The Hope of Transformation Sunday, March 18, 2018 Series: Have You Heard the Good News? Scripture: Matthew 7:24-28; Romans 12:2 (pg. 1471, 1704) Theme: How Jesus transforms us. How would you define the Good Life? We are all aiming at something in life, and I would imagine what we are aiming at is how we would define what the good life is. Sometimes I think about the Good Life in money terms ~ having more of it or what I could do with it And there are many good things you can do with money. But often, I think about the Good life in terms of the kind of person I want to be. - Sometimes, I m ashamed by how quickly and easily I can lie to keep myself from looking bad. And I wish that I was so secure that I just didn t really need to think about myself at all The Good Life would mean not having to manage my image It would mean enjoying the freedom to be thoroughly un-absorbed with me. - The Good Life would be a life of complete confidence in a good Father in heaven trusting that He is truly in charge of this universe so it is a perfectly safe place to be. And I would never again lose sleep with worry or anxiety. -2- - The Good Life would be a life of perfect Truth and absolute Grace So that I could speak without worry to my friends, my sons, my daughter, my wife, my coworkers here at Horizon and I could tell them the whole truth, even the hardest truth and they could also tell it to me And we would know that we re speaking it and hearing it in the perfect safety of grace. - The Good Life would be a grudge-free life - The Good Life would be a life where everyone on social media shared stories about how proud we are of each other, where we thoughtfully and kindly disagreed, and where wtf would mean, well that s fantastic! - The Good Life would be a life of joy & generosity. And this is the life Jesus is inviting us to live. Now, I often find myself dis-appointed that I am not further along in this Good Life, maybe you do, too. And even that word we use dis-appointed is significant It means we are missing the life we are appointed to by God Because he has appointed us to, or called us to, a life that is fit for living in His kingdom
-3- Every kind of life from a turnip to a turtle lives in a certain place in this world that fits it. Turnips don t grow in the Arctic & turtles don t grow on trees They are appointed to a certain place by what it are. And that place is where they are most likely to thrive. Outside of that place, it fails to thrive and often dies. I have told you that the Good News that Jesus preached is that there is a place, where what God wants done is done JC called it the Kingdom of God it s here. And we are invited to live in that kingdom. God has made us to fit that kingdom and in it, we experience the world as it should be It s where we would thrive. But you know, and I know, the lives we often live are not kingdom lives So, we are often dis-appointed with ourselves Missing the lives we are appointed to by God. [off] But the great promise of the Gospel the Good News of Jesus the great promise, is the hope of transformation. Our lives your life & my life can be transformed and we can be made to fit this magnificent Kingdom of our Father. Jesus once spent a whole day talking about life in this kingdom in a day-long sermon we call Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5-7. -4- He started out by talking about how blessed the people are who live in the Kingdom of God He talked all day about what life could be like for us. And then he finished his teaching with a little story about a choice each listener would now have to make It s a very fitting ending to a day of teaching This is what Jesus said: Read Matthew 7:24-28, SLIDES ---------------------------------------------- And there s the choice: Wise people choose to follow what Jesus said, and they build a rock-solid life. That kind of rock-solid life is the kind of life Jesus lived it s partly what people found so attractive and compelling about Jesus He was never rattled never anxious Never worried about his image never needed to manipulate another person s opinion to prop up image. Never felt the need to lie his way out of a jam In his conversations with people he overflowed with both truth and grace at the same time. On his last night, just hours from his arrest, he spent his final moments speaking to his closest friends about joy: My joy is full, he said, and I want you to have that same joy. When he was hurt by people he was never bitter or carried a grudge. Was always angry at the right things/right way.
-5- On the night of his worst trauma, just prior to his arrest & crucifixion, he took his overwhelming despair to his Father and he prayed and was finally able to say, Father, whatever happens, I have complete confidence in you And he left that prayer with such inner strength and supreme confidence that even those men in power who later said to him, Don t you know I have the power of life & death over you? He could answer, No, you don t. Someone else does, but it isn t you. And this is the kind of rock-solid life he is saying is possible for you & I Paul once wrote that this same rock-solid life that Jesus lived can be formed in us To his church friends in Galatia, he once wrote, I am in pain for you, waiting until Christ is fully formed in you. (Galatians 4:19) And that word, formed is where we get our word, transformation. It s the idea that we can be transformed into people who have the same kind rock-solid life Christ lived, formed in us. Now, how does this happen? In Romans 12:2 there is, I think, the simplest and clearest statement anywhere in the Bible about how. Paul wrote this: SLIDE -6- Don t copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but let God transform you into new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God s will for you, which is good, and pleasing, and perfect. Transformation this is the hope of the Gospel Jesus preached. And I hope you notice two inescapable ideas: 1) Transformation is God s business. I cannot do it by myself when I try, I end up with all kinds of false substitutes which, sadly, are everywhere in the world of church I end up with a kind of external rule-keeping Or I think Christianity is just about believing all the right doctrines Or I think it means doing church activities [OFF] I knew a guy once who had lived his whole adult life in the church but after 70 years or so was just a nasty man. It was hard to be critical of him, however, because he kept all the rules the church said a person should keep. Always there champion volunteer he gave generously to the offering faithful to his wife Loved dogs; tolerated cats all Xian things But was just a nasty man. And the thing was, no one was surprised by this. We would have been more surprised, in fact, if he did change!
-7- When I expressed my frustration to someone one time, she chuckled and said to me, Oh he was nasty before he became a Christian, and now he s just a nasty Christian. Should it be this way? Is God powerless to change our hearts? Or, do we just not know that this is God s plan so we ve settled for cheap imitations? Transformation is God s business. However, I hope you also noticed there is something I must do and no one will do it for me, not even God. I must change how I think. I begin with the simple conviction that Jesus is right. And then I begin to think about life the way he did. [OFF] So, there s something no one will do for me it s my role in transformation And there s something only God can do. Now, there s a man named Dallas Willard, who died in 2013 but was a professor of philosophy at Univ. of Southern California, in fact, chaired the department for a while and who spent most of his adult life helping people to understand what it means to live life in the Kingdom of God According to everyone who knew him he lived what he taught. I want to show you a little diagram he used to use to explain this process of transformation -8- At the peak of the triangle is what God does in my transformation I ll describe this, but won t spend much time here. In John 3:5,6, Jesus said it s the Spirit of God that gives us this new life In Galatians 5:22-26 the Bible says that it s the Spirit of God produces in us characteristics like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, selfcontrol So this is God s realm He does it we don t. But we do have a role and unless we do ours, God won t do his Our role is defined two ways: First, the Ordinary Events of Life. Second, the Planned Disciplines for transformation. These two work in partnership truthfully, you can t talk about one without the other For you and me to live a kingdom life in the ordinary events of our lives, we need practice we need the disciplines that enable us to do this. But, because we can t have two conversations at one time, we have to talk about these one at a time And we won t get to the disciplines until next week. So, let s talk about the ordinary events of life. The life you and I live in the kingdom of God is lived out in the very ordinary events of our lives. Ordinary days are kingdom days.
-9- However, there is this idea in Scripture that we will face trials, or tests, sometimes they are called temptations in the Bible these tests happen on ordinary days And it is during these tests or temptations that our response gives God s Spirit the opportunity to shape our hearts. In other words these daily tests or temptations become kind of kingdom-growing moments. James, brother of Jesus, wrote about this in his letter: Consider it an opportunity for great joy whenever troubles come your way. For you know that when your confidence in God is put to practical tests, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect, complete, needing nothing. James 1:2-4 [LEAVE ON] Now that s a remarkable statement, isn t it? You & I will face tests kind of trust tests or confidence tests every day Do we trust that Jesus is right? Will we do what Jesus says is right as he challenged us to do in his story about rock-solid living? These tests, rather than being moments to post cryptic statements on Facebook These are really moments of transformation. Now, what are these tests like? -10- Well, for some of us, the first test of the day comes just in getting out of bed Maybe there s another in our commute to work Maybe another in dealing with a cranky coworker It s it an incredible thought that every day, all day, I am being given opportunities to be transformed by God If I begin changing the way I think. [OFF] I m reading a remarkable little book right now called, 7 Men, by Eric Metaxas It s about 7 truly heroic Christian men who helped to shape our modern world through their faith One of the 7 is Jackie Robinson who, as most of you know, in 1947 became the man who broke what was called the color-barrier in baseball and became the most famous man in America in the late 1940 s. Sadly, because faith is so carefully edited out of the way we tell history today, what most of us don t know is the all-important role of faith and transformation and kingdom-living that is a make or break part of this story. A charismatic 64-year-old named Branch Rickey was the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers at the time He was already known for bringing changes to the game that are now normal for us batting helmets batting cages pitching machines
-11- even the farm system and the first spring training facilities were his creations But Rickey was a deeply devout Christian who wouldn t play in or even go to games on Sundays. Rickey also was convinced that Jim Crow laws were both unjust and ungodly and [he said] wanted to change the moral history of our nation like President Lincoln had done his words. So, he wanted to integrate baseball But he knew it had to be done right or it might make things worse. So, he went looking for the right man, and he found him in Jackie Robinson. Robinson was an Army veteran, a fantastic athlete, and a man of serious Biblical faith himself So, in August 1945, not long after World War 2 ended, Rickey brought Robinson to Brooklyn for a conversation and Rickey invited Robinson to be the man to integrate baseball. Do you think you can do it? Rickey asked. Long pause. Finally, Robinson answered, Yes. Then Rickey went on to say he wasn t asking about baseball he knew Robinson excelled at baseball He was asking about the testing of his faith that would come his way the abuse the threats the violence that would come his way. -12- I m looking, Rickey said, for a ballplayer with the guts enough to not fight back. Then Rickey got out a book entitled the Life of Christ he was reading at the time and Rickey read for Robinson from the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus [KJV] Ye have heard it said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; But I say to you, That ye resist not evil: But whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Then Rickey asked, Do you believe this? Yes. Can you do it? Ahhhh Can you do it? That s the question isn t it? Rickey and Robinson discussed this in the office and they agreed that on his own, no man could. But with God s help With God s help. The two men agreed that God had chosen Robinson for this moment the two shook hands, and history was made. Testing, however, started almost immediately: Jackie & his wife kept getting bumped off airplanes one after the other, with no explanation.
-13- They couldn t find restaurants to serve them when they showed up in Florida for spring training. They were sometimes forced to sit in the back of the bus for 16 hour bus rides because airlines wouldn t allow them to fly Sadly, one of his first games in a Dodger s uniform was against the Philadelphia Phillies The vile language and abuse that came from the Phillies dugout is unimaginable. The only good that came out of the series w/ the Phillies is that Robinson s fellow Dodgers, some of whom were not at all sure about Robinson, were so appalled by the abuse he was taking so impressed by his kingdom-character they became loyal friends and defenders of Robinson. In the end, of course, Jackie Robinson became one of the best baseball players to ever play the game But more importantly, he became one of the best of men The best of men Although he died young, in 1972, next year, Jan. 31, 2019, would be his 100 th birthday I hope he gets talked about a whole lot And I hope when remember his faith in Jesus the best of men, who w/ God s help, actually lived out the words of Jesus. [OFF] It really is possible to live this way And w/ the help of Jesus, we will. We will.