Intro: One of this summer's blockbuster movies was Transformers, a intense film with lots of high action scenes. The movie is a battle between two groups of alien robots who can hide themselves by transforming into planes, helicopters, and all sorts of land vehicles. They bring their battle to earth in search of a very important cube that has ended up here after an explosion on their planet. Why is the cube so important? It's their source of life - without it, they die. It's called the ALL SPARK. It is their power source.

Everything that lives has an all-spark - a power source. Some believe that some energy source out there in the cosmos is what gives us life and that it all started with the big bang. Genesis 1 tells me that that big bang was God's Word that gave the spark of life to everything. And when scientists talk about life they talk about it as the presence of certain elements that make life possible.

But we all know that life is so much more than basic elements that form cells and then a creature begins to take shape and function. That's the basis of our physical life. But humankind experiences much more to life than basic functions. We know that spiritual life is what gives us real meaning and purpose.

Some years ago this church captured the meaning of that life in our mission statement. Let's read it together: Developing Disciples Who Are Fully Alive in Christ. The last part of that statement truly captures the meaning of life. It identifies that all-spark - that spirit that we must all have that will make our lives something more than we can make it on our own. I asked a group recently why the church used the words "fully" alive rather than just alive. The reason is that those who wrote the statement wanted to convey the difference is being merely believers with our minds to being engaged believers that requires a life that is truly transformed to be all that God created us to be. Only Christ can make that possible.

There is a scripture that I believe captures the I believe captures what fully alive means: I Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Notice that this text is translated - if anyone is in Christ. But it could also be translated, if Christ is in anyone….

Here's that all-spark for the human race - it's Christ who can be formed in us.

1. New Life is only possible when Christ is formed in us.

Most Christians accept and understand that Jesus was God incarnate. In other words, God came to earth in human form in Jesus. That's what we call the incarnation. We believe that Jesus was formed in the womb of Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit and Jesus was God born in human flesh. But our understanding must go a step further. We must understand that the incarnation didn't stop there. That was only the beginning. The incarnation must take place in each of us. Jesus must be formed in you, and you, and you. He desires to be formed in you so that he can transform you. The incarnation of Christ within us is the goal of every Christian.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul expresses his concern for the people to be transformed by Christ's love. He says it is like he is having birthpangs until Christ is formed in them. (Until Christ is formed in you… - Galatians 4:19)
Here he expresses that Christ must be actually formed inside their hearts to bring that change that is so needed and to give them new life.
The Greek word that Paul uses and that was used in the scripture we read earlier from Romans is morpho. It is the basis of our word metamorphosis. It means The inward and real formation of the essential nature of a person. The basis of the word is in the process of a baby being formed in the womb. But the greek word morpho takes that basis and applies it to our person, our character, so that the understanding is that our essence as a person can go through a metamorphosis - a change that is formed within us.

God sent Jesus to show us that we can experience full life and become fully new by the power that Christ brings. Many people don't believe that they can ever change - that anything of substance can really happen in them. But God made us a lasting promise in Jesus that we can really experience a new life in Christ.

2. The Life-giving power of Christ makes real transformation possible.

Niki Cruz - from violent street gangs to being freed from that life and becoming a witness for Christ.

Joni Earkson - She was a Christian before her diving accident. Her diving accident at first made her question and she became very closed off. But through praying and reading the scripture, she came to understand that even though her body couldn't function, she could still have real life with meaning. She gave herself over to what God could do. She learned to write with her mouth which then lead to drawing and painting. She can write, draw, and paint better than most of us. But she uses all this to the glory of God. Writes books, movies, art works all for God's glory. That's a living symbol of complete transformation of a common life to the transformed life.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." - Romans 12:2a

To conform means to try to imitate. We are good at trying to imitate the norms of the world. Look at the styles through the generations and you'll discover this. Teens of every generation have thought they were doing their own thing, but when you look back you see that everyone looks pretty much the same. But dress and outside looks aren't really what this scripture is talking about. The scripture talks about when we let our hearts and minds - our inside nature - conform to the standards of the world. When who we are is just an imitation of some wordly beliefs and standards, then we have lost our true self. Jesus has come to transform us into spiritual beings who have the nature of Christ.

We too often want to settle for less than we can really become. We go so far with Jesus and we grow comfortable in religious routines. But Jesus challenges us to go all the way and to realize we can be fully alive - we can be fully new.

Jesus called people to focus on what kind of people they were becoming. Peter - good example. Jesus named who he was, but focused on what he could become. He was a sinner, but he could become a fisher of men. He stood in the way of God's plans for Christ to go to the cross, but he was called to take up his own cross. He denied Jesus 3 times, but Jesus came to him and called him to feed his sheep 3 times. Jesus kept focusing not on what Peter was, but who he was becoming.

That's because Jesus kept calling attention to what was at the center. Jesus focuses on the heart of our life.

Pharisees - focused on what was in their heart.
Jesus focused on love - 2 commands - to love

Jesus came to transform our hearts. He can make real transformation possible because he can put that real love in our hearts and change us from the inside out. He wants to be formed way down in here to affect everything that we do and are.

3. The Life-giving power of Christ makes complete transformation possible.

Philippians 1:6: Being confident of this that he who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Pseudo-transformation is not of Christ - it is simply being conformed to a standard of the world.

Butter - Parkay

Illustration: Owl Moth.

The glory of God is man fully alive! - St. Ireneus.