Sharpening the Saw
Series: Life Management 101
Wildwind Community Church
June 18, 2006
David Flowers
How many of you have heard the story told by Stephen Covey about the two men having a contest to see who could saw down a tree in the shortest time? The two men are in a forest, far from one another, so the large trees have plenty of room to fall. One man is sawing like crazy, harder and faster than ever before. As he is sawing away he looks through the forest to see how the other guy is doing. He is shocked to find the other guy sitting down on a stump, although he can’t tell what is happening. This of course makes the first man quite happy, realizing that as they are fairly evenly matched strength-wise, there is virtually no way the other guy can win after having taken this break. A few minutes later both men are sawing like crazy when the second man again sits down. The first man can’t figure out exactly what’s wrong with the second man, but he knows he has this locked in – he’s going to win for sure. He begins to slow his pace a little bit.
The other man stands up and gets back to work. With just a few strokes, his tree falls. He has won. Convinced that man #2 could only have been cheating during those breaks he took, man #1 storms over to him and says, “What’s this? There’s no way you could have won fair and square. You sat down for a couple minutes at least twice while I was working the whole time. Now out with it – what exactly were you doing when you weren’t working? The man who had won simply replied, “I was sharpening my saw.”
How many of you lead busy lives? How many of you feel like you are slaving away, sawing away at that tree called your life minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, decade by decade? How many of you are tired and stressed out and feeling like your job, your family, your friends, your extended family, your health, your money, even your church are whizzing by your head taking pieces of you here and there with every pass, but that you barely get to acknowledge them as they whip by?
Have you ever questioned whether it makes sense to work those extra hours to save for vacation with your family at some undetermined time when instead you could work fewer hours and actually be home with your family now? Are you working toward some goal that is distant, that you’re not sure you’ll ever reach, but that takes a pound of flesh from you every day, every month, every year? Are you diligently investing in some vague future, and therefore specifically dissatisfied with your life today?
I want to talk to you about sharpening the saw this morning. Aren’t the teeth the part of the saw that give it the ability to cut down trees? I mean, what you if take some dental floss and furiously rub it across a tree for a few hours. Are you going to get anywhere? Of course not. Your saw must have teeth. And even that’s not enough. The teeth must be sharp – they must have some bite. The teeth are what make the saw effective. Bad teeth=bad saw. Good teeth=good saw that has the potential to cut down a tree. And as we see from the parable, you will cut down a tree faster and with less effort if your saw is sharpened. Man number one in our story found that the fact that he was working harder and faster didn’t make any difference – he still could not accomplish what he wished to accomplish. Man #2 was able to make his accomplishment in less time, with less effort, because he took time to sharpen the saw.
To live is to desire to accomplish things. You want to accomplish things at work, at home, at school, at play – you want to make things happen. Where do you find people who aren’t making anything happen? At the cemetery. Most of us would like to make some things happen before it’s our turn to take our place at the cemetery. Are you with me? That cemetery thing will happen for us all soon enough, but right now we have a chance to live, to make things happen, and hopefully to count our blessings, and to enjoy God and our families and our work along the way.
Yet for many of us, life whips by at 10,000 miles an hour and we find sometimes that we are barely even remembering it, much less enjoying it.
No matter how hard we work, no matter how quickly we live, no matter how many appointments we run to, no matter how much money we make, no matter how organized we may be, we simply will not be nearly as productive as we could be if we took some time every day to sharpen the saw of our lives. Is this true because Stephen Covey says so? No, it’s true because Jesus says so. And years before him, King David said it in the Psalms.
First let’s hear from Jesus. I’m finding I use this passage all the time in my preaching, so it must be a key life verse for me:
Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)
28 "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.
29 Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.
30 Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly."
Anybody interested in taking a real rest? Anybody interested in learning to live freely and lightly? Jesus is the inventor of peace and rest. To learn the way of Jesus is to learn a life of peace in the midst of trouble, of hope in the midst of despair, of faith though we live in faithless times. Jesus said:
John 14:27 (NIV)
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
King David wrote:
Psalms 37:7 (NIV)
7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Psalms 37:7 (MSG)
7 Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him. Don’t bother with those who climb the ladder, who elbow their way to the top.
These scriptures from Jesus and from the Psalms all speak of coming out of the frantic pace of our lives – of taking time to find renewal and refreshment in places that have nothing to do with climbing the ladder, with accomplishment as we understand it. And that’s why I wanted to use sharpening the saw as a word-picture today. Sharpening the Saw is Stephen Covey’s idea, but it’s a way of teaching a value system we learn from Jesus and from the scriptures.
If you want to be effective in living your life, if you want to experience life – not just catch a glimpse as it whips by – then your saw must be sharp. The saw of your life has four dimensions, or teeth. They are the physical, the social/emotional, the mental, and the spiritual.
In a nutshell, the idea here is that if you habitually neglect to keep your saw sharp, if you do not attend to these four areas in your life, you will drastically reduce your ability to be effective, to make things happen, to enjoy your life, and to experience peace. Now let’s face it – if we were all obeying Jesus word for word –if every one of us were coming away with Jesus and allowing him to show us how to take a real rest – if every one of us were imitating in our lives Jesus’ regular pattern of getting away alone for prayer and solitude, obeying God’s call to us to be good stewards (or managers) of the bodies and souls and minds and spirits he has given us, there would be no need for this sermon in the first place. These four areas simply correspond to body, soul, mind, and spirit.
Body = Physical
Soul = Social/Emotional
Mind = Mental
Spirit = Spiritual
We’re beginning a series today called Life Management 101. We’re at a hectic time of year. Or at least we’re coming out of one. Soccer is still going on for some. Baseball is in “full swing.” Open houses every weekend that require both our time and our money. Vacations, which can in themselves be stressful. Having the kids home! Then many of us do church on Sundays and small groups during the week, in addition to trying to be there for extended family, going to birthday parties for family and friends – it just seems to never end. The fact is that I think Jesus knew how to live life. I think it is not God’s will that we lose touch with our own souls. If you read the gospels, you will see that Jesus was always busy, but never in a hurry. It’s strange, isn’t it, that so many of us run around producing like we’re God – like our contribution is so unbelievably important – and yet the one who really was God simply paced himself. I’ll talk to you more about Jesus’ use of time when we talk about time issues in this series.
God gave you your life – how are you managing it? God gave you your body, your soul, your mind, and your spirit – how are you managing them? God gave you your family, your work, your church, your money, your time – how are you taking care of them?
Sharpening the Saw is a commitment to tend to your body, your soul, your mind/emotions, and your spirit, realizing you cannot take care of any of the other areas properly if you are not doing those things. Let’s look at each of these.
Let’s start with the one that’s hardest for many of us – body. I have shared with you my past struggles in this area, wanting to get in better shape but just not applying myself to it. Many of you are not aware though that I have been going to the Davison Athletic Club and working out five days a week for over two months now. I hired a personal trainer who has designed a custom program for me, and am beginning to pull my life together in this area. Turns out the weekly injection I was taking for four years to control my MS actually damaged my heart muscle. The damage has caused potentially serious arrhythmias (irregular beating) that I’ve been on medication to control since last November. My cardiologist told me that if I work hard I might be able to beat this – to strengthen my heart and regain what was lost – actually repair the damage. So the realities we all live with – threat of heart attack, stroke, shortness of breath when exerting myself, increased risk of cancer – none of those things were enough to motivate me to exercise. But this heart problem has been. I have experienced many ups and downs since I started this, but overall I have never felt better in my life. I can’t take any medication to control my MS anymore and I’m still feeling excellent. I have more energy, I feel more optimistic, I can walk farther and faster than before, I feel at least ten years younger. Truth is, before I started doing this I didn’t fully realize how badly I needed it.
So am I lecturing you? Not at all! I don’t want to make you feel bad because if you’re not involved in some kind of fitness program, chances are you feel bad already. I just want to be one more voice of one more person who was mired in frustrating failure on this for a long time, who has finally found the freedom that comes from the discipline of fitness. Discipline provides freedom! Yes it takes time I feel I don’t have. Yes sometimes it’s uncomfortable. Yes sometimes I just dread doing it. But I have never left the gym and thought, “Man I wish I hadn’t done that today.” And I hope the result of this is that I am healthier a year from now than I have ever been in my life, and that I will be able to lead Wildwind and serve my wife and children productively for years to come. So tips on getting going on a fitness program.
1. Find the right motivator. What motivates me won’t motivate you. Find a reason to want to be in shape.
2. Find the right program. I went through four programs before I finally found something I was happy with, and I’ve even changed that lately. Find something that makes you feel good! Get stuff off the Internet, talk to friends who are into fitness, just find something and try it!
3. Find the right balance. Go slowly. It’s more important that you’re still doing something ten years from now than it is that you lose 10 lbs. this month or gain 10 lbs. of muscle. If you’re working so hard you are going to dread going back in tomorrow, back off.
4. Fight discouragement. You will have off days, sometimes off-weeks. Realize it’s just as good for you whether you feel like it or not.
Psalms 139:13-15 (MSG)
13 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb.
14 I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation!
15 You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
God created us marvelously, sculpted us from nothing into something. God made your body. As someone who has been there, who has struggled and continues to struggle with fitness, I urge you to manage your body properly. A healthy body will allow you to enjoy your life so much more. So that’s it for that, because unfortunately I wasn’t able to find scripture that deals with Jesus lifting weights or going to the gym or anything.
Second is your emotional and social life. Do you have close friendships? Do you spend time with people who love you and lift you to a higher level? You cannot be fully the person God created you to be if you allow your gauge to continually read empty here. Jesus lived in community with others. In his darkest hour in the garden, he brought his friends along with him to support him in prayer. He loved them and needed them in his life. The early church was planted by networks of friends working together. We need friendship and companionship in our lives, and the counsel and the guidance they bring:
Proverbs 27:6 (NASB)
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.
See that? Better hard words from someone who loves you than easy words from someone who doesn’t. The Bible contains 366 commands for us to not fear – a command that addresses our emotions. We are emotional and social creatures. If we neglect that aspect of ourselves, we cripple what God has created whole. Don’t say you don’t need anybody in your life. I realize you may honestly think that, but that thought doesn’t come from truth, it’s a reflection of a wound you received at some point. Isolating yourself is not the solution to a problem, it’s part of the problem! Read the book of Psalms and see how the whole book deals with emotions – fear and anger and jealousy and hatred and love and peace and despair and joy – it’s all in there. To deal with this area is to tend to your soul. The Bible is constantly mentioning the soul – that is, the seat of human personality – that which makes you what you are. How can you be all you were created to be if you neglect to tend to your soul?
Next is the mental arena. Read Proverbs or Ecclesiastes and you’ll see the importance of not neglecting our minds. The Bible frequently refers to the mind as the place where God interacts with human beings and works to bring about change that then moves into the emotions and the actions.
Romans 12:2 (NIV)
2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
We are urged to use our minds, to think clearly.
Isaiah 1:18 (NIV)
18 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
The Apostle Paul had a brilliant mind – all you have to do to realize that is read what he wrote in the New Testament. Incredibly broad and deep thinker. Luke – who wrote Luke and Acts – was a physician. Now granted, the Bible is full of uneducated people – we don’t have to be Ph.D’s to know God – but we must submit our minds to God to be used by Him for his purposes. We need to realize that we have potential to shape our lives by shaping our minds. We should regularly expose ourselves to great books, great audio books!, great films, great conversations, and of course regularly to God’s Word. If your mind is not growing, you are not growing. If you don’t read, then listen to tapes or CD’s or go to conferences – find a way to feed your mind. Most of all, stop using your mind to make excuses to not feed your mind. I swear, some people could read 10 books a year with the mental energy they expend in making excuses to not read. You don’t have to read what I love. But chances are good you could enjoy reading about stuff you love. Face it. Everything that happens to you – all your experiences – are filtered through your mind before your emotions kick in. Shape how your mind thinks and you will be shaping what your heart feels and what your body does. Psychologists have known this for years and that knowledge gave rise in the 60’s to a whole field of psychotherapy called Cognitive Therapy that is focused on shaping the mind, which then goes on to influence the emotions and the actions. How can you properly manage the life God has given you if you don’t tend to your mind?
Finally is the spiritual side. Next week I’m going to focus exclusively on this important aspect of sharpening the saw. But it’s important that we not see ourselves as pieces. God created us whole. We are body, soul, mind, and spirit. To function efficiently in this world, we must care for our body through proper diet and exercise, care for our soul through refreshing relationships, care for our mind by exposing it to new ideas, and care for our spirit through the things I’m going to talk to you about next Sunday.
As we close, I want to give you two ideas for books you can read to come along with me in this series. The first one is called So You Wanna Be Like Jesus, by Chuck Swindoll. I’m lifting the eight things I’m going to share with you next week right out of this book. The second is called Today Matters, and it’s by John Maxwell and it focuses on daily practices we can build into our lives in order to be good managers of the lives God has given us.
So are you making regular time to sharpen your saw during the week, or are you cutting away at the trees of your life with dental floss? Do you bring a strong healthy body, a rich social/emotional life, a sound and expanding mind, and a deep spiritual perspective to the things you face in life – or are these gauges running on empty for you? What’s one thing you can do today to make a change? Sharpening your saw regularly is where effective life management – life stewardship – begins.
