We have just we started the "Give it Up" series where we are looking at "Giving Up" areas in our life that are not healthy. These are areas that not only hurt ourselves and others, but ultimately break down our relationship with God. Last week as we talked about giving things up, we tackled the issue of jealousy. And we realized, in short, if we allow jealousy to take control of our lives, it has a destructive power that will eventually destroy us.
And so this week as we continue to talk about things that we need to "Give Up" we look at "Giving Up" the most important thing that we ever could, our lives to Christ.
- If you are here this morning and you have never received Christ as your personal Savior, I pray that this message challenges you to search your life and see the importance that a relationship with Christ brings.
- If you are here this morning and you already have a relationship with Christ I pray that you allow this message to challenge you to a deeper walk with Him by giving up the areas that are hindering your walk with Him right now.
Let me start off by asking you a question. How many of you have fallen victim to the "Almost" syndrome? You know what I am talking about...
-it’s when you have a bad cold and almost make it to the store before it closes…
-it’s when you find a video that you rented two weeks ago that you almost returned…
-it’s when you almost invest in that stock that has quadrupled in the last two weeks…
-it’s when you almost remember your anniversary…
-you almost took that chance and you fill in the blank.
Most of the time, the "Almost" syndrome adds up to no more than a little inconvenience, minimal monetary loss, an uncomfortable nights sleep spent on the couch, or a rethinking of priorities in your life. However, I want to look at a biblical example where the "Almost" syndrome will cost you greatly.
If you have your bibles please turn to Acts 26:24 where we will see what I am talking about...read text...here was a man that didn’t understand the value of “advanced planning” when it came to his own soul. He was a prefect example of what Christ was talking about when He said "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul" (Matt 16:26)? He had "almost" everything (riches, power, control, prestige) but he neglected making a decision on the most important thing; his eternal destination.
Looking back over my life, there were decisions that I made that totally changed the direction of my life (when I went in the service the day after I turned 17, when I got married, when we had children, when I took a new job that traveled us around the U.S, when I went to college, and along with many others) and each choice that I made had the potential to impact me either for the positive or negative. Some choices that I made worked out and where good, others fell apart and were not so good. And it’s the same with your life. You have made some great decisions that you’re proud about, but on the other hand, you also have made some bad choices that you regret. But in order for it to become a decision there is one key component; you have to act on it. Just thinking about it is not enough.
The definition of almost is: not exactly, not yet, or not in fact, but very close to being or happening as described.
Here is the problem that I see, many people find themselves confronted with the same eternal scenario that Agrippa was faced with, but they never make a firm decision on it, whether it is because they don’t believe, they think there is always tomorrow, they think it’s foolishness, they like their lives the way it is they just never make the decision. They are "Almost" persuaded to give their lives over, but for some reason they pull back and say "I will make the decision later." That’s frightening. It’s frightening because the Word of God so clearly tells us in John 3:18 by not making decision, you have actually made a decision.
"He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (Jn 3:18).
What does this portion of scripture tell me? Well, it tells me that when we stand before God, procrastination will be no excuse for not making the choice. God is not going to give us a "Do-over" or a "Get-Out-of-Making-a-Decision-Free Card". It tells me that NOW IS the time to receive Christ, and not later. But we all think that we are invincible and there will always be a tomorrow. James warns us about this:
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit;’ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’ But now you boast in your arrogance” (Jas 4:13-16).
Honestly, before Christ came into my life that’s how I thought...’later God...when I am ready...when I am done with my fun...when the time is right...when I feel ready; then I will make a decision.’ Looking back, I can’t count the times that I had said "Almost" to God. ‘Almost you persuaded me God’...all the people He put into my life...all the situations; but I just kept on saying, ‘wait a little longer and I will be there.’
Thank God, that He is a patient God. And what I realize today is that there is no guarantee of how patient He will be. And that patience truly is grace demonstrated to us on a daily basis. And so we have to ask ourselves "What keeps people in the camp that Agrippa found himself in, "Camp Almost". The first reason is:
I. Conventional Thinking (conforming to socially accepted customs of behavior or style)
1. Conventional thinking says that the belief in God is foolishness and for the weak minded. That the Bible is a bunch of fables and those that trust it is narrow minded.
a. Quote: “God is dead!” Friedrich Nietzsche said in his book “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”
i. In other words God does not exist and we are just here doing our time before we are obliterated.
ii. Nietzsche infers that all values (including religious values) are the creations of human beings and that therefore we are all responsible for creating high values and living up to them.
iii. In this book the characters try to find out the meaning of life all the whiles caring around a dead friend. And because he could not find the meaning of life, his consensus was, there is no meaning and no God.
iv. (By the way; Nietzsche went insane when he saw someone beating a horse.)
b. Just because we can’t fully figure out God, doesn’t negate the existence of God, and make the Scriptures fictional.
c. God’s existence doesn’t rely on our limited understanding of him. Just because this simplistic conventional thinking denies the existence of God doesn’t make it true.
i. No different than a man that holds a loaded gun to his head and claims nothing will happen, then pulls the trigger.
ii. Jesus spoke of those with this type of philosophy
“And He said to them, ‘To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that ’Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand” (Mk 4:11-12).
iii. Christ talks about a group of people so adverse to God that they are in fact blinded by their own foolishness.
2. Conventional thinking in fact is limited to the extent of human understanding; whereas the knowledge of God is boundless.
As we advance, so does our knowledge (give examples: world flat, brain is to cool blood, how about sitting to close to TV). But God never gets smarter-He already knows everything.
I love what-
a. Paul notes about God when he says “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1Cor.1:25).
b. Or the Psalmist when he writes, “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (Pr 26:12).
c. “For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.’ Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1Cor 1:19-22).
3. The conventional thinkers might believe they have God all figured out, they might think that all this is a joke, they might think that anyone who believes in Christ is foolish, but the fact is, they are the ones operating on an evolving understanding of this universe and the human race.
a. This is an understanding, I might add, that is quickly pointing to an intelligent design theory that they cant explain.
II. Worldly Pleasures
Some pitch a tent in the camp of “Almost” because of their intellect, but others find themselves there because of worldly pleasures. I know this camp well because I had my tent pitched there for a good while” I had set up camp and was having barbeques on a regular basis, toasting marshmallows and having a good old time. There was a time in my life that I was “all set.” I liked my life the way it was and I liked the things that I was doing.
1. Worldly pleasures says, “I won’t consider a relationship with Christ because I know that there are things that I am doing that would not be pleasing to God, and I am not willing to give them up right now.
a. “One last fling, one last party, one last pleasure then I will consider a relationship with you.”
i. In other words, when I’ve gone out and have sown my wild oats and had all the fun and experience all the things I want then You’re the One for me!”
b. Here was some of my thinking: “I can live my life for me and right before I die give my life to God.” Sounds like having your cake and eating it too.
i. To me, it was more a matter of timing than it was a matter of the heart.
ii. It was not what God had for me, but what I could get and do.
iii. But I learned quickly that those things I desired so much would end up being the root of much pain, heartache, and destruction in my life.
2. Many of you find yourself in camp “Almost” for some of the same reasons I did.
a. What I didn’t realize is that the Bible specifically talked about my life, along with a stark warning attached to it for those that choose this lifestyle (read Luke 9:57)
i. Discuss Limited commitment (glorify myself), excuses (why I cant), and personal pleasures (one last fling)
ii. “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” Luke 9:62.
1. Kingdom thinking is not about me, it’s about God.
2. It’s not about making the changes in my life to become fit.
3. Now here is the great thing that I learned about God; He will take you just the way you are; broken, defective, in the deepest sin. He wants a relationship with you if you will turn.
3. Anything that you give up for God will be replaced by something better.
a. The drugs, the sex, the dishonesty; you name it, God will replace it.
III. Personal Ambitions
Some are trapped by intellect, others by the pleasures of their lives. But there is another tent that you bump into in camp “Almost.” It is a tent that has the same powerful grip that the other two have. It is called “Personal Ambitions.”
1. Don’ t get me wrong, it’s good to have ambition in life and nothing is worse than someone that has no idea of the direction of their life. “what’ya doing, just hanging around? But when your personal ambition hinders or even replaces God in your life, that’s when you’re in big trouble.
a. It’s when you think you’re doing pretty good without God.
b. (Keith illustration: Rags to riches to rags.)
c. The apostle warns us, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh [things that feel good], the lust of the eyes [things that you desire], and the pride of life [recognition that we crave], is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away” (1Jn 2:16-17)
2. You might think you are doing OK and maybe you are in the eyes of society, but trust me, that all can go away overnight.
a. Stock markets crash
b. Businesses fail.
c. Marriages dissolve.
d. Health falls apart.
3. It doesn’t take much to change the course of your life. But that’s the greatest thing about a relationship with Christ; it never changes.
a. The Scriptures tell us that He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
b. “And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1Jn 2:17).
CONCLUSION
Let me close with this statement, your eternity is something that you shouldn’t be playing with. It is far too important. And the question I have for you this morning is, how long are you going it to stay in camp “Almost?”
- Jesus, in John 3:3, says that you must be born again.
- Acts 4:12 tells us that there is no other name by which we are saved.
- 1John 5:13 tells us that we can know that we have eternal life.
There will be those here this morning that will:
- Tune out: you have heard it all before and it’s not for me; “whatever.” These people are what the scriptures liken to fools.
- Take heed: you’re going to listen, but you’re still not going to commit.
- Accept Christ: act on it and make it right today.
