Under New Management

Sermon Script

Under New Management

Can you recall ever seeing a sign outside of a business that reads, “Under New Management?” If you think about it, within this short message looms a larger one. It tells the passerby that someone else is in charge. A message that there has been a change in operations or services and becomes an invitation for customers to visit or revisit the establishment. Quite often inside the premises the décor is changed, and the old business is hardly recognizable. The intent with this sign becomes… this new management is better.

Similarly, this principle applies to our lives as followers of Christ. The concept of putting off my old management and putting on a new one is a familiar message within the walk of faith. Changing the décor inside to where the old self is hardly recognizable.

Who Are You?

As I meditated over the readings today, I considered how a transition from old to new management might look through the lens of our faith walk. That’s why I challenge you on this day to identify any substantial differences when you go back and forth between your old and new management. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul addresses this very thing and offers some insights worthy of contemplation.

I would like to emphasize some of these for management considerations. They involve identifying who you are, where you need to go, and what is involved in getting there.

So, as we walk a mile in the shoes of the Colossians, we are comforted by Paul when he tells us that the seeds of new management are already planted…with a reminder in verse 27, that “Christ is in you, the hope of glory.” Christ has taken up residence in you… What more do you need? For that is the new management in which we seek. But the real question becomes… Has the décor inside of you changed any to reflect His presence? Is the old business still recognizable? That is where the question comes in to ask, “who are you?”

Decor Inside

Paul wants us to take a close look at that sign again. He wants us to recognize the obstacles that comes with changing management operations. Realistically, the world doesn’t want us to change the décor on our old management that would lead to good things. Such as peace, joy, love and other fruits of the Spirit.

Paul addresses this when he says in verse 21, that “we were alienated and hostile to God.” He makes a valid point. For we live in a world that identifies the mindset of the Ten Commandments just being a set of good ideas instead of commands. Leaving us with the temptation to believe that living in a life with worldly ideals will make us so much happier. That is why we need to consider what might need transitioned to new management.

Unrecognizable

If people would just honor their parents instead of rebelling. If people would just love their neighbor as themselves, value marriages, property, and reputation… this world would be unrecognizable. But in ways great and small we don’t do that. This is the old management, the rebellious heart and mind twisted by sin that lives in every human being. The poorly managed human behavior that can only be described as hatred, enmity, and rebellion against the good and gracious rule of God.

If that is how the old management has been operating, wouldn’t you agree we need to consider making vital changes that would merit putting a banner out? Which brings me to my next point… the direction you need to go that will help you become a new manager.

Be All You Can Be

For years, the slogan from an Army recruiting center would read, “Be all that you can be.” Motivation to pursue a path where you could reach your full potential and become the best version of “you.” This campaign encourages personal growth, embracing your talents, and pursuing your goals. Through this recruitment strategy you are called to live out the fullness of your gifts however diverse and far reaching they may be.

In essence, God is calling you to be all that you can be! To reach your full potential to become the best version of you. Recruiting you to pursue an improved management system. But Paul makes it clear that this can only be accomplished through Jesus.

So, as Paul works on recruiting an army of believers, he says this is all made possible through Christ’s sacrifice… The best version of you is made possible through salvation by His physical death and resurrection… he goes on to say in verse 22, “He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”  With Christ in you, that eternal promise… your salvation… is “you” being all that you can be by grace, through faith. Paul explains it better in his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 2 verse 8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

Relationships

With that in mind… we must give thanks for that gift of faith that was given to us by our Lord on the day of our Baptism. It is true we can lose that gift, but at the same time, we must remember we cannot make it happen by our own doing. We can only live in it. Only God can establish it. Think of it as God’s open hand upon which we rest. He doesn’t make a fist of this to hold us in. But we cannot climb into that gracious palm on our own either. He puts us there in Christ, like I said, through Baptism, and we can stay there. No one can really harm us there. The best version of you through Faith then becomes the relationship which God established in Christ.

That is the relationship Jesus was seeking in the Gospel lesson today in Luke 10. You recall that Mary was sitting at Jesus feet while Martha was busy in the kitchen. Martha still had faith, but Mary had the better portion. She was under new management… We find the same thing in the Old Testament lesson of Genesis 18.

Abraham was serving his guests and that was the relationship the Lord was seeking. Even though Sarah stood back, she still had faith, but Abraham had favor in the Lord’s sight. He was under new management…

 Faithfullness

We all have the gift of faith, but when we seek that intimate relationship with our Lord, that becomes part of our new décor. Paul thus assures the Colossians that remaining faithful is essential to Christian life. A “better business” so to speak, with faithfulness given to us through Christ.

Have any of you been to Yellowstone National Park to see the Geyser that is named “Old Faithful?” Now it is my understanding that this Geyser is not the tallest or loudest, or even the most breathtaking or beautiful. But Old Faithful is by far the most popular destination at Yellowstone because it erupts every 90 minutes or so. That is why it is viewed by several million people each year who go there to see this geyser erupt because… of its faithfulness.

That same faithfulness is what draws us close to God. In fact, the faithfulness demonstrated by God serves as the foundation for our own commitment to faithfulness. Like the Psalmist declares in chapter 85, verse 11… “Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky.” This Geyser of faith is a key part to our new management.

What Is Involved With Getting There

This all sounds so easy… with faith I can now tune out the worldly temptations through the relationship I have with Christ who set up residence within me. New management achieved… But wait, there’s more…

I left out the part where Paul tells us what is involved in getting there. If you know Paul’s faith journey, you will understand that it was not an easy path. From being blinded on the Damascus road, to being stoned, beaten, and thrown in prison. He even wrote his letter to the Colossians from prison.

That is why he says being under new management is not just a slogan we fling out there and hope it does something. Paul says in verse 24, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church…”

What this means is, when God had a plan to redeem us and restore our lives, He sent His Son who wore a crown of thorns and hung on a Cross. Christ’s suffering on the cross becomes sufficient for our salvation and nothing of our own accord can be added. But what is “lacking” in Christ’s afflictions was the subsequent suffering of all who, like Paul, will experience for the sake of the Gospel. That changes the way we come to see and consider suffering and how rejoicing can be part of it. As you would expect, the growing pains of any new management can involve hardships, calamity, or loss.

Rejoice In Suffering

With permission I share with you an example of what this can look like. Barrett Chase Gleason is an unborn baby with a diagnosis of anencephaly. This is a defect where the brain and skull fail to develop and will be fatal upon delivery. With two months to live in his mother’s womb, Barrett is busy changing lives. I quote from his mother Hannah…

“Neither of us want to say goodbye… But as terrible as these last several weeks have been, there has also been so much good that has happened. Logan and I found our church home and have strengthened our relationship with Jesus more than we thought was possible. In situations like ours it would be easy to run away from Christ, but it has honestly pulled us closer…Barrett’s life may be short, but he is leaving a lasting impact that we are so grateful for.”

God changes the way we come to see and consider rejoicing in suffering. Connected to Christ, our suffering… even death itself… is something completely different. Paul rejoiced in that. This is what being “Under New Management” looks like. That is what will make us Mary’s in a Martha world. That is what makes us faithful children of Father Abraham. That is what changes the décor inside you to where the old self is hardly recognizable.

Mystery Of Our Faith

Yes, the Christ who lives in each one of us is best seen in this world through His suffering, helping us rejoice through our own suffering. Whether you realize it or not, Christ is in His suffering people. This we can find in the mystery of our faith. All made possible as we circle back to the relationships we nourish with Christ through faithfulness.

Praise God that all these things are made possible through Christ. Paul poetically ties this together in the verses prior to todays Epistle lesson… For you, me, and all creation… this is the Christ who gives us strength…  I read to you starting at verse 15…

“Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… all things were created through him and for him… He is the head of the body, the church… for in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things… making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Brothers and Sisters in Christ. That is our creator working in and through each of us as we balance each day to remain under new management. Each day as we strive to be all we can be with Jesus living in us. Drawing closer to Him in our sufferings. And rejoicing in the relationship we call faith. Pulling us closer to Him more than we ever thought was possible.

Put your banner out with that confidence today and have a grand opening to reveal to the world that under this new management… is the good portion that will not be taken away.

Amen