I want to speak a message this morning entitled, "Revolutionary Living". 1st Peter 2:9-12 says, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have attained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles that when they speak against you as evildoers they may by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation".
Father, we thank you that you are faithful for what you have already done in this place. Lord, I ask that you would anoint me to preach just one more time today and that your anointing would be strong and convey your goodness. I ask Lord that we would decrease and that you would increase, in Jesus name, Amen.
The work of God in someone's life is radically changing. When things get into a certain state of decay or chaos; when life begins to get out of balance there needs to be change and sometimes a forceful change. This life that God has called us to live is so revolutionary. How many are thankful that God has changed your life?
In our nation we know how powerful a revolution can be. There was a point when we became convinced as a nation that we could not live as we had lived under the rule of the British Empire. We decided as a people that things had to be different and so America had the greatest revolution that the world has ever seen and it created the greatest nation that there has ever been.
I am convinced that in the world today we need a spiritual revolution of God's love and the Lord is looking for a few good men and women who are absolutely revolutionary. I want to ask you this morning whether this describes the NFL, Major League Baseball or the National Basketball Association. Thirty six have been arrested for spousal abuse, 7 arrested for fraud, 19 have been convicted for writing bad checks, 117 have overseen the bankruptcy of more than 2 businesses, 3 have been arrested for assault, 71 can't get a credit card because they have such bad credit, 14 have been arrested for drug related crimes, 8 have been arrested for shoplifting, 21 are defendants in lawsuits and 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year. What does that describe to you? The NFL, MLB or NBA? It's a trick question, none of them. It describes the 435 members of the United States Congress.
We need a revelation and a revolution to change our nation and the world. Not a revolution of blood and bullets but a revolution of God's love in action by the church that care for the lost and the hurting. It is the kind of revolution that changes the very fabric of society one person at a time. Many times the church tries so hard to be relevant to our culture. We have tried to become like everybody else around us. God has called the church to be a people that are so revolutionary that it changes the fabric of who we are as a nation.
The type of people that are described in 1st Peter are not your typical people. God says that we are a holy nation, a royal priesthood, his own special people. But somehow the body of Christ doesn't look so different or sound so different from the world that we live in. We are to live a life that is so outstanding that when people look at Christians they may criticize us for who we are but on a second look they begin to see that we are so different and so like Jesus that they want to be just like us. For far too long the church has tried to appear relevant to our culture. The word relevant means to be in on the moment at hand, trying to keep up with the trends of culture or trying to stay current.
I think that most Christians in churches are genuine and they are wanting to be cutting edge so that we are people who are able to reach the world with the Gospel. But we are spending so much time trying to be cutting edge that we aren't creating change in lives. Many times the church is trying to catch up with the culture. We're trying to look like the world around us so that we can fit in and be relevant. God never called the church to fit in but to stand out and to be outstanding. If you try to be relevant you become a copy of the things that are around you and just become a cheap imitation. The church has become a cheap imitation of the world around us. The truth is that there is almost no difference between Christians and non- Christians anymore.
Jesus was a revolutionary. He was an innovator and a leader, never a
follower. If anything, we should be trying to be more like Jesus and less like the world. Ephesians 5:1 says, "Be imitators of God as dear children". How many have ever watched children try to be just like their parents? Little girls who try to put on make-up and wear high heels just like their mom. I remember my boys when they were younger, they used to try on Dad's shoes and now they can't anymore because their feet are bigger than Dad's. God says, "be imitators of God, as dear children who want to be like their father". How many want to be like Jesus, to just want to emulate him, to see His life through you? Children want to be like their parents.
Only Christ can make the difference in a life. Christ is the one who brings freedom from sin, healing in the body and a sound mind and spirit. Only Jesus brings true peace. Only Christ can bring joy when there is no reason to have happiness. Only God can help us live a life of integrity. In our quest to be relevant we have lost the passion and the power to be revolutionary in our world. 2nd Timothy 3:5 says, "In the last days the church will have a form of Godliness but deny its power". How many know that when we came to the altar to pray for those who are here, we weren't doing so just because we were hoping in God but because we know that there is power in God to bring sight to the blind, that will bring wayward children back and change those who aren't like Jesus. That's the type of God we serve, that's our Lord, that's the gospel that we preach.
Our attempt to be relevant is to draw big crowds and to have greater impact but in John 12:32 Jesus said, "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all men to myself". Many churches and Christians rely on slick marketing and promotion. We need less glossiness in the church and more Jesus. We need less of a show and more of the Lord. Nothing will ever replace lifting up Jesus. We could do a thousand things but unless Jesus is front and center there will never be the change this nation needs. "If I be lifted up I will draw all men to me". That's powerful.
One church in Chicago that has about 18,000 members, they grew so fast. They came to realize about a year ago that everything they're doing isn't working. They said, "We have crowds every Sunday, the place is filled, but people aren't changed, we've been doing it all wrong". Then they began to change the program. They said, "We need to lift up Jesus and to present Christ. We need to show that we are to be like Jesus. That's what makes the difference". If Jesus will be lifted up then He will draw all men to himself.
Revolutionary people are non-conformists. They just aren't like everybody else. They aren't interested in the status quo or just trying to fit in. They know that there needs to be change. The truth is that most churches today wouldn't know what to do with the apostle Peter or with Paul or John, the disciple of Love. As a matter of fact if John the Baptist came to most churches they would think he was a freak of nature and would have no idea what to do with him today. They don't fit in. The Apostle Paul, Mother Teresa, George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr; these people were non -conformists and they were interested in transformation, not just more of the same. They knew that there needed to be a revolution so that lives would be changed and so people would be more like Jesus.
Romans 12:2 says, "And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God".
Don't be conformed any longer to this world. Revolutionaries aren't interested in becoming like everybody else, they're interested in becoming more like Jesus, allowing his life, his love, his power to so transform them that wherever they go that same type of transformation takes place. True transformers are not robots, they are revolutionaries who change lives for Christ because they've been transformed by God. How many of you have been transformed by the Lord from the inside out? We put so much emphasis on what people do on the outside but the truth is that change that God does is on the inside. God is the one who helps people to be different.
Their thinking is transformed. They don't think like everybody else, they don't act like everybody else. Revolutionaries are trendsetters. So many times the church is trying to catch up with the trends. I believe the church shouldn't be following the trends with America or with the world but we should be setting the trends of our country. Conformists play it safe. During the storm all the disciples stayed in the boat even though they saw Jesus was there. Peter was a revolutionary; he wasn't willing to stay in the boat or to just be like everybody else. Peter got out of that boat because Jesus said "Come" and he got out and began to walk on the water. Peter obeyed God; he wasn't reckless. In the midst of the storm he knew that things couldn't just stay the way they were. While everyone else was getting upset, Peter saw Jesus and Jesus said, "Come". Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water.
He was a non-conformist and a revolutionary. Some say that even though he did walk on water he began to sink as soon as he took his eyes off Jesus. But here's what I want to say to you, as far as I know throughout all of history there are only 2 people who have ever walked on water; Jesus and Peter. That is a non-conformist. You can knock all that it was but because he got out and wasn't willing to play it safe, he was going to make sure that things didn't stay the same. He got to walk on the water and in the midst of doing it he began to learn a lot about himself and he learned a lot about the God that he saw. That's why you began to see someone change the world. You say, "I don't know if I could ever be a Peter". God didn't call you to be Peter, he called you to be you and he called you to be revolutionary, to obey the Lord and see what God would do through you.
Peter got out of the boat and it may not have been smooth but he got to walk on water. Those who are revolutionary make a relevant difference in the lives of others without compromising their own stand in Christ and by bringing God's freedom to others. Too many today in the church want to prove that they're not so un-cool and different from the world that they begin to act just like the world does.
1st Corinthians 9:19-23 says, "For though I am free from all men I have made myself a servant to all that I might win the more. To the Jews I became as a Jew that I might win the Jews; to those who are under the law as under the law that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law as without law, not being without law towards God but under the law towards Christ, that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became as weak that I might win the weak. I become all things to all men that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the Gospel's sake that I might be partaker of it with you".
Revolutionaries don't want to sit on the sideline; they want to be in the midst of it. Peter was different; he didn't just want to be sitting in the boat with everybody else. God said to come out and come to me and he did. The Message Bible puts those verses we just read this way, "Even though I am free from the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide variety of people: religious, non-religious, meticulous moralists, loose living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized, whoever. I didn't take on their way of life; I kept my bearings in Christ but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet to a God saved life. I did all this because of the message. I didn't just want to talk about it, I wanted to be in on it".
Paul said, "I went into the world but it didn't effect me. I didn't become like them, I didn't relax my standards or give in to sin. I went out and began to share my life so that people could be changed. I got a wonderful example of that this week when I got to take out an Aloe bush in my yard. It became a spiritual endeavor for me because I hated that Aloe bush with all that was in me. That Aloe bush was planted next to our house and as I went to take it out I thought I'd take some of it and replant just a little bit back in. As I got into that thing and began to chop it out it took me forever. I had never seen an Aloe bush like this and it was kind of tricky because most of the things that I had ever pulled out just grew into the soil and you could pull them and replant them.
People had let this Aloe bush go for a long, long time and by the time I had cut this thing back I got to a huge root. I had been hacking at that thing thinking I could break through because of all my experience with Aloe plants. I had to get a chain saw to get that thing out of there and God said to me, "This is what happens when you just let a little bit of sin in and you let it grow. It seems like at any minute you can get it out and it won't be a problem but it got to be a problem". God is also faithful because when I borrowed the saw from my neighbor, I said "Isn't that chain just a little bit loose?' He said, "Yes but that's how I've been chopping down the other trees, it works just fine". So I cut through the thing and when I went to start up the chain saw again the chain flew off and hit my finger but I still got it. How many know God is faithful?
I sat there and looked at that thing and God said, "When you allow that sin to grow and then when you try to get it out you put yourself in danger because it doesn't want to leave". Listen to me, Paul said he went out into the world and he didn't become like them, he wanted to change them. He didn't want to have to go back and try to get that stuff out of his life again. He didn't need it, didn't want it, he was just going after the Lord and helping people. Revolutionaries are committed to serve. Relevant people see a need, they may even get a t-shirt to bring awareness to it and think they're doing something about it. Activists see that something needs to be done and they do a lot of talking about it. They may picket or protest about it but all they do is talk. Revolutionaries see the need and get involved and bring change. They do something about the problem.
Revolutions only happen when people get desperate enough for change. In America we decided that we couldn't live too long under what the British were doing in our country and decided that something had to be done. They put their lives on the line in order to see change. How many are thankful for the revolutionaries in the early beginnings of America that helped create the greatest nation in the world? I'm not saying that America needs to go to war. What I'm saying is that we need a revolution of spirituality in our nation again. Love always motivates us to do something to get involved.
Pastor Kevin is a revolutionary. He sees the homeless and he's reaching out to make sure that they're fed and that a need is met. He may not be able to reach everyone but the difference that he's making is right to those people. As a matter of fact he has begun to pray over the Kennedy estates and some of the places that are here in Jupiter. He saw a need and he's been praying and God has given him the vision to be able to reach those communities. So many people think we can go into a community and throw some paint on a house and all of a sudden that's going to change who people are but it doesn't; it just dresses up the outside. What changes people is when they are saved and set free and the hardest change is when their mind is transformed and they become like Jesus and everything else begins to change. That's revolutionary and that makes a difference.
Jose and Mary are revolutionaries. Jose knows our church needs that Koinonia, that fellowship together where we don't just come to church on Sundays and love each other but even beyond that where we study the word together and know each other inside out when a need is there. That's why in Mid summer we're going to begin developing small groups in our church so at least once a month families can meet in the home and pray and read the word together and have fellowship with one another to have that support. That's revolutionary. So many people are lonely, and a preacher can't visit everybody but all of us are Kings and Priests in Jesus name and no one should be left behind.
Most ministries happen outside the four walls of a church building and although we see great things happening here, God has even greater things. Last summer we saw our church grow and I believe we're going to continue to see it. I believe by the end of summer we'll be back to two services and filling the place up. We're not looking for people who want to go to this church and that church, we want to be revolutionary and see people set free and lives changed.
Revolutionary people understand that the provision comes when you do the ministry. A lot of what we are called to do we are not experts at and we just have to learn as we go. When Peter got out of the boat he obviously didn't know what it took to walk on water. He had to learn. When pastor Kevin and Pastor Rocky began to minister to the homeless they didn't have any idea what they were getting themselves into. God just said to do it. The money wasn't always there, the ability wasn't always there but they stepped out and God began to show them along the way. People think they have to be an expert at something first and then it will all go good. Listen, you can be an expert when you're dealing with people but you never know what you're talking about though you always know what God is doing.
How many know he is faithful? Why do I say that? Because God has given each and every one of us a calling to do something that will change another's life. Every one of us has a call to be revolutionary. All of us will have a defining moment when we will touch someone else's life. Maybe by what we do or what we say but that only comes when we trust God to do it. There is a point when God will speak into your life and the defining moment is this; you will get out of the boat to do what God is asking or you'll stay in the comfortable spot and never get to experience what God wants to do through you. Choices are made all the time by believers. Either way your life will never be the same from that point on, depending on the decision that you make. I don't care how young or how old you are, God has a work for you to do to touch other people for the Lord.
Revolutionaries are committed to values and example and relevance does not mean that we take on a spirit of the world. Our lives are to be without sin, without lust or pride and our conduct is to look like Christ, not the world. The world isn't looking to be reproduced in the church; the world doesn't want more of itself. The world is looking for alternatives and answers for help. So many times we want to look like something that we're not. We are Christians and there's nothing to be ashamed of. Our commitment to Christ keeps us stable and solid regardless of what's going on in the culture. Culture changes all the time, trends are always shifting but God's standards never change. This may not be cool but it is secure and the world is looking for that. In the midst of turbulence there is an anchor. In the midst of destruction there is hope. In the midst of turmoil there is an answer. In the midst of confusion there is direction and they need that stability in the world. That is what the church is to be and that is what God is to us and that makes all the difference in the world. That's what we are to be, revolutionary. People are counting on that, they're counting on you to be an anchor because Christ is your source. How many have found that no matter what happens people always come back to the Lord?
Revolutionary people are themselves. So many people are trying to impress others and they sell out but God's people are comfortable with who God made them to be. God said that we're his own special people. That's a special breed of people. Being a servant is not about being hip or cool, it's about being big hearted and big spirited. It's about being moved with compassion, having a love for people, not being judgmental but making a difference.
The other day I got one of the greatest compliments I ever had. I was ministering to somebody and I'm not the coolest guy in the world but I was sitting and talking with this young person and I said something that made him laugh. He said, "Pastor Marvin, you are such a dork but you're a good dork and I know that you love me". I want to tell you something, I might be a dork but I'm me and as long as I'm me and I'm original then I'm never going out of style. That's God. You don't have to be anybody else. You think that if you're going to have this revolutionary life then you need to be a Peter or a Paul. Just be you, be the biggest dork you could ever be. I don't care. I used to care but I don't want to be cool anymore, just revolutionary. The truth is they can see beyond who I am, a different generation but God began to work in their life.
Revolutionary people are ok with who they are and you need to be ok with who God made you to be. You're his own special people, a royal priesthood, a chosen generation. Revolutionaries will always stick out because they're making a difference. They're not trying to be like everybody else, they're just trying to be like Jesus. It's that life in the world that will confront the culture and it will change the culture. It will touch a city, it will change a family and it will touch a marriage. As long as you are being like Jesus that revolution will take place in your home and in the town. "If He be lifted up, he will draw all men unto me".
Our country needs a revolution. We don't need to pick up guns again. It isn't going to work and that's not what it's going to take. We need a revolution that will help change the culture that will make a difference. Hollywood is starting to take notice. I was going through Blockbuster the other day and there are a lot more Christian movies being made by Christian people. Why? Because Christian people said that's what we want and it's making a difference in the culture one person at a time. The truth is we don't need to go around shooting abortion doctors who are committing late term abortions. Although I'm not going to miss him one little bit because there's more babies who aren't going to be gone but those people need Jesus, they need the Lord. Those ladies who are going to have abortions don't need us to condemn them but to love them and to help them to see that there's a different way and that God wants to help them. That's the kind of revolution that we need. If you want to see Congress changed then you don't need to just focus on politics we need to help lead people to Jesus. Someone will witness to them or you will witness to them and God will open the door and God can make the change. It's not politics but Jesus that can change a nation.
I want to ask you, are you a revolutionary? Has God so transformed your life? That's why when you come to church you see revolutionaries who will praise not just because they're bored but because they have a heart inside of them who loves the Lord. You'll see that passion and that doesn't mean that all days you're on full tilt like super Christian but you are a people where one day at a time when the opportunity arises, what is forefront in your mind is that you are going to help bring the change in the Lord into people's lives.
Our leader is Jesus, the trendsetter, the change-maker, the life restorer, the heart re-newer and mind transformer. Are you a revolutionary?
Father, we come to you and we thank you for what you've done in us. You've revolutionized our life. Father, I pray that you'd stir our church, stir my life. God, I thank you that you haven't called us to be like the world at all, you've called us to be like you. I pray that every bit of the world that we've allowed to come into our church and into our individual lives and families would be rooted out. I pray Lord that thinking would be changed from fear to faith, from hopelessness to possibility, from lust to purity, from pride to humility. Jesus, from just seeing the world and thinking nothing can change it to being a part of those who get behind the captain of our faith, the leader of our revolution, Jesus.
Palm Beach County, statistically is the 13th most dangerous county in the United States to live in but I pray, Lord, that it would be the greatest county to live in. Let there be a revolution and I pray that you'd start with us. Move into every church and into every Christian and that as believers we would reach out and begin to see our cities changed, people coming to Jesus and being transformed like you. Lord, help us to get out of the comfort zone, always knowing that we're safe yet knowing that you're faithful. I pray Lord that you would fill us with compassion for the lost, fill us with a heart to know that things can happen and to see the change. Not just to see things as the way that it's always going to be and even as a church that we would see the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, those families that are broken healed, those kids that are away from Jesus coming back. We pray for our teenagers this summer that there would be a radical fire of God placed inside of them, filled with wisdom and passion. Lord, may our church have a godliness with the power of the holy spirit behind them. Father we thank you for what you're doing in and through us and we'll give you praise for it. In the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.
