Video Transcript: Letting Go of Controlling
So as we grow in developing a great attitude, we've noticed, we own things that is we own the salvation it's ours, and we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we walk in a new life, we are filled with the hope of the resurrection. And then it's about losing things putting to death that the sinful nature. It's about losing grudges, you know, set people free, forgive them that lifestyle, but it's also about losing control. That is the controlling nature of how we can live our lives in the flesh that is in our own seeking our own destiny in our own way. So we read about things in the Bible, such as the controlling nature of worry. So we read in Luke 12:22, than Jesus said to His disciples, therefore, I tell you do not worry about your life, what you will eat or your body what you will wear, who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life, since you cannot do this very little thing? Why do you worry about the rest. So losing that controlling nature now, I want to win in English controlling, has sort of a has that idea where you have to be in charge of everything. And if you're not in charge of everything, you feel inadequate. The fact is, is you can't be in charge of everything. There's too many variables, but know that the Lord is with you. So you don't have to control everything. Worry about everything. Let the days come and go and know that back to trust, the providence of God, that God has got this, but God is a shirt and I have seen God has got this. But there's different forms of that controlling, you have to take it to yourself nature that hurts a great attitude. Another is the controlling nature of authority. We hear in the birth of Jesus, one of the stories about King Herod, we can you heard heard this that is that there was going to be a new king born and the Magi announced this. He was disturbed, and all of Israel with him. I've read a lot about King Herod because Josephus writes about King Herod is fascinating. How authority gripped his consciousness and his will. And he had to control it to the point of putting his wife, Mariamne to death, and even other sons and he had just this wicked authority complex. A lot of times people call that today narcissism, I tell you that you can't have a great attitude about things if you're a narcissist. If it's up to you all about you, you and you alone. You will not have a great, great attitude, oh, you'll have a phony positive attitude to some where we're gonna do this, we're gonna do that we're do that it could be misinterpreted. But deep down, you won't have this winsome attitude by which people want to get close to you as a friend and a brother and a minister, an active Christian, because they will always know that you have an angle. The controlling nature of envy James 4:5-6, or do you think Scripture says about reason that the Spirit, he causes to live in us envies intensely, but he gives us more grace. That's why scripture says God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. If you're a person who is looking to others, and comparing your life to their lives, so that you can get a better deal or it could be money, it could be a family situation, you know, that parent favors that child over me and it's always the way it is or that person got that privilege. And I didn't get that privilege on we have so much right now with identity, politics and, you know,
the Marxist agenda that basically is trying to compare this situation to that situation, when God gives us our situations in life, but all of a sudden, what we see in the world today is this, this situation so that that group is disenfranchised, so that group doesn't get this advantage, and so forth. So it's creating a lot of unhappiness and, and rioting and stuff like that, in, in. I'm a philosopher. So I understand what Marxism is about. It's it's an envy based philosophy. The controlling nature of greed, in their greed, these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up, their condemnation has been long hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping, so in their greed. So I talked about Marxism, but capital ism, will do the same thing. It will basically in some who are in control of great wealth, and they exploit people. That too, is not glorifying God. So as Christians, we're not like capitalists, or Marxist. We love that we're image bearers of God and each image bearer is unique. And, you know, a, a market that allows people to express themselves without having control over someone's image bearing capabilities is desirable. But we must always be careful, that our identity, our hope, our everything is in Jesus Christ, and that there is no political system. There is no envy, greed is not going to ultimately find us happiness, that our hope is in Jesus Christ. Now, I will tell you, we live in a world where there's a lot of trouble. And we're called to be active Christians and minister to the prayer of serenity is a beautiful prayer, written by Reinhold Niebuhr. It talks about being used by God, to make a difference in the world. God give me the grace. There's a mini course by Steve Elzinga on the prayer of serenity. And I highly recommend that if you haven't taken it, to take it to understand how to pray that prayer of serenity, even more meaningful as you walk in the life of knowing what you can change and what you cannot change. Give me the grace. Hebrews 13:5, keep me free from the love of money and be content in what you have, because God has said, Never will I leave you, and never will I forsake you. Contentment is the worldview that glorifies God, he has you in the place you are called to be, and do what you can to glorify God as an image bearer. Don't compare yourself to others. That's a trap. And if God has given you wealth, you are a steward. So to say that my wealth is mine, it's not yours. Jesus once talked to someone who wanted to follow him, he was of great wealth and Jesus said, Sell all you have and give to the poor. It was not forced, it was not a communist answer. To deal with class warfare and everything like that, it was Jesus asking voluntarily, if you've been given much, give to the poor. So when it comes to the truth of our lives, it comes to letting go of controlling but also live fully controlled by the Spirit. That Galatians 6, the fruit of the Spirit love joy, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control becomes your operating system. Then the fruit of that doesn't over control thing. In a lot of ways I'm conclude by saying, maybe that's a better way to think over control, where your identity is all about your control. Again, I'm not talking about leadership, because leadership may have an aspect of, you know, you aren't
controlling? Yes you are. You to take responsibility you are exerting influence you are, but over control is that that's where it becomes a spiritual thing where it affects your attitude, where it affects your life, where you start making choices where you win you are the star of every story or the victim of every sad story, you are the one that's the center of your world and you position yourself to be the center of everybody else's world. That is what is meant by this over controlling where you have elevated you're so entitled, that it affects your attitude, instead of an Attitude of Gratitude is the attitude of comparison. So let go of that over controlling and make God through the power of the Holy Spirit and His Word. Shape your life as an image bearer. To see the wonder of it all to see your role in that beautiful wonder