A
Gospel For the Overachiever
Various Passages
Prayer for West Philly High: violence, out of control,
students, staff being attacked, change in principal.
We¡¯ve had a few weeks in between, but I would like to
pick up on some a series I had begun: a personal gospel. We do not have a one-size-fits-all
gospel. We¡¯re all different in the
internal stories we¡¯re living.
We¡¯re all living to get something, there are core desires, the things that drive our
lives.
For some of us, we feel lonely and we¡¯re looking for
love. We feel we suffer silence, we
long to belong, we feel we have to make ourselves more lovable.
For others, we feel shame. We live in the fear of ¡°What would
people think if they knew.¡± We try
to cover ourselves, to create the right image, we play a game.
The gospel maps onto these
deeper stories of our personal lives.
The fundamental core of a personal gospel is shifting
from ¡°living to get¡± to ¡°living because we¡¯ve already received.¡±
We do righteous things not to become acceptable and
loved by God, but because we are already accepted and loved by God.
We sing not to become the ¡°American Idol,¡± but because
we are the ¡°American Idol.¡±
There is a shift from striving to resting, from
fear to freedom.
Today I¡¯d like to try to apply this to the overachiever.
There are some of us who live with a certain
restlessness; driven. They want to
stand out, get ahead, be on top. They¡¯re disciplined, diligent, and
ambitious. And they find a lot of
significance in their productivity, successes, or accomplishments.
workaholics-anonymous.org; 20 questions, How do you
know if you¡¯re a workaholic?
Do you take work
with you to bed? On weekends? On
vacation?
Sometimes hard to get to bed, want to squeeze in a
little more, get a little more done
Even during rest times, you still want to get things
done: errands, learning/reading
Do you
underestimate how long a project will take and then rush to complete it?
Always over-cramming your schedule, ambitious; long
to-do lists
Is the future a
constant worry for you even when things are going very well?
Always want to get ahead; want more buffer/finances,
etc.; hard to relax
Do you get
irritated when people ask you to stop doing your work in order to do something
else?
Interrupted, annoyed
when you can¡¯t get what you wanted to get done done
(bad day: didn¡¯t thing things done)
Have your long
hours hurt your family or other relationships?
Always taking time from family/friendships; lack of
quality relationships
I want to affirm that diligence and work are good
things. Work is not a result of the
fall; it is not a curse. There was
work in the Garden of Eden before the fall; and there will be work in
heaven.
Scripture condemns laziness/sloth (Pr) and exhorts us
to be productive so we have something to share with others (Eph
Diligence and productivity are good. The problem comes, however, when we find
our identity, our significance in our productivity and accomplishments more than
in Christ.
For some of us, our actual ¡°gospel¡± is our diligence
and accomplishments. We are ¡°saved¡±
through what we make of ourselves.
That is what gives us meaning, joy, status and significance. And so when we accomplish much, win
awards, earn lots of money—we feel great.
But when we don¡¯t accomplish much, or when others seem to accomplish
more—we feel discouraged, envious, unhappy.
1. Recognize the addiction
Diligence and productivity are good things, so that
the diligent overachiever is celebrated not condemned.
But I¡¯d like us to recognize this is just another kind
of addiction. We have the word ¡°workaholic.¡± Some of us are addicted to our work,
productivity, accomplishment.
Some people find pleasure/escape in alcohol,
pornography, gambling. Some people
find pleasure/escape in work and achievements.
For all these addicts, they seek their fulfillment
(get their ¡°fix¡±), but they are always left dissatisfied. They always want ¡°just a little
more.¡± It¡¯s never enough.
And if they don¡¯t get to work, if they have to wait
too long or they waste time, they begin to go through withdrawl:
they get anxious and irritable.
And over time, that workaholism
is a very unhealthy way to live.
I guess you could say I¡¯m a recovering workaholic; and I¡¯ve hit some low
points because of my lifestyle.
2. Recognize
the deeper addiction
Why
do we work so hard? Why do we want
accomplishments and success so much?
I¡¯ve
heard some people call it ¡°the work beneath the work.¡±
For some people, they work really hard because they
want to be admired. They
deeper addiction is applause and respect of others; they want their reputation,
their fame, their glory as high and wide as they can make it.
For some people, they work really hard because they expect/demand
that of themselves. It is their own standard, perfectionism, ambition. They seek the applause and respect of
themselves. It doesn¡¯t matter if
other people say they¡¯re successful, they need to satisfy themselves. But they never do.
For some people, they work really hard because they
want to feel needed. The
deeper addiction is to have someone value them, to become dependent on them.
I
was talking with one person about how when she grew up in her family, her
parents favored her brother. They
treated him like a king. She felt
like the only way she was loved was when she did lots of chores around the
house, got good grades, helped at the family store. She felt like her brother was loved for
who he was but she was loved for what
she did.
She
may be a workaholic, overachiever, but the deeper addiction is
wanting to be loved.
When
you recognize the deeper addiction, we need to map the gospel onto that story.
3. Recognize
the futility of it all
I¡¯ve
preached Ecclesiastes before, but let me just highlight one of its themes:
Everything
we build will pass away. At the end
of time, nothing we have made will last.
Everything is just sandcastles on the beach.
What does man gain from all his labor at
which he toils under the sun?
Generations come and generations go, but
the earth remains forever. . . .
Naked a man comes from his mother¡¯s
womb, and as he comes, so he departs.
He takes nothing from his labor that he
can carry in his hand.
(Ecclesiastes 1:3-4,
What
does it matter what you make, what you labor for. You can¡¯t take it with you, and it
doesn¡¯t last here. Our
accomplishments, reputation, wisdom—all of these are meaningless.
Little Miss Sunshine, scene when the son Dwayne is talking with uncle
Frank by the water, saying, ¡°HS is just a beauty pageant, life is just a big
beauty pageant.¡± Meaningless,
foolish game, a show we put on.
Or
to put it in Jesus¡¯ terms,
I am the vine; you are the branches. If
a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much
fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
(John 15:5)
Nothing
of significance comes from what we do apart from Christ.
The OT is full of stories and instructions about two
different approaches:
The Israelites try to produce grain, raise livestock,
win battles, stay free of disease—on their own, by
their own wisdom and effort. God
says his hand would be against them.
Or they could turn to God, seek His wisdom, obey Him, then God will protect and prosper them.
It¡¯s
not about what I do, its about what He does. What I do doesn¡¯t matter nearly as much
as what God does. See the futility of
trying to accomplish something apart from God.
Unless the LORD builds the house, its
builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain. (Psalm 127:1)
In the Bible it is arrogance that says or acts like,
in this room with us and God, ¡°It¡¯s all up to me.¡± To ignore God, to think we don¡¯t need
God—is arrogance.
4. Abandon
Self, Turn to Christ
We
need to recognize the futility of the gospel of self-accomplishments. It¡¯s a dead-end road.
In
John 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus, ¡°You
must be born again.¡± You think you
have something and just need a little more. No.
All of your religious discipline and practices, all your Bible
knowledge, all your Jewishness (being a descendent of
Abraham)—it¡¯s all worthless. You
don¡¯t need to be a slightly better Jew; you need to start all over. You must be born again.
This
is Paul¡¯s testimony. Paul, like Nicodemus, thought he had
something.
If anyone else thinks he has reasons to
put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of
the people of
Paul
had credentials, accomplishments.
It was a stellar resume.
7 But whatever was to my profit I
now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider
everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:4-8)
The
gospel says,
You think you can accomplish something. You haven¡¯t
really accomplished anything. All
of your successes, reputation, knowledge is meaningless. All of your religiosity is worthless. Don¡¯t put any confidence in yourself, ¡°no confidence in the flesh.¡±
Some overachievers may not feel that guilty about their sin. They¡¯re not doing anything bad. But we need to recognize, fundamentally
we¡¯re putting confidence in ourselves not in Christ. It is arrogance and rebellion against
God; anti-gospel. Abandon self, Repent.
But Christ has accomplished everything. Christ has gotten all the awards &
accolades, promotions & publications, wealth & wisdom. He¡¯s the ultimate achiever.
The greatest thing about anyone in this room is not
their degrees or profession or wealth or fame. The greatest thing about anyone in this
room is that you are united to Christ.
That is both humbling
and freeing. Our efforts and achievements in
themselves don¡¯t really matter, all the things we thought made us better than others
doesn¡¯t amount to a hill of beans.
But Christ gives us significance and status far beyond anything we could
have achieved.
Imagine this kid thinks he¡¯s pretty good because he¡¯s worked hard and he knows his
alphabet and can count to 20.
There¡¯s this other kid who stumbles with his letters and numbers (and so
the first kid feels proud), but then there¡¯s another kid who is read, writing,
and knows two other languages (and the first kid feels like a failure).
The father comes, hugs his kid and says, ¡°You are so
special, not because you know your alphabet and numbers. It doesn¡¯t really matter that much if
you know your alphabet and numbers.
You are special because you are my son/daughter.¡±
The gospel says, It¡¯s not
about knowing your alphabet and numbers, being better than others. We don¡¯t have to ¡°make it in the world,¡±
¡°make a name for ourselves.¡± We¡¯re
freed from that rat race. Our
significance comes from our Father.
Gospel
Fundamentals:
Repent &
believe.
We
repent for putting confidence in ourselves, self-sufficiency. We repent for caring more about
impressing others with letter and numbers than in embracing our sonship in Christ.
And we believe that Jesus has already given us success, riches, power,
righteousness, status, glory.
God is big, I am
small.
I am bankrupt but God is gloriously rich, I am weak
but God is almighty. I only have
letters and numbers; the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe accomplishes all.
He¡¯s big, I¡¯m small, and I trust Him.
Practical Steps
1.
Picture your freedom
Race is over!
Stop running!
Final exams are over! Stop studying! (The joy of finals is like man hitting
his head against a wall—¡°it feels so good when its
done¡±)
Graduation!
(I¡¯ll be finishing my Doctor of Ministry degree; 5 years of work
completed)
Won the lottery!
Recently a $370 million lottery jackpot was won by someone in
Don¡¯t worry about money (IRA¡¯s, 401 (k), mortgage
payments)! Retire if you want.
That¡¯s the internal heart of the Christian—freedom! These picture our heart condition.
Not ¡°trying to get¡± but ¡°because its
already given.¡± Do you believe the
gospel?
Preach the gospel to yourself until you feel freed from a need to accomplish (see
tendency, our nature craves for human significance)
2.
Observe the Sabbath
See how emphasized this law is in the Bible.
Hebrews 4 calls us to enter into our rest; our
salvation is pictured as Sabbath rest.
A kind of ¡°fasting¡± from productivity and accomplishments. It is saying, I don¡¯t need to get ahead, I don¡¯t need to run the
rat race; God will take care of all my needs.
It is a celebration that the race is over, we¡¯ve
graduated, we¡¯ve won the lottery!
I would challenge all of us, especially the
overachiever, to set aside a Sabbath as a day of rest and worship.
3.
Love People
Overachievers
are goal-oriented. They have a
tendency to ignore or use people to accomplish their
goals.
We
should still work, but focus on loving and serving others in the work that you do.
He who has been stealing must steal no
longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may
have something to share with those in need. (Ephesians 4:28)
Don¡¯t
be lazy, trying to take from people.
Work,
be productive. But work to give
away, to bless others.
We
are freed, not to become lazy and sinful, but to love others (Galatians
At a different level, some of you are here to get your
training/degrees and then go to NY, LA, DC and conquer
the world.
But if we¡¯ve embraced a gospel that frees us so we
don¡¯t have to ¡°make it in the world,¡± ¡°make a name for ourselves,¡± if we¡¯re
freed from that rat race, then . . .
I¡¯d like to challenge you to stay here in Philly and Renweal. Be a part
of our vision to transform this city and the world. Don¡¯t use Philly to advance your
ambitions. Rather, help us in
loving and serving Philly.
We have a gospel that frees us from the drive for
worldly success and accomplishments.
We are changed from the inside out.
We use that freedom to love others.