Got Grit?

1. Read James 1:12. James speaks of a “crown of life” promised to those who remain steadfast under trial. How does this eternal perspective shape the way we approach temporary struggles and temptations?
2. How does biblical grit differ from worldly grit? What examples can you give?
3. Why do you think some people are able to persevere through difficult situations while others struggle to cope?
4. Read Hebrews 10:23-25. What is the role of the community in developing godly grit?
5. How can we encourage and support one another during difficult trials?

Prayer + Practice:

Whether you're currently in the valley or the mountaintop, develop your godly grit by carving out time in your schedule to be regularly grounded in Scripture and steadfast in prayer. This will root you in God's truth and develop the muscle of faith needed to withstand the trials of life. Ask God where you could go deeper in Scripture or in prayer this week.

Well, good morning. Good morning. Good Hillside Sunday morning. How y'all doing? We have an effervescent group today.

You know, I will say it is a challenge to have to follow a baby dedication. I mean, you got my ugly mug up here, and then you got that cute little kids, and I'm just. I'm lost. I'm in trouble. I'm already behind the eight ball starting out.

But I am excited to be with you this morning. And we're going to be sharing a concept that actually was probably triggered because of Mike's message last week. And Mike talked about some of the adversity that he and Beth had gone through, especially in this journey of wanting to have a family and the ups and downs that they went through related to that. And it was a challenge. And so it reminded me of a concept that we talk about a lot, and we can use it in the secular world, but also in the spiritual.

And it's that whole idea of grit. But I want to start with a question, if I could, and maybe I better stand this way. And the question is, this is, why do some people thrive amid great challenges and others don't? Have you asked that question? Sometimes.

If you haven't, then I guess I'm in trouble. I'm probably the only one here, but I have. And I think what separates people from those that thrive and those that don't is grit. And so I want to be able to set that up as best we can in an appropriate manner. I remember back in 1969, I was a freshman, so you could start adding up where I am right now.

A brand new motion picture came out that starred John Wayne. It was called True Grit. How many have seen true grit? How many like John Wayne? I love him, too.

He's a good man, but he's a terrible theological model. But he's a good man. I like his movies, but that western that starred John Wayne, he played the role of Marshall Rooster Cogburn. And in it, the premise of it, he's hired by a young girl named Mattie Ross to track down and bring to justice the Mandev that killed her father. And Maddie hires Cogburn because she heard that this man has, what?

True grit. And he demonstrates that as the plot unfolds and he accomplishes his mission. So we have to ask the question, what is grit? Well, one writer said this. It's the nuclear reactor at our core that drives perseverance and profound impact in life.

It's the steely determination to keep going when it would be easy to give up. It's the will to keep going when persistence isn't enough. Even after this morning's first service, Missy Snyder gave me a quote that now I want to read to you that I was not planning to, but I'm going to because it means so much. And this is from Paul Tripp. And Paul Tripp said, the Lord will always take you where you do not want to go in order to produce in you what you cannot achieve on your own.

Isn't that the process of grit? Amen. And we're going to talk about that this morning. Now, the idea of grit came up, and Pete and I were talking about it a number of weeks back, but there's a psychologist named Angela Lee Duckworth. How many of you have seen her TED talk on online?

Okay, one of you, that's okay, but I would encourage you to go ahead to read that. And she has made grit the focus of her years of study. And she defines grit as the ability to persevere in pursuing a future goal over a long period of time and not giving up. It's having stamina. It's sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality.

You see, in her mind, grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint of. And so what I want to do now is maybe give you some other descriptive adjectives that might describe grit when we ponder that or think about that. So some of the words that I want you to think of when you're thinking of grit, it could be determination. I hope it comes up.

Okay. See, they're telling me to point different directions. I'm going to read this. We'll just go forward. So a couple of words I want you to think about.

Grit is defined as determination. In the scripture, we use the word perseverance. It's somebody that is resolute or has great resolution. They are steadfast. Another biblical term, they have tenacity, they have fortitude, they have resilience, they have resoluteness, they have toughness, they have mettle.

And yes, they have courage. All of those, you put them in the blender, those are descriptive elements that give you different facets of what somebody with Grit has. And it's important, but Grit really is simply the refusal to give up. It is the spirit that Winston Churchill mentioned back in 1941 in his speech when he said, never give in. Never give in.

Never, never, never give in. Nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and to good sense. You see, the key point about biblical grit is that this is not a genetic trait. It is an acquired character trait that God will help form within us. You see, true biblical grit is forged in the fires of adversity.

And I will also add this. Grit is grown outside of your comfort zone. How many of you in this room have comfort zones? The rest of you are Pinocchio. Your noses are growing.

You all got comfort zones. And we want to stay in those comfort zones, but we can't, because if you stay in those comfort zones, they become stagnant zones, and we wither and die. You see, ultimately, we need a source of strength outside of ourselves to help us face and overcome the challenges that demand more than we have to give. And that's what grit is all about. So this morning, what I want to do is this.

I want to cover three different elements, right? I want to talk about how the scripture encourages grit. We're gonna look at biblical passages, and I'm gonna go through a series of them. We're gonna read them out loud, because that's the best way. And even Romans talks about faith comes by hearing and hearing of the word of God.

So we're gonna say these out loud. We're also gonna look at how scripture demonstrates grit. And by that, I mean is we're gonna look at biblical personalities, and there's a lot of them that really give us some great examples. I don't know about you, but I love to hear stories of individuals that go through life in challenging ways and how do they make their outcomes? And I even learn from those that don't.

And then finally, we're gonna look at how scripture rewards grit, which means we're gonna talk about the biblical prize for all of us who are faithful to live out the life that God wants. So when we think of grit in the Bible, I'll say this much. You are not gonna find the word grit in any credible english translation of the Bible. It may be somewhere in southeast Texas, out in some ranch land, where someone's eating a food called grit, but not in our bibles. Right, but it's there nonetheless.

The Bible's terms for grit, scripturally, two words that are used quite frequently are steadfastness and also endurance. Now, this is important because these two words have very important meaning. When you think of steadfastness, that is the determination to remain at your post come what may. If you're a soldier, you remain at your post come what may. And God is asking each of us to remain at our post, come what may.

He wants us to be steadfast in our faith, but also endurance. And this is the determination to keep moving forward toward your desired goal, despite external challenges and often internal weariness. When I think of what Mike and Beth had to walk through over these last few years before God blessed them with that precious child, without question, they had external challenges and they had internal weariness, but God was faithful. Some of the verses I want us to think about are this, and I'm going to read these aloud. I just want you to meditate on them.

Romans five three five says, not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings. Why? Because we know that suffering produces perseverance. Ah, grit and perseverance, character and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love, God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

How about James 112? Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those that love him. Galatians six nine says, and let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. Hebrews twelve one says, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 1036 says, for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what is promised.

Two Thessalonians three says, as for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. Ephesians six says, praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with what all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints in James one, two through four says, consider it all joy, brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, but let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Amen. And then finally, first Corinthians 1558 I love this passage.

Be steadfast, immovable, always, always, always. I added the three, always, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. Now, if you or I were to do a Google search for perseverance in the Bible, you're going to get a treasure chest full of passages that will encourage us to make sure, we have spiritual grit. And over the years, and I was thinking about this as I was reflecting on this message for Sunday, the many people that I've interacted with over the years, I really do believe that that single greatest predictor of spiritual success is biblical grit. And again, grit is a predisposition to simply never quit.

Now, not only do we have scripture that God gives us to look at, and I could have given you more. Matter of fact, I found well over 250 verses, but my wife said I couldn't share them here because you all would get up and leave because it's Labor Day. So I'm going to continue. But what I'm going to add now is that not only does scripture tell us what to do, but scripture gives us some great biblical examples, some great personalities that can help us understand what grit is. And I want to share some of them with you.

Remember, as you're thinking about that, biblical grit differs from worldly, bootstrap variety grit in a crucial way. It's not John Wayne theology, even though I like that film. That's not the kind of stuff we're talking about. Biblical steadfastness and endurance has at its core, this is important, a faith that rests on the promises of God and therefore is full of hope. You see, true godly grit is able to strive hard and stand fast.

Why? Because it's empowered by the grace of God. And that's why Paul could say things like, I have worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is in me. So let's look at some, what I call gritty examples of some personalities in the scripture. The one that I first thought of was Noah.

What's it like working for twelve decades building a boat?

Now some of you in here are thinking, oh, that wasn't 120 real years, Jeff. Yeah, it was. It was. And when he started, his kids were small, and he had to wait until his children got older to use them to help build the ark. 120 years.

And do you think the community around him thought that what he was doing was of interest? How would you like to be mocked? How would you like to be have again aspersions? Cast your way? But he stayed the course because he had gritz.

He wanted to do that which God told him, and he stayed on point and completed it. But it took 120 years to get it done.

He waited for that fulfillment of God's promise. How about Abraham and Sarah? They had to live like strangers in a new land, and they had to wait for God's promises. For a significant amount of time into their old age as they waited for a fulfillment of God's promise to give them a child. We see the joy that Mike and Beth have with their child.

Well, guess what? Abraham and Sarah wanted to have their children too, and they had to wait a long time. And what enabled them to wait a long time was to believe and trust in God and have grit that it would be done. Jacob served his devious uncle Laban for many years as he waited for the fulfillment of God's promise. And God fulfilled it.

Joseph, who languished in the egyptian prison as he waited for the fulfillment of God's promise. But as a young man, remember, he was given dreams by God that indicated he would be a great leader. Unfortunately, he told his brothers that he would be over them. Not a good thing when you're a younger brother. But instead of becoming a great leader soon after the vision, Joseph's life went in what seemed to be the opposite direction.

His brother sold him as a slave to Egypt, where he faithfully served Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's bodyguard. But he nevertheless was then thrown into prison on false charges. And he faithfully served a prison warden, but was forgotten for years. And it seemed that Joseph was on the fast track in the opposite direction of being a great leader. But in spite of this, Joseph hung in there.

He never failed in his commitment to the Lord. And when God's refining work in his life was done, he snatched Joseph out of prison, made him prime minister of Egypt, fulfilling the initial promise. Joseph had grit.

Moses had to lead the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. And as he waited for the fulfillment of God's promises, you see, God called Moses to go to Egypt to lead the Israelites out of slavery. He was most extremely reluctant. But eventually he went and appealed to pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Instead, though, what did Pharaoh do?

He intensified their persecution and the burden of slavery on the Israelites to back breaking levels they'd never experienced before. But God used Moses in a levy of series to again levy a series of plagues on Egypt that started out bad but got worse. And Pharaoh finally relented. Amen. And he ejected the Israelites in exasperation.

But then he started thinking about the dumb thing he just did. And then Pharaoh changed his mind. So he sent an army to get the jewish nation back. So the Lord parted the Red Sea. He enabled the Israelites to escape.

And then on the other side of the sea, the Israelites ran out of food. Later, they ran out of water. Finally, the Amalekites attacked them. So what did the Israelites do? They were so exasperated by this uninspiring deliverance, they wanted to kill Moses and go back wherever, to Egypt.

Things were continually going from bad to worse. But in spite of that, in spite of that, Moses hung in there, never failing in his commitment to the Lord. And God eventually used him to lead the children of Israel to the borders of the promised land. And I will say, I identify with Moses. He got frustrated, right?

What was Moses supposed to do to the rock when they needed water? He was to what? Speak to it? What did he do? He beat it.

The Lord said, you're not coming in.

But Moses still was faithful with God. So Moses in that generation had to what? Walk for a 40 year period? And then Joshua received the handoff. But Moses had gritz.

Here's one for you, Nehemiah. I love reading the book of Nehemiah because you understand the history of the Jews were taken in captivity about 100 years prior to that point. When Nehemiah came on the scene, Israel had been taken captive. The walls of Jerusalem had been in rubble for over 100 years. The walls had tried to be rebuilt, but to no avail.

Multiple times during that period of time. And what not could be done over a hundred year period. Nehemiah raised those walls and gates in 52 days. I think that alone is one of the most amazing marvels, engineering wise, that ever happened in the history of the world. In Nehemiah 414, in context, Nehemiah said, after he assessed and he looked around to see what had to be done, he spoke to the nobles, the officials and everyone else.

But this is the encouragement of somebody that has grit, is able to set vision for others as well. He said, don't be afraid of them. All these people that are trying to keep us from building this up. Put your minds on the master, who on God, great and awesome, and then fight for your brothers, for your sons, your daughters, your wives and your homes. I love this passage because not only did Nehemiah have grit, he also spoke to the fact that we need to be in community.

And he elevated community. And he recognized the importance of community working together, because he had perspective and grit that God had given him. Then you had David, right? David was anointed by King Samuel to be king over Israel. But instead of having a coronation ceremony the next day, David spent the next 15 years running away from Saul, trying to stay alive.

What a wonderful job he got. Your king. Run. And in spite of this, though David hung in there, he never failed in his commitment to the Lord. And he eventually, eventually ascended to the throne of Israel in fulfillment of God's prophecy and his symbolic anointing.

But what would have happened if he wouldn't have been faithful? David who? How about Daniel in the lion's den? And we know that when Daniel went in that lion's den, the king realized that he was suckered in by pride, by his cohorts that were to be his advisors. And of course, Daniel went in that lion's den because he understood that must be what God wants.

Even Daniel's friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had a similar situation. But it wasn't a lion's den. It was a fiery furnace. And what I loved about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they said, o king, listen, our God can save us from this fire, but I love this answer that he gave them to. But even if he doesn't, that doesn't change who God is.

I learned a lot from that one, from Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, because it's easy to thank the Lord when the good stuff happens. But how thankful do we get when the good stuff doesn't happen? Because God doesn't change, does he? But it's important to be thankful in all things, and that's what grit does for us. And then, of course, probably the best example of grit is the Lord Jesus himself.

He's baptized by John the baptist, and immediately he is thrust to go into the wilderness for 40 days. He has to pass the test. He trusted God and he relied on God's truth. He was a man of such sorrow, though, as we'll never know who in the garden, facing the horror that only God could experience, said to his father, not what I will, but what you will. And he moved with relentless determination to the cross.

And never has more grit for the sake of love ever been seen or shown. You see, through Jesus, we look to the one himself who endured the greatest pain and shame, the cross, by looking to his reward. And his reward was this. It was the joy set before him that being seated at the father's right hand. Thus he finished the course, looking to the reward.

And so too, in like fashion and looking to him. Hebrews would have us run our race with endurance and not grow weary and not be faint hearted, be full of grit. And then finally, the apostle Paul. God revealed to Paul that he was going to be a missionary to gentiles. Prior to being a missionary for gentiles, he was trying to kill Christian Gentiles because he felt he was serving the Lord, but God called him out eventually.

When Paul finally did begin his missionary work, here's what he got. He was beaten, he was shipwrecked, he was attacked by animals. He was imprisoned, he was robbed. He was relentlessly deprived of normal basics of life. But he hung in there, never failing, and he stayed committed to the Lord.

And eventually he was used as one of God's greatest servants. And I love this passage in Philippians three where Paul said, I'm between straights, I'm being pressed in. But he goes, I press on toward the goal of the upward call of Goddesse in Christ Jesus. That's grit. That's grit.

So not only did I share with you some passages, biblical passages, I shared with you some biblical personalities that demonstrated grit. Now, what I want to remind you is, is that there is also a biblical prize for those that demonstrate that grit. Not only does the Bible teach grit, not only does it give examples of grit, but it also makes clear that we'll all be rewarded for exercising it. A few passages let us not become weary doing good, for at the proper time we will reap the harvest if we do not give up. Do not give up.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 818, for momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. Two Corinthians four, and finally, Hebrews 1036 says, for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. Now, I want to add here, if I can, in proverbs. I love this passage, if you might be remembering this verse where it says, the righteous man falls 7th time, but he what?

Rises again because they've got grit. They'll fall, but they rise again because they have grit. You know, I was thinking of the Olympics when I saw one of the races that to me in track is one of the most interesting field events. It's the high hurdle race. And what I've noticed is that hurdlers do not want to look at the hurdle, do they?

Because if you do, like in football, that I learned very quickly, where your eyes go, your head goes, and then all of a sudden you get in trouble. But the hurdler looks beyond and over the hurdles to what? Where they want to end up at the tape, where they can cross that finish line. And for us, that's that juxtaposition that God wants to remind us of we are going to be on earth for such a short amount of time, but this is not our home. And the Lord wants eyes up into heaven, right?

And he wants us to trust him for what he will do to get us there. And that prize is that upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And you know what's so interesting, too? Grit is such a popular idea that it's earned a place in modern culture, because I think culture is learning something that God has woven into the fabric of his world. That grit is the key to success in virtually any area of life.

But we see it because it has eternal perspective, and that's an important element for us to keep in mind. One author wrote this, and I thought it was perfect. Grit is often the difference between success and failure, between reward and loss, between victory and defeat, between really living or just sitting on the sidelines. Now, when I read that one, it reminded me of the world that I had. My wife and I, about a week and a half ago, had the opportunity to go to Los Angeles for an event at my university, at the University of Southern California.

And it was called the salute to Troy. In essence, they were introducing the 2024 team, the coaches and everybody involved with the program, and they invited both alumni as well as students or individuals to come to kind of a barbecue dinner to enjoy it. We had the USC marching band there. It was a great festival for us to enjoy. But it also reminded me that they were inviting some people from back in 19, 74, 74.

That was. That were part of the national championship team. We were the Lord blessed because God used football to bring me to him. And in 1972, when we were at SC, we won a national championship. In 1974, we won a national championship.

So they were bringing back some of these very old guys to be able to stand and say, we did that. And I will say, though, that the process that I had to go through in my spiritual walk, I loved that God used football to bring me back to him. But I also understand that I had some tough times when I fell and had to keep standing up to get through a five year period. I didn't play in every game. I played in some, but that was tough to go out to practice each day, wondering when I get that opportunity to be in a game and to do that for a five year period.

See, I had to do the four year program in five years because I registered it here. But that was part of God's plan for me, and he gave me perspective to realize that my world wasn't over. And as I was pondering about that one, I thought of a quote that I have always loved by Teddy Roosevelt, who was no theologian, but I think he had a quote that summarizes this whole idea of grit in a very unique way. And listen up, he said, it is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how strong the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who was actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short again and again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds?

Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory or defeat again. Proverbs 24 six says, a righteous man is going to fall seven times, but we, we rise again. But it also has but the wicked stumble in time of calamity. Let me wrap this up real quickly. I was trying to think of a.

How many of you have seen the old Captain America film when it came out? The Marvel film? One of you. God bless you. I appreciate that.

We'll talk about it when we get there. Well, the character was Steve Rogers, and I was thinking about him, if you remember, Steve was this puny little guy, but, boy, he had. He had grit, and he used a line when he would ever get in fights with people that were bigger than him, right? He goes, I can do this all day. Remember when he kept getting knocked down and he'd get back up?

I can do this all day. I'm wondering how many out here in your christian walk can faithfully say, you can do this all day.

I know that I can't on my own energy, but I know that I can as God sustains me and gives me grace. And he gives you grace as well.

Romans 1513 says, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. And this is godly grit in a nutshell. The God of hope filling us with all joy and peace as we trust in him day in and day out, so that we get to overflow with hope not by our strength, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. You see? Godly grit is trusting Christ day in and day out, no matter what challenges that we face.

Let's close from prayer. Father God, we're grateful that we had this opportunity. Thank you, Lord, that you have just stirred my heart and my mind thinking on this. And father, many times that I've had to confess that I've stayed in that comfort zone.

But Lord, help me be like the high hurdler who is looking past the hurdles of life. And I want to get to be where you want me to be. Like the apostle Paul said, I will press on toward that goal for that prize. And that prize is that upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And Lord, I also pray, too that as a result of this dedication that we had today for baby si, Father God, I'm praying that you make si a man of grit as he becomes a man of God, that that will be his legacy that will be initiated here as we prayed for him and his family and as he moves forward in life.

And Father, thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ because apart from him, we can do nothing. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.