(This message was inspired by George Barna and his book, Revolution. I also found Sermon Central contributor, J. Martin’s messages on this topic helpful.)
Are you a Revolutionary?
Are you in a close orbit with God? Are you doing whatever it takes to get closer to God and to help others do the same? Are you obliterating any obstacle that prevents you from honoring God with every breath you take? Are you being such an outstanding example of the Christian faith so that no one will question your heart or lifestyle?
Those things are the things that a Revolutionary does. These are the things that separate a person who is desperate for God from a person who just hopes to make it into heaven and nothing else.
Being a Revolutionary is a transformational event that I believe needs to happen in the lives of every believer.
But the fact is that some will reject this Revolution.
There are three ways that the church will react towards Revolutionaries. They will try with all their might to stop the Revolution. They will ignore the Revolution. Or they will support the Revolution looking for ways to retain the importance and identity of the church allowing the Revolution to enhance the church and their own lives.
I think you know which one I am for.
Being a part of the Revolution does mean one thing; it means change. That is what a transformation is.
Change is always going to be a part of life. Every day and in every way changes are taking place.
Changes in technology, in science, in medicine, in politics, in personal relationships, in your status, in your self-image, as well as many other ways. Change is always taking place.
In April I announced that I was going to let my hair grow for one year. Does anyone remember why? I felt the Lord calling me to illustrate the constant theory of change.
I get a kick out of people. Someone came up to Debbie the other day and said, I need to apologize to your husband and Debbie asked why.
The lady said, “I didn’t recognize your husband.”
Thank you, God! Do you understand?
Sometimes we control the change that happens and sometimes it just happens.
The point is, change is going to happen whether we like it or not. So we better like it, if not for any other reason than this, Jesus Christ, the Son of God was the main agent of change in our world.
He came and He changed the whole spiritual temperature of the world. He made it possible for people to have a close relationship with God the way God intended. It was a change. No longer did a person have to go through the priest to get to God.
A good example of this kind of change would be the Protestant Revolution that took place in the 16th Century.
The Protestant Revolution, also referred to as the Protestant Reformation, was a movement in the 16th century to reform the Catholic Church in Western Europe.
The Reformation was started by Martin Luther with his 95 Theses on the practice of indulgences. An indulgnace was done after a person committed a sin. It could have been the reciting of a prayer or the giving of money.
It is still practiced today in the Catholic Church.
Indulgences are not a “license to sin” or a “get-out-of-Hell-free” card; they are a means for the sinner to “pay” the “wages” of sin.
Luther disagreed with this. His 95 Theses, challenged the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church on the nature of penance, the authority of the pope and the usefulness of indulgences.
This writing sparked a theological debate that would result in the Reformation and the birth of the Lutheran, Reformed, Presbyterian, and Baptist traditions within Christianity.
It was a change in religious thinking. The place of the Bible in the life of mankind was changed. It was now a tool in the hands of the believer. Worship of God became more intimate. Faith became the responsibility of the believer instead of the institution.
The Pope went from being the preeminent religious leader of the earth to the religious leader of the world’s largest denomination.
The point is, change took place and change continues to take place today.
In this series we have been looking at the different definitions of Revolution.
The first two that we looked at were:
Definition 1 – Movement of a body in an orbit or circle.
Definition 5 – Overthrow of a government or social system, with another taking its place.
Today we are going to look at the final definition:
Definition 4 – A complete or radical change of any kind.
PRAY
Father we ask for Your anointing on us today. Place Your anointing on me as Your messenger today. Make each of us revolutionist.
Open our eyes so that we may see Your Word. Open our ears so that we may hear Your Word. Open our minds so that we may understand Your Word. Open our hearts so that we may receive Your Word today.
AMEN
Our Scripture for this series are the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 12:1-2.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2
A complete or radical change of any kind.
I have often wondered why people are so resistant to change. As I stated moments ago, change is always going to be around us.
One pastor, talking about change said this, “During my sermon you body is going to change. About one half a million cells in you body are going to die and be replaced with about one half a million new cells.
Change is always around us.
Why is change is always going to be around? Because God invented change.
The earth was formless and without any substance and God changed it. It was dark and God changed it. Man was alone and God changed that.
Man had a great personal relationship with God and then man sinned and lost that relationship and God changed it by sending His one and only Son to the earth to restore the fellowship between Himself and man.
God created change.
In the past few hundred years, as we have observed, the church has been failing in some areas. Many so called Christians have put religion ahead of their relationship with God and once again God is bringing in fresh waves of change into the church, just as Jesus did when He first came to the world.
The church today is in a desperate need for a radical change in our lives.
We need more of God. We need to know Him more intimately. We need to call on Him more and we need to worship Him more. We need to trust him more and we need to follow His will more. We need to have more faith.
God wants to do a sudden, radical, and complete change in each of us.
We were created to know and love God.
We were created to reproduce others for God.
We were created to live our lives in such a way that it would reflect God’s image.
We were created to know God in a personal way.
We were created to be a part of God’s plan.
And the change that is taking place within the church today is returning the church to these important truths.
Many churches in our nation today have no impact on their towns and neighborhoods because the people who attend them fail to experience this kind of transformation in their lives.
Barna outlines 7 areas of our lives that should experience a transformation that will not only change the person but will also change the world.
The first area we need transformation is in our spiritual practices.
Ask… What are your spiritual practices?
Prayer, Bible reading, Bible study, Memorization, Worship, Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
Our spiritual practices are those things that bring us closer to God. We need a radical transformation in these areas.
We could actually learn something from the Muslims. They make their children memorize the Koran. The can recite it to you until they are blue in the face. They know it forward and backward and they are willing to give their life for it.
The second area we need transformation is in our personal faith.
”Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6
Our faith needs to grow and that is done by trusting God with every part of our lives.
The third area we need transformation is our perspective on life.
We need to see our lives in a spiritual perspective. In other words, in everything we do, we do for God and everything we do to make a difference for the kingdom of God.
If I am going to build a fence, then I am doing for God. If I am going to bandage a cut at camp then I am going to do that for God. What ever I do in this life I want it to bear fruit for Him. That needs to be our perspective of life. Why? Because life on earth is all about our life after earth.
We need to be looking to the future. Storing up our treasure in a place where moth and rust cannot destroy them.
The fourth area we need transformation is our attitude.
No one wants to hang around Christians who are always down and defeated. As God’s children we need to be up beat. We need to be confident. We need to have a positive attitude.
We have a reason for being this way. We belong to the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
We serve the Risen Lord and He is all-powerful and all knowing and it is our great purpose to serve and love Him. And as we do, God promises to pour His blessings out on us.
Why shouldn’t we have a great attitude? There is no reason for the child of God to not have a positive outlook on life because God promised that He would always be with us. In the good times and in the bad times.
The fifth area we need transformation is our character.
Our character traits need to reflect the character traits of Jesus Christ. He is our example and He has set the standard for us to follow.
Will we always succeed? No, not always, but one character trait that we need to have is that we should never give up.
We are sinners and until we go to heaven we will always be sinners. But until that time we need to work on our character so that we begin to reflect the image of Christ to others.
The sixth area we need transformation is our in relationships.
Do you love others?
Do you strive for peace?
Do you seek unity?
Are you a team player?
Do you bless others?
Do you desire to help people?
Are your relationships with others righteous?
And the last area we need transformation in is in our behavior.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”
Romans 12:1
If we are going to be transformed then we are going to make decisions in our lives that are based upon God’s Word. We are going to make decisions that will show a moral life. We are going to be hard working, good deed doing, productive, worshippers of God.
Now you may be thinking that this is an impossible task. You may be saying to yourself, “Pastor, I can’t be transformed like that.”
Well let me let you in on a little secret; it has already started. You began to transform the very moment you gave your heart to Christ. At that moment of salvation God began a work in you that is on going.
Paul told us in Philippians 1:6 that, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
God is not finished with any of us.
And if you have not gave your heart to Christ don’t worry. You are still here. You didn’t get up and leave yet.
God can begin a work in you. The Holy Spirit has been tugging at your heart and you have been feeling the power of God’s forgiveness and grace.
We need transformation.
We need to be a part of the Revolution.
Are you ready?
Let’s be transformed into the image of Christ by the Spirit of the Lord. Let’s call on His grace and mercy and let us seek Him.
CLOSE
