It was just a few years ago when you would go to a restaurant and if there was a waiting list, you would be called by name when they had an empty table. Have you been to Outback recently? They give you a pager and when it is you turn, they page you.
When they dial your pager, an electronic signal goes from their computer to a satellite that is 5,000 miles up in space. That signal is then turned back and aimed at your individual pager. That signal travels over 10,000 miles in less time than it takes a waitress to say your name. Things change.
When I was in the seventh grade, I stole a candy bar from the local drug store. To this day, I have no idea how he found out, but my dad drove me to the store that afternoon and made me apologize to the manager for being a thief, and then he took me around to every employee in the store and apologize to them, too. Then he took me home and grounded me for a month.
Today, if a boy that age did the same thing and got caught, he would not be taught the lesson of stealing, but he would be punished with a court record, possible detention center time, and anything else they could conjure up. Things change.
And change they must. If things were to never change, you and I would still be running around wearing the same thing the pilgrims wore, and we would eat our Thanksgiving dinners out in the woods, sitting on stumps. Thank goodness some things do change.
Today, I want to talk to you about how and why things change, and the necessity of our being flexible enough to accept those changes for the glory of God.
The first thing I want to talk about is how we are supposed to …
1. NOTICE THE CHANGES & HOW THEY AFFECT US
There have been more changes in the last 50 years than there has been ever before in history all put together. More information has been produced in the last thirty years than in the previous five thousand years. More than one-half the scientists who have ever lived are alive today.
Ninety percent of all the items in the supermarket today did not exist just ten years ago. It is estimated that 73% of college graduates are going into jobs which did not exist when they were born – 22 short years ago.
George Washington traveled from Virginia to Washington D.C. by horseback. It could take him ten days traveling at a speed of twenty-five miles per day.
The astronauts that just came back to earth last week traveled at over 25,000 miles per hour. At that speed you could fly from New York to San Francisco in just a couple of minutes.
I am hi-lighting the changes we have all seen just in our lifetimes. Sometimes it seems that life is going by so fast it confuses us and all we want to do is hibernate away from the changes where it is more comfortable and we don’t have to be bothered with thinking about it.
But we cannot afford to hide our heads in the sand. To do so would not gain us anything worthwhile. We must know what is around us at all times. Everything we’re familiar with is changing, right before our eyes.
We are forever on the move – if you can name it, we humans are doing it! The pace is somewhere between maddening and insane. In most cities across America, the streets are packed with cars 24-hours a day with people going to and fro.
If you look at the people you see in the supermarket or in the cars next to you, they never seem to be smiling anymore, either. Their faces reflect the tension that is in our society.
The air is polluted. Memorial and 71st is so crowded, people actually try to drive further just to avoid the congestion. Everywhere you turn, you run into people whose nerves are shot.
Why is all this occurring? Because of change. It is human nature to avoid change, because it is human nature to be comfortable. Unfortunately, we live in a society that is always changing.
We are commanded to be aware of what is going on around us and the affect it has, or might have, upon on.
In MATTHEW 24, Jesus is telling His disciples what the signs of the end times will be. This entire passage is about how we are not to know the hour or the day, but we are to know the season. And the only way we can know the season is by paying attention to what is going on around us, especially all the changes.
MATTHEW 24:4 tells us to watch out so that none deceives us.
MATTHEW 24:42 and 44 advise us to keep watch and be ready. Again, we cannot do that unless we know what changes are going on around us.
So the first thing we must do is be aware of all the changes going on around us, and how they might affect us.
The second thing we must do is …
2. SEE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CHANGES
Some changes have been for the worse. When I was in high school, about the worst thing that could happen was getting in trouble for skipping class. Today, we have guns and knives in our schools.
Someone said that the good old days were when drugs was something a doctor prescribed, grass was something you mowed on Saturdays, and pot was a thing you cooked in.
My sister would see a movie on TV when we were kids and when a man and woman kissed, she would turn her head in embarrassment. Today, if kissing were the only thing to worry about, we would be in really good shape.
What other changes are causing problems?
· movies have gone from silent to unspeakable
· we used to have 3 networks: NBC, ABC, and CBS
· we now have 750 channels – showing the same program!
· and by the time we do find the program we want – it’s over!
War used to be something that was fought on some distant shore, but now, we have gang wars fought on our city streets, and these wars are as deadly as those in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In addition to that, this new war on terrorism we are fighting is bringing the enemy into our towns in disguise, where they wait for the opportune time to kill or hurt as many people as they can at one time.
I heard on the news this past week that many larger hotel chains are getting rid of all the Bibles in the rooms. They are being replaced with “Adult Intimate Care Packages.”
In Canada, it is already against federal law to even refer to certain Scriptures. For instance, if we were in Toronto today, I could just say, “REVELATION 22”15” and I could literally be arrested and taken to prison in handcuffs. What would my sin have been? In that Scripture, it tells us who will be in hell.
It says, “those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”
If a person were to read this verse, or even mention the Scripture reference, they could be arrested under the Canadian hate laws crimes, and the sentence is fine and our prison, because they ‘offended’ someone who didn’t want to hear the truth of God.
Please don’t pass this off too casually, as it is on its way here. Among those who are proponents of this legislation are John Kerry and Ted Kennedy. There will be a day come when many American pastors will be arrested and persecuted for doing nothing more than reading the Bible. Things change.
Recently, a high school teacher observed a number of boys in the corner of the gymnasium on their hands and knees. Rushing up to the boys, the teacher demanded, " What are you doing?"
One of the boys looked up and answered, " We’re shooting dice!"
The teacher responded with, " Oh, thank goodness. I thought you were praying." Things change.
But some changes have been for the better.
My great-grandfather rode a horse, but was afraid of the train. My grandfather rode on a train, but was afraid of a car. My father rode in a car, but was afraid of an airplane.I ride in an airplane, but I’m afraid of a horse."
Churches have changed throughout the generations. Many people today say they do not like a church that isn’t traditional. What do they mean by traditional? They usually mean a church that is like the church they were raised in.
But those churches have either changed to be relevant to today’s society, or they are dying a slow death because they refuse to change – even for Jesus.
The Bible does not tell us to have a church that people like to go to because it is comfortable. The Bible expects churches to be houses where the truth of Jesus is offered to more and more people. There is an old saying among religious leaders that if a church is not growing, it is dying.
I am a proclaimer of God’s word. I want you to feel good in this church, and I want you to enjoy coming here. But I do not want you to get too comfortable here, because we don’t produce when we are comfortable. And we need to produce more souls for the harvest.
Churches change. Today, we do not preach solely on hellfire and brimstone as my grandfather’s church did. We try to teach the entire God, which consists of love, jealousy, wrath, compassion, etc.
Today’s church does not sit idly by waiting for those people to find them. They go outside the walls of the building and contact people where they are, showing that we care about them as Christ cares about them. And we encourage them to come to church so they learn more.
But there is a problem here. And I want to talk about that now. That problem is the church’s lack of desire to …
3. CHANGE ENOUGH TO INCLUDE NEW PEOPLE
What do we want? We want people to come to this church so they can hear how to be saved. That is what we want. Now, we must look at what the people want.
Today’s society is mostly unchurched and spiritually lost. They do not like tradition and they are used to learning in a different way. Let me explain how churches must begin adapting to the needs of the people outside the church in order to get them inside the church.
Most of today’s people do not like to read like they did even 20 years ago. They would rather get their information from TV or the Internet. If a church wants these people to learn, we must present our message the way they are used to. That is why we have power point and audio-visual tools in this church.
The music most people listen to now is called contemporary. It is very upbeat and less “stodgy” than some people are used to in church. And rather than having it sung to the backdrop of the Adam’s Family organ, it is usually accompanied by an acoustic guitar, keyboard, and other instruments. That is the reason that we have today initiated the live music with our praise team. We do not want to just sing our songs while looking at the words in a book with out heads tilted downward. We want to lift our heads and look to heaven while we praise the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
I have talked to some people, including some in this church, who listen to a totally different kind of music outside of church than they want in the church. Why would they do that? Because they listen to what they LIKE during the week, and they sing what they have been TRAINED TO SING on Sunday. I just can’t see any praise in that at all.
There was a man who came to town and wanted to open a barbershop. He rented the building, bought and installed all the equipment, and ran the ads in the paper. He got a few people in and most of them left.
The ones that kept him as their barber were the older ones like he was. No matter what he did, he just couldn’t get new customers to come back to him. Pretty soon, he had to just close up shop and go out of business.
What in the world was he doing wrong? He would only cut hair the way they cut it back in the 1950’s. Since most men wear their hair differently today, they wouldn’t go back to him. See, he was so concentrated on what he wanted, he completely dismissed what the customers wanted. The bottom line was that he closed shop.
A church is much the same way. I heard it expressed like this:
Wheaties began making cereal back in the late 1940’s. It was good, but it wasn’t particularly popular. So, in the early 1950’s they took a big financial risk and did something nobody else had ever done. They paid big bucks to have a popular athlete grace the front of the box, and their new slogan was, “Breakfast of Champions.” The athlete was an Olympic gold medallist in the pole-vaulting competition. His was a preacher, and his name was Bob Richards.
It worked. Wheaties became an overnight success and has been near the top selling cereals ever since. But they had to do something else, too. They had to keep finding new athletes that people knew. See, as the years go by, people forget names and accomplishments. A few years after Rev. Richards appeared on the box, people forgot who he was.
So, throughout the years, to be able to introduce the cereal to new people, they changed the outside of the box to be more relevant to the society of that day. But you have to notice something very important. Not once during all this time, did they ever change the cereal inside the box! It has remained unchanged in all these years.
The church needs to change the outside of our box. By that, I mean we must present ourselves to where the average person outside the church will accept us. And they will accept us if we present ourselves in the way they are used to receiving things.
We no longer wear suits and hats to church. We have replaced them with open shirts and jeans. We no longer expect people to sit and stare at the pastor as he preaches. We offer them video points that enhance the message. We no longer sing just the old time hymns. We now sing music that they can identify with. Someone recently said that the praise songs we sing today are the new hymns for a new generation.
But, not matter how much we change in the way we do things; our message remains constant and focused. It is the message of our Lord, and it will never change, for it is the only truth that is known to man. It cannot change.
God is the only One in control, and he never changes. We have all heard the car insurance commercial that said, “You are in good hands with Allstate.” Well, as Christians, no matter how our world seems to be falling apart, we have to remember that WE ARE IN GOOD HANDS WITH GOD.
He is in control. He never loses track of what’s going on. He never gets confused. He always makes the right decision. God has a grip on the reins of the world and His purposes will be carried out.
In MALACHI 3:6 it tells us,
" For I am the Lord, I change not."
These words were spoken in a time of great change. Worship had become flippant and causal as people gave their leftovers to God. Does that sound like America today?
The moral law of God was being disregarded, especially concerning marriage. Divorce was a national disgrace. Does that sound like America today?
The Lord’s command to tithe was being ignored to the economical detriment of the nation. Does that sound like America today?
And neither church, nor her people took seriously the threat of the approaching judgment. In that kind of world, the Lord was reminding and warning His people that He had not changed.
This all sounds like modern day America, doesn’t it? The writer could have been describing our country this morning. Even most Christians have become so comfortable that we have forgotten our Godly vision. We have replaced our focus on what God wants from us, to what we want from God. That is a very dangerous place to be.
We must get that vision back. We must have a passionate and clear vision of what God has called us to do and of what we need to be. Too often we take our feet off the pedal and take long looks in the rear view mirror, looking at what was instead of what is. And what will be does not depend on what was, but on what is.
Someone has said: "When we have more memories than dreams, our life is over." When we are content to revel in our past rather than gird up for the future in Christ, we render ourselves useless to God. We must know where we are going and what we are going to do when we get there!
When he was 88-years old, the late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was traveling on a train. The conductor came by and asked for his ticket.
Judge Holmes searched his pockets and fumbled through his wallet without success.
The conductor was sympathetic: "Don’t worry, Mr. Holmes, the Pennsylvania Railroad will be happy to trust you. When you reach your destination, you will probably find the ticket and you can mail it to us."
The conductor’s kindness did not put Justice Holmes at ease. Holmes said, " My dear man, my problem is not where is my ticket? My problem is: I have forgotten where I am going."
Many of us are having the same problem today. We aren’t clear where we are going. One reason is that the American Christian does not take the time to analyze and think about where we are in relation to the world versus where we are in relation to our God.
We are told how God feels about all this in -
ISAIAH 43:18-19
"Forget the former things. Do not dwell in the past. See, I am dong a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in he desert and steams in the wasteland."
God is doing new things for today’s churches. He is creating a new way in the desrt. But today’s church must be willing to travel new roads to reach new people. We must pray for new visions for our directions.
We cannot be content with what was any more than we can be comfortable with what is. We must crave what can be! That which holds our attention will determine our actions!
If you want to be distressed - look within. If you want to be defeated - look back. If you want to be distracted - look around. If you want to be delivered - look up!
When we focus our attention upon the Lord, setbacks will become springboards and obstacles turn into opportunities! But the most amazing thing that happens when we focus upon our Lord, is that normal everyday people become absolutely courageous in the things they can accomplish for Him!
HEBREWS 11:27 tells us about Moses:
" By faith he left Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen."
Those last words should instruct us. Moses’ eyes were on God and he was able to endure.
· The Living Bible says: he "kept right on going!"
· Moffatt’s translation says, "He never flinched."
Let me show you how lackluster and pampered we have become as a people. There are times when I get tired, and what do I do? I do like all of you do. I find a place to sit and rest, and maybe even take a nap.
Now look at Moses. He was 80 when God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. So he walked all the way there so he could tell Pharaoh the news. He walked! There were no cars or buses or trains. At 80-years old, the man walked everywhere he went. How many of us are willing to walk to the mailbox to get our mail?
And Moses endured! He kept on keeping on. He “kept on going.” He fixed his eyes on the Lord, and never looked back. You and I can do the same! We can endure by fixing our eyes on our Lord and doing everything we can to touch new people for His kingdom.
At times, it might be uncomfortable to do the things necessary to reach new people. I can guarantee all of you today, that no matter what kind of music you like, you cannot like that kind of music any more than I like country gospel. But I have another perspective; one I urge you to adopt.
I like country gospel, but I LOVE any kind of music that draws someone new closer to Jesus. AMEN?
Even when things seem to change a bit too fast, or when something new comes up to make us feel a little useless, we must keep our focus on “why” we are doing things in the first place.
Remember the motto we came up with when we started this church. “Not how, but why!”
Remember that tradition is the biggest enemy God has. Flexibility is one of His greatest blessings to the church. Not flexibility in our message, but flexibility in the way we might present it to others.
Our society has abandoned God’s laws of relationships and has been writing their own. We have reached a state where common decency is no longer common. All of our doing without God has finally outdone us.
With all these changes creating chaos and crises we, as a church, have been trying to just hold on. Just look at how change has been impacting our churches:
· 85% of the churches in America are losing members
· Nearly 96% of Americans do not go to church
This has all come about in the last 40 years! What has happened to us? Our children are receiving no religious training. That means that as time goes by, it will get harder and harder to minister as a church to our society.
The enemy will try to tell you it is scary. The enemy will try to tell you that you do not really need to get involved in this. But remember that the enemy is a liar.
So, if we want to keep a church that is focused on Jesus, we must use all of the tools He has given us, or we will lose the effectiveness of the church.
Scripture says,
‘O Thou, who changes not; abide with us in all changes.’
The only way God can abide in you is if you have Jesus Christ securely in your heart – as your Master. Do you?
INVITATION
