“How to Change the World”

Sunday, August 04, 2024

A commonly held ambition is to change the world.  It shows up everywhere, including the lyrics of the 1968 Beatles song, “Revolution”:

You say you want a revolution.

Well, you know

We all wanna change the world.

You tell me that it’s evolution.

Well, you know

We all wanna change the world.

Vaunted sage John Lennon took for granted that we all share this inclination, and while he was mistaken about many things, on this he had a point.  It grows, in part, from a desire for personal notoriety.  But for most of those trying to change the world, it goes without saying that they want to change it for the better, so there’s clearly another motivation.  After all, Hitler changed the world and gained notoriety, but that’s not the kind of legacy most pursue!  Everyone has opinions about the status quo, and whether the present arrangement is acceptable—it never is.  The next step is to formulate a plan for fixing the world’s problems; yet no two people give exactly the same prescription.  Each man’s ideas grow from his own experience and imagination.  In dreaming up a perfect world, he shows the other motivation—to create something in his own, unique image.

Both of these motivations imitate God!  Of his mercy toward Israel God said,

“For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”

(Isaiah 48.11)

And of his creation of mankind he said,

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion…”

(Genesis 1.26)

Not only does God pursue his own glory, but in his potent imagination, he designed and created a race of men who resemble him in many respects.  As God has dominion over creation, so man has a lesser dominion.  As God imagines and creates, so man does the same, but at a much lower level again.

We all want to change the world.  Most of want to change it for the better.  But take a look at the history of mankind.  How have we fared?  We’ve multiplied and filled the earth, and managed to discover methods to feed eight billion people, and to drastically reduce infant and maternal death rates.  We have created amazing conveniences, including access to clean water, transportation, information, and a host of other blessings that just a few hundred years ago would  have seemed possible.  We’ve also come within a whisker of exterminating humanity a few times, and amplified war, murder, enslavement, and oppression to previously unimagined levels.  Win some, lose some.

The greatest world-changer is Jesus.  Within a century of his death, burial, and resurrection his church spread across the known world, and the transformation has continued for nearly two thousand years.  When Paul and his helpers preached the gospel of Christ, the inhabitants of one city said they had “turned the world upside down” (Ac 17.6).  God himself had described his plans thus:

“Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in…”

(Haggai 2.6-7)

How does this topsy-turvy, fundamentally changed world appear?  What sort of earth-shattering deeds did Jesus accomplish?

Jesus…rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

(John 13.3-5)

Radicalism!  What did he tell his followers?

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”

(Matthew 5.44)

What a horrifying thought!  Furthermore,

“it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

(Acts 15.28-29)

It’s an extremist cult!  And it gets crazier.

But we urge you, brothers, …to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders…

(1 Thessalonians 4.11)

Can a society survive, if people behave like this?  But you won’t believe what comes next.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

(1 Timothy 2.1-4)

What sort of deranged fanatic would engage in such irresponsible and reckless behavior?

These examples are, of course, cherry-picked; but while you might have thought it overt sarcasm to characterize them as dangerous, extreme ideas, it was really just a slight exaggeration.  These behaviors seem boring and inoffensive; but if you consistently engage in them, you’ll find that the world takes great offense!  In a word, they are revolutionary.  If you want to change the world, your best strategy is to follow Jesus’ example.  Instead of pursuing your own glory, proclaim God’s.  Instead of attempting to refashion the world after your own image and likeness, restore it to his.  Really, in the grand scheme of things, you don’t have it in you to change the world for the better.  The only way is to hand the reins over to Jesus.

Jeremy Nettles

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