Quote from Forum Archives on October 27, 2008, 2:06 pm

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

 

CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN

October 26, 2008

 

 

Text: John 17:20-26

 

An advertisement for Hershey’s milk chocolate once featured a photograph of a defeated young man posing with his head down and cupped in his hand.  A series of tattoos dots his upper arm.  The first reads “Jane” and is crossed out.  Then comes “Kim,” followed by “Sarah” and “Lisa,” all crossed out.  Finally, we read the name of his latest girlfriend, “Tracy,” which is not crossed out.  Under the photograph is the bold headline, “CHANGE IS BAD,” followed by the smaller tagline, “Hershey’s: Unchanged Since 1899.”

 

We approach change with a mixture of emotions.  It is, indeed, beneficial for some things to remain unchanged.  I’ll eat a Hershey’s candy bar on the assumption that it has the same good flavor as my one.  If that’s a winning formula for Hershey, why change?  The Coca Cola Company found that out when they introduced their “new” Coke some years back.  Their change flopped, so they brought back their “classic Coke.”

 

There are other changes, though, that we readily welcome.  I cannot imagine anyone here telling me, “Pastor, I wish that medical treatments would stop changing.  I long for the techniques from the ‘good, old days’ when they didn’t use anesthesia.”  If medical science never changed, we would go to surgeries, and even dental procedures, without anesthetic or pain relief of any kind.  Aren’t you glad that medical science has changed?

 

So not all change is good.  That is, I believe, why there is comfort in both the Old and New Testaments.  Malachi 3:6, “For I the Lord do not change,” and Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  We are assured that the God of those who have gone before us in our spiritual heritage is the same God who leads us now.  His promises are still in effect and are still being kept.

 

We also know that change can be good.  Change ordained by God is a true blessing.  We rejoice when people and nations repent from their sinful ways and bow down before our Lord.  We give praise when human despair is overcome by Gospel hope.  We celebrate when hunger gives way to abundance.  We breathe a joyful sigh of relief when swords are beaten into plowshares.  We shout “Amen” when anyone receives salvation and replaces brokenness with wholeness.

 

A few years ago, Haiti missionaries Katherine and Wayne Niles note that conversions are often the result of the Haitian Christians’ evangelistic lifestyle.  They wrote, “In this country, the lines are clearly drawn:  you are either for Jesus or for the devil.  Voodoo (worship of satan) is evident everywhere...  Haitian Christians know the wretchedness of living a life serving voodoo spirits.  Consequently, they are eager - actually determined - to bring friends, acquaintances, even strangers, into the freedom and grace of obedience to Christ.”  Similarly, Chuck Fox, one of our missionaries serving in northern Thailand, told a group last Wednesday night about the influence of belief in evil spirits among the Akhu tribes.  They are so caught up in their false beliefs that it is still not unusual for them to kill infant twins.  They believe that when twins are born, one is possessed by an evil spirit.  Since they do not know which one it is, they abandon them both in the house in which they were born and burn the house down.  Chuck showed us photos of grown twins who now celebrate life because their parents replaced this strange spirit belief with the truth, grace, mercy, and saving love of Jesus Christ.  Those who hear and believe the Gospel are transformed from demon worship to salvation.  This is change we can believe in.

 

We know that when we witness the devastating effects of voodooism, atheism, materialism, and the countless other “-isms” that exist around the world, we need change.  We know that when evil men run roughshod over the weak, subjecting them to the terrors of human trafficking, poverty, and slavery, we need change.  We know that when governments begin considering, and even enacting, laws that result in the killing of unborn children, children and adults with physical or mental imperfections, and children and adults with potentially terminal illnesses, we need change.  But we don’t need just any change; we need change we can believe in.

 

What kind of change is that?  It is change that is founded upon truth, not mere political sound bites.  It is change that can happen even with just a small start.  There are many times when I feel inadequate to influence any change in my family or acquaintances or people in my community.  It is easy to become overwhelmed with feelings of inadequacy.  We take to heart the line that goes, “Oh Lord, your ocean is so big, and my boat is so little.”  What difference can one person, or one church, make?  That was a question that a Methodist pastor in Richland, Iowa, was not afraid to hear, because she always had an answer.  What difference can one person make?  She would look you in the eye with a kind, knowing expression and say simply, “Madelyn Murray O’Hair was one person.”

 

As Christians, we know very well the impact one person bringing the right kind of change can make.  We also need to know that, as Christians, we are never operating on the strength and resources of one person alone.  One of our confessions is that we are instruments in the transformation that will take place.  It is only God, in the person of the Son, Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, who brings change we can believe in. 

 

Consider again the final portion of Jesus’ prayer recorded in John 17.  In spite of the divine, miraculous work of world changing forgiveness and reconciliation that was going to take place through Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, the responsibility to transmit the Gospel message was left in the hands of eleven very mortal, very human, very limited disciples.  Yet from even that small group, the message of Christ has continued to be preached around the world several times over.  Was it from the strength, wisdom, and insight of eleven men that all this was accomplished?  Hardly.

 

John 17 is a prayer of Jesus.  He moves from prayer for himself to prayer for his disciples to prayer for all believers.  He begins his prayer for all believers in verse 20:  “My prayer is not for them alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.”  Even before they got started, even before they knew of the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus prayed as if they had already succeeded.  The disciples did not know it, but Jesus knew they would bring to their world change we can believe in.  When we know this, it makes all the difference in the world. 

 

In Colossians 1:19-20, Paul shares that there is a universal significance in what Jesus has done.  He writes, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”  We need to remember such things whenever we feel that our contribution for God seems insignificant and unimportant.  A story I once read in a Bible study illustrates this perspective:  “In Birmingham, England, there is a store called Lewis’s.  It’s a great chain store in one of the main streets, and wanted to extend.  Right in the way of the extension was a little chapel of the Quakers, a Friends’ meeting house.  Lewis’s sent a letter to the leaders of the Friends’ meeting house saying, ‘Dear Sirs, We wish to extend our premises.  We see that your building is right in the way.  We wish therefore to buy your building and demolish it so that we might expand our store.  We will pay you any price you care to name.  If you’ll name a price we will settle the matter as quickly as possible.  Yours sincerely.’  They got back a letter by reply which said, ‘Dear Sirs:  We in the Friends’ meeting house note the desire of Lewis’s to extend.  We observe that our building is right in your way.  We would point out, however, that we have been on our site somewhat longer that you have been on yours, and we are determined to stay where we are.  We are so determined to stay where we are that we will happily buy Lewis’s.  If therefore you would like to name a suitable price we will settle the matter as quickly as possible.  Signed, Cadbury.’  Here is the clincher.  The Cadburys are the great chocolate-making, candy-making people in England.  They have an enormous spread of business all over the country and the Cadburys are Quakers.  They could very well have bought Lewis’s many times over.”  In his commentary, author Maxie Dunnam remarks, “The point is that it is not the size of the building that counts, but who signs the letter...  Christ Himself signs the letter of the church.  It is Christ with whom every power in the universe must reckon, and we who make up the church are not operating out of human wisdom and strength alone.  We are a new creation, a fellowship of Resurrection life.  We are a letter of Christ; His seal is upon us.”  (Maxie Dunnam, Colossians, pp. 352-353)

 

This is a great truth that we too frequently set aside and forget.  As the Israelites stood on the banks of the Red Sea and watched certain death bear down on them in the form of the approaching Egyptian army, what did they do?  They forgot that God had just delivered them from the bondage of slavery.  As the Israelites moved on into the wilderness and faced death through thirst and starvation, what did they do?  They forgot that God had just delivered them from the Egyptian army.  As the Israelites heard reports about the size and number of the enemies they faced in the Promised Land, what did they do?  They forgot that God had protected them and their flocks while in the wilderness.  Not an impressive bunch, were they?  Yet, it is through them and their ancestors that God established His covenant promise bring change we can believe in into His world.  Paul was certainly correct to write, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”  (1 Corinthians 1:25)

 

Change we can believe in a very realistic theme realistic goal when it comes to mission support and ministry planning.  When we pray for our world, we will be moved to give to our world.  When we give to our world, we will witness God’s power to change our world.  This is not my money or your money that is going toward the support of ministries around the world; these are the resources we have together given and consecrated to God for His use.  There is unbelievable power in that.  It is not my ministry or your ministry that leads a boy or girl or man or woman to receive Jesus Christ as savior and experience a changed life; it is the power of the Holy Spirit being made known through our service to God.  There is unbelievable power in that.  And in spite of us, He will use what we give to Him and consecrate to Him to bring change we can believe in.

 

In another missionary testimony, Katherine and Wayne Niles note that there was a weekly report made in the Baptist Church in Quartier Morin of those who have been converti, which is those who have made professions of faith for Christ.  “...No one predicted the uproar that took place at the Quartier Morin church one Sunday earlier this year as the pastor called out name after name of the week’s converti.  At the 10th name, the congregation began to murmur.  By the 15th name, the murmur grew to a commotion.  As the 20th person approached the front of the church, the congregation burst forth with joy, clapping and shouting ‘Glory to Jesus!’ and ‘Hallelujah!’  Wayne Niles turned to the woman next to him and asked, ‘Where are all these converti coming from?’  She responded, ‘From the Lord, of course.’”  Well, of course.  Where would they come from otherwise?  Isn’t God great?  Isn’t God awesome?  We have so much to learn.

 

“My prayer is not for them alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”  This is change that we can believe in.

 

Rev. Charles A. Layne

First Baptist Church

PO Box 515

179 W. Broadway

Bunker Hill, IN 46914

765-689-7987

bhfbc@bhfirstbaptist.com

www.bhfirstbaptist.com

 

 

 

 

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