Starting Over Part 3:

“Your attitude determines your altitude”

Ephesians 4:17-24, Mark 2:21-22

January 22, 2006

Back in the day, when I was in sales and marketing, I remember seeing an elegantly framed poster on the wall of an executive’s office, with a beautiful blue sky and two fighter jets on it, climbing up towards the heavens.

And in large white letters across the bottom of the poster it read, “Your attitude determines your altitude.”

It was something like this one (show eagle poster on screen).

I remember staring at this poster for a while, and thinking to myself, “You know, that’s very true.”

From a Christian point of view, perhaps we can equate “altitude” with reaching heaven, which is, of course, our goal when this life is over.  And so, our attitude toward Christ and one another does indeed affect our altitude.

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been talking about how it is that we can forget what is behind us in our past, and push on toward that goal of reaching heaven.

We spoke about being reborn, of receiving the new birth which is available to us in Christ, and being baptized in Christ.

We talked about how we don’t have to do this alone, nor should we, because we’re all in this together.  And it doesn’t matter who you are, where you’ve come from, what you do or do not have, Christ loves and accepts us all the same.

And so today as we continue our series on Starting Over, we’re going to talk about our attitudes: our attitudes toward accepting this gift from God, and our attitude toward following and serving Christ in this race we call life.

And in a sense, life is like a race.  Unlike most races, however, we are blessed with the option of starting over if we have gotten off on the wrong foot.

And the finish line of this race is even more amazing—because everyone has the opportunity to win!  We just have to decide to have a winning attitude.

In this year of the winter Olympics in Torino , Italy , consider the Olympic athletes for a moment.

In their races, there is only room for one winner.  And they don’t have the opportunity to re-start if they begin poorly.  More than likely, if you are an Olympian who got off to a poor start, you’re not going to finish very well.

But every once in a while, you find the story of someone who seemed to be doomed from the start, but yet who finished well.  What makes the difference? 

I propose that it’s their attitude.  It is an attitude of winning.  It is their attitude which determines their altitude!

The same is true of us in our endeavor to have an empowering, enriching, eternal life-giving relationship with Jesus Christ.  We need an attitude of gratitude!

You see, Paul tells us in this second half of chapter 4 of Ephesians that we need to let Christ help us to get rid of our old attitudes and habits and make room for His way of thinking and acting.

As we used to say, “We need to stop our stinkin’ thinkin’ and get a checkup from the neck up!”

We need to stop thinking according to the world’s views—because that won’t get us to the finish line.  It’s only with Christ’s help that we can serve and love with the right attitudes so that we can beat the unbeatable odds and together achieve the glorious plan that God has for our lives!

Our scripture reads:

17b that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

That’s what the attitude of the world gets us: hardened hearts, leading to ignorance and therefore missing the chance to achieve the goal of heaven.
Verse 19 tells us what happens to those who think like the world:
19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

You see each of us has a God-shaped hole in our hearts and souls - Psalm 42 says "my soul thirsts for God, for the living God." If we refuse to let God fill our need, then we will be driven to fill it with something else.  And for some, the things we choose to fill the hole with may make us feel like we’ve gotten a little higher altitude, but that’s not the kind of altitude we’re going for here.

But the good news is that there is an answer, a way for a fresh start:

22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

It’s like “wax on, wax off.”  We get rid of the old stuff, and we change, we “put on” a new self in Christ.  As we heard in Mark, you can’t put new cloth on old fabric or pour new wine into old wineskins.  Because you’ve got a new attitude!  And it comes from our new association with Christ.  What a friend we have in Jesus!

The answer to life—especially eternal life—truly is in who you know!

An American tourist in Paris , who purchased an inexpensive amber necklace in a trinket shop, was shocked when he had to pay quite a high duty on it to clear customs in New York . This aroused his curiosity, so he had it appraised. After looking at the object under a magnifying glass, the jeweler said, "I’ll give you $25,000 for it." Greatly surprised, the man decided to have another expert examine it. When he did, he was offered $10,000 more. "What do you see that’s so valuable about this old necklace?" asked the astonished man. "Look through this glass," replied the jeweler. There before his eyes was an inscription: "From Napoleon Bonaparte to Josephine."

The value of the necklace came from its association with a person.

Listen, maybe today you don’t feel valuable.  Maybe your attitude is that you’ve messed up in this race of life and feel separated from God.

But Jesus loved you and me enough to come and give his perfect life for our not so perfect lives.
Back in chapter 2 of Ephesians the Bible says, “Though you once were far from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ.”

And that makes you very, very valuable!
You can start again when you and Jesus run the race of life together!

Show “Together” video.  Dick and Rick Hoyt.

“Together.”  Scripture tells us that, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

So I urge you, my friends, to start over and together with Jesus determine your attitude, to lean on him, so that your new altitude you may reach heaven.