Putting Ourselves in a Bind 1984

I'd like to begin by reading from the book of Ruth, the first chapter starting with the eighth verse, and you remember how this went when Elimelech and his wife Naomi, during a time of famine in Judah, went to the land of Moab with their two grown sons. While they were in Moab, Elimelech died. Then the two sons married Moabite women, and shortly after this the two sons died, leaving Naomi and her two daughters-in-law.

Word came that things were a little bit better in Judah, and Naomi decides to go back home, and we're picking it up now at the point where Naomi is going to part from her two daughters-in-law. But Naomi said to her daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to your mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

The Lord grant you that you may find a home, each of you, in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And they said to her, No, we will return with you to your people.

But Naomi said, Turn back, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters. Go your way, for I am too old to have a husband.

If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me, for your sake, that the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me. Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

And she said, See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law. But Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you, for where you go, I will go.

Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried.

May the Lord do so to me and more also, if even death parts me from you. And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. Now Ruth was under no obligation to her mother-in-law.

Her husband was dead. Ruth's husband was dead. And her mother-in-law was going back to her homeland.

Ruth was a Moabitess, not a Jewish. She wasn't going to be comfortable in Judah, where Naomi was going. Ruth was young.

She had no children. And it was perfectly proper for her to go back to her own father's house and make a new start. But with a fierce and wonderful love, she binds herself to Naomi.

She says, Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you. Where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge.

Your people will be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die. There will I be buried.

May the Lord do so to me and more also, if even death parts me from you. Ruth put herself in a bind for Naomi. She bound herself to this woman.

And in this freely chosen bondage, a door of freedom opens for Ruth beyond anything she's ever known. Things begin to happen in her life that are absolutely marvelous as we read that story. And so that Ruth finally becomes the great-grandmother of King David, even though she's not even a Jew.

And she becomes the great, great, many times great-grandmother of Jesus himself. Now when we see Ruth putting herself in a bind for Naomi, we're looking at the missing link in much of our discipleship. We're looking at the step we're all afraid to take, the step which, if we will take it, will bring us into liberty and power and life in the kingdom of God such as we have never known.

We need to learn from Ruth to dare to put ourselves in a bind freely and gladly for the sake of the kingdom of God. Now the pattern for most of us is that at some point we get a vision from God. Suddenly we see glory.

We see the road God wants us to walk. We see changes He wants us to make in our lives. Now I was saying that we get a vision from God of a change He wants us to make, a new road He wants us to take.

And for a while, maybe for a week or two or perhaps even a year or two, we're just filled with life from this vision. We get up in the morning praising God. We go forth into the day to do His will.

But all this time it's like the vision is here and we're here. We're close to the vision, but somehow we aren't allowing the vision to touch us. We're not allowing it to make a dent in our actual daily living.

We're enthused and we're moved, but very, very, very carefully we make sure that the vision in no way puts us in a bind, ties us down to anything or anybody, and soon the vision passes and life goes on unchanged. Now when God gives us a vision of Jesus, or when He gives us a vision of what it means to follow Jesus, or when He gives us a vision of what it means, in fact, to be the body of Christ in this assembly, as He's been doing over the recent months, if the vision God gives us is to take on substance in our living, we have to tie ourselves to the vision. We have to bind ourselves to that vision with some act of commitment, some specific thing we do to tie into that thing, or the vision evaporates and life goes on unchanged.

Example, Zacchaeus, from Luke chapter 19, verse 1. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through, and there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector and rich, and he sought to see who Jesus was, but he could not on account of the crowd because he was small of stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for I must stay at your house today. So he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, he has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.

And Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, behold, half my goods I give to the poor, and if I've defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to this house. Half my goods I give to the poor.

If I've cheated anybody, I give it back fourfold. What's he doing? Zacchaeus, when he gives half his goods to the poor and commits himself to giving back fourfold everybody he cheated, Zacchaeus is binding himself to Jesus in that area of his life, which was his biggest problem before money. And immediately the vision Zacchaeus has becomes substantial, takes on flesh.

This isn't going to evaporate. It's going to stay within because he's tied himself in. He's put himself in a bind.

Another example, Isaiah chapter six, verse one. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. And above him stood the seraphim.

Each had six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to the other and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory. And it still is if we only had those eyes. And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called.

And the house was filled with smoke. And I said, woe is me, for I'm lost. I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, behold, this has touched your lips, and your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? Who will go for us? Then I said, here am I, send me. And when Isaiah says, here am I, send me, he's no longer a spectator watching the vision. He's in it.

He's like a man at an auction who bids for the treasure with his life. The auctioneer says, going, going, going. And suddenly Isaiah says, here am I, send me.

And the auctioneer says, you got it. And you're mine. Ruth put herself in a bind.

Zacchaeus put himself in a bind. Isaiah put himself in a bind. And by putting themselves in a specific bind, these people made the vision stick.

When a man and woman get married, they're putting themselves in a bind. They're limiting it. It's now, no longer am I going to be walking in the woods with any other girl or any other guy.

It's just going to be you and me. And by this chosen bondage, we put ourselves into each other, we pass into a realm of freedom beyond any we had before. See, now the issue of who's my mate going to be is settled.

And I don't have to be all the time wondering, maybe I can improve myself. Maybe she's the one or he's the one. That's done.

Now we're one flesh. That issue is behind us. And together, we get on with the business of the kingdom of God.

A little bit later, perhaps, children are given one way or another, birth, adoption, whatever. If these children are welcomed, we're again putting ourselves in a bind. They're going to cost us money.

They're going to take time. They're going to drain our strength. But it's worth it.

Amen. Amen. Exactly.

You know, and sometimes it's maybe just as well that it happens against our will or whatever. And then we say, well, okay. But see, when we welcome the child and receive it, this child that will take so much from us, brings tremendous blessing to it.

Okay. Now this, this principle applies much, much more when it comes to the kingdom of God. You know, we in a much deeper way are putting ourselves in a bind when we seriously commit ourselves to Jesus.

When we're seriously committing ourselves to Jesus, we are saying to him exactly what Ruth said to Naomi. Where you go, I will go. Where you lie, I will lie.

Your people shall be my people and your God, my God. And if anybody has problems with your God, my God, remember at the resurrection, Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, go back to my brothers and tell them I ascend to my father and your father, to my God and your God. Now, faith in Jesus is nothing but talk until we begin to put ourselves in a bind in this way.

Jesus himself says as much. He says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Notice he doesn't come around and jam it over you and put it on you and strap you in like the dog catcher.

You put it on yourself. See, but when you take his yoke upon you, you're strapping yourself in. You're binding yourself to him.

You're making yourself his bond slave. You're getting under that yoke like two oxen working together. And this freely chosen bondage becomes the door to liberty.

My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Now to take on his yoke and learn from him involves specific things, just as specific as Ruth leaving her homeland forever or Zacchaeus giving away half his goods. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me means, first of all, that we are by doing this binding ourselves to commune with Jesus.

Where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge so that I can know you so that I can commune with you. And see, and now I bind myself to that.

It's not just a casual thing. It's a commitment. So there's definite places where I can commune with Jesus.

One is the apostolic witness. What is this? This is the witness of people who saw him, ate with him, drank with him, met him alive from the dead. Also the witness of people who saw him with the eye of a prophet from centuries before testifying to him.

The Bible is not a rule book. The Bible is not a book of magic. The Bible is more like a map drawn by people who were there to tell you how you can get there.

So you go to the map, you read the map, and next thing you know you're communing with Jesus. You go there to find him, whether you're in Genesis or Revelation. And now it's not a matter of, I'm having problems, I guess I'll read my Bible again.

But I commit myself, I put myself in a bind. I bind myself to Jesus. Another place where we commune with Jesus is whenever we go into our room and shut the door and begin to talk to the Father.

When we do this, he's there. We commune with him. And again, this becomes not something now casual, but something to which I bind myself.

I'm going to be there, and I'm going to be there not just with my body, but with my mind. I'm going to think. You can spend an hour a day in prayer and be doing nothing but gathering wool.

But I bind myself to be there and to be there with my mind. Another place where we commune with Jesus is in the assembly. When we come together in his name, what an awesome thing.

And we break bread and we commune with him. Where two or three are gathered in my name. I'm there in their midst.

And again, see, it's not, oh, I've got the snipples, can't make it, you know, my memory loss coming over, I've got to stay home and put the roast in or whatever. But this becomes priority, something to which I bind myself. Tie myself down.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me means, secondly, that we bind ourselves to be out there in the world, serving with him. Jesus says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, deliverance to the captive, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed. Lord, if you're out there, I'm out there with you.

I'm under this yoke. It's a yoke of service. And so when we're serving with him, we're in fact serving him.

I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.

And even though the people who did this said, Lord, when do we do it? And he said, in as much as you did it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you've done it to me. Even though they weren't consciously doing it to him, they were people who for sure found themselves with that kind of life. It doesn't happen in any of us automatically.

You know, we have moments of enthusiasm. We go out and do our little good deeds, but to live that way, to spend ourselves takes the binding of life on it. And so I bind myself to you, Lord.

If you're going to be out there feeding the hungry and ministering to those needs, I'm there with you. If you're going to be in here washing feet, I'm going to be here with you. Where you go, I will go.

Where you lodge, I will lodge. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me means, thirdly, that we bind ourselves to speak his name. Whoever acknowledges me before men, him will I acknowledge before my father who is in heaven.

And whoever denies me before men, him will I deny before my father who is in heaven. And again, to actually be out there and proclaim the name of Jesus among men and women requires that we bind ourselves to it. You'll do it for two weeks after you've been to the last revival.

You might keep going for a year and a half, but you'll not keep going with any kind of steady pace unless you bind yourself to do it. Isn't it time for us to repent of our timidity and our shame and our fear of man and bind ourselves to do this, to speak that name. Lord, where you go, I will go.

Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your name will be on my lips and in my heart, and I will speak it as the opportunities come, as you show. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me means, finally, that we bind ourselves to each other.

When we marry, we bind ourselves to each other for life, as long as we both shall live. In the kingdom, we bind ourselves to each other forever. We come out of our own names and enter into his.

We join our hearts and they become one, and we enter into the awesome and holy unity of heaven. Because when we bind ourselves to Jesus, we are binding ourselves to all who are his. Your people shall be my people.

So I'm not, as I often am told by Satan I am, I'm not on the outside looking in. These people are my people, nor am I up at the top of the grandstand looking down. These people are my people.

And that includes, obviously, those who are his. They are my people in the Soviet Union, and in Bolivia, and in Angola, and in London, Tokyo. But none of that kind of unity makes a bit of sense or means a thing if I'm not also willing to see my unity with my brothers and sisters right where I am.

Somewhere, somehow, he puts us in the body, and he'll show us where it is that we are to fit into the body. And if he hasn't shown it already, he will. But if he has shown it, isn't it time for us? Isn't it time for us to bind ourselves to each other and truly say with our hearts, these people, your people, Lord, are my people.

And see myself as one, bound, committed to them. But Ruth said, entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go, I will go.

Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried.

May the Lord do so to me, and more also, if even death parts me from you. We've wasted many years of our lives trying to keep from being tied down to anything, bound to anybody. And in doing so, we have ended up in deeper and deeper bondage, heavier and heavier compromise.

If we want the liberty of the kingdom of God, in fact, then it's time for us to put ourselves in a bind, to literally take his yoke upon us, to bind ourselves to Jesus with our bodies and with our minds and with our money and our time and our habits and our ways, to bind ourselves to commune with him, to bind ourselves to serve with him, to bind ourselves to speak his name, and to bind ourselves to each other. If we will do this, our vision of Jesus will become the clearest, strongest, most solid thing of our lives, and it will stay with us all the way through to the end of our journey in this world. And it will be the one thing we will take with us as we move on.

We'll leave our relatives behind, our friends behind, our physical bodies behind, our possessions behind, but this will go with us. Where you go, entreat me not to leave you or to turn from following you. Where you go, I will go.

And where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Let's take some time and just let the Spirit show us one specific thing in each of our lives that he would have us do by way of binding ourselves to him.