An Inside Job
Theme: Show the importance of looking on the inside.
Text: Romans 12:2
with help from "Ordering Your Private World" by Gordon McDonald
Rom 12:2 NKJV And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
In other words Paul is saying, If we, “Fix our attention on God we will be changed from the inside out."
Introduction
Spray paint won’t fix rust.
A Band-Aid won’t remove a tumor.
Wax on the hood won’t cure the cough of a motor.
If it is an inside job it is an inside job.
It didn’t take us long to learn this lesson when we got the new alarm system at the parsonage. It was close to a week that we had had the alarm. We were sleeping cozy late one night. I was probably getting the best sleep of my life. Then suddenly, out of the blue, I heard this loud siren. Over and over again. Talking about getting scared out of your wits. I hate being woke up in the middle of the night. Even more I hate it being to a loud noise.
So quickly I got out of bed and went to the alarm to disarm it. If the alarm wasn’t enough noise the phone rings. Just to make sure that that last child who was still sound asleep woke up. On the other end was the operator asking if there was problem and for my pass code.
To be honest I didn’t know. As far as I knew there was a thief in the house. Downstairs we have a motion detector that automatically sounds the alarm when it senses and intruder. Thoughts rushed through my mind. Someone had came into the basement door. Someone had broken a window and was coming up stairs.
The lady on the phone called the police. The police arrived. I let them know that someone could be downstairs. They searched the basement to no avail. This was not the only time either. It happened at least twice more. Have you ever been woken to the deafening sound of a siren. Boy it is a sound you won’t quickly forget.
Finally after three startled nights and one with no alarm on. It is amazing how peaceful you slept with no alarm before. Yet when you get a system and have to turn it off for one night then you have these terrible thoughts.
Well come to find out when the technician came it was a simple wiring problem. One of the contacts downstairs was loose. He replaced it and went on.
There was not intruder. It was an inside problem. At the times many things crossed my mind as I listen to the blaring alarm expect that it could be an inside problem.
Inside problem blamed on outside source
Yet am I the only one who has been mistaken by this? Am I the only one who blames the inside problem on an outside source?
Alarms has probably sounded in your world as well. Maybe not the blaring sirens or the calling operator, but problems and pain. The purpose is to signal imminent danger. As a warning sign warning of the bridge out, so in the alarms in our lives that signal danger up ahead.
A fit of anger is a red flare. Uncontrolled debt is a flashing light. A guilty conscience is a warning signs indicating trouble within. Icy relationships are posted notices announcing anything from neglect to abuse.
Do you know where I am coming from? Those pesky alarms. When they do go off, what do you do? Let us be honest today, hasn’t there been a time when you heard the alarm and went outside for an inside solution?
Maybe we blame the government for our financial problems. Our family because we are so lonely. You maybe have even called God to account for your problems. (If he is God, why doesn’t he heal my marriage, take away this pain, fix this problem.) How about the church, how many has blamed the church the pastor?
Illustration of Golfer
Maybe you have heard the story of the golfer who was about to hit his first shot on the first hole. He swung and missed the ball. Swung again and whiffed again. Tried a third time and still hit nothing but air. In frustration he looked at his buddies and judged, “Man, this is a tough course.”
He may have been right. The course may have been tough. But that wasn’t his problem. Your circumstances may be a great challenge but blaming them is not the solution. Nor is neglecting them. You can’t silence alarms in your life by pretending that they are not screaming at you.
So we must look in the mirror before we peek out the window.
Real change is an inside job
Notice what David prayed in Ps. 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
Rom 12:2 NKJV And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
In other words Paul is saying, If we, “Fix our attention on God we will be changed from the inside out."
John 3:3 NKJV Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Real change is an inside job. You might alter things a day or two with money and systems, but the heart of the matter is and always will be, the matter of the heart.
Let me get specific. Our problem is sin. Not finances. Not budgets. Not overcrowded prisons or drug dealers. Our problem is sin. We are in rebellion against our Creator. We are separated from our Father. We are cut off from the source of life. A new president or policy wont’ fix that . It can only be solved by God.
This is why the Bible uses such drastic terms like, conversion, repentance, and lost and found. Society may renovate, but only God re-creates.
Do you have these alarms in you life now? Can you hear them sounding the alarm?
That heaviness in your heart. That weight bearing down in your life. If you do I want you to ask yourself three questions.
Three Questions to ask during the sounding of the alarm
1. Is there any unconfessed sins in my life?
Psa 32:3-5 NKJV When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. (4) For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah (5) I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Listen to The Living Bible version:
There was a time when I wouldn’t admit what a sinner I was. But my dishonesty made me miserable and filled my days with frustration. . . . My strength evaporated like water on a sunny day until I finally admitted all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them.
Confession is telling God what he saw you do. Whether it is too small or to big for God to forgive is not for you to decide. Our task is to be honest.
2. Are there any unresolved conflicts in my world?
Mat 5:23 "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 "leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
This is the only place in the Bible where the Lord says you can leave church early. People find many excuses to do it but this is God’s only excuse. I guess when it happens here this is why people are leaving.
Apparently he would rather you make peace than give your tithe. It is hard to worship when someone is holding a grudge. When you have a broken relationship. So he says get off the pew call the person and ask for forgiveness. They may forgive you they may not but at least you will have a clear conscience.
3. Are there any unsurrendered worries in my heart?
Casting all your cares upon him; for he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7 AV)
Or “Give all your worries to him because he cares for you”
The German word for worry means “to strangle”. The Greek word means “to divide the mind”. Both are accurate. Worry is a noose on the neck and a distraction of the mind, neither of which is befitting for joy.
Alarms serve a purpose. They signal a problem. Sometimes the problem is out there. More often it’s in here. So before you peek outside, take a good look around inside.
Conclusion
So what about you and alarms? Are they sounding? What about sin? Have you dealt with the issue of sin? This could be SIN. In reference to the one sin that has been passed down for generations from Adam and the fall. Or it could be sins? Either way they must be dealt with to enter into eternal life.
Or what about “unresolved conflicts”. Have you mended the fences or at least your side.
Many times in our lives things just build up and build up and finally blame it hits us. Like a ton of bricks. Then we ask, where did that come from. It just hit me I never expected it. Well it came from us allowing sin to grow. Conflicts to fester and worries to build. Let it go today.
