Sunday Messages

Principle #5 for Effective Living: Jesus-followers who receive the encouragement of God through the development of sevanthood live with ceaseless courage. We can make a stand for what’s right!

In this New Year, we are wrapping up our message series about getting a grip on life. This message series spoke to a universal human experience. We discovered some handles that we can hold on to, some ways we can become committed, and spiritually maturing disciples of Jesus Christ. God does not want us to live with undisciplined lives. Do we consider ourselves spiritual persons? What does that mean? Does spiritual growth seem like an impossible amount of work? Do we have a clear picture of the kind of life we would live if we were to be more spiritually mature? This five-week series has helped Jesus-followers to Get a Grip on practical principles for excellent living. Growth supports training, not trying!

There are many circumstances today that infuse fear in the life of many people. The fear of flying is certainly a major anxiety. Here are some actual announcements from the airlines industry that show how even serious information and deep gratitude can be a helpful means to reduce the fear and instill courage in many of its passengers.

From a Southwest Airlines employee: "There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only four ways out of this airplane."

From a Delta captain, after landing: "Thank you for flying Delta Business Express. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking your for a ride."

From a Southwest Airlines employee. Welcome aboard Southwest Flight XXX to YYY. To operate your seatbelt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seat belt and if you don't know how to operate one, you probably shouldn't be out in public unsupervised. In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will descent from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you're traveling with two small children, decide now which one you love more."

From a United Airlines flight attendant: "Your seat cushions can be used for flotation and in the event of an emergency water landing, please take them with our compliments."

From Quantas: "As you exit the plane, please make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses."

The story is told of Michael Adam, our Associate Pastor of Worship, who arrived at the Pearly Gates and was welcomed by St. Peter. Showing him around, the saint said, 'You can go anywhere you want with one exception. You cannot go on the pink clouds!' 'Why not?' asked Michael. 'Because,' answered St. Peter, 'the pink clouds are reserved for people who have done something great and courageous. 'But I have done something great and courageous,' said Michael. 'I made a speech to our Chancel choir and recommended that we dump the robes, and trash the hymnals. Then I advised the choir to change the style of their music to make it more contemporary, equipped with a praise band.' 'Just when did this happen?' asked St. Peter. Michael looked at his watch. 'About two minutes ago.'

We all face a courageous confrontation sometimes, don't we? We've been talking in this series about "Get a Grip: Practical Principles for Excellent Living." The Holy Spirit is disclosing to us through God’s Word that being good soil, going the distance with God, having a hunger for the holy, and being grounded in prayer are the things that we believe in that help us live a long and happy life -- an excellent life. If we're going to live with excellence, courage is the final part of the package. Excellent living is encouraging. When we get a grip on life, we live with courage.

Courage is a spiritual quality that may be defined this way: acting in faith and with vision despite obstacles, circumstances, or fear. Courage doesn't mean we're never afraid; it doesn't mean that our problems aren't real. What it means is that we choose to serve the Lord and live by faith according to a larger vision, not ruled by negative circumstances.

Eddie Rickenbacker, America’s highest scoring ace in WWI, said, courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.

But isn't it easy to let the negatives of fear hold us in their grip? When we greet people, we usually say, "How are you doing?" Many times we’ve heard people respond, "I'm doing OK under the circumstances." That's the problem; they're under their circumstances! God wants us to live above our circumstances, to live a life filled with courage and strength and peace and joy, no matter what trials we face.

When the circumstances of our lives get us down, we need encouragement. The trials, the tribulations, the troubles of this life are real; the pain -- whether it's physical, psychological, or spiritual -- really hurts. Being sick is no picnic. Losing a loved one is like a constant kick in the gut. Divorce is like a death, but the corpse is still walking around. Losing a job is like losing your identity. Conflict with your kids or your parents makes you want to pull your hair out. Loneliness, anxiety, fear, frustration -- it's all there; it's all real; and it's all hard. How do we live excellently and with courage in the midst of all the circumstances which get us down? What can we do when we lose our grip of life?

Paul’s words to the believers in Rome give us a grip on how to live excellently and with courage. Paul tells us where we can find the kind of encouragement that will strengthen our faith in Romans 15:4-6…

⁴ For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, ⁶ so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul reminds us of the attitude we must have if the unity of the body of Christ is to be preserved. For Jesus’ sake, and for the sake of our fellow believers, we take heart when we break heart. We live to serve, even as Jesus lived, and died, to serve us.

Life Together

When we give of ourselves to others, God gives us all the privilege of glorifying him with “one mind and one voice.” When we feel a little put upon, or unappreciated for the sacrifices we make for others, we remember to take courage. God knows. And God gives us the kind of encouragement that will strengthen our faith. Our text gives us three places to look for encouragement:

First, we discover encouragement in Scripture itself.

⁴ For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

We find encouragement in God’s Word. When we’re down, when we're discouraged, when we're depressed, when we're facing problems of any kind, we can turn to God's Holy Word for comfort and strength. Many of us know this works; we do it all the time. We’re satisfied searchers! God gives us his Word for instruction and support on our spiritual journey; it's a great resource.

It is said that when the famous missionary, Dr. David Livingstone, started his trek across Africa he had 73 books in 3 packs, weighing 180 pounds. After the party had gone 300 miles, Livingstone was obliged to throw away some of the books because of the fatigue of those carrying his baggage. As he continued on his journey his library grew less and less, until he had but one book left--his Bible. The Scriptures became his great resource and daily source of encouragement along his journey.

Finding encouragement in the Bible presupposes two things: One, that we believe this is the Word of God and has power and authority for our lives—otherwise the Bible is just a bunch of suggestions. Second, we have to know where to turn when we turn to the Scripture for help. We have to learn God's Word well enough in the good times so when the bad times come, we know which part of the Bible will be helpful.

For example, if we’re in the midst of a crisis, we remember that the Psalms are always good for words of encouragement, we can turn to, say, Psalm 27:1, where it says,

¹ The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?

There's some real encouragement speaking across the centuries into the heart of today.

Second, we discover encouragement in friendship

⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had.

We also find encouragement in friendship. If we have a Christian friend (or a small group of them) we can share our struggles with them, they can support and encourage us. That's an excellent blessing! Friends with a common faith living together in unity give us the courage of community.

Henry Cloud tells in his book How People Grow about a time in his childhood when he was stricken with a leg disease for two years that left him bedridden, then in a wheelchair, then in braces and on crutches. As he was recuperating, his doctor told his parents not to coddle him and to make him do everything he could on his own. One day at church Henry was trying to make it up a long flight of stairs. It was slow and painful going, and his parents were with him, but they wouldn't carry him up those stairs. He could do it; it just took a while. Suddenly a woman spoke behind Henry and exclaimed, "Can you believe those parents are making that child do that?"

Years later, when Henry was fully recovered, he asked his mother how she cared for him through that time. His mother was extremely soft-hearted, and he knew that it must have hurt her as much to watch him do those things as it hurt him to do them. So he asked her how she did it, and she replied with one word: "Emmett." Emmett was her best friend, a wonderful Christian lady. Henry's mom said, "Every day, when I had to do something I just couldn't face doing, I would call Emmett, cry my eyes out, and listen to her tell me I had to do it. She would help me through it each time. It was awful."

What Henry's mother discovered was that by herself she couldn't do what was required of the circumstances she was facing. However, with the support and encouragement of a friend, she could. That's the courage of community!

Third, we discover encouragement in servanthood

⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, ⁶ so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Finally, we find encouragement in servanthood. Glorifying God together with one voice—that sounds like the body of Christ serving God together. That's one of the main reasons we have church: so that we will encourage one another by serving our Lord with one mind and one voice. If we're sitting on the lowest limb of the tree, if our tail is dragging in the dust, we can come into fellowship together with God’s people and find courage to stand our trials. Doubt, despair, depression, discouragement all fly away when we're glorifying God with our service for Jesus Christ. Psychologists say that people who look out for the needs of others will less likely experience despair and depression. So it’s hard to imagine why people stay away from the body of Christ when things get rocky in their lives. When we’re discouraged, this is exactly where we need to be.

Paul, encourages the believers in Colossians 3:23-24,

²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

When we receive the encouragement of God—through Scripture, through friendship, through servanthood -- then we can live with courage. When the opportunity comes, we can make a stand for what's right.

I read an amazing story recently about an ultra-orthodox Jewish woman -- called a haredi—who courageously defended the life of an Arab terrorist. In 1992, at a street market in Jerusalem, an Arab terrorist drew a knife among the throng of shoppers and managed to stab two young men before fleeing for his life. The crowd of Israelis, incensed, began running after him, a number of them drawing pistols as they ran. The Arab darted across the street, running straight toward a 40-year-old haredi woman who was standing at a bus-stop. Her name was Bella Freund.

In a moment she sized up what was happening. She stepped directly into the Arab's path and tripped him so that he fell to the ground, but then she threw herself on top of him to protect him. The crowd kicked her, spat on her, threatened her with their guns, but they couldn't loosen her hold on the Arab, and she lay there until the police arrived to take him into custody. Later, when the reporters got to her, Bella said: "It was very simple. If you can save a life, you do it." Her hatred of Arabs, her lifelong conditioning never to touch a man who wasn't her husband, all of it was set aside in a split-second decision of courage. "I couldn't see a helpless man killed by a mob, whatever he had done," she said. "That's not the way I was brought up."

Get a Grip on Courage--

To get a grip on courageous living, we can’t be too big to do something small. Our life together includes a strong dose of servanthood. The world needs servants. People like Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). We can enter our jobs, our homes, or churches to serve. Regardless of our strengths, training, or church tenure, we can get a grip on courageous living by…

1. Loving the overlooked

Jesus is present in many of our life situations. Jesus sits in our classrooms and works in our offices. Jesus even dresses in the garb of the overlooked and ignored.

Jesus says in Matthew 25:40,

⁴⁰ 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'

We can love the least, the overlooked.

2. Waving a white flag

We fight so much. We might wonder where all the wars and quarrels come from. Well, James, the brother of Jesus, gives us an answer to all the unrest we experience in the home, neighborhood, school, work, church, community, and the world.

He says in James 4:1,

¹ What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?

Servants resist stubbornness. We serve others by swallowing our pride. We can wave a white flag. Servanthood requires no unique skill or seminary degree.

3. Doing something daily we don’t want to do

We pick up someone else’s trash. We surrender our parking place. We call the long-winded relative. It doesn’t have to be a big thing.

Helen Keller once told the Tennessee legislature that when she was young, she had longed to do great things and could not, so she decided to do small things in a great way.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:58,

⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

A good work not only brings good fortune, it brings God’s attention. God notices the actions of servants. God sent his Son to be one.

We receive encouragement from the resources of our faith -- Scripture, friendship, servanthood. Then we live with courage. But truly excellent living calls us to take one more step: to become an encourager. We can be the friend that others turn to when they're discouraged. We can offer the comfort of God to those who are down. We can be the one to help others on their journey. We can excel in encouragement.

Paul wrote to the fledgling church at Thessalonica and asks them to do this very thing in 1 Thessalonians 5:11, 14,

¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing…¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

The mark of an excellent disciple is a spirit of encouragement. Our church should be a place where we take heart when we break heart.

Last baseball season Troy Epps and I traveled up to San Francisco to see a Giants game at their new ballpark. I grew up following the Giants in the wind-blown Candlestick Park. My Dad used to say that the reason why Candlestick Park was wind-blown was due to the “Giant Fans”!?! I really wanted to see the Giants play baseball in a real park. I also wanted to show Troy around my hometown of Palo Alto. I gave him the tour of the homes I lived in, the schools and church I attended, and even the Little League ballpark I played baseball in as a kid.

As we were driving through town we stopped at that Little League park. I reminisced of the times I played baseball, imagining the great double I hit to win the city championship in 1956. We saw a Little League baseball game going on at the park. I hadn't watched kids play baseball in a long time, so I just strolled up to the left field fence to take in the game. It was just a pick-up game; so the scoreboard was not in operation. So after a few minutes, I called out to the boy who was playing left field, "Hey, what's the score?" The boy answered with enthusiasm, "We're behind 18-0!" I said to the boy, "Well, to be so far behind, you sure don't seem discouraged at all." "Discouraged?" the boy said, puzzled. "Why should I be discouraged? We haven't come to bat yet!"

I wish we were all as hard to discourage as that little boy! At times, it seems that in our grip on life that we are behind 18-0. It seems that Satan is up to bat, and scoring big. But we haven’t come to bat yet with Jesus. There will come a time in our struggle against sin when Jesus will step up to the plate, and we will overcome the discouragements of our lives once and for all. We will see our blessed hope!

Paul helps us to take heart when we break heart in Titus 2:11-14,

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. ¹² It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ¹³ while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Friends, we're part of the greatest game of all. Not a baseball game, but the game of life. It’s the plan of salvation of planet earth. It's our game, and above all it's God's game. No matter how strong the evil in the world may seem at times, we know the truth: that there's good in this world, and it's worth fighting for; that there's excellence worth pursuing; that there's life worth having the courage to live. So let’s encourage one another today to get a grip. Let’s find encouragement in the Scriptures, in our Christian friends, in our servanthood. Let’s live with excellence, and be encouragers. Amen!

Principle #4 for Effective Living: Jesus-followers are transformed and become spiritually productive by the principle of dialogue as we communicate with our Creator. We can be grounded in prayer!

In this New Year, we are talking about getting a grip on life. This message series speaks to a universal human experience. We are discovering some handles that we can hold on to, some ways we can become committed, and spiritually maturing disciples of Jesus Christ. God does not want us to live with undisciplined lives. Do we consider ourselves spiritual persons? What does that mean? Does spiritual growth seem like an impossible amount of work? Do we have a clear picture of the kind of life we would live if we were to be more spiritually mature? This five-week series helps Jesus-followers to Get a Grip on practical principles for excellent living. Growth supports training, not trying!

One beautiful summer morning a man was hiking on a trail somewhere in the High Sierras of Northern California. Everything was just gorgeous, and around one bend in the trail there was a picturesque little log cabin right there on the side of the mountain. There was even an old mountain man sitting on the front porch, long beard flowing down his chest, wearing overalls, smoking a corncob pipe. The hiker walked up and asked the old-timer if he could take some pictures, and the mountain man agreed. After the hiker took a few photos, he asked the old man, "I've often wondered what the secret to living a long life is. Could you tell me what you've done to live to such a ripe old age?" "Well, I'll tell you," the grizzled man replied, "I always keep this corncob pipe full of rough cut tobacco, and when I'm not smoking, I'm chewing and spitting. I keep a gallon of moonshine whiskey right behind the door, and I stay about half-drunk all the time. And I chase every woman I can lay my hands on; every weekend I go into town and go dancing at the local honky-tonk." The hiker was amazed. "I'm surprised," he said. "That sure doesn't sound like what I would call a healthy lifestyle. By the way, how old are you anyway?" The mountain man said with pride, "I'll be thirty-two next week!"

What are the foundational principles of our lives? Let’s hope, not smoking, drinking, and sex! The Holy Spirit is disclosing to us through God’s Word that being good soil, going the distance with God, and having a hunger for the holy are the things that we believe in that help us live a long and happy life -- an excellent life. The Bible gives us some very down-to-earth ways that we can make our time on earth, however long or short it is an experience that's productive, effective, significant, and excellent.

By the way, people ask me from time to time why I use so much humor in my messages. Well, let me explain. Charles Spurgeon, known as the “prince of preachers,” was a character. His style was so loose he was criticized again and again for bordering on merriment in the Tabernacle pulpit. Certain incensed fellow clergymen railed against his habit of introducing humor into his sermons. With a twinkle in his eye, he once replied: "If only you knew how much I hold back, you would commend me...This preacher thinks it less a crime to cause a momentary laughter than a half-hour of profound slumber."

This week we're going to talk about the Principle of Dialogue. Living excellently requires that we communicate with our Creator. The kind of life God wants for us is grounded in prayer. Prayer is the foundation of everything else that's spiritually productive in life. The power of prayer really makes a difference.

Two pastors' wives sat mending their husbands' pants. One of them said to the other, 'My poor John, he is so discouraged in his church work. He said just the other day he was considering resigning. It seems nothing goes right for him.' The other replied, 'Why, my husband was saying just the opposite. He is so enthused, it seems like the Lord is closer to him than ever before.' A hushed silence fell as they continued to mend the trousers; one patching the seat and the other the knees.

When we think about it, prayer is a pretty bold move. It seems tame enough, until we realize that when we pray, we are entering into the presence of Almighty God, the Holy One, and the Master of the Universe. We are asking for an audience with the King, and God grants it. We have to say something. What do we say?

Prayer is like a conversation with a best friend or a parent or a mentor that we trust enough to share our real feelings. There's no need to pull any punches when we pray; God already knows our heart. Prayers in the Bible are always pretty straightforward and honest. Prayer is an expression of trust, and when we trust someone in a relationship, we're not afraid to let our true feelings show -- good or bad. We can be bold in our dialogue with God. Eloquence isn’t necessarily flowery language so much as heartfelt expression.Let’s consider the following prayer of a country preacher in Mississippi.

'O Lord, give Your servant this mornin' the eyes of the eagle and the wisdom of the owl; connect his soul with the gospel telephone in the central skies; 'luminate his brow with the Sun of Heaven; possess his mind with love for the people; turpentine his imagination; grease his lips with 'possum oil; loosen his tongue with the sledge hammer of Your power; 'lectrify his brain with the lightnin' of the Word; put 'petual motion on his arms, fill him plum full of the dynamite of Your glory; 'noint him all over with the kerosene oil of Your salvation and set him on the fire by the flames of Your Holy Spirit. Amen!'

When we pray, it's OK to be real with God. It's OK to talk to God as if he were really there, because God really is present. It's OK to approach the throne of grace with boldness. Why? Because Jesus has already been there for us. That's the key to our confidence before God. It's all because of Jesus. It's not because we're worthy or excellent in any way on our own. But Jesus opens the door for us and tells his Father we're coming. So God is expecting us.

Right of Entry

It’s interesting to note that in the book of Hebrews, Jesus is referred to as our great High Priest. Jesus’ one sacrifice is totally sufficient for all Jesus-followers to be forgiven forever. Jesus’ task is to bring the voice of God to humanity and to usher humanity into the presence of God. As Jesus-followers we now have right of entry with God and we don’t need a high priest to go before us.

Phillips Brooks who has been called “the greatest American preacher from the 19^thCentury,” says, a prayer, in its simplest definition, is merely a wish turned heavenward.

Just as in any relationship with family, friends, church or work associates; there comes a time to talk. There necessitates the need to come together and say, “We Gotta’ Talk!” It is also crucial to come into God’s presence and say, “We Gotta’ Talk!” We don’t come to talk merely about facts and judgments, but we come to talk concerning our feelings and intimacy with one another.

The writer of Hebrews encourages us to enter into dialogue with God through prayer in Hebrews 4:14-16…

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

This instruction from the writer of the Hebrews is positive. It just kind of makes us want to get on our knees and pray right now, doesn’t it? We can observe two key commands in dialoguing with God from this text.

First, there is a direct access to God

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

Jesus Christ is both God and Man. He is “Jesus the Son of God.”In his unique person, Jesus Christ united Deity and humanity, so that he is the only one who can bring people into a direct access to God.

In the Jewish religion of Jesus' day, the high priest in Jerusalem would make sacrifices to ask God to forgive the sins of the people. Hebrews says that's like what Jesus does: the sacrifice Jesus offers is himself. Because he's pure and holy, he can offer his life before God and open the door for our communication. That's the basis of our relationship with God. That's how we become his adopted children.

Jesus said in John 14:6,

⁶ "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is the only one who can bring to people all that God has for them. Jesus is the only way we can come into the presence of God and dialogue with him with full assurance in the faith we confess. Jesus gives us a direct access to God.

Second, there is a devoted advocacy with God

¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Jesus opens up our communication with God. Jesus enters fully into the human experience. He knows what we're dealing with every day. Jesus was human, just like us. The only difference is, every single one of us falls to temptation. Every one of us sins. Jesus didn't. Therefore, he can open the door to God in another way as our helper. He can intercede for us. He can go to God on our behalf and plead our case.

We can have a relationship with God through prayer that's like a good parent/child relationship. As we well know, there's nothing more real, bolder, more wonderful, and messier than parenting a child. We’ve had sick children. The grossest, most unpleasant kind of sickness -- nose running like a faucet, skin hot to the touch, expelling toxic waste from both ends -- our heart just breaks for them while we try to control our own nausea. What do we do with a sick child if we're a loving parent? Throw them away? Leave them alone? Fuss at them? No! We take our sick children and we hold them close and we speak words of love to them. We let ourselves come in contact with all that nastiness, and we don't give it a second thought. We're not a parent until we've been "slimed" by our kids!

That must be how God feels sometimes when we come to him in prayer—nasty, slimy little sinners! But he loves us, and for the sake of Jesus, God listens, and God responds, and God embraces us. We receive mercy. So with confidence we come before a throne of grace to receive help. We don’t have to back-in; we boldly enter God’s presence!

Prayer is the way we communicate with God our repentance for our sins and receive his forgiveness. This is foundational to getting a grip and living excellently. We have to clean the record when it gets messed up.

As David sings in Psalm 51:1-2,

¹ Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. ² Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

And that's exactly what God does; he gives us mercy and forgiveness to cleanse the sins of the past and give us new, more excellent life. Then we receive God's "grace to help us in our time of need.” That has to be one of our favorite phrases in all of Scripture—

"grace to help us in our time of need."

When we pray, when we repent, when we relate to God, he gives us what we need to deal with the situations in our lives. Help is available to help us! Jesus gives us a devoted advocacy with God.

Get a Grip on Prayer--

To get a grip on excellent living, we have to be grounded in prayer in the New Year. “We gotta’ talk” with God. Prayer transforms us in our relationship with God.

We’ve probably seen the signs that say “Swim at Your Own Risk” or “Ski at Your Risk” or “Ride at Your Own Risk.” While traveling on my Sabbatical I saw a sign at a cheap truck stop that said, “Eat at Your Risk.” Now that’s pretty scary!

But there needs to be a sign, “Pray at Your Own Risk.” There are certain kinds of prayers that can wreak all kinds of havoc in our lives. They upset our balance, and they cause us to rethink about our meticulously planned future. They take us down unexpected paths. They are risky prayers, but prayers we must begin to pray if we genuinely want to get a grip on life.

There are three transforming prayers which go beyond the “please prayers, thank you prayers and sorry prayers.”

1. Search Me

“ Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.” (Psalm 139:23).

A “search me” prayer exposes whatever secret exists in us that is not fully surrendered to God. With extraordinary courage David says, “Search me, God. Test me. Expose whatever secret exists in me that is not fully surrendered. Bring it out into the light. Expose it so that by your power and grace it can be touched and removed and put out of my life, because I don’t want anything in my life to be deterrent to my full devotion to you.” What a prayer!

Perhaps, if we pray the “search me” prayer, the Spirit would tell us to redefine a relationship that has become an integrity issue in our lives. Or the light might shine on the way we’re treating our bodies, or how we’re handling our money, what we’re doing with our temper, or how we are nursing our grudges. Someday we’ll look back over our shoulders and we’ll say, “I’m so glad I prayed that searching prayer and that God answered it.” But we pray it at our own risk.

2. Stretch Me

^“Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. ³⁰ Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus." (Acts 4:29-30).

A “stretch me” prayer encourages us to boost our boldness and faith. The believers in the early church—who were being hunted down, beaten, often murdered for their faith—got together and decided they needed to pray. They prayed in essence, “Lord, increase our courage and our faith. We don’t want to cave in. We want to take a stand. We want to be bold…all the way to the end, if it goes that way. Stretch our faith!”What a prayer!

Maybe, if we prayed the “stretch me” prayer, the Spirit would stretch our patience in pressure situations. Or stretch our compassion to believe that we can express kindness in a fast moving day. Or stretch our self-control when temptations hit us from all directions. This is the “stretch me” prayer—to have a bigger heart, to have a deeper faith, to be bold and take a stand when everyone else is caving in. God will answer it. But we have to pray it.

3. Shadow Me

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1)

A “shadow me” prayer gives us no relief from danger whatsoever but it gives us rest in the heat of the battle. It should have a neon warning light attached to it. With full assurance David says, “Lord as you lead me step by step, I know that as I live consistently in you presence you will shelter me and protect me. The road might be dangerous but I know that nothing can harm me as long as I rest in the shadow of your care.”What a prayer!

Conceivably, as we pray the “shadow me” prayer, the Spirit would shadow us in small ways. Throughout the day, if we’re in a position to listen, God may prompt us to encourage someone, to mend a relationship, to carry out a specific act of servanthood. Sometimes God leads in larger ways that can alter the whole trajectory of our lives. In any case, God will not wrestle the remote control of people’s lives from their hands. If we want to run our own lives God will allow it. But God has a better path that is shadowed under his almighty hand. We can get to a quiet place and get on our knees and say, “God, lead my life. I only have from here to the end. Lead it.”

So excellent living is grounded in prayer. This is the Practical Principle for today, so God’s practical advice today is, "Do this." We pray; practice it; develop it; persevere in it. We set aside a time to pray. We get a place to pray. We find some good resources alongside our Bible to help us pray. But even more than that, we let prayer become a constant attitude that we carry with us every moment of every day. God is always around; why don’t we carry on a running conversation with him throughout the day? God is like a best friend, a parent, a spouse, always walking beside us.

In a book called Only a Prayer Away, John Guest says, "Just as husband and wife live out their lives against the backdrop of being married, so do we live out the entirety of our lives against the backdrop of a constant relationship with God. He's always there, always loving us, always ready to listen to us. As we recognize his unwavering commitment to us, we're able to live in the day to day adventure and challenge of his presence. We enjoy the dialogue. It's as if we say, 'Oh, I must talk to him about this!'"

In prayer, “we gotta’ talk.” We can tell God anything at any time. In prayer we can approach the throne of grace boldly because Jesus has opened the door with a direct access. In prayer we can find mercy to be forgiven and mercy to forgive with a devoted advocacy. We can pray searching, stretching, and shadowing prayers. We can be grounded in prayer for excellent living. Amen!

Principle #3 for Effective Living: Jesus-followers must realize that nothing but God can fill the emptiness in our hearts. We can get hungry for the taste of the holy!

In this New Year, we are talking about getting a grip on life. This message series speaks to a universal human experience. We are discovering some handles that we can hold on to, some ways we can become committed, and spiritually maturing disciples of Jesus Christ. God does not want us to live with undisciplined lives. Do we consider ourselves spiritual persons? What does that mean? Does spiritual growth seem like an impossible amount of work? Do we have a clear picture of the kind of life we would live if we were to be more spiritually mature? This five-week series helps Jesus-followers to Get a Grip on practical principles for excellent living. Growth supports training, not trying!

With the New Year upon us, perhaps many of us have already resolved to watch what we eat. I met with my doctor last week and he put me on a new diet. I need to lose 20 pounds and offload stress at the same time. So here’s the new Stress Diet: Breakfast--1/2 grapefruit, 1 slice whole-wheat bread, 8 ounces skim milk. Lunch--4 ounces broiled chicken breast, 1 cup steamed zucchini, 1 Oreo cookie, 1 cup herb tea. Mid-afternoon Snack--Rest of the package of Oreo cookies, 1 quart Cold Stone ice cream, 1 jar hot fudge sauce. Dinner—1 large pepperoni and mushroom pizza, a liter of Root Beer, and a entire frozen cheesecake from Trader Joe’s eaten directly from the freezer.

Since this isn’t really a healthy diet, I’ve been given some diet tips from two great coaches—Art Mazmanian and Mal Eaton. If no one sees you eat it, it has no calories If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, they will cancel each other out. Calories don't count if you eat with someone and you both eat the same amount. Food taken for therapeutic purposes does not count. This includes Cinnabuns, Starbuck’s hot chocolate, and Claim Jumper’s chocolate layer cake. If you fatten up everyone around you, you'll look thinner. Snacks consumed at a movie do not count as they are part of the entertainment. For example: Mild Duds, popcorn with butter, red licorice and M&Ms. Pieces of cookies contain no calories. The process of breaking causes a calorie leakage. Late-night snacks have no calories. The refrigerator light is not strong enough for the calories to see their way into the calorie counter.

Seriously, we’re facing some genuine concerns dealing with how Americans consume food. Americans at the beginning of the 21st century are consuming more food and several hundred more calories per person per day than did their counterparts in the late 1950s (when per capita calorie consumption was at the lowest level in the last century). The average dietary intake of calories is just less than 2,700 calories per person per day. Some of the observed increase in caloric intake may be associated with the increase in eating out. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, an astounding 62 percent of adult Americans were overweight in 2000, up from 46 percent in 1980. Twenty-seven percent of adults were so far overweight that they were classified as obese (at least 30 pounds above their healthy weight)–twice the percentage classified as such in 1960. Alarmingly, an upward trend in obesity is also occurring for children.

Now when it comes to worship, we suffer from poor appetites. Not consumption of food, a matter of poor nourishment that a diet can correct, but hungering for the holy. A lack of hungering for the holy gives us bland worship. Many people desire out of their worship what they want out of their beer—“less filling and tastes great!” Some of us hunger for things that will satisfy our own appetites. Maybe it’s the PhD or pedigree. A tattoo can do it; so can a new truck or the Nobel Peace Prize. Whatever the cause, the result is the same. “I’m filled with so much stuff. I can do anything.” We wonder who puts the “air” in arrogance and the “vain” in vainglory. Those who say, “Fill me up with the stuff of life.”

And we also know the other extreme: “I’m going to starve myself. I can’t do anything.” We forget the high calorie consumption of self-dependency and breathe the thick, swampy air of self-defeat. Roaches have higher self-esteem. Earthworms stand taller. “I’m a bum. I am scum. The world would be better off without me.”

Two extremes of poor appetites: stuff and starve—self-loving and self-loathing. We swing from one side to the other. Promotions and demotions bump us back and forth. Snack-dab in the middle. Dead center from wanting everything or nothing at all lies being God-secure. A self-worth based on our identity as children of God. The proper view of self comes only through true worship—when we’re hungry for the holy. Being hungry for the holy lifts our appetites off self and sets them on God. Worship gives God honor, offers him standing ovations. True worship applauds God, loud and often!

Jesus says to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:24…

God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."

Worship places God on center stage and us in proper posture.

Let’s see how this works.

If we have ever been in a 12-step recovery program, we know that the first step is simply to understand that we are powerless over whatever addiction we are battling and to turn to God for help. We can call this "the hunger." Before we can take steps toward excellent living, we have to admit the need for help. We have to understand that all our own efforts at self-salvation have fallen short and that there is an emptiness, an ache, a huge hole in our soul that won't be filled by anything but God -- not money, not power, not fame, not sex, no manufactured pleasure of any kind -- only God. We have to get hungry for the taste of the holy.

In our first two messages, the Spirit of God disclosed to us the first and second principles of excellent living: Go for the Growth—we can be good soil; and Perseverance—we can go the distance with God. The psalmist David is a great example of this week's third principle of excellent living: Hungry for the Holy.

Let’s note David’s words as recorded in Psalm 63:1-8…

¹ You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. ² I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.

³ Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. ⁴ I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. ⁵ I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

⁶ On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. ⁷ Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. ⁸ I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.

What we discover from these verses is the truth that there is a deep inner emptiness or hunger for God. David is a witness to that longing and its satisfaction.

Spiritual Satisfaction

There comes a point in the lives of many of us when only an intimate relationship with God will satisfy the hunger in our souls. David moves from a longing for God to a commitment to worship as he meditates on God’s care in his life due to this intimate relationship.

First, there is a longing for God

¹ You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. ² I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.

For our purposes in this text, hunger and thirst are both images for the same spiritual need. Scripture witnesses though David’s life this longing we have to be in relationship with our Creator, to know our Savior, to be filled with his Spirit in verses 1-2.

Psalm 42 begins,

¹ As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.

The prophet Micah warns in Micah 6:14,

¹⁴ You will eat but not be satisfied; your stomach will still be empty. You will store up but save nothing, because what you save I will give to the sword.

There was hunger then, and there is hunger now. Our contemporary world is no different, is it?

The first time Mother Teresa visited the , she was asked for her reaction to American culture. She said, "I have never seen a people so starved." The saint from Calcutta, who had worked with the bony bodies of the destitute and dying, wasn't talking about physical hunger. She could see through the illusion of material affluence to the spiritual hunger and thirst in the gut of modern .

It's still here. In a hundred subtle ways we hear and see and feel the hunger every day.

From the very large lips of a rock star like Mick Jagger, who recently told Rolling Stone magazine, "Of course I have a spiritual side. Everyone has one. It's whether they're going to lock it up or not. Our lives are so busy that we never get any time to be, first reflective, and then afterward, to let some sort of spiritual light into your life." He went on to clarify the meaning of one of his newer songs by saying: "It's about the joy of creation, inspiring you to a love of God." Mick Jagger, spiritual spokesman -- who would have thought it?

We experience spiritual hunger or thirst when the blows of life hit us and we discover that our foundation in the faith isn't as sure as we thought it was. A death, an illness, a divorce, the loss of a friend or a job, kids moving away, kids moving back in -- we feel the need for help. Sometimes even when things are going OK, we just have this awareness that everything isn't really OK, that there is an emptiness inside of us that needs to get filled somehow. We wonder, is this all there is to life? It's the hunger for the holy.

This discovery of hunger is not bad. Not at all. In fact, the cry of hunger is the first step toward worshiping God in spirit and in truth. It can be a positive force for growth. It can be the motivation to seek and to find the victory that God wants for our lives.

One of the great quarterbacks in the game of professional football was a man named Johnny Unitas. The so-called "Genius of the Huddle" had to overcome all kinds of difficulties to even play the game. He was raised by his widowed mother. He sat the bench in high school. He was rejected by two colleges before getting a spot at the University of Louisville. He was cut his first season as a pro. Finally the Baltimore Colts gave him a chance and a $7,000-a-year contract. His first pass was an interception, followed by two fumbles.

But ultimately Johnny Unitas led the Colts to three championships in 17 record-setting years as their quarterback. In 1979, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His coach, Weeb Ewbank, said of Unitas, "He had a real hunger. This was a kid who wanted success and didn't have it (for) so long that he wasn't about to waste it when it came." Johnny's hunger was infectious; his teammates rose to the challenge of the game under his leadership. Tight end John Mackey compared playing with Unitas to "being in a huddle with God."

When the real God is in our huddle, our hunger can be a positive force. With God the weak can become strong, the incomplete can achieve wholeness, and the inadequate can become excellent. When we're spiritually hungry and thirsty, God provides a feast for the soul. But we must first have a longing to come and dine with God. This longing leads us to a commitment to worship.

Second, there is the worship of God

³ Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. ⁴ I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. ⁵ I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. ⁶ On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. ⁷ Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. ⁸ I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.

Like David, when we are hungry, we come to God for help, and he fills us with good things. God spreads the feast. The table is beautiful and bountiful!

Psalm 107:9 says,

⁹ for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

Jesus promises in the Beatitudes from Matthew 5:6,

⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

One of the primary places we get nourished is right here in worship. This is where God meets his people. In the sanctuary, in divine worship, we experience communion. Not just the bread and grape juice kind, although that is important, too. The sacrament of Holy Communion is a sign of a deeper communion that we can have with God when we really worship him. Communion is a relationship that carries over from Sunday morning into all the nooks and crannies of our lives, into all the troubled spots of our daily grind, into every moment of our day or night.

After attending church one Sunday morning, a little boy knelt at his bedside that night and prayed, "Dear God, we had a good time at church today--but I wish you had been there!"

If God isn’t present to meet his people, then we don’t worship. If we are not hungry for the holy, then God doesn’t show up. So what makes up authentic worship? True biblical worship so satisfies our total personality that we don't have to shop around for human-fabricated substitutes.

William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, made this clear in his masterful definition of worship:

For worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose -- and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.

In worship, David sings a love song to God as he closes out his words in verses 3-8! Do we ever sing one of those? That's a special kind of relationship, not a relationship of equals, but of a needful, hungry sinner coming into the presence of Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe. We come under God’s protective wings of grace and find strength and help . . . and wholeness for our hunger.

Wholeness -- now there is a misunderstood term if there ever was one! We’ve already understood that our hunger must be God-centered. But we try to nurture this illusion that we can be independent and strong and successful on our own. And that ends up being the worst kind of bondage. Self-rule is brokenness; God-rule is wholeness.

God didn't create us to be independent; God made us to depend on him. In that dependence is where we find our wholeness -- from sin, from bondage to selfish desires, from anxiety about the past, present or the future.

Get a Grip on Worship--

To get a grip on excellent living, there are some things we have to be hungry for in the New Year. Worship is more likely to occur in the church when each individual Jesus-follower realizes that “hunger for the holy” is a style of life. To that end we need to renew our relationship to God and to each other. Our worship will be God applauding as we develop throughout our congregation three strengths:

1. A renewed reverence for God

It is likely that one of the graces most notably lacking in our culture is the concept of respect, reverence, or awe. Our manner of address must not be frivolous. We use the word “awesome” so flippantly that the awe-inspiring meaning it represents is lost in familiarity. God is Spirit and Truth, not our “good buddy.”

2. A practice of the presence of God

In addition to holding God in awesome reverence, we know God in daily living. All of us have had times of knowing the presence of God in private moments. However, we are to be strangely moved as well by the presence of God in corporate worship. We must not casually stroll into the worship center, but enter it with prepared hearts and open minds.

3. A deepened sense of the community of God

In addition to holding God in awesome reverence and practicing God’s presence, we need each other as we worship God in the community of faith. Both Testaments stress the concept of the people of God. It is in community that the dynamics of worship are deepened. It is in the flow of people interacting that we applaud God, loud and often.

My wife is Danish. So from time to time it is good to share a story from . Isak Dinesen wrote a story many years ago that was made into a movie called Babette's Feast. It takes place in a tiny, strictly fundamentalist community in . Babette comes to live there, having escaped a civil war in . She works as a cook for two elderly sisters who have no idea that she once was a chef in her native .

All they eat is boiled fish and potatoes because earthly pleasures like delicious food are forbidden. Babette's dream is to return to her beloved home city of Paris, so every year she buys a lottery ticket in hopes of winning enough money to go home. One day the unbelievable happens: Babette wins the lottery! The prize is 10,000 francs, a small fortune. To celebrate, Babette asks if she might prepare a French dinner with all the trimmings for the entire village. At first the townspeople refuse because indulging in rich food is a sin. But Babette begs them, and finally they give permission for the dinner. Secretly the people vow not to enjoy the feast, not to speak about the food they are eating, and instead to occupy their minds with spiritual things.

Babette begins her preparations. Caravans of exotic food arrive in the village, along with cages of quail and barrels of fine wine. Finally the big day comes, and the village gathers. The first course is an exquisite turtle soup. The diners force it down without enjoyment. Although they usually eat in silence, conversation begins to take off. Then comes the wine, the finest vintage from . Gradually the atmosphere changes. Someone smiles. Someone else giggles. An arm comes up and drapes over a shoulder. The conversation becomes animated. By the time the main entree of quail arrives, those austere, pleasure-fearing people are having the time of their lives. Through the gift of a meal, these dysfunctional Christians are transformed into a loving community.

After the meal, one of the two sisters goes into the kitchen to thank Babette, saying, "Oh, how we will miss you when you return to Paris!" Babette replies, "I will not be returning to Paris, because I have no money. I spent it all on the feast."

Can we think of anyone else who gave everything to make us a loving community through the gift of a meal? Could it be the One who said, "This is my Body. This is my Blood."? Christ spent it all on us. Jesus gave his life so that we could gather around the table, so that we could share this feast of grace, so that we could get a grip on life, and so that we could live excellently.

So where do we find the food of life? Very simply, we have to grow our own. God has provided everything we need. God has given us all the tools. God has planted the seeds in our hearts. God has encouraged us to sow to the Spirit. But we have to work the garden. In religious language, we have to practice the spiritual disciplines of life, or we'll go hungry. This isn't complicated: We worship with the community of faith regularly. We learn together with a small group for support. We hold one another accountable. We read the Bible and pray every day. We give our money and our service to the Lord. These disciplines aren't new.

God—our gracious God—provides everything we need to build an excellent life. We respond in faith, in love, in commitment to him. Then he blesses us with spiritual food, spiritual growth, strength, hope, and power for living. We experience communion and wholeness. This enables us to respond in more and better ways. Then God blesses us even more abundantly. It's all a process -- the process of getting a grip on life, the process of living with excellence.

Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, identified this process over 400 years ago. He said, "This life, therefore, is not godliness but the process of becoming godly, not health but getting well, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We aren't now what we shall be, but we're on the way. The process is not yet finished, but it's actively going on. This is not the goal, but it's the right road. At present, everything doesn't gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleansed."

We hunger for the holy. We worship God. We get a grip by finding the feast of God. We applaud God, loud and often. For our sake, we need it. And for heaven’s sake, God deserves it! Amen!

Principle #2 for Effective Living: Jesus-followers must continue the good work, if we’re going to enjoye meet is not over until the final event. You just can't give up. You just go out and d the harvest, and be the victors. We can go the distance with God! New Year, we are talking about getting a grip on life. This message series speaks to a universal human experience. We are discovering some handles that we can hold on to, some ways we can become committed, and spiritually maturing disciples of Jesus Christ. God does not want us to live with undisciplined lives. Do we consider ourselves spiritual persons? What does that mean? Does spiritual growth seem like an impossible amount of work? Do we have a clear picture of the kind of life we would live if we were to be more spiritually mature? This five-week series helps Jesus-followers to Get a Grip on practical principles for excellent living. Growth supports training, not trying!

One of the heroes of the 2004 summer Olympic Games was a young man from Waukesha, Wisconsin , named Paul Hamm. The first American man ever to win the individual all-around gymnastics gold medal, Hamm had to come back from an incredibly bad vault to win the gold. He was in the lead when he ran down the track to vault into the air, but when he landed he lost his balance and didn't just stumble—he fell into the judges' table! That put him in 12th place overall. Then, with two events left to go, Paul Hamm gave the performance of his life on the parallel bars and the high bar, executing every move perfectly and with style. When the smoke cleared, Paul Hamm was the winner—by .012 points! Immediately afterward, the reporters asked him how he felt after that disastrous vault, if he was ready to quit at that point. He said, "Tho your best every time."

Paul Hamm is a great example of this week's second principle of excellent living: the Principle of Perseverance. Last week in our first message, the Spirit of God disclosed to us the first principle of excellent living: Go for the Growth. We have the magnificent opportunity as Jesus-followers to let God’s Word—the seed—sprout, flourish, and bring into our lives—the soil—abundant life. We can be good soil!

The writer to the Hebrews sounds the note of perseverance concerning those who have gone before us, living by faith, believing in the promises of God. Let's look at those verses from Hebrews 12:1-2 as a starting point today.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Our life is a race, and it matters how we run. If we want to enjoy the victory, we have to run it well, and we have to persevere to the end.

Paul uses this phrase when he writes to the believers in Galatians 6:7-10...

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. People reap what they sow. ⁸ Those who sow to please their sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; those who sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. ⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Paul spends most of the Letter to the Galatians hammering home the point that we are saved by faith, not by works, and it's not our actions that justify us. It's the grace of God through the blood of Christ. In terms of salvation, we get abundantly far better than we deserve.

On the other hand, Paul says, our actions are not indifferent. Decisions have consequences. The choices we make matter, now and in the future. It makes a difference how we run the race.

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. People reap what they sow.”

This is part of everyday common sense. We often say things like:

• What goes around comes around;
• It all comes out in the wash;
• If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword.

Ray Stamm wrote, "Sooner or later, we all sit down to a banquet of consequences." Isn't that a powerful image!

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The force of character is cumulative.” It only makes sense—what we sow with our life will in some measure determine what we reap.

The Law of the Harvest

The Interpreter’s Bible refers to this section of Scripture as Paul’s call for Jesus-followers to engage in “the agriculture of the Spirit.” That is an imaginative and suggestive thought which aptly describes what Paul is talking about concerning perseverance. The law of the harvest is relevant to our spiritual development and describes our destiny.

How then does this help us understand perseverance, our principle of excellent living for today?

First, we sow to the Spiritannot be mocked. People reap what they sow. ⁸ Those who sow to please theirul

If we reap what we sow, then we better sow good stuff. “Pay someday”—this title alone is gripping and captures the truth of Paul’s words. The laws by which God governs the universe cannot be evaded. We cannot tiptoe around God. God’s judgment is as inevitable as his love is redemptive.

So we sow to the Spirit! The quality of our race, and our ability to stay in the race, depends on what we do while we run. Are we going to sow seeds of the fleshly world, investing ourselves in selfish pleasures, material things, and worldly goals like possessions, passions, and power? Or are we going to sow seeds of the Spirit, Godly things that will produce the fruit of righteousness?

We really need to see sin for what it really is if we desire to sow to the Spirit. According to a radio report, a middle school in Oregon faced a unique problem. A number of girls began to use lipstick and put it on in the bathroom. After they put on their lipstick, they pressed their lips to the mirrors leaving dozens of little lip prints. Finally the principal decided something had to be done. She called the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the custodian. She explained lip prints caused a major problem for the custodian, who had to clean the mirrors every day. To demonstrate how difficult it was, she asked the custodian to clean one of the mirrors. He took out a long-handled brush, dipped it into the toilet, and scrubbed the mirror. Since then there have been no lip prints on the mirrors. When tempted to sow seeds of the fleshly world, if we could only see the real filth we’d be kissing, we wouldn’t be attracted to sowing to the flesh.

If we back up in Galatians to the fifth chapter, Paul contrasts the life of the flesh and the life of the Spirit in Galatians 5:19-23…

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God . ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

These are the excellent qualities in our life that empower us to persevere.

Calvin Miller is a pastor and author who travels the country speaking at conferences. Several years ago, when he was the pastor of Westside Church in Omaha, Nebraska , he had just spent a few days teaching at our annual Pastor’s conference at Thousand Pines Camp. He told us that on one of his previous week long speaking engagements he exhausted his strength. On the plane, he was so tired; he just wanted to get home.

He pulled out his Bible and pulled it up close to his face, because he knew that if he was reading his Bible, everybody would leave him alone. Even the flight attendants won't ask if we want peanuts if we're reading our Bible. He prayed that the Lord would give him just two or three hours alone. Gradually Calvin Miller became aware of a young man crying in the seat beside him. He looked to be 19 or 20 years old. Calvin prayed, "Lord, he's not mine. All my sinners are on the ground in Omaha ." But the young man kept crying, so finally Miller put his Bible down and said, "Son, I don't know why you're crying, but if there is anything I can do to help, I'd like to."

The young man then told him that his mother, father, and little sister had been killed in a car wreck the day before in Asheville, North Carolina . They were on vacation, and he alone survived. Now he was going home. Calvin Miller grew very still and silent at the enormity of this young man's pain. Finally he said, "I don't know what you must be feeling. I can't imagine this, but I know someone who understands it perfectly." He took the Bible he had been hiding behind and shared with the young man about the promises of faith and the comfort of Christ. Calvin Miller led the young man to believe while the plane was in the air.

When the plane got to Omaha , the young man was continuing on in the flight, so Calvin called a friend of his at the destination and arranged for the friend to meet the young man at the airport and help him get home. Though he was tired and worn out, when he had the opportunity, Calvin Miller sowed a seed of the Spirit. He ran the race with perseverance.

The reason we get tired of the race of faith, the reason we get frustrated and anxious and are tempted to give up, is that we spend too much time sowing seeds of the flesh. The spirit is the wellspring of power, energy, confidence, and enthusiasm (which comes from the Greek meaning "God in us"). When we neglect our spirits, the race exhausts us. Like Calvin Miller, we have power to persevere. We sow to the Spirit!

Second, we hope for the harvest.

We sow the seeds of the Spirit because we have a hope for the harvest. “The Crop is in the Kitchen”—this title by itself is reassuring and secures the hope of Paul’s words. It's no accident that Paul uses images from agriculture when he's talking about the life of faith—sowing seeds, hoping for the harvest. If we've ever raised a garden, we know what an act of faith gardening represents. If we want a good harvest of fruits or vegetables, we have to plan ahead. We have to build up the soil, plant carefully, and nurture what we have planted. There are any number of things that can go wrong: too much rain, too little rain, bugs eating plants, rabbits and deer eating the produce, storms that obliterate the garden. Or we ourselves can neglect the garden, and the weeds will take over. There is some uncertainty until we taste the harvest. We just have to do our best and work faithfully.

An explorer named Fridtjof Nansen was lost with one companion in the Arctic wastes. By miscalculation they ran out of all their supplies. They ate their dogs, the dog's harnesses, and the whale oil for their lamps. Nansen's companion gave up and lay down to die. But Nansen did not give up. He told himself, 'I can take one step more.' As he plodded heavily through the bitter cold, step after step, suddenly across an ice hill he stumbled upon an American expedition that had been sent out to find him. When we hope for the harvest sometimes it takes just one step more.

So we hope for the harvest! People of faith live with a hope for the spiritual harvest. That's what keeps us living with perseverance. We know by faith that if we persevere, we will enjoy the great victory celebration of our God at the end of the race. The harvest and the winner's stand are both images for the victory of faith. There is an end to this race. There is a finish line. There is a day when we will stand before the Judge and receive our reward. So we’re going to stay in the race. We’re going to persevere. We’re going to get tired and discouraged and sad and frustrated sometimes, but we’re not going to quit. We have a hope for the harvest!

Third, we keep up the good work.

¹⁰Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

If we're going to enjoy the harvest, if we're going to win the race, right now it is important for us to keep up the good work. That's the bottom line. “Don't give up; keep up”—this title on its own is stimulating and safeguards the encouragement of Paul’s words. The life of spirit—the race of faith—is most of the time just keeping on keeping on. This means we do good to all people, but especially to those who are fellow Jesus-followers. We put one foot in front of the other day by day, week by week, and year by year; until in our own stumbling way we complete the course that God has set for us.

Sometimes in the midst of keeping up we receive false encouragement. A wealthy businessman hosted a spectacular party in which he had filled his swimming pool with sharks, barracuda, and other assorted dangerous fish. He announced to his guests that he would like to challenge any of them to try swimming across the pool, and he would offer a first prize of either a new home in the mountains, a trip around the world for two, or a piece of his business. No sooner had he made the announcement than there was a splash and a man swam rapidly across the infested waters and bounded up out on the other side. The millionaire said to the dripping man, 'That was a stunning performance. What prize do you want?' He answered tersely, 'Right now I really don't care about the prize. I just want to get the name of the turkey that pushed me in.'

The message of the Book of Hebrews is positive encouragement. The writer motivates his readers to remember the struggles that they have already gone through, the progress they have already made. They had endured great sacrifices because they were convinced of the hope in their hearts.

Finally he pleads with them in Hebrews 10:35-36…

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. ³⁶ You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

A loaded station wagon pulled into the only remaining campsite. Four youngsters leaped from the vehicle and began feverishly unloading gear and setting up a tent. The boys then rushed off to gather firewood, while the girls and their mother set up the camp stove and cooking utensils. A nearby camper marveled to the youngsters' father: 'That, sir, is some display of teamwork.' The father replied, 'I have a system. I promised them that no one goes to the bathroom until the camp is set up.’

So we keep up the good work! The writer of Hebrews can be compared to a preacher standing on the parking lot exhorting his congregation as they drive away. Indeed, as we read the letter, it is obvious that perseverance is a problem. People are leaving the movement. As Paul Hamm discovered, the meet is not over until the last event is performed. The race is not finished until the last step is run. The harvest is not complete until the last cucumber is in the kitchen. We keep up the good work until the very end!

Get a Grip on Perseverance--

To get a grip on excellent living, there are some things we have to endure in the New Year. We cultivate the need for perseverance by living with key directives. The last words of a person before he or she passes on to eternity are very significant. In 2 Timothy, Paul's last letter, written shortly before his execution at the hands of the Romans, he was so close he could taste the victory. He wrote in 2 Timothy 4:6-8…

For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

How can we sow to the Spirit, hope for the harvest, and keep up the good work?

1. We consider our lives as an offering to God rather than a monument to people. We are to be poured out as an offering. We must think of ourselves as a sacrifice. We are not to work on our image, but work on our offering. We are to consider our lives as offerings poured out to God, rather than polished monuments for people to admire.

2. We remember that finishing well is the final proof that truth works. We admire people who finish, not just participate or compete. We must plan now to finish what we have begun. It will help when the race seems extra long, especially when the race is a marathon and not a sprint!

3. We fix our eyes on the rewards of heaven rather than the allurements of earth. There is a crown coming. So much of life depends upon the focus of our eyes, doesn’t it? As valuable as our eyes may be, they need our minds before they can do the work they must do. There is an end to this race. There is a finish line. There is a day when we will stand before the Judge and receive our reward.

There was a Pastor whom I can identify with when dealing with the principle of perseverance. A Pastor told in a sermon about his grandfather, who was a retired farmer. One fall afternoon his grandfather answered a knock at the door to find a neighbor lady, who said to him, "I was out feeding the horses, and I felt like God was prompting me to come and say thank you for the difference you've made in my life."

She sat down with the pastor’s grandfather and grandmother, and began to recount the many times he had helped her out after her husband had died, done things on her farm for her, even helped her with some family problems. When she had finished the litany of good deeds, she said, "I just felt like God wanted me to tell you that."

The pastor’s grandfather paused and looked at her and said, "It was the Lord Jesus Christ who did it." There was another pause, and the pastor’s grandmother struck up a conversation with the neighbor lady. A few seconds later they heard a cough, and grandfather had slumped over in his chair. He was already with Jesus.

How wonderful it would be to have our last words on earth give credit to the source of our excellent living: "It was the Lord Jesus Christ who did it."

If we want to live with excellence and Get a Grip on life, we have to persevere. We persevere by sowing to the Spirit, hoping for the harvest, keeping up the good work. Let’s make the Lord our priority in this New Year, and give him credit for the good we have done, even to our dying breath. Let’s look to Jesus, and we can see the perfect example of perseverance. We can have strength for the race. We can find excellent living. We can go the distance with God! Amen!

Principle #1 for Effective Living: Jesus-followers have a magnificent opportunity this New Year to let God's seed sprout, flourish and bring us abundant life. We can be good soil!

As we enter a New Year we will be talking about getting a grip on life. This message series speaks to a universal human experience. We are going to discover some handles that we can hold on to, some ways we can become committed, and spiritually maturing disciples of Jesus Christ. God does not want us to live with undisciplined lives. Becoming spiritually mature Jesus-followers supports one of our ministry objectives at Christ First: Cultivating our relationship with Christ. Do we consider ourselves spiritual persons? What does that mean? Does spiritual growth seem like an impossible amount of work? Do we have a clear picture of the kind of life we would live if we were to be more spiritually mature? This five-week series will help Jesus-followers to Get a Grip on practical principles for excellent living. Growth supports training, not trying!

So then my brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast [get a grip] on the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. —2 Thessalonians 2:15

Resolutions, Resolutions, Resolutions. As we enter a New Year, most people are driven to set realistic resolutions that will make our lives healthier and happier. I have worked tirelessly in setting New Year's Resolutions every January 1st. While I'm not always the best at keeping them, I'm consistent, and I'm sure this year will be better than ever before. I don't like to brag, but I thought maybe you'd enjoy seeing the progress I've made. So let me share a few of the resolutions I have personally set for myself this year.

RESOLUTION #1: Weight
2000: I will get my weight down below 185.
2001: I will watch my calories until I get below 190.
2002: I will follow my new diet religiously until I get below 200.
2003: I will try to develop a realistic attitude about my weight. 2004: I will work out 5 days a week.
2005: I will work out 3 days a week.
2006: I will try to drive past a gym at least once a week.