Friday, July 11, 2008
- Chris Branscome
All of this talk about freedom from sin through transformation can sometimes leave us asking "What's the point?" The idea that God might change us, and thoughts about what He might allow us to go through in order to change us can be daunting, and can push our minds toward thoughts about why we should go through all of that, especially if we're already "saved." And if we think that the main point of being "saved" is that we get to go to heaven when we die, we'll be even more inclined to have those kinds of thoughts.
I challenge you to read through the Bible and see how many times it talks about us going to Heaven. It's not very much. In Matthew, you'll hear Jesus say things about the "Kingdom of Heaven," but you'll notice that what He's talking about - again - is a here and now thing. It's a new way of living. It's a Kingdom we enter into now, and it's a Kingdom that will go on for eternity.
The point of Christianity isn't Heaven - it's the reconciliation and restoration of God's creation, so that all that God has made can be brought together under Him, to His glory. We were created to fully display the image of God within us, not just in some eternal future, but here and now. Our transformation is a sign that this is indeed happening. As Romans 8:9 says "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the
Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have
the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." In other words, if you belong to Christ, then His Spirit is in you, and if His Spirit is in you, sin doesn't control you. You've been transformed. You live differently. Instead of your typical behavior consisting of things like anger, slander, bad language, lies (Colossians 3:8-9), selfishness, drunkenness, rage, (Galatians 5:19-21), we're described as being loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled (Galatians 5:22-24).
The flip side of that is that if you aren't being transformed then Christ isn't in you - plain and simple. Just as sinful actions, thoughts, words, attitudes, and motives, are symptoms of sin ruling you, transformation into Christ-likeness is the "symptom" of having Christ in you.
Lastly, the goal of transformation isn't just freedom from sin. To make my point, I want to use an illustration. It's a tired, old illustration, but, for the record, I've never used it before. In The Matrix, Neo is imprisoned by the Matrix, and he doesn't even know it, and, on his own, he can't do anything about it. Morpheus comes along and reveals to him the truth, and through that truth, Neo is set free. He takes the red pill and wakes up in his pod, all of the tubes and wires come flying off, the pod ejects him down the waterslide, the Nebucchadnezzar comes and picks him up and...the movie ends - right?
Wrong. Neo has been set free, but the movie goes on, because that's not the point of the movie. Neo had a very special purpose, but he couldn't accomplish it as long as he was imprisoned by the Matrix. His being set free was something that had to happen so that he could go on to something greater.
This is true for all of us who are Christians. Amazingly, God calls us to participate in His work of redemption and restoration, and that work is the greatest work we will ever do. As 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him." And exactly one chapter later, in 1 Corinthians 3:9, Paul points out that we are "co-laborers with God."
We have amazing, incredible, eternally impacting work to do, work that brings restoration and healing, and ultimately, that brings glory to God. But we can't do that work unless God changes us. Transformation isn't the end goal. It's just a step leading us toward fulfilling our purpose of glorifying God, which is the greatest thing any creature will ever do.