Summer, 2004
Dakota Community Church
Going To The Next Level - 1
Philippians 3: 7-17
7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 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.
There is no standing still in God!
- I cannot coast on last week’s sermon.
- We cannot as a church allow ourselves to bask in the “glory days”, or as a denomination.
- We must press on, we must follow God, and we must continue to grow.
“The road to the next level is always up hill.” – John Maxwell
Many people do not want to press on; they despise the change that growth brings. They complain; “That’s not the way we’ve always done it.”
Illustration:
When I was youth pastoring in Halifax I took a group of teens to St. John for a ministry weekend. On Saturday afternoon I decided to take the kids to the beach for a fun break and I invited the youth pastor from the St. John church to bring his group along on our bus. He refused saying that the church should not support the type of activity where the teens would see members of the opposite sex in modern swimwear. Where does he think these kids are living? If the church does not take them to the beach will they never go there? This is why an entire generation views the church as irrelevant. It is a stick your head in the sand approach to faith. Like the extremist groups in many Arab nations we decide that rather than men dealing with their issues of lust, we should just make all the women wear sleeping bags over their heads. Ludicrous! I hope that shakes you up and makes you angry because that is what Jesus always does to the religious who put their silly rules above reaching people. It is time to change. It is time to grow up. It is time to go to the next level!
A. Why do we want to stay put?
1. We forget the meter is running.
Life is like riding in a taxi, the meter is running whether you are heading to your desired destination or not. Time is this planets only non-renewable resource.
James 4: 13-15
13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that."
- Don’t make the mistake of thinking you have forever.
- Dig up that buried talent and get busy.
- Are you off coarse because of majoring in minors? Trivial pursuits?
Illustration:
On the wall beside my desk I have a 1996 poster size Tim Horton’s Coffee calendar, which I took and had dry mounted, so it would last forever. The picture above the months shows a father wearing a goalie stick and gloves guarding a hockey net that stands in front of the garage door of the family home. The ball is in the net and the son is jumping with arms and stick raised above his head in celebration of the goal. What makes the shot so great however is the garage door itself, which is absolutely covered with marks from where the shots have been fired and missed. This is a scene that father and son have played out over and over again. Above the photo is the Tim Horton’s slogan “You’ve always got time for Tim Horton’s.” As a father of three boys it hangs by my desk as a constant reminder of just what really matters and what I always have time for. (My sons, not the coffee. Well actually both if I’m honest.) Never forget the meter is running. They will never be eight or ten or twelve years old again. Don’t miss it!
What has God given you to accomplish? Are you doing it or putting it off until later because you have forgotten the meter is running?
2. We lose interest.
Deuteronomy 5: 32-33
32 So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.
The best way to get whacked in the head with a hockey puck is to go to the game and watch all the silly diversions that are playing on the jumbo-tron instead of paying attention to the game.
Many of us get hurt because we aren’t paying attention.
When you lose interest in the game of life, you stop caring about personal growth.
Success does not come from being dealt a good hand, but from playing a poor hand well.
Illustration:
I worked in a hog-slaughtering factory for a year when I first came to plant this church. The boss’s adult son used to walk around wearing a white hat and barking orders at everyone but none of the workers respected him the way they did his dad. They knew he was just a pretender. If not for daddy he had neither the intelligence nor the ambition to achieve the level of his birthright. The same can often be seen when the son of a great minister takes the helm of his dad’s empire. If the anointing is not there, everyone knows that mom gave the call, not God.
Don’t get side tracked or railroaded into a path you don’t belong on.
3. We lack hunger.
Deuteronomy 8:13-14
13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
Jeremiah 29: 12-13
12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity.
Quote:
“If you don’t get what you want it is a sign that you did not seriously want it or that you tried to bargain over the price.” – R. Kipling
Have you ever noticed how often when Jesus healed someone He asked him or her what he or she wanted Him to do for him or her first? Why ask a blind man what he wants from God? Because wanting it is a requirement and many do not want it. Healing means change, it means no more begging, it means finding a job, it means full responsibility. It means going to the next level.
4. We do not want to pay the price.
- Going to the next level is a costly process and usually involves personal sacrifice.
Matthew 20: 20-23
20Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
21"What is it you want?" he asked.
She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom."
22"You don’t know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?"
"We can," they answered.
23Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father."
- There really is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone pays for everything!
- Anything worth having in life is worth paying for.
Conclusion:
There you have the four reasons we stay stagnant:
- Forgetting the meter is running.
- Losing interest.
- Lacking hunger.
- Not wanting to pay the price.
Don’t miss next weeks conclusion of Going To The Next Level when we will discover Why we should all go to the next level, and how we will get there.
