"Playing For All Your Worth"
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Deuteronomy 30:19-20; Romans 12:3-6
Series: "From Success To Significance"

Introduction: In sports, every team has a star. What makes them a star? Usually they are the ones who make the winning play; they are the ones that can stay calm under pressure; they are the ones whose skill level is greater than the rest. But there is a problem with this, and that is that the star grabs more attention than the rest of the team. And while this is not surprising, it is not what a team should be about. A team is created to work together. Without the other members of the team, the star would not be what he or she is; the team could not win without all the members.

However, being part of a team doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t seek to be the best they can be. It is very common, in the off-season, for athletes to work on areas of their game that are weak. This way they become a better player, which will ultimately benefit the team. This morning, we conclude our series in the book “From Success to Significance.” Today we are going to look at how you can play the game of life for all that you are worth, and by doing so, benefit the kingdom of God as well.

I. Healthy Individualism- (1 Corinthians 12:12, 15-21a; Luke 12:13-21)

There are many who think that once you become a Christian, you lose your individualism. But the truth is, our individualism is encouraged and needed, but it needs to be used in the context of the body of Christ. We are individuals in our strengths and weaknesses; our strengths help the body, and the body helps us in our weakness. But even though we are individuals, we are not separate from the body; we need to live our lives in the context of the body of Christ, the Church.

The truth is, we are designed by the creator, but our lives are incomplete. Nobody is perfect. Nobody is gifted in every area. We are created to be dependent on our Creator, and dependent on others. Now this might be surprising to you, because we live in a very individualistic society. From early on we are taught to be independent and to make it on our own. But that is contrary to what we are told in the Bible. As 1 Corinthians 12:12, 15-21a says: “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body. ²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don't need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don't need you!’” The individualism in the Bible is the individualism of the eye or the foot—a part that functions as part of a larger, harmonious whole. Hans Selye, a biologist from Canada, wrote a landmark book entitled “The Stress of Life.” In this book he writes how he learned that those who earn the goodwill of their neighbors are dramatically better off psychologically and physiologically than those who are looked upon as selfish and greedy. This is why we are not only called by God to love God, but to love our neighbors as well. We are “individuals” of a team. In a team, each person brings their own strengths. But the real strength of a team comes when the team learns how to play together and compliment each other. A team can have great individual talents, but if they work independently of each other, they will not be successful. So we need to seek to understand our giftedness and talents, but not just for our own benefit. Once we know what we are good at, we need to look at ways that we can benefit others. If you were to read the parable of the rich fool, in Luke chapter 12, you would see that this rich man spends his time accumulating riches for himself only. But when he dies and comes to judgment before God, God is not pleased with his selfishness. The rich man was not a team player!

II. Life-long Learning- (Proverbs 4:7)

School is important. It teaches us the basics of life that helps us to function well. We learn math, and reading. We learn how to think and to write. But the truth is, learning needs to be a life-long process. If you stop learning after you are done with school, you will struggle in your life.

After the learning we gain in school, we must learn how to deal with pain in our lives, and change in our lives. We need to learn how to think critically, and how to get along with others. We need to learn what will help us live out our mission for life. Those who have stopped learning after their formal education are those who will struggle to have joy and understanding in life. Their minds become dormant.

So how do we learn without a classroom? The good news, is that there are many ways.

1. Listening and asking- One way is to listen and ask. Listening and

asking is like becoming 2 years old again. Two year olds ask why, why why, because they are curious to know things. We have to gain back that desire to be curious and to understand why. Asking questions, and then listening is one of the best ways to learn. I love to see how new Christians are so interested in asking questions and learning about their faith, and about God, and about the Bible, and about Jesus, and about how all this fits together with how they should live their lives.

2. Books- A second way to continue to learn, is through books.

Reading is great for the mind. It is also a great way to learn. Read both Christian and secular books. By doing this you will be challenged with a variety of perspectives, and will be stretched in your understanding of events.

3. Conferences- A third way is through conferences. I know for me,

when I go to conferences and seminars, I am challenged in my mind. I make sure that while I am there I take notes, although brief ones, so that I can go back and review what I’ve learned more easily. I have learned that when I take too extensive of notes, it will keep me from being able to review and remember what is important to learn.

4. People- A fourth way to learn is through other people. There are

people around us who have knowledge we don’t have. When you talk to people, try to learn from them. Even ask them questions so that you might learn more. Don’t be embarrassed by thinking that they might think you are not knowledgeable. This is often what keeps us from seeking to learn, and then we won’t be knowledgeable.

5. Travel- Fifth, is to learn through your travels. Whenever you

travel you should take some time to learn. You can learn geography, history, art, music, and so on… I have never been that good at geography. But I do know that because our family has traveled to South Dakota and back many times, I have a better understanding of where the states are.

Other kinds of places you can learn is the television, tapes, magazines, newspapers, and so on. As Proverbs 4:7 says: “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”

III. Respect for Externals-

Do you know much about a bassoon? A bassoon is really only good within an orchestra. Violins, trumpets, pianists, have need in a variety of settings, even as soloists. But the bassoon is really only needed in an orchestra. They are a complementary instrument.

To do well in our calling for God, we need to do 2 things:

1. Be willing to be team players. We need to understand that it is

more about being a team player than being a soloist. We need to find the security that allows us to not have to stand out. We need to learn how to be complementary.

2. We also need to learn to accept external conditions. If we can look

at the external conditions around us, and accept them, then we might be able to adapt ourselves to use these conditions to our advantage. Sometimes, this will help direct us into a different area.

Example- When computers were becoming big, IBM was the big computer maker. So when Bill Gates decided to go into the computer business, instead of trying to compete with IBM in making computers, he decided to focus on software for the computer, and this is how Microsoft became so big.

There are times in life when we aren’t accepting the external reality. It could

be the external reality of your work (maybe it isn’t the right job or right career); it could be the external reality of your family (you desire your family to be there for you, but they are not); it could be the external reality of your health (you think you should be more healthy, but the truth is that you are as healthy as you are going to be). Once we accept our external reality, it allows us to move beyond it to a healthier and happier place; a place where God can work in and through us.

But along with our external realities, it is also important to understand the

authority reality. We have to understand that we are under the authority of Christ, and not our own authority. This is playing by the rules. EX. If you’re going to play tennis, you have to serve behind the line and keep the ball within the sidelines. If you’re playing basketball, you have to dribble the ball up the court; you can’t just pick the ball up and run. And like it or not, the rules of God govern our behavior. Follow the rules, and our chances of doing well in life will increase greatly.

The irony of the gospel is that the more you submit to the authority of Christ, the more free you become. You become free because you can give things over to the Lord, and not worry about them; you will be able to live with your problems. And this is very freeing. Our problems won’t go away, but we will be in a better place to deal with them, and turn them into opportunities for living out our mission.

IV. A Hidden Wholeness- (Deuteronomy 30:19-20; Romans 12:3-6)

The truth is that getting from the mindset of success, to the mindset of significance, is not easy. It does not happen in a week, a month, or a year. And the lines between the halves are not always clear. This shouldn’t be discouraging; it is just reality. It shouldn’t frustrate you, but cause you to work harder.

EX. Last spring Tyler was playing baseball. He got drafted into the majors, and we decided to let him go up. The majors are kids aged 10-12. So as a ten year old, Tyler was one of the smallest and youngest kids. We thought it would be a good challenge for him. Tyler overall did very well. He became a very solid center fielder. And because of this, he played almost every inning of every game. This was great for a 10-year-old. But the one place he struggled was at batting. Tyler was having to bat against 11 and 12 year old pitchers. These kids were much bigger than him, and threw the ball 50 – 60 miles per hour. That is quite a challenge for a 10-year-old. At times Tyler got frustrated (not out in the field, but when he was up to bat). But I told him that it shouldn’t discourage him, it should cause him to be more determined, and to lead him to work harder. I do have to say that that experience has really helped him, and he is doing well here in the fall.

In life, we will have times that are more challenging than others. We will have to make tough choices, and make sacrifices. But if we are committed to playing the whole game well, and work hard along the way, it will pay off. We will be able to play for all that we are worth. As we are told in Deuteronomy 30:19-20, “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ²⁰ and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Thomas Merton wrote that all you really need is in your life already. He called it the “hidden wholeness.” What he meant was that you do not need to chase after things outside of you to find fulfillment. Even though that’s what most of us do in the first half of our faith, we eventually learn that money, fame, material possessions, and experiences will never fill us. What we become in the second half of our faith has already been invested during the first; it is not going to come from out of the blue. The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:3-6, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. ⁴Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.” God has planted in our souls a desire to connect with Him and then pro-vided a way for us to do it. But remember that the journey itself is the essence of life.

V. A 50/50 Proposition- (Matthew 28:18-20)

Story: There is a story of 2 men, Sandy Kress (a Jewish lawyer), and Don

Williams (a Christian businessman), who put their heads together to try and improve the Dallas school system. They felt that the missing piece of the puzzle was the moral and values dimension. Part of what they came up with was the 50/50 principle. The basic idea was the challenging of churches to allocate 50% of their resources to themselves, and 50% to serving their community and world. Now this is a pretty radical proposition. But what difference would be made in our community, if every church in our community adopted this challenge?

In the month of November, we are going to be able to look at this more closely, because we will be going through some themes from a book entitled “The Externally Focused Church.” Churches are finding out more and more that to be significant for God, they need to delve into their communities more!

The 50/50 church reaches out to serve its surrounding community, living out its proclamation of the gospel, instead of trying to get people to “adhere” to its way of thinking. This is not to say that people don’t need to hear about Jesus and receive Jesus. This is not to say that people don’t need to change their behavior. But for too many churches it becomes about membership, and not about people becoming followers of Jesus. We are more into making members, than disciples.

One of the tragedies of people who are living in the first half of their faith, is that they are encouraged to be selfish. In our society, even faith is thought to be a “private matter.” This is true of churches as well. So many are only concerned with what happens in their church walls. It is like a country club, where if you are not a member, then you don’t matter. Churches are selfish in this way.

But this was never the call of Jesus. Jesus was always concerned with those who were on the outside. Jesus was always concerned with those who didn’t belong. Jesus regularly called the religious leaders to reach out beyond themselves. When Jesus gave the great commission, in Matthew 28:18-20, he said: “‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”

When Jesus was gathering followers, He didn’t say, “Go and become a member of the synagogue.” He said, “Come, follow me.” First and foremost Jesus was concerned with people knowing Him and following Him. That should be a major goal and focus of our church. It is a major part of our mission statement. So we should live out this mission in the way we do ministry.

If we have the dreams God wants us to dream, then being a 50/50 church is the way to start moving. This will take courage, and energy, and determination, and time. This is what it means to reevaluate the game plan, and play to be significant!

Conclusion: Bob Buford, the author of the book “From Success to Significance,” had a wonderful transformation in his life. He understood that being a Christian was more than just believing. Being a Christian is a call from God to be who we were created to be. As Buford said, “It is my duty and mission to put to work what I am good at, rather than to do what I would love to do.” Although I would add that what we are good at is usually what we love to do as well.

I hope that what you will take away from this series is this: God is speaking to us every day, whispering to us what He wants us to do, where He wants us to go, and how He wants us to act. We have to get past the desire to be selfish and in control, and let God be our authority and guide. We have to seek to become the person God created us to be. We have to use our resources (both as individuals and as a church) 50% for ourselves, and 50% for the mission of God. Are you willing to accept this challenge? If you are, you will move from the first half of your faith to the second half. And you will move from the desire to be successful, to the greater accomplishment of being significant. I hope you will join me in this journey. Amen.