Heaven to Earth: Obedience?

[00:00:01] My grandmother used to like to say that she was five foot tall, but we all really knew she was about 4, 10. [00:00:07] And even though she was small in stature, she could walk right under my arm. [00:00:11] She took great pride in having such a great. A tall grandson. That she claimed was her doing. And she was a powerful force in our family. She was a pastor's wife, a fiery lady. I can still remember the smells of chicken and fried. Sunday dinner kind of right after church on Sunday mornings. She would. [00:00:35] She led the worship kind of band. But it was a lot of hand motions and stuff back in the 90s. And I bet Brandon's glad we don't do that anymore, but it was. She led people through worship. And I think we have a photo of her even up here and all her early 90s glory up there. [00:00:55] That's me with the giant grin still on my grandfather's lap. [00:00:59] And yeah, that's Flora Jean Mercer. [00:01:02] And that's my grandfather. He was a pastor. I should have known I was gonna be a pastor, right? Look at my granddad right there in that suit. He went wherever he went, he went in a suit. But I have these memories of my grandmother and the lessons she instilled in us. And I can still see her washing dishes and kind of just talking to us and sharing stories with us. And one of the things that I remember her saying time and time again, I can still hear voices. Obedience is better than sacrifice, Logan. [00:01:29] Obedience is better than sacrifice. And she probably meant that to try to sway us away from doing something bad, you know, like it's better that you obey or else, you know. But there was a life lesson in there that I remember, that I received that with warmth and care and love. And it's something I can even hear my mom repeating. It was something that she passed down. Obedience is better. And sacrifice, Logan. Something that was instilled in me. And so. And that's a quote from 1st Samuel 15. She was always quoting verses, quoting scripture, instilling that in us. Even in her little frail 4 10. I don't think she was ever 100 pound little frame, you know, but that's what comes to mind when I hear that word obedience. [00:02:08] And I can't help but wonder, for you, Journey, what comes to mind when you hear the word obedience? [00:02:14] Because for me, there's something endearing about it. There's a history to that. There's a legacy. There's. There was warmth and there was care. There was correction. Yes, but it was more out of love. But I just know that online and in A room like this, we all kind of engage that word differently, don't we? [00:02:32] We hear the word obey or be obedient or to obey, and then we're gonna talk about obeying God, specifically this morning. And for some of us, we just start to get tense, right? Because we have an experience with that. We hear it a certain type of way. And so for some of you, when I said the word obey, you're like, oh, where's he going with this? [00:02:51] Maybe you've experienced that word as kind of like a do as I say, but not as I do kind of thing. Maybe that was what you were taught, like, or maybe it was, you better obey or else, right? [00:03:03] Or maybe for some of you guys, you hear the word obey and you kind of snap to attention. It's like, okay, what's the marching order? Just tell me what to do. [00:03:11] And there's some of you in here this morning. Even when I said the word obey, your first instinct was to say, don't tell me what to do, right? There's something in us. Innately. They're like, nah, no one gets to tell me what to do. Or we buck that trend. But that word is at the center of our conversation as we dive back into Philippians 2. This morning, we've talked about Jesus and his humanity, how he humbled himself. He was a servant. And as we're gonna see this morning, central to who he is is also he was obedient. So if you have a Bible, turn with me to Philippians 2. It's gonna be on the screen as well. But Philippians 2:8's gonna be our main passage today. And it says, this is Jesus. And being found in the appearance as man, he humbled himself, right? That's what I talked about the first week by becoming obedient. There's that key word for us. Obedient to what? To the point of death? Even death on a cross. [00:04:04] And so that word, we can't get around it, or maybe we just pass over it, or we throw the baby out with the bathwater. But what I have a question for you, Journey, is what do you do when you run across a word like obedience, submit, or to surrender or something like that? That. What happens when you run across a word that maybe you wrestle with or it rubs against kind of some of your story, maybe some past hurt or hang up or some. Some form of your history. Or maybe there's just some misunderstanding of, like, is that even possible? How are we to obey God? [00:04:35] And so there's this. If maybe it feels Impossible, like there's nowhere to go from here. But what I would hope is that we could kind of maybe engage this passage this morning with. Without maybe some of those tinted glasses that we might all carry. Right? We all have these tinted glasses where we engage when we see a word like that. It might bring up memories for us. And so I want to do really quick, before we go any further, I just want to pray for us that the Holy Spirit would help us engage this and that we can maybe even put aside just. Even just for a few minutes, the narrative that we might be telling ourselves or maybe lived up for us about what this word means. Okay, so let me pray. Jesus, we desperately need you this morning. [00:05:13] We want to hear you. We want to see you clearly. And God, I believe in this room there's just healing and restoration for this word. Obedient. I'm sorry for the ways, maybe it's been misshapen or misused in the past. And God, I pray this is not a Turner burn fire, brimstone. This is not thumping someone over the head with the Bible, you better obey or else kind of message. [00:05:37] Lord, this is a message of hope in this season. And God, I pray that you would help us all receive it with fresh ears and eyes to see. And Lord, tender hearts to see how much you love and care for us. In Jesus name, amen. [00:05:51] Okay, so here's our goal. I got two things for us today as we engage this in order for us to better understand what does it mean to obey God and kind of in some ways, redeem that word. [00:06:03] I think there's two movements this sermon is going to take. First is this. We want to identify where we're at right now. [00:06:11] Identify where are you with that word. Not just with that word, but kind of how it resonates. Because again, all of us kind of have a past or history with this. And I've tried to create a couple categories of maybe where you might be right now. We don't like Bob likes to say, we can't go somewhere if we don't know exactly where we're at first or where we're starting, destination. And secondly is this that we would consider. [00:06:33] Consider how that posture or that space that we find ourselves in here this morning, kind of what are the ripple effects of that? So first, I want us to help us identify our stages. So these are not exhaustive, but I'm gonna give you a couple examples this morning from scripture of. And I'm just gonna ask you, which one do you most relate to, kind of which One is accurate of your season of life where you are this morning. Because I'm convinced that God's word speaks to all of these. But the first group of people I would say are this the unaware. [00:07:05] I know when I say the words obey Jesus. For some of us that's just, we just get a big question mark like I don't know what it means to obey God, I don't know what that means. And maybe you're like, I'm not familiar with the Bible and it's is that thing pretty thick? Like how do I condense that? And Jesus, he's extremely helpfulness for us who are just saying, hey, we're just earnestly out of the loop, right? We're beginners in this thing. And I just want to help fill in some of the gaps for you. This morning Jesus said to some of his closest disciples, this is how he condensed this. In John 14 he says this, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. [00:07:39] Now that's pretty heavy handed. Even those seven words is like, man, if I love them, do I? Well, which ones? And what if I don't do that perfectly? There's lots of questions that come out of that, right? Or what does it mean? What are his commandments and what if I don't know them all? And like there can be some fear and anxiety out there. And I just want to again help that because I think Jesus, while the Bible is thick, Jesus summarizes these beautifully. He says this in a different occasion in Matthew 22 to an expert in the law who was asking, what's the most important thing? This is what Jesus answer was. He says, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like this, love your neighbor as yourself. [00:08:17] All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. [00:08:21] So Jesus, when he was kind of put to the test and said, hey, what's the most essential thing? How would you condense this down? Give me the Cliff Notes version of what you are about. He would say, we want to love God with everything we have. And then we want to love our neighbors, ourselves. And so at the beginning of unaware, I would say it's essential to understand that love is part of this equation, right? And that our obedience is meant to flow out of the of love. It's not that we try to obey God to make him love us. We're gonna see this morning that that's kind of opposite idea. We don't climb the mountain to earn his love. It's actually the fact that we celebrate Christmas that Jesus came down, right? He came to us. And so if you are sitting here this morning saying, I have no idea where to start, start here. Start knowing that our lives are meant to be a journey of a process of sanctification, where we are, you know, God because God first loved us. It's what we're gonna celebrate here at Christmas, also at Easter and throughout the year, that out of that response that we have the opportunity to learn how to love him with everything. With my words, my thoughts, my deeds, my actions, and also in my relationships. I can't just say I love God in theory, but not actually in practice. [00:09:32] So if I say I love God, but I treat people like garbage, those two don't equate. And what Jesus says is that is a lifetime. [00:09:39] That's not something you just go, got it, cool. Heard a 20 minute sermon. I got that figured out, right? This is a lifelong process for every single person in this room. And all of us have margin there. When I think about my life, even as I think about this church plant that we're starting, I think about that, that gap that exists right now between how much I love God, but also how much I love others. And I just hope over my lifetime, but by the time I'm old and gray and maybe less hairs on my head, that I would, that that gap would have gotten smaller, right? Not perfectly, but. But all of that is because of the Spirit's work in us. So if you're sitting here saying you're unaware, then maybe this is helpful. But it and begins with love. [00:10:19] Second group of people would be this. And you guys knew this was coming. [00:10:24] The rebels. And I don't mean rebel Alliance, I mean those you in this room who you just go, rules. What are those? I don't know. Those don't apply to me. [00:10:34] Maybe you're just compliant, allergic. You know, you're just like. [00:10:39] And if you're really being honest, you just go, what if I don't want to obey? [00:10:43] Right? You see a stop sign or a speed limit and you're like, that's a suggestion. That's not really for me. [00:10:50] And you're the rebels in this room. And I appreciate you guys. I know you're in this room. [00:10:55] I'm naturally more probably out of fear, honestly, but I'm probably more a rule follower. But I married a rebel, so I know that. [00:11:06] And I've seen that in our lives and I've seen our kids at times and they're just like, God, nope, I'm good. I have a dog that disobeys. You know, I'm just followed by all these rebels in my life. [00:11:18] But even the hardest rule followed in this room. We all know that, all of us at one point or another, we experience these moments of what I want to do doesn't match up with what I ought to know I ought to do, right? There's a gap there. There's a gap even in. [00:11:33] Especially with God. We're like, okay, God, I know this might be what you say, but I don't want to do that. And so what do I do in those moments? [00:11:41] And I think this is really helpful to understand that all of us are experiencing that. The rebel and the rule follower in the room. Whether you're unaware or you're hard and fast running away from what God wants you to do, we know that there's always this wrestle, isn't there? [00:11:55] There's these moments where we find ourselves and we're like, man, this isn't what I want, but, man, that I don't know if I want to. Or maybe we look at it as like, oh, man, if I dos and don'ts, like, maybe that's the way you might engage this. [00:12:07] But John Mark Comer, he said it this way. He says often our strongest desires are not actually our deepest desires. [00:12:13] I think that's true, right? Like, I have a deep desire to be in shape and to work out, and so I know I should eat kale. [00:12:21] But then Christmas Oreos also exist, right? [00:12:25] The red ones. You know, I have this theory that if they're a holiday one, they're better. I don't know. Maybe it's the food coloring that's probably addictive or, I don't know, in my body. But, you know, there's a strong desire. So if it's deep desire, but to be healthy, the right things, but I also have this stronger desire that can pull me aside. But the same thing happens in our obedience to God. We know that we're meant to be people of faith or those who are married in the room. We know that we're meant to be faithful in our. In our marriages, right? Or into our relationships. [00:12:54] But we also know the flip side of that coin, right? Like there's a strong desire that could lead to infidelity, right? A moment. Or I've sat with people for many times where it was. They say it was a moment of passion or it was a strong desire. I felt just urge. But the deeper desire was not for that to happen. It was for love and connection and to be known and to have a caring spouse. But a stronger desire beat out a deeper desire. [00:13:20] I just read the news, even this week. There's a famous football coach, right? Some of you guys may have seen that, who on top of his game, very affluent, basically came out, he had a. And this is not to like shame this person, but just, you know, like it was all over the news and it's like, lost his job, probably gonna lose his family, given an account in court because he's, you know, kind of stalked his. Maybe this person he had an affair with. I just see this story display of that is a deeper desire and a strongest desire. Which one won out? His strongest desire. I don't think he's probably sitting there this morning saying, oh yeah, this is exactly what I want. [00:13:56] This isn't where I wanted to be. Cause that's what sin does, right? It costs us more than we're willing to pay. It takes us farther than we're willing to go, and it keeps us longer than we wanna stay, doesn't it? [00:14:05] Even the most rebellious person in this room, I've sat with him over the years and I've never met the person in this room who's like, you know what, Logan? I've done everything I've ever wanted and I didn't care about anybody else. And it's all worked out for me. I've never met that person. [00:14:19] I've never met that person. And maybe you're like, I'm that person. I. I promise and I'll be proven wrong, that's fine. But I've sat with lots of people who they thought they wanted to do it their own way until it didn't work, until the tires fell off, until they had these full of life, of regrets. And so what I want to say to that person in this room, if you're a rebel in this room, that Jesus also knows what it's like to have strong desires that compete with the deepest desire. And what we see is Jesus character in Mark 14. There's this story right before Jesus died, before he goes to the cross for you and I. It says that he was praying. It says, going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if it was possible, the hour might pass from him. [00:15:00] Abba Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. And I want to be really clear on this. It says in this verse, right? I want to go back to it. It says, being found in Appearance as a man, which basically means Jesus was in the flesh. [00:15:17] He knows what it's like to feel temptation, to wrestle, to have a strong desire. In this moment in Gethsemane, what we see is his strong desire is not to go through pain. Like Jesus was not naive. He knew what your and I's sin was gonna cost him. It was gonna cost him his life. And not just any death, but actually a death on a cross, right? He was gonna have a crown of thorns pressed into his head. He was gonna be whipped to the point of his flesh was hanging off his body. It was labored in breathing. He was going to be spit on, nailed to a cross and be mocked for you and I. [00:15:53] And so in that moment, we see transparency. Where he's going. God, if there is a better way, if there's a different way, could that be a possibility? [00:16:03] But then we see his deepest desire comes into full focus, right? He says, but, Lord, not what I will, but what you will. [00:16:09] I want to do what you want me to do, not what I just want. And what you see in this term, I would say for rebels, is you also see this term abba. [00:16:18] Abba is a term of endearment and basically means daddy. And you see, this idea of Jesus is so close to his Father. There's relational, but it's endearment, it's nearness. [00:16:29] It's not out of fear of the Father. It's actually because he has a loving, trusting relationship with his Father that he's willing to obey him. [00:16:37] His obedience is a mark of his trust and his love for his Father. Right? And I just have to ask you, journey as we stand here, who do I trust? Or maybe a question to ask is, who do you trust? Kind of when that want to doesn't line up with God. [00:16:52] Because when for Jesus, when his want to didn't match up, he said, you know what? I'm going to submit that. I'm going to humble that to the will of the Father. But for you and I, what wins out when that want to, that gap exists? [00:17:05] Do you just listen to yourself? [00:17:07] Do you just listen to your own flesh, as the Bible would call it? [00:17:10] When that moment comes of I have two roads to choose, you go, well, I'm just going to do what I want. [00:17:15] How does that play out for you? [00:17:17] I know I've chosen that path and rarely does that go well. [00:17:22] Maybe it's not you, but maybe it's some sort of outside voice. Maybe it's culture, maybe a loud external voice. Maybe it's some, oh, this is what it means to be affluent, or this is what it means to be successful, or this is what this large influencer in my life is telling me. This is what the good life is. [00:17:40] Maybe it's your friends. [00:17:42] Maybe you cannot make that choice. You're like, I don't know who I am outside of what my friends or my family tells me. And maybe if we're being really gut check honest, maybe we're just listening to the voice of our enemy. [00:17:56] There's a lie, there's that whisper when we have this choice before us. Man, will I obey what God says or actually did God really say that? [00:18:06] Maybe God doesn't know what's best for you. [00:18:09] And if that's not God, and I'll tell you here, that's not God, then who are we listening to? It's the enemy. We may just be listening to the enemy if we don't know. And I love how Francis Chan puts it this way. He says, in a society that rebels against all forms of authority, Christians are clamoring for a savior that we don't have to follow. [00:18:27] We can be just as guilty of this. I want Jesus as savior, yes, But I don't want him to tell me what to do. I don't want him to be Lord of my life. [00:18:34] But what does Jesus model for us? He models in his humanity, in his humanness, in this flesh and blood life that he walked. He chose to trust God, to humble himself and to submit himself. [00:18:45] See, Jesus, unlike many of our examples today who choose power over over integrity, Jesus always wins out. He is who he says he is. He does not choose the path of least resistance. And I don't know about you, but I want to follow someone. I don't wanna follow myself. I don't wanna follow a leader. [00:19:02] I don't wanna follow some idea of something else. [00:19:06] I wanna follow someone who's. Who's kind of batting a hundred, you know what I'm saying? [00:19:09] Like, Jesus never misses the mark and he's the one. So it's like if someone's gonna get the last word of the final say, I think he deserves a second glance, right? Because he always is who he says he is. This is how Hebrews puts it. He says, for we do not have a high priest who's unable to empathize with our weaknesses. Which that means is he sympathizes with it. Like he actually knows what it feels like to be broken. But we have one who what was tempted in every way, just as we are. [00:19:37] Yet here's the important Part he did not sin. So let us then approach God's throne with grace, with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. [00:19:48] See, Jesus knows that we don't just need some heavenly pep talk to do better. No one needs that. [00:19:54] But Jesus actually in the flesh when we come, what we're celebrating here at Christmas is him coming in flesh so he can sympathize with what it's like to deal with temptation. And yet we have someone who goes on our behalf who did not fall to temptation, did he? And because of that, it says that we can go boldly to God, because some of us in this room, we're. We're shy around God because we think, oh, man, my obedience doesn't match his obedience. That's exactly the point. [00:20:19] So we actually can come boldly before him this morning, whether you're unaware or you're the rebel, or lastly, maybe you're this kind of person. [00:20:28] I like to call these people the repeat offenders. [00:20:34] I'm going to run off screen. You get the point. [00:20:38] These are your relapse rangers, right? These are your frequent flyers of humiliation. These are, you know, you're the person there. You're like, man, my track record, like, Logan, I do know better. I'm not actually unaware. And I do know better. And I just. I just. [00:20:54] My track record's not that great. [00:20:56] And for that person in this room, I'd say, join the club, man, that you're welcome here. [00:21:00] If you're a repeat offender like I am, and like many of us are in this room, the Bible is full of those people. [00:21:08] And that is never a disqualifier to stop obeying God. But for some of us, we've stopped obeying God. Like, we know that. We know. Like, we know what he wants us to do. That nudge he's leading us to, whether it be inviting someone to a Christmas service or some area of your life that he's pushing on, nudging you and saying, hey, what is that? [00:21:29] Your work, your relationships, your fidelity, your finances, whatever it is that we have not given to Jesus, submitted to him. [00:21:37] But some of us, we just have this gut level of just failing time after time again. So we just give up. We get complacent. [00:21:45] And for that person, I would say there's no better model than Peter. [00:21:49] And Peter's my favorite character in the Bible because he's actually at both of these interactions that I previously talked about. Peter was in the room when Jesus said, if you love me, you'll Follow my commandments. You know, his response is, I'll lay my life down for you, Jesus. And Jesus goes, no, you won't. He's like, you're gonna deny me three times before this night's over? He's like, no, not me. And so right after that, he goes to pray, right? And he takes Peter with him. And what does Peter do? Takes a nap. [00:22:12] In Jesus worst moment, when he's in need of comfort and actually support. Peter just keeps falling asleep. And we know if you know this story around Easter, that's what it plays out, right? Peter feels all this. He runs away from Jesus. He's scared. He denies Jesus three times that night. [00:22:29] And what happens in that moment? [00:22:31] What happens for Peter? He feels all this guilt because he knows exactly what Jesus said actually happened. He didn't stand up for Jesus. He runs away from him. And then he goes back to what he knows, what I would call that. And I think for many of us who are in the re. Repeat offenders in this room, what Peter's dealing with and what we deal with is this word shame. [00:22:53] For some of us, the repeated finger in the room, shame is what's stopping us from obeying him. [00:22:58] Cause for Peter, that's what we see. Peter, he doesn't know how to make sense of this. He doesn't know how to wrestle with the fact that he's let down God in his eyes. So what does he do? He goes back to fishing. It's the thing he knows. [00:23:09] He goes back to his comfort place or the thing that. Where he felt like, this is who I am. I'm no longer able to be qualified to be a disciple of Jesus. I'll just be a fisherman. I'll just go back to doing these menial tasks and just try to hope to make a life that way. [00:23:23] And yet he went back to an occupation. But I would argue he went back to shame. [00:23:28] And the beautiful part about this story, if you know about that, is that Jesus comes and gets him out of his shame, doesn't he? And that's exactly what this verse is all about when it says that Paul writes that Jesus was obedient to death, even death on a cross. I don't think he's just talking about historical fact. He's actually talking about. About shame. The cross was the biggest signifier of shame in Roman culture. It was a saved death for the worst, the treacherous, the lowest of the low. [00:23:57] And so if you were put on a cross, it was man. You must have done something really bad in this life. And yet that is the death that Jesus died for you and I, didn't he? [00:24:06] And what I would say is that Jesus, did he die for our sins? Yes. But I would say he also died for our shame. So that we do not have to experience that in this life. We may experience it, but he wants to take that away from us, right? That's who Jesus is. And if you know the story, Jesus comes to the ocean side where Peter is fishing, and he kind of has this moment where he kind of calls him out of that and he reinstates him and he encourages him and he says, this is the, you know, Peter, I'm gonna, you know, do you love me? Do you love me? And he kinda has this moment of affirming him and pushing, building him up again. And I love Peter again, in all honesty, right? He just got affirmed. His shame's taken away. And Jesus is giving this pep talk, and it says that John's there and he looks over and he goes, what about him? And Jesus is like, just look at me. He says, look at me. Follow me. Right? Even in the middle of Jesus giving this pep talk, he can't help but be like, what about his story? What about his life? [00:24:57] Where is he gonna be? And he starts trying to again organize himself, trying to put himself in a hierarchy, keeps falling over himself. But yet Jesus loves the repeat offender. It says, jesus is a friend of sinners. [00:25:11] And so for you this morning, I know that that gives me encouragement because all of us are in a journey of faith. There's not one size fits all path of growth, right? We're all in different stages this morning, but there is a similar invitation for the unaware, the rebel and the repeat offender alike. And that same invitation is what we find in Philippians 2. It's what he says, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is working and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. [00:25:40] We don't work out our salvation to try to get to God, but in the process of becoming more aware of who he is or saying yes to him, not rebelling or actually just getting back up and, you know, letting God brush off the dust from us, that is what we do. We're working out our salvation. So if you're walking here with a spotty track record of obedience, that's okay, working. God's still working out this obedience in us. [00:26:04] I love how Francis Chan puts it later in his book. He says, our love is a love of response. We love because he first loved us. It's the enjoyment of Christ's love that leads us to love him in return. It's his love that makes us want his lordship. [00:26:20] So where are you this morning? Which one of these categories do you find yourself most prevalent in this morning? [00:26:27] And now, if you can see yourself somewhere up there, I want to invite you to consider what to do at this stage. And I don't think there's anything better to do that than with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. [00:26:40] I'm in a stage of life, hard pivot. I know you were like, I don't know where this is going. That's okay. [00:26:45] I'm in this stage of life. I make lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. [00:26:49] I could say they're for my kids lunch, but I ate two this weekend. I'll just confess that to you guys. Okay. My wife was like, is that your second one a day? I was like, it is. [00:26:58] So what? You know, two peanut butter jellies in one weekend and nothing makes a good peanut butter jelly, I think holds it together like just good old fashioned. [00:27:08] I call this Wonder Bread. But, you know, like white bread, you know what I'm talking about? This was 50 cents, okay? [00:27:14] 50 cents at WinCo. Okay? [00:27:17] Now this is really good for peanut jellies. [00:27:20] But even the least health conscious in this room knows, like, maybe I shouldn't eat just wonder bread, right? [00:27:26] And here's a. I don't mean to burst the bubble for some of us in this room. You're like, what are you talking about? I love wonder bread. [00:27:33] You get a stage in life where you're like, maybe I need to pivot. Maybe I need to pivot, like to whole wheat, you know, or cracked oat or all those different versions and they taste a little worse. But you're like, I know this is better for me. Let me taste this. And then some of you guys, you go from wonder Bread and you kind of keep taking the stages of development until one day you just find yourself with sourdough. [00:27:58] Sourdough. Yes, I see that hand. I see that hand. Some of you guys, this, you're like, this is the most excited been in church in a long time. I know. [00:28:07] Sourdough, full confession did not make this. Okay? So some of you are like, dang, Pastor Logan, no, I didn't make this at all. Okay, this is from a donation from the Sourdough sisters, as they call themselves here at Journey. [00:28:19] But they made this for me. But we know that this is better for us, right? [00:28:24] There's all this evidence. You don't have to have a Pinterest board to tell you that sourdough is better, but these two breads, they tell a story and you're like, where is he going with this? [00:28:36] But there's a story to be told with these too, right? Because Wonder bread, or I call it white bread. [00:28:41] This is very easy. [00:28:43] This is very convenient. [00:28:47] It doesn't cost a lot, right? [00:28:50] It's kind of a quick fix, isn't it? Makes good sandwiches, but it's also pretty forgettable. [00:28:57] I've never heard a person like, oh, dang it, I just let that last two slices of white bread go to waste, you know? [00:29:04] Or you don't like, have a core memory with this, or at least I don't. [00:29:09] But you also know that it's not the most nutritious thing. Like if you eat this, only this type of bread for the rest of your life, there's. There's probably a cost to that, isn't there? [00:29:18] And that this is not gluten hate in the room, okay? So don't, don't email me about that, right? [00:29:24] If you have celac, please do not eat this. You know, all that kind of stuff. But sourdough, on the other hand, it's a different. It's not fast, is it? [00:29:32] It's slow. There's a. It's process oriented. [00:29:36] There's little steps, there's big steps, and sometimes you don't know if it's actually working, but then you actually start seeing the little bubbles, right? And the starter and it kind of keeps developing and then there's like, oh, man, it rose up. But it's intentional. You don't just like oops into sourdough, right? Even the most emphatic people in here know that, right? You gotta kinda do the steps and learn from your friends and they'll text you like, what does my starter need? And all that stuff. [00:30:02] But it's also deeply nourishing. Like you can actually eat sourdough and it can sustain you for a really long time. There's really good nutritious density in this. Not so much in this stuff, right? And it's always worth the wait. Like even that smell of bread, right? When you smell bread in the house, you kind of come running to it. You're like, oh, man, you don't have to love sourdough. And you're still like, man, that's great. No one's ever been like, is that wonder bread I smell? [00:30:26] Like, no one's ever said that. You're like, oh, it's here, I'll just use it. [00:30:31] But I think obedience has a Lot more in common with these two than we think. [00:30:35] Because see, friends, I think our obedience to God or what maybe the flip side of that, our disobedience to God, there are short term effects of that and there are long term effects. [00:30:44] And sometimes it's just little by little, it's just little choices that we make. [00:30:49] Just little things, his little nudgings and little yes moments. But we also, it can kind of a little decision over a long time takes us in a different place. [00:30:58] See, obedience is better than sacrifice. That was what was taught to me. [00:31:02] And it's a sacrifice either way, isn't it? [00:31:05] I gotta say yes to some things and say no to other things. [00:31:08] But I would argue is obedience to Jesus way outweighs anything that I could ever say no to. And there are costs to that. But what I'm asking you to do this morning is consider the cost of your allegiance. Because all of us right now are obeying someone or something right now. [00:31:24] Something or someone has your loyalty and your obedience. And I just want to ask you to consider, does it deserve that? [00:31:33] Something is getting your obedience? Maybe it's yourself, maybe it's your drug of choice or your fulfillment of choice. But something has your obedience. And it may not be Jesus, but what is the outcome of that? What's the formation or deformation that's happening in your soul? [00:31:51] And here's what I also want to push on just a little bit. It has a ripple effect, not just for you. I hear this a lot. My sin only affects me. And I would just say I don't think that's true. [00:32:01] Because, see, our sin or our disobedience to God affects others outside of us just as much as our obedience to God affects others. And I'm a standing testament to that. [00:32:11] I told you, my grandmother, she taught me, my mom, obedience is better than sacrifice. [00:32:16] But my mom, she was a pastor's kid and I've told this story before, but she kind of went out on her own and said, you know what? I don't want to do that. And for a time of her life, she kind of went off. And I'm the physical representation of that season of her life. [00:32:30] Like, my mom came back to her parents, a pastor's wife and a pastor with pregnant, and had to say, I'm pregnant with a baby. And by God's grace, they received her really well and they were kind and they were able to invite her back into family in a really loving, healthy way. [00:32:49] I'm on my grandfather's lap because I was kind of his Proud and joy. In a lot of ways, they didn't make me feel like an other than or someone that was like, oh, that's the sinful bastard child of our daughter. No, that wasn't who I was. [00:33:02] They poured into me and I watched my mom. [00:33:05] She didn't stay in this shame stage of saying, oh, this is just who I am. And this repeating a cycle over and over again. I saw a life of obedience to Jesus. Not perfectly, by no means, none of us are, but I saw a life of faith and I saw a life of obedience. And I am standing before you today in large part because of the obedience of my grandparents. Yes, but obedience to my mom. And you are benefiting right now from the little sourdough moments of obedience my mom and my grandmother implanted in me. [00:33:36] And so with the time that we have left, I just want us to consider what could be the implications of your obedience. And we're not doing this for other people. But again, God's going to use our obedience for his glory. And that often means real practical with people beside us, in our families and our co workers and spaces that God puts us. [00:33:57] And so here we are at Christmas season. We're waiting on Jesus, right? [00:34:02] We're waiting for his return one day. But in the meantime, I hope that we will be found waiting in obedience to Him. [00:34:09] We're obeying his nudges, his leadings, his promptings, not just for our own sake, but for the sake of others. Because I am telling you, it's worth it. His obedience is worth it. Not because I do this perfectly. But now I see my own children and I want to tell them obedience is better than sacrifice boys, even as my daughter's crying right now, obedience is better than sacrifice and it's much better to obey Him. [00:34:33] Friends, I want to have a sourdough of faith over some Wonder Bread kind of instant gratifications, right? I want to have that kind of intentional life, not some Wonder Bread impulses that drive me. And I think you do too. [00:34:46] And so for the last few minutes, would you just close your eyes and pray with me as we just consider what God has for us? [00:34:58] Yeah. I believe right now in this room there are, there's the unaware, there's the rebel, and there's the, the repeat offender. Lord, and, and wherever they're at, Lord, I pray right now in this room, in this space, online, that they are beginning to feel and experience you right here in this space. [00:35:17] And Lord, you're not mad at where they're at. [00:35:21] You just want them to come boldly to your throne. That's what Hebrews tells us to do, so we can approach boldly to you. [00:35:28] You're a co sympathizer. You're one who leans in with our pain and you're willing to take it away. [00:35:38] And Lord, I pray right now in this room, people would just begin to think about their obedience to you. Not with shame or guilt, but Lord, just offer it to you, whether they're crushing it or they're floundering. [00:35:51] And Lord, really practically, would you just reveal in every person in this room just one area, one thing, one application, one area in their life where they could just be obeyed to you or be obedient to you. [00:36:06] What's one thing, one area in their life that you're calling them into obedience? [00:36:13] For some, it might be to step into a walk with you, to actually begin a relationship with you, to experience your love for the first time. [00:36:23] For some of us, it's we know your commands and we're meant to obey them. Not because you're demanding, but out of your love and respect. And we want to obey you. [00:36:32] And it could be a really hard choice. I want to acknowledge that someone in this room is wrestling with obeying you is going to be really hard. And that is okay. Lord, would you meet them there? [00:36:43] And Lord, as we think about that thing that you want us, that area, you want us to follow you into obedience, I just ask that you begin to show us as a church what will be the ripple effects of our obedience. [00:36:58] Or Lord, maybe you need to convict us of the ripple effects of our disobedience. [00:37:04] Lord, we want to be people who obey you. [00:37:06] You're a loving father, you're a good father and you want good things for your kids. [00:37:13] Lord, I'm grateful that we get to do this for your name's sake and the sake of others. In Jesus name, amen.