Transformation
Transformation
What does it mean to be transformed? (Given a completely different form or appearance).
Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Transformation is what (should) occur when you are saved. It is measured by the depth and quality of spiritual growth in people’s lives. When we live out what the Bible teaches, we have an influence on our culture, as salt does on food or as light reveals a dark room.
Mat 5:13-16 Salt and Light “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
The Goal of Transformation is to become like Christ…Gal 6:15b What counts is a new creation. But really – a Christian who has been transformed – who has a Biblical worldview – they are more likely to act like Jesus because they see the world differently.
Having to live and work in an unbelieving world can greatly influence the mind. By the end of the day, we often find ourselves thinking and even acting like unbelievers due to such close association. Most of us are bombarded daily by backbiting competition, vulgar language, gossip, and all kinds of worldly temptations. As physical beings living in a physical world that we can see, feel, and touch, it is very easy to get caught up in its ways. We can’t escape all of the corruption that is in the world today but we can reduce its influence by the cleansing power of the word.
Paul said that we can’t isolate ourselves from the wickedness around us but that we can take the necessary steps to protect ourselves from its influence by the renewing of our mind. Bible study and prayer can renew the righteous thoughts, feelings and intent which the world can so easily strip away. When we study the scriptures which tell us that as Christians we are to work, not only to provide for our families, but also for those in need we are reminded to do our best in all that we do and not to follow the examples of the world.
Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (NIV)
1 Peter 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (NIV)
Romans 13:13 – Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. (NLT)
Ephesians 5:8 – For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! (NLT)
Part of the problem is that Christians are not being (or at least not acting) transformed when they are saved, and this is partly due I think to the way our society communicates and relates. We have moved away from deep meaningful relationships. We have friends, but they come and go. There are so many people in the world, and we can communicate with so many across broad areas of space and time (zones), that having a deep personal intimate relationship is a skill we are losing. The impact of endless streams of advertising and the façade of the media have jaded our own real relationships as well. This is yet another source of transformation inhibition – peer pressure and the impact of the media/world.
There are seven passions of a transformed believer as listed in the book “UnChristian” on page 80 (great book too):
1. Worship God passionately (love, care about what you do, not half-heartedly)
2. Engage in spiritual friendships with other believers
3. Pursuing faith in the context of family
4. Embracing intentional forms of spiritual growth
5. Serving others
6. Investing time and resources in spiritual pursuits
7. Having faith based conversations with outsiders
There are three outcomes of transformation to consider: Listening (sensation), Thinking (cognition), and loving (behavior).
Listening: The transformed Christian is a good listener. They are able to listen to God, and to others. What do you need to be able to listen? Empathy, patience, time, compassion, ears.
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.
Jeremiah 5:21-22a Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear: Should you not fear me? declares the LORD. Should you not tremble in my presence?
Mark 9:7 Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
Mark 12:29-30 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Luke 10:38-42 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
John 8:47 He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.
John 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
Acts 3:22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.’
Romans 2:13-15 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Indeed, when Gentiles – who do not have the law – do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves…since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts…
Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
James 1:19-20 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
1 John 4:6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
Hebrews 3:7-8 Warning Against Unbelief
So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did.
Thinking:
Thinking: How you think influences your behavior (duh!). You are what you think.
2 Chronicles 19:6 (Jehoshaphat Appoints Judges) He told them, “Consider carefully what you do, because you are not judging for man but for the LORD, who is with you whenever you give a verdict.
Psalms 8:3-4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
Psalms 119:95 The wicked are waiting to destroy me, but I will ponder your statutes.
Proverbs 14:15 A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps.
Jeremiah 31:33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Luke 2:19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
Luke 24:45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.
Romans 8:5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
1 Corinthians 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
Ephesians 4:23 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Philippians 1:9-10 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.
Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
James 3:17-18 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.
1 Peter 1:13-14 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
1 Peter 3:7 Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.
Behavior: Loving:
Godly Behavior
Christian teens hear a lot about “Godly behavior,” but often wonder what that actually means. As Christians we are asked to live to a higher standard, because we are representatives of God on Earth. So striving to live a God-centered life is important, because when we exhibit Godly behavior we are providing a good witness to those around us. God expects Christian teens to live by a higher standard. This means that God wants us to be examples of Christ rather than living by the world’s standards. Reading your Bible, praying, and doing regular devotions are helpful ways to know God’s expectations and live a life focused on God.
Your Age is Not an Excuse for Bad Behavior
One of the greatest witnesses to non-believers is the Christian teen setting a Godly example. Unfortunately most people have little faith that teens can make good decisions, so Christian teens exemplifying godly behavior are a powerful representation of God’s love.
Living Out Godly Behavior in Your Everyday Life
Taking time to ask how your behavior and appearance are perceived by others is an important part of being a Christian. Everything a Christian teen does influences what people think of Christians and God. You are a representative of God, and your behavior is part of demonstrating your relationship with Him. Does this mean you will be perfect? No. We all make mistakes and sin. However, it is important to keep striving to walk in Jesus’ footsteps as best we can.
Philippians 2:3-4 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
James 1:26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress (JP: and elderly parents in their old age) and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
WHAT HINDERS MANY CHRISTIANS…If it is so easy, why do many Christians remain “caterpillars” that don’t transform into butterflies (after being saved)? Were they not regenerated at their baptism? Don’t they have the promise of God’s help? (yes) The problem is likely a failure to renew the mind. Can a mind be renewed on a starvation diet? (e.g., irregular Bible study). Can a mind be renewed on a junk-food diet? (e.g., trashy television, magazines) Why many Christians do not experience transformation: they become what they think, and much of what they think upon is not becoming! They spend more time watching things of the devil than reading things of the Spirit! Our attitudes and behavior is but a reflection of what goes into our minds!
Gallup Poll on Religion
60 countries, 50,000 people
Worldwide:
Members of a religion: 87%
North America:
Member of a religion: 91%
Belief in God, Spirit, or life force: 88%
God has high importance in their life: 83%
Attend religious services regularly: 47%
Source: Gallup International Millennium Survey
Maintain a Christian, Biblical worldview and lifestyle: 9%
Source: Barna Group
Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
So – transform your life!
Credits: there are several cut/pastes from various websites in here – but I forget where – not all original work, in other words!
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