TRACKING LEVEL – THREE by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction: Sometime back, Inc. (business magazine) had an article titled “Science Says Only 8 Percent of People Actually Achieve Their Goals.” They were quoting from a study done some time back by the University of Scranton. According to their research, 92% gave all kinds of reasons for not reaching their goals. Inc. suggested the following 7 reasons why the 8% did reach their goals: 1. They began with the end in mind; 2. They built a support system around them; 3. They set specific and challenging goals; 4. They recognized when they were procrastinating; 5. They practiced the 52 and 17 Rule (52 minutes of work followed by 17 minutes of rest; interval training); 6. They listened to music for focus; 7. They didn’t multitask. While it could be debated whether those were the actual reasons for not quitting, in my observation, many people give up in the last quarter, the last 25%, of the race, whether in marriage, education, business, ministry, or some other goal in their life. As you know, we’re in our series called “On Track,” and today’s message is titled “TRACKING – LEVEL THREE.” Big Question: Are you still climbing the levels in your Christian growth, or have you given up for some reason? Some people give up because of some trial, others give up because of some tragedy, and yet others give up because of some other distraction. Some even quit because of some moral failure. How about you?

2 Peter 1       5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

Context: Last weekend, we focused on “Level Two” of the virtues in our Christian growth: Excellence, Knowledge, and Self-Control. Keep in mind that they are all built on the foundation of our Faith in God, and each virtue is built on the previous one:

• If you don’t have faith in God, you will doubt his will for your life.
• If you doubt his will for your life, you won’t strive to live the life of excellence.
• If you don’t strive to live the life of excellence, you will cut corners.
• If you cut corners, you will live by earthly wisdom.
• If you live by earthly wisdom, you will lack self-control and give in to various lusts.

Before we go to “Level Three,” how are you tracking on “Level Two?” How did you do this past week with regards to Excellence, Knowledge, and Self-Control? By the way, don’t forget that God only expects from us what he has already supplied to us in Jesus Christ. We are only working out what has been worked in.

With that said, let’s look at Level 3 of these attributes – “…to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,”: 

5. Perseverance – the Greek word is “hupomenei” which means “patient endurance.” That’s more than just “patience” or “endurance.” The idea is that we remain steadfast and persevere in the face of temptations and suffering. It is a cardinal Christian virtue, found 32 times in the New Testament. We don’t have time to look at each of these occurrences with “hupomenei”, but here are a few main ones:

• Jesus used that word to describe a good listener of his word – Luke 8:15 “But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience (hupomenei).”
• Paul used it many times to emphasize its importance in the Christian life – Romans 5      3 “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
• James used that word to describe a mature believer – James 1       2 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience (hupomenei). 4 But let patience (hupomenei) have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
• Job is considered a prime example of “hupomenei” – James 5:11 “Indeed we count them blessed who endure (Verb). You have heard of the perseverance (Noun) of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”

Here’s the point: Climbing the levels in the Christian life does not make us immune to trials and even temptations. Sometimes, they even get worse, but in the process, we become more and more like Christ. It is part of God’s plan of growth for us.

Illustration: Couple of weeks ago I told you about R. G. LeTourneau (1888-1969), and how he lived a life of incredible faith. Well…here’s the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say. It was about the time of World War I, R.G. joined the naval yard. He almost died when the Spanish influenza broke out killing thousands of people. War ended and their first son was born. R.G. was not prepared for what was about to happen when he went back on the first day to the Garage. His friend told him that they were bankrupt. He couldn’t believe it. How could that be?! Other garages were growing and set for the big car boom of 1919-1920. Everyday there was another bad news – another creditor who needed to be paid, another deal that didn’t work out. It wasn’t long before R.G. knew that his friend had a bad habit and had run the business into the ground. But that wasn’t the worst of it. One night he returned from the garage and Evelyn was pacing the floor. The Spanish influenza had been raging through Stockton, especially among little infants. Few days later their baby died. Listen to R.G. words: “I held Evelyn, but when I could find words, it was to God that I addressed them. ‘What’s wrong? What have we done that we should be so punished? We’ve worked hard. We’ve tried our best to be Christians. Oh, where have we gone wrong?” That night, while we were still numb with sorrow, the answer came to me. ‘My child,’ the Voice said, ‘you have been working hard, but for the wrong things. You have been working for material things when you should have been working for spiritual things.’ The words were few, but the meaning ran deep. All that long night I reviewed my past and saw where I had been paying only token tribute to God, going through the motions of acting like a Christian, but really serving myself and my conscience instead of serving Him. Instead of being a humble servant, I was taking pride in the way I was working to pay my material debts at the garage, while doing scarcely a thing to pay my spiritual debt to God.” God did not cause his business to go down. Neither did he cause the baby to die. But God in His sovereignty used the struggle and the pain in their lives to turn them towards spiritual things. About this time, they found a good church, and their life changed forever.

R.G. and Evelyn would travel every week to speak in churches and gatherings. Once they were travelling in 1937 with a singing quartet. They had a head on collision with a car coming towards them. The driver of the other car had turned his head to talk. Five people died at the scene – three in the opposite car and two from the quartet. R.G.’s hips were driven out of their sockets, his pelvis was broken, chest was crushed, leg was broken, and a foot crushed. Evelyn was bruised and bleeding and unconscious. R.G. looked up to heaven and said – “Lord, this could not have happened if You had not permitted it, because I know ‘that all things work together for good to them that love God.’ You suffered more than this for me. Thy will be done.’” God healed them and used them again.

Listen to these two verses:

• 2 Timothy 2       11 “This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. 12 If we endure (hupomenei), we shall also reign with Him.”
• Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance (hupomenei) the race that is set before us.”

Question: How is your patient endurance level?

6. Godliness – the Greek word is “eusebeia,” which means “devoutness,” “piety,” and “the fear of God.” That word is found about 15 times in the New Testament, eight times in 1 Timothyand 4 times in 2 Peter. Again, we cannot look at every occurrence, but let’s look at a couple:

• A “eusebeia” life does not come naturally – 1 Timothy 4:7 “But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise (gumnazo) yourself toward godliness (eusebeia). 8 For bodily exercise (somatike gumnasia) profits a little, but godliness (eusebeia) is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”
• A “eusebeia” life demands fleeing from the world – 1 Timothy 6       6 “Now godliness with contentment is great gain…10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.”
• Peter gives two examples of a “eusebeia” life – 2 Peter 2       4 “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly (asebeia); 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly (asebeia); 7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— 9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly (eusebeia) out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.”
• A major impetus to live the godly life is the coming judgment of the world – 2 Peter 3      10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

Illustration: Although different people came to this land for different reasons, the primary reason for people coming was religious freedom. Unfortunately, in just about a hundred years, values and morality were on a decline in the American colonies. Drunkenness, swearing, immorality, and every form of godlessness were rampant. Young people were roaming the streets at night, hanging out in taverns, and indulging in immoral activities. All of a sudden, two well-known youths in the small town of Northampton, Massachusetts, died. People were shocked. Many began to question the meaning of life and death. Members of one small church began praying for their neighbors. By December of 1734, the pastor Jonathan Edwards noted, “the Spirit of God began extraordinarily to set in” and “a great and earnest concern about the great things of religion” brought “more than 300 souls … to Christ.” Keep in mind that the population of Northampton was only 1100. Six young people were converted. Among them was a young girl who had a bad reputation. The news of her salvation spread like wildfire! About this time, revival fires began to spread to other parts of the nation through the preaching of a man named George Whitefield, a friend of John and Charles Wesley. As many as 80% of the American colonists heard him preach. Benjamin Franklin once estimated that there were close to 30,000 people in the open air listening to him. His favorite passage was John 3:7, “You must be born again.” He would preach with such intensity that he would often loose blood after each preaching. Between 1740-42, the First Great Awakening came through the colonies. Remember Jonathan Edwards? On July 8, 1741, he preached a message from Deuteronomy 32:25 titled, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” People were so moved that a movement was born over New England and the surrounding colonies. In fact, it spread all over Europe as well: In England as the Wesleyan Revival; in Germany as Pietism. Hope was restored and our nation was saved from disaster. It even united the colonies and all the different people. It filled the pulpits with pastors on fire for God. It laid the foundation for the American Revolution. 

Question: How is your godliness level?

All this can happen even today, and it needs to happen today in America, even the world. It demands godliness.

Have you become desensitized to the immorality in the world around you?

How do you become sensitized? Two things: Do the things that move the heart of God move me? Why is that the Old World speak so well of me (Vance Havner)?

Are you saved? How are you doing on Level Three?