Imagine a doctor meeting with their patient. In that meeting, the doctor says, “You have one year to live. However, if you change your habits, what you eat, and how you exercise, you will live for years for years and years. The bottom line is, you must change, or you will die in one year.”
Here is my question for you. How many people do you think, when confronted with a demand to change or die, make the changes necessary to live? A book was written called Change or Die. The author did research on change. He researched people with medical issues. People on prison release. And struggling companies. He discovered that when confronted with the reality of ‘change or die’, people and companies often don’t change. In fact, his research showed that 90% of people and companies don’t change. Think about that. When offered the chance to change or die, nine out of ten people don’t make any changes. In the book, the author then gives the three keys to change.
Let me ask you. What do you think you would do? Would you make any changes? And if you did decide to make a change, how would you handle it? Would you do the least possible and hope that it would be just enough to get by? Or would you be radically passionate about making all the necessary changes? Research says that 90% of people would rather die in a year than make any changes. That’s shocking.
I want you to remember that stat as we jump into today.
Have you ever thought about what it means to be a Christian? I want you to think about how many people respond to God, Jesus, Christianity, and everything around church. That includes people who attend church and people who don’t. We hear a variety of responses, don’t we? I have heard people say, “I reject the fact that there is a God, and I will live my life the way I want.” I’ve heard, “I believe all religions lead to the same God.” I have heard some people say, “I am a nonpracticing Catholic/Christian.” I don’t know how that works but I have heard it. I have friends who believe in God but avoid church because they say they hate organized religion. All these responses show that people do not yet understand the message of Jesus.
I want you to hear the words of Jesus.
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” MSG Matthew 11:28-30
What is it that people desperately need? Think about yourself. What is it that you need? We all need rest and healing for our souls. In all our insecurities, our striving, our struggles, our failures, our fears, our shame and guilt our soul needs rest and healing. To walk through life with those things is exhausting and it wears out our souls. And that’s exactly why Jesus came.
Think about the expectations you have of yourself. And you probably can’t live up to your own expectations of yourself. You probably are disappointed in yourself about something. Think about the expectations that other people put on you. You probably can’t live up to the expectations of people, can you? You probably are a disappointment to someone about something. Think about the expectations of religion, of keeping the rules and trying not to sin. And I guarantee you, you can’t live up to that. You probably believe you are a disappointment to God somehow. You may think that God just tolerates you.
What is it that people need? What is it that you need? We all need rest and healing for our souls. And Jesus knows this. What does Jesus do? Jesus shows up and offers you something beautiful. He says, “Hang out with Me, and let me give you a break from everything you have put on yourself.” Why does Jesus say that? Because Jesus knows there is something wrong in your soul. He knows we have been wounded. Jesus knows that we are walking with insecurities. He knows we are striving. He knows all about our failures and fears. He even knows we feel like a disappointment. That’s why Jesus personally came into this world. He wants to do something for you that you cannot do for yourself. He wants to give your soul rest and healing.
Remember Sam’s talk last week? He asked one of the most important questions there is. Do you truly understand God’s love for you? Because if you did, you would come out of hiding and allow Jesus to heal you. Remember Hebrews 4:16? So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.
Let’s read what Paul wrote about our struggle.
21-23 It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. 24 I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? MSG Romans 7:21-24
Next chapter.
With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death. MSG Romans 8:1-2
There is an offer on the table from Jesus. And to accept that offer, you must do something to find rest and healing for your soul. You must slow down, meet with Jesus, and learn how Jesus does life. The invitation isn’t about us being lazy Christians who accept God’s grace, go back into life, and make no changes. That just means we abuse the grace given to us. It’s not about doing the least possible and hoping that somehow that’s good enough. That’s called being lukewarm. The invitation demands something of us. For us to find rest and healing for our souls requires us to change. We must slow down and learn how Jesus does life. We surrender our lives and get in step with Jesus. It’s a new way of living that helps our souls rest and heal as we live in this world of pain and struggle. I would even say, we need to be radically passionate about it.
In fact, Jesus explained the change we need to make. And when Jesus talked about it, he expected us to be radically passionate about it.
34 Then Jesus called the crowd to himself along with his disciples. He said to them, “Those who want to follow me must say no to the things they want, pick up their crosses, and follow me. 35 Those who want to save their lives will lose them. But those who lose their lives for me and for the Good News will save them. 36 What good does it do for people to win the whole world yet lose their lives? 37 Or what should a person give in exchange for life? 38 If people are ashamed of me and what I say in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of those people when he comes with the holy angels in his Father’s glory.” GNT Mark 8:34-38
Same verses, different translation.
34-37 Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for? 38 “If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I’m leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you’ll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels.” MSG Mark 8:34-38
When God created you in His image, God placed a soul inside of you. Then God breathed life into your soul and brought you to life. Your soul is the place that contains all of you. It contains your unique God imprint. It’s filled with your dreams, hopes, and desires that are unique to you.
C.S. Lewis said, “You don’t have a soul, you are a soul. You have a body.”
This is very important to understand so I want to say this clearly. Because God created you and breathed life into your soul, that makes your soul, spiritual. That means your soul was created to be in a relationship with God and only God can bring your soul to life. Only God can bring you the rest and healing you are looking for.
As we live life, our souls become worn down, sometimes defeated, and sometimes wounded. Turning to anything other than God, it does not, it cannot give our souls rest or healing. Turning to anything other than God might help us ignore our pain temporarily but it does not, it cannot, give our souls rest and healing. It will never work because our souls are spiritual.
Think this through with me. Our souls are worn down, sometimes defeated, and sometimes wounded. What do people do? Anything but connect with God. This is why Jesus said,
Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self.
And.
Those who want to save their lives will lose them. But those who lose their lives for me and for the Good News will save them.
People live lives in pursuit of anything that will bring their souls to life. We binge-watch movies. Some drink. We have ‘me’ days. We scroll social media. We stay away from the church to rest. We will do anything but turn to God to find what we need, what our souls need. We push against God and demand to do life our way. Like the people in the Old Testament who refused to stop worshiping idols and worship God, we demand to do life our way. We think if I get my way, finally, my soul will be happy. So we live lives demanding to get our way all the time.
Scripture explains it like this.
It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. MSG Galatians 5:19-21
You see this in our world – right? You read this and see this is exactly how people live – right? That’s just a list of all our human attempts to find rest and healing for our souls outside of God and it is a disaster. Do you see yourself on this list? Do you see your friends on this list?
Let me read for you Jesus’ offer.
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” MSG Matthew 11:28-30
If all this is true, we must learn how to care for our souls. And that’s what this series is about. We want to talk about and answer the question, how do I take care of my soul?
To kick off this series, I want you to take a week to think about and answer this one question. Will you change or die?
You have one year to live. At the end of this year, if you keep living the way you are living, your soul will die. You will grow numb to life. You will want to check out. You will have all the excuses as to why you are so miserable. You will explain why everyone around you blocks you from changing. Your job will continue to be terrible. People will continue to be terrible. You will live in ruts and routines and next year will be exactly the same as every year you have ever lived. And worst of all, you will grow numb to the things of God, Jesus, the church, and the mission of God. The church will be a burden and the people in the church will disappoint you because yet again, they don’t do everything you want.
However, you can make a change. You can change how you live. You can live in a way that allows Jesus to give your soul rest and healing. But it will demand that you are radically passionate about it.
You have a week; I want you to think about and answer this one question. Will you change or die? The stats say that only ten percent will make any changes and ninety percent will leave here making no changes. That breaks my heart because that decision is not something I can make for you.
You may wonder, ‘Ken, why are you being so aggressive? Why make the comment change or die?’ Because what people are facing is real. Do you know the statistics around mental health issues? I want to share five with you.
1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year. 1 in 20 U.S. adults experience serious mental illness each year. 1 in 6 U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year. 50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24. Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among people aged 10-14. Source: Nami.org
What is increasing? Depression, anxiety, and stress. They are destroying our souls. What is Jesus’ invitation? Rest and healing for your soul. Am I saying mental health is 100% spiritual? No, but here is what I do know. As a culture, we are distancing ourselves from God. We don’t treat Him as God. We don’t worship Him, focus on Him, and wrap our lives around Him. And as we push away who God is, we are doing immeasurable damage to ourselves. We aren’t giving God time to bring our souls to life.
I’m going to read this and remember, this was written over 2,000 years ago.
The basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.
So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them – the God we bless, the God who blesses us. MSG Romans 1:18-25
That’s our culture today. We have exchanged the glory of God for the gods we have made. And it is doing immeasurable damage to our souls.
Let’s close with one question to think about all week. Will you change or die?