October 25-26, 1997 Sermon

October 25-26, 1997

Mike Slaughter

The Authority Struggle
We’re talking about authority today, and authority is something that we struggle with all of our life. Who hasn’t as a child said something like this to their parents: "I can’t wait till I’m old enough to leave." Right? "Let me off your leash. Don’t fence me in." Authority. It’s why some people freak about Promise Keepers, right? What’s it about? It’s about an issue of authority. And sometimes, for good reasons, we’re kind of skeptical about authority because we’ve seen abuses of authority - especially in relationships of men to women, many times. We have been taught that freedom is the highest ideal. "I don’t want to be anybody’s slave." Right? " I want to reign, I want to rule. I want to win, I want to be in control." We sometimes don’t really understand the consequences or effect that has on our relationship with God.

I. Attitude of Posture
Psalm 123:1
1: A Song of Ascents. To thee I lift up my eyes, O thou who art enthroned in the heavens!

You see, a relationship with God is about what I call an attitude of posture. Turn with me to Psalm 123. An attitude of posture. First verse: (now remember, these are songs of worship, they come from fifteen psalms that we’re looking at week-to-week that the Jews sang on their way, songs of ascent, as they walked up the mountain on their way to Jerusalem to worship.) To you I lift up my eyes, to you who are enthroned in the heavens! I lift up my eyes to you. I look up. It’s a posture, isn’t it? It is the posture that I assume in my life journey. I look up.

I Look Around - horizontal
Now, Church, it’s time to get honest. This is not the posture that we assume through most of our life. I lift up my eyes to you. Here’s the posture that we assume in most of our days. We don’t look up, we look across. It is a horizontal look, right? Hey, spirituality is hot right now. It is in to be spiritual. Turn on the TV - you know there are eleven TV shows - who would think that there would be hit TV shows about ministers or priests? Like "Soul Man" to "Nothing Sacred." The last three weeks the weeklies - "Newsweek" and "Time" - the covers of the last three weeks have all dealt with spiritual things. From Buddhism to the Promise Keepers to one of the latest gurus. Spirituality is hot, but listen to this. It is a spirituality without authority.
One of the really hot gurus right now, whose books are selling really well, is Deepak Chopra. How many of you have heard of him? He’s got a book out right now about family. Here is what he says: "I satisfy a spiritual yearning without making people think they have to worry about God or punishment." You see, it is a spirituality with the total absence of authoritarian restraint.
Oprah... more people get their spiritual insight from Oprah than the Bible. Oprah talks about discovering the divinity within. To her it’s not about looking up, it’s about looking within. Oprah is saying in otherwords; God who is my equal, who lives on the same plane, a God I can argue with. You see, people argue with God about marriage and divorce and sexuality, you know. What’s wrong with living with someone? Well, God has a lot to say about what’s wrong with living with someone. (Sarcastically Mike says) But I like a God who is on my plane, a God I can argue with, a God I can argue with about where I serve or how much I give of my money. God has a whole lot to say about how we give our money but we don’t look up, we look across. Too many see God as someone who is our equal, a God that we can argue with. Kind of a volunteer mentality. You know what a volunteer is. I reserve the right to say yes or no to God. Well, God, I know that you need someone to help teach the children at 7 o’clock but God, I don’t have time. You see, I reserve the right to say yes or no. A volunteer mentality.
Time to get honest, Church. We don’t assume a posture of looking up, we assume a posture of looking straight ahead to God on our own level, to a God we can argue with, a God we can volunteer to. Kind of a cosmic waiter that we can run to when we can’t do something ourselves. A waiter who is there to help me attain my objectives, to give me health or wealth.
I watch a lot of religious TV and it seems like we have a God who is just there with a towel on his shoulder. To come, to give us anything we need. We forget Jesus died on the cross, not in a Mercedes. And it really gets kind of dangerous, even for Christians. Sometimes we have this real casual attitude about Jesus, you know, Jesus is my buddy, how you doing Jes? OK Mike! How are you? What a friend we have in Jesus.
I don’t want to diminish the personal presence of Christ, because Jesus walks before me to show me the way, and he does stand next to me as my friend, and he’s over me to protect me, and he’s in me to empower me, but there’s more. You see, I lift up my eyes to you. I look up to you who is enthroned in the heavens.

I Look Up - enthroned
Now what’s it mean to be enthroned in the heavens? The biblical writers are not scientists who are trying to identify the physical location of God in the cosmos. They’re not talking about a location where God resides. They’re talking about God’s position of authority in our life. You see, it’s not about location. Heaven is not about location, it is a position of authority. This Psalm is telling me that God is not my equal. God is not someone I look across to, or down at. God is over me. God is above me. I don’t need a buddy. I need a God that I can look up to; and, people, God is a God we must look up to. You see, when I assume in my life, when this becomes the attitude of my posture, that’s a humbling posture, isn’t it. There’s no room for vanity there. When I assume an attitude of posture of looking up, then I assume a lifestyle of a servant.

Psalm 123:2
2: Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he have mercy up on

II. Lifestyle of a Servant
Look at verse 2. Do you see this in verse 2? As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, and the eyes of the maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he has mercy upon us. Servant. This is such a counter-culture value, my brothers and sisters. I mean, our lives scream ‘declaration of independence.’ You talk about the pursuit of freedom, when you’re living at home with your parents, you can’t wait until you leave. Right? When you’re in school, you can’t wait until you get a job, but anytime we think we escape from one harness, all of a sudden we find ourselves in another harness. I couldn’t wait to get away from my mom and dad, then I get out here and discover, wow, what was I thinking? Now I’ve got to find a way to pay for this whole thing. Right? Anytime you think you get out of one harness you find yourself in another harness. Dating. You’re dating and you think, oh, this is such a hassle. It’d be so much easier just to get married. Anytime you think you’ve escaped one harness you find yourself in another harness.
Listen to this one. You talk about naive. I said this to Carolyn once: "Well, Honey, just think about it. We could have children and then you could quit work and stay at home." Anytime you think you’re getting out of one harness you find yourself in another harness. Then you get what you always wanted, you go from just working until you find a career. Then you want retirement. Right? You get your career and then you look forward and work toward retirement and when you retire you’re five steps from a nursing home.
Have you done the nursing home thing? Some of you with parents or grandparents? Three and a half years ago, we put my grandparents in a nursing home. It is an ugly kind of thing. I didn’t know the stuff that goes on there. They have to feed you and they roll you over and clean your behind. My great aunt said, "I’ll never end up in that situation. I’m going to make sure that I have enough wealth in my life that I’ll never be in that circumstance. My grandparents were of ordinary means so they went to the Baptist home in Newport, Kentucky. My aunt made enough wealth so she didn’t need to live off of Medicaid, so she went to the same Baptist Home, just lived on another floor - another wing. On her wing, dear Aunt Viva, who is still there, on her wing, it’s not like my grandparent’s room - they passed on last year, you remember - but their room had hospital looking kind of furniture. My aunt’s room has real cherry furniture. But she can’t see it, she’s blind. My grandparent’s room had that floor you could come in and mop. My aunt had real carpeting. They still have to roll my aunt over and clean her bottom.
What’s the difference? The clothes that she soils are just more expensive. You see, anytime you think you escape one harness, you find yourself in another harness. Well I don’t want to be anybody’s slave, right? Well my brothers and sisters, you are always a slave to something.

Take My Yoke
Matthew 11:29-30
29: Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls..
30: For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light

It’s why Jesus said this, look with me in Matthew 11:29-30. Here’s what Jesus said: Take my yoke upon you, (the emphasis is on my, you already have a yoke on you) and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, (easy doesn’t mean you won’t get sick, you won’t struggle financially, or you won’t die - it means freedom, freeing) and my burden is light.
My brothers and sisters, all of us are harnessed to something and Jesus is saying, ‘Choose your harness. Hook yourself to my harness. Do it on God’s terms.’ For a person who assumes the attitude of posture of looking up, they assume the lifestyle of a servant, as a servant looks to the hand of their master. Do you know what a servant is? There’s nothing volunteer about a servant. But those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, and mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not grow weary. They shall walk but not faint.
Servant has nothing to do with volunteer. A servant means waiter. A servant is an attendant. A servant is a person who has surrendered all right to ever say ‘no’ to the Lord. Lord God, I look up to you, you are over me, you are above me, you are not my equal. I am at your disposal. Whatever you wish, be it done according to your will.

Matthew 5:5
5: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Servant. Do you know what Jesus said? Matthew 5:5: Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.
When I used to read that I thought, meek, who wants to be a wimp? I don’t want to be a wimp. How are wimps going to inherit the earth? Do you know what meek means? It means harnessed. He’s saying blessed are the harnessed for the harnessed are the ones who will inherit the earth, who will leave the earth. Carolyn and I, you’ve heard us share many times how for years our marriage was on numb. It was pain, and both of us thought about divorce. Do you know why we didn’t get divorced? It came down to one thing. It was an issue of authority. (Now I’m not talking, there was no abuse going on in this household. I’m not talking to those of you who are experiencing abuse. People should not live in abuse.) It was an issue of authority for us. We surrendered the right to argue with God. We assume that God is always right. And when we could no longer look at each other we assumed the position, the posture of looking up. Harnessed, submitted, connected to God’s authority, and guess what happened? We inherited the earth. We experienced an incredible miracle, my brothers and sisters.
You see, the harnessed are the ones who have connected themselves to God’s hand. They are moving in God’s power and energy. Is your marriage in trouble, then look up. Is your job a drain, check your posture. Are your children struggling? Lift your eyes.
When Don was sharing the scripture with us about the Centurion, here is a man, a Roman officer, who in the Jew’s mind was really an enemy to the Jews. He was one of the oppressing forces who was occupying their land. When one of his servants was sick, he heard of Jesus and he sent the Jewish leaders to Jesus to ask him to come and heal his servant. Now you know when you assume the attitude of posture of looking up, that’s a humble place to be. There’s no room for vanity there. No one thinks they’re self-made, so when Jesus is on the way this man understood who it was who was coming, and he sent his servants to Jesus and he said, ‘No, I am not worthy for you to come under my roof.’

Luke 7:8
8: For I am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does

Now here’s the key to what happened in this man’s life. It’s in verse 8: I am under authority. Do you know why this man experienced power? Do you know why this man was a leader? Because he was under authority. He was harnessed. He had assumed the life posture of looking up. So because he was under authority, this is what he said to Jesus: ‘Just say the word.’ Don’t you like that? Just say the word. I’m at your beck and call. What is it that you would have me do. What action of grace would you give my wife through me? Just say the word. Oh, you need me to play in the band. It’s not an issue of time. Just say the word, for I am under your authority. Oh, you need me to teach seven-year-olds in Sunday School, just say the word for I am under authority. What is that? What is that you say you need? Money? More? Just say the word. Just say the word.

Luke 7:4-5
4: And when they came to Jesus, they besought him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy to have you do this for him,
5: for he loves our nation, and he built us our synagogue."

And what happens, if you look at verse 5. The Jewish leaders were going to Jesus on this man’s behalf. Wouldn’t it be something if your enemies were appealing to God for you on your behalf? They were saying, ‘Lord, you have to come. This man loves your people. After all, this man is the one who built our synagogue.’ Can you believe that? Do you see what happens to you when you assume the attitude of posture of looking up? You assume the lifestyle of servant, and God literally makes you a conduit of his power that touches the lives of other people, and even your enemies will go to God and appeal to God on behalf of you and the needs that can be met through you.
You see, you become a miracle in the life of other people because you have assumed the posture, the attentive posture of looking up, not looking around. You have assumed the lifestyle of a servant who will never argue with God, who surrendered the right to say no. Just say the word. Just say the word. You know, I appreciate so many of you who write letters and say, ‘ ‘Mike, you don’t realize what you mean in our life and the life of our family, you don’t know me, but you have made such a difference in our life. You give us such hope.’
Do you know why? I’m harnessed. Lord, if you need me on Sunday night, or Monday night, or Tuesday night, just say the word. I have an important life principle here, folks. Here’s the life principle I try and live my life by. It works. It is better to serve in heaven than reign in hell. It is better to serve in heaven than reign in hell, just say the word. Now you hear me say this a lot, but it doesn’t get any better than this. Freedom comes through authority. What did Jesus say? "Take my yoke." You already have a yoke. The question is, which master are you going to serve? Do you know what I like about that, when Jesus says "take my yoke?" A yoke always was made for a pair, so when he says mine, if you put your head in here, who is in the other side? Do you see why he says his yoke is light? This yoke comes from the 1800s. Jesus is talking about yokes that are 2000 years old. Not only is a yoke made for a pair, one side is made to carry more of the load than the other. If Jesus says "take my yoke," who carries the heaviest part of the load?
I know what the best life has to offer, with money or without it. The best that comes out of it is that you can just soil more expensive clothes. So I choose another yoke. And that’s the yoke that promises me, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me.
Will you bow your head in prayer?
Freedom comes through authority. Check your posture. Can you honestly say to the Lord today, ‘I lift up my eyes to you? You’re not a God I can argue with. You’re above me, you’re over me, and to you I willingly say, just say the word. Just say the word.’ Amen.