CHURCH: The Place of Roaring Lambs or House Cats
Romans 12: 2 (p 803) June 5, 2011
INTRODUCTION:
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is---his good, pleasing and perfect will”
In the mid 1990’s a band called P.C. Talk released a big hit record called Jesus Freak…and I have to admit…I kinda liked it…but, my favorite song from the album was “What If I Stumble?” If you get in your Delorean and go back in time with me it was the first time I was introduced to one of my favorite writers…because the song “What if I Stumble?” begins with a quote from Brennan Manning.
Here it is……”Play Quote”
[“The greatest single cause of atheism today is Christians, who acknowledge, Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him with their lifestyle. That’s what an unbelieving world simply finds…unbelievable! As we consider Paul’s words in Romans 12:2 its essential we understand that church is not a place we go, but a people we are.
Being a follower of Jesus isn’t just showing up at the appropriate times to do the appropriate things. If you begin to think like this in terms of defining your Christianity you will never understand God’s will for your life….and instead of becoming a lamb that Roars you will become a house cat.
Maybe that’s exactly why Paul begins this 12 chapter with these words- “therefore, I urge you bothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - THIS IS YOUR SPIRITUAL ACT OF WORSHIP”
Paul starts in the right place when it comes our salvation…GRATITUDE. Thank you God for your mercy…and because I’ve experienced that amazing grace I now surrender my body daily….I deny myself…I take up my cross…I follow..Jesus…This is what holiness is all about…this is what please God…This is my purpose….worship that takes place daily…not just on Sundays.
How can I really do this?
I DON’T CONFORMTO THE WORLD’S PATTERN.
The message translates Romans 12:1 this way, “So here’s what I want you to do God helping you. Take your everyday ordinary life---your sleeping, eating, going to work and walking around lift---place it before God as an offering…”
The reason many become “House Cats” when it comes to their faith is that Jesus has been used as a “get out of hell free card” instead of Lord of my day to day life. We acknowledged Jesus with our lips…maybe even got baptized in the process, but walk out the door still retaining “ownership” of our day to day lives.
The extreme problem with this is it’s a lie that leaves an individual with a false hope and a wordly pattern of living. It’s a belief that I can say I surrender my life to God and then not really do it..but because I’ve said it…”I’m o.k.” Jesus warns about people who teach this type or religion and the consequences of following it. Matt 7: 15-24 (p 685)
The key to all this is who we allow to shape our hearts. Either our hearts will be shaped like the Kingdom of God from within- or they will be shaped b y the pattern of this world…Jesus said you’ll be able to see this taking place by the fruits a person produces…not the stuff he or she does.
[We’ve all played with play-dough…As kids we watched the dough go through a press and become stars, or squares, or rectangles. The dough was shaped by the pattern…]
People are shaped by patterns also—our hearts become what shapes them…
Here’s the pattern that shapes the world’s heart…”Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world the Love of the Father is not in him…For everything in the world- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does comes not from the Father but from the world.” 1st John 2:15,16 (p862)
Satan wants our hearts to be shaped b y his worldly pattern…”I want my own way…I want it for me….I want to be important.
Saying Jesus is Lord does not guarantee that you were really surrendering all your ownership rights to him…What really proves it is transformation.
II BE TRANSFORMED WITH A RENEWED MIND
Transformation is a heavy duty thing…what use to be one thing has become something completely different. The word Paul uses in Romans 12:2 is “Metamorphoomair”…we get the word Metamorphises” from it…it’s what happens to a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, It’s the same word used for Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration…”He was “transfigured, “Transformed” before them.
Ask your kids what happens to “Bumblebee, the Comars in all the “transformer” movies and you’ll get an idea of metamoprphise.
[Show Bumblebee Clip] (15 seconds)
Transformation is truly that radical…you cannot undergo a spiritual transformation and no one notices.
How is that transformation accomplished for us as roaring Lambs? The renewing of our minds.
There is nothing that determines a man or woman’s decision making process more than how he or she thinks.
If your mind is shaped by the pattern of this world your decisions will be made in conformation.
If your mind is renewed by the Spirit of Christ your decision will be made in transformation.
And its important we understand that we don’t become “new Creations” were the old is gone and new things have come according to 2 Cor. 5:17 because of an outer transformation…its because of a “new birth”,
Nicodemus said, “what are you talking about…can a man be born when he is old? Jesus answered
John 3: 5-8 (p 752)
You cannot see the wind…even in a tornado you can see the debris it carries and you can see its powerful effects…but it blows were it pleases—So it is with everyone born of the Spirit…you cannot see the Holy Spirit but you most definitely can witness His transforming power…and the effects on a person’s mind…
The Holy Spirit is a gift from God that allows us to become His adopted children…we receive that Spirit when we die to self and are buried in Christ in baptism…the only way we can rise to walk in new life…is through the same spirit who raised Jesus from the dead according to scripture.
There are two responses to God’s Spirit…whether you are a child of God or not…resistance or renewal.
If you are outside of Christ the Holy Spirit will convict and convince you of your sin and show you Jesus as the Savior…your response can either be resistance or renewal.
In Acts chapter 2, 3000 people were connected, repented, were baptized into Christ…renewal.
But there is a second response…Hebrews 3:7…”So, as the Holy Spirit says: Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion…
You can hear the Holy Spirit’s voice and resist…become calloused or hardened.
But what about the Holy Spirit’s influence after you’ve made a confession of faith. Can you resist him…can renewed stop or slow down?
According to scripture…Absolutely!
Here is the warning to House Cats who have ceased growing into Lambs that Roar..it’s a powerful warning…
Hebrews 6: 4-12 (p848)
If you have been enlightened…tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the Holy Spirit…tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and if you fall away…it is impossible to be brought back to repentance.
I don’t want to argue about once saved always saved because it’s of no use here… what I do want to say is…the person described here in Hebrews 6 saw the light…at least nibbled at the Holy Spirit, experienced God’s goodness as power and then said…NOPE…they chose resistance instead of renewal…and if you continually say no to God’s spirit…His power…His grace and goodness….what’s left that will get through to you…Nothing.
And what if you’re a person who claimed Christ as Savior and then fell back into the old pattern not just on occasion (as we all do) but you new think and act exactly like you did before Christ? And you stop producing his fruit…now you produce thrones And thistles...you still drink in the rain on Sundays..but you pray for crop failure Sat. night…it’s my same prayer…”Even though we speak list this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case—things that accompanying situation.
Folks there is only one place of freedom and joy..one place where we experience a life of abundance where we can Roar as Lambs.
III THE CENTER OF GOD’S WILL
God has no desire for us to live in fear…that’s what resistance to God’s Spirit does to our SOUL…the Holy Spirit seeks to lead me to God and with His word…but if I resist him I’m not confident..I’m afraid…I feel guilty and burdened…It’s what happens when you become a House Cat in regards to your faith…
But when you are led by God’s Spirit…you’re seeking His purposes…your sensitive to His wisdom and His voice…your being renewed. It’s a process…it’s a journey…It doesn’t mean you’re perfect and never sin… think like that and you’ll put on a mask of legalism and you’re in a worse place than the House Cat.
What it does mean is that you are in a living relationship with Jesus…His Spirit is your guide, comforter, teacher and helper…You seek to make your decisions in line with Him…And you trust Him when you’re confused and hurting…when you sin…as you will you confess your sins and God is faithful and righteous to forgive you and cleans you…And then you seek after His will even harder…In view of His mercy.
I don’t really have a closing story…but I want to end with a reading of Scripture, One I believe that helps the child of God to stay in His will and live with expectations, just listen.
Romans 8: 9-17 (p 800)
That kind of promise will help us become “Lambs that Roar” I will not conform…I will be Transformed…In the Center of God’s will…
Let’s pray.
