OPEN: I read the true story about a group of friends that wanted to take part in one of those big 26 mile marathons. They ran together for over a year preparing for the meet. They were not trying to be big competitors in the race, they enjoyed running together and - for them – this was going to be a fun thing to do together. Most of them were men, but there was one woman among them named Peg. They all started off at the starting line together and as the day wore on, they found themselves a mere mile away from the finish line. Enjoying the moment they began to banter back and forth about the fact that there’d be lots of cameras and video machines capturing the moment they made it to the end. They began to talk about how they would finish the race and one of the men looked over at Pet and asked: “Hey Peg, how are you going to finish?”
Peg pulled out a tube of lipstick out of her pocket… held it up, and replied, “I’m going to finish “pretty”!”
(from a sermon by Douglas Dudley)
Finishing Pretty! Do you know what she was saying? She was saying she wasn’t going to be satisfied with simply crossing the finish line, she wanted to look pretty for the cameras - she wanted to look good when she finished the course.
And that’s kind of what Paul was saying in our text this morning. It wasn’t enough for him to simply cross the finish line. He wanted to LOOK GOOD when he did so. ‘”I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” II Timothy 4:7-8
You see - when you love Jesus - it’s not enough to simply “get by” in your faith. It’s not enough to simply cross the finish line. It’s not enough to just do enough to get into heaven. There are too many believers that get the impression that getting baptized into Christ and attending Sunday worship for an hour a week is all there is to their faith. But that’s not the way God looks at it.
One of my favorite verses in Scripture is II Chronicles 16:9 “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him...”
God is looking for someone. He’s looking for someone who will be loyal to Him, someone who wants to honor Him, someone who wants to look good at the finish line and who desires to “finish pretty”.
Now, how do we do that? How do we “Finish Pretty”? In Matthew 25 Jesus told the parable of the man who gave each of His servants “talents” and then went away on a trip for a while. “Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’” Matthew 25:19-21
Now, there are a lot of things we can learn from that parable but what I want to zero in on is that one phrase: “Well Done, Good And Faithful Servant!!!” For those who love Jesus – that’s what we want to hear!!! It’s not enough to just get by we want to cross the finish line and hear God call our name – your name/ my name - and say “WELL DONE!” That’s what it means to “Finish Pretty!”
But now, how do we do that? How do we finish pretty? Well, first we start by realizing the significance of our part in God’s plan.
Paul tells Timothy: “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” II Timothy 4:3-4
Now, what has that got to with you? Well, you are the defensive wall that stands against “itching ears”. Where you STAND and what you STAND FOR can curb the influence of people who want their ears scratched. You are a “STANDard bearer” for the Church – you stand in the gap and protect God’s church against evil.
I’ve always been struck by this phrase in the book of Judges 2:7 “… the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work which the LORD had done for Israel.”
As long as Joshua and the Elders who outlived him lived… the people served God. But once those leaders died off, it seems that folks started getting “itching ears” and fell back into paganism and a pagan lifestyle that angered God. So God said “Well, if you want to live your life without Me, go ahead. I’ll just lift my hand of protection off your lives and let’s see how well things turn out for you.”
Without God protecting them, their enemies would come in and harass them and steal from them and beat them into the dust. And after awhile the folks began to think “that wasn’t the smartest thing I ever did” and they turned back to God, asked for forgiveness, and prayed for Him to deliver them. Then God would send a judge to defeat their enemies and Israel would be faithful to God as long as that judge lived.
But Judges 2:19 tells us “… whenever the judge died, they turned back and behaved worse than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them; they did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.”
Now, notice… as long as Godly men stood up for God, the people obeyed God. But when those leaders died then the people got itchy ears. It was WHERE folks stood and WHAT they stood for that made all the difference.
So, if you ever get the feeling your voice is unimportant, or that your influence for Christ has no value REMEMBER that!!! Remember that there are people watching you and remember that what you say and what you believe can keep others from buying into the immorality of our age.
I was born back in the 50s and I’m here to tell you I’ve seen our nation grow progressively more wicked over my lifetime. We now live in a particularly evil age. An age where folks defend immorality like it is… moral to do so. They embrace wickedness like abortion, and living together, and homosexuality and even this bizarre concept of transgenderism. And there are people out there who defend that stuff like it’s a badge of honor to do so. Yours may be the only voice that’s going stop some folks from embracing this kind of evil.
Now, taking a stand for righteousness is not always going to be easy. Paul told Timothy “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching” (II Timothy 4:3). That means there will be lots of folks won’t like it when you tell them something is wrong with what they believe.
And Jesus told us this was going to happen: "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, FOR YOUR REWARD IS GREAT IN HEAVEN, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:10-12
There will be people who won’t endure sound teaching. And so when you stand up and say “that’s not right” you can expect that they’ll give you hard time. If do your faith right… you will face opposition.
But you know what? If you do face opposition, Jesus is standing back saying “Great!!! Well done, good and faithful servant. Your reward is going to be great in heaven. You’re going to cross the finish line looking pretty good to Me.”
So, when you take your stand for Jesus, there are going to be lots of folks that may give you a hard time. But you’ll also have an entirely different audience. Another audience that will be up in the stands cheering for you. People like Moses and Noah and Daniel and Gideon and Esther and others. Did you know they’re looking down and watching YOU? That’s what Hebrews tells us.
Hebrews 11 tells us of all the great heroes of faith that have impressed us. And preachers could spend weeks preaching on that great chapter of faith. But that’s not main reason that chapter is there. We’re introduced to these great heroes/heroines of faith so that the next chapter could tell you what those folk are doing:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (the heroes of faith), let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2
That means YOU are so important that all the great heroes of the past are watching YOU and cheering you on!!! There are many Christians who live their lives in constant dread of the hosts of heaven looking down on them and criticizing them: “You moron. You fell down again! How could you be so stupid?” But that’s not what this verse is telling us, and that’s not what happens at track meets. The folks in the stands are there to encourage you and root for you and urge you to get back on your face and back in the race. That’s how important you are to those who look down from heaven.
But now, we do have to be careful about how we do WHAT we do. It’s not just WHERE we stand … it’s HOW we stand for Christ.
II Timothy 2:24-26 tells us “the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”
ILLUS: How many of you have ever been on Facebook? (Most of the audience raised their hands). I’m on Facebook and what I’ve noticed is that there are folks there who get really passionate about things like politics and religion. Sometimes, if you disagree with them, they can say really nasty things about you. They’ll accuse people (including me) of dishonesty, deceit, heresy, etc. They can be rude, insulting and really, really offensive.
I’ve had several folks on Facebook do exactly that to me. (Pause) And do you know what my first impulse is when these folks get nasty???? That’s right – I want to insult them back. And when I’ve decided to do that I’ve been REALLY good at it!!! I’ve practiced.
But then I read Paul’s words: “The Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone (aw, come on), able to teach, not resentful (but I want to be resentful!!). Those who oppose him he must gently instruct (seriously?).”
ILLUS: My first thought when I read Paul’s words here was this: “Don't ever wrestle with a pig. You'll both get dirty, but the pig enjoys it.” I LIKE THAT!!! I can see that! These folks are pigs. They’re crude, rude and despicable! They deserve to get their lunch handed to them!
But that’s NOT what Paul is saying. He wouldn’t approve of me thinking of these folks as pigs. No… when these folks get nasty I’m supposed work hard to get them to “… come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” II Timothy 2:26
In other words… they’re not pigs. In fact, in the eyes of God, there’s a lot of times I’m not all that much different than they are. Their problem is that they’re often lost people who may very well go to hell if I don’t handle things right.
“Those who oppose him he must gently instruct…” WHY? “… in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth.”
You see, that’s where the finish line is. The finish line is all about bringing as many people into the Kingdom as I can by caring whether they belong to God or not.
ILLUS: There’s the true story of a famous preacher who had talked a skeptic into attending church for 4 Sundays to hear his sermons on why he should become a Christian. He told the atheist that he wanted his opinion on the sermons. And sure enough, true to his word, the skeptic came and listened intently to the messages. After the fourth message he came to the preacher saying he wanted to become a Christian. The preacher was delighted and could not resist asking which of the 4 sermons brought him to this decision.
The skeptic replied "Your sermons were helpful, but they were not what finally persuaded me.” He said that after church one Sunday as he was helping an elderly lady on a slippery walk, she looked up into his face and said, "I wonder if you know my Savior, Jesus Christ. He is everything in the world to me. I would like you to know Him too."
That was what changed the atheist’s mind. And that is what this all about. Running our race ISN’T ABOUT being good at arguing about Christ, it’s all about telling people how much Jesus means to us. When we share our love of Jesus that we finish pretty for Jesus.
Now we’ve been priming the pump this month with this Personal Best Invitational. We’re challenging each other to do more than we’ve done before by trying to invite more people to church over these weeks than we’d ever done before.
We’re calling this our Personal Best Invitational because in track the “Personal Best” refers to those who compete as competing - not only against other schools and other competitors - but also against their own past records. A runner in the 100 yard dash, for example, could come in last... but they could still beat their own past record in that event. When they do that it’s said that they’ve beat their “Personal Best.” When they do that, they “look good” and they “finish pretty.”
You see, that’s what God is focused on. God is NOT focused on whether you come in first. What God is looking at is your determination to cross the finish line and seeing if you LOOK GOOD when you do so.
CLOSE: The year was 1980 and Bill Brodherst began training for the 10k Pepsi Challenge in Omaha Nebraska. His major reason for wanting to be in this race was that Bill Rodgers, a nationally known runner was also competing in the challenge and Brodherst wanted to be able to tell others that he had run in a race beside the great Bill Rodgers.
Now Brodherst had not run since high school. As a teen he developed had an aneurism that had so damaged his body that his Doctors doubted he’d ever walk – let alone run.
By sheer force of will, he eventually he did learn to walk... but in order to do that he had to put one foot down and drag his other foot behind him. His running was not much different - one foot forward, drag the other... one foot forward, drag the other. And that was how Brodherst ran in the Marathon.
The gun went off, the hundreds of competitors trotted off, and Bill slowly followed. For a while he could still see them in the distance, and the crowds cheered him on for a while. Eventually, he heard the sounds of their feet coming back towards him and towards the finish line.
As time dragged on, the crowds gradually disappeared, and Bill ran on alone towards halfway point. No one was there as put his hands on the marker (just to make sure there was no question that he had made it to this objective). Then he turned around made his way back toward the finish line.
But he was the forgotten man. The police stayed with him for a while but then they had to leave to return to their duties. It’s said that children came out to taunt and imitate him as he painfully made his way on. The markers that had laid out the course had been taken down, but Brodherst trudged on to the goal.
Finally, it was in sight. The crowds had all disappeared and all that was left was the line that had painted on the street. But Bill Brodherst struggled on with no one to watch his victory over his personal obstacles… and he crossed the line several hours after he had begun the race.
Then out of the alley he could hear a commotion. As he turned to look he heard the sound of applause and cheering and out of that alley came several of the race's participants... led by Bill Rodgers.
Rushing forward, they took Brodherst up on their shoulders and carried him for a distance and then set him down. Then Bill Rodgers took the medal that he had won from around his own neck and placed on over the head of Bill Brodherst saying "You're the real winner of this race."
Bill Brodherst didn’t finish first… but he finished well. And he looked GOOD to the one man he admired most.
In the same way, it doesn’t matter if we finish first… or last. When cross that final finish line all that will matter is that we finished well and that we looked good to the Jesus we love.
Paul wrote: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”
INVITATION
SERMON SERIES: Personal Best Invitational
* Keeping Your Eyes On The Prize 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
* Finishing Pretty 2 Timothy 4:1-8
* Wings Of Eagles Isaiah 40:21-31
