"DON'T PAY THE CLOWN!"

2 KINGS 13:14-19

We all have hopes, desires, goals. Some of them are temporal and small; others are significant and weighty. Let me tell you about two individuals who had desires. A twelve year old boy who lived out in the country had never seen a circus. You can imagine his excitement when a poster went up at school announcing that on the next Saturday a circus was coming to town. He ran home with a great desire to see the circus. It became his goal to do so.  In the text we see Joash, also known as Jehoash, King of Israel. He, too, had a great desire. He wanted deliverance from the Arameans, or Syrians. It became his goal to do so. Both the boy and Joash teach us some lessons for life. Let's consider those lessons.

1. WE ALL OUGHT TO SET OUR SIGHTS ON SOME GOAL OR END TO ATTAIN:
1. The boy wanted to see the circus. Joash wanted to defeat the Arameans. They each established an end they hoped to attain.
2. Not all our goals or ends are of equal worth. Some goals are worthy, some unworthy; some noble, some ignoble. Choose well and wisely the ends you determine to attain.
3. Consider some worthy ends toward which to strive:
1. There may be some pernicious habit you need to break: swearing, telling offensive jokes, being sarcastic and rude, using defiling substances, you fill in the blank. You find yourself doing it without even thinking about it or realizing it consciously. Break that habit.
2. There may be a relationship you need to mend: give free forgiveness if you've been wronged, express an apology if you've offended.
3. There may be some attitude you need to develop: humility, generosity, contentment, willingness to serve.
4. You may decide to be a better person: a more faithful husband or wife; a more patient parent; a more obedient child; a better employer / employee. Make that end your goal.
5. There may be someone you need to lead to Christ: your best friend, your mother, father, child, sibling, employer, teacher. Make that your intended aim.
6. You want to know Christ and His word better: study it daily, memorize it diligently, speak with Him frequently, obey Him unhesitatingly.
4. The ends toward which we press on ought to be
1. Challenging but realistic.
2. Worthy and beneficial.
3. Unselfish and altruistic.

The boy really wanted to go to the circus. Although the family was poor, the father sensed how important this was to his son. He told him that if he got his chores done early he'd see to it that he got to go to the circus. The boy did his best and worked extra hard. Joash really wanted to be free of the Arameans. Elisha said, "Open the window and shoot an arrow." The king did so. Then Elisha said, "Take some arrows and strike the ground with them." But Joash struck the ground only three times. Elisha was disappointed and angered by the King's lack of effort and enthusiasm. There is a lesson there for us, too.

2. WE ALL OUGHT TO DO OUR BEST TO ATTAIN OUR DESIRED ENDS:
1. The boy worked hard; he did all that his father asked him to do and more. Joash, too, did as he was told, but not with the diligence Elisha hoped for.  "You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it.  But now you shall strike Aram only three times."
2. The most rewarding ends we attain are those which demand our best efforts and which stand as representative of our diligence. Many have attained great ends by great effort.
3. As Ted Engstrom wrote in his book "Pursuit of Excellence: "Cripple him, and you have a Sir Walter Scott. Lock him in a prison cell, and you have a John Bunyan. Bury him in the snows of Valley Forge, and you have a George Washington. Raise him in abject poverty and you have an Abraham Lincoln. Strike him down with infantile paralysis, and he becomes Franklin Roosevelt. Burn him so severely that the doctors say he'll never walk again, and you have a Glenn Cunningham - who set the world's one-mile record in 1934. Deafen him and you have a Ludwig von Beethoven. Have him or her born black in a society filled with racial discrimination, and you have a Booker T. Washington, a Marian Anderson, a George Washington Carver. ... Call him a slow learner, 'retarded,' and write him off as uneducable, and you have an Albert Einstein."
4. God help us to do our best. May we live by the same "never-say-quit" attitude of John Wesley: A page from his diary reads as follows: "Sunday morning, May 5, preached in St. Ann's, was asked not to come back anymore. Sunday p.m., May 5, preached at St. John's, deacons said, "Get out and stay out." Sunday a.m., May 12, preached at St. Jude's, can't go back there either. Sunday p.m., May 12, preached at St. George's, kicked out again. Sunday a.m., May 19, preached at St. somebody else's, deacons called special meeting and said I couldn't return. Sunday p.m., May 19, preached on the street, kicked off the street. Sunday a.m., May 26, preached in meadow, chased out of meadow as a bull was turned loose during the services. Sunday a.m., June 2, preached out at the edge of town, kicked off the highway. Sunday p.m., June 2, afternoon service, preached in a pasture, 10,000 people came to hear me."

On Saturday morning, the boy's chores were done and his father reached down into the pocket of his overalls and pulled out a dollar bill - the most money the boy had ever possessed. He was so excited, his feet hardly seemed to touch the ground. In town he noticed people lining the streets, and he worked his way through the crowd until he could see what was happening. It was the approaching circus parade! The parade was the best thing this lad had ever seen. Caged animals, majestic elephants, the circus band, acrobats performing their antics, flags and ribbons swirling overhead. Finally, after everything had passed by, the circus clown brought up the rear. As the clown passed by, the boy reached into his pocket and took out that precious dollar bill. Handing the money to the clown, he turned and went home. He had done so much and had come so far and then just paid the clown and went home! Elisha gave the king express directions but he struck the ground only three times and then just quit. Elisha was angered by his lack of enthusiasm and said the victory would be a limited one. Here is the final lesson for us:

3. WE ALL SOMETIMES FALL SHORT OF REALIZING OUR DESIRED ENDS:
1. The boy thought he had seen the circus when he had only seen the parade! He only experienced a partial fulfillment. Joash thought he was doing what Elisha instructed, but he did it half- heartedly and without vigor, faith, tenacity and enthusiasm. He went on to win only a partial victory.
2. We, too, often fall short of actual attainment:
1. We quit too early: we give up on that relationship when healing may be imminent; we quit the job when things may be about to improve; we forsake a friendship that is about to be a rich treasure; we quit witnessing to someone thinking they are hopeless when they may be very near to receiving Christ.
2. We lose sight of our end: we become distracted and side-tracked.
3. We put out half-hearted or mediocre effort: we grow tired, discouraged, and disillusioned.
4. We fail to count the cost and have not adequately prepared for the work.
3. There are many instances of this to consider:
1. I read of a mine shaft being sunk deep into a hillside. The owner of the mine quit and sold the mine only to regret it. The purchasers drove the shaft three feet deeper and hit the mother lode.
2. Edinburgh, Scotland has its model of the Parthenon, unfinished because funds ran out; it is called "The City's Disgrace."
3. The Buffalo Bills football team made it to four consecutive Super Bowls from 1991 to 1994 and didn't win a single time.
4. More recently an American millionaire tried to circumnavigate the globe via hot-air balloon and failed in several attempts.
4. We all have some instances when we have fallen short. But it is not failure to fail, it is failure to quit trying! The inventor Charles Kettering suggested that we must learn to fail intelligently. He said, "Once you've failed, analyze the problem and find out why, because each failure is one more step leading up to the cathedral of success. The only time you don't want to fail is the last time you try." Here are three suggestions for turning failure into success:
1. Honestly face your shortcomings without making excuses.
2. Make the most of the failure; don't waste it. Learn all you can from it; every bitter experience can teach us something.
3. Never allow failure to become an excuse for not trying again. You may not be able to reclaim the loss, undo the damage, or reverse the consequences, you can't go back but you can go forward with Christ.

The boy saw the parade but not the circus; he paid the clown and never fulfilled his goal. Joash won a meager, limited victory over the Arameans. He never fulfilled his goal. Are you missing out on all that God has for you? Are you seeing the parade and not the circus? Are you paying the clown and going no further? Are you winning a partial victory? Many people seem to be content to settle for second best. They pay the clown and never see the circus; they whip the Arameans only three times. Resolve to become all that God intends you to be. Give yourself to Christ, follow Him completely, and allow the Holy Spirit to work in you and through you. Satan is the clown who is willing to take what you have to give and to keep you from realizing all you can know in Christ. Don't pay the clown; don't miss the best; don't fall short in attaining what you can have in Jesus Christ. Make this your highest end and most sought after goal: Living for Jesus. That decision means life here and hereafter. Who will choose that as your greatest goal this morning?

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