February 23, 2020 NOTES
NOT EDITED
Hitting the Redline
Hitting the Redline
2Corinthians 4:1-18
The week before last, I
preached a sermon titled, “The Mamba Mentality,” which related to serve God
with a burning passion for excellence.
You remember that the late, Kobe Bryant, the NBA legend, used this to
describe his approach to basketball, and to life.
I want to continue that theme today, but switch gears to a different sport. I want us to think about “Race Car Driving.” This past Sunday was the scheduled start for the Daytona 500 at the Daytona, Florida, speedway. It was postponed until Monday due to rain.
These racecars are powerful machines designed to run at full bore, wide-opened for 500 laps or about 2.5 hours. The cars run at “maximum rpm’s,” or what is commonly called, “redlining.” Literally, these cars are on the verge of flying apart while they run at top speeds on the track. Just before the finish of this years race, Ryan Newman’s car was engulfed in a fiery crash. He was in first place. The epitome of “redlining” can be seen in the fact that Newman actually skidded across the finish line taking ninth place!
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owURzgtwOSw
I want to continue that theme today, but switch gears to a different sport. I want us to think about “Race Car Driving.” This past Sunday was the scheduled start for the Daytona 500 at the Daytona, Florida, speedway. It was postponed until Monday due to rain.
These racecars are powerful machines designed to run at full bore, wide-opened for 500 laps or about 2.5 hours. The cars run at “maximum rpm’s,” or what is commonly called, “redlining.” Literally, these cars are on the verge of flying apart while they run at top speeds on the track. Just before the finish of this years race, Ryan Newman’s car was engulfed in a fiery crash. He was in first place. The epitome of “redlining” can be seen in the fact that Newman actually skidded across the finish line taking ninth place!
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owURzgtwOSw
I want to use race car
driving as the context or hook for this
mornings message. I titled this message,
“Hitting the Redline,” and
subtitle it, “Maximum Men for the Master.” Now, I don’t want to leave the women out, but
I believe that God is calling, and with rare exceptions in history, has always
called for the “men” of the church to carry the load of ministry.
Here’s my message in a sentence: The Master’s Men (and Women) serve at maximum capacity for maximum results in this world.
Here’s my message in a sentence: The Master’s Men (and Women) serve at maximum capacity for maximum results in this world.
We must become maximum
men and women. When men and women maximize their God-given potential the
very floodgates of heaven open and pour out blessing on and through our lives.
Paul describes our ability to break free from the menace of
mediocrity by calling us “treasures in jars of clay.” 2 Cor 4:7-18
7 Now we have this treasure in
clay jars, so that this extraordinary power
may be from God and not from us. 8 We are pressured in
every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; 9 we
are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. 10 We
always carry the death of Jesus in our
body, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For
we who live are always given over to death
because of Jesus, so that Jesus’ life may also be revealed in our mortal
flesh. 12 So death works in us, but life in you. 13 And
since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I
believed, therefore I spoke, x
we also believe, and therefore speak. 14 We know that the One
who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and present us with you. 15 Indeed,
everything is for your benefit, so that grace, extended through more and more
people, may cause thanksgiving to
increase to God’s glory. 16 Therefore
we do not give up. Even though our outer
person is being destroyed, our inner person
is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary light
affliction d is producing for
us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. 18 So we do not focus on what
is seen, but on what is unseen. For what
is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
7 Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this
extraordinary power may be from God and
not from us.
............................................................................
15 Indeed, everything is for your benefit, so that grace, extended through more and more people, may cause thanksgiving to increase to God’s glory.
............................................................................
15 Indeed, everything is for your benefit, so that grace, extended through more and more people, may cause thanksgiving to increase to God’s glory.
The single most important ingredient to success in any endeavor is
a sincere desire to seek excellence. The sad reality of life in these
United States is that most everybody has everything they want: they just don’t
want much!
Let’s bring it home and get real . . . you all want the “truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth” don’t you? Well, here it
is. If you have already missed more than
one Sunday morning since January 1st,
and you were not under a doctor’s care or having a near death experience at
home, then you “might not be a Redliner.”
Church
attendance is one of the key factors in being a Redliner for Christ. There has never been in the history of the
world a “maximum disciple with mediocre church attendance.” That’s a fact. And don’t even get me started on “giving,
teaching, praying, and studying the Bible!”
Maximum Men for the Master abhor any
descent into mediocrity. Like
high-powered, well-tuned, fully fueled racecar Maximum Men run full out, full
bore for Jesus maximizing every opportunity to build the Master’s kingdom.
The Devil has very little to do with the sorry state of the church we see all around us today. Men and women in the church are not grievously slouching into sin and shame. Oh, yes, there’s plenty of sin to go around but it is not outward sin that is holding the church back from an explosive revival of God’s glorious power. No, it is “mediocrity.”
When I decided to preach on this idea of Hitting the Redline: Becoming Maximum Men for the Master, I had in mind a book by Charles Swindoll that I read many years ago titled, “Living Above the Level of Mediocrity. Then, I came across another book in my library that also had a sermon titled, “The Menace of Mediocrity.” It is an old book of sermons by R.G. Lee, one of the most memorable Baptist pastors of a by-gone era. Dr. Lee died in 1978. He is most famous for his sermon: Pay-day, Some Day. He preached that message over 1200 times. In his sermon, “The Menace of Mediocrity,” Dr. Lee, in his indubitably winsome manner described mediocrity as ”somebody with steam shovel talents doing teaspoon work.”
The Devil has very little to do with the sorry state of the church we see all around us today. Men and women in the church are not grievously slouching into sin and shame. Oh, yes, there’s plenty of sin to go around but it is not outward sin that is holding the church back from an explosive revival of God’s glorious power. No, it is “mediocrity.”
When I decided to preach on this idea of Hitting the Redline: Becoming Maximum Men for the Master, I had in mind a book by Charles Swindoll that I read many years ago titled, “Living Above the Level of Mediocrity. Then, I came across another book in my library that also had a sermon titled, “The Menace of Mediocrity.” It is an old book of sermons by R.G. Lee, one of the most memorable Baptist pastors of a by-gone era. Dr. Lee died in 1978. He is most famous for his sermon: Pay-day, Some Day. He preached that message over 1200 times. In his sermon, “The Menace of Mediocrity,” Dr. Lee, in his indubitably winsome manner described mediocrity as ”somebody with steam shovel talents doing teaspoon work.”
Poets have long
understood that most men never reach their full potential in life.
James Russell Lowell
wrote that man’s mediocrity has “contracted (that is shrunk) the
firmament of God’s heaven to the size of a man’s tent.” In the waning days of England’s glory the Baptist preacher and
English statesman, Lloyd
George bemoaned, “England has the let the voice of authority
become an impotent whisper and the roar of the lion become the squeak of a
mouse.”
I’m not generally a
great fan of Norman
Vincent Peale, but I think he did have it right
when he pointed out that “millions of men and women are creeping through
life on their hands and knees because they refuse to rely on any power beyond
themselves.” Men and women without God achieve some modicum of
success with a minimum of effort only the end life mired in the mud of a
mediocre life.
The Menance of
Mediocrity is epidemic
in our society. Businesses are mediocre. Marriage are mediocre. Children’s respect for parents is mediocre (at
best). And . . . mediocrity is no less prevalent in the church. Even a half-century ago a
preacher proclaimed, “The church is a model of mediocrity”. It’s
music, its architecture, its prayers, its parish talk, its celebrations are all
mediocre. What we need are men maximizing their lives for the Lord Jesus
Christ. As one person said so well, “Jesus did not come to chase
rabbits, he came to tame lions!” What we need more than anything else in the church today is to
recapture a sense of “conquest or ambition for great things.” A few years ago Dr. R.G. Lee, in a way only he could do,
summarized the religious landscape of his day. It is worse in our day. Dr. R.G. Lee
pointed his accusing pen at “Bantam Baptists, Midget Methodists, Pee wee
Presbyterians, Lilliputian Lutherans, Puny Pentecostals, and miniature
Mennonites.” The problem in the church scene today, to paraphrase
another great Baptist preacher, is, “We Christians are many, but we are not much!”
God wants more, and expects more, from his children.
11 For we who live
are always given over to death because
of Jesus, so that Jesus’ life may also be revealed in our mortal flesh.
12 So death works in us, but life in you.
Notice this verse speaks
of two opposing principles at work in our lives. One, the principle of death, decay, and
chaos. Two, the principle of life, growth, and purpose. Look at verse 7-8 again to see these
same principles in action:
8 We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but
not in despair; 9 we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are
struck down but not destroyed. 10 We always carry the death of
Jesus in our body, so that the life of
Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who live are
always given over to death because of Jesus, so that Jesus’ life may also be
revealed in our
mortal flesh.
TWO PRINCIPLES IN THE LIFE OF A BELIEVE
JAR TREASURE
pressured not crushed
perplexed not in despair
persecuted not abandoned
death of Jesus life of Jesus
JAR TREASURE
pressured not crushed
perplexed not in despair
persecuted not abandoned
death of Jesus life of Jesus
These same principles
are mentioned again in verse 16 as we will see in a moment.
Salvation starts as an
event but continues as a process. The
event happens when we appropriate for our own lives, through the Holy Spirit’s
indwelling, the death of Jesus on the cross to pay the penalty for our
sins. Salvation continues as we continue
to grow in our faith until the “life of Jesus is revealed in our lives in
increasing measure.” Look at verse
13 (we will say more about this verse later).
There are three verbs used: having
faith, believing, and speaking. All
three of these verses are in the present tense which indicates in Greek
a continuous and consistent action or progress, that is, maturing toward the
likeness of Christ more and more each day.
Too many Christians and church-goers are content with “just the event of salvation,” but want nothing to do with the “process of salvation or sanctification.” One great Southern Baptist preacher described such “immature” believers. He said, “We need men who are sixteen ounces to a pound for God [and] who measure thirty-six inches to the yard!” Another great Southern Baptist preacher pointed out the same lack of maturity in the lives of most church folk when he said, “If an automobile had as many useless parts as the average church, it wouldn’t even run downhill!” This is straight talk many of us need to hear today.
Too many Christians and church-goers are content with “just the event of salvation,” but want nothing to do with the “process of salvation or sanctification.” One great Southern Baptist preacher described such “immature” believers. He said, “We need men who are sixteen ounces to a pound for God [and] who measure thirty-six inches to the yard!” Another great Southern Baptist preacher pointed out the same lack of maturity in the lives of most church folk when he said, “If an automobile had as many useless parts as the average church, it wouldn’t even run downhill!” This is straight talk many of us need to hear today.
There are many in the church who chime in with weighty opinions but are a little light in their spiritual loafers.
There are so many in the church today, men and women, who should be spiritual giants, but are in fact, ministerial midgets.
If you have been saved, ten, fifteen, twenty, or even fifty years you
should have something to show for your years of spiritual growth. Your
speech should be seasoned with the salt of the Word, and your life should be an
exemplary light in the dark world around you. But, the fact is, even
after years of being a Christian, people have very fruit in their lives.
A great Baptist preacher once proclaimed to his flock,
“We have men who should be strong enough to meet a lion–but for
lack of maturity–they are defeated by a mouse.
I wonder how many here today can say, “I have had a direct impact on my community in the last six years.” How many here this
morning can take credit for supporting the ministries of this church with both
time and talent. If I were to die today I would die knowing I did
not do near enough for my Lord these last 30 years that I have been saved.
I should have done much more with my life in that time. I should
have memorized more Scripture. I should have prayed more often and more
fervently. I should have shared my testimony with more who need to know
Christ. I should have grown in maturity much more than I have. I
have not been a Maximum Man for Christ because I have not matured in my faith
like I should have. This sermon is as much confession as exhortation.
We all need to move toward greater maturity in Christ if we are going to
be Maximum Men and Women of God.
① Our FAITH must be Mastered By the
Master (13)
13 It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken."
With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak,
Paul is quoting from the Book of Psalms a passage that describes Who it is that delivers us from the pit of eternal destruction:
Ps 116:8-10 For you, O LORD, have
delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, 9 that I may walk before the
LORD in the land of the living. 10 I believed; therefore I said, "I am greatly afflicted." (Or, “even though afflicted
I still believe)
There are not many roads to salvation, but only one. The way is not broad that leads to heaven but narrow. Paul is not advocating that we “work FOR” our
faith but we “work ON and THROUGH” our faith.
That is why he uses this Psalm of deliverance. To paraphrase this Psalm I would say, “Even though my challenges are overwhelming you, O Lord, have delivered
me and by faith I am living and speaking boldly in this world.”
There is no Savior but Jesus Christ the Lord. There are a lot of people who call themselves, “Christian,” but are not the genuine article. Some people are trusting in good works to get them to heaven. The Bible says that even our “righteousness is like filthy rags.”
There is no Savior but Jesus Christ the Lord. There are a lot of people who call themselves, “Christian,” but are not the genuine article. Some people are trusting in good works to get them to heaven. The Bible says that even our “righteousness is like filthy rags.”
Some
people are trusting church membership to save them. I like what Billy
Graham once said (and I think he was quoting another great evangelist), “Going
to church will not make you a Christian anymore than sitting in a garage will
make you an automobile.”
Some
people are trusting the flimsy foundation of flaky doctrine. Some people
believe they will die one day and inhabit a planet with their spiritual wives
procreating prolifically for all time. Some people are trusting in the
flaky doctrine that using only a single name for God like, “Jehovah ,” and handing out
literature will save them.
There is no other name by which must be saved but the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. If He is not the master
of our faith, our faith is in vain. (Acts 4:12).
②
Our FATE Must Be Mastered by the Master (8, 9)
8 We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are
perplexed but not in despair; 9 we are persecuted but not abandoned; we
are struck down but not destroyed.
By fate, I mean what
happens to us in this life, not what will ultimately happen to us
when we enter into heaven. I’ll speak about that glorious event in a moment.
For now, I am exhorting us to put our trust fully in the Lord,
regardless of how bleak the circumstances may appear. I am referring here to
how God is the Master of our circumstances (our fate). Life may batter and beat against us but it cannot conquer us.
③
Our FINANCES are mastered by the Master (v 18)
18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is
temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
By “Finances” I include all
the worldly temptations of this life, but they can best be measured by how we
use our money. People are so easily
mesmerized and then enslaved by the shiny trinkets of life.
People are so stingy when it comes to the things of the Lord. As we
said earlier, when it comes to the average church, mediocrity is the soup de
jour! The Prophet Haggai warned against holding back on God when it comes
to the resources He allows you to control in life: Hag 1:3-6
3 Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 4
"Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while
this house remains a ruin?" 5 Now this is what the LORD Almighty
says: "Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but
have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never
have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to
put them in a purse with holes in it."
Wow! One of the quickest avenues to poverty is to live
without letting God be the Master of
your Material possessions. When it comes to money
and faith – like giving tithes and taking up offerings–
many church-goers are like a miserly husband I read about. His dear wife
wanted money to do the grocery shopping and perhaps by an inexpensive dress.
She came to her miserly husband and said, “Dear, could I have a
little money to do some shopping?” The husband answered
like many do at the time of the church offering, “Sure honey, how
little do you need!”
Maximum living requires the Master to master our money.
④
Maximum People Live as though Their FUTURE is Mastered By the Master (v14, 16-17)
14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the
dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence
Is that not a glorious
thought – the blessed hope – that one day I will stand in the very
presence of Almighty God and He will welcome me as one of His beloved
children!
This is the same two principles at work I spoke of earlier in regard to moving toward maturity: the “treasure in jars of clay.” Look at verses 16-17:
This is the same two principles at work I spoke of earlier in regard to moving toward maturity: the “treasure in jars of clay.” Look at verses 16-17:
16 Therefore we do not give up.
Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. 17 For
our momentary light affliction d
is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.
A Mexican man of means was gloriously saved. He had much influence in his community and was greatly influential.
He had the admiration of many in his community. Yet, he often
prayed this prayer that later found its way into print:
“I am only a spark;
make me a fire.
I am only a string; make me a lyre.
I am only a drop; make me a fountain.
I am only an ant hill make me a mountain.
I am only a string; make me a lyre.
I am only a drop; make me a fountain.
I am only an ant hill make me a mountain.
We are truly “treasures in jars of clay.” Regardless of our stature or situation in this life, God intends
for us to be Maximum Men and Women. When we maximize our God-given
potential the very flood-gates of heaven open and pour out blessing on and
through our lives that is simply unimaginable.
Don’t let mediocrity rob you of the blessed life God has planned for you. Be a Redliners—go all out, all the time, all the way for Jesus.
Don’t let mediocrity rob you of the blessed life God has planned for you. Be a Redliners—go all out, all the time, all the way for Jesus.
Won’t you become a “maximum man or woman today.”
