As you know, our theme this year has been “Love God. Love People. Change the World.” This Sunday we turn our attention to the last of those three descriptions of what we are called to do: Change the World.
Few would disagree with the fact that the world is messed up in so many ways. Our country is struggling: raging political rivalries, persistent racial tension, widespread addictions, increasing immorality. But of course this is not a new development; the world apart from God has always embraced attitudes that are self-destructive.
In the middle of this mess God has placed us, his church, to be an influence for good. That has always been his plan for his people, which he hinted at when he said Abraham’s descendants would bless “all the families of the earth.” And God’s church has been an active force for good in many ways since Jesus created it 2,000 years ago.
But it’s tempting for us to forget that God put us here to make a difference in the world. We’re called to do more than “go to church” . . . we are to “be” the church, which means that we avoid an inward-focused selfishness, look out at the world, and ask: “Why has God put us here in this community? How can he use us to change the world?”
God put the Hoover Church of Christ here to be agents for change in the lives of people who ignore what they were created to be. I plan to emphasize that truth Sunday morning.
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