SERMON BRIEF
Date Written: September 21, 2012
Date Preached: September 23, 2012
Church: Oak Park BC (AM)
FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS
Series: A Series In Romans
Title: A Guide For Living Godly Life
Text: Romans 12:1-2
ETS: Paul understood what it took to live a godly life.
ESS: As Christians we must also understand what it takes to live a godly life.
1Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Introduction:
I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago when I preached on this passage and used Jesus as the example… I mentioned that Romans is divided into 2 major sections:
1 – Chapters 1-11 are focused on the doctrines of grace and faith and what that means for us. These chapters are the ‘what and why’ behind Christianity…
2 – Chapters 12-16 are focused on how we as believers are to practically implement the doctrines Paul set forth in 1-11. These chapters are the ‘how and who’ behind Christianity
So as we look at these 1st 2 verses once more, I want us to look at them in a way that you may not have ever viewed them before…
This is actually a point of transition in this letter and v.1 of this chapter is THE actual point of transition from the doctrines of grace and faith being explained to the practical teaching of how those things are to be lived out…
In v.1 Paul makes a very ‘matter of fact’ statement about what is required for the believer to LIVE as they should… he says that we are all called to submit to becoming living sacrifices!
Paul says that this is our spiritual service… in other words… this is our calling… our duty… what we should do because of what Christ has done for us!
Now I don’t want you to misunderstand me here… we don’t become living sacrifices out of obligation to God, because it must be out of our love for God.
BUT let me put it to you this way… when your mom or dad wants you to do something, even if it is something inconvenient and you do it… Do you do it out of duty to them, OR do you do it in spite of NOT wanting to do because you love them?
Our love for our parents usually transcends any inconvenience or difficulty it may bring upon us… we may THINK we are doing it out of duty, but if it were not for our love for them, we would not do it at all!
It is like that with God as well. When we submit to the lifestyle of becoming a living sacrifice, we may FEEL like we are doing it out of our duty to Christ, but if we did not love Him we would not be doing it anyway!
So for starters, Paul calls us to a sacrificial life…but this morning I want to look more closely at v.2 and look at what that sacrificial life is supposed to look like!
When we look at v.2 we can see three characteristics revealed…
1st we see a command for living, 2Do not be conformed to this age... but this command is given in negative manner… it is presented as a DO NOT command (like many of the 10 commandments) where the believer is warned to avoid certain behaviors!
The 2nd command is another command for living, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and this command is given from an entirely different perspective… it is given via positive encouragement.
What Paul is saying here is that when we allow ourselves to become living sacrifices we also allow ourselves to be molded in the fashion that Christ desires for our lives…
In other words, we become something entirely different from who we were before we were saved all because of the influence of Christ on our lives and in our hearts…
When we come to know Christ as Savior, we are radically TRANSFORMED! We are changed in all sorts of ways, but finally we see the 3rd characteristic and it is the result of the 1st 2… We are at peace with God!
Don’t Let The World Shape You (negative command)
2Do not be conformed to this age…
We are born into sin and as we grow we become shaped to what the world throws our way. It is said that our environment shapes us… regardless of how or where we are born.
Take someone with all the advantages of life, born to the wealthiest family and place them as a small child in the inner city with a family that is poor and struggling… that person will know struggle most of his or her life!
Take just the opposite… a child born in a war-torn African nation and place them into a loving and caring family here in America and this child will see an entirely different world and know a totally different life!
As sinners we are like that war torn refugee who is adopted by God… we are taken from death to life and saved from the influence and shaping power of our environment!
When we are saved we are not REMOVED from this sinful world, but we are FREED from the bondage that sin has on our lives!
The Scripture tells us that when we know the TRUTH… when we come to know Christ… when we come into that saving relationship… then the TRUTH (Jesus) shall make us free!
We are freed from the bondage of sin’s rule in our lives and freed from the guilt and consequence of the sin of our lives… we are forgiven and justified BEFORE God!
What does this mean for us… for the believer this means that when you get saved you are NEVER forced by Satan to sin anymore… sin has lost its power over you and if you sin… you MAKE the choice yourself to sin!
When we come to know Christ we have the RIGHT and ability to choose NOT to sin… and likewise Paul is getting to the same point here… he says do NOT be conformed by the world.
In other words, the world is going to try to overwhelm you with its influence in your life… DON’T let it! Refuse to give into the influence and conforming power of the world…
You see when we come to know Christ we are granted by God the power to overcome the enemy! Because of Christ in us… we can do ALL things!
We can thwart the enemy’s attack on us… we can avert the enemy’s traps he has laid for us… we can totally turn away from the influence of the enemy in our lives!
We CAN do these things but sadly enough, most of us fall prey to the enemy’s temptations and we give in and we give over to our sinful desires. We allow the world to shape us and mold us into its own version of who we should be…
But here Paul is encouraging believers to NOT allow this to happen… to avoid and refuse to allow the world to shape you!
Allow God to TRANSFORM you (positive command)
…but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…
What does it mean for God to ‘transform’ us… well transform means to change, and I can see three ways God changes or transforms us when we are saved:
One way that we change is our physical nature! We should actually begin to see a PHYSICAL change in our lives when Christ enters our heart.
In fact, everything about us should change... Addictions that once controlled us should now have almost a nil effect!
The physical part of life should take on an entirely new point of view. When we are saved, things should no longer be seen from an earthly perspective, but through the lens of Jesus! We should also begin to sense and feel what Jesus sensed and felt when He ministered here on this earth.
That means we begin to have a physical reaction to lost world around us… that we begin to ‘feel’ for the lost, have an actual physical reaction to sin and those who don’t know Christ!
I believe that many believers today are numb to the world around them… the presence of sin or the lost around them, no longer stimulates their spiritual senses…
These believers have physically disconnected themselves from God’s calling on their lives… they have disconnected from the world and as such cannot connect with those who need Christ.
I believe that this is the reason many people do not see an urgency to share their faith and see others come 2 know Christ.
The transformation that Paul is speaking about here in this verse…has got to be physical, but it also points to another type transformation: When we allow Christ to transform us, we are also shaped by the hand of God EMOTIONALLY!
What does this mean? Well it actually ties directly with the physical… but it relates to our heart… it relates to our senses and feelings about those around us and the Lord we profess to serve!
When Christ transforms us and shapes our emotions we should become a reflection of Him in how we react to people and the world. Let me share what I mean…
Before we come to Christ… when we were wronged by someone or hurt by someone or some situation, the usual result was that ANGER ruled & we would retaliate in anger!
But when we are transformed by God’s hand & molded by His heart… our emotions should no longer have control of our actions & reactions. We have to be able to place our situations in His hands and not strike out in anger.
Don’t misunderstand me… this does not mean we never get angry because we always will fight that battle until we make it home to heaven!
Scripture tells us that we can be angry, but it also says that the result of our anger cannot be sinful… but we must react within godly emotions… the emotions that are transformed by God!
So, how do you react to those situations that raise your emotional level? Do you shine Christ in those situations or do your emotions keep you shackled and burden you down with sin?
Here Paul says that we must allow God to transform us… transform our physical, transform our emotional, but finally transform our very spirit…
When we come to know Christ as Savior we are SPIRITUALLY molded into the image of Christ… What does that mean?
Well it is the foundational change that is made to enable the physical and emotional transformation of our lives to be seen!
When we are transformed spiritually, we are taken from spiritual DEATH to spiritual LIFE… but not just life, but life EVERLASTING!
We are transformed from God’s enemy and being bound for eternal hell and torment… to an heir to the Kingdom of God & bound for eternal paradise with Christ in Heaven!
Our Spiritual transformation is when God steps into who we are & assumes the throne of our heart! Our spiritual transformation is when we surrender our desires to Him and He replaces our sins with forgiveness and eternal life!
When we are spiritually TRANSFORMED… there is a radical change that occurs in our hearts, minds and bodies!
If you have been TRULY saved and you have allowed Him to transform your spirit… then what you desired before no longer holds your heart…instead His desire has become YOUR desire!
This is where the physical and the emotional transformation is revealed… through a COMPLETE and TOTAL Spiritual transformation of who we are…
We are called here by Paul to put away our OLD life by NOT allowing the world to shape and mold us… that is his first command…
However, Paul also encourages us with a positive 2nd command… we are called to allow God to shape, mold and form us… to TRANSFORM us from what we WERE into what HE desires us to be…
The Greek word used in this verse for the word TRANSFORMATION is where we get our English word “Metamorphosis”… Do you remember Jr. High biology?
Metamorphosis is when something changes from one thing INTO something TOTALLY different. An example in nature is the caterpillar…
There is a time in its life when it enters into a stage of TRANSFORMATION and when it bursts forth from that chrysalis… it is no longer a caterpillar, but it has been transformed into something entirely different… a butterfly!
Like the caterpillar we are crawling thru life at the mercy of just about EVERYTHING in nature, but in Christ we are transformed and when Christ breaks us out of the sin bondage that holds us captive… we are a new creature!
No longer are we held captive by life or at life’s mercy but we are free and have the wings to fly in God’s kingdom!
We become a beautiful creature in God’s sight and because of God’s beauty in us thru this transformation we should be attracting others to Him! Just like the beautiful butterfly attracts our attention…
1st command… Don’t let the world mold you or shape you…
2nd command… Allow God to TRANSFORM you, to change you into what He wants you to be…
Paul then concludes this statement about living the Christian life by stating a result of obedience to God’s TRANSFORMATION…
In other words, if you will shun the world and not allow it to shape and mold you… and if you will submit to Christ and allow Him to TRANSFORM you… here is the result!
Paul says that if you allow God to transform you that you are going to be at peace with God… Look at the end of verse 2…
Know True Peace with God…
…so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God...
When we allow God to mold us and transform us into His likeness, we begin to see things as He sees them, and feel things as He feels them and we seek to do things the way He desires them to be done…
We are no longer fighting against the will of God but we are brought into a peace WITH the will of God because God reveals it to us… and because of the transformation in our spirit, emotion and physical body… this is brings peace!
Today there are so many people who profess Christ but live their lives day to day NOT knowing what God’s will is for them… constantly asking questions of God and seeking counsel from others about the will of God for them…
Those people are those who have made confessions of faith but they have not allowed Christ to TRANSFORM them as God desires… these people are trying to do this on their own strength and power…
These people have not been physically changed, emotionally shaped or spiritually molded by Christ and are no better off than they were when they made their profession of faith.
I will say it here from this pulpit… if Christ is NOT a transforming agent in your life… then you don’t have Christ in your life!
If you are the same person you were before you profess Christ as Savior… then you have NOT met the Savior I know!
Jesus came to CHANGE our condition, not to adjust to our way of life! Jesus came to radically alter who we are… to completely transform us into a new creature…
So where are you today? Are you professing Christ but you know that NOTHING has changed? Are you trying to fool yourself with your words and your thoughts?
Christ has come to TRANSFORM you… do you want to profess life and still remain crawling on your stomach and being at the mercy of the world around you?
OR are you ready for the TRANSFORMING power of Christ in your life? Today you can know that power… you can receive that power… you can experience that power!
Today you can leave this place KNOWING the clear will of God in your life… you can leave at complete peace with God and transformed to His image! Do you want that this morning? As Bro Ken comes… I call on you to come and surrender…
Give invitation here…
