It’s time to lift the pace -
Background
Jerusalem had returned to a sense of normality- the temple was rebuilt, they were at peace with their enemies, Nehemiah had gone back to the King and the people had fallen into a state of comatose.
Unfortunately their worship of God had been neglected to the point where God was only good for the leftovers.
The Motivation for Excellence
Mal 1:1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
2 "I have loved you," says the LORD. "Yet you say, ’In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?" Says the LORD. "Yet Jacob I have loved;
God is a God of unfailing love
I am passionate about you
You are My chosen people
See God’ commitment again in Isaiah 49:14
But Zion said, "The LORD has deserted me, He has forgotten me."
15 "Never! Can a woman forget her little child and not have love for her own son? Yet even if that should be , I will not forget you.
16 See, I have tattooed your name upon the palm and ever before Me is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruin. Living Trans
Israel’s response to God’s love
Mal 1:6 "A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the LORD of hosts To you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ’In what way have we despised Your name?’
7 "You offer defiled food on My altar. But say, ’In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, ’The table of the LORD is contemptible.’
8 And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?" Says the LORD of hosts.
They were offering God 2nd best – going through the motions
It was time to lift the pace
It was right after World War II. Japan’s economy was in the trash heap. Everything they did was shoddy and sloppy. In fact, if you turned over a toy and it said Made in Japan what did that mean? It was bad. It was trash. Well, General MacArthur wanted to help them undo that so he brought in the best quality control expert he could be find, W. Edwards Deming, and when he came in, among other things, this is what he said to the businesses of Japan. "If you will improve something about yourself and your product every day, in ten years you will turn the economy of Japan around and in thirty years you will be a world power, economically." Well, Japan bought it, hook, line and sinker. They even coined a new word - kaizen - which means just improve something every day, make it a lifestyle. Maybe the way you stand, the way you smile, the attitudes that you have. The way you produce something, the way you work, just a little bit finer on a detail. And within ten years, they had turned their economy around and within thirty years, they had become a world power economically. Still to this day one of the most prestigious awards you can receive on national television, for any business, is the W. Edwards Deming Award.
Psalm 8:1 O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens!
If they can do it for money how much more should we commit ourselves to a life of continual excellence
We serve an excellent God and being made in His image we should strive to be the same.
How? 4 Things
1/ Take Action and Live courageously
v10 "Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you," says the LORD Almighty, "and I will accept no offering from your hands.
Webster’s definition: Quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face difficulty, danger and pain with firmness and resolve.
Ø Pioneering always takes action and courage. The element of risk!!
Ø
Spanish Poet Antonio Machado “ Traveller, there is no path. Paths are made by walking”
The bears, lions and Goliath’s of this world never retreat of their own accord. They
Must be faced.
Action and Courage are the children of Destiny
Matsushita – one of the greatest entrepreneurs started with courage born out of a
dream. H e quit his secure job when just a young man because his boss disagreed with his idea of creating a new type of light socket.
He began to manufacture the product himself. The rest is history.
His company now employs 265000 workers with revenues of 63 Billion dollars.
Mohammed Yunus of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh is another such individual.
One day in 1976 this Economics Professor strolled through a small village in Bangladesh. He began speaking to a poor woman who was trying to make a living by selling bamboo stools. Although hard at work she was only making 2 cents a day. Yunus discovered that the reason for her low profit margin was that she had no capital to buy her own bamboo, so the money was lent to her by the trader who purchased the final product. The interest charged by the trader essentially removed the profit margin.
On further enquiry the same scenario was repeated in many families within the same village Yunus looked at the figures and was both shocked and motivated .
42 people were caught up in this interest – driven bonded labour and the total amount to empower them was 856 takas about $26.00
From this humble beginnings the Grameen or village bank was founded to loan money to poor people with no collateral. Over the past 2 decades it has extended loans in excess of 1.5 billion dollars to some 2 million clients 94% being woman with a 97% repayment rate.
William Barclay – theological writer approached by Saint Andrews press who wanted to produce a set of commentaries written for the lay person.
They asked him to carry out the assignment until they found someone good. (He was an unknown minister at that time) They could never find anyone who was good and Barclay kept on writing until he had finished the entire New Testament.
He often made the point that the reason he had been successful was not because he was a wonderful writer or thinker – there were thousands in England who had more to say and who were better at saying it.
The only difference between him and them was he sat down and worked and they didn’t and his wife wouldn’t let him out of the study for lunch until he had finished many lines.
Take Responsibility
12 "But you profane it, In that you say, ’The table of the LORD is defiled; And its fruit, its food, is contemptible.’
Arnold. J. Toynbee “As human beings we are endowed with freedom of choice and we cannot shuffle of our responsibility upon the shoulders of God, or nature. We must shoulder it ourselves. It is up to us.
Winston Churchill “Responsibility is the price of greatness”
Ø Our culture has become one of non – responsibility and complaint.
Everything is someone else’s fault and excuse is the morphine of our time.
Ø I am not to blame has grown in popularity sustained by the willingness to believe, fuelled by Freudian Psychology, and fanned white hot by the genetic arguments being advanced for every type of human behaviour and misbehaviour. A philosophy that says we are the reason for our successes and others are the reason for our failures.
Ø Que sera sera is no way to live. – It is to deny humanity the dignity of decision making and intentional living.
Surely destiny and vision have the power to transform lives
Surely choice changes circumstances
Our future is flexible. Time is a line with a beginning and a end. Events and circumstances don’t control the future. Our choices do!!
An awareness of the role we play in our own lives is essential if we are to move away from the victim mentality.
John Maxwell relates in his book , Developing the Leader within you, some research conducted with Prison Inmates.
“A psychologist asked various prisoners, “Why are you here?” The answers were very revealing, though expected. There were many of them: “I was framed”. “They ganged up on me.” “It was a case of mistaken identity.”
The psychologist wondered, if one could possibly find a larger group of “innocent” people anywhere else but in prison.
Again he tells another story about responsibility.
The sales manager of a dog food company asked his sales people how they liked the company’s new advertising campaign.
Great the best in the business, the sales team responded.
How do you like our new label and the package?
Great. The best in the business, the sales team responded
How do you like our sales force? They were the sales force. They had to admit they were good
.
Okay then, said the manager, So we’ve got the best label, the best package, the best advertising program sold by the best sales force in the business. Tell me why we are in 17th place in the doog food business? There was silence.
Finally someone said, It’s those lousy dogs. They won’t eat the stuff!
Ø Two of the most liberating truths of the gospel of Christ are that God forgives our sins and we no longer have to remain slaves of our past. We can experience cleansing and total healing from through the unlimited power of God
Live Passionately
13 You also say, ’Oh, what a weariness!’ And you sneer at it (cause to loose life)," Says the LORD of hosts. "And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; Thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?"
Irenaeus 2 Century Theologian “ The glory of God is a human being fully alive”
They had lost sight of their goal and lost their passion for life.
We are wired with purpose and passion and when we discover one we discover the other.
Chet Atkins quote:
“Maybe there are a few shortcuts for a rock star who becomes an overnight sensation and is forgotten tomorrow. But you take a guy like Glen Campbell, who’s a very good guitarist, or Ray Clarke, a great entertainer, or Jerry Reed. They spent twelve hours a day for many years playing the guitar. Everybody does. I took the guitar with me to the bathroom, everywhere I went, I played it – because I loved it. Jerry Reed says,
“ You gotta be eat up with it! You‘ve got to love it with a passion that will follow you to the grave…. If you don’t have that, you might as well forget it, I think”
The truth is most people are not lazy they are just uninspired. Motivation comes from having a goal that is inspirational, that is bigger than yourself
It’s called the one thing - not a fragmented life
Phil 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind;
“I have only one purpose, the destruction of Hitler, and my life is much simplified, thereby.
If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.”
Winston Churchill.
Run Out The Game
14 "But cursed be the deceiver Who has in his flock a male, And takes a vow, But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished; For I am a great King," Says the LORD of hosts, "And My name is to be feared among the nations.
Started with a vow of excellence but because of time/ pain/ discouragement - they ended up offering a blemished sacrifice
Run to the end like Paul
2 Timothy 4:6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
9 Be diligent to come to me quickly;
9 for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica;
1 Cor 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.
27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
Commit your life unreservedly to the Lordship of Jesus
There was a little girl who worked hard and saved up enough money to buy an imitation pearl necklace at the local store, and then carried her pearls with her wherever she went.
Her dad, when tucking her into bed each night, would say, “Jenny, do you love me?”
Oh yes Daddy. Then give me your pearls.
Oh Daddy not my pearls. Night after night the same conversation took place, until one time, Jenny said with tears in her eyes, Here Daddy you can have them.
He accepted the gift with his left hand and at the same time with his right hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny.
He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the imitation so he could give her the genuine treasure.
Our Heavenly Father does the same thing with us. He says to us. Do you love Me? .
You do? Then give Me your life. Let Me be Lord. Trust Me completely
Do you love Me? Then give me your life
