Anvil Ministries E7: Fight Club Series- Keeping up with the Joneses.
Below are the show notes, and should have the info you may want or missed when listening. Email me at David@AnvilMinistries.com and let me know what you think.
Fight Club Series Sponsor: Anthology.Church
Intro song: (Modified) “Corporate World” by The Dust Brothers
Welcome- Hello, and Welcome to the Anvil Podcast E7!
Last week we started this new series on Fight Club. If you havnt already – Check out last weeks episode.
Thanks for listening. Find Value. Listeners 15+
Learn more AnvilMinistries.com or follow us on FB or T @AnvilMen
This series is sponsored by Anthology Church.
This weeks episode we are continuing…
Lessons from the cult classic movie Fight Club.
So far in this series we’ve talked about – Memento Mori, and the dangers of safe sanitized living. This week we are going to talk about Keeping up with the Jones’s
Before we get into the topic for today there is a challenge for you. I want to you focus on one thing for the rest of this series. Or about 4 weeks depending on when you came into the PC.
One thing that you would like to change. One thing that is holding you back from living the life that God wants for you. Just one. If you have no idea what that one thing is, go back and E4. That should bring some clarity.
Focus on that over these next few weeks. Pray about it daily. Talk about it with others in your life. Just one thing. Don’t get distracted with more then one. Just pick one, and commit yourself to it.
With that lets get into it…
One of the first scenes in FC is Edward Norton’s character sitting on the toilet looking at an IKEA catalog like a playboy magazine. His existence, and his self value was wrapped up in stuff. In things he could control. Although this is an exaggeration, the simple truth is clear. As men we struggle with Keeping up with the Joneses.
Stuff. What’s interesting about stuff, is that it can be a stuff magnet. If we are not careful, it can begin to own us. Example- a car. Care, maintenance, gas, insurance, etc.
Ultimately, stuff carries a greater burden. A nicer car means more expensive repairs, a bigger home means more square feet to keep clean, more stuff means infinitely more clutter and stress. There are costs for everything — it’s not like quality of life automatically goes up as the number and quality of things you own increases.
As our narrator above notes, you get caught up in having the perfect tidy little life. It even starts with good intentions — you just want a nice sofa. But then you need the matching tables, and matching carpet, and expensive art prints to go with it all. And all of a sudden, as the narrator observes, your stuff ends up owning you versus the other way around.
Things or not, it can also be things to do, or achieve, or a person.
It becomes about control. We BS ourselves into this state of if I have these things, I control them, if I control them, I control part of my life. It is all an illusion.
God owns it all, and controls it all. Now He has given some of that control to us, but it is critical in how we use it.
Audio clip.
You see we live in a world that lies to us all. It tells us that if we have things of value, we have value. The obserdity of that is ridiculous, but most of us buy it – no pun intended.
You see God owns it all. He defines it all. Our value as people, as men can only be defined by Him. Because He is the standard in which all things are measured and defined.
Now if you’re not really sure what that means, or if you believe that – I’d invite you to check out our website to see a little bit more of what Anvil is all about.