Becoming a Missional Church in Transformation

“Becoming a Missional Church in Transformation”
Sermon Series on
Unfinished: The Missional Calling of the Church
Dr. Peter B. Barnes
March 2, 2014
(Acts 2:42-47; Rom. 12:1-2)
Introduction.
When my kids were growing up, they liked to play with Transformers. Those are the little toys made by
Hasbro that look like trucks and cars, but they could transform into a robot fighting machine. They were pretty
clever. Later on Transformers developed into a comic book and then an animated television series. And since
2007, several blockbuster movies have been made, that helped launch the careers of Shia LaBoeuf and Megan
Fox. They featured the Transformer characters Optimus Prime and Megatron. All in all, Transformers has
become quite a franchise.
It’s pretty cool if you’re a kid to play with cars and trucks that transform into robots, and it
also makes for a good movie. But what about people? Do you think someone can experience
transformation? That they can change and become a new person? If so, what does it take for an
individual to experience real transformation in their life?
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Maybe you’re here today wishing you could see some transformation, and you don’t like the
person you’ve become. Maybe you’ve tried to change, but you discovered it’s a lot harder than
you thought it was going to be. I believe transformation in the Christian life is indeed possible,
and it’s a foundational element to what being a missional church is all about. But unlike the
Transformers my kids played with which had everything they needed to transform themselves,
we humans don’t have the inner resources we need to change on our own. We need outside
help. We need God, and we need each other. Let’s take a closer look at transformation in the
missional church.
I.
Transformation in the Missional Church.
In Acts 2, we read a summary of early church life shortly after the giving of the Holy Spirit
on the day of Pentecost. You’ll recall that 3,000 people became followers of Jesus that day
through the preaching of the apostle Peter, and everyone had a sense of awe at the new thing
God was doing in their midst. There we read of 5 activities, 5 essential ministries that marked
the life of the early church. It was a worshipping church, a learning church, a loving church, a
witnessing church, and a serving church. Last week we considered the first mark of being a
missional church, that of worship, and this morning we take a look at the next one –
transformation.
In the text we read that the early followers of Jesus “devoted themselves to the apostles’
teaching…” (Acts 2:42). It’s important to note that one of the keys to the success of the early
church and the transformation they experienced was the result of the discipleship to which they
committed themselves which included giving careful attention to the teachings of the apostles.
One might say that on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit opened a school in the city of
Jerusalem, and there were 3,000 students in the kindergarten! The earliest followers of Christ
made it a priority to carefully study the teachings of Jesus and those of His apostles, and the
early church made discipleship and transformation a cornerstone of their common life together.
We would do well to follow their example in becoming a missional church today.
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The concept of transformation through discipleship was by no means new when Jesus
invited people to follow Him 2000 years ago. Therefore, it’s not surprising to discover that,
although the verb “disciple” (manthano) occurs only 25 times in the New Testament, the noun
“disciple” (mathetes) appears no less than 264 times. In secular Greek the word meant an
apprentice in a trade, a student of a subject, or a pupil of a teacher.
The great majority of Jesus’ earthly ministry was not spent with the multitudes but with 12
individuals He selected to be His disciples. He poured His life into these few people with the
intention that, through the power of His Holy Spirit, they would turn the world upside down.
Jesus had a vision big enough to think small, and His focus didn’t limit His influence. It
actually expanded it. He knew that disciples cannot be mass produced; they’re custom made.
He also understood that they’re the product of an intimate and personal investment. Jesus
modeled the example of what discipleship is all about.
The result was a profound transformation – transformation of the lives of the disciples
themselves, but also of the world in which they lived. They went from being a rag-tag
collection of unschooled fishermen, radical zealots, tax collectors working for the Roman
government, and even a persecutor of Christians, in the case of the apostle Paul, to being used
by God to create the greatest force for social and spiritual change the world has ever seen. They
went from being timid cowards who abandoned Jesus when He was arrested by the Sanhedrin
to becoming passionate proclaimers of the truth of the Gospel who flamed with courage and
were willing to die for their faith.
This was the kind of transformation the early church experienced in the first century AD,
and it’s a transformation that can still happen today in the missional church.
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II.The Process of Transformation.
A high school student who was raised in a Christian home but turns to alcohol and drugs. A
woman who has tried for years to stop criticizing other people, but she just can’t seem to find a
way to do it. And a father who knows he needs to be more patient with his children, but all his
efforts seem to be in vain. What do these people have in common? They’re all in desperate
need of transformation. But what is transformation, and how does it really work?
Personal transformation in the Christian life isn’t about creating a better version of “you,” or
simply trying to become your best self. It’s not about chipping away a few rough edges from an
otherwise pretty good person, and it’s not a matter of self-effort and willing yourself to become
a better individual. Instead the Bible is honest when it says the real problem is that you and I
are deeply flawed and broken people who are incapable of fixing ourselves. What we need to
experience real transformation is to be rescued by God and receive His divine intervention.
The Bible says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and He looked at
everything He made and said it was very good. But then something awful happened that
changed all that. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, made a series of choices to do their own
thing and go their own way, and they rejected what God told them. The result is what
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theologians call “the Fall.” This wonderful and amazing creation that God made and the sweet
fellowship He and our first parents enjoyed together was deeply damaged. Sin and death
entered into the world, and you and I have been dealing with the consequences of it ever since.
But God didn’t leave us in this mess. Instead He sent His Son Jesus Christ to undertake a
rescue mission. And when He completed the mission God gave Him to do by dying on the
cross for our sins, Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to continue the work of redemption and
transformation. And this work of transformation will continue until He returns again to take us
home. You and I are invited to be a part of and to experience ourselves this remarkable
transformative work of God in our lives and in the world.
So, you see, transformation isn’t about tidying up the messy house of one’s life. Rather, it
involves a total reconstruction. It isn’t about becoming a little better version of you. It’s about
becoming a new person and being transformed into a new self which is patterned after the
image of God’s Son Jesus Christ.
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How does this get worked out in our lives in practice? Take a look at the diagram on the
screen. I want to walk you through it. The first thing transformation involves is repentance. It
means we have to get serious and become very honest with ourselves about the shortcomings in
our lives.
The great Reformer Martin Luther once said that the whole of the Christian life should be
marked by repentance. I think he’s right. You see, repentance isn’t simply about making an
apology for some wrong-doing we’ve committed. It also involves turning from whatever it is
that we’re looking to save us, or to give us meaning, or to bring us pleasure in the place of God,
and it involves turning to Jesus and putting our trust in Him.
This kind of repentance takes us below the surface and beyond the transgressions and sins
we commit to ask ourselves why is it we do those things. In what am I putting my trust instead
of God? In what have I placed my hope other than God, and what has led me to turn away from
Him and seek comfort in these other things? Repentance refuses to stay on the surface of life.
It deals with the heart of the matter, deep down in the interior of our motives, our desires, our
dreams, and our fears. It deals with what we love, what we long for, what we’re afraid of, and
the places in our lives where God has been usurped as Lord and King.
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This is how real transformation takes place. We examine what we wrongly worship, what
we place over or against God, and then we turn from these things and turn to Christ committing
by faith to walk in a new way and with a new power, the power of God’s Holy Spirit. It’s to
change our minds which results in a change of heart that leads to a change in direction. That’s
what the word repentance really means.
Look at the diagram again. The process of transformation begins with the recognition of sin
in our lives and naming the real problem, the deeper sin beneath the surface that is prompting us
to do all these other things. This involves naming the idol in our lives that is commanding the
sin, and it leads us to the cross and the sacrifice of Jesus to forgive our sin and break the power
it has over us. It means believing that God is good, that He loves me and that He wants the best
for me. It’s believing that God is more gracious than I can ever imagine, and certainly more
than I deserve. The result of all this is trusting that God is sovereign, that He’s in control, and
that He has the power to overcome this sin, and every other sin in my life, and He has the power
to change me.
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This kind of faith isn’t to shirk my responsibility. God does His part, but I have to do mine,
too. As one of my professors in seminary once said, “God can’t steer a parked car!” I’ve got to
recognize and name the sin, and I’ve got to take the step of faith and act on what I know. But at
the end of the day it isn’t the strength of my will or the power of my determination that
ultimately brings about transformation. It’s the power of God and the strength of His Holy
Spirit. That’s my only lasting hope in the process of transformation.
This process works best in the context of community. You can’t do it by yourself, and you need
others to help you experience the transformation God wants in your life. Alcoholics
Anonymous has known this to be true for a long time, and it’s a truth that we in the church need
to rediscover ourselves today. We’ll explore this more next week, because I believe that
community is another key element to becoming the missional church God is calling us to be.
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III.
Stories of Transformation.
Is transformation really possible, and can people really change? I truly believe it is and that
they can. The reason I believe this is because I’ve experienced it in my own life personally.
I’ve shared with you before that when I was in high school I had a weight problem. I weighed
244 pounds my senior year. I was an offensive tackle playing football, and the coaches liked us
to carry the extra weight. So it gave me a good excuse to eat way too much food. The truth of
the matter is that I didn’t feel very good about myself, and I tried to fill up the emptiness I felt
in my soul by eating food. I had a very negative self-image, and, even though I was a class
clown and had lots of friends, I battled depression at times, and I felt very alone. So I ate to
comfort the ache in my soul.
I gave my life to Christ when I was 15-years-old, and by the time I was a senior in high
school I gained enough confidence in my relationship with Jesus to think He could help me
change. I was tired of being overweight, and I knew I wanted to live a different way. So I
began to pray and ask God to give me the power to change. I took proactive steps to do
something about it, trusting in God every step of the way. I cut out in-between-meal snacks,
and I lost 15 pounds almost immediately. It was then I realized I had really been eating the
equivalent of about 5 meals a day. I continued to play sports year-round, so I was burning off
the calories. I began to cut back on what I ate while trying to eat a healthier diet, and over the
course of the next year I lost 70 pounds. It was a miracle I never thought could happen in my
life. But it did, and I believe God enabled me to do what I could not do on my own without the
power of His Spirit.
I’m not alone in my experience of transformation. There are plenty of stories of other
people in this church who have experienced transformation too. Recently a man came to me
and confessed that he had a problem with pornography. It was something that had controlled
his life for many years. No one knew of his addiction, and he kept it a secret from everyone
else, and he struggled all alone. But one night his wife happened to walk by when he was on
the computer, and she discovered him viewing pornography online. She burst into tears and
walked down the hall crying out, “How could you do this?!”
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That was the blow it took to take my friend to his knees and force him to own up to his sin.
He asked his wife for her forgiveness, he sought me out, and now they are seeing a professional
counselor together. He’s reading some tremendous books that are helping him get to the bottom
of his problem, and he’s walking in faith and accountability to root out this sin in his life once
and for all. It’s a long journey and it won’t happen overnight, but the joy he’s already
experienced in overcoming this problem is truly remarkable.
Yesterday he wrote me and gave me permission to tell his story anonymously, and he said,
“With the full power and glory of God, I can say to my private demons, “Out! You have no
power or authority over my life anymore. My eyes belong to the Lord, and my body belongs to
my wife. I will not listen, or look, or long again for that which is not mine and which in fact
never was.” Transformation is possible, friends.
In his book Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis writes, "Every time you make a choice you are
turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different
from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all
your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a
hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and
with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war with and hatred toward God, and with its
fellow creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and
peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage,
impotence, and eternal loneliness.”1
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Conclusion.
Many years ago Robert Munger wrote a wonderful little booklet entitled My Heart, Christ’s
Home. In it he compares the Christian life to allowing Jesus to take up residence in a home,
which is your heart. It’s drawn from a verse in Ephesians 3:17 where Paul says, “[My prayer is
that] Christ may settle down and be at home in your hearts by faith.”
The story talks about the way in which Christ goes from room to room in the house, using
the metaphor, cleaning up, rearranging, and putting things in order. Finally, the Lord comes to
a little hall closet. I'd like to close this morning by reading you a little excerpt from the booklet:
One day I found Jesus waiting for me at the door. There was an arresting look in His eye. He
said to me as I entered, "There is a peculiar odor in the house. There is something dead around
here. It's upstairs. I think it's in the hall closet." As soon as He said the words, I knew what He
was talking about. Yes, there was a small closet up there on the landing, just a few feet square,
and in that closet behind lock and key I had one or two little personal things that I did not want
anybody to know about, and certainly I did not want Christ to see. I knew they were dead and
rotting things. And yet I loved them, and I wanted them so for myself that I was afraid to admit
they were there. I went up the stairs with Him, and as we mounted the stairs, the odor became
stronger and stronger. He pointed at the door and said, "It's in there! Some dead thing!"
I had already given Him access to the library, the dining room, the drawing room, the
workshop, the playroom, and now He was asking me about a little 2 x 4’ closet.... "Just give me
the key. Just authorize me to take care of that closet and I will," He said. So with my trembling
fingers I passed the key over to Him. He took it from my hand, walked over to the door, opened
it, entered it, took out all the putrefying stuff, and threw it away. Then He cleaned the closet,
painted it, fixed it up, doing it all in a moment's time. Oh, what victory and release to have that
dead thing out of my life!"2
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Where do you need to experience transformation in your life this morning, and how is God
calling you to come clean with Him today? What would it take for you to be honest with the
Lord and begin a new life of discipleship this morning in becoming the person God created you
to be and deep down you want to be? May this be the beginning of a new life in Christ. His
transforming love and power is waiting for you! Amen.
1
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 72.
Robert Munger, My Heart Christ's Home.
2