Transformation—How Does It Happen?

11/25/07

 

 

(The following was used with a PowerPoint presentation, the asterisks indicate slide changes.)

 

 

*Rom. 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. ²Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

 

*Transformation—How Does It Happen?

 

Pray

 

*Rom. 12:1 (Living Bible) And so, dear brothers, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living sacrifice, holy—the kind he can accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? ²Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think.

 

*Then you will learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you.

 

*Rom. 12:1 (Message Bible) So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without

 

*even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

 

*The Greek word for “transformed” is metamorphoo.

 

*Metamorphic: relating to or involving a change in physical form, appearance, or character; a change in the physical structure of rock that results from long-term heat and pressure.

 

A good example of metamorphosis is when a caterpillar changes to a butterfly. 

 

If we confess to be a Christian and yet our life has not been changed, something is wrong!

 

This same word is used in this passage…

 

*2 Cor. 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

 

How does this happen?

 

You don’t have to be a theologian, or have your master’s degree to understand it.

 

*2 Cor. 11:3 (NASB) But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

 

First part of this process…

 

*You have to want it! 

 

If you don’t want to be transformed, guess what, you won’t be bothered with it!

 

*John 7:37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”

 

Secondly…

 

*You have to take personal accountability.

 

As long as you can keep blaming someone else for your problems, you will never be transformed into what God really wants you to be.

 

*Ps. 32:5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.  I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”—and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

 

*(Blank) 1 Kings 15 Abijah became king of Judah, ²and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.  He committed all the sins his father had done before him…

 

He was succeeded by his son Asa. 

 

1 Ki. 15:11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done. ¹²He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his fathers had made. ¹³He even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole.

 

*You can’t produce metamorphosis, you yield to it.  You can’t make it happen, you allow it happen.

 

Let’s go back to the definition of Metamorphic.

 

*Metamorphic: relating to or involving a change in physical form, appearance, or character; a change in the physical structure of rock that results from long-term heat and pressure.

 

We are evil people.  We are sinful people.  The Bible says that no one seeks after God.  We need heat and pressure.  We need a little persuasion.

 

Hitting bottom can be a good persuasion!

 

*(Blank) Lk. 7:36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, ³⁸and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

³⁹When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

⁴⁰Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

⁴¹“Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴²Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

⁴³Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

⁴⁴Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

 

Some people realize how desperately they need Jesus, others don’t.

 

*Ps. 119:71 It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

 

*Ps. 40:1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.

² He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.

 

Much of the church today is not very hungry.

 

*(Blank) So…

 

First, you have want to be transformed.

 

Secondly, you have to take full responsibility for your problems.  Your sin.

 

This is the third step…

 

*Genuine transformation will only be experienced when you take responsibility for your spiritual maturity.

 

Others can “assist” us but the responsibility is ours.

 

*1 Jo. 2:26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. ²⁷As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

 

This scripture needs to be interpreted properly.

 

What is it saying and what is it not saying?

 

God has set up teachers in the church.  We are not self made people.  But the ultimate responsibility is ours.

 

*You are responsible for your personal prayer life and your personal Bible study!

 

These two spiritual disciplines will determine whether or not transformation takes place in your life.

 

I mentioned earlier…

 

You can’t produce metamorphosis, you yield to it.  You can’t make it happen, you allow it happen.

 

Getting alone with Jesus in prayer and studying His Word allows the change to take place in your life!

 

*Ja. 5:13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. ¹⁴Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.

 

The word trouble comes from this Greek word…

 

*Kak-o-path-a-o: To undergo hardship:—be afflicted, endure
afflictions (hardness), suffer trouble.

 

It is your responsibility to pray about your own problems!

 

Others can assist you but they can’t get it done for you!

 

I can only assist you in understanding God’s Word.  I can’t study it for you!

 

*2 Tim. 2:15 (KJV) Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

 

Paul wrote Timothy these words…

 

*2 Tim. 3:14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, ¹⁵and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting

 

*and training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

 

*The nature of man is to look for shortcuts and substitutes!

 

*“Somebody do it for me and show me an easier way.”

 

*Blank

 

If you are older than 40 the name Benjamin Spock is more than familiar. It was Spock that told an entire generation of parents to take it easy, don’t discipline your children and allow them to express themselves. Discipline, he told us, would warp a child’s fragile ego. Millions followed this guru of child development and he remained unchallenged among child rearing professionals. However, before his death Dr. Spock made an amazing discovery: he was wrong. In fact, he said:

We have reared a generation of brats. Parents aren't firm enough with their children for fear of losing their love or incurring their resentment. This is a cruel deficiency that we professionals have imposed on mothers and fathers. Of course, we did it with the best of intentions. We didn't realize until it was too late how our know-it-all attitude was undermining the self assurance of parents.

 

Something just as momentous just happened in the evangelical community. For most of a generation evangelicals have been romanced by the “seeker sensitive” movement spawned by Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago.

 

*With this “new wave” of ministry came a de-emphasis on taking personal responsibility for Bible study combined with an emphasis on felt-needs based “programs” and slick marketing.

 

*(Blank) The size of the crowd rather than the depth of the heart determined success. If the crowd was large then surely God was blessing the ministry. Churches were built by demographic studies, professional strategists, marketing research, meeting “felt needs” and sermons consistent with these techniques.

 

We were told that preaching was out, relevance was in. Doctrine didn’t matter nearly as much as innovation. If it wasn’t “cutting edge” and consumer friendly it was doomed. The mention of sin, salvation and sanctification were taboo and replaced by Starbucks, strategy and sensitivity.

 

Thousands of pastors hung on every word that emanated from the lips of the church growth experts. Satellite seminars were packed with hungry church leaders learning the latest way to “do church.” The promise was clear: thousands of people and millions of dollars couldn’t be wrong. Forget what people need, give them what they want. How can you argue with the numbers? If you dared to challenge the “experts” you were immediately labeled as a “traditionalist,” a throwback to the 50s, a stubborn dinosaur unwilling to change with the times.

 

All that changed recently.

Willow Creek has released the results of a multi-year study on the effectiveness of their programs and philosophy of ministry. The study’s findings are in a new book titled Reveal: Where Are You?, co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. Hybels himself called the findings “earth shaking,” “ground breaking” and “mind blowing.” And no wonder: it seems that the “experts” were wrong.

 

*The report reveals that most of what they have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ. Numbers yes, but not disciples.

 

*(Blank) It gets worse. Hybels laments:

Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.

 

If you simply want a crowd, the “seeker sensitive” model produces results. If you want solid, sincere, mature followers of Christ, it’s a bust. In a shocking confession, Hybels states:

We made a mistake.

 

*What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.

 

*(Blank) Incredibly, the guru of church growth now tells us that people need to be reading their bibles and taking responsibility for their spiritual growth.

 

Just as Spock’s “mistake” was no minor error, so the error of the seeker sensitive movement is monumental in its scope. The foundation of thousands of American churches is now discovered to be mere sand. The one individual who has had perhaps the greatest influence on the American church in our generation has now admitted his philosophy of ministry, in large part, was a “mistake.” The extent of this error defies measurement.

Perhaps the most shocking thing of all in this revelation coming out of Willow Creek is in a summary statement by Greg Hawkins:

Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture.

 

*Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he’s asking us to transform this planet.

 

This has been the cry of my heart!!!

 

*Blank

 

*We have to want transformation.

 

*We have to take responsibility for our own problems.

 

*We are responsible for our own spiritual growth.

 

*Blank

 

If we really want to be transformed.

 

If we take responsibility for our own problems.

 

If we take the responsibility for our own spiritual growth.

 

Then we can begin to be the church that God really wants us to be!

 

 

I have been accused of being too political.

 

I have been accused of not preaching the Gospel.

 

I would rather be slapped than accused of that.

 

I’m accused of this because I do believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ applies to every area of life.

 

I apply the principle of the Word of God to the government of this land and I preach it.

 

I have an overwhelming conviction in my heart that Jesus Christ wants to change our community, and that He wants to change our nation.  He wants His church to stand against evil and ungodliness.

 

I have the conviction that Jesus wants His church to stand and be bold.

 

I have the conviction that abortion is one of the most appalling abominations in our land.

 

I can’t stop proclaiming what God has put in my heart to speak.  If the Word spoken from this pulpit does not meet your personal need, my question is this, do you do what you need to do to meet that need yourself?

 

I still firmly believe that if we will seek first the Kingdom of God that all of our other concerns will be met!

 

*Mat. 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

 

Now we can choose to worry about each day or we can seek His Kingdom each day.