Glynlea Grace United Methodist Church l Southside l Arlington l Jacksonville Florida

SERMON OUTLINE

Scripture

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Summary and Function

Summary: Our congregation is at the threshold of exciting change. We’ve been experiencing change close to a year now, since Barbara Stiles, our former pastor, retired, and we welcomed David Charlton and his family into our lives. We’re growing our children’s ministry, families are joining, new outreach programs are being created and we anticipate even more new and exciting ideas for growing these and other ministries. With growth and change come new challenges, one of which knowing what to change, when to make changes, and moving through any resistance to change in brotherly love.

Function: We want to understand how God wants us, as a congregation, to embrace and work through change in a positive manner..

My favorite story about change is the one involving Archie Bunker from All in the Family. His wife Edith was going through the change, but Archie didn’t know it. He knew something was wrong because Edith had started getting somewhat cranky with him on some occasions and on others she would crumble into tears. She started forgetting to care for Archie in the way in which he was accustomed, she’d forget the food on the stove and burn it, or put stuff in the freezer that belonged in the cabinets. Finally he faced Edith and during a frustrating moment, asked her what was wrong. She explained in her high pitched shrill voice,” Archie I’m going through the CHANGE!” Archie stands there, quietly looking at Edith and after a very long pause, he raises his wrist to look at his watch, taps the crystal and announces to Edith, “I’ll give you 5 minutes, now change already!!

Yeah, right, like that was going to work-- right ladies?

If only change were that simple.

When we are excited about change in a positive way, we throw ourselves into it, like getting married, having a baby, going to college or getting a new job. These kinds of changes are generally anticipated as good.

So we go into any of them with high expectations and our heads are in the clouds. We are charged up with enthusiasm and high energy! However, this kind of high energetic euphoria is difficult to sustain for any length of time.

One of the reasons a manager should not give a performance review to a new employee until at least 9 months into the job is because the employee needs time to move out of orbit and settle into a performance mode that is closer to norm. It takes 3-6 months to settle into a normal work mode.

Some change has the opposite effect.

However, for some of us when we hear the word change, especially now in this economy, we visualize gloom and doom.

We generate negative thoughts, worried that change will disrupt our so-called normal life, and thus find it difficult to focus on anything constructive.

Our hearts go into triple beat time and our minds scream with all kinds of internal negative talk.

It’s really hard to find and focus on anything positive about change, when you have this talk going on in your head, spilling over with really bad thoughts.

Dr. Phil says in his book “Self Matters” that we need to learn to control ‘this kind of internal trash talk’, because it uses up about 50% of our brain power. With 50% of your mind spinning internal dialogue that is negative, it’s toxic.

Little wonder you have difficulty working effectively through change with only 50% of your brain focused on the task at hand..

So depending on how we react to the changes we encounter, we’re either on cloud nine and highly motivated, or our emotions go into the tank, we resist change and experience a lot of unproductive, negative talk inside our heads.

So how should we as Christians approach change when we hear the word ‘change’? I’ll share that with you shortly but now I want to share a story with you about change.

I have a book I use when dealing with change at work. It’s called, “Who Moved My Cheese.” It’s a delightful story of 2 mice called, Sniff and Scurry, and two little people about the size of the mice, called Hem and Haw. This is an inspirational story about how people react differently to change.

For Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw, the object of their contentment and possession is “Cheese”.

Some, like Sniff and Scurry, always have their heads in the game, checking out their living area for changes and stay prepared to move in case the “Cheese” moves.

Hem and Haw find cheese, build their lives around the cheese and believe that the cheese will always be there. They become content, returning to the cheese each day and going home each night confident the cheese will be in the same place the next day.

But one day the cheese is gone.

Sniff and Scurry knew this was going to happen because they had noticed that the cheese supply was dwindling daily. They immediately struck out into unknown territory, going down new corridors, in search of new cheese and they never returned.

Hem and Haw stayed where they were, for days, stuck, unwilling to consider any other option, thinking each day that they returned to the chamber, that the cheese would return.

It took several days of no new cheese before Hem finally left the comfort of his now ‘cheeseless’ chamber and invited his best friend, Haw, to strike out with him in search of new cheese..

Haw refused to go.

So Hem goes in search of new cheese. Long after Sniff and Scurry have left and found new cheese, Hem finally locates the new cheese depot days later and joins them.

Now during his journey, Hem discovers he likes this new found energy and exhilaration he experience during the hunt. He went into areas he had never explored before, before when he was sitting around in his contented state.

After feeding on the cheese, he takes some and goes back for Haw, but Haw rejects the new cheese and won’t move to the new cheese depot. Haw stills hangs on to the belief that the cheese will return to him. So Hem goes back to the new cheese.

The story ends with Hem worrying about Haw surviving and wondering if he will ever leave their old cheese ‘depot’ or die there stubbornly waiting for things to return to the ways they use to be.

Can any of us identify with one of these characters?

We have plenty of biblical examples of men who resisted God’s call to change, questioned it, and tried to reject God’s purpose.

A couple of examples come to mind. One is Moses who I would describe as “Hem” from the cheese story. He resisted God’s invitation to lead the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, not once but twice. As Dr Phil would say, this was a changing moment in his life. Moses had been raised as an Egyptian royal and resisted when he is first confronted with his true heritage and God’s call to serve. He runs away. So God postponed his plans for the Israelites until later, about 40 years later. Then when he approached Moses again, this time Moses tells God, he can not speak God’s will to the Israelites because he stutters. Well God provides him help. And we know that eventually Moses through faith accepts the call and obediently leads the Israelites out of Egypt.

Another example is Jonah. He resisted God’s command to go preach to the ungodly Ninevites. These were people he thought were unholy, and he didn’t agree with or understand why God would send him on this mission. He can’t accept this change. So he runs the other way, hides on a ship, and is thrown off the ship when it is discovered that its his God who is punishing the ship and its crew. Oh, but once he accepted in faith and obedience, his mission, all the people in Nineveh repented. He too would be described as “Hem”.

On the other hand, Jesus’ would be described as Sniff and Scurry because he accepted with enthusiasm and steadfast faithfulness his Father’s mission.

Jesus was an instrument of change, running ahead of the crowd, leading the crowd towards change, to a new covenant.. Some call him a change agent.

The changes he affected were purposeful and designed to carry out God’s plan. He readily complied with all God’s plans.

We know he fulfilled the Law and gave us the Golden Rule. He was a Jew, but he reached out to the Gentiles - what a shock to the people of his own faith to see and accept these new changes in their world!

He preached to the poor and the ones considered lower class citizens. He reached out to society’s scorned men (a tax collector?) and made them his disciples, men who would learn to minister and teach the others.

He was an example of God’s unconditional love and taught all who listened, his Father’s love.

He did not come to earth to be comforted or to wait for someone to bring him his ‘Cheese’.

He gave us our Disciple-making marching orders then and continues to do so today.

He knew he would be challenged and questioned, yet Jesus led his disciples with love and faith. Even when Satan or the religious and political leaders of his day challenged him or tempted him, he knew his God given purpose and stayed focused on God’s mission. Change was all around him then and is around us today, but God’s message has remained consistent – never changing.

Change starts with each one of us and it starts from inside of us with a change of heart and attitude with a determination and focus to accomplish God’s will for our church.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

The methods we use to accomplish our mission will change over time, and we must be willing to make those changes.

However, as we change and the world around us changes, the message of God has not and will not change.

So how should we as Christians approach change? How can we do a better job of setting our mind and efforts toward change when our cheese is moved?

First, we need to anticipate that change will take place.

Then, in all things we need to go to God in prayer and ask for guidance, an open mind, and an open heart.

Then do all things with faith, hope and brotherly love.

Romans 12:10 tells us to be devoted to one another in brotherly love; honor one another above yourselves.

In John 14:12 we are told, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these…..

And my favorite, Psalm 25:5, guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior and my hope is in you…….

If you are unsure of change, that’s ok.

Reach out to God and pray for his guidance and his will to be done.

If you want change in your life in order to live according to God’s purpose and you have not acknowledged Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you can do so right now. Come to the altar -- come to Jesus today.

If you are already a Christian, but you feel you want to recommit your faith in Jesus or want to reconnect with him, you can do so right now. Come to the altar - - come to Jesus and once again walk with God.

Above all brothers and sisters, allow God to use you in accomplishing his mission. Be willing to recognize when we need to change and accomplish it through faith, hope and brotherly love.

Amen