 |
Redford
Aldersgate
United Methodist Church
Sermon
Go for the Gold
February 19, 2006
Philippians 3:12-14
Day by Day, three things I pray to see Thee more clearly, to love
Thee more dearly, to follow Thee more nearly...day by day. That
might seem like an old song to the kids. After all, it’s from the 70's
broadway hit Godspell by Stephen Schwartz... and the 70's were a long
time ago. But I remember, even in the 80's when my daughter was in Jr.
High and she, along with a couple of her friends, did a liturgical dance
for church one day to that song. It was new stuff then. There were
plenty of older people in the congregation who raised their eyebrows to
have young girls dance in the worship service ... and to such a modern
song at that. We thought that song was new. But little did I know that
actually it wasn’t new at all. When I looked those words up on the
Internet, it came up with a prayer written by Saint Richard of
Chichester. This was his prayer: “O most merciful Friend, Brother, and
Redeemer; may I know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and
follow thee more nearly.” ... very similar to the Godspell song. And
guess when he lived?... The 1200's. It didn’t say when he wrote that
prayer, but it said he died in 1255, so it had to be before that. Now
that really is a long time ago! So for centuries people have longed to
know God better and to love God more fully and to be better disciples.
In today’s scripture, we hear the words of the Apostle Paul who lived a
long, long time before even Saint Richard. He, too, longs to know God
more clearly and love more dearly and follow more nearly. Paul doesn’t
use exactly the same words as Saint Richard and Stephen Schwartz but the
same sentiment is there.
Paul had just mentioned some of the things that he had done that
would make others think that he had “arrived” spiritually speaking. He
was born into a good family and followed all the rules. He had been a
zealous Pharisee. And after his conversion, he had done much to spread
the gospel of Jesus. Yet he knew that he hadn’t arrived yet. He was
pressing on toward the goal. He was straining forward. He wanted to know
Christ more fully, to love Christ more dearly, to follow Christ more
nearly. I believe that this longing is deep within each of us... unless,
of course, we think we have “arrived.” Is there anyone here who thinks
they have a perfect relationship with Christ?... that you know
everything there is to know about Christ ... that you love Christ as
much as is humanly possible ... that you follow Christ completely in
everything you do? ... Is there anyone here who has arrived at that
goal? ... I don’t see any hands. None of us score a perfect ten do we?
But it is a worthy goal... a goal that has ultimate significance for
us... a goal that has a golden prize. Paul talks about the “heavenly
call of God.” On a week when we have had three deaths in the
congregation, two of which were totally unexpected, the heavenly call of
God is vividly present on our minds. We do not know when that heavenly
call of God will come in such a way that our earthly lives will no
longer exist. We want to be prepared so that when our time comes, we
will be able to experience those golden streets that artists always use
when they picture heaven. We want to “Go for the Gold.”... but it’s not
just the gold of heaven ... Pressing toward the goal of seeing Christ
more clearly, loving Christ more dearly, and following Christ more
nearly is something that has a golden prize today - right now. The
golden prize of this goal is what John Ortberg calls The Life You’ve
Always Wanted.
I read this book sitting on the beach in Aruba waiting for the sunset.
It was a wonderful
place to read a book. And in a way, 
you are tempted to think: ahhh, this
is the life I’ve always wanted! - Laying around in 85 degree weather,
with a nice breeze to keep you from getting too hot ... nothing really
pressing you to get done ... no emergencies ... swim when you want to,
sleep when you want to, just sit and watch the waves endlessly roll
in... ahhh that was wonderful for a week. But I came back thinking that
I made the right decision when I decided it wasn’t time yet for me to
retire. I feel so fortunate to be able to take vacations like that, but
the life I’ve always wanted is this life I lead here. Yes, it’s full of
pressure and on weeks like this past one, which didn’t begin until
Wednesday, I know I can’t do everything I want to do in the way I want
to do it. But it’s a life in which I’m striving to follow more nearly
the things I know God wants me to do. It’s not centered around me and my
needs, but the needs of others. When I’m in situations where I realize I
don’t have what it takes to get through, then I know I have to rely on
God.
This book is not about how to have a wonderful vacation. It’s about how
to have a wonderful life everyday... whether you are on vacation or busy
working or going to school or busy as a retired person doing all kinds
of volunteer work. It’s the life you’ve always wanted because it’s a
life that helps you continue to press toward that goal of knowing Christ
better, loving Christ more fully and following Christ more completely.
This is a book about Spiritual Disciplines.
He compares Spiritual Disciplines to calisthenics used by an athlete.
When an athlete does push ups, he or she doesn’t do them just so they
can be an expert on push ups. There’s no Gold Medal for push ups. But I
bet most of these athletes have done their share of push ups or other
such calisthenics. They do them so that it builds their muscles so they
can do other things. I’ve enjoyed watching the Olympics. I watched them
more on Monday and Tuesday before I came back to work on Wednesday. But
I love watching those beautiful ice skaters. It’s amazing what they can
do on those skates. The skiers are amazing too. Actually they are all
amazing. But everyone one of those athletes did a lot of work to prepare
to get there. They practiced and practiced their sport and they prepared
their body so that it was in shape. They are pressing on toward the goal
... straining forward ... working toward that gold medal. They are all
going for the gold.
I decided to adapt the Olympic Games logo as a symbol of our
lenten
study. We all recognize the 5 interlocking rings as a symbol of the
Olympic Games. Now if you are very astute, you will have noticed that we
have 2 on top and 3 on the bottom. The Olympic logo has it the other way
around. But I decided to do it this way, first of all because I thought
we could hang them easier that way, but also because it sorta points up
toward God. But for the next few weeks, I want these rings to represent
the Spiritual Disciplines that will help us to press forward toward the
goal of seeing Christ more clearly, loving Christ more dearly and
following Christ more nearly. These are disciplines through which God
can work to lead us into the Life We’ve Always Wanted. The material
comes through the rings and spreads out to form a beautiful setting.
Just as God’s love works through spiritual disciplines to form us into
the beautiful people God created us to be.
Now when we think about Spiritual Disciplines we usually think about
tough things that don’t seem fun at all, things like: fasting, and self
denial, being serious and submissive. Well, those are spiritual
disciplines, but this book looks at several other disciplines. During
Lent we will be looking at 5 of the ones John Ortberg talks about. The
ones we are dealing with are: Celebration, Slowing Down, Prayer and
Confession, Scripture Meditation and Secret Service. I think you are
going to be surprised at how fun and rewarding studying Spiritual
Disciplines will be.
John Ortberg is one of the pastors at Willow Creek
Church in Chicago. It’s a mega church that has done a fantastic job of
bringing the Christian message to lots of people in exciting new ways.
They have really done the job of taking the message to people who didn’t
know about Jesus. But John’s job is to help people, once they know about
Jesus to really begin to develop a life centered around Christ. He’s
using Spiritual Disciplines to help guide them. For there’s more to
being a Christian than merely declaring that you are one. We don’t want
to be like 5 guys who quit their jobs in the city and bought some land
in Iowa declaring that they were farmers. They went to the field each
day to watch their crops grow. But when the fall came around, instead of
a field full of corn ready to be harvested, they had a field full of
weeds. They wondered what happened. Well, it was pretty obvious that
they hadn’t done any of the things that were needed in order to have a
harvest. Just as we can’t just declare we are Christians and not do
anything so that God can work through us to bring about an abundant
harvest. So during Lent, I’m hopeful that we will get busy practicing
spiritual disciplines, not just sitting around watching a field that
needs to be worked in order to be harvested.
The plan is for Lent is that the worship services will be centered on
one of the Spiritual Disciplines. Then those of you who attend the 9:30
service will go to Fellowship Hall for the coffee hour and see a short
video done by the author of the book. After the video, you will divide
into small “Training Teams” to discuss what you have just heard. There
will also be some further suggestions about things you can do to develop
that particular spiritual discipline in your life. After the small
groups and the 11:00 service is over, we’ll all come together for a
meal. Those people who go to the 11:00 service will have an opportunity
to see the video and be in a small group at 9:30. The idea will be to
stay in the same small group for 5 weeks so you really get to know those
people and be accountable to one another. Then, as we join together to
eat, you can spread out to meet new people. The meals will be vary. The
first week will be a baked potato brunch, put on by the youth. You’ll be
asked to make a donation to cover expenses and also help the youth go on
their mission trip. The next week will be a pot luck. The following week
will be a salad luncheon. The fourth week will be another pot luck and
the last week will be a soup dinner. So there will be a variety of kinds
of dinners. Two pot lucks and 3 others where you can give a donation.
It’s for 5 weeks: the four weeks of March and the first week of April.
I’m sure there are some who are thinking: Wow, she’s talking about
spending the entire morning at church! Yep, that’s what I’m talking
about. It’s for 5 weeks. It is a rather significant commitment. But it’s
really not all that much when you compare it to the training an athlete
goes through to be in the Olympics. It’s not even as big of a commitment
as the ordinary person makes when they join a bowling league or a
softball team. And the potential benefit is amazing. This five week
commitment of worship, learning and fellowship has the possibility of
helping you have The Life You’ve Always Wanted.
Let’s listen to a short segment of the video. He’s taking a group of
people around a nature trail as he tells them about the spiritual
disciplines. (See short segment.)
Like he says, our bodies are changing everyday. They are either becoming
stronger and more healthy or flabbier and more unhealthy. We have to
exercise if we want a healthy body. Likewise we need some spiritual
exercises if we want our spirit to be healthy. I know there are lots of
us, including me, who could do a better job on the physical exercises,
but that’s not my job to convince you to get on an exercise program. But
I do feel a responsibility to challenge you to get your spiritual life
in better shape. Lent is coming up. It’s a great time to get in
spiritual shape. We want to use all the tools available to us. We don’t
want to be like the guy who bought a new chain saw. After a week, he
took it back to the hardware store where he had purchased it. He threw
the chain saw down at the store owner’s feet and said, "This is a piece
of junk. You told me that I could cut down forty trees a day, and I
couldn’t cut down any more than three." The owner said, "Well, maybe the
teeth on the saw need to be sharpened." Once that was done, the man took
the saw back home, only to return three days later. The man said, "It's
still a piece of junk. It's a little bit better, but not much. Now I can
cut down five trees a day but you said I could cut down forty. I want my
money back." The store owner responded, "I really don''t understand it.
This is a good piece of equipment. Let’s try it." The owned pulled the
starter rope and the chain saw started right up. The man looked at it,
surprised, and said, "What in the world is that noise?” He hadn’t
started the motor. When we don’t do the things that scripture tells us
will help us lead a better life, then it’s like we are trying to cut
down trees with a chain saw without starting the motor.
This coming Lent, let’s pull all the starter ropes available to us.
Let’s get into training. We’ll do the spiritual calisthenics that have
helped others draw closer to God. There is a bulletin insert telling you
about our Lenten Study. It gives you several places to check. I need to
know if you’d like to buy a book. You don’t have to read the book. You
can just listen to the sermon and the video and get what you really need
to practice the disciplines, but, of course, like anything, the more
effort you put into something the more you get out of it. And there are
people who enjoy reading, so I won’t keep the book from you. If you’d
like to read the book, I’ll see that you get one. But I am hoping that
most of you will be willing to be part of the small discussion groups.
I’m excited about the possibilities. We talked about our Vision
Statement and the fact that we were striving to be a Model of the
Kingdom of God. John Ortberg says on page 17 of his book, “The Kingdom
of God is closer than you think. It’s available to ordinary men and
women, available to people who never thought of themselves as religious
or spiritual. You can live it now!” We can live it now. We can live out
our vision statement this Lent as all of you - people of all ages, races
and backgrounds - come together for worship and stay for small group
discussions to learn more and then stay for a meal to fellowship with
one another. And in addition as we donate money for our lunches instead
of going out to a restaurant, we can support our youth and their mission
trip, so we’ll be reaching out to serve all God’s children everywhere.
It’s our whole vision statement wrapped up in one 5 week time period.
I’ve know God will work marvelous things through us as we open ourselves
up to the marvelous benefits of getting into spiritual shape. Let’s go
on a journey to see Christ more clearly, to love Christ more dearly, to
follow Christ more nearly. Let’s be like Paul and press toward the goal,
straining forward. Let’s go for the gold!