DAILY RESURRECTION POWER

I just wanted to share some exciting news…I had a few neighbor ladies over last night for a “post holiday get together”. At the end, I asked them if they would like to do a Book Club with a christian focus, & meet every 2 to 3 weeks. I showed them the book I was thinking of  “Heaven, How I Got Here” ( The Story of the Thief On the Cross), by Colin Smith. They said they were interested & took the book home. We are reading the 1st 1/2 (short book) & meeting again Feb 15th! I was so excited & looking with expectancy to see what God will do. Lord, may it be only for Your Glory, & Your ministry…draw them to You!  🙂  I would appreciate your prayers for them, thanks.

Notes on Rankin Wilbournes sermon on “Glorification.” 
 
Defining glorification – Not what happens to you when you die.   The Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, which is to say the souls of believers are, at their death, made perfect in holiness and immediately pass into God’s presence.     Your spirit goes immediately to God, but your body/remains rest in the grave until Christ comes again.   On that day the dead shall be raised and be publicly acquitted, given a new heavenly body, uncorruptable, made perfectly blessed and in the full enjoying of God. 
 
C.S. Lewis wrote an essay titled “The Weight of Glory.”  Lewis writes “It may be possible for each to think too much of his own glory hereafter.  It is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor.”   The load or weight or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid daily on my back.   A load so heavy only humility can carry it.   
 
Glorification is not just what happens when you die–all creation will be made anew.  Every one of us, whether you are conscious of it or not, spends a great deal of time thinking about our future glory.   Nothing affects your today more than your understanding of where your life is headed. This is not a unique Christian idea.   The stoic philosopher Epictetus put it this way: “Men are disturbed not by things, but by their opinions about them.”   Your interpretation is shaped by your mindset.  Your mindset is shaped by your hope, your aspirations.  It is our mindset that most affects our life here and now.   The Biblical statement of this is in Colossians 3:2 “Set your mind on things are above, not things that are on the earth”.   Nothing shapes your present more than the future hope on which your heart is set. 
 
 Wilbourne was giving a five-night lecture series – the first was on Ambition 
 
Four points of this message on Ambition: 
1. Ambition reconsidered
2. Ambition corrupted
3. Ambition crucified
4. Ambition healed
 
Ambition reconsidered
He referred to the film “Money Ball.”   General manager, Billy Beane changed the way players are valued in the major leagues forever – going from a collection of stats to on-base-percentage.  In the climatic scene , Billy Beane is talking to the owner of the Boston Red Sox.  The owner asked Billy if he understood that he was questioning the whole system – the way they have always done things?   He said, “No wonder they are so upset with you.”    
 
Wilbourne says that’s exactly the way he felt when he became a Christian in his senior year in college.   He says he had an enormous sense of relief but also an enormous sense of trauma.  Because what Billy Bean had done for baseball, Jesus had done for him.  Jesus threatened his whole way of life.  He had overturned all the rules and threatened everything he used to live for.  His motivational structure was uprooted, and his ambition was challenged. 
 
The one biblical text that was helpful as much as anything was the one in John 12.   John is making the point that each of us is ambitious, we are all glory-seekers.  Vs. 37:   Many leaders believed in Jesus, but they were afraid to acknowledge Him because they would lose their positions if they crossed the establishment.  It’s the same tension as when a college professor says, “How can anyone intelligent believe in Christianity?”       Vs. 43: John allows you insight into the real motivation behind their reluctance to acknowledge Jesus publicly: “For they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”    The NIV translates the word for glory as “praise.” 
 
John Stott says “Ambition concerns our goals in life and our incentives for pursuing them.   So you hunger for glory.   The question is “Which Glory?” 
 
Ambition corrupted
Ambition is not the problem.   The problem is that our God-given hunger for glory gets corrupted.   What is corrupted ambition?  C.S. Lewis makes this distinction:   “It is not wrong for an actor to want to act his part as well as it can possibly be acted.   But the wish to have his name in bigger type than the other actors is a bad one.”    What we call ambition is the wish to be more conspicuous, to be more successful than someone else.  It is the competitive element that is bad. 
 
In 1842, Timothy Dwight, president of Yale University, gave a commencement speech titled “The Love of Distinction.”   Dwight defined the love of  distinction as the desire to stand out from your peers in the marketplace in skill and ability.     Dwight said, :Nothing is going to make  more misery in your life than the love of distinction.”  
 
Ambition crucified.
The question is “Can our ambition be healed?”   To be healed, sooner or later, it has to be crucified.  Wilbourne stated that he is aware that his ministry must be displaced by the ministry of Jesus.  He must be bumped aside, perhaps painfully, from the center.   Otherwise his ego is too tied to how he is doing.   Crucifixion of your ambition is the only way you’ll be free.  Regardless of your calling, you too, sooner or later must be displaced, perhaps painfully, from the center.   The more competent you think you are, the more difficult and painful that displacement will be.
When we are displaced, it feels like a “little death.”   Thank God for those “little deaths.”  
 
Andrew Purvis put it this way: “By his grace, God brings us to the place where our reliance on what we can do is crucified by God.”    Wilbourne goes on to say he thinks there is a 14-year gap in the biblical record of Paul’s life.  He thinks it took Paul 14 years to heal from his trauma.   Glorification isn’t just about our future, it is what reorients our present aspirations.   What makes you seek God’s glory is finally seeing what his glory looks like.     John 12:27: “Now my soul is troubled and what shall I say?  Father, save me from this hour?   No, it was for this very purpose that I came.”God was most glorified when the Lord of glory was crucified.  
 
Ambition healed.
A few pictures of healed ambition:    
1.  Healed ambition gives you the freedom to fail.   Fear of failure is big, and it is under so much of what drives us.   You can take risks instead of going where other voices are telling you.  You can go where God is leading you, even when it doesn’t make sense. 
 
2. Healed ambition gives you freedom from envy.   Envy says “What about me?  Why do they have what I don’t have?”  If what you are doing really is for God, you can be content with whatever comes your way.   It allows you to enjoy the success of others in your field.  You can be second and you can be satisfied. 
 
3.  God’s words in your heart begin to weigh more than your own thoughts or fears.   Glory literally means “weight.”  That is why Lewis’ essay is titled The Weight of Glory.  
 
Wilbourne closed with a story about a preacher’s daughter who went into a deep depression in college.   She wanted to die.   Depression is complex – it is physiological and mental, but there is always a spiritual component.   She came to her Dad, a nationally known pastor.   He said he had been praying about this and he had some advice for her.  He knew she didn’t drink alcohol and had been saving herself for marriage.   But he told her to go out and raise a little hell – get drunk, have sex.   She protested that he had always taught her against those things.  She didn’t get his advice.  Her father said he had written down some of the things she had been saying, and over the years they had their little debates.  He reminded her that she had complained of being ugly and fat.  She agreed. He said “Let’s assume Jesus Incarnate in the flesh actually walked into this room, and I said “Jesus what a wonderful opportunity to settle a debate between me and my daughter.   She thinks she is ugly and fat, and I believe she is beautiful and wonderful.  Jesus would you break the tie?”      Then he said to his daughter, “What do you think Jesus would say?” Her head dropped and she said “Jesus would say I am beautiful.”   Then he asked her which would be worse, living outside His rules or calling Him a liar.   She said “Calling Him a liar.”   
 

Terrific sermon by Wilbourne! It is part of a series and I would like to hear all of them. Where can I find them, Dee?
 
Thesis: Nothing shapes your present more than the future hope on which your heart is set. The hope you set your heart upon will determine the course of your life and you have a choice.
 
Key points:
 
The one biblical text that was helpful as much as anything in Wilbourne’s struggle to understand ambition was the one in John 12.   John is making the point that each of us is ambitious; we are all glory-seekers.  We are hardwired to hunger for glory. Vs. 37:   Many leaders believed in Jesus, but they were afraid to acknowledge Him because they would lose their positions if they crossed the establishment.  It’s the same tension as when a college professor says, “How can anyone intelligent believe in Christianity?”       Vs. 43: John allows you insight into the real motivation behind their reluctance to acknowledge Jesus publicly: “For they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”   
 
Ambition is not a vile thing. John Stott says “Ambition concerns our goals in life and our incentives for pursuing them.” A person’s ambition is what makes them tick, the mainspring of your actions. We all pursue what you value.   So you hunger for glory.   The question is “Which Glory?” from God or from man. 
 
Your own ambition must be crucified. God’s glory must be more important (must weigh for, have more glory) than the words and thoughts of others. We must seek God’s glory not our own. It takes a long time to do this.
 
My comments:
 
This sermon hits between the eyes. It is both very humbling and very encouraging. We all have ambitions whether we acknowledge it or not. We all seek our own glory. That ambition must be killed. Usually that death is traumatic. But only then can we seek what matters infinitely more – God’s glory. This reminds me of the verses that God is trying to pound into my head. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23,24)