Sermon: Let Go & Let God

8/2/09 Two Endings (Griff Martin) Let go And Let God

The essence of spirituality is contained in this phrase: complete and utter abandonment to the will of God. Jean Peirre De Caussade

Let go and Let God:
• Addicts do this very well
• The rest struggle to let go and Let God

Two journeys…
Luke 15:11-32
Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
"'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "
• Most Horrific: The father lets the son walk away
• Father sees son coming, has hope that one day his son will return, he always looks at horizon

1 Corinthians 3:5-9
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants though whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

• Paul starts a lot of things, but doesn’t finish much
• He’s a starter and leaves congregation to someone else to finish
• Paul gives it all to God
To let go…
• To let go is difficult
• We love control
• We cant wait to get our hands on stuff
o (Adam and Eve couldn’t wait to get their hands on the fruit to be like God)
• Abraham’s call to let go of Isaac (The Promised Son)
• Ester’s call to let go of her fears
• Scripture echoes a theme of letting go
• What are we going to let go today?
• Stop being so controlling and grabby
o Let go of:
 A sin (something you’ve been struggling with for a long time)
 A problem
 A person who keeps doing what they’re doing
 Someone who has gone on wrong path
 Don’t need to walk away, but stop being so controlling
• With Grace: We are told to let go and God echoes with “Let Me”
o Let God take control
o We’re giving it to the One who is All Powerful and Wise

To let Him…
• Let God
• We cant do it alone, but with God all things are possible
• That’s why we struggle, because we cant do it alone
• Truth: We cant fix others
• Have enough trouble trying to fix ourselves that we cant fix others
• We can only do so much, with God all things are possible
• With faith: Let God take over
• Might be surprised with what happens
• Get so lost in faith and appreciate it and let God take over
• Ocean: So deep, sometimes can get lost and wonder if its safe – respect
• My plans and God’s plans may be different
• When Abraham lets go, Isaac lives
• When Ester lets go and lives in the kings chamber, she saves a nation
• When Mary lets go, she brings Christ into the world
• Mary’s calling takes 9 months to develop, then takes a lifetime for her to understand

The Tension…the waiting…
• We are in the waiting place
• We don’t like to be the one who waits
• We need to find hope, that when we let go, we’re letting God work
• God works in His timetable and not ours
• Its not easy, but it’s the one that makes sense
• What do the stories have in common: Let go and Let God,
 reminded that God is there
 the waiting place isn’t that bad
 something to let go and let someone else deal with it
• No easy call, but in long run, it makes sense
• Truth: He’s got the whole world in His hands, and that means we don’t have to
• There’s only so much that you can do
• Let go of all that God is calling you to let Go of
• And find hope in the fact that it is in His Hands

It’s no easy call – but in the long run, its really the only on that makes sense
And it takes us back to another simply truth, truly He’s got the whole world in His hands. And that means you don’t have to carry it in yours
So this morning let go. Realize that you are only human; there is only so much you can do and that is fine.
Let go of all that God is calling you to let go of,
And let God.
Let God be God
Find hope in the fact that its in His hands

Be still and cooperate with the mystery that God is unfolding…let it be. Sue Monk Kidd