The Goal of Discipleship
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Good Morning, I want to take this time to say a prayer for the Fathers in this room. So if you will bow your heads with me.
“Heavenly Father, you are a good father, you alone are the example we should follow when it comes to raising our children. You are the provider, you are the epitome of love, the steadfast and true Father of our souls and I ask Lord that you would help us as men who fall short so often to strive to be more like you.
I would ask that you would meet with us here in this place and glorify Your son Jesus it is in His name i pray amen.”
This morning, we are continuing on with the them of discipleship, what it is and what we are called to do.
Discipleship is the developmental process of the local church, that seeks to bring Christians from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity so that they can replicate the process with someone else.
God’s goal in creating the church was to be the location where disciples are crafted and made. The test of a church is in it’s ability and capacity to make disciples. When a church will not or does not make disciples it doesn’t matter how many buildings they build, or the budget, or programs they have going on, they have failed the purpose for why it was created.
Everyone here should be being a disciple or being a disciple maker or a combination of the two. God never created the church for people to come to sit and listen without being changed in the process.
The goal of discipleship is spiritual transformation, the goal of discipleship is spiritual transformation. There have been a series of reality tv shows over the years that have been hits.
One of them is extreme makeover, this is where people who are dissatisfied with their looks would go to a professional and the professional would change their style and make up and make them look different.
You would be shocked at the change, some people you couldnt recognize the before and after because of the make up.
Then there was extreme makeover home edition, where they would come into the house and redo the house that was broken down or falling in and making it look brand new, it was an extreme makeover because somethig that was shattered got fixed.
What is true for this show God wants to be true for you and me in our souls, our souls need a makeover and we know it they need extreme makeovers. If the truth were told who we are deep down within, not the facade that everybody sees, im talking about the real us on the inside we need a makeover.
We need to be made brand new, so the goal of God for His children is an extreme makeover. So I wanna talk today about your extreme makeover, or the goal of spiritual transformation. Paul speaks of this in he begins with the first three verses of by explaining that those beleivers were the proof of his ministry bc their life was being changed.
If nobody’s life was being changed at our church or any church then we have no ministry, because the goal of the church is life tranformation not nice carpets and comfortable chairs.
He uses as the context for this the OT and notice what He says in verse 14.
But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.
He says
and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.
He is reciting something that happened in the OT Moses would climb up the mountain to be in Gods presence and when he was in god’s presence His face would shine. His face would begin to glow bc the glory of God would rub off on Him and so it was clear He was being changed.
But then he would go down the mountain and as he would go down the mountain the glow would fade, the further he got from God, the dimmer the glow would be, the closer he got to God the more the glow would show.
So where he was in proximity to God would change the reflection of his face. Paul uses that OT incident with Moses to talk about the NT transformation God wants to make in your life and in my life.
The 2 key verses I wanna focus on are verses 17-18. He says
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
So the transformation that GOd wants to make applies to all and the way you get it is the same way everybody else gets it, so you aint unique in a unique category having unique circumstances, Paul says when it come to Spiritual transformation Paul says BUT WE ALL
So whatever I’m getting ready to tell you applies to you, He is talking about transformation, he says we are being transformed the greek word transformed is the word that we get the word metamorphosis from and it means changes taking place from the inside out.
Let me explain what transformation is not. Transformation is not the accumulation of information, the word transformed means to be changed on the inside and it shows up on the outside, so its an internal change of the soul and it works itself out in what you do.
He says that you are being transformed.. God wants to see every Christian here TRANSformed not merely COnformed or Informed He wants us to be TRANSformed.
Notice again what he says in verse 18
YOU ARE BEING TRANSFORMED
Notice what he didnt say you are transforming, HE SAYS YOU ARE BEING TRANSFORMED SOMETHING ELSE IS TRANSFORMING YOU, So I wanna take some of the burden off you this morning, you dont have to transform you.
You are being transformed, that means something else is turning you inside out, something else is doing a number on you, something else is creating the transformation. You are being transformed.
So if you wanna change, God has a way of changing you, making you the Christian He wants you to be which is the goal of discipleship if you will follow the process.
Now if I am being transformed if something else is transforming me, then I need to know what the something is and how the something else works.
When Moses was being changed in the OT and the glow hit his face God gave Him the glow but Moses had to do one thing, he had to climb up the mountain.
See he had to go to where the glow was in order to get the glow. God will do the transforming if you will meet Him in the place where the transforming occurs. In other words you have to position yourself for transformation.
You dont have to do the transforming but you have to post yourself in the place where the transforming occurs, TRANSFORMED INTO WHAT?
He says transformed into the same image the word image means likeness or replication of. God’s goal in transforming us, is to make us look like Jesus.
He wants to clone Jesus in us, thats why the Bible calls Jesus the firstborn of many brethren. God wants alot of little Jesus’ running around, so he wants you to look like Jesus in your attitude, and your action, in your character and you conduct.
he wants us to respond like Jesus would respond if He were in the same situation we were in act like Jesus would act if Jesus was doig the same thing we were doing.
HE WANTS THE DNA OF JESUS TO SHOW UP IN US SO WE ARE TRANSFORMED INTO HIS VERY LIKENESS, and RESEMBLE HIM!
Thats the goal of transformation, Spiritual transformation is the inward change in the heart and life of the believer so that it breaks through in our everyday lives.
He is after a change!
BUT WE ALL ARE BEING TRANSFORMED!
So the question is how does this work, if I am not the one doing the transforming and I just have to position myself in the right position to get it done.
He says if you wanna be changed you need a mirror...
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
He says if you want to be transformed you gotta have a mirror. Now in order to be transformed you gotta have a reflection of you, a mirror shows you, you.
You have never seen your face, you cant see your face now you might think you look like Luke Bryan like Cory does but a mirror will bring you back down to reality.
The goal of a mirror is to let you see how things really are.
You might think your hair is straight until you look in the mirror, you might think you are still in as good of shape as you were in highschool until you look in the mirror, but what the mirror will do is the mirror will show you as you really are.
One thing the mirror cant do is lie.
Now when Paul refers to the mirror we know what he is talking about, He says when Moses is read a veil lies over their face, when Moses is read, Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, He is saying when the Bible is read He says the people are unchanged, because there is a veil over their face.
Watch this, if your gonna be transformed you need a mirror, but the mirror when you go to it without a veil, he says you must go unveiled, the reason why alot of Christians come to church every week and nothing changes.....
Their addictions dont change, their anger doesnt get any better, their violent outburst dont get any better, their pornography doesnt get any better, their gossip doesnt get any better...
even though they are listening to the word reading the word hearing the word is bc they are approaching it with a veil over their faces. He says if you read the word with a veil you will remain unchanged.
But we all watch this WITH UNVEILED FACE
That means that you have to come to the word of God honestly no cover ups, you dont come to Gods word as though you got it all figured out. You approach it and you say Lord I give you permission to show me, me as you see me.
Not as my friends see me, not as my wife or husband sees me, WHAT DO YOUSEE WHEN YOU LOOK AT ME LORD!!
Let me tell you something about when you go to Gods mirror with an unveiled face, your not gonna like everything that you see. Because what God wants to do is expose you to you as He sees you, not like how everybody else sees you.
Because you cant rightly understand who you are without God showing you who you really are, without it you dont know how badly you need to be changed.
You just satisfied with where you are thinking youre ok when God maybe saying uhuh, we need to talk.
When we come with unvieled face, beholding as in a mirror. To behold means to stare at something not glance at it. JAMES CALLS IT LOOKING INTENTLY INTO THE PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY OR STARING AT IT.
says dont be like a man who goes to a mirror and quickly turns away, and the word there for man is the word for male as opposed to to female, he says when you go the word like a mirror dont be like a male who looks at it and quickly turns away.
He says because females dont look at it and quickly turn away, females hang out at the mirror, he says when you look at it dont look at it and leave.
People will hear a sermon they may enjoy the sermon and then they leave until the new sermon comes next week. They are not transformed bc unless you stare at it, unless you look at it, unless your like a guy looking at a pretty girl.
Beholding not glancing he wants you to take this passage and hang out in it for awhile review it and think it and mull it over.
You have got to look at Gods word until it birst forth in your heart and reveals you to you!
He says
The word of God is personal
JAMES SAYS WHEN YOU APPROACH THE WORD OF GOD:
BE quick to hear God’s point of view
BE SLOW TO SPEAK what you think
BE SLOW TO ANGER when God disagrees with you
cause when you see what he thinks its gonna tick you off because what we portray to others is not always the truth as God sees it. Dont get all upset let God transform you.
2 Corinthians 3:18
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Now if you wanna be transformed then God says take the word
and mull it over meditate upon it, and as you sit there meditating on the scriptures then God will take that word and breath life into it and blow that life into your personal need.
He will bring it to life.
We have heard about Jesus dying on the cross but it is something else entirely to watch the passion of the Christ. When you watch that movie you felt it, when the nails were driven into His hands you felt it, when the spear was thrust into His die and the blood and water gushed out you felt it.
The job of the Holy Spirit is to bring the Word of God to life lifting it up off the page and making you experience whatever is taking place in the Word.
now God will transform you but you BUT HE WILL ONLY DO SO IF YOU APPROACH THE MIRROR WITH UNVIELED FACE.
If there is no time in your week, no time to spend with Jesus in the midst of watching all of that television, or all of that fishing, or all of that workload no time to approach the mirror the Holy Spirit which live within in you lies asleep.
In other words never be satisfied with a sermon, never be satisfied with just reading the Bible bc that will just inform you not transform you, maybe you will read it enough that you will try to grit your teeth and do something for awhile.
When the Holy Spirit grabs the word and makes it light up inside of you, and you experience it. HOW DOES HE SAY YOU ARE TRANSFORMED FROM GLORY TO GLORY
That means from one level of transformation to another, its like going from kindergarten-1st-2nd-3rd Your being transformed from one grade to another.
God wants to progressively transform you from one level to another, so that this year I am reflecting CHrist this much, next year a little more, next year a little more....
You will always know when God is ready to take you into another grade level of spiritual maturity, because there will always be a test...
Thats how it was in school wasnt it?
Before you get promoted to the next level, there is always a test, while you may not like it and while it may not be good to you, its gone be good for you and ready you for the next grade level.
To move you from this glory to that glory, now if ou fail the test god believes in retesting so if you fail you will keep taking the test until you pass bc he dont want you to stay in preK the rest of your life.
He wants you to go from glory to glory.
When you do, He says you will find LIBERTY!
FREEDOM!
No longer controlled by things that shouldnt be controlling you, people, circumstances, addicitons, YOU HAVE BEEN SET FREE!!
God wants you to be transformed but it comes by the renewing of your mind, but your mind cant be renewed if you think there is nothing wrong with your thinking, so you need a mirror and as you stare into that mirror (word ) as you meditate on it, the Holy SPirit provides you the power so that you can abide in and obey the truth of Gods word.
But if you only coming in here listening and nobody ever taught you how to study the Bible for yourself, or either you simply do not have time then you will think you are just fine and float through life never really going anywhere spiritully because you wore a mask you veiled youre face you never knew how you really looked to God.
Church it is time to stop worrying about what you portray to other people it is time to step to the mirror and ask God search me oh God show me who I really am, where am I really when it comes to my relationship with you?
SHOW ME, MOLD ME, CHANGE ME, COME AND DO SOMETHING WITHIN ME THAT I CANNOT DO MYSELF!