Transformation
2 Cor. 3:12-18
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Where are you at in your transformation? The transformation of people comes at various stages in their life. Some transformations are for the good, some are for the bad. I and probably all of you wish all transformations were for the good, however bad transformations are all to common.
We’ve all heard of a good kid gone bad haven’t we? The child is born and is as innocent as can be. He grows and is loving, caring, and loves to be around other people, matter of fact he thrives around others, however as he grows up they become less loving, less caring, and want to be around others less and less.
I know this story all to well. It’s the story of someone gone wrong. They’ve gotten into the wrong crowd, they’ve gotten into the wrong living situation, they’ve gotten into drugs, or alcohol, maybe pornography, maybe they are a thief, and a habitual lier.
And it’s very easily conceived that the same person has gotten into all of those things at once. That is the way my brother was for a large part of his life.
The story of my brother and I are as different from night and day. We both had a transformation in our lives and my transformation is still continuing. Everyday I strive to be more completely transformed into the image of Christ. My brother’s transformation however ended March 8, 2011. I hope I see him again, however and unfortunately I’m not sure I will.
Where are you at in your transformation and what has your transformation looked like? Has it been a struggle between a bad transformation mixed in with some good transformation or vice a versa? And if it is that way do you ever see yourself being fully committed to being transformed into the image of Christ?
For the transformation to be complete in us as Christians we must do more than what we are currently doing, we must do things differently. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
We’ve to an age in the church where most Christians are satisfied with their Christian life consisting of coming to church on Sundays. There are some who not only come on Sundays, but on Wednesdays too and once we’ve done those things then we feel like we’ve done our duty as a Christian.
We come to church, listen to a sermon, have a lesson taught to us and sometimes the sermon or lesson is so good that you talk about it for a couple days and if the sermon or lesson is absolutely great we might talk about it for a week. But seldom does the sermon or lesson change our normal everyday routine. We feel good about being at church, we talk about the sermon or lesson, but is there action and obedience played out in our lives as a result of the Word of God?
James says in James 1:22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourself, do what it says.” (maybe talk about things the Christian doesn’t do)
There are many Christians who are deceived by the devil who is the great deceiver. He wants you to feel good about being at church, he wants you to really enjoy a great sermon or a great lesson, he wants you to enjoy the fellowship with your fellow Christians. He is glad you are enjoying those things inside the church and that Christians are serving each other. “Keep it in the church” he says “and you can do all of that you want.”
ILLUS: Todd Wagner, the preacher at Watermark in Dallas, TX said, “The greatest evil that exist in America today is Christians who know the Word of God, but are not willing telling others.”
The devil wants you to keep all of those good Christian things inside the church. You see in doing that he wins. However if we take what we learn at church (and in our own Bible studies and prayer time with God) and put it into practice out in the real world then you will begin to see the devil become very upset.
Sadly, there have been many Christian transformations that have been stalled. They’ve come to know Jesus Christ and have taken Him as their Savior, but they fall short of making Him Lord over their lives. And in the church we haven’t done a very good job of moving people forward in their transformation into the image of Christ.
It’s always a joy to see a new life begin as the new believer comes up from the watery grave of baptism. They come up from being baptized and we sing, “Now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me”. And when that happens we get to put a check mark by their name and talk about we’ve accomplished our goal to win another soul. We are glad they’ve chosen to be obedient in baptism, but we don’t seek to make them accountable to further obedience and what happens is a stalling in their transformation to the image of Christ.
We’ve given the impression in the church that when you’ve been baptized we’ve done our job and now it’s time the new believer takes charge of his or her own spiritual growth. “Come to church if you want to.” “Joining a Sunday school class would be good if you want to.” Why don’t you join in on a small group, we would really love to have you.” We say those things.
Instead, if we are going to see the new Christian transformed we must do more than that. We must do more than make suggestions, we must take them along side and teach them, take them along side of us and be obedient with them. We must show them what it is to be a true disciple of Christ. They have to see other Christians being faithfully obedient to God’s Word and bearing fruit so they know what a true follower of Christ is all about.
A true follower of Christ is bold for Christ as Paul writes to the Corinthians in our text, “Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.” vs. 12 But are very bold to do what, to “reflect the Lord’s glory,” vs. 18 And what happens when we reflect the Lord’s glory? We “are being transformed in to his likeness with every-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” vs. 18
Again I will ask, where are you at in your transformation? Here is the deal, wherever you are at it is my job as the preacher of this church, and the elders job as the elders of this church to come along side of you and help you along the way so that you can become a fully developed disciple of Christ. But it is not only my job and the elders job to do those things, it is every Christians job to help our brothers and sisters in Christ be transformed into the image of Christ. It is every Christians job to be a disciple maker.
Don’t be deceived and be hearers of the Word only, be doers.
This year I hope that we as a church make transformations. Transformed lives is what the church is all about and that is why we have the mission to Connect. Grow. Serve.
If you look in your bulletin you will see a vision statement that says…
To Connect people to God and to others in the body of Christ.
To Grow people in mature relationship with God through Jesus Christ and in mature relationship with each other.
To equip people to Serve in the mission Jesus Christ gave, to seek and save the lost and to be disciple makers.
This last one needs to be changed because it says “to equip people” and that is being redundant because the equipping happens in the growing. It should say and will next week, “To Serve in the mission Jesus Christ gave us; to seek and save the lost, to be disciple makers.”
Why that vision statement? Why that mission? Because if you look at the life of Christ this is what you see Him doing. You see Him connecting with people, you see Him helping people grow, and you see Him serving and helping others to serve. Connect. Grow. Serve. in that order because the process of transformation comes in stages.
So let’s look a little today at the various stages to see what they looked like for Jesus and what they look like for us.
Premise: Transformation comes at various stages, and the first stage is to…
Connect
Why did Jesus leave the glory of heaven and come to be with man on this earth? Did He not come so that he could connect personally with mankind? Luke 19:10 makes clear His purpose in coming, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” Lk 19:10
This would have been impossible had Jesus not come to earth to make a connection with mankind.
Heb. 2:17 tells us, For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Heb. 2:17.
You see God loved and loves us so much that, “he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jn 3:16
God’s heart is to connect with people, to love people, to redeem people, who have gone astray from Him to bring them back to Him. But it is very important, I believe, to note that Jesus didn’t make an effort to connect with all the people.
We have talked about this before. When Jesus came He was made 100% human. In coming He gave up the glories of heaven, He made himself humble, like us so that He could experience life on this earth as we do. Read Philippians 2 and you will see this clearly. And because He did that He knew that it would be an impossibility to reach every human being on the face of the earth.
So instead He found 12 men and made them His disciples. He connected with them more than any other people on the face of the earth. He spent time with them, He loved them, He corrected them, He made them accountable to each other, He gave them responsibilities to carry out.
But He connected with 3 of them more than all of the others. Peter, James, John, got to be with Jesus more, they were involved in many activities the other disciples weren’t involved with. With these guys made a connection with Jesus that was deeper than any relationships Jesus had.
In what Jesus did, there is a pattern.
He gave up His glory, His comforts, His life in heaven
He humbled Himself and became a servant of others
He had a mission (and still does) to seek those who are far from Him
He chose a core group of people to have a deep relationship with and would continue His mission
He extended that relationship with 9 others who would extend His mission as well.
Jesus made connections with people, this is why it is so important for us to make connect with people as well.
Right now in MVCC the main place to make a connection with people is right here in this gathering. Most of the time the place where we meet new people is here, the people come here. This needs to change. This is part of the transformation that needs to take place.
From the pattern that Jesus gave us we see that He didn’t pick His disciples from a service at the synagogue. He found them at work, He found them going about their everyday life and He formed them into a small group. A smaller core group of 3 and a larger small group of 12.
In our mission the first step is to Connect. Why? Because that is what Jesus did, but we must also do as Jesus did and begin to connect with people in our work place, schools, and everyday life. Connect with them further by forming them into a small group and building deep relationships.
If we are, as the body of Christ, going to connect with this world as Jesus did, we must seek to make connections with people (for Christ) outside these walls.
Premise: Transformation comes at various stages, and the second stage is to…
Grow
Matthew 11:1, “After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.” Mt. 11:1
When you begin to look through the Gospels on the subject of growth you see that Jesus’ method for growth was through teaching and preaching. And Jesus taught everywhere, in the synagogues, by the lake, on the lake, on the side of a mountain, in the plains, in a boat. He taught the elders, Sadducees, Pharisees, the Jews, the Gentiles, but most of all He taught His disciples.
And these guys really needed to be taught. Let’s face it these guys weren’t to swift, they needed a lot of growth and a lot of teaching. And that is encouraging to us as well because in many things we are not to swift either. I’m glad that Jesus picks the foolish, the unlearned, and the weak to be His servants because I’m all of those things.
Imparting knowledge was extremely important to Jesus. He knew that if His disciples were not convinced of who He was and what His mission was His purpose of seeking and saving the lost would fail.
So you see Jesus often after He was out teaching others that He would come back into His small group of men and explain further the meaning of His teaching. He took special time with that group to build them into strong men of faith who would not only be hearers of the Word but also be doers.
This is why Grow is part of the mission of this church. Anyone who is a part of MVCC is expected to be about the process of growing in your knowledge of the Word, in your relationship with God, and in your relationship with others.
All too often we don’t stress enough the essential need to be with other people learning the Word of God. Quite simply stated, if you don’t know God’s Word you cannot live a life that is pleasing to Him.
You may say, “well I’m here aren’t I?” Being here in this gathering is good, but it’s not near enough. If you are going to grow in your faith you must do more. Come to Sunday school, come to Wednesday night, but the most important thing is to be involved in a small group, even beyond that a core group of just 2 - 4 people.
Small groups though is where we have failed miserably in the last few years. Currently there are only 3 small groups with around 25 people in them. For a church who should have 130 - 150 people if most everyone shows up on Sundays that is less than 10% and on some weeks only 5% of the church body in small groups.
From the first century to today things have gotten turned around. Jesus started with a small group of 3, extended to a larger group of 12, and then eventually through the work of His disciples extended to the whole church body. Today our first place to gather is in the whole church body with very few in small groups.
Do you see why a transformation is in order? I believe that the goal of this church should be to have this whole church body in small groups by the end of the year. And I’m not talking about groups that meet September - May, or Feb. - May, but groups that meet all year.
In a small group is where Jesus’ disciples grew the most. They gain much knowledge, they were accountable to each other, and they were taught to be on mission for Jesus Christ. And through small groups, done properly, is were most of our growth will take place.
That brings us to Serve as the transformation continues
Premise: Transformation comes at various stages, and the third stage is to…
Serve
In serving, our service is to complete the mission of Christ, just as it was for the disciples. Matthew 28:19-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Mt. 28:19-20
Jesus’ last words were to make sure that His mission of seeking and saving the lost would be complete. After He connected with the 12 and saw to it that they were grown up in their faith, He was making sure they wouldn’t just be hearer of the Word, but doers of the Word as well. The Great Commission of Jesus is a call to put our faith into action. It is something we must do if we are going to continue in our growth.
By growth I mean our personal growth, we grow when we serve, but I also mean the growth of the Kingdom of God. And the growth of the Kingdom of God will not continue unless we are about the business of making disciples.
Making disciples who make disciples is the method Jesus implemented, because He knew He couldn’t reach the whole world by Himself as a man, so that His church, the body of Christ, could continue to seek and save the lost until the He comes back at the end of the age.
2 Timothy 2:4, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” 2 Tim. 2:4
You see what we learn as we grow in Christ has to be passed on to others and not just by the preachers and teachers of the church, but by every Christian. If what we learn is not passed on we will bring on our own demise. It’s like the quote I brought up earlier by Todd Wagner, “The greatest evil that exist in America today is Christians who know the Word of God, but are not willing telling others.”
Not telling others in counter intuitive of what Jesus said in the Great Commission and it is counter intuitive of what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Tim. 2:4.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, if you are not serving obediently in some way through the body of Christ to let others know about the saving knowledge of the Gospel there is something seriously wrong with your faith.
James says, “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:17
It is so serious, if you are not serving, if you are not spreading the Word of God, that James says your faith is dead.
And listen, the service I’m talking about is not serving other Christians, the serving I’m talking about is being on mission for Christ. Making disciples, seek and saving the lost.
But don’t get me wrong there is good in serving and helping Christians, matter of fact Paul says to the Galatian church, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” Gal. 6:9-10
It is good to help the family of believers and for those who do that on a regular basis, we all need to praise God for them. But we also do good for all people and Paul says if we don’t give up and become weary there will be a harvest to be reaped.
CONCLUSION:
The vision statement you see in your bulletin is to accomplish Our Goal For You (which is on the bulletin as well). And our goal for you is for you to become a fully developed disciple of Christ who will bear much fruit.
John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.” Jn 15:16
In order to accomplish this goal a transformation needs to take place. It needs to take place in our lives from wherever you are currently at and it needs to take place in the church from where we are currently at to modeling what Jesus did with His life on earth.
My challenge to you today is to really evaluate where you are at in Connect. Grow. Serve. You are in there somewhere. Part of the reason for the challenge a few weeks ago to read through the Gospels in one week was so you would see the pattern of Jesus’ life. If you didn’t do that please do it this week as you evaluate where you are at in the process of Connect. Grow. Serve.
I didn’t do the challenge when I asked you to because I was reading through the New Testament in a month. I completed that on December 31st. This week I will read through the Gospels with you and I hope you share your experience with me and with others.
Let’s pray.
Reading Through the Gospel in One Week Plan
Sunday read - Matt. 1-15
Monday read - Matt. 16-28
Tuesday read - Mark 1-16
Wednesday read - Luke 1-10
Thursday read - Luke 11-24
Friday read - John 1-8
Saturday read - John 9-21
