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Introduction
There’s hope for all of you die-hard Star Trek fans out there – this September the 5th Star Trek series – Enterprise – takes off on the nation’s TV screens. This series is actually a prequel to the original Star Trek – and takes place only 100 years from now, and 150 before Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. It is set at a time when interstellar space travel is new – there are buttons to push and ships that don’t fly themselves. We’ll get to see some of the technology these science fiction writers have placed firmly into American culture in their infancy – the transporter, for instance. I love the idea of a transporter – you go instantly from one place to another by decomposing and recomposing your body. In this new series that technology will be new – and untrustworthy to many. Wouldn’t it be neat if we as Christians could give our lives to Christ, then step onto some kind of spiritual transporter – decompose, filter out all the bad stuff in our lives, then recompose into a perfect person. It doesn’t work that way – but today we’re going to learn from John what processes God is actually using to transform us from imperfect to perfect – it doesn’t happen in a few seconds, but is surely happening if we are open and pliable to God’s influence in our lives. And it starts with love – God’s love. Verse 1 1 – Do you know how great a love the Father has for you? How many times have you actually thought about the nature of the love God the Father must have to call us His children? God is infinite and infinitely good – we are mortal, finite, and left to our own we often do the bad thing instead of the good. God is so powerful that He not only created everything but sustains each atom. We are weak and unable to even govern our daily lives with any certainty. His worst is better than our best. His mistakes are more perfect than our greatest accomplishments. The pennies He drops behind the couch amount to more than a thousand Bill Gates. The tiniest random thought is more profound than the greatest ideas we could imagine. Yet He loves us. Why? It’s a question I’ll have for Him in heaven – why bother with us? We aren’t worth anything. Yet He loved us so much that He would bear the eternal marks of our sin in order to redeem us. That means that your mistakes, your failures, your weaknesses – all washed away, every one – past, present, and future. But not only that – God didn’t just say “okay, you’re clean, now go away”. No – He made us His children – His kin, the heirs of His fortune. Why does He want us to know this? 1) Because you are special – let it comfort you 2) Because you are different – let is change you 2 – Don’t expect the world to appreciate your spirituality. Don’t look to any man made system – even the church – to approve you or give you what it takes to go on in life. You love and obey God as His child – and disconnect your self worth from the world system around you. I know what I’m asking is not easy at all because the world screams at us to use it’s values to gauge our worth. We’re not cut from the world’s cloth, folks – so don’t pattern (pardon the pun) yourself from what you see out there, but in here (the Word) because as God’s child He is not just saving you, He is changing you. Verse 2 What is the new nature we will have? You probably look at your life and think “how could I be one of God’s children?” But you must realize that you are a work in progress – what you are now is not what you will be – oh, there are glimpses now and again – but don’t despair when you fall – God uses every misstep to take you one more step towards becoming like Him if you remain pliable to His will. Verse 3 Knowing what we will be like should influence what we are like Application This section is about one general thing: transformation. Rom 12:2 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. To be transformed means to metamorphize – that’s the Greek word. Like a caterpillar into a butterfly we need to go into a cocoon and change – how does this happen? By the “renewing” of our minds. Renew means: renovate. How often do you take stock of your existing character – look at old areas that need to be torn down and replaced – old thoughts, old habit patterns, old sins. Now some of that happens naturally – a natural part of the process of living life as a Christian. But there is a part for us to play too – • Dwell on the good – Destroy the bad thoughts Philippians 4:8 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. Colossians 3:16 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 2 Corinthians 10:4 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete. Go on a hunt through your life, with the Spirit guiding, and find areas that the Lord wants to renovate, then use this process to tear down then build up anew. This is important because we tend to fool ourselves into thinking that because we hang out with Christians that we are automatically becoming holy. Not true. Verse 4 What does it take to be a Christian? Attend church? Profess the doctrines of the faith? Act like a Christian? John here wants to make a point that it is sin that separates us from God – and sin is doing anything that doesn’t follow the holy character of God – as outlined in the law. Being lawless is being Godless – no set of philosophical principals will get you into the presence of God, a God in whose presence sin is destroyed along with the person who is sinful. Another idea here is that John is talking about lawlessness as in a rebellion against Jesus Christ – as in “the man of lawlessness” found in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. So rather than sin just being doing things that are opposite of God’s character – he’s talking about those that oppose God and the work of his Son. John himself said in Ch 2 vs 22-23 that it is how we treat the Son that determines whether we are saved. Verse 5 Jesus, who knew no sin – became sin for us 2 Corinthians 5:21 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Verse 6 Here’s the kicker – as we are in Him who is not sinful – we must adopt a life that is not sinful. It doesn’t mean we won’t ever make a mistake and fall – John has already made that point clear. What he’s saying here is that a life in Jesus does not include habitual, consistent, unrepentant sin. If that’s happening in your life you need to take stock and really question yourself – am I really being changed or am I fooling myself? And we can be fooled – as we learn in the next two verses. Verse 7 – 8 There are lots of folks out there who will try to get you to believe that sin isn’t really sin, its just a difference of opinion or lifestyle – that there is no objective measure of what is right and wrong. That’s not true – God’s Word is very clear – sin is from the Devil. Satan comes to do three things – steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). He will make you think he comes to bring pleasure, satisfaction, power, wealth, fame, etc. Don’t be fooled. Jesus came to destroy Satan’s work – so let Him destroy Satan’s influence on your life. And on the other hand – when you do what’s right you are righteous – don’t fall into the condemnation of the devil that you can never do enough. Col 3:22-24 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. So – do right, serve God, receive His eternal inheritance. So how does that work – how is it that we are equipped to change when we come to Christ. Well, its not just our will that accomplishes it – it is God’s will in us. Verse 9 – 10 There is something that is put into a Christian – perhaps as part of the “heart of flesh” that replaces our hearts of stone when we believe. There is a seed – something that tells us when we are doing wrong – a conscience you could call it – but its more than that – it is a spiritual discernment that we take with us everywhere. Don’t ignore it. Two measures of your position in Christ – the lack of habitual sin, and the presence of true brotherly love. Some might suggest that because Jesus died for us that we are now free to sin – sin more so that His grace might abound more – but the opposite is true. We are to be free from sin, not free to sin. The idea of this passage is to increase our spiritual stamina – so that we can indeed (playing on last week’s message) outwit, outlast, and outplay the enemy of our faith, whether Satan, the world, or our sinful nature. How do we do that? Outwit 1) Be aware of Satan’s schemes 2 Cor 2:11 “… in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes” – means to gain the advantage Accuse you (answer – guilty, but forgiven) Tempt you (answer - Scare you (answer – Be more intelligent Outplay 2) Kill the flesh, feed the spirit Rom 8:13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, Be more ruthless with the flesh Outlast 3) Stand firm Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Be more patient about how God is transforming you into His image – it may seem slow, but, hey, God’s got all the time He needs to work in your life. |
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