“Jesus Never Quit”
Vince Lombardi was possibly the best professional football coach in all of football. He coached the Green Bay Packers in the 1960’s leading his packers to three straight league championships and five in seven years. He led his team to win the first two super bowls in 1966-67. He won 75% of all regular season games and 90% of post season games as the head coach for Green Bay. The NFL’s Super Bowl trophy is named in his honor and one year after his death {1970} he was inducted into the NFL’s hall of fame.
Vince Lombardi would not give up, quitting was not an option and his winning spirit and attitude on the football field was just a reflection of his entire life. Have you ever heard the saying, “winners never quit and quitters never win”, Vince Lombardi never quit, he never gave up or gave in or gave out. He left everything on the field and demanded no less of those who played the game for him. Because of his never quit attitude he is remembered as the greatest football coach in professional football and his teams will be remembered as the greatest teams to ever play the game.
There’s another man I want to talk about this morning who never quit, never gave up, and never gave in and because of it you and I sit here today. He’s name is Jesus.
2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.
In our last message we took a look at the man Theophilus and some thoughts concerning him. He may have been a man of great love, humility, and wisdom; three attributes that should exemplify all believers in our daily walk. His name meant “beloved of God or friend of God.” If we are going to ever see Jesus do everything he ever began to do and teach in and through our lives then we must believe that we are God’s beloved.
Today, I want to look at vs.2 and take some thoughts concerning our Lord Jesus {God is Salvaiton}. “She shall give birth to a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin {Matt. 1:21}. As He lived out His life on earth so should we try to live out our lives or better yet, let Him continue to live His life in and through us. Today, I want to look at vs.2 and take some thoughts concerning our Lord Jesus.
a. Jesus never quit.
“until the day when He was taken up to heaven…”
Luke says he is writing of all that Jesus began to do and teach until he ascended up into heaven. Our Lord brought life to a dying world, peace to a perishing world, hope to hopeless world. He was faithful to the end using all He had until He had accomplished or completed all that God had for Him to do. In other words, Jesus never quit.
If our Lord never quit then neither should we. Until that day when our Lord comes and takes us up to heaven, by rapture or resurrection, we should use our gifts and talents to serve Him and to see that the His gospel goes to the ends of the earth. There is no retirement plan for the Christian. There is no retiring from service to our Lord. There is no retiring from seeking to reach a world sinking hopelessly in sin and shame.
As we study the life of Jesus on earth we read of all His miracles and all the great and wonderful things He began to do and teach. But, we also see all the persecutions He went through. The Pharisees hated him, the Romans wanted to kill Him, and His disciples, in the end, deserted Him.
No doubt, Jesus was the Son of God but He was also the Son of Man. There had to be those times when our Lord became tired and frustrated spiritually, physically, and emotionally. There had to be those times when our Lord thought “what’s the use.” There had to be those times when our Lord just wanted to quit and go home. But He could not and He would not because He knew the very souls of men, your soul and my soul, were at stake.
I don’t know about you but there are times when I want to quit and go home. There are times when I want to just throw in the towel. There are those times when I feel persecuted but I can’t quit, times when I feel nobody notices but I can’t quit, times when I feel no one cares but I can’t quit, times when I think “what’s the use” but I can’t quit. There are times when I grow tired and weary but I can’t quit, times when I become frustrated and I want to just quit, but I cannot and will not for I know there is a work to not only be done but to finish. We, the church, are the “called out of God”.
1 Peter 2:9-10; 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. NASB
When I sat down with my pastor and talked with him concerning my call to ministry he said, “Ralph, If you can retire from ministry then God never called you.” I want to say the same thing to the believer, “If you can retire from serving the Lord then God may have never called you.” Each of us and all of us in Christ all called to service and our retirement will only be found in heaven.
I’ve always said that can’t and won’t are two four letter dirty words that ought to be not be in our vocabulary. I want to add to that the word quit. It’s a four letter dirty word that no Christian should ever use.
I know Christians that for one reason or another have quit serving the Lord. Men and women who once led the cause for Christ, both in the pulpit and the pew, and now because someone said or did something they didn’t like they have quit serving the Lord.
I know men and women who have retired from their secular vocations and at the same time seem to have retired from Christian service. What a shame. We’ve all heard this, “I’ve done my time”. It may be in reference to teaching children or youth or keeping the nursery at church or serving as a deacon or even a pastor. I want to say to “you haven’t done your time until He takes you to heaven. Our service on earth is not done until our life on earth is done.”
When the Pharisees tried to entrap our Lord what would’ve happened if He had said “you know, it’s just not worth it”. When the disciples deserted our Lord in the garden of Gethsamane what would’ve happened if I Lord had said, “why even try”. When the Jews arrested him and the Romans were about to crucify Him what would’ve happened if I Lord said, “I’m not doing this, I QUIT”. I tell what would’ve happened, there would have been no good news, there would have been no price paid for your sin and mine, there would have been no resurrection, there would have no hope, no help, and no salvation for any man; there would have only been an eternal hell waiting for all men. THANK GOD JESUS NEVER QUIT!!!!!!!!
Jesus said, “Do you not say, there are yet four months, and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are already white unto harvest” {John 4:35}
We must all look around us and see the day we live in and know and understand that the harvest has never been whiter than it is today. None of us can quit, there is to much at stake, the cost of quitting is to high.
Jesus said, “I must do the work of Him who sent me, while it is day: the night comes, when no man can work” {John 9:4},
The night is fast approaching, we are living in the last of the last days and soon enough no man can work. We must have a no quit attitude and be determined to never give up until we go up.
Think about this. You were created by God, saved through Son of God, and indwelt with the Holy Spirit of God; to carry out a work that only you can do. It may in a pulpit or a Sunday school class, it may be with children or youth or seniors, it may be in a choir or some other ministry, it may simply be the gift of helps. Whatever it is God has called you to do He has called you to serve Him to the end of your days. If you quit the work He called only you to do that work may never get done. The price of quitting costs to much. Jesus never quit and neither should we. There is a place, a service, a ministry; that God is calling you to. Step up and step out and fulfill your God given call.
{we need ss teachers, youth teachers and workers, choir members}
b. Jesus depended upon the Holy Spirit.
“after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders…” 2b
Christ worked and taught "through the Holy Spirit." While He was on earth in the flesh, Christ was totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit. He had to surrender Himself and to make Himself available to the Spirit.
Think about it. If Christ, the Son of God, was so dependent upon the Spirit of God to carry out His purpose on earth, how much more are we! How much more do we need to make ourselves available to Him, available for His gifts and power!
"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
In a few weeks we will deal with whole doctrine of the Holy Spirit. It concerns me greatly that as Baptists we have diminished or altogether thrown out the doctrine and work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If Jesus was dependant upon the Holy Spirit while He was here on earth, how do we think we will accomplish anything without Him in our lives. Oh, how I pray for a Pentecost in the Baptist church today.
c. Jesus left a legacy.
“given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.” 2c
Jesus had preached and taught thousands of people at once but it was only a few {the apostles} that He entrusted His mission to. It was going to be up to them to carry out His mission and message, it was up to them to carry out the Lord’s purpose and plan. He concentrated all of His teaching on them. He drilled them over and over with His commandments until His mission and His plan was birthed into their heart and it became their mission and plan. He had left them a legacy of eternal hope, eternal life, and eternal love and it was up to them to see that that legacy carried over to the next generation.
For over two thousand years His legacy of hope, life, and love have been transferred from generation to generation through His church. One generation passing it to the next and them to the next and on through the ages until that day when the trumpet of God sounds and the Lord returns to get His people.
Let me ask you, what kind of spiritual legacy, Christian legacy are we leaving a young generation? What kind of legacy are you fathers leaving your children and grandchildren? What kind of legacy is Grace Baptist Church going to leave future generations? In 1st Corinthians 13:13 Paul says, “now these three, faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.” This is the legacy that we should be striving to leave a young generation. It’s the legacy our Lord left the apostles, the legacy the apostles left the next generation of Christians. It’s the legacy the generation before us left us and we need to make sure we leave the same legacy for the next generation.
My heart of late has become more focused on legacy. It’s why a write more than I use to. My writings may mean nothing to many but, if the Lord should tarry in His return, my daughter and her children and their children, hopefully they will be able to read them and know my heart and passion for the Lord and all He began to do and teach. I want to leave my faith, my hope, and my love behind for generations after me. When my time on earth is done I want to leave all I had laying on field so to speak for future generations.
My heart of late has become zeroed in on a few men called to ministry. I want to influence them with my faith, my hope, and my love for the Lord and all that He began to do and teach in me and through me.
My heart of late has become narrowed in on a young generation. I fear we are losing this generation. I fear this generation doesn’t care for the “church” so much today. They have become disillusioned by hearing what the church says to believe and seeing what the church does. It’s not a condemnation on the church at all but we do live in a day when much of the church is apathetic and in some cases apostate.
And though some may be apathetic and even apostate, I don’t want that to be my legacy and I don’t want it to be the legacy of this church. We do a lot of things and we do a lot of things well but the legacy we leave for the next generation should not be buildings or committees or programs. Our legacy should not even ours. The legacy we live the next generation should be the one our Lord left the apostles and the first church, a legacy of faith, hope, and love.
Now, with these thoughts; our Lord never quit, our Lord depended on the Holy Spirit, and our Lord left a legacy of faith, hope, and love; I want to ask: What about us? I can answer and say I believe we, Grace , are doing a good job but there is always room for improvement.
And I want to make this challenge to you. I want this church to come with a plan to reach the young generation of our city. I want us to form a plan to make sure that everything Jesus ever began to do and teach passes to the next generation. I want us to prepare to leave a legacy that far outlives us. I want us to purposefully seek to reach this young generation with the gospel. I want us to decide that no costs, no time, no service is to high. I want us to determine that generations after us, they may not remember us, but because of our uncompromising faith, our great hope, and our fervent love for the Lord; they will remember who Jesus is and what He accomplished for all that would believe.
I want us to decide this morning that we will leave this next generation a legacy of faith, hope, and love; we will seek to live out a Spirit filled life, and we will not quit, we will not give up until we go up to be with our Lord.
Heads bowed:
Now, some of you need to come to the alter this morning and say, “Lord, I'm sorry, I've given up of late, I’ve quit serving you the way I once did. Forgive me and today I rededicate my life to you. May my life from this day forward be one great faith and constant hope, and fervent love for you.
Some dads and moms may need to come today and recommit your life and your family to the Lord. Give Him first place and begin to leave an eternal legacy in Christ for your family.
Some of you need to come today and begin a new life in Christ. You need to call on Him as your Savior today.
Some are being called today to become a part of the family of Grace Baptist Church. Don’t wait, don’t put off what God is calling you today.
