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Part 31 of 44
Wisdom & Wonder Season 5, Episode 2
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Life in Jesus is less about miracles and more about management. This principle is crucial for believers to understand, because God will place you in situations you cannot control. When you cannot control something, the only thing you can do is manage it. Some of us are praying for God to get us out of something He wants to demonstrate His power within. You have to develop the skill of management.
Contrary to popular belief, God is not in covenant with your comfort. He is not in covenant with your convenience. Jesus is the most inconvenient thing about Scripture. You serve a God who is more committed to His word than He is to your convenience, and His word encompasses His purposes and plans for your life—not your purposes.
We have created an idol out of our own purpose. We adopt purposes that don't include Him. I don't care how many blessings my purpose can bring me—I don't want what He doesn't want me to have. When you're not looking like everybody else, you have to manage that. When you don't feel like everybody else, you have to manage that. When social media has you so caught up that you think you need to be like everyone else, you have to manage that.
So now I'm not praying for miracles. I'm praying, "Help me manage this season. I'm not broke; I'm just between seasons. Help me manage it though." Everyone seems to be taking trips while I can't go anywhere—help me manage that. Everyone's relationships seem perfect while mine is tense—help me manage that. I don't need a miracle; a miracle would exclude me from doing any work. I'm asking for management.
Here's what happens when people read Scripture without understanding it was written for you but not to you: we read with confirmation bias. We take Scripture not for what it says, but for what we think it says to us. We see passages like "be not drunken with wine" and use them as validation to do things God is trying to separate us from. We tell ourselves, "I just won't get drunk." But what does it profit you? You're not doing it just because—you're doing it because it brings acceptance. You're doing it because you have unresolved issues and unmet needs. You're a people pleaser who deep down wants to say no, but can't because you fear rejection.
When your plans and purposes go wrong, you are automatically responsible for the solution. When it's your plan, you can fix it yourself. But it also means you will be haunted by your own shortcomings. You need to know you will fall short. Why? Because many are your plans, but you choose to neglect His. Now the focus is on you and what you can or cannot do, despite what you've witnessed God do.
Let me read this from Matthew 16, starting at verse 5:
When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. And then Jesus says to them, "Be careful. Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." They discussed this amongst themselves and said, "It is because we didn't bring any bread." Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them, "You of little faith, why are you talking amongst yourselves about having no bread? Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the 5,000 and how many basketfuls you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the 4,000 and how many basketfuls you gathered? How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread, but be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Jesus and His disciples are in the boat, getting ready to go to the other side of Galilee. They are leaving Jewish territory and going into pagan land—unfamiliar territory. Then they realize: we're getting ready to go on a journey and we didn't bring any bread.
Jesus says, "We're going on a journey, and you need to know something bigger than bread." He tells them, "Before we get there, be careful. Be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
If I was a disciple, I would wonder what He meant. But instead, they assume He's saying this because they didn't bring bread. You can logically deduce from His response that He was irritated. He said, "I see y'all still got little faith. You're concerned about bread when you don't know you're rolling with the bread." You're worried about being hungry when you don't understand that because you have me, you have provision.
You've seen me feed the 5,000 with bread. You've seen me feed the 4,000 with bread. But you're tripping over bread. Stop tripping over bread. You're with the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
He's concerned with the disciples' revelation of who He is. Even though they're with Him, kicking it with Him, chilling with Him, been with Him—He's still concerned about their revelation of Him. Because you can be with me and not know me. You can pray to me and not know me. You can lift your hands toward heaven but not have a relationship with me.
He's checking their revelation of who He is. My God, you mean to tell me you trust me to feed the multitude, but not all of you? Some of you say, "I believe, but help my unbelief." You know He can do it for them, but you don't know if He can do it for you. You've been praying a long time. He still hasn't done it. But don't look at what He's doing with everybody else and think He must not be able to do it for you. If He's blessing anybody near you, it means He's in the neighborhood.
The problem arises because you still look to yourself for provision. You're so inundated with what you don't have, what you didn't do, what you didn't correct, that He can't even give you instruction. Every time He speaks, you hear yourself. About three hundred of you need to be delivered from an allegiance to yourself. You say, "Jesus, I hear you. I know what's best for me. I know how to get out of this. I know how to make this work." And God is saying, "Away with you. I'm trying to tell you: I am the light. You need provision—I am. You need healing—I am. You need victory—I am. Everything you need is not found in you. It's all in me."
Now, how do you make bread? You need flour, water, and salt. Actually, you can make bread with just flour, salt, and water—it will be unleavened. It will still be bread, though it may not be the bread you prefer. What makes bread rise and gives it flavor is yeast.
Yeast is an additive. It not only helps the bread rise, it gives the bread flavor. And we all like a little flavor. There's nothing worse than having something with no flavor. All throughout life, we're looking to consume things that have flavor. We can't take anything without salt, without pepper, without flavor. But Jesus is saying: be on guard against the flavor. Watch out for the additives.
He's saying: you're going into territory where they're not like us. And because they're not like us, they're going to try to get you to be like them.
When people talk to you about your church—"I wouldn't stand in that line that long. This building is too hot for me. Why are you doing all of that for your church? Why would you give all of your money to that church?"—these are additives. They're not like us.
He's telling them, "It's not about the Pharisees and Sadducees themselves. It's about you. I want you to be aware that the principle of influence is always at work. There's no such thing as a neutral relationship. People are only in your life for one or two reasons: to add to it or take from it. Nobody in your life is standing neutral. They are only there to take or give. He is only there to take or give. She is only there to take or give."
Contextually, we are getting ready to go to territory you're not familiar with. But before we get there, let me give you the rules of engagement, because you're getting ready to come up against something you're not used to fighting. In the culture where you come from, everyone lifts their hands. This is your community, your family. Everybody doesn't do what you do.
He's not saying, "We have to avoid Pharisees." He's saying you have to guard yourself against their yeast. What do you mean by their yeast? Things that leaven bread that's meant to be unleavened. Things that give flavor that are meant to be unflavored. Things that want you to do something that I told you not to. Things that want you to date him when I said not yet.
Guard yourself. Society will have you thinking you're supposed to be in a relationship. In Genesis, God saw Adam and said, "Adam, you're good, but it's not good for you to be by yourself." How are you going to say you don't need something you were taken from? God didn't call you "woman"—Adam did. He presented Eve to Adam and Adam said, "I shall call her woman." He's supposed to give you your identity. He's supposed to give you your name, not call you out your name. He's supposed to speak over your life, push you forward, tell you about your goals, help you come up.
They didn't bring bread, which means it was a concern to them. It was their focus. Jesus never brings up the bread. He comes in the middle of you talking about provision and says the problem arises because you still look to yourself for provision.
Forget the bread, man. Here's why: when you're hungry, you'll eat anything. And I'm telling you from Dallas, Texas—you are what you eat. When you yoke yourself up with people, you sign up to fight demons that weren't assigned to you. Some of you are fighting their demons, his demons, her demons, and this stuff wasn't even for you. But because of who you're tied to, you're fighting.
Jesus is not a gospel of avoidance. It's a gospel of confrontation. I'm not going to take them from you. I'm going to give you power to be in front of them and say, "I'm cool with you, but you're not like me. We're friends, but you're not like me. We're together, but you're not like me. We work together, but you're not like me."
One: You may not have the revelation of Jesus, but you think you do. We are with Him. That breaks my heart—many of you are Christians but you're with Him and don't know Him. You come to church. You mean to tell me you don't know Him? People say to me, "That church parking is crazy. That line is too long. That attitude is too much." But here's the thing: you're in it. You still worry about how bills will get paid. You've got all that good worship and you still think therapy is not necessary. You need theology and therapy to survive. You're still talking about your issues and what you need God to do, but He's actually in the same boat with you.
Two: God will allow you to meet people you're not supposed to be in covenant with. God is so cold that He does this. But here's the answer to the angel question: God, why do you want me to stay away from that, but you don't take my appetite away? It's because He's saying, "I want you to have me and your appetite. When it comes to the point where you have to choose one, I want to know if you're going to choose me over your appetite." I know you like flavor, but I want to know if you'll choose my principles and precepts. Yes, some people are in relationships, but just because they "booed up" doesn't mean you got permission. Some of you are single on purpose. Don't mess that up.
Three: Be careful of the Pharisees—people who know the word. You have to be careful with people who know Scripture, because just because they can speak doesn't mean they're speaking the same language I am. Be careful with that yeast—things that make you rise.
Four: Don't mistake deconstruction for healthy boundaries. We're living in a culture where deconstructing is growing every day. God is not intimidated by questions—ask Him. But here's the problem: most people are thinking about deconstruction because they're trying to deconstruct what they call rules and regulations. They're really just healthy boundaries. When you read Scripture with confirmation bias—like when you read about lepers and think the king is being cruel—remember: yeast makes bread spread. Be careful because you like them, but they're not like us.
Five: Influence runs both ways. In this encounter, either I'm going to influence them to be like me, or they're going to influence me to be like them. My prayer for each person is that in your daily encounters you will beware of the fact that there's more than just Jesus trying to influence you.
Start praying about your friendships. Atlanta is such a social place. We call it networking, but the enemy will use your network to hang something around your neck, and that yeast will pull you further and further away. It starts small: "Come to brunch with us. You can miss one church service." One week becomes two becomes a pattern. You tell yourself, "The Lord knows my heart." And that's the problem—He knows your heart, and your heart is so messed up, you better not miss a week.
Don't be around the water and refuse to get wet. Yes, I commend you for being brave and pressing into this gathering week in and week out, filling this room and even the overflow. Don't do all of that activity and have no intimacy. When you need a blessing, be a blessing.
