Sermon Title Take Dead Aim Scripture Matthew Pastor M - PDF document

Sermon Title: “Take Dead Aim”Scripture: Matthew 5:14-16 Pastor: Mike Lyle Date: February 2, 2014 The late Harvey Penick is something of an icon among golf aficionados. His life in golf began at the age of 8 when he started caddying at a golf club in Austin, Texas. (It’s probably best that we don’t focus too long on the ethics of an eight-year old boy carrying an adult’s golf bag over 18 holes, so let’s just move on.) Harvey Penick went on to teach golf to average Joes and Janes, and to a remarkable array of professionals, including Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw. He also coached numerous collegiate golf teams. As one person put it, “It’s not for nothing that the Teacher of the Year Award given by the Golf Teachers Association is called the Harvey Penick Award.” Mr. Penick wrote down the little gems that he learned, during his more than sixty year career in golf, in a little red notebook. Over the years, countless people begged him to let them read this notebook, but he always declined. He chose instead, to give the instruction himself, and to dispense these gems at the precise moment when he determined that an individual pupil needed it the most. Near the end of his life, however, Harvey Penick bowed to the urging of so many and decided to go ahead and publish the contents of his notebook. The result is a small book called, appropriately enough, Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book. It’s a bestseller. Allow me to read you an excerpt from the chapter that contains what is probably the most famous advice from the book, “Take Dead Aim:” “When my student Betsy Rawls was in a playoff for the U.S. Women’s Open championship, I sent here a one-sentence telegram. It said, ‘Take dead aim!”Betsy won the playoff. . . . This is a wonderful thought to keep in mind all the way around the course, not just on the first tee. Take dead aim at a spot on the fairway or the green, refuse to allow any negative thought to enter your head, and swing away. . . . [You] will be surprised at how often the mind will make the muscles hit the ball to the target, even with a far less than perfect swing.I can’t say it too many times. It’s the most important advice in this book. Take dead aim.Make it a point to do it every time on every shot. Don’t just do it from time to time, when you happen to remember.Take dead aim.” “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” If you’re having a little trouble connecting Jesus of Nazareth and Harvey Penick allow me to try and help: Harvey Penick was trying to convince his students of the marvelous capacity of the human body to find a way to do what it needs to do. All he asked was concentration and trust. Remember what you are there to do. Concentrate on that. Remember that. Refuse to let any negative thought enter your head. “You will be surprised at how often the mind will make the muscles hit the ball to the target.” Jesus is saying “You are the light of the world.” Concentrate on that. Remember that. You will be surprised at how often the soul will make the body hit the target. And what is the target? Not the fairway or the green, but OTHERS. . . . so that others may see our good works and give glory to God. Harvey Penick reminded his pupils that they already had what they needed to make the ball go where they wanted it to go. They just needed to concentrate on that, and trust it. Jesus is saying the very same thing. We don’t have the potential to be the light of the world. We are not being encouraged to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps so that we can become the light of the world. As people of Christ, we ARE the light of the world. Christ reminds us of our true identity. We are being reminded to concentrate on the light that comes from God. We are reminded to simply remember who and what we are, and thus allow God’s light to shine in and through us. Since God is the source of the light, we needn’t worry about its quality or the wisdom of God sharing it with us. We need only let it shine, each in our own unique way. We each have a unique story of life and faith to tell. We each walk a slightly different path and pilgrimage. Everybody has God’s light within them and everybody can let it shine. All we have to do is take dead aim and swing away, in order for the light of God to shine, even through the likes of us. We will be surprised at how often we hit the target, even with a far less than perfect swing. If nobody ever did this, if people didn’t heed this reminder, there would never be any Sunday School teachers, committee chairs, Bible study leaders, scripture readers, worship assistants, lay visitors, mission trips, youth leaders, or even churches. Just as golf courses are populated with lots and lots of people with less than perfect swings, so are churches populated, led, and maintained by lots of imperfect people. People who make lots of mistakes and have to keep starting over, but God’s people, people of the light, nevertheless. Just as the body can do the very thing we want it to do if only we will take dead aim, banish negative thoughts, and swing away, so will the human soul do the very thing that God needs us to do, if only we will trust God, remain focused on God, and go ahead and set our little light on the lamp stand. Because we are imperfect, we may seldom accomplish everything, or sometimes seemingly much of anything, that we hope to accomplish for God or anybody, but it’s really important to keep trying. It’s really important to keep working to banish all those negative thoughts and hurtful comments and discouraging people who are always there in everybody’s life, and go ahead and teach, go ahead and lead, go ahead and share our faith with that co-worker, family member, or friend, go ahead and do whatever it is we feel God urging us to do, even though we feel grossly inadequate to the task. In fact, feeling grossly inadequate to the task is pretty much a prerequisite to serving God. It’s those who are quite certain indeed that they know exactly what God wants, and that they are exactly the right person for the job, that do the most damage to the cause of Christ in the world. You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your faith and give glory to God. Take dead aim at the kingdom of God and let nothing distract you from it. Trust the one in whom you have placed your faith. Refuse to allow evil and its minions to denigrate you and drag you down. Remember who you are. Remember whose you are, every day, all the time. Take dead aim on that to which your faith in God through Christ is calling you, not just on life’s first tees, but all the way, all the way around the course, all the way.