Transformed Will

Choosing to Obey: James 1:22-25

Matthew 4:19 HCSB

“Follow Me,” He told them, “and I will make you fish for people!”

We will become fully formed followers of Jesus who live intentionally seeking to share Jesus and invite others to join us in becoming fully formed followers of Jesus.

This transformation is defined for us by Dallas Willard:

The revolution of Jesus is in the first place and continuously a revolution of the human heart…[it] is a revolution of character, which proceeds by changing people from the inside through ongoing personal relationship to God in Christ and to one another.

Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ (Colorado Springs, CO.: Navpress, 2002), 15.

Our hearts are transformed, lead us to desire God’s Word, which transforms our thinking.

As our thinking is transformed by the mind of Christ, which we have access to through the revealed Word of God and the indwelling Holy Spirit, our will is changed.

Listen to the counsel of James, the half-brother of Jesus Himself:

James 1:21–25 HCSB

Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and evil, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save you. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but one who does good works—this person will be blessed in what he does.

RESULTS OF A TRANSFORMED WILL

Just hours prior to His crucifixion Jesus prayed so intently that Luke tells us His “sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground...” Jesus was “in anguish” and that He prayed ‘fervently’ (Luke 22:39-46).

The prayer He prayed was simple and specific:

Luke 22:42 HCSB

“Father, if You are willing, take this cup away from Me—nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”

“…not my will, but Yours, be done.”

A Transformed Will Hears God’s Word Differently

James refers to God’s Word several times in this section of his letter -

vs.21, 22, 23, and in vs, 25 where he uses ‘the perfect law of freedom’ instead.

First, disciples - followers of Jesus - are those in whom the word has been implanted.

Jesus described these people in a parable of soils - see Luke 8:4-8, 11-15

Jesus describes the good soil in these words:

Luke 8:15 HCSB

But the seed in the good ground—these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, bear fruit.

Of course the ‘word’ here in Luke and in James specifically refers to the message of the Gospel: the truth that in Christ we are set free from the penalty and power of sin and given new life.

A Transformed Will Hears God’s Word by Doing.

Followers of Jesus don’t just hear the word and file it away.

The word becomes our instruction. We don’t just ‘hear’ and nod our heads in affirmation.

Those who are experiencing a transformed heart, mind, and thought pattern hear and obey.

Remember Jesus’ pattern for prayer:

Matthew 6:10 HCSB

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In the heavenly places when when God speaks, obedience is immediate.

Those with a Transformed Will Hear and Persist

A few years ago an author suggested that with 10,000 hours of dedicated and persistent practice a person can approach mastery of a particular discipline. He cites the following research, done nearly 50 years ago:

There are no instant experts in chess—certainly no instant masters or grandmasters. There appears not to be on record any case (including Bobby Fischer) where a person reached grandmaster level with less than about a decade's intense preoccupation with the game. We would estimate, very roughly, that a master has spent perhaps 10,000 to 50,000 hours staring at chess positions…

https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/complexity-and-the-ten-thousand-hour-rule

In other words, practice makes perfect. The same principle applies in spiritual development as well.

Obedience is not just a one and done experience.

As God transforms our will we may find ourselves practicing the same habit or assignment over and over.

This is not a sign of failure, but a sign of certain success.

A Transformed Will Hears, Persists, and Reflects Jesus

James 1:25 HCSB

But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but one who does good works—this person will be blessed in what he does.

Dallas Willard, in his book, Renovation of the Heart points to several ‘distinctions’ to be noted as we experience God’s transformation of our wills.

First, surrender.

The transformation of our heart, mind, and affections calls us to ‘give up’ on any self-determined definition of life.

Next, abandonment

Surrender now, according to Willard, “covers all the circumstances of life....”

Next, contentment

Resting in confidence that what God will is indeed THE best for us.

Finally, participation

We find ourselves caught up in God’s purposes and plans for His world.

(Dallas Willard, The Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ [Colorado Springs, CO.: Navpress, 2002] 150-151.

REFLECT AND RESPOND

Jesus followers require a transformed heart, mind, affection and will.

Only the Holy Spirit has the power and ability to grant us the new heart, to guide us towards the mind of Christ as revealed in the Word of God.

Only God’s indwelling Holy Spirit can transform our affections -

those vigorous and lively actings of the inclination and will of the soul, or the fervent exercises of the heart....

Quoted by Sam Storms, Signs of the Spirit: An Interpretation of Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections,’ (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2007), 45.

Our will can be transformed - but it is not by our willpower -

Philippians 2:13 HCSB

For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.

I won’t ask you to exercise more will-power so that you might more closely follow Jesus.

None of us have the strength of will to be all God has for us.

I won’t ask you to lay aside sinful attitudes and actions.

Let me simply repeat Jesus’ call to discipleship:

Matthew 4:19 HCSB

“Follow Me,” He told them, “and I will make you fish for people!”

To follow Jesus -

-respond to God’s gracious offer of new life

a life free from the stain and penalty of sin because Jesus died for you;

-receive the new life/transformed heart, mind, affections, and will that God’s Holy Spirit is working to create it you;

-look intently into what God has said in His Word, take His promises and let Him transform you into all He has created you to be!