Freedom from People-Pleasing: Embracing Our Kingdom Identity

Whoever we please controls us. You know, there's an interesting story about people pleasing in the book of 1 Samuel. A priest named Eli was afraid to correct his sons, and his sons were selfish. They were stealing the animal sacrifices. They were using their power position to seduce young women who assisted at the temple. But Eli was a people pleaser, and he did not correct his own sons. Evidently, he feared their reactions. In essence, his sons controlled Eli. And what was at the root of that kind of people pleasing? Well, this is how God responds to Eli's child-pleasing parenting. Why do you give your sons more honor than you give me? Thinking lightly of God is at the root of people pleasing. You know, God is the ultimate reality. Therefore, he carries the ultimate weight. This is what it means to honor God. To honor God means we give God ultimate weight. To honor God is to think highly of God more than any other person, including ourselves.

God is the ultimate reality. He is a king over a kingdom. And we as believers are citizens of that kingdom. And Paul writes this, For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his dear son. There are only two kingdoms in this world. What's a kingdom? A kingdom is where a king rules. It is where a king extends his influence. It is where people submit to his rule. Now, as Americans, we're not used to kings or monarchies. In fact, we rebelled against a king and we set up a democracy. And we've got this inbred, independent, don't tread on me kind of tendency. So we don't like to submit to anyone. Now, when we look at a globe or a map, we see a whole bunch of countries in the world where presidents and prime ministers and kings and queens and dictators are all extending their rule.

We were prisoners under the control of the Prince of Darkness. But since we were created in God's image, we are valuable to God. He cares. So God designed a rescue mission and sent his own son, Jesus, just like we are. Obama sent the SEAL Team 6. And Jesus jumped into this dark world, just as SEAL Team 6 parachuted into the dark kingdom of Somalia. But Jesus did more than SEAL Team 6. While the SEALs risked their lives for Jessica, Jesus actually did lose his life. His life became the ransom. He paid a ransom worth much more than $45 million. He paid the ransom with his own life. And that's what the next verse says. Who purchased our freedom, purchased or ransomed our freedom and forgave our sins. You know, Jessica did nothing to rescue herself. She was helpless. And in the same way, we can do nothing to save ourselves. And the only thing that we can do is call out for help. Lord, rescue me.

We live out of how we see ourselves. And in this month, this is where we're going. We figure out freedom when we live out of our brand new identity. And today, we're going to be talking about this. When we see ourselves as a new citizen with a new allegiance, we experience a new freedom. Now, Paul writes the Christians at Philippi this. He says, But we are citizens of heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. This is my new identity. I'm a citizen of the kingdom of God. And I have a king. And he's coming back. and I'm eagerly waiting for him to return, and on that day, I'm going to stand before him, and I'm going to give an account for my life. This is my ultimate reality.

There are only two types of power in the world, the devil and the Lord. There are only two allegiances. And despite all our roles and identity, we either serve the devil or we serve the Lord. We either please the Lord or we please the devil. And I remember when I first heard that song, I thought, no, isn't there a third option? Can't I just serve me? I mean, isn't that the third option? I know I don't want to serve Satan, and I'm not quite sure about being all in on Jesus. So isn't serving myself in my own interest option number three? There are only two powers, and there are only two allegiances. And the hard truth is that serving yourself is serving the devil, because if he can get you caught up with yourself, then you are no longer caught up with God.

The most fundamental reason we exist is to give God glory. This means the greatest purpose in our life is to give God glory or to give God weight. And we only experience true freedom when we live for the very reason in which we were created. You know, when Mary and I, we're living in Ames, we experienced an ice storm that just covered the sidewalk with a layer of slick ice. In order to carry out my civic duty, my job was to rid that sidewalk of that ice. How am I going to get ice off a sidewalk? So I went into the tool shed to look for some kind of ice-breaking implement, and I chose a garden hoe. And I began whacking the ice with the hoe, and guess what? Within minutes, the hoe splintered into pieces. That day, I learned a valuable lesson. If you use tools in ways they weren't designed, they break. And in the same way we break when we live for a purpose in which we weren't designed.

We only experience freedom when we give God our complete allegiance. He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. He's not to be a hobby. He's not to be simply a side interest. Jesus is not someone to think about only on Sunday mornings. He's not just a part of a self-improvement plan. He is the ultimate reality. We are created to give allegiance to someone greater than ourselves. There are only two kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. There are not three kingdoms to choose from, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of darkness, and the kingdom of yourself. Yes, you're going to have to serve somebody. Well, it may be the devil, it may be the Lord, but you're going to have to serve somebody.

I finally came to a spot in my life, it was actually several years after becoming a Christian, where I finally just submitted everything to God. And I pray, God, I am now willing to do anything that you ask. I yield myself to you, I submit myself to you. You are now the most important person in my life, more important about what you think than what any other person thinks. Including myself. And it was then I finally felt more free from the slavery of being a people pleaser. See, when we see ourselves as a new citizen with a new allegiance, we experience a new freedom.

Regularly pray the Lord's Prayer. You know, I think this is one reason why the Lord gave us the Lord's Prayer. You know, the disciples came to Jesus one day, and they asked Jesus, teach us how to pray, and he gave them the Lord's Prayer, but I don't think he gave them and gave us this prayer to pray mindlessly or repetitiously. He gave us this prayer to form the content of our own prayers, to script our own prayers. He gave us this prayer to focus our attention on what's really important, the kingdom of God, and we're going to take a look at the Lord's Prayer in the old King James Version, which has provided the vocabulary for the verse, of the Lord's Prayer that most of us are familiar with, and this is how it starts. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

The greatest freedom in the world is when we live for God's will. If you're a teenager or if you're in your 20s, you have your whole life ahead of you. You're making choices right now that are going to affect the rest of your life. So who is influencing your decisions? Is it your friends, your parents, your own desires, or God? Give God weight. And say to God, Thy will be done in my life. So how does the Lord's Prayer continue here? Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So after centering ourselves on the greatness and the weightiness of God, we turn to our own needs. We say, Lord, give me the sustenance and the ability and the strength today to do your will.

For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen. I want you to notice that word for, for. We pray all this because God is the ultimate reality. He is the king of the greatest kingdom in the universe. He has ultimate power. He has and will receive ultimate glory. He is weighty and we are not. He is weighty and other people are not. And we figure out freedom when we live for this ultimate reality. When you see yourself as a new citizen with a new allegiance, you experience a new freedom.

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