Let God Be God

Dismiss children to children’s church

They made a movie in 2003 about a man who was given the power of God. The movie was called Bruce Almighty

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Can you imagine if you were given all the power of God for the next week?!

Imagine with me, that for the next week, you were given all the power of God!

What would you do?

What would you change?

What or who would you correct?

What would your life be like this next week with all the power of God?

Philippians 2:3-8

Philippians 2:3–8 NASB95

3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Philippians

Jesus had all the power of God, being God and set it aside.

You and I never had that power or position, yet we constantly live like we do or should.

addresses two areas where our arrogance can come in subtle ways and begin to remove God from the throne in our hearts...

1) We become Arrogant in how we view others...

2) We become arrogant in how we view ourselves...

James 4:10–17 NASB95

10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. 11 Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor? 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Consider Our Arrogance in How We View Others...

Verse 11 begins with a directive for Christians… (Do not speak against one another brethren)

“Speak Against” = speaking ill of someone, to slander, judging another

putting someone else down to build yourself up… PRIDE

speaking down about another person, in order to put yourself in a better light

“I don't want to judge but...”

“I probably shouldn't say this but...”

“Please keep so in so in your prayers they are struggling with ...”

Why do we speak against them?

Because we are so quick to judge… James has been talking about this throughout his letter!

The number one verse quoted in the bible is this

Matthew 7:1 NASB95

1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.

No one like to be judged but we judge others all the time!

continues this thought however

I will talk through this verse.

Matthew 7:1–5 NASB95

1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Notice there is time to judge another… after you have taken a long look at yourself.

when you see clearly… the other’s issues are really only a small thing. PERSPECTIVE

We often judge without knowing all the facts, especially the fact that we cannot see the heart

Going back to James we prefer to be judges of the law rather than those who do it.

this was religious! look at the pharisees a religion they morphed to build themselves up and put others down.

Hypocrites, no one wants to be a part of that

Let God be God… James says there is only One Lawgiver and Judge!

look at the contrast

God can save and destroy

Who are we to take His place in this matter (who died and made you god?)

Why would we be so arrogant to think we can do what God does better?

Consider now the arrogance in how we view ourselves

Consider Now The Arrogance in How We View Ourselves

James now discusses how we like to play God in our own lives too...

come now… pay attention… you who say… (what are we exhibiting by our words to a lost world?)

We play God in directing our future, our plans, our desires

we dictate the time

we dictate the where

we dictate the how long

We dictate what we will do

we even dictate the outcome!

YET!!!

You and I do not know!

James is bold with his illustration… you're a vapor! How is that for perspective?

We live and rule our lives like this is all we get, this is all there is, and plan foolishly.

there is so much more… this life will pass so quick

How does God want you to use it? Are you still playing God?

God has a master plan, has the big picture in view, is always in control… we seek selfish desire when we have this arrogant attitude.

INSTEAD… “If the Lord wills”...

this is not lip service

this is a heart approach to things

“If the Lord wills” is stepping back looking at your life and Letting God be God (for real)

This boasting that goes on on our lives, seeking our will over God’s will, is evil James says.

I started by asking :

I started by asking

What would you do if you had the power of God for a whole week...

In the movie Bruce Almighty Hollywood came to an interesting conclusion as the movie comes near the end...

Bruce who was given this power is walking in the rain sobbing. He falls to his knees and says, “Please God I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to be God. I want you to decide what’s right for me. I surrender to your will.”

Truth is this, we cant be God even with His power… we still would lack His wisdom, discernment, and understanding.

There is a statement i love to quote… it says, “If i had the power of God I would change many things. If I had the wisdom of God, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Verse 17 makes a very clear statement.

God does not change, but there are things in our lives, our hearts that do need to change.

James is telling us what is right according to God’s Word, what will you do? Let me encourage you to Let God Be God!