“God is My Co-Pilot?” 6-25-23

Overview

God Is My Co-Pilot?

The familiar slogan "God is my co-pilot" was famously coined by WWII fighter pilot Robert Lee Scott Jr., who, after surviving a brutal mission, was reminded by a doctor that he had never truly been flying alone. The phrase has comforted many believers who feel they're navigating life solo through health crises, broken relationships, and mounting bills. But however well-intentioned, the metaphor reveals a deep theological problem: it places us in the pilot's seat and reduces God to a helpful passenger we consult when convenient. Even the popular response—"If God is your co-pilot, switch seats"—doesn't go far enough, because it still assumes that we are the ones who decide whether God gets to take control.

Scripture confronts this assumption directly. "In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind" Job 12:10. "Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps" Psalm 135:6. God doesn't wait for our permission to act. He needs nothing from us—"if I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine" Psalm 50:12—and his ways are immeasurably higher than ours Isaiah 55:9. The little word "if" is irrelevant when applied to God's sovereignty. He is not "if"; He is "I AM," the same holy God whose presence at Sinai the unclean could not approach. We are not negotiating partners with the Almighty. Like Lazarus, dead four days in the tomb, we cannot knock from the inside and ask Jesus to let us out. We are dead in our sin, and only his sovereign call—"Come out"—brings life.

The wonder of the gospel is that this all-powerful God has chosen to make himself known in Jesus Christ. Paul writes that Christ "is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation… in him all things hold together" Colossians 1:15-20. In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile all things to himself by the blood of the cross. The One who holds the universe together is the same One who, possessing all power and authority, chose to walk to Calvary, to be mocked, nailed to wood, and counted among the cursed—"for the joy that was set before him" Hebrews 12:2, the joy of your forgiveness. He chose you before time began.

So take comfort: God's being in control is not contingent on your willingness to let him. He always has been and always will be sovereign. Each morning when water touches your face, remember the waters of baptism that sealed you as his. When you hear "your sins are forgiven," when you receive the bread and wine, hear Christ himself choosing you again. By his Spirit we are freed to confess that Jesus is Lord and to obey him—not out of "or else," but out of love and gratitude, because he first loved us. God is not your co-pilot. God is—and by his grace, you have been chosen to follow.

Transcript

In World War II, there was a squadron of pilots called the Flying Tigers. 3s

And the Flying Tigers was a group originally of pilots of these ace fighter pilots that 12s

volunteered to defend China against an invasion of Japan. 21s

And so they were all formed together and they were there to defend an invasion. 28s

Eventually they were, they were, in, in, in listed or became part of the Army, US Army 35s

Air Corps. 41s

And their whole career was was amazing and you had a ton of ace pilots that would fly. 43s

And one of those ace pilots was Robert Lee Scott Jr. 52s

Robert Lee Scott Jr. 59s

He was an ace fighter pilot. 61s

He is credited with downing at least 13 enemy plays on his planes. 64s

Excuse me. 71s

On his first mission out, he was flying and his plane got shot up. 72s

And in that he was covered with metal shrapnel. 80s

So he was able to land safely at home base at the air base and they took him into 84s

a cave to remove the metal shrapnel from his body. 90s

So in the cave there is Robert Lee Scott Jr. 96s

With the metal shrapnel in his body, the doctor who is painstakingly removing one metal 100s

splinter at a time and the Chinese aid with them. 106s

And this Chinese aid commented to Scott. 111s

He said, you fly plane, shoot guns, talk on radio, all the time fighting. 114s

You do these things alone. 122s

And Scott replied, where would anybody else sit? 126s

No, I don't need any help. 131s

I'm a fighter pilot. 134s

Now the doctor had been sitting there the whole time removing these metal splinters. 137s

And it's at this point in the conversation that he decides to interject himself. 143s

And he says, you are never alone up there. 150s

Not with all the things you came through. 155s

You have the greatest copilot in the world, even if there is just room for one in that 157s

fighter. 165s

That's the moment that Robert Lee Scott Jr. 167s

The first thought of the iconic phrase, God is my copilot. 172s

God is my copilot through all of the intense training and air battles that Robert Lee Scott 182s

Jr. went through. 190s

He thought that he was flying solo. 192s

When we get caught up in our lives, when we are caught up in the stresses and the burden 196s

and the heaviness of our lives, we so often think that we are also flying solo. 204s

The pressures of life weigh heavy, whether it is health problems or relationship problems 214s

or bills that are looming large, we get caught up with that. 221s

And we drive trying to sort through all of the stress and the chaos of what we're going 225s

through of the intense battle that we have in life. 233s

And then some car cuts us off. 238s

And right when we're about to scream and give up, we see the bumper sticker. 241s

God is my copilot. 248s

And we come to our senses. 258s

We come to our senses and all feels well because I'm reminded that I can let God into 260s

the picture. 270s

And so I go ahead and I turn some of my stresses over to the Lord. 271s

The stress doesn't stop. 280s

Bills are still looming. 284s

My health conditions are not any better, maybe even getting worse. 288s

The relationships that were broken, remain broken and damaged, nothing is better. 294s

And I ask God, as my copilot, why haven't you done more? 304s

God, as my copilot, why haven't you done better? 315s

Shortly after the God is my copilot, bumper sticker came out. 326s

There were some who wanted to make a response to that bumper sticker. 331s

And so they came up with a bumper sticker that says, 338s

if God is your copilot, switch seats. 341s

Fascinating, fascinating, researching these bumper stickers. 350s

It's fascinating to find the theology that these various people are trying to draw out 356s

or to proclaim. 365s

One theologian, he wrote that the idea of allowing God to direct our lives without continually 367s

advising, complaining, suggesting and giving input on the details goes against the natural 374s

inclination within us. 382s

And that is true, ish. 384s

In our nature, we do want to have control. 388s

We want to have complete control. 391s

And we want to have our input in every aspect of our lives, but he continued. 393s

Yet, it is only when we finally give up, 400s

seeding sovereignty to the Almighty that things begin moving. 405s

When a man seeds sovereignty to the Almighty, things ultimately work out far better 411s

than anything that could be accomplished within limited human vision. 417s

When we truly give up, we tell God that we are finally ready for him to act. 422s

Do you hear the trap of sin that we wrangle ourselves into with that? 433s

When we give up, when we seed power, when we tell God that we are ready to act, 444s

then he will act as if we have any control. 456s

As if we have any say, as if we can choose to surrender. 463s

In Job 12 chapter, it is written in his hand is the life of every living thing and the 471s

breath of every human being. 479s

In Psalm 135, it is written whatever the Lord pleases, he does. 483s

In heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps, you see, God does not wait for us 489s

to give him permission to work in our lives. 497s

He has no need to wait on us to give him authority or to give him permission because 502s

we have absolutely nothing that he needs. 510s

We have absolutely nothing to offer him. 517s

In Psalm 50, we're told if I were hungry, I would not tell you for the world and all 524s

that is in it is mine. 532s

In Isaiah the 50 fifth chapter, we read as the heavens are higher than the earth, 535s

so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 540s

If God is your co-pilot, switch seats. 549s

How about the bumper sticker? 557s

If God is your co-pilot, let me off the plane. 559s

We have a wofully sinful error in thinking that we have any say or any control that God will not 567s

exercise his sovereignty or exercise his authority unless we allow for it. 580s

I think of Lazarus dead dead in the tomb four days. His sister say he already stinks. 588s

His decomposition has already begun and Jesus stands there outside his tomb. Lazarus absolutely dead. 597s

Did Jesus stand there waiting? Waiting for Lazarus to knock on the tomb door saying, 607s

I'm ready. No, Lazarus had no ability of knocking on the tomb door. He was absolutely dead. 614s

My brothers and sisters, we are born absolutely dead in our nature of sin. 624s

We are dead in our sin and we can't ask or allow or beg or offer for Jesus to knock on 633s

the door. We are dead in our sin and tombed in the sinfulness and the death of our sin. 644s

And Jesus doesn't knock, Jesus says come out and we are called by him to know him. We are called 653s

by his authority to follow him. If God is your copilot switch seats, if God is your copilot or 668s

if you are God's copilot, let me off the plane. There's a big word there that's very very 686s

important. That big word of if if God, if God but if if is absolutely irrelevant. 694s

If is irrelevant because God is not if God is God is we don't give God authority. God is I am. 712s

The power of I am is so terrible, so awesome, so great that the Israelites after they had 734s

come through the waters of the Red Sea and they were brought to Mount Sinai. They couldn't come 743s

close to the mountain because that is where the great I am had come to dwell in a dense cloud. 749s

And the greatness and the awesomeness of the I am is too much for the unholy for the unclean. 757s

This, this great I am, this is the God before whom you and I stand today, tomorrow and eternally. 771s

This, this is who we think we will have control over. This is who we think we are going to allow 783s

to have a say in our lives. The great I am is too much and yet in his mercy, 793s

he wants us to know him. How do we know I am in Jesus? And who is Jesus? Please open your 810s

Bibles to collage the first chapter. If you're using a Pue edition of the Bible, you'll find 827s

this on page 177 in the New Testament will be in collage the first chapter beginning in verse 15. 834s

Who is Jesus? He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 847s

For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created things visible and invisible, 857s

whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers, all things have been created through him and for him. 866s

He himself is before all things and in him all things hold together. All things hold together. 876s

He is the head of the body, the church, he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, 887s

so that he might come to have first place in everything. Jesus is the visible word of God made 894s

flesh. When we read of creation in Genesis, we read of creation through the word of God. 905s

In Proverbs, we read of creation through the wisdom of God. Christ is the word of God made flesh. 918s

In the Gospel of John, we read that the word was with God, the word was God, the word was made flesh. 930s

It is Christ Jesus himself. The word made flesh. All things have been created through him, 939s

by him and for him. Let's look at verse 19. For in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. 949s

All the power of God, all the authority of God dwells within Christ. He has complete deity, 966s

complete humanity, all under heaven, in heaven, all powers, all thrones, all is under his sovereign 980s

authority and what does Jesus do? He can do anything in his authority and what did he choose? 990s

With all power, with all authority, Jesus Christ's second person of the Holy Trinity chose 1006s

you. He chose you. Look again at verse 19. For in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. 1017s

And through him, God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, 1029s

by making peace through the blood of his cross. God was pleased to reconcile you to himself. 1036s

In Hebrews, we read that Jesus went to the cross for the joy that lay ahead. 1049s

He endured the cross for the joy of your forgiveness. 1057s

Jesus Christ chose to enter into humanity. Jesus Christ chose 1065s

in all his power and authority to walk that very long road to Calvary. 1073s

In his power and authority, Jesus chose to be mocked and ridiculed and humiliated by the soldiers 1080s

and the crowd around him. In all his power and authority, Jesus Christ chose to allow 1090s

himself to be nailed to two pieces of wood. In all his power and authority, Jesus Christ gave 1098s

up his spirit as he hung between two thieves as he was counted amongst the cursed. 1109s

In all his power and authority, he chose to do that because in choosing, 1124s

in choosing to die for you, he chooses that you shall live through him. 1133s

He chooses that your sins will be wiped away. He chooses that you will be reconciled to him 1145s

and the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, for all eternity. God was pleased to reconcile 1155s

us to himself, reconcile us to the Father through His blood, rising triumphant, over your sin, 1165s

rising triumphant, over your death so that you may live eternally. God chose this before time began. 1179s

When we wash our faces in the morning, we splash that water upon our face and we remember that 1195s

God chose us. It reminds us that He has called us through the waters of baptism saying, 1202s

you are mine, that you are sealed in my spirit, that it is I that will dwell within you. 1209s

When we hear His word proclaimed that your sins are forgiven, you are reminded that Jesus chooses 1220s

you when you come to the altar and you hold out your hands. You receive the body, the blood, 1227s

the bread and the wine, Jesus Christ Himself choosing you, letting you know you are forgiven. 1236s

You are reconciled to the Father. God being in control, that's not for us to decide, 1247s

to allow God is in control and always has been and always will be in control. In the beauty, 1260s

the beauty is that we don't even have control over our response, but by God's grace, 1271s

by the spirit that He puts within us, we get to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and our obedience 1280s

to Him is through that spirit that He has given to us. So following, being obedient, the command 1289s

is no longer our or else, but it is so that it is no longer I will not murder or else, 1300s

but it is I will not murder because or I love and fear God so that I won't murder. 1313s

It's never our authority, it never has been our authority. God is my copilot, God is my copilot. 1324s

Now, God is, and by His grace, we have been chosen to follow. 1344s