ReDo: Renewed to Transformed

This was the last in my series on Spiritual Renewal. It was preached February 24.
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A couple of weeks ago we looked at the story of Jonah. When we left him, Jonah had just experienced his own personal revival in the belly of a fish. He tried to run from God, but he repented and experienced the renewal he needed to accept God’s call for him. So there he sits, on a beach covered in fish slobber. Ready to follow God.

Jonah 3:1-10

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: ² “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.”

³ This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. ⁴ On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” ⁵ The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.

⁶ When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. ⁷ Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city:

“No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. ⁸ People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. ⁹ Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”

¹⁰ When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

We have spent the last few weeks talking about spiritual renewal. We have talked about spiritual renewal as the Holy Spirit filling us, preparing us, and empowering us to fulfill God’s call in our lives.

But spiritual renewal is not simply an individual phenomenon. We’ve talked about renewal as a process. Spiritual renewal starts with the individual. Each one of us is called to be a minister of the gospel. Ministry is not something that is confined to people called Pastor. I had a pastor a few years ago who always introduced himself as “one of 300 ministers” of his church. That is because each of us is called to ministry.

We experience spiritual renewal when we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit and allow God to renew our hearts, to empower us to answer God’s call. We can open ourselves to the Holy Spirit by growing closer to God through prayer, studying the Bible, through worship – In other words, by devoting ourselves to walking with Jesus, to growing closer to God. As our relationship with God grows closer, we become more and more open to the leading of the Spirit. As we grow closer to God, we experience the renewing and restorative power of the Holy Spirit.

But we can’t keep it to ourselves. I said last week that renewal is not true renewal unless it spreads. I used the illustration of champagne glasses stacked on one another. As you pour liquid in the top glass, it runs down to those under it and then from those glasses to the next level. In the same way, when we are filled with the Spirit (when we are renewed), we let the Spirit flow from us to fill those around us, then from them to those around them and so on and so on.

The reason the water could go from one glass to the next is because they were connected. That is the koinōnia I talked about last week. Koinōnia, remember, is fellowship by intimate participation. It is a life and a faith lived in community. Our connection to one another is essential to our faith journey.

We experience renewal as a congregation by learning together through Bible study groups, through book study groups, accountability groups, and other ways to meet together and learn together what it means to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ. We can experience renewal by praying together. Praying for and with one another. By sharing our struggles, our hurts, our joys and our successes with one another and knowing that you will be prayed for helps to build that connection and leads to renewal. And we can experience renewal as a congregation by worshipping together. Coming together for the common purpose of praising and worshipping our creator, redeemer, and sustainer. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

To experience renewal as a congregation enables us to fulfill our mission of making disciples. Jesus gave his disciples the mission of making disciples of all nations. And that is a mission that is passed down to us. The mission statement of the United Methodist Church says, “The mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” So as the church, we are in the business of disciple making. And that is a twofold mission.

1)    Bringing people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Encouraging and enabling people to accept Jesus Christ as their savior from sin and death, and in doing so, to begin the journey of salvation.

2)    Teaching those who have chosen to become disciples of Jesus, what it means to live as a disciple.

Last week we talked about the second level of disciple making. This is the stage where most of us live. At some point in our lives, we realized “I am a sinner and I am helpless to do anything about it.”  And we invited Jesus to save us from sin and death. Now, whether it’s weeks later or decades later, we are learning how to live as disciples. And we do that in just those ways I mentioned earlier. We teach one another through studying together, praying together, and worshiping together.

Today we’re going to focus a little more on the first part of that mission. Bringing people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Because that’s what happens when a church experiences renewal and we allow it to flow from us into the community.

I have to point out something about this next step in the process of spiritual renewal. It looks a little different than the first two. We’ve talked about individual renewal and renewal in the church as the Holy Spirit empowering us to fulfill God’s call for us. You can think of this as the Holy Spirit working in you and in me, and working in us collectively as the Body of Christ.

For renewal to move into the community, we have to answer God’s call. So our renewal comes as we grow closer to God and it prepares us to answer God’s call to make disciples. Renewal in the community comes as we live out that call. You can think of this as the Holy Spirit working through you and through me and through us collectively as the Body of Christ.

We see this in the story of Pentecost. I’ve mentioned this story for the last few weeks because it gives us a great example of this process of spiritual renewal I’m talking about. The Spirit renews and empowers the disciples to preach as Jesus instructed them. The Spirit renews and empowers the followers of Jesus, old and new, as they dedicated themselves to learning together, praying together, eating together, and worshipping together. And then the Spirit worked through them as they took the message of Jesus throughout Jerusalem, Judea & Samaria, and then to all the world. And that message transformed the world.

We have another example of a community transformed in the story of Jonah.  We sort of skip a step in Jonah’s story. Jonah experiences a personal renewal, but look at the renewal he inspires in Nineveh. At his words, God begins a transformative work in that community. The entire city, the king, even the cows, repent and turn to God.

Will we see an entire city turn to God like in the story of Jonah? Is that thought just a fantasy? Well, the story of Jonah is probably a bit of fantasy. It is more of a moral tale than an historical account. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire. The Assyrians were known for their brutality and their cruelty. What’s important in the story of Jonah is not the facts of the story, but the truth of the story. The truth of this story is that God works in powerful ways, and God works through us. The truth of the story is that God’s message of love, God’s message of salvation, which comes through Jesus Christ can transform the world. And that message goes to the world through us.

In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus says that as his followers we are the light of the world. We should let our light shine in order to glorify God. And that is what it means to be a renewed church. It is letting the Holy Spirit work through you and work through me – work through us together – so that this community sees the light of Christ shining from this church. Not the building, but the people. That is what it means to let that renewal spread to the community in order to transform the world.

A few years ago, I was attending Edgemont across town. We had an Easter Egg Hunt. As the adults were out hiding the eggs, they noticed they had company. Several kids from some low income apartments nearby were going around picking up the eggs and taking the candy out of them. You can imagine that this upset some folks. When they noticed the kids, one of the women in charge walked over to them. Everyone braced for a confrontation.

But she didn’t do what I would’ve done. I would’ve told them to get lost. But she invited them to help hide eggs. She invited them to stay and eat with us, to have their faces painted, to get balloon animals. She asked them to go home and invite their younger siblings and neighbors. And they did.

After the egg hunt, one of the youth invited the older kids to youth group. Some of them came. One or two of them still attend 3 years later. That is what it looks like when renewal spreads the community. That is what it looks like to be light for the world.

I want to say one more thing about the story of Jonah. This is not just a story of renewal, but a story of redemption. Jonah repented and received God’s pardon. The Ninevites repented and received God’s pardon. Through faith, an entire city is redeemed. In Jesus Christ, we find our redemption. And just like Jonah, who didn’t want the Ninevites spared because of his prejudices, and just like the Ninevites who were known for their wickedness – their cruelty and brutality – we too, despite our prejudices, despite our cruelty, despite our selfishness – God offers redemption to us through Jesus.  If we believe and trust Jesus as our savior, and repent – ask forgiveness and turn from our sin – we will be redeemed.

That is the Good News we are sent to share. That despite your past, God loves you, and wants you to have eternal life. And that is a message that will transform the world.