Imagine or picture with me for a moment a scene in a park, it could be any picnic ground in Perth. It’s a sunny day and there is a family having a great time together, it is an extended family.
There is two or three kids trying to catch padpoles, maybe skylarking on the monkey bars. Soon they will be running to and sitting down on the rug. Mum has prepared a great meal to enjoy. Fried chicken, salad, cold drinks and some cake for afterwards.
Dad is kicking the footy with his son, with half an ear to the radio, listening into the score.
Grandma is sitting comfortably on the chair, shes past running around but is really enjoying watching her youngest grandchild playing in her pram.
Everyone of those people, from their different generations have a vastly different opinion on time.
Every wonder why the years seem to go quicker each year, Christmas seems to come around quicker, easter is upon us again. One theory is that as we get older our minds become more and more filled with memories. The memory we have available to us is finite, and as we experience different things and learn and remember, our memories fill up and time is put into perspective.
The children running around in the sun, chasing each other, for them that day seems to last forever.
Dad and mum are busy, making sure the kids don’t fall in the water, getting the food ready, worrying about work tomorrow and bills that have to be paid.
Grandma is wiser. She is enjoying the moment. She knows it will soon be gone. She knows that the moment is to be enjoyed. The richness the joy that a new day and new life brings is to be savoured. Enjoyed. Experience has taught her that another day may bring new troubles, but right now, this moment, should be enjoyed.
We are starting this morning with our series on what Jesus said that changed the world. I want us to look at what effect Jesus’ words had not just on a small group of people in history, but in fact what Jesus said that changed the natural course of history itself.
Napolean Bonarparte said this,
"You speak of Caesar, of Alexander, of their conquests and of the enthusiasm which they enkindled in the hearts of their soldiers; but can you conceive of a dead man making conquests, with an army faithful and entirely devoted to his memory? My armies have forgotten me even while living, as the Carthaginian army forgot Hannibal. Such is our power.”
“I know men and I tell you, Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour, millions would die for him.”
“I search in vain history to find similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel. Neither history nor humanity, nor ages, nor nature, offer me anything with which I am able to compare it or to explain it. Here everything is extraordinary.”
H. G. Wells, British writer, 1866-1946
When asked which person left the most permanent impression on history, he replied that judging a person’s greatness by historical standards:
“By this test, Jesus stands first.”
“I am a historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.”
“Christ is the most unique person of history. No man can write a history of the human race without giving first and foremost place to the penniless teacher of Nazareth.”
I want to take you back to that scene in the park, and the thoughts of all those people. I wonder if you relate to any of them. Now most of the kids have gone out, but maybe you’re a mum or a dad, and life is busy. You have bills to pay, things to do, maybe you’re a grandma or grandfather, and you have a wider view, a longer view, and you can see more of the big picture, and you realise you don’t have to rush about as much as you used to.
How does what Jesus said 2000 years ago affect your life? How does it affect how you view time, priorities, resources, the whole life picture. Stop for a moment and lets reflect on life. What does it all mean? Think about our own mortality, what does it all mean?
At the start of his ministry on earth the time he started to minister to people, Jesus said something which changed the world, and that is not overstating it, he said something which changed the world forever. He said to a group of fisherman, to a varied group of people, follow me.
Lets turn in our bibles to the gospel of Mark. Mark is the second book in the New testament, and if you wanted to characterize it, you might say that mark portrays Jesus as a servant, but also as a superhero. Of all the gospels it portrays Jesus most as a larger than life figure, a mans man, a hero rushing off to save the day. A leader of men, a warrior, a fighter a heroic healer.
Mark One
The First Disciples
14Later on, after John was arrested by Herod Antipas, Jesus went to Galilee to preach God’s Good News. 15"At last the time has come!" he announced. "The Kingdom of God is near! Turn from your sins and believe this Good News!"
16One day as Jesus was walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon[g] and his brother, Andrew, fishing with a net, for they were commercial fishermen. 17Jesus called out to them, "Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people!" 18And they left their nets at once and went with him.
19A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat mending their nets. 20 He called them, too, and immediately they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men and went with him.
Then Jesus went on and through other ways, finally had called to him 12 men, and many women as well. These people responded to Jesus call on their lives immediately. We all know that they went through various stages of commitment, most notably Peter who denied Christ three times. None the less, they followed Jesus because he said to them come follow me.
These are three words that changed not just their lives, but in fact the course of human history.
In the early years of the church, the disciples changed the world through the spread of the gospel. In Ephesus, the local economy was changed as the gospel was preached. And in Thessalonica, the men of the city were upset, claiming that those “who have turned the world upside down have come here also” (Acts 17:6 NRSV). How did you go from 120 disciples into a billion and a half disciples in just under 2000 years? Most people in the world have heard of Jesus in some way. And many of them know His teachings, even if they don’t know where they come from. The Bible has been translated into nearly every language and dialect in the world. 12 disciples turned into 120 disciples and they have turned into a billion and a half disciples in just under 2,000 years.
Following Jesus’ crucifixion, his disciples were devastated. They had forsaken him in the Garden of Gethsemane to save their own lives. But after they met the resurrected Christ, they were radically changed. Suddenly, they were willing to give their lives to tell Jesus’ story to the world. Many were tortured and killed because they proclaimed Jesus was alive.
Roman governor Plinius Secundus wrote in his Epistles X96 that Christians were people who loved the truth at any cost. Although he was ordered to torture and execute them for refusing to curse Jesus, he was continually amazed and impressed with their firm commitments "not to do any wicked deeds, never to commit any fraud, theft, adultery, never to falsify their word, not to deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up.
Christianity has changed societies values. For instance many see Christianity as having repressed woman, in fact the opposite is true.
Women were oppressed in almost every culture prior to the coming of Christianity. By elevating sexual morality, and by conferring upon women a much higher status, the Christian religion revolutionised the place and prestige of women. For example, the great importance given to marriage meant that women were spared much of the abuse and mistreatment that they were accustomed to. By rejecting polygamy, prostitution, homosexuality and bestiality – all common during the time – the early Christians not only sheltered women but protected children and family. The way Jesus treated women was in stark contrast to the surrounding culture. In Roman law a man’s wife and children were little more than slaves, often treated like animals. Women had no property rights and faced severe social restrictions. Jesus of course changed all that. The way he treated the Samaritan woman was one remarkable example. And this was not lost on the early disciples. We know from the New Testament documents that many women exercised various leadership roles in the early church. Indeed, during this period Christian women actually outnumbered Christian men. Admittedly there were some anomalies later in the church’s history, when chauvinistic and anti-feminine views were allowed to re-enter parts of the church. But such aberrations must not detract from the truly revolutionary elevation of the status of women achieved by Christianity.
Consider also the issue of health care. Prior to Christianity, the Greeks and Romans had little or no interest in the poor, the sick and the dying. But the early Christians, following the example of their master, ministered to the needs of the whole person. During the first three centuries of the church they could only care for the sick where they found them, as believers were then a persecuted people. Once the persecutions subsided, however, the institutionalisation of health care began in earnest.
For example, the first ecumenical council at Nicea in 325 directed bishops to establish hospices in every city that had a cathedral. The first hospital was built by St Basil in Caesarea in 369. By the Middle Ages hospitals covered all of Europe and even beyond. In fact, “Christian hospitals were the world’s first voluntary charitable institutions”.
Care for the mentally ill was also a Christian initiative. Nursing also sprang from Christian concerns for the sick, and many Christians have given their lives to such tasks. One thinks of Florence Nightingale, for example, and the formation of the Red Cross.
Education, while important in Greek and Roman culture, really took off institutionally under the influence of Christianity. The early Greeks and Romans had no public libraries or educational institutions – it was Christianity that established these. As discipleship was important for the first believers (and those to follow), early formal education arose from Christian catechetical schools. Unique to Christian education was the teaching of both genders.
Also a Christian distinctive, individuals from all social and ethnic groups were included. There was no bias based on ethnicity or class. And the concept of public education first came from the Protestant Reformers. Moreover, the rise of the modern university is largely the result of Christian educational endeavours.
The bottom line is that if Jesus Christ had never been born, to speak of Western civilisation would be incomprehensible. Indeed, there may never have been such a civilisation. The freedoms and benefits we enjoy in many modern cultures are directly due to the influence of this one man. And besides all the institutional, cultural, social, political and artistic benefits, there is one last benefit: the countless millions of changed lives due a liberating encounter with the risen Christ. It is this benefit, first and foremost, which of course accounts for all the institutional benefits.
One could argue that changed lives alone are a sufficient testimony to this unique man. But of course changed lives result in changed families, changed neighborhoods, changed societies. The transformation of individuals and nations for the better can all be attributed to this one man, born in a manger but soon to return as ruler of the universe.
Every one of us today who are Christians, can thank these 12 disciples because all of our decisions to follow Jesus, everyone of us, can trace our spiritual heritage back to these 12 Jewish people. Because they said yes, when Jesus said come follow me, our lives are different.
Jesus’ words, come follow me, changed the world forever.
An ancient legend tells of Jesus’ ascension into heaven. He is met by the angel Gabriel who asks him, "Now that your work is finished, what plans have you made to insure that the truth you brought to earth will spread throughout the world?"
Jesus answered, "I called some fishermen and tax-collectors to walk along with me as I did my Father’s will."
"Yes, I know about them," said Gabriel. "but what other plans have you made?"
Jesus replied, "I taught Peter, James, and John about the kingdom of God; I taught Thomas about faith; and all of them were with me as I healed and preached to the multitudes."
Gabriel began to lose patience. "Really now, all that is well and good, but surely you must have other plans to make sure your work was not in vain."
Jesus fixed Gabriel with a steady gaze and said with finality, "I have no other plans. I am depending on them!"
Jesus words follow me, and the disciples reaction, to drop their nest and follow Him changed the world.
Go back to the scene in the park, imagine its you, what is your image of time, of your life, of what you have left to do.
The truth is that this morning Jesus is asking you to follow him. Not half heartedly, but fully. Because you can change the world. You can be a very important part in seeing your family, your community your school, your work place changed. You can see people become Christians, become healed, become whole, be accepted because of the little things you do.
A kind word, a phone call, an encouraging letter, some godly advice, a loving word, a bit of cash given to a good cause, a prayer offered up in faith. You right now, if you answer the call of Jesus follow me, can see some little part of the world changed.
