Change Stretches

Earlier this year I started on a 3-year journey with other pastors in Indiana about Nehemiah training & support - Nehemiah was an agent of change at the end of the Babylonian exile - Jewish people to go home and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple

The pandemic certainly has brought change upon us - unprecedented change - sometimes daily change - every aspect of our lives is affected. Pandemic is mostly seen as “negative” but a positive I see is it has caused many to re-evaluate their priorities

A our first state-wide Nehemiah meeting back in March - Dan Cash, pastor, First Baptist of Columbus presented - I knew him when I served on ABC IN/KY board about 10 years ago. Recently he co-authored The Changing Church:Finding Your Way to God’s New Thing

Some of the ideas he shared in March and his book prompted me with some scripture basis and ideas to explore in a sermon series I have entitled “What Change Does”

Change Stretches, Becomes, Restarts, Intends, Produces, Inspires, Amazes, and Includes

God himself is stable, foundational, a Solid Rock. God never changes his character, but He expects changes in His people, His church, and in the world

God’s word changes things - he says so in Isaiah 55

Isaiah 55:8–11 NIV

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

That is an overarching scripture theme for our What Change Does series - for today our scripture comes from Luke 5 beginning with verse 33

Luke 5:33–39 NIV

They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.” He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’ ”

Comparison - verse 33

Comparison - verse 33

It can be a “game” - there are things to learn/glean - do we really need to conform? - are we following others or determined to follow the leader?

- see what is important to God and his message and act upon that in our context

Fasting - guilty, remorse, but here I believe - a discipline to focus on spiritual matters

Challenge - verses 34-35

Challenge - verses 34-35

Who/what is important - Jesus challenged -

what is more important? - the “ritual” or the presence of God? -what is more important? - the tradition or the message from God?

Spiritual disciplines have their place but never supersede our relationship with God

Compatibility - verses 36-38

Compatibility - verses 36-38

Garments (doesn’t match) & Wineskins (explosive)

New vs Old - contemporary vs. traditional vs. blended vs. generational

Think about the lessons of stretching

How does what God is teaching us fit in with what we’re doing

Perhaps it is a modification to what we are doing - other times we have to replace rather than modify

Car manufacturers do this between model years then every so often - new from the ground up - they do it for marketing and profit

We change to maintain relationships - communication methods - texting vs. calling

That can be challenging for us. It is here at Sparta - different methods to communicate: land line, cell phone, email, texting, Facebook, physical visit - and we each have a preference - but communication is the goal - not the device we use

The sharing of the gospel message is the goal - not necessarily hanging on to old devices

Complacency - verse 39

Concession - verse 39

Rubber band stretch - goes back

Understand how we react to being stretched

Careful to avoid falling back into our old ways when God has led or pointed us in a particular direction

Understand that we adapt/change at different rates - some do it now, some hesitate, some apprehensive, some resist, some “hold out” - most are in the middle with hesitation and apprehension.

I believe Jesus’ words in the final verse of our Scripture text today is a warning to us - to not concede - to not “go back” to what we were - as good as it might have been and it served the purpose at the time

- when the new comes from God - we need to allow the stretching to prepare us - like athletes and their muscles

I like the way the NLT translation phrases these warning words of Jesus

Luke 5:39 NLT

But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.”

Commitment

Commitment

Are you a disciple of Jesus? Or committed to some person or tradition or idea or personal preference?

Do you allow God to stretch you?

Do we as His church allow him to stretch us?

Let God’s word change you. His word will accomplish the purpose for which He sent it.