“Are You An A. C. E.?”
Today we honor those graduating to a higher level.
And to those, as well as everyone else I want to talk to you today about being an ACE.
If you become an expert in your field then you are considered by most people to be an ace.
You maybe an ace husband or wife, father or mother, or brother or sister.
You may be ace farmer, banker, teacher, doctor, nurse, or whatever you do in your career.
You may be an ace, golfer, baseball or softball player, card shark, or any other of your hobbies that you really enjoy.
But to become an ace at anything there are three things that you need to be successful: Passion – Time – Knowledge
Think about this for a second. Do you consider yourself an ace in anything you do.
I hope each of you were able to answer yes in everything you do but I know we aren’t.
As much as we would like to be an ace in everything we do we cannot because we lack the time it requires don’t we.
Now there are those who seem to be good at many things but even they can’t be an ace at everything.
So I ask you this question this morning, “What do you desire to be an ace at more than anything else?”
Now I hope that being an ace Christian was your answer this time.
If it wasn’t maybe you need to take a closer look at your priorities.
Illustration: How can a sinner be an expert?
What would it take to be an ace Christian? The same things, passion, time, & knowledge.
First of all it takes the passion. The desire to serve Jesus the way He commands.
For a lot of people that right there is a hindrance because of the things they must give up.
Next it takes time. In order for you to be good at something you must practice and if you are practicing Christianity only on Sunday you are allowing Satan to work on you the rest of the week.
Being a Christian is not a part time thing. We can’t just do it when the time is convenient.
That means are actions, our words, and our thoughts should be centered around Jesus.
To be an ace Christian it requires knowledge. Constantly looking to gain information to help you reach that status.
And that is what we are going to say that A. C. E. stands for today.
Adults Continuing Education, because we all need to be graduating.
II Timothy 3:10-17
These words are perfect to honor our graduates today at all levels.
They are also perfect words for those of us who have already graduated to understand why we need to be Adults Continuing Education.
Timothy was Paul’s understudy, someone who he had taught and prepared to go out and spread God’s Word to others.
For those graduating from jr. high, from high school, or from college these words apply to you and will apply for the rest of your lives.
Notice in verse 10 that Paul confirms to Timothy of the way he leads his life as sort of a reminder to him?
He is saying that he didn’t just teach him these things but he showed him as well.
Illustration: Don’t do as I do, do as I say. We do it to our children all the time. Don’t hit.
As Christians we are to be teachers of the word but most important we need to be doers in order to gain the respect of teaching.
Illustration: Asking Cal about a math question.
You graduates may not realize it but you have already been looked upon as a leader.
Some one you may not even know about has looked at you with the desire to be just like you.
You have gained the respect of that person simply by your actions.
We have five senses in which we gain knowledge and teach others knowledge.
1% through taste
1.5% through touch
3.5% through smell
11% through hearing
83% through sight
Paul lived what he taught and gained Timothy’s respect.
Then he warns him that he is going to be persecuted. He tells Timothy that it happened to me and if you remain steadfast it will happen to you.
Those of you who are graduating, did any of your teachers offer you a guarantee that what you learned will make you successful and that everything will be smooth sailing.
No of course not. Paul is telling Timothy to be prepared because everything isn’t going to be a bed of roses.
Just because you have the knowledge and have met the requirements to graduate to the next level does not mean it is all downhill form here.
Actually you will find that it is probably going to be more difficult.
High school is tougher than jr. high, college is tougher than high school, and the real world is going to be tougher than college.
Then I like what Paul says in verse 14. He didn’t take all the credit for everything Timothy had learned,
When a person graduates, if they wanted to thank those who helped them achieve their goal, they would have to include many.
As Christians we owe our knowledge to whoever helped us from the time of out childhood.
We recognize our parents, our family, our Sunday School teachers, our ministers, our church leaders, and anyone who had an influence on us.
Paul was giving credit to all those who had influenced and taught Timothy.
And he tells him to take the knowledge he has gained and use it because it will make him wise in his salvation through faith in Jesus.
Illustration: Do you think I’m telling you this just to here myself talk?
We have heard it and we have said it and we even find humor in it but when it is true it is a problem.
What good does it do for you, knowledge wise, to come to church every Sunday and listen to the preacher and then go to Sunday School and listen to the teacher and not remember anything that was said.
Paul told Timothy to continue in what he had learned and we need to do the same thing.
We may be Adults Continuing Education but if we are not applying it to our lives what good is it doing?
Then Paul makes a statement that says it all in a nut shell.
He says that all Scripture is God-breathed. In other words everything that is written in this book is approved by God.
It is approved by God because everything written in it was inspired by God to man to write.
There are some things in textbooks as we go through school that you may never apply to your life.
I never dreamed that I would ever use pi r square the first time I heard it.
You may have knowledge of things you learned that you may never use in life but isn’t it nice to know it if you do.
How important is it that I know who Lazarus was or how many times they marched around Jericho?
Will I need to know these things in order to get to Heaven.
No, but God inspired man to write about them for a reason and Paul goes on to explain those reasons in verse 16.
For teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training.
Teaching: How can we possible teach something unless you have the knowledge?
Rebuking: If someone says something that is contrary to Scripture how will you know to express disapproval without knowing right from wrong. The Bible is always misquoted.
Correcting: Now don’t get this confused with judging. When God’s Word says a specific thing and you inform someone that they are wrong that is not judging that is correcting.
Training: Training is different from teaching. Teaching is explaining something to someone and training is showing them how.
Everything you learn in textbooks might not be useful but everything we learn from God’s Word can help us in some way or another.
Notice what Paul tells Timothy in verse 17. He is saying to continue in his learning because the man of God needs to be thoroughly equipped to do good work.
By Paul saying the “Man of God” he is specifying who Timothy will be.
Graduates, you know this is true with the careers you have chosen.
If you are going to be a doctor you need to study medical books, a lawyer needs to study law books.
And if we are going to be Godly men and women we need to study God’s Book.
We need to be Adults Continuing Education of the Bible.
Graduating to a higher level is always rewarding because it is showing others and yourself that you have met the requirements to go on.
We must have graduations in our Spiritual life as well.
We started at the very bottom way down yonder.
When we first became Christians the Lord was the potter and we were the clay and that was good.
Now being a piece of clay doesn’t sound real appealing but it was good because we were His clay.
It was a start just like everything else in life is. We start at the bottom and earn our way up.
Illustration: Professional Athletes
Then as we grow and mature in the faith we graduate from a piece of clay to becoming sheep. The Lord is the Shepherd and we are the sheep.
Now being a sheep is better that being a piece of clay but it is still not where we would like to be.
So we need to be ACE’s or Adults Continuing Education in order to graduate to the next level.
Paul also made another statement that applies to graduates as well as others in Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 13 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
So as we graduate to the next level we need to mature along with these graduations.
