Skip to content Push & Pull Part 5 with Kenny Luck Jun 17 · 47 min ...more
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The Tension of Obedience and Motivation 0:01 Welcome to the men's global livestream. It's Kenny Luck. If you have a Bible, I want you to hold 2 spots for me. 1 in Matthew chapter 21, and the other in second Timothy chapter0:13 2. You know, Dusty Davis has just been rocking our world in the last 4 weeks, doing this new series called Push and Pull. I've been participating in that series, just0:25 like you, and here I get to come in right here at the end and finish out part 5. And what we've been exploring is the issue of tension. Right?0:37 The push and the pull in the Christian life and being God's man. The push and the pull of being God's man versus doing what God says. The the push and the pull0:49 of following Christ, but also leading. Right? Others spiritually. The tension of staying and and having influence right where we are. Right? Right where1:01 God has planted us versus going. Right? And reaching people for Jesus. Right? The tension of saying no to yourself in order to say yes1:13 to serving others. And today, we're gonna be talking about a very real tension when God asks something of God's men, and that is the tension of motivation. Do1:25 I have to do this, or I have to do it, or do I want to do it, and do I desire to do it? So when God makes an ask, is it a have to, or do I want to?1:37 You see the difference? You kind of feel it in the tone of my voice. You know, Jesus addressed this, and here's where you want to open your Bible to our first key passage. He addressed this tension directly in the1:48 gospels, and let me set up the context for this. Alright? Jesus has been baptized by John the Baptist, and he is now teaching and advancing the kingdom2:00 of God. And as he is teaching with authority and advancing the kingdom of God, inevitably, he's gonna move people's cheese. Right? He's gonna2:12 disrupt their flow and their understanding. He's gonna mess with their program. Right? And at issue for men is, alright, who's doing2:24 the asking? Who is this Jesus? Right? And under what authority? Right? Is the ask that Jesus is making of us regarding God's plan and God's2:36 kingdom, is that ask from heaven or is it just from a man? You see the difference? Because it's from if it's from heaven, then that calls for2:48 1 response, but if it's from a man, then that's another thing. And so as Jesus is getting peppered with questions, hey, under what authority? He comes back with a2:59 question himself. He says, was John's baptism, the man who announced and made a way for Jesus, was John's baptism from heaven or from man?3:12 And what we'll see as we look at Matthew 21 is the struggle to respond. So let's get right into the text because Jesus then takes3:24 us on a little journey by telling us a parable, and for that original audience, but he's he's talking to us right now. So let's go to Matthew chapter 21 verses 28 through 32. Jesus3:35 says this, what do you think? There was a man who had 2 sons. He went to the first and said, son, go and work today in the vineyard. I will not, he3:47 answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, I will, sir, but he did not3:59 go. Which of the 2 did what his father wanted? The first, they answered. Jesus said to them, truly I tell you, the tax collectors and4:11 the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him.4:23 But the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. So remember4:35 the context, it's was John's baptism from heaven or from man? Jesus asks the fellas. And they're asking him,4:47 under what authority are you doing these things? And he's demanding that they answer his question before he answers his. And so they they are in a conundrum.4:59 Alright? And let's unpack Jesus's parable and then we'll get to their response. Right? In the parable, the father, write this down, is God the requester.5:11 Alright? What does that mean? It just means that that God is asking us to do something that's gonna demand some faith. It might demand some sacrifice. It might demand a change5:23 of of plans. But there is this idea that it's gonna require something of you. Alright? Second, you see son5:35 number 1 and his process of response. Alright? So number 1, he resists at first, then he repents, and then5:47 he relents to the request. Remember in the text, he said, I will not. But later he changes his mind and he goes to work in the vineyard. Alright?5:58 That's response number 1. That's son number 1. Then there's son number 2, and he relents at first. Write this down. He relents and6:10 says, okay. And then he resists. Right? And then he never repents. Right? So you see the compare and contrast6:22 of the 2 sons. Right? Where there's this resistance in the first son externally, but then internally, there's a process, and6:33 he's thinking about it. I'm like, okay. Who's doing the asking here? Changes his mind, and then he relents to the request. Then you have son number 2, and he's like, a yes, ma'am. Right out the box.6:46 Oh, yes, sir. I'll do it. Right? But then he he does not go. Right? So he's outwardly positive, inwardly6:57 resistant, and he never repents. He never changes his mind. And so what Jesus is doing is he's he's kinda setting up for these guys he's teaching7:09 and he's working with, that when God makes the request, you can have 2 kind of responses. You know, you can see through the text where a yes with the7:21 mouth and a no from the heart, that's not the positive example. Right? Because he asked which of the 2 did what the father wanted. It was the first, but the first wasn't like we would7:33 imagine. We would imagine like a good response would be, okay dad, and then he just goes. But no, there's this struggle. Right? Why? Because it's disrupting7:44 his plans. It's it's messing with his program. It's moving his cheese, and he's just struggling with it. So what we see in the passage is God's okay with the struggle. Right? He knows7:56 that, you know, he might he might throw a wrench in your plans. He might know that wasn't your expectation or maybe the timing's off as he's asking you to do something.8:08 It's demanding, it's demanding something of you. It's gonna cost you. All right, what you thought you would do for what God thought you were gonna, what you thought you were gonna be up to, versus what God wants you to8:20 be up to. And isn't that attention? And what I love about this passage is that it's okay to wrestle with it. You know, it reminds me of when people ask you to do something you8:32 don't feel like doing. Like in my professional career, I remember as a junior executive, I was part of a merger and an acquisition, and it was where all the8:43 energy in the company was. We we had purchased our competitor, and now we were integrating operations. You know, it's this exciting season, and I got asked to be a part of the merger team,8:55 and I was traveling to, Dallas and traveling to Chicago and and and traveling to, back east to Washington. And and it was so cool. And, I9:07 remember getting that phone call from our executive vice president, and he said, Kenny, we're we're taking you off of the merger team, and we need you to come back to9:19 California. And we need you, basically, to do a job that you've done before already, but we don't have anybody else. And it was internally as I'm hearing the words on the9:31 phone. Right? I think maybe some of you guys can identify with this when your boss is asking you to do something that's gonna change sort of your your path in the company. And I remember9:42 internally just like, no. But because of who was doing the asking, my executive VP, right, I I said, okay.9:56 And it felt like a demotion. But, man, I'm glad that through the struggle, I changed my mind about it and I got with the program10:07 because that 1 contract that I was asked to manage, which seemed at the time like such a demotion and a step backward, turned into10:19 10 contracts with this particular hospital chain. And, man, I am so glad that I said yes. And I changed my mind about10:31 it even though I struggled with it. Another example, real simple, is when my my wife, who was friends with these other young mothers, said, Hey, this couple needs help10:43 moving their house. You're gonna help them on Saturday. Oh, really? K. I had plans for Saturday. But because of who was doing the asking, right, my wife, she has place, and she has authority10:55 to ask, I said yes. And so that ended up turning into be 1 of the best decisions I've ever made. Didn't didn't like it at first,11:07 resisted it at first, but then changed my mind about it like son number 1. My my best friends for life, guys that will be carrying my my casket at11:19 my funeral, I'm convinced, whenever that day comes, happened because of that ask. Now my point is is that sometimes on the other side of a God11:31 ask is this this thing that you can't see. Right? And it requires some faith, to say yes, but it all11:42 hinges on who's doing the asking. And that's what's going on with Jesus, him teaching and making requests with authority. These guys are these guys11:54 are wrestling with it, and he say, well, is it from heaven, or is it from man? And what's the difference? What's the tie breaker? So a little12:05 earlier in the passage in verses 25 and 26, we read this, and now let's get to the crux of the issue. Alright? Jesus says, John's baptism. Right? Where did it come12:17 from? Was it from heaven or of human origin? They discussed it among themselves and said, if we say from heaven, he will ask them why didn't you believe him? But if we say of human12:29 origin, we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet. Now these guys cannot make up their mind, but you see they have a little pride12:41 and fear going on. Jesus is poking them and saying, from heaven or human? Make up your mind. Alright? And they're still stuck. It's it's hilarious. So12:53 instead of admitting their stubborn pride, which they would never do, or instead of admitting that they're afraid of what the people will think because John's a popular13:05 guy. Right? Instead of being honest, you know what they say, and it's not in your notes, but they say, we don't know. Wow. Okay. Now that's even more self13:17 incriminating, but you see, that's what happens when you want to hold to your position in pride, or you're afraid of what other people think. You just like play the ignorance card. Right? Like that somehow absolves you13:29 from having to respond to what God's asking. And the lesson is, God's cool with the son number 1 response. Hey, you know what? The13:41 tax collectors and the prostitutes, they wrestled with it too, but they believed that John was from heaven, therefore from God. That God was doing the asking and13:53 was wanting them to repent and turn from their ways. Right? So God's cool with struggle, think about it, yes from the heart. Right?14:05 But a no with the mouth, right, is is any yes from the heart, cool. The other 1 is son number 2, and that's not okay, which is faking it.14:16 Oh yeah, for sure, a hundred percent. Never intending to obey. And so I love just kind of the set up, you know, it's it's okay to struggle. You14:28 see, when when heaven asks, right, sometimes we just discipline ourselves. We go against our feelings like son number 1, and14:40 we recognize the place and the authority of who's doing the asking, right, the father, god, and and we we go forward, and we wrestle. Right? That's a real14:52 tension. Right? But then sometimes, we really wanna do what god says. Right? Because we believe and trust in his character, and and we know he's looking out for us, and we have a right view of God,15:04 and we struggle less. So see the difference? Sometimes discipline when God asks. Sometimes desire. Let's look at the first 1. When heaven asks, sometimes discipline. Alright?15:16 And I love this passage we're going to look at next. It's your second key passage. It's second Timothy chapter 2, verses 3 through 7. Listen to this and see if you can pick up15:28 kind of that that discipline aspect and how it's connected to obedience. Paul says to Timothy, join with me15:40 in suffering. Like a good soldier of Christ Jesus, no 1 serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. Similarly,15:52 anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor's crown except by competing according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a16:03 share of the crops. Reflect on what I'm saying for the Lord will give you insight into all of this. Alright? So let's remember the context of16:15 today's discussion. Right? When heaven makes an ask, right, is it do I have to do it or do I want to do it, discipline16:27 or desire? Right? So let's unpack what Paul's encouragement is, in the context of inviting Timothy into16:39 suffering as a man of God. There's a nice ask, hey, sign me up. Yeah. Come come suffer with me. Come join me with suffering. Who asks people to do that? Alright? But it's a16:51 supernatural request. Right? Like a good soldier of Christ. So what do we see? Alright? We see we see 3 3 types of guys. Right? We see the soldier, we17:03 see the athlete, and we see the farmer. And there's some common denominators in each of those guys, which goes to their discipline and the moment.17:14 Alright? Write this down. Common denominator number 1. Each man identifies his strongest hope. Right? So you got the soldier and the temptation and the ask17:26 from his nation is you're on contract now. You're not a civilian. You are in a military organization, and so17:38 you can't go AWOL. Right? So there's the ask, and then the soldier has a hope. Right? We'll get to that. But and and that that hope17:49 is he wants to please his commanding officer. So the soldier identifies his hope as I'm gonna please my commanding officer. The athlete, he competes according to the rules. Alright.18:01 You're gonna be in this competition. You're gonna compete according to the rules. Why is he gonna discipline himself to compete according to the rules? That's the ask. Because he wants to win the prize. That's his hope.18:12 So pleasing the commanding officer, winning the prize. And you got the hardworking farmer. Alright? It's implicit, but the hard working farmer who wakes up at 0 dark 30, gets18:24 behind a plow and a thousand pound mammal pulling that that plow. He's working hard. He's disciplining himself to wake up, to do the work.Discipline, Desire, and Eternal Motivation 18:36 Right? Why? Because there's a harvest. There's a hope. Right? So soldier, please the commander. Athlete, win the prize. Hardworking18:47 farmer, there's a harvest. Right? Each man identifies his strongest hope. Then what's implicit is that each man disciplines his strongest19:00 energy. There's verbs connected to this. Alright? So there's a strong hope, which creates strong disciplined energy. Okay? What's the energy for the soldier? He's19:11 pleasing. He goes about now investing his energy in pleasing his commanding officer. Right? The athlete invests his strongest energy in competing19:24 in the games according to the rules. Right? The farmer just gets to the business of working the soil, right, to get the result. Right? So that's19:36 common denominator number 2. They identify their strongest hope. They discipline their strongest energy. Number 3, each man receives his greatest reward. Okay? So you see19:48 the connection. Right? They're just not disciplining themselves for no reason. Alright? There's some pain associated with their process.19:59 Alright? But the process and the discipline gets them the prize. And and that really that preaches, man. Preaches to me and my heart, my spirit. It should20:11 preach to your spirit. What's the message of the Bible that hope defeats suffering on the way to reward? I'm gonna say that again. Hope20:23 defeats suffering. Alright? The strong hope that defeats the the pain along the way to the great reward. Right? So now what20:35 we're seeing when God makes an ask, it might not feel comfortable in the moment. There might not even be a cost or a sacrifice or suffering, but our hope20:47 trumps and defeats that suffering, and we continue on the way toward the prize. Right? Talks about this in Hebrews chapter 12 verse20:59 11, 1 of my favorite verses in the entire Bible, because it makes life real. It puts life in context. Says this, at the time,21:11 discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off big time, for it's the well trained21:23 who who find themselves mature in their relationship with God. Did you make that connection? What's God's word saying? What's the Holy Spirit trying to to21:35 get into our hearts right this second is that the hope of a big time payoff, right, the hope of it drives big time discipline.21:47 Right? And every time we discipline our choices in the direction of our strong hope. Right? This is what the Bible is telling us. Right? What21:59 happens to us? Right? We're getting mature. We're getting trained. We're growing up. Toddlers are undisciplined. They're undisciplined with their bodies. They're undisciplined with their22:10 feelings. They're done disciplined with their reactions when they don't get their way. But a man is expected to be more disciplined.22:22 Right? And I love the Bible because it's honest. At the time, no discipline is fun. Why? Because you're you're doing a no and a yes, just like Dusty talked22:34 about in part 4. Right? So it's no fun, but, man, there's a payout. The Holy Spirit wants to let us know, God's men, that today you're gonna22:46 discipline yourself, and you're gonna go against feelings. Right? And you're gonna go against the grain of your flesh. You're gonna go against the grain of your schedule. You're gonna go against the the22:58 grain of how you handle maybe your finances. You're gonna go against the grain. Right? But just remember, if God is making the request, even though it might not23:09 be fun, remember your strong hope. Right? Which is the payoff. Right? See, Jesus, in John chapter 13, he23:21 addresses the same kind of tension. He says, if you understand what I'm telling you, act like it and live a blessed life. Right? What I love about that verse,23:33 John 13 17, man highlight that 1 in your Bible. If you understand what I'm telling you, act like it and live a blessed life. What comes first? The action23:45 or the blessing? Let the paint dry on that 1. No. We don't we don't feel our way into an action.23:57 We act our way into a blessing. Right? Wanna know why? Because it requires faith. Discipline, a no and a yes, a no to something doing it. To make a yes to God, that24:09 discipline of that moment, it requires faith. I have to act my way. I have to faith my way into it. And the blessing is on the other24:20 side of the faith because God always rewards faith. There are some of you, the Lord's just saying right now, there are some of you right now, you gotta make a faith step. It's today's the day for24:32 your faith step. Today's the day where you're gonna pick up the phone and call someone that you're at odds with. And you're gonna you're gonna take a step of faith, discipline yourself, go against your feelings,24:45 take an action that God wants you to take toward reconciliation and be blessed. Right? You are gonna be blessed. Some of you are being called to give generously.24:57 And you're you have this tension of, alright. Do I do I hang on to it? Do I give a part of it? And God's saying, just be generous. Whatever is generous, whatever you25:09 would perceive to be generous, give that. Some of you are being called to say no to something on your schedule, to say yes to a person. Like, you're gonna have to set aside25:21 maybe a meeting or, something that you're doing that is really fun in your mind. Like, you don't wanna miss it, but you're gonna do it25:33 because God's calling you to do it for the sake of something for the kingdom out here. I don't know exactly what it is, but something really important to you. And if you're in that kind of25:45 zone today, can I just encourage you as God is speaking to you right now? Do it. Act. Listen to Jesus. If you understand what I'm telling you, right, that the ask is25:56 coming from heaven. You feel in your spirit, like, hey. This isn't this is kinda disrupting my flow. This is but if the ask is from heaven and it's messing with your program today or your expectation, but it's the26:08 right thing and it's gonna show love for God or love for another person, do that and Jesus promises you will live a blessed life. So you might be in the discipline camp right now. You gotta discipline26:20 yourself to do it. You gotta you gotta act in faith. So when God asks you to take a certain step, obey a certain command, believe a certain truth, or claim a certain promise26:32 when you can't feel, the answer to that promise is even close. Right? It's your hope in him that drives26:44 your discipline in the present. Right? You fight your feelings. You act like son number 1. He did the right thing. Sons of God, do the right26:56 thing. You might struggle with it. You might even say, God, I'm not doing that. Right away. But then, like a boomerang, your faith comes around and it's like, you know what? That's God27:08 doing the asking. Alright. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna do what God says. That's okay. That's an okay process, a normal process. Jesus said, that's doing it the right way. Alright? Now,27:20 it's not always duty and discipline and have to. Right? Where I have to go against my feelings. Sometimes when heaven's heaven asks, it's your desire that responds. Right? And And don't you wish27:32 that it was that way all the time? Like God asks you, you're like, Yes, I will do that. Right? And it talks about this in Galatians 2 20, got God's man, Paul, and he's27:43 talking about a motivator, Right? That pushes him from discipline to desire. Right? Where it's not, he's27:55 not like pumping the brakes on the ask. He's like, Nope, just going to keep going, because I have this inner motivation, this desire that's pushing me forward. See if you can pick it up. Galatians 2 2028:07 from the message paraphrase. I identify myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer28:19 central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The28:31 life you see me living is not mine, but it is lived by faith in the son of God, listen, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going28:43 to go back on that. Did you pick up his motivator, his driver? So the headline of the newspaper regarding Paul is,28:55 what's going on with him? Right? Why is he so transformed? Why is he making new choices? What what's what's happening there? What's his29:07 motivation? What's at the core on the inside? Well, write this down. The motivator is what connects you to Christ, and Paul points this out. Right?29:19 My life, it's not mine anymore, but it is lived by faith in the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me. That's what connects him to Christ,29:31 and it's such a powerful connection. Somebody loved me enough to die for me? Yeah. I wanna give back. I I'm29:43 grateful for that. That gives me a desire that you know what? I don't care about what that costs because he did that for me. If it cost me something, it didn't cost me that.29:55 And he's so grateful for that connection, and that's the motivator. You see, man of God, what connects me and what connects you? And what connects30:07 us on this journey when God's making requests of us, you and your spaces and places, me and my spaces and places, our motivation should be the same and it should be the same30:19 as Paul's. Right? We should be living by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That is a powerful30:32 bond. Right? Person who is dying, person who rescued them. Right? Sinner separated from God30:44 and a future apart from God to saved and savior. Powerful connection, right? And we gotta use that as a driver. Sometimes30:56 it's discipline, alright, when we don't feel like desire, we just gotta steel ourselves, remember our hope, and say no to something, and say yes to another. Other times, it's like, there's31:07 no way. You see what Paul said? I'm not gonna go back on that. His desire is like at a 10, because he's thinking about the cross. Why do you think Jesus said, here's what I want you to do. I'm31:19 leaving, but you're gonna have this meal called communion, and you're gonna reflect on what connects us. Right? Blood,31:31 brokenness, so that your sin could be forgiven, so that you could have a purpose for living, and you could have a home in heaven. Alright. Let's look at the second motivator.31:43 Right? When heaven asks, sometimes it's discipline, but sometimes it's desire. Why? It's what connects me to Christ. Alright? We're gonna look at Matthew chapter 6 and look at the next motivator.31:55 Right? That that fuels our desire to say yes to God. Jesus says this, don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths, corroded by rust, or worse, stolen by32:06 burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven where it's safe for moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is32:18 is the place you will most want to be and end up being. So if what connects us to Christ fuels our desire, which32:30 is the cross, the next motivator is what's coming to you in Christ as you make a choice to say yes when God makes a request of you. In your marriage, when32:42 you say yes, Deposit in heaven. Right? When you say no to getting to your destination and and put on the blinker and pull over and help someone change a tire. When the guy who's holding the32:54 cardboard sign, you don't run past him, but you stop, you talk with him, and you bless him in Jesus' name. Right? That's all storing up treasure in heaven.33:06 Some some might say, oh, we're we're in it for the eternal profit. 150 percent. Jesus is giving us an investment proposition right here.33:18 It's like, you make eternal choices, you say yes to God, it's like just compounding your account and your portfolio inShow more In this video 0:00 The Tension of Obedience and Motivation18:31 Discipline, Desire, and Eternal Motivation33:20 Eternal Rewards and the Power of Honor
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