Glynlea Grace United Methodist Chruch

Scripture

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; ² but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. ³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. ⁴ The wicked are not so, but are like chaff which the wind drives away. ⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; ⁶ for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

2 Corinthians 3:18

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Summary and Function

Summary: In order to become more like Jesus Christ, we all need to change in some way. We all have a ‘needs improvement’ when it comes to our character. Somewhere in our hearts lurk some undesirable attitudes such as jealousy, bitterness, hatred, prejudice, selfishness, arrogance etc… These attitudes need to be removed and replaced with an attitude of love.

Many of us have heard the old cliché, “Come as you are”. This cliché is true. Jesus accepts us and loves us just as we are, warts and all. We don’t have to be ‘good enough’ to be accepted by Jesus. However, Jesus wants what is best for us. For this reason, we can expect the Holy Spirit to change us as we walk with Jesus. The Holy Spirit will make us more like Christ by cleansing our hearts of sinful attitudes and replacing them with the attitude of God’s holy love. So, the cliché should actually read, “Come as you are but don’t expect to remain as you are”. So, if you want to change, come to Jesus.

Function: To encourage the congregation to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in order to

be changed into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

The Sermon

I. Introduction:

A. Story of the scorpion and the frog crossing the St. John River.

· There once was a scorpion who wanted to cross the St. John river to see the Jaguars play. He couldn’t swim and he dare not use a bridge because a car would surely run him over. So, he found a frog on the bank of the river.

· The scorpion said, “Hey frog, I see you are about to swim across the river to see the game. Why don’t you let me ride along on your back?”

· The frog replied, “Are you crazy? I know your nature. About half-way across you will sting me. Then I’ll be paralyzed and drown.”

· The scorpion answered, “Why would I do that? I would also drown. I won’t sting you. I promise.”

· The frog consented and said, “Ok, get on my back”

· About half-way across the scorpion felt an intense urge to sting the frog but he resisted. Then, about ¾ of the way across, the scorpion could no longer resist the urge to sting the frog. So he stung him.

· The frog instantly became paralyzed and said, in his last gasp of breath, “Scorpion, why did you sting me? Now we will both die.” The scorpion replied, “I couldn’t help it. It’s in my nature” Then they both drowned and died.

B. We are the scorpion

· Like the scorpion, we have a nature that can cost us, not only our own live, but also the lives around us. It is our sinful nature.

- The sinful nature consists of the undesirable elements within our hearts. These undesirable elements within our hearts can take many forms, such as hatred, jealousy, bitterness, selfishness, bigotry, racism, arrogance, lust etc…

- This sinful nature causes us to separate from God and other people.

- Like the Scorpion, we can not control this sinful nature on our own. We need help. We need God to cleanse our hearts of these undesirable attitudes and replace them with God’s holy love. In short, we need God to change us. We need God to make us more like His Son, Jesus Christ.

II. The Christian life is a life of change

A. The old but true cliché: ‘Come as you are’

· This cliché is very true. You do not have to change yourself before you come to Jesus as your Savior and Lord. Jesus loves you, warts and all. He wants you in His kingdom. No matter what sin you may have committed or what sinful lifestyle you may be living or what sinful attitude you may be harboring, Jesus will accept you into his Kingdom. All you need to do is trust Jesus as Savior and Lord. He loves you and wants to be your friend!!! HOWEVER……..

· Because Jesus loves you, you will not remain as you are. As you walk with Jesus, the Holy Spirit will change your heart. The Holy Spirit will change the very essence of who you are. You will become more holy, more like Jesus. You will become more and more motivated by an unselfish love of God and neighbor. You will not remain the same.

· We must complete the old cliché. It should read: ‘Come as you are but don’t expect to remain as you are’ If you don’t want to change or don’t think you need to change, then don’t bother with proclaiming Jesus as Savior and Lord. If, however, you realize you need to change and want to change, then come to Jesus.

B. Psalm 1 depicts a changed life

· Verses 1-2: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; ² but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

- Jesus fulfilled the Law. He taught and showed us what it really means to follow the Law:

- Delighting in the Law and meditating on the Law involves studying the life of Jesus and learning how He perfectly followed the Law

· Verse 3: He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

- When a tree is first planted, it is small and almost useless. As it pulls on the life giving stream of water, it changes. It grows and bears fruit. It becomes shade for the animals walking on the ground, a home for the birds and squirrels and produces fruit for all to eat. As it changes and grows, it becomes more able to do what it was created to do.

- Likewise, as we walk with Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we draw upon the life giving Holy Spirit. As we draw upon the Holy Spirit. We change and mature into the people God created us to be.

C. 2 Corinthians 3:18: Describes how we are changed “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” Let’s break this verse down:

· And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord: We look to Jesus without wearing our masks. We admit all our faults, failures and sinfulness to Jesus.

· are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another: As we look to Jesus with unveiled faces we are changed into the likeness of Jesus. We become more and more like Jesus. It doesn’t happen all at once. It is a process.

· for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit: It is the Holy Spirit who changes us into his [Jesus’] likeness from one degree of glory to another.

III. How can we recognize this change? We will recognize this change in two ways: 1)

our desires and 2) our attitudes. As we pray, study Scripture, worship and serve

others in the name of Christ, the Holy Spirit will change our desires and attitudes.

A. Our Desires will change. Our sinful desires will change into Godly desires.

· Prior to being a Christian I use to love violent movies centered on revenge. The more bloody the revenge, the more I liked it. Since becoming a Christian, I developed an intense dislike of these movies. They churn my stomach because they support an attitude that is contrary to the teachings of Jesus. Now I desire to see movies that promote Godly values.

· A friend of mine from seminary use to desire money. He was a banker and spent the majority of his time trying to make more money. He almost lost his family because of it. Since becoming a Christian, money is no longer his desire. Now he uses money to help people and is not concerned about making more money.

B. Our attitudes will change. Our sinful attitudes will change into Godly attitudes

· When racist people accept Christ as Savior and Lord, they find their racist attitudes to be incompatible with the teachings of Christ.

· Our attitude towards the outcast of society, such as the homeless, poor and immigrants, will change. As we follow the Lord’s command to serve those in need, we will begin to see people the way God sees people.

· I’ve seen attitudes change in prison as inmates accept Christ as Savior and Lord. Hardened criminals learn to show expressions of love.

IV. Conclusion: We all need to change in order to be the people God created us to be. If

you want to change, accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord. Come as you are but

do not expect to remain as you are.