PURSUE: to following
something; run after, chase
What are we pursuing?
Proverbs
4:20-27 MSG
Dear friend, listen
well to my words;
tune
your ears to my voice.
Keep my message in
plain view at all times.
Concentrate!
Learn it by heart!
Those who discover
these words live, really live;
body
and soul, they’re bursting with health.
Keep vigilant watch
over your heart;
that’s
where life starts.
Don’t talk out of both
sides of your mouth;
avoid
careless banter, white lies, and gossip.
Keep your eyes straight
ahead;
ignore
all sideshow distractions.
Watch your step,
and
the road will stretch out smooth before you.
Look neither right nor
left;
leave
evil in the dust.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
NLT
Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one
person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their
training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an
eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.
I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.
Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be
disqualified.
·
As believers, we are pursuing purpose (the road God stretched
before us) and a life in His presence (the eternal prize). We want to live out
God’s word and the unique plan that He has for our lives.
·
God has not called us to move aimlessly, in His eyes this is
the same as stagnancy. Just as 1 Corinthians says, we must run with purpose in
EVERY step because we know who and what we are pursuing.
·
In Proverbs 4: God is saying we should know His voice, keep
your eyes straight and fixed on Him, but the most important thing in this
scripture is our hearts. In NLT, it is worded “Guard your heart above all else,
for it determine the course of your life.”
·
If our lives are a pursuit for purpose, then we can say that
the pursuit starts within us.
·
Our hearts are the root of it all. It is the soil in which
God deposits His plan for us (seed) which He expects us to live out (harvest).
We must constantly examine our hearts daily and make sure God is planting His
seed in good soil
·
What is the gap between seed time and harvest time? The
planting, cultivating, watering … this the pursuit.
What is needed to pursue?
Hebrews 12:1-2 NLT
Therefore, since we are
surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight
that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us
run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do
In Hebrews 12, 1
Corinthians 9, and many scriptures in the bible, the analogy of an athlete
running a race is used to describe what our pursuit in Christ should look like.
1.
We
need endurance to run the race (Hebrews), we get endurance by becoming
disciplined through training (1 Corinthians).
·
Endurance- the power of enduring and unpleasant or difficult
process or situation without giving way; related to a race that takes place
over a long distance.
·
What does a runner try to do before running the race?
o They eat mad pasta AKA
carb load. Carb loading is a strategy used by endurance athletes, such as
runners, to maximize the storage of glycogen (or energy) in the muscles and
liver. If they don’t maximize their energy storage, they can easily start
feeling fatigue and cramping, and eventually they’ll “hit the wall” run out of
sugar to burn (giving way). This has detrimental effects on performance.
·
As believers, we should never stop running after purpose and
after His presence. Therefore, we should ALWAYS be carb loading to build
endurance in our pursuit. We carb load by feeding our spirit the things that
will strengthen it and maximize its impact, by training ourselves up in the
ways of the Lord to become a disciple who is ready to run the race. By
remaining in His word, in edified fellowship, in earnest prayer, in worship
etc. These all take TIME and CONSISTENCY. Every day that we let pass us by without
seeking God and feeding our spirit through relationship with Him, we are
weakening our endurance to run this race.
2.
We also build endurance
through hardship.
· Although the path is
straight (Proverbs 4) it is not easy or comfortable. However, we must not fear
the difficulties and setbacks we may face. When we are pursuing Christ yet will
feel as though we are in the middle of nowhere, we must hold on to faith.
Romans 5:3-5 NLT
We can rejoice, too,
when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us
develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens
our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment.
For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy
Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
· An example of someone
who did not allow the fear of failure to stop him from building endurance,
perfecting His craft, and achieving success would by Michael Jordan.
o "I've missed more
than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been
trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and
over again in my life” - MJ
3.
Through training a
discipline and training, we are being continuously
transformed, we need
to embrace progressive transformation, along with the repercussions of
transformation.
· “I discipline my body
like an athlete, training it to do what is right.” (1 Corinthians 9)
· Athletes that are
concerned about the state of their body and how it will impact their
performance training intensely until their bodies are in the shape they are
pleased with.
o Let’s say you never stepped in the gym
a day in your life, but its 2018 “New Year, New Me” and you decide you are
going to lose 50 pounds. So, you start going to the gym five days a week and
you change some lifestyle habits. Six months later, after remaining consistent
and sticking to your plan, you look like a totally new person. You no longer
feel comfortable with the older and less healthy lifestyle choices you were
making, and your old clothes are literally fall off you, forcing you to get a
new wardrobe.
·
This
is what it would like if we all persistently pursued Christ and continue to be
transformed into His image and likeness. There things that once found comfort
in (whether it be mindsets, sin, people) that are no longer fit for the new
life we are living, and the begin to fall of like dead weight.
o Exactly why we are instructed not to
cling to the seen, for it will soon be gone. (2 Corinthians 18 NLT)
·
If we are pursuing Christ, the person we are tomorrow should
have an even deeper understanding and love for the things of God than the
person we are today
o Excerpt from Atang’s
spoken word “Mirror Mirror” where she is confronting her old self.
§ Past Atam: “You’ve
lost.. quite a few pounds.. ain’t no meat on your bones girl where’s all your
flesh?
§ Present Atam:"I
starved it to death so I could finally get in shape. Stopped subscribing to
temporary diet plans and started exercising my faith, took all my problems up
to God so I guess you could say I learned to lift weights and I hydrate, on
living water. My posture has improved too, I no longer lean on my own
understanding, I’m supported by the strength of the Lord. I look good don’t I?”
·
If you are trying to look good before the Lord, be ready to
die to yourself and the strip yourself of any weight that may be slowing down
your pursuit for Him.
·
Although it may be painful, the reward of transformation is
Christ.
o
Mark 2:22 says that it would be a lost to put new wine into old
wineskins because it would burst
o
When we are transformed, we
have a constant awareness of how God is operating in our lives. In Isaiah
43:19, after God states that He is doing a new thing
He says, “do you not perceive it”? Of course, those who are not moving forward
in Christ will oftentimes miss when God is moving Himself
4. To pursue Christ, you need to ALWAYS move forward, God did
transform us just for to dwell on the past (downfall or accomplishment).
Philippians 3:12-14
I don’t mean to say
that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached
perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus
first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but
I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies
ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize
for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
·
You need people who a willing
to run this race next to you, stop messing with those who are jogging, walking,
or not moving at all.
· When you are not moving
forward in a pursuit for Christ, you open the door for the enemy to push you
even further back in the race
o
One of newton’s laws is that
for every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction. So, let's say
you’re trying to push this big block that we’ll call purpose, and every time
you push with a force, the enemy pushes back at a equal amount. That would
suck, right? Because the forces would be cancel out and you wouldn’t be moving
at all. This is you without Christ, and without a live that truly pursues
Christ: powerless against the enemy. However, with Christ, we will always
overcome the reaction force of the enemy, and be able to move forward in
purpose.
It's imperative that
we ask ourselves what our individual pursuits for purpose and a life in God’s
presence currently looks like? Do our confessions match our track records? Are
we really running after it nonstop? If not, what changes are we going to make to
ensure to we pursue God wholeheartedly in the year 2018 and beyond?
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