8 RULES FOR A SUCCESSFUL CHRISTIAN LIFE:
WHOLE HEARTED DEVOTION & EFFORT
PHILIPPIANS 3:13-14
INTRODUCTION
What does a successful Christian life look like? My desire as your pastor is that al of you experience success in your Christian life. I would define ‘success’ in the Christian life as being strong in the faith and capable of sharing that with others. Sometimes we might wonder, how do we get there? Is there a process? Are there things we can do or cultivate to produce good fruit in our lives?
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By whatever measurement you measure the man Adoniram Judson (1788-1850) -- the measurement always is the same -- he was a mighty man!
Mentally--he was mammoth. He taught himself to read at the age of three years, took navigation lessons at ten, studied theology as a child, entered Providence College (now Brown University) at seventeen -- despite the fact he spent one year of his youth out of school in sickness. He was a "veritable bookworm." Also, he mastered the Burmese language (possibly the most difficult language to acquire, excepting Chinese), writing and speaking it with the familiarity of a native and the elegance of a cultured scholar, and he also translated the Bible into Burmese. His biographers believe that his translation was "undoubtedly his greatest contribution to the people among whom he chose...to spend and be spent for Christ’s sake." Spiritually--he was superlative. Despite the fact his father was a Congregational preacher, and in spite of his mother’s "tears and pleadings," Judson was not saved until he was 20 years of age. His conversion not only saved his soul, it smashed his dreams of fame and honor for himself. His one pressing purpose became to "plan his life to please his Lord."
Adoniram Judson’s pressing purpose in his life became “to plan his life to please his Lord.” I wonder if we find that kind of whole-hearted devotion in Scripture? The Apostle Paul was one of those men in Scripture who had a whole-hearted devotion for God. You might say that he had a one-track mind and that one-track mind was God. Paul was a Christian, of that we have no doubt, but he was also a man who worked on his relationship with Christ.
READ PHILIPPIANS 3:13-14
Devotion is one of those words in the English language that is packed full of meaning. Devotion means, “ardent, often selfless affection, and dedication, as to a person or principle. See synonyms love” (American Heritage Dictionary). To be devoted to something means to love it. To be devoted to someone means we are selfless and only think of him or her. Devotion means love. If we love God with our whole hearts, our efforts and our actions will show that. Paul lays out for us in Philippians 3:13-14 his wholehearted devotion.
1. Paul is devoted in his humbleness. He was an Apostle, chosen personally by Jesus to spread the Gospel, and he did not consider himself as “arrived” or a “perfect Christian.” In humbleness, he continued to learn and pray and work for Jesus.
2. Paul is devoted in his planning and efforts. Paul made a point to say that he was stretching for the goal and working for Christ. He “presses on towards the goal.” The goal is not salvation… that was already won at the cross and you have to be a Christian to even be in the race. The goal is his fulfilled relationship with God and life in Heaven, the ultimate prize.
What we don’t realize is that we can have a fulfilling relationship with Jesus here on earth. We don’t have to wait for Heaven, we can have a personal strong and rewarding relationship today. Paul had one and it came from his wholehearted devotion and effort.
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In 1809, the same year he joined the Congregational church, he became burdened to become a missionary. He found some friends from Williams College with the same burden and often met with them at a haystack on the college grounds to earnestly pray for the salvation of the heathen and petition God to open doors of ministry as missionaries to them. That spot has been marked as the birthplace of missions in America.
Three years later, February 19, 1812, young Adoniram Judson, and his bride of seven days, Ann Haseltine Judson, set sail for India, supported by the first American Board for Foreign Missions. But on that voyage, Judson, while doing translation work, saw the teaching of immersion as the mode of baptism in the Bible. Conscientiously and courageously, he cut off his support under the Congregational board until a Baptist board could be founded to support him!
The Judsons were rejected entrance into India to preach the Gospel to the Hindus by the East India Company and after many trying times, frustrations, fears, and failures, they finally found an open door in Rangoon, Burma.
We do find other people in Scripture who demonstrated their wholehearted devotion to God. I think that is the key word: demonstrated. Their actions relayed the devotion and love in their hearts. Faith is not a belief alone, but has actions with it. Faith without works is dead.
· People like Abraham were totally devoted to God. How do we know this? Abraham left his home, his family, his way of life, and set out for a destination unknown to him and only known by God. That is demonstrating wholehearted devotion.
· People like Moses were totally devoted to God. How do we know this? Moses went back to Egypt and faced his fears, his people, and led an entire nation to freedom. That is demonstrating wholehearted devotion.
· People like Stephen were totally devoted to God. How do we know this? Stephen was arrested for preaching the Gospel, refused to recant his statements, a preached to his accusers with such fervor that when they looked at him they saw the face of an angel. Oh yeah, he was stoned to death for his faith. That is demonstrating wholehearted devotion.
· People like Jesus were totally devoted to God. Jesus? We cannot forget Jesus’ time in the Garden of Gethsemane! God if there is any other way, let’s do it! Yet, Jesus yielded to the will of God and volunteered His life as the ransom for many. That is demonstrating wholehearted devotion.
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There was not one known Christian in that land of millions. And there were no friends in that robber-infested, idolatry-infected, iniquity-filled land. A baby was born to alleviate the loneliness of the young couple, but it was to be only for a temporary time. Eight months later, Roger William Judson was buried under a great mango tree. The melancholy "tum-tum" of the death drum for the thousands claimed by cholera, and the firing cannons and beating on houses with clubs to ward off demons, tormented the sensitive, spiritual souls of that missionary couple, too.
And there were no converts. It was to be six, long, soul-crushing, heart-breaking years before the date of the first decision for Christ. Then, on June 27, 1819, Judson baptized the first Burman believer, Moung Nau. Judson jotted in his journal: "Oh, may it prove to be the beginning of a series of baptisms in the Burman empire which shall continue in uninterrupted success to the end of the age." Converts were added slowly -- a second, then three, then six, and on to eighteen.
But opposition came, also. Finally Judson was imprisoned as a British spy -- an imprisonment of twenty-one months. Judson was condemned to die, but in answer to prayers to God and the incessant pleadings of his wife to officials (one of the most emotional-packed, soul-stirring stories in evangelism), Judson’s life was spared and finally British intervention freed him from imprisonment.
The work progressed and gospel power began to open blind eyes, break idolatry-shackled hearts and transform the newly-begotten converts into triumphant Christians. On April 12, 1850, at the age of 62, Judson died. Except for a few months (when he returned to America after thirty-four years from his first sailing), Judson had spent thirty-eight years in Burma. Although he had waited six years for his first convert, sometime after his death a government survey recorded 210,000 Christians, one out of every fifty-eight Burmans! It was a partial fulfillment and a monument to the spirit and ministry of the man, who at Ava, the capital city, gazed at the temple of Buddha and challenged, "A voice mightier than mine, a still small voice, will ere long sweep away every vestige of thy dominion. The churches of Jesus Christ will soon supplant these idolatrous monuments and the chanting devotees of Buddha will die away before the Christian’s hymns of praise."
Aye, a mighty man of faith, prayer, purpose, patience and perseverance for the Son of God and for souls, was Adoniram Judson!
All of us in this sanctuary today can seek Christ with wholehearted devotion. But you know what, not all of us are. Some of us just come to church to punch our cards or to socialize. All of us can have a thriving relationship with Jesus Christ. But you know what, not all of us care about that. We have got to realize that success in the Christian life depends on the willingness of the Christian to put forth a wholehearted effort in living for Christ.
READ EZEKIEL 33:30-32: "As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ’Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD .’ 31 My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. 32 Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.”
I am not up here to fill time. I am not up here to hear my self talk. We have got to put the Words of Scripture into practice. Our lives need the motto that we “plan our lives to please our Lord.”
CONCLUSION
1. Look at your Christian life and check on these things:
Bible Study- good fruit?
Prayer- good fruit?
Sharing Your Faith- good fruit?
Active in the Church- good fruit?
2. Look at your relationships and check on these things:
Broken Relationships
Forgiveness to be given or received
Relation between earthly and heavenly relationships
