Allen Jackson - Time to Lead - Part 2
The Bible says that we entertain angels. And then, we're so, that our situational awareness is so lacking that we're completely unaware that we've been in the presence of an angel. There's some fun prayers you can start to pray. "God, open my eyes. Help me see the people in my neighborhood that are seeking you. I'd like to know who those people are, God. Right now, they just annoy me. They make too much noise, or they don't move their trash, or they don't do something. God, help me to see the people I work with, that you have chosen for your purposes, that I might be an encouragement to them. Right now, they're just kind of a nuisance to me. God, help me to recognize the angels that you have put around me lately, the places you've intervened in my life that I was completely unaware of".
You see, just with your prayers, your simple short prayers, you can begin to invite God into your life to raise your awareness. I would love to, kind of, break you loose from this rather smug notion of, "You know, I've done all of my spiritual business. There's really no heavy-lifting left. God help me. There's so, there's so little I know about you". I'll give you what I'm praying about right now. It's pretty fresh, I hope I can say it. My mom transitioned, and she was one of the most persistent intercessors that I have known in my life. I mean, over decades, and she stepped out of time into eternity.
Now I, and I have a gap in my theological formation, and please don't try to fix it for me tonight because, I know that what she gave hours, and hours, and hours to is a very significant part of what we have seen God do. But I don't believe in God's economy, stepping out of time into eternity, creates a deficit overall. I have the imagination there's something significant that continued with that transition, but we don't have a lot of definition about that in scripture. I know there's some hints, but I'm very conscious that in time, we don't wanna leave that portion unaddressed.
See, we've got to raise our awareness of the kingdom. We spend way too much time focused on this kingdom. You know what's fashionable? Do you know what music is good? You know which colors or, I mean, whatever your expertise are, if it's sports or your hobby, that's not wrong or evil, but, I mean, would you allow me to suggest that we wanna be more engaged, more aware of what's relevant spiritually than anything that's happening in our current culture. And that doesn't make you weird or strange or bizarre; it means you acknowledge, "I believe that's true. And so, I'm gonna give time and energy and effort to behave as if that were true".
Now, certainly coming to church is a wonderful expression of that, but please don't imagine that's the conclusion of that. So, you can begin, saying, "Lord, I would like to be more aware of you". And there's some things you can do, you can read your Bible, you can pray, you can talk to your friends, bring your faith into your conversations, and then you ask the Lord to begin to help you, Holy Spirit, help me. Some days I feel so unaware, or, I got so busy today, I didn't talk to you at all. Lord, I'm sorry. Or maybe just stop and say, "Thank you". When you get really grumpy, start, stop and start say, "Thank you".
Folks, we can do this. I promise you, this is doable. What we have lacked is the intent. What we've really lacked is we thought, "You know, I'm not that interested. I'm born again, and I'm good". Well, I would like to submit to you that when you see the Lord, you will not want to say to him, "I was looking for the minimum daily requirement". God is recruiting people who are willing to be an influence, not to get your name on an org chart, but to make an impact for the kingdom of God. I got all of that from the seraphs in Isaiah 6:2. "And they were calling to one another". This is what's being said in heaven, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory".
Look, that message is not because God's ego is so fragile, he needs it to be affirmed frequently, it's a message for us, that the God we worship is holy. Where else do we see holiness? Nowhere apart from God. "And the earth is full of the glory of the Lord. The sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, the temple was filled with smoke". And Isaiah has some very, has a, has a moment of self-awareness. He said, "Woe is me! I'm ruined because I'm a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King. Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, he touched my mouth and he said, 'This has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for.'"
There's a difference in an atonement for your sin and being redeemed from sin. Atonement is a "covering". Before the redemptive work of Jesus, the sins of humanity were atoned for, they were simply covered, a deposit, an expression of humility before the Lord, that we recognize our sin and we would offer a sacrifice for it. The book of Hebrews says that the blood of bulls or goats was not capable of removing our sin. That's the reason we needed Jesus. And Jesus came and offered himself as the sinless Son of God, to redeem us, to purchase us out of a kingdom of darkness, that we might be set free. It's why we say, "Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life," and he said, "No one comes to the father except by me," because Buddha or Allah or the generic higher power was not capable of that redemptive work.
But the angel says to Isaiah, "Your sin has been atoned for". And then, "I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And Isaiah said, Here am I, send me". That transition from, "Woe, is me! There's a power greater than myself," to "Here I am". That's the transition I'm inviting you towards. Not because we're perfect, not because we're competent. God has done something for us, not just to atone for our sins, to redeem us. It is our reasonable service, the New Testament says, "to offer ourselves as living sacrifices". It says, "If we will do that, we might know the will of God".
I don't believe, absent offering yourself as a living sacrifice, I don't believe it's realistic to imagine you will know the will of God. You might know the rules of God, you might know something of the character of God, but to know God's will for yourself requires you to be willing to offer yourself as a living sacrifice. That's described in Romans 12, "is our reasonable service," not something extraordinary, that's not like hyper faith or super disciples, that's just a reasoned response to the grace and mercy of God.
Even Jesus responded to God's invitations, in Philippians, chapter 2. Paul writing to a church and he said, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ, Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he made himself nothing, and he took the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore". "Therefore," is always a summary word. I learned it years ago, and I've shared it many times, when you read your Bible and you see a "therefore," you wanna find out what it's there for. It means, "in summation".
"Because of all of those things, God exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave him the name that's above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father". Jesus offered himself that way. He didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped, he accepted the assignment. In Hebrews, it tells us that he learned obedience from what he endured, from what he suffered. If Jesus had to learn obedience, I think it's a safe assumption that you and I'll have to learn that.
You see, we're not just saved so we can go to heaven, we're given the privilege of a birth into a new kingdom, so that we can learn what it means to be obedient to the King. The next verse is intriguing to me, "Therefore, my dear friends, as you've always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now in more, much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it's God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purposes". You asked me for a life goal, more than it's accumulating resources or, or gaining advancements, or achievements, or acknowledgement, or recognition, it's to let the purposes of God emerge in your life. If you'll do that, all those other things will find their place. Absent that, none of those other things you'll be able to keep.
So, I'll take the last few minutes, and I've got just a few, and I'll do it quickly, to give you some just fundamental components for improving your influence. We call it leadership, but at the end of the day, to me, it's really about how do you make your kingdom influence grow? And I don't know that it happens in a day or a week, but I can assure you that if you'll take these simple fundamentals and begin to incorporate them into your daily habits and routines, God will expand your influence. It's not about where you live, it's not about your education, it's not about your family system, it's not about the obstacles you've had to overcome. God is faithful, and if you will honor him, he will expand your influence.
Matthew 20, Jesus is speaking, the disciples are having some internal squabbling, which was not unusual for them. "When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers". The two brothers have asked for special privileges in the kingdom to come. So, Jesus calls them all together and he said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant".
So, I have a question for you, and I don't want you to respond out loud, but who, in this place, has intentionally made the determination to be great in the kingdom of God? "Well, Pastor, I just wanna go to heaven. I don't want to be presumptive". I don't wanna be presumptive either, but what is your target? What? "I want to be mediocre in the kingdom. My objective is to take the blood of Jesus and then to underperform. I wanna embrace, fully, God's supernatural provision for my life with the incarnation of his Son, and the horrible sacrifice he made in his redemptive purposes, so that I can do the least possible I can do and still make it through the narrow gate".
I hope not. Well, the alternative would begin to say in your heart, "Lord, I wanna maximize everything you gave me". Jesus said, "Listen, if you wanna be significant, you have to decide to serve, and whoever wants to be first has to be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many". Now, the best explanation I ever heard of servant leadership was in my own, I learned it from Ken Blanchard. At the time, he was a relatively new Christian, but he had an insight that was very helpful to me. He said, "Servant leadership doesn't mean that you get coffee for everybody, but it means you would get coffee for anyone".
That Jesus set the mission and the vision for his assignment on earth, he said, "I'm going to Jerusalem and when I get there, I'll be betrayed, I'll be arrested, there'll be a trial, it'll be a mockery, I'll be tortured to death, and finally, I, I'll suffer horribly, I'll be buried, and I'll be raised to life again". And his closest friends took him aside and said, "May, that never happened to you. That's awful". And Jesus said, "Get behind me, Satan". But once he'd established the objective, he did everything in his power to get every one of his friends across the finish line. He said, "I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn't fail".
He took them with him to Gethsemane, and he got them ready in the upper room with the last supper, and he washed their feet. We'll look at it in a minute. After the resurrection, he came and found them. He went and found them, they were hiding, "For fear of the Jews," it says in John 20, and Jesus went and found them and breathed on them, and said, "Receive". He did everything in his power to get him across the finish line, but he didn't get the group together and say, "What do you think we should do? Does anybody have any idea, any more than Moses got all the Hebrew slaves together and said, 'This might work in our favor.' Does anybody have a plan"? "Well," he said, "we're walking this way; let's go".
And, you see, you have to recognize that God has put his truth in your heart, and we have to have the courage to say to our culture, "There's right and wrong, there's good and evil, there's a better way to walk". "Well, I don't have all the answers. I'm not exactly sure what we're gonna do when we get the Mara and the water is bitter and we can't drink it, but when we get there and there's a problem, I'll ask God; he'll help us". I think we've been very reluctant to be an influence for the kingdom of God. Very reluctant.
In John 13, this is Jesus, "When he finished washing their feet," this is the last supper, "he put on his clothes and returned to his place. Do you understand what I've done for you?" he asked them. What's the answer to that? No. I don't know about your life, but in my life, most of the seasons, in real time, I do not recognize what God is doing. I get to the other side of it, I go, "Oh! Ah, maybe I shouldn't have complained so much. I would have been better if I could have had a little better attitude in the midst of that". "Do you understand what I'm doing for you"? "No". "You call me, 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should wash one another's feet. I've set you an example that you should do as I've done for you. I'll tell you the truth," you know something good's coming next.
The punch line wasn't the one that I made bold and you're notes. I mean, he gave us an assignment. He said, "I gave you an example: you have to do what I've done. You gotta serve one another. You have to help one another". But then, he says, "I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor a messenger greater than the one who sent them". Not only are we asked to, to be servants in the context of the kingdom, people matter to God; they have to matter to us. But then, Jesus said to you that the ceiling of your life, the upper limit of your potential, is set not by your physical gifts or your IQ or your bank account; what sets the limit of your life is what you choose to serve.
Jesus gave us the pathway. Every day, give an expression of kindness, service to another person. Secondly, children matter. I'm gonna run out of time. This was counterintuitive. Look at Matthew 10, Jesus said, "If anyone gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he's my disciple, I tell you the truth, he'll certainly not lose his reward". You wanna be rewarded by God? Bless a child. "Well, it can't be that simple". Seems like it to me. Bless a child. Well, the Bible says that the children have angels that have the father's attention. I like to pray with children, I like to talk to the little children. I mean, I'm not clever, but if they got angels that have God's attention, I'm like, "I think, I'm like, yeah, I could talk to you".
I'm like waving at their angels. We make, you know, it's not because you can spell "hermeneutic" or "Nebuchadnezzar". I mean, help yourself. I'm not opposed to that, but we can make an impact that children matter; let's act as if that is true. Jesus said, "The greatest in the kingdom of heaven are those who have those childlike characteristics". And he said, in order for us to do that again, he said, "I tell you the truth, you'll have to change". Not childish, there's a difference in being childish and childlike. Childlikeness, there's an innocence in that, there's a trust in that, there's a hunger to learn and to know. Children are, they are the quickest learners. They can learn languages. They have an insatiable curiosity.
"Why"? They'll drive you nuts. "Why"? "I don't know. Please". But Jesus said that characteristic will help us; don't be childish, be childlike. Then he gives us his very stern warning, and I'll wrap it up, he said, in verse 6, "If anyone causes one of these little ones, who believe in me, to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck". Why do we make an effort to say, "Don't put pornography in the children's books; don't expose our kids. Don't sexualize our kids. Leave them alone, stop".
It's really for the benefit of everybody; it's not gonna go well for you. It's not book-banning. It's about appropriate learning. It's not, you know, we're not banning automobiles when we say to nine-year-olds, "You can't drive". It's about appropriate emotional and physical development before we entrust them with that responsibility.
Well, if we wouldn't entrust them with a driver's license, why would we entrust them with information that could bring enormous damage to them? If their parents choose that, that's between their parents and God, but that's not the role of the state, and it's certainly not the role of the government, and you and I have to care about the kids enough to say, "No. No, that is not appropriate, and we will not be silent. We will not tolerate that, we will not overlook that, we will overcome that with good".
Doesn't say we overcome evil with kindness, it says we overcome evil with good. We do what is right, what God has called, "Good," and that's how we overcome evil. We're gonna expand our influence, not in belligerence, or anger, or being obnoxious, or self-righteous, by choosing to serve and by choosing to value the things God values, and by beginning to invite the Lord into our lives in all those routine ways through our day, saying we want to be an influence for you. I brought you a prayer. Why don't we stand together? After our prayer, I brought you a blessing. So, don't sprint for the exit; 20 seconds, we'll catch it. Okay? Let's pray together:
Almighty God, You raise up nations and put them down. You're a God of mercy and justice. We ask You to look up on America with mercy. We have been ungrateful and unholy. Forgive us. Do not respond to us according to our choices. But from Your heart of grace, grant us leaders who fear Your name, awaken your people to righteousness and purity. Give us boldness to stand for the truth no matter the cost. We ask all of this in Jesus's name, amen.
And now, "May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace". Amen. God bless you.