Introduction:
A. Today we are completing our Wholly Devoted Series.
1. I hope you have found this series to be challenging and enriching!
2. We have been exploring how to be wholly devoted to God with all that we are and all that we have.
3. One last time, let’s review the two verses that have provided the Scriptural foundation for the series.
a. Jesus said: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30)
b. Paul wrote: “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God…and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness” (Romans 6:13).
4. Here are the parts of our bodies that we are trying to use as instruments of righteousness:
a. A wholly devoted mind.
b. A wholly devoted heart.
c. A wholly devoted tongue.
d. Wholly devoted eyes.
e. Wholly devoted ears.
f. Wholly devoted hands.
g. And wholly devoted feet.
5. Today we want to explore what it means to have wholly devoted knees.
6. So let’s turn our attention to our knees.
B. The story is told of old man Johnson who limped into the doctor's office and said, “Doc, my knee hurts so bad, I can hardly walk!”
1. The doctor slowly eyed him from head to toe, paused and then said, “Mr. Johnson, just how old are you?”
2. “98!” Johnson announced proudly.
3. The doctor just sighed, and looked at him again.
4. Finally the doctor said, “Mr. Johnson, I'm sorry. I mean, just look at you. You're practically one hundred years old, and you're complaining that your knee hurts? Well, what did you expect?”
5. The old man said, “Excuse me, but my other knee is 98 years old too, and it don't hurt!”
C. Physically speaking, our knees sure can give us trouble.
1. My left knee just won’t allow me to run for exercise anymore.
2. Maybe you have some kind of trouble with your knees.
3. When we have knee trouble, it shouldn’t surprise us because the knee is the largest joint in the human body and it is very complicated.
4. The knee is one of the most important joints of our body, because it plays an essential role in movement related to carrying all of the weight of our bodies.
5. Because the knee is made up of so many different parts, many things can go wrong with it.
D. As important as our knees may be to us physically, the spiritual implications of our knees are even greater.
1. As we talk about having wholly devoted knees, I will be talking about both the figurative and the literal spiritual significance of our knees.
2. The two lessons that I want us to learn about the spiritual significance of our knees are intertwined and are almost inseparable, but we will deal with them one at a time anyway.
I. Wholly Devoted Knees Kneel in Submission to God.
A. This is a more figurative thing than a literal thing.
1. I like the story told of the little boy whose mother kept insisting he sit down on the chair.
a. When he finally plopped onto the chair, his glare told the real story.
b. The little boy said, “I may be sitting down on the outside–but I'm still standing up on the inside!”
2. A life that truly pleases God is one where the person is kneeling in submission to God on the outside and on the inside.
B. As you know, submission is not a very popular concept in American culture today.
1. But in all honesty, submission has been a challenge for humans since the garden of Eden.
2. We want to think of ourselves as being “in charge,” and that we don’t have to submit to or obey anyone.
3. But the Bible makes it clear that God is God, and we are not, and that submission is essential for a relationship with God.
C. How many of you saw the movie Bruce Almighty?
1. As with most films from Hollywood, there is good and bad in them, and this one is no exception – but probably more good than bad.
2. The comedian Jim Carrey stars in the movie, and plays a TV reporter who thinks he is being overlooked for promotions and that various other misfortunes mean that God doesn’t care, or at least has let him down.
3. When God, played by Morgan Freeman, shows up to offer Bruce His own power for a season to see if he can do any better with it, Bruce accepts the deal.
4. Soon Bruce is indulging himself in the fulfillment of his fantasies.
5. Bruce discovers that a part of God’s job is answering prayers, and there are billions of them.
a. Lacking God’s wisdom, he grants a blanket “Yes” to all requests, and that’s when the trouble begins.
6. His ambition, coupled with great power, results in his life being a bigger mess than ever.
7. In one of the best scenes of submission to God’s will ever put on film, Bruce realizes he has much to be thankful for, and that someone else can run his life better than himself.
8. Bruce kneels to pray and says to God, “You win. I’m done. Please, I don’t wanna do this anymore. I don’t wanna be God. I want you to decide what’s right for me. I surrender to your will.”
9. Neither you nor I could pray a better prayer than that one.
D. I am not God, and you are not God.
1. We are not suited to try to be God, not for ourselves nor for anyone else.
2. The Bible says, “I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.” (Jeremiah 10:23)
3. We must stop trying to be God.
4. We must tell God that He wins and that we want Him to decide what’s right for us, and that we will surrender to His will.
E. There are a couple of great examples in the Bible of people coming to this point of surrendering themselves to God.
1. The most famous of those examples is the story of Job.
2. Job was a man who had everything going for him - God had blessed him with a great family and great riches.
3. But when Satan accused Job of serving God only because of the blessings, God decided to allow Satan to take everything away from Job - And oh, how Job suffered.
4. In the face of all his suffering, Job tore his robe, shaved his head and fell to the ground worshiping, saying, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job. 1:21)
5. But as Job sat on his bed of suffering and endured the accusations of his wife and friends, he struggled with many questions about God.
6. He felt like he deserved an explanation from God.
7. At the end of the book, God did give Job an answer – probably not the one Job was expecting.
8. In the end, Job learned the lesson we all have to learn – God is God, and our job is to submit to God and His will.
9. The story of Job has a happy ending: The Bible says that the Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. Why? Because Job learned to kneel in submission to God.
F. The story of Nebuchadnezzar is the other powerful Biblical story about learning to submit to God.
1. Nebuchadnezzar was the king of the powerful nation of Babylon.
2. The bottom line of the story is that Nebuchadnezzar had gotten too big for his britches.
3. He had become extremely prideful, and there was no place in his heart for God.
4. In order to get his attention, God caused Nebuchadnezzar to be driven from his people and he lived like an animal for seven years: he ate grass like cattle and his hair grew like the feathers, and his nails grew like claws.
5. The Bible says: At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.
His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’
At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” (Daniel 4:29-37)
6. How about that! God is God – and everything He does is right and just.
7. Our job is to humbly submit our lives to God.
8. If we will not bow our knees and our lives in submission to God, then God is surely able to humble everyone who walks in pride.
G. In 1979, Bob Dylan released an insightful song called, “Gotta Serve Somebody.”
1. The chorus goes like this:
But you're gonna have to serve somebody,
You're gonna have to serve somebody.
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
2. Bob Dylan is right, “You’ve gotta serve somebody.”
3. If the only choice is between serving God and serving the Devil, then most of us would quickly choose God.
4. But Satan, the great deceiver and the father of lies, has convinced many of us that we don’t have to serve anyone, that we can do as we please.
5. But make no mistake about it, if we don’t chose to serve God, then we are serving Satan.
6. If we are self-serving, then we are ultimately Satan-serving.
H. The Bible is clear about the fact that in the end every knee will bow in submission to God.
1. In Romans 14:10-12, Paul wrote: For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written: “ ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ ”
2. In Philippians 2:9-11, Paul wrote:
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
3. How much better our lives will be and our future will be, if we will bow our knees and our lives to Jesus before we are forced to on the day of judgment.
4. Wholly devoted lives and knees are bowed in submission to God.
5. Wholly devoted knees kneel in submission allowing God be God, serving God on God’s terms.
I. Once we have our knees bowed in submission to God, both literally and figuratively, then we are ready for the other use of our wholly devoted knees.
II. Wholly Devoted Knees Kneel in Prayer to God.
A. Someone has cleverly quipped: People like email, God likes knee-mail.
1. In the Bible we see that people prayed using many different postures: sitting, standing, bowing, laying face down, and kneeling.
2. Kneeling is associated with reverence, submission and obedience, particularly if one kneels before a person who is standing or sitting.
3. I find kneeling in prayer to be a very helpful posture.
a. It could be the fact that it is difficult or hard that reminds me that prayer is hard work.
b. It could be that being on my knees is a humbling posture that helps me be humble in heart.
4. But whatever the reason, I feel closer to God when I am on my knees.
B. Throughout the Bible, we see people of faith on their knees in prayer.
1. Daniel, the young, courageous spiritual leader of the Old Testament made it a practice to kneel in prayer three times a day.
a. His kneeling in prayer was so faithful and consistent that his enemies tried to use it against him.
2. The apostle Paul knelt down in prayer with the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:36, and then in the next chapter as he was leaving Tyre, all the disciples with their wives and children knelt in prayer with Paul on the beach (Acts 21:5).
3. The apostle Peter knelt in prayer in order to raise Dorcas from the dead in Acts 9:40.
4. Tradition tells us that James, Jesus’ brother, was nicknamed “camel knees” because his fervent dedication to prayer caused calluses to develop on his knees.
5. The first Christian martyr, Stephen, fell on his knees and prayed as he was being stoned (Acts 7:60).
6. And our greatest example of all is Jesus, who knelt and prayed in the garden of Gethsemane on the night before His crucifixion (Lk. 22:41).
C. I like the story of Levi Jeans.
1. On February 26, 1829, a Jewish boy named Leob Strauss was born in a Bavarian village.
2. As a young man, Leob changed his name to Levi and moved to San Francisco, CA where he opened a textile company.
3. One day a gold miner walked into Levi’s shop and complained to the young merchant, “Look at these,” pointing to his pants, “I bought them not long ago and now the knees have holes.”
4. When Levi asked the man why the knees had holes, the miner explained that he worked on his knees most of the time.
5. Levi told the man that he could make him a pair of pants out of the material used to make tents, and he guaranteed the man that they wouldn’t get holes.
6. Well, the miner’s trousers were made and the rest is history.
7. Soon miners across the West were wearing Levi Strauss’s jeans – Levi Jeans.
D. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we Christians had the same problem as the miners, we kept wearing holes in the knees of our pants because of our practice of prayer?
1. One older minister I read about, told the story of going to the ER in pain after having spent the week playing with the grandkids, crawling around on his knees.
2. The doctor asked what he had been doing that might have caused the pain, and he explained that he had been playing with the grandkids crawling around on his knees.
3. Then the doctor asked what he did for a living, and without thinking the minister said, “I am a minister and so I don’t have to spend much time on my knees.”
4. Those indicting words kept haunting him, “I’m a minister, so I don’t have to spend much time on my knees,” nothing should be further from the truth.
5. The opposite should be true, “I’m a minister, and so I have to spend a lot of time on my knees!”
E. Rodney (Gypsy) Smith was born in 1860 and was raised in a Gypsy camp six miles northeast of London
1. Gypsy Smith never attended a school - not even for a day - yet he influenced the lives of millions of people for God through his powerful preaching.
2. Smith tells the story of how his uncle finally came to faith in Christ.
3. Smith prayed for his uncle for many years and waited for the right opportunity to approach his uncle.
4. One day, Smith’s uncle took note of Gypsy’s worn trousers.
5. “Laddie,” said “How do you account for the fact that the knees of your trousers have worn nearly through, while the rest of the suit is almost like new?”
6. Gypsy answered, “I have worn the knees through praying for you, Uncle Rodney.” Then he added with tears, “I want so much to have God make you a Christian.”
7. Uncle Rodney put his arm around Gypsy in a fatherly embrace, but made no move to become a Christian until a few months later.
8. Oh the power of wholly devoted knees that are devoted to prayer.
F. There is a powerful scene from the movie Shadowlands, which is a film based on the life of C.S. Lewis.
1. Lewis has returned to Oxford from London, where he has just been married to Joy Gresham.
2. Joy is an American woman, and the wedding ceremony has taken place at her hospital bed where she is dying from cancer.
3. As Lewis arrives at the college where he teaches, he is met by Harry, a friend who is a priest who asks, “What news is there?”
4. Lewis hesitates; then, deciding to speak of the marriage not the cancer, says, “Ah, good new, I think, Harry. Yes, good news.”
5. Harry, not aware of the marriage and thinking that Lewis is referring to Joy’s medical situation, replies, “I know how hard you have been praying, and now God is answering your prayers.”
6. Lewis responds, “That’s not why I pray, Harry. I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God; it changes me.”
7. The real point of prayer is not to change God’s will, but to bring our will in line with God’s.
G. Similarly, this week I saw this insightful post on David Sproles’ Facebook page.
1. David Sproles was a camper at Camp Hunt back when I was a counselor.
2. David wrote: I saw a post last night from someone I went to high school with that truly struck me. He said, “How's that praying working out for you now red state folks? LOL.” David responded: Let me say this, prayer is not about a RED or BLUE thing...It's about a GOD thing! Those of us who pray - despite our political views - most likely prayed for God's will to be done. On that note - I don't understand God's will...many times I don't, but my faith is bigger that any candidate, party affiliation or news coverage. So - the prayer thing has never failed me, and I am confident it did not fail me last night!
3. Like Jesus, we need to have wholly devoted knees that kneel in prayer, and like Jesus our prayers always should end with “Yet not my will, but Yours be done.”
4. That’s where we experience our submissive knees being united with our praying knees and the result is spiritual power and transformation.
Conclusion:
A. I love the promise that God gave His people in 2 Chronicles 7:14.
1. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
2. That promise is one that always stands with God.
3. He will hear and forgive and heal, if we will humble ourselves, seek His face in prayer, and submit to God’s ways.
B. Take a look at this beautiful statue. Notice the way the face of Jesus is looking downward.
1. It is called Christus and is a marble statue of the resurrected Jesus by Bertel Thorvaldsen.
2. Thorvaldsen was commissioned to sculpt statues of Jesus and the apostles for the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen. The statue of Jesus was completed in 1821.
3. Dr. Stanley Jones of India once entered the Cathedral where this statue is, and describes his experience in the following words: “As I walked along, a Danish friend drew nearer to me and whispered, ‘You will not be able to see His face unless you kneel at His feet.’ ”
4. How true that is in life, we must kneel at the feet of Jesus in order to really see His face.
5. As we kneel in submission and in prayer and as we seek God’s face from our humble position, we come to know God and receive life and joy and peace from God.
C. If we want to have wholly devoted lives, then it is important that we develop wholly devoted knees.
1. Wholly devoted knees are knees that kneel in submission to God and are knees that kneel in prayer to God – remember this is both literal and figurative.
D. Allow me to end with the words of a powerful old hymn that perfectly reflect what it means to be wholly devoted – serving God with all we are and have – and how submission to God is the key.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.
E. That song is a perfect prayer for wholly devoted knees that kneel in submission and prayer to God.
1. May God help us to have wholly devoted knees and wholly devoted lives.
Resources:
Time on My Knees Can Be So Painful! Sermon by Ross Cochrane, SermonCentral.com.
Traveling on Your Knees, Sermon by Brian Matherlee, SermonCentral.com.
You Do Your Best Work on Your Knees, Sermon by Ray Ellis, SermonCentral.com
