The Problem of Victory - 10/9/16
Turn with me this morning to 1 Corinthians 10. I remember as a boy each week watching ABC’s Wide World of Sports. And in the opening sequence they used the phrase “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” And the reality of life is that each one of us will experience both the thrill of victory AND the agony of defeat - several times throughout our lives - as well as everything in between. Now as Christians we seek to live in HOPE! And whenever we find ourselves experiencing the agony of defeat we keep telling ourselves that things are going to get better - that God is still with us - that we’ll make it through somehow - that God can bring about good through the trials we experience. We prepare ourselves for the days in the valley. There are some people who seem like they live in the valley - going from tragedy to tragedy - but most of us do a pretty good job of looking for God to work, waiting for God to bring us through. We have learned to exercise our faith when things go badly.
But this morning I want us to look at the other end of the spectrum. How does our faith come into play when things are going WELL? Because there are DANGERS we face in our spiritual lives when things go well. And I want to remind you of some of them this morning.
In our passage in 1 Corinthians 10, Paul is recounting lessons from the wilderness wanderings of the Jews. They all came out of Egypt victoriously and were led by God in the wilderness, but many of them ended up dying off in the desert. And in verse 12 Paul gives us this warning: So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! When we get to the point where everything is going well for us - we’re paying our bills, getting along with our neighbors, feeling loved by our spouse, having good health - watch out! Because times of victory can be a trap for us spiritually. First, because
• They are Temporary - we never want to forget that we can go from a time of victory to a time of great failure and defeat in a moment. We can’t live on the mountaintop. God COULD let only good come to us - but it is in the times of trial, the times of testing, the times where we need to persevere that we grow the most spiritually. So God ISN’T going to let us stay on the mountaintop. God is going to let us go through some valleys.
Sometimes we buy into the prosperity gospel and we think that since we’re Christians were going to be safe and well-fed, have great kids, and live in a prosperous land. But God NEVER promises us those things. Rather, what He DOES promise us is that when the storms of life come - and they certainly will - He will be right there with us as we weather out the storms. We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. But God’s working good is often accomplished by our going through the hard times. Paul writes to the Romans and says, And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
What is God saying there? We go through suffering to teach us to persevere - to not give up - when we suffer, we learn that we can turn to God and He is there for us - He never leaves us or forsakes us - and that perseverance builds character, it builds spiritual maturity - and when we grow in spiritual maturity we will learn to hold on to hope. When we hope in God He never let’s us down.
So you might be experience great victory TODAY - life may be good - but be prepared for TOMORROW! Because as good as it may be today, don’t be shocked if everything seems to go wrong tomorrow. In 1 Kings 18 we see Elijah facing the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. It is one of the great victory stories in scripture. 450 prophets of Baal against 1 man of God. The contest will be decided by whose God can send fire down from heaven. The prophets of Baal chant and cry out and cut themselves and work themselves into a frenzy - until finally in the afternoon Elijah says “It’s my turn now!” He douses the sacrifice with 12 barrels of water - and when he prays, God answers. Verse 38 tells us, Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD--he is God! The LORD--he is God!” Elijah is on the mountaintop in victory.
But what happens in the next chapter? 1 Kings 19 - Elijah has just faced off against 450 prophets of Baal, but in chapter 19 he is afraid and runs for his life because one woman, Queen Jezebel, threatened his life. He goes a days journey out into the desert, and 1 Kings 19:4 says, He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life.” In a moment, he goes from being on top of the world to being ready to die. From great victory to great despair and discouragement.
The first thing we need to be prepared for when life is going well is that it can change in a moment. Success is temporary. There is a second danger of times of victory.
• They Distract our Focus - Whether we are in the valley or on top of the mountain, our focus always needs to be on God. But a very real danger we face is that we take our eyes off our God and place them on the situation. When things are going bad, instead of looking to God for His help, we obsess about the problem. And on the flipside, when we are experiencing times of victory, we often take our focus off of our God and obsess about how good things are.
Thing back to Matthew 17 - the story of the Transfiguration - Peter, James, and John get to go up onto the mountaintop with Jesus - and there he meets Moses and Elijah. Verse 2 says, There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. WOW! Now here’s a highlight of your life! You’d think it would confirm to the disciples that Jesus is the son of God. But Peter speaks up and says, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. He had experienced God’s glory, but he missed the point. He wanted to focus on all three - and then God speaks from heaven and says, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!
God takes their focus off of Moses and Elijah and places it where it belongs: on Jesus alone.
It is easy for us to get distracted, especially when things are going well. An American businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them. The Mexican replied, "Only a little while." The American then asked why he didn’t stay out and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time? The fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life, senior."
The American scoffed, "I have a Harvard MBA and I could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat, with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise."
The Mexican fisherman asked, "But senior, how long will all this take?" To which the American replied, "15 to 20 years." "But then what, senior?" The American laughed and said that’s the best part. "When the time is right you would sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."
"Millions, senior? Then what?"
The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll into the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."
Sometimes when things are going well for us, we get distracted about making MORE instead of celebrating what we ALREADY have. How much is enough? The answer is always a little bit more. What does Paul tell us in 1 Timothy 6 - But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
In Philippians 4 Paul says, I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Let’s learn to be content with what we have and to celebrate - not WHAT we have - but to celebrate our God, the ONE who gives us what we have. Do you get more excited about the victory you experience or about the God who gives you the victory? Remember the lesson of the 10 lepers - Luke 17 - Jesus heals ten men of leprosy - an incurable disease that was a death sentence for them - the ten go their way and are healed, but one man runs back to give thanks. Jesus says, Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Ten men were healed, but only one man took time to focus on giving thanks. If things are going well for you today, don’t forget to take time to continually give thanks to God for His blessing on your life.
In Deuteronomy 8 God has a stern reminder for the Jews as they prepare to enter the promised land. He says, Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land--a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig-trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.
When life is going good for you, NEVER FORGET to give thanks to God! HE is the one whose blessing has been on you. And we NEVER want to take the credit for the good things that come in our lives.
So victory is temporary - hard times will come. Victory can take our focus off our God. Third,
• Victories Encourage Prayerless - similar to the last idea, when life is going good, it is easy to think that we don’t need to pray as hard. Because we think we can handle things on our own. We get this idea, God, if things start going bad, I’ll start praying. But the truth is, the better things are going for us, the more we need to PLAN to pray. Because when things are bad - we automatically turn to God - we know we NEED His help. But when things get good, it is easy to think we don’t need God; that we’ll be just fine on our own.
Sometimes when we do pray, we really don’t expect God to answer. In Acts 12, Peter is in prison and the church is gathered together praying earnestly for him. An angel sets him free, and Peter comes to the house where they are gathered. A servant girl named Rhoda answers the door and comes to tell the church “Peter is at the door.” They say, “Don’t bother us, Rhoda, we’re praying for Peter to be released from jail.” They were praying and praying, but they were not expecting God to work.
The more God blesses us, the more we need to pray - to thank Him for His blessing, to seek His wisdom to honor God with His blessings - to pray for others who have needs. But we always want to acknowledge how much we need our God - and we show that by how intensely we pray. A fourth danger of victory -
• Victory Causes Complacency - When God blesses us and life is good, it is easy to be content. And contentment with what you have is a good thing; but contentment with where you are at spiritually is never a good thing. We always want to seek to keep growing, keep learning, keep seeking to be more and more like Jesus. It is easy to look at ourselves and think “I’m OK” and we want to live in our comfort zones. But God wants to keep molding us, keep shaping and stretching and growing us to be more and more like His son.
Paul prays in Philippians 3 - I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.
You’d think if there was any Christian that could sit back and relax it would be Paul - but Paul was constantly looking forward to what lay ahead for him, looking to see the next thing in God’s plan. In Hebrews 11, the great “faith” chapter in the bible, it tells us of all the OT saints, and each one was looking forward to what God had in store for them.
I’ve got some news for you today: God is NOT finished with you yet! Sometimes we are content to be “good enough” - but God wants to keep fashioning us, because we ARE His masterpiece.
In the book of Joshua, God brings the Jews to the promised land, this wonderful place for them to live. And God tells them “Go in and take the land. It’s yours!” They just need to get rid of the people who are living there. God tells them He will give them the victory; they just need to fight the battles. But they didn’t bother driving out the Hittites from the plains, because they had iron chariots. They fought the battle, as long as it wasn’t too hard. And in Judges 1 is the record of their failures:
The Benjamites, however, failed to dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites. . . . Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. . . Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them. . . . Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, who remained among them; . . . Nor did Asher drive out those living in Acco or Sidon or Ahlab or Aczib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob, and because of this the people of Asher lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land. Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land.
God had warned the Jews in Numbers - But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. And that’s the history of the rest of the OT - these Canaanites end up causing trouble for the Jews, because the Jews were content to be “partially” finished. They became complacent and didn’t feel like they had to finish the task.
When life is good, don’t think God is done with you. Keep looking for the next step God wants you to take. Sometimes we look at our “actions” and think that we are doing pretty well. But let’s remember that our ATTITUDES are a lot harder to control than our ACTIONS. You may do a good job controlling your tongue and not cursing or slandering. But how are your thoughts? You may do a good job controlling how you spend your money, but what are you longing for and lusting after in your heart? Let’s realize that God doesn’t just want to work on our looking good on the “outside” - He wants to change us inwardly, and He wants our hearts and minds and thoughts and attitudes to be good.
In closing, one last thought to consider. As we think about continuing to become all that God has for us to be, let’s realize the process takes time. As the Jews come into the promised land, they cross the river in a day, they see the walls of Jericho in 7 days, but claiming the land was a process that took them MANY years. God’s desire is never to give us everything we need, but He gives us everything we need for today. That’s why in the Lord’s prayer we find the phrase Give us this day our daily bread. God wants us to look to Him daily. God wants us to keep our focus and our reliance and our attention focused on Him. And when God provides for us daily, we thank and praise Him daily.
It is wonderful when life is going well. But let’s make sure we never let a “good life” distract us from following God faithfully. If life is going well, be prepared for changes, be prepared for difficult day; keep focused on God; keep praying; keep seeking to become all that God has for you to be. Let’s pray.
