How are Christians to be Catalyst for Change?
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Introduction
Introduction
Christians have a responsibility to be a catalyst for change. Catalyst is not exactly a day to day word. It means:
2: an agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action
We need to be initiators of change not just commentators on change.
As Christians we should not be shaped by culture but be culture shapers. Our lives should be an influencer in shaping a holy culture. So how exactly do we accomplish this? I am going to give you four ways tonight on how we do this. As we reflect on Joshua and the Israelites as they began to shape the Promise Land
We Are in the Word
We Are in the Word
Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
I know this is an obvious one, but often the obvious is the overlooked. If you are not in the word regularly you are missing out on the power of God. You are setting yourself up to underestimate God. You are setting your self up for shame/fear. To see what a life in the word looks like let us flip back to 2 Timothy 1:7
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
We know God does not intend us to live in fear. I see living a life of shame as living in fear.
We are called to live in power. The word here is the Greek word we get the word dynamite from. So we live with a spirit that is world changing, that does not leave the environment it is in the same. Its not possible.
We are called to live in a spirit of love. More specifically agape love. A love that is based off who God is not others. So we don’t love people for who they are but for who God is.
We are called to live with a spirit of self-control. We don’t follow the word of God haphazardly. We follow God intentionally. Wedont do what is right by accident. To step in righteousness we must be precise with our steps.
We Brag
We Brag
And they said to Joshua, “Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands. And also, all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us.”
“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Bragging seems so counterintuitive to being a Christian. It only is if our bragging is in ourselves. We are to boast in the Lord, have a holy brag. How does boasting in the Lord look?
First of all how does this bragging look like in our testimony? Our testimony point to the change God has brought. All testimonies are powerful. If you have been saved you have been brought from death to life. That is a miracle. Choosing to live a life in the Word is radical. This is how I live because of who God is! I choose to forgive all wrongs because of God.
Another part of bragging on God is bragging on His promises. Romans 8:28 is a favorite of mine to brag on.
Another passage I think about when it comes to bragging on God is Joshua 2:24. The Israelites were getting ready to enter the promise land to conquer it and this is what they were saying. It was not we got this skill or numbers or weaponry, but God has given it. The phrase “the land melt away” also sticks out to me about this passage. And it sticks out to me because I think we often get it backwards. We melt away because of the land. We worry about offending and we melt down what God would have us to say. We need to worry more about offending a holy God rather than an unholy people.
We Live It
We Live It
READ JAMES 2:17-19
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
If you are gonna brag about how good your God is, live like it. Let us go back to Joshua, they believed that God had called them to the land. The did not idly sit on their hands or bite their tongues. They crossed over the Jordan on dry ground instead of standing on the banks going well God we cannot do nothing now. This river is in the way. Now the river stopped when the priest feet hit the water. News of this made the hearts of the enemy melt. Then they marched around the city of Jericho for six days in silence. On the seventh they blew the trumpets and gave a shout. And conquered Jericho.
It is important we live it together, live in accountability to one another. When we read one chapter late of Achan and his unfaithfulness causes the whole nation to suffer in Ai.
It is vital our actions match up with our words.
Our lives give us a platform to put our faith on display. Rather it is taking that step of faith into a river before it moves. Or it is being struck with disaster like Job. Every storm in life is a platform for your joy and hope in Christ to be on display.
Let not Sunday conversations be the end of our faith walk, but let us see Monday application of our faith talk etc.
We Invest
We Invest
A long time afterward, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years, Joshua summoned all Israel, its elders and heads, its judges and officers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years. And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you. Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west.
“I have alloted to you as an inheritance”
What God has alloted to us as an inheritance is something so much greater than land, he has alloted his word for our inheritance. An inheritance that we are glad to pass down. We should handle it with great pride the responsibility of passing the word down to the generations to follow.
Matthew 28:19 comes to mind where it says “make disciples of all nations.”
Our job is bigger than just getting the Gospel to people. Our job is getting the Gospel to them and then teaching them what a Gospel centered lifestyle truly looks like. Nations come from the Greek word ethnos, which is where ethnicities comes from. But we are not called to make disciples of those in our community, within our circle, but all who God allows to cross our paths.
Investing can be uncomfortable at times and is gonna require sacrificing of your time. No one said bringing change was easy, it requires work and sacrifice.
Outroduction
Outroduction
We spend time talking about the need of change, now let us go be the church that leads change.
So if you desire to be a part of this change remember:
We are in the word
We Brag (a holy brag)
We Live it
We invest