1 February 14, 2010 THE ADJECTIVE OF YOUR LIFE When I was in Jr. High School there was a professional basketball player by the name of Connie Hawkins who played for the Phoenix Suns. They called him the Hawk. Some of you might remember him. I was a basketball player in Jr. High and my buddies and I were captivated by this guy named Connie Hawkins --- the Hawk. We read books about him, studied his career, knew all his statistics. Well, the day came and Connie Hawkins came to town to play the Detroit Pistons and my youth director from church offered to take me and some of my buddies down to Cobo Hall to see the Hawk play. We had died and gone to heaven. So we went down and watched the game --- the outcome of which I cannot remember. And the reason I can t remember is that it was overshadowed by what happened after the game. We begged my youth director to let us stay after the game to see if we could get Connie Hawkins autograph. He finally agreed and so we stood outside the visitor s locker room and waited for Connie Hawkins to come out. Finally he did. All 6 foot 11 inches of him. And there we were these little five foot three inch kids looking up at 6 11 --- and saying, Mr. Hawkins, can we have your autograph? Got to get to the bus, was his reply. And he kept walking. We were not to be denied. Please, Mr. Hawkins. It ll just take a second.
2 No, can t stop. Mr. Hawkins, we read the book about you. We love how you can palm the ball. You scored thirty one points today. Silence. We walked with him all the way to the bus. And then my friend Danny stood in front of the team bus door so as to block it and said, I ll hold your bag please sign your autograph. He relented. He gave his bag to Danny.. and he signed all of our slips of paper. And we were in heaven. Not only had we been in the presence of greatness --- we had gotten greatnesses autograph. When I came home that late afternoon and showed my autograph to my mom and explained to her how we had walked with Connie Hawkins --- she said, That s nice. When someone tells you that they have just walked alongside Connie Hawkins and received his autograph --- the response is not That s nice. I don t know how long it took me to forgive my mother for that response. But she did not play basketball. Probably never dribbled one in her life. She could not begin to understand what this moment of greatness was all about. When it comes to greatness --- you need to be a player you need to be a participant in order to understand the full measure of the greatness before you.
3 It s true isn t it? I mean you don t know how great Phil Mickelson is --- until you pick up a golf club and start trying to hit a golf ball straight for 300 yards. Then you know how great Phil Mickelson is. You don t know how great the first violinist is for the Sarasota Orchestra --- until you pick up a violin and try to begin playing. You don t know how great a painting is by Monet or Renoir or Pissaro --- until you are standing before a canvas with a paintbrush. You don t know how great a sculpture is by Michelangelo until you are standing before an untouched block of marble with a hammer and chisel. In order to understand and experience greatness you have to be a player you have to be a participant. In our passage this morning from Luke s Gospel we read of the experience of three disciples on top of a mountain when Jesus is transfigured before them and in conversation with the two great prophets of Israel --- Moses and Elijah. A true moment of glory. Nearly indescribable. Now Peter and the disciples would like to stay up on top of that mountain. But Jesus has work to do. Following this moment of glory Jesus and the disciples descend the mountain and they are confronted with a father who has a possessed son --- possessed with a
4 demon --- a demon from which the remaining disciples are not able to deliver him. Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit --- heals the boy and gives him back to his father. And then Luke tells us, And all were astounded at the greatness of God. Those who were there those who had chosen to participate in the plight of this father and son. Those who had even struggled themselves to heal the boy. When they became eyewitnesses to the healing power of Christ --- Luke tells us that they were astounded. When I read this passage I was intrigued by this word astounded --- so I looked to see how other translations translated that word. One translation said, astonished. They were astonished at the greatness of God. Another translation said, amazed. They were amazed at the greatness of God. And still another translation said, awestruck. They were awestruck at the greatness of God. Astounded. Astonished. Amazed. And awestruck. That is quite a list of adjectives. Those who chose to accompany Jesus who chose to participate in the arena of Jesus ministry --- were astounded, astonished, amazed and awestruck. You know, those words are not words you hear a whole lot anymore. Astounded, astonished, amazed and awestruck. Seldom do you hear people use those words when asked to describe their life.
5 How would you describe your life adjectivally? In other words, what adjectives would you use to describe the state of your life? Ponder that for a moment. What adjective or adjectives would you use to describe the state of your life? I am busy. I am tired. I am excited. I am sad. I am anxious. I am physically fit. I am old. I am young. I am rich. I am poor. What adjectives would you use to describe the present state of your life? Because the description you give your life says something about the agenda of your life. If the best word I can come up with for my life is the word busy then busyness must be what my life is about. If the best word I can come up with is anxious then anxiety must be what my life is about. If the best word I can come up with is rich then being rich must be what my life is about. The adjective of your life says something about the agenda of your life. Tonight when we study the fourth chapter of Philippians this letter of Paul from a Roman prison a Roman prison he writes the church in Philippi and says, I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I have learned to be content with whatever I have. The adjective points to the agenda.
6 Some of you have read the book by Greg Mortensen Three Cups of Tea. Mortenson, the son of missionaries describes his perilous return from attempting to climb K2 the second highest mountain in the world in the Himalayas. He nearly dies through the experience and he is brought half-dead to a Pakistani village. Over months he is cared for by these local Pakistani s in this remote village and when he is finally restored to health he decides he wants to do something for these villagers who have cared for him so well and he realizes that one thing they need is a school. So he determines to build them a school. Long story short he not only builds them a school but he realizes that this is to be the mission of his life building schools for remote villages in that part of the world to give children the basic gift of education. Over the past 17 years he has built 131 schools for 131 villages in Pakistan and Afghanistan. This has been his agenda. So when someone asked Greg Mortenson what if anything he wanted put on his tombstone when he died he said, Put on my tombstone, He died a happy man. His adjective reflects his agenda. So those who hung with Jesus came up with the adjectives astounded, astonished, amazed and awestruck. The agenda they were participating in was astounding, astonishing, amazing and awe-striking. It is what happens, you see, when you avail yourself of the work of God. If you participate in the work of God you get to see astounding, astonishing, amazing and awe-striking things.
7 I think about our work with Habitat for Humanity here in Sarasota. I ve worked on enough houses with Habitat in different places in the world it is truly not my spiritual gift the swinging of a hammer or turning of the screwdriver but whenever I spend time with the good folks of that good ministry and see old houses become new houses or empty lots turn into little castles and when I see single mom open the door of their house for the first time with tears running down their cheeks or when I see children jumping and down in their very first bedroom they can call their own the words that come to mind are astounding, astonishing, amazing and awe-striking. It s what happens when you avail yourself of God s agenda. You don t know how great God is until you start participating in God-like things. It s like I said you don t know how great Hank Aaron is until you try to hit a 95 mph fastball over a fence 400 feet away. You don t know how great Tom Hanks is until you get handed a script to memorize and act to perfection. You don t know how great Lindsey Vonn is until you hurl yourself down a ski slope and try to turn on a dime. You don t know how great God is until you participate in God-like things. And that means going places where you think God might be. Places where you thing God is concerned. And that might mean doing scary things uncomfortable things. It might mean doing things you don t know the result of. It might mean just reading the Bible and doing what the Bible says to do as awkward as that might feel. But if you want to change the
8 adjective of your life you best start thinking of changing the agenda of your life. Do things because it s what God told you to do. Years ago I got a call from a couple in my church who had just had a baby. Unfortunately, it was not a call of joy. Their child, they learned upon her birth, had a rare genetic disease and would not live beyond a week. Come quick, they said. Many days I spent with them in the Natal ICU unit in downtown Philadelphia. We prayed for God to intervene to make the baby better. But days later the child died and the couple was devastated. Subsequently they got pregnant again. In utero the child was tested and the results were negative and months later they brought into the world a healthy baby girl. A couple years later they got pregnant again again the in utero child was tested and this time the tests were positive. The child carried the disease. Heartache. And a tough choice. The parents were asked if they wished the pregnancy terminated. They asked the doctors, Is the baby healthy in the womb? Yes, the doctors said, but upon birth the child s biochemistry will change. So the parents said no. If the child is healthy in the womb then they wished to bring him to fullterm. They named the child Jonah because he was safe in the belly. They called me and asked if we could come to their house and gather with their friends and lay hands on mommy s belly and pray for God to intervene. They said that the Bible said this was what you were supposed to do. Of course, I said. We went to their house and we put our hands on mommy s belly and we prayed we prayed our hearts out that God would somehow do something. We
9 waited. Six weeks later came the call from the hospital. The boy was born. And the boy was perfectly healthy. Now do I understand all that happened there? No. Is there great mystery? Yes. Were the doctors conflicted as to what happened? Of course. But the truth was we were astounded, astonished, amazed and awe-struck. What might be the adjective of your life? It has everything to do with your agenda. Somewhere Jesus said that with just a little bit of faith you can move a mountain. Did he really mean that? Wouldn t that be astounding astonishing amazing and awe-striking? I guess you ll never know until you try.