The Joy Of Becoming Like Christ Series

All of your trials. All of your testing. All of your circumstances and situations serve a purpose. They are to help you become more like Christ.

You have been born again and you’ve got to grow, develop, work out the salvation you’ve been given. You are not working “for” your salvation – that was accomplished on the cross. But you are to work out your salvation in your own life. You help develop it. You help develop Christian character. You help by becoming more patient. You help by becoming more kind – more loving. The more you use your muscles the more you develop your muscles. This is a process that produces mature character. That’s God’s goal for you to have Christ like character in your life.

You cannot choose what is going to happen to you next week, next month, next year. You don’t have that choice. But you can choose how you’re going to respond – how you’re going to react. Are you going to respond in a way that is pleasing to God? Are you going to let situations make you or break you? Are you going to become bitter or better? You have a choice of how you respond to your trials. Romans chapter five tells us:

“We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Romans 5:3-4 (NKJV)

God is more concerned with your character than He is with your comfort. Christ like character is the bottom line. It is the ultimate goal. God is very concerned at how you respond to your situations and circumstances.

Both you and God are in the life change business – together! Folks many of us talk as though we have already been saved – that it is something that has happened in the past. If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior – this is a true fact – but it is also true that the Bible pictures salvation as a process. In other words – I have been saved – I am being saved – I will be saved. Salvation involves my past – my present – and my future. From the moment that I accepted Jesus – something changed. Today something is changing. Tomorrow something will be changed. God is in the life change business and I can be involved in it with Him. I can partnership with God in the process of changing my life. Let me illustrate what I am talking about:

Let’s say there is a river that runs right by your house. It is wide and the water flows slow and steady. All the water is flowing to the ocean. It has a definite course and a definite destination in mind. There is a little rowboat on the bank of the river and you decide to get in the rowboat and paddle out into the middle of the river. Now once you get in the boat you can do one of three things. You can:

1. Paddle against the current.

2. Sit in the rowboat and go with the flow.

3. Paddle with the current.

Which one of the three options will get you to the ocean sooner?

God has a plan and a purpose for you in mind. He has a destination that He wants to take you to. He wants to change you into the image of His son – Jesus Christ. He is in the life change business. You have a choice. You can fight against the process – you can sit back and do nothing – or you can work together with Him in the process of becoming more Godly – of becoming more like Jesus. What will you do?

(I would like to thank Richard Warren for the sermon starter idea.)