INTRO.- ILL.- The little girl said to her grandpa, “Make like a frog, grandpa.” He replied, “What do you mean, make like a frog?” She said, “Mommy says we’re going to make a lot of money when you croak!” That’s bad. Many people are only interested in material success, no matter how they acquire it.
ILL.- William (Bill) H. Gates is Chairman and Chief Software Architect Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft had revenues of US $32.19 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2003, and employs more than 54,000 people in 85 countries and regions.
Born on Oct. 28, 1955, Gates grew up in Seattle with his two sisters. Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13. And we pretty much know the rest of the story. Bill Gates has made a mint with Microsoft Corporation, but he has also given a lot of it away. He and his wife, Melinda, have endowed a foundation with more than $24 billion to support initiatives in the areas of global health and learning.
I think most people would consider Bill Gates a success in life, at least, in the material sense. He is worth about $34 Billion at this time. In 1999 he was worth about $90 billion. Anyway you cut it, he’s rich!
ILL.- Armstrong, Lance (1971- ) American cyclist, five-time winner of the Tour de France, the most prestigious cycling race in the world and one of the most grueling contests in all of sports.
Armstrong was born in Plano, Texas, and was raised primarily by his mother. A standout athlete, he was competing in and winning triathlons (races where participants must run, swim, and bicycle) by the age of 13. Toward the end of high school he began to focus on cycling, and in 1990 he was invited to try out for the United States national team.
In October of 1996 he was diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer, which had spread to his lungs and brain. Given no more than a 50 percent chance of survival, he underwent immediate surgery and chemotherapy. Battling back, Armstrong was declared cancer-free one year later. He returned to cycling in mid-1998 and immediately returned to his old form with a number of top-five finishes and several victories.
In 2003 Armstrong fought off illness, several falls, and equipment problems to win the Tour de France by his smallest margin ever (61 seconds). He became the fourth person to win the race five times and the second to win all five consecutively.
By most people’s standards, Lance Armstrong would be considered a successful athlete and especially, triumphant over his bout with cancer.
We are “into” worldly success, but what about spiritual success? Are we interested? Are we seeking after it?
ILL.- DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY (1837 – 1899) American evangelist was born in Northfield, Massachusetts. His father died when Dwight was four years of age. He left school at the age of seventeen to find work. Moody was led to Christ by his Sunday School teacher, Edward Kimble, and later began his own Sunday School class with thirteen street urchins. The class increased its enrollment to fifteen hundred in a period of four years. Moody did personal work with the soldiers during the Civil War.
After the war, he built churches and schools and started the Moody Bible Institute. He traveled in Europe and America holding campaigns. He preached to more than one hundred million people and had over one million first-time conversions to Jesus Christ.
Someone one else said of Moody, “D. L. Moody may well have been the greatest evangelist of all time. In a 40-year period he won a million souls, founded three Christian schools, launched a great Christian publishing business, established a world-renowned Christian conference center, and inspired literally thousands of preachers to win souls and conduct revivals.”
Talk about a spiritual success! Moody was that. We will never be a D. L. Moody nor would we want to be, but we can become something of a spiritual success in life! And this is God’s will for all of us!
The apostle Peter put it this way in II Pet. 3:18 “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
PROP.- Let’s consider what it takes to live successfully in the Christian life.
I. DISSATISFACTION
V. 12 “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect…”
ILL.- A Sunday School teacher asked a little girl if she said her prayers every night. The little girl replied, “No, not every night, cause some nights I don’t want anything.”
The point is this. If we don’t want anything we won’t ask. If we are not dissatisfied with something we won’t do anything about it. Dissatisfaction can be a good thing. It can cause us to change some things or seek after something better.
Paul was saying, “I’m not there yet. I haven’t accomplished what I want in life.” When a person feels that way they will go after whatever they want in a more forceful way. It’s that hunger for more or better.
ILL.- For example, it’s like the weightlifter who always wants to lift more weights. Or the runner who wants to run faster. Or the ball player who wants to hit more homeruns. The same principle can apply to us spiritually.
ILL.- Brian Haney labored to give his life fulfillment in many ways. The 37-year-old entrepreneur had been through two marriages, built a $100 million corporation, and attained the coveted state of "clear" as a Scientologist, meaning he had achieved the high level of freedom, personal control, and independence Scientology promises its followers. But none of these triumphs took away his spiritual emptiness and dissatisfaction.
“Clears” are individual Scientologists who say they have rid themselves of painful subconscious experiences. They supposedly are free from fear to operate with greater consciousness.
"They tell you that you’ve made it, that you’re in, and you just keep walking around thinking: Shouldn’t I feel different?" Haney said.
So in 1994, Haney and his wife left the Church of Scientology, though they faced great resistance. At one point, Haney said, they contacted local police with concerns about their safety.
Haney’s search for truth and purpose did not end there. In 1997 he began attending St. John’s African Methodist Episcopal Church with his wife and children.
"I must have listened to about 50 sermons of Spirit-filled, Word-based teaching before I realized that I needed to give my life to Christ," Haney said. "I was worried. I had joined a cult in the past, so I wanted to know how to discern the truth."
Haney purchased a study Bible and began to pour over it. "I was so excited the day I was driving in my car and I heard a preacher on the radio share a concept that I knew was not in the Bible. Not that I was glad he was preaching that, but it meant so much to me to be able to discern what was God’s truth and what was human opinion."
As Haney’s faith grew, his disappointment toward Scientology softened. "At first I was really mad. I mean they ripped me off," Haney says, estimating that he gave more than $1 million to the church. "But as I grew in my walk with God, I realized that I just feel sorry for the people trapped in that mindset. It makes me want to weep now, not fight them."
At age 38, Haney sold his business, leaving the corporate world to concentrate on his family and his newfound relationship with God. Besides becoming a church trustee and overseeing the congregation’s new building project, Haney developed relationships with Christian groups that help people rebuild their lives after leaving abusive religious groups.
Brothers and sisters, Brian Haney’s story is one of dissatisfaction. He was not satisfied spiritually, which was a good thing because it led him to a relationship to the God of heaven through His Son Jesus Christ. Prior to this, he really had nothing. His heart and life were somewhat empty.
Likewise, if we are going to grow spiritually, we all need to have a sense of dissatisfaction. It’s not a matter of dissatisfaction with Jesus but rather a dissatisfaction with ourselves, with where we are our spiritually. If we sense this and have this, we will grow in our relationship to Christ. We will live more successfully in Christ.
II. DEVOTION
V. 13 “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. BUT ONE THING I DO…” Paul was “devoted” to one thing.
ILL.- Someone said, “It is more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly. Do not mistake activity for achievement.”
Sometimes we are so busy with life that we often forget what life is all about. We actually forget why we are here!
ILL.- It was said that Albert Einstein was interested in almost everything, and gave every topic and visitor his undivided attention. But sometimes he would rise abruptly—even in the middle of a sentence—and say apologetically, “I have to work now.” He would then retire to his study, leaving it to his wife and secretary to entertain the guest a while longer. There was nothing offensive about this; it was obvious that Einstein’s brain had started to spin, and that he had to work. It seemed as though he had received orders from elsewhere, and he followed them good-naturedly, expecting the same from those around him.
Apparently, no matter how busy Einstein was he would eventually come back to reality. His compulsion was his work. He “had” to work. He was “devoted” to his work. AND WE ALL NEED THIS KIND OF DEVOTION TO WHY GOD PUT US HERE.
Some diversions are fine, but that’s exactly what they are: diversions. For example, I like to fish for bass. I like to watch movies. I like to eat. Sometimes I live to eat rather than eat to live. I like beautiful and fast cars. I don’t own one, but I like them. I like running and racing even though I can’t do that anymore. I like Olympic weightlifting and I can’t do that anymore either.
All these things are fine. They are not evil, but they also are not why God put me here on earth. GOD PUT ME HERE FOR ONE THING: to love and serve him anyway I can! We all must be “devoted” to this ONE thing!
ILL.- Have you ever heard of the IRONMAN TRIATHLON? It takes place every summer in Hawaii. I think they now have these triathlons all over the world. It consists of 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and then they have to run a marathon, 26.2 miles.
The best male triathletes in the world can finish this race in about 8 hours. I could do it in eight hours too…in a boat and on a Harley! But you can imagine by the time they get to the marathon run of 26.2 miles that they are pretty worn out. In fact, I don’t know how they can run 26 miles after swimming and biking that much.
One thing is sure: even the best of these athletes cannot run that 26.2 miles as fast as an elite marathon runner can. Even if they only ran the 26 miles without the swim and the bike, they still couldn’t run the marathon as fast as the elite marathon runner. WHY? Because the marathoner is devoted to ONE THING, whereas the triathlete is devoted to three disciplines.
Sometimes we are devoted to many things to the point where we can’t do one thing very well. We have too many “irons in the fire” to be devoted to the ONE thing of living for the Lord.
ILL.- It was this decision that was the turning point in preacher Dwight L. Moody’s life. Before the great Chicago fire in 1871, Moody was involved in Sunday School promotion, YMCA work, evangelistic meetings, and many other activities. But after the Chicago fire, for some reason, he decided to devote himself exclusively to evangelism. The words “This one thing I do” became very real to him. And as a result, millions of people heard the message of Christ through his preaching.
It takes devotion to ONE thing to live successfully for Christ.
III. DIRECITON
V. 13 “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is head.” Paul had direction to his life. FORWARD.
ILL.- I have read there is an old toy that is a small wooden bird called the "Floogie Bird." Around the Floogie Bird’s neck is a label reading, "I fly backwards, and I don’t care where I’m going. I just want to see where I’ve been."
If that’s the way any person wants to live then they won’t get far in life. They won’t make much forward progress.
ILL.- Roger Bannister was the first man in the world to run a mile in 4 minutes. Three months later John Landy beat his record in 1.4 seconds. Landy’s time was 3:58.6. And three months after that time the two men met for a historic race.
As they moved into the last lap, the other runners were far behind. Landy was ahead. It looked like he was going to win, but as he neared the finish line he was haunted by the question: “Where is Bannister?”
Later, John Landy was interviewed and he said, “IF I HADN’T LOOKED BACK, I WOULD HAVE WON THE RACE.”
Does this remind you of someone? Anyone?
ILL.- What happened to Lot’s wife when she looked back?
Luke 9:62 “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
ILL.- One time Thomas A. Edison’s plant was on fire. As he helplessly watched it burn, he called his son Charles. He said, “Come here! You’ll never see anything like this again!” Then Edison called his wife. As the three of them stood there, gazing at the fire, Edison said, “There goes all our mistakes. Now we can start over.”
EDISON DIDN’T LOOK BACK! And a result he soon went on to invent the phonograph and no telling what else.
ILL.- Someone said, “People who live in the past are doomed to failure in the future.” Living in the past can taint the future. It can even do worse than that if we let it.
ILL.- In Alice in Wonderland, at one point Alice says to the Cheshire Cat, “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where,” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
If you don’t care where you are going in life then it doesn’t matter what you do or where you go. HOWEVER, IF YOU’RE HEAVENBOUND THEN WHAT YOU DO AND WHERE YOU GO DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
ILL.- When he was 88 years old, the late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once found himself on a train. When the conductor came by, Justice Holmes couldn’t find his ticket, and he seemed terribly upset. He searched all his pockets and fumbled through his wallet without success.
The conductor was sympathetic. He said, “Don’t worry, Mr. Holmes, the Pennsylvania Railroad will be happy to trust you. After you reach your destination you’ll probably find the ticket and you can just mail it to us.”
But the conductor’s kindness failed to put Mr. Holmes at ease. Still very much upset, he said, “My dear man, my problem is not ‘Where is my ticket?’ The problem is, ‘Where am I going?’”
Where are you going? What is your direction in life? Hopefully, it is forward and upward.
IV. DETERMINATION
V. 14 “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
That’s determination. I press on.
ILL.- Someone once asked Paul Harvey, the journalist and radio commentator, to reveal the secret of his success. "I get up when I fall down," said Harvey. That’s determination.
It takes determination to go forward in life. It takes determination to do anything in life: go to work, do a job, clean a house, build a house, raise a family, write a book, read a book, etc. and live a successful Christian life.
ILL.- D.L. Moody had a keen memory for names and faces. If one of his children was missing from Sunday school, he knew it, and he would do everything possible to find out why. One day he saw an absentee coming down the street, so he took off after her. She ran down the sidewalk, across the street, and through an alley into a saloon, up the stairs to a back apartment, into the bedroom, and then dived under the bed. Moody went after her, and just as he was claiming his prize, the mother showed up. Panting from the exertion, Moody simply explained, "I’m Moody."
He said that he had missed the girl and would be happy if all the family could come to the services. Within a few weeks he had every child in that family in his school. How’s that for determination?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all that kind of determination in making the church grow and in seeking to win people to Christ?
Determination is something that we often lack. We are generally half-hearted in our quest for life, for anything in life. That’s why we have winners and losers. And that’s why we have finishers and non-finishers. That’s why we have both servers and shirkers.
ILL.- Preacher W. A. Criswell of First Baptist Church in Dallas many years ago told the story about an evangelist who loved to hunt. The man bought two pups that were topnotch bird dogs, two setters. He kept them in his large backyard, where he trained them.
One morning, an ornery little vicious-looking bulldog came shuffling and snorting down the alley. He crawled under the fence into the backyard where those setters spent their days. IT WAS EASY TO SEE THAT HE MEANT BUSINESS.
Naturally, those setters and that bulldog got into a scuffle. Round and round they went. There were growls and yipes as bulldog hair flew everywhere. The little critter finally had enough, so he squeezed under the fence and took off. The rest of the day he whined and licked his wounds.
But the next day, he went back under that fence and after those two setters! Once again, those setters beat the stuffing out of that little bulldog and would have chewed him up if he hadn’t retreated under the fence and down the alley.
WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT? The next day he was back! And once again, after he got all he could take, he crawled back under that fence and found his way home.
That evangelist had to leave for a couple of weeks and when he came home he asked his wife what had happened with that little bulldog. She said, “Honey, you just won’t believe what has happened! Every day, at the same time every morning, that little bulldog came back in the backyard and fought with our two setters. HE NEVER MISSED A DAY!
“And I want you to know it has come to the point that when our setters simply hear that bulldog snorting down the alley and spot him squeezing under the fence, they immediately start whining and run down into our basement. THAT LITTLE OLD BULLDOG STRUTS AROUND OUR BACKYARD NOW JUST LIKE HE OWNS IT.”
That’s determination. Pardon the expression, but that’s “dogged” determination! Some dogs have it and some don’t. Some humans have it and some don’t. But somehow we need to get it if we intend to live a successful Christian life!
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
CONCLUSION------------------------------------
ILL.- In 1940, following the collapse of France and its occupation by Hitler’s legions, the government declared, “The chief cause of the moral collapse of the French Army was alcohol, and this is the worst of France’s four major problems.”
In other words, they were their own worst enemy. And is not this true for most of us? If we are not living a successful Christian life, it’s not the churches’ fault, or the preacher’s fault, or the leader’s fault or your mate’s fault. It’s your own fault.
