In November of 1977 we adopted our son Kevin. As Kevin grew, he would occasionally want to sleep in our “king-sized” bed with us. We were used to having our dog in bed with us, and the addition of Kevin added little to the problem. Before too long, Kevin preferred to sleep in the big bed with Mom and Dad. We may have spoiled him a little.
Shortly after his third birthday, I was transferred to the Island of Barbados in the West Indies. We determined before we left that we were going to buy Kevin his own big bed and this would be the big move from sleeping with Mom and Dad, to sleeping in his own big bed.
Our home in Barbados was without a doubt the nicest home we lived in, but there were a few drawbacks. We discovered the first one, the first night Kevin was supposed to sleep in his own "big boy bed." We went through a series of "I can’t sleep"; "What are ya’ll talking about" (yes, we’re from Texas); "I want a drink." Finally, we both went in and turned on his light with the determination that we were going to reassure him and go back to bed. When we turned on the light, above his head on the wall, was a centipede that was without a doubt the largest that we had ever seen ... at least up to that point. It was a foot long, and over the next year, we learned many creative ways to try to kill those things.
It wasn’t until after we transferred back to Houston that we bought Kevin his own bunk-beds that he learned to sleep in his own bed. Being over protective parents with a spoiled child, it took us a while until we could go to bed without worrying that he was going to fall out of bed. Thank God for bunk-beds!
One little boy fell out of his bed one night and was asked why. He said, "I guess I fell asleep too close to where I got in."
I would propose to you, that is a pretty good description of a lot of Christians who come to personal faith in Christ, perhaps, even at a young age, and take some initial steps of growth in Christ. Then it’s as though they just fall asleep, never again to grow in that relationship.
Becoming Like Christ
Understand that God’s goal for us as Christians is to grow continually, to become like Christ. He describes that in Romans 8:29. He says that we have been "...predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son..." In Galatians 4:19, the apostle Paul is talking about laboring with the Galatian Christians, and he speaks of himself as a mother in labor ... agonizing, hoping that in his work with them they’ll eventually come to the place of Christ being formed in them. That’s God’s goal for us ... to become like Christ.
As we come to this verse in 2 Corinthians 3:18, the apostle Paul elaborates on this truth: “But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” (NASB)
Now look at this little phrase "...being transformed..." In our language, it’s two words. In the original Biblical language, it’s just one word, but it’s a word that will ring somewhat familiar to you. In fact, it should set off a bell going all the way back to about tenth grade biology class. It’s the Greek word metamorphoo. Does that sound familiar? The word that we use is almost exactly like it: metamorphosis.
Do you remember what it is that goes through metamorphosis? The caterpillar crawls along and finds a cozy spot on a branch somewhere. He spins that cocoon, metamorphoses inside that cocoon, and emerges as a beautiful butterfly. It is transformed. That’s the word Paul uses.
He says we are to be in the process of a spiritual metamorphosis. This is what God expects of us. He presumes that it’s taking place. We are to be reflecting the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in ever-increasing measure. We are to be continually growing, continually transforming into the image of Christ.
Being on the tail end of the Boomer generation, I grew up watching Superman and Batman, and many of the shows that were based on comic books. Often in those programs, the seemingly “mild mannered reporter,” or the “eccentric wealthy young man,” would go through a transformation in order to become the super hero. Ordinary people endued with supernatural power to live extraordinary lives ... now, that’s outrageous fantasy.
The word for metamorphosis is a wonderful, Biblical word. You see, we are ordinary people in whom God has placed His Holy Spirit, in whom God has placed His supernatural Person to enable us to live extraordinary, Christ-like lives, to be transformed. That’s the fundamental expectation of the New Testament.
In Romans 12:2, the apostle Paul uses that same word again. He says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” This is talking about spiritual metamorphosis. That is what God expects of us. But, folks, there’s a crisis in Christianity today, a crisis of transformation.
We are not being transformed.
I read about a church that split, and that split began over an argument at a potluck supper when a lady brought a congealed salad she made with Cool Whip instead of real whipping cream. There’s a book entitled War In The Pews that talks about real-life instances which are absolutely outrageous.
Churches have split over whether the pianist should sit to the right or the left side of the podium, over whether the Lord’s Supper should be served from the front to the back or the back to the front, over trying to decide whether a kitchen should be a part of a the church building or not.
One church split over who was the real pastor. They had two pastors. Two groups thought they each had their own guy, and both of them got up to lead a service one Sunday. Both led the singing. Both groups tried to out-sing each other. Then both pastors started preaching, trying to out-preach each other. Finally, they just broke out into fisticuffs, and the police had to come in and break it up. That’s absolutely outrageous.
In Mississippi, I led revival services in a small town northeast of Vicksburg and there were two churches that shared a common parking lot. They were the same denomination. But, because of some upset, they had split and they now share that parking lot. I wondered if they remembered what the split was about.
We’re not being transformed.
The author Sheldon VanAuken once made the statement, "The greatest argument for Christianity is Christians. There is nothing more compelling that those who live the life of Christ.’ But guess what he said is the greatest argument against Christianity. Christians who don’t live the life of Christ.
Are You Being Transformed?
Let’s bring it down to a little more personal level. If, indeed, this is the fundamental expectation of the New Testament (that we are being transformed from glory to glory, from one level of Christ-likeness to the next), then this would be a fair question to ask. In the past year, how have you become more like Christ, how has your conduct and character been transformed to be more like Jesus? What about in the past three years? What about over the past five years?
You see, it really is possible for us to begin to think as Jesus would think, to feel as Jesus would feel, and to do the things Jesus would do. That’s what the Bible clearly tells us.
Are you becoming more like Christ in your marriage? I’m afraid many of our attitudes are like the lady who burst into her pastor’s office to announce that she was divorcing her husband. The pastor said, "I’m sorry, you can’t do that. You made a vow to take him for better or worse." She said, "Yea, but he’s a whole lot worse that what I took him for." Are you becoming more like Christ in your marriage? Patty and I were married for several years and went to a marriage enrichment seminar. It dawned on me how little I had been transforming like Christ in my marriage.
What about as parents? Are you becoming more like Christ in your relationship with your children? Young people, are you becoming more like Jesus in the way you relate to your parents? Are we being transformed more into the person of Christ in our relationships with those in the work place, with friends, with neighbors? Are we becoming more like Jesus? That’s what God expects.
How Do We Transform?
That leaves us with a big question. How does it happen? He says it should be happening. He expects it to happen. How does it happen for us?
Look at the end of verse 18. He, in essence, tells us. Paul writes, we "...are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” He is saying "which comes from Christ who is the Spirit." It is the Holy Spirit of Christ who indwells us. When you came to know Christ as your Savior, His Holy Spirit came to reside in your heart. What the Bible again tells us is that He indwells our lives and hearts by faith. It is the Holy Spirit in us who brings about this transformation process, who causes this spiritual metamorphosis to take place.
How does He do that?
First of all, He shows us the glory of Christ. Now, think about it for a moment. We should be reflecting the person of Christ in our lives. If you’re going to reflect something, you have to be aimed at that something. In the old cowboy/Indian westerns, the Indians had these elaborate ways to signal one another through smoke signals or animal sounds. All the cowboys had were broken pieces of mirror they could aim toward the sun so it would reflect the sun in a bright way and be seen from a far-off distance.
The Holy Spirit transforms our lives by using the Word of God to aim us at the Son of God so that we might reflect His person. I like the way one man puts it: "The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to make the child of God like the Son of God." He uses the Word of God to aim us directly at the Lord Jesus Christ, to show us the glory of Christ.
There’s a story about a Middle Eastern oil sheik who had three sons. Two sons were physically normal. The third son was stooped over and crooked. The father told his three sons, "I want to grant you each a wish. What would that be?"
His first son said, "Father, I would like to become a physician. I would like to study in America, that I might return and help my people." The second son said, "Father, I would like to study in America to become an engineer, so that I might return and help my people." He granted their wishes.
The third son came to his father and said, "Father, I would like for you to have a statue sculpted for me of myself." The father was reluctant. He knew it was already painful for the child to look at himself in a mirror, much less there be a statue of the child that would always be a reminder of what he appeared to be.
The son said, "No, what I want is not a statue of me bent and crooked but of me standing straight and tall."
The father decided to grant that wish. He commissioned the statue, and the statue was sculpted ... a beautiful image of that son standing straight and tall and proud. He had the statue placed in the courtyard of their home, but the next morning, the father stepped out in the courtyard to see a scene that disturbed him deeply. He saw his son stooped and crooked, standing next to that statue. He was focused upon the statue, trying in agony to stand up straight. The father determined that never again would he look upon that courtyard.
Some years passed. The father forgot about his pledge to himself, and one day, he happened to glance in that direction. This time, he saw his son standing next to that statue, but his son was standing tall and straight ... just like the statue.
The Holy Spirit of God uses the Word of God, just like that statue, to aim us directly at the person of Christ. However, it’s not an image of us He points us to. It’s the image of Christ. It’s not just a better version of ourselves He wants to transform us into, but it’s the Person, the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit of God wants to use the Word of God to make the child of God like the Son of God.
Maybe, the idea of a quiet time is a concept that has been very familiar to you for a long time, or perhaps, it’s something that you’ve never done. You’ve heard about it, but you’ve never thought about doing it. What we mean by quiet time is taking a few minutes out of each day to open the Word of God ... to meditate upon it, to digest those thoughts, to let the Holy Spirit aim you at the Son of God. If it’s something that’s a new concept to you, I would invite you to just commit to ten or fifteen minutes a day to open up the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit will show you the glory of the Son of God in such a way that you will be compelled to become like Him. That’s the way the Holy Spirit shows us the glory of Christ.
But please don’t misunderstand. In no way, shape, or form am I saying this is something that occurs by sheer willpower. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Paul tells us, in essence, the second way the Holy Spirit does this is through our realizing He is the One who changes us. The Holy Spirit causes that spiritual metamorphosis to happen. When you look at a cocoon, you don’t see metamorphosis happening. You just see the visible results of it when the butterfly emerges. You don’t see the Holy Spirit at work, but you see the results as exhibited so visibly in transformed character and conduct.
How does He accomplish that change?
Understand very closely, the Holy Spirit accomplishes that change in our lives, has the freedom to begin transforming us into the image of Christ only at the point we are willing to give control of all of our lives over to Him.
Let me ask a question.
Did you become a Christian before you turned twelve years of age? I’m certainly not pointing a finger, but let’s suppose you became a Christian at the age of eight, like I did. At the age of eight, as much as you knew how at that age, you gave the Lord Jesus Christ complete control of your life. However, like that little boy who fell asleep too close to where he got in, you may have begun to make some initial steps of growth after you "got in." But you soon "fell asleep too close to where you got in."
Now you’re thirty-five, fifty-five or older. What has happened in your life, as if you have never awakened, is you are trying to live the life of a thirty-five or fifty-five-year-old on the commitment level of an eight-year-old. There has been a massive expansion of your life since you were eight. You have a career, finances, hobbies, interests, friends ... drives within you that you didn’t have at eight. Your life has massively expanded. God is saying, "All of that that has become a part of you since you were eight years old needs to be turned over to Me, as well." It’s a matter of your now saying, "I need to release control of every aspect of my life to Christ."
Turn with me to Luke 9:23-24: "And He was saying to them all, ’If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.’"
Let’s take that little phrase "... take up his cross daily, and follow Me." What did Jesus mean by that? In the minds of His hearers in that day, there was only one thing He could have possibly meant. That meant they were to die. The only time they had seen anybody carrying a cross was when they were going up to die.
Jesus is saying, "You’ve got to die daily."
Now what that means in practical terms for us, as believers, is that daily He invites us to yield control of our lives totally and completely over to Him as much as we possibly know how to do. That’s what Paul means in Ephesians 5:18: "...be filled with the Spirit." Being filled with the Spirit is being filled with Jesus. It’s releasing complete control of every aspect of our lives over to Him as much as we possibly know how to do.
Are You Ready To Start?
That’s a beautiful prospect for us, as believers ... to be transformed from one level to the next, to become more and more like Jesus. But it doesn’t happen automatically. There is a decision that has to be made. You have to decide it’s time to begin being transformed. You have to make the decision: "Beginning today, as much as I possibly know how, I’m going to yield control of my life over to Him."
There’s a wonderful little legend about a man who was lost and wandering in the desert, dying of thirst. As he wandered in that terribly hot desert, he stumbled upon a ramshackle, dilapidated shack. There wasn’t much to it, but, at least, it would provide a little bit of shade and respite for him. So he stumbled into that shack and was enjoying the shade for a moment.
He was looking around when he noticed about fifteen feet away from him a rickety, rusty old pump. His eyes brightened, and he thought, "I wonder." He staggered over to the pump and grabbed hold of the handle. He began to work that pump up and down, but nothing came out. He fell back to the ground, and as he fell, his hand landed on something. He looked over and saw it was an old jug covered with dirt and filth. He took the jug, and it felt like there was something in it ... sand, for all he knew. He began to wipe off what appeared to be a label or a note. He brushed away the dirt and began to make it out. It said: "You have to prime the pump with all the water in the jug. P.S. Be sure to fill the jug again before you leave."
Wow! Suddenly, he was faced with this life-or-death decision. I mean, here’s the sure thing. Here’s a jug with some water. At least, if he drank that, he could live a little while longer. But if, indeed, it was true, he would have access to flowing, fresh, cool water ... as much as he could possibly want.
He pondered that decision for a few moments. Could he really trust that set of instructions that was no telling how old? He decided to go for it. He popped the cork. Sure enough, it was almost full of water. He walked over to the pump, poured it all into the pump, and grabbed hold of the handle. He began to work that pump again ... squeak, squeak, squeak. Nothing came out. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Suddenly, there appeared a trickle of water. Squeak, squeak, squeak. It grew into a larger stream of water. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Suddenly, it was gushing all the cool, flowing, wonderful water he could possibly want.
He filled the jug and drank it. He filled it and drank it again. He was marvelously refreshed. Then he remembered the note. He filled the jug again, put the cork back in place, and added his own little note to it: "Believe me, it really works. You have to give it all away to get it back."
Friends, believe me, it really works, but you have to give yourself all away to Him as much as you know how. But, when you give yourself all away to Him, then He gives all of Himself back. You become transformed. You become like Him. The only other option is to stay deformed.
