Scripture Ecclesiastes 4:1-13
(Slide Change 7)
How many of you don’t like change? It is a good thing God
didn’t ask us about that before He created the world. No change you face will
ever be as great as when God spoke light into darkness and life into a lump of
clay. Here the word of the Lord: (Slide Change 5)
Ecclesiastes
3:1-13
There is a time for everything, and a
season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to
gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give
up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What does the worker gain from his
toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything
beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they
cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is
nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That
everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil — this is the
gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can
be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere
him.
Solomon having shown the vanity of studies, pleasures, and
business, and that happiness is not to be found in these things, in chapter 3
says we should cheerfully content ourselves with, and make use of, what God has
given us, including the fact that change is inherent in God making all things
new - birth-death, planting-harvesting, be silent-speak up, gather
stones-scatter stones (commentary on stones - let’s call those stones =
change).
(SLIDE - Change 3)
Every tick of the clock brings you
closer to death - says the pessimist. Every tick of the clock gives me one more
moment to enjoy the life God has given me - says the optimist. You face change
every second of your life - fight it - embrace it - or as much as you are able,
determine what that change will be. Personally, the biggest change you ever
faced occurred 9 months after you were conceived. Any changes you face have
been faced by others before you and will be faced by others when you are gone -
change is not unique to you: Eccl 3:14a Whatever
is has already been, and what will be has been before.
My hope is that today’s message will
inspire some of us to move from disliking change to embracing change and move
those who embrace change to determine change. Though the heart of who we are as
a church has remained constant over many years - how we look and do ministry
has changed significantly and will continue to do so, therefore as a collective
people I say together, let’s determine what that change will be and not allow
Satan or the world or lethargy determine that for us. That will not end well -
like the guy who went to the doctor…
"You,"
the doctor said to the patient, "are in
terrible shape. You've got to make some serious changes in your life. First,
tell your wife to cook more nutritious meals. Stop working like a dog. Also,
inform your wife you're going to make a budget, and she has to stick to it. And
have her keep the kids off your back so you can relax. Unless there are some
changes like that in your life, you'll probably be dead in a month."
"Doc,"
the patient said, "this would sound more
official coming from you. Could you please call my wife and give her those
instructions?"
When the man got home, his wife
rushed to him and said, "I talked to your
doctor. Honey, what horrible news, you only have thirty days to live."
Don’t let the change happen - make
change happen - but make it God’s change - God wants to do a new things in you…
(Slide Change 4)
SEE, I AM DOING A NEW
THING
Isaiah 43:16-21 This is what the Lord says — he who made a
way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the
chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there,
never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: “Forget
the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now
it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and
streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink
to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim
my praise.”
BIGGEST TRUTH ABOUT
CHANGE
Thomas Kempis said: “Be
not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot
make yourself as you wish to be.” That goes for people as well as
systems.
That is a
hard pill to swallow for a pastor because much of our life is spent trying to
convince people how they ought to change and become more Christ like. Pastors
(and everyone else) have enough trouble trying to change themselves let alone
anyone else. Tolstoy said: “Everybody thinks of changing Humanity and
Nobody thinks of changing Himself.”
I wonder how many people feel like
The Duke of Cambridge who in the late 1800s said: "Any change, at any time, for any
reason, is to be deplored." I know how many. 16% of people feel
that way - at least if we believe Howard Hendricks when he wrote in the Monday
Morning Mission:
5 Kinds of
Attitudes About Change
1.
Early innovators (2.6%), run with new ideas
2.
Early adaptors (13.4%), influenced by (1) but not initiators
3. Slow
Majority (34%), the herd-followers
4.
Reluctant Majority (34%)
5.
Antagonistic (16%), they will never change
Hendricks says the majority of ministers are being nibbled
at by the last group. They focus on the minority opinion. This group is
basically carnal. You expect antagonism from them.
(Slide
Change 6)
*Everyone doesn’t have to be in
favor of change for change to happen. Behavioral studies show that if 2% of a
homogeneous group are strongly dedicated to a given cause, that small minority
can eventually move the whole.
Issac Newton’s First Law of Motion
is: “Everything continues in a state of
rest unless it is compelled to change by forces impressed upon it.” If the
group begins to move with those leading who believe they have somewhere to go,
the group will move as well.
Someone once said: “Nothing
is ever done until everyone is convinced that it ought to be done, and has been
convinced for so long that it is now time to do something else.” I am
ok with change for change sakes but I rarely do that in the church. If I am a
part of change - especially if I am the one initiating it - it is for what I
believe to be the purpose and the will of God.
The average number of jobs an
American worker has held by age 40: 8
Lawn mowing
Snow shoveling
Custodian at Rainbow/Church
Cleaned window air conditioners in
high rise apartment buildings.
Mime - Elgin Symphony
J Riggins Men’s clothes
Tuxedo Rentals - Gingiss Elgin and
Columbus - assistant manager
Constructed industrial shelving
Security Guard - 2 places
Waiter - King’s Inn
Tech support for bibliographic
software
Substitute teacher
Full time High school teacher
Seminary school professor
Mentor pastor for ABC/NW
Community theater Director
Choir/Bell Choir director
Youth Pastor 3 places
Senior pastor 6 places
Adult life rented Oakland, Lincoln Park West, Kansas
City, Kansas City, Twin, Oregon, Oregon
Home: Westmoor, parsonage, Urbana, New Albany, Twin, Oregon
SUMMARY: Rented 7 Lived in one parsonage and Owned 5
homes.
The great theologian Grady Nutt, in Homemade, July,
1990
“Openness is essentially the willingness to grow, a distaste for ruts,
eagerly standing on tip-toe for a better view of what tomorrow brings. A man
once bought a new radio, brought it home, placed it on the refrigerator,
plugged it in, turned it to WSM in Nashville (home of the Grand Ole Opry), and
then pulled all the knobs off! He had already tuned in all he ever wanted or
expected to hear. Some marriages are "rutted" and rather dreary
because either or both partners have yielded to the tyranny of the inevitable,
"what has been will still be." Stay open to newness. Stay open to
change.”
(Slide Change 4)
I can’t
fathom where my life would be today if Christ hadn’t come in and changed me.
Jesus is still changing me - the fruit of the spirit still needs a lot of
ripening in my life. I have 3 college degrees that are beneficial but I in no
way have stopped learning. I have neem a pastor for 33 years but I still have
changes to make to become a better pastor. Or, I can just hope everything
freezes and stays like it is till the day I retire and then I will make some
changes. NO WAY! I will not settle for how things have been nor how they are -
I will seek to follow Jesus who’s Word says, See, I am doing a new
thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the
desert and streams in the wasteland. And Luke 5:38 new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
And Eph 4:22-24 You
were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self,
which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the
attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in
true righteousness and holiness. And Ps 98:1 Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has
done marvelous things. And Luke 22:20 “This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
which is poured out for you.” And Rev 21:5 He who was seated on the throne said, "BEHOLD!
I am making all things new!" And finally, 2 Cor 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to
himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
I am willing to change as
often as need be an ambassador for Christ to the world who knows him not! Are
you willing to change for the sake of Christ? Are we willing to go wherever He
leads us for There
is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven - this
is the gift of God!
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