How To Let Go Of Control And Take Hold Of Freedom | Stephen Foster

thank you very much it's great to be with you today and we're starting this new series in Luke's Gospel focusing on the events in the last week of Jesus life and if you've ever read one of the accounts of Jesus life Matthew Mark Luke or John all the way through and you'll know that the writers don't waste words you can read one of them in about an hour and a half it doesn't take long to read it all the way through but about a third of their accounts focus on the last few days of Jesus life it's that important and it's relevant not just the one week of our year but for every day of our lives and the passage we're looking at today Jesus is approaching the city of Jerusalem where in just a few days he will be arrested he'll be tried and he will be executed so that's where we're gonna pick up the story as he approaches Jerusalem this is in Luke 19 from verse 28 so after Jesus had said this he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem as he approached Bethpage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives he sent to his disciples saying to them go to the village ahead of you and as you enter it you will find a Colt tied there which no one has ever ridden untie it and bring it here if anyone says to you why are you untying it say the Lord needs it those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them as they were untying the Colt its owners asked them why are you untying the colt they replied the Lord needs it they bought it to Jesus through their cloaks on the Colt and put Jesus on it as he went along people spread their cloaks on the ground when he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord peace in ever heaven and glory in the highest some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus teacher rebuke your disciples I tell you he replied if they keep quiet the stones will cry out I want to talk to you today about how to let go of control and take hold of freedom we tend to think that that greater control in our lives will lead to more freedom I don't know about you but I tend to think that I know what's best to happen like I've worked it out these are the things that should happen and that's the best way it should go and if only I had complete control then I could make those things happen and I'd be much happier so we think we know the things we need the things the achievements experiences the relationships which will give us a measure of success significant security satisfaction and if we're in control of our lives we can order our lives towards those things you know we can decide the course of our lives the trajectory of our careers the nature of our relationships and try and ensure our life plays out according to our preferences and it's great in three but there's only two problems with that approach the first is that sometimes even when we have all the control we could want and we even get those things they don't satisfy us in the way we had hoped sometimes an abundance of choice doesn't lead to increased freedom but also sometimes our attempts to be in control are frustrated life happens I was thinking about that this week I've got three little girls one is six one is almost three and one is one year old and just the experience of having three little girls has reminded me how little control I actually have in my life but yes you will know today is our Mother's Day and if you didn't know that it's not too late you still got time to save that relationship and I was I was kind of speaking to my girls I was kind of getting together I wanted their input on things and I wanted them to UM to choose their kind of you know to be involved in the process at least they're choosing a present for their mom so I got them together all three of them and I said girls what we're going to go to the shops on Saturday and we're gonna get a present for Mother's Day for mummy okay so it's that and I think you're thinking that you think it might be good to get and they kind of you know thought about it for a little while and then bet she's almost three kind of looked at me and she said some horses I was thinking more flowers like a gift and as horses and horses and and I thought well I'm not really sure what to do here you know I mean because that because because I know that although it's a really lovely idea really really you know it's the thought that counts I might not have got the best reaction if I kind of arrived this morning bringing two horses we don't really roll that way we have the space for those things it's not really sustainable for us and certainly sometimes we can follow we don't really have control but also perhaps even when we're older we don't things just happen life happens we can be going along quite merrily and then things happen which we reveal to us quite clearly how much of illusion our sense of control can be so people we care about get sick ah career in which we place so much hope it's obstacles and it doesn't seem to be working out the way we had planned a relationship in which we've placed all our hope falls apart people who we greatly admired let us down and it can just show is that actually we don't have the control we thought we had life happens it gets in the way so how can we know a sense of freedom that satisfies is there a way in which we can kind of let go of control for the promise of freedom and this passage speaks to exactly that issue and it's both deeply challenging and hugely encouraging so the first thing it shows us how to let go of control so so much in our culture kids us into thinking we're in control you decide you choose life is about your preferences your choice and it's attractive because if we're honest the world can seem a pretty chaotic place you know the times we just feel like why if I can just have control over this area if I can just have control over me if I can just have control over my flat my room over my little desk space in my open plan office at least this is an environment over which I have a measure of control and it's interesting because in this passage the people of Jerusalem had experienced a significant loss of control they were occupied by the Roman Empire they were subject to the rule of Pilate and there was a temptation for them to cling tightly to the errors of the city like the temple where they still had a measure of control but their hope was that one day one day the Messiah would come the king would come who would throw off the occupiers restore power to God's people and give them the control they needed to find freedom and when Jesus approaches Jerusalem he does so in a particular way to send a really clear message that he was the anticipated the prophesied king they had been waiting for in Zechariah 9 it's prophesied behold Jerusalem your King comes to you righteous one a Colt the foal of a donkey and Jesus gets hold of a donkey and he rides in and as he does so his followers are kind of praising and worshipping using words from psalm 118 blessed is the one who comes in the name of Lord blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord unless they doing so they're kind of expressing their hopes for what he's going to bring to them because in the line just before it says O Lord save us O Lord grant us success how often we long for security and success and they just hope that he'll give them what they longed for the chance of seeing things turn out the way we hoped and planned and they've seen what you can do they sing the waves and the wind obey Him they've seen that they've seen the power to raise a sick to heal the sick and raise the dead and if they're kind of thinking this is it this is the moment the Romans are going to be gone we can take back control all our desire be fulfilled but the thing is Jesus will often fulfill your greatest desires but not in the way you had anticipated Jesus knows what he has to do he knows what he's come to do he knows what has to happen because he is their king and it turns out that the disciples expectations are going to be disappointed before they can be surpassed I experienced this I was when I was working as a barrister I love my job I worked as a criminal defense barrister defending people over the years I probably defended hundreds maybe a thousand people accused of crimes great to see so many of you here today and the but I loved my job and it was going really well and there was one particular year where I had the Year all planned out and I had this big case that would come up and I was gonna earn lots of money it was gonna be really exciting case it's gonna last about six months and then the week before it was due to start it all stopped and the case just went and I still remember being the office and getting this news and being in a state of complete shock and disorientation like this isn't how I thought it would go and kind of feeling the sense of real disappointment and like how has this happened and I I would say confused I wanted to take a while before I get home to kind of process it so I got on the bus and the bus kind of chug it chug - all the way around central London was on it's about an hour and a half just thinking what has happened but I was kind of talking to God and just saying in a got it so we're in this together I thought you'd made this case happen I thought you thought it was good news - I'd asked you for it you gave it to me now it's disappeared her did I not pray right they don't up pray loud enough how is this happened and I managed to fill in some of the space but it basically meant there was like a six-week gap well I didn't have too much to do I thought was going to be doing exciting stuff I was basically kicking my heels and because of that my church asked if anyone could go and help we're taking a whole group like 50-plus young people from the streets of Tower Hamlets in East London to this Christian festival in Somerset and I thought well I'll go long I've got nothing better to do so I went along and I turned up I was the cook have you ever tried to cook for 50 people like in a campsite it's really hard it's basically a full-time job I spent all my days with this like massive cauldron of rice just like stirring it like in trying to stop it sticking that was all I did see what has my life become this is not how I planned this year to go I was supposed to be in the courtroom earning money not in a field staring rice so disappointed and then at one point in the week I was I thought I just need to get away from that stove just for a few minutes so it's kind of walking around and I came across a talk that was being given and just in a you know a random place and I thought well I'll just listen to this and it was about thinking about whether you might be called into leading a church to be a vicar and I thought you know no harm in that so I started listening and I and it was really encouraging actually because they read out the job description of what it means to be a vicar and I felt this deep sense of peace and contentment I thought there's no way on earth I will ever be able to do that so I'm completely safe and I was just about to leave and then they read out the next line which is you cannot do this in your own strength but only by the grace of God and I said oh no I'm stuck and that actually was the moment for me when I realized that God was calling me into something new into something different now I didn't want to be there I hadn't planned to be there but that was exactly where God needed me to be to hear exactly what he needed to say to me it's interesting sometimes we have plans based on our preferences but God wants to see out his purposes in our lives sometimes the only way God can show us he's in control is to push us into situations where we feel out of control well we can't control them and as Jesus approaches Jerusalem it's going to look quite different to what his followers expect it's not about some kind of military force or political might Jesus knows the rest of psalm 118 which they're singing out and that says yes as I hope the king is going to come but it also says the stone the builders jack'd will become the cornerstone jesus knew as he approached the city that he would be rejected and executed before he would be resurrected and exalted you see he knew that other ways that people had in mind their plans weren't gonna cut it why not because he just wanted to meet their expectations but because he was going to surpass them Jesus didn't just come to destroy God's enemies but to turn his enemies into friends he didn't just come to free people from a political regime but from prisons of their own making he didn't just come to save us from those who opposes but to save us from ourselves he came to establish his kingdom not through might but through mercy he's not just a king he's the king the promised King the prophesied King the king of all he hasn't just come to save one city one people at one time he's come to save all people every tribe and tongue and nation for all time he's not just a king he's not just a king he's the king it's funny because the religious leaders whose only job actually was to look for the coming of the king to welcome him and announce him to declare that he's arrived they completely miss it because it doesn't look like what they expect it doesn't look like how they would have planned it if they had complete control the Messiah is right there Jesus right there they could have reached out and touched him but they miss it they even upset they Satan tell your followers to be quiet and Jesus says that if they don't cry out and praise me the stones will why because the king who made the earth has come to the earth and creation responds to him even stones the most lifeless dense thing will cry out if you don't worship it doesn't mean he's not gonna be worshipped why because he's the king and when you glimpse that when you see that he's not just a king but the king he's got no rival and no equal you realize you don't have to fear losing control because he's in charge you don't have to fear missing out because he is Lord you don't have to fear bad news because he is powerful to turn even things which intended for harm to good he's a king whose own death didn't frustrate his purposes his own death didn't leave his kingdoms and but to his actual enthronement you don't have to fear losing control when you see that he's the king but then also this passage tells us how we might take hold of freedom because it's one thing to glimpse Jesus as the king but it's quite another thing to see him as my king my king and that's one of the key transitions in life actually to go from while I kind of admire Jesus over hypothetically I can seize a really great guy might even be the King to say he's gonna be my king and actually the idea of having a king might sound a bit old-school to you you might feel like mmm thanks but no thanks particularly if you're American or French might think we're kind of done with that we'd put that to bed and even if you're quite fond of the royal family the monarchy in our country you might be thinking you're you're glad that we don't have absolute monarchy our rule our king queen I have absolute power although if you're listening your majesty I've always been a huge fan but actually over the last 200 years you know the number of kings and queens has dramatically reduced in our world you know the only 26 sovereign royal families at the moment maybe only about 10 of them have any kind of overall power but what I find interesting is while our kings and queens have reduced dramatically there's still something in our hearts that longs for looks for a strong ruler a leader a hero someone to admire because of their power their wealth or their fame we still search for kings and queens and I was thinking about this on Tuesday because I was spending some time with the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cornwall you know as you do and when I say I was with them I mean we're on the same street and when I say some time actually they just kind of drove past me quite quickly in their car but I gave them a little maybe I should about I don't know but um but I was thinking about this cuz I saw them you know just fleeting glimpse as they drove past very quickly with their police escort and I thought oh I've seen royalty I've seen royalty today you know I felt their kind of significance of their status rub off on me a little bit but why is that what's going on it seems there's something in the human psyche that wants to place trust in something that is greater someone that is greater so people are captivated by political leaders if I sing is by celebrities people we can admire follow place our trust in in the hope that some of their Fame their wealth or their power might rub off on us and give us some kind of security some kind of significance some kind of satisfaction but at the same time if we're honest we worry about the idea of kings and queens because we know that power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely we know how easily it can be abused because of people's mixed motives and so we're worried I've longed for but we're weary of kings and queens what I found fascinating about this passage is Jesus makes his claim to be king and is unmistakable you know he enters Jerusalem his disciples are saying he is the king followers are declaring him he organizes this procession into the city as a king he's not half-hearted about it there's no false humility here it's not like the Oscars you know where they read out the nominees you have the kind of split screen you can see all their faces and then they read out the winner and they're kind of like me me me Oh surely there's a mistake how could it be me I'm so shocked I was like you think it's one in six chance you know they're so shocked you know how could it possibly mean they kind of walk up to the stage going oh how has this ever happened they get to the microphone I'm completely blown away I never anticipated this and then they pull out there like lengthy speech you like there's none of that going on here there's no doubt in Jesus mind he's their king he doesn't tell his disciples to stop saying he's entirely secure in his identity he knows few years and what he called to do there it's not real humility to deny your true identity in fact the more aware you are of your true identity the more able you are to show real humility Jesus makes this bold statement entering Jerusalem as the king and yet he's content to do it on a donkey it's a real difference between timidity and humility true humility is bold it comes from a place of absolute complete security humility isn't saying you're bad at things you're good at it's complete confidence in who you really are and sometimes people attempted to make these great displays of wealth of power of status of achievement not because of their sure of who they are but because they're unsure of it it's all insecurity which drives us the Pride and Jesus is absolutely confident in his identity he knows he's the king the much-loved son of God and that means he can be completely humble he can sit on a donkey and come in as king because he's a captivating different kind of king it's interesting because someone who had power and authority without humility or gentleness we'd be wary of following that person not sure if really wanted to do that can we trust them but someone who had humility and gentleness without any kind of power Authority you kind of like not so a really wonderful like what's the point but Jesus has complete power and authority and yet he has such a humility and gentleness he's the gentle King makes me think of my friend Wesley the school I went through was quite a rough school and lots of schools rank themselves on basis of academic achievement or sporting achievement we Director ranked ourselves on the basis of who could beat up who and so there was likely a hierarchy in our school they're really kind of dangerous people at the top and then people like me at the bottom but the reason I was able to survive for five years there just was that one of my good friends Wesley was right at the top like the very top and he he was huge like he was like a giant he was like six foot nine he was built he was stacked he was massive he was quick he could run the hundred meters in under 11 seconds when he was 14 years old and he looked like he was jogging when we played rugby he just kind of gave him the ball and he just ran and everyone just kind of bounced off him it was amazing and actually he was so powerful so powerful but the really interesting thing about Wesley was he wasn't interested in violence or I mean he could have beaten up the entire school on his own but just wasn't interested sure he really loved to do he really loved to draw and particularly really love to draw cartoons he's just like like a gentle johnny was just so gentle it was amazing being his friend because if you were kind of with him no one touched you I mean no no one wanted to run that risk but you also could completely trust him because he was such a gentle guy and it's really interesting because Jesus is not just secure in his identity as king he's also completely trustworthy in his character it was one thing to admire Jesus from afar it's another to trust him with your life your King comes to you humble gentle if that's true it means you can trust him you see real freedom isn't a matter of having complete control over your life but total trust in your king you know that the one you follow is good he wants your best and sometimes our fear is if we if we kind of really open up if we really bow the knee to Jesus he might want us to change a few things in our lives shift a few things around challenges in a few areas asks us to do something we don't really want to do sometimes it's like we open the door to Jesus and we say come in and let me say what's there on the mat please just come too far in maybe in the hallway like in a nice contained safe space but we don't want him wandering around the whole house might see something he doesn't like or they move some things around yeah we like it contained come this far but no further sometimes it's almost like we want to have Jesus as a consultant not as a king like have you to be involved in this part of my life but on my terms happy to hear what you have to say and then I'll make my own mind up about what I want to do you can sometimes be really in control of your life and things can be going really well and the question is the same I prepared to welcome him as king but Jesus isn't just offering good advice he comes to lead us to our best lives you know actually everything we set our hearts on other than him everything you know a ruler a leader a career and ambition will ultimately ask you to lay down your life for it it will cost you everything every King ultimately asks her subjects to lay down their lives for the king's kingdom and Jesus is the only King who laid down his life to bring you into his kingdom he knew when he walked when he went into Jerusalem hearing shouts of praise that within a few days he will be hearing shouts of crucify him he knew as he was carried in by that donkey than in a few days he would walk out carrying his own cross he knew the cost and he did it for you why because he loves you because he wanted to win you because you are his glory his joy the joy that was set before him that's why he came and when you see that when you believe that when you feel that you can trust him and you can follow him without fear because you know he has your best interest at heart you can even obey him full of confidence I find it fascinating that they go to the people who have the donkey this donkey it says in the passage which has never been ridden before and the owners like why taking the donkey and they say the Lord has need of it and that's enough that's the authority that's the authority that people respond to I wonder if that's a significant word for you today the Lord has need of it maybe that's something in your life which you've been holding back resisting him in maybe that's true for you I wonder if it has ever crossed your mind that the Lord might have need of you that he might be whispering you calling to you saying come there's some stuff I want us to do together come and get involved it was fascinating this donkey has never been ridden before and I don't know about you if you've ever ridden a horse that's never been ridden before a donkey it's never been ridden for doesn't tend to go well you know animals instinctively distrust humans because they're smart Jesus gets on this donkey which has never been ridden before and calmly confidently it walks through a crowd of people cheering why because Jesus is holding the reins the one who made it is leading it don't you want to be led by the one who made you there's no better place no freer place no more joyful place than being led by Jesus Tbilisi you'll never be truly free unless you're prepared to bow the knee so for how the needs of Jesus why because he has a purpose for your life he wants joy in your life he has a purpose for your family your friends your workplace this city and he's asking you today I have need of you I have need of this will you respond will you walk of him not just as a king but the king will you welcome him not just as the king but as my king Lord would you come and be king in my heart King in my life would you lead me I want to be led by you because I know you are good I know your love and just forever and I know that because you are completely powerful and utterly gentle I can trust you with the entirety of my life in Jesus name Amen you

Channel: HTB Church

Views: 4,320

Rating: 4.9322033 out of 5

Keywords: Stephen Foster, Luke

Id: d4TGcsgaRQk

Length: 29min 13sec (1753 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 13 2018