Formed: God's Effort

Jan 05, 2025

Devotional

Day 1: Dawn Breaks With Unfailing Love

The new year arrives like a morning after a long night, carrying whispers of God’s relentless faithfulness. For those weighed down by the dust of last year’s battles, this dawn offers more than empty optimism—it holds the promise of a love that outlasts every crisis. Just as David cried out for morning mercies in Psalm 143, this year invites us to lean into rhythms of grace rather than cycles of despair. Transformation begins when we fix our eyes on the One who scripts fresh beginnings into creation itself. [02:21]

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. (Psalm 143:8, NIV)

Reflection: Where does your heart feel heavy with last year’s residue? How might anchoring to God’s unfailing love shift your posture as this new day dawns?

Day 2: Chisel Strikes Marble

God sees the masterpiece buried beneath the rough edges of our lives, much like Michelangelo saw angels in stone. He doesn’t dismiss our fractures but commits to carving beauty from them. Ephesians 2:10 reminds us we’re not accidents—we’re divine artworks crafted for purpose. The chisel of grace may sting, but each strike reveals the image of Christ being formed within. [10:32]

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10, NIV)

Reflection: What “rough edges” in your life do you struggle to believe God can redeem? How might His perspective change your view of current challenges?

Day 3: Shattering the Four-Minute Mile

Limits often live in our minds before they bind our lives. Roger Bannister’s breakthrough proves that barriers fall when we reject inherited ceilings. Like the renewing Paul describes in Romans 12, transformation starts when we let God redefine what’s possible. The Spirit invites us to run free from self-imposed prisons of “I can’t” into the open fields of “He can.” [15:12]

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2, NIV)

Reflection: What “impossible” situation have you resigned yourself to? How might God’s vision for your life rewrite that narrative?

Day 4: Eulogy Over Resume

While the world clamors for achievements, God cultivates quiet souls marked by “moral joy.” David Brooks’ description of integrated people mirrors Paul’s call to let Christ be formed in us. True success isn’t about accolades but the kind of character that makes others feel seen and loved. This year invites us to trade hustle for holiness, building legacy over LinkedIn profiles. [19:30]

My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you… (Galatians 4:19, NIV)

Reflection: What would your loved ones say about your character today? What one trait could you nurture this year to better reflect Christ’s heart?

Day 5: The Farmer’s Paradox

Growth requires both divine miracle and human labor—like a farmer who tills soil but trusts sun and rain. God’s metamorphosis happens when we partner with Him through disciplines and community, creating conditions for grace to flourish. This isn’t earning favor but cooperating with the Potter shaping His clay. [25:07]

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. (1 Corinthians 3:6–7, NIV)

Reflection: What “seed planting” habit could you adopt this year? How will you balance intentional effort with trust in God’s timing?

Sermon Summary

The new year begins with a real question: what do people see as 2025 opens? Some people come in full of vitamin D and ready to go, but others come in carrying the dust of a hard 2024, caught in that tug of war between hope and despair. Psalm 143 gives language for those people, because David asks that “the morning bring word of your unfailing love,” and the new year can become that kind of morning.

God has built rhythms into creation, day and night, weeks and Sabbaths, seasons of abundance and seasons of dependence. Those rhythms do not trap God inside a calendar, but they do remind the church that things come to an end and new things begin. The church enters 2025 with signs of blessing, young people being discipled, table groups forming, Alpha beginning, and spiritual disciplines being taken seriously. Yet the wider world still feels like “permacrisis,” with fear and challenge sitting alongside favor and hope.

The phrase “what do you see?” becomes the key invitation. Isaiah says God’s thoughts are not human thoughts and God’s ways are not human ways, and that is not just a rebuke, it is an invitation to learn how God thinks. Paul says the same thing in Romans, calling people not to be conformed to the world but transformed by the renewing of the mind. Transformation is not a quick dusting off or a little motivational tap on the back. The word points to metamorphosis, like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, a deep inside-out change that looks like new birth.

God sees his people as his masterpiece. Ephesians says believers are created anew in Christ Jesus for good works prepared long ago, and that means no life is an accident, second rate, or beyond shaping. The Michelangelo image gives flesh to that truth: God sees the angel in the marble, and he carves until he sets it free. Insecurity, anxiety, and a lack of identity rob people of vision, but God is grieved by that robbery and committed to forming beauty.

The four-minute mile shows how much the mind can become a prison. Once Roger Bannister broke what everyone said was impossible, others followed, because the barrier had been psychological before it was physiological. So Romans names the contested space: the mind must either be conformed to a fragmented world or renewed toward Jesus.

The call is not just to add resume virtues, promotions, goals, or a better body. The deeper question is what kind of soul is being formed. The beautiful life looks calm, rooted, humble, generous, steady under pressure, and free from the need to prove anything. The Spirit forms that life through God’s effort, spiritual disciplines, community, and even the hard knocks of suffering. Grace is not opposed to effort, only to earning, so the church is called to partner with the God who plants real hope and carves real beauty.

Key Takeaways

1. God gives new mornings after hard years. Psalm 143 gives a prayer for people who are not bouncing into the new year, but dragging grief, fear, and weariness behind them. The morning does not erase the night by pretending it was not dark; it brings word of God’s unfailing love into the place where the night was real. A hard year does not get the final word when God meets despair with fresh mercy and a new beginning. [02:01]
2. The mind is contested ground. Romans names transformation as something that happens through the renewing of the mind, because the 12 inches between the ears can become a prison or a doorway. Old words, old patterns, and old limits can make obedience feel impossible long before it actually is. Christ does not merely comfort stuck thinking; Christ breaks open a larger vision of what grace can form. [15:12]
3. God sees the masterpiece in marble. Ephesians calls the believer God’s masterpiece, not God’s project that barely made the cut. The Michelangelo image matters because God does not stare at the marble and see waste; God sees beauty hidden inside what looks rough, heavy, and unfinished. The carving may feel costly, but the Sculptor is committed to setting free what he saw long ago. [10:14]
4. Character matters more than the CV. The world trains people to ask what a person does, but the Spirit asks who a person is becoming. Resume virtues may win attention, but funeral virtues reveal the soul: kindness, steadiness, humility, forgiveness, peace, and sacrificial usefulness. A beautiful soul is not built by accident on the hamster wheel; it is formed by a vision of Christlike depth. [17:16]
5. Grace invites effort, not earning. Dallas Willard’s line guards both sides of the road: grace is not opposed to effort, grace is opposed to earning. Salvation and transformation are never wages, yet the believer still chooses whether to prepare good soil or leave the field unattended. The farmer image keeps the balance clear: human effort creates space, but only God gives the growth.

## [24:19]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:18] - Praying for Those Carrying Despair
[03:24] - New Year Rhythms and Fresh Starts
[04:10] - Signs of Blessing in the Church
[05:11] - Favor, Fear, and Permacrisis
[06:15] - What Do You See?
[07:25] - Renewing the Mind for Transformation
[09:20] - God’s Masterpiece in Christ
[10:14] - The Sculptor and the Marble
[13:02] - The Four Minute Mile and Limited Thinking
[16:24] - Conformed or Transformed
[17:16] - Beautiful Souls, Not Just Better CVs
[22:40] - Four Factors That Form Christlikeness
[24:19] - Grace, Effort, and Earning
[26:14] - Recovering Vision and Hope

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Psalm 143:8 (ESV)
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

Romans 12:2 (ESV)
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV)
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Observation questions

In Psalm 143:8, David connects the morning with God’s "steadfast love." What imagery does this create for someone carrying hardship into a new season?
Romans 12:2 uses the word "transformed" (Greek: metamorphoo). What metaphor does the sermon use to explain this kind of change, and why is it significant? [08:03]
The sermon compares God’s work in us to Michelangelo carving an angel from marble. How does Ephesians 2:10 reinforce this idea of intentional craftsmanship? [10:14]
What example does the sermon give to illustrate how mental barriers can limit us physically or spiritually? [13:02]

Interpretation questions

Why might David specifically ask for God’s love to meet him "in the morning" (Psalm 143:8) rather than another time of day? How does this relate to entering a new year?
Romans 12:2 says renewal happens through the mind. Why do you think the mind is described as "contested ground" in the sermon? What forces might be at war there? [15:12]
The four-minute mile story shows how beliefs shape reality. How does this align with Isaiah 55:8-9’s claim that God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours?
The sermon contrasts "resume virtues" with "funeral virtues." What does this reveal about the difference between worldly success and Christlike character? [17:16]

Application questions

Where do you feel your mind has become a "prison" of old patterns or limited vision? What practical step could you take this week to renew your perspective? [15:32]
The Michelangelo analogy says God sees the masterpiece in you. What “rough edges” in your life might God be carving away to reveal something beautiful? How can you cooperate with that process? [10:54]
The sermon asks, "What part of your character is the Spirit working on to prepare you for 2025?" How would you answer this? What spiritual discipline could help you grow in that area? [22:40]
Think about your goals for this year. How many focus on "resume virtues" (achievements, status) versus "funeral virtues" (kindness, humility, peace)? What would it look like to prioritize one character trait like generosity or forgiveness? [18:23]
The four-minute mile story shows the power of breaking mental limits. What “impossible” situation or habit do you need to approach with renewed faith in God’s transformative power? [14:28]
Dallas Willard said, "Grace is not opposed to effort, only to earning." Where have you avoided spiritual effort out of fear of "works-based" faith? How can you actively partner with God’s grace this month? [24:19]

Sermon Clips

56s

#TransformationIsPossible

“``It doesn't matter how long or how deep you feel stuck into the patterns of life that are life draining and not life giving. The promise to you today is that transformation is possible, but also that transformation is essential. Jesus did not invite people primarily into a set of orthodox motions and opinions. Jesus invited people to come and follow him that they would, little by little, day by day, be transformed into his likeness, to be radically and completely transformed from the inside out, to throw off the old man and emerge transformed, little by little, day by day, until Christ is formed within us.”

50s

#WorkAndWonder

“I think about it sometimes, Jesus always seemed to use agricultural metaphors to talk about the kingdom of God, and similar to that, it is a naive farmer who sits in the farmhouse all day, believing that somehow magically the crops are gonna plant themselves, and they're gonna grow, and he's gonna get harvest. But equally, he is an arrogant farmer who believes that it's all on him. Right? Who doesn't plant the seed, but believes that it's somehow his job to do the wonder which happens when a seed gets buried and springs forth fruit. The truth is it's the two things working together. It is our effort, creating environments where the seeds can sit on good soil and God's effort of allowing those things to grow inside of us.”

60s

#GodHasAPlan

“But what I love is that this verse is a promise to each and every one of us, that God has things for us to do that he planned from long ago. We are not on our own, but God has promised to lead us and shape us, to give us everything that we need for the works that he planned for us. Not yesterday, not last year, long ago. God had plans and purposes written down for you to do. He is, as the Bible describes, the author and perfecter of our faith, and therefore, transformation possible. It doesn't matter how long or how deep you feel stuck into the patterns of life that are life draining and not life giving. The promise to you today is that transformation is possible, but also that transformation is essential.”

71s

#SoulOverCV

“We live in a culture that is obsessed with our resume virtues. The first question we ask is, hey, what do you do? We live in a culture obsessed by just adding a few more accolades onto that CV, riding the ladder, continuing on the hamster wheel, And it's fine, it's great, it's good. I hope you do. I hope you this is a year of promotion and all that stuff. It's great. But at the same time, the world is constantly telling us how to get a beautiful body, but almost no one can tell us how to get a beautiful soul. And so I wonder if this year, what would it look like to have a vision not for what your CV might say at the end of 2025, but the sort of things that people might talk about at your funeral, But they might talk about how you made them feel a little bit better, how you were kind to them, how you were generous to them, how you felt more peaceful around them, how you forgave quickly and laughed expansively.”

46s

#RenewYourMind

“And what that tells me is that so often, the most contested space in the universe is the 12 inches between your ears. It's why the bible says, how are we transformed? By the renewing of our minds. Where today do you feel like you are imprisoning your mind? Where do you feel today, like if you're honest, you have been stuck in patterns for so long, words that have been spoken over you for so long, that you know that you aren't carrying hope until 2025, and yet God wants to come along and give you a new vision of what it is possible for you to do?”

47s

#BornAnew

“What Paul is saying here isn't simply that to have your mind renewed isn't just God coming along, dusting off your shoulders, giving you a tap on the back and saying, hey, go get it, soldier. There is something more in the promise here. What God, what the invitation is, is that as we renew our mind to be more like Jesus, a deep transformation happens from the inside out, similar to what happens when a caterpillar moves to a butterfly. It's when Jesus comes along and he says, hey, to discover everything that I have for you, the only description I can possibly give is a new birth. You have to be reborn, transformed into everything that I have made available to you.”

51s

#VisionForMore

“Where has your thinking become limited and your hope become depleted? Where have you settled for a vision of yourself that is so much less than what you are actually capable of and actually called to? You are God's masterpiece. Christ is formed in you that you might do the works that he planned for you to do long ago. So who are the people around you that inspire you to more? Who are the people around you that push you to become more like Jesus, give you a bigger vision of what it might look like to live a whole integrated, anxious free life, a holy life, a God serving life.”

85s

#GodsMasterpiece

“But as I was preparing, I just realized that before that, I just feel like there are some people here who you're like, if I'm honest, I don't even have a vision of what I could become. If I'm honest, I feel just so beat down by last year that I don't even know, and the bible is clear. It says, without a vision, the people perish. Without a vision, the people perish. The truth is that we are people who we are called, like, hope becomes the fuel in which we operate. If we lose hope, everything begins to grind to a halt. And so I did feel like today, before we get into any of those practicalities of how do we actually make steps towards moving towards these kind of people that we could become, I just felt like there were many people in this room. All God simply wants to say to you today is that you are his masterpiece. Whatever you feel about yourself, you are God's masterpiece, that he has plans and purposes for your life that have been written in his book from way before you were born. That it doesn't matter how much you think that the marble of your life is actually a rock, he is a sculptor who has committed himself to forming something beautiful out of all of that.”

Ask a question about this sermon

House Church This sermon · AI assistant

How does God see my true identity?

What role do spiritual disciplines play in transformation?

Which character trait is God shaping in me?