Radical Transformation Requires Radical Confrontation – Part 1
Categories: Bulletin Articles Tags: Confrontation, Transformation
Romans 1:16 boldly declares that God’s power for salvation is within the gospel of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul teaches that the basis of the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. What does the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus represent but radical transformation? Could there be a more radical transformation than that of a lifeless body into a body filled with power and immortality? This is exactly the focus of the gospel. God wants us to be radically transformed.
Paul writes in Romans 12:2,3 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Many Christians want to transform the gospel to satisfy the culture, but that is not what Paul teaches. Radical transformation in action focuses upon moving Christians away from non-Christian culture and the sin within it. The gospel cannot radically transform people when we make God’s will the object of transformation. People may only be radically transformed when they are obedient to God’s will. This focuses the transformation upon changing man’s will. How do we do that?
Radical transformation requires radical confrontation. Now, I am not speaking about an approach where we are “in the face” of those who need to change. Rather, I am speaking about a frank discussion of the information that is contained within the gospel of Christ. If we engage our neighbors in a loving and kind way, there is no need to fear the confrontational element within the gospel. It is something that comes from the gospel itself—not from us.
God bless you, and I love you.
Kevin Cauley