In the early days of Apple Computer, the company fell on some difficult days. Apple’s young chairman, Steve Jobs, traveled from the Silicon Valley to New York City. His purpose was to convince Pepsico’s John Sculley to move west and run his struggling company. As the two men overlooked the Manhattan skyline from Sculley’s penthouse office, the Pepsi executive began declining the offer by telling Jobs, “Financially, you’d have to give me a million-dollar salary, a million-dollar bonus, and a million-dollar severance.”
Flabbergasted at the demand from Sculley, Jobs gulped – and then agreed – if Sculley would move to California. Sculley refused, committing only to being a consultant from New York. At that, Jobs issued a challenge to Sculley, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want to change the world?”
In his autobiography Odyssey, Sculley admits Jobs’s challenge “knocked the wind out of me.” He went on to explain how he had become so caught up with his future at Pepsi, his pension, and whether his family could adapt to life in California that an opportunity to “change the world” nearly passed him by. Instead, he put his life in perspective, moved his family across the country, and went to work for Apple. And we all know the rest of the story.
Many people don’t recognize a chance to change the world. Part of the Christian message is letting people know what a difference the gospel makes. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” The gospel has the ability to change the world – but for that to happen there must be Christians willing to share the gospel and show the difference it makes in their lives.
Church history is full of characters that changed their world. Peter shared the gospel at Pentecost and three thousand became believers. Philip shared the gospel in Samaria and a revival broke out. Paul and Barnabas launched the first mission effort for the church and changed their world as they shared the gospel. Others such as George Whitefield, John Wesley, Billy Sunday, D.L. Moody, and Billy Graham changed their world by sharing the gospel. The list could go on and on with recognized and unrecognized names that changed their world with the gospel.
Indeed, the gospel has the ability to change the world. The question is whether or not we put our lives in perspective, understand what is truly important, and go to work fulfilling the Great Commission Jesus gave us to change our world.
To His Glory,
Pastor Bill