You may be familiar with the recent popular Style by Jury television series. Like me, you may have watched in fascination as drab ordinary looking people, often with very little self-esteem are transformed into attractive well groomed professionals within seven days. A total makeover! A host of experts, including hairdressers, clothing designers, behavioural experts, life coaches, cosmetic dentists and beauticians were the miracle workers in achieving what appeared to be the impossible.
I would often gasp in amazement as a newly transformed person would present herself or himself to the jury with an elegance, style and decorum that radiated confidence and personality, portraying a dramatic shift from a previously dull person to a dynamic interesting man or woman. Yet, while I appreciated this remarkable change in a short space of time, I could not help but wonder how deep rooted the transformation would be over the long term.
Perhaps you may have even have thought; how would I look or what would I be like after a total makeover, both on the outside and on the inside? Yet, the thought probably melted into oblivion as you realised that it is only the well heeled rich that can afford the cost of these image consultants.
A brand new life
Well, there is good news for you, no matter what your station in life and no matter how you feel about yourself, or what you have been through or done, however good, bad or ugly. You have been offered a brand new life through the transforming presence of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Notice 2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Jesus love for you is profound, deep and passionate, beyond imagination. So much so that he died an agonising death for you. He opened the door for you to experience a radical makeovera transformation from the inside out.
Think about the 12 disciples, an ordinary looking bunch in the eyes of the better endowed community of Jerusalem, almost invisible up to the time Christ was crucified. Yet, something happened soon afterwards on the day of Pentecosta day celebrated annually by the Christian community at this time of the year. Its central meaning lies in the sending forth of the Holy Spirit to all believers. The word Pentecost comes from the Greek word for 50 and is observed on the 50th day after Easter. The most popular name for this festival among the Jews is the Feast of Weeks.
We read in Acts 2:1-4, 7 and 14: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them…a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken…we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own language…then Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed the crowd.
Indeed, a very different and transformed group of disciples exploded on the scene on the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D. They were confident, bold and courageous; imbued with the outpouring presence of the promised Holy Spirit. Peter encouraged the crowd…repent and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the Holy Spirit.
Jesus unique invitation
This goes back to another awe inspiring event in the history of humankind, when Jesus imparted his final words to the disciples just prior to his excruciating death on the cross. Here we have words of intimacy, warmth and compassion that speak powerfully to you and me today…a unique invitation for us to participate in a delightful relationship with the Triune God, in this present lifetime and for all eternity.
His words are written for us today in the book of John, chapters 13 to 17. Jesus tells the disciples and each one of us in chapters 14 and 15: I will not leave you as orphans (14:18) If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him (14:23) I am in the Father and you are in me and I am in you (14:20) I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy be complete (15:11) I have called you friends (15:15)…I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit fruit that will last (15:16) no branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me (15:4)…If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing (15:5) the Father will give you another Counsellor… the Holy Spirit…to be with you forever…the Spirit of Truth (14:16,26).
Think for a moment! You are invited to be a friend of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What an amazing opportunity to become intimately involved in a dynamic relationship with the One who holds all things together…rubbing shoulders with the Sovereign God who created the marvellous beauty we see all around us, including you and me.
Jesus said no branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine; apart from me you can do nothing. Abiding fully in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit will enable you to blossom to your full potential, beyond your wildest dreams. This is where the long lasting beyond radical transformation takes place in your life, now and for all eternity.
Without Jesus we are nothing. It is impossible to rise above the selfish desires of human nature and mature to our full potential on our own strength. May I also suggest that even asking the Lord and the Holy Spirit to help you overcome certain problems is limiting. It can easily lead to a situation where there is more of you and less of God in your life, perhaps an emerging self-righteous attitude of look what I have done with Gods help. Change in these instances is often very short lived. In fact, the Apostle Paul describes our own righteousness as dung. This is appreciably different from a wholehearted abiding trust in Jesus. You have to be prepared to leap into what may feel like the unknown to trust God in your finances, your security, your job…your everything
Repentance the most important change
We need to open our lives to Christ in total surrender, rejoicing in his presence, as the apostle Paul emphasised in Galatians 2:20: Its no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. We cannot be fully transformed apart from Christ living his life in us.
The Apostle Peter spoke about repentance and the joy of receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. According to Dr. Elmer Colyer, professor of historical theology at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, Repentance is a change of how you think. It is a change of perspective, from seeing yourself as the centre of the universe to seeing God as the centre of the universe, and trusting your life to his mercy. It is to surrender. It is to throw down your crown at the feet of the rightful ruler of the cosmos. It is the most important change you will ever make. God has declared an almighty, thundering, eternal Yes! to you through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Repentance is your saying Yes! to Gods Yes! It is turning to God to accept his blessed gift, his righteous declaration of your innocence and salvation in Christ.
Jesus has offered the living waters of the Holy Spirit to bring a sparkle into your life that will never fade away. A transformed life in Christ! An unimagined revolutionary makeover that is real and will change your life forever! The Triune God invites you to share wholeheartedly in his love and in so doing express his divine love in your relationship with others.
Lets conclude with the Apostle Pauls prayer in Ephesians 3: 16-18, 20 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory.