Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Life; Section 22

You Were Created
To Become Like
Christ
Purpose 3
Sections 22-28 (pages 169-223)

Thursday 21 October 2010

“Let your roots grow
down into Christ and
draw up nourishment
from Him. See that you
go on growing in the
Lord, and become strong
and vigorous in the
truth.”
Col. 2:7


Created to become
like Christ
Section 22 (pages 171-178)


“God knew what He was doing from the
beginning. He decided from the outset to
shape the lives of those who love Him
along the same lines as the life of His
son….We see the original and intended
shape of our lives there in Him.”
Rom. 8:29


You were created
to become like
Christ.

We were created from the
very beginning to become
like Christ.
God announced this
intention at Creation: “Then
God said, ‘Let us make
human beings in our image
and likeness.’” Gen. 1:26
Only humans are made in
God’s image - although we
don’t know all this means
we do know that like God
we are;

Spiritual beings, our spirits are immortal
Intellectual - think, reason, solve problems
Relational - we can give and receive love
Morally conscious - able to discern right
from wrong, making us accountable to God
Every person is made in God’s image - but
this has been distorted by sin, Jesus came on
a mission to restore this full image.


In fact Jesus is the image of God;
2 Cor 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the
minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see
the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God.
Heb 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God's
glory and the exact representation of his
being, sustaining all things by his powerful
word. After he had provided puriﬁcation for
sins, he sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty in heaven.


That said you never become God or a ‘god’,
but we should take on the values, attitudes
and character of God - becoming like him.
Eph 4:21-24 TM
Since, then, we do not have the excuse of
ignorance, everything...connected with that
old way of life has to go. It's rotten through
and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an
entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life,
a life renewed from the inside and working
itself into your conduct as God accurately
reproduces his character in you.


God is looking for his character to be formed
in you - this is not replacing your personality
which is unique and special to you - but is the
character found in the Beatitudes or the fruit
of the Spirit, or as seen in 1 Peter 1:5-8.


3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will
be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit
the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they will be ﬁlled.
7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be
shown mercy.


8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will
see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will
be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted
because of righteousness, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you,
persecute you and falsely say all kinds


22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23gentleness and self-control. Against such
things there is no law.


5who through faith are shielded by God's power
until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be
revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly
rejoice, though now for a little while you may have
had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.7These have
come so that your faith—of greater worth than
gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—
may be proved genuine and may result in praise,
glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and
even though you do not see him now, you believe
in him and are filled with an inexpressible and
glorious joy,


Difﬁculties enable us
to grow - which we
call character.
Abundant life does not
mean comfort and
ease - God is not
there to act like a
genie in a lamp - life is
about Him, not you!
Time on earth
strengthens your
character for heaven


God’s Spirit working in you

Holy Spirit produces
Christlike character in you.
2 Cor 3:18 And we, who with
unveiled faces all reﬂect the
Lord's glory, are being
transformed into his likeness
with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord,
who is the Spirit.


The process of becoming more like Jesus is
called sanctiﬁcation. It is done through the
power of the Holy Spirit (in cooperation with you)
Php 2:13

The Holy Spirit is not all about power and
miracles, he inhabits you, and we choose to
walk in response to his prompting, we then
receive faith, power love etc. to act in
accordance with this leading. You need to ask!


We must cooperate with the Holy
Spirit’s work

HS releases power
the moment we take
a step of faith:
Joshua and the
ﬂooded Jordan -
waters receded only
after the leaders
stepped into the
river.


“God waits for you to act ﬁrst. Don’t
wait to feel powerful or conﬁdent.
Move ahead in your weakness. Doing
the right thing in spite of your fears and
feelings. This is how you cooperate
with the HS, and it is how your
character develops”
Rick Warren, PDL, page 175

What do you think?

In the Bible spiritual growth is likened to a seed,
building a building or a child growing up - all of
which require activity and development.
Spiritual growth requires effort - salvation
doesn’t. E.g.
Lk 13:24, Rom 14:19, Eph 4:3, 2 Tim 2:15, Heb
4:11, 12:14, 2 Pet. 1:5 etc.


We have 3
responsibilities in
becoming like Christ -
Eph 4:22-24,
1. Choose to let go of
the old ways
2. Let the Spirit change
your thinking - also
Rom. 12:2
3. ‘Put on’ the character
of Christ by developing
godly habits


God uses his Word, people and
circumstances to mold us
These develop our character;
Word provides truth, People
provide support,
Circumstances provide the
environment
If you study the Word
regularly, connect with other
believers, learn to trust God
in difﬁcult circumstances -
you will become more like
Christ

Bible and prayer are obvious -
sometimes we neglect the fact
that God loves to use people to
change do his work in us.
[We have mentioned previously
how important fellowship is in
the Christian life.]
You cannot grow into
Christlikeness in isolation - you
need to be around other
people.


Becoming like Christ is a long,
slow process of growth

Not instant - a slow , gradual progressive
development which will take the rest of
your life.
Eph 4:13 NLT
13 This will continue until we all come to
such unity in our faith and knowledge of
God’s Son that we will be mature in the
Lord, measuring up to the full and
complete standard of Christ.


The process will only be
complete when we see
Christ, 1 Jn 3:2,
Dear friends, now we
are children of God, and
what we will be has not
yet been made known.
But we know that when
he appears,we shall be
like him, for we shall see This 15-year-old
him as he is. aged cheddar
costs $50/450g

“More confusion in the Christian
life comes from ignoring the
simple truth that God is far more
interested in building your
character than anything
else...what God cares about
most is that whatever you do,
you do in a Christlike manner”


God is more interested in what we are rather
than what we do - human beings not doings
Rom 12:2 TM
Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture
that you ﬁt into it without even thinking. Instead,
ﬁx your attention on God. You'll be changed from
the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants
from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the
culture around you, always dragging you down
to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out
of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.


“...many believers have
abandoned living for God’s great
purposes and settled for
personal fulﬁllment and
emotional stability. That is
narcissism, not discipleship”


Point to Ponder:
I was created to become like Christ


Verse to remember:
And we, who with unveiled faces all
reﬂect the Lord's glory, are being
transformed into his likeness with ever-
increasing glory, which comes from the
Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Cor 3:18


Question to consider:
In what are of my life do I need to ask
for the Spirit’s power to be like Christ
today?


Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Life; Section 22

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (20)

En vedette

En vedette (15)

Similaire à Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Life; Section 22

Similaire à Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Life; Section 22 (20)

Plus de Richard Chamberlain

Plus de Richard Chamberlain (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Life; Section 22