May 27, 2025 • 26 mins
Ever noticed how certain words can immediately put us on edge? "Submission" is certainly one of them. What should be a pathway to freedom has become associated with control, oppression, and abuse. But what if we've been looking at it all wrong?
This exploration of submission as a spiritual rhythm takes us beyond negative connotations to discover its true essence: a freeing discipline that helps us recognize we can't do life alone, that we live for something greater than ourselves, and that we need not be molded by the broken patterns of this world.
The ancient story of the Israelites at Mount Sinai provides a powerful backdrop for understanding the "why" of submission. God's invitation wasn't based on threats or manipulation but on a simple reminder: "Remember how I have shown you my love and freed you." Their enthusiastic "yes" quickly faltered as doubt crept in during Moses' absence, leading them back to familiar patterns—the golden calf that represented their former captivity. Sound familiar? When uncertainty hits, we too often revert to what we know, even if those patterns once enslaved us.
The beauty of this story isn't the failure but what follows. Despite their rebellion, God renewed the covenant and still led them to the Promised Land. Even the forty years of wilderness wandering wasn't merely punishment but preparation—creating a people ready to live in freedom. This mirrors our journey with God, who loves us not because we get submission right, but "while we were still sinners."
Building this rhythm resembles helping a child construct a complex Lego set—progress is frustratingly slow, but the relationship formed through patient persistence becomes the real treasure. If you've shelved this spiritual practice because it seemed too difficult, perhaps today's the moment to pick it back up and rediscover the freedom found in yielding to the One whose love never fails.
What's truly molding and shaping your life today? Are you ready to experience the liberation that comes when love, not obligation, drives your surrender?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, good morning.
My name is Ben Carruthers, I'mthe director of Student and
Family Ministries here and it'sgood to be worshiping with you
on this beautiful Memorialweekend.
We are continuing our sermonseries on rhythms and this idea
of a rhythm.
It's these things that mold andshape who we are and our lives,
(00:20):
and our lives together and ourrelationship with God, and over
the past three weeks we'velooked at a few of these.
We started off with fasting.
Pastor Ryan talked aboutfasting.
Ironically, he talked aboutfasting the same week.
We had a ton of donuts for youto eat, so that was a good start
off to the series.
Then Sonia talked about service, and then last week we talked
about silence and solitude,which, if you're watching from
(00:41):
the cabin, obviously you werelistening last weekend, so well
done.
And Solitude which, if you'rewatching from the cabin,
obviously you were listeninglast weekend, so well done.
And this week we're talkingabout submission, and I have to
tell you I can't tell you howmany times people have said
how'd you get stuck with thatone?
And my response is I chose it,which is weird.
I get it now that I understandwhy we have our CA meetings and
(01:03):
our CA creative arts, and so webring our sermon ideas to the
table and we throw some stuffout and see what works and maybe
what doesn't work.
And I was pretty excited Ipicked this one because this is
one like you've heard most ofthe preachers say, that one
really they gravitate towards,one.
It's important to their maybedaily rhythms of their life.
It's something that's mold andshaped their life.
And for me that was submission.
(01:24):
Because at the heart ofsubmission it's this idea of
that you can't do it on your own, that you need God.
At the heart of submission it'sthis idea that you don't live
for yourself, you live for God.
At the heart of submission it'swe don't allow the things of
this world and the brokenrelationships of this world to
(01:47):
mold and shape our life.
And I love that aboutsubmission.
It's meant a lot in my life.
And so I sat down at the CAtable.
I'm throwing out all theseideas and I'm just getting like
blank stares and I'm likesomething's missing the mark
here, obviously.
And I remember I always runthings past my wife a lot and I
was really excited about it.
I'm like something's missingthe mark here, obviously, and I
remember I always run thingspast my wife a lot and I was
really excited about it.
I'm like this is what I'm goingto talk about, and she just
looked at me and said, yeah,that's an idea.
(02:08):
I was like what's happening?
And what I found was that myidea of submission, and how it's
impacted my personal life andmy personal faith, is not
perhaps the norm of the world.
The norm of the world is thisword submission comes with an
(02:29):
incredibly negative appearanceBecause, much like things of
this world, we have takensomething that is a beautiful
thing to do to God and we'vecorrupted it and we've abused it
, and instead of it being adiscipline, something, a rhythm
that frees us from all of thestuff of this world, all the
(02:50):
brokenness of ourselves and thebrokenness of this world, it's a
freeing rhythm.
Instead of that, it has reallybecome something that oppresses
people.
And so how do we tackle thatthis morning?
How do we take something that,when we hear the word submission
, even when we talked about it,people like, oh what, where are
we going to go with this?
(03:11):
How do we bring it back to whatit's supposed to be a rhythm, a
discipline that brings freedom.
And so that's our goal thismorning, because what submission
is is a freeing rhythm, afreeing discipline.
It's a giving up of oneself andliving and loving for God and
(03:35):
living and loving for otherpeople.
How do we get back to that?
And the other question that wewant to look at is why?
Why should we submit to God?
We've talked about the what itis, so how do we do it?
Why do we do it?
And that's our prayer thismorning is that we leave here,
maybe with a different look ofwhat submission is.
(03:57):
So let's pray for that thismorning.
God, we give you thanks andpraise for the opportunity to
gather together, whether here inthe room or at home or at the
cabin, wherever people may beviewing this.
And, lord, right now, I justpray for your spirit to come
into this place or whereverpeople are, and to open up
hearts and minds, because whenwe talk about submission, it can
(04:18):
really bring some dark,negative things into our life.
Right now, lord, there arepeople in this place listening
to this word that are submittingto things of this world, that
are submitting to brokenrelationships, things that are
oppressing them, and they arenot experiencing the freedom
that comes along with submittingto you.
So, lord, god, open up heartsand minds for your word this
(04:41):
morning.
It's in your name we pray, amen.
So, as we go this morning, thequestion that I ask, and as you
think about, is what is moldingand shaping you today?
What or who is molding andshaping the person you are and
the decisions that you aremaking?
Because I think, if we take amoment and think about those
(05:03):
things, we may be like how inthe heck did this come into my
life?
How have I allowed this to comein and take such a stronghold
in my life?
It's very subtle.
My son, Ezzy.
He's six.
He came home this week asthey're clearing out their
school locker and desk and stufffor the end of the year, and he
came home with this piece ofartwork and it's a still.
(05:26):
What is it called a still lifeor whatever?
It's the bowl of fruit.
Right, he's supposed to paintthe bowl of fruit.
He did a pretty great job,right?
He's six years old, prettyawesome.
Now, what you maybe can't see,and what I didn't see the first
time that I looked at it is inthe bottom of the bowl of fruit.
Is this?
It's SpongeBob.
I don't know what SpongeBob'sdoing in the bowl of fruit.
(05:49):
He didn't know what he wasdoing because I asked him.
I said what's SpongeBob?
I don't know.
I like to draw SpongeBob and Itotally missed it.
My wife called me and FaceTimedme and showed me this I'm like
man, good job, buddy, good job.
And she's like, look again andjob.
And she's like look again.
And I'm like what is that?
I think when we ask the questionwhat or who are we submitting
(06:10):
to?
And we see some negativeinfluences that are molding and
shaping who we are, it's not soin your face and we miss it at
first glance because it's it'ssneaked its way in, it's found a
way in to influence us, to moldus and shape us.
(06:31):
So what is it or who is itmaybe in your life that is
molding and shaping you, that iscausing you not to experience
the freedom that is insubmission to God?
There's a great story in theOld Testament to answer the
question why.
Why should we submit to God?
(06:53):
Now we are gathered in a churchand there's an obvious reason,
right, we all say Jesus and wecould leave the room, but I got
15 more minutes, so we're goingto go further into it.
Why?
And in this story of theIsraelites, I think we see a
beautiful picture of why weshould submit to God.
And so this starts in Exodus 19,verses 3 through 6.
(07:14):
So this is right after theIsraelites have been freed from
Pharaoh and slavery, from Egypt,and they've wandered and
they've made their way to MountSinai.
And Exodus 19, 3 through 6 saysthis are to say to the
descendants of Jacob and whatyou are to tell the people of
(07:36):
Israel.
You yourselves have seen what Idid to Egypt and how I carried
you on eagle's wings and broughtyou to myself.
Now, if you obey me fully andkeep my covenant, then, out of
all the nations, you will be mytreasured possessions, although
the whole earth is mine, youwill be for me a kingdom of
(07:57):
priests and a holy nation.
These are the words you are tospeak to the Israelites.
So all of these thousands ofpeople have come to this area by
Mount Sinai.
God says Moses, come up to themountain, I want to talk to you.
Notice how many times Mosesgoes up and down this mountain
in this short passage.
This guy is a cardio king, bythe way, just keep an eye on it.
(08:18):
He goes up to the mountain andGod says listen, I want to make
a covenant with my people.
And he says to them he doesn'tsay.
He says I want my people tosubmit to me as God, as ruler of
their lives.
And notice how he doesn't say Iwant them to submit to me
because of my force, because ofmy power.
There's no abuse here.
(08:41):
There's no manipulation,there's no oppression going on
here.
Read closely what does he say.
He says remember that I am theone who freed you from Egypt,
freed you out of slavery,carried you on eagle's wings to
this place.
What he's saying is rememberhow I have shown you my love for
(09:02):
you, remember how I have savedyou and freed you, and this is
why I want you to obey to me.
This is why I want you tosubmit to me, not because of
force, not because of oppressionor because of things.
If you don't, do you're goingto get in trouble, so do it.
It's because I love you and Iwant to continue to show my love
(09:25):
to you.
Not only that the covenant thathe wants to make with these
group of people is to make themheavenly priests, to make them
people who not only know andlove the law of God which the
law is love but they're going tobe a group of people that go
and show the world, god's love.
This is what he wants to dowith these people.
And he says Moses, this is theword that I want you to bring
(09:49):
down to my people, this newcovenant, and even the covenant
that he's going to bring downeventually, we'll get to that.
The Ten Commandments, these arenot rules to follow by an
oppressive, abusive,manipulative god.
These are rules and guidelinesof a way to live in freedom,
because they've never lived thatway.
(10:10):
For over 400 years there wereslaves in egypt, and now they're
going to be a free people.
For over 400 years in Egypt,they watched the Egyptians
worship false idols and falsegods, and now they have the
freedom to worship their God.
And so God says this newcovenant between me and you,
(10:30):
it's going to be again a way forme to show love to you, so that
you may show that love to theworld.
That's the message that Mosesis to deliver to his people.
Okay, so Moses brings, climbsdown that huge mountain and he
says all right, everyone, listenup, I have a word from God, and
(10:51):
in Exodus 19, 7 through 8, itsays this so Moses went back and
summoned the elders of thepeople and set before them all
the words the Lord commanded himto speak.
Excuse me.
The people all respondedtogether we will do everything
the Lord has said.
So Moses brought their answersback to the Lord.
So up the mountain he goesagain.
(11:12):
So the people hear this wordfrom God and the word is
remember how I have loved you.
And they are compelled by thatlove of God that they say amen.
They say let's do this, they'relike let's go, I'm on board.
(11:33):
This sounds great.
God has shown us his love timeand time and time again, and now
he wants to continue to do thatwith us.
I'm in, let's do this.
And so the people resoundinglysay okay, I'm in.
So, old man, moses goes back upthe mountain again to deliver
(11:57):
this word and he goes back tothe mountain and he says they're
in God, they're in, they'reexcited, they remember how you
have shown us your love and theyjust want more of that.
They're ready to submit to youBecause they know the freedom
that's in that submission.
(12:17):
And this is the part of thestory that we're pretty familiar
with.
Moses goes back up to themountain and God gives him in
Exodus 20, he gives him the TenCommandments.
But it's not just that FromExodus 20 all the way through
chapter 31, moses is on themountaintop.
Now, when I was a kid and Iwatched Charlton Heston be Moses
(12:38):
, he went up there, got thecommandments and came right back
down.
Right, that's not it.
Moses was up there for 40 days,40 days receiving the Ten
Commandments.
But not just that.
Remember, these people have noidea how to live away from
slavery.
So, over those 11 chapters,away from slavery.
(13:02):
So, over those 11 chapters, godtells Moses in great detail of
how his people should live, downto what the priests should wear
, what they should eat, becausethis is how they will show their
love to God, because theirrelationship is a relationship
of love.
So Moses is on this mountaintopfor 40 days, getting all of the
(13:23):
guidelines of this is how God'speople will live in this new
promised land that you're goingto, giving them a blueprint of,
one that they haven't had for400 plus years.
And, as we know, it doesn't goso well at the bottom of the
mountain.
During those 40 days, stuffstarts to change and they're
(13:46):
starting to fear and doubt.
Is Moses coming back?
Does God really love us?
Has he abandoned us once again?
Do we feel abandoned once againby God?
What's happening?
We sent Moses up 40 days agowith a yes, we're in and we have
(14:07):
nothing.
And the fear and the doubt,maybe even some selfish ambition
, climbs into the hearts ofthese people and they start
building their fake God and theyhave forgotten about the love
that God has shown them.
They have forgotten the freedomthat God has brought them away
(14:31):
from Egypt, the power of God insplitting the Red Sea, of God,
providing them for them in thedesert with manna and water from
the rock, providing them forthem in the desert with manna
and water from the rock.
And that resounding yes fromeveryone has started to subside
a little bit, has started to saymaybe we were wrong and so they
(14:51):
build.
The golden calf Looks a littlebit, maybe, like that, we have
no idea, but that's Google'simage.
Here's the thing about thisimage.
We know it's a golden calf, butwhy why a golden calf?
Why why not some other kind ofhuman looking god or whatever?
Remember they were in slaveryin egypt for over 400 years and
(15:14):
in egypt there were three boldgods that were worshipped.
One in particular was the godApis, and this was the god of
fertility and eternity.
Fertility and eternity, whichmeans that we will continue to
live and we will live forever.
(15:37):
For 400 years they lived in aplace where they worshipped this
God, this fake God, and the waythey did this was the Egyptians
would pick a bull, a big,strong bull, and they'd say this
is Apis, and for 25 years thatbull would be worshipped like a
(15:59):
god.
25 years that bull would beworshipped like a god, until
after 25 years, they wouldslaughter that bull and pick out
a new bull.
So maybe it's good for 25 years, but the end doesn't look so
hot for this bull.
And remember, they havewitnessed this For 400 years.
(16:23):
They have seen the Egyptianpeople worship this false god.
But egypt was doing pretty good, weren't they?
They were the empire of theworld, and this is what the
israelites knew.
This is why they built the calf.
Because here's the little thingabout submission is that when we
try to pull away from thethings of this world that keep
(16:45):
pulling us back, we seem to goback to what we know.
When fear and doubt, and maybeselfish desires, impatience,
starts to creep its way in ourminds and our hearts.
What we know is over here, andyou know, what we know over here
wasn't great.
(17:05):
We were in slavery for 400years, we were abused for 400
years, but we at least know it,and we go back to the things
that lead to brokenrelationships.
We go back to the things thatlead to broken relationships.
We go back to the things thatlead to a broken life because
it's familiar and that's whatthe Israelites were doing.
(17:29):
They were going back to whatthey knew and they were allowing
that to be what they submittedto.
Well, after those 40 days, weknow, moses comes down the
mountain and he smashes thetablets, and that could be the
end of the story and that couldbe the end of our story, but
(17:49):
it's not, because, like in thebeginning, our God is a God of
love.
And so, a few chapters later,moses receives the Ten
Commandments again.
And poor Moses man, rememberit's 11 chapters of not just
commandments but how to live,and God goes over them all in
great detail, once again forMoses.
(18:10):
So, even though the peoplerebelled and even though the
people went back and submittedto something that they were used
to that led to brokenness, eventhough they knew what God had
done for them out of love, andeven though they resoundedly
said, yes, we want this, eventhough they fell and went back
to a life of slavery, of what itfelt like, a life that did not
(18:33):
lead to freedom.
Even though all of that, godstill gave them the law.
God still gave them thecovenant of love, as we find out
in the book of that.
God still gave them the law.
God still gave them thecovenant of love, as we find out
in the book of Joshua.
He led his people to thepromised land.
After 40 years of wandering,they got to go home.
(18:55):
And here's the thing about that40 years.
Sometimes we view that as apunishment.
You made the golden calf.
You went back to thatsubmission of what led you to
slavery and oppression for allthose years.
Here's 40 years of wandering inthe desert.
And then I'll let you in.
I think we're reading it wrong.
(19:16):
When Moses came down and saw,just after 40 days, what had
happened.
And, by the way, when we readthat and we're like man, just
after 40 days, after what Godhas done for you, 40 days, how
many times have we left on aSunday morning, been inspired by
the word of God and said, yes,I'm going to make this change,
yes, and then we get out in ourcar and we're like what was that
message?
Again, can't even make fiveminutes to my car 40 days is
(19:37):
pretty good.
Can't even make five minutes tomy car.
40 days is pretty good.
And these 40 years of wanderingin the desert I think God knew
that they weren't ready for thisgift of freedom quite yet.
There was still some changingand transformation that needed
to happen to prepare them to beGod's people.
Where they were going, therewere other gods, there were
(19:57):
other people who worshiped fakegods, and they could last 40
days.
How were they going to make theoppression and all these people
coming in and saying you'reworshiping the wrong god, this
is the god of this place?
Maybe they weren't ready andMoses wasn't going to go with
them.
Their leader, their extremelycardioactive leader, could not
(20:18):
go with him.
So God used that time to raiseup joshua, someone who'll lead
him into that land.
Even the 40 years of wanderingis an act of love by god.
You see, their story didn't endthere and our story doesn't end
there because when I ask youthe question of what is molding
(20:40):
and shaping you, and maybesomething stuck in your heart or
a name or a thing immediatelypopped up.
Our story doesn't end thereBecause, even if we are people
who live for ourselves, whomaybe can be a little
self-centered and let ourdesires take control.
And even if we are people whoallow the things of this world
(21:05):
to mold and shape us and oppressus, and even if we are people
who continue to take oneverything and say we can do it,
I don't need help, I don't needGod, I'm strong enough, I'm big
enough, I can do it on my own.
Even though we are these three,or maybe something else, even
though we are sinners, christstill died for you, even though
(21:30):
we allow the world to mold usand shape us, even though we
allow our hearts, our selfishhearts, to mold us and shape us.
But God demonstrates his ownlove for us in this.
While we were still sinners,christ died for us.
Even though we don't deservethe promised land, he lets us go
(21:50):
, even though we don't deservethe forgiveness he gives it.
This is why we can submit toGod.
This is why the how is going tobe a bit trickier sometimes.
How do we do this?
We do this by engaging in theserhythms.
(22:15):
And what we're talking about?
Fasting, serving, silence,solitude, these rhythms that
draw us closer to the heart ofGod, so much that we start to
experience and understand howmuch God loves us, that the
power of God's love compels usto submit to him.
Compel Sometimes in scripturethe word compel is translated as
(22:40):
controls us.
That's about as ugly as theword of submission sometimes,
but it compels us, thiscompelling feeling.
What is it like to be compelledto do something?
I was at the gym last week andon the treadmill.
I like to, like most40-year-old men, I like to watch
Disney movies while I'm on thetreadmill and I'm working my way
(23:00):
through the whole cannon.
It's great.
And on this day I watched themovie Up.
So if you've never seen Up,it's a fantastic movie.
But the opening minute or twojust is heart-wrenching.
It's this older couple that yousee, how they meet and live a
life together, and then I'm notgoing to spoil it for you, but
it's heart-wrenching.
And I'm on the treadmill forthe first minute, right, so I'm
(23:21):
not huffing and puffing.
And I'm on them and my wife'sright next to me and after about
this minute, minute and a halfgoes by, she looks over and
she's like pull out yourheadphones, pull my headphones.
She's like are you crying?
I said no, it's a sweat.
I'm working out.
Man, the sweat got in my eye.
She's like you're crying.
It's like no, I'm not crying.
I did not want to cry on thetreadmill at planet fitness.
(23:42):
As a 40 year old man, I didn'twant to do that, but the story
of this relationship betweenthese two animated characters
forced my body into thisreaction.
It compelled my body to do this.
This is where we want to go,with the love of God in our
(24:04):
lives.
We want to know it, we want tofeel it, we want to live it.
So it compels us to do nothingbut live for him, that it
compels us nothing but to submitto him and live in the freedom
that is the love of God, and wedo that by these daily practices
(24:26):
.
It's not always easy and I'llleave you with this story.
And I'll leave you with thisstory.
Like I said, my little guy, ezihe's pretty creative and way
more creative than me and he gotthis Lego kit for Christmas and
I saw this this literally justhappened this morning over my
(24:47):
cup of coffee.
We got him this for Christmasbecause he loves Legos and I'm
like this is gonna be great man.
Me and Ezi are gonna sit downover the next few weeks and put
this thing together.
He got this Christmas morningand he loved it Absolutely loved
it.
We cracked it open that morning,started working on it and we
soon found out, five monthslater, that this little project
(25:10):
ain't going to be easy.
That's how far we are.
Can't you tell it's a car?
Five months and this is what wegot.
Five months and this representsand I'm not kidding hours,
hours of sitting with young Ezzygoing over the plans, putting
(25:32):
the pieces together.
Would it be easier if I did itmyself?
Yep, would it be easier if Isaid, ezzy, go play, I'll take
care of it?
If I said, ezzy, just sit thereand watch daddy do it?
It would be a lot easier.
But that doesn't build arelationship.
What builds a relationship withmy son is me taking the hours
(25:52):
to get this far, the patiencethat it takes to get this far.
Sometimes, when we talk aboutsubmitting to God and we look at
what's influencing us andmolding and shaping us, you
might get frustrated and say I'monly this far.
But that's okay.
Some of you may have taken thatrelationship months ago and put
(26:18):
it on the shelf, said it's toohard, it's way more easier to
live in this world, and so today, maybe for you it's time to go
over there and pick that thingback up and remember the freedom
that comes in submitting to God, a God who loves you, a God who
frees you, and start rebuildingthat relationship.
(26:40):
So, people of Central, what ismolding and shaping you this
morning?
Is there something stopping youfrom picking it back up and
starting to know the heart ofGod again?
Amen.
Well, good morning.
My name is Ben Carruthers, I'mthe director of Student and
Family Ministries here and it'sgood to be worshiping with you
on this beautiful Memorialweekend.
We are continuing our sermonseries on rhythms and this idea
of a rhythm.
It's these things that mold andshape who we are and our lives,
(00:20):
and our lives together and ourrelationship with God, and over
the past three weeks we'velooked at a few of these.
We started off with fasting.
Pastor Ryan talked aboutfasting.
Ironically, he talked aboutfasting the same week.
We had a ton of donuts for youto eat, so that was a good start
off to the series.
Then Sonia talked about service, and then last week we talked
about silence and solitude,which, if you're watching from
(00:41):
the cabin, obviously you werelistening last weekend, so well
done.
And Solitude which, if you'rewatching from the cabin,
obviously you were listeninglast weekend, so well done.
And this week we're talkingabout submission, and I have to
tell you I can't tell you howmany times people have said
how'd you get stuck with thatone?
And my response is I chose it,which is weird.
I get it now that I understandwhy we have our CA meetings and
(01:03):
our CA creative arts, and so webring our sermon ideas to the
table and we throw some stuffout and see what works and maybe
what doesn't work.
And I was pretty excited Ipicked this one because this is
one like you've heard most ofthe preachers say, that one
really they gravitate towards,one.
It's important to their maybedaily rhythms of their life.
It's something that's mold andshaped their life.
And for me that was submission.
(01:24):
Because at the heart ofsubmission it's this idea of
that you can't do it on your own, that you need God.
At the heart of submission it'sthis idea that you don't live
for yourself, you live for God.
At the heart of submission it'swe don't allow the things of
this world and the brokenrelationships of this world to
(01:47):
mold and shape our life.
And I love that aboutsubmission.
It's meant a lot in my life.
And so I sat down at the CAtable.
I'm throwing out all theseideas and I'm just getting like
blank stares and I'm likesomething's missing the mark
here, obviously.
And I remember I always runthings past my wife a lot and I
was really excited about it.
I'm like something's missingthe mark here, obviously, and I
remember I always run thingspast my wife a lot and I was
really excited about it.
I'm like this is what I'm goingto talk about, and she just
looked at me and said, yeah,that's an idea.
(02:08):
I was like what's happening?
And what I found was that myidea of submission, and how it's
impacted my personal life andmy personal faith, is not
perhaps the norm of the world.
The norm of the world is thisword submission comes with an
(02:29):
incredibly negative appearanceBecause, much like things of
this world, we have takensomething that is a beautiful
thing to do to God and we'vecorrupted it and we've abused it
, and instead of it being adiscipline, something, a rhythm
that frees us from all of thestuff of this world, all the
(02:50):
brokenness of ourselves and thebrokenness of this world, it's a
freeing rhythm.
Instead of that, it has reallybecome something that oppresses
people.
And so how do we tackle thatthis morning?
How do we take something that,when we hear the word submission
, even when we talked about it,people like, oh what, where are
we going to go with this?
(03:11):
How do we bring it back to whatit's supposed to be a rhythm, a
discipline that brings freedom.
And so that's our goal thismorning, because what submission
is is a freeing rhythm, afreeing discipline.
It's a giving up of oneself andliving and loving for God and
(03:35):
living and loving for otherpeople.
How do we get back to that?
And the other question that wewant to look at is why?
Why should we submit to God?
We've talked about the what itis, so how do we do it?
Why do we do it?
And that's our prayer thismorning is that we leave here,
maybe with a different look ofwhat submission is.
(03:57):
So let's pray for that thismorning.
God, we give you thanks andpraise for the opportunity to
gather together, whether here inthe room or at home or at the
cabin, wherever people may beviewing this.
And, lord, right now, I justpray for your spirit to come
into this place or whereverpeople are, and to open up
hearts and minds, because whenwe talk about submission, it can
(04:18):
really bring some dark,negative things into our life.
Right now, lord, there arepeople in this place listening
to this word that are submittingto things of this world, that
are submitting to brokenrelationships, things that are
oppressing them, and they arenot experiencing the freedom
that comes along with submittingto you.
So, lord, god, open up heartsand minds for your word this
(04:41):
morning.
It's in your name we pray, amen.
So, as we go this morning, thequestion that I ask, and as you
think about, is what is moldingand shaping you today?
What or who is molding andshaping the person you are and
the decisions that you aremaking?
Because I think, if we take amoment and think about those
(05:03):
things, we may be like how inthe heck did this come into my
life?
How have I allowed this to comein and take such a stronghold
in my life?
It's very subtle.
My son, Ezzy.
He's six.
He came home this week asthey're clearing out their
school locker and desk and stufffor the end of the year, and he
came home with this piece ofartwork and it's a still.
(05:26):
What is it called a still lifeor whatever?
It's the bowl of fruit.
Right, he's supposed to paintthe bowl of fruit.
He did a pretty great job,right?
He's six years old, prettyawesome.
Now, what you maybe can't see,and what I didn't see the first
time that I looked at it is inthe bottom of the bowl of fruit.
Is this?
It's SpongeBob.
I don't know what SpongeBob'sdoing in the bowl of fruit.
(05:49):
He didn't know what he wasdoing because I asked him.
I said what's SpongeBob?
I don't know.
I like to draw SpongeBob and Itotally missed it.
My wife called me and FaceTimedme and showed me this I'm like
man, good job, buddy, good job.
And she's like, look again andjob.
And she's like look again.
And I'm like what is that?
I think when we ask the questionwhat or who are we submitting
(06:10):
to?
And we see some negativeinfluences that are molding and
shaping who we are, it's not soin your face and we miss it at
first glance because it's it'ssneaked its way in, it's found a
way in to influence us, to moldus and shape us.
(06:31):
So what is it or who is itmaybe in your life that is
molding and shaping you, that iscausing you not to experience
the freedom that is insubmission to God?
There's a great story in theOld Testament to answer the
question why.
Why should we submit to God?
(06:53):
Now we are gathered in a churchand there's an obvious reason,
right, we all say Jesus and wecould leave the room, but I got
15 more minutes, so we're goingto go further into it.
Why?
And in this story of theIsraelites, I think we see a
beautiful picture of why weshould submit to God.
And so this starts in Exodus 19,verses 3 through 6.
(07:14):
So this is right after theIsraelites have been freed from
Pharaoh and slavery, from Egypt,and they've wandered and
they've made their way to MountSinai.
And Exodus 19, 3 through 6 saysthis are to say to the
descendants of Jacob and whatyou are to tell the people of
(07:36):
Israel.
You yourselves have seen what Idid to Egypt and how I carried
you on eagle's wings and broughtyou to myself.
Now, if you obey me fully andkeep my covenant, then, out of
all the nations, you will be mytreasured possessions, although
the whole earth is mine, youwill be for me a kingdom of
(07:57):
priests and a holy nation.
These are the words you are tospeak to the Israelites.
So all of these thousands ofpeople have come to this area by
Mount Sinai.
God says Moses, come up to themountain, I want to talk to you.
Notice how many times Mosesgoes up and down this mountain
in this short passage.
This guy is a cardio king, bythe way, just keep an eye on it.
(08:18):
He goes up to the mountain andGod says listen, I want to make
a covenant with my people.
And he says to them he doesn'tsay.
He says I want my people tosubmit to me as God, as ruler of
their lives.
And notice how he doesn't say Iwant them to submit to me
because of my force, because ofmy power.
There's no abuse here.
(08:41):
There's no manipulation,there's no oppression going on
here.
Read closely what does he say.
He says remember that I am theone who freed you from Egypt,
freed you out of slavery,carried you on eagle's wings to
this place.
What he's saying is rememberhow I have shown you my love for
(09:02):
you, remember how I have savedyou and freed you, and this is
why I want you to obey to me.
This is why I want you tosubmit to me, not because of
force, not because of oppressionor because of things.
If you don't, do you're goingto get in trouble, so do it.
It's because I love you and Iwant to continue to show my love
(09:25):
to you.
Not only that the covenant thathe wants to make with these
group of people is to make themheavenly priests, to make them
people who not only know andlove the law of God which the
law is love but they're going tobe a group of people that go
and show the world, god's love.
This is what he wants to dowith these people.
And he says Moses, this is theword that I want you to bring
(09:49):
down to my people, this newcovenant, and even the covenant
that he's going to bring downeventually, we'll get to that.
The Ten Commandments, these arenot rules to follow by an
oppressive, abusive,manipulative god.
These are rules and guidelinesof a way to live in freedom,
because they've never lived thatway.
(10:10):
For over 400 years there wereslaves in egypt, and now they're
going to be a free people.
For over 400 years in Egypt,they watched the Egyptians
worship false idols and falsegods, and now they have the
freedom to worship their God.
And so God says this newcovenant between me and you,
(10:30):
it's going to be again a way forme to show love to you, so that
you may show that love to theworld.
That's the message that Mosesis to deliver to his people.
Okay, so Moses brings, climbsdown that huge mountain and he
says all right, everyone, listenup, I have a word from God, and
(10:51):
in Exodus 19, 7 through 8, itsays this so Moses went back and
summoned the elders of thepeople and set before them all
the words the Lord commanded himto speak.
Excuse me.
The people all respondedtogether we will do everything
the Lord has said.
So Moses brought their answersback to the Lord.
So up the mountain he goesagain.
(11:12):
So the people hear this wordfrom God and the word is
remember how I have loved you.
And they are compelled by thatlove of God that they say amen.
They say let's do this, they'relike let's go, I'm on board.
(11:33):
This sounds great.
God has shown us his love timeand time and time again, and now
he wants to continue to do thatwith us.
I'm in, let's do this.
And so the people resoundinglysay okay, I'm in.
So, old man, moses goes back upthe mountain again to deliver
(11:57):
this word and he goes back tothe mountain and he says they're
in God, they're in, they'reexcited, they remember how you
have shown us your love and theyjust want more of that.
They're ready to submit to youBecause they know the freedom
that's in that submission.
(12:17):
And this is the part of thestory that we're pretty familiar
with.
Moses goes back up to themountain and God gives him in
Exodus 20, he gives him the TenCommandments.
But it's not just that FromExodus 20 all the way through
chapter 31, moses is on themountaintop.
Now, when I was a kid and Iwatched Charlton Heston be Moses
(12:38):
, he went up there, got thecommandments and came right back
down.
Right, that's not it.
Moses was up there for 40 days,40 days receiving the Ten
Commandments.
But not just that.
Remember, these people have noidea how to live away from
slavery.
So, over those 11 chapters,away from slavery.
(13:02):
So, over those 11 chapters, godtells Moses in great detail of
how his people should live, downto what the priests should wear
, what they should eat, becausethis is how they will show their
love to God, because theirrelationship is a relationship
of love.
So Moses is on this mountaintopfor 40 days, getting all of the
(13:23):
guidelines of this is how God'speople will live in this new
promised land that you're goingto, giving them a blueprint of,
one that they haven't had for400 plus years.
And, as we know, it doesn't goso well at the bottom of the
mountain.
During those 40 days, stuffstarts to change and they're
(13:46):
starting to fear and doubt.
Is Moses coming back?
Does God really love us?
Has he abandoned us once again?
Do we feel abandoned once againby God?
What's happening?
We sent Moses up 40 days agowith a yes, we're in and we have
(14:07):
nothing.
And the fear and the doubt,maybe even some selfish ambition
, climbs into the hearts ofthese people and they start
building their fake God and theyhave forgotten about the love
that God has shown them.
They have forgotten the freedomthat God has brought them away
(14:31):
from Egypt, the power of God insplitting the Red Sea, of God,
providing them for them in thedesert with manna and water from
the rock, providing them forthem in the desert with manna
and water from the rock.
And that resounding yes fromeveryone has started to subside
a little bit, has started to saymaybe we were wrong and so they
(14:51):
build.
The golden calf Looks a littlebit, maybe, like that, we have
no idea, but that's Google'simage.
Here's the thing about thisimage.
We know it's a golden calf, butwhy why a golden calf?
Why why not some other kind ofhuman looking god or whatever?
Remember they were in slaveryin egypt for over 400 years and
(15:14):
in egypt there were three boldgods that were worshipped.
One in particular was the godApis, and this was the god of
fertility and eternity.
Fertility and eternity, whichmeans that we will continue to
live and we will live forever.
(15:37):
For 400 years they lived in aplace where they worshipped this
God, this fake God, and the waythey did this was the Egyptians
would pick a bull, a big,strong bull, and they'd say this
is Apis, and for 25 years thatbull would be worshipped like a
(15:59):
god.
25 years that bull would beworshipped like a god, until
after 25 years, they wouldslaughter that bull and pick out
a new bull.
So maybe it's good for 25 years, but the end doesn't look so
hot for this bull.
And remember, they havewitnessed this For 400 years.
(16:23):
They have seen the Egyptianpeople worship this false god.
But egypt was doing pretty good, weren't they?
They were the empire of theworld, and this is what the
israelites knew.
This is why they built the calf.
Because here's the little thingabout submission is that when we
try to pull away from thethings of this world that keep
(16:45):
pulling us back, we seem to goback to what we know.
When fear and doubt, and maybeselfish desires, impatience,
starts to creep its way in ourminds and our hearts.
What we know is over here, andyou know, what we know over here
wasn't great.
(17:05):
We were in slavery for 400years, we were abused for 400
years, but we at least know it,and we go back to the things
that lead to brokenrelationships.
We go back to the things thatlead to broken relationships.
We go back to the things thatlead to a broken life because
it's familiar and that's whatthe Israelites were doing.
(17:29):
They were going back to whatthey knew and they were allowing
that to be what they submittedto.
Well, after those 40 days, weknow, moses comes down the
mountain and he smashes thetablets, and that could be the
end of the story and that couldbe the end of our story, but
(17:49):
it's not, because, like in thebeginning, our God is a God of
love.
And so, a few chapters later,moses receives the Ten
Commandments again.
And poor Moses man, rememberit's 11 chapters of not just
commandments but how to live,and God goes over them all in
great detail, once again forMoses.
(18:10):
So, even though the peoplerebelled and even though the
people went back and submittedto something that they were used
to that led to brokenness, eventhough they knew what God had
done for them out of love, andeven though they resoundedly
said, yes, we want this, eventhough they fell and went back
to a life of slavery, of what itfelt like, a life that did not
(18:33):
lead to freedom.
Even though all of that, godstill gave them the law.
God still gave them thecovenant of love, as we find out
in the book of that.
God still gave them the law.
God still gave them thecovenant of love, as we find out
in the book of Joshua.
He led his people to thepromised land.
After 40 years of wandering,they got to go home.
(18:55):
And here's the thing about that40 years.
Sometimes we view that as apunishment.
You made the golden calf.
You went back to thatsubmission of what led you to
slavery and oppression for allthose years.
Here's 40 years of wandering inthe desert.
And then I'll let you in.
I think we're reading it wrong.
(19:16):
When Moses came down and saw,just after 40 days, what had
happened.
And, by the way, when we readthat and we're like man, just
after 40 days, after what Godhas done for you, 40 days, how
many times have we left on aSunday morning, been inspired by
the word of God and said, yes,I'm going to make this change,
yes, and then we get out in ourcar and we're like what was that
message?
Again, can't even make fiveminutes to my car 40 days is
(19:37):
pretty good.
Can't even make five minutes tomy car.
40 days is pretty good.
And these 40 years of wanderingin the desert I think God knew
that they weren't ready for thisgift of freedom quite yet.
There was still some changingand transformation that needed
to happen to prepare them to beGod's people.
Where they were going, therewere other gods, there were
(19:57):
other people who worshiped fakegods, and they could last 40
days.
How were they going to make theoppression and all these people
coming in and saying you'reworshiping the wrong god, this
is the god of this place?
Maybe they weren't ready andMoses wasn't going to go with
them.
Their leader, their extremelycardioactive leader, could not
(20:18):
go with him.
So God used that time to raiseup joshua, someone who'll lead
him into that land.
Even the 40 years of wanderingis an act of love by god.
You see, their story didn't endthere and our story doesn't end
there because when I ask youthe question of what is molding
(20:40):
and shaping you, and maybesomething stuck in your heart or
a name or a thing immediatelypopped up.
Our story doesn't end thereBecause, even if we are people
who live for ourselves, whomaybe can be a little
self-centered and let ourdesires take control.
And even if we are people whoallow the things of this world
(21:05):
to mold and shape us and oppressus, and even if we are people
who continue to take oneverything and say we can do it,
I don't need help, I don't needGod, I'm strong enough, I'm big
enough, I can do it on my own.
Even though we are these three,or maybe something else, even
though we are sinners, christstill died for you, even though
(21:30):
we allow the world to mold usand shape us, even though we
allow our hearts, our selfishhearts, to mold us and shape us.
But God demonstrates his ownlove for us in this.
While we were still sinners,christ died for us.
Even though we don't deservethe promised land, he lets us go
(21:50):
, even though we don't deservethe forgiveness he gives it.
This is why we can submit toGod.
This is why the how is going tobe a bit trickier sometimes.
How do we do this?
We do this by engaging in theserhythms.
(22:15):
And what we're talking about?
Fasting, serving, silence,solitude, these rhythms that
draw us closer to the heart ofGod, so much that we start to
experience and understand howmuch God loves us, that the
power of God's love compels usto submit to him.
Compel Sometimes in scripturethe word compel is translated as
(22:40):
controls us.
That's about as ugly as theword of submission sometimes,
but it compels us, thiscompelling feeling.
What is it like to be compelledto do something?
I was at the gym last week andon the treadmill.
I like to, like most40-year-old men, I like to watch
Disney movies while I'm on thetreadmill and I'm working my way
(23:00):
through the whole cannon.
It's great.
And on this day I watched themovie Up.
So if you've never seen Up,it's a fantastic movie.
But the opening minute or twojust is heart-wrenching.
It's this older couple that yousee, how they meet and live a
life together, and then I'm notgoing to spoil it for you, but
it's heart-wrenching.
And I'm on the treadmill forthe first minute, right, so I'm
(23:21):
not huffing and puffing.
And I'm on them and my wife'sright next to me and after about
this minute, minute and a halfgoes by, she looks over and
she's like pull out yourheadphones, pull my headphones.
She's like are you crying?
I said no, it's a sweat.
I'm working out.
Man, the sweat got in my eye.
She's like you're crying.
It's like no, I'm not crying.
I did not want to cry on thetreadmill at planet fitness.
(23:42):
As a 40 year old man, I didn'twant to do that, but the story
of this relationship betweenthese two animated characters
forced my body into thisreaction.
It compelled my body to do this.
This is where we want to go,with the love of God in our
(24:04):
lives.
We want to know it, we want tofeel it, we want to live it.
So it compels us to do nothingbut live for him, that it
compels us nothing but to submitto him and live in the freedom
that is the love of God, and wedo that by these daily practices
(24:26):
.
It's not always easy and I'llleave you with this story.
And I'll leave you with thisstory.
Like I said, my little guy, ezihe's pretty creative and way
more creative than me and he gotthis Lego kit for Christmas and
I saw this this literally justhappened this morning over my
(24:47):
cup of coffee.
We got him this for Christmasbecause he loves Legos and I'm
like this is gonna be great man.
Me and Ezi are gonna sit downover the next few weeks and put
this thing together.
He got this Christmas morningand he loved it Absolutely loved
it.
We cracked it open that morning,started working on it and we
soon found out, five monthslater, that this little project
(25:10):
ain't going to be easy.
That's how far we are.
Can't you tell it's a car?
Five months and this is what wegot.
Five months and this representsand I'm not kidding hours,
hours of sitting with young Ezzygoing over the plans, putting
(25:32):
the pieces together.
Would it be easier if I did itmyself?
Yep, would it be easier if Isaid, ezzy, go play, I'll take
care of it?
If I said, ezzy, just sit thereand watch daddy do it?
It would be a lot easier.
But that doesn't build arelationship.
What builds a relationship withmy son is me taking the hours
(25:52):
to get this far, the patiencethat it takes to get this far.
Sometimes, when we talk aboutsubmitting to God and we look at
what's influencing us andmolding and shaping us, you
might get frustrated and say I'monly this far.
But that's okay.
Some of you may have taken thatrelationship months ago and put
(26:18):
it on the shelf, said it's toohard, it's way more easier to
live in this world, and so today, maybe for you it's time to go
over there and pick that thingback up and remember the freedom
that comes in submitting to God, a God who loves you, a God who
frees you, and start rebuildingthat relationship.
(26:40):
So, people of Central, what ismolding and shaping you this
morning?
Is there something stopping youfrom picking it back up and
starting to know the heart ofGod again?
Amen.
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