Sermon Tone Analysis

The Loser’s Limp:  Refusing to Run

(An Alien Attitude)

Heb.

12:14-29                                     July 13, 1997

 

Scripture:  Unison Reading, Exodus 19:10-25, page #117-118, Pew Bible

 

*Introduction:*

 

          Have you ever had loser’s limp?

That’s when you come dragging in looking like you have been hurt as an excuse for not finishing well.

It might satisfy some of the spectators in this race of faith we have been talking about.

But we know the truth about ourselves and this loser’s limp rarely satisfies us.

We know we could have done better.

And so does God.

Have you ever noticed the loser’s limps by those begging money downtown?

Some may be legitimate, but some aren’t.

There is the bogus wheelchair, the crutch, the dragging foot, the disjointed hand, the sunglasses for the blind.

It takes less effort than work, is an excuse not to work, makes a living of sorts, but it will never win the race.

How would you like to stand before God and explain how you stole money from those who did work because you didn’t want to.

Sure they gave it, but under false pretenses on your part.

Where is the ethics and integrity?

This race of faith takes ethics and integrity too, and we will also answer to God for that.

Faith takes effort.

Sure it comes from God.

He gives the gift of faith.

But we have to stay on track and run with it.

God’s spiritual warfare army is not for wimps.

It tells us in vv.

12-13 that we must run to win.

We must bolster up our strength, get rid of the stuff that weakens us, and run towards the faith healing of Jesus.

We are all lame.

But woe to us if we have a lame excuse.

I don’t think there are any excuses before God.

These verses tell us we can either compound our sin-sick lameness or have it healed.

We must make haste to the healer rather than hinder ourselves.

Run in faith.

And if you have to crawl, crawl in faith until you can run.

Eccl.

9:11a tells us the race is not to the swift anyway, it is to those who stay on track and persevere.

And it also tells us in the preceding verse that we must do whatever we do with all our might because in the grave where we are going there ain’t nothing to do.

What hinders us from winning.

The human condition is basically lazy.

We would have someone spoon feed us, clothe us, and pamper our every whim if we could get by with it.

But the problem is everybody else wants the same thing and so there gets to be a balance somewhere because we have to live with each other.

This race of faith is really a cake walk but you’d never know it.

God supplies the cake and all we have to do is walk with it.

There is some effort required.

It starts with an attitude of willingness.

Isn’t that where most battles of faith are fought?

In the mind?

A bad attitude has spoiled many a race.

It is an alien attitude; an attitude that alienates us from God and from each other.

Its an attitude that says, “You can’t make me run if I don’t want to.”

We nurse our loser’s limp and reject spiritual healing.

This is where we start today’s passage in verse 14.

 

*I.

A bad attitude about circumstances.

(vv.

14-17)*

 

Holiness and peace level out the obstructions on this racetrack of faith for        which we are being trained.

Peace and holiness are related.

Holiness is the basis of our peace with God.

Unholiness hinders our ability to experience God’s peace.

Our peace with God is the basis of our peace with men.

We can focus on the race of faith once we have a clear vision of the goal.

A lack of holiness leading to peace hinders our goal.

The goal is to see (be with) God.

Peace and holiness take a faith effort - they are obtained by faith.

It takes vigilance to keep the peace.

It takes vigilance to keep the faith.

Without the effort of faith, we miss the grace of God.

Why?

Because if we don’t live by the grace we received we start missing out on the grace we received.

Holiness with God begins with the holiness of Jesus.

The holiness of Jesus is God’s grace to us by faith.

Faith is my acceptance of God’s acceptance of me in Jesus (Adrian Rogers).

(Rom.

5:1)

A bad attitude separates us from God’s grace.

A bad attitude is like a bitter root - it is hard to swallow.

It defiles not only the carrier but is carried on to others.

A root lies just below the surface of the ground.

It can spring up at any time and cause trouble.

A bitter root is a bad crop.

Like a patch of Canadian thistles, it defiles much.

The things just below the surface of our lives, if not dealt with fully by the        effort of faith according to God’s grace to us in Jesus, can multiply and     come out eventually to cause trouble in our lives and others.

Our problems take others with us.

We have an example of this in Esau.

Should I refuse to run God’s direction?

Would I discredit my birthright for a single meal?

Would I allow my flesh to take precedence over my spirit?

This is equated with sexual immorality (1Cor.

6:12-17; Deut.

29:18).

Would I discredit my birthright for a single throw in bed?

Would I discredit my birthright (inheritance) in Jesus by harboring bitterness   against God and pursuing sin because of a bad attitude about my   circumstances - my loser’s limp?

Sin tests us.

Esau had a bitter root - like Cain.

Both were rejected.

It didn’t need to be this way.

He could have remained in God’s grace even if he wasn’t God’s choice.

His bitter root (the Edomite thistles) kept springing up to cause problems for   the Israelites.

*Ps 137:7¶  Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell.

"Tear it down," they cried, "tear it down to its foundations!"*

We must run the race while we have the opportunity.