Introduction
For the last few weeks we’ve been talking about there’s more to this life than just existing, making a living, retiring and dying. We have been talking about the fact that we were made for a purpose, we were made for a reason. God put us on this earth for a really great reason. Today we conclude this series on The purpose-driven Life by looking at how do we finish the race.
Finishing the Race
In 1968 – the Olympics were held in Mexico City – the last runner to finish the marathon was a guy from Tanzania. During the race, he had broken a leg. He’d stumbled, he’d been hurt badly, he was bruised and bloodied. The stadium was almost empty and there were only about 7000 people left in it, he came straggling in, the last person in the marathon race. It was 7:00 in the evening, it was already dark and only about 7000 people were left in the stands. But as he entered to do his last lap and finish the marathon, the crowd rose and gave him a standing ovation. Later he was asked, “Why didn’t you quit when you were hurt and bruised, bloody, discouraged? Why didn’t you quit?” He gave a classic answer. He said, “My country did not send me 7000 miles around the world to start the race. But to finish it.”
The Bible teaches very clearly that life is a race. Unfortunately, most people never finish it. They get waylaid, sidetracked, distracted. They get disqualified. For one reason or another, they die with unfulfilled dreams, with unrealized potential and without ever becoming what God intended their life to become. That is a tragedy.
The Apostle Paul wrote a lot about this – more than anybody else. He said, I don’t want to miss God’s best. In Acts he says “I consider my life worth nothing to me if only I may finish the race and complete the task that the Lord Jesus has given me.” At the end of Paul’s life he wrote a letter to a pastor named Timothy. In the last chapter of the last letter Paul wrote before he died he said “I have finished the race.”
Are you going to be able to say that about your life? That you did what God made you to do? That you fulfilled the purpose for which you were put on this earth?
In Corinthians it tells us that there is a right way and a wrong way to run a race. So this afternoon to conclude our series I want to give you the Rules of the Race. If you want to make it to the finish lie, if you want to make your life count, if you want to get into the winners' box and stand before God one day and say, “God, I did what You made me to do,” you’ve got to keep these five rules of the race. You may find the notes on the back of the song sheet helpful as we go through these five rules of the race.
1. I MUST REMOVE ALL DISTRACTIONS
If I want to finish the race of life I must remove all distractions. In our reading from Hebrews we heard Darren read to us “Let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back and let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us.” What that means is that your race in life is unique. All of us have a unique race to run. We’re not supposed to run somebody else’s. They’re not supposed to run ours. If we don’t run the race that God intended for us, it’s not going to get run.
Here’s the problem. There are a lot of people in this life who want you to run their race. They want you to become like them. They want you to establish and accept certain norms and be politically correct. They will add onto your life all kinds of expectations and distractions and additional jobs and responsibilities that God never intended for you to have. They have lots of plans for your life. All of us start off as originals. But many of us end up as carbon copies in life. We get distracted and we get all things added onto us. You wouldn’t try to run a marathon with a suit of iron. Paul says we need to strip off anything that slows you down, eliminate the unnecessary baggage, simplify your life and only do what really counts. Don’t get distracted.
What is it that can distract you from your life mission? What can keep you from being what God wants you to be? Lots of things.
The opinions of other people can distract you. The desire to get rich could distract you. A good hobby can distract you from God’s life mission. The wrong kind of friends could distract you from your life mission.
But as a pastor, I have come to the conclusion that the number one thing that keeps people from becoming what God wants them to become is their past. Frankly, many of us are stuck. We’re stuck in our past. We can’t get on with our future because we’re still holding on to hurts.
There are two things that make us stuck in our past – guilt and bitterness. Guilt from things that we’ve done wrong and still feel bad over, things we’ve never forgiven ourselves for. Resentment or bitterness from things that people have done to us. With either one we’re dead in the water! If we want to get on with the future, if we want to finish the race of life, we’ve got to stop rehearsing our pasts, we’ve got to stop being manipulated by memories, and we’ve got to release the past. We have to give up our guilt – forgive ourselves because God’s forgiven us if we’ve come to Jesus. We’ve got to give up our grudges – forgive other people. And we’ve got to give up our grief. And we’ve got to get on with the future because that’s where you’re going to spend the rest of your life. If we don’t, it’s like trying to drive a car, looking in the rear view mirror. We’re going to crash.
So don’t let the past distract you. It’s a brand new day. You have stumbled. You have fallen. You’ve gotten knocked out of the race probably dozens of times, but winners get back up and they get in it and they keep on going. They don’t give up and they don’t allow distractions to bother them. They don’t get distracted by the crowd whether they’re cheering or booing. They’re running for the finish line. They’re focused.
Paul had every reason to be filled with regrets. Prior to becoming a believer, he was a religious terrorist. He admits that he even participated in one man’s murder. Yet he says in Philippians 3:13 “Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race.” We’ve got to remove all distractions.
2. REMEMBER THE REASON AND THE REWARD.
All the things that we’ve talked about in the last nine weeks – establishing your value system, identifying your strengths and your spiritual SHAPE, building a life mission based upon what God says God wants you to do, setting some goals and then organizing your life around that and building the relationships and skills to supplement and support that life mission – that’s hard work, folks. It’s very hard and it takes a lot of energy to do that. If you don’t know why you do what you do, you’ll never stick with it. The “why” always determines “how long” in life. The reason always determines your motivation.
That’s why we have so many discouraged, depressed people today. They have no reason for living. They get up in the morning and they go to work, they come home, they watch TV and go to bed and they go, “Why am I doing this?” And if you have no reason, if you have no meaning, no purpose in life but just trying to get ahead and you don’t know that there is more to this life then you’re going to give up and you’re going to get discouraged and you’re going to quit and you won’t make it to the end of the race. You have to remember the reason why you do what you do.
Even I get discouraged. And in this wonderful church that I’ve pastored now for 6 years I sometimes get discouraged and want to quit. I've often thought that someone else could do this so much better than I could. But whenever I get discouraged, whenever I feel like giving up, I remember two wonderful truths. And they’re the truths you should remember:
1. When I'm discouraged I remember that my life mission comes from God. I didn’t just make this thing up. God assigned it to me and God has a life mission for you. That means that if God gives you something to do, God’s going to give you the power to do it. God doesn’t ask you to do something that you won’t be given the energy, the brains, the intelligence to get it done. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4 “God has given us this work to do. So we don’t become discouraged.” I remember, Why am I doing this? Because it’s assigned to me by God.
2. I realize I’m going to be rewarded some day. St Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians “To win the contest, you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best…” We don’t like that part. What we want to do is do what God wants us to do, plus have everything else the world offers. God says, No, that’s not possible. If you’re going to win a race, you’re going to have to go through some discipline, some self-denial. God says, “To win the contest, you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best. There are rewards here on earth but they don’t last. You can fill a whole trophy case with trophies but who cares about them? Given enough time, somebody’s going to throw away your trophies. So don’t live for the rewards, don’t live for the applause, don’t live for the acclaim or fame of people because the only reward that matters is the one God gives us.
There are three kinds of motivation:
There is internal motivation where I do things because I’m internally motivated. Sometimes those internal motivations are wrong. You maybe trying to please an unpleasable parent inside of you. You may be trying to overcome some feeling of inferiority. You may do what you do because if you get famous, get to the top of then everybody will look up to you. It’s really a pride issue. Sometimes our internal motivations aren’t correct.
Then there are external motivations. That’s the carrot on the stick. That’s when you get the gold watch, the pin, the trophy, your picture on the cover of some magazine. There’s the external.
But neither internal nor external motivations last. If you’re going to make it to the finish line in the race of life, you need eternal motivation. That’s where he says we keep our eye not on the things around us. We keep our eye on the goal in heaven. Don’t build your life around just the here and now. You’ve got to have eternal perspective.
Whenever you’re discouraged you need to focus on your purpose and not your problems. The key to endurance is perspective – live your life in light of eternity. Most people in this world are living life as if all that matters is today. And that’s wrong. Today’s going to be over … today! It’s not going to last. But what is going to last is what happens in eternity. So keep your eyes on the reason you’re doing it – God is helping me. God gave me this job so God’s helping me. Focus on my purpose, not my problems.
3. I MUST RENEW MYSELF DAILY.
To last over the long haul, you have to know how to recharge yourself – spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally. St Paul writes “We do not become discouraged because our spiritual being is renewed day by day.” That means every 24-hours – daily. You need to know what renews you and then you need to do it over and over. Make a list of the things that keeps you going.
When the armed forces fly down to the Falklands they can't get all the way down there without refueling. To save time and to keep the fuel flowing, they have worked out how to refuel in mid-flight. On a long flight, these planes that are flying, stay in the air constantly and another plane actually flies up next to them, docks in and it’s like a petrol tank plane and they fill up so they can keep going.
You need to learn how to do that in your life. Mid-flight refueling. Every time you get tired and discouraged you can’t just hop off to Tahiti. I don’t know if you’ve figured that out yet but you can’t just call up and say, “Boss, I’m not really feeling motivated today. I think I’ll take a couple of weeks off.” No, you have to keep going. You have to know, how do I recharge myself in the middle of this hectic lifestyle, in the middle of this stress, in the middle of life as it really is lived. Because you can’t just go off and be a monk in some monastery every time you get tired. Learn how to recharge yourself during the day. We talked about this. Remember I said you need to Divert daily, Withdraw weekly, Abandon annually. Know what relaxes, what recharges you spiritually, physically, mentally and do it.
If you learn to do this, take these little mini breaks during the day. When you feel your pressure going up just stop and say, “God, I just want to tune in on You again. I just want to focus in on You.” I’m talking about fifteen seconds, twenty seconds. It’s not thirty minutes meditation. I’m just talking about little mini breaks. Learn to be quiet.
Why am I saying this? Because the race of life is tough. Inevitably it’s tough to live God’s plan for your life. You start getting distracted. You start having discouragement. And you start to doubt.
How do you defeat doubt? When you begin to doubt yourself, you remember three things:
1. I remind myself of God’s goodness yesterday. I make a list of all the things God’s done in my life and I just start being thankful. The attitude of gratitude is the healthiest emotion that you can have. Doctors have proven this. Gratitude is the healthiest emotion there is. You make a list of things you can be grateful for. I remember God’s goodness to me yesterday.
2. Then I remember God’s presence today that God’s with me right now. I’m not alone. I may feel like I’m alone but I’m not. I’ve just forgotten that God’s there with me. God says, “I’m here. I’m going to help you. I’ve promised I’ll never leave you or forsake you. I’m with you right now in this crisis.” I remember God’s presence today.
3. I remind myself of God’s promises for tomorrow. There’s over 7000 of them in the Bible. They’re like blank checks that I can just write out: “God, I claiming this one today. I’m turning in this coupon. I’m claiming this promise.” God has said “I will give you strength. I will give you the necessary tools. I will give you the wisdom you need in this situation if you’ll just call on Me.”
God’s goodness yesterday, God’s presence today, God’s promises tomorrow. I don’t need to doubt. I don’t need to be discouraged. I don’t need to be distracted. I renew myself daily.
4. I MUST RESIST DISCOURAGEMENT.
I must resist discouragement, if I’m going to make it to the end of the race, if I’m going to fulfill the purpose I was made. Galatians says this “Let us not get tired of doing what is right…” Do you ever do that? Do you ever get tired of doing what’s right? Sure. Because it’s easier to do the wrong thing. “Let us not get tired of doing what is right for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up.” There’s a big “if” there.
Discouragement is a deadly enemy of your life mission. In fact, the number one enemy of your life mission is procrastination.
The number two greatest enemy of your life mission is discouragement. It is the Devil's favourite tool because it works so well. If you are discouraged, you are neutralized. You are ineffective. God cannot use discouraged people. Why? Because discouraged people are the opposite of people of faith. And God uses people who have faith. When I am discouraged I’m saying, “It can’t be done.” That’s the exact opposite of saying, “I know God can do it because God’s said…” So the Devil wants to discourage you.
How do you handle failure? When things don’t go your way, when plans don’t happen the way you want them, do you start getting grumpy? Do you get frustrated? Do you start complaining? Do you have a pity party and invite yourself? I invite Me, Myself and I to my pity party and sing songs like, “Everybody hates me, nobody loves me, I’m going to go eat worms!”
The Bible says you need to resist discouragement. Don’t give in without a fight. Nothing worthwhile ever happens without endurance and energy. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. It always takes persistence. When a stone sculptor is trying to sculpt a masterpiece, do you think the first time they hit the chisel with their hammer that everything’s going to fall off and it will be a beautiful sculpture? No they have to keep hitting it and hitting it, chipping away. And that’s the way life is. Nothing really worthwhile ever comes easy in life. It’s like you keep hitting it, going after it and little by little your life becomes a masterpiece.
Great people are really just ordinary people with an extraordinary amount of determination. They don’t know how to quit.
I’m sure many of us get discouraged at different times. Some of us are discouraged about our relationships. It’s not at all what you thought it was going to be. You feel deflated and disappointed. Some of us are discouraged because you feel that you’re never going to get into a relationship. Some of us are discouraged that you’ve just lost your job and some of you are discouraged that you’re never going to find a new job. Some of you are discouraged about your finances. Or you’re discouraged about your health or you’re discouraged about the economy or you’re discouraged about a prayer you’ve been praying but the answer hasn’t come yet.
I want to say something to you. It may sound mean. It’s not mean, it’s the truth. I say this in love. If you’re discouraged, that’s your choice. It’s because you’re choosing to be discouraged. Because discouragement is always a choice. You don’t have to be discouraged. Discouragement comes from thinking discouraging thoughts and you can change your thoughts any time. It’s what you choose to focus on – my purpose or my problems, God’s power or my weakness, Jesus or my circumstances. What am I going to focus on? It’s your choice. You can choose instead of looking at the problem, looking at the impossible situation, looking at the disappointment, you can choose to look at God’s goodness yesterday, God’s presence today and God’s promises tomorrow. You don’t have to be discouraged. It’s a choice.
You resist it. Great people fight discouragement. Tip: When you get discouraged, ignore it. “Sorry, I don’t have time to be discouraged right now. I’m too busy fulfilling my life mission.” That doesn’t mean you’re a Pollyanna and pretend that everything’s great. Everything isn’t great. It’s a mixture of good and bad. You are realistic but you’re also optimistic because you are a Christian. And “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” And “Lo, I am with you always,” God says. God will help you and God will strengthen you. You are realistic but you’re also optimistic. Because that’s what faith is all about.
Some of us are going through some difficult times right now and you may feel like dropping out of the race. The situation may seem unmanageable. It may seem unfair what you’re going through right now. It may seem unreasonable. And honestly it may seem unbearable. Inside you’re basically saying, “God, I can’t take it any more. I just can’t take it any more!” But you can. You can take it some more because God is with you. And you can take it. You are never a failure until you quit. If you quit you won’t make it to the finish line.
5. YOU’VE GOT TO RELY ON JESUS
Your life mission cannot be completed by human power alone. St Paul wrote “This is my work and I can do it only because Christ’s mighty energy is at work within me.” Where God guides, God provides. What God calls you to do, God equips you to do. God can take a talent, an opportunity, a skill, a hobby and use it as part of your life mission to help other people. But you’ve got to rely on Jesus.
The Christian race is not a competition of who can get to the end first. The Christian race is one of endurance and the issue is how well do you finish. The Bible says in Philippians 1 “God who began the good work with you will keep right on helping you grow in grace until God's task within you is finally finished.” You are never a failure until you quit.
Finish the race. For some of us that means getting back in the race. For some of us it means starting the race today. We end this nine-week series we’ve been in with a rather short blunt Bible verse. Acts 13:36 “David served God’s purpose in his generation, then he died.” I don’t know a finer epitaph to have on a tombstone that you served God’s purpose in your generation. That is my prayer for you. That people will be able to say about you, that you served God’s purpose in your generation and then you died. I want people to be able to say that about me. That I served God’s purpose in my generation and then I died.
Let me ask you a very frank question. What are you going to do about the rest of your life? This series is over. You say, “That was a great series, very interesting. What’s next?” Maybe you need to go out and download the sermons from the website and look at them all again.
What’s holding you back? What’s distracting you? What’s keeping you from giving it all? Are you going to be able to stand at the end of your life and stand before your Savior and say, “I finished the race. I did what You put me on earth to do. I wasn’t just a selfish little clod. I gave my life away. I helped other people. I didn’t just think about me. I did what You put me here to do.” I hope you’ll be able to say that. I really do.
Prayer:
Dear God,
I
realize that You made me for a purpose and that You have a race for me to
run. Please help me to focus on the finish line.
Lord, make the rest of
my life count.
Forgive me for all those times I’ve gotten
distracted.
Help me to resist discouragement.
Help me to renew
myself daily by spending time with You and just being quiet. Help me to rely on
Your power to do what You want me to accomplish with my life. Most of all,
help me to remember how much Jesus loves me.
Help me to serve you and fulfill
your purpose in my life, in this generation.
Amen.
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.