Welcome to the Islands Christian Church podcast.
Subscribe to hear a new episode every week.
Thanks for joining us. I'm going to pray for us, and
then we're going to jump into this talk today as we wrap up
our series Make Room. Can you pray with me, Lord?
I just settle my heart here for a moment.
I thank you for everyone in this room and everyone attending
online. Everyone listening to this
podcast later, I'm humbled and I ask that you would just be the
teacher today. That whatever you're doing at
the hearts of each person who hears these words would be your
business. You love each of them so much.
I make myself available to you for whatever purposes you deem
good and right. May you draw all of our hearts
into deeper trust in you and a more reliance on you.
We're so confident of your goodness, but the world is so
dark. We pray for peace in our world.
We pray for things to be put right.
We pray for those who are grieving.
Pray for those who are broken. Please, Lord Jesus, come
quickly. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
So we have been in this series called Make room and this series
has been about sanctification. And that's a Bible word.
And if you're new today, you're like, I haven't heard that
before. We've been talking about this
word every week. And so we've been saying it
together. I'll say 123 and you will all
we'll all say sanctification together.
You ready? 123 sanctification, right?
We're learning this Bible, this biblical word, this, this
theological word called sanctification.
The sanctification is simply the process, the lifelong process of
the Holy Spirit transforming you into the likeness of Christ.
And if you're a believer in Jesus, the Holy Spirit is
transforming you into the likeness of Christ.
And that's what we've been talking about and what we've
been saying in this series of things like this.
When a person comes to know Jesus Christ and they get saved,
they just do not have their sins simply forgiven, which is great.
You know, God does not hold their sins against them.
We said that in week 1. But in addition, God makes you a
new creation when if anyone is in Christ, new creation has
come. And so the old is gone.
The new has come. The Spirit is making us new.
This is what we've been learning.
And what we said was that we, our task, our role in the
sanctification process is to set our mind on the things of God,
to set our mind on what God is doing.
And sorry, I take my watch off because I think it's making
noise and I don't want to like distract me.
So what we've said is we set our mind on the things that that God
has done in our lives, right? God has adopted you.
He's, he's called you to himself.
He's made you one of his children.
He's done this work. Your identity is 1 of chosen.
And so the process in sanctification is you setting
your mind on that truth. And we said, it's not that we
need to try harder, it's that we need to remember better.
We need to remember who we are. And then the process of
remembering who we are that renews our mind.
And the Holy Spirit works through that remembering through
our upsetting our mind. And we also said last week that
this transformation that's taking place does not happen in
isolation. It does not happen in isolation.
It happens inside of community. We said this last week, we said
the Spirit changes us personally, but he forms us
collectively. In other words, there's he's
doing something in my heart personally, but he's also doing
something in US collectively at the same time.
And it's in community that we see change take place.
It's a people, other brothers and sisters, Christian friends
that help shape our lives as Christ followers.
In other words, if it's it's hard to be a Christian serious
about your faith and not have any close friends who also share
that faith, it's really difficult to do that.
And So what we've been saying is a sanctification is the life on
process of God transforming you slowly into the likeness of
Christ. And your role in that is to set
your mind on what's true about you, that you are loved, you are
chosen, you are adopted. And as you set your mind on that
truth, the Holy Spirit is renewing you and changing you.
And that it this all takes place.
The Holy Spirit's assuming inside the context of community
with brothers and sisters who are supporting you, encouraging
you, holding us accountable, right, That this is where this
takes place. But this leads us to a question.
All right, all this change, all this sanctification, why does it
feel so slow? Anybody want to say Amen to
that? Why does it feel so slow?
At some point, we all begin to ask this question.
Shouldn't I be further along than this?
Right. Should not be further along than
this. So what do you do when the life
that you believe Jesus has given you a renewed life, a new
creation, you believe that Jesus has given you that, but the same
time your actions and your attitude and your words are not
always lining up with that new life.
The changes that you hoped would happen are not happening as
quick as you thought they would. That's what we're going to talk
about today. The slow change.
The I thought I'd be further along tension that we all feel.
So there's our question for today.
Why does change feel so slow? Because if we don't answer that
question honestly and thoroughly, we're going to be
tempted to go one of two ways. So if we don't, if we don't get,
we don't look at that question honestly in the face and say,
OK, why does this feel so slow? Why is it that I'm changing?
Maybe I'm changing, maybe I'm not changing, but it feels so
slow. Why is this?
We have to look at that question honestly because if we don't,
one of two things will happen. Either one, we will get
discouraged. In other words, we'll just
think, well, I'm never going to change or we'll start
pretending. Have you ever been a Christian
who pretends? They don't have to raise your
hand? We all have been there, right?
We've all been there. And this, this is what happens
when we don't, when we don't get honest about this question, why
is this taking so slow? Why is this taking so slow?
We'll either get discouraged or we'll start pretending.
So we got to answer this question.
Why is this so slow? So that's our first idea this
morning. This is the tension we all feel
#1 the tension we all feel. This is it #1 the tension we all
feel. I thought I'd be further along
by now. I mean, I want to be different.
And if you've been following Jesus for any length of time,
you've probably felt this. You look at your life and you
think, I really thought this would be different by now.
I thought I'd be more patient. I thought I'd be less reactive.
I thought that that habit, that habit would be gone by now.
And it's confusing because something clearly has changed.
I mean, you love Jesus, you, you, you, you read your Bible,
you talk to other people about your faith, you go to church.
You, you want to follow Jesus. You love the things of God, you
love the word of God. And yet there are still these
parts of your life that don't seem to line up with all those
things you desire. Anybody.
Is it just me? Yeah.
And that creates tension because on the one hand, the Bible says
you are a new creation. The old has gone, the new has
come. But on the other hand, there are
still moments when the old you shows up strong.
Anybody. Yeah.
I'm a new person. I'm a new creation.
I'm a new man in Christ. I'm a new woman in Christ.
But then somebody cuts you off in traffic, then that same
person at work does that thing. And then, you know, the your kid
won't stop. That's the tension I'm talking
about. And I told you, we all feel it.
We all feel that tension. I thought I would be further
along. And what happens is you think,
where did that come from? I thought that was in the past.
And here's the danger. You begin to draw a conclusion,
and every Christian does this. You begin to draw the wrong
conclusion. When we feel like change is so
slow, when we see the old man or the old woman rear their head so
strong, we draw the wrong conclusion.
We assume something must be wrong with me.
Maybe I'm not growing. Maybe I'm not serious enough
about this Christian stuff. Maybe some of you have said
this. Maybe Christianity just doesn't
work for me. That's a wrong conclusion.
The other side of that, though, is we can draw the wrong
conclusion and do this. We can just lower the standard.
We can just say, you know what? This is just who I am.
I'm a jerk. I'm a liar, I'm a deceiver, I'm
a luster. This is just I'm never going to
change. This is probably I just need to
lean into who I am and just just this is what it is now.
This is this is the problem, right?
Do you understand the problem of this tension is we'd either draw
the wrong conclusion and say something's wrong with me.
I'm never going to change. Something's wrong with me.
Christianity doesn't work for me.
I'm I'm just too broke and I'm not serious enough and we just
walk around in shame and guilt all the time, right?
That's one wrong conclusion. The other wrong conclusion is
I'm also lean into it bro. I'm never going to change.
This is just who I am. That's also the wrong conclusion
as well. Here's what I want you to see
this morning about the tension you feel.
The tension that you feel is not a sign that something is wrong.
It's not a sign that something is wrong.
The tension you feel is actually a sign that something is
happening inside of you. The fact that you feel that
tension means you care. It means this matters because
when the Spirit of God begins to work in your life and in my
life, two things happen at the same time.
Two things happen at the same time.
Number one, you begin to see Jesus a lot more clearly.
That's enough. That's the first thing that
happens in your life. You begin to see Jesus a lot
more clearly. And the second thing that
happens is you begin to see who you are a lot more clearly.
This is what the Spirit of God does in us.
He shows us the beauty and the goodness and the grace and the
loveliness of Jesus. And he shows us the gap between
who He is and who we really are. And that, friend, That gap can
be quite discouraging. But listen to me, This is
actually evidence that God is at work in you.
If you feel that tension that I thought I would be further
along, I don't understand why this is this way.
That's actually evidence that God is at work in you.
So if you've ever felt that, and I want to be further along, I
should be further along. You are not alone.
And more importantly, believe it or not, you're not stuck.
God is working in your life. That's why you feel that
tension. That's why you sense it.
All right, so we feel the tension.
We should be further along by now.
What does the Bible say about this tension?
All right, and this is idea #2 this morning.
All right, Idea number 2 is God uses imperfect people.
So if number one is the tension we all feel, I wish I could be
further along than this. Number 2 is God uses imperfect
people. Now we're going to see that God
uses imperfect people by looking at first Timothy in just a
second. So if you have your Bibles, go
there. But before we do that, I'm going
to ask my friend and part time staff member at our church if
you would hand me these two Staffs here.
Thank you for being there, John. That's awesome.
I totally forgot to bring these up with me.
All right, so I brought these here with me today.
This here is a a trekking pole if you go on hike.
Anybody ever use one of these on a hike?
I've never used one of these, but it's pretty cool.
I got this from a dear friend who used to attend our churches.
Passed on. Now this trekking pole was
manufactured, right? It's straight and it's aluminum.
It's got a nice little rubber foot on the bottom of it.
Oh, it's got a little doggy paw on the bottom.
Look at that. So when I didn't know, I've
never knew that before. So when you're walking and you
put it in the dirt, it looks like a dog is walking.
That's weird. Anyway, this is this is what
most of us would pick as our walking stick.
If you're going on a long hike and you needed a walking stick,
this is what most of you would pick.
This is also a walking stick. It'll do the same thing, right?
It's it's, it's uneven, it's crooked, and you know, it's
shaped over time. Most of us in this room, when we
think about being used by God, we think we need to be this.
We think, well, God, if you're going to use me, I need to have
it together. I need to have a nice
comfortable handle, nice wood, decorative knob on the top, the
wrist strap. I need to be perfectly straight.
I need to have the foot here with a paw.
I need to be just right. And when I get things right like
this, God, you can use me because I'll have it together.
The reality is, is nobody's this.
Nobody is this. I have to say it twice because
you don't believe me. Nobody is this everybody is this
everybody? You ready?
It's crooked. I know you're like I'm I don't.
Everybody's crooked. Now, are some of us more crooked
than others? Yes.
But once you're crooked, you're crooked.
That's all there is to it. You're not that.
You're not perfectly straight. You're crooked.
You see, there are no straight, perfect people.
Every single one of us are a little crooked.
Now listen to what the apostle Paul says.
The Apostle Paul says first Timothy chapter 1 verses 15 and
16. He says there is a trustworthy
saying that deserves full acceptance.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
the worst. But for that very reason I was
shown mercy, so that in me the worst of sinners.
Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example
for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life.
Think about these words. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.
Now think about who's writing that.
This is the apostle Paul, a man who planted churches, wrote much
of the New Testament, and followed Jesus for years.
And he says I am the worst of sinners, not I was the worst of
you got to catch this. He didn't say I was the worst of
sinners. And now I've got it together.
He says I am the worst of sinners.
Now stop. Stop.
OK, Well, how is that possible, Steven?
I mean, like, he's like the Apostle Paul.
He's met Jesus on the road to Damascus.
He had, he wrote most of the New Testament like he's a kind of a
big deal. Did he become a Christian and
then just get worse? No, he did not become a
Christian and then just get worse.
Not at all. He actually became a Christian,
met Jesus, and he began to see things more clearly, including
himself. You see, the closer you get to a
light, the more clearly you can see what is around that light
and what was always around that light.
In other words, when you get to the light, what's there was
always there. You just couldn't see it because
you were further away. But as you get near the light,
you can see it clearly. You see, as Paul grows in his
understanding of God's great, as Paul grows in his understanding
of God's holiness and God's goodness, God's perfection.
In other words, as he has more revelation of who God is and
sees more clearly of who God is, he also has better clarity of
who he is and he sees his deep need for God's grace.
So it's not that Paul became a Christian and became a worse
Sinner. It's that Paul became a
Christian and began to see just how deep his sin ran.
He began to see just how deep his sin ran.
You see, there's an old saying, the beauty of the gospel is I am
a worst Sinner that I ever dreamed I could be, but I'm also
more loved than I ever dared possible.
Those both of those things are true at the same time.
And this is what Paul is saying has happened to him.
So Paul shows us now in verse 16 that there's a reason that God
uses him even though he's the worst of sinners.
Let me just reread part of verse 16 that says, but for that very
reason, in other words, the reason that I'm the worst
Sinner, for that very reason, I was shown mercy so that Christ
Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those
who would believe in him. In other words, Paul is
basically saying, hey, I'm not perfect.
I'm crooked deep down, but God uses me anyway.
What does he use you, you for Paul, He uses me to put on
display his mercy and his patience with all people.
And so Paul is saying, hey, if you're feeling like you're too
broken and you're too sinful and you're too dark and you're too
crooked to be used by God, Paul says no, no, no, I'm the worst
that can happen. And I'm living proof that God is
merciful and patient with all of us because I'm the worst.
I was used by God for this is the reason that God was merciful
to me, to show you that you all, all of you are the objects of
his mercy and patience. You see, God has never ever used
perfect people. Do you know why?
Why there aren't any? There are none.
I tell people who are guests are at church.
Sometimes I'll say, hey, welcome to islands.
I'm glad you're here. We don't allow any perfect
people. It's just a kind of a way to
kind of let them know like, hey, if you're feeling nervous in
this moment, they're like, I don't know, churches.
I feel weird because, you know, if you're a guest at church, it
feels weird, right? You guys who come here every
Sunday should just pick a Sunday and go somewhere else and you'll
feel it like it's like there aren't there are no, there are
none of these. None of these these don't exist.
The reason God uses broken, crooked people, it's because
that's all there is. This is all there is.
If he said I'm only going to use perfect, straight, got it
together people, what would he get done?
Nothing. You were plan A, there is no
Plan B and everybody's like this.
Everybody's crooked. Some are more crooked than
others, but everybody's crooked. Now, I like this saying you
should write this down. If you take notes, God has
always drawn straight lines with crooked sticks because that's
all there is. Now think about that.
Isn't that beautiful? All throughout scripture you see
it. Abraham was used by God.
He had faith and yet he was a liar.
He was a deceiver twice lied to put his wife in jeopardy.
Bro that's a whole nother level of lying whole.
Like Can you imagine when I got back home?
You don't know the story. You should go read it.
I can't believe you told him I was your sister.
Well, he might have killed me. You know.
I don't care. Could you?
That was a bad day. But here's Abraham had great
faith and walked away from his family.
All these amazing things. Liar, deceiver.
Crooked Moses. Moses led the people out of
slavery, saw God in a Bush. The murderer.
The murderer David. David worshipped.
I mean, he wrote so many of the Psalms.
We sing his words in our churches today.
David worshipped and he led, but he raped and he murdered.
Peter led the church. So many look to him and yet he
denied Jesus his most needful hour.
You see, Paul says all these broken, crooked people that God
has used. Paul says I'm the worst and the
fact that he used me the worst is evidence that He will use
you, that He has a plan for your life.
So if you're sitting here thinking today I should be
better, I should be further along.
What Scripture shows us is that, friend, God is not waiting for
you to get polished or to get together or to become a finished
product before He works in your life.
No, he's not. He will work in you and through
you while you are still in process, while he's still
straightening out the crooks. He will use you even while you
are crooked and crooked deep down.
This is the goodness of our God, and this is what Paul shows us,
and this is what all of Scripture shows us.
And so you though, and me, both of us, all of us though crooked,
God uses us. He uses imperfect people.
Now, this raises one important last question.
If God works through imperfect people, if He is patient with us
in the process, why do we feel like it's so slow?
Why does change take so long? And this is the last idea this
morning. It's a process, not a moment.
And that's our third and final
idea. Your sanctification and my
sanctification is a process and not a moment.
I was a child when microwaves became popular.
Do you guys remember those? We had a an Amana microwave that
had two turning knobs on it and you could spin it real fast to
get to like 3 minutes or 4 minutes.
You spin it. You know, it was the coolest
thing. We didn't have a push button
when we had a spinning when it was really cool.
And I remember as a child getting microwave bag popcorn.
You guys remember that when that first get me, I guess I'm
showing my age and you some of you are like younger than 30 or
like this guy's ancient. Yes, but that was because prior
to that, you know, popcorn was this machine you took out of the
cabin you plugged in. It was like you put the seed in
the oil and it's like, is the popcorn ready?
No, come back in 30 minutes. You know what I mean?
Is this ever going to happen? Like I'm over it now.
I don't movies over like I don't watch this popcorn.
So microwave popcorn. You guys remember that?
You pop it in, make sure this side is up.
What is it minute and 1/2? You know, I am surprised it
hasn't gotten faster. I'm a little disappointed in
that like technology feel like feel like it should be quicker
by now, but but but but like it's so it's so like it's so
microwavable and what happens is is we're kind of programmed for
instantaneous and things just happening quick that we kind of
see our faith that way. We want our faith to be
microwavable, white microwavable.
We want things to happen in an instant, but that isn't the way
God works in us. He works in US overtime, through
our lifetime, through our circumstances, through our
challenges, and through our celebrations.
And the changes in your life, and this is hard to believe, but
the changes in your life are oftentimes, to you,
imperceptible. You don't necessarily perceive
them. Others might perceive them, but
you don't necessarily perceive them as you follow Jesus.
They just happen overtime in small incremental ways and you
have to accept that in faith. Philippians 16 Paul says being
confident of this that he who began a good work in you will
carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus, right.
God is faithful. He started something in you he's
doing it now. Most of us realize if you're a
Christian that God has begun a good work in your life.
You're like, yeah, I get that we remember your conversion.
You remember your baptism you're like, yeah, I'm in and and and
we we we remember that we decided that the gospel message
was true. We committed our life to Christ
and most of us can be confident about the future.
We we believe that there is a new heaven and a new earth.
We believe that God is going to make everything new again one
day. And so we're confident about the
future. Where most of us struggle is in
the part of that verse that says we'll carry it on.
We'll carry it on. That is the process of your
sanctification. This is how God has decided to
work with us in the process of carrying it on day after day,
Set back after, set back, get back up, take a step forward,
take a step back, 2 steps forward, one step back.
It's all part of the process of Him carrying it on.
It's slow. And here's the hardest part of
it. You ready.
You and I are not in charge of our own sanctification and we
wish we were. That's really what is at the
base of this. We want to be in control.
We want to say, I want to be different and I want to be
different yesterday. And God says, no, I'm working
this out in your life. I am working out a process in
your life and I'm carrying it on.
One more passage of Scripture, Second Corinth what?
Two more actually, before we leave 2nd Corinthians 318, it
says this and we all with unveiled faces, contemplate the
Lord's glory, are being transformed.
You see that we're transformed. If you have your Bible underline
that we're being transformed into His image with ever
increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit,
and those are the key lines there.
We're being transformed into His image with ever increasing
glory. IN2021I planted an oak tree.
I bought it at Lowe's. It was in a pot.
When I took the tree out of the pot and put it in the ground,
the tree was about 6 inches shorter than me.
It's I've been watering it. I fertilize it from time to
time. I'm not an arborist.
I'm not like, you know, I don't go talk to it or anything, but I
water it from time to time. I really shouldn't say I do much
at all because I don't do much at all.
But every now and then I'll, you know, if I'm washing up.
I don't wash cars. I mean, just when you drive a
little junk, you don't wash it. The dirt might be holding that
thing together. So, but here's the thing about
my oak tree. I just let it grow And today
it's like a foot or so, maybe 2 feet taller than me.
It's a bit taller than me big. I'm never going to sit in its
shade. I'm I'm never going to like see
it big and all its glory and it'll live to be 7-8 hundred
years, 1200 years old. Who knows what I'll never see
it. I'll never sit in the shade, but
it's growing. And here's what's interesting.
It started out about 6 inches shorter than me and today it's
like a foot or two taller than me.
I've never actually witnessed it grow.
In other words, I've never gotten out the car.
I'm oh, caught you. I saw that itch.
Way to go buddy. 700 more of those.
I'm going to get in the shade. I've I've never witnessed it and
yet it has happened. I can see the evidence of it.
Friend, this is true of you. The changes that God is ring
bringing about in your life. They're imperceptible to you,
you, you. You don't necessarily see them
happening. Now.
There are moments where you get glimpses of it, but for the most
part it's imperceptible. It's just happening.
God is growing you overtime, slowly, steadily into the
reflection of Him. What's that verse say with ever
increasing glory? Isn't that beautiful?
You are receiving an ever increasing glory of His image.
You don't see it day-to-day, but overtime it becomes undeniable.
Now some of you are thinking, Steven, I hear you, it's a
process, yadda yadda, yadda. But I don't like the process.
I want this to go faster. I want to see change sooner.
Let me give you one last passage before we leave today that I
hope will give you some hope and patience for yourself and maybe
grace for yourself. First Thessalonians, another
Paul passage. I love how the Bible is just so
agreeable across all these letters.
First Thessalonians 514, it says.
And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn of those who are
idle and disruptive. That's a whole sermon there, by
the way. Encourage the disheartened, help
the weak. Be patient with everyone.
Isn't that good? Be patient with everyone.
Now don't miss this. Don't miss this.
Don't miss this.
What is God? What is the last line there that
God's commanding all of us to do that laugh To be, to be what?
With everyone? To be patient with everyone.
OK, Any leader who calls you to do something or commands you to
do something. He himself or he or she herself
must be willing to do that thing, right?
If God has called you and commanded you to be patient with
each other, then what is God's disposition towards you?
Patience. He would not call you to be
patient with one another if He himself were not patient with
you. And so as you feel the
frustration of I just, I just wish this were happening.
God is not surprised by your struggle.
He is not frustrated with you, He is patient with you.
So you don't need to live frustrated either.
Be patient. God's grace is sufficient.
His power is made perfect in weakness.
He is working even when you can't see it.
He is growing you even when it feels slow.
It's happening, so be patient. So as we close today, and really
as we close this whole series, here's what I hope you will take
with you. God works through a process, not
all at once, not overnight, but steadily and faithfully overtime
over your lifetime. And that means that this
morning, if you are following Jesus Christ and you feel this,
I'm not there yet or I still have work to do, that does not
mean something is wrong. That means something is right.
That means you're in it. That means God is working.
You're in a process. And the invitation of this
series has been simple. Hey, make room in your life,
Createspace in your life, not just for a moment of change, but
for a lifetime of formation. Make room for God to keep
working for his Spirit to keep shaping you.
Stay in the process, even when it feels slow.
Stay connected to the community of believers, even when you feel
discouraged. Stay in the process.
Keep making room. Because God.
God is more committed to your transformation into His likeness
than you are. He is more committed to your
sanctification than you are. He is dedicated to it.
And He's not in a hurry. He's not idle, but he's not in a
hurry. So you don't rush it.
Don't quit, don't settle. Stay with God, stay connected.
Because the same God who began a good work in you will carry it
on to completion. He will.
And you may feel like this today.
I'm not ready, is what most people tell me when I asked Him
to start serving. I'm not ready.
You may feel crooked, not quite where you wish you were.
But friend, this is exactly who God uses.
He draws straight lines with crooked sticks because that's
all there is. Your sanctification is
happening. It may be slow, but friend, it
is undeniable. Will you stand with me as we
pray together? Father, on this stage right now,
there are two crooked sticks. There's the one I dug out of the
ground that I've had for a number of years, and there's the
one you dug out of the ground and I've had for a few years.
Thank you that you use crooked sticks to draw straight lines.
How faithful you are. Thank you that you're preparing
us for what you have prepared for us.
You're shaping us and changing us and forming us.
And to the women and the men and who reflect you with ever
increasing glory, in Christ name Amen.
Thank you friends, have a blessed week.
We'll see you back here next Sunday.
Next Sunday.