Sermon Notes

21st June 2009. Single Focus Brings Results

We are people who like things to work. We like things to be functional and we like results. This is fine if your fixing your car or investing your money, butwhat about spiritual growth, what will work, what will bring results? In Psalm 86.11 King David prays a simple and strategic prayer. David wants results too, he wants to honour God alone and he knows he can't do that if he is distracted, No distractions God!, he prays, "Give me an undivided heart". A simple prayer and a simple goal. It worked for David and it will work for us too.

A lesson from King David

David was chosen as King because he was a "man after God's own heart". Why did David deserve such a title, where the King before him and the Kings after him did not? The answer is in David's single focus on God alone, seen continually throughout his whole life: He volunteered to fight Goliath, when every other Israelite looked at the human side of the battle David could see that God was in it. Focused on God he was filled with faith and won the fight.

When running from Saul, hiding in a cave he had an opportunity to takes Saul's life. To the surprise and dismay of his men David withdrew, simply because he didn't dare step outside of God's will and timing. Soon after he was made King of all Israel and shortly after a victorious battle another opportunity came to show his military might. Imagine the desire of his commanders and soldiers urging him on to take another decisive victory. This was the dawn of a revolution! But David prayed and God told him to wait, to listen to the tops of the Balsam trees.

How peculiar this must have sounded to his fighting men! But David was focused on God alone, and God was with him, the battle was won. David wasn't perfect, but even his bad example teaches focus on God alone. At one point David is compelled to count the number of all his fighting men-the reason a commander counts his men is to weigh up his measure of power-David was looking to the strength of his men and not to the strength of his God. 2 Samuel 24 records this as a great sin, David confesses this sin and returns his focus on God alone. As an old man, having taken a great collection of money to build the temple in Jerusalem, at a time that it would have been easy to reflect on his achievements, David humbly thanks God, affirming that everything that has been given was first given to them by God.

David was a man after God's own heart. To succeed in this depth of character David knew he couldn't afford distractions, and so he prayed, Give me an undivided heart to revere your name. We do well to pray the same. Be careful not to get confused with the use of the word "heart" in these verses. We often use "heart" to talk about our emotions, but in the ancient Hebrew culture that David was speaking in, "heart" was used to describe will and courage, it was to do with the mind and understanding. David was a man after God's own heart, that is, his will was God's will. When David prayed, Give me an undivided heart, he was praying that he would be strengthened to live for God's will alone.

Study and Reflection

Jesus teaches this same principle. Look up the following passages of Scripture and reflect on Jesus' teaching to focus on God alone. These passages help us realise some of the distractions that would compromise our focus on God. Assess your own life as you read, what gets in the way of a single focus on God and his will for your life? Matthew 6.24; Matthew 6.25-34 (especially verse 33); Mark 12.28-34.

What now?

Single focus brings results. This doesn't only apply to our spiritual lives in following God, it is a practice that brings results in all areas of life. Think of Team New Zealand's great victory in the 1995 America's Cup campaign winning 5-0 in the challenger series and 5-0 in the America's Cup challenge, a massive 42 wins and one loss over the whole campaign! Why so successful? Great leaders and great skills of course, and also, a single focus for the whole team, with Peter Blake's famous goal, "Make the boat go faster"; Blake's leadership was so successful because he was able to focus his whole team around one simple goal. How can you apply this to your own life? What single focus can you bring to the different roles in your life? How will this help you to achieve effective team work on a project at work? How will this strengthen your family to work together? And how will you apply this to your life with God? Can you lay aside those things that distract you and find the joy and the God honouring outcomes that come with strong single focus on God alone.

Give me an undivided heart to revere your name. Psalm 86.11b