October 23, 2020

“Yes” Changes Everything

A Yes to God Provides a Doorway to Transformed Living

In 1463, members of the City Council of Firenze (Florence), Italy, decided they needed a monument to enhance their city. They commissioned a sculptor to carve a giant statue to stand in front of city hall. Someone suggested a biblical character wrought in the neoclassical style, an expression of beauty and strength.

They approached Agostino di Duccio, who agreed to their terms. Di Duccio went to the quarry near Carrara and marked off a 19-foot slab to be cut from the white marble. However, he had the slab cut too thin.  When the block was removed, it fell, leaving a deep fracture down one side. The sculptor declared the stone useless and demanded another, but the city council refused. Consequently, the gleaming block of marble lay on its side for the next 38 years, a source of embarrassment for all concerned.

Then, in 1501, the council approached another citizen, the son of a local official, asking him if he would complete the ambitious project, using the broken slab. Fortunately for them, the young man was Michelangelo Buonarroti. He was 26 years old, filled with energy, skill, and imagination. Michelangelo locked himself inside the workshop behind the cathedral to chisel and polish away on the stone for three years.  When the work was finished, it took 49 men five days to bring it to rest before the city hall. Archways were torn down. Narrow streets were widened. The people from across Europe came to see the 14-foot statue of David relaxing after defeating Goliath. It was even more than the city fathers had envisioned. The giant stone had been transformed from the massive fractured waste of rock to a masterpiece surpassing the art of either Greece or Rome.

The transformation of a fractured slab of marble into a masterpiece impacted an entire city and has continued to do so today.  Many individuals who have experienced the transformation of this cracked rock were changed forever.  So it is when we allow God to transform our lives – it changes everything.

It is hard to believe this series is coming to a close.  During this series, we have learned that a “Yes” to God provides an entrance to eternal life, an escape from sin’s power, and a pathway to personal revival.  This week I am looking forward to the story of Zacchaeus and a “Yes” to God providing a doorway to transformed living.  I pray you can join us as we close out this series.

Blessings,

Pastor Brandon