True Transformation

 

True Transformation
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What happened in the resurrection of Jesus is that He received a new body. He came back to this world. He appeared to His disciples and communicated with the living. He ate, he cooked and had a body to be touched. That is what resurrection is really about!

Resurrection is not about surviving death! It is about coming back to the living and communicating with them. Apart from Jesus, no one else can do this. Only the Son of God can.

Jesus resurrection speaks of our future. But it also tells us about the future of the whole world.

Jesus resurrection is the beginning of the re-creation of the entire universe.

This means God has gone back to work!

Throughout the Old Testament, God rested from His work of creation. He finished His work.

But on Easter Sunday, God went back to work. The early Christians called Easter Sunday the 8th day! They saw this as the first day of the second week of creation.

And the first part of the old creation God made new was the body of His Son.

The difference between the two creations is that in the first creation, he made heavens and earth first, and men and women last.

In the new creation, He is making new men and women first, and the new heavens and new earth last!

Why is the order the other way around? Because God wants all of us in His new creation.

But he wont take us to His new creation as we are. We will only spoil it very quickly for ourselves, for others and for Him.

Imagine the coldest winter ever and many animals were dying. The porcupines decided to huddle together to keep warm, covering and protecting themselves. But their quills wounded each other. They were all prickly!

After awhile, they decided to distance themselves from one another. But they began to die, alone and frozen. And so they decided to huddle back together, accepting each others quills  the prickliness and all; and learning to live with the little wounds caused by close proximity and prickly companionship.

But we also have the best example of how to get along, in and through our Lord Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for His people.

And He is not even prickly. Yet, each day, huddling with us, our sins, selfishness, pride and arrogance pierce His flesh much like the quills of the porcupines.

But if we ever doubt Jesus is serious about sticking to us, He would say, just look at My nail pierced hands.

That is transformation  by Jesus Himself.

There is a lot of talk about what specific transformation is. That is why we are here.

Let me say again, transformation is Christ being formed in us.

Recently, the world saw a clip of a Christian heckling President Obama in a crowd, calling him the Anti-Christ, whilst proclaiming the Name of Jesus. That is supposed to reassure the world about Jesus?

How is that Christlike? How is that standing for truth and justice?

But our God is a Jealous God. Whose glory He will not share with another. More so, the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ, with Whom He is well pleased. And in whom, resides the hope of all mankind.

Therefore, it is absolutely vital for those of us in privileged position of leadership, responsibility and influence, to do everything entirely unto the Lord and not for ourselves. Our conscience must be clear.

We ask for no rewards, no brownie points, no glories, but the utmost privilege of humbly sharing in our Lords joys and sufferings, His passion and His vision for all that He has planned.

Think of Brother Lawrence. A humble monks pursuit of Gods presence through the most mundane daily life in a monastery, has taught Christians more about capturing the presence of God than most other writings.

Think of William Wilberforce. He first sought fame and power through a career in politics, but subsequently gave his entire political life to end the slave trade and free the oppressed. He captured for us Gods profound heartbeat for a world so cruel and so in need of His love and restoring. But more so, that God could use him, a simple Member of Parliament to end the worlds largest network of evil commercial trade.

True transformation! Jesus way!
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Kuala Lumpur, October 9, 2011

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only person in history who was crucified, who died, was buried and on the third day, came back from the grave to appear to the living.

There is incontrovertible evidence for Jesus resurrection, as much as for the reality that He is alive today and actively involved in all our lives.

Living and experiencing the resurrection life of Jesus is authentic spiritual faith. Not least, the basis of all Christian transformation.

PART ONE:Resurrection

[1] Significance of the Resurrection of Jesus

Recently, David Pawson spoke on the significance of the resurrection of Jesus.

1. The greatest miscarriage of justice in human history was the cross. In raising Jesus from the dead, God the Father reversed a terrible verdict, and vindicated Jesus claim to be God.

2. The resurrection was also proof that God the Father had wanted Jesus to die for our sins, and has accepted that death as compensation for all our sins.

[2] Profound Implications for the Future

Then David spoke on the resurrection and its profound implications for the future. The Bible tells us that human existence is in three phases.

1. First, we live in the body and our spirit is embodied. Like now, my spirit is talking to your spirit because I am embodied.

2. In the second phase of our existence, we lose our body temporarily and become a disembodied spirit.

- We remain conscious, knowing who we are, where we are and who we are with. The dead are in touch with each other, but not with the living.

- The Bible tells us that Jesus talked to people between the day He died and the day He rose.

3. What happened in the resurrection of Jesus is that He received a new body. He came back to this world. He appeared to His disciples and communicated with the living. He ate, he cooked and had a body to be touched. That is what resurrection is really about!

a. Resurrection is not about surviving death! It is about coming back to the living and communicating with them. Apart from Jesus, no one else can do this. Only the Son of God can.

b. In three days, between the crucifixion and the resurrection, Jesus went through all three phases of human existence.

- The promise and assurance we have in Jesus is that like Him, we too will pass through those three phases of human existence.

- We are embodied spirits that will become disembodied in death.

- Only to be re-embodied again in future, which the Bible calls the resurrection from amongst the dead.

c. Jesus is the only person in history ever to enter into the third phase. Nobody else has yet.

[3] Future of the Whole World

Jesus resurrection speaks of our future. But it also tells us about the future of the whole world.

1. Jesus resurrection is the beginning of the re-creation of the entire universe.

a. Why did Jesus rise in the first day of the week? Because it was the day when God began His work.
- First working day of creation.

b. This means God has gone back to work!

- Throughout the Old Testament, God rested from His work of creation. He finished His work.

- But on Easter Sunday, God went back to work. The early Christians called Easter Sunday the 8th day! They saw this as the first day of the second week of creation.

- And the first part of the old creation God made new was the body of His Son.

1. The difference between the two creations is that in the first creation, he made heavens and earth first, and men and women last.

- In the new creation, He is making new men and women first, and the new heavens and new earth last!

2. Why is the order the other way around? Because God wants all of us in His new creation.

- But he wont take us to His new creation as we are. We will only spoil it very quickly for ourselves, for others and for Him.

- Instead, He will make us into new men and women. We will one day be perfect, who are able to be part of His new universe.

PART TWO: Transformation

Let me translate David Pawsons exposition on the resurrection into our discussion this afternoon.

There is going to be a new heaven and a new earth, and Jesus is actively preparing us for it now. Therefore, our first and foremost priority must therefore be to share the good news and facilitate souls coming to Jesus.

[1] Salvation

1. We are really most pitiful, if all we ever have to live for is in this world.

a. For many of our friends and colleagues, thats the case.

- King Solomon had everything one could ever need or want. Yet he concluded that everything is vanity!

b. Then there are also those who appear like they have all the clever answers of the world. They claim to be OK on this earth. Perhaps!

- But scientific advancement, Google search or clever philosophy only serves to highlight how fragile the world is. Nothing is ever permanent. And if so, life holds limited meaning.

- The Bible tells us we have eternity written in our hearts. Thats why the most committed atheists, Darwinists, new agers are usually the most religious  in that they turn what they believe into the ultimate religion. They have most religious fervour. Naturally, they have no choice if they only have this lifetime to make-good what they have.

- But regardless of whether you are a pluralist, materialist, ethical relativist, narcissist or even religious zealot, the end game is the same  Everything ends up in a box!

2. Thats why Jesus is the good news.

a. In Him, we have hope that this world is not the end. Far from it.

- Salvation is to be made perfect. It is to be restored to the image of God.

- It is not just to have our sins forgiven, it is being made a new person, ready to go into that new world without spoiling it, polluting it.

- Thats the good news! Thats what the Gospel is all about. New people for the new world!

b. His resurrection is the proof that we could do it.

- But Jesus will only allow into His new world, those who would allow Him to make them fit for it. Those who had their sins forgiven. Those who are being made into the kind of people that can live in a perfect world.

And that is why we must faithfully lead others to Christ, and let the transforming power of the Lords good news do its work.

That is transformation!

[2] Porcupines

Let me come to the second point. Christians are so privileged. By the sheer grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and through no merit of our own, we are selected to participate in this 8th Day.

We are chosen to partner with our Lord Jesus to build this new heaven and new earth. It is absolutely mind-blowing!

1. But as we have learned, the process starts with us. The Lord is remaking men and women fit for His Kingdom.

a. Whatever transformation, it starts with us.

- It starts with daily internal regeneration of our soul through honest and real communion with our Lord.

- It involves the renovation of the heart and the renewing of the mind.

- It is a radical discipleship, with eyes firmly fixed on the cross. When we take up His cross, we will also suffer with Him.

b. Our Lord Jesus Christ is alive! Paul writes in Galatians 4: 9 that transformation is Christ being formed in us.

-  When we are continually tuned in to Christ, we will invariably become the reflection of Gods glory.

- The Holy Spirit will have His effective work in every aspect of our lives.

c. Of course, when we draw nearer to the Lord, we also become so much more aware of our sins, of our own unworthiness.

- Far from having that gung-ho spirit of arrogance, we become humble, poor in spirit, breakable and ultimately, usable. Thats when the Lords best work of remaking us is done.

- Brennan Manning writes: Because we never lay hold of our nothingness before God, and consequently, we never enter into the deepest reality of our relationship with Him.

But when we accept ownership of our powerlessness and helplessness, when we acknowledge that we are paupers at the door of Gods mercy, then God can make something beautiful out of us.

If transformation could be measured, it is that a person reflects Christ in all that he or she says and does.

That is how it must be!

2. Let say something about the church. Jesus wants His body of believers to be His face to the world.

- Jesus is actively reconciling the world to Himself, using the church as the primary vehicle.

- Yes, us! Sulking, mud-slinging, moralising, hypocritical, disunited, we know it all, graceless, loveless bunch of people!

a. He wants transformation to come through us. How? With great difficulty!

- Imagine the coldest winter ever and many animals were dying. The porcupines decided to huddle together to keep warm, covering and protecting themselves. But their quills wounded each other. They were all prickly!

After awhile, they decided to distance themselves from one another. But they began to die, alone and frozen. And so they decided to huddle back together, accepting each others quills  the prickliness and all; and learning to live with the little wounds caused by close proximity and prickly companionship.

b. Truth be known, Christians are usually the prickliest of all! Why? I suspect it is because we think we can do a better job playing God.

- But to reflect Christ, huddling of the church together is not an option, it is a command. We have to learn to live with each others imperfections and grow together.

- Unity is hard! We feel vulnerable. We have to sacrifice our space and idiosyncrasies. We have to be selfless.

c. But we also have the best example of how to get along, in and through our Lord Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for His people.

- Jesus loves the church and has given Himself to unite the church.

- And He is not even prickly. Yet, each day, huddling with us, our sins, selfishness, pride and arrogance pierce His flesh much like the quills of the porcupines.

- But if we ever doubt Jesus is serious about sticking to us, He would say, just look at My nail pierced hands.

That is transformation  by Jesus Himself.

[3] Brownie Points

There is a lot of talk about what specific transformation is. That is why we are here.

Let me say again, transformation is Christ being formed in us. And thats why I am not always happy with what I am seeing and hearing these days.

1. We talk about revivals, great anointing, legacies, discipling nations, new paradigms etc.

a. Let me ask, do they end up being new theological battlegrounds that stir up biases and differences? Even causing more confusion and division in and out of the church?

b. So-called great apostles and prophets have claimed to know what transformation entails. They drum up s