This morning, as we enjoy the beauty of God’s creation, we will continue our journey toward a life of purpose by examining another of God’s purposes for our lives. And that purpose is: that we were created to become like Christ.
Over the next two Sunday services I want to linger here with this purpose: the process of becoming Christ Like. In the First century the name Christian was initially given as a slang negative term directed towards those men and women who resembled and acted like Jesus Christ. Thus to be called Christian clearly implied being like Christ. But today the term Christian has been so watered down that it rarely implies anything family history, tradition or title.
So what does it mean to become like Christ and how does it happen. For some directed answers turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 12 beginning in verse one.
And so dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice- The kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is that too much to ask? Verse 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of the world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.
In this passage a key word jumps off the page that points us to becoming like Christ and that word is Transform.
If we want to become like Christ, then we must let God through the Holy Spirit transform us. We must choose to let God shape and direct our lives however he deems best. Putting ourselves in the hands of God and trusting that he knows best. We may think that we can’t do that yet how many of us have laid down on an operating table and trusted completely that the surgeon knew best. How much more to trust in the one who made the surgeon.
We must allow the father through the Holy Spirit to
transform our lives, but what are the agents or the means by which God uses to transform us. The list can be endless but primarily God uses three vehicles, three agents to transform our lives: The word of God, Temptations, and trials.
For the purpose of our morning message we will focus upon the transforming power of the Word of God.
Saving the agents of Temptation and trials for next week.
We live in a day where everything is relative. Nothing is absolute. The world’s philosophy is simply, Do what feels Good for you, live out your own reality, your own truth, your own standard.
But that is a lie straight from Satan himself. If we want to be like Christ then we have a standard. We have an absolute truth and it is the Bible. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 describes the Bible in this way: For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two edged sword, It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Simply put as we read the Bible it reads us, and communicates life to us. And in so doing changes and transforms us. Please be clear apart from the word of God No lasting change can occur in our lives. So how are we transformed by the word; well first…
We must accept the authority of the Word of God.
We must truly believe that the Bible is alive and that it is the word of God. You must make it the definitive measure or standard by which everything in our lives is measured and evaluated. As a young Christian and sometimes even today I can allow my feelings, others comments, others counsel, and even my life situations to cause me make decisions without ever checking with my standard - The word of God. It is so easy to do. Be careful .Our feelings will come and go but God’s word stays the same it never changes
It is said that in the early years of Billy Graham’s ministry Billy went through a time when he struggled with doubts about the accuracy and authority of the Bible. One moonlit night he dropped to his knees in tears he told God, in spite of confusing passages he didn’t understand, from that point on he would completely trust the Bible as the sole authority for his life and ministry. From that day forward, Billy’s life was blessed with unusual power and effectiveness.
Guys today you don’t have to understand it all, but you must come to the place where you realize that He is God and you are not and you will trust His word.
Second, we must fill our hearts, minds, bodies ,and souls with the word of God.
I’m not going to spend a long time here because I speak about this quite frequently. But you can not expect to Be transformed if you spend no personal time in the word of God. Well how can you fill every part of you with the word, let me offer a few practical suggestions.
Choose to Receive it- To hear it several times a week whether in worship or in Bible Study you are given an opportunity to hear the word of God.
Choose to Read it- If you would spend just 15 minutes a day reading the bible you would read the whole bible in one year. 30 minutes a day and you would read it twice. Many of you know only about the Bible because you have never read it for yourself.
Research - Study it- study a passage using different bible tools such as a dictionary, concordance or commentary and study it like you would any priceless gem.
I bet if you have a hobby you have read everything about that subject because you have studied it. Do the same for the word of God.
Remember it- memorize it. Take the time to memorize a verse or passage.
Reflect- Meditate upon it- Think on it. I am good at thinking on or worrying about many a thing but God’s word.
The Lord is My shepherd
Finally obey the word… Do what it says to do.
Do what the word says to do. James 1:22 tells us to be doers of the word not just hearers. Moms how obedient would your child be if they heard what you said understood what you said reflected on what you said, but never did what you said.
The first step to becoming like Christ is to pick up his book and make it truly our manual and guide for our personal living and its choices. Choose today to want to want to become like Christ . Choose today to be transformed by the truth of the word of God.
