Graduation Sunday

Written by John Fontanella
 Sunday, 15 June 2008 09:00

General Sermons

Sermon Notes

Intro: Coach Wooden – back to basics.

  1. Even if you don’t know the game of Basketball you have probably heard his name.
  2. Coach of the UCLA Bruins, John Wooden is about as good of a college coach as there will ever be.
  3. Won 10 national Championships, 7 in a row at one point. And even won one as a player His UCLA teams also had a record winning streak of 88 games and four perfect 30-0 seasons.
  4. Book – "On Wooden: Share The Ball; Think Beyond Yourself," the maxims on how he achieved success
    1. Philosophy: that basketball is dribbling, passing shooting, running and blocking out/rebounding.
    2. He never prepared for a team. He was simply aware of their strengths. But in the words of Kareem Abdul-Jabar, we never prepared for another team. We became excellent in foundational things.
    3. Coach wooden made sure that they became excellent in foundational things to the game, the fundamentals. He thought and his players agreed that if they were the best at dribbling, passing, shooting, running, and blocking out/rebounding they had their best chance to win.

I would have to say that the Apostle Paul had a similar kind of a philosophy when he wrote this letter to the church at Rome. In Fact, Paul spends the first eleven chapters talking about fundamental theological points before he moves on to the application of that theology.

One thing I’ve kind of notice with NBA coaches and Players through watching the NBA playoffs on my day off of course Ed. Is that 9 times out of 10 when a team loses, when they really lose bad. Inevitably someone from the losing team says something like, you know we need to get back to the fundamentals, we need to get back to who we are.

The Church at Rome was in trouble at this point. The Christians have been kicked out of Rome and things are not looking good. So its really not a surprise that Paul writes them about the fundamentals, not of basketball of course, but the fundamentals of following Christ.

There were people at the church in Rome that needed to get back to basics, and unless I miss my guess there are people here that need to get back to basics.

In Chapter 12:1-2 we will find a couple of verses that speak boldly to the fundamentals of how to live your life as a Christian.

1I appeal to you therefore, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

  1. Kind of long so lets trim some stuff out of there. Because right now we are dealing with sort of an “un-user friendly” verse. We need to make it more like an Apple Computer verse to.
    “I appeal to you therefore, brothers.
  2. Paul using the conjunction “ Therefore” to make a shift from theologian to Pastor. The first eleven chapters of the book of Romans was solid theology, but now everything from here on out is going to be applied to your life and it is going to be relevant to life.
  3. Also, go ahead and take out his good, pleasing and perfect will. If you don’t know that God’s will is God, pleasing and perfect.
    1. So really the first information, the first new phrase of communication is the phrase “in view of God’s mercy.” This phrase in here on purpose for a number of reasons.
      1. Establishes a new frame of reference for Paul’s contemporaries.
          Some reading this letter at the time would have expected to hear something more along the lines of “in view of obeying the law.” Because the way that you worshiped God used to be by following/obeying the Law. -If you are a new believer this is the difference between the old testament and the New Testament. Before Jesus, people obeyed the law in order to get to heaven.
        1. Special point here. No Rabbi back then and No Rabbi right now thinks or thought that this was the permanent system. From the very beginning right after the fall where Adam and Eve sinned God was working on a plan to get them back into right standing. But no one could obey perfectly all the rules of the law. So there needed to be a Savior.
        2. Paul in 5 words declares for all the world to hear that Jesus is that savior. God has been working on a plan to open up heaven for us and he has done it.
        3. Rabbi’s, Romans, Gentiles, Jews - Don’t miss this… Jesus has died on the Cross, Risen again and now instead of living your life in view of the law, you will either view your life in view of God’s Mercy or you will die. You will either believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God or that’s it. Jesus has atoned for your sins, He is the last dead sacrifice that will ever be needed.
        4. Hebrews 10:12 says, “When Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”
        So if you disobeyed the law, which was inevitable, the way that you made up for it or atoned for it was through a sacrifice, actually a dead sacrifice.
      2. So “in view of God’s Mercy,” also influences the shift from an animal sacrifice which was obviously dead after you sacrificed it. To our lives, which thankfully we get to continue living.
      3. The third shift here is that God will now receive your spiritual worship in Internal form. Head up here because this is a bigger shift than when we went from Regular TV to High Definition,. There was always a constant tension among the Pharisees about things like “the letter of the law,” and works righteousness, the concept that what you did, your actions could get you in to heaven. Those 5 words again, in view of God’s Mercy tell us that it is no longer all that outside stuff, But your HEART, YOUR MIND, YOUR SOUL. Its what’s on the inside that matters.

"Neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship God, but in spirit and in truth" (John 4:21-23).

"This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me" (Matthew 15:8).

Some of you might have been wondering why John Wooden would be a good choice to start out a sermon with.

John Wooden’s Creed.

  • Be true to yourself.
  • Make each day your masterpiece.
  • Help others.
  • Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible.
  • Make friendship a fine art.
  • Build a shelter against a rainy day.
  • Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.

If you are a father that is concerned about fundamentals of Life this is the kind of thing that you try to do for your son. You try to make things concise and direct.

Man I wish God our Father would do that for us… Let's look at verse 2.

Main Point:

For those math types in the room I break it down like this.

(A) Do not be conformed to the ways of the world

  • Sounds like, “Well Look at the world write down what they are watching, and listening to and how they are playing and make a list and don’t do any of it.
  • That is not what this verse is saying.
  • What you just constructed in your head is a road map to legalism and ultimately to self-righteousness.
  • The difference is we are all living in this world, but we don’t have to be of this world.
  • “Life is the decisions you make at crucial times that influence the outcome.”
  • Use this formula to make those decisions.

(B) But be transformed by the renewing of your mind

  • Being transformed is a tough one for a lot of people who come across this verse. For some things are pretty good in life right now, not too sure I want to change. For other, maybe they think they don’t know how to change, or are afraid of change, or something is standing in their way from the person that they think they are going to be. Why am I making a big deal out of being transformed? Because if you are like me, God’s had to do some chipping away at my life, he’s had to do some sanding, he’s had to do some polishing… In fact the next word, “renewing” means continuous renewal, its never done. You’re not a finished product yet. God’s not done with you.
  • Some of you may be saying oh well John hasn’t lived that long, he’s not really old enough so I quote John Piper who says, “either there is a God in heaven who changes people, or Christianity is Fake... The Bible is all about change, if it takes 20 years, take 20 years, but don’t coast. Don’t waste your life.”
  • I’ll speak now mainly to the graduating seniors, but see if it has any bearing on your life.
    • You are going to be making a lot of decisions in college.
    • College has become an Iconic time in the life of a young adult.
    • The world has certain expectations about what the typical college kid does. Fraternities, Sororities, Sports, jobs, people to live with, friendships.
    • You’ve Got to know God’s will, God’s plan for you life.

(C) To test and approve the will of God

  • The word for test and approve is really just one word in the Greek, but it is meant to reflect the aspect of knowing and understanding.
  • This formula can become so natural, so instinctive that it is like tasting.
  • My mother said to me shortly before I went to seminary that she thought it was God’s plan for my life for me to go there, that it was his will. I’ve never been more comfortable with a decision than the one that you are sure God has intended for you.
  • This fundamental task of seeking God’s will is a charge to all Christians, and the formula to do it effectively has been laid at your feet.

Conclusion

UCLA had actually been Wooden's second choice for a coaching position in 1948. He had also been pursued for the head coaching position at the University of Minnesota, and it was his and wife's desire to remain in the Midwest. But inclement weather in Minnesota prevented Wooden from receiving the scheduled phone offer from the Golden Gophers. Thinking they had lost interest, Wooden accepted the head coaching job with the Bruins instead. Officials from the University of Minnesota contacted Wooden right after he accepted the position at UCLA, but he declined their offer because he had given his word to the Bruins.

Don’t Miss what God has for you. God’s got sweet sweet stuff waiting.

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