One typical morning, a respectable, casually dressed man in his mid 50’s got up and headed to work with his usual brief case in his usual Lexus. On this particular morning however, he arrived with a beautiful woman, who was not his wife. When he pulled up to his usual parking space and got out, he opened the door for the lady, gave her a kiss and they went their separate ways.
A coworker couldn’t help but notice the svelte blonde, who wasn’t his wife, and commented on the “hotty” he saw getting out of the car. The gentleman patted his coworker on the back and smiled saying, “That’s my sister, Linda…”
Continuing on, he made his way out of the underground parking and across the busy city street to the ground floor of a skyscraper 80 stories high.
Once on the ground floor, he headed for the elevators with his usual brief case but before he could press the UP button, an employee he had never seen before came flying around the corner and crashed into him. The young man looked curt at the older man and said, “Watch where you’re going, JACK!”
The older man said, “My name is Bill… Are you new here?” But the new employee dismissed him and stormed away without a reply.
When the elevator door opened, Bill stepped in with his usual brief case. He slid his magnetic access card into the elevator receptor to take him to the upper levels of the building and as he stood there, all alone in the elevator, he prayed for the young man… “Lord, thanks for the Grace you’ve given me. Give that young man grace today too.”
As the elevator numbers ticked by 20, then 40 and all the way to 80, Bill prayed for opportunities to witness and interceded for the young man he just ran into. He feels the presence of God in the elevator on the 80th floor. When the doors open with a ding he steps out and makes his way to a corner office with a door labeled, “BILL PETERSON: PRESIDENT.”
His secretary greets him, “Good morning Mr. Peterson!”
Still anointed with God’s presence, Bill opens the briefcase and pulls out a Bible he placed in there for just such an occasion. “Good morning, Mary.” He hands her the Bible. “See that the new employee on the ground floor gets this.”
In a world of cutthroats and headhunters, Bill is an outstanding man. He’s a spiritual man, and that’s what makes him so great! He loves Jesus, and just like Bill, the attributes of spiritual greatness, such as Righteousness (living above reproach), Grace (exceeding graciousness and kindness), Humility (greatness without the great hat size (big headedness)), Zeal (angelic passion for the lost), Utter intimacy with God (unending connection with the person of God), Spiritual Anointing (continually and obviously gifted by the Spirit of God), Confidence (uncommon faith in Jesus Christ), Divine Love (unique ability to share the love of God)…
These attributes are the things that make us great as well.
THESE QUALITIES ARE MEANT TO DEFINE YOU. All of us want these qualities.
YOU ARE DESTINED FOR SPIRITUAL GREATNESS: ALL OF YOU, but you haven’t yet obtained it… Some day you will exude all these qualities. Some day you will become all you’re meant to be in Christ Jesus… But it won’t happen while you’re here on this earth.
Phil 3:12-14, “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, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
In the end, when we meet Jesus face to face, He will finish His work in us.
Rev 21:5, “He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!”
Until this work of new creations is finished, we look up the stairway of Spiritual Greatness and climb toward Jesus…
While we live in these imperfect bodies, corrupted and stained by sin, while we war against the flesh we climb toward Spiritual Greatness. Every day, the Spirit of God refines us a little more. Every day, we make one step toward the Savior and become a little more refined than the day before, but it’s a long climb.
ILLUST: I remember a trip we took to the Ballard Locks in Seattle Washington. You could go underground and watch the salmon from under the water through these great windows. Salmon spend their entire life in salt water till spawning time. When it’s time to lay their eggs, the travel upstream to the fresh water streams where they lay their eggs.
They fight with all their might, jumping up stream over rocks and falls. I remember how tiring their journey seemed. They would stay under water keeping pace against the water until they worked up enough energy to make a leap to the next step. I remember seeing one salmon trying to make the journey upstream without a tailfin. What ambition! What perseverance!
All to make a life for the next generation. After all that hard work, once they finally lay their eggs they die within a week. This is the struggle of life.
Similar to the struggle we face: to climb the stair steps of spiritual greatness. It’s a race of endurance, hardship and perseverance. It’s a race for ambitious men and women of God!
The stairway to spiritual greatness is a long, long set of steps… 90 year old, anointed men and women of God who’ve been climbing all life long still stop to look up and realize there’s a long way yet to go, but we keep pressing on because we want to be closer to God, and if today I can reach one step closer to God, then I am satisfied.
EVERYONE HERE IS DESTINED FOR SPIRITUAL GREATNESS.
God has PREDESTINED YOU for GREATNESS!!!
Rom 8:29-32, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
In our deep desire to be all God wants us to be, how do we make advances on the way to spiritual greatness? How do we make ourselves pliable for His shaping and forming so we can be what He wants us to be?
HOW DO WE MAKE THE BEST OF THE JOURNEY?
I: TAKE A LOAD OFF
Matt 11:28-30, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
THE JOURNEY TO SPIRITUAL GREATNESS IS NOT MEANT FOR BAGGAGE.
IMAGINE LOOKING UP and having to climb with baggage, weights, stuff on your back…
Unfortunately, we make the climb up a lot harder than it needs to be, especially if we have a lot of baggage… Things that bog us down on our journey…
Things like YOUR PAST FAILURES, FEARS & DOUBTS…
In a film called “The Mission,” Robert DeNiro kills his brother in a jealous rage and runs to the church for safety. He eventually leaves the church and heads to the South American jungle.
He feels so guilty that he ties himself to a net full of STUFF that represents his sins.
He drags the sack of sin around with him everywhere as a way of making peace for what he’s done.
Eventually, the rope starts to choke the very life out of him.
Have you ever felt like that? I suspect that some of you are tethered to some transgressions this morning. Others of you are gasping under the guilt of things you did several years ago.
TIME DOESN’T HEAL THE PAST!!! JESUS HEALS THE PAST! Don’t let the sins of yesterday load you down and hinder you on your way to spiritual growth!
YOUR FEARS… Illustration: Thomas always dreamed of flying in a helicopter but once I got with him into the helicopter, he was petrified…
When a child of God stands at the bottom of the stairway to spiritual greatness, he or she has to make a tough decision: either drop the baggage and make your way to the top, or keep your stuff and settle in down here. This is the decision every child of God must eventually make.
You’ll find as you make your way, the stairway to Heaven is littered with all sorts of garbage. People eventually drop anything that hinders the climb.
I: TAKE A LOAD OFF
Martin Luther said, I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.
THE STAIRCASE TO SPIRITUAL GREATNESS IS NOT MEANT FOR BAGGAGE.
II: TAKE IT ONE STEP AT A TIME. (Spiritual growth takes time)
ONE FOOT AT A TIME… ONE STEP AT A TIME… ONE DAY AT A TIME…
Illustration: I remember attending a huge church in Tacoma, Washington that allowed young men to usher too. They must have had a great need for ushers!!! They put me way out in left field… That’s where you put the rookies, right? Well, I was a rookie usher. I remember climbing the steps to take the offering. Going up I was fine, but coming down I was insane. I’d bolt down those steps with the money bag… Two steps at a time.
I remember my heel catching the previous step once and I lost my footing. You could hear me surfing the steps on the way down trying not to fall. I made it, but what an embarrassment! This girl I had a crush on was watching too! From that, I learned never to take it more than one step at a time.
Illustration: The young pastor complimented for wisdom beyond his years who said he wanted to obtain the wisdom of the aged at a young age to take advantage of it while he was young.
The wise young man was foolish to think he could obtain the wisdom of the aged without being aged because some things just come with time… SPIRITUAL GROWTH TAKES TIME!!!
DON’T EXPECT TO BE PERFECT TODAY! Just take it 1 step at a time!
King David’s ascension to greatness came one small step at a time…
1 Sam 16:17-18, “So Saul said to his attendants, "Find someone who plays well and bring him to me."
18 One of the servants answered, "I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the LORD is with him."”
1 Sam 16:21-23, “David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers.
22 Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, "Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him."
23 Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.”
1 Sam 17:33-37, “Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth."
34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,
35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.
36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.
37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."”
1 Sam 18:6-7, “When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes.
7 As they danced, they sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands."” (PRAISED WARRIOR)
David ascended to God’s appointed place for him one step at a time…
Great accomplishments are achieved 1 step at a time…
It’s OK for you to take it one step at a time to!
III: TAKE SOMEONE WITH YOU. The heart of spiritual greatness is evangelism.
The greatest leader is every man’s servant.
Great men and women of God are never self made.
Illustration: The Good Samaritan.
Watching Joyce Meyers on TV can’t do for you what your church family can do for you!
Don’t stand alone on a stairstep of righteousness or you may find it to be a soapbox of self-righteousness!
NO ONE GETS THERE ALONE!
IV: TAKE THE CLIMB SERIOUSLY. Greatness is reserved for the AMBITIOUS!
Research says, if we live to be 75, most of us will have spent 3 solid years, 24 hours a day, acquiring an education - grade school, high school & college.
We’ll have spent 7 years eating, 24 hours a day, - some more, some less, obviously.
14 years, day & night, working, 5 years riding in automobiles or airplanes.
We’ll have spent 5 years talking with each other -again some more & some less, 1 year sick or recovering from sickness. And 24 years of our life sleeping!
We’ll have spent 3 years reading and 12 years amusing ourselves - watching TV, going to the movies, fishing, etc.
That totals up to 75 years - and that is what the researchers say, on the average, most of us will have done with our lives.
As I looked at these statistics I began thinking. Let’s suppose that you spent every Sunday of your life, for 75 years - through infancy, childhood, adulthood, old age - in God’s house worshipping during a Church Service. Now if you did, how much time would you have spent worshiping God? Figure it out - the answer is less than 5 1/2 months.
But let’s double that because you’ve always attended Sunday School. If you’ve never missed Sunday School in all your life, that still just totals 11 months.
THAT’S LESS THAT 3% GIVEN BACK TO GOD!!!
TIME FOR US TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!
Are you tired, beat-up, warn out? Let the Lord bind up your wounds.
Get on the road to spiritual growth and healing…
Hosea 6:1-3, "Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."
Make your way up the staircase of spiritual greatness. You’ll see saints making their way with no feet, no hands, no eyes, dropping baggage, moving inches at a time, but people climbing to God!
