Our scripture of the week is a warning to all Christians, Romans 12:2a - Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind….. What is the “pattern of this world”??
“Pattern of this world” = secular thinking = life and teachings without God!
How does the secular world impact us today??
TV, radio, the Internet, books, schools, the government, businesses, and people all can impact us with secularism. Secular lives and teachings are all around us today!! Christians are not to conform to secularism, our minds are to be renewed!
Here’s the eventual question for us today: How discerning are we Christians today with the secular teachings all around us today and are we renewing our minds?
Our passage today gives us an example of how the secular world impacts Believers. I have asked Janet Hansen to read for us our passage…. Please open your Bibles to Exodus 4, as Janet will read for us Exodus 4:29 – 5:23…..
Gen. 4:29-31 - The Israelites believed God and His “Word” and they bowed down and worshiped God! The church of Israel gathered to worship! As Christians today, this is us! We Christians is the church today to gather and worship God! We Christians are God’s chosen people today grafted in God’s original chosen people Israel!
The Israelites believed God and His “Word” and so…. Gen. 5:1 – Church leaders Aaron and Moses brought up to Pharaoh, the King of the secular world, what God said!
v2: Secular Pharaoh had no belief in God! Now, what would you say Aaron and Moses were doing in v3 in response to Pharaoh??
v3: Aaron and Moses offered the truth about God to Pharaoh! Aaroon and Moses were doing the right things for Good but what do we note?
v4-5: Pharaoh did not believe in God but just getting things done for the world.
And so, what did the Pharaoh do? Do you see it?
v6-11: Pharaoh made the jobs harder so there will be less focus on God!
Do we see this today in people’s jobs? Let us not forget that the devil’s number one job is to get people less focused on God and His Word.
And what can we note from v12-19? Physical, mental, and emotional injury came from the secular ruling!
And so, what happened in v20-21?, because of the hardships??
Basically, the people blamed the church!
And so, to end this chapter, we see a good thing and a bad thing from Moses.
v22-23: What was the good thing that Moses did??
A good thing: Moses went to the Lord!
What was the wrong thing that Moses did??
A bad thing: Moses blamed and rebuked God!
And so, the believers of God, the Israelites, tried to do the godly thing in the secular world they lived in and it impacted them in a negative way: their work got harder, much stress resulted, and there was blaming within the church and towards God!
Can we learn from this? All this stuff is true today isn’t it? Have you heard people say Christianity is hard? Perhaps you have said it to yourself? Living in this secular world as a Christian is hard! And so, what should we note?
Awareness is the beginning of understanding and solving a problem.
1. How aware are we of secularism (life and teachings without God and His Word) around us?
Are we conforming to the secularism or conforming to God? Let us be honest with ourselves, what percentage of our day is spent in conforming to God versus conforming to the world?
Let us all memorize Romans 12:2 and work on it daily!
And let us note that in God’s divine providence, secularism will be in this world till Jesus returns to earth to judge all; and so, how do we deal with secularism?
2. Secularism will be around in our lives and it will impact us negatively! We noted part of the solution
a. Be aware of secularism (no God or twisting God’s Word) around you.
b. Say no to secularism and renew your mind with God daily!
c. Pray and yield to God the Holy Spirit!
d. Encourage and pray for other Christians!
3. Like Moses and Aaron, share the truth in love!
4. Because hardships will come, be careful of blaming God or the church. God is always right!
