Holy Transformation – Are We Living a Transformed Life?
Sermon Notes
The Church’s Divine Origin
(An Eternal Perspective)
Paul’s Identity: an apostle by the will of God, desiring to be a person of God’s grace and peace (1-2)
God is worthy of all praise for our rich inheritance in Christ – we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ (3)
“Worship is at the heart of transformation!”
Our Election (4-6) – It’s about God our Sovereign
• Before the foundations of the world
• Holy and blameless before Him in love
• Predestined us to adoption as sons, according to His will
• To the praise and the glory of His grace
• Freely bestowed upon us
Our Redemption (7-10) – It’s about Christ our Redeemer
• Through His blood
• The forgiveness of our trespasses
• Based on the riches of His grace
• He lavished them upon us
• Making known the mystery of His will
• Purpose of the revelation of the mystery
Our Inheritance (11-14) – It’s about the Holy Spirit our Sealer/Indweller
• (It’s basis – our predestination)
• We should be to the praise of His glory
• That inheritance is sealed with the Holy Spirit who is also the pledge of our inheritance
• Eternal redemption, eternal praise
Application
1. My life as a Christian is all about how God has transformed me in Christ. Everything in my life is about how God has transformed me. My life now does not start with me (and my gifts and my abilities [or conversely, my weaknesses or my inabilities]). I now live with an eternal perspective in everything. He is my identity. He is now my ambition. He is now my destiny. That’s why we are strangers and pilgrims in this life because our reality is defined by another world.
2. My life as a member of the Body of Christ (in DBC) is all about how God has transformed my life, together with yours, so that we live together as a transformed people. Everything about us is about our transformation together. We now live out of His transformation of us. He is our identity. He is now our ambition. He is our destiny. That’s why we are strangers and pilgrims in this life together because our reality is defined by another world.
Thoughts for Reflection from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
“Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more or less than this. Whether it be a brief, single encounter or the daily fellowship of years, Christian community is only this. We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ.
What does this mean?
It means, first, that a Christian needs others because of Jesus Christ.
It means, second, that a Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ.
It means, third, that in Jesus Christ we have been chosen from eternity, accepted in time, and united for eternity” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, p.21).
May God help us to be the transformed people He has created us to be.