No one becomes a doctor without an extensive education and thorough training.
But still even after all that education and training no one really wants to be that doctor’s first patient.
Imagine going to a doctor for an operation and the doctor says I’ll see you first thing Monday morning, I can’t wait It’s you’re my first one.
Or what if you dropped your car off for a brake job and the mechanic said, I think I remember how I did the last one and popped the trunk .
The point is there are certain things in life that there is no substitution for experience .
Our Christian walk falls into this category, The moment we become Christians , when we make Jesus our Lord the training begins , but it’s the Christian experience that makes the difference.
Jesus’ entire ministry is bases upon making disciples and training them to be followers.
Matthew 28:19“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Jesus had taught His disciples for 3 1/2 years, but what made the difference was their experience. It was only after they witnessed His miracles, after they had experienced His crucifixion and then experienced His resurrection were ready .
Today up in New York they are running the New York marathon. Its a 26 mile grueling road race.
To compete in a marathon runners must make a huge commitment.
That commitment involves hours of daily training for months and even years. It involves conditioning a disciplined behavior.
The Christian walk is just like that .
It all begins with a commitment, then daily training , Which requires dedication and devotion.
1Corinthians9:24Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
Have you ever heard the phrase drive it like you stole it, it means when you test drive a car you push it to its limits , drive it as hard as you can and don’t hold anything back.
Paul uses this same analogy, we should live like there is only one winner , only one who gets to go to heaven, live your life with a passion for Christ , holding nothing back .
1Corinthians9:25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
The commitment Olympic athletes make is extra ordinary, they must have a very strict regimen, very disciplined in their personal lives, living a clean life, day after day, even sacrificing time with family and friends.
And all this celebrated work, all this dedication, all this sacrifice for an award, for a prize that just doesn’t last .
But before each and every one of us is the greatest prize, a prize that will never fade away, a prize that never ends, and a prize that can never be taken away.
And look at our lack of passion and look how we prepare,
Oh well maybe I’ll get to church next Sunday, Maybe I’ll start read my bible tomorrow , I want to serve the Lord but just don’t have time .
If athletes trained like Christians, we would have the beer belly Olympics.
We put more passion into the things of our lives that don’t last , that don’t matter ,and in the end won’t benefit us. We are more concerned about what is going on in the virtual world of Facebook and instagram than the spiritual and supernatural world of heaven
Remember Martha and Mary? Martha invited Jesus to their house.
There was Martha running around, fixing food, wasting precious moments with the Lord , making all kinds of preparations, cleaning and making food, and she stops and realizes she’s the only one working and that Mary was sitting there listening and visiting with Jesus?
Luke 10: 40But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” 41But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
There is only one thing necessary, the love for Christ, the experience of knowing the Lord, The salvation that comes only through a relationship with Jesus Christ. A salvation that cannot be taken away .
You see people today have just lost their way ,Christians , Pastors , ministers who have forgotten what is truly important .
People who forget that a relationship with Christ, time spent with Him is what is truly necessary.
Martha is a picture of the world, out working , busy busy busy doing tasks that in the end won’t and doesn’t matter.
Mary she is a picture of the church, unplugged from the world and plugged into Christ .
I cringe when people fall away from church and say well you don’t need church to be saved, that church isn’t necessary. I don’t know about that and this pastor doesn’t want to find out. But I do know this for certain , they are missing the best part, time spent apart from the world time spent with the Lord , getting to know Him.
This isn’t a new concept look God said through the prophet Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9: 23 Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises loving kindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.
This is the good part understanding and knowing the Lord, Knowing His loving Kindness. The world thinks that God is a mean God , when something goes wrong they blame God
But its when get to know Him that we realize that He is our hero not the Villain , that He is the one pulling us out of the muck and mire . The solution to our problems not the cause.
1Corinthians9: 26Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
You know my sister just walked a marathon, the Boston Marathon. She did the 26.2 miles for cancer survivors, of course we sponsored her. After it was all said and done I asked her how it went, because let me tell you 26 miles is 26 miles walking or running.
Now in the Boston marathon there is this hill, 20 miles into the race it’s called heart break hill, everyone knows it’s coming , it’s no surprise this is what people train for . Heart break hill is where many people just fall out of the race , ones who aren’t ready . So the first thing I asked her was how was heart break hill, she said if she wasn’t ready , and didn’t prepare she isn’t sure that she would have made it .
Life is a marathon, and along the way it has a lot of heart break hills, we know they are there, we know they are coming. We can’t be ignorant of them , but be ready with a relationship with Christ .
