Transformation

Theme scripture - Hebrews 6:1-2
Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

The following is an extract from ? the Message bible and is taken from Eugene Peterson’s introduction to the book of Acts.

“Because the story of Jesus is so impressive – God among us! God speaking a language we can understand! God acting in ways that heal and help and save us! – there is a danger that we will be impressed, but only be impressed. As the spectacular dimensions of this story slowly (or suddenly) dawn upon us, we could easily become enthusiastic spectators, and then let it go at that – become admirers of Jesus, generous with our ooh’s and aah’s, and in our better moments inspired to imitate him”

I believe one of the greatest challenges facing the Church today is to move on from being a spectator to become an active participant. The warning of James in 1:22 to be doers of the word and not just hearers appears to have fallen on deaf ears. The consequence has been, as he said, “….deceiving yourselves”. Too many today think they are in the right place with God but their hearts are far from Him. Too many today think that they are doing the will of Him but at the end, will Jesus say to them, “Depart from Me for I never knew you…?” The, latter statement by Jesus was made in the context of our relationship to Him who commissioned and appointed us to be a witness to the uttermost part of the earth. Telling evidence of our love for Him is our obedience to His commands! If our love for Christ is going to be measured, how will YOU measure up?

A way in which the enemy has been assisted in his attempts to destroy the church has been her lack of maturity. There have been many men and women of God, through the centuries and even today, who have tapped into the “greater works” that Jesus said they would do in His name but the vast majority of believers continue to paddle around in the shallow end of the river of God - seldom, if ever, getting more than their ankles wet. This ought not to be!

The apostle's exhortation in Hebrews 6 is that the Church would grow up from a state of childhood to the fullness of the stature of the new man in Christ. He declares his readiness to assist them all he could in their spiritual progress; and, for their added encouragement, he places himself alongside them: Let us go on. Here observe, in order to achieve growth, Christians must leave the principles of the elementary doctrine of Christ. How do they leave them? They must not lose them, they must not despise them, they must not forget them. They must lay them up in their hearts, and lay them as the foundation of all their faith and hope; but they must also not rest and stay in them, they must not always be laying a foundation, they must go on, and build on it. There must be more to the building; for the foundation is deliberately laid to support the building. Let’s examine the apostle’s reason for giving this strong meat to the Hebrews, after all he knew they were babes in Christ.

•Though some of them were weak, others had gained more strength; and they would need to be provided for. And, while grown Christians must be willing to hear the milk of the word preached for the sake of the weak, so the weak must be willing to hear the more difficult and hidden truths preached for the sake of the strong.
•He hoped they would be growing in their spiritual strength and maturity, and so be able to digest stronger meat.

Together with the transformation principles, the following six principles are part of the foundations of the Christian faith and have been taught, preached to and expounded for many generations of Christians. I trust they will shed light on your walk with God and help you to better understand the things we go through to get to where God will have us go.

The apostle mentions six foundation-principles, which must be laid first, and then built upon; neither his time nor theirs must be spent in laying these foundations over and over again. These foundations are:-

These are the great foundation-principles which all Christians should clearly understand and closely apply in their lives. In these the Church should be properly rooted and grounded, so that she never strays from them; without these, our faith loses its very foundation.