Step Three: A Faith that Transforms
- Daniel Lee
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
We're walking through the 12 steps of AA and other recovery programs right now. These steps have been utilized for coming up on 100 years, and there's tremendous validity to them. But here's what I want you to understand: I'm not just talking to addicts or alcoholics. I'm talking to each one of us who has chosen the path of discipleship. Because at the heart of these 12 steps is the message of the gospel.
When Nothing Else Works
In Mark chapter 5 we meet a woman who was at her wits' end, at her last resort. She had tried everything except for the one thing that would truly save her.
"Now, a woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse."
Has that ever been your experience? You've tried literally everything you can think of to get yourself out of a situation, only to find yourself worse off than before. This is every one of us.
The health and fitness industry is worth billions of dollars to tell us what we already know: eat less, move more. But we keep trying programs, pills, and quick fixes, don't we? Or maybe it's other addictions, other behaviors, other patterns that keep you trapped.
This woman was at rock bottom. It's now or never. Nothing else has worked. "Maybe," she thought, "maybe there's a chance."
Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothing, thinking, "If I just touch his clothes, I'll be made well." And instantly, her flow of blood ceased. Jesus called her out. "Who touched me?" And the woman, with fear and trembling, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.
Jesus didn't scold her. He called her "daughter" and said, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction."
Stretch Out Your Hand
Notice the pattern over the last three weeks? The man with the crippled hand had to stretch it out to be healed. Peter had to stretch out his hand when he was drowning. This woman had to stretch out her hand to touch Jesus' clothing.
That's all God asks: Stretch out your hand. Let me take your hand and lift you out of that pit. Stretch out your hand and find healing.
Remember Michelangelo's painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? God is stretching out with all his might, veins and muscles straining, while Adam lazily reaches up with a limp hand and curled finger. Literally all he has to do is stretch that finger out a little bit and he would touch God.
That's all God asks of us.
Step Three: Making the Decision
We've covered surrender (Step 1: I can't) and hope (Step 2: He can). Today is all about faith (Step 3: I think I'll let him).
Step Three says: "We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him."
Let's break this down.
We Made a Decision
Have you ever seen a squirrel dart into the road, unable to decide which direction to go? It panics, darts one way, then the other, and... thud. If it had just stuck to a decision, it would have lived.
Moses told the Israelites: "I call heaven and earth as witness against you today, because I've set before you life and death, blessing and curse. So choose life."
You have to make the decision. Make it before you get into that situation. Make the decision when life is going easy for you, so that when life gets hard, the decision's already made.
Stop being that squirrel. Make the decision today.
Turn Our Will and Our Lives Over
Here's the hard part. Your best understanding got you into this mess in the first place. This woman's best thinking led her to financial ruin and worse health. Our best thinking leaves us in places we never wanted to be.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't rely on your own understanding. In all of your ways, know him, and he will make your paths straight."
Sometimes turning it all over means doing the complete opposite of what you want to do. If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.
Scripture is full of this upside-down kingdom:
If you want to be exalted, humble yourself
If you want to be great, be a servant
If you want to live, die to yourself
If you want to be fulfilled, deny yourself
If you want to be free, surrender
Do the opposite. Live every day as if it's opposite day.
To the Care of God as We Understood Him
I don't know where you're at with God. I don't know what you understand about God. I'm just glad you're here. Because sometimes belonging comes before believing.
Everybody has some understanding about God. Maybe yours is "the unknown God" (Acts 17). That's okay. That's your starting point.
But I'm here to tell you: I believe God is fully revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Are you struggling? He is the way. Are you tired of lies? Jesus is the truth. Do you feel like your life has no meaning? Jesus is the life.
Jesus said, "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I'll give you rest."
The Man on the Middle Cross
The 12 steps is not a self-help program. Neither is the gospel. None of this is about what you do or earning your way to transformation. It's about what God has already done.
"For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it's a gift from God, not from works so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Take a few minutes and watch this brilliant sermon clip from Alistair Begg.
Do you trust the man on the middle cross?
Christ Jesus has already stretched out his hands for each and every one of us on that cross so that we can receive healing and forgiveness and find mercy in our time of need.
All you have to do is stretch out your hand.
LISTEN TO OR WATCH THE FULL SERMON HERE:
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