Chapter 4

Jesus Changes Us

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”. 

- Ephesians 5:1

     Like father, like son. That’s an old saying people use to point out that sons, more often than not, turn out to be like their father. That reality may excite or depress you, but that’s beside the point. The reason that saying is often true is that we all tend to imitate those who take care of us. We pick up both their good and bad qualities as we’re figuring out life for ourselves. In many ways this is true of our relationship with God, only we’re nothing like God when we sin. He’s a father who always does what is right and good. When we do what is wrong, we don’t resemble Him in any way at all. 

     Here’s the thing when it comes to sin— it’s tempting. We don’t typically do bad things begrudgingly. We do bad things because we want to, there’s something enticing about it. We’re drawn to sin because, by nature, we think it is what’s best for us. We’re all born with a built-in desire to rebel. However, sooner or later we all discover that sinning never fully satisfies us in the way we think it will. The reason is because the consequences of sin hurt, cause pain, deceive us, and it spreads like a disease. Eventually, and inevitably, sin will make you feel weak and cause a tremendous amount of frustration in your life.

     This isn’t just other people’s problem either, it’s our problem! The Bible describes our sinful condition when it says we are all “by nature… children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). Remember, our sin makes the wrath of God necessary. We, like the rest of mankind, deserve His wrath because God is just and we make choices to sin everyday. We desire to do whatever we want, and often what we want is bad. This is why we need the transforming work of the gospel in our lives. The gospel of Jesus not only rescues us from punishment and despair, but it also changes us to be more like our Father in heaven.

     When we hear and believe what Jesus has done for us we’re like orphans who have been adopted into a new family. Like orphans, it’s not that we’ve found our way to a loving father, we’ve just been chosen by one. It’s that act of grace by the father that changes an orphan and enables them to do something they otherwise could never do, imitate their Dad. Being spiritually adopted into God’s family changes our entire predicament. Believers aren’t known as children of wrath, they’re known as children of God.

     In an effort to be like our Father who is in heaven, we look to Jesus, His son. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the Son of God who perfectly displays our Father. Jesus taught, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). With that said, if we want to imitate God, we need to pay close attention to Jesus who was “the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3). He was tempted to sin in every way we are but Jesus never once gave into it. We’re never more like our God then when we imitate Jesus because He was without sin 

     However, think about that task for a second! How could anyone begin to live up to the sinlessness of Jesus? Are we really expected to be perfect? Even if we try as hard as we possibly can, how long could we keep it up? When it comes to living a life without sin, the thought of achieving that sort of perfection on our own seems hopeless. Thankfully God never leaves His children alone — He is with us! 

     Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” It’s comforting to know He didn’t stop there. He went on to say, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17). The Holy Spirit was sent to transform God’s children to be more like Him. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives that changes us to be like Jesus.

     Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit so that we could have an entirely new way of life, a holy one. In fact, when the Holy Spirit dwells in us the Bible says it’s as if we’re a new creation altogether. This new beginning is described as a second birth (John 3:1-8). In his new life the Holy Spirit ministers to us, convincing and reassuring us that we belong to God’s family (Romans 8:15-17). He empowers us to live for Jesus and pursue righteousness (Romans 8:14, Galatians 5:16). The Spirit is what enables believers to think and act in ways we previously could not (Galatians 5:22-23). When The Spirit dwells inside of your heart we start down a path that will change us one day at a time over the course of our entire lives (Philippians 1:6, 2 Corinthians 3:18). Though we constantly strive and struggle to be like Jesus our ultimate hope is that the Holy Spirit will complete in us a transformation that He was sent to accomplish!

     God is so gracious that He not only provided everything necessary to save us from our sins, but also equips us with all we need to be like Him. Those are the most profound and encouraging truths in the Christian faith. The gospel truly is a message of Grace from start to finish. It’s such a relief to know that God isn’t waiting on us to fix ourselves so He can love us. God took the initiative to pursue us, change us, watch over us, and keep us in His love. Always remember that His grace is sufficient to do everything that needs to be done to save us from His wrath, and that truth will changes us the more it sinks in. We’ll inevitably stumble as we live in response to that grace, but we have faith that He is enough. 

“Everyone who thus hopes in him [Jesus] purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:3).

Discussion questions for BOTH to answer.

1. What stuck out to you?
2. In what ways are you like your earthly father?
3. In what ways are you not like your earthly father?
4. When you look back on the last year of your life how do you think you’ve changed? What do you think inspired those changes?
5. Read through the passages referenced in the second to last paragraph. What kind of changes does the Holy Spirit make in the life of a believer?