A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .

Creator as … Life-Changer

John 3:25-30, Preached by Tom Lacey at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, August 13, 2006

 A duck walks into a store and asks the guy behind the counter for duck food. "Don't have any duck food. Just dog food and cat food." "Okay, thanks," the duck says, and leaves. The next day the duck comes back. "Got any duck food?" he asks. "I told you—only dog food and cat food." "Okay, thanks." The next day the duck shows up again, asking for duck food. Now the man behind the counter is annoyed. "I've told you for three days running, we don't carry duck food." "Okay, thanks." The fourth day, here comes the duck. "I'm looking for the duck food section." The counterman blows his stack. "You come in here one more time and ask for duck food, and I'll nail your webbed feet to the floor. You got that?" Next day the duck shows up again. "What do you want?" the counterman asks threateningly. "Um, got any nails?" the duck says. "No, no nails." "Okay, got any duck food?" Some thing’s got to change.

What we want to see this morning is that it’s important to take a good long look at ourselves. Two weeks ago, we saw that we are created in God’s image, according to his likeness. Not bad, right? Then last week, we saw that God gives us each a unique life with a special history and future. Nice. But today, we have to recognize that at times these two parts of our God-given lives have gone to our heads. Being called “the next best thing to God” and “one of a kind” tends to swell one’s ego. And often we live as if these are the only things true about us. While looking at a house, a buyer asked the real estate agent which direction was north because, he explained, he didn't want the sun waking him up every morning. The agent then asked, "Does the sun rise in the North?" When he explained that the sun rises in the East, and has for some time, the agent remarked casually, "Oh, I don't keep up with that stuff." Now I know that none of us here are that, how should I put it, cerebrally challenged, but as Smoky the Bear says, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” If it can happen to one person, the potential is there for the rest of us. And we often fulfill our potential. But, look, it’s not really a matter of being intellectually challenged. I know it helps to be smart or bright, but we are challenged in many ways, and whether or not we’re smart isn’t the most important one. The one that really gets us in hot water is our agenda. We are spiritually challenged. And our personal agenda reveals it. What do I mean by agenda? Simply this, whatever you orient your life toward getting and however or with whomever you spend your time, that’s your agenda. You can see your agenda in your checkbook and credit cards. You can see your agenda in who you think about during the day and what you dream about at nighttime. As Paul said, “If you’re married, you’re thinking about how to please your husband or wife.” That should be the agenda. If our agenda is merely ourselves, whether single, married, divorced, or widowed, we need to change. John the Baptist said, “I must decrease and he must increase.” No matter if we’re great or just regular, it’s God’s agenda that matters. No matter how obedient we were yesterday, we have to follow the Lord’s path today. So keep your mind on God. Tune in to what’s good for others. Turn off what’s distracting you from fulfilling your best agenda. Make the change that’s brings you closer to God.

There are three things we ought to accept about ourselves. Each of these will lead us to a God, who, as our Creator and Father, wants what is best for us. The first is the knowledge that we are not able on our own. If we listen to and want to learn from life’s trials and tribulations, we are going to get an education in our neediness. We need God’s help.  St. Paul was a man of great courage and conviction. He preached in places where his ideas threatened the status quo, was persecuted for starting churches, and traveled over sea and land, nearly drowning in a ship wreck, nearly being killed in animal attacks. You can see where he might think that he was quite able. In fact, he did think so, until the word of God came to him. He didn’t have to be able to do it all, just to be faithful in what was his to do. “My grace is sufficient for you. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.” There is the revolution. There is the life-changer. Not by your strength do you survive; nor because of your might do you overcome; but by your willingness to bring yourself into God’s camp and report for duty.

Jesus once met a man named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a tax collector, a short man, who had cheated and climbed his way into the top branches of wealth. He had heard about Jesus of Nazareth, that he was coming to Jericho, and so he climbed a sycamore tree along the path Jesus was to take. When Jesus saw this wealthy man sitting up in a tree, having climbed there to catch a glimpse of him, the Lord said to him, “Come down.” Zacchaeus did. Once Zacchaeus accepted the grace and new life Jesus offered, he made his decision to give back the goods and money he had stolen. It was time to rearrange his agenda, and to put God at the center of his life. Zacchaeus met Jesus Christ and that meeting became a turning point. There is an old legend that says Zacchaeus went every day outside the city of Jericho carrying a bucket of water. One day, his wife followed him, wondering what this daily ritual was all about. She saw him stop at a certain sycamore tree. Zacchaeus poured his bucket of water on the tree's thirsty roots, and then stood there reverently. It was a sacred place. It was the place from where he came down and met the Lord God in Jesus Christ and his life changed. So Zacchaeus kept himself rooted in that moment and at that place, reminding himself daily of who he was now because of whom he met then.

Now you and I may not have such an incredible place to return to remind us of God’s life-changing power, but there is something we can do every day to make wherever we are a different type of place. It’s very simple. We need to get out of our chair and lower ourselves to the floor. Either on our knees or sitting, we need to come down. If we’re standing, we do so under our own power. If we’re sitting, we do so comfortably. But for God to increase, we must decrease. So get to the floor and stay to pray. There is pride in sitting before God, just as there is pride in standing. If you can’t get down easily, or if it is the getting up that’s tough, then you can take off our shoes, like Moses at the Burning Bush. You will be amazed by how just changing something small in our lives can make a big difference.

The second realization is that God has plans for us, but sometimes we get in the way. Business writer Rhonda Abrams once saw a handwritten note over a jar for tips: “If you fear change, leave it here.” Now listen: Either we change before or we change because. We’re going to be changing; it’s just a question of whether you are willing or refusing. Think of it this way: God is the river of life flowing in a certain direction. Either we can paddle with the stream or we can turn upstream and paddle against. But it doesn’t make any difference. We are going where the Lord is taking us. Now you may be saying to yourself, “Some people simply don’t change. I should know. I’m married to one.” Rare is the person who doesn’t. Under pressure of life’s quarrels, quandaries, and quagmires, God is disciplining us to grow mature spiritually. The difference between one and the other is not whether they are changing but how much they fight it. These are two very different people. Some guy bought a new fridge for his house. To get rid of his old, still working fridge, he put it in his front yard and hung a sign on it saying: "Free to good home. You want it, you take it." For three days the fridge sat there without even one person looking twice at it. He eventually decided that people were too untrusting of this deal. It looked to good to be true, so he changed the sign to read: "Fridge for sale $50". The next day someone stole it. Well, at least he got rid of it. Now I’m going to take a large, geopolitical situation, as an example, especially since the Middle East is the source of so much anxiety and problems. Israel is there to stay. Other countries and factions can yell and scream and hate all they want, and it makes political sense for them to do so, but ultimately it will do nothing to change the fact on the ground that Israel is there to stay. What is required is leadership of growth and growth in leadership. Things have changed, and there’s no going back. I am not going to go into the whole mess and spout off on whose right and whose wrong. I just know after seeing the picture in Thursday’s USA Today of a Lebanese father holding his dead 20-month old child wrapped in a white cloth that is tied at the top above the head, that this whole thing is excruciating and disturbing. It is horrendously ironic that the original two kidnapped soldiers haven’t been killed, and yet hundreds of civilians now have.

The final realization is that what matters must be something eternal. When you’ve got the feeling that not everything works out here, that what should have been, hasn’t been, then the Lord is opening your heart to what is and really matters. But this isn’t merely a dream, a wish, a fantasy. This is a life that can be lived. So “take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.” The world passes away…but those who do the will of God live forever.

Max Lucado tells about meeting Robert Reed. Robert's hands are twisted and his feet are useless. He can't bathe himself. He can't feed himself. He can't brush his teeth, comb his hair, or put on his underwear. His shirts are held together by strips of Velcro. His speech drags like a worn-out audio cassette. Robert has cerebral palsy. Max shares, "I heard Robert Reed declare, ‘I have everything I need for joy!’ Amazing, I thought! The disease keeps him from driving a car, riding a bike, and going for a walk. But it didn't keep him from graduating from high school or attending Abilene Christian University, from which he graduated with a degree in Latin. Having cerebral palsy didn't keep him from teaching at a St. Louis junior college or from venturing overseas on five mission trips. And Robert's disease didn't prevent him from becoming a missionary in Portugal.

He moved to Lisbon, alone. There he rented a hotel room and began studying Portuguese. He found a restaurant owner who would feed him after the rush hour and a tutor who would instruct him in the language. I heard Robert speak recently. I watched other men carry him in his wheelchair onto the platform. I watched them lay a Bible in his lap. I watched his stiff fingers force open the pages. And I watched people in the audience wipe away tears of admiration from their faces. Robert could have asked for sympathy or pity, but he did just the opposite. He held his bent hand up in the air and boasted, `I have everything I need for joy.' His shirts are held together by Velcro, but his life is held together by JOY."

Grab the joy in life by hanging on to God’s coattails. After all, he is our father, we are made in his image, he loves us as his children, especially when we need to make changes that promise to make us even better. So do it for God, and see how much God can do for you.

Return to Sermons (table of contents)

Return to Homepage of the Congregational Church of Boca Raton