Transformation of the heart through the process of sanctification is the basis for all other life change.
Have you seen the movie, The Emperors New Groove? The young emperor Kuzco is very arrogant and selfish. He really is only concerned with himself. In deciding to build a summer home, he will displace a family in his kingdom for his pleasure. The father of the family comes to talk with him and he is unchanged in his decision to build on the land where they are now living. Through other events, the Emperor becomes a lama and must return to his palace to get the secret potion that will change him back to a young man. But he cannot do it alone. He is at the mercy of the family who he intends to displace in building his summer home. He is manipulative and alters his behaviors to get the help he needs to get home. He makes the family believe that he really has changed. But somewhere on the long journey home, he comes face to face with the truth and his heart begins to change. When he finally returns to his palace, he is no longer the same person, his heart has been transformed – his life has been changed.
Have you ever tried to change something about yourself – something that you just didn’t like about yourself or something others didn’t like about you? How hard is it to actually change?
Have you ever tried to break a bad habit? Have you ever tried to start a new habit? They say that it takes 21 times of correcting a bad habit to make something a new habit.
We try to change ourselves all the time. We try to change ourselves by changing our behaviors. We believe that we have truly changed when we do things differently, when the outside no longer looks the same as it once did.
Most of my life has been about change – and not only about changing circumstances. My parents divorced when I was six and ten years later when I was a junior in high school, my entire life was turned upside down when my mom took her own life. She struggled with alcoholism and depression and my dad had his own struggles which left me virtually parentless at the time. But I was determined to rise from the ashes. Although my life’s reality was broken and fragmented pieces, I wanted everyone to believe that I had it together. I learned to portray someone who was well adjusted and who didn’t hurt.
Eight years ago I had just returned from living in Central London while going to school. On a July night I decided to give my heart to Jesus Christ. I stood up at a conference, prayed a prayer and began to participate in this religion called Christianity. But the greatest change was still to come. Yes, I was now covered with the blood of Jesus Christ, but I still was not willing to walk away from the life I had known for so long to experience the freedom found in Christ. I was too comfortable with what I had always known. It was easy for me to make people believe I had it together. It was easy to do a lot of good things for God without actually following Christ. It was easy to show others how devoted I was to God rather than actually being completely devoted to him.
In the Fall of 2003 everything in my life began to change, really change. But I think I can explain some of this change through one of my favorite passages that Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians:
1:1 Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.
2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia - your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Did you catch that? I love what Paul says here. In verse 8 he says, “your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it.� I would love to have faith like that, to live a life like that. I think that all of us would. How cool would that be, not to have to talk about our faith because it was just known EVERYWHERE.
But, I don’t think this just happened. I don’t think that they just woke up one morning and suddenly their faith was known everywhere. What drove the change within their hearts? How could their change have this kind of an impact?
What I know for sure is that it wasn’t just about changing behaviors, changing what they did on the outside or how they portrayed themselves. No, something else had to have taken place, something that was so pivotal, which changed everything.
Let’s look back at the text. In verse 9b Paul says, “They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.� The Thessalonians’ faith was known everywhere because they turned from idols to serve the living and true God.
So, it sounds pretty simple, right? Just turn to God and serve him. But this was huge, really huge. Worshiping idols had become a way of life for the Thessalonians, it was their lifestyle and how they had been educated. It was very normal for them and very ritualistic. It was life for these Gentile believers.
Let’s be honest for a few minutes here. Unless we step away from what we know, it’s all we know, right? But sometimes what we really need is perspective, God’s perspective.
For myself, the transition I went through four years ago, meant being willing to accept that I was broken and my life was full of shattered pieces. I had to give up my idols - which convinced me that having it all together was the best thing I could do for Christ, and that trusting no one else would keep me safe. I had to be willing to embrace the hurt and pain in my life because somewhere in the midst of it all, God would be glorified, and amazingly he would use it all.
So what are the idols in your life? What are the idols that keep your faith from being known EVERYWHERE, without anything being said about it? Maybe it’s not fear or pride, maybe it is. Maybe it’s those seemingly important things we have in our lives – such as our ipods, computers, cell phones, cars, etc. Maybe it’s relationships with people that distract us from and become significantly more important to us than our relationship with God. Maybe it’s ambition or recognition for sports, academics, or music. Maybe it’s our well intentioned desire to do good things for God, while missing God all along. Is Christ really your life’s greatest passion?
My idols had become appearance – that I had it all together, praise from others – that I had overcome so many tragic things in life, pride – that I had done it all myself, and fear – of the unknown: of rejection, or abandonment, of failure. Somewhere in the midst of it all, I believed that living this way made it safer for me. That living here meant that no one could ever hurt me again. No one could ever leave me again. I believed that I was all I needed in life until God brought people into my life who broke trough the deep loneliness I had felt for almost a decade, and who dared me to live life even in the midst of the unknown and potential of future pain. I learned that this was called RISK, the risk to live fully alive.
The change in my life happened when I came face to face with the living God. I realized that he knew me for who I really was – who I was when my mask was off. He knew my deepest hurts and greatest struggles and scaring pains. He knew the depth of depravity within my soul. And amazingly he loved me the same. And not only did he love me, but he called me CHOSEN, FORGIVEN, DAUGHTER, BELOVED and HIS BRIDE.
Everything changed when my heart changed. Just like the Thessalonians, everything changed when they turned to the living and true God and encountered him. My life was no longer about appearances and fear but it became about the holiness of God, that he would be glorified in every action I took.
Now, I’ll be real honest with you. None of this means that I don’t struggle and that I don’t still have fear. In fact I do. That’s what makes this the life of faith, not just a single act of faith in following Christ.
I’ve spent the past 10 days in Portland, the home I’ve known all my life, where I’ve grown up. It is there where many people have invested in me and loved me through so much of life, that is, until I moved here last fall. I love it here - Gig Harbor has become a home I never expected it to be. I know with all certainty that God wants me here. He has called me to spend this part of my life in this place, with many of you. And yet, I long for what I know and what is safe and comfortable. Part of me longs to return to Portland - especially when things get hard, or lonely or uncertain. Something within me wants to return to where I came from.
While I was at home, I got to sit in a class with my favorite professor from school. During the class, we talked about this process of transformation, like the change the Thessalonians went through. We talked about the process of sanctification and how we are transformed through this lifelong process. And the constant struggle came up, “WHY DO WE LONG TO RETURN TO EGYPT?�
Remember the story of the Israelites in Exodus? They were slaves in Egypt under Pharaoh and his army. They were in bondage and lived lives under oppression. Moses went to Pharaoh and begged him to let his people go. Pharaoh’s heart was so hard and he refused, but eventually God’s chosen people, the Israelites were set free. The Israelites were sent into the desert for 40 years, while longing for the Promised Land - a place God had promised that would be flowing with milk and honey. Eventually, the Israelites crossed the Jordan River and inherited the Promised Land. They had received all that God had promised them. Yet the Promised Land was not free from uncertainty. The Promised Land was not safe. The Promised Land required great faith in God in the midst of the unknown. The Promised Land required willingness to RISK. But on many occasions, we find the Israelites wanting to return to Egypt, to what was known, what was safe – but I think the Israelites forgot the bondage and slavery that existed there.
This story is all to familiar. If you’ve seen the movie Shawshank Redemption you’ll remember Brooks, the older gentleman who ran what was considered the library. He had been in Shawshank prison for the majority of his life for committing murder. After decades he was used to the routine and comfort that those bars and cement walls now brought him. Right before his parole hearing, he took a knife to another inmate’s throat, hoping that the act of violence would ensure his continued residence at Shawshank. But realizing the ploy for what it was, the parole board released Brooks to the outside. They arranged for a small apartment for him, and a job bagging groceries at a small local store. But Brooks hadn’t been on the outside of those prison walls since cars were invented. He couldn’t keep up in a world that had changed so much and now moved so quickly. He longed to return to Shawshank, to that which he had known, that which was safe and comfortable. He knew nothing else. He felt more imprisoned living on the outside than he did living in the inside of Shawshank prison. Being unable to live on the outside, and being unable to return to the inside, Brooks took his own life. He felt that there was no other option. The risk itself was too great to take. And yet we must be willing to take the risk.
To be honest, a lot of the time I find myself wanting to return to Egypt too. I want to return to that which is safe, known, and comfortable. I think that it is too easy to forget about the bondage and slavery that once existed, and we only remember the good things. We do this, don’t we? We hold onto the good memories, discarding the painful ones, the ones that actually shaped us and changed us.
All that being said, how do we change? How do we allow our lives to become everything God intended? Do you end your day more in love with Christ than when you began? If not, what is holding you back? What idol is in your way?
Our change, must be heart change, like the Thessalonians. We must be wiling to give up our idols – we must be willing to give up ANYTHING that comes in the way of our relationship with God, no matter how true, and right and beautiful it is. Anything that comes before God, is in fact and idol. It can even be something that we are certain and sure that God has given to us and even something we are doing for God, but the key is NEVER letting ANYTHING replace the place of God in your heart and life. We must be willing to turn to the living and true God. Even if it means that we turn away from everything that is comfortable, safe and known. Then our faith will be known EVERYWHERE, just like the Thessalonians.
It’s easy to change if we have a formula, a proven method that works. We want to know how we can actually be transformed. Although there is no formula for this process of transformation, what we do know is how the Thessalonians lived their lives, and how generations of followers of Christ have lived since. Let’s look back at the text once more. In verse 3 Paul identifies three things about the Thessalonians. He says, “We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.� We hear Paul’s famous trilogy here, as well as in 1 Corinthians 13. What Paul recognized was that the Thessalonians LIVED BY FAITH, WERE KNOWN BY LOVE, AND WERE A VOICE OF HOPE to the world around them. Faith, love and hope moved them forward, it changed them from the inside out.
If we live by faith like the Thessalonians lived, we would be willing to take risks for others and their futures. We would not be afraid to advance in this movement of Jesus Christ. We would live lives marked by courage and trust in God. Living by faith is marked by what we know about God, it is looking backwards and being moved forward because of who we know and what we know. By living by faith we prove that God can be trusted as we step into the unknown.
Being known by love - as the Thessalonians were known, means that we become like God. This is not to say that we become God, but our character and our hearts become like his. We are formed more and more into the likeness of his image. We begin to care about the things that he cares about, we advance on the things that are the closest to his heart – and most of the time that means that we move towards and on behalf of people. Being known by love is a present reality of the person of Christ in our lives. When we are known by love, we begin to express the passions and burdens of Christ. We respond as God breaks our hearts for the things that break his.
And lastly, as we become a voice of hope to the world around us, like the Thessalonians were, we recognize that hope can literally pull us into the future and that we have a message of hope for the world around us. We are here and can point to the future and tell all that God is doing, because we know who God is. In being a voice of hope, we cannot contain what is inside of each of us, and long to share it with everyone around us.
There is one more key to this process of transformation, this process of change. WE CAN’T DO IT ALONE. We cannot live this life of faith in seclusion and independence. We are relational beings, created in the midst of relationship, created for relationships. We NEED each other. We were created for God and for each other. So, on this journey of transformation and change, we must be willing to walk with others, and allow others to walk with us. We must be willing to hear from the lives of others - the truth, wisdom and hope they have to offer us on this journey. We must be willing to be changed by THE SPIRIT OF GOD INDWELLING US and we must be willing to be refined by THE SPIRIT OF GOD INDWELLING ANOTHER. As God himself will encounter us through those he has put in our lives.
Does anyone love Heroes as much as I do? This is now one of my favorite quotes from their season finale:
   yet still we struggle
to make a difference
to change the world
to dream of hope
never knowing for certain
who we will meet along the way
who among the world of strangers
will hold our hand
touch our hearts
and share the pain of trying
So, who challenges you in this life, in this lifelong pursuit of change? Who encourages you? Who supports you and invests in you? Who loves you well – so well, that they aren’t willing to let you stay the same?
This change of our hearts, will very literally change our entire lives. And in fact, it will change the lives of others, and we will change the world. When our hearts change, and our lives change OUR FAITH IN GOD WILL BE KNOWN EVERYWHERE. THEREFORE NO ONE WILL NEED TO SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT. We will live by faith, be known by love, and be a voice of hope to the world around us.
June 10th, 2007 © allthis
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