Change Me



(Click here for an audio version. Music is from 'Godpleaser' by Petra.)

"Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes,
And I shall observe it to the end.
Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law
And keep it with all my heart.
Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.
Incline my heart to Your testimonies
And not to dishonest gain.
Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity,
And revive me in Your ways.
Establish Your word to Your servant,
As that which produces reverence for You.
Turn away my reproach which I dread,
For Your ordinances are good.
Behold, I long for Your precepts;
Revive me through Your righteousness."
(Psalm 119:33-40)

How do the prayers of the Psalmist here compare to yours?  What are you asking God FOR?

Continuing our theme from last week, ‘Teach Me’, we go further to ask God to change us.  Notice the Psalmist does not pray things like, ‘Lord enable me to…’, or ‘give the doctors or whoever wisdom to…’, or anything like that.  Those may not be bad things, but I challenge you to find prayers like that modeled for us in the Bible.  No, here the Psalmist essentially pleads, ‘Lord, DO it!’

This is just the ‘tip of the iceberg’, so to speak.  There are many more examples of such prayers in the Scriptures, and I encourage the adventure of discovery here.

Can We Change?

The Rocky movies are among my favorites (although admittedly I have avoided Rocky V).  In Rocky IV, after vanquishing the Russian foe Ivan Drago and seemingly turning the crowd’s loyalty to him, Rocky said, ‘If I can change, then you can change, everybody can change.’ 

Really?

Yet, that is a burning, longing desire that nearly everyone has.  The self-help, personal growth industry is thriving, and always will.  I for one am thankful for much of the common grace of practical wisdom of many of these writers and speakers.  The very best of them address not just behavioral technique, but heart and character (particularly two of my favorites, John Maxwell and Brian Johnson).  However, for the most part, the focus is being a better self, the best version of you.

Really?

Does that work?  More importantly, does that accurately reflect either our innate ability or God-given means of change?  In short, does it reflect reality?

"Thus says the LORD, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from the LORD.
"For he will be like a bush in the desert
And will not see when prosperity comes,
But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,
A land of salt without inhabitant."  
(Jeremiah 17:5-6)

Our best efforts simply won’t do.  The best version of you is not a good scenario.  I wouldn’t recommend it.

Change Into What?

"Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."  (2 Corinthians 5:16-21, emphasis mine)

True, sustained, permanent – yes, even eternal  - change can only come from God.  And it’s all about the person of Jesus Christ.  Salvation is from Him, through Him, and towards Him.  Only He – as fully God and fully man – was the perfect man who fully met all of God’s righteous requirements.  God’s plan is for believers to ‘become the righteousness of God in Him.’ (2 Corinthians 5:21),  ‘predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son’ (Romans 8:29).  This ‘new creature’ concept is further elaborated in the New Testament:
·      "and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."  (Ephesians 4:24)
·      "and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—"  (Colossians 3:10)
·      "Beloved, now we 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."  (1 John 3:2)

In other words, the image of Christ has been created in believers (that is called justification) and is being renewed (that is called sanctification), a process that will culminate with us being fully righteous in Him (that is called glorification). 

How does self-help and ‘the best version of you’ look now?  God has something infinitely greater in mind.

Change How?

At this point we are so far beyond technique or behavior modification.  If our lives are to change, our hearts must change.  What comes out of us must start within us.  If you keep reading in Jeremiah 17:7-8 we see that abundant fruit must have a deep root.

Jesus both explained and fulfilled God’s Law, which is the sum of His righteous requirements:

"One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?" Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.' "The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these.""  
(Mark 12:28-31)
[Just a word of explanation here.  The quote is from the NASB, and where there are all caps, that indicates a direct quote in the New Testament from the Old Testament.]

The second commandment seems perhaps achievable with great effort, but the first?  ALL of my heart, ALL of the time? 

And even the second, think about it.  Even Jesus said it is quite unlikely that anyone would truly be unselfish enough to die for another.  We may have moments of unselfishness, but a lifetime of it?  Only Jesus did that (Romans 5:7-8)

Fortunately God has a solution for this impossible dilemma. 

""Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances."  (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

Earlier God had commanded through the prophet Ezekiel that Israel make themselves a new heart and a new spirit, lest they die (Ezekiel 18:31).  But this was impossible; the only hope was for God to do it.  I encourage you to read Ezekiel 36:22-38 closely.  It is dominated by ‘I will’ statements from God.  So it must be!

Ezekiel 36 seems to answer the prayer of Psalm 119:33-40 where we started. 

Change and Surrender

Certainly we recognize by now that the change we need is well beyond the scope of human resolve and ability.  Our only hope is to surrender to the capable hands of Christ.  The Bible uses the terms repentance and faith to describe that.

(If this is new to you, I recommend reading the recommended links on my blog: Who is Jesus? and The Story of His Glory.)

He causes us to be born again (1 Peter 1:3), to walk in His ways (Ezekiel 36:27).  In short, He creates what He commands. 

Consider:

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."  
(Romans 12:1-2)

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."  
(2 Corinthians 3:18)

Change – true transformation – comes to us as the Spirit of God illumines the word of God so that we see and seek the Son of God – and we are changed into His image.

So if there is any effort on our part, it is our surrender to Him.  Next, we will explore why this is not a passive process.

‘Fixing our eyes on Jesus’, we….. more on that next time.

Lord, change me!

In His Grip,

Mark

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