"In Christ"
"Becoming A People Of Change"
Introduction: Valerie getting bigger, smarter
remembering her as an infant growing up
different stages of her life
I. Change Is Inevitable.
"To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven" Ecclesiastes 3:1
Changes is innovation and technology
How many came to church in a covered wagon?
Changes is medicine
thought
music
entertainment
clothes/ fashion
Life is changing so fast that what is "hot" today is "old" tomorrow.
*Investment commercial
Guy driving down the road proud of his new computer until he sees a sign that shows the next model is now out.
The problem with change is not change itself.
We were designed for change.
maturity-vs-childish
Rather,
II. The Problem With Change Is How We React.
Are you a turtle or a rabbit?
2 popular extremes for handling change
1. Turtle
"That’s not how we do it!"
"We’ve never done it that way before!"
"If it’s always worked, why change it?"
Lives in the land of nostalgia
"the good ole days"
The more things change the harder they dig in.
On the information superhighway their peddling bicycles.
They look to the future, but it seems so overwhelming they retreat to the safety and familiarity of the past.
On the other hand is the:
2. Rabbit
Naively accepting change for change’s sake.
Jump from fad to fad-no questions asked.
Always living in the future; disregarding the past.
It’s "hip", "cool", "nifty", "gnarly", "happening", "sway"
If its old get rid of it.
3rd Group
neither turtle, nor rabbit.
neither resist change, nor blindly leap into it.
they evaluate with a mixed sense of curiosity and skepticism
Change is all around us. And, as the people of God we are certainly not exempt from its force. "Perhaps one of the most significant questions the people of God face in the midst of rapidly changing times is, "How are we to face the challenge of a changing world?"
[Http://www.preachersmagazine.com. "Embodying Our Identity: Between Heritage And Hope." July 8, 2001.]
Should we be angry?
afraid?
worry?
fully embrace it?
What is our response to changing times?
Are we a turtle, rabbit, or a blended balance?
This morning we look at the leadership of Joshua and how the people of God were faced with change.
"After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, "Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the people of Israel"...Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, "Pass through the camp, and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions; for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to take possession of the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess.’"" Joshua 1:1-2,10-11
Picture/ setting
-people of God wandered for 80 years.
-accustomed to nomadic life.
-their spiritual battles lay in going back to the gods of Egypt, or trusting in the God who redeemed them.
Now they faced the challenges of a change in lifestyle.
-instead of nomads they were to be farmers.
-instead of the gods of Egypt they now faced the fertility gods of Canaan.
-instead of the bronze age of Egypt they now faced the iron age of Canaan.
Changes which may not seem like much to us were a world of difference to them. And much like us they too were asking the question "How do we face the challenge of a changing world?"
Do we dig our heals in and continue as nomads wandering the countryside for all time? Do we retreat back to Egypt and live as slaves once again? Or, do we look to God as our confidence in these uncertain times?
III. God Should Be Our Guide In Times Of Change
"At the end of three days the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it, that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before."...And Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you." And Joshua said to the priests, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass on before the people." And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people." Joshua 3:2-4a, 5-6
Change is inevitable.
The problem with change is how we respond.
Howard Hendricks notes there are three stages people go through when confronted with change:
1. Resistance to change
2. Tolerant to change
3. Embrace the change
[Howard Hendriscks. "The Monday Morning Mission" as quoted at http://www.sermonillustrations.com/
a-z/c/change.htm.]
Whether we react fast or slow God should always be our guide in times of change.
It’s easy to make the wrong decisions:
-easy to move too slow
-easy to move too fast
vs 4 "that you may know the way that you shall go."
IV. Memorialize The Great Moments Of Change.
"When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, "Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, and command them, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’" Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe; and Joshua said to them, "Pass on before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you, when your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial for ever."...And he said to the people of Israel, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty; that you may fear the LORD your God for ever."" Joshua 4:1-7, 21-24
The greatest gift we can give our children is our love for God.
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Great moments of change can be wonderful moments of teaching and testimony.
Monuments
-recalls the event
-connects us to the past
-shapes our future
We need to set monuments of change. "so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty; that you may fear the LORD your God for ever."
Then we can sing with the songwriter:
O may all who come behind us find us faithful;
May the fire of our devotion light their way.
May the footprints that we leave lead them to believe,
And the lives we live inspire them to obey.
O may all who come behind us find us faithful.
(Sing to the Lord, 726)
