Broadway Christian Church · Columbia, Missouri

Morning Worship · October 15, 2006

Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Prayer of the Day

O Lord, our God, we gather as a portion of your family centered in Christ.  As a community of faith, strengthen us this hour, not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewal of our minds.  Equip us to express the kind of world you intended when you spoke it into existence.  This we ask in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Scripture

1 Corinthians 1:4-9

I always thank God for you because of God’s grace given to you in Christ Jesus.  For in him you have been enriched in every way… Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gifts as you eagerly await for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.  He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God, who called you into fellowship with Christ, is, in fact, faithful.

Message

The Life God Wants You to Have – Part 2

Rick Frost

Today we are going to deal with the second half of the topic we started last Sunday.  If you were with us, you will know we started with the notion that came as a surprise to some (as I learned as the day progressed).  It was the notion that the Creator of all that is, the One who made you and made me and all persons, did, in fact, make us to live a passionate life.

Now, the Lord does not require us to live a passionate life.  The Lord never makes us do anything, really, but the fact that the Lord wants us to live a passionate life is the key to our discussion.  Passion is what energizes life.  It’s the creative force behind anything that is good, and wonderful, and great.  It mobilizes, drives, motivates, causes very ordinary people just like us to do, quite frankly, some rather extraordinary things.

We made the point last week that if God, indeed, wants God’s people to live a passionate life – the spiritual adventure – why then are so many people like the balloon? 

We didn’t talk about the balloon last week.  Did we?  You know about the balloon?  You go to a party and some helium balloons get loose.  Have you ever had that happen at your place?  They go up to the top of the ceiling.  In this sanctuary that would really be interesting.  You can’t get them down, because they are way too high.  The hostess always says, “Oh, don’t worry.  They’ll be down in the morning.”  Sure enough, the next morning comes, and they are down.  The fizz has gone.  They have lost their zip. 

I think that is sort of a parable about many of us.  A lot of folks start out with all kinds of energy, excitement, dreams, ambition, and drives.  Then something happens.  The zip and the fizz are gone.  What happened?

Now, as we mentioned last week, sometimes there are physical things that happen to us that do, indeed, drain our energy, and we cannot control those things.  We have to see our doctor about such things.  But we also saw, and hopefully we will continue to see today there are many spiritual causes that take the adventure, the energy, the passion out of people’s lives.  There are some things we can, in fact, do about those things.

Helen Keller once said,  “Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing at all.”

In our text today, Paul says this: “God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with you the grace that comes to us in Christ Jesus, and all of the spiritual gifts that you need for that adventure are, in fact, yours.”

But as everyone in this room knows, things happen.  Things happen that drain energy, that take the adventure out of your life and mine.  Last week we called those things “passion killers.”

Last Sunday we took a look at three of those things that take the adventure out of our lives. 

1.      An unclear purpose – not being able to name, know, or claim the reason that we are here on this earth.

2.      An unbalanced schedule – when you are tired, worn out, fatigued, passion drains out of your life.

3.      An unresolved conflict – keeping our relationships healthy is one of the keys to keeping passion and adventure in our lives.

Today, we are going to look at four other events like we talked about last week.  I suggest it is time for us to jump right in.

Number 4:

Another passion killer is an unsupported lifestyle.  Folks, you and I were made to need each other.  We were made to live in relationship with other people.  It is why solitary confinement is considered the most cruel form of imprisonment.  It is why, when someone loses a spouse, they often wonder what it is they have to live for today and tomorrow.  It is what happens when people, for all kinds of reasons, stop being around God’s people.  They stop coming to church.  They stop hanging around with people who share the love and grace of God we know in Christ Jesus.  When that happens, passion tends to leak out of people’s lives.

That is why Ecclesiastes 4 says, “Two are better than one, because when one falls down, a friend can help you up.  Pity the person who stumbles but has no one to help.”

Some of you remember the Sunday I tried to burn down the sanctuary.  Were you here that Sunday?  It was a few years ago.  We had this brand new facility.  Some of you will remember this.  I brought a barbecue grill in.  Do you remember that?  I put stuff down on the floor to protect it.  I thought George Garner was going to have a chicken right there on the spot.  I forgot to tell him about it ahead of time.  I built this charcoal fire right there in the little grill.  In retrospect, we probably created enough carbon monoxide to, not just kill our passion, but kill all of us.  I built this fire right here in front of God and everybody to make a point.  The point, I’m sure, you have seen and heard many times.  It is a great illustration.  It is just as real today as it ever has been.

Take a coal out of the burning fire and set it aside by itself.  What happens?  You know what happens.  You isolate the coal, and it just sort of gets cold.  It goes out.  But, put it back into the fire, and it starts to warm up again.  It gets going again.  God made us just that way, folks.  God made us to be in relationship to others.

I received this great note last week.  I asked if I could share it, and she said, “Yes.”  The note reads:

“So many years ago after I became ill, I found that I had no passion – no passion for life.  Instead, I had a lot of worries and sadnesses and regrets about how things were.  But then, things started to change when I got connected… when I got involved… when I got active here at Broadway.  It started with a visit from Kim.  It took another step when I signed up to get paired up with one of our Stephen Ministers.

“Today, I now have a passion for finding things that I can do that are part of the ministry and mission of this group of people.  One big thing I have noticed.  I used to miss attending worship about 50 percent of the time.  I just didn’t feel good.  I felt bad.  Now, some Sunday mornings I still don’t feel very well, but I feel a pull to be there anyway, because I feel comfortable.  I feel cared for.  I know that I don’t have to be at my best to be welcomed in my community of faith.  What a blessing.”

Folks, we were made to be with each other.  We need other people in our lives.  We need people with whom we share values, and goals, and dreams, and beliefs, and hopes in order to sustain the passion that we want in our life.

Number 5:

Another passion killer is the unexamined life.  You probably remember your introductory philosophy class.  You probably remember the story about Socrates advising his students saying, “An unexamined life is not worth living.”  Before Socrates said that, the Bible, in the book of Lamentations said, “Let us look closely at our ways.  Let us examine ourselves and then return to the Lord.”

That means every once in a while, you and I need to ask ourselves a few questions.  One of the things that’s going on in dynamic churches today is that people are asking each other and giving each other a little spiritual check-up.  When was the last time somebody in your church asked you, “How are you doing?”  “How are you doing spiritually?”  “Where are you going?”  “Is your life on track?”  “Do you think you are where God wants you to be?”  What a wonderful thing for the people of the church to ask each other.

In the last few years, as most of you know, NASCAR racing has moved from the margins to the mainstream of our nation’s thirst for energy, and excitement, and various kinds of sports.  I guess there is something about driving a car around a track at full throttle that just captures the imagination of millions.  (Just ask people like Walter Sorrels, or Scotty Orr, or Rick Wesley, or Ken Evans, or John DeSpain.  They all like that sort of thing, but I’m not going to go there today.)  You know what?  When you are driving at full throttle, even when you are doing NASCAR racing, what has to happen three or four times during the race?  You have to take a break.  You have to pull-in.  You have to take a pit stop.

I think that is a parable for us.  We need, from time to time, to take our own pit stop.  We need times in our lives when we pull back, when we intentionally let God speak.  Indeed, we need to open ourselves to hear what the Living Spirit of Christ might have to say to us.  When we do, one of the things that is going to happen is that God is going to replenish our souls.  Your soul is going to be replenished, because God is going to pinpoint some areas in your life that need to be dealt with. 

There are things you and I are carrying around on the inside that nobody sees on the outside.  Those things drain passion.  They drain the adventure and the energy.  They drain it right out of your life.  It is stuff that needs to be faced, stuff that needs to be confessed, things that need to be cleaned out, quite frankly.

Some people call that guilt.  Other people call that wrongdoing.  The Bible calls that sin.  Sin: an act or feeling that separates us from God, from each other, and even ourselves.  That, indeed, drains us.

When I think about this, I think about our youngest daughter’s first car.  When she turned 16, we helped her buy her first car.  It was an Acura, I think.  It had a lot of miles on it, but it ran fairly well most of the time.  It was a pretty nice looking car, I thought, for a 16-year-old.  But open the door and go inside, and oh, my goodness, you could find half her closet in there.  There were three days of leftovers in there.  There might have even been somebody buried in there.  I don’t know.  It was a scary thing getting in her car.

I think that is sort of a parable.  Some of you have been there.  You know what I am talking about.  On the outside, everything looks wonderful.  But on the inside, there is stuff that needs to be cleaned up. 

The good news is that the Lord gives us the way to do just that.  You don’t have to carry around that kind of stuff all of our lives.  God says, “If you will come before me… if you will own… if you will admit… if you will acknowledge whatever it is, and… (Oh, this is the catch), …and if you are willing to forgive others for the wrongs they have done to you, I will forgive you (Matthew 6).”

See, it is not just coming before the Lord and asking for forgiveness.  It is all about a trade-off.  God will forgive us the degree and the willingness that we are willing to go in order to forgive others who do things wrong to us.  Folks, when that happens, that weight is lifted.  If you have ever done just that, you know about the lifting of that weight.  Then the passion starts to flow back.  Life gets re-energized again.  It feels good to be alive.

Number 6:

Another passion killer is an undernourished soul.  Folks, what do you call a person who eats only once a week?  You call that person starving.  That’s what you call him/her.

A lot of people you and I know are starving spiritually.  Coming here, or any church, once a week is not going to feed you spiritually.  It can’t happen.  It’s not going to happen.  It never has happened.  That is because you and I need to feed our souls the same way we need to feed our bodies.  Our souls need nourishment. 

Deuteronomy 8 says, “People need more than just bread in order to live.  Real life comes by feeding on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

We need to feed our souls.  Why?  Because every day you and I have to deal with stuff that shrinks our souls.  We have to deal with stuff that shrivels our spirits.  Every day, you and I have to deal with distractions and disappointments, and problems and pressures.  Every day.  Not once a week.  Not once a month.  Not once in a lifetime, but every day we face conflicts and challenges, fears and threats.  Stuff happens.  It happens to you.  It happens to me.  It happens to all people.  Because it happens, you and I have to be intentional about feeding our souls.  If you don’t, you are going to lose your passion.

What do we feed our souls on?  Scripture says we feed our souls on Scripture, itself.  Take five or ten minutes.  This is so old; it has been going on forever.  Take five or ten minutes a day.  Read and reflect on five or ten verses of Scripture.  You have heard that forever, but you will be amazed at how many folks sitting in our church have never, ever done that.  You would be amazed, however, how the Spirit of the Living God begins to feed your soul when you are willing to do those things.

Proverbs 3 says, “God’s principles will fill you with living energy.”

But you have to be intentional.  You have to do it.  Your soul is not going to automatically feed itself.  Feed it.  Feed your soul and watch.  Watch and feel the energy.  The passion for everyday living will start to come back.

Number 7:

The final passion killer we are going to deal with today is an unexpressed faith.  It will kill passion every time.

Paul reminds us in Ephesians: “We are not to be infants in the Spirit any longer, tossed to and fro by every way and every wind of doctrine, by cunning and crafty people in all their deceitful scheming.” 

Doesn’t that sound like some paid political announcements you’ve been hearing lately?  Gosh!  Your soul just shrivels on those kinds of things.  Indeed, Paul tells us that we are to be people who are to speak the truth.  We are to “speak the truth in love.”  Folks, we were made to express truth.  We were made to express our faith. 

This has taken me years to get.  I don’t know why, but it has.  Do you know that God has a message that God wants to say to the whole world just through you?  It’s amazing.  Every person on this planet has a life message.  If you don’t share it… If you don’t say it… If you don’t express it… If you don’t put it out there, two sad things happen.  1) The world gets cheated.  It is the world’s loss, because the message God wants to give to the world through you isn’t being expressed.  2) It’s not just a lost to the world; it is a loss to you, because you lose your passion. 

We were made to express.  We are not here just to take in, in, in.  We’re here to give out, and give out.  If you take in, and take in, and take in, and never or very rarely give out, your life, as you know, becomes stagnant.  It becomes ugly.  It gets bitter.  It is empty.  That is because we were made to express.  We were made to tell.  We were made to share.  We were made to give.  That’s the way God created us.

If you want to be alive… If you want to be vital… If you want to re-energize your life and your passion, try Psalm 96.  It says: “Each day express; each day tell somebody about God, about your blessings, about what is making a difference in your life.”

In the church community, we call that, “The Pass It On Principle.”  You’ve heard that before.  The more that you and I receive, the more God calls us to give.  The more God blesses you in your life, the more you are to be a blessing in somebody else’s life.  That’s just how it works.  It is how it was made to be.  That’s the way it is designed.  You were made to pass that on.  When you do, your energy, your passion gets restored.

Let me give you an illustration.

She grew up in this church.  Some of you in this room pray for her, and some of you in this room wrote checks for her mission trip to Uganda with Habitat for Humanity.  In a letter that many of us – family and friends – received just recently this week, she had this to say:

“I hadn’t realized what a deep and profound effect that trip would have on my life, or how long it would take me to process my thoughts and my emotions. 

“First, my trip was a huge success.  My team built two houses and saw them dedicated to new families.  I met wonderful people from all walks of life, from all over the world, dedicated to service.

“I saw incredible wildernesses, peaceful farms.  I saw a country slowly mending from decades of war and military dictatorship.  Unfortunately, I also saw the worst poverty and pollution imaginable.  Uganda is magical, but it is also a heart-breaking place.  It is a place, however, that has changed me forever.

“Fact: a Habitat house in that part of the world with concrete floors, brick walls, corrugated tin roof, composting latrines, reduces infant mortality ten fold.  Just that.  It increases a child’s chance to recover.  It decreases chronic respiratory and intestinal problems.  Most of all, it give people dignity.  It is a home where they can keep their family safe and where they can welcome visitors.

“Oh, by the way, I have a deep and lasting reverence for indoor plumbing.  Hail, to the magnificence of the toilet.  Tell your local politicians to do whatever they need to do to make sure our waters stay clean.

“But more than anything, this experience made me realize how many blessings I, in fact, have in my life and how easy it is to share those blessings.  In fact, I think I’m going to become a Global Village Team Leader and take groups to build myself.  I’d love to have you join me the next time around.”

Folks, that’s a woman who is living a passionate life.  God has a message that God wants to say to the world through her.  Every day she is telling somebody about her blessings and what difference that is making in her life.  When she does, the energy, the adventure, the passion comes back.

The question today: How serious are you about getting passion back in your life?  It doesn’t just happen.  It is not automatic.  It takes time.  It takes effort.  It takes being intentional.

1 Timothy 4 says: “Take the time.  Make the effort.  Keep yourselves spiritually fit.  If you do, you will live the passionate life that God wants you to live.”

And we all say together… “Amen.”

Benediction

Author of Life, help us to live out our Great Adventure, taking an up-close and personal look at our lives: how you nourish our souls, how we can rely on your truths, how we can read between the lies of this world and express our faith!  Let us own the story you’ve written for us; the one with the happily ever after.  Amen.