Inside Out
May 25, 2025
Series: May 2025
Speaker: Bethany Nelson
Today's Sermon
"Inside Out"
Mark 1:4-8 (“The Message” translation)
John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins. People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life. John wore a camel-hair habit, tied at the waist with a leather belt. He ate locusts and wild field honey. As he preached he said, “The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will change your life. I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism—a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit—will change you from the inside out.”
This is the final week in our 4-week sermon series about change. We have had a link to the series trailer (created by Marcia McFee) in the eNews, but I’m not sure how many of you have actually watched it. So, I want to share it with you now.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt6UEXIpS54)
A few things I notice in that clip:
- As human beings, we are created and re-created again and again. Change is a part of human life. There is no escaping it.
- Then the question – “Are you ready to be stretched?” Because change stretches us. Change moves us outside our comfort zones. It’s going to happen. Are you ready?
- And finally, the very last image – this is a four week series about embracing change.
So here we are at the end. Are you ready? Are you embracing change? My own answer is … no. Change is hard. I’m not a big fan of it. I like things stable and predictable and scheduled. I also like to be in control. If things are going to change, I want to at least be able to plan for it. No spontaneous change for me, please.
However, I also am very aware of the fact that the Spirit doesn’t always work that way. Woody Allen is famous for the quote, “If you want to make God laugh, tell God about your plans.” That is a spin-off of an old Yiddish proverb: “We plan, God laughs.”
That’s not to say that planning is a bad thing. It is very necessary! Sometimes, though, the Spirit moves, and change happens whether we are expecting it or not. So how can we be ready to embrace change?
John the Baptizer gives us a good clue in the scripture passage we heard today. I picked this translation from “The Message” specifically for how it phrases the very end of this passage. John says that Jesus’ baptism by the Holy Spirit will change us from the “inside out.” I love that way of explaining the movement of the Spirit in our lives. It will change us from the inside out. Often, we think of change coming to us from the outside – bombarding us from all different directions – and that can quickly get overwhelming. But, if we work with the Spirit on preparing ourselves internally for change, we can be more prepared to receive and work with the changes that will come our way.
A church member recently recommended this book to me – “Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus, Become like him, Do as he did,” by John Mark Comer. In it, he notes that God has a part and we have a part in change – in transformation. Our part, says Comer, is to “slow down, make space, and surrender to God.”[i]Let’s be clear that “surrender” in this context doesn’t mean to give up and wave the white flag. Instead, it means to release our tightly held control of our lives and open ourselves to God’s wisdom and the guidance of the spirit.
For someone who likes to be in control, surrender is tough. I think of the “New Wine” song we heard earlier. Sure, it sounded so mellow and beautiful, but the message was anything but mellow. “Make me your vessel … make me whatever you want me to be. I now surrender, you, God, are breaking new ground.” That is big, life-changing stuff! And it isn’t going to happen unless we play a part in it. God won’t be able to break new ground in our lives unless we have prepared ourselves for change from the inside out.
Thankfully, in his book, Comer also offers some suggestions for this type of inside out change. He suggests nine practices, each drawn from scripture.[ii]
Sabbath. A time of rest. A time to not work. A time to delight in God. One day a week of Sabbath time is the goal. If you’re not there yet, start smaller. But don’t let a week go by without a time of rest and reveling in God’s beauty.
Solitude. The great theologian Henri Nouwen once wrote, “Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life.” In the Gospels, we read about Jesus finding time to go off by himself. We need regular times to be quiet and to be with God in our lives.
Prayer. Be expansive in how you define prayer. Comer suggests prayer can be talking to God, talking with God, listening to God, and/or being with God. There are so many ways to pray.
Fasting. Traditionally, fasting has to do with not eating for a certain period of time. But, fasting can be defined more broadly than that. One might fast from social media or from electronics or from a difficult relationship. Fasting is taking time away from that which keeps you from God.
Scripture. How regularly do you engage with scripture? Do you ever sit down with the wonderful poetry of the Psalms? Or with some of the stories of Jesus from the Gospels? Do you get out your colored pencils and mark up your Bible? Yes, there are a lot of boring parts of scripture, but there is also so much beauty in scripture.
Community. I appreciate what Comer has to say about this – “We simply are not meant to follow Jesus alone. The radical individualism of Western culture is not only a mental health crisis and growing social catastrophe; it’s a death blow to any kind of spiritual formation into Christlike love. Because it’s in relationship that we are formed and forged.”
Generosity. Not just of money – of all of our resources, our time, our energy, our love. When done well, generosity is one of the most joyful of these practices.
Service. Closely related to generosity of time and energy. Service asks us to look beyond ourselves to the world which is in so much need and to do something about it in our own unique way.
Witness. I would guess that many of you would consider this the most difficult practice. It can be hard to share our faith with others, especially in a county such as ours that is not very religious. Comer explains that our role isn’t to convert anyone. Instead, it is to become a people of hospitality in a culture of hostility. We must embody and extend the love, warmth, and welcome of God.
Are your eyes rolling back in your head yet? That’s a lot! But we don’t have to do it all at once. These are simply suggestions for how we might begin the process of change from the inside out. How we can draw closer to God. How we can let go of some of our tightly held control and make space for the Spirit to dance. How we can move to a place of surrender.
The anchor image for this sermon series has been a jar of playdoh, playing off the idea that God is the potter and we are the clay. We are moved and stretched and re-shaped throughout our lives. When you arrived today, you each received a small container of playdoh. I invite you to take the playdoh out of the container and just start to work with it a little bit. Move it around in your hands. Make a shape or two out of it. Getting re-shaped doesn’t have to be a scary thing. In fact, it can be a thing of joy, just like playing with playdoh. Hopefully, the more we prepare ourselves for God’s change from the inside out, the more we can embrace and delight in the way the Spirit is moving in our lives.
I am going to put the nine practice suggestions back up on the screen, and I invite you to consider one specifically that you will focus on this week. Which one speaks to you right now? Then, using your playdoh, create a shape or an image that represents that practice for you. Perhaps if you’re focusing on Sabbath rest you might make a pillow. Or if you’re focusing on community, you might make a person. Once you’ve created something out of your playdoh, sit with it for a bit. Consider how God is calling you to change from the inside out.