INTRODUCTION:
Get up…eat breakfast…head to work…work all day… return home…eat some supper…watch a little tv…go to bed… and then repeat those same steps tomorrow.
Some of us may have a few more steps; some of us may have a few fewer steps. No wonder people ask the question: “Is this all there is to life?” And it’s not just unbelievers who ask that question; there are many who know Christ as their Savior that ask that same question.
God tells us in John 10:10 (NKJV)
10 … I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
God says there is more; and if we don’t see it; or more so, if we are not living that way then we are missing something. We saw the first week; we can miss that “more” by sticking to the routines of life and not listening to the calls of God on our life. God interrupts our routines of life and calls us to do certain things, and if you are not open to Him, then you may miss them. Then in week two, God showed us that this world wants us to live in spiritual blindness or at the very least in a spiritual fog rather than seeing with clarity. But God calls you and me to spiritual clarity so that we can have “more.”
And this past week, Jesus showed us that there is a script for our life, and it is called the will of God for our life. Our scripts are different, and we have the free will not to follow them; but if you chose to follow the script, the devil is going to do all that he can to take you off-script because the devil knows that you get the “more” of this life by following the script.
Today, we need to tackle something that I find tough to do in my personal life and that is letting go and letting God have control. Anne and I have been married 45 years, and throughout our marriage, I can count just using both hands, the number of times she drove, and I was the passenger. I admit being more comfortable being the one in control, but spiritually being in control gets me nowhere; Jesus has to be in control.
Let me share with you a Scripture on this very subject and make some observations that I see. So turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew 3: 11-17.
SCRIPTURE READINGS
Matthew 3:11-17 (NIV)
11 "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
14 But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.
17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
POINT #1
AS CHRISTIANS, WE KNOW IN OUR HEARTS THAT THE BEST THING THAT WE CAN DO IS TO ALLOW GOD TO HAVE CONTROL OVER OUR LIVES.
Verse 11… But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
In our passage this morning, we have two key players: Jesus and his cousin, John the Baptist. John's ministry was to prepare the way for the Messiah. And he is performing his ministry; John acknowledges with his own mouth that Jesus, who is coming after him, is more powerful than he is. Now more powerful could mean a little more powerful, or it could mean a lot more powerful. And John wants you and me to know that the more powerful that he is referring to is tilted to the lot more powerful side. So much so that John says that he is not fit to carry his sandals.
And if that is true and John knows that it is true without a doubt, then you and I can automatically assume as we read the rest of the text that John is going to do whatever Jesus says without questioning Him or without offering Jesus another way to do it. But here is the problem, if we assumed that, we would be dead wrong because John like us has the problem that it is hard to let go and let God.
POINT #2
IT IS HARD TO LET GO AND LET GOD BECAUSE THERE IS SOMETHING WITHIN EACH OF US THAT TELLS US THAT THE WAY WE WANT TO DO IT IS BETTER THAN THE WAY GOD WANTS TO DO IT.
Proverbs 14:12 (NKJV)
12 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
And so, you listen what happens when Jesus shows up to be baptized by John.
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
14 But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
Look at verse 14 carefully. In the NKJV version, John tried to deter him; in the KJV, John forbad him, and in the Young’s Literal Translation, John was forbidding him.
Here is what we got; John the forerunner of Jesus who by his own admission says that he is not worthy to carry the Messiah’s sandals because this Jesus is so awesomely powerful tells Jesus His plan is all wrong. Jesus comes to John and John’s statement is not a statement of humility; it is a statement of defiance. It is a statement of rebellion.
John deterred, he forbad, he was forbidding Jesus from doing what he came to do? And my question is, “why?”
Jesus’ plan didn’t make any sense to John. John felt that he had a better plan- Jesus, you need to baptize me.
Jesus says of John in Luke 7:28- there was no one born of women greater than John, and yet he had trouble doing what Jesus had asked; think how much harder it is for us to do what Jesus ask in our life especially when we think there is a better way.
POINT #3
IT IS HARD TO LET GO AND LET GOD BUT THOSE WHO HEAR THAT LITTLE SMALL VOICE THAT TELLS THEM TO LET GO AND LET GOD AND SURRENDERS, WLLL FIND THE “MORE” OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
15 JESUS REPLIED, "LET IT BE SO NOW; IT IS PROPER FOR US TO DO THIS TO FULFILL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS." THEN JOHN CONSENTED.
Picture the scene. Jesus has come to John in the wilderness to be baptized. John has dug his heels in the sand and has told Jesus, “I forbid you to be baptized by me.”
At this point, Jesus could have gotten angry at John’s defiance. But instead, Jesus answers John in a very reasonable tone, let it go and let Me do what I came to do. And at that point, John gives up the fight and consents to do it the way that Jesus wants it done. That is how you get the “more” of the Christian life. John had the way he wanted things to go, but he surrendered without a fight to the way Jesu wanted them to go.
The trouble with many of us is when Jesus says to us, “let it go and let Me” instead of consenting like John, we keep fighting.
POINT #4
IT IS HARD TO LET GO AND LET GOD, BUT THE FATHER CONFIRMS WHO WAS RIGHT SO THAT WE WOULD KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT: IT IS JESUS.
17 AND A VOICE FROM HEAVEN SAID, "THIS IS MY SON, WHOM I LOVE; WITH HIM I AM WELL PLEASED."
We had a story with two plans. John’s I was that He was not going to baptize Jesus and he was going to insist that Jesus baptize him.
And there was Jesus’ plan. He came to be baptized by John the Baptist to fulfill all righteousness.
The Father did not leave this story to our interruption as to who was right and who was wrong. He speaks from heaven; this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. He did not have any choice words from John.
Let me give you a good lesson to remember: if it between my plan and Jesus’ plan, always tell yourself that Jesus’ plan is the right one.
