Sermon Illustrations on Endurance
Background
The Future Orientation of the Beatitudes
In his thoughtful book, Our Good Crisis: Overcoming Moral Chaos with the Beatitudes, Jonathan K. Dodson describes one of the keys to understanding the beatitudes: live faithfully now, experience Gods blessings in the future:
Another way to read the Beatitudes is as a promise of future blessings for the present. Live poor in spirit now, and you’ll benefit immediately—get a foot in the kingdom, so to speak. Hunger and thirst for righteousness now, and you will get a taste of eternal satisfaction.
This certainly fits with the “future logic” of the New Testament, in which there are frequent exhortations to do something in the present based on future realities: “For this perishable body must put on the imperishable. . . . Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:53, 58).
Taken from Our Good Crisis: Overcoming Moral Chaos with the Beatitudes by Jonathan K. Dodson Copyright (c) 2020 by Jonathan K. Dodson. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com
No Need to Hold Anything Back
In the sport of cycling, one of the most important things necessary to be successful in a race is the ability to manage the timing of when “to burn a match.” This is a phrase that all bike racers know and refers to when one must put in a big effort to either stay with the pack, get up a hill, or to break away at a key moment. Knowing when to “burn a match” is critical because in any given race, one only has so many “matches to burn!” If you were to do any entire race going your hardest at every moment in that race, then it would be impossible to make it all the way to the finish line, little alone to win. Thus, knowing when and how hard to go at any given point in a race is constantly on your mind and after every big effort, the anxious thoughts begin: “How many more of those efforts do I have? What happens if there’s a hill around the next corner? How many miles until the finish line? I’ve got to take it easy if I’m going to make it to the finish!”
However, if you could somehow line up on the start line of a race knowing that you were going to win no matter what happens on the road, all anxiety over when to “burn a match” would suddenly disappear. There would be no need to manage your physical resources or monitor how hard you are going. You could just go all out any time you wanted, free of any worry that your investment of effort would go to waste or put your race in jeopardy.
This is just like serving the coming King Jesus. We can have to confidence to use whatever we have for His kingdom and His glory in the knowledge and assurance that He is returning, that we live for another Kingdom, and that no investment for Him goes to waste.
Jeff Volkmer
Save Only Plenty
The author John Steinbeck once wrote a letter to the diplomat Adlai Stevenson, which was later published in the Washington Post in January of 1960. In it Steinbeck said, “A strange species we are. We can stand anything God and nature can throw at us save only plenty. If I wanted to destroy a nation, I would give it too much, and I would have it on its knees, miserable, greedy, sick.”
Stuart Strachan Jr., Source Material from Richard Halverson, Perspective, 24 June 1987.
Stories
A Mother Holds On
Davon Huss tells the story of a boy who came home one hot afternoon, anxious to take a cool swim in the pond behind his home. He lived in south Florida, so taking a quick dip was a common way to cool off.
He was so anxious to get in the water, he didn’t even go inside to change clothes. He just raced for the pond, dropping his shoes, shirt, and socks along the way. His mother spotted him diving off the dock, and went outside to check on him.
As she watched her son swim toward the middle of the lake, she also spotted an alligator moving from the far shore, toward her son! She began screaming the warnings, and the boy stopped in mid-swim. He finally understood the danger, and began racing back toward the dock. Just as he reached her, the alligator reached him.
It was a tug-of-war from a mother’s worst nightmare. From the dock, she pulled his arms. From the water, the alligator held his legs. The water was quickly stained with blood.
A farmer driving by heard the screams, and ran to help. He shot the alligator and helped the mother call for help. The boy survived, and after several weeks of hospitalization, was ready to talk with a news reporter.
The reporter asked the child if he could see where the alligator had bitten him. With the typical pride of a boy, he showed off his healing wounds to the interested reporter. “But wait,” said the boy, “look at these!” With that, he showed the reporter the scars on his arms. “I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Mom wouldn’t let go.”
Studies
Little Musicians that Lasted
In 1997 Gary McPherson studied 157 randomly selected children as they picked out and learned a musical instrument. Some went on to become fine musicians and some faltered. McPherson searched for the traits that separated those who progressed from those who did not. IQ was not a good predictor. Neither were aural sensitivity, math skills, income, or a sense of rhythm. The best single predictor was a question McPherson had asked the students before they had even selected their instruments: How long do you think you will play?
The students who planned to play for a short time did not become very proficient. The children who planned to play for a few years had modest success. But there were some children who said, in effect: “I want to be a musician. I’m going to play my whole life.” Those children soared. The sense of identity that children brought to the first lesson was the spark that would set off all the improvement that would subsequently happen. It was a vision of their future self.
Analogies
No Need to Hold Anything Back
In the sport of cycling, one of the most important things necessary to be successful in a race is the ability to manage the timing of when “to burn a match.” This is a phrase that all bike racers know and refers to when one must put in a big effort to either stay with the pack, get up a hill, or to break away at a key moment. Knowing when to “burn a match” is critical because in any given race, one only has so many “matches to burn!” If you were to do any entire race going your hardest at every moment in that race, then it would be impossible to make it all the way to the finish line, little alone to win. Thus, knowing when and how hard to go at any given point in a race is constantly on your mind and after every big effort, the anxious thoughts begin: “How many more of those efforts do I have? What happens if there’s a hill around the next corner? How many miles until the finish line? I’ve got to take it easy if I’m going to make it to the finish!”
However, if you could somehow line up on the start line of a race knowing that you were going to win no matter what happens on the road, all anxiety over when to “burn a match” would suddenly disappear. There would be no need to manage your physical resources or monitor how hard you are going. You could just go all out any time you wanted, free of any worry that your investment of effort would go to waste or put your race in jeopardy.
This is just like serving the coming King Jesus. We can have to confidence to use whatever we have for His kingdom and His glory in the knowledge and assurance that He is returning, that we live for another Kingdom, and that no investment for Him goes to waste.
Jeff Volkmer
Remember it Ends
I saw a live podcast a few weeks ago, and the host, actor Dax Shepherd, gave the audience a couple minutes to ask questions. One young woman in the front row asked him, “How do you get through the hard times in life?” Dax didn’t even pause. He looked her right in the eyes and said, “Just remember it always ends.
You never get on a roller coaster and think, This is so fun, I will be here forever. The best things end, and so do the worst things. This will end.” I thought that was a profound and very tangible example for when we forget that the bad days don’t last forever and that the good days don’t last forever either.
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