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God is THE Authority
Updated: Oct 14
On one of my trips with my husband to Germany, we flew into Münich and took the train along the Bavarian Alps to where my cousin lives. We planned a long stop in the village of Hohenschwangau where the Neuschwanstein Castle is located. You may not know the castle by its actual name. It is the castle that Disney based its logo on and built replicas of it at the Disneyland (CA) and Magic Kingdom (FL).
Neuschwanstein in person is impressive, walking a winding path as it towers above you. But the castle itself is not to what I want to draw your attention. About a third of a mile from the castle is the Marienbrücke, a bridge that spans 115 feet across a gorge 295 feet below.
You can walk to it from the castle in under 30 minutes, and get the most photographed view of the castle.
1.3 to 1.5 million visitors each year venture out onto the suspension bridge to get their token selfie with Neuschwanstein in the background. A significantly smaller amount of visitors, cross the bridge to the other side and actually hike the beautiful trails of the Bavarian Alps.
Two years ago, we studied different Psalms, looking at “God is…” and “God does…” truths. We connected those truths to what it teaches about us, both in battling our sin nature and resting in who we are now in Christ. We then applied these truths to how we can reflect who God is and how He acts, and finally how we can pray in light of the truths about God, including praising and thanking God, repenting (confession), asking (requests), and yielding to God’s will. We did this because everything flows out of who God is and how He acts – our identity, how we are to live, our worldview.
The past year, I wrote on some of the “God is…” truths or attributes of God. Recently, our church has been blessed by the preaching on four of God’s attributes. One sermon covered more fully God’s unity or simplicity that we looked at last September. God is all of His attributes, all of the time. They are inextricably connected to each other. So, in examining one attribute more closely, God’s other attributes are not on the bench taking a timeout. They are always present, active, and undivided.
Another sermon, “The Lord Reigns”, focused on God’s justice and wrath, but it necessarily highlighted God’s sovereignty. The final sermon, “Trust the Ruling Creator”, emphasized God’s sovereignty. God’s sovereignty and the truth that He reigns necessarily mean that God has all authority.
Like the millions of visitors who swarm onto the Marienbrücke each year but never cross to hike the trails on the other side, we take a few steps on the bridge, hearing God’s word, but we don’t do them. We don’t submit to God’s authority and obey. Yes, we may be amazed at who God is, what God does, and what He has done through Jesus’ substitutionary death, but amazement is not enough. It should also convict us to change our desires, motivations, thoughts and the way we speak, and act.
Last year our church's men's Bible study format shifted to teaching on key topics specifically related to men's sanctification. This year, our women will begin something similar. Some of the teaching will be specific to our Biblical roles, but teaching may also be the same topic as the men but applied particularly to our roles as women. And there will be some instruction covered that the men don’t because they are sins that tend to be more of a temptation for us as women than they are for men. I am sharing here the ones that I am teaching.
Thinking back to the Marienbrücke and the trails on the other side, I wanted to begin with one more “God is…” truth that will governs all the commands God gives us. Think of it as taking us fully across the bridge, so we can run the trails of God’s truths, conforming us increasingly more to the image of Christ.
Here it is: God is THE authority. In thinking of God’s authority, His sovereignty, omnipotence, grace, and mercy are front and center as well. But the more I dwell on it, more and more of God’s attributes join in at front and center, which you will hopefully recognize as we work through the truth that God is THE authority. See how many you can pick out in the lesson.
Who has seen Top Gun? What about the sequel Maverick? One of the things for which Tom Cruise’s character gets in trouble is buzzing the tower. This means to fly an aircraft very low and fast directly past or over an air traffic control tower.]
We are going to do a quick overview of the Sermon on the Mount that might feel a little like sitting in the control tower as an F-14 Tomcat buzzes the tower, so hold on and turn to Matthew 5.
The first thing we need to do is understand the context of the Sermon on the Mount. John Stott is helpful in setting the stage: “The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed. It is the nearest thing to a manifesto that he ever uttered, for it is his own description of what he wanted his followers to be and to do.”[1]
Stott goes on to say: “For the essential theme of the whole Bible from beginning to end is that God’s historical purpose is to call out a people for himself; that this people is a ‘holy’ people, set apart from the world to belong to him and to obey him; and that its vocation is to be true to its identity, that is, to be ‘holy’ or ‘different’ in all its outlook and behaviour.”[2]
This began with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and continued with their descendants, the Israelites. God gave them commands to be obeyed, most notably the 10 commandments although there are 613 commands in the Old Testament Law. These commandments were to set the Israelites apart from the pagan nations around them, but the Israelites didn’t keep a straight course of obedience. They had cycles of ups and downs, obeying and worshiping God alone, and rebelling and worshiping idols. As God had clearly stated, disobedience had consequences. The Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah ended with rebellion, and both taken into captivity.
Ezekiel 11:12 sums it up: “and you shall know that I am the Lord. For you have not walked in my statues, nor obeyed my rules, but have acted according to the rules of the nations that are around you.”
Jeremiah also gives us a picture in 2:13: “for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
About 700 years after Israel and about 600 years after Judah were taken into captivity, Jesus began His preaching ministry, saying: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). This is the context of the Sermon on the Mount.Let’s turn again to John Stott: “It portrays the repentance (metanoia, the complete change of mind) and the righteousness which belong to the kingdom. That is, it describes what human life and human community look like when they come under the gracious rule of God. And what do they look like? Different! Jesus emphasized that his true followers, the citizens of God’s kingdom, were to be entirely different from others. They were not to take their cue from the people around them, but from him, and so prove to be genuine children of their heavenly Father.”[3]
I don’t know about you, but until recently, I had read the Sermon on the Mount as a bunch of separate teachings, corresponding with later additions of the headings. So, the second thing we need to know is that the Sermon on the Mount is one teaching, beginning with blessing, and then moving to multiple contrasts between the world and Jesus’ commands that aimed at the heart, not outward behavior alone like the Pharisees. Jesus’ sermon culminates in the latter part of Matthew 7 with a hard truth, spoken in love.
But let’s start in Matthew 5:1. [Have someone read} The third thing we need to do is breakdown the people in Jesus’ audience. What three groups can you determine from verse 1? [Crowds. Typical of Jesus’ audiences, as is here, it was a Jewish crowd. Jesus, who sees the crowds, and goes up the mountain. Jesus’ disciples who followed Him up the mountain.]
Disciples, as used here, does not mean only the Twelve. It was a broader group that included the Twelve, but also was comprised of other true disciples, and those who professed to be Jesus’ followers but really weren’t. From John 6:66, we know that some turned from following Jesus. Jesus knew His audience. He keeps building pointed truth upon pointed truth to help them examine their own hearts, until he drops the mic, so to speak, in Matthew 7:21-27.
We buzzed the tower, so now turn to Matthew 7:21, and we will slow down. [Have someone read vs 21-23] Up till now, Jesus has instructed His audience through contrasts. Now, He makes a strategic shift to make clear the proper response to the instruction He just gave, starting with a shocking declaration that He determined who entered heaven. In the Old Testament, God alone had the authority to determine who could enter heaven. Jesus is claiming that same authority because He is God.
“‘The Lord Jesus winds up the Sermon on the Mount’, writes J. C. Ryle, ‘by a passage of heart-piercing application. He turns from false prophets to false professors, from unsound teachers to unsound hearers.’1 R. V. G. Tasker’s comment is similar: ‘It is not only false teachers who make the narrow way difficult to find and still harder to tread. A man may also be grievously self-deceived.’”2[4]
Some will verbally profess their faith, but there is no heart transformation. Thus, they are self-deceived not saved.
Jesus took this heart-piercing, self-examination one step further. [Have someone read Matthew 7:24-27.] Many read this and think that Jesus is the rock foundation, but in this teaching, the foundation is those who hear AND obey. Both men build houses. A cursory glance wouldn’t distinguish a difference. Likewise, a true follower of Jesus and one who is not could also look alike.
What does Jesus say will reveal the truth? [Storm or trials]
In August 2023, Hurricane Hilary traveled through the Baja Peninsula and continued on to Southern California and over to Vegas. As we have friends throughout the regions Hilary was expected to impact, I followed the news for several days. After Hilary dissipated, I received an email from a mission organization we support in the Baja region of Mexico.
They prepared for Hilary as best they could, but their buildings are old. Although, the rain and wind were not as severe as predicted, they still exposed leaks in the roof and extensive damage by termites. The storm revealed the true condition of the building that was previously unseen and unknown.
There was a girl my husband grew up with in church. After college, she and her husband joined a missionary organization and headed to a foreign mission field. Two daughters were born to them in this country, but then, at young ages, the girls became ill. The couple returned to the States in hopes of better medical help.
When there were no traditional answers, out of concern for her daughters, their mom began looking to anything she could for help. Today, she has turned from the Gospel and has led many down a false gospel path. The storm of her daughters’ failing health revealed the self-deception that sadly, she was not a true follower of Jesus.
Stott succinctly concludes: “Thus the followers of Jesus are to be different—different from both the nominal church and the secular world, different from both the religious and the irreligious.”[5]
Let’s read the concluding verses of the Sermon on the Mount. [Read vs 28-29] The crowds are back account, so it is possible they followed the disciples up the mountain to stand within earshot. Their reaction? Astonishment because He taught as one who had authority, not as their scribes. Jesus didn’t stop and call a rabbi to get the rabbi’s take on His teaching. He didn’t pull out a scroll, and do a quick skim. He didn’t Google a question or ask AI. Jesus just spoke, and the crowds recognized His authority.
We can’t separate Jesus’ authority from His grace (or any other attribute). He said hard words, so that those listening would not be self-deceived about their faith. It is a warning to us to examine our own hearts. It also cautions us not to automatically assume that because a person professes faith in Jesus, goes to church, reads their Bible, prays, and serves in church, that they are a true disciple of Jesus.
So far in my experience in Biblical counseling, it is critical in the first several sessions to examine the counselee's profession of faith and the “house” they have built, but it is crucial outside of counseling as well. The genuineness of one's faith or not is the difference between eternal life or eternal damnation. If we take one’s profession of faith or spiritual activities at face value without getting to know them better and observing responses in big and little storms, we will treat them as a believer, possibly feeding their self-deception and ushering them to hell, when we should be sharing the Gospel.
Matthew Henry aptly stated: “It is possible for people to admire good preaching, and yet to remain in ignorance and unbelief; to be astonished, and yet not sanctified.”[6]
A devotion from Ligonier Ministries goes on to say: “Amazement at Christ’s authority is not enough, today’s passage reveals. We must build our lives on the solid foundation of His teaching. If we do not do what He says, we are like those whose houses rest upon the sand and are swept away by flash floods (vv. 24–27). Our good works do not merit salvation, but real trust in Christ is not present in our hearts without the corresponding obedience of faith (Rom. 1:5; James 2:14–26).”[7]
Let me read you just a few passages that speak to God’s authority:
“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). God had, and still does have, authority to command creation into existence. In fact, every command God issues is a testimony of His authority.
“He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings’ he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding” (Daniel 2:21). God has authority and sovereignty over times, seasons, and earthly rulers.
“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3). God does not have to answer to anyone because there is no authority above Him. He is supreme. God can do as He pleases.
“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god’” (Isaiah 44:6). It is incomprehensible that the Almighty Creator of everything would have to ask permission to act.
When God answers Job out of the whirlwind in Job 38-41, His response is filled with testimonies to His sovereignty and authority as He commands different aspects of creation. Earlier in the account of Job, God limited (commanded) what Satan was allowed to inflict on Job. God had and still does have absolute authority over Satan.[8]
The wind and the waves obey Jesus (Matthew 8:27).
Jesus explicitly declares His authority in Matthew 28:18: “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’”
We’ve established that God has authority. He is THE authority, but what does that mean for you and me? Go back to what Jesus taught throughout the Sermon on the Mount and at the conclusion of His sermon. "There are two groups of people. Those who strive to obey and live by Christ's Word and those who do not strive to obey and live by Christ's Word."[9]
Far too many in church today want to separate Jesus’ Lordship from His saving work. They want to grab the gift of salvation, but think submission can come later or maybe not at all. Scripture doesn’t separate them. Jesus questioned homage with lips but not lives in Luke’s account of the Matthew 7:24-27 passage: “’Why do you call me “Lord, Lord,” and not do what I tell you?’” (Luke 6:46, emphasis added). They use the title Lord,but it has no real meaning because they do not obey Jesus’ words.
We don’t have time to go into the fullness of Jesus’ use of the Greek words kurios (lLord) and doulos (slave), but Jews in Jesus’ time would have understood a lord’s right of ownership and the lowest category of slave, who could be forced to work without pay, and had no standing or rights. This is the language Jesus uses for His true disciples. In the Gospel, we have an invitation to slavery.
Romans 6:18 “having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”
With this in mind, John MacArthur writes: “There is no other possible way to view it. There is also no other legitimate way to adjust that message to make it sound appealing to people who admire Jesus but are not prepared to serve Him. He was not seeking admirers, He was calling followers – not casual followers but slaves. That explains why He demanded His disciples’ implicit obedience, and when He encountered people who were not willing to obey unconditionally, He discouraged them from following Him at all.”[10]
We make multiple choices every day, but will our choices be God-honoring, submitting to God, or be self-centered, choosing rebellion? This submission to God or self, as we learned from the Sermon on the Mount, goes beyond outward actions and words to our inward thoughts, motives, and desires. They too must be submitted to God “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). If our hearts are not submitted to God, storms will eventually reveal to whom or what we are actually submitted.
The Y-Chart explaining this truth in more detail is an oft used Biblical counseling illustration. Dr. Nicholas Ellen taught it as “The Point of Choice” at ACBC Bozeman this year. It was excellent. See the “For Further Study” for more information.
We often prickle at the word submit or submission. But God is our Creator. He is God, and we are not. He has all authority to command how we are to live before Him as His children, who were bought with a price. Submission alongside gratitude and praise are the only right responses to who God is and what He has done.
But have you ever thought of submission to God, obeying His commands, as a delight? For the past few months, Meghan, Lynn, and I have been doing a slow study through Psalm 119, sharing our responses and applications in a group text each day. It was not new to me to read of the psalmist delighting in God’s Word. This is a common theme throughout the 176 verses. For example, verse 103: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”[11]
What I had completely missed all these years, though, was that the psalmist also purposed and delighted to obey God’s Word. Here are a few examples:
“Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it” (vs 35).
“When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies; I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments” (vs 59-60).
“I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end” (vs 112).
“Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them” (vs 129).
“My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly” (vs 167). (Note the psalmists’ soul, the deepest part of him, keeps the testimonies.)
Even in suffering and adversity, the psalmist is resolute and delighted to obey God. It’s a joy. Stephen Yuille expresses this reality well: “Because God is our Lord, it is our delight to do His will. We see His commands as an expression of His goodness, and we “submit” to Him (James 4:7). We don’t like to submit. Often, we conform on the outside but not on the inside. But true submission to God means joyfully surrendering to His will. It is being able to say, ‘I delight to do Your will, O my God’ (Ps. 40:8).”[12]
I’m going to give you a short break from me, and ask Meghan to share briefly how submitting to God and considering it a delight to do so have impacted her life.
As my pastor preached through Colossians 3:18-4:1, he brought out a common theme: submission and obedience was done as is fitting in the Lord, for it pleases the Lord, fearing the Lord, as for the Lord, or knowing who their Master is. In each of these relationships, the overarching submission and obedience is to Christ.[13]
Stephen Yuille challenges us to application through some very practical examples which we will be learning in greater detail together in future devotions. [He addresses men as well, but since my audience is women, that is what I included.]
“If a wife is a nitpicking irritant in the home, then she isn’t joyfully surrendering to God. If a woman is a gossiping nuisance in the church, then she isn’t joyfully surrendering to God… When our children push the boundaries, our reaction demonstrates the extent of our submission to God. When we disagree with our spouse, our reaction demonstrates the extent of our submission to God. When people don’t treat us as we think we deserve, our reaction demonstrates the extent of our submission to God. When our church won’t affirm our personal opinions or preferences, our reaction demonstrates the extent of our submission to God. We must assume the mind of a servant who recognizes that God’s ‘precepts concerning all things… [are] right’ (Ps. 119:128).”
It is easy to forget that the things we say and do on a horizontal level as well as our thoughts, motives, and desires are first and foremost about submission to or rebellion against God. Will we delight to obey Him even in the difficult, submitting to His authority and thereby bringing Him the glory He is due?
Psalm 119:137 says: “Righteous are you, O Lord, and right are your rules.” Stephanie Schwartz’s devotional commentary on this verse is an apt way for us to end. “The psalmist draws no line between God’s character and God’s commands. What God requires flows directly from who he is… Throughout life, God’s people long to know the right thing to do. We wonder which decision will prove wise or which path we will not regret in the end. Scripture gives a clear answer. The way forward is found in God’s word. When we submit ourselves to his ways and repent of desires that contradict them, our thinking is corrected and our steps are ordered. Obedience rooted in trust produces peace rather than regret. When obedience feels costly or confusing, this verse steadies our hearts. God is righteous, and everything he does is right. Move forward today determined to do God’s will, confident that because his law is rooted in who he is, you will never regret submitting your heart and your actions to his word. He knows what he is doing, and he knows what we should do.”[14]
Prayer
Sovereign God, I don’t like to submit. Every day, in some way, I choose rebellion against You when I sin in my thoughts, motives, desires, actions, and words. Help me to remember that You are God and I am not. You have all authority to command how I live. Help me submit my will to Yours. May I not see obedience to Your Word as a drudgery but as a delight because in Christ, I have been brought from death to life and adopted as Your beloved child. Thank you that You have given me the Holy Spirit and have broken the power of sin in my life by Jesus’ substitutionary death, enabling me to joyfully choose submission and obedience to You and Your Word. Thank you that You have given me Your Word so that I know how to walk in obedience. Thank you for Your grace, mercy, and forgiveness in the times I do not submit or obey. Thank you that You still see me as clothed in Jesus’ righteousness, and that no amount of obedience or disobedience on my part will ever lessen Your love for me or increase it. May I surrender my will and life to You. May I trust and obey You so that Your name would be known, and You would be glorified. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Reflection
1. Do you think of Jesus as someone who mainly helps you or someone who truly has full authority over you? Explain.
2. What is something God has already made clear in His Word to which you are not submitting or are trying to negotiate with God? What do your thoughts, motives, and desires reveal about why you are not submitting or are trying to negotiate with God?
3. As you examine your life this past week, what do your choices, priorities, obedience, and attitude towards obedience reveal about who or what is ruling your heart? Where is Jesus calling you to surrender and obey Him more fully?
4. Relationships are often messy and challenging as sinners interact with sinners. How will knowing God’s commands – like the one-anothers including submitting to one another (Ephesians 5:21), looking to the interests of others (Philippians 2:3-4), or speaking words that build up (Ephesians 4:29) – are obeyed out of obedience and submission to God change your obedience on the horizontal level with a person with whom you do not get along?
5. How would seeing obedience as a joy and delight impact your submission and obedience?
For Further Study
“God is…” truths: Just, Holy, Righteous, Gracious, Love, The Authority, Judge, Creator, Sovereign, Transcendent, Merciful
1. Read the whole Sermon on the Mount. Read it afresh with new understanding of the context and the response Jesus wants you to consider. Ask God to show you where you are not submitting and obeying with delight. Confess and repent.
2. Read “The Point of Choice” by Dr. Nicholas Ellen. On page 10, he shares an illustration of the complete process, using heart-level questions for application at each point of the process. Work through a past or current choice using the questions on the illustration.
I have the printed notes available. You can also watch a two-part video on YouTube of the same teaching at a different conference:
3. Memorize Psalm 119:137 and Matthew 7:24-27.
4. Read Ch 1 “What Does Jesus Mean When He Says, “Follow Me”? in The Gospel According to Jesus by John MacArthur. (I have a digital copy I can email you.) Share what you learn with someone.
5. Read Chapter 4 “The Heart is the Target” in Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands by Paul Tripp. (I have a digital copy I can email you.) Share what you learn with someone.
Songs
“Take My Life, and Let It Be” (hymn), “I Surrender All” (hymn), “Thy Will Be Done” (hymn recently recorded by Indelible Grace Music), “Trust and Obey” (hymn), “Speak, O Lord” (Keith & Kristyn Getty), “Glory to God Forever” (Fee), and the kid’s song “OBEDIENCE” on YouTube.
Resources (Thank you to Christiane Williams for compiling)
Booklets
You Can Trust God – Jerry Bridges
Christ and Your Problems – Jay Adams
How can our overwhelming problems be put into a biblical perspective that gives hope based on 1 Corinthians 10:13. The emphasis is “the genuine solution is found in God's way” through trust and obedience we can respond rightly to God – stop trying to be God and do the things he has commanded you to do by surrendering your will and entrusting yourself to God.
How to Handle Trouble – Jay Adams
What the Christian should do when facing circumstances, he or she cannot fix or control. Exegesis of Philippians 1:12–26 emphasizes discerning God's hand in troublesome circumstances and responding biblically rather than focusing on the circumstances…
Man doesn’t have control – my response is how can I obey God?
Godliness through Discipline – Jay Adams
Obedience and progressive godliness. Exegesis 1 Timothy 4:7 arguing that genuine holiness doesn't happen instantaneously; Christians must actively discipline themselves toward godliness. What does submitting to GOD actually look like in the day to day?
Letting Go of Legalism – Lou Priolo Obedience to God’s word rather than elevating man-made rules or the application of God’s commands and placing this on others. Obedience’s goal isn’t earning favor or greater approval, trying to obey in your own strength, rather obedience stems from our LOVE for GOD and a confidence His ways are best which flow out of his goodness towards us. Even if it doesn’t feel good – delight in GOD and his word.
Books
Joyful Surrender: 7 Disciplines for the Believer’s Life by Elisabeth Elliot
o Overarching theme: surrender your will to God, accepting His authority, obeying His Word, trusting His sovereignty, and relinquishing the demand to control your circumstances, not reluctantly, but a joyful yes – central idea is GLAD surrender
o Surrender – discipline (wholehearted response all of life) not what can I get out of this but Lord I am yours and gladly will do what you will… – obedience (God’s grace, word, prayer, spirit) he supplies what we need to obey – (time, place, way, possession, feelings, etc.) freedom – JOY
Taking God at his word – Kevin DeYoung – submission to God’s word
All of Me: Pursuing a Life Wholly Devoted to God by Cheryl Marshall
Because of GOD’s mercy towards us in Christ, we should offer our entire lives to GOD as an act of worship. Romans 12:1-2 We find our motivation for devotion to God (trust and obedience) through worship – awe. Recognize your life is not your own how do you live it moment by moment in worship to him. Surrender – be transformed by the word and embrace Gods will moment by moment. Mind, desires, relationships, plans and agendas, ambitions, time future ALL. A women devoted, words, motivated by mercy
Heart & Habits: How We Change for Good - Gregg Gifford
Both heart motivations and godly practice are critical for growth in Christ. He shows that progressive sanctification travels on a bidirectional highway between our hearts and our habits—we do what we love and we love as we do!
Heaven Rules – Nancy DeMoss
God is Sovereign – His Kingdom and Rulership prevails in chaotic times when life doesn’t make sense to man. Examples: Samuel; God is ruling even when it appears otherwise. Instead of asking what is happening and strive to change it – submit to the one ruling over it. (Daniel is an example – humility, God’s authority, our dependence, eternal perspective, God’s timing and purposes in suffering)
Ø Awe by Paul Tripp Why it matters for all we think, say, and do.
Podcasts – If you are interested in the podcasts, we can email you the links. We also have additional links. Check with Christiane.
Obedience - Elisabeth Elliot Podcast
Will vs Feelings – Elisabeth Elliot Podcast
Truth in Love: Episode 327 Heart and Habits Greg Gifford
Joyful Journey Right and Good April 21, 2023
God not culture or feelings is our authority. Main theme: am I allowing God to define right and wrong or am I? God's boundaries aren't to rob us but for our good and joy. It incorporates the gospel and points to Christ, we can't make ourselves right, but based on what Christ has done, then we can live differently.
Joyful Journey Changing What you Treasure - Brent Aucoin July 25, 2025 God's word (Truth) is our authority, God and his ways are best, temptation attacks truth, knowing it isn't enough, we have to believe it and set our confidence in it – trust. If I believe and trust that God is good and His ways are best, then I begin to treasure God Himself and His ways. What you treasure is what you pursue - once God is your treasure obedience flows from it. We want what God wants because we treasure him. Truth - trust - treasure - obedience - joy and peace.
(This chart was passed on to me. It is not mine, but I couldn't find who the original creator is.)
[1] John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 14–15.
[2] Ibid, 17.
[3] Ibid, 18.
[4] Ibid, 205.
[5] Ibid, 19.
[6] Henry, Matthew. Cited in “Christ, Our Solid Foundation.” Ligonier Devotionals, Ligonier Ministries, 24 March 2008, https://learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/christ-our-solid-foundation
[7] Ligonier Ministries. “Christ, Our Solid Foundation.” Ligonier Devotionals, Ligonier Ministries, 24 March 2008, https://learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/christ-our-solid-foundation
[8] Because we know God is good and does good, if God permits something as in the case of Job, we know that God has deemed it wise and good.
[9] Sander, Shane. Editorial comment, September 9, 2026.
[10] MacArthur, John. The Gospel According to Jesus: What is Authentic Faith?. Zondervan, 2008, p. 35-36.
[11] Stephanie Schwartz, expounding on this verse, wrote: “In the ancient Near East, honey was rare and treasured, a true luxury rather than a daily staple (Genesis 43:11; 1 Kings 14:3). A taste of honey was something people longed for, not something they took for granted. In the same way, the psalmist craves the word of God and finds joy in every part of it.” Then she asks: “Do we desire only the comforting portions of Scripture, or do we hunger for the whole counsel of God, even the parts that confront, correct, and challenge us? A soul that truly delights in the Lord learns to savor every single word he has spoken.” (Schwartz, Stephanie. “Psalm 119:103.” Psalm 119 Verse by Verse, Compass Bible Church, https://www.psalm119daily.com/psalm119/psalm119-103)
[12] Yuille, J Stephen. The Path of Life: Blessedness in Seasons of Lament. Reformation Heritage Books, 2019, p.145.
[13] We observe similar reasoning in Ephesians 5:22-6:9.
[14] Schwartz, Stephanie. “Psalm 119:137.” Psalm 119 Verse by Verse, Compass Bible Church, https://www.psalm119daily.com/psalm119/psalm119-137
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