Transformation in Jesus

Mark 15:21 KJV 1900

And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

In my family I have started some traditions that Adrianna and the kids would be fine with not having. When we go on a road trip, at some point along the way I will have to make a U-turn! Adrianna will give me a hard time about it but on our last trip we made a U-turn and it wasn’t my fault! We had just landed in Las Vegas (I have a gambling problem! NO!! just kidding) and we were starving for something to eat. I knew what I wanted, a caniac combo from Raisin Canes sub out the coleslaw for an extra piece of bread and a sprite, but Adrianna wanted to try something unique, so she decided to look up something new and local and she found her place. The name of the restaurant is SkinnyFats!

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Well we are driving on our way to SkinnyFats making plans for our week, Adrianna placed the order and was navigating for me and it said it was just a couple of minutes away but we were driving and driving and driving and driving, then I looked over to her and asked, “Are we getting close?” Then I hear “Ahhhh” Its back several minutes the other way, we passed it like 5 minutes ago! So there I went fulfilling a family tradition making an illegal, I mean abrupt, U Turn. And our family tradition continues!

How many of you are with me and recognize that in life we have a tendency to go the wrong direction and need to make some U Turn’s in Life! Today I have good news you don’t have to transform yourself, you don’t have to reform yourself, you don’t need to turn over a new leaf, you just need to come face to face with Jesus and He will remake and transform you.

The purpose of the Gospel is the complete transformation of you.

King James Version Chapter 2

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even bwhen we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

“In our text today, we are going to see a transformation take place in a person and in a family’s life and how their story can be your story.”

The Path of Transformation

How many of you have made resolutions for this year?

How many of you have stuck with your resolution this far?

According to BusinessInsider more than 80% of resolutions fail.

So let’s talk about transformation and how people handle it:

You can approach change that needs to happen in your life in one of three ways:

Effort

Denial

Surrender

Effort - I carry the weight of changing myself

“The problem with relying on ourselves to change ourselves is we tend to rely on will power which gets exhausted in time.”

Pepsi: If Pepsi is in my house, I may be able to resist it for a day or a few days but when its sitting in my fridge looking like this:

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or this

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I can’t resist. Maybe the first time I open the fridge or the second time but when it gets later in the week, once I finish my work week which ends with Life Groups on Thursday nights and I get home wiped and exhausted I open the fridge and grab one of these blue beauties and sit in my recliner and *drink pepsi* I’ve failed.

Yet many of us that’s how we live our lives and as christians thats how we live our lives as followers of Jesus.

King James Version Chapter 5

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, klongsuffering, kgentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts

“Alright this is the fruit of the Spirit so I’m doing okay with love and joy but yeesh longsuffering (being patient, I need to work on that one. So today I’m gonna be more patient be more patient, be more patient and we do okay early in the day when your kids have only said your name 50 times and you do okay but then at the end of the day when you’re tired you lose control and yell at your kids.”

“Alright the fruit of the Spirit, I’m doing okay with the gentleness but the self control part… I do okay with not smoking I put away the bottle I didn’t look at that content on my phone but then it just got too tough and I slipped and fell again.”

When you rely on your effort you fail

King James Version Chapter 3

3 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey cthe truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now hmade perfect by the flesh? 4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain?

Paul is saying you can’t transform yourself. You cannot through your own actions or behaviors make yourself a better Christian, your efforts your works your achievements don’t make you better than anyone else. “If i just read another chapter, If I just say another prayer, if I just give my tithes

And then that moves to the next phase of self transformation and that is denial. I’m good, I’ll just love myself more, I don’t really need to change!

Denial - Telling myself I don’t need to change

“I’m just human”

“God will understand”

“Its not a big deal”

So we get discouraged and move from trying harder to giving up and resigning ourselves to the fact that we can’t change.

But there’s a 3rd and more healthy way:

Transformation by the power of the Gospel!

The Gospel: When Jesus transforms me by the power of His death and resurrection.

King James Version Chapter 5

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Ways that the Gospel changes you

From dead in sin to alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5)

From lost from God to found and in relationship with God (Luke 19:10)

From an orphan to a child of God (Galatians 3:26)

God gives you a new mind (Romans 12:2)

God gives you a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26)

From condemned to spend eternity separated from God to being forgiven and prepared for eternity with God (John 3:16-17)

This is where we find Simon the Cyrenian in the verse we are going to study today. Simon is living his life for religion and self improvement.

Simon is a Cyrenian which means that he is African, and he was likely travelling the 780 miles from Cyrene to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Every year Simon would have to make that 1,500 mile round trip to Jerusalem to make sacrifice and have his sins covered, he was living that life of my effort, my sacrifice, will give me favor with God. Then in our text all of that gets blown up when he is compelled (the Romans had the right to make anyone carry things for them at least a mile) so they forced him to carry a cross for a bruised and bloody man. He has now been touched by this cross a punishment for crimes committed and when he did he became ceremonially unclean. His trip was made useless, his effort was made useless because now he was unclean and could not make the sacrifices in the temple.

His religion was useless and his effort was useless, friend listen today, your good and religious works are useless to save you, to forgive your sin and to give you a place in heaven. Your good works do not make you more holy before God.

Although Simon’s religion was made null and void, his contact with the cross changed everything for him that day.

Simon’s Religion said you’re unclean you can’t be forgiven,

The Cross said through this moment you can be forgiven

Simon’s religion said you can’t make the sacrifice to have your sins covered

Jesus says I am the sacrifice to have your sins covered

Simon’s religion says God isn’t pleased because you didn’t do your duty

Jesus says I’m pleasing God on your behalf

Simon’s religion says because of your performance you aren’t wanted

Jesus says your performance isn’t needed

Transformation doesn’t come by effort but by the cross.

Transformation doesn’t come by denial but by the cross.

Transformation doesn’t come by religion but by the cross.

So today I sing

“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly trust in Jesus’ name,

Christ alone cornerstone weak made strong in the Saviors love, through the storms He is Lord Lord of All.”

The Depth of Transformation

So in our text we have seen that Simon was forced to carry the cross and by Jewish law he was made unclean, and then everything changed for him.

If you’re paying attention you would say, “Wait how do we know that pastor?” It doesn’t say, then Simon was born again, or there Simon’s life was transformed, it ends kind of weird.

it just says “He’s the dad of Alexander and Rufus...” which is weird because I don’t know any Alexander’s or Rufus’ except my neighbors dog!

Here is why this interesting. If I were to say to you last Monday night I played Uno with Russell, Lisa, Tyler, Aundria, and Austin. You would look at me and say, “Okay, I don’t know those people” but it makes more sense if I say I played with Russell, Lisa, Tyler, Aundria, and Austin oh and by the way that’s my wife Adrianna’s family, that would impact your understanding of my story significantly.

It is widely accepted by historians and theologians that the Gospel of Mark was written for the church at Rome. The first people to read this book was the Roman church, so while those names Alexander and Rufus may not mean much to you it would have meant a whole lot to them.

How do we know?

In Romans 16, Paul has just written a powerful letter also to the church at Rome and we often overlook this but this end of his letter he wants to give a shoutout to several people. He says “hey tell that person hello and this person hello.

King James Version Chapter 16

3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: 4 Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. 5 Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ. 6 Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us. 7 Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellowprisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. 8 Greet Amplias my beloved in the Lord. 9 Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys my beloved. 10 Salute Apelles approved in Christ. Salute them which are of Aristobulus’ household. 11 Salute Herodion my kinsman. Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord. 12 Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which laboured much in the Lord. 13 Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.

Paul is saying, hey there are so many people in Rome that love Jesus and love like Jesus they mean so much to me, tell them I love them, tell them hello, tell them I’m praying for them. Tell Rufus hi, tell his mom hi she’s like a mom to me. And when Paul wrote his letter to this Roman church he calls out a pillar a leader in that church that everyone there would know and respect and admire,

when Mark tells us about Simon going to the cross, he says hey this is the Simon who is the dad of Rufus, you know Rufus’ mom that’s her husband.

Because Simon was brought to the cross it impacted him, and it changed his kids, and it impacted a church 1,500 miles away in Rome. And while Simon was on a mission to be impacted for a year, God was on a mission to impact Simon for eternity.

God is so good and He loves you so much that He didn’t leave it up to you to change and transform yourself, He wants to enter your life and change you.

Stop relying on yourself, and rely on His power to change and transform you.

I would like to close with an exercise today: in Psalm 139:23-24 David prayed

Application for the week: pray this prayer this week and depend on the Holy Spirit to transform you.

King James Version Psalm 139

Search me, O God, and know my heart:

Try me, and know my thoughts:

24  And see if there be any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.