Going The Distance
A Biblical Perspective During Trying Times • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro:
Intro:
Good Evening Parkside. I hope you are doing well and able to enjoy this time you have at home. It is my prayer that all of us grow closer to the Lord and that we grow in strength as families.
Last Wednesday I kicked off a Wednesday Night Series titled “A Biblical Perspective During Trying Times.” I shared out of about the importance of preparing our minds and being sober-minded. Tonight we will continue in our series and I titled the message “Going The Distance.” No doubt we are going through some trying times and a lot I mean a lot is being asked of each and everyone of us. While this is a difficult time it is also an extraordinary opportunity for the believer and the church. How we navigate the coming weeks will determine the testimony you and I and the church leave behind.
Have you ever seen “The Blind Side?” If you haven’t I won’t spoil it for you but let me give you the plot of the movie. It’s a true story about Michael Oher. Michael was homeless teenager who didn’t know his father and his mother was a drug addict. The Tuohy Family’s son befriends Michael and Mrs. Tuohy has heart to help Michael, essentially she goes the extra mile.
Tonight I want to take a look at . This portion of Scripture is found in Jesus’ sermon on the Mount.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.
Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, invented the postal system to carry letters and documents from one place to another. To make his system work, any courier could force anyone to carry the mail for one mile, but only one mile.
The Romans adopted this system for their military to keep their soldiers from getting worn out from carrying heavy backpacks, which weighed about 66 pounds. Roman soldiers could compel any Jew to carry his backpack for one mile.
Roman roads had mile markers similar to the mile markers we have today on Interstate highways, so it was easy to know where each mile started and ended. If someone refused to do it, he would be flogged.
The Jews hated the Romans because they were Gentile foreigners running their country and they had to pay taxes to Caesar. Carrying a Roman soldier’s heavy backpacks for a mile added to their hatred. When a Roman soldier told someone to carry his pack, the Jew would have to drop everything he was doing and go out of his way to obey his order. I’m sure every Roman soldier felt resentment and heard complaining by the person carrying the pack.
Maybe you can relate with the Jews. Maybe you feel that way about the way life is right now with the stay at home order. Maybe you feel cheated. I’m sure there are some high school seniors that are feeling cheated out of the graduation ceremony. There are some couples whose weddings are being postponed that feel cheated. Businesses are feeling cheated. So if you are feeling cheated, let down, or upset, let me encourage you tonight not to be driven by your feelings.
As believers our feeling and emotions are like dummy lights on the dashboard of your car. They let you know something isn’t right. Like the oil light coming on in your car lets you know you are low on oil, so our emotions and feelings let us know when we are running on empty.
Tonight I am going to ask you to go the distance, go the extra mile. I’m going to invite you to go the extra mile with Jesus.
Going The Extra Mile With Jesus
Going The Extra Mile With Jesus
The Mandated Mile
The Mandated Mile
This first mile is often ignored. In fact, I never remember hearing a sermon or reading an article about the first mile, only about the second. The first mile is required of us. The first mile is always the hardest. Ask the distance runner. The second wind never kicks in on the first mile. The truth is, it is not as easy to enjoy the things we have to do as it is to enjoy the things we want to do.
The Christian life has its own mandated mile that is motivated by God’s law. It is tough to get started on the first mile. Ask any first-century Jew under Roman rule. The first mile interrupts your schedule when you are compelled to perform it. It causes you to swallow your own pride and bear an extra burden. Likewise, often the most difficult part of the Christian life is getting started on the first mile. This is true with almost everything in life, with exercise programs, dieting, and scores of other disciplines. Even Scripture memorization! In fact, many try to play leapfrog with . That is, they want to enjoy the little extras of the second mile, but they do not want to deal with the requirements of the first mile.
Jesus was clear in the Great Commission.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
He commanded the disciples to make disciples. We get the word disciple from the word discipline. Most of us cringe when we hear the word discipline. Our flesh doesn’t even like the thought. Recently I began working out to get in shape. Running is a great way to get in shape, but I don’t like running. Bob came up with another full body workout as well to add to the running. Burpees are one of the sets we do, if you don’t know what a burpee is I encourage you to google it, needless to say I don’t like burpees either. In the beginning of doing these workouts I wanted to quit, but after a couple of weeks my body started to become disciplined and I started to look forward to the workouts rather than dread them.
The point is we are called to be disciples, we are called to be disciplined. The first mile is becoming disciplined in our new life with Christ.
Going the first mile with Jesus is more than just a one time salvation experience, it’s more than just fire insurance. It’s an everyday relationship with Jesus. It’s reading the Bible, it’s memorizing scripture, it’s praying, it’s obeying God, and it’s loving people.
The 2nd Mile/The Miracle Mile
The 2nd Mile/The Miracle Mile
It is this miracle mile that separates certain individuals from others. The second mile is only made possible by being obedient to the first mile, committing wholeheartedly to becoming a disciple of Jesus. The second mile has a way of brightening our own road. Think about it. Imagine a first-century boy working at his trade. A Roman soldier comes by, calls to him, and demands that he carry his backpack for one mile down the road. Now, this command interrupts the lad’s whole day and takes him away from his work. But he has no choice. However, this boy is a second miler. They approach the one-mile marker and instead of putting down the pack, spitting on the ground, and marching back home, he volunteers to go an extra mile with the soldier.
Think about this for a moment. The soldier may be thinking as they are closing in on the end of the mile, “Man, I’m going to hear the complaints all over again when I command another person to carry my pack.” Instead he is relieved when the boy volunteers to go another mile.
Someone who journeys on the miracle mile also has a way of lightening the load of those around them. One cannot travel the second mile without influencing others. It only takes one person to go the extra mile in a home to change the entire environment. It only takes one person on a team or in the office to do the same.
This miracle mile, the second mile, is motivated by the love of Christ.
Incidentally, the second mile is the mile our Lord Himself walked. He knows the road very well. It was love that took Him on the miracle mile to the cross. Oh, He journeyed the first mile. He stepped out of heaven and into human flesh. But He also went the second mile, motivated by His own love for us. He who made the stars with a spoken word and formed the universe, the One who formed and fashioned us with His own hands, said, “I love you, and I will walk with you.” But we went our own way.
Then He said, “I will go the second mile.” It took Him to the cross where He bore the weight, not of a Roman soldier’s backpack, but of our own sin.
So what does it look like to go the extra mile with Jesus?
If a person says they are willing to go the second mile, that person has dedicated their whole heart to Jesus.
Going the extra mile requires commitment, heart, courage, and love.
Being commited requires investing in your relationship with Jesus. I mentioned earlier that kind of commitment involves a true prayer life, it involves being dedicated to reading and obeying God’s Word, memorizing Scripture, and loving God and other people.
Prayer
Prayer
Having consistent conversations with Jesus. Jesus wants to apart of our entire lives, so lets be a people that involves Jesus in our lives. Prayer also is speaking to Jesus about what He cares about. Praying for people that need Jesus, that need a miracle, that need encouraged, it means to stand in the gap for others.
Reading and Obeying Gods Word
Reading and Obeying Gods Word
Going the extra mile is having a dedication to reading and obeying the Bible/the Word of God. Most Bibles have reading plans in them, I would encourage you to read through the Bible at least once every year. As you read and study God’s Word on a regular basis it will become more natural to obey His Word. It’s like anything, the more we learn and become accustomed the easier it is to do it with excellence. The same is true with God’s Word, the more we read and study, the more we start to understand, the easier it will become to obey it. Many people have said if they understood God’s Word then it would be easier to obey it. For most, the struggle of understanding God’s Word would not be as big of a difficulty if they were commited to consistently reading God’s Word.
Memorizing Scripture
Memorizing Scripture
The Bible has much to say of the importance of memorizing Scripture.
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Jesus knew the Word of God and as a result He was successful in resisting temptation.
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
The Word of God is sharper than any double-edged sword which allows us
Knowing the Word of God helps us to not sin.
Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
As we mediate on and memorize Scripture, then following Jesus and staying on the narrow path becomes more natural, and then the Word of God promises us prosperity and success.
Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light on my path.
As we memorize scripture we will have a stronger ability to resist temptation, to follow Jesus on the narrow path, and we are promised prosperity and success. I encourage you to meditate on and memorize Scripture.
Loving God and Loving People
Loving God and Loving People
Most importantly, Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with all mind strength and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself. If we desire to become people that go the extra mile we must be dedicated to both loving God with all our mind strength and soul and dedicated to loving our neighbor as ourselves.
Conclusion/Challenge
Conclusion/Challenge
As we close our time together I want to challenge each of us to be people that go the extra mile in our relationship with Jesus. Also I challenge you to engage the message and engage your Bibles after our time together closes.
Questions For Growth
Questions For Growth
In what ways am I going the extra mile in my relationship with Jesus?
In what ways am I going the extra mile in my relationship with Jesus?
What does it mean to have a true prayer life?
What does it mean to have a true prayer life?
Am I having consistent conversations with Jesus? What do those conversations involve? Am I standing in the gap for others?
Am I having consistent conversations with Jesus? What do those conversations involve? Am I standing in the gap for others?
Do I memorize Scripture? Why is Scripture memorization important?
Do I memorize Scripture? Why is Scripture memorization important?
What does it mean to love God with all your mind, strength, and soul?
What does it mean to love God with all your mind, strength, and soul?
What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?
What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?
Let’s Pray
Let’s Pray