R&R: What Have You Yet To Do?
“What Have You Yet To Do?”
RHYTHM & REST Part 2
(Luke 18:18-23, Matthew 11:28-30, Galatians 2:20)
Luke 18:18-23 (NLT) – Once a religious leader asked Jesus this question: “Good Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “Only God is truly good. 20 But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother.’” 21 The man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” 22 When Jesus heard his answer, he said, “There is still one thing you haven’t done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 23 But when the man heard this he became very sad, for he was very rich.
Today I’m preaching a message titled, “What have you yet to do?”
**Prayer for listeners and hearers and doers of God’s Word**
Jesus is speaking with a Religious Leader, someone who has grown up in this, grown up in the law of Moses, understanding the scriptures and he shows up asking Jesus a question
“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus, as always, answers a question with a question because He’s on the boss level and always wise at exposing the truth. “Why do you call me good? Only God is good.”
DO YOU KNOW HOW FIRE THAT IS? Jesus one called out the fact that this man has grown up in religion and is showing that just because you grew up in doesn’t mean you know what good is.
Secondly, and furthermore, the guy calls Jesus a good teacher and Jesus says good is only reserved for God. So Jesus is saying, “Why are you, unknowingly, calling me God and when you’ve only addressed me as a teacher?”
But to answer your question, YOU KNOW THE COMMANDMENTS! You already know this. You already know what to do, what you shouldn’t do, you’ve been living this out according to the law, there you go. According to that standard, eternal life should be yours (not really and that’s what Jesus is exposing here). Don’t kill, don’t’ steal, don’t commit adultery—you know all of this so you should be good.
The guy says, “I’ve kept all these since my youth.”
This is like so good. Let me help you to see how this conversation is going—have you ever thought you’ve done everything you needed to do and was so excited and waiting for someone to just sound off on it and say—YOU’VE DONE IT ALL, GREAT JOB—only to find out what all you’ve yet to do?
Maybe you can’t relate, so let me help you. I’m married—happily married. (Every guy is like, “Oh no, it was good knowing Quinton.”) In our relationship, we share roles, we make it happen, around the house and my clean and Aubie’s clean are different. Amen, we’re still communicating, after 8 years, we still working on it. So I’ll clean the dishes, the kitchen, or so I thought and then I come to her, thinking, man I’ve done everything I’ve need to do to inherit eternal life. Only to find out it’s not clean according to her standard of clean. I was expecting for to get extra credit but she said I don’t even get credit, that’s the most basic cleaning I’ve ever seen in my life. Thank you for washing the dishes but did you clean the stove, what about the countertops…
This is funny but I want you to get this picture that this guy was not simply looking for eternal life as much as he was looking for validation for what he had already been doing and yet Jesus tells him, You’ve done all this but there’s still one thing you’ve yet to do.
Because Jesus wasn’t offering him heaven, Jesus was offering him purpose and to be a part of heaven on earth. What do you do when you’ve done everything right and you’re still lacking. He was looking for eternity, Jesus was looking to fulfill him here and now.
See everybody has a spot. This guy thought he had done it all but Jesus came for his spot. The area that is still on reserve. Let me put it this way—what part of your life isn’t His yet?
Oh because we’re so good, especially as American Christians in giving Jesus a part of our lives. Jesus, you’re Lord spiritually, but not of my relationships, I’m still going to be with who I want to be with and I just need you to bless it. You’re Lord in my prayers but not in the way I treat others that don’t vote like me. You’re Lord over my worship, but not over money and finances. EVERYBODY HAS A SPOT. And Jesus is relentless, He’s so good and He’s faithful, that He never sleeps or slumbers. He knows you’re spot. What have you yet to do? What’s remaining?
Maybe you pray but do you parent according to His word. Maybe you give but do you serve the least of these. What have you yet to do? What area of your life does He not have a hold of because if He doesn’t have a hold of it, then I can assure you it has a hold of you. What have you yet to do?
Let me read this passage to us again but now in the message translation, I love the way it speaks to this:
Luke 18:18-23 (MSG) – One day one of the local officials asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to deserve eternal life?” 19-20 Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good—only God. You know the commandments, don’t you? No illicit sex, no killing, no stealing, no lying, honor your father and mother.” 21 He said, “I’ve kept them all for as long as I can remember.” 22 When Jesus heard that, he said, “Then there’s only one thing left to do: Sell everything you own and give it away to the poor. You will have riches in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 23 This was the last thing the official expected to hear. He was very rich and became terribly sad. He was holding on tight to a lot of things and not about to let them go.
Goes on to say….
Luke 18:24-29 (MSG) – 24-25 Seeing his reaction, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who have it all to enter God’s kingdom? I’d say it’s easier to thread a camel through a needle’s eye than get a rich person into God’s kingdom.” 26 “Then who has any chance at all?” the others asked. 27 “No chance at all,” Jesus said, “if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.” 28 Peter tried to regain some initiative: “We left everything we owned and followed you, didn’t we?” 29-30 “Yes,” said Jesus, “and you won’t regret it. No one who has sacrificed home, spouse, brothers and sisters, parents, children—whatever—will lose out. It will all come back multiplied many times over in your lifetime. And then the bonus of eternal life!”
We all want rest, we all want peace and freedom and wholeness—but freedom comes in the place you’ve yet to surrender. And maybe you have surrendered but is your surrender today the measure or greater than it was yesterday?
I want to share on how to truly have rest in Christ but we’ve got to get this part right first…
See part of the issue for us is our American Gospel isn’t the Biblical one. Because we have an American Gospel, which is married to the American dream, we also, consequently have an American Jesus that reinforces our worldview instead of changing it. If Jesus is always agreeing with everything you think, then you’ve probably got the wrong Jesus. And the issue with the American version of Jesus is He’s all love but He has no power. The Biblical Jesus is connected to the Biblical Gospel…
American Gospel says I’ll make your life better and bless you and want the very best for you.
The Biblical Gospel says I’m not offering you better in your life, I’m offering you a new life and in order to step into it, you’ve got to lay the old one down. In fact, you have to die.
Well, Quinton, we don’t like that because it isn’t very marketable, the Cross is pretty cute at Easter but come on, all throughout the year? But the Cross is Christianity and He bids me come and die—not be a better person, become a new one.
We have this incredible ability to section of our lives, so I’ve got my work life, church life, home life, family, relationships, fun and hobbies, these are all lives and circles and different portions of us and if we aren’t careful, when we come to Christ, we only give Him one of the boxes and wonder why none of the others have changed. WHAT HAVE YOU YET TO DO?
Because Jesus is coming for the boxes you’ve said are off-limit—He loves you that way and He knows you that way.
One of the greatest fallacies that have corrupted the truth of the Gospel is this idea of God first. Uh-oh… here we go. I actually don’t think it’s any secret how corrosive this idea is. Put God first. Not second, God’s not second, He’s first, family second, work third, fun fourth, everything else fifth place, don’t you dare come up the list—you stay down there—we’re putting God first.
And we found that the problem with that is He can easily become second, depending on the season of life, He could be fifth.
So then the answer is don’t put God first, put Him in the center. He is the Sun, we are the planets, we need something to revolve around and God is our something. It this is absolutely true that our lives revolve around God but how does He get in the center, from you putting Him there…?
See nowhere does Jesus come to the disciples, His followers or the crowds and say, put God first in your life.
Immediately we think Matthew 6:33, seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. And if you want to imply that means put God first in your life, go ahead, knock yourself out and tell me how long that works for you. But the truth is, we’ve built this theology off of one scripture when there’s a multitude of scripture that shows what Jesus’ true call was over multiple times.
When we truly look at the Gospels and look at Jesus’ interactions and call to people, the call was never put God first in your life, nor was it put God in the center of your life because whether you put Him first or put Him in the center, it’s still a matter you putting God somewhere and at the end of the day—you’re still the manager of your own life—you’re still in charge, and that’s the problem.
No we don’t see Jesus says Put me first, or put me in the center—BUT WHAT WE SEE OVERWHELMING IN THE GOSPEL, MULTIPLE TIMES, MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS IN EVERY GOSPEL, MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, AND JOHN—THEY ALL RECORD HIM SPEAKING TO DIFFERENT, DISCIPLES AND THE CALL WAS THIS
GIVE ME YOUR LIFE
Don’t put me first, don’t put me in the middle, GIVE ME YOUR LIFE, LOSE YOUR LIFE AND YOU WILL FIND IT, LAY YOUR LIFE DOWN FOR MY SAKE AND I WILL GIVE YOU YOUR REAL ONE.
THIS IS HIS OFFER AND THIS IS THE STEP TO TRUE REST
I can understand why we’re exhausted because we’re still in charge
I can understand why we’re anxious, because we still hold our own futures in our hands and we’re trying to make it work
And our children, oh Lord our children—no wonder this Christianity isn’t working for you, because Jesus is just another part of someone, something you’re managing amongst your many other tasks and needs and responsibilities—no wonder it doesn’t work, because you’re still putting God somewhere
BUT HIS CALL TO US IS NOT PUT ME FIRST OR IN THE CENTER—HE SAYS GIVE ME YOUR LIFE AND I’LL GIVE YOU YOUR REAL ONE (I’ll give you true rest, I’ll give you true peace, this is the source that we operate from and everything else flows from this place of surrender)
And now Him being at the center is not because I put Him there but because He’s in charge of everything—so Him being in the center is true but it’s because my life is in His hands and He can do with me as He will because I believe He loves me, He knows me and He has the very best for me in Him, not apart from Him
So now every decision, God’s already involved
He’s involved in my marriage, I don’t have to put Him there, it’s founded upon Him
He’s involved in my parenting, I don’t have to put Him there, He’s instructing me how to take care of His kids that He’s given me (THIS IS FREEING)
He’s already in my career because He’s gifted and anointed me for the place I am in life and knows exactly what I need, including that boss that gets on my nerves—He must know I need it
I don’t have to put Him anywhere when I’ve given Him the whole thing
Romans 12:1 (MSG) – So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.
Romans 12:1 (NKJV) – I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
“The problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the altar.” – D.L. Moody
For some reason we keep moving, when we get blessed we move, when we fail and mess up, we move. I died and I’m still dying to myself.
This is what Jesus was offering the Young Religious Leader (which means he was rich and religious but yet unfulfilled—because there was a spot he had yet to give to God)
There was still one thing he had yet to do
WHAT HAVE YOU YET TO DO? WHAT PART OF YOUR LIFE ISN’T HIS YET? Because whatever hasn’t been given to Him to hold, I assure that part of your life is holding you. You think you’re holding it, but it’s holding you captive.
You know the Word of God says We, God’s People, are called to be His portion. In other words, we are God’s gift and inheritance. Can I tell you something? God will never get what’s fully His and His portion as long as we just keep giving Him a portion of ourselves.
He is jealous jealousy. He is an all-consuming fire. He is good, He is relentless, and He is worthy.
Paul understood this so well…
Galatians 2:20 (ESV) – I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
And my question for you today out of this scripture is have you? Have you been crucified with Christ? Is it no longer you who lives but Christ who lives in you. That the life you now live in the flesh you live by faith in the Son of God
It’s crazy because when you talk about true surrender, people get super weird. We read about how Jesus walked on the shore to the disciples, they were fishing, He said, “Follow me.” And they left everything and followed Him. Whew! Everything.
Well first, that was accustom to their time, being a disciple was no new thing. When a Rabbi offers for you to follow them, you’d do anything because you were considered worthy, smart enough, chosen. These fishermen had never been chosen, that’s why they were fishermen yet, Jesus offered them the adventure of a lifetime and transformation.
Well we read that and think, if I surrender everything to Jesus, do I have to leave my family and some teenagers are like—yes, in heartbeat. NO! Do I have to quit my job and become a pastor? NO! Like seriously, when God calls us to surrender our lives—we get so weird, I’VE GOT TO LEAVE EVERYTHING AND EVERYBODY, GOD THAT DOESN’T EVEN MAKE SENSE!
NO! But it does mean that you are not your own anymore. When you would have responded, you are not your own anymore. How you would have operated, you are not your own anymore. How you would have been a husband, a parent, a leader, a business owner—continue but you are not your own anymore. You’ve been bought with a price and we died to our old selves.
AND IT’S FREEING, IT’S FREEING WHEN YOU AREN’T YOUR OWN SOURCE ANYMORE.
Because you had to sustain you, now He does. I’m only here today because I never put my life in a man’s hands. I put my life into God’s hands and this is where God will have me. This is the family that He has given me. This isn’t my life, this is Christ in me.
Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG) – 28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
WE love this scripture in…
Revelation 12:11 (NKJV) – And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
We love to talk about the Blood of Jesus
The word of our testimony—tell someone your testimony, hey!
But this last part is always skipped and not mentioned but it’s really the crux of why they overcame
THEY DID NOT LOVE THEIR LIVES EVEN UNTO DEATH
Jesus doesn’t just call for us to lay what we hate on the altar, but can you lay what you love on the altar? That’s surrender and let Him resurrect if He sees fit, trust Him to do with it as He will
WHAT HAVE YOU YET TO DO?