We’ve all heard of the Occupy Movement. A little history lesson: It started as Occupy Wall Street and it is a protest movement which began last year. Protesters took up residence in New York City’s in Zuccotti Park, located in the Wall Street financial district. The protests were mainly against social and economic inequality, high unemployment, greed, corruption, and the undue influence of corporations. The protesters have slogans like We are the 99% which refers to the growing income and wealth inequality in the U.S. between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population. The protests in New York City have sparked similar Occupy protests and movements around the world. We even had our own little occupy protest here in Spartanburg.
Now, I know I’m about to make some of you mad, but I see a huge problem with the Occupy Movement. That problem, from my perspective, is that the protesters aren’t doing anything. They’re just taking up public space, costing tax-payer money and coming up with cool slogans like “we are the 99%.”
So around November of last year I started wondering: What if, instead of protesting something we started to do something? What if, instead of camping out and carrying signs, we started doing what we could do to make a difference? I get why the 99% is protesting and occupying parks around the country. I even empathize to a degree, but I just think it’s a waste of time because they aren’t doing anything.
I think it’s time we do something. It’s time for us to occupy something that matters. So over the next few weeks that is what we are going to be talking about.
Today we’re going to start with the most important piece of the puzzle, the foundation.
Next week we’re going to discuss occupying our community. After that we’ll focus on occupying Hub City Church. The fourth week we’ll discuss the commission from God to occupy the world. And finally, we’ll finish up by having a good friend of mine who is the president of Alex’s House Orphanage talk about our desire to Occupy Haiti.
But all that we’re going to talk about over the next few weeks is going to be meaningless if we don’t start off talking about the real problem. The occupy protesters see the problem as someone else, but they fail to realize that they are a part of the problem. The problem isn’t someone else. The problem is us. The problem is you. The problem is me. We are the problem. So if we’re going to occupy something that matters we better start inside of us. We need to start in our hearts. We need to start by getting things right with God. We need to start by getting ourselves centered and focused on the right priorities.
All throughout the Bible we are told to start with ourselves. We start in our heart. And it’s only when we figure out how to Occupy Me that we can make a true and lasting difference. Let me show you what I’m talking about:
Philippians 2:12-13 says, 12 Therefore, my dear friends… work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Paul says something extremely profound and helpful here. He says that getting our hearts right, occupying ourselves, doesn’t just happen magically. It has two parts: Our part and God’s part. They go hand in hand. One doesn’t work without the other. They actually work together. As we work out our salvation with fear and trembling God works in us to will and act according to his good purpose. It’s this divine equation almost.
Now, it’s important to remember, we can’t do God’s part. That’s God’s job. But we can do our part. But what is our part? And how do we do our part? How do we work out our salvation with fear and trembling?
1 Timothy 4:7 tells us to train yourselves to be godly. Another translation says to discipline yourself for godliness. In other words, we are told that a disciplined life of good habits leads to godliness. The key to occupying me is the right habits.
But here’s where we run into a wall. If we do an honest assessment of our lives then most of us would admit that we don’t have time to develop any new habits. And this is a huge problem, because, remember, for us to occupy ourselves in a way so that we can occupy something that matters we need to make sure we’re spending our time and energy in activities or disciplines that will get us to where we want to go, but we’re too busy or our lives are too full. So how do we do this?
There’s a passage of Scripture that tells us how. It may be the most practical Scripture that can help us figure out how to Occupy Ourselves, but at the same time, as we’re going to see, it may also be the most difficult Scripture to put into practice because it is going to force us to make a choice and create some space for the habits that lead to godliness.
The passage is found in Hebrews 12:1-2, and it commands us to do this: 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
I heard a speaker when I was a teenager say that whenever you see the word “therefore” you need to ask: What’s it there for? It’s there because in Chapter 11 you have this incredible chapter all about faith, and what it means to have faith and what faith is. And then it lists out all these great heroes of faith who have gone before us and on whose shoulders we stand. You should read it because it will change what you think about faith. So this says that since we have all of these great examples and great heroes of faith that modeled the way we need to do this:
…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles…
We’re told to throw off two things: everything that hinders and sin. What in the world is “everything that hinders”? They are anything that weighs us down and keeps us from running the race that God has for us. They are things that get in the way, that distract, that hinder us.
I imagine the first century readers picturing the early Olympic athletes who stripped down and ran naked so that they wouldn’t have anything that was weighing them down. There are things in our lives that weigh us down and hinder us. And they aren’t always things that are bad or wrong. They are just things that get in the way and hinder. And if we’re honest our lives are filled with these kinds of things.
Maybe the best way to figure out if something is a weight that hinders is to ask: Does this help me love God and love others?
Is there a weight in your life you need lay aside? Now, I need to be honest with you here. Most of us won’t do this. We won’t. And the reason why we won’t do this is because it’s too hard. We like the clutter in our lives too much to throw it aside. We like being distracted with busyness and activities. And we wonder why our relationship with God isn’t all that we’d like it to be. It’s because our lives are filled with all this stuff and it’s hindering us.
And then the writer says to throw off the sin that so easily entangles. We all know that sin is something that can hold us back. Sin gets in the way of our relationship with God and our relationships with others. And the writer says that this sin entangles. It trips us up. I picture a scene from a movie where a convict is running from the police while wearing those shackles that attack to the wrists and ankles. You know what I’m talking about? Those people can’t run very well. They always get caught or fall to their death off of some bridge somewhere. Sin entangles us like that and keeps us from running the race that God has for us, which is what the writer says next.
Because next he tells us why are we to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles: …and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us….
I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about your life like this before, but life is a race. It’s not a sprint. It’s a long distance race that demands perseverance, or discipline, to complete. It’s a race that will involve effort and commitment. You can’t be passive and run the race. You have to do something. Endurance is needed to run that race. Endurance or perseverance does not mean the kind of patience that sits down and accepts things, but the patience which masters them. This requires discipline and good habits.
We need to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles so that we can run the race marked out for us, and then finally, in verse two, the writer gives us our goal in verse two.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
It is all about Jesus. Life is all about Jesus. The Christian life is about becoming like Jesus. We become more like Jesus as we focus on him and follow him and obey him. We can only run the race as we look to Jesus, and have our eyes locked on to Him. He is our focus, our inspiration, and our example.
It is interesting that in the ancient Greek, fixing our eyes on Jesus uses a verb that implies a definite looking away from other things and a looking to Jesus. Which gets to our biggest problem. We can’t do it all. We need to get rid of some things that are keeping us from looking to Jesus.
And the reason why we need to fix our eyes on Jesus is because he is the author and the finisher of our faith. Philippians 1:6 says, He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Fix your eyes on Jesus.
So what are you going to do? I want to give you some suggestions:
Create a stop-doing list. I know I’ve said this before but I think every season we should evaluate our lives and ask, “What do I need to stop doing?” You can’t start doing what it is that you need to start doing unless you stop doing some things. You don’t have time to do it all. And the best way to decide if you should stop doing something is by asking the question I showed you earlier: Does this help me love God and love others?
Are there areas in your life where you are wasting time? Are there habits that are counterproductive? What needs to go on your stop doing list?
I need to warn you here, this is going to take a ton of courage. People may think you’re crazy. It will be way easier for you to stay the same. But if you want something new this year in your relationship with God, if you want to occupy something that matters then you can’t keep doing the same old thing. You need to throw off those things that hinder and the sin that entangles.
So make a “stop-doing” list. I suggest not only making a list, but also sharing that list with someone who can hold you accountable.
But after you figure out some things to stop doing you need to replace those things with activities and habits that will have cumulative impact on your life and get you to where you want to go and make you who you need to be. And these are huge. There are a lot that you could do, but here are two things that I truly believe are the most important habits that you need to incorporate into your life.
Start a Bible reading plan. Time. Place. Plan.
Write down a time.
Write down a place.
Write down a plan.
I’ll tell you what I’m doing. As you can see, I got an iPad for Christmas from my generous sister-in-law. I’ve downloaded the YouVersion app. It has all kinds of reading plans to choose from.
Liz, my wife, is using this Chronological 1 Year Bible. Maybe you just need to start with the Gospels. You could read 5 Psalms a day. Read a Proverb a day. The key is coming up with a plan. Just opening up your Bible and reading wherever isn’t a good idea.
Now, I know that you’ll read things that you don’t understand at first. You may be confused by some of what you read. That’s ok. You’re not weird. Some of the Bible is just plain hard. That’s why you need to do the second thing.
Join a Hub Group. We were made for relationships because it is through relationships that God changes us. Now’s a great time to get involved in a Hub Group. Look at the handout. If you’re not in a group I want you to look down that list and pick one that works with your schedule. Write out on your commitment card which group you want to join.
If we are going to occupy something that matters then it starts inside of us. It starts with us figuring out how to occupy me. And that means getting rid of things that hinder and entangle, and disciplining ourselves with habits that will get us to where we want to go. It start with you. Do something that matters.
