2024-06-30 Transformed: Changed from the Inside Out 05.pptx

Editor's Notes

1. Imagine a man who read the Bible for an hour a day. ‌Imagine he spent another hour a day memorizing scripture. ‌Imagine he listened to sound Christian teaching on the way to and from work. ‌Imagine he listed to sound Christian teaching on TV at home in the evening instead of watching sit-coms and the news. ‌Now, imagine he never talked to another Christian. He spent his life alone. He was never encouraged, never admonished, never corrected. He never spoke the truth in love. No one ever spoke into his life. He was never loved by another human being. He was alone. ‌Question: how much would he grow spiritually?
2. We take this to mean going to church regularly. But look carefully at what kind of meetings are spoken of here. This is not a sit-in-straight-rows-and-watch-the-same-events-happen-on-the-same-stage meeting.
3. This is a one-another meeting. It is circles, not rows. It is participation. Replace or repurpose one of your sit-in-straight-rows meetings with a Hebrews 10:24 meeting. A meeting where everyone comes ready to bring something that will encourage the group. ‌— Josh Hunt, The Habit of Discipleship (Pulpit Press, 2015).
4. The Hebrews 10:24–25 admonition—“Let us not give up meeting together”—is not fulfilled merely by attending church on Sunday morning, as is so often supposed. It is fulfilled only when we follow the instructions to encourage, spur on, and stimulate one another. This cannot be done sitting in pews, row upon row, listening to the pastor teach. It can only be done through the mutual interchange of admonishment and encouragement. This is not to diminish the importance of our pastors' teaching ministries. The Bible clarifies that their ministries are vital in our lives (see, for example, Ephesians 4:11–12; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; 1 Timothy 3:2; 1 Timothy 5:17; 2 Timothy 4:2).
5. But we need both the public teaching of our pastors and mutual encouragement and admonishing of one another. The latter seems to be the main thrust of Hebrews 10:24–25. ‌— Jerry Bridges, Growing Your Faith: How to Mature in Christ(Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2004), 95–96.
6. “I don’t need organized religion! I spend time with God in the great outdoors. The woods are my sanctuary!” ‌ A man in elk camp lifted both of his arms in the air, looked up at the canyons surrounding our campfire, and made that declaration in response to my question, “Where do you go to church?” Three other men in camp affirmed their agreement to his statement of rugged individualism. ‌This attitude is both true and false. On one hand, every sportsman should worship God in his creation. That’s one of the primary reasons why God gave us nature—he wanted us to see his power and character in the breathtaking things he’s created. “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Rom. 1:19–20). ‌ For a person who follows Jesus, all of life is holy. Every place we find ourselves is a sacred space—forests, fields, living rooms, garages, and sanctuaries. We are with God in all of these places. But not all spaces inspire the same response from us. Like many reading this book, I sense a special connection with my Creator when I’m surrounded by trees or when I’m on the water—far from concrete, cars, and other things made with human hands. It is entirely appropriate to worship in nature.
7. ‌But if an attitude of rugged individualism prevents us from holding a deep commitment to our local community of believers, we lose something special. And when we are absent from our spiritual community, we cause others to lose something special as well. The apostle Paul describes our choice to put our faith in Jesus as an immersion by the Spirit of God into the body of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 12:13).
8. When we are saved, we are no longer isolated, autonomous beings; we become vital, interdependent members of a unified community. As Paul states, “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor. 12:27). ‌ One of the most ruggedly independent, courageous steps a sportsman can take today is to turn away from his previously isolated life and say, “I’m going to do the difficult work of committing deeply to my local church. I’m going to be a man who serves others and allows myself to be served by others. I’m going to play my role in the body.” ‌ — Zeke Pipher and Steve Chapman, In Pursuit: Devotions for the Hunter and Fisherman (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2014).
9. One evening some friends of ours, Paul and Brenda, were watching their grandson, Scott, play basketball. Scott plays center. He is tall and handles the ball well. That night, every time Scott got the ball, he looked around for someone to pass to instead of shooting. ‌Later, Paul asked his grandson, “Scott, why don’t you shoot when you have a good shot?” Scott thought for a moment and replied, “When you throw the ball out to one of the other guys and he makes two points, then you run down the court giving high fives—that’s the real thrill. That’s the name of the game.” ‌— PreachingToday.com, More Perfect Illustrations: For Every Topic and Occasion (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2003), 278.
10. One evening some friends of ours, Paul and Brenda, were watching their grandson, Scott, play basketball. Scott plays center. He is tall and handles the ball well. That night, every time Scott got the ball, he looked around for someone to pass to instead of shooting. ‌Later, Paul asked his grandson, “Scott, why don’t you shoot when you have a good shot?” Scott thought for a moment and replied, “When you throw the ball out to one of the other guys and he makes two points, then you run down the court giving high fives—that’s the real thrill. That’s the name of the game.” ‌— PreachingToday.com, More Perfect Illustrations: For Every Topic and Occasion (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2003), 278.
11. The church consists of ordinary people indwelt by an extraordinary God.
12. So, while we may be “clay jars” (2 Cor. 4:7), our contents are extraordinary—the living God Himself! We need to know this reality and experience it. Our expectations for the Christian life are often way too low, considering the staggering claims the Bible makes about our position in Christ and His position in us. He has taken up residence in us through the Holy Spirit. Just think of it: Almighty God lives in you! Anything is possible now.
13. ‌Check this out: 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.” Yet we easily forget to look for and expect the newness of life that God has worked in us, beginning with conversion but never diminishing afterward.
14. We have real power to change because God lives inside of us. ‌— Walk Thru The Bible, Stand Firm Day by Day: Let Nothing Move You (Nashville: B&H, 2013).
15. This passage suggests that God lives in all of us together in a way that is different from how he lives in any of us individually.
16. The tabernacle and the shekinah were a reminder of God’s presence with his people in the desert. The tabernacle was God’s tent in the midst of Israel’s tents.
17. Solomon’s temple was a reminder of God’s presence among his people after they had conquered the land and at the height of Solomon’s kingdom.
18. After the return from exile, the second temple was a reminder that God had re-established Israel in the land he had promised them. It was a reminder of his presence among them.
19. ‌In John 1:14, John says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The word John used for “dwelt” literally means “set up a tent.” John’s word is a Greek translation from the Hebrew word for “tabernacle” used in the Old Testament. So, John announced that the Tabernacle had once again returned, but this time, the Tabernacle existed in the person of Jesus Christ. With Jesus, the problem of God’s presence among people is solved once and for all. Jesus shows us what it looks like for people to dwell with God and what it means for humanity to embody the presence of God. With Jesus, we never have to worry about losing the presence of God—He came and dwelt among us, and we are joined to Him because of His death on the cross.
20. Beyond that, God’s presence now dwells in us through the Holy Spirit! In fact, Paul said that our bodies are individually “temples of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:19).
21. He also says that collectively, as the church, we are God’s temple (1 Cor. 3:16). So Paul says God lives in us as a group, but he also lives in each of us individually.
22. So here, Paul says that in Jesus we are “being built together into a dwelling place for God” (Eph. 2:22), which is another way of saying we are his temple ( Eph. 2:21).. ‌— Francis Chan and Mark Beuving, Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples, First Edition (Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook, 2012), 220–221.
23. When we invite people into relationship with others in the church, we are taking the next step in giving them the best possible opportunity to become fully developing followers of Christ. The alternative—the other road—leads only to frustration and disillusionment with the Church and likely with God Himself. As Jesus said, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matt. 22:37-40, emphasis added). Helping your second-time guests learn to love their neighbors is, according to Jesus, equally as important as learning to love God—and for your assimilation process, giving second-time guests opportunities to do the former will help open the door to them to do the latter. ‌— Nelson Searcy and Jennifer Henson, Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church(Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2010).
24. What happens when one part of the body loses connection with its head? Paralysis of the affected parts of the body: hemiplegia, paraplegia, quadriplegia. It doesn’t just affect the part that has lost connection. It affects all the parts that depend on it!
25. As Jesus said, using a different metaphor, the only way a branch can be fruitful is if it maintains its connection to the life-giving vine.
26. One of my favorite literary characters is Jeffrey Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme. There’s nothing wrong with his head, but most of his body has lost connection to his head. He can still eat and drink. His basic life functions are intact. But except for one finger, his motor functions don’t work at all. His body looks healthy, but it doesn’t work. I wonder to what extent Christ is frustrated with the dysfunctional body that is his church, where so many of us seem to be going through the motions of church attendance, but who seem to have lost our life-giving connection to the one who is supposed to be our head!
27. Consider the effects of technology: ‌Roughly one-fourth of America’s dinners are eaten while watching television.[6] ‌According to the Kaiser Foundation, during a typical year, the average child in the United States spends the equivalent of two months viewing television.[7] Social media has replaced face-to-face friendship with virtual “friends” we don’t connect with at all. ‌— Heather Zempel, Community Is Messy: The Perils and Promise of Small Group Ministry (Westmont, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012).
28. According to a study published in American Psychology in 2017, lacking social connection increases your odds of premature death more than smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It is twice as dangerous as drinking 6 alcoholic drinks a day, three times as dangerous as physical inactivity, four times as dangerous as obesity, and six times as dangerous as air pollution. According to a study done in Alameda County, California, those people who were most isolated were three times more likely to die than people with strong relational connections. On the other hand, people with strong social connections, but poor health habits (eating, exercise, smoking, etc.) lived significantly longer than those with good health habits but weak social connections.
29. As John Ortberg puts it, "it is better to eat Twinkies with good friends than to eat broccoli alone."
30. Do you remember these lyrics? They come from a sitcom about a group of lonely, dysfunctional people who somehow found a connection with other lonely, dysfunctional people in a neighborhood bar called Cheers. But you never saw a glimpse of their lives at work or at home – only at the bar. And there, you only saw enough to know they were all a mess! Shouldn’t that song be a description of the church – where dysfunctional people gather with other dysfunctional people and find that even though every one of us is a mess, Christ has brought us together into the one community that is his body – where we don’t have to be alone any more!