Transformed Nonconformists

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. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1–2 NIV)

This past Sunday at Creekside, we began our study of the Apostle Paul's letter to the Romans. The series is called Transformers. 

What does it mean to be a transformer? What does it mean to be transformed? God calls us and invites us to be both, and yet the words "transformed" and "transformation" have become words without meaning. That needn't be the case. I think the key to reclaiming what it means for us to be transformed is found in what Paul says immediately prior to talking about transformation. He admonishes: "Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world"; the systems, ethos, ethics, goals and ideals of the world. Rather, as followers of Jesus we are to live our faith in the world, but to have our lives flow from the patterns of the Kingdom of God. 

Paul's charge to not be conformed to the patterns of the world is not a call to separatism, but to a countercultural lifestyle and way of thinking. It is a call to live as a culture within a culture:

• a culture of inclusion within a culture of exclusion
• a culture of  reconciliation within a culture of revenge
• a culture of community within a culture of individualism 
• a culture of giving within a culture of accumulation. 

The list goes on. 

The reality, however, is that more often than not the people whom God has called to be a countercultural community are neither countercultural, nor community. In the process, we miss out on the way of life that is talked about in Scripture: contentment, peace, joy, hope -- not dependent upon our circumstances, but dependent upon God, and our relationship to him. We miss out, and the world misses out as people are deprived from seeing the beauty of Jesus in his peculiar people, and instead only see their neighbors and co-workers who happen to go to church. 

Conformity and transformation:

• what are some of the specific ways that you see yourself conformed to the patterns of the Kingdom of this world? 
• what would it look like to be transformed into the patters of the Kingdom of God? 

Transformation is a shifting of alliances that does not just happen by itself. Transformation takes a recognition of how badly we all are conformed and an entering into a process of training and renewing of our minds that results in a knowledge of God's will for us -- good, perfect and pleasing -- and a path to step forward into it.  

What are your thoughts? Share the with me and with others.

Peace, hope and love

Doug

Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.” (John 9:1–8)

Imagine for a second you were the man born blind, hearing people approach, hearing them talk about you, as if you were not there. It was probably not the first time. And then he was noticed, really noticed -- as a person, by Jesus. He heard Jesus say that his blindness happened so that God's work might be displayed in his life. That must have been a confusing, even frustrating thing to hear. And then the story got weirder, Jesus spit, made mud, put it on the man's eyes and told him to wash. He did, and he could see. His life was never the same after his encounter with Jesus. 

On Sunday, we said that part of stepping out and joining Jesus in the loves of people with special needs (any people with need for that matter) is learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Do you think the blind man was uncomfortable with spit mud being put on his eyes? Do you think the disciples were uncomfortable watching? Jesus was most likely the only one who was comfortable, the one who acted, the one who healed, the one who brought light to this man. When we choose to step, with Jesus, into the areas that are not in our comfort zone, our trust and love of Jesus deepens. We are all trained by our world to look out for our comfort and to avoid situations and settings that are not in our comfort zone. Yet that is exactly where we will often meet God. 

Is there an area where you feel uncomfortable, but where you also feel God is? What would it take for you to become comfortable with being uncomfortable? Jesus has noticed you. Jesus knows the place and is willing to go their with you. It might just be the place where you meet God in a powerful way. 

Share your thoughts with me, and others. 

Peace, hope and love

Doug

P.S. Several of you asked for a link to the video we showed on Sunday. You can see it here. 

Authority, Urgency and Life

Following Jesus is a matter of life and death; of authority and urgency. 

Jesus said, "It’s urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, sting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living. It’s urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived—I mean right now!—when dead men and women will hear the voice of the Son of God and, hearing, will come alive. Just as the Father has life in himself, he has conferred on the Son life in himself.” (John 5:24–26 MESSAGE)

Jesus spoke those words in response to a challenge by the religious leaders of his day. The leaders were angry, both because Jesus and his disciples were not observing the sabbath as was generally accepted they should, and because in responding the leaders sabbath challenge, Jesus told them he had authority to speak as God. They were angry enough to kill, and Jesus knew that, He also knew where his authority came from and the choice that was available to all who heard him speak; an urgent choice, a life or death choice. Just before he talked about the urgency of choosing life, he told them how things were: “in the same way that the Father raises the dead and creates life, so does the Son. The Son gives life to anyone he chooses.” (John 5:21 MESSAGE) 

Jesus gives life to anybody he chooses. Do you believe he has life that is available to you? Have you grabbed it? If not, what has stopped you? At the heart of these questions are issues of authority and urgency; Jesus has the authority, the urgency rests with us. Jesus came and lived among us, lived a perfect life, suffered, died and was resurrected so that we could be grafted back into the story of God. His intent was and is for us to live in that story with our actual lives, listening and moving out in faith in all areas of our life. He talks about this in Matthew's gospel, how he listens to God and how he moves in the ways he is directed; how we are called to follow this modle and how he will be with us in every step we take. He said, “The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.”(Matthew 11:27 MESSAGE)

As we move away from Easter we do so with the reality of the resurrection. The resurrection is not just an Easter thing, it fuels and informes all that we do. The resurrection tells us about the power of Jesus and the authority of his words. If he had stayed dead, the things that he told us would be inspiring, but would be only that. The power of his resurrection amplify his words spoken to us: 

"It's Urgent!" "Come Alive!" "Follow me, and I will go over this new life line by line." Real life, life to the full, abundant life, "and I mean right now!" because he is was dead, and he is now alive and alone has authority to lead us away from the things and the ways of thinking that keep us dead.

In what ways is Jesus calling you to life? Where do you need him to exercise his authority?  Take him up on his promise, ask him to do so.