Kung Fu Panda is the story of a flabby, out-of-shape panda bear named Po who longs to learn the ancient art of kung fu. Amazingly, Po is selected by the village leaders to become the Dragon Warrior – the greatest kung fu master of all time. But in spite of his new status, Po is still a big, fat klutz. Master Shifu, who has been charged with transforming this flabby, out-of-shape bear into the Dragon Warrior, is frustrated with Po. Then Shifu and Po learn that Tai Lung – the most fearsome villain in all of China – has escaped his prison and is coming to destroy the new Dragon Warrior. Take a look at what happens when Po tries to sneak away after hearing this disturbing news (show Kung Fu Panda, scene 14, 00:48:08 – 00:50:14):
Master Shifu pops out of nowhere to block Po's way. “You cannot leave! A real warrior never quits!”
“Watch me!” says Po, trying to run past his master. Shifu blocks him again.
“Come on,” Po whines. “How am I supposed to beat Tai Lung? I can't even beat you to the stairs!”
“You will beat him because you are the Dragon Warrior,” Shifu answers.
“You don't believe that,” Po counters. “You never believed that! From the first moment I got here, you've been trying to get rid of me.”
“Yes, I was,” Shifu admits. “But now I ask you to trust in your master, as I have come to trust in mine.”
“You're not my master. And I am not the Dragon Warrior.”
“Then why didn't you quit?” Shifu asks. “You knew I was trying to get rid of you, yet you stayed.”
“I stayed because every time you threw a brick at my head or said I smelled, it hurt,” Po says. “But it could never hurt more than it did every day of my life just being me. I stayed because I thought if anyone could change me – if anyone could make me not me – it was you, the greatest kung fu teacher in all of China.”
“But I can change you!” Shifu protests. “I can turn you into the Dragon Warrior, and I will!”
“Come on,” Po says. “Tai Lung is on his way here right now. And even if it takes him a hundred years to get here, how are you going to change this” – Po picks up his belly and lets it fall back down with a bounce – “into the Dragon Warrior?”
Shifu is silent.
“Huh?” Po asks. “How?”
“I don't know!” Shifu blurts out. Then, more quietly, “I don't know.”
“That's what I thought,” Po says. Then he walks away. (Kung Fu Panda, DreamWorks Animation, 2008, directed by Mark Osborne and John Stevenson, scene 14, 00:48:08 – 00:50:14; www.PreachingToday.com)
Don’t you feel like Po sometimes? As believers in Christ, we have been given a status we don’t deserve. We are children of a holy God with an indestructible inheritance in heaven, and we are called to be holy in everything we do even as our Heavenly Father is holy.
God Himself purchased our freedom from a wasted life with the precious blood of His own Son! He gave us a status we don’t deserve but, we still struggle with our own flabby spiritual condition at times, don’t we? And we wonder, “How could God ever transform me into something useful?”
Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 1 Peter 1, 1 Peter 1, where we see God’s plan for our transformation – a much better plan than Master Shifu had for Po.
1 Peter 1:22 – 2:3 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you. Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (NIV)
Our spiritual transformation begins and ends with love. First of all, it begins when we…
TASTE GOD’S LOVE.
It begins when we experience the goodness of God, literally, when we taste that God is kind or pleasant.
I’m going to work my way backwards in this text, because the author assumes that his readers have already tasted God’s kindness. It’s where we begin our spiritual journey. We must first taste God’s love.
In Matthew 11 Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is EASY…” (Matthew 11:29-30). It’s the same word that’s translated “good” here in 1 Peter 2:3.
You see, Jesus invites us to come to Him where we find that the life He gives us to live is “easy.” In other words, it fits us so well it is pleasant to wear. Unlike the demands of other religious leaders, who load us up with hundreds of rules, Jesus comes along side us and bears the weight with us. The life He invites us to live is pleasant, because He doesn’t pile it ON us; He lives it WITH us. He is “gentle and humble” the Bible says, and His “yoke is easy.”
Dear friend, if you have never experienced the kindness of Christ, please, come to Him today and get a taste. Taste that the Lord is good; He is kind; He is pleasant.
Romans 2:4 says, “God’s kindness (same word) leads you towards repentance.” In other words, God’s kindness leads you to change your attitude and actions. God’s kindness changes you from the inside out. It’s where spiritual transformation begins!
In 2001, Tim Goeglein started running the White House Office of Public Liaison, providing him almost daily access to then President George Bush for seven years. Then it all ended abruptly on February 29, 2008. A well-known blogger revealed the startling fact that 27 out of 39 of Goeglein’s published articles had been plagiarized. By mid-afternoon the next day, Goeglein's career in the White House was over.
Goeglein, who admitted his guilt, said that this began “a personal crisis unequaled in my life, bringing great humiliation on my wife and children, my family, and my closest friends, including the President of the United States.”
Goeglein was summoned to the White House to face the President. Once inside the Oval Office, Goeglein shut the door, turned to the President and said, “I owe you an…”
President Bush simply said: “Tim, you are forgiven.”
Tim was speechless. He tried again: “But sir…”
The President interrupted him again, with a firm “Stop.” Then President Bush added, “I have known grace and mercy in my life, and you are forgiven.”
After a long talk, a healing process was launched for Goeglein, which included repentance, reflection, and spiritual growth. “Political power can lead to pride,” Goeglein later reflected. “That was my sin. One hundred percent pride. But offering and receiving forgiveness is a different kind of strength. That's the kind of strength I want to develop now.” (Warren Cole Smith, “Wins & Losses,” World magazine, 10-23-10, p. 11; www. PreachingToday.com)
Goeglein experienced grace and mercy, and it changed his life! Do you want to be transformed into all that God has called you to be? Then first of all, come to Christ and taste His love. Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good!”
But a “taste” is not quite enough, is it? For how could anyone who has taken just a small sample of God’s kindness resist the urge to consume the whole platter! And that leads us to the 2nd step in our spiritual transformation. Once we have tasted God’s love. Then we…
CRAVE GOD’S WORD.
We long for the pure, spiritual milk of God’s truth. We deeply desire to get as much of the Bible as we can.
1 Peter 2:2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation (NIV). Or better, “grow towards your salvation.”
We are already saved through faith in Jesus Christ, but if we want to realize the full potential of our salvation, we must crave pure spiritual milk. We must have a ravenous appetite for the Word of God just like a hungry, newborn baby.
Did you ever see a newborn baby when it wants its mother’s milk? That little baby cries and wails and flails, and nobody gets any rest until he or she gets a drink. Then that baby sucks and sucks and sucks like its life depends on it, because it does. It’s the only way that baby is going to thrive and grow.
So it is in the spiritual realm. If we’re going to thrive and grow spiritually, then we need spiritual nourishment. We need to crave the pure, unadulterated milk of God’s Word.
That’s what I see a lot in new Christians. When a person first comes to faith in Christ and gets a taste of His grace, they can’t get enough of the Bible.
Pat Summerall, the well-known sports announcer, trusted Christ with his life and overcame alcohol in the late 60’s. As he describes his life with Christ, he says, “It's like an alcoholic looking for a drink. If he wants it bad enough, he can find it – no matter what. I'm like that when it comes to finding prayer services and Bible studies. No matter where I am working, I know that they're out there and I can find them.” (Art Stricklin, Sports Spectrum, Nov/Dec 2001, p. 27; www.PreachingToday. com)
Do you have that kind of a craving for God’s Word? You need to if you want to grow. You need to have a ravenous appetite for spiritual things if you want God to transform you into something useful.
The problem is many believers don’t seem to have much of an appetite for God’s Word. They’re content to listen to a sermon 2 or 3 times a month, but they’re not really hungry for spiritual things. You don’t see them in the Bible on a daily basis, trying to get as much out of it as possible. As a result, they are weak spiritually and lackadaisical in their commitment to Christ.
Perhaps, that describes some of you. The passion is gone. The appetite for spiritual things is no longer there like it was when you first became a believer.
You say, “Phil, yes that’s me! How can I get my appetite back?” Well, take a look at verse 1.
1 Peter 2:1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. (NIV)
If we’re going to get our appetite back for the pure, spiritual milk of God’s Word, then we need to get rid of the junk food of broken relationships. We need to put away those wrong attitudes of the heart that keep us from loving each other.
The five things listed here are all things that hinder healthy relationships: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. They’re like junk food which takes away our appetite for the things of the Spirit.
Several years ago, park rangers in the Grand Canyon National Park had to kill over two dozen mule deer, because they became hooked on junk food left by visitors to the park – things like potato chips, cheese curls, and candy.
Once they got a taste of the sugar and salt, the deer developed an extreme addiction and went to any lengths to eat only junk food. As a result, the animals ignored the food they needed, leaving them in poor health and on the edge of starvation. Their junk food cravings caused them to lose their natural ability to digest vegetation. One park ranger called the junk food “the crack cocaine of the deer world.” (Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Spring 1995, www.PreachingToday.com)
So it is when we ingest thoughts of sweet revenge, bitter treachery, sugar-coated hypocrisy, sour envy, and acidic slander. Such a diet keeps us from hungering for the things of God.
You see, when our relationships are not right, then our appetites are all wrong. We cannot love God and hate people at the same time. 1 John 4 makes that very clear: “Anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).
So if you want your craving back for the things of God, you have to put away those things that are hindering healthy relationships. Put away those attitudes and actions of the heart that keep you from getting close to your brothers and sisters in Christ.
And that leads us to the 3rd step in our spiritual transformation. 1st, we taste God’s love. 2nd, we crave God’s Word, and 3rd, we…
LOVE GOD’S PEOPLE deeply and sincerely.
We make sacrificial commitments to care for one another. We give ourselves fully to benefit our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Look at 1 Peter 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. (NIV)
This is no half-hearted commitment to love. This is an all out devotion to God’s people. The word translated “deeply” was used of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, where Luke 22 says He prayed so earnestly or deeply that “his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44). The word literally means “to be stretched out” (Strongs) or “to be at full stretch,” and has the idea of doing something in an all-out manner, with an intense strain (Bible Knowledge Commentary)
That’s how we’re to love one another, my friends. God calls us to love one another at full stretch, in an all-out manner, with an intense strain. That goes beyond just “tolerating” each other. That goes beyond just being polite and nice to each other if we happen to meet. No! This kind of lover goes out of his way to give of himself for another’s benefit even if that person doesn’t deserve it.
You say, “Phil, that’s impossible,” and I would agree with you. The kind of love we’re talking about here is a supernatural, God-like love. But if you and I have been born again, if we have been transformed by the Word of God Himself, then it is entirely possible for us to live and love in this supernatural way. That’s what 1 Peter 1:23 says. Look at it.
1 Peter 1:23-25 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you. (NIV)
It was preached to you. You believed it, and it changed your life. Your new life is not the result of some human pep-talk, which will fail you as soon as trouble comes. No! Your new life is the result of God’s talk, God’s Word, which will never fail you no matter what.
All you have to do is obey it. All you have to do is put it into practice, and you will be able to love with a supernatural, God-like love at full stretch. Look at vs.22 again.
1 Peter 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. (NIV)
When we obey the truth, whether we feel like it or not, we can “love one another deeply from the heart.”
That’s what Bible College professor, Yohanna Katanacho, discovered. He pastors a small church in the Israeli city of Jerusalem. He is a Palestinian living in Israel, and a Christian to boot, so he faces a wide variety of persecution. One of the more dangerous forms of harassment comes from the Israeli soldiers who patrol the city, looking for potential terrorists. These soldiers routinely impose spontaneous curfews on Palestinians, and even have the legal right to shoot a Palestinian if he or she does not respond quickly enough to their summons.
Christ's command in the Sermon on the Mount to “love your enemies” seemed impossible to Yohanna. And yet there it was – unambiguous and unchanging. “For me, love was an active and counter-cultural decision, because I was living in a culture that promoted hatred of the other,” Yohanna says. “And not only did the context promote hate, but the circumstances fed it on a daily basis – the newspapers, television, media, neighbors, everything. One of the markers of the Israeli Jews and the Palestinian Arabs is alienating the other. To break that marker, I must have some other worldview.”
At first, Yohanna tried and failed in his attempts to feel love. Instead, the Israeli soldiers' random, daily checks for Palestinian identification cards – sometimes stopping them for hours – fed Yohanna's fear and anger. As he confessed his inability to God, Yohanna realized something significant. The radical love of Christ is not an emotion, but a decision. He decided to show love, however reluctantly, by sharing the gospel message with the soldiers on the street. With new resolution, Yohanna began to carry copies of a flyer with him, written in Hebrew and English, with a quotation from Isaiah 53 and the words “Real Love” printed across the top. Every time a soldier stopped him, he handed him both his ID card and the flyer. Because the quote came from the Hebrew Scriptures, the soldier usually asked him about it before letting him go.
After several months of this, Yohanna suddenly noticed his feelings toward the soldiers had changed. “I was surprised, you know?” he says. “It was a process, but I didn't pay attention to that process. My older feelings were not there anymore. I would pass in the same street, see the same soldiers as before, but now find myself praying, ‘Lord, LET them stop me, so that I can share with them the love of Christ.’” (“When Love Is Impossible,” Trinity Magazine, Fall 2005, p. 16-17; www.PreachingToday.com)
Do you want to be able to love sincerely and from the heart as God wants you to love? Then start with simple obedience to His Word. Decide to show love, whether you feel it or not, and let God change your heart.
It’s God’s plan for our spiritual transformation, and it’s a plan that begins and ends with love. First, we taste God’s Love. Then we crave God’s Word. Then and only then do we love God’s people. Then and only then do we “love one another deeply from the heart.”
