Life to the Extreme
(Clip) Ken Hannah snowboards off cliffs, flies 40 feet straight up on a bicycle, and jumps out of airplanes on a snowboard. Someone once asked him how he learned to do all those incredible things.
He answered, “I’m an extreme person. When I was 6 years old I rode my bike down a flight of stairs. At 7 I jumped a dirt bike across a 10 foot ravine. When other kids were imagining they were superheroes flying thru the air. I was actually doing it.
Both my parents are Christians. They had great prayer lives praying for me. They mostly prayed that I would live. Well, God answered that prayer.
I’m a man who lives. Whether it’s serving God or surfing out of an airplane; extreme is the only way I know how to do it. I can’t imagine living life any other way.”
Most people cannot relate to Ken. Most of us are more like the story I heard about a hamster and its owner.
Each morning Sam hit the wheel, stopping only to snatch a bite to eat, He was driven by some ingrained belief that all his efforts were getting him somewhere.
Trudge, trudge, trudge, nibble, nibble, nibble.
With only an occasional treat to break the monotony.
That’s was Sam’s life.
And life for Sam’s pet hamster was almost as bad.
2000 years ago a man walked this earth, He was somewhat different than those around him. His life was much more like Ken’s than Sam’s. He didn’t compete in the X-Games. But his life was certainly extreme!
He was a man on a mission. So He lived every day w/purpose!
In John 10:10 (slide) Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it to the full."
Jesus came to give us what the Bible calls eternal life. “Zoe”. .
The life Jesus offers us isn’t just an eternal trudging around the hamster wheel of a boring human existence.
But “the hamster thing” does describe life for many people who see life as a series of days filled with boredom, tedium, routine or pain.
Illus. Nancy was a young woman, confined to a wheelchair, yet she developed a unique ministry to hurting and lonely people.
She placed an ad in the local newspaper that read: "If you are lonely or have a problem, call me. I am in a wheelchair and seldom get out. We can share our problems with each other. Just call. I’d love to talk."
She received about 30 calls a week. She spent most of her day counseling and comforting people.
When she was asked how she became disabled, she told them, "By trying to commit suicide. I was living alone and had no friends. I hated my job and was constantly depressed. So I decided to jump from the window of my apartment, but instead of being killed, I ended up in the hospital, paralyzed from the waist down. While I was in the hospital I felt Jesus telling me that I had always had a healthy body but a crippled soul. Now I would see the joys that I could experience with a crippled body but a healthy soul. I committed my life again to Jesus right then and there. When I got out of the hospital I tried to think of how a woman in a wheelchair could do some good, and I came up with the idea of putting an ad in the paper, and the rest, as they say, is history."
Our world is filled with lonely, hurting people just like Nancy.
Right now as I speak somewhere, there’s a hurting teenager or a lonely 30 yr. old about to take their life because they’ve come to the conclusion that life stinks!
Jesus came to give us a better life than that!
Think about it, if life really stinks, then why would Jesus want us to have an eternal one?
Jesus offers more than daily struggle; he offers a full and exciting life. Jesus wants us to live an extreme life that doesn’t just settle for mundane existence. He offers life with a purpose.
A purpose makes things exciting! How many of us would go bowling if there were no pins at the end of the alley? Those pins give the game a purpose. Knock down as many as you can! My kids knock down one their thrilled!
Life is exciting when we discover its purpose.
Over the past 6 weeks I have talked w/you about God’s grace, spiritual growth, generosity, spiritual gifts, and small groups.
Each of these individually, is important. Take Grace for example. If we don’t understand God’s grace we might live with the impression that the things we do earn us the right to get into heaven.
Illus. When I was a young boy, corner grocer, “Bud’s Grocery”.
I brought some money. He made up the difference. I used to think that God’s grace was like that. Isaiah 55:1 (slide)
God’s grace makes up for everything that I have, and all that I am. I don’t come to God with a deficiency. I come bankrupt!
Understanding this is the foundation for all of the things God wants to do in us. It all begins with His grace.
In a home the foundation is very important! But a foundation alone does not make a house. Other things must be built upon the foundation for it to be complete.
Illus. I have a video tape of my favorite basketball player of all time. His name is Larry Bird. The name of the tape is “Winning Basketball”.
The tape is all about the various skills that are needed to be successful at the game of basketball. It’s sort of an instructional video to make the viewer better. At the same time it shows how Larry Bird excelled at each of the needed skills.
There are great scorers in the NBA and college. There are great rebounders. The league and colleges boast good defensive players. Some are outstanding dribblers. Others can jump so high their game is played above the rim.
Each of those skills is important. But the best players are those who combine those ingredients. They excel at each of the areas. They don’t settle for being a good shooter. They work at all aspects of the game. Combining each of the skills.
If we focus on God’s grace and ignore the other ingredients, our life will be out of balance. Like a home with 3 walls, or no roof. The five “G’s” we’ve talked about are materials that make our house complete! And they make our life extreme!
I want you to see how they work together…
Grace reminds us that God loves us, and has forgiven our sins. And that God’s love is not earned, it’s a free gift that we don’t deserve. God knows all of our sins and flaws…and still loves us!
Thru Growth we experience the process of becoming more like Him. Like all living things in life, if it’s healthy it grows. If our spiritual life is healthy we will grow. Growth is exciting!
Illus. When I was a kid, scratch marks on the doorway to my room. I wanted to be tall(er). Every time that mark was raised I got excited! I could see progress!
Illus. My son, Joshua loves to play Playstation 2. Ratchet and Clank is his favorite game. The other day I came home and he was so excited! He discovered a new door and a new level. “You can shoot them and they turn into bunnies!” Whatever that means…he was excited about it.
Growth and progress are exciting!
As we grow we begin to see how God is helping us thru His grace, w/out deserving it, he is changing us and transforming our attitudes and actions so that we are actually beginning to resemble the person Jesus was when he walked on this earth.
We begin to assume certain actions and disciplines that help us grow. Reading Bible, attending church, praying, spending time alone with God. All of these things are like food to our bodies that make us healthy and help us grow!
Giving reminds us that because God loved the world “He gave his one and only Son…” It was in response to His love for us that He gave to us. When we love God we will want to give out of our lives to Him. “Can give w/out loving, can’t love w/out giving.”
Giving helps us to see that we are most like God when we’re giving something of ourselves, that has value to us, for God and to benefit others.
Illus. Church yard sales. People bring boxes and boxes of junk. Can’t wait to give it to the church. But are we so eager to give things that mean a lot to us for God, or for others?
When we give sacrificially we enter a new level of living. We start to see how exciting life really is as we pour the things of our life into the lives of others!
Gifts: God’s gifts reveal to us what we have to give. We don’t have to devise some new and creative way to give to God. He wants us to find out what he has planted in us, to develop that gift and ability, and then use it for Him and for his church. Life is exciting when we discover the perfect match of gift, giving and ministry. When we become involved in the work of God and we can say, “This is what I was born for!”
Groups: can be the environment where all of these things happen best.
Illus. Worked for Perdue. Helped farmers raise Turkeys. I had to go to school to learn about all the things that could kill a turkey.
I discovered that the key to raising a successful flock was its environment. Air circulation: couldn’t be stale, no breeze. Air had to be of good quality and temperature, (Not too much ammonia in air) condition of the floor, whether wet, damp or dry, water had to be clean accessible.
Small groups are a great environment to facilitate spiritual development. Air is encouraging, receive warmth, like an incubator can help us grow. Being surrounded by people who love God and truly care about us is a great environment!
So, how is our life? In balance? Are we like hamster on wheel, or extreme and exciting? The materials are there. All need to do is start building. (cards)
