Called to be Agents of Change to a Starving World

Reaffirming a Moral Mindset to a World Looking for Positive Leadership

Paul Lepek

• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781098072186
• eBook ISBN: 9781098072193
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Faith & Lived Religion

Called to Be Agents of Change to a Starving World addresses the concerns of attendees to the World Economic Forum who completed a survey in the year 2018. There were 28, 000 participants, aged 18 to 35, who were asked to rank their views of the top ten problems that confronted the world at large. The participants noted that the world was starving for solutions or proactive answers to the top ten problems that they determined were confronting the world.

This book assesses those problems and suggests practical responses within the call of Christ for each of us to be bread, wine, salt, and light to the world. The book begins with an overview of Christ and his principles, progresses to an application to two current worldly challenges, and concludes with applications to the ten problems determined by the survey responses.

The goal of the book is to inspire thought and provide a catalyst for action using a proactive stance by all individuals.

Chapter 9

The Lifelong Command

If you were to diagram this book in the shape of a triangle, this particular chapter would be the very top of the triangle. There are many important lessons from Jesus, and there may be books in the future in which I will examine those lessons and stories.

We are currently living in very interesting times. World conditions as well as human interactions and relationships are strained. We must be reminded of what unites us! For that, I’ll focus on the Last Supper, Jesus’s final opportunity for interactions with all of his apostles before his trial, crucifixion, and resurrection.

It was the Passover holiday, and the apostles knew that there needed to be preparations for the traditional Passover meal. A location was picked out, a lamb was prepared for the feast, wine was provided, bread was provided, and bitter herbs were provided—all conforming to the ritual of celebration of the ancient Jews being liberated from Egypt. The script was set, and everyone had their duties. The apostles thought that this will be a normal Passover meal.

But oh, it was not!

Jesus, being a Rabbi, was the leader at the meal. It was time to break the loaf of bread and pass it among the apostles at the table. However, Jesus took the loaf, broke apart the loaf, and gave each apostle a piece. The apostles were not accustomed to that.

Jesus then stated, “Take and eat, for this is my body, broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

You could probably hear a pin drop at the table. Jesus was proclaiming that this loaf of bread was his body and that they should take their piece and consume it inside themselves because he broke himself for them, and then he exhorted them to do this in remembrance of him.

So Jesus is asking you and me and all of humanity to act like bread.

As Jesus broke himself, we should break ourselves when we encounter and interact with other people or interact with the world. Oftentimes, we can be stubborn and unbending in our philosophies, our dispositions, our feelings, our impressions, and our thoughts and not allow for any alternatives. Jesus asks us to be pliable as dough is pliable.

As bread is a staple item, Jesus asks all of us to be staple items to each other. Through our knowledge, skills, insights, history, thoughts, dreams, and aspirations, we can be influential in another person’s life or the life of the community and even the life of the nation or world.

There are many varieties of bread as there are many varieties of people! People are of many races, many different mindsets, and different histories; and based upon their composition, they can provide us with new insights, new knowledge, and new experiences whereby we can grow while we can do the same for them. In other words, we can grow and can benefit from our interactions with others.

People from all races and cultures have different skills that may play a part and that we may need to succeed in this life. And the same is for us utilizing our skills in helping others.

As bread can be used in other culinary preparations, we will never know what chances each day presents to us where we can be beneficial to somebody else. Life takes incredible turns and makes incredible changes. People have up days and down days, and when we encounter them, can we assist them in any way if they are down or celebrate with them when they are up?

Bread also has nutritional value, so how can we be a benefit to others? Through the character of grace, Christians believe that God empowers all of us. So God and Jesus, being the Son of God, gives us the power to be a benefit to another person, the nation, and the world through our characteristics.

Normally, at a Passover meal, there are four cups of wine consumed corresponding to four prayers that are shared. Jesus had a surprise for the apostles. He took what was believed to be the fourth cup and transformed its meaning at the table. Instead of having each apostle drink from his own cup, Jesus took his cup and passed his cup among the apostles, telling them to “take and drink, for this is my blood, shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

The apostles must have been stunned, so much so that Judas Iscariot left the table and began to carry out the betrayal of Jesus. It is written that at that instant, Satan entered Judas.

Jesus wants us to become wine with each other. Wine has medicinal qualities that can provide benefits for humans from a health perspective. We are to be “wine” to each other because we can be curative and be influential in others’ lives. As wine is used in joyful celebrations and festivities, we can have the same impact by providing joy and happiness, loosening up situations that may be tense and stressful for others. There are also many varieties of wine that can accompany many food choices. Thus, people can take on many roles in their interactions with each other.

Summarizing, I must be willing to take on the role of a servant, and I must be willing to forgive constantly as well as be willing to break myself for others and pour myself for others.

Jesus does not want us to be a proverbial wallflower. He wants us to make a positive impact on our families, our neighborhoods, our cities, our nations, and our world. By breaking ourselves and pouring ourselves for others, we can bring about the kingdom!

Within the Sermon on the Mount and after Jesus’s teachings on the eight beatitudes, Jesus makes two assertions. He calls us salt, and he calls us light.

Let us examine why by looking at the uniqueness of salt. Salt has spiritual, preservative, purifying, and healing qualities.

Regarding its spiritual properties, it is believed to be an absorber of psychic energy. Because of this, salt is used in cleansing rituals, for protection against bad psychic phenomena, as a healing agent, and purification rituals.

Salt also has preservative qualities. Besides preserving the freshness and viability of food, it is a texture enhancer, a flavor enhancer, and a source for nutrients.

Jesus makes use of this understanding of the qualities of salt by stating the following in Matthew 5:13,

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

Jesus is telling his followers that they can be influential! We, like salt, can provide cleansing opportunities through the power of forgiveness, to be a source of protection, and to provide opportunities within our interactions for healing.

Our command is to “never lose our saltiness”—to never lose our effectiveness of being a positive impact in others’ lives. We should never allow ourselves to be thrown away by others or be trampled. We should maintain our usefulness, our viability, and our capacity to change situations from bad to good and be a benefit to whatever situation that presents itself to us.

Jesus also calls us light. In Matthew 5:14–16, it states the following:

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light ...

Table of contents

• Characteristics of a Starving World
• The Genesis Love Story
• “Give to Caesar What Is Caesar’s. Give to God What Is God’s.”
• A Moral Primer: The Beatitudes
• The Challenge of Washing Feet
• The Requirement of Forgiveness
• The Significance of Bread
• The Significance of Wine
• The Lifelong Command
• Climate Change
• Wars
• Inequality
• Poverty
• Religious Conflicts
• Government Accountability
• Clean Air and Water
• Education
• Safety and Security
• Unemployment/Lack of Opportunity