faith is a journey not a guilt trip. Yeah, Faith is a journey, not a guilt trip yet. For many of us we find ourselves living the reverse that maybe we grew up in, in, in a practicing of, of religion where we feel like it's a checklist of dudes and don't say that, that I have to do this to be good enough. And and if you didn't grow up in a christian home or or a catholic home or another home, maybe you grew up in another religious home or even it wasn't about religion, it was just about performance and we think that I have to do this and I have to do that and we battle this struggle with identity and self worth because if, if we do everything correctly, we become prideful. But if we do everything incorrectly, we become pitiful. And the truth is, is that pride and pity really come from that same place because it's a place of self into place of performance, thankfully Christianity is not about a guilt trip. It's a journey. It's an adventure. We serve and worship and sing to a creative adventurous god. If you just look out at creation and you see the colors in the sky, the mountain tops, the oceans coming in and out the variety of animals and plants and people and personalities. Why is it then that we can look in creation and see God's masterpiece and tapestry spread out all throughout creation. But then when it comes to faith it's about do do do do this. Everybody look the same right? It's not, it's so much more than that. It's, it's a journey and it's an adventure. Kids long for adventure. Kids love coloring outside the lines and, and having a kingdom to go conquer or to win the game, to win the trophy, to be a warrior. You know, last week we got to take our kiddos to Disney on ice and every story, every childhood story as I thought about it, I realized two things one, everyone wants an adventure and to now that I'm a parent, there are no good parenting examples in Disney movies. Do you think about that? They're like singing La la la. You know, as my parents left us alone in a castle for the summer, I was like, that's not a smart decision. What do we know? Wonder were messed up as parents? We do not have good examples in here in Disney movies and so we have no, but we, we long for this adventure. We long for this. Well, what I want to talk about today is really to find joy in that. Have you ever talked to somebody who is so passionate about something that even if you don't know that subject, you just love listening to that person talk that passion is like just contagious, isn't it? When someone is super excited and detailed and and and knows a lot and just loves it. I think of my friend Jaqen singer back in Cedarville Ohio and and J and the and the king's singers and I go way back because when I was a teenager, they were youth leaders of me and then when I became the youth pastor as I got a little older at that same church, they were youth leaders with me and I love hearing the stories jay would tell about riding bikes. He had a, he had a passion for not just riding bikes but building bikes. And I remember being amazed when he told me that a year, a few years prior, when he's a little bit younger, he built a bike and then rode it across the country And rode it across and then up and down a little way. So where he wrote over 4000 miles on a bike that he made, I mean that's like real life forrest gump running across the country montage, you know, I'm talking about like how crazy is that, that you love something so much, you love something so much and that you would ride across the country, but he didn't stop there actually, he would take multiple trips, he would, he's written across major parts of europe and across Australia and new Zealand and he's got his family involved and in the last decade actually, he also loves working with wood and so he actually created his own company and you can search it up, they're beautiful bikes called sojourn cyclery and he builds handcrafted custom bikes from wood and then rides them places and it's so cool to hear someone talk about their passion and and and to live an adventurous life just to like who does that? Who says, you know what? I'm going to ride across the country and then they go and do it. That's wild. Right? Well, it's that passion. It's that same joy that I think we can have when it comes to our faith. And I want to talk about the key to that joy today. And it and it's honestly an unlikely key because the key to enjoying that spiritual journey, that faith adventure comes down to obedience. For many of us, when we hear the word obedience, we begin to think about some type of oppression. We think about some type of negative thing that we haven't done or that we should do. But obedience is actually not just and oppression but an opportunity. See we like to talk about obedience. We don't necessarily like to apply it. There's a story about a ruthless businessman years ago who once was talking with the famous and witty author, Mark Twain, and he's even though this this business guy was, was known for his ruthless practices. He said, you know, one day, I'm gonna make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and I'm gonna climb up to Mount Sinai and from the top of Mount Sinai, I'm gonna read aloud the 10 commandments and always witty and always ready to respond. Mark Twain replied, I got a better idea. How about you just stay in boston and apply them. See we love to talk about the obedience or lack thereof of other people. But what I like to say is that when we talk about sermons and messages, it's a lot like buying paint from home depot, you can get a lot of colors, a lot of great stuff, but nothing's going to change in your home unless you go home and apply it. And so that's what we want to lean into today. How is it that obedience is actually an opportunity. See, our series is called All things New because we want to have a fresh start to the new year and that we have a faith where newness is a recurring theme, romans 64 were baptized and we walk into the newness of life that that we have the old testament and the new testament that's based on the new covenant that when you believe in christ, you are made a new creation and then given a new command to love God and love others the way that he loved us. And when you get to the end of the bible. And then the last book in the last days, it talks about how God continues to make all things new. And so in order to have a fresh start for faith, you you have to do what jesus did and our theme verse for this series is found in first john 26, which reads this, that it says that whoever claims to live in him must live as jesus lived, other translations use the words walk, that you must walk as jesus walked and I love this picture because he's not saying, he's not just saying follow an idea, follow this checklist, he's saying follow me because we don't like to take advice first of all from anybody. And second of all, have you ever been um told advice by somebody who's not living that out? Well you need to do a B, C and D. And your first response is you're not doing any of those, why would I listen to you? We don't have that excuse with God because God actually comes down, he lives this life. He shows us the way and then he says, come on, come on, follow me, I'm gonna show you the way. And so over the last four weeks we've seen these truth, the practices of jesus, What does it mean to follow the way? Well in week one again you can find all of these on podcasts on Spotify, on Apple, on our Youtube channel. And so if you have, if you missed a week, I encourage you to go back and watch these. But in week one we talked about how jesus depended on the Holy spirit that jesus was both spirit filled and spirit led and that if jesus himself dependent upon the holy spirit, what makes us think we can walk through the christian life without him, that we can depend on the spirit, just as jesus did Week two, we talked about how Jesus displayed devotion to God Jesus practiced solitude and sabbath and he prayed and he used scripture regularly in his life and he worshiped in spirit and in truth this devotion to God was a regular habit or discipline and it should be for us as well. Then last week we talked about how Jesus developed healthy relationships, how people were both God's mission and his method that Jesus was a people person and whatever your industry that you work in or serve in that at the end of the day, it's about people, but if Jesus was about people, so can we And then today we're talking we're closing out our series about how Jesus lived a life where he demonstrated a life of obedience. And if you're taking notes, I want you to write this down, Obedience is an opportunity to pledge your allegiance to God. Obedience is an opportunity to pledge your allegiance to God. Normally we associate obedience with some form of oppression. But what I want us to do is to begin to associate obedience with opportunity and it pledged because it's a commitment, remember the days in schools where we would stand up the beginning of every day, right and say the pledge of allegiance, I pledge allegiance to the flag and there was always that kid that would say I pledge allegiance to the flag and then they're retired because it was like eight in the morning and you're like, okay, and we're done and we would start, Alright, not you guys, not you guys, that was the 9:00 crowd, you guys, I'm sure you know all the words, I would say all the words and just enthusiastically would pledge your commitment to our country, why would we do that? Why do we even have a pledge? Well, what we're doing is that we are honoring the sacrifice that was made before us and then we're committing to the freedoms that are now in front of us. And so we are regularly committing to one another. And so it is a pledge of allegiance, Pastor, timothy Keller puts it this way, he says the essence of christian obedience is not dues and don't, but personal allegiance to jesus. You know, when you're making that pledge, you are demonstrating a commitment to love and that relationship Now having been married for 15 years now, you see people joke like, oh the ball and chain and I can do that because she's not in the service. But um, and I'll hear about it later now. No, it's it's really not reality though, is it? You're not acting out of obedience, You're acting out of love and relationships and commitment and if you're not in a committed relationship, think about this then with any habit that you want to choose any healthy habits or resolution or goal you want to commit to is that when you, when you come to a decision, let's say you walk up to a decision and you have two choices. It's almost like when you're going to the polls on voting day, every time you make a decision, you are placing a vote on the person you want to be or the person you want to become. This is why I say, obedience is an opportunity because even if you've messed up in the past today, you walk up and you have a choice to make and you start making that choice based on the identity about who you are, who you want to become. And you're making a vote, you are casting a vote for what you believe about yourself and what you believe about that relationship. And this is why it's not an oppression of the past, but it's an opportunity to the future. And we are choosing this now, we're gonna see in just a moment how jesus himself lived this out. He's not saying to do something that he didn't personally already do, but before we jump into the word, let me just share with you two clarifications of this idea of obedience. Number one Obedience is not Obedience is not based on outcome, but an outlook. Amen. I hear the baby in the back. It's good. So, um, so here's the reality is that we think so many times that it's at an equation A plus B equals C, A plus B equals C. The problem though is that life doesn't work that way. Now sometimes the principles workout right? Like if I do A and then I get B and then eventually I'll end up at sea. But here's how life works, isn't it? I'm going to commit to A and then I'm gonna do be And the result is -17 What? That's not that's not even a letter. That's not what I like. It's true, isn't it? I was honest, but the other person got the promotion. I forgave her. She betrayed me again. I held my, I held my tongue, They spread rumors about me. I did what was right and was generous. I lost my job. I did all the things for the health and then now I'm here. You see, we don't have control over the outcome. But it's not about the outcome. It's about our outlook. See in the old testament, there was Shadow rock me, shock and Bendigo. We're about to be burned. They were in exile and they said announce or denounce your allegiance to God and I'll set you go, otherwise you're gonna throw it in this fire. And their response was so telling, they said, you know what? We might get burned. I don't know if he's gonna deliver us, but he can and that's enough. So we're going to pledge our allegiance to God. See their faith was an attitude and an outlook, not based on the outcome. In john 11, mary and Martha were weeping over the loss of Lazarus when jesus came to them, there's this idea that you know what, you could have done this, you should have done this. But even in their doubt and the anger and they say you or the resurrection and the life too many of us have an if than faith, well God, if you do this, then I will believe if you give me this, then then I will do that when in reality having obedience based on outlook, the outcome says, even if even if I'm not healed, I'm gonna believe you, even if I don't get that forgiveness from the other person, I'm gonna forgive them. And so our obedience, Our decision is not based on outcome, but an outlook because our faith is in, in our is a journey and an opportunity. The second thing I want to clarify though is that obedience is not based on a destination, but on a direction, Jeremiah 29 11, it says that for you know, I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, I wish, I really wish it said for I will tell you the plans I have for you. You know, even in our, in our prayer, God give us, I wish said yearly, that would be great, wouldn't it? But what is it? Daily bread? This means that while we long for God to open 20 doors in a row? He opens one and usually it's it's one that we're not expecting, right? And he just, just take a step, what did he tell Abraham in the old testament go like, can you imagine just like imagine, imagine just walking out in public and like like a race starting, but there were no lines in front on your mark. It's like an amazing race, but you don't have the finish on your mark, get set, go run where And so we don't necessarily know the end destination. I had no idea when we started when I got called to start the church, what it would look like that would have a global pandemic that we'd spend a year in a bar? It was great for my conservative baptist roots, right? Like is it what I thought? No, but how awesome is that? That just every step when Peter was on the boat and jesus walking on water and he calls peter out. When did peter know that he was actually going to be held up? It wasn't until he stepped out of the boat did he experience that blessing? This is why it's important because for some of you in the room today, you are at a crossroads or you're about to be your loved one is and you can choose, am I gonna go the way of the world, not to say that this side is worldly, although maybe looking at, I don't know, but you're gonna say, okay, am I gonna go the way of the world or am I going to go the way of jesus and I can't see what's around the corner. I don't know what's three turns ahead. I don't know what that means for my marriage, for parenting, my kids, for my finances. But what I'm gonna do is I'm going to choose the direction and that direction is going to be jesus. That's why God could turn to the disciples and just say follow me. That was it. Where are we going? Where you're going with me? Because if you stay with the guide, you don't need to know the map. That's what kids do. Kids don't know directions. Right? When you go places with kids to stay with mom, stay with dad. Although unless you're directionally challenged, sometimes kids do know directions, but right, you go somewhere new, they start running off. What do you say? No, stay, stay with me. Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? No, I'll tell you when we're there, we do the exact same thing with God. Eugene Peterson put it this way that spiritual maturity is long obedience in the same direction, you're not going to become a mature christian in a day, you're gonna grow daily. That starts with making the choice of the direction you want your life to go, don't just take my word for it, let's see how jesus did this because again he's the example, right, So Luke chapter 19 verse 10 we have the mission of jesus his purpose. It says for the Son of Man, that's another name for jesus. Here came to seek and to save the lost, okay, that's his job. That's what he's supposed to do. Another example of this found in Mark 1045, it says here your kingdom arm, it says for even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many, give his life as a ransom for many to serve to love others to give us this path to seek and to save the lost. This is the challenge of the life of jesus. Then the disciples asked him, hey teach us to pray so in Matthew chapter six he says this is how you pray. And in the middle of that prayer we see this imagery of your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. See too many of us are trying to bring earth up to heaven. Hey, hey jesus, you missed this, you should take this with and we try to bring stuff with us instead we should be praying not to bring the earth up to heaven but to bring heaven down to earth, but jesus didn't just say these words, this is how you pray, he actually praised this specific prayer In Luke chapter 22 It's it's he's about to be arrested, he's about to go to the cross Luke 22 verse 41 42 he says and he withdrew from them about a stone's throw and I and I love this to the disciples fell asleep so if you ever feel bad about like not man, I need to be better attention, more attentive. Like the disciples were with the creator and savior of the world and they were like like okay, so like I love that that we've been messed up the whole time. Okay, I mean we call peter a saint and that dude was asleep, okay? He fell asleep in class, so let's just remember that All right, not that I fell asleep in any of my classes. No, not okay, maybe a little bit made me feel better anyway, so the disciples are there, jesus withdraws to pray. It's the heaviest moment of his life, the time to give his life is about to come. It says that he starts sweating blood behind it, like it is so intense and what does he pray? He's he knelt down and he prayed saying father, if you are willing remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will but yours be done. He didn't just tell the disciples to pray this, he himself prayed this and he goes and he dies on the cross and he rises again, conquering death, making eternal life possible, making forgiveness and meaning and joy possible. And the church begins and the church talks about the message of jesus, the resurrection of life, the possibility of joy and love. And so when paul is writing about this in Philippians chapter two, he writes this, he says, have this mind among yourselves. In other words have the same mind as jesus, have the same outlook and direction as jesus, and he says, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming what obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. I struggle with obedience when it's simply inconvenient, right, right? It's like I should do this or not right, I'm the guy that gets mad when the grocery store line takes too long, you know, I'm talking about you pick your line and I always pick the wrong one and it's so frustrating, right? Like we make excuses so fast, we're like, okay God I'm going to do this today, we're gonna do this and then like it or not, but jesus was obedient not to the sake to the point of inconvenience, but obedient to the point of death. And then when he rose again, the miracle that is easter, He is talking with the disciples, he is talking with people and right before he ascends to heaven, he is about to give them his final words right before the game begins, right before the church begins. He's going to give these final words of wisdom and and inspiration and power to the disciples and he says this in Matthew 28 he says and jesus came to them and said all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me go therefore and make disciples of all nations, we like that go make disciples sounds very, it sounds very churchy go and then it's just baptizing them in the name of the father son and the holy spirit. We're gonna have a baptism service here on february 13th, it's gonna be awesome. I'm excited for that. We're gonna celebrate the newness of life, but we forget that also in the great commission is verse 20 that says this, teaching them to observe, that's another idea of to obey all that I have commanded you and behold I am with you always to the end of the age. Do you catch this? That jesus comes onto the scene and he says, follow me, I am the way the truth and the life I am the light of the world, I am living, I give you living water, I am the bread of life, He washes the feet of disciples. He goes through, he's obedient to death rises again and says, I want you to be obedient, like I was just obedient. This is the way to joy in the journey. This is the way to adventure. So what do we do with that though? Well, I want, I wanted you to think back to the bike we talked about in the beginning of the service because here's the key to obedience and it's the title of our message this morning and it's simply ride the bike, ride the bike, turn to your neighbor right now, do me a favor, turn your neighbor and just say ride the bike and some of you don't know what you're committing to yet, but I'm okay with that. Hey, what is the command that we're supposed to follow? Keep it real simple for you today? The great commandment to love the Lord, your God with all your heart, heart, soul, mind and strength and to love others as he did. These are the two wheels of the bike. Okay, these are the two wheels of the bike, that's what we're called to do as christians. But now I want you in this imagery, I want you to picture these three things number one on the seat. That is the idea of being that if you're sitting on the bike, this is this is you, this is your bike, You are seated on the bike that you're riding that your identity being in christ This is the connection point of what does it mean to follow. And so you're sitting on the bike. That identity is secure. Also, you're seated on your own bike. No bike thieves here. Okay, It was made for you. Custom made for you. You can get one of those big fluffy seats if you want. I don't know. But the seat is for you. That means you are a child of God. That there is nothing you can do to make God love you more and there is nothing you can do to make God love you any less. My youngest Chloe loves to get dressed, loves to dress up in princess dresses or sometimes it's a superhero or sometimes it's not a lot of clothing. Okay, if you have young kids, you understand, uh, sometimes, okay, it's all closed at different. That doesn't match. Sometimes she wants the comfy pants, not the scratchy pants. Right? And you go through sometimes nothing matches or she wears different shoes. Where are her shoes? I don't know. And so let me ask you the question at what point and what outfit is she? My daughter. All of them. You are loved because you are God's not from anything that you've done too many of us are trying to live for love and approval when you already have it. Some of us are struggling so much to win. God's approval. When he says I don't need you to win my approval. I need you to receive my affection. You are enough. You don't need to have that relationship. That job defeat over this addiction or whatever battle. He knows all of those things and he chose to die for you. That's enough. You can sit right now and just take a deep breath. Everyone here in the room and online, just there's security in being a child of God, there's freedom in that, but there's your identity and then there's an experience if you want to have an experience and you wanna have an adventure and you want to not just be declared married, but have a great marriage, not just technically be someone's parent or child, but to have a great relationship, not just have the job, but enjoy the job, not just be on a journey, but enjoy the journey. You have to go somewhere. And so once you receive that identity, you can live from that and now you have the two pedals Pedal, # one is knowing you can't do what, you don't know. The word of God endures forever. It wouldn't take comfort in the fact that they didn't get it right either. But you see this continual direction and path of what to do to do as jesus did, but just as it's difficult to ride a bike just with one pedal, you're kinda like, oh okay, in the same way, you don't just need to know the word. You also need to do the word. So I'm James one, it talks about don't just be hearers of the word, but Doers of the word, jesus and the gospel talks about a wise and foolish builder. The one who built his life on a foundation is not those who heard the word, but those who did this is obedience and here's what I love. There's gonna be times where you feel like you're riding uphill, but way more than an electric bike. We got the Holy Spirit, help us go up, help us go through. You know when the pandemic hit a lot of people working out at home, you know, peloton sales went through the roof, they got past there debacle of christmas commercial from a couple of years ago and they started selling like crazy. And if you've ever talked to someone who owns a peloton, you know that they have a peloton because they tell you about it. And don't get me wrong, like it's great. Like they're doing better than I that the fitness thing, okay. Not not throwing stones here, but it is weird because you can, you can ride with with classes or you can ride with scenery, right? You're like, wow, it looks like outdoors okay. You can also go outdoors. You know, I wonder how many christians are like coming on a sunday and they're riding like, wow, this looks great, look at this, it's it's the alps. No, it's not okay. The christian life is an adventure and a journey to be enjoyed, but you gotta get out there, you gotta get out there and you gotta ride the bike because you have your own. You're not writing somebody else's custom made bike for your life. You're calling your path your adventure and it's made for you and you are a child and you are loved and because you are fully loved as you are, you are free to know the word and to live the word and obey it. And if you do that, I'm telling you, there's no places you can't call. Your life will be an adventure. Your life will be a journey and your life will be filled with joy. I end with this. CS Lewis writes this, he says here, it says you do not fail in obedience through lack of love, but you have lost love because you never attempted obedience. Some of you are struggling because you're missing one of those three components. We're trying to earn love instead of receiving it instead of being a child, you don't know where to go because I don't know what to do or maybe you know the word, but you're you're not doing it. Being knowing, doing it's time to ride the bike because when you do that, you'll view obedience as an opportunity to pledge your allegiance to him. Let's pray. The only father just we thank you for showing us the way we thank you for who you are and what you've done. We thank you for loving us where we are. So we do not have a faith that's based on a guilt trip, but rather we have a faith that is meant to be a journey to be enjoyed, an adventure to live out together. So God help us ride the bike. Help us to receive our being and identity from you. To live from that identity. To go and ride to go and explore this journey that we call life and knowing your word and doing what it says. Because God, we pledge our allegiance to you. We love you. So help us walk in obedience today to love you more. Each and every day. They love others the way that you loved us, your son's name. We pray amen.