WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:04.400 The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew. 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:06.959 Glory to you, Lord Christ. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:10.240 Beginning in chapter 16, verse 21. 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:26.399 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things, from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:34.560 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:47.439 But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan, you are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:58.240 Then Jesus told his disciples, If any one would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:06.400 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:12.879 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:16.159 Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:25.359 The Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:28.000 The gospel of the Lord. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:30.400 Praise to you, Lord Christ. 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:31.599 Let's pray. 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:35.040 Father, we do welcome your voice to be heard this morning. 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:36.959 That's what we came here for. 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:38.719 We came here for you. 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:46.959 And so we ask you, Holy Spirit, to bring the Word of Christ to life, the Word of God to life in our hearts and our minds. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:49.760 Wake us up this morning, Jesus. 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:57.200 It's in your precious and holy name that we pray. 00:01:57.519 --> 00:01:58.159 Amen. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:00.159 You may be seated. 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:03.200 Well, good morning. 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:09.520 I want to talk today about metamorphosis. 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:12.479 You weren't expecting that, were you? 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:16.240 We're going to have a little science class this morning in church. 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:18.960 We're talking about metamorphosis this morning. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:32.479 And when I say that word, I'm guessing that for a lot of you, the first thing that comes to mind is that transformational process that occurs between a caterpillar and a butterfly. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:38.080 Have you ever looked up on YouTube how that works exactly? 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:55.120 Have you ever studied that metamorphosis that takes a caterpillar that's bound to the earth, crawling slowly, and transforms them into this beautiful and gracious creature that rides on the wind effortlessly? 00:02:57.199 --> 00:03:17.120 There's that process in the middle where they enter this cocoon and the caterpillar becomes basically a liquidity goo before it becomes this new creation, this new creature. 00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:20.560 Well, that's what we're going to talk about this morning. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:23.439 We're going to talk about transformation. 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:30.479 The transformation, the metamorphosis that's available to us in Jesus Christ. 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:39.919 When I first seriously committed my life to Jesus, I had an expectation for transformation. 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:46.639 I don't know about you, but I expected to become a better person. 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:50.560 I expected changes to happen inside of me. 00:03:50.719 --> 00:04:05.120 I had this expectation that maybe now that real that potential that I believed was inside of me could now be realized more fully, more completely. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:21.360 That part of me that said there must be something more or you were made for greater things could actually get tapped into now through this relationship with Jesus Christ who claimed to change people's lives. 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:31.600 Do you have an expectation for transformation in your life, in your walk with Christ? 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:41.519 I'm guessing that there are some of us here this morning that would like to see transformation occur in some area of your life. 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:50.959 Maybe an area of your life that you've been struggling with over and over again, and you're looking for the transformative power of God at work in you. 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:53.680 Well, we're going to talk about that this morning. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:56.240 How does that happen exactly? 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:59.519 What does that process of transformation look like? 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:01.120 And what's our part? 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:03.439 Sound good? 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:05.120 All right. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:16.079 The first thing that I think is important to recognize is that Paul says, first, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:23.439 Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:35.040 The first thing that you need to know about transformation in Christ is that it will challenge and disrupt our conformity to this world. 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:41.920 It will challenge and disrupt our conformity to this world. 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:50.639 And when Paul says world, he's talking about the way that human beings organize and lead their lives. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:06:04.399 A way that is ultimately disconnected by sin from God's desires, God's nature, God's purposes for our lives. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:15.120 All of us are conditioned to a certain degree by the world to think and believe and act in certain ways. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:18.720 We're conformed to the pattern of this world. 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:25.600 It happens not always consciously, but subconsciously, under the surface. 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:29.360 We're being shaped by the world around us. 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:35.199 And ultimately, what it results in is being conformed into somebody we're not. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:41.600 It's being conformed into someone that we were never intended to be. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:46.480 That's what happens when you're conformed to the pattern of this world. 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:58.800 I went earlier this year with my son on a tour of the Clemson campus, and the young man leading the tour was from New Joycey. 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:00.399 I'm sorry, New Jersey. 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:02.879 He was from New Jersey. 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:06.240 I apologize to anybody from New Jersey this morning. 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:12.079 But I was surprised during the tour when he used this word y'all. 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:16.720 I heard y'all come in. 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:19.439 And I was, why was I surprised? 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:25.839 Because I I didn't expect him to be conformed to our southern vernacular. 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:32.079 But after time and spending spending time here in the South, he was starting to say y'all. 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:33.600 That's what I'm talking about. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:42.480 When we're conformed to the pattern of the world and the culture and the way things are done and seen and handled around us. 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:44.560 That's what Paul is talking about. 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:51.040 And the pattern of the world, it looks very different than the pattern of God in his kingdom. 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:56.399 The pattern of the world believes that you get while the getting's good. 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:03.199 You need to think first about your needs before you think about the needs of others. 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:10.639 The pattern of the world says you can only count on yourself at the end of the day. 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:44.559 And it is like a lens through which we experience and respond to our lives and what's going on around us. 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:51.919 And this lens is distorted always by this pull towards our self-interests. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:52.399 Okay. 00:08:55.120 --> 00:08:57.679 So that's the first thing about transformation. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:06.879 You can expect to feel the push and the pull, the battle inside of you against conformity to this world. 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:20.799 That being said, I want to talk now about three essential things to transformation. 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:28.399 Three essentials to transformation that we see in what Paul says in this passage from Romans 12. 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:38.720 And the first thing is that true transformation is only possible through the indwelling supernatural grace of the Holy Spirit. 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:48.480 True transformation is only possible through the indwelling, supernatural grace and power of the Holy Spirit. 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:53.759 There's one other place that Paul uses this word for transformation. 00:09:54.559 --> 00:10:00.159 The Greek word is metamorpho, which is where we get metamorphosis from. 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:04.000 There's one other place in the New Testament he uses it. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:07.120 And it's in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 18. 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:08.799 I'm going to read that for you. 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:17.919 And we all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:19.039 There it is. 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:26.639 Are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:30.960 For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 00:10:56.559 --> 00:10:58.480 The Holy Spirit, right? 00:10:58.639 --> 00:10:59.679 That's what Paul says. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:02.720 For this comes from the Spirit. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:13.440 We can assume that the transformation he's talking about here is something that happens through God's activity and work inside of us. 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:34.960 And you pick that up throughout this passage because Paul uses language like by the mercies of God, by the grace given to me, according to the measure of faith that God has assigned us, according to the grace that was given to us. 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:41.279 So the first thing we need to recognize about transformation is it's not something we do on our own. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:46.960 We can't make transformation happen on our own. 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:49.440 It's something that God does inside of us. 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:51.200 And you notice how he puts it. 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:56.000 He doesn't say transform yourselves. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:12:05.840 It's a passive kind of expression that's describing how God transforms us. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:17.600 So the first and most important thing about transformation is recognizing it's God that does the transforming inside of us by the Holy Spirit. 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:27.279 The second thing that's essential to transformation is the renewal of our mind. 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:31.440 Apparently, that's pretty important. 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:36.320 Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:37.039 How? 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:40.399 By the renewal of your mind. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:47.679 Now, when I say mind, most of us probably think about our capacity to think and rationalize. 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:55.200 But that's not exactly what this word for mind means that Paul uses. 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:58.240 It's actually much deeper than that. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:02.720 It's our capacity to see and perceive reality. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:14.320 It's like that lens that we talked about, through which we interpret everything that happens to us and that we experience in our lives. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:24.480 He's wanting that lens, our mind, how we perceive God, how we perceive ourselves to be changed and transformed. 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:32.159 It's required in this process of transformation that Paul is inviting us into. 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:34.879 It's the way we perceive reality. 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:37.840 It's this reprogramming process. 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:44.720 Because we've been conformed to see things the way the world sees things, right? 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:50.639 We've been conformed to think the way the world thinks about things. 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:54.639 And God has to come in and do a reprogramming job. 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:59.200 He needs to give us a new lens through which to see everything. 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:02.879 It's a pretty dramatic transformation that we're talking about. 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:08.080 It's not just like cleaning things up here, a little bit of rehabilitation or rehab. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:15.840 He's talking about a real dramatic change from the inside out that requires seeing the world in a different way. 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:22.879 And that's something that can't happen without the Holy Spirit. 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:26.879 That's a supernatural thing that God does inside of us. 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:32.559 That we see the world with new eyes, a new perspective. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:37.600 We see things a little bit more the way God sees things. 00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:43.360 We begin to think the way that God thinks a little bit more. 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:49.919 And we become transformed, as Paul describes here. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:15:00.559 The third and the last thing that's essential to transformation that we see here is surrender. 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:05.759 Surrender, or to put it another way, sacrifice. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:23.519 Because this passage that we read from starts with this in view of God's mercies, brothers and sisters, I urge you to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:26.799 This is your spiritual act of worship. 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:30.960 A living sacrifice. 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:34.320 That seems pretty dramatic. 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:42.879 It seems to be a pretty drastic and extreme measure, doesn't it? 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:50.799 To offer your body, because that's the picture he's giving us, is that we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:56.720 There's something about the nature of sacrifice in the process of transformation. 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:06.639 In the process of the Holy Spirit doing a supernatural work in our lives to change us from the inside out. 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:09.840 It often requires sacrifice. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:16.799 The kind of sacrifice Paul is urging them, pleading with them, appealing to them to step into. 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:29.120 Now, for people that read this from Paul at that particular time in history, sacrifice would have been equated with animals and altars and a whole lot of blood. 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:45.600 Historically, in Israel's history, in their relationship with God, there was a system of sacrifice where people would deal with the problem of sin in their lives and reconcile and make peace with God. 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:47.679 It happened through animal sacrifice. 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:55.840 Paul's taking it a major leap forward here in suggesting that we're not doing things that way anymore. 00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:02.159 Relating to God now through Jesus Christ will involve a living sacrifice. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:06.640 He says, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:13.359 Now, when he says bodies here, he's not just talking about our physical or biological being. 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:15.759 He's talking about all of us. 00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:19.519 If you look at the definition of that Greek word, it's holistic. 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:24.400 He's saying, give, lay down everything on the altar. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:27.839 Give all of yourself to God. 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:32.400 It sounds familiar, doesn't it? 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:46.720 It sounds a little bit like what we heard in the gospel today, where Jesus says, anyone who would come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:53.839 Anyone who would save his life will lose it. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:18:00.000 Anyone who loses their life for my sake will find it. 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:02.799 That's what Paul's talking about here. 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:16.400 There's something mysterious about the nature of sacrifice, this kind of sacrifice that Paul is calling us and inviting us into, is that we actually find life through laying it down. 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:35.680 That to be transformed into the image of Jesus, to realize the potential that's inside of us, that better person, that best version of who we believe we can be to be realized, it requires a laying down of your life. 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:42.240 It requires surrender over and over and over again. 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:53.039 And it's in those moments of sacrifice and surrender that the Holy Spirit comes in and says, okay, now I can do my work. 00:18:54.319 --> 00:18:57.519 Now I can do what you can't do for yourself. 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:04.559 Now I can start to change you into the person that you were created to be, that person that you want to be. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:12.559 Now I can start to help you experience the kind of transformation that you really want in your life. 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:24.640 Because as I said, I'm sure all of us came in here this morning with some things and some areas of our lives where we'd like to see transformation happen. 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:28.160 We'd like to see some changes in our lives. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:41.440 We'd like to be a better father or a better husband or a better friend or have a deeper sense of satisfaction in what we do with our lives. 00:19:47.759 --> 00:20:27.680 I think it's interesting to see that Paul starts this whole conversation by saying, in view of God's mercy, in view of God's mercy, he's talking about the first 11 chapters where he has explained at length the good news of Jesus Christ, of what God has done for us that we couldn't do for ourselves, the work of salvation and taking us out of the pit and putting us back into the house of God, into the family of God, where he's continually saying, This is not something you can do on your own. 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:34.480 This is something God has done for you and that you must respond to by faith. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:36.240 By faith. 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:44.559 So he's saying, in view of God's mercy, if you've experienced the mercy and grace of God, this should be the natural response. 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:47.200 Offer all of yourself to God. 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:51.359 Offer yourself as a living sacrifice. 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:57.279 If we haven't ever experienced the mercy or grace of God, it's going to be hard to surrender. 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:02.559 But that's what the mercy of God does when you truly experience it. 00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:07.440 The mercy of God says, you can trust me with your life. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:12.880 You can trust me with your life. 00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:23.839 Trust me when I say to you, on the other side of that terrifying act of surrender is the person that you truly want to be. 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:28.480 The life that you're really longing for and we're made for. 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:55.759 I don't know what it is in your life that God might be asking you to surrender or to sacrifice or to lay down so you could step into that transformative experience of the Holy Spirit making you someone you can't be without Him. 00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:10.240 Maybe it's sacrificing control in a certain area of your life where the grip is pretty tight. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:18.559 Maybe it's sacrificing a sense of security that you get from the things that you have. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:27.359 Maybe it's sacrificing your pride in a relationship. 00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:34.079 Maybe it's sacrificing your reputation to do what's right. 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:48.240 Paul and Jesus are urging us on the other side of that sacrifice that might seem so terrifying and scary is actually the life that you really want. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:53.599 It's the transformation that you're longing for in your life. 00:22:56.160 --> 00:23:01.119 That's the invitation, I believe, this morning for us that God has for us. 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:03.279 What is it in your life right now? 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:09.920 Where that you're looking for transformation, longing for transformation. 00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:12.799 What is he calling you to sacrifice? 00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:15.519 To lay down, to surrender. 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:20.640 It's worth it. 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:24.079 That's what his mercy is trying to tell us. 00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:26.079 You can trust me, and it's worth it. 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:30.799 On the other side of that sacrifice is the life that you're looking for. 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:34.880 Let's pray. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:45.359 We thank you, Father, for the gift of the Holy Spirit. 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:52.319 And I'm so grateful that it's not on me to become a better person. 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:56.400 It's actually something that you want to do in me. 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:01.519 And we invite that into our lives, Holy Spirit. 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:23.440 We invite your grace not only to become the person that we long to be, not only to bring the transformation that we're looking for, but also to give us the grace, Holy Spirit, to make those sacrifices. 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:36.000 Or step into those positions of surrender that scare us, that we've been stuck in, in a pattern of maybe for a long time. 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:44.480 We thank you for your supernatural grace and power, Lord Jesus. 00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:51.680 And we thank you for the promise that when we lay it down, you give it right back to us. 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:58.079 Something better, something greater, something even more satisfying. 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:01.680 Let it be so. 00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:06.880 By your grace and in your mercy, in Jesus' name. 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:08.319 Amen.