Beware of Status Quo
May 5, 2013 Evening Service
Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK
Rick Boyne
Message Point: We must not get content to stay where we are.
Focus Passage: Philippians 3:12-16
Supplemental Passage: Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3-4 NASB)
Introduction: The U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between rails) is four feet, eight-and-one-half inches.
Why such an odd number? Because that's the way they built them in England, and American railroads were built by British expatriates.
Why did the English adopt that particular gauge? Because the people who built the pre-railroad tramways used that gauge.
They in turn were locked into that gauge because the people who built tramways used the same standards and tools they had used for building wagons, which were set on a gauge of four feet, eight-and-one-half inches.
"Why were wagons built to that scale? Because with any other size, the wheels did not match the old wheel ruts on the roads.
"So who built these old rutted roads?
"The first long-distance highways in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have been in use ever since. The ruts were first made by Roman war chariots. Four feet, eight-and-one-half inches was the width a chariot needed to be to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses."
Maybe "that's the way it's always been" isn't the great excuse some people believe it to be. Clark Cothern Tecumseh, Michigan.
Everything continues in a state of rest unless it is compelled to change by forces impressed upon it. Issac Newton, First Law of Motion.
I. Status Quo in your Church
a. We are happy with the way things are
b. We want new people, as long as they are like us
c. We don’t want to change the music, the Bible version, the meeting times, etc
d. The last 7 words of a dying church, “We’ve never done it that way before.”
II. Status Quo in your Marriage (relationships)
a. You are content with the way things are
b. Not willing to serve each other, would rather be served
c. Haven’t moved beyond “they’ll have to get used to me” stage
III. Status Quo in your Spiritual Life
a. You are content with the way you are
b. Don’t enjoy anything that challenges you to go deeper, or don’t accept those challenges
c. Afraid of being used by God because it means you may have to change
Invitation:
