Otterbein United Methodist Church                                              

January 13 2008                                    

Scripture: Mark 12:28b-31    

Sermon: “Making Changes that Last” (Part 2 – “Four Keys of Permanent Change”) - Part 2 of a 2 part series)       

                                                                                                                

 

Perhaps you’ve heard about the guy whose wife told him, “Honey, I’ve kept all my New Year’s resolutions for the past six years.” “Yeah, right, you didn’t make any,” he challenged. “No, but I did,” she protested. “I’ve kept them all. I’ve kept them in a manila folder in the back of the desk.”

Last week… we looked at “The Case for Change.” Why should we even think about change in the first place? I like me I think I’m grand, I go to the movies and I hold my hand.”

·         God wants to bless me, but to experience the best of his riches, I need to be changed.

·         There are a host of things on the landscapes of our lives that need change! You and God are incompatible… and he’s not changing! BUT, he does offer us the wonderful gift of forgiveness and the awesome power of His grace to help us to change.

·         I concluded last week by challenging you to pick an area of your life where you not only need change, but an area so big that changing it would definitely require the power of a supernatural God!

One day an expert in the Mosaic Law came to Jesus. He was a pretty good guy and was thinking maybe he didn’t have a lot of changes to make in his life, so he asked Jesus… (Mark 12:28b-31) "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" 29 "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31 The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

 

Four Keys of Permanent Change…

1.) Submit to the Spirit of God! Change is ultimately a God thing. We may change because we want more of God’s blessings in our lives, but real change in the stuff that really matter in our lives will…

·         Be motivated by the Lord. It not only needs to touch your spirit, but come from it.

·         Happen ultimately to please him rather than please my flesh. Accountable to one who is always with us. 

·         Requires His spirit to work in my life, or nothing will happen.

o   If “submitting to God” isn’t #1, permanent  change won’t happen and we’ll have serious pride issues. We’ll actually resist the very grace of God that is critical to genuine change.

·         Without the Lord, “Big changes” won’t happen; with him, No Change Is Too Big!

 

Pastor Stephen Brown was a diving instructor. He constantly coached his divers that the most important single thing about any dive is the head. “If your head isn’t right, there’s no way the rest of your body will be. And if the head is right, then everything else will work out.” Keeping the head right takes us to our 2nd point.

2.) Renew the mind… Romans 12:1-2. I will need a new mind-set.

·         Unless I’m willing for a new mind set, I’ll never radically change.

·         I need to stop lying to myself… I don’t gain weight just by looking at cake. I have to eat it!

·         I need a new way of thinking about myself and my situation. (I won’t stop being critical of others if I’m using my criticism as a way of proving to myself I’m as good as they are).

·         I must stop blaming others for my life being the way it is. Yes, your parents influenced you. Yes your past and present circumstances affect your life. But no, I can’t use them as an excuse for my decisions.

·         Get rid of the “rugged individualism” mindset. God never called us to be Lone Rangers. He called us to community and relationship.

·         Accountability to others is a vital component of this new mind-set. A place where we can be transparent. Who really knows your stuff? 

 

3.) Set the will… The reason most people fail to have long term changes in their lives is they try to make what should be point 3, their only point, and never deal with the critical 1st and 2nd points above. We set our will on the basis of the convictions in our lives. Our convictions grow out of our relationship with the Lord and the new (RIGHT) thinking that happens when we look at life through the lens of His Word.

            Everyone has some preferences about life, but few persons have genuine convictions. I may believe that the Lottery is a social evil that basically preys on the poor. But it’s a preference rather than a conviction if, when the lottery reaches the 100 million mark, you go buy a ticket, just in case!

I may have a preference about speeding… I prefer to drive the speed limit, but it’s a preference, not a conviction if I try to make up those few minutes I’m late when I’m on the highway.

When something is a conviction it’s because our will is set not to violate that issue, and it will show up in every area of our lives.

            If you have a preference to change, but not a conviction, you’ve lost the battle already. When something becomes a conviction of our lives, it’s not going to change based on circumstances. It won’t change just because we are around others who are doing drugs, smoking, or getting smashed, or going back to the buffet table again!  

Under this third key to change that I’ve labeled “setting the will,” let me “revisit” a word I’ve used in each of the previous two points… accountability.

Part of accountability is telling others so that their very presence helps keep you on track. If nothing else, it helps take advantage of our “natural pride.” We don’t want to fail. We don’t want our friends to see us fail… so let them know we’ve set our will in this area, and aren’t looking back! If you can, tell everyone who knew about the problem that you are changing it!        

 

4.) Engage the emotions…. This one is vital, but I’m concerned that if I fail to be clear in explaining this one, it will be misinterpreted. Misinterpreted, engaging the emotions, would be totally counterproductive to Point 3. 

            Our emotions are notoriously unreliable. If you make decisions based on how you “feel” in the moment, you’ll be doing all sorts of things counter-productive to the changes you want to make… I “feel” like a weekend of “binge-drinking” is just the thing for me!

Perhaps you heard of the guy who got cut off in traffic by a guy whose car was covered with bumper stickers. He sat at the next light reading the bumper stickers. Still fuming from being cut off, he rammed into the back of the guy’s car. “Why did you do that?” “I was just following your instructions.” “What do you mean?” “Your bumper sticker reads, ‘If it feels good, do it’ and that felt good!”

            After God created us, he said, “It is good.” Since he created us with feelings, he declared that even our feelings are good. So let’s talk about the plus side of our emotions…

            The Bible says, “There is joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner who repents.” Repent means “to turn around to change, or to change direction.” There is joy in heaven when someone’s life is changed. Why shouldn’t there be joy on earth? As soon as you start doing well, you’ll feel good about it! Celebrate!

God to Cain: “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up.”

As soon as you start doing well, you’ll feel good about it. Think about how you’ll feel after you’ve had success. There have been a lot of times when I didn’t feel like exercising, but there was never a time after I exercised that I felt badly about having done so.

            Most days I can’t wait to get alone with Jesus. The insights I glean, the time spent in his presence… unless you are use to going there, you can’t imagine what that’s like. Every now and then either because of what’s going on in my life, or my schedule, or some other factor, I just don’t feel like spending that time with the Lord. Guess what? After I have done it anyway, my emotions have so often just soared as I understand more of his grace and love. 

            But what if I stumble? Moving something from a preference to a conviction may include a few false starts. Don’t make excuses, but don’t give up. You’ll feel bad that you stumbled, but this doesn’t equal failure! Though you may feel badly about it, God forgives (remember your change is ultimately to please him, not you); he renews the mind; he helps us reset the will, and makes us feel good about yet another new start.

Negative backward emotion can’t control your positive forward motion toward permanent change!

Seek God’s forgiveness! Remember your change is ultimately to please him, not you!

             

Conclusion… Remember Jesus’ answer to the guy who thought he didn’t have much in his life to change. Jesus’ answer was love… with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. His response is the essence of permanent change. Our heart connects to his Spirit; our mind is renewed; strength (will); and soul (includes the emotions).