S5 E23 - Golf Lessons

My good buddy Jacob Stout, who is a very talented golfer, was recenlty golfing with another friend of his. He hit a decent shot, but he wasn't pleased with it. When he got in the cart, his buddy goes, "You know you'll never be good, right? You'll only be better." 

Isnt' that the truth with our spiritual walk as well? There is only one who is good - Jesus Christ. We will never be perfectly good, there will always be something we must grow in and be more consistent with. But if we work hard, we can be better! 

#SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Transcript

What if I told you that God could be seen in the most ordinary things every day? 

What if I told you that every day, ordinary events could teach us extraordinary eternal truths? Would you believe me? 

 Welcome back to season 5 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! My name is BJ Sipe, and I am a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. And I’m excited to share a few moments together with you learning some important lessons from the simplest things. Let’s grow together! 

We’re back after a short break for my only vacation I have had scheduled for the year, and it was the annual golf trip to Crossville, Tennessee with the guys here at our congregation. In fact, this was the biggest year to date with 14 of us all going. Now, we have a rule with this annual trip: what happens in Tennessee, stays in Tennessee (lol). That being said, I can say it was a ton of fun and so encouraging to be with fellow brothers in Christ in that kind of setting. We played 90 holes, 5 total rounds over three days. In the same day I played both the best round of golf of my life as well as the worst round of golf in my life – and that’s just the way that it goes. I didn’t lose as many golf balls as I normally do on a trip like this, so overall I will take that as a win for my game! But that’s not why we go – it’s all about the food and fellowship. While I honor the vow of silence regarding the trip, there is one story that I have been given permission to share that I also believe is an extraordinarily important lesson for each of us to learn, and it comes from my buddy Jacob Stout. 

Jacob is a talented golfer, he’s able to make shots that just leave you shaking your head wondering, “how is that possible?” He’s worked hard to be able to do so, and this trip clearly his hard work has been paying off with how well he was playing. However, he told us a story of something that had happened a couple of weeks prior while he was golfing with another friend. Jacob had hit a fairly decent shot, but he wasn’t totally pleased with it, when he got back into the cart and started off towards his ball further down the fairway. That’s when his friend turned and looked at him and said the following, “You know, you’ll never be good, right? You’ll only be better.” At first, Jacob’s thought was, wow…that’s quite a thing to say to your buddy – gee, thanks! But he went on to tell us that the more he thought about it, the more he realized how true it was. As a golfer, he would never be satisfied with his game – there would always be something that he needed to grow in: be it driving, irons, chipping, putting, whatever. Golf is a game that can never be played perfectly at all times. Even the current best player in the world, Scottie Scheffler, recently said even of his own game in an interview that he was thankful to be, “somewhat good” at this. How could he say that? Because even he realizes ways in which he still needs to continue to grow and become better. So, the statement really is true for each and every golfer – you’ll never be good, you’ll only be better. 

You know what? There is a whole lot of wisdom behind that statement, and quite frankly it applies to a lot more than golf. More than anything, it without question applies to our walk of faith in Christ Jesus. To illustrate this, I want for us to look at two passages of Scripture: first from Luke 18, and second from Philippians 3.
 
 Let’s start with Luke 18. To set the scene, we have a young ruler of the people who is going to come to Jesus with a very important question. The text tells us starting in verse 18, “A ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.” “I have kept all these from my youth,” he said. When Jesus heard this, he told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” After he heard this, he became extremely sad, because he was very rich.” The beginning of this conversation fascinates me. This young ruler calls Jesus good, to which Jesus replies that no one is good except for God alone. I don’t believe Jesus was at all correcting this young man, but rather calling on him to really consider the implications of what he said. Jesus certainly was good, because Jesus certainly was God – but did he realize that? Nevertheless, Jesus will answer him by directing him back to Scripture – to inherit eternal life, one was to keep the Law and obey God. 

Now according to societies standards, this young ruler would likely be considered “good” – at the very least by today’s standards, because look at his answer! He had kept these things – he had not committed adultery or murdered or stole, among the rest of the commandments. He was what many would consider a “good guy”. But Jesus knew something about this man; he knew there was something he still desperately needed to grow in: his love for worldly comforts and riches. The Lord says, “one thing you still lack…” One thing, oh if we only had one thing, right? I’m certain if Jesus dug deeper, perhaps there could have been more, but Jesus found the one thing he needed to grow in the most (as is evident by his sorrowful and unwilling response). But all of this goes to show something important – he was not good, but he could be better. Could not each of us say the same thing of ourselves? What is your “one thing” – the thing that above all others you know you still need to grow in the most? 

Now let’s consider in tandem with this the text of Philippians 3:12-16. It reads, “Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you. In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained.” All of us are, or at least we should be, constantly growing in our walk of faith. At no point in any of our lives will any of us ever be truly “good” – a perfect resemblance of Jesus. No, much rather those who are mature will actually embrace and understand that there is always something they can do better and grow in to be more like Christ. We’ll never be good, but we can be better. 

However, much like golf, that kind of growth does not happen simply over time or automatically. It takes an incredible amount of work. Did you notice Paul’s words above? He said, “I make every effort to take hold of it.” Growing in Christ takes discipline, endurance, courage, and humility. Jesus would tell us himself that hard and narrow is the way that leads to life. The question we need to ask ourselves is am I continuing to dedicate myself in these ways for my own growth? Or have I gotten to the point that I have started to “coast” in my faith? My friends, there is no coasting to the finish line. There is no spiritual retirement. We are to be faithful unto death, and that includes a willingness and determination to continue to grow with each passing day. You’ll never be good, but you can be better. Are we growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus? Do I look a little less like me and a little more like Jesus as I continue to walk in faith? It is God who is at work in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. His work isn’t finished, but let us take encouragement from the words from Paul in the first chapter of the same epistle: “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

This has been the Set Your Mind Above Podcast, season 5 episode 23 – and I’m so thankful that we had this time to grow together! A new episode is dropped every Friday, so be sure to tune in next week.  Also, if you’re able to, go ahead and like and subscribe to the podcast, give us a good rating or most importantly share it with someone else – it would help to reach others that I never could alone.  And more than anything, always remember the following: know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.