How Jesus Changes Everything
Notes
Transcript
Good morning church. If we haven’t met yet, my name is Kirk Ehrhart and I am the site pastor here, at North Park Stratford. After taking the last three weeks off of preaching and getting away for some of it to celebrate my 20th anniversary with my wife, it’s good to be back. I’m grateful to Kate, Pam and Jordan for the preaching they have brought to our church recently and if you missed any of their sermons, I invite you to check them out on our youtube channel.
I don’t know how you have been feeling lately, but I have been very excited lately. After having a bad week leading up to palm Sunday, it’s been so encouraging to see God doing some great work in our church and in our community. We have baptized 5 people over Easter Sunday and the week after. We had an update on how God is working through one of our partner organizations, Youth Unlimited. One youth shared his testimony on Easter Sunday and at our Vision 2022 meeting, Shawn Ropp and Shelley McNamara each shared how they have seen God working. We held our first wedding at North Park Stratford yesterday. One of our core values is life transformation and we are seeing it happen in our church. It’s very exciting.
But we recognize that life transformation doesn’t happen because we, as a church are awesome. It happens when people meet Jesus. That’s why our vision statement as a church is “We believe God desires that all people experience the love and grace of Jesus, and with this invites His people to participate creatively with Him in His work of transformation.”
Transformation happens when people meet Jesus. And it happens because Jesus changes everything. When we truly meet Jesus, there is no part of our lives that goes unchanged by him. He changes our relationships, our worship, our priorities, our views on power, our community and more and this change is always for the better, even if living it out is harder than keeping the status quo. And so we are going to spend six weeks looking at different ways that Jesus changes things in our new teaching series, Transformed.
So let me start by telling you a story of a man who met Jesus and everything in his life changed.
Story of Paul.
For those who are familiar with the Bible, that was the story of Paul the Apostle. He went from being someone who hated Christianity, to being the vessel that God used to bring it to the nations.
In his second letter to the church in Corinth, Paul wrote:
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
Isn’t that beautiful? And it’s true! There is a spiritual change that happens when we give our lives to Jesus and in some areas, it is an instantaneous change. But other areas, the newness that God brings is like a little spark that God calls us to fan into flame.
So, today, I want to explore three ways that Jesus changes us and what that change can mean for your life. Would you pray with me?
Pray.
Jesus changes our minds
Jesus changes our minds
Everyone of us has what is called a “worldview.” A world view is the summation of all the various ways you interpret what is happening around you. It’s formed by a ton of different factors: the views of your family, the life experiences you have had, the books you have read, the shows you have watched, the friends you had, the enemies you had, and more.
For example, growing up in a home that didn’t attend church, that valued serving the community and valued getting along with people led to a belief, in my late teens, that our final states was determined by what we believe and if we were good. If you believed in heaven, and you were good, you went to heaven. If you believed in reincarnation and you were good then you were reincarnated as whatever you want. If you believed in nothing, then you would just cease to exist. Whatever you personally believed was what would happen. That view came to me as a result of all the ways I had been formed up to that point.
And then I met Jesus and it all changed for me. In that moment, I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there was one God, that he was Jesus and that the Bible was true. Jesus changed my mind, my worldview and I see him and I see life differently now because I met Jesus.
Earlier, I told you the story of Paul the Apostle. At one point, his worldview was that Jesus was a heretic preacher and Christians should be wiped out because they were perverting God’s law that was given to Moses. But then he met Jesus personally and his mind was changed. He realized that Jesus was more than just a man; he is the one true God and that realization led to life transformation.
Years later, Paul would write to the Christians in Rome a letter that both explains and defends Christianity and challenges them to grow in their faith. In that letter, which we call Romans, Paul writes,
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. 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.
The brilliance of Paul is that although Jesus changes our minds when we meet him, it’s the beginning of change, not the full end result. What Paul is saying in Romans is that there is more growth to experience as we meet with Jesus over and over again. The more we meet with Jesus and allow him to transform our minds, the more we will experience freedom from that which enslaves us - whether it is sin, trauma, or just negative ways of thinking. Jesus came to redeem our lives and to give us freedom so that we can experience an abundant life - a life full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.
So let me ask you a question: what mental battles do you face that you need Jesus to change? Many people struggle with the lies that they internalized as a child, teen or young adult and they keep repeating those lies to themselves. Some people allow a past trauma to define them, instead of rooting their identity on what Jesus has done. Others play the comparison game - they are smarter, stronger, richer, better looking than I am - instead of relishing in the beautiful ways that God has made you uniquely.
Whatever you are struggling with know that Jesus loves you just as you are, but something happens when we meet Jesus: he changes everything, including our minds.
Jesus changes our destiny (our final states)
Jesus changes our destiny (our final states)
One of the biggest changes that Jesus makes in our lives involves our destiny. And I don’t mean like destiny like “you were born to be the greatest whatever in the world” or “you were destined to meet that person and fall in love and make beautiful babies” or anything like that. In this case, Jesus changes what the destiny of our lives, or maybe I should say, “Jesus changes the destination of our lives.” In today’s western Christianity, we loath to talk about Heaven and hell because we don’t want to be like those who are trying to scare people into heaven by yelling at them “You’re going to burn in hell, sinner.” That’s not what we, at least here at North Park, are about. We have decided that we will let God be the great judge instead of us trying to take his place and do it.
But Heaven and Hell are realities that are talked about in the Bible. Maybe not as extensively or as descriptively as we would like, but the reality that there is life after death is talked about. And whatever your view is on our final states, the Bible, at the very least paints us a picture of beautiful, perfect, bodily relationship with Jesus after his return. The bible teaches us that the way we live here and what we believe has eternal implications in the next life and that Jesus came to change the game.
Orthodox Christian theology teaches us that sin cuts us off from God relationally and that Jesus restores that relationship through his sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection. That Jesus died so that we could live forever in the presences and love of God.
Using a negative argument to defend the resurrection, Paul says,
And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost!
And in that letter to the Romans I mentioned earlier, Paul writes,
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
So Paul argues that without Jesus, we would all still be stuck in our sins and cut off relationally from God; that we would have no hope in the afterlife. But then he says,
But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man.
So when we put our faith in Jesus, everything changes, including our destiny. Our final state is secured, not by us doing good, but by Jesus sacrificing himself in our place and defeating death through his resurrection. And why do I share this?
Because it’s a hard world right now. There is so much injustice, so much fear, so much anger. Every day there is a new scandal unearthed or an old scandal brought up. Political smearing is in full swing for the election. Debates and arguments abound everywhere. So I bring this up to remind us that there is a better day coming. A day free from all of that. That we might be in the darkness of night now, but the dawn is coming when Jesus will return and make it all right and for those of us who are in Christ, who have put our faith in him, that hope for a better day empowers us to keep going, to share the good news with our friends, families and neighbours, to keep trying to live as children of the light. It reminds us that there is an eternal reality that is far bigger than the momentary troubles our world is in right now and it encourages us to keep our eyes on Jesus who has secured for us who have put our faith in Him, a glorious destiny.
Jesus changes our hearts (our desires)
Jesus changes our hearts (our desires)
Jesus changes our minds, our destiny and he also changes our hearts. Before Paul the apostle met Jesus, his heart was full of religious rage. He took it on himself to rid the world of Christianity because they were perverting the religion he loved. But when he met Jesus personally, his heart was changed and he went from trying to destroy the church, to being a church planting apostle.
Look at what he says to the church in Philippi:
God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus.
Or the church in Ephesus:
Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly,
Or the church in Thessalonika:
As apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children among you. Or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children. We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.
Paul went from hating the church, to loving the church because God changed his heart. He did that for me as well. I spent my teenage years in pursuit of … me. I spent my money on eating out with my friends, I dated girls that were obviously not right for me. The only reason I worked was so I could have money to have fun. I was living to fulfill my idea of happiness, which was all about instant gratification. But then I met Jesus and he began to change my heart. He started breaking down my stubborn pride. He started changing how I saw the world and how I viewed others. He gave me a purpose that wasn’t about satisfying my own desires for instant gratification but was about serving God by serving the church.
Sometimes, the change is quick. There have been times when Abby and I have gotten into a big argument and I am just seething in anger. But then I sit down and start praying and I find that soon God has changed my heart, softening it and making me more open towards reconciliation. But sometimes, when we say Jesus changes hearts, what we mean is that Jesus begins a process of changing hearts. All those areas that God started working in me when I was a late teen/young adult are areas where he is still in process of changing me. The theological term for this is sanctification and it is the life-long process where God is shaping me to be more like Jesus.
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
So, how is God changing your heart lately? What is He showing you that you need to work on to grow towards being like Jesus? This is the great question of our faith and one of the reasons why we gather each week. Yes, we gather to corporately worship our God. Yes, we come to have relationship with people who believe in Jesus like we do. But we also come to experience Jesus changing our hearts and I am convinced, that when we open ourselves to him in our prayer times, in our bible reading times, in our worship services - when we really listen for his voice, that’s exactly what happens.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Does anyone know what Isaac Newton’s first law of motion is?
An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
The idea is that in physics, and I would say in life, nothing changes unless an outside force acts upon it. Which explains why so many people, even Christians, are stuck in life, either not growing at all or repeating the same patterns over and over. They aren’t seeking Jesus. When we meet with Jesus, everything changes. He is the external force that will propel you to become the person that God created you to be, living an abundant, spiritually vital life. So how do we meet Jesus?
We sit quietly and and listen for his voice in our minds. Don’t underestimate the value of distraction-free, prayerful contemplation.
We read the Bible and allow His words to both encourage us and challenge us. Don’t try to get through the Bible. Read the Bible to hear the voice of our Shepherd.
We worship God in song and in prayer. Bringing our praise, adoration, lament, injustice, and hope to Jesus in prayer tethers our heart to his relationally.
We listen for his voice speaking into our inner person when we listen to preaching and teaching.
So, let me ask you the big question: Have you met Jesus? Have you come to that place where you know in your hearts that Jesus is real, that he is God and that he has saved you? Maybe today is the day that you are ready to proclaim that truth for the first time. And if you are, I invite you to pray with me.
Pray.
If you prayed that prayer today, I want to welcome you to the family of God and whether you are in the room or you are online, I want to encourage you to reach out to us and let us know of your decision because this is the beginning of a spiritual journey and we want to resource you so you can keep growing in your relationship with Jesus. You can email me at stratford@northpark.ca or connect with me after the service.
But many of you made that proclamation already. You already follow Jesus. The question to challenge you is, how is God shaping you, lately and are you agreeable to the changes God wants to make or resistant? If you are resistant, why? What’s holding you back from letting God transform you?
Our God is continually transforming us to become more like Jesus. And how will we experience it? By drawing near to Jesus because Jesus changes everything.
Pray.