LAUGH 'N LEARN

An Encouragement Ministry of Verde Valley Christian Church Of Cottonwood Arizona
http://vvchristianchurch.net

Issue # 364    March 1,  2010

LAUGH

LEARN

Jim's Manuscript

February 28, 2010

"Dump The Baggage"

Better In Every Way--Hebrews Series (Part 12)

Hebrews 12

Skit Intro:  On stage is a stack or pile of luggage, more than you think any one person could carry.  I come up on the stage and add my brief case to the stack.   As soon as I do so, Tom comes and begins trying to carry every piece of luggage, even holding some pieces under his chin.  He proceeds to walk across the stage.  My briefcase is wedged between two bags and cannot even be seen.

JIM:    "Tom I think you accidently picked up my bag with yours."

Tom:   "Oh No"

JIM:    "Oh Yes."

Tom:    "Do you need it right now"

JIM:    "Well, yes, My preaching Bible is in it.  With my notes and I need it now"

Tom:    "Which bag is it?"

JIM:    "Well I don't see it now."

Tom:    (Frustrated, Tom sarcastically says)  "Great..."  (and dumps all the baggage to the floor) 

JIM:    "Hey, there's my bag.  Thanks"

Tom:    "You are welcome."  (Tom starts to pick all the pieces up again.)

JIM:    "Tom, you really don't need to carry all that you know.  You can just leave it right there."

Tom:    "Really!?"

JIM:    "Yes, really!"

Tom:    "GREAT!"  (Tom runs off the stage shouting)  "I'm free, I'm free"

JIM:    "You think that's bad, you should see all his emotional baggage!"

Focus:  You CAN dump the baggage that messes up your life.  Here is how:

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

I.        Take a Realistic Look At YOUR Bags (1)

With a title this morning like "Dump The Baggage", I have to be careful.  Here's why.  When people's lives get really weighed down and burdened by problems, people often have a tendency to fixate on how someone else is messing them up.  This is particularly true in relationships.  Marriages are crumbling so frequently, that people are often assuming that what needs to be dumped is the relationship itself.  I'm urging you to hear this message in a different way than that.  Whatever the relationship problem, I'm asking you to take a realistic look at how YOUR SINS are weighing you down. 

o      Take a realistic look at how YOUR SINS are weighing you down.

Now, it is true that other people's sins cost us a lot.  Other people's sins can weigh us down and hurt us also.  But right now, through this message I want you to focus on you, not someone else.  You don't have to remain a victim here.  You can become the best you God wants you to be and get rid of the baggage, YOUR SIN, that is holding you back from running the race to win, to the glory of God.

You won't realize how big, and bulky, and heavy your bag is if you continue to focus on someone else's bags.  Now that you are taking a realistic look at your own baggage...

2 Aspects to this

o      Take a realistic look at how YOUR SINS are weighing you down, and....

o      Decide to do something about it. 

Acknowledge that there is some stuff that has to go!  Something has to change.  You don't even know how much that will have to change yet, but decide to do something about it.  Here is the first thing you need to do after you decide to do something about it. 

II.     Fix Your Eyes on Jesus (2-3)

² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

1.  Jesus is our goal.  Exalting him, magnifying him, allowing our lives to be like his life.  He becomes the center.  We orbit closer and closer to him.  When you fix your eyes on him, we actually begin to realize more and more, what has to go!

2.  He's Our Moral Compass. 

He's Our True North, but He's also our magnet, our strength.

The Hebrews 12 metaphor here is a race.  He's the finish line.  Christlikeness is our goal.  In a race, if you look to the left or to the right, in comparison, you miss the lean, you might lose the race.

A child running a race will run zigging and zagging all the way across the field.  A trained runner, fixes his eyes ahead, and thereby runs the shortest race, the line between two points.

We not only fix our eyes on Jesus, we imitate what Jesus did.  He fixed his eyes on future joy. (12:2)

² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

So You Do the Same, fix your eyes on future joy, as Jesus did.

³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

He's Shown Us A Better Way To Persevere and Run the Race.  He did it For the Joy He Expected later.

III.       Win The Little Battles Against Sin (4)

⁴ In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

In your war against sin, victory comes by way of winning in the little battles.  Lose the little battles, and you will find yourself facing bigger battles.  Many people don't put up a fight in the little battles, so they wonder why they lose when they do attempt to put up a fight in the big battles. 

What are the little battles?  The little battles include the battle to keep your commitments--Your commitment to pray for example.  I was reading the Gospel of Mark this week.  Jesus told Peter who thought he had the stuff to win the big battles.  Jesus said that that very night, before the Rooster crowed twice, Peter would deny him three times. 

Then they went to Gethsemane to pray.  Jesus wrestled in prayer.  He was winning the little battle in prayer.  The big battle was yet to come.  He urged the disciples 3 times to wake up and pray.  They were losing the battle to pray.  Losing this battle set Peter up.  Three times he fell asleep and didn't pray, three times he didn't have the strength to stand for Christ.  He denied him three times.  The rooster crowed, and Peter remembers.  He is undone and he wept bitterly.  He couldn't believe he had crumbled in defeat, something he thought he would never do.

I've seen many crumble in defeat.  They never thought they would.  They never dreamed it was possible for them to commit adultery, but they did.  Why?  They had lost many little battles first.  They never dreamed they would become addicted to alcohol, or drugs, or pain meds...but they did.  Why?  They had lost many little battles first. 

They were sleeping when they should have been praying.  They were watching football when they should have been in church.  They were watching shows they should not have been watching.  They were coping with the boredom, or the pain, or the disappointment, through the comfort of the bottle, or pill, or credit card, or internet sensuality, rather than coping by coming to the one who comforts our souls, and makes us whole. 

Nobody expected their lives to get out of control the way they did, but they did.

A.      Expect Difficulty (5-6)

⁵ And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, ⁶ because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

Those who expect life to be difficult do much better than those who expect life to be easy.  Those who expect barriers, and plan for these, to figure out ways to hurdle them, do so much better than those who claim they are a victims of the barriers.

We must expect difficulties. Why?  Because he loves us.

B.      Endure It As Discipline (7)

⁷ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?

Commercials will tell you to escape difficulties not endure them.  The bottle, the credit card, the pill, media or internet sensuality are all escape mechanisms.  The world trains you to take short cuts, to make yourself feel good the easy way. 

The Bible tells you something different.  It says, don't take the short cut.  Endure hardship as discipline. 

Discipline Defines Legitimate Disciples (8)

⁸ If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.  

C.      It Is For Your Own Good (9-15)

⁹ Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!

Difficulties (viewed as God's Discipline) Is for our own Good.

How many times did I hear those words, "It's For Your Own Good".  I remember those spankings...  These were administered by a controlled and loving hand.  It was not abuse.  It was discipline, and it was the loving thing to do. 

That we may "share in his holiness" (12:10)

¹⁰ Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.  ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

¹² Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. ¹³ "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

Be careful where you walk, and how you walk.

¹⁴ Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

"Without holiness no one will see the Lord"

Holiness means to be set apart for the Lord.  God is perfectly holy, clean, sinless, and set apart from every defilement of the world. 

Discipline Is the Price of Freedom

We have not advanced very far in our spiritual lives if we have not encountered the basic paradox of freedom, to the effect that we are most free when we are bound. But not just any way of being bound will suffice; what matters is the character of our binding.

The one who would like to be an athlete, but who is unwilling to discipline his body by regular exercise and by abstinence, is not free to excel on the field or the tracks. His failure to train rigorously and to live abstemiously denies him the freedom to go over the bar at the desired height, or to run with the desired speed and endurance.

With one concerted voice the giants of the devotional life apply the same principle for the whole of life with the dictum: Discipline is the price of freedom.

David Elton Trueblood, The New Man for our Time, Harper Collins, (January 1970)

Discipline is the Gateway To Competence

One of my dreams for heaven is to learn how to play the violin. We started a church a few years ago. We have a string quartet, and they're so beautiful. I listen to violin music all the time. So I said, "Why wait? Why not get started now?"

My teacher is a world-class performer from Russia. She trained with some of the best teachers in Russia, so she tries to impose the same rigid Russian strictness on me that she went through. When I'm doing something wrong, she smacks my hand and says, "nyet, nyet, nyet." I'm learning more Russian than I am violin from this woman, but I am having an absolute ball. When I have the opportunity, I'll practice three hours a day. I just love it. It is hard; I screech so much. But it is beautiful and worth it when I do get it right.

It is a discipline, and we are called to be disciples. Millions of people start on piano lessons. They play one note with one finger and then they go to two fingers, and then two hands. There are different plateaus. At each plateau another percentage of people get off the boat and give it up.

With people who start out learning the Bible, it's the same thing. I'll frequently ask people if they have read the whole Bible cover to cover. Not just new Christians--we're talking about people who have been Christians 20 or 30 years. A very small minority says that they've read the whole Bible.

Almost everyone has read Genesis because it is narrative. People start off with good intentions to read the Bible through, but when they get into the technical dimensions of the Levitical purification codes and that sort of thing, it's so foreign to the world they're living in that they get confused: they get lost; they lose interest; and then they give up.

In violin, if you're not trained yourself, you have to get under the discipline of somebody else. I have to see this teacher every week and put up with her smacking my hand and saying, "nyet, nyet, nyet," because if I didn't I'd never get anywhere. For people who start out learning the Bible, it's the same thing. If you have trouble being disciplined, get in a Bible study group.

Author and theologian R. C. Sproul, "The Dick Staub Interview: R.C. Sproul's Testimony," ChristianityToday.com (12-30-02)

Do what you don't want to do, in order to achieve what you've always wanted to be

WHAT DO YOU NOT WANT TO DO TODAY?

Legendary football coach Tom Landry said, "The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don't want to do, in order to achieve what they've always wanted to be."

It's also said that successful people become successful by doing the little things that average people don't want to do.

In your work there are probably a few little things that you don't want to do: items that should be done, but don't have to be done -- at least not yet. 

Though the items on my not-to-do list change from day-to-day, they all have one thing in common: none of them are impossible. They're all do-able with just a little bit of effort.

They have another thing in common: by ignoring them, we short-change ourselves. 

We don't like to call this type of delay by its proper name, but Solomon doesn't hesitate to: Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. (Proverbs 10:4)

For many of us, that's all that stands between us and the fulfillment of our goals. A little indolence. That's not a mountain in front of you. It's just a hill. A small, tedious, do-able hill.

Challenge yourself and your team today to make a not-to-do list -- and tackle these items first, one-by-one. See what happens.

Steve May, "Monday Morning Memo" February 8, 2010

WHAT DO YOU NOT WANT TO DO TODAY?

Every job no matter how much you love it, has aspects of the job that are work.  There are parts that we do NOT want to do.  We must discipline ourselves to accomplish the steps required to honor and exalt the name of our savior, who redeemed us and gives us life.  Life is about giving him glory.  If you protest all the disciplines... "Do I have to?!"  Chances are you aren't really a determined disciple, but a disciple wannabe, an illegitimate disciple. 

Discipline Under Great Burdens Yield Great Rewards (11, 12)

Hebrews 12:11-12 (NIV) No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. ¹² Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.

In The Sacred Romance, John Eldredge writes:

As a young boy, around the time my heart began to suspect that the world was a fearful place and I was on my own to find my way through it, I read the story of a Scottish discus thrower from the nineteenth century. He lived in the days before professional trainers and developed his skills alone in the highlands of his native village. He even made his own discus from the description he read in a book. What he didn't know was the discus used in competition was made of wood with an outer rim of iron. His was solid metal and weighed three or four times as much as those being used by his would-be challengers. This committed Scotsman marked out his field the distance of the current record throw and trained day and night to be able to match it. For nearly a year, he labored under the self-imposed burden of the extra weight, becoming very, very good. He reached the point at which he could throw his iron discus the record distance, maybe farther. He was ready.

The highlander traveled south to England for his first competition. When he arrived at the games, he was handed the official wooden discus--which he promptly threw like a tea saucer. He set a new record, a distance so far beyond those of his competitors that no one could touch him. For many years he remained the uncontested champion.

Something in my heart connected with this story. So, that's how you do it: Train under a great burden.

John Eldredge, The Sacred Romance (Nelson, 1997), reprinted in Men of Integrity (November/December 2000)

D.      If You Lack Discipline...

1.       U Saw E Sau (16-17)

¹⁶ See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. ¹⁷ Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears. 

He traded away what was really important for something of lesser importance.  There is nothing wrong with eating a meal, but there is something very wrong with trading something very valuable away for one lousy meal!

Be very careful to put first things first and not trade important commitments away for lesser entertainments.

Those in the habit of trading away the graces and blessings of God for lesser things will be surprised that later, "afterward"(17) ...when you "want to inherit the blessings"(17) you squandered away, that you cannot seem to get them back.

How many of us have seen people we know reject the faith in one fell swoop, over some one event, or crisis?  We might know someone like that, but for every one like that I know 100 others who just squandered away God's blessing by consistently trading the greater blessings away for lesser and worthless things. 

They ran their own life, made their own choices, gave their excuses, first one, then two then three and four and more till it was their pattern.  And soon, they do what they never thought they would do, they have a lifestyle they never planned on having, yet their heart is so shaped by their patterns of choosing worthless things, that they have nothing valuable left.  Family is busted up.  Commitments are busted up.  Faith is in shambles.  Their lifestyle is a mess.  They don't exactly know what happened or why, but they are struggling with meaning, and feeling worthless.

Jeremiah says

Jeremiah 2:5 (ESV) Thus says the Lord: "What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?

What causes a life to lose meaning, and become worthless?  The pursuit of worthlessness causes a life that is worthless. 

Hebrews 12:15 (NIV) See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

            This is aluding to Deuteronomy 29:18. 

Deuteronomy 29:18 (NIV) Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.

A life becomes poisoned and worthless when we make it a habit of turning our backs to God instead of our faces.  When you turn to the WRONG ROOT, it produces WRONG FRUIT every time.

Jeremiah 2:27 (ESV) who say to a tree, 'You are my father,' and to a stone, 'You gave me birth.' For they have turned their back to me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they say, 'Arise and save us!'

This is what Esau did.  The strange thing about it is that while Esau did it, he thought it was no big deal.  . . . That's the problem. 

It's no big deal that I miss church.

It's no big deal that I miss Care Group.

It's no big deal that I missed Bible study. 

It's no big deal that I didn't pray today, or yesterday, or the day before. 

It's no big deal...that I traded the kingdom for a little worthless bowl of temporary satisfaction.  It's no big deal that I forsook my covenant vows to him, for a momentary lapse in the arms of this spiritual adultery.  Every seduction, whether a person, a pill, or a thrill, that takes your face away from God is taking you into the arms of spiritual adultery.  It's a breach of covenant.  It is a turning of our backs on God instead of our faces.  It is a turning to worthless things instead of worthy things, eternal things.  As a result we soon feel worthless ourselves. 

U Saw E Sau.  Learn from him.  God rejected Esau because Esau rejected God, for a little bowl of temporary satisfaction.

¹⁷ Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.

Don't be like Esau. 

2.       Listen To The Voice That Shakes (18-29)

12:18-21 reviews the old way (of fear and power yet nevertheless resulting in immediate idolatry) compared with the New Way (12:22-28) which is able to make us perfect.

¹⁸ You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; ¹⁹ to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, ²⁰ because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." ²¹ The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear." ²² But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³ to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. ²⁵ See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? ²⁶ At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." ²⁷ The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken--that is, created things--so that what cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our "God is a consuming fire."

Prepare For the Shake Down!

See To It that You Don't Refuse Him Who Speaks From Heaven (25).  What we are receiving is a kingdom that cannot be shaken! (28)  Let us be thankful, and worship God Acceptably with reverence and awe!

IV.      No matter how many times you fail, reach for Grace Again! (15)

¹⁵ See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

See to it that no one misses the grace of God ...Make Sure Nobody thinks Holiness is something you Achieve--It isn't, it is by grace given.

But it isn't cheap either. 

A Friend's Grace Motivates Change

Recently I witnessed an unusual accountability partnership at my church.

In an effort to break his habit of using profanity, Paul started meeting with another guy from church, and they set up an aggressive plan for holiness. Each Sunday, Paul would report to William how many times he cussed during the week, and he'd put $5 in the offering plate for each incident. The first week cost Paul $100. Although following weeks improved somewhat, he wasn't having the success he wanted and was losing a lot of hard-earned cash.

After the fourth week, William told Paul he had unilaterally changed the deal for the coming week, but he wouldn't tell Paul how. Paul wanted to know, but all William would say was, "Trust me. It will cost you both less and more."

The following Sunday before worship, Paul was looking a bit down, obviously having failed again. William put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Paul, this will cost you both less and more. It's called grace." At that he took out a check made out to the church, dated and signed by William. Only the amount was blank. "Your sin still costs, but for you it's free. Just fill in the numbers. And next week there will be more grace."

That first week of grace cost William $55, but the second only cost him $20. There was no third week. It cost Paul too much to fill in those checks, so he quit sinning.

Bill White, Paramount, California

(C) Jim Hammond

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