Conform or Transform?
Romans 12:1-2
I want to introduce you to a mythical church member that I am going to call Kenny
When we first meet Kenny he is attending services at First Church but he left because the services were too formal
Every one on the platform wore a tie
He and his family then wandered over to Grace Church because they had a great choir
But before long, we hear they are “happy” at the Christian Worship Center
But before long they move their membership to the Community Church because of the great bible teaching
After that the youth program at New Hope catches their eye
Now at least for the moment, they are at the church uptown, at least until something else catching their roving eye. What ever happened to commitment?
Why do you suppose that there are close to 100 million church members in America yet they are not making more of a moral and spiritual impact?
Why is that on Sunday morning thousands of churches have more empty pews than full?
Why is it that the average Sunday School in America has less than 66 in attendance and that the average worship service has 84?
Why is it that only 50% of the number on any church membership roll can be expected to attend?
If Christians really believe in a real heaven and a real Hell, how can we be so silent?
The answer to all of these questions is tragically simple
God’s people have made a decision about Jesus
But have never made a commitment to Him.”
[Charles Stanley. Confronting Casual Christianity. (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1985) pp. 23-33.]
There is of course a difference between a decision and a commitment
The reason that the church is not making more of an impact in our society is that many church members made a decision about Christ, but have not made a commitment to Christ
When the pilot of a giant airline is speeding down the runway, there is a certain point where it staying on the ground is no longer an option
When he crosses that line, he is committed to the air, he will take off or a disastrous crash is imminent
At the point the pilot can no longer change his mind he is committed
Unfortunately churches are filled with members who have never got off the ground
They have been sitting there gunning their engines, making noise but getting nowhere
They have been planning on it, meaning to, wanting to, trying to, going to, aiming to, hoping to
But tragedy of tragedies, they have never got off the ground. ( Stanley, p. 30)
I want to challenge you this morning to “get off the ground.”
In Romans 12:1-2, the Apostle Paul issues a clear call for commitment when he says in Romans 12:1-2
Are you conformed of transformed?
Are you self-dedicated to the Lord?
Wholehearted for God
Wholeheartedness for God ought to characterize every Christian
And this is evidenced by our presenting our bodies a living sacrifice unto God
I. The Sacrifice to be Offered
“present your bodies”
Far to often we are content with committing our souls to Him
We seem to think that our bodies are all our own
And that our souls belong to God
We know that the scriptures teach that our body is the temple of the soul and spirit
The means through which these parts of our being act and manifest themselves
The inner man, the part of us that really tells who we really are, acts through the outer man
The part the world sees
What is on the inside, shows itself on the outside
Or so it should be
So our bodies ought to be in the hands of God as well as the inner man, our soul and spirit
In fact, unless God has full charge of the whole being the Divine power will be withheld
He does not give us power so much as He desires to manifest His power through us
It is kind of like a brand new Cadillac
Inside, it has all the latest features installed
As it rolls off the assembly line at GM it has everything you would expect in a Caddy
Top of the line electronics, voice activated GPS navigation system
Great surround sound system
Heated and cooled all leather seats, push button start
Everything
But they do not let that Cadillac out of the factory
With primer grey paint, knock off tires and plain Jane stock wheels
Plastic bolt on mirrors and bargain bin wipers and headlights
No, to be a Cadillac it must be a Cadillac inside and out
You wouldn’t want to drive a car that was a Cadillac on the inside, and a Gremlin or a Pacer on the outside
It must be a Cadillac through and through
God expects us to be a Christian through and through
Not just on the inside, but on the outside as well
Each one must present his own body, as the Jew presented his lamb
And left it in the hands of the priest
II. The Nature of this Sacrifice
It is to be
A living sacrifice
The death of Christ has swept away forever all dead sacrifices from the altar
Now He seeks living ones
We are to live on the altar
The verse says “present you bodies”
Present is a technical Greek word used for offering a sacrifice
This is a voluntary act, it does not say “I command you”
It says “I beseech you, or beg you”
This is something that is completely up to you
I can not present your body as a living sacrifice
I can not present my children as a living sacrifice
It is something each of us as an individual must do on their own
And the motivation is to be remembering “the mercies of God”
Close your eyes for a moment and think about all that God has done for you in your life
Think of the “mercies of God” based on what you have received
Can you really say that you owe Him nothing?
When we reflect on the goodness of God
How can we be anything other than committed?
You ever heard of a life debt?
A life debt is a cultural phenomenon in which someone whose life is saved or spared by another becomes indebted or in some way connected to their savior
A life debt sometimes involves servitude, possibly until the indebted can return the favor
A life debt is a sacred act of honor
Designed to repay that which is without measure
At the very least, God has saved your life and you owe Him a life debt
Your whole life
The old sacrifices died on the altar
You are to live on the altar
Those old sacrifices were on the altar only for a few moments
Ours is a consecrated life, a life complete set aside for Him
“For me to live is Christ”
The nature of this sacrifice is to be a living sacrifice
It is also a Holy Sacrifice
“know ye not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost?
This temple must be Holy, for God dwelleth in you
In offering the body as a sacrifice we offer Him what He has already claimed and sanctified for Himself
In the O.T. sacrifices, the animal presented to be sacrifices was a picture of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice on the cross
The unblemished lamb or bull was a picture of the unblemished Savior
Jesus was Holy, the sacrifices, although not Holy, represented the Holiness of Christ
We too are to be a Holy sacrifice
Our bodies, being the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit should be Holy as well
The Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle was were God met with the priest
Only the chief priest was allowed to enter this place
And anyone else who entered was struck dead
There were strict rules to abide by within the Holy of Holies
Did you know that the priest entered here with a rope tied around his ankle and bells on his robe?
The belles were to indicate that the priest was still alive
If the bells quit sounding, it indicated God had struck him down
And the rope was there to pull out the dead body
Of there were such strict penalties for violating God’s rules within His dwelling place then
How can we not strive to follow His standards today?
We are His dwelling place now
We should be a Holy living sacrifice
The third nature of this sacrifice is that it should be an acceptable sacrifice
It should be well pleasing to God
Not only acceptable, but in reality , satisfying to God
In Leviticus 1:2 God spoke to Moses saying
“When any man of you brings an offering to the Lord, you should bring your offering of animals from the herd of your flock”
These were completely voluntary and freewill offerings with no specific number or frequency given
The regulation refers to cattle, sheep or goats
Only domestic animals could be sacrificed
It excluded horses, dogs, pigs, camels and donkeys which were used in pagan sacrifices
As well as rabbits, deer, beasts and birds of prey
None of these things were acceptable
We must present an acceptable sacrifice as well
God is not pleased until we offer ourselves a willing, Holy sacrifice to Him
That is what makes it acceptable to Him
Our willingness to give ourselves in a Holy manner to Him
We are saved to serve
III. The Motives Urged
Our motives are twofold
I’ve already talked about the mercies of God as being one of our motives
His mercies are His love in Christ, His forgiveness, His peace, his joy, His Holy Spirit, His promises
These should constrain us to yield ourselves entirely up to Him
But another motive is our reasonable service
It only makes sense that we should yield ourselves to God is He has redeemed us to Himself
It is reasonable that He should have all of us
So it is unreasonable to keep what is His
Our reasonable service is also an act of worship
The NIV says it this way “this is your spiritual act of worship”
Today’s English Version “this is the true worship that you should offer
The true worship, to give of ourselves as a living sacrifice
This is how you can worship God daily, with the life you live
You don’t have to met in this building to worship
You can worship, you should worship God anywhere
And being a living sacrifice “is the true worship that you should offer”
IV. The Consequences of this sacrifice
When we give up something of our own, there is always consequences
When you present yourself as a living sacrifice, you will have to face the consequences
But what are the consequences?
Nonconforming to the world is one
After Paul states the fact that we need to be willing, Holy, acceptable living sacrifices
He proceeds to tell us how we can do that
First step is to not conform to this world
Conformed refers to assuming an outward expressions that does not reflect what is really inside
A kind of masquerade or act
The word’s form here implies that the readers were already allowing this to happen and must stop
And when he refers to “this world” he is referring to the system of beliefs, values, at any time current in the world
This sum of contemporary thinking and values forms the moral atmosphere or immoral atmosphere, of our world
And is always dominated by Satan
The people in Rome were struggling
They wanted to fit in with society
They didn’t want to be perceived as outsiders, as freaks, as religious fanatics
In order to do this, they felt like they needed to blend in with their surroundings
Perhaps they justified their actions by saying this is a way to connect with a lost world
In order to gain their trust and to reach them for Christ
Sound familiar?
As Christians today we tend to blend in with the world
We don’t want to be seen as a fanatic
We should want to be considered a fanatic
The shorten form of the word fanatic is fan
Which in sports or entertainment is a compliment
We are not ashamed to be considered a razorback fan
We wear our Razorback hoodie all the time
We are not ashamed to be considered a certain music artist’s fan
We wear our concert t-shirt once a week
We are not ashamed to be considered a certain politicians fan
We place their signs in our yard and stickers on our car
But we are often ashamed to be considered a fanatical Christian
We show this by conforming to this world
We try to be like a hunter on a deer stand yesterday morning
We cover our bodies with worldly camouflage
Camo jacket, camo shirt, camo pants, boots, gloves
We put on the smallest amount of Christian orange to get by
Hoping the deer, which is the world, won’t get a glimpse of our Christianity
Don’t want to scare them off
I tell ya what folks, the world needs to be scared
Scared of what is to come, scared of the hell on earth they are about to face during the Tribulation period
Scared to death of the results of rejecting Jesus as their savior
Scared of the punishment of an eternity in a literal hell, and a lake of fire, darkness, eternal torment and unimaginable, unending pain
Some may say you don’t need to scare people into heaven
Folks, more people need to wake up and smell the brimstone
They need to be scared
And conforming Christians are very much to blame
Are you conformed to this world?
Are you just barely squeaking by
With just enough Christian orange on?
You need to scare somebody
If you don’t tell them who will?
Its not just the pastor’s job, its not just the deacon’s job
Its not just the evangelist and missionaries’ job
Its your job to tell others of the saving truth of Jesus Christ
Take off that camouflage of this world
We should be dressed head to toe with Christian orange
We should stand out like a giant Christian thumb in this world
Last week in Sunday school we were asked the question
Looking at a family portrait, can you easily determine if the family is a happy, joyful family?
The answer is no, we are all far to good actors in those photographs
If we were to take a true family portrait, the kids would have their hands around each others throats
Mom and dad would have their back to each other
Mom would be crying and dad would be mad
And the youngest child would be kicking the dog
And then we asked, would the Christian family portrait look any different?
The answer sadly is no
The average Christian family is no different than the non-Christian family
Does this mean we should all be the Duggers with 18 kids
All the girls dressed alike in homemade dresses and boys in button down shirts?
Of course not, but we are instructed to not conform any longer to the pattern of this world
With its behavior and customs that are usually selfish and often corrupting
Many Christians wisely decide that much worldly behavior is off limits for them
Our refusal to conform to this world’s values however must go even deeper than the level of behavior and customs
It must be firmly planted in our minds
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind
This is the second consequence of a living sacrifice
Transforming your character
It is possible to avoid most worldly customs an still be proud, covetous, selfish stubborn and arrogant
There is a story about an Amish who bought a new pair of overalls
Of course, the Amish are famous for their simplicity and trying to avoid pride
As he put on his new overalls and looked in the mirror, he said
“Oh, this will never do! I’ll be proud in these!”
So he removed the new overalls and put on the patched, worn, and dirty ones
He stood again in front of the mirror and said
“Ahh, you’d look good in anything!”
Only when the Spirit renews, reeducates and redirects our minds are we truly transformed
Romans 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Paul divides people into two categories
Those who let themselves be controlled by their sinful natures
And those who follow after the Holy Spirit
All of us would be in the first category if Jesus hadn’t offered us a way out
Once we have said yes to Jesus, we will want to continue following Him
Because His way brings life and peace
Daily we must consciously choose to center our lives on God
Being a living sacrifice, allowing God to transform you is a daily choice
A dead sacrifice has no choice
Once it is dead it can not be made alive again to be sacrificed again
Since you are a living sacrifice you must choose to lay yourself on that altar every day
The way to be transformed is by “the renewing of your mind”
It must be renewed everyday
And can you renew your own mind?
No, that kind of transformation can only occur as the Holy Spirit changes your thinking through consistent study of meditation of Scriptures
Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
The renewed mind is one saturated with and controlled by the Word of God
And we must be transformed by Him, we cannot do it ourselves
OPTIMUS PRIME
The Optimus Prime figure cannot transform himself
He may be able to in the cartoons and on the big screen
But in real life he must be transformed by someone else
We are the same way, we need an outside source to change us
Someone with the actual power to get the transformation to take place
And that someone is God
And finally the third consequence of a living sacrifice is
“that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Many have never proved the goodness and perfection of the will of God
Because they have not given themselves wholly to God
And so the will of God is troublesome
They dread it, instead of delight in it
The will of God is perfect ad only in His will are our lives perfect before Him
When the acceptable sacrifice is presented
The perfect acceptable will of God will be proved
He is able to work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure
This is Holy, living of which God approves
These words - good, acceptable, perfect borrow from O.T. sacrificial language
And describe a life that is morally and spiritually spotless
Just as those sacrificial animals were to be
So are you conformed or transformed?
Does your life blend in with the rest of the world for fear of being ostracized?
Or are you fearful of scaring unsaved people off?
Are you more worried about what people think of you than you are of what they think of God?
Or are you allowing the Holy Spirit to transform your mind?
Allowing Him to guide you in the way to be a living sacrifice
You need to place yourself on the altar daily
And don’t just lie there dead
Be a living sacrifice
Live on that altar
Don’t be conformed
Be transformed!
