Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

It’s been good to finally get started here at Amelia. I’ve spent the week trying to get my office into shape. I spent some time at Staples this week with my wife and our secretary, Shelley Turner. I got quite the education at that store. Did you know that they have about 5,000 different kinds of staplers? I didn’t know that. They even had some that were out of their packages so you could test drive them before you buy them. So I got this fancy, new stapler. It looks really cool and everything. You know what it does? It staples pieces of paper together. But it looks cool doing it!

And Brian, he’s been busy setting up my brand new Dell notebook computer. Oh yeah, it’s sweet. As with most computers, there are bugs to work out. This week as Brian was sitting at my computer, he looked at me and said, “Well, the problem is that your docking station isn’t recognizing your Ethernet input.” Which, to me, sounded like the teacher on the old Charlie Brown cartoons. All I know is that everything works and I’m all set. I’m excited to finally be here and we’re ready to jump into our first series of messages.

When I was in Jr. High, I was really into skateboarding. I mean, I was INTO it. I was into all the right tricks: ollies, acid drops, kickflips, grinds, a Backside Pivot Fakie. I was into all the right gear: At that time, you had to have Vision Wear shoes, a Santa Cruz board, German bearings, Tracker trucks. I loved to skate. And, I did some pretty stupid stuff on my skateboard. But I never tried anything close to the stuff that Danny Way is doing today.

Danny Way does some sick tricks. (For those not familiar with skate jargon, “sick” means “really good.) Danny holds the world record for the longest distance jumped on a skateboard. He set the record when he jumped 79 feet at the 2004 X Games. But he’s got a record that is way more impressive than that. In July of last year, Danny Way made skateboarding history when he jumped over the Great Wall of China on his skateboard! He became the first person to ever clear the massive wall without a motorized aid. Can you imagine jumping over the Great Wall of China on a skateboard? Talk about sick! When he jumped the wall, Danny set world skateboarding records for distance, speed, and height out of a quarter pipe ramp.

Danny Way is constantly pushing his sport to the limit. He is always looking to go higher. He’s not afraid to leave the ground in ways that no one else has ever done. He always wants to take things to a higher altitude.

And that is what God is challenging each of us to do. Not just to fly, but to soar. To take our lives and our church to a higher altitude. That’s the purpose of this series of messages that begins today. This series is entitled, “Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude.” Our key verse is Philippians 2:5: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” (NIV)

The attitude of Jesus was always perfectly aligned with the Word of God. In this series, we’re going to examine our attitude in six key areas of our lives and we’ll be challenged to make sure our attitude in each area stacks up with what God has said in the Bible. If we want our church to reach extraordinary new levels and if we want our individual lives to reach their God-given potential, it all starts with our attitude. Your attitude determines your altitude.

In the first message in this series, we’re going to begin with the most basic and foundational attitude of all: This morning we’re going to talk about our attitude about God.

Bobby Bowden is the head coach for the Florida State Seminoles football team. Bowden is the all-time winningest coach in major college history. He currently has 351 wins under his coaching belt, 5 more wins than Penn State coach Joe Paterno. Bowden is now 76 years old, and he says that he is now so old that no one even remembers that he played college baseball, but he did. Now, when he was playing baseball in college, he was far from a power hitter. In fact, Bowden writes in his book that he never hit a homerun until his senior year. During a game in his last season, he laced a line drive over the first baseman’s head. It went all the way to the outfield wall and rattled around in the right field corner. He rounded first base and headed for second. He looked over his shoulder and thought he could get a triple, so he kept running. He got to third base and the third base coach was waving him home. Bowden said that he was winded from this sprint around the bases, but he kept on trucking toward home plate. He slid into home for an inside-the-park homerun. Now the ball didn’t go over the fence, but when the game stats appeared in the paper the next day, it would still say “Bowden-HR.” He had never hit a homerun before, so Bobby was elated that it had finally happened. He had finally hit a homerun. Then, the pitcher held up the ball, stepped off the pitching rubber, and threw the ball to first base. Do you know what the umpire did? Rung him up. He was out. Bobby Bowden did not touch first base. And to this day, he has still never hit a homerun. This is what Bowden wrote in his book: “If you don’t take care of first base, second, third, and home plate…they don’t matter. And if you don’t honor the Lord first, everything else you do in life doesn’t matter either.”

This morning we’re touching first base. Unless we have the right attitude about God, there’s no need to go any further because nothing else will matter. The first step to having a right attitude about God is to realize that my life isn’t about me.

A lot of us have the Toby Keith attitude: “I wanna talk about me, wanna talk about I, wanna talk about number one, oh my me my, what I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see..I wanna talk about me.” But here’s the deal…it’s not about me. My life isn’t about me.

God said in the book of Isaiah, “Bring my sons from far away. Bring my daughters from the farthest places on earth. Bring back everyone who belongs to me. I created them to bring glory to me.” (Isaiah 43:6-7, NIRV)

My life isn’t about me. Your life isn’t about you. We were created for God’s glory. The very first song that we sang this morning says exactly that. “Not to us, but to Your Name, be the glory.”

There’s a modern buzzword floating around now: self-actualization. Basically, to self-actualize means that you fully reach your own potential. And a lot of people want to use God to achieve their own self-actualization. They come up with their own plans and their own dreams and then they expect God to play the role of Santa Claus. Give me what I want.

That is 180° different from a biblical attitude about God. God is not Santa Claus. He is not some cosmic vending machine ready to spit out a blessing anytime we insert a spiritual quarter. God does not exist to glorify me. I exist to glorify God. If I want to have a right attitude about God, it begins by realizing that my life isn’t about me.

And once we realize this, it leads us to the next step to having a right attitude about God: If I realize that my life isn’t about me, I will then realign my priorities to bring God glory.

Now, before we get to the “realigning my priorities” part, let’s be sure we’re all on the same page about the last part of that sentence. What does it mean to “bring God glory” and how can I do that?

“Glory” is a nice, churchy word. Those of you who haven’t been part of the church for long probably haven’t used this word much, if at all. Those of you who have been part of the church for your entire life have probably so overused the word that it has completely lost its meaning. So let’s get back to basics here. I like the way Rick Warren defines God’s glory. He writes, “What is the glory of God? It is who God is. It is the essence of his nature, the weight of his importance, the radiance of his splendor, the demonstration of his power, and the atmosphere of his presence. God’s glory is the expression of his goodness and all his other intrinsic, eternal qualities.” (Quoted from The Purpose-Driven Life, pg. 53) There’s something we need to understand about God: He is complete. He lacks nothing. He needs nothing. He is actually the only one to ever achieve self-actualization. God is complete. There is nothing we can add to God. There is nothing that we can bring him that he needs. But there is something we can bring him that he greatly desires: our love. And the Bible tells us in 1 John how we love God. “This is love for God: to obey his commands.” (1 John 5:3, NIV)

This is how we bring God glory. It’s not that we can possibly add anything to his character, his presence, etc. Rather, we bring God glory simply by loving Him. And with God, love = obedience.

This is why, to have a right attitude about God, we have to realign our priorities to bring him glory. If we want to love God, it has to be reflected in the priorities of our lives.

So as you take stock of your life’s priorities, do they reflect a life that is lived for God’s glory or self-glory? It’s been said that if you show me a person’s calendar and a person’s checkbook, I’ll show you what’s important to them. Do your time and your finances reflect a life that is lived for God’s glory or self-glory?

Why is it that we can drop $50-$100 to go to a football game, have premium satellite TV in our homes, eat in overpriced restaurants, drive overpriced cars, yet we can’t scrape together a tithe to give to the Lord? Why is it that we can talk to our co-workers and buddies all day long, but when we get home, we find it annoying when our spouse wants a little conversation? Why is it that watching a 3-hour movie is no big deal, but we can’t set aside a few minutes to spend reading our Bible? Why is it that we would rather watch families on TV then turn off the TV and spend time with the family God gave us? Why do we spend all our time trying to acquire stuff that is temporary while we ignore our own soul, which is eternal? Why do we always ask, “Is this going to please me?” instead of first asking, “Is this going to please God?” To have a right attitude about God, we have to realign our priorities to honor God.

We need to realign our priorities to honor God at home. Guys, God is glorified when you bring your wife flowers for no reason in particular. He is glorified when you do take the time to have a conversation with your wife. He is glorified when you help around the house without being asked. He is glorified when you play with your kids, even if you’re tired after a long day of work. He is glorified when you take seriously the role of the spiritual leader of the home.

Ladies, God is glorified when you build up your husband instead of tearing him down. One day at our church in Indiana, I was walking through the hallway toward my office at the church building and I overheard two ladies talking about their husbands. I couldn’t believe how they were each running down their husbands in public. Ladies, you need to understand how devastating this is to your husband. We may like to make you think we’re strong, but most guys have egos that are fragile at best, and it is incredibly destructive to know that your wife runs you down behind your back. God is glorified when you build your husband up. God is glorified when you have a migraine headache, the flu, whooping cough, and malaria and you still manage to take care of your husband who is in bed with the sniffles. (That’s the way it is, isn’t it guys?) Ladies, when you love your families and put their interests above your own, God is glorified.

Kids, God is glorified when you respect your parents. When you obey them, even if you think they’re wrong. God is glorified when your chores get done with no complaining attached. God is glorified when you say and show your parents that you love them.

We need to realign our priorities at work or school. God is glorified when treat co-workers with respect, whether they are superiors or subordinates. He is glorified when you remain faithful in the midst of a work or school setting that is hostile toward your faith. He is glorified when we work hard even if others are lazy. He is glorified if we deal honestly and squarely instead of scamming the system, even if there is almost no chance of getting caught.

We need to realign our priorities at church. God is glorified when I understand that the church doesn’t revolve around me. He is glorified when guests are warmly welcomed. He is glorified when kids are celebrated and old folks are not forgotten. He is glorified when we support decisions made by the leadership, even if we don’t always agree with them. He is glorified when gossip is stopped, hugs and handshakes abound, forgiveness is offered, and friendships are forged.

For most of us, there is not one single area of our lives that isn’t in need of some realignment. If we want to have a right attitude about God, we have to realign our priorities to glorify God.

I think that there is a verse in James 4 that really sums up everything that we’ve been talking about this morning. In one sentence, it encapsulates the right attitude about God. “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:10, NIV)

This verse encourages us to remember that the key to fly high is to bow low. At first, this sounds pretty goofy. Humble yourselves and you’ll be lifted up? To fly high, we have to bow low? But in what seems like a foolish statement, we find the wisdom of God. “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’” (1 Corinthians 1:18, NIV) What seems foolish to our world is the very wisdom of God. God just does things backwards from the way our world thinks. When we fall before him, we fly! When we lower ourselves in humility, he allows us to soar.

My grandma has a pet bird named Bubba. Yep, Bubba. Jeff Foxworthy would be proud. My family has a little redneck blood flowing through our veins. Anyway, as with any pet bird, the vet clips Bubba’s wings from time to time. The purpose is to prevent Bubba from flying too high should he ever escape from my Grandma. He can still fly, but his altitude is severely limited.

Did you ever feel that way? Something’s just keeping you from flying as high as you want to go. The thing that clips our wings more than anything is our own attitude. God created us to fly, but through stubbornness and selfishness we clip our own wings. It all starts with our attitude about God. I need to realize that my life isn’t about me, therefore I need to realign my priorities to bring God glory, remembering that the key to fly high is to bow low. It’s all about attitude. Your attitude determines your altitude.

Mike Edmisten