Dr. Ed Young - Finding a New Balance

Watch
Audio
Donate
Go to Store

TOPICS: Balance

Are you coachable? We need a life coach. Everybody does. We decided that. And I think we decided if you're a sacralist or a Christian, certainly, Jesus would be the best coach you could ever get. And then we decided he's already asked us, and selected us to be on his team, and if we are indeed on the team of the Lord Jesus Christ this means we surely are coachable. What does it take to be coachable? Humility and commitment. Do you have that? Do you have that? And then today we come about the important thing we have to have on this team is balance. That's the first thing we have to have is balance. Do you get that? If you do say, "I got it. I get it". Say, "I get it". I get it. Say, "I got it".

Now both of you say it. I got it. I got it. I got it. Balance. In the physical area, it's important that we develop and work on our balance. It's not easy to do is it? Now my boys, we have trouble with balance. Your best is... boop. I don't understand it. But balance is so important. In the physical life, our health, our well-being, how we walk, how we stand, our posture, what's the secret of balance? It's your core, isn't it? I have a granddaughter who studied ballet and she has this perfect balance. When she's out of balance, she immediately gets back into balance. She can pick up sports rapidly because she has that center there. Usually somebody that's super balanced they have great abs.

I mean, they really are able to stand and to balance for a long period of time. Physical balance is big, but even more important than that is spiritual balance. We can get out of whack. We can live a life that is whop-sided, over this way, over that way. And when the life coach, Jesus Christ, comes to us, and says, "You're on my team," one of the first things he wants to build into you and build into me is balance. Do you get it? I got it. Do you get it? If you didn't get it, you better... Did you get it? Just as long as we're tracking together. We gotta stay in balance here.

How do you get balance? First of all, you get in balance by being still. Be quiet. Is there a quiet time in your life every day, a still time, a unhurried time? Not when you're lying down, "oh, Lord," but a special time? Doesn't have to be long. Could be a brief time, but that you have to be still. Remember when the Israelites were slaves there in Egypt for over 400 years? When Moses brought them across the Red Sea? They went into Sinai there in the wilderness. What is one of the first things God told Moses to do? Take the people back and let them now live out the Sabbath, remember? They'd work 7 days a week for 400 years. The first thing God said, "To get you back coordinated in your life go back to worshipping me. Get in balance".

One out of seven belongs to God. That's balance. And we just drive and go in so many areas we need that Sabbath. That is being still. That's meditating. That's listening. That's studying. That's growing up in the Lord, balance. Also we can be still and get our balance, but also we have to move through life. Those who walk the high wire, they've got those big poles there. Why is that? Well it helps their balance. What's it really doing? When we're walking that wire, those who do that, their center is out of center, their core is misaligned. Therefore, this pole helps keep their body in balance as they move. We have to stay in balance when we're still, and out of the stillness we're able to stay in balance when we're moving through life. In one way you could say that the Christian life is walking a balance beam.

Remember the Olympics? Those balance beams that they walk up, they flip on this little thing, and sometimes they fall. That's life. We fall off, but thank goodness our life coach, when we're on his team, he picks us back up and puts us back up there again. Even when we're on the balance beam of life we start to wobble in some areas, our life coach will just come and touch us, just touch us and steady us. I'm here. I'm with you. I know you're losing your balance. This is what this is all about. And therefore, when we're on his team the first thing I think we have to pay attention to is to be in balance.

Now in our Scripture we're gonna study somebody who was way out of balance, then we're gonna look at somebody who had perfect balance. And we're gonna see how this person was way out of balance met this person who had perfect balance, our life coach. And that person who had perfect balance put the person who was way out of balance into balance. That's the way it happens. That the way it happens. Watch this. It's a powerful story that most of us are already pretty much familiar with. It's found in Mark's Gospel. It's found also in two other gospels.

I like this account, "They," the disciples, "came to the other side of the sea in the country of the Gerasenes, and when he got out of the boat," Jesus, "immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. And he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly day and night he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gnashing himself with stones".

Does that sound like somebody out of balance to you? Crazy activity, cutting himself with stones, he was out of balance. But look what happens. He meets somebody who is in balance. Verse 6, "Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him," here's a confrontation, "and shouting with a loud voice he said, 'What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the most high God? I implore,'" hold on to that word "implore". "I implore you by God," that's profanity. "I implore you by God, do not torment me".

First of all, there was confrontation. Then out of balance meets Jesus in balance. And by the way, somebody in balance meets somebody out of balance, the person out of balance always have trouble with the person in balance. And the person in balance can't understand the person out of balance. Have you noticed that? And so there is confrontation. Then there's rationalization. What have I to do with you? I mean my goodness, you're divine, you're the Son of God, and I'm demonic. What have I to do with... you know, just get out of here. That's confrontation. And then I want you to see there is confession, confession. Verse 8, "For he had been saying to him, 'Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.' And Jesus ask him, 'What is your name?' And he said to him, 'My name is Legion, for we are many.'"

When he confessed his name, he knew Jesus, he knew Jesus' name. When he confessed his name as Legion he was confessing, because to have someone name in that culture is you understood them. He says, "I'm Legion". And a legion was a Roman troop of 6,000. You say, "You mean there were 6,000"? Easy, easy. My name is Legion, for I am many. That was his confession of my helplessness and my hopelessness. And you can't tell when the devils were speaking, the demons were speaking, or when the man was speaking. He was so possessed. Heart, mind, spirit, everything about him, way bizarre, out of balance. He needs Jesus who's in balance.

Confrontation, rationalization. What have I to do with you? And then confession, and then we see the repentance is right here. Look at it. "And he began to implore him earnestly to send them out of the country. Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain and the demons implored him saying, 'Send us into the swine that we may enter them". Jesus gave them permission. "And coming out, the unclean spirits enters the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about 2,000 of them, and they were drowned in the sea". That is repentance. What happens when we confess our sin? He said, "Hey, I'm Legion. I have all these demons".

Then Jesus casts those demons out. But they wanted to be embodied in swine, in the pigs that were there. Jesus said, okay. This is where evil always oversteps itself, isn't it? And the swine panicked and went over into the bottom of the sea. That's what happened to your sin and my sin, isn't it? He said, "I will hide all your sin in the bottom of the sea". And he said, "I'll put a sign up, no fishing". Why do you keep going with God saying, "Lord, forgive me of this". You've already been there. He said, "I've forgiven you of that years ago. What are you doing? What is this"?

So here we see an amazing story, 2,000. He said, "What in the world? Who in the world were raising pigs"? It was against the law to raise pigs. Man, you can't eat pork if you're a Jew. These were Gentiles. The Gentiles had a big business. Two thousand hogs, that's a lot of money, folks. A lot of pork on the ground and they sold the pork to the Gentiles. But once in a while, I'm just guessing, I imagine some of those Jews wanted a little side of bacon. You reckon? I mean, I don't know. And look at the response to this that came. It's just so, so amazing until you look at it closely. "And then the herdsmen ran away, and reported it in the city, and the country, and the people came to see what it was that had happened". Verse 15, "And they came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon possessed sitting down clothed in his right mind the very man who had the legion and they became frightened".

Isn't that a picture of someone who's now in balance? Seated, clothed, in their right mind. Man, the power of our life coach. Then the next part is sort of a parenthesis. By the way, that's a perfect picture of salvation. And look at the rest of this. It even, I think it's hard to understand until you look at it. Verse 16, "And those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon possessed man, and all about the swine, and they began to implore," there's our word, "him to leave their region. And as he was getting into the boat," Jesus, "the man who had been demon possessed was imploring him that he might accompany him".

Is that kind of strange? A few verses before this man, demon possessed, said, "Get out of here. I have nothing to do with you". And now he's saying, "Let me go with you". What a change. That's what God does. That's what Christ does. That's what the head coach will do for you and me if we really get under his tutorage, and let him mentor us, and build again the right stuff in your life and my life. Do you get it? I got it. Did you get it? Now here is something that's really more difficult to understand at first reading. Verse 19, "And Jesus did not let him go with him. He said, 'Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he has mercy on you.' And the man went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis," ten cities, "what great things Jesus had done for them. And everyone was amazed".

Now does that seem weird? Here's somebody who had been infamous, feared by all, prowled the neighborhood, howled at night, and now he was clothed, in his right mind. Looks like Jesus say, "Hey, you want to follow me? You'd be a good illustration. Come, and go with me, and tell your story". He said, "No. Got back to Decapolis and tell them". Now notice the people of Decapolis came and said, "Jesus, get out of here. We don't want you around these ten cities," right? Implored him, urged him. But what you don't know about two and a half chapters later, Jesus was going back into Decapolis and what happened? Now they said, "Come, come, come, come". And he had one of his greatest ministries there and all were healed.

Isn't that something? Wonder why, what was the change? That man went around telling them about his life and they knew. Now they were prepared. You see when Jesus is your coach, when he's really your coach he works things away in such strange ways, it doesn't happen now, but happens tomorrow. He answers our prayers later to answer them better. And he said, "I wanna go with you". He didn't. But God used him there prepared the area for when Jesus came. Now you say, "Well, I understand this guy was crazy, demon possessed. He met Jesus who was sane, who was balanced". You say, "But I'm not shrieking at night much and I don't..." You know.

See, isn't it the truth that all of us have taken the crazy pill at one time or another? Have we? Yeah. And there's areas in your life and in my life in which we're sort of out of balance, out of touch. Yeah, yeah, sure. With a life coach, he would point those out and we'd be doing that. So you know, if this is true how could we tell whether they're in balance or out of balance? Watch. Ten things that can tell you and can tell me whether in balance or whether we're out of balance. Look at the first one there. Very, very important. Look at the screens. To be in balance is to have a plan. Do you have a plan? A plan? What is it? Work your plan and plan your work? That's accurate. Do you have an idea, a dream of what life is all about? Where you're going? A sense of destiny? A sense of purpose? Do you have a plan that works? That keeps you in balance?

There's a Scotchman who ferried the people across a river, and on one oar he had faith, on the other oar he had works, and so as he was going across somebody asked, "Well what are these oars about? Faith and works"? He said, "Well it keeps my balance". He said, "If I just had faith," and he began to use the oar and he turned around, "look what'd happen. You'd go 'round and 'round". He said, "If I just had works I'd go around and around". He said, "But I've got faith, and I've got works, and that gives me balance". Faith, oh, I have a lot of faith in God, but no application is not valid. It's dead. It's dead. But I have all good works. That's just pride unless it's backed up by faith in Jesus Christ. You see that is balance. That is God's plan for you and God's plan for me. We are to have balance. To be in balance is to have a plan.

Look at the next thing to tell whether you're in balance or not. By the way, did you get that? Good, good. To be in balance is to be a part of a team. We don't need to be soloists. Jesus was a master CEO, was he not? He brought this ragtail bunch of nobodies together. What does a fisherman have in common with a doctor? What in the world does a tax collector have in common with a day worker? He brought that group together into a team. He didn't gather hundreds. He gathered a team and they changed the world. This may come as a shock to you, but all the cumulative wisdom in this room is greater than the wisdom of any one of us. Oh boy, that's really news. You see, we are part of a team. Our life coach would say, "You need to be on the team. You need to be a part of the church. You need to be in the middle of it". That's how we grow together. That's how we mature together. To be in balance is to be on the team.

Look at the next thing. To be in balance is to go with your passion, to go with your passion. Do you realize if you are living on the basis of your passion and your passion is involved in your work, you will never have to work another day of your life? Do you know that? Your passion, to be in balance go with your passion. You get it?

All right, the next one. To be in balance operate out of your genius. See the chart. You have genius and you have struggling. You say, "I'm struggling because I'm not good in sales. Oh, I'm trying, but I'm..." But your genius may be in management. If you're struggling, it falls right down and say, "I'm incompetent. I can't do anything. I'm not a good salesman". But put you over in management where you could see something, all of a sudden you're a genius, you become competent. You become competent. A good idea is worth a dollar. Did you know that? A good idea, a creative idea, ingenious, it's worth about a dollar. A way to implement an idea that's valuable is worth a million dollars. You have all these great wonderful ideas, all them. Implementing those ideas, that gets you the area of genius. Where's your genius? Well, I don't know. Find out. If you're living on the base of your passion, on the base of your genius.

You say, "Well, it's too late for me". Are you still breathing? You see, this is how we get in balance with where we are with the capacity we are at this moment. To be in balance, operate out of your genius. Look at the fifth thing. To be in balance you're not always nice. Whoa. Somebody asked me, "Are you always nice"? I said, "No". Well, you should be always nice, Jesus... well wait a minute. We should always be kind, when we can't always be nice. Ask the Pharisees and Sadducees how nice Jesus was. Ask those who exploited children how nice Jesus of Nazareth was. You know. Were we nice to Adolf Hitler when he divided up Czechoslovakia? We nice? You see, we can't always be nice. We can always be kind. And somebody says, "Well, I don't wanna cause any trouble. Let's just go". Now you pray, and you think, and you work through it, but you can't always be nice, but we can always be kind. That's the difference. And if you're in balance you understand that. Do you get it?

Okay, look at the next one. To be in balance you choose your battle. Some people just ready to fight over anything. Be careful what you attack. Be careful what you say. Choose your battle carefully. Jesus did. He's our life coach. I mean, he wasn't the first person he crucified. He walked by a lot of people who were dying on a cross in his life. You can be sure of that. He walked by a lot of people who were spitting on prostitutes. He didn't do anything.

A lot of people were sick. He didn't heal everybody. Well, why was that? I mean, you see, that was not according to his life purpose. That was not his business at that time. His miracles were a sign, certainly with compassion, but also it was a sign that pointed to who he was and some people think, "Well here's a miracle. Just do this". Bang, bang, bang, bang. No, no, no it was a sign as well as compassion at that person, at that time, in that situation and it was pointing to the reality that they would understand here is God in flesh, in time, and in history. So to be in balance you choose your battles. Do you get it?

All right. Next one, to be in balance you know the difference between ownership and stewardship. We've talked about that many times recently. Well, I own all this. You don't own anything. Well I have stock in AT&T. No, you don't. It all belongs to the Lord. We get that straight that we're just stewards, we're accountable for what he's given us in this brief period on this earth, we're way ahead of the game. And if you're in balance you get that. You understand that. Do you get it?

All right, next one. To be in balance, you know the importance of little things, little things. Somebody called me this week and told me that they were visiting our church from another state. But they saw one of our security guards was bent down, looking at a little lady who was confused, and he was so sweet, and kind, and he listened to it. He said, "I heard your sermon, but I saw a better sermon". You know? Just little things. There are no little people or big people in this world. We think that, we're out of balance. Little things are important, every area of life, little considerations, little courtesies, little patient, little understanding. If we could all get that it would help put us back in the balance. You get it?

Look at the next one, it gets better. To be in balance you don't look back. I talked to so many people that always telling me about yesterday, "Oh, I did this yesterday. Oh, I did this yesterday". You know, don't spend so much time on yesterday. That's in the repertoire. That's our experience. Look at now and look at tomorrow. Look at the next day. Don't look back. Jesus said, "Any man, or woman, anybody who puts their hands to plow and looks back is not worthy of the kingdom of God. If you look back, you can't plow straight. You can't live straight". We must look ahead. That's where the action is. To be in balance you can't look back. You have to look ahead. Also to be in balance, look at this last one. By the way, you get it? All right. To be in balance you have to carry around joy. I see people carrying around a lot of stuff that's not joyful. Carry around joy. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.