What has changed for you over the past 10 years?
A few weeks ago, it seemed like everyone on social media was taking part in the decade challenge… posting pictures of themselves or their family from 10 years ago.
I didn’t post a picture on social, but I was thinking this past week about the past 10 years for my family and what all has happened in our life during the past decade.
Here’s a picture of our family from 2010.
In 2010, my family was living in Atlanta, GA. We had just moved to Atlanta in August of 2009. Our son Will was only 3 and our daughter Gracie was only 1. And Emma… she didn’t even exist yet!
Here’s one more picture. I love Ella Grace’s face in this one!
Over the past 10 years, our family has seen a lot of changes. During the last decade we moved from Atlanta to Dallas, we added Emma to our family, we’ve lived in 4 different houses, sent our kids to 4 different schools, seen 4 job changes (1 for me, 3 for Alisha), owned 5 different cars, and so much more.
A lot has changed for my family over the past 10 years. And my guess is that much has changed for you over the past 10 years as well.
And… a lot has changed in our world.
10 years ago the very first iPad was introduced. At the time people wondered… why in the world would you need or even want an iPad?
Over the past decade, we witnessed “Gangnam Style” take over the world along with people doing the Harlem Shake. Many of you participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise money and awareness for ALS. We saw the world go absolutely crazy over Pokemon Go and people of all ages playing endlessly with fidget spinners. We saw millions of people tune in to watch a royal wedding and we saw people planking everywhere.
But we also saw other things, too.
We saw a documentary, Kony 2012, go viral as it urged viewers to take action against Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony for forcing children to become soldiers and sex slaves.
We saw the #MeToo movement bring awareness to the sexual harassment experienced by so many.
We saw #BlackLivesMatter bring the issue of social injustice into the spotlight.
We’ve seen some of the most divisive political times in our country and in other countries around the world, from our own 2016 elections to Brexit to the Hong Kong protest to the recent impeachment.
We’ve seen incredible natural disasters from the earthquake in Haiti to Hurricane Harvey.
And we’ve seen mass shootings in schools, at concerts, and in churches, continue to plague our communities, with the most recent happening at the West Freeway Church of Christ. And we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.” This is not the way things are supposed to be.
We live in a broken world.
Some of you have experienced that brokenness firsthand.
As you look over the past decade, you may think about people you’ve lost. You may think about how your family has changed, how your work has changed, how your life has changed.
We live in a broken world and some of you have experienced this brokenness, you’ve experienced heartache, you’ve suffered loss and you’ve wondered… God, are you there?
The psalmist once wrote…
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
– Psalm 34.18
he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”
In Need of Renewal
Sometimes, we have to look back in order to look forward. And if you’ve been following Jesus for any length of time, the good news is that often when we look back, we can see God’s faithfulness even in the darkest of times.
We can’t always see it in the moment but as we look back with the benefit of hindsight and perspective we can see how God was close to us, helping us, holding us, walking with us through our greatest difficulties.
The truth is, since the time that sin first entered the story in the Garden of Eden the world has been in a broken state in desperate need of healing, restoration, and renewal.
Jesus changes Everything
As we begin this new year, this new decade, it might be helpful to begin with a short story that’s told by three of the gospel writers.
Here is Luke’s version of this story found in Luke 5.33-38.
33 One day some people said to Jesus, “John the Baptist’s disciples fast and pray regularly, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why are your disciples always eating and drinking?” 34 Jesus responded, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. 35 But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
His disciples had surrendered their lives, literally, given up their way, left everything, to follow the way of Jesus.
So Jesus says the reason his disciples do things differently is because, “I AM HERE!” His presence changes everything.
Of course, they didn’t understand this because they didn’t recognize Jesus. He was not the Messiah they were looking for. They were looking for a political leader. Or a military leader. Or at least a powerful prophet who would come and confront the political powers they were up against.
What they didn’t understand was that Jesus had come not to overthrow the kingdoms of this world, but to set up an entirely new Kingdom that was not of this world.
He tells them it’s like this… it’s like a wedding and the groom has entered the room and it’s time to celebrate. It’s not a time for fasting. There will be a time for fasting, but now is not the time for fasting. Now is the time for celebrating. Why? Because I am here!
Something New
And then he gives them two more illustrations.
36 Then Jesus gave them this illustration: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t even match the old garment.
In other words… You can’t SUPERIMPOSE the new way of Jesus onto an old way of living. If you do… when you do… you make things worse than before.
37 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. 38 New wine must be stored in new wineskins.
The new way of Jesus can’t be contained in the old way of doing things.
Jesus has entered the scene and this event is taking place early on in his ministry but already people are coming from everywhere to hear what He has to say and to see what He is able to do!
Crowds are coming from distant places. Pharisees and other religious leaders are leaning in to see who this Jesus of Nazareth is and what He is all about. Almost immediately they realize that Jesus is different. He is saying things they’ve never heard before and doing things they never saw anyone do before.
The question for him was… “Why are your disciples always eating and drinking?”
Why aren’t your disciples doing what John’s disciples are doing? What the Pharisees are doing? Why are they different?
The question for those coming to Jesus with these questions was, Do you want to be a part of the old way or are you ready to surrender your life to Jesus?
What about you?
And that’s really the question for you, too.
Are you ready to surrender your life to Jesus?
Here’s the rest of the story according to Luke. After Jesus talks about the wedding, about a new patch on clothes, and about new wine in new wineskins, Jesus said this…
39 But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.”
We don’t know how these people who questioned Jesus responded. The implication seems to be that they went back to their old way of life. Maybe they thought Jesus was interesting. Maybe they thought he was different. But it appears they walked away unchanged.
It’s a new year but we get to choose if we want to follow the new way of Jesus. Or will we be like those in the days of Jesus who say, “No. The old way is just fine.”
My hope and my prayer for you and for the church is that we will join Jesus, that we will join the new way of Jesus, and that we will participate in making all things new.
Since the time that sin first entered the story in the Garden of Eden, the world has been in a broken state in desperate need of healing, restoration and, renewal.
The good news for us is that God has a plan to do just that. And that plan has a name: Jesus.
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