"The End From The Beginning"
Dean AngellJanuary 19/20, 2002
Let me tell you about one of the most central ideas I hold onto very dearly in my heart and mind. It is this....That we as human beings can achieve whatever we put our minds to in life. We can do or become whatever we desire to. What one man can do another can do.
I believe strongly in a word called destiny, and that as human beings - men and women - we are meant for greatness..I also believe that very few people live their lives at this level of heightened awareness and few breathe in the life that comes from walking every day in that destiny..
During this past summer, God - by His Holy Spirit - began birthing some ideas in my heart and mind that began to percolate over the past months..and finally has led to this group of messages that we are calling "The Over-Coming Life".
These next weeks will center on learning together the principles of life management - and focusing all the parts of our lives purposely so that we can live the life that God has not only created us for - but so we can live the life God has called us to..A life of destiny and purpose.
So let's get right at it. Today's theme is all about seeing the end from the beginning..(I've already eluded to this) It starts by learning one very clear and simple truth..that when fully understood will change your whole view of life.
- We were created with purpose and destiny and have been called to greatness by the God of the Universe.
George Bernard Shaw said this describing his life."I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I've got ahold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."
During my study break in August last summer, I read a couple very significant books - "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey, and "Half Time" by Bob Buford. Both of these books started my heart pounding in a clearer way to understand these words: passion and purpose and destiny. I wanted to clearly see and know what God had created me for.and what destiny He was calling me to..I wanted to know the one thing He was calling me to.The one thing that I must live my life for...and the one thing I'd be willing to die for - to give my life to.
Well, before I could figure out the one thing in my life and get a handle on that, I had to learn a much broader yet more elementary truth..That the God of the Universe created us out of love and passion and that He formed us with purpose in mind....Now that seems fairly basic, doesn't it? But understanding this has radically transformed my confidence.
In September, I was given the opportunity to sit under the teaching of Jack Hayford for a week - a spiritual giant, man of integrity and spiritual depth and longevity in successful ministry leadership. Well, all week Jack just kept saying the same thing over and over again..based on Ephesians 1:18&19 - "I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future He has promised to those He called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance He has given to His people. I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of His power for us who believe Him." Basically this says that the God of the Universe loves us so much that He not only created us to be in relationship with Him, but that He created us with a dream and a future that we should pursue passionately for all of eternity. He created us to live in His power every day, and He created us to live a life of significance.not just success. And significance starts by understanding where our destiny begins and ends - in God Himself.
People did you hear that? The God of the Universe - the same God who created Adam and Eve - the same God who led Moses and Abraham and David...to lives of greatness. The same God who led Jesus and the apostle Paul and the 12 disciples. The same God who led Mother Theresa ad who leads Billy Graham. That same God created you and loves you...and has placed a dream and a calling and a destiny within you..A purpose to passionately pursue with all your heart.
Hear that - and chase that. That's the one thing. It's where the overcoming life begins - by knowing that a dream has been placed within you - an eternal dream. And that God's greatest desire is to see that dream and destiny unleashed with power in your lives and in the lives of the world around you. That's where it all begins..just let that sink in for a moment. (Prayer)
Now, along with this understanding comes responsibility. Our responsibility is to position our lives in such a way as to hear what that one thing is, by first:
- Seeing the end from the beginning, or writing the last chapter first.
William Wallace said this - "All men die, but how many truly live?" Here's how I put this thought personally..If I were to die today, would what people say about me have made my life worth living? Would my epitaph be worthy of the dream that God had placed within my heart?
Now, the only way to ensure that you live in a way that the end picture of your life is what you want it to be..is to live every day with a clear understanding of your destination..
Living with the end in mind is all about knowing where you are going so that you can better understand where you are now. And so that the steps you take will always be in the right direction. This is all about taking a very long view of life.
The first way to find the one thing that God is calling you to..and actually live out that destiny is to carefully consider what you want to be said about your life at your own funeral. And with that picture in mind, we then manage ourselves each day to be and do what really matters most.
Beginning with the end in mind simply gives you a different perspective on life. And that new perspective does not come easy. It comes with gritty determination attached to it every day.
The apostle Paul put it like this."Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." 1 Cor.9:24. So how do we run our races like that? For me, it had to do with values/markers for my life.
About 4 years ago I wrote this list that described what I hope people would say about my life some day..(Dean's personal principles/markers).
Now some days that list haunts me greatly. Other days it encourages me. But about every 2 to 3 months I pull it out and do a complete gut check inventory of my life. And I ask the tough questions - Does your life match this list? And if I died today would people see these characteristics and traits in my life clearly? And then I ask myself - what's my weakest link? What areas have I got to continue to train and develop? The apostle Paul said, "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." (1 Corinthians 9:25-27)
In order to have my walk in life match the calling I have been given, going through that list is a great exercise. It forces you to be honest with yourself - and what's better yet, it makes you humble and it makes you rely on God, and you know what? My faith grows every time I put myself through that intense self-examination. God has used that list greatly in my life.
So folks, what's the point? To live with the end in mind is to live writing your own epitaph - to choose everyday to live by a set of principles/markers that you can evaluate your life by. So take time to pray/listen. Read scripture. Write down the markers - values you personally want to live out. Take an opportunity - write your personal epitaph and then begin to live it out.
Now, remember I said before that with this realization that God has created us with significance and destiny in mind, comes responsibility - to live with the end in mind. To begin to see life with a longer perspective. And then one more.
- Decide what's in the box.
Kierkegaard said this - "The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wishes me to do.to find the idea for which I can live and die."
Folks, I will hit again the drum I have been beating for several weeks now. You will not ever find out that one thing God has for you without spending significant time alone with God. Since July, I have spent a great number of days alone - soul searching, if you will - to find the one thing in my life. And what I found during those alone times surprised me somewhat. Finding the one thing happened by a process of elimination - not a process of finding and searching. The one thing God had for me was there all the time - it was just covered up by a bunch of other stuff.
Let me explain. Bob Buford describes it like this..We must find the mainspring of our lives - the overarching vision that drives our lives. And it can only be one thing - only that one thing can be in the box of our lives and nothing else. In his book, Buford gives an illustration about a group of Coca Cola executives and their plan to introduce "New Coke." In a meeting with a strategic planning consultant, the corporate leaders said that the mainspring and driving force of their business was "great taste." They conducted numerous taste tests, found a new formula that tasted better than the original Coca Cola, introduced "New Coke" shortly thereafter - and promptly stepped into one of the biggest marketing fiascoes of all time. They called the consultant in for another planning session. "You must have put the wrong word in the box," the consultant told them. "Let's try again." After several hours, they found something else to put in the box: "American tradition." The executives had recognized that pulling Coca Cola from the market was akin to tampering with an American institution like motherhood or apple pie. Finding the right word to put in the box enabled the company to recover its momentum quickly after a monumental blunder. Now, what can we learn from this?
In July and August - as I said - I went trough a pretty searching time where this one thing had to be figured out. And to be honest I had about 3 or 4 things that needed to be eliminated so that I could find the mainspring --the one thing I would leave in the box.
See, I was frustrated with money - or better put - frustrated with the lack of lots of it. I was seeing a lot of guys my age excelling financially and making 2 or 3 or 4 or 10 times what I make. But here I am running a church. So I spent one day wrestling with this and I asked God if He knew how much I made .... and we worked that through. And I decided that I could make a lot of money - no question. But that is not what I am called to and therefore keeping money in the box would not make a great epitaph.
Secondly, I struggled with success and whether that should be the one thing in the box. See, all I have ever really seen is a healthy, growing, successful church here at Lakeview. And so I wondered if somehow my leadership was attached to that and whether that success should be the driving factor in my life. Now I believe success will be part of my life. But I had to take it out of the box because if it stayed there, then pride and control would be in the box too. Not a good epitaph..So success couldn't be the one thing.
And I continued to go down the list. Being a great husband and father, good morals and ethics, being a great friend, serving other people - helping others, being a really great Canadian guy, - all good things. All things I want to achieve. But not the one thing that could be the overarching vision that drives my life.
Then I stumbled across this amazing verse in Proverbs 4:23- "Above all else guard your heart (soul) for it is the wellspring of life." And like I hadn't ever had the thought before, it came to me - "It's just Jesus." Jesus Christ is the one thing in the box. Not money, friends, family, ethics, morals, success, career. Just Jesus. Because if there is more than one thing in the box, I would just oscillate between those two values and be confused. It couldn't be Jesus and money/success/career. It just had to be one or the other. And so I chose Jesus and it was a commitment to do something with the faith I already had. And by acknowledging Christ as my mainspring, my leader, I had renewed my commitment to let Jesus direct my path - wherever it may lead.
Now folks, for me this was a recommitment to God's call on my life.
But it also came with some new clarity.because I think for the first time I faced down the things that have enticed me to live for them..and have decidedly put them outside the box..and have put Christ squarely in the only position of vision for my life..Believing He will take care of the details.
Buford puts it like this, "To put Christ in the box, is actually a sign of contradiction, a paradox. To put Christ in the box is to break down the walls of the box and allow the power and grace of his life to invade every aspect of your life. It follows the same wonderfully inverted logic as the ancient assertion that it is in giving that one receives, in our weakness we are made strong, and in dying we are born to richer life."
I have made Christ my primary loyalty and in doing so have made Him the center of all my life.The friends, the money, the success, the family, the marriage - everything..And because of that center, everything begins to have balance and wholeness.
Goals - last week. Now put Christ inside - all flows out of my faith.
People, if you want balance and direction and clarity and confidence..If you want a clear beginning picture of the one thing God is calling you to - then put Christ in the box.
Gut check time. You can only put one thing in the box. What are you gonna put in there? Money? Success? Friends? Family? Marriage? Or will you put Jesus into the box and allow Him to live through every part of your life? No compartments - only Jesus. What's in the box of your life? Is it ONLY CHRIST? Jesus said this, "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven." - Matthew 10:32.
Do you want to get things in perspective? Want to line up priorities? What's God telling you? What is in the box?
There are 3 choices for you. 1) Make a commitment to Jesus for the first time. Put Jesus in the box of your life - in first place. 2) Make a recommitment to put Jesus back in first place. 3) Make a commitment to keep seeking Jesus and seeking truth.
