God Transforms His People

The Good News about Christ and His cross: “The gospel” calls out people, gathers them together, and transforms them. Any so-called Christianity not incorporating this reality into its vision is not worthy to be called Christian.

Romans 12:I-2 I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Paul urges believers to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. That is, as ongoing “sacrifices” that respond to God’s mercy by devoting ourselves, not least our bodies, to God. In the light of the matchless mercy we have received, the least we will want to do is to be pleasing to Him. The way we live, in response to the mercy of God, lies at the heart of Christian worship.

The issue is not merely external behavior. Inwardly, we too often remain in the grip of carefully masked fear, bitterness, hate, lust, deceit, envy, greed, and arrogance. What is at issue is the transformation of the way we think, bringing our minds in line with the ways and Word of God. That will produce all the change in behavior that is necessary and wise, and that change will be radical. By this fundamental transformation, we shall be enabled to test and approve in our own experience what God’s will is, and find it “good, pleasing and perfect.” The motivating power for this transformation is the Spirit of God. But that
magnificent truth does not absolve us of resolve; it empowers it.

There must be transformation, for this is God’s very purpose in salvation. In His handiwork, we will do good works, not because the good works have secured our place in God, but precisely because they are the inevitable outcome.

The Holy Spirit Empowers Transformation

Ephesians 2:18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

The Bible speaks of God sending His Spirit, but also of the Spirit talking. The Holy Spirit helps by bringing
conviction of sin to people who are otherwise self-righteous. He comes also to be the very presence and
manifestation of God. The Spirit of God takes up residence in people’s lives, transforming them, giving them power.

It will take God’s immeasurable power to bring about the ultimate transformation on the last day. But already His formidable power—the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, is at work in us by His Holy Spirit to transform us, to begin the work of changing our hearts and minds.

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed to the day of redemption.

“Sealed for the day of redemption” means marked out as God’s, because He is already within you. He has already come as the down payment of the promised inheritance. You are set aside for Him. So if you live as if none of this has happened, you grieve God, as He has disclosed Himself by His Spirit within you.

Life Transformation Begins at the Cross

Biblical Christianity does not come with a lot of preset rules, as if that were the essence of Christianity. The
fundamental Christian motivation is not adherence to rules. God’s Spirit transforms us by bringing us back to the cross.

Our morality is first and foremost a function of gratitude to God for what Christ has already done.

When we begin to see just how much we were forgiven by what Christ did on the cross, how can we possibly be locked into the agonizing, painful, limited concerns of a world passing away?

We are destined for eternity with God Almighty. That changes everything! When there is a moral slide in the church or in the broader world, what we must have more of is an accurate, rich understanding of the gospel, for it transforms us.

Transformation in a Believer’s Life is Inevitable

Ephesians 5:8 For you at one time were dark, but now are light in the Lord: let your behavior be that of children of light.

We see again that the change of heart and life that is part and parcel of being a Christian cannot be overlooked. Biblical, transforming Christianity gathers men and women together in the church. People who have been called out, Jew or Gentile, and under the lordship of Christ—they look back to the cross and look forward to what is still ahead. By the power of the Spirit of God, and because of the change in their lives, believers want to live a life pleasing to the Lord.

God help us! We who are Christians are still painfully inconsistent in living out our beliefs.

Galatians 5:13a You, my brothers and sisters, were called [that is, called when you became Christians] to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature. Christ, by His Spirit, begins the work of transformation in the hearts and lives of His followers.

Two evidences follow:
 We are given incentive to “keep in step with the Spirit,” to pursue conduct and attitudes in line with the Spirit of God.
 Transformation is present. Where no transformation at all is evident in our lives there is no reason for thinking we are Christians.