The Law Of Change

For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past, or the present, are certain to miss the future. –JFK 1963

Change is the only constant in life. In fact change is necessary to achieve the mission of God both in the individual and the church.

Jesus and Zacchaeus

Luke 19:1-6

Luke 19:1–6 ESV

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

Sinners are seeking Spiritual encounters, not ritual or methods.

So we must continue to change to reach the lost!

The real 21st century around us isn’t so obvious to us. So instead we spend our time responding rationally to a world we understand and recognize but no longer exists. - Business educator Eddie Obeng in a TED talk, Smart Failure for a fast-changing world

1 Cor 9:22

1 Corinthians 9:22 ESV

To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

Change is necessary to maintain momentum

Jesus was all about change

Everyone likes change as long as they are the one initiating it

Luke19:7

Luke 19:7 ESV

And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

This is the moment where Change is happening.

Tradition would say stay away, this isn’t how it is suppose to be done

Isaac Watts and the change from Psalms to Hymns

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

I Sing the mighty power of God

Alas, and did my Savior Bleed

Joy to the World

“Christian congregations have shut out divinely inspired psalms and taken in Watts’s flights of fancy,” protested one detractor. Others dubbed the new songs “Watts’s whims.”

Change is critical to the mission of God.

He wants us as a community to continue to change the method but not the mission.

Things around us will always be changing but our mission doesn’t change…the method might

The Law of Change is a part of Element Culture, so more people can encounter Jesus.

We want people to encounter Jesus!

We aren’t perfect, but we aren’t completely crazy/careless either.

Use of video on weekends example

Ministering to Men and Women