Allen Jackson - Life Under Authority - Part 2
I mean, there’s a lot we don’t know and we need the humility to say that. What we have to say is, «I am under the authority of the King. And I have raised my hand and I’m gonna run my race. I’m going to complete my course. I will not stop. In the name of Jesus, I will finish triumphantly». Are you with me? We get instructions all through the New Testament. It said, «Think about these things, if it’s lovely and pure and honest and true».
You know why we’re given that coaching? Because our brains and our heads and our hearts get filled with stuff that’s not lovely and honest and pure. It may be true, but it’s not lovely. Stop thinking about it. Some of these, you got a scroll, you got a little loop playing about how you’ve been mistreated or somebody didn’t do something or whatever, and it’s true, yeah, okay, but it isn’t lovely. Erase. I don’t want God playing a loop of my worst days. There’s things we don’t know. «Well, how do you reconcile that»? I’m under authority. I don’t need to know. If I need to know, he’ll show me. Tell you what, I don’t know about you, but I feel really busy with what he’s shown me. Pedaling as fast as I can. How about you? If you’re not, pick it up.
This whole notion of a life under authority, I wanna spend a few minutes with it because I believe it can bring freedom to us. It’s begun a freedom in me in a remarkable way of late. Again, I think we have this imagination of our faith where we kind of negotiate with God what we want. And he loves us and he gives us a free will and we have choice, and I don’t think God is against us doing what we want, but I think God intends for us to do what he wants. And I think the real evidence that we’re maturing in our faith is that when the Bible says God will give us the desires of our heart, I don’t really think that means that God gives us our Christmas wish list.
I think it means God puts a desire for him in our heart, that we have a heart change. We got too many people sitting in churches with their Bibles and doing stuff and they’re filled with carnal, selfish, temporary objectives and goals, and they’re asking God to fulfill them, and I think God in his grace and mercy tolerates some of that carnality, but it limits us. We lead lives under the authority of the King. I go back to that centurion that caused Jesus to be astonished at his faith, and he said, «Look, I got authority. I tell people what to do, and they do it, and if you’ll say the word, my servant will be okay». Jesus goes, «Well, I haven’t met anybody like this». He gets this spiritual authority thing. But he’s not even one of us.
Look in Genesis 22. This is Abraham. «God said to Abraham,» he’s waited his whole life for a son. And God said, «'Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, '» God understands the context. You’ve got one and he’s important to you. «And go to the region of Moriah». Moriah, spoiler alert, is Calvary. God sends Abraham to sacrifice his son on the mountain where God’s going to sacrifice his. «He said, 'Abraham, go offer your son as a sacrifice. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.' And early the next morning, Abraham went to his small group and said, 'I had the most horrible dream.' But I rebuked it and I want you to pray for me, I’ll never have that nightmare again.'»
No, it says: «The next morning Abraham got up and he saddled his donkey, and he took with him his servants and his son Isaac. And enough wood for the burnt offering». Are you kidding me? He didn’t fast and pray for 40 days. He didn’t say, «Well, I’m gonna seek…I need confirmation». He got up the next morning and saddled his donkey. And said, «Isaac, we gotta go». I don’t have a frame of reference for that. We don’t live like this. Jonah, you know the Jonah story. I just brought you the introduction. It says: «The word of the Lord came to Jonah and said, 'Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.'»
He didn’t say, «Jonah, how do you feel about a road trip? Hey, Jonah, would you be willing, I need a few days, Jonah. Jonah, you got some gifted verbal skills, Jonah. You’ve got the gift of an evangelist, Jonah». He said, «Jonah? Nineveh». «But Jonah ran away from the Lord». He went the opposite direction, literally. «He went to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port, and after paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed». You know how it worked out. Jonah got a little fishy. In chapter 3, it says: «The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 'Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.'»
Spoiler alert, Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord. What’s the expectation? Well, Jonah should have obeyed the word of the Lord the first time. We don’t live like that either. «It wasn’t a good time for me». «It wasn’t convenient». «It was spring break, we had a plan». Folks, this is so far away from the way our faith has been constructed and ordered, and we’ve imagined the hierarchy of it, you know, we think, «Well, God, I didn’t wanna do that. That’s not my gift. I’m not an evangelist. I don’t know anybody in Nineveh». You know why Jonah didn’t wanna go to Nineveh? He was savvy enough, politically aware enough, to know that Assyria is the rising empire and that if Assyria keeps growing, they’re going to subjugate Israel, and they will, in fact. And he doesn’t want something good happening in Nineveh. He wants them wiped out.
So God said, «I want you to go». He said, «No, I’m going the other way». And God didn’t say, «Well, I’ll find somebody else». See, we live, «Well, if I don’t wanna do it, God will do somebody… he’ll do somebody else». Well, he may, but it’s not like you get to get back in line and go, «I didn’t wanna go to Nineveh, but I would like to go to Florence. I really had had my heart set on some Italian». Well, that’s not the nature of this equation. God didn’t say, «Abraham, you know, just find somebody». He said, «No, the name is Isaac, and now». These aren’t some, I could give endless, Exodus chapter 3 is Moses. I chose familiar narratives because you know their backstories and I think it’s easier to understand the principle. In Exodus 3, he’s recruiting Moses. He says, «So now, go. I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt».
Moses wasn’t looking for an assignment. He’s got a day job and a family and he’s doing pretty good, and Egypt didn’t work out so well the first time. «And Moses said to God, 'No. Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? ' And God didn’t say, 'Well, if you feel that way about it, I’ll find somebody else». «Moses, go». We don’t have that imagination. «You know, I went to church and I just couldn’t worship the Lord because somebody was in my seat». Can you imagine seeing the King, «You know, I’d have worshiped you more if those people who were in row 4 on the aisle and they knew that’s where I wanted to be. They did it on purpose».
Folks, we’re under authority. And what we’ve demonstrated is it isn’t the authority of the King. See, we act like there’s some third option. «Well, you know, I’m not really like fully into, like, crazy obedience. I’m born again». And we’ve crafted some faith that does not even reflect what we’re invited to in scripture. Gideon, Judges chapter 6: «The Lord turned to Gideon and said, 'Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hands.'» There’s hundreds of thousands of them. Gideon’s a chicken. I mean, God said you’re a mighty warrior, but the dude’s hiding. «He said, 'Am I not sending you? ' But the Lord said, 'How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest and I’m the least.'»
Wah! See, God, he said, «Gideon, I need you to go». It’s all through the book. In the New Testament, Acts chapter 9, Ananias, the disciple in Damascus. «The Lord told him, 'Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, he’s praying. In a vision he’s seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight, ' and Ananias said, 'Lord, I’ve heard about this man and all the harm he’s done to your saints. And he’s come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.'» Ananias said, «No. Have you looked at Saul’s social media? He hates people like me». And the Lord said, «Oh, I’m sorry, Ananias, I didn’t realize. Scratch that. Let’s just have a Bible study».
«But the Lord said to Ananias, 'Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings, before the people of Israel. I’ll show him how much he must suffer for my name.'» He didn’t say, «Ananias, he won’t hurt you». That’s the only part I’d have cared about. If God’s sending me to have a private meeting with a serial killer, what I want him to say to me is, «I’ll protect you». Right? And he didn’t say that to Ananias. He said, «Shut up and go. He’s important to me. You’re expendable, but he’s important to me». 'Cause what Ananias is feeling is he’s a little expendable. And God says, «No, no, no, look, you’re on my assignment. Go».
Paul in Acts 16: «During the night Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia standing and begging him, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach there». It wasn’t on their plan. They already bought tickets to go somewhere else. You know how expensive it is to change tickets once you buy them? We’ve got plans made. We got meetings scheduled. They’ve already done the PR. And Paul said, «No, no, we got another direction. I gotta go this way». Under authority. See, many of us are mad at God because he’s not doing what we want.
All right, I’ll tell you the line. It’s one of the least attractive that we use and we use it a lot. «Well, I would do whatever the Lord wanted if I just knew what he wanted me to do. I just don’t know what he wants me to do. I’d do whatever he wanted me to do». I can help. Love your neighbor as yourself. Go into all the world, preach the gospel. Act like an ambassador as if God were reconciling the world to himself through your words. Tithe, serve, humble yourself. Have you got enough to do yet? All of those are givens. Those should be regular punch lists. Am I doing this stuff? If you’re not doing that stuff, you’re in disobedience. Why should you get any more opportunity?
«Well, I mean, I was looking for an opportunity. I think, I’m probably of a caliber that should be considered for a major assignment. I mean, I’m not faithful in the little ones». We’re under authority. I don’t think it’s burdensome. I don’t think it’s loathsome. God doesn’t need anything I have. The greatest honor and privilege of my life is serving the King. See, the real problem was I didn’t think it was that big a deal. I wasn’t that excited about it. I didn’t wanna go into the ministry. I couldn’t think of a greater waste of life. I said, «God, are you kidding me? What a miserable group of people they are». I mean, the ministers I had known looked like their favorite snack was a green persimmon. I’d never seen one have a good time or laugh, or be normal.
See, we haven’t wanted to give the Lord our best. We wanna get his best. We’re not really under his authority. Well, we may be legally under his authority, but we haven’t been joyful about it, we haven’t been willing, here’s the word, we haven’t been willing really to submit to his authority. We evaluate God’s invitations as if they make good business sense or not. «Well, I mean, nobody in his right mind would do that». I mean, unless the King asked them to. Nobody in his right mind would go back to Pharaoh and say, «Let your workforce go».
Nobody in his right mind would take his son and put him on an altar. Nobody in his right mind would keep delivering a speech that the last few times you delivered it caused you to be arrested and beaten almost to death. You’d change your speech. Take it from a professional speech presenter. But we really haven’t been given the permission to even imagine we’re under the authority of the Lord. We want him under our authority. There’s a freedom in this. I’ll tell you, I’ve been thinking about it for days and days now. Lord, I serve at your pleasure. What do we need done today? It’s a crazy prayer. I think I gave you one more example, then we’re gonna have communion. We’re gonna make a commitment, buckle up. This one intrigues me.
It’s Act 16… Acts 27. Oh, I messed up my notes. Can I see your notes? Yeah, I messed up your notes too. That’s all right. In case you didn’t know, I made the notes, so. Paul’s on board, he’s on his way to Rome. God said, «I need you to go to Rome for me». I hear that and I think, awesome. God’s gonna give me, like, a business class ticket. That’s the way I wanna go to Rome, right? God said, «I need you to go to Rome». Oh, well, I’m traveling for the King. So he promptly gets arrested. Spends two years in a prison cell in Caesarea, falsely accused, multiple assassination attempts. Finally, he gets put on board a ship, chained to a Roman soldier.
Many of you know the story. I mean, a lot of drama after all of that, after the years, and then the ship is caught in a storm. And Paul, this is Acts 27, he said, «Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, 'Don’t be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.' So keep up your courage, for the men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me». And he announces, he said, «An angel saw me last night and said we’re all gonna be okay». They’ve thrown over the cargo, they’ve thrown over the tackle. They don’t think they’re gonna be okay, and the prisoner said, «We’re gonna be golden».
Golden Age of prisoners. Golden Age of America, there’s a pun in there. It’s okay, all right. Well, the next morning, some of the crew decides they’re gonna sneak off the ship. And I didn’t put it in your notes. You can check me. And Paul said to the guard that he had, «If they get in that lifeboat, you won’t be saved». It really stunned me when I thought about it. Paul understood the Lord said to him, «God’s given you the lives of all who sail with you». All for one and one for all. And it seems pretty clear to me from the text that Paul imagined if some of them tried to sneak off in a lifeboat, it would mean a lot would die. So at this point, the centurion believed Paul, and they cut the lifeboats loose. And they were all saved.
A life under authority. He didn’t get there in a day. His journey started on the road to Damascus. He got a little help from Ananias, a pretty reluctant missionary. I’ve gone on some God assignments and I’ve gone with my teeth gritted and grumbling. And then I’ve seen God do something. I’m like, «Oh, I don’t get any blessing out of this». I forfeited all my blessing. I grumbled it away. «Don’t wanna be here. Don’t wanna do this. Why do I have to do this? Why couldn’t God choose somebody else»?
We’re under authority. I wanna ask you just to give the Spirit of God permission in your life. Say, «What would you like me to do»? I don’t think he’s gonna send most of us to a new place. He’ll send you back to work as an ambassador. He’ll send you back in your home to be an honest-to-goodness Christ follower, to be a truth-teller. There’s so much for us to do. There’s so much. We want somebody else to be something, somebody else to do something. We’re mad at what the churches don’t do. «Ah, if only this were done».
Stop. God, I’m under your authority. I’ll do whatever you ask. So we’re gonna come to the communion table tonight not to tell the Lord what we want him to do but to say to the Lord, «We know you made a sacrifice for us. And we want to serve you. We want to serve you. We’re under your authority. If you want me to mop the floor, I’ll mop. If you want me to say difficult things in public, I’ll do that». If you didn’t get communion when you came in, raise a hand. The ushers will share. If you’re at home, grab a saltine and a glass of water, quick, because I’m not gonna take long with this. I just want to suggest that as we receive the bread and the cup that you be willing to say, «Lord, I’m under your authority».
We’re gonna say a prayer together after we take communion. All right, I’m not giving you long at home. If you’re in the other room, hurry. Okay, Jesus said, «This bread is my body, broken for you. As often as you eat this, do this in remembrance of me». Let’s receive. And then he took a cup… He said, «This cup is a new covenant, sealed with my own blood. As often as you drink this, you proclaim my death until you see me again». Let’s receive together. I put a prayer in your notes. If you’ll stand with me, I would like to read that with you. And I’ll give you the summary. We’re really saying to the Lord, «We’ll submit to you. I’m not gonna ask you to submit to me, Lord. I’ll submit to you». Let’s say it together.
Heavenly Father, in Your great mercy, You’ve chosen me to bear Your name and serve You. By Your great power You have delivered me from the kingdom of darkness and brought me into the Kingdom of Your Son. I choose to yield my will to You, to submit to Your discipline and authority, to accept the direction of Your Holy Spirit. I boldly declare that Jesus of Nazareth is Christ, my Lord, and my King. Amen.