Mark Sanborn
November 24, 2013 - W1347

Peggy Noonan was a speechwriter in the White House in the Reagan administration.  She's one of my favorite writers, and she writes every Saturday in the Wall Street Journal.  And back a few years ago when Barack Obama and Mitt Romney engaged in running for president, they were both working extra hard and overtime to convince the voters that they were normal, ordinary guys and Peggy Noonan said something very insightful.  She said, “Nobody that runs for president of the United States, nobody that wants to be leader of the free world is normal, and besides, normal is overrated anyhow.”

You know, normal is overrated.  I think we should aspire for more than normal, but not abnormal.  You know, I'm staying at the Hyatt Waikiki, and I've noticed a number of people that seem to have devoted their lives to being abnormal, I mean, odd, strange, bizarre, weird, you know.  That's not the kind of thing I'm talking about.  I'm talking about going beyond normal to be extraordinary.  Because, frankly, I think one of the great hidden secrets of our faith is God doesn't call us to be normal.  He calls us to be extraordinary.

The Fred Factor is about a real life postal carrier called Fred Shea.  He just retired, by the way, from the United States Postal Service July 3rd of this year.  But for almost 40 years Fred put mail in a box day after day, week after week, month after month, only he turned it into artistry.  If you want to read the original story about Fred Shea, Fred the postman, go to Fred Factor.com.  You can download the first chapter for free, and that will give you an idea of how Fred took an absolutely ordinary job and made it extraordinary. 

And since I wrote the book in 2004, the book sold over 2 million copies internationally ?? here in the United States and internationally.  And I can tell you right now, and those of you that have read my books know that it's not because of my Hemingway?like prose.  I think the reason that the Fred Factor was a best seller was because it wasn't about Warren Buffett or Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or Lady Gaga or Katy Perry because when you've got all the money, the fame, and the fortune, it's easy to be beyond normal, to be extraordinary.

But it was about a guy that has the same kind of jobs we all have and the same kind of life we all have, ordinary lives that chose to be extraordinary.  God calls us to be extraordinary because when you think about it, Jesus wasn't normal.

And C. S. Lewis made a point about Jesus Christ.  He said that anybody that claims to be the son of God is not a great teacher.  He's either telling the truth and He is, or He's a lunatic.  There's no middle ground.  In our culture today, you know, we hear that so much:  “Well, you know, I don't really believe he was God, but he was a great guy.  He was a wonderful communicator.  He was a teacher, a sage, a guru.”  No.  Christ either was who He said He was, or He was cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. 

Dallas Willard was another great man of God. He was actually a professor of Philosophy, University of Southern California, I believe.  He just passed away, and he once said Jesus Christ was the smartest man that ever lived.  Now, I'd never thought about that.  I knew He had the greatest heart, but I never thought about the intellectual aspect.  And I think that's important for us as believers that our role model, our example, wasn't just a person of heart, a feel?good kumbaya kind of guy that wandered around in long robes and was nice to people.  He was a great intellect.  He was an extraordinary intellect.  And the reason He came wasn't just to save us from our sins, but to save us from ourselves.

You know, we ?? and by the way, it's easy ?? it's easy to be a believer right here right now.  I find it a lot harder when I engage the enemy, and I don't mean people.  I mean the world.  The enemy as in Satan and what he does.  It's hard when we get outside these walls to remember that we're not supposed to be normal, that we're supposed to aspire higher.

I brought with me three ideas.  I'm gonna throw in a few extras.  These ?? my messages kind of morph around a little bit.  Oh, something else Ken Silva and I talked about which since we didn't talk about it until after the first service, I didn't get to tell him.  Do you know about the Thomas Jefferson Bible?  I was kidding around about Pastor Wayne editing the Bible.  He's doing a Bible commentary.  Thomas Jefferson did edit the Bible.  Go home and Google it. 

Anyhow, Thomas Jefferson took out the stuff he didn't agree with.  He kept the sayings of Jesus he agreed with and took out the rest.  And, you know, that seems bizarre until you realize don't we often do that ourselves?  We read the Bible and go, you know, I'm really down with the Bible, but that thing about premarital sex and being married and that ?? I'm gonna take that part out.  Oh, that part about loving your enemy, Oh, no, no, no, I'm gonna take that part out.  I mean, we got a little bit of Thomas Jefferson in all of us, don't we?  We like to edit it out.

What's really extraordinary is when you take the Bible at its word and you do your very best to live by it.  Now, here's the interesting part of theology.  You can't do your very best.  That's really kinda one of the ?? I'm gonna jump ahead to the end.  I'm not talking about being extraordinary as some kind of Dale Carnegie self?help success rally concept.  Here's the crazy part.  You can't do it yourself.  And if you can, you ain't doing it right.

It's only when you finally depend on God that life really works.  See, I'm self?reliant.  I'm a guy that was raised on a farm working hard, and as a self?reliance guy, I wanna just, you know, take control and take charge.  And of course we all get to that point where we realize we can't do it by ourselves, and then what could we do?  In a moment of absolute terror we turn it over to God.

But I'll tell you what's not normal is when you're completely dependent on Christ because our culture says be reliant.  That's normal to be self?reliant, to take charge, to take responsibility.

So how can you live a life of extraordinary faith?  Everybody is here tonight for a reason.  I'm here for a reason.  There's nobody in the room that is not here for a reason.  I find that very exciting.  And you say, well, you know, if you're not a believer, you're here for a reason.  God brought you here.  I don't know why.  Maybe you're a tire kicker.  Maybe you're a seeker.  Maybe you're somebody that ?? 

I started going to church when I was ?? when I had wandered away from my faith, I started going to church.  You know why?  Because it was the socially correct thing to do.  And while I was attending a socially correct thing to do, church service, the pastor said Christ would not become their earthly ruler without being their spiritual ruler.  And I recommitted my life at the age of 27 after almost ten years of wandering in the wilderness.

I don't know why you're here, but there's a reason you're here tonight, and that is a very exciting thing.  And I want you to take home six words or three ideas, and here's the first of the six words.  Here's the first idea.  Be different.

Now, I wrote a book on making a difference, and it wasn't until recently that it dawned on me.  If you're going to make a difference, be different.  See, some people aren't any different, but they can still make a difference, you know.  They just kinda ?? you know, they do the right things, but they're not fundamentally different.  We are called to be different.

Let's do a little thought exercise and experiment.  Let's say some distant planet in some distant galaxy sends a scout to study earthlings and this particular scout ends up in the United States.  And the data that has been given, the research report that he has been handed before he left is that there are basically two spiritual groups in the United States, Christians and non?Christians.  At the end of a month, would he be able to tell which was which?  I don't know.  Actually, research says no.  You wanna know what the research says?  Evangelical Christians have a higher divorce rate than non?Christians.  Non?Christians give more money to the homeless than Christians.  36 percent of Christians don't know their life purpose.  I find that puzzling. 

And then George Barna or Barna Research ?? actually, George Barna is no longer at Barna Research, but that's another story.  Barna Research in 2013 did some research on whether Christians were more like Jesus or the Pharisees.  Now, I'm not, you know, a great theologian, but I know this much.  The Pharisees were not cool.  You did not wanna hang with the Pharisees.  You didn't invite them over to barbecue.  They were not fun people.  They were self?righteous, judgmental, legalistic, unpleasant people.  And here's what Barna Research found.  This research by the way, let me impress this upon you, was done with Christians.  They looked at two dimensions, attitudes like Jesus, attitudes like the Pharisees.  Behaviors like Jesus.  Behaviors like the Pharisees.  He has the results. 

14 percent, about one in seven of professing Christians had both the attitudes and the behaviors of Jesus.  They hung out with sinners to positively influence them.  They listened.  They got involved in their lives.  They thought and did things similar to what Jesus thought and did.  That was 14 percent.

Now, 20 percent had the attitude of Jesus but not the behaviors.  In other words, 20 percent had the attitudes of Jesus, behaviors of the Pharisees.  See, they knew the right answers, but they didn't really believe the answers.

Something else I learned from Dallas Willard.  You can get the right answers in the quiz but not believe the answer.  You can know the right things but not do the right things.  It's the difference between telling your spouse or your girlfriend or boyfriend you love them and showing them.  Don't ever show them, just tell them.  See how that works for you.  You know, say, no, I really do love you.  I'm not gonna spend any time with you this week.  I'm gonna hang out with my buddies.  We're gonna be down at the beach.  But trust me, I do love you.  See, that is the attitude of the lover with the behavior of the Pharisee. 

Here's the kicker.  50 percent of the Christians had both the attitudes and the behaviors of the Pharisees.  And, you know, when I started ?? I was thinking about this, and I'm not exactly sure how to put it.  But in some ways ?? those 50 percent of Christians in some ways are less desirable than non?believers.  You know why?  Because non believers aren't judgmental.  I mean, by and large non?believers do their own thing and are pretty cool with you doing your own thing as long as it doesn't bother them.  Pharisees are uncool with you doing your own thing, even though they don't do what they expect you to do.  So in a way, this could explain why so many people repelled and are turned off by Christians.  Most people today know only what Christians are against.  We're against abortion.  We're against homosexuality.  We're against this.  We're against that.  You know what Christians want to know?  What are we for?

Mother Theresa spoke at the prayer breakfast many years ago when Bill Clinton was president, and she was overt in her stance on being prolife.  And Bill Clinton's administration, Bill was prochoice in his politics.  And at the end an interviewer said what did you think of Mother Theresa's remarks?  Listen to what he said.  He said, "It is hard to argue against a life so well lived."  It is hard to argue against a life so well lived.  That's what being different is, making it hard to argue against your faith because you exemplify the attitudes and behaviors of Jesus, and that's what makes you different, not odd or usual, but different for the right reasons.

So number one idea is simple idea, be different.  Number two, relate deeper.  Relate deeper.  Relationships are messy.  They really are.  And if they're not ?? the only way you can stay simple is to be superficial or, as John Ortberg says, “Everybody is normal until you get to know them.”  You know, and most of us are really afraid, and when I say most of us, I include myself.  This is not judgmental.  Most of us are really afraid to get deeply involved with other people.  Why?  Because people will disappoint you.  They'll let you down, and they'll hurt you.  But isn't it funny God asked us to do that?

People rarely change outside a relationship.  Do you know that?  That's why if you've got kids, you never made time to build a relationship with or if your parents never made time to build a relationship with you, they have very little power over you.  You have very little power over them.  We don't just change on principle.  We change on relationship.  And the people who are effective at administering for the kingdom are the people willing to do the messy work of mucking around with people where they live, hurt, unhappy, unhealthy, dysfunctional.

I recently had an experience, very hurtful, very disappointing experience with a friend.  I was gonna say that this person was full of ... and then I thought, you know, I can't really say that in church, so I'll say they were full of kaka.  They're really full of crap.  I mean, let's just be honest.  That's actually not a swear word, not a play word.  But, I mean, that really explains it.  And this person really disappointed me. 

And my wife, you know ?? I was traveling.  My wife was texting me, and she said, you know, I disappoint you.  You disappoint me sometimes.  People disappoint sometimes.  Only God doesn't disappoint.  And you know what's funny, you know when you're in that emotional state, you know what the person is saying is true, but you don't feel it; right?  Man, sometimes you just gotta go with it. 

That's why we need to memorize the word.  Because you won't always feel the word is true, but if you know it's true, it will help you get through the feelings that it's not true.  And that's what I did. 

And my wife said, you know, I'm worried about you, and I said, Just let me think about it.  I went for a long walk.  I walked like 4 miles.  I prayed a whole lot.  And the next day I woke up, and I thought, you know, my friend is full of kaka, but so am I sometimes.

Isn't it interesting how sensitive we are to the hurts of others and how insensitive we are sometimes to how we affect others?

See, normal is self?absorbed.  Normal is sensitive to our own needs.  Extraordinary is when we're other absorbed and sensitive to their needs.  And it's hard.  Again, you can't do it.  I used to ?? I was having lunch with some believer friends, and I said, You know, I pray for patience all the time.  I am really impatient.  And I say, you know, Lord, give me patience.  And my friend said, Oh, man, good luck with that.  Don't pray give me patience because you can't do it.  Pray for Jesus to be your patience.  Wow, man, that ?? I thought about that for weeks.  In other words, don't pray for a skill set that you can hone and perfect.  Pray that Jesus become your patience.  Pray that Jesus become your compassion.

You know, pray that Jesus become your intercessor, your heart for the other person.  That's what it takes if you're gonna ?? if you're gonna truly relate deeply, and that's hard.  That's the second thing. 

Number one is be different.  And by the way, if you relate deeply, you'll be different because we live in a world where normal is superficial and pretentious and about appearances instead of depth and substance. 

And the third thing, serve better.  Now, here's an interesting thing.  If you look at Jesus ?? and I said he was the smartest person that ever lived.  I mean, I didn't say that, but I'm repeating that.  He was the most compassionate, the only perfect person that ever lived.  What consumed his ministry?  Was it starting a high tech Israeli firm and taking it public?  Was it being a celebrity on the rabbinical talk show circuit?  What did Jesus spend his entire ministry doing?  Serving.  Therefore, for those of you that took philosophy in college, if A equals B and B equals C, A equals C.  If extraordinary is being like Jesus and Jesus was about service, there's the link, isn't it?  And that's not normal because our culture says normal is getting as much as you can for as little as you can give in return verses being of greater larger service.

But, see, here's the rub.  To be thoughtful, you have to slow down a little bit.  I've spent most of my life as a type A, highly?driven?behavior type person, and I read something.  I don't know who originally said it, but it's kind of become an organizing principle for me.  It says if you never slow down, nothing good can ever catch you.  If you never slow down, you won't have space in your life to be truly different.  You won't have space in your life to relate more deeply.  If you don't slow down, you won't have space in your life to be of a little greater service.

Matt Messina ?? Fred 2.0, I write about Matt.  Matt's a dentist in Lorain, Ohio.  He and his team, we call them a team of Fred because they're all like?minded.  They found that a lot of their older patients would come in for a teeth cleaning, and these were people that were so old that they didn't have any friends or relatives left.  And so if it was anywhere near their birthday, they'd throw a surprise birthday party for them.  They just inventoried just some simple supplies and little cupcakes, and so if somebody came in and it was, you know, close to their birthday, they'd throw this surprise party.  It was so touching.  It meant so much to the patients, guess what happened?  They started scheduling their teeth cleaning on their birthdays.  And, again, all it took was a few extra dollars and some thoughtfulness to be of greater service to serve a little bit better, and that's not normal.  That's not normal.

I talked about Fred Shea.  Fred was the original Fred the postman in the Fred Factor, but there's another postal carrier I talk about in Fred 2.0, and his name is Michael Tyrone Flowers, but nobody calls him that on his route.  He calls himself Brother Love.  That's what the adults call him.  The kids call him Mr. Mike.  He delivers mail in Covina, California, which is about 22 miles east of Los Angeles.  Again, he has what could be a very boring redundant job.  He makes it artistry by getting to know everybody on the route.  So well as a matter of fact that he has sung in eight funerals for people on the route who have passed away.  He fries a turkey for everybody on his route either at Christmas or Thanksgiving.  If you don't get one at Thanksgiving, you'll get one at Christmas.

And I learned about him from a woman named Angela Carter, an older woman who was going through a very profoundly sad time in her life, and one day he saw her and he yelled, Hi, beautiful.  It wasn't flirtatious.  He's a happily married guy with two kids, and she's much, much older.  But it just lifted her.  And over time as he got to know her, he started to call her mom.  And I interviewed ?? I interviewed Brother Love, and he said, Listen, I don't ?? I don't call someone mom unless it's the highest form of respect I can give.  I adopted her as my mother.  She adopted me as her son. 

And everybody loved Mike until one day the postal service in its infinite wisdom reassigned him, took him off the route.  And the people in his route were heart broken.  They said, “We want him back.”  And they said in the history of the United States Postal Service, no carrier that's ever been transferred has been returned to their original route.  It's impossible.  Angela Carter and the people in the route knew with God, all things are possible.  And she started going door to door getting signatures on petitions, and 100 days after he left, they returned him for the first time in the history of the USPS.  And she sent me pictures of trees up and down the street with yellow ribbons tied around them.

Brother Love says if God gave me anything, he gave me love.  And that story in and of itself is extraordinary, but here's what makes it truly extraordinary for you and I tonight.  He said, My goal each day is that people see Christ in me. 

Brother Love is a believer.  He is not a nominal Christian.  He is not a professing Christian with an attitude that is unlike his behaviors.  He is a sold out Christian who believes and behaves in a different kind of way, who relates more deeply to people, probably more deeply than most postal carriers would choose to relate.  And he's of greater service.  And what makes him extraordinary?  It's not what he does or what he believes, but what he reflects because people see Jesus in him.  And that's the goal.  I mean, to simplify it, to be extraordinary is to be like Jesus.  And we know that, but we forget, don't we?

I haven't said anything tonight you don't know.  Well, maybe a few of you that are here, maybe you're here tonight and you thought, you know, this religious stuff is cool for my friends.  I'm going to humor them.  I'm going to go along tonight, but, you know, I really don't buy into it.  And if you're here for that reason tonight, it's not a matter of forgetting.  It's a matter of initially believing. 

But for most of us, we forget.  In the heat of the moment, in the privacy of our automobiles, in the privacy of our offices, or our homes where nobody is watching but God, we forget and we choose not to be extraordinary but to be normal.  We're all sinners saved by grace.  Can't earn our way into heaven, but once we've been given the gift, if our behavior doesn't change, if we don't love more deeply and serve better and act differently, we miss part of the message because it's not just about fire insurance for the afterlife.  It's about living fully.

Now, John 10:10 is one of my favorite scriptures.  Jesus said, “I've come that you might have life in the full.”  Not partially or incompletely but in the full.  And in the full is about a life of service.  But we forget, which is why I want to just end with this final idea.

I read an interesting story about a businessman that was doing some business in a very remote area of a communist country.  It was an interesting experience for him, and he was staying at a Country Inn.  And one night he went out for a walk, and as he wandered through the forest, he suddenly found himself in the middle of a clearing and glaring, spotlights flipped on, and a guard in a tower with a machine gun said, “Halt.  Who are you and what are you doing here?”  And the man was taken back, and he put his hands up.  And he explained that he meant no ill will.  He didn't know the area, that he was just a visiting businessman.  The guard seemed satisfied with his answer, but then the businessman asked the guard an interesting question.  He said, “Sir, what does your government pay you to guard this facility?”  And the guard said, “I have no idea what business it is of yours to know that.”  And the man said, “I ask for a reason.  I will gladly triple whatever you are paid if you will spend every day with me and challenge me each day with the question, “Who are you, and why are you here?’” 

Each day I hope as you think back to tonight you realize that extraordinary life of faith is knowing who you are in Christ or your potential of who you could be in Christ and remembering why you're here.  That is to live an extraordinary life just as Jesus did.  Thank you.  Godspeed. 

Study Suggestions

1.   Why should you be extraordinary?

2.   How can you become extraordinary?

3.   Why are you here?

4.   Who are you?