While in Louisiana for the memorial service for her brother, we drove by a home we built while working as an engineer on the railroad. The home was a super nice home with 3,000 sq ft. On previous trips we witnessed it was empty and deteriorating. This time we were shocked; I wish I could show you a picture of it. Windows were broken out, the trim was horrible, you couldn’t see the concrete drive because of trash, weeds were 5-6’ tall, and pine saplings were growing around the house—right next to the house. I could only wonder, would Chip and Joanna of Fixer Upper restore the house? Would the crew from Flip or Flop take on the project? Will someone renovate the home?
Sometimes a person’s life can get into “shambles.” Sometimes it seems impossible to change. I worked with a sex offender who had spent 12 years in prison for molesting a small child. In my group one night he broke down crying and said, “I don’t want to be like this.” It was not going to be easy for him to get the images and thoughts to stop, even though he was not seeking out children. What does he do? Can he change?
In Romans Paul is writing to a mixed audience, Gentiles, and those of the Jewish faith. They were brought up among the cultural beliefs and practices of the Greco-Roman World. Rome was the epicenter of nearly a million people. From a “religious” view they were polytheistic. LGBTQ+ lifestyles go all the way back to the Greco-Roman. Morality was skewed by the culture, much like what we see in America.
Their beliefs, values, lifestyle, and politics set the stage for future civilizations, including those of the American policies today in terms of values, government, and self-image. (The Greek and Roman Influence over Modern America) So, here we are. David Jeremiah has book, I Never Thought I Would See the Day, in which he asked, “Is Western Civilization in an accelerating decline? Do we think we can rescue the world? What do we do if we realize we can’t change America fully to Christianity? We are seeing too many churches adopting “progressive” beliefs and practices? What do we do?
I. Dedicating our life to God (Romans 12:1)
What does Paul mean? Paul helps us with this question. He, and other authors of the New Testament, often spoke about the non-Christian culture; however, they focused on changed lives of individuals, especially believers. This is where Paul draws our attention. He is talking to Christians in this passage.
The word beseech, urge, can be translated “exhort”. The New American Standard Bible interprets pa?a?a?? “I beg you to grant.” It means Paul is inviting, calling from the perspective of being close-up and personal. With Paul putting in the context of “God’s mercy” we have an invitation that we don’t deserve.
In Romans 12:1 he sets the stage for what is needed for us to experience what he talks about in verse 2. The word he uses for sacrifice is thysian, here it means being consecrated and offered to God. Paul says to do that is our “spiritual act of worship.” Worship is not the determined by the music we sing, gestures that are popular, rituals, and so forth. In the New Testament worship is related to expressing our faith in obedience and adoration of God—some focus on the adoration and less on obedience by separating the body and soul. Paul views body (servanthood) and soul (spiritual) intricately related. Servanthood is his latter in Romans 12.
When we are consecrated and surrender/submit, who we are to the service of God this becomes a holy act that pleases God.
II. Transforming our way of thinking (Romans 12:2)
The mind is incredible. Our thought patterns influence our behavior. I have talked to my grandson about this. Proverbs 23:7 says,
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
But his heart is not with you.
When our minds are transformed, renewed, remodeled we develop Gospel-morality and we are ready to make thing right in here (heart), in the body of Christ, and to the ends of the earth. This is what happened when Jesus touched Zacchaeus’s life. He was changed from an unethical tax collector into a person with a generous heart—he repaid those he had defrauded four times that which he had taken from them. He blessed the poor by giving them half of his wealth.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now, I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Luke 19
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke5-10)
When we let God remodel our minds, we will inevitably live by the teachings of Jesus.
Paul makes clear the challenge in other letters he wrote:
• “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:16
• “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8
• “And to be renewed in the spirit of your minds…” Ephesians 4:23
• “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Colossians 3:2
In Romans 12:2 Paul is talking about the will of God—the essential means of being transformed.
• Decretive Will of God, his sovereign will—he hasn’t dropped us into the world with no plan, he has a plan.
• The Perceptive Will of God, his revealed will—he gave us the Bible as a guide.
• The Discerning will of God, Holy Spirit teaching and guiding will—the path of instilled wisdom he gives us for morality and ethics, and
• The Permissive Will of God, his freedom will for us—there is choice and spontaneous godliness.
The renewing of our minds requires a certain discipline from us; however, we can’t experience a renewed mind on our own. We must keep several things in mind:
• Holy Spirit confirms we are a child of God. Rom. 8:16
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
• Holy Spirit reveals to us the truth of Scripture. John 16:13
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
• Holy Spirit helps us overcome sin and live a life pleasing to God. Romans 8:13
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
• Holy Spirit gives us boldness to believe we can live in the world but not of the world.
John 17:14-18
14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
Jan and I loved Australia. If we moved their that would mean I live in Australia but I am not an Australian. First, I don’t talk like an Aussie. Second, my roots are in Louisiana. When we moved to Missouri people had a hard time understanding our southern “drawl”. Johnny Durham, former pastor of FBC Muskogee had a Ph.D. and taught at South Western Theological Seminary. He is from Louisiana where we pronounce words in a weird way. One Sunday he meant to say auditorium; in the southern drawl he said, “Auratorium”. I am not a Cajun, I am a southern from Louisiana.
We are not “world-lings”. When transformed we become “kingdom of God-lings”—living in a world that is not our home.
III. Steering clear of cultural influence (12:2)
Recently I have read several articles that emphasize what I have always believed. One was in the Scientific American titled The Moral Life of Babies: Yale Psychology Professor Paul Bloom finds the Origins of Morality in Infants.
Morality is not just something that people learn, argues Yale psychologist Paul Bloom: It is something we are all born with. At birth, babies are endowed with compassion, with empathy, with the beginnings of a sense of fairness. It is from these beginnings, he argues in his new book, Just Babies.
If this is true, how do many of these babies turn away from this genetic God-Morality? I probably need not answer that question.
Let me illustrate it this way. In a program I developed for our school district, I worked with a preschool boy who was having difficulty by hitting other students and spitting his peers in their face. His dad had coached him in fighting with other students when he felt they were not treating him the way he believe they should. I attempted to help him. I recall one afternoon I met him after he had been fighting. He walked in the room and said, “I did a bad today.”
Look at the various ways culture is playing with our minds, planting things in our minds that have far reaching consequences. To illustrate:
I read an article, Transgender ‘Affirmation’ has Long-term Consequences, Oklahoma City Psychiatrist Says (Lauren Swartz). He discusses the long-term medical and mental issues of those who undergo surgical procedures. I responded on LinkedIn and it generated several response supporting the lifestyle. I did a follow-up response:
To clarify. I accept all people the same. Yet I believe there are often unintended consequences for certain choices. Not all people understand the big picture and the journey they start. If they attempt to reverse their route, there are no turnarounds. As a counselor I help people find purpose and meaning. I helped a lady find a church that would not judge her for being a lesbian. I helped a lady who became a lesbian when she was a little girl. She decided she wanted to marry a man and have children. She attained her goal.
The Methodist Denomination has fallen victim to the influence of the world. A recent study shows that 20% of Methodist churches—over 6,000—have left the denomination in recent years because of a drift from traditional biblical teachings on morality. Even Christians can begin to become like the world. Harry Blamires is quoted,
Christians may differ from secular men and women in their ethics, their lifestyle, and their spirituality. But when it comes to their thinking, they are almost indistinguishable. (Christianity Today, Sept.14, 1973)
We read more and more about “progressive” churches and Christians who compromise Christian beliefs and values.
Remember, Paul is writing to Christians. He sounds a warning for all generations. Basically, he is saying our minds need to think in different ways than culture has trained us to think.
Too often we tend to separate the soul and the body. This causes us to stumble. Jesus calls upon us to think and behave different than the culture in which we live.
I believe Paul addresses this when he tells us not to be conformed to the “pattern of this world.” The world which Paul speaks of is the present age which doesn’t provide what it promises and is fading away. To drift will have consequences. To illustrate.
I recall leading a group at the facility where I worked. The focus was on values. There was a man in the group who had been to prison and was about to go back due to drugs and domestic violence. He had lived a very rough life. I will always remember him coming up to me on break. He said, “Jack. You know what. I was an Eagle scout.” An Eagle Scout is the 7th and highest rank for Boy Scouts. A key to his treatment involved recalling and living by the values of a Boy Scout.
Parents have an awesome responsibility to help children develop a sense of a pure mind in a culture that pulls them away from the life God intends for them.
In Ephesians 4:22-24 Paul, again speaking to Christians, gets personal. He says,
“That, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”
Transformation is the only way that this can happen. When Jesus came, he offered salvation to those who put their faith in him and not the world around them. He modeled a new way of living.
Paul tells us that the renewing of the mind involves taking off and putting on. We do this in several different areas:
• Let go of our cultural perspective and put on a biblical perspective.
• Take off lies and replace them with truth.
• Let go of what we learned growing up and put on what we learn in the Bible.
Sin is reflective of how we are living by the standards of the “corrupt world.” Who among us can cast the first stone. This reality is pointed out by John in 1st John, chapter one.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
We must not allow our minds to drift like a raft on the Illinois river. Sometimes we sit back, relax, and if slammed against a log, we readjust, and let the flow take us where it will. There is something in our culture that is leading Christians to think we have it all wrong; it is called groupthink. Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon in which people strive for consensus within a group. In many cases, people will set aside their own personal beliefs or adopt the opinion of the rest of the group—often not even knowing who engineered a movement.
An example of this relates to the disaster of the Challenger on January 28, 1986. Many were aware of a faulty seal that wasn’t designed to withstand cold weather; it led to fuel escaping and the explosion. The problem involved leadership determined to get it off the ground. They suppressed warning, concerns expressed by engineers and managers who were keenly aware of the problem. Top leadership worked to influence cognition of key people and it filters down.
Here are examples:
• Illusions of unanimity lead members to believe that everyone agrees and feels the same way. It is often much more difficult to speak out when it seems that everyone else in the group is on the same page.
• Unquestioned beliefs lead members to ignore possible moral problems and not consider the consequences of individual and group actions.
• Rationalizing prevents members from reconsidering their beliefs and causes them to ignore warning signs.
• Stereotyping leads members of the in-group to ignore or even demonize out-group members who may oppose or challenge the group's ideas. This causes members of the group to ignore important ideas or information.
• Self-censorship causes people who might have doubts to hide their fears or misgivings. Rather than sharing what they know, people remain quiet and assume that the group must know best.
• "Mindguards" act as self-appointed censors to hide problematic information from the group. Rather than sharing important information, they keep quiet or actively prevent sharing.
• Illusions of invulnerability lead members of the group to be overly optimistic and engage in risk-taking. When no one speaks out or voices an alternative opinion, it causes people to believe that the group must be right.
• Direct pressure to conform is often placed on members who pose questions, and those who question the group are often seen as disloyal or traitorous.
Scripture gives us active verbs that help us not to conform the ways of the systems in our society that help use to stay solid in our faith:
• Set your mind on things of above (Colossians 3:14),
• Study to show to show yourselves approved (2:15 Timothy)
III. Living exemplary lives
When we have a Christ-renewed-mind our meaning in life and purpose for all of our actions change. We shift from the person we see in the mirror to a lifestyle the people in our world see. Paul says,
“I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think.” Rom. 12:3
Paul is stressing how believers are to think less about themselves and more about others, more about the community. Later in chapter 12 Paul sets before us how we are to live in the body.
Scripture challenges us to demonstrate exemplary lives in the world—in such away it is appealing.
• 1 Peter 2:12: Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
• Colossians 3:23-24: Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.
• Titus 2:7: Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity.
• Matthew 5:16: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
• Romans 12:9-21: Paul amplifies how we live differently when transformed.
Scripture calls us to live the kind of life that keeps us pure and attracts people to Jesus and the abundant life he promises people who accept the salvation he offers.
IV. Treating others with mercy & grace as Jesus extends to you. Romans 12:9ff
Remember, Paul is writing to the community of Christians in Rome. There are at least 5 major themes in chapter 12:
1. Devoting our lives to God
2. Being transformed—having renewed minds that are Holy Spirit cleansing our minds and us exercising discipline to keep our mind pure
3. Living in the world but not of the world
4. Humbling ourselves and exercising our spiritual gifts
5. Practicing a life of servanthood
The latter theme is Paul’s focus, challenge, picking up in Romans 12:9.
Tom Ascol says,
“Just as loving words are to be found on the lips of God’s people, so too are loving deeds to be found in their hands.”
Scot Highberger was introduced to drugs when he was 12 and was placed in juvenile detention at age 13. He quit school when he was in the 9th grade and often slept on the streets and dumpster dived to get food to eat. He was arrested 35 times and sentenced to prison 5 times. He became a Christian, became an ordained minister, and has a ministry where they have helped thousands who are transitioning out of the prison system. He has written a book, Pardoned by Grace.
“I want to share with folks, God’s story of redemption. I want people to know about the glory of God’s power and that I wouldn’t be where I am today without God’s grace,” said Highberger.
In John 17 Jesus prays for himself, for the disciples, and for all believer. He prayed,
17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
I don’t intend to be pejorative; however, some will have more difficulty realizing a transformed mind and life. I have worked with many who have fallen into addictive disorders, sexual sins, gang affiliation, certain criminal behavior and so forth. It is not easy for them to change. Yet, Jesus offers hope.
Our role is to help them understand God’s mercy, grace, hope, and love. We must be patient and let them know we love them, and they really matter. We need to relate to people the way Jesus related to people; he spent time with those entrapped in sin. There are many examples of Jesus building relationships with sinners. He didn’t build a building, he traveled to places where the “unlovable” lived—like people with leprosy, beggars, sinners, and so forth. That is our call. I often said, God did call us to attackers of the dark. He has called us to proclaim the light—the purer our life the more effective we will be.
Conclusion
Each day we need to focus on our minds being renewed. We may pride ourselves in the Christian life we live; however, we do have sin and need thoughts and actions associated with those to go away—in a sense a continual renovation.
Here is how you know if you sense the need for a renovation:
• You desire the salvation Jesus offers you.
• You desire to be transformed from the inside out daily.
• You desire to devote/surrender your life and serve God as Jesus modeled for us.
• You desire to study God’s Word and pray.
• You desire to abide in Jesus continuously, staying sensitive to Holy Spirit at work in your life.
