Transformation

Intro.

“If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands If you’re happy and you know it, then your face should surely show it If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands”

Okay. So I now know how many people sang that song in Sunday School.

There is something about the songs of our childhood. They are inexorably locked into our memories. Why?

Well, repetition, of course. Any teacher will tell you that repetition is a valuable tool in learning.

And we all know how much children LOVE repetition.

Illus: Josiah and “The Polar Express.”

All 4 of us could probably recite that movie word for word, now.

So we remember “If you’re happy and you know it” because we sang it multiple times on many Sundays of our early childhood.

But... Is there another factor as to why I can sing something that I learned 56 years ago?

I believe there is.

There is also a connections that occur when we are learning life lessons.

So… did we LEARN a life lesson from singing that song?

Or was it just a way to expend some excess energy so that a bunch of pre-schoolers would sit quietly for the lesson.

As a former Children’s Pastor I can confirm that expending energy is a vital part of the ministry strategy.

And… It’s a fine line.

You want them sufficiently worn out so that they are not being a distraction... while... NOT being so exhausted that they can’t receive the ministry you are providing.

So we sang. We clapped. We SURELY were smiling (I’m happy and I know it.)

But what’s then lesson?

Our salvation should give us joy, so that we don’t grow up to be grumpy, old, sour faces sitting in the sanctuary?

Yes. That’s it!

But... It goes further than that. It’s more than just smiling.

The lesson is:

Our Beliefs Should Affect our Behavior

What do the following people have in common?

A Christian woman who goes to counseling for 26 weeks in a row but never takes any action to actually fix her problem

A Christian, teenage girl who stays in a relationship with a guy who continually treats her like garbage

A Christian’ teenage boy who, lets pressure from his friends convince him to try Meth

A Christian, man that enjoys the good life on credit year after year after year.

What do these people have in common?

They are living unaffected by the presence of Jesus in their lives.

The single greatest miracle of our salvation, can become the single greatest hindrance to our successful Christian walk.

Salvation is free. You can’t earn it. You don’t deserve it. We only receive it.

But our Christian life requires us to respond to the RIGHTEOUSNESS that God gives us with the HOLINESS that He deserves.

And that, my friends… takes work.

Philippians 2:12 (ESV)

continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

This isn’t to say that you are trying to earn your salvation through good behavior.

God isn’t saying, “Okay, I gave you the gift of salvation, but I expect you to pay me back with good behavior.”

God is saying, “BECAUSE I have given you the gift of salvation it should RESULT in you becoming more like my Son.”

The people in examples all BEHAVE as if becoming a christian will make their problems disappear

The woman in counseling believes talking about it, without change will make it better.

The man who won’t use healthy financial practices believes if he just ignores the problem it will go away.

The teenage girl believes her abusive boyfriend will change.

The teenage boy believes that fitting in is more important than his health and safety.

We all come to Jesus with our baggage.

Where we’ve been... How we think... The things that have hurt and deceived us...

Our minds have already been programmed with:

Wrong thoughts

Wrong feelings

Wrong standards

We have been deceived. And... The problem with being deceived is that you don’t know that you are deceived.

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Yikes – now check this out…

Proverbs 14:12 NIV

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

Well, sounds pretty much like we’re sunk. Right?

Well it WOULD; if it weren’t for the plethora of other scripture passages that show us the solution to the problem.

Let’s to back to:

Philippians 2:12 (ESV)

continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

The last 2 verses we read seem to state that this isn’t possible.

And it wouldn’t be... if it weren’t for verse 13.

Philippians 2:12–13 (ESV)

continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

When God says that you should “work out your salvation,” He does’t mean that you will have to do it alone.

He doesn’t leave you high and dry.

God is working in you.

conforming your will to His own.

empowering you to behave in alignment with your belief in God.

There is hope for all who trust Jesus with their salvation.

Hope to:

believe in God

grow in faith

have our will like God’s will

behave in a Christlike manor

How does that happen?

A familiar passage gives us the answer.

Romans 12:2 (NLT) Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this 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.

Many mornings that I am walking and praying in this sanctuary, I find myself singing a chorus from 30 years ago that comes from this passage.

Holiness, Holiness is what I long for Holiness is what I need Holiness, Holiness is what you want from me

So take my heart and form it.

Take my mind; transform it.

Take my will; conform it to yours, to yours oh Lord.

How does God change us? How does God bring transformation?

By changing the way we do things? Nope, not at first.

By changing what we are attached to? Nope, not at first.

It’s not by changing how we feel or what we do, but God brings transformation into our lives by changing the way we THINK.

And don’t miss the important point here.

If this is going to take place... it must happen with your cooperation.

Sometimes it takes a while for the Holy Spirit to undo the bad thinking processes that have built over the courses of our lives.

But... Sometimes people don’t want to change. Let’s take this back to our 4 examples.

The woman who won’t work on her issues

The girl who settles for an abusive relationship

The boy who falls into drug abuse

The man who spends more than he makes

We said that they were Christians. We said that God’s Spirit works in Christians. Why aren’t their lives improving? May I suggest that they don’t WANT to change.

The woman going to counseling doesn’t WANT to actually do anything to fix her problem – it’s too hard.

The teenage girl in the bad relationship doesn’t WANT to break up with the boy who’s abusing her because frankly she’d rather be beaten up than be alone. And she doesn’t want to admit that either.

The teenage boy doesn’t WANT to reject methamphetamine, because he’s comfortable with the friends he has, and likes having his pains forgotten for a while.

The man doesn’t WANT to stop living above his means because his pride likes the status and his greed enjoys things outside his price range.

God won’t force you to live a better life. WE have to get on board with His plans.

But even when we are willing for God to work in our lives...

Sometimes it takes a while for us to see that we NEED to change.

Many people have poorly programmed minds.

(The enemy has worked extra hard to make sure that we are discouraged, disillusioned and mis-informed.)

Our thought processes are so badly askew that we don’t even know that they are unhealthy.

However, God is patient. He speaks slowly.

Through His Word

Though good teaching and preaching

Through His voice in our hearts

Jesus spoke about our inability to see our own faults when He gave this teaching:

Matthew 7:3-5 (NLT) And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?

How can you think of saying, `Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?

Hypocrite! First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

How do we find out if we have a “log in our eye”?

Never fear. God is already on the case

Here are some simple strategies to help you transition from ...

Deceived Defeat to Revealed Transformation

1. Be Open Isaiah 30:21

Isaiah 30:21 ESV

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

2. Be Prayerful Psalm 25:5

Psalm 25:5 ESV

Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.

3. Be Informed

1 Timothy 3:16

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

4. Be Obedient

James 1:22-25

James 1:22–25 ESV

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

5. Be Ready

“What do you mean, “be ready”? “That… That sounds like a warning”

Yep.

You don’t think that the devil plans on letting you walk away from a ... dull, defeated, listless life, without a fight do you?

I don’t say this to scare you. There is no reason to be afraid. The war was won on the cross.

But we are still required to fight the battle. This is just a “heads-up” to be prepared for it.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NIV) For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

What would it look like if we did that?

How would your life change if you took that as a theme verse for living?

Conclusion:

What if today you began asking yourself, “What lies, what foolish arguments, what pretensions have I set up in my life that are keeping me from growing closer to God?”

What would happen if we began tearing down the lies of the enemy and began living by the Word of God?

Do you believe that you really can’t live a life for God?

That’s a lie. God says:

Philippians 4:13 ESV

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Do you believe that your past failures prevent you from being close to God?

That’s a lie. God says:

Romans 8:38–39 ESV

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Do you believe that you are not a significant member of God’s kingdom?

That’s a lie. God says:

John 15:16 (ESV)

... I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

See, God is always on the side of truth, so when you believe what God has said about you...

it brings you closer to Him.