METAMORPHOSIS: Made New In Christ
And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.
–2 Corinthians 3:18
Do you ever find yourself getting the same lesson or reminder from God through many different angles? It happens to me a lot. The most recent sequence of divine demonstrations have been very encouraging to me and I trust they will be for you as well. I won’t share them all but I’ll give you a few that really got my attention from nature, Scripture, and a teenager.
The first one happened the other day while I was outside grilling corn. I heard my 4-year old daughter, Raelynn, shout from inside the house, “Daddy, Look! Come quick! Hurry!” I came inside to find her pointing down and staring in amazement at a creature on the floor. It was a fuzzy green and rather hefty caterpillar wiggling its way across the hardwood. I began raising my foot to stomp on it but before I could really elevate it she protested, “No!!!”
“Why not?” I asked. “Because I like it,” she retorted. Thanks to a classic bedtime storybook she knew exactly what a caterpillar turns into, and for that reason she didn’t need my services to terminate it. There I was assuming it was just another pest to rid the house of, but she saw value in the hairy critter. She knew there was something different and unique about it – more so than a fly or spider. It was made to be on display.
That simple interaction spotlighted the inexhaustible truth that we, too, have been noticed by One much bigger and more powerful than us. God looks on us with mercy, compassion, and great care. What’s equally astounding is this: He sees us both for who we are now and who we will be later.
As I observed that earth-gliding insect, I knew what it would become in a matter of a few weeks to a month’s time — a completely unrecognizable, brand new soaring masterpiece. Therein lies the biblical reality that has consumed me of late: this transformational process of metamorphosis. The caterpillar contained all the necessary elements that enabled it to grow into a stately butterfly. Like the butterfly-turned caterpillar, we who have received forgiveness from Lord Jesus Christ by His grace through faith (justification) have been uniquely designed to go through a developmental phase (sanctification) that gradually unveils a far greater splendor: the beauty and holiness of our Creator (glorification).
I began revisiting some passages of Scripture that speak of this. The Bible uses the same Greek word that we translate metamorphosis on several occasions. In Matthew and Mark’s gospel accounts, Jesus is transfigured into His glorious, heavenly body for a brief instance in the presence of Peter and John on the heights of a mountain. “And He was transfigured (metemorphōthē) before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light.” (Matthew 17:2, cf Mark 9:2).
As Jesus revealed His soon-to-come, post-resurrection glory there, the Apostle Paul sheds light on our future glorified nature. In his second letter to the Corinthian church, he unpacks this doctrine of being metamorphosed from an old way of living to a new and far better existence. While Jews once lived by old, strict laws according to the flesh that only emphasized how incapable they were of attaining holiness through their self-righteous strivings, Paul encourages them that through Jesus we will experience an exceedingly greater result in God’s Spirit. Paul writes to them, saying, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18, ESV). A couple chapters later in 2 Corinthians 5:17, we see a perfect description of metamorphosis. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
I get the incredible blessing of seeing this change unfold right before my eyes among our students. Take one of our 2023 graduates, Josh, for example. I remember the first time he walked into our student ministry. It was a cool Wednesday night in the Fall of ‘21. I saw him standing in the back with his arms crossed, watching from a distance. Being 6’1” and full of facial hair and stature, I approached him and, assuming he was a parent or relative there to pick up his teen, I pointed to the group and asked him, “Is one of these yours?” He laughed it off and said, “Na man. I’m only a junior.” I welcomed him and we chatted for a few. Soon after that it was time to dismiss. Despite his reluctance to engage or be welcomed among the rest of the group, he kept coming back week after week. He told me I wouldn’t like him if I knew everything he was involved in, and he expressed on multiple occasions how he couldn’t tell me things he has done. I promised him that we all have our own repulsiveness before a holy God and that he’s always welcome to keep on coming back to encounter His goodness.
Summer rolled around and I had an open spot for camp. I encouraged Josh to go and he dismissed it at first. I prayed for God to show me who He wanted to fill those empty spots, and Josh just kept coming to mind. I asked him again, persuading him with how good the food was and how we had him covered if he would only go with us. He agreed! On the bus ride there, he brought up baptism. He said that he had not “done it” before because he knew it was a big deal and he just never really felt like he was ready for that type of commitment. I commended him for considering the cost of it and not doing it flippantly, and our talk drifted elsewhere.
At camp God moved in an incredible way in his life. He fully surrendered his life to Jesus. Josh was made new in Christ. And it showed almost immediately. He began pointing others to Jesus in various ways. He provided much needed senior leadership among our youth. Whether it was gently rebuking other students who were being a distraction during the preached Word or speaking up with honesty and realness during share time, he was locked-in and a fully engaged part of our student ministry. He started showing up for Community groups on Sunday mornings too. We got lunch a couple weeks after camp and, without me saying a word about it, he looked right at me and said, “Mike, I’ve been thinking about it… I think I’m ready to get baptized.” Needless to say we made arrangements! On a Sunday morning this past Spring, we loaded up the bus and church van and took our students down to a nearby creek. There we saw the made-new Josh put his faith on display for his peers to see. With waders on I walked out in the freezing cold water with him and had the blessing of baptizing my brother in Christ right then and there. He soared onward from our group, but even after he graduated in May, he’s still reflecting Jesus to others.
Josh texted me the next evening after the caterpillar situation. It meant everything to me to hear his heart and passion for Jesus as he embarks on a journey at WKU’s campus this Fall. With his permission, his text to me said the following:
Hey Mike I just wanted to let you know I prayed for the church, yourself, and many others. I also prayed that I could be able to pass on the Lord’s teachings to others and that I can spread the gospel in college to those in need. But I fear that I don’t yet see the answer. I don’t know how to spread the Word to others.
After empathizing and encouraging him, he went on to say this, which really charged me up and solidified this idea of metamorphosis.
I want to learn more [about God]. I prayed that I may be able to walk the path, that I can share the gospel. I fear what [people of this world might think or do] but I can’t stop because I have this pull telling me to do it even though I don’t know how to start. I looked in my Bible from church camp and I saw this, in the book of Judges, Gideon must go to Midian to save Israel. I read that and I thought it’s our job to go and save those from the world and the pain it can cause. It’s only the power of the Lord that the world will be saved and only He can save those in need and I will share His name to the ones who need to hear so that they can be saved.
– Josh Anderson, 2023 FBC Graduate
If that doesn’t speak of a changed life, I don’t know what does. This once far-off young man has been (and continues to be) transformed into the new nature God gave him in Jesus.
A caterpillar in nature, some passages from Scriptures, and a graduate whose life has been forever altered by our eternal King point us to this marvelous truth: God is still in the business of life change. It’s evident in our students and all throughout our congregation!
Just as a butterfly cannot return to its cocoon and assume its former nature of caterpillar, neither can those whom God is metamorphosing reclaim their old nature. They can do the carnal things of their old nature, but they can never again be their old self. But why would we when we have been set free?! You are being renewed moment by moment and day by day. Let go of the decaying things of the old self and immerse yourself in your new, Christlike nature. Be confident in this: if you have surrendered your life to Jesus, then you are going through a metamorphosis. You were not created to crawl around in earthly things of this world but to soar feely in God’s Spirit, living your life on full display of His glory.
