We value...Growing into conformity to the person of Jesus Christ through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.
(Eph. 4:13, 5:18; Rom. 8:14, 29; Mark 8:34-35; John 3:30; 1 Cor 3:1-11)
The goal of Christian maturity is to become Christlike in our character (Eph. 4:11-13). These character traits are the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control...” (Gal. 5:22-,23).
We need to incorporate the spiritual traits and habits Jesus modeled: living by faith in trusting His Father for every need (Matt. 6:31-3; 17:20), saturating Himself in the Word of God (Matt. 4:4; Luke 2:46-47), prayerfully abiding in God’s presence and seeking to do what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19), being joyful (John 16:24; 17:13) and obedient by submitting His desires and will to God’s (Luke 22:42), living by the Spirit’s power (Luke 3:22; Luke 4:1; Acts 1:8), humility (Matt. 11:29; 18:2-4; Phil. 2:5-11) and His worshipful attitude toward the Father (John 8:49). We need to shift our motivations. As Jesus molded Himself to the Father heart of God (John 14:21) so we learn to love what God loves (Acts 13:22; Jer. 3:15).
Human sin has damaged the self so we need transformation. Sin is natural, that is, it’s a part of our natures. It was handed down to us. We’ve all taken part in it (Rom. 3:23). So we’ve been wounded and broken (Psalm 34:18; Psalm 57:17; Matt. 21:44). Now we need healing for our spiritual (John 8:34; Rom. 7:14) and emotional wounds and create a new structure for the self (Col. 3:5-14).
In our becoming Christlike, God designed the Christian person to win in the struggles with our human nature (Psalm 18:35; Prov. 2:7; John 16:33; 1 John 2:14; 4:4; 5:4) through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:8-14, 37). The self has two natures. One is sinful and separated from God. This self is spiritually dead and died with Christ on the cross. This separated self is the “I” of Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live.” The second self is the “me”, the person enlivened by the Spirit of God, in the rest of that verse. “But Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” The self, the human soul, which consists of our will, mind, emotions and our physical energy or strength--the way our human spirit functions in our bodies--must be brought under the control of the Spirit of God (1 Thes. 5:23; Rom. 8:14).
For Christians, God creates a new birth (John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:23) in our self by putting His Spirit into our spirit which makes us alive to God. This makes transformation possible (Rom. 12:2; 2 cor. 3:18). All that was old can become new (2 cor. 5:17; Phil. 3:21). We once were darkness--motivated by fear and self-centeredness, concerned with earthly things. Now we are light--loving and God-centered as God’s perfect love drives out fear the way a light banishes darkness (1 John 4:18).
These changes don’t happen instantly but are a part of growth (Phil. 1:6) toward attaining Christ-likeness (Phil. 3:12-16). Because of the legacy of sin which effects our minds, wills, emotions, behavior, habits and is a part of our memories, we need to deal with the effects of sin in our lives once we become Christians (Rom. 8:13). It is God’s intent to redeem and restore all that has been damaged (Joel 2:25; Isaiah 57:14-15, 18). This does not mean that people don’t suffer real loss, but that God can accomplish His purposes in us for His glory even in our affliction (2 Cor. 4:7-11). As a good Father, God sometimes uses discipline as a corrective in our growth (Heb. 12:10).
Sin bends our appetites and interests toward earthly attractions, pleasures and comforts. God’s Spirit redirects us toward heavenly things (Rom. 8:5). We must learn what things belong to our “old” or “fleshly” nature and remove those things from our lives (Eph. 4:22-32) and choose to treat them as dead to us (Rom. 6:6,11), since they died with Christ on the cross (Col. 3:5-9) We also learn what things are characteristics of the Holy Spirit and embrace things of righteousness by our decisions, putting them on like we do our clothes (Col. 3:12-15).
Human sin creates separation and isolation (Gen. 3:8-10; Rom. 3:19-23). God’s Spirit ends separation since Jesus will never leave or forsake us (Rom. 8:35-39; Heb. 13:5). The character of human sin is spiritual pride (Is. 14:13,14), a self-centeredness (Psalm 10:4; 1 Tim. 3:2-4) in which we judge ourselves to receive approval or esteem from ourselves or others. God leads us in humility (Is. 23:9) so that we esteem ourselves only based on His approval (Is. 66:2; Dan. 9:23; John 12:43; Gal. 1:10; 1 Thes. 2:4). Sin makes us prone to judging ourselves (2 Cor. 10:12) or others opening us up to a spirit of accusation, criticism, or condemnation (Rom. 5:18, 8:1). God releases a loving spirit within us which forgives both ourselves and others, frees us from enslaving guilt (1 John 1:9), condemnation and shame (Psalm 34:5; 1 Cor. 4:3-5). The self-image effects of sin are either exaggerated self-importance or devaluation and feelings of worthlessness. God wants our worth to be secure and established in His valuing us and come to an accurate self-appraisal (Rom. 12:3).
The need for worth and significance is a core motive God addresses (Jer. 31:3; Is. 49:16; Heb. 11:38; Titus 2:2 ; Rev. 3:4). We recognize that human performance can never put us into a right standing before God that makes us worthy to deserve His love and the gift of eternal life (Eph. 2:8,9; Acts 13:46). We must rest secure in faith, trusting in the completed work of Christ on our behalf (Heb. 4:10,11). God sees us as holy because He applies the righteousness of Christ to us (Psalm 103:17; Phil. 1:11). We can become worthy only by receiving the gift of Christ (Rom. 4:3-6; 5:17-18, 21). Our life of faith continually moves us toward increased holiness and Christlikeness (Eph. 4:20-24; Phil.
3:7-16).
Our goal is to become people of tremendous love, for this is the nature of Christ within us (Rom. 8:29; Psalm 17:15). We have the supernatural resources of God’s Spirit, the guidance of His word, and the giftedness of the body of Christ living in community to enable us to become “New commandment” Christians who become perfected in love (Matt. 5:43-45, 48; 1 John 4:18) and learn to love as Jesus did (John 13:34). Top