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THE GREATEST CHANGE ON EARTH

Matthew 18:3
November 30, 2008

    In the scientific world, substances can go through radical changes without having their essential essence destroyed.  Charcoal is carbon, but if you heat and pressurize it enough, it becomes a brilliant diamond.
    Water is H2O, but if you cool it enough, it becomes ice; and if you warm it enough it becomes steam.  Yet it is still H2O.  These are examples of conversion.
    Conversion means change.  A convertible sofa can be changed from a couch into a bed by pulling a lever.
    Jesus used this word when he said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).
    Jesus was describing a drastic change---a total transformation.  Tadpoles become frogs through a natural process.  Caterpillars become butterflies through a natural process. But sinners don’t become saints by a natural process.
    Psychoanalysis can take us apart and find our problems.  But that’s not enough.  We must be put back together again.  Only God can do that.  In a world of conflicts, most of us are pulled and fragmented.  Jesus kept saying, “Be whole.”  That meant to be healthy, safe and complete.  Nevertheless, Jesus also said that many people don’t want to change.  “This people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matt. 13:15, kJV).
    Now, if a conversion can make us healthy, safe and complete; why on earth wouldn’t we want it?  Do we refuse “wholeness” because we feel we don’t deserve it?  Do we refuse “wholeness” because it requires responsibility?  Do we refuse “wholeness” because we fear change?  Let’s see what “conversion” really means:

    I.  FIRST, CONVERSION
    CHANGES OUR RELATIONSHIP.
    When this happens, God doesn’t change.  We do.  The analogy of a policeman illustrates this.  If we are speeding or breaking the law, we’ll probably feel fear or hostility in an officer’s presence.  But if we run out of gas on a lonely road in the middle of the night, we’ll probably feel joy and relief in an officer’s presence.  Now, the policeman didn’t change.  We did!
    Before conversion we tend to feel fear or hostility in God’s presence.  After conversion we feel joy and love.  What are your feelings about God?

    II.  SECOND, CONVERSION
    CHANGES OUR OUTLOOK.
    If a little boy is trying to watch a parade, he may see only feet, ankles and legs in the crowd.  But if his father lifts him up on his shoulders above the heads of the people, he’ll be able to see the whole spectacle.  Even so, God lifts us up to view all things from His perspective.
    Without this world view, life is like the jumbled pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, its all there, but it doesn’t make a complete picture.  It’s only from God’s view that life becomes meaningful.  Is your life satisfying?

    III.  THIRD, CONVERSION
    CHANGES OUR VALUES.
    A traveler said, “When I was in Cairo for the first time, I arrived at the hotel after dark.  The next morning when I looked out the window, I saw a pyramid in the distance.  Since, it was miles away, it seemed small and insignificant.  After breakfast I drove toward that pyramid, and the closer I got the bigger it looked.  From the hotel, it was just a small shape on the horizon.  As I approached, however, it became more and more overwhelming.  In short, the closer I got to that pyramid, the bigger it became and the smaller I became.
    It’s the same in the Christian’s life.  The closer we get to God, the more important He becomes and the less important our own individual ego becomes.  Now, again, God doesn’t change.  We do!  How important is God in your life?

    IV.  FOURTH, CONVERSION
    CHANGES OUR MOTIVES.
    In a journal, a minister wrote, “I’m faithful to my wife, not because I don’t have temptations at times, not because I don’t have opportunities and not because it’s against the law.  No, I’m faithful to my wife because I don’t want to hurt myself and someone I love.”
    Likewise, as legalistic human beings we think we have to obey God out of duty.  As Spiritual beings we choose to serve God out of love.  Why do you obey and serve?

    V.  FIFTH, CONVERSION
    CHANGES OUR RESPONSES.
    Once two sisters had similar histories.  Both were intelligent and attractive; both were abused as children and both had been married to alcoholic men.  At this point, however, the similarity ends.
    One was so badly wounded by her past that she became more bitter with each passing year.  She hated all men.  She was so hostile and critical that she had few friends.  Nobody could approach without being hurt by her sharp tongue.
    The other sister was just as badly wounded, but her personality was remarkably different.  She was a warm, optimistic woman who loved people.  She used the pain in her own life to make her more sensitive to the feelings of others. 
    Negative people let adversity make them bitter.  Positive people let adversity make them better.  How do you respond to problems?

    VI.  SIXTH, CONVERSION
    CHANGES OUR ATTITUDES.
    One man went to church one Sunday morning.  He heard the organist miss a note and he frowned.  He saw a teenager whispering during the prayer, and he felt critical.  He thought the usher was watching to see what he put in the offering plate and it made him mad.  He caught the preacher making a grammatical error and he felt smugly superior.  As he left, through a side door during the closing hymn, he muttered to himself, “Never again!  What a bunch of idiots and hypocrites!”
    Another man also went to church one Sunday morning.  He heard the organist play an arrangement and he was thrilled.  He heard a young girl tell how her faith makes a difference in her life and he was uplifted.  He learned that his church was sharing in a special offering for hungry children, and he felt good.  He was inspired by the sermon because it answered some questions that had bothered him.  As he walked out the front door of the church he thought, “How can anyone come here and not feel the presence of God?”
    Now, the surprising thing is that both men had attended the same church on the same Sunday morning, and each had found what he was looking for.  Which attitude do you have?

    VII.  SEVENTH, CONVERSION
    CHANGES OUR FEELINGS.
    In Robert Louis Stevenson’s story of a storm, he described a ship caught off a rocky coast.  Death seemed imminent and there was terror among the passengers.  Finally, one man, made it to the pilot-house.  He saw the captain, with his hands on the wheel, turning the ship little by little into the open sea.  When the pilot saw the fear stricken face of the passenger, he smiled.  At that, the man rushed back to the deck shouting, “It’s okay folks, it’s okay.  I’ve seen the face of the pilot, and he smiled!”
    As unbelievers we’re confused and anxious.  As believers we feel God’s smile and thus have peace and assurance.  Are you anxious or self-assured?

    VIII.  EIGHTH, CONVERSION
    CHANGES OUR INFLUENCE.
    A pastor told of visiting a church member who had suffered a stroke.  He said, I walked down the hospital hall, knocked on the door, and entered the room.  Before I spoke, the man’s daughter said, “Daddy, guess who has come to see you?”  Immediately the patient replied, “It’s my preacher.”  The daughter was surprised and asked, “How did you know that?”  Her father replied, “I know him by his walk.”
    Do people know us by our Christian walk?

    IX.  NINTH, CONVERSION
    CHANGES OUR PRACTICES.
    An office supply salesman once pressured a merchant to buy a thousand fountain pens.  In fact, he was already recording the order in his notebook when the merchant suddenly exclaimed, “Hold on!  I’m canceling that order!”  The salesman left the store angry and perplexed.  Later, the merchant’s bookkeeper asked, “Why did you suddenly cancel that order?”  “Why?” responded the man.  “Because that salesman talked fountain pens to me for an hour, telling me how wonderful they were, and then proceeded to write up my order with a lead pencil.  His practice didn’t agree with his profession.”
    Does your Christian practice agree with your profession?

    X.  TENTH, CONVERSION
    CHANGES OUR BEHAVIOR.
    A spiritual conversion makes a difference in our behavior.  An old time evangelist used to tell of a drunkard who was supposedly converted in one of his revival services.  He told how the man shouted and praised God for his deliverance from alcoholism.  His friends and neighbors were enthusiastic.  His family was thankful.  It was a great evening.  The whole town was affected.  Unfortunately, when the preacher got up the next morning and walked over to the post office, he saw that “converted” drunkard’s old gray horse in front of the saloon, as usual.  He’d gone back to the same old hitching post!
    When the grace of God transforms us, we don’t go on as usual.  We change hitching posts.  We change environments.  We change companions.  Old things pass away.  New things are evident.  People will know that we have been converted by the way we live.
    Do you have different priorities?
    Yes, conversion is the greatest change on earth.  But, how can a conversion experience be realized?  It can only be realized when we respond to God’s invitation.  It is a personal experience.  It’s not something that can be done vicariously or indirectly or from a distance.  It’s an internal reorientation and we must desire it or it won’t happen.  One day the great artist, Michelangelo, stood outside the window of a dilapidated building.  Inside he saw a blank canvas with some brushes and paints laying nearby.  All that was missing was the hand of the artist.  “Oh,” cried Michelangelo, “If only I could get inside, what a picture I could paint!”
    It’s the same with us when we shut God out of our lives.  The Holy Spirit says, “Oh!  If only I could get inside, what great things I could accomplish!”  God says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20).
    Let God in.  Open the door of your heart.  He can make you healthy, safe and complete.  That’s conversion!
WC1778)
   
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This issue of NEW PERSPECTIVES  is from an unpublished manuscript © copyrighted 2008 by Miles and Maralene Wesner, Idabel, OK.  PLEASE FEEL FREE TO USE THEM IN ANY WAY YOU THINK IS APPROPRIATE.  The only thing we ask is that you give credit for original material in PUBLISHED works. 

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