I read a great little story this week. “In 1904 William Borden, heir to the Borden Dairy Estate, graduated from a Chicago high school a millionaire. His parents gave him a trip around the world. Traveling through Asia, the Middle East, and Europe gave Borden a burden for the world’s hurting people. Writing home, he said, "I’m going to give my life to prepare for the mission field." When he made this decision, he wrote in the back of his Bible two words: No Reserves. Turning down high paying job offers after graduation from Yale University, he entered two more words in his Bible: No Retreats. Completing studies at Princeton Seminary, Borden sailed for China to work with Muslims, stopping first at Egypt for some preparation. While there he was stricken with cerebral meningitis and died within a month. A waste, you say! Not in God’s plan. In his Bible underneath the words No Reserves and No Retreats, he had written the words No Regrets.”
- Text: Paul was dying. Reflecting to his young protégé, Timothy, offering advice and wisdom based on his own life experiences. His summary of his life led him to declare in 2 Timothy 4:7…
- There are insights we can gather from Paul to ensure a similar confident testimony at the end of our lives. Looking through Paul’s writings in the New Testament I found eight principles that led Paul to live with “no regrets”. Sure there are others
1. Get to know what God wants
Paul’s sense of God’s purposes was absolutely clear. Few quick examples:
- Paul: “Called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God (Ro 1:1)
- Of Believers: “To all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints” (Ro 1:7) “by the will of God” (2 Ti 1:1).
- Speaks of suffering hardship so people could have salvation through Jesus Christ – 2 Ti 2:10
- Read 2 Ti 3:1-5… avoid people who have such interests. God wants holy relationships
- Paul had no doubt about his purpose in God’s plans.
Over the years people asked me “how did you know God called you to be a pastor? High school career experiments – discontent – deep satisfaction in doing church-related stuff.
We need to “get to know” what God wants, meaning over time we learn, develop, grow and achieve.
2. Build a support system
- Colossians 4, section called “Fellow Workers” – Verses 7-17 Paul mentions Tychicus, Onesimus, Aristarchus, Barnabas, Mark, Jesus called Justus, Epaphras, Luke and Archippus
- 2 Tim 4:9, “Do your best to come to me quickly” or “get here as fast as you can” (MSG) – desperately needed encouragement
- 1 Thess. 3:2 – sent Timothy on a ministry run to strengthen and encourage the believers
- 1 Thess, 5:25, “pray for us” – don’t be afraid to ask for support
(John R. Brokhoff, Preaching the Miracles) When the Statue of Liberty was remodeled, it was discovered that the entire inside support system had to be replaced. The outside copper skin of the statue was okay; workers cleaned that and it was fine. The inner iron supports were corroded and rusting away however. If Without attention Liberty would have fallen in 20 years. Workers replaced the iron supports with stainless steel. Now it can withstand 125 mph winds. Brokhoff said, “A nation without inner supports of moral integrity is doomed to lose her liberty.” If we do not have support systems we risk losing strength and stability. Everyone needs support systems. How do you draw strength for the journey? If you don’t have a close spiritual advisor, mentor, friend, you may want to look one.
3. Be accountable
Being accountable is a Biblical principle.
- Jesus, Matthew 12:36, accountable on judgement day for our careless words.
- Romans 13 – accountability to government and social order
- Romans 14:12 – Paul warns we will individually give account to for our actions
Accountability requires being vulnerable enough to allow someone to explore your habits, priorities and neglect. Chuck Swindoll for example, has seven questions that he and a group of fellow pastors challenge each other with regularly:
1. Have you been with a woman anywhere this past week that might be seen as compromising?
2. Have any of your financial dealings lacked integrity?
3. Have you exposed yourself to any sexually explicit material?
4. Have you spent adequate time in Bible study and prayer?
5. Have you given priority time to your family?
6. Have you fulfilled the mandates of your calling?
7. Have you just lied to me?
- Accountability is the picture Paul paints in Galatians 6:1-2…
4. Keep a clear conscience
I read an interesting story of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. “Throughout his administration, Abraham Lincoln was a president under fire, especially during the scarring years of the Civil War. And though he knew he would make errors of office, he resolved never to compromise his integrity. So strong was this resolve that he once said, "I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me." (Today in the World)
- Talking about conscience
- 2 Cor 1:12…
- Note: “holiness and sincerity that come from God” (NIV) or in other words, “godly sincerity” (NASB). Godly is an important descriptor. Many people are sincere but often times we may be sincerely wrong.
- Godly sincerity suggests we can have a sincerity that is not godly. E.g. Dr. Renita Weems, ordained minister with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, recounts a story that dates back to September 4, 1957. Young black Elizabeth Eckford was walking to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, to the jeers of white racists. A picture on her desk showed the calm, confident Elizabeth as well as the jeering, hostile, hate-filled bystanders of the white community. A story appeared in the Arkansas newspaper. It was the story of a woman named Hazel Bryan Massery, mother and grandmother, in search of a way to ask forgiveness for the angry, white fifteen-year-old teenage girl she once was. The same picture showed Hazel, teeth bared and face twisted with hate and it haunted her. After years of soul searching and months of anguishing over where to begin, Hazel Bryan Massery found and met Elizabeth Eckford. The new photograph is of the two of them standing together in an embrace on the steps of Central High School in September 1997 forty years after first encountering each other over a racial divide.”
Was Hazel sincere in response to the cultural realities of 1957? Absolutely. Was she right in that sincerity? Absolutely not.
5. Live truthful lives
Paul speaks about truth in 2 Corinthians 4:2. He talks of renouncing things done in secret because of the shame associated with such behaviour. He proudly announced, “We don’t twist God’s Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God.
You don’t need me to tell you how twisted truth is in our times. It is like the story I read. “Two men had an argument. To settle the matter, they went to a Sufi judge for arbitration. The plaintiff made his case. He was very eloquent and persuasive in his reasoning. When he finished, the judge nodded in approval and said, "That’s right, that’s right."
On hearing this, the defendant jumped up and said, "Wait a second, judge, you haven’t even heard my side of the case yet." So the judge told the defendant to state his case. And he, too, was very persuasive and eloquent. When he finished, the judge said, "That’s right, that’s right."
When the clerk of court heard this, he jumped up and said, "Judge, they both can’t be right." The judge looked at the clerk of court and said, "That’s right, that’s right." (Roger von Oech)
We must not buy in to the lies that Paul warns us about in 1Timothy 4:1-2…
Can become easy to believe, “If it feels good do it; what’s wrong for you may be okay for me.” Truth still has absolutes, right and wrong.
6. Live for others
Some of you know the story but it bears repeating. One Salvation Army history source tells the following. “It was late in the Christmas season and if it got much later General William Booth would not be in time to send a Christmas greeting to his various command posts throughout the world. As the chief commanding officer of a very frugal organization, Booth searched endlessly for the shortest message that he could send by telegraph that would still bear tribute to the Army’s creed and at the same time convey the spirit of the season. What was the message Booth finally chose to send to his officers in the field? A one word message that over a hundred years later still best epitomizes the work of The Salvation Army. The greeting simply read "Others".
2Cor 6:13, “I speak as to children”
2Cor 7:3, “You are in our hearts to die together and to live together”
7. Test yourself
- 2Cor 13:5, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!”
A university student brought his paper to the professor’s desk but was told he failed because he didn’t stop writing when the professor said, “Time’s up!” The student asked the professor, “Do you know who I am?” The professor admitted he didn’t, to which the student lifted half the stacks of test papers on the professor’s desk, dropped his in amongst them and left the lecture hall! (Don’t try this at your campus!)
The purpose of a test is to examine what we learned and to help us realize we are still connected. Medicals confirm we’re healthy, seniors take driving renewal tests to confirm their capacity to keep their license and students write exams to prove they have sufficiently grasped studies that earn them the right to possess a certificate of study and excellence.
What is the test meter in this instruction? V7: “We pray to God that you do no wrong.” This statement is a broad stroke so we must depend on the clear conscience and truthful lives to determine the answers. William Barclay suggests a sense in which we keep proving ourselves, or proving Christ is working in our lives. Paul said we should “recognize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you.” In fact he goes on to suggest that if we can’t see that reality then we’ve failed the test. We see this by the priorities we adopt, the values we embrace or throw aside, and the passions that dictate how we live, or the company we keep and so on. We can develop a personalized ‘test meter’, like a financial budget turn to it now and then, and see if we’re on track or losing ground.
We need to pray with the Psalm writer in Psalm 139:23-24, “23Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts; 24And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.”
There’s another way to conduct a self examination which highlights another guiding principle that led to Paul saying with confidence in 2Timothy 4:7 - I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.
8. Look for evidence of Fruit
Gal 5:22-23...
Bill Morgan tells the following story. “On a wall near the main entrance to the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, is a portrait with the following inscription: "James Butler Bonham--no picture of him exists. This portrait is of his nephew, Major James Bonham, deceased, who greatly resembled his uncle. It is placed here by the family that people may know the appearance of the man who died for freedom."
The person who has Christ within him will have these qualifying characteristics and will pass the test.
9. Be a wise steward of your resources
Eph 3 – Paul’s stewardship was simple. God gave Paul His grace, he gave Paul insight, he made Paul a minister and Paul preached to the Gentiles that they could have God’s salvation just like the Jews.
Theologian William Barclay says of Paul, “Ever since his conversion, he had offered everything to God – his money, his scholarship, his time, the vigour of his body, the acuteness of his mind, the devotion of his heart. Only life itself was left to offer, and gladly he was going to lay it down.”
WRAP
- When our time comes I’m sure we want to be able to say “no regrets”.
- Maybe so regarding not having always done everything right or made the best choices and decisions.
- Doesn’t need to be when we determine to use everything we have and all our energies to follow hard after God.
- Ask God to guide us today, and to adopt many of Paul’s principles for living. Then, when our turn comes to die we can say with Paul, I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.
