Purpose Driven Life

Purpose Driven Life #7 – Created to Become Like Christ.

I. Recap of Previous Weeks.

a. We have been talking about the purpose driven life.

i. Learning that you have a purpose, and that your life will only be fulfilled when you achieve and live that purpose out.

ii. Destiny – God wants to use you.

iii. We must be driven by destiny…our life must be propelled by God’s purpose for our lives.

iv. I can’t tell you how many people I have spoken to who have had near encounters with death, who have said to me, “I guess God wasn’t done with me yet.”

1. God has a purpose.

2. Find it. Fulfill it. That’s what this series is about!

b. We have so far uncovered 2 of the 5 purposes that God has for us.

i. Planned for God’s Purpose

1. We were made by God, for God.

2. Apart from living for Him our lives will be a waste, an exercise in futility, and filled with frustration.

3. We will only be satisfied when we enter into a relationship with God that acknowledges that He is God and we are not!

ii. Formed for God’s Family

1. The past two weeks, we learned that church is a family, not an organization or a building.

2. We exist for God and because we are part of His family, we must learn to love and live for one another.

3. Last week, we learned about the nature of unity; and how unity and love will be the evidence that convinces the world that Jesus is alive and at work.

iii. Created to Become Like Christ.

1. Our church’s mission statement states that “Here’s Hope exists to be a safe harbor of God’s love where people are transformed into devoted followers of Christ.”

a. We went over this in our new members class last week, and looked at the key components of that mission.

i. Safe Harbor

ii. God’s Love

iii. People transformed

iv. Into devoted followers of Christ.

b. Today we will focus upon the last two points:

i. The goal of Transformation.

ii. The process of Transformation.

II. The Goal of Transformation

a. To understand the process of transformation, we need to start with the goal.

b. God’s intention for man was for us to be in His image.

i. When God made man, He said, “Let us make man in our own image, in our own image and likeness.”

ii. We were created to have His likeness and image.

1. To be similar to Him.

2. God created you to have his “stamp” – not to be a god, but rather to reflect God’s character, values and attitudes.

3. In this is the tragedy of the Fall…when Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan to believe that if they ate of the fruit of the knowledge of Good and Evil that they would be “like God.”

a. They already were as much like God as was creatively possible.

b. Veiled in an earth suit, they perfectly reflected God’s glory.

c. And this is the tragedy: they did not believe in what they were already…they tried to achieve something that they already had through their own effort.

d. And they disobeyed God and broke the perfect fellowship they were created to enjoy.

4. And now, even though man has had that “image” or stamp of God’s likeness marred by sin, it is still God’s design that we be made like Him.

iii. Jesus came to earth to purchase us back from sin and to pay its penalty and to restore us to the relationship with God that was ours before sin entered the world.

1. "From the very beginning God decided that those who came to Him - and He knew who would - should become like His Son..." Rom 8:29 (LB)

2. And then when He returned to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to do this “transformational work” in those who are His followers.

3. "As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more." 2 Corinthians 3:18b (NLT)

iv. The PROBLEM is many Christians don’t do that.

1. They accept Jesus as Savior but that’s as far as they go.

2. They never work at growing spiritually...and instead they remain “babes in Christ...” — “spiritually underdeveloped.”

3. Ephesians 4:15 says, “God WANTS us to grow up…like Christ in everything.”

v. Becoming LIKE our Lord—doesn’t happen overnight.

1. There are no shortcuts to spiritual maturity.

2. Discipleship is a life-long process.

The Bible pictures it as a marathon—not a sprint or a journey—.

III. The Process of Transformation

a. Since the Goal is to be transformed to be like Christ, lets look at The Process of Transformation

b. (Three Stages).

c. The first step of our transformation is one of those big words.

i. Justification – “made to be ‘just as if’ I have never sinned.”

1. In other words, when you become a Christian, God sees you “just as if” you had never sinned. He sees you the way that He had originally created you…perfect and complete in His Son Jesus.

ii. Justification is a change in our POSITION before God.

1. We were once enemies of God, before we allowed Jesus Christ to become our savior, our righteousness and our king.

2. Christ changed that. He made us who were once enemies into the very family of God.

3. We stand before God complete, completely righteous.

4. God sees us through what Jesus did for us.

iii. In a very real way, we were a part of what is called the “Great Exchange.”

1. 2 Cor 5:21 “Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God.

2. We gave Jesus our sins, which He took upon His body to the Cross, and paid for them with His very life.

3. And He gave us His perfect righteousness, His goodness and His Son-ship.

d. The process of changing us to be more like Jesus is one of those 14 letter words that we all hate to have to pronounce…Sanctification.

1. Sanctification – “made to become what I was made to be.

2. We cannot change ourselves. All of our resolution, will power and good intentions always seem to fail.

3. This is because God isn’t interested in repairing us.

a. God knows we are ruined. We cannot be repaired.

i. You may have tried to make many recommitments to Christ, you may have made many vows or even resolutions, but you find that your life doesn’t change.

ii. This is because you cannot fix a broken car by giving it a new coat of paint.

b. We need to be reconstructed. We must have the old replaced.

c. This is why Jesus told his disciples that you don’t sew a new patch on an old garment, or put new wine in old wineskins. You must start fresh. \

i. You destroy the old man by being crucified with Christ.

ii. You die to your old ways and allow Christ to live in you.

4. This is because Christ-likeness is not accomplished by imitation.

a. There is no way you can, within your own strength, every imitate Jesus.

i. You will fail!

ii. He alone is Christ. You aren’t.

iii. But you can become like Him.

b. Christ-likeness is accomplished by “inhabitation” – that is, the Holy Spirit…the very Spirit of God, dwelling in us.

c. When you surrender to Jesus Christ and allow Him to be your savior, He enters your life with His Spirit.

d. This is why new Christians often say, “Gee, I hear God now.” That is the Holy Spirit speaking in your heart.

5. Christ-likeness comes through surrender and dependence upon Christ.

a. Next week we will look at some of the “HOW” God transforms us into Christ.

e. Glorification – reflecting perfectly the Father’s glory which will only occur when we are in His presence. But we will reflect His glory as we become what we are! That is, the Sons and Daughters of God.

IV. The Process of Christlikeness: Lets Define a Disciple

a. Matthew 10:25: “It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.”

i. The bible calls a follower of Jesus “disciples.”

ii. A disciple, in bible times, was one who studied under a master and when he was done studying, observing, and learning, he would be like his master.

iii. It is not unlike the medieval age development of guilds, where a person would be an apprentice (woodmaker, goldsmith, artist, etc) for years, watching and learning and doing under the close supervision of the master until he finally mastered the skills.

b. Come follow me: Matthew 4:18-22 (New International Version) As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

i. Why would they follow him immediately? What was it about the call of Jesus on their lives that was so engaging that they would drop everything? Had they heard Him speak before and been amazed at what they saw and heard? Did they know Him as a Rabbi?

ii. Imagine a pro baseball scout coming up to you while you are at work and saying, “I want to make you into a great player.”

1. Now for some of us who aren’t especially great ball players, we would look at that person like they are crazy.

2. Others of us who have played a bit, and have some potential sneaking through from time to time would jump at the chance.

iii. That is what Jesus did. It was as if they heard “A rabbi has believed in me - that I can do it. I can be like him.”

1. Jesus’ words must have exuded incredible confidence in those that He called.

2. My imagination runs ahead: .

a. Zebedee, the father whose sons left him holding the fishing nets, filed for bankruptcy the next day.

b. Perhaps Zebedee came home that night and said to his wife, “The boys aren’t with me.” “I can see that.” “This rabbi came along and thinks our boys have what it takes.”

c. Next day in the village square Zebedee saunters into the circle of townleaders, “

d. As you can see I don’t have my boys with me today.” “Why?” “A powerful rabbi has called my sons. He thinks they have what it takes.”

e. The entire rabbinical system was based upon a rabbi telling you that you can do it, that you have what it takes to become “like him.”

c. God is calling you and I to be disciples.

i. Followers of Jesus Christ.

ii. People devoted to becoming like our Master.

V. I have to clarify how to become a disciple.

a. We just learned that you don’t get it done by imitation.

b. We also need to learn that we grow as disciples as we become who we already are and possessing what we already own.

c. That is a pretty heady statement. Let me illustrate it with a story about William Randolph Hearst, the late newspaper publisher. Hearst invested a fortune in collecting great works of art. One day he read about some valuable pieces of art and decided that he must add them to his collection. He sent his agent abroad to locate and purchase them. Months went by before the agent returned and reported to Hearst that the items had at last been found – they were stored in his own warehouse. Hearst had purchased them years before! He had owned them all along and was still seeking them, because they were hidden away, out of sight and out of his collection.

i. That is a parallel to the alarming number of Christians today who are on a desperate search for spiritual resources they already possess.

ii. The reason I gave you all the 15 letter words for Justification (Position) and Sanctification (Process) is that I hope to be able to help you see the work God is doing as He is transforming you.

1. Too often we see it as our work, and as a result, become preoccupied with performance and failure!

d. The bible makes a distinction between POSITION and PRACTICE.

i. If you don’t understand the difference and cannot recognize which statements are which as you read your bible, you will struggle in your interpretation of the bible.

ii. Not only that, but I believe that you will live a very frustrated life, because your focus will be on performance rather than discipleship.

iii. For example, in 1 Cor 3:17, Paul tells the Corinthians that they are holy. But a few chapters later he tells them to “cleanse yourselves from all filthiness.”(1 Cor 7:1).

1. On the surface, it probably looks like they are holy some of the time and not very holy other times. We probably can all see the inconsistencies in our lives in that kind of example.

2. But that isn’t what he is saying!

3. Paul is telling them in the first passage that they are holy in their position before God in Christ.

4. In the second passage, he is reminding them that while their position is secure their earthly practice doesn’t match their positional reality in heaven.

e. “Many Christians are not living free and productive lives because they don’t understand who they are and why they are here. Who they are is rooted in their identity and position in Christ. If they don’t see themselves the way God sees them, to that degree they suffer from a false identity and poor sense of worth. They don’t full understand the gospel and the dramatic change that occurred in them the moment they trusted in Christ.” (Neil T. Anderson, Victory Over the Darkness, p. 43)

i. When you were saved, and placed in Christ, all of your sins were forgiven and you received the righteousness of Christ as your own.

1. That is your position before God.

ii. But many Christians think that their growth and maturity will make them more liked by God. And that when they fail, that God is going to love them less.

1. God is not like that!

2. What you do or don’t do doesn’t change your position before God.; you cannot do anything to make Him love you more or less because He loves you solely because of what Jesus did for you at Calvary.

iii. Your practice is determined by your position!

iv. Your position is a permanent heavenly reality!

a. Ephesians 1:6 says that we are “accepted in Christ”

b. Colossians 2:10 says that “we are complete in Christ.”

c. Hebrews 10:14 says that Christ ”has perfected us through His offering.”

v. As I said earlier, being a disciple is learning to become what we already are and possess what we already own.

1. So often, we waste time and energy asking God for things that we already have.

a. We ask for strength, but the bible says, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Ph 4:13)

b. We ask for love, but the bible says, “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.” (Ro 5:5)

c. We ask for grace, but God says, “My grace is sufficient for you.” (2 Cor 12:9)

d. We ask for peace but the Bible says, “The peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Ph. 4;7)

2. Consider the difference between a tadpole and a baby. A tadpole is born as a shapeless mass with a tail. After a while it sprouts legs and then takes the form of a frog. But a human baby is born with all the necessary parts…they simply need to grow. The same thing is true of a Christian. When you became a Christian, you were not a tadpole. You were complete. You have all the parts of a Christian. All you need is to mature.

3. Our maturing process, which we will study next week, deals with how God helps to make our PRACTICE match our POSITION.

a. In other words, how to make the heavenly reality that is ours in Christ become a reality in our life here on earth.

b. Your life and mine is a process of learning how to use all the parts that we have been given.

f. Understanding what we have in Christ will enable us to exercise it. Not unlike the Israelites who were told that the land of Palestine was there’s.

i. But they had to possess it.

ii. They had to make it theirs.

iii. It was theirs in title.

1. But it had to become theirs in practice.

iv. God desires to change your life and mine so that it will ultimately reflect His glory in such a way that people will not be able to deny His love for them.

1. You can’t do it.

2. But you can believe it.

3. You can make the choice to believe what God says about you.

4. And you can give Him PERMISSION to do His work and unleash His power in your life.

v. Won’t you do that today?

1 Cor 3:16 – “Surely you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you!

Ro 8:16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,

2 Cor 6:16 For we are the temple of the living God

1 Cor 12:27 - Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it

Gal. 4:6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"

Eph 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household,

1 th 5:5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day.

Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Gal 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.