Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church

For the last couple of weeks and the next few, we are talking about transforming our world. It begins with our own personal transformation. I’m not there yet, but fifteen years ago God got me started on a path to the greatest, most exciting adventure of my life. I’m right in the middle of it as I stand here. And to think, I almost missed out on the journey of a lifetime because I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and savior. If that isn’t shocking enough, I’ll go a step further and say that, until we in the church stop trying to get people to accept Jesus we are never going to transform our world.

I’d like you to think about some comparisons. What’s the difference between bringing home a new puppy and discovering an entire litter of puppies in your backyard? What’s the difference between taking a one day bus tour of Yosemite Valley and backpacking into the back country for a week? What is the difference between being diagnosed as having treatable high blood pressure and needing triple bypass heart surgery?

In each case, you can add the first thing into your life. The second thing changes your life in response to it. You can add one dog into your family. A surprise litter will change everything. One bus ride through Yosemite is easily added to the rest of your travel plans. Camping in the back country changes the way you eat, sleep, your whole body and mind must conform to the physical realities of the place. With high blood pressure, you can add managing it to your lifestyle. But, triple bypass surgery changes all other plans and absorbs all aspects of your life for months if not years.

Let’s read our text from the gospel of Matthew and you see which of these two kinds of events it is describing, the kind that you add into the rest of your life or the kind that change everything.

Matthew 4:17-22 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Would you say that Jesus invited Peter and Andrew, James and John to add him into their already busy lives as fishermen? Or, did he call them to an adventure that changed their lives?

Repent. We don’t hear that word very often today. We don’t like to be associated with the kinds of people who wear sandwich boards proclaiming Repent or Perish. We like the word, “accept.” Acceptance is a friendlier concept than repentance.

The dictionary says to accept something means to regard it as true. We accept that the moon revolves around the earth and the earth around the sun. We accept things all the time. But, acceptance doesn’t mean change. Acceptance can be passive. Allow me to demonstrate.

How many of us, by a show of hands, accept that we should drink as many as eight glasses of water a day? How many of us do? How many of us, by a show of hands, accept that we should lose some weight? How many of us have?

Let’s go back to Jesus’ word, repent. Which does the word, “repent” seem more related to - adding or changing?

What I and millions of Christians missed when we accepted Christ, was the necessity of change. Repentance means change. If you were taking notes, I’d have you write this down – “Repentance means change. “

And change changes who is in charge. Accepting Jesus leaves me in charge. I accept Christ. I follow Christ. Churches decide to be fully devoted followers of Jesus and they decide what that means! The emphasis remains on the I and We, not on Jesus. It’s like we have hired a life coach not given our lives to God. I decide when and how I am going to follow or even IF I will follow. And what if I don’t follow Jesus or actually do or change anything, I accepted him right? Was that a loophole in the deal that God missed? Hardly. Matthew very carefully set up this lesson. Throughout the Gospel, Matthew records Jesus teaching something and then immediately demonstrating it. In Matthew four, Jesus teaches the lesson, Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. The next thing that happens is that he calls four disciples. Matthew has carefully given us the lesson and an illustration of it. And, it may be so radical a concept that he reports Jesus doing it, not just once but twice, just in case we missed it or thought it was a fluke the first time. First he calls Peter and Andrew and they leave everything and follow him. Then, he goes to James and John and they do the same thing, just to be sure we get the message. Repentance is an invitation to leave the old, familiar, safe, known behind and follow Jesus. Do you think the four of them could have accepted Jesus and then gone on with their fishing?

I had an awesome opportunity a year ago to spend 24 hours on the USS Nimitz Aircraft Carrier as it was carrying out maneuvers a hundred miles off the coast of San Diego. The Nimitz is one of ten nuclear super carriers in the US fleet. And, a carrier is not just a carrier. Each one is actually a fleet of ships, planes, submarines. They are practically indestructible. In fact, can you guess how many times any US aircraft carrier has been attacked since WWII? I don’t mean successfully attacked. I mean just attacked. Zero. Never.

Carrier fleets practice a policy of non-permissive presence. They can go anywhere they want, anytime they want, without anyone’s permission. They have the power to back it up with ninety fighter jets, helicopters, radar and satellites, plus all the weapons on those other subs and ships. That means the Nimitz operates at the center of a circle of complete control hundreds of miles in diameter and far over the horizon. That means that if you can see the Nimitz, you have been within its ability to strike for hundreds of miles.

Now, imagine pirates on the coast of Somalia, weapons and ships in hand. And, imagine that there are no political restraints on US troops and imagine that one pirate is talking to another when he sees the Nimitz appear on the horizon. What might he say to his fellow pirate? Repent for the Kingdom of the United States is at hand. What are the pirates’ choices at that point? Run, hide, fight or …surrender. Surrender is the missing, vital component of change at the core of Jesus’ message.

When taken out of a military context, surrender is a relief. When someone discovers that the thing they have always wanted is now available to them, that they can actually have it, they can’t wait to surrender to the opportunity. There is only yes.

My family is hooked on American Idol this season. Ten’s of thousands of people try out. For the thirteen who ultimately make it onto the program, they left their families and jobs for the whole season. It’s as if Simon Cowell came up to them and said “Follow me and I will make you pop stars of men.” They didn’t accept the knowledge that they were finalists. They surrendered to the greatest opportunity of their lifetime. It was the chance to fulfill their dreams. They face demanding schedules, incredible pressure and crushing disappointment. Do you think any of them has said, I accept that I should practice, but I don’t? And after hearing the harsh critique of the judges one week, they repent and make a change, not someday, but before their next performance the following week.

That is the kind of excitement that caused fishermen to stop fishing and follow Jesus. It’s the lack of that kind of passion that stops the church from transforming the world. So, let me go back to my provocative statement at the beginning of the message. I almost missed God’s adventure for me because I accepted Jesus. What I had in terms of passionate faith was nothing like the passion that contestants on American Idol have. I was bored. Jesus was basically irrelevant to my life outside of church. Sometimes it was everything I could do to stay awake in church. There was the always popular technique of pinching myself or biting my cheek. Anyone familiar with that? I used to wear my college ring with a big blue stone in it. During a particularly boring sermon, I discovered that, if I tilted my hand in just the right way, I could see a reflection of the preacher in my ring. Now, instead of trying to keep my eyes open and trained on him, I could kind of watch him on my own private ring TV.

One service, there I was watching the preacher on my ring TV, wishing I could get more channels when he began to say something that made me look up. I actually reached for a pencil in the pew rack and grabbed my bulletin to write down the next words he said. I didn’t want to miss them. Suddenly, I was interested. I don’t remember his exact words but it was something about there being more to this life, and my life as a Christian than what I was currently experiencing. Jesus Christ was looking to have an individual, personal, relationship with me that would include adventure and challenge, risk. He would be my coach, guide, mentor, friend in addition to my savior. And this pastor was about to tell me how I could have it.

I was sitting there with pencil ready. He had me at adventure. Just tell me what I needed to do. Then he said the most discouraging words I may have ever heard. Begin to have a daily quiet time. I sat back, almost like I had been smacked in the face. I already knew the next things he would say, pray every day and read my Bible. A wave of futility swept over me. I felt stupid for thinking there might be a different answer. After all, why should there be any other answer than accept Jesus and try harder. I put the pencil back in the pew rack and went back to watching my ring TV. It was then that I decided to give up Christianity. If I had, I would be in good company. The Union Tribune this week had an article that said that 75% of Catholics and Protestants who no longer attend church just drifted away and stopped believing. But, I said I wanted more and God came through. Which leads to another question - Why isn’t it more obvious that we need to surrender? With all his power, why doesn’t God make us? While he can force his way, he won’t.

In November, 2007 China refused permission for the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk to enter Hong Kong as scheduled. With all its might and firepower, the Kitty Hawk had the power to enforce its non-permissive presence. But, it turned back to sea.

With all his power, and all he has to offer us, God is not going to force himself on any of us. My relationship with God was not going anywhere because it had begun with me accepting Jesus on my terms, to be added to my life to make things better. Somehow, I hadn’t heard that there was more. Acceptance was all I knew. And, since I had stopped there, everything that came after was my effort to be a better Christian. Then I heard the message of surrender and change. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Suddenly, all the language of the New Testament made more sense. Paul wrote, I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. Jesus said, he who loses his life for Jesus’ sake will find it. I’m talking about adventure. About a life that can transform the world. Is that what you have? If not, maybe you need to take the step and move from acceptance to surrender.