My Comfort Or The Fathers Will?

Introduction

Oh boy, I make the request this morning and I get it tonight. Scott leads my favorite song. Hosanna. And really, I’m almost done with the sermon because when we sang Prince of Peace, control my will, that’s it. So short sermon tonight, but I do have a few things I want to add to that. Of course. And we’ve been a little hard on the Aggies today. I mean, I said something this morning. Tim jumps on the bandwagon tonight, but it was pointed out to me by Charles Berkner that the Aggies won the indoor track and field national championships. And none of you were following that. None of you. But that is a title, nonetheless, for the Aggies. And I was a little amiss this morning because I didn’t also mention Brad, who was there in 95 when I preached that a version of that sermon I preached this morning.

He was another East Sidian. Make that up. Eastside in Baytown, who heard that sermon years ago, so I didn’t want to leave Brad out. And by the way, those four men who are being put forth before us to be deacons and servants of our group, their first job is wasp control. We were talking about that this morning. Did you see the wasp flying around Scott’s head? I’ll know if I see your eyes being distracted while I’m preaching that he’s coming after me. So, new job for the deacons forthcoming. And I want to echo what John prayed, not just our men, but also our women. We have so many hard workers in our midst who do so much to make this congregation what it is. Thank you all.

Always looking for new ways to do things. And so tonight, I want to begin with three different scenarios that all have something in common. And that’ll be our introduction tonight. Scenario number one. Where I attend presently doesn’t proclaim God’s saving truth revealed in His Word. And someone is studying with me, trying to teach me exactly what the scriptures say. Things we talked about this morning and things we talked about last Sunday morning. For those of you that were not here this morning, you missed lesson two in a series of three lessons building on last Sunday morning, but they all stand independently, too. So you’re okay. You’re okay. But we missed you this morning. Some of you who have come back in from spring break. But we talked last week and also this morning about being in Christ, submitting to his terms of admission.

And so we teach people, and we see this reaction all the time, don’t we? The lights start to go on. What I believe, what I’ve heard, what is taught, where I worship, that’s not consistent with what the Bible is saying. What I’m actually reading. And so often, though they’re reading exactly what Acts 238 says and so many other passages that we’ve cited, that’s different than their theology, different than what the preacher preaches where they attend. They won’t acknowledge that those believing such errors stand in danger of the judgment, that they might indeed be lost. And a lot of times it’s because of this second part, because they have family there, they have friends that they respect there, and they would be saying that those people are not practicing and believing the truth.

And so that’s very uncomfortable. That’s very uncomfortable. You mean I’m going to leave them and start worshiping over here, and that means coming to a new place, embracing a new religious idea. There’s some discomfort that goes with all of that. And so many people just dismiss. They don’t want to think about that anymore. Maybe it’ll go away. I just won’t look at those passages anymore. I won’t try to conform to what I’m reading in Scripture. I’m just going to stay comfortable. But we need to be concerned about comfort down the road. Second scenario.

They’re making applications. Oh, I don’t see that there. I mean, social drinking really.

Popular to get angry, to lash out at the messenger, and simply refuse to change our behavior. It’s much easy to can be easier to continue the behavior that we want to engage in than to admit to ourselves, I need to make changes. I need to conform to the message. It is much easier to say, well, I really don’t like that guy that much anyway. And don’t think that hasn’t happened with me through the years. And that’s one of the reasons why some guys in our time don’t tread on those debated places. Because they don’t want to ruffle anybody’s feathers. You know, there’s job security at risk here if we approach subjects like sobriety, about morality, about behavior out there in the world. And so let’s just talk about things that people can all agree on.

Things that make us feel good. Let’s not address where we might be less than what God calls us to be, because we may not all agree about that. And so it’s much easier to do this. Now, I’m going to just stop here and say the next time I say something that indicts you’ve really got only a couple of options. You’ve got to take that up with me and say, you’re wrong about this, and here’s why. And you’re going to have to get the elders on board with that, too, ultimately, if we don’t agree about that. Or you’re going to have to change. Okay, that’s really your two options there. Third scenario. The facility in which we worship is inadequate. The building is getting too small for us.

We’re getting crammed in here. We’re experiencing something like that here. Now, relocation for us could be quite the tall challenge. That’s why we’re trying to max out this property, at least for now, but who knows what the future is going to hold. And so often in these kinds of situations, people get really tied to a place, especially if they and their family have worshiped there for generations. They’re tied to a place. They are comfortable here. The idea of moving the church, because the church is not the building, moving the church somewhere else, that’s uncomfortable to them. And so, as happened once in my past, there was a meeting of all the elders, preachers, and deacons, about 20 men, and it was 19 to 1. Now, first of all, in a group like that of spiritual leaders in a local church, if it’s 19 to 1, you might want to consider your position if you’re the one.

Not that the minority can’t be right on some occasions, but among the Lord’s people, when you’re down 19 to 1, you might do a little bit of self reflection. And oh no, we can’t move. That’s an improper use of the Lord’s money. Well, what are we gonna do? Set on top of each other. You know, how can we have effective Bible classes if we’re all crammed in these little bitty rooms? I mean, after a time, we need to consider saving souls. Well, it’s gonna cost too much money. Well, how many souls might we reach? How many more people might we bring in to the Lord’s church as a result? And so people start saying things that are not even the real reason. Could it cost too much money?

But really, that might be it, but really, it’s, I want to stay here, in the spot. People don’t verbalize what the real reason is sometimes. It reminds me of a situation several years ago where I proposed to the elders, we had a young fella who was talented, who wanted to consider preaching, and so we had talked about a preacher training program where he would work with me and we would talk about preaching, and he would preach on occasion and perhaps learn a craft that he could do that he could preach and teach the gospel and fine young man. So I pitch it to the elders, and then I don’t hear anything. Another week pass, another week pass, I don’t hear anything. I finally bring it up to them and say, hey, what’d y’all decide about this preacher training program?

This is a young guy in our midst. We should be training it. He wants to preach. And they looked at me and they said, We believe it’s unscriptural. And after I got over being dumbfounded, I said, So what you’re saying then is that I’ve been in two unscriptural arrangements in my life already. And you’re just now telling me this. And so I need to repent. Well, you’ve got to see to that. Later, when this thing developed into Tony’s actually going to be leaving now, they were talking to the congregation, and that was not what they cited. That never came out of their lips. Well, Tony wanted to do this, and we didn’t want to do it. We didn’t think it was a good idea. Why don’t you tell them what you told me?

That it was unscriptural. But that wasn’t the issue, and I knew it. People sometimes say things that are not the real issue because they just weren’t comfortable with it. Well, just come out and say that. We’re not comfortable with it for whatever reason. Instead of trying to be political. Well, all of these stories, all three of them, have something in common. And that is something that we all might tend to struggle with, and that is my comfort. It just occurs to me that’s a huge thing with most people. People don’t like to be uncomfortable. And so often it is very easy for us to make decisions about what we will and will not be spiritually, what we will do and not do spiritually on the basis of my comfort in America.

And this relates to our affluent sermons a couple of weeks ago. In America, comfort reigns, and comfort rules. People made decisions not to come back tonight based on their comfort. Now, the first thing I want to say about this, and this is sermon over at this point. It’s over. Jesus, before he faced the cross, said those famous words. Not my will, but thine be done. Now that’s sermon over at this point. But it’s really not. But my comfort or the Father’s will. What if Jesus had opted for his comfort? You know that cross looks a little uncomfortable. Oh, you can rest assured it was. Discomfort, like you and I have never ever experienced in our lives. This was not a choice about comfort at all.

This was about pain, excruciating pain to endure for the sake of others. And yet all these platitudes are given. Oh, I love Jesus, I love Jesus, I love Jesus, and yet it’s my comfort, not the Father’s will. That’s not Christ like. That doesn’t honor our Lord, and it’s not the example of Jesus. Let me tell you where we face this issue. I found this graphic. This is really interesting. Where the magic happens, your comfort zone.

1. Turn From Our Sins and Turn to the Lord

This is thinking in America. My question is what’s the magic exactly? This is where the magic happens. You need to stay in the magical, it’s magical. Your comfort zone. This is the way America thinks. This is not the way Christians think. We need to be thinking about where salvation happens, the Father’s zone, which is revealed to us in his word. Now let me show you where this happens in the journey of the Christian, four things. The first area of discomfort. The first area where you’re challenged. And we mentioned this in our three scenarios in the beginning, where we must turn from our sins and turn to the Lord. There has to be some discomfort on the day of Pentecost when it says they were pierced to their hearts.

This is discomfort. It’s the same word. The idea of pierced that would be used cut to the quick to later times in Acts 5 and Acts 7, and those who would respond to Stephen’s preaching and lash out at him and kill him. Preaching pricks the heart. Now, what are you going to do in that moment? Because I’ll tell you what conversion is. It is an about face. That’s what repentance. Repent and be baptized, Acts 2 38. It is about face. I’ve been going this direction. It’s been harmful. It’s rebellious against God. I am a sinner. I am undone in this condition. And now I’ve got to turn repentance. I’ve got to change my mind and turn and start going this direction. Repent and be converted. That times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

And that’s going to mean some discomfort for you. In the very beginning. If it’s the discomfort of leading error that I mentioned in the opening scenario, we find ourselves, like Saul of Tarsus, as he describes his conversion later, and the words that Jesus spoke to him on the road. He said, What? You are kicking against the goats. That produces the uncomfortable situation of being undone in your sins. You’re kicking against the goats. And then he goes on to describe that we must turn, we must lead the dominion of Satan to the rule of God for our lives. We must turn from darkness to light. And that’s his job to get people to do that. And so here’s the first place where we are confronted with our discomfort.

So here’s why. I like this part. I want you to pay attention here. Pay attention to all of it if you can. Conversion. This really hit me this week. Conversion is hard because it is a devaluation of me. Isn’t it? When you come to the Lord, conversion is a devaluation of me. I’ve got to lower me, though, properly understood, properly embraced, it is exceedingly redeeming and restorative and greatly compensatory to me. Redeeming, I’m bought by the Lord and come into fellowship with him. It restores what has been lacking because of my sinfulness and offers tremendous blessing and hope.

And so it’s compensatory. Like all three of me, and it’s an elevation of the living God and his will. Now that’s that’s going to mean some discomfort, but again, let’s think about ultimate discomfort. And the fact that while there is some pleasure to be had in the practice of sin, the way of the transgressor is hard. You’re kicking against the goats. Self-injury. As the wise writer said in Proverbs 1, they set an ambush for themselves. You know, that’s when we do when we reject God’s way, we’re setting up an ultimate ambush against ourselves and our well-being. But we don’t feel that way. We think, man, I think life is better if I go that way. But it’s really not. It’s an ambush of self. So as you’re in the discomfort, understand that ultimate comfort is at stake.

2. Once in Christ, You're Not Done With Your Discomfort

Secondly, once you are in Christ, as we talked about this morning. And a lot of new believers aren’t going to see this. And so this, if you’re relatively new in Christ, you need to pay attention here. You’re not done with your discomfort.

And that’s why I mentioned this morning, remember we talked about by the Spirit putting to death the deeds of the flesh in Romans 8. Those who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. And I said, now you need to compare that against James chapter 1, that section that talks about being doers of the word. And since we mentioned that this morning, I’m not going to go through all these verses, but I want you to look specifically as he talks about behavior, quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. That’s where this starts. And then he says, the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. He says, then, receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

Well, I thought that’s what I did on number one. Yes. But you have to keep doing that. Doers of the word, as he would go on to talk about. Receive the word implanted. That’s an ongoing process, engrafted, which is able to save your souls. Then the previous phrase. Removing what? All that remains of wickedness. You know, when you come to Christ, you just don’t know the whole thing yet. There are layers of learning that will result. And as your learning grows and deepens through the years, you know, you’re not going to wake up a month later and say, whoa, I’ve got the whole New Testament. I’ve got it all. I get what it means to be a Christian in every aspect. You’re still going to find out as you go along.

Whoa. I’ve got to do some work right here. And I talk, I grew up among the Lord’s people. Give me a say that right. I grew up among the Lord’s people, and I used to have a very simplistic view of what being a Christian was all about. Go to church three times a week, and wish some people would start there. And go to church three times a week. You don’t drink, you don’t dance, you don’t use profanity. And watch what you watch at the movie theater. Not bad stuff. Okay. So, or television. Of course, all we have was Gilligan’s Island, but that’s another story. There’s some issues there. But okay. Ginger. Okay. So I had a very simplistic view of Christianity. And as you begin to grow, you realize, okay, that verse, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Wonder what that means. Hmm. Hmm. And the things we’re supposed to think about, Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8. Trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. He wrote that to Christians in Ephesians 5 and verse 10. I’ve got some more things to work on here. Setting your affections on things above and not on things of this earth. There’s a lot of nuances to this putting Christ first and seeking first the kingdom of God. There’s some ongoing work. And perhaps some discomfort. Remember the other illustration about the preacher says something that indices you? That’s part of that. Oh, I got some discomfort there. Wish we could make Tony go away. I really didn’t want to hear that. No, that’s a part of number two. Then there’s number three.

3. Go On to Maturity: Persevering in the Good Fight

I think this may be harder than number two. So what’s the difference? Well, we’re to go on to maturity. There’s a lot of passages that talk about that. The Hebrew writer talks about that in chapter 5 and chapter 6, leaving the elementary principles go on to maturity, and he talks by this time they ought to have become teachers. You know, you’ve not worked hard enough at this to now be an instructor of others. He said, you need to go on to maturity. And I just called this persevering in the good fight, because I’ll tell you what you discover with number two is that this whole business of being a Christian transpires over a large lands about the stuff that happens in life while you’re trying to do this.

And all of a sudden, this is a curved ball you weren’t expecting. Now, what does Christianity mean now?

How do I stay devoted to prayer in the midst of this? My marriage is not what I imagined it would be. I’m not talking about me personally. I’m just throwing that out there. My marriage is not what I imagined it to be. My financial circumstances, raising my children is not what I imagined. And the list goes on. All kinds of things unfold in life. You say, boy, I wasn’t expecting that. What is Christianity going to mean now for you? And that’s why there’s so much said about persevering, and guess what? The devil’s not going to let you slide through. We got a target on our backs. The adversary passage of 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8. And if you don’t believe me, just ask Paul in his dealings with the Corinthians.

Not only does he have his thorn in the flesh, which he mentions a messenger of Satan to buffet him in chapter 12, he’s got to deal with that and be a Christian. He said all of that in the context where the Corinthians are rejecting him. They’re listening to some wrong sources of information, and they are following false apostles and deceitful workers and rejecting a true apostle. And in that context, he says, Satan transforms himself into an angel of light. And just how Satan deceived and duped Eve. He’s saying, Satan is at work. In the church of Corinth. He’s at work. He’s not going to let you guys just slide into heaven without any kind of opposition. And that’s why in local churches sometimes there’s conflict and difficulty.

We can talk about how it shouldn’t be that way. And people, I’ve never seen anybody say, after, you know, this has gone on for a couple months. I’ve never seen anybody say, ah, man, I let the devil use me as a pawn. So few people acknowledge that, but you better believe he was. He was using them that way. And so often people don’t see it. Because he’s good at what he does. So I want you to know something. As you try to do number two, and you try to move on to maturity in Christ, you got a target on your back. He wants to derail this. He wants to derail you. He wants to derail me. He doesn’t like this. Oh, I know he has the world.

Yeah. But he wants you back. He’s after you. And so when Christians struggle, don’t let that get you discouraged. Oh, I don’t know if these are really the people of God. I just don’t know about this Decker Prairie Church. Listen, the devil’s after you, too. And that’s why you’re thinking like that. He’s after you. He’s after those people who have disappointed you. Because we all have targets on our backs. But yet so often it’s out of sight, out of mind. Devil who. And I also want to emphasize this word. This fight is a good fight. I think sometimes the devil and his messages to us, we sometimes then convince ourselves the fight isn’t good anymore. And we give up on faith. Remember it’s called a good fight.

4. A Time Is Coming When the Battle Will Be Done

Fight the good fight of faith. And lay hold on eternal life. And so there’s so many passages that talk about persevering and overcoming. There’s going to be some discomfort to all of this. It’s not going to be smooth sailing. Quit thinking that. So many people get discouraged and give up because they think, wow, it’s just so hard. There’s so many things thrown in my path. Quit thinking it’s going to be easy. Stop that. We have to persevere in the good fight. But as much discomfort that is involved in bringing our will under the control of our Father’s will. A time is coming when the battle that we have with our wills will be done. One of the great provisions of glory. His bond servants shall serve.

Ultimately, we’re headed to a time and a place where we don’t have to fight this battle anymore. There will be no lust of the flesh. There will be no lust of the eyes. There will be no pride of life. God will be all in all, and we will serve at his throne, and our discomfort will be over. So we need to keep in mind number four. Okay, so we’re all about our comfort foods, right? Oh, comfort foods. Yeah. And I thought, what represents comfort foods? And I thought immediately, bluebell. Ice cream. Maybe this will help us to see this point. What’s better than that? How about Psalm 37, 4 and 5? And I thought of this because Miss Harrit, who I mentioned this morning, posted this week.

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in him, and he will do it. Now, let me tell you what that doesn’t mean. You talk about a verse that’s misunderstood in the religious world. That doesn’t mean that if you’re faithful, everybody gets to take a trip to Hawaii with their family. Now I’m also saying that about Jamie, who posted this verse because she just did that. So what we’re going to do, so Psalm 37, 4 is going to become true, is that we’re all going to Hawaii next week. And Blake and Jamie are staying, and Blake’s going to do the preaching. Okay? Now that’s not what that means, and that’s not what she meant when she posted that.

When he says, Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. That doesn’t mean that all of us will have the wherewithal to take a trip to Hawaii or to go to Disney World or wherever else that we would like to go, and everything we ever dream comes true. That’s not been true throughout history for the righteous. That’s only something that’s made possible by our affluence in these times that we get to do a lot of fun stuff. But when you get to number four, there will be no pining. Not even for Hawaii. Because that’s not what our lives are like day in and day out. There will be no looking back on this earth and say, but oh, I wish I could go back there for all the joys that we had there.

Conclusion

This is going to be so far better. And in the midst of a faithful response to God, you have his fellowship and his care and his concern. John Maxwell said, if we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone. Don’t be so honed in on our comfort zone where the magic happens that we forget where salvation happens. Because there and only there, did you hear me say, only there is ultimate comfort. And that’s the Lord’s invitation for you to embrace, to go through your discomfort, to get the desires of your heart. That’s the offer of the gospel. Come now while we stand and sing.