How Too Achieve in Life?
Thesis: A person who will become or is an achiever is one who is interdependent on others and understands what habits must be dominant in their lives.
Introduction: We have a lot of people today writing books telling people how to become successful. The American dream is all about achievement – success in the financial realm. I hear very few people say that achievement is based on living by the teaching of Jesus and his word.
Jesus redefined achievement when he addressed the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-30:
16Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”
18“Which ones?” the man inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
27Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
Our society defines achievement – or success differently than Jesus does. In the eyes of the Lord you are successful and an achiever if you serve others – not one who is served. You are an achiever and successful if give your money into the areas that will benefit others – not hoard the money for yourself. You are successful and an achiever if you tithe/give offerings to the Lord’s work – not if you withhold his money and steal from the Lord. You are successful and a over achiever in this life if you faithfully serve the Lord – not faithfully serve your own self-centered interests. If you learn that you need to be interdependent.
I look at some titles on the market today an these where some of their themes:
How to retire early
How to be a millionaire
How to make it big
How to invest to get rich quick
All the self help books focus on success in the financial realm. You’re an over achiever if you have money! But money does not define whether you are successful and achiever when it comes to what matters in life. The truth is our ability to achieve is based not on how much money we have but our habits.
Our ability to achieve in life is based on our daily habits.
Covey states, “Habits are powerful factors in our lives. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character and produce our effectiveness…or ineffectiveness” (46).
Daily habits are the key to success in life and they are revealed by the way we answer these three questions:
• What to do?
• How to do?
• Want to do?
The three combined together create our habits and determine our ability to achieve or not achieve. Because the way we answer these questions tells if we are dependent, independent, or interdependent.
Covey gives us guidance in this area by challenging us to determine which area we find ourselves in. He defines them this way:
Dependence is the mindset of -You take care of me! You come through for me! You did not come through for me! I blame you for the results in my life!
Independence is the mindset of - I am responsible! I am self-reliant! I can choose!
Interdependent is the mindset of – We can do it! We can cooperate! We can combine our talents and create something greater! This mindset is a mature mindset!
T.S. - Let us look at the 3 habits that create a mindset of interdependence: A Biblical mature mindset that will produce over achievers: The ideas in this sermon have been gleamed from Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
I. A person who is interdependent is one who is proactive.
a. They look through the lens of what is coming and what can I do to prepare for it and be ready for it.
i. They have the ability to see things coming which occur because they are interdependent on God to help them see into the future.
1. These people are not near sighted only able to see the here and now.
2. They understand the need to practice this habit daily by always preparing for the future.
b. These people have learned the habit of being proactive and not reactive. Listen to the differences between proactive language and reactive language by Covey
i. Reactive:
There’s nothing I can do.
That’s just the way I am.
They won’t allow that.
I have to do that.
I can’t
I must
If only
ii. Proactive:
Let’s look at our alternatives
I can choose a different approach
I control my own feelings
I can choose an appropriate response
I choose
I prefer
I will (Covey,78)
1. In essence these people have prophetic foresight and can for see –or anticipate what may be around the corner and respond now so it turns out right.
2. They understand that life is not about this moment but how they prepare for the next moment.
a. What they do now impacts their future.
b. They will not let the past dictate the future.
c. They are determined to stay one step ahead with the help of the Lord.
3. Covey states, “A serious problem with reactive language is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. People become reinforced in the paradigm that they are determined, and they produce evidence to support the belief. They feel increasingly victimized and out of control, not in charge of their life or their destiny. They blame outside forces-other people, circumstances, even the stars-for their own situation” (79).
c. Peter talks about this ability – this habit – in 2 Peter 1:12-21:
i. 12So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. 16We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. 19And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
ii. If you recall from the Gospels Peter had a problem his was a reactionary person not proactive and this got him into hot water with the Lord a few times. But in his writing in 1 and 2 Peter we see that he has learned the habit of being proactive.
iii. Truth is God is the one who gives foresight into things which are right around the corner. The way we cultivate this gift is by prayer and asking God for insight into what’s coming next.
iv. A person who is proactive is just like the word says Pro- Willing- to be active – willing in advance to prepare.
1. It implies that we as humans are interdependent on God and we need to seek his help in guiding us with our daily decisions.
a. (Pro-active we seek his direction daily). It means since He is always there to guide us all we need to do is learn to be responsible enough in our situations at hand to ask for His insight and foresight.
2. The reality is our behavior is a reflection of our habits.
a. This means our behavior is a function of our decisions, not the conditions surrounding the situation.
b. We decide to deal with the situation rightly because of the insight from the Word of the Lord. In essence what happens is the condition will eventually change.
c. We can decide to be effective with our lives or let our past and our present circumstance keep us defeated.
3. Proactive means we are what we are because we ask for God’s insight in handling decisions or situations. This willingness to do this decides whether you succeed /achieve or if you fail. Listen to Peter’s proactive mind set again.
a. I Peter 3:8-15
8Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. 9Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10For,
“Whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from deceitful speech.
11 He must turn from evil and do good;
he must seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
13Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” 15But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
4. Covey states, “Highly proactive people recognize … responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their consciousness, based on feeling” (71).
T.S. – Habit one is to be practiced daily and is connected to habit two of always beginning each day with the end in mind.
II. A person who is interdependent begins with the end in mind.
a. This mature over achiever knows that where he ends up at the end of his life is most important.
i. This thought hits him everyday as he gets up in morning and determines his habits for the day. Why? Because they understand that the end is what counts the most!
1. Covey notes, “The most effective way I know to begin with the end in mind is to develop a personal mission statement or philosophy or creed. It focuses on what you want to be (character) and to do (contributions and achievements) and on the values or principles upon which being and doing are based” (106).
2. Psalm 1:1-3:
1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
3. Joshua 1:8: (The Lord says to Joshua)
8Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
4. I believe too many today get up in the morning never having the end the mind. Instead they just focus on the here and now and make decisions that are unwise because they forget about what’s coming in the end.
5. We have a lot of nearsighted people unwilling to live their life with the end in mind. They choose to ignore it and not let it affect they way they live daily.
ii. Covey states, “Although Habit 2 applies to many different circumstances and levels of life, the most fundamental application of ‘begin with the end in mind” is to begin today with the image, picture, or paradigm of the end of your life as your frame of reference or the criterion by which everything else is examined. Each part of your life-today’s behavior, tomorrow’s behavior, next week’s behavior, next month’s behavior-can be examined in the context of the whole, of what really matters most to you. By keeping that end clearly in mind, you can make certain that whatever you do on any particular day does not violate the criteria you have defined as supremely important, and that each day of your life contributes in a meaningful way to the vision you have of your life as a whole” (98).
1. See his chart on pages 119,120
iii. Phil. 3:10-16: Paul reveals his mind set of having the end in mind.
10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
b. Paul was successful in life because he lived with the end in mind everyday.
i. He knew that this habit would lead to his becoming an achiever in the sight of God.
T.S. - The second habit of beginning with the end in mind everyday leads to the third habit of putting first things first throughout the day.
III. A person who is interdependent puts first things first.
a. They understand that they need to put God first in their lives and their habits reflect putting first things first.
i. When God is kept in His rightful position then he opens doors for achievement.
ii. Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
iii. The promise from the Lord is if you put first things first then everything else will align behind that.
b. The first and second of the ten commandment reiterates that this should be one of our daily habits. Putting first things first!
i. Deut. 5:7 “You shall have no other gods before me.”
ii. Deut. 5:8 “You shall not make for yourself and idol in the form of anything in heaven above or the earth beneath or in the waters below.”
iii. The Israelites discovered what happens to those who forget to put first thing first. They received destruction and the loss of their nation.
c. A person who puts first things first seeks to live his life with respect for others.
i. It’s the mature mindset that seeks mutual benefit in all of their human interactions. It knows the importance of being interdependent on others and not allowing self to be first in relationships.
1. It does not act selfish.
2. It does not demand its own way.
3. It does not create disunity with others.
4. It respects others.
5. It cooperates with others.
6. They have a team player mindset.
7. They desire to work with others so they accomplish more for the Kingdom of God.
ii. Matthew 20: 25-28:
25Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
iii. Phil. 2:3-5:
3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Conclusion:
Learn to cultivate the 3 habits that help you achieve on a daily basis:
1. Decide to practice the habit of being proactive and seek the assistant of the Lord in this habit.
2. Decide to practice the habit of beginning each day with the end in mind. Understand that everything you do today decides how you will finish in the end.
3. Decide to practice the habit of putting first things first which means that God has first priority in your life on a daily basis. Also realize that the Lord desires us to others first and not to be self-centered because this does not achieve success in His eyes.
Start practicing these habits to success and you will soon discover that they will help you achieve in this life.
Also understand that it takes 6 weeks to establish a habit in our life so commit to these three over the next three weeks and see if they don’t get rooted in to your mindset and it became part of your behavior on a daily basis.
