"A New Me"

In the church we use terms like “transformation.” As we continue this study of becoming wholly devoted to God we need to see how we have been and can be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. In this body we offer several avenues to help in transformation.

The New Me

(Col. 3:5-14)

Introduction:

A.  I heard a statement that I have been chewing on for a while.  The person said, “What we believe determines how we behave.”  If that statement is true, then my outward actions should be a sign of my beliefs to all around me.  A life that has been transformed by the Holy Spirit of God should be evident in my actions because I have change the way I think.

B.  Jesus was challenged about what makes a person unclean.  He responded in Mark 7:14-23 with these words.  So what is on your inside?  What is it that makes you who you are?

C.  David, in his pain of facing his own sinfulness cried out to God in Ps. 51:10-12.  The challenge becomes huge in each one of us.  Are we willing to examine ourselves that deeply and allow the light of God’s word to penetrate our soul?  What happened in the first century and continues on to today is that people use religion to make them feel better, but not necessarily change them.

I.  Transformation Defined

A.  Transformation.  It is a word that we use in the church, but one that many of us struggle to really put into practice.  Are there degrees of transformation?  As we study God’s Word together, there is but one conclusion.  God changes us.  Transformation is not simply something I do.  Repentance without God is limited.  I can white-knuckle something and simply not do them, but so can an atheist.  I am see a trait within me that is not healthy.  Spiritually speaking it is sin, but even in the secular world it unhealthy for me either physically, emotionally, or in regard to relationships.  So I change.  Do I have to have the power of the Holy Spirit in me to change?  Can a non-Christian stop an outward behavior without the help of God?  I contend, yes.  Transformation must be more than simply an outward change.

B.  I believe that repentance can only go so far without the help of God.  I am called upon to repent before I am saved, but that repentance is limited.  I can’t “fix me” and make me “perfect” then come to Christ.  I can only start the process.

C.  Without the help of the transforming power of God, I will not change from the inside out, but only an outward appearance.  The challenge that God sets before us is true and total transformation.  Without it, I can not be “wholeheartedly devoted to God.”  Impossible.  I can simply be a better human by human standards.  I want more than that.  I want something deeper and greater than I can do on my own.  I want so much God that the world sees that I am no longer me, but someone transformed, born again, a new me.

II.  The Text

A.  Come to the text recorded in Col. 3:1ff.  You, who is the “you?”  The “you” are Christians.  People who have put on Christ and are striving to walk in the light.  It should be us as well.  We who are Christians are a part of this “you.”  We have been raised with Christ now what does that mean?

1.  Set your hearts on things above

2.  Set your minds on things above

3.  The reason:  (verse 3-4)  This is huge!  This is transformation.  I am so changed that my life is hidden in Christ and Christ is our life.  Do you look like Jesus?  If not, why not?  Don’t just say, “I want to” or “I am trying.”  That is generally excuses in my life or justification for simply not changing.

B.  What do I need to do to become the new me; the Jesus living out himself through my body?

1.  Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature.  You want the list, then read verses 5-8.

2.  Be intentional about this.  How do you plan to put something to death?  How does the Spirit aid you in doing this?  The answer is to starve the evil and feed the good.  Or as Paul says in verse 7 “you used to walk in that way.”  Past tense.  Rid yourself of the imputer, greed, anger, rage, slander and filthy language.

3.  Now look to verses 9-10.  Being a Christian is not only putting on Jesus in salvation, but it allowing the Spirit to be at work “renewing us in the image of the Creator.”  You want to know why in Christ there is no black, white, Hispanic or oriental?  Because there is only Christ.  We who have been transformed have been swallowed up in Christ.  Eph. 2:14-17.  God is in the transformation work.  Bringing us all together in Himself.

III.  Seeing the New Me

A.  Transformation is a process, and to some degree, a process that never ends as long as we live in this earthly tent we call our body.  But transformation also sees a future, the new you.  What do you see your life like the more you yield to God and become wholly devoted to him?  What does it look like?  See that future and know what God desires.   As Rom. 12:2 says that when we are transformed we will be able to “test and approve what God’s will is.”

B.  God wants the new you, and only you keep it from happening.  When God spoke to Jeremiah about sending a letter to the surviving elders among the exiles, listen to one verse of that text, “For I now the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jer. 29:11)

Conclusion:

A.  Transformation is more than just a Bible word.  It is more than just what you hear in this sermon.  Transformation is the work of the Holy Spirit in you.  Therefore, if you are not striving to live the transformed life, you are sinning.  Sound harsh?  Maybe.  True?  I challenge you to find me anyone in God’s word that did not need to be transformed by God.  I don’t believe it is possible.

B.  To live as I choose is a sinful act of defiance of God in my life.  I have often asked, “How much God do you want?”  The answer should only be, “All that I can handle.”  You see, when you think about the transformed life, Paul gives a great example in Romans 9.  He pictures God as the great potter and every person as a lump of clay.  As the potter, God has the control and makes each person into whatever vessel He sees fit.  He does not ask the clay, “How much of me do you want?”  He does not ask the clay “Is this okay with you or do you want me to do something different?”  He is the potter and He does as He wills.

C.  So what is your response to the Potter?  Are you willing to say, “Have thine o way Lord, have thine o way?”  Anything less is a statement against the working of God in your life.  If you are willing to submit to him and in need of our help in doing that, please come as we stand and sing.