INTRO.- ILL.- How many electrical engineers does it take to change a light bulb? None. They simply redefine darkness as the industry standard.
This sounds similar to many things/jobs in life. Many people don’t know how to do the job they are supposed to do or else they don’t want to do the job they are supposed to do so they just re-define the job and do their own thing.
ILL.- And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, Ill say it clear,
Ill state my case, of which Im certain.
I’ve lived a life thats full.
I’ve traveled each and every highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.
Regrets, I’ve had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.
I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.
I’m sure you recognize these lyrics to Frank Sinatra’s old song, "My Way." Well, I’m sorry but that’s not the way the game plays with God. While we may like the idea of doing things our way, it just doesn’t work that way with God. We want to re-define how it’s done and God has already told us how it’s done in the book!
ILL.- PHILADELPHIA, July 14, 2008 - A 22-year-old woman will probably face six years in prison after admitting that she and her boyfriend pulled off a brazen identity-theft scheme that funded trips, fancy dinners and expensive salon visits. Kirsch and Anderton, 25, acknowledge they stole the identities of friends and neighbors in the Philadelphia area in 2006 and 2007 to net more than $116,000 in goods and services - and tried to obtain twice that amount.
"She and Edward Anderton stole the identities from numerous people from all walks of their lives, from co-workers to neighbors, anyone that they encountered," Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis Lappen said afterward.
Brothers and sisters, these are two people who tried to do things "their own way" in life. They thought they could live their lives anyway they wanted, despite what the law says and they found out it didn’t go their way.
And the same thing applies to people who think they can live the Christian life their own way. Their idea of commitment and God’s idea of commitment is two different matters. Consequently, doing things their own way will cause them to miss out on many blessings.
PROP.- In our text, we see something of what a committed Christian is.
1- They receive the Word of God
2- They imitate other Christians
3- They suffer for Christ
I. THEY RECEIVE THE WORD OF GOD
13And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.
ILL.- A student comes to a young professor’s office hours. She glances down the hall, closes his door, kneels pleadingly. "I would do anything to pass this exam." She leans closer to him, flips back her hair, gazes meaningfully into his eyes. "I mean..." she whispers, "I would do...anything."
He returns her gaze. "Anything?"
"Anything."
His voice softens. "Anything??"
"Absolutely anything."
His voice turns to a whisper. "Would you...study?"
ILL.- One day a professor was discussing a particularly complicated concept. A pre-med student rudely interrupted to ask, "Why do we have to learn this pointless information"
"To save lives," the professor responded quickly and continued the lecture.
A few minutes later, the same student spoke up again. "So how does physics save lives?" he persisted.
"It keeps the ignoramuses like you out of medical school," replied the professor.
Did you like school the first 12 years? What was your best and worst years? How about college? I slept through the first grade. My twin sister Sharon said, "Don’t you remember that we had to wake up so you could go home at the end of school?" HOW COULD I REMEMBER? I slept through it.
GUESS WHAT? We’re still in school. We never stop learning in this life. If we do, we’re done.
When we come to church every Sunday, hopefully, we come to learn as well as have fellowship with other Christians, and most of all, we come to praise the Lord! Do you learn anything? Are you learning anything?
13And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.
When we hear the Word of God we should receive it as such. This is not Reader’s Digest that we’re listening to every Sunday! I may use some illustrations from life, etc. but my basic message is from the Word of God. DO WE RECEIVE IT THIS WAY? Receiving it means listening, learning, and applying it to our lives.
When was the last time you walked out of church, thinking or saying, "I need to do something!"? If you haven’t then either you are not doing your job or I am not doing my job!
James 1:21-25 "Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does."
It should be obvious to us that if we are truly receiving God’s Word then we will do something. We will respond. We will be doers of the Word.
II. THEY IMITATE OTHER CHRISTIANS
14For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus.
ILL.- President Calvin Coolidge invited some people from his hometown to dinner at the White House. Since they did not know how to behave at such an occasion, they thought the best policy would be just to do what the President did. The time came for serving coffee. The President poured his coffee into a saucer. As soon as the home folk saw it, they did the same. The next step for the President was to pour some milk and add a little sugar to the coffee in the saucer. The home folks did the same. They thought for sure that the next step would be for the President to take the saucer with the coffee and begin sipping it.
But the President didn’t do so. He leaned over, placed the saucer on the floor and called the cat.
I think it pays to imitate the good in people, good habits, good manners, and good actions in others. What good things/habits, etc. have you learned from others?
ILL.- Don DeWelt was professor at Ozark Christian College when I was a student. His oldest son, Dan, baptized me into Christ. Don was a dynamic preacher! He would get your attention with dramatic illustrations and often, humorous and then slam the hammer down, so to speak.
Consequently, most of us preacher boys loved his preaching and wanted to be like him. I had a Sunday ministry in a small town called Dederick, MO, (75 miles from Joplin) just east of Nevada, MO, about 13 miles. One Sunday afternoon we had a 5th Sunday rally with all the area Christian Churches and our church was the sponsor. I was responsible to get a special speaker and I got Don DeWelt.
Well, Don did a great job of preaching. Superb. He was so superb that afternoon that I was somewhat overwhelmed by his mannerisms and style of preaching. And the very next Sunday when I preached my mannerisms were very similar. Now that wasn’t bad but I soon learned that you have to be your own person when it comes to preaching. You must be yourself and not try to be someone else.
Probably the best of what I learned from Don DeWelt was his consistent, faithful devotional life. He was an early riser. He always rose around 4 a.m. to meet with the Lord in prayer and study. Now that’s something VERY GOOD to imitate!
Any time there is good devotion to the Lord in a person’s life we should, as best we can, imitate that good.
I Cor. 11:1 "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ."
I Cor. 4:15-16 "Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me."
III. THEY SUFFER FOR CHRIST
You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, 15who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men 16in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.
II Tim. 3:12 "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."
What kind of suffering are we talking about?
ILL.- One of my preacher friends, Allen Tolliver, recently moved from Jefferson, TX, to do mission work with the Navajo Indians in Shiprock, NM. And here is something that happened to Allen recently.
Hi Steve, We had a very interesting moment or two last Sunday night. We had to leave the back doors open because it was so hot in there. And, I noticed, as I was preaching, 3 drunk Navajos come in. (Alchohol is a major problem on the reservation, no matter where you go.) Anyway, they began asking questions as I was preaching. I went ahead and answered the first one from the pulpit. Then they asked another. I very kindly, yet firmly, asked them to hold their questions until after services. I proceeded to try to preach again, but they kept on disrupting the services.
Well, I’d had enough! I walked out of the pulpit, very briskly, got right in their face on the pew where they were sitting and told them that we did things decently and in order here, and that they were disrupting services. I told them they’d be led out if they continued causing trouble.
I guess I bluffed them pretty good because they shut up after that.
Then, after services, they asked for something to eat, which I gave them. After all, we’re supposed to feed even our enemies if they are hungry. They sat on the steps of the fellowship building to eat, while I was watching them all the time from my front porch, unbeknown to them. Then they did exactly what I thought they’d do. They thanked me by throwing their trash in the Church parking lot.
But that boat wasn’t going to float with me! I marched right back over there and told them to throw the trash in the trash bin we have, which they did. I then told them I was going in the house and when I came back out, they’d better be gone. They were.
Well, we had a little bit of excitement right before our business meeting here this morning. The lady who acts as our secretary came in and asked how the window got broke in the fellowship building. I said I didn’t know it was broke. At least it wasn’t broke last night when I went to bed.
So, I jokingly said that I’d better check to make sure no one was in there dead or something. I didn’t expect to find anyone in there. However, in one of the classrooms there was a young man asleep on the floor. I asked him why he broke the window. He said a friend did it, but he left. Yeah, right! I told him to sit down and wait and don’t move. We called the Navajo Police while we held him here. He also had helped himself to our microwave and some microwave popcorn, which he burned.
Anyway, the Navajo Police came and arrested him. He said he would be charged with burglary and breaking and entering. I guess I was dead asleep because I didn’t hear anything. And the dog we have here, well, if it barked I sure didn’t hear it.
What a way to begin a new week! At least there was no more damage done and nothing else was taken and no one was injured.
I anticipated stuff like this on the rez. I asked Andrew if this kind of thing happened often. He said just once in a great while. The young man was either drunk, on drugs or really brazen to break in with me living right next door.
Brothers and sisters, I wouldn’t exactly call these instances persecution but they could be or could have been. I’m glad it’s Allen on that Navajo reservation and not me!
Again, if we are faithful in living the Christian life we will incur some opposition at times. Praise God for it! It’s a sign that we’re doing something right.
CONCLUSION------------------------------
ILL.- "When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song," tenor Luciano Pavarotti relates. " He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy, took me as a pupil. I also enrolled in a teachers college.
On graduating, I asked my father, ’Shall I be a teacher or a singer?’ "’Luciano,’ my father replied, ’if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.’
"I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it’s laying bricks, writing a book--whatever we choose--we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that’s the key. Choose one chair."
And commitment is the key in living the Christian life. It’s the only way to go, to live for Christ. Don’t be half-hearted in your church attendance, in your prayer life, in your witnessing, etc. Go all the way. Be committed and you’ll be blessed as never before!
