“God Can…Transform Your Life”
Introduction:
Motor Homes have allowed us to put all the conveniences of a home on wheels. A camper no longer means sleeping in a sleeping bag, cooking over a fire, or hauling water from a stream. Now people can park a fully equipped home on a cement slab in the midst of a few pine trees and hook up to a water line, a sewer line and electricity. One motor home I saw recently had a satellite dish attached on top. That is not really what I’d call roughing it. No more bother with dirt, no more smoke from the fire, no more drudgery of walking to the stream. Now it is possible to go camping and never have to go outside. People buy a motor home with the hope of seeing new places, of getting out into the world. Yet they deck it out with the same furnishings as are in their living room. Thus nothing really changes. They may drive to a new place, set themselves in new surrounding, but the newness goes unnoticed, for we’ve only carried along our old setting.
I believe that there is a lot of Christians that try to live their Christian lives like that. They try to enjoy all that they can of the world, yet never fully submit themselves to Jesus and therefore they miss out on so much that God has intended for us. We see that since Adam and Eve sinned and sin continued to progress through the world that God has been seeking us out. He has been seeking to reconcile us to himself. He has been seeking to restore us to who he made us to be. He has been seeking to transform our lives from self-seeking sinful people to selfless people who have a pure mind and heart. I want to ask a question that maybe only you know the answers to. What difference does being a Christian have upon your life? How does your faith come into play into how you act, what you say, what you do, and your decisions? How have you changed when you became a Christian, what things did you have to leave behind?
I believe on of the greatest problems with the church today is that there are many people who come in and sit in a seat within a church building who have never been transformed. One of my passions that is above anything else is to see a church that will transform the world. I am burdened by what I see and hear in our society and I know that the reasons for those things is a sin problem and that the problem will never be cured until Jesus becomes Lord of peoples lives. I am upset about issues like abortion, homosexual marriage and the gay agenda; I am bothered by the increase in violent crimes in our country. I want that to change, but yet I realize that the church cannot impact, influence or transform the world until we first have been transformed.
A few years ago the most popular show among young children was the “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.” This show was about a group of teenagers who would change into superheroes and fight evil. On any given day these kids were just normal teenagers, but when they morphed they could do extraordinary things.
To me one of the most amazing things in creation is the way that a caterpillar becomes a beautiful butterfly. The caterpillar makes a cocoon and while in there goes through some great physical changes. Our greatest goal too should be a metamorphosis or transformation. Not a physical change in appearance, but an inward transformation of the soul. I want to tell you today that no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, no matter where you’ve been God can transform your lives and change your life incredibly. I have read about, I have seen, and I am a product of a transformed life.
What makes awful wicked people change so dramatically? How could someone like Paul, who spent his life seeking to destroy Christianity in its infancy by killing Christians, become a devoted preacher and herald of Christ? What makes someone like Peter, who was at time irrational and immature, become a godly follower of Jesus? What makes people change dramatically? Do you believe such a life is possible for an ordinary human being? Do you really believe transformation is possible for you? Today, we too can be transformed!
Text: II Corinthians 3:7-18
I did not grow up in a Christian home to say the least. The thing I remember the most about my childhood was chaos. My parents were always fighting, and I was right in the middle of everything that they did. I hated my home life and was embarrassed of my family. My Father was an abusive alcoholic, with many problems and I just wanted to get away. When many kids grow up in a dysfunctional home they rebel and I did just that. My rebelling was not with drugs, alcohol or promiscuity, but was with a cold heart. I stayed in trouble in my early teen years. I was constantly in fights in school, and in trouble for my attitude and many other things. Until the age of 17 I had never attended a church. My views towards God and religion were warped. I was probably a typical teenager in many ways. When I was 17 I was invited to attend a revival, and when I did something happened. I do not necessarily remember the sermon being incredible, the music wasn’t anything to boast about, but what was incredible is that through an opportunity to hear the Word God had gotten a hold of my heart. I have no idea where I would be today if I had not encountered Jesus that night, but my life was transformed dramitically. What I enjoyed doing changed, the people I hung around changed, the way I acted, thought, and talked all chaged. In fact it changed so dramitically that my parents were very concerned for me. I do not say this because I am proud, but before Jesus I was a very wicked person, with a heart that was hard as stone. I tell you that to tell you that if God can transform me he can transform anyone.
I have heard similar stories of lives that have been transformed by Jesus Christ that you never would have imagined. I have heard of murderers, people from every religious background,people involved in dark things, people who were good people, and of people who have done awful things in the past.
Webster’s defines transformation this way:
1. To change in form, appearance, or structure; metamorphose
2. To change in condition, nature or character; to convert
I. True Transformation Can Only Take Place Through Christ
We live in a world where there are a lot of troubled people. There are people with addictions that need help, there are dysfunctional families that need help, and there are people with mental, physical and emotional problems who need some type of help. The problem is that many of these people are going to the wrong source. They are going to psychologists, therapists and counselors, when instead they should be going to the Wonderful Counselor, Jesus Christ. There is nothing in and of itself wrong with psychologists, therapists and counselors, but we must understand that in order for change to take place we cannot remove God from the equation. Sadly many of these people facing difficult times in life seek out some help out of desperation and they are missing the point. The root of many of those problems may be sin in a person’s life and Jesus is the only one that can transform someone enough to bring about a change. Many times instead of seeing their problems from s spiritual standpoint they look at things in black and white and they want some simple, tangible ways to solve their problems, when all along they may need a makeover of the heart. I believe that a person may be able to find some temporary help to life’s problems from wise counsel and direction, but I do not believe the that problem is being solved. They are seeking to remove the symptoms of the disease rather than heal the disease itself. I do believe that people have found some relief and help from people in the world, but that relief is temporary and is not solving the greatest problem in every person’s life and that is what have we done with Jesus.
I have seen most people want and are fine with the idea of changing. People that are stuck in bad habits are usual the first to admit that they need to change, but real change cannot come about just by resolving to change, it cannot even come about just by changing our outer actions, change must take place inside of the heart.
I. True Transformation Requires Sacrifice
Maybe as you listen to me you think that I am some radical nut ball. Maybe you think I m expecting to much of you, but today I want it to be clear to everyone that God has high expectations of you. He expects for you to make him Lord of you lives, not just your Sundays, He expects you to make him Lord of every aspects of your life, of the things you talk about, of the things you do, of the people you hang around, of your goals and desires in life, of your bank accounts, of your time, of your thoughts, of your families, and every other aspect that you can think of. If that is not what you are looking for in a faith and you would rather have someone tell you on a regular basis that it does not matter what you think or do, than I believe you may be looking in the wrong place, because the more and more I get into the Word, the more and more I see that God desperately wants every aspect of our lives surrendered to him.
The concept of surrender and sacrifice is never associated with anything good, but today if we are to know true transformation it must accompany some sacrifice because we cannot hold onto everything that we want and expect to gain what we’d life from Jesus. We cannot expect to be just okay with living a Christian life on occasion while still enjoying the pleasures of this world on occasion. God wants our whole selves before he can transform us.
There have been times he has had to work hard to get some people’s attention. For Moses it was 40 years on his own in a distant land. For Jonah it was 3 days and nights in the belly of a fish. For Paul it was a big bright light that blinded him. We as people are not just seeking God, but he is seeking us out and he wants our attention. Today, I hope he has it because I believe God has a message He wants each and every one of you to hear. It is actually a love story. It is a story of a God that loves us so much that he would continue to be faithful and good to us despite our unfaithfulness. It is a story of a God that would sacrifice anything that you could imagine just to be with the one’s he loves. It is a story of God seeking your heart and seeking to transform your life so that you no longer have to be a slave to sin, but before he can do that we may need to make some sacrifices. The idea of God changing our lives and making us better people sounds great, but to some it doesn’t sound so great when we hear that he expects us to actually sacrifice things for that.
Matthew 19:16-22
This young man wanted all the good things that Jesus was offering without any sacrifice on his part. He wanted to do a few good deeds to go to Heaven, but he didn’t like Jesus’ response. So what does God expect you to sacrifice? Do you really have to give things up to be a Christian?
a. Of A Former Way of Life
I have heard amazing story afater amazing story of transformations in people’s lives. All those stories have one thing in common, and that is they all had to sacrifice something in order to be faithful, whether it was a job, associations they had, things they had, or whatever it may be.
b. Of Things We May Desire
What happens when our will, desires, goals and aspirations clash with what we feel are God’s goals for our lives? We have to make a choice. Paul had to make this same choice after he encountered Jesus. We learn that he was adavancing quickly among the Jews, he was gaining fame, and ten he had to give all that up to follow Jesus. We see him later stating that he knew what it was not have nothing at all.
Philippians 3:7-9
II. True Transformation Changes Your Life
a. The Way You Act
I have heard it said that the greatest proof of Jesus is a transofrmed life being displayed.
I am saddened to my core that I see people that come down the aisle during an invitation hymn, perhaps sincerely and with tears, they confess that they want Jesus to be Lord of their lives, they go into a back room, step into a baptistery, go under the water and come out and there is no visible change in their lives. Why is that? How has Jesus being in your life affected what you do? Where you go? What you watch? The decisions that you make? Being a Christian is about far more than hope of eternal life, but it is about abundant life now, and many people are missing out on it because they have not let Jesus change their lives, they act no differently that the rest of the world. As Christians, we have been called to be distinct and separate. In fact the Greek word that the Bible uses for “church” means those who are called out. We are expected to be different in the way that we live our lives, yet sadly as you go about your life it may be hard for people to tell that you are a Christian. I am saddened that the world cannot see a difference many times in a follower of Jesus and a non-Christian.
Survey polls in recent years have shown that those who call themselves Christians are just as likely to have been divorced, purchased lottery tickets, watch R, or X rated movies, become addicted to pornography, or use alcohol as much as their non-Christian counterparts.
This is truly a sad thing, but true transformation, or should I say saving transformation changed the way that you act.
Titus 2:11-14
Because of the grace of God we learn and desire to not do ungodly things anymore. I am convinced that the church was and it still today full of people who have been transformed. Our lifestyles thought should reflect Jesus.
Several years ago at a passion play an incident took place during Jesus carrying the cross. A man in the audience was heckling the character playing Jesus, throwing out jeers, taunts and dares. Finally the character could no longer tolerate the heckler, he dropped the cross and went over and punched out the man. The director was aghast and after the play pulled the actor aside and told him in no uncertain terms was he ever to do that again. But the next night the same heckler was back and again the same thing, Jesus this time had to be restrained. The director called the actor in and gave him an ultimatum of either quitting or keeping his composure. The young actor assured the director he would keep himself under control. The third night, the heckler was present again and taunted even stronger than the two previous nights. The man playing Jesus rose to his full stature, gritted his teeth and told the heckler, "I’ll see you right after the resurrection."
Well, we are told that our lifestyle are portraying Christ to the world, and that probably isn’t the best example of how to imitate Jesus and is probably a reflection of a heart that has not been fully transformed to be like Christ.
We know that the early church was full of people who had all sorts of baggage from their pasts, but their lives were changed.
I Corinthians 6:9-11
There is not such thing as a Christian who has not changed their lives and their action. Has your life and actions been changed or are you just going through the motions that you think you need to go through? If you are let me give you a grave warning. You may be able to fool everyone around you and even yourself into thinking that you are some spiritual giant, but we can never fool God because he knows our mind and heart as well. He calls us to a change that will better our lives. Remember that the way we act says something about what we really believe.
b. The Way You Think
Because of Jesus the way that I think has changed. Let me give you an example. I used to think that the world owed me something, my goal was the pursuit of happiness thoruhg more things, but as I have had my heart changed I changed the way that I think about that. I used to think that if I was a good person than I would go to heaven and that Heaven would be full of people of all religions, and thoguh that sounds nice and appealing, God Word has taught me differently. I had views that were shapoed by my up-bringing and by our society that were wrong. Yes, I had to wrestle with those things, and I had to be taught Truth, but my mind changed as I realized God’s truth conflicted with my opinions. There are some areas in life where God has spoken and lays out a clear answer for us, and on those areas we do not have a right to an opinion, interpretation, or have any room for disagreement. The transformation of my life has changed the way that I think.
To many people the idea of being a Christian is about doing certain things and not doing other things. The church is filled with people who go through the motions of what they are supposed to do. The church is full of people that come and put on a spiritual mask to appear as if they are in a right relationship with God. They know just what to say and how to say it to appear spiritual, but they have never been transformed. Being a Christian is not simply about what outward things we do, but also is about what goes on in our hearts and our minds. Jesus calls us to more than just a transformation of action, but he really expects that when we change we do not just stop doing certain things because we aren’t supposed to, but that we change the way we think. He expects us to really take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. This is the difficult thing. This is the part we cannot do on our own. We many be able to break habits on our own, we may be able to go through the right motions on our own, but we can never change our hearts without the help of God. So I want to ask you today as you look into your heart, does Jesus have control not only of what you do, but also of the way you think? Does he have control of your motives? Why are you here this morning? Why do you do the things that you do? Why do you act the way that you do? Jesus taught us that under the Old Testament Law God was concerned about what His people did. Therefore we read all these commandments and Laws that were in place, Jesus though did not abolish those laws, he raised the bar of what he expects of us.
Matthew 5:27-30
God is not concerned that we just don’t do certain things he wants us not to want to do them and not to think certain things anymore. God expects us to change the way that we think about all things. I don’t believe that true transformation is just a change in the way that we view certain things, but it is a true change of the heart that does not any longer desire to live in a lifestyle of sin. This type of change is one that may not be visible to anyone else but you and God, but is one that is required and necessary.
II Corinthians 5:17
I want to close with a problem and a solution. The problem is that every person in the world needs tohave their lives transformed. In fact there are many people in the church who have never surrendered to Jesus, maybe they have come to church for years, know the Bible inside and out, but have never had a heart change. The solution is that God offers that amazing transformation if we are willing, and the ability to have that change comes because of what Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary and His triumph over the Dead.
