(This message was inspired by George Barna and his book, Revolution. I also found Sermon Central contributor, J. Martin’s messages on this topic helpful.)
In 2005 George Barna, the founder and director of the Barna Group, a research and resource firm that provides valuable information to ministries and corporations, wrote a book titled Revolution. It is a book that discusses the paradigm shift that is happening in the church today.
To date, Barna has written over 35 books. Beside the Word of God he is the most quoted person in the church today.
In the book Revolution Barna gives an awesome definition of transformation.
He writes, “Spiritual transformation is any significant and lasting transition in your life wherein you switch from one substantial perspective or practice to something wholly different that genuinely alters you at a very basic level.”
For example, if you switched from a Catholic church to a Pentecostal church, that is not transformational. If you decide to attend Sunday School, that is not transformational, if you decide to take a leadership position in the church, that is not transformational.
What is transformational is if you change your world view to a Biblical perspective, or if you recognize the gifts that God has given you and use those gifts to further the Kingdom of God, or if you start seeing God in a whole new way and begin to worship Him every hour of every day. Those things are transformational.
He goes on to say, “Transformation, as I am using it, is a significant spiritual breakthrough in which you seize a new perspective or practice…” This breakthrough is related to seven passions that we are going to explore later in this series.
The result of the transformation is that you are never the same again.
That is what we are called to experience when it comes to our relationship with God. It is supposed to be life changing.
So many people have it wrong today; they think it is all about church. What church do you go to?
There is nothing wrong with going to church; as a matter of fact I highly recommend it. But going to church does not mean that you are saved. It does not mean that you are righteous; it does not mean that you are holy. If that were true then going to Wrigley Field would make you a professional baseball player.
What is important is being in a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The most important thing in our lives needs to be our devotion to God. Serving Him with all that is within us.
That is what it is all about. It is not all about church.
It is all about The Church. What is The Church? We have gone over this before. You should know the answer.
We are The Church: the people who are actively in participation in the advancement of the Kingdom of God. This is the church and this is what it is all about.
The church today the way many people perceive it isn’t even described in the Bible. The church as we know it today was created centuries ago by mankind to help the believers become better at following Christ.
The closest description of a church that I can find in the Bible is in Acts 2:42-47. But it does not describe the church as we know it.
READ Acts 2:42-47
In order to get the right description of the church all you really need to do is understand that being the church means that you are going to live your life in a manner that reflects the life of Jesus.
When you do that, you are the church and you are a revolutionary.
PRAY
Father we ask for Your anointing on us today. Place Your anointing on me as Your messenger today. Make each of us revolutionist.
Open our eyes so that we may see Your Word. Open our ears so that we may hear Your Word. Open our minds so that we may understand Your Word. Open our hearts so that we may receive Your Word today. AMEN
Webster’s New World Dictionary has five definitions for the term revolution. Definitions 1, 2, & 3 are basically the same. And 4 and 5 are different. I am giving you definitions 1, 4, & 5.
Definition 1 – Movement of a body in an orbit or circle.
Definition 4 – A complete or radical change of any kind.
Definition 5 – Overthrow of a government or social system, with another taking its place.
Over the next few weeks we are going to take a look at these three definitions and how they relate to the body of Christ.
Each of these together gives us a good definition of what a Revolutionary Christian is supposed to be.
According to Barna, the Revolutionary mind-set is simple; “Do whatever it takes to get closer to God and to help others do the same. Obliterate any obstacle that prevents you from honoring God with every breath you take. Be such an outstanding example of the Christian faith so that no one will question your heart or lifestyle.”
The only people who will question the life style of a Revolutionary is the person who sees the institution of the church as something that is more important than being the church. We cannot allow this!
In other words being a Revolutionary Christian is not about going to church it is all about being the church that we are called to be.
If we are being the church that we are supposed to be then we will do whatever it takes to get closer to God and we will do whatever it takes to get others to do the same.
That is not to say that going to an organized church service is unimportant. I believe that it is very important but going to an organized church service must be a result of a life changing relationship with God.
If you are here today because you have always gone to church or if you are here today because your parents went to church or your grandparents then you are here for the wrong reasons.
You need to be here today because you want to draw closer to God, to God’s people and you want to bring others to know God like you do.
The question that you must answer is, “Are you a Revolutionary?
How do you figure it out? Barna says the best way to identify a Revolutionary is to see if they are a person who lives only to love, obey, and serve God, rejecting and overcoming every obstacle that emerges to prevent such a life.
This was the kind of person Jesus was. Aren’t we commanded in the Scripture to be like Christ?
It doesn’t matter how old you are or how young you are, if you can understand what it takes to be this way then you can be a Revolutionist for God. Are you living your life to only love, obey and serve God? Are you rejecting and overcoming every obstacle that stands in your way to prevent this things from happening?
We can learn a valuable lesson about this from the planets. What do I mean? I mean we need to be closer to God.
Remember definition 1 – The movement of a body in an orbit or circle. Another definition says, “the action by a celestial body of going round in an orbit or elliptical course, as in “the revolution of the earth about the sun takes one year.”
How does this relate to us spiritually?
Look at Romans 12:1-2
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2
This portion of Scripture addresses all three definitions of revolution. A closer revolution, a war-like revolution, and a radical revolution.
Today we are going to look at the first one. A closer revolution.
To present or in other translations, to offer, means to stand beside or stand near.
To worship means to center our lives around God instead of centering our lives around our self. To worship means to live a lifestyle of worship for the glory of God. This begins with us completely surrendering our lives to Christ.
The problem is that we have lost our way. To many people in the church have conformed to the patterns of the world.
It is time for a Revolution because of this. We have lost our orbit.
Listen to what it says in Jeremiah 50:6-7 (from The Message version of the Bible.)
“My people were lost sheep. Their shepherds led them astray. They abandoned them in the mountains where they wandered aimless through the hills. They lost track of their home, they couldn’t remember where they came from. Everyone who met them took advantage of them. Their enemies had no qualms: ‘Fair game,’ they said. They walked out on God. They abandoned the True Pasture, the hope of their parents.” Jeremiah 50:6-7
Israel had lost their way because the religious leaders failed to do their job correctly. The led them away from God. They filled the people’s minds with the traditions and the sacrifices and the rules and regulations. So much so that it became burdensome and the result was it took their eyes off God.
The Prophet Samuel pointed something out to King Saul that the Israelites had forgotten and we forget as well.
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice…” 1 Samuel 15:22
Just like the Israelites, we have lost our way. We have lost our orbit. Instead of God being our orbit we have made our selves the orbit, our jobs our orbit, our recreation our orbit, or even our religion our orbit.
In Romans 12 Paul was calling the church to a revolution. You are to be different from the world. You are supposed to have a different attitude; you are supposed to live a different life.
This is where the lesson from the planets comes into focus.
It takes the earth 365 days to orbit around the sun. The earth is 150 kilometers from the sun. It takes the planet of Pluto 90520 days, that is 258 years, to orbit the sun. Pluto is 6 billion kilometers from the sun. The planet Mercury takes 88 days to orbit the sun. Mercury is 58 million kilometers from the sun.
What makes this so interesting is that the closer you are to the sun the hotter it is and the further you are from the sun the colder it is. The temperature on Pluto is around minus 385 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature on Mercury is 750 degrees Fahrenheit. Some where in between is the planet Earth, which by comparison is lukewarm.
When we orbit away from God we become like Pluto.
We become cold towards the things of God. When that happens it takes us longer to hear His voice. It takes us longer to follow His Word. It makes it harder for us to do His will.
Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:12 stand out, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold…”
There are many things in this life that will try to draw us away from our orbit around God. We have to make a decision in our lives to stay in orbit and even look for ways to move into a close orbit.
Maybe it was something in life that knocked you out of orbit, something like a problem or a circumstance. Maybe it was something that you thought looked better than the orbit you were in. Whatever the case it is time to return to a closer revolution around the true Son.
Spiritually speaking we don’t want to be like Pluto because that is too cold. And realistically in our spiritual orbit we don’t even want to be like the planet Earth.
That is the place of comfort; that is the lukewarm place. When Jesus met with John the Revelator and told John to write to the seven churches, he was told to write to the church in Laodicea, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
Revelation 3:16-17
We need a closer Revolution. We need to be like Mercury around the sun.
We need to make sure that God is the center of our lives. We need to make sure that we are not self-centered, that we are not man centered, that we are not institutionally centered.
We need to “do whatever it takes to get closer to God and to help others do the same. Obliterate any obstacle that prevents you from honoring God with every breath you take. Be such an outstanding example of the Christian faith so that no one will question your heart or lifestyle.”
We need to make Jesus Lord of all that is in our life.
How do we know if we are in a close orbit with God?
By looking at your life. By looking at every aspect f your life. How is your giving; your giving of time, your giving of self, your giving of finances? How is your thought life? Do you honor God with your thoughts? How is your passion for God? Do you love Him more than anything else? Are you willing to come nearer to God than you have ever been before?
“Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up.” James 4:8-10
Come near, draw near, draw nigh unto God – this is a single definite act that we are called to do. This is regenerative and it is transformational. This is Revolutionary.
Are you a Revolutionary? Where is your orbit? What are you revolving around?
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