Statistics from Born Again Christians:
(1) Searching for purpose: 48% (2) In Too Much Debt: 40% (3) Needing New Friends: 50% (4) Stressed Out: 31% (5) Too Busy: 49%
Illustrate the busy of life and how youths even grow weary. We’re tired and weary, and yet most of us still want to do things for God, to be productive for Him, but it’s hard when we’re without strength!
Statistics say: Born Again Christians are tired and in need of personal renewal.
As I was praying and studying about God’s promise to renew our strength, I came across Isaiah 40:28…
Isaiah 40:28-31, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. (He’s busy!) He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. (Are you weary or weak?) Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
? How long has it been since you experienced that kind of strength?
With ALL He does, God never gets tired! With that said, you might be wondering, “Then why did He rest on the 7th day and command us to observe the Sabbath?” The book of Genesis tells us He rested on the 7th day. If He rested, then wasn’t He weary?
No. He did it for US. Not because He was tired and needed rest, but because He is a sensitive and compassionate Lord required us to need strength from Him. He is sensitive to our need for personal renewal… Even more so than WE are!
How many of us work ourselves to the bone? How many ignore the Sabbath: the commanded day of rest, so you can get something you want done? Have you not heard that God commanded a day of rest?
In the fourth of the Ten Commandments, God is saying, “I want you to rest!” “I command you to take 1 vacation day every week, just to rest and relax with me. Be close to me.”
In His Word, He offers us complete & total renewal. Renewal of Body, Mind and Spirit. That’s the whole essence and purpose of the Sabbath. Because He knows our needs and wants so much to provide for us, He has commanded us to take a day of rest, and He set the example in the beginning of creation to impress upon us the vitality and importance of personal renewal!
The body NEEDS one day a week to lay down and relax.
The mind NEEDS a quiet day, without the stresses, the worries and responsibilities it carries throughout the work week, for renewal.
The spirit draws its strength and energy from God, by fellowshipping with Him, so the spirit needs that day of rest, too!
The Sabbath is the day of rest for our entire being.
It was instigated BY God FOR His people, out of love and in respect to our human needs… And He WANTS to provide new strength, personal renewal to us!
Mark 2:27, “…The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” -Jesus
If God is that serious about providing for your personal renewal, how much more serious is He about providing for all your other needs and desires in life?
See, you and I serve a God who never tires, and we draw our energy and strength from Him. He is our source. God never tires… “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”
But we do get tired! So then, what about the rest of the week, when life is a busy, confusing whirlwind?
What then?
How do we draw on The Lord’s energy for strength for our own lives during the busy times?
If we look back at Isaiah, his solution is this: verse 31: “those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Solution: Hope in the Lord… He’s saying, “Your source is The Lord.”
If that’s true, then why are so many Christians so tired and so burned out?
If life is a whirlwind, and we’re always busy with work, and play, and ministry (if we have enough time left for that), then the natural result is to be tired, right? Wrong!
What causes a Christian to loose his or her strength? (Drawing on the wrong source.)
First of all, there’s a priority problem somewhere in the Christian life today… We always make the mistake of putting work and play before ministry, and that’s a huge mistake because we draw our strength from the Lord, don’t we? If we’re too busy drawing from the wrong sources, we loose our strength. No matter how hard you work or play, the world doesn’t pay back with strength because our source of strength is the Lord. In order to obtain strength from the Lord, you have to be engaged in the business of the Lord: in the purposes of God.
You might disagree with that, but there’s an important paradigm to remember here:
According to the Kingdom of Heaven, you must first give in order to receive. It’s the same with strength. The investments we make in God increase our strength.
Kingdom Principle: Give TO God, receive FROM God.
You reap from what you sow into: sow into self, reap from self, sow into world, reap from world, etc…
What causes a Christian to be tired, run down, uninterested, weak, & unenthused for ministry?
I: Three Factors That Cause Burnout:
A: Overdrive: Making life too busy for God (the source of our strength).
Say you’re in your favorite car. Let’s pretend it’s a stick shift: 5 speed. Now, we all know that when you’re at a stop light in a stick shift, and the light turns green, you start out in first gear, and progress through the gears till you reach the posted speed limit.
What if you take that car and drive it onto the freeway at 70 miles per hour, in second gear? Say you drive 40 miles at 70 miles an hour, in second gear. What’s going to happen?
You’re going to burn up that engine because you’re working it too hard and too fast: burnout.
That’s why, if you’ve ever traveled over the grapevine (or any other hot, mountainous region), you’ll notice the signs that say, “Turn off the A/C.” Because the A/C puts a load on the engine and that additional stress can cause burnout.
That’s why there are rest stops, where a person can renew their strength.
That’s why there are emergency telephones, so a person can communicate with someone who can help them in case of an emergency, or a burnout…
That’s why there are water stations, where you can put fresh, cool water in the radiator: for refreshing and renewal. Are we getting the idea?
Overdrive causes Christians (people) to BURN OUT!
What are you driven for in life? God’s purposes, or yours?
When life gets too busy, are you casting God’s ministry to the wayside?
Is your agenda, or the Lord’s agenda driving your life?
If ministry is falling to the wayside, you’re drawing from the wrong source. It’s no wonder you’re so tired, because the more we invest in the world, the more the world will take from us. The world will take, and take, and take again until there’s nothing left to take from you.
Life will drain you of all the energy you have, and then some. If you’re prioritizing your agenda and your work ahead of God’s Work and God’s Agenda, then you’re guaranteed to experience burnout. The world will leave you thirsty and dry every time.
Have you ever heard the song, “It’s beginning to rain?”
“When you’re thirsty and dry, look up to the sky. It’s beginning to rain!” LOOK UP!
FIX YOUR EYES UPON JESUS! He is our source. He is our strength and our agenda, not cash, or sex, status or anything else. Don’t let anything stand between you and God’s will for your life!
There’s a strength sapping phenomenon called OVERDRIVE, and it will cause BURNOUT in your life.
And overdrive isn’t the only thing that causes burnout in life.
There’s a strength sapping phenomenon called Underdrive too.
B: Underdrive: life on cruise control, boredom: too much of the same old thing.
Being uninvolved, pew sitting. Taking up space in God’s house, without contributing.
Not enough RPM’s… The engine isn’t working hard enough.
Let’s put ourselves back out on the freeway… We’re driving up the Oregon coast.
It’s gorgeous, plush and green… But also very mountainous. Ahead is the steepest mountain grade you’ve ever traveled. You’re in 5th gear. You press hard on that gas peddle, all the way to the floorboard… But the further up the hill you go, the slower the car goes. You’ve got that peddle jammed into the floorboard, but the car slows down even more now. The engine stalls under the pressure.
? What went wrong?
Not enough RPM’s! 5th gear is too low strung to carry that much torque. If you want to make it over the top of a steep mountain, you have to shift into a lower gear, increase the engine RPM’s, work the engine a little harder, or you’ll stall.
This is the fate of Christians in underdrive. They never work hard enough to get over their personal mountains in life. They’ve got the peddle to the metal, but they lack the strength to press on because they’re drawing their power from the wrong source. They’re relying on past victories, or spiritual experiences they had years ago, instead of working on a right relationship with God today.
People in underdrive are the non-contributors and the critics in every congregation. They too, are in danger of burnout because they are plugged into the wrong source. This goes for everyone here, whatever your age or status: God has a place for you to minister in the house of God, in the workplace and your personal life. Age (whether young or old) is no excuse not to contribute to Kingdom growth.
You’ve got to give to receive!
Finally, the third and most dangerous, absolutely disabling and debilitating element in a person’s life is SIN.
Sin is the greatest contributor in the lives of tired, weak and weary Christians: compromise.
The most damaging thing to an engine is the friction inside the engine block.
If you don’t believe me, go dump a cup of dirt into your engine and see how long it takes before your engine experiences burnout. (Please, don’t actually do that!)
SIN is the friction, and the dirt, and grit in our spiritual motors.
Sin wears us down and tears us apart, from the inside out. I guarantee, your mileage as a Christian will be significantly reduced by the presence of sin in your life.
Get rid of the sin in your life, and be ruthless in doing so!
The Bible says SIN hinders and entangles.
Heb 12:1-3, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Sin causes Christians to loose their strength. It saps us of all our energy. It separates us from our source of strength and leaves us caught in the web of destruction. Without the help of Jesus Christ, there is no escape from this web of sin.
Why do people sin? Why put dirt in the engine?
We sin because we see an immediate reward: something we want fulfilled at that moment. Unfortunately, the wage of sin is death… So why not quit that job before the paycheck comes?
Sin seeks rewards with no renewal factor involved, only temporal gain. But the Christian draws his or her strength from God, not “?”.
THEREFORE, THROW OFF SIN! GET AN OIL CHANGE! GET THAT JUNK OUTTA THERE!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim: all the things that were so important before will come into perspective. The Lord will give you strength, day by day.
II: The Adverse Effects of Weariness
Tired Christians affect their world too, but how?
What are the pitfalls of a tired Christian?
When you’re tired, you’re vulnerable and weak.
When you’re tired, you are tempted to sleep: not alert. Weariness causes us to lower our guard…
At the end of their first date, a young man takes the girl back to her home. Emboldened by the night, he decides to try for that important first kiss. With an air of confidence, he leans with his hand against the wall and, smiling, he says to her, "Darling, how ’bout a good night kiss?"
Embarrassed, she replies, "Oh, I couldn’t do that. My parents will see us!"
"Oh come on! Who’s gonna see us at this hour?"
"No, please. I would just die of embarrassment if someone saw us."
"Oh come on, there’s nobody around, they’re all sleeping!"
"No way. It’s just too risky!"
"Oh please, please, I like you so much!!"
"No. I like you too, but I just can’t!"
"Oh yes you can. Please?"
"NO, no. I just can’t."
"Pleeeeease?..."
Out of the blue, the porch light goes on, and the girl’s sister shows up in her pajamas, hair disheveled. In a sleepy voice the sister says: "Dad says to go ahead and give him a kiss. Or I can do it. Or if need be, he’ll come down himself and do it. But for crying out loud tell him to take his hand off the intercom button!"
Dad let down his guard because he was tired!
When you’re tired, you are lulled into inactivity and unproductive.
You become the obstacle. Inactive Christians become a hindrance to others, rather than an encouragement.
Ps 84:5-7, “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.”
? Does that sound like you today?
God’s people are not obstacles, but those who transform the valleys of Baca (or weeping) into places where the springs of living water bubble up to refresh and renew the strength of everyone.
Is your strength from God? Does it have transforming, renewing power?
If not, how does the tired one renew his or her strength?
TURN YOUR EYES ON JESUS! (Heb 12:1-3) Consider Him so that you will not grow weary and loose heart. Look to the Lord for encouragement. One does not find their strength within themselves any more than a jogger finds refreshing in himself. He must go drink the waters of life, the spiritual Gatorade for the Christian runner.
Forget not all His benefits! Ps 103:2-5, “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
No pity parties, please.
Rather than dwell on all the hardships and negatives, rather than hole yourself up, secluding yourself and feeling sorry for yourself, remember all His benefits! What are some of God’s benefits? Aren’t they fellowship (with God and others who will encourage), promises (which are yeah and amen, regardless of what the circumstances seem to be revealing), prayer (to a God who understands, relates and listens, wants to provide), exercising our faith (the ability to trust in God, even when things aren’t happening as we think they should)? Not to mention all the eternal benefits of salvation… Does God owe us any more than all that?
He doesn’t even owe us that, but He’s given it freely.
So, no pity parties, please! Find new strength in the Lord. No-one’s gonna do it for you.
Forget not all His benefits!
Take command of your attitude!
A bad attitude will grind your strength to a screeching halt.
Illustrate: With electricity, the negative poll always receives but never gives. People with negative attitudes are the same way: they never give. They are always requiring things of others, but never give back. They just take, till there’s no more left. In the end, they only take up room in the sanctuary, drawing strength from others (not God), and never contributing. A bad attitude only hinders the church: it never helps.
Eph 4:22-24, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
IN EVERY ATTITUDE, my friends, the praying, waiting child of God is “strong in the Lord.”
Phil 2:5-8, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!”
Jesus was exalted because He humbled Himself first!
If you think you’re something more special than everyone else, if everyone else has to serve you, or if you think you deserve special attention, then you need an attitude check.
People with bad attitudes expect the world from others, when all the while they give nothing back of themselves. Nothing anyone can do is good enough. They are critical of everyone, always finding something to be disappointed about.
Friends, if you want to check and adjust your attitude, remember: rights and reconciliation are adversaries. That means, if you’re always fighting for your rights, you will be at war with everyone in your life: your kids, your husband or wife, your friends and co-workers, and your brothers and sisters in Christ.
The nature of a good attitude is found in the man or woman of God who is willing to lay down his or her rights for the good of others, placing others above him/herself in priority.
Humble yourself. If you are to be exalted, then let God exalt you, but first you must learn the art of humbling yourself. I’m afraid if you don’t, then God may teach it to you in a way you won’t appreciate.
Be obedient and gracious, giving more than you receive and God will lift your head.
“My redeemer and the lifter of my head, my redeemer and the lifter of my head… For thou, O God are a shield to me, my redeemer and the lifter of my head.”
Remember, here on earth, everything is backwards from the way Heaven is. We’ve got it all wrong.
In order to receive strength, first you must master the art of giving… You have to humble yourself to be exalted. You have to empty yourself to be filled up.
Be like Christ Jesus who, although He is the King of kings, humbled Himself and became the servant of every man and woman on earth, from the least to the greatest, and in turn was exalted to Heaven at the right hand of God the Father.
For years, God has called on busy people to fulfill His purpose in this world.
Saul was seeking his father’s donkeys and David his father’s sheep when called to the Kingdom. The shepherds were feeding their flocks when they had their glorious revelation. God called the 4 apostles from their fishing and Matthew from collecting taxes. Amos from the horsemen of Tecoah, Moses from keeping Jethro’s sheep, Gideon from the threshing floor, Elisha from the plows. God never called a lazy man. -D.L. Moody
Busy-ness is no excuse to ignore God’s call on your life.
In Conclusion: HOW DO I RECEIVE NEW STRENGTH?
My friends, if you want to receive renewed strength, you have to pour yourself out. Look to the Lord, fix your eyes on Jesus the finisher and perfecter of your faith, forget not – all His benefits, take on the attitude of Jesus Christ…
Then He will renew your strength like the eagle’s…
It has been a common and popular opinion that the eagle lives and retains his vigor to great age and that, beyond the common lot of other birds, he moults in his old age and renews his feathers, and with them, his youth. That’s why it is said, “You will renew your youth like the eagle.”
Jesus is the power to transform the old, bored, tired, burnt out, overdriven, under-driven, sin-filled men and women into young, excited, productive, powerful people of God.
They shall mount up with wings as eagles… They will put fourth fresh feathers like the moulting eagle.
If we’ll only fix our eyes on the source: Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 40:28-31, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Who needs that today?
Who wants personal renewal and new strength from God today?
Who would recommit their life and agenda to God this morning?
Then come.
Song for altar call: “Come just as you are.”
