Do Not Conform Series

Do not Conform

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

“The chameleon is a master of disguise. No matter what environment it’s placed in, it will change its color to disguise itself.”

Apostle Paul told the church of Corinth, “if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old is gone, the new is here” (2 Corinthians 5:17). To be “born of the water and the Spirit” (John 3:5) is the singular most important event that can happen in a person’s life because Jesus tells us that “anyone who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24). The word of God that used to be foolishness to us when we were perishing in sin (1 Corinthians 1:18) is now meditated upon (Psalms 1:2), understood and joyfully obeyed (John 14:15-21)! So radical is this transformation of the heart that those born again are Christ’s ambassadors and royal priests (2 Corinthians 5:20; 1 Peter 2:9) called to “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). The world, however, often avoids friendship with the believer due to their righteousness exposing their evil deeds (John 3:20). Hence Jesus states, “if you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to this world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you” (John 15:19). Is it easy to be like Jesus? Even though this world is not our home (Hebrews 13:14) and believers are called to let their light shine how easy is it to identify a person who is born again living amongst the lost of this world? Truthfully many Christians take their council from the ungodly and walk in the ways of sinners (Psalms 1:1-2) so that they might “fit in” with the very crowd they are trying to reconcile with Christ who offers them righteousness and eternal life! As chameleons their witness is weak for how can one persuade another of the infinite value of the Treasure one has found when one is not allowing God to radically transform one’s words and deeds? The following sermon is going to review the words of Apostle Paul as found in Romans 12:1-2 to help explain and encourage us to no longer conform to the patterns of this world as chameleons but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds in the ways of the Lord!

By the Grace of God, I am Who I am

To encourage us believers to no longer be chameleons of the ways of this world but instead let our light shine Paul begins by reminding us that our salvation was obtained through the mercies of a loving, gracious God (12:1a). We were headed to hell when the Good Shepherd called us by name. We were enemies of God (Romans 5:10) and though He had every right to give us over to our depraved minds (Romans 1:28), Christ not only died to atone for our sins (1 John 2:2) but also showed us the way, truth, and life that we could have never found on our own (John 14:6)! Therefore, Apostle Paul cries out, “but by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect” (1 Corinthians 15:10). The truth that Paul is pointing too is that “justification by faith produces neither moral passivity nor permissiveness.” Knowing that we were not purchased with “perishable things like silver or gold that we were redeemed but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19), ought to compel us to joyfully give the life we cannot keep in service to He who bought us at the price of His very life (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)! “We experience God’s mercy as a power that exerts a total and all-encompassing claim upon us: grace now “reigns” over us (5:21). It is therefore entirely fitting that our response to God’s grace is all-encompassing: the presentation of our entire persons as a sacrifice to God!” For this to occur we must see our “identity in terms of our eternal destination rather than how we are viewed by the world.” Paul urges us in view of God’s mercy to not seek friendship with this world but to let our light shine by continually seeking to be “conformed to the likeness of God’s Son” (Romans 8:29)!

The Living Sacrifice – Dying to Live

Considering God’s mercy Paul says you are “to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice” (12b)! When we hear the word “sacrifice” it brings to our minds the Old Testament sacrificial system when the one who sinned brought forth an animal and the priest laid hands upon it signifying their atonement was made through the death of the animal in their stead. Unlike the Old Testament times believers are made “holy through the sacrifice of the body of Christ once and for all” (Hebrews 10:10). As a result of our “union with Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit we have died to sin” (Romans 6) and as a result, thankfully, cannot go back to being lost and heading for hell as we were before. However, since the sinful nature still exerts influence on us to return as chameleons of the fallen ways of this world, to live rightly before the Lord who was “slain from the foundation of this world” (Revelation 13:8) one simply must sacrifice “self” upon the altar, take up one’s cross and follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24). In the Old Testament when the animal was placed on the altar it became consecrated to God. In a similar manner offering ourselves as a living sacrifice means consecrating our every thought, word, and deed unto our Redeemer! While on our own we are incapable of no longer sinning, those who have the mind of Christ have died to sin and unlike the animal sacrifice are not dead but very much alive, empowered, and capable of being slaves to righteousness (Romans 7). Through the power of the Holy Spirit and considering God’s mercy in sending His Son Jesus to atone for our sins Apostle Paul urges us to resist “the pressure to be squeezed into the mold of this world” but with a pure heart seek to please the Lord by letting our light shine, not as chameleons, but as children of God before this very dark world! Since Christ gave His very life to atone for our sins, is it not fitting of a response in return for us to offer our full lives as living sacrifices in service to Him?