Not A Fan: Living Life Less Distracted Series

NOT A FAN #5 October 14, 2012

“Living Life Undistracted”

1 CORINTHIANS 7:29-35

Now let me say this, dear brothers and sisters: THE TIME THAT REMAINS IS VERY SHORT, so husbands should not let marriage be their major concern. [30] HAPPINESS OR SADNESS OR WEALTH SHOULD NOT KEEP ANYONE FROM DOING GOD'S WORK. [31] Those in frequent contact with the things of the world should make GOOD USE OF THEM WITHOUT BECOMING ATTACHED TO THEM, for this world and all it contains will pass away. [32] In everything you do, I WANT YOU TO BE FREE FROM THE CONCERNS OF THIS LIFE. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord's work and thinking how to please him. [33] But a married man can't do that so well. He has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife. [34] His interests are divided. In the same way, a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be more devoted to the Lord in body and in spirit, while the married woman must be concerned about her earthly responsibilities and how to please her husband.

[35] I AM SAYING THIS FOR YOUR BENEFIT, NOT TO PLACE RESTRICTIONS ON YOU. I WANT YOU TO DO WHATEVER WILL HELP YOU SERVE THE LORD BEST, WITH AS FEW DISTRACTIONS AS POSSIBLE.

INTRODUCTION

Men are notorious for being distracted. Most of us could qualify for having ADD —

• Standing with my sweater in my hand…”Am I going somewhere or am I cold?”

• Dropping my car at the Wrong Garage

• Losing my eyewear prescription

A SNAP-SHOT OF MY LIFE: I simply want to check my email. In moments, however, I get caught in the web of the internet following a story, looking up something, blogging, reading other people’s blogs, checking the weather, looking to see if the Mountaineers are any closer to a championship, or just catching up on the news…and I never get around to checking the email.

The problem is that it all seems important, or at least necessary. Our lives are filled with the urgent, and we have no time for the eternal. We have tended to a million little things and left undone the big things. We have filled the day with things that do not ultimately matter and left undone the things that do matter. We have done what seemed necessary and neglected what was essential. Days turn into months and months into years, and our lives have become trivialized by distractions.

• In Luke 10 we find Marth, Mary’s sister, distracted so much by the “Urgent that she misses out on the Eternal, the moments she could have spent in communion with Jesus.

WHAT IS A DISTRACTION

• Anything that draws our attention away from something we are normally focused on.

O Good distractions might move our minds from pain or hurt, or temptations for a time so we can reset our focus.

O Bad distractions draw our attention from where it should be focused onto something other.

WHAT ARE DISTRACTIONS

• People

• Emotions/Feelings

• Things/Materialism

DANGERS OF DISTRACTION

• David hitting the pole – Distracted by me

• Andie’s car accident – Distracted by feelings…the urgent

People Distracted in the Bible

• Achan – The treasures of Jericho

• David – The Beauty of Bathsheba

• Pilate – The shouting of the mob

How do we escape this ruthless cycle of distractions

that keep us from what life was meant to be?

MOVE FROM PRAGMATISM TO PASSION.

• Pragmatism is doing something because it gets results or it works.

• Passion is the craving of a heart that wants to experience the fullness of life no matter what the cost.

• PASSION IS FIRE IN THE BELLY.

Romans 8:31-39 - What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us. CAN ANYTHING EVER SEPARATE US FROM CHRIST'S LOVE? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? (Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.") No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.