Sermon, 2013-01-06, SoulShift: Me to You 1 (Show intro video) So, you know I hate clichés. I try to avoid talking in clichés about Christianity and I try to avoid using clichés in my messages. That s why in the 10 years I ve served here, I rarely bring up New Year s resolutions in the first message of the year. They seem cliché to me to talk about year after year. So please forgive me, if you find talk of resolutions cliché or boring. Because, depending on the study, some say it helps to make a New Year s resolution, while others say we are chronic failures. A 2007 study from the University of Bristol involving 3,000 people showed that 88% of those who set New Year resolutions failed to keep them. Gyms go back to being uncrowded by mid-february. French is too hard. Oui? Ecoute and repite. Piano takes too much practice. Shopping will still be fun. Ordering out will still be just so much easier than cooking. Oreos will still be two delicious cookies with a creamy vanilla center. And you'll do it all... when you have more time. We want to be different, but we don t want to change. Janet Polivy, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in research about body image and eating and dieting, has called our persistent attempts at change despite previous failures the false hope syndrome. Our attempts to be different, she says, offer a sense of control and of at least being good enough to recognize the need for change, even if those feelings are misleading. We want to be different, but we don t want to do what it takes to really change. Similarly, did you know that more than 500,000 people have heart-bypass surgery in America every year. Most are told that surgery is only a temporary fix; that the only long-term solution is a change in lifestyle and diet; and that exercising, losing weight, and quitting smoking will increase their chance at living. You d think that this advice would never be more welcome and effective than when a person has had such a near-death experience. Yet, after one year, more than 90 percent of heart-bypass surgery patients report that they have not changed their lifestyle. Like most of us, they want to be different, but they don t want to change.
Sermon, 2013-01-06, SoulShift: Me to You 2 Followers of Jesus Christ are familiar with the struggle to change, especially in our spiritual lives. We battle with two instincts. One is to make promises, to decide to be different. The other is to give up and to fail to make the changes needed to really be different. The Apostle Paul talked about this struggle in the Bible. He said: Romans 7:14-19 14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do... 18 For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing. The good we want to do, we don t do. The evil I do not want to do, that I keep on doing. I am a firm believer that the apostle Paul is talking about his life BEFORE he encountered JC and before the rule of the Holy Spirit in his life set him free. And how WITHOUT Jesus Christ it is impossible to change. It is possible to really be changed, really be transformed. But we don t always succeed, we consistently don t change, and we need a shift in our thinking, in our inner life, in our souls, to really make it happen. This is the idea behind a book called SoulShift. Title slide Over the next few weeks, we are going to be looking at 7 ways that Jesus Christ wants us to be changed. Some of these changes will be about thinking like Jesus thinks, About having the mind of Christ and making his nature our nature. Some will be about how we relate to him and others out of that inner life. And some will be about allowing Him to change us from the inside out. Today s SoulShift is called Me to You. If you look at a list of the top 10 New Year s resolutions, there is a common theme that underlies them. A survey of 1600 people recently said The most popular New Year s resolutions for 2013: 1. Save more money 31% 2. Get out of debt 22% 3. Get fit/lose weight 18% 4. Change job/career 16% 5. Quite smoking 13% 6. Give up alcohol 11% 7. Spend less time working 9% 8. Spend more time with family/friends 7% 9. Give up chocolate 6% 10. Move house 2%
Sermon, 2013-01-06, SoulShift: Me to You 3 All of these have something in common... ME They are about me; they are self-centered. Martin Luther said that man is born cor incurvitas ad se, meaning our heart is curved inward upon itself. We have a genetic flaw toward self-centeredness. But in the kingdom of God, the rule of Jesus in this world, He wants to work to change that in us. He wants our focus in life to go from ME to You. Let s take a look at an example of this from the disciples journey with Jesus. According to Mark, the disciples left Galilee and were on the road headed toward Jerusalem when Jesus told them that the Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men (9:31). But at the same time, some of them were embroiled in their own conversation about who was the greatest among them (v. 34). No one knows what each disciple argued, but we can be sure that each argued for himself. Peter did not argue that John was the greatest and Matthew did not argue for Phillip. Each disciple pleaded his own case because it was his nature. It was the way he was wired. It was a part of his mind. And the irony is that they did it while following someone of a completely different mind. In response, what does Jesus do? Jesus sits a child in their midst and said, here is your greatest. Here is your goal. Do this! But they did not have the mind to do it. Two chapters later, Jesus was talking about his sacrifice for the world again when two disciples come forward to ask for a favor: Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory (10:33 37). The right and left were positions of power and glory. Both times Jesus was talking about his mission About his giving his life. About living and dying for others. And both times the disciples were focused on themselves. On me. The problem in both cases was the same: The disciples were following Jesus, but they were not truly like him inside their souls were wired inward his was outward. They were on the same road (see 9:30; 10:32) but in a different world.
Sermon, 2013-01-06, SoulShift: Me to You 4 Even though they followed Jesus for two years, they needed a SoulShift. They had to shift from thinking primarily of themselves to thinking primarily of others. They had to shift from Me to You. Jesus is different. Everything he does is for other people and from that others-focused disposition. He is curved outward. Black slide Here s a story about someone who has made the shift from Me to You in from the Old Testament. It s the story of Naomi in OT book of Ruth There is a famine in the land Naomi and her husband and 2 sons go to Moab. Settle down Sons marry. Husband dies, then sons die. Naomi decides to go back home famine is over, better to be in poverty among her own people. Daughter in laws want to come. No go home remarry. Orpah listens. Ruth refuses to leave her. She will come with Naomi and help care for her. Her chance of remarrying was low, but she knew Naomi s was nil. She would probably die penniless and alone. So Ruth says Ruth 1:16-17 16 Don t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. They cross the border and the younger serves the older. And blessing after blessing follows them wherever they go because of Ruth s selflessness. Ruth marries a wealthy business man and her great grandson is David, who becomes the king of Israel, and from whose family line one day comes Jesus. We are turned inward, but God blesses those who put other s first Whose souls are shifted from Me to You. One more. Black slide Around 100 years ago, the Salvation Army was gathering for one of its conferences. They were sad to learn that their founder William Booth was too ill to come. Booth was scheduled to deliver the keynote speech, but he was unable to travel.
Sermon, 2013-01-06, SoulShift: Me to You 5 So instead, he asked if he could write his speech and have it read for him at the conference. The night came and the crowd gathered to hear their revered founder s speech read to them. They expected his words to explain many things, to inspire them with a rationale for their service. Instead, Booth was able to fit his entire speech into one telegram message. It represented the focus of the compassionate Christian movement s work. When the telegram was read to the crowd, it contained but one word: Others. So how do we who are wired more like the disciples get to the place where we are curved outward? It doesn t happen in a day. Think of it as a journey you are on with certain stages along the way. THE JOURNEY FROM ME TO YOU Stage 1: Wake Up We need a wake-up call: that moment when it first occurs to us that our whole life has revolved around ourselves. There are times in life, along the way, some dramatic and some more subtle, that God uses to wake us up: When we are newlyweds, When we do a service project, or go out of the country to serve Christ. The first time we hold our children when they are born... we realize it s not about me. When one of these moments happens to you, welcome it, savor it. Let it affect you.... Maybe now could be one of those. Stage 2: Take an Interest in Others Our days are like a crowded airport terminal filled with people, obligations, and deadlines. If we re not careful, the object in life can become to simply get through it. We need to slow down. Start befriending people who can t help you. Take an interest in the lives of people who work with you. Celebrate what they ve done. Notice what they re working on. Ask yourself, What is like to be them right now? Given their predicament, schedule, limitations, and resources, what do they most need? Then ask, What do I have that could help them?
Sermon, 2013-01-06, SoulShift: Me to You 6 Stage 3: Become a Servant When we take an interest in people, we are still in charge. We decide who to help and how much to give them. We decide if our help is appreciated and whether we get results. But when we choose to be a servant, we give up the right to be in charge. We make ourselves vulnerable. We do small things in hidden places where there is almost no reward for us. Stage 4: Carry Each Other s Burdens There is no time when we are more like the nature of God in the Trinity than when we carry each other s burdens and enter the lives of others. We take up their infirmities and bear their sins. We absorb their flaws and failures and still associate with them. We carry each other s burdens when we stand in the gap for them, pray for their children as for our own, suffer alongside them, and lose sleep over them. Taking on the burdens of other s could not be more: Me to You And it could not be more like the nature of Jesus Christ. Because when you think of it, there is no greater evidence of Me to You than the moment Jesus took on all our burdens and was still able to utter from the cross: Father, forgive them. I don t like new year s resolutions. But I planned this series to begin at the New Year because many of us want to change, but we just don t know how to really change and where to begin. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, Or if you would want to be a follower of Jesus Christ, it s time for some change. Being a follower of Jesus is not just about trying to be a good person or trying to do good things, It is about Jesus Christ living inside us. Being the center of our lives, of our inner lives, being the captain of our souls. I pray that you will let him in, Let him do his work. Let his Spirit make the changes and truly transform you. To have the best chance for this to happen, I encourage you...
Sermon, 2013-01-06, SoulShift: Me to You 7 To join us on Sunday mornings during this series. All our Sunday messages will take us on that road with Jesus and his disciples. We will learn from Jesus. I also invite you to get involved in a small group. You can find them listed in the worship folder. All our growth groups will be meeting and discussing these messages and this journey. But, each group will also be working through questions from the book of Philippians. And groups are good places to find Christian friends and that can help you follow Jesus in itself. I also invite you to get a SoulShift book if you are interested. There is a book this series will be based upon. It s available on Amazon or at the bookstores. And I will be using some of the stories and ideas from it. But there will be lots more in the book than what I use on Sundays. And none of the ideas about following Jesus and his disciples from the gospels That will be in the sermons are in the book. You can read it in a few hours, but I recommend you read each chapter after each Sunday. So the whole series will coordinate across the groups and Sunday mornings and the book. But it will not be too repetitious or redundant to do all. And pray. Ask God to lead you on this journey. Let s pray now.