Is a “Changed Life” Really Possible?

If you could change just one thing about you, what would it be? If you could change one thing about how you look, how you think, how you respond; if you could change one private struggle, or something that you feel like you’ve made progress, but it just keeps coming back at you; if you could revamp it, have a makeover, modify it, literally revolutionize something down deep inside your life, what would it be?

In fact, maybe more importantly, as we start this series, is, do you believe that life change – I mean, real life change, not just exterior stuff – can really happen? Do you believe that lifelong addictions, or things that happen out of, maybe, a family of origin, a dysfunction, or fears and struggles, and – just the way you are, that you’ve just said, “You know, I guess this will never change” – do you really believe that God can, and will, change that in ordinary followers of Jesus Christ, like you?

See, the Bible teaches, and God promises, that when a person is born of the Spirit, and if that person, born of the Spirit, lives in vital union with Christ, that He will so radically change you, from the inside out, that if someone knew you today, and then met you ten or fifteen years later, there are parts that they would just say, “It’s hard to believe you’re the same person.” It’s not just some cleaning up on the outside. There’s a fundamental change that happens when Christ enters your life, and the Spirit of God is allowed to have control.

And as you connect with other people, and His Word begins to birth the very life and personality of Jesus in you, God promises, He actually commands it, the Scriptures declare it, and nature gives us an object lesson. Because, you see a little green caterpillar – stage one – who goes into a cocoon, or a chrysalis – stage two – where you can’t see what’s going on, and emerges – stage three – as a beautiful monarch butterfly. It’s called “metamorphosis.”

Meta means “to be transformed, or changed.” Morphosis has the idea of “substance, or structure.” In fact, Webster says, “Metamorphosis is a change of a physical form, structure, or substance” – and then, I love this – “especially by supernatural means.” Especially by supernatural means.

That’s the picture. That’s normal Christianity. That’s what happens when the Spirit of God comes into the human heart of a person who has been forgiven of their sin. They’re born again from above, and that’s the journey, or the process, that occurs.

Now, there’s a problem. And the problem is that we all long to change, and improve, and grow, and be transformed, but we find it really difficult, right? There is a multi, multi-billion-dollar self-help industry. Every commercial, depending on what they’re advertising – there is a before, and then there’s an after. And so, if I have PX whatever, or if I have Insanity, or if I have Total Gym, or if I have…and on and on and on and on, then I’m going to have a body like that. And Weight Watchers and NutriSystems – and we are bombarded by – what? “I used to be like this,” but for $19.95, instantly, take this pill, and you will…

And whether it’s diets, or fitness, or advertisements of recovery programs for addictions, or anger management, and there’s something, now and then, where you lean forward and think, You think if I ordered that, it would really work? Right?

There’s something in you – God made you, and made me, with the DNA, you want to change. You want to grow. You want to improve. But quite often, it’s not only hard, it doesn’t work.

Statistically, even people who lose a lot of weight, statistically, most all of them gain it back. Statistically, the people who do the fitness program, and really get in shape, statistically, they actually get back out of shape very quickly.

Statistically, those who go through recovery programs for alcohol or drugs – the great percentage of them have relapses. And, sadly, statistically, people who come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, after some incremental beginning changes, rarely live like Christians, according to Barna, according to Gallup, and, probably, according to the anecdotal evidence we have in our own life.

So, we’ve got a picture of what God wants to do, and we’ve got a problem. And what I want to talk about is a process of spiritual metamorphosis. Why is this? What’s the problem? Why don’t we change? What is it that we don’t understand, or that we’re not appropriating? God has given us everything we need to be completely transformed. It is a process; it is a journey. But I’m going to suggest that most people don’t understand the process, they don’t understand the journey, and you don’t have the tools. And that’s why a lot of Christians don’t live like Christians.

I’m going to give you an overview, and some of this is core theology of the Bible, and I wish I could spend more time. But you need to know the process.

Stage one in the Christian life, in spiritual metamorphosis, goes like this: There’s a spiritual birth. Jesus gives me a new life. The Bible calls this, the moment it happens, “justification.” It’s a legal term.

In John chapter 3, a religious leader came to Jesus and said, “We know that You are from God by the works that You do.” He was religious, he knew the Bible, but Jesus said, “Unless you are born again, unless you are born of the Spirit, unless you are born from above.”

In other words, physical life requires a physical birth; spiritual life requires a spiritual birth. It’s not an intellectual thing of agreeing with God about certain doctrines or teachings. It requires a spiritual birth. At a certain day, at a certain time, you need to realize that Christ died upon the cross, in your place, that He rose from the dead, that He has paid and covered your sin, and the sins of all people, and all time.

And the Spirit of God will convict you that you are separated from God, and you will turn from your sin and, in the empty hands of faith, ask Christ to come into your life and forgive you. And at that moment, God, as legal Judge, justifies you.

Some of you have heard the definition, “It’s just as if you didn’t sin,” and that’s true, but it’s only half the story. The moment you’re justified, legally, here’s what happens: Imagine, if you will, a little computer screen on this side, and it has your name on it, and a little computer screen over here that has Jesus’ name on it. And on your computer screen, the moment you’re justified, you have your righteousness, which is as filthy rags, and you have all your sins, like I have all my sins.

And with justification, God does two things. One, He deletes the “sin” column, and He takes it, and He puts it over on Christ. So, all your sins are paid for by what He does. And then, He takes the righteousness of Christ, and He pushes “Share,” and He brings it over here, and He imputes it onto your column. So, when the God of the universe looks at every child of God, in terms of their position and your legal standing, He sees you with the very righteousness of His Son.

Not understanding that is why many Christians’ lives never change. And so, we have turned Christianity into moralism and trying hard to please God, or imitating Jesus’ behavior, when what you’re going to learn is, a spiritual birth occurs, and the Christian life is living out of who you already are.

The second phase is spiritual growth. This is called “sanctification.” I put these words in here very purposefully. I think, for the last twenty years, we have tried to make everything so simple, we don’t teach people some basic theological language.

Sanctification – the word literally means, “to be separate.” All those verses where it says, “Be holy, be sanctified, it’s sacred,” This is the same root word.

This is not just a moment in time. Notice, this is, Jesus changes me to be progressively more like Him. You often hear this as “progressive sanctification.” “If any man is in Christ,” the Bible says, “the old things pass away” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 – “behold” – listen to the tense of the verb – “all things are becoming new.”

Justification: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God,” new relationship. Sanctification: “Therefore, if any man” – any woman – “is in Christ” – new relationship – “the old things are passed away; behold” – process – “all things are becoming new.”

It’s a journey. We’re going to talk about the journey. In fact, this whole series is about spiritual growth, that journey, and how it works.

The third phase is spiritual maturity, and the word here is glorification. That word, maturity – it’s everywhere in the Scripture. Jesus would say, in Matthew chapter 5, in the Sermon on the Mount, verse 48 – He summarizes a point and says, “Be ye perfect” – that’s this word – “even as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” And you’re thinking, Whoa. Or the apostle Paul would say – the goal of all his life is, “We want to present every man, every woman, complete, or perfect, in Christ.” James 1 will open up and say, “The whole goal of difficulty and pain is, we endure, and we go through it, that we might be perfect, or complete.”

The word is teleios, and I say that just so you hear – do you hear, sort of, telescope? Or for you apologists, it’s the teleological argument. The word means that something is by design, and the design has a fulfillment.

And what God is saying is, the fulfillment of your design, when you become a Christian, is, He is going to make you like His Son. And 1 John 3:2 says, “We do not know, little children, what we will be like, but this is what we know: When we see Him” – Jesus – “we will be like Him.”

And so, all those verses about, “Be mature; grow to maturity” – it starts with justification – a point in time – a journey of sanctification, and then there is one day when you will achieve maturity: You will actually be like Christ, and be transformed. That’s the spiritual life.

Question, then: Is this just for superstars? Are these people that just make it into the Christian Hall of Fame, or a handful of pastors, or missionaries?

And around here, we talk about maturity being very clearly defined as becoming a Romans 12 Christian, right? And in verse 1 of Romans 12, we know it’s being surrendered to God, and then verse 2 talks about being – what? – separate from the world’s values: “And do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed” – circle that word – “by the renewing of your mind.” It didn’t say “by trying hard.” “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

And then, notice the result. Notice what God wants for you, what He wants for me, what He wants for every follower: “That you might” – literally, the word is, “That you might test,” or experience, or know, “by way of real experience the will of God, that which is good, acceptable, and well-pleasing,” or, “perfect.”

You know that word transformed? It’s – are you ready? – metamorphosis. Now, that’s God’s goal for all of us. And I think the issue is, if that’s God’s goal, if that’s God’s agenda – I like to call it, it’s “the miracle of life change.” We’re going to talk about how it really works, and how you can experience it.

Ephesians chapter 4, the entire chapter, is about how this really works. Ephesians chapter 4, the context, of course – are you ready for this? – is Ephesians chapters 1, 2, and 3. So, for three chapters, he has told us, “This is what God has done for you” – doctrine. Chapters 4, 5, and 6: “This is how you live, in light of what He has done.”

In chapter 1, he said that you’ve been adopted. He said that you have been chosen. He said that every spiritual blessing, in all the world, in heaven, is yours. He says that you’re a part of a family. He says you have an inheritance. He says you’ve been sealed with the Spirit. He says you have been made a part of a supernatural family. Everything you need, you already possess. You are in Christ.

And in chapter 3, then, he prays a prayer. And, please, don’t miss this prayer. Glance in your Bible – go up to about verse 14, 15. And when Paul looks back on all that God has done for you and me, and every Christian, he says, “For this reason I bow my knee before the Father, who is the Father of all the families of all the earth.”

And he goes, “Here’s what I am praying for you: I am praying that God would strengthen you in your inner man, down deep in your heart, that you would be able to grasp the height and depth and length and breadth, and to know the love of God that is beyond understanding, that His love – you would begin to grasp, not how hard you need to try, but you could grasp that chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3 – all this truth, it’s really just an expression that you, totally apart from anything you have ever done, are so deeply loved. You are accepted. You are forgiven. You’ve got a purpose. He has given you a gift. He has prepared a place for you. He’s for you.”

And then, chapter 4 is going to open up, and notice what it says. It says, “A prisoner of the Lord, then” – in light of that – “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling that you have received.” Well, how? “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

And then, he says, “Well, why?” Well, “There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called in one hope when you were called – there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

And what he’s going to do, in these six short verses, is explain to us, “Now that you are justified, I’m going to explain to you how that spiritual green caterpillar gets transformed into a butterfly. And I’m going to explain the part that God does, and I’m going to explain the part where He asks you to cooperate.”

And so, notice, in verse 1, he’s going to say, “The call is to let Jesus live His life through you.” Notice, it says, “As a prisoner of the Lord then” – in your notes – “I urge you to” – will you put a line under “live a life”? Live a life. We’re to live a life. And above that, write the word walk. This is a very good translation. But it’s a metaphor.

And he’s really saying, “I want you to walk worthy of this calling that you received.” Well, what calling? The calling of chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3: You’ve been chosen. You’ve been placed in the body of Christ. The Spirit dwells in you. You’ve been called into a group of people called “The Church,” a supernatural body. You have been called with a purpose. You’re loved. Now he says, “What I want you to do is, I want you to walk worthy.”

And maybe right below the word worthy, you might write the English word axis. The literal meaning of the word comes from – when they would measure things with scales, like this? The literal meaning of this word means “bring up the beam to the other side, to make it level.” And so, if you were going to buy something, they would put so much food, or so much grain, and they would put so many weights over here, and that would tell you how much it cost.

And what the apostle Paul is saying, for three chapters, “You’re loved. You’re forgiven. You’re cared for. You’re part of a body. You have a future. Those are all the things you now believe, and you possess. Now, let your behavior reflect your beliefs. Let your conduct say the same thing as your creeds. Let what you profess and what you practice tell the same story. Let what your lips say is true come out of your life.”

Basically, what he’s saying is, this is not about trying harder. He says, “You are in Christ. Now, here’s the command: I call you to let Jesus have full freedom and reign to live His life through you.” That’s the call.
Christians are transformed in community.

The reason many Christians, who genuinely have come to Christ, who honestly love God, who have some initial outward changes, and a few inward ones, and then plateau, and never deal with the deep, deep issues of the heart – dysfunction, family of origin, fears, rejection, workaholism – all the things they pass on to friends and kids. The reason those deep issues never change is, they are not in community, where the real them shows up, meeting real needs, for the right reason, in the right way, and where they are vulnerable, and someone loves the broken parts of you, and loves you enough to encourage you, and accept you, and, at the same time, hold you accountable and not let you keep being the same person.

See, it’s the Jesus inside of their body extending the love of Christ. And Jesus’ love is always soft and tender, and sometimes very hard and tough, depending on what we need. Because His goal is the outcome, not just that you feel good.

And so, he says, “This is how transformation works. Justification – this is what God has done. Sanctification – you start on a journey. The journey is, first, my beliefs and behaviors. It is an oxymoron for a person to come to Christ, and their life not change! It’s just unheard of in Scripture.

Only in America, and around the world, now, could we ever create this world where a Christian is someone who comes to meetings, intellectually acknowledges that Jesus is a Savior that died and rose from the dead, and we tip Him with a few hours of our day and our week, and we live our life completely differently and say, “This is working.” So, he calls us: “Let His life live in and through you.”

Isn’t that different from trying really hard to act like Jesus? Isn’t that different from, “I’m going to try and quit cussing, and then I’m going to try and be more generous, and then I’m going to quit trying to be so selfish”? And then, pretty soon, because we know how a Christian is supposed to act, I think a lot of us – and let me start with me. In seasons of my life, I have spent more energy appearing loving, and appearing Christianly, than I really was, just so that the other people would think I’m making progress. This is getting way too convicting; let me get back to my notes.

There’s a reason, however, and the reason is really critical. He says, “There is one body, one Spirit – just as you were called in one hope, that you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father.” Every time the word one is used here, could you underline that? There are seven of them, so let me give you a minute. One, one, one, one, one, one, one.

Where it says, “There is,” will you put a box around “there is”? Because, and again, our English Bibles are absolutely fantastic, but just now and then, the Greek text is there in a way that’s a little bit more in living color. The “there is” isn’t in the original text, but it makes this sentence make sense, because what Paul has done is, he’s used a very unusual grammatical device.

And basically, what he’s saying is, “Three chapters of all that God has done for you – therefore, walk in a manner worthy! Let your life and lips tell the same story. Here’s how to do it: Get together in deep, authentic community, and treat each other with humility, and gentleness, and patience, and put up with stuff. And the only way you’ll do that is by drawing on His resources.”

And then, literally, he goes off. There are seven staccato words – Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! It’s like, “You’ve got to understand how important this is!” And this is so important. It’s not about your happiness. It’s not an “it doesn’t work for you.” It’s not that it improves your life. He’s going to do seven staccato “one,” “one,” “one,” “one,” and then, did you notice, there are four “alls”: “all,” “all,” “all,” “all.” There’s a focus of unity; there’s a focus of consistency.

And then, he does something where it’s in triads. There are three “ones,” followed by three “ones,” followed by another three “ones.” And the Trinity is in this. And usually, we think of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But he doesn’t go that direction.

It’s very unusual. He’s talking about the Church; he’s talking about what Christ has done. He’s talking to them, and to us, about this transformation. And so, he starts with, “Well, how does it work?” The Spirit of God is what convicts us. The Spirit of God is what gives us spiritual birth. We’re born of the Spirit. The Spirit of God is our pledge, or down payment, for heaven, and our hope.

And so, notice what he does. Where they’re reading this – I can imagine them opening the scroll, and it going, bam, bam, bam, ba bam, bam, bam, seven times! And basically, what he goes, “There’s one body – the Church – one Spirit who creates it, and one hope. You’re the new Church! The Spirit does it. He’s taking you to heaven.”

And then, for what? Who’s the focus? One Lord Jesus, one faith, one baptism. Jesus is the focus of it all. Each one of you have taken this step of faith, and each one of you have graphically, publically told the world and said your past is behind you, and what you did is you said, “My old life died, and I have been resurrected with Him.” And all the privileges, and all the persecution.

Think about when this was written. “I’m going to walk with Him. There is one Lord.” This was written when there was a god on every corner. “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism” – and then, it goes to the Father: “There’s one God. But He’s different than this god that makes everyone afraid.”

Notice, “There’s one God. He’s the Father. He’s kind. He’s a dad. He’s an Abba. He is the Father of all.” And then, notice, He is sovereign. He’s the Creator. He’s – what? “Who is over all and through all and in all.”

And so, He gives them this extraordinary, high, lofty view of who God is, and in essence – listen carefully, here’s what he’s saying: “This is what God has done for you” – chapters 1 through 3. Here’s the command: “Let Him live His life through you, so that your behavior and your lifestyle match what’s true.” The way to do that isn’t about activity, or dos and don’ts, or external rules. It happens in community, in deep, authentic relationships, where you give to people what you really don’t have to give, and so you draw on dependencies, you abide in Christ, and you love others.

In fact, the way Jesus loves people – He gives you a moment with His Spirit; He speaks to you through His Word, but the way Jesus is going to hug most of us is, you’re not going to get an angel from heaven at the foot of your bed tomorrow morning going, “Hey, you need a hug?” He’s going to hug you through me! He’s going to hug me through you! It’s going to be the person in your small group; it’s going to be the Jesus living in this body.

And He says, “As you do that,” do you remember what Jesus said? “The way the world will know that the Father has sent the Son is” – what? “by the authenticity and the genuineness of our love for one another.” And Paul says, “That’s what’s at stake.”

Now, we’re going to be on a journey, okay? So, I can’t cover – most of you are thinking, You have already covered too much; your head hurts. But what I want to do, before we go on, is, I want to give you the three reasons, as you flip this text around, and when you look at people’s life experience – I want to give you some practical tools about, so, what keeps us from metamorphosis? What are the barriers for all of us?

And as I go through this – and don’t get covered over with, Oh, that’s me. I’m a terrible person. No, no, no. God brought us here to say, “Let’s go on a journey.”

If most Christians understood justification, and sanctification, and how it worked, most Christians would look a lot more like Jesus. And so, let me give you these three things – I’ll give it top level – and we’re going to be unpacking these, three reasons we fail to be transformed.

Reason number one is spiritual ignorance. Not stupidity. This isn’t that people are stupid. We just don’t know. Our failure to understand our true identity in Christ destines us to the “try hard, do good, fail” syndrome. The problem is a lack of knowledge. The solution is: Discover your new identity.

I didn’t know. I grew up in a church that didn’t preach the Bible, and I became a new Christian, and the Spirit came into my life, and I got around a group of people that were really activity oriented – which was good. And so, I tried hard, did good, failed; tried hard, did good, failed; tried hard, did not so good, faked it. And then, I quit trying.

I remember, I was a Christian just about a year and a half or two years, and I had this poster – it was in college. And I had a poster, and I had my Bible there. And it was some poster about God, so when people came into my room, you know, “Hey!” You know? “’Yo.” And I remember, okay, some things changed.  And then it was just, I was playing basketball and baseball, and I was an RA. And in my private moments, I realized, lust had not changed; my ego really hadn’t changed.

I was now reading the Bible, and I didn’t want to be a hypocrite, and I knew I was. All I knew was, I was trying as hard as I could, in my energy, to be like Jesus, because I thought that’s what a Christian was.

And I’ve got news for you: You can’t do it. No one can live the Christian life but Jesus. And the way the Christian life is lived is when we abide in relationship, and the Spirit of God takes the Word of God, in the context of the cocoon of community, and He produces the life of Christ. We have a part: make every effort. But if you don’t know how it works, you can try really hard.

And so, you have to discover your identity in Christ. I’ll give you one verse to get you going, and maybe a couple resources. Galatians 2:20 is the apostle Paul, in one sentence, saying, “If you don’t understand the Christian life, and you want to know the identity in Christ’s truth, here it is, in one sentence.” If you want the longer version, read Ephesians 1, 2, and 3. If you’d like a more technical version, read Romans 6, 7, and 8. But let me just give it to you. This is the elevator pitch on your identity in Christ. Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives within me. And this new life that I live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

See, Paul realizes, when he trusted Christ, he died with Christ. His old man died. He was resurrected with Him. He is living out of who he already is. And yet, he’s saying, “I still live in this world, but yet not I, but it’s Christ lives in me.” And the way you appropriate grace, the way you experience the truth of Ephesians 1, 2, and 3 – it’s a faith walk through grace. That’s why the metaphor of “walk” is so important.

I’m starting to feel like I’m old. I want you to know, I’m not really old. I started very young, and Theresa started even younger. But I can tell you, from when my kids were small, and, now, with all these little grandkids, can you remember what it was like when you saw children learn to walk for the first time? Do you remember what it was like? They’re kind of like this, and they’re on the coffee table.

And you know what walking is? Walking is moving out of your comfort zone, and getting ready to fall, and catching yourself just before you fall, and then getting out of your comfort zone, and ready to fall again. And then, you do it again. And it’s amazing. It’s an off-balance, out of where you were, from comfort to a moment of fearful indecision.

Now, with practice – let me show you something. It can be done like this, eventually. But when your little kids fell down, and they took two steps, what did you do? “Ah! Ohhhh! That was so good! That was so good! That was so good!” Did you focus on their falling down, or the few steps they took?

Could I tell you, the apostle Paul said, “Walk in a manner worthy,” because he wants you to know that Father God – He rejoices at your steps of faith, and He’s not shocked when you fall down? And because we’ve created this pseudo-culture of Christianity, the great majority of us spend half our energy trying to hide when we fall down. And what we really need to do is realize, God is cheering for every step of faith. And we need to be in that cocoon of community, where we can be loved through that journey and process. But you have to learn, you have to learn how to – I call it “appropriate grace.” You have to learn: how do you allow Christ to live His life through you?

The second reason we fail to be transformed is spiritual isolation. Our failure to actively – notice, that’s the key word – actively participate in deep, Christ-centered, honest relationships makes transformation impossible.

The problem – and please don’t feel too bad about this one, but it’s pride. I don’t mean necessarily just the pride where you stick out your chest, and you think – it’s the pride of self-dependency. Because if you don’t have deep, authentic relationships – and whether that’s in a small group, or whether that’s around the table with your family, or with a couple guys, or a couple gals, or two or three couples. I’m not talking about just being in a small group. That’s the container. I’m talking about really doing life authentically, and openly, and lovingly, with people who know what’s really going on. And you get accepted, even when you blow it. And you get kind of kicked, lovingly, when you know you need a kick, because they really care.

See, the reason we don’t do that is, my agenda is I think is more important than God’s agenda. When you tell me, “We don’t have time,” well, just, all I have to do is say, “Well, tell me what your schedule looks like.” “Well, I work, work, work, work, work, and then we have youth sports, and then I have this, and then I have this hobby, and I work out and, then I’ve got to go to the gym, and then I…” Okay. So, all you’re telling me is, that matters more than what God says is the very place where He’s going to transform you.

At the end of the day, everyone does what matters most. Period. We never have a time problem. All of us have priority issues. And for some of you, here’s the application. It’s very, very simple. The solution is, do life in community. And for some, it’s changing how life happens in your home. For others, you need to join a small group. We are off the charts on that, because butterflies get transformed in cocoons; Christians get transformed in community.

But there’s a second application. It’s not just, join a group. It’s, get real in the group. And if you can’t do it with a whole group, maybe there are a couple people, or even one, you really get close to, and you feel like, You know what? I could really do life at a deeper level with this person.

I’m pretty comfortable, sharing what’s going on. I work with great people. My wife is very open, and we can share things. But it was probably about three or four months ago, as I was looking at, Okay, the next year, in this next season, and I see what God is doing at the church, I see what He’s doing at Living on the Edge, I see these things bubbling up – you know, when God starts to prick you, and you realize, I need to address some things. And, Well, who would I do that with?

And I have a friend that I have known for thirty years. We did ministry when I was twenty-eight years old, and we were partners together in a ministry, in a church of about thirty-five in Texas. And we got to work for another fifteen years later, and he’s now a pastor. And we just tried to get on each other’s schedule. And I remember realizing, No one knows me, on this entire planet, better than him. I’ve got issues that could make or break what God wants to do in my life, and through my life. And in my self-dependency and overscheduled arrogance, I have not taken advantage of that.

And about three months ago, I asked if we could have breakfast. And it took us – you know, our schedules are three weeks to even get breakfast on one morning. And I asked, “Would you meet with me every other week?” And he said, “Well, like, for what?”

And I said, “I need a place of someone who has all my history, where I can be as honest with you as I am with Theresa. And I know God wants to do some things to take me to a level, and I don’t know where to go. I can go down pretty deep. But there are a lot of these people now, they think I’m way smarter than I am. They think I’m more holy than I am. And you know the truth of all of that, right? It’s been thirty years.”

And the only day I could do it was on a day that I really wanted to reserve for other things. And every other week, we’ve been meeting. And we got done this last week, early in the morning. He turned to me – and we were finishing up at Starbucks – and he just looked at me, his eyes wet and my eyes wet. He goes, “Man, I’m sure glad we’re meeting again.” I said, “Me too.”

Do you have that? It’s not going to be easy. It will cost something. But remember how we started the message? What’s that one thing you’d really like to change about you? Reading the Bible more? Coming to more services? There’s got to be community, at a deep level.

The third reason we fail to transform is – I call it “spiritual myopia.” That’s a word for near-sighted. In other words, we fail to see the big picture. The problem is our culture of consumerism. The solution is to get a high, holy view of God. And here’s all I want to say, and I’ll try not to go off on this. I’m going to try and contain myself.

The Christianity of the last thirty or so years in America – or forty – that we’ve sent to the world is a consumeristic, “God is my cosmic vending machine; Jesus is my personal trainer/self-help guru,” and the whole goal of the Christian life is, “Am I happy? Am I fulfilled? Do I have a great marriage? Have I found the right person? Do my kids all turn out right? Are we upwardly mobile? Am I healthy, wealthy, and everything going my way?”

And if not, Jesus, You’re not coming through for me.  When did You forget that I, this narcissistic, consumeristic Christian, have taken Your Word and made all of it about me, and You’re supposed to make me happy, and healthy, and wealthy, and wise, and wonderful, and, someday, all my kids around the Thanksgiving table, singing “Kumbaya,” and everything turns out right, I never have a problem, tragedy never happens, cancer never happens, and if I really believe, then everything goes my way. And we’ve been exporting that stuff around the world.

I’ve got news for you: If He gives you a rich, deep marriage, if He gives you health, if He prospers your business, if your kids grow up and love God – all those are really wonderful, wonderful byproducts. But I will tell you, Christians living like Christians are the acid test of whether God sent His Son.

There is one Spirit, there is one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father over all – “one,” “one,” “one,” “one,” “one,” “one,” “one,” “all,” “all,” “all.” And how we live or don’t live says to the world, “God is really God; Jesus is the Savior.” And when we don’t live like Christians, your happiness, and my happiness, and our fulfillment is very secondary.

He’s the Creator; it’s about Him. He has an agenda, and we sign up to say, “How can I serve You, O Lord and Master and Creator, who is worthy of glory and honor and power, for You have created all things? And by You, all things have created, and in and by You, they have their being.” And we are finite, little people, in this teeny, teeny thing called “time,” and time will go away, and it will be all eternity, and we will worship a living God in a new heaven and a new earth. And what we do now matters for that, and forever. And He calls us to live those kinds of lives.

And like you, I’m inundated. If you thought, Where did he get that rant and rave about…I’ve done that! We’ve had cancer in our house. I’ve had struggles with my kids. Things have gone wrong. And I find myself starting to whine, instead of, Well, wait a second. The Bible says those are all the things that are going to help change me. I don’t like them. But is God good, or not? Is God sovereign, or not? Is God in control, or not? Is He the center, or am I?