INTRO.- ILL.- Someone came up with some crazy ideas on how to make life more enjoyable.
- Old telephone books make ideal personal address books. Simply cross out the names and addresses of people you don’t know.
- Fool other drivers into thinking you have an expensive car phone by holding an old video remote control up to your ear and occasionally swerving across the road and mounting the curb.
- Avoid parking tickets by leaving your windshield wipers turned on to fast wipe whenever you leave your car parked illegally.
- No time for a bath? Wrap yourself in masking tape and remove the dirt by simply peeling it off.
- Apply red nail polish to your nails before clipping them. The red nails will be much easier to spot on your bathroom carpet. (Unless you have a red carpet, in which case a contrasting polish should be selected). I DON’T THINK SO!
Making life more enjoyable sounds good to most people but is it really possible? It’s one reason why some people shoot for the stars in making money or wanting to become famous. It’s why thousands and thousands of young people try out for the American Idol show. They probably figure it’s a quick way to fame and fortune. And for some, it’s been pretty good.
However, there is no quick-fix to anything good in life.
ILL.- I remember going back to visit my mother about two months after my dad died. I took mom out to eat somewhere and while we were sitting there talking she laid out 8 checks on the table. I said, "What are these?" She said, "These are interest checks. Each of them represent $10,000." I said, "What? You mean to tell me that you have $80,000 dollars?"
I never questioned mother after that.
How did she get $80,000? Did she rob somebody? Was she involved in some gambling scheme? Was she involved in the syndicate? WHAT DID SHE DO? Knowing my mom and dad as I did, I know she how got that money. She and dad worked hard for it and saved it. And that is how most people do it, that is, if they are blessed with any money at all.
The point is that anything really good in life doesn’t come easily. Generally, it takes planning, hard work and something else. What’s else? I think more than anything it takes God’s blessing on your life.
How do you make life more enjoyable? You seek the Lord in life! You seek His will for your life! You include Him in your life! You walk with Him daily!
John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." KJV "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
But along with enjoyment, there are some requirements in life. God wants us to work. He wants us to fulfill our responsibilities to Him. He often blesses us in spite of our delinquent attitudes and actions but He’ll bless us even more when we do His will.
PROP.- In this text we see some responsibilities that we all have in this life.
1- Our duty to God
2- Our respect to man
3- Our witness to mankind
I. OUR DUTY TO GOD
1Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, "My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day."
ILL.- Mrs. Hunter was called to serve for jury duty, but asked to be excused because she didn’t believe in capital punishment and didn’t want her personal thoughts to prevent the trial from running its proper course. But the public defender liked her thoughtfulness and tried to convince her that she was appropriate to serve on the jury.
"Madam," he explained, "This is not a murder trial! It’s a simple civil lawsuit. A wife is bringing this case against her husband because he gambled away the $12,000 he had promised to use to remodel the kitchen for her birthday."
"Well, okay," agreed Mrs. Hunter, "I’ll serve. I guess I could be wrong about capital punishment after all!"
We want to think about our duty to God, which could well include serving on a jury some day. I’ve never been given that duty yet but as a citizen I would try to fulfill that responsibility if I were called.
We need to think about our duty to God in response to His will for our lives. What’s His will and/or mission for your life? Have you figured it out and are you doing your duty to God?
It’s pretty obvious from scripture that God wants us to live right, to work, to take care of our families, etc. BUT HAVE YOU DISCOVERED HIS WILL BEYOND THOSE THINGS?
HAVE YOU DISCOVERED THE WILL OF GOD FOR YOUR LIFE? And are you fulfilling your duty in all good conscience as Paul did.
ILL.- Wilson Johnson, the founder of Holiday Inn motels, once said, “When I was forty years old I worked in a sawmill. One morning the boss told me I was fired. Depressed and discouraged, I felt like the world had caved in. When I told my wife what had happened, she asked me what I was going to do. I replied, ‘I’m going to mortgage our little home and go into the building business.’
“My first venture was the construction of two small buildings. Within five years I was a multimillionaire! At the time it happened, I didn’t understand why I was fired. Later, I saw that it was God’s unerring and wondrous plan to get me into the way of his choosing.”
I’m glad that Wilson Johnson discovered what he thought was God’s will for His life. It isn’t always that easy for some people.
You ask: “What is the will of God?”
Well, here’s the answer true;
“The nearest thing, that should be done,
That he can do—through you!”
Are you a mother? Then be a good mother to your children. Be a mother first of all. Put your kids first in your life. Are you father? Then be the best father you can be. Do you have a job in this world? DO THE BEST YOU CAN. Are you a SS teacher? Then do your duty. Do your best. Are you a leader? Do your duty!
Whenever God puts you in a certain situation in life then be the best that you can be. Fulfill your duty whatever it is, and do it for His sake and glory.
I Cor. 10:31 "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
II. OUR RESPECT TO MAN
2At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. 3Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!" 4Those who were standing near Paul said, "You dare to insult God’s high priest?" 5Paul replied, "Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ’Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’"
When Paul realized that he was dealing with the high priest he immediately apologized in a sense. And we should respect rulers and all for people, for that matter.
ILL.- Mrs. Morrison said: Service in the restaurant was abysmally (very) slow. My husband was starting to flip out, so I tried to distract him with small talk. "You know," I said, "our friend Christi should be having her baby anytime now."
"Really?" my husband snapped. "She wasn’t even pregnant when we walked in here."
HAVE YOU BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT? Have you ever been in a restaurant where the service was SOOO very slow? Or perhaps it wasn’t very good? Or the food wasn’t good? In those cases, it would be hard to be your pleasant self.
No matter where we are in life we need to be as respectful as we can toward others and to others.
ILL.- The presidential race is on. We hear both pro and con, good and bad about both candidates but regardless who gets to be the President of the United States we should still respect the office and pray for the president. I like some presidents better than others. You do too. There are probably some that you don’t like at all. It’s a matter of personal opinion but we still need to support our President. And the same holds for all leaders in high position.
Rom. 13:7 "Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor."
I Tim. 2:1-4 "1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."
Titus 3:1-2 "Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men."
Be considerate and show humility toward all people.
ILL.- Recently, Louise Smith told me that some painters came to the next door house to paint. The owners were getting the house ready for sale. GUESS WHAT? The painter parked his truck in front of Louise’s mailbox. What’s the problem? The mailman won’t deliver mail when the mailbox is blocked. That painter was not showing respect.
ILL.- I know of a Kroger’s store manager in southern IL who saw two young boys park in the handicap parking one day. He happened to see them pull in. When they came into the store he asked them if that was their car. They said, "yes." He said, "Well, you can leave and don’t come back."
Those boys show didn’t show any respect for the handicapped. Handicapped people deserve respect as do all people. And people deserve respect in a variety of ways.
ILL.- For example, I make it a practice to open doors for people. and particularly when I’m going into a place of business like the mall, etc. But I don’t know how many times I’ve held the door open for young people (younger than myself) who walked through and never said, "Boo! Kiss my foot! Thank you!" or whatever. THAT’S DISRESPECTFUL.
Whatever happened to the words: Thank you. Please. May I? You’re welcome. God bless you. Or just a plain, "bless you"?
These are words of respect to others and should become a part of our vocabulary. We must learn to show kindness and respect to all people and in every way possible.
III. OUR WITNESS TO MANKIND
11The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome."
We often say to people in parting, "take care" or "take care of yourself." And we want to be careful in life. We really don’t want to be involved in a car wreck. We don’t want to get into any kind of trouble. We don’t want to make our parents mad. We don’t to lose our job. We want our friends and family members to take care of themselves or be careful in life.
But God says, "Take courage."
ILL.- Baptist preacher Adrian Rogers told about a man who bragged that he had cut off the tail of a man-eating lion with his pocket knife. Asked why he hadn’t cut off the lion’s head, the man replied: "Someone had already done that."
Some situations don’t require much courage, do they? For example, it’s not hard for me to preach sermons in our church Sunday after Sunday. No one has beat up on me. No one has said anything really bad. In fact, no one has said anything at all! But what if God wanted me to go preach in some Muslim country...
NOW THAT WOULD TAKE A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF COURAGE! And I’d bet there would be some response to preaching Jesus there!
Likewise, it’s easy for all of us to talk about God in Sunday School and church but what about outside, out in the working world? Or at the mall? Or at the ball park? Or the bank? etc.
ILL.- Theodore H. White: "To go against the dominant thinking of your friends, of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can perform."
It takes courage to speak for Christ when you know that you may well be surrounded by a host of non-believers, BUT SPEAK WE MUST! We have a responsibility to speak up for Christ. We don’t have to bullish about it but we do it have to do it. We’ve been commanded to do it!
Matt. 28:18-19 "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
God told Paul that just as he had testified for Him in Jerusalem he would also do it in Rome. In other words, Paul was to be a witness for the Lord to all mankind.
We are responsible for what we know! What do you know that’s good that you should share with others?
ILL.- My preacher friend Truman Brady is somewhat computer illiterate. Well, in fact, he’s pretty dumb. As you know, he uses my sermons and as E J says, "He does better with your sermons than you do." But here’s what Truman would do. He would print off my sermons that I sent him and then he’d go to work. He’d scratch out illustrations that he couldn’t use and then insert his own personal illustrations or stories. HOW DID HE DO THAT?
Truman would tape a piece of paper over my story and then handwrite his own story. When he told me this, I said, "What? Why are you doing that? All you have to do is copy and paste that sermon into word processing on your computer and then delete whatever you want and type your own story."
He, obviously, didn’t know how to do that. I thought, "Too bad! I’m not going to tell you either." No, I didn’t think that or say that. I told him that I would walk him through the procedure over the phone. I WANTED TO SHARE WITH HIM SOMETHING THAT HELP HIM IN LIFE, IN HIS MINISTRY.
The point is this: we have the most important message in the world to share with people that bless their lives in the greatest way possible! We have a message that will save people eternally! And don’t you care enough about people, people just like you, to share with them the message that will lead them to eternal life?
We have a responsibility in THIS life to witness for Christ or to share the message of Christ.
CONCLUSION---------------
ILL.- When Queen Victoria was a child, she didn’t know she was in line for the throne of England. Her instructors, trying to prepare her for the future, were frustrated because they couldn’t motivate her. She just didn’t take her studies seriously. Finally, her teachers decided to tell her that one day she would become the queen of England. Upon hearing this, Victoria quietly said, "Then I will be good."
The realization that she had inherited this high calling gave her a sense of responsibility that profoundly affected her conduct from then on. AND SO SHOULD IT BE FOR US AS WELL.
We have inherited a high calling. We are children of God who created heaven and earth and will give people eternal life if they believe and obey. And it is our responsibility to point all people to Him.
We have a duty to both God and man. But our greatest responsibility is to God. WILL YOU TAKE IT SERIOUSLY? Will you do your duty?
