Transformed

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1 NIV

We live in a world of social media, TV, movies, Facebook, Instagram etc. All day we are bombarded from every side with images of perfect people with perfect bodies shown to perfect advantage. When I was in college, there were fewer images, as we did not have the internet, but there were enough messages about the perfect body that I did compare myself with others, and often found my body or my appearance lacking. This of course played into my feeling of self worth. Today, with social media being all-pervasive, maintaining a healthy body image is even more challenging.

Comparing ourselves with others often results in viewing ourselves as lacking in physical appearance, body shape, progress in a career, or even spiritual maturity. While I was in college, a godly professor taught on Galatians 6:4 which helped me to change my thinking. “Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.” He stressed that we should look at our own progress, see strides we have made forward in our own lives, and not compare ourselves to others.

Each of us has a unique body, a unique appearance, unique talents, jobs, and gifts. Paul, in I Corinthians 15:35-58 talks about God making our physical bodies and our resurrection bodies, and how he has made each kind of plant, animal, and celestial being unique. In verse 38 he says, “But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.” He is using plants, animals and stars as examples to us, to demonstrate to us that God took the time to make each of us, with our own bodies, just exactly as he in his sovereignty determined we should be made.

Instead of comparing ourselves with others, we should, “…offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God,” Romans 12:1. Then we need to focus on the progress we have made in our own lives to, “…grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” This week strive to embrace the enormity of God’s love for you, exactly as he made you.

By Grace Hunter

When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. Genesis 2:5-7

We’re God’s creation. Regardless of our personal stance on creation, how it happened and how long it may have taken, the human form is an amazing construct. Mechanical aspects of our bodies took many centuries for us to replicate, and that poorly. Attempts at mimicking human animation, in reality, are choppy at best, downright comical at worst. How is it this creation, this veil of flesh and bone carrying our souls, is so amazingly complex? It’s this complexity, along with the complexity of God’s entire creation, that helps keep me from wandering past the edges of belief.

Can you imagine witnessing the breathing of life into the nostrils of Adam, starting human life? I envision him lying on the ground, limp and lifeless, and suddenly receiving God’s breath with eyes flashing open, skin tingling with new sensation! Imagine it! God had created for himself his eventual temple! We find temples throughout the Old Testament, conceivably constructed of stone, cold and hard, collecting objects of worship to be seen by a small community of priests.

Jesus changed it all. With the advent of Jesus, God with us, Emmanuel, the cold, hard stone of man-made temples were transformed into warm flesh, the heart, the individually chosen residence of God. Individually chosen because God doesn’t foist himself upon us. He waits for our answer to his knocking and question: Can I share your life?

This body of ours was created as a duplex. It houses our soul, and also has room enough for God. We were created for community, mimicking the Trinity. The body’s purpose is to carry us through this life to the next. While this may sound cliché, we are truly God’s creation, formed by his hand to live this life, however long, in all its messiness. As you consider and contemplate this magnificent temple, perhaps a feeling of gratitude for it is in order despite the aches and pains of life.

By Rich Obrecht

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:34-35 NIV

Jesus calls us to live in community – expressing love to our families, our neighbors, and our greater community. Both Jesus and Paul taught that our family is not just our biological family, but also our fellow believers in Jesus. The early church believers were known throughout the Roman world for generously sharing with fellow Christians in need. Many of the first hospitals established in Europe were started by churches or by individual believers who wanted to treat the sick and injured with compassion.

Romans 12:9-21 is an excellent passage full of practical descriptions of how to actively show Jesus’ love to other people. It speaks of honoring one another, serving the Lord, having hope, being patient and sharing with others. It mentions rejoicing with others, mourning alongside those who are mourning, and being faithful in prayer. This passage talks about being willing to do any kind of work alongside others, and of feeding the hungry. Jesus commands us to love one another, and Romans 12:9-21 gives us great ideas of how we can do that.

My children grew up helping me cook and deliver many meals to people in need. Some were from our church, but some were neighbors or community members. My hope is that now they have their own homes, they also will help to feed people in need. Read over this passage this week, look at your own situation, and find one or two of these ways to serve others in your community. Perhaps you could join us serving at Graceful Café on October 5, or on another Saturday. Maybe you could volunteer to help with Family Promise. Maybe you have a neighbor or family member who could use encouragement. Write them a card, or take them for coffee and listen carefully so you can rejoice with them, or share in their sadness. The South Fellowship Food bank has opportunities to serve on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and on Sundays. Do you have a family member or neighbor you could encourage by offering to babysit? Is there a missionary you could bless with an extra gift, a handwritten note, or do you have an extra room you could offer while they are visiting the area? Be looking for ways to be the hands and feet of Jesus and show love to those around you in your community.

By Grace Hunter

For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. Matthew 12:50

Jesus firmly states all obedient believers have the honor and privilege of being his kin. We each have a choice to make, is our life going to be God’s or our own? Are we going to do his will or what we want? Is the old sinful nature to rule or be transformed?

We are transformed when we become a new creature in Christ. Our relationships are transformed because we also become part of God’s family, the community of new creatures. We become connected to something bigger than ourselves. We are changed for the sake of others and the benefit of the Kingdom of God. To have community on earth as it is in heaven. The transformed community of God not only talks about, knows about, and hears about God’s will but does it. Jesus came to do his father’s will not his own. We must do the Father’s will also, and not our own.

A transformed life contributes to a transformed community. Imagine if every believer focused on God working in them and through them, so every person who attends our church felt God’s presence and his care. What if we found believers taking the time to ask, “How did God show himself to you this week?” instead of “how are you”? Or “‘I can’t wait to see how God does this” instead of “I don’t know how I am going to do this”. Or “What now, God?” instead of “Why me?” And when someone shares a need, we offer to pray right then. Today make additions to this list. Keep thinking about doing God’s will and remembering we are a fellowship of sin broken believers in the process of being restored to wholeness in the family of God. Reflect on the lyrics of Take my Life and Let it Be sung by Chris Tomlin and let it remind you of these truths.

By Donna Burns

Since you are all set apart by God, made holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a holy way of life: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Put up with one another. Forgive. Pardon any offenses against one another, as the Lord has pardoned you, because you should act in kind. But above all these, put on love! Love is the perfect tie to bind these together. Colossians 3:12-14

Some of the most life-giving experiences I’ve ever had have been in the context of a local church community. Some of the most painful experiences I’ve ever had have been in the same context. It’s a part of the ebb and flow of doing life, together.

I’ve long believed that one of the greatest marks of spiritual maturity for those who follow Jesus is the ability to live in tension. Choosing to live in redeemed community is a crash course in learning to live in tension. We are messy people, and sometimes we act out of our messy selves and hurt one another, although often, it’s unintentional.

Community is filled with tension because it requires vulnerability. Being transparent, honest, and open means that we open ourselves up to be hurt. And let’s face it – that doesn’t feel good.

But I’m convinced the only way to experience the truest highs in community is to open ourselves up to the risk of the lowest of lows. We have to be open to the full range of human experience. Otherwise, if we play it safe and hold back, we won’t ever experience the fruit that community is designed to produce in our lives.

Colossians 3:12-14 gives us the rules of engagement, if you will, for embracing community with others. Notice how it says we’ve been pardoned, and we’re set apart, and we should come from that place. So – we should be vulnerable in community, we should be open to the mess that it is, and assume the best about others, even when they accidentally hurt us – because this is God’s design. It comes with the territory – but it makes us who we are. This is where we produce fruit. We don’t run from community because it’s hard. We embrace community because it’s worth it.

Take a few moments and think about the communities you’re involved in. Maybe it’s your family, your church, your small group, your neighborhood, etc. Be honest about where it is messy. Ask Jesus to walk with you and to equip you to walk in the mess with others. You’ll be glad you did.

By Larry Boatright

The Lord God said to the serpent

“Because you have done this,

    Cursed are you above all livestock

    and above all beasts of the field;

on your belly you shall go,

    and dust you shall eat

    all the days of your life.

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

    and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

    and you shall bruise his heel.”

To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;

    in pain you shall bring forth children.

Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,

    but he shall rule over you.”

And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife

    and have eaten of the tree

of which I commanded you,

    ‘You shall not eat of it,’

cursed is the ground because of you;

    in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;

    and you shall eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your face

    you shall eat bread,

till you return to the ground,

    for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust,

    and to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:14-19

Cursed. Enmity. Pain. Rule Over. Thorns and Thistles. Unfortunately, this sounds like the reality we live in. The language God uses to describe what went wrong at the Fall is an onslaught of broken relationships. Now, dysfunction finds its way into everything in-between – the relationship of man and animal, humanity and the spiritual realm, woman and child, husband and wife, man and created world.

We live in a world of relationships affected by sin’s collateral damage. Our friendships, marriages, and families have been warped by trauma, immaturity, and vices. Consequently, our cities, communities, and churches remain hurt by denial, unresolved tensions, and sinful strongholds. To relieve ourselves from the tension in our relationships, it’s a normal tendency for us to separate ourselves, to isolate, or to draw away from the very people we are designed to do life with. Instead of moving toward one another, we tend to run away from God and hide ourselves from others.

But… if we continue to live our lives frustrated and alone. What good does that do us? Living in desolation from God and others will only result in more despair. We need relationships – as messy as they are- because this is our only hope of leaving a life of despair. What we need is reconciliation. And God made this possible. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:18, “God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” God did the reconciling for us and offers us a way of coming into his presence with grace and forgiving. This is radical and offers our dysfunction a way of coming back into the presence of others who have wronged us or with whom we have wronged with the same quality of grace and forgiveness.

Today, listen to “No Man is an Island” by Tenth Avenue North to remind yourself that you need others and that God’s radical reconciliation offers you the freedom and pleasure of doing life in the abundance of relational unity.

By Yvonne Biel

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

    So God created mankind in his own image,

    in the image of God he created them;

    male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26-17

God created the heavens and the earth. God created humanity. God created almost everything, but he did not create the concept of community. God has always existed as a triune community of love. Right in the first chapter of the scriptures, we are introduced to God as an “us.” We learn from the rest of scripture that God exists as Father, Spirit, and Son.

Think about that. God didn’t create relationship or community. He IS relationship and community.. Relationships are the most fundamental realities of being human because we are made in the image of a triune God. Notice God’s words as he contemplates creating humanity. God says, “let us make mankind (them) in our own image” (v. 26). Not only is God eternally a community, but God’s intention in creating us was also to create us with the same capacity to have relationships and community.

God designed mankind to have a relationship with him and with one another. This is a fascinating observation that explains why relationships feel so vital to us as humans. We need others because it’s wired into our very identity as creatures created in the image of God.

How do these truths about God and about human nature help us in our relationships? When you look at another person, you are looking at a person who is invited into the divine love and fellowship of God himself. As we interact with other followers of Jesus, we interact with persons who are part of God’s divine community. They are in Christ and being so, they are in fellowship with the Father and the Spirit. The gospel message is an invitation into intimate communion with an eternal loving community. Wow!

Today, when you see someone who has embraced Jesus as their savior, visualize them in relationship with God. Remember that the person you are seeing and speaking to is mysteriously linked with God. How does that change the way you speak, feel, and value each life?

By Aaron Bjorklund

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9

Everybody has a story running in their head. The content of that story will find its way out through our behavior. If we think others are trying to fix us or control us, we snap at them out of anger or defensiveness. If we think we are incapable of a task, we may shrink down in insecurity or power up to prove our strength or expertise. If we think we’re in danger, our hearts will start beating faster and our gut tighten up and we may run or start throwing fists.

Take some time today to reflect on your behavior from yesterday. Journal what happened during your day and identify the story that may have been running through your head.

Before moving into the rest of today, pause and think about a story that is true, honorable, right, and good. The gospel story that reminds you of God’s love for you, his love for the other people in your life, and his ability to transform you in his likeness. Use this story to fuel your behavior with yourself and others today.

By Yvonne Biel

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:14-16

Something true is something that is, “in accordance with fact or reality.” It sounds so simple, but it isn’t, it’s complicated. Some things are true, and some things only feel true and in our culture we use the word “truth” in a lot of different ways. Hang with me, I promise we are going somewhere with this. If I feel hurt because someone called me short when I am actually tall, is my feeling true? Well, yes. Even though their statement about my height is false I am still feeling what I am feeling. The fact that I am experiencing the emotion “hurt” is a true experience. Ah, so the truth isn’t entirely as black and white as one might hope for.

This passage speaks about this same tension. Our natural selves don’t embrace the truth of the spirit. In fact, spiritual truth is foolishness to some of our natural instincts. As followers of Jesus, we are given the Holy Spirit, and with that comes the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ is the mind of real truth. We could call this “big T Truth.” The mind of Christ sees you as a child, loved, gifted, and having a purpose. We also experience feelings based upon lies. The feelings are also true, in that we are actually feeling and experiencing them, but the source of those feelings are lies. We could call those “little t truths.”

What do you believe about your world, others, and yourself? One of the fundamental goals of reading the scriptures is to begin to believe “big T Truths” about life. As you read the scriptures this week, ask the Spirit to give you the ability to hear HIS voice over the other voices.

By Aaron Bjorklund