spiritual transformation - The Text Messages

July 30, 2019July 30, 2019

Keeping it Christlike

We live in a world of mixed messages.

Consider the farmer for example who drove his tractor around his field to make a huge love heart for his wife – the heart, it turns out, was made entirely out of manure! What was he actually saying to his wife? His words said one thing but the medium which he used to express it said something very different.

No word on how the marriage fared as a result…

Here’s a good one:

Moving on, I find that some Christ followers seem to be as spiritually schizophrenic as the secular world around them.

What do I mean?

On Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other more “hip” social media platforms some guys identifying themselves as Christians, post images of both Jesus and pinup girls on their pages and girls likewise – the male equivalent; some believers post quotes too lewd to actually be publicly stated in many circles even today and then their next post is an invitation to a church service or a quote from the Bible or some Christian author; believer and unbeliever alike call each other out and say all manner of evil about each other from behind keyboards and then pretend to love and get along with one another in public – that is spiritual schizophrenia.

What does the Bible say of this?

“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:8 KJV

“But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.” (James 3:8–12, NKJV)

To be double minded is to be of a different mind at different times such as one who is blown about by every wind of doctrine or new idea. More than a few believers are more than just double minded though; it is not that they have differing thoughts at different times but rather they are in a state of either constant compromise or conflict within themselves. They either believe that to be foul mouthed, vulgar, hateful and lewd are in perfect accord with their profession of faith in Jesus Christ, in which case they are living as carnal Christians or else, they are too spiritually immature to realize that the two mindsets are NOT in accord and cannot be. But before I stay on this soap box too long, let me say this – it isn’t just lewdness, vulgarity, hate and the like which are the only things incongruent with love, joy, peace, etc…the fruit of the Spirit and mind of Christ; many times, our attitudes run counter to our profession of faith as well.

The Bible tells us in (Colossians3:8) for example “put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your heart…” attitudes like pride, anger, hate, bigotry or prejudice all flow from the same heart that drives our fingers to post lewd, provocative and hateful things on social media etc.

The problem is that each of us has a heart condition.

The Lord Jesus Christ said that “out of the (overflow or) abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34) later, speaking to Peter and the other disciples He said “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man… ” (Matthew 15:18–20, NKJV)

What can we do about our heart condition?

James says, “purify your heart!” (James 4:8)

Quickly, for those who have never been “born again” (see John 3:3) your purification begins with Jesus – trusting in Him for the eternal life He made possible by His sacrificial atoning death on the cross: (John 3:7) “you MUST be born again!” But for we who are the followers of Jesus Christ, the process of purification is our daily sanctification and conformation to the mind and the life of the Lord Jesus. In other words, our purification becomes something we are DIRECTLY involved in. By yielding to the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to transform our thoughts and through our daily exposure to the Word of God (see Romans 12:2) our hearts will be purged (purified) over time of those things which are contrary to God and replaced by “the wisdom from above:” (James 3:17) new attitudes, new actions and most of all the kind of consistency which declares to anyone observing our life: “I AM a child of God!”

May 30, 2019

Transformed? The agents of Transformation

As I see it, the two most important agents at work to transform the minds and lives of the followers of Christ to become more like Him are also two of the most neglected and or abused subjects in a great many churches today – the blood of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit of God. Both the blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit are actively involved in the transformation process from the very beginning of a persons Christian walk – without them no one could ever know, walk with or grow to become more like Jesus Christ.

The last time we spoke on this subject I mentioned that once a person receives spiritual life through Jesus Christ, he or she cannot help but give some immediate evidence of the fact. The reason for my assertion stems from my opening remark – the two agents of transformation are actively at work from the beginning to give us a “right mind” (Mark 5:15) about our sin and need of forgiveness and about God’s grace to sinners made possible by the suffering, death, burial and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.

In the more or less traditional (some might call them “old school” ) churches, where hymns are still sung one song asks the question:

“Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?”

Likewise, in the New Testament Jesus declared to a group of people who had been following Him (John 6:53-56):

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”

In our day, people understand the words of the hymn about as well as those listening to the words of Jesus as He addressed them about His body and blood. We are not talking about taking a bath in Jesus’ blood any more than Jesus meant for people to literally eat Him. In actuality, Jesus was promising life to whomever would personally appropriate His shed blood by faith to their lives as an atonement for their sin. Jesus’ blood changes our standing with God, by that blood we have life (John 6:54), a standing before the Father (Ephesians 2:13), holiness, access to and fellowship with God (Heb 10:19, Romans 5:8-10) and redemption (1 Peter 1:17-21). The blood of Jesus cleanses our consciences (Heb 10:22) from evil – from outward sinful actions and inner tendencies to sin. By His blood our souls are purified and forgiven; without it there can be no “remission of sins” (see Heb. 9:22). The Bible declares in (Heb 9: (13)-14):

“…how much more (than the blood of bulls and goats) shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

When applied to our lives, Jesus’ blood gives us a standing before Almighty God but it is the Holy Spirit who drew us to Jesus (see John 6:44) through conviction of sin (John 16:8) and by grace (Ephesians 2:8) and abides in us from the moment we first believed (see Romans 8:9): “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His;” – that Spirit of God applies the blood of Jesus to our lives cleansing us and transforming us from the inside out.

You may recall that Jesus said:

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” (John 15:4–8, NKJV)

From the inside out the Spirit manifests Himself; His presence changes us and reveals Christ in us (when we get out of the way) so that He who gave us life may be glorified in us as others “see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16) and produce fruit through us (John 15:5,8).

The Holy Spirit gives us life (John 6:63) when we believe in Jesus; He opens the word of God to our understanding and leads us in the process of the transformation of our minds (Romans 12:2, Titus 3:5), His presence and our submission to Him enables us to demonstrate the character of Christ through our lives (Gal 5:16-25):

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

The Spirit of God gives us direction, illuminates the Word, speaks to our hearts, convicts us when were wrong, encourages us when we’re weak, seals us to the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30) but can also be grieved and quenched (1 Thessalonians 5:19) in our lives by constant disobedience and disregard.

These two agents or transformation work in us till our dying day to transform (conform) us to be have the mind and attitude of Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:5-11, Romans 8:29) and fitting us for the kingdom of heaven. Thus, I conclude that though no believer will ever be perfect in this life and will still occasionally sin and have need of repentance, each one will nevertheless bear some witness or evidence through their lives that they have been and continue to be with Jesus.

May 13, 2019May 13, 2019

Transformed?

Metamorphosis is the process of transformation of an insect or an amphibian from its immature form to its adult form in at least two distinct stages. Maggots become flies, tadpoles and polliwogs become toads and frogs and caterpillars become butterflies. Often, it is image of the transformation of the caterpillar in its chrysalis that Christians use to illustrate the process of a believers transformation.

But is that really what happened when you or I trusted in Jesus?

First of all, the caterpillar creates the cocoon into which it enters to begin the process of metamorphosis. Secondly, the entire process is natural, triggered by God given instinct; spiritual transformation is neither self initiated or naturally triggered. Finally, the person being transformed is not being reconstituted into something functionally and physically different – we still look the same the day after “all things have become new.“

So, what is spiritual transformation?

Spiritual transformation is a process initiated or begun in the heart (the seat of our emotions and thoughts) by the Holy Spirit the moment we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote in (2 Cor. 5:17 NKJV):

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Whether this verse is new to you or you are very familiar with it, a careful reading, even in context leaves the reader scratching his or her head asking themselves “since I have trusted in the Lord has EVERYTHING about me changed?” Since the obvious answer is “NO!” what is Paul talking about in this verse?

I think that Paul is here speaking of the fact that our justification in Christ changes our standing before Almighty God rather than the tension that remains between that reality and the fact that we are still living in a fallen world and struggling with the temptations of it. You see, as believers we are citizens of heaven still living on earth and waiting for our final salvation and because we are still in the flesh we are also still prone to sinning.

In one sense, we are immediately changed – we are justified, that is, we are made righteous by the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:21), forgiven by God (Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14) and granted eternal life (1 John 5:11) the moment we trusted in Jesus Christ, but the process of bringing our lives in line with our new standing will take the rest of our lives and require our cooperation and complete submission (Galatians 5:16) to the Holy Spirit of God within us who began the process (see John 6:44) in the first place. Nevertheless, something will be OUTWARDLY different about a person the moment they trust in the Lord – it will be immediately apparent that SOMETHING has happened in the new believers life.

Consider the Apostle Paul himself for a moment, before he met the Lord, he was persecuting, imprisoning and consenting to the death of Christians and thinking that he was doing the will of Almighty God (see Acts 26:9-11; John 16:2) but after meeting Jesus on the Damascus road (see Acts 9:1-6) Paul the persecutor of Christians trusted the Lord Jesus with whom he had formerly been at war, and becoming a willing vessel unto the Lord He made him His ambassador to the gentile world.

In a moment, Paul’s heart was totally changed – he served a new master; but it would take a lifetime for his transformation to be completed (Philippians 3: 12-14 NKJV):

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

We’ll talk more about this towards the end of the week but I want to wrap up this post by reiterating the main point and asking you a question.

It is my belief that those who have been born again (see John 3:3) – given new life (spiritually speaking) from God through faith in the name and work of the Lord Jesus ARE IMMEDIATELY different in some recognizable way – even without words, they cannot help but give evidence that Father, Son and Spirit have all impacted his or her life.

My question to you is one that I have asked myself – what about you has changed as a result of trusting in Jesus? What unmistakable difference has the Lord made in your life?