In the table of contents of my July 2005 copy of Fast Company magazine, you can find this teaser about the article Change Or Die, "All leadership comes down to this: changing people's behavior." Really? Is that what leadership considers it's most pressing reason for existence, it's greatest value? I think Paul would say so. Here is a slice of change that he offers and encourages.

 I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. Phil 1:3-11

God is working in you. I describe this as God's makeover. God loves us too much to leave us as we are. And Paul's focus is on love,

"that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ"

That sounds like a life of love and change to me. The two are so tied together that you can't have one without the other. It is not because we are such bad people, we just start with a handicap in the race. We have been born into a world that is colored with love but enamored with utility.

If you are useful to society than you are onboard in some fashion or another. If you are not useful, than you are cast away or left alone, little more than the moldy crust of old bread. Does that sound too harsh? If feels harsh to me. And yet I believe it to be reality. Consider one war in the last century alone. World War 2. 60 million lives were extinguished in that war alone. More than Chicago, Los Angelos, Houston and New York City. Hard to imagine our country with all those people missing.

While that war is a lifetime in the past, the underlying causes are still with us. Why do you think there is such a push to go to college, make something of yourself, join the military or learn a skill? It's all so we can become useful to society. That part sounds pretty good to me. I think most of that is healthy. The part that I don't get is the millions of men and women who languish in prison. The millions with health concerns that inhibit their perceived usefulness to society. We have a sophisticated judicial system that does it's job quite well. Imagine how involved and devastating it is to remove someone from the streets or society and place them in prison. That we have come to this place cries out for interest and concern.

Paul lived in the middle of these problems. And he does very little in the way of complaining about them. He does mention that he is in chains, but he does so to share the idea that his troubles give him the chance to share the gospel. To share good news in a place where good news is at a premium. To share the love.

He's not chastising the church at Philippi. He's congratulating them that they are in this Gospel ministry with him. They charge his heart and mind with energy as they too become a living gospel. They are growing more and more like Christ and he couldn't be more pleased in their devotion.

The church you are a part of and I am part of can be like this as well. My church is not bad either, but it too has started with handicaps. It has to struggle as times to be more than it is, to continue to grow in love. This is what the church comes down to, changing people's behavior. We move beyond seeing people in their utility to seeing people in their journey with Christ. We don't get to separate them into sheep or goats now. That will be left to God later. We need to look at them all as sheep, especially while we can, early in their lives, anticipating that love will grow them into servants of God, not simply servants of society.

This is the role of the church. Change and Love. The church I believe is the only group of people who can do it. And if they can't, we can die trying. It will be a whole lot better life than one lived in the service of utility.

Paul loved to think and dream about his friends at the church in Phillipi. They were never far from his heart and mind. They were God's most precious servants. They were His emissaries of love. I don't think God can do it without us, His church? He sure seems to put a lot of trust in us. Let's change, let's love, it is the only thing that really changes the world. God is not finished with us yet. The makeover continues.