Romans 8:29 Called to be like Jesus

You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Mattawan, Michigan.

The Call to Be Like Jesus and the Church’s Witness

So, I'm blessed to have the privilege of bringing God's Word this morning and I take that very seriously. I prayed from the time that Haley texted me and asked if I could do these next two Sundays. I've been praying about what I should share and there's so many good things that you could choose to speak on.

I mean, this book is full of wonderful promises. And as I prayed, the Lord definitely made it clear that the message that I want to share this morning is entitled, Called to be like Jesus. So, we're living in some really interesting times right now.

For those of us who are older and have seen some of the changes in our culture, in our country, I think now, today, the church is viewed in a pretty negative light. And, you know, we have to ask ourselves, why might this be so?

You know, we call ourselves Christians, but that title doesn't convey what it once did. And I want to say that it's probably because many who call themselves Christian are not very Christ-like. And so, people get a negative impression, unfortunately, of the church and even more sadly so, of Jesus.

I don't know if you've ever been talking to someone and you're having a conversation, and maybe you're sharing what the Lord has done in your life, or you're trying to share the story of Jesus with them.

And all of a sudden, they say, well, I knew this guy who was a Christian. And boy, and you can kind of dot, dot, dot, finish that, right? Anybody ever encountered that, where they say something negative about Christianity because of someone they knew who claimed to be a Christian, but perhaps there was nothing Christ-like about that person at all.

They didn't look like Jesus at all. Maybe you've heard this before, where you're talking to someone, maybe about a co-worker, and you have this conversation, and they say, well, is he a Christian? And you say, well, yeah, you know, I'm not sure if he's a Christian or not.

And you've been working with him for six months. I think after six months, it should become obvious in some way or another, if you are a follower of Jesus, that if we're living the life that God is truly calling us to, it will show that we are a follower of Jesus.

One of my heroes is Billy Graham, a former Youth for Christ guy. I don't know if you knew that or not, but even before I ever heard of Youth for Christ, Billy Graham was one of my heroes. And he was in India ministering, and he encountered a Hindu student.

And the Hindu student made this statement to Billy Graham. He said, I would become a Christian if I could see one. To that, Billy Graham said, when he said that, he was looking at me. That was one of the greatest sermons ever preached to me.

A young Buddhist had made a very careful study of Christianity, and particularly of Christ. And he said to a Christian regarding his study, he said, Your Christ is wonderful, oh so wonderful, but you Christians are not like Him.

Without knowing it, this Buddhist pointed out the greatest need, I think, of modern day Christianity. And that is the need for the followers of Jesus to be like Christ. Those who bear His name should reflect the person of Jesus in their life.

If people see Jesus in us, is that going to have an impact? That is going to have an impact. Are we somehow missing God's true purpose for us? The Word of God is clear in His purpose. And I want you to open your Bible, or your phone, or your device, and look at Romans 8 .28 -30 with me.

If anybody needs a Bible, we'd love for you to be able to follow the scripture and see it. Mike's got some Bibles back there. Anybody need a Bible this morning to follow along? Just raise your hand, Mike will get it to you.

And you can keep those, by the way, if you need a Bible. We would love for you to have that copy of God's Word. Romans 8 .29, I love the way God makes things so clear in His book. Because He does not want us guessing about things that are so important in life.

And I'm going to pick this up in verse 28, just to kind of get it in its context. Chapter 8 is all about living life in the Spirit as a disciple, as a follower of Jesus. And we come to this beautiful promise in verse 28.

In verse 29, we're going to see God's purpose for us as followers of Jesus. So we'll pick it up in verse 28. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.

So there's that word purpose. Those who are called according to His purpose. And now verse 29 unfolds what that purpose is of His calling. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified. What I want to focus on this morning is this statement where it says that He predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son.

And I just want to break that down. And basically, to put it simply, it's calling us, God's work in us is to make us like Jesus. And that is a lifelong process. So I'm always at my office Monday through Friday.

And that's where I do a lot of my planning. And I call my wife every day, almost exactly at 1130 or somewhere around there, just to see how she's doing and say hi. And so I did that Wednesday, last Wednesday.

And she asked me what you've been up to this morning. And I said, well, I've been studying all morning on how to be like Jesus. And she goes, ooh, that sounds good. Immediately, I had to think, now, is she saying, ooh, that sounds good, you get to study the Word of God all morning?

Because that's pretty good, right? Or was she saying, ooh, that sounds good, you being more like Jesus because you really need it. I'm going to say the second, all right? Because wives, wouldn't you like your husbands to be more like Jesus?

Come on, give me an amen here, huh? I see some heads shaking. Husbands, would you like your wives to be more like Jesus? Kids, would you like your parents to be more like Jesus?

All right.

Parents, would you like your children to be more like Jesus? Yeah, okay, all right. It doesn't matter how old you are, okay? If you're three years old, two years old, all the way to being an old guy like me, God's calling upon us as believers is to be like Jesus.

And when she said that, I said, that would definitely make a difference, wouldn't it, if I was more like Jesus. And that's, I really want to be more like Jesus. And this has been speaking to me all week long.

And, you know, we come so short of God's glory in so many ways, but he is so patient and loving, and he's just going to keep seeking to form us into that image of Jesus. And so I'm excited about diving into that this morning and kind of looking, how can that really take place in our lives?

And what would that look like? So this week, we're going to kind of focus on how that transformation can take place in us and then next week, we're going to focus on how do you live that out practically in your day-to-day life.

Transformation by Union With Jesus

So with that, let me just say a prayer and then Banda's going to come back up and lead us in some worship, okay? Holy Father, just thank you for your amazing love and your amazing grace and your faithfulness and taking care of us and our families.

Father, for bringing us here together for another Sunday morning in your presence. And we just pray that you would shine forth your beauty and your glory here in this place. And even now, as we get to hear this beautiful music and sing these beautiful words about who you are, that your spirit would just minister to us through this worship time and that you would be honored and glorified.

And just thank you so much that we are your sons and daughters and that you call us to be like your son Jesus. And what a model, what a privilege, Father, that you call us to be your representatives on this earth.

And please teach us in deeper ways what that means and how we can be more like you this morning. We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you, David and Band.

Very nice.

So I have a nickname for Dave. The first time we came to Recast, I don't know, it was four or five years ago. And we were back over on Red Arrow Highway. You were leading in worship. And you came up and greeted Cheryl and I right after the service.

And he told us his name was Dave. And I said, ah, David, the sweet psalmist. And so that's who David is to me, the sweet psalmist. That's my nickname for you. So we are blessed by you guys and your music.

Thank you for that. Called to be like Jesus. Wow, that's a pretty high calling, isn't it? Pretty good calling, I think. I mean, I read Jesus' story and I love him. I love who he is. I love how he loved the lowest of the low.

And I do want to be like him. Most beautiful human that ever walked the face of this earth. Our Savior, Jesus, our Lord. So beautiful. Open up with me again to Romans 8, 29. And I just want to explore this deeper as far as what it means to be conformed into his image.

So in verse 28, we found that word purpose. God has a purpose for us. He has a plan for us. And that plan is clear in his written word. And I'm so thankful that he put his word in black and white. Because we get things so wrong, but we have the reliable word of God to come back to and to find out what is his true purpose for us.

And I think the church today needs to discover more than ever what is our true purpose here on the earth. And I, you know, I look at what's going on and how things have become so crazy and so many people are fearful and worried and everything in our world, there's so much.

I think that the world is ripe to come to Jesus. I think people are searching for meaning, for truth. And it's time for the church to rise up to its true calling. And who is the church? It's us. It's individuals.

It's not a building. So he talks about the purpose. And then verse 29, he makes it very clear. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. Now, you know, I've told you guys, I don't know Greek.

I'm not a Greek scholar. But there are good tools that help us dig deeper in the word of God. We can look up the original words and see what their meaning were in the original language. And so I did that on some of these words we're going to be looking at today.

And it definitely sheds a lot of light on what the meaning of the scripture is. And so this word, conformed, is actually two Greek words put together. And the word is sumorphos. Might sound familiar. We're going to talk about that in a minute.

But it means jointly formed. It means similar. So it comes from the first part of that Greek word for conformed is sun. And it means denoting union, union with or union together, union by association, union by companionship.

And morph, the second part of that word is morphe. It's where we get the word morph from in our English language. And it means to shape and to form. And so when you put this word together, these two words together, it really tells us how this transformation is going to take place.

It only can take place in union with Jesus, with his spirit working in us. This isn't something that we can muster on our own and decide, boy, today I'm going to be like Jesus. And then you go out and you try your best and you fail.

It's a work of God in our heart, but it's a work of God in cooperation with God. It's as we're joined with Jesus in companionship. Have you ever noticed this? If you spend enough time with someone, you might pick up some of their mannerisms or expressions.

Has that ever happened to anybody? So I thought of an example of this. Cheryl's sister lives in Georgia, and we try to get down there every once in a while. And we went down there some years ago, and Michelle had this expression that she kept saying over and over again, and it was good to go.

She said, well, we'll do this and we'll be good to go. And all that potato salad is good to go. And it kept coming up. So we got home. We were only there a week. We got home, and Cheryl's saying something.

She's like, it's good to go. It's good to go. I'm like, that sounds familiar. She doesn't usually say that. And then she kept saying, oh, it'll be good to go. And I'm like, she got that from her sister Michelle.

Only one week, right? Hanging out with her. And the point is of this being conformed, it's as we spend time with Jesus, as we unite with Him, as we learn to abide in Him, as we study who He is and His teachings, that it begins to work this metamorphosis inside of us.

It begins to work a change in our lives. God's plan is that we become so intimately united to Jesus that we become like Him. So if I'm not seeking His friendship, His fellowship, if I'm not spending time with Him alone, this transformation is not going to occur in my life.

And again, it's not something we can muster. It has to be a work of God in us, and it comes as we spend time with Him in His presence. Spending time with your attention focused on the presence of God is going to bring transformation into your life.

Turn with me to Psalm 1715. Psalm 1715. Psalm 1715. As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness. When I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness. As I behold your face, this is talking about the face of God.

As I behold your beauty and your glory, Father, something changes in my life, and I become more like Him. There's a transformation that takes place. So you have to ask yourself, where do I see the face of God?

Well, He's called the invisible God for a good reason, right? Because right now we can't see Him, although His Spirit surrounds us. We're in His presence. We behold the face of God in His Word. This reveals His face.

This reveals who He is from cover to cover. This is the revelation of God. As we learn His names, as we learn His attributes, as we learn His beauty and its glory, that's beholding His face, and it begins to work a change in a transformation in us, and He talks about waking up in your likeness.

It's like all of a sudden, there's a realization that I am changing. Thank God I'm changing. I'm not the old Bill Smith I used to be, and I'm so glad of that, but I'm still a work in progress. I still have such a long way to go.

I love that song, Come to Me Just the Way You Are. It always makes me think of a Max Lucado statement. He said, God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you so much that He doesn't want to leave you just the way you are.

He wants to change you. He wants to transform you. He wants to bring healing in your life, and His ultimate goal and His ultimate purpose is to form us into Jesus, to make us like His Son, Jesus. As we spend time beholding His beauty and His glory, we will experience transformation.

To become like Him, I must study Him. There's no getting around it. Turn now with me to 2 Corinthians 3, 17 and 18. Starting in verse 17. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. There it is again.

As we behold His beauty and His glory, there is transformation in our lives. We become more like Him. It's as we spend time with Him in quietness, in fellowship, learning who He is, gazing upon His beauty, that transformation comes into our lives.

This word transformed is metamorphale. Metamorphale. You can guess what English word we got from that, right? Metamorphous. It's a beautiful word. It means to change into something different. It makes me think of a butterfly.

I've been praying for somebody for a number of years that they would become a new creation in Christ Jesus. And this came out of some pain in my heart. And some pain that this person had brought. And I'm still praying for that transformation.

And I remember as I was praying that prayer, feeling kind of hopeless about it, this beautiful butterfly came fluttering up. I was sitting out on my front porch.

It was so beautiful.

And I thought that used to be a worm. Well, we'd call it a caterpillar, right? But they're kind of ugly, right? I mean, they're interesting. Yeah, I mean, I like to look at them, but they crawl in the dirt.

You know, they're bugs that we don't want in our homes or anything like that. But something amazing happens because they climb up into a little bush or whatever, and they somehow shut themselves out from the entire world.

Completely shut off. We call that a cocoon, right? They make the cocoon. That worm went into that cocoon, a worm. A caterpillar. Totally separated. In the quietness, in that quiet place, this transformation occurs, this metamorphosis.

And all of a sudden, what breaks out of that cocoon is a beautiful flying butterfly. Isn't that amazing? I think God created the caterpillar and the butterfly just so that we could know what this transformation means.

That he took Bill Smith, who was a drug addicted, drunk, lost, self-centered, came into my life and transformed me into a new person. And it's still a work in progress. He is still transforming and changing me.

But I thank God I can look and I can see progress. I can see progress. It seems so slow sometimes. I want you to notice that this transformation again, and I mentioned this, happens in cooperation. I must take the time to meet with him.

I must open his book. I must be beholding his glory. That puts me in a place where he can begin to work this transformation. To me, the quiet time is kind of that cocoon. I'm separating myself from the world and I'm just meeting one-on-one, me and my Lord.

And I'm saying, speak to me, I need you. Renew me, forgive me, change me, transform me, help me to grow in wisdom. I'm lost without you. And we begin to see his beauty and his glory and a transformation begins to take place.

Look at, again, verse 18. The last part of that verse, the last sentence. It says, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. So it's a work of God in my heart, and I need to be seeking that work of God.

He wants to do it, but if I'm not giving him the time, if I'm not seeking him, it's not going to happen. I'm going to stay the same or, sadly, we can grow worse because that's the nature of sin. You don't usually stay on one level.

You go deeper. So you either go one way or the other way. I would like to look for a minute and see what Jesus has to say about this, okay? So turn with me to Matthew chapter 17, verses one and two. Okay, excuse me.

Actually, yes, I want Matthew 17, but this isn't the verse where we hear what Jesus has to say about it. This is a verse that shows us how this word transformed is used, okay? So this same metamorpho is the same Greek word used in verse two of Matthew chapter 17.

So this is a story where Jesus took a couple of his disciples and he said, come with me. We're going to climb this mountain. And they climb up to the mountain. So we pick it up in 17 .1. It says, after six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James, John, his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. This word transfigured is the same Greek word that was used in 2 Corinthians 3 .18 for transformed.

You can literally see it in the person of Jesus. So he went from looking like a normal man to like he was shining. His face was like the sun, it said, and his clothes were as white as white could be. And that, to me, what that represents is the transformation.

He came up that mountain to meet with his father, and his father was there, and the voice of God, if we keep speaking, spoke to Jesus. And he let us see this actual transformation. Jesus had told his disciples that some of them would see the kingdom of God shortly.

And they're seeing the kingdom right there. They're seeing the king shining in his glory, this transformation. To me, this represents what takes place with a child of God when we meet with our father in quietness, that he drives away that darkness, and he brings that light into us.

Oh, he's so good at that because that darkness can just start to oppress us and sometimes creep into our very hearts and he drives that darkness away and he can cleanse and purify us. This is my 30th year at Youth for Christ working with troubled kids.

There is no way I could still be there without this happening in my life daily. It's the main thing that has kept me in his will is this daily, because we get so dragged down, we get so wore out. We're surrounded by such filth in our culture that all of a sudden we may be making a compromise or something and that sin creeps in and we need that daily cleansing and transformation.

This makes me think of the story of Moses when he was on the mountain of God for 40 days and 40 nights. He went up there by himself to meet with the Almighty. He came down with the Ten Commandments and it said that his face was glowing like a light was coming from him and it scared the people there.

He ended up like wearing a veil. Well, remember the allusion to the veil in 2 Corinthians 3, 18, we with unveiled faces? That's referring to Moses in the veil, okay? But when we come into the very presence of God seeking him through prayer in his word that there's no veil.

In other words, we are to be open and honest with God. He knows us inside and out anyway. I tell him everything. Everything. Because he already knows it and he's the only one that can heal and transform me.

No one else can do it. So some of the apostles got arrested in Acts 14. They were preaching the gospel. They locked them up. They spent the night in jail. They brought them before all these holy men, right?

The Sanhedrin, the elders of the land of Israel, put them on trial. And it says when they saw the boldness of Peter and the other disciples, knowing that they were untrained and uneducated men, that's what it says, that they took note that they had been with Jesus.

So these wise, holy men, you know, here's this rough fisherman or a former rough fisherman, but now he's a new creation in Christ. And these guys are like, these are Galileans. These are the Hicks, you know, these are the whatever.

And they are amazed at the wisdom and the boldness of these men. They're uneducated, untrained men.

Oh, no, they weren't.

They were trained by Jesus. They walked with Jesus for three years. Look with me at the calling of the disciples. Turn to Mark chapter three. So we're in Matthew, so we don't have far to go. Mark chapter three, we'll pick it up in verse 13.

So at this point in Mark, Jesus had quite a few people following him. He was drawing crowds wherever he went. He was doing amazing things. People were saying, hey, I want to follow you. I want to be your disciple at this point.

He was popular. And it was time for him to choose his disciples. And that's where we pick it up in verse 13. It says, and he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired. And they came to him.

And he appointed 12 whom he also named apostles. So this is the calling of the apostles, the disciples. And here was his calling upon them so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach.

To be with him and then to send them out. The second isn't going to happen if we're not experienced the first. He only makes me effective as I spend time alone with him. That companionship, that conforming, that joining together, that allowing him to get my heart right and renewed and transformed.

The transformation occurs. He calls us. I love that. He calls us to be with him. John 15, he said, abide in me and I will abide in you. And then he compared it to a grape branch connected to the vine in a living union.

And he said, if you cut off that branch, you know what's going to happen. And he said, without me, you can do nothing. And he calls us to this union. We as children of God are to look to Jesus, the son of God, as our example and pattern of how we should live.

That's what the disciples did. They walked with him. They lived with him for three years before he sent them out on their mission. And then at the end of that three years, he said, lo, I am with you always.

So he didn't leave them. He promised that he would always be with us. Turn back to Romans 8, 29, because I want to look at this word image for a minute and kind of think about what that means. So it says that he wants to conform us to his image.

So back to Romans 8, 29. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. So, of course, you know, I get my strong, I'm going to look up that word image and see what it says.

And it's a word. It's a Greek word. It's akon, akon. And it means a likeness. And it literally means a statue. God wants to make me into a statue of Jesus? Well, that's the literal translation of it. Figuratively, it means to resemble, to look like, to bear the image, to be like Him.

But it made me think of a sculptor. They take a block of stone, a block of marble, and they start chipping away. Like a master sculptor, God is chipping away at all that does not look like Jesus in our lives.

That's what he is seeking to do. And he is forming us into the image of Jesus. And again, this is a work of a lifetime.

Okay?

He's still chipping away the stuff in me that does not look like Jesus. And there's still stuff there. But I'm getting closer. I'm getting closer to Jesus. The great Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini told of receiving a vast block of marble with one flaw.

Because of the flaw, no artist would submit a design except one. In the public square of Florence, a fence was built around the piece of marble and a little shack was erected for the artist. For two years, the sculptor labored.

Then the fence was torn down and the shack was taken away. All of Florence beheld the result and marveled. Since then, Italy and all the world has marveled at Michelangelo's David. In that block of marble was a statue.

Others did not see it, but Michelangelo did. God sees Jesus in you. In this lump of clay,.

Which is you and me,.

God sees an image too. It's the image of Jesus Christ and God wants to form the image of His Son in you and in me. He is the master sculptor, but we have to yield ourselves. And that comes time alone in His presence and He begins to chip away and He begins to shape and form us into the image of His Son.

This has always been God's plan from the very beginning of time. Look at v. 29. This word for whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed. This word foreknew means to know beforehand. He knew you before you were even born.

That's what the Word of God teaches. It says that in Jeremiah 31 .3, the Lord appeared to me of old saying, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn you.

He knows who will be His. He knows who's going to come to Him. This word predestined means to predetermine, to ordain. Now, I'm not going to get into the doctrine of predestination. That's a mystery. But God knows who are going to come to Him.

Before we even become His. But this is speaking of this conformity to Jesus. It's saying that the plan of God has always been to create men and women in His likeness. If you look at Genesis, the very beginning, v. 26 and 27, when He got everything ready in Eden for His final creation,.

Man and woman.

And it says, let us make man in our image, our likeness. And He created man and woman in His image and in His likeness. It's always been His plan, but sin entered in and marred human beings. Sin ruins everything.

It's so ugly. I hate it. But sometimes I don't, sadly. But I see what it does in people's lives and I see what it does in families. And I see people who are struggling. This sin is keeping them from experiencing the joy and the beauty of God because it's God and in the way.

We just need to be honest and humble and get in His presence and open His book and let the Master Sculptor work that transformation in us. This story was told by a missionary to the Native Americans.

And I thought it spoke to me.

It says,.

A Navajo woman was taken to the hospital in a dying condition. She was tenderly cared for for some time. Finally, when she seemed on the road to life again, the missionary in simple words presented the claims of Christ.

But there was no answer. The woman lay there perfectly quiet. But it was evident she was thinking things over. After some little time, the door at the end of the ward opened and the doctor looked in just to make sure that everything was alright with his patient.

She looked up and her bright eyes expressed the gratitude she felt as she softly replied, if Jesus is anything like the doctor, I can trust Him forever. She had seen Christ magnified in a man and her heart was one.

How desperately people need to see Jesus in His followers. How desperately. People need to see Jesus in us. Look at what Jesus said about this now in Matthew chapter 10.

Matthew chapter 10 verses 24 and 25.

A disciple is not above his teacher nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher. Jesus said it's enough. This word enough means it's a word that when you pay something in full, it's enough.

You have satisfied it. This is what the Father is looking for. This is our calling. Jesus says it's enough that you become like me.

It's sufficient.

This word is usually translated in the New Testament as sufficient. And so as a disciple of Jesus, I am to be conformed into His likeness. I am to be like my Master. Jesus is calling us to be like Him.

He's calling us to be His true disciples. Many people profess Christ, but there aren't many who look like Him. There are many who claim the name Christian, but are they true disciples of Jesus? To be a true disciple of Jesus.

This word disciple means to be a student of, to be a pupil, and then to the disciple follows the example of their rabbi. Vine's expository dictionary of New Testament words says of this word disciple, a disciple was not only a pupil, but an adherent.

Hence, they are spoken of as imitators of their teacher. And so to be a disciple of Jesus, we study Jesus, and then we seek to be like Him, realizing though that it is a work of God. And so we begin to pray, Lord, help me to be more like You.