Help Wanted: Relationship or Religion
Submission is not weakness
James 4:7-10
Good morning everyone, glad that you have joined us.
We continue with our series Help Wanted; Relationship or Religion.
We won’t take the time today to recap but we have looked at several key things about having a stronger relationship with the Lord.
Illustration-
If I would just started shaking everyone’s hand and telling them that I was glad to see them and had a personal conversation with each person, the service would go to such a length that some would have to leave before I got to them and some would just leave... Why? Because they do not have that kind of time to wait. Why? Because there is a fine line of being friendly and a fine line of being too friendly.
There is what is expected and there is an extreme and if you cross that line, some will think you have gone too far and would show you some resistance.
Here’s a thought- if you are the one getting all the attention, you will not be as mad as the one that wanted attention and did not get it. There is the line and depending on what side of the line you are and what your idea of the line is will determine what and how you will respond.
There is nothing wrong with material stuff, as long as stuff doesn’t have you! Let me say that again, there is nothing wrong with wanting some things, but if things are the priority, you may have a problem.
Stuff
We have a bad day- it is because stuff happened.
We have a good day- good stuff happened.
We don’t get everything done that we should- stuff got in the way.
You get the point, stuff happens, stuff gets in the way and stuff stops us from enjoying our relationship with God.
So this morning, we need to submit to God- our stuff!
James chapter 4:7-10 Read from Bible
Submit yourself to God- The Word of God says the Devil has to run and flee!
Come near to God- He (God) will come near to you.
Wash your hands. Purify yourselves.
Don’t be double-minded. Don’t (you) be double-minded.
Grieve over the things that grieve the heart of God.
Humble yourself before the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Great! That is what it will take to have a relationship with God.
Then why don’t most people (especially believers) have that relationship?
Because stuff gets in the way! Some things we control and some things we do not.
James chapter 1
What causes fights and quarrels?
What about that battle that is within?
Wrong motives.
What causes us problems is that we do not know what it really means to submit to God.
truth be told, most have no idea what that looks like
Most hear the word submit and they tune out
We rebel against people that tell us what to do.
We rebel against God when He gets into our personal space and seems to boss us around.
Since the fall of man- it is easier for us to friend the world then be at peace with God.
(5) ”Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely. But He has given us more grace. That is why the scripture says: God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
As Christians we throw out a lot of church words that people that are not churched do not understand.
This morning I want to clear up a few of them.
We say to surrender to God certain things.
We say that we must obey God. (most people are rebellious)
We must trust God. (That is hard for someone that does not know God)
We must submit to God. (Turn our lives over to Him)
We must turn things over to Him.
We cannot do these things until we understand what it means- How can we surrender this stuff until we get a clear picture of what that means?
All these words are related to our relationship with God
Two of these words Webster uses to define submission.
Surrender and obedience.
Surrender defined is yielding to power, control, or procession of another upon compulsion or demand.
To give up completely
To relinquish your rights.
When we think of surrender, we think of weakness, loss, defeat, giving up because someone was stronger, more powerful.
We do not give up by choice, it is by circumstance.
Jesus tells us that surrendering to Him is the way that we may have peace, love, grace, guidance, wisdom, and eternal life in Him.
By surrendering to Him, we actually become free in our relationship with God. (Repeat)
Illustration-
Ever try to keep weeds out of your garden? If you are not constantly taking care of business, the weeds become overwhelming, impossible to do by yourself. We surrender to God the things in our lives that become weeds that will strangle our relationship with Him if He doesn’t help us pull the weeds of our lives.
Frustration comes to our lives-
Set alarm at 6pm instead of 6 am and you are late for work or school.
You watch a TV program for 2 hours and you get a phone call at last minute from a telmarketer that wants to sell you something that you do not need.
5 salesmen approach you when you are just looking, but no one can be found when you are ready to buy.
Illustration-
A story about a boy that asked his dad to explain the difference between irritation, aggravation, and frustration. Dad picked up the phone and dialed a number at random. When someone answered he asked, can I speak to Bob please? You have the wrong number, no Bob lives her. That is irritation. The Dad hit redial and asked for Bob a second time. I told you before that no Bob lives here, so stop calling. That is aggravation. Then what is frustration? Dad hit redial for the third time, when the man answered he said, this is Bob, did I get any messages? That is frustration.
Frustration keeps you from doing what you want.
Here are 3 things that we need to surrender to God.
Surrender stuff
Surrender sin
Surrender self
If we are to live a life of value according to God’s word, these things have to be surrendered in our lives.
Surrender stuff
I like my stuff! you may be saying-
I work hard to get my stuff!
Nothing wrong with stuff! Yes, yes, yes.
The stuff that I am talking about is not the stuff you have, but the stuff that has you.
Luke 9:59- Jesus simple words to his disciples about the cost of following Him- “Fellow Me.”
(61) “I will follow you, but let me say goodbye to my family.”
He does not say when you are finished-
He does not say when you clean yourself up-
He does not say casually follow me-
Does Jesus have anything against family? No! He is telling us that when we say that we will follow Him. We get rid of anything that does not allow us to do that- “stuff”
(62) “No one who puts his hands to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Sounds harsh- the cost of following Jesus is your stuff cannot get in the way of your relationship with the Lord.
Could you get rid of that video game if you were asked too? I’m not saying you have to, but could you if He asked you to?
Each of us has stuff that gets in the way.
It is not just about sacrifice, it is about what is in between you and your relationship with God and what are you willing to do about it?
Surrender Sin
How many want a relationship with the Lord and would be willing to lay aside anything that would stop that from happening?
Sin not surrendered and un-confessed sin will keep you from a right relationship with the Lord. (That is for someone this morning)
Isaiah 55:6-
“Seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near, let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.”
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways declares the Lord.”
If you are going to pursue a surrendered life to God, we must surrender the things that displease him.
He freely pardons those who are diligently seeking him.
He didn’t just give a little for us; He gave his best. He gave Himself.
Our love is shown by our actions- “let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”
God is bigger than anything that He is asking you to give up.
Sometimes He takes so he can see if we are willing to give it up.
Sometimes he gives it back with interest when He can trust us with them.
Corry Ten Boom-
“I will hold things loosely in my hand so that God does not have to pry it out of my hand”
What seems to happen is many begin to walk with Christ and attempt to surrender their lives, but hard times come and pressures cause them to turn back to where Christ delivered them from.
We have the mind-set that we will surrender after we have taken care of a few things! Come to Christ and let Christ take care of a few things.
Allow God to look at your life and take the things that cause you to stumble.
David after sinning against God with Bethsheba, asked God to forgive and remove that sin from his life.
Psalm 139:23-24
“Search me O God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting.”
Search me Lord
Remove the sin Lord
Lead me in the way everlasting.
Surrender self
The hardest thing you will have to do is give yourself. It is the sign of surrender, to completely give yourself to God and allow Him to do what He wants in your life.
to wave the white flag and say that you will not resist Him anymore in wanting to be in your life.
Philippians 4:12-
“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, weather well fed or hungry, weather living in plenty or want. (13) I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”
I have learned to be content
I have learned not to be anxious.
I have learned the secret, and that lies in the power of Jesus Christ to work in my life.
I surrender all! Not of weakness, but by choice! Not by circumstances, but by the power of God working in my life on my behalf.
The secret of contentment is to understand the source of strength that is directing your life.
Closing,
“Those who live in the shelter of the most high will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare says the Lord. He alone is my refuge, my place of safety, he is my God and I am trusting Him.”
That is the God that we surrender too, He will shield you with his wings.
91:14-15
“Because he loves me says the Lord I will rescue him. I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.”
That is the God I want by choice to give my life too- that is the God that will take care of you.
When we rest in the power of the secret place of God he keeps us safe and the anointing of God helps us to help us in our weakness.
It is time that we come to Christ- stop fighting him and allow him to transform our lives by his grace and strength
The king of kings
Alpha and Omega
The Prince of peace
Healer of our souls- asks us to trust and obey him and surrender our love to him
If God is for us- who can be against us.
Amen
