here Paul who is writing this letter to the church in Rome, begins his appeal for us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice – a strong appeal when you think about it –with a therefore. What’s the therefore there for?

Well he’s pointing back to the first 11 chapters of this letter, which are all about the amazing sacrifice that Jesus made for us so that we could be saved from the wrath of God because of our sin. For example:

Romans 5:6–8: For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

Do, in view of the mercies of God, therefore, present your bodies as a living sacrifice – which is your spiritual worship. Now at this point I need to point out that when people back in the first century AD heard the word sacrifice, they couldn’t help but think of the other meaning of the word sacrifice that I find in my dictionary, which is this:

… an act of slaughtering an animal or person or surrendering a possession as an offering to a deity.

Specifically, they’re thinking about the relatively recent sacrifice of Jesus on that Roman Cross back in Jerusalem – something that had happened around 50 to 60 years earlier by all accounts. They’re thinking about the many stories that they’ve heard about Jesus, innocent of any sin or crime, being nailed to a cross to save them from the wrath of God.

A pretty picture it ain’t in their minds, as they read the words of the Apostle Paul – who was there at the time of the crucifixion – sitting, as they are in the relative comfort and wealth of imperial Rome. What they’re hearing as Paul’s letter is read out, is that God is calling them to a life of incredible sacrifice, something that is already becoming obvious to them, through the rising persecution and martyrdom of Christians in the Roman Empire. If you’ve ever been to Rome, you may have seen the catacombs the huge underground tunnels where the Christians hid.

I hear people talk about living their lives for Jesus, but they want to do it from the comfort of their armchair. In many places today, in many societies, in many churches, there is so much comfort and wealth, that the notion of sacrifice is a foreign one.

But what of the woman who wrote to me recently: My husband has been extremely cruel to me since Mother’s Day. What does she do? Does she up and leave him? No, she goes to God and asks Him to protect her; asks Him to change her husband; asks Him to heal their marriage.

In this world, in this day and age, the obvious solution is separation and divorce, but this woman has taken a different route, she’s made a different choice. She takes seriously the scripture that says:

Romans 5:1–5: Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Conventional wisdom, the world’s wisdom says … run away from suffering. You’re entitled. You deserve it. You’re worth it. And yet the Bible is filled with some hard truths about suffering. Back to this woman’s lot:

1 Peter 3:1–6: Wives, in the same way, accept the authority of your husbands, so that, even if some of them do not obey the word, they may be won over without a word by their wives’ conduct, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Do not adorn yourselves outwardly by braiding your hair, and by wearing gold ornaments or fine clothing; rather, let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God’s sight. It was in this way long ago that the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves by accepting the authority of their husbands. Thus Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. You have become her daughters as long as you do what is good and never let fears alarm you.

We want to throw those bits of the Bible out. They’re politically incorrect. They’re unfair. They’re irrelevant in this day and age. And yet God’s truth remains God’s truth. Even though the more comfortable and affluent our world becomes, we’ve had lies dropped on our heads that tell us it’s all about us, Jesus … the same Jesus who suffered and died for you on that Cross, Jesus is calling you to a life that involves sacrifice … and that sacrifice, the sort that the Romans heard about in Paul’s letter to them, involves suffering a lot of the time.

And when you get that truth into your heart, you see your suffering in a different light. God is doing some great stuff there fore you in the middle of your suffering. Suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope – and it’s a certain hope, a hope that never disappoints, as the love of God through the Holy Spirit is poured into our hearts.

I’ve taken up a form of fitness training that I really enjoy. It’s called High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT for short. It involves hopping on an exercise bike and doing 8 x 30 second sprints on high resistance over a period of about 14 minutes – pushing myself to the absolute limit in each burst. And speaking of bursts, by the end of 30 seconds, it feels like my lungs are going to burst, like my heart is going to pop out of my chest, and like my leg muscles are going to catch on fire. Point is, that the science tells us that it’s really, really good for you. Really good.

In other words, the sacrifice is worth it. It’s made me so incredibly fit. I race up stairs now where I used to catch the lift. I’m never short of breath day to day. I sleep better. It’s worth it.

That’s what God is calling us to – that sort of life. A life that involves sacrifice so that emulates Christ’s sacrifice for us.

1 John 3:16: We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.

You want to live your life for Jesus – expect it to involve sacrifice. Because when the decision comes to flee from sacrifice and suffering … or embrace it for Christ’s sake – you’ll be prepared to make the right choice.

FULL ON WORSHIP

Okay – so how do you worship God? More recently I guess as many, if not most, churches have moved to contemporary worship, the songs have become more upbeat, many churches use lighting and wall banners and logos and contemporary furnishings, not to mention extremely professional music teams to help their people to worship.

It’s easy to be critical of all that … but there’s nothing new in any of that. Go and visit any old cathedral – and there are plenty of them scattered across Europe – and you realise that we’ve been going to huge lengths to express our awe and wonder of God.

But to tell you the truth – and maybe it’s just me – a lot of those external trappings leave me pretty cold. It’s not that I don’t appreciate great ecclesiastical architecture, or Handel’s Messiah, or some of the great hymns and contemporary worship songs that have been written of recent years. But I’ve been in places that have all that and more, and yet, the best way to describe them is … dead. It’s as though God isn’t in that place. It’s as though sometimes, we try to conjure up God’s Presence, by designing, by building, by performing.

I remember, just before I graduated from Bible College, we had a Graduands Retreat Day. About 40 of us who were graduating, together with a few or our lecturers, headed off to a church building in a leafy suburb, away from distractions, to spend a day fellowshipping, praying and … well, worshipping.

The guy who led worship had a scratchy voice. His guitar was slightly out of tune and yet, it remains, to this day, the most awesome time of song worship that I have ever experienced.

We’re heading towards the end of a series of messages today – a series that I’ve called Overboard with Jesus. It sort of began around that great passage of Scripture where Peter gets out of the boat and walks towards Jesus on the stormy sea of Tiberius. Let’s go back and have a quick read:

Matt 14:22–33: Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

So there’s good old Pete stuck in a boat with his mates on the Sea of Tiberius. They’re a long way from land, the boat is battered by the waves and the wind is against them. Remembering that this was Jesus’ decision for His Disciples.

When Jesus finally comes to the rescue, the Disciples are petrified until He identifies Himself. And within a split second, Peter who, remember, is a fisherman. He knows these waters, he’s sailed them many a time. He knows the danger of this storm. But despite that, within a split second, he says to Jesus – Lord if it’s you command me to come to you on the water.

Here’s what I believe – what was going on in Peter’s heart in that instant, is worship. Because in that moment, Peter is prepared to connect his faith in Jesus, with his actions, with his life, with what he’s about to do. Peter is prepared to step out onto that stormy sea, to follow Jesus.

There are two different words used for “worship” in the new testament. One is proskunio – from which we get the English word to prostrate oneself. It’s the sort of worship we do when we sing songs on a Sunday morning in church. It’s bowing down and declaring with our heart and with our mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord. That’s awesome stuff – although as I said, you can sing songs without worshipping God. I’ve seen people checking their watches, looking around to see who’s coming in late, scrolling through social media on their smartphone during worship. In that case worship is a complete misnomer. It’s just singing.

But if your heart is engaged, then yes, what’s going on there, is proskunio worship – bowing down before the throne of God. Awesome stuff – whether it’s a guy with a scratchy voice and out of tune guitar leading, or whether it’s a full on rock concert. The trappings are pretty much irrelevant.

The other word, and we looked at this one yesterday on the program / before the break, is latreo – from which we get the word lateral. In other words, outward, lateral worship, through what we do, how we live, how we behave, how we spend our money. Many times, this word is translated as service rather than worship. There’s one verse in the New Testament where both of these words are used. It’s Jesus replying to the devil in the second temptation in the wilderness. He says, and I quote:

Luke 4:8: It is written, “Worship the Lord your God and serve only him”.

So here’s the question for you today. As you live out your life, are you living it all for Jesus? Are you worshipping Him with everything you think and say and do? Because truthfully, stepping out of that boat on that stormy ocean is worship. It’s living out the proskunio worship that’s in our hearst, as latreo worship in our lives.