11.24.2013 Following Jesus Then and Now - How do we do that?!

11.24.2013 from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

Lord, thank You – it is Your great name – it is You, Jesus, that we follow – and it is only through the name of Christ by which we are saved –t here is no other name. It is YOU – we gather because of You – to worship You – to proclaim You – not religion – not church, not thoughts – but Jesus – may our lives be filled and consumed with Jesus – may we be grateful for all You’ve done – in Your name we pray. Amen.

I’d like to give some practicalities – of how we can be transformed – but even more, I want to give you hope. How transformation takes place – this is a process of being transformed into His image. As we look at sources of transformation – if you have been struggling with something all of your life, it is possible to begin a process of transformation in that area – you can see progress and transformation in any area of life – but we must engage in it.

Philippians 2: 12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

These are allies – God’s work and our work. Work out your salvation – this does not mean work FOR your salvation. It is taking what has already happened by God’s grace – He transforms us on the inside – the old us is gone – its power is gone – but we need to live that out. Yes, we still struggle with the old self, but what we learn to do – we get engaged in the process of living out what is new. That is what we want to focus on today – how does that happen? How can we engage in it in this moment? And to give hope that if you have been struggling for years – you can be transformed.

Dallas Willard – “God is not opposed to effort, but to earning. God is never opposed to our effort, but is opposed to us trying to earn our salvation.”

Work out – take effort – give yourself to it.

We must engage in well-directed effort if we are to grow in Christlikeness. This is God’s work in us, but we are not passive in the process. Yes, it is something God does, but it takes hard work on our part for our lives to change.

“There is nothing we can do apart from Christ – but if we do nothing, it is apart from Christ!”

Three sources – God – He is the source of transformation – but in particular, it is the Holy Spirit – God is in us – when we come to Christ, the Spirit of God lives in us – we have this power to live as God calls us to live. You have everything you need in you to live as God wants you to live.

The Spirit supplies the power, the ability, and takes the initiative in the transformation process in our lives – the power to start and the power to finish. He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. This transformation process continues through our lives.

Spiritual formation takes place by the power of the Holy Spirit.

…and in the world.

It is all Him doing it inside of us.

How does that happen? What does it mean?

A couple passages – Galatians 5: 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

And then he lists these sinful acts – we all have them – but if you walk by the spirit, you won’t carry those out. When you do those sinful acts, you are not being controlled by the Spirit. When we do that, we have neglected the reality of Him inside of us.

So he is saying – in context here – naturally, in and of ourselves, we are slaves to sin – in bondage to it. We cannot help ourselves until we come to Christ. A person is unable to rid themselves of sin without Christ – without the power of the Spirit working inside.

If we don’t connect and allow God’s spirit to work, to walk in that grace, we will not be transformed. One of the reasons we don’t see transformation is we believe we can change on our own.

But he continues with the fruit of the Spirit – deeds of the flesh versus fruit of the Spirit. We want all of those things – they come out of our lives as we engage the power of the Sprit in our lives.

25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

If you are able to engage His power in our lives – those things no longer have control of you – but you should be moving forward as you go – improving/transforming more.

2 Cor. 3: 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

As we begin to appropriate the Spirit’s work in us – we go from glory to glory.

Paul gives us insight into how this happens – when we behold the glory of the Lord through this mirror – transformation takes place when we look deeply into the glory of the Lord – we must focus our hearts, minds, and souls on Jesus.

When we look at Jesus, that is who we become.

He is speaking of the direction of our souls.

Mirror – you see what you see. They didn’t have mirrors like that – they were like, bronze – and it was like looking into the water – you have to stare intently to see. This intense looking into who He is – and as we do, we are transformed into who we see. Like children imitating parents – to the pain sometimes – we know that.

As we look into the gospel, we think – that is for those who don’t know Jesus – NO! We need that – it transforms us. Paul is writing to Christians, because they need to focus on the resurrection of Christ.

As we look at the Word of God, He reveals himself to us.

Through worship you can either sing – or, most of the worship songs focus on Who Christ is – and as you sing those – you get a new view of God. As we gaze into that – we are transformed. It is not magic – but it might feel like that – but it is how we are created!

We see Jesus – and we become like Him.

From a practical standpoint – we need to focus on what Christ has done on the cross.

Billy Graham had a special in celebration of his 95^th birthday – and the focus is on the cross – it always has been for him! It is not just this figure of the cross, but what happened – how He took our sin and sorrows – He gave us communion to always focus on that.

Now that the cross has happened – our relationship changes – he died – we have died – He was raised, we have been raised – Baptism – it transforms us – we have been changed – and as we look intently at those practices, we are changed – that is why it is so important. It is more than obedience – it is a picture of the truth that has taken place inside of us – and it transforms us.

Romans 8: 5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

The focus begins with the mind – they didn’t think of it being in their brains – but like, intestines – they thought all of the mind - the thinking emotion, affections, the will – combined – who we are needs to be set – it is all that inside of us – it needs to be set on the things of God – the things of the Spirit. The deepest parts of us need to focus on Jesus.

Spiritual transformation… “That is the starting point.”

First – Holy Spirit

Second – Us! Work out your salvation – the Spirit does His work –and we need to do ours.

The difference between training and trying.

Trying hard will not lead to transformation.

Take, for instance – piano – I could try harder than anyone – and pray and fast – but I will never play it like a Beethoven piano concerto.

High jump – I will never jump over 7 feet. 6’9” maybe… haha.

But as you train – you can get to the point of playing.

Anxiety – trying hard not to be anxious will not work – you can say that you are going to pray so hard – but it Is not going to work unless you have trained.

Phil. 4 –

If you struggle with anxiety – you need to learn how to pray – train yourself – in everything that happens – to pray with thanksgiving. Make it – whatever happens – Pray – supplication – then learn to dwell on what God has given.

1 Peter 5 – cast your cares upon him because He cares for You. Roll your burdens/concerns upon Him – and as you do – make it a part of your life – then when the tough events come – you have trained yourself and you should be able to be transformed.

We need to discipline ourselves for change.

1 Tim. 4:

7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.

Train – train – train –look at an Olympic athlete – they train.

We need to find spiritual gyms and spend time there. Whatever you do at the gym – it keeps you in shape. Spiritually, it is no different – you need time alone with God – time to confess and repent and examine your life.

Oswald Chambers:

The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of principles to be obeyed apart from identification with Jesus Christ. The Sermon on the Mount is a statement of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is getting his way with us. In other words, no one ever says, “If you want to be a great athlete go vault eight feet and run the mile under four minutes,” or “If you want to be a great musician, play the Beethoven violin concerto.” Instead we advise the young artist or athlete to enter a certain kind of overall life, one involving deep associations with qualified people as well as rigorously scheduled time, diet and activity for the mind and body.

The form of discipline it takes to do your work – we don’t translate into our spiritual lives – but we have to if we want to experience transformation.

Third – Romans 5:3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Suffering. It is the one we like the least.

Some of the most difficult things I have been through have transformed me the most. They have made me more loving/more sympathetic/to have more compassion.

I don’t like suffering and how it does it –

I also know that difficult things can ruin a person.

Pain deconstructs the lives we have constructed for ourselves.

We go in – and we have this image of ourselves as a Christian and think we are better than others – but God allows – PAIN – and all of a sudden - that which we’ve held to no longer works – and God transforms us – things you have to let go of – drop it!

When we enter into suffering, rather than minimizing

It often takes suffering.

Victory in suffering will not always look victorious. Triumphant suffering is a journey, not a destination. We can short circuit the growth by wanting to reach the end too quickly.

God wants us to get the most out of it.

It feels difficult – but I need to go back to the first point – we have the Holy Spirit inside of us – and He can help us to accomplish the second two points. Let’s pray…