WHO ARE YOU BECOMING?

 

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

               I have been rereading a small volume of selections from C.S. Lewis’ writings. I have been challenged by Lewis’ ability to take profound theological truths and make them understandable. One of the selections is titled “Ordinary People”. Lewis makes the point that if we take seriously the idea that we were created for eternity, there are no ordinary people. In light of eternity, nations, cultures, and civilizations are only a blip on the timeline of history. Only human beings will endure on into eternity.

               Lewis goes on to make the point that the lives we live now are shaping us into the people we will be in eternity. Every choice we make is sculpting us into a particular kind of person that we will become fully aware of when we step from time into eternity. Here is how Lewis puts.

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations.” (The Weight of Glory)

               The question that Lewis brings to the surface is, what kind of a person are you becoming? Many years ago, someone told me, whoever you want to be when you are 80, you need to start becoming that person now. The question of who are we becoming is not an insignificant one. It is of ultimate significance in the light of eternity.

               Paul puts a positive spin on this question with his comment in 2 Corinthians. He informs us that as followers of Christ, who have seen His glory, are being transformed into His likeness. But to be honest, this is not automatic. It takes an intentional act of the will to move toward Christlikeness.

               Our natural tendency is to move in the opposite direction. Sin is always tempting us with present pleasures at the cost of our eternal reality. Like Esau selling his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. For a moment of satisfaction, he forfeited a far greater future. We are not all that different.

               So, let’s get back to the question. Who am I becoming? The Bible does not leave us in a dark about how we move toward Christlikeness. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul challenges us to set the right course for our lives. As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 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. Ephesians 4:1-3 (NIV) In essence, if we are going to become people who display Christlikeness, we need to model His character. Instead of shaping our lives to fit the current trends of our world, we need to have the courage to shape our lives to fit the very nature of Jesus. This will often mean that we will be going against the flow. We may seem weird and out of step to the world around us. But that is the way the world viewed Jesus as well.

               In one of Paul’s most profound statements, he crystalizes what it means to set our sights on being like Christ.

Philippians 3:7-14 (NIV)
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

               In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul expressed his commitment to attaining the goal of becoming like Christ. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV)

               We cannot afford to coast through life. Each day is an opportunity to be refined and shaped for eternity. Who do you want to be when you step through the door into eternity? Start being that person now.

Colossians 1:9-14 (NIV)
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

GPS SPIRITUALITY

 

Acts 17:11 (NIV)
Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

               We recently returned from a trip to North Carolina and southern Ohio. On that trip, we leaned heavily upon the GPS on our phones. GPS is a remarkable thing. It has the ability to guide you to where you want to go, often making course corrections along the way to help you avoid delays. I am thankful for GPS, but it has its drawbacks as well. On several occasions GPS has taken me down roads that I would have preferred not to travel. On a couple occasions it has actually taken me to the wrong destination. In the main GPS is great, but it in not infallible.

               One of the drawbacks of GPS is that we are losing our ability to read a map. While GPS may give you the best route to take from point A to point B, it fails to give you the big picture. I happen to like maps, so when we travel, I pick up road maps whenever they are available. Sadly, paper maps are becoming more rare. For most people today, GPS has replaced paper maps altogether.

               In my devotions, I have been reading a collection of readings from C.S. Lewis. I recently read an excerpt from Mere Christianity called WHY WE NEED A MAP.  Lewis makes the point that our spiritual experiences are enriching and engaging but limited. He illustrates by contrasting a walk along the beach at the Atlantic Ocean to looking at a map of the Atlantic. The experience of walking along the beach may be more pleasurable than studying a map, but it will not get you from England to America. If a person wants to traverse the Atlantic Ocean, they will need a map to get them there. His point is that studying theology may not be as exciting as experiencing God’s presence in nature, but it is the key to actually reaching pour ultimate goal.

               Today, with the rise of social media and AI, I think we have fallen into the trap of having a GPS spirituality. We have traded diligent study of God’s Word for quick answers found on the internet or the latest podcast. We are allowing a kind of spiritual GPS system to guide our spiritual journey rather than studying the map for ourselves. The outcome is often unprofitable and at time dangerous. Using spiritual GPS can blind us to the big picture of God’s Word. It can also lead us down paths that go in the wrong direction altogether.

               In the book of Acts, there is a telling statement. It says that the Bereans didn’t just listen to what Paul had to say, but they went back to scripture to check it out. In my many years of ministries, I have often challenged my hearers to do the same thing. Don’t just take my word for the truth, check it out for yourself. There is only one way to do that and that is to go back to God’s roadmap, the Bible.

               A number of years ago, I developed a class for my church on basic Bible Doctrine. As C.S. Lewis pointed out, many people are turned off by doctrine, but it is essential to our faith. Studying Bible Doctrine can unlock the breadth and width and depth of scripture. It can give us the big picture and help us to navigate the particulars of our journey better.

               In Psalm 119, the psalmist expounds on the value of reading the map.

Psalms 119:97-104 (NIV)
Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me.
I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.
I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.
I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word.
I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.

               This is not an uncommon theme in the Bible. We are encouraged to study and meditate of God’s Word. It is both the foundation for our faith and the guide for our spiritual journey. As the psalmist says in Psalm 119:9-10, How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.

               Paul included this same idea in his second letter to Timothy. As he was encouraging Timothy in his role as the pastor of the church in Ephesus, he challenged him to keep his eyes on the map. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)

               It is easy when you travel to become dependent upon GPS. But when the signal is lost, you can get lost as well. It is easy to depend on spiritual GPS to guide your spiritual journey, but when the signals you are receiving contradict one another or radically change course you may find yourself in a place you do not want to be. It is much better to learn to read the map for yourself, and like the Bereans, weigh what you hear through the filter of scripture instead of whatever is currently popular.

Matthew 24:24 (NIV)
For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible.

THE CHALLENGE OF BEING EXCLUSIVE

 John 14:6 (NIV)

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

               I have been reading Erwin Lutzer’s book “Christ Among Other Gods.” In it he relates his experience at the Parliament of World Religions in 1993. The goal of that gathering was to bring all of the world religions together into some kind of a unified whole. The different religions were all recognized and celebrated, as long as they did not portray themselves as exclusive. The ultimate goal was to eliminate all differences and unite around the principle of love and human well-being.

               Although the goal of the Parliament has not been achieved, the push to be “tolerant and inclusive” has continued to be championed in our world. Although some people want to just ignore Jesus, most people struggle to make him fit into our new world order. The most common way to do that is to see him as just one among many religious leaders who have influenced the course of human history. They were willing to honor him, but not to give him an exclusive place of authority.

               There are others who want to reduce Jesus to just a man who was elevated after his death to the place of deity by his followers. They claim that the historical Jesus, if he lived at all, was just an unfortunate idealist who met a tragic death. The Jesus of faith is a construct of the early church to continue the legacy of Jesus.

               In these, and many other ways, many people want to deny Jesus’ claim to be the exclusive way to God.

               At the very heart of our faith is the reality that Jesus stands alone on the landscape of human history. We believe that Jesus is the unique Son of God who came into the world to save all of humanity from our sins. As John has said it so eloquently, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. John 1:1-5 (NIV)
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 (NIV)

               The attempt to make Jesus just another man is not new. The early church struggled with the same issue. John addressed it in his first letter to the saints. Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:1-4 (NIV)

               John’s point is that we cannot have a relationship with God the Father without God the Son. The two go hand in hand. We cannot separate one from the other. John goes on to make that point very clear. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1 John 5:11-12 (NIV)

               We face increasing pressure to compromise our faith by diminishing who Jesus is. We can honor him as a great moral and spiritual leader, but we cannot call him the exclusive Savior of the world. As we move forward, this pressure is only going to increase. We need to hold fast to the truth that Jesus is the exclusive way to God. There are no others. All others are dead ends.

Hebrews 10:23 (NIV)
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.