Excellence
January 10, 2016
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
When I was in seminary I had a professor who taught Pastoral Care and Counseling classes. She was adamant that sporting events for kids should never have a winner, because then there would never be a loser. There were major debates in class, she stood her ground, and we stood our ground. We questioned and wondered how could you grow up and not know competition. What would that do to your personal growth. There’s competition in most everything we do. You can’t get away from it.
You can’t play T-ball without having a winner and a loser. When you think about growing up in school there was always competition. There were spelling B’s, grades, perfect attendance, gym class contests, games at recess, after school games. It doesn’t matter what you do. Each kid wants to win . . . in sports, in school, in band, in theater, in looks, in clothes, in what car mom or dad drives.
And it goes with us throughout life. We are starting the year talking about EXCELLENCE. What does it take for a church to be excellent? How can FBC be excellent in all we do. If we are striving to win, then we can’t just sit back and assume the competition will roll over. We’re out to win!
We have competition too! We have the world, and the world is led by their coach, satan. We are led by our coach . . . Jesus! Now . . . let me put it this way . . . I know in the end, personally, I will win — and that victory will be heaven. It will be eternal life with Christ and a gazillion of my newest and closest friends. Until that time comes, I want to win the contest we’re engaged in right now. That’s leading people to a relationship with Jesus Christ. We saw it last week when a gentleman came forward accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. It was great! That was a victory! We love those victories. But they are too few.
I believe, part of the problem is our acceptance of mediocrity. We’ve gotten used to a life of less than instead of a life of more than. We don’t expect excellence from anyone, and that includes ourselves. We’ve given up on that. So, we settle for something that is just OK.
Yet, when we go to a movie, we don’t want something which is just OK
When we go out to dinner, we don’t want just OK. Hey, how was that restaurant? Oh, it was OK. That’s not a ringing endorsement.
How was that concert? It was OK.
It’s not what we expect!! We expect better than OK! I don’t want OK, I don’t want good, I want excellent. If you’re a Star Wars fan, how was the new movie? Was it OK or excellent? That’s what we’re after as well. We are after excellent and excellent is going to lead us to so many victories in so many ways in our personal lives and within the church.
So, you see, we pick and choose what we think is acceptable to be just OK. We expect something good on Sunday, but we’re OK, if it falls a little short. I’ll get back to that next week.
As we look at how we can be winners, so as we strive to win, we push more and more to move away from mediocre and seek to become EXCELLENT. Last week we started looking at 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, and I want to take continue looking at this passage. Paul wrote ~
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.
27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. – 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Paul’s reminding us that winners are contenders. Verse 24 tells us we need to run so that we may obtain the prize. Think about that . . . it’s pretty common sense. Yet, we so easily forget this. Who is going to train and work their body and mind so that they don’t win. We all want to win. Whatever contest we’re preparing for, we want to win. I’m not training to lose. I’m training to win. It’s why coaches get on players when they don’t practice hard, you don’t practice hard, then you won’t be ready for the contest.
Now, we know nobody wins every contest and event. The question then is this — at the end of the day - - - did you do everything you could do? If you did, you’re a winner, if you didn’t then you will always have regret.
This is one of the great points about Paul. He was a contender. He didn’t back down from anyone who wanted to talk to him about Jesus. In fact, he was a contender when he wanted Christ followers killed before he became a Christ follower. He always wanted to receive the prize. How many of us really want to receive the prize?!
What resolve do we have to fight the battles which need to be fought? In fact, we often get the battles all confused. We often fight the battles of opinions and preferences, as opposed to the battles over absolutes. Remember some of that from last year? We need to focus on the real mission and what the church is called to do and who we are called to be.
When you think about Paul, in Acts 14, he was preaching in Lystra and some of his enemies turned the crowd against him and they stoned him and dragged him outside the city and left him for dead.
When Paul woke up, Luke tells us — “Paul got up and went back into the city.” He had such a burning desire to preach the gospel that even physical violence couldn’t stop him. Talk about a Conteder! That’s the burning passion I’m talking about.
And that’s the difference between contenders and pretenders.
Pretenders are
• Concerned about Image and Impressions.
• Settle for Mediocrity
• Quit in Difficulty
Contenders are
• Concerned about Authenticity and Integrity
• Strive for Excellence
• Grow through Difficulty
If you are going to be a contender, many of your decisions will be difficult because you may have to take the harder road, because you are about integrity and excellence - - - not mediocrity and the easy way.
As the church — we are in competition with the world. Think about all the world is throwing at us –
- All the ways the world is pulling us away from Christ.
- The variety of negatives we have bought into and compromised our values.
There is so much tugging and pulling at us from the world, and too often we’ve just said, OK, I can’t win, so I give in and we accept that.
Folks there is a war raging! We like to think it’s not true, but it is! The enemy is out to steal your heart. It’s why Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy.” The thief is satan, and he’s out to get you! Part of his game plan is to get you to think he’s not real, and we’re not at war. Then he pounces. He’s our for your heart and soul.
We need to know we are in the battle and in order to win, we need to be ready to fight the battle.
We also need to be goal - oriented. Paul said ~ I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:14
If our goal is to win the prize and if we’re to “run to get the prize”, then wouldn’t it be nice to know what “the prize” is? What is the prize in the Christian Life? What is the reward? I think most of us would say heaven. And you’re right . . . mostly right. Part of the prize is heaven, it’s the reward we receive on the day we die. But part of the prize is a changed life.
And a changed life takes work. But the beauty of a changed life is the power it carries when others see that changed life within us. It attracts them to Christ. It proclaims to the world who you are in Jesus.
It’s what Paul meant in 2 Corinthians 5:17 — if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation, the old is gone, and the new has come. That’s part of our goal and prize . . . to change day by day into the person Christ is calling you to be.
And to get to that point . . . and I’m making an assumption here . . . I’m assuming you already call Jesus, Lord and Savior. To get to the point where you remain a new creation, you need to work at it. That’s the training part.
It never stops. It’s a continual process in our lives. Practice and training isn’t always fun, but when we do, and we take it seriously, we begin to grow and we see the improvements and the gains in our life.
Right now I’m coaching the 6th grade boys basketball team. Out of the 12 boys, we only have 4 who have ever played organized basketball. That means most boys don’t know how to make a layup, let alone dribble the ball. The beauty is when you see a kid get it. When one of the boys made a layup and did it the right way, taking off on the correct foot. He jumped up and down. He was so happy.
In our first game, that same boy got the ball and had a break away . . . he did it exactly right, but in his exuberance, shot the ball too hard on the layup. I gave him a hug and told him great job. His comment — “That was so cool!”
That’s what the practice and training does for us as well. So when we’re in those tough situations, we will have practiced and trained for the game of life . . . and when we do the right thing we and maybe others are amazed, but it’s a sign we are becoming more and more like Christ, we are being that new creation.
It’s part of striving to be excellent in all we do! We don’t have to be perfect. Perfection will never be attained, but as we strive for perfection, we will hit excellence along the way!
What’s our motivation for doing anything? It’s knowing that Jesus gave His life for you and I. He was and is THE PERFECT ONE! The only Perfect One. Jesus came into this world for you and I. He came to redeem us, to save us, to lead us. He did it by suffering and dying! If we say yes to Jesus! Then how could we someday look Him eye to eye and say — ‘yeah, I know you died for me. That was really cool, but I knew you would understand that I’m just kind of lazy.’
I’m not sure I would understand, but I’m human. Folks, the call is for excellence. It’s doing all we can to make it there.
It takes work! But in the end we will always be a winner. We may not always get what we wanted. But we will show the world who Jesus is.
Vince Lombardi once said, “Winning is a habit and so is losing.”
Winners say: I have a plan.
Others say: I have an excuse.
Winners say: Let me do it for you.
Others say: It’s not my job.
Winners: See a solution for every problem.
Others: See a problem for every solution.
Winners: See a difficult situation, but the possibility.
Others: See a possible situation, but the difficulty.
Winners say: Hey Problem, look how big my God is.
Others say: Oh God, look how big my problem is.
If someone looks at you, they should be able to see improvement over last year / month
Winners will always pay the price. The value of your dream is determined by how much you are willing to pay for it.
Michelangelo was not the best painter of his time. He had a bad back and a sinus condition. No one else was willing to do whatever it took to succeed. He laid on his back painting a ceiling for nearly 2 years and completed the Sistine Chapel.
In 1949, Jonas Salk wanted a cure for polio. He worked 16 hours a day, six days a week for five years and gave us the now-famous Salk Vaccine against polio.
Lou Gehrig played 2,130 consecutive games. During that streak, at one time or another he broke every finger in both hands — and had 17 additional fractures in his body. But he played.
The one who beat his record, Cal Ripken Jr., would spend hours before every game hitting a ball off of a batting tee. You do that when you are a kid. Practice doesn’t make perfect, it makes excellence.
Our sin nature always wants to blame others. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY! Take action! Put your faith into practice! Put Christ into practice!
Winners make hard decisions no one wants to make. Most people don’t want to make tough decisions because they are afraid other people won’t like them anymore. So what! My job in life is to serve Christ and to love people!
If you’re waiting for the perfect church, the perfect marriage, the perfect business, the perfect friends, the perfect kids, you’ll be waiting a long, long time. Don’t hold your breath until it happens. Work with what’s in your hand today.
Be faithful in the little. Some of God’s greatest gifts come in small packages and changed the world forever.
Strive for EXCELLENCE in all you do. When you do that . . . you will be a winner because you gave God your best! After all, He gave you His best!
