(Sue is Thornleigh's new Church Pastor)

Following THE Leader

 
Most everyone is afraid of something right? Maybe public speaking? Job interviews? Being alone outside after dark? There are many common fears and believe it or not, many common phobias. Statistics tell us almost 20% of people have a phobia which is an intense irrational fear that interferes with a person's everyday life. These people aren't crazy. They know their fears are unreasonable. They just can't control them.

Now if the statistics tell us 1 in 5 people have a phobia, that means 1 in 5 people in this room probably have a phobia and there are literally hundreds of phobias people can have. When I was researching for this sermon I found a long list of phobias, and listen to just some of the ones I found under the letter A. You might like to try and guess what they are a fear of:

Alektorophobia - Fear of chickens
Apotemnophobia - Fear of persons with amputations
Arachibutyrophobia - Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth
Arithmophobia - Fear of numbers
Alliumphobia - Fear of garlic
Aviophobia - fear of flying

Aviophobia is apparently one of the more common types of phobias. Approximately one in six people are reported to be so afraid of flying they simply don't fly and about one in five of those who fly regularly use alcohol or prescription drugs to help them through their flights.

Until two years ago I had aviophobia or an intense fear of flying. It didn't start out as a phobia. I'd always been a nervous flyer but it wasn't until I was on my way back to New Zealand for my second year of work with Papatoetoe Church that my fear of flying became a full on phobia. I kid you not. The air hostesses on that flight were offering me oxygen because I was so scared I was hyperventilating . . . Which doesn't really make sense because when you hyperventilate you actually have too much oxygen and you need carbon dioxide. But anyway, it was a lot of fun to say the least. So much fun I promptly called my mum and dad upon touchdown and told them that if they ever wanted to see me again they would have to come to New Zealand. Fortunately for them, Air New Zealand had a Flying without Fear course which got me home at the end of that year and Australia is where I thought I'd have to stay until two years ago.

Towards the end of January 2008 I received an email from the Greater Sydney Conference telling me I'd been selected to go to the United States for what they called a "Healthy Church Tour." Now usually my response to emails like this was just to trash them because I was too scared to fly. But this time I couldn't. There was something different about this email. I somehow sensed it was of God so instead of trashing it I literally fell on my knees and told God Himself that I couldn't go. He knew how much nervous energy it took for me to fly just 3 hours from Sydney to Auckland. There was no way I would have the emotional reserves to fly 14 ½ hours to Los Angeles.

Now what I believe to be God's response to my fear that day was an amazing reminder of Jeremiah 29:11. I can't describe it in any other way than to say it was like God personally told me His plan was for my welfare and not my harm, to give me a future with hope. It was such an amazing encounter with God that I almost believed Him. But a couple of days later I started to panic again. I started thinking I couldn't do it and therefore wondering if it really had been God who had spoken to me and it was in this context that I had another encounter with God. This time I was reminded of the verse that says that even if we do suffer for doing what is right, we are blessed (1 Peter 3:14).

It would have been a week or two after that again that I again came to God one night and this time I said something like, "So you really want me to go to the USA huh?" and that was when the words, "1 Peter 3:6" came into my head. I had no idea what "1 Peter 3:6" said at the time so I turned on the light, opened my Bible and discovered it to be the text that speaks about Abraham's wife Sarah and says, "You have become her daughters as long as you do what is good and never let fears alarm you." You have become her daughters as long as you do what is good and never let fears alarm you! I knew there was no out now. I was on my way to America!

Well after 6 flights and 40 hours of flying, the good news is that I could no longer understand why people don't fly more! After 40 hours of flying, I was only grateful I never knew what I was missing out on until I had the budget to be able to fly more. Of course that's not to say there weren't initial moments of fear. But every time I started to panic, all I had to do was recite any one of the three verses I just mentioned and my fear subsided.

This is just one example of the many, many things God has called me to do in the last six and a bit years. Just one example of the many scary things I would never have done had not God called me to action. You see it's been just over six years since I fully surrendered my all to Jesus, since I let Him do whatever He wants with my life. And since this time I've discovered exactly what Erwin McManus has discovered and I quote,

"To claim we believe in Jesus is simply not enough. The call of Jesus is one that demands action. Jesus began His public ministry with a simple invitation: 'Come, follow Me.' (And) His closing instructions to His disciples can be summarized in one word, 'Go!' A quick survey of the modern church would lead you to believe His invitation was 'Come, and listen," and His closing mandate would be summarized in the one word 'No! . . .

The invitation of Jesus is a revolutionary call to fight for the heart of humanity. We are called to an unconventional war using only the weapons of faith, hope, and love. Nevertheless, this war is no less dangerous than any war ever fought. And for those of us who embrace the cause of Christ, the cost to participate in the mission of God is nothing less than everything we are and everything we have." (1)

"Nothing less than everything we are and everything we have." The cost to participate in the mission of God is nothing less than everything we are and everything we have.

It wasn't until six and a bit years ago that I started to realise just how true this is. Sure I'd gone straight from High School to Avondale College to study Theology which I never would have done had not got God called me. Sure I'd left my family and friends to go to New Zealand for my first pastoral appointment. But my understanding of God was even more limited back then. Back then I had no idea just how much God loved me, nor how much He would ask of me.

It wasn't until I came home from New Zealand as the result of poor health that I had reason to truly seek God. I still had a sense of purpose, praise God; because I still knew God had called me. But I had no sense of direction and I was desperate. Desperate for direction, and more than that; desperate for an end to the gnawing emptiness of knowing in my head that Jesus loves me because the Bible tells me so but not knowing it in my heart. Knowing that I was supposed to love God with all my heart and soul and mind but if I was to be completely honest, knowing I didn't (Matthew 22:37). There was a huge gap between where I was and where I knew God wants us to be, and I needed to close the distance.

For the next two years, while I was working with Murwillumbah Church, I wrestled what felt like full-time with whether or not I would let God take control of my life; whether or not I could truly trust Him. And all this came to a head towards the end of that second year, and I gave my all to Jesus just in time to accept the call to Chatswood Church which again, I never would have done had not God told me to. I'd never planned to become a pastor, let alone a sole church pastor, so the thought terrified me. And the only reason I did go to Chatswood Church was because the God of heaven and earth told me that I needn't be afraid because He would be my Senior Pastor and I would be His Assistant and I cannot tell you how faithful He has been to that promise.

Six years of surrendering my life to Jesus every day doesn't now make me an expert on what it means to be a disciple of Christ but it has dramatically changed my understanding of what that means. Six years of earnestly seeking God's will, listening for His voice every hour of every day, following His commands, has seen me take off my 21st Century Western Christian glasses and take God at His Word, and as a result I've discovered something else that Erwin McManus has discovered and again I quote,

"Jesus is being lost in a religion bearing His name. People are being lost because they cannot reconcile Jesus' association with Christianity. Christianity has become docile, domesticated, civilized. We have forgotten that there is a kingdom of darkness stealing the hopes and dreams and souls of a humanity without God. It is time to hear the barbarian call, to form a barbarian tribe, and to unleash the barbarian revolt. Let the invasion begin . . ." (2)

Jesus is being lost in a religion bearing His name. Christianity has become docile, domesticated, civilized. It is time to hear the barbarian call, to form a barbarian tribe, to unleash the barbarian revolt.

For lost people to come to know Jesus Christ, something has to change. For people to accept the good news that Jesus has already saved them, something has to change. For us to be able to say we truly love God with all our heart and soul and mind, that we truly love our neighbours as ourselves, something has to change. And that something, I believe, is our understanding of what it means to be a Christian.

Jesus was very clear about the kind of leader He was and the kind of followers He was looking for. In Luke 9 we find a conversation between Jesus and His disciples and you might like to open your Bibles and read it with me from Luke 9:18-25,

"Once when Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, 'Who do the crowds say that I am?' They answered, 'John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.' He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Peter answered, 'The Messiah of God.

"He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, saying, 'The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.'

"Then he said to them all, 'If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?'"

Jesus is not calling His disciples here to a life of comfort, security and indulgence. This was no call to simply believe on the name of Jesus and enter the pearly gates of heaven. Jesus clearly understood that His purpose was not to save people from pain and suffering, His purpose was to save people from meaninglessness and isn't this what our world needs today? Isn't this what we need today?

Unlike what 21st Century Western Christians can be inclined to think, Jesus Christ did not die on the cross to save us from dying the first death. He died on the cross to save us from our fear of dying. When we "fear" God and only God, and I mean when we worship God and only God, we are no longer bound by any other fear or phobia. When we surrender our all to Jesus, we live the kind of life Jesus came to give us and for lost people to accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour, this is what they are going to have to see. This is what we are going to have to do if we want to love Him with all our heart and soul and mind.

As I said earlier, confronting my fear of flying is just one of the many things God has called me to do in the last six years. Becoming a sole church pastor is just one of the many things God has called me to do. And while these things might sound trivial in comparison to powerful leadership positions or martyrdom if we want to go the extreme, they still have deep spiritual significance, not only for me, but for my churches and broader community because the whole reason for my flight to the USA was to learn how to move local churches from an inward to an outward focus. The very reason God called me to ministry in the first place was to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives (Isaiah 61:1-3).

This friends, is what Jesus Christ calls all Christians to do to. Every person who truly follows Jesus, surrenders their all to Him and chooses to fight for what He fought for, and it all comes down to the hearts and souls of those who do not yet know Him and do not yet love Him. (3) To belong to God is to have His heart for the lost and to illustrate what this looks like, I want to read you the lyrics of a song written by Leeland Mooring. Leeland Mooring was playing the piano one day, worshipping God, and while he was playing he asked God to give him His heart for the lost and this is what emerged . . .

Tears of the Saints

There are many prodigal sons
On our city streets they run
Searching for shelter
There are homes broken down
People's hopes have fallen to the ground
From failures

This is an emergency!

There are tears from the saints
For the lost and unsaved
We're crying for them come back home
We're crying for them come back home
And all your children will stretch out their hands
And pick up the crippled man
Father, we will lead them home
Father, we will lead them home

There are schools full of hatred
Even churches have forsaken
Love and mercy
May we see this generation
In its state of desperation
For Your glory

This is an emergency!

There are tears from the saints
For the lost and unsaved
We're crying for them come back home
We're crying for them come back home
And all your children will stretch out their hands
And pick up the crippled man
Father, we will lead them home
Father, we will lead them home

Sinner, reach out your hands!
Children, in Christ you stand!
Sinner, reach out your hands!
Children, in Christ you stand!

There are tears from the saints
For the lost and unsaved
We're crying for them come back home
We're crying for them come back home
And all Your children will stretch out their hands
And pick up the crippled man
Father, we will lead them home
Father, we will lead them home

Will we? Are we willing to do whatever it will take to lead them home? Are we willing to truly surrender our all to Jesus and risk all for the sake of His name?

If you can't honestly say yes to this, this morning, that's okay. Whilever I'm the pastor of this church, my sole concern is that you are growing. I'm here to help you move from one step in your journey with God and others, to the next. We are all at different stages in this journey. Some of us are exploring Christianity. Some of us have accepted Jesus as our Saviour and we're starting to grow. Some of us are close to Christ. And others of us are Christ-centred. What I hold before you today is a picture of what it ultimately means to be a disciple of Jesus; someone who is committed to doing whatever it takes to make more disciples. And my humble appeal for you this morning is simply that you commit to this journey. That you commit to doing whatever it takes to take the next step.

We're going to talk a lot more about next steps over the next however long that I'm with Thornleigh Church but before we close this morning, I want to share one more thing I've discovered that McManus also discovered:

". . . the closer you walk with Jesus, the greater the faith required. The more you trust Him, the more you'll risk on His behalf. The more you love Him, the more you will love others. If you genuinely embrace His sacrifice, you will joyfully embrace a sacrificial life. Your expectations of Jesus will change as your intimacy deepens . . .  If you plan to keep step with Jesus the Pioneer, you better expect some changes . . .

"Barbarians hear a call different from that of civilized Christians. We understand clearly that we follow the God who chose the way of the Cross. If Jesus would not avoid the "place of the skull," then we should not be surprised where He might lead us. If even He found Himself sweating blood at Gethsemane, then we should be certain we will stand at crisis moments where all we can do after asking for relief is declare, 'Not my will, but Yours.' In those moments you may find very few who stand by you to provide you comfort and strength, and strangely enough, you may find far too many trying to reason with you that God would never require so much of you. Yet even with all the noise pounding inside your head, you will still clearly hear the voice of Christ and His barbarian call if you listen carefully enough." (4)

". . . you are a chosen people," 1 Peter 2:9 says, "a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

References

1 Erwin McManus, The Barbarian Way, p 5.

2 Ibid, p 17.

3 Ibid, p 14.

4 Ibid, p 53-55.

Home > Church Family > Sermon Summaries > 13 Feb 2010, Pr Sue Redman - Following THE Leader

 
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