Matt 28:19-20 – we are not called to make converts, but to make DISCIPLES who would obey Christ in everything. That’s LIFE CHANGE.
In today’s world, the emphasis on good character is being gradually eroded.
• In the past, we look at leaders as people with good character and high moral standing. Now we expect them to be competent, capable and intelligent.
• Their private lives and conduct are quite irrelevant, or rather we do not want to question too much, so long as they can deliver the goods and produce results.
• If they have good virtues, well, that’s a bonus.
As Christians we can also be influenced by such a culture, and begin to value competence, talents and accomplishments above everything else.
• There was a study done on theological education over the past 200-300 years and they noticed a paradigm shift – from the early period of an emphasis on piety, to scholarship (focus on academics), and to the recent emphasis on professional training (skills set).
• The emphasis has been shifted from spirituality to scholarship to skills.
There is nothing wrong with being competent or successful, but we’ve to ask the question: “Is that all? Is this the Father’s purpose for our lives?”
THE PURPOSE OF THE FATHER
The Scriptures tell us otherwise. Salvation is not merely a change in our final destination.
• We are on the train to hell; we pray to receive Christ into our hearts and walked over the platform and took another train – one that is going to heaven.
• This is true, but this does not tell the whole story.
• There is a book entitled: ‘plunder hell and populate heaven’? This is true numerically, but it is not the purpose of God.
What is the Father’s purpose for us? What is the sum total of our salvation?
• It has more to do with our LIFE IN CHRIST than our WORKS FOR GOD, WHO we are than WHAT we can do; about our BEING more than our DOING, about what we have BECOME than what we can ACCOMPLISH for Him.
• God is concerned, not just in changing our destination, but in changing us!
A quick way to understand it will be this:
• Justification - “Changing our destination”. God forgives us and removes our sin, giving us the right to enter heaven. He frees us from the penalty of sin.
• Sanctification - “Changing us”. God heals us from the damage caused by sin and changes us into the likeness of His Son. He frees us from the power of sin.
• Glorification – when the restoration is complete, we’ll take on a new body and be with Him, free forever from the presence of sin.
In other words, God is doing something even as He brings us to heaven.
• If you see the Christian life as simply getting a one-way ticket and an easy ride to heaven, in a ‘first-class cabin’ where we are served and our every need is met, we are missing a large part of God’s purpose and plan for our lives.
The true picture is (1) GOD IS WORKING ON YOU.
• Eph 2:10 says “we are God's workmanship.” (handiwork) He is not simply using you like a handy tool in His workshop; He is working on you!
• Isa 64:8 “Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” His is moulding us into the image of Christ.
• He is doing an overhaul in our inner beings, so that our self is dethroned and the true King of our lives can be enthroned.
C. S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity: “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
God is in the process of making you into something magnificent.
• God will tear down the walls of your life, and rebuild them into something that can house His glory.
• This renovation will mean there will be trials and testing. The old stuff must come down. The tearing down is not fun, but the beauty that is created will be awesome.
• God wants to build something beautiful in you.
THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST
(2) GOD WANTS YOU TO BECOME LIKE CHRIST! What does Christ look like?
• The Gospels say hardly anything about the appearance of Jesus. If His physical appearance is important, they would have highlighted it.
• In fact, little was mentioned about His mannerism, His style of preaching, and the way He manages His finances or plans His itinerary.
We see only the CHARACTER of Christ. Jesus showed us how God would be like if He became a man.
• He is the perfect example of godliness. Today we remember WHO He is rather than anything else, because this is the will of God.
• God wants our character to take on Jesus’ character. As He is, so shall we become.
If this is the Father’s purpose and goal for our lives, then we can expect Him to use all means to achieve that end.
• Trials and tribulations, setbacks and disappointments, all of life’s experiences (the good and the bad) are used by God to achieve His end.
• Rom 8:28-29 “And we know that in ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son…”
God uses all things… When I was in TTC, some students came and proposed that I stand for election to lead the student council for the new term. This came out of the blue. I don’t like limelight and I hate to lead. But God has a different agenda. So eventually my name was up, and I prayed that I’ll lose the election. God got me elected. I was thrust into a leadership position, because I needed to learn and grow, and lead one day in a church. It wasn’t nice. It was stressful. I fainted while leading a council meeting. Imagine, 20 people seated around the room and you fainted in the middle of the proceeding. (My SS class laughed!)
But that’s what training is all about. When God moulds you, some part of you needs to be torn down and others erected. But you’ll learn, you’ll grow, and you’ll be changed by it.
God uses everything to shape and mould us.
• He may not choose to CHANGE your circumstances or REMOVE your problem immediately because His agenda is to SHAPE you instead.
• Disappointment is His-appointment! Change the D to H.
We all like Christ, because we don’t like to be like Christ.
• To be like Christ means making sacrifices so that others are blessed, forgiving those who have wrong you, it means humility, giving up of your rights…
• We like Christ. But we find it hard to be like Christ! God wants us to be like Christ!
THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT The fruit of the Spirit is the character of Jesus.
Paul says we are called to turn away from “acts of the sinful nature” (5:19) ESV “works of the flesh” and put on the new life in Christ that bears the “fruit of the Spirit” (5:22)
• The play of words is significant – from WORKS of the flesh to FRUIT of the Spirit. One is of human efforts, and the other by divine grace.
• The new life, the Christ-like life, is exemplified by A FRUIT – with all its 9 qualities, produced only through the works of the Spirit.
The role of the Spirit is to accomplish the Father’s purpose and see that the character of Jesus becomes a reality in our lives.
• We cannot attain the character of Christ simply attending more seminars or “how-to” courses.
• It cannot be manufactured by self-effort. It is essentially supernatural; a work of God in our lives.
The Pharisees in Jesus’ time made a sincere attempt at achieving righteousness, but a focus on the outward and the visible acts of righteousness will not do.
• The problem lies INSIDE of us. Jesus says, “You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.” (Matt 23:27)
• The Pharisees placed their focus in the wrong place – the outward. We need to look inside of us.
So what did God do? Gal 4:6 “… God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts…”
• It’s an inside job. God did a miracle when we accept Christ - He sent the Spirit of Christ into our hearts.
• He dwells in our heart and changes us from the inside-out.
So what must I do? If you say DO as in contributing something, then the answer is NOTHING. There is nothing you can contribute towards becoming like Christ.
• So how do I response to God? I want to suggest these 3 responses: (1) SURRENDER, (2) COOPERATE with God, and (3) REMAIN IN CHRIST.
(1) SURRENDER to God: Realise that you are utterly helpless, completely bankrupt.
• Like a drowning man fully surrendered to the rescuer, you let Him takes over.
(2) COOPERATE with God:
• “… it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Phil 2:13) “For we are God’s workmanship…” (handiwork, Eph 2:10)
• Whatever circumstances you are put through, remember this: God is working on you. You are a work-in-progress. Trust Him. He makes no mistake.
• Pruning does not feel good but it is meant for your good. Resist Him too much, and you will not bear fruit.
(3) REMAIN in Christ:
• In John 15 Jesus says He is the Vine and we are the branches. 15:4 “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
• We are not called to produce fruit but to BEAR fruit. That will happen if we remain in Him, Jesus says.
• Remain in Him means staying connected to Him in a relationship of trust and obedience. Let everything in your life resolves around this relationship with Jesus.
If you have not accepted Jesus as your Saviour: “Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. I repent of my sins. Come into my life, Jesus. I receive you as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. In Jesus’ Name, I pray. AMEN.
