Moving Mountains

SERMON: 2013-09-15--ac13107--moving-mountains SOURCE DURATION: 00:49:26.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 1.00 APPROVED: false REASON: The entire recorded passage from segment [0] to segment [387] constitutes the main body of the sermon, including theological exposition, scripture reading (Matthew 17:20; 1 Corinthians 13), and pastoral application. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: none ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: no ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: none Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- Now, I pointed out last week that mountains in biblical thought can sometimes be seen as obstacles to the coming of the kingdom. In the story in Acts chapter 13 that we've been looking at together in recent weeks, that is the role of the Jewish false prophet Bar-Jesus, also known as Elimus the sorcerer. He is an obstacle to the progress of the gospel. He is trying to keep Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of that region, from coming to faith. And so Paul rises to the occasion being filled with the Holy Spirit. He takes authority over that situation with his apostolic anointing. He calls the man out, pronounces judgment on him in the name of Jesus, moves him out of the way, and as a consequence, Sergius Paulus comes to faith and the gospel is expanded and advanced because you can well imagine the kind of freedom that provided in that city for the gospel to progress. Paul, by faith, moves the mountain that stood in the way of the progress of the gospel. And that of course is what Jesus is talking about here in Matthew chapter 17 when he says in verse 20, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.'" And in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, Paul emphasizes that same kind of theme when he talks about faith that can move mountains. And I don't believe that first and foremost the primary meaning of that is literal. I think it is largely in the context of obstacles to the progress of the gospel like what I just described. And yet with God nothing is impossible and therefore we ought not to rule out that there are times and places where physically God can actually literally move mountains for his people. I'm reminded of the story of a little old lady who lived in the shadow of a fairly large mountain and it bothered her because it hid the sun so much of the time and she read this scripture and she began to pray fervently and she began to rebuke the mountain. And of course every morning she got up and there was the mountain. And after a little while people began to ridicule her a little bit for, you know, her obvious delusion about thinking that that mountain would move. Well, it so happened she went off on an extended trip. Don't know how long it lasted but it was of quite a duration. And imagine her surprise when she comes back home and the mountain is gone. And you say how in the world was that possible? Well a gravel company bought it and they trucked it away and God moved the mountain. Nothing will be impossible to you, says Jesus, if you have faith even as small as a grain of mustard seed. Question for us this morning then is how do we move the mountains? The mountains that are obstacles to our own growth and progress in the kingdom. Mountains that stand in the way of God's kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth even as it is in heaven. You'll recall I mentioned last week that if you've ever tried moving mountains by faith it is a remarkably difficult thing to do. And one of the reasons for that is that Paul moves in an apostolic anointing. And because he is moving in an apostolic anointing there is the power of God with him that can move those kinds of obstacles out of the way so that God's kingdom can advance. But I also said each one of us if we're in Christ we share in his anointing. We have a calling that God places on each of our lives and I'm firmly convinced today that in the area of our calling and in the area of our anointing God gives us the authority of Jesus to address the obstacles of our lives in faith and make the mountains move. And the key to that I furthermore believe and I introduced this to you briefly just last week and this is where we're picking it up now. The key to moving mountains whatever those may look like is a two-fold process we must know and we must exercise our authority in Christ. We must know and we must exercise our authority in Christ. Let me talk about each of these for just a little bit. First of all we must know what our authority is in Christ. Now if you look at the story before us this morning you will notice very quickly that the single most important ingredient in what Jesus is talking about here is that word faith. Because the disciples come to him after the debacle of that demon possessed boy whom they could not cure and remember they had already received the authority and the power as the representatives of Jesus to make this happen and so they're pretty perplexed and they kind of looked foolish to the whole crowd they're busy trying to cast out this demon this demon isn't going anywhere so they come to Jesus and they said of course and I love this privately like we're not gonna do this out in front of everybody why couldn't we drive it out and Jesus's answer is extremely telling because here is what he says because you have so little faith I tell you the truth if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you so very clearly the emphasis lies on faith which of course raises the question what is faith and the best definition of faith in scripture I think is Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see it is the sure conviction that whatever God has promised to his people and that he has fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ he is going to fulfill in time and in history and faith is a function of knowing who we are in Christ and what is the authority that he has entrusted to us as his people let me talk about that for just a little bit and if you catch nothing else that I talk about this morning please try to catch this let's put it in the context of God's original purpose in the creation story we have Adam and Eve created in relationship with God and because they are submitted to God and in relationship with him guess what they have authority over the whole created order they are in harmony with each other creation is in harmony and all things are good didn't stay that way for very long you will recall Satan came along and Satan deceive them regarding the goodness of God their relationship with God was broken they now become subject to Satan and the result is the curse that we all experience we all know intuitively that we are meant to reign in life we also know practically the very many times we do not reign in life life and circumstances reign over us isn't that the truth so here is the promise of scripture from one end to the other God says there is going to come a day when I am going to deliver you from this bondage and I'm going to restore you into a perfect relationship with me and the authority that comes from that relationship and so throughout all scripture you see these themes of redemption these themes where God comes to his people and he says I'm going to bring you back to myself and I'm going to restore to you the authority that you lost in Adam by the time history finishes we're going to sit on thrones ruling creation please understand that is an extension of the dominion that God entrusted to Adam and Eve at the very beginning of history what they all lost we will regain only a hundred times over because it will be for all eternity to summarize the message how does God bring about that deliverance well he couldn't find anybody among the sons and the daughters of men born in the natural who had a perfect relationship with him to whom he could provide ultimate authority so what does he do enter Jesus born of a virgin conceived by the Holy Spirit doesn't share human fallen nature lives a perfect life dies on the cross for our sins gets raised from the dead by God the Father because there was no sin in him to hold him back and of course we know Jesus is seated at the right hand of God the Father and the promise of the gospel is that when you and I know our sin and misery when you and I know that we have we have brought this all upon ourselves we cannot save ourselves but God gave us Jesus to save us by faith in Christ we share in his authority and what that means is that when the curtain falls in history as I said a few moments ago we're going to be seated with Christ on thrones ruling the new creation I don't know what that's going to look like but I know it's going to be pretty nifty because it's going to be far above and beyond anything that you and I can imagine but it also means that when I am in union with Christ he lives in me and he shares with me his calling and his anointing and in the area of my calling and in the area of my anointing he shares with me his authority I like to picture it this way if Jesus owns the whole pie that is to say all authority he says in heaven and on earth has been given to me right then you and I by faith get a slice of that pie and just be sure nobody gets a piece quite as big as you see there but you can sliver it up into the full scope of all God's people throughout all of the course of history there is enough in Christ to go around and so what that means is if I am in Christ there is a place in life that God has destined me for that particular place he has gifted me with his Holy Spirit he gives me what the Bible calls a measure of faith so that in that area I can accomplish the things that God wants me to accomplish and it all begins with a revelation of who I am in Jesus that's why the Bible talks again and again about praying for a revelation of the riches that we have in Christ Jesus so practically speaking if I'm called to be a parent then in that area of my life God will give me the corresponding measure of faith so that I can exercise authority if God calls me to enter the world of business on his behalf he will give me a corresponding degree of faith so that I can exercise his authority in that area if he calls me to a ministry if he calls me to be an elder or a deacon or a ministry leader or any number of places where you and I can serve the Lord for that he will give me an anointing that gives me a measure of faith that is to say the life of Jesus in me will give me an inner conviction and an inner faith that says in Christ I can do whatever it is that I need to do for the glory of God am I making any sense here this isn't just the power of positive thinking this isn't just climbing up the ladder by our own strength no no no no this is knowing who Christ is who I am in Christ and laying hold by faith of that which Christ has for me we are called to be more than conquerors through him who loved us well let's try to make that practical for just a moment or two how do I know what is the measure of faith that God has assigned to me where do I even begin practically speaking allow me to give you just very quickly for very practical suggestions that I think we need to walk through for this to be more than just you know something that's floating out there someplace because we have to learn how to live it and we have to we have to learn how to put that into practice number one first question to ask is have I yielded my life to Jesus why is that an important question because all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus so he's the one who dishes it out and since authority comes from God and relationship from God the most important thing in life is for me to be in right relationship with God and maybe we'll talk about this in more detail as time goes on but the whole nature of the fall is having lost our relationship with God we try to reclaim authority by any number of illegitimate ways which always result in conflict pain and confusion the most important thing in life is a relationship with God through faith in Jesus because God owns everything and God hands it out so he alone can give us what we need to have second question to ask ourselves is where does my passion lie that is to say in those moments of solitude in those moments when I push aside all the demands that life makes on me and and all the idols that I try to keep busy with so that I can't feel what lives inside in those moments of quietness what are the deepest longings of my heart because I believe that when we are joined by faith to Jesus whatever it is that Jesus has for our lives it resonates with us in the depths of our hearts and some of it is a combination of the way that we have been wired naturally the hopes and the longings and the dreams that we have all of which need to be purified by the cross but but the anointing of Jesus deep within us fills us with hopes and dreams and passions and a lot of times you know they seem so far out they seem so far removed from reality that we just we just write them off as childish things and and let's get practical and let's live in the real world and yes there's a place for that don't ever forget that the seed of faith planted in you will take the form of dreams and hopes and visions next week Lord willing we're going to release congregation wide my latest book which has just come out this summer when dreams come true the story of Joseph and if there's one thing the story of Joseph illustrates is that the dreams that he had as a young boy dreams that got him into huge trouble and took a long time to come to fulfillment were nevertheless dreams that God gave him and that because God gave them to him as he persevered and stood fast in the fullness of time God brought them about I believe for each one of us there are dreams and hopes and passions that God places inside us that are the seed of faith and sometimes they will surface by things in life that stir you deeply maybe a movie that you watch a book that you read a sermon that you hear a song you sing and it grabs you in a way that you just simply can't escape but I'm not just talking about a momentary emotional high no no it is deep calling to deep something inside you longs for something more than what this world has to offer how many of you can raise your hand and say I understand something about that would you look at that we know that God plants longings in the human heart try to identify what those longings are and then the next step is to ask yourself where do I most experience the favor of God because you see when God calls us forth he's like a good parent he sees the things in us that he has placed in us by Christ and he calls those forth and just as you and I affirm our children or our grandchildren and we say you know I could see this potential in you God the father knows how to encourage each of his children and so there will be times in life and I'm not minimizing the troubles we go through please understand that but we're going to get beyond that because God is bigger than our troubles just in case you have forgotten that and sometimes I have to preach this to myself in fact I'm a really good preacher and preaching to myself so when I preach to you I'm really just preaching to me so don't feel bad about that but understand what I'm saying God will affirm us and so if he calls me to share the gospel or if he calls me to teach or if he calls me to cook for somebody or if he calls me to parent or if he calls me to exercise some role of leadership for all the trials and tribulations that we may go through trying to fulfill that there will be those moments when we know that heaven shines on us when it feels like you catch the wind of the Holy Spirit and you know that you're doing what God has called you to do how many of you here can identify with the fact that sometimes you catch the wind of the Holy Spirit see those moments are God's voice of approval like when he said to the Lord Jesus this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased and you can run a lot of miles through the valley on those occasional glimpses of God's favor isn't that true and then ask yourself the question the question what do others affirm in me the most because when it comes to our gifting and our calling our capacity for self-deception is almost infinite do you know that I have found over the years that it comes to identifying the call and the gifting and the anointing of God in our lives there are two extremes that we tend to fall into the first is to minimize our gifting oh it's nothing you know somebody says oh you're good at this you're good at that and we have this false modesty that says oh anybody could do that that tends to come out of a place that says what I do comes to me so easily and naturally that therefore it can't be important how many of us think that in order to serve Jesus you got to be miserable instead of enjoying there are places where it's okay to enjoy the favor of God and I will never minimize the troubles of carrying the cross and following Jesus but I'll tell you when God smiles on you there is an incredible sense of satisfaction that I'm moving in the will of God because this is who I am and this is what God has made me to be remember the story of Eric little in chariots of fire where he is talking to his sister who who doesn't think that he ought to be running races and he says you know God has made me fast and when I run I sense God's favor or God's approval so on the one hand we tend to minimize with a false sense of modesty but then on the other extreme we tend to want to be more than what we are because we crave recognition or we crave position or we crave power and so we put on ears and and and we we we want positions or we want authority or we want recognition that really isn't ours to have but it comes out of a fleshly place and you've often heard me quote one of my favorite verses in Romans chapter 12 verse 3 because it so captures the balance by the grace given me I say to every one of you do not think of yourself more highly than you want and we could add more lowly than you want but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the measure of faith that God has given you and one of the best ways to have a sober measure of faith is to measure yourself over against people who are over you in the Lord who know you through and through and who know whether the call of God in your life is being echoed by your desire or if this is just a flesh trying to cry out for recognition or for purpose and you may think back to the story of Paul and Barnabas they didn't appoint themselves as these great apostles that were going on this missionary trip to turn the world upside down no no it came by revelation of the Holy Spirit and it came by confirmation of the body of Christ and if we're truly interested in the will of God God will raise up people around us who will affirm our gifting and who will support and encourage us on that journey are you with me this is what it means to know who we are in Christ and how practically we can grow in that knowledge well let me talk now then just a little bit about what it means to exercise our authority in Christ there are two things in this story in addition to what we've talked about so far that are key to understanding the importance of of exercising our faith and the first is the fact that faith in this story is put in the context of a seed listen to it again the words of Jesus I tell you the truth if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move nothing will be impossible to you well I suspect our tendency is to look at that verse and to say well a mustard seed is is very small I looked into it it's about that big and our tendency then is to think that Jesus is saying well it only takes a little bit of faith to move a mountain and after that your mind starts going I don't know how to move mountains so now my faith must be less than a small amount of faith and before you know it you you spiral down into well I'm no good I am pretty hopeless and I don't know if that is not true I mean honestly am I the only one who has some trouble moving mountains it's true that a mustard seed is a small seed but emphasizing the smallness of the seed is missing a very important point because it is a seed and what I ask you is the difference between a seed and a little stone that is the same size it's huge because a seed has in it the inherent DNA of life and everything that that plant can become full-grown is already inherently present in the seed do you see where this is gonna go I love this story my father used to tell my father used to tell the story about some hotshot scientist who was bragging to a farmer about the fact that they had now analyzed the elements of life and they they knew how it worked in and they knew the the chemical and biological composition of seeds and the farmer says to him do you think you could make me a seed like that and the chemist says sure add a little of this and a little of that and put it in a blender and do this that and the other thing and here you've got a seed and the farmer looked at him and he says practically speaking if you put it in the ground will it grow and of course the scientist was caught up short because that precisely is the mystery of life you cannot make a seed grow but put a seed in the ground provided with the right kind of an environment and what is the miracle of life that every gardener faces every spring the thing begins to germinate and it begins to grow and it sprouts and it bears fruit and you would have never known that all of that was present in that little seed I remember my father was a very practical man years ago and as you know he passed away a good many years back but I remember him saying one time holding up an egg he would say who in the world would ever imagine that a chick can come out of that egg when you sit there and you have it for breakfast is that true it's an amazing process of transformation that is the power of seed and that's what Jesus is really talking about here listen and it won't be up on the screen but listen to how he puts it in Mark's gospel he says what shall we say the kingdom of God is like or what parables shall we use to describe it in other words how can I teach you how the kingdom of God works in language that you can understand well he says it's like a mustard seed which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground yet when planted it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade so faith is like a seed what God plants in you put in the right kind of an environment is not going to remain static it's going to germinate and it's going to sprout and it's going to determine the course of your life that's why the second element in this story is so important when Jesus talks about speaking to the mountain if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible to you as I mentioned last week Paul confronted by elements doesn't stand there and say okay God now what do I do or please move this dude out of the way no because he is anointed with the Holy Spirit filled with the Holy Spirit he's so in tune with the heart of God he knows what it is that God wants him to do he steps out into the situation and he says get out of here that's a viscer paraphrase of what he really said but you know how that story ends see true faith as it grows and expands and gets nurtured your dreams and hopes and longings will change the way that you think and because it changes the way that you think and changes what you believe are possible it changes what you do and if you are in tune with God and following the flow of the Holy Spirit then you could even speak to a mountain with just the tiniest grain of true faith and the mountain will move and one story that I just really like that illustrates that in the Old Testament is the story of Moses facing the Red Sea you will recall they came out of Egypt with mighty signs and wonders and Pharaoh had a change of heart comes after them and now they have this huge barricade like there's the Red Sea in front of them which they cannot cross and remember the seas in the Bible always represent demonic and satanic power it's the obstacles in life that keep us out of our inheritance and behind is Pharaoh who is determined to recapture you take you back and make you work harder than ever and the people great heroes of faith as they are as we are oh God how did you ever get us out here you should have left us in Egypt better to work for the Egyptians and to die here in the world you know how that whole story goes song and dance that we of course never fall into because we're too mature and spiritual so now here here's Moses and he's trying to tell them that God will take care of this and then I love God's response this is Exodus 14 15 and 16 why are you crying out to me tell the Israelites to move on raise your staff stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground don't you love that verse don't bellyache to me I've already given you the authority now use your authority to accomplish the redemption that God's people need are you listening to me I preach to myself in this so don't feel pointed at but I've learned this much over the years God will not do for you what he has commissioned called or equipped you to do you can pray forever for the kingdom to come but if he calls you to be a parent and has given you authority over your children you jolly well better exercise that authority and trust that God will meet you and give you the wisdom to know how to do it in the process don't sit there wringing your hands and saying oh God how come you're not doing anything lift up your staff use your authority same thing in every other area of life calls you to be a leader in the church calls you to be a leader in a ministry calls you to be a leader in business calls you to be leader in the community remember there is a measure of faith that God has given you in that measure of faith there will be contained the wisdom the courage the knowledge to know what to do when to do it and God says step out in faith and let me accomplish my works of salvation that make sense far too often we sit there and whine as helpless victims about life when in fact God says I've already given you this authority use it for my glory and for my kingdom now let's just talk very quickly in the time that remains practically how do we step into that because again I don't want it to be out there I want it to live within our hearts collectively so that individually and collectively we can accomplish the purposes that God has raised us up for as a church community. Number one well let me just follow up with this verse from 2nd Timothy 1 6 where Paul talks about stirring into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands remember the gift is there Timothy was a nervous little dude scared as ghetto Paul says to him God has not given us a spirit of timidity but power and love and sound mind the seed is in you it's your job to stir it up and to fan it into flame how many of us camping have had trouble making a campfire and you sit there blowing and you sit there fanning and you're hoping that those couple of glowing coals will catch fire and you'll have a blazing fire that's what he's talking about your job is to stir into action what God has placed in you how do you do it well step number one always begins with this we must surrender our hopes and our dreams even our sanctified ones to God because you see when it comes to surrender again there are two extreme problems that we encounter the first is we are so in love with our own natural desires that when God comes along and he says give it up we don't want to give it up tonight we're going to listen to a Henry cloud video Henry cloud is undoubtedly one of North America's foremost Christian psychologists who has managed to integrate faith in psychology in a way that has helped hundreds thousands of people but he tells us the story of when he was a young man he wanted to excel in sports and was pretty good at playing golf until God stopped him in his tracks and I think he had an injury or something like that and had to sacrifice his career all of us when we are confronted by the cross we know how difficult it is to give up our own dreams and ambitions but by God's grace he wrestles us to the ground typically you know by hooker by crook we come to a place where we put it on the altar and we sing I surrender all is that true now we're no longer oriented simply to fulfilling my own dreams I want to fulfill God's dreams but now I hold on to God's dreams so tightly that when God wants to change something I won't let it go anybody identify with that and like Abraham sometimes we have to put our Isaac on the altar so as to make sure that we hold even the gifts of God loosely and you've heard John Roper up here telling the story about his music and his guitar and how there had to come a place a time in his life where he laid it down not knowing if he would ever pick it back up again because God wants us to value our relationship with him more than our relationship with his gifts that by the way is what that song means I know some of us have difficulty with it it talks about it's not your blessings we want it is you well the point of that song is that we want our relationship with you to be more important than our infatuation with the good gifts that you give us so ask yourself the question if God were to call you out of the place where you find yourself in life would you trust him to give you the grace to hold it loosely knowing that if this is truly where God wants you to be he will make it happen you don't have to make it happen yourself do you know how many times in my life I've had to lay down my ministry and my passion for God to build a church that glorifies him for no other reason than to make sure that the passion for his purposes doesn't become the idol of my heart that separates me from God himself lay it down and God will help us to do that even when it hurts like crazy then we need to nurture the seed of faith keep yourselves the Bible says in the love of God and Romans 12 verse 1 never be lacking in zeal but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord and coming back to the campfire analogy you know just as well as I do that a piece of wood on its own doesn't burn very well in fact the cold air will extinguish the flame and so you put logs together until there is a significant enough mass for the fire to glow if you want to stir the gift within you then practice the spiritual disciplines spend time in prayer spend time in scripture spend time in the community of believers you've heard me say this so many times it probably sounds like a broken record the less you want to come to church the more you need to be here because you need somebody else to light a fire under your behind and you never know let me tell you this see going to church alone won't do it reading your Bible alone won't do it praying your prayers alone won't do it remember you cannot make a seed grow but you can provide an environment where growing becomes natural and if you will place yourself keep yourself in the love of God you never know when your moment comes in church or in conversation or in the course of living the Christian life and exercising the Christian disciplines you will never know you will never know when you will have that divine moment when God breaks through and he changes your life forever by that revelation of his presence and his power isn't that true you can't predict that but you can put yourself in a situation where you can be open to receiving it all right we've got to finish up listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit because that seed of faith inside you is going to show signs of life and there will be moments where you feel I got to do this I shouldn't do this this is what the Lord is speaking to me about this is what he is not speaking to me about very often we quench the voice of his spirit we think oh it's just my imagination it's the pizza from the night before it's just the kind of place where I find myself and it may be all of that but don't automatically assume it because the life of Christ in you will stir will direct and then as by faith you step out and obey you will discover that sometimes it was indeed just the meal from the night before and you're totally out to lunch well now you've learned what doesn't work and the only way to gain experience in walking after the Spirit is to do it and to try it in the context of community because as in the context of community we practice our spiritual gifts and we learn to walk after the Spirit Jesus said my sheep hear my voice and they follow me and you will discover in that process the exhilaration of knowing that as God builds this degree of faith in your heart and in your life you're able to do a lot more than you ever thought that you could and there will come moments when you are confronted by a mountain in your life or in your ministry and instead of being overwhelmed and knocked off your socks there is something inside you that rises up and that says I'm not going to accept this I'm not going to receive this I know who God is and what God is calling me to do Lord help me to run the race with perseverance knowing that there is laid up for us a crown of righteousness at the end of the journey. 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