There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a times to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to serach and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

“Why can’t things just stay the way they are? Why does everything need to change all the time?”

Ever felt like that?

It’s quite normal to resist change. We know the present. We are familiar with the present. We just got used to the present. Change…why that’s so different. What’s wrong with the way things are?

Think about who you are today – all the memories, experiences, learnings that make you the you, you are today. Now, get this, you are not the same you, you were a year ago, five years ago, thirty years ago. You know why? You’ve changed!

Think about the Little Church from five years ago. We are not the same church we were five years ago.

The only thing in God’s created world that doesn’t change are dead things. If you are alive, you are constantly changing. Change is not the enemy of the good life. Change is the very definition of what it means to be alive.

There was a time when the Little Church and all her facilities were great for ministry. There was a time when the way we worshiped was great for ministry. These facilities and our ways of worshiping got us where we are today. But in time, the building got old. It started falling apart. We got old.

God is not done with the Little Church. No way. Wasn’t Family Sunday awesome?!?! That was so fun! The fact that God is at work at the Little Church means that Little Church is constantly looking at better and more effective ways of reaching more people with the love of God.

Life is change. Change is life.

And the Little Church is wonderfully alive!

“Tomorrow morning,” the surgeon began, “I’ll open up your heart…”

“You’ll find Jesus there,” the boy interrupted.

The surgeon looked up, annoyed, “I’ll cut your heart open,” he continued, “to see how much damage has been done.”

“But when you open up my heart, you’ll find Jesus in there,” said the boy.

The surgeon looked to the parents, who sate quietly. 

“When I see how much damage has been done, I’ll sew your heart and chest back up, and I’ll plan what to do next.”

“But you’ll find Jesus in my heart. The Bible says he lives there. The hymns all says he lives there. You’ll find him in my heart.”

The surgeon had had enough. “I’ll tell you what I’ll find in your heart. I’ll find damaged muscle, low blood supply, and weakened vessels. And I’ll find out if I can make you well.”

“You’ll find Jesus there too. He lives there.”

The surgeon left. 

The surgeon sat in his office, recording his notes from the surgery, “…damaged aorta, damaged pulmonary vein, widespread muscle degeneration. No hope for transplant, no hope for cure. Therapy: painkillers and bed rest. Prognosis: here he paused, death within one year.”

He stopped the recorder, but there was more to be said. “Why?” he asked aloud. “Why did you do this? You put him here; you put him in this pain; and you cursed him to an early death. Why?”

The Lord answered and said, “The boy, my lamb, was not meant for your flock for long, for he is a part of my flock, and will forever be. Here, in my flock, he will feel no pain, and will be comforted as you cannot imagine. His parents will one day join him here, and they will know peace, and my flock will continue to grow.” 

The surgeon’s tears were hot, but his anger was hotter. “You created that boy and you created that heart. He’ll be dead in months! Why?”

The Lord answered, “The boy, my lamb, shall return to my flock, for he has done his duty: I did not put my lamb with your flock to lose him, but to retrieve another lost lamb.”

The surgeon wept…

The surgeon sat beside the boy’s bed; the boy’s parents sat across from him. The boy awoke and whispered, “Did you cut open my heart?”

“Yes,” said the surgeon. 

“What did you find?” asked the boy.

“I found Jesus there,” said the surgeon.

“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16).

So often, the problem I have with peace is that I really want peace with God, but I kinda like some of the stuff I struggle with. Let’s call it the problem of “AND.”

• Of course I want peace with God – AND I don’t want to change my ways
• I want peace with God – AND there are some sin things I kinda enjoy relishing in that I don’t want to give up
• I want peace with God – AND I don’t want to work at it

Basically, I want peace with God AND I want to stay the way I am.

That’s the problem. I am the problem. You see, God is at war with sin and what it does in God’s creation. There is no room for compromise with sin for God. Sin is serious enough that God would die on the cross and descend into hell to rid our world of sin.

As long as there is any inclination of peace with sin, there can be no peace with God.

Charles Spurgeon wrote: Until you have humbled yourself before God and sought and found mercy, God is at war with you and you are at war with God. There can be no peace where there is no purity. God has no peace with sin, and never can.

You want peace? You want peace with God? Holiness matters.