Guardrails for moms

The following post is a sermon that Ruthie Woodworth from Crosspoint Wesleyan Church, spoke at MRWC on mother's day. the title is Guardrails for moms. Enjoy!

Guardrails for Moms

Maple Ridge Wesleyan Church

May 13, 2012  Mothers Day

Good morning!  Thank you so much for having me here this morning – I can’t tell you how honoured I am to be your Mothers Day speaker!  I want to especially thank Pastor Nick, and Beth – I have great respect for your pastor and his wife!  You may know already that they look after the junior VBS program during Beulah Camp, and it’s been a privilege for me to work under them the last couple of years there, and I just want you to know – they’re AMAZING.  Really.

It’s also kind of neat that I get to serve with a couple of fine Maple Ridgers in worship at Crosspoint – Jeff and Rose Staples daughters, Amanda and Leah, are really involved, and are representing the Ridge well!  And just yesterday I had the chance to talk to Matthew Moore – are some of his family here today?? – Stephen, my husband, is a colleague of Matt’s.

You might be asking yourself – what qualifications does Ruth bring, as a Mothers Day speaker?  Well, I do fit the ‘mum’ category – I have 4 daughters (all amazing, of course) – Stephen is outnumbered really bad.  Our oldest was 5 when the youngest was born, and I remember those preschool days (or DAZE) – mayhem.  No sleep, cold meals, worn to a frazzle…Yep.  And the school-age days – there was one year all 4 of our girls went to the same school (K, 2, 4 and 5), but other than that it was two or three schools, so parent-teacher interviews were challenging!  Homework, sports, music, sick kids… yep.  Then the teen years – mayhem.  No sleep, cold meals, worn to a frazzle…yep.  But lots of joy, lots of fun all the way through.  I’m a mum!

But really, I’m not qualified – if you’re thinking a Mothers Day speaker should be someone who did the whole parenting thing right.  Or mostly right.  I want you to know that I wanted to do right.  I wanted to lean on God’s strength, and His wisdom, not my own – but I messed up LOTS.  I’m SO GLAD that God never ever threw his hands up in the air (so to speak) and said, “I give up!”  He continued to love me, and forgive me, and teach me, and I learned.  I’m still learning.  One of the verses we’ll look at today says, “Let us learn together what is good.”  That’s how we do this journey – we learn together.  Join me, will you?

PRAY

So – guardrails.  They warn you that you’re too close to danger.  Crash through and you’ll pay the price.  It might just be really messy, or it might cost you your life, or someone else’s, but it always exacts a price.  However, encounters with a guardrail, even when you don’t crash through, can be painful.  Sometimes it was a scrape or bump, but sometimes I’ve ricocheted off, with all the damage that goes with that.  So today I DO want to talk about three of those guardrails, but first I want to talk about what the Word says about living life between the lines.  Hebrews 4:12 says that the Word of God is alive and full of power, so let’s hear what the Father has to say to us.  Will you read with me?  Philippians 4:4-8 says

Always be full of joy in the Lord.  I say it again – rejoice! 

Let everyone see you are considerate in all you do.  Remember the Lord is coming soon. 

Don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.  FIX YOUR THOUGHTS on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.  Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Then Paul says again that the God of peace will be with you. 

There’s so much here to help us stay between the lines – be joyful (earlier in Philippians, the Word tells us “whatever happens, rejoice in the Lord”), be considerate, pray, thank God for all he has done, but THEN Paul says, “One final thing.  FIX YOUR THOUGHTS…”  That means to think on, to weigh, to ponder.  In my case, sometimes it means to force my focus away from the wrong, and really concentrate on the right.

I don’t know if many of you are like me or not, but I have found that many of my close encounters with guardrails came out of issues in my mind and heart.  Thoughts and attitudes. Jesus tells us (Mark 7:21) that out of the heart comes evil thoughts, greed, envy, lying, sexual immorality… and more!  The good news on THAT is that when we give our lives to Jesus, he makes us new.  We can FIX OUR THOUGHTS on something better.  Let’s look at that verse from Philippians – verse 8 – one more time.  Read with me!

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.  FIX YOUR THOUGHTS on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.  Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Ack!  How can I change the way I think?  It’s the work of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 12:2 says, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”  LET God.  And it’s a process – a lifelong one.  Ephesians 4:22-24 says,

Throw off your old sinful nature, and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.  Instead, LET the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.  Put on your new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy.

When we come to Jesus, he starts the process, as we LET him.  He will not force us.  The Spirit checks me – I get a twinge – when my thoughts and attitudes go down old paths.  Then I can decide to turn around, and refocus, to FIX MY MIND on the pure, the lovely, the things that are true, and admirable.

Sometimes, though, I get stuck.  My focus gets stuck in a bad spot, like, for example, on an old hurt.  And that brings us to our first guardrail – there’s a word for getting stuck on an old wound, and it’s grudge.  Unforgiveness.  It means I’ve fixed my thoughts on what someone did to me, how they hurt me.  And nursing a grudge (in spite of the word ‘nursing’) does NOT speed healing – it keeps it raw and ugly.  Jesus says (Mark 11:25), “Forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins too.”  Beth Moore says that holding something against someone is to hold us to them.  Have I been forgiven. Then I must forgive.  Colossians 3:13 says, “Forgive anyone who offends you.  Remember the Lord forgave you so you must forgive others.”

GUARDRAIL #2  I’m scraping (or maybe ricocheting off) the guardrail when my mind and heart are full of anxiety, or worry.  Let’s go back to Philippians 4:6.

Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”

When I get stuck in worry, it’s almost always over something that I have no control over.  One of the kids is in a spot that could be dangerous, and I can’t help.  One is facing a decision that has HUGE repercussions, and they don’t seem to see them (at least not like I do).  Or maybe I’m worrying about what’s down the road.  When I’m here, I need to FIX MY THOUGHTS on Jesus – his love for me, his power, his goodness, his grace, his provision, his mercy, his majesty, his glory, his creation… Focusing on him puts my anxiety in perspective.  My life is in his hands.  I can trust him.  Psalm 100:3, which will be up on the screen in a few minutes, says, “Acknowledge (or KNOW) that the Lord is God.  He made us, and WE ARE HIS.  We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”

GUARDRAIL #3  James says in chapter 3, “The tongue is a flame of fire…it can set your whole life on fire…”  Jesus tells us that the words we speak come from the heart, and that’s what gets us into trouble.  Are my words unkind, or hurtful, or bitter?  Are they discouraging to others?  Are they misleading, or even untrue?  GUARDRAIL ALERT!  I’m scraping!  Sparks are flying!

Job 34:2-4  Listen to me, you wise men (and women!).  Pay attention, you who have knowledge.  Job said, “The ear tests the words it hears just as the mouth distinguishes between foods.” So let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good.

Taste your words.  Are they sweet?  Have you found that sometimes you’re left with a bad taste in your mouth from something you’ve said? Guardrail! I’ve gotten myself in trouble when the taste was bad because of the attitude of my heart, even though the words sounded good. The Holy Spirit can help us learn to sift our words before they leave our mouths.  Another process!  Think about a young child – if you want to know what they think, just ask!  They’ll tell you, in no uncertain terms.  I remember being in McDonalds with the kids.  Stephen had our 3 year old in his arms, and I was getting condiments and napkins (lots of ‘em).  There was a large man standing in line right in front of Stephen.  Yep, right in front of him.  So our tactful 3 year old says – loudly – “Daddy, look at that fat man with all the necklaces!!!”  No filter there!

Just before we leave this guardrail, I want to look with you for just a minute at that 4^th verse of chapter 34 again.  It says, “Let us learn together…”  That’s how we do this.  That’s the church – learning from one another, learning with one another.  Forgiving each other, praying for each other, growing together.  That’s the church.

All of this – a new way of thinking, leaving grudges behind, and anxiety, and bitter, grumbly speech – is impossible without Jesus Christ.  He offers us transformation from the inside out.  Not redecorating – a complete renovation.  Not a tune-up – a total overhaul.  When we recognize how very much we need him, and accept his offer of forgiveness and a new life, he adopts us as his children!  Imagine!  This fatally flawed, weak person – loved, accepted and adopted into the family of Almighty God.  Amazing.  I’ve been on this journey for most of my life, and it still is just …  amazing.

And did you know that you can KNOW?  The disciples said to Jesus, We believe and we know you are the Holy One of God.  Jesus said, You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. 

And Psalm 100:3 says Acknowledge (or KNOW) that the Lord is God.  He made us, and we are his.  We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

He made us, and we are his.  He will do this amazing work in us, if we will allow him to do it.

If you don’t know for sure that you are his…if you’ve never accepted the offer Jesus makes…if you’re stuck in the old ways of thinking and acting…you can KNOW, you can be forgiven and transformed, you can be FREE this morning.

Guardrails, part 6

The following is the final Message in our Guardrails series. Enjoy!

We are in the last week of our sermon series called Guardrails.

As you know, a guardrail is a system designed to keep vehicles from straying into off limit danger zones.

            A guardrail has only one purpose. It’s designed to keep you and me safe.

       When you see a guardrail, you know to be on the lookout for a potential hazardous area. Guardrails are designed to keep you safe.

            The key thought of this series is this: “followers of Jesus are to establish a system to prevent them from straying into off limit danger zones.”

            Followers of Jesus are to establish guardrails in their lives.

            Installing these guardrails in our lives will keep us from a life-time of pain and regret. Establishing guardrails will keep us safe.

ILLUSTRATION- A few weeks ago, I was talking to someone about why I’m not on Facebook.

       I thought about giving him my top 10 list as to why I’m not on FB, but instead, I summed it up with one word: “Guardrails”.

            If I were to join FB I would be coming up against, or in certain cases, smashing right through a guardrail.

            So by not being on FB, I am actually preventing myself from going down a road that I really have no business going down.

            This is the same lesson that the Bible teaches.       

        Our memory verse for this series has been Proverbs 27:12 and it tells us that: “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.” (NIV) 

            Prudent—wise—people see danger—Facebook, eating with someone else’s spouse—and they take precautions to avoid straying into danger zones.

But the simple—the not wise—people pay no attention to warning signs, and they smash right through guardrails, and will, eventually, suffer the consequences for their actions.

            If we’re being completely honest with each other, we all have, at one time or another, come up against, or blown right past a guardrail that has been set up.

            Either we were caught up in the heat of the moment, or we were blindsided by something unexpected, we have all blown past a guardrail that has been set up.

            I want you to know that you don’t have to live with the guilt, and the shame and the pain of running through that guardrail.

You can receive forgiveness and healing for your actions, but you will also have to install—or reinforce-- a guardrail to prevent you from straying into an off limit danger zone.

            If you don’t take anything else from church today, take this with you: Unless we install a guardrail in our life, we will stray into off limit danger zones. 

            God has some pretty clear instructions as to the guardrails that followers of Jesus are to establish.

            Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 6 to “Flee from—not flirt with—sexual immorality.” (6:18, NIV)

            If you remember the Greek word for immorality is “porneia” and it is a generic term for sexual sin of any kind” (Key word Bible)

            Followers of Jesus are to establish guardrails when it comes to sex, because the Bible says “flee from, not flirt with, sexual immorality”.

            Another guardrail that most of us need to install relates to stuff.

        Jesus reminded us that: “a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (Luke 12:15b, NIV)

Life is not measured by how much we have, but by what we do with that we have.

            Followers of Jesus need to establish guardrails when it comes to sex and money, because sex and money are killing way too many people.

       We need to establish boundry markers when it comes to sex and money so we dont end up going off the cliff.

            There is one more topic that we need to discuss; there is one more guardrail that followers of Jesus need to install, or reinforce.

            We need to establish guardrails when it comes to marriage.

            Believe it or not, marriage is under attack. It has been reported that 53% of non-Christian couples have obtained a divorce.

It has also been reported that 49% of Christian couples have obtained a divorce.

            I’m not a rocket scientist, but I think these numbers are way too high!

            How is it possible that divorce is so prevalent amongst people who call themselves followers of Jesus?

            Don’t ponder that question for too long, because Jesus gives us the answer.

      In Mark 3 He said: “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” (Mark 3:24-25, NIV)

            A marriage will not last if a husband and wife are constantly disagreeing or arguing with each other.

            I understand that you won’t always see eye to eye, but you should be able to walk hand in hand.

            In fact, this is the truth that Paul gave us in Eph. 4: “In your anger do not sin" Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.” (Eph. 4:26-27, NIV)

            When couples fail work through any issue that comes their way, and sweep it under the rug, or choose stew about it instead, they are giving the devil a foothold in their marriage.  

ILLUSTRATION- Every once in a while, my wife and I will come to a blow.

        I will have done something that she didn’t like—or vice versa—and instead of talking about it, we keep it to ourselves, and by not addressing the issue in a calm way, we are actually giving the devil a foothold in our marriage.

            This happens when I look for other things that Beth might not be doing, things that really have no relevance to the issue at hand, but when you give the devil an inch, he’ll be a ruler.

            When I remember what the Bible has to say, such as “love keeps no record of being wronged.” (1 Cor. 13:5b, NLT2), when I ask God to help me deal with the issue at hand, and we sit down and talk about it, we are able to resolve even the most serious issues.

            If you can’t talk to your spouse because of a conflict in your marriage; it is affecting your marriage and you are straying into an off limit danger zone.  

            So, what do you do? How do we prevent our marriages from straying into these off limit danger zones?

            Jesus told a story about 2 people who built a house. The first person built his house on a solid foundation, and:

“Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.” (Matthew 7:25, NLT2)

The couples who build their relationship on a solid foundation; those couples who establish guardrails, will survive even though the storm comes- and the storms always come.

The couples who build their marriage on the truth of Jesus Christ; the couples who decide that no matter what comes their way, they will work it out, will survive the storms of life.

But the couples who fail to establish guardrails, when the storm comes—and the storm always comes—they will suffer the consequences.

 “When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” (Matt.7:27, NLT2)

You see dear friends, “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” (Psalm 127:1a, NIV)

Unless you are taking your marriage to the throne room of God, when hard times come, it will not stand the test of time, because “…a family splintered by feuding will fall apart.” (Mark 3:25, NLT2) 

A marriage that is in constant turmoil is headed for the danger zone.

A marriage that cannot—or will not—address the issues affecting it is straying too close to the danger zone.

So very quickly, I want to give you 3 guardrails that you can establish, and if you apply them to your marriage, they will help you when you come into a danger zone.

They may sound crazy, but guardrails are intended to save your life.

            #1. Take divorce off the table. 

            What do I mean, take divorce off the table? Take divorce off the table. Don’t bring it up, don’t mention it. Don’t even joke about it.

Divorce is serious business and it affects a lot of people, so removing this word from your vocabulary, might save your marriage.

A Second Guardrail to establish is this: don’t ask God to change your spouse.

ILLUSTRATION- I can’t begin tell you how many times I’ve asked God to change my wife; that God would make her do this, or make her do that.

            While God can change my wife, He is more concerned about changing me.

       Instead of asking God to change my wife, I need to ask God to change my attitude toward my wife.

            I need to ask God to work on my heart first, and then ask Him to work on my wife.

            If you are only asking God to change your spouse, you might run out of breath.

       Instead of asking God to change your spouse, ask God to change you, first.  

            The last guardrail to establish and probably the most difficult one, is Love your spouse unconditionally.

            For love to last, for marriage to stand the test of time, you must love your spouse unconditionally.

            Unconditional love has no limits, it has no end, it keeps going, even, and especially in the storms of life.

            Coincidentally, unconditional love is the same love that God has for us, which leads me to believe that we cannot truly love our spouses without the love of God living inside of us, because God is love. (1 John 4:16b, NIV)

            So I wonder today how many marriages could benefit from the instillation of one, two, or all three of these guardrails.

            How many marriages could be rescued TODAY if followers of Jesus came up with a system to keep them—and their marriages—from straying into off limit danger zones?

ILLSUTRATION- One of the parts of my job that I enjoy the most is preforming weddings.

            One of the first things that I do when I conduct pre-marriage counselling sessions is ask couples one question: “What is the goal of marriage?”

            While some couples are hesitant to answer this question, and other couples respond with benefits of marriage, none of them properly answer this question.

            According to God, the goal of marriage is Oneness, two people living as one. Not two people living as two. Two people living as one.

            The Bible says: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” (Gen. 2:24, NIV)

            If I could put my finger on the number one reason why marriages fail, its right here, couples living as two, instead of living as one.

            For marriage to work the way God intended it to work, the relationship between a husband and wife is to take priority over every other human relationship.

            No other relationship is as important as the relationship between a man and his wife, and nothing is to come between it, not our parents, not even our children.

            So if your relationship with your spouse isn’t the top priority in your life, you are straying into a danger zone.

            If another relationship is more important to you than your relationship with your spouse, you are coming up against a guardrail and you need to take precautions, because you are headed for a crash.

            Jesus reminded us that a house divided against itself will not stand, and if your marriage could use a guardrail or three, I want to encourage you to take some time this week, to talk to your spouse about the issues that are holding you hostage.

            Not talking about these issues is leading you down a path that you don’t need to go down.

            Talking about these issues might hurt, but they will serve as a guardrail to keep you from becoming just another statistic.  

Friends, I want to let you know that Jesus is here today and He can—and wants to restore your relationship.

He can take the weakest marriage and make it thrive, but that can only happen as we come to Him.

So, as we lead into our last song, if your marriage needs a touch from God, ask Him.

Don’t leave this place without giving your heart and your marriage over to God.

Don’t leave this place without seeking out someone whom you trust and someone you know will pray for you, because your marriage will not fix itself!

We’re in this thing together and I want to see the marriages of this church thrive, so if you need Jesus to resurrect your marriage, you respond as God leads you.

Guardrails, part 4

This is the 4th message in our current series, Guardrails. Enjoy!

We are continuing on with our Guardrails series today. Again, the idea behind this series is that “Followers of Jesus are to establish a system to prevent them from straying into dangerous off limit areas.”

            This is what Guardrails doà they keep us from straying into off limit danger zones. Their sole purpose is to keep you and me safe.

            Guardrails are not placed in a danger zone, Guardrails are placed just beyond a danger zone; they warn us of impending danger.

            If followers of Jesus were to establish guardrails in their lives, they would be saved from a life full of pain and regret.

            This is what the Bible teaches. Our memory verse for this series tells us that: “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.” (Pr. 27:12, NIV)

            Wise people—the prudent--- are the ones who establish guardrails around danger zones to prevent them from straying into those danger zones.

            Wise people recognize what their temptations are, and wise people set up guardrails to prevent them from giving into these temptations.

            The simple—the not-so-wise-people—will see the guardrail—will see areas that could potentially hinder their walk with Jesus, and will ignore it, choosing instead to do that harmful thing, and when they do, they must face the consequences of their actions.

            Last week we talked about a Guardrail that all of us need to set up, or at the very least, reinforce.

            We looked at a potent verse in 1 Corinthians 6 that tells us to “flee from—not flirt with—Sexual immorality.” (1 Cor. 6:18a, NIV)

            We are to establish guardrails when it comes to sex, because an unhealthy use of God’s gift to married couples will lead us into off limit danger zones.

            So, how did you do? Did you formulate a plan to prevent you from straying into off limit danger zones, or did you go off in to those danger zones?

            You see, the time to formulate a plan to avoid sexual immorality, isn’t when you’re veering into the danger zone, the time to formulate a plan is when you’re on the smooth road.

            God wants us to flee from—not flirt with—sexual immorality.

            This morning, we are going to look at another area where we need to install—or reinforce— a guardrail.

            If it’s true that the top two issues facing our culture are sex and money, then we as a church need to talk about sex and money.

            We need to talk about the issues that are plaguing our culture. We need to show our culture that there is hope, and His Name is Jesus.  

ILLUSTRATION- Please understand something, I am probably the worst person in the world to be talking to you about stuff and money.

Because I have a lot of stuff and I want to spend money alot of money.

            Sometimes I have a little kid mentality: I see something, I want something, and I get something.

Allow me to expound just a bit: my lovely wife got me a compound miter saw for Christmas a few years back. She decided that I needed a hobby, so she got me the saw.

            What she didn’t expect was what would come next. In a span of just about one year, I purchased:

1)     A router

2)     A black and decker sander

3)     An oscillating spindle sander

4)     A drill press

5)     A rotary tool

6)     A scroll saw

7)     A jig saw

8)     A 2^nd drill

9)     A new compound miter saw—because the old one was broken.

 This list does not include all the wood, screws and finish needed to make projects like this (display photo of shelf)

 My wife, on the other hand, should be the one standing up here talking to ME about money and stuff….

Friends, I share that with you to let you know, that I haven’t got this thing all figured out, but I am slowly coming to the conclusion that unless I establish a guardrail when it comes to stuff in general and money in particular, I will lead my family into a dangerous off-limit area.

But, if we’re being honest with each other, I’m probably not the only one who needs to install a guardrail.

“According to the Wall Street Journal, 70% of Americans are living from pay cheque to pay cheque, and USA Today reported that 55% of Americans admit to “always” or “sometimes” worrying about money” (Ramsey, 2003, front flap)

Money is putting unnecessary stress on a good number of people. Perhaps you are one of them.

Perhaps you are so far in debt that you are secretly hoping that the world would end just so you can be free from your money troubles.

If so, you need to establish guardrails, because life isn’t about how much money you have, or how much stuff you can acquire, life is about being rich toward God.

Our culture teaches us that the goal of this life is to get as much stuff, acquire as much money, as you can.

It even went as far as issuing a statement a while back, a statement that said: “He who dies with the most toys wins.”

But Jesus, as was His custom, constantly challenges the world’s philosophy.

He tells us in Luke 12 to “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; (WHY) a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (Luke 12:15, NIV)

Contrary to popular belief, life is not measured in the amount of money that is in your bank account, or the amount of stuff that you own.

When God looks at your life, when God looks at my life, He doesn’t look at the things we have, He looks at what we do with what we have.

To illustrate this point, Jesus told a story about a rich man who: “…had a fertile farm that produced fine crops.”

¹⁷ He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’

¹⁸ Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods.

¹⁹ And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ (Luke 12:16-19, NLT2)

Jesus told us about a man who had enjoyed a banner year, his crops produced more than he had anticipated, and instead of giving his extra crop away, he tore down the super-value and put up a super Wal-Mart in its place.

 HHe would then have all kinds of room to enjoy all his stuff, but notice God’s response:

“…God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:20-21, NIV)

The man in our story trusted in things that were temporary, leaving no room for that which is eternal.

Friends, life isn’t measured on how much money we make, or on how much stuff we have, but life is measured on being rich toward God.

From this story, Jesus is telling us that the way to be rich toward God is by remembering that some things are temporary and other things are eternal.

Thus the need for guardrails, because they will help us differentiate between the two.

For things are temporary and people are eternal, and being rich toward God involves focusing on the eternal more than focusing on the temporary.  

ILLUSTRATION- In his book, “When the game is over it all goes back in the box” author John Ortberg tells of the time that Pastor Bill Hybels attended a meeting where a speaker stood in front of a large group of people with a roll of stickers in his hand.

            Behind the speaker on the platform were tables filled with props that represented the stuff of our lives: A (matchbox) car, a dollhouse, a tiny desk that stood for our jobs.

            The speaker roamed the stage and placed a red sticker on each item.

       He explained that each sticker contained the same word: “Temporary”.

The speaker went on to say: “Everything that I’m putting a sticker on is temporary. It will not last. It will fade away.”

            Bill watched as the speaker plastered red stickers on everything sitting on the stage. 

The speaker walked before the silent room, pronouncing with his hands the ultimate fate of the greatest goods this world has to offer — “temporary”

The speaker then went on to say: “there is only one thing in this room that is not temporary. There is only one item that you will be allowed to take with you from this life to the next.

He then had a little girl join him on stage and he put a blue sticker on the collar of her dress.

“When you get to the end of your life, he said, and take your last breath what do you want your life to have been about—what will make you rich in God’s eyes? People.” (Ortberg,2007.30-31)

Jesus reminds us that life is not measured by how much we have but who we have.

So I wonder today what do we need to label “temporary” and what do we need to label “eternal”?

What is your greatest prize? Is it something you purchased? Or is it a relationship that you have?

What things to you need to label “temporary”—your man cave? Your car? Your cheque book?

What—rather who—do you need to label eternal? What relationships are suffering because of your constant want of stuff?

What area of your life could benefit from a guardrail?

What area of your life could benefit from a boundary marker reminding you that there is more to life than simply acquiring goods?

To help you out, I’ve got a take home exam. I’ve got two cards to give you; one is marked “temporary” and the other one is marked “eternal”

Can I encourage you to take these cards home, and place the temporary card on or near that “thing” that you enjoy the most, and place the eternal card on or near the one relationship that you should enjoy the most? 

This will help you define what is—and what should be more important to you, because temporary things won’t last, but eternal things—people—will.

If we establish guardrails when it comes to stuff, if we remember that stuff is temporary, it will help us from acquiring more stuff; it will help us from straying into dangerous off limit zones.

“A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.” (Pr. 27:12, NLT2)

Is there an area of your life that could benefit from a guardrail? Are you spending too much time or money on things that are temporary, on things that will fade away? 

If so, the instillation of a guardrail will prevent you from straying into a danger zone.

Remembering that things—all things—are temporary, will allow you more time to focus on things that are eternal: the people in your life.

If God has been speaking to your heart about your constant need for stuff, maybe it’s time to install a guardrail, because “…a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15b, NIV)

Here's how we're going to close off this morning:  the band will come back and lead us in our closing song, and if there has been a tug on your heart today, I want you to come up to the front and pick up these two cards: Temporary and Eternal.

Say a quick prayer as your standingn at the front:—“Jesus show me where these cards need to go”—and go back to your seat.

When the band's done, I'll pray and we'll go home.