The Adventure of Transformation
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Last night, we talked about the internal adventure of transformation.
God wants to not only work through us but in us.
The good works of reaching people (which we learned about last week) must ultimately flow from within a transformed soul.
It is not enough to just do the good deeds, God desires a change within us.
Often this adventure can be one of the most mysterious and scary. It requires us to look inside and perhaps face things within us that aren’t pretty. But it is only through this journey that we will come to have the true character through which the deeds flow naturally.
“Love God and do what you want.” - Augustine & Luther
Trans-formation - From the Inside - Out
God wants to transform us from the inside out, making us into the person He originally intended us to be - making us more like Jesus.
Metamorphoo - greek verb meaning “to change into another form, to transform, to transfigure”
Where we get our word metamorphosis
Means transfigured, transformed, change
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Used several times in NT - Mattew 17:2 & Mark 9:2 (transfiguration), Romans 12:2 (be transformed by the renewing of your minds), 2 Corinthians 3:18 (being transformed by the Holy Spirit)
When Jesus was transfigured - His appearance changed
When We are “transfigured” / transformed - Our character changes
Character - distinctive quality, mark. That inner quality / mark that determines how we live and the choices we make.
God wants to transform our character into the character of Jesus.
2 Corinthians 3:18 MSG:
“And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.”
NIV:
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
The adventure into our soul is one that we can’t neglect or ignore. This is the work that God wants to do in us - not just help us change our outward actions, but change our inner self so that our actions will naturally follow.
A Tree and its Fruit
Fruit comes naturally from the tree. An apple tree cannot grow oranges!
Notice the imagery that Jesus uses - you will know them by their fruit, produce fruit in keeping with repentance, the good tree produces good fruit while the bad tree produces bad fruit
And Paul continues the imagery- bear fruit for God, the fruit of the Spirit, fruit of righteousness
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Good tree = good fruit
Bad tree = bad fruit
The “fruit of our life” grows from the “tree” which is our inner character.
If we want to do the things that Jesus did (have the same fruit) then we must have the same character (tree) as Christ or as Paul says, Christ must be formed in us
This is not to say that we give up all effort at doing good if it doesn’t come naturally (in fact these actions can help us in the transformation process if they are done in the right). It means that we cannot neglect the inward Adventure while engaging in the outward Adventure - they work together synonomously.
This Adventure in Character Formation is a cooperative effort. We don’t go on the journey alone.
Philippians 2:12-13 - “Work out you salvation - for it is God who is at work in you”
How it happens
C.S. Lewis said -
“every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a Heaven creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is Heaven: that is, it is joy, and peace, and knowledge, and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.”
“Christ in you” “You in Christ”
Abiding in Christ - He is the vine, we are the branches. “Abide in me as I abide in you” (John 15)
Colossians 1:27 - Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Discussion Questions
1. Since choosing to follow Jesus how has your character changed (try not to just list outward behaviors, but the inner changes - attitudes, thoughts, desires, etc.)? How have you seen the character of other Christians change?
2. “Love God and do what you want.” What do you think of this statement?
3. What are some of the character traits of Jesus? Do you see these in your life?
4. Why do you think God wants to transform us into the image of Jesus?
5. In what way do you sense that God wants to transform you? What might life look like when it is being transformed into the image of Jesus?
6. Read John 15:5-11 and 1 John 5:3. What is the relationship between obedience and love? Why do you think 1 John says that “his commands are not burdensome”?
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