Why do we need to change in the first place? What is wrong with us that needs to be fixed? My favorite illustration of this for a long time has been caring for a car. Now if you were in an age before the age of transportation as we know it, and were only used to horses, which need oats and water and clean hooves to be ready to go, it would be strange to you to have a 4 wheeled piece of metal with plastic seats and handles pull up – and someone inside say, “Here is your car, sir. Enjoy this modern mode of transportation. If you have any questions about cars, read the owner’s manual – it will sort out most of the issues. Then if there is a problem, call one of the experts at our car manufacturer’s company.” Do you suppose the first drivers read the instruction manuals for cars? How much air goes in tires? Where do you put the gas to make it run? Any water in there? What about oil? When and where does the oil go in? That guy looked up the answers in the owner’s manual.
Today – people trust their parents, the friend next door or the driver’s ed teacher. Why? Because everybody knows how to drive a car. It’s basic – put the key in, turn it, put it in drive and go. What if someone really didn’t know though – and was too embarrassed to ask? The car runs out of gas . . . so they put water in the tank. Will the car go anywhere? Of course not… silly illustration. Could you trade the engine oil for Wesson oil from the pantry? Or would ice cream substitute for antifreeze? Ridiculous, right? Change venues for a minute. What if you put ham in the cd tray of your computer and closed the door? Then when you type out “SANDWICH” on your keyboard, would you expect one to pop out? Or if you plugged your Ipod into your belly button, would you hear any new tunes? Could you recharge? resynch?
The point is simple – the products around us were intended to run a certain way – and irrefutable laws of science preclude them from running any other way. So it is with us. God created us for life – abundant life – and gave us instructions as to how to live that life to the fullest. Unlike a car, or computer, however we have a few adversaries who continue to try and deceive us into believing that there is a “better way” than God’s way, and turn us away from His ways. We know those adversaries: the world system, that doesn’t understand God’s ways, our sinful flesh and the Devil, who has deceived man since the beginning as the “father of lies.” Remember the other half of John 10:10 – “The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy.” His goal is to remove every ounce of pleasure he can from life in God, since he knows he cannot be God.
Since the fall of Adam, when he and Eve chose to do life outside of the parameters of Gods pleasure, we have been walking further and further from His truth, living apart from God’s fellowship, His grace and His love. The result? Larry Crabb calls us a thirsty and foolish people. Thirsty because we long for what was lost in the Fall from God. Foolish because we have declared our intention to find life apart from God, and therefore devise foolish, ineffective and immoral strategies to provide for our own satisfaction.
The narratives of the Bible share the stories of people who tried to live life apart from God, and suffered the consequences. Why? Because we were made for God’s pleasure. We were made to live in joy – but our engine can’t run on water – otherwise it will die. We can’t make our chocolate cakes out of kudzu, use gravel for coffee beans or replace flour with beach sand – and we can’t live life apart from God and the way He designed us to be at our best. As much as we’d like to, it just won’t work.
- taken from the message "Community - Where Change Happens" - preached at Northwest Community Church on September 11, 2011. Click on the link below to listen to the entire message.
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