Rocky Revelations
Part 4 – Too Civilized
I. Introduction
We have talked about pain. We have heard testimony about pain. We have examined how a knock down punch can become a knockout punch if we are not careful. If we allow the hits we take to separate us from the head, we will stay down. If we don’t guard who we listen to, we will stay down. If we don’t keep our hands up, we will stay down.
Today, I want us to look at the final Rocky Revelation. Rocky has been fighting nobodies when Clubber Lang comes on the scene. Lang destroys all the other contenders and then calls out Rocky. Rocky wants to defend his title. Mick, Rocky’s long time trainer, refuses to help Rocky to prepare for the fight. They have the classic conversation that I just showed you. Rocky, sitting in the lap of luxury that his winnings have provided, listens as Mick says this, “Well Rock lets... Well let’s put it this way. Three years ago you were supernatural. You was hard and nasty. You had this cast iron jaw. But then the worst thing happened to you that could happen to any fighter. You got civilized. Don’t worry kid. You know presidents retire, generals retire, horses retire, Man o War retired, they put him out to stud. That’s what you should’ve done, retire.”
Rocky is broken by what he hears, but convinces Mick to help him. This time he tries to train in all the glitz and glamour and doesn’t really put his heart into it and the final result of the first fight is that Mick’s words are prophetic and Rocky suffers his first and only knockout and loses his title. Rocky had gotten soft. Rock had suffered the worst think that could happen to a fighter he had become civilized. In other words he had lost his edge. He had lost his hunger.
II. Violent
I submit to you, that the worst thing that can happen to a Christian is that, like Rocky, we become too civilized. We have become soft. For some reason after a couple of years of walking with Jesus, having families, working jobs, our goals change. Our ultimate goal has become avoiding discomfort, loss, pain, and anxiety at all costs. In fact, that has become the standard of success. We want to retire with no worries, easy street. I want to just be able to retire comfortably.
How does that line up with becoming a sold out, committed follower of Christ? It was Christ who said in Matthew 24:9, “ 9-10"They are going to throw you to the wolves and kill you, everyone hating you because you carry my name.” and “Blessed are ye, when (not if) men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.”
How does that line up with our predecessors and how they lived?
James was “put to death with the sword,” likely a reference to beheading.
History says that Peter was crucified upside-down on an x-shaped cross in Rome.
Matthew was killed by a sword wound.
John was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil, but was miraculously delivered from death only to be sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
James, the brother of Jesus was thrown from the southeast pinnacle of the temple (over a hundred feet down) when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a club.
Bartholomew, also known as Nathanael, was a missionary to Asia and was martyred for his preaching in Armenia, being beaten to death by a whip.
Andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers, they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he died.
The apostle Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India.
Matthias, the apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded.
And we freak when someone talks about us. We are afraid our neighbors will think we are freaks if we share our faith! We are to self conscious to pray over our meal! We worry when following Christ cost us a little cash.
How can we carry the same title (disciple) they did when all we want is comfort?
Our goals are wrong. We want comfort. We want ease. We want quiet. We want calm. We want no pain. We want no stress.
Our softness leaves no need for faith. No room for risk. And therefore the miracles we see are tame in comparison to what those who were uncivilized witnessed. We no longer see water walking, no life from death, no multiplication, no sun stop, no shadow healings, and no city change.
JB Phillips was right when he said, “Perhaps if we believed what they believed we would achieve what they achieved.”
Which has direct connection to these questions . . . When was the last time you were thrown to the wolves due to your faith? When was the last time you were reviled, ridiculed, ostracized, rejected, or ridiculed due to your crazy faith? When was the last time you took a chance on or for God?
Jesus said we would do MORE than he did. My question is “Are we even doing WHAT he did?” We are too civilized!
I came to challenge our peaceful way of life!
You want a Rocky Revelation? Here it is last one that I want to share with you!
1. Comfort usually doesn’t lead to conquer.
The Children of Israel left the dessert to the Promised Land not the other way around.
Our goal should be that we want to be dangerous. We should want to attempt something so big that unless God intervenes it will fail. We should do everything we can do to leave a mark, cause a ripple, and create change. We should either be causing revivals or riots everywhere we go! We need to lose our civilized faith and get back to a violent faith where we actually believe and actually live like God can do anything. We have got to get back to the place where we will do anything God says to do! We can’t surrender that kind of life to the young, naïve, no ties young people! We are all called to this type of faith!
Matthew 11:12 -
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
And from the days of John the Baptist till now, the kingdom of heaven is forcing its way in, and men of force take it.
Annie Dillard says it like this, “Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return!”
So how do we develop violent, uncivilized faith again? How do we fight the comfort that leads to complacency?
a. Do something you have never done.
Take a chance. Go on a missions trip. Go to a homeless shelter. Talk to a stranger. Volunteer somewhere. Get outside your comfort zone. Do something that everyone else thinks makes no sense.
In order to have impossible wins you have to face impossible odds.
There is nothing worse than death from sameness!
How many of us are willing to kill for what we believe, but unwilling to die for what we believe? We never place ourselves in situations where that is even a possibility! Take a risk!
b. Give up something – take the next 30 days and give something up.
Sacrifice something. Beat your body into subjection. Remind yourself that following God costs! It isn’t for the weak and the faint of heart. It is for tough minded folks! In order to accomplish the great you have to be someone who can purposely go without! Prove to yourself again that sacrifice and pain are doable. Show your stuff who is master.
Jamie Buckingham said it like this:
“To move into this realm of maturity calls for a total death to self. It means you are willing to be expendable, to give up all self-rights for the happiness of others. It means you submit yourself to the loving hand of God much as a pawn submits to a chessmaster: “in whatsoever square you choose to place me, there will I be content.” So even if you are surrounded by knights, rooks, and bishops who desire to destroy you, you will raise your hands in praise and say, “Hallelujah! I’m expendable. I choose to give up my life for the glory of the King.” Risky living. But in dying we find life!”
When people look at you do they think risk taker? Do they see you as crazy? Are you living your life in a way that is worth telling stories about? Or do they look at you as a washed up, protected, soft, civilized fighter that needs to retire?
c. Get out of ruts.
Jamie Buckingham led groups of men to explore Mount Sinai. He was on one particular trip with 12 men. They were riding in an open, 4 wheel drive truck across the dessert. On their 3rd day out they were bouncing along in the ruts of the other vehicles which had gone before them. Late in the afternoon one of the men pointed to a steep side of a mountain on the opposite side of a riverbed. He had spotted an abandoned turquoise mine, thousands of years old. Jamie Buckingham said, “There may be bits of turquoise still in the mine.” The other men suggested that they explore. The Israeli driver stopped but refused to leave the ruts and drive closer to the mountain. He said, “no way, it is too dangerous.” During an earlier Sinai campaign the Israelis had placed land mines in that particular riverbed knowing it was the only way the Egyptians could escape. They had a chart of the mine placement, but a rare cloudburst had flooded the Sinai. The land mines were scattered everywhere. The experienced drivers knew the only safe place was the ruts made by previous drivers. So the driver said “if you want to go, you will have to walk. Just walk lightly. I’ll be here waiting if you get back.” Jamie and the men made the climb and got back to the truck with pockets full of turquoise nuggets. The driver, upon their return, said “most pilgrims choose to stay in the safety of the ruts. He then reminded the men that it was tradition that had kept the Jews alive for centuries. But, he smiled, we don’t have any turquoise either.”
What if all that lies between you and victory, destiny, fulfillment is one small step of courage? Mark Batterson says it like this, “Some of us approach our relationship with Christ like we’re called to play “prevent defense” when we ought to be in a “two-minute offense. Faithfulness has nothing to do with maintaining the status quo or holding the fort. It has everything to do with competing for the kingdom and storming the gates of hell.”
Joe, was born into a family of Sicilian immigrants, a family who had a 300-year history as fishermen. Joe’s dad was a fisherman. His brothers were fishermen. But Joe was made sick by the smell of raw fish and the motion of a rocking boat. In a family where the only acceptable way to earn a living was by fishing, Joe was a failure.
His dad used to refer to his son as "good for nothing." Joe believed his dad. He believed that his attempts at other types of work were an admission of failure, but he just couldn’t stand the smell of the fishing business. One thing that Joe could do was to play baseball. Giving up a field where he could not succeed, Joe DiMaggio moved to another field and became one of the great successes of baseball.
How many of us have settled for history? For tradition. For safety. How many of us have settled for the mundane? How many of you drive home the same way every day? How many of you follow the same routine every day? How many of you eat the same thing at the restaurant? We are rutted. Rutted means we are too civilized. Dream big. Take a chance. Risk. Step up and out. Start an outreach. Volunteer in a new ministry role. Learn a new skill. Learn a new language. Read a big book. Do something even if it is a small thing to begin to break free from the ruts of your life!
Jeanine Curryer, in September 1997.
"Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.”
“Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.”
