GOOD TO GREAT

INTRODUCTION
I recently finished reading a book by Thom Rainer entitled, Breakthrough Churches. Thom’s book looks at churches which were going along with no significant change, no great losses and no great gains, but then they had a breakthrough. In fact, in most of these churches the breakthrough came out of time of crises, a time of decline that moved and motivated the church and the leadership to step out in faith and be willing to leave the comfort of the familiar to pursue their vision. According to Thom, vision is found at the intersection of the church’s passion, the pastor’s passion, and the community’s need.

Thom’s research is modeled after the work of another author, a secular business author named Jim Collins. Jim’s book entitled, Good to Great, has become a bestseller over the past four years.

What Thom Rainer found and I also see in Jim's book is that most of the characteristics needed to go from good to great in the secular business world parallel biblical principles and patterns found in Scripture for a successful life. It should not surprise us to find that God’s ways are the best ways even when applied in areas of life outside of the church proper.

God’s ways are the best ways for marriage. God’s ways are the best ways for parenting. God’s ways are the best ways for business. God’s ways are the best ways for finances. God’s ways are the best ways for social and cultural health in a community. God’s ways are the best ways in the courts, in the congress and in the Whitehouse. God’s ways are the best ways for anyone who desires to rise above mediocrity and strive for a higher level of success and satisfaction in life.

The opposite is also true. Without God there is no lasting success. Without God our best efforts fall short. Without God failure is crouching around the corner waiting to drag us down. Without God governments fail, economies collapse, courts are corrupted, and lives are ruined. So I’ve decided that I’m going to pursue God, to strive daily to live my life according to His divine principles, plans and purposes.

I don’t want to limp along being good, when God has called me to be great. I don’t want to pastor a church that is satisfied with mediocrity when God has called us to be a city set on a hill that cannot be hid. My desire, and I believe the desire of God, is for all of us to be all, and to do all, that we can in Him. He has a plan for us. We each have a God given destiny and we should never be satisfied with anything less than all that God has planned.

I’ve studied the allotments of land that God granted each tribe of Israel and I’ve found that Israel never fully possessed all that God had promised. They fell short. They quit too soon. They became satisfied with good, when they could have been great.

The first sentence in Jim Collins’ book is, “Good is the enemy of great.” When I read that, I wondered how many Christians are satisfied being a “good Christian” when they could be great. I’ve been to funerals and heard people make the statement of the deceased, “She (or he) was a good Christian.” But I’ve been to very few funerals where the people said, “She or he was a great woman or man of God!” Too often we settle for good when God desires for us to be great.

I) THE KING’S CRISIS

In our text Jehoash, king of Israel was in a battle with the Arameans. Israel was facing the prospect of defeat and the king was desperate so the king went to the old prophet Elisha. It is often out of the crises of life that our greatest victories are birthed. If it had not been for the prospect of defeat King Jehoash would probably never have come to see the prophet.

It was in a moment of crisis that the woman with the issue of blood gained her healing. It was in a moment of crisis that a blind man called out to Jesus and was healed. It was in a moment of crisis that the apostles woke up Jesus and were saved from the angry waves. It was in moment of crisis that Paul and Silas began to sing in the prison and the prison doors were opened and they were set free. Are you in a moment of crisis? It may be your health, or your finances. It may be a spiritual crisis, or a relationship crisis, but it may very well be that crisis you’re facing will be the bottom that you bounce back from. It may be the very thing that propels you from good to great.

Elisha was a man who always seemed to be able to give godly advice and to help gain the victory. At the time Elisha was very sick, in fact, this great man of God would eventually die of this illness.

I know that there are some people who preach and teach that you’ll never get sick if you’ve got enough faith, but I’d challenge any of them to put their faith up against the faith of Elisha and call down fire from heaven, raise a child from death, and cause an ax head to float on water. Elisha was a great man of faith, but this great man of faith was ill and he would eventually die of this illness. There is a sickness unto death and all of us will eventually die of something. (I don’t know anyone who died of good health.)

The king went down to see Elisha and when he got there he began to weep over Elisha. He said, “My father! My father! The chariots and the horsemen of Israel.” The crisis was so immanent that all the king could do was cry out, in an abbreviated plea, for help in the urgency of the moment.

Have you ever been there? The situation was so severe, so intense and disaster seemed so immanent that you could scarcely utter a prayer. Perhaps you didn’t even know how to pray as you should and all you could do was groan before the Lord. In those moments, in those crises of life, God the Holy Spirit is able to pray through us when we can’t even utter a word.

The king didn’t try to give the whole story, he just cried, “My father! My father! The chariots and the horsemen of Israel.” Though he was sick in body, Elisha was strong in faith and in spirit. It may have been a moment of crisis for the king, but Elisha knew that God is still in control.

II) THE PROPHET’S PLAN

Elisha was so in touch with God and with God’s plans, purposes and power that Elisha immediately began to instruct the king:

15 Elisha said, "Get a bow and some arrows," and he did so. 16 "Take the bow in your hands," he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands.

17 "Open the east window," he said, and he opened it. "Shoot!" Elisha said, and he shot. "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!" Elisha declared. "You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek."

There is a mixture of symbolism, faith and obedience at work here. Sometimes when we call out to God He instructs us to do something that doesn’t seem to have any connection with the crisis we are facing. The prophet told Jehoash to shoot an arrow out the window. There were no enemies in sight. It wasn’t as if the king was actually shooting at the enemy, but it was the word of the Lord through the prophet and it was an act of faith and obedience on the part of the king.

As humans we want to reason and rationalize our way out of the crises. We want to think our way out and pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We want a plan, a course of action, a blueprint for success, but God wants faith and obedience. God wants our trust and our confidence in Him. The victory is not by our might or our power, but the victory comes through the Spirit of God working on our behalf. All God asks is for us to trust and obey, there is no other way.

The king shot an arrow through the east window and Elisha prophesied, “The LORD’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram! You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.”

We always need to keep in mind that our obstacle is God’s opportunity to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him (2 Chron. 16:9).

A graph of churches and businesses shows that after years of plateau—of being good, of making it—it wasn’t until the crisis, until the time of decline, that someone woke up and began to lead the organization into greatness. This same thing can be said of each believer. We are often content being a good Christian, of going to church on Sunday, of praying over meals and before we go to bed, of trying to live right and do right, and we are satisfied. After all, we’re good Christians. But God may be looking for great Christians. Men and women in these last days who are willing go beyond good, who are willing to share their faith without fear, give of their talents sacrificially, make God a priority and invest in the kingdom of God without reservation.

Here’s the thing about being good, about being plateaued, it doesn’t last forever. In a church or a business, we can only tread water for so long until we begin to sink. In our spiritual life, we can only go along with business as usual for so long until the joy suckers of life start sucking the joy out of our religion. We can only go along the road of mediocrity so long until the bright lights and the excitement of the world begin to beckon us and allure us in the pleasure of sin for a season.

Most of us will come to some sort of spiritual crossroads where God challenges us and calls us to a higher place. Most will be content to remain on the plateau, to continue to walk around the mountain rather than climb to greater heights. Some will simply do what they feel they have to do to be a Christian. No more, and no less. But there are those rare individuals who accept the challenge to forsake good in pursuit of great.

III) THE MISSED OPPORTUNITY

The king shot the arrows and victory assured, but what would the extent of that victory be? The king and Israel were assured a complete victory at Aphek, but what about beyond that? What would the future hold?

Sometimes we fail to see beyond the immediate crisis and consider the long-term implications in our spiritual life. A decisive victory at Aphek was very good, but could the king and Israel go beyond good? Could they achieve greatness? Would their military victory be epic?

18 Then he [Elisha] said, "Take the arrows," and the king took them. Elisha told him, "Strike the ground." He struck it three times and stopped.

The king stopped short. He quit too soon. He failed to give it his all. Elisha had already connected the dots for the king. Elisha had already illustrated the connection between the arrows and victory. The king should have been insightful enough and discerning enough to understand the symbolism and to have struck the ground many more times, perhaps until the prophet himself told the king to stop. Instead, the king struck the ground three times and stopped.

Greatness was within sight. The opportunity to win a complete and final victory over the enemy was within his grasp, but he appears to give only a half-hearted effort. He had already been assured of victory at Aphek and perhaps the king thought that was good enough. But good is never enough when God is prepared to take us to greatness. If God has more for us, then we insult God by not desiring from Him what He desires for us.

Elisha got angry with the king and said, "You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times."

What would it take for you or me to take the leap from good to great? Would it take another hour in worship? Would it take trusting God in tithes and offerings? Would it take a greater devotion to the Word and prayer? How far are we willing to go to step up to that higher place? The victories of tomorrow may hinge upon our obedience today.

Are you tired of the same-ole-same-ole? Aren’t you hungry for more of God in your life? Aren’t you thirsty for the extraordinary? the superlative? the supernatural?

CONCLUSION

Maybe your question at this point is, "What does a great Christian look like?" I’d have to say that a great Christian is someone whose love of God is manifested in the life they live, the words they speak, and the deeds they do. A great Christian is someone who will not compromise with the world, who does not allow anything to become more important in their life than God. A great Christian is someone who allows the fruit of the Spirit to grow in their life, the gifts of the Spirit to operate and the power of the Spirit to manifest. A great Christian is a light shining in the darkness, a witness for Jesus and voice crying in the wilderness.

A great Christian will not back down, give ground or abandon the good fight of faith. A great Christian will always be seeking to grow closer to God in service, in worship, and in devotion.

My desire is go from good to great. We have a good church here, but God is calling us to be great. Great churches are nothing more than the individual members, whose desire in their walk with God, is go from good to great.

Is there anyone else here who has that desire? Anyone who will say, “Pastor I want to go from good to great”?

Maybe you’re in a crisis and you feel like you’re going down. God said to tell you that you can bounce back if you will trust and obey. Maybe you feel like you’ve been walking on a plateau and you’re ready to start climbing to greater heights in your walk with God. Maybe you’ve been in a spiritual battle and you need a victory.

Elisha told the king to strike the ground but the king stopped short. God may be telling someone here today not to stop short, don’t give it a half-hearted effort. Give it everything you’ve got. When you praise God, give it all you’ve got. When you serve God, give it everything you’ve got. In your home, on the job, in the school and in the church, don’t just go through the motions. Greatness may be one more prayer away. Greatness may be another chapter in your Bible reading, another worship service, another cheerful act of giving.

Don’t let good be the enemy of great. Don’t be satisfied with mediocrity. Don’t be content with milk when you’ve been called to eat the meat. Don’t settle down but reach up and strive to rise up to achieve your full potential in the Lord. As you do, remember that He “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Eph 3:20, KJV).

Strike the ground, church. Come and meet me at this altar and say, “I am reaching for greatness!”