Transformed

(Romans 8:28 - 29) - “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brothers and sisters.”

        What is the ultimate goal of the Christian life? What is the purpose of discipleship? In this scripture we learn that this has been predetermined or “predestined” by God. It is simply this; to be “conformed to the image of His Son.” To become like Christ. Not perfection, but likeminded and like in character. But, how does that happen? What does it take?

    Let’s look at the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:18 – “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” Note: We all…“are being transformed!” Let me say that again: We all, (all Christians, not just a select few) are “being” transformed.

    So that begs the question then – “How are we being transformed?” What is the process? First we must see that it says we are “being transformed” and not that we “are” transformed, or that we “will be” transformed. This suggests that it is indeed a process, and it is a present process.

    Next we must go back to the word “contemplate.” Another version uses the word “beholding” yet another, the word “reflecting.”  It means to look deeply into as if for
understanding; to meditate upon or reflect upon; for the same reason… understanding. That sounds like discipleship to me! The more we contemplate; the more we behold; the more we reflect upon; the more we study and dig and mine for the gold in God’s Word, the more we will be transformed!

    Now, let’s jump to another “therefore” in Romans 12:2– “Therefore, I urge you,
brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform 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.”

    I have said many times that if we change or renew our thinking; it changes or renews how we feel; which in turn changes how we act! It begins in the mind. You see, it says (in Christ) we now have “unveiled faces” and unveiled minds, and unveiled hearts to be able to see, understand, and apply truth to our lives. Then, ever so slowly, the process changes us or transforms us into the image of Jesus Christ, God’s own Son! Not that we look like him physically, but internally we change the way we think and feel about things, and life itself.

    We all have our own way of thinking. We all have our own opinions. Thinking about how we should act, talk, think, and feel about a lot of things in life, however, God wants us to have the “mind of Christ” in all these things; especially concerning life and eternal life. In Matthew 22:37 Jesus said “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

    What you love, you think about, you enjoy, you may even develop a passion for it! You think about it all the time! A good gauge for our love for God might be how often we think about Him or His Word. Just on Sundays? When we are at Bible Study? We ought to be thinking about Him all the time! As Christians, we ought to develop a passion for God and His Word!

I pray that you are enjoying this study from my book “Therefore”. See you next week.

Three Motivations

    There are three things –3 motivating forces – of this ministry of reconciliation.  However, there are many, many things that Satan will use to motivate us to do and say nothing! And if we do nothing, and if we say nothing, whose ambassador are we?

    Whenever we think of evangelism or witnessing or spreading the gospel, we tend to enforce it with the Great Commission – “Go Ye into all the world” – but, I think our motivation for being ambassadors is more than just a commission, it is a calling! The calling that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 4:1- “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” All these things are motivated by three basic things; The Character of God; The Commands of Christ; and the Condition of mankind.

    First is the character of God. The Gospel message, or what Paul calls the “message of reconciliation”, originated in the heart of God. It is His work not man’s, and it grows out of His essential character. The revelation we get of God from the Bible is not one of proving He exists, what the Bible reveals to us is the character of God. The character of God can really be summed up in two ways – both of which are found in the Book of 1John. John declares these two things in his letter in 1^st John 1:5 where he first says “God is light!” “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you; God is light, in him there is no darkness at all.” In 1John 4:8 he says “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love!” And, in 1John 4:16 he says it again “God is love!” God’s love is eternal, it is unconditional, and it is all inclusive.

    If man rejects God’s love, he opens himself up to God’s wrath. We tend to think of these two things in two separate compartments; His love it is assumed is reserved for those who love him; and His wrath is reserved for those who don’t.  But, God’s love and God’s wrath cannot be separated, they are two aspects of one character quality – God’s Holiness. His love goes out to the sinner as well as the saint and for the same reason; both are creatures of his hand, his creation, and objects of his love.

    At the same time, his anger is kindled against the saint as well as the sinner, also for the same reason; God’s holiness cannot tolerate sin, no matter where it is found. When he punishes the sinner he acts in love. When He chastises the saint, he acts in love.  Both His love and His wrath are a part of the Gospel message. Without the love of God, we would have no Gospel, and without the wrath of God there would be no need for the Gospel.

    But, God is also “light” it says. “Light” in the scriptures is a symbolic term and stands for three things; physically it stands for glory and splendor; intellectually it stands for truth and an awakening to truth; And, morally it stands for holiness.  It is in the light of God’s Word that we find revealed His holiness and his love. It is then, the awesomeness of the revelation of His Love and the light of His Word which motivates us to live up to our calling as ambassadors.

    Our second motivation is the commands of Christ. These are recorded in all four Gospels and in the first chapter of Acts. We have made the mistake, I believe, of putting all the emphasis on the word “go” but a closer look at the teachings of Christ reveals that He uses three words to express his desire for the disciples and for the church. The three words are “Come”, “Follow”, and “Go.”

    “Come unto me” is the call of Christ to all who would seek salvation and rest and a right, reconciled, and new relationship with God. But, it does not stop there. The story is told of a little boy who fell out of bed one night, and when his mother asked him how it happened, he replied; “I guess I stayed too close to where I got in!” Many Christians suffer from spiritual boredom and ineffectiveness because they don’t get beyond where they got in! They hear “come” and they are satisfied that their sins are forgiven and they are on their way to heaven.

    But Christ also says “follow.” “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” It is in the “following” that we learn and are trained and transformed. It is in the “following” that we receive the motivation to “Go.” Go Ye into all the world – as ambassadors!

    The third motivation then, is the Condition of mankind. How we view the condition of mankind will determine our level of motivation and our effectiveness in this ministry of reconciliation that we have been given. We must see every person we come into contact with as being separated from God, lost, blinded by Satan, and headed for eternity in the “lake of fire!” We can do that because that is the truth of God’s Word. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” However, it is God’s will that “not one should perish, but that all would come to everlasting life.” When the vertical connection between man and God is broken, all of the horizontal connections become totally unstable! There is only one way to change that - Get the vertical right and the horizontal will become right as well. This is what Paul meant when he said in our scripture – “So now we no longer regard anyone from a worldly point of view” which assumes then that we begin to see everyone from a spiritual perspective. 

    There are many things that can and will motivate us to do and say nothing, but these three – the character of God Almighty; the commands of Christ to “come, follow, and go” and the true condition of mankind should motivate us to go beyond considering ourselves “saved” to considering ourselves to be Ambassadors for Christ.

Next week; a word from Romans 12:2 “Be Ye transformed”…

Seven Things God Hates

I was working on my new book "Principles from Proverbs" and came across this article I posted in a local newspaper column while living in Virginia. I think I may use it  in the book;

Proverbs 6:16-19

How would you explain the difference between things you don’t like, and things you hate?  Sometimes we use the word “hate” when we ought to say “dislike.”… Like: “I hate it when someone drives too slow on the freeway”…or do you “dislike” it? Do you dislike adultery or do you hate it? Do you dislike child abuse, or do you hate it?  To dislike something means that you may not like it but you can tolerate it; however, to hate or detest something goes deeper than that.

    Proverbs 6:16-19 tells us that these are not things God dislikes, but things He hates! He detests them. The list is not all inclusive. It is only a representative portion of the whole. We know that Solomon could have listed far more, but they would all probably fall under one of these categories.
#1.“Haughty eyes.”  Basically, this is Pride: self-exaltation, conceit, arrogance, haughtiness, putting oneself above others, looking down upon others, scorn, contempt. Pride can be hidden in the heart as well as openly displayed. This is what causes racial, financial, and social prejudice. It is the Pharisee, who says, “Thank God that I am not like other men”…Over-valuing ourselves and under-valuing others is called “haughty eyes” and God hates it!

#2. “A lying tongue.” If Satan is “the father of lies” as the Word says, then why do you suppose God hates lies?  The Word also says that a “liar is one who neither loves the truth nor speaks the truth.”  There are two words that come to mind as it concerns lies; deception and destruction. People lie to deceive most often. We may be embarrassed, or unwilling, or caught doing something we ought not do…and we lie in order to deceive. What is worse than that is lying in order to destroy someone or make them look bad.

#3. “Hands that shed innocent blood”. What comes to mind on this one? I am not going to elaborate on this other than to say that for me it brings to mind things like; 9-1-1 and abortion and the capital punishment or the death penalty issues.

#4. “A heart that devises wicked schemes.” This is a person who is always planning evil so that there is an ever-on-going lack of peace. The Middle-East crisis comes to mind here, but we have plenty of people right here in our own country who would fit this bill.

#5. “Feet that are quick to rush into evil”. They just don’t care about life nor do they value life, they are quick tempered, and violent. They have an “only the strong survive” attitude. They thrive on the fact that people are afraid and they feed on fear. They don’t care about “consequence” and their conscience is “seared” as Paul would say; “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Isaiah 59:6)

#6. “A false witness”. It is one thing to lie, it is another to give false witness. A false witness spreads rumors or slanders another for the purpose of “covering up” something, or malicious intent of harm. The easiest way of destroying another persons character or integrity is “false witness.” The whole premise behind the capture and persecution and death of Jesus was “false witness.” Once again – lying in order to destroy…maybe there is a reason this is mentioned twice!

#7. Finally, and I think this may be the one that stands out among the seven…”Six things God hates, seven that he detests”…Maybe because this one destroys the work of God in building His kingdom. This one will destroy the church. This one will prevent growth. This one will damage the spiritual relationship between us and God, This one will destroy our relationships with one another…which breaks all 10 commandments!  “A man who stirs up “dissension”… Jesus said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul; and love your neighbor as yourself…This one – this dissension - destroys both! You could apply this as well to the work place; or to any kind of team effort…dissension will destroy it.

These things it says, are “detestable” in His sight…Remember, He does not just dislike them…