[I’ve taken the main points of this sermon from Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox article ’Preaching Tips that will change lives’, Issue #246, 2/15/2006.]
Rom 12:2
Do not conform any longer 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.
Transformation comes when you renew your mind.
• NLT: “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”
• Once that happens, you find yourself no longer conforming to the pattern of the world but to the will of God.
Our behavior will change, when our thinking changes.
• If there is no change in your behavior, question your thinking.
• If someone says, “I believe in tithing” but do not tithe – then he don’t believe in it.
• You only really believe the parts of the Bible that you obey.
Let me share with you some pointers I learnt from Rick Warren.
1. All behaviour is based on a belief
• If you cheat and lie, it’s because you believes that disobeying God (this way) will cause less pain than being honest. It’s a lie, but you believe it.
• Eating the forbidden fruit will not bring them blessings – it’s a lie - but Adam and Eve believed it.
• When somebody comes to you and says, “I’m leaving my husband, and I’m going to marry this other man because I believe God wants me to be happy.”
• They just told you the belief behind their behaviour. It’s wrong, but they believe it.
2. Behind every sin is a lie I believe
• It starts with the mind. At the moment you sin, you’re doing what you think is the best thing for you. You say, “I know God says to do that, but I’m going to do this.”
• What are you doing? You believe a lie. Behind every sin is a lie.
Start looking for the lies behind why people act the way they do. Or why you act the way you do today. Why?
• Because you believe that it is good for you, even if it is an outright sin to God.
• When you live in sin, you’re living in deception and believing a lie.
Confront these lies. When you start dealing with these, you’ll start seeing change.
3. Change always starts in the mind
So you got to start with the mind.
• You’ve got to start with the belief – the lie – behind the behaviour.
• Romans 12:2 “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel determines the way you act.
• If you want to change the way you act, you must determine the way you think.
• You can’t start with the action. You’ve got to start with the thought.
THOUGHTS AFFECT OUR EMOTIONS
Dr Alice R. Cullinan did a study in the University where she teaches, regarding the influence of our thought on our emotions and actions.
We do not just get hit by a certain feeling out of the blue. We have thought something first that causes our feelings to be activated. In class just today, I ask them to try something to illustrate this truth. I asked them how they would feel if a person pulled their car onto the path they were travelling, and almost causing a collision.
They answered that they would feel angry, frustrated, unhappy, etc.
I then asked them to look into the car to see that the driver is a woman who is driving with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the forehead of a child who is bleeding profusely. She is obviously on her way to the hospital to get help for her child.
I asked them if their feelings changed any. Of course, they said they did. They now felt concerned, sympathetic, and wanted to do something to help clear the way for her to get to the hospital.
It is amazing how our feelings can change so rapidly! And the actions that followed.
If you want to see a change in your life – change your beliefs first
• Jesus said, “You will know the truth and it will set you free.” (John 8:32)
Expose the lies that we are basing our behaviour upon.
• If we are feeling afraid, we need to ask ourselves what we are thinking.
If we are sad, we need to ask ourselves what’s in our mind that caused it.
• We need to change our thoughts about the situation by looking at the Word – reading, listening, studying, meditation, and memorising it.
When we saturate our minds with God’s word, we are thinking His thoughts.
• It is truly amazing how our feelings no longer control.
• When you know the truth, it sets you free.
• Erwin W. Lutzer: “The difference between worldliness and godliness is a renewed mind.”
4. Trying to change your behaviour without a change in your belief is a waste of time.
If you ask a person to change before his mind is renewed, it won’t work.
• He’s got to internalize God’s Word first.
• Occupy your mind with the truth, or the enemy will fill it with his lies. Don’t leave it unoccupied!
• Saying: “Idle Brains are the Devil’s Workhouses.” The Turks have a proverb, which says, “The devil tempts all other men, but that idle men tempt the devil.” (Colton, ‘Lacon’, 1820)
Someone describes it this way: Your belief patterns are in your mind. Every time you think about a belief, it creates an electrical impulse across your brain. Every time you have that thought again, it creates a deeper rut. Over time, a mindset is formed.
• When people have learned something over and over, being taught by the world’s way of thinking, they’re programmed to go that way.
• If we want to change that, and align it back to God’s truth permanently, we have to do it the NT way –you have to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, by the constant feeding of the truth of God’s Word!
WE HAVE BEEN FREED FROM OUR SINFUL PAST
Two brothers were convicted of stealing sheep. For their crime they were each branded on the forehead with the letters "ST," for "sheep thief."
One brother immediately ran away from the area and attempted to build a new life in another country. Even there, people asked him about the "ST" burned into his forehead. He continued his wanderings and finally, unable to bear the burden, he committed suicide.
The other brother took a different approach. He said to himself, "I can’t run away from the fact that I stole sheep. But that’s the past. I can stay here and win back my self-respect and the respect of my neighbours." The years passed and he built a reputation for integrity.
One day a stranger saw the brother, now an old man, with the letters "ST" branded on his forehead. He asked a resident of the town what the letters stood for. The townsman replied, "It happened a long time ago. I’ve forgotten the particulars, but I think the letters are an abbreviation for Saint."
5. The Bible called this ‘change of mind’ REPENTANCE.
• The word “repentance” in Greek – metanoia – means “to change your mind.”
• It is just changing the way we think about something by accepting the way God thinks about it.
• The contemporary phrase for repentance is "paradigm shift."
So technically, repentance is not behavioural change. The change is a result of repentance. Repentance does not mean forsaking your sin. Repentance simply means to change your mind.
The prodigal son has a change of mind. Only then did we see a change in behaviour.
• The renewed action was the fruit of repentance, which happened at the pigpen.
• John the Baptist said in Matt 3:8, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”
o So when John the Baptist says “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” (Matt 3:2), he was saying change your thinking.
o When Jesus says, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” (Mark 1:15), he was saying change your thinking.
o When Jesus tell his disciples to preach - “So they went off and preached repentance.” (Mark 6:12) – asking people to change their thinking.
o When Peter preach at Pentecost - “Repent and be baptized everyone of you.” (Acts 2:38) – he was saying, you’ve got to change the way you think!
Life change happens only AFTER you change your thinking.
• And the thinking can only be changed by the Word of God, when applied to us by the Holy Spirit.
• We let the Word sinks in – don’t quench the Spirit, don’t grieve the Spirit.
• Simply accept the way God thinks, even when we don’t fully understand.
