Were talking about Boat Potatoes. How many have read Chapter 2 in your book? Let me see your hands. All right. Well, Im hoping that that number is going to go up as time goes by. Then, for those of you who have read in advance, youll have some questions, thoughts, understanding on the subject matter that were going to be dealing with for that particular weekend. He talks about Boat Potatoes. He (the author, John Ortberg) coins a new phrase. Its a spin-off of course of a couch potato. Years ago, and it was before my time, I think it was in the early 50s maybe, the invention of the television set changed the American way of life. People began to gather around this what we call the boob tube. These black and white images came on the screen and made us laugh with Milton Burrow and Variety Shows. It took sports to a whole other level of popularity and things began to evolve: things called game shows, soap operas and prime-time dramas, primetime news, and TV movies changed our culture. People began spending hours at a time in front of their televisions. Then, another invention happened. Im not sure exactly when that happened, the late 60s or early 70s-I dont know. Something was invented that changed the way we watched television. Its called the what? The remote control. Its amazing how lazy and dependent we are on the remote control. I will confess to you that when I go down to watch the television set, if I cant find the remote control, it sends me into a dither. Im like, Where is it?? It should be right here! Why would it need to be any place else? Where did the children put the remote control?!? I will spend 20 minutes looking for that thing. Ill lift up cushions, going under the couches, looking behind chairs, walking around the house, Wheres the remote control? Ill do all this to save myself two or three trips to the television set. Ill spend 20 minutes of kinetic energy. You laugh because youve done the same thing, right? When you cant find it, you really cant relax. You just sit there frustrated because you know sooner or later, Ive got to get up and change the channel. You almost cant even enjoy the show because you have to take that trip 10 feet and actually press a button, so that just sends you into a tailspin. The remote control: so thats kind of how lazy we are. We laugh at our laziness. Were not appalled at laziness. We dont see laziness as some great character defect. Its certainly not sin! But what is the definition of sin? The definition of sin is the word harmartia, which means to miss the mark or to fall short. Laziness calls a person to fall short of what God intended him or her to be and do. Laziness robs us of the potential that God put within us. Its like the car we saw that had all this power and all this potential, but in neutral, it could do nothing. So, thats what laziness is like. Its life in neutral. Its not using what God has placed within us to become what He wants us to become and serve Him how He wants us to. The Bible esteems work and it admonishes us against laziness. If somebody starts to gossip about something somebody did that was unmoral and unethical, He did what? Ah! No! She did what? Ah! No! But if you say, So and so is kind of lazy! usually the response is laughter. We just kind of laugh it off! Ah! Lazy. Ah! Slacker. No big deal. But understanding the Biblical definition that sin is falling short, laziness is sin. The Bible addresses laziness. It talks about that in the Book of Proverbs 6, if you would turn there. Turn to Chapter 6:9 (pg. 630 in pew Bibles), How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man. In other words, theres going to be consequences for your laziness. It admonishes you. There should be consequences for laziness. In Proverbs 26:14 (pg. 651), he says, As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. (Word picture: a guy being hinged to his bed, flipping from side to side.) The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. That guy has it really bad, right? Thats a really bad case! It goes on and talks about laziness and being a slacker and how its not a good thing. Not only does it admonish us against laziness, the Bible esteems work. It says work is a good thing. Did you know that work existed before The Fall? It wasnt like man sinned, then man fell, and then God initiated work. Work existed before The Fall. God worked. Works a good thing. God worked in Creation. God is still at work in the world, and Hes still at work within the church. The Bible says that one day when we get to Heaven, were going to work for the Lord. Remember reading the book about the three servants? The job of the two who used their talents wisely, Youve been faithful for a few things? I will give you many things. Enter into the joy of your reward. The reward for a job well done is more work to do. Heaven is not going to be about sitting on a cloud and playing harps. Were going to serve the Lord. Before you start throwing things at me and saying, Oh! Come on! I thought Heaven was one big long eternal retirement party, no. Evil is gone; youre in Gods presence. God created you to work. Its going to be good! Whatever it is we do, youll like it! Its going to be good! Youd get a little bored after a couple thousand years sitting on a cloud anyway. I guarantee you! Remember reading in the book about the ameba that had ideal conditions? What happened to that ameba? It died. Even amebas need work. People need work. We want to live in comfort and relax, but God said, Work is good. Everybody has a job to do. Everybody has a contribution to make. This past year I had the unfortunate responsibility of burying a life-long friends father. This man had been my first coach when I was nine years old. Hed been a friend. Hed always been good to me and kind. I remember watching his life as I grew older; he was a very nice gentleman. He never lost that, but I began to see how he lived. He dressed very shabbily. He was almost always intoxicated. He went from job to job to job. He lived in squalor. I went to his funeral and saw pictures of him all dapper and dressed up and thought, How did he go from that little boy that I see to what I knew and the way he passed away? My childhood friend got up to sing, and before he sang at the funeral, he said, He was my best friend growing up. Growing up, nobody dressed as sharply as he did. There was nobody more dapper than Gary. He was sheltered by his mom. He came from a family of affluents. She sheltered him and protected him. Once she passed away, she left him a trust. He wouldnt have to work the rest of his life. He wouldnt be rich, but there was a certain amount of money coming in every month until the day he died. What that did was enable him. He didnt have to lick that habit of alcohol. He didnt have to hold down a steady job because no matter how irresponsible he was, a check was coming in that didnt judge him or hold him accountable. The money had no consequences. Every month, hed say, I can blow that money any way I want to-on booze, and next month, there sits another check. Im not saying every inheritance or every trust fund leads a person down the wrong path, but Im saying he pursued a life of hedonism of a sort where he became consumed with himself and didnt worry about serving other people. He (the author) talks about boat potatoes. Whats a boat potato? A boat potato is a spiritually-lazy person. Just like there are couch potatoes, people that are physically lazy, there are also people that are lazy spiritually; and sometimes, theyre both: couch and boat. He addresses that when we see Peter getting out of the boat, we demean Peter for this, and we say, Well, Peter got out of the boat, and he fell. But…he got out of the boat. Lets stop knocking Peter, and lets start talking about the 11 who didnt have the courage or faith to step out of the boat and trust Jesus to do the same thing for them. Why are we boat potatoes or are you a boat potato? Were going to do a little quiz. Its an internal quiz. Dont worry. You dont have to raise your hand in front of everybody and say, Oh! Im a boat potato! Thats me! You dont have to do that! Its just a little quiz. You know youre a boat potato if (1.) serving others is a great inconvenience and intrusion in your life rather than an opportunity for blessing. Dont raise your hand. You may be a boat potato if when serving people and opportunities to serve or help come along become work, a chore, or drudgery; but when it comes to serving yourself, its fun. I am a Bears fan. Most of you, if you come to this church, know that. By the way, not to brag, dont boo me, I just want to state some facts here. Today, if the Bears beat the Panthers, then we play for the Championship next week and the right to go to the Super Bowl. Now, we are from the same division [as Packers]. Theyre from the Midwest. How many of you Packer fans and other folks who are not normally Bears fans will be going for the Bears today? For the North? Let me see your hands. All right! You guys can leave, the rest of you turn to Leviticus. Were going to be here quite awhile. New topic. High priestly garments. Lets dig in (congregation laughing). So, were at the Bears game; its the Bears vs. Falcons, Michael Vick vs. Urlacher, and were excited. The problem is its 7 below 0, windshield factor. How would you like to be in Chicago, open stadium, Lake Michigan, at night (it was a Sunday night game), watching the Bears. So, we dressed warmly, we sit down there, and I noticed the phenomenon during the course of the game: people had to use the bathroom, go get snacks or food. Every time, they would have to walk by me, which is quite a bit during the course of three hours, it would be a chore for me. I would think to myself, We have to get up again! How many times do you need to use the bathroom? How many beers do you need buddy? Id stand up, Excuse me, and theyd step on my toe, walk in front of me during a key part of the game, and then Id sit back down. It was just work. But then, thered be a fumble, and the Bears would recover, or thered be a long run or a long pass or wed sack their quarterback, or an interception, wed score a touchdown, and wed be up on our feet, Yeah! It was the easiest thing to do. It was effortless! I was up and down and up and down, Yeah! Whoo! Then Id sit back down, That was awesome! And then somebody would say, Excuse me. Id go, Ahh! I have to get up again. How many times do you have to pee? It left me frustrated. Isnt that the way it is? If I have to serve somebody, I have to work. If I have to serve me…fun! But God has designed us in a way that serving others is fun too. Lets talk about that. In the Book of Romans 2:14-15 (pg. 1113), hes going to talk here about people who dont have the written word of God. They dont have Gods law, Gods code of conduct, Gods Commandments to know right from wrong. Hes going to talk about how God has given them what we call a conscience. Its innate. They know right from wrong. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) Paul says when you do something wrong, you murder somebody, not in self-defense, you know its wrong. When you lie, you know its wrong. If you steal, you know its wrong. When you harm somebody, all of us here who have harmed somebody didnt have to have anybody tell us that it was wrong, and we felt bad. We contact them and say, Im sorry for what I said. Im sorry for what I did. Im sorry. I was wrong. Do you know what happens when our conscience or the Holy Spirit (thats a different reality-thats a supernatural reality) comes and lives within the believer at the new birth when we make our confession of faith in Christ? He can convict us as well; when we ignore the conviction of the Holy Spirit or when we ignore the conscience that God has given to us, if we do that too many times, what happens? Our senses become dulled, dont they? We start to justify our sin. We start to justify our actions, and the next thing you know, we can actually live in the lifestyle that we were first ashamed of and embarrassed about and felt guilty about. Thats why you can see people on daytime talk shows who are living immoral lives that just shock you. Theyll talk about it like its the most natural, acceptable thing in the world. It wasnt always that way. There was a time when they felt shame. There was a time when they cried, but they continued to repeat the behavior, and their hearts became calloused. They became desensitized to it. God has also put within us an inner affirmation, an inner fun when we do something that we know pleases Him, we know helps other people. Its kind of a tingly, warm fuzzy, gushy good, but not when youre manipulating, not when youre trying to get something from it. If youre genuinely helping somebody because they really need the help, somebodys down, and you encourage them, you say a kind word, you write a kind note, and it makes them smile or brings tears of joy, making them laugh, it makes you feel good. If a friend needs some money because of circumstances beyond their control, you help them out and they cry and say, Im so thankful. It makes you feel good. You serve somebody. You serve a lady who has a leaky faucet. She has no money to fix it. You go into her home and fix the faucet. She says, Thank you. I didnt know what I was going to do. You walk out of that house, and how do you feel? I mean, I could stand here all day and give examples. If you helped somebody in some way that you know was genuine and really helped that person, and you know Gods pleased with that, how do you feel inside? We have a dog named Penny, a new dog who is five or six months old. She is part border collie, part chiwawa and part hyper. We decided we were going to take her to puppy school. We found what we heard was the best. We went do KenLyn Kennels in Edgerton. John and Sara have a done a wonderful job, and we have enrolled in our second class with Penny. Shes better, but we have some work to do yet. They introduced something called the clicker. This clicker is one of the best ways to train dogs. He trained a dog to do something in a matter of a couple minutes who had never performed that task before. The clicker tells the dog when it does something right. As soon as the dog does something right, you click it, and then you treat the dog. That tells the dog, I did something right. I better figure out what it was! They start to think so they can repeat the behavior to get another treat. In puppy school, you dont treat with dry dog biscuits. He said those things arent really that appetizing to a dog. Sometimes theyre not the best for the dog, so when you treat the dog, you give them chicken, steak, cheese, sausage, things that theyre going to want to work for. He said, Its good for the dog to want to work. Its very good. So even in Dog World, its good to think, to try to figure things out. He said, Make the dog work for everything it gets. If he wants a treat, he has to sit, or she has to stand or lie down. He has to work for everything he gets. Some of you are thinking, Boy, does my dog have it easy. My dog needs to go to school too. Let the dog work. Work is a good thing. It makes the dog feel good. The dog gets rewarded for doing something right. Hes (the trainer) going to do it for us too (the students). Theres going to be a person click. When we train our dog right, theyre going to do a different kind of a click, and well all get candy. True. Itll be interesting. God has put that in us that when we obey Him, when we serve other people, look what happens. God says, Click. You did the right thing. Reward. Not money. Not stuff, but an inner contentment and satisfaction that says, That was right. That was good. I served somebody. Click. I encouraged somebody. Click. That was good. Well done. I helped somebody in someway that blessed. God says, Here you go. Thats what Im looking for. Do you know what Ive found? When I say no to sin, I become desensitized to it. You can justify your sin, and your senses become dull. But, that inner reward for doing the right thing, it never lessens. Have you noticed that? Do any of you feel that goose bumpy inside, and you get a little teary-eyed because you really helped somebody? It never goes away. God has made it so its always inner fun, and its always click rewarded. Tap into that. Its a good thing. God wants you to have that spiritual treat that makes you say, I pleased the Lord today. I have to get scooting here. Lets move on. You know youre a boat potato if you (2.) find yourself saying when then? He made the point about saying when then. When things are right, then Ill do it. When circumstances are just what I need them to be… The apostles might have said, Well, I would have gotten out of the boat and walked like Peter when the wind died down, when the waves died down, when it wasnt so dark, when fewer people were watching...then Ill walk on water. Next time were in the boat… Next time never comes. Ecclesiastes 11:4 (pg. 666), let me read it for you: Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. If youre waiting for circumstances to be ideal or a situation to be ideal, it isnt going to happen. The Bible says, Now is the day of salvation. God is always in the now. If you want to get out of the boat, the best time to do so is now. When my finances straighten out, Ill give. It doesnt happen. When my schedule settles down, Ill serve. Ill spend more time with my spouse or my children. It doesnt happen. Ill spend more time in ministry when this is done and when this happens or that happens. It doesnt happen. If youre going to get out of the boat, the best time to get out of the boat is now. You know youre a boat potato if you (3.) play the comparison game. Do you ever do that? Paul says, Well, I would get out of the boat, but Im not as brave as Peter. I dont have as much faith as Peter. Im not as important to Jesus as Peter. Jesus loves Peter more than He loves me. Hed just let me sink. Hed be the kind of guy with an inferiority complex, What I have to give isnt valued or I cant do it as well as he does or as good as she does. So, we stay in our proverbial boats because of the comparison game. Do you ever notice that every time God seemed to call somebody in the Scripture, the response was nearly always the same? God calls Jeremiah and says, Youre going to get out of your boat, and youre going to be a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah says, What? Im too young. He says to Gideon, Gideon, get out of your boat! Youre going to lead us to deliver Israel from the Midianites. Gideon said, I cant get out of the boat. You have the wrong guy. My tribe is the least tribe, and Im the least in my family. Im at the bottom of the totem pole. God said, Exactly. Thats why Im going to use you. God calls a fugitive named Moses who killed a man and fled so he would not be punished by Pharaoh. He becomes a shepherd and lives out in the wilderness. He lives a comfortable life with a wealthy father-in-law. He is a spiritual couch potato. He is squandering all that leadership God has placed within him. God speaks to him through a bush and says, Moses, I want you to step out of the boat. Youre going to go speak to the most powerful man in all the world, the Pharaoh. Youre going to command him to let my people go. What did Moses say? I dont talk very good. What if Pharaoh doesnt listen? Moses has so many excuses that it carries over into the next chapter. He would have an excuse, and when then? He had the comparison going on, Im just not as smart as some people. Im not as eloquent as some people. God addresses every single thing. Moses always has an excuse. God finally says, You know, pal, you get out of the boat. Im giving you more lectures on this than anybody! Youre two chapters, Moses! Get out of the boat! (congregation laughing). Do you notice that God never seems to call somebody and say, Get out of your boat and take a step of faith that honors me, and the person says, Well, Ive been waiting for you to say this for a long time, and finally you recognize my greatness and my worth. Its about time, God! You finally saw it in me! Im the man for the job! Im the woman for the job! I dont even need you! Just step out of my way! Ill get the job done! About time you recognized what I can do, Lord! Thanks a lot! Why does God not call those people? Because God despises arrogance and pride. Those who are full of pride and arrogance fall, and when they do, its somebody elses fault, not theirs. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1:20 (pg. 1128), Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Where is the guy that thinks he knows it all? God has made him foolish. For the foolishness of God is wiser than mans greatest wisdom, and the weakness of God is greater than mans strength. God has chosen the foolish. God has chosen the unwise. God has chosen those who arent powerful. He says, How many of you are powerful? How many of you when you were called are from a noble background? How many of you were influential? The response is hardly any of us. Paul says, Exactly. If you feel like youre inferior, youre exactly the kind of person God can use. Get out of the boat! Get out of the boat, and let Him use you. I want to wrap up our message this morning by reading a quote from the book were studying, page 47. It says: I want to ask you to exercise your imagination for a moment. Imagine that your life is over, and you are led to a small room. In this small room, there are two chairs. One is for you; one is for God. He gets a very big chair. Theres a VCR, and theres a tape. On the tape, it says, What Might Have Been, and its got your name on it. God takes you into the room, and He begins to show you on the tape all that would have been done with your life if you had let Him. Imagine seeing what He might have done with your financial resources if you trusted Him to be generous. Imagine seeing what He might have done with your giftedness if youd trusted Him to be daring. Imagine what He might have done in your relationship if you had trusted Him enough to be fully truthful and fully loving. Imagine what He might have done with your character if you had dared to confess sin, acknowledge temptation and pursue growth. Imagine. Lets pray: Father, we desire to get out of the boat in our spirit, but sometimes we look at the water, and were tempted to stay in the boat. Were tempted to be boat potatoes. Sometimes we compare and we dont think were as good as somebody else, or maybe You love him or her more. We feel inferior. Sometimes we wait for circumstances to align themselves just perfectly, when and then, and it never happens. Sometimes we just dont understand the concept of serving and the reward that You give on the inside of us for a job well done, how to pursue that reinforcement, to pursue obeying Your commands to serve others and to serve You by getting out of our boats. Its work, and its easier to do nothing. We dont want to be like the silly childrens song we saw, the Christians who dont do anything. We dont want to look at a tape one day of what our lives might have been. We want to make a difference now, so enable us and equip us to do that through the Holy Spirit. In Jesus name, Amen.