Gospel Shaped Maturity

Father, we thank you that we can enter into worship together through YouTube Live.

Father, I ask that the Holy Spirit would fall upon each one of us, upon me as I speak, upon each one of us as we listen.

We ask, Father, that you would bring your word deep into our hearts,

and that as your word comes deep into our hearts, that you would speak to us,

and, Father, in fact, that you would rule.

And we ask, Lord, that you deliver us from all fear of your ruling in our lives

by making us more and more and more convinced and gripped by the truth of the gospel.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Just as we get started, it's allergy time of the year,

and so if I'm a bit runny, I have a bit of a frog in my throat.

I might have to cough occasionally.

It seems to be a bad day for allergies, at least for me.

I don't know about you folks who are watching this online.

So I don't know how carefully you listen to the Bible text.

It's not a test or a quiz or anything like that.

But if you listen to the text that I was going to preach on, it sounds a bit odd.

For many of us, it just seems to say things like,

why on earth would the Bible tell you to submit to God?

To most Canadians, in fact, probably most people in the world,

the idea that you are commanded to submit to God is actually very, very unattractive.

Probably the motto of most Canadians would be,

go along sometimes, but never submit.

Go along sometimes, but never, ever, ever submit.

And so why on earth does the Bible say submit to God?

It's very, very unattractive.

Another thing is, why on earth does the Bible command you to be miserable?

In fact, this text touches on some of the fears that people have about God,

that if you actually were to give your life to Jesus,

that you would be more miserable and not more filled with joy.

But why does the Bible command you to be miserable?

And then finally, why does the Bible tell you to resist the devil?

And for most Canadians, that just sounds a bit hokey,

as if we're not really being serious to throw in something like that.

So if you happen to be watching this and you're curious about the Christian faith,

maybe you are in recovery from some type of toxic Christianity.

You're a non-Christian.

You're just sort of curious.

Welcome.

Really glad you're entering into worship with us.

And I'm honored that you would check us out.

One of the things that you could do over this next half hour or so,

as we look into God's Word,

is think of yourself a little bit as an anthropologist.

Who's trying to figure out a strange tribe.

But rather than going into some part of the rainforest in the Amazon,

where no human being, no non-tribe member has ever been,

you're trying to figure out this strange tribe called biblical Christians or faithful Christians.

And so this weird stuff about submitting and commanded to be unhappy and resisting the devil.

Just think of yourself as an anthropologist.

You're trying to think, so imagine, I don't know, you have a glass of sherry or scotch or something like that,

maybe a big cigar, and you're sitting back listening to a presentation on this strange tribe and their practices.

I will tell you that despite the surface strangeness,

I think, and I hope you will see,

that in fact the Bible gives profound good news,

and profound good news about how you can wisely and beautifully grow as an individual.

And in fact, I think there is no better or more beautiful way than the Christian way.

Now just before we get into this a bit more,

one of the things that we're preaching through the book of James, that's what we do.

In fact, if you're curious about the Christian faith,

you can trust that if you come to Church of the Messiah,

because we go through whole books of the Bible,

it means we touch those bits and pieces that a lot of churches never talk about.

So it's almost as if we make sure you look at all the fine print.

And rather than trying to pretend that the fine print isn't there,

we always walk towards it.

That's what I'm going to do today in my time with you as we open the Word.

And so there's a lot of scholars who think that what the book of James is,

it's one of the very, very, it might be the very first,

it's not the first thing that the early Christians wrote,

but it's sort of the first book that we have.

And some people think that what it really is,

is like a list of topics or speaking points that should be covered

if you want to help a person grow into maturity,

to grow into the beautiful life.

And so it's almost as if, okay, make sure you talk about desires.

Okay, oh, make sure you talk about God opposes the proud.

Oh, make sure you talk about trials.

Make sure you talk about this.

Make sure you talk about that.

And some people think that that's actually what the book of James is.

And you're going to see that this morning,

because what you really do is,

almost every little bit of these verses,

you could almost, like if you were to have coffee with me afterwards,

because you're curious about the Christian faith,

you could do a whole talk about resist the devil,

or you could do a whole talk about submit.

You could do a weekend away on each one of these topics.

So I'm going to be giving you like the 10,000 feet in the air view of it all.

And just one other sort of a bit of a geeky type of moment,

for those of you who are into the grammar geek type of stuff.

Chapter three and the first part of chapter four,

in some ways, verse five summarizes the problem.

There's wisdom, which is put in those texts as well,

as well as different commands for what you do, you should be doing.

But in some ways, what it does, it gives,

I'll summarize it in a moment,

a very sophisticated analysis of a problem.

And then in a sense, verses six and verses 10,

work as bookends about what the good news is in light of the problem.

And then verses seven, eight, and nine, in some ways,

unpack that frame of verses six to verses 10.

So I hope I haven't lost you with that geeky moment.

Let's read verse five.

Or do you think the scripture says without reason

that the spirit he caused to dwell in us longs toward envy?

I'll read it again.

Or do you think the scripture says without reason

that the spirit he caused to dwell in us longs toward envy?

Over the last couple of weeks,

what we've looked at is actually a very sophisticated,

both a very ancient analysis of the human condition,

but also a very sophisticated analysis of the human condition.

In the first part of chapter three,

it brought out something which is very puzzling,

which, you know, if you don't live an examined life,

you've never thought about it.

If you don't really practice any type of self-reflection,

you've never thought about it.

But if you have practiced some reflection,

or maybe if you've been in some counseling or therapy,

or you have tried to wrestle with some types

of different self-help books,

or you've just puzzled maybe over a beer

or a glass of wine or coffee with friends

about your condition,

the first part of chapter three comments on the fact

that human beings are both natural and unnatural.

We're natural because obviously we fit into this world,

but there's something different about human beings,

and the thing that it talks about

in the different human beings

is that human beings can tell the truth

and they can tell lies.

They can do things which are very, very loving

and things which are very, very cruel.

They can do things where we really are attentive

to other people's feelings and show compassion,

and we can do things that show

that we don't give a hoot about people's feelings

and we trample all over them.

We can be a terrible racist

and then go home and yet still love our children

or something like that.

That there's this aspect of human beings,

a mystery, a riddle about human beings,

that we can do both of those at the same time.

You don't see that in the natural world,

you just see it in human beings.

That there's something in a sense divided

or fractured in us as human beings.

And then in the last part of chapter three,

it moved into a different type of self-analysis

of the human condition.

And in that analysis of the human condition,

it just pointed out that there's a fundamental problem

of selfishness and self-centeredness for human beings.

That even the best of us,

in fact, actually often,

even when we do things which are virtuous or good,

we do them for self-centered reasons.

You know, there's an old line that if you can fake that you care,

then you can really advance yourself a lot in an organization.

So don't care for people because you care for them,

but just care for people because it's going to help you

to get promotions or it will help you to get what you want.

I remember one older man,

this is way 100 million years ago

when I was in a working environment,

and he jokingly,

it was a bit of a joke, but very serious.

He said,

always offer to buy people coffee

because it'll give them the illusion that you're generous.

So chapter three,

the end of chapter three,

gives us actually very profound reflection

upon the problem of self-centeredness

and the division and the problems that it causes.

And then the part of chapter four just about this

has another type of a very, very profound

and sophisticated analysis of the human condition.

It says different things.

It says that one of the things is,

and if you're curious about how I sort of prove this,

you can look at last week's sermon,

but we have contradictory desires.

And not only do we have contradictory desires

that get in the way,

that we often end up desiring things

that we can't even have.

That on one hand,

if we were to tell our best friend

that we have this desire,

they'd say,

well, that's crazy.

You'll never have that.

Why on earth do you desire that?

But we still have those desires for things

that we can never actually possibly have.

And at the same time,

we get these desires that get,

in a sense, overheated.

And as they overheat,

they aim at terrible things.

We can have a murderous rage.

We can be consumed with greed.

And even if it stops us

from doing something illegal

or something very, very wicked,

the fact of the matter is

that circumstances or something stops us,

but we still have these things

which are aimed in terrible directions.

And as well as that,

that many of our pleasures,

and it's not just referring to physical pleasures,

it can refer to aesthetic pleasures.

It refers to intellectual pleasures,

that in fact,

many of these passions that we have

for intellectual or physical or aesthetic things

are in fact self-pleasuring passions,

that that's what's going on within us.

And then it sort of summarizes

and sort of brings it to a little bit of a head

in a very, very profound way.

Once again, in a sense,

going back almost to the first part

about the fact of the matter

is that we have something within us

that we're divided.

There's something that we can tell the truth

and we can tell a lie.

And that is this verse five.

Do you think the scripture says,

without reason,

that the spirit he caused to dwell in us

longs toward envy?

In other words, we have longings

and there's nothing inherently wrong with longings,

just as there's nothing inherently wrong with desires,

but they keep being shaped or formed by envy

and by implication with this,

the way the word would open up with pride,

with greed, with gluttony, with sloth, with lust,

that there's this sort of dual nature in us.

So then after we've had this very ancient

and very sophisticated analysis of the human condition,

that in fact is many types of therapy

try to deal with it.

In fact, the two most popular ways

of dealing with it in the world,

I mean, I guess there's three.

One would be different types of therapy,

but also different forms of Buddhism,

which are trying to deal with the fact

that we have all of these desires

and contradictory ways and self-pleasuring.

And the other one, of course,

is sort of a reappropriation of Stoicism.

All of them are ways of trying to deal

with these different conditions of selfishness

and self-pleasuring and desires.

So in other words, it's recognized by many people

that this is in fact a problem.

We can keep our lid on it at certain times,

but times in our lives, it does cause chaos.

It costs us relationships.

It damages relationship with children,

breaks up workplaces.

But there's a big problem.

And the big problem is this,

that the analysis, not just the biblical analysis,

but often if you're to listen to the person

talking about the new Stoicism or Buddhism,

the problem is the analysis is too strong.

And it's almost as if now that it comes to the solution,

they just pick a rabbit out of the hat.

I compared it last week to movies

where in the first half of the movie

or the first three quarters of the movie,

the bad guys seem to be able to do no wrong.

They triumph in whatever they do.

But we all know that if that just continued on

and the end of the movie was that the bad guy

kills every single good guy or enslaves them,

that that's a depressing movie

that very few of us would watch.

So because of that, filmmakers and storytellers,

often if it's a poorly done one,

all of a sudden they just basically change the power dynamic

that the bad guys can't shoot as well,

their plans don't work as well,

their hacks don't work as well.

But it's not connected to it.

They just know they have to give the good guys

a chance to win.

Otherwise, nobody's going to watch the movie

or read the book.

And in some ways, the same thing happens here

because whatever it is,

whether it's in a sense to try to step back

from your experience in mindfulness,

whether it's through doing different types of exercises

to curb your desires,

whether it's doing stoicism

and you're trying to, once again,

have some method by which you control

your different desires

or different types of therapies that do it,

what they do is their analysis of the problem

shows that their solution doesn't work,

which is, in fact, what most of us experience

if we try these different things.

You see, what they're, in effect, saying

is that all of a sudden they're saying

that there is a part of you

that isn't divided,

that isn't selfish,

that doesn't self-pleasure,

that doesn't have contradictory desires.

And in effect,

there's an old definition of God

as the unmoved mover.

It's a very,

it goes right back to Aristotle.

And it's almost as if they say,

without actually coming out and saying it,

they now all of a sudden posit

that within you and me,

I, you, have an unmoved mover

somewhere in the very center of who we are.

And what we need to do is,

in a sense, unleash it

or discipline it

or give it permission

to start to move

and deal with all of these

different contradictory things.

But you have to say,

where on earth did this come from?

And why is it that you ever think,

why can you or I ever think

that we have an unmoved mover within us?

The fact of the matter is

that we don't.

So this is where verse six

is going to come in,

which we're going to read in a moment.

Only the gospel

can actually provide,

really provide,

a fulfillment

to that problem

that we've analyzed

in the first part

that we all understand.

That if we examine ourselves,

the selfishness,

the self-pleasuring,

the contradictory desires,

that in fact,

only the gospel

in the context of the Bible

and the Bible

in the context of the gospel

actually provides a solution.

And the solution is this.

What if there really is

an unmoved mover?

And the unmoved mover

isn't in me,

isn't part of me,

but what if there actually is

an unmoved mover?

And that unmoved mover

in its unmoved center

is actually good

and true

and just

and beautiful

and gracious

and generous

and compassionate

and loving

and love itself,

justice itself,

goodness itself.

And what if that unmoved mover,

that transcendent one,

came into the world

with compassion

and justice

to move in you?

And that,

my friends,

is the gospel.

And that's what verse 6

is going to tell us.

Look what it says

in verse 6.

But he gives more grace

or he gives greater grace.

Therefore,

it says,

God opposes the proud

but gives grace

to the humble.

This is the good news

of the gospel

in a brief summary

that there is in fact

a God that does exist,

the triune God,

that that triune God

is love himself,

is peace himself,

is goodness himself,

is justice himself,

is mercy himself,

and that he is,

in a sense,

unmoved

by your pride,

your anger,

your whatever.

He's unmoved

by those things.

Nothing can stop God

from being just,

good,

loving,

pure,

holy,

compassionate,

merciful.

Nothing can stop him.

And he,

from that unmoved position,

can move.

And what he has done

is he has more grace

than whatever it is

is going on within you.

Whatever the chaos is,

whatever you've put the lid on,

you have some control on,

in every case,

for every desire,

every longing,

every self-pleasuring,

his grace is greater.

And God always opposes the proud

and he always

will give grace

to the humble.

that is,

in fact,

the profound good news

that he really has come,

he really will always oppose

the pride

and the self-centeredness,

and he really will

give you grace.

Now,

to help you to understand

just how radical this is,

I've provided two little outlines

that hopefully will be

at the bottom of your screen.

And if you look at the first one,

and my wording here

might be slightly different

than the wording,

but you get the basic idea.

The first one is basically

how we tend to think.

It's what I call

natural spirituality,

it's natural religion,

it's natural therapy,

it's natural human growth,

and in this sort of natural way

that we naturally think,

that we just assume

whatever the answer

to the human problem

is going to be,

it has to fit

within this type of category,

whatever it is.

So you try a new therapy,

you try a new spirituality,

you combine different things together

in your own bespoke,

self-curated spirituality,

you embrace an ancient religion,

it's always going to form,

we just think naturally

that this is the way

things have to work.

And in the way they just,

in fact, actually,

it's just very interesting,

two weeks ago

I had somebody come

and speak to me,

they knocked on the door,

and their life was a mess,

and I invited them

to have some conversation with me,

I tried to share

the gospel with me,

and they in fact

perfectly articulated this thing.

They said,

well basically,

I have too much trouble

with alcohol,

and I have too much trouble

with drugs,

and my life is in too much chaos,

let me try to get myself together,

and then I will come

and have maybe

some other type of thing

with you and all.

And what it is,

is this,

that first of all,

by your own effort,

you have to do better.

You have to do better,

you have to drink less,

smoke less,

start to exercise,

say an apology or two,

but do better on your own.

And then after you've done

better on your own,

then you're going to be able

to do some type of religion things

that maybe involve God

or spiritual things.

You're going to get in touch

with your higher self,

you're going to get in touch

with your higher power,

you're going to get in touch

with Allah,

you're going to get in touch

with God or Jesus

or Krishna or whatever,

because there's Christian versions

of this natural religion.

And then after you've sort of

get control of your life,

and then you sort of bring in

some God aspects,

then maybe you can be

accepted by God.

And if you're taking

different,

more secular things,

then maybe you'll have

some type of a peace,

or you'll be at one

with the universe,

or at one with creation,

or however you want to put it.

And that's just the natural

way we think,

and there's Christian versions

of this.

But if you look at

the next one,

well, by the way,

just before we look

at the next one,

about a third or maybe

it's up to 40% of Canadians

now over 18 describe

themselves as nuns,

N-O-N-E.

They have no religion.

They've turned their back

on religion.

They've rejected religion.

They've rejected bespoke,

self-curated spiritualities.

But what they've rejected

is what I've just described.

They've rejected that.

They've come to realize,

you know what?

It just doesn't work.

You know?

It just doesn't work.

You try to get yourself

a little bit better.

Well, that's a good thing.

You should try to be a little bit,

you know,

you should try to be less rude

and, you know,

less self-centered.

But, you know,

don't forget about all that,

you know,

talking to God stuff

or calling down the moon

or getting in touch

with the feminine powers

in the universe

or what it is

or getting in touch with,

like, forget the crystals.

You know, just, you know,

go for a walk,

have a glass of Jack Daniels.

Like, just do something.

Forget about it.

You know,

turn your back

on all that type of stuff.

They've rejected.

What they've rejected

is natural religion

and natural spirituality.

But here,

if you look at the next thing,

is this surprising,

shocking news

that verse 6

has just said.

What has verse 6 said?

Verse 6 has said,

but he gives more grace.

He gives greater grace.

God acts first.

Before you've got yourself better,

before you've talked to him,

before you've sought him,

he gives more grace.

God opposes the proud,

but gives grace to the humble.

And so the gospel

is this profound news

that you begin

with acceptance

with the triune God.

God.

And from there,

you begin to draw near to him.

And from there,

you begin to try to get

some type of control

in your life.

It's a complete

and utter reversal.

The gospel is this

radical news

of a complete

and utter reversal

of the natural way

that we think

of religion

and spirituality.

Part of the,

if you want to know,

part of the history

of the Christian faith,

part of the history

of the Christian faith

is that we get the gospel

and then we start

to forget the gospel

and we sink

and we fall

into these naturalistic ways

and then we have to have,

you know,

the good works

and we have to have indulgences

and we have to have,

you know,

priests

or we have to have the minister

or we have to have this

or we have to have that

before we can be accepted to God.

We forget it.

And in some ways,

the whole history

of the Christian church

is proclaiming the gospel,

forgetting the gospel,

remembering the gospel,

forgetting the gospel,

remembering the gospel.

And if you're an outsider

trying to figure out

the Christian faith,

I've just explained to you

the whole history

of the Christian faith

in a 30,000 view level.

And what I'm telling you

is this is what the Bible teaches.

The Bible teaches this

unbelievable radical news,

that it's true

and that it's real,

that Jesus,

God,

the Son of God,

dies on the cross

to make you right with him.

When you didn't even know

about Jesus,

when you didn't even think

about Jesus,

when you didn't even care

about Jesus,

before you even thought

about any of those things,

God did everything

that had to be done

so that you could be

made right with him.

He deals with the just demands

against you.

He pays the penalty

of the wrong things

that you've done.

He absorbs your shame.

He offers you

his perfect standing

with God.

Everything that has to be done

to make you right with God

is done by Jesus

in his birth,

life,

death,

upon the cross,

tasting all there is

to taste of death

and resurrection

and it is offered

to you

this greater grace,

no matter how bad,

no matter how chaotic

your life is,

no matter how superficially,

well together,

put together,

in charge your life

seems to be,

but you know

and I know,

I know so many people

over the years,

their lives seem to be perfect

and they're haunted

with regret,

they're haunted

with nightmares,

they're haunted

with self-doubt,

they're self-pleasuring

in many,

many different ways

to try to numb

the different things,

they're terrified

that someday somebody

will see beneath the surface

as to what's really going on

in their lives

and I want to announce

to you the gospel,

it's not me,

it's what the Bible says,

is that God's grace

is greater,

it's greater

and it's real

and it's actual

and it's in history

and it's in philosophy

and all,

it's real,

he always will oppose

those things within you

and that's good,

you want God

to always oppose that

and he gives grace

when you humble yourself

before him,

he gives greater grace

so it begins

with being accepted,

it begins

with him adopting you

as his child,

it begins

with you being clothed

with his righteousness,

it begins

with you being promised

that you know

the end of your story,

that when you die,

God will say,

welcome my child

whom I love

and that is the new

end of your story

and out of that place,

then you can begin

to listen to God

say you have to look,

now draw near to me,

draw near to me every day,

draw near to me

through the scriptures,

draw near to me

through worship,

draw near to me

through small groups

with other people

and as you're gripped

with who Jesus is

and what he did for you

on the cross

and this profound good news

as you draw near to him,

let's help you

with your selfishness,

let's help you

with your lack

of generosity,

let's help you

with your sexual problems,

let's help you

with your finances,

let's help you

with your alcohol,

let's help you

in terms of your family

and in your career,

let me help you

and that's now

what we're going to see

in the rest of this thing

that in a sense

it's not just

that we have

this profound story

of what God

has done in the past

although we have it

but that in fact now

that you have

an unseen presence

in your life

that you see

when you give your life

to Jesus

and you really are accepted

by the triune God

and you just say

we're going to say

in a moment

Jesus I need your grace

I need you to be my savior

now the unmoved mover

in the person of his son

now the unmoved mover

in the person of the Holy Spirit

actually comes to dwell

within you

so it's not just

that you have a story

and an image

that can begin

to shape your life

and a confidence

in that

but you also have

his presence

and his word

within you

as they start

to tackle

and handle

these things

addressed

in the human situation

you see

you do not have

an innate

unmoved mover

but by grace

if you humble yourself

the unmoved mover

the true unmoved mover

who's created all things

can come and dwell

within you

unworthy as you are

and worthy

as I am

so now

if you think about it

I'm going to sort of

jump ahead

look at verse 6 again

but he gives more grace

therefore it says

God opposes the proud

but gives grace

to the humble

and in verse 10

it says

humble yourselves

there before

before the Lord

and he will exalt you

and that's in a sense

this great news

it's set up in verse 6

and verse 10

it's going to be

unpacked a little bit

remember I said

it's as if

you could take

each of these next ones

you could do a whole

teaching session

on each of them

but what are the different things

within this

in verses 7 to 9

the first one is

submit to God

submit yourself

verse 7

submit yourselves

therefore to God

resist the devil

and he will flee from you

submit yourselves

therefore to God

now you see a little bit

of why this begins

to make some sense

it's not saying

begin to submit to me

so that if you submit

to me enough

if you grovel enough

I will accept you

but in fact

if God is giving you

greater grace

if he is giving you

a grace

that will oppose

that's greater

than whatever's going on

within you

and that in fact

he's always going to

oppose the pride

and the envy

and the evil

that you want to do

that you long to do

if he's always going

to oppose that

and if he's going to

in fact

if he's going to

always give grace

to you when you

humble yourself

and if you humble yourself

he's going to exalt you

and by exalt you

it doesn't mean

that you get to rule

on the earth

it means that you get

to dwell in the new heaven

and the new earth

with a resurrected body

with a glory

that is

an eternal weight

of glory

an eternal weight

of glory

that's the end

in the gospel

why wouldn't you

submit to that

like as

and you see

that's

if he begins with grace

it's not a matter

of I want to try

to make you feel guilty

so that you submit

I want you to be

in love with the gospel

so that in fact

you go

why wouldn't I

submit to that

and the word

submit here

is primarily

an allegiance word

it does mean

that you become

now

your allegiance

is to the triune God

to Jesus

to grace

that's your allegiance

and out of that

allegiance

that's what you obey

that is where you obey

you obey

out of that type

of allegiance

and this is

a really important thing

there's a very very

if you read

one of the ancient

biographies of Jesus

if you read

John's gospel

which is one

of the ancient

biographies

the very first

sort of miracle

that John

talks about

it might not

have been the first

miracle that Jesus

ever did

but the way

John works it

he gives you

significant

miracle stories

to help to reveal

the Christian life

who Jesus is

and what the Christian

life is

and in the very first

one Jesus turns

water into wine

and so what happens

is this

the weddings

run out of wine

and this is

a great embarrassment

and this is

like a shocking

thing I think

to most Canadians

to realize

that this is

the miracle

that in a sense

Jesus agrees

with John

that I want

to introduce

myself to Canadians

by this miracle

and it's not

you shouldn't

do this

you shouldn't

do that

it's not

no no

I'm going to

introduce myself

with this miracle

and so what it is

is they're having

a great time

at the wedding

they run out of wine

and so Mary

says to the servants

do whatever

Jesus tells you

and so Jesus says

fill these big

stone water pots

fill them with water

and take them

to the person

who's in charge

of the feast

and so they do

they fill up

the stone water jars

with water

and then they carry

the stone water jars

to the person

who's organizing

the feast

and by the time

they get to the person

organizing the feast

the person organizing

the feast

takes a ladle

and it's the best wine

it's the better wine

that's been served

at the entire party

it's huge

big barrel

it's a lot of wine

and you see

this is going to be

the key to this

this is why

the very very first thing

is submit and obey

you see that you make

your allegiance to Jesus

you submit to grace

and out of that

you begin to obey

and you see

the fact of the matter

is

is it's just like

you see

Jesus

God wants to fit you

for an eternity

with him

he wants to restore you

to the proper humanity

and so what it is

is

you need to obey

and he turns the water

into wine

because you can't

turn water into wine

I can't turn water

into wine

I can't do it

but if I obey

the things he tells me

to do

if I submit and obey

God will turn

the water of your obedience

the water of your life

into wine

and that's the heart

of submit

so what does the rest

of the text say

the first thing

is submit yourselves

therefore to God

resist the devil

and he will flee from you

this is a whole big topic

which I can't really get into

I just want to say this

first of all

the word resist

is very interesting

it's not a crusade word

go out and find the devil

wherever he is

and fight him

no

it's

it's more as if

it's

it's really

you know

interesting

Jono mentioned

at the beginning

this is Anzac Day

and a very important day

for Australians

and New Zealanders

and in fact

maybe one of the few times

that Aussies

in New Zealand

or Kiwis

and Aussies

sort of

sort of stand side to side

without being in rivalry

with each other

but that's just what

I sort of know

from a distance

and it's

the resist the devil

is really more

like a military term

it's as if they say

your commander says

I want you to hold

this pass

and you don't surrender

the pass

I want you to stay there

and fight

stand your ground

and no matter how much

attacks come

you stand your ground

and that's the word here

for resist the devil

and many of us think

that it's a hokey thing

it's a whole other topic

of conversation

the Bible teaches

that there is

there are in fact

unseen beings

that are evil

and hostile to you

that can influence you

and every single human being

including you

whether you realize it or not

have experienced

demonic

a demonic presence

in your life

the way most of us

experience it

is through

believing lies

through believing

slander about yourself

and believing others

to be tempted

to despair

to be tempted

to pride

to have that sense

when you know

you shouldn't do something

and you have a pressure

against doing something

but then there's

this stronger pressure

erring you to do that thing

which you know is wrong

and if you have experienced

that you have experienced

demonic

you have experienced

demonic

presences

to

hold on

to despair

when maybe

the beautiful day

or a child's laughter

tempts you to forget

about it

and it's as if

this voice is

no no no no

continue in your despair

continue in gloom

refuse joy

you have known that

just one other thing

there can be in fact

profound demonic oppression

and some of you

if you

some of you are experiencing

what you might think

is profound demonic oppression

contact us

and we will try to put you

in contact

with a good local church

where there can be people

who pray over you

for the setting aside

and the binding

of demonic oppression

and just one other thing

you should definitely

not do anything

if you are doing anything

now just remember Jesus

be gripped by the gospel

submit to God

and have nothing to do

with certain types

of practices

crystals

seances

other things

which are opening

yourself up

to demonic influence

not resisting it

but that's just it

very very very briefly

so once again

what is it

remember verse 6

but he gives more grace

therefore it says

God opposes the proud

but give grace to the humble

and verse 10 says

humble yourselves

before the Lord

and he will exalt you

that's the big picture

what's sort of

the next type of thing

submit

resist

the next thing

is draw near to God

that's in verse 8

draw near to God

and he will draw near to you

cleanse your hands

you sinners

and purify your hearts

you double minded

now this just means

what we're doing right now

that God wants you

to have times in the day

when you consciously

draw near to him

where you read your Bible

during the day

you pray to him

during the day

you confess your sins

during the day

you maybe set aside

time during the week

to be part of a small group

where you can meet with others

and get to know each other

have a bit of a one another life

and share the joys

and sorrows

all around God's word

and prayer

to be able to

I mean

you can't do it right now

it has to be

sort of like a wave

but when we can meet together

to have that arm

of a brother

or sister around you

you know

say yeah

we're going to weep with you

we're going to rejoice with you

we're going to pray for you

and let's look at God's word

or to have mentors

or disciples

and to gather

on Sundays

for worship

where we hear God's word

and we sing his praises

God invites us to draw near

to him

remember

but he gives more grace

therefore it says

God opposes the proud

but gives grace to the humble

humble yourselves

before the Lord

and he will exalt you

and

and

and then the very very next thing

and this is a bit of the hard part here

it says

it makes it sound as if

you have to be miserable

all the time

that's the next bit here

where is it

it's verse 9

be wretched and mourn and weep

let your laughter be turned

to mourning

and your joy to gloom

be wretched and mourn and weep

let your laughter be turned

to mourning

and your joy to gloom

just two very very simple things

or three very simple things

about that

first of all

if you read the book of James

you look at the beginning

it encourages you to be joyful

so in fact

what the Bible is doing

is the Bible wants to

heal

and free up

the full range of emotions

within you

and have your emotions

properly connected

to the right context

the real you

and the real thing

which is going on

and that's what the Bible

wants to do

and so what it's saying

is that a few

long long time ago

when we were in our rural church

we went away for a week

of camping

or something like that

and when we came back

we found out

that the power

had gone

in our house

and so it meant

that we lost all of the

we had a lot of meat

in our freezer outside

and we had stuff

in the fridge

and it was all spoiled

and I remember

when I went to pick up

the big outdoor freezer lid

and the second I did

the smell of rancid meat

I just about threw up

like it was just

oh

it was so terrible

if any of you

ever come across

something which is

deeply rancid

you just want to retch

had to close it

eventually figure out

what to do

so what the Bible

what would you say

about somebody

who if they came

to rancid meat

said

mmm that smells

delicious

you'd go

there's something

wrong with this person

in fact if it was

in a zombie movie

or a end of the world

movie

you'd know that

there's something

deeply wrong

about that movie

and you'd be thinking

don't you know

that person's a zombie

or whatever it is

right

and so what the Bible

is saying

is that as we get

draw

as the full acceptance

of God

becomes more real

to us

as we start

to become

more healed

by God

that what

that will start

to actually

be

like right now

people can tell lies

and laugh

they can tell lies

and they can go

to the bar

and they can tell

everybody about

how they told

these lies

and got away

with it

and everybody

laughs

but really

telling a lie

and laughing

is like lifting

a freezer

filled with rancid

meat

and saying

boy that's yummy

and so what

the Bible

is saying

is one of the

things that's

going to happen

to you

when you become

a Christian

is that your

emotions are

going to be healed

like

don't we find

it abhorrent

that somebody

can be racist

and laugh about

and enjoy it

don't we want

that person

who's racist

to gag

and wretch

and mourn

for their racism

if we found out

that somebody

was salivating

over child porn

wouldn't we want

them to gag

over that

and the Bible

is just saying

that as you

draw near to God

as this

as the gospel

becomes real

to you

but he gives

more grace

therefore it says

God opposes

the proud

but gives grace

to the humble

humble yourselves

before the Lord

and he will exalt

you

is that God

is going to

start to heal

your emotions

you will find

evil abhorrent

you will grieve

over the fact

that you used

to laugh at it

you will get

you will start

to want to vomit

over some of the

things that you

have done

you see

there's a closing

image

and then we're

just going to

say the final

verse

the closing

image is this

it's as if

every single

one of us

is a piano

every human

being is a piano

but the fact

of the matter

is that

we're missing

some keys

and in some

cases there's

the key

but the metal

the wire

stuff that makes

the noise

there's nothing

there

and then some

of the keys

if you do it

somebody like

John would say

yeah that's

the right key

that sounds

right

and then the

very next one

is out of tune

and you see

it isn't the

case like

lots of secular

therapies

and lots of

other types

of things

that God's

going to get

rid of the

whole keyboard

or that God's

just going to

give you a piano

and get rid of

all the keys

just except

one or two

little high notes

that you find

pleasurable

that what happens

is that God

wants to restore

the whole piano

I mean we don't

even know what

beautiful music

and how we're

going to sound

in heaven

Lord have

mercy

it will be so

glorious and so

beautiful

but on this

side of the grave

God is going to

start to work

within you

that unmoved

mover is going

to start to

all of a sudden

this key that

wasn't connected

to anything

there's wires

there

and then he's

going to start

to take some

of the stuff

that's out of

tune and he's

going to tune

it

and then at

the same time

he's making

you more and

more fully human

you're starting

to learn how

to play

and you're

playing all

of the notes

that's God's

goal for your

life

and as part

of God's

goal for your

life

he's going

to make you

grieve

you make me

grieve over

some of the

evil that I've

done

my unforgiveness

for my lack

of generosity

for my miserliness

for my lust

for my pride

for my envy

for my inattention

to the demands

of justice

and the demands

of compassion

my lack of

concern for the

poor

all whatever it

is he's going

to make you

start to find

it worth

crying about

and what's

the final verse

the final verse

is this wonderful

promise humble

yourselves before

the Lord and

he will

exalt you

what is the

gospel friends

the gospel

the good news

is he gives

more grace

therefore it

says God

opposes the

proud but

gives grace

to the humble

humble yourselves

before the

Lord and

he will

exalt

you

friends

wherever you

are if you've

been sitting

I'm going to

invite you to

stand I'm

closing with

prayer we're

going to have

some other

prayer and

we're going to

sing some more

but just to

bring this to a

conclusion if you

haven't given your

life to Jesus

there's no better

time now than

to say Jesus be

my Savior and

my Lord I

want that I

want that I'm

willing to turn

away from

whatever I want

that I'm

Jesus I will

submit I won't

submit to man I

won't submit to

woman I won't

submit to ideologies I

won't submit to the

state but I will

submit to grace

come and take me and

never let me go

thank you that you

will exalt me that's

the end of my

story and for each

of us one of the

reasons it's so

important to come and

gather around God's

word is that we can

once again say the

pledge of allegiance

no it's an American

model but we can

once again say yes

that is why I follow

Jesus the one who

will take my

obedience and turn my

water into wine

Jesus help me to be

more obedient let's

just pray father

grip us with the

gospel we give you

an unconditional

invitation and

unconditional

permission to

speak your gospel

and your word into

every part of our

lives and to have

your gospel and your

word rule in every

part of our lives we

give you unconditional

invitation and

unconditional permission

and we do this in the

name of Jesus amen

translation and

British