WHY CHURCH? CLARIFYING WHO’S IN CHARGE

We are in a sermon series called Why Church.

Why Church?

We've been exploring for weeks now what it means biblically to be a part of the church.

Why does the church exist?

And what is our role, our purpose within it?

If you've missed any of the sermons in this series, you can go to our website, our YouTube channel, our podcast, and you can watch andor listen to them in their entirety as we've been working our way through parts of 1 Corinthians, and we've been working our way through the entire uh book of Ephesians.

And so today we find ourselves in Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

But before I get to that, let me ask this question.

Have you ever used this phrase?

Can I see the manager, please?

Have you ever had an experience at a restaurant?

Maybe your food came out cold.

Maybe just the service.

You sat there for the longest time, even to get your order in.

And for whatever reason, and I know if there are some people that are in the restaurant business, I know there are some great, hospitable, gracious, loving, super serving folks in this church.

I ain't talking about y'all.

But but um, have you ever had the experience where you felt like I I need to talk to somebody that that above you?

I I need to I need this.

Can I see the manager, please?

Can I can I see the supervisor?

And you always know who the manager is at the restaurant or the person that has more authority because they're not dressed like the rest of the people in the restaurant.

So usually the people in the restaurant, they all have all black on, and then there's one person in turquoise that comes to the table.

Is everything okay?

Can I help you with anything?

Is the steak like you want it?

You know, it's like so you know, because they're they're just different from everybody else, they carry more authority.

You want to deal with the person that's in charge.

Maybe you've been at the airport and you're dealing with somebody and you're like, no, I need I need to talk to somebody else.

I need to who do who do I talk to to deal with this?

Or maybe it's on the phone.

You call in and they say, English or espanol.

And then they say, if you want this, press one.

If you want this, press two.

You want this, press three.

You want this, press four.

You want this, press five.

You want this, press six.

And you finally, after 35 minutes, you're like, I just want to talk to a representative.

Representative.

Representative.

And then you get somebody.

You finally get somebody.

Oh, I'm supposed to say agent?

That's what I'm supposed to say.

That's the key word.

Oh, okay.

Agent.

I didn't know.

I was I'm still on talk about representative.

So you talk to that person and nothing's going right.

So he's like, is there somebody else I can talk to?

Sometimes out of frustration, sometimes in anxiety, sometimes in anger, we want to get to the person who's in charge.

We want to get to the person that has more authority and power to do something about our circumstance.

But I wonder, if in the spiritual realm and the natural realm, sometimes you're going through something, you're dealing with a circumstance that that has that has brought on so much anxiety, frustration, anger, pain, that you're like, I need somebody with more authority.

I need somebody with more power.

Oh, let me ask it this way.

If someone were to ask you to meet the person in charge of your life, who would you point them to?

If somebody said, Can I see, can I meet, can I talk to your manager?

Can I talk to the supervisor of the decisions that you make?

Can I talk to the person that has authority and governance over how you live your life?

Who would you point them to?

Well, here in the book of Ephesians, Paul is trying to lay a framework for who is in charge ultimately, who is the head ultimately of the church.

Now, I'm gonna read a section of verses from Ephesians chapter 5, but it's important to understand this.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

We will take this out of context.

We will misinterpret it if we don't understand the first verse that I'm reading in this section and the last verse that I'm reading in this section.

So, Ephesians chapter 5, beginning with verse 21, it says this submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

That's an important verse here.

You don't lose that one.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.

For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body of which he is the Savior.

Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

I know some of you wives like say what kind of text is this you reading.

Verse 25.

Stick with me now, stick with me.

Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

That means died for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word and to present her, uh uh and present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle, or any other blemish but holy and blameless.

In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.

He who loves his wife loves himself.

After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church, for we are members of his body.

For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

This is a profound mystery.

Here's here's this is important, this part of the verse.

But I'm talking about Christ in the church.

So he's making it clear here, what I'm really talking about ultimately is not marriage as much as I'm really trying to talk about the church and its relationship to Christ.

From this text, I want to preach to you on the title, Why Church Clarifying Who's in Charge?

Why church clarifying who is in charge.

God, I pray this is your message that you preach, that you teach, and I'm just the vessel that you would use to say what you want to say to your beloved children, my sisters and brothers.

I want to be obedient to your word.

I want to parse it outright.

So please let that be done.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Why church?

Clarifying who's in charge.

There's an old saying, I think it goes all the way back to the Roman Empire.

It's even mentioned sometimes in Shakespeare, but it's a, I don't know if you heard of this line, but it's it the line goes, the one who whispers in Caesar's ear.

The one who whispers in Caesar's ear.

What this is saying is that to be Caesar is to have power and authority and influence.

To be Caesar in the Roman Empire is to be in charge.

But you know what?

If you can't be Caesar, if you're the one whispering in Caesar's ear, you can make a difference.

You can have somewhat uh the some power, some authority, some privilege because you're not Caesar, but you're close enough to Caesar.

You're rubbing shoulders enough with Caesar, you can whisper in Caesar's ear.

You can have an agenda just between you and Caesar.

Ah, this plays out in a Shakespearean play called Othello, where an antagonist, Diago, is in the ear of Othello.

Some people want to be Caesar in the world.

They would love to be in charge.

They would love to have power and authority.

They would love to be commander in chief.

They would love to be the CEO and the chair of the board.

They would love to be the executive director.

They would love to be the governor.

They would like to be Caesar.

And then there's some people they would just settle for being the whisperer in Caesar's ear.

And this is the dynamic that goes on.

But when it goes on in a broken, unjust, upside-down, sinful world of chaos, it's even more problematic because there are people in every industry: education, government, uh they could be in the healthcare industry, they can be in entertainment, they could be in the marketplace on Wall Street, and there are people that desire to be Caesar or get as close to Caesar as possible.

And in this wrestling, who's in charge?

What is the moral compass, if anything, at the center of this wrestling to be Caesar or to influence Caesar?

And I wish I could stand before you and say this happens in every industry.

This happens in every place of society except religion, except the church.

But even in the church, who's in charge?

The pastor, the deacon board, the trustees, the treasurer, the pastor, the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, who's in charge around here?

What a question.

But yet Paul is not afraid to address it.

He's not afraid to write about it.

When it comes to the church, no matter what is going on in the Roman Empire, no matter what is going on in the broader society, what does authority, leadership look like in the church?

Well, in chapter 5, the first verse says something very profound about this.

Ephesians 5, verse 1 says, following God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children, and and walk in as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Ephesians 5:1

Let me go through this again.

The first thing it says, following God's example.

So who's in charge in the church?

Where do we ultimately look for power and authority and guidance and direction in the church?

It says, following God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children, and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up.

There it is again, gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

So it's saying, if you want to get to who's in charge of the church, if you want to get to the core of the identity of the church and how the church should be led, start with Christ and start with Christ on the cross.

He gave himself up for the church.

It's like Jesus earned the right to be in charge of the church because he died for it.

Wow.

Look, I I love y'all.

I do.

I'm so honored and glad to be your pastor.

But what Jesus did for the church, I ain't doing that for y'all.

Woo! Nails in his hands?

I don't even like a hangnail.

I don't even like a splinter.

I don't even like a paper cut, much less nails in my wrists and nails in my feet.

No.

But you know what that means?

It means I can't stand up here like I'm the one ultimately in charge, ultimately with all power and all authority, because I won't do what Jesus did to deserve having all power and all authority and be in charge over the church.

It's his church.

Because he died for it.

But why would he do that?

Love.

Radical love.

This is authority and power and leadership driven by revolutionary radical love.

I've said this before, but if you want to know the character of God, if you want to know the nature of God, if you want to know the agenda of God, start at the cross and work your way out.

Start with this profound act that God loved us so much he would give his only begotten Son.

Now that that that John 3.16 can just so easily come out of our mouth, but do you really grasp what it means?

God is so in love with rebellious, ratchet, flawed, imperfect, upside down, broken, wicked, evil, human beings, that he would accommodate you and I out of love to become one of us.

That Jesus would become a human being, but not just any human being, a refugee human being, a human being born in poverty, a human being with calloused hands, a human being that lived as an oppressed second-class citizen in the Roman Empire, didn't just get close to the incarcerated, but was willing to be incarcerated unjustly and go to the cross for you and I.

I think Jesus did everything needed to do to prove who's in charge of the church.

Christ ultimately defines what it means to be a member of his body.

And you know, even though we use the term membership, and since I'm on that, let me just talk a minute, let me take a little detour and talk about what it means to be a member of this church.

What does it mean to be a member here?

Um, a member of Midtown Church is a lover and follower of Christ.

The fact that our definition of membership starts right there is it's crucial.

It is so important.

A member of Midtown Church is a lover and follower of Christ, that out of that love and followership of Christ has chosen to covenant, to build a relationship, to connect with this local body by committing to spiritual growth, committing to serving, committing to generosity, financial generosity, and accountability.

But that spiritual growth commitment, that serving commitment, whether it's in children's ministry, youth ministry, leading a small group, uh being a greeter, being an usher, uh, being on the security team, being a part of the leadership of men's ministry, women's ministry, service to the unhoused, to under-resourced schools, however you decide to serve, however, you sense God calling you above tithing to radical generosity and to accountability, that all comes out of the overflow of an intimate relationship with the one who's ultimately in charge of the church.

Because Christ ultimately defines what it means to be a member.

Ephesians 5, verse 30, it says, For we are members of his body.

Ephesians 5:30

The thing is, sisters and brothers, there is a difference between how the Bible describes being a member of the church, the body of Christ, and how we define membership in American culture.

Membership in American culture is about rights and privileges.

Sometimes it is about an exclusive status.

Before I came on staff here nine years ago, uh I was president of a national urban missions organization.

Before that, I was a superintendent overseeing a region of churches in our denomination.

So I traveled a lot.

And so today, because of all that travel, mostly back then, some recently, but mostly back then, I am a million miler on Delta.

I'm in an exclusive club.

I'm also, because of this, I have this membership in the Delta Sky Club when I fly Delta.

So I can go up, I'm a member.

I have membership.

So I when I go in the Delta Sky Club, I don't go in there like a guest or a stranger, because I'm a member.

I have a right to be in there.

It comes with some privileges.

I can walk in there and it don't take me long to get in there and go find me, you know, because I'm a member.

Now I'm not a member of a country club.

So I get treated different when I go to a country club.

I have to drop a name.

Because they just look at me like, are you like, oh yeah, I know Mr.

So-and-so.

I know Mrs.

So-and-so.

You get treated in American culture, there's a treatment you get when you're a member, and then there's a treatment you get when you're a guest.

The problem is we can bring that American westernized culture of membership into the church.

And so we walk into the church with wanting privilege and rights and authority and agency.

And like, uh you why are you sitting in this row?

Is this your first Sunday?

This is where I sit.

Because we bring that American westernized status of that membership means privilege.

Membership didn't mean that in scripture.

These people were going to jail for Jesus.

They were beaten, beaten with Jesus.

They weren't getting no rights and privileges from the Roman Empire.

They were getting flogged, they were getting jailed, they were getting crucified, they were getting crucified upside down, they were getting beheaded, they were getting stoned to death.

What a privilege.

What rights they had.

So when when the Bible is talking about being a member, it's talking about joining in the crucifixion, the sacrifice, the love, the justice, the truth, the generosity that makes up the mission of Jesus.

I know it's got quiet.

Ain't no shouting on this definition of membership.

Maybe membership is more about discipleship.

Maybe membership is more about kindness and hospitality and generosity and forgiveness.

I think we need to rethink membership in the church.

So the question that I want to wrestle with is who is the head of the church?

I mean, I know I can say Jesus.

I'm giving it away.

I've already got to the punchline, but what does that mean?

What does it mean?

How do we operate as a congregation under the idea that Jesus is the head of the church?

I'm so glad you want to know this.

Now, uh, point one, then, and I've got some questions to help us better wrestle with the question because you can't really understand who is the head of church until you answer the question one who is in charge of your life?

Who is in charge of your life?

Ephesians 5, verse 3 says this.

Ephesians 5:3

But among you, there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality or any kind of impurity or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.

Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

Wow, that's a lot right there, man.

He he's uh uh and what I what I like about this is like it's kind of a level playing field here.

Uh he's saying, look, uh the to to be to be a member of the body of Christ, you know, among you there shouldn't be a hint of sexual immorality or any kind of impurity and people, you know, uh or greed of because these are improper for God's holy people, nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, coarse joking.

Nobody can judge anybody in those verses because it'd be easy to go, well, look, look at that person and what they're doing, or look at that person and what they're doing.

No, man, and look at all the things that are named.

It's just naming all the flaws and the brokenness of human beings, which I'll get to in a minute.

Says, for this, verse five, you can be sure, no immoral, impure, or greedy person, such as an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things, God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient.

Therefore, do not be partners with them.

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

Live as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, and find out what pleases the Lord.

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.

But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.

That is why it is said wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Oh, that's awesome.

Wake up.

That means being woke is biblical.

Awesome! Verse 15.

Be very careful then how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.

Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Okay.

So let me break down a little further what this is about.

There's two things going on here.

Two things going on that's important to understand.

One, understand this.

Paul right now is talking mainly to Gentiles in the church.

People that are a part of Rome.

They've lived as Romans, they've lived in the culture of Rome, and now they're Christians.

And he's basically saying, you can't live like you were living before, now that you're in Christ.

You're used to a certain way of living, you're used to navigating a certain culture, but you're new now in Jesus.

And so I got to talk about these things.

But two, what does it mean for us today?

This is what it means for us today.

The items that are being mentioned are issues that affect the physical body, the thinking, the emotions, and the decision making of human beings, especially when we're vulnerable.

When we're carrying trauma, when we're carrying pain, when we're carrying neglect and anxiety and depression, sustained anger.

This is when the elements that make up the culture in which we live can have authority over our lives.

These things can take charge of our lives.

These things can have a foothold.

I'm not talking about having a glass of wine with your dinner.

I'm talking about when you are medicating yourself, when you are trying to manage trauma, anxiety, anger, pain, abuse through alcohol.

I'm not talking about a covenant relationship between married people.

I'm talking about when sex becomes medicine to get you through the pain and the trauma.

I just want to be loved.

I just want to feel worthy.

I just want to be valued.

I just don't want to be neglected and thrown away anymore.

In the midst of being vulnerable, in the midst of hurt, in the midst of trauma, in the midst of being vulnerable, the things of the world can take authority over our lives.

Be careful.

What's coming out of your mouth is a sign of who is in charge of your life.

This is what Paul is trying to get to.

Who has authority over your body?

Who has authority over your speech?

Who has authority?

Who is the boss?

Who is the supervisor over your soul?

Who is who is in charge?

Emotions happen, pain happens, anger.

Nobody's beating you up for being angry.

Nobody's beating you up for being frustrated.

Nobody's judging you for not being able to sleep all through the night.

But who is the one that takes charge of your life in the midst of it?

Who is the head of your body?

Who is the head of your soul?

Who is the head of your spirit?

I grew up in this church, Redeemer Missionary Baptist Church in Minneapolis.

In this African-American church, we had Sunday service, but we also had Tuesday night testimony and prayer service.

And when people would get up to give their testimony, they would always start out with giving honor to God, who is the head of my life, to pastor, the deacons, the mothers, the deaconesses, the trustees, the ushers, all auxiliaries and leaders.

I would like to share my testimony.

Y'all know I was in the hospital for three weeks.

That's why y'all ain't seen me.

I noticed somebody was sitting on my row this Sunday because they didn't know.

But I would just like to say that I've been healed and I thank y'all for your prayers.

Glory to God, glory to God.

Amen.

Amen.

And the next person would stand up, giving honor to God, who is the head of my life, pastors, deacons, trustees, members, and friends, auxiliaries, and everybody.

I would just like to thank God.

I I had the gout in my big toe, but God is so good.

And it would just keep going and going and going.

You don't hear that much in church anymore.

Giving honor to God who is the head of my life.

Maybe we just lost that tradition, or maybe we realize you can't speak something out of your mouth that ain't being lived out in your life.

I don't know.

But I would want to think that we just lost that tradition somewhere.

But we do need to figure out what does it mean to be on a journey?

The journey of God being the head of our lives.

This is no judgment.

This is not shaming.

This is not pointing the finger.

You know what?

I have areas in my own life where I still need to allow God to take charge and have lordship and have governance over that issue, over that thought, over that feeling, over that.

I did all of us.

So that's why it's just what does it mean to be a community where we're all on the journey of growing and giving God charge of every area of our life?

This temptation ultimately is driven by Satan.

This is not just a natural issue, this is a spiritual issue, and Jesus actually shows us the way.

In Matthew chapter 4, verse 1.

Matthew 4:1

Jesus is tested in the wilderness.

It says in Matthew chapter 4, verse 1, then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Matthew 4:1

After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.

See, Jesus as a human being is vulnerable here because he has not eaten for over a month.

Now you think about it right here.

How would you be?

How would you act?

How would you behave if you hadn't had nothing to eat for 40 days?

40 days, no catfish, collard greens, macaroni, cheese, yams, cornbread, peach cobbler, sweet potato pie, okra, oxtails, lasagna, pizza, hamburgers, the nuggets from Chick-fil-A for 40 days.

What would your attitude be like?

And this is the very moment where Satan will try to take authority over your life.

When you're hungry, when you're thirsty, when you're desperate, when you're tired, when you've already been dealing with all this stuff at work and at home and from your past, and you're tired and you're sleepy and you haven't had Chick-fil-A in 40 days.

This is when the tempter came to him and said, If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.

Let me get right to the issue that you're dealing with right now.

You're unemployed, you're hungry, you're unhoused, you're undocumented, you're divorced.

Let me get to the issue.

I know you're hungry.

Jesus answered, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point.

If you are the son of God, throw yourself down, take your life, end it right here, since you the son of God, and let's see what happens.

Just jump off.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

All this I'll give to you.

You can get paid, Jesus.

Jesus, I this is telling something.

Satan is telling you right now, you see all these kingdoms and governments in the earth, you see all these established structures and institutions.

I'm in charge of this, and I can give it to you.

Satan believes that he is in charge of what God created that he rebelled against, which is a line of trick.

Jesus said, Away from me, Satan, for it is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.

Jesus is saying, Satan, get away from me because you're not in charge of my life.

I know the one I worship is in charge.

The one I worship is the head of my life.

Jesus is showing us the way.

I'm hungry, but God is still in charge.

I'm hurting, but God is still in charge.

I'm angry, but God is still in charge.

I'm sorrowful, but God is still in charge.

I'm frustrated, but God is still in charge.

When you are going through hell and high water, don't fire your boss.

Don't give a pink slip to your supernatural supervisor.

Who is the head of your life?

Lord have mercy.

I gotta get out of point one.

Um, two, who is in charge of your church?

That's what we're dealing with in this text that I started with, Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

Submit to one another, verse 21, out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.

For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, his body of which he is the savior.

Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any blemish, but holy and blameless.

In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.

Now, just for time, let me go all the way down to verse 31.

For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one.

This is a profound mystery, but I'm talking about Christ in the church.

He's saying, What I'm talking about here is Christ in the church.

If you want to use this text to talk about marriage, okay, then husbands die for the radiancy of your wife.

Give your life up so that she can look glorious.

But but Paul is saying, that's not really what I'm talking about here.

What I'm really talking about is the relationship between Christ and the church.

Christ being the head of the church.

Because the honest truth is, if Paul would have said to the Gentiles, the man is over the woman, they would have looked at each other like, you ain't saying nothing.

Caesar believes that.

Rome believes that.

Every pagan empire believed the man was ruling over the woman.

That's not the point here.

Because when God created human beings, you read it for yourself in Genesis, he didn't say he created male and female in his own image and the man to be over the woman.

That's not what it says.

You don't hear any rulership of a man over a woman, you don't hear any subordination of the woman until Satan comes on the scene as the serpent and sin comes on the scene.

So that was not God's agenda for man to rule over a woman.

And that's why when the Holy Spirit came, it came equally upon men and women, so that the old and the young, the daughters and the sons will prophesy.

So that's not what he's talking about.

He's talking about who's in charge of the church.

Three, who's in charge in society?

Maybe you thought that all this is about is who's in charge of the church and who's in charge of you.

But does God have anything to say about what God created?

And God created the heavens and the earth.

God created the entire universe.

So does God have any authority and power and charge in society?

Now I'm gonna read to you something.

It's gonna sound good at first, but then it's gonna be like, mm-hmm.

Chapter 6, verse 1.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment, with the promise, so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on earth.

Fathers, do not exasperate your children.

Instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

That's great.

Then this one slaves obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.

Pastor Susie will be coming to break that verse down to you in a few weeks.

No, I'm just playing.

I'm gonna break it down.

That's why y'all are so quiet.

You're like, what's Pastor Effin gonna do with this verse on slavery?

Well, one, this slavery in Scripture is not the same as the framework of slavery at the beginning of the United States of America or the form of slavery still going on in this country called human trafficking.

So this slavery was about economics, but the slavery in this country was about economics and oppression.

Economics and ripping the humanity off a group of people.

So what Paul is doing here is Paul is looking at all the structures in the society within the Roman Empire.

The family structure, and now he's getting into the economic structure.

I could argue, I think credibly, that what Paul is trying to help us understand is that when the church understands that God is in charge of the church, and when we understand that God is in charge of our lives, then what we're supposed to do is go out into this sinful world and show the sinful world what it would look like if God was in charge.

If God was in charge of health care, if God was in charge of education, if God was in charge of Wall Street, if God was in charge of politics, if God was in charge of entertainment, if God was in charge of park and wreck, if God was in charge of your community, this is what it looks like.

And so Paul is talking about every structure in society to the church that we might bring light and love and transformation to it.

So this is the call.

Once we get right that God is in charge in the church, once we get right that God is in charge of our lives, we can go out and your job, wherever you work, wherever you go to school, wherever you live, is to give a preview, a picture of what it would look like in your industry, at your job, at your school.

What would it look like if God was in charge?

What if God was in charge of the issue with the unhoused?

What if God was in charge of the criminal justice system?

What if God was in charge of the immigration philosophies and decisions and policies?

What if God was in charge with the undocumented?

What if God was in charge and and there was a godly biblical regulation of capitalism that wasn't just unregulated and hyper?

We're not talking about communism, we're not talking about socialism, we're talking about if God's will and heart and justice came to bear on our society, what would it look like if God was in charge?

I gotta come to my close.

I gotta I gotta come to my close.

Um I'm the co-senior pastor of this church.

Sometimes I will be in a conversation with another pastor who's the solo senior pastor at their church.

And I will say, I'm the co-senior pastor.

And like, what does that mean?

It means I pastor with somebody else.

I pastor with Susie Gomez.

And sometimes the pastor will say back to me, don't nothing have two heads but a monster.

I was like, really?

So I did some research.

I watched a Godzilla movie, and for sure, one of the monsters on there had two heads.

And so I would go have these conversations with pastors, and they would they would say, Don't nothing have two heads but a monster.

But then after a while, I said, Well, have you seen Frankenstein?

There's monsters with one head.

Have you seen Friday the 13th?

Don't go see that.

There's monsters with one head.

There's oh, one-headed, there are one-headed monsters.

A church can have one senior pastor and it'd be monstrous.

So it's not about how many senior pastors you have, it's about who's in charge of those senior pastors.

I came to tell you as I come to my close.

Midtown will be the church that God created it to be as soon as all the members decide who is in charge, who is in authority ultimately of this church, and have we as leaders submitted, surrendered to the one that's in charge.

In case you're wondering how this works, there was a time when Pharaoh and Egypt thought they were in charge, but they are no more.

There was a time when Artaxerxes and Persia thought they were in charge, but they are no more.

There was a time when Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon thought they were in charge, but they are no more.

There was a time even Saul, the first king of Israel, thought he was in charge, but he is no more.

There was a time when the Roman Empire and Caesar and Herod and Pontius Pilate thought they were in charge, but no more.

There was a time when the Pharisees and the Sadducees thought they were in charge, but over 2,000 years ago, the one with all power and all authority, the one with all charge and agency came down here as a refugee, as an Israeli-Palestinian, Hebrew, African, and he navigated and he healed and he performed miracles and he went to the cross and he came out of the grave with all power and authority.

You want to know who's in charge?

It's Jesus, it's Alpha, it's Omega, it's the wheel in the middle of the wheel.

I wish Jesus was here and could push me out the way and say, Allow me to reintroduce myself.

My name is Yahweh.

My name is Jehovah Jirah.

My name is Baum and Gilead.

My name is Will in the middle of the wheel.

My name is Al Shaddai.

My name is Prince of Peace.

My name is the Crucified One.

Is he in charge of your marriage?

Is he in charge of your single life?

Is he in charge of your finances?

Is he in charge of your mind?

Is he in charge of your heart?

Who's in charge?

Can I see the supervisor, please?

So the altar's open.

If there's an area in your life where you need God to take charge, won't you come?

Or you can just stand right where you are.

There's a relationship, there's a situation.

I need God to take charge.

I've been trying to be my own boss too long.

I'm tired of managing all of the affairs of my life by myself.

Would you take charge?

God, would you be the boss?

Would you take charge?

Take charge of my mind.

Take charge of my heart.

Take charge of my marriage.

Take charge of my single life.

Take charge as I raise my children.

Would you take charge?

Would you take charge?

Would you take charge?

My God, my God, my God.

There's something in this place going on right now.

Would you take charge?

Would you take charge?

I give this to you, God.

Would you take charge?

Would you take charge, God?

Would you would you take charge, God?

Would you take charge?

Now, if you've never made this decision, you know where you can let God take charge?

By accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

By saying, God, take my brokenness, take my pain, take my sins, and give me new life.

You are in charge now.

And we would love to have you take our baptism class and be baptized.

We'd love you to do that.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.