2
Timothy 4:8 (NIV)
8 Now there is in store for me the
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me
on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his
appearing.
(This
is rather lengthy but I think it is worth your time to read. Taken from my
sermon from this past Sunday)
My
daughter Rebekah has always loved to dance. Several years ago when I travelled
to speak in different conferences and churches I would often take one of my
children with me. On several of those trips Rebekah would accompany me and she
would choreograph a dance routine that would illustrate my talk. It was great
fun and most of those who attended said that the dance was the best part of my
talk.
She
was made to dance and she took ballet classes for almost ten years. Then the
dreadful day came when her dance instructor told her that she would never be on
pointe due to her bone structure and the position of her hips. Her advice to
her was that she should probably take up something else because she would never
be able to go on pointe.
When
my Rebekah heard those words her world caved in because she had one serious
problem with the instructor, she was made to dance and she knew it deep in her
heart that she had to dance. But the evidence weighed in against her and some
dance instructor, who claimed to be an expert in her field, told her it would
never happen.
I
remember the disappointment, my wife remembers it even more than I do. The next
several years Rebekah was forced to face a reality that dance would just not be
something she could do. On many days Rebekah would question why she should even
go on because she was made to dance, but the experts told her it was not
possible.
During
the next several years she would watch a dance routine on television or see
some ballet poster and her heart would just sink. Her dream was never to be
realized and all the evidence from the experts said so. But even with all the
expert opinions she couldn't help but dance. She faced it as good as any young
girl, who only wanted to dance all her life, could. She busied herself with
other things to hide the pain inside. She took nineteen hours in college each
semester, worked three jobs filling her schedule with as much activity as she
could hoping to find something that would take the pain away and the longing to
dance with it.
After
we moved to Carbondale, Rebekah, now to be known as Becki, met up with her
first dance instructor, Susan Barnes. Susan had a place for her in her dance
classes. So Becki began to dance again, all the while knowing she would never
be on pointe. She took up hip hop, classical, modern, jazz. She made the dance
team at her high school and they went to state and won fifth place. This should
have been sufficient but it wasn't because she was made to dance but she was
told she would never make the final jump to being on pointe.
She
took up kick boxing, as a way to train herself physically and found a Christian
Martial arts instructor that helped her gain much needed strength in her legs
and back. Now fast forward to just a few weeks ago when she made the local
dance company and her teacher said to her that she should consider going on
pointe.
This
was too much to hope for but she allowed herself to think it was possible. The
appointment was made and this past Friday my wife, Melanie, Becki and I drove
three hours to St. Louis to the Dance Bag Dance shop. It was here we would meet
two very gifted Ballet instructors that had fifty years of instruction and dance
between them. They worked for ninety minutes trying to fit Becki with the
correct pointe shoes. I did not know that were over 1700 possibilities for
arranging the fit for a person on pointe.
At
first there was much difficulty trying to make everything fit. There was a
tense moment when the instructor, shoe fitter person hesitated and said,
"Well . . ." Then she paused and there was what seemed like an
eternity of waiting. We were all thinking that the next words would be, "I
am sorry you just are not made to be on pointe."
As
a father, I was sitting close by and I could see it in my Becki's eyes. Her
world was about to be crashed in on again. After what seemed like a thousand
years we heard the words from this most excellent shoe fitter, dance instructor
ever. "Releve" which in ballet language means to go up on your toes
on pointe. I watched as my daughter, who was told for years she would never do
this, pushed up on her toes and did it so flawlessly that the instructor said
with great confidence, "You are going to be great on pointe, I do not know
what that other instructor was thinking."
The
shoes were a perfect fit. My wife cried, Becki smiled and I will not admit to
anything from my life at that moment.
She
as going to dance and she is going to be on pointe in the Nutcracker this
coming Christmas on the biggest stage in southern Illinois.
Do
you see the picture here? Let's go back to our text for a moment. Paul was
nearing the end of his life and he says for all to hear, there is a crown of
righteousness laid up for me and not for me only but for all those who love his
appearing.
For
those of us who have trusted in Christ we find another law at work within us
that seems to drag us down the longer we live in this body. Our struggle with
sin is intense, but our longing to live a life of purity before God is more
intense. We long to live lives that are pleasing to God but at the same time we
keep hearing the voice of our enemy saying, "You will never be righteous,
you will never win in this battle over sin. Just give up and quit so you don't
have to fight any longer."
All
the evidence seems to point out that the voice of our enemy is right. But there
is something that is going on inside of us that is far more powerful, there is
the growing longing to dance, to live lives perfectly pleasing to God. We
constantly face ridicule and scorn from the world and voices of condemnation
from the enemy but we do not give up.
All
the while Becki could not dance she did not even know it, but all the exercises
she went through and all the other things that she did only served to position
her so that she would be strong enough to dance when the time came.
You
see, even though we have all the evidence that is against us everyone has
forgotten one voice in the midst, this is none other than the son of God as he
speaks and says, "One day, for all those who long to live lives pleasing
to God, the Lord Himself will come for them and call them to come in for a
fitting. But it will not be for pointe shoes, it will be for a fitting of everlasting
righteousness that will be given to them. From this moment on we will be able
to dance and fully rejoice in our absolute righteousness before God never to
sin again.
Now
we will struggle and hear the voices of our enemy telling us we will never be
what we want to be. Now we wage war against the flesh and the world and the
devil but then we will rise never to fight again only to dance and fly and
soar.
O
church, are you tired of sinning against the God that you love? Is the war
growing too hard for you? Then I ask you to look up, He is coming for you and
will soon complete that which he began in you.
I
think I am about to dance, how about you?
Pastor Phil