I’m so excited about this series we’re starting today. We’ve entitled it No Wake Zone. We’ve done that for a real specific reason. This is a relationship series, but we want to do a visual of what healthy relationships are really like. I think if we could see it first, then we could begin to live it out in our life.
I love the lake. I thought it was cool pulling in this morning to church and seeing all the big boats out there in front of church. I wonder what people in our city are thinking about it. "They are wacked out, exactly what I thought about them. What are they doing? Noah or something’s happening there. They’re expecting a flood. I don’t know what’s going on over there."
We’re just really trying to get this visual, by the time we’re through with this series, what is a no wake relationship like? Over the course of the summer, I like to get out with my boys and we go fish and wakeboard. I don’t wakeboard so much, they do. We just love to be on the water. But, if you go to Percy Priest Lake on a Saturday in the summer, you’re really taking your life in your own hands. Everybody who has a boat in middle Tennessee is there on Saturday and they’re going really fast, all over the place.
One of my buddies showed me a secret there. There’s an area kind of in the middle of the lake that is a large no wake zone. That’s where we head every weekend. The boys swim and I fish and everybody’s happy. You can see out beyond the no wake zone, boats just flying around everywhere and there’re these massive wakes, but you’re able to have some rest in the midst of the storm. I really believe that’s what needs to happen in your life. Some of you today, your marriage is a high wake zone and you’ve just been beaten around and there’s relationships you have with folks in your extended family, brothers and sisters, co-workers, neighbors, and you’re struggling to really have healthy relationships.
I believe this series could really be a powerful one for all of us as we see what God’s word has to say about it. If you have your Bibles, let’s go ahead and open them up to I Samuel 18. We’re going to look at three guys and their wakes. All we’re going to do today is step from the front of the boat and move to the back of the boat, that is our life, because we spend all of our lives really looking ahead to goals and dreams and a time where our life’s going to be a little easier and better. I think we don’t do very much, if any, of walking back to the back of the boat, that is our life, and looking and seeing the wake that we are putting out and seeing its affect on people.
So, let’s just take a look. In I Samuel 18, we get to peek in on King Saul who was the first king of Israel. You’re going to see that he threw off a high wake. Now King Saul was an executive style guy. I mean, he was an executive looking guy. He was tall, dark, and handsome and folks said, "Now, he has the look of a leader." On the outside he did, but on the inside he was just full of all types of anxiety and insecurity; you see that in his wake. One of the things that we’re going to see today is that our wakes never lie. They really reflect what’s going on in our heart.
Then we pick up the story of King David right after he has defeated Goliath. We then meet King Saul’s son, Jonathan, who is the heir-apparent to the throne. And let’s see just a little snippet of their relationship. "After David had finished talking with Saul," this is after he’d defeated Goliath, "Jonathan became one with him in spirit and he loved him as himself." That’s what it means to have healthy relationships, to love somebody as ourselves. Jonathan, the king’s son, loved David that way; just by being in his presence he fell in love with him as a friend. "From that day, Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father’s house.’
One of the things that we see in Saul’s life was that he was a control freak. He wanted to control and manipulate everything. He didn’t want David out of his sight. So, he limited him. That’s a sign of a high wake kind of person. We’re going to see that more and more today. It says, "And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan took off his robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic and even his sword and his bow and his belt."
Now, what was Jonathan, the king’s son, who was heir-apparent to the thrown doing? He was saying, "David I realize that God’s hand is on you, and I realize that you are the best person to lead this great people here." What an act of humility that Jonathan shows David. He gives us a picture of a person who does not have a steep wake; a person who has a shallow wake and has great relationship skills. He’s more concerned about the Lord’s work then him getting the praise. His dad was just the opposite. "Whatever Saul," King Saul, "sent him to do," that’s David to do, "David did it so successfully that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the people and Saul’s officers as well."
Here’s the point that I want to bring out, and we’re just going to talk about one thing today, what is a wake and what does my wake look like? A lot of times we’re so concerned with tasks and fulfilling a task. Achievement. Think about this today. Achievement and fulfillment are the gods of our age today. That’s what we spend most of our life focusing on, achievement and fulfillment. You know people like this. I mean, we won’t think about ourselves yet, it’s just easier to think about other people.
You know people who have achieved so much in life but they have really destroyed so many people in their wake. Right? There are a lot of people who have been hurt for them to climb to the top. And, David was just the opposite. David accomplished great things. Even as he was accomplishing great things, the people around him, that worked for him, that were in his army, that were in his cabinet, they loved him and he built them up. We see that that’s a sign of really having a no wake zone kind of relationship.
"When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing and with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. As they danced they sang ’Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands.’ Saul was very angry. This refrain galled him." In other words, what this is saying is, Saul’s insides were boiling over. There was a storm that was raging inside Saul’s life because he was a jealous person. Saul was all about Saul. Anybody who got any more attention than him only caused the surge to get larger and larger.
So, they sang about David and Saul. Saul was very angry. He says it galled him. He thought, "They have credited David with tens of thousands but me with only thousands, what more can he get but the kingdom." You know, one of the things you can think about to assess your wake, which we’ll look at in greater detail today is, how do you handle the success of others? You see, sometimes we don’t handle the success of others very well. When somebody gets a promotion, when somebody gets a new home, when something good happens to somebody else, how do you handle that?
For Saul, he didn’t handle it very well. It infuriated him because he was, again, all about himself. It says this in verse nine, "And from that time on, Saul kept a jealous eye on David." So, he was very controlling. "The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul." In other words, there was really a demonic spirit that God allowed to come upon Saul because of his wickedness. "He was prophesying in his house while David was playing the harp as he usually did."
Here’s the thing about Saul. Saul was so tormented that he couldn’t sleep. He had so much anxiety in his life that he couldn’t sleep. And so he had David. David was a guy, I mean, he was a renaissance man. He could play the harp by night and cut the enemy’s head off by day. That’s how he rolled, right there. What a guy. This is a unique guy. So, he’s playing...that went over a lot better in the early service. You guys with me, loosen up. We’re not even talking about money today, could you relax just a little bit?
So, David is playing the harp for Saul, trying to let Saul relax and settle down so Saul could go to sleep, and Saul had a spear in his hand. Now, that’s a sign of a high wake person. They’re sitting trying to go to bed and they have a spear in their hand. Not a good scenario. David’s playing the harp; Saul’s got a spear in his hand. And it says, "And he hurled it at him saying, ’I’ll pin David to the wall.’ But David eluded him twice." So evidently Saul slings the spear, David eludes it, and Saul goes and pulls it out of the wall and slings it him again.
Now, I don’t know how you grew up. I hear people say, "Boy, my dad was tough." I don’t know what your boss is like, maybe at times he’s tough and controlling. But, I doubt that you have been in a relationship like David was with Saul, slinging spears in the conference room, not a good deal. This, my friend, is a high wake person; that was King Saul.
Saul was afraid of David. You see, fear is what drives a high wake a lot of times in our life. "Because the Lord was with David but had left Saul. So, he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men. And David led the troops in their campaigns." This wasn’t a good thing. Saul wasn’t giving David enough men to win the next battle that he had. He was trying to execute David, but God was with him and David succeeded.
Verse fourteen says, "In everything he did he had great success," meaning David, "because the Lord was with him. When Saul saw how successful he was he was afraid of him. But all of Israel," I love this, "and Judah loved David because he led them in their campaigns." Not just because he was successful in the task that David was given to do, but because he was successful in building the people up that he did those tasks with, that was the secret to David’s success.
Now, let’s spend a few minutes today doing something that I think is going to be exceedingly hard. This has the ability to radically change your relationships. We’re going to take a minute and we’re going to look back. We’re going to walk, if you will, to the back of the boat, that is your life, and we are going to look out at the wake that our life is putting out. We’re going to determine, first of all, what is a wake.
Now, here we go, look at this in your outline. A wake is the results that we leave behind. My wake is the results that I leave behind. We’re only going to talk about one thing today and that is our wake. We’re going to access our wake. Your wake is either positive or negative, and everybody throws some sort of wake. If you are breathing, you are leaving a wake. It’s either encouraging people or building people up. Now, what is it that produces our wake? If the wake is the results our life leads behind, our character produces our wake, and our wake doesn’t lie.
I want you to think about this today. I don’t have the best estimation of who I am. I have blind spots in my life that I don’t see. The word humility is to have a correct estimation of one’s self, but we struggle with that. We don’t always have the best understanding of ourselves. We have blind spots that we miss, and those things are hurting relationships. They’re causing us to have a steep wake. Here’s the deal. We’re going to give some questions today to help us assess our wake. Your wake does not lie, it is revealing what is going on. So, if the wake is the results our life leaves behind and it is character that produces our wake, what is character? That makes sense to think about that, right?
Here’s what I believe about character. I believe you are a character or you have character. Can I say that again? I believe you either are a character or you have character. That’s what people used to say about me growing up. "Boy that Brady, he’s a character." I thought that was good, it’s not good. If that’s what they say about you, it’s not necessarily a positive thing. That’s what my teachers would say, "A real character." Didn’t say, he had character, it said, he is a character. Now that means a little bit rebellious, throws a high wake, right? Have you ever heard anybody say this, sometimes people say this about my boys, "they’re really full of themselves." And we think, is that good? Well, not really. You know, they say, "They’re full of themselves."
Here’s the deal. The word character, the Hebrew understanding of the word is caruso; it means an etching on our heart. Character is something that emanates from the core of our life. We are born with an etching of ourselves at the core of our life. In other words, we are born, and we come onto planet earth thinking about self mostly. So, that’s what’s at the core of us, and that’s what comes out in our life. But, when Jesus comes in and we come into, by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, then he begins to form his character in our life and that changes our behavior; that changes our wake. That’s what character is. It’s an etching on the heart. It affects the way we live our life.
Now, here’s another thing about to define character. In a practical sense, character is the will. I believe it’s the God-given will that results from this etching on your heart that God does when he sends his holy spirit into our life. It’s, the will to do what is right is. God defines right regardless of the cost. I believe that’s what it is to have character.
Now, let’s look at this today as we continue to define wake. All we’re doing today is thinking about wake. I hope you leave here thinking about boats. I hope you leave here thinking about waves. I hope you leave here thinking about your own wake today. Look at this, our wakes are either propelling people or paralyzing people. That is the only option. My wake, and everybody here has a wake, it’s either propelling people or it is paralyzing people.
If I could look back behind the boat, that is my life, there are either people back there waterskiing behind it, having a good time, or there are people who are bobbing and drowning in my wake. Henry Cloud in his book Integrity, it’s an incredible book. He’s the one that really first sort of coined this idea, and it’s a great, great book to read. Now, look at this, we are one hundred percent responsible for our own wake.
Have any of you ever lived on the lake? I haven’t. I’m hoping in the thousand year reign of the Lord that I’ll be able to get a house on the lake. That’s what I, you know, I don’t really ask for a lot but I’m hoping for. That was weird for a lot of you wasn’t it? I could tell.
My in-laws used to live on the lake and they had a boat dock and so I stayed down there a lot and I had a little cheap boat that I had in their slip and sometimes a big boat would come by. Have you ever sat on a dock and a big boat came by and really rocked that dock? That’s a frustrating thing isn’t it? I’ve been so mad because I’ve sat there, and I’ve got the boys out there and we’re setting there and for the next five minutes you’re just up and down. It’s like a Hawaii 5-0 scene, just rocking and it’s creaking and the boat’s kind of clanging around and the dock is kind of being damaged and you think, "Hey, would you just come back here. This is your fault. This isn’t my fault. You’re responsible." But they’re halfway down the lake having a good time, you can hear the music blaring and just enjoying themselves, and they have just damaged my dock. They didn’t realize they were responsible for their wake.
I think we live our life that way so very often. We all have a wake and some of us are throwing a pretty steep wake and there are people bobbing behind you that are drowning and hurting and relationships are being destroyed. You have no concept of that because you’re all about goals, achievement, fulfillment, and you’ve never stopped to take a look back. We’re doing that.
Now, look at this. This is so important, so important. Here’s all we’ve talked about to this point. What is our wake? It’s the results that our life leaves behind. We all have a wake. You’re breathing today. Some of you are not awake this morning. I’m pretty excited. You know, when you sleep you’re leaving a wake. It’s affecting me right now. I’m bobbing in your wakelessness, if you will, this morning.
Your wake will be affecting people long after you’re gone. If you have your Bibles, I want to show you this, Exodus 20. Let’s go back to the Ten Commandments. That’s a pretty important section of scripture wouldn’t you think? If you had to say, what are some of the most important sections of scripture, would you think the Ten Commandments would probably be in the top ten? Just think about that and get back with me. Yeah. I think we could all find some consensus that that’s pretty important.
Listen to the third commandment, because God really fleshes it out, and he’s talking about not making for yourself an idol. Don’t have anything in your life other than your relationship with God; he says that in verse four. And then in verse five, "You shall not bow down to these idols or worship them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me," or of those who walk in disobedience.
This is a pretty transparent thing to say. Have you ever wanted to white something out in the Bible? Have you just wanted to kind of, you know, just white out a section? I wish that wasn’t there. Am I the only one that’s felt that way? There are times I just want to white this out. What do you mean, that my sin, my disobedience, my wake could affect my children, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren? Long after Brady Cooper is gone, my wake could still be rocking the generations that will come after me. Is that what I just read? I think it was, and I don’t like that.
Some of you today know that’s true because habits, behaviors, fears, that way you do life, in a larger part, is because of the way a previous generation that you lived under did life. You’re affected by the wakes that you have lived under. And sometimes even, folks you’ve never met, your family has been branded. Your family has really had a way of life, and a thought process, and attitudes have been impacted for generations because of disobedience.
I’m so glad that this passage doesn’t end here. Listen to this hope. Verse six, "But showing love to a thousand generations who love and keep my commandments." That speaks to me about the power of the living God, that sin might control three to four generations, but obedience to the living God can affect a thousand generations of those who follow after me. Do you understand today that the decisions that you’re making in your life, your wake right now, the results that your life is leaving, is not just affecting you. The results that your life is leaving is going to affect, and could affect, generations that you will never ever see to come behind you in your family. Does that not at some level get your attention? It does mine.
I leave a wake. My wake is going to be around long after I am gone. My wake is either going to damage my family way into the future, or my wake is going to propel my family towards intimacy with God. There are generations who may come after me, that their understanding of God, the way that they will be shaped, in some way, will have an affect by the way I’m living my life right now, by my wake. That’s a powerful thought isn’t it? It’s powerful for me.
Look at this. We have two sides. This is a complicated thing. I just want to move past it. I think in the first service this is where people lost being a wake. We really have two sides of our wake. If you look back behind the boat of your life, the wake is going out in two directions. It’s spreading in two ways. Part of our wake is task. Accomplishing tasks, not just job or school, maybe our sports, hobbies, our recreation, our health, those are kind of tasks in our life, things that are really important, that’s a part of our wake, that’s a part of our life. The other part of the wake that’s spreading out to the other side are really our relationships. It’s those people that we interface with on a daily basis, while we’re doing those tasks. This is what we have to understand as we do life.
Now, let’s look at this very clearly. A steep wake, a high wake, a difficult wake, a bad wake, if you will, occurs whenever relationships take a back seat to tasks. Sometimes as a dad, if I can be honest, I get home, I’m thinking about my work, I’m thinking about tasks that I need to get done, and I see my kids as an interruption to that task. That’s wrong. I’m sharing this from me. Probably, not many of you deal with that. Your subtle laughter tells me that I’m not wrong. You do deal with it. You know what brings me back is that still, small voice from the Holy Spirit that says, "You know what? They are my task. Those lives that God has put into my life, whether that’s my children, whether that’s my spouse, whether that’s my co-workers, neighbors, that is the task, that is why we are here, seeing men, women, boys and girls impacted and drawn closer to God. So that’s why it’s such an important thing.
Let’s look at another thing that creates a steep wake. A steep wake occurs whenever relationships take a back seat to fulfillment. What are the gods of our age today? Achievement and fulfillment are the gods of our age. Whenever relationships take a back seat to my career, my accomplishment, my hobbies, or me just being constantly fulfilled, I’m going to throw off a steep wake that is going to affect people in my life.
Here’s what I want to do. I think when you listen to a message like this, this is what I do, I just think, "Boy, I’m glad he’s talking about that. I know there’s some steep wake people here. I’m looking around, I see him, I’m glad he’s here. Boy, he’s got an anger issue. Amen. God brought him here today. And, she’s so controlling and manipulating. She is throwing a steep wake. I know her kids, they’re bobbing. Right on man. Let them have it. Yeah, they need to hear it, they need change." We can identify people who need change. We have a hard time looking into our heart and our life and seeing what needs to be changed in our own life.
I’m not talking about anybody else today. I’m talking about you. I’m talking about me. We are assessing our wake. I’m going to give you some questions here. This is going to be exceedingly practical to help you assess your wake. Don’t ask these questions of other people. That’s what the first service did. People came up and were answering these questions for other people. "Now, should I go tell them? I’m going to go tell them." No, don’t. You use these questions on yourself. This is for you. "Hey, these are some questions my preacher wanted me to ask you." No I didn’t. I’m talking to you. We love to get ammunition sometimes don’t we, to shoot somebody else. I’m not loading you up for anybody else. I’m bringing a mirror so you can see yourself here.
Let’s assess our wake. Here’s what Jesus said. He kind of beats around the bush here a little bit but I think we can understand what he’s getting at. In Matthew 12:30...I was just kidding. "He who is not with me is against me." Jesus says here, people are just in or out as it relates to me. In or out, there’s no middle ground. "He who is not with me is against me. And, he who does not gather me with scatters." Jesus says, the way you life your life, the wake, the results that your life is leaving behind is either drawing people closer to me or it is scattering people away from me. That’s vague isn’t it? I mean, I don’t know if I understand that. Is that just right in our faces? You can’t deny that.
Let’s ask some questions to help us assess our wake, your wake. Can I just ask you to make a covenant with me? Do not use these questions on either people because I’ll be out of work and then I’ll have a high wake in my life. Here we go. Here’s the first one. Are people better off when I move through their lives? Think about that. Are people better off by me moving through their lives?
Hey, if you’re a college student here today, or remember your college days. How many roommates did you go through? The number of roommates may tell you about your wake. If you burn through one a semester, two a semester, can I just tell you, high waker. "Well, you don’t know them, they were"...No, no, no, high waker, probably an indication. We’re just talking about ourselves today as we’re assessing our wake.
If they had a choice...this is a hard question. You’re really reading the answer, what somebody else would probably say. You’re not asking them. This is for you. If they had a choice...Who is the they? That’s people in your relationship with. It may be your spouse; it may be a business partner, maybe co-worker, neighbor, friend. If they had a choice, would they do the relationship all over again?
I have to tell you. This week, that question has really stopped me in my tracks. I thought about that, I thought about my life. I’ve thought about the wake that has been my life and these last, almost sixteen years of marriage with my wife. And I thought, you know, knowing what she knows about my wake now, if she would have known that then, would she have done the relationship, would she have married me? I mean, I had hair when she married me. You don’t know somebody when you marry them, most of the time. You think you do. I mean, I opened the door for her when we were dating. I didn’t eat off her plate when we went to a restaurant when we were dating. You know, I was really on my best behavior. And now, she has lived with my wake all these years. I’ve had to ask myself this week, would she do it again? Boy, that’s pretty soul searching isn’t it? That’s assessing our wake. Some of you today, if you think about business partners, other relationships it’s pretty easy to answer that question. No, they’re barely hanging on now. Well, there’s still hope for change.
In this series, not so much today, but over the next few weeks, we’re going to teach some Biblical truths that will help build no wake relationships. I believe that it’s a series you cannot miss, because I think we have such a hard time in relationships, inside the church. You think about today how many people you’re sideways with right now, in this moment. Extended family. Maybe it took everything you could to be here and sit by your spouse today. Your children are sideways, as it relates to relationships. I believe we need that.
Let’s look at some other questions. Does my wake leave people encouraged or drained? To encourage someone means to place courage in them. Are my children encouraged or are they drained by interaction with me? My spouse. Co-workers. Friends. Neighbors. Our natural tendency would be to say, "Neither. There are just some people I’m just on neutral with. I mean, I don’t care that much about them. I spend a lot of time with them but I’m just neutral." That’s not an option. That’s what Jesus was saying. He took that option off the table. Anybody who’s close enough to feel your wake, it’s either drawing them closer to God or moving them further away. That’s why it’s so important to assess our wake.
Does my wake encourage spiritual growth in others? Does my wake leave people inspired or insecure? I think it’s important to go back, maybe this afternoon, and go over these questions again. This is a hard one, what does their countenance...again, their, the people that I’m in relationship with. When I say countenance, it means the expression on their face. This was the second hardest question for me this week to deal with. What does their countenance say about my character? Hey guys, listen to me. Men, husbands, the countenance of your wife will reveal the character of your heart. The countenance of your children, parents, will reveal the character of your heart. The countenance of co workers, of business associates, of classmates, when they’re around you, it’ll reveal the character of your heart. Your wake doesn’t lie. It’ll reveal what’s going on in your life. It’s a soul searching question isn’t it?
This is not to beat us up. This is not to make us feel guilty. This is just to get us to a holy discontent in our lives and to say, "From this point on, I want my wake to be radically different. I’m through being a high waker. I’m tired of people drowning in my wake. God, you’ve given me more time. I’ve assessed it. I think I’m beginning to see it for what it is and there’s going to be some change."
Does anybody ever come to me about a problem? That’ll tell you a lot about your wake. How many people are coming to you with issues or concerns or problems, just wanting to talk? Maybe about their marriage. Maybe about their children. Maybe about a business decision. Sometimes people say, "Boy, I’m just worn out with people coming to me with questions." I can understand that. I hear what you’re saying. That’s such a positive thing because you’re a low wake person. It’s easy for them to get to you.
Jesus was that way. You think about it. People came to him. I mean, Nicodemus, this religious elite came to him and had to talk to him about the deepest core questions that he had plaguing him. This rich, young ruler comes to Jesus. And, he was easy to get to. Children that Jesus was teaching. And what did the children do? They just flocked to him. It’s kind of a funny scene in the New Testament. Jesus was teaching and the disciples are they’re just kind of trying to fight the kids off. "Hey, get back, get back, get back." And Jesus says, "Leave them alone." What was Jesus saying? Kids can tell you a lot about your character can’t they? They were just drawn to him. And so, you have this picture of Jesus teaching these great truths with all those little toddlers just running around him, sitting on his lap. He was just unfazed by that. Who’s coming to you and asking for help in their life? Hey, if nobody is, there are a couple reasons for that. Maybe you’re just not close enough to anybody, or maybe, just maybe, you’ve got a high wake, it’s too hard for them to get there in the first place.
Now, let’s end with this. Here’s all we’ve said today. We’ve just begun to understand a little bit more about wake. What is it? It’s the results our life leaves behind. And, our wakes don’t lie. We’re one hundred percent responsible for them. We’ve looked at some questions to help us kind of assess them. But then, how do we alter our wake? I think if we’d all be honest, we could all realize, boy, there are times we throw a pretty high one. There’ve been times this week that you’ve been throwing some waves in your house. Everybody’s been kind of, "Whoa, get away from mom." They went to the safety of their room. That was too uncomfortable to talk about wasn’t it? We’ll just move right on. We have times like that, right? Dad comes home after a tough day and word just spreads through the camp pretty quickly. "Stay away. Better get to the harbor. Close your door." It’s high. The wake is on. How do I change that?
Doug and I are, we’re big boys. Both of us go over two bills. I’m working on that. We fish every year up in Canada. I know it all comes back to that doesn’t it? I’m a simple man. We get in these little aluminum boats and we head out across the lake. When we both sit in the back, the front end of the boat, it’s up so high you cannot even see the water. You know? Here’s the thing. If you’ve ever been out on the water, it’s not the speed of the boat that determines the wake, or the size of the wake; it is the drag of the boat. A boat can be going exceedingly fast, and boaters call it getting up on plane. They call it being up on plane because it’s almost like a plane. There’s not much touching the water, it’s flying through the water but it’s not throwing much of a wake. What is it that throws a wake? Our drag.
We’ve learned that one of us has to lay across the front of the boat to get it to come down a little bit, at least until we get up. So there we are, spread eagle across the front of this little boat and then you can take off. Here’s what we’re going to talk about today. How do we do life living on plane? How do I keep from just dragging through life and rocking everybody around me? What’s the key to that? Well, there are a lot of them and we’re going to talk about a couple of them today.
Real quickly. Here we are. Number one, you have to transfer your weight. That’s what we figured out. That’s what Doug and I have figured out about boating. We have to transfer our weight. We can’t both sit in the back. We’ve got to get something up on the front to move that weight down. Well, in your life, we’re talking about your life and my life, we are dragging through life carrying a lot of weight, sin from our past. Some of you today are dragging through your life and you’re throwing a high wake, affecting a lot of people because you are just paralyzed by your past. There are mistakes you’ve made in your life and it’s just baggage that you’re carrying and you’re just dragging through life with that baggage from years ago. It’s not just affecting you, it is affecting everybody around you. If something is not done, it is going to affect generations to come. Isn’t this important? What’s the key? Transfer the weight. Say, "God, I can’t carry this anymore. I think I realize why you came now. You came to take that. I give you my past. Lord, I give you this past, this sin that I can’t get rid of that is just weighing me down."
Some of you are dragging through life because you’re afraid of the future. You’re paralyzed by fears of the future. At some point we have to transfer that trust to the Lord. "Lord, I give you my future. I know you’re alive in my future. I know you paid for my past on the cross and I am ready to hand that over to you."
Some of you are dragging through life right now because you’re just a control freak right in this present moment, just like King David. You can’t let go of anything. You have to know everything that’s going on. This concept of giving it over to God is so hard for you. Can I just tell you something about God? He can handle it. He can handle it. He can handle your deal a lot better than you can. He created all that we can see in six days. He’s able. I’m not trying to be arrogant, but he’s able. He’s more than able. In fact, if you keep it, you’re just going to drag through life. You’re not going to have any quality of life yourself and you’re going to destroy everybody around you.
Here’s what has to happen. You have to transfer your weight. You have to say, "God, here I am. I give it to you. My life is in your hands. I don’t just believe in who you are. I’m at the point where I’m ready to trust all that I am to all that you are." When that happens, we have a chance to get up on plane. Let me say this to you. Unless and until you transfer the weight of your life to Jesus Christ, you’ll never get up on plane, you will drag through life. That’s why Jesus said, "I came that you may have life and have it more abundantly."
Look at this. I John 3:23 talks about it this way, "And this is the command, to believe in the name of his son." That word, believe, means to trust, to transfer your trust, from who you are to all that Jesus Christ is. He’s your savior. He’s your redeemer. He’s your hope through the future. "God, my past, my present and my future is yours. I give you my life." Listen. I tell you what. If you do that, you would cease existing and begin to live, every single time. That’s what God wants for you.
Look how this verse ends. "And to love one another as he has commanded us." The byproduct of a right relationship with God, transferring your trust to the Lord Jesus, will always, listen to me say this, will always result in right relationships with others. That’s the way we check our work to know if we’re right with God. If you are right with God, spiritually, you are going to be in a growing measure, more right with people that you are doing life with. That’s a byproduct of Christianity.
Now, let’s look at this last thing. If I’m going to get up on plane, if I’m going to begin to keep from just dragging through life and begin to experience life, if I’m going to affect my wake in a positive way, I have to transfer my trust and then, the second thing, on a daily basis, I’ve got to reduce my weight in the boat that is my life. Hebrews 12:1, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses"...the writer of Hebrews just throws that in to say, "You know what? There are folks who have gone on ahead of us and they’ve done it right. In the hall of faith. They’ve done it the way God’s called us to do it. There’s an example set before you." Listen to what he says, "Let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."
Listen to this today. Have you ever seen a movie and a ship is in a storm and it’s about to sink. What are the passengers on that ship doing? They’re just dumping the cargo that they don’t need. Maybe it’s a plane that’s been hit in a battle and it’s going down, what are they doing on that plane to reduce the drag and keep it up just a little bit longer? They’re throwing everything off that doesn’t have to be there. Well, in your life, and in my life, if we continue with some habits that are outside of the will of God, we are dragging through life. Not only is it affecting us, it is affecting everybody around us. Some of you today, you know Christ, you’ve put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. There’s been a time when you’ve transferred your trust from who you are to all of who Christ is, you’ve asked him to take control. But listen, you haven’t taken this sin issue very seriously and you’re just dragging through life.
This passage says to throw off. It’s the language of a fisherman. It’s the word ballo. It means to cast out of your boat and onto Jesus in an ever increasing measure. We have to look into our life. "God, anything that is in my life that is not pleasing, that does not look like you, I want out of my boat so that I can reduce the drag and begin to experience life that is really life."
I Peter 5:7 says it this way, I love it. Some of you, it’s not behavior that’s causing drag in your life, some of it is belief. Some of you, today, are plagued by doubts and fears, and so much anxiety and worry. Worry and anxiety, it’s sin. If you keep it in your boat, it will cause you to drag, which will create wake. I wish I could make this come alive in your life. You so want your children to be blessed in the future. You just worry, worry about every decision in their life. That worry and anxiety is creating drag, which is throwing a big wake, and your kids are bobbing. The very thing you don’t want to happen is happening because of the anxiety and the weight and the mental anguish that is in your boat. Does that make sense on any level? "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
Would you bow your head with me this morning? A steep wake is always a result of drag, something weighting the boat down. Maybe it’s past hurts, maybe it’s present failures, pressures of life, future concerns. Have you ever transferred your trust to the one who is completely trustworthy, that is the Lord Jesus? I didn’t ask you if you believed in who he was, and believed what he came to do. Have you ever personally, through faith, applied that to your own life and let him be your Savior and your Lord? That’s when life begins. Hey, are people enjoying your wake or drowning in your wake?
Listen to this, with your heads bowed this morning. The reason we throw a large wake externally is, we have a storm internally on the sea of our heart. Can I tell you something about this Jesus that we have sung about, that we have read about, that we have talked about? He has, and he is still calming the seas. He wants to work a miracle in your life today. He wants to calm the chaos of the sea that is your heart. That happens through faith in him. You need to do that today. You need to put your faith in him. You need to transfer the trust of your life over to Jesus. There’s a deed to your heart. You’ve kept that. You need to give it to the Lord Jesus, and he’ll give you life back. Would you do that today? Would you say yes to him? Would you say, "I’m tired of dragging through life. I’m tired of throwing a high wake. I need that."
Some of you here today are believers and you’re still throwing a high wake. You need to lighten your load. What is it right now in your life, behavior, attitude, actions, belief, that’s causing drag? Would you cast that off today? Lord, we love you. Would you have your will and your way as we close this out, as your people respond to you in faith like nobody else was in this room, they would come running to their father who is speaking in this moment. This moment is all we ever have promised. So, may we say yes to what it is you’re calling us to. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
