I Will Never Quit
Sean Lester
April 28, 2007
Text: To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. (Romans 2:7-10)
Introduction
This is the third message in the series that I have entitled “The Warrior’s Code”. The Warrior’s code, or as it is called in the United States Army, the Warrior’s ethos, declares the core values of a warrior. Much has been said in recent years about spiritual warfare. I believe in spiritual warfare, too. But warfare is waged by people who will make the ultimate sacrifice for what they believe. It is what is expected from soldiers who defend our country. Without people with a warrior’s heart a nation cannot be defended. Without followers of Christ whose hearts place the kingdom of God above everything, the kingdom of God will not advance. As Jesus said, “From the time of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of God has been forcefully advancing and forceful men lay hold of it.”
In the first message, we saw that the warrior always places the mission first. As Jesus taught us to pray, our souls cry out first and foremost, “May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And as Jesus demonstrated when he was about to lay down his life on the cross, “not my will, but Yours be done.” Above all else, the mission God gave to each person motivates the actions of the believer. Jesus said, “go into the world and preach the Gospel, teaching people to obey all of my commands…” Therefore, that is what the spiritual warrior does.
Second, the warrior’s code declares, “I will never accept defeat.” It only follows that if you and I are to put the mission first, then we must do so and not be willing to be defeated. Defeat means that the mission is not accomplished. Defeat means that people are lost to eternity. Therefore, the spiritual warrior takes his life’s work very seriously. The spiritual warrior fights hard, fights smart, and fights relentlessly.
The third statement in the Warrior’s code says, “I will never quit.” As seasoned soldiers will tell you, battles aren’t easy. They are very hard. A soldier fights without food, shelter, and sleep if necessary. A soldier will find himself under fire for long periods of time, and on the march for long periods of time, or cold and hungry for long periods of time. Warriors aren’t called to a life of ease. They are called to fight and win. That means that they must continue until they have won the battle.
I think that it is a mistake to take the Christian life as the means to the life of ease. It is quite the opposite. That isn’t to say that the Christian life is too hard, too unhappy, or too constraining. The opposite is true. The Christian life is fulfilling, thrilling, and liberating. But, it is not a life free of tears, death, sorrow, and sin; at least not yet.
Proposition: In the passage that I have read, Paul warns us that persistence in doing good is required for success in pleasing God. Persistence is the character trait of a person who values success in a venture so much that he pursues it in spite of whatever hardship is required to bring about the desired outcome.
Interrogative: How does one persist in following Jesus Christ?
Transition: In the passage, I see three characteristics of those who never quit. 1) Hunger for heaven, 2) Self-discipline, and 3) God’s strength to persist.
I. Hunger for Heaven
A. Hunger is a terrific motivator for someone to persist in doing the Lord’s will.
i. Glory is the desire to be honored by those who are revered. The Christian lives for the two words that will welcome us into heaven, “Well done”.
ii. Honor is the satisfaction of knowing that you have succeeded in doing something because it is the right thing to do. The right has been upheld. Evil has been vanquished. And even if no one else ever knows of what has been sacrificed, knowing that the right thing has been done is enough.
iii. Immortality is living forever and living in strength. Immortality is the ultimate prize for the believer. The immortal believer will live forever in the presence of God and in a world that is the way it is supposed to be. It is more than the fountain of youth.
B. Personal illustration: While in college, I took one of those jobs that promised unlimited income. It was my first sales job. The product was good. The training was excellent. However, I wasn’t excelling at it like I thought I would. I told a friend about it, and knowing me as he did, made the observation that “I wasn’t hungry enough, yet.” When I needed money, I would work extra hard and make the sales. When I had enough, I slacked off from the hard work. I learned that if I was going to be successful in life, what I did had to be so important to me that I would always be hungry enough to do my best.
C. Biblical example: Paul had that unrelenting hunger. He wanted to be the first one to tell a people about the Gospel. He often returned to places that had persecuted him. He supported himself when necessary. He went without food and shelter. It didn’t matter what the hardship because the prize was worth it. In his words, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Transition: Hunger drives people, hunger for heaven drives believers in Christ toward heaven. However, that hunger is for nothing if the believer hasn’t sufficiently conquered his fleshly lusts.
II. Self-control
A. Giving in to the desire for self-gratification is the same as quitting on God.
i. Self-seeking behavior puts the needs and interests of the individual over the requirements for accomplishing the mission. Fear of self-loss, or harm manifests in a person doing what he or she feels is in their own best interest. Such behavior suggests that God is not faithful and cannot be trusted. It declares the will of God to be less important than the needs of the individual.
ii. Rejection of the truth justifies behavior that is meant to gratify the individual. The Biblical expectations for a believer are rejected in favor of a theology that pays homage to God but rejects his commands. People may go so far as to deny the deity of Christ in order to justify taking his words as suggestions other than commands for living to please God.
iii. Those who follow evil have given themselves over to doing what pleases themselves without regard for God. Such people are slaves to their own desires. They do not have the ability to accomplish God’s will in their lives because they are unwilling to give up what they lust after.
B. Biblical example: When Paul was in his darkest hours many of his friends abandoned him. He was in jail and he was unsure if he would live. He expected to be executed. In his second letter to Timothy, he said that Demas, who had been one of his faithful companions, had deserted him. Demas, according to Paul, loved the things of this world more than he loved fulfilling God’s call in his life.
C. Good biblical example: Uriah exemplifies the self-control needed of those who fulfill God’s plan. Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, refused to sleep with his wife while he was home from the war. He refused to dishonor his troops by experiencing a pleasure they couldn’t have. On the front lines, he faithfully obeyed an order that was sure to get him killed. He sought glory, honor, and immortality over his own interests. In return, God gave him all of the things that Uriah had sought for the kingdom.
D. Self-control doesn’t come naturally to anyone. It has to be practiced in the same way a soldier practices for war. Soldiers practice living with hardship in their training. They go without food and sleep and they work beyond the point of exhaustion long before they ever go to war. They practice their tasks over and over again. The value in fasting and prayer for the believer is the preparation in good times to withstand the pressure of the lean times.
Transition: Self-control makes it possible for a person with a heart for God to continue to pursue God’s will.
III. God’s Strength to Persist
A. After a believer has done all that he or she can do, the strength that comes only from God makes success possible.
i. God glorifies those who do His will. He confirms the preaching of his Word through signs, wonders, and miracles through those who persist in doing good. Glory is being recognized for some good achievement.
ii. God gives honor to those who faithfully persist in doing good. Honor is the acknowledgment the virtue of someone’s character.
iii. God gives peace to those who persist in working to bring about God’s will. Peace is the inner assurance that everything is working as it should. That assurance allows a person to continue through hardship knowing that everything will work out as it should. Peace makes it possible to take another step forward.
B. Biblical Illustration: Paul and Silas were put into prison for preaching the message of Jesus’ resurrection. Despite the good work that they were doing, they were thrown into prison. While in prison, they sang songs and praised God. They had peace in the midst of the trouble. They knew in their innermost being that everything was as it should be. God was still in control.
C. The will to do and to act in pursuit of the things of God will only succeed when God has given the power to act. Every believer needs to be full of the Holy Spirit in order to have the assurance and the power to continue to seek God’s glory for an entire lifetime.
Transition: You haven’t got the strength on your own to succeed in fulfilling God’s mission in your life. You need the strength that only comes from the Lord.
Conclusion: The soldier who lives by the warrior’s code never quits until success has been achieved in carrying out the mission given by his commander. The Lord Jesus Christ is the commander for all believers. He has given us the order to go into all the world to preach the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ and to teach people to live according to what he has taught. The command remains in effect throughout the lifetime of the believer. Therefore, the believer never quits. Each believer is a spiritual warrior who seeks heaven while still on earth, who disciplines the body so that personal desires don’t take precedence over the mission, and who depends upon the Lord for strength to persist.
