Transforming in 2010

It's been officially 2 months since I've posted anything here. *sigh*

I've been pondering how 2010 needs to be a year of transformation in many ways in my life, my family, and my church. The biggest points of transformation needed I feel are the following: our view of self, our view of others, and our view of situations & circumstances. Let me expound just a bit:

• View of Self. One of the biggest lies of our pop-psychology happy culture is the need for greater "self-esteem" or "self-worth." This is totally unbiblical and destructive. Left to myself, I'm sinful - totally and completely sinful. Why would I want that greater in my life? As a Christian, what I need is greater "Christ-esteem." Colossians 3:3-4 clearly state that as a Christian, my life is hidden in Jesus and that He is my life. I need "me" to continue to die and for Jesus to live more and more. Only by embracing this truth will my thoughts, actions, words, and attitudes by changed.

• View of Others. One thing I need to get clear as well (in light of the first point) is to view others properly, especially other Christians. Their lives are Christ as well, and so according to 2 Corinthians 5:16, I must not regard them according to their flesh. This allows me to be free to love, forgive, and pray for other Christians fully confident that the Holy Spirit within them will convict and lead them to truth, and I get to enjoy encouraging them. Now, conversely this also means to view non-Christians as non-Christians and not expect Christian attitudes, affections, or actions from them. I get to freely love them as well and extend to them the grace & mercy they need to experience.

• View of Circumstances. Colossians 3:2 says to set our minds on things above. I cannot allow my present situation, circumstances, or earthly heartaches to determine how I react. Tim Lane and Paul Tripp, in their book "How People Change" write, 'There is always something bigger than the heartache of the moment." They are talking about the eternal promises of God embodied and given to us in the gospel. This trumps everything and transforms my response to every circumstance in my life.

Now, to be able to be transformed, it takes a submission to the Holy Spirit and submission & transparency to the church community so they can confront & encourage as needed. I pray that 2010 finds much transformation in my life and yours.

May grace be with you.

Transforming Your Life

A couple weeks ago we began a new series called "Transformissionary" (named after this blog) at Delta where we're looking at our mission statement of "Loving God...Transforming Lives...Changing the World."  Yesterday was on "Transforming Lives", and I realized that I had a lot of information, so I thought I'd post it here to save people from writing their hands off from taking notes.  Here's the highlights:

2 Corinthians 5:17 gives us the promise of our transformation through the Gospel.
Acts 3:1-10 gives us an example of this Gospel-transformation in action.  The man was:

• Regenerated: He became a new creature...his depression was turned to joy!
• Justified: He longer sits outside the Temple; he now IS a temple of God!
• Sanctified: His new ability to physically walk mirrors his new spiritual walk with Jesus, becoming more and more like Him.
• Glorified: His physical healing is a foreshadowing of his complete future restoration when he'll be in heaven with Jesus.

But when Delta talks about your transformation and my transformation, what exactly are we talking about?  We mean that we desire that you transform from:

• Unchristian to Christian - Ephesians 2:1,4,5.  You have no hope for anything else unless you are a Christ-follower.
• Self-centered to God-centered - 2 Corinthians 5:14-15. Jesus gave us everything, and our only appropriate response is to give everything back to Him.
• Consumer to Servant - 1 Corinthians 9:19. Being an inward-focused consumer will only lead to your isolation and ineffectiveness.  Being an outward-focused servant will bring you friendship and bring about Gospel-transformation in others.
• Member to Missionary - John 20:21. Church is not about belonging to an elite club that just sits and soaks.  Church is about being infused into the world, bringing the transforming power of the Gospel with you.
• Fence-sitter to Influencer - Matthew 9:9,10. We stop letting life pass us by and taking what we can get.  We begin influecing those in our lives toward Jesus.

We know that Jesus is the initiator and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6).  But what about the inbetween?  How do we best join Jesus in his transforming work in our lives?  The answer lies in community.  We need to fully engage in the community of Christ-followers in obedience to what the Bible says about community

• There's importance of being together - Hebrews 10:24-25.  Being together at church, in homes, in community group, or any other gathering is how we're loved and encouraged to live for Jesus.  And we are to "consider" this: planning it, prioritizing it, making the most of it.
• There's importance of those who have gone before us - Hebrews 12:1. We find encouragement and victory over sinful, destructive patterns in our lives by learning about saints that have gone before us.  God has always used common, fallen people to do great things for Him through their simple faith.
• There's importance of submitting to spiritual leadership - Hebrews 13:17.  God gives us Elders and Deacons to teach us, guide us, comfort us, and discipline us so we can love Jesus more.  We submit to their leadership willingly for our own good, and for their own good as they will stand before Jesus one day to give an account on how they led and cared for people.
• There's importance of the community's role in healing - James 5:16.  Confession to other people doesn't provide forgiveness of sin (only Jesus does that); but confessing our sin to others who love and care for us helps unload the burden of sin, finds that we're not alone in our struggles, and allows the Body of Christ to love like Jesus does.

Remember that we are all like the lame beggar.  We all need our lives radically transformed as only Jesus can do, but we also need someone to grab our hand and help us up.