Opening illustration: John, do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?”
That was the challenge Steve Jobs issued in 1983 to John Sculley, then president of Pepsi-Cola. Mr. Jobs was the creative genius behind Apple Computer. He knew that the soft-drink executive could help Apple make its mark on the computer world. Sculley accepted the bold challenge.
Jesus issued a challenge to three fishermen as they tended their nets. He commanded, “Follow Me!” (Mark 1:17). They did, and with a handful of other ordinary men they changed the world. On the Day of Pentecost the promised Holy Spirit began a new work through them, and 3,000 were saved (Acts 2). Eventually critics would charge that they had turned the world “upside down” (Acts 17:6).
Our world is wrong-side up and right-side down, living by principles opposed to our Lord’s teachings. We can either follow the world’s dead-end philosophies, or we can accept Jesus’ challenge to bring change to the world.
Today let’s serve God by praying, giving, and witnessing in our small corner. One day the King of kings will return and transform the whole world! (Vernon C. Grounds, Our Daily Bread)
Let us turn to Mark 1 in God’s Word and check out the marks of the real world changers …
Introduction: When you hear the phrase ‘World Changer,’ what comes to your mind? I have a number of things that come to my mind, but the preeminent thing is to “Go and make disciples” after Christ had made His disciples “Fishers of men.” This is how Christ commissioned the disciples to go out and change the world. They were supposed to go and make Disciples of Christ. They were to point people to Christ and preach the liberating message of Jesus Christ. I won’t hesitate to say that these 12 disciples were the ones that really initiated and were the true World Changer’s. Apparently they turned the world upside down for the glory of God. For being world changers they not only had to make sacrifices, but even give up their life for the cause of Christ, His gospel and extending His Kingdom. They just set the stage and an example for all of us. It is high time we pick up from where they and many others who walked before us left …
What are the marks of the World Changers?
1. EMBRACE and LIVE the HARD CALL (vs. 17-18)
We are called to a holy and noble purpose! You were put on earth to make a contribution. You were not created just to consume resources, to eat, breathe, and take up space. God designed us to make a difference with our life. You were created to serve God- the Bible says, in Ephesians 2:10b. “God has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do" (Colossians 3:23-4; Matthew 25:34). You were saved to serve God, the Bible says. "It is He who saved us and chose us for His holy work, not because we deserved it but because that was His plan" (2 Timothy 1:9). God redeemed you so you could do His "holy work." You are not saved by service, but you are saved for service. In God's Kingdom you have a place, a purpose, a role, and a function to fulfill. This gives your life great significance and value.
Our God is a God who calls people. This fact is essential to His dealings with us. After they had sinned, Adam and Eve "heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. ... the Lord God called to the man, 'Where are you?' (Genesis 3:8-9). Could it be that God is seeking you? The sound of His voice is disquieting, and you may think, oh, no, it couldn't be that He's calling me.
Let me define what I mean by God's call: I mean God getting our attention to make His own wish known. For example, He calls at conversion. Everyone who is a Christian is a Christian because he or she has been converted, and the reason of the conversion is that the person heard the call of God. Saul-to-Paul!
Let us ask a question: When you get to the very center of God's will, is it perhaps at great cost? Could it be that there is a call to spirituality at a deeper level than you have known? What if, in your midlife, when things are going well, God puts His finger on your lifestyle, the way you have been spending your time, your money - all the comfort you have taken for granted - and says, "I have something else in mind." The pain can be great, but the reward will be greater.
There is a common saying that Satan is sure to find some work for idle hands to do. If Satan prefers idle hands, God certainly does not. God never goes to the lazy or idle people when He needs men for His service. He goes to those who are already at work. He has always called busy people to be his servants. Scripture and history attest to this truth:
• MOSES - was busy with his flock at Horeb.
• GIDEON - was busy threshing wheat by the wine press.
• DAVID - was busy caring for his father’s sheep.
• ELISHA - was busy plowing with twelve yokes of oxen.
• PETER & ANDREW - were busy casting a net into the sea.
• JAMES & JOHN - were busy mending their nets.
Martin Luther, John Wesley, Adoniram Judson, William Carey, Hudson Taylor, all these people were busy, hardworking people, when God called them.
Many people mix up things and think that their job is their calling. You may be surprised to learn that your job is not your calling, and here's why. Most of us change jobs during the course of our life. We may even change careers. If you're in a church-sponsored ministry, even that ministry can end. We will all retire someday. Your job is not your calling, no matter how much it may allow you to serve other people. Your job is an instrument that may help you carry out your calling.
How does one accept this call? Man must realize that he is being called. So many hear the gospel and never realize any obligation to it. Man accepts the call by obeying the commands of the gospel that are a part of the new birth (faith, repentance of sins, confession of faith in Christ & immersion in water). (Mark 16:15-16 – “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Acts 2:38 – “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”)
What is involved when this call is accepted? We are ‘called’ to be saints. (1 Corinthians 1:2). Having answered the gospel call, we are known as ‘the called’ of Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:6). We are then to ‘walk worthy’ of the vocation wherein we are called. (Ephesians 4:1). We are exhorted to make the calling ‘sure’. (2 Peter 1:10). Have you responded to God’s call in the gospel? Are you faithful to your calling?
Illustration: Someone asked Bill Bright (founder of campus crusade) how he knew God’s call upon His life … He said it came out of complete (100%) surrender to God. Oswald Chambers said, “To fulfill God’s perfect design for you requires your total surrender – complete abandonment of yourself to Him.”
2. DENY themselves, TAKE UP their CROSS (vs. 19-20)
Christ says 'Give me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked--the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: My own will shall become yours.'
Denying self requires us to give up anything that we would want or seek that would hinder our doing the will of God. This does not mean that, if we want something, it is necessarily wrong. It means we must take our wants and desires down from the throne and place Jesus and His will as the governing power in our lives.
There is room in each life for only one master (Matthew 6:19-24). If God is to rule in our lives, then our will must be made subservient to His. We must be willing to give up anything in life in order to please Him.
Many think this means bearing burdens and suffering hardships for the Lord. Surely such hardships will come up time after time, but there is a fuller meaning if we consider the context. "Taking up your cross" refers to giving your whole life to God, as Jesus was about to give His life for us. This involves bearing burdens, but it is deeper than that. It is a total dedication of life. Our whole life is given to His service in anything He says. This will lead us to willingly deny self. Following Him then requires us to live as He lived His life.
The determination to give our lives to God's service is called "repentance." In repenting we determine to turn away from our own will and live our lives to please God. We cannot be saved without this, and that is why repentance is so important in salvation. It also explains why so many people are not truly Jesus' disciples (whether or not they may claim to be His disciples): because they are not willing to make this total sacrifice.
Illustration: Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you know that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself!
3. TEACH with AUTHORITY and POWER (vs. 21-22)
There was something about the way Jesus taught that was different from the way other teachers did it at the time. In the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus went to the synagogue in Capernaum to teach, we read, “The people were amazed by his teaching, for he was teaching them with authority, not like the legal experts” (Mark 1:22). Jesus’ teaching not only impressed the people of Capernaum, it amazed them. And it was because he taught with authority. So whatever authority is, if it caused the teachings of Jesus to have that much of an impact on everyone, then I want to learn how to teach with authority. You should too.
What exactly is authority, and why do you need it to be a more effective teacher? The word itself can mean a number of things, but in the Biblical sense, it refers to jurisdiction, influence, and/or power of choice. Leadership expert John Maxwell has defined leadership as influence. So ultimately, if authority is influence and leadership is influence, then demonstrating authority is showing leadership and demonstrating leadership is showing authority. The two are inseparable. Also, there are generally two types of authority, intrinsic and delegated. In plain language, this means you either have authority because of who you are or because of who or what you represent. Ultimately, since all authority comes from God, a Christian’s authority is the delegated type. Jesus had authority because he was the Son of God. Christians have authority because of our relationship with Jesus.
If you regularly teach others, and you want this authority to be evident in your teaching, here are some things you should do:
• Teach from personal experience
• Teach practically
• Teach Biblically
• Ask guided questions
• Make Jesus the center of your teaching
• Pray
The Pharisees were philosophical and ritualistic teachers whereas Christ was bold and practical and taught the Word with authority. This we also see being played out in the lives of the disciples He mentored after His ascension. In the epistles we see the disciples teaching with authority and simultaneously doing healings and miracles with the power of the Holy Spirit.
In a world that seems to be increasingly persuaded that spiritual truth is subjective, teaching with authority will likely set you apart from many other teachers and preachers. The keys to doing it effectively are maintaining humility and remembering where your authority ultimately comes from.
Application: A world changer is known not for what he gives up, but for what he takes up. Will you take up the challenge to be a world changer OR who just changes his clothes every day to look good?
