ROMANS 12:1-2
Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter
12 as we continue our in-depth study of Paul’s letter to
the church in
Paul has spent 11 chapters dealing with doctrine, what God has for us and now, as he begins this fifth division of this letter, he speaks of APPLICATION. You see, now that you have all the right information. Now that you know what God has for you. Now that you know the truths of God you must apply them to your life, you must live what you know to be true! Our faith needs to be real, we need to apply these things to our lives or our faith will be empty and others will not see Jesus in us!
Let me give you an example to show you what I mean about living out your faith and not just having the information but allowing that information to transform you life. We are told:
The Most Valuable Player from the Super Bowl [ten] years ago says his faith as a Christian was directly assaulted by his own NFL coaches who purportedly said his Bible reading was hurting his on-field performance.
Kurt Warner was a hero for the St. Louis Rams as he led his team to victory in Super Bowl XXXIV [34], becoming the only quarterback in championship history to complete more than 400 yards passing in the title game.
But when his performance started to suffer at the beginning of this past season, he was told his benching to backup service resulted – at least partially – from his belief in Jesus.
“I actually had [Rams] coaches say I was reading the Bible too much and it was taking away from my play,” Warner told the Baptist Press. “It was OK when we were winning, but now I was [messing] things up? People were saying I had lost my job because of my faith.”
Warner says the bias didn’t surface when the Rams defeated the Tennessee Titans 23-16 in the 2000 Super Bowl.
“We were talking in our [team] Bible study about how we were going to honor God if we got to that final game,” he told BP. “When I was on the stage after the game and I was asked first about a touchdown pass, I just said first things first, ‘Thank you Jesus.’”
According to the report, Warner says his lackluster performance this season has taught him more about his faith than any of his Super Bowl highs.
“You want to say, ‘God, how could You allow this to happen?’” he said. “I thought I was over the fact of being a backup. It was a shock, but God has allowed me to use this greater platform for Him.”
“If you can stand up for your faith when you’re on top, you can stand up for it now that you’re at the bottom.”
- Super bowl MVP told Bible is harmful, World Net Daily, February 5, 2004
You see folks; the Scriptures were not given just for our information, but our transformation! It is easy to be conformed to this world, just sit there and allow the world to mold and shape you into their image, a world that is in opposition to God whose leader is the Devil! On the other hand, it is a lot harder to resist the world’s influences and allow the transformation of God to take place in our lives. That is what we will be looking at this morning and it flows from our study last week as Paul’s desire for us, as he is begging us to place our lives on the altar of sacrifice as a sign of total surrender, total consecration to God, a living sacrifice Paul calls it and the only way you will succeed is if you surrender and let God transform you instead of letting the world conform you! With that said, let’s begin reading in Romans chapter 12, staring in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us as we study His Word!
Maybe you have heard some people say or maybe you have even said it yourself, “I want more of God in my life!” And I do understand what is being said, but that is not really correct. The reality is you can’t have more of God in your life until you give God all of your life! The Christian life is not about trying to get all you can from God but in giving all that you are to Him, your life as a living sacrifice unto Him!
Last week in our study of Romans we looked at Romans 12:1 in great detail and this morning we will focus on Romans 12:2. Before we get to our text, let me share these words from James Montgomery Boice with you because it will set the stage for what we will be talking about this morning, conforming or transforming! He wrote:
Humanism is the philosophy to which human beings inevitably come if they are secularists. Secularism means eliminating God or anything else that may be transcendent from the universe and focusing instead on only what we can see and measure now. When God is eliminated in this process, man himself is left as the pinnacle of creation and becomes the inadequate and unworthy core for everything. In philosophy we usually trace the beginnings of this outlook to the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Protagoras. Protagoras expressed his viewpoint in Greek words that have given us the better known Latin concept homo mensura, which means “Man, the measure” or, as it is often expressed, “Man is the measure of all things.” The idea is that man is the norm by which everything is to be evaluated. He is the ultimate creature and thus the ultimate authority.
This seems to elevate man, but in practice it does exactly the opposite. It deifies man, but this deification always debases man in the end, turning him into an animal or even less than an animal. Moreover, it causes him to manipulate, ignore, disparage, wound, hate, abuse, and even murder other people.
In the last twenty years something terrible has happened to Americans in the way we relate to other people, and it is due to the twisted humanism about which I have been writing. Prior to that time there was still something of a Christian ethos in this country and people used to care about and help other people. It was the natural thing to do. Today we focus on ourselves and deal with others only for what we can get out of them. This approach is materialistic and utilitarian.
In 1981 a sociologist-pollster, Daniel Yankelovich, published a study of the 1970s titled New Rules: Searching for Self-Fulfillment in a World Turned Upside Down. This book documented a tidal shift in values by which many and eventually most Americans began to seek personal self-fulfillment as the ultimate goal in life rather than operating on the principle that we are here to serve and even sacrifice for others, as Americans for the most part really had done previously.ÿ ÿ He found that by the late 1970s, 72 percent of Americans spent much time thinking about themselves and their inner lives. So pervasive was this change that as early as 1976 Tom Wolfe called the seventies the “Me Decade” and compared it to a third religious awakening.
But isn’t this a good thing? Shouldn’t thinking about ourselves make us happy? If we redirect our energy to fulfilling ourselves and earn as much as we can to indulge even our tiniest desires, shouldn’t we be satisfied with life? No! It doesn’t work that way. It fails on the personal level, and it fails in the area of our relationships with other people also.
In 1978 Margaret Halsey wrote an article for Newsweek magazine titled “What’s Wrong with Me, Me, Me?” Halsey referred to Wolfe’s description of the seventies as the “me” generation, highlighting the belief that “inside every human being, however unprepossessing, there is a glorious, talented and overwhelmingly attractive personality [which] will be revealed in all its splendor if the individual just forgets about courtesy, cooperativeness and consideration for others and proceeds to do exactly what he or she feels like doing.”
The problem, as Halsey pointed out, is not that there are not attractive characteristics in everyone (or at least in most people) but that human nature consists even more basically of “a mess of unruly primitive elements” which spoil the “self-discovery.” These unruly elements need to be overcome, not indulged. And this means that the attractive personalities we seek really are not there to be discovered but rather are natures that need to be developed through choices, hard work, and lasting commitments to others. When we ask “What’s wrong with me?” it is the “me, me, me” that is the problem.
This affects our relationships with other people too, because it makes our world impersonal. Charles Reich in his best-selling book The Greening of America wrote:
Modern living has obliterated place, locality and neighborhood, and given us the anonymous separateness of our existence. The family, the most basic social system, has been ruthlessly stripped to its functional essentials. Friendship has been coated over with a layer of impenetrable artificiality as men strive to live roles designed for them. Protocol, competition, hostility, and fear have replaced the warmth of the circle of affection which might sustain man against a hostile environment. . . . America [has become] one vast, terrifying anti-community.
- James Montgomery Boice, Romans Volume 4, pp. 1547-1548
You may not agree with me on this, but I am sorry, I believe this is what the Scriptures are teaching us. You are either going to be conformed to this world or you will be transformed by God, those are the only two choices you have. “Not me, I am my own person, I do what I want!” Really, if you feel that way I bet I can go to your house, observe you for just a short time and show you how the world has influenced your life, your thinking, you are being conformed to its passions. On the other hand, if you are a Christian and living your life for the Lord, I will also be able to see how the Lord is transforming your life into His image by the things that you do and the things that you say, by what you watch and-so-on. So, with that said, let’s look at this verse once again here in Romans 12:2 and see what we can glean from it.
In this verse Paul is giving us a contrast between two different lives. The first kind of life is one that is doing as it pleases and the other kind of life is one who has placed their life on the altar of sacrifice unto God for His use. As I have said, one will conform you and the other will transform you! So we will first deal with the first one, one who is conformed to this world and then we will look at the one who is transformed by God!
Paul is telling us, he is warning us not to be conformed to this world or the age we are living in! Let me share with you several different translations because they once again will try to drive this point home.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world
– NIV
Be not fashioned according to this world – ASV
Be not configuring yourselves unto this age – Rotherham
Do not live according to the fashions of the times –
Norlie
You must not adopt the customs of this world – Goodspeed
Do not imitate the way of this world – Lamsa
And let not your behaviour be like that of this world –
BBE
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world
– NLT
Stop living in accordance with the customs of this world
– Williams
Do not be conformed to this world-this age, fashioned after
and adapted to its external, superficial customs --Amplified
Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold – J. B. Phillips
The world’s ways, the worlds system wants to squeeze you into its image and it truly is the path of least resistance. And as you look at those that follow down this path do you see how their life is one that is unstable, always changing, unsure, it is transitory? Because that is what this worlds system is all about, it evolves to feed the flesh and whatever that may be, wherever that leads, that is what it will have for you! Remember what John told us in I John 2:15-17, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
Notice how the world, the god of this age attacks people, through the flesh, through the eyes and through pride and John tells us that this kind of living will not last, it is passing away and yet look at the people that are grabbing for it with all their might! And please understand that this is not just “the keeping up with the Jones’” mentality. It is not just speaking about the latest hairstyles, clothes styles and-so-on. It is speaking of making us think the way the world wants us to think and live the way that the world wants us to live! It is not a biblical worldview here, it is a worldview that, I am sorry, comes from the pit of Hell because it is not here to draw you closer to God but to drive you father from Him.
Let me show you what I mean by contrasting what the world has for us, and what God has for us. It is a secular worldview compared to a biblical worldview. Listen closely.
The world says: get and grab what you can and live for yourself. It is our right to have these things. But God says: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
The world says: give as good as you get; return good for good and evil for evil and tit for tat. If someone hurts you, you hurt them back. They are only getting what they deserve! But God says: “Do not repay evil for evil but overcome evil with good.”
The world says: sex is for fun; it’s enjoyment without commitment. Don’t be so old-fashioned, sex is good and who cares if you are married to that person or not. It makes me feel good and that is what is important. And, God gave us this sex drive and thus, He must want us to use it. But God says: sex is for love; it’s enjoyment within commitment, it is an intimate relationship that God has given a husband and wife to enjoy.
The world says: go for the top and the end justifies the means. Get to that place and do whatever it takes to get there. If you have to step on someone to get that position or whatever, then you just have to do it. But God says: “Whoever wants to be first among you, let him be the servant of all.”
The world says: greatness is measured by achievement. It is the awards, the job, the wife, the kids, the house, the whatever! But God says: greatness is measured by service. We are to be a servant of all! And it is out of that service that we are blessed. We may be nothing in the eyes of this world but God loves us, and what more do we need!
The world says: you’re number one; so live for yourself and look out for yourself; nobody else is going to if you don’t. But God says: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
The world says: stand up for yourself; fight for your rights. But God says: “Blessed are the meek; they shall inherit the earth.”
Do you see how the way the world looks at things is in direct opposition to God?
Having a worldview that is based in this world will never draw you close to God. You need to have a biblical worldview, base your actions in God’s Word and not apart from it. Folk’s, there is no possibility of reaching a compromise, no possibility of negotiating a settlement, or of having the best of both worlds, we’ve got to choose either to conform to this world and its value system or to conform to the will of God and so become transformed into the image of Christ!
Now if you think I am going too far regarding the fact that this world is in opposition to God, that it is antagonistic to God, are you kidding me? But, if you are, let me show you what the Scriptures have to say. Paul tells us in II Corinthians 4:4, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”
How is Satan, the god of this age blinding people from coming to Jesus Christ? He does this by enticing them with the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. He is giving them a worldview that feeds the flesh and keeps people from the kingdom of God!
In Ephesians 2:1-3 Paul once again makes this point of where the world is leading us, where the god of this age is taking us as he said, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” The Amplified Bible even drives this point home in a more powerful way as it says, “AND YOU [He made alive], when you were dead (slain) by [your] trespasses and sins In which at one time you walked [habitually]. You were following the course and fashion of this world [were under the sway of the tendency of this present age], following the prince of the power of the air. [You were obedient to and under the control of] the [demon] spirit that still constantly works in the sons of disobedience [the careless, the rebellious, and the unbelieving, who go against the purposes of God].”
Paul tells us that outside of Christ people meander through life according to the course of this world or the world’s system of values apart from God. And isn’t that exactly what we see in the world today as people try to satisfy their fleshly desires. In fact the word “desires” implies that they are seeking after these things with great diligence, it is a willful act on their part and because of their sin the wrath of God will come upon their lives! But they are being blown in all different directions by this world, conformed into the world’s image and thus, there truly is no real direction in their lives!
And again, here are three enemies of man: SATAN who is the prince of this world that is in rebellion against God and he uses us as pawns to be drawn into the lusts of this WORLD that is opposed to God through FLESHLY lusts. Sin is dangled in front of us as if it is some prize to obtain but in the end it only brings about death. May we be aware of Satan, the world and the flesh so we won’t be drawn into its deception!
And as you look at this world, people have become jaded, they have lost their focus on life and just do things that please them and they are never satisfied. If you doubt that, then why are so many Americans on anti-depressant medications? About 10% of Americans — or 27 million people — were taking antidepressants in 2005. In fact, 73 percent more adults and 50 percent more children are using drugs to treat mental illness now than were doing so in 1996. Out of 2.4 billion drugs prescribed in visits to doctors and hospitals in 2005, 118 million were for antidepressants. The drastic increase in antidepressant drug use is really quite perplexing when you consider the fact that numerous studies have already shown that up to 75% of the benefits people receive from the use of antidepressants can be duplicated by a placebo!
Why is this happening? Why are people searching for fulfillment in life and not finding it and are depressed, discouraged, have lost all hope and yet they are still searching? James Montgomery Boice makes this interesting observation. He wrote:
In 1978, during President Jimmy Carter’s abortive attempt to reinstate draft registration for the young, newspapers carried a photograph of a Princeton University student defiantly waving a poster marked with the words: “Nothing is worth dying for.”
“But if nothing is worth dying for, is anything worth living for?” asks Charles Colson, who comments on this photograph in Against the Night: Living in the New Dark Ages.ÿ ÿ If there is nothing worth living for or dying for, then the chief end of man might as well be cruising the malls, which is the number one activity of today’s teenagers, according to the pollsters.
Solzhenitsyn summarizes our weak thinking at this point when he says of today’s Americans: “Every citizen has been granted the desired freedom and material goods in such quantity and of such quality as to guarantee in theory the achievement of happiness, in the morally inferior sense which has come into being during [these last] decades.… So who should now renounce all this? Why and for what should one risk one’s precious life in defense of common values?”
Christianity has the answer to that, and Christians in past ages have known it. It is to “gain a better resurrection” (Heb. 11:35), which means to do what is right because what is right pleases God and that is what ultimately matters. But those who do it must be thinking Christians.
- James Montgomery Voice, Romans Volume 4, pp. 1545-1546
Thus, being “conformed to this world” speaks of becoming like this world, influenced by this world, this system of man apart from God whose ruler is the Devil himself as Paul told us in II Corinthians 4:4, “whose minds the god of this age has blinded . . .” It is easy to just stand there and let the world press you into their mold. But Paul is telling us that we need to resist being put into their mold because, as Paul said in Romans 8:6-8, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Folk’s, it is truly your choice but you need to understand the choice you are making if you wanted to be conformed, molded into this worlds influence. And make no mistake about it, the world is an instrument of Satan and we must understand that his ungodly influence is pandemic or it is like a plague that has spread throughout this world! And as you look at how this world has influenced people you can see how John, almost two thousand years ago, warned us of this very thing as he wrote, “and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). It clearly still does. But if that is the path you choose to go down, the end result will be eternal separation from God, but it is your choice!
The other option, the one that Paul wants you to choose, is that you will be transformed by the renewing of your mind! And this is opposite of being conformed to this world! And where is this battleground between this conforming to the world and being transformed by God? It is the mind and the enemy works in the unbeliever and the believer. He keeps the unbeliever blinded to God and he keeps the believer in a course away from the will of God by messing with their minds!
And what happens many times is that the enemy gets us to focus on our feelings and that can be dangerous. “How do I feel about my wife?” “How do I feel about my job?” “How do I feel today?” “How do I feel about what God’s Word has to say?” If this is where you are at, you will never experience that transformation power because that power comes as we renew our minds not our feelings!
For others, it is a life that is based on doing this and doing that. “What do I need to do?” “What are the keys to happiness?” “What are the points I need to follow?” “How many steps do I need to take to be healthy?” Again, if this is where you are at, you will never experience that transformation power because that power comes as we renew our minds not our doings!
And please don’t misunderstand me. God does not ignore our feelings and the things that we do, but that is not the foundation for our Christian faith. You see, it is not, “How do I feel” or “What should I do” but “What does God’s Word say regarding this situation?” You see, the world wants to brainwash people into their way of thinking, but the Holy Spirit wants to wash our brains by the “cleansing water of the Word.” (Ephesians 5).
You see, as you surrender your life unto God as a living sacrifice, you will not be conformed to this world but you are being “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The word “transformed” in the Greek is METAMORPHOO (met-am-or-fo’-o) and it speaks of a metamorphosis that is taking place in our lives. The only other two places this word is used in the New Testament is in Mark 9:2-3 where we see the transfiguration of Jesus and we are told, “Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.”
The other place is in II Corinthians 3:18 where we are told, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Folks, as we behold the face of God, as we spend time with him, as we surrender our lives to Him, our lives will be transformed into the image of God, a metamorphosis will take place. This begins the moment we get saved and it continues on through our entire lives until we go to be with the Lord! In other words, the new nature that God has placed in our hearts will manifest itself in our lives! The thing is, what are you filling your mind with?
Kenneth S. Wuest, a great Greek scholar, has an excellent translation—actually an interpretation—of this verse. This is how he lays Romans 12:2 out: “And stop assuming an outward expression that does not come from within you and is not representative of what you are in your inner being, but is patterned after this age; but change your outward expression to one that comes from within and is representative of your inner being, by the renewing of your mind, resulting in your putting to the test what is the will of God, the good and well–pleasing, and complete will, and having found that it meets specification, placing your approval upon it” (Romans in the Greek New Testament, p. 290).
You see, what many try to do today is make outward changes but there is nothing that has changed inwardly and thus, you may play the part for a time, but eventually your true colors will be seen. If you don’t fill your mind with the things of God, what comes flowing from your life will be the things you have filled your mind with! In other words, the outward transformation is effected by an inner change in the mind, and the Spirit’s means of transforming our minds is the Word.
You can’t fill your life up with all kinds of garbage and then expect good to flow from it, it just won’t happen. And it is God’s Word that is truth, it is the solid meat that we need to ingest into our lives and let it permeate our being. Let me give you a few examples from the Scriptures that show us that it is the mind that is filled with the Word of God that will transform us and not feelings or doings, but filling and obeying or having the right doctrine and then applying that to your life as you live out your faith.
In Psalm 119:9-11 David tells us, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.” How do we stay on track? By knowing and obeying God’s Word but if you are not taking in the Word of God, then you will fill your life with something and it will be the philosophies of this world!
In Colossians 1:28 Paul tells us, “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” Do you see that? Paul is saying that he was warning and teaching people the things of God. Yes, it does not say that specifically, but if you are going to be perfect in Christ, are you going to be studying Dr. Phil or Sister Oprah? No! You will be studying God’s Word because it is His instruction manual for us to live by!
In Colossians 3:10 we are told, “and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.” We are renewed by knowledge and not just any knowledge but the truths of God found in the Word of God opened up to us by the Spirit of God!
In Colossians 3:16 Paul goes on to say, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” If you want to grow, if you want to be transformed, you must renew you mind and I am not just talking about information but it is the right information that is then applied to your life!
In Colossians 3:2 we are told, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” In other words, don’t develop a worldview that is of this world, but develop a biblical worldview because as you do, you will live out your faith, as God desires. I think it is important where we set our mind or who we set our mind upon, don’t you!
And in Colossians 2:4-10 we are told, “Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”
Paul tells us that we need to “walk in Him” which speaks of our daily lives, that as we move throughout our day He guides our lives. He also says that we are “rooted” in Him, which speaks of our life source. You see, we receive our spiritual nourishment from Him and as we do, fruit will be seen in our lives. And lastly, we are “built up in Him” or we are maturing in Him each and every day. Thus, take these truths you have been taught, having a solid foundation, and continue to grow into the image of Christ with a heart of thanksgiving! Be transformed by the renewing of your mind!
And here in Colossians Paul gives a very stern warning to the believers in Colosse to be aware, to pay attention because the world’s philosophies are deceptive and they want to take you away from Christ, they will rip you off and it is a warning to us! The Greek word for “philosophy” is PHILOSOPHIA (fil-os-of-ee’-ah) and it comes from two Greek words; PHILEO, which means, “to love” and SOPHIA, which means, “wisdom.” So the word means the love of wisdom! Now here is the problem, you cannot find truth regarding life apart from Christ!
Listen to what Chuck Swindoll wrote regarding the philosophies of this world. He wrote:
World philosophies have been summarized in this manner: Greece said, “Be wise, know yourself.” Rome said, “Be strong, discipline yourself.” Religion says, “Be holy, conform yourself.” Epicureanism says, “Be sensuous, enjoy yourself.” Education says, “Be resourceful, expand yourself.” Materialism says, “Be satisfied, please yourself.” Psychology says, “Be confident, fulfill yourself.” Pride says, “Be superior, promote yourself.” Asceticism says, “Be inferior, suppress yourself.” Humanism says, “Be capable, believe in yourself.” Philanthropy says, “Be generous, give yourself.” Legalism says, “Be pious, limit yourself.”
Isn’t it interesting how all the philosophies end with the same word, and how each one seems to differ from the philosophy of Jesus Christ: “Be a servant, think of others.”
- Chuck Swindoll
I know, some of you disagree with me on this, but hear me out. Look at the philosophies of the world over the years and how they change, how they contradict each other. Do they sometimes get it right? Yes, that is possible but why grope for answers to life’s problems, to life’s questions when God has the answer for you. Os Guinness puts it this way in regards to the futile effort of man and his search for the truths of life. He says:
Contemporary man, with his self-drawn picture of society as the “closed room” with No Exit, is caught metaphysically and sociologically. In the darkness of the room evidently without windows, perhaps without doors, he gropes round and round the edges. Can one hope that someone will dare to wonder whether there is any light other than the feeble sparks of his own making? Or will he stubbornly persist in treading the barren circle of poor premises?
- Os Guinness, The Dust of Death, p. 148
Thus, false teaching is according to the basic principles of the world, elementary knowledge like the ABC’s and not according to Christ. In fact, Paul put it this way in Colossians 2:20, “Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations.” Don’t become a prisoner to the basic principles of this world because we have died to those things in Christ!
Here’s the thing, if your car is broken down you don’t get out your Bible but you take it to a mechanic or you get a book on auto repair. If you hurt your leg, sprained your ankle you may go to the doctor or read up on what you can do for it in a medical book. That doesn’t mean we can’t pray that God would fix the car or heal the ankle, but most of the time we must get it fixed. The Bible is not a book on science even though when it speaks of scientific things it is 100% correct. Now, if you have a problem with your heart and soul, what do you do? You go to a therapist, a psychologist, you get books on how to overcome and-so-on, right? Wrong! That is what the church is doing today but it is not what we should be doing. When you have a problem with your heart and soul you bring it to Jesus, you get into the Word of God because the Word of God deals with life’s issues; with ourselves, with our fellow man, and with God. The world’s philosophies won’t help you here, but they will hurt you! Thus, don’t be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind!
Now, in knowing all that, then what is “that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”? We may know it but many times it is not seen in our lives, we have the head knowledge of what God wants, but because we refuse to surrender, to apply, we are not being transformed into the image of God but conformed into the image of this world! To live in the will of God is to know all that God has for us, to yield ourselves as a sacrifice unto Him, resisting to be conformed to this world but submitting to the transforming power of God in our lives – it is reading and applying the Word of God. You see, as we do it is then you will be able to prove what the will of God is for your life, to live holy lives unto Him as He shows us. Are you willing to submit and be transformed or to resist and be conformed? Any dead fish can float downstream but we are not dead!
So, over the past two weeks as we have studied Romans 12:1-2 we have seen three things that if we are doing them it shows that we are devoted and dedicated to God. First of all we are to PRESENT OUR BODIES AS A LIVING SACRIFICE UNTO GOD. That means our entire being, our eyes, our ears, our mouths, our hands and our feet! Secondly, Paul tells us that we are TO BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF OUR MIND. That means we are filling our minds with the things of God, we are in His Word and the outward manifestation of that is we are living what we say we believe! And the third point is that we are to GIVE HIM OUR WILL. In other words, we are not interested in fulfilling our will but the Lord’s will in our lives and as we give ourselves to Him His will becomes our will. We desire to do those things that please the Lord!
Maybe you heard the story of the Christian woman who came up to her minister and said to him, “Pastor, will you please tell me in a word, what your idea of consecration is?”
The pastor thought for a minute and then held out a blank piece of paper and replied back to the woman, “It is to sign your name at the bottom of this blank sheet of paper, and to let God fill it in as He will.” Yes, that is more than one word, but he is a pastor and to him, that equals one word! But don’t miss that point. Are we willing to surrender all to Him?
Now as I begin to close this morning, listen to these words from Jon Courson regarding how we respond in life, are we a conformer or transformer. He wrote:
Are you a thermometer – adjusting to the temperature of the culture, or are you a thermostat – changing the climate of the culture? If you are a conformer, a thermometer, you’re in for perpetual frustration because by the time you take the temperature and figure out what’s hot, by the time you change your look, or buy the car, or redo your house – the world will have moved on, leaving you out of style. Truly, this is a great mystery to a lot of Christians. They try to make their ministries relatable by analyzing what the world is doing in order to emulate it. But by the time they figure it out and implement it, the world has moved on. That’s why Christians are known for being out of style.
What’s the key? Don’t be a thermometer. Be a thermostat. Don’t be a conformer. Be a transformer. Say, “I’m in a whole different place than you are, world. I’m living for eternity. I’m preparing for heaven.”
- Jon Courson’s Application Commentary, p. 970
As we move on next week in our study in Romans chapter 12 dealing with this issue of APPLICATION, we see what is next for us if we are willing to follow through with Romans 12:1-2. The next step is that we go out into the world where all this gets put into practice, where all this gets tested and sometimes, it may not be pretty, but if we are truly willing to present our bodies, be transformed, and give Him our will, then God will do great things not only in us but through us as we live out our faith in this world! So what are you, a thermometer or a thermostat? Are you conformed to this world or transformed by the renewing of your mind? Is the world making a difference in your life or are you making a difference in this world? The choice is yours. BE TRANSFORMED!