The Winning Loser
9/19/2004 Proverbs 3:5-11 Luke 12:13-21 Text 9:23-27
Have you ever been to a game, in which your team won the on the field but lost on the scoreboard. In football, a field is 100 yards long divided into two 50 yard halves. The numbers go from 0 to 50 and back down to 0 again. The closer you get to scoring, the lower the yard number is.
The goal in football is to travel downfield and cross the 0 yard line into the end zone. It does not matter if you run 100 yards to score or if you run 1 yard to score, it still counts six points. It is possible for you to have a total of 450 yards offense and the other team to have 4 yards of offense, and they win the game 12 to 0. The difference is that they used two yards twice to get into the end zone, whereas you spent your time simply going up and down the field looking good.
The winning loser is the team that looks very impressive in action on the field running plays left and right. They get first downs. They have long passes and break away runs, but they never manage to score a touchdown. They have impressive stats. They have racked up a huge number of yards between the 20 yard lines. But they lose the game 12-0 because they never crossed the goal line.
There are so many people living their lives between the 20 yard lines. They really look impressive as they rack up things. They’ve got prestige, they’ve got popularity, they’ve got fine clothes and nice cars, they have beautiful homes, and power jobs. We look at them and we admire them. Some of us practically worship them. And we know they’re winning the game of life or it sure seems like they are.
Jesus talked about one of them in our New Testament reading. Let’s call the guy Nate. Nate was making money left and right. All his investments were turning to gold. Nate was surprised at just how good things were this early in his life. His company was too small to expand any larger under its current structure.
Nate came up with an expansion plan that would allow him to double and perhaps quadruple the amount of money he had. Nate said to himself, “Nate ole boy, you’ve done pretty good for yourself. You’ve got enough money laid away to take you way into retirement. Son it’s time for you to take like easy, enjoy the fine restaurants, drink the good wine, and just be happy with your life.”
Nate looked up his lawyer’s phone number to tell him to draw up the new corporation papers, but at the last minute he decided to wait until tomorrow. He went to sleep and a visitor from heaven spoke to him saying “you fool, tonight is the very night your life will be required of you. Who’s going to get all that money you were planning to spend.” Before Nate could say, “but I’ll change had a massive heart attack and died that night. Jesus said, “this is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself, but is not rich toward God.”
Now some people think Nate’s mistake was that he had a lot of money. No, that’s not right. Nate could have had a billion dollars or he could have had a $1,000 and still made the same mistake. Nate’s mistake was that he focused on his own wealth and his own enjoyment. When Jesus told the story, in the Greek the word “my” shows up four times and the word “I” appears eight times. Nate’s joy came from the things he accumulated, but he discovered things do not last forever. Nate was a winning loser. He had the stats, but the game clock was running out and he had not scored any points. But he sure had a lot of nice things said about him at his funeral.
If you were like Nate, and had to die tonight, what possession do you own that you would try to make an impression on God with by talking to God about it. Anybody tempted to say, “God look at this beautiful diamond ring”, “God look at my expensive suit”, or “God look at my house. It’s the bomb.” Only a fool would think God could be impressed by something so trivial in His presence. However, most of us would feel pretty good if we could say something to God about how we used that item in His service or on his behalf to others. “Lord you blessed me with that Benz and every Sunday I made sure I picked up somebody who couldn’t have made it to church without a ride.”
“ Lord you gave me that diamond ring, but I know the money I sold it for was of greater value to me in making a difference in our outreach program.” “Lord my home was a place where others found you, because I used it for ministry.” I want you to know, our desire for possessions and things don’t have to be sinful, but the way we pursue after them can be. They can cause us to become winning losers. Don’t ever think God is opposed to you having things. But you know that things have you, whenever you tell God to wait while you get yours, and then you will see to it that He gets His.
God’s principle that we read in Proverbs, 3:9 says for us to honor God with the best of what we have first, and then we will receive far more than we had imagined. But many of us do not believe this, because we would rather figure out our money and our possessions for ourselves. We reject God’s commandment to trust in Him with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. Listen to how it’s written in Eugene Peterson’s bible the message.
It reads Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.Listen for GOD’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to GOD! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life!
The main reason we reject God’s advice in this area is because of the decisions we have made concerning Jesus Christ. Jesus has a lot to offer everybody, but He’s the first one to tell us it’s not easy and it’s not free. He knows that many people will come to follow Him who will end up as winning losers. You see Jesus is looking for people who want to cross the goal line. The goal line would be a lot easier to cross if it didn’t begin with a cross.
Let’s look at what Jesus said about how to stop being a winning loser. Look at Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Let’s look at this verse in some detail. If—let’s us know there is a choice involved. Some are going to take it and some are not. Second word is anyone. The choice is made by the individual. Nobody can make the choice for anybody else. Would come indicates that nobody is already doing it as something natural. We do not stumble into a decision to come after Christ, at some point we make a deliberate choice.
Now comes the hard part. Jesus says he must. “Must” does not leave any wiggle room. It’s not the same as ought, or should, or try to. Must means this has to be done. You see until you get to the word must, all you’re doing is moving between the twenty yard lines. Many people will say, “I’m willing to go after Jesus.” They go from one end of the field to the other but never cross the goal line. There is a difference between a follower of Jesus and a disciple of Jesus. A follower never gets beyond the song, “I’m so glad that the Lord saved me.” A disciple sings, “if you can use anything Lord, you can use me.”
\
Jesus says “if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself. A lot of people think to deny oneself means not having the things of this world or not having any sense of self worth or importance. No Jesus is talking about something more basic. He’s talking about a willingness to let go of selfish desires and earthly security.
We like to think that we are nice generous people, but at the breakdown of most of our relationships, selfishness is somehow involved. Marriages end because of selfishness, not incompatibility. To deny ourselves means to let God be in charge. It’s like getting out of the driver seat and moving to the passenger side, and letting God determine where the car is about to go.
Have you ever had to remind somebody of something that belonged to you and how you had a right to do with it as you pleased? Those are my jeans-take them off. That’s is my house-get out. That’s my money-I’ll spend it as I please. We all have this knowledge, that when it’s mine we call the shots on how its used.
To come after Jesus and to deny ourselves, is a realization that we belong to Jesus, and He determines how we are to be used. Jesus has no problem with the things that we posses when we come to Him. He’s more interested in getting rid of the things that spring out of the selfishness in our hearts than he is our possessions. Greed is not determined by a dollar amount.
Well not only is there the element of willing to give up our selfishness for Christ, but there is also the willingness to pay a price with our lives. The next part of the verse is to take up his cross. This would be so easy if all we had to do was to put on a necklace with a cross on it, or put on some earring crosses. The cross of today has lost it’s significance.
Let’s go back to the first century view of the cross. First of all death on the cross was a form of execution used by Rome for the most dangerous criminals. Without the cross, selfishness would reign in our lives and give the cause of Christ a very bad name. Believers without the cross are often called hypocrites which makes us dangerous to the kingdom of God, because we point people away from God. That would make us traitors in the kingdom.
When Jesus used the word cross, it did not bring to mind a little piece of jewelry. But in Rome, the cross you would carry would be the upper wooden beam. You would carry it through the streets on a one way path to death. People would be screaming and jeering at you, calling you names as you traveled down the road to be crucified. By the time you got to the place where you could let go of the cross, you’d be exhausted. That’s where you would be attached to another pole.
What is this cross? People will often say, well so and so is my cross to bear. Our cross is our willingness to completely identify with the teachings and life of Jesus Christ even to the point of death. We are called to deny selfish ambition and selfish desires to use our time, our energies, and our money our own way. It costs something to follow Jesus Christ.
People are only willing to pay a high cost for something they value. Many of us place very little value on Jesus Christ and what He has done for us and our little crosses are poor reminders. It would be more meaningful for us to wear little electric chairs or gas chambers around our necks to remind us we are worthy of nothing short of death for our rebellion toward God.
We can take up our cross, but we cannot crucify ourselves. The Bible never tells us instead to yield our bodies to God and let God do the rest. What does it look like to yield our tongues when we’re ready to rip somebody to pieces for something they have said or done to us? What does it look like to yield our legs when we feel the pressure of temptation pulling on us? What does it look like to yield our possessions when someone has a genuine need and we can make a difference? What does it look like to yield our career in order to build a stronger marriage or family? What does it look like to yield our time because there’s a ministry that needs doing?
Jesus goes a step further when he says, “Oh and by the way, pick up your cross daily and follow me.” One of the hardest things is that we are called to this daily, because each day we are going to face new situations, new people, and new problems. But sometimes we will have to face the same situation, the same people and the same problems and still be expected to follow Jesus in dealing with our cross. We follow Jesus one day at a time. Don’t ever forget, today’s victory is not a guarantee of tomorrow’s success even in the same situation. We cannot afford to let our guard down.
Notice that he says pick it up and follow him. Not the stars, not astrology, nor oprah, or what’s politically correct. He said and “follow me.” If Jesus did not travel on the road, then we ought not to be on it either.”
Jesus goes on to say in Luke 9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. Now Jesus is talking directly about the winning loser. People think in order to save their lives, they have got to look out for number one. They push God to the sideline, and then they go about seeking after things that are going to bring them joy and happiness in this world. Their focus is on getting things. Jesus says but the way to win is to lose your life in living for me. He said it another way in Matthew, when he said, “seek first the kingdom of God and then all these things will be added to you.”
Let me tell you something. When we do things God’s way, we will always have more money and more resources than we would otherwise have. Let me indicate something. I look at Pastor Toby and myself. By following God’s path in marriage, we have been together for 24 years and enjoyed the 24 years. We also learned early we needed help with our marriage by attending seminars, conferences and classes. Two people working together 24 years can accumulate a lot more wealth than two people spending money on legal fees getting divorced every few years.
I can remember preaching a sermon a number of years ago in which I told you, I went and saw my brother’s new home and came back with this desire to get a home like his. When I got back home, it dawned on me that I was happy and content with what I already had living in East Cleveland. That thought of jealous competition died in me. It was not until our water bill in East Cleveland hit almost $200 a month that we said, we have got to leave this house especially with our kids being gone and we’re paying an extra two hundred dollars a month in city taxes.
Now this is the same time the New Life Center campaign is on. For three years, every raise we got and 25% of any extra money we got went to the New Life Center. That meant we were going an average of $600 to the New Life Center each month in addition to our tithes and offerings. The New Life Center disciplined us with our money. We went over to Parklawn and just happened to see a house for sale and went to talk to Chauntee Owens Martin at NNDC.
She showed us a financial plan the city and the bank was offering and we realized that with a 15 year tax abatement, we could own a brand new home by just shifting our spending and moving into Cleveland. With an interest rate of 4.5%. Now years earlier when I was thinking of a new home out of a selfish reason the interest rate was around 8% a house that would have cost the same thing would have been almost $600 more a month which would have made it too expensive. But I want you to notice something, we didn’t say God if you bless us with a new home, here’s what we will give.
We gave first and asked God to bless us with a home according to our giving. Nobody was more surprised at the door God opened for us then we were. We lie in our bed, and ask each other, can you believe we actually live in this house and its here in Glenville. There is no boasting involved, and we feel completely humbled by it. We didn’t go seeking it. As a matter of fact, we twice tried to get out of the deal, but God wouldn’t let it happen. Our new home is just as open for ministry as our past home has been. We still have church kids over for the weekends. We are more convinced than ever that our New Life Center will become a reality. For if God can give us a home as a couple he can surely give us a building as a church.
There is value in seeking first the kingdom of God when it comes to gaining possessions. Look we know Jesus is talking about possessions because he says in the very next verse; in Luke 9:25 Luke 9:25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? Jesus brings us back again to the winning loser. Somebody who has it all, except for a genuine relationship with God.
You know at best we have around 70 to 90 years of life and a few of us can push it into the 100’s. But then there is death, and life begins for eternity. Now we’re talking millions and billions of years. Not only is there the issue of whether you will spend it in heaven or hell, but for believers there is also the issue of what will you lay at the feet of Jesus Christ for what He’s done for you.
The Bible speak of people who were saved, but had nothing to show for it because all of their works were burned up in the fire because of the wrong motives in which they were done. Isn’t it time we stopped trying to impress others with what we have and instead attempt to gain the approval of God on how we use it. For Jesus went on to say. Luke 9:26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
It’s time to quit moving the ball between the 20 yard lines and change your image. Although the world may think you’re a loser, you will be winning the game where it counts most. In the eyes of our God.
Sermon Outline-Pastor Rick 9-19-2004
The Winning Loser
Proverbs 3:5-11 Luke 12:13-21 Text Luke 9:23-27
A. The Game Of Football
1. Winning But Lost
2. 100 yards -- 0 To 50 & Back To O
3. The Object Is To Score Points Not Yardage
4. Looking Impressive But Losing Just The Same
B. A Good Fellow The Name Of Nate
1. A Booming Business & A Great Stock Market
2. Why Not Take It Easy And Just Enjoy The Best
3. A Phone Call That Was Never Made
4. A Fool Without A Plan For The Future
5. It’s All About Me 4 My’s & 8 I’s
6. Nice Things At The Funeral
C. With What Will You Be Able To Impress God
1. Make Your Diamond, Your Benz & Your House
Do It For You
2. Things Aren’t Necessarily Bad-It’s Pursuit
3. Proverbs 3:9—Try Honoring God First
Eugene Peterson’s Proverbs 3:5-8
Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for GOD’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to GOD! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life!
D. Jesus Wants To See Us Score Some Points
1. The Cross At The Goal line
Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
2. If Makes A Difference—The Choice
3. Anyone—We Come One At Time By Ourselves
4. Must—Where Is The Wiggle Room
5. Two Different Songs –Follower vs Disciple
E. Getting This Deny Oneself Thing On Cue
1. Can We Have Anything In This World
2. Facing Selfish Desires
3. Who Is Driving This Car & Where Is It Going
4. Let Me Remind You—That’s Mine
5. Oh, So Now I’m Suppose To Belong To Jesus
6. We Pay Based On The Value We Assign To It
F. I Guess I’ll Take Up My Cross & Put It On
1. What A Nice Cross You Have There Today
2. First Century—Reserved For The Most Dangerous
Criminals.
3. Cross-less Believers Are Traitors
4. Carrying A Wooden Beam & Hearing The Jeers
