TITLE: AN INSIDE JOB
SCRIPTURE: ROMANS 12:2
I want to thank Elder Marco Hansell for such a powerful message he bought two weeks ago and thank Pastor Bernie Kidd, in his absence, for the powerful message he delivered last week. These preachers really encouraged us as we have experienced the past three weeks away from our Church and Sanctuary since vandalism occurred and has disrupted our Church family gathering. I also understand the challenges these preachers faced proclaiming a Word from Bishop’s home where the saints had gathered the past few weeks. We are anxiously awaiting the repairs being completed on Tuesday and back in the Sanctuary on Wednesday, just in time for our celebration service on Fourth Sunday. It is truly amazing to me how God and His perfect timing WORK OUT FOR GOOD FOR THOSE WHO LOVE THE LORD.
I recall talking with some of the members a few weeks ago when Sis Newman discovered that our Church had been vandalized. I recall one of our members saying, Bishop, it sounds like An Inside Job. Those that vandalized the building knew when we would not be there. Subsequently, we learned that 13-Churches had been vandalized for the Copper in the Air Units over a 6-7 hour period late Friday through Early Saturday Morning. An Inside Job suggests to us that someone from the Inside knew our church schedule and planned accordingly. However; we know that all churches were closed between 11:00 p.m. Friday night through 5:00 a.m. Saturday morning when the vandalism took place at these various churches including our own.
That being said , - Let me tell you this morning - and this may shock some of us - that I agree – this was An Inside Job. However; it may not be An Inside Job in the manner of which you may be thinking right now. In the book of Romans –the author, Paul forces us to take a Look and Evaluate what takes place on the Inside.
• What would cause a person or people to vandalize a Church?
• What would cause people to vandalize a number of Churches?
• What would cause people to totally Disregard, Disrupt, and Displace members that make up a Church?
• The answer is simple – It’s An Inside Job
At this point in the letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul turns from THEOLOGY to ETHICS - from the description of what God has done for us to the question of what we should do for God. Given what God in Christ has done for us, how shall we lead our lives, HOW MUST WE AND ARE WE EXPECTED TO BEHAVE? Clearly, we shall not live as we have lived before, when all we knew was what Paul calls “THIS WORLD (or “this age”),” but rather we shall live as those who CAN DISCERN THE WILL OF GOD - and thus know what is the GOOD – PLEASING – PERFECT way of life.
• We shall no longer continue to be conformed to this world
• But rather we shall be transformed by the knowledge of God
• Paul is making reference to An Inside Job
Paul proceeds in our text by means of CONTRASTS: He starts by dealing with - CONFORMITY and TRANSFORMATION - he deals with this world and that world – he deals with old and new. He holds out the possibility of RADICAL CHANGE for all of us who believe in Jesus. Today it is a TRUISM that PEOPLE NEVER REALLY CHANGE. How many of us have experienced or know someone who has experienced the costly failure of trying to change the person they married.
• We get married with the misplaced desire to change the other person
• Walk out on one another saying we won’t return until they change
• Get angry in midst of argument say – You will never change
• Paul offers the opportunity to be transformed by the knowledge of God’s will in a renewed mind
This is why we need to understand that it is An Inside Job. ONLY GOD CAN CHANGE US - and that by means of the mighty labor that Paul describes in the chapters of the letter to the Romans up to this point. God’s work through the death and resurrection of Christ removes the burden of sin from those who believe by replacing it with the gift of His own presence and the Apostle describes this as - “GRACE.” This grace renews us by restoring the relationship with God that our sin once broke and thus freeing us from the chains with which sin binds us in estrangement to this world and causing us to do the WICKED, OUTLANISHED things that we do.
There are TWO BASIC KINDS of “change” - INTERNAL and EXTERNAL. We usually like the External change:
• Going to Country to see the leaves change during the Autumn
• When life gets hectic – we enjoy a Change of Pace
• As seasons change – we change our wardrobe
• But when it comes to INTERNAL change it’s a different story
• We tend to Resist Internal Change
That’s why it takes An Inside Job to bring about a sufficient change in us. No one can make you live for Christ. It takes “SURRENDER.” You have to decide for yourself if you want to continue living the type of life your living or be VICTORIOUS in your Christian life.
• This is why some people are able to do the things they do
• This is why some can totally disregard a church and its membership
• Surrender is not External it is Internal
Paul makes it very clear in VS. 2 that we are NOT TO BE CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD. That means, don’t allow the world to shape and mold the way we think and behave. Instead of being a Conformer we should be a TRANSFORMER.
• Ever notice a LIZARD or an IGUANA - They constantly change their outward color to blend in with the environment
• By changing their outward color they blend in and can hide - look like their surroundings
• Too many around us simply want an outward change which does not last
• Changing with every Wind and Doctrine
--Take a Reprobate and dress him up – He’s still a Reprobate
--Take a Fool and put him in a Cadillac – He’s still a Fool
--Take a Sinner and put him in a Suit – He’s still a Sinner
• We need an Internal Change - An Inside Job
• Ever notice a CATERPILLAR?
• Caterpillar goes through an Internal Change
• It goes through a Metamorphosis
• Caterpillar has to eventually shed its outer casing to release the inner Beautiful Butterfly
• It must go through a Transformation
Paul tells us how we can be Transformed. It is by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND. The Battleground for your Christian life takes place in your Mind. There is something else that I see in VS. 2 that Paul brings out. He says with the Renewing of our Mind that also has to be a Surrender of our WILL. Oh yes, it An Inside Job.
Although it was 32 years ago - I still remember when I enlisted in the Army and arrived at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. for BASIC TRAINING. The initial weeks was really Tough until I finally begun to realize that the Purpose of Basic Training was to EMPTY MYSELF OF THE CIVILIAN WAY OF THINKING.
• Civilian way of thinking had to be suppressed
• We had to be emptied and Re-filled with the Military Way of Thinking
• Purpose was to change my Will to their Will
• I had to learn how to Surrender My Will and Think and Behave like a Soldier
• At that point it was something that I did not know anything about
• I had never been a Soldier before
We spent much time in the CLASSROOM during Basic Training in addition to DRILLS and outside Training. From there we went to ADVANCED INDIVIDUAL TRAINING or AIT. We kept our heads in the books learning about Military and our Occupation. There was a Renewing of the Mind taking place. When I arrived at Basic Training:
• I was a young man in need of discipline in his life
• I was a young man with no plan for the future
• I did not look anything like a Soldier
• But when I completed Basic Training and AIT – I was a Soldier!
• I’m talking about An Inside Job
If this process for the Military holds true - then the process Paul describes as a RENEWING OF THE MIND must include a LARGE ELEMENT OF STUDY.
• I have long admired the Jewish religion for its emphasis on study
• We gentiles are too much in love with feeling
• We would rather feel fuzzy and warm than see clearly and accurately
• We prefer to hear moving stories than read demanding texts
• This is why I love Wednesday Nights – Oftentimes Deacon will Read Whole Bible Chapter
• So I suggest that you take the 12th and 13th chapters of Romans and study them
• Write out the virtues that Paul teaches there
• Reflect on them, try to imagine them at work in your life
• Become committed to Life Seminar and Bible Study
• Do some intellectual work to enter more deeply into the faith
• Elder Statesman does this – Asks questions that make us think
• Study renews the mind, especially the study of the Bible
• We must replace the Worlds Way of Thinking
• This positively affects our Will
We see the world in the condition that it is because of a lack of Surrender of Man’s Will to the Will of God. Jesus encountered this feeling in the GARDEN OF GETHSAMINE. As He prayed sweat were as Drops of Blood. He knew the Cross lay before Him. Jesus prayed “LET THIS CUP PASS, NEVERTHELESS; NOT MY WILL BUT LET THY WILL BE DONE.”
• Our will wants to do what the crowd does
• Our will says it’s okay to vandalize a church
• Our will says we want to fit in with the crowd
• Our will says not necessary to be part of the Church family
• If we are ever able to connect just like Jesus did in the Garden
• If we are able to get to the point where it is no longer about our will
• If we are able to get to the Point that all we want to do is be in the Will of God
When we Surrender to Jesus, you will Pray like Jesus – Not My Will. You will want God’s will for your Life. You will not be Conformed to the Will of the World. When you Surrender to the Will of God
• Not only have Will Power
• You will have WON’T Power
• Won’t want to Lie
• Won’t want to Steal
• Won’t want to Gossip
• Won’t want to Vandalize a Church
• It only happens when we understand that its An Inside Job
Oftentimes there is not a Total Commitment. When this happens we still CONFORM TO THIS WORLD every now and then. We find ourselves BOUNCING back and forth. Oftentimes based upon whose company we are in. In the company of Saved folks we act like them. Around Unsaved, we act like them. There is not a Total Commitment. We see this in REVELATION 3:16 “SO THEN BECAUSE THOU ART LUKEWARM, AND NEITHER COLD NOR HOT,I WILL SPUE THEE OUT OF MY MOUTH.”
• An Inside Job
• God calls for us to make Total Surrender to His Will
• Sky Diver jumps out of plane does he pull his parachute cord Half-Way or does he make a total commitment
• A Pilot taking off down the runway what would happen he does not make a total commitment to take the plane off the ground?
• Driving down the highway do we make a Total commitment to the Red Light?
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH - that what we believe and how we live are mutually entailed. To believe in Jesus Christ is to live in a certain way, or rather, since a Christian life in fact is the work of a lifetime, to try every day to allow oneself to be transformed into the good, pleasing and perfect person God wants us to be. This is an enormous challenge and a great work, and God calls us to undertake it. It is the reason why God created us, and the real thing we get up for every morning. No matter what our age or work status, God wants us to present ourselves every day to Him as living sacrifices
• Never flagging in zeal
• Aglow with the Spirit Serving the Lord
• There can be no retirement from this work
• It is the real work of our lifetime
• The work of sanctification, and from it no one ever retires
--I am talking about An Inside Job
--Since He Died for me, it’s only reasonable - that I Live for Him
--Since He Gave Up so much for me, it’s only Reasonable – that I Give Up Myself for Him
--Since He wore the “Crown of Thorns” for me, It’s only Reasonable - that I crown Him “King” of my life
--I’m talking about An Inside Job
--Holy Ghost must change you on the Inside
--Then a change takes place on the Outside
