Welcome to our Together on Mission podcast, where we seek to be with and like Jesus, as we begin a conversation with Jesus in the morning, through scripture, prayer, and meditation, and then continue that conversation within throughout your day. Your host is Travis Twyman, the pastor at the Inland Vineyard Church in Corona, California. Good morning, everyone, and happy Thursday morning. This is Travis, and it is so good to be together this morning and start a conversation with Jesus and to enjoy that conversation with Jesus throughout the rest of the day, because that is what we're doing in this Together on Mission podcast, and I really am excited about this podcast this morning.
I mean, sometimes, you know, my morning pattern is I read a passage in the Gospel of Luke, and I think, and I pray, and I ponder, and I ask the Lord, God, what are you speaking to me through this passage, and what do you want me to share in this passage? And sometimes I have to think and ponder for a little while, but not this morning. This morning I read this passage in Luke chapter 23, and the truth just came so quickly and so practically into my life, and so anyway, the title of the podcast this morning is Out of My Hands. It's Out of My Hands, and we really do like to take matters into our own hands, and we could use the word control if we want to, but that's such a nasty word, and it's done so much damage, yet we continue to do just that, take matters into our own hands and keep those matters, or those people, in our own hands, and it means that, you know, we are trying to ensure the results that we want to ensure.
And so let's just ponder that for a moment this morning. In what area in your life, or a relationship in your life, what pattern, you know, are you really taking matters, you're trying to keep matters in your own hands? And by the way, we do this when we, you know, make decisions for people, when they should be making those decisions for themselves. We do this when we get big or defensive in a conversation or an argument.
We do this when we choose addiction, you know, to get us through the night or to get us through the season. We do this on a large scale all the time with our relationships, with our money, with anything that is of value to us. We take matters into our own hands, we keep matters in our own hands. It's called control if we're really going to use that nasty word.
But could you ponder, and I've been pondering this, so join me. I don't want to be alone in this, but could you ponder how specifically and where specifically you tend to live this way in your life? Taking matters into your own hands, ensuring results. And as we know, as we've been looking since we began studying the gospel of Luke, Jesus invites us, he summons us into a different way.
He shows us a different way, a way without control, a way without worry or fear or strategizing or anxiety, which are all symptoms of keeping matters, taking matters and keeping matters into our own hands. And, you know, Jesus invites us into this life of letting go, which is the antithesis of control, a life of, and here's the line, Father, into your hands, out of my hands, Father, into your hands. I commit my spirit, and so that is our passage this morning, Luke 23, beginning in verse 44. It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two, and Jesus, and if I could pause there for a moment, Jesus has been on the cross, nailed to the cross, facing what Israel, what you, what I need to face.
He's been mocked, beaten, crowned thorns. He's been hanging there on the cross for hours. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. It's out of my hands, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
When he said this, he breathed his last, and he died. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, surely, this was a righteous man. That is the last thing that Jesus said in his, what we might call, earthly life. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
And this is not simply something that Jesus just said at the end of his life. This is the way that Jesus lived his life. So it's appropriate that at the end of his life Jesus would say this, because it really encapsulates the kind of life that Jesus was actually living. It was not a taking matters into my own hands kind of life.
It was a, into your hands, Father, into your hands. Into your hands I commit my spirit. And, you know, this wasn't easy for Jesus. Remember, Jesus, as we talked about a couple of days ago in the podcast, Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane was wrestling with his Father.
Father, if there's any other way, if there's any other way, God, I don't know if I can take this cup or drink this cup. Could you let this cup pass? You know, Jesus was struggling. He wanted to take matters into his own hands.
And of course we can relate, right? We can relate all too well in this, you know, conversation that we're about to have, in this evening, this relationship, with our money, with our kids, right? We want this result. We want to keep matters in our own hands.
But Jesus, even though he wanted to, he chose life. He chose letting go. He chose, you know, not getting into control. He chose, Father, your will, not mine be done.
Father, into your hands I commit my spirit, which means it is out of my hands. And the reality is, in our life, as we choose this, it will always feel like a death. It will always feel scary. It will always be difficult.
Now, I have a tendency to think that as we begin to taste the freedom of letting go, that will actually get a bit easier because we'd like to live without the stress, the anxiety, the defensiveness, and all the symptoms that come with keeping matters into our own hands, right? But Jesus says there's a different way. There's a kingdom way. There's an into your hands, Father, I commit my spirit kind of way.
And so this is what we, let's get really practical. This is what we must do if we're on board with this kind of Jesus-shaped life, this kind of cross-shaped life. We must, and here's the phrase, we must catch ourselves in the act today. Today, you know, the next time you realize that we're keeping matters in our own hands, right?
Controlling a conversation, you know, or a setting or, you know, reaching for an addiction or trying to get our way in whatever way we do, right? With this group or this event, we're trying to control our money or, you know, we got to catch ourselves in the act and realize that we're wanting to put our life in our hands and say, Father, into your hand, I commit my spirit. I'm letting go. And I don't want to get into control anymore.
And we're going to find that two things are going to happen. Number one, we're going to live with much less anxiety, much less defensiveness, much less control. And won't that be nice? And number two, as a result, this is going to bring so much freedom in life and spontaneity and adventure into our relationships in this season, in this conversation, and in this moment.
Because when we keep matters in our own hands, all the adventure, the spontaneity, what God wants to do in this moment just evaporates and it's all about us. But when we let go and say, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. It's out of our hands. We're letting go.
This is the way of Jesus. This is the way of freedom in relationship. This is the way that Jesus said, hey, there's another way, follow me. And it will always be difficult.
But again, I think as we taste the freedom of this and the adventure of this, I think it will actually become easier and maybe someday even become natural as we're with Jesus and slowly but surely become like Jesus. So today, let's catch ourselves in the act. Let's get our lives out of our hands and get our lives into the hands of the Father. Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.
And let's experience freedom. Let's experience the freedom that only comes in and through the prayer. And this is our prayer for this morning. Father, into your hands.
I commit my life into your hands. I commit my spirit. Thanks for listening to the Together on Mission podcast. We truly hope that you were blessed and encouraged by you today.
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