Operation
Sunday we continued our series called Operation in which we are looking at Jesus’ words in Matthew 5 are very direct and uncomfortable:
"If your eye or your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off."
He is not calling us to self-harm. He is calling us to serious honesty. Some of us would rather look good than be good. We often choose comfort over Christlikeness. Pleasure over presence. Desires over deliverance.
Here is the warning we must not ignore:
What you refuse to cut off will slowly cut you off from God.
We talked about the SS Eastland disaster in 1915. The ship did not sink because of a storm or one terrible decision. It collapsed because it kept adding weight in the wrong places. Over time, it became top-heavy and finally rolled over while still tied to the dock.
Many lives do not collapse because of one big sin. They collapse because we keep adding things we were never meant to carry. At the root of this is pride. Pride is not first about ego. It is about authority.
It is the inward bend of the heart that replaces dependence on God with confidence in self. Pride puts us in God’s seat and pushes love out of our lives. Scripture is clear that pride always leads to a fall, but humility is the only thing that heals our pride. Pride is the inward bent of the heart that replaces dependence on God with confidence in self, and love for others with focus on self.
We said humility is not just bowing low. It is emptying your hands.
We framed humility with four simple practices:
1. SURRENDER – The Humility of Authority
Core question: Who is in charge?
Pride wants control. Humility gives God the seat He already deserves.
You cannot be healed by a God you refuse to obey.
2. SERVE – The Humility of Relationships
Core question: Who comes first?
Pride asks, “Who serves me?”
Humility asks, “Who can I serve?”
You cannot love like Jesus while insisting on being first.
3. SACRIFICE – The Humility of Cost
Core question: What am I willing to give up?
Pride protects comfort.
Humility chooses the cross.
You never know how deep humility goes until it costs you something.
4. SET DOWN – The Humility of Repentance and Release
Core question: What am I still carrying that I need to let go of?
Pride holds stones.
Humility opens hands.
You cannot be healed while you keep holding what is hurting you.
We ended with a choice that every one of us has to make:
Pride or humility.
Death or life.
Control or Christ.
One weighs you down.
One sets you free.
You cannot choose both.
Let me leave you again with this simple and searching line:
What you refuse to cut off will slowly cut you off from God.
My prayer is that this week we would not just feel conviction, but experience freedom. Freedom that comes when we surrender, serve, sacrifice, and set down what never should have been in our hands in the first place.
Pastor Aaron