INTRO.- ILL.- Someone came up with these humorous observations or insights about life.
1) A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
2) I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
3) If it weren’t for STRESS I’d have no energy at all.
4) Whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.
5) Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.
6) I know God won’t give me more than I can handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.
7) Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world.
8) We cannot change the direction of the wind... but we can adjust our sails.
9) Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
10) If the shoe fits......buy it in every color.
11) If you’re too open-minded, your brains will fall out.
12) There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
13) Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
14) Junk is something you’ve kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.
15) If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you’ve never tried before.
16) My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.
17) If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.
18) A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
19) Once over the hill you pick up speed.
Brothers and sisters, we all have our ideas or perhaps insights about life, that is, what’s good, bad or otherwise. These ideas are generally formed by the experience of life, rather than by being taught about life.
What am I saying? I am saying that we don’t listen very well. Our parents have told and told us, but often, we didn’t listen. We had to learn by our own mistakes.
ILL.- For example, my dad smoked all of his adult life. I don’t remember if he ever told me not to smoke, but I got that impression in various ways. How so? It seemed like my dad coughed a lot from smoking. I didn’t like dad’s second hand smoke when I was a child. I didn’t like the smell of smoke on him either. I also didn’t like to clean the inside windows of his car, which were yellow from smoke.
All these things told me NOT TO SMOKE, but did I smoke? Yes, I tried it when I was a teenager. I didn’t smoke very long, because I found that I didn’t like it. It was a fad of my day and still is, but I didn’t care for it at all. I never did inhale because when I tried to inhale I coughed my head off. So I quit smoking after a short time, like a few months and never went back to it.
But the point is, even though I knew I shouldn’t smoke and was probably even told not to smoke, I still had to try it for myself. I had to learn the hard way.
WE DON’T LEARN VERY WELL BY TEACHING. Many things we learn by doing for ourselves or by making our own mistakes.
And all of this tells me that preaching may not do much good! Huh? It’s highly possible that preaching the Word of God may be like water off a duck’s back to most people! If so, why do I continue doing it?
I have preached about 38 or 39 years of my life and I am still doing it because I think some of it will rub off on some people. I am not foolish enough to believe that everybody will gain from my preaching, but I think some people will.
And more importantly, I keep preaching because I believe in God’s promise more than I believe in people.
Isaiah 55:10-11 “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
God says that His Word will not return empty. That could be the read Word or the preached Word. IT WILL ACCOMPLISH WHAT GOD DESIRES EVEN WITH A POOR MESSENGER.
God is faithful. He can be trusted. Men cannot always be trusted. People will fail, even the best of them, but God never fails, never wavers, never changes, never falters, and never fails us!
I Cor. 1:9 “God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”
II Tim. 2:13 “If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”
With God’s faithfulness in mind, let’s learn from Him and His Word.
PROP.- Let’s consider two concerns from Scripture that most people have this time of the year.
1- Looking back (what to think, how to cope, etc.)
2- Planning ahead (important for a better life)
I. LOOKING BACK
Phil. 3:12-13 “Not 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. Brothers, 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.”
ILL.- The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, ’There’s Jennifer; she’s a lawyer,’ or ’That’s Michael, he’s a doctor.’" A small voice from the back of the room rang out, "And there’s the teacher; she’s still old, nasty, and wrinkled.”
Looking back. We all do it in some form or another. I found myself last Sunday afternoon thumbing through some old pictures of my parents and other family members. I found one picture that I will always cherish. It’s the only picture that I have of my father and me together. It was taken in October of 1982, just two months before he passed away. It was the last time we were together and the last time I saw him alive. It’s somewhat strange how things happen.
The same thing happened to me with my mother. Mother spent the last 10 months of her life in the National Healthcare in Joplin, MO. I lived 420 miles away but I went every month and spent three days with mother. The last week of her life I spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with her. Before I left on that trip, Elaine said, “Why don’t you take a camera and take some pictures?” I did and have never regretted taking those last pictures of mother. Strange how it happened.
Looking back at those pictures caused me to remember days gone by and to miss my parents. That can be good or it can be bad. It is always good to remember your loved ones and thank God for them. Always. On the other hand, some looking back to the “good ole days” may cause melancholy and not allow us to function well in the present.
As much as I miss my mother and father, I know that life goes on. I must live as well as I can in order to please the Lord and hopefully, my children will someday miss me as much as my parents. I can only hope for a reunion of sorts. That can only come, of course, in the Lord.
Looking back. Good in some ways and not so good in other ways. In our text, Paul said he was not perfect or had not been made perfect.
ILL.- Once upon a time, a perfect man and a perfect woman met. After a perfect courtship, they had a perfect wedding. Their life together was, of course, perfect.
One snowy, stormy Christmas Eve, this perfect couple was driving their perfect car (SUV) along a winding road, when they noticed someone at the side of the road in distress. Being the perfect couple, they stopped to help.
There stood Santa Claus with a huge bundle of toys. Not wanting to disappoint any children on the eve of Christmas, the perfect couple loaded Santa and his toys into their SUV. Soon they were driving along delivering the toys.
Unfortunately, the driving conditions deteriorated and the perfect couple and Santa Claus had an accident. Only one of them survived the accident.
Who was the survivor? The perfect woman survived. She’s the only one who really existed in the first place. Everyone knows there is no Santa Claus and there is no such thing as a perfect man.
The true is there is no perfect person, woman or otherwise! The only perfection possible in this life is by the grace of God in Christ.
II Cor. 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The only perfection that is possible for us is in Christ. When we trust in Him and His death on the cross and surrender to Him, then we put on His righteousness. That’s the only perfection there is.
In spite of imperfection, Paul said, “I press on…” He said, “forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.”
We should forget those things that are behind. He wasn’t talking about people. He was talking about certain events in our lives. To make progress in the future we can’t linger too long in the past.
ILL.- A customer sent an order to a distributor for a large amount of goods totaling a great deal of money. The distributor noticed that the previous bill hadn’t been paid. The collections manager left a voice-mail for them saying, "We can’t ship your new order until you pay for the last one."
The next day the collections manager received a phone call, saying, "Please cancel the order. We can’t wait that long."
Sometimes our bad past hinders our present lives.
There may be some bad things in our past that have never paid for and may never be paid, cleaned up, cleared up, straightened out, etc., but still we have to go forward. We must forget about them and get on with our lives.
If a person can reconcile some things in their past, then so be it, but it can’t always be done. Consequently, we just have to pray for forgiveness, leave it with God, forget about it and get on with living.
We all recognize that bad things hinder us in the future and we must put them behind. We must also recognize that even good in the past could hinder us. If we think about those things too long, dwell there, stay there and wish for them to return we will be no good for the present and the future.
Paul thought of his good past as self-righteous Pharisee, but he realized he had to forget it and pursue Christ.
ILL.- Someone said, “People who live in the past are doomed to failure in the future.” Living in the past (even a good past) can taint the future.
Brothers and sisters, as you look back over your life. Thank God for His grace, which forgives your bad past, big or small. And at the same, time thank God for His grace, which enabled you to do good things in the past. Praise Him because He is the author of those good things, but don’t stay there too long or you won’t do any good in the present.
ILL.- I have preached a few good sermons in the past. Occasionally, I will go back and read them and perhaps even think, “Hey, that’s a good sermon.” But if I just sit and read those sermons over and over, I won’t do any good right now.
And so with you. You’ve done some good things in the past. Praise God and keep on, keeping on.
II. PLANNING AHEAD
Phil. 3:14 “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
ILL.- Here’s a true story from several years ago. Four teenagers were arrested in the parking lot of a large mall in Lakeland, Fla., just before Christmas when, attempting to steal an automobile at random, they tried to break into a police van containing three officers on a stakeout.
That was not good planning! In fact, that’s stupidity.
ILL.- British sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein was once visited in his studio by the eminent author and fellow Brit, George Bernard Shaw. The visitor noticed a huge block of stone standing in one corner and asked what it was for. "I don’t know yet. I’m still making plans."
Shaw was astounded. "You mean you plan your work. Why, I change my mind several times a day!" "That’s all very well with a four-ounce manuscript," replied the sculptor, "but not with a four-ton block of stone.”
Some things are more easily planned than others. Planning what you are going to eat tonight is relatively easy compared to how you are going to live the rest of your life.
Some people plan well at some things but not at others.
ILL.- I have known people who planned well for their financial retirement. They were able to retire by 62, 65 and some even earlier. They had good jobs, put money away, stuck it in a good retirement fund, etc. but at the same time they did nothing for their spiritual life. THEY LIVED FOR THE PHYSICAL AND MATERIAL BUT DID NOTHING FOR THE SPIRITUAL. Consequently, when they came to the end of their lives they were worried sick, miserable, and at their wits end.
ILL.- I remember going to the funeral home in Missouri one time where the brother of one of our members had just passed away. The man and his wife did not go to church, but since his brother attended my church they asked me to preach his memorial service. When the deceased man’s wife saw her husband for the first time in his coffin she nearly went to pieces, crying loudly and long. She and her husband had not planned for or prepared for their eventual death. THEY WERE NOT SPIRITUALLY PREPARED.
On the other hand, I remember a young couple in their early 30’s who suddenly lost their 10 year-old son in an accident. That mom and dad were Christians and I was somewhat shocked at how well they took the death of their son. I saw them during the visitation time kneel in front their son’s casket and pray and praise God for their son’s life, etc. They walked out of that funeral home with a confident and serene look on their faces. THEY KNEW THEY WOULD SEE THEIR SON AGAIN! That’s preparation. That’s good planning.
James 4:13-15 “Now 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.” Why, 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. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
James speaks of people who make their business plans but fail to plan for their eventual death.
When people are young, making a living, raising children, etc. they don’t always think about their eventual death and make plans for it. But all of this life is a preparation for death. And how do we prepare? There is only one sure way and that is, to seek the Lord. Read His Word. Pray. Go to church. Serve him by serving others. Accept Him. Accept His grace. Accept His gracious gift of salvation. Believe. Obey. Surrender. Be baptized, etc.
ILL.- Comedian Bob Hope once said, “I do benefits for all religions - I’d hate to blow the hereafter on a technicality.”
Brothers and Sisters, that’s the way a lot of people think and do. They may subscribe somewhat to any and all religions: Christians, Muslim, Jewish, etc., but that’s not good planning. It’s not wise, not according to the Word of God.
John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
There is rightfully only one way to plan ahead in life. We must seek the Lord Jesus in all things and seek to know Him personally. THAT’S GOOD PLANNING.
Matthew 6:33 “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness….” That’s good planning!
CONCLUSION----------------------------------------
ILL.- Jeff Ferrera of Waukegan, Illinois, was reconciling his checkbook and called First National Bank of Chicago to get his current balance. The electronic voice droned, “Your primary checking account currently has a balance of $924,844,204.32." Ferrera was one of 826 customers who were almost billionaires for a day because of the biggest error in the history of US banking. The goof amounted to almost $764 billion, more than six times the assets of First National Bank. “It had a lot of people saying in jest to transfer it to the Cayman Islands and run for it,” Ferrera said. But, like most others, he simply reported the error to bank Officials, who could only say that it was a computer programming error.
How ridiculous it would have been for Ferrera to place any confidence in his new found wealth. He recognized the temporary nature of his millionaire checking account. It would have been utter stupidity for him to make plans and arrange his life around something so uncertain and fleeting.
Yet, that’s exactly the way that most of us operate. We’re given these brief life-spans and rather than focus on the things that really matter, we squander our time, thoughts and talents on the trivial. God tells us to reach for the eternal but we settle for the temporary.
II Cor. 5:6-9 “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”
