Thursday, April 22, 2021

TRANSFORMED BY THE SPIRIT

 

             Under the Law given by Moses, the Jewish people were instructed to offer animal sacrifices to atone for their sins. But the animal had to be perfect, without any blemishes, before God would accept it. Then Jesus came to fulfill the Law and to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins so that we can be free from sin and the consequences of sin because of His shed blood. His sacrifice was once for all. No more blood sacrifices need to be made. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice with no sin, no blemishes. The animal sacrifices didn’t change the nature of the people. It just covered their sin until next time. Yet the sacrifice that Jesus made gave us power to be transformed into His image and leave our sin nature behind. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13) By His mercy and grace, we can be forgiven, changed, and free.    We can live in a higher dimension.

            The apostle Paul urged the Christians in Rome to realize the significance of the mercy of God toward them. Then he wrote, “beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.” Our bodies don’t have to die to pay for our sin. Jesus has already done that, so we need to accept what He has done and surrender our lives – body, soul and spirit – completely to Him. We are to set ourselves apart for service to God. That is what it means to be sanctified. It is a process that transforms us as we surrender our lives to God daily. We are to live holy lives by the power of the Holy Spirit within us. Paul says this “presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice” is our “reasonable service.” It is not unreasonable at all. It may go against the reasoning of this world, but it is the obvious next step once we are born again. Our regeneration is not the end of the process. It is the beginning of a new life learning to live in harmony with God’s kingdom. We can learn to live every day in the presence of God.

            In the next verse, Paul tells us not to be conformed to this world. To conform means to act in accord with the prevailing standards, thought patterns and practices of a group or society, in essence, this world system. We are born in harmony with this world’s standards. And we take on this world’s nature, character and actions more and more as we grow in this world.

But when we are born again, we are born into a spiritual kingdom to be in harmony with God. We are to grow daily in the nature of His kingdom, the character of His kingdom, the actions or works of His kingdom. And we are governed by the principles of His kingdom. Jesus said that He only said what the Father told Him to say and only did what the Father told Him to do. He was living in the world in a human body, but He was still operating in harmony with the Kingdom of God.

            Paul went on to tell the Roman Christians in addition to not being conformed to this world, they were to be changed. “But be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

We can only be transformed when we are born into God’s kingdom. Then we can begin living in harmony with His principles. Our minds are renewed as we study the Bible and allow the Spirit to enlighten us to the meaning of each verse. With the Holy Spirit as our guide, our eyes will be opened to what God is saying to us in scriptures we were not able to understand before. We will sense His presence with us and, according to Isaiah, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the waywalk in it,” whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.” The Holy Spirit is our guide and comforter.  He gives us boldness when we need courage and conviction when we are turning the wrong way. He gives us power, wisdom and discernment and brings to our minds the things Jesus taught. We need the Spirit of God with us! We cannot walk in the kingdom of God without the Spirit of God.

 It is amazing to realize that we are literally born into a literal kingdom that is above this world in every way. We take for granted the fact that we grow in this physical world. We don’t stay the same. It is also reasonable to understand that we are to grow in this new dimension of which we have become citizens. We don’t stay the same. Our physical growth in this world increases and then we begin to decrease in strength and abilities until we die. But in the kingdom of God, we are constantly growing and increasing in strength and wisdom. And our spirit never dies. Proverbs 4:18 says, “But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.” The just are those who have received the righteousness of Jesus Christ and are following His example. They are being governed by the principles of the kingdom of God, and have discovered that they have within them the power of God’s kingdom, His authority, wisdom and discernment. It doesn’t come from what we do or say. It comes from the Holy Spirit Who is in us. And what we do and say comes from the Spirit. We grow in faith, wisdom, knowledge and every other characteristic of the kingdom as we are governed by its King. We can accomplish great things for the kingdom of God when we are willing vessels surrendered to the King. Then, one day, our bodies will leave this world and we will be with Him forever in that “perfect day”.

Richard Stearns, president of World Vision US, said when he was a boy he had to memorize questions and answers in catechism. One question was “Why did God make me?” The answer is “God made me to love, serve and obey Him.” Richard turned away from God soon after that to live life his way. But later, after much research, he came face to face with the truth of Jesus Christ. He said, “I had a stark choice to make. I could accept the astonishing truth and commit my life to following Jesus Christ, or I could turn my back on God, walk away from something I knew to be true, and spend the rest of my life living a lie. There was no partial step I could take. Either Jesus would be the most important truth in my life, governing all that I would ever do, or I would go it alone, doing everything my way.” He chose Jesus and is making a profound difference in the world.

When we choose Jesus, He will accept no less than everything from us. We cannot live in harmony with Jesus and with this world at the same time. When the people of Israel would serve God and idols, He did not accept them, their worship, or their sacrifices. They were either fully serving God, or they were not His. We cannot serve Jesus and be governed by this world and its principles. We either belong to Jesus and live by His principles, or we are not His at all.

Jesus warns us in the seventh chapter of Matthew that our works will not get us into heaven, no matter how great they are. He said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!

We are to say what the Lord tells us to say and do what He tells us to do. We can find what that is by looking into the Bible and reading Jesus teachings. We can know what to say and do by living in obedience to the Holy Spirit living in us. We are transformed as we allow ourselves to be governed by Him in full surrender.

1 John 2:5-6 says, “But whoever habitually keeps His word and obeys His precepts [and treasures His message in its entirety], in him the love of God has truly been perfected… By this we know [for certain] that we are in Him: whoever says he lives in Christ [that is, whoever says he has accepted Him as God and Savior] ought to walk and conduct himself just as He walked and conducted Himself.”

Let’s strive to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. When we do these things, we will be able to prove out in our lives the will of God instead of the will of this world or our own selfish will. But we must live in harmony with the kingdom of God

 

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,

that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,

holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

And do not be conformed to this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,

that you may prove what is that good

and acceptable and perfect will of God.