Introduction:
A. The story is told of a woman who testified to the transformation in her life that had resulted from becoming a Christian.
1. She declared, “I’m so glad I became a Christian. I have an uncle I used to hate so much I vowed I’d never go to his funeral. But now that I’m a Christian, why, I’d be happy to go his funeral any time.”
2. All weekend the participants of the youth rally have been talking about transformation.
3. Hopefully our spiritual transformation is a little more complete and consequential than that of the lady in the story I just told.
B. The youth rally theme has been based on the incredibly successful series of Transformer movies.
1. As you may know, so far there have been three movies in the series and together they have grossed almost 3 billion dollars.
2. The fourth movie is supposed to be released in 2014.
3. Now I won’t attempt to explain the story line, but in many ways it is the classic good versus evil type plot.
4. The pictures you see before you include the leader on the good side – Bumble Bee, and the leader on the bad side – Megatron.
5. Each of the transformers has kind of a regular mode in which they exist in a normal type form, like a car or a truck, and then they have a battle mode when they take on some kind of fighting form.
C. Unlike the characters in the Transformer movies, the spiritual transformation that is taking place in our lives and needs to take place in our lives is not something that is hidden, or only comes out on special occasions, when it is necessary.
1. We need to be transformed through and through.
2. And our transformation needs to be apparent and permanent for all to see.
3. Let’s spend a few minutes considering several important truths about spiritual transformation.
I. First of all, I would encourage us to remember that spiritual transformation is POSSIBLE.
A. The truth of the matter is: God can transform us and then God can transform the world through us.
1. One of the greatest examples of God’s ability to transform people is the apostles.
2. For three years the twelve followed Jesus around. They watched him and they listened to him.
a. But in many ways they struggled to get it.
b. One of the twelve betrayed Him. Another denied to even knowing Him three times.
c. When Jesus was arrested they all ran and hid.
d. When Jesus was crucified only one of the 12 stood near the cross with Him.
3. But then the resurrection happened and the 11 saw the resurrected Jesus and their faith grew.
4. 10 days after Jesus ascended back to heaven the Holy Spirit came upon them and they were never the same.
5. That sorry group of disciples turned the world upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
6. You talk about transformation!
B. Perhaps the greatest example of transformation is the story of the apostle Paul.
1. Before he became the apostle Paul, he was known as Saul of Tarsus.
a. He was a leading Jewish Pharisee and he was a persecutor of the church.
b. He led the way in having Christians arrested, imprisoned and executed.
2. If you had asked the Christian community if they thought that Saul would ever become Christian, they probably would have laughed and said, “No way! Never!”
3. Saul of Tarsus was such a menace for the early church that I’m sure many prayers were prayed about him.
a. Some of those prayers may have been for Paul’s demise.
b. But I’m sure that many of those prayers were for Saul’s conversion.
4. As you know, one day as Saul was making his way to a city called Damascus on a mission to arrest more Christians, Jesus made a personal appearance to Saul.
a. That encounter shattered Saul’s world.
b. In an instant he went from being a doubter and persecutor to being a believer and eventually a proponent and advocate of Christianity.
c. Saul of Tarsus was transformed into Paul the apostle.
5. God transformed Paul and then transformed the world through him.
a. Paul is responsible for the greatest expansion of Christianity in history.
b. And Paul is responsible for at least 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament.
6. Wow! You talk about transformation!
C. What God did in and through the apostles, He can do in us and through us as well.
1. God is still in the business of spiritual transformation.
2. Paul declared: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17)
a. No matter how long we have been a Christian, we are and can be a new creation.
b. As a new creation, we are a member of the family of God, and we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit as a deposit and He dwells in us.
3. As Christians, ultimately, there is nothing we cannot overcome and become, because we like Paul can say, “I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.” (Phil. 4:13)
4. That doesn’t mean that transformation is going to be easy or quick, because Satan is working against us, and sometimes we also work against what God is trying to do in us and for us.
5. But no matter how frustrated we might be, or how much we might have failed to experience transformation in the past, the possibility remains in the present and the future.
6. God’s promises remain – including this one: “…He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ.” (Phil. 1:6)
7. Paul’s words from today’s Scripture Reading are filled with hope – “And we…are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory…” (3:18)
8. So this is the first truth we need to keep in mind - spiritual transformation is possible because of God’s promises and His power that is at work in us.
II. Second, I would encourage us to remember that spiritual transformation involves a PERSON.
A. The person I’m talking about is the Lord, who is the Spirit.
1. Transformation, ultimately, comes from and through God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
2 God lives in us and works in and through us – The Lord transforms us, we don’t transform ourselves.
a. John Ortberg explained it this way in his book The Life You Always Wanted: “It's like a motorboat and a sailboat. A person can operate a motorboat without assistance, given the right equipment and effort. Operating a sailboat is different--it is dependent on the wind. The operator of a sailboat does whatever enables him to catch the wind. Spiritual transformation is like this: we can open ourselves to spiritual transformation through certain practices, but we cannot engineer it. We can take no credit for it.” (p. 55-56)
b. Transformation occurs when we focus on the Lord and yield to His will and ways.
c. Transformation occurs when we bring the Lord into every part of our lives and let Him do His work.
3. I like the story told of the wise mother who visited her son at college.
a. When she visited his dorm room, she saw that his walls were covered with more than a dozen suggestive pictures and posters.
b. Her heart was grieved, but she said nothing.
c. Several days later, the mailman delivered a package to the young man at college.
d. It was a gift from his mother—a beautifully framed picture of an artist’s rendition of Jesus Christ.
e. Proudly the boy hung the picture on the wall above his desk.
f. That night, before he went to bed, the young man looked at the picture of Jesus and then looked at the pin-up picture which hung closest to the face of Christ. He took down the pin up. picture
g. The next day another picture from the wall was consigned to the wastebasket.
h. Day after day the pictures began to disappear from the walls until only one remained—the picture of the Savior.
B. Transformation involves a Person – The Lord who is the Spirit makes our transformation a reality.
1. We must pray to be filled with the Spirit and to be controlled by the Spirit.
2. We must learn to walk in the Spirit and to not grieve the Holy Spirit.
3. And when given the opportunity, the Spirit will produce in us the fruit of the Spirit.
III. Finally, I would encourage us to remember that spiritual transformation is a PROCESS.
A. One of the most amazing things to behold in nature is the metamorphosis of a caterpillar.
1. Who would imagine that an ugly caterpillar could become such a beautiful butterfly.
2. That metamorphosis takes place in a series of stages.
3. Ultimately, the caterpillar has to abandon the old life in order to experience the new life.
B. Our transformation is a process much like that of metamorphosis of a caterpillar– there are stages in the process, and there are periods where nothing seems to be taking place.
1. We all have experienced those spiritual growth spurts and then those spiritual plateaus where it seems like no progress is being made.
2. I like a sign that was seen on the freeway in Boston during a major transformation of the streets and bridges. It said: “Rome wasn't built in a day. If it was we would have hired their contractor.”
3. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will be our spiritual lives. Transformation is a process.
C. I love the way Peter discusses the process of transformation in the opening of his second letter.
1. “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Pet. 1:3-8)
2. The promises of this passage start with the fact that God has made available all that we need for transformation, and that we get to participate in the divine nature.
3. Then Peter describes the process of developing our character by adding these divine qualities in increasing measure.
4. Peter concludes with the promise that if we are diligent in the process the end result will be spiritually effective and productive lives.
5. Sounds great doesn’t it? We all want that, right?
D. The big question for us is: How do we do this? How do we allow the Lord to transform us into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, while at the same time make every effort to do our part?
1. I would suggest that our part includes practicing certain spiritual disciplines with faith and faithfulness.
2. Let me quickly share a few of these disciplines that transform us and allow us to transform the world – these disciplines allow us to catch the wind, like the sailboat.
E. First, We are transformed and we transform through the Word.
1. Nothing can take the place of the Word of God in our lives which then becomes the sword of the Spirit in our hand.
a. 1 Peter 2:2-3 says, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
b. Look at what Paul told the elders from Ephesus: “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32)
2. One of my favorite stories about the ability of the Word of God to transform is the true story of the Mutiny on the Bounty.
a. Nine mutineers with six native men and twelve native (Tahitian) women put ashore on Pitcairn Island in 1790.
b. One sailor soon began distilling alcohol, and the little colony was plunged into debauchery and vice.
c. Ten years later, only two white men survived Alexander Smith and Edward Young, surrounded by native women and half-breed children.
d. One day, in an old chest from the Bounty, Alexander found a Bible, but he couldn’t read.
e. Fortunately, Edward Young was literate and so he taught Smith to read using the Bible.
g. A year later, Young died, but Alexander Smith continued to read to Bible.
h. Seeing the importance of teaching the Bible to others, he began teaching the children how to read, and eventually some of the mothers learned to read as well.
i. Using the Bible, he taught everyone about the Christian faith and instituted a daily prayer time, grace before meals, and Sunday worship.
j. In 1808, 18 years after being stuck on the island, Pitcairn’s Island was discovered by an American ship.
k. The members of the crew were amazed to find that the island was inhabited by thirty five English-speaking people who were practicing the Christian faith.
l. Here’s a picture of the Bounty Bible from the Pitcairn Island Museum.
m. The Bible and the Christian faith had transformed the Pitcairn community into a peaceful, prosperous community with no jail, no whisky, no crime, and no laziness.
3. If we are going to be transformed and then transform the world, then the Bible must be given the opportunity to do its work in us and through us.
4. How committed are you to reading, studying, knowing and obeying God’s Word?
F. Second, We are transformed and we transform through prayer.
1. The Bible tells us that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (James 5:16).
2. Prayer is powerful only because God is powerful and God has promised to hear and answer our prayers.
3. God’s answers to our prayers are not always the answers we want to receive.
a. Nevertheless, prayer brings about spiritual transformation in our lives and in our world.
4. Prayer can move mountains! Are there mountains in your life and world that need to be moved? Are you faithfully praying about it?
5. I love the story of Evan Roberts who was a 13 year-old living in a coal mine town in Wales when he began to pray.
a. Every day during lunch, he would take his Bible and pray that revival would come.
b. Do you know what he would pray? He prayed that God would give him 100,000 souls.
c. Do you pray for God to do big things like that?
d. That boy prayed that prayer for 13 years.
e. When he was 26, revival broke out under his preaching and in 6 months 100,000 people came to Christ.
f. Now that’s faith-filled and faithful praying. 13 years of earnest prayer.
6. The Bible doesn’t say to preach or sing without ceasing, but says to pray without ceasing.
7. Spiritual transformation comes through that kind of praying.
G. Third, We are transformed and we transform through obedience.
1. We don’t always understand or agree with God’s commands, but if we will trust God and act in faith, then God will work in us and through us.
2. For example, one of the most difficult of God’s commands has to do with loving our enemies and not taking revenge into our own hands.
3. Paul said it like this in Romans 12: Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
a. Are you willing to obey those commands?
4. The relationship between King Saul and David, the future king, is a great example of this.
a. More than anything, Saul wanted to kill David and Saul tried his best to make that happen.
b. God protected David from Saul, but on two occasions, David had the chance to kill Saul, but he refused to lift a hand against God’s anointed king.
c. David obeyed God and left the revenge to Him, even though it didn’t make sense.
d. Through David’s obedience, he was transformed and so was everyone who witnessed David’s righteousness.
H. Finally, We are transformed and we transform through suffering.
1. James said it best when he said: 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)
2. This has to be one of the most challenging and upside down commands in the Bible.
a. We are not just supposed to endure trials, or even welcome trials.
b. We are supposed to consider it pure joy or “count it all joy” (ESV) when we face trials.
3. Why should we have that kind of reaction to trials? Because the proper handling of trials results in transformation – the finished product is maturity and completeness.
4. We learn more and grow more during our trials than anything else.
5. Have you also noticed how many ministries and ministry opportunities come through trials?
6. God promises that His grace is sufficient and that His power is made perfect through our weaknesses and our times of greatest weakness.
7. So does that change your attitude about trials? Are you ready to consider it pure joy…?
Conclusion:
A. Now that we have considered the “how” of transformation, I want to finish by returning to potential of transformation.
1. Let’s finish with the true and amazing story of Clyde Thompson.
B. Clyde’s father was a Bible salesman, but when he was old enough to stay home alone, he began refusing to go to church with the rest of the family.
1. Most Sundays, while his family was in church, Clyde was hunting.
2. One Sunday afternoon in 1929, when he was 17 years old, he met some men in the woods, and for some reason Clyde killed the men.
3. So at the age of 17, he was the youngest man in Texas history to be sentenced to death in the electric chair.
4. Two years later, he became the youngest man on death row at Huntsville Penitentiary.
5. As the date of his execution neared, Clyde listened to a radio preacher and asked for the man to come to the prison and baptize him. The preacher came and Clyde was baptized.
6. Legal complications kept him from being executed.
7. Unfortunately, things began to go very badly for him and he was worked so hard at the prison work farm that he lost his faith.
8. He began trying to escape and a number of prisoners were killed while trying to escape with Clyde. Clyde was shot through the shoulder in one of the attempts.
9. While on death row he got into a fight and killed two other prisoners, making a total of four people he had killed.
10. As the years passed, Clyde Thompson was tagged by his own prison mates as the meanest man in the State of Texas.
11. He developed such a terrible reputation inside death row that they put him in isolation.
12. Clyde was put in an old building that used to be the morgue.
a. A steel door was put in place and the only opening was about a foot square with bars.
b. There was no running water and no electricity.
c. Because this morgue sat between two very tall buildings inside the prison, daylight could only enter for six hours each day.
13. After being in the isolation for 2 or 3 months, Clyde asked a guard to bring him a Bible.
a. He knew they wouldn’t give him anything else to read, but he was bored.
b. He just wanted something to read. He decided he would try to prove the Bible wasn’t from God because it was full of contradictions – at least that’s what he had heard.
c. But the more he studied it, the more he became convinced it was God’s truth.
14. He came to realize that Christianity was man’s only hope and he repented in tears on his knees day and night for months.
a. Clyde kept reading the Bible and asking God if He could forgive a wretch like him.
15. A change began to come over Clyde Thompson. The guards noticed it.
16. Later, he was released from the morgue to return to death row. There, on death row, he taught and baptized by immersion eight other prisoners.
17. He made such an impression on prison administration that they finally released him from death row and let him go among the general population.
18. Clyde continued to study his Bible and he took a two year Bible course from a college in TN.
19. He became the chaplain’s right-hand man, his assistant.
20. Eventually, after more than 28 years in prison, the State of Texas gave him a life-time parole.
21. On the outside, Clyde went straight to the Lubbock County Jail, one of the largest county jails in Texas and he began a chaplaincy program there.
22. Clyde died of a heart attack in July of 1979.
23. It was Clyde Thompson who will go down in God’s record book as one of the greatest soul winners his present generation had ever known.
24. It was Clyde Thompson, the meanest man in the State of Texas, who literally led hundreds of men, women, boys and girls out of the streets of alcoholism, out of the streets of drugs, and to the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ.
25. It was this man, Clyde Thompson, the meanest man in the State of Texas, who was transformed when he allowed the Word of God and the love of God to take hold of his life.
C. God wants to do the same kind of transforming work in each of us and through each of us!
1. Will we let God do it?
2. Will we do our part, and allow God to do His part?
3. I hope and pray so.
