Teague Bible Church

HOW TO LIVE THE CHRISTIAN LIFE- Part 2

3/28/2020 ( We could not live stream today)

  Today’s main topic — QUESTION:  HOW DO WE GET TRANSFORMED?

 Please listen to March 8, 2020 for Part 1 of What Is The Christian Life?

          At teaguebiblechurch.org

 Intro: Tombstone movie;  Doc had to fight for Wyatt because he was faster on the draw. Wyatt was willing, was brave enough, and was planning to fight; even though he knew , (after talking to Doc about it) that he was not fast enough with a gun to kill his opponent. Wyatt had to humble himself and be helped by Doc Holliday . Doc was fast enough to defeat the enemy, and did so.

Review;  Part 1– The Surrender – Romans 12:1  When you surrender first; ( before you pray other things; before you study the Word, before your fellowship; before you witness to others about Jesus) it puts you in tune with your new nature in Christ. Otherwise you end up trying to improve the old nature which is impossible to improve.  John 6:63, John 15:5  

Review;  Part 2 – The Transformation Romans 12:2

When we are “born- again” ( John 3:1-5)  we receive a new nature that gives us a new power to defeat the enemy; i.e.,  to live as God intended. When you were born -again you repented of your sins, turned your back on an old life, and received a new life when you ask Jesus to save you from the judgement against your sins.

In our old nature we cannot live the Christian life. Please get this!

So a born -again believer in Christ now has two natures. The old one he was born with, and a new nature given as a gift of God. The old nature is not able to work for it; i.e., the new nature. It has to be given as a free gift, based on the work only Jesus could do for us, in our place, by a free gift of grace. Grace is something unearned and undeserved. ( Ephesians 2:8-10)

“Conformed” – Going with the flow of the worldly.

             Phillips translation- ( The N.T. In Modern English)“ Stop letting the world squeeze you into its mold.”

“Transformed” – Greek word ,  “  metamorphousthe “

    Only used twice in the New Testament. From where we get the word, METAMORPHOSIS, which means a drastic change from one state of being to another!

Ex. Cocoon to a butterfly

Ex.  Acorn to an oak tree

For every believer this holds out the reasonable possibility of dramatic changes in your life in the here and now!

 D.L. Moody- “ The world has yet to see a man totally sold out to God; I want to be that man!”

QUESTION:  WHY DO WE NEED TO BE TRANSFORMED? ( John 6: 63, Romans 8:5-9,13) Old nature can’t cut it. It is a self-defeating attempt. The old nature runs on pride.

ANSWER:  It is the only way to discover God’s will for your life!

“Good, acceptable, perfect” – Surely you long for this? To be able to say, “ Oh yes, God’s will for me is perfect, it fits me like a glove; personalized and perfect!” It will satisfy your deepest longings. If the world could give it to you, you would have already found it. If your attempts to get it, through the old nature could have done it you would be there by now! But the world system can never give you satisfaction!

PART 3:  ANSWER: BY HAVING YOUR MIND RENEWED. To be different you have to think different! Remember back when you were 8 or 12 or 16 and you thought you pretty well knew how things were? Could you imagine the disaster your life would be if you had not learned and matured?

Our problem is we do not think right; because of the Fall of man. Our thinking got off.

Ex. Say you are at Walmart. Some old bag -of bones old person who is never ready at the check out counter(the old nature thinking) is in front of me.  I pray to the Lord so I do not say or do something I will regret and be a bad witness. And the Lord grants the request and I settle down a bit. Something much better could have taken place. If you understood your mind needs to be renewed you would let the Lord reset your world view at that moment, through surrender to your new nature, and instead of merely, “Lord , give me patience!”, you would have said, “Lord what is in in my thinking that needs to change here?” Immediately you surrender your will to His, to get the answer. “ My child you are precious to me but so is that person. You are having to wait in line and that goes against your thoughts that say, “I should never have to wait in line!” Your thinking is off. The grid you are seeing life through is off. You must listen to the Holy Spirit I have placed inside of you; and allow the Holy Spirit to work in the new nature to have a renewed mind.” Do you get what I am saying?

Ex. “ The Lord will help me and intercede on my behalf!” So, you keep getting in debt, over and over again. You plead with the Lord to bail you out. And He graciously does so a few times. But a renewed mind will say, ”Why do I want so much stuff and get myself in such a pickle time and time again?” The old nature tells you that you just need God to bail you out; the renewed mind leads you to a whole new reality of being satisfied in your relationship with Christ that you learn to budget. Just living “your life” the way you want to and checking in with God just when you fall on you face in not the life God intended for you in Jesus Christ. Plus it is no way to relate to someone who loves you, especially the Lord! The Old Testament gives example after example of why this does not work, has never worked, will never work. Read Deuteronomy 8 sometime. It is a picture of trying to live with God’s help but remain self-focused instead of God-focused.

As believers in Christ we have a new nature that gives us all we need to become transformed which helps us discover God’s plan for our life. To be able to truly say, “ Now this is what I have been looking for!”

But we are responsible for feeding the new nature! If we do not, then the only place to go is the old nature which only brings continued lifelessness and corruption, dullness, emptiness, boredom, hopelessness, loneliness, misery. Galatians 5:16-25

Ex. Having a great new and fast computer, but not knowing how to work it.

You may say, “Ok, I realize a person cannot live the Christian life without being surrendered to God’s will; I can’t be doing my will and His will at the same time. I also realize that a transformation must start taking place, that is, having a renewed mind, but I still do not know how to do it! Where is the handle on this reality?

THE HANDLE: Occupation with Christ!  Living in the Word of God!

Replacing one false thought with the true thoughts of the Word of God.  Proverbs 4:23/ Colossians 3:16

The second time the word, “transformation” appears in the N.T. is II Corinthians 3:5-18.

 Big Example:  II Corinthians 3: 5-18  Paul explains the superiority and permanency of The New Covenant.

This passage show the “how to” of the process. This is the real open secret of living the Christian life!

Point: By beholding the glory of the Lord, from the Word of God, we become like Jesus Christ in our thinking and character. This is very different than just being a moralist; this is a real transformation! Very different than just believing , “God will help me when I get in trouble!”

THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT–

 There is a psychological principle that God has placed in every human. If you spend a lot of time with someone you admire- you became like them.

Ex. Father to son

Ex. The Great Stone Face- Nathaniel Hawthorne (one hour read; read this)

If we spend a great deal of time with Jesus we will become like Him.  I John 3: 1-3

POINT: As we spend time in the Word of God, the Holy Spirit of God begins changing us, moment-by moment, into Christlikeness. This is exactly what happened to the disciples as they spend 3 ½ years under the personal ministry of Jesus Christ. They learned the truth while He was with them, but it was fully remembered, and applied, after the Holy Spirit was given to them. Read about that in the book of Acts

Point:  We need to saturate ourselves with God’s Word, then the Holy Spirit has something to work with. The Holy Spirit will show you how that applies.

REVIEW:

1. Surrender to God-  No joking around about it!

2. Saturate yourself with the Word of God

3. The Holy Spirit will empower and help us to apply the Word of God to any given situation. That is possible because you have a new nature given to you to overcome the old one , over time.

THE GOAL OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE:

A. Immediate Goal : Functional maturity     Ephesians 4: 13-15/ Colossians 2:2-3

Ephesians 1:3/ I Peter 1:3   Everything we need; through the new nature.

B. Ultimate Goal: Made like Christ    Romans 8:29/ Colossians 3: 10

The “good” Of Romans 8: 28 is defined in 8:29 “To be conformed to the image of His Son.”

No short cuts. No one big experience will make you a mature believer.

God is trying to work toward this goal in your life. Comfort here. Philippians 1: 6

Graphic Illustration:

 100%

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                 Moment of salvation                        Time Line                                                Death

We have a lot of ups and downs as we learn to live by a renewed mind instead of the old, knee =jerk reaction of the old nature. Generally the action along the line moves upward.

“This World Tries Men’s Souls”    Current trial; Coronavirus                         3/26/2020

One thing that unnecessarily torments our hearts is our assumptions about what life here on earth is supposed to be like. You get that thinking wrong, and you are in for a lot of misery. Life here is hard, but misery is optional.

C.S. Lewis says he thinks of life down here as a prison sentence and is surprised at how nice the accommodations are at times. He said, however, that if you thought life here was supposed to be like staying in the finest hotel,  then you will be continually disappointed. I believe this is the problem of many people, particularly Americans.

Of course, he knew there is more to it than that. He mentioned how important it is to appreciate these taste of future pleasures and glory down here, in this life, but be careful not to make the “taste” a substitute for the fullness to come. Many, many people do that and live miserable lives because of it. There is no utopic kingdom down here in this temporary life. God uses this life to train us for the next, eternal life found in knowing Christ as Savior and Lord.  And once you really know Him he gives a daily joy, from that future kingdom in present time and by so doing makes even this life more enjoyable and most assuredly fulfilling.

I think I found this article in the “International Critical Commentary” at the Dallas Baptist University library years ago. I do not know what the passage is he is commenting on, but this one article has helped me tremendously. I hope it helps you also.

“The skeptic’s assumption is that man is to be viewed as a completed creation and that God’s purpose in making the world was to provide a suitable dwelling place for this fully formed creature. Since God is good and loving, the environment which He has created for human life to inhabit is naturally as pleasant and comfortable as possible. The problem is essentially similar to that of a man who builds a cage for some pet animal. Since our world, in fact, contains sources of hardship, inconvenience, and danger of innumerable kinds, the conclusion follows that this world cannot have been created by a perfectly benevolent and all-powerful  deity.

Christianity, however, has never supposed that God’s purpose in the creation of the world was to construct a paradise whose inhabitants would experience a maximum of pleasure and a minimum of pain. The world is seen, instead, as a place of  ‘soul- making’ in which free beings, grappling with the tasks and challenges of their existence in a common environment may become ‘children of God’ and  ‘heirs of eternal life.”

,,,man has  been made as a person  in the image of God, but has not yet been brought as a free and responsible agent into the finite likeness of God, which is revealed in Christ. Our world, with all its rough edges, is the sphere in which this second and harder stage of the creative process is taking place.

This conception of the world can be supported by the method of negative theodicy. Suppose, contrary to fact, that this world were a paradise from which all possibility of pain and suffering were excluded. The consequences would be far reaching.

For example, no one could ever injure anyone else; the murderer’s knife would turn to paper or his bullets to thin air; the bank safe robbed of a million dollars, would miraculously be filled with another million dollars ( without this device, on however large a scale, proving inflationary) ; fraud, deceit, conspiracy, and treason would somehow always leave the fabric of society undamaged.

Again, no one would ever be injured by accident; the mountain climber, steeplejack, or playing child falling from a height would float unharmed to the ground; the reckless driver would never meet with disaster. There would be no need to work, since no harm could come from avoiding work; there would be no call to be concerned for others in time of need or danger, for in such a world there could be no real needs or dangers.

To make possible this continual series of individual adjustments, nature would have to work by special providences instead of running according to general laws which men must learn to respect on penalty of pain or death. The laws of nature would have to be extremely flexible; sometimes gravity would operate, sometimes not; sometimes an object would be hard and solid, sometimes soft. There could be no sciences, for there would be no enduring world structure to investigate. In eliminating the problems and hardships of an objective environment, with its own laws, life would become like a dream in which, delightfully but aimlessly, we would float and drift at ease.

One can at lease begin to imagine such a world. It is evident that our present ethical concepts would have no meaning in it. If, for example, the notion of harming someone is an essential element in the concept of a wrong action, in our hedonistic paradise there could be no wrong actions, nor any right actions in distinction from the wrong.

Courage and fortitude would have no point in an environment in which there is, by definition, no danger or difficulty. Generosity, kindness, the agape aspect of love, prudence, unselfishness, and all other ethical notions which presuppose life in a stable environment, could not be even be formed .

Consequently, such a world, however well it might promote pleasure, would be ill adapted for the development of the moral qualities of human personality. In relationship to this purpose it would be the worst of all possible worlds.”

Romans 5: 1-8   II Peter  1: 1-10   Hebrews 12: 3-14     JWP       

RESOLVE

Verb: “decide firmly on a course of action”

Noun: “firm determination to do something”

I was asking God about what I might say to you today as we are in the midst of this crisis sweeping the world. It seems many rock back and forth between giving encouragement, without knowing the final outcome, and others who think all of this temporary life has lost its meaning if things like this destroy all concepts of,” normal life.” Coronavirus does not allow ,”normal life,” you might have noticed.

I could quickly convince you that life, and particularly, your life has never been normal. Certainly the old adage,” What Is Your Five -Year Plan?” was D.O.A. when spoken.

 I love the scene in the first Jurassic Park movie, where the creatures are running wild, all out of control, making lunch snacks out of several humans, while the old man who built the park kept saying, “Next time we will have control,,,” The research girl slammed her hands down on the table as if to shock the old man into the present, deadly reality and said,

 ” But you never had control ! “

We can say, “God is in control.” And knowing His character, and Romans 8: 28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose,” we know that ultimately, eternally, we have nothing to fear. But I think that is not enough to know. Something is missing in us. Something we need to do.

As I was trying to relate this information ( Romans 8) to an unbeliever once, I got a shocking response.” Well that may be true, but how can I pay attention to that distant stuff when this temporary life is beating the living hell out of me?”

So for him, and for you and me today, may I speak about “resolve?”  Read a story on a news feed years ago about a mom who had to wrestle back her child who was being abducted right in front of her. She lit into the man and beat him till he stopped and ran away. Bystanders were amazed at how vicious her attack was. Later, in interview, she said she was scared of spiders, bugs, just about every little thing. Even as she was recuing her child she could not believe it was her doing this marvelous deed. She said,” Something just clicked inside me and all fear went away, things slowed down, and I found myself, I found, resolve.”

So what do we really need? Resolve. I found the perfect thing to share today as I studied Matthew 26. Yea all of it. I ask you to read it 3 times and then reflect on it.

Jesus is emotionally overwhelmed about what is coming. He is wanting to live, as each of us want to live.  He knows He needs an established resolve, in His humanity, to go forward. What you catch as you read it, is that the level of disturbance in His spirit is off the scale until verse 45 !

 At that point He resolved to do the Father’s will. After that, for the rest of the time you see Jesus in calm resolve and action.

All emotional when nothing was happening but a prayer time? What is going on here? And then after the prayer a great calm and  bravery?

This is what is missing in this whole crisis we face. Are we “resolved” to recognize the reality of this fragile life and building up, within ourselves, the eternal life given to us by the Lord Jesus? Through the new nature given to us something can “click” if you surrender to do God’s will us. Where are you,,really?

Daniel 12; 3, 10 ” Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness , like the stars forever and ever.”

                                            JWP

 ” Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.”  JWP

Please join us in today’s word. And let us know what you think….either in our comment section or in person at our next service. Join us every Sunday at our worship times–9:30am for Sunday School and at 10:45am for Worship Service. We’d love to see you here!

Please join us in today’s word. And let us know what you think….either in our comment section or in person at our next service. Join us every Sunday at our worship times–9:30am for Sunday School and at 10:45am for Worship Service. We’d love to see you here!

Please join us in today’s word. And let us know what you think….either in our comment section or in person at our next service. Join us every Sunday at our worship times–9:30am for Sunday School and at 10:45am for Worship Service. We’d love to see you here!

Please join us in today’s word. And let us know what you think….either in our comment section or in person at our next service. Join us every Sunday at our worship times–9:30am for Sunday School and at 10:45am for Worship Service. We’d love to see you here!

Please join us in today’s word. And let us know what you think….either in our comment section or in person at our next service. Join us every Sunday at our worship times–9:30am for Sunday School and at 10:45am for Worship Service. We’d love to see you here!

Please join us in today’s word. And let us know what you think….either in our comment section or in person at our next service. Join us every Sunday at our worship times–9:30am for Sunday School and at 10:45am for Worship Service. We’d love to see you here!

Please join us in today’s word. And let us know what you think….either in our comment section or in person at our next service. Join us every Sunday at our worship times–9:30am for Sunday School and at 10:45am for Worship Service. We’d love to see you here!