Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
July 8, 2007 - W0727

Do you ever feel like sometimes you’re stuck in the 6^th grade while your friends are moving up to the 7^th grade and the world around continues to progress?  Well, today we are starting a new series entitled:  Excel Still More and we start with some scripture from the book of Thessalonians: “Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more” (1 Thess. 4:1). This passage supports the fact that anything in progress needs to be upgraded regularly in order to continue in its path, and specifically, this passage is encouraging us (ones who are already walking and pleasing God) to excel still more.

I am reminded of an old sailor’s saying: “You’ll either be ruled by the rudder or you’ll be ruled by the rocks.” The idea is that if we are not actively directing our path with something we have control over, external forces outside our control will determine our destinies (and that’s usually not good – you’ll end up aground on the rocks.) It is the same with our lives:  you will either be ruled by your internal rudder or by the other forces (and have to pay a high price for the damages suffered.)

All processes need frequent upgrading but how often do we do it on ourselves – our attitudes, perspectives, patience, social skills, and joy?  Isn’t it more likely for us to wait for a disaster or big problem to hit and and then frantically try to upgrade?

I remember watching a friend do all kinds of things on his computer that I could not do with mine. When I asked him how he was able to do all those things, he asked if upgraded my computer.  My response:  “Upgrade?  What is that?” When there is no upgrade in your life, it is like being stuck in the 6^th grade when all your friends are moving up to the 7^th grade. It is the same way in real life:  we grow to a certain point but then at some point our learning stops and we really just repeat the same approaches to life over and over. In fact, one of the primary symptoms that we’ve stopped growing is that we start concluding rather than learn.  We become very opinionated and start saying that we already know about devotions, faith, service or tithing – yet we tend not improve in those very areas. We simply keep doing the same thing again and again. In effect, we repeat the 6^th grade over and over. We become more opinionated and narrow, and remain stuck in the same place mentally and spiritually.

Arab Tar-Tar nomads must move around constantly in search of water and food.  They curse their most hated foes with “May you stay in one place the rest of your life.” When you think about it, it is the worst curse.

Scripture agrees that Christians should continue to grow, learn and upgrade. As the Bible says, “A poor yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive instruction” (Eccl. 4:13). Growth is achieved by intentionally upgrading your attitude, skills, faith, etc.

After WWII, Japan had been devastated so 14 success points were taught by Professor W. Edwards Deming of the United States to help the Japanese rebuild.  Point number five was “to constantly improve every process.” The Japanese incorporated and imbedded this philosophy into their culture which they called “kaizen.” Kaizen roughly translates as “constant improvement.” Japan was told that if they did this (constantly improve), they would turn their country around in 10 years and be an economic world leader in 30 years. Obviously, they were right. Japanese cars, computers and other electronics are some of the best today and tiny Japan is a world economic leader.

So what about us? Are we constantly upgrading our lives for Jesus? Perhaps we should ask other people how we can improve or ask somebody what we are doing wrong. Perhaps we could just take a season to upgrade something about ourselves like social skills, etc. If we can improve just 1% per day, that would be over 300% in a year! Upgrading should not be left to chance because if you do, it will not happen. You should intentionally upgrade everyday.

A common excuse we use for not upgrading is that it takes too long. We want instant gratification. God disagrees. In order to upgrade …

1.     YOU WILL REQUIRE PATIENCE.

If you have the patience to upgrade a little at a time but continually, one day you will look back and say, “Wow, that is cool.” Pastor Elwin Ahu very aptly said, “Faith is living in advance what you will only understand in reverse” or in hindsight. Patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. As the Bible says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience …” (Gal. 5:22).

How many of you can use an upgrade? I know some of you wives have been waiting on your husbands for years and you’re still waiting!  But be patient and wait for the right things.  As scripture says, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Is. 40:31 KJV).

If you wait upon your spouse, your strength will not be renewed but it will be sapped instead! So wait upon the Lord and be patient. Patience gives our souls roots. Without patience, we will not have the roots to maintain growth.

Farmer A.D. Campbell’s orchard was still green during a drought while neighboring orchards were brown. When asked why, he answered that when the trees were young, he withheld water from them so that their roots would dig deep into the ground for water. So now, the mature trees had roots that reached down to a much deeper source of water during these times of drought. It is likewise with patient Christians because if they have the patience to upgrade, they will draw strength from the deepest source – the Holy Spirit.

It is easy to upgrade external things like clothes, cars or cell phones but we often neglect to take care of the qualities inside of us. God will sometimes give us a season of wintering where we need to work on upgrading our internal parts instead of being so active on the outside. In those times, we need patience to maintain our marriage, devotions, faith, etc.

We once gave a car to someone needy in the church and then did not see him for a while. One day I saw the car with smoke coming out of it as it passed by and was all dinged up. It was such a shame that the car had not been maintained. You dishonor the giver when you do not maintain the gift. On the other hand, one way to honor the giver is to take good care of the gift. God has gifted us with so much.  He has given us marriage, love and health.  Honor Him by maintaining those gifts.

Patience is also necessary because growth is not always upward. Sometimes growth is expansion downward. I am reminded of the death of a dear friend’s wife. I believe we should never let a life pass without learning from that life. She had been so compassionate and empathic toward those who were less fortunate than herself. I learned compassion from her and was reminded that growth is also expansion downwards in our relationships. In other words, as we grow in status we should also make room for relationships with those that are less fortunate and different. Patience is required because growing our roots below the surface is less obvious progress but still very necessary.

We have the tendency for Generation X to only be able to relate to Generation X or Baby Boomers to only be able to relate to other Baby Boomers. We become narrow and opinionated and only able to relate to people who are like us. But true growth is also being able to push our lower relationship limits downward – to expand and be able to extend connections to the less fortunate or different.

We honor God by using our patience to maintain God’s gifts. And then once we’ve upgraded our patience, we need to upgrade our perspective…

2.     THINK CORRECTLY FOR A CHANGE.

This is more than simply a play on words;to upgrade your life you have to change your thinking. It is not the cards you are dealt in life but how you play them that matters. The Bible puts it this way: “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light” (Matt. 6:22). The way we perceive or think about life is the way we will experience it.  We actually see with our brains not our eyes so if our brains are lusty then we will see lust. So be sure to be thinking correctly but how do we do that?

·        AIM FOR WISE THINKING.

According to scripture, “Doing wickedness is like sport to a fool, and so is wisdom to a man of understanding” (Prov. 10:23).

If you want understanding then make wisdom like a sport or constant fun challenge for yourself:  try to resolve problems in the wisest way possible. God will judge you on how you play the cards you’re dealt by life – not on the cards you are dealt.  The great thing is…you can ask for help or advice. And, if you do choose the wisest solutions then God will grant you understanding.

To think correctly, we also must …

·        PRACTICE PRAYER TO CORRECT BAD THINKING.

When I first became a Christian, my mind was still fried. I still had thoughts about drugs and sex and I used foul language. But I prayed to God for help.  I did not come to faith easily; I struggled. While you might think that you cannot control your thoughts, God disagrees. He wants us to use correcting prayer; as the Bible says, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6).

Why do bad thoughts keep showing up?  “… the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another …” (Gal. 5:17).

But which is stronger, the flesh or the Spirit within? The answer:  whichever one you feed.  So how do you tap into God’s power? Well, remember that the mind can only submit to one thing at a time – flesh or the Spirit – so as soon as bad thoughts come, cater to the Spirit immediately. When negative thoughts appear, pray immediately for your son, daughter or family. I call this corrective prayer. Your mind can only do one thing at a time so prayer will drive out lust or depressive thoughts. So as you can imagine, my children sure got prayed on a lot!  If we all did corrective praying, think how much this church would get prayed for!

As Christians, we should constantly be upgrading and improving ourselves internally and spiritually. Upgrading will require patience because it is not usually instantaneous.  Upgrading often requires waiting upon the Lord and in those times, you need deep roots to help you weather the storms and droughts.  Patience is important because without it, you will not have those deep roots.  will take patience to maintain and upgrade God’s many gifts to us like marriage, love and relationships.  We honor God by maintaining His gifts – love, marriage, relationships, peace, joy, etc.  Sometimes upgrading means to actually grow deeper and reach downward to reach others less fortunate or expand to reach out to others who are different from ourselves.  In any case, when our spiritual roots are deep, they will draw strength and nourishment from riches source of all – the Holy Spirit. In addition to upgrading your patience, upgrade your thinking as well by choosing to think wisely and practicing corrective prayer.  Choosing wisely can be fun when you challenge yourself to always find the wisest solution.  And corrective prayer (praying for positive things like your family whenever negative thoughts enter your mind) is helpful because your mind can only submit to one thing at a time – flesh or spirit. If we do all this, God’s many blessings will pour out on all of us.

DISCUSSION SUGGESTIONS

1.      Is anything ever just good enough or does it always have to be improved?  Explain.

2.      Does patience have limits?  If so, what are they?  When should you not have patience?

3.      Describe a situation in which waiting sapped your strength. What did you learn?

4.      Describe a situation in which changing your thinking changed your life.

5.      Think of a situation you needed to deal with or decision you needed to make.  Did you do the wisest thing?  What did you learn or come to understand from that experience?

6.      Have you ever practiced corrective prayer?  If so, tell us about it.  If not, how can you start to?

"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong with our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17 NLT)

 Sermon Notes Ministry: Debbie Chang, Leighton Loo,

                                                Doreen Rabaino & Jay Tsukayama