Time After Time

As a competitor and former athlete, one thing I love to do is win.

Winning isn’t optional. Playing “for fun” is not fun to me.

Competing isn’t just a hobby- In my finite mind, if winning is the goal, winning becomes my purpose.

I remember someone in high school who tackled the idea of competitiveness through the lens of the Christian life one time.

He challenged all of those who follow Jesus and claim, “It’s not all about winning.”

Are those people insane? Do they not get it?

The guy said, “If the name on the back of your jersey is the name of Christ, would you want to lose?”

That question has haunted me! And because of it, it has caused many riffs between me, my family and friends.

Caroline and I a few years ago deemed that for the health of our marriage, we would no longer compete along side each other.

Caroline loves playing games. Fortunately, Caroline’s day isn’t determined by the outcome of competition…

Although I have become a bit more laid back, I still play to win.

During a student event I led one time, we held a fight night.

I rented one of those inflatables where two people would face each other with these long inflatable beams and try and knock the other off.

Hundreds of kids surrounded the inflatable while we would call out the names of those who desired to play like it was the entrance to a WWE match- walk up music and everything.

There was one guy named Turner who was beating everybody. Turner was a big kid, starting quarterback for the local 6A high school.

He went on to play linebacker for the Naval Academy and is currently in SEAL training if that tells you anything.

Turner made a big mistake that day- Turner challenged me, in front of all the students.

Four years prior to that, I served in a middle school minister role and worked for a guy who I count one of my closest mentors and friends to this day-

He had one rule when working on his staff… He was a former collegiate athlete as well..

The rule we were never allowed to lose to students in ay competitive matchup… Reputation is always at stake.

So as I enter the ring, the gym is going insane. Students are screaming…

All the middle school kids are chanting my name. The high school girls are nervous for my life and the high school boys wouldn’t mind seeing me knocked out.

When the bell rings, the fight begins…

It’s a strategic fight, we weren’t just swinging at each other… But let me tell you, when Turner swung to hit me, I felt it in might bones…

Looking for a quick way out to win and go home, when Turner went to swing at me, taking a hit to the rib cage, I grabbed his beam and pulled hard hoping he would fall off his platform…

Well… He did fall, but he didn’t fall off…

Turner had, in miraculous form, fallen forward… He grabbed my platform and held the position of the plank.

I couldn’t do anything but be amazed. But it was in my amazement, he pulled one of the most dirtiest moves a competitor can pull.

He swept the leg.

As I fell, I fell on top of Turner, meaning although I didn’t necessarily lose, there was no clear winner.

So there I am laying on top of this kid who is laughing at me while hundreds of students are cheering… and all I can think about is how I thought I was about to win… But all I could feel was the sense of loss..

I think many of us, in our walks of faith, are looking for ways to win.

We want to see progression and victory.

But if we are honest, because time after time we find ourselves defeated, we feel like the life we are supposed to be living, one of victory and growth, feels impossible.

The more we fail and the longer it seems before we experience this victory or growth, the more discouraged we come and frustrated we live.

Did you know that the Christian life flows against the grains of the culture you and I live in today?

Life is lived on the run.

We are running between what we need to accomplish and what we want to accomplish all the time.

This creates a life of hurry…

Hurry convinces us of quick results and assured productivity.

Because of this- we begin to see something as our primary enemy.

Time.

The faster, the better. The slower, the worse.

With no margin, we conquer the world.

With no rest, we grind to win.

We do this in our careers, the way we parent, and the way we socialize.

A hurried life is a full life.

A hurried life, according to our culture, is a fulfilling life.

We want quick results. We want to win. We want immediate progression.

And if anything hinders any of those things, we eliminate it because…

well, we don’t have time to waste.

Can I share with you one of the biggest lessons I have learned as a believer recently?

It seems the church has a difficulty in realizing and facing the fact that God is not in a hurry.

He definitely is not in a hurry to develop the life of His children.

How many times have you been frustrated in your walk with Jesus because your progress is not quick?

You can’t get past your present struggle and you wonder if the future of the Christian life that has been painted is even possible at all?

I see this frequently. One comes to know Jesus and is off to the races.

Their excitement drives their ambition and their ambition fosters a disciplined search that moves swiftly.

But then, the pursuit of growth begins to dwindle. Life sets in and the struggle becomes real… again.

The pace of running after God leads to an exhaustion.

All they can do now is walk so that they might catch their breath.

And in walking, the journey seems to take longer.

And because progression doesn’t feel or seem rapid and their is still a present struggle over one’s sin, the fear of what has been told as “backsliding” sits heavily.

I would contend this morning that the feeling you may have felt or are currently feeling is not a product of backsliding…

I would contend that this is God’s way of growth.

And God is not in a hurry… And He takes His time…

I want to present to you a passage that this conversation is rooted in for us this morning…

Please stand with me as I read God’s word.

As I do, let this passage rest in your hearts for the remainder of our time this morning…

2 Peter 3:8 ESV

8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

This is God’s Word.

Thank you, God.

Think about this-

Peter is telling us that our eternal God functions in eternity and this greatly affects how He operates according to time…

What He would feel is the equivalent to a days time is compared to our experience of 1,000 years…

What does this mean for you?

This means that even though you may not feel it, even though you may not see it…

God is working in you. Every moment is a movement of progression.

John Darby says…

“It is God’s way to set people aside after their first start, that self-confidence may die down… We must get to know ourselves and that we have no strength. Thus we must learn, and then leaning on the Lord we can with more maturity, and more experientially, deal with souls.”

In short, our journey with Christ and the process of becoming who we were created to be takes time.

If we can’t grasp this- our life will constantly be filled with frustration.

Growing up, we would travel to Perry, Florida regularly to see my grandparents.

One of the things I loved about that area of Florida are the huge oak trees.

The ones that were the biggest had limbs and branches that would swoop all the way to the ground.

It was like a God-made playground for us as kids.

I remember my grandfather would tell us how old he thought they were- many times over 50 years old, sometimes over 100…

I want us to think of ourselves as these oak trees.

Now, very few of us in this room are like this one- fully developed and mature.

But this is who God desires us to be.

The oak that is 100 years old and has progressed fully went through various season to get there.

Some season produced quick and rapid growth.

In other seasons, there was little to no growth at all. It was during those seasons where the process of growth enabled them to survive those seasons.

In the end, the established oaks became what we admire today over time…

Church family, in the journey we take with Jesus to experience spiritual growth, there are no shortcuts.

It is not special experiences or moments of blessings that produce growth- it is time.

Over time, there are such things. In fact, think about your life over time… It is filled with moments of joy and seasons of pain.

You’ve experienced success as well as failure.

You’ve fought passivity and inactivity and have also lived to serve and work to the fullest for Christ.

In our culture, we will be tempted to look for short-cuts.

What Scripture encourages is that we submit to the process that is dependent upon time.

Philippians 1:6 ESV

6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Graham Scroggie says,

Spiritual renewal is a gradual process. All growth is progressive, and the finer the organism, the longer the process.

There is a hope found in Jesus as our Savior that contributes to our long journey of life transformation…

This hope is a hope anchored in the truth of Romans 8

Romans 8:28 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Another hinderance to experiencing true spiritual growth is based upon whether or not we recognize we have been accepted by God.

Romans 5:1 ESV

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Justified meaning that even though we have rebelled against God’s design for us, He sees us as no longer guilty of punishment.

Because Jesus took the punishment of our sin by His death on the cross, we have been accepted by God and welcomed into a relationship with Him marked by His acceptance of us and love for us.

We don’t believe this all the time, do we?

If peace with God is received by our justification, then believing that we have not been justified and are not accepted by God leads to the opposite, an anxious life.

In the book of Romans, Paul uses the phrase “old self” as a reference to the life lived under the rule of sin.

The “new self” is the redeemed self- The new life secured for eternity in Jesus.

Romans 6:5–11 ESV

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

In July of 2011, a man by the name of Lance Brown was released from jail after attempting to rob a bank.

Lance, now free, was released onto the streets. He had to perspectives he could have taken with him…

The first one is a new start- Lance could have taken the necessary steps to get his life back on track by simply applying for jobs, utilizing offered programs, and beginning to establish what a new life in the world would look like.

Lance unfortunately chose the second perspective-

Lance was homeless. And in his eyes, life in jail was better than life on the road.

Lance begged to go back- He even began committing crimes in hopes to be put back in jail.

After throwing bricks through the court house’s windows, Lance was eventually thrown back into prison where he desired to be.

Sometimes we trade a life of freedom and acceptance by God for a life enslaved to our old self.

Our old self is familiar. As hopeless and painful as it is, we’d rather sit in the misery of our sin than endure a process of recovery and redemption.

The shame of our sin convinces us that God is shameful of us.

This is not the truth!

God doesn’t want your vows or resolutions this year.

He doesn’t want you to do more, do less, and do better.

He wants you to understand that He has done what is necessary.

He wants you to see that He is doing a new work in you because He can do that new work in you.

Ephesians 6:10–11 ESV

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

Ephesians 6:14 ESV

14 Stand therefore…

Until we are 100% confident in our standing before God, we will not do much standing at all.

One of the worst things about Disney World is the system they have in place for riding rides.

Lines are stupid long. I’m not sure there is anything in the world worth standing in line for 2 hours that gives you nothing but a 2 minute experience.

Everyone misses the fast pass days. You pay for the pass and there was no wait- you literally would walk right onto the ride.

Now, you have to pay an additional payment per person. You are given a window to arrive to ride.

Although the line is shorter, you still have to do one more thing…

You have to wait.

You have to stand there, knowing you are going to get to experience everything you want to and more.

It may have costed you more than you wanted, but you have secured you place, you will get to the end, you will experience the joy of the ride…

But in standing, there is confidence.

In standing, there is a commitment.

In waiting, there is a reward.

It just takes time.

INVITATION

The reason for this broken world is because it is filled with broken people.

You and I want it our way. Our way is not God’s way.

Our rejection of God’s way is a rejection of God, Himself.

Anything that is a rejection of God and His way is what we call sin and sin cannot go unpunished.

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death…

Death is a reality because of our sin against God.

But because of God’s love for us, He defeated death by sending His Son, Jesus, to take that punishment on our behalf.

Romans 5:8 ESV

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We can be saved from our sin and it’s punishment by placing our faith and believing that Jesus did what we couldn’t- He defeated death by being raised from the dead in order that we might receive eternal life and an unshakable purpose.

Romans 10:9 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

So this morning, if you desire to be saved, be honest with God.

He sees your thoughts and He knows your heart.

If you desire to turn from your own ways and receive eternal life this morning, make a stand, turn from your sin and believe in what Jesus has done for you.

To the one who has already done so, let God continue the work He is doing in you. Trust in His timing, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.

Let’s seek Him together.