It is Inevitable

Intro

When I was a kid I can remember there being times where I did not want to eat dinner. For whatever reason, whether it was I didn’t like what we were having or I wasn’t hungry at the time, I just didn’t want to eat.

I would sit there playing with my food and wasting time. I would protest to my parents that I didn’t want to eat or that I wasn’t hungry.

So they wouldn’t make me eat it. After all, if a person isn’t hungry they shouldn’t be forced to eat.

Then maybe a little later that evening I would want to eat a snack. I would want junk food and so I would ask for a snack.

And I was allowed to have one, only it wasn’t going to be a bowl of chips or ice cream. No my snack was sitting in the fridge on a plate that was neatly covered in plastic wrap. It would be the dinner I didn’t want to eat.

Just because I didn’t want to eat it at dinner time didn’t mean I got out of eating it. It just got saved for me so I could eat it later… for a snack.

Despite my best efforts to get out eat the meal, it was inevitable. I was going to eat it one way or another.

And that is like a lot of things in life isn’t it. There are things that we might think we can put off and even avoid only to find that they inevitably come back around and we have to deal with them.

I’ll do it tomorrow right? Oh how many times I have said that phrase. The problem is that tomorrow comes and goes and it won’t get done.

And for some things maybe that isn’t a big deal, but for others, it can have a negative impact on you life.

That Dr.’s appointment you keep putting off. That difficult decision you don’t want to think about. The relationship you know only invites disfunction into your life.

But all of these things have to be dealt with. They are inevitable. So then why do we struggle to follow through with them.

I’ll tell you why, because we don’t like change. We don’t. Change is uncomfortable for most because it is unpredictable.

In leadership, the hardest part of the job is leading change because even when people know that a change is needed, when it comes to actually making the change none of us want to do what is necessary to make it happen.

And what better time to talk about change than at the beginning of a new year.

So this morning we are going to kick off a series titled, “I’ll Do it Tomorrow”.

For four weeks we are going to explore the difficulties of change in the Christian life. It my prayer that by cultivating a better understanding of procrastination, sanctification, and power of developing spiritual habits, we will be able to see the life-giving process of change in the Christian live.

For this first message I want to bring us face to face with the reality that change is the one constant in this life with live.

There is not avoiding it, even when we think we are, we aren’t.

Seasons change, people change, governments change; the list goes on.

and while change is inevitable and constant, the results for those changes are not always the same.

Some changes can be positive and exciting.

a promotion at work

the arrival of a new child

the first warm day in the spring when you can go out without a coat on

maybe your team winning the Super Bowl, though I don’t know how likely that one will be this year.

Other changes in life can be painful and negative.

the loss of marriage

unexpectedly being let go from your job

having your child go through a traumatic accident.

All of these experiences are changes in life and can bring happiness, sorrow, joy, and fear.

Power in the Text

The writer of Ecclesiastes captured this idea of constant change in...

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NLT 1 For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. 2 A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. 3 A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. 4 A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.

5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. 6 A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. 7 A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. 8 A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.

The writer here, who many scholars believe was King Solomon, knew the change set deep in the heart of life.

He says that for everything there is a season. Nothing stays the way it is. The only constant is that change is constant.

He goes on to say that...

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT 11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

In other words while change is inevitable, there is one who is in control of the change, and ultimately the results that come from it.

Verse 11 is a reminder that humans are to take their life day by day from God Himself. He is the author of our story and knows the beginning that we missed, the middle we currently find ourselves in, and the future we can’t guess.

We are also reminded that God has a perfect time for each thing to be done, even if that timing does not align with our own.

We can’t stop it, no matter how much we might want to.

Big Idea/Why it Matters

When we are young we think we have forever, there is an arrogance that comes with youth.

But eventually you get older and you start to realize how quickly time goes by and the fact that once its gone you can’t go back.

Time is one of those things that humans cannot produce or increase. We must learn to live with time and the changes that it brings.

Because it will bring change and that change will either bring us closer to God or take us further away from Him.

So the question that we have to ask ourselves is what kind of changes do we want to make in 2023? Because if you aren’t intentional about the changes you make then the changes will happen on their own and you may not like the results.

What kind of changes do you need to make that will bring you closer to God? Or will you allow changes to happen that drift you further away because the truth is, there is not standing still. We are constantly moving in one direction or another.

Not only do we have to deal with this question, but we also have to consider how we will follow God in every season of life.

As we read this morning, there is a time for everything. It is lot easier to follow God in times of laughter than tears, in seasons of dance and celebration than sorrow.

But what if even in those difficult seasons God wants to bring a change in your life that draws you closer to him rather than away from him?

Even in the most difficult and harshest of seasons, growth can and does still take place.

We have talked about this before, but think about the difficulties you have gone through and are now on the other side of. Today you are able to see how God was moving with you through that season and had it not been for it, you wouldn’t be where you are today with the Lord.

Some of you are going through something right now that you are having a hard time seeing God in. I promise you that if you allow God to produce the changes in you he desires in this season of life you will have a story that he will one day use to point others to him.

It is one thing to demonstrate faith when the healing happens, the prayer is answered, the breakthrough is realized.

It is another thing entirely to demonstrate faith to lost and dying world when you are still waiting on your healing, praying only to hear silence, looking for a breakthrough only to see the resistance get stronger and yet still believe.

Application/Closing

That is easier said than done though isn’t? It is a lot easier to look at the difficult changes we need to make and say I’ll do it tomorrow. But what if tomorrow doesn’t come?

In our arrogance we think we have more control than we do.

Psalm 39:4-5 NLT 4 “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is. 5 You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.”

Job puts it this way in...

Job 14:5 NLT 5 You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer.

Maybe you know there are some changes you need to make in your life this year in order to get closer to God because you know the way you are going is actually pulling you away from him.

I can’t say what those changes are because I don’t know where you are in your walk with the Lord, but you probably know already know what they are.

Some of these changes will be immediate and others will be more gradual.

When a bride and groom get married, the bride’s name (usually) changes immediately. One or both of their addresses change and often so do bank accounts.

Other changes are more of a process: their other relationships change as a result of this new priority; their language changes from “me” to “we”; their schedules are different from single life to married life.

When we follow Jesus and become his bride, some changes in us are immediate, yet others are more of a process, and we need to give ourselves and others grace for the process.

But we can’t allow ourselves to be deceived into thinking I’ll do it tomorrow.

I’ll start reading my Bible later

I’ll start making Church a priority later

I’ll start being a better example to my kids, family, and friends later

I’ll start following Jesus more intentionally later

I’ll have fun now and deal with my sin later

You may not get a later.

It is easy to put off until tomorrow what we should do today. But change is going to happen with our without our intentionality.

We can put off fully following God, assuming that our life will stay the same, but who other than God can know what tomorrow will bring?

I’m not willing to take that gamble, are you?