Personal Mastery

 

Pushing It

Introduction: The term mastery descends from the Sanskrit root mah, meaning “greater.” (This is also the source of “maharajah.”) Through the centuries, in Latin and Old English, the meaning of “mastery” as domination over something else (“I am your master”), has endured. But a variation of the word evolved in medieval French: maitre, meaning someone who was exceptionally proficient and skilled…a master of a craft. Mastery as we use the word today reflects maitre. It means the capacity not only to produce results, but also to “master” the principles underlying the way you produce results. If someone can create good work only with constant struggle, we wouldn’t call him or her masterful. In mastery, there is a sense of effortlessness and joyfulness. It stems from your ability and willingness to understand and work with the forces around you.-Art Kleiner

A. Learning to drive a stick shift can be very stressful but once mastered it can be very fulfilling. Learning to swim can be very scary but once it is mastered it can be very fulfilling, etc.

A. The main reason for this message today is to inspire intrinsic motivation in each of you to begin your own journey toward Personal Mastery as a human being and as a Son of God.

B. Personal Mastery involves learning to keep both a personal vision and a clear picture of current reality before us. This generates creative tension between where we are and where we “choose” to be. Notice I used the word “choose” to be rather than “want” to be.

1. If you are convinced that a vision or a result is important you will be able to see clearly that you must change your life in order to reach that result and bring all necessary energy to the forefront in order to be committed to the changes necessary.

2. We may not be able to command ourselves to snap instantly into this frame of mind, but the discipline of personal mastery suggests that we can, as individuals, cultivate a way of thinking that leads us gradually to it.

3. Choosing: making a commitment to creating the reality you choose

I. Exodus 32:18 And he said [it is] not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither [is it] the voice of them that cry for being overcome: [but] the noise of [them that] sing do I hear.

C. They were oppressed and now they are free, that is physically but they still maintain the old mental model of bondage and do not have a clue about the responsibility the goes along with freedom.

D. They obviously had not even begun to master freedom as it pertains to relationship with God, the author of and deliverer of their freedom.

II.Daniel 6:24 And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast [them] into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the MASTERY of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.

A. These evil men did not master truth and honesty, they sought to advance their career at the expense of one (a man of God at that) more righteous than they.

B. When we fail to personally master the evil that is in our hearts we will sooner or later find ourselves in a “lions den” where the evil itself within us or some other form of universal correction will Master us.

IV.1Corinthians 9:16-27

16 For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!

17 For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.

18 What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.

19 For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.

20 And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;

21 To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

22 To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

23 And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.

24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. (PUSH IT TO THE LIMIT – THE RESULT –THE OUTCOME YOUR CHOICE)

25 And every man that striveth for the MASTERY is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:

27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

III.Conclusion: We will conclude this part of this message with three viewpoints of Interpersonal Mastery.

A. The “Reactive” orientation: “the world happened to me”

1. The person who sees his or her life from the viewpoint of this orientation accepts the world as being full of forces, which exist outside of you and act upon you.

2. You play the hand that you are dealt and can hope to figure out ahead of time what cards are coming you way.

3. Your learning is political: you are skilled at finding unfriendly forces to blame, the economy, the weather, the in-crowd, my parents, and on and on.

4. You tend to learn from a defensive frame of reference – “I want to know what’s going on so that I can avoid its unpleasant consequences”; your visions tend to be negative as well, “I want to get out of this situation,” or “I want to be left alone,” or “I just don’t want to be tricked again”

5. With no opportunity to take responsibility themselves, people learn to keep their defenses up, duck blame, and avoid initiative.

NOTE: The reactive orientation is not borne in a vacuum and must be taken seriously because it is usually the result of our life stories (as we see them, especially without including the providence of God). We see disease, loss, untimely death, heartache, poverty and many other tragedies that we just can’t brush aside by saying, “Get a Vision.” Yet, the fact of the matter is that the world is full of people with testimonies attesting to the fact that they escaped the reactive orientation and have gained more strength from handling tragedies and unpleasant consequences. It’s BY GOD’S GRACE – I Believe In God!

B. The “Creative” Orientation: “I create my future.”

1. In the creative orientation you move through life asking “what do I want to create?” Instead of blaming the world, you ask how you caused your circumstances to happen, and what you need to do to change them.

2. You learn rapidly from experience, and continually improve you ability to take effective action and produce results.

3. You don’t feel limited by today’s reality (things can and do change). People may think of you as a leader because you know where you are going and you can get people to go along. If you are successful, they call you “self-made.” (They may also call you “self-centered.”)

4. People with the creative orientation tend to work long hours and have a ‘do what it takes’ mentality to get the job done and to see their vision materialize.

NOTE: Like the reactive stance the creative stance also sets you “apart from” the rest of the world. You can become so self absorbed in your vision and goals that you shut other people out and become abrupt in your response to their concerns. Short answers and short sightedness can creep in because you just don’t have time for the dumb stuff and don’t forget, it is you who are determining what the “dumb stuff” is in the first place.

C. Finally, there is the “interdependent” orientation

1. This orientation incorporates the reactive as well as the creative orientation. You begin to understand that you will not be in either orientation all of the time and that there is also something going on in your life that is far greater than you as an individual but that you as an individual have a calling unique to whatever is going on in your environment. If you are there you are present and if you are present something is accruing because of you.

2. You realize that you are a part of a system that is evolving over time and your actions or inactions have an effect on how this system evolves. YOU ACTUALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!!!!

Repeat after me, “I MAKE A DIFFERENCE – IF I MAKE A DIFFERENCE; WHAT DIFFERENCE AM I MAKING NOW – WHAT DIFFERENCE DO I WANT TO MAKE – I MUST ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT I AM MAKING A DIFFERENCE EVEN IF I DO NOT WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE – I STILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

3. The interdependent orientation recognizes that you can’t command the larger system, any more than a single cell in the body can command the entire body.

4. Your personal vision begins to evolve beyond the “I want,” and you begin to ask the question, “who is the ‘I’ that wants when I say ‘I want’? (Other questions will follow.) The Why’s…

5. You realize that, as much as you “want” your vision, you are also its instrument – the steward and servant of a larger purpose (visions don’t just say something they do something). You feel no desire to gain at the expense of anyone or anything else, you recognize that occurrences of the larger purpose inevitably comes back to affect your own occurrence.

A physician/author put it this way: “unless you are an identical twin,” he said, “you are a unique, never-to-be-repeated event. Your parents could make love a million times and never again reproduce the same genetic pattern. You are the only chance this planet has for your unique contribution. Will others’ expectations, rules and roles be your focus? Will you be only what you think you should be? OR WILL YOU OCCUR?

My question to you is will you continue to live your life as just something you do or will you at least begin to think of the life God has so graciously given you as a calling – something which the world around you has called and is calling forth from you. Which calls will you answer and how will you answer them?

PERSONAL MASTERY 1 Corinthians 9:22-27

22 To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some.

23 And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.

24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. (PUSH IT TO THE LIMIT – THE RESULT –THE OUTCOME YOU CHOSE)

25 And every man that striveth for the MASTERY is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:

27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.