GOD IS YOUR PACE CAR
2 JOHN 1:1-13
#pacecar
INTRODUCTION (p)
[engine racing sound effect]
It was race day. What does that mean? That means the exhilaration of speed and skill and competition. You get to the track early. The early bird gets the worm as they say. As soon as you get to the track, you check in with the Clerk of the Course and everything is in order. After that, it was to the Driver and Crew Chief meeting where everything was in order as well. You reviewed the free practice from the day before and made all the adjustments to the car and strategies for the day. Everyone was pleased that it rained overnight and you were facing a green track. You give a high five to the Steward when you pass him; it can’t hurt if he likes you a little. You look over your car with the highly skilled mechanics. A few hoses were adjusted in the setup process. The car is ready for the race. You are ready for the race. The crew is ready for the race.
People start filling into the seats and the cheers and excitement grows steadily. You put on your nomex suit. It is bright red with all of your sponsors. You always feel a rush of adrenaline and anticipation when you put on that suit. Then the gloves. Then the open-face helmet with goggles. Every time you put on your helmet you cannot help but say in a low voice… “I feel the need… the need for speed.”
READ 2 John 1:1-13
The elder, To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth-- and not I only, but also all who know the truth-- 2 because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, will be with us in truth and love. 4 It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. 7 Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. 9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. 11 Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work. 12 I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete. 13 The children of your chosen sister send their greetings.
START OF THE RACE (p)
You get in your car and enter the field. You look around the field and you see people you have competed against before and some new competitors. Everyone looks ready. The formation lap starts and the pace car is in the lead. Your hands grip the steering wheel and you feel excitement in your bones. All the cars are ready to race, but you know that you must keep behind the pace car. The pace car leaves the track and the race begins. Every driver presses the gas pedal and cars roar to life to reach their potential. Turns. Passing. Rubber meeting the road in a fast-paced dash to the finish.
PACE CAR INFORMATION (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_car)
In motorsport, a safety car or pace car is a car which limits the speed of competing cars on a racetrack for two specific reasons: in the case of an obstruction on the track or bad weather. The aim of the safety car is to enable the clearance of any obstruction under safer conditions or await more favorable track conditions weather-wise.
During a caution period the safety car enters the track ahead of the leader. Depending on the regulations in effect, competitors are not normally allowed to pass the safety car or other competitors during a caution period, and the safety car leads the field at a pre-determined safe speed. At the end of the caution period, the safety car leaves the track and the competitors resume normal racing. The first reliance on this safety measure occurred with the deployment of a pace car during the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911.
The use of a safety car has the effect of bunching up competitors together, such as to eliminate any time and distance advantage that a leading driver may have had over the remaining field of competitors. This effect can make racing more competitive when the race resumes.
2 JOHN OVERALL EXPLANATION
The book of 2 John was written by the same person who wrote the Gospel of John, 1 and 3rd John, and the Book of Revelation. John was an “apostle” of Jesus Christ. That meant he personally walked and talked with Jesus Christ while He conducted His earthly ministry. We have a letter written to the whole church which John calls “the chosen lady.” He writes this letter to all the people in all the churches where this letter might be read whom John calls “her children.” It is interesting to note that “truth” is what binds the elderly John and the believers to whom he is writing.
Truth that God loves them.
Truth that God loves them so much that He sent Jesus Christ His Son.
Truth that God loves them so much that He sent Jesus Christ His Son to die willingly for them.
Truth that God loves them so much that He sent Jesus Christ His Son to die willingly for them for salvation.
John overall encourages the believers in two areas in this letter. First, he encourages them to stay faithful to the truth. “Truth” is mentioned 5 times in this little letter and all of those times in the first 4 verses. John wants to encourage all believers to walk with Jesus Christ in the truth of the Gospel. That means living out the faith they profess. That means living out the faith that we profess. Second, John, as in all his writings, encourages the believers to love one another. In 1, 2, and 3rd John he mentions “love” 42 times and they are not long letters! The Apostle John is all about love being a litmus test to see if we are with God in Christ. John is all about love being the marker that non-believing people recognize in believers. So overall, the letter of 2 John encourages us to stay in the truth of God and to love the people around us.
RACING WITH WEATHER (p)
You are racing and doing well. You are moving towards the head of the race. All of a sudden, the clouds open up with rain as they did the night before. The wind starts to gust. The car is getting difficult to manage with the slick conditions and the added very strong wind. A gust of wind comes up and one of the cars behind you almost hits the wall as it is blown like a rag doll. You look up and the yellow flag is waiving. The pace car comes out and slows the field of drivers. Caution. Bad weather. You notice that one of the drivers on your right, car number 29, decides not to heed the warnings. They speed ahead and pull away from all the other cars. The driver moves ahead of the pace car with a roar of the engine. Fans are booing. Drivers are shaking their head. As the car sped ahead, it got to the apex of the next turn and the wheels hit slick track. The car spun uncontrollably and hit the wall. Pieces of car 29 lay on the track. Emergency vehicles were dispatched. The driver should not have passed the pace car.
LIVING WITH WEATHER
Weather is sometimes used as a metaphor to describe our lives. When life is good, we say there are “blue skies” or our life feels like “a bright sunshiny day.” We also say “smooth sailing” which has much to do with the weather. When life is bad, we say that “life is stormy” or “when it rains it pours.” We even call bad times “the storms of life.” Storms come because of so many things in our lives.
Storms may come because of other people in our lives. We may have someone who is a thorn in our side at work because of their attitude. It might be a boss or co-worker who makes our job and chore and not a joy. We may have family members whose drama and issues bleed over into our lives and cause drama and issues. Our spouse may be less than loving. Other people can cause us stress. For some reason when I was thinking about this, Adam and Eve who had one son kill another (Genesis 4) popped in my head. Manoah and his wife (Judges 13-16) whose son Samson did the exact opposite of everything they ever told him came to mind. The high priest Eli (1 Samuel 3-4) had two sons who were priests who were misusing their position which caused him much shame. Even Jesus had one of his closest friends betray Him (Mark 14, John 13). People can cause storms in our lives.
Storms may come because of health complications in our lives. There are times when we have done everything right and yet our bodies betray us. Diabetes comes and our life changes drastically. Knees wear out and we have to have replacement surgery. Infections happen. Accidents at work occur and our back or neck is hurt. I was thinking about people in the Bible who had storms because of health. I thought of 2 Samuel 4:4 which says, “Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became crippled. His name was Mephibosheth.” I think of all the people Jesus healed in the Gospels: blind people (Matthew 9), deaf folks (Mark 7), people with leprosy (Matthew 8), and even those who are paralyzed (Luke 5). Health issues can cause storms in our lives.
ILLUSTRATION… My Personal Storm at the Moment (p)
Some of you may or may not know that my mother is terminally ill. At this moment, she is in a hospital in Houston awaiting a heart transplant because her bone marrow produces a protein that destroyed her heart. There is no cure. That is definitely a storm! This type of situation is emotional. It is worrisome. It tests your faith. It brings up questions that sometimes have no answers. When I think of my life at the moment, most of my thoughts center on her and how she is doing and with my dad and how he is handling all this. My parents are good people who are generous. My parents are people who have checked off all the items on their bucket list and made new lists and have enjoyed life mostly I think. They are both believers. I can identify with folks who are going through storms because I am in the midst of one myself at the moment.
We could talk about storms because of our bad attitudes and emotional problems.
We could talk about storms because of money problems.
We could talk about storms because of spiritual issues.
As we think about these problems in life, what are we supposed to do about them? How are we supposed to live in the midst of life’s issues? What does our faith do for us or tell us in the midst of these types of things? I believe 2 John verses 8-9 tells us and it has much to do with our pace car.
RACING WITH OBSTACLES (p)
The pace car slowed all cars except for the one rebel who paid for his aggressiveness. Once the weather cleared and the car was removed from the track, the pace car left the field and the green flag signaled the race to resume. Some fans quickly filed back into their seats. Most fans just stayed in their seats and pulled up trash bags over them during the downpour. Excitement again filled the lungs of the fans and they cheered their favorite drivers.
You felt the excitement from the fans and it fueled you. You had made a pit stop during the caution time and fueled up your car and changed tires. Most drivers had. A few had not. Two cars in particular, numbers 8 and 9, did not stop in the pits and stayed right behind the pace car the whole time. Why they did not stop no one would know. Cars 8 and 9 were in the lead when the pace car left the track.
As soon as it was clear, everyone was again racing. Turns. Close calls. Smoke. The smell of gas and burning rubber. Cars 8 and 9 were at the head of the pack and were trying to out maneuver one another for the lead. All of a sudden, car 8 began to smoke from under the hood. At the same time, car 9 began to have sparks fly out from under the car. With the mix of carelessness, mechanical failure, heavy smoke, and competitiveness, cars 8 and 9 crashed into one another around a turn and debris filled the track.
You look up and the yellow flag is waiving. The pace car comes out and slows the field of drivers. Caution. Obstacles on the track. Everyone slows except for car number 12. Number 12 was clear in the back of the field and decided it was this time to get to the front. Passing all the cars, number 12 broke from the pack. The pace car was cautious in the thick black smoke. No one could really see through the smoke. Number 12 was not cautious and ended up passing the pace car. Car 12 hit the debris because of carelessness and caused even more obstacles in the path of the racers. You shake your head. The pace car is there for a reason. For safety. For order.
LIVING WITH OBSTACLES
Life is full of obstacles. Every single person who is breathing deals with obstacles. Life is rarely fair. Life is rarely how we envision it. Life is rarely dreams confirmed. Now I am not saying that life is always hard, but everyone deals with obstacles in life… every… single… person.
Obstacles can come from ourselves and our desires in life. I looked up the word “desires” in the Bible and pretty much that word “desires” (40x in the NT and OT) is connected with words like “evil,” “selfish,” “sinful,” and “harmful.” Sometimes we are our own worst enemies. We want financial gain, but are unwilling to save or have self-control. We want a great solid marriage, but selfishness rules us instead. We want good friendships, but are unreliable or take people for granted. We want a better job, but are unwilling to work for it. We want forgiveness for things we have done, but we are unwilling to forgive others and we keep grudges. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies.
Obstacles can come from temptations and sins. I was reading with Kristian this week in Mark 7 and we read verses 21-23 in which Jesus says, “For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'" What are all those things? Obstacles to holiness. Obstacles to us being good people. Obstacles to our authentic relationship with God. All of those things come from inside us and outside us and cause us to stumble.
As I was thinking about different types of obstacles, I thought of the Apostle Paul and his words in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 which says, “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” All Paul wanted to do was share the Gospel of Jesus with those who did not know. He endured physical obstacles. He endured obstacles from other people. Hurts from insults. He said he often was weak.
As we think about these problems in life, what are we supposed to do about them? How are we supposed to live in the midst of life’s issues? What does our faith do for us or tell us in the midst of these types of things? I believe 2 John verses 8-9 tells us and it has much to do with our pace car.
FOCUS ON VERSES 8-9
Let’s focus on 2 John verses 8-9. Even though we just read them, I want to re-read them to remind us of the Apostle John’s words. Let’s read these words together.
READ 2 JOHN 1:8-9
Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. 9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
As an Apostle of Christ, John felt completely involved in the faith of the people he was writing to whether he had personally met them or not. He wanted the best for them in their faith. He wanted them to have an active authentic relationship with Jesus Christ. He emphasized in general, as we already said, staying in the truth and loving one another. Verses 8-9 are a warning to us because it starts with the words “Watch out,” but is also an answer to the questions we have asked this morning. John wants us to know how to live as the pace of life moves forward through bad weather and obstacles.
When I read verse 9 and I saw the words “anyone who runs ahead,” I got the picture of God being our pace car. I am not even an avid racing fan, but I got a picture of all of us racing through life and God being the lead pace car. Some people race ahead of Him and wreck. Storms happen and we ignore God and wreck our lives. Disaster is always what happens when we ignore God. The Apostle John warns us not to run ahead of God in our lives, but to stay behind Him.
What does that mean? What does that look like? What does it mean to keep pace with God and not run ahead of Him?
Let’s read some verses that talk about it:
* Exodus 14:13-14: “Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."
* Nehemiah 8:10-11: “Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." The Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve.”
* Psalm 37:7: “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”
* Psalm 46:10: "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
* Zechariah 2:13: “Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling."
What is needed to stay behind God as our pace car in life?
As I read these verses and think about John’s warning in 2 John, together they tell us that we must be patient and trust that God is completely in control. Let me say that again, we must be patient and trust that God is completely in control. We must be patient and trust that God is completely in control.
What does that practically look like?
Acknowledge always that God’s will and way is always best no matter what you feel.
Be a person of prayer about all decisions you make.
Change your goals or plans only when it seems the godly thing to do.
Don’t get mad at God when life doesn’t work out how you plan.
Don’t blame God for the results of your poor decisions.
Expect God to do unexpected things.
Faith needs to be the #1 priority in your life.
Guard your heart against bad advice that is not godly.
Pray for contentment and peace about where God is leading your life.
Trust that God is always in control no matter what.
FINISHING THE RACE (p)
The race is about complete. Lap after lap has been completed. The point of the race is to win! The point of the race is to cross that finish line and win the race for your team and sponsors and all the fans. It comes down to the last lap. Cars are moving. Cars are passing. Cars are rubbing each other. You can’t see it, but a whole group of crazy fans have thrown their shoes onto the racetrack. There are a whole bunch of shoes thrown in the way of the race completing. You look up and see the yellow flag waving. No! The race is almost done! You have a chance to win! The pace car is coming out onto the track.
What do you do?
Do you keep pace with the pace car?
Do you gun the gas and speed past?
FINISHING THE RACE
Think about your life…
… the decisions you have to make soon
… the obstacles of health you are enduring
… how you spend your money
… who you will vote for in the next election
… the un-forgiveness you feel for the person you can’t stand
… the desert you feel like you are in with your marriage
… the opportunity you have at work
… the anger you feel that God has misdirected your life
… the disappointment you feel with your friendship
Will you keep pace with God?
Will you run past Him and do what you want?
You will have to decide.
CONCLUSION AND INVITATION
