Transformation

Change

We are now almost at the end of the second month of the year. If you are one of the many people who set themselves a New Year’s resolution, there is a very good chance that this is now a distant memory. There’s a statistic I’ve seen that says that by the second week in February, of which we have recently passed, 80% of all New Year’s resolutions are broken.

Now, personally speaking, I try to avoid New Year’s Resolutions, at least, I don’t like calling them that, but each year come the Christmas holidays I get a good burst of motivation to get fit. It usually happens when I take a week or two holiday and I find exercise a great way to unwind.

Now this is my typical experience that happens most years...

By the end of my holiday I’ve usually got my fitness to a satisfactory level (not great, but not bad either), and then I come home. The good thing is that initially, that motivation remains. In the week or two directly after my holiday I’ll manage to wake up early enough to go for a run.

But then inevitably, life gets busy. A have a few late nights and so get tired. A struggle to catch up on my sleep and so the very first thing that goes is my exercise.

Usually by mid year it occurs to me that I haven’t done any deliberate exercise for months!

Now I wonder how well you can relate to this type of experience. Maybe it’s not fitness. Maybe it’s about getting your house in order, or fixing a certain habit in your life.

The general pattern seems to be:

Recognition that something needs to change

Attempt made to make change

Life gets busy or complicated and the attempt at change is forgotten or put aside.

Now this morning we are starting a new series. The series is called ‘Who is the God I Know’.

The main idea of the series is to draw us into a deeper relationship with God.

Now as we talk about this, there will be natural thought of - I really need to improve my relationship with God. After all, who can honestly say that are completely satisfied with their current relationship with God.

There will be differing levels of satisfaction amongst us, but I suspect for all of us, there would at least be some areas in which we could improve - or if we are really going to be honest, perhaps a lot that could be improved as we try to draw close to God.

But this is where we then fall into the pattern I just described. First, we recognise we need to do better. Let’s take for example, praying.

We then say - right I need to do better at praying. Well, that being the case, I’ll commit to waking up early and spending some time in prayer.

Now let’s say you are actually genuine in this thought. There’s a good chance that the very next morning you’ll put your alarm on and you’ll do just that.

Now it is possible that things will go well. But unless you put certain steps in place, there is a far greater chance that like most New Year’s resolutions, they’ll fall by the wayside before too long.

We’re then left with where we began. The truth of the matter is that will-power is rarely a good tool on it’s own. There needs to be something more.

Well, while I want to avoid this message sounding like three-step-process, you know, the type of things you see these days that promise success if you just follow a process - but that being said, there is hope to be found in scripture.

In fact there are many examples of people changing in scripture - often in very dramatic ways. I haven’t systematically gone through and checked this with each one of them, but I’m pretty sure that on each of those occasions, the change occurred due to the power of God in their lives.

But Paul gives us some really helpful insights into this process, and it’s my intention to go to the passage I read earlier to search for these insights.

Exploring Philippians

The passage I read was from Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

Now the church in Philippi is a church that Paul started on his second missionary journey which we can read about in . In this place we see some really big changes in the lives on those there, including Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, and in a very dramatic story, a jailer who had been holding Paul prisoner at the time.

But the letter itself was written some time later, and generally speaking it is quite a positive letter as Paul encourages them to stay strong in the Lord.

Now I don’t have time to go through the letter in detail, but by the time we come to chapter 3, Paul has already encouraged us with the model of Jesus, as well as giving other believers, in this case Timothy and Epaphroditus, as helpers in the journey.

In the start of chapter 3, Paul warns against those who want to knock you off track, but it is from verse 10 that I want to start focusing, because here, Paul talks about his own journey towards becoming more Christ like, so let’s look a bit closer.

Knowing Christ

You see, in verse 10 Paul declares: “I want to know Christ”.

Now you might think - but doesn’t Paul already know Christ. After all, he wrote a significant chunk of the New Testament, much of which lets us know who Christ is.

But here’s the thing. As close to God as Paul is, he is keenly aware that he has further to go.

Just jump down for a moment to verse 12 where Paul tells us that he has not obtained his goal of taking hold of that which Jesus took hold of him. And again, just in case you missed it, in verse 13 he again says that he hasn’t taken hold of it.

In other words, while we know Paul has an intimate knowledge of Jesus, he wants, (or rather he knows he needs) a deeper relationship.

What does it mean?

And what does it mean to know Christ like Paul is talking about - well, (back in verse 10), it means knowing the power of his resurrection, but more than that, it also means participating with him. Not only in his resurrection, but also his suffering and death.

Now going forward, we’re going to be focusing on what we might describe as the more positive bits about following Christ, but it is worth pointing out that this is not necessarily a path to an easy life, in fact it will almost certainly consist of much hardship.

But through the hardship comes an assurance that God has it all in control.

Paul presses on

Well, Paul articulates his goal in verses 10 and 11. It would be very easy for us to also articulate such a goal. But the question is, how do we achieve it?

Well, as you read verses 12 to 14 the phrase that stands out is this idea of pressing on.

We see it in verse 12 - “…but I press on to take hold...”

And again in verse 14 - “I press on towards the goal...”

In verse 13, he uses a different word but to the same effect. He talks about “…straining towards what is ahead”

At first glance it could seem that Paul is just trying to do what each of us try to do after we’ve realised that change that needs to occur. Just try really hard with this thing called will power. But I want to suggest there is more.

Triangle of Transformation

Now what I want to do is present to you something that has been called the triangle of transformation. This is a paradigm for thinking about how we can change our mind set so that we can allow transformation.

I’m taking this paradigm from a book in which this series is largely based, that is, ‘The Good and Beautiful God’ by James Bryan Smith.

Now you have to be a little cautious when using a paradigm developed by others, in that we have to be very careful to test it against scripture. So my plan is to present you the paradigm, as it’s presented in James Bryan Smith’s book, but then I’ll come back and see if we can find evidence for the ideas in Paul’s own thinking.

So, up on the screen, you will see a triangle with three different practices, each of which will help us transform our lives to be more Christ like.

Adopting Narratives of Jesus

First, is adopting the narratives of Jesus. This is essentially changing the way we think. Unfortunately, we all too easily adopt bad ways of thinking.

‘God could never love me’.

‘I would have to work hard to earn God’s favour’

‘I need to be someone great before God would listen to me’

These are actually lies from the evil one and they bring us down. You start to pray, and you think, what’s the point, what difference does it make anyway.

This is why it is so important to replace those lies with the truths that we find in scripture.

As we go through this series, this is largely what we’ll be doing. We’ll take common lies, and test them against scripture to show what the true narrative taught by Jesus is.

Soul Training

The second step is what James Bryan Smith refers to as ‘Soul-Training exercises’.

This is actually just his way of describing what is perhaps more commonly called ‘spiritual disciplines’. We’re talking the likes of praying, fasting, meditating, bible reading and the like.

By calling them soul-training exercises, we can easily think of them in a similar way to physical exercises.

Now imagine you go for one run. That one run is going to do you good, but it’s only going to have limited affect on your life. It is when you run regularly that you will start to notice a sustained change in your life.

Similarly, as we engage in these soul-training exercises on a sustained basis, we will find the truths I spoke about in the first step sinking in, and we’ll feel closer to God and able to understand his ways better.

Community

The third step is participating in community.

Now this is one of the great tragedies of the individualism in our society. One of the prevailing thoughts in society is that whatever you do is fine, as long as it doesn’t affect anyone else.

We’ve then applied this to faith. You can believe whatever you want, just don’t tell me what to believe.

The flow on effect is that we practice our Christianity in our own way.

It is a tragedy because God has designed us to work together and we are much better off when we are together in community. We can learn from one another’s examples. We can encourage each other. We can even rebuke one another in love when the time comes.

If our aim is to become more Christ like, then we are much better doing it together in community.

The Holy Spirit

Finally, as you look at the triangle we see each of these steps, but at the end of the day, they are only possible with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Understanding this is essentially to this whole paradigm.

Without the Holy Spirit transforming our minds, the prevailing narratives of this world will cloud what we think.

Without the work of the Holy Spirit, all of our prayers, our meditations, and bible reading will be empty words and hollow thoughts.

Even our communities won’t work without the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit makes transformation in our life possible. Without him, I can guarantee change will fail.

The Triangle and Paul

Well, that’s the triangle of transformation, but my task today is to preach from God’s word, not just present someone else’s good ideas, so let’s go back to Paul’s letter and see how much it speaks into these ideas.

Knowing Christ

Well, if we go back to verse 10, and his initial declaration we see Paul saying how he wants to know Christ.

In just this, we can see that Paul recognises that becoming Christ like actually starts with knowing Christ. A part of this must include, knowing the narratives that Jesus taught.

Forgetting what’s behind

In verse 13, Paul gives a little tip about how he moves forward. He tells us that he forgets what is behind him and strains towards what is ahead.

Now he doesn’t actually spell out what is behind and what is ahead. I suspect partly what he has in mind is the same sort of idea that the writer to the Hebrews says, namely “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles”.

In other words, I suspect when Paul says to forget what is behind, in part he is talking about the sinful life we lead. However, tied up in all of that, the sinful life also includes the bad ways of thinking. The ‘I’m not good enough for God’ thoughts. To forget what is behind includes dropping the bad thought patterns and instead taking on the truths of the gospel.

Making things clear

I suggest that this idea is made a bit clearer in verse 15 where he talks about taking on the correct view of things. As the passage continues, we can again see how important it is to Paul to think in the right sort of way. And in his sharp way adds - and if you don’t, may God change your mind!

As the passage continues, we can again see how important it is to Paul to think in the right sort of way.

While Paul is using different language to this triangle of transformation, I think it is clear that Paul knows that transformation requires thinking in a more biblical sort of way.

The disciplines

Now, I want to come back to verses 12 to 14 where previously I pointed out this idea that Paul describes of pressing on towards the goal.

I noted earlier that it can sound a little bit like trying to make change by sheer will power. But what exactly is he talking about?

If we boil down the goal he’s trying to achieve as becoming Christ like (although the goal is bigger than just that), then pressing on could just mean trying really hard not to say nasty words to others, or to think lustful thoughts.

But Paul knows that just wanting to do that is not enough. That’s clear even in this passage, because he clearly spells out to us that he hasn’t achieved it. If just wanting it was enough, then surely Paul of all people would have achieved it.

Can I suggest then, that for Paul, pressing on must have included the various spiritual disciplines? While not explicitly stated here, Paul often exhorts his reader to prayer, and other spiritual disciplines.

Within the passage before us, the image of winning the prize suggest some sort of training, and so I suggest the sort of pressing on that Paul has in mind, is the same sort of soul-training exercises that are described in this triangle.

Community

Now, as we look at the whole letter to the Philippians, what is clear is that Paul is asking them to work together. The language at the start of the letter is that of partnering together for the gospel.

In the passage before us, Paul is not just telling us about his attempts to transform his life as a means to bragging or self-promotion, rather it is to encourage others to transform their own lives.

I finished reading at verse 16, but had I gone onto the very next verse, you’d see that is made explicitly clear. Starting with the words: “Join together in following my example...”

Paul knows that God designed us for community and it is when we work together that we are going to see the biggest changes.

Holy Spirit

Finally, while this passage is perhaps not the one you would first go to for teaching on the Holy Spirit, after all, he is not explicitly references, but yet I believe within this passage, the work of the Holy Spirit is implied.

When Paul talks about participating in the suffering of Christ back in verse 10, implied is the work of the Holy Spirit who allows this participation to occur.

In verse 15, when Paul talks about God making things clear to you, there is a clear implication that this is actually the work of the Holy Spirit transforming your mind.

Transformation can not occur by itself. Transformation occurs through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

Now in all of this we have to be very careful.

You see there are two errors that you can make in trying to understand what I am talking about today.

Avoiding error of not trying

The first, is to hear that I’m saying it’s impossible on your own, and conclude that because it is up to the Holy Spirit, we don’t need to do anything, rather just sit back and let the Holy Spirit do what the Holy Spirit does.

Avoiding error of trying too hard

The other error, is to see the three points on the edge of the triangle, and then think, right, I’ve now got a three step process. Let’s just work at changing my narratives, do some soul-training exercises and go to church, and I’ll be guaranteed for success.

But we’ve got to avoid these two errors. The answer is in understanding this as a partnership between us and God.

We do our bits to enable transformation, but understanding that it is only by the Holy Spirit that these are possible in the first place.

And so I want to leave this as an encouragement to you all.

While at times it might seem impossible to change those parts of your life that you are ashamed about, know that with God anything is possible.

Allow your mind to be transformed. And spend time with God and others.

And with the help of the Holy Spirit, you can see the power of God move powerfully in your life.

As we continue through this series, it is my prayer that each of you will be drawn closer to the awesome God who called us as his own, and is constantly shaping and moulding us to be in his image.

Let’s pray...