Easter Good News E-service
April 4, 2020
|
Gidday it's Andrew here.
O.K. it’s confession time... I’ve always thought butterflies were just modified caterpillars. Andy from church recently tried to correct me on this so I looked it up on scientificamerican.com. Wow am I wrong! I mean sooo wrong! Apparently once inside it’s cocoon the caterpillar releases emzymes to dissolve all it’s tissues first before growing pretty much whole new body parts. Here’s the overview. “To become a butterfly, a caterpillar first digests itself. But certain groups of cells survive, turning the soup into eyes, wings, antennae and other adult structures” |
|
Is my wrong view similar to how we sometimes mistakenly think of ourselves? We might think that when we became a Christian we are just better versions of ourselves but God points out we are totally new creatures.
Think about the butterfly as you read this sentence from 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation. The old has gone, the new is here!" Easter Sunday is the true story of an incredible transformation (Jesus going from death to life) on top of other incredible transformations: |
|
|
(I truly can’t fully understand any of these transformations.) Jesus’ transformations were not for Himself alone but so that you can be transformed too.
|
Do you know that if you are a Christian you have already
been through a monstrous transformation? Here’s Phil to explain... |
|
|
Thanks Phil, that’s a really exciting transformation. After that transformation there's another one to experience as well. Keep reading as Ted explains... |
|
Just as a caterpillar didn't immediately morph into a butterfly but went through the cocoon stage and finally broke out of that, so we don't immediately transform into a character exactly like Jesus.
Fortunately, God sees us as perfect like Jesus through the cross and our sins are forgiven. But we certainly don't see each other as perfect Christ like characters. 2 Cor. 5 v 17 tells us we are new creations. The old is gone the new has begun. The Holy Spirit now works in our lives to transform us to be like Jesus. Every day a war rages within us - Spirit versus flesh. The old nature versus the new nature. The Holy Spirit works in us through His Word and to an extent our conscience. |
The more I let the Holy Spirit into different areas of my life, the more like Jesus I become. It's like two big dogs inside me always fighting. The dog that wins the fight is the dog or nature I feed the most.
Sometimes miracles happen and change is immediate but more often it's a process as we surrender more and more to the Holy Spirits promptings. 2 Cor. 3 v 18 says we are being transformed - our lives becoming brighter and more beautiful (Message), as God enters our lives and we become more like Him. I must continuously surrender areas of my life which I know are not in line with the character of a Christian to God who is all-sufficient. - Ted Thanks Ted. It’s pretty exciting to think that who we are today doesn’t have to be who we have to be tomorrow! Your fears today can be transformed into faith. Your poor habits can be changed into healthy ones. |
|
Andy’s worship focus celebrates what God has done and is doing.
We’re going through a lot of change at the moment. Changes in the way the world around us operates, changes in the way we go about our lives and, I even think, changes in our very being. Change can be troubling, unsettling and disruptive. But is that necessarily a bad thing?
Watchman Nee, an early twentieth century church leader and author is quoted as saying "The sight of any trouble strikes terror into the heart of those who do not have faith, but those who trust Him say, "Here comes my food!” As followers of Christ we should desire a continuing change of our inner self, especially as it is an evidence of the Lord’s work in our lives. |
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 says "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
On this Easter Sunday morning, as we listen to and sing along with these songs, remember Christ’s resurrection and His defeat of sin and death and ask Him to continue to transform you more in to His glorious likeness. -Andy |
|
This may be a good time for you to find something to have for communion. Normally at church we use some bread and grape juice but whatever you’ve got will work. Together they remind us of Jesus’ incredible sacrifice so that we can be transformed into people worthy of a relationship with the most holy God.
In the next clip Liz will offer us some thoughts for as you take communion... |
|
|
Thanks Liz
Wait we can't end our Easter Sunday e-service there!!! We've missed a whole other radical transformation! If we are talking about us being a bit like butterflies, caterpillars and transformation then we are still in the cocoon phase. You know that part where the creature is being transformed from a dissolved caterpillar soup into something almost entirely different. Something remarkably spectacular. God has got one more transformation waiting for us. This happens when Jesus comes back for all living and previously dead believers. Check this out. "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2) (for more check out 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 & the second half of 1 Corinthians 15.) Did that just say we will be like Jesus? Wow! I’m so looking forward to that transformation. |
Think about what will take place when Jesus returns to take you to be where He is. You will be like Him with full joy, peace and health or and you will never mess up again.
Twelve years ago my last grandparent, Granny Woods, died after a long drawn out battle with dementia. We were living in Adelaide, Australia then and didn’t make it back to her funeral. At the time I wanted to write a thought for my mum (currently also in the cruel claws of dementia). While writing I saw a caterpillar humping its way up our outside window. It was fascinating to see from the inside how it inched and crawled it’s way slowly upwards. With newfound insight I could write to mum that my little old Granny was much like that caterpillar. The slow tedious part of her life was now behind her. She had even finished that almost mindless cocoon like state. She has now, in a way, hatched into who she was created to be. She has been radically transformed into a person of beauty and grace. Her movements once painfully slow are now free and fluid. Her mind once frail is now full. She is in the presence of Jesus Christ who loves her so much that He gave His own life for her. -Andrew |
Location
|
|
