FAIRY TALES
Youth Rally Sermon
By Pastor Jim may
Some of you here are living a fairy tale life! I know, I know, you are sitting there already saying, “Oh yeah, how can my life be a fairy tale? Everything isn’t perfect. Going to school every day and then having to do all that homework is driving me crazy. My teachers are idiots. They don’t know any more than I do. I could teach them a thing or two. My parents don’t understand me. Every time I try to reason with them, they ignore me or won’t listen at all. And when they try to talk to me, all I want to say is, “just talk to the hand, the ears aren’t listening! I hate school, I hate church, I hate having to be quiet and listen. I’m just bored out of my gourd and I have to do something different.”
It isn’t hard to understand why your parents have a hard time understanding, and you have a hard time getting your point across when you think of the way you talk and the language you use. Let me give you an example.
Here’s what you might say to your parents as you “attitude” them.
“Look,“dillweed”. You’re “whacked” and you ain’t “all that”, so quit “jivin’’’ me. Your life is “janky” so don’t “get on my case”. All I want is a little “cheddar” so I can “marinate” with the “posse” and go “kickin’ it” at the mall and catch a little “bling-bling”.
(Let me see the hands of those who understood what I just said. Now, let me see the hands of those who are confused.)
It’s no wonder your parents look at you like you’ve lost your mind and can’t communicate with you. I might add that probably some of you kids don’t even know everything I just said using your own slang because your language changes faster than you can keep up with it.
For the sake of those who didn’t understand, here’s what that teenager just said. First of all they look at their parents with an attitude of utter contempt and disregard, with no respect for who they are and then they say:
“Look here you socially incompetent loser. You are crazy and you’re certainly not perfect, so who are you to teach me anything? You’re life is in just as bad a shape as mine so quit trying to give me advice on things that you don’t understand. Just give me a little money so I can relax with my friends and go hang out with them at the mall and buy a few pieces of jewelry.” – and this is all said with an attitude that is one of contempt toward anything that the parent might say or do to correct.
Now if you kids had said those words, in plain English, to your parents, they would have understood exactly what you had to say, but then you might not have any teeth left right now either.
Yes, I know that your home isn’t perfect. I know that your parents are perfect. I know that you think church is boring except before the service and after the service when you can hang out with the kids. I know that school is boring, and that you don’t even think it’s worth your trouble to go. But, in spite of all of this, you are still living a fairy tale life. You just don’t know it.
Part of the fairy tale in your life is that you think you have all the answers and that you have the world, and you parents fooled. You think that you can do whatever you want and say whatever you want because nobody over the age of 20 can understand you anyway, so they can’t correct you. You think that you have it all figured out and nobody knows anything but you, unless maybe it’s your friend at school or in the “hood” who heard somebody else in the “hood” say differently. You’ll listen to them because they are really in the groove.
Some of you even think that you have God fooled. You come to church acting like you’re “all that” with the Christian crowd, but then when you get to school, you’re somebody else. You’re about as confused and hypocritical as you can be.
I want you to know right now, that you don’t have anybody fooled. Your parents, your youth leaders, and me, as your Pastor, have been around this old world long enough to know a lot more than you think. More importantly, God has been around forever, and He has seen thousands of generations of teenagers go through that “know-it-all” stage of life, and there’s nothing new under the sun to Him.
Your language doesn’t confuse God, because He knows the thoughts and intents of your heart. He knows what you are saying, how you are acting and your attitude before you ever say the first word.
He already knows whether your heart is right or not. He already knows whether you are being honest with Him or hiding sin in your life, hoping that nobody can see it.
If God was to open your life right now, and let every thought or imagination of your heart, and every thing you’ve said today, or yesterday, be exposed to the whole church, and to your teachers and to your parents – how many of us would have to leave the room in shame?
You see kids, God sees it all even if nobody else does, and He is recording it all to bring it before the whole world in the Day of Judgment. He may be merciful and not let anyone else know the real you right now, but the day is coming when we will all know just who, and what you are!
As I began to ask God to give me a message to our youth, the thought came to me that we are living life as though it were only a fairy tale and not the real thing.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it is true. If we really lived life as though it was real, we wouldn’t be playing around with sin, and we wouldn’t be wasting time with things that don’t matter, and our whole value system would be different.
Most kids don’t think much of what life is really all about anyway. Most of you are caught up in the day-to-day things of being a teenager and you really don’t give much thought of what tomorrow may bring. But how many teenagers who are alive today will not see tomorrow? How many will have to face God, just as they are right now?
How many are running this race of life and don’t realize that they are traveling, as fast as they can, toward the brink of eternity. The road ends at the edge of a cliff just ahead. It doesn’t go on forever. When will you hit the top of the next hill and fly off into eternity? When will your race be over? Only God has that answer and He won’t tell you when it will be. He just says to be ready all the time.
While I was thinking about living life as a fairy tale, and running the race of life the way we should, the Lord seemed to bring my attention to another fairy tale race that you have all heard about. I want to look at that fairy tale and see what God has to say to all of us, and especially the youth who are here tonight.
The fairy tale is called, The Tortoise and the Hare”. Let me read it for you. It won’t take long.
Once there was a Hare who used to laugh at a Tortoise because he plodded along so slowly. "You never can get anywhere with those short legs of yours. Look at my long legs! They’re so swift no one would dare race me."
All the animals of field and forest were tired of hearing the Hare brag. But none of them would dare race him because he was so fast. At last the Tortoise had enough and said, "If we were to run a race, I’m sure I would beat you."
The animals were astonished for they knew the Tortoise was the slowest of them all, and the Hare, laughing out, said, "What a joke! That slowpoke tortoise thinks he can beat me! Come on, Tortoise, you shall see what my feet are made of. Why I can beat you before you are even half way!"
"You’d better not be too sure that you can win”, said the Tortoise to the Hare.
All the animals of the forest, both large and small gathered all along the course to watch the race. They were only curious. They didn’t expect it to be a race at all. They were only there to see what happened when the Tortoise had to go away in defeat.
At the signal the Hare leaped forward in a great, long hop and soon left the plodding Tortoise far behind him on the dusty road. Looking back, the Hare could not even see the Tortoise after a little while so he began to slow down and run a steadier pace.
"Hum-m, I’ve as good as won this race already," he thought, "There’s really no reason to hurry." The sun was hot so he decided to rest a bit under a shady tree. "I’ll come in way ahead of that Tortoise anyhow and He’ll never catch me", he told himself. Soon he was sound asleep. His little nap soon stretched into a good long sleep.
Meantime, the Tortoise plodded steadily along on the hot, dusty road, ever so slowly, but surely, and soon he passed the Hare who was still peacefully sleeping. Quietly the Tortoise crept on getting ever closer to the finish line.
When the Hare finally woke up, he saw the Tortoise just reaching the finish line far ahead and he could hear all the animals cheering the winner.
Boastful and careless, the Hare had lost the race. Now he knew that the race doesn’t always go to the one who is the fastest, but to the one who never stops running. The Hare knew that he would never again be able to count on his speed.
What is the moral of this story? A moral of a story is that part of the story that we must read between the lines. It carries a deeper meaning that can teach us a valuable lesson for life. The moral of this story is simple at first. It simply says that Perseverance wins the Race.
Is there are lesson for all of us in this fairy tale? Can you see yourself anywhere in this little fable?
Of course, we know that there was never really a race between a turtle and a rabbit. The only time I’ve ever heard of animals in a true race was when one was trying to catch the other and invite them to be lunch.
Nevertheless, there is truth that we can learn here.
In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Paul said these words to the new church at Corinth. Every one of the Corinthian Christians were only “kids” in the eyes of Paul. He had converted them and founded the church on one of his missionary journeys and Paul knew that he had to talk to them in ways that they could understand. So he spoke to them using the terminology of sports and racing.
"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."
Like the tortoise and hare, Paul understood that we are all in a race called the race of life. He understood that we couldn’t think of it as just a fairy tale game that we all must play, but that life was real and the consequences of how we lived that life will have eternal rewards, either for good or for evil.
King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, other than Jesus Christ, said these words in Ecclesiastes 9:11, "I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."
King Solomon came to the same conclusion as the tortoise and hare, and the Apostle Paul; the race of life is one of overcoming our circumstances, and persevering against every obstacle, and above all, to never take your eyes off of the finish line.
Paul also wrote these words to the Hebrews in chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Life is no fairy tale; it’s real. Whether you are a teenager or someone a little older, you’re still running a race to the finish line. One day soon you will cross that finish line and then you will receive your reward.
Will it be a reward that is a “Crown of Life”, or a “Crown of Glory”, as you enter into the gates of Heaven, or will your reward be death eternal and a lake of fire and brimstone? How you run this race will determine that reward, so which will it be for you?
You are running right now. Are you running like the Hare, or are you running like the Tortoise? Let me tell you how each ran, and then you can tell me which one you are!
How does the Hare run?
He starts off with a bang! Runs for a while as fast as he can, then stops to sleep for while, then up and off he runs again.
Some of you I know are running like the Hare! You started running the race, living for God, with a bang. You were sold out to him. The name of our Youth Ministries is “Soul’d Out Youth”, and it was the name given in the beginning by a number of youth who were truly sold out to God and on fire.
The question is, “Where are those youth today?” Are you one of those who were on fire then and you have stopped to sleep for a while right now?
Maybe right now you are running wide open, sold out, anointed and on fire for God. You are witnessing to your friends, telling them about Jesus, inviting them to church, and trying to win them to Christ. Maybe you are praying every day, reading your Bible every day, and staying faithful to serving the Lord.
But what about tomorrow, or Monday, or next Friday; will you stop to take a nap for a while, and let the devil lull you back into sin once more? Will you stop to play around with the things of the world? Maybe you already have and you’re asleep and don’t know it.
When was the last time you asked the Lord to cleanse your heart? When was the last time you really prayed through to a fresh infilling of the Holy Ghost? When was the last time you truly poured out your heart before God in the altar? Where is the fire? Where is the excitement of living for Jesus? Where is your commitment level to the youth group, to the church, and to God?
You might just be asleep by the side of the road, while the race goes on and the finish line is getting closer all the time. Will you be asleep when death comes to call? Will you be resting in sin when Jesus comes again?
If you are running this race of life like the Hare, you need to wake up fast! The race is almost over and you won’t like the reward that you will receive.
Some of you are running like the Tortoise. You are steady, dependable, and focused on serving the Lord. I thank God for youth who are truly Soul’d Out!
But you can’t allow your security in God to let you forget that there is a race to be won. And you should care enough about your friends to wake them up every once in a while too, so that they can run with you.
Unlike the race between the Tortoise and the Hare, the race that we are running is no Fairy Tale – it’s reality, and only those who are ready, watching, waiting, prayed up, and on fire for God, are going to cross the finish line to win the prize of eternal life.
Stop living life like its nothing more than a fairy tale. Live like you mean it. Get close to God, seek His face, ask for His forgiveness, get your heart and your head right with God and then go and win the race with perseverance. Keep your eyes on Jesus and off of the things of the world. Young or old, we are all going to cross the finish line.
