10-19-08SERMON

Learning to Change
Acts 10:11-23
10-19-08

    We are told that for the most part the average person really does not desire change
because a change requires one leaving his or her comfort zone. And of course, most
people are fearful of change. Still, we can and we do learn to accept changes if we put
our minds to it.   For example, newlyweds and parents learn that they must think of
needs other than their own. A new believer learns that some of the things he once did
are no longer acceptable. Still, changes can be hard.   Back in the early 1900’s, Ford
Motor company had a production manger by the name of William Knudsen, considered
to be the best. He became convinced that the Model T, which had been in production
for 4 years, needed to be up-dated. The only problem was that Henry Ford loved his
creation to the point that he opposed changing anything about the Model T. William
thought he could convince Ford by building an updated model to show what could be
done with a few changes in color and design. When Ford saw the new model he went to
pieces and destroyed what was a beautiful vehicle. The production manger left Ford
Motor Company and took a job at General Motors. It was not until several years later
that Henry Ford admitted that some changes had to be made and thus the Model T
became a Model A.   But those who knew Ford said, even then, his heart was not in it.
    Most people don’t like changes in their lives any more than he did. Someone said
that the only people who do like changes are “wet babies” and even they are not very
excited about it.
    Most churches are not open to change. But sometimes changes are necessary
because they are pleasing to God and are for the up building of His Kingdom.
    Things were not that much different back in the days of the early church. People
back then didn’t like changes anymore than people do today.   When we read about the
events in Acts, Chapter 10, it might be hard to visualize how earth shaking the events
were at that time, but the changes God brought to pass had a far-reaching impact upon
the church for the next 50 or 60 years.
    In the Scripture which we read this morning we find that Peter became hungry and
wanted something to eat and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.
He saw the heavens opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by
its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the
earth and birds of the air. And then a voice told him, "Get up Peter, kill and eat."   Peter
replied, "Surely not Lord. I have never eaten anything impure or unclean." And then
the voice spoke the second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made
clean." This happened three times and then the sheet was taken back to heaven. In that
vision, God was telling Peter that He was going to do something new and that new thing
was waiting at the gate.
    Peter was a good Jew.   He had been raised to obey the Law of Moses and one very
prominent part of that dealt with what animals you could eat and what animals you could
not eat. We are apt to forget that the early church was made up of Jewish believers.
They no longer offered sacrifices because Jesus was the perfect sacrifice. They no
longer kept the Sabbath as their holy day, because they now celebrated Sunday to
remember our Lord’s resurrection, which was the first day of the week.   But they had a
hard time when it came to eating certain things and they did their best to avoid those
things that were listed as unclean in the Law of Moses. And they also avoided
something else. From the time they were born, good Jewish boys and girls were taught
that Gentiles were unclean and thus they would have nothing to do with them. They
would not eat with them and they would NOT spend the night in their homes.   Jews
would accept Gentiles only on one condition; they had to convert and they had to accept
the Jewish faith.
    God intended to change all of that. God planned to bring the Gentiles into His
church.   And He had no intention of requiring the males to be circumcised before they
were baptized.   One of the things I like about Blake’s Chapel and there are a lot of
things, but one of those things is we have so many from different backgrounds, different
denominations, difference of opinions and still we are one family and respect the right of
the other whose opinions might be different than ours. We come from many different
places and still we are family.
    In bringing this change about God knew that these people were no different than they
are today. Regardless of what they might say, people hate change.
    It is interesting to see the two individuals that God used to bring about this change.
He selected Cornelius, who was someone that was well liked. He was known as a man
of prayer and a man who gave to the poor. He was someone that the Jews respected.
And then God selected someone who was stubborn, hard-headed, uncompromising -
Peter.   I say that about Peter because God had to repeat the same things 3 separate
times.   God said, “kill and eat” and Peter said, “NO”. And three separate times God
had to tell Peter, “Do not call anything impure that I have made clean.”
    When Peter, along with 6 others, went to Cornelius’ house. They went with the
intentions of convincing Cornelius that he needed to be circumcised. But when
Cornelius and his household received the Holy Spirit, Peter asked this question, "Can
anyone keep these people from being baptized with water?" (Verse 47). You see, up to
this time, Peter thought that a male had to be circumcised before being baptized.   What
changed his mind? God and the working of the Holy Spirit. Oh, these early Jews were
afraid of change.   People today are afraid of change.   But friends, we are going to see
changes in our country and we are going to see changes here at Blake’s Chapel.
Philippians 4 tells us that we should never be anxious, but that we should turn our hearts
in prayer to God.   I’m afraid that many times we might make up our minds concerning
important issues without even speaking to God. As far as our country is concerned we
need to pray for the person that is elected as our next President, whether he be the one
we voted for or not.   And as far as the next pastor at Blake’s Chapel, we need to seek
God’s will and then we need to support that individual in every way possible, but
especially with our prayers.
    From the Scripture this morning we can to learn two things: First, that Christians
SHOULD not be afraid of change. Our God is a GOD of change. God does all kinds of
“new things” in our lives every day. When we first became a Christian, we die to our
past.   We were born again. We are new individuals and He’s still working on most of
us to change us into the likeness of His blessed Son.   The second thing we can learn
from the Scripture is that God wants us to reach out beyond our comfort zone in order
to reach more and more people with the gospel.   The early church was repeatedly
challenged by God to do more things that they were uncomfortable with, so that more
and more people would be saved.
    I would like to think that we, here at Blake’s Chapel, can be a church that can be
open to change if it means more people coming to know Christ as Lord and Savior.
Isn’t that the main purpose of the Church?
    In closing I want you to ask yourself this question. Who’s in charge here? Is it you
and I, or is it God.   And if it is God, we need to seek His will and His guidance and we
need to be ready for change. Changes are coming and if they are being brought about
by God, we ought to welcome them.