There aren't too many folks familiar with a company named "Blue Ribbon Sports." On the other hand, just about everyone on planet Earth has heard of Nike. Blue Ribbon Sports was founded in 1964 by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight. The name was changed to Nike in 1971, after Greek mythology's goddess of victory.
The mythological goddess got her name from the Greek verb νικάω (nik-ah'-o), which means to achieve victory by overcoming in combat through tenacious persistence resulting in subduing your opponent. That definition is a far cry from today's culture of participation trophies and the prevalent "everyone's a winner" mentality.
A particularly popular variety of (pseudo)Christianity today is the illegitimate offspring of the countercultural hippie movement of the 1960s with its psychedelic drugged-out "make peace, not war," flower-power, chickenhearted, cream puff, mediocrity-honoring mindset.
Along the way, many Christians willingly submitted to the pattern of the world. Many surrendered the Armor of God, exchanging transformative sermons for ferl-good sermons. The saints gave up being equipped for Christ's Great Commission and the ministry of the Gospel for consumer-minded programs. Church boards took their eyes off Christ and His mission and focused instead on attendance numbers and profitability. Pastors became charismatic ear-tickling entertainers rather than equipping teachers and faithful shepherds. Churches abandoned relentlessly advancing against the Gates of Hell with the Sword of The Spirit and chose instead to become apathetic - submitting and being subdued by the world and its hollow treasures.
As theology Professor Robert E. Coleman once stated, "Something is missing in the life of the church today. The institution has a polite form of religion, but seems to lack power, the power to radically change the wayward course of society." The exclusive, unique, and privileged ministry of the church has been surrendered to parachurch organizations. We, rather than God Almighty, have become the judges of the style and quality of our worship (John 4:23).
Christian men, those who should be maturing in the faith as followers of The Way, should be maturing beyond spiritual milk, growing in wisdom, understanding the times and knowing what they should do (1 Chron 12:32), and who should NOT be unaware of Satan and his schemes (2 Cor 2:11), have increasingly become passive observers and casual attendees.
In the pattern of Adam, many men are carelessly surrendering God-ordained leadership to women (pastors, preachers, bishops, prophets, etc) driven by sinful desires for positions of influence and power (Gen 3:16) and to the interests of today's relationship-deprived and attention-depraved children, thus turning God's design inside out and upside down.
King Jesus said, "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are secure. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers (subdues) him, he takes away the armor, which the man trusted in, and then divides up his plunder. He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters."
-Luke 11:21-23
The Apostle Paul wrote, "Do not be conquered (subdued) by evil, but overcome (subdue) evil with good!"
-Romans 12:21
"You, little children, are from God and have overcome (subdued) them (deceiving spirits of the antichrist) because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of deception."
-1 John 4:4-6
"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome, because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. Who then overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."
-1 John 5:3-5
Fourteen times in the final book of Scripture, the book of Revelation, the author uses the word νικάω (nik-ah'-o), which means to achieve victory by overcoming in combat through tenacious persistence resulting in subduing your opponent.
The words of Revelation 13:6-10, referring to the Beast from the Sea, should be a shocking wake-up call for us:
"And the beast opened its mouth to speak blasphemies against God and to slander His name and His tabernacle—those who dwell in heaven. Then the beast was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer (subdue) them, and it was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb who was slain. He who has an ear, let him hear: If anyone is destined for captivity, into captivity he will go; if anyone is to die by the sword, by the sword he must be killed. Here is a call for the perseverance and faith of the saints."
Our enemy, Satan, despite knowing he's already lost the war, tenaciously continues his relentless battle to conquer and subdue the hearts and minds of humanity. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He is the crafty ancient serpent and the great fiery red dragon who masquerades as an angel of light. His plan isn't to overwhelm us with dark things overtly corrupt and flagrantly wicked. Instead, he lures us into tiny sacrifices moment by moment... seemingly small compromises daily until our consciences are seared and we've been quietly conquered, passively subdued. All of it without so much as a finger raised in defiant opposition.
Today's apathetic, passive, consumer-minded, entertainment-focused, and mediocrity-honoring variety of (pseudo)Christianity - has absolutely nothing in common with the hard-charging, tenaciously overcoming, Gates of Hell-wrecking Church of Scripture.
Actively participating in our sanctification is not a works-based salvation. Instead, it is a sound biblical theology giving tangible credence to the fact that our old corrupt self truly has died in being baptized with Christ - that we no longer live, but Christ, through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, now lives in us!
The hardest belt to achieve in martial arts is NOT the black belt, it's the white. That's because many choose to never begin their training. The black belt is merely the product of a white belt who made the choice to begin, to persevere, and to overcome despite all the challenges and opposition. The black belt is the white belt who never surrendered, never accepted defeat, never took their eyes off the prize, never submitted, never arrived, and never stopped training.
Many Christians today are of no use to God because they'll never begin their training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16-17). They're constantly being tossed about by the waves and whims of culture (Eph 4:14) - paying attention to myths, genealogies, and endless speculation from deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons (1 Tim 1:4; 4:1).
In the final chapters and words of Scripture there's a stark contrast painted between the victorious overcomers in Christ actively and intentionally participating in their sanctification through the ministry of the Gospel as devoted members of Christ's Body & Bride and... all the others:
"...the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has prepared Herself. She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure. For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints"
-Revelation 19:7-8
"Blessed are those who wash their robes, so they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood."
-Revelation 22:14
There's a battle going on today for your mind. The Devil wants you to focus on, worry about, and be consumed with, anything and everything -except- Christ and His everlasting kingdom. The enemy's strategy is to get us so overwhelmed with the things of this fleeting and temporal world that we are broken by our own misguided efforts, defeated by our own demons, and willfully submit to the idols of our own making.
The Apostle Paul posed a question in Romans 8:35, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ" Then Paul continues, "Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
'For Your sake, we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
There is no force or power outside of us in all of creation, natural or supernatural, that can separate us from the love of God. The only force that can is the same one that did in the first place - our apathetic disregard for our Creator and His will.
Are you actively and intentionally pursuing God's will for you - a victorious life in Christ Jesus? Or are you merely part of today's disconnected, feel-good, apathetic, participation trophy version of (pseudo)Christianity that's rampant in our culture?
The Lord has said, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God." The rest will be outside where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Grace and Peace,
Kevin M. Kelley
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