As we have seen in previous posts, spiritual renewal results in a change of character. When God restores us to a love relationship with him, he produces righteousness in us. Obedience flows from our love for God. Spiritual renewal involves an inner transformation.
Some people resist spiritual renewal because they do not want to change. They don't want to give up their old harmful habits. They don't want to try to control their thought patterns. They don't want to replace their negative emotions to which they have become addicted. They don't want to start watching their words. The motto of many people is "Come weal, come woe, my status is quo." They are like the Duke of Cambridge who said: "Any change at any time for any reason is to be deplored."
We should not fear the changes that God will produce in us because they will improve our lives. Yes, we may have to give up some things, but pruning is necessary for growth. I want to describe the process of inner renewal by focusing on its possibility, its process, its goal, and its agent.
I. The Possibility of Renewal (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Paul writes: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: The old has gone, the new has come" (TNIV). When we receive Christ, God re-creates us. He restores us to his original intention for us. Imagine commissioning an architect to draft plans to renovate your house. When he meets with you to go over the plans, he begins by saying, "First, we are going to have to tear down the existing house. Second, we will need to dig up the foundation. Then we can rebuild the structure in the right way from the gound up." That plan would probably be more than we bargained for!
Some people imagine that, if they surrender to Christ, he will simply remodel their lives in some minor ways. They just want a few drapes hung up and some new paint slapped on. Maybe fix up their marriage problems here. Give them a good job there. Nothing too drastic. Not too many changes. Just spruce things up a little bit.
Paul says that Christ is not interested in partial remodeling projects. He is in the demolition and reconstruction business. When we surrender our lives to him, he performs a complete overhaul.
This comprehensive transformation was prophesied by Ezekiel 36:26-27: "A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances" (NRSV). When God renews us, he gives us both the desire and the ability to obey his commands. He performs major spiritual surgery on us, not just a spiritual bypass but a total spiritual transplant. He removes our old sinful desires and replaces them with new holy desires. He puts his own Spirit with us, and that Spirit gives us the power to obey his commands.
Often we do not realize what God can do with us if we would just let him. Two caterpillars were crawling across the grass when a butterfly flew over them. They looked up, and one nudged the other and said, "Man, you couldn't get me up in one of those things for a million dollars." We may doubt that God can do very much with us because we are too far gone or too set in our ways, but Jesus said, "Nothing is impossible with God."
II. The Process of Renewal (2 Corinthians 3:18)
Here Paul says: "And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit." The Greek word for "transform" is the word from which we derive the English word "metamorphosis." This word was used to describe the changing of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Paul describes this inner metamorphosis as continual and gradual. It is a lifelong process that never ends in this life.
The transformation that occurs initially when we are born again should continue throughout our Christian lives. Theologians use the biblical term "sanctification" to describe this never-ending process of becoming more and more holy. Theologians have identified two types of sanctification (Moody, 1981, pp. 322-325). "Positional sanctification" or "possessive sanctification" refers to the change that occurs when we are saved. We are made righteous in God's eyes. Other terms for this initial change are justification, redemption, salvation, regeneration, or baptism in the Spirit. The fact that all Christians have been sanctified explains why the most common term in the New Testament for Christians is "saints."
"Progressive sanctification" refers to the ongoing process of spiritual growth by which we actually become righteous. One's moral character is brought into conformity with one's legal status before God. Because we are justified, we are righteous in God's eyes. Then God works within us so that righteousness is displayed in our thoughts, words, and actions.
"Positional sanctification" (or "justification") and "progressive sanctification" can be contrasted in the following ways: what Christ has done for us vs. what the Spirit does in us; instantaneous vs. progressive; finished vs. continuing; all or nothing vs. degrees; changed relation vs. changed character; same for all vs. varies person by person.
III. The Goal of Renewal (2 Corinthians 3:18)
The "same image" into which we are transformed is that of Jesus Christ. The goal of spiritual renewal is to become like Jesus Christ. In Romans 8:29, Paul says something similar: "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters." Jesus is our pattern, our mold, our blueprint. We become more like him as we grow in faith.
A well-known story about Gutson Borgium, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore, says that he once was asked how he was able to produce those four massive likenesses of four presidents, and he replied, "Those figures were there for 40 million years. All I had to do was dynamite 400,000 tons of granite to bring them into view." Within each of us is a Christ-image just waiting to emerge if we would give God permission to chip away and blast away all the parts that do not belong to that image. Over time, that Christ-image comes more and more into view.
So if we are going to become like Christ, what does that mean? It means that I will become a person who loves righteousness and hates wickedness (Heb 1:9). Like Jesus, I will love fairness, equity, justice, and honest dealings with others. I will also hate any thought of rebelling against God. Like Jesus, I will desire to do the will of God rather than my own will (John 6:38). Like Jesus, I will always do what pleases the Father (John 8:29).
Now, some believe that it is possible to achieve perfect resemblance to Christ in this life, but I side with those who believe perfection is not possible while we are in these fallen bodies and we live in the present evil age (Erickson, 1998, pp. 983-986). Although we may never reach the goal of Christlikeness in this life, that is the goal that we are constantly moving toward.
Christopher Columbus faced many obstacles as he attempted to reach his destination, such as homesick sailors and mutiny. He experienced trouble most of the trip. But every day in his log the last entry he would write was: "Today we moved WESTWARD!" Every day we need to remind ourselves: "Today I moved Christward." Christ is our ultimate destination.
V. The Agent of Change (2 Corinthians 3:18)
In this verse, Paul also reminds us that it is the Holy Spirit who produces this progressive change in our character. The word "transformed" is in the passive. It is not something that we do to ourselves. It is done to us by the Spirit. Paul makes this point elsewhere. In 2 Thessalonians 2:13, he refers to "the sanctifying work of the Spirit" (TNIV). Peter also says that we are sanctified by the Spirit so that we will be obedient to Jesus Christ (1 Pet 1:2). This sanctifying work of the Spirit has both a negative and positive aspect.
A. The Spirit kills our sinful desires (Romans 8:5-8, 12-14).
In a negative way, the Spirit sanctifies us by killing our sinful desires (Rom 8:5-8, 12-14). The Spirit implants a desire for God's holiness in us, and that desire to be like God battles against sinful desires that are deeply ingrained in us. Even though our old self has died in Christ, the memory of its desires remains with us, and those desires still hold great attraction for us.
A humorous story illustrates this. A preacher once mentioned in a sermon that there were 789 different sins. A few days later he received in the mail 94 requests from members of his congregation for a list of those sins. Although this story may not be factual, it points to the attractiveness of sin.
This inner struggle is reflected in the application a young man sent to a university. When he was asked to list his personal strengths, he wrote: "Sometimes I am trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent." When the form asked him to list his weaknesses, he wrote: "Sometimes I am not trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent." I think we can all relate the inner struggle of this young man.
The Spirit helps us win this inner battle by putting our sinful desires to death so that we are no longer controlled by them.
B. The Spirit produces righteousness (Galatians 5:22-25).
As we walk by the Spirit, he produces Christ's own character traits within us. In Galatians 5, Paul refers to these traits as "fruit of the Spirit." Our part in this process is to remember that we have already died to the flesh and it no longer has power over us. Our sinful desires have no right to control us.
Abraham Lincoln was walking into town one day when he was overtaken by a man in a wagon going in the same direction. Lincoln hailed him and said, "Will you have the goodness to take my overcoat to town for me?" "With pleasure," the stranger replied, "but how will you get it again?" "Oh, very easily; I intend to remain in it." As long as Lincoln kept the overcoat on, he would have a free ride into town.
If we remember that we are clothed with Christ's righteousness, then we will walk the path of righteousness. Conversely, when we sin, we are acting contrary to our nature as renewed people. Sin is temporary insanity for the Christian. It is acting in a way that violates who we are.
C. The Spirit requires our cooperation (Ephesians 5:18-21).
The Spirit does the work of sanctification, but we have to let him work. We must yield more and more of our lives to him so that he can take control and shape them according to God's will. When we surrender control of our will to his will, we are filled with the Spirit. As we rely on the Spirit's supernatural power, we resist that undertow that seeks to drag us back into slavery to sin.
There is an epigraph on a tombstone that reads: "How sad the story of Jane McCleek/ Her will was strong, but her won't was weak." The Spirit makes our "won't" stronger.
As we follow the Spirit's lead, he leads us to Christ. Rather than losing control of ourselves as people do under the influence of alcohol, we gain self-control so that we have a healthier relationship with God and healthier relationships with other people.
VI. Conclusion
When we see what God can help us become, it is amazing that we would delay allowing God to transform us. This reluctance to be delivered is illustrated by Pharaoh's actions during the Ten Plagues. One of the plagues was a plague of frogs. Pharaoh summoned Moses and asked him to get rid of the frogs. Moses asked him when he wanted him to do it, and Pharaoh said, "Tomorrow!" A famous sermon on this text was entitled "One More Night with the Frogs." It seems incredible to us that Pharaoh would not want to be delivered immediately from the plague of the frogs. But we often choose to live one more night with the frogs. We stall God and say that tomorrow we will allow him to change us, and so we spend one more night with the frogs.
I began by observing how some people resist change, but there are also those who believe this kind of deep change is not possible. Against this view, Don Shelby wrote: "When we tell ourselves 'I can never change,' or 'That will never happen,' we presume too much and believe too little. In Jesus Christ God renders all of our final conclusions premature and all of our talk of determinism as simply bad faith. In Christ, God opens all doors, brings resurrection, reveals possibilities, reclaims the lost, liberates the cursed and possessed, and changes the unchangeable."
Let me close with this benediction from Hebrews 13:20-21: "Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen" (TNIV).
Reflection Questions
1. What aspect of your self have you been reluctant to change?
2. What aspect of your self needs to be brought into conformity to Christ?
3. What can you do to yield more of yourself to the Holy Spirit?
Next Topic: "Is Renewal Really Possible?"
Sources:
Erickson, M. J. (1998). Christian theology. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
Moody, D. (1981). The word of truth: A summary of Christian doctrine based on biblical revelation. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
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