Conversion... pt 1.

DO WE NEED TO CHANGE?

GETTING STARTED

I like to think that I’m open to criticism, but when my wife actually offers some constructive feedback I get defensive and touchy. What’s going on here?

1. It seems that many people get offended if someone even suggests that they need to change. What are some reasons why people get offended at this?

2. Do you get upset when someone suggests you need to change? If so, why? What does that show about your heart?

MAIN IDEA

All people desperately need to change because by nature we are alienated from God, rebellious toward God, and subject to the wrath of God.

DIGGING IN

Regardless of the fact that many people would oppose this idea, the Bible teaches that all human beings are in need of fundamental change.

Consider what Paul says about humanity in Romans chapter 1:18-32

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (1:18–32)

1. Who is Paul talking about in these verses?

2. What are all the things that Paul says people do in this passage? List them all below. Does anything Paul says strike you, surprise you, or raise questions for you?

3. What is God’s attitude toward humanity as described in this passage?

4. What does Paul say can be known about God (vv. 19–20)? How are these things made known (v. 20)?

5. How should we respond to this knowledge (v. 21)?

6. What have people done to the truth about God (See vv. 18, 21, 22, 23)?

7. What has happened to our minds and hearts as a result? (See v. 28.)

8. How would you summarize this passage’s teaching about human nature and God’s attitude toward humanity as a whole?

9. In light of this passage, how would you respond to someone who said that human beings are fundamentally good?

10. What evidence do you see in the world that this passage’s teaching is true?

11. Why do you think it’s important for us as Christians to clearly proclaim that people are in need of radical change? What would happen if we muted this part of the Christian message?

12. What are some ways that the local church as a whole can clearly communicate this need for change?

As Christians, we rejoice that this bad news about humanity is not the end of the story. We know that because God is good, He will punish sin. This is a fearful prospect since, as we’ve seen, all humans are rebels against God. Yet we also know that because God is merciful, He sent Jesus Christ into the world to live the perfectly obedient life that we should have lived and to die on the cross as a substitute for the sins of all who would ever trust in Him. On the cross, God poured out His wrath against sin onto Jesus—not for any sin that Jesus had committed, but for our sins. And after three days Jesus rose from the grave, conquering death and vindicating His claim to be Lord and Savior.

And now God calls all people everywhere to the most radical, fundamental change possible: to repent of our sins and trust in Christ in order to be forgiven, accepted by God, reconciled to Him, and given eternal life in fellowship with Him.

The bad news is, we are in desperate need of change. The good news is that through Christ’s death and resurrection, the change we need is possible. Our sinful natures can be renewed in God’s image by the Holy Spirit, and we can be reconciled to God through Christ.

In the following studies we’re going to consider more about how God changes us through the gospel, beginning with the fact that through Christ, the change we need is possible.