Preached 2/25/01 - Pastor Paul Fedena

“YOU NEED TO LIFT WEIGHTS!”

TEXT:  Heb.12:1,2;  Phil.3:7,8
 
THESIS:  To show the believer that weights are detrimental to running the Christian race.
 
INTRO.:  A. “YOU NEED TO LIFT WEIGHTS!”  I am NOT talking about starting a weight training program (though some of YOU could use it  J).   I AM talking about
lifting from your life those weights which keep you from being the best Christian you can be.  The Christian life is a race. It is a race where we can easily get bogged down w/unnecessary things to slow us down – “weights.”
                   B.  Some Christians have dealt successfully with most of the more obvious sins at least, and some have the victory over every major sin in their lives.  But nearly every saint has problems with some “weights.”  We need to “lift” those weights from us if we are to run the race successfully.
 
I.   WHAT ARE THESE WEIGHTS THAT NEED LIFTING?
 
            A.  Anything That Slows You Down:
ILLUS.:  Jack Hyles, in his book on separation, used the illustration of 2 athletes preparing for a race.  One was out late the night before the race doing drugs, dancing in a disco, smoking cigarettes, drinking & spending the night with a woman.  He gets about 2 hours sleep, gets up & lines up for the race.  Will he win?  Of course not!  Why?  Because of his sin!
                 The other athlete gets a good night’s sleep, does nothing which will hinder his form the next day.  He lines up the next day at the starting blocks, buttons his overcoat &  laces his combat boots.  Will he win the race?  Of course not!  Why?  His problem is not his sin.  He didn’t do what the first guy did.  He lived clean.  But his overcoat & boots will slow him down.  As far as the race is concerned, his weights are as detrimental as the sins of the other runner.
 
          1.  Maybe your weight is a hobby:  fishing, hunting, cars, weight-lifting, etc.
         2.  Maybe your weight is sports:  playing, coaching, watching, etc.
         3.  Maybe your weight is fellowship:  wastes time, leads to gossip, etc.
         4.  Maybe your weight is sleep:  too much or not enough!
         5.  Maybe your weight is money:  too  much or not enough!
         6.  Maybe your weight is service:  like Martha, whose priorities were mixed up.
 
ILLUS.:  You say “Service is good.”  You are right.  God intends the believer to serve, but if your service keeps you from having the time you need with the Lord in worship, it becomes a weight.   
                                             A weight is anything that encumbers so you will not be at your best in your service for the Lord.  It is anything that puts the believer at a disadvantage.  When David went out against Goliath, Saul gave him his armor to wear.  But it was too cumbersome for his small frame & would have gotten in his way in the battle.
                 
      B.  Anything That Changes Priorities:
 
              1.  You want a ministry with children & a coaching position opens up w/small boys & you used to be good at baseball, so you take the position.
              2.  Your soul-winning night used to be Thursday, but now there is practice… priorities have changed;  you still make Sun. & Wed. services, you just don’t go soul-winning any more!  Weight!
               3.  You need relaxation & take up ceramics, but the class is on Wed. night. Weight! Nothing wrong w/ceramics, it is not sin, it has become a weight!
              4.  What may be a weight to you, may not be a weight to me, because our race is different.
 
                   a.  Maybe you can drive a Harley, but I can’t. (Visualize me driving up to preach on my Harley w/leather, boots, helmet, etc.!)
                   b.  Maybe I can fish, but you can’t.  (Maybe for you it would become an obsession & keep you from your duties & priorities.)
 
II.   HOW DO YOU BEGIN LIFTING THESE WEIGHTS?
 
            A.  Prioritize Your Schedule:
 
                   1.  Daily list what you need to do:
 
                         a.  Things commanded first.
 
ILLUS.:  Moses was called by God to lead the nation of Israel.  But he is in line to be king of the most powerful nation on earth.  Couldn’t he do more good for his people as king?  But he was under command!
Soul-winning is a command.  Other things must not take precedent over it.  It is a priority.  We are commanded to go to church.  Other things must not take precedent over that (travel, vacation, hobbies, sports,  etc.  That’s why professional sports figures who get saved are encumbered with a weight!  They can’t be in church on the Lord’s day!)
 
                       b.  Things necessary secondly.
 
ILLUS.:  Some things take precedence over others by sheer weight of necessity.  In Acts 27 in the middle of a 14 day storm at sea, the passengers & crew began to “lighten the ship” of any extra food & cargo.  There was nothing wrong with food & cargo;  it was not wicked, it was just a unnecessary weight.  It was throw over the unnecessary or sink!  Maybe there are some “good things” that need to go from your life to keep you from sinking.                                                                        
                    c. Things suggested next (not everything in life is either commanded or necessary…but they are lower on our priority list; that area of service, that visit to relatives on Sunday, that hospital visit instead of soul-winning).
                    d. Things enjoyed lastly (that trip, vacation, outing, party, exercise,food, etc.)be good & even healthy for you, but it is lower on your priority list).
 
ILLUS.:  When Joe Louis wanted to be the world heavyweight champion he had to deny himself some enjoyable things.  He said every time he would go by a piece of chocolate cake, it would shout “Eat me!  Eat me!”  He would say “I can’t, I want to be the champion.” 
​You should do everything on your priority list if you can, but if you place things in their highest to lowest  priority, you will get done the commanded & necessary things, & if possible the suggested or the things you enjoy;  but the things you enjoy can become weights if they are out of order.
 
            B.  Eliminating Your Hindrances:
 
III.  WHAT ARE THE RESULTS OF LIFTING THESE WEIGHTS?
 
            A.  Lightens Your Load:
 
                  1. This isn’t something which will make life miserable for you, it is simply denial on a positive level which will make you run your race faster & easier.
                 2. The altar in the church should not just be where Christians come to confess their sins, but also to jettison their weights.
                 3.  Just to lay aside our sin, but to keep our weights will result in loss.
                 4. Christians, like mountain climbers, need to learn to travel light.
           
           B. Lifts You To New Heights:
 
ILLUS.:  In WWI a Russian pilot needed to learn how to fly a dirigible (Airship).  He was told that a dirigible flew like a lighter-than-air balloon, so he would train in a balloon.  He got into the balloons gondola & saw all four sides had sand bags hanging over the sides.  To begin the ascent, he had to release sand till the huge balloon slowly lifted off the ground.  The more sand he dumped, the higher the balloon ascended.  He said: “I see now that as a Christian I can get closer & closer to the Lord if I am willing to get rid of my weights.” Weights kept him grounded.  The weights kept him from reaching new heights.
 
                1. Victory follows dealing with sins AND weights.
       
1 Cor.9:24-27    
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.  I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
 
                2.  In text #2 above Paul puts things into perspective & teaches us how to win the race & gain new heights.
 
Phil.3:7-8 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
 
CONCL.:  Someone said “Winning is everything!”  That may not be true in life, but it is true in the race we are running for Christ.  If we are to win the race we need to have our sins & weights lifted. 
               For the lost, your sins can be lifted permanently, as far as your sin-debt to God is concerned, by trusting Christ as your Savior.