the basic message #E333
4/24/05
Matthew 3:7-8
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance."
Do you ever get frustrated about how messed-up our government is? Very few of us haven't experienced at least some degree of unhappiness with the lack of planning and execution of the most basic services. I've recently come to a point of understanding a bit more about why our government isn't operating at the level it should. The problem shouldn't come as a surprise to any of you, since the problem is.....people.
I've been having problems within my job for the past 4 years, and the vast majority of those problems have been primarily people problems. Most employees simply blame the other guy(s) for any difficulties and leave it at that. I fully realize I'm a big part of the interaction I have with my fellow employees, and I know I need to change. That's where the struggle occurs. For me, figuring out just how much our crew should be accomplishing is where the strife really gets started. I apparently think our team should be operating at a much higher level of performance than my fellow workers think we should. I won't belabor this story further, but suffice to say that our little 6 member team can't get it together.
If a six employee group can't work out our problems, where does that leave the Federal Government with tens of thousands of employees? Quite frankly, it's a wonder the government works as well as it does. For those who are still reading my diatribe, the question should be, "what in the heck does this have to do with Christianity?" I thought you'd never ask.
The modern Christian church wants desperately to change the world, but that will never happen for one simple reason: It can't change itself. You see, the same people who inhabit the pews on Sunday morning will go to work on Monday morning. Some will go to their government jobs, others, like myself will report for duty in the private sector, but one similarity remains: For the most part, most of us will refuse or resist change in our roles. Of the hundreds of professing Christians I know, I only know an handful that really live out their Christian walk like they should. (By the way, I'm not one of the group that's living the life they should.) The biggest difference between me and most of the other failing Christians out there is that I genuinely want to change. Talk is cheap, they say, so how can I prove it? I can't prove it to you beyond a reasonable doubt, but what I can tell you is this: I regularly pray for God to change my life to one that's pleasing to him. Can you make the same claim? Before you jump up and make some boastful statements, consider this: If you give God your complete approval to change your life, you must agree to the change on his terms. It's best to understand one important factor in your relationship with God: He's either Lord of all, or not Lord at all. If you put conditions on his work in your life, you've sent a clear message that you think you know what's best for you more so than what God thinks is best for you. Can you begin to see why God will have none of this nonsense? Think about it for a moment: We, as insignificant specs on this earth, want to dictate to our creator how he should run our lives. It's a small miracle that God doesn't strike us dead as soon as we send such a ridiculous message to him, but praise God, he is a loving Heavenly Father that wants the best for us.
So is there any hope? Sure, and that hope is complete in Jesus Christ. Prior to the bodily arrival of Jesus, the Holy Spirit was already at work. Like a cutting-edge relay team, the Holy Spirit yielded his ground to Jesus during his 3 year ministry. Upon the "death" of Jesus, the Holy Spirit again reprised his role here on earth, and has been on the job ever since. The Holy Spirit is God's intermediary for us, and it's a shame that a fairly small percentage of Christians completely realize that.
The bottom line is simple: Do we, as Christians, want to make a positive impact on the earth while we're here? I think the vast majority of Christians would shout "yes" without any real thought. That said, the question quickly becomes: "If you want to change the world, are you willing to be changed first?" If our answer is no, or if we hem and haw, the chances are we'll never be equipped to change our own household or workplace, much less the world. Very few soldiers enter a battle without training, and consequently, being changed. World changers very seldom enact change that is long-lasting without experiencing a transformation themselves. Do you want to be a world-changer? I do, and although I sometimes fear the changes ahead for me, I have trust and faith in God that he knows what I need to do and need to be much better than I know myself.