Growing - conformed, transformed, and maturing?
Vern Peterman · Apr 24, 2011
What God Is Doing in Believers, No. 17
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926232333293

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

How do you look for a church? Does Google Maps help? Never had to look for a church. How do people go about looking for churches? They look for friendliness. I read one study that said that, on average, people decide whether or not they're going to return within the first 11 seconds.

Very interesting. Yes? Children's programs? Children's programs, yeah. They look for what programs do you have, right? And what programs do they have relative to what I see my needs are, my family's needs are, that kind of thing. Yeah. How else? How else do they decide? Pardon? Music yeah That's why we've had folks come in here and within the first song or two. They're out the door. Okay. All right music What else? Yeah Yeah, and that's that's is quite rare, but yes, I The reality is people use a lot of different criteria to decide, you know, is this a church I should go to or not and that sort of thing. Let's take a look here.

As we human beings view life, we tend to want everything to make sense from a human viewpoint and to see the reward for our efforts and justice achieved within our lifetimes. People tend to want to have everything make sense based on what they see and what happens during their lifetime and sometimes even shorter than that. That is real common and it's even common among Christians to try to look to have everything resolved and make sense all within, wrapped up just within this lifetime. Does it make sense to me now or pretty close to now? is the way a lot of people tend to look at things.

Anything short of these things tends to drive cynicism, anger toward God, frustration, bitterness, and similar negative sentiments. Why do people get angry about God or angry toward God? Why do people get ticked off at God? It's usually expectations and God somehow falls short of our expectations. We've got an expectation about what God ought to or ought not to do and that gets disappointed and so we're just ticked off. God's really messing things up, right?

Even as Christians read their Bibles, attend church gatherings and services, and even as they select the church or churches where they will be Christian consumers, I put that in quotes, there often remains an earthly and time-limited perspective. How does this service make me feel right now? That's one reason why people will decide within the first 11 seconds whether or not they're going to come back to the church. One of the things that Hal used to tell me is that if somebody tells him, I'll see you next week, he's never going to see him again. Do I enjoy and prefer this brand of Christian entertainment? Yeah. Now, pardon the typo here.

Are they telling me clearly what to do? Exactly what steps to take? See, some folks want steps to take. They want to know, you know, give me the steps. What do I have to do? What's the magic key to unlock the Christian life? They want a formula. They want the steps. And they think it's all about what do I have to do? Okay? Give me the recipe to make this Christian life just click. Right? Yes? I saw a comment on Facebook this morning, I don't know if you saw it, but they're praying that God does something amazing in the church this morning. Yeah.

Well, He already has. Yeah, and I think that's the thing. If people don't realize how amazing God is already, done. The amazing things God has already done. It's like you're looking for something to happen that's already happened. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

One of the things that is not understood, we're going through this elective on what is God doing in the life of the believer. And the reality is a great many Christians are oblivious to what God's doing in the life of the believer and oblivious to what God has already done. So they're looking out of ignorance for some kind of an experience that's going to suddenly make the lights turn on.

But there's nothing wrong with Yes. Yes. One of the things that is critical, we're not saying that feelings are bad. What we're saying is it's faith in the facts is the starting point and the feelings then follow that and grow from that. We don't sit there and look for the feeling anymore than, you know, you imagine, if you've ever, you know, been around where trains are operating, imagine all these trains going backwards. You know, they're following the feelings. Here's this train and, you know, the bars come down and you're waiting at the, you know, the stop there and the bars have come down and the lights are on and you're hearing ding, ding, ding, and this train backs up. And the next time you stop there, the train's backing up. The feelings are leading instead of following.

The next one, does the church give me enough juice to make it to the next service? That's frankly what a lot of Christians are looking for. I want something to pump me up so that when I go through the week and I'm leaking, I still have enough juice left And I'm frankly going to be frustrated with the church if I don't have enough juice left by the time I come to the next service. That kind of church that just doesn't give me enough juice is not going to be the church I want. Do I feel blessed by the experience this pastor, book, music is offering me? Is this church telling me how to feel confident, be prosperous, achieve success, etc.?

? Your best life now, right? Some Christians will see what the various churches and Christian institutions have to offer as sort of a spiritual buffet in which one can sample the flavors, take in the aromas, and eat at one's will and whim. Oh, and the Christian dessert bar? Well, it's just to die for. Yeah, there we go. The coffee room, yes. Brian brews up the best.

In the same way that life in the food buffet can add to both waste and waste, life in the spiritual buffet that many Christians are pursuing and to which many churches are catering, pun intended, contributes to something other than true spiritual growth.

A recent trend for many Christian institutions is to move beyond the buffet by embracing postmodernism and or a sort of Christian Buddhism. Frankly, the Christian Buddhist approach is what a great number of Bible colleges and seminaries have signed on to. Essentially, what they're selling is a Buddhism. It's not Christianity, including big name ones and ones that we might have thought in the past were good places to go.

Spiritual formation, that's a term that's taken on a new definition in the last couple decades. Spiritual formation, contemplative spirituality, the extinguishing of the will and one's desire, and a dichotomous and no clear answers Christian Zen, have more recently emerged as some of the deeper offerings within Christendom. Spiritual formation used to be a term that talked about true biblical spiritual growth. However, the term has actually been brought over from Buddhism in its new definition because now rather than God's Word being a critical instrument for the believer to be transformed, the new brand of spiritual formation sets God's Word aside and essentially has you think over a Christian mantra.

That's what's being taught now as this is true spirituality at Denver Seminary, at Dallas, at Moody. repetitive, kind of like the Buddhist repetitive nonsense. Exactly. That's exactly it. And that's what's being, in fact, I was going to use the word Foster. Richard Foster is one of the names. Dallas Willard, some of the, you know, Henry Nowen, some of the names that are being put out there. And that's what's being pushed at a lot of the Bible colleges and seminaries. Yes.

In the past it would have been thought that it's a good thing for a believer to be passionate about what they're teaching Some who subscribe to this are looking more towards a Buddhist extinguishing of the candle of desire and as being a sign of spiritual growth in the Christian. And we would say that this is greatly in error.

One of the things that we looked at is you are being transformed as you behold the Lord through the Word of God. And it makes the Word of God a critical element in your being changed into the image of Christ. But what this prescribes is that you set the Word of God aside. It's a contentless mantra that has you mystically approaching the Lord rather than the knowledge of Him through His Word. May the Word of Christ dwell in you richly is set aside. May the mantra of Christ dwell in you richly is instead what's communicated. Well, I've heard a topic that they are teaching, you clear your mind of... Exactly. That's exactly it. Yeah, that's exactly it. It is a setting aside of content rather than an understanding of content that's being presented.

What we see here about two-thirds of the way down the first page, but God. But God. In Ephesians 2, 1 through 3, the Apostle Paul describes the spiritual position and condition, and both of those I mean, of the believer before he believed, the same place where all unbelievers stand and live now. His assessment were to end there would be pretty dismal and desperate. Paul turns a grand momentous corner, however, when he writes in Ephesians 2, 4, but God This is the way human beings have it, but God.

And this is where we talk about recognizing what God did. That is amazing. That is amazing. We're not looking, as Jessica pointed out, for something amazing to happen. We're looking to recognize what's already happened, what the Lord has already done that's amazing. And to see what He is doing that is amazing. He has placed you in Christ. That is amazing. We are being conformed and transformed into the image of Christ. That's amazing. That's amazing.

What changes the outlook for human beings is not motivational speakers or monumental human efforts or a paradigm change, however much such things might sparkle in human eyes. What changes the human outlook is what God does out of his wealth of mercy and grace and his great love.

He graciously causes all of us who believe to share Christ's history. What do I mean by sharing Christ's history? Well, as Paul puts it, that we are in the chain of in his sufferings and put into his So that would be the story. Okay, yeah. In other words, if you look at the whole, what new history we have as believers, it's that we died with Him, we were buried with Him, we were raised with Him, we were ascended with Him, and we are now seated with Him. That's what He abbreviates in this Ephesians 2, 4-6, and actually 4-7 passage. The total teaching of the New Testament epistles is that we share in Christ's history in these five events and locations. Death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. So on the one hand, God has done things to change who we are permanently. And once having done those things, we are never to change again in those things that He has once for all accomplished. Are you going to be more in Christ? No. That doesn't get tweaked. Are you going to fall out of Christ? No. That doesn't happen either.

But, on the other hand, there is a part of us, this continuing person, and this continuing person is what would allow the Apostle Paul, for example, to say before he was a believer, I did this, I was that. And so he could relate to what he was and still use the word I. There is something that continues in our person, in our identity, from that time when we were unbeliever to the time when we were a believer.

That's the part that's being changed. God has revealed to us who believe some specifics about the aspect of us that God intends to change. The continuing person conformed by God's sovereignty over circumstances. All the things that happen, even some of them that you can truly call He's still going to use those things to conform us to the image of the Son. Transformed as we behold the living word and the written word. As we behold Christ through his word. Transformed, that means miraculously changed.

And growing toward spiritual maturity, a term which embraces both being conformed and being transformed. And each of these things, the direction of being conformed, transformed, and growth toward maturity, each of these things, the direction of being conformed, transformed, and growth toward maturity is Christ. Christ is the direction towards which we're being conformed. Christ is the direction towards which we're being transformed and the one towards whom we are growing in maturity spiritually. He is the personal definition of where these things are headed.

The ultimate achievement in these things will not come while we are here on planet earth. Not while we're here. The process will continue, but the ultimate achievement of these things will happen when we go to see the Lord. When will we be like Him, conformed, transformed, and mature? When will we be like Him?

Here's 1 John 3, 1 and 2. See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God, and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, we are now, we now are children of God.

And it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him. Because we will see Him just as He is. We're being made like Him now. What day will we be like Him? That day when we see Him face to face. And I hope it's today. And I hope it's today. Yes, Pat? Yes. Well, let's think about that.

I think part of what happens, we look at it, there are some things that even now are not going to change. What things even now for a believer are not going to change? Our position in Christ is fixed, so that's not going to change. Is there anything about life here on this planet with the Christian that still isn't quite what it ought to be? What have we got? We still have these things and we will be out of these things.

Is the fleshly body going to be changing when we get a new body? Yeah, but will it continue to change? Yeah. I think what we have to look at is, will there be growth in heaven? Will there continue to be a process or is everything just static? Perfect. But I would think that we would grow spiritually because of what we're exposed to. Yeah, I think a part of what we have to realize is right now as believers there are things that won't change.

You won't be made anymore in Christ. Then when we go to see the Lord, we'll be rid of these bodies and along with it the sin nature. We will not have the battle that we now have every day because of the sin nature. The sin nature is attached to this physical body here. We won't have that anymore.

Now here is, I think, the key to growth once we pass through heaven's gates. There's nothing deficient about what we will be. But what's amazing What is Ephesians? At the end of this passage, I referred to Ephesians 2.7 says that through the rolling ages of eternity, he will show, and that word show means demonstrate. So he won't just sit there and talk about it.

He will show his grace into the rolling ages of eternity. And we will be amazed into the rolling ages of eternity. So even with the sin nature completely out of the picture, even with a new body that has no defects, no deficiencies, it won't creak and snap, it won't need to go to the doctor. Even with that, there will be a continuing revelation of the magnitude of His glory.

Based on this first John passage, it talks about us being like Him. It's not that we will be Him. And I think for Christians, we oftentimes think that when we're out of this body, instantly we're going to be perfect and also contain all of the omniscience of the Father. We're going to just be instantly like God.

That's a very important distinction. It says like Him, and it's very purposeful. We're not going to be a bunch of Jesus's running around, right? And why is there a distinction? Why like him? Why doesn't it just say we'll all be Jesus's and just put it flat out like that? Why not that? Yeah? Okay. We are being conformed to His image.

We won't have a bunch of Jesuses. In what way will we not be Jesus? We will not be deity. He alone is deity. Okay? So, we're not teaching Mormonism here. We all get to be gods. Okay? Not that nonsense. Okay? We will be like Him. We will not be Him. Okay? We will not be deity. Hey, guess who first offered deity? In the garden, Genesis chapter 3, right?

You will be like God, essentially offering deity and nope, that's not what's being offered here. Like Him in character, like Him even in sharing a body like His. It's very similar then to Luke 2.5 where he said that Christ came in the likeness of man. So that meant that he came in a body like man, but he still had God's character. Yeah, when it says likeness of man, did it mean he came down in a body that had a sin nature and all the propensities? Was Christ in Adam? No. No, he was not. So yeah, that's an important distinction to see. We have been made to be in Christ. Christ was never made to be in Adam. And to continue that analogy, he came in the likeness of man, but he didn't come in the perfect exact image of any one particular man, because he had his individual appearance and characteristics.

And I think that's probably going to be the same for us. It's interesting, we will be like Christ, but it doesn't erase your identity. When each one of us walks through heaven's gates, it won't be like, man, there's a gazillion Jesuses here. It won't be like that. We will still, we will say, well, that person is like Christ. But you know, that still looks like, that still stands. That person is like Christ, but I can tell who these people are. We will still have an identity. The apostles, revelation makes clear, will still be identifiable as who they are and were.

Right? Yes. And just to bring that home on a street level, a person can get to that place minus the body issue that's coming here now. I mean, we can, I can do certain people who have beholden the Lord through the Word, and have grown in maturity and wisdom, and I can say, that person is still so-and-so, but they They embody the attitude of Christ in a lot of the things that they do.

Minus the fact that they sell that flesh, but they've grown, not to say that they're perfect, but I know you've noticed this. Well, and I think what you see is maturity is identifiable. Maturity has characteristics, and that's something that, as we look at this, and in fact we're Two months from now, by that I mean June, we're going to be looking at what does maturity and growth mean in the body of Christ. And in both respects, we can see there is a description of what maturity looks like, and you can recognize and see that within people. One of the qualifications for an elder is that they, in fact, are to be an example.

Does that mean that they're absolutely perfect? No. But what it means is you look at it and you say, no, that's what maturity looks like. And if that's not what people see, then they ought not to be. Yeah. Let's look at here our citizenship. This is right below the first John 3, 1 and 2 passage.

Our citizenship, Philippians 3.20, and listing in the Lamb's Book of Life, Philippians 4.3 and Revelation chapters 3 and 21, our blessings, the end of our new history in Christ, Ephesians 2.6, and the place where our blessed hope comes from are all there in the heavenlies in Christ.

All there, completely, entirely, right? All in the heavenlies in Christ. That is where all these things are now and that is where all these things will be there with him. Our being conformed, our being transformed, our growing and maturity in Christ are all focused upon Christ there in the heavenlies.

That is where and toward whom the changes to our continuing person is headed. It is God's intent that these processes continue until the day when we are called home to meet our Savior face to face. The day when we will be like Him in every respect. I just realized just a couple days ago that that's one of the issues for me is that I'm expecting to see all these changes And so when they don't happen, it's kind of disheartening, or depressing, or upsetting, or frustrating, because you aren't seeing all these particular changes taking place.

But it's just like when we studied the book of Revelations, how you've got the heavenlies, and then you've got the earth, and then you've got below the earth, but all these actions are taking place. It's tremendous action taking place. It's like the book of Revelations. All this action is taking place in the heavens. Yeah, a lot's happening.

Where as we here are static, autonomous individuals, we can't see inside of ourselves. And I don't know if this is making any sense, but it just made sense to me a couple days ago because it's there and not here. And I can't see inside of me. I can't see up there.

So I have to accept it by faith that all this action has to be taking place. My reason for bringing up The way I brought up the first few paragraphs was to get people thinking about just the point that you make. The tendency is for people, they go to a church and they say, give me a nice wrap package that all fits in this room.

And part of what I'm telling you is, the best thing I can do is say it isn't here. You're not going to find it here. I mean, we can have great music and sing the best songs, and I can get you all jazzed up. Ultimately, the answer isn't here. That's right. We say, where are you blessed? It isn't here. Where are you blessed? Where is your citizenship? It's not here.

A week from today, I'll be taken off and I'll take my passport with me or else I'm not getting anywhere. I'll be taking off and heading to the Czech Republic and Uganda, and each time I take off, I'm going to be bouncing through Heathrow in London. And you know, if you look at it, you've got this passport. Where does it say? In spite of all the places I go, I've got this passport, and I can't go anywhere without this passport that says here's where I'm from. Well, guess what? Here, as believers, you're from a place you've never been. You're from a place you've never been. That's the passport you carry. You are from a place you've never been. They say, well, do you own anything? Yeah, it's all up there. Have you ever seen it? Nope. And you're telling me you have this history. Tell me about your history. Well, I never experienced it.

I take it all on faith. I now have this history in Christ and it's all on faith. I have a passport, passport from a place I've never been. And I'm counting on seeing a person face to face I've never seen face to face. Yeah. The whole thing is realizing that that trust and that faith is also a gift.

What do you mean by that? have that passport to say all my gifts are there and I don't know my history is a gift from God that you can say that whereas some people are still saying you know United States and my stuff is back in my house. He accomplished it all. Yeah this is you know it's not If you look at it, what do people say? I own this because I did this, or I have this degree because I did that. It's all about what we did. Here I have this passport that's from a place I've never been. I have this citizenship.

I have blessings. It's all there. You're blessed with every spiritual blessing. Guess where all the blessings are? in the heavenlies in Christ. Every one of them. You're blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, and frankly you've not seen them.

We can enjoy those blessings which are in Christ now. We can. But not on the basis of something that, to make your point, not on the basis of something we've done, it's entirely on the basis of confidence in what He has done. Yeah. or use those, or they're valuable to us in our lives, is through the process of the Holy Spirit and we get back to the heart. The Holy Spirit and the heart. So, as long as we don't quench the Spirit and we allow the Spirit to operate in our lives, then those blessings are appropriate for our use, correct? Yeah.

I'm going to go to Uganda, and in my passport is now the third stamp It's my visa to go to Uganda. And I'm counting on getting into Uganda because I've got that seal. I've got that stamp in there and this seal that says, yep, you can get in. We have the seal of the Holy Spirit.

It says, yep, we're going to get in. The only thing is, I can tell you, I've been to Uganda before. I've never been past heaven's gates before, at least not with this body. But what do we have that says, yeah, you're going to get in? What do we have that says, yeah, all that stuff is there? We have the seal of the Holy Spirit.

Yeah. We have the seal of the Holy Spirit that says, yep, it's all there, and here's what you have now that assures that you have access there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We have the access now. But our bodies are here. So everything we have is all by faith, it is all spiritual, but it's all there. It's all there. And here's the other thing I presented several weeks back. There is a new creation that will replace this one. And in great mass that new creation is not there yet.

However, when was the new creation begun? In whom was the new creation begun? In Christ. And you are a new creation. So what this says is that being as you are, the one who is now in Christ spiritually, you are the beginnings following Christ of the new creation.

So the new creation, which in great part is yet to be. We're still here and we've still got this planet, but it's in great part yet to be, and yet you being in Christ and having been made to be in Him, are the beginnings, after Christ, of that new creation. Starting now. Your body may not feel like it though. Your body may not feel like it, but spiritually Because you are in Christ and He was the firstborn of the new creation, right? Because you are in Christ, you are new creation beings after Him.

Yes, that's exactly His intent. That's exactly His intent. Some folks get a little upset when I tweak the words in the songs. But one of them that we'll be tweaking the words on this morning will be because he lives. My life is worth the living. It's my life he lives. Because he lives, does he live? Yes. But he also does the living through me. And that's the key here. second to last paragraph on page two.

So if our short time here on earth is really all about getting us ready for the eternal time with Christ, then that changes everything. I was talking to Nancy last night. People like to wrap everything up in this earth and what we do in this lifetime, and they want it all to make good sense and for justice to be satisfied here on this planet and now, and it doesn't work. It doesn't work.

This is a getting ready kind of place. And as I presented that to Nancy, she said, you know, it reminds me there was a movie made about a fellow who just lived the longest time in an airport. And you know, I was thinking about that. You imagine, let's say, let's say that Connor was going to spend the month of May out at DIA. He's going to spend May out at DIA. How's that going to work for him? It's a little rough, right?

How are the beds out there? I'm not sure they have very many. Showers are great, though. Maybe not so much. Where do you hang the clothes up? It's a transitional place, isn't it? It's just not a place to get terribly comfortable for a very long period of time. Matter of fact, you hear stories and it makes the news if people are delayed for some length of time by bad weather or some other kind of an event. Because you have these people hanging out in airports, it's not a good place to hang out for very long. Is there a good place for a transition?

Yeah. And that's about all. But people want things here on earth to all wrap up and be a good place when it's really a getting ready kind of place. That's all it is. You're not going to spend forever here, and of course you may be glad for that. You're not going to spend forever here and you're not going to spend forever in this thing. This is a getting ready place. It's not a place where everything all wraps up and makes a nice story and it all looks good. This is a getting ready place and not a place to spend a long, long time. We can't make good sense of life if this is all there is. Yes?

It seems like we have a little bit of a hard time with getting ready. it seems like it's more up to getting to know God a little bit more here. You know, it seems like you can kind of like say like, well, I'm not making, I'm not getting more ready, but I am getting to know more things about God. If those pile up into something that's more ready than it was before, that's good, but maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's just did some pieces here and there that God is kind of working through us that we do it and then we're gone.

I think that goes back to the picture that you showed us like the first or second week where you have your physical eyes and you have your spiritual eyes and you have your spiritual senses and you have your physical senses. power of the Holy Spirit in your spiritual eyes, your spiritual senses, your heart, your soul, all the rest of it that you have on that picture.

I mean, it begins to grow and to become more mature, right? So there is something. It's not just that we stay the same static here. We are literally, physically we're staying what other people see, except for, like he's talking about the changes you can see in people when they become Christians. But inside of us, there is a change being made.

Yes. What you're teaching in this class. Jim, was it you that had a hand up? Yeah, okay. So we are changing. Yeah, what's that? We are changing. Yes. We are changing. That's exactly what God intends. God intends to change us. At the same time, it's important to recognize what He has already done that will never change.

We're not, you know, after the service we don't walk out in the parking lot and look up and there's people falling out of Christ, you know. Oh no, look, he fell out of Christ and he, plop, you know. Some guy was seated in the heavenlies with Christ and they just, you know. That doesn't happen, right? It's not going to change. You're not going to get unseated in the heavenlies.

And that's a good thing. Romans 8, 16-18, the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. And when I say if, the Greek there says, and this is assumed to be true, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Not worthy to be compared.

Suppose I said, you know, if you'll just put a penny down here on the table, when you go home, your front room will be just loaded with gold bricks. Would you say that's a bargain? Yeah, especially at the price of gold these days, right? Especially at the value of a penny. You'd say, that is a real good trade. I'll make that any day. I happen to have a penny somewhere.

Yeah, let's find it. That's what he's doing here. He's saying that the difficulties we go through here, oh, that's nothing. That's nothing. It's a very worthwhile trade. It's hardly even worth considering. You don't have to sit there and calculate anything. It's just a real deal.

Yes? It's not something we understand. We don't see everything all at once. Like for people who accept Christ on their deathbed, they don't have a chance to get ready. But you're ready. Yeah. Right? Yeah. My grandmother, my dad's mom, was close to that. She was in her later 80s when she became a believer about three weeks before she died. And you could tell, I mean I could tell from the expression on her face, yep, she really did believe. Because she was a really different looking lady. It was noticeable. She didn't have long to get ready and not a long time to grow, but she was radically changed. Yeah.

Let's look at the top of page three. So when we go through things that might frustrate us or puzzle us or cause some degree and duration of pain, rather than trying to make sense of all those things in the scope of our lifetime, what sense does that make right now, right? On the basis of God's Word, we are best off to see all these things as getting us ready during this short period of time for the eternal time, a time not like the present.

Just like Paul's comparison in Romans 8.18, all these things that seem difficult now are a phenomenal bargain when traded for what's coming when we pass through heaven's gates.

We're being conformed by these circumstances. We are growing towards spiritual maturity through circumstances and God's Word. So this growing for the self then, this is also preparing us to do good works, right? In the process of our maturing spiritually, we are being prepared for the good works that God gave us. Now you're talking about earthly good works? Yeah. He has prepared good works that we would walk in them. Now, where did the good works come from? It's good works that he has prepared and he has also prepared you for.

Right? And so when we talk about being conformed, when we talk about being transformed, we talk about growing towards spiritual maturity, it's not an eternal perspective. It is not entirely just waiting until we pass through heaven's gates. But that's one of the reasons why we say if you are to do any earthly good at all, you have to be heavenly minded. Right?

The next paragraph, and when we consider our time in prayer, our study of the Bible, or our attendance at church, or our fellowship with other believers in light of these things, we see that these are really all about our relationship and fellowship with the Lord, and the process of preparation that God has in progress in our lives rather than earning any points with the Lord or satisfying a superficial checklist. Okay, I studied the Bible for the required number of minutes today. Dink. Dink. Check. Okay, I prayed. That's good enough. Dink. Check it off. Nope.

We're trying our best to be better than average. We're trying to make it apparent to other people that we're better than average. We're being made like Him in our continuing person as we, by His grace, already are. in our new history in Christ, our new man who is all of who we are in Christ in our new nature. So go ahead, go ahead and let the Word of Christ dwell, that is, make its home in you richly. Go ahead and let Christ do all the living here.

It's not your job. It's not your job. And go right ahead and set your mind on things above. But don't worry that you might not be any earthly good. The only way to be of any earthly good is to set your mind on things above. As long as Christ does the living here in you and through you, the earthly good part is His to accomplish anyway.

It's interesting that you say that. Yeah, I think the person who is earthly minded is not doing any heavenly good, right? Pardon? What do you mean? Oh, if you're a believer and you tend toward more earthly ideas, God can still use you for good, through you.

Yeah, I think you have to ask the question. It is possible, but you have to ask the question, is that God's ultimate intent? Does the Lord intend to use us deliberately and explicitly or accidentally? No, I would say deliberately. Because that's your role.

I think we really want to encourage each other to think heavily. I mean, even if we're... I've got a percentage in my mind that's not quite there yet. I come here, I stay in the Word of God in order to think more heavily, to think on things that are And so to, I mean, we don't want to throw our hands up and just say, you know, these are the earthly things I'm not going to change my mind about. We want to see an encouragement and growth through the work in those areas.

That's a pinpoint area. It's like, I'm thinking earthly. Oh, that's good. Now you know where you need to not think earthly anymore. So deal with it. And it's a process. It takes time. But we want to encourage another point other than that. Big deal. Yeah. Well, now we've got to quit. I'm starting to see noses show up at the back door here. So let's pray.

Lord, we do thank you for what you've revealed in your word. We thank you for the fact that each and every day has meaning and significance and even eternal significance. And we thank you that even as this is a getting ready kind of place, there is still value and significance and importance in what happens here. And we thank you also that we can look upon ourselves as being in process and in ways where we look at it and we say, well, I have some rowing yet to do. I just thank you that we can look at that and say that's where God wants me right now. And we just thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.