Our Vision: Transformation
Text: 2 Cor. 5:17-18; Rom. 12:1-2
Introduction
1. Illustration: The power of the Holy Spirit is not just for salvation, but transformation, a process that might be slow and gradual. The difference might look like this: You can take ten gallons of gasoline and release a tremendous amount of power and energy by just dropping a lighted match into it. It makes a dramatic onetime impact. But there is another way to release the energy in that gasoline. Place it in the fuel tank of a new Honda, designed to get 30 miles to the gallon. The high tech engine will use that ten gallons of gasoline to take a person 300 miles or more. Explosions may be spectacular, but the sustained, controlled burn has staying power. You don’t want to be a flash in the pan, you want to make a difference in this world over time. You want to last for the long haul. You don’t want the Holy Spirit to just save you for heaven, you want Him to use His power to transform your life.
2. If you go to our website, www.gonewlife.org, you will find at the very top 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT) "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"
3. If someone where to ask me, "What does it mean to be a Christian?," my answer would be transformation. Now I realize that is a big word, but it essentially means being changed. Being a Christian means that God:
a. Changes who you are.
b. Changes what you do.
c. Changes what you think.
Proposition: Our vision at New Life is simply "Transforming lives, one at a time."
Transition: Transformation means that God...
I. Changes Who You Are (2 Cor. 5:17-18)
A. Become A New Person
1. Paul begins v. 17 with "This means that..."
a. This is one of Paul’s favorite literary devices.
b. He is referring back to something he has already written.
c. More specifically to v. 15.
d. 2 Corinthians 5:15 (NLT)
He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
e. He makes it clear that transformation is possible not because of anything that we have done, but because of what Jesus has done by His death and resurrection.
2. Then he shows what transformation is: "anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person."
a. This shows the result of coming to faith in Jesus Christ.
b. If we belong to Him by surrendering our lives to Him, then He transforms us into new people.
c. The word translated "new person" means "to make or create something which has not existed before (Louw and Nidda, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains).
d. He is not merely talking about a person being rehabilitated. He is talking about becoming a new person.
e. When you come to Christ, the person you were before no longer exists.
f. The person that you are after accepting Christ was born on that day.
g. My life didn’t begin on August 26, 1961, but on April 4, 1978, when I gave my heart to Christ!
3. Paul further illustrates this by saying "The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"
a. The verb translated "old life" is an aorist verb which means it was a single action which is now been completed (Barnett, NICNT: 2 Corinthians, 297).
b. Not only are you a new person, but the person you used to be doesn’t exist anymore.
c. The things that were once important to you are no longer important to you.
d. The sins that once controlled you no longer have a hold of you.
e. You have been brought from death to life.
4. The other verb in this sentence is the word "begun."
a. It is a perfect tense verb which indicates something done in the past with continuing effects.
b. It means that it is something that had a beginning, but it is also a process.
c. That is the other key of transformation; it’s both an event and a process.
d. Being "Born Again" is just that; you are born all over again. Just like a baby learns how to be a human being, someone who comes to faith in Christ learns how to become a follower of Christ.
5. There’s another part of transformation. In v. 18 Paul says, "And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him."
a. He says that transformation is a gift from God, and those that receive this gift are responsible to see that others learn about this tremendous gift.
b. With the gift comes the responsibility to share it with others.
c. Notice that Paul says "God has given us the task of reconciling people to him."
d. If you accept the gift, you also accept the task.
B. Born Again
1. Illustration: A woman testified to the transformation in her life that had resulted through her experience in conversion. She declared, "I’m so glad I got religion. I have an uncle I used to hate so much I vowed I’d never go to his funeral. But now, why, I’d be happy to go to it any time."
2. John 3:3 (NLT)
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
3. Transformation means you are not the person you used to be.
a. You may not be who you should be; you may not be who you want to be; but thank God you’re not who you used to be.
b. You are made new by the power of the Holy Spirit.
c. You are made new by the blood of Jesus.
d. You are not the same anymore; you have been changed in the twinkling of an eye.
4. Transformation means your old life is dead.
a. The slate has been wiped clean.
b. What you did before doesn’t matter.
c. What you said before doesn’t matter.
d. What you thought before doesn’t matter.
e. The person you were no longer exists.
5. Transformation means a new life has begun.
a. You have a new start.
b. You have a new heart.
c. You have a new purpose.
d. You have a new life.
Transition: In transformation God also...
II. Changes What You Do (Rom. 12:1)
A. Give Your Bodies to God
1. The book of Romans is rich in theological content. Chapters 1-11 talk about God’s love, mercy and grace.
a. In Chapter 12, he begins to answer the question "so what?"
b. Now that we know about the grace of God, what are we supposed to do with it.
2. He says in verse 1, "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you."
a. Here Paul pleads with us to offer our bodies to God.
b. The phrase "to give" means "to deliver a person into the control of someone else" (Louw and Nidda, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains).
c. He is not just asking us to give over our bodies, but our very selves to God.
d. We are to give over to His Lordship our bodies, desires, actions, and in effect, our lives.
e. We are to surrender all that we are to Him and allow him to change who we are into who He wants us to be.
3. When this transformation takes place we no longer look to please ourselves, but rather how we can please God.
a. 1 Peter 4:2 (NLT)
You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God.
b. Everything we do changes.
c. Where we go changes.
d. What we do changes.
e. How we spend our money changes.
f. What we see as important changes.
4. Paul goes on to say, "Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable."
a. By giving ourselves over to God, Paul says we become a "living sacrifice." This is opposed to the dead sacrifices of the Old Testament.
b. We are not to be a sacrifice that is given to be killed, but is given for God’s glory and use.
c. As such, we are to be "holy sacrifices."
d. Old Testament sacrifices were to be spotless; without wrinkle, weakness, or defect.
e. Most of all they are to be set aside for God, and that is what the word holy means; to be set a part.
f. 1 Peter 1:15-16 (NLT)
But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
5. Paul says that "This is truly the way to worship him."
a. The word "truly" carries with it the idea of "being genuine, in the sense of being true to the real and essential nature of something" (Louw and Nidda, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains).
b. Worship is the way we live, not what we do on Sunday morning.
c. We worship God, says Paul, by giving ourselves in sacrificial service to our Lord. We are to serve him every day, every hour, every minute (Moo, NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Romans, 397).
d. As Christians, this is to be the focus of our lives.
B. Change of Purpose
1. Illustration: “To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we see our need and the more we desire to be conformed to Christ…" (SOURCE: Richard Foster, in his book “Celebration of Discipline.”)
2. Isaiah 6:5-7 (NLT)
Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”
3. Being in God’s presence changes you.
a. "I don’t pray because it changes God. I pray because it changes me" (C.S. Lewis).
b. You cannot be touch by God and stay the same.
c. You cannot be touched by God and do the things you used to do.
d. When you are touched by God, what you do changes.
4. Being in God’s presence changes your desires.
a. Romans 6:4 (NLT)
For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
b. When you come to Christ, you realize that the person you uses to be died, and you are not the same anymore.
c. When you come to Christ, the things you once valued are no longer important to you.
d. When you come to Christ, doing and obeying God’s will becomes the thing you value most.
5. As a result, being in God’s presence changes what you do.
a. What you used to do is important anymore.
b. Who you used to hang out with isn’t important to you anymore.
c. What you used to want doesn’t matter anymore.
d. All that matters is be in Christ.
Transition: In transformation, God also...
III. Changes How You Think (Rom. 12:2)
A. Changing the Way You Think
1. In verse 2, Paul tells us that we are to be different from other people. He says, "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world..."
a. We are not to allow ourselves to be influenced by our society, but we are to influence our society.
b. People often say, "well everybody else is doing it." However, we are to be different from them and rather strive to pattern ourselves after Jesus.
c. 1 John 2:15 (NLT)
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.
2. Instead, Paul tells us to "let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think."
a. The word transform means "to change the essential form or nature of something" (Louw and Nidda, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains).
b. It is not merely a superficial outside change, but a change on the inside. It is a change at the core of your being.
c. Again, it goes back to the whole concept of being born again.
3. How does this happen? By allowing God to change the way you think.
a. 1 Corinthians 2:16 (NLT)
For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.
b. God not only transforms our person and actions, but he changes our mindset.
c. One of the ways He does that is through His word.
d. Psalm 119:11 (NLT)
I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
e. 2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT)
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
f. By study, meditating, and memorizing the word, we allow to change the way we think.
g. After doing this, when we find ourselves tempted to go back to our old way of life, there is God’s word to remind us that we are to be different.
4. Paul says when we allow God to transform our thoughts, we "learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."
a. When we allow God to transform our thinking we no longer desire to fall into the same old sins.
b. We no longer desire to say the things we used to say. Profanity is the sign of a lazy mind. It is easy to allow filth to flow off your tongue, but when God changes your mind you learn to think before you speak.
c. We no longer allow ourselves to go places that we know are not good for us spiritually.
B. A New Way of Thinking
1. Illustration: Regardless of his state in the present, the negative thinker finds disappointment in the future. The epitaph on a negative person’s headstone ought to read, “I expected this.” A sign that was read several years ago in an office building can best describe this type of thinking: Don’t look – you might see. Don’t listen – you might hear. Don’t think – you might learn. Don’t make a decision – you might be wrong. Don’t’ walk – you might stumble. Don’t’ run – you might fall. Don’t live – you might die. And I would like to add one more thought to this depressing list: Don’t’ change – you might grow.
2. God wants to change our minds when it comes to sin.
a. Romans 6:1-2 (NLT)
Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?
b. Before Christ we seek to feed our flesh, but after Christ we seek to feed our spirits.
c. Before Christ we seek to please self, but after Christ we seek to please God.
3. God wants to change our minds when it comes to priority.
a. Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
b. Instead of living for sin, we live for God.
c. Instead of living for our pleasure, we live for God’s pleasure.
d. Instead of looking for ways to sin, we look for ways not to sin.
Transition: When it all comes down to it, God transforms the whole person.
Conclusion
1. God wants to transform us.
a. Change who we are
b. Change what we do
c. Change what we think
2. This transformation is a process.
a. We don’t all of sudden wake up and everything is different.
b. It takes time.
3. What does God still need to transform in you?
