TURN

Step 3 We made a decision to TURN our lives and wills over to the care of God.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God: this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)

Principle 3 Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control.

Blessed are the meek (Matthew 5:5)

TURN
We’ve been talking about a group of people that had been freed from their slavery.  Theirs had been physical and spiritual slavery, our hurts and habits often are physical too, as well as relational, financial, emotional, but always spiritual.  The Bible says, “for we do not battle against flesh and blood, but against…spiritual hosts of evil” (Ephesians 6:12).

In the testimony we’ve been following, the people have been freed from the physical battle.  God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt by His mighty hand.  God had fought the battle; the Israelites just had to be obedient, giving their lives and wills over to God.  So they walked away from the Red Sea, and life from then on was all good…right?  Well, the work was only half done.  God had done the hard part in freeing them, now He was leading them to Mt Sinai where He was going to meet with them.  Now came the part where they just had to follow Him.  They had gladly TURNed from their slavery in Egypt and now they just had to TURN to God.

Sounds easy enough, right?  After all, who would ever want to go back to the thing that had enslaved them?  We would certainly never think of going back to the alcohol, the codependency, the drugs, the anger, the resentment, the gambling, the immorality, or any of that stuff.  Yeah, well even after all Israel had witnessed God doing for them in freeing them, they still wanted to go back any, and virtually every, time things didn’t go as they expected.  Check out Exodus 16:2-3, “Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.  And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full!  For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”  Why did they want to go back?  Because they weren’t happy with the food they had!  God provided them with food that they didn’t have to work for, it just arrived like a free pizza delivery every day.  Then later on in Numbers 11:4-5 they again complain about the food God was providing, “Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat?  We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”  Imagine complaining about what God was providing for you!  Then in Numbers 14:2-4, God had taken them to the border of the Promised Land, the Land God had promised Abraham that his descendants would occupy (Genesis 12:1-7), and this is what they said, “And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness!  Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”  So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”  It was right there, all they had to do was follow Him, and again He would do all the hard work; they just had to obediently follow, but they refused.  Then again in Numbers 20:3-5, now that they are just wandering around the dessert because THEY refused to enter the Promised Land, “And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!  Why have you brought up the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here?  And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.”  Even in their rebellion, God was still providing all they needed, but they weren’t happy with that.

What a bunch of ungrateful people, huh?  Sure glad you and me are not like that!  We never refuse to do what God wants, complain about God’s provision, and get upset with Him because things are not going our way.  We never TURN from our hurts and habits, only to go back when things get hard; we never have to worry about relapse.  Is that right?

Let’s go back to just after they had crossed through the Red Sea, and God was leading them to Mt Sinai (this is where God would give them the 10 Commandments).  But before those commands were given, there was something they had to do.  Check out Exodus 19:4-8…

(God said) “‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.  And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”  So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him.  Then all the people answered together and said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken we will do.’”

They had to agree to the covenant (the agreement / promise), that God would be their God and they would be His people.  Having just been freed from their slavery in impressive fashion, they quickly agreed.  They were happy to TURN from their slavery.  The problem is that they very soon forgot about their covenant, rebelled, and thereby broke the covenant.  They didn’t really want to TURN to God, they just wanted rid of their problem and then to go on living for themselves, however they wanted.  There was no lasting gratitude or love for God.

After 40 years of wandering in the desert, God renewed that covenant with the now grown children of that rebellious generation.  All the rebels had died in the desert and the “next generation” (not Star Trek) was just about to follow God into the Promised Land.  So in Deuteronomy 6:5, God tells them, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”  That is most important command in the entire Bible, Jesus said so (Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27).

How about you, do you love yourself, your old habit, your will, or do you love God with all of your heart, soul, and strength?

Freedom from our hurts, habits, addictions, and slavery is only have accomplished when we TRUN from those things.  To TURN from them, we must TURN to something else.  If it isn’t God that we TURN to, it will be something that becomes a new hurt, habit, addiction, and enslavement, AND it will most surely lead to relapsing as well.

So, what does it mean to T.U.R.N.?

Trust – We have to take a step of faith and trust God.  Some of us say we can’t trust, “I’ve never heard God speak to me, how can I trust Him?”  But we trust the waitress not to steal the info off our credit card when she takes it.  We trust total strangers to stop at a red light as we go through the green.  We trust people we don’t really know with our kids at school all day, every day.  Yet we wonder if we can trust God?  If we don’t decide to trust God, we’ll keep doing things our way – like the Israelites, and doing life our way is what got us into the hurts and habits!  Remember our definition of “insanity”…”doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.”  How about we stop trusting in ourselves, and make a decision to start trusting God.  By the way, it’s hard to trust someone you don’t know, so get to know more about Him by reading His Word, the Bible.  I recommend starting in the Gospel of John.

Understand – We, like the Israelites, should understood that we can trust God.  They had seen His power and intervention for them, but in moments of trial and temptation they chose to understand they were missing out on some old “fun”…back in their slavery.  God has been intervening for you too, though you might not have been paying attention or giving Him any credit for what He’s done.  You are still alive after all and being given this opportunity to give your life over to Him.  He could have just taken you out a long time ago, right?  We need to understand that God is our only HOPE.  You can TRUST Him, BUT things won’t always go like you expect them too!  And that’s okay because His ways are better than our ways!

Repent – The Israelites understanding of themselves and their slavery kept them from repenting.  Oh, they often admitted they had sinned, when God called them out.  They expressed sorrow, because they were afraid of God punishing them.  But they always went right back to their old rebellious behaviors.  Repentance is more than just sorrow.  Sorrow is necessary, but sorrow alone isn’t enough.  Repentance is TURNing away from our pride and self-reliance, TURNing away from our hurts & habits.  It’s all that AND, TURNing all of our life and will over to God in Jesus Christ.

That’s what step 3 is all about.  Step 1 is understanding that you are powerless over your hurts & habits.  Step 2 is acknowledging that Jesus is your only Hope and Help.  Step 3 is turning our life and will over to Christ.  STEP 3 “We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.”

New Life – That rebellious generation of Israelites never got new life in the Promised Land.  Oh, they had a different life (not enslaved in Egypt but wondering in the desert).  We can give up some addiction and have a different life, without getting a new life.  New life is not about getting a fresh start, God does not just make every problem disappear.  It doesn’t mean your life from now on will be pain/worry free.  It doesn’t mean you wont still need to work through past hurts and habits…

New Life is about being an all new Creation in Christ and loving Him.  Like getting married – life is radically different, but old problems don’t go away.  Guys, you can’t keep your old girlfriends.  You’ve got to take their numbers out of your cell phone, their pictures out of your wallet, and thoughts of them out of your head!  Can you still run into them at Walmart?  Yes, but you better RUN the other direction if you do!

Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  Romans 6:11 tells us that new life means “dead to sin and alive to God.”  It means He will present us faultless, meaning not guilty (Jude 24). It means we now have Jesus Christ as our intercessor (Hebrews 7:25).

It means we can now face and defeat our hurts and habits through the power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26).

Conclusion
New Life only comes only by trusting what God says, understanding who I am – and TURNing from it, understanding who Jesus is – and TURNing all my life and will over to Him, and repenting of my rebellion.  Finally, do you know Jesus?  Do you love Jesus?