Live in Excellence

These days we hear a lot about excellence, but the question for today is, “Are you living excellence in your day-to-day life?”  Even more importantly, “Are you living excellence in your walk with God?”  An excellent person is someone who’s willing to go above and beyond what we consider the normal standard.  Look at this quote:

Someone once said, “It’s a sad commentary on society that the new standard of good service is, “everything went the way it’s supposed to.”

That’s the usual standard of “It’s good enough.”  I’m doing the minimum work required to make it okay…to keep from trouble.  Is that what we want do?  Is the minimum what you’re boss is looking for from you, or is he looking for excellence?  Today I want to examine excellence in life and excellence in your walk with God.

Daniel 6:1-5 (NKJV)
^6:1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, to be over the whole kingdom; ² and over these, three governors, of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them, so that the king would suffer no loss. ³ Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm. ⁴ So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him. ⁵ Then these men said, "We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God."

Excellence

Daniel’s life is an amazing story of excellence.  He’s risen above the others, “because an excellent spirit was in him.”  So the king looks to make him chief of all the governors. Everyone will answer to him.  He was the one who distinguished himself.  That means he went above and beyond the norm.  He made himself indispensable; he was the “Go To guy.”

There is a book by Malcolm Gladwell called Outliers, It’s the story of people who have risen “distinguished themselves” by virtue of their success.  The Beatles are used as an example.  They are arguably the best Rock and Roll group ever.  They have been enormously successful but what has raised them above all the others?  According to this book they played their music as a group for more than 10,000 hours. 

In their early days they played in Munich Germany at small clubs.  They played almost every night.  They practiced for 8 hours a day and played for about 4 hours every night.  Because of this they played together for more than 10,000 hours and rose above everyone else.

Think about it for a moment.  Their music became their whole lives. They lived out their commitment to their craft.  They didn't blow off practice; they played together, between practice and concerts twelve hours a day.  They were committed to improvement.  They rose to distinction…just like Daniel.  Do you remember his story?

He was taken as a slave as a young man and he refused to compromise God’s standards about food:

Daniel 1:8 (NKJV)
^1:8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

He’s refusing to compromise.  He’s refusing to lower his standards.  He’s standing firm in what God has asked of him.  Do you know what that really is?  It’s faithfulness.  He’s faithful to God’s standards.  He’s faithful to do what God expects.

You do what our bosses expect of you, don’t you?  You’re on time for work.  You’re not always on coffee breaks. You’re diligent. You do what your boss tells you.  But what about what you do for God?  Are you on time?  Are you diligent?  Are you responsive to authority?  Do you want to be excellent? 

Excellence is a better teacher than mediocrity. The lessons of the ordinary are everywhere. Truly profound and original insights are to be found only in studying the exemplary.

Warren G. Bennis, Founder of the Leadership Institute at USC

Do you think it’s interesting that because of Daniel’s excellence his enemies couldn’t attack and destroy him?  They had to look for a way to defeat him that used his unwillingness to compromise his standards and adherence to God’s standards. 

Daniel 6:7 (NKJV)
^6:7 All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.

So they made it illegal to pray, knowing Daniel would continue to pray and worship.

Daniel 6:10 (NKJV)
^6:10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

So, even though Daniel knew of the consequences – He knew what would happen:  He prayed anyway.

This is excellence.  Even when it would be easier and safer to compromise, you continue to hold to your standards.  Daniel set the standards for himself, and they were higher standards than everyone else’s.  That’s how he “distinguished himself.”

What do your standards look like?  Are your standards bold, do they stand out?  Are they limiting you or causing you to excel?  Do you think beyond the moment?  Do you just focus on what you’re being pressured to do or are you looking to the future?  Do you have a handle on the vision?  Are you striving to see the vision accomplished or do you only care about the individual task you’ve been assigned?  Do you commit yourself to being the best you can be or is good enough…good enough? The way you answer those questions will tell you something about you commitment to personal excellence.

Look at the things your involved in at church.  First, are you even involved at all?  Are you looking for ways to improve YOUR ministry?  Are you willing to invest, your finances and your time, in YOUR ministry?  Are you self-motivated or do you constantly need encouragement and reminders to complete YOUR ministry?  Do you follow up on things that need to be done?  Do you reach out and offer help to other people in ministry?  Do you want to have an EXCELLENT spirit? 

Examples of Excellence

I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection.   Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business.

Michael J. Fox Actor

Colossians 3:22-24 (NKJV)
^3:22 Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. ²³ And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

We are called to examples of excellence.  That word “heartily” speaks of having an abundant spirit; Diligently.  This scripture is written to those who were slaves; people who had to work with no expectation of reward.  The scripture says to do the work as id your doing it for the Lord, not because you HAVE to.  

This is interesting, because how do we look at ministry?  That word minister mean to serve; we serve in ministry.  So, then why do we look at our ministry as if we’re doing the church a favor? 

You know what I find interesting is that we hold volunteers to a lesser standard than we do workers.  I understand that a volunteer could be doing something else.  I understand that they’re giving of their time to do what they’re doing but why should it be inferior just because they volunteered.

There was a woman in the Riverside church, who would volunteer to help clean when there was a church event.  So she’d come over and basically did nothing.  The things she did do we would have to go back and do again because they weren't done properly.  She was a volunteer

She was a volunteer, but she wasn't a minister.  We have ministry.  This is a gift from God.  It’s a privilege.  We should do it heartily.  We should be an example of the excellence of Christ. 

Jesus was the only one of us who was perfect.  He was the only man who lived without sin.  He is the epitome of excellence.  We are His representatives on earth.  We should be trying to live up to who He is.  Do you realize that people form opinions about Jesus by the way we live and act? 

I had a General manager one time who did something that stood out in my mind.  There was a young man on our sales staff, who was a great salesman.  He could sell ice cubes to an Eskimo.  But one night he got involved with a girl and ended up with hickeys on his neck.  Bite marks.  When he came to work this general manager fired him on the spot.  When I asked him why he said, “He represents me and this company.  I don’t want people to associate that behavior with me.  It doesn't represent my moral character.” 

It didn't reflect his lifestyle.  As Christians we represent Jesus.  How we live reflects who Jesus is.  If Jesus is excellent then we must strive for excellence, as well.

How do we strive for excellence?  We can start by being on time for church.  We can be involved in the worship service.  We can do our best in our ministries, always looking for ways to improve it.  We can come to ministry practices prepared and ready.  We can care about the details, making sure that what is needed is ready and available.  We can be there to pray.  We can be there a little early so that visitors won’t feel awkward.  We can be friendly and outgoing.  These are the details and it is the details that separate adequate from excellent.

2 Corinthians 8:7 (NKJV)
^8:7 But as you abound in everything--in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us--see that you abound in this grace also.

Taking care of the details is how you abound in diligence.

In Daniel 6, they looked for a way to get rid of Daniel.

Daniel 6:4 (NKJV)
^6:4 So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.

They couldn't find anything wrong because he was FAITHFUL.  A faithful man takes care of the details.  Getting the job done is what’s expected.  Taking care of the details, too, that’s doing it excellently.

 I read a story of a man whose car was broken into.  They smashed his window and stole something out of his car.  So he called a company to come and replace the window.  The guy who came and replaced the window put in the new one…Then he vacuumed up all the broken glass in the car.  Then he made notes of scratches and dings and al, the problems with the car as a result of the break-in, with diagrams, so the man who have it for his insurance agent.  All of this was done outside in the bitter cold.

He was only expected to change the window, but he took care of the details, too – that’s excellence.

I read another story of a soldier who was in Afghanistan.  For his wife’s birthday he wanted to do something that he knew would make her happy.  She loved Pizza from a certain Pizza place.  So he called that place, from Afghanistan, and told them what he wanted to do.  He just ordered a pizza.  So this pizza place made a pizza for her in the shape of a heart.  On the way to the delivery of the pizza they stopped and bought flowers and balloons for her and delivered them all at NO charge.

All that was required was that they deliver a pizza, but they took it upon themselves to go the extra mile and take care of the details – that’s excellence.

One final story.  There is a town of 6,000 people in a remote part of Alaska.  Some joker played a prank on the entire town by convincing them that Taco Bell would open a fast-food restaurant in their little town.  Taco Bell found out.  They had no plans for opening a restaurant in that place.  But, they purchased enough meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and hot sauce for 10,000 tacos.  Then they used a helicopter to airlift a catering truck, all the food and a few employees so they could feed tacos to the people of Benton, Alaska…at no charge.

There was no action required on Taco Bell’s part, but they did something anyway – that’s excellence.

Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence.

Edward Simmons   Artist

Just be Excellent

"If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today.  As of this second, quit doing less than excellent work."

Thomas J. Watson  Chairman of IBM in the 40s

Think about people you admire.  What is it that makes them so admirable?  Is it the courage to do the right thing even when it’s not to their advantage?  Is it their willingness to suffer so someone else doesn’t have to?  Is it the way they made their business successful while being concerned about their employees and their customer’s needs?  What is it that lifts them up in your eyes?  What is it that makes them excellent? 

I don’t want you to think that this is about business or about doing things.  This is really about our walk with God.  Daniel had an excellent spirit.  His excellence caused him to “distinguish himself.”  We should aspire to excellence as well to distinguish ourselves as Christians, so that people will see Jesus favorably because of our actions and lives.  When we lift Him up He will draw all men.

Daniel 5:11 (NKJV)
^5:11 There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God. And in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and King Nebuchadnezzar your father--your father the king--made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers.

That same Spirit dwells in you.  Show it to be an excellent Spirit.

Who's Excellent?

The people in the above video are doing excellent things.  They are doing things that are extremely difficult.  They have to put great effort and time into learning and perfecting these things.  But they have no eternal value.  These things are to please men not God.  And all of them have succeeded.  These things are impressive but they’re of little value.  They’re entertaining and exciting, but what value do they have beyond that?

“Human excellence means nothing unless it works with the consent of God.”

Euripides

Today I want to explore excellence within the framework of the will of God. 

Colossians 3:22-25 (NKJV)
^3:22 Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. ²³ And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. ²⁵ But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.

Are We Excellent?

According to Mirriam-Webster Dictionaries, excellence can be defined as:  very good of its kind: FIRST-CLASS

"Excellence in any art or profession is attained only by hard and persistent work."

Theodore Martin

Have you taken any time to examine what you’re doing for God?  What are the things you’re doing for God.  Have you set aside any time for Him and His purposes? 

Excellence is seen in a number of ways:  I’m reading Steve Jobs biography right now, and there’s an interesting anecdote about jobs’ stepfather.  He’s the type of man that likes to restore cars and do things with his hands.  At one point Jobs was watching and helping as his father built a cabinet.  And his father was taking time to make sure that everything about the cabinet was done right and looked beautiful…even the parts no one would ever see.  He used high-quality wood even for the back of the cabinet. That’s excellence.

Wanting to be sure that the finished product is high-quality; not throwing something together that looks good on the surface but taking the time and putting in the thought to do it right.  That’s doing something with excellence.

In our day and hour so many things are done to give the appearance of excellence without actually being excellent.  For example, I was reading about a car company in Finland that developed a high-end electric car.  These cars look like sports cars, they have beautiful interiors.  They sell for more than $100,000 USD each.  But a couple of weeks ago every single car that they’ve built was recalled, because they have a fire risk.  They spontaneously burn up.  The engineering on the battery system, that no one would see, was not up to industry standards.  They have the appearance of quality but they’re not excellent. 

This translates to how we do things for God as well.  If you look around at the church world you see beautiful modern buildings, with all the latest technology, all of the programs.  I know one church that even has a Starbuck’s right on their campus.  On the surface they’re the ideal of the modern, “Super Church.”  I’m not saying that these things are bad in and of themselves.  But inside, people are not involved in real evangelism or winning sinners to Jesus.

We used to have a booth at a night market type event in Riverside and for a while they put us next to this other church.  I listened to the way people talked to people who stopped at their booth.  They talked about all the programs…”We have a singles ministry, we have a volleyball ministry, we have coffee shop and Christian bookstore.  Who are they trying to get to the church with those kinds of things?  As a sinner I never would have set foot in a Christian bookstore.  So whom are they trying to reach…other Christians, maybe?  So then evangelism just becomes an exercise at getting people in the door.  It’s not about getting them saved; it’s about filling the pews.  I wonder if God looks at these things and calls it excellence.  Is that meeting the standards of God will?  Or is it putting the face of evangelism on a marketing strategy. 

In my last post I talked about how each of us has strengths that can overcome each other’s weaknesses:  That maybe you’re strong in an area where someone else is weak.  In that way we can overcome our weaknesses and as a church we can be effective at reaching people. That’s why Christianity isn’t an individual pursuit.  That’s why the church was intended to be a body of believers.  But excellence as a body is dependent on us being excellent as individuals.  If all of us are doing what we do with excellence then our efforts as a group will be excellent. 

If you’re involved in ministry, take a look at your ministry efforts, are you doing what you’re doing with excellence?  If you’re not involved with your church’s ministry, is that meting the standards of God’s calling on your life?  Are you excellent in the things of life, work, family, marriage, but not doing anything for God? 

What does our scripture say?  “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,” (Col 3:23)

The first part of this scripture is in this context:  Do what you do as if you’re doing it for God.  Do what you do with excellence, not just to look good, but because it’s the right thing to do.  That means every aspect of our worldly life.  We need to obey our bosses, because it’s the right thing to do, not because we want to look good for them so they will reward us with a raise or a promotion or whatever.  It also means every aspect of our spiritual life as well.  We should desire to be as much like Jesus as possible, and jesus did everything with excellence.

The Excellence of God – Being like Him

God is into us being excellent, because God is excellent.

Job 37:23 (NKJV)
^37:23 As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him; He is excellent in power, In judgment and abundant justice; He does not oppress.

Psalms 8:1 (NKJV)
^8:1 To the Chief Musician. On the instrument of Gath. A Psalm of David. O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

I look around me and marvel at the earth and the things of the earth.  How everything fits together and works together perfectly.  Look at your hand for a moment.  It’s the perfect tool isn’t it?  You can use it to do so many things.  How your body is made.  So many things such complexity and every thing works together perfectly.  How your mind works alone is amazing.  There is a book called “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made” that talks about how our bodies work. 

 In our bodies alone we can see the excellence of God.  How much more is it evident in the rest of the universe?  Look at this scripture:

Romans 1:20 (NKJV)
^1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

We can see God in the details of creation.  God’s excellence shows in his creation.  Who is the creator of the universe?

John 1:1-3 (NKJV)
^1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

According to John, Jesus is the creator of the universe; everything that was made was made through Him.  He’s the creative power of the universe.  So the question becomes, who are we?  Are we His disciples?  If we’re here to learn from Him and be like Him then we are His disciples. 

That’s the definition of a disciple.  Not just someone who learns but someone who desire to be like their teacher.  When mwe go to school we’re learners, right?  We go there to learn many things, does that make us disciples of our teachers?  No, because the desire to be like the teacher is what makes us a disciple.

I was talking to a brother in the Zhongli church, the other day and he was telling me about one of the new guys in the church.  He talks to him; he was showing up late for church and this brother tells him, “I’m never late, because I want to get all I can get from God.”  So the guy listens to him and begins to come to church on time. That’s the discipleship process.  That’s what being a disciple is about being like the one who teaches.  So if we are disciples of Christ then we should desire to be like Him in every way.  That includes doing what we do with excellence.

I want to look at two men of the Bible who did the things they did with excellence.  The first is Joseph.  We know the story of Joseph.  His brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt.  Then his master’s wife lied and he went to prison.  Then he got out and became Pharaoh’s right hand man.  But take a look at Joseph’s character for a moment.  I want you to see something about how he did things:

Genesis 39:4-6 (NKJV)
^39:4 So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. ⁵ So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. ⁶ Thus he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.

So Potiphar put everything he had into Joseph’s control. He didn’t even know what he had except what was set on the table before him.   Can you imagine?  Everyday he sat down and said “Oh look bread!  I guess we’re not broke yet.”  That’s big-time trust isn’t it? 

Joseph didn’t let him down either.  The Bible says the Egyptian was blessed for Joseph’s sake.  Because God wanted to bless Joseph, Potiphar got blessed, because Joseph did what he did with excellence.  Is your boss blessed because you work there?  Joseph was excellent in prison and the jailer trusted him over all the other prisoners.  He was excellent in his work for Pharaoh.  His diligence saved Egypt and Israel from the famine.

The other one I want to look at is Daniel:

Daniel 6:1-4 (NKJV)
^6:1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, to be over the whole kingdom; ² and over these, three governors, of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them, so that the king would suffer no loss. ³ Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm. ⁴ So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.

Daniel has an excellent spirit; he was given to excellence in all that he does.  There was no error found in him:  None, zip zero nada, 零.  He has an excellent spirit so the king trusted him above all the others.  As Christians people should be able to see that in us.  You know, we can’t do everything perfectly, we’re human, but perfection isn’t excellence, anyway. Excellence is found in faithfulness, giving your best effort and attention to detail.  It’s from doing it the very best you know how and learning from the mistakes you made and doing it better the next time. 

As an executive I never got angry just when there was a failure on somebody’s part.  If they did what they did with their best effort I would just point out the error and we’d go on.  But if they were careless or kept making the same mistake and never learning from it then there’d be fireworks.  Excellence is found in giving your best.

Being Excellent

How are we excellent?  It’s found in verses 23 and 24 of our text:

Colossians 3:23-24 (NKJV)
^3:23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

So what is it constitutes excellence?  Doing everything as if we’re doing it for Jesus, know that in Him we have our reward.  Isn’t it interesting that God cares about how we do things?  Do you know why God is interested in how we do our tasks; how well we work for our bosses; how well we do what the things we do for Him?  He cares because it reflects on the Gospel. 

People should see Christ in us.  That means being excellent.  People should see the power of God to change lives in us.  That means overcoming our weakness and sin.  People should see the excellence of God in us, because we are living as much like Him as we can.  Because we’re His followers we should be like Him and that means being excellent in our approach to everything.  Can you imagine what a powerhouse our churches could be in our communities if everyone in the church approached the call of God with excellence?   We could turn the world upside down.