DON'T DESPISE SMALL BEGINNINGS

When God looks at our small beginnings, he doesn't see what we see. God sees small change compounded into eternity. You got to start somewhere. Start small. Watch it grow. That's true for many new ventures, whether it be a financial investment or a new exercise routine. But it especially applies to the first followers of Christ. Dr. Michael Ziegler tells their story today on the Lutheran Hour. I'm Mark Eicher. Thanks for making the Lutheran Hour part of your day. This program is supported by its faithful listeners, people like you. To learn how your gifts and prayers help to bring Christ to the nations and the nations to the church, go to LutheranHour.org. Today's message is titled, Don't Despise Small Beginnings. Now, here is our speaker, Dr. Michael Ziegler. Do not despise small beginnings. That's the big idea behind James Clear's best-selling book titled Atomic Habits. James contends that changes, healthy changes anyway, that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you're willing to stick with them for years. A friend of mine, Tim, read the book Atomic Habits and applied it to learning Spanish. Tim was in his 40s and had neither studied nor spoke Spanish before in his life. And honestly, I thought he was a little crazy for trying to start now. It's hard enough to learn a new language when you're young and your brain is malleable, but when you're middle-aged and stuck in your ways, why even try? But Tim started small. 17 minutes a day. That's what it would take, according to his Spanish tutor. Just 17 minutes is sufficient to become proficient if you stick with it every day for years. In between his daily 17-minute study sessions, Tim met with his tutor online twice a week at first. Later, they cut it back to once a week. Eventually, Tim did a month-long immersion trip to a language school in Mexico, which also became sort of a commitment device for him because he figured that if he had devoted a month of his life to this, it'd be harder for him to quit later on.

So far, it's been four years, and he's still at it. Every few weeks, he might miss a study session, but the next day he'll make it up with 34 minutes. He wouldn't say that he's fluent, but he's definitely functional. Tim is who I picture in my mind when I think of this saying, don't despise small beginnings. Don't discount them because small habits compound over time. So why is Tim learning Spanish? It's because Tim is on the compounded side of a once-despised small beginning. Tim is a follower of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. And he's a pastor like me, which means he is called to be a full-time public witness of the resurrection of Jesus. And in the place where he's been called to do this, a rural town in Kansas with a population of about 400 people, 17% of those people are Spanish speakers. And Tim's church decided that 17% is too many people to ignore. So they wanted to reach out, and they asked him, their pastor, to lead the effort, which meant he had to learn Spanish. It was as simple as that. Now step back a moment and consider how astounding this is. That some white, small-town, English-speaking farmers of mostly German heritage support and encourage their middle-aged pastor in learning a new language so that they can reach out to strangers from another culture who live nearby? Why would anyone do that? It's because they're on the compounded side of a once-despised small beginning. A Middle Eastern Jewish rabbi crucified for claiming to be the Son of God was resurrected from the dead by God because he really is who he says he is. The hope and the Savior of the world. Now at first it was small, easy to ignore, easy to despise. Only around 120 people believed it.

But then it grew to several thousand, and it got harder to ignore and more tempting to despise. While this this movement was still relatively small, a wise observer advised those who were tempted to take their spite to the next level. He told them, just leave them alone. Because if this plan or purpose is of man, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to stop them. You will only find yourselves fighting against God. And here we are, 2,000 years later, and no one has been able to stop it. And roughly 7,000 miles west of where it started in Jerusalem, or 17,000 miles east, depending on which way you go, in rural Kansas, a pastor learns Spanish, little by little, so he can tell his neighbors about Jesus. It's tempting to despise small beginnings. So many hasty plans, impulsive schemes, and half-hearted efforts do amount to nothing, but self-improvement gurus point to atomic habits, and the witnesses of Jesus point to the record of history. Now, I don't mean the historical record of our moral and cultural superiority, because that doesn't exist. Humans are as sick and as broken as anyone else, we just know where to go to get help. We point to Jesus, to the one-of-a-kind quality of Jesus and his ability to make something of our small beginnings. But looking on from the outside, it is easy to despise. The book of Acts in the Bible records the beginnings. There was the inner circle of Jesus' followers, eleven failed, cowardly men, eleven of his closest students, who had abandoned him in his hour of greatest need. There were twelve originally, but one of them, the one who had betrayed Jesus, had since committed suicide. So it was just these eleven, plus some women, who had followed Jesus to Jerusalem, and as he was being crucified, watched helplessly from a distance. Along with them, there were some others on the margins, including Jesus' own half-brothers,

who had also once despised his messianic claims. All in all, it was about a hundred and twenty people. They weren't much of anything, but Jesus had risen from the dead to make them something. He said they would become his witnesses to the ends of the earth. They didn't need to know when, or how, exactly. It was enough for them to know that Jesus had, in fact, come from God, and that he was going back to God, and one day he would return to put the world right again. And when the Holy Spirit came upon them, they would receive power to make this known to everyone. In the meantime, they devoted themselves to reading the Bible. The Old Testament, anyway. They didn't have a New Testament yet, because they hadn't written it yet. So they read and studied and talked about the scriptures they had, devoted themselves to prayer, and as best as they knew how, at the time, took small steps forward toward the future into which Jesus was calling them. It wasn't much, but it was a beginning. Today, even though this Jesus movement has spread to the ends of the earth, and no one has been able to stop it, because it is from God, we still might be tempted to despise it, but in a different way. Not with spite, but with apathy. People today may not be asking, how can I stop Christianity from spreading? But rather, why should I care? Maybe they say, look, I'm trying to live a good life like everybody else, I'm trying to do to others as I would have them do to me, which is what Jesus taught, right? So why do I need to get together with a group of people and read from this book about Jesus and worship him and pray to him as God? What difference does that make? Those are good questions. And I admit, on a practical level, the difference does seem small, almost negligible. Maybe it's only a change of one degree, to the left or to the right.

But remember, small changes compound. For example, in flight navigation. Pilots use the 1 in 60 rule, which says that if you're one degree off course, just one degree on the compass heading, one out of 360 possible degrees of travel, just one degree off course, after traveling 60 miles, you'll be one mile off course. For short distances, one degree doesn't amount to much. Travel a football field and you'll only be five feet off course. But travel across the United States and you'll be 50 miles off course. Travel to the moon and you'll miss the target by 4,000 miles. Travel to the sun, just one degree off, and you'll miss it by 1.5 million miles. See human beings were designed by God to go on forever. One degree off on that scale is the difference between eternal life with God versus eternal suffering in hell. That one degree of difference is the difference between letting God be God for you versus trying to make your own God or be your own God. That's the difference between centering your heading on Jesus versus centering on yourself, on what you think is best. It may seem like we're all roughly heading in the same direction, but go a few hundred more miles and you'll see the paths diverge. Go a few thousand and the difference is undeniable. Go a hundred million miles and you may be lost forever. God sent his son from heaven to earth and raised him from the dead to bring you home. God didn't send a set of laws or self-improvement principles to bring you along. You're a way bigger deal to him than that. You're worth more to him than that, worth dying for, in fact. So God didn't stand back a hundred million miles away and say, I sure hope you can find your way. No, God sent his son Jesus here to show you the way, to walk with you on the way, to be the way. Now maybe you have walked with Jesus on the way for a while and you know that even now

it can be tempting to despise small beginnings. Maybe not by denying the truth of Jesus, but by doubting whether your small efforts are enough. Now I'm not talking about any efforts for you to save yourself. No efforts on our own would ever bring us home to God. Left to our own, we'd miss the mark by a million miles, at least. I'm talking about the efforts that start after Jesus has saved us, our small efforts to become the people Jesus has saved us to be, to complete the mission Jesus has saved us for. Those efforts are easy to despise because they look so small, so insufficient. But again, small efforts compound. Picture it this way. You're walking with Jesus at the base of a tall mountain. Jesus says he wants to get you to the top. But to you the path looks so steep, I can't do it, you tell him. So you just keep walking around the base of the mountain at the same elevation. Around and around you go. And Jesus walks with you. After a while you tell him, see, I'm never going to make it to the top. So Jesus says, what if we alter our heading just one degree toward the mountain? Just one degree? That doesn't seem like much. Every five feet you walk, what, you go up maybe an inch? The change is barely noticeable. But remember the one in sixty rule. After sixty feet, you're a foot higher. After sixty miles, you're in Denver. You might have to walk around that mountain a hundred times with Jesus. But eventually, he'll get you there. Do not despise small beginnings.

The saying comes from the Bible. It's from the Old Testament book of Zechariah, the prophet. Zechariah spoke God's word to God's people about 500 years before Jesus was born. It was when God's people had returned from exile and they had to rebuild their lives as they waited for God's Messiah, the Christ, to come. And the going was slow. They couldn't see what difference this was making, and they didn't feel like their small efforts would ever be enough. So God gave Zechariah a dream, a vision in the night to share with them, to encourage them. Zechariah saw the obstacles against God's people piled up like a mountain. And then he heard the voice of the Lord saying, What are you, O mighty mountain? Before God's people you will become level ground. But not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of the heavenly armies. And then another message came from the Lord. He said to Zechariah, Do not despise these small beginnings. Because the Lord rejoices to see the work begin. When God looks at our small beginnings, he doesn't see what we see. God sees small change compounded into eternity. God sees the baby steps of his children in whom he delights. God sees the mural he's making from our broken mosaics to form the perfect picture of his Son, Jesus. My friend Pastor Tim says his first sermon in Spanish was 372 words, and it took a long time to write. To preach it, that took all of three minutes. And it was all about Jesus. That was two and a half years ago. And since then, every Sunday after he leads the morning worship service in English, he comes back at 6 p.m. to lead the Spanish service, followed by a fellowship meal afterwards. Tim says the fellowship meal is the most important thing they do.

Not because what happens in worship is less important, but because everything important that happens in worship is not done by them, but God, even with a three-minute sermon. So far, after two and a half years, the average attendance at the Spanish service has been about 14. But that's just the average. Sometimes 24 people show up. And at the quinceanera they celebrated, a worship service followed by an all-day party celebrating a girl's 15th birthday, 70 people came. But I don't think Pastor Tim figured that into the average. He did, however, factor in the three services when only one person came, and the two services when no one showed up. Those didn't help the average. But he still prepared a sermon, so it wasn't a total loss. He got to work on his Spanish. Besides, God doesn't work on averages, but through the accumulative. Tim says his sermons are up to a thousand words now. And his people tell him that his Spanish is bueno. Helen Keller, who was struck blind and deaf by a disease she had contracted as a toddler, but went on to become an influential author, speaker, advocate for those with disabilities. Helen once said, I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks, as if they were great and noble. And so we go about our duties as God's people. They are small, but noble, because God delights to see his children take their next step, and he rejoices to see the work begin, and he promises that our labor won't be in vain. Pastor Tim tells me there's a Spanish proverb he's learned. It says, poco a poco se va lejos, which means, little by little, one goes far. Tim is not sure how far this ministry will go. He said he wouldn't give himself permission to quit until they tried it for at least three years. Last Sunday, a new guy showed up at the service.

He'd lived in the town for about three years, but Tim had never met him before. Apparently, the man had learned about the service on the internet. He didn't speak any English, but he came in early, a few minutes before the service, with his phone open to Google Translate, to make a small request. The man made some sounds that he hoped would be understood. He said, I am here, and would like to hear you. Talk about Jesus a Few years ago the task would have been impossible, but today thank God Tim figured he could handle it in the name of Jesus. Amen You're listening to the Lutheran hour for free online resources Archived audio our mobile app and more go to Lutheran hour org Next we'll hear. This is the day the Lord has made in a setting by John Behnke This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day the Lord has made. I called upon the Lord in distress. I called upon the Lord. He answered me. He answered me. He answered me. He answered me. And set me free. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice to be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made. The Lord is my strength and my song. The Lord is my strength and my song. And I shall be strong. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice to be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice to be glad in it. Let us rejoice to be glad in it. For I am your God and will still give you aid. A strength that you help you and cause you to stand. A help by my right hand. ♪ Just some important land ♪ ♪ Where then through fiery trials ♪ ♪ Where then through fiery trials ♪ ♪ Our blessed salvation ♪ ♪ Our graceful salvation ♪ ♪ That shall be your supply ♪ ♪ Your praise will be treasured to you ♪ ♪ As long as it is mine ♪

♪ Know what was to come to you ♪ ♪ And you'll hope to refine ♪ ♪ Throughout all their lifetime my people will prove ♪ ♪ My sovereign eternal unchangeable love ♪ ♪ And then when gray hairs will their temples adorn ♪ ♪ Like lambs they will still in my bosom be born ♪ Now Dr. Ziegler invites you to join him in praying the Lord's Prayer. Lord Jesus, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Receive the blessing of the Lord. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with his favor and give you peace. Amen. The Lutheran Hour is made possible through the support of faithful listeners like you.

To learn how your prayers and gifts can extend the worldwide outreach of the Lutheran Hour, go to LutheranHour.org. I'm Mark Eicher. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries. ♪♪ ♪♪