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The Enemy Of Resistance

Fri, 9 Jul 2010 10:42:58 -0700

What is it inside of us that is not willing to make the necessary steps to achieve our goals?

In his book The War Of Art, Steven Pressfield diagnoses the problem of the world. He calls it Resistance. Genesis 3 calls it sin but Resistance is Pressfield’s working definition and it will work for the time being.
 Resistance is the difference between the life we live and the unlived life within us.
Resistance is what keeps your goals always a couple of years away.
Resistance is what keeps that gym membership card from getting scanned.
Resistance is what keeps writers from writing and painters from painting.
Resistance is what keeps so many of us from achieving God’s dream for our lives.

I see resistance when I’m unwilling to fight for something that I really want to do. It is what keeps me from engaging in the dreams that I believe God has placed in my heart.

Later on in the book, Pressfield determines that the way to fight resistance is to become a professional and work! We are to put on our hard hats and gloves and not be afraid to sweat. Live as if achieving our life’s calling was the most important reason we were put on earth.

Sweat. Fight. Work hard and Choose to be among the few who actually live the unlived life.

Ethos Fall Sermon Series

Thu, 8 Jul 2010 16:05:13 -0700

The summer is a great time to recover from the craziness of the year behind and look ahead to the year to come.

I’ve been blessed by God to have some clarity on where the Ethos community will be led come September and all the way to Christmas. We’re going to look at ten major issues Paul covers in his letters, 1 and 2 Corinthians. The big idea for the series is to look at some of the cultural sins of Corinth and see how they are still so prevalent in our culture today.

The best way to discover a landmine is to walk over one, ask someone who’s missing a leg or watch for signs. This series will cover the outcomes of all three. Of course, we will always preach the gospel of Jesus grace each and every week.

It is going to be a joy to take a couple months and devote them to studying these great books. I pray that Jesus would give insight to preach boldly some very timely truths.

Here’s the break down in case you were curious what those landmines are:

Landmine #1: Sexual Immorality (1 Corinthians 6:9-13)

Landmine #2: Single Vs Married. Why it’s not good to be too eager for one or the other. (1 Corinthians 7)

Landmine #3: Fundamentalism vs License to sin. Both ditches have landmines. (1 Corinthians 8)

Landmine #4: The destructive bomb of Idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:1-14)

Landmine #5 Family Trouble, When Churches Fight (1 Corinthians 11)

Landmine #6: Consumerism and it’s opponent, being a servant (1 Corinthians 12:12-31)

Landmine #7: Greed and the love of mammon (2 Corinthians 8:1-15, 9:6-11)

Landmine #8: Entitlement and the call to suffer for Christ (2 Corinthians 11:16-33, 4:7-12)

It’s About Time!

Mon, 5 Jul 2010 00:02:35 -0700

Enough said.

How People Are Motivated

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:58:56 -0700

Take a look at this video. I was fascinated.
Brilliant content and intriguing way to present.
More of their stuff can be found here. http://www.cognitivemedia.co.uk/

Suffering as A Core Value

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:54:19 -0700

I have been fascinated with the topic of suffering lately. It’s not necessarily linked to circumstances but is more of an intellectual wrestling with the text and my 28 years of field research exploring the world and the humans that occupy it.

Suffering is a common theme in Scripture, history and all around the world presently. D.A. Carson says in his book , How Long Oh Lord?, that one need only live long enough and you will suffer. This should surprise no one (1 Peter 4:12).

I am uneasy with suffering. I do not like it. I am surprised to find nowhere in Scripture defending the popular question, “How could a good God allow such bad things to happen in the world?”
With more study, I see that suffering is not something that happens outside of his will but that suffering is in God’s very nature and character. We are always trying to scheme arguments to get good of the hook for why this world is so messed up but such reasoning is unscriptural as God does not even want to get off the hook for it!

God Values Suffering And Suffers Himself

Revelation 13:8 describes a book written “before the foundation of the earth.” It is a “book of life of the Lamb that was slain.” In this book are the names of those for whom God has chosen “according to the purpose of his will” to be objects “to the praise of his glorious grace” (Eph 1:4). According to this passage, before time God chose show his glorious grace by suffering death as a lamb that is slaughtered.

In Revelation 5:9-12, John sees a picture of a scene in heaven where Jesus is worshipped and honored for being the Lamb who was slaughtered. Jesus, the suffering one, in honored for his suffering. It didn’t happen as a mistake or a remedial action but was planned, ordained, orchestrated from eternity past.

Jesus was not the only one who embraced suffering.

Paul’s Joy In Suffering

I love to study and identify with the life and ministry of Paul. There is, however, one area that I do not get about him--he had no problem with pain and difficulty. He took it all on the chin willingly. Paul tells the Philippians from prison, “all this has happened to me to advance the gospel” (Phil 1:20). He also points out his joy in sharing in the fellowship and camaraderie of Christ’s sufferings (Phil 3:10).

No matter where Paul went, all throughout his life in ministry, there was trouble and hardship. See 2 Corinthians 11:16-33 for a quick bio.

The Early Church Willingly Suffers

For the sake of brevity, I will only say that persecution of the early Christians was a normal part of life in the early church. They stood before rulers flogged, were fed to lions, burned as human torches, exiled to islands as criminals, kicked out of the marketplace, killed with the sword, sawed in two and split from their families.

Jesus warned them to expect nothing less. Hebrews 11 reminds us that these early heroes of the faith, “whom the world was not worthy of” (11:38) would “rise again to a better life.”(11:35).

For more stories of what the early disciples had to endure, check out this blog from Driscoll called, “Die With Your Boots On.”

What Happened?

How different that mentality is today. Something changed in 2000 years...well I guess a lot of things changed in Western evangelicalism.

For one thing, with the rise of tolerance, persecution of Christians has let up. It’s still there, you’re just not going to get invited to dinner instead of being dinner.
We have safe drinking water we get from taps and not wells.
We have medicine for disease to prolong health and hold off death longer.
We have heated houses to protect us from the elements.
We have efficient forms of transportation to get around quickly in.
We have food to eat that is easy to access and quick to prepare.
We have comfortable chairs available to all and individual beds that are hard to get out of in the morning.
There are new forms and mediums which provide endless options to which we can use up hours pursuing entertainment.
The economy improved so people could have jobs which enabled them not only to survive but to have disposable income to pay for things they did not necessarily need but wanted.

I am very thankful for all these things though I see the cost it has had on my relationship with God in regards to the suffering he puts in my life and what I have seen around the world and through history. It is important to note how the advances in 2000 years have make us soft in in our approach to this question.

Ask Jesus, Paul or the early church David Hume’s question,

“How could a good, powerful God allow suffering?”

It’s simple. Because he values it.

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial you are suffering when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12).