Transforming to the Image of Christ

Evan Gaddis was a baseball star recruit out of high school in 2004. Instead of playing for Major League Baseball, he accepted a scholarship from Texas A&M University. However, due to alcohol and substance abuse, he was unable to fulfill his commitment.

He went into some depression and ended up having some problems for a period of time, but thanks to his good mother, he was admitted into a rehab program and eventually went through that successfully. He lived in a halfway house for a time and then worked as a janitor making pizza and as a ski lift operator. In 2010, he decided to return to baseball and was offered a spot on the Texas Permian Basin Falcons.

He was then selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 23rd round of the 2010 MLB Draft. He played minor league ball for several years and made his major league debut on April the 3rd, 2013 with the Atlanta Braves. He was eventually traded to the Houston Astros in 2015, and in 2017, the Astros won the World Series. He stopped playing after the 2018 season.

You know, I like sports metaphors. There’s so much that playing sports and being involved with sports and even coaching sports can teach us. And sports is a great metaphor for change, among other things. And Evan Gaddis was one who experienced a tremendous amount of change. You know, the Bible has a lot to say about change.

In Romans chapter 12 and verses 1 and 2, we read, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, Which is your reasonable service. And not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Be transformed, the Bible teaches. And that’s something that we need to consider on a daily basis. What does it mean for us to change?

How do we do this? We often reflect upon the butterfly and how it starts its life, you know, as a caterpillar goes into that cocoon and then becomes something very beautiful. I think this is an apt illustration for the Christian life as well.

Let’s think this morning about how we can change. First of all, we need to recognize everyone has problems. And these problems come in many different shapes and sizes. You know, thinking about Evan Gattis, it was substance abuse, anxiety, depression.

Many have backgrounds with bad relationships in them that may end in those relationships dissolving. Some may have substance abuse in their lives and they need help sometimes with dealing with that issue. We have poverty in many families in the world and although we have some good resources to address some of the issues, It’s still something that is affected in this world and caused, in some cases, by sin. Everyone has problems. When we think about what the Bible says regarding our problems, we turn our attention to Romans chapter 3 and verse 23.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And really, sin is the biggest problem that we have in our life. Sometimes we’re the sinners. Jeremiah chapter 17 and verses 9 and 10 says, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. Sometimes we reap the fruit of our doings, and that creates problems for us.

Sometimes it’s others who have committed sin, and we are involved in the consequences of those sins. Jesus addressed that issue, you know, in Matthew 15, verse 18, when He said, Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go to him, talk to him, try to work it out, try to make things right.

That is a problem. It’s a hard problem to deal with. But it’s a problem caused by sin. I need to acknowledge my own sin to do something about the problem. It isn’t enough just to point the finger at other people. I’ve got to turn the finger around and point it back at myself. If I don’t fix the problems in me first, how am I going to be able to help someone else fix their problems?

Of course, this requires repentance on my part. In Acts chapter 17, verses 30 and 31, we read, “…truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained.

He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead. I’ve got to repent of whatever sins that I have within my life. You’ve got to repent of whatever sins you have within your life, and it’s not good enough to sit back and say, There are the problems that I need to address. If that were the case, I don’t believe you’d be here this morning. Because we all know that there are things that we can work on in our lives. But the first step to transformation is acknowledging that I have a problem.

Step number two, we need to understand that our past does not define us, and neither do our sins, for that matter. You know, Evan Gattis could have wallowed in a place of self-pity. He could have blamed others. He could have decided that he wasn’t worth playing baseball in the major league.

He could have told himself many things to end his baseball career, but he chose to move on. He chose not to let his past define him. Sometimes our past takes the form of false identities and pride, but we don’t want to be prideful. Our pride, because our pride can create issues.

When pride gets in the way, it creates offense within my life, an offense that I shouldn’t have. Evan Gattis was one who recognized, you know, he was willing to do what it takes. He mopped floors as a janitor, he worked as a ski lift operator, he threw pizza dough in the air, even though he could have been out there making millions of dollars as a baseball player. He didn’t let his pride hold him back. Jesus said, Blessed is he who is not offended because of me. What does that mean? A lot of times when people encounter the words of Christ, their pride wells up within them, and they can’t handle it.

They want to push it away. They don’t want to accept Christ because they’re offended with Him. But those who are not will be blessed by accepting Him and His teaching into their life fully. You know, Evan Gattis didn’t let his pride get in the way. He turned his life around and he decided to do something positive with it.

In Matthew chapter 15, verses 12 through 14, Jesus addressed the pride that He dealt with in the Pharisees in that day and time. His disciples came and said to Him, Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying? But He answered and said, Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if blind leads the blind, both will fall into the ditch.

You know, instead of letting our past or our pride or our sin define us, we need to put it away and move forward. Paul did this, and it was something I’m sure it was difficult for him to do. But nevertheless, he shares his insight here in Philippians 3, verses 13 and 14.

He says, Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God and Christ Jesus.

Oh yes, he had been a prideful man. He had been a sinful man. He had a horrible past. But he changed. And he recognized that he couldn’t let those things define him anymore. He had to move forward. And so he put his past in the past.

If we want to change, we can’t let our past, our sin, or our pride define us. If we want to change, we’re going to have to make some effort. Winning requires some effort. I’m sure those of you who are involved in youth sports and other activities like that understand We understand this very well. Tremendous amount of time is given to our kids to help them to win, you know, putting a lot of effort into those things. Well, if we’re going to change in our lives, we’ve got to make some effort.

Evan Gattis had to work to get to where he was going. You know, he didn’t change overnight. He did those odd jobs and then he got into a minor league team and he worked for several years before he was recognized and promoted up to the major league level.

God expects us to work also on ourselves. We’ve got to be faithful to Him each and every day. Revelation 2 and verse 10, You be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life. We’ve got to persevere, like Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. That involves effort. It involves activity. It involves commitment. It’s something that we’ve got to do if we want to win that prize.

Hebrews 6 and verse 12 says that we are not to become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Run that race that’s set before us. Don’t look back. Keep at it. And don’t give up.

Remember that one of the fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness, and we need to be faithful. We need to be faithful in our own lives. We need to be faithful to our children. We need to be faithful to our spouses. We need to be faithful to our parents. We need to be We need to be faithful to the church, and we need to be faithful to the Lord. You know, sometimes I know we put a lot of emphasis on evangelism and going out and talking to others about the gospel, but let me say this, that if you’re married and you have children, you need to focus on that first.

I know God wants us to evangelize others, and you do too. But you and I can’t fail to realize that we’ve got to evangelize our families first. If we fail to do that, we’ve just failed. We’ve got to keep ourselves faithful.

Faithfulness. That’s the effort that’s required to win. And then finally, transformation takes time. Transformation takes time. You know, Evan Gattis, his transformation didn’t happen overnight. It took at least 10 years. And our transformation isn’t going to happen overnight either. I know how some of us feel. We have high expectations of ourselves. The bar is way up here, you know. And we see that bar every day and we look at it and think, how in the world am I going to get there?

Well, look, do the best thing that you can do today and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. Don’t let those past failures define you. Yes, we fail, but look, tomorrow is a fresh day. The prophet Jeremiah wrote that God’s mercies are new every morning. And what does that mean? That today is a good day to begin again. Regardless of what situation you’re in, or your family’s in, or the church is in, or our nation’s in, whatever ills that may surround us, We can start right now to move forward and go forward together. You know what? Transformation will happen, but it takes time.

Think about Evan Gattis going from the minor leagues to the Atlanta Braves to the Houston Astros. Paul says, “…all of the failure that he experienced.” Sports is full of failure. In fact, most sports teams fail, don’t they, Jamie? Very few succeed and win it all. In fact, usually only one. That’s the way it’s designed. And so, it’s something that you pursue, but you’re changed while you pursue it.

Well, the Lord is working on us every day as well. We need to be patient and let Him do that good work. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, He increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail.

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. We’ve got to wait on the Lord. Let Him strengthen us. Let Him change us. We need to exercise patience, like James tells us in James chapter 5, verse 7 and 8. Be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient.

Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Jesus said in Luke chapter 8, verse 15, that the faithful are the ones who fell on the good ground, are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

Transformation takes time. I like the story of Evan Gattis going from a janitor in 2010 or 11 to winning the World Series in 2017. Wow! What change! But it’s nothing compared to the change that can happen within us when we give our lives to the Lord. We need to transform to the image of Christ. Every single day. How do we do that? We’ve got to recognize our problems and take responsibility.

Not allow our past to define us. Be faithful. Make the effort so we can finish the race. And wait on the Lord, because transformation takes time. Maybe this morning, you need to change. Maybe there’s something about your life that you’re not happy with, and you’re like, I really need to work on that.

Well, pray about it. Let God help you. Let Jesus guide you. He can do it. He can change the leopard spots. Maybe you’re not a Christian and you need to become one. You need to put away that old life of sin and problems and other things that have plagued you for so long and come to Jesus this morning.

For His cleansing power. You will hear His Word and believe it. Repent of your sins, confess Him as Lord and be baptized. That’s the beginning. That’s when you emerge from the cocoon and become the beautiful butterfly that God wants you to be.

Then you can go forth forgiven and keep being what God wants us to be. If you need to respond to the Lord’s invitation this morning, we invite you to come now while we stand and sing.

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!