“Three Stages of
Transformation”
God wants a transformation to take place in
your life – and this isn’t just any ordinary transformation. This is a
transformation that is super-natural in nature. Something that cannot, does
not, and will not occur naturally.
I found something interesting about this word transform or transformation. The word transform or transformation is found three times in the NIV translation of the New Testament. And, there are actually two different Greek words that have been translated the same way. The first word “metamorphoo” is used in two of the instances and refers to an inner kind of change (one that affects character and moral behavior ). Then there is the word “meta-schematizo” which refers to a change in appearance or an outward change. These describe what I want to put before you today; and that is, what I find to be, three different "stages" of transformation. There is a beginning transformation; (that which begins to change us inside; then there is a process of transformation; where that which is changing IN us begins to show up on the outside; and then there is an end or finished product…that which has been transformed.
It starts with Romans 12:1-2- “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 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.”
Supernatural transformation begins with the
sacrifice of ourselves to God and the acceptance of his grace through Jesus Christ.
It’s the transforming power of the Holy Spirit convicting us, causing us to
question our stinkin thinkin… and bringing us to a point of decision….that
point which we call “born again”. That point where the truth of God’s Word, the
Bible, finally sinks in! You could say that when we are born again the inner
transformation – the work of the Holy Spirit IN us has begun.I found something interesting about this word transform or transformation. The word transform or transformation is found three times in the NIV translation of the New Testament. And, there are actually two different Greek words that have been translated the same way. The first word “metamorphoo” is used in two of the instances and refers to an inner kind of change (one that affects character and moral behavior ). Then there is the word “meta-schematizo” which refers to a change in appearance or an outward change. These describe what I want to put before you today; and that is, what I find to be, three different "stages" of transformation. There is a beginning transformation; (that which begins to change us inside; then there is a process of transformation; where that which is changing IN us begins to show up on the outside; and then there is an end or finished product…that which has been transformed.
It starts with Romans 12:1-2- “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 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.”
In one sense this transformation is begun…and completed with this initial decision for Christ. The reason why this is true is because God’s perspective of what has happened to us is so much different from our perspective of what is happening to us! When God looks at a believer He sees the transformed soul or spirit of the believer. He sees the new self which has been birthed by the grace of God through the believer’s faith in Christ. He sees the completed process already done.
When we look at ourselves we see an incomplete picture because we are still in this world. We may even think to ourselves that nothing has really changed. So while we know that there is something different in our lives – there seems to be a struggle between that something different that we feel in our lives and what has always been there.
What we don’t immediately realize is that our spirit -which once was dead because of sin - is now alive through the grace of God; and our lives which once were limited to the natural realm, are now set free by the super-natural contact we can have with God. We not only are able to understand and grow in God’s Word, but because we understand God’s Word, we begin to understand more about life itself! We begin to see the connection between God’s Word and life itself.
It is our spirit that is alive within us with salvation that enables us to sense and know and commune with God…something that was missing…has been transformed…completely and fully in an instant! “It’s a mystery” as the Apostle Paul would say.
But, here is the problem; because we are still in our earthly bodies that are subject to sin and death – it some-times takes a while for the supernatural transformation that has happened instantaneously in our spirits to “catch up” or filter on down into our everyday lives. That is why Paul often used the language of "old self" and "new self" because of the dilemma we have as Christians where we have been given a new nature by God that is in conflict within the abiding place of where our old nature once resided…and controlled. And, this is why he tells us that it is our job to “put off the old self…and put on the new self”.
This leads us to the second part…
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