Words That Match Our Lives

Intro:

Hello everyone my name is pastor Will, im the high school youth pastor here at renovation. So great to be back in church post christmas… question does anyone have their tree down already?... Alright who’s the type of person to keep it up for a couple months, for some its not coming down till easter? wooowww….. Alright if you can get those hands up a little higher our prayer team just wants to speak a prayer of wisdom over you after service…. Well its great to be back and

We:

And as we go into this new year im one who is a sucker for a good new years resolution. I get a vision or an idea that could be great for my life and immediately say yes lets do it, anyone else get the same way? You start making big claims…. Im not eating out once this year, this is the year of stewarding my money…IM going to the gym everyday, im getting fit im gonna be feeling good…… and on top of that im getting up everyday 5am and praying for an hour, on my knees…. These are for sure all new years resolutions ive attempted before…..And its like yeah those are awesome thats great you say you’re going to do that , but right now you eat out for lunch everyday, chipotle is your daily kryptonite. You haven't worked out since before thanksgiving, the only time you get sore is from sitting on the couch binge watching Netflix. And your prayer life has only been before meals asking God to bless the chipotle you eat for lunch everyday…. But heres the thing, We’ve learned how to say “I’m in” without actually rearranging our lives. We agree with values, but we don’t change our priorities. We love the idea of commitment, as long as it doesn’t cost us comfort…..But the truth about commitment is, that commitment isn’t proven when it’s exciting — it’s proven when it’s inconvenient.

And what I want us to leave here this morning is knowing that yes, maybe you’ve lived a life where you’ve said yes and no to things too quickly, but what would happen if I decided to live different? What could God do in me and around me?

So were going to open up the word of God and see what it has to say about this.

Matthew 5:33-37 page 660

Jesus’s call is always higher (v33-36) Context.

When we read this at first we might be met with the feelings of okay this makes sense on the surface or practical level but maybe feeling a lack of actual spiritual significance… Well for context of what is happening is in Jesus’ day, oaths carried enormous weight because a person’s word functioned as their credibility. There were no recordings, or systems like we rely on today, so truthfulness was measured by how someone spoke. And Over time, however, a hierarchy of truth developed. Certain oaths were considered unable to take back—especially those that involved the name of God—while others, such as swearing by heaven, the earth, Jerusalem, or one’s own head, were viewed as less serious. This created a system where people, hear this, could sound honest without fully committing.

And Jesus deals with this issue of lack of commitment head-on inv v34-36 by naming heaven, earth, Jerusalem, and even the human body to show that there is no place where our commitments don’t matter to God. There aren't a “less serious” commitments, why? because as believers we reflect him… we are image barriers of God… And God, never goes back on his word….

What ultimately I believe Jesus is doing and pointing to when he speaks these verses is building off of what he's already preached, which is to live with Honest devotion. This is one of six sections in the sermon on the mount where Jesus calls His followers to a deeper, fuller obedience than what had been practiced. We see The Law of Gods people were told to live by in the OT was being misunderstood or misapplied and what Jesus’ teachings did was expose the full depth of God’s intention for us…. For example we see in the near previous and future portions of scripture in the chapter where Jesus says you’ve heard it say do not murder, I say have no anger, you have heard do not commit adultery, I say whoever lusts in their heart already has, you have heard it is said its acceptable to divorce by certificate, but Jesus says that divorce was never meant to be a loophole for convenience, you have heard eye for eye, Jesus says turn to him your cheek, you have heard it said “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy”, Jesus says: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…..

Let your yes be 100% yes

Jesus doesn't want us to live lifestyles that are bare minimum, he wants us to live lives of honest devotion…. Because you know what the heart of what we just read of Matthew 5:33-37 is?…… This issue of oaths we read wasn't Jesus' concern about legalities but much more about a lack of reverence for God. Oaths existed because character had weakened! Now Truth required reinforcement because commitment had been diminished.. Jesus is addressing oaths because their loss of reverence for God has led to the bending of character. When you see him rightly, you don't ask for God to compromise on HIS commands, you just respond in obedience….Jesus is calling His followers to live with honest devotion so rooted in our character that their “yes” or “no” needs no explanation.

And just so we know living A life of honest devotion isn’t living a perfect life. But It’s more about living a consistent, transparent life where we go the extra mile in all that God has called us to do and be. Matthew 5:41 reads “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.” (NIV) And are we going to be a body of believers that live with this in mind…. And if you want to know if you are living the lifestyle in which he is calling you to, I challenge you to self-reflect and ask yourself if these statements sound like you… do you commit when it's hard? Do you finish what you start? Do you go back on your word? Do you think before you say yes and no? Do you agree to things just to people please? Are you someone that people see as trustworthy? Do you commit when it's not your first preference…. Can you be counted on?

And honestly none of this is easy to do, and that's kinda the whole point. To follow Jesus is to be like Him…. which is inherently to be nothing like our natural selves. That's why the saying “follow your heart” is wrong… Why would I follow my heart? You mean the heart that the scriptures talk about as deceiving and misleading…. That we should Just do you, whatever you think is best…. But what does that sound like? It sounds like those statements are leading us to being uncommitted in life…… BUt what if instead of following the heart we followed the Holy spirit… I think we end up on 2 different paths of life outcomes….. Because If you claim christian did you know you shouldn't even recognize ourselves? Old ways should be foreign to us,,. And that is how we ultimately become people who live lives that are marked by honest devotion, that you don't let anything stand in the way of you becoming like Jesus. Meaning you don’t wait until issues and sin grows you confess quickly. Your Integrity starts to be formed because obedience starts becoming immediate. You invite accountability into your life when you start to notice you slipping up in your commitments instead of being spiritually isolated…. You do the right thing when no one else is looking. That you learn to actually function from a place of Gods grace not your own willpower…. And when you start to do these things, all the sudden, now your yes becomes yes and your no becomes no…. No more having to justify yourself, everyone just knows who you are. No more struggling with self doubt, you just know who you are.

Do you live a committed honest lifestyle? V37

So my question for all of us this morning is simply are you living a lifestyle of honest devotion and commitment?.

Meaning, when you say yes, you give it everything you got, that yes is a 100% yes, nothing less….. We need to be people of full and true commitment…. Because im sure weve all encountered this frustration before. Have you ever meet someone who claims their inability to commit is a personality trait?(girl voice im always late)...... but the reason they claim its a personality trait is so they still have an excuse to feel entiltled?.....Its like they want lots of blessings and open doors but if they can't handle the little, or what's been given already, If they never fully commit 100% in the little they have, what makes them think they will ever be able to hold a blessing……

And If you wanna know if you’re doing a good job at this in your christian walk, simply ask yourself this, do your words match your actions?

Because Being 100% committed, letting our yes be yes, is how we develop the character of being a man and a woman of God. So unwilling to commit isn't a personality trait, It’s a detriment to yourself and a burden to others.

Just think about all the areas in your life that you can give your full yes to. How about when it comes to giving your yes to The church and the people within the church…. Maybe you’re a regular at this church which practically looks like you showing up every weekend, you’re like this is my home, David is my pastor, and this is my community….. Yet you’ve given your yes but what has your yes really consisted of? You’ve given your yes but has your yes consisted of following through on an area serving the church…. You've given your yes but has your yes consisted of giving generously so this place can survive and continue making large scale kingdom impact?…. Has your yes been 100%?.... And when you dont invest 100% its easy to become critical…..you become that one person who goes to a church every week, but only talks negatively. It's always about how bad the sermon was. Or how they play the same worship songs too often? That the church lobby ONLY had black coffee not starbucks peppermint mocha this christmas… Isnt it funny that its always the people who swear they are discerning that are always the one to have a bone to pick… They go, something's wrong with this place, this must be spiritual warfare…. No, you just don't have a desire to commit to anything that you’re not in control of…. (say it again? I feel like God is pruning this morning.) I want us to be weary of being followers of Christ who say YES to consuming but NO to giving back. That we wouldn't starve the place that we’ve let fed us…. But instead would we be a people who commits to the church and the people of the church in way of honest devotion and going the extra mile….

Do you listen for yes or no?

And maybe you're sitting here thinking okay I want to get on top of this. I want to start honoring God's commands of scripture, honor the people around me, and honor myself…. But When it comes to your yes being yes and no being no whether it deals within the walls of the church or outside of the church you know what you first need to do? Listen to God…. How can you give your yes if you never ask God what to do? That's what being christian entails, a relationship with God. My hope for us is that we don't just profess a relationship with God but actually live it out. How can you have a relationship with someone you never speak to or hear form? But with Jesus you can bring Him into every single area of your life every single day. Would you pause and stop through your days, through the situations in your life to consider what He's calling you to do?... God wants to personally lead you, direct you, teach you, but that comes by seeking him out…. I've been so challenged by this in my own life. The strong and distracting desire to accomplish as many things as possible; and run through life for the sake of getting things done and all the sudden im getting ready for bed asking myself, was God even involved in my day?.... And ive had to ask myself this this question, hear this, “if I wasn't christian, would my day have looked any different?”....

And really two things happen when we don't listen to God for what we should say yes and no to. The first thing is when you don't listen you end up not knowing what to sacrifice in your life. When someone changes their yes from one thing to another it is because they’ve deemed the second option more important than the first one they committed to, typically out of own preferences, desires, and comfort…. This is the person who is always just taking “Me days” and making “Me decisions”.... But is Jesus asking us to take “Me days?” or having us make “Me decisions.” Or to follow through on what we've committed to.... You ever call someone up and you’re like yeah you’re coming to help right, you said you would, and they go ehhhhh, I just need some me time….. Its like you said you would help me…. They try to justify their inability to commit it by using God so you wont be upset and say yeah I know i committed but I just need a sabbath…. Really thats interesting. You live in the suburbs of minnesota, you work 40 hours a week…. You know when God gave the command of sabbath you know what their work hours were. It was 6 days a week and about 10-14 hours of work a day, then they took one full day to rest…. Let us try and push ourselves into sticking with what we've committed to before saying we need rest.

And the second thing that can happen when people dont listen to what God is telling them to do is prematurely agreeing to things they shouldn't have in the first place….. Being that we live in Minnesota we might have a lot of people pleasers in the room…. Someone asks you a question and before they even finish it you say yes….. Knowing that it was super inconvenient, knowing you really cant do it, or how about this, knowing that you saying yes is actually continuously feeding into the other persons lack of responsibility but you dont want to hurt their feelings?.... And I believe that typically the inability to say no comes from a struggle with their identity in christ. The stronger your identity in christ is, the easier it is to say no…. You dont have to worry about offending someone, you’re already know who you’re living for.

And heres the danger In not changing this way of living….If we don’t change this pattern, we’ll keep giving our yes and no to things God never asked of us, and instead of growing in Christlike character.

To not do this is to follow satan instead of Jesus v37

And my biggest worry is here today is that we would leave this sermon today and go, oh that’s a nice idea, so true, people should do that more often…. But It’s not just a nice idea, it’s a biblical command from Jesus to live out….. And what I want for us this morning is to look at ourself and go, do I live this out or am I honestly am I missing the mark when it comes to this command he’s given me? Because the scripture in v37 says not to do this is following the evil one…. Pretty big claim. And I think Jesus uses this strong language because Satan’s primary weapon is distortion of truth…. Remember in the garden what he said….“Did God really say…?” what satan is doing is Mixing truth with deception. Creating confusion where clarity should exist… And what I believe Jesus is pointing out is when we don't live by honest devotion and commitment it mirrors the serpent’s strategy, not God’s nature. But what if our lives did look like being obedient to this…..

What could happen for us as a church if we lived by our yes?

If we lived by our yes and if our words matched our actions I think we’d see God move in a way we haven't yet. Relationships would be healed, people wouldn’t wonder if commitments are real. That Our yes can build a culture of safety and trust—inside the church and outside of it….. We'd see that personal freedom would increase. Youd see that commitment in one area of your life will lead to stronger commitment in all other areas. We see that, Our witness would be powerful. In a culture of broken promises, a church that keeps its word would stand out. Consistent faithfulness would become our identity…. So as we leave here this morning, will your yes be yes be yes and your no?....

Lets all stand. (Keys behind me?)

Gospel: Have you given your Yes to Jesus?

Before we go into worship maybe you’re here listening to all of this and thinking I haven't even said Yes to Jesus being savior of my life. And if that is you here is what you need to know

God's desire is to be close to you, to be in relationship with you, to be involved in your life so he can love you. Hes not just a far off, distant, indifferent ruler, God is the God of love as it says in 1 john 4:19 we love him because he first loved us”

But as humans we have separated ourselves from his love. We've separated ourselves by our sin. Sin is living in a way that is separate of Gods design for your life, which ultimately leads to death. And thats where sin has lead us to, a path to death and need of a way off.

And thats where Jesus comes. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, stepped into a broken world. Notice Jesus did not come into the world that was restored, he stepped into a broken world. And what he does during this time is He lived the life we couldn’t live—perfectly faithful, fully obedient to God. And because he loves us so much he willingly dies a death we deserved by taking on all of our sin at the cross where he would die a tortuous death…

But when he died he went to the grave he brought all your sin, my sin and the worlds sin to the grave and buried it there. Sin has been buried and dealt with, and 3 days after death Jesus rises from the grave. And if you want to receive Jesus this morning, know that your situation isnt too far gone, your struggles are too big for God. But by his grace you can restored to father this morning and leave this place leaving sin behind and living in resurrection power….

And if thats you this morning, I'm going to make a bold call for you this morning. If you really want to give your full yes to jesus this morning and actually make him Lord of your life, I want you to raise your hand. This isnt something to be ashamed of, but as the church we want to come alongside you, celebrate you, clap for you and get you started on your journey. And if that's you this morning and your hearts beating in your chest, Hes speaking to you now. Will you respond unashamed and receive in Joy what God has in store for you?... so on the count of 3 you can just lift up your hand 123.