The Greatest Change Agent Ever

1 Corinthians 15:50-57

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015%3A50-57&version=NIV;MSG

 

Change is not easy for most people. It can take us out of our comfort zone. Even the smallest change can be disruptive. As a result, we resist change because the status quo is safer. We know what to expect. We have more control of our world when everything remains the same.

 

So what does it take for us to change? To get some idea of how to answer this question, here are the first three steps of Celebrate Recovery, a Christian twelve step program that specializes in change.

 

1. We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable. 

2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.

 

These steps tell us that in order to change requires reaching the bottom. When that happens you realize that your life is out of control; that you are powerless; that you can’t change on your own. Finally, you understand that you need the greatest change agent ever, Jesus Christ.

 

Eugene Peterson in The Message, paraphrased that change agent in Matthew 5:3-4.



 

³ “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

⁴ “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

 

 

 

This is from the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus is speaking to common people; not to folks in a twelve step program. He’s telling them that in order to change, you have to hit bottom in some sense. Otherwise, there is no need for Jesus.

 

Today’s passage is about when Jesus brings us home with our resurrected body. From then on, there is no sting from death nor struggle with sin. Only the joy of living life as it was meant to be; living in the presence of our Creator.

 

Jesus is the greatest change agent ever. He specializes in taking us home. Thanks be to God.

 

 

If you're not Moving Forward, You're going Backwards

Nehemiah 9:32-38

 

Football coaches say stuff like this all the time. This mantra seems to be ingrained into them as they push their players to become better by continually improving. Urban Meyer was recently quoted as saying, “That’s my job – to push”.

 

Leading up to today’s passage, the Levites recounted how God had been faithful to the Hebrews over the centuries. He was always with them and never let them down. However, with all that the Living God did for them, the Israelites were constantly rebelling. They were as consistently inconsistent as God was consistently faithful.

 

Verse 33 says, “In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous; you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly”. Recognizing this, they made yet another promise to God to be faithful to Him.

 

Does that sound familiar to you? It does to me. There have been so many times in my life when I told God, “I’m never going to do that again”, only to turn around and do it again – not just once but over and over. What is it about human nature that does that? More importantly, what can we do to counteract it?

 

In Celebrate Recovery (a Christian twelve-step program at UALC), everyone is encouraged to have a sponsor and/or an accountability partner. That person is there to help push you to improve. But pride keeps us isolated and thinking, “I can do this. I don’t need anyone else”. But we do need others because we can’t change on our own.

 

“Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed”.            James 5:16

 

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”  Galatians 6:2

 

“See to it brothers and sisters that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the Living God, but encourage one another daily so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”             Hebrews 3:12-13

 

God is faithful. He is always with us. But we need someone to push us; to hold us accountable. A coach who will push us to be the best that we can be; to grow in our faith; to move us forward towards, and not go backwards from, our Lord Jesus.