Jesus Wants To Be Our Teacher And Guide

Thank you, Christopher and Company.

If you have if you're a student, you're dismissed.

Welcome to Christ Community Church.

Hello.

Hello.

Keller, you make them do right back there, okay?

Okay.

Yeah.

All right.

Make them act nice.

No telling what they'll be up to.

Hooray.

What a great day.

It's a beautiful day.

It's just perfect.

I was outside early, early this morning, praying for y'all.

And on most of you, I didn't get a busy signal, so that was good.

I love what Gail read.

You know, you read all those to me in the car a long time ago.

And I I guess I missed it until today, but that idea that draping spring around your shoulders and then dancing or leaping.

I thought of David dancing before the Lord just out of sheer joy.

There was no duty or obligation, or he just was so happy and pleased and thankful and full of contentment that he just couldn't help but dance.

I love that.

Yeah.

We want things, we want to hear from the Lord, and we want to see things from the Lord, and we want to hear from him, and those things are normal.

And um, and it's not always as simple as a beautiful day, but uh if you were my students, I would say, let's go outside and leave every device you've got, including your eye fancy eye watch that buzzes.

Let's leave it all inside and go outside and look at a flower and and probably wouldn't be doing much dancing, but why not?

And dance in the sunshine and be thankful for the for the gift.

Yes.

Anyway, anyway, that's a good image.

Um don't forget Thursday nights at our house, six o'clock to seven o'clock.

We have a little gathering.

All of you are invited.

Welcome.

Um we just study something in the scripture, and I can send you, if you'll let me know, I will send you what we're going to be studying.

And then we'll have some special prayer time for different needs in the lives of people.

And uh, it's just been really great.

It's been good.

It's been better than great.

Um, anyway, come if you can.

Uh I asked everybody this week to pre as a way of preparing for our study today to read Psalm 23 and 32.

And I asked you to read it.

And I was just wondering, any English teacher, poetry teacher, anything jump out at you as significant or anything that you saw as a connection between those two?

Either way.

Well, um both of those psalms, 23 and 32, and and others, are about, of course, God's being our guide, our leader, our, you know, our um, and and the 23rd Psalm, of course, is very familiar.

We hear that psalm a lot in funerals and places.

We we've seen places, you know, that God uh guides us like a shepherd, which is a great metaphor, because we like sheep have gone astray, and he and all the all the imagery that comes with gathering up sheep, and that the one goes over here and he leaves the 99 and comes for the one.

So that that's a great image of being flocked together and led, you know, corporately.

Um 30 Psalm 32 um says it this way in the translation that I read.

It says, Um, the Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.

I will advise you and watch over you.

So what struck me in the two things was the similarity, but also the similarities, but also the contrast.

You know, that we, he says, I will lead you on the best pathway for your life.

And we enjoy, as Americans and as Westerners and as human beings, we enjoy being, you know, kind of staunch individualists.

Um Thomas Carlisle says hardy individualists.

That's a great thing.

Um, but it it seems like sometimes to me we we prefer being led as a group.

So if something good happens to Brenda, the Lord blesses Brenda, I'm like, well, why not why not me?

You know, I'm I'm grateful and all that.

I'm real thankful, but hey, you know, but that may not be the path, the best pathway for my to be led, for me to be led in the same path as Brenda, they're different paths.

And so we that was what I thought.

We like, we we say, or I hear people say, we don't like this corporate image, and I'm an individualist and you know, and all that comes with that, which is true.

Um, but when it comes to the specific path that God leads me down, when it's different than someone else's, sometimes I get fearful or I get a buck up, you know, like hey, I'm right, I'm here too.

What about me?

And the path is different for me.

The best path for my life.

That's what I thought.

I love that.

Thank you.

You can tell we did rehearse this part.

No, no, we didn't.

We in fact we don't rehearse much of it.

No, that's that's that's good stuff.

I'll have to think about that.

Um I th I just think in paradox, both can be true.

Because within paradox, we can be led as a group and led individually at the same time.

And or follow individually.

Yes.

If we will embrace the benefits and both have well, yeah, I would just say both have great benefits.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Um the most brilliant and the most prolific writer in the New Testament said this in 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

Everything in the Old Testament happened to give us examples and warnings to prepare us for the future.

Say it again.

Paul said, everything in the Old Testament.

Now you think through that very statement, that that's a that's a that's a deal right there.

But it says, everything in the Old Testament happened to give us examples and warnings to prepare us for the future.

And then he said in Romans 15, almost the same thing, different little slant, everything in the Old Testament was written to teach us so that we would experience endurance, encouragement, and hope.

Let me say that one again.

Everything in the Old Testament was written, so everything that happened in the Old Testament times was written to give us example and warning.

And everything that was written in the Old Testament was written to teach us so that we would experience endurance, encouragement, and hope.

Those two verses challenged me forty-five years ago.

Somebody shared them with me.

Let me translate those two verses or yeah, those two verses for you.

Read the Old Testament.

Read the Old Testament.

Don't just read the New Testament.

That's what that's what Paul means there.

One of the things that the Old Testament records for us, shares with us, an event that occurred, and then the writing of that event in the Old Testament was the record of Israel's journey through the wilderness or through the desert.

That was a time that occurred for 40 years in between Israel's deliverance from Egypt and Israel's entering of the Promised Land.

And if you step back from that event, that's what we're reading about right now, if you're reading through the Bible with me, we're reading about that journey through the wilderness, through the desert that lasted 40 years.

And if you if you get away from the details, the, you know, the, well, I won't get into all the details because there's a gazillion of them.

But if you get away from the details and you get up high and look down, and you think about that plan that God set up for leading his people through the wilderness for 40 years, it's a pretty amazing plan.

How God designed or devised to guide or direct his people.

If you take it at face value, what two and a half million people were supposed to do every day was get up, I'm sure, wash your face off, maybe eat some manna and quail or whatever you ate, and then you were supposed to walk out of your tent and look for this cloud, this pillar of cloud.

And if it stayed where it was, you were supposed to stay where you were.

And if it started moving north, south, east, west, northeast, southwest, whatever it, if it started moving, you were supposed to follow it wherever it went.

Now you think about that plan.

God set up a plan to guide and direct his people by getting up every morning, walking outside your tent, looking for the cloud, which clearly represented the presence of God, and follow it.

Can you think of a simpler plan?

It's almost um you could almost go, that's too simple.

But can you think of a more effective plan?

And isn't it funny?

I know I've said this.

I wonder if you've said this.

You know, when you have to make a big decision or if something's happening that you that you don't like, or what, you know, would say things like God would just like show me.

If God, I would, if God would tell me what to do, show me what to do, I would do it.

Uh and I want and I know we have the pure motives there, but I wonder if that's true.

Because, you know, what the the opposite of that is an Israelite gets up and sees that the cloud is still there, there's no movement, and they're like, We're not making progress today.

There's no productivity going on here.

Yep.

Yep.

Or it begins to move.

I'm tired.

I am bone weary tired.

Gotta pack all that stuff up again.

Oh, we're in a pretty place.

Let's stay, let's stay and enjoy the spring.

Just a little while.

Let's just put it all in gaze and meditate and but if the cloud moved, God's plan was y'all come with me.

And if the cloud stayed, he said, Today I don't want you to go anywhere.

Exodus 13 says this.

Yahweh went before his people and guided them on their way by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, so that they could travel by day or night, and neither left its place in front of the people.

Now I realize this is incredibly basic and simple, but I really felt like it was important for us to be challenged with this very basic and simple concept of discipleship.

The people of God were told by the God of the people, I will be in front of you every morning.

And when you get up, you look for me.

And if I'm moving, you follow.

If I'm not moving, you stay.

And as you mentioned a minute ago, I'm sure there was an abundance because of the people of God.

That means there was an abundance of whining.

Where are we going?

Is this the right way?

Is this the simplest or best way?

What's up ahead?

How long is this going to take?

When are we going to get there?

What strikes me about this plan in the most profound way is God didn't give Moses a map.

God didn't give Moses a map and say, to Moses, go from the Red Sea to the wells of Marah, and then to the, you know, and go to ABCD and then get to Mount Sinai, stay there a year, and then He didn't give him a map.

That's how I would have done it.

What God did was, he said, Moses, you tell the people, get up every morning, look for that which represents my presence.

And if it moves you, you tell them to move.

And if it doesn't move, you tell them to be still.

God's plan required connection.

It required dependency.

It did not require or demand rules.

It did not demand or require advanced knowledge.

Just follow me every day.

You might think, well, that's one isolated situation.

What about Abraham, 400 years earlier, 440 years, 30 years earlier?

Abraham followed Yahweh to the land of Palestine, to the promised land, Canaan, if you will.

And what his neighbors, if you read the life of Abraham in Genesis, one of the things that it says, and you have to look for it because it just mentions it, but it mentions it several times.

The Canaanite people that lived around in that land around Abraham, you know what they said about him?

When they talked about Abraham, they mentioned three things.

That guy is blessed in everything he does.

That guy always lives in a tent.

He never builds a house.

He's wealthy, he's rich, he could build a honk and mansion, but he always lives in tents.

And wherever he stops, he builds an altar.

I find that very significant that Abraham's neighbors, enemies, whatever the word, you know, whatever you want to focus on, what they noticed about Abraham is that wherever he stopped, the first thing he did was build an altar.

I'm using my sanctified imagination right now, but I would like to think that Abraham built that altar for the very same purpose that God said, when you wake up in the morning, Israelites, walk outside your tent and look for where I am.

Abraham would get up in the morning, he would take a lamb, he would offer it as a sacrifice on that altar as a way of saying, God, what do I do today?

Where do I go today?

What's today's marching orders?

Paul says in Hebrews 11, Abraham followed God's directions without knowing where he was going.

No map, no orders, no rules, no, now I want you to go this many miles today, turn right, stop here, speed up, slow down.

Just get up in the morning, seek me, look for where I am, and follow me.

Now you might, again, it would not be unreasonable for some of you to go, that's Old Testament.

That's Old Testament.

Let's take the Lord Jesus and the disciples.

What was his plan for leading his followers?

It's almost identical.

I can see Peter and John and James and all the others, Bartholomew and Thaddeus and all these dudes, get up and saying, all right, now what's the what's Jesus just said, guys, get up.

Let's have breakfast.

Follow me.

That was Jesus' invitation to those guys.

What are we going to do?

Where are we going to go?

When are we going to get the exact same complaining that the Israelites did?

Jesus never answered those questions.

He just said, I want you to follow me.

Stay close.

Keep your eyes on me.

And if you do, I promise you this.

All will be well and all will go well.

I find it very theologically significant that Jesus did not come to show people the way.

Nor did Jesus ever come or say that he came to tell people the way.

Jesus came because he was the way.

Do you see the difference there?

Jesus didn't tell people the way to go.

He was the way.

And I believe he still is.

But what he related to the disciples not as a map.

He didn't give them a map.

He didn't give them marching orders.

He didn't give them rules or directions.

He just said, I want you to be with me.

Follow me.

In John 8, Jesus says this I am the light of the world.

Follow me.

And if you do, you will never walk in darkness, but you will have light and you will experience life.

Just wake up, seek, and listen to me.

Live your day with the confidence that I am with you.

I'm at work around you.

I'm at work in you.

And everything that happens in your life will be an invitation to know me better, to experience me in more deep ways.

You will get to protect.

Participate in what think about the life of the disciples in the Gospels.

Everything that happened every day in their journey with Jesus was just an invitation to participate, to witness, to experience.

I wonder what my life would look like if I related to Jesus like that.

If every phone call, when my phone buzzes, I wonder what my life would look like if every phone call I looked at it like, Jesus, what are you inviting me into right now?

Every encounter in the grocery store, every experience, every circumstance, every encounter, every need, every problem, every conversation, what would our lives look like if we actually believed that if we got up and started our day in the presence of God, beholding his glory, seeking his face, listening for his voice, and we just began to live our day as if he was guiding me and you just like he guided the Israelites through the wilderness and just like he guided the disciples through Palestine.

And we looked for the experiences of the day, meetings, problems, challenges, knuckleheads, lovely people, but we saw all that happened as if Jesus was leading me into that encounter, problem, need, relationship, and he's wanting to do something through it in my life or through me in their life or in both of our lives, but he's gonna reveal himself through that if I am looking.

I know you don't like me to do this, but I Then don't do it.

Well, can't help it.

Well, 43 years have I ever really No, no, I've never really listened.

My wife, I've known her a while.

A long time.

And uh as long as you've been, well, way longer than you've been a school teacher, but I've known you as a school teacher for 43 years.

You do that about as well as anybody I know.

When you get up in the morning and you're you she always leaves me with the same, how does my hair look?

How does my outfit look?

I'm late.

That's the three, that's the that's right.

How does my hair look?

How does my outfit look?

I'm late.

So anyway, she and I always say, beautiful, beautiful, you'll make it.

What are they gonna do?

Fire you?

No.

So anyway, so she roars out.

But when she walks into the door of that school, she puts on, you know, like you hear of athletes, they put on their game face.

I don't know about all that, but I've been around you at school enough to know that you actually see your classes.

And when the teachers walk in the room or the students walk, Ms.

Ray, do you have just five minutes?

Ms.

Ray, can I talk to you about this?

You do that well.

You see your, you see God leading you through your day and through your conversations and through your encounters with adults and children and in the literature that you're teaching, that Solomon couldn't pull a spiritual nugget out of some of that stuff, and but you do.

And it's maybe he could do, but anyway, um.

And I think you and I think your life reflects what I'm saying.

You see your life as having the presence of God on it, the blessing of God on it, you see God using you throughout the day.

I'm not saying you don't, because I know you do.

You have problems and cantankerous students, cantankerous parents, cantankerous coworkers.

I know that.

But you you live above it better than most because you actually see that God is guiding you through your day.

You see students coming in and you actually, this is an encounter.

God orchestrated this.

What's he up to?

What what how am I supposed to see this, approach this, respond to this, relate to this, react to this?

You do that very well.

And you have, as long as I've known you.

I would like to do better about that.

Jesus is, what's the word?

He he was spoken to, addressed.

That's what I'm looking for.

Jesus was addressed directly in the four gospels ninety times.

Ninety times.

Somebody came up to him and said, teacher, um, rabbi, healer, whatever.

But he was addressed ninety times.

Sixty of those times, two-thirds of all the times that Jesus was addressed, he was addressed as teacher.

The Hebrew word for teacher is the exact same word, could just as easily have been translated guide.

That's what Jesus was.

He was a guide.

In the Hebrew mind, or in our mind, you are a relayer of information.

That's what teachers do.

I know a lot of stuff, and I'm going to convey it to you.

In the Jewish mind, that was not, that was a part of it.

I'm not saying it was not a part, but that was one part.

A teacher in the Jewish mind was more of a guide, like somebody that would teach you how to sculpt or how to do woodworking or how to hunt.

You're teaching, but it's not just information, it's actually you're teaching them to, you're guiding them into a new experience.

Some of you will ask me, because if I don't say it, so I might as well go in and say it real quickly, um, how does how does Jesus guide us?

How does Jesus, and I don't have the time today, but I've taught this to y'all so many times.

I'm not going to debate, deny, or argue that God guides people any way he wants, and does so in many, many different ways.

But for 2,000 years, Orthodox Christianity and the greatest Christian leaders throughout the last 2,000 years have universally agreed that the number one way or ways that God guides people is through the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the people of God.

But couldn't he send a star from heaven or couldn't he do he can do anything he wants to do?

He did send a star.

And then everybody said, well, that's not God.

You know what I mean?

That's just the word of God, the Spirit of God, and the people of God.

That are those are God's primary ways of guiding us.

Not signs, not circumstances, not feelings, not desires.

And I would say to you, with me first in line, I think that most of the time we turn that bass acords.

We do it exactly.

I make more of my decisions on desires, on feelings, and on circumstances than I do the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the people of God.

And I want to just say one thing here.

Cher Lee sort of said, she said, uh, we were talking about this yesterday, and she said, There's nobody in that room that would be like this.

And I said, Yes, there is, because I know y'all.

Those of you that are reading through the Old Testament with me, you know what God says numerous times, and I find it significant that he says it so strongly.

Don't seek to know the future.

Don't seek to know the future.

Don't talk to palm readers.

Don't talk to fortune tellers.

Don't talk to people who claim they know the future.

He said stone them.

That's probably not the best plan for today, but you can flee away from them.

Don't read your horoscope, which is a joke to say your horoscope.

Some dude in New York City writing this thing out, it ain't for you.

But anyway, don't do that.

Don't do that.

God says, don't try to know the future.

Foreknowledge is never a part of God's plan for guiding us.

I know, well, I'll leave that alone.

I'm going to read a couple of these.

Psalm 16, David says, I will praise the Lord who guides me.

Even at night, my heart instructs me.

Psalm 25, God guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

Psalm 32, I will guide you with my eye, so don't act like a jackass.

Psalm 119, remember we've talked about, do you know how close you have to be to somebody for them to guide you with their eye?

Not their hands, not their voice, not their feet, but for to guide you with their eye.

Do you know how close you have to be to them?

I love that image too, because if the that's right, you have to be very close, both literally and um emotionally.

You know, like a uh a child doing the wrong thing, the mother will give that eye, right?

Or a child doing the right thing.

That pleasure, that look of pleasure.

Right, right.

And a child very early on gets that.

Yes, of course they do.

It's an intimacy thing, too.

Yes.

Psalm 119, your words are a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.

Psalm 139, Lord, please lead me in the way everlasting.

Now read two more.

Proverbs 3.

Don't let God's wisdom and understanding out of your sight.

Preserve his sound judgment and discretion.

They will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck.

You'll go on your way in safety and avoid stumbling.

And when you lie down, you won't be afraid, your sleep will be sweet, you won't live in fear of unexpected ruin that pursues the wicked, for the Lord will be at your side and will keep you from the traps of life.

One more.

Proverbs 4.

Listen and accept what I say, so that your years will be many.

I will instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths.

When you walk, you won't be hampered.

When you run, you won't fall.

Hold on to my instruction.

Don't let it go, for it guards, guard it well.

I'm sorry, guard it well, for it is your life.

The path of righteousness is like the morning sun shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

But the wicked walk in darkness, never knowing what makes them stumble.

And I've got bucos more verses that say the same thing.

And that is, God wants to guide us through life.

We were not created to go through life by our own wits.

We were not created to go through life by trial and error.

We were not created by God to go through life hoping and fearing and loaded down with the pressure of wondering, am I making good decisions?

I don't have to go through life guessing.

And that should fill me and it should fill you with comfort.

It ought to also impact us with courage and peace.

It's not parents.

It's not Rachel, Annie, Susan, August, it's not your job to have all the answers.

I know that's what you want.

How could you not?

But it's not your job as a parent to have all the answers.

It's not your job to have the ability to look ahead and to see the dangers that are coming.

If you have a guide, directions, and foreknowledge are unnecessary.

My daughter, she's almost perfect, but she can be mean to her old lad sometimes.

And one of the ways that she's mean to me is if she says, lad, do you know where so-and-so is?

And I'll go, Well, yeah, baby, I do.

And I start giving her the directions.

Y'all.

It's like go to the cow and then take a ride out at the fence.

Not cow and fence, but I give her the drink.

And she sits there for about 30 seconds.

She says, lad, I'm gonna punch this into my uh whatever that maps thing.

I don't need all that.

Do you know where it is?

Do you know the and so I'll tell her the name and then she does it.

What she's telling me is, I don't need all those directions.

I've got a guide.

I've got a guide.

We get all consumed and bogged down with wanting to have the directions.

We don't have to have the right answers.

Directions are unnecessary when you've got a guide.

We can stop stressing, second guessing.

Yahweh promises to lead us in good directions toward good places.

Knowing that God wants to be our guide should warn us to stop trying to know the future.

Avoid the danger of seeking to know what's coming next.

Proverbs 27 and James 4 both say the exact same thing.

You don't know what will happen tomorrow.

Stop trying to figure it out.

Jesus says in Matthew 16, evil people seek after signs.

Knowing that God wants to be our God should make us recommit.

Remember December 28th, 29th, 30th, man, you were, I'm gonna read my Bible every day.

I'm gonna spend time in the presence of God.

I'm gonna do it.

How's that going?

How's that going?

Sort of like how you're gonna do real good on your eating, no cookies, no cokes, or cut back on your wine.

How's that going?

Probably about the same.

Oh, that we would recognize that what God asked of the Israelites in the wilderness, what God, what Jesus asked of the disciples in Palestine, is what he asked of us.

Just get up in the morning, get out of bed, seek my face for just a few minutes, quiet yourself, put all the things that make noise and flash, put that aside, and just seek me, listen to me, embrace me.

Let me give you the confidence that I'm gonna guide you through life.

He wants to guide us.

There is nothing more important that I can do each day.

I'll just end by telling you this.

I've known the Lord for 45 years, and it is the testimony of my life that every day for 45 years, the Lord Jesus has guided me in good directions toward good places.

Every day.

Have I sometimes been a hard head, a jackass, and gone off the path or sat down or gone backwards?

Yes.

But the testimony of my life is that when I got up in the morning and I sought the face of God and made a decision that I'm gonna follow you and I'm gonna look for you, God has always faithfully led me in good directions toward good places, most of which I never dreamed would happen.

And that when I have been afraid or rebellious, when I've spent all this time stressing and second-guessing and all this trying to connive and plot and force, what I've discovered is it's the I've never wasted more time.

I've never wasted more time, and I've never made my Savior any more sad.

He doesn't want me to do all that, he didn't want you to do that.

Just get up in the morning and look for me, and I'll reveal, if you seek me, you'll find me, and I will reveal myself to you, and I will guide you.

If you'll just look for me, and I promise you, I will guide you.

And that you give us peace and courage and joy and comfort.

Henry Nowen prayed this prayer on a daily basis.

Lord, I want to be in control and to be the master of my destiny.

Yet you continually tell me, let me take you by the hand and lead you.

Trust in my love and that I will bring you to where your deepest desires will be fulfilled.

Lord, open my hands to receive your gift of love.

I don't pray that every day, but that is the prayer of my heart.

I so want to be in control.

God, teach me that you're in control.

Teach me to trust that your control is good.

And I don't have to be afraid.

I don't have to be terrified for myself or my wife or my children or my grandson.

I don't, for y'all, I live in, I don't know if it's terror, that's strong, but I live worrying about you.

I don't have to, I don't know why I do.

I want to learn to let God be my guide and to follow him and to believe that if I just do that, it'll work out great.

It'll work out great.

Thank you, friend.

Anything you want to add?

Not one thing.

Thanks be to God.

Thanks be to God.

We're gonna take the Lord's Supper.

I have to believe that.

I I can't believe that God has spoken to me so strongly about this.

And he hasn't spoken to you as well.

So I would just ask you, before Chris lights us up with some music, just take a moment.

What is God saying to you today?

Where in your life are you struggling to let God be your guide?

What do you need to change so that God can be your guide?

He wants to be.

We have a God that delights in guiding us.

And I'll read that in a minute.

So just before you rush up here, and I want you to come.

I want you to take bread and wine and eat and drink.

Just as a way of declaring that the God that died on the cross for me wants to be my guide every day.

But before you come, take a moment.

What is the Spirit of God saying to you?

And when you're done, you come.