CHRIST & WORLD REVOLUTION
2 Cor. 5:17
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: Fish and Chips
1. Lost on a rainy night in the north of England, a lady stumbled across a monastery and requested shelter there. Fortunately, she's just in time for dinner and was treated to the best fish and chips she’d ever tasted.
2. After dinner, she went into the kitchen to thank the chefs. She was met by 2 of the Brothers. The first one said, "Hello, I’m Brother Michael, and this is Brother Charles."
3. "I'm very pleased to meet you," replied the lady. "I just wanted to thank you for a wonderful dinner. The fish and chips were the best I've ever had. Out of curiosity, who cooked what?"
4. Brother Charles replied, "Well, I'm the fish Friar."
She turned to the other Brother and said, "Then you must be....?" "Yes, I'm afraid so -- I am the chip Monk."
B. I’M TALKING TO YOU ABOUT TRANSFORMATION
1. “One of the most dramatic examples of men and women being transformed occurred in the famous true story, “Mutiny on the Bounty.” The Bounty was a British ship in the 1790’s.
2. Following their rebellion against the notorious Captain Bligh, nine mutineers, along with the Tahitian men and women who accompanied them, found their way to Pitcairn Island, a tiny dot in the South Pacific only two miles long and a mile wide.
3. Ten years later, alcohol and fighting had left only one man alive—John Adams. Eleven women and 23 children made up the rest of the Island’s population.
4. So far this story is well known in book and motion picture. But the rest of the story is even more remarkable.
5. About this time, Adams came across the “Bounty’s” Bible in the bottom of an old chest. He began to read it, and the power of Jesus Christ reached into his murderous, hardened heart and changed his life forever.
6. Adams abandoned the old life of quarreling, brawling, and liquor. He became a new man of love, humility and service to Jesus Christ.
7. He began teaching the women & children the Bible until every person on the island had experienced the same amazing conversion he had found.
8. In 1808 the USS Topas discovered Pitcairn Island and found a Christian community with a church where all on the island were Christians and where Christ’s teachings were the pattern of their society. [Signs of the Times, August, 1988, p. 5.]
9. What could cause violent, immoral men, murderers, savages on an island to become humble, kind & respectful?
C. FOCUS
We’re going to look at the greatest revolutionary who ever lived. Jesus’ call for personal & world revolution.
I. JESUS CHRIST: REVOLUTIONARY
A. DEFINITION: “Revolution”
1. Action of a celestial body going around in an orbit.
2a. A sudden, radical or complete change.
b. A fundamental change in political organization, esp. the overthrow or renunciation of one gov’t/ ruler & the substitution of another by the governed.
B. EXAMPLES
1. a. American Revolution b. French Revolution
c. Computer/ Information Revolution
d. A Revolutionary Product
2. Many have attempted to bring change, but none lasted!
C. JESUS – REVOLUTIONARY
The word “revolution” could be used of Jesus Christ as of no one else:
“ONE SOLITARY LIFE”
a. “He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty. He never wrote a book, He never held an office, He never went to college, He never visited a big city, He never travelled more than two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things usually associated with greatness. He had no credentials but himself.
b. He was only thirty three. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
c. Twenty centuries have come and gone and today Jesus is the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind's progress.
d. All the armies that have ever marched, All the navies that have ever sailed, All the parliaments that have ever sat, All the kings that ever reigned put together -- have not affected the life of mankind on earth as powerfully as that one solitary life.”
1. HE HAS REVOLUTIONARY THOUGHTS!
a. Developed the Worldview of Western Civilization
b. Changed the Status of Women, from property To equals.
c. Made certain – Life after Death.
2. HE HAD REVOLUTIONARY ACTIONS
a. Performed Miracles – raised dead, healed sick, read minds
b. Did the Unexpected: turned over tables in the Temple
c. Out-smarted the most crafty enemies; “I won’t tell you by whose authority I do these things…
3. MUCH MORE THAN A MAN
a. Pilate (when Jesus read his heart) asked the question, “Who are You?” that really meant “What are You?”
b. The disciples, after Jesus stilled the storm, said, “What manner of man is this; for even the winds and the waves obey Him!”
4. ILLUSTRATION
a. When the first missionaries went to Japan, a young Japanese man who wanted to learn English was give a Gospel of John to translate into his native tongue.
b. In a short time he became very restless and agitated. At last he burst out with the question, “Who is this Man about whom I have been reading, this Jesus? You call Him a man, but He must be God! [Arnold’s Commentary]
II. HIS CALL? FOR PERSONAL REVOLUTION
A. A REVOLUTION OF OUR NATURE
1. The Bible reveals that we’ve all sinned. We’ve inherited a sinful nature. We sin because we’re sinners.
2. Not only must we be forgiven for our sins, but undergo a change in our nature.
3. Relief organizations can put new clothes on the man, but only God can put a new man in the clothes!
4. We Must become New Creatures/ be Born Again by an operation of the Holy Spirit.
5. It’s a change so thorough and sweeping, it revolutionizes our nature/ motives/ lifestyle.
6. It’s described in the most Forceful Terms possible:
a. Like being BORN (delivered from world to another)
b. As a RESURRECTION from the Dead (Rom. 6),
c. ACT OF CREATION (2 Cor. 5:17); “If anyone be in Christ, they are a new creation; all things are passed away and behold, all things are made new!”
B. CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT
1. Before I was a Christian, I sat upon the Throne of my life! But Christ demands, “Deny yourself, take up your Cross, and follow Me!” So as a Christian, Jesus Must sit upon the throne of our lives!
2. “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” Mt 16:25.
3. ILLUSTRATION
a. A Scottish missionary to Africa, Alexander Clarke, told the very striking story of an African man who had been mauled by a lioness and almost died.
b. Alexander Clarke, also a physician, cared for the man’s wounds. When he got well enough, he left.
c. After 3 months he came back to Mr. Clarke and said, “You know the Law of the African forest, that the redeemed belongs to the redeemer. I was dead, but now I am alive. I am yours. Here are my six wives and my children and my cattle. Do with them as you will.”
d. Are we willing to surrender all to Christ like that? How about you? Who’s governing your life?
III. JESUS’ CALL FOR WORLD REVOLUTION
A. THE COMMAND
1. Not “Hold the Fort!”, but
2. “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” Mk. 16:15.
B. JESUS’ FOLLOWERS DID!
1. From Jerusalem they moved North to Syria and South to Egypt. Within one generation they penetrated the entire Roman world!
2. In Acts 17:6. In Thessalonica, Greece, when they saw Paul and his little band of Christians coming to town they cried: “Those who have turned the world upside down have come here too!”
3. How different are we from that description? Have our own worlds been turned upside down by the Gospel of Jesus?
4. We won’t turn other’s worlds upside down until we’ve allowed Jesus to turn our own world upside down!
C. JESUS PREDICTS WORLD REVOLUTION
1. Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” Mt. 24:14.
2. We have our marching orders – only one assignment: to tell others the good news of the Gospel.
D. WILLIAM BOOTH’S VISION
1. William Booth was a Christian who lived from 1829-1912) in England and who founded The Salvation Army. He devoted his life to preaching to those in poverty, addictions, and the socially dysfunctional.
2. He received a vision from God which became his guiding light. We’re going to see a brief description of it.
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzGLWy7b9yQ
4. Are we one of those doing our own thing on the great platform and ignoring those drowning in the water?
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: THE HANGING TREE
1. There is an old western, starring Gary Cooper, that’s called “The Hanging Tree.” Gary Cooper is a doctor and he saves people's lives.
2. In one scene, a young man gets shot; he's dying. Gary Cooper pulls out the bullet and is able to save the man's life.
3. The man, grateful for having been rescued, asks what he can do for the doctor. Gary Cooper says, "Well, you know, I've always needed an assistant, so why don't you assist me. I'll teach you what to do."
4. When the young man asks how long the Dr. wanted his help, Gary Cooper replies, "For the rest of your life, because that's how long you would have been dead if I hadn't saved you."
5. Jesus asks the same commitment from you; He wants for the rest of your life on Earth, since He saved you. He wants you to yield yourself to His purposes, to His pleasure, and to His goals. Salvation comes with the price of your obedience! [Tony Evans, P. 141.]
B. THE CALL
1. Can you look at your life and honestly say that Jesus Christ has caused a personal revolution in you?
2. How have you changed? How do you sacrifice for others? How are you different from all the other people around you – in your behavior & speech?
3. Jesus calls us to “World Revolution.” William Booth answered that call to reach out to the poor and lost. Will you do your part in the Great Commission?
4. How many need a personal revolution to start today in their lives? Let’s pray!
