The process of transformation...

Romans 12:1-2, Jeremiah 31:31-33

In our time worshiping together last Sunday, we moved from the command we are given to be transformed to looking at some practical steps to make that command a reality in our lives...how we can be faithful to Christ in the details in order to form us for the big moments.

We also continued to work with the goal of our lives, and what it might be vs. God's goal for our lives; is our goal to form and be "good people," or is it to form and be people that are being transformed...who see their lives as a work in progress and never give up growing and pursuing God?

To illustrate this point, Nate wrote on one side of a chalkboard: What are the things a person would need to understand (or steps they needed to go through) in order to become a "Christian"?

Our answers were: follow rules, ask forgiveness, repentance, believe with all your heart, be faithful/thoughtful, can't do it ourselves, know you're loved, and need to know Jesus.

Nate raised the question: Is it possible to know all of these things (able to understand them) and not be a follower of Jesus? He thought so...what do you think? Do you have friends or neighbors who "know" these things and have no real desire to follow them?

Next, Nate flipped over the chalkboard and wrote another question:

What ideas would a guy need to agree with or what steps would a guy need to take in order to fall in love with a girl? (or vice versa)

Some of our answers for this were: be with her/spend time with her, get to know her, commitment, look inward rather than outward, and the question of one person; Are there steps?

The most glaring difference between the two sides of this chalkboard were that one (the "Christian" side) focused more on concepts, things, or steps to do, while the other focused much more on the reality that relationships aren't exactly a scientific process. How does this match up with how Christianity is more often presented today?

And if Christianity is primarily about a relationship with God, then how can we order our days to carve out a space in our lives to spend time with God/get to know Him better...assuming this is what God desires from us?

So here's a thought:

"I have come to believe that the sooner we embrace this reality (relationship-focused rather than rules-focused), the sooner we will fall in love with the God who keeps shaking things up, keeps changing the path, keeps rocking the boat to test our faith in Him, teaching us not to rely on easy answers, bullet points, magic formulas, or genies in lamps, but rather in HIS guidance, HIS existence, HIS mercy, and HIS love. The Bible is NOT a self-help book; it is a collection of 66 letters, histories, praises, laments, wisdom, pain, joy, life, death, faith, unfaith, and the daily reality of the human struggle.

And that is a RELATIONSHIP, and RELATIONSHIPS are defined by the reality that they are NOT set in stone; they change you, if the relationship is real and defining for your life."

Afterwards, we talked about the reality that the most glaring indicator for us of where our priorities lie and our goals reside is in what we DO and how we HANDLE ourselves in the world. Because if this business of God's redeeming the world is the most important thing this world has ever known or seen, then we order our lives around it. And the most practical area this is represented is when we link up with other followers of Jesus with the same goal: the church.

So this raises another major issue: if God's goal is to transform us, then that necessarily includes our hearts, our motivation, and our will. Are we walking the (sometimes tough!) road of trading in the empty motivations and will of our former lives for the motivations, will, and pleasures God desires for us?

Or, Have we ever gone to work as a servant of Jesus, believing it to be our duty and THEREFORE WE MUST DO IT, but longing to go back to our own REAL interests and pleasures the moment our work was over?

How can we clear out room for God to transform THIS area of our lives? We face choices every day...therefore while we're out working or going to school or doing our hobbies or whatever else, how can we make the choice to pursue transformation...to put one foot in front of the other (even when we don't want to)?

If we want ourselves, we choose ourselves…we just must know where that path leads. If we want life, God is asking of everything from us, and you know the passion we have for acquiring things, pursuing comfort, a little more cash? This new life, this new heart, this transforming life God will give us will cause us to WANT to do these things for Him!

The link to the sermon is here.