Mensa Otabil - Learning Excellence Through Pressure - Part 2
- Watch
- Donate
I’ve been teaching on excellence since the second week of the year, and last week I couldn’t complete what I was working on, so I am doing part two of my message: learning excellence through pressure. Most of the time, pressure is viewed very negatively. We don’t want to be under pressure. There is a place for managing pressure and stress in our lives so we don’t get overstressed, but I’m focusing on the positive benefits of being under pressure because many times, people are so against pressure. When you talk to them, they’ll say things like, «Don’t give me pressure; no stress, please! Please, no stress; don’t pressure me!» Yet, pressure is actually an important requirement for our success in life, and that is what I am focusing on.
So, I will review some of the things I said last week and then move on to some topics for this week. I based my message on Philippians chapter 3, specifically verses 12 to 14. The Apostle Paul is telling us what I consider to be his drive in life—what drives him. It’s essentially his personal philosophy on why he accomplished what he did. He says, «Not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may hold of that for which Christ Jesus also has laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do: forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forward to those things that are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.»
Twice in this passage, the Apostle Paul uses the word «press.» In verse 12, he says, «I press on,» and in verse 14, he says, «I press toward.» The idea of the word «press» is where we get the concept of pressure; it comes from pressing. In both instances where Paul uses the word «press» in the Bible, if you check the lemma of the Greek, you will find that the root word he is using is from the Greek word «dioko,» which means to press, pursue, or persecute. As a matter of fact, it is translated more as «persecute» in the New Testament than as «pursuit» or «press.» «Dioko» means to suffer hardship under intense pressure. So when Paul says, «I press on,» he does not simply mean he is moving on. What he is saying is he puts himself under intense pressure to move on. If he doesn’t do that, he wouldn’t move on.
In other words, moving on requires intense pressure; it requires a lot of effort. We said that pressure moves us out of inertia. Inertia is a state where nothing is happening, nothing is moving, and everything is still. We quoted the physical laws that indicate that we need pressure, and I referenced Newton’s first law of motion, which states that an object in a state of inertia or rest will remain at rest or, if it is moving, will continue at a constant velocity or speed unless pressure or force is applied. If you want your life to move on, you need pressure. Something should push you out; some things should drive you out. I pray that God will do that nicely for you, and that you will allow something to come and drive you from a state of stagnation or just moving at a slow, consistent pace. We need pressure to move on. We need pressure to help us see what is in us, to strengthen us, to sharpen us, and to stretch us.
For today, I will start by using God’s instruction on how the tabernacle was to be lighted as a metaphor for dealing with the concept of pressure in achieving results in our lives. Please turn with me in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 27. This is the instruction God gave to Israel on how to light up the tabernacle. For those of you who may not be very familiar, when the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they lived in tents, and God’s dwelling place was in a tent called the tabernacle. The tabernacle had to be lighted. God gave instructions on how to light it up. Although the instruction is not directly about human beings, I will take that and apply it to our lives.
Exodus chapter 27, verse 20: «You shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light to cause the lamp to burn continually.» Normally, I preach from the New King James Version of the Bible, but if you look at the old King James Version, it is rendered as: «Thou shalt command the children of Israel that they bring the pure oil olive beaten for the lamp, for the light to cause a lamp to burn continuously.» In the King James Version, the word «pressed» is rendered as «beaten.» Now I’m going to take this instruction that God gave to Israel on how to produce oil for the light and apply it to your life to see how God also wants to produce light out of your life.
There are four main ideas I want to point out based on the passage we have read, and I’ll read the passage again: «You shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of pressed or beaten olives for the light to cause the lamp to burn continually.» The first idea is the olive—the raw fruit of the olive. This is where God starts. He wants to produce light, but he starts with the olive fruit. I want you to think of yourself as that olive fruit. You are that tiny olive fruit. An olive fruit is a very small, oval-shaped fruit, approximately an inch long or around four centimeters. He says this is what you’re going to use to bring oil to light my lamp.
I want you to think of yourself as that olive fruit. The olive fruit referred to here is the unripe, mature olive fruit. All fruit starts as green, and when it ripens, it becomes blackish. What the Bible is talking about here is not the blackish, ripe olive fruit, but the mature green olive fruit, which is in its most mature state. It hasn’t ripened yet, but it is mature and unripe; that is where it starts from. So God says, «Take that fruit,» and the second thing is that it must be pressed or beaten. That is how the fruit releases what is inside it; it is the process by which the olive fruit yields what is inside it. Beating it does not mean taking a cane and whipping it. The idea is very similar to how we produce palm oil. When we make palm oil, we boil the palm kernels, put them in a mortar, and pound or press them to extract the oil. It is similar to what God is saying here: «You take the olive and you’re going to beat it; you’re going to press it; you’re going to pound it.» When you pound it, you are breaking it down to release what is inside it.
This is a very important concept. God takes the raw fruit and presses it; can you imagine if you were that olive fruit and you were going through this process of being pounded and pressurized? You might think someone wants to destroy your life; you might think that this is an attempt to crush you. But God says that’s what you do with the olive. If you keep it as it is, it is of no use to me. You’re going to break it down because that is when I start the process of releasing what is inside it. So we have the olive fruit and the pressing—the beating—the pounding. Then he says, «After you have done that, pure oil will come out.» Pure oil represents the quality that is going to come out of the fruit.
The Bible refers to pure oil as oil that does not have sediments or impurities in it, nor does it contain water. The reason it doesn’t have impurities and is pure is that, apart from pounding, it also goes through filtration. In the past, they didn’t have the mechanisms we have now. So, what they did was similar to what most of us do today. If you want to filter something—in this case, the olive fruit—you pound it, remove the large seed, and then take a fabric, perhaps organza or some other filtering fabric, to squeeze the raw, pounded olive in it. As you squeeze it, the oil comes out.
So there are two levels of pressure: one is pounding, and the other is squeezing. It is through the process of pounding and squeezing that the oil comes out. God says that is how he wants you to treat the olive, and I’m telling you that when God wants to touch your life, he will take your life as it is and put it under pressure. After you have been under pressure and have been struck and beaten, he will allow you to be squeezed, and when you are squeezed, you will cry out, «Oh my God!» But God may not hear your prayer at that moment because what he needs from you cannot come out until you are squeezed; it’s called pressure.
The olive fruit is beaten, and then it is squeezed. As it is squeezed, I’m sure it asks, «What have I done?» No, we don’t hate you; we love you so much. We see oil in you, and we’re not going to allow you to jeopardize yourself. So, pressure will release the oil out of you. The fourth thing that happens is the light. The light represents the benefit that comes from the fruit. The light brightens, beautifies, and brings illumination, but you will not get light until you get oil, and you don’t get oil until you are beaten and pressed. This oil burns purely and does not produce soot. That’s why God says to use this process; there are other processes you could use, but they will not produce the light I’m talking about. I want light that does not produce smoke because sometimes, you can produce light but also smoke at the same time. People might be attracted to your light, but when they get closer, the smoke gets into their eyes, repelling them. There are talented people whose talents are repelling; they possess abilities, but those abilities can’t be utilized because they are producing both light and smoke.
God says if you go through this process, you will produce light with no smoke. Your light will be pure, beautiful, and a blessing. But for that to happen, you are going to have to be pounded, and it is not because he hates you; it is because he loves you. Listen to me: God loves you as you are, and he will call you as you are, and he will accept you as you are, but he will never use you as you are. You must understand this distinction. When we come to God, he loves us as we are. He accepts us as we are. If you are a drunkard and you come to him, he will accept you as you are. If you are lazy and you come to him, he will accept you as you are. However, if he wants to use you, he must put you under pressure; he must extract some things out of you in order to utilize you. God only uses people he has prepared, not just people he loves, but those he has prepared.
Sometimes, people will tell you it doesn’t matter; God loves you. Yes, God loves you as you are, but he will use you as you are; he wouldn’t let greatness come out of you as you are. For greatness to come from you, something must crush you; something must pressurize you; something must break down that which is stopping your oil from flowing, and that which is required will be made available to you. You don’t have to pray for this; God will answer that prayer and bring you pressure. He will pound you and take you through processes so that the oil will flow out of you. It is the light that comes from this pure oil that God says is the only light he will accept in his tabernacle.
In the days of the Bible, they did not know of producing light from carbon fuel or petroleum crude oil; that hadn’t been invented yet. Light came either from animal fat or from plant fat, like the oil from olives. There were other processes for producing oil from the olive plant, but they would not produce this kind of pure oil. This is the only one that God accepts; it must be pounded, pressed, and beaten so that the best can come out of it. If you want to be a light to your world and a light to your generation, I will tell you without any equivocation that God will take you as you are, but he will break you to the point where he can use you for his glory.
Now transitioning from the light that comes from this olive fruit, I want to reference another light that God wants us to produce: 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, from verse 6 to 10. This forms one of our foundational texts for this year. You’ll find it on the screen when we have our artwork up there, but I’m reading the context: «For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.»
If you look at the passage, it starts by talking about how God commanded light out of darkness. Most of you are familiar with that verse: God said, «Let there be light,» and there was light. It has been said that in the beginning, God commanded light to shine out of darkness, and there was light. Then he moves on to say that the same God who commanded light out of darkness has given us the light of his glory through Jesus Christ. So, the same God who commanded, «Let there be light,» has given us light through Jesus Christ.
Next, it goes on to say that this light of God is a treasure in us. Then it tells us that we are earthen vessels carrying this treasure of God within us, which produces excellent power, and this power is not of our own, but of God. Then he mentions the challenges we face because of the treasure we carry. This passage has an immediate use, which is the Christian life and the life of Christ in us, the treasure of God within us. However, this verse also speaks to our natural life; just as God has the treasure of Christ in us, he also has gifts and abilities in us.
This treasure is in earthen vessels—quite an amazing thought. Nobody takes treasure and puts it in thin vessels; when you have treasure, you want to put it in a treasure box, something that is valuable. The Bible states that God’s treasure is in things that are not valuable. This is an astounding thought; we have this treasure in earthen vessels. It’s like someone having a bunch of diamonds and wanting to put them in something valuable. God takes this bunch of diamonds and places them in maybe tattered cloth, indicating there is treasure, but the holder of the treasure doesn’t seem valuable.
That is how God uses us most of the time; he has great treasure, but the treasure in us comes from a vessel that often doesn’t seem to have value. Can you imagine walking down the street past a blind man who is singing and begging for money? In our society, a blind man begging on the roadside isn’t considered a top figure on the social ladder; often, they are at the bottom—they’re blind, poor, and begging. But then this man begins to sing, and as he sings, you start to hear notes, tones, and a quality of music coming from him that makes you wonder where this treasure came from.
There is treasure in an earthen vessel. In fact, there was a particular person like this in our country about 30 years ago—this blind man lived in Lima when I was there. We all knew him; he sang and no one really cared. People just dropped money for him until a music producer discovered him, and he became a worldwide hit. So yes, there is treasure, but the vessel is not deemed significant. That is how God uses us; he has great treasure, but the treasure in us is often hidden in a vessel that has its own struggles.
So in your life, there is treasure sitting inside you, but if God does not allow pressure, that treasure may never be revealed. Your abilities will go unnoticed; God will take you as you are—an earthen vessel with treasure—and he is going to apply pressure so that something in your earthen vessel will break and allow the treasure to come out. Are you following what I’m saying? That is what happened to the olive, and that is what he wants to do to us as Christians.
Paul says we have this treasure in earthen vessels, then he goes on to describe how God deals with the earthen vessels. He mentions being hard-pressed on every side. If you are carrying God’s treasure, one of the first things God might do is hard-press you. The term «hard-pressed» means to be squeezed. When you feel squeezed from all sides, how do you get water from an orange? You squeeze it. How do you get juice from mangoes or apples? You squeeze them. How does God extract value from you? He will squeeze you.
Now, the squeeze may come from other people or through your own self, but it is even better when it comes from circumstances outside of yourself. Most of us are kinder to ourselves. Paul mentions being hard-pressed on every side. Have you experienced that kind of squeezing where you think, «This is going to kill me?» You might think you cannot survive under it, but Paul reassures us that although we are squeezed on every side, we are not crushed.
In other words, the pressure being brought upon you may make you feel like you are dying, but guess what? You wake up the next morning, and you are still alive. You didn’t die—it didn’t kill you. We are hard-pressed on every side but not crushed. God will put you under intense pressure to the point that you feel like you are dying. This is when many people run from pressure. They go to someone who will pat them on the back and say, «Don’t worry; you’re loved and accepted as you are.»
May I suggest to you that anyone who suggests to you that the way you are is acceptable and that you don’t need to change or go through pressure does not love you? While they might be speaking words of love to you, they are actually speaking words of destruction. They are making you take life easy, but life is not easy, my friends. Intense pressure will come, and that pressure is designed to bring oil or treasure out of you, squeezing you until every last drop comes out. But Paul says that when that pressure comes, you will not be crushed.
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed. Then he says, «perplexed.» Have you ever been under pressure and found yourself confused, at a loss, and not knowing what to do? You feel drained and empty as if everything in you has been depleted, yet you still try to find help but can’t. That is perplexity.
When you think you have given your best and done all you can do, yet feel like giving up, it can be so overwhelming. You stay that way until you realize, «I cannot give up; I have to push on!» It’s like when a woman is in labor; she must push even when she’s exhausted, which is how muscles are strengthened.
Paul also says, «persecuted,» meaning to be harshly pursued. We feel hunted and alone in the world. Life takes a lot from you; for example, a woman wanting to get her PhD while managing a family and working may feel like she is being persecuted for trying to achieve her goals.
Finally, he says, «struck down,» meaning to be put down. Despite all this, you are still pressing through. You hear negative things about yourself, and others may try to put you down. You keep moving forward because there’s treasure in you waiting to come out. Paul mentions being «hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down.»
The quality you produce in life is directly related to the pressure you submit yourself to. The quality of your work is proportionately related to pressure. If you hate pressure, you may be opposing success. So allow yourself to embrace the pressure.
Paul later talks about two kinds of pressure in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 5: «For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest. We were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears.» Paul distinguishes between pressure from outside and pressure from within.
Let me highlight both: pressure from outside. This is where much of our pursuit for excellence starts. It begins with what God has called us to be and what we believe God wants for us. If you believe God intends for you to be the head and not the tail, then there will be pressure to fulfill that calling.
Next, there are the demands of those above us who require results or outputs from us. They raise the bar constantly, which can cause stress when you’ve submitted a report multiple times but it still isn’t satisfactory. You may feel the demands piling up.
Then we have pressure from within, which can come from a fear of failing in our mission. Tell me a person who is not afraid of failure, and I will tell you a person who is going nowhere. That fear exists for a reason; it motivates us to move forward. Paul acknowledges that fear of failure leads him to keep himself in check—he doesn’t want to be disqualified after all he has accomplished.
When we realize our limitations, we experience internal pressure as well. There are those who allow their limitations to freeze them, but I’m referring to positive ambition—the desire to be the best for God. Ambition is not necessarily negative; it can drive us to greater heights, as seen in Paul’s life.
I pray that God will help you so that the treasure he has placed within you will not die. Your oil and favor will flow from you. Whether you are young or old, your best achievements are yet to come, and you are about to make an impact. If you feel squeezed in the process, remember it is so that the oil will come out. If life feels challenging, look back at how far you have come and know that your best days are ahead. The favor of God is upon you, and you are destined to be a world changer and an impact maker. In Jesus' name, give the Lord praise, everyone!