GRADUATION 2009
(All my sermons use illustrations from Sermoncentral.com and all scripture is from the NIV unless otherwise noted)
This year Rebecca and I graduated our first child, now there are only six to go and we are proud of each of them as they get closer and closer to that day. For the last two weeks I have thought about what advice I would give to the graduating Seniors here at our church and I believe I have come across one of those lessons they will be able to use for the rest of their lives and everyone in the room will benefit as well. I think that everything you need to know can be found in the game of golf, to be even more specific ALL we need to be successful can be learned from hitting a shot from the sand-trap on a golf course.
Now, before you decide that the preacher has finally lost the rest of his marbles let me explain. I truly love the game of golf, unfortunately, much like fishing I do not get to go as often as I would like. But the game of golf has taught me a lot about life, other people and myself. It has taught me to have patience, it has taught me that things rarely go the way you plan them to. It has taught me that when you take risks, sometimes they don’t pay off. Some people are very dedicated to the game of golf.
Fred got home from his Sunday round of golf later than normal and very tired. "Bad day at the course?" his wife asked. "Everything was going fine," he said. "Then Harry had a heart attack and died on the 10th tee." "Oh, that’s awful!" "You’re not kidding. For the whole back nine it was hit the ball, drag Harry, hit the ball, drag Harry."
This morning I want to take four simple lessons I have learned about hitting from the sand-trap and apply them scripturally to our lives today. The first of those lessons is that when you are hitting from the sand you must:
I. PLANT YOUR FEET FIRMLY
You have probably seen this on televison or on the news when they are showing highlights of the golf tournament from that weekend. The golfer has hit his shot into the sand bunker, and he needs to get it out and close to the cup. The first thing we see him do is plant his feet firmly. (Demonstration right on stage) Now I always thought this ritual was kind of funny, to see this adult male athlete doing what appears to be some warped version of the twist in the sand. BUT, after playing the game I understand that you must have your feet firmly planted for this difficult golf shot. I can tell our graduates and all people for that matter that this is exactly what the scripture tells us to do when it come to life. If you see Satan as the sand trap in the golf course of life, then planting your feet firm is step number one.
Look at the way Paul puts it in Ephesians 6:
Eph 6:10-14 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then,
In order to take a stand against the traps that Satan will set for each of us, the first thing we must do is stand firm. We must learn that if our feet are not firmly planted in the sand, or in this case in the Word. We will slip when we take that swing at the problems of life. When that day of evil comes, we need to be able to stand our ground. We need to have the courage and the strength to stand firm in the moment of crisis and this is done by putting on the full armor of God and standing firm.
In golf, not having your feet firmly planted can cause a lousy shot, but even worse you could hurt yourself badly. I have witnessed and even been a part of hitting a bad shot when the feet are not firmly planted. I have seen guys throw their golf clubs into the woods because they did not have their feet firmly planted. I can say to each of your graduates and to all people, this is one very important lesson in life that we can learn from the game of golf. Take a stand, stand your ground and STAND FIRM.
II. GET UP UNDER IT
Anyone that has ever played the game of golf knows that you have to get the club to hit the under part of the ball. If you hit the top of the ball it will not go very far, and in the sand this will cause an even bigger problem then you already face. Every great trap shot is followed by a little spray of sand in the air. To hit the ball you must get up under it. In life, we must also get up under the temptations that Satan throws at us. Now don’t take my word for it, listen to what Paul says about the subject.
1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
I must say that this verse does a lot for my golf analogy, there is NO golfer that will avoid the sand traps all the time, even the very best of the best end up in a place where they are faced with getting out of the trap. In life there is no one that is immune to the traps that the enemy has for us. Each person in this room will face a temptation and we can learn from one another in how we should deal with these trials. Graduates, can I give you a little advice? Listen to what others say about the temptations of life, they know because they have been there before. But this scripture tells us that God is faithful and will provide a way OUT of the trap, if we can get up under it.
Have you ever wondered why opportunity knocks once – yet temptation bangs on the door constantly?
One of the temptations that I see a lot in golf is the temptation to lose our temper. Now I enjoy the game and do not allow the game to control me. I also see people who allow anger to control them, thinking they know what is best and truly not grasping what God is trying to tell them.
A fly was buzzing along one morning when he saw a lawn mower someone had left out in their front yard. He flew over and sat on the handle, watching the children going down the sidewalk on their way to school. One little boy tripped on a crack and fell, spilling his lunch on the sidewalk. He picked himself up, put his lunch back in the bag and went on. But he missed a piece of bologna. The fly had not eaten that morning and he sure was hungry. So he flew down and started eating the bologna. In fact he ate so much that he could not fly, so he waddled across the sidewalk, across the lawn, up the wheel of the lawn mower, up the handle, and sat there resting and watching the children. There was still some bologna laying there on the sidewalk. He was really stuffed, but that baloney sure did look good. Finally temptation got the best of him and he jumped off the handle of the lawn mower to fly over to the baloney. But alas he was too full to fly and he went splat!!, killing him instantly. The moral of the story: Don’t fly off the handle when you are full of baloney. There’s a dark side to us, that’s as reckless as the fly. It does not matter what the costs are, you just got to have it. Humanity is like that, so full of baloney, they can’t see it and they fly off the handle, thinking they can handle it all, and be satisfied only to end up splat.
We must get up under it! Do not allow the trap to control us, but with our feet firmly planted, get under the ball and throw it out of the trap.
III. KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN AND YOUR AIM ALIGNED
This tip is for the avid golfer and the beginner a like. One of the hardest things in golf is staying focused. One of the hardest things in life is staying focused. Distractions abound! And we have a tendency to lose our focus fast. So many times I have wanted to see where the ball went, before it was even going. I talked a little bit about this a few weeks ago when I spoke about baseball. A common instruction heard from father to son when learning to hit a baseball is, “Keep your eye on the ball.” In golf this applies even more so, to lift your head early will throw the ball in the wrong direction, and even if you have hit the ball correctly you will still be in trouble.
Max Lucado puts it this way (Just Like Jesus, pg. 89-91) The golf game was tied with four holes to go. As we stood on the tee box, I spotted the next green. “Sure looks a long way off,” I commented. No one spoke. “Sure is a narrow fairway,” I said as I teed up my ball. Again, no response. “How do they expect us to hit over those trees?” Still no answer. The silence did not disturb me. Years of ruthless competition against fellow ministers on municipal courses has taught me to be wary of their tricks. I knew exactly what they were doing. Intimidated by my impressive string of bogeys, they resolved to psych me out (after all we were playing for a soda). So I stepped up to the ball and took a swing. There is no other way to describe what happened next - I hit a great drive. A high arching fade over the crop of trees to my left. I could hear the other guys groan. I assumed they were jealous. After watching their drives, I knew they were. None of them even made it close to the trees. Rather than hit left, they each hit right and ended up miles from the green. That’s when I should have suspected something, but I didn’t. They walked down their side of the fairway, and I walked down mine. But rather than find my ball sitting up on the fairway grass, I discovered it hidden in weeds and rocks and surrounded by trees. “This is a tough hole,” I muttered to myself. Nevertheless, I was up for the challenge. I studied the shot and selected a strategy, took out a club, and - forgive me, but I must say it again - I hit a great shot. You would have thought my ball was radar controlled: narrowly missing one branch, sweeping around another, heading toward the green like a jackrabbit dashing for supper. Only the steep hill kept it from rolling onto the putting surface.
I’d learned from televised tournaments how to act in such moments. I froze my follow through just long enough for the photographers to take their pictures, then I gave my club a twirl. With one hand I waved to the crowd, with the other I handed my club to my caddie. Of course, in my case there was no photographer or caddie, and there was no crowd. Not even my buddies were watching. They were all on the other side of the fairway, looking in the other direction. A bit miffed that my skill had gone unnoticed, I shouldered my clubs and started walking to the green.
Again, it should have occurred to me that something was wrong. The tally of curious events should have gotten my attention. No one commenting on the difficulty of the hole. No one complimenting my drive. Everyone else hitting to the right while I hit to the left. A perfect drive landing in the rough. My splendid approach shot, unseen. It should have occurred to me, but it didn’t. Only as I neared the green did anything seem unusual. Some players were already putting! Players I didn’t know. Players whom I’d never seen before. Players who, I assumed, were either horribly slow or lost. I looked around for my group only to find them also on the green - on a different green. That’s when it hit me. I’d played the wrong hole! I had picked the wrong target.
Paul tells us in the Book of Galatians 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
If our focus is trying to win approval of others we may have the tendency to pick up our heads and go after the wrong target Graduates, I say this to you with a grain of salt, you must stand for the truth, you must speak the truth in love. You must keep your focus on God and winning His approval and not worrying what the world around you might think. This has become the downfall of God’s church, we speak to people telling them what they want to hear instead of what the NEED to hear. People hear this sweet talk and think they are going in the right direction, but they are headed for the wrong green. Listen again to the same scripture from the Living version of the Bible, Gal 1:10 You can see that I am not trying to please you by sweet talk and flattery; no, I am trying to please God. If I were still trying to please men I could not be Christ’s servant.
In your walk, you must keep your feet firmly planted in God’s word, you must stand up under the temptations of life and you must keep your focus on what God wants from your life, and finally you must follow through.
IV. FOLLOW THROUGH
A chop or poke at a ball stuck in the sand will do nothing good. The club must get under the ball and it must go all the way through. The follow through is a vital aspect of the golf swing. I can honestly say to our graduates and to all of you this is also a vital aspect of our walk with God. Actually, follow through is a vital aspect of ALL things, to just attempt something and then quit will do no one any good. The old saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again,” are words to live by. Last week Tom Tucker mention the scripture I have learned to live by. It comes from James, chapter one, vs. 2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
So many times it is more like this, WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, the spiritually immature turn and run. Now, I am not saying that people should never change churches, or jobs, or houses. I am saying that there needs to be more perseverance in our world, marriages break up too easy, people leave their jobs too easily and people leave church and even worse give up on God too easily. Life is not a bowl of cherries, it is the pits. Learn to wait on God, learn that things that seem too good to be true probably are. The problem with our world is that we want instant gratification, and sometimes instant is not even fast enough.
Listen to that same scripture in the Living version, James 1:2-4 Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, 3 for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.
On April 21st, in the year 1519, the Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez sailed into the harbor of Vera Cruz, Mexico. He brought with him only about 600 men, and yet over the next two years his vastly outnumbered forces were able to defeat Montezuma and all the warriors of the Aztec empire, making Cortez the conqueror of all Mexico. How was this incredible feat accomplished, when two prior expeditions had failed even to establish a colony on Mexican soil? Here’s the secret. Cortez knew from the very beginning that he and his men faced incredible odds. He knew that the road before them would be dangerous and difficult. He knew that his men would be tempted to abandon their quest and return to Spain. And so, as soon as Cortez and his men had come ashore and unloaded their provisions, he ordered their entire fleet of eleven ships destroyed. His men stood on the shore and watched as their only possibility of retreat burned and sank. And from that point on, they knew beyond any doubt there was no return, no turning back. Nothing lay behind them but empty ocean. Their only option was to go forward, to conquer or die.
Perhaps if we saw the other option to following God we would not give up so easy. Jesus speaks of it in John 15. John 15:5-7 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
Those who do not remain in Christ are the branches, that were a part of the vine but have now fallen off, they are gathered up after they wither, and are thrown into the fire. This is clear, at least to me, that those who choose to NOT remain in Christ will go to hell. Those who do not follow through will remain stuck in the sand trap of this world and eternal torment of the world that waits for them after.
Graduates, people and fellow Christians, these simple lessons are vital and important to each of us. Plant your feet firmly upon the rock, upon God’s Holy and infallible word. Get up under the trails and snares that Satan throws at us, do not allow temptation to win. Keep your eyes focused on Jesus and keep your aim straight and finally be sure to follow through, this is not a one time thing but a lifetime of service.
As the musicians come forward this morning, I ask you this simple question, ARE YOU READY? Graduates, this is the beginning, not the end. Your walk with Christ is something that you need to work on and place as central in your life. This morning if you have not accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life, if you need to accept Him in the waters of baptism, if there has been a time you have drifted away and you want to come home. Use this time to make it known .
