Class Lesson May 6, 2012

Hey Gang, 

Maybe you find yourself at a fork in the road today, and you’re asking yourself, “Which way should I go?” Isaiah 30:21 says, “and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”

 "Spend seven days with me in Utopia, and you’ll find your game." 

 

I’m going to ask you to turn right this week to a place called Utopia, where an eccentric old golf pro and rancher named Johnny Crawford will help us with this question today. How? By teaching us to look differently at our past choices in life, and our direction for the future as well. I promise you that if you will spend the next four weeks in Utopia (Sunday school) with me, you’ll find your game (answer), and a legacy of hope, faith and love to pass on to those you still influence today. Solomon wrote: “A good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren” (Proverbs 13:22). What is this inheritance? What is your legacy? What will be your epitaph? What does your life stand for? What do you have inside that will last, even when your casket is lowered into the earth? In our culture, a high premium is placed on success, achievement and performance. What controls your life? Is it controlled by a golf score, by a bank account or by what's written on your business card?


Let me let you in on a little secret. Life in the end will be measured by significance, not a golf score. Significance will be defined by your character, relationships, values, virtues and faith, not by a golf score.




At the end of this lesson series you will have an opportunity to bury the lies that have kept you from a life of significance.

 

Graveyard of Lies

It has been said that the saddest day in a man’s life is the day he succeeds and it lets him down. Every man who has ever won a prize, reached a goal, or achieved a milestone learns that the fulfillment of that moment quickly fades. No victory ever seems to be enough. Striving for more seems to be the only hope, but success never fulfills. While men were made to achieve, there is a deep calling to go BEYOND SUCCESS.


At some point in life you thought there was something more important than God - maybe you still do. Does it matter?

Seven Days in Utopia 

Click Here to Watch a Preview

We all need a “Johnny” in our lives that helps us see the importance of our faith.

• God used Moses this way to teach the Israelites what was most important in life.
• God taught, Moses taught, Jesus taught, the Disciples taught and Jesus' last command was for each of us to teach as well.

How do we build a legacy?

Johnny Crawford:

1. The Grip, Stance and Swing
2. Golf is About Life
3. Keep Yours Eyes on the Ball

Moses:

1. Build a Right Foundation
2. Teach While Doing Life
3. Keep Your Focus 

 

I. THE GRIP, STANCE AND SWING – DEUTERONOMY 6:1-5

The Greatest Command

1 “This is the command—the statutes and ordinances—the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you, so that you may follow them in the land you are about to enter and possess. 2 Do this so that you may fear the LORD your God all the days of your life by keeping all His statutes and commands I am giving you, your son, and your grandson, and so that you may have a long life. 3 Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 “Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  

Johnny asks Luke why he gripped the club the way he did and Luke told him, I don’t know, just feel good I guess. Wrong Answer: I need to know why you do the things you do, from the grip to the follow through? Why did Johnny need to know this?

Johnny said that the first thing you have to do in building a game foundation was to – Find Some Conviction – why did Johnny say this?

• Hardest challenge you will face in life is that casual comment by someone, anyone, about how you should be doing things.
• If you don’t have conviction about where your foundation is, then that casual comment will take you out of your game and erode your confidence.

What does Moses say is the basis for a right foundation in life?

• Following God’s commands.
• Obedience to God’s laws – striving to be obedient produces results.
• Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength – seeing God with an awe-filled reverence makes for a long and prosperous life.
• How can we avoid connecting obedience with automatic prosperity? Living in accordance with God means we value what’s valuable. A physical blessing is a sign of a spiritual blessing or a people connection. How have you seen people misinterpret the prosperity gospel? (Sample: Televangelists)

What would you say is the most important thing in life you could teach your children? What would be the most important thing a Dad could teach his son? What was the most important thing Luke's Dad taught? What was most important to Moses?

• Each generation of believers is to teach God’s ways to the next generation.
• Parents are especially accountable for teaching their children the true faith.
• Those who love God are to love Him with all they have and are.

A legacy of loving God doesn’t just happen – why? What needs to happen day-by-day to build a good legacy?

• Focus on your conviction about God and life.
• Keep your spiritual foundation solid so your influence on younger believers will not be compromised.
• Walk the talk!

II. GOLF IS ABOUT LIFE – DEUTERONOMY 6:6-9

6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.  

How would you compare golf to life?

• In a recent New York Times article, columnist Thomas Friedman compared golf to life. He said that golf is the sport most like life and explained that “baseball, basketball and football are played on flat surfaces designed to give true bounces. Golf is played on an uneven terrain designed to surprise. Good and bad bounces are built into the essence of the game. And the reason golf is so much like life is that the game — like life — is all about how you react to those good and bad bounces”.
• Learn more about a man in 4 hours on the golf course than any other place.

What, when and where did Moses say to communicate God’s commands?

• Parents are accountable for sharing their message with their children.
• Teach while you go about life.
• Thoughtful people who humbly go about doing the right thing are a breath of fresh air. Their obedience to God is contagious. These are the ones who truly know God’s Word in their hearts.

How do we communicate these truths when our kids no longer live at home?

• Skype, Facebook, texting, letters, by phone.
• Parents should seek all kinds of opportunities to share their faith.
• What you communicate to your children tells them what's most important in your life.
• The farther kids are from home the more they long for parents to communicate truth to them.

How can we physically display God’s Word today? What physical reminders do you use to prompt you to obey God?

• Memorizing Scripture is valuable only insofar as we live it out. We today, like the Israelites, are to share our life message through daily interactions.
• Our family learns more by our lifestyle at home than by the public persona we put on at church or community events.
• Repeated godly actions definitely help more than preachy words.
• Practice what you preach.
• Carrying religious objects should not be designed to elicit recognition or praise for yourself but to remind you of your commitment to love and obey the Lord.

How can you share truth with descendants you will never meet?

• My mother’s journal
• Spiritual journals, recording prayers for children and grandchildren, write letters to descendants, and maintain a Christian heritage.

III. KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE BALL – DEUTERONOMY 6:10-15a
Remembering God through Obedience

10 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would give you—a land with large and beautiful cities that you did not build, 11 houses full of every good thing that you did not fill them with, wells dug that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful not to forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. 13 Fear Yahweh your God, worship Him, and take your oaths in His name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you, 15 for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God.  

What’s the purpose for keeping your eyes on the golf ball?

• Distractions can be deadly. Johnny talked about the casual comments taking us out of our game. In golf it is critical to any good shot that you keep your eyes on the ball.
• When the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, they inherited great wealth. They also faced great temptation.
• If they took their eyes off of God, then they would face great peril. 

Let me ask you this, is it easier to forget God when things go well or when troubles come? What temptations come when every need is provided? Were the temptations because the people did not earn the wealth, with the wealth itself, or what?

• the greatest temptation is to forget or not need or not depend on God.
• Times of material blessing are also opportunities to remember God. We can thank Him and work with Him to use those resources wisely.
• Fearing God is the key to this process. Once we forget or ignore God we set ourselves up for failure and heartache.
• In such surroundings it would be easy for the Israelites to forget that with privilege comes responsibility.
• We tend to do better when we have earned the money ourselves.

What builds a habit of gratefulness?

• Remember God and what He has done for you – don’t forget.
• God is a jealous God. He tolerates no rivals.

Conclusion:

God commands that each generation of believers must pass on the faith to the next generation. Faith is not transmitted through the genes. It must be lived and taught by the adult generation to children. The primary responsibility for this is given to parents. Christian parents are responsible for formal and informal teaching of the faith to their children. In order to do this, the parents themselves must be committed believers who practice what they teach.

This is the foundation for building a legacy!

Prayer of Commitment

Lord, teach me Your ways; and help me teach the next generation Your Word. Amen

This is going to be a great series of lessons on the legacy we want to leave behind to those we love. We are going to watch segments of the movie, "Seven Days in Utopia" over the next four weeks as we journey through this series of questions: What is your legacy? What will be your epitaph? What does your life stand for? What do you have inside that will last, even when your casket is lowered into the earth?  

I hope you'll commit to being here each Sunday for the next four weeks - you won't want to miss a single week! 

See you in Utopia this Sunday! 

In His Love, 

David & Susan