Myth 3: Obedience is Optional for a Servant of Christ - Lon Solomon

you're listening to dallas theological seminaries chapel podcast a clear voice in chaotic times good morning there you go hey I have permission to let you know that it MacLean Bible Church we are looking for great young leaders and if you aspire to be one of them when you get done with your seminary training we're interested in talking to you we are interested in people and everything from global missions to tech team to working with children with disabilities to a speaking to you name it small groups there's some cards in the front even if you're not a senior or last year student here take it tuck it away give us a call when you're ready and we'd love to talk to you alright if you brought a Bible today I want you to open it to Exodus chapter 4 with me you know in our modern world we are used to the idea that God calls men and women into full-time vocational Christian service into the full-time ministry if you will but what many of us may not realize is that Moses was the very first person in history that God ever did this for now before Moses of course there were a lot of people who had walked with God and been faithful to God Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph Noah Enoch but at the burning bush here in the book of Exodus God calls Moses to a life of service for God and a life of leading God's people spiritually that went far beyond just his own personal walk with God now today in our world God is still calling men and women into the ministry some of us he is calling into the full-time vocational ministry some of you here believe God's calling you into the full-time vocational ministry most followers of Christ God calls in to volunteer ministry but whether it's vocational or volunteer God calls every Christian to a life of service and ministry for the Lord Jesus Christ and this is why as followers of Christ my friends we study the lives of the great men and women of the Bible because in by observing what God taught them about how to serve God in power we learn how to serve God in power better in our world today and so that's what we want to do today we want to look at a great lesson that God taught Moses about how to serve God and so I want to take us back 3500 years in history and let's see what happened to Moses and then we want to bring all of that forward again and talk about well what difference does that make to you and me now a little bit of background at the burning bush here at Exodus chapter 3 and 4 God called Moses as we said to a very special ministry Exodus chapter 3 verse 10 so now God said go I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people out of Egypt and for the next Oh 30 verses or so Moses argues with God as a matter of fact he gives God five reasons why God has got the wrong guy and God is able to give him a solution to all five of those excuses and so finally Exodus 4 verse 18 says then Moses went I think that was a wise decision verse 20 and so Moses took his wife in his son put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt and he took the staff of God in his hand verse 24 and at a lodging place along the way the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him but sapore his wife took a flint knife and circumsized her son then she threw her son's foreskin at Moses his feet and said to Moses you are a bridegroom of blood to me and after this the Lord let Moses alone now you might say lon what in the Dickens is going on in this passage well friends let's talk about it for a moment the Bible says at the beginning of their journey back to Egypt when Moses his wife and his son stopped overnight at an God was about to kill Moses now the Bible doesn't tell us exactly how God's ought to do this he doesn't tell us whether God struck Moses down with some illness or whether God struck him down in some other supernatural way but the important point for us today is the reason why God struck Moses down and the reason is Moses had failed to circumcise his son now as I'm sure you know God had commanded there's our keyword Abraham that every Jewish father was to circumcise their sons Genesis 17 9 you must keep my covenant God said to Abraham you and your descendants after you for all generations to come and this is my covenant with you and your descendants the Covenant you are to keep every male among you shall be circumcised now this was an integral part of what it meant to be an Israelite somehow Zipporah Moses his wife figures out what the problem is here she takes a sharp stone and quickly circumcise as her son who by the way at this time was in his early 20s there you go and she threw her son's bleeding foreskin at the feet of her husband and the Bible says that as soon as this was done God let Moses alone confirming that the circumcision of his son was indeed the issue here now friends this is one of the most gruesome passages in all of the Bible but it's also one of the most valuable passages when it comes to teaching us how to serve God with power in our life let me explain what I mean by that you see Moses knew about circumcision he had been circumcised by his own parents and he also knew that God had commanded every Jewish father to do this to his son but apparently what happened is that Moses fled out into the wilderness he married a non-jewish women woman sabores a poor of the poor apparently said to him when his sons were born Hey look Moses you're never gonna see your people again you're never gonna be an Israelite again you're never gonna be connected with that nation again so why should we put our son through this needless pain and Moses apparently agreed with her but now somehow she figures out what the problem is and you know it must have seemed like a very small matter as he headed back to Egypt this issue of circumcising his son I mean Moses is going back to Egypt to stand toe to toe with Yul Brenner you understand what I'm saying he's going back to turn staffs into snakes and bring awful plagues on the land of Egypt and open up the Red Sea so the Israelites can walk through it and I'm sure he must have thought that circumcising his son was a trivial matter a minor thing an unimportant issue but friends he needed to learn a very important lesson about serving God the lesson he needed to learn is that God demands total obedience from his servants for God no act of disobedience is trivial no act of disobedience is minor disobedience is sin and sin quenches the power of God in a person's life regardless of its relative size my friends the truth is it was sheer foolishness for Moses to head back to Egypt expecting to bring the power of God down on that nation while he still had sin in his life while he still had disobedience in his life and so it was not in meanness that God stopped Abraham along the way and tried to kill him it was in mercy that God obstructed his way it was in mercy that God forced him to get his sin right that God forced him to get into a posture of full obedience it was in mercy that God made sure that before Moses walked in to face Pharaoh and expected the power of God to be there that Moses got himself into a position where the power of God would be there and of course we know that when Moses got back the power of God was there you saw the movie you know that now that's as far as we want to go in the passage today because now it's time for Adele for us to ask our most important question of the morning and if you were here yesterday you learned what that question was but just in case you weren't let us show you what it is on the screen so that you know and when I say three we're all gonna scream it so are you ready hello all right here we go one two three ah how sweet it is you know friends I was thinking the other day what is the least favorite word in the English language you ever think about that because we're gonna bring all of this forward now we're gonna apply to your life so let's ask the question what's the least favorite word in the English language well in ape in January its visa bill in April it's what taxes right in summer its humidity in October it's the Cowboys haha I'm sorry I'm from Washington I'm sorry in December it's the mall but you know what I really think is the most hated word in the English language all year round it's obedience obedience two-year-olds hate that word elementary school kids hate that word teenagers hate that word college students hate that word boot camp soldiers hate that word employees hate that word obedience may be the most hated word in the English language but my folks God loves the word obedience what exactly does obedience mean well it means to follow the orders of someone who's in authority over you to do what you are told and over and over in the Bible God tells us that he is not primarily interested in rituals or Creed's or doctrinal statements or prayer books or hymn singing or religious activity or taking communion or church membership or recycling God is primarily interested above all else in obedience listen James 1:22 but prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers Matthew 12 verse 50 Jesus said whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother in John 13 jesus said if you know these things you will be blessed if you put them in your doctrinal statement no write them in your Creed no if you do them Psalm 111 says a good understanding have all day who do God's commandments and in Matthew chapter 7 you know the song the wise man built his house upon the rock the wise man built his house upon the rock the wise man built his house upon the rock and the rains came a-tumblin down look I'm Jewish I didn't even go to Sunday school I know this song come on now you can sing this song the rains came down and the floods came up the rains came down and the floods came up the rains came down and the floods came up but the house on the rock stood give yourselves a hand that wasn't bad that's pretty good don't too many of you apply to be music directors but that's alright now listen what was the big difference between the guy who built his house on the rock and the guy who built his house on the sand for years I thought one was a believer and one was another an unbeliever then one day I actually read it carefully and noticed that that wasn't the difference at all the man who built his house on the rock Jesus said is the person who hears these words of mine and does them and the person who builds their house on the sand is the person even if they're a believer who hears these words of mine and doesn't do them folks when it comes to what we've learned today however I want to take it one step farther and say this to you that God is not just interested in the large issues of obedience God is not just interested in the major issues of obedience for his servants friends if you are a servant of Christ no item of obedience is too small or too insignificant for God to be concerned about and God needed to teach this to Moses and he needs to teach this to you and me that obedience even in small matters is mandatory as servants of Christ and whenever I think of this truth I think of the verse in the Song of Solomon chapter 2 verse 15 that simply says it's the little foxes that spoil the vine and what this means I think is that most followers of Christ don't lose the power of God in their life they don't lose the blessing of God in their lives over the big foxes over the big acts of disobedience it's the little foxes the little acts of disobedience to God that devastate our Christian experience that robbed us of God's greatest blessing and that take away the joy of our salvation think about it now it was a little Fox that cost King King Saul his kingship you know the story first Samuel 15 God tells him to go to this sumela kite village this town wipe everybody out every person every animal a quorum city walked the wipe the whole thing out and so he goes and he conquers this city but he saves the best animals alive and he preserves the life of the king and so was he's marching back he meets Samuel the great prophet and Saul greets him and goes Oh Samuel you blessed of the Lord man I have done everything the LORD commanded me to do and Samuel said really well what then is this bleeding of sheep in my ears and this lowing of oxen that I hear now folks that's hysterical you don't get it cuz it's Bible humor but that is hysterical that is hysterical do you understand what samuel saying he's saying hey dude if you did everything God told you to do there would be no sheep alive to bleat there would be no oxen allow alive too low oh it's funny it really is it's funny but the point is what looked like a very little thing to Saul Saul said well we saved the best of the animals here comes to sacrifice to our God what did Samuel say he said hey pal does God have as much pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as he has and obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better than to sacrifice and you're not gonna be the King anymore because of what you did look like a little thing to Saul but it wasn't a little thing to God and then I think of Joshua and and and he and the Israelites getting schwack today I Joshua chapter 7 and if you remember what happened a man named Aiken had taken some spoil from the city of Jericho that they had conquered just before that and God had said don't do that now this was one man in a nation of maybe two million people I figured that out that's one ten-thousandth of 1% of the nation talk about something looking small but then they went out and got shrekd and and joshua got on his knees and says Oh Lord oh Lord why have you shaking us Oh Lord our Lord why have you left us I love what God said to him Joshua chapter 711 he says get up get up get up get up that is not the problem the problem he says is that Israel has sinned this is why the Israelites can't stand against their enemies and you will not be able to stand against your enemies until you remove that disobedience from you hey what did Joshua do he go down he went and dealt with the sin and God increased his power and gave them the victory folks it's the little foxes that'll get you every time all it takes is a little bit of immorality just a little bit of a magazine or a little bit of internet porn you know I or a little bit gentlemen of looking at some woman's chest when she goes by you say well excuse me I mean you expect me to walk my whole life staring straight down at the sidewalk just like this so I don't look at some woman no I expect you to look forward but friends it's not the first look that's the problem it's the second it's just a little bit of hey my boyfriend and I just have a little bit of sex I mean we don't go all the way we just have a little bit friends it just takes a little bit of lying a little bit of cheating a little bit of income tax evasion a little bit of refusal to do restitution a little bit of hatred a little bit of bitterness a little bit of jealousy a little lack of forgiveness a little bit of rebellion against my parents a little bit of disobedience to my boss a little bit of disrespect for my husband a little bit of lack of esteem for my wife as followers of Christ listen to me we dare not underestimate the destructive power of those little foxes we must let God teach us what he taught Moses here at this in that we must take every form of obedience to God seriously if we are going to go out and serve God in power with our lives my friends look carefully and you will find that every great man and woman of God that God ever used in a mighty way learned this lesson and took it seriously the little foxes now what I have here in my hand is a crescent wrench and I want to tell you the story this crescent wrench when I was in seminary I aroond with a with two guys and one of the guys I room with was named Jim miles Jim miles had a crescent wrench just like this and I used to use it to unto uh unscrew the drain plug in my oil pan and change my oil because it was big enough to fit that drain plug well when I moved out from being Jim's roommate in 1974 I took the crescent wrench with me and for the next 10 years I used it to change my oil and I would be under the car change in my oil and the Holy Spirit would whisper to me and go that's Jim miles wrench you know and I would say Lord come on now you know don't don't don't get like that with me I mean this is I mean it's just a crescent wrench and he probably forgot all about it and gone and bought another one by now and if I he probably wouldn't even remember I had it and lord I I don't have the time to deal with this you know I'm busy serving you and I'm sorry Lord so in 10 years we went on like that and finally when I came to McClain Bible Church in 1980 and I started preaching there and leading that church you know I just had this feeling in those early years that something was hindering my ministry that though something was just not right and I remember I got on my knees one day and I said God something's not right here things are not flowing the way they should what is it and Lord's the Lord said to me lon it's the wrench it's the wrench you stole that wrench it's not yours so I called Jim miles up and I said hey Jim I said you remember an old crescent wrench you used to have that I used to use to change my oil he said oh yeah I said I always wondered what happened to that crescent wrench I said well Jim I stole it I've got it and I said I'm sending it back to you and he said no no no he said lon forget it he said I've already gone out bought myself another crescent wrench he said forget it keep it I said uh-uh no no oh no no you're gonna have to Jim because his baby's coming back to you FedEx you'll have this boy in the morning and I went out and bought my own crescent wrench and you know what God taught me he taught me little foxes come in all shapes all sizes and all colors friends now if you really want to see God's power and blessing flow in our life and as someone who aspires to be a servant of Christ I sure hope you do want to see that then we must pray what David prayed in Psalm 139 here's what he said he said Lord search me and know my heart and see if there is any wicked way in me we must ask God to show us where the little foxes are in our life things that we're passing off is no big deal but they are a big deal to God and then we must ask God for the courage and it takes courage to go and get these things right with him and with other people regardless of what it costs us in time effort money or humiliation we must be able to stand in a posture of full obedience to the best of our ability before Almighty God if we expect God to do with us what he did with Moses I love what aw Tozer said and that quote he said if you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late and how little revival has resulted he said considering the volume of prayer that is ascending these days rivers of revival ought to be flowing that no such results are in evidence should not discourage us rather it should stir us to find out why our prayers are not being answered I believe he says that our problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying and it simply will not work end of quote now let me conclude by saying this Isaiah 55 says the word that goes forth from my mouth God says shall not return to me void but it will accomplish that which I sent it to do and maybe you've heard some preachers say I certainly have that since the power is in God's Word the obedience of the messenger really doesn't matter I mean obedience is nice but it's really kind of optional because if the power is in the word of God anyway as long as we deliver it God's gonna use it now you say Yellin I've heard that is that right well the answer is yes and no you say yes and no lawns son you've been living in Washington too long son if you answer a question like that no listen that's right yes the power is in the Word of God not you and me that is absolutely right but friends know this is not an excuse for us as the messengers to minimize the importance of obedience to God in our lives maybe you know the name Robert Murray McShane great Scottish preacher of the early 1800s led a great revival in Scotland he once wrote to a fellow pastor these words and I quote how diligently the cavalry officer keeps his saber clean every stain he rubs off with the greatest of care remember McShane said you are God's sword his instrument a chosen vessel to bear his name and in great measure according to the purity of the instrument will be the success McShane concluded by saying these words a holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God a holy Minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God and as Dallas seminary students as soon one day to be I hope Dallas seminary graduates I want you to make it your goal with the help of the Holy Spirit every single day to be an awful weapon in the hand of Almighty God and friends the only way to be that is to be a person who is committed and zealous about obedience in our lives as followers of Christ and so as we close I'm wondering if any of you here might have a crescent wrench or two in your life today I mean maybe it's a person that we need to go back to and make things right with maybe it's an amended tax return that we need to file maybe it's a professor that we need to go see and confess that we cheated maybe it's a debt we need to pay or promised that we made that we don't want to keep but we need to go keep maybe it's a sexually active relationship with our boyfriend or a girlfriend that we need to knock off maybe it's a change in what we read or a change in the internet sites that we go to or in the movies that we watch or in the covenant we make with our eyes about how we look at people of the opposite sex maybe it's a bad attitude towards our boss or a broken relationship in our family or a breach in our relationship with some other person look I don't know I got my own Crescent wrenches I don't know what yours is but I'll tell you this my goal in the ministry is to be able to look Jesus in the face and say Lord there are none of these in my life today that I know of if there is one if there's one of these Crescent wrenches there you show me Lord and by the grace of God and with your help I'll go get it straight because I want to be an awful force in the hand of Almighty God and if whatever cost me Lord you got it show me where the wrenches are well friends that's what I'm challenging you to do not just today but that's how I'm challenging you to live your life in the ministry because if you're not gonna live it that way if you're not gonna be an awful weapon in the hand of God then why waste your time being a substandard weapon in the house and in the hand of God don't waste your time if you're gonna go do it do it right if you're gonna go do it make it count if you're gonna go do it make an impact or don't waste your time and it takes courage to do with these wrenches you know that it does but hey if you want to be used by God bad enough you'll do it let me close with the words of Samuel remember what he said to King Saul he said does the Lord take as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices does the Lord take as much delight in singing hymns and go into church congregational meetings and preaching sermons as he does in obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better you say better than what better than anything because everything else we do is based on being able to stand before Jesus and be an awful weapon in his hand let's bow our heads together shall we and with our heads bowed and our eyes closed I want to give each one of you a moment just privately as you sit there to pray and say okay Lord Jesus just you and me now show me the wrenches where the little fox is Lord and if he shows you something my friend then my challenge to you is to tell the Lord Jesus that with his help you're gonna go fix it because you want to be an awful weapon in the hand of God let's take a moment pray Lord Jesus I am confident that as we spoke about this today there are many of us here who suddenly had something pop up on the screen and we knew and we know exactly what you're saying to us Lord we've pushed these things down shoved him around justified I'm excuse them come up with 50 reasons why we don't need to deal with them call them minor branded them as trivial but Lord it's like playing whack-a-mole at the beach they keep coming back up and so my prayer is that you would confront us today like Samuel confronted Saul and say no you want to serve me then we need to deal with these things and Lord Jesus make this the the standard pattern of our lives as servants of Christ that we are anxious every day as your servants to clear the Crescent wrenches out and stand in a posture to the best of our ability of full obedience before you so give us the courage today to go deal with these things God you know we really don't want to or we would have already dealt with them the Lord give us the courage today and the passion to be awful weapons in the hand of God so deeply give us that passion that we're willing to pay any price it takes to get there some of us are gonna have to make phone calls to parents some of us are gonna have to go and pay back people some of us are gonna have to do who knows what but lord whatever it is by the power of your spirit help us do it thank you Lord Jesus that your power is available that you want to make us awful weapons in the hand of God help us get to the right place where you can do that Lord Jesus by your mercy and for your glory and we ask this in Jesus name and God's people said what you say alright now listen tomorrow we're gonna finish up the last message in modern Theological myths tomorrow we're going to talk about the blood of Jesus is outdated and unnecessary that's a myth you come tomorrow we'll talk about it god bless you have a good day

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

Views: 10,445

Rating: 4.8367348 out of 5

Keywords: myth, servant, obedience, humility, leadership, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. Lon Solomon

Id: iCFir46gIDk

Length: 31min 56sec (1916 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 10 2012