The Bobble-Head Syndrome - Living Up To Your Potential

March 7, 2010

Morning Worship

Text: Genesis 4:2-12

Subject: Holiness

Title: The Bobble-Head Syndrome

I’ve entitled my sermon today “The Bobble – Head Syndrome.” You may wonder where I am going with this and if you’ll bear with me we’ll get there. You know what I’m talking about when I talk about bobble-heads don’t you? They are the little figures that have their heads mounted on a swivel or a point so that the head is constantly moving. The first time I remember seeing one was on the dashboard of someone’s car and it was a little doggie – soooooo cute.

There have been some things in my life in the past couple of weeks that made me think of bobble – heads. First, the weather… when March hits and the weather starts to warm up I begin to turn my thoughts to baseball – the St. Louis Cardinals in particular. You can think about the Cubs if you want but I’m talking about real baseball. Now if you think about the Cardinals you have to think about a man who just may be the greatest player in the history of the game and his name is Albert Puhols. I remember when the Albert Puhols bobble-head first came out. It looks just like him. OK, enough about baseball.

The second thing that made me start thinking about bobble-heads was when we were in Guatemala. Our bus driver’s name was Melvin Silva and he knows how to drive a bus. Up the mountain – down the mountain – around the corners… Gas… brakes… gas… downshift…brakes… By the time we got to where we were going I was like a bobble-head. I mean riding with Melvin strengthened your neck muscles. Your head was moving in every direction.

The third thing that made me think of bobble-heads also occurred in Guatemala when a 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck at 4:54 in the morning. It was more than a bobble-head moment – it was a bobble-everything 15 seconds.

Now I’ve said all that to say this. Too many Christians are like bobble-head Christians. They cannot make up their minds whether they are “yes” or “no”. And many times they are somewhere in between.

Jesus said, “… let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

It is time for the church to make up its mind as to whether it is going to be the church of Jesus Christ or the church of convenience.

Read Genesis 4:2a-12.

Lord, open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

I. YOUR POTENTIAL. Verse 2a …Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. Everyone one of you, regardless of who you are or what you do, has the potential to be a God pleaser. When I read about Cain and Abel I can’t help but think back a few years before and the story of the fall or their parents. Can you imagine how devastating it must have been for Adam and eve to be thrown out of paradise? I mean, they had it all and gave it up to the devil for a piece of fruit. Adam must have thought about it every day for the rest of his life. “If only I had told Eve what God wanted me to tell her about the tree in the middle of the garden.” I have to believe that Adam wasn’t about to make that same mistake with his sons. He must have told them every day about how they had walked with God in the cool of the day and how, even after they had sinned, God cared enough for them to take the life of an animal in order to provide a covering for them. As his sons grew to be men each was given responsibilities. Cain worked the soil like his father. Abel was a shepherd. Each one had the opportunity to make choices. They could either live to please God or not to please Him. You see, it doesn’t matter if you are the CEO of a great corporation or are emptying bedpans at Maple Lawn. You have a choice that you can make. Am I going to please God in what I do or am I going to please myself? Don’t underestimate the potential you have in God’s plan. General Mark Clark was one of the great heroes of WWII. He led the Salerno invasion that Winston Churchill said was "the most daring amphibious operation we have launched, or which, I think, has ever been launched on a similar scale in war." At the time Clark was promoted to Lt. General, he was the youngest man of that rank in the U.S. Army. He graduated from West Point in 1917. At the top of his class? Nope. He was 111th from the top in a class of 139! Even if you never earned a college degree, don't worry, you're in good company. Irving Berlin, for instance, only had two years of formal schooling. He never learned how to read music. When he composed his songs, he would hum the melody and a musical secretary would write down the notes. He became one of the greatest songwriters the country has ever known. Bits and Pieces, December 13, 1990. 1 Corinthians 10:31, 31So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. And in 1 Corinthians 12 Paul wrote, 22 …those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it… Are you living up to your potential?