My family loves to watch home improvement shows. We love D.I.Y. projects. We get a charge out of taking something old
and bringing new life to it. To illustrate, yesterday we went thrift store
hunting. We found a half couch for $10.
It has good bones but needs new upholstery.
We are now in the process of learning how to make a slip cover for
it. (Thank God for youtube J.)
Through the years of watching homes be remodeled I have discovered
a pattern. Each time a
designer/contractor enters an old home they all look for the same things. They all use the same basic process. As I was praying this morning I believe the
Lord showed me that he too uses a similar process in our DNA Remodel.
1. To begin, each contractor takes a “walk through”
to see what is there and what needs attention.
For us, this process begins at salvation. When we accept Christ as our Savior he begins
the process of Sanctification in our lives.
Sanctification is a state of separation unto God; all believers enter
into this state when they are born of God: 1 Corinthians 1:30 “God has united
you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ
made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.”
2. Next, they often have to rebuild or shore up the
foundation. When we come to Christ we
often have flawed beliefs about God.
a.
In our world we see a prevalent belief that
Jesus is one way to God. Remodel:
Jesus is the ONLY WAY to God. John 14:6 “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’”
b.
Many view God like a hard task master who never
shows approval and who must be obeyed in order to keep him appeased. Remodel:
God is a loving Father who longs to shower his kids with good things. 1 John 3:1 “See how very much our Father
loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people
who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because
they don’t know him.” He does require obedience; however, he loves us no matter
how often we fail. He is just and holy
and desires for his children to be holy, not because he is cruel, rather,
because he knows that living a holy lifestyle will keep us out of many dangers
and hurts we might otherwise have to face.
1 Peter 1:13-16 “So prepare your minds for action and exercise
self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you
when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient
children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own
desires. You didn't know any better then. But now you must be holy in
everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say,
‘You must be holy because I am holy.’”
c.
Due to the popularity of Halloween, people view
Satan as a guy in a red suit with a pitchfork.
He seems none threatening or bothersome.
Remodel: The devil is alive
and well. He is working overtime to
destroy the church. He is at work in the
lives of anyone who calls on the name of the Lord. On Sunday my pastor said that if the devil is
not attacking us and our family we need to make sure we are not traveling
in the same direction he is. 1 Peter 5:8 “Stay alert! Watch out for your great
enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to
devour.” If we didn't need to be
concerned about the devil God would not have warned us to watch out!
d.
In our culture and unfortunately even in the church
we see a harmful trend. Many come to
Christ, but then continue in their old lifestyle. Often this is due to the tolerance mentality. We don't preach against sin because we want to be politically correct and not offend anyone. Romans 5:20-21 tell us
that God gives grace when we fail, however, let’s read Romans 6:1-8,12-18, “Well
then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his
wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue
to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus
in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ
by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power
of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with
him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our
old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power
in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we
were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will
also live with him. Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to
sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil
to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead,
but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what
is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer
live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of
God’s grace. Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does
that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don’t you realize that you
become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin,
which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous
living. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey
this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and
you have become slaves to righteous living.”
Jesus
has already paid for our freedom. The
author of Romans tells us that once we come to Christ we are dead to sin. Does this mean we won’t be tempted to sin
ever again? No! It means that we are no longer slaves to sin;
when we sin now it is because we choose to.
We choose to listen to and believe the lies of the enemy, who tells us
it won’t hurt us to sin, or tells us we will never be free from our past/sin,
or that we can control our lives and live above sin (i.e. a former alcoholic
still hanging around with his drinking buddies). Remodel: All sin is wrong. We are dead to sin; no longer its slave; and we can overcome our flesh
through Christ who lives in us!!!
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