| A 40 Day Experience - Extreme Love Message
Five: “All Your Strength”
A 40 Day Experience Sermon by C. Gene Wilkes
We are not all as strong as we want to be, and we are not
all the shape we want to be. One of the simplest patterns
for life came to me in an e-mail from a friend when we turned
40. He shared with me THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE. Here they are:
1. You believe in Santa Claus.
2. You don't believe in Santa Claus.
3. You are Santa Claus.
4. You look like Santa Claus
That’s very clear and to the point and explains the
stages of life in ways we all can understand. But what will
help us know how to love God “with all your strength”?
According to the Bible, we are physical, spiritual, and emotional
beings. When Jesus called us to love God with all our “heart,
mind, soul, and strength,” He intended to include our
physical being. Our physical strength contributes to our love
of God.
Loving God with all your strength means to honor God with
your body (1 Cor. 6:20).
I wrote for LifeWay’s Christian Health magazine when
it was in circulation. I wrote the following as part of my
monthly column “Living Example.” It relates directly
to loving God with all your strength.
I grew up a Baptist, and I remember that one of the unspoken
rules was that you could not smoke, drink, or dance, but you
could eat uncontrollably! I also picked up that I was to control
all of my appetites except the one for food. No one ever equated
my eating or care of my body with my witness or worship. I
thought you ate because you were not allowed to do anything
else! (I exaggerate, but you may be smiling because you got
the same message.) Sharing my faith or my relationship with
God just didn’t include care of my body.
Have you ever asked someone why they eat and exercise the
way they do and they answered, “It’s part of my
worship?” Or, if you comment on how someone looks better
to you, they say it is part of their new trust in God? Responses
like those are not part of our faith vocabulary. Too many
Christians are motivated to care for their bodies out of a
desire to look a certain way or hedge their bets on a longer
life. We usually associate the verse to “honor God with
your body” (1 Cor. 6:20, NIV) as related to sexual purity,
which is the original context of the verse. But, why can’t
we expand its application to include how we present ourselves
physically to others as a way to honor God? In a culture that
worships appearance, why not direct the observer’s attention
from the creation to the Creator?
God created your body, and your body is a witness to your
trust in God. Notice, I said “a witness.” Your
size does not determine your relationship with God any more
than your sinful thoughts keep God from loving you. God is
interested in how you care for your body. That is what all
the dietary laws under the old covenant were about. God tutored
His chosen people in every area of their lives because they
represented God to the nations. Those rules for eating give
us a hint as to how God designed our bodies to perform. No
shellfish or pork lines up with what scientists know about
cholesterol carriers today. Fruits, grains, and vegetables—those
prescribed by God for His people—are still the best
food for your body.
Remember Daniel? The king chose him and his friends to be
trained as members of the king’s court. The first opportunity
to change allegiances came in the form of a menu. Daniel refused
the king’s food because part of his trust in God was
to eat as God guided him to eat (Daniel 1:8-21). In 10 days,
the steward of the king saw the difference between the followers
of God and those who ate like a king. Daniel’s care
for his body through his choice of food was one way he witnessed
to God’s leadership in his life. Wonder if the same
could be said of us who profess to follow Jesus?
God made you “fearfully and wonderfully” (Ps.
139:14, NIV). Honor God’s creation of your wonderful
body by treating it with respect and care. When Jesus said,
“Love the Lord your God with all your strength,”
He included the body that gives you strength to do acts of
love for God. Love God by feeding and caring for your physical
body in God-honoring ways. Don’t be accused of caring
for the Creator but not His creation.
God looks on your heart to see your spiritual condition.
Your body’s condition—that which you can control—says
something about your worship of the God you love.
To love God with all your strength means using your strength
to complete God’s mission (2 Cor. 12:10).
Personal strength can become a source of pride for people.
It can draw you away from the dependence on God you need to
do what God has called you to do. The Apostle Paul was a strong
man. He endured physical, emotional, and spiritual onslaughts
few men today could survive. Yet he never boasted in his strength
or ability to handle these things on his own. One of his most
memorable confessions was when he announced, “I am pleased
in weaknesses, in insults, in catastrophes, in persecutions,
and in pressures. For when I am weak, then I am strong”
(2 Cor. 12:10). His dependence was upon Christ, in whom he
learned he could do anything God asked him to do (Phil. 4:13).
It is out of this strength in weakness that he could call
upon his fellow Christians to “be alert, stand firm
in the faith, be brave and strong” (1 Cor. 16:13). Strength
of mind, body, and soul empowers followers of Jesus to complete
the work God has called them to do.
On September 11, [2001] Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell (from U.S.
Army Headquarters) had just stepped into a Pentagon hallway
when the fireball from the hijacked plane hit him. After recovering
from the initial shock, Birdwell realized he was on fire.
"Jesus, I'm coming to see you," he remembers praying.
When doctors finally attended to him at the Washington Burn
Center, they found second- and third-degree burns over 40
percent of Birdwell's body. To save him, they performed several
skin graft operations.
President George W. and First Lady Laura Bush visited the
Washington Burn Center on September 13. Among those they visited
was Birdwell. Laura Bush went into Brian's room and spoke
to him for about a minute, all the time as if they were life-long
acquaintances. She then turned to Brian's wife, Mel, who had
been at the hospital for about two-and-a-half days. She was
dirty, grimy, and wore a bloodstained shirt. Despite this,
Laura hugged her for what Mel said seemed like an eternity,
just as if Mel was one of her closest family members.
Laura then told Brian and Mel that there was "someone"
there to see him. The President walked in. Standing by Brian's
bedside, the President told Colonel Birdwell that he was very
proud of them both and regarded them as heroes. The President
then saluted Brian. Brian slowly began to return the salute,
taking about 15 to 20 seconds to get his hand up to his head
because of his bandaged arms. During all of this, President
Bush never moved. He dropped his salute only when Brian was
finished with his.
Birdwell lives now with renewed purpose. "I'm a walking
miracle. Christ got me out of the fire. In him not taking
me, that means I have a mission to complete. He'll tell me
what it is in due time."
Lt. Col. Birdwell’s confession is the confession of
all who love God with all their strength.
Loving God with all your strength means you allow God to
direct your strength to make Him famous (Eph. 1:19).
As a follower of Jesus, you have access to God’s mighty
strength, which “He demonstrated . . . in the Messiah
by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right
hand in the heavens” (Eph. 1:19-20) The same power that
God exerted in the resurrection is the power that strengthens
Christ’s followers to do the will of God. But, this
power must be directed by God for God’s purposes, not
for your honor.
John Piper warns of attempting to “do great things
for God”:
The difference between Uncle Sam and Jesus Christ is that
Uncle Sam won't enlist you unless you are healthy and Jesus
won't enlist you unless you are sick. What is God looking
for in the world? Assistants? No. The gospel is not a help-wanted
ad. It is a help-available ad. God is not looking for people
to work for him but people who let him work mightily in and
through them.
Listen to the last sentence again, “God is not looking
for people to work for him but people who let him work mightily
in and through them.” This means that as God infuses
the strength with which He gave you and you allow Him to guide
you, God can and will do great things through you.
Strong, successful people admit it when they need God. Mark
Richt is the head football coach at the University of Georgia.
He came to a place in his season when he found himself alone
on the road as the new coach. There were discipline problems
and rumors of possible NCAA inquiries into the program. He
retold what he did in that situation to over 400 people attending
the Middle Georgia Fellowship of Christian Athletes banquet
in Vineville, GA in 2003. He confessed,
“'Lord, what did you do to me?” he recalled asking.
“I remember literally laying on that carpet, my nose
on the ground, crying out to the Lord, literally crying. ‘Lord,
I cannot do this by myself.’ ”
Richt said he’d have quit, but felt responsibility
for all those new coaches and their families, and new recruits,
and his own family.
“I said, ‘'Lord, I can’t do it alone.’
And, of course, He said ‘You’re right, dummy,’ ”
Richt offered with a smile. “He said, to my spirit,
‘I will be there with you.’ That just put it all
back in perspective.”
“People of faith who assumed leadership roles,”
said Richt, “are never alone.”
When God puts you in a place to serve Him, He will give you
the strength to do what He has called you to do. Your worship
to Him is to use that strength to bring honor to His name.
C. Gene Wilkes is the pastor of Legacy Drive Baptist Church
in Plano, Texas. He is the author of Jesus on Leadership:
Becomming a Servant Leader, My Identity in Christ, and With
All My Soul: God's Design for Spiritual Wellness, A Fit 4
Continuing Study.
www.lifeway.com/a40dayexperience
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