The sermon manuscript from 1/1/06...God bless!
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Like many of you, I’ve decided to start 2006 with a series of resolutions in an attempt to improve my life and attain a higher standard of living. Things are going pretty well from 2005, and I found it difficult to create a list as long as it has been in the past. So, because time is limited this morning, I’ll share with you just a few random resolutions for 2006 from the complete list of 243 items that I’ve devised to help become a better person.
Whether or not I successfully navigate these rough waters of promises kept…well, that remains to be seen, but one online magazine estimates that the average American makes 1.8 resolutions (I’m not making that up!). When you project that out to the US population, that means there is roughly a half-billion self-made promises being made each year!
Someone with much more time on their hands than I has traced the origins of New Year’s resolutions all the way to the Babylonians, when the most common resolution was to return borrowed farming equipment. Today, we instead focus on stopping bad habits and implementing healthy ones. What appears to be timeless, though, is this intrinsic desire to better one’s self.
Maybe that’s why some of you are here today. Maybe you woke up today, shaking off a late night of fun and new year ringing-in to be here today because you are making a resolution to come to church more, and you want to start that resolution right by being here today. If that is the case, I applaud you for that, I hope you keep your commitment, and I pray that today’s message will both bless and challenge you.
Toward that end, please open your Bible to the New Testament book of Romans, chapter 12. The apostle Paul was the penmen of this letter to the Christian church of Rome, and this particular letter is one of the Bible’s most significant books, in terms of the doctrine and theology presented in the apostle’s instructions to the followers of Christ living in Rome.
In fact, where we are in this book, Chapter 12, is really considered the transition point where Paul moves from the most thorough establishment of doctrine into a thorough encouragement of practical Christianity. If the first 11 chapters are designed to help you understand what a normal Christian is to believe, then the remaining chapters are designed to help you understand how a normal Christian is to behave. Today, we’ll look as far as the first two verses of Chapter 12 so that you might begin this new year with a new resolve to live as God intended, to discover what it means to live in the victory offered by God through Jesus, and to finally overcome and move beyond old or historic obstacles that may have hindered you up until this day.
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer 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.
Now, you can tell this is a transition in thought for Paul because of the use of the word “therefore” to start chapter twelve. And, if you are going to be a student of the Bible, one of the little lessons you can apply over and again is this… “if there is a ‘therefore,’ in God’s Word, you need to see what it is there for.” Basically, this ‘therefore’ is here because Paul is saying, “everything that I just spent eleven chapters establishing about the ways and means and truth of God, regarding his holiness, his righteousness, his judgment, and his perfection, and also all that stuff I told you about your unholiness and your unrighteousness, and your imperfection, and your impending judgment….well, ‘therefore,’ you need to let these new beliefs change your behavior.” In this little passage, God is exhorting the Romans, and exhorting you today to have the resolve to change your behavior to match up with your beliefs.
And here are a few biblical truths to help you accomplish that.
First, you need to resolve not to conform. In fact, the Scripture says in verse 2, “do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.” In the Greek, this term for “conform” is a passive verb that means “to be fashioned into.” It means that with no extraordinary effort, if you take a passive position while living “in this age,” the end result is that you will end up looking just like every one else.
What does that mean for us today, living “in this age?” Well, for young people, it means a wide range of unfortunate details. It means doing any sort of ungodly things to fit in with your peers. It could mean chasing after unrealistic and unhealthy examples of what an ideal is, as demonstrated by celebrities or athletes. It could mean making moral compromises, just to feel good or get ahead. It could mean buying into lies like evolution, atheism or moral relativism.
Do you think I’m exaggerating? I just read yesterday about a clothing company out of Sweden, a country known for its secularism where church membership has been in steady decline for decades. This company is selling a new line of jeans that is outrageously popular there because it has a logo of a skull with an upside down cross on the forehead, which is a symbol for Satanism. The company itself laughs it off, calling it a coincidence. And it might get away for it, too, if it weren’t for the logo artist, an avowed atheist, who acknowledges his sole purposes was to lead teens to “question Christianity,” and believes that religion is history’s most dangerous weapon.
Students, you need to understand that this world hates you. This is why anorexically skinny models are presented as “ideal,” why drugs, tobacco, alcohol, and sex are all presented as cool, fun, popular, and acceptable, and why you are constantly slammed with advertising meant to lead you to give in, give up, and just fit in with the rest of the world. If you do that, the world will accept you, but it doesn’t mean the world will love you. It just means you have fallen for its tricks and the enemy has you where he wants you.
The same thing is true for us as we grow older. In fact, the enticements aren’t different, they’re just differently packaged. This is why Americans are deeply in debt, our divorce rate is escalating, our pharmaceutical companies are making pills for every situation, and unhappiness is pandemic. And all this is while best selling books like “your best life now,” and “the purpose driven life,” and “love smart” and “healthy aging” and “you: the owner’s manual” are jumping off the store shelves. Everyone wants to live better, but all they are willing to do is to “conform” or to be fashioned like everybody else, even though that approach is what has led to the problem to begin with.
So God’s word says, “don’t do it!” Don’t be conformed. Imagine if you can that you are a small puddle of purified water, straight from a just-opened bottle of Aquafina (or whatever). Conformity is like if you were this little bit of water, not doing anything, when suddenly you are swept up by a damp sponge that was just used to clean up a bus station toilet floor. There’s no telling what you are intermingled with now, but there is also certainly no distinguishing you from the rest of that sponge’s mess, either. It didn’t take any effort on your part, but very passively, you have become one and the same with the mess.
So if you are to resolve not to conform, you must instead resolve to transform. Verse two says, Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Again, we go to the Greek to understand what this is getting at. This Greek word for the transformation expected is metamorphoo, where we get our word “metamorphosis” and the image is that of a caterpillar that emerges from its cocoon as a different creation when it spreads its wings as a butterfly. It means literally, “to be fashioned differently.”
So God’s word says, if you want to live in a way that pleases God, then don’t conform – or take the same shape as – this world, but be transformed – take a different shape.
Friends, we live in a day where we must live differently. It is impossible to at the same time be pleasing to the world that hates us and pleasing to the God who loves us. God has called his children to be holy, righteous, and set apart. It is impossible to do that while being immersed in the same immorality and godlessness that ensnares the rest of the world.
God’s word says the way to be transformed is through a “renewal of your mind.” It’s a little funny, because the literal translation of this word for ‘renewal’ is “renovation.” To me, it’s like my head is a life-long episode of “Trading Spaces,” where for every life situation and circumstance, the Holy Spirit works as this perfect interior designer working on an unlimited budget, trashing all my carnal thoughts, opinions, and expectations, and replacing them with holy, righteous, and godly understanding.
Someone who was ill-informed once said that to believe in Christianity you have to ‘check your head at the door,’ implying that you must stop thinking critically to believe in the doctrines of the Christian faith. This biblical exhortation, and my own personal experience declare the opposite to be true. Never have I been more challenged to use my brain than since submitting to Christ as my Lord and Savior. I’m what you would call a ‘hyper logical’ guy, and every tenet of Christianity makes more sense logically than does any other naturalistic explanation for science, philosophy, psychology, or any other expression of the human experience. God’s word doesn’t ask you to “check your head,” but instead to “test the spirits,” to ask questions, and to pursue truth.
Karl Marx said that “religion is the opiate of the masses.” The reality is that conformity is the true opiate, drugging people into passivity, then dragging them to the torment of hell. To this, God says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Renovate your thoughts to challenge the status quo. Don’t believe what the world tells you. Don’t accept what is popular. Test everything. Compare everything to the word of God, and let the Holy Spirit reshape you accordingly.
Now, you may still be saying “that’s all fine and well, but how do I do that?” Let me offer a second twin suggestion toward that end, together here where I will then explain what I mean about each.
Here is the suggestion: Resolve not to reform, but instead, resolve to perform. You see, the Scripture says that you should be transformed by the renewal of your mind so you will know and be able to do the good and perfect and pleasing will of God.
Think about that for another moment. This is a very positive exhortation. There is no negative in it. Renew your mind so you can do God’s will.
Now, unfortunately, when we take these times (like the start of a new year), rather than focusing on the performance that is available to us through spiritual renovation, we instead focus on the reformation that popular, but often ineffectual.
The most common New Year’s Resolution is “to lose weight.” Prior to that it was “to stop smoking.” These are declarations of reform. The same thing is true with a lot of the ungodly behavior in which indulge. Many people think they’ll “get right” with God if they just try to stop thinking those bad thoughts, or just quit going to those web sites, or just stop drinking those beverages, or taking those pills, or cutting those corners, or telling those lies. Too many people think repentance is all about the reform.
Remember, though, that this passage has already voiced the exhortation that you would have a metamorphosis of thought. It’s not just the cessation of bad thought leading to bad conduct. God expects so much more! In fact, if you think repentance is just stopping the bad thoughts that lead to bad conduct, you’ll ultimately fail…every time…because you don’t replace those bad thoughts with new thoughts. And without new thoughts, the old thoughts, the bad thoughts, return, and subsequently so do the other sins.
Instead, true repentance means a change of thought that results in a change of action. In short, rather than focusing on reforming old beliefs, you focus on performing new ones. Repentance is nothing less than agreeing that sin is sin (so there is an element of reform there….but it goes much further). But now, you have a renewing of your mind. You have new thoughts which lead to new actions.
You see, Satan has two basic deceptions that he just packages and repackages. First, he deceives you by saying “go ahead and do it, it won’t hurt.” Then, once he tricks you with that, then he keeps you down by deceiving you with the lie, “you might as well keep doing it, now that you’re unacceptable to God.” That’s all he does. And he’s amazingly successful in it.
However, if you repent of those old thoughts and old conduct, you take the first step of declaring that you are no longer conforming to this world. You are being transformed by the renewing of your mind. And in that renewal, God will give you new thoughts and new commands and new actions to pursue.
God’s Word backs me up on this. Ephesians says that it is by the grace of God alone that we are saved, in order to do the works that were set forth for us before time began. Philippians says that God works in us to do his good will. The point is, when your mind is renewed and transformed, your life will be filled with new opportunities to do and be different than you were before. When you are doing the will of God, you are redeeming the time rather than wasting it. When you are engaged in the work of God, you don’t squander the precious moments of your life in inappropriate places doing inappropriate things with inappropriate people.
Some of you might be Sunday morning believers only. You come here once a week because you’re too busy the rest of the week. You come dragging in on Sunday, spiritually speaking, because you are running on Holy Spirit fumes. Throughout the week, you face trial after temptation and you fail more than you succeed because you were hoping that what you take in on Sunday will be enough to get you through the week, but it never is. That’s no criticism of our pastor’s preaching, or our teachers’ teachings, which are across the board excellent. The reality is, the spiritual life is intended to have daily renewal and refuel. I love to come back on Sunday nights because I know that our pastor will have prepared another message, spiritual “meat” that will satisfy my soul and more often than not convict me, and that Sunday morning is not enough. I love being a part of Wednesday discipleship because I know that what is being taught and shared is practical, relevant, and will be effectual in helping me live the life that God intends. I love being a part of the men’s ministry because I know that my fellowship with other men is going to equip me and encourage me to face the battles I will inevitably face. I’m not ashamed to admit it…I need this church because it is at this church that I have community with other believers, and I have communion with God. And when I am at this church, my mind is renewed and I have new opportunities to perform the life God has designed for me. I need this church and so do you. If you think you can get by with once a week, then I tell you with all the tough love in the world that you are only fooling yourself.
One more thought along these lines…some of you have never, ever shared your faith that Jesus is Lord. Some of you have never, or perhaps just rarely given away what you’ve been commanded to share abundantly. Perhaps, just maybe, you could be in this situation because you find yourself with so little Jesus in your own life that you don’t know how to give him to others. If Jesus occupies only a single hour a week, or one morning out of seven days, then I want to encourage you today to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Don’t just reform your thoughts, but focus on a new performance. Give your whole life to God and see how much more abundantly he presides. Discover the joy of getting to share him because you allow him to flow out of every aspect of it. Your life will be different, and so will the lives of people all around you.
We go back to verse one for our conclusion to this message. Today, God is calling you have new resolve. First, he exhorts you to live your offering. God says “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.” You see, up to this point, it has been easy, because everything we’ve been talking about has been in the realm of the mental. Don’t have a conforming mind, but have a transformed mind. Don’t just focus on reforming, but focus on performing. The entire time, though, there has been this undercurrent that you knew or at least thought possible that is here. It’s not enough just to think about these things. You actually have to put feet to your faith. You actually have to see your resolved mind make a resulting motion.
Once again, the word picture here is vivid. The image for sacrifice literally means “to immolate,” which is to slaughter for a purpose. You see, the body is the slave to the mind. It only does what the mind wills it to do. However, at the same time, the Bible says some interesting things...
The only way to live your offering is to do so filtered through mercy. Paul says, through the mercy of God offer your bodies as living sacrifices. Break this down so you can wrap your minds around it…it’s the only way that works for me. Mercy has been described simply as God not giving you what you deserve. Embrace the reality that if you trust Jesus as your Lord, then he has withheld from you the pain and punishment of hell and spiritual disfellowship that you rightly deserve. He undertook that on your behalf. Now, use that reality as the filter for the motivation to offer your body as a living sacrifice. Jesus gave his life so that you would not have death. Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin, so that you would never be separated from the God who loves you. This same savior who extended mercy unto you so freely now invites you to slaughter your worldly conformity as a spiritual sacrifice so that you may know and do the perfect will of God.
In this, you will verbalize your worship. Please understand that this is a play on words. Because, ironically, right now, too many Christians all over North America are only verbalizing “or speaking” their worship. They mistakenly think that this word “worship” is a noun, a little word that describes where they go on Sunday morning, or an adjective used to describe a style of music.
God is not content for you or us to use “worship” in this limited context. Jesus himself told the Samaritan woman at the well, “the time will come when you will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The reality is, “worship” is a not merely a noun nor an adjective. Before it was either of those things, it was and still is to this day a verb. This is what it mean to “verbalize” your worship. It’s not just something you say, it is something you do. God’s word says that your presentation of your bodies as a living sacrifice is a step of physical obedience to the mental, intellectual, spiritual action that has taken place, and when you do this…when you make this sacrifice of your self unto God…this is your act of worship!
Think about this for a moment. What God is calling you to do is nothing that He himself has not already done.
Before time, he thought of you. He knew you…every detail about you. He knew the mistakes you would make, the ways you would let him down. He knew all about the ways you would fail, fall short. And because all of this, he knew that you would need help. He knew that you couldn’t get back to him on your own. He knew that without a way, you would ultimately, and rightly, end up in hell, eternally separated from him. So he had to resolve in his mind or his thoughts, to make a way for you. He knew before hand that the only way for you to get back to him was that he would have to pay the price for your mistakes, your offenses. He did not have to renew his mind because he had a sinless mind. But he had to resolve to follow through. And then, he presented himself as a living sacrifice. His mental resolve was consummated by a physical act of sacrifice. Jesus, Lord of all Creation, willingly left heaven for you and for me, knowing full well that he would be mocked, scorned, beaten, betrayed, crucified, and killed. He did that knowing that we don’t deserve that mercy. Yet he left his crown of glory and assumed a crown of thorns. He removed his robe of authority and was cloaked in a robe of scorn. He did put physical actions behind the spiritual thoughts of his resolve.
For you to do the same is to worship Jesus in truth today. You cannot remove your own stains of sin by coming forward. However, if the Holy Spirit is compelling you with a renewed mind to look at life differently, you must take a step of faith. Let your first step of obedience be your greatest act of worship. Maybe you need to offer an act of worship today, rather than offering to act like you worship. The Holy Spirit speaks to you now, calling you to be no longer conform, but to be transformed. Today, live your offering by obeying the Spirit promptly.