West Suburban Graduation Message

EFFORT, POTENTIAL, & CHOICES.

“Are we there yet?” I remember asking this question over and over when my family would travel. Almost as soon as my mom or dad could answer, “no”, I would follow up with , “How much longer?” I am sure any of you who are parents are quite familiar with this scenario having lived through it often.  I think that it takes on extra relevance, though, when placed alongside Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6:

MATTHEW 6 ⁹ "This, then, is how you should pray:
       " 'Our Father in heaven,
       hallowed be your name,

    ¹⁰ your kingdom come,
       your will be done,
       on earth as it is in heaven.

At first glance it is easy to miss, but the connection is there. In His prayer, Jesus outlines God’s desire for the earth: to become like heaven. As one looks around, it should be clear that we are not there yet. You can almost hear the earth calling out, “How much longer?”.

How much longer will there be children who die of malnourishment and diseases long-cured? How much longer will there be the homeless and poor? How much longer will there be people who lack justice? How much longer will there be so many hurting, depressed, and sad students living in the devastated broken families of the American suburbs?  

When presented with these questions, Christians, of which I am one, tend to look toward heaven and confidently say, “God only knows.” And while that is true in once sense, it is not true enough. The question assumes that God has not done much about these situations. But this is an entirely false assumption. 

WE are God’s solution to these problems. 

We are his Kingdom community on earth, and WE are his hands and feet which have been so RICHLY blessed, in order to be a blessing to this World we are part of. GOD has blessed us, to be a blessing to others, but far too often we bury our riches in the ground of personal security, comfort and ease, and fail to pass it on, much less multiply it. 

As if we a riding in a car, waiting to “get to heaven,” we ask God repeatedly... “Are we there yet? How much longer?” Perhaps in truth, these are the questions for us, more than for Jesus. How much longer will we sit and watch out window, assuming God will solve the biggest problems of our day, and that somehow that solution will not involve us getting our EFFORT, see there is that word. EFFORT. God’s plan most definitely includes us getting our hands dirty. If we are going to follow Jesus, our hands are going to get really dirty & we are going to have to work really hard. Many of todays problems do not have easy solutions. They will require hard work in further studies, research & sacrifice in order to Make them look more like HEAVEN

BUT God is making all things new and our faith and hard work will succeed because of HIM.The Car is parked in the parking lot of a groaning world, and Jesus is at work. Are we going to get out of the car and get busy working alongside Jesus to set the world right again?  Or, are we going to just sit in the safety & comfort of the back seat and bury our blessing while we just wait to get out of this place? 

We’re here. God’s time is now. Life is not a waiting room for HEAVEN. Through the resurrection, God is making all things NEW, he is making EARTH more like HEAVEN right here, right now, and He has planned for us to play a vital role in this process. May we be the generation that looks around and takes Jesus’ prayer seriously and joins him in the incredible work of making earth more like heaven.

Now this premise is at odds with my experience in middle school and high school.

I can still remember at my 8th grade graduation how all of my teachers and school administrators went on and on about all the potential that my class had... It was all very affirming, and we left that day feeling like we had already accomplished something great, because of all the potential that we had....

But here is the funny thing... 

Potential matters far less than ACTUAL.

ON any GIVEN day of your life, it is your ACTUAL that will matter the most. Who you really are, not who you could be. Think about it, Jesus said, Don’t worry about tomorrow, each day has enough worries of its own...

Potential is not an end in of itself. On ANY given day of your life, your potential will not matter. It will not change the world, Potential alone will not accomplish great things.

I remember a few years ago a friend told me that they wanted to be a youth pastor....

SO you have amazing potential, but it is your actual that will count every day. People your age are living by faith and changing the world today. They are choosing to invest their life in greater things than entertainment, games, sports, romance, gossip, and fun.

People like Zack & Mikalah....

SO I want to challenge you not to dwell overly much on your potential, but to focus instead on who God has for you to be today. When we are faithful where we are at, in our actual... 

Main VERSE: HEBREWS 12:1-3 

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

You may never reach your potential, but if you are faithful with each day of your life, God will use your ACTUAL in great ways.

SO....

           You have a choice to make. Often in life we are able to avoid hard choices. Many times we do this by simply not making a choice at all. Common sense would have us choose: soccer or track, baseball or football, trumpet or forensics, honors classes or student council. But as americans we detest the idea of somehow limiting ourselves, as so we choose it all.

Whatever we want to do, WE DO.  Multiple sports teams, and honors classes, and forensics, and drama, and music, and more, and more and more, and more.... and more... and more...For a while it seems like we are winning. We have avoided the tough choices, by choosing everything!  We have gained the whole world; we are just doing it; we are seizing the day; we are getting everything we want...

And in not making a choice, we have made the ultimate choice.  

We have chosen this world’s treasure over the treasures of knowing God and developing a deep friendship with Him. Sure, we never thought that or said it, but the choice was clear... it is clear.

By saying yes to everything, we have agreed to a pace of life that does not allow the soul to truly develop, that does not allow the Holy Spirit to whisper, that does not allow us to truly FOLLOW after Jesus as his disciples and learn his ways.  We are too busy, we have avoided making any choices that limit our future and our desires, and in so doing we have chosen not to follow Jesus.

In some ways its not your fault.  Your parents, grandparents, and pastors should have set limits for you.; we should have taught you about boundaries and priorities.  But we didn’t, mostly because we know so very little about them ourselves.  We too have got caught up trying to gain all that this world has to offer. 

But our failure does not alleviate your own responsibility for your life & for your choice.  You STILL have a choice.

Jesus says a lot about this choice, in fact perhaps the centerpiece of his teaching. In his famous sermon on the mount, he talked of two roads that people are on, a wide and a narrow:

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.          
                                                                                                   ~Matthew 7¹³

The two roads are a metaphor that speak of our lives.  One road is rarely chosen, yet leads to life.  The other is quite popular, feels great, and is full of accolades and rewards.  In the end, this road leads to death, loss, destruction, and utter loneliness. Later Jesus describes the choice in even greater detail:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. ²⁶ What good will it be for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul?                         ~Matthew 16:24

In this verse, many important things are revealed.  First, Jesus is saying that he wants us to choose to be his disciples. He has already chosen us... but our choice remains open.  To choose Jesus is neither easy, nor “fun.” Jesus choice of us, meant the cross.  The Cross with its pain and death, but also its joy and salvation.  Our choice of Jesus, is also the choice of a cross.  Our cross.  Our suffering, and ultimately our salvation.  Our cross is the suffering required to follow him. Choosing daily to seek first the kingdom of God by studying the word so we can know him, and living to Love God and our neighbor.

While this WILL cost us the world, we will gain our soul. Think about it: This is not another thing that can be added to our life. To choose Jesus changes everything.  It means we follow him first, and everything else, EVERYTHING ELSE is truly second.  When you tell your coach, teacher, or director that their sport, class or music is second, it will most likely mean a loss on your part in this world.  Is Jesus worth it ?  That is what putting him first will mean.

WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE?