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Sunday, September 22, 2013
- Former pastor, Todd Wilson, founder of Family Man
Ministries, shares the following story.
- Once upon a time there was a man who was bright, ambitious
and hard-working. One day, a letter arrived from the richest, most powerful man
in the world, who was also eccentric and hadn't been seen in years.
- Scribbled in his handwriting was this short message:
"Dear Sir, it is come to my attention that you are a house painter and
that you do excellent work. I have a lovely old house that needs to be
repainted. Money is no object, as long as it is done properly and to my
satisfaction."
- Directions to the house were scrawled in the lower
left-hand corner of the letter, with the promise to pay an incredible sum of
money upon completion.
- The man was thrilled to receive such a letter, and the
next morning he sprung out of bed, loaded his truck, and drove to the house.
- When he pulled into the driveway, he gasped at the sight
of the monstrous Victorian house and knew instantly that this would be his
crowning achievement.
- The house, if such a building could be called a house,
stood six stories tall and would have covered a football field. There were
parapets and porches, gingerbread work by the mile, and 100 windows of various
shapes and sizes. It was every house painter's dream.
- With gusto, the man unloaded his tarps and ladders and set
in to scraping and sanding every square inch of the place. It was an enormous
undertaking and required over 10,000 sheets of sandpaper, 3000 scraper blades
and 100 gallons of wood filler. It took 10 years to finish, and that was just
the sanding.
- A lesser man might have thrown in the towel, but not him.
Around the clock he worked. When it was too dark, he brought in lights, and
when it got cold and snowed, he covered the entire house in plastic.
- Curious onlookers often asked the man why he worked so
hard on the house. Without slowing, he'd answer, "I just want to do a good
job for the guy who hired me." That's the kind of guy he was, hard-working
and conscientious.
- Once the sanding was complete, the man spent another eight
years applying a quality primer, and then he was ready to paint. And paint he
did. He chose 126 different shades of taupe and 35 accent colors.
- It was truly a sight to behold. The colors were
spectacular and the workmanship, superb. The decades passed and the house was
slowly completed. Every day, huge crowds gathered to watch the gray-haired man
paint with caring strokes. The applause was deafening and sometimes lasted for
hours. He was featured in newspapers, magazines, and even a movie was made
about the house and the man. Never before, had the world seen such a house or
admired such dedication.
- Finally, on the man's 72nd birthday, the last drop cloth
was packed away and the house was done.
- Amazingly, it just so happens that on the very day he
finished, a letter arrived, announcing that the owner planned to stop by the
next day to see his house and pay the man for his work.
- The next morning the sun rose into a dazzling blue sky. At
the house, the crowd was bigger than ever and police had to be on hand to keep
the crowd in check.
- For several hours the man waited, buffed, and paced back
and forth like a caged lion. The crowd was wild with anticipation and then
hushed in a sudden silence, as a black limousine pulled down the long gravel
driveway.
- The man's heart pounded like a bass drum as a black capped
driver exited the door and made his way to the rear of the car. With
gentlemanly elegance, he leaned over and opened the door for his employer.
- Every eye searched the dark opening of the car, as a
small, white headed man stepped out into the bright sun and lifted his hand to
shade his eyes.
- The painter, unable to hide his pride, puffed out his
chest, beamed a glorious smile, and swept his arm up toward the shimmering
beauty.
- The owner, seemingly speechless by what he saw, gazed at the
house and then looked at the man who labored for 50 years on the house. In a
voice as clear as a bell, he shouted, "You painted the wrong house!"
- He turned, stepped back into his car and left. The crowds
disappeared, the sun vanished behind a cloud, it started to rain, and the cold
realization settled over the old man, that he had wasted the best years of his
life.
- He looked up at the house, turned and walked away,
mumbling, "I can't believe I painted the wrong house."
- Todd Wilson comments, "Many men and women have spent
their entire lives working for a goal, only to realize near the end that it was
the wrong goal. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be that way. It's your
choice."
- Wilson continues, "In a way, we're all guilty of
painting the wrong house from time to time. We are constantly being lured by
the wrong goals and the wrong idea of success."
- The apostle Paul had a great desire for the churches that
he served and taught to spend their lives and invest their lives in working for
an eternal prize.
- God does not want his church or any of his people to spend
their lives working hard and in the end discover they've been painting the
wrong house.
- Don't get me wrong, it's good to work hard. It's good to
invest yourself wholeheartedly in meaningful work. It's good to have a sense of
accomplishment in a job well done.
- However, the life and service of the Christian and the
life and service of the Christian church need to be spent doing the work God
has appointed.
- The painter in the story made one mistake, and it was a
mistake that he made before he even began the work.
- It's a mistake that goes unmentioned in the story until
the end, a mistake that is implied.
- The painter's mistake was in following the directions to
the house. If only he had gone to the right house, for all his efforts he would
have won the prize.
- No one wants to arrive at the end of life, only to
discover that they've worked, suffered, and sacrificed for nothing.
*- The apostle Paul wrote in his first letter to the church
at Corinth, "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." (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, NLT)
- To win God's prize, live life by God's purpose and plan.
- The goal of the Christian life is eternal life and that
prize can only be gained by following God's purpose and plan.
- I've said it before, salvation is opposed to earning not
effort. Salvation takes work.
- The work to which the Christian and the Christian church
is called is the mission of Jesus Christ to be the hands and feet, and voice of
Jesus until the light of the gospel shines in every home.
- Our mission is to bring glory to God and peace on earth,
bringing God's grace to all who would receive it as the angels sang announcing
Christ's birth.
- Like a pebble that is cast into the water that mission
spreads out in concentric circles in both the life of the believer and the life
of the church.
- The gospel light needs to shine in each one of our homes
and spread out from there and the gospel light needs to shine in the life and
ministry of the church (God's people, Christ's body) spreading out into the
neighborhood, the community, the region, the province, and the world.
- Eternal life with Christ is the prize, but that gift has
to be opened and used.
- To win the prize, live life by God's purpose and plan.
*- God's Purpose: God's purpose is that we run in such a way
as to win the prize.
- The Christian must run in the direction of the prize. The
painter got it wrong from the very beginning because he didn't go in the right
direction.
- To live the Christian life well, we have to run in God's
direction.
- Surround yourself with others who are running as hard and
as fast as they can toward God.
- The prize can be attained, but by the disciplined who
bring their bodies under the control of the Holy Spirit and into step with Him.
*- Paul wrote to the Philippians, "Beloved, I do
not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting
what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward
the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus."
(Philippians 3:13-14, NRSV)
- If we want to win, then we have to run. Run as hard and as
fast as we can in God's direction.
- We cannot get there by dwelling in the past. The past is
over and done. We can only get there by running toward God's future.
- We must not use the past as an excuse for not doing what
God calls us to do in each approaching moment.
- We must not use the past as a barrier to God's new work,
saying to ourselves, "But we've never done it that way before."
- We must run, always run, looking always straight ahead if
we are to reach our King and gain the prize.
*- God's Plan: God's plan is that we understand the
Christian life as an athletic life, practicing strict self-control and self-
denial.
- The Christian must learn to deny oneself anything that is
potentially harmful or not beneficial, while training our bodies for good
works.
*- Jesus said, "If any want to become my followers, let
them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke
9:23, NRSV)
- If we truly understand the Christian life, then we will
understand that it, rather than rejecting and denying suffering and sacrifice,
embraces them.
- It is a life that embraces self-denial, sacrifice, and
suffering because the Christian knows the glory that is to come and that their
sacrifices are not in vain.
- Not that we intentionally seek out suffering, but that we
understand that being the hands, feet and voice of Jesus can bring trouble, but
through the trouble, joy.
- Many times it's as simple as giving up something good in
exchange for God's best.
- Without the prize, self-discipline is merely
self-punishment.
- God's plan is that we understand the Christian life as an
athletic life of strict self-control and self-denial.
- God's purpose is that we run in such a way as to win the
prize.
*- God's prize: God's prize is a crown which lasts forever.
*- As Paul wrote, "Athletes exercise self-control in
all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable
one." (1 Corinthians 9:25, NRSV)
*- The ancient Olympians received the highest honours and received
laurel crowns as tokens or symbols of their victory.
- Normally, woven from fresh branches of bay laurel, Paul
reminded his readers that these laurel wreaths were only temporary, but the
prize the Christian runs for is imperishable, eternal.
- We are called to run, not for a crown that is fresh today
and wilted tomorrow, but which lasts forever.
- We run in such a way as to generate enthusiasm for Christ
in others, believer and nonbeliever alike, knowing that their gain is also our
reward.
- We are called to be the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus
until the light of the gospel shines in every home.
- The prize we run to gain is not simply for ourselves, but
for everyone around us. It's not just our eternal destinies we're running for,
but their place in the kingdom of God.
*- To win God's prize, live life by God's purpose and plan.
- Have you been painting the wrong house? OR, Has your focus
been on the eternal prize, God's kingdom?
- Have you been running as hard and as fast as you can in
God's direction?
- Have you been training yourself to sacrificially choose
God's best over the merely good?
- God's plan is that we understand the Christian life as an
athletic life of strict self-control and self-denial.
- God's purpose is that we run in such a way as to win the
prize.
- God's prize is a crown which lasts forever.
*- To win God's prize, live life by God's purpose and plan.
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