Illus: On a national television program they had a power lifting competition. These BIG FELLOWS would walk up to a bar of weights that would take six or seven men in this congregation to pick up.
One after the other they would walk up to the bar and powder their hands and would work at getting motivated (psyched) to pick the weight up over their heads.
They had a time period they had to get psyched up in, and if they did not do it in that time period they were disqualified.
This one big fellow walked up to a bar loaded with hundreds of pounds of weights and looked at it and started making all these weird noises. He walked away and came back and did the same thing two or three times. Finally time ran out on him and he was disqualified in the competition. He never could muster up the MOTIVATION TO DO THE JOB!
There are people that have never gotten the MOTIVATION to achieve things in life.
If we are going to ever get anywhere in life, we have to be motivated.
Illus: A door-to-door entrepreneur became rather bored with his job of selling Bibles, so he decided to become a boss, hiring three people to sell Bibles for him. He interviewed three people.
The first came in and said, "I want to sell Bibles for you." "OK, you're hired. Here's your kit; go sell!"
The second came in and said, "I want to sell Bibles for you." "OK, you're hired! Here's your kit; go sell!"
The third came in and said, "I- i - I wa - wa- wa-want t-t-t-t-to s-s-s-s-ell to sell, to sell, to sell Bi -Bibles f-f-f-fo-for y-y-y-y you you!"
"No," shouted the man, "this will never work! You can't sell Bibles for me!" The applicant replied, "I reallyllll, n-n-n-n-need th-th-th-this job!"
As there were no other applicants, the man said, "OK, I'll give you one shot at this, but I expect you to PRODUCE!"
At the end of the day, the first applicant comes back and reports, "I sold 8 Bibles today."
The second reports: "I sold 11 Bibles today.”
The third worker reports, "To-to-to-to t-t-today I so- I sold 28 Bi- bi- b- bibles!"
"Great," says the man. "However, I want you to sell a lot more Bibles than that, so get out there tomorrow and MAKE ME SOME MONEY!" At the end of the first day:
The first worker comes in and reports, "Today, I sold 32 Bibles."
The second worker reports, "I sold 44 Bibles today"
The third worker reports, "To-to-to t-today, I sold 79 Bi-bi-bles!"
"Fantastic," said the man, "Since you're doing so well, why don't you tell these other two salesman your sales technique. How are you selling so many Bibles?”
The third worker said, "I-i-I j-j-j-j-ju-ju-ju-just wa, walk up to them and ask if they want t-t-t-t-o-o- buy a Bi-ble – and I would be glad to READ it to them!"
He said every one so far has said, “No, I will buy it and read myself…ok?”
Every salesman has to be motivated to be successful!
Let me give you a definition of the word motivation: The sense of need that prompts an individual to act or begin movement.
Motivation is essential to getting things done for the Lord. Motivation makes us DO SOMETHING WITH OUR LIVES!
Illus: Ravi Zacharias, in his book, "Can man live without God?" tells the following story. A young somewhat cocky cowboy was riding his horse, when he spied a hunched over old farm hand on a mule. Deciding to have a little fun, the young cowboy drew his 6 shooter and told the old man to get down off his mule. He then asked the old man if he had ever danced. He began to empty his revolver at the old man’s feet with great laughter.
The old man slowly turned back to his mule and put his hand into his pack and drew a shotgun and aimed it at the now bullet-less young cowboy. He said, "Did you ever kiss a mule?" To which the young cowboy said with fright, "No but I have always wanted to!"
While the Lord does not put a gun to our heads, He does give us the scriptures for direction and motivation.
Everything we do, we do because something has motivated us.
Illus: I recently ran across a letter written by a father that wanted to apologize to a certain young man for not allowing him to marry his daughter:
“Dear Marty,
I have been unable to sleep since I broke off your engagement to my daughter. Will you please forgive and forget?”
“I was much too sensitive about your Mohawk haircut, tattoos and pierced nose. I now realize that motorcycles aren’t really that dangerous, and I really should not have reacted that way to the fact that you have never held a job.”
“I am also very sure that some other very nice people live under the bridge in the park, too. Sure, my daughter is only 18 and wants to marry you instead of going to Harvard on a full scholarship. After all, you can’t learn everything about life from books.”
“I sometimes forget how backward I can be. I was wrong. I was a fool. I have now come to my senses and you have my full blessing to marry my daughter.”
“Sincerely,
Your future father-in-law.”
“P.S. Congratulations on winning the million dollar lottery!”
Everything we do requires motivation. And many are motivated to do evil.
Some are pushing and shoving to be first, but the Lord said, in Matthew 19:30, “...But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.”
What is the Lord saying? He is saying that it not enough to do SOMETHING, it must be done with the right motive.
Look at 1 Cor. 3:12-15, we read, “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
MOTIVATION COUNTS!
• It is not enough to do good deeds. What was the motivation for those good deeds?
• It is not enough to just come to church faithfully. What is your motivation for attending church?
The Lord Jesus spoke His harshest words to the Sadducees and Pharisees. They DID THINGS but they DID THEM FOR THE WRONG REASONS!
Let’s look at what motivated these people. We see -
I. THE WRONG MOTIVATION
Jesus says in Matt. 6:1, “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.”
In this passage, Jesus warns us against praying to impress others. He challenges us to pray with sincerity. Jesus says we are to pray to be heard by God, not to be seen by others.
So often people do things for recognition.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger was surprised when a man in his church put a thousands dollars in the offering plate. The next week the man was in church again, but then he did not come for several weeks. One day Dr. Belger saw him and told him he had been missing him in church. He could tell the man was a little unhappy and he asked him what was wrong. The man said, “Yes, I am very unhappy, I dropped a thousand dollars in the offering plate and you did not mention it the last Sunday I was in church!”
Listen, you would be surprised at the reasons people do the things they do!
Illus: The fourth-grade teacher had to leave the room for a few minutes. When she returned, she found the children in perfect order. Everybody was sitting quietly
She was shocked and stunned and said, "I've never seen anything like it before. This is wonderful. But, please tell me, what came over all of you? Why are you so well-behaved and quiet?"
Finally, after much urging, a little girl said, "Well, one time you said that if you ever came back and found us quiet, you would drop dead!!"
Illus: There were three little boys visiting their grandparents. The oldest came out and asked his grandpa, "Can you make a sound like a frog, Grandpa?”
Grandpa (being in a kind of ill mood) responds, "No, I don't really want to make the sound of a frog now."
So, the second little boy comes out and asks his grandfather, "Will you please make a sound like a frog?" Grandpa again says, "No, not now. I don't really want to do that. I'm in a grumpy mood. Maybe later."
Then the third little boy comes out and says, "Grandpa, oh please... Please, please will you make a sound like a frog?"
"Why do all of you boys want me to make a sound like a frog?" Grandpa asked.
The little boy replied with a hopeful face, "Well, Mom said that when you croak we get to go to Disney World!"
The Bible says that these people in our text were praying and fasting to BE SEEN OF MEN!
Listen, it a dangerous thing when people do what they do for the WRONG REASONS, because God is not going to SHARE HIS GLORY WITH ANYONE! Church is all about God, not us!
But so often we see people that:
• Give for the wrong reasons
• Preach for the wrong reasons
• Sing for the wrong reasons
• Make friends for the wrong reasons
• Attend church for the wrong reasons
There are so many things that are done in church today that are just TO BE SEEN OF MEN!
We see THE WRONG MOTIVATION and -
II. THE RIGHT MOTIVATION
Listen, everything we do should be done for the glory of God.
Look at 1 Cor. 10:32, we read, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
People often ask the preacher, “Is it alright to do THIS or THAT?” Here is the answer to that question; if you can not do it for the glory of God, DO NOT DO IT! If you can, then DO IT!
• We can build a beautiful church building like this church has done, but we can build it for the wrong reason; so we can say, “LOOK WHAT WE HAVE DONE.”
• We can have all kinds of programs like this church does, but it may be just to say, “LOOK AT ALL THE ACTIVITIES OUR CHURCH HAS.”
Listen, if we can not do it for the glory of God, then we should not be doing it!
• Before a preacher preaches, he needs to call upon GOD and ask God to help him speak those things that will exalt the Lord Jesus.
• Before a Sunday school teacher ever stands before a class to teach the Word of God, he or she should be calling upon GOD for help to only teach the Word of God.
• Before a choir sings, they should be praying for God to use their talents to magnify the Lord.
• Before someone sings a special, they should be praying that God would help them to use the talent He gave them to exalt the Lord.
• Before we make friends in the church, we should pray that God will help us to make friends, not to use them for selfish gain, but to use them to enrich our spiritual life and their’s.
Everything we do should be for the RIGHT MOTIVE: to advance God’s Kingdom and bring glory to God.
Illus: A famous professional baseball player once remarked that the aim of his life was to hear his manager say to him when he retired, "You are the greatest player I have ever coached."
He was motivated to do his best by that hope. How much more should committed Christians be motivated by the hope that someday they will hear the Master say, "You have been faithful," or "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." What more could a Christian want?
Conclusion:
When we do things for the RIGHT REASONS, then one day we will be glad!
Illus: An old lady spent much of her summer swinging in the old swing hanging on her front porch. Her husband had been dead several years and she had withdrawn from all but the closest family. Her lonely time grew and grew.
One spring day, the old lady went out in the garage and pulled the old roto-tiller out from under the rusty tub that covered the engine.
The old lady had found a bag of seeds that would grow a vine that would bear bright red flowers. The old lady loved bright red things.
There was a wall of concrete blocks between her and the neighbors driveway.
The blocks were laid with spaces between each block, all the way down the driveway and all the way to the garage.
With great effort the old lady plowed between the driveway and the wall.
She blistered her hands, her back hurt, but the jarring roto-tiller finished the task.
With feelings of accomplishment and pride, she got down on her knees and planted all the seeds in several rows along the wall.
The rains came, the Lord blessed the little seeds and the sunshine warmed the ground.
One day, the little old lady saw the heads of the plants break forth, and the vines grew and grew ... until the vines completely covered the wall.
The vines grew so much that the wall could not be seen. She would sit daily in the swing and watch the progress of the vine. This was great joy to the old lady.
But she became saddened because she had beautiful vines but no flowers. She asked herself, “Where are all the bright red flowers?”
One day after much disappointment the lady thought, “I planted those vines for flowers, bright red flowers and there are none. I am going to cut those dumb empty vines down and burn them.”
She went down the driveway into the garage and got the rusty axe, sharpened the edge and started chopping the vines down.
The neighbor was pulling into his driveway. He skidded to a halt and jumped out of his car and ran over to her. He said, "What on earth are you doing? I know this is your property and that is your vine, and you can do as you choose, but, why are you cutting down this vine?"
The old lady explained to the kind neighbor, "I planted this, not for the vine, but for the bright red flowers, and there are none. After all my sweat and blisters and watering, not one flower. I am cutting this down because there are no red flowers!"
Without a word, the neighbor took the feeble old lady by the hand and led her to the other side of the wall. On his side of the fence, there were over a million of the brightest red flowers you have ever seen, between every block were many of the brilliant blossoms.
Listen, sometimes it seems we are not getting anything from doing things with the right motives, but one day on the other side, we are going to see that everything we did for the RIGHT MOTIVES will be very profitable for us.
Many find great comfort in Matthew 25:40, we read, “… Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
Are you in a talent contest or a talent show?
Are you looking for a popularity contest to decide you are the GREATEST?
CHECK YOUR MOTIVES FOR SERVICE!
We see -
I. THE WRONG MOTIVATION
II. THE RIGHT MOTIVATION
