Guardrails For Your Life

GUARDRAILS FOR YOUR LIFE

Eph. 5:3-5

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: Tomorrow is Tax Day. Here’s 7 thoughts:

1. Moms and Dads never appreciate their kids more than at tax time.

2. Did you know that whoever won the Mega Millions jackpot will make history? They'll be the first billionaire to pay taxes!

3. Why was the seafood restaurant being investigated by the IRS? They were suspected of being a shell company.

4. Why doesn’t the IRS audit cows? Because the farmer milked them dry.

5. Ever wonder how Form 1040 got its name? For every $50 you earn, you get $10, they get $40.

6. Tax day is when ordinary Americans send their money to Washington, D.C., and wealthy Americans send their money to the Cayman Islands.” — Jimmy Kimmel

7. Why didn’t Sherlock Holmes pay a lot of taxes? Because he made brilliant deductions.

B. THESIS

1. Today I’m talking about something we see every day but rarely think about; something that will likely save our lives one time or another. Guardrails.

2. So we’re going to talk about this simple concept that also applies to the spiritual realm. The real author of guardrails is God. The title of this message is, “Guardrails For Your Life.”

I. THE IMPORTANCE OF GUARDRAILS

A. WHAT IS A GUARDRAIL?

1. Definition of a Guardrail: A guardrail is actually a partial wall designed to keep vehicles from straying off the road into dangerous areas. You usually find guardrails on bridges, in medians, around curves and if there’s a precipice/drop-off.

2. The idea behind guardrails is that you will do less damage to your car and your life if you hit a guardrail, than if you run off the road.

B. A GUARDRAIL SAVED MY LIFE

1. When I was a teenager, I was driving across Houston in my blue Volkswagen Bug car. My friend and I were on an overpass (a bridge over a perpendicular road). I was driving and had my elbow out the window and was steering with only my little finger.

2. Suddenly I had a blowout of my right front tire. Before I could grab the steering wheel, it spun 3X to the right, as if I’d made a right-hand turn. My car impacted with the guardrail and I slid down it about 100 feet (making a large crease down the side of my car) until I was able to bring it to a stop.

3. The whole time I was looking over the edge at the oncoming cars that would run me over if my car went over the guardrail. Thank God it held. The guard rail probably saved my life!

C. WE NEED GUARDRAILS IN OTHER AREAS OF LIFE. Guardrails aren’t just important to have on roads, we also need them in many other areas:

1. Financial Guardrails – to keep us out of debt;

2. Behavior Guardrails– so we don’t act like lost people;

3. Moral Guardrails – so we don’t shame the Name of Jesus and set a bad example for others.

4. Marriage/ Dating Guardrails – “I will not be alone with a person of the opposite sex where we could fall into sin.” “I will not look on a woman to lust after her;” 1 Pet. 3:1-7. And generally, “If there’s something that’s wrong to do in public, then it’s wrong to do in private!”

5. Ethical Guardrails – “I will be honest, truthful; I will not cheat, lie, or steal, etc.”

6. In other words, we need to develop a set of standards beyond which we will not go.

II. WHICH IS BETTER: PREVENTION OR CURE?

A. STORY OF THE TOWN: FENCE OR AMBULANCE?

1. There was a town that was reached by a dangerous highway curve on a cliff. Several cars had already over-run the curve and plunged into the abyss. A community meeting was called to discuss the problem.

2. Some thought it a good idea to station an ambulance at the bottom of this cliff to give immediate aid to the victims. Wiser heads suggested it might be better to erect a fence (or guardrail) around the curve on top of the cliff.

3. Such a discussion is ridiculous: We know it’s much better to PREVENT accidents and deaths than to try to REMEDY THEM AFTERWARD. Let’s don’t overlook the truth that this principle has much spiritual merit as well.

4. The same thing is true with dangerous temptations or mistakes in life. Setting up boundaries around yourself (and sticking to them) is much better than “crashing & burning” – ruining your reputation, your health, your marriage, your finances, or whatever else – and then trying to recover. The "fence" at the top is better than on the "ambulance" at the bottom!

B. GOD’S BOUNDARIES

Eph. 5:3-5; “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Mark 7:21, “For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder...”