This is a outline of the sermon I'm giving on the 26th. I was going to give it on the 19th, but we don't have evening service. I'd love it if ya'll would read through it and critique it, not on grammatical schtuff, but let me know if I'm misinterpreting any scripture or my theology is way off-base or something like that. Thank you.
Becoming Christ-Like
Main Verse: Romans 8:28-30 “For we know God works all things together for the good of those who love God, to those who are called, according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He also predestined, He also called; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
1. What is the good to which all things work for believers?Main Verse: Romans 8:28-30 “For we know God works all things together for the good of those who love God, to those who are called, according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He also predestined, He also called; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
· It can not possibly mean worldly good. Use Paul as example. Paul was beaten, shipwrecked, arrested, starved, and faced much persecution.
· If this verse meant that God works everything to the worldly good of those who love Him, Paul obviously didn’t love God enough.
· There must be something higher then. If worldly good is not what God wants for us, there must be something higher we are to work to as Christians.
2. What is God’s purpose?
· To understand what higher thing we are to work for, we have to know what God’s purpose is for working everything to our good.
· Luckily for us, Paul explicitly states what that purpose is in the next verse. He says, to those who are called, according to His purpose. The next sentence is an explanation of what that purpose is.
· Read verses. That’s a pretty deep statement, but let me read it again just leaving out one part. “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined; and these whom He also predestined, He also called; and these whom He justified, He also glorified”
· That’s not a reason, it’s a statement and it flows very nicely. But when you insert the part we left out, it breaks the flow up. It sticks out, adding emphasis to it and not only that, but to become is even emphasized.
· So we can take it apart and ask, “What is God’s purpose in making all things work together for believers’ good? So that they might be become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brethren”.
· So every event in your life as a believer is God Himself shaping and molding you into the image of Jesus. We see that it says that God works all things, not just bad things, not just good things, not just church things, not just work things, but EVERY EVENT IN OUR LIVES to conforming us to the image of Christ.
3. What does it mean to be conformed to the image of Christ?
· That is the highest calling, to become conformed to the image of Christ. Work, Family, Friends, Ministry, Evangelism, and everything else is and should be secondary to conforming your life to the image of Christ.
· Everything in our lives as believers is worthless and pathetic even without a driving focus on becoming more like Christ. Think about it. Anyone with some knowledge of Scripture can get up here and preach. Anyone with good people skills can be involved in ministry. Anyone can read the Bible. But without the driving focus of becoming more like Him and closer to Him it is worthless.
· It is gravel in your gut. It may taste like honey on your lips, but it is gravel in your gut and will not fill you because we as believers are called to higher things. We are called according to God’s purpose that was predestined before the world began that we would be conformed to the image of God’s Son.
· Moses. Largest ministry. Needed to know God. Any man that can be content with usefulness is a very shallow man.
4. How do I conform myself to the image of Christ?
· I don’t want to get up here and tell you that you need to be more like Christ and say alright, bye. But I do want to tell you this. If you are a true believer, then God will not let your walk become stagnant for long. There may be times when your walk slows or stops, but God will come to you and make you grow in your walk and become more and more like Christ. Because if you are truly of God, God will work all things in your life so you become more like Christ.
· If you never grow in holiness and never grow closer to God, you are not saved because God will not let you stay the same if you are of God.
· Ezekiel 36:24-27 "For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” So we see that if you are truly of God you have been given a new heart, a new spirit. You see that God Himself will cleanse you and make you holier and holier and more like Christ. This is isn’t even open to interpretation. This is God Himself telling us what He is going to do to us.
· One of the ways God works in me is through studying His Word. In His Word God is revealed to us. It is His way of telling us who He is. It is how He speaks to us. And the more you study them, the closer you’ll be to Him.
· Because the more you know about me, the more you may hate me, but the more you know about God, the more you will love Him.
· And always be praying to become more like Christ. Always be praying for more righteousness, more compassion, more faith, more like Him, more like Him, more like Him.
· But if you are truly of God, you will become more like Christ. You will become closer to God through every event in your life. Always be focused on that. Always trying to become more like Christ.
5. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.
· And what is Christ like? What did He do that I should emulate? We can sum it all up in one statement that Christ said summed up the Law of the Prophets.
· Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.
· How long can we go through our life without realizing this? We’re always so distracted by so many things, not only family, friends, work, but things like ministry, study, and other things. Our minds are just so full with things all the time. I can literally go days and weeks without remembering that my main passion and calling should be to Love the Lord my God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. God says this is so important that you should write it on the doorposts of your house and on your gates and on your hand and on your head.
· How different would our lives be, if we only were reminded of this maybe 3 times a day?
· So this is it then, we have one great purpose and one great calling of God. To be conformed to the image of Christ and to Love the Lord with your entirety.
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