INTRODUCTION
- Have you ever come to the realization that something in your life needs to change?
- Maybe something inside of you has told you that you need to change?
- What is stopping you?
- Today, we will continue our mini-series within Core 52, " Beyond Belief.”
- There are many passages in the Bible that Christians struggle with believing and embracing.
- Typically, they are not the passages we would think they are.
- The first of these passages was found in Romans 8:1 when we dealt with the fact that there is no condemnation in Christ.
- Today, we will examine another passage in which we struggle with: the concept of radical change.
- Sometimes, we realize that we need to change, yet even though we know we need to change, we do not think we can.
- Maybe it is something like needing to change our diet for health reasons, or perhaps something even more radical, like knowing that our path is not good.
- I have heard Christians talk about people who need Jesus, thinking there is no way that a lost person can come to Jesus.
- The following story is on page 60 of Samuel Rodriguez's 2013 book The Lamb’s Agenda.
- Politics have taken its toll on us all, and we’ve seen far too much repulsive behavior from those who lead.
- At times, it may seem hopeless, but a little history from equally dark days reminds us of what God can do in anyone’s life.
- After Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace, his “hatchet man” went to prison.
- Chuck Colson (1931-2012) was known as Washington’s most ruthless man and later acknowledged he “would walk over his own grandmother if he had to.”
- His humiliating fall from presidential power to prison was used by God to redeem him.
- The legitimacy of his conversion surfaced during 1973 when the Boston Globe reported, “If Mr. Colson can repent of his sins, there just has to be hope for everybody.”
- He went on to facilitate the conversion of thousands through the founding of Prison Fellowship and his best-selling books that exhorted people to embrace Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
- And each year at Christmas we’re reminded of how God transformed Charles Colson when we see the Angel Tree ministry providing gifts for children who have a parent in prison.
- Indeed, there is hope for anyone who turns from their sins and turns to Christ.
- If we do not believe we can change, we will never grow in our walk with Jesus.
- On the other hand, if we do not believe others can change, we will not try to share Jesus with them.
- Today, we will examine the path that will allow you to experience a radical change of who you are.
- Let’s turn to Romans 12:2!
Romans 12:2 (NET 2nd ed.)
2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.
SERMON
The path to radical change requires one to:
I. Be a non-conformist.
- Verse 12 begins with the admonition, DO NOT BE CONFORMED TO THE PRESENT WORLD.
- I am glad the path to radical change begins with something so simple!
- I want to put verse 1 on the screen for context.
Romans 12:1 (NET 2nd ed.)
1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God—which is your reasonable service.
- Paul calls us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice that is pleasing to God.
- In light of God’s mercy and Jesus’s work, we are to no longer live our lives in the same manner and patterns of the present world.
- As children of God, we are to no longer live conforming to the pattern of this world.
- The word “conform” means “to shape one’s behavior.”
- Conform denotes both outward actions as well as one’s attitudes, habits, and actions in general.
- The word “world” here means the “world system, practices, and standards of those without God.”
- The verb tense of this command implies that we should STOP conforming to this world.
- When we look at the state of the country, family, and church today, would it be fair to suggest Christians are still struggling with this issue?
- I want to share something interesting about the etymology of the word "conformed" in this verse.
- This will help us understand what Paul is trying to convey to the reader.
- There are three possible stems from which the word CONFORMED could have been built.
- One of the stems (IDEA) would make the word stress outward appearances without thinking about what is happening inside the person.
- The other two stems (one of which is morphe) also focus on the outward; however, those stems would direct the meaning of CONFORMED to include what is happening inside.
- The habits, activities, and modes of action.
- However, the word Paul uses to be CONFORMED to the world has the root in schema, which means the outward form that varies from year to year and from day to day.
- A person’s schema is not the same when they are seventeen as it is when they are seventy; it is not the same when one goes out to work as when one is dressed for dinner.
- The SCHEMA is continuously altering. So Paul says, "Don't try to match your life to all the fashions of this world; don't be like a chameleon which takes its color from its surroundings.” Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT).
- The command is for Christians to stop changing their colors when they are around the word so that they can blend in better.
- You cannot be conformed to this WORLD and present your body to God as a living and holy sacrifice.
- We speak of sitting on the fence between the world and God, truth be told, there is no fence on which one can position themselves.
- There is God or the World.
- We are told not to be conformed to this present age.
- One of the ways we can stop presenting ourselves to God is by allowing our behavior and thinking to be influenced away from God.
- We do that simply by copying the present, fleeting, popular beliefs of the day. (Reese, Romans Commentary)
- It can be challenging to be a non-conformist because it makes us look different than those around us.
- If we do not seek to be different from the world, we will always be conformed to this world.
- What keeps us conformed to this world?
- We want to be accepted by this world.
- We have to walk the tightrope of being in this world but not of this world.
- Rather than letting the current world system shape our lives, Paul urges us to become living sacrifices by not being shaped by this world.
- Mark Moore, in our reading for the week, suggests scripture, music, service, and fellowship as ways for us to resist conforming to this world.
- Let’s look at our passage again.
Romans 12:2 (NET 2nd ed.)
2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.
The path to radical change requires one to:
II. Allow God to transform your mind.
- Our passage encourages us to be TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF OUR MINDS.
- The word TRANSFORMED is a present tense verb that indicates continuous action.
- This transformation of the mind is a continual process.
- When we only clean up the outside, we are not transformed; transformation begins with the re-training of the mind.
- The etymology of The word TRANSFORMED comes from the stem of MORPE.
- We get the word METAMORPHOUS.
- Transformed does not simply focus on OUTER APPEARANCE or outward conformity but rather on an inward change that manifests itself in outward actions or appearance.
- The word transformed is also used in 2 Corinthians 3:18
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NET 2nd ed.)
18 And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
- The transformation in 2 Corinthians is a change from within.
- We will not physically look like Jesus, we will be like Jesus in our soul, this will change how we think, which in turn, changes how we act.
- For those of you who were or are in the military, when you signed up, did you immediately go to your duty station or did you have to go to summer camp, Basic Training first?
- Why were you sent to Basic first?
- It is because the Military needed to transform you into a soldier. For that to happen, you needed to replace the old conformity to the world you came from with the new way of living that the Military needed you to adopt.
- The military seeks to rid recruits of their old ways of thinking as they seek to help them transform from recruit to soldier!
- The verb TRANSFORMED is also passive, meaning the Christian is being acted upon during the transformation process.
- God is working through the Spirit to transform your mind; however, for the transformation to take place, you have to allow God to do it.
- When the mind is informed by evil principles, its thoughts, morals, and eventual actions will be as such.
- When informed by the Spirit, the mind becomes an instrument of God.
- The renewal of the mind represents the adjustment of our moral and spiritual vision to the mind of God.
- The conduct of Christians is to be guided by the renewed mind, which in turn will make the conduct of Christians different because our actions emanate from a different mindset.
- When you allow God to transform your mind, what used to excite and motivate you no longer does.
- Your newly transformed mind drives you!
- This transformation takes place as we change what we put into our minds.
Colossians 3:1 (NET 2nd ed.)
1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Colossians 3:16 (NET 2nd ed.)
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God.
- Let God help you transform your mind!
- Let’s turn to our passage one last time.
Romans 12:2 (NET 2nd ed.)
2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.
The path to radical change requires one to:
III. Walk in God’s will.
- The end of the verse tells us what we are to do with our transformed mind.
- So that you may test and approve what the will of God is—what is good, well-pleasing, and perfect.
- The purpose of the renewed mind is to test and approve or discern the will of God.
- The word GOOD denotes something beneficial to other people.
- PLEASING denotes what is acceptable to God and what God approves.
- PERFECT speaks of the COMPLETE will of God!
- It is not just part of the will of God that the renewed mind places its focus, but rather the ENTIRE will of God!
- As the body is presented to God as a sacrifice, there is to be no inconsistency in our practice of the will of God in our actions or thoughts!
- Testing and approving, from which many translations use the word DISCERN, is a two-fold process.
- The first part, testing, involves deciding what the will of God is.
- Testing involves trying to determine the genuineness of something to examine or prove.
- Without a renewed mind, you cannot do that very well.
- Then comes the second part, approval.
- This happens when you have determined what the will of God is, and now you live it.
- Approval involves choosing said will AND acting upon it in one’s life.
- The verb is present tense, which indicates this is an ongoing, never-ending adventure of determining and demonstrating God’s will in one’s life!
CONCLUSION
- Change, you can change.
- God can help you by deciding to no longer conform to this world; rather, you will let God transform your mind.
- I have always said a transformed life is the most powerful testimony of God.
- You can change, and God can change you so you can fulfill your God-given purpose for your life!
- As followers of Jesus, we are to no longer live our lives in conformity to the world.
- Rather, by renewing our minds with the truth of God, we become transformed into the likeness of Jesus.
