"THE FAITH TO CHANGE"
Mark 1:16-20, 16:1-8
April 20, 2003 Easter Sunday

Lenten Sermon Series
The Seven First Words of Jesus

David W. Hull, Pastor
First Baptist Church
Huntsville, Alabama

Two theologians were discussing the resurrection of Jesus. One was American evangelical theologian Ron Sider and the other was German theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg. I spent a number of hours reading the works of both men during my days in seminary. Pannenberg repeated at least twice in the conversation, "The evidence for Jesus' resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things: first, it is a very unusual event; and second, if you believe it happened, you have to change the way you live." -As quoted in Prism, 4 (March/April 1997), 34.

Maybe that is the hard part of Easter. Our difficulty may not be in believing that Jesus changed from a dead corpse to a living body. Instead, our problem may be in realizing that Easter means we have to change the way that we live. Because it is true that Easter changes everything, we are left with a question. How well do you handle change? Since Easter changes everything it seems that we need to talk this morning about how change affects us. Otherwise, we may not come to a full appreciation of Easter until we develop the faith to change.

Let me offer two stories to help illustrate the ways that some people deal with change. Several years ago there was a newspaper report in England about a man named Arthur Arch. The story was written on the occasion of his 95th birthday. However, the usual thing about Mr. Arch was that for 42 years he had been exactly 20 minutes late for any meeting or appointment. He was very prompt, he was just always late. He reported that as a result of this tardiness, he had been fired a half of a dozen times, had missed a great number of trains, and was late to a countless number of appointments. When asked to explain why he was always 20 minutes late he said, "It is all very simple. In 1922, the clocks were changed 20 minutes. I never accepted this. Nobody was going to take 20 minutes off my life. I have just always kept my watch at the old time - 20 minutes late." He vowed that he would never change his clock to conform to the rest of the world and added, " I am going to die 20 minutes late to show them I was right!"

Contrast that story with the account of a man who stopped by the window of a jewelry store every day to set his watch. Although he never came into the store, this man would take out his pocket watch and set it by the clocks in the window. After years of this practice, the jewelry store owner was curious enough to stop the man on the street one day and ask him why he always followed this daily ritual. The man explained, "I am the time-keeper for the factory. It is my job to blow the whistle at exactly 12 noon." Upon hearing his answer the jeweler remarked, "That's funny. I always set my clock by the noon whistle at the factory."

Here we see two approaches to change. On one side, we see a man too stubborn ever to change something as slight as adjusting his clock twenty minutes. By contrast, we see two men who made daily changes without realizing that they actually had no basis or foundation for the changes that they made. Somewhere between these two extremes lies a better approach to change. In one of the first words of Jesus and in the story of Easter, our Lord models for us an approach to change. We find this approach captured in the simple words, "Follow me." In order to appreciate the Easter that changes everything, let's take a few moments to reflect upon these simple words.

I.

For all who resist change like Arthur Arch, Jesus said, "Follow." This word implies action. The word also demands change, for you cannot follow and stay in the same place all at once. We are told that those early disciples heard his words and left their nets in order to follow him. Jesus was telling us that the claims of faith will never let us remain as we are. To be a disciple of Jesus Christ requires us to be on a journey and a pilgrimage.

We see this same call to follow again in the Easter story. As the women arrived at the empty tomb, the voice of the angels said to them that Jesus was no longer there, but he has "gone before you" to Galilee. The instruction of the angel was for the friends of Jesus to meet him again in Galilee. In other words, they were to follow the One who had gone before them. Rather than pitching a tent at the empty tomb and setting up a shrine at the sight of the world's greatest miracle, the words of the angel prodded the followers of Jesus to keep on moving. The journey of faith never ends. The pilgrimage constantly causes us to change.

Notice that the angel specifically mentioned Peter. This inclusion of Peter's name reminded the friends of Jesus that even Peter would not be allowed to linger in his state of depression for long. Sure, he had disappointed Jesus when he denied that he even knew him on Thursday night. But now it was time for a change - a time to come alive again with joy and gladness. So the instruction was clear that Peter also was to continue as a follower. Then when all of the disciples met with Jesus following the resurrection he continued in this same strategy of requiring a faith to change when he commissioned them to "go into all the world and proclaim the good news. . ." (Mark 16:15) He was not content to let them cling to him as a risen Lord, but in the same spirit that called them to drop their nets from fishing he was challenging them to be about the business of preaching the gospel in the hopes of "catching" men and women for the Kingdom of God. There is no getting around these compelling words of Jesus. Faith requires following and that means we must change. You cannot follow and stay the same regardless of how hard you try.

If we are honest we must admit that this kind of faith and change sometimes brings fear. We move into the unknown when we follow Jesus, just as the disciples long ago set out on an adventure whose destination they did not know. There is little wonder then that fear is the dominant emotion expressed in the Easter story. We are told that the women fled from the tomb "for terror and amazement had seized them" and "they were afraid." (v.8) This fear of the unknown sometimes makes us cautious about following Jesus. We are something like the little boy who was helping his mother in the kitchen. His mother asked him to reach in the pantry and hand her a can of tomato soup. The boy replied, "Mom, I don't like to go into the pantry. It is too dark in there and I get scared." His mother, being a good Sunday school teacher, said, "Oh honey, don't be afraid, Jesus will be in there with you." So he went and opened the door and peeked in. It was dark in there and he said, "Jesus if you are in there, would you hand me a can of tomato soup?"

Isn't that how we often move through life? Rather than going into the unknown with a faith that is willing to change, we often lag behind in our complacency and apathy and fear and look into the darkness of the future and simply ask Jesus to hand us what we want. The great Scottish preacher, James Stewart, was right when he said, "The problem is that too many people are living on the wrong side of Easter." We look ahead and see change and we think only of Good Friday and the ways that change is going to end what we know. This poses a threat for us and causes a fear of the unknown. However, if we live on the right side of Easter, we can think of change not in terms of crucifixion, but instead, of resurrection. Living on the right side of Easter shows that when we walk and follow Christ by faith we can let God change us in a way that will cause rebirth and new life. That is an Easter faith. That is a faith to change. Are you living on the right side of Easter?

The Methodist missionary Earl Stanley Jones, in his autobiography A Song of Ascents tells of an African who changed his name to "After" immediately following his conversion. He reasoned that all things were new and different and important after he met Christ. Easter is what makes us "After" Christians. "After" Easter, nothing in life is ever the same again.

II.

Some people never want to change. Others change far too quickly. They set the clocks of their lives by any standard without a good solid basis for doing so. For people like this Jesus offered the simple word "Me." Not only are we to follow, but he put a specific focus on our following - we are to follow me. This means that we are not simply to change in order to keep up with the latest style, fad, trend, ideology, or philosophy. Instead, the change that happens in our lives is to be in response to the person known as Jesus Christ.

It is interesting that when Jesus approached the fisherman by the sea on his first disciple recruitment trip, his challenge to them was very simple. He did not point to a book and ask them to read; he did not recite a list of commandments for them to keep; he did not offer them a ritual to be observed. Instead, he said the very essence of faith is a person to be followed. True, a book was later written about him for all of us to read, he did offer commandments throughout his ministry, and on his last night with these followers he gave them a ritual of the Lord's Supper for them to remember. But at the very essence and foundation of faith, there is simply a person to follow.

Years ago a plane full of reporters crashed in the jungle of Burma. The pilot was the only one equipped to guide them out of the middle of the jungle. People were panicking because there seemed to be no way out. In the midst of this confusion, the pilot said, "Follow me." The group figured he must know what he was doing so they followed him. He had a large machete knife and he hacked his way through the jungle. Pretty soon one of the women was noticing that there was no path. He just seemed to be chopping away, making a path as he went along. She stopped and said, "Sir, are you sure you know the way?" He turned and smiled and said, "Ma'am, I am the way." He continued to lead them through that unknown territory to safety.

So it was with Jesus who declared to his followers "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Our following is to focus on the person of Christ. If you are one who is quick to change and if you find yourself often moving in several different directions at one time, perhaps you can learn from the focus that Christ was requiring. Think about the changes in your life. Are they making you more like Christ? Because of Easter, we know that he lives today. This means that he is still present in the form of the Holy Spirit to guide us and he still calls for us to follow him. If you feel like a jellyfish that simply floats with the currents of life, then let Easter bring you in touch with the one who wants to guide you the rest of your days. He will be a very real presence with us if you will let him shape who you are and direct your path.

III.

The call of Jesus offered a corrective for those who never change when he said the word "Follow." This same sentence offered a corrective for those who change often with no sense of direction when he provided the focus for our change in the word "Me." With his next phrase, Jesus offered a perfect combination of the familiar and the unknown, of stability and change, when he said, "I will make you fish for people."

The journey of faith begins with an invitation to walk a familiar path. Notice that Jesus was calling them to be fishers. He was asking them to do something with which they were familiar. After all he was by the Sea of Galilee talking to me who knew fishing. He was not asking them to be doctors or lawyers or soldiers or priests. He was calling them to a life of fishing. In the same way the Easter angel told the followers to meet Jesus in Galilee. Why Galilee? Because this was familiar turf, home ground, the place that was known to all of them. This was the place where it all began; where they answered the call to follow Jesus. The angel was saying that this journey of Easter faith can begin in familiar territory.

It is important to understand that this call to faith begins by walking down a familiar path. Too often we think that we must totally change our lives, our outlook, our values, even our profession before we can ever follow Jesus or become a part of his church. This keeps some people from ever making the first step of faith. That idea of such a radical change is too much and frightens them from ever dropping their nets to follow. Hear what I am saying very clearly. Jesus meets us where we are. He asks me to come to him "Just As I Am." Rather than asking me to transform my life before I ever commit to follow him, Jesus meets me on my own turf and begins right where I am. He does the same for you. Are you ready to take that first step of following Christ? He wants to use you with whatever gifts and skills and profession you have to offer. He will take you where you are and begin to walk with you in your Galilee. The journey of faith begins down a familiar path.

The journey of faith then moves down an unknown path, Jesus told his first followers that he would make them fishers (something familiar) "of people" (something very new). True he was beginning where they were with a language of comfort for them. But then he also moved them out of their comfort zone into a new kind of service. Following Jesus may begin with the familiar, but it moves to the goal of our Lord to transform us into someone new. As fishers of fish, they had taken something living and brought it to death as the fish were carried from the water into the frying pan. Now as fishers of people he would teach them how to take human beings from the death of sin into everlasting life. What a transformation as he led them into this incredible journey with a message of hope and love. Even on Easter Sunday when the disciples got together in familiar territory, it was certainly not the same old Jesus. This risen and glorious Lord challenged them to a new mission field which spanned the whole globe. He was urging them into the unknown with a faith that would truly change their lives.

As I was thinking about what was involved in the faith to change, I reflected back to last Easter. I never would have imagined last Easter that I would be standing here as your Pastor for this Easter Sunday. However, God caused changes to occur in my life as he said, "Follow me" and changes occurred in the life of this church as the same Lord said, "Follow me." Our call to minister together began with us moving down familiar paths. God was not calling me to be an astronaut, but rather a pastor. That was my "Galilee," or familiar ground. However, I know that in the years to come our Lord will lead us into places of ministry that we have never been if we will have the faith to follow.

I was once given some words that have been most helpful to me. I do not know the author, but I love the message.

When we come to the edge of all the light,
we have to take that step into the darkness
of the unknown - and we must believe one of two things
will happen. . .

Either we will be given something solid to stand on,
or we will be taught to fly.

That is the message of Easter. When we follow Jesus he requires a change in our living. This change moves us into the unknown. But if we are living on the right side of Easter, propelled by a faith in a Lord who lives, then there will be times when Christ plants our feet on familiar ground which will give us a solid footing on which to stand. There are other times when he leads us in such a way that we are traveling in new territories. Our God, who lives, will then teach us to fly. Perhaps that's what the prophet Isaiah meant when he said, "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles. . . "
(Isaiah 40:31)

Easter changes everything! This leaves us with one question: Have you let the God of Easter change you? Jesus said, "Follow me." Will you follow? Will you?