I was thinking the other day and that was the 10th VBS that I have gotten to be a part of at Hessel…and I realized how quickly time seems to go by…in fact, I actually have my 20 year high school reunion coming up…I can’t believe 20 years has gone by…and it doesn’t seem like that long ago, but then I look back at things we used in the 90s…and it does seem like a long time ago…one of those items for example is the pager…what a useless device…we would pay 50 bucks a month…and have this pager hanging out our front pocket…and someone would page us a number…and none of us had cell phones…so we would have to go find a phone somewhere and try to call that number…and if you were the person who paged someone…you would just have to sit at the phone…and wait for the other person to get to a phone to call you…pointless…and I remember in high school we didn’t use computers…we used electronic typewriters that weighed like one million pounds, and every time you made a mistake you would have to get the whiteout out and paint over it…which was horrible because if you are in a typewriter class with 40 other kids like I was…and you are all learning to type...there are lots of mistakes happening…and so everyone is using whiteout…and at Ukiah there is no windows in the classrooms…and that stuff smells so strong it makes you high…I not sure how many mistakes were just from learning to type, and how many were the result of being in a drug induced white out haze…and then there was the fashion of course…which really speaks quiet loudly for itself…is your shirt really that colorful or am I still tripping on white-out….I just got out of typing class…as long ago as the 90’s seem though…there is still one piece of technology that we still use today…and it is this…
a labelmaker…and it very simply makes labels...we actually use several label makers here at church as a way to check kids in…the kids get a label sticker with their name and an alphanumeric code that matches a label that prints up for the parents…so we can make sure the child goes home with the parent who brought them…it is kind of like dry cleaning but with children...you drop them off with us…you get a tag…and hopefully when you pick them up they are a little more godly…I was listening to a message by Andy Stanley the other day and he said that everything has labels …our clothes, our cars, our Bibles, our food, our phones, our watches…everything has a label on it…in fact we will even label each other…if you get a group of people together…we will give each other labels…for example when I go to my 20 year high school reunion…we will all have labels we were given in high school…the athlete, the popular kid, the nerd, the class clown, the rebel, the music geek…everything we have is labeled, and we even label each other…and we do it without even thinking about it
However, there is one important question that we never really stop and ask…and that question is this…Who has the right to label something? I want you to think about that for a second…Who has the right to label something? There are actually three entities that have the right to label something…
a. 1) Manufacturer – labels on shirt, shoes, underwear, the phones we use…we expect the people that make stuff…labels are everywhere on our stuff…and if the label is cool people will pay more for the label than for the product…I remember last year when rapper Kayne West sold his hip hop plain white tshirt, for 120 dollars, and it sold out instantly…it is a plain white tshirt people…but it’s all about the label…
b. 2) Owners - if you own something, you can label it…cause you own it…if you don’t own it…you can’t label it….I mean how weird would it be if I came to your house with a label maker and started labeling things like kitchen, dog, mother, sister, even if I was right, I wouldn’t have the right, because I am not the owner…visitors don’t have the right to label things
c. 3) Purchasers – when you were a kid, what was the first thing your parents told you to do. You coat, you baseball glove, your backpack….write your name and phone number on it…
So, the entities that have the right to label something are the manufacturer, the owner, and the purchaser…they are the only ones who have the right…to give something a label…which leads us the next question, and this is one of the most important questions you could ever ask yourself because how you answer this question greatly affects how you will live your life… and the question is this…Who has the right to label you? Who has the right to label you? Because the truth is we all have labels that are stuck on us…some we stick on ourselves, and some are stuck on us by other people…and those labels will affect, sometimes greatly, how you live your life…for example…me…speaking of labels, and high school reunions coming up…
I have a crazy underbite…and before facial hair was an option…I got a label in high school…cash register jaw…of course the more technical term would be a class three underbite…which is the worst class…I guess with class four you end up swallowing your face in your sleep …went to orthodontist …they brought in the closer…and we couldn’t afford it...it was like 30,000 dollars…so no new jaw for old cash register…
Another label I picked up before I started high school was not smart…guidance counselor asked if I was smart…I said I don’t know…and he said well let’s play it safe and put in the remedial classes…thank you guidance counselor for the vote of confidence... …so the classes I got put in…it was an adventure…I got put in a basic math skills class, beginner English, and this one class way way in the back of the high school that to this day I don’t what the class was about…the only thing I remember about that class was the cops would show up and take kids away from that class because of whatever it was they did that weekend…
And so with these labels that got stuck on me…cash register, not smart...I let those labels affect what I thought I was capable of…I was thinking back…how many times did I go up and talk to a girl in high school…zero times…how many dances did I go to…zero…because my label cash register I got from my peers in school told me it wasn’t going to work…and I believed that label…and I am not saying you have to date in high school at all for the record…that isn’t my point at all …in fact I’m not letting my daughter Emily date until she is 35…and I’m also not saying call your child cash register jaw to make them too scared to date either…I’m just saying I let the label tell me what I was and was not capable of
And in high school I was getting all A’s in my math for babies class and the juvenile hall holding center classroom …and when the teachers asked if I wanted to move up a level because I didn’t belong in those classrooms I said no…because my label I got from my guidance counselor told me, not smart… And I did this because I let labels that someone else stuck on me…define me and what I was capable of doing…Labels are powerful things…powerful things…because they lock you in…
So we all have labels, and to go back to our question… who has the right to label you? Is it your friends, your parents, your pastor, your boss, your peers…who has the right to label you?
Now earlier we all agreed that the only entities which have the right to label something are the manufacturer – the one who made something, the owner – the person who owns that something, and the purchaser – the person who bought that something… Which means God is the only one who has the right to label you…He is the one who manufactured you…who created you…in Psalm 139 King David says of God, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb”…God is also the one who owns you…Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, The world and all its people belong to him”…and finally God is your purchaser…1 Peter 1:18-19 says, “For you Know that God paid a ransom to save you…and it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. I was with the precious blood of Christ….God is the only one who is your Creator, God is the only who owns the earth and all of us in it, and God is the only one who loved you so much that he sent his to die on the cross for your sins…so that by the blood of Christ he purchased you from sin and death…God is the only one who has a right…to label you…
And if we could live our lives simply rejecting all the labels that other people try to stick on us…and instead choose to let God be the one to label us…our lives would be so so so much better…and we would be able to do so so so much more in this life...because we would be free from fear of others…
I just want to look at one verse with you guys that talks about this and it is found in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform 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.”
I. The first command we are given in this verse Do Not conform to the pattern of this world…do not conform to the pattern of this world…
Now the dictionary definition of conform is: to become similar in form, nature, or character…basically it means to shape yourself into something that already exists…so Paul is saying do not conform, do not shape yourself, become like, the pattern of this world… a pattern is basically an organized something that exists before you got there…and so Paul is saying, do not shape yourself into the pattern the world has set before you…and we can totally understand that…don’t be like the world…go it…but the question is…we know we are not supposed to do that...and yet…we find ourselves doing that all time...why?…if we are honest with ourselves, we want to fit in…no one likes being an outsider, a freak…and honestly…the world has some pretty cool riches to offer….but here Paul is saying if you want to go after all the things the world has to offer…and if you really want to fit in…then you are going to conform to the pattern of this world in order to get those things…and in the process…your are going to lose yourself…and is it worth it…in Matthew 16:26 Jesus asks that very question when he says, “What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”
The world is dying, 1 John 2:17 says that world and is dying along with its desires…I mean, sitting here today, knowing what we know…how much money would you pay to have the nicest cabin with the best view on the maiden voyage of the Titanic?...No one in their right might would pay a dime…because as nice as that cabin was…as opulent and rich as that cabin would be, and as enticing as it would be to hang out with all the wealthiest and most popular people in the world at that time…we all know it would cost us our lives because the Titanic was going down…and so it is with the world…what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?
And we know that in our minds…we get that…I’m not telling you anything you haven’t heard a million times before…the problem is…a lot of the time…we end up conforming to the patterns of this world without even realizing it…for example let’s all think back to high school…and if you want to be popular in high school… or to be invited, to be accepted …you will conform to that pattern that was set before you arrived in order to be popular, invited, accepted… and before you were in high school…someone else was high school before you and they set the pattern of what was popular and what wasn’t…what was acceptable and what wasn’t…what was cool...and what wasn't...and at some point the moment when you first set foot on your high school you walked into that pattern that already existed…and you suddenly have a choice to make…am I going to conform to this pattern, or not… unfortunately I totally did that in high school...because I wanted to be popular, and I wanted to be invited... and so whatever they said was cool...I wanted, and if it was not cool...I jettisoned it from my life...and so I conformed and in doing so I let my peers in high school shape me..make me...and in the end...I hated myself...someone once said...the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself...
And this process is so important to understand because we run into new patterns all the time…when you move to a new neighborhood…when you start a new job…when you join your kid’s school PTA…when you join a sports team…you are going to walk right into a pattern that is most likely based on the desires of a dying world… And so here Paul is saying…do not shape yourself, do not conform yourself…to the pattern of the world because when you do that… you let someone other than God shape you…conform you… you will let someone else label you…Ralph Emerson once said, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” so instead of conforming Paul says
II. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind
Be transformed…that verb transformed there is a passive command which basically means Paul is commanding us to allow and work with the Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out. It is kind of like my wife and my wardrobe…I have been called a lot of things in my life, but fashionable or stylish was never one of them…in fact my wardrobe was really, really bad… and when we first got married Michelle inherited my awesome wardrobe…and in her lovingkindness she saw that it needed a lot of help…and at the time Michelle was totally into this show called What not to Wear…where two fashion people named Clinton and Stacy surprise people who can’t dress themselves and help them not to look like the place where fashion goes to die…and honestly there was about 2 years where I was really afraid they were going to show and surprise me because Michelle kept threatening to nominate me…and it terrified me because the premise of the show is you spend one week shopping…and shopping just kills me inside…when it says in the Bible that a thousand years is like a day to the Lord…well…a day of shopping is like a thousand years to me…so one week of that…no thank you…
Now luckily that didn’t happen…but I did notice that as we went along my clothing just started disappearing and was replaced with newer, better clothing…I think one of the last items to disappear was my super comfortable shiny yellow florescent shorts…I loved those things they were so comfortable…and Michelle hated them…she said I looked like a neon banana…and one day I went to put them on…and they were just gone…now…I could have fought Michelle on this…and I could still be wearing my banana shorts today…but is that what was best for me…Michelle was trying to change my wardrobe for the better…and I am so glad she did…and just like that the Holy Spirit is working to transform us to the image of Christ…He is removing the sin and junk rooted deep in our lives, and replacing it with something better, like the fruit of Spirit in Galatians 5….He is working to make us better from the inside out…and we can fight him on that…we can resist and make it as hard as possible…but is that what is best for us…Paul is say no…he is commanding us to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us from the inside out and not to fight time him as He does that…
And some of the best ways you can help the Holy Spirit transform you by the renewing of your mind…is
1. Spend time daily in the Bible and in Prayer….I know we hear this all the time…but if we are going to work with the Spirit to renew our minds…then we just have to fill our minds with stuff that is going to renew it…not be crass or anything, but think of the Bible and prayer like a toothbrush, or soap…if you stop using your toothbrush…your teeth will not be refreshed or renewed…and they will start to stink, then rot and fall out, and you’ll get to know the tooth fairy on a first name basis…if we never used soap…our body will not be renewed…and we would start to stink…then really stink…then we would get a whole church pew to ourselves cause we put the pew in pew…the Bible and prayer is no different…the longer we go without…the more stinky our spiritual life becomes…it is just the way it is…so when you touch a toothbrush or use some soap…remember to also spend some time in the Bible and prayer to renew your mind…so I don’t spiritually start stinking
2. Secondly, you need to rip off all the labels that people have stuck to you, not matter how long they have been wearing them…make the decision in your mind to say no to the people that labeled you…say to them you aren’t my boos…you don’t own me…you didn’t make me…so you have no right to stick that label on me…if we could do this right now…it would be so huge…I was talking with a person the other day who was heartbroken because of some terrible things that person's family had called them…and while it was really horrible what they said…and my heart was breaking for that person…what is even worse than what the family did...was that those names they used stuck to this person for over 30 years...every time this person looked in the mirror...they saw those horrible names staring back at them like labels they could not remove…it affected so many things in that person's life…no one other than God has the right to label you…no one…and this is huge because in Romans 8:15 it says, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”…Abba is the Aramaic term for Daddy…the Holy Spirit has been placed inside you and He is crying out to you saying that you are now a Child of God! That you can call the God of the universe…Daddy…because he loves you…and it is a so sad when we short circuit that by choosing to believe labels that someone other than God has placed on us…when we choose to see stupid, or worthless, or ugly, or shameful, or mistake…whoever placed those labels on you…they didn’t have the right to do that…so peel them off and throw them away… don’t let anyone other than God label you…
3. Stop caring about the pattern of this world… someone says that’s cool…well who are you…you say that’s popular…well, who are you…you say that’s awesome…who are you…that is what Jesus did…he went after the people who were far from God when the pattern at that time was to ignore those people and look down on them…and as Jesus did that sadly the people who were supposed to be the closest to God…the Pharisees and Sadducees…were trying to slap labels on Jesus like drunkard, fatty, demon possessed, crazy…and did that stop Jesus…no…He didn’t care at all because he knew they had no right to label him…and that is what he taught his disciples to do…the disciples got called all sort of crazy names by people who tried to label them because they didn't conform to the pattern of the world… and He is calling us to do the same...to stop caring about the pattern of the world set before you and start caring about what God has called you to do in this world…because the reality is people who stop caring about the pattern are the people who are really going to change the world for the better instead of just disappearing into it… Christian author Warren Wiersbe once said, “Every Christian is either a conformer, living for and like the world, or a transformer, daily becoming more like Christ.”
III. Finally…if you choose not to conform to the patter of this world, and you allow yourself to be transformed by the Holy Spirit…the promise in the verse is that You will be able to test and approve what God’s will is…you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is…God has a will for you…a plan for your life…in Psalm 139:16 King David writes, “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” God has never created a person without a purpose for their lives. And I can almost guarantee that God’s will and plan almost always have nothing to do with the negative labels that people have given you…but if we choose to believe the labels people give you instead…if we choose to try and conform to the pattern of the world instead…you can miss out on God’s will…and that stinks, because the promise is that his will is good, pleasing, and perfect…and basically what that means is this…
i. His will is good because he wants what’s best for you...and what does that mean exactly…it means this…Romans 8:28-29 says, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son…”…what does God want for your life…he wants you to become like Jesus…which is what is best…and everything that happens in your life, no matter how pleasurable or painful, and sometimes it can be very painful…it can and will be used by God to accomplish just that…that you would become more like Jesus
ii. It is pleasing because when we live a life where we seek God’s will over our own it will bring him the greatest glory…and we can do nothing greater and more pleasing with our lives than to bring God glory…which is exactly what Jesus did while he was on this earth…and He said follow me and do the same…
iii. His will is perfect…God doesn’t make mistakes…and that means that God’s will is designed to fit perfectly how God designed you…God doesn’t make a turtle and expect it to fly, or make an owl and expect it to swim…and he certainly isn’t going to make you a certain way and then have some crazy plan that doesn’t fit perfectly with how he made you…God's will is designed to fit perfectly with how he designed you…and that is exciting!
You were created in the image and likeness of God…and if you have placed your faith in Christ you have been given the Spirit of adoption which is crying out to you that you are a Child of God…and God has a plan and a purpose for you life…and the world and Satan are going to do everything they possibly can to try and steal your true identity and your true purpose…but don’t let them…Do not conform to the pattern of this world…be transformed by the renewing of your mind…and fully experience a God who is good, pleasing, and perfect….and who loves you beyond anything you can possible imagine…will you join me in prayer…
