Just about everybody is interested in how to change for the better. We make resolutions, try to create new habits, start a new diet, and any other number of things that we hope will change our lives. Unfortunately, at the very same time, smaller and smaller amounts of people—even professed Christians—believe the church is a necessary part of changing their life. But a basic reading of the New Testament shows us a different vision of change. In fact, it shows us that Christianity is always lived out in the context of local churches. The people of God are meant to be a people of change. That’s why I think it’s important for people looking for real change to remember these four neglected truths for change.
Real Change Requires Real Relationships With Your Church – It’s hard to come away from a reading of the New Testament and not realize that our relationship with Jesus is intimately personal, but far from private. After all, the Bible uses language like “family” and “body” to describe the type of relationships that should characterize his followers (Rom. 12:1-9). These “up close and personal” relationships take place in local churches. In God’s plan of salvation, during the time between when we are declared righteous by faith (Rom. 3:21-26) to when we are completely conformed into the image of the righteous one Jesus (Rom. 8:29), God places us in churches. As we are changed into Christ’s image, we are members of Christ’s body. God’s plan for changing people always includes belonging to his people of change. Do you have a real—committed—relationship with a church?
Real Change Requires Real Pain From Your Church – If you follow God’s plan for change by belonging to his people of change, you’ll experience pain. After all, the same people that are called to love one another with “family affection” are also the ones who were God’s “enemies” just a few weeks, months, and years earlier (Rom. 5). The cross of Christ tells us that every person we encounter is capable of more sin than they know while being loved more than they know. This means we shouldn’t be surprised when people sin against us, we should expect it. We shouldn’t think that the presence of pain in our lives from the church equals the absence of God’s great plan for change for us. God uses the painful actions from the church to make us more like Christ. There is no pain free path to conformity to Christ. What they mean for evil, God means for good (Gen. 50:20). That’s why the Apostle Paul tells us that we need to do what we can to live at peace with one another and not to pay back evil with evil (Rom. 12:16-20). Loving people like Jesus means loving people who hurt you.
Real Change Requires Real Conversations With Your Church – The church isn’t for good people in need of small amounts of change, it’s for dead people in need of resurrection. That’s a lot of change. It’s for guilty people in need of forgiveness. It’s for enslaved people in need of redemption. And the Apostle Paul tells us that although Christians have been justified by faith in Christ (Rom. 3:21-26), they are struggling to become like Christ. This struggle, this process, is called progressive sanctification. Since we are in this process, we should expect people to talk about serious Romans 1 and 2 struggles. They should be “real” about their struggles, not pretending they’re not struggling. The Bible already told us that they are. Jesus isn’t shocked by people’s sins and we shouldn’t be either. Create space for real conversations by being real about your struggles.
Real Change Requires Redemptive Conversations With Your Church – Jesus wasn’t shocked by people’s sin, but he wasn’t fine their sin either. You can’t just be real about your struggles, you need to be real about God’s redemptive grace. The more you experience the redemptive grace of God in Christ, the more you’re able to help other people experience that grace. God puts us in conversational moments to speak God’s redemptive grace into people’s lives and situations that need it. This isn’t just a role for preachers. It’s an all hands on deck kind of thing. People questioning God’s love need to here Romans 8:32. People struggling with a guilty conscience need Romans 8:1. People wondering where God is, need to hear Romans 8:28. You don’t need a phd in theology to learn how to speak truth and grace into people’s lives. Just cherish the gospel in your heart so that you can put it into the hearts of others. It takes a lot of grace administered in conversational moments to make you more like Jesus. Be prepared to receive and administer grace in redemptive conversations.
God’s process of change includes real involvement with his people of change—the church. How are you seeing God use these relationships and conversations to change your life?
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