Keeping Ourselves Motivated and Inspired
In Our Work For and Worship Of the Lord

Date: October 5, 1997-A.M.
Speaker: John Phillis
Main Scripture References: Philippians 3:13-14; Romans 8:35-39

This morning, I want to begin by telling you a story about an emperor and an ant. And, no, this is not one of Aesop’s little-known fables, and it’s not a Mother Goose nursery rhyme or fairy tale.

This is an actual event. It took place in the fourteenth century in southwest Asia. Emperor Tamerlane’s army had been routed by a powerful enemy in a battle. And Emperor Tamerlane himself was hiding in a manger—in an animal feed trough—in fear of his life as enemy troops scoured the countryside.

And as the Emperor laid there in this feed trough—in this manger—he became fascinated by an ant that was sharing this hiding place with him. And the ant was busy trying to move a kernel of corn up and over a perpendicular wall. And Tamerlane became fascinated with this. And he counted over and over and over again as this ant made the attempt to move this kernel of corn (which was considerably larger than itself) up this perpendicular wall. And time and time and time again the ant failed and fell back. Sixty-nine (69) times this ant made that attempt, and finally on the seventieth (70th) attempt, the ant was successful—it pushed the kernel of corn over the top of the wall. Inspired, and with renewed vigor and spirit, Tamerlane jumped from his hiding place with a shout, and he said, “I will climb to the end as well!,” and he regrouped his forces and defeated the enemy.

Well, Emperors need to be inspired to succeed, but then so do ordinary folks like you and I. We all need to have goals, examples and ideals to emulate—things that will pep us up and spur us on to help us to perform at our very best. This is certainly true in our day-to-day activities—in our work-a-day lives, so to speak.

Take our jobs, for example. On the job, we need to be inspired and motivated from time to time, don’t we? Employers of all types recognize the value to be derived by having employees who are thoroughly and fully motivated, who are inspired to perform at their very peak of their performance. Without some periodic motivation, incentive , inspiration and so on, most of us would probably agree that we tend to get bogged down in our work. We get in kind of a rut. Maybe we become complacent about the work or task that we’re performing. It gets to be mundane and routine and mechanical. We can get to the point where we even become sort of lifeless in the performance of our duties and responsibilities. And this condition ultimately affects the quality and the quantity of the work that we’re doing—the work that we are producing. Let me ask…Have you ever felt like this on the job? I’m sure that every one of us probably have at one time or another.

Moreover, have you ever encountered someone like this as you have looked for service of some kind in an establishment? I would have to say that quite often I think I encounter someone like this; you know, a lifeless person behind the counter, and maybe that person needs to be motivated and given some incentive.

What about the sports scene? You know, if there was ever a group of people that required motivation—inspiration—it’s a team, a team that is involved in—engaged in—a team sport of some kind.

Have you ever been watching a game, and a team has just played sort of at a mediocre level during a part of the game? And maybe something happens during the course of that game which turns the momentum around, because whatever happened has inspired and motivated the players. Or maybe when they come out of the locker room at half-time, they play like a different team, perhaps because of something that the coach has said to them in that locker room that was motivational or inspirational.

I don’t know how many of you watched the Lobo game last night on ESPN2, the National Sports Network. I thought the Lobos played fairly well during the first half, but they came out during the second half and even played better. And one of those commentators made this comment—he said, “I don’t know what Coach Fran said to them in the locker room, but whatever it is, it sure is working!” And so again, an example of being inspired and motivated in order to perform better.

Well, if there’s a need for inspiration and motivation in our jobs and in our day-to-day lives, and if sports teams need to be motivated and inspired, how much greater is that need for us, as Christians, in our spiritual lives?

The Christian who has no vitality , no motivation, no heart, no desire of loving service to serve in the kingdom, to worship God, and so on, is not a pretty sight. It’s not a good picture. It’s not something that we should have. That person just sort of goes from worship service to worship service, and from Bible class to Bible class, and from activity to activity, just kind of dragging their body along…and maybe dragging a few other bodies with them! Worship is a drag, Bible class is boring and Christian service is nothing but a drudgery.

Well, this being the case then, what can we do, or what can be done to keep ourselves motivated and inspired in our work and worship to the Lord? I believe there are several things which will work to serve to properly fulfill our needed tasks and meet the responsibilities of life that we have as Christians. And this morning, I’d like to share at least three things with you along that particular line.