JUST DO IT
April 18, 2004


Text: Galatians 6:1-10


As I was making final preparations for the services last weekend, Easter,
I realized that I was facing a traditional challenge for this weekend.
Following a concentrated period in the life of the Church, such as Lent
and Palm Sunday and Easter where the remembrance of the critical,
historical events of Jesus’ life become the driving force behind worship
and sermon development, what does a preacher do after they are over? As
your preacher, I have developed my sermons of the last few weeks with the
teachings of Jesus, his entry into Jerusalem, his betrayal, his
suffering, his death, and his glorious, victorious resurrection. What is
left to preach on next?

So I approached the beginning of this week with somewhat of a “writer’s
block.” I know there is a deadline due, but how do I overcome this block?
Fortunately, preachers are not just speech writers and speakers. We rely
upon the power of God in our lives and the presence of the Holy Spirit to
shed light on God’s Word. In fact, our sermons, regardless of type and
style, are created for the sole purpose of pointing to God. So,
fortunately, the Spirit did open a path of thought from God’s Word and
His activity in His world that I could focus on even after the
celebration of the Easter resurrection.

Before taking a closer look at Galatians 6, let’s look at the end of John
- 21:15-23 - and the beginning of Acts - 1:4-11. Notice two common
elements in these passages. First, Jesus gave certain specific commands
to serve him. He told Peter, “Feed my sheep.” He told the disciples to
wait for the Holy Spirit and then to be his witnesses “to the ends of the
earth.” Second, one or more of the people to whom he spoke tried to
introduce something else into the discussion instead of just doing what
Jesus said to do. After Jesus told Peter what to do, Peter saw John
nearby and asked, “Lord, what about him?” After being told to await the
Holy Spirit, the disciples asked, “Lord, are you at this time going to
restore the kingdom to Israel?” On both occasions, Jesus answered them in
a manner which says, “What does this have to do with what I told you to
do? It doesn’t matter what my plans are for someone else. It doesn’t
matter when the kingdom of Israel will be established. I’ve told you what
to do, now go do it!” This all reminds me of an ad a few years ago for a
sport shoe - Nike, I think. The ad included the phrase “just do it.” The
ad implied that instead of standing around dreaming about being someone
you’re not or not doing some activity that you want to do, get moving
instead. “Just do it.” The ad’s about 2,000 years too late. Jesus beat
them to it. He told his disciples then and his disciples today to “just
do it.”

After remembering and celebrating Jesus’ victory over sin, the best thing
we can do for him is to do what he has told us to do. Paul writes, “Carry
each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself,
without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his
own load… Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time
we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have
opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially those who belong to
the family of believers.”

Paul echoes the words of our Master. Jesus set out many common day to day
instructions about our relationships with God, with other believers, with
friends, and even with enemies. He commanded specific moral and ethical
behavior. He told believers simply enough that the greatest command is to
love God and to love the neighbor. These are found throughout the Gospels
of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and then repeated throughout the
letters of Paul, James, John, and others. When it comes to that moment in
each life when the Spirit leads the seeker to the point of accepting
Christ for salvation, the message is clear: “just do it.” When those
frequent moments arise for believers to obey a Christ-given command, the
message is clear: “just do it.”

I am not in any way this morning trying to replace the grace of Christ’s
work of salvation with a salvation of works. I am not in any way this
morning trying to replace grace with moralistic, pious legalisms. Those
were the errors of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and others in Jesus’ day.
But I will say that the life of a believer who accepts Jesus Christ as
personal Savior and Lord should be marked with the continual change of
behavior that demonstrates obedience to Christ’s commands. I am a
believer of the doctrine of eternal security - familiarly referred to as
“once saved, always saved.” But if someone makes an appearance at the
altar or confesses Christ as Savior in any other setting and never
displays any change in behavior from sinful to Christ-pleasing, then I
carry my personal doubts about the sincerity of that individual’s
confession and salvation. I know that sin is sin, but I especially have
my doubts when such a person continues to act in a manner that is
deceitful, hurtful, mean-spirited, impolite, and/or harmful to others.
How does such behavior fit with all that Jesus has taught us? How does it
fit with Paul’s instruction to the Galatians, “Let us not become weary of
doing good”? If I cannot do this in my most common day-to-day
relationships, can I truly legitimately call myself a Christian?

I don’t know who wrote this story; I wish I did. It was among the
resources for a previous 50-Day Spiritual Adventure and is acknowledged
with only “anonymous.” It illustrates wonderfully the need for Christians
to behave like Christians.

“One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class
was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was
carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, ‘Why would anyone bring
home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.’ I had quite a
weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow
afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at
him, knocking all his looks out of his arms and tripping him so he landed
in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass
about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in
his eyes.

My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him and as he crawled
around looking for his glasses, I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him
his glasses, I said, ‘Those guys are jerks. They really should get
lives.’ He looked at me and said, ‘Hey, thanks!’ There was a big smile on
his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped
him pick up his books and asked him where he lived.

As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen
him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would
have never hung out with a private school kid before. We talked all the
way home, and I carried some of his books. He turned out to be a pretty
cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my
friends. He said yes. We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know
Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.

Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books
again. I stopped him and said, ‘Boy, you are gonna really build some
serious muscles with this pile of books every day!’ He just laughed and
handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were
seniors, we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and
I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the
miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was
going for business on a football scholarship. Kyle was valedictorian of
our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to
prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn’t me having to get
up there and speak.

Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys
that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually
looked good in glasses. He had more dates than I had, and all the girls
loved him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those days.

I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on
the back and said, ‘Hey, big guy, you’ll be great!’ He looked at me with
one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. ‘Thanks,’ he
said. As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began.

‘Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those
tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a
coach.... but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that
being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going
to tell you a story.’

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the
first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He
talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn’t have to
do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and
gave me a little smile. ‘Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from
doing the unspeakable.’ I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this
handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his mom
and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until
that moment did I realize its depth. 

Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you
can change a person’s life. For better or for worse. God puts us all in
each other’s lives to impact one another in some way. Look for God in
others.” (Anonymous, “Daring to Dream Again,” Pastor’s Manual on CD-ROM,
Mainstay Church Resources, 2003, week 5.)

There are a lot of things to learn from God’s Word. There are some things
we will never learn completely. But in almost all of the verses where
Jesus commands us to behave a certain way and have a certain attitude
toward others, it’s not difficult at all to understand. It may be
difficult to implement at times, but not because of lack of
understanding. “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will
fulfill the law of Christ... Each one should test his own actions. Then
he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else,
for each one should carry his own load… Let us not become weary in doing
good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people,
especially those who belong to the family of believers.” “Just do it.”


Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN

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