Untitled Sermon

PRAY

Yield

Matthew 20:25-28

Good morning and welcome to worship today. Thank you for joining us on this 4th of July Weekend. As much as I love all that this holiday means, I will not be preaching on the independence of the United States of America. In fact, today we will be finishing up our PRAY series and I will be preaching on what some may consider the opposite of independence.

If you recall, over the last few weeks we have looked at the acronym PRAY.

That when we pray, we need to pause. We need to take time to stop all that we are doing and just spend time alone with God.

As we pause, we need to reflect on God’s word and we need to rejoice in all that God has done, is doing and will do.

Last week we talked about how God wants us to ask of him. God wants us to seek him and make our requests known… And God wants to grant us the wishes of our heart, but they need to be aligned with God. We align our prayers and our asking by being a people of the word, by living in God’s Word.

This week, like I said, we are going to be talking about something very different than being independent, something very different than the rugged individualism that the US was founded on and that the State of Texas has taken to an entirely new level.

Today, we are going to talk about yielding.

What does it mean to yield? Well, when we are driving it means that we give up the right-of-way to another. Another definition is to give way to arguments, demands, and pressures. Sometimes you yield, you give way, to let the other win.

In the rugged individualistic nature of the world we live in, to yield, to give way, is to be a doormat. It seems if we don’t stand up for ourselves, we are weak and insignificant, and yet Jesus calls us to a different way of life.

Today we are going to talk, not so much about yielding at an intersection, or winning and loosing a debate, today, we are talking about yielding to God.

There are some great stories in the New Testament of yielding to God. One of them is found in Matthew 20. Let me set the stage.

James and John’s mother is hosting Jesus in her home. At a point in the evening, she takes her sons over to Jesus and she kneels down in front of him and asks, “Jesus, will you give my boys places of honor in your kingdom? Have one sit on your left and one on your right?”

Like Jesus' Kingdom will have thrones and a palace or something.

I don’t think she or James and John had any idea what they were asking, I don’t think they even understood what kind of Kingdom Jesus was building, but he replied that those places where not his to offer and then we pick up in verse 24:

Matthew 20:24-28 (NLT)

When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

PRAYER

There is a story I heard once.

A ship’s captain looked into the dark night and saw faint lights in the distance, they appeared to be on a direct course for a collision. Immediately he told his signalman to send this message: “Alter your course 10 degrees south.”

A prompt message came in return, “Alter your course 10 degrees north.” The Captain, angered that his command had been ignored sent a second message,

“Alter your course 10 degrees south - I am Captain Smith!” A message came back in return,

“Alter your course 10 degrees north - I am seaman 3rd class Jones!”

The captain sent a third message knowing the fear it would evoke, “alter your course 10 degrees south – I am a battleship!”

Then the reply came, “Alter your course 10 degrees north – I am a lighthouse!”

We don’t really like to yield do we? We like to be large and in charge most of the time. Our position, our age, our title, all lead us to want our way! Now I’m not talking about those moments you feel gracious and allow the little old lady to go in front of you at the grocery store line, or the young person to take your turn at the 4-way stop.

I mean, a situation where someone disrespects you, someone undermines your authority, someone interferes with your progress at work or in a social setting… When that happens, how often do we start demanding, “No, you alter your course 10 Degrees, I’m so-and-so!”

Within every one of us is a prideful rebellion singing Frank Sinatra’s “I did it My Way” or Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.” We are hard wired to demand what we want and expect to get it. That is the world we live in, am I right? That is the philosophy of the world in which we live, claw, scratch, climb, and get to the top any way we can, without worrying about who we step on, on the way up.

Then, here comes Jesus telling us, that isn’t the new kingdom he is building. His Kingdom is built on a new model of leadership, one that gives and doesn’t take… one that loves and doesn’t hate… one of serving, not being served.

In that moment when James and John are standing there while their mother kneels before Jesus asking for a favor, the image of the Kingdom of God hung in the balance. To grant these two the authority she was requesting would have torn the other 10 disciples apart. Greed, anger, possessiveness, pride and all kinds of other sins would have become a regular thing for this new Kingdom, it would have become what every kingdom was before and has been since… beg, claw, scratch, climb to the top by any means necessary forgetting those you step on getting there. It would have become the very thing we need to be saved from…

In his response, Jesus was showing us that God does not call us to royalty but to servanthood.

Jesus was reminding them and us that:

The world is accomplishment driven.

The Kingdom of God is people driven.

We aren’t called to accomplish great things, we are called to reach people for Christ. (Which is a great thing!)

As one leadership professor puts it, “Leadership is not wielding authority – it is empowering people.” (Dr. Beck Brodin, St. Mary’s University, MN)

Or as John Maxwell reminds us, “We need to always ask, ‘Am I building people, or Am I building my kingdom and using people to do it?’”

The Kingdom of God stood and stands in stark contrast to the world around us, then and now. Our job is to glorify God, to offer Christ to others, and to make disciples of Jesus Christ. We are not called to build our kingdom. We are not called to build disciples of ourselves.

We are called to reach people for Christ.

It reminds me of Paul’s opening chapter in his letter to the Philippians. Paul is in prison, again, but this time he likely will not be getting out. As we talked about a couple of weeks ago, he is sitting in a jail cell in Rome as he writes Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians, and Philippians.

As he writes this letter to the people of Philippi, he has heard that there are some preaching, trying to take his fame claim his ministry. The thing is, Paul doesn’t get bent out of shape that some are trying to steal his ministry or take over his fame. Instead, listen to what Paul writes:

Philippians 1:18-19 (NLT)

But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.

That is our call as well. “What, you’re taking credit for the life I led to Christ… you’re taking credit for the ministry I started… well, so what? Take my job. I could care less who gets the credit, as long as you preach Jesus.”

It is amazing what can happen in the world if we will simply live the Kingdom life and not care who gets the credit… if we can simply live not worried about our turf, but instead focused on empowering others… or as we say it here at First Methodist Brownwood, we are called to – Make New Disciples by helping others to know, love, and serve God.

So, I haven’t forgotten that we are talking about prayer. When we pray, we pause to spend time alone with God… we reflect on God’s Word and rejoice in who God was, is, and ever will be… we ask within the will of God and see amazing things granted… and we yield our will to God. It isn’t about who gets credit. It isn’t about what we accomplish. It isn’t about what we get out of it… Our prayer is that we yield our will to God’s will that God’s Kingdom would grow and God would be glorified.

I want to share with you one last verse that exemplifies a prayer of yielding. These verses should forever be etched in your mind as an example that Jesus set… this is how we should live. Turn with me to Matthew 26.

Jesus is in the final week of his life, he knows the time has come for him to head to the cross. He has taken his closest companions into the Garden with him, and here is what he says and prays.

Matthew 26:38-39 (NRSV)

Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.”

That is our prayer today, “Not what I want Lord, but what You want.” That is a yielding prayer.