Comfort Zone or End Zone ?
Selected Scriptures
* The Visual Bible: Matthew (8:1-4; 26:36-56)
I love these scenes! The first one, from the first four verses of Matt. 8, reveals the utter self less ness of Jesus – when everyone else steered clear of this poor man with leprosy, our Lord Jesus was first in line to give him a hand – literally – a healing hand. From this quick glimpse into the early days of His ministry, we pick up on the fact that Jesus’ ambition was to give His life away . . . by thinking nothing of His own desires but solely on the needs of others.
And then the garden scene from Matt. 26 – Bruce Marchiano recently wrote a book about what it was like to portray Jesus – he shares that this Gethsemane prayer scene was the most difficult of the entire four volume series. . . . . How could Jesus pray what He did – “Not My will but Your will be done” – knowing that imminent death awaited Him – and not just any death, the most horrific, agonizing death any human being would ever endure! He was able to do it because that’s what His entire life was about – giving His life away for others – dying to self – consumed with doing the will of His Father – putting His own desires not just on the backburner but off the stove entirely! He came not to be served but to serve.
This unselfish Savior is our example – He’s the One we’re called to pattern our lives and ministries after. I’d like to take a few moments this morning and motivate us to follow in His footsteps -- To get out of our Comfort Zones and move down the field of life with an End Zone mindset – consumed with reaching the goal-line of being conformed into the image of God’s Son – having the ambition of being just like Jesus.
Before I discuss this “End Zone” mentality further, I want to take a brief look at Paul’s words to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 4 – we’re not going to be able to dissect these verses one at a time – we’re going to look at the overall theme Paul is stressing in this section of his letter.
We all know the church at Corinth was not the most mature group of Christ-followers. Paul diagnoses them as having “the disease of Me” – they were a bunch of “Comfort Zoners” -- they were consumed with self – always striving to be seen in the spotlight. Just the opposite of Jesus!
Two days ago Dr. Gardner so wonderfully reminded us that leaders in the Lord’s church are servants – men & women who roll up their sleeves and have no concern with titles/positions -- they are consumed with meeting needs – thinking less and less of themselves and more about how they can imitate Christ and be Christ’s hands reaching out to a hurting world.
If any one had the right/privilege of claiming heirarchy in the church – if any one could get away with pulling rank – it was the Apostle Paul. Yet, he deliberately downplayed his position as “The Apostle to the Gentiles.”
Instead of describing himself with the rank of General . . . . or ArchBishop -- Paul refers to himself as “the worst of sinners” in 1 Tim. 1. Paul refers to himself as “a fool” in 1 Cor. 3 & 4 and 2 Cor. 11. And, in the 1st verse of 1 Cor. 4, Paul refers to himself as simply “a servant.”
As you read down through the rest of the chapter, Paul contrasts the arrogance of the Corinthians with the example of the apostles’ humility.
I want to challenge us this morning to make a choice – a daily choice – to either live with a “Comfort Zone” mentality or with an “End Zone” mentality. Let me quickly define both of these terms.
Definition of a “Comfort Zone” mentality:
Being self-satisfied -- like the Corinthians -- they couldn’t echo Paul’s words in Phil. 3:12 “Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect. . .” because, in their own minds, they had obtained it. They already considered themselves royalty – thus Paul’s sarcastic wit in v. 8 when he writes “You have become kings. . . .”
Bottom line: individuals with a “Comfort Zone” mentality are willing to remain in mediocrity, settle for the status quo, be utterly complacent.
I like how Pat Riley defines complacency. Riley, now coach of the NBA’s Miami Heat, in his book The Winner Within defines complacency:
“Complacency is the last hurdle any winner, any team must overcome before attaining potential greatness. Complacency is the Success Disease: it takes root when you’re feeling good about who you are and what you’ve achieved.”
Now let me quickly define the End Zone mentality . . .
Definition of the “End Zone” mentality:
Those who are never content to stay where they are in the growth process – those with a “pressing on” mentality. End Zoners never think they’ve arrived – they’re always on the grow, never thinking they’re exempt from any requirement, no matter how long they’ve been a Christian or what stature they’ve attained in the leadership of the church. No exemptions!
Let me share two qualities of someone who is an End Zoner -- someone who is resolutely leaving the comfort zone behind and pressing on unselfishly in the risk-taking life of giving yourself away.
Christfollowers with an End Zone mindset have . . . .
1. An Attitude of Absolute Unselfishness
Jesus words -- Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23
We live in a “Me-1st” generation.
Have you ever intentionally stopped and listened to the number of times people use the word “I,” “Me,” “My,” or “Mine” in a short period of time?
How much time do people spend in front of the mirror each morning or carefully selecting the “perfect” outfit to wear?
Paul’s emphasis:
* Rom. 12:3 "No one should think more highly of himself than he ought."
* 1 Cor. 9:19 “Though I am free, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.”
* 1 Cor. 15:31 -- “I die every day . . . .”
Steve Farrar quote: “We’re all selfish. Selfish to the core. God sometimes chooses to deal with our selfishness by giving us someone to care for who is infinitely more selfish than you. Babies are not only the cutest creatures on the face of the earth, they are by far the most selfish. Farrar goes on to write: “The way God deals with my own selfishness is to give me someone to serve who has zero interest in serving me. You can’t tell me that God doesn’t have a sense of humor. Not too many people in the world could out-selfish me one-on-one. But every time we’ve had a baby, I’ve met my match. Each of my kids resembled me. I don’t mean they looked like me, I mean they were as selfish as me. That meant that somebody in the family was going to have to grow up. Guess who was nominated?" (Point Man)
“That is what I am. God’s pencil. A tiny bit of pencil with which He writes what He likes.” – Mother Teresa
Christian service cards:
I hear a lot of griping and complaining about our use of these cards as a means of accountability – some Christian colleges require their students to log in to a book every week – or report on a monthly basis – we simply ask that our students fill their card out once per semester.
In fact, in a few weeks you will see notices in the Ozark Update and reminder signs pinned up all over campus asking that you fill it out and turn it into the Christian Service Department.
When you do this, there are three ways of looking at it: doing it out of delight – as an act of worship – thanking the Father for allowing your life to be stretched – for moving you out of the comfort zone and further towards developing an End Zone mentality. Or . . . you can choose to do it out of drudgery, resenting the accountability factor. Or . . . you can just refuse to hand it in.
Before you choose either of the latter two possibilities, let me encourage you to think about something.
Imagine yourself holding your Christian Service card standing before Jesus hanging on the cross in agony, paying for your sins and mine. Imagine to yourself what you would say to Jesus about why you don’t want to serve or why you refuse to fill out the card. What are you gonna say, “I don’t do cards.”?
Bill Hybels puts it this way: “I would never want to reach out someday with a soft, uncallused hand – a hand never dirtied by serving – and shake the nail-pierced hand of Jesus.”
End Zoners give their lives away in unselfish service.
Secondly, Christfollowers with an End Zone mindset have . . . .
2. A Willingness to Risk
Am I Dangerous?
by Jim Elliot
"Utterly ordinary, so commonplace: while we profess to know a power the 20th century cannot reckon with. We are all sideliners, coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers while content to set by and leave the enemies of God unchallenged. We are spiritual pacifists, conscientious objectors in the battle-to-the-death, with principalities and powers in the heavenly places.
The world cannot hate us, we are too much like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous.”
Living dangerously. That was one of many themes in Brennan Manning’s superb book The Signature of Jesus – I know many of you have read it and were deeply moved by it. Manning presents a radical alternative to the normal everyday, ho-hum, “comfort zone” mentality lived out by so many “so-called Christians.” If your copy looks anything like mine, it’s full of pages folded down in the top corners, marking pages with powerful, penetrating “End Zone-like” statements which are either highlighted in yellow or underlined in red. I’ll just quote his final statement in the book:
The Signature of Jesus is offered to Christians who want to live by faith and not by mere “religion,” for those who recognize that many of the burning theological issues in the church today are neither burning nor theological, [for those] who see Christianity neither as a moral code or a belief system but a love affair, who have not forgotten that they are followers of a crucified Christ, who know that following Him means living dangerously, who want to live the gospel without compromise, who have no greater desire than to have His signature written on the pages of their lives.
Friends, there’s no time to play it safe! The stakes are too high!
The stakes are ETERNAL – the eternal lives of thousands – perhaps hundreds of thousands -- of people are at stake and it is essential that we have an End Zone mindset of taking risks -- reaching out and being available for our Father to use to plant seeds of His love in the lives of people He allows us to encounter.
We’ve got to have that sense of URGENCY ! ! !
Many of us are big football fans -- we love to watch college and NFL games each weekend –
I especially love a good, close game where one team isn’t stomping the life out of the other team 56 to zip -- and I especially love the last few minutes of the first half and at the end of the fourth quarter. Wanna know why? That’s when teams go into the two-minute offense. No huddle. Fast action.
Did you know that NFL statiticians have figured out that teams in the 2-minute offense score THREE TIMES AS OFTEN -- why? It’s because of that sense of urgency – because in the final seconds, it’s do or die – score or lose the game -- Christians with an “End Zone” mentality are willing to step outside the comfort zone, risk coloring outside the lines, . . . .
Pray 4 greater boldness – Acts 4:29!
2 Cor. 5:9 -- from the NASB translation, Paul writes, “We have as our ambition . . . . to be pleasing to Him.”
We’re going to close our chapel service with a rather unique benediction – I’d like for us to focus on the screen as Michael W. Smith reminds us of what Jesus’ secret ambition was – to give His life away – prayerfully ask yourself: “What’s my ambition been up to this point in my life?” And “What will my ambition be tomorrow and every day for the rest of my days?”
I hope you’ll choose to be just like Jesus, whose ultimate ambition was to give His life away.
