Episode 36 - A New Form

When we receive the promise of salvation from our Lord we are a new creation.  I want to look at this and how it applies to us as children of God.

In this episode I will look at a well known passage from Paul and how he takes a root word and changes it to encourage us as we continue to grow in our spiritual maturity.  By having a better understanding of God's will as Paul speaks to us about, we continue to joyfully walk with our Master.

I invite you to follow our podcast and share it with others as together we walk with our Master.

Please contact me if you have questions or you wish to share with me something about your walk with the Master. My email is walkingwithourmaster@gmail.com

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Transcript

Hello friends, I'm your host Dave Laton and welcome to the podcast, Walking With Our Master, an outreach of the Prattville Church of Christ designed to inform, encourage, and teach as we daily walk with our Master. 

Today I want us to play with some words.  I want to go from one word to three and see how they impact on us as disciples of Jesus.

The verse of scripture I’m referring to with this word is found in Romans 12:1-2.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The basic word I want to look at is “form”.  Like most words it has different definitions.  As a noun it means the visible shape or arrangement of something.  As a verb it means to bring together parts or combine something to create something. 

There are two phrases in the passage I read that show these two definitions.

• “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.”  This is putting ourselves in a shape or arrangement that is acceptable to God.  We bring together parts to create a form that is acceptable to God.  Of course, the parts are God’s will for how we think, feel, and act.
• “Discerning what is the will of God.  This is bringing together parts to combine or create something.  In this case, we form understanding of God’s will.

I want to look now at what happens when we add a prefix to the word form.  We see that we now “form” a new word.  

For example, in the verse we just read, we see Paul adding the prefix “con” and turns form into conform.  Now the word means to behave according to rules, standards, or laws.  This requires submission to something other than our will.

But Paul tells us not to be conformed to this world.  By implication we should be conformed to God’s will.  He isn’t telling us to disobey laws, rather, he is saying don’t let the world change us and turn us away from God’s will.

Paul then adds the prefix “trans” to form and makes the word transform.  Now the word means to make a thorough or dramatic change in appearance, character, or action. By the way, this is not going to be a quick, one-time event.  It takes time to transform.  It is a growth process or a journey to spiritual maturity.

If we are to change, then let’s transform or change into what God wants us to be.  He wants us to be faithful in our love and service as disciples of Jesus.

We see then that we do not conform to the world but are transformed.  

Paul tells us how to be transformed.  We are transformed by learning and putting into action the teachings from God’s word.  As we continue to apply God’s word in our life, we continue to be transformed.

When something is transformed it loses its former identity and takes on the new identity. 

Our new identity is to take on a form that is acceptable to God.  And that form is the image of Christ.  As we continue to grow and learn and apply God’s word, we become more and more like our Lord Jesus until we are characterized as Christ like.  Or, we could say, when others see us, they see Jeus.  We never completely reach full characterization in our life, but we continue to grow and learn as faithful followers of Jesus.

We can also add the prefix, “re” to form and make the word reform.  Now the word means to make a change, usually with the intent to improve it.  It is like transform.  But reform also implies making something over again.

All three of these words, conform, transform, and reform have biblical implications as we begin and grow in our relationship with God.

Whether we conform to God, transform into what God wants us to be, or reform our lives, we seek to become pleasing to God.  It is an ongoing process that we move through until one day we stand before God, fully acceptable and perfect in his eyes.

One of the greatest practical illustrations of this is found in Psalm 51. 

We know the event that led to David writing this incredible psalm.  He sinned grievously before God.  He committed adultery with Bathsheba.  He’s complicit in the murder of her husband Uriah to hide the sin.  He is living a life of a liar.  He has abused the power and authority granted to him by God.  And when confronted by the prophet Nathan and shown that God is aware of his sin and will remove him from the throne, David immediately confesses his sin and throws himself on the mercy of God.  God forgives his sin but maintains the consequences that the child he was to have with Bathsheba would die and David would have strife in his house.

The main point of Psalm 51 is David’s intense prayer to God for forgiveness.  Note that David doesn’t hide his prayer.  By making it a psalm it becomes one of the hymns taught and sung by the people in their worship.  We have the record of the event as well as the psalm today.  This event is a reminder, not only of David’s sin, but a lesson God’s faithfulness to forgive when we repentance and turn back to Him.

David goes from sin to forgiveness and from hiding from God to praising God.  He conforms his will to God’s will and as a result is transformed and reformed.

To the Christian today we can experience the same transformation.  Read 1 John 1:5-9.

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

The proof of God’s forgiveness is seen throughout scripture.  This is the promise to those that are children of God today.  If we confess, repent, and turn to God, he will forgive us just as he forgave David.  The consequences in this life may remain but not the eternal separation from God.  That is the most important thing.

Friends, I said this is the promise to children of God today.  If you have not confessed Jesus as Lord, turned from your life of living against God’s will (aka, repented), and been baptized for the remission of your sins.  Then you need to do that.  Simply believing isn’t enough.  We must do what God wants.  Or you can say that we change what we want to what God wants.  When we do, we are his children and the promises such as 1 John 1 are ours to claim.

Well friends, I'm your host Dave Laton.  Thank you for joining us in this podcast.  I hope you will continue to do so. If you wish to share with me something from your walk with our Master or you would like to learn more, please email me at:

walkingwithourmaster@gmail.com.

I invite you to follow our podcast and share it with others as together we walk with our Master.  And until next time, remember, we give all glory to God the Father.