MAINTAINING YOUR SPIRITUL STRENGTH

 

MAINTAINING YOUR SPIRITUL STRENGTH

 

Ephesians 6:10-11

Rick Warren

If you've ever watched a marathon you know there's a big crowd at the start, but as you get toward the finish line, it really thins out. The ministry is a marathon. Sad to say, there are some people who start out great but they don't make it to the finish line. I am not so much interested in the fast start person, but I'm interested in the long haul guys. What are the secrets of ministry that take a guy through an entire lifetime?

As we look at people right and left that are in the media that are falling like flies, what are the characteristics that you can find in ministries that last? I want to be able to say about my ministry, when I get to the end of life, is that I lasted, that I made it around the home plate. That I didn't get called out at first, or second or third.

As we kick off this time together, I want us to look at maintaining your spiritual strength. Ministry can wear you down.(피로하게하다) It's tough. Where do you get the strength to finish? Where do you get the strength to hang in there, to last in the ministry?

Ephesians 6:10-11 (Living Bible)"Your strength must come from the Lord's mighty power within you. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand against all the strategies and tricks of Satan. " Notice that Satan has a strategy. He has a strategy to sap(약화시키다) the strength out of God's servants. Briefly, I want to talk with you about Maintaining Your Spiritual Strength. I want to specifically look at three things that will weaken your life and that will weaken your ministry to keep you from lasting over the long haul.

The guy I want to look at is Samson. We're familiar with that story in Judges 13-16. Physically Samson was the Rambo of the Old Testament. But morally he was the PeeWee Herman. He had everything going for him. He was a tremendous guy great start, gifted, abilities, good looks, strength everything going for him. God had blessed him in every way in his early life. He started off great. (위대한 출발을 하다) He had many early successes. But one day he lost it all. He ended up a broken man. one day he woke up and his strength was gone. He didn't even know it. What happened?

Samson chose a lifestyle that sapped the spiritual strength out of his life and ministry. As I look at his life, I see three things. Three things that will drain(물기를 없애다) our lives of spiritual strength so we cannot be all that God wants us to be as pastors and staff and servants of God.

1. Self indulgence. Self-indulgence weakens your life.

2. Resentment.(노함) As we look at Samson's life you see that resentment weakens your life and your ministry.

3. Carelessness. Carelessness will weaken your life and ministry.

1. Self-indulgence weakens your Life.

I'm talking about an undisciplined life style. When you live only by your feelings rather than by your commitments. Even good things can become harmful if they're taken to an extreme. Anything can become harmful food, money, sex, sleep all of these things that God has gifted us with, out of control, will drain the spiritual strength out of our life.

Samson's weakness was that he was a playboy. In three different chapters, he has three different women. He keeps running out on relationships. In Judges 14 "Samson went down to Timnah and there he saw a young Philistine woman. When he returned he said to his father and mother, I've seen a Philistine woman in Timnah. Get her for me as a wife.'" He didn't actually say it that way. He said it like this: "I've seen a Philistine woman. Get her, she looks good to me. She pleases me. Get her for me as my wife."

The first trap: When we begin to make decisions based on pleasure rather than principle, when we start to live our lives out of convenience rather than out of conviction, we're headed to lose our spiritual strength.

God had said don't do it, there will be trouble. His parents warned him. They said, "Isn't there an acceptable woman among all the other relatives." Samson said, "Get her for me. She's the right one." Parents had warned him, God had said no, he'd made a vow not to marry an unbeliever. But he ignores his plans and follows his glands(=glandular 성적인). And he falls into sin. He says, I've got to have her.

Does our culture encourage or discourage self-indulgence? No doubt about it. "You owe it to yourself." And the excuse is "Just this once."

God says, "Don't be misled. Remember you can't ignore God and get away with (벌받지 않고 잘 해내다)it. A man will always reap just the kind of crop he sows.(심은대로 거둔다) If he sows to please his own wrong desires, he will be planting seeds of evil and he will surely reap a harvest of spiritual decay and death." It's inevitable.

If we were going to the ocean and get on a cruse going to Tokyo and get about ten miles out and the captain comes out and says, "I don't want you to worry about this, but I want you to know that we have discovered a leak in this ship. Don't worry because it's a small leak. And it's only one. There's only one leak. So don't worry about it. We'll get to Tokyo in a couple of weeks." It doesn't matter how big it is, it doesn't matter that there is only one. The fact is, a leak is a leak. It will inevitably sink the ship.

Lesson: To maintain spiritual strength, I must discipline my desires.

1 Peter 4:1-2 (Good News) "Strengthen yourself with Christ's way of thinking. Live your lives controlled by God's will not by human desires." Just because I want something doesn't mean I should have it. Just because I can afford it, doesn't mean I should buy it. Just because it's pleasure doesn't mean it's right. Self-indulgence will sap the strength out of our life.

 

 

 

 

 

2. Resentment

Resentment can weaken your life and ministry. It's easy to get resentful in the ministry. Why? Because people will hurt you. People will let you down. People will disappoint you. People will break promises. We work with sinners. I'm one. You're one. And we let each other down.

When you look at Samson's life, he lived in a constant state of anger. He reacted violently to everything. His primary motivation in life was just to get angry. "I want to get even with everybody." That was his whole motivation. You look at his life, he says, "I want to get even. I want to get revenge. I want to retaliate.one time, he killed thirty men just to get even on a bet. The guy had a temper.

In Judges 15:3 "Samson said to them, `This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines. I'll really harm them. Samson said to them, `Since you acted like this, I won't stop until I get my revenge on you.' ` I merely did to them what they did to me.'"

Three times in one chapter he says, I'm going to get even. I did to them what they did to me. They hurt me first.

Samson's second mistake that made him a loser: Reacting rather than acting to life.

Resentment is self-defeating. It will poison your ministry if you allow it to. You cannot hold onto to grudges(악의, 원한들) and follow the will of God. No matter what people do. If anybody had a right to be resentful it was Moses. Yet he refused to allow other people to set his agenda. I have seen godly, good men in the ministry who were hurt in a situation and allowed that hurt to fester and fester until they lose all their creativity. God has to just take them and set them on the shelf. Resentment will sap the spiritual strength out of your life and you will not finish the marathon.

Job 5:2 "To worry yourself to death with resentment would be a foolish, senseless thing to do." Job 18:4 "You're only hurting yourself with your anger." Resentment is a waste of time. It wastes time because you end up being stuck in the past. If you're always worrying and resenting the past, it's like trying to drive a car looking in the rear(후미) view mirror. You're going to crash. It's a waste of energy. It uses up spiritual energy. It drains you emotionally when you're upset. It's a waste of creativity. Sometimes my most creative moments is when I'm upset with somebody. We get creative thinking of ways to get even.

Look at the example of Samson. You have to admit he was a pretty creative guy.

Chapter 15:3 "Samson said to them, `This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines and I will really harm them.'So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. Then he fashioned a torch to every pair of tails. [the original tail lights] He burned up the shocks of grain and the standing grain together with the vineyards and then the olive groves." That's pretty creative something he just thought up.

Resentment is a waste of creativity.

Proverbs 29:22 "A hot tempered man gets into all kinds of trouble." People can say the most hurtful things when you're trying to serve the Lord. But I've discovered that when you lose your cool, you lose your credibility. A good verse for all pastors is 1 Timothy 4:5 "Keep your head in all situations." That's what Paul told Timothy.

Lesson: to maintain spiritual strength I not only have to discipline my desires but I've got to restrain my reactions. I've got to restrain my reactions.

Proverbs 29:11 "A fool gives vent to his anger but a wise man keeps himself under control." Leaders are easy targets. The moment you put your shingle out somebody's going to start throwing rocks at it. The fact is that he who calls the shots takes the shots. (저격을 명한사람이 저격한 사람이다) It's part of being a leader. You've got to get used to it and learn how to deal with it with a sweet spirit. I would advise you that when you're criticized remember three things:

1. If it's true, listen and learn from it.

2. If it's untrue, ignore it and forget it.

3. Ultimately realize that God is the only judge of your life.

You can learn from anybody if you just know the right questions. Will Rogers said, "Everybody's ignorant, just on different subjects." You know things I don't know. I know things you don't know. That's why we need each other in the body of Christ. The moment you think you've got it all together, you're dead in the water in ministry. I tell my staff over and over: All leaders are learners. The moment you stop learning, you stop leading. The moment that I think I've got it all figured out, God says, "That's it" and He takes His hand of blessing off you. If it's true, listen and learn from it. You learn a lot more from our critics that you do from your fans.

But if it's untrue, ignore it and forget it. Realize that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Many times he's just trying to get you off track. God says that even believers can be used in the hand of Satan to hinder the Lord's work. We shouldn't be surprised that there are people in the church like that. The Bible says there will be wheat and tares growing together. Don't be surprised. If it's not true, ignore it and forget it.

Realize that God is ultimately the judge of your life. We all know that we're living in an age of consumer Christianity where people hop(잠깐뛰다) around from church to church saying, "I'm not getting fed here." I want to say, "Who are you feeding? God hasn't called you just to be fed. God has called you to feed others." The fact is, if you're on the front line, you're in the most vulnerable position. (비난받기쉬운 자리)

So you have to not only discipline your desires but you've got to deal with your reactions and restrain them. And when you get discouraged and when you get hurt and when people let you down, don't take it out on people, talk it out to God.

3. Carelessness will weaken your life and Ministry.

Carelessness in any area. Carelessness with your health. Carelessness with your time. Carelessness with your money. Carelessness with your words. Carelessness with your commitments. Anything out of control will eventually sink your ship.

You know the story of Samson. His strength was a gift from God. It was not in and of himself. It was from God. It was a result of a commitment he'd made. He'd taken the Nazarite vow. The Nazarite vow involved three things: no alcohol, a special diet, never cut your hair.

God says I want you to be different. I want you to be special. These are to be reminders that you are not to be careless with the gift that I have bestowed (=give) on your life for ministry and service.

I believe in this day where the credibility of the church is going downhill, we as pastors and staff have to live above reproach(나무랄델 없이, 훌륭히). We must be above reproach. I think that involves the kind of cars we drive, the kind of clothes that we wear, that we do not try to appear flashy in any sense of the word that draws attention to us rather than to the Lord. I live in probably one of the wealthiest ministry areas in California and people drive Mercedes(머시디스,벤즈) and BMWs to church every Sunday. For the last five years, I drove a 1972 Oldsmobile(올즈모빌, 미국 GM사의 승용차) that I paid five hundred bucks for. I could have afforded any car I wanted, but I drove that car because I wanted to make a statement to our people that it is not where it's at. When I look around and see guys getting blasted right and left for flashy lifestyles and businesses on the side and other things like that we have to live above reproach.

Samson was careless with his commitment to God and he continually compromised (타협하다) his commitment for convenience. He toyed with temptation. How close to the fire can I get and not get burned?"

The best example of this is his relationship with Delilah in ch. 16. Delilah was hired for $25,000 in our terms to find out his strength. She tried three times. one time he told her, tie seven bowstrings(줄) and he busted(체포되었다) those, beat up the guys and threw them out. Then she said, tell me the answer, and it was new ropes the next time. He broke through that. Then she said, Please tell me and he said, braid my hair. Notice how he's getting closer to the real thing. You'd figure that if you were Samson and three times you tell your girlfriend what supposedly your secret of strength is and three times you wake up the next morning and there's strange men in your room, you'd get the message! I don't think Samson's elevator(기분) went all the way to the top. I think the lights were on but nobody was home. He just didn't seem to get the picture.

No, I think he knew exactly what was going on. I think he was toying with temptation, being careless, flirting(불장난적인) with it. And he's getting closer and closer and finally in 16:15 it says "Then she said to him, `How can you say you love me when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you've made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength.' And with such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death." Finally he told her, v. 20 "She called, `Samson! The Philistines are upon you.' And he woke from his sleep and he thought, `I'll go out as before and shake myself free.'" And this is one of the most tragic sentences in the Bible, in my opinion, "But he did not know that the Lord had left him." Wow! How many guys are in the ministry and haven't realized that the Lord's blessing has been taken off their ministry because of self-indulgence or resentment or carelessness? They're treading water(물위를 걷고있다) but there is no blessing.

He was careless once too often and finally he gave in. His life style had weakened his commitment. He had said, It's going to be different for me. I can handle it. But he didn't know the Lord had left him.

Why did I decide to start off with this message of all messages? As I said, in the last few weeks we have seen literally dozens of well known ministers and leaders in every area business, sports, government they're falling like flies. That concerns me! I want people to get to the end of their life and say I finished the race. How did it happen? By being careless. As I've talked to some of these people, some well-known names you'd all know, none of these guys intended to fail. Not one of them intended to mess up in the ministry. But it was a gradual process, little by little. People do not fall off the cliff of character overnight. It doesn't happen that way. It starts with a few small steps. First moving into gray areas. It starts with small slippage (미끄러짐) like not having a quiet time. Then one day they wake up and what's happened? What happened was they failed to take God seriously? They became comfortable in the ministry.

We've all seen leaders who started out as servants and ended up as celebrities. We've all seen people who start off setting the example and later on start thinking they're the exception. Plato said, "The only people who should wield power(권력을 휘두르다) are those who don't want it."

I tend to agree with that. If you have a deep desire that you have to be in a prominent position, you'd better not be in it.

Proverbs 18:20 "You will have to live with the consequences of everything you say."

Third lesson to maintain spiritual strength: I must keep my commitments.

Psalm 15:4 "He always does what he promises no matter how much it may cost." That's the kind of person God can use. The chain is only as strong as the weakest link(고리). Spiritually, I would say you were only as strong spiritually as what you are least committed to.

What's the weak link in your life? Self indulgence? Resentment? Carelessness with the things of God? I can summarize these truths: I've got to discipline my desires. I've got to restrain my reactions. I've got to keep my commitments. I can summarize these in two words Deny self. That's what we're talking about. Jesus said, "If any man come after Me, he must deny himself."

What does it mean to deny yourself? Run around putting yourself down all the time? "I'm no good! I'm lousy!(불결한) I'm junk(쓰레기)!" No, Jesus didn't die for junk. You are of value. You are of worth. The very fact that Jesus died on the cross shows how valuable you are.

What does it mean to die to self?

When you can watch your peers and those close to you prosper and succeed without feeling jealous, but rather rejoice in their success, then you can know the meaning of denying yourself.

When you can see others obtain goals that you fail to reach and see others receive rewards and recognition that you'd like to have without being envious, that's denying yourself.

When you can see other people's needs being met with abundance while your needs are far greater and you don't question God or fail to be grateful for what you do have, that's denying yourself.

When you choose to serve your wife (or your husband or your children) and you put their needs ahead of yours, that denying yourself.

When you share your faith, knowing that you may be insulted or put down, that's denying yourself.

When you don't seek praise or fish(=find) for compliments and approval from others,

When you can live without constantly being recognized and applauded

That's denying yourself.

When you draw out the other person in conversation rather than telling all your stories and opinions, that's denying yourself.

When you tell the truth even at personal expense, that's denying yourself.

When you pay your fair share of taxes when everybody else is cheating,

When you can accept criticism willingly and learn from it with a teachable attitude,

When you allow others to do a job when you know you are better trained to do,

That's denying yourself.

When you submit to an authority over you in deference to God, even though you don't agree or understand,

When you can be content with less than the best of circumstances without griping or complaining,

When you can accept interruptions that God places in your schedule, patiently bear with irritations, That's denying yourself.

When people break promises to you and let you down, and you refuse to become bitter,

When you are misjudged unfairly, when your motives are questioned and you don't retaliate, That's denying yourself.

When you are content to let God settle the score and content to wait for your reward in heaven, that's denying yourself.

When you have the attitude of Jesus Christ, that's denying yourself.

What happened to Samson? You know the end of the story. He lost his power, he lost his potential, he lost his freedom. He lost it all! Because of a leak in his ship that he didn't think was that important. In prison, he repented, he recommitted his life and God gave him a second chance. Aren't you glad we serve the God of a second chance?

Many of you are thinking, I'm coming to the end of my ministry and I'm at retirement years and I would say to you, Yes, you have put in your time and we bless you and thank you for all that you've done. But God is not through with you. The average age life expectancy right now in America is 78. It's expanding. By the year 2000 the life expectancy is going to raise 12 years and the average expectancy will be 90. I would say, for some of you, God is not through with you. Your best days could be the rest of your days. To pray, "Lord, may the rest of my life be the best of my life. May I make it count! Whether I've got a year, five years, or a hundred years! May I not stop in the race before I get to the finish line. May I make it to the end. May I do these things that maintain spiritual strength. So I can finish the race."

Prayer:

Heavenly father, we thank You for Your love for us and thank You for this opportunity to get together to encourage each other. Father, we're all on the same team. We come from different backgrounds, different countries, different parts of the country, we have different styles of ministry, but we serve the same Lord. We have the same message. We want to live for You. I pray, Father, that You would protect us from falling stars. Lord, give us ministries that last. In Jesus' name. Amen.