TEXT: Colossians 1:12-23 TITLE: The Winning Circle of His Love
(The stage was decorated with various racing items including race flags crisscrossed on the pulpit and a racing streamer across the length of the stage. I entered the sanctuary wearing a one piece pit-crew outfit and racing helmet, while the overhead played the last lap of the 2007 Daytona 500 race. After drawing attention to the racing decorations on stage, I began the opening illustration).
OPEN: According to Jeff Foxworthy, you Might Be A Nascar Redneck if:
· Your favorite NASCAR souvenir was a direct result of a crash in turn three....
· You can remember every NASCAR driver and their car number but you can’t remember how old your children are...
· Your pet nickname for your wife is "Lugnut"....
· You can change a tire faster than you can change a diaper....
· You’ve spent more time on the top of a Winnebago than in one....
· You think - last 4 words of the National Anthem are "Gentleman start your engines”
· You make engine noises while watching racing on TV....
· You pull into the gas station behind someone else just to see if you can beat them out. This or course would require your wife to clean the windshield and your son to check the tires.
· You think the most effective form of advertising is on the side of a car going 200 mph..... around and around and around....
· And my personal favorite: you might be a Nascar Redneck if someone asks the time at church and you answer “an hour and a half till race time.”
APPLY: All kidding aside, Nascar is one of the all time favorite American Sports. According to an ESPN poll, auto racing is the nation’s 7th most popular sport . Thirty-eight (38) percent of the population over the age of 12 say they are NASCAR fans. Other sports may have larger fan bases, but racing enthusiasts may be the most loyal. According to Nielsen data, in 1999 the auto racing series was the 2nd most watched sport - second only to the NFL regular season games.
ILLUS: According to George Pyne (a NASCAR executive in 2004) NASCAR fans come from all regions, income levels, and demographics.
One-third of all adult Americans are NASCAR fans.
40% are women.
And NASCAR is the fastest-growing sport among racial minorities who now make up 20% of its fan-base.
In addition, NASCAR is the only major sport in the U.S. which opens its weekly ceremonies with an invocation. And it’s not just any prayer – it’s almost always a Christian one, invoking the blessings of Jesus on the event and its participants.
In fact, Christian influences are prevalent in this sport - from sponsors to driver testimonies to trackside prayer services. As a privately-owned company which has sanctioned stock-car races since 1948 NASCAR makes no apologies for its connection to Christianity.
So this American sport seemed like a great backdrop to preach on the truths of Colossians 1
TURN WITH ME NOW TO COLOSSIANS 1:12-23
(Read Scripture and Pray)
Racing and Christianity have a very close mindset. According to Professor Baker (professor of history at U. of Maine who often writes in newspapers and magazine about Sports and Religion) there is a logic to evangelical Christianity and racing having a cozy relationship. He says:
“In many ways they’re similar. Both are win-loss mentalities. In evangelical Christianity you are either saved or lost. You’ve gone to heaven or you’ve gone to hell, you win or you lose and that’s what sport is all about.
(pause…)
The Bible is very clear that there is a finish line. Paul wrote in Philippians 3 “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14
Christianity IS all about winning and losing.
According to the Bible you’re either saved, or you’re lost.
There is a heaven… and there is a hell - and all of us will end up one place or the other.
But THE GOOD NEWS is that God doesn’t want us to end up in the wrong place. He doesn’t want us to lose. He wants us to win the race and enter into His presence. And he so much wants to accomplish that He has found a way for us to “qualify” for the ultimate race of life.
In auto racing, there is a process known as qualifying for a race.
If your performance is good enough - if you’re fast enough, and consistent enough - you can qualify for one of the best positions as the cars line up at the starting line.
But the Bible tells us there is a problem with us qualifying for the race to heaven.
We’re not good enough. We don’t have what it takes to qualify because of our own ability.
Romans 3:23 tells us “… all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
All of us come to the race with damaged vehicles.
All of us come to this competition with tires that are worn and engines that have been abused.
It doesn’t matter how well we can conduct ourselves on the track.
It doesn’t matter how skilled we may be behind the wheel.
We’ll never make it to the finish line as we are.
No matter how good we think we are – the Bible tells us we’ll never be good enough to be good enough for this kind of race.
You’re not going to be good enough…
And I am not be good enough…
And so God has stepped in
LOOK WITH ME TO Colossians 1:12
It says we should be “… giving thanks to the Father, who has QUALIFIED you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”
You and I couldn’t do it – so God stepped in and did the “qualifying” for us.
Colossians tell us that
“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” Colossians 1:21-22
In 1 Corinthians Paul tells us what kinds of people who are definitely not going to make it into heaven. The wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God. The sexually immoral won’t make it, and the adulterers won’t make it. Neither with the prostitutes, the homosexuals, thieves, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers. None of these folks will inherit the kingdom of God.
BUT then Paul says:
“…that is what some of you were. BUT you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11
Essentially - God stepped into the lives of people you and I wouldn’t want to be around and He reworked their lives. He put a new heart inside of them He put a new power source in their souls.
He took them all apart and then put them back together again
ILLUS: In the first church I served, there was a man in the community named Lynn. I knew him only in passing. He showed up to church once in a while, but he obviously wasn’t all that interested in “religion” or church. I later found out that Lynn was not somebody you would want to make angry.
He had been in the CIA. During the Viet Nam war he was part of a secret ops group that required him to slip quietly in behind enemy lines and assassinate enemy leaders.
And when he came back from the war, he apparently still dealt with the violent side of life. He had business dealings with men who you and I wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley.
In short… if you were smart, you didn’t mess with Lynn.
But then the day came when we held a Revival at Church. George Faull preached and Lynn came to visit. Sometime during that Revival Lynn came down front and repented of his past and rededicated himself to Christ
He was never the same man ever again.
God changed him inside and out.
To this day, Lynn is not only faithful in church… he goes out and helps build them.
And wherever I preach, Lynn sends a contribution for the ministry.
He went from being a man who lived only for himself to being a man who lived for others and for God.
ILLUS: Lake Speed has been one of the prominent racers on the NASCAR circuit. He said “Most of my life I had all the things the world says will make you happy, the big house, the cars and boat and I had also been very successful. But there was still an emptiness inside. And when the Lord asked that question I knew I had nowhere else to hide. Nothing else had worked up to this time, fame, money, success and all the toys. After that I started going to church and really got into reading the Bible. Christ was the answer for me. He put my life back together.
People from all walks of life – from the CIA to Nascar - have realized that without God their lives seem like a long meaningless run around a endless track.
But when God steps in… they begin to see the finish line and prospect of finishing the race.
BUT HOW DOES GOD DO THIS?
How does He change people’s lives?
ILLUS: Deuce (I pointed the to a member of our congregation who had loaned me the helmet and suit) is race car enthusiast and an engine mechanic. But he’s not just any old engine mechanic. In the past, people have hired him to come and work on the engines of their race cars. He’s been all over the United States fine tuning the motors of professional racers.
But wait. Don’t you think there were auto mechanics closer to home? Weren’t there garages nearby where these owners could have taken their race cars? Why hire Deuce to come all that way and pay him such a high price for his services?
Why? Because these aren’t just any old engines. These were high-performance vehicles, and Deuce knows those engines… he knows what makes them work. He knows how they’re put together and what it takes to get the best performance from them.
The Bible tells me that Jesus has the same ability and knowledge about us.
Look With Me To Colossians 1:16-17
“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
Jesus made you. He knows you. He knows you better than any psychologist or sociologist.
He knows how you’re put together.
He knows how you think
He knows how you live
He knows what motivates you.
And He is more than capable of working in your life. To change your heart, your mind, your soul. He can take you apart and put you back together again. And when you allow Him to do that with your life, He fine tunes your heart and gives you hope and a future you never would have had without Him.
SO, HOW DOES THIS WORK?
How can I lay hold of God’s power in my life?
ILLUS: Well, in NASCAR racing, nearly every car has a sponsor. Sponsors are the people who supply the racer with the resources to run the race. Often they’ll supply the car, the engine, the tires, and the funding for the pit crew. They are the people that make it possible for the driver to win the race.
And how do you know who the sponsor of any given driver is????
That’s right: their names are plastered all over the outside of the race car.
Essentially, you could say the sponsor “owns” that car.
And the race car driver has given his allegiance to his sponsor. He believes in and has a loyalty to the company that invested in him.
Essentially, that’s what God asks of you and I. He asks:
· Do you believe in Me?
· Are you willing to place your loyalty with Me?
· Are you willing to allow Me to own what you have/ and invest in your life?
When I Talk To People About Becoming A Christian, I Ask Them 5 Questions
1. Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God?
2. Do you believe you are a sinner?
3. Do you believe that Jesus can forgive you of that sin?
4. Are you willing to make Him the owner and master of your life?
5. Are you willing to sign over your live by being buried in the waters of Christian baptism and risen up to a new life?
If they’re willing to do that – there’s still one more thing they need to do.
ILLUS: In Nascar, the vehicles run around the track somewhere between 200 and 250 times before they finish the race. How often do you suppose a car makes all the way through the race without ever stopping? That’s right… not once. They’re not built to run the whole race without pulling into their pit and having the tires changed, gas put in, engine serviced, etc.
In order to finish the race, each competitor needs to submit to the help from his crew.
In the same way it’s not enough for you and I to simply decide we want to become Christians. We still need to allow God to continually work on us. We need to constantly come into His presence and have him fine tune our lives.
In a race…that’s why they’ve got a pit-crew
For us Christians… we call it CHURCH
ILLUS: On the NASCAR circuit, they have their own form of church called the MRO (Motor Racing Outreach). Nascar great Darrell Waltrip helped found this organization and he commented that Nascar is a dangerous commercialized place and they can’t always get away to go back to their church. He said: “If you don’t have the Lord, you’ll go nuts… We want stability so we bring it with us. MRO is not just here for Sunday service but for counsel, help with finances; if there wasn’t a stable force we would have gone off the deep end.”
That’s the purpose of church…
· to be a place where we can get God’s counsel
· where we can lean on each other
· where we can have the stability in our lives that’s so hard to find anywhere else
Church is all about helping as Christians to heed Paul’s warning to “continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel….” Colossians 1:23
CLOSE: In last Sunday’s Daytona 500 everyone thought the winner of the race would be Mark Martin. And he was in the lead up, until the last few moments when Kevin Harvick put on a burst of speed and edged Martin out at the finish line.
Martin is a legend on the Nascar circuit, but it wasn’t always so. At one time in his life, he was just a so-so driver with a tendency to live life loose and party hard.
But then he lost a close friend in a racing tragedy. He said:
"When I lost that person, it totally changed my life because it made me realize... what is the most important thing in life. I’m not sure if (my friend) was prepared, and I decided right then and there that I WAS GOING TO BE READY in case something was to happen to me. I couldn’t put that off. I needed to be ready. If something was to happen to me going to, from or during any racing event, or going to the grocery store for that matter - my concern is what happens to me after that. That’s a lot more important to me today than when I was a kid or in my teens."
Martin re-dedicated his life to Christ, making certain that he knew Jesus Christ personally. He didn’t do it merely as an eternal life insurance policy, however. "I also needed the strength of the relationship, the strength it gives to deal with all the things that are important in life;’ he said. "Having that relationship has made life more manageable."
