Things that Entangle the Believer
Tom Shrader explores Paul's military metaphor in 2 Timothy 2:4 about soldiers not entangling themselves in civilian affairs. He identifies six major entanglements that prevent Christians from saying at life's end, 'I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I kept the faith': materialism/money, unhealthy relationships, overwork, bad company, addictions, and isolation. Drawing from Paul's and Jesus' end-of-life reflections, Shrader challenges believers to examine what prevents them from pleasing their heavenly Father.
“No soldier in active duty entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life so he may please the one who enlisted him.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Light of the World
Recorded: December 14, 2000
Duration: 42 min
Themes: materialism, relationships, addiction, isolation, overwork, perseverance, faithfulness, priorities, struggling with materialism, dealing with addiction, overworked professional, isolated believer, facing death, career focused, unhealthy relationships, mid-life christian
Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:6-7, 2 Timothy 2:4, John 17:4, Matthew 6, 1 Timothy 6:9, 1 Corinthians 7:27
Theological Themes: spiritual warfare, sanctification, biblical stewardship, christian discipleship, spiritual maturity, end times, glorification, faithfulness
Full Transcript
What we're doing, and somebody asked me if we would be using the overhead, and the answer is yes, we will, right after the first of the year. What I'm doing in these two, three sessions is just bringing together just different random thoughts through the year. I will tell you this, next week is really an important week. I think it's a great holiday, especially leading into Christmas lesson.
What we're going to really look at is, this time of the year where you've got a whole bunch of people who will visit church again, I try to at Christmas Eve bulletin put our Easter times in so they don't have to call and tie up the switchboard at Easter. So we'll talk a little bit next week, not a little bit, we'll talk the entire time about how you know you're a Christian. If you're a Christian, what does that look like? What's that mean? You will not have a blank sheet next week, but you'll have a comprehensive outline. Again, I know how helpful the screen is for you, but these are just a little bit different lessons for me, so thanks for bearing with me.
Paul's Final Words
What we're talking about, or what I'm talking about this morning, at the end of his life, Paul writes this in 2 Timothy chapter 4. Paul writes this, 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 6, "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come." So Paul writes this entire letter against the backdrop of knowing that he's dying. He knows the end of his life is there.
And he stops and he looks back over this life, and here's what he says in 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 7: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." At the end of Jesus' life, the night before He's crucified, in John 17, Jesus is praying. And when somebody says to you, "the Lord's prayer," well, John 17 is the real Lord's prayer. We typically think, "Our Father," well, that was Jesus saying, "Okay, this is a model for you. This is how you pray."
When Jesus prayed, the real Lord's prayer, when Jesus was praying, is in John chapter 17. And the night before He died, John chapter 17, verse 4, Jesus prays this: "I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work which You gave Me to do."
A Life of Accomplishment
I want to take those two things and put them together, and see if we can build a lesson around this. At the end of his life, Paul says, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." There's a sense there, I think, of accomplishment. There's a sense of fulfillment. Jesus, at the end of His life, says, "Father, I accomplished everything You gave Me to do."
Now, it's a little after seven. This is prime, this is calendar-wise, this is prime sleep-in time to me. These are the toughest ones to get up. It's cold outside. It's dark. Here we are, usually I had suns in our eyes and fighting it. That's not happening. Heading toward the shortest day of the year. This is hard times to get up and to get to a study like this.
You're here in this room, which tells me there's at least something piquing your interest. There's some level with some desire to see your life make a difference. I think, in fact, let's do it. Get in your mind a picture of the end of your life. Get your death scene, if you will. Grab that. Just take a second and just kind of conjure up some picture around that.
Envisioning Your Death Scene
When I do that, here's what I see. I see me laying in one of those articulated beds, stretched out. Everybody gathered around, Susan, the girls, grandkids, great-grandkids, all around. Then I hit a button and I come up and then all of a sudden there's a hush that falls over the room. And they say, "Shh, the patriarch is about to speak." And then I say something and I die, bam.
And while you may not be exactly that egocentric, you've got something that when I say, "Think about your death," you hit. I'll tell you what you did do. You hit the fast forward button because you went out there away. You went out there a ways. Some of you, appropriately so, 50, 60 years. Some of you, 50, 60 days. But you went out to some point in the future.
And at that point in time, I believe, and this is a core belief that I have, is that at the end of that life, you want to be able to say, "I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I kept it." I really think you do. And to be able to say, "I accomplished everything You gave me to do."
The Crucial Question
Now, here, to me, is an important question. Rather than go out there 10, 15, 20, 30, 50 years, let's say that that death scene was going to take place tomorrow. Or a week from now. A month from now. At that point, if that death was going to come tomorrow, could you right now say, "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith."
And here's what I think is the important issue. There's a sense in which, if you couldn't say it tomorrow, I don't think you're going to be able to say it 20 years from now. Because life is not making it any easier for you to get focused on those things. There's a tendency to say, "I put it off. I'll put it off. I'll put it off. I'll get to that."
Haven't you already done that? I see it in my life. "I'll get to that. You know, I'll settle down. I'll get those things done. I'll do that as soon as I get married." All right. "As soon as we have these kids, I'll start to get to that. Well, as soon as these kids get out of grade school, I'll have time for that. Well, once they're out of high school, you know, we only have a few years left. And now they're out of college. Once they're out of college. And you know, when I retire, that's when I'm going to get to that." And now I've carried that, whatever that is, for 50 years.
The Key Verse
In this same letter, in 2 Timothy, and this is a key verse. There are many of you I know who teach Bible studies in Sunday school classes. I think this, and I just challenge you, because all I've done is scratch this surface here. I'm telling you, this is a series right here. You want to do a series. This is a great series. 2 Timothy 2, verse 4. 2 Timothy 2, verse 4, Paul says,
No Soldier in Active Duty Entangles Himself
No soldier in active duty entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life. Paul uses the metaphor of a soldier, along with pictures of an athlete and a farmer. But let's focus on the picture of a soldier. He's talking about us as Christians. He's not talking about a weekend warrior. He's not talking about a soldier who's in the reserves. He's talking about a soldier who's in active duty.
No soldier in active duty is entangled in the affairs of everyday life, the everyday things of life. The picture I use all the time: when they get up this morning at Camp Pendleton, the guys didn't go down and say, "What should I wear today? What am I going to wear? It's Christmas, something with a red. No, something with a green. A fatigue, maybe." They put them on and get down there. We're not trying to mess around with this. Your food's ready. By the way, we got the next eight weeks planned. Here they are. Why? So they can focus on the purpose.
Listen to the verse again. No soldier in active duty entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life. Why? So he may please the one who enlists him. That is so important.
God Is Process Oriented, Not Bottom Line Oriented
You and I live in a bottom line world. All we care about is the bottom line. If you're a sales guy, have you noticed, they don't want to know how many calls you made. They want to know how many deals you closed. The only time they want to know how many calls you made is if there aren't any deals closed. But they don't really care. If you make a hundred calls and close a deal, or you make a call and close a deal, all we care about is, is the deal closed? Is the project done? Have you been paid? That's all we care about.
We look at all these different things. We look at sports. Did you make the playoffs or not? It's not, did you have a good time? Everybody together, all on the same page. It's, did you win or did you lose?
Now we come to God. A very important principle, I think. When you come to God, God is not a bottom line God. But He is heavily process oriented. We are not that way. The only reason we're process oriented is because we think that process will expedite the end result. God says, "I really care about process." And in this process, there's one thing that overrides everything else. There's one thing I care about beyond everything else, supersedes the whole thing. And that is, are you obedient? That's all I care about.
Figure Out What's Right and Do What's Right
I'll give you a little heads up. Saturday night, this Saturday on C-SPAN at five o'clock, they're rerunning a thing they did yesterday with Clarence Thomas speaking to high school kids. I'm telling you, this thing is unbelievable. You need to watch it. I taped it last night, going to use a little excerpt I think Sunday, and I'm going to make, or at least offer the opportunity to watch this tape.
And I'll tell you why, because it's so simple. If he says it once, he must say in there a dozen times to these high school kids, "Figure out what's right and then have the courage to do what's right." Boy, I mean, I just gravitate to that message. Figure out what's right and then have the courage to do what's right.
Here's the way we say it in here. Do what's right because it's right until it feels right. Do what's right. See, the implication is, and what I love to hear from Justice Thomas is, therefore there must be something wrong. We can't even get that message anymore. I'm telling you, five o'clock Saturday afternoon, it is so simple. You're going to look at this and go, it's so simple. That's my whole point to you. It is so simple. God says, "Here's what I want you to do. Do what's right. And I'll take care of all that other stuff."
What Are the Entanglements in Your Life?
What I want to do, we got about 30 minutes, 25, whatever it is. I want to spend some time just starting to get you thinking about 2 Timothy 2, verse 4. No soldier in active duty entangles himself. What are the entanglements in your life?
Now, I want to put these two verses together. What are the entanglements in your life that will prevent you from saying, "I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I kept the faith?" So you see what we're doing here? Get that picture all painted out for you.
Paul was able, and this is my point to you. Paul just didn't wake up at the end of his life and say, "Ah man, it worked out perfect." Paul along the way understood the principle that you cannot be entangled in the affairs of everyday life and still not win the battle, but please the one who enlisted you. That's our job. That's our mission. That's our privilege, to enjoy God, but to glorify Him and to please Him.
We, better than anybody on this planet, understand that our salvation depends upon grace, unmerited, undeserved, permanent forgiveness. Therefore, the only thing we can do is say thank you and our deepest desire is to please our Father.
The First Entanglement: Stuff or Money
What are the entanglements? I've got six of them here, and this list could go on and on and on. I would love to have you in writing, a note, something, just share with me the entanglements you think. I'm telling you, there's a whole series that we could do in this, but let me run through them. And probably you learn more about me than yourself in this process.
The number one thing that I would talk about would be stuff or money. So many people who come to the priority living studies are shocked when we tell them that there are less than 500 verses in the Bible about faith, a few more than 500 verses about prayer, and over 2,000 verses about money.
Then when you look at the parables, Jesus tells parables, 34 of them. Of those parables, 16 of them deal with money. The Bible talks a great deal about money, how you earn it, how you spend it, how you save it, how you invest it, what you do with it.
of it because it is an indicator of where you are spiritually. Our context is entanglements. Jesus says this in Matthew 6: "No one can serve two masters, for either they will love one and hate the other, or they will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." We're talking here about stuff. We're talking in the context of entanglements.
I just picked this book up the other day, so I've just started. Secular book by Juliet Shore, and the book is titled *The Overspent American*, subtitled *Why We Want What We Don't Need*. This ties so perfectly into the entanglement process. I don't even think you need to be a greedy little sucker to get pulled into this entanglement of stuff. I don't think it takes much to get pulled into that—I just think it's the flow of the culture.
The Illusion of Need
Listen to some of these statistics. They asked a group of people this question: "I can't afford to buy everything I really need." 50% of the people who made between $25,000 and $35,000 a year said that. $35,000 to $50,000 a year, 43% of the people: "I can't buy what I really need." $50,000 to $75,000 a year, 42% of the people said, "I really can't buy everything I really need." $75,000 to $100,000 a year, 40% said, "I can't buy everything I really need."
This statement: "I spend nearly all my money on the necessities of life." $25,000 to $30,000 a year, 62%. $35,000 to $50,000 a year, 46%. You're making $50,000 to $75,000 a year—25% of you said, "It just takes everything I make to make the basics." $100,000 and more a year, 20% said, "I'm spending everything I can on the necessities of life."
The New Standard of Comparison
Now, what's interesting—and indulge me here—what's interesting in this premise feeds everything we've talked about for 10 years. What you have now is somebody with a PhD saying it. What she's saying is this: we're no longer trying to keep up with the Joneses. What she says was, for years, through the 50s, the 60s, into the 70s, we tried to keep up with people in the neighborhood. That worked out pretty well because most of us lived in a neighborhood where everybody made the same amount of money. So we're all coming out of the same pool trying to compete with one another.
But all of a sudden in the 70s, many of those households had a second income earner. So now you have somebody with one income trying to keep up with those who do. She's saying now in the 90s, we no longer try to keep up with neighbors, but we're measuring ourselves against CEOs, against rock stars. All of a sudden, our whole perspective of life is changing.
It was okay when you made $50,000 a year to try to keep up with somebody who was making $60,000. But what she's saying is, now you're making $50,000 a year trying to keep up with people who are making $150,000. I'm telling you that's poison because you can't win the game. There's no way for you to compete.
The More-Is-Less Paradox
In fact, she's got a statistic in here that will blow you away. Of people making $75,000 a year, two thirds of them said they had to increase their income 50 to 100% to achieve satisfaction. Here's what's interesting: of those making $30,000 a year, only 20% said they had that kind of increase. So the point is the more you have, the less satisfied you are.
I don't know if you listened last night to the vice president and the president-elect, but there was talk about the American dream. This has bugged me for a long time. I don't even know what the American dream is anymore. People are talking about the good life.
Redefining the Good Life
How about this? This is incredible. Latest statistics that we have—the good life is being redefined. In 1975, 19% of the people said a vacation home was part of the good life. By 1991, 35%. Really nice clothes, 44%. A car, 75%. Own your own home, the good life, 87%. A lot of money, 55%.
Here's where it gets interesting. A happy marriage, 77%. So more people thought a good home was important or a car was important to the good life than a happy marriage. 73% said having kids. So more people thought the good life was measured by a car than kids.
There was a statistic the other day on TV that an attorney spends—and I don't know where they get this stuff—two and a half hours picking out the appropriate gift for a key client at Christmas. Now, I assume those are two-and-a-half billable hours, but nonetheless, two and a half hours. The same study said this: an attorney spends 15 minutes picking out the appropriate gift for his child. Two and a half hours for a client, 15 minutes for his kid. Obviously, that's not a picture of every attorney, but I'll tell you what, it's a picture of virtually every life.
The Christmas Mirror
Christmas—nothing holds up a mirror to how over-materialized we are as Christmas, and nothing holds that mirror up better than the frustration you have in Christmas shopping. The problem with Christmas shopping is very simple. You're trying to find something that somebody wants or needs for a person who already has everything they want or need. That's why you're out shopping and you've got to stop in the middle to eat. This is like a project. You're out there for hours at a time. This takes so much work.
This is where you say, "Oh, I know, we'll get them glider lessons." And they say, "Oh no, we did that last year." I mean, we've done everything we can. My point is simply this: when you're living in a culture that says the good life is more, the good life is more, the good life is more—the average size of an American house, square footage, has doubled in the last 40 years. That means twice as much furniture, twice as much air conditioning, twice as much insurance, twice as much carpeting, twice as much cleaning. We're talking about the entanglements of life.
Timothy 6:9 says, "Those who want to get rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge them into ruin." It doesn't say those who are rich. It says those who want to get rich. You can be a greedy little puke making $12,000 a year. You need to remember that. We're talking about people who say, "I want it." And here's my point. If you say, "I want it, I want more, I want the good life, I deserve that," if that's what you say, then what you're going to do is entangle yourself.
I went to a church meeting the other night. The first three cars I saw were a Jaguar, a Lexus, and a Z3. I got no problem with any of those. In fact, I wish the Z3 were mine. But I'm telling you, you're going to a church meeting. Not everybody's pulling up in a Jaguar or a Lexus or a Z3. Some people are in Sentras and used Sentras. And now you're getting out of your Sentra and you're looking at that Z3 and I'm telling you, the human nature kicks in and you got problems, pal. Because now, all of a sudden, the desire for stuff begins to kick in. And they don't just give this away.
Four Conclusions About Money's Entanglement
So here are my four conclusions on the entanglement of money. Number one, the more you have, the less likely you are to be satisfied. And that's just statistically proven all over the place. All it does is put you in a new game. And also, here's what I've observed, it also seems to give you the excuse to be greedy. I'm talking to a guy one day who had a net worth of over ten million dollars and He said to me, "I'm not rich." And He meant it. You know why? He hung around with guys who have fifty and sixty and a hundred million.
Here's the second thing. The more you have, the more we're convinced we'll never have enough. All of a sudden, it's a summer home, but it's a cabin. I can't believe how many people say, "Well, I've got a cabin. I got a cabin at Forest Highlands." A cabin? It's five thousand square feet. It's got a four car garage. That's not a cabin, baby. A cabin, you go outside to go to the john. That's a cabin. Not satellite TV. And I'm not saying anything wrong with that. But you see, here's the problem. Not all of you can achieve that. And if that becomes your goal and your dream, you're entangled.
Here's my third conclusion. The more you have, the more you're frustrated. For two things. Number one, because you know you'll never have enough. And number two, because you know you're miserable in the midst of it. The more you have, the more miserable you are. The more you realize that, boy, I thought... you know what? We've worked and worked and worked and worked and worked. Haven't you heard that? Haven't you said it to your kids? "I give you everything." Let me give you a tip. They don't want all that stuff. They want you. They want your time. They want your heart. They want to know you care.
I go to ballgames. I rarely see mom and dad at the game together. I may see mom. I may see dad. Rarely do I see them together. We were just having this conversation this morning when I came in about Boy Scouts. And they were making the comment, you know what? We can get the kids' parents to give us a lot of money. What we can't get is the kids' parents to give us any time. And the poorer the kid, the more likely we are to get the dad. You know why? Because the more you have, the more you want, the more you're never satisfied, and the more you're frustrated.
Money Prevents Spiritual Potential
Here's my last point. The more you have, the less likely you are... And this is the bottom line of the whole thing. The more you have, the less likely you are to fulfill your spiritual potential. You only got so much time. I'm talking to a guy yesterday who's trying to staff an elder board at another church. I said, "How's it going?" He said, "I can't get it done." He said, "Everybody I talked to says to me, first question..." You know it. You know what's the first question? "How much time is it going to take?" It's not, "That's an awesome responsibility. I don't know if I'm qualified." How much time? And see, the reason there's no time is because we've decided that material things are more important than everything else.
And the reason you're frustrated in that process is you're saying, "Lord, You're everything. I surrender all." You got to cut your tongue out if you sing that again. "I surrender all. All I have, all I give You, I surrender all." Then you go, "This automatic heater's not working. Is your seat cold? My seat's cold. This car is just not what it should be." And then you go, "I'm frustrated." That's why you're frustrated.
Number one entanglement, and especially in this culture. I got these friends right now who are ready to start buying bottled water because they think persecution's coming to the church. We got the greatest test we've ever had right now, and it's the test of prosperity. And you know what? My sense is we won't do very well in that. "No soldier in active duty entangles themselves in the affairs of everyday life so He can serve the one who enlisted Him." Number one thing, at least in my mind, cash.
The Second Entanglement: Male-Female Relationships
Number two, male-female relationships. If you're single, and this is kind of... we talk about it a lot, we got a whole bunch of singles who want to be married, a whole bunch of marrieds who want to be single. In this process, Paul gives us some advice, and He really says you're better off single than married. And He's not talking about just because life is easier. He's talking about so you can serve better.
I'm going to read to you from the New Living Translation. 1 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 27: "If you have a wife, don't end the marriage. If you don't have a wife, don't get married. If you do get married, it's not a sin. If a young woman gets married, it's not a sin. However, I'm trying to spare you the extra problems that come with marriage." It can't be any more direct than that. Paul's saying is, there's a complication... remember what we're talking about? Entanglements in life that will distract.
Male-female relationships represent one of the significant entanglements. Guys, if you're here and you're single, let me just tell you something. I meet a lot of people who are single and they want to be married, they want to find a mate. Go ahead and pursue that, but I'll tell you something: worse than being single is being married to the wrong person.
If you're married—and that's probably the majority of you—the health of that marriage, to a large degree, determines the spiritual impact you're going to have in the community around you and your ability to please your Father. There is no way, zero way, I could do what I do if Susan and I weren't on the same page. The number one thing I think people look at when you say you're a Christian and begin to evaluate your Christianity is: what kind of marriage do they have? What does the marriage look like?
That's why there's a myth that every time you get the chance to speak against it, you've got to come out against it. That myth says the divorce rate's the same in the church as it is in the world. That's a lie. That's not true. There's no way that's true. In our church over the last four, five, six years, I think there's been three divorces or something. Not even close to the same rate that you'd find at Intel, or a law office, or an athletic team. Not even close. We've got to take that myth and beat it down, because that marriage is a picture of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Work as an Entanglement
Number three, I think this will entangle you: work. And they all start to flow together. I've got guys all around here saying, "I'm working 70, 80 hours a week." And I'm saying, "Well, do they make you?" "No." "Why would you work that much?" "Well, because I need to make that much money to support the lifestyle." See how it all starts to flow together?
I think they come together for a couple of reasons. Number one, I think guys are working too much because they're trying to make too much money. Number two, it becomes an excuse to not have to do the things that are really important.
Now, I believe in the area of work. You better understand your work is a ministry. I met with a guy yesterday and we're trying to do some things together. He's in a very influential position within his organization, and his organization's influential among hundreds of other guys. He's bringing me in and we're talking about how we can take these principles and let them just permeate through the organization and affect the people around us. That's a great view. How can I take my job and make it a ministry?
You Are a Minister
You are a minister. There's a real fallacy when you look and say, "Well, there's the clergy. I'm just a lay person." I don't like that distinction. You've been saved and called. God's placed you strategically in the marketplace and it's a ministry.
There's a real balancing act there. You need to work. You need to work hard. If you are a worker, you need to work as under the Lord and you need to work a hard day's work for an honest day's pay. If you're a boss, you've got extraordinary responsibility to be Christ in the midst of the marketplace to your employees.
One of the great barometers—a way you can tell how you're doing—is to go to the bottom rung. That's typically the receptionist, and ask her what the guy at the top's like. Ask her how it is to work there. I remember walking into an office, and this was an insurance business. This girl was stamping birthday cards—he's a birthday card guy—and she literally was going, "I hate this man, I hate this man, I hate this man." That's typically a morale problem. What you had was a guy who was busting his chops to try to be nice to everybody, but you know what? It all had to do with business. It had nothing to do with ministry.
Bad Company Will Entangle You
Here's the fourth thing: bad company will entangle you. The Bible says bad company corrupts good morals. Try it this way—the stuff you tell your kids. My kids will always say, "Boy, you're judgmental." And I'll always say, "Yeah, it's one of my best qualities." But I'll say, "I don't want you hanging around with them." "Well, you don't even know them." "Well, I kind of know them. I mean, they look like they took a stapler to their face. I don't want them around here. Get them out of here. I don't want these kids around."
It's not that I don't love these kids. What I'm saying to you is, I don't want you spending time with kids that are trouble. "He's a nice boy." He's a cocky little guy, and I know him because I was one. I don't like that.
I met a guy who came—you've maybe heard the story—and he wanted to talk one day. We're talking, and he said, "I'm doing really well except one day a month." I said, "Well, tell me about it." He said, "Well, one day a month, I go to strip clubs and pick up girls." I said, "Well, that's probably not good. How does that happen?" He said, "Well, there's a group of us. We were fraternity guys together and we just kind of ended up in business together. We just get together once a month and I'm the only Christian."
I said, "Well, this has got to be a powerful testimony you have in the midst of this group then." "I'm the only Christian and we end up in strip clubs and those are problems for me." Again, I'm not being prepared or studied or having a degree in this. I had to think for like a nanosecond to say, "Why don't you not hang around with these guys anymore?" It was like, "Oh, I never really thought of that." It was like that wasn't even an option.
See, if you're hanging around with the wrong people, you're destined for trouble. Now, let me tell you, because all these have a tension. Here's the tension: you're supposed to be salt and light and reaching out to the lost people. How are you—
Defining Relationships on Your Terms
You cannot reach out to people if you aren't with them. So you have to find a way to be with them and you have to find a way to be salt and light. Here's the best way: have them know who you are, what you're about, what you stand for, what you support, what you're against, what's right and what's wrong. Now let them define the extent of the relationship.
You don't go to the strip bar and in between acts say, "You know what, Jesus has really changed my life. I'll get back to you in a minute." You think that's working? That doesn't work.
Anything to Excess
This is a no-brainer, so I'll spend not much time on it. We're talking about addictions or something like that - anything to excess is a bad thing.
Monday we had our staff Christmas party and the irony was not missed, at least on my end. It was December 11th. We had a church staff Christmas party - it was a terrific night. It was also 20 years to the day since a Coldwell Banker Christmas party where I had my last drink. It was a night where I woke up.
The centerpiece that night was a donkey filled with green stuff and cranberries. I woke up the next morning hugging the donkey with cranberries all over my face. On my way to the restroom, I said, "This is probably not a good thing. We ought to stop this right now because this is really bad." So I quit. That's what you've got to do.
Your excess could be a good thing or a neutral thing. If you're playing golf three or four times a week, I don't know how you don't figure out that that's about 20 hours that you don't have somewhere else. I know people who I think have created an excess that they're so worried about these kids and so concerned about these kids that they've almost turned these kids into idols. You've got to be warned.
The Danger of Isolation
Here's the last thing I wrote down: you'll be entangled if you're isolated.
Justice Thomas last night - it was a great moment. They asked him who were his role models, and I could have answered the question because I've heard him talk enough. What he talked about were heroes. He said, "Winston Churchill was a hero of mine" because - and you see a recurring theme - he saw what was wrong and he stood up against it. That's all through Thomas.
The other day, I never thought a whole lot about Sandra Day O'Connor that much. She comes out and Chris Matthews made a comment. He said, "She's like every nun I ever had. You didn't use a number two lead pencil, you get an F." He said all she wanted to know was what was right and what the law said, which to me seems like pretty good criteria for a Supreme Court Justice.
Heroes Versus Role Models
Justice Thomas the other night talked about Churchill, then he talked about Lincoln. But those are heroes. The question was role models. He said, "My role model's my grandpa. He was 50 years old. My brother and I - I don't know how, we would have died - but my grandpa took us in." Then he spent about 10 minutes talking about his grandpa.
You've got to have - not heroes, go get your heroes - you've got to have role models. People you can touch, people you can dialogue with, mentors, people that you can bounce ideas off. They've got to be present in your life. You cannot go this alone.
If you're isolated and you say, "Well, I'll just suck it up and I'll handle it," there's an entanglement. By the way, that typically flows from pride: "I can do it on my own. I pull myself up by my own bootstraps and I'll just do it on my own."
Understanding Your Entanglements
As you can see, that's a pretty rough draft of just trying to paste these things together. But you see the thought process? There's entanglements in your life. Maybe none of those are yours. Yours are something else.
What you need to do is understand those entanglements will stop you from pleasing the Lord and will make it impossible for you at the end of your life to say, "I fought the good fight." The very thing you want most, you're giving away in the area of entanglement.
Peace on Earth - But to Whom?
Next week as we get to this Christmas time of the year, the great passage that we quote part of all the time - "peace on earth goodwill toward men" - we never finish it. In whom God is well pleased. God's not pleased with everybody. It's not peace on earth toward everybody. It's not goodwill toward every person from God's perspective. It's those in whom I'm pleased.
Well, how do I know I'm pleasing God? What pleases God is faith. How do I know I have faith? Next week, we'll give you a scorecard and you can judge. You can figure out whether you're Christian or not. We'll look at it next week - should be a great lesson as we kick into the final of the holidays.
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Father, help us see this. God, there's so many of these things. All I ask is that You just kind of give us a little ding in the head and help us look at our life and see if there's entanglements in there. God, help us free ourselves up - not so we just have more free time, but free ourselves up so we can be in service to You. Free ourselves up from all the junk so we can commit our time, our energy, our effort, and our money to You. God, let that be the measure of our life.
Father, I love these people. Thank You for bringing them here. They are dead serious, so they wouldn't be here. They want to say "I fought the good fight and I finished the race and I kept the faith." God, remind us that we are going to be able to say that at the end of our life.
Daily Freedom and Eternal Focus
If we don't every day keep ourselves free of these entanglements and keep our eyes focused on the eternal as we live here in the temporal, we will lose sight of what truly matters.
God, we pray that to You in Jesus' name. Amen.
See you next week.