The Transformed Life - What is Transformation?

Introduction: I love how God uses creation to shine the light of His glory on His word. Things in the heavens and the earth teach us more and more about how amazing God is and what He is doing.

Just look at the butterfly. There is no reason that a butterfly needs to exist. Even from an evolutionary standpoint, it doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense.

I had bugs, so to me a caterpillar is a gross little creature that better not come anywhere near me if it wants to one day be a butterfly.

But a caterpillar is born and for the first portion of us it’s life exists only to fill it’s stomach with food. There is nothing about a caterpillar that would draw our attention to it. It’s just a bug.

But at some point in every caterpillar’s life, it creates a cocoon. And that cocoon is not a hibernation or a good night’s rest. It is a struggle and a war of survival. The cocoon shows us that something is happening, but on the inside, what is happening is called metamorphosis. A complete and total transformation of a caterpillar into something completely different....a butterfly. In the cocoon is a struggle of the in between. No longer a caterpillar, not yet a butterfly. And one of the biggest struggles of all is when the butterfly breaks free from the cocoon. And many do not make it. So much so that a well meaning person might try to help that butterfly by breaking the cocoon for them.

Nope, the struggle builds the strength to fly. Without the struggle the butterfly dies.

Parallels here between an emerging butterfly and the transformation that God brings in the life of a Christian should not be lost. In fact, even the word metamorphosis comes from the greek word μεταμορφόω which occurs 4 times in the Bible. Twice it refers to Jesus when He is transfigured before Peter, James, and John on the mountain top (Mt 17:2; Mk 9:2) and Paul uses it twice in describing the change that happens in the life of believers (Romans 12:1; 2 Cor 3:18). With respect to us, this word is translated “transformed.”

One of our core values at North Hills or one of our motivations for doing what do is this idea of “Transformed Living.” We want to be transformed daily and will live in obedience to Jesus. But we also want to see people transformed by the power of the gospel.

No one is born a Christian. Nor does everyone become transformed by the power of the gospel. But for those who make the journey, of struggle and pain and joy and love find that it is the only life worth living.

Transition to the Scripture: Turn with me in your Bibles to Romans 12:1-2. The book of Romans is one of the most robust theological and doctrinal discourses in the entire Bible and really sets the stage for why believing the right things is so important. You can’t believe whatever you want to believe. And the first 11 chapters are all about the deep truths of Scripture. But then we get to 12-15. And it becomes practical. In today’s terms, if we were writing Romans, we might add 2 words in between chapters 11 and 12.

So what?

What do I do with what you just said. I’m glad you asked.

As we go about this year, rather than a big idea each week, we are going to identify a “Transformational Principle.” A principle for “Transformational Living.”

And here is this week’s Transformational Principle:

Transformational Principle: Because we are prone to conform; we must let God transform.

Read:

Romans 12:1–2 NLT

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 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 learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Transformational Principle: Because we are prone to conform; we must let God transform.

Main Point #1 - It starts with ____________. (Romans 12:1)

Illustration: We’re going LEAVE THE BLANK IN FOR NOW. And ask the question, “How does transformation start?”

We love a good transformation story…at least one that doesn’t involve steroids. Like watching a baseball player early in his career that is a future “Hall of Famer” who gets by on fundamentals and finesse. And then in the years His career starts its decline, he all the sudden gets jacked. He’s transformed, but is it in a good way?

Hollywood always wants to parade image transformations in our faces. The plane jane girl who is transformed into prom queen. Even superhero movies, where your average joe gets bit by a radioactive spider and gets super powers…or in the case of captain america…again, steroids.

For me, I love the transformations where people who are mean and nasty, selfish, abusive egotistical narcissists, become repentant, humble, loving, selfless people who while acknowledging their past seek to make a better future for themselves and those around them.

Some of you may be praying for that type of transformation in another person’s life. Perhaps in other cases, you are praying for transformation of yourself.

It’s no surprise that so often those transformation stories involve Jesus. There is nothing with the power to transform our lives like Jesus.

This passage starts with a very important word; “therefore.”

Explanation: “Therefore” is a word that points back. It points back to what was. The future is always built on the past. And in this case it points all the way back to chapters 1-11. The NLT describes these chapters as “What He has done for you.”

But starting where we are right now and looking forward, what should be our response to God. Paul tells us to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice.”

Sacrifice is a big word even today. We sacrifice for a lot of things. We sacrifice present comfort for future success. We sacrifice our wants and needs for the sake of those we love. Many of us have parents who sacrificed so that we could have a better life. Sacrifice carries with it the idea of going without. Of giving up one thing so that we can have something better.

And then there is the biblical idea of sacrifice. Because of the great sin in the lives of God’s people, a blood sacrifice was required to deal with it. The people of God all the way back to Cain and Abel were required to atone for their sin by substituting an animal’s life for their own. The animal of course had to be the best of the flock, without blemish. By sacrificing that innocent animal’s life, and recognizing that it should have been you, you could come before God in worship. How is that fair? Sin destroys everything.

Fast forward to the time of Jesus. God knew that the blood of bulls and goats could never permanently deal with sin. A better sacrifice was needed. And it needed to come from a human. And the only way that human could be perfect, He has also had to be God. (Another sermon for another day.)

Jesus was the perfect and final substitute. He finally dealt with our sins. (This is wonderfully fleshed out in the first 11 chapters of Romans).

So because of this great mercy and grace from God, rather than presenting bulls and goats to God, trusting in the sacrifice of Jesus, we can now present ourselves. Now remember prior to Jesus, the sacrifices we present to God had to be blemish free. Originally we could not present ourselves because we aren’t blemish free. Not talking about pimples. We’re talking the deeply rooted sin in our lives.

But because of what Jesus has done, we are now acceptable to God. Not on the basis of our who we are and what we have done but on Jesus and what he has done.

Now I’ve been mulling over this word, “present.” What does it mean to “present” anything to God. Everything is God’s anyway. The heavens and the earth. All the animals on land, sea and air. Even you and me belong to God. So we don’t present anything to God that isn’t already His. So you see this word isn’t about giving God a gift or even letting Him use you to accomplish His will.

This word present is about “SURRENDER.” So where does Transformation start?

Main Point #1 - It Starts with Surrender

Application: Now let me be clear. Some of us think of surrender as a one time thing. And usually it is when you first become a Christian. And that’s it, we’re done surrendering. But that’s not what this idea. Paul talks about presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice. A dead sacrifice is one and done. But a living sacrifice is a daily thing. Surrendering you will to God daily. Praying and asking God to reveal to you the day’s agenda. It’s sometimes accepting that your goals and passions and not what God has for you. Sometimes it is asking us to surrender all and go across the ocean to proclaim His name. Other times, it is God asking you to surrender that you might forgive someone who has hurt you. Or maybe asking for forgiveness.

But as we surrender daily God slowly changes us. He transforms us.

And that’s the point and that’s the end game of God’s plan for His people.

If transformation starts with surrender, how does it end?

Main Point #2 - It ends in God’s complete and total transformation of God’s people.

Explanation: This is where surrender shows itself to be all the more profound.

The world is full of self help books showing you how to “Have your best life now.” How to think your way to a better life by thinking positively. How to transform yourself in mind, body and spirit.

Even in the Bible people have tried to transform themselves by sheer effort. And time and time again they failed. Because this is not something you can do on your own. It requires surrender and it requires allowing God to be the one to transform you.

There are 2 subtle ideas here in the passage. In a sense there are 2 responsibilities.

Our responsibility is to not be conformed to the image of the world.

God’s responsibility is to be the one who does the transforming.

Time and time again, the Bible tells us not to be stained by the world

James 1:27 ESV

27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

This is where the law comes in. This is where self-discipline comes in. God is transforming us and allowing ourselves to be stained by the world works against the power of God in your life. Not to earn our salvation or earn our transformation. Remaining unstained is not what transforms us, but the stain of the world can get in the way of our transformation.

Now notice here that conforming and transforming are both passive on our part.

If you don’t fight it, you will be conformed to the image of the world. If you aren’t careful, you will be pulled into the world without even knowing it. You’ll do things like the world. You’ll look like the world and act like the world and you might even call it relational evangelism.

Be careful. We are called to be in the world yet not be conformed to it.

This was Jesus’ prayer in:

John 17:14–17 ESV

14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

Notice that Jesus acknowledges that they have to be in the world. But he prays that they won’t be consumed by it. And what will help us in this area? The Word of God.

And also that word, “Sanctify” is another word for the type of “transformation” God is bringing for us. Sanctification means to be made holy. And in every case, it is always God doing the sanctifying.

Now back to Romans 12, we are told to “be transformed.” We aren’t told to transform ourselves. In surrender we allow God to transform us.

And notice that it starts in our minds. Many want to assume it starts in your heart. Nope, your heart is deceitfully wicked and is likely the thing that convinces us to be conformed. God is transforming you by first, giving you a mind for truth.

Again, by meditating on God’s word and talking to Him in prayer.

And the testing that happens will happen as a result of your connection to the world. Don’t be conformed to it, but learn to discern it. And learn the place that you have in it. And guess what, part of being a living sacrifice is to stand for truth over and against the world and to invite people out of that worldliness into a relationship with God.

But notice that with a renewed mind that has been tested and found to be transformed, you can actually discern what the will of God is.

“What does God want me to do?” is a question with an answer that can be answered. But only by the transformed mind that has kept is self from conforming to the world.

And a little hint, the will of God is seldom, if ever, what the world would think.

Illustration: And this is where the we truly divert from the world. Time and time again, I’ve been told by worldly people (and sometimes people in the church) that people don’t change. Once a cheater, always a cheater. Once a liar, always a liar. Once a racist, always a racist. And we live in a world where dirt from your past can be dug up and you can be fired and cancelled regardless of what the last 20 years of your life have been like.

However, we as followers of Jesus believe in faith that not only can be people change, they must be changed.

They must be transformed daily. But it is true that you can’t transform yourself.

It is God who must do the transforming.

But you probably have another question: Transformed, into what?

for that we go back to Romans 8:

Romans 8:28–29 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

God is transforming and conforming us to the image of Jesus.

That’s pretty amazing.

Application: And to think we get to become more like Jesus

In His relationship with the Father.

In His love for His people.

In His love for a hurting and broken world.

In His wisdom and knowledge of the things of God, especially God’s Word.

In His willingness to sacrifice His time, energy and even sleep for His people.

In His willingness to start firm for the truth even if that means flipping some tables.

In His willingness to die on the cross for people from every tongue, tribe and nation.

Jesus is the best person who ever lived and we get to become more like Him not by working harder, but by giving up and surrendering to the one who is able to transform the most hardened sinner…and keep transforming us every day.

Response: Have you let God transform you?

Summation: It starts with surrender and it will end with God’s complete and total transformation of us.

Conclusion: At a pivotal point in my life, a friend gave me a cd from a new christian band that I had never heard of. And as I listened to the CD, I came across a song called, “I Can Only Imagine.” The band was MercyMe. It was a song that invited me to look at my life in light of what is to come. This is a song that meant a lot to me as God transformed me and continues to transform me daily as he prepares me for heaven. I remember playing that song over and over and over until the CD was toast. To this day, that song still gives me comfort.

In 1999, the MercyMe released the song “I can only imagine.” It is a song that begs us to imagine what heaven will be like and really to ask if the pain we experience in this world will be worth it in the end. But until 2018 when a movie was made about Bart Milliard’s life, not many knew the story behind the song.

The story starts with an abusive father and a son searching for meaning in the life of pain, shame and guilt. The story ends with an amazing transformation as the gospel takes that abusive man and turns him into a humble, loving father, and someone that Bart not only had forgiven, but someone that Bart wanted to be like.

In 2017, at the National Prayer Breakfast, Bart was invited to sing his song and as he introduced it, he shared his story of transformation. Watch this clip.

VIDEO CLIP!!!!!!

If the gospel can change that guy, the gospel can change anybody.

I show this to illustrate that transformation is possible. But it is only possible by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

You might have someone in your life you wish would change. Maybe they are abusive or maybe they are ambivalent, lazy, maybe they just can’t get out of their own way. You can’t change them. And any change that you might think you can make in their lives will only be temporary. Only the gospel has the power to transform. So pray for them. Share Jesus with them. And remember that the gospel isn’t just for transforming nonbelievers. The same gospel that saves us sustains us and daily transforms us.

You might be here and want transformation in your life. You might be on the edge of surrendering to God. Or maybe you did that and now, you want to know God more. You might want to stop sinning. You keep trying but can’t seem to make any progress. You’re at the end of your rope. You want transformation, but where do you start?

It starts with surrender. And it continues with daily surrendering to God as you let him transform you. It’s not about what we get from God. It’s about what we give and God wants our surrender.

Can I invite you to take that step today. The gospel tells us that we can do nothing on your own. We can’t deal with our sin or do anything to transform ourselves. We must look only to Jesus, who dealt with our sins on the cross.

Surrender.

Believe in Jesus.

Repent of your sins.

Keep yourself unstained from the world.

Let God transform you and conform you to be more like Jesus each and every day.