Have you ever received a “sweepstakes” offer in the mail? For years magazine companies like Reader’s Digest, Good Housekeeping and Publishers Clearing House have sent out mailings offering a sweepstakes where a lucky winner could win substantial prizes if they’d just send in the paperwork. Apparently it has been a very effective way to advertise because, at one point, it helped at least one company generate upwards of 1.4 million subscriptions every year at a very low cost.
In 1997, American Family Publishers had a mailing list that included the “Bushnell Assembly of God” in Bushnell, Florida. The computer somehow twisted the name of the church so that the sweepstakes notice was addressed to "God of Bushnell" and was sent to the church’s address. The letter read, "Dear God. We're searching for you. You've been positively identified as our $11,000,000 mystery millionaire! What an incredible fortune there would be for God! Imagine the looks you'd get from neighbors. But don't just sit there God, come forward now and claim your prize!”
They were searching for God! They promised God a huge blessing, if only He would respond to their offer.
Now, what Romans 12 is telling us is that God has offered a huge blessing. And not just for one lucky winner - but for everyone who would look for Him and respond to His offer. It says “(Be) transformed by the RENEWAL OF YOUR MIND, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2
Would you like to know God’s Will for your life? Of course you would! So, if you are searching for God’s Will for your life and if you want His blessings you need to respond to His offer. And God says you can do that by being “transformed by the renewal of your mind.”
Now, how do we do that? How do we “renew” of our minds? Well, it means we need to change the way we think! But, why would we need to do that? Why should I change my “thinking?” The reason is simple: most people start out by believing that their personal opinion is the basis of truth.
ILLUS: A market research team called “Barna” did a survey of a large sampling of Americans about 20 yrs. ago, and they found that “people are most likely to make their moral and ethical decisions on the basis of whatever feels right or comfortable in a situation.” In other words: If folks think something is right, it must be right. They believe that its just good old common sense.
ILLUS: I once read a true story about a wealthy man who had a collection of paintings, one of which was the "Leaning Tower of Pisa," that hung over his writing desk. One day he noticed that the painting was hanging crooked… so he straightened it. But the next morning, he noticed it was crooked again. So he straightened it again. That happened every morning for about 4 or 5 days. Finally, in frustration, he asked his housekeeper if she had any idea what was happening. She answered: “That was me. I have to hang it crooked to make the tower hang straight.”
That made sense to her. It wasn’t right for the Tower to lean like that, so she felt she had to make the painting crooked so the Tower would look straight.
Now, the Bible says that that’s kind of like a “Default” way of thinking for most of us. Proverbs 3:5-6 warns us - “DO NOT LEAN on your own understanding. (Why would I want to lean on my own understanding? Because I trust my instincts.) In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight”
Proverbs 14:12 warns “There is a way which seems right unto a man (it makes sense to me) but its end is the way of death.”
In fact Proverbs 28:26 “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool…”
A Fool? Why would trusting my own instincts make me a fool? Well, Jeremiah 17:9 tells us the reason: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
Something is wrong inside of us. Something that causes us to make poor choices, and what is wrong is that our hearts are warped with sin, and our thinking has been warped by the world of sin that we’re immersed in. And so the Bible says we can’t fully trust our own instincts. It’s like something has been shut “off” inside of us, and because of that we end up depending on wrong information.
ILLUS: I had a problem with phone for the past few weeks. When I walked into church one day, I noticed the wall clock was off by 4 minutes compared to the clock on my cell phone. I thought “I’ve got to talk to Mark (our janitor) about that.” Then I noticed that one of the other clocks in the church building was off by 4 minutes as well. And as the days went on I noticed other people’s phones were “wrong” too. (PAUSE) Now, if everybody else’s phone is off by 4 minutes compared with mine… who’s phone is probably wrong? That’s right. Mine was. So I stopped in at the Sprint store (nice people there, and always helpful) and I said “I’ve got a problem with my phone.” “Oh,” said the lady behind the counter, “what’s seems to be wrong?” “The clock on my phone is off by 4 minutes.” “That can’t happen,” she says. “Well, what time does your clock say?” “Noon,” she replied. “Mine says 12:04” says I. “That’s not right,” says she. “I know,” I say, “that’s why I’m here.”
So, they took the phone and went into the phone’s “settings.” It seems there’s a switch in there that – when it’s on – connects your phone to the network and continuously updates the time you see. If the switch is “off” the phone doesn’t get feedback from the network… and proceeds to go on it’s merry little way until you turn it back on.
SomeHOW, someTHING had shut off the switch to the main network (I swear it wasn’t me!), and so my phone was deprived of the source of “true time.” And until that switch was turned back on… my clock would always be off!
The Bible says that’s what’s wrong with us! There’s a switch inside of us that’s been shut off by our sin. Our heart is deceitful, because our sin has cuts us off from the source of truth. We’ve been shut off from the “main network”… we’ve been cut off from God. And the only way to turn the switch back on is to renew our minds! We’ve got to change how we think!!!!
You see, God’s thinking is different from ours. In Isaiah 55:8-9 God tells us “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
So we need to TIE IN to God’s ways and thoughts. Until we do that, we’ll always depend on OUR own instincts rather than God’s and we’ll always end up messing things up. But, where can I go to get God’s way of thinking? That’s right – the Bible.
ILLUS: Alright… so, I go out and buy a Bible and place on my computer desk and just let it infiltrate my brain by osmosis? No! Of course not! That’ll never work. You gotta open the book for it to do any good… and apparently, you’ve got to do it more than once a week.
ILLUS: There has been a study done recently that discovered something they called the “POWER of Four.” What they found was that if you’re at church and the preacher says “turn with me to such and such a passage,” that’s good… but it seems to have little or no effect on how you think and behave. And, if on Monday you say “I think I’ll read the rest of chapter…”, that STILL has little or no effect on your behavior or thinking. If you open it again on Tuesday… little discernment change. But if you open your Bible a fourth time that week it begins to have a dramatic effect on how you deal with loneliness, handle moral struggles like pornography, and it increases how often you share your faith with others. The study stated: “the lives of Christians who do NOT engage the Bible most days of the week are statistically the same as the lives of non-believers.” In other words: God’s Word can’t change us, if we don’t read it.
https://www.backtothebible.org/research and https://bttbfiles.com/web/docs/cbe/Scientific_Evidence_for_the_Power_of_4.pdf
That’s why the Bible advises us to be like “newborn babes, (who) desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby” 1 Peter 2:2
ILLUS: Have you ever noticed that parents of little children will often buy books - chew on (or more accurately, books that can hold up if they end up in a baby’s mouth, because everything eventually ends up there). Interestingly, as spiritual babes - God wants us to “gnaw” on His book. God told Joshua, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your MOUTH, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.…” Joshua 1:8
Notice God is promising Joshua that if he is faithful in focusing on the written scriptures, he will receive blessings and success. That’s how important God views our reading of His book.
Sometimes folks will say, “I don’t know about that, let me CHEW on it for a while.” When they say that, they mean they’re going to give it careful thought. And that is what God wants us to do with His Word. He wants us to “chew on it” day by day until we’ve completely digested it. (Allen Webster)
So… if I just read the Bible – is that enough? Well, it’s a good start, but it’s not really where we need to BEGIN. Psalm 111:10 “Wisdom BEGINS with fear of God.”
ILLUS: I have a friend who is a bristly agnostic. She claims she’s read the Bible through many times… but you get the idea its not made any impact on her personality or world views. Why? Because the fear of God isn’t part of her equation. She never gained God’s wisdom from Scripture, because she didn’t fear Him. NO GOD… NO WISDOM.
So, what does that mean to “fear God?” Well, it means that God will always be right. If I read it in the Bible… that’s the way it’s going to be. Someone once said “If the Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it.” Now I know that phrase has been ridiculed down through the years… but it doesn’t make any less true for those who want to honor God. I can be wrong, but God will never be wrong. If I “fear God” then His agenda and His priorities will always be at the top of my list. My priorities will always come in 2nd.
That’s what Romans 10:9 says that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Now, there’s lots of folks believe that passage teaches that all I have to do is SAY “Jesus is Lord” … and I’ve got it made. It’s kind of like it’s a magical incantation.
But that’s not really what it means. When I CONFESS that Jesus is Lord… I’m saying He owns me. He not only owns my possessions, He owns ME. If I have a renewal of my mind, it means I’ve turned my thinking over to God. I place His priorities OVER … MY priorities.
ILLUS: There’s a story about a wealthy rancher who died and he left a will that not only included what his sons would receive as an inheritance… but it also included several instructions of things he expected to be done with the ranch. First, he instructed that they buy some extra land that bordered their property. The boys talked that over and thought “Dad is right. That’s exactly what we should do.” And they did so. Next, he left instructions that should dam up the creek for a pond so the cattle would be have water nearby as they grazed. Again, the son were impressed by their father’s decision and promptly dammed up the creek. Lastly, he wrote that they should tear down the old barn and rebuild another in its place. The boys talked about that and said “I don’t think we need to do that. The old barn’s still useful.” And they left the barn stand.
Now - did his sons OBEY their father’s instructions? Well, you could say they obeyed 2 out of 3 of the things he wanted done. But in actuality, they didn’t really “obey” any of their father’s wishes. They simply followed his instructions when and if they agreed with them. They looked on their father’s commands as “optional” – as mere suggestions.
And there are people who do that with God. They obey God ONLY if they agree with Him. If the Bible says something they’re not comfortable with, they ignore it. They treat God’s written Word as if its suggestions they can ignore at their leisure. That’s really not a good idea.
Lastly, Romans 12:2 says we must “be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by TESTING you may discern what is the will of God…” If I do this right, I’ll be transformed, and I’ll be able to test myself to see if I’ve renewed my mind.
ILLUS: (I brandished a yardstick) Now I want you to know that I’ve spared no expense in illustrating my next point. In fact, it didn’t cost me anything, because I’ve had this yardstick out in garage for years.
There’s got to be a yardstick to measure how “renewed” my mind has become. So, is the yardstick based on how often I read the Bible? No. Reading the Bible is vital to accomplish that but it isn’t really the yardstick of having matured in my thinking. Is the yardstick that I’ve decided that God is always right and that I should obey Him in all things? Well, it can be… but here’s the deal. I’ve known a lot of church goers who have READ the Bible faithfully and have worked hard at OBEYING all the rules they see in the Scripture… but they’re not really very nice people. There’s still something missing.
But what could possibly be missing? Galatians 5:16 tells us that answer. It says we should “walk in the Spirit, and (we) will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
Walk in the Spirit? What does that mean? Well, Galatians spells it out for us: “… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” Galatians 5:22-26
These are the measuring rods of your faith. Do you show love to others? Are you patient with them? And you kind to them? Is your life so filled with joy that you can’t hardly contain it? These are the ways you measure the renewal of your mind… and if you do it right, you end making others jealous of the God you serve.
A couple of things though. The fruit of the Spirit is something I don’t think you’ll ever get completely right. These are goals we shoot for in our lives, because the more of these things we have in our lives, the more of God’s Spirit we’ll have transforming our lives. This is how you seek for God, and this how you get to know His Will for your life.
But, if you don’t belong to Jesus, you won’t have any of this. That’s why we offer an invitation at the end of every service…
INVITATION
