To What Or Whom Are You Most Intimately Devoted?
Ask Yourself, Am I Living a Life That Is Fully Devoted To God?
Ross Sawyers
Sep 20, 2020 48m
Take the time and examine your deepest intimate connection, ask yourself, am I living my life for things of earth, or am I truly living a life that is fully devoted to God? God wants to live in intimate relationship with his people. Video recorded at Grapevine, Texas.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
Ross Sawyers: 00:10 I started reading a book this week called God's Smuggler, it's written about a man that came to be known as Brother Andrew. And he grew up in Holland in the early years of his life he was in the midst of World War II, and then shortly after World War II the Dutch were engaged in war in the East Indies. As Andy, who he was described in his early years, became old enough he enlisted in the Dutch military to go and fight in the East Indies. He was always a young man who was interested in adventure, and he assumed that that would give him the adventure that he was after. And as he was growing up, he grew up in a home, it was a religious, home and he would describe himself as incredibly bored with church. And he would sit on the back row of church, and as he would sit there when he saw his family situated towards the front, he would duck out. And then he would manage to get back when everybody was leaving and walking by the pastor and they'd talk about something he said or whatever, and Andy would pick up enough so that at lunch, he could talk about what the preacher had talked about that day. And that was kind of his experience growing up, there was really no interest in God, and certainly didn't see that as a pathway to adventure.
Ross Sawyers: 01:50 And then in the military he experienced a gunshot wound to his ankle, he was shot and a bullet went through his ankle. He was a runner and loved to run, it was devastating to him, one to be taken out of the war and the adventure he was in, but two that it would be his ankle. And he was left with a limp for quite some time because of that wound. He was placed in a hospital and as God would do things, he was in a hospital that was run by Franciscan nuns, and he began to experience a love from them and a care from them that really touched him. A friend of his, that he was in the military with, also brought something from his duffel bag. He had found a Bible in his bag and brought that for Andy, and it was a Bible that his mom had given him before he went off to war. Now, he wasn't interested in it, but out of a love and respect for his mom, he took the Bible, he put it at the bottom of his duffel bag for a year and a half he didn't even touch it, or take a look at it, but here it was now in the hospital where he's recovering on the table next to him.
Ross Sawyers: 03:12 Shortly after his release, or somewhere during that time, he was invited to go to a revival meeting, a good old fashioned tent revival. And he, and some of his military buddies, they decided to go. And they went, they were half drunk when they went, they were sitting in the back. Which by the way, this is a good word, get people to church no matter how you have to do it really doesn't matter, and they'll hear more than you think they'll hear. He said we were disruptive for most of the service and it wasn't really helpful to the people, but God did something. There was a song they sang that night, the song was called, Let My People Go. And he said, that song just stuck with me, and I couldn't shake it. It would be sometime later that he would think about that song, and then he began to read the Bible that his mom had sent with him. He also began to go to church more, and he described it as such a strange compulsion in me that he couldn't get enough of reading the Bible, he couldn't get enough of being at church. It was in the days when you'd have church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and he couldn't get enough of it, it was a strange compulsion.
Ross Sawyers: 04:28 And then one night in 1950, he was laying in his bed, it was a chilly night and he had pulled the sheets over his head. And he was just thinking about all the things that God had been doing with him. And as he was lying there very quietly, he said, and I want you to just to see what he said..."Very quietly I let go of my ego." It was his pride that was holding him back from what God's adventure was for him. Very quietly I let my ego go. And then he said, Lord, if you'll show me the way I'll follow you. Amen. He said, there really wasn't much to it, it was that simple. I let my ego go, Lord you show me, and I'll follow you. Brother Andrew would become, over the next several decades, one who would be an advocate for, a smuggler of Bibles to, and a warrior for those who are persecuted all over the world. And he's the founder of a ministry called Open Doors, which we've referred to often.
Ross Sawyers: 05:54 If you turn your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 13, I want us to hang out here in verses 1 through 11. It ties in a bit to Isaiah 26, that Eric read. I wanted us to hear that scripture of God choosing us as a people for his renown and for his glory, and it'll link into the end of this story in Jeremiah 13. As you're turning there and it'll be on the screen if you don't have a Bible, you'll be able to track that way as well. So I wanna build on what Eric said as well, that the underground church is what we're thinking about this fall. Why would we do that? Well, we have brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world, and many of them are in persecuted places and in places where they're literally underground. They're having to meet in secret to avoid being imprisoned or worse, and we're learning from them. We live in an a day that is increasingly more hostile towards Christians, and it seems to me that we'll only amp up in the days ahead and not decrease. We can learn from those who are experiencing persecution all over the world, and we can also learn how to pray for them because they are our family. God is gathering up people to be his family, those who are in Christ. So we pray for them, we learn from them.
Ross Sawyers: 07:16 One of the things they do in many parts of the world, they call it 7 commands. We adapted it, written our own thing and call it...We're calling it 8 Ways to Follow Jesus' Great Commands of Loving God and Loving our Neighbor. We even invited every person at 121 to engage in small group community in a life group, so that you can learn these eight ways. I believe we're asking you to do something that is the hardest thing that we've ever asked you to do, and I actually believe that should challenge us and motivate us all the more to want to do it. It's basic ideas, and we've written them in a way that we can learn them and then turn around and pass them on. Here's what's hard about it, we're not asking you to simply go sit, listen, and learn, we're asking you to do exactly what Jesus said, and he said, teach them to obey. So that we're listening, and then we're practicing what we just heard, and then we're asking you to go do that with somebody else, and it can be somebody you know well. And practice during the week, and then come back to the group and be held accountable, loving accountability of how that went. And we're not accustomed to actually being asked to do something with what we learn, especially in front of the group. And then to go actually share that with somebody else, and come back and talk about it, that's the hard part. And some people have decided they're not going to do this with us. Uh uh, I ain't doing that. Man, I would just encourage you, that's actually a good spot to be, because when we're scared of something, we don't know what it is going to be, then we actually can't depend on our self. And then we're in a great spot, because we actually have to depend on God to carry us through, it's a beautiful place to be. The spirit of God is our teacher, the one who empowers, the one who leads.
Ross Sawyers: 09:27 And I just want to say, thank you to so many that are already engaged. This last Monday night, Lisa and I were invited to a group, and they had some questions about baptism. We had a great time, awesome group. And by the time we were done that night, one of the ladies in the group said, she goes, we've talked about baptism for four weeks in a row. She said, and now I am so comfortable with it, I know I can comfortably talk about it with somebody else about it as well. And I thought that's exactly what we're aiming for. That you would understand it in such a way that you're comfortable, so that you can easily and comfortably share that with what else, when God opens up those opportunities. Will you engage us? Even at this point, it's not too late, you can still jump in and be a part. We see this is a foundational fabric of 121 as we move ahead, this isn't just some fall thing that we're doing, this is something we see is ongoing in the way that God wants to make disciples and followers of Jesus at 121. So thank you for being a part, let me encourage those who are not to jump in.
Ross Sawyers: 10:32 In Jeremiah, we find an example of a man who faced heavy persecution, and yet for decades remained faithful to God all the way to the end. And we think about persecuted peoples, that's why we want to hang out with Jeremiah for a little bit, and what did he have to say, and how did he do that? And interestingly, and you might've found this to be the case at times, his heaviest opposition was coming, not from people that said no to God, but from the people that knew God. It was coming from those who were the chosen people of God, that's primarily who his opposition is. Now we receive opposition on multiple fronts, he's helpful on all those fronts, but I want to make sure we have context. And I want to ask a question to carry us through our time. And this is what I like to ask you to do, it's easy in messages like this, to think about somebody else and to think, man, I need to make sure you get them a link to that, they need to hear this. I want to ask you to just allow God to work in your own heart, not in the person next to you. Now I'm all for you praying for the person next to you, I just want to sure we're asking this question and anchoring in God's word for ourselves. What does God want to say in our own hearts today? Here's my question, to whom or what are you, and I've asked this for myself, most intimately devoted. To what or to whom are you most intimately devoted?
Ross Sawyers: 12:23 Jeremiah helps us with what is the first symbolic act, there's a number of times that he uses symbols to help people. And I think pictures are pretty powerful to embed in us what God wants to teach us. That's why Jesus taught in parables so often, he was just walking around, he'd see something, and he'd relate that to what was going on, and that was easy to grab in the mind. And Jeremiah is doing the same, he's giving a picture, and we begin in verses 1 through 7 with what that symbolic act is. First one, "Thus the LORD said to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.” So Jeremiah is given something to do, it's going to cost him something. He has to make a purchase, and he's going to purchase a linen waistband. And he purchased this linen waistband, and there's a debate among scholars as to exactly what he's referring to. My wife was asking me the other night she said, I was trying to describe this, and she said, well, what is it exactly? And at that point, I said, I have trouble describing it. And then later I thought, the reason I can't describe it is because people have trouble trying to figure out exactly what it is, but what it could be there's options. It could be a belt, they wore robes, and it would be a belt to kind of tie up the robe. Or it could be a sash, something that's little more decorative. So linen waistband around the waist, kind of hung there and it was a little more decorative for them. The third option, and this is the one I want us to lean into in thinking about this story, is it's like a short skirt that was tied around the waist, and then the tie would go down to the thighs. It was the most intimate undergarment that someone would wear underneath their robe, and that would be the idea of what he's telling him to do. Now, he tells him to get a specific kind, a linen waistband, and not something that was made of leather, sometimes they would do that, not something that was made of a skin, an animal skin, rather linen. It was to be linen. Why? Because linen rots easily. And if linen is not taking care of, it's susceptible to falling apart if it's not cared for.
Ross Sawyers: 15:02 Now, I don't know about you, but there is some clothes that are made of linen today. And my wife, a while back, we had a particular event and she thought I needed to have a nice pair of shorts, and so I had to purchase these linen shorts. I find that to be one of the most useless purchases I've ever made in my life. So if you've ever had anything linen, whether it's pants or shorts or whatever, I don't really get it because you iron it, you get it just right. You put it on, and within seconds, it's all wrinkled up. It's horrible. But somehow we think that's nice, and that's what we should wear it at nice somethings. They've been in my closet ever since that one thing, and I feel bad giving them away because I don't even want somebody to have to deal with them. I mean, it just seems like it would be nice, but...And so he tells him, this is what you're to do, and then you're to put it on and wear it, and don't wash them. Put on the most intimate undergarments, what a way to have conversation here, and then don't wash it.
Ross Sawyers: 16:14 Verse 2, "So I bought the waistband in accordance with the word of the LORD and put it around my waist." And one thing we want to note about Jeremiah, and we think about eight ways, all these things we're doing, Jeremiah was obedient, he complied, he didn't understand what was about to happen. He knew this part, that he was to go and purchase a linen waistband and put it on and not wash it, and he did it.
Ross Sawyers: 16:43 Verse 3, "The word of the Lord came to me a second time saying..." And I wonder, and we'll see this more about Jeremiah as we move through this prophet. But I wonder if Jeremiah got to a place where he almost dreaded God coming to him, and had a little bit of apprehension of what's he going to ask me to do now, and yet obedient. The second time, “Take the waistband that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.” Now he's been wearing it, and needs to take it to the Euphrates river. There's some debate among scholars here as well, the Hebrew word, the Old Testament's written in Hebrew. And the Hebrew word for Euphrates, if you do one slight shift, it could also be Parratt, which is a town about three or four miles from where Jeremiah lived. If it's the Euphrates river, and this would not be outside of what God does in things. It'd be a 350 mile journey for Jeremiah, that's quite a walk, 350 miles one way. When he gets there, he's to find a crevice in a rock, and take that linen waistband, which is highly susceptible to falling apart, and to place it and hide it in the crevice of the rock, and then presumably he comes back that 350 miles.
Ross Sawyers: 18:13 What we find in verse 5, is he went and hie it by the Euphrates as the Lord had commanded. Obedient, exactly what God asked him to do. Verse 6, "After many days the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the waistband which I commanded you to hide there.” Another 350 miles, go get it, and then bring it back. He did.
Ross Sawyers: 18:47 Verse 7, "I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it; and lo, the waistband was ruined, it was totally worthless." Now this would have been expected for whatever timeframe that it had been hidden in the crevice of the rock. Now I tried to modernize what Jeremiah did, and I failed miserably, but I gave it a shot. I went to Academy, and I tried to think, what is the most close object to a linen waistband that I can come up with. And compression shorts, that was the best idea that I could come up with. I didn't think this through a long enough in advance, there's a reason that God told Jeremiah to get linen, and not whatever they make compression shorts out of. I didn't have the Euphrates river, the courage to walk there, and so I went to the Colleyville Nature Center and buried it next to the pond, that's called The Peaceful Pond. I didn't do it for enough days, I did it for about 30ish hours. And so when last night I was at the Colleyville Nature Center digging up the compression shorts that I had placed there, they still looked awfully white, and I thought this is a fail. So I took them and I took my foot, and I just started ramming it into the ground. And I went beside the pond, so that I could get us to the place to get the picture of what Jeremiah was doing. I don't think anybody would want to put these on right now, I wouldn't, and that's the point of the story. That which was purchased new, now is totally worthless and ruined.
Ross Sawyers: 21:03 So what's the big idea? We'll he explains it in verses 8 through 11, "Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem." This is a picture of the pride of God's people, Judah and Israel, God's people. And this is what they've become to him. Why? Because of their pride, and then Jerusalem, the city that is to be the Holy city, the great pride. Not just pride, great pride. How would we define pride? I think that's helpful, when we think about what he's saying here. Pride is putting yourself in God's place, putting yourself in God's place, that's pride. Anytime we put ourselves in the place of God. The people of God had become intimately devoted, that's our question to whom or what are you and I intimately devoted to, most intimately devoted? The people of God had become most intimately devoted to their own pride.
Ross Sawyers: 22:48 A while back Timothy Keller was describing things and he said, "There's a sin underneath the sin." And it took me a while understand what he was saying, and I think I understand, but maybe I still don't. But this is what I think he's saying, we can look at most sins that any of us commit, and what's underneath that sin is the sin of pride. So yes, there's the pride underneath, and yes, there's the sin above, but it's that underneath that's the problem. There's a root something in there, that's the problem to why I'm doing these other sins. And when I am putting myself in God's place, and that's what I have done. And that's what they had done, they're intimately devoted to themselves, they were intimately devoted to their way, and they were intimately devoted to their choices.
Ross Sawyers: 23:41 Now it's obvious when we see pride, sometimes in people, sometimes people are so inflated and puffed up that it's almost difficult to be around them. And we just know this is a prideful person, we just, we can just see it. There is some pride that is less obvious, sometimes people that we think are humble are not really humble, they're prideful, it's disguised in humility. That kind of person might serve us, they might look for ways to be a help to us. But underneath that, what looks like humility is pride, and really what they're doing is for themselves. We can do things for other people so that it benefits us. Pride can look like humility, and it can look like a really puffed up kind of arrogance. It can be domineering, it can also be aloof. I'm really just too good for you, I'll just stay back. It can also be contempt for another person, that when I see them, I have more of a disgust for them, and that's out of pride in my own heart.
Ross Sawyers: 25:24 It's thinking more highly of ourselves than we are. It's Proverbs 11:2, "When pride comes, then comes dishonor." In verse 10, this kind of pride is described. He says, this is the picture and I'm going to destroy it, I'm going to destroy the pride of Judah and Jerusalem. This is what they've done, "This wicked people." God's calling his own people wicked, they've turned from him. "They refuse to listen to my words." One way that's good to study the Bible, is when you're studying a book of the Bible to study within it, things that are being said. So we look in Jeremiah and say, okay, what else does he saying already, that he stating in a broad way right here. "And they refuse to listen to my words." When in 2:27, it says that they had turned their backs on him, not their faces towards him. In 5:25 it says, "Your sins, they've withheld good from you." And in 12:2, Jeremiah prays a prayer. And he says, "God, these people, you're near to their lips, but you're far from their minds." One small thing in that could be our lips can sing a song, while our mind is somewhere totally in another place.
Ross Sawyers: 26:53 We've heard just enough that during the week, we might be able to say something about God, but our mind is the furthest thing away from being intimately devoted to God. He said, "They walk in the stubbornness of their hearts." They're stubborn. On Facebook this week, I saw a college friend of mine and his daughter turned 17. And he said, I've been praying our prayer for her, her whole life has been Jeremiah 6:16, the first part of it, "Thus says the LORD, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls." You know why he didn't pray the last part of it for her? Because the last part says, "Will not walk in it." He's praying her heart will stay molded to the ancient path where rest and life is. But the people of God, at that point, they're stubborn. They were even saying, no man would repent of his wickedness because they said, what have I done? They couldn't even see it. As Jeremiah 17:9, "Our hearts are deceptive and deceitful, who can understand our heart. And then they've gone after other gods to serve them, to bow down to them, they've chased after other gods. In 2:11 he said, "The nation has changed god's, they've changed their glory for that which does not profit. In 13:25, "They've forgotten me and trusted falsehood." "He said, let them be just like this waistband, which is totally worthless because they're intimately devoted to their pride. " And this is what that looks like in God's eyes.
Ross Sawyers: 28:44 Let's do a quick heart check on pride. And sometimes I think there's questions that we can ask God to help us process, to help us know, is there any pride in our hearts at the moment? And the first question, is what gets my time? Does our time reflect that God is the one who is over everything in our lives, or have put something else in the place of God? Have we put recreation and fun in the place of God? Same question, am I domineering in relationships? In a marriage relationship, am I being domineering in that relationship? In a parent, child relationship, am I domineering in that relationship? In a position that you might have at work where you have authority over people, are you domineering in that authority over them? Which God constantly calls out his people for exploiting, and taking advantage of the vulnerable.
Ross Sawyers: 30:04 And this was the one that I've been camping on the most. How many times this week have I asked for God's help? Not assuming God's help, but knowing that I need his help. And that apart from him, what he said in John 15 is actually true, that I can do nothing. If we're not asking God for help, then we're leaning on ourselves, and that's pride because we've put ourselves in the position of God. And the other one that was convicting, and I just, I don't do this, and I just have to own that. In Jeremiah 13:17, Jeremiah said, "If you will not listen to it, my soul will sob in secret for such pride." Have I grieved over the pride of others? Do I just look at someone else, and I see pride, and it makes me mad, or I don't want to be around them? Jeremiah sobbed over the pride of the people, and what it was costing them. And I've been asking God these last few days to help me weep over the pride of others, and my own pride, first. I hear this often, people don't like President Trump because he's arrogant. As a Christian, let me ask this question. Would it be better to have contempt for him, throw out posts against him? Or would it be better to weep, if that's what you see over his pride, and pray humility for him? That's just an example. These questions, I think, help reveal pride that's obvious, and hidden pride within us. And where our intimate devotedness really is.
Ross Sawyers: 32:39 Now, God did not design us to be intimately devoted to pride, and all the dirtiness of that pride. In verse 11 says, "For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man." It clings tightly to the waist of a man, the most intimate part of a person, this is what is clinging to that person. "So I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me." That's why he chose his people, he made them to cling to him. The word cling means intimate devotion to, that's the whole point of this story. It's why I asked the question the way I asked the question, it's an intimate devotion. God designed us, in Isaiah 26:8, to be a people for his renown, for his glory, to cling to him. Why is it that we find ourselves clinging to something else? How, even as those who already know Christ, keep in mind, these were the chosen people of God who've rebelled against him. We're not even talking about people having entered into relationship with God, these are people that have, and now they're intimately devoted to something else. Why is that?
Ross Sawyers: 34:06 I think we just get the whole story of God starting from Genesis, all the way to Revelation, we see it unfold. In the beginning, God created everything, and he created man and woman in the image of God. And he walked in the garden with them, intimately. God had an intimate relationship with those first two humans. In chapter 2, verse 24, the last verse of chapter 2 in Genesis. It says, "That man is to leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife." The word cleave is the same word as the word cling in Jeremiah 13, "And there to become one flesh." God designed marriage to be exclusively for one man and one woman, to cling together, to cleave together, to be glued together, united together in the most intimate relationship possible on the planet. Later, we would know the purpose of that. In Ephesians 5, where God says that marriage is to be a perfect picture of Christ and the church, so that husband and wife are a picture of Christ and the church. And it's the same kind of intimacy that he yearns and desires for us to have with him, all this in creation.
Ross Sawyers: 35:38 There's a second chapter to God's big story though, and it unfolds in chapter 3. And the sin is not just the woman eating a piece of fruit, there's a sin underneath the sin. What drove her, Satan deceived her and deceived him, how'd he do it? How'd he do it, he appealed to their pride. If you do this, you'll be like God. Well, the irony of that is they already were. Pride enters in, and we have the fall in the second chapter. We see that again and again in our world, it is pride that drives and wreaks havoc with the sin in the world. It takes people who are free, and it makes them people of bondage.
Ross Sawyers: 36:41 But the good news is there's a third chapter in this story, God's big story. And in that third chapter, Jesus comes and he redeems, and God makes a purchase. Jeremiah, go purchase that linen waistband, I want to give a picture here. God does the same thing, he does something that costs him, costs him his own son, the shed blood of his own son. And he makes a purchase in this third chapter of redemption. And you know what Jesus does on that cross, he takes that dirty, rotten, filthy undergarment of pride and all its consequences that we cling so devotedly to, and he clothes himself on an old rugged cross. He who knew no sin, he knew none of this, became sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And when a person repents and believes that Jesus really did that on our behalf...And just imagine for a moment, I just got one pair of compression shorts as a picture here. Imagine all of humanity, and every sin of every person in humanity. And if we just covered the cross again and again, with all the filthy garments of humanity that he wore himself, to exchange and give us something brand new. He makes us absolutely pure and clean through his work on the cross. He exchanges the garments, he takes the crud off of us, and he puts the bright and clean beauty of himself in and through us.
Ross Sawyers: 39:23 Paul writes it this way, doesn't he? In Galatians 3 verse 27, he said, "Those who believe have been clothed with Christ." We're clothed with Christ. So many of us we've initially received what Jesus did, but somewhere along the way, our pride kicked in and we put somebody else in place of God. We put something else in, and we chased after it. And while God has intimately drawn us to himself, we intimately put ourselves in position with everything else this world has to offer. And for so many you've experienced the beauty of God drawing you back in, and knowing that even that ugliness after that initial receiving of Jesus, even when we drift or deliberately rebel, that the amazing grace of God, is that he took all of that on himself on the cross. And he's still actively pursuing you, so that you can know the freedom, and the intimacy, and the beauty of Jesus, the life that flourishes.
Ross Sawyers: 40:50 Why do we still struggle with pride if he took it all on the cross? We're in a time of already, not yet, and there's a 4th chapter to this overall story. And there's a time in the new heavens and the new earth where everything will be made absolutely right, there will be a purity that is absolutely unknown to anything that we can imagine. In the meantime, Christ covers us. We're growing to me more like him, were growing into that, which he's already made us to be. But there'll be a day when everything is perfect in the new heavens and the new earth. And in Revelation chapter 19 verse 8, this is one way he describes it, "It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean." This will be a linen, it won't ever deteriorate or rot, or wrinkle, or anything else. It's bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. New heavens, the new earth, that's where we're headed.
Ross Sawyers: 41:49 In the meantime we're in a battle, and under Christ, we're safe and covered. And his desire is for every one of us, if we haven't initially responded to what he's done to first initially respond. If we've somehow drifted off, or purposely drifted off, he's just waiting for us to come back.
Ross Sawyers: 42:19 Very quietly, Brother Andrew said, I'll let go of my ego. Then I was able to say, Lord, you just tell me what, and I'll follow. First Peter 5:5, we're told to clothe ourselves with humility. God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. In Christ we're clothed with humility. There's so many people around the world, our brothers and sisters in Christ that have clothed themselves with Christ, are clothed in humility, and are walking intimately devoted to their savior. They're an encouragement to us. And I want you to see some of our friends in China, and the way they're intimately devoted and walking with Christ, and then turning around and declaring and making known the excellence of Christ to those around them.
Video Plays: 43:42 (Video clip)
Recorded in Grapevine, Texas.
Ross Sawyers: 01:50 And then in the military he experienced a gunshot wound to his ankle, he was shot and a bullet went through his ankle. He was a runner and loved to run, it was devastating to him, one to be taken out of the war and the adventure he was in, but two that it would be his ankle. And he was left with a limp for quite some time because of that wound. He was placed in a hospital and as God would do things, he was in a hospital that was run by Franciscan nuns, and he began to experience a love from them and a care from them that really touched him. A friend of his, that he was in the military with, also brought something from his duffel bag. He had found a Bible in his bag and brought that for Andy, and it was a Bible that his mom had given him before he went off to war. Now, he wasn't interested in it, but out of a love and respect for his mom, he took the Bible, he put it at the bottom of his duffel bag for a year and a half he didn't even touch it, or take a look at it, but here it was now in the hospital where he's recovering on the table next to him.
Ross Sawyers: 03:12 Shortly after his release, or somewhere during that time, he was invited to go to a revival meeting, a good old fashioned tent revival. And he, and some of his military buddies, they decided to go. And they went, they were half drunk when they went, they were sitting in the back. Which by the way, this is a good word, get people to church no matter how you have to do it really doesn't matter, and they'll hear more than you think they'll hear. He said we were disruptive for most of the service and it wasn't really helpful to the people, but God did something. There was a song they sang that night, the song was called, Let My People Go. And he said, that song just stuck with me, and I couldn't shake it. It would be sometime later that he would think about that song, and then he began to read the Bible that his mom had sent with him. He also began to go to church more, and he described it as such a strange compulsion in me that he couldn't get enough of reading the Bible, he couldn't get enough of being at church. It was in the days when you'd have church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and he couldn't get enough of it, it was a strange compulsion.
Ross Sawyers: 04:28 And then one night in 1950, he was laying in his bed, it was a chilly night and he had pulled the sheets over his head. And he was just thinking about all the things that God had been doing with him. And as he was lying there very quietly, he said, and I want you to just to see what he said..."Very quietly I let go of my ego." It was his pride that was holding him back from what God's adventure was for him. Very quietly I let my ego go. And then he said, Lord, if you'll show me the way I'll follow you. Amen. He said, there really wasn't much to it, it was that simple. I let my ego go, Lord you show me, and I'll follow you. Brother Andrew would become, over the next several decades, one who would be an advocate for, a smuggler of Bibles to, and a warrior for those who are persecuted all over the world. And he's the founder of a ministry called Open Doors, which we've referred to often.
Ross Sawyers: 05:54 If you turn your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 13, I want us to hang out here in verses 1 through 11. It ties in a bit to Isaiah 26, that Eric read. I wanted us to hear that scripture of God choosing us as a people for his renown and for his glory, and it'll link into the end of this story in Jeremiah 13. As you're turning there and it'll be on the screen if you don't have a Bible, you'll be able to track that way as well. So I wanna build on what Eric said as well, that the underground church is what we're thinking about this fall. Why would we do that? Well, we have brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world, and many of them are in persecuted places and in places where they're literally underground. They're having to meet in secret to avoid being imprisoned or worse, and we're learning from them. We live in an a day that is increasingly more hostile towards Christians, and it seems to me that we'll only amp up in the days ahead and not decrease. We can learn from those who are experiencing persecution all over the world, and we can also learn how to pray for them because they are our family. God is gathering up people to be his family, those who are in Christ. So we pray for them, we learn from them.
Ross Sawyers: 07:16 One of the things they do in many parts of the world, they call it 7 commands. We adapted it, written our own thing and call it...We're calling it 8 Ways to Follow Jesus' Great Commands of Loving God and Loving our Neighbor. We even invited every person at 121 to engage in small group community in a life group, so that you can learn these eight ways. I believe we're asking you to do something that is the hardest thing that we've ever asked you to do, and I actually believe that should challenge us and motivate us all the more to want to do it. It's basic ideas, and we've written them in a way that we can learn them and then turn around and pass them on. Here's what's hard about it, we're not asking you to simply go sit, listen, and learn, we're asking you to do exactly what Jesus said, and he said, teach them to obey. So that we're listening, and then we're practicing what we just heard, and then we're asking you to go do that with somebody else, and it can be somebody you know well. And practice during the week, and then come back to the group and be held accountable, loving accountability of how that went. And we're not accustomed to actually being asked to do something with what we learn, especially in front of the group. And then to go actually share that with somebody else, and come back and talk about it, that's the hard part. And some people have decided they're not going to do this with us. Uh uh, I ain't doing that. Man, I would just encourage you, that's actually a good spot to be, because when we're scared of something, we don't know what it is going to be, then we actually can't depend on our self. And then we're in a great spot, because we actually have to depend on God to carry us through, it's a beautiful place to be. The spirit of God is our teacher, the one who empowers, the one who leads.
Ross Sawyers: 09:27 And I just want to say, thank you to so many that are already engaged. This last Monday night, Lisa and I were invited to a group, and they had some questions about baptism. We had a great time, awesome group. And by the time we were done that night, one of the ladies in the group said, she goes, we've talked about baptism for four weeks in a row. She said, and now I am so comfortable with it, I know I can comfortably talk about it with somebody else about it as well. And I thought that's exactly what we're aiming for. That you would understand it in such a way that you're comfortable, so that you can easily and comfortably share that with what else, when God opens up those opportunities. Will you engage us? Even at this point, it's not too late, you can still jump in and be a part. We see this is a foundational fabric of 121 as we move ahead, this isn't just some fall thing that we're doing, this is something we see is ongoing in the way that God wants to make disciples and followers of Jesus at 121. So thank you for being a part, let me encourage those who are not to jump in.
Ross Sawyers: 10:32 In Jeremiah, we find an example of a man who faced heavy persecution, and yet for decades remained faithful to God all the way to the end. And we think about persecuted peoples, that's why we want to hang out with Jeremiah for a little bit, and what did he have to say, and how did he do that? And interestingly, and you might've found this to be the case at times, his heaviest opposition was coming, not from people that said no to God, but from the people that knew God. It was coming from those who were the chosen people of God, that's primarily who his opposition is. Now we receive opposition on multiple fronts, he's helpful on all those fronts, but I want to make sure we have context. And I want to ask a question to carry us through our time. And this is what I like to ask you to do, it's easy in messages like this, to think about somebody else and to think, man, I need to make sure you get them a link to that, they need to hear this. I want to ask you to just allow God to work in your own heart, not in the person next to you. Now I'm all for you praying for the person next to you, I just want to sure we're asking this question and anchoring in God's word for ourselves. What does God want to say in our own hearts today? Here's my question, to whom or what are you, and I've asked this for myself, most intimately devoted. To what or to whom are you most intimately devoted?
Ross Sawyers: 12:23 Jeremiah helps us with what is the first symbolic act, there's a number of times that he uses symbols to help people. And I think pictures are pretty powerful to embed in us what God wants to teach us. That's why Jesus taught in parables so often, he was just walking around, he'd see something, and he'd relate that to what was going on, and that was easy to grab in the mind. And Jeremiah is doing the same, he's giving a picture, and we begin in verses 1 through 7 with what that symbolic act is. First one, "Thus the LORD said to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.” So Jeremiah is given something to do, it's going to cost him something. He has to make a purchase, and he's going to purchase a linen waistband. And he purchased this linen waistband, and there's a debate among scholars as to exactly what he's referring to. My wife was asking me the other night she said, I was trying to describe this, and she said, well, what is it exactly? And at that point, I said, I have trouble describing it. And then later I thought, the reason I can't describe it is because people have trouble trying to figure out exactly what it is, but what it could be there's options. It could be a belt, they wore robes, and it would be a belt to kind of tie up the robe. Or it could be a sash, something that's little more decorative. So linen waistband around the waist, kind of hung there and it was a little more decorative for them. The third option, and this is the one I want us to lean into in thinking about this story, is it's like a short skirt that was tied around the waist, and then the tie would go down to the thighs. It was the most intimate undergarment that someone would wear underneath their robe, and that would be the idea of what he's telling him to do. Now, he tells him to get a specific kind, a linen waistband, and not something that was made of leather, sometimes they would do that, not something that was made of a skin, an animal skin, rather linen. It was to be linen. Why? Because linen rots easily. And if linen is not taking care of, it's susceptible to falling apart if it's not cared for.
Ross Sawyers: 15:02 Now, I don't know about you, but there is some clothes that are made of linen today. And my wife, a while back, we had a particular event and she thought I needed to have a nice pair of shorts, and so I had to purchase these linen shorts. I find that to be one of the most useless purchases I've ever made in my life. So if you've ever had anything linen, whether it's pants or shorts or whatever, I don't really get it because you iron it, you get it just right. You put it on, and within seconds, it's all wrinkled up. It's horrible. But somehow we think that's nice, and that's what we should wear it at nice somethings. They've been in my closet ever since that one thing, and I feel bad giving them away because I don't even want somebody to have to deal with them. I mean, it just seems like it would be nice, but...And so he tells him, this is what you're to do, and then you're to put it on and wear it, and don't wash them. Put on the most intimate undergarments, what a way to have conversation here, and then don't wash it.
Ross Sawyers: 16:14 Verse 2, "So I bought the waistband in accordance with the word of the LORD and put it around my waist." And one thing we want to note about Jeremiah, and we think about eight ways, all these things we're doing, Jeremiah was obedient, he complied, he didn't understand what was about to happen. He knew this part, that he was to go and purchase a linen waistband and put it on and not wash it, and he did it.
Ross Sawyers: 16:43 Verse 3, "The word of the Lord came to me a second time saying..." And I wonder, and we'll see this more about Jeremiah as we move through this prophet. But I wonder if Jeremiah got to a place where he almost dreaded God coming to him, and had a little bit of apprehension of what's he going to ask me to do now, and yet obedient. The second time, “Take the waistband that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.” Now he's been wearing it, and needs to take it to the Euphrates river. There's some debate among scholars here as well, the Hebrew word, the Old Testament's written in Hebrew. And the Hebrew word for Euphrates, if you do one slight shift, it could also be Parratt, which is a town about three or four miles from where Jeremiah lived. If it's the Euphrates river, and this would not be outside of what God does in things. It'd be a 350 mile journey for Jeremiah, that's quite a walk, 350 miles one way. When he gets there, he's to find a crevice in a rock, and take that linen waistband, which is highly susceptible to falling apart, and to place it and hide it in the crevice of the rock, and then presumably he comes back that 350 miles.
Ross Sawyers: 18:13 What we find in verse 5, is he went and hie it by the Euphrates as the Lord had commanded. Obedient, exactly what God asked him to do. Verse 6, "After many days the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the waistband which I commanded you to hide there.” Another 350 miles, go get it, and then bring it back. He did.
Ross Sawyers: 18:47 Verse 7, "I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it; and lo, the waistband was ruined, it was totally worthless." Now this would have been expected for whatever timeframe that it had been hidden in the crevice of the rock. Now I tried to modernize what Jeremiah did, and I failed miserably, but I gave it a shot. I went to Academy, and I tried to think, what is the most close object to a linen waistband that I can come up with. And compression shorts, that was the best idea that I could come up with. I didn't think this through a long enough in advance, there's a reason that God told Jeremiah to get linen, and not whatever they make compression shorts out of. I didn't have the Euphrates river, the courage to walk there, and so I went to the Colleyville Nature Center and buried it next to the pond, that's called The Peaceful Pond. I didn't do it for enough days, I did it for about 30ish hours. And so when last night I was at the Colleyville Nature Center digging up the compression shorts that I had placed there, they still looked awfully white, and I thought this is a fail. So I took them and I took my foot, and I just started ramming it into the ground. And I went beside the pond, so that I could get us to the place to get the picture of what Jeremiah was doing. I don't think anybody would want to put these on right now, I wouldn't, and that's the point of the story. That which was purchased new, now is totally worthless and ruined.
Ross Sawyers: 21:03 So what's the big idea? We'll he explains it in verses 8 through 11, "Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem." This is a picture of the pride of God's people, Judah and Israel, God's people. And this is what they've become to him. Why? Because of their pride, and then Jerusalem, the city that is to be the Holy city, the great pride. Not just pride, great pride. How would we define pride? I think that's helpful, when we think about what he's saying here. Pride is putting yourself in God's place, putting yourself in God's place, that's pride. Anytime we put ourselves in the place of God. The people of God had become intimately devoted, that's our question to whom or what are you and I intimately devoted to, most intimately devoted? The people of God had become most intimately devoted to their own pride.
Ross Sawyers: 22:48 A while back Timothy Keller was describing things and he said, "There's a sin underneath the sin." And it took me a while understand what he was saying, and I think I understand, but maybe I still don't. But this is what I think he's saying, we can look at most sins that any of us commit, and what's underneath that sin is the sin of pride. So yes, there's the pride underneath, and yes, there's the sin above, but it's that underneath that's the problem. There's a root something in there, that's the problem to why I'm doing these other sins. And when I am putting myself in God's place, and that's what I have done. And that's what they had done, they're intimately devoted to themselves, they were intimately devoted to their way, and they were intimately devoted to their choices.
Ross Sawyers: 23:41 Now it's obvious when we see pride, sometimes in people, sometimes people are so inflated and puffed up that it's almost difficult to be around them. And we just know this is a prideful person, we just, we can just see it. There is some pride that is less obvious, sometimes people that we think are humble are not really humble, they're prideful, it's disguised in humility. That kind of person might serve us, they might look for ways to be a help to us. But underneath that, what looks like humility is pride, and really what they're doing is for themselves. We can do things for other people so that it benefits us. Pride can look like humility, and it can look like a really puffed up kind of arrogance. It can be domineering, it can also be aloof. I'm really just too good for you, I'll just stay back. It can also be contempt for another person, that when I see them, I have more of a disgust for them, and that's out of pride in my own heart.
Ross Sawyers: 25:24 It's thinking more highly of ourselves than we are. It's Proverbs 11:2, "When pride comes, then comes dishonor." In verse 10, this kind of pride is described. He says, this is the picture and I'm going to destroy it, I'm going to destroy the pride of Judah and Jerusalem. This is what they've done, "This wicked people." God's calling his own people wicked, they've turned from him. "They refuse to listen to my words." One way that's good to study the Bible, is when you're studying a book of the Bible to study within it, things that are being said. So we look in Jeremiah and say, okay, what else does he saying already, that he stating in a broad way right here. "And they refuse to listen to my words." When in 2:27, it says that they had turned their backs on him, not their faces towards him. In 5:25 it says, "Your sins, they've withheld good from you." And in 12:2, Jeremiah prays a prayer. And he says, "God, these people, you're near to their lips, but you're far from their minds." One small thing in that could be our lips can sing a song, while our mind is somewhere totally in another place.
Ross Sawyers: 26:53 We've heard just enough that during the week, we might be able to say something about God, but our mind is the furthest thing away from being intimately devoted to God. He said, "They walk in the stubbornness of their hearts." They're stubborn. On Facebook this week, I saw a college friend of mine and his daughter turned 17. And he said, I've been praying our prayer for her, her whole life has been Jeremiah 6:16, the first part of it, "Thus says the LORD, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls." You know why he didn't pray the last part of it for her? Because the last part says, "Will not walk in it." He's praying her heart will stay molded to the ancient path where rest and life is. But the people of God, at that point, they're stubborn. They were even saying, no man would repent of his wickedness because they said, what have I done? They couldn't even see it. As Jeremiah 17:9, "Our hearts are deceptive and deceitful, who can understand our heart. And then they've gone after other gods to serve them, to bow down to them, they've chased after other gods. In 2:11 he said, "The nation has changed god's, they've changed their glory for that which does not profit. In 13:25, "They've forgotten me and trusted falsehood." "He said, let them be just like this waistband, which is totally worthless because they're intimately devoted to their pride. " And this is what that looks like in God's eyes.
Ross Sawyers: 28:44 Let's do a quick heart check on pride. And sometimes I think there's questions that we can ask God to help us process, to help us know, is there any pride in our hearts at the moment? And the first question, is what gets my time? Does our time reflect that God is the one who is over everything in our lives, or have put something else in the place of God? Have we put recreation and fun in the place of God? Same question, am I domineering in relationships? In a marriage relationship, am I being domineering in that relationship? In a parent, child relationship, am I domineering in that relationship? In a position that you might have at work where you have authority over people, are you domineering in that authority over them? Which God constantly calls out his people for exploiting, and taking advantage of the vulnerable.
Ross Sawyers: 30:04 And this was the one that I've been camping on the most. How many times this week have I asked for God's help? Not assuming God's help, but knowing that I need his help. And that apart from him, what he said in John 15 is actually true, that I can do nothing. If we're not asking God for help, then we're leaning on ourselves, and that's pride because we've put ourselves in the position of God. And the other one that was convicting, and I just, I don't do this, and I just have to own that. In Jeremiah 13:17, Jeremiah said, "If you will not listen to it, my soul will sob in secret for such pride." Have I grieved over the pride of others? Do I just look at someone else, and I see pride, and it makes me mad, or I don't want to be around them? Jeremiah sobbed over the pride of the people, and what it was costing them. And I've been asking God these last few days to help me weep over the pride of others, and my own pride, first. I hear this often, people don't like President Trump because he's arrogant. As a Christian, let me ask this question. Would it be better to have contempt for him, throw out posts against him? Or would it be better to weep, if that's what you see over his pride, and pray humility for him? That's just an example. These questions, I think, help reveal pride that's obvious, and hidden pride within us. And where our intimate devotedness really is.
Ross Sawyers: 32:39 Now, God did not design us to be intimately devoted to pride, and all the dirtiness of that pride. In verse 11 says, "For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man." It clings tightly to the waist of a man, the most intimate part of a person, this is what is clinging to that person. "So I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me." That's why he chose his people, he made them to cling to him. The word cling means intimate devotion to, that's the whole point of this story. It's why I asked the question the way I asked the question, it's an intimate devotion. God designed us, in Isaiah 26:8, to be a people for his renown, for his glory, to cling to him. Why is it that we find ourselves clinging to something else? How, even as those who already know Christ, keep in mind, these were the chosen people of God who've rebelled against him. We're not even talking about people having entered into relationship with God, these are people that have, and now they're intimately devoted to something else. Why is that?
Ross Sawyers: 34:06 I think we just get the whole story of God starting from Genesis, all the way to Revelation, we see it unfold. In the beginning, God created everything, and he created man and woman in the image of God. And he walked in the garden with them, intimately. God had an intimate relationship with those first two humans. In chapter 2, verse 24, the last verse of chapter 2 in Genesis. It says, "That man is to leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife." The word cleave is the same word as the word cling in Jeremiah 13, "And there to become one flesh." God designed marriage to be exclusively for one man and one woman, to cling together, to cleave together, to be glued together, united together in the most intimate relationship possible on the planet. Later, we would know the purpose of that. In Ephesians 5, where God says that marriage is to be a perfect picture of Christ and the church, so that husband and wife are a picture of Christ and the church. And it's the same kind of intimacy that he yearns and desires for us to have with him, all this in creation.
Ross Sawyers: 35:38 There's a second chapter to God's big story though, and it unfolds in chapter 3. And the sin is not just the woman eating a piece of fruit, there's a sin underneath the sin. What drove her, Satan deceived her and deceived him, how'd he do it? How'd he do it, he appealed to their pride. If you do this, you'll be like God. Well, the irony of that is they already were. Pride enters in, and we have the fall in the second chapter. We see that again and again in our world, it is pride that drives and wreaks havoc with the sin in the world. It takes people who are free, and it makes them people of bondage.
Ross Sawyers: 36:41 But the good news is there's a third chapter in this story, God's big story. And in that third chapter, Jesus comes and he redeems, and God makes a purchase. Jeremiah, go purchase that linen waistband, I want to give a picture here. God does the same thing, he does something that costs him, costs him his own son, the shed blood of his own son. And he makes a purchase in this third chapter of redemption. And you know what Jesus does on that cross, he takes that dirty, rotten, filthy undergarment of pride and all its consequences that we cling so devotedly to, and he clothes himself on an old rugged cross. He who knew no sin, he knew none of this, became sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And when a person repents and believes that Jesus really did that on our behalf...And just imagine for a moment, I just got one pair of compression shorts as a picture here. Imagine all of humanity, and every sin of every person in humanity. And if we just covered the cross again and again, with all the filthy garments of humanity that he wore himself, to exchange and give us something brand new. He makes us absolutely pure and clean through his work on the cross. He exchanges the garments, he takes the crud off of us, and he puts the bright and clean beauty of himself in and through us.
Ross Sawyers: 39:23 Paul writes it this way, doesn't he? In Galatians 3 verse 27, he said, "Those who believe have been clothed with Christ." We're clothed with Christ. So many of us we've initially received what Jesus did, but somewhere along the way, our pride kicked in and we put somebody else in place of God. We put something else in, and we chased after it. And while God has intimately drawn us to himself, we intimately put ourselves in position with everything else this world has to offer. And for so many you've experienced the beauty of God drawing you back in, and knowing that even that ugliness after that initial receiving of Jesus, even when we drift or deliberately rebel, that the amazing grace of God, is that he took all of that on himself on the cross. And he's still actively pursuing you, so that you can know the freedom, and the intimacy, and the beauty of Jesus, the life that flourishes.
Ross Sawyers: 40:50 Why do we still struggle with pride if he took it all on the cross? We're in a time of already, not yet, and there's a 4th chapter to this overall story. And there's a time in the new heavens and the new earth where everything will be made absolutely right, there will be a purity that is absolutely unknown to anything that we can imagine. In the meantime, Christ covers us. We're growing to me more like him, were growing into that, which he's already made us to be. But there'll be a day when everything is perfect in the new heavens and the new earth. And in Revelation chapter 19 verse 8, this is one way he describes it, "It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean." This will be a linen, it won't ever deteriorate or rot, or wrinkle, or anything else. It's bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. New heavens, the new earth, that's where we're headed.
Ross Sawyers: 41:49 In the meantime we're in a battle, and under Christ, we're safe and covered. And his desire is for every one of us, if we haven't initially responded to what he's done to first initially respond. If we've somehow drifted off, or purposely drifted off, he's just waiting for us to come back.
Ross Sawyers: 42:19 Very quietly, Brother Andrew said, I'll let go of my ego. Then I was able to say, Lord, you just tell me what, and I'll follow. First Peter 5:5, we're told to clothe ourselves with humility. God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. In Christ we're clothed with humility. There's so many people around the world, our brothers and sisters in Christ that have clothed themselves with Christ, are clothed in humility, and are walking intimately devoted to their savior. They're an encouragement to us. And I want you to see some of our friends in China, and the way they're intimately devoted and walking with Christ, and then turning around and declaring and making known the excellence of Christ to those around them.
Video Plays: 43:42 (Video clip)
Recorded in Grapevine, Texas.
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