Life In A Box

Title: Life in a Box

Text: Acts 1:8 and Romans 12:1

Theme: New Life in Christ

Key thought: Life as we know it would change if we truly believed that Christ is the answer for our world.

I have here a box.

My question is this: are you living life in a box?

Or are you living life outside of a box?

Before you answer: let me state that I am not referring to your style of dress or music and whether or not it is mainstream.

I am referring to the way you see God and His purpose in your life.

Life as we know it would change if we truly lived the belief that Christ is the answer for our world.

“Lessons from Coca-Cola”

Before dying of lung cancer several years ago, Roberto C. Goizueta was chairman and chief executive officer of the Coca-Cola® Company. The total value of Coca-Cola® stock rose from $4 billion to $145 billion under his leadership.

Mr. Goizueta’s leadership transformed the company from a conglomerate with many interests to one that concentrates solely on selling soft drinks. He put distribution ahead of advertising gimmicks. Placing Coke® “within an arm’s reach of desire,” meant making sure the vending machine at the gas station was a Coke® machine.

Mr. Goizueta radically restructured Coke’s® global bottling system. He challenged employees to search for global expansion opportunities. Coke’s® executives talked about capturing stomach share and said the most undeveloped market was the human body. Their 1995 annual report noted that consumers drink 64 ounces of fluids every day and Coca-Cola® products account for less than 2 ounces.

“This is a very simple business,” Goizueta told a reporter in 1991. “Each day we must make Coca-Cola® more acceptable, more available, more affordable to more people in more situations than the day before. Success largely depends on our ability to make Coca-Cola® impossible for the consumer to refuse.”

Goizeta’s successor, Douglas Ivester, began working for Coke® in 1979. When he took charge of their North American operations in 1994, he decided to prove that there is no such thing as a saturated market. He took a trip to nearby Rome, Georgia, where the average resident drinks at least 3 Coke’s® a day, the highest per capita consumption in the world. Mr. Ivester noted that even in the belly of Coke® territory, many places didn’t sell Coke®. The point was simple: “If you could boost Coke® consumption here, you could do it anywhere.”

Though widely seen as shy and soft spoken, Mr. Ivester showed a fierce competitive streak in his first major speech to the soft-drink industry. He proclaimed: “I stand here before you not pretending to be some grand statesman, but as I really am to most of you - your competitor - I want your customers. I want your space on the shelves. I want your space of the consumer’s stomach. And I want every single bit of beverage growth potential that exists out there.”

Now that is PASSION!!!

There are several things we can learn from Coke.

What is the difference is between the vision of the Coca Cola Co. and the church?

The Coca-Cola® story is important because of its essential mission: to put a Coke® in the hands of every person on earth.

The church’s essential mission is to put the Gospel of Christ into the hearts and minds of every person on earth.

How are we doing?

Great in some places, Not so great in others. There is room for improvement in all of us.

Some 70% of the world still does not know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior!

1) The first thing we can learn from Coke is to set a big goal: for everyone we personally know to have a chance to meet Christ

Wow! Too big a goal?

Our friend from Coke stated once: “If you take risks, you may fail. But if you don’t take risks, you will surely fail. The greatest risk of all is to do nothing.” ~ Robert Goizueta

Too big a goal? Jesus doesn’t think so: Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Our mission statement straight from Christ Himself.

Hear me close, I am not suggesting that it is your job to win the whole community or your whole workplace for Jesus.

I’m saying, make a difference in those you know – impact those you already have influence with and see what happens.

This of course is not just with words, but with actions, attitudes, decisions, everything we do, someone is watching us.

Get outside the box of small thinking and limited understanding of God and set a big goal, don’t settle for less than the complete work of God in your life and in the lives of those around you – it is His will