Be Transformational

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. 3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

Focus Statement

Transformation is communal and requires intentionality.

Point of Relation

I was recently sharing a memory I had with a friend of a time when I a Youth Pastor a Vernon United Methodist Church.

A trip was organized to go to a music festival known as Creation Fest East.

Every year on Agape Farm in Shirleysburg, PA,

this huge, 3-day, outdoors music festival takes place where the latest Christian artists and bands perform and interact with those in attendance.

You can think of this as the Christian version of Woodstock…key word…Christian!

Meaning that it is filled with plenty of rock, but missing the illicit substances, booze and well…you know

So, I signed myself and some youth to join and we went out to this festival.

I mean, I got to rock out to some of favorite Christian bands…all their LIVE!

I saw Project 86, Disciple, Pillar, Skillet…and TobyMac, who I have listened to since he was in DC Talk back when I was in 7th and 8th grade!

I was so stoked to be there! Seriously!

There were somethings I didn’t like about it...

But overall it was a great experience and I would totally go again!

As I was sharing this memory,

I was recounting my favorite moment in all of the festival.

That was when we all took communion at the last night’s candlelight service.

There were nearly 100,000 people together on this farm field, holding candles, singing, and taking communion together in the little cups like we now use.

I mean, you cannot help but feel the Holy Spirit present in that moment!

The candle light sparkingling up and down the hills of the field in the dark night ambience, it was the most glorious…holy…amazing communion experience I have ever had.

The sense of Christian community at that place in that moment…it was SOLID man!

Seriously, the LOVE could be felt all around as we joined together in Christ’s body and blood.

Things to Consider

We’ve all had different experiences being part of different groups or communities (e.g., extended families, school classes, sports teams or band, coworkers, social clubs, etc.)

I want to invite you to think about how you’ve engaged in different communities.

Did it lead to a sense of belonging?

Have you ever felt that you were missing out even while you were in the community?

What Scripture Says

The church is a community that is centered on and in Christ.

Our passage reminds us that we are called to be in the world,

but not live according to the patterns of this world.

Jesus calls us to be a people of rest and service,

yet the world calls us to be on the go and all about ourselves.

When we pick up our cross, who will we follow?

The church is an intentional community.

This means the church is devoted to the process.

Life has ups and downs (ebbs and flows or fluidity),

but when we get off track we have to ask ourselves if we are willing to get back on track.

Being intentional and devoted takes time, it’s not just something that happens overnight.

Being God’s people or the body of Christ in the world is not something that happens accidentally or by default.

So, in Romans 12:1, we have Paul urging the church in Rome to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice,

holy and acceptable to God,

which is your spiritual worship.”

Notice that devoting our entire selves –

body, spirit, life –

to God is something we do,

but it is not something we do by our own power,

something that we can simply achieve if we set our minds to it.

The church, and the life of each Christian within it, is made possible “by the mercies of God” (v. 1),

by giving of ourselves over to God as sacrifice

(meaning that we are letting go of our desires to live apart from God and community).

I want you to also Note that this language is used in the liturgy of Holy Communion

(“present yourselves as a holy and living sacrifice in union with Christ’s offering for us”).

We are able to give ourselves fully over to God because Jesus first gave himself on our behalf, grafting us into the family of God (this language is used in Romans 11:13-24).

By allowing ourselves to be transformed by God in the context of the church community

and not conformed to the world (v. 2) by going along with the “default” way of life,

we grow in our discernment of God’s will for us.

Verses 3-5 describe the diversity, interconnectedness, and unity of the church.

The church is a garden where we are called to bloom and blossom where we are planted.

Some are soil, stems, leaves, petals, and seeds.

Just as a garden is a place of rest and healing in the busy city or farms in rural areas,

so the church should be for all.

The beauty of a garden or farm is in its diversity and the same is true of the church.

All of one flower or plant would be boring,

but when different types of vegetation come together there is beauty.

When the church works together and embraces its diversity there is transformation and growth.

What This Means for You

Is it time to allow your whole self to be transformed by God, devoted to God as a “living sacrifice,”

so that you can, in turn transform others in and beyond your church community?

I want you to think about the ways they are conforming to the patterns of the world,

whether on purpose or by default.

Seriously think...

How have we contributed to the way of the world...

Either through our political worldviews, the initiatives and things we support in our community or in any other way.

I want to challenge you to think of ways you can, instead, invite God’s transformation by making a different choice

(For example, through regular and consistent practices of spiritual disciplines such as prayer, reading Scripture, worshiping, attending to the ordinances of God...

or through plugging into the church community via a small group or participating in mission, exercising spiritual gifts in the community).

What This Means for Us

Creating beauty takes work, hard work.

In order for beauty to take place we need to start the hard work within us.

The “us” starts with a transformation by Christ in our lives, which transforms our church, and then transforms our community.

It’s time to have our personal, church, and community gardens grow. Let’s get to work.

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