Matt Chandler - A People for His Own Possession

We’re going to be in 1 Peter; it’ll take us a while to get there. I need to work for some clarity real quick before we dive in. Like last weekend’s sermon, you know that wasn’t about Starbucks or the phone, right? Just to be clear, all week long, we were like, «I heard what you said about Starbucks. I heard what you said about the phone.» I’ve been nervous about it, but you know that sermon was about prayer. All right? So if you’re like, «Good, get 'em, Chandler,» but you didn’t hear what I said about prayer, then I wasted our time last week. So just encourage your pastor’s heart and don’t lie. How many of you would be like, «Hey man, I had a pretty good week; I mean, I prayed more than I usually do and I feel like I kind of got some insight on how to go about that»? I mean, you could say that that happened. Excellent! And be nice to baristas. Now, about eight years ago, I had finished 18 months of high-dose chemo and had undergone a little bit of radiation. If you’ve ever done that, I hope you haven’t, but if you have, one of the questions you’ll have if it happens to you when you’re young is, «Will I ever be strong again?» Right? Will I ever be strong again? Will I ever have the kind of vibrancy of life? Chemo and radiation have a way of taking all of that from you, and so I just wondered, «Man, will I ever be strong again?» To celebrate my last round of chemotherapy, I booked a trip to South America where I was going to hike Machu Picchu. I was going to spend four or five days— in fact, some of you in this room were actually with me on that hike. We were not going to be bus people; all right? The bus people are the ones who go, stay in a nice hotel, eat breakfast, take a shower, then get on the bus and come up smelling clean. No, no, we were marching up the mountain, working our way through different microclimates, sleeping in tents, being rained on in the snow, suffering to earn it, right? We didn’t want it to be given to us; we wanted to earn it. So I thought, «I need to get in shape; I have not been able to do anything for the last two years.» I joined a CrossFit box. There tend to be only two categories of thought around CrossFit—here they are: there are just two; there’s not a third. I promise you the third would be indifferent, all right? But here are your two primary categories: one is «this is amazing, best shape of my life; everyone should do this.» The second one is «that’s a cult.» The only thing in between those two schools of thought is indifference, or if you’re a chiropractor or physical therapist, «Go on.» All right? So that’s kind of your thoughts around the CrossFit box. Now, I loved it. I loved my time. This is not me criticizing it; in the same way, I don’t plan on criticizing essential oils. I just think that they have tapped into a deeper reality than they even know. See, here’s the thing that makes CrossFit work: it’s not the kind of workout itself; it’s that they’ve tapped into the fact that God designed us as relational creatures and where there is relationality, people will come. All right? So, man, at the box, it has its own language that’s cult-like, right? You don’t join a CrossFit gym; you join a box. There are code words in there—like if you come up to someone who’s CrossFitting and say, «Hey, what’s your friend time?» they can answer that question. If you come up to someone with no background and ask them, «What’s your friend time?» they’ll be like, «What are you talking about?» Right? There are all of these code words. And then, man, people are in on this. I would go to the 6 a.m. class, and there was already a class there doing what would be called a «cash out,» which is that last 10-minute thing where you’re just hoping not to die. Like, you’re tasting blood in your mouth, and you’re wondering, «Is that my blood? Is this healthy? Should I be doing this?» CrossFitters—I mean, they’re like, «No, I’m not okay. I guess I’m all right. I’ll keep doing double unders with a thousand pounds on my back and then throw in some box jumps and lift a car.» Right? That’s kind of the cash out. And then I would watch it, and there’s just a kind of dedication to the community, because when you hit your PR, everybody rejoices in the room. We freak out like we all did it together. And when we fail, they’re quick to circle around and encourage you, telling you to keep moving and keep trying. Maybe let’s dial in your diet— and I mean, they get real weird about diet. I mean, all the way down—like, I went to an event, and they launched this thing that became more popular, but I first heard about it in CrossFit called the Whole 30. All right? Now, if you have my body type, you should not do the Whole 30, right? I never felt so good, and so many people asked me if I was okay, than when I was on the Whole 30. Like, «Bro, you’re leaning out a little.» You are not designed.