Trivial Pursuit
Mark 8:36-37
We are continuing our series on Games that People Play. Now most of you probably have played today’s game Trivial Pursuit or one of its many spin-offs. The original Trivial Pursuit came out in 1981, which makes it relatively young compared to the classics, and yet it’s a game that Time magazine called the “Biggest phenomenon in game history.”
Now (if you’ve been living in a cave) the object of the game was to answer questions in each of 6 categories such as Geography, Sports, History, Science, Entertainment & Literature. And most of the questions could be classified as being pretty obscure. However it was Trivial Pursuit that reminded us of some of the following information. For example, did you know that:
Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks, otherwise it will digest itself.
40% of McDonald’s profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.
Every person has a unique tongue print. (Say "aaah")
Most lipstick contains fish scales. Yum.
Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.
Roses MAY be red, but violets ARE, indeed, violet.
Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
Most dust particles in your house are actually dead skin.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds. (Maybe that’s why they swim back and forth across the fish bowl all day. Every trip is a new adventure! Hey, I wonder what’s over there!.... Hey! I wonder what’s over THERE!)"
Well, here’s the big question, is the accumulation of all that knowledge really a useful thing?
READ TEXT – “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul?” - I have always read that from a material standpoint but it can certainly have an application in the realm of knowledge.
You see its one thing to be educated, to have knowledge, it is quite another to have wisdom. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. Wisdom is knowing what to do with all of that trivial information that is floating around in our brains.
And unfortunately we live in a society that is filled with knowledge and yet lacking greatly in wisdom.
We have a lot of intelligent people that are living their lives in very trivial ways. People that get to the end of their life and look back and think, what in the world did I just spend my life on. I accumulated a lot of information or a lot of stuff or even a lot of friends, but what did it gain me?
You see, I think that true wisdom is to know what God wants me to do with my life and then to do it. And if you want to come to the end of your life and not consider it a trivial pursuit, then I think it is essential that you start figuring out just what it is that God desires for you. What is his will for your life?
He is the architect of our life, he wrote the owners manual, he is the creator of our existence and it stands to reason that he knows best what I should be trying to accomplish in my life. And discovering His will is the key to avoiding a trivial pursuit through this life.
Now, today were going to look at 4 directives from God in regards to his will. Before we read our text however, let me remind you of three things when dealing with the Will of God.
#1 God is much more interested in shaping your character then he is in just directing the affairs of your life.
#2 God is much more interested in developing a relationship with you than he is in just being the “vending machine” God that dispenses information such as what job to take or who to marry.
#3 When dealing with God’s will we need to remember that much more important than discovering God’s will is doing God’s will.
With that in mind let’s look at four items we know to be in the will of God.
READ 1 Thess. 4:1-5
#1 - It is God’s will that we live PURE & HOLY lives.
The NIV says sanctified, and sanctified, like Holy means set apart. When something in the Bible was anointed it was set apart for use by God or for God. When we become holy in our lives we are setting our lives apart to be used by God and to be used for God. This is a gradual process.
We sing the song, “Holiness, it’s what I long for. Holiness is what I need.” Well Holiness is what God desires for your life as well. Holiness is the term used for our actions and thoughts, the things we do and think and say and read and participate in and we are encouraged that it is God’s will that we grow in holiness.
This may mean ridding our lives of sinful influences that are keeping us from being used by God.
This may mean filling our minds with the things of God.
This may mean better choices in our relationships.
This may mean living out a more pure lifestyle.
Now obviously this is a tough task in our society and it seems to be getting tougher all the time. The attack on purity comes on every front: Music, Movies, Television, Magazines, the internet. There is a literal war going on, and every one of us is right in the middle. And on the one side is a loving God who knows what is best for me. Who knows the way for me to have a fulfilling, righteous and enjoyable life. A God who says the best life, the least trivial life, is found through holiness & purity and intimate bonding with one spouse.
And on the other side is a sea of temptation and pressure that says God doesn’t know what’s best. Here is how to have fun. Here is where the action is. And it doesn’t include purity. God is old fashioned. This is what everybody is doing.
And we have seen in recent years a multiplying of the quantity and literal openness of the attack on our moral purity. The theme seems to be, the more shocking the better. And it seems to be having an effect.
In a recent survey by Time Magazine it was reported that more than 1/3rd of all 15 yr olds have had sexual relations. That number is up 19% over the last couple decades. And of that 1/3rd 61% say they have had multiple partners. That number has more than doubled in the last 20 years.
And in the face of that, many see God’s rules as restrictive, joyless, obstacles to the fun life, when the reality is that God knows the best life and has provided rules so that we may find and experience a life that is anything but trivial. God’s way is the best way.
And it’s something that many, unfortunately don’t realize until a great deal of damage has been done.
Listen to what a woman named Carolyn Sue wrote in Cosmopolitan Magazine, of all places, in an article dealing with the new emphasis on abstinence & purity. She writes this: What does all this mean, a discussion of a new chastity. What it means, I think, is that despite the pill, despite legalized abortion, and economic freedom, our bodies are trying to tell us something. They don’t necessarily want to be tossed around like lost luggage on an around the world plane trip. That’s why, maybe after a long night of good times with a Nick Nolte look-a-like, you go to the kitchen for coffee and something someplace in your body feels like it could cry, like it could die. And it’s not your body feeling bad, and it may not even be your heart. It’s in the vicinity of your lungs, your solar plexus where some religions say your soul resides.
This is a lady coming from a totally non-biblical standpoint realizing that something is wrong with the world’s way of doing things. And God knew that lifestyle is devastating and that’s why God’s plan is for one woman and one man, together forever in marriage. A pure and holy lifestyle in which we set our lives apart for service to God.
That is God’s Will for your life and for mine.
2 - It is God’s will that we stay active in serving Him.
He says in 1 Thessalonians 5:14 “I want you to warn the idle.” Tell them to get busy.
Some time back as I was reading I came across a story about Ernie Nevers. We hear today about two-sport athletes. Athletes that are good and intense enough to play professionally in two sports. Ernie Nevers was one of the first real multi-sport athletes. Ernie played professional baseball for 3 years in St. Louis. He played professional basketball for awhile. But his main sport was football. And he played with an intensity for the game.
On Thanksgiving day, 1929, in a game against the bears, he set a record that may never be broken. He scored all six touchdowns in the game, and in addition he kicked four extra points. The final score was 40-6 and he scored all 40 points.
In the 1925 rose bowl he played despite two smashed ankles. In another game he was knocked completely unconscious and when he came to he went right back in the game and carried the ball 16 straight times for a touchdown.
In another game against the packers he played quarterback even though he was having an appendicitis attack. He threw a 62 yard touchdown and that night had his appendix removed.
And as I read about Ernie Nevers, the story concluded with these words, Ernie Nevers, never quit.
I wish that could be said about a lot of us in regards to our service to God, but the reality is that many never get started because of laziness or idleness. And God says it is my will that you warn them.
Eph. 5:14 "wake up you sleeper, rise from the dead."
1 Cor.4:2 says that now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove themselves faithful. And as Christians we have each been given a trust and God is seeing if we will be faithful in upholding it. And it requires service.
You will not live the fulfilling life that God desires if you are sitting on the sidelines. You have to get on the field and get involved, knocking on doors, inviting people, getting the building ready, teaching the classes, keeping the nursery, filling the communion, greeting at the door and on and on and on.
Now we are not saved by works. You don’t work a whole lot and that gets you into heaven. You get into heaven by the grace of God in having your sins forgiven.
Eph. 2 makes it very clear that works do not save you. But what about those who don’t work at all? What about the idle and the lazy. And James 2 says faith without works is dead.
That sounds like a pretty trivial existence to me. And while we are not saved by works, your works are a mark of who you are as a Christian. Service doesn’t make you a Christian, but you can’t be a Christian and not serve. And so God says my will is warn the idle, they need to get busy.
3 – It is God’s will that we love one another.
And this, of all the instructions we will look at, is really at the heart of God’s will for our lives.
The greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart and soul and strength and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. And God goes on to say that the two are really one, because as you treat your brother, so you are treating God. As you love your brother, so you are loving God. If you give a cup of cold water to someone it’s as if you’re giving it to God.
If we want to keep from living trivial lives then we need to learn to love like Jesus loved. Certainly it’s the will of God. And what a beautiful thing it is to see.
I heard the story of a camper. It was jr. high camp and they were having a talent show as most camps do, and I don’t know if you’ve ever sat though a jr high camp talent show, but I have and their awful. Like seven hours of everybody trying to be the American Idol. It’s terrible. But in the one camp there was a boy who was a little mentally challenged, a little slow.
And he had trouble communicating, let alone singing, but he was insistent and told the Dean that he wanted to sing the song "Friends are Friends forever" Well the Dean had to let him but he put him on at the end of the list thinking everybody would be tired and not really listening by that point.
And the time came, and he had his tape and he got up to the microphone and proceeded to just butcher the song. He was off key, didn’t get the words right, just really missing it bad and the snickering began to spread across the room.
But the camp dean said that the greatest act of love he’s ever seen occurred when one of the more popular girls, an eight grade girl named Jessica, got up from the back row and walked up front and climbed up on the state and put her arm around this boy’s shoulder, and grabbed a microphone and began to sing with him "Friends are friends forever, if the Lord’s the Lord of them. And a friend will not say never, and the welcome will not end."
And the dean said, pretty soon the whole camp was singing together, all because one girl decided to love like Jesus loved.
And the book of first John says that anyone who says they love God, Man, I mean they come into the sanctuary, they raise there hands, they say "God I love you", but they don’t love their brother, then it says the love of God was never in them.
There’s a song that says,
"The kitchen smells like supper and the table is ready waiten
And someone said they thought we ought to pray before we ate ’n
would I think the Lord for all He has bountifully bestowed
But please don’t pray too long because the meat is gettin cold.
Well on the other side of town a mother sets another table.
For herself and several children just as well as she is able
But there’s not too much because last night the man he didn’t pay too well
Will there be enough for breakfast, well it’s really hard to tell.
Am I passing by the man beside the road to Jericho
Have I cruelly snubbed the woman there as to the well I go
Am I my brother’s keeper, a cup of water did you say
Is the second mile outside my door, or somewhere down the way
Well the news is over now, there’s football on another station.
When at the door appears my aunt and half of our relation
And we all remark how nice to have the family here this way
It’s our love that binds us oh so close, we’d love to have them stay
While in a dark and dingy room a young girl eyes the walls around her
and she wonders if one soul would care if in two weeks they found her.
All her life she’s been rejected, never had an honest friend
Is it life or mere existence, who would care if it should end?
Am I passing by the man beside the road to Jericho?
Have I cruelly snubbed the woman there as to the well I go?
Am I my brother’s keeper, a cup of water did you say,
Is the second mile outside my door, or somewhere down the way?
The family is gone, it’s quiet, and the bed is soft beneath me
But instead of sleep and dreams my restless thoughts creep up to meet me
And somewhere in the distance I hear hungry children cry
And a girl unloved, uncared for brings a tear unto my eye
Well if people saw me weeping they’d think that I was mad
I’d tell them it was a nightmare and the dream I dreamed was bad
I must gain my self control, Tomorrow’s Sunday school and so
bloodshot eyes on Sunday morning and folks would talk a lot you know.
Am I passing by the man beside the road to Jericho?
Have I cruelly snubbed the woman there as to the well I go
Am I my brother’s keeper, a cup of water did you say
Is the second mile outside my door, or somewhere down the way?
It is God’s will that you love your brother.
4 –- It is God’s will that we give thanks in all circumstances
READ 1 Thess. 5:18
We sing the song "Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One.” It is God’s will that we give thanks in all circumstances." This isn’t easy, obviously because not everything goes the way we want it to in life or even in service to God.
Story of VBS 1995 – We filled the top of the sanctuary with helium balloons. There were hundreds of them blanketing the ceiling. It seemed like a great idea until they began descending from the ceiling during my sermon....
Well, the point is not everything goes as we plan.
Like the baptism I had once where the dad was going to baptize his 9 yr. old. He was nervous and I told him, just repeat the words "I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son & the Holy Spirit" and then place him under the water. Well he got in the baptistry, got nervous and then placed the boy under the water. While holding him under the water he then said, "I now baptize you in the name of the Father...... ( you should have seent he boy’s eyes. I’ve never seen anyon so glad to come up out of that water).
And it’s not just preachers.
One music minister talked about how he had recently led the church in the song "Jesus Saves." The song contains the phrase "Jesus saves" a total of 24 times in four verses! He said, this was too many "s" sounds for me, and in the second verse instead of saying Jesus saves, I accidentally sang "Jesus shaves".
He said I tried my best to control myself, but I kept seeing the traditional image of Jesus with a beard, only now he had an electric shaver in hand. He said, I started shaking up and down, doing my best to keep leading the song with the proper decorum, agonizing that I would repeat my mistake. I don’t think I will ever be able to lead "Jesus Saves" again!
Well, things don’t go as we plan. And that can be humorous sometimes, but it can also be devastating. And sickness, and injury, and job loss, and death, all are part of life, and it is so hard in our minds to comprehend giving thanks in all circumstances.
We need to understand that thanksgiving overflows from other factors in our life. When we believe that God can turn any situation into a positive, when we believe that God is caring for us, and is still in control, when we believe that all things really do work for the good of those that love the Lord then we begin to get a glimpse of how we can give thanks in all circumstances. When we can say “My sins are forgiven, my past is erased, my future is secure and I’m going to spend eternity in heaven with God” then it is much easier to give thanks in all situations.
Well, let’s conclude.
And we conclude with the question, what now. We just went over a lot of information on God’s will. And certainly it would be an awesome thing if we could get all those things right today. But the reality is that I probably won’t get it all right today. But you know what I can get one thing right today, and then go to the next step and the next one.
Which one will you work on?
Do you need to be more holy and pure in your lifestyle?
Do you need to be more active in serving him?
Do you need to be more loving to those around you?
Do you need to be more consistent in thanksgiving?
You know the areas of need in your life. We’re going to sing an invitation song and we’re going to invite you to come as we stand and sing?
