Come Awake –
The Power to Change
Easter
Morning Bible Study
April
8, 2012
The Power to Change
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
Sometimes waking up is a hard thing to do.
Illustration
SILENT TREATMENT
A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving
each other the silent treatment. The next day the man realized that he would
need his wife to wake him at 5 am for an early flight to Sydney. Not wanting to
be the first to break the silence, he finally wrote on a piece of paper, “Please
wake me at 5 am.” The next morning the man woke up, only to discover it was 9
am, and that he had missed his flight! Furious, he was about to go and see why
his wife hadn’t awakened him when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. It
said, “It’s 5 am, wake up.”
Illustration
A big executive boarded a New York to Chicago train. He explained to
the porter, “I’m a heavy sleeper, but I want you to be sure and wake me up at
3:00 am for the stop in Buffalo. I don’t care what I say, you just make sure I
get off in Buffalo.” The next morning the executive woke up in Chicago. He was
furious. He found the porter and really gave him an earful before hustling off
to purchase a return ticket. After he left, a co-worker said to the porter,
“How can you stand there and let that passenger abuse you like that?” “That’s
nothing,” said the porter. “You should have heard the guy who I put off in
Buffalo!”
We just read a
passage (Eph. 5:8-21)
about waking up.:
(Eph 5:14 NKJV) Therefore
He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you
light.”
Waking up is like a resurrection.
Paul was talking about how we should be living our lives.
Sometimes we
kind of “fall asleep” in this dark world that we live in.
We need to wake up.
There are things that need changing.
I think we need to wake up to the fact that things can change
Jack Welch,
former CEO of General Electric said,
Change before you have to.
Robert C.
Gallagher, Retired. Chairman Associated Banc-Corp said,
Change is inevitable—except from a vending machine.
Billy Crystal said,
Change is such hard work.
Hopeless to Change
Sometimes we fall asleep to, or get “stuck” in thinking that certain things
can’t change.
As a way of illustrating how we get “stuck” thinking that things can’t
change, I want to talk about a subject that may offend some of you initially,
but please hear me out. I want to talk
for a minute about
the subject of homosexuality.
Before I do, I want to make something very clear – the Bible may teach that
homosexual activity is sinful, but it is no more sinful than many of the other
things we sinners do.
All sin is
wrong before God.
And God cares
so much for sinners that He sent His only begotten Son to die and pay the
penalty for our sin. He forgives sin.
Jesus
had a reputation – as a “friend of sinners”.
We would all do well to learn from Jesus and follow His example.
We
are all sinners.
Our society has
begun to think that sexual orientation is something that a person is born with
and can’t be changed.
Even to suggest that a homosexual person could change is considered
insensitive and ignorant.
Look at what Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
(1 Co
6:9–11 NKJV) —9 Do you not
know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived. Neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will
inherit the kingdom of God.
Note that homosexuals
are included in this list. But so are drunkards, thieves, and
idolaters. And topping the list are “fornicators”, those who
engage in sex outside of marriage. All sin
is a serious thing to God.
11 And such were some of you. But you were
washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Paul not only points out that some of the people in the church at Corinth
used to practice these kinds of behaviors, but points out that they no longer
do.
The
implication is that they changed.
They not only changed, but they experienced God’s forgiveness and
cleansing as well.
Things can change.
I know that for
a few of you, just reading you a Bible verse isn’t enough.
You will tell me that modern psychology doesn’t believe that a person with
a homosexual orientation can or even should change. You might tell me that if someone tried to
change a person’s sexual orientation, it might even be harmful to that
person. I’d like to suggest that you
might want to rethink that.
From an article … (the “Stand
to Reason” blog)
…Many reputable scientists who are experts in the field have testified that
change is possible. Dr. Robert Spitzer,
who has been called the most influential psychiatrist of the 20th century
(more than 275 publications to his credit), published a peer-reviewed paper in
the Archives of Sexual Behavior. The purpose of his study was to
evaluate the claim that homosexual orientation is immutable and, consequently,
change is impossible.
Spitzer indicated that of the 200 people in the study, many of them
increased in the frequency and satisfaction of heterosexual activity. He also
noted that, “Almost all of the participants reported substantial changes in the
core aspects of sexual orientation, not merely overt behavior.” More significantly, 11%
of the men and 37% of the women reported complete change. Spitzer said that
these results go beyond, “anecdotal information and provide evidence that
reparative therapy is sometimes successful.” Moreover, he concluded that, “This
study provides evidence that some gay men and lesbians are able to also change
the core features of sexual orientation.”
But what about the claim that this kind of therapy is harmful? According to
Spitzer, there wasn’t evidence of harm. “To the contrary,” he said. The participants reported
that therapy, “Was helpful in a variety of ways beyond changing sexual
orientation itself.”
The obvious response would be to dismiss Spitzer as an anti-gay homophobe.
But this is a man who has fought for homosexual causes. Spitzer was the
architect behind the movement in 1973 to remove homosexuality as an illness
from psychiatry’s manual of mental disorders (referred to as the DSM). This was
a monumental milestone in the history of gay rights spearheaded by Spitzer
himself.
Can things change?
Yes. Even without God’s help, sometimes
just with human effort, things can change.
What can change
This is not a sermon about homosexuality.
It’s about change.
For some of us there are areas in our lives that we’ve decided are just
unchangeable.
We see the things in our lives as just too big to deal with.
Sometimes we are just tired of trying and so we give up.
Emotions
Anger – We make
excuses for our anger saying, “Hey, that’s just the way I am!”
Depression – Others
struggle daily with depression and see no way out of the dark cave they live
in.
Jealousy – Maybe it’s jealous – you are suspicious over every person
that talks with your spouse, and you can’t stop worrying.
Anxiety – you
are worried about your finances. You are
worried about your job. You are worried
about your kids. You worry about
everything.
Things can change. (Repeat after me: “Things can change”)
Behaviors
Alcohol or drugs
– you’ve tried to change and haven’t been able to do it. Maybe you were successful for a couple of
months, but you went back to your old ways and now things are worse than ever.
Sexual addiction
– it might be the draw of pornography, it might be one illicit relationship
after another.
Weight – It
could be your eating habits or exercise habits.
Things can change. (Repeat after me:
“Things can change”)
Eternity
You might think that there’s no way that God could ever love you. You might think there’s no way you could ever
get to heaven.
Things can change. (Repeat after me:
“Things can change”)
He loves you so
much He died to pay for your sins.
His resurrection,
an empty tomb, prove that your sins have been paid for.
Tools for Change
Illustration
A man was
driving along the highway, and saw a rabbit hopping across the middle of the
road. He swerved to
avoid hitting the rabbit, but unfortunately the rabbit jumped in front of the
car and was hit.
The driver, being a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulled over to
the side of the road, and got
out to see what had become of the rabbit. Much to his dismay, the rabbit was
dead. The driver felt so awful, he began to cry. A woman driving down the
highway saw the man crying on the side of the road and pulled over. She stepped
out of her car and asked the man what was wrong. “I feel terrible,” he
explained, “I accidentally hit this rabbit and killed it.” The woman told the
man not to worry. She knew what to do. She went to her car trunk, and pulled
out a spray can.
She walked over to the limp, dead rabbit, and sprayed the contents of the can
onto the rabbit. Miraculously
the rabbit came to life, jumped up, waved its paw at the two humans and hopped down the road. 50
yards away the rabbit stopped, turned around, waved and hopped down the road,
another 50 yards, turned, waved and hopped another 50 yards. The man was
astonished. He couldn’t figure out what substance could be in the woman’s spray
can!! He ran over to the woman and asked, “What is in your spray can? What did
you spray on that rabbit?” The woman turned the can around so that the man
could read the label. It
said: “Hair spray. Restores life to dead hair. Adds permanent wave.”
I have to admit, I don’t have any magic hairspray that will wake up dead
hares, but I do have some helpful tools that can wake up sleepy believers and
help you change.
The Holy Spirit
The Bible says,
(Ro 8:11 NKJV) But if the Spirit of Him who
raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead
will also give life to your mortal bodies
through His Spirit who dwells in you.
give life
– zoopoieo (“life” + “make”) – to
cause to live, make alive; by spiritual power to invigorate; endued with new
and greater powers of life
Some might say that this verse is talking about how we will one day receive
new bodies after we die – our own resurrection.
But the context shows us it’s talking about more than that.
It’s talking about a power to live differently.
It’s about a
power to change.
Think about the kind of power it took to raise Jesus from the dead, three
days after He had died.
Last Sunday the
folks at Tiger Direct Electronic Supply store had an amazing offer online.
The KUBE X15 is a miniature nuclear reactor that can power an entire city
for 50 years. It even comes with its own
Plutonium.
Of course, last Sunday was April 1 – April Fool’s day.
But wouldn’t that be awesome to not have to worry about
electrical power for 50 years?
God has made
available to us the power of the resurrection for our daily lives.
That means things can change.
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then God has already put the Holy
Spirit inside of your life.
You already have the power to change.
If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, then you are here today for a
reason.
God wants to offer to you forgiveness for your sins.
God wants to give you the ability to change.
Helpful People
Sometimes you need to see a doctor.
Illustration
One day shortly
after the birth of their new baby, the mother had to go out to do some errands.
So the proud papa stayed home to watch his wonderful new son. Soon after the
mother left, the baby
started to cry. The father did everything he could think of to do but the baby
wouldn’t stop crying. Finally, the dad got so worried he decided to take the
infant to the doctor. After the doctor listened to the father tell all that he had done to get
the baby to stop crying, the doctor began to examine the baby’s ears, chest and
then down to the diaper area. When he undid the diaper, he found that the
diaper was indeed full. “Here’s the problem,” the doctor said. “He needs a
change.” The father was very perplexed, “But the diaper package says it is good
for up to 10 pounds!”
Sometimes you
need to think about getting a therapist.
Sometimes you simply need to get some friends involved in your change.
Illustration
Fred received a
parrot for his birthday. This parrot was fully grown with a bad attitude and
worse vocabulary. It was after all a Pirate Parrot. Every other word was an expletive. Those that
weren’t expletives were, to say the least, rude. Fred tried hard to change the
bird’s attitude and was constantly saying polite words, playing soft music,
anything he could think of. Nothing. He yelled at the bird and it got worse. He
shook the bird; it got madder and ruder. Finally, in a moment of desperation, Fred put the parrot in
the freezer. For a few moments he heard the bird squawking and kicking and
screaming expletives, then suddenly there was quiet. Frightened that he might
have actually hurt the bird, he
quickly opened the freezer door. The parrot calmly stepped out onto Fred’s extended arm
and said, “I’m sorry that I might have offended you with my language and
actions and ask for your forgiveness. I will endeavor to correct my behavior.”
Astounded at the bird’s change, Fred was about to ask what had brought this
about when the parrot continued, “May I ask what the chicken did?”
I’d say that parrot had a good friend in Fred. He was willing to do whatever he could to
help his parrot change.
Sometimes you
ought to just be at church a little more often.
James writes,
(Jas 5:14–16 NKJV) —14 Is anyone
among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray
over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of
faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed
sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your
trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Don’t miss who James is suggesting ought to be a part of the solution –
other people.
It might be calling for the elders to pray, it might be “one another”.
Sometimes help comes by making a call.
Sometimes help comes by having others pray.
Sometimes help comes by me learning to confess my faults
to others.
Prayer
Sometimes change starts with a simple prayer
I believe your eternal destination can change with a simple prayer. Your prayer.
It’s possible that some of you today haven’t taken that first step to ask
God into your life.
Sometimes we don’t have change because we don’t ask God for things to
change.
As James wrote,
(Jas 5:16 NKJV) Confess your
trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective,
fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
I’m learning that sometimes those unchangeable things don’t change because
I haven’t been praying.
Are there areas in your life that need to change?
We have power to change, power to be different.
Because Jesus rose from the dead, things can change.
Pray to receive Christ. Pray for
change.