Sermons - Pastor Mark Williams
“Let us love in truth and action”
5 / 11 / 03
I John 3:16-24
Recently I read a book called “Quantum Change.” “Quantum Change” was written by a psychologist who noticed that many people experience a watershed moment in their lives that immediately, unalterably transforms them. Psychologists usually see change happen in their clients slowly, incrementally, growing over time if change happens at all. But there’s also a documented phenomenon that this book refers to as quantum change, when change happens suddenly, unexpectedly, and all at once. Some people who struggle with addiction tell the story of reaching the point when one day they just turned a corner. Something clicked inside of them, and they turned their backs on the addiction that ruled their lives just moments before. There are people drowning in the quicksand of depression. But some report that suddenly they reached a moment in their lives when something clicked, and from that moment forward they began a steady climb toward mental health. In a mysterious moment, sometimes all alone, sometimes in the presence of others, people have experienced a quantum change in their whole outlook on life. Sometimes they credit God or another outside force for inspiring the change. Sometimes quantum change seems to emerge from inside, like suddenly uncovering some profound truth that they carried with them all along. Although quantum changes are documented and studied, to date no one’s found the means of creating them. Psychologists still don’t know why some people seem to spend their whole lives going in circles, while others suddenly leap forward and become whole new people in an instant. There’s no formula for making a quantum change happen, for making someone turn the corner and reorient their lives. But there are conditions that seem to help to nurture such change. There are common circumstances, similar contexts in which people discover themselves suddenly, dramatically, unalterably changed.

In religious terms we might call quantum change conversion. Religious conversion is the transformation from disbelief into belief. There’s a mystery about the moment of conversion. Two people can witness the same inspiring event, and one of them may leave fundamentally unaltered while the other one has suddenly become a believer. Paul described faith like a gift from God. Faith isn’t something that we can create by a force of will but rather it’s like a divine treasure that we receive almost passively. The right upbringing, the right influences, the right church and the right teachings don’t always add up to faith. While for others, some seemingly insignificant moment can completely change their whole worldview and inspire them to embrace faith. Some sincerely struggle for faith; they work at it and long for it, but it doesn’t come on command. For others, they determinedly shun faith; they reject the possibility of faith, only to have faith grasp hold of them and change them totally apart from their own will. What is it that transforms disbelief into belief? The stated mission of the United Methodist denomination is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. If our task is to make disciples of Christ, then what is it that makes faithful disciples out of unbelievers?

Love is the simple answer to what transforms us into faithful Christians. Love is the setting in which a quantum leap can happen. Our love for another person doesn’t make them have faith in God, but love is the context in which faith can be born. Not just love, though, but self-giving love. Christian love is the commitment to sacrifice our own interests for the well being of another. Christ calls us to express love in ways that sometimes feel risky. We’re called to put ourselves out there, to make ourselves vulnerable in order to extend loving concern. Saul was a great persecutor of the church. He hunted down Christians to imprison them and even kill them. His reputation for hating Christians was widely known. One day a follower of Christ named Ananias heard the voice of God calling him to go to where Saul was, to lay hands upon Saul and to heal him of his temporary blindness. Ananias said, “I’ve heard about that guy. He’ll just as soon throw me into prison as allow me to touch him.” But God told Ananias to go anyway, despite Saul’s reputation. God called Ananias to risk his own freedom, perhaps even his own life in order to extend Christian mercy to a person known to hate all Christians. Ananias fearfully did what he was told. Ananias touched Saul, and suddenly something clicked inside of Saul. He experienced a quantum change. All at once, Saul was converted from a persecutor of the faith into a fierce believer. He was suddenly a whole new person. God transformed Saul, but it was the risky mercy extended by Ananias that set the stage for God’s transforming work. The love of Christ can be a risky thing. God calls us to stretch ourselves, to make ourselves uncomfortable at times in order to show loving mercy to others. God calls us to be the ones to extend the hand of reconciliation, even though it would be easier to allow brokenness to continue. God calls us to place ourselves in discomforting circumstances, to leave the security of our routines in order to extend the hand of healing mercy to people that we don’t think that we have anything in common with. The love that Christ modeled for us is a risky sort of love. “We know love by this,” the writer of first John tells us. “That Jesus laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?” I’ve had a lot of parents ask me over time what they should do to make sure that their children grow up to be faithful Christians. Parents have asked me how they can make their children into moral, responsible, faithful adults. Many parents want to know the formula for shaping their children into people who have a deep love of God. But there’s no formula. There’s step-by-step instruction for creating a person of faith. All that we can do for anyone else is to witness to our faith as we surround them with love. If faith grows is a question that can only be answered between them and God. I think it takes a lot of us a long time to learn the lesson that we can’t control anyone else. We can’t make them into who we want them to be. We can’t change anyone else by the force of our will. We can’t love them into new people. We can only love them, and leave the work of transformation for them to work out with God. There are people in the United Methodist denomination who criticize our General Board of Global Ministries because our missionaries spend too much time serving the physical needs of others and not enough time “evangelizing.” There’s a direct attack underway against our missions agency because our missionaries are building schools and providing health care and teaching sustainable agriculture around the world, but not preaching enough in order to convert unbelievers into followers of Christ. But conversion doesn’t happen because we say the right words. Faith in Christ doesn’t suddenly appear because anyone, no matter how clever, preaches a persuasive enough sermon. We can’t shape anyone else into our image. But our love, expressed through genuine, self-giving concern, can set the stage for God’s transforming work to change them. Love is the setting in which a quantum leap can happen.

This is God’s commandment: that we should believe in Jesus Christ, and in response to our faith that we should love one another. We can’t brew up a batch of faith, like following a recipe. There’re no magic words to transform a miserable person into a happy person. There’s no magic ritual to change an addict into someone liberated from addiction. There’s no clever formula that places the power in our hands to change an unbeliever into a faithful follower of Christ. But if we fully accept the grace of God, and allow the love of Christ to flow through us, we set the stage for the transforming work of God the lives of others. Making disciples of Jesus Christ is the mysterious, miraculous, wonderful work of God. Our task is to hold fast to our faith as we extend sincere love for others. Amen.
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