The perspective of a transformed life
Being Transformed Into His Image • Sermon • Submitted
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Excerpt from special number by Sis Lerma
“Call Him in the morning, in the afternoon time
Late in the evening He'll be there
When your heart is broken,
And you feel discouraged,
You can just remember that He said
He'll be there”
“LET US PRAY” (AFTER SPECIAL NUMBER)
Happy Father’s day po sa lahat ng tatay at mga tatay natin. May the LORD bless you and your family. Our study today though not directly related to the event we are celebrating today, I believe the essence and truth that we are going to learn will be beneficial to you and even to everyone.
BIBLE READING
Let us open our bible to the book of
1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
“May the LORD bless the reading of His word”
Introduction
Introduction
News broke out these past few days about a religious group being accused of investment scams and estafa. Many of his followers, thousands of people gathered and prayed together to show support to the accused founder. These people are promised of a return of investment of 30% of what they gave as an offering.
There is another leader of a religious group claiming to be the Son of God. This leader gives a blasphemous statement about his claim like being the owner of the universe and in control of everything.
Both of them have one in common, they are not Christ-centered. Their religion is to serve their own appetite and the people who are longing for hope and changes in life are led to a disastrous path to hell.
In general, this is the way of the world. Money, fame, position, possession, and power are what matters. This is true when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness.
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’ ”
This is the way of the world. Money, fame, position, possession, and alike are what matters.
And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’ ”
Matthew 4:
Jesus
Satan offered Jesus “the kingdoms of the world and all [its] glory”, but that’s not the perspective of Jesus. His perspective is that “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
Satan offered Jesus
What’s the point here?
There is more important than what the world can offer in this life. Only when we know the right perspective. The perspective of a transformed life, being transformed into His image.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
“May the LORD bless the reading of His word”
After Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness for forty (40) days and forty (40) nights, He began his ministry. He choose his disciples, and preach about repentance and kingdom of heaven.
The book of Matthew mentioned “Kingdom” 55 times in the whole book. Satan offered the Kingdoms of the world, Jesus offered the kingdom of heaven.
Beginning in chapter 5, Jesus preached to the multitudes with ‘one who had authority, and not as their scribes’, () the preaching known as ‘The sermon of the Mount’.
In this sermon, Jesus revealed the exact opposite the ways and perspective of the world and presented the offering of how the people can experience God, and the true happiness that can satisfy the emptiness of heart of every people.
The first perspective revealed is WHAT MATTERS.
What Matters: His Agenda
What Matters: His Agenda
Anu nga ba ang mahalaga?
The world view of what matters is in our previous text. Kingdoms of the world and its glory. Fame, money, position, possession.
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
Matthew
But in , Jesus revealed what is really matter. In verse 16, the bible says
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
What Matters: His Agenda
What Matters: His Agenda
Lets take note this principle: In this life, What really Matters is the Agenda of God. And His agenda is the Glory of the Father, our God.
Matthew 5:
Peter has something to say about this idea. The word of God said:
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 4:10
Now, in this life, what is your agenda? Is it aligned to the ultimate agenda of our Lord Jesus Christ? Does it give glory to God in all aspect?
Go back to
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Now, how can our light be shine before others? That is when we experience the true blessedness in verses 3 to 12. The true blessedness of Jesus is the exact opposite of the world’s blessedness.
In these verse we have seen the mandate and its purpose.
The mandate is that our ‘light should shine before others’. But how can we do that?
This is what the world’s blessedness is:
Jesus
The answer is in previous verses, what we call- the beatitudes. It is a pronouncement of blessings to whom are to be accounted truly happy, and what their characters are.
Christ begins his sermon with blessings
Blessed are they that are rich, and great, and honourable in the world; they spend their days in mirth, and their years in pleasure; they eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and carry all before them with a high hand, and have every sheaf bowing to their sheaf; happy the people that is in such a case; and their designs, aims, and purposes are accordingly; they bless the covetous (); they will be rich.
Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 1628). Peabody: Hendrickson.
But Christ in His sermon corrected this world’s perspective and gave us new perspective and values to follow.
He said:
What is Jesus’s blessedness?
Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted and reviled.
Holman Bible Handbook The Sermon on the Mount (5:1–7:29)
In His kingdom or reign, those who are considered fortunate include the poor, sorrowing, humble, righteous, merciful, pure, peacemakers, and persecuted. These are precisely those categories of people too many of us tend to despise and ostracize.
What does this blessedness mean to us?
This principles reveals the heart of a blessed person. A person who acknowledge the need of God. A person who understands the will of God to the purpose of his praise and glory of God.
English Standard Version Chapter 1
according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace
Whitney Donald said in his book ‘Simplify Your Spiritual Life: Spiritual Disciplines for the Overwhelmed’:
That genuine spirituality seeks the things of God, or more specifically, “things which are above, where Christ is.” Any spirituality that does not seek things like the will and glory of God in everything, intimacy with and conformity to Christ, and love—and does not seek them above all other pursuits—is a false spirituality.
Our purpose is to do the will of God and to conform to His image
Whitney, D. S. (2003). Simplify Your Spiritual Life: Spiritual Disciplines for the Overwhelmed (p. 25). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
In the beatitudes, Jesus revealed the image of God through the manifestation of His will for His people.
Church, are you being transformed into the image of Christ? Then this is our new perspective. What matters is the agenda of God alone. We follow and obey God whatever it takes, what matter the cost. We align our plans, objectives, life goals and direction to His agenda so that the people around us may see that our ‘light shine before them, so that they may see our good works and (so that they may) give glory to (our) Father who is in heaven.
Our life should be align to what God has revealed to us for the purpose of His glory.
Not only about WHAT MATTERS.
Our Charact
Our Charact
Secondly is, WHAT METHODS. HIS APPROACH.
Our Life Goal
Our Life Goal
Our Kingdom
Our Kingdom
We are God’s agent of grace
We are God’s agent of grace
We are God’s agent of grace
We are God’s agent of grace
We are God’s representative
We are God’s representative
We are God’s representative in accomplishing His work
What Methods: His Approach
What Methods: His Approach
His approach is through His enabling grace
In , Jesus revealed his approach for this new perspective. Yes, perfection but let’s see its deeper meaning.
Matthew 5:
You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Is it possible to be perfect? What does Jesus mean about perfection in this verse?
As human and sinful-in-nature, it is impossible for us to achieve this perfection. But being the son of God, a person who is conformed to the image of Christ, a person who has the indwelling Spirit of God- a Spirit who helps us in our weakness; whose sin has been justified, we can attain this perfection in the *process* (until our glorification in heaven [Our finish line]), not because of our own strength, but because it is God who work in us. Yes, not us, but God. Impossible for us, but possible for God. And that is grace. His approach is through His enabling grace.
Peter put God’s enablement in this way:
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
:3
Holman Bible Handbook The Sermon on the Mount (5:1–7:29)
His disciples will never attain to these standards this side of His return, but they are not thereby excused from continuing to strive after those goals.
Holman Bible Handbook The Sermon on the Mount (5:1–7:29)
His disciples will never attain to these standards this side of His return, but they are not thereby excused from continuing to strive after those goals.
Now let’s see it in more deeper sense:
Beginning in , Jesus repeatedly mentioned about “You have heard that it was said”.
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
Matthew 5:21
Matthew
31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
Matthew
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
Matthew 5:43
In these section of Jesus’s preaching, Jesus supplements or elaborates the law (Jewish law) with guiding principles and how we will live by it.
What does it mean to us?
What is the significance of this law for us today?
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Romans 6:
In , the word of God declares that we are not under the law but under grace. What does under the law means? James explain it this way
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
James 2:8
The law leads to death. Yes, because we are law breaker and the penalty of sin is death. And no one can fulfill the law. Only Christ. Christ is the fulfillment of the law. He paid the penalty of our sin on the Cross when He died for us.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
So what is our point here? What methods do we need to achieve the law? Good works? Self reliance? Pride? No. All these worldly methods leads to death, to hell. We have to use God’s method, His approach. And that is perfection that can only be achieved through his grace.
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
Romans 6:17-
Are you being transformed into His image? Are you in conformity with Christ? Then this is our perspective about way of life, we will follow and obey God’s method: His approach and that is through His enabling grace.
13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Philippians
Last principle but not the least.
WHAT MOTIVATION: HIS APPEAL
What Motivation: His Appeal
What Motivation: His Appeal
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:25-
.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Question: What motivates you to live your life?
Many people who are in depression has a big issue on this part. They are not motivated. They loose their appetite to live and continue. And they were not happy about it.
That is exactly opposite to what God is revealing you in our study at this moment. God has motivation for you and He has an appeal for you. TRUST HIM. FULLY TRUST HIM. Surrender your life to Him.
In the verses that we have read, Jesus revealed the heart of a man who don’t trust God. They are anxious, they are worried about their life and their needs. That’s why their motivation has inclination to this aspect of their life. They are short-sighted. They only trust themselves. They are self-centered.
That is the reason why Jesus said in verse 19
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
This is them. They lay up treasures, take note the word ‘for yourselves’.
Is it wrong to have treasures? The bible does not say that. Because the problem is not the treasure, but the heart and motive of the treasurer.
When our treasures becomes the motivation of our life, we will be like this man. Foolish.
19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
We are foolish man.
So what’s our point? Trust God.
Allow God to direct your life according to His agenda, His approach, and His appeal.
May be you have plans and goals, but if its is not God’s plan. Stop, Think, and Listen to God. Then follow and obey Him.
May be you may not able to understand fully at this moment of time, but when the LORD leads you, just follow. You will understand clearly as you obey.
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
kkk
kkk
I want to end in this verse
13-
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
Life is very short and we do not know until when we will live. Let us live the perspective of a transformed life.
Let us pray
*** END ***