Sixteen people journeyed to the Australian Outback as part of CBS television show Survivors, attempting to be the last person voted out in order to win a substantial prize package. Total strangers, they formed two tribes, and now are down to one as each week another contestant is voted out. I am not here to promote the program. I do want to draw some analogies and provide you with some practical steps for your own survival.
Everyone of us here entered this world as strangers. For most, our introduction to the world came at a sterile hospital delivery room. People walking around wearing masks, glaring lights, and then someone hoists us up by our feet and whacked us on the behind. How many of you can remember? How many of you are in therapy because of it right now? It seems as life progresses, not much changes, life continues to whack at us, and some days it takes effort just to survive. How do we live through this outback experience and come out a winner in the end? First…
1. You Need to Know the Rules.
The contestants on Survivors have a list of rules to follow that prevent them from being eliminated from the competition, such as they can make no deal to share the prize money with others, and they must participate in all events and activities. Besides that, they also have some common sense tips such as “When collecting firewood, always use a stick to overturn the wood before picking it up. Fallen timber is an ideal habitat for snakes, spiders, scorpions, centipedes, etc.” Another is to “Never confront wild animals such as dingoes, wild pigs, kangaroos and snakes. If threatened, they will retaliate; for example, if you walk through a narrow path leading to the river and one of the above is drinking, with no escape route, it will attack.”
Author Robert Fulgrum wrote All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be,
I learned in kindergarten.
Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain,
but there in the sandpile at Sunday School.
These are the things that I learned:
Share everything
Play fair
Don’t hit people
Put things back where you found them
Clean up your mess
Don’t take things that aren’t yours
Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody
Wash your hands before you eat
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you
Live a balanced life; learn some and think some
and draw and paint and sing and dance
and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together
Be aware of wonder
Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup ;
The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why,
but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup
They all die
So do we
And then remember the Dick and Jane books and the first word you learned the biggest word of all
LOOK
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere
The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation
Ecology and politics and equality and sane living
Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm
Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap.
Or if all the governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess
And it is still true, no matter how old you are... when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
Jesus was asked about the rules of life and He responded in Luke 10:27 "`Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, `Love your neighbor as yourself.’ "
I might add, the only place you will ever fully understand the full impact for living is by reading the instruction manual God has given to us, the Bible. 2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
If you are going to survive in life, you need to know the rules of survival. You also need to
2. Form Alliances with others.
Solitary confinement will drive a sane person insane if they are subjected to this form of punishment over a long period of time. People taken captive for long periods of time will begin to identify and even form alliances with those who hold them captive. We need alliances to survive. Contestants who were eliminated early fell victim to not grouping with others and were voted off.
Deb Eaton, the first contestant voted off said I came here, I played hard, I was strong, keen-spirited, worked from the time I got up until the time I went to bed, and all it boiled down to this: one person in the group who’s a very free spirit, and speaks her mind about anything and everything, couldn’t respect the fact that I hold certain things very personal and private. Alliances require us to be open with others, to share our life because together we share the journey. Deb found this truth out on the first vote.
Ecclesiastes 4:10 If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! It goes on to say in verse 12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
If you are going to make it in life, you need to develop alliances with others. Do not however jump at every opportunity, but be discerning in making right alliances. Some voted off have felt betrayed because they made the wrong alliances, believed the wrong people and were sent packing. Jeff Varner commented I told those guys early on that because of the very large mouth of a former tribe member at Kucha, Ogakor knew I had that vote. And we talked about it the other night, and Alicia just insisted it was going to be her, Nick insisted it would be him, and I knew it would be me. And I knew there was nothing I could do about it. So, I’m going home.
God says in 2 Corinthians 6: 13-15 in a modern English translation
I say this as to my own children. You should love us with all your hearts. with those who do not believe. You and they are not equal. How can people who do right, work with those who do not obey God? How can light and darkness be in the same place? How can Christ agree with Belial, the devil? How can a person who believes work with a person who does not believe?
Is there anything equal about a house of God and a house of idols? We are a house of the living God. God has said, `I will live in them and walk in them. I will be their God and they will be my people.’
Align yourself with God and with His people, no not forsake the gathering together of fellow Christians so you will be able to grow in the strength and power of Christian community.
3. Life with the Right Motivation.
Fifty Thousand people applied to trek into the Australian outback, twenty four made the journey and only one will leave with the million dollar prize, and CBS will be the ultimate winner with the millions it has made off the advertising revenue. Rodger Bingham one of the survivors at this point in the competition understands the true reality of surviving. Each contender is allowed to bring one personal item with them on the trek. Rodger, an elder in his church, brought his Bible.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:23-25 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
No matter who wins the top prize, or benefits from the runner up monies, one day it will all be gone. Have you ever thought about all the money which has gone through your hands? CBS is offering a perishable prize. Rodger has found one that is imperishable. Win or lose in Australia, he is a winner in heaven, in the eyes of God.
Before the worship team comes back and we close in song and go about our day, I want to mention another rule I omitted earlier. It is found in Hebrews 9:27-28 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
In your notes circle the word once. On this side of eternity, there are no second chances to come back again. You don’t have to worry about becoming a cockroach when you die and starting all over again, it is destined for man to die, once, and then to face the music on the other side. That is the reality of life. We are one day going to die a physical death. Will you die a spiritual death as well? In this I mean, will, when you enter into the judgment of God, will you make it to heaven or be separated from God for eternity in a place the Bible refers to as a fiery pit.
You didn’t ask to be born into this world, but now that you are here, you have had to learn the rules to survive. Deonte was almost hit by a car last summer running across the street at Aprils. Afterwards we explained one of the rules for living…look both ways before you cross the street. I told him if he didn’t then he would be dead and we would throw dirt on his face, and because we loved him we didn’t want that to happen. All of us are here today because we have navigated through some of the rules of living. And one day, because of those rules, we are going to die, and they are going to put our physical bodies under the dirt and come back to the church and eat potato salad and talk about us. Will they have good things to say about the alliances we have made with them and others? Will they have great things to say about the alliance we have made with God by accepting Jesus and savior and owner of our lives? Will they say we have lived with right motivation in our life, putting God and others first, seeking God’s Kingdom and having enjoyed the righteous fruit of living.
The great thing today is we don’t have to wait until that day and wonder what they will say, we can live right and know before we go.
As the worship team comes to close in song, I want to ask everyone to stand and close yourself in with God. Shut your eyes and lets have a word with Jesus.
You might be here this morning, and you have not thought about the things I have talked on today. Now you are. You might have broken the rules. The Bible calls that sin. The fine for breaking the rules is death, separation from God. Even if you won at Survivors, you will not have enough money to pay the fine. God knows that, so He paid it for you. Jesus, God’s Son came and paid the price of death for you on the cross, and He awaits you forming an alliance with Him, by asking Him to forgive you of your sins, your law breaking, and to allow Him through the power of the Holy Spirit to make the changes you need in your life to not break the rules again. It requires allowing him to lead and direct your life, to be the chairman of the board in all your affairs. Would you like to do that today? If so, pray this prayer in your heart while I pray it out loud.
“Dear Jesus. I realize today I have not followed the rules of life, that I have sinned, and my wrong doing has caused me to become distant to you. I want to close that distance by asking you to forgive me. I’m sorry for doing wrong and please through the power of your Spirit help me not to do wrong again. I plan as much as I am able to turn from my wrongdoing, and turn to you. Help me with a fresh start as I make you the owner of my life. Help me also to form alliances with others who can help me as well, and help me change my perspective on life, focusing on you. Thank you for making this possible through your sacrifice on the Cross paying the penalty I deserve but don’t have to face. Amen.”
If you prayed that prayer, please fill out one of the information cards and hand it to us before you leave. We have some helps we want to send to you this week to help you get started in your new life with Christ.
Worship Team lead us in closing.
