| God's Plan for Transformation
God's plan for Transformation
"Not that I have laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do know; laying aside that which I have accomplished, I press on for the high calling of Christ Jesus." Philippians 313f
Paul was almost at the end of his life and he still hadn't fully reached his prize.
As we look at the process of transformation, we can observe that each progressive stage has three steps, followed by a plateau. These steps form what we call the cycle of renewal (See the diagram in the last chapter.). The first step is Revelation (being able to see ourselves as we are, being able to see God as He is), then follows Repentance (we see what we've done wrong, we go before the living God, confess and ask for forgiveness--this step usually leads to a great feeling of release), and lastly Restitution (bringing forth deeds in keeping with Repentance).
These steps, as summarized by Paul in Acts 26:18-20 must happen in this order. It is the repentance which follows revelation which allows a free flow of the Holy Spirit which will enable restitution. In repentance we are relying upon God’s work for us. Thus in repentance we find rest (Acts 3:19), and the strength to make restitution in God’s strength (Ph. 2:12f, 4:13). If one tries to progress directly from Revelation to Restitution and skips the step of Repentance, one will usually end up with a form of penance resulting in legalism and a great deal of pride. This will be discussed in detail below.
This cycle may have to be repeated several times until the person is brought to a state of Renewal. Renewal could be described as the person’s life is so changed that he or she acts in completely different ways then he or she would have acted in the same circumstances before renewal. For instance a thief is no longer a thief but rather works hard and is generous in his giving (Ephesians 4:28).
Renewal then brings us to a new plateau, which we may remain on for sometime consolidating the new patterns of life which are now ours in Christ. We remain on that step until God brings us some new revelation, often through a crisis or suffering, that tests us and shows where we are lacking in our faith and knowledge of God (Cf. I Peter 1:3-9). We should receive every test with joy, recognizing it for its potential to reveal the true state of our faith (Romans 5:3-5). We ought not to be surprised or discouraged when such tests reveal our need to grow, for our heavenly Father is neither surprised or discouraged. But rather, as a good Father, He brings discipline for our God that it might yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11).
The Christian life is one of continual growth from one stage of glory to another. We are never finished with our journey until we are finally delivered into the fullness of His Kingdom. God is never done with us. We need to enjoy those plateaus where we can see our God and Father in new ways, the world in new ways, and ourselves in new ways. But we should not be content with years of no new ascents.
This is the normal pattern of the Christian life. Paul says in Roman 12:2,
"Do not be conformed any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so you may prove the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God."
God's perfect will for you is not stagnation--it is life of progress! He wants you to grow in Him, so hopefully, ten years from now you won't be in the same place you are now. At 50, I am nowhere near where I was at 30. And hopefully at 70, I will have progressed yet further. But my goal each day needs to be to learn of Him and to please Him (Cf. Mt. 11:28-30).
We need to watch out for those who would camp out on a stage of glory when God has called them upward. When a crisis begins to happen, we need to help them look up the mountain and say, "Time to move on," rather than looking behind and saying, "How can I keep myself from falling?" We need to encourage those before whom God is moving to follow the pillar of smoke and the pillar of fire.
Apathy or ignorance about transformation is a major problem in the church today. That does not mean that people aren't saved. They may be, but they have often been taught that the first stage of glory (coming to Christ) is the most of salvation that anyone can experience in this world. They may get a “second blessing”, but seldom a third and a fourth (how may stages of glory are there?). Often the result in the church is that we have constructed a nice comfortable Upper Room, and they're trying to wait out the warfare in this world until Christ returns.
But Jesus didn't give his disciples the Upper Room to live in. They only remained there for ten days of prayer until the Holy Spirit came upon them. He then propelled them into the streets where He has always meant His church to be. Members were to be prepared for eternity by being tested though the trials of this world, progressing from one stage of glory to another as these trials expose areas where we need more revelation, repentance and restitution.
We as the church need to understand this; we need to be pressing on in our own lives; often propelled by our ministry and calling. This is especially true of leaders. Often people think that we can take a little green pill, and we will have instant maturity. I personally thought I could have Christianity down in one year! Twenty five years later I'm still learning! This is going to take my whole life and more! Leaders are not exempt from making progress.
In community we need to learn how to “stimulate one another on to love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24). We need to do this with young people, who are looking for little green magic pills. But we also need to work with older ones who may have mastered the forms of the Kingdom but need to continue to grow in the knowledge of the King. We need to encourage them as they grow and learn. This kind of life is often very frustrating. None of us are there yet; we're all struggling. But we need to encourage each other in those struggles to keep on the road.
This life takes a lot of forbearance and patience, characteristics that the "quick fix" West cannot identify with very well. The best selling books in Christian or secular bookstores, are “how-to” books--three simple steps, and life is better! Transformation doesn't work that way, especially in the area of Christian character! The power of God is not present in a how-to book with three easy steps. A how-to book is no substitute for the difficult truths in Romans 5-8; a how-to book is no substitute for the power of God! There is nothing wrong (for both Christians and non-Christians) with instilling disciplines in our lives, but that is a far cry from partaking of the living bread and experiencing the healing power of God.
Yet Christians run after these how-to books, often following the latest "pop" psychology which will be out of vogue in a few years. Ten years ago the watchwords were co-dependency, dysfunctional family, etc. What are they today, and what will they be tomorrow? But where are these words in the Bible? We need to get back to the Scripture and see what it has to say. The promise of 2 Timothy 3:17 is that the Word of God makes the man of God adequate to “EVERY good work”. And the good works that are clearly the context have to do with this work of transformation.
What has happened is that too many Christians have fallen into the trap of trying to follow humanistic solutions for spiritual problems. We have fallen into the trap of Jeremiah's time. Jeremiah 2:13 says; My people committed two great sins. They've ignored my cisterns, and they've hewn out for themselves other cisterns. One of the great problems of the church today is that we don't know how to use our Bibles. We don't know how to take the Word of God and the power of the Spirit and combine those two sources of power to see transformation in our own lives and the lives of others.
Instead we want the quick fix! We don't want to work hard; we don't want to turn to God and ask how He wants us to help others, and then beg for His help. We rarely search for Truth in this handbook for survival in a fallen world. Instead we devotionalize the Bible. The hard work is for the professionals, the psychologists and psychiatrists. Christians cannot be expected to do much with deeply troubled people. Of course one wonders what the church (and God!) did for the 1900 years before Sigmund Freud!
Hunting and searching for how scripture applies to life is hard work. Seeking God and His power so that I am able to implement the truth is hard work. Often the Bible does not say how to do something; it simply says do it. You have to look to Him and seek His face for the particulars on how to do it. That isn't easy, but if we, as leaders, do not do that in our own lives, we can't expect our churches or church planting teams to do this.
The real problem with Christians following after "pop" psychology is this: when we settle for these types of humanistic solutions, they don't work! So many counselors say, "You need professional help." Talk-radio hosts say, "You need professional help." Even Christians say, "You need professional help."
Have you seen the professional help? I have--one of my closest friends was a psychologist. I watched it wreck his marriage! It is like experimenting with guinea pigs, but using people instead. Psychologists have among the highest rate of divorce and suicide of any professional group. So what are we to think of that professional help? Going to a college and getting a degree does not mean you will be able to help people. The proverb is true "When the blind lead the blind they both fall in a ditch." (Mt. 15:14) But God’s promises that His Word will indeed enable Godly leaders to bring about necessary change in those who will follow Jesus in His Kingdom (2 Timothy 3:17).
Psychologist engaging in "the study of the soul" (the literal meaning of the word), for the most part don't even believe in a soul! Those that do believe in a spirit realm may be more focused on the occult and New Age! One of my psychologist friends says that channeling is the latest thing in psychological circles! Satanic rituals being infused into psychology! And we look to such as these for help? (Of course there are very helpful Christian psychologists who use Biblical principles in bringing about healing. I am not talking about these. Jay Adams, Larry Crabb and many others use God’s Word in addition to employing some disciplines found in psychology.). But secular professionals don't have any hope to give. They can't heal. The best we can hope from psychology is identify problems and help people cope with them. Secular psychology is a broken cistern that will not hold water.
Psychology can't bring healing, only Christ can, through His Word and by His Spirit. But at least psychologists are trying to help people. The sad thing is, not only do Christians put their hope in such broken cisterns but they do not learn how to use God’s word to bring healing. Broken people get saved and come to church for months or even years. But they don't get healed. They leave crippled, and what do they think? Christianity doesn't work. God doesn't have an answer for me. For them the crushing reality is, God's people don't have an answer for them, because that is what we show them!
But God does have an answer for them; His son came to undo the deeds of the Devil, to help those with deep problems. Jesus can do that, but it won't be a quick fix; it won't be through a quick how-to book. It will be through a laborious life of ongoing Revelation, Repentance, and Restitution. There's no easy way out; no quick fix, no little green pill. |
