It's Not How You Start

Introduction

According to Compton’s Encyclopedia, the highest point on earth is the summit of Mount Everest, which lies at an elevation of 29,035 feet. Everest features multiple layers of rocks, which are covered by ice and snow. With its pyramid-shaped flat planes, it reaches nearly 5.5 miles above sea level where it is hard to breathe due to thin oxygen. Low oxygen, strong winds, and very cold temperatures, make life on the upper slopes difficult and nearly impossible. The warmest temperatures are in July, which is approximately −2° F (−19° C). In January, the coldest month, summit temperatures average −33° F (−36° C) and can drop as low as −76° F (−60° C). (Everest, Mount. (2015). In Compton’s Encyclopedia. Compton’s Encyclopedia.)

The intense conditions of Mount Everest have made it quite the challenge for mountaineers and climbers. The effects of high altitudes on the human body are extreme. Climbers at elevations above about 25,000 feet (7,600 meters) have breathing and pulse rates that are much faster than normal. They are not able to digest food well, they sleep poorly, and their thinking is often confused. (Everest, Mount. (2015). In Compton’s Encyclopedia. Compton’s Encyclopedia.)

Many people have lost their lives trying to climb Mount Everest. The earliest attempts included a man by the name of George Mallory. In these earlier attempts, 7 out of 9 men who attempted to climb Mount Everest died due to an avalanche.

In 1924, Mallory and another mountaineer began their final expedition up Mount Everest where they are believed to have reached the top. However, they never made it down and supposedly died in the process. Their bodies were not found until 75 years later, during a special search sponsored by the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition.

However, in 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary took on the challenge of climbing Mount Everest and was successful at just 33 years old. Though Mallory has been credited with being the first to climb Mount Everest, it was Hillary who actually reached the top and made it back down to talk about it. Hence the slogan, “It’s not how you start, but how you finish.” -Jim George

All of us have those Mount Everest type of dreams and visions. We often start strong and then find that there’s no way we can accomplish such a drastic task. However, a great number of us don’t start at all, because of the towering and intimidating presence of the mountain that has defeated so many. We look at things like:

How much money do I have?

Am I strong enough?

Can I survive the burden?

Am I qualified?

Will people support me?

How long will it take to be successful?

We imagine the God-sized vision must be matched by God-sized resources, God-sized actions, and God-sized opportunities. We say things like, “God gave me the vision and He will give me the provision.” What we mean by “provision” is God will give us the $5M for that building we want to purchase to serve individuals in destitute areas; or that $1M investor that will help support individuals living in a food desert. However, some God-sized dreams are manifested with a very small step of faith. That is, great vision is most often begun with insignificant things.

Once I drove by an old Walmart on the way to work for nearly 30 days straight. I would pull up to the very top of the parking lot and just stare at it—imagining how I would use it, how it would look with its newly outfitted design, how many people would come in, and the amount of impact it would have on those who would visit. I would then drive around the building praying. I even jumped out of my car once and walked around the entire building and prayed for God to send a donor or help me develop the right relationship with someone who could support.

Then I took the ultimate leap of faith. I recorded a video and posted it on my social media sites, asking for supporters. I got tons of attention on the post, but nothing came of it. Then, I got the news. A tech company had purchased the building to use as a hardware warehouse. I was disappointed, but not too much. Deep down I felt what I wanted was outside of reality just a bit. However, I had nothing to lose.

Nevertheless, I did wonder what would it take for me to be one of those individuals who get unexpected and “out of this world” blessings! I wanted to do the right thing! Yet, even in doing the right thing, it seems I could not get any traction.

There are many, that I assume have faced their share of difficulties in getting started. Many probably would have never thought that God could use them in the ways they were ultimately used.

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 5803 Billy Graham’s First Sermon

Billy Graham preached his first sermon—an unplanned one at that—in a jail. He had just graduated from high school, and he and Grady Wilson were spending the summer as Fuller Brush salesmen. When Jimmie Johnson, an evangelist friend, told the youths he was going to hold a service in a nearby jail, they wanted to go along. It was the first time inside a jail for Billy and Grady. Jimmie Johnson conducted the brief service and calmly announced that Billy would give his testimony. Billy was taken by surprise but rose to the occasion. Neither the Fuller Brush people nor the occupants of the jail on that hot summer afternoon had any idea that the tall youth was launching a preaching ministry that would take him around the world to preach to millions of people.

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 5804 Moody’s Frustrated Beginnings

Moody had no more than a 5th-6th-grade education and did poorly even at that. When he attended his first Sunday school class he thumbed through Genesis looking for John. When applying to join Mt. Vernon Congregational Church, he was rejected because of utter ignorance of Christian teaching. His friends thought that seldom did anyone seem more unlikely to fill any sphere of public or extended usefulness. But God can take what seems small and insignificant and use it greatly, if it is given over completely to Him.

In fact, some of the most successful individuals in history started with very humble beginnings.

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 5810 Small Beginnings (3)

MICHAEL FARADAY, the greatest philosopher of his time, started from a blacksmith’s anvil. SHAKESPEARE held horses at the door of a London theater before he held the attention of all ages. The path of life opened for ROBERT BURNS in a ploughboy’s furrow. GEORGE PEABODY endowed a library in the village where once he had saved wood. The shoemaker’s last would have been the most appropriate coat-of-arms for WILLIAM CAREY, the missionary.

HERSCHEL played in a brass band before God called him up to listen to the music of the spheres and the orchestra of the morning stars. A barbershop was the starting place of COPERNICUS, the astronomer, and JEREMY TAYLOR, the ecclesiast. A mason’s trowel was the weapon with which HUGH MILLER, the geologist, began to fight the battle of life. In 1869 H. J. HEINZ planted a small plot of horseradish. He and two women and a boy grated and bottled the root. J. L. KRAFT was a grocery clerk who started with a capital of 65 dollars to peddle cheese from a one-horse wagon. COCA-COLA was first made in the kitchen of an old home adjoining Mr. Pemberton’s Drug Store. CHARLES W. POST made the first Postum in a barn.

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 5811 Small Beginning (4)

JAY GOULD started out to conquer the world, with fifty cents, and left $70,000,000. MORGAN, the great banker, was a clerk in a country store. CORNELIUS VANDERBILT took cabbages and turnips to the New York market in a little sailing craft. STEWART, the merchant-prince of his day, began his business career on a capital of $3,000. P. D. ARMOUR ran away from home when he was seventeen and walked to California.

PULLMAN was a clerk in a store. MARK TWAIN as a boy was thrown on the world to sink or swim, and he did not only swim, but commanded a Mississippi River steamboat. GEORGE W. CHILDS was an errand boy in a bookstore. JOHN WANAMAKER was the son of a brickmaker. JOHN G. WHITTIER was the son of a small farmer. LELAND STANDFORD was another farmer’s boy. SIR JOHN MCDONALD, Canada’s greatest statesman, was the son of a plain Scottish storekeeper.

—Saturday Evening Post

Exposition of the Text

Great accomplishments often begin with insignificant beginnings. Many times what we are facing is the “Zerubbabel struggle.” Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah when they returned to Jerusalem. The Judahites were trying to determine how they would resettle in the land that looked nothing like the former days. It was a tremendous task and Zerubbabel was under immense pressure to keep the people motivated throughout the entire process.

Ezra 4 outlines the struggles he faced as his fight was within and without. First, he experienced oppression from the northern tribes of Israel who wanted to join in on the labors so they too could enjoy the anticipated glory days of the nation of Israel (Ezra 4:1-5). Then, Zerubbabel faced struggle from King Artaxerxes and the Persian government who out of fear of insurrection, commanded the work to stop (Ezra 4:6-24).

Ezra 5:1-5 outlines how the prophets Haggai and Zechariah began to prophesy to and encourage Zerubbabel. From our text today, we see Zechariah’s role as a prophet to an obviously wearied Zerubbabel who may have saw no possibility for finishing the work. Even the angels were perplexed at the long-time struggle of Judah. In Zechariah 1:12, the angel asks about their struggles

Zechariah 1:12 CSB

12 Then the angel of the Lord responded, “How long, Lord of Armies, will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that you have been angry with these seventy years?”

Additionally, Satan seeks to accuse Judah and her leaders before God, because of their sinful past. Zechariah 3:1 “1 Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.”

Essentially, Israel was facing an impossible or Mount Everest dream. Yet, God gave them all these promises of restoration, providence , prosperity, and deliverance.

Zechariah 1:14–17 CSB

14 So the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim: The Lord of Armies says: I am extremely jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. 15 I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease, for I was a little angry, but they made the destruction worse. 16 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: In mercy, I have returned to Jerusalem; my house will be rebuilt within it—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem. 17 “Proclaim further: This is what the Lord of Armies says: My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the Lord will once more comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”

Zechariah 2:10–13 CSB

10 “Daughter Zion, shout for joy and be glad, for I am coming to dwell among you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. 11 “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day and become my people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the Lord of Armies has sent me to you. 12 The Lord will take possession of Judah as his portion in the Holy Land, and he will once again choose Jerusalem. 13 Let all humanity be silent before the Lord, for from his holy dwelling he has roused himself.”

Zechariah 8:3–4 CSB

3 The Lord says this: “I will return to Zion and live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City; the mountain of the Lord of Armies will be called the Holy Mountain.” 4 The Lord of Armies says this: “Old men and women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of advanced age.

Zechariah 8:20–23 CSB

20 The Lord of Armies says this: “Peoples will yet come, the residents of many cities; 21 the residents of one city will go to another, saying: Let’s go at once to plead for the Lord’s favor and to seek the Lord of Armies. I am also going. 22 Many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the Lord of Armies in Jerusalem and to plead for the Lord’s favor.” 23 The Lord of Armies says this: “In those days, ten men from nations of every language will grab the robe of a Jewish man tightly, urging: Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”

How could they accept this promise of blessings while also witnessing the oppressive work of the enemy? The enemy is was a Mount Everest for them. They kept running into so many defeats. The rebuilding of the temple would take nearly 46 years to complete. It was filled with struggle, disappointment, controversy, and tremendous effort. And unlike anything we would expect, Zechariah encourages Zerubbabel and the Judahites that big things come from small beginnings. Everyone was expecting some massive and immediate launch! Yet, God had a different picture in mind. Rather than launching big, God encouraged them that their small insignificant start was the very way to move into the very thing God had in mind for them.

Zechariah 4:10 CSB

10 For who despises the day of small things? These seven eyes of the Lord, which scan throughout the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the ceremonial stone in Zerubbabel’s hand.”

Zechariah 8:6 CSB

6 The Lord of Armies says this: “Though it may seem impossible to the remnant of this people in those days, should it also seem impossible to me?”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.

Two significant points from Zechariah’s prophecies:

God can start something powerful out of something insignificant [of little importance, influence, or power; of minor status].

God can use what’s left (the remnant) to do what seems impossible.

God promised to restore Israel through the small beginning of building their temple!

Conclusion

The truth is many people are fascinated by large and visibly impressive starts. So, if we do anything we assume we must launch “big.” However, our text tells us a different story.

God does not need our potential. He simply wants our participation. What seems to be something minor and insignificant is just what God wants us to invest to accomplish something powerful.

James Clear was in his final day of his sophomore year when he was hit in the face with a baseball bat. The impact was so terrible that he had to be airlifted to a hospital where he was induced into a medical coma and placed on a ventilator. They called the priest in to give words of comfort as all assumed this may end in tragedy.

However, one year later he returned to baseball while battling through frequent seizures, vision impairment and physical therapy. Six years later he was selected as the top male athlete at Denison University and named to the ESPN Academic All-American team—1 of 33 players selected throughout the entire country. He also earned the university’s highest academic honor, the President’s Medal.

For James, his Mount Everest was the baseball injury. Yet, if you were to ask him how he overcame all of his challenges he would tell you by the aggregation of marginal gains. By searching for a tiny margin of improvement in everything he did, he overcame his Mount Everest.

As Desmond Tutu once said, “There’s only one way to eat an elephant…one bite at a time.” May the Lord help us take on the challenges of our lives with one bite at a time, one marginal gain, until we reach the day of glory that is prepared for us.

What are some things that make us feel we cannot succeed with small beginnings:

The goal is too big.

A temple is a tremendous goal as Solomon’s temple remained in their mind as the standard of temples.

We don’t have the proper system in place.

A governor is good, but a king is better! Israel did not have the same system they had during the previous temple. Yet, they were expected to accomplish the same goal.

We exist in the wrong identity.

The nation of Israel still lived in the past. Some may have saw themselves as victims returning from Babylon. Yet, God saw them as His children who were destined to have the things they were promised long ago.

We have talked about Zerubbabel. But I want to end by telling you about another person who had an insignificant beginning. This man came into the Earth, and he denounced his entire state of royalty and Sonship. His entire life was seen as insignificant. He did not claim any noble status. He didn’t claim to be rich. He did not claim to be anything beyond a Servant, and then he died. The world mocked, because others saw beyond the insignificance and saw something more. No one thought he could’ve ever have been anything more than a servant because of the way he carried himself, and the way he lived his life. But one day he rose again, and his father gave full proof that he was far more than what he could’ve ever portrayed himself to be. He was the King. This is our Savior Jesus Christ, who had a very insignificant beginning, but proved to be the most significant person who has ever lived.