Marvelous Transformation!
Greetings! Thank you for joining me today. Praying you will receive revelation from our teaching today! Eric
A number of months ago, at a small group meeting, I had someone ask me, “Oh Eric, are you saying that we all are to be a bunch of little Jesus’s walking around?” My response, “Well, yes.” Are we God? NO! However, we are to ‘be transformed’ into His image. We are to be doing His work here on this earth. We are to grow and mature spiritually, and be partakers of His divine nature!
Let’s get started. God formed Adam, the first man, in His own image (likeness) from dust of the ground. However, God gave Adam life, by breathing His own breath into him! (Gen 2:7). Thus, we have a material body and an immaterial soul and spirit.
When Adam disobeyed God’s command, he brought sin upon all mankind. Every human is born with Adam’s nature (human nature) which is sinful, with a natural bent toward pleasing self. (Romans 5:12 and 7:14). So, at the time when God removed Adam and Eve from the garden, there were two natures on the earth. There was God’s divine nature, and man’s nature (also called sin nature, human nature, or the flesh).
We read that “our natural self or sin nature cannot please God.” (Romans 8:8). Also our sin or human nature keeps us from fellowship with God and in bondage to sin. If we continue in that sin, it would lead eventually to spiritual death. (Romans 6:16,23: 7:14 and 2 Peter 2:19).
Here’s the thing. We cannot change our nature!
The good news is that God was fully aware of men’s inability to do anything to reconcile their relationship with Himself and knew exactly what needed to take place.
A perfect sacrificial lamb was needed to take away the sins of the world. That perfect sacrifice came in the person of His Son, Jesus! (2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT). Romans 5:16 and 17 (NLT) describes perfectly what took place, “And the result of God's gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man's sin. For Adam's sin led to condemnation, but God's free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”
Now, this is where we see something truly amazing! When we accept the sacrifice that Christ made for us, we are told that we are born again (1 Peter1:3) and become a new creation! Look at 2 Corinthians 5:17 from the Amplified Bible, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].” God provided the way for us to be a new creation and to be born again!
Before accepting Christ as Savior, a dear friend of mine was an alcoholic. However, when he became a new creation, he was able to walk away from the addiction and alcohol. Praise God!
But, wait! There’s more!
Galatians 2:20 reveals that when we accept the sacrifice of Christ, ”I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, Christ lives in me.” ‘Crucified’ in this context means: by the death of Christ on the cross, I have become utterly estranged (dead to) my former habit of feeling and action. Colossians 3:3 expresses it this way, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Is that good news, or what? But, let’s keep going!
Ephesians 2:10 reads, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…” ‘Workmanship’ means a design produced by an artisan. God is the master Designer! After our conversion, He brings our life into balance, symmetry, and order. Did you notice the word ‘created”? ‘Created’ ktizo, in the Greek, means: He renovates the nature of His redeemed children to make good work possible! Remember, because of Adam’s sin, we were born with a sin or human nature. Well, because of Christ, we are God’s children! Children, (teknon) are all who are animated by the Spirit, those whom God knows to be qualified to obtain the nature and dignity of His children. (Galatians 3:2 reveals that when we believe and receive the message of salvation, with faith, we receive the Holy Spirit.)
2 Peter 1:2-4 (NLT) reveals more amazing truths, “May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. 3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires.”
Gleaning these amazing truths: First, notice that the more you grow in the knowledge of God and Jesus, the more grace and peace you will have. Studying and knowing the Word of God is vital. Secondly, everything we need to live a gody life comes through His divine power. Thirdly, because of His glory and excellence, He gives us great and precious promises which enables us to participate with his divine nature! The word translated ‘share,’ koinonos in this verse has also been interpreted, in various Biblical translations, as : partakers; to participate in the divine nature; so his nature would become a part of us.
It’s incredible that we are made in God’s image! Equally incredible are the promises He has made which enable us to participate in His divine nature as His Spirit remakes us! Wow!
Sadly, we do not see many in the body of Christ living as though they share His divine nature because they do not know the Word and do not realize it is available.
What significance does being a participant of the divine nature have for us?
Believers are no longer enslaved to the passions and sins of the flesh. We have power from on high to conquer every temptation that comes against us.
Believers do not have to follow the sin nature any more. At salvation, our old nature is defeated and our new divine nature desires the things of God.
We love what He loves and we hate what He hates.
We are conformed (molded) to the image of Jesus. (Romans 8:29).
We have the Holy Spirit indwelling us.
We are made like God.
Charles Spurgeon described these 7 Christian characteristics:
“He is love, we become love.”
“He is truth, we become true and love that which is true”.
“He is light, we reflect His light and hate the darkness.”
“He is good and makes us good by His grace.”
“He is the vine - we are the branches.”
“The same Spirit that raises Christ from the dead, quickens our mortal body.”
“The members of the church should be distinguished for holiness.”
Look at 2 Corinthians 3:18 (Amplified Bible), “And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit.” The phrase ‘being transformed’ is translated from the Greek word ‘metamorphoo’, and means we are transformed into the same image (of consummate excellence that shines in Christ). ‘Glory’ means: magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, and grace. ‘Image’, means figure, likeness - the image of the Son of God (not only like the heavenly body but also the state of mind which Christ possesses).
Do you see the truth of the Word of God? This is for you!
1 Corinthians 12:27 (ESV), “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”
“Today, the church is to bear the image of Jesus Christ and carry on the ministry of Jesus to the world through the generations.” (christianity.com)
I believe Ephesians 4:10 through 16 gives us some clarity about the purposes of God in desiring that His people share in the divine nature.
Ephesians 4:10-16 (Amplified Bible), “He who descended is the very same as He who also has ascended high above all the heavens, that He [His presence] might fill all things [that is, the whole universe]). 11 And [His gifts to the church were varied and] He Himself appointed some as apostles [special messengers, representatives], some as prophets [who speak a new message from God to the people], some as evangelists [who spread the good news of salvation], and some as pastors and teachers [to shepherd and guide and instruct], 12 [and He did this] to fully equip and perfect the saints (God's people) for works of service, to build up the body of Christ [the church]; 13 until we all reach oneness in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, [growing spiritually] to become a mature believer, reaching to the measure of the fullness of Christ [manifesting His spiritual completeness and exercising our spiritual gifts in unity]. 14 So that we are no longer children [spiritually immature], tossed back and forth [like ships on a stormy sea] and carried about by every wind of [shifting] doctrine, by the cunning and trickery of [unscrupulous] men, by the deceitful scheming of people ready to do anything [for personal profit]. 15 But speaking the truth in love [in all things--both our speech and our lives expressing His truth], let us grow up in all things into Him [following His example] who is the head -- Christ. 16 From Him the whole body [the church, in all its various parts], joined and knitted firmly together by what every joint supplies, when each part is working properly, causes the body to grow and mature, building itself up in [unselfish] love.
You, as a believer, are a part of the body of Christ. Christ, Himself, is the Head. Each one of us has a God-given plan and purpose to fulfill to help the body grow and mature. It is only through the Spirit of God in us, that divine nature He has called us to participate in, that we will be able to do His work. Look again at verse 13, “until we all reach oneness in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, to become a mature believe, reaching to the measure of the fullness of Christ.
It is only through His divine nature working in us that we will accomplish His work in the world around us. We must be conformed to the image of Christ and move in the power of the Spirit.
It transforms our lives marvelously!
NLT New Living Translation
ESV English Standard Version