IT IS TO SOON TO QUIT SO WE NEED TO ADD TO OUR FAITH PERSEVERANCE
2 PT 1:5-7
Maybe not many of us here remember Gracie Allen. She was a comedian with her husband George in early TV land. There is true story about her that I would like for us to hear that leads us into our next add to faith characteristic. She was known for pulling pranks on people and people doing the same to her. One day as she was getting ready for work she received a small box with a baby alligator inside it. She was not sure just what to do so she put it in the bathtub and walked out the door. When she came home from work that she found a note from her maid. “Dear Mrs. Allen, I quit. I don’t work in no house with an alligator. I should have told you this when I started. I just thought it would never come up.”
All of us have had thoughts about quitting at home, at work, at church, at marriage or even life with an alligator. It seems there are some you have prayed over for years and are weary because it seems to do little good. You have tried to control your thought life by making it captive to Jesus Christ yet you find your mind on thoughts of doubt, unbelief, gossip or even hate. You have been at work in the church and it seems that the forces of evil have become greater even though you have given yourself in a great way to live a righteous life. So your thoughts at time have been to say, “I quit.” I am not going on if there is an alligator. Peter’s alligator perhaps was an uncontrollable mouth. He was one of the twelve chosen by Jesus to follow Him. He was one of the inner three that Jesus spent time with more than the others. From his mouth came three denials that he even knew Christ. If we were in his shoes we could have said I quit. He did not quit and tells us, “Add to your faith, Perseverance. Add to your faith goodness and to goodness knowledge and to knowledge self-control and now Perseverance. He is telling don’t quit, it is always too soon to quit. The word from the Greek in our day today means stand your ground. Keep your place. Stick with it. If set backs come do not let that stop you from your mission from God. This word is like telling a soldier to hold his position. You have heard stories of this kind that helped us win wars. One man or a group would not give up until they were relived or lost their lives and because of their courage they gave to others an opportunity for victory. The two times I have been told that men are tempted to give in are when nothing seems to be happening and boredom sets in. The other is when it seems the enemy has the upper hand and you are sure to lose. Peter says you need to stand your ground. Alligators or not it is to son to quit.
Peter has urged us to be good. He has told us to gain knowledge. He has let us know we need self-control. We are at the center of our add-ons. We are only half way and there is still a journey. May we see here the Christian life is a journey and not a destination? We cannot stop. We have a work to do for Christ. Peter says this morning “Don’t quit. It is too soon to quit. Hold your ground. Help is always available. The people Peter is writing too have a reason to quit in the conditions they have to live with. They seem to have more than their share of alligators. They have faced hardships, setbacks and sicknesses. They had said yes to God. It cost them something to follow after Christ. Others around them were hostile to them. Others did not understand why they would follow a person who had died on a cross. Why would they not worship their idols which they believed brought them good crops and healthy families? Peter uses the word suffering 17 times in his first letter as a way that the Christian would live. We think if one is suffering as a Christian that they have done something wrong. If you are poor it is because you do not know how to handle money. If you do not have a good job you need to look elsewhere. We are not given to persevere but to give up easy for life should not be rough.
So take the easy road and quit. Quit obeying God if it puts you at odds with others at work or even in the church. You do not have to go to church. You do not have to walk a holy life. You do not have to believe that Jesus is coming back again. Just quit and the pain will go away. Just say, “I never knew him,” and everyone will leave you alone. This is what Peter had gone through. But Peter says don’t quit, persevere.
11 Ways to Raise Your Perseverance Quotient: 1. Grow up, which means, be independent, take responsibility for yourself. 2. Intentionally select positive re-enforcement. When someone hands you the thorns, find the roses! 3. Live healthy. 4. Ask, "What is true?" not "What do others think is true?”
5. When getting advice, consider the source. 6. Avoid the "no action" alibi. 7. Identify counter useful habits or thoughts you would like to discontinue. Focus on what you can do, not what you cannot do. When you focus on what you cannot do, you get more of it! Don’t be too concerned about how others are living their lives. 8. Willingly forgive yourself and others. Do this for your own sake, your own peace of mind. 9. Take reasonable risks. 10. Get support. You deserve to be around folks supportive of your aspirations. 11. Don’t quit.
In one of the earliest and defining battle of the Civil was at Shiloh. The south seemed confident that that they were going to win the entire war in this one battle. On the first day they had overwhelmed and beat the North that by nightfall the only escape it seemed was for them to retreat and perhaps surrender. James B. McPherson, the chief military engineer, came to Grant and said, “Things look bad, we have lost half our artillery and a third of the infantry. Our line is broken and we are pushed back nearly to the river. What do you want to do?” Grant listened and said “attack in the morning and surprise them.” They attacked and won and three years later the south surrendered.
Peter has gives at least a dozen reasons to those to quit. Maybe some of them have been in your thoughts.
They were Strangers in the world and treated like refugees. They had to suffer trials. They were accused of doing wrong. They had pain in unjust suffering. They had terrible working conditions. They suffered for doing what is right. They were allured to sin and made fun of because they would not. They were abused. The devil was lurking to pounce on them. False teachers were trying to mislead them. They were made fun of because they believed that Jesus was coming back. They may have become disappointed because the Lord seemed slow in fulfilling His promise.
So we could say that following Jesus had not been a great career move or enhanced their reputation or expanded their opportunities. They had not become rich, popular or of great influence. Instead those who followed Christ were the strange, outcasts, things of mockery, distrustful people and marked for abuse. So their work was harder. They had family, friends, colleagues and the government that now was now against them. People were not just talking about them behind their backs they were saying it to their faces. It is time to quit and admit defeat.
I want to tell that to persevere makes sense because of the definition we have today that says: “A steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.” If you are heading in the right direction you would be a fool to quit. If you have found the one road tat leads to life why stray off the course? The Christian life is a race or a battle and if in either the only thing that matters is that you win. What we have in the Christian life is either worthwhile or we need to give it up. A story I just listened to this week was about two football players who played football back in the 70’s for the Chicago Bears. One became a very famous running back named Gayle Sayers. He was black and guy name Brian Piccolo was white. They both played in the backfield. After Gayle’s freshman year he was named rookie of the year. He then hurt his knee and felt that his career was over in football. Brian sought him out and said with a little work he could come back to his career but Gayle did not like what he said. Brian preserved to get Gayle back in shape. In a couple of years the coach told Gayle he would be starting as his main running back. Brian of course wanted this position and looked disappointed but heard the coach say, “Brian you will be the starting fullback.” They played together although Brian did not make the headlines. He then became stricken with cancer and when Gayle got the award for MVP one year he gave the credit to Brian in that he did not give up on him when his knee went bad. My question is who are you trying to help even though they might be better than you are.
With today’s constant media barrage of bad news, people feel bad enough already and don’t want anything that makes them feel worse, says Cheryl Swanson. With all the info coming at us 24/7, “We are processing information at 400 times the rate of our ancestors.” This is a new human task that we haven’t had time to adapt to yet, physically or mentally. That’s why we’re getting tech-related health problems, like carpal tunnel, and maybe even mental and neurological problems like attention-deficit disorder. With that 400 times more information did not come 400 more hours in a day. So, we steal that time from sleep. Hence another big trend: The sleep industries, with new pills, pillows, and in the big hotels, all trying to help us get the Sizes we need. “Another byproduct of trying to pack too much into the day is the erosion of dinnertime. This, of course, is nothing new. In the ’60s, dinner was 45 minutes long. By the ’90s, it had shrunk to 15 minutes.” Swanson’s found the sit-down dinner had evaporated almost entirely. “It is now basically five minutes.”And it’s not even sitting down." Families, not always together, eat standing up around the kitchen counter. (Advertising Age 11/13/07; via Church Leaders Intelligence Report)
Peter had his eye on the prize yet he knew that suffering would be part of the life that he was called to live. He had been with Jesus and he knew that Jesus knew how to have a party and enjoy life. Think of the great time he had when he fed five thousand people. He was able to draw a crowd. Once he went across the Sea of Galilee on a boat and many people ran around the lake to see him again. He also saw that when Jesus taught them that they should not just be seeking bread but real life meant following him “many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” Peter spoke for all the disciples that stayed, “We believe and knw that you are the holy One of God.” You are the only road to heaven and we choose to follow you.
Peter writes to us in his first letter he gives us five things that will happen as we persevere. Our faith will be developed. Our hope will be made complete. Our desire to follow the lusts of this world will die. We will become more personal with or relationship with Christ. Our lives will become more holy.
The foundation is faith and faith is the firm belief that God exists, He does not desert us, rewards those who seek Him earnestly and He is not out to destroy us. He is here to perfect us. Nathan Sharansky was a prisoner on the Soviet Union. They tried to destroy him with what they did. He had friends on the outside and they did things that caused such an uproar internationally that they decided it would be better to let him go than to keep him. In February 1986 he was released and was to walk across a bridge to his freedom. As people from both sides watched it was a strange sight for he started to zigzag, skip, waste time, gallop and dance as he came across. He took his time. Why did you do all that and not just come straight across in a hurry. “The KGB told me to cross in a straight line and you I never make an agreement with the KGB.” So you might have little voice in you today that says why not quit? Do not agree but say “it is too soon to quit!”
Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there. Josh Billings
The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground.
Saints are sinners who kept on going. Robert Louis Stevenson
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.G.B. Shaw, Mrs. Warren’s 1893
