Sermon quotes on the status quo
Karl Barth
Faith in God’s revelation has nothing to do with an ideology which glorifies the status quo.
Ted Dekker
Unfortunately, the world has taken some of the greatest minds God has given us and locked them up in cages. Most very brilliant or creative people seem strange to ordinary people. Geniuses are almost always outcasts. The intelligent are bullied on the playground. They see the world differently and are shunned for it. They nearly all turn out to be lonely at the least, locked up at the worst. It’s human nature to encourage the status quo and shun those who see life differently.
Max Eastman
People who demand neutrality in any situation are usually not neutral but in favor of the status quo.
Seth Godin
It’s uncomfortable to resist the urge to settle.
Seth Godin
The job isn’t to catch up to the status quo; the job is to invent the status quo.
Jack Graham
Status Quo is Latin for the mess we are in.
Steve Jobs
“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently – they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The contemporary church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch supporter of the status quo.
Ronald A Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow
In order to exercise leadership on that challenge, they had to go beyond what people expected of them, risk testing some relationships, and move themselves and their organizations into unfamiliar territory. They had to be coolly realistic and skilled at diagnosing their own resources and constraints, and make some necessary adaptations in their own preferred behaviors. And they needed to do the same coolheaded diagnosis for the situation: understand the underlying value conflicts embedded in the strategy of the organization or community, what and whose interests benefited from the status quo, and the political dynamics that both kept their organizations in their current equilibrium and offered some potential for catalyzing change
Martin Luther
Like the early Christians, we must move into a sometime hostile world armed with the revolutionary gospel of Jesus Christ. With this powerful gospel we shall boldly challenge the status quo.
Richard Rohr
The human ego prefers anything, just about anything, to falling or changing or dying. The ego is that part of you that loves the status quo, even when it is not working. It attaches to past and present, and fears the future.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Taking a new step, uttering, a new word, is what people fear most.
Lyle E. Schaller
The final thing leaders will need is courage … the willingness to tell the truth, to say what is not politely or politically acceptable. … The most common expression of the courage to tell the truth is to say, ‘It ain’t workin’.’”
“Schaller: Courageous Leaders Can Say It Ain’t Workin’,” Penn-Jersey Baptist, February 2006.
Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson
Many churches never experience a comeback because they want the community to change while they remain the same. But comeback churches are different. They realize that no one remains the same when they’ve experienced a fresh touch from God.
Comeback Churches: How 300 Churches Turned Around and Yours Can, Too, B&H Books, 2007.
Still Looking for inspiration?
Consider checking out our illustrations page on the Status Quo.