All Guts, His Glory

Many people believe that being a prophet of God was one of the most coveted jobs of all time.  In reality, it was quite the opposite. 

When God called Isaiah to prophesy to the people we love to dwell on the first part of his response in Isaiah 6:8.  If you grew up in the church you probably have Isaiah 6:8 on a coffee mug somewhere.  If you don't have it on a coffee mug I can almost guarantee that it's crossed your Facebook newsfeed on one of those cheesy "christian" pictures that may or may not accurately portray the truth of the Bible.

Isaiah's response: "Here I am! Send me!" is a wonderful response, but it's not his entire response.  If you read on, God gave Isaiah further direction in Isaiah 6:9-10.  Basically what God said was, "Good.  Now that you've signed up let me tell you what's about to happen.  You'll speak, but the people will never hear you.  Nobody's even going to care that you're there Isaiah."

If I had heard the same message from God while I was in seminary I've got to admit it would have been hard to keep going!

The second half of Isaiah's response is found in Isaiah 6:11.  He said, "How long, O Lord?"  That didn't sound like the ministry he thought he was signing up for!

What about Jonah?  God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and he ran the other way!

Jeremiah was in such deep despair that he said, "cursed be the day I was born!"  He then went on to write Lamentation, which is basically a bunch of really sad poetry.

Regardless of the despair; regardless of the futility; regardless of the fear (except for Jonah needing a bad fishing experience to change his mind) - these men were faithful to serve God.  It took faith and guts to answer the call. 

Will you have the guts to serve God no matter what the perceived results?  It's all guts, to the praise of His glory!

Serving God on His Terms

A.W. Tozer wrote in his book The Root of the Righteous:

          Many of us Christians have become extremely skillful in 
     arranging our lives so as to admit the truth of Christianity 
     without being embarrassed by its implications.
          So wide is the gulf that separates theory from practice in
     the church that an inquiring stranger who chances upon both
     would scarcely dream that there was any relation between them.

When we think about serving God our natural (sinful) tendency is to want to serve Him on our terms, not His.  During my first pastorate, fresh out of seminary, I was sitting in my office one afternoon when the phone rang.  The person calling cheerfully said, "Pastor, I'm driving by the church today at 4:30 is there anything I can help with?  Oh, by the way, I need to leave by 4:45"  While I don't believe it was an accurate representation of this individual's heart attitude, what I heard was, "I want to serve on my terms when it's convenient for me."

The Bible never promises us that serving God will be a life of "smelling roses and petting puppies."  In fact, it promises quite the opposite.  In Mark 13:13 Jesus promises His followers, "you will be hated by all for my name's sake."  Yet, countless buildings are filled on Sunday mornings with people who know the truth and say, "Lord, Lord," while their daily lives painfully reveal they do not really mean it (Matthew 7:23).  They only want to serve God on their terms.

Thankfully, we have a Savior, Jesus, who came to serve the Father no matter what the cost. (cf. Mark 10:45; Luke 22:42)  The writer of Hebrews admonishes us to look to Jesus, who endured the cross, as an example for our own service of God.  (Hebrews 12:1-4) 

May we look straight at the cross and gladly accept the inconvenience, pain and price we must pay to serve God on His terms!

Submit to Jesus' Authority

In Mark 11:27-33 the religious leaders (members of the Jewish Sanhedrin) challenged Jesus' authority after He rid the temple of the moneychangers and merchants who were defrauding worshipers for financial gain.  They were doing really well before Jesus showed up, but now their corrupt moneymaking business has been busted.  Rather than humbling themselves and submitting to Jesus they chose to rebel against Him.  They were more concerned with preserving their power, their wealth, their lives than they were discovering the truth.

Before we throw the religious leaders "under the bus" we need to take a long, prayerful look at our own lives.  Everyone challenges Jesus' authority.  The question is: How have you (or are you) challenging Jesus' authority in your life?

You challenge Jesus' authority when you:

(1) reject biblical truth - When you reject the Bible and it's teachings you challenge Jesus' authority.  Jesus is the Incarnate Word of God. (cf. John 1:14)

(2) remake "Jesus" - Many people today wrongly think they are submitting to Jesus when in reality they are following a "Jesus" that is vastly different than the Jesus of the Bible.  We must resist the temptation to turn Jesus into a "moral politician" or "spiritual guru" simply because we feel strongly about politics or love "spirituality."

(3) refuse to admit you're wrong - When people refuse to take responsibility for their sin they are challenging Jesus' authority because they think they know better than Jesus does.  Anytime we allow something else or even someone else to take the position of authority in our life we are refusing to submit to Jesus.

Rather than challenging Jesus' authority we need to submit to Jesus because He alone has all authority.  In Matthew 28:18 Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."  Colossians 1:16-23 clearly describes Jesus' authority and power.  He is preeminent, second to none!

Submit to Jesus' authority by:
 - submitting to God and His Word (James 4:7)
 - submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21)
 - submitting to those in authority over us (Hebrews 13:17)