Always Transforming

Well, thank you, Vince, and it's great to be with you all, this, this morning. Let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 12. We look forward to hearing more from Vince and a couple others in the modular building after this second service. Romans chapter 12, we, for those of you that maybe have not been with us in recent months, we did a study through Romans 567, and 8, and we learned much about the blessings, the glories, the forgiveness, the relationship that belongs to us in Christ.

And upon concluding our study of those four chapters, we have been asking the question, what then shall we do, both in response to these things and as a way of unleashing these gospel realities in our lives. And the first few weeks of that, we inferred some things that we ought to do in response to what we learned from Romans 5 through 8. But as we came into Romans 12, a couple of weeks ago, we don't have to infer anymore. It's right there in front of us.

Paul says, let me tell you exactly what to do with and in response to these blessings that I have been rehearsing for you. And we begin to find what's called imperatives or commands, where we're not left to guess anymore. We have explicit instruction. And in our passage this morning in Romans chapter 12 verse 2, we're gonna add to the list of what we ought to do in response to the gospel, and that is to be transformed.

So if you want to give a title to the message this morning, it would be Always transforming. Always transforming. In Romans 12:1, Paul says, I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual or reasonable service of worship, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

We find in verse two, A very simple command, be transformed, that is fraught with, with meaning for us to, to ponder.

We're gonna focus this morning on, Indications in the text itself of what we can do to position ourselves to experience this transformation that we're called to in Romans 12:2. But before we do that, I want us to linger for a bit on just looking at the command and, and looking inside of it and discovering what some of the implications are of this command. And we'll try to go through these at a fairly brisk pace, but implication number one, And being confronted with a command like this from Paul, for Paul to look at you and say be transformed, implied in that is that you're not perfect yet.

I hope that doesn't come as a shock to any of you.

I hate to break it to you, but you're not perfect yet. You have not arrived. Implied in this command is actually something of a criticism. That says something is still wrong with you.

You are not fully mature yet. There is growing change and transformation that still needs to occur. I think we need to feel something of the healthy criticism that lies inside of this command. For example, if if somebody in the church, you invited them to just come hang out with you for a week and, and they lived with you for a week, they followed you everywhere you went, and they saw the way you lived your life, the choices you made, the way you responded to circumstances, the way you dealt with people.

And at the end of that week, imagine sitting that person down and saying, listen, you've, you've lived with me for a week, you've seen pretty much everything. What counsel would you give to me? And imagine that that person looked at you and said, here's my counsel, you need to change. Would you not take that instruction as Embodying some level of criticism.

You would understand that this person has observed something in you that is less than fully mature, or maybe even things that are wrong, wherein change is needed. And that's what Paul is doing. That's what God is doing to us. Yes, we are saved and forgiven of all of our sins, brought into right relationship with God, clothed with the righteousness of Jesus.

But God speaks to us in Romans 12:2, and says, be transformed. There's another implication in this command, and that is that you need to change. If you're the one reading this verse, then Paul would say, I'm talking to you. You need to change.

this applies to you and you need to receive this command as applying first and foremost to you. We need to get our eyes off of other people and get our eyes off of our circumstances. All of us, if we had opportunity, could talk at length about all the people in our lives and all the ways that they need to be transformed, right? And even our circumstances and all the ways that our circumstances need to be changed and transformed.

But Paul would say, stop looking at other people for the time being, stop looking at your circumstances. And I'm talking to you. Yes, you, Paul would say, and my command to you is that you need to be transformed, be transformed. He instructs of us here.

It is so easy for us to To be looking at other people, to see the changes that they need to be making, and to step into their life and try to help them be changed, and there's nothing wrong with that at all, but how much energy do we put into looking at ourselves and understanding and embracing the transformation that needs to happen in our own lives. We can easily look at our circumstances and say, oh, I wish this were different, I wish that were different about my circumstances.

But I think Paul would say that you are a part of your circumstances and the most fundamental part of your circumstances that needs to change is you. The biggest thing in your marriage wherein change is needed is you.

You say, Pastor Milton, preach it, brother. I'm so glad my spouse is hearing this. no, you need to look at yourself and say I'm the one that God is after. the greatest need in my marriage today is that I need to be transformed.

The greatest need in your family is that I need to be transformed. The greatest need in the workplace, neighborhood, is that I need to be transformed. Internalize this and assume full responsibility for the fact that you need to be changed. Another implication inside of this command is a promise, and that is that transformation is truly actually possible.

Paul commands us to be transformed, and we know by the mere fact that he gives us this command that this transformation that we are commanded to is actually achievable. You say, well, how do that? I know that because it's commanded. Implied in every command that comes from the lips of God to us is the promise that we can do exactly what it is that God commands of us.

I don't know that we look at God's commands in this way to the degree that we should, right? Sometimes we hear the commands of God and it's like overwhelming, like, man, I'm never gonna be able to do this. Rather than God commands me to do this, this God who is for me and has made provision for me, this must therefore mean that it's possible for me to do this. Think about the apostle Peter in Matthew 14.

Peter's in a boat with the other disciples and there's a storm on the Sea of Galilee, a life threatening storm. They see Jesus walking on the water and as Peter sees Jesus and realizes that it is Jesus, Peter's thought is, I don't wanna be in the boat with these guys. I wanna be where Jesus is. I wanna get out of this boat and get to where Jesus is.

That's the safe place for me to be. And yet in Peter's mind, he's thinking for me to get out of this boat and to get where Jesus is, something impossible needs to happen. And that is, I'm gonna have to be able to walk on water, and I can't do that. And so it's interesting, Peter's thinking process.

It's crazy to me in the midst of this storm, he reasons through this enough to realize, I know what I need from Jesus. To be able to get out of this boat and get to him and do the impossible. All I need is a command from Jesus. And so he said to Jesus, Lord, literally command me to come.

Command me to come. Just give me a command. That's all I need. And Jesus said, come.

He delivered an imperative, a command, that's all he said, Come. And Peter jumps out of the boat and begins doing the impossible, walking to Jesus because he knows he can, because it was commanded. Peter did not say, Lord, command me to come and give me a promise. If he would have done that, we would have all said, I understand that.

He didn't say, Lord, command me to come and give me a promise. And can you explain the physics of how I can actually get to you from this boat in the midst of the storm? Didn't do that. Lord, just say the word, give me the command, and I know that inside of that command is the promise that I can do this.

And so his heart jumped, leaped in faith at the sound of the command of Jesus and the promise that was embodied in that command. As we look at ourselves and we see ways that we need to be transformed and we see things in our character that should not be there and we want them removed. We see things that are not in our character that ought to be there. we see, sin that's in our lives, sinful ways, wrong ways of, of thinking and behaving and responding to circumstances and relating to other people.

And as we see all of that and how far we have to go, we, we long for transformation. And then imagine as it were, that you come to Jesus, and it's like, I got to be transformed. And you look at Jesus and say, Lord, command me to be transformed. Just give me the command.

And Jesus in Romans 12:2 obliges you and says, here you go, be transformed. Be transformed. And our hearts should leap. At the promise that this transformation is truly possible.

There's a 4th implication inside of this command, and that is that transformation apparently is never finished in this life. Transformation that we're called to here is never finished in this life. The tense of this verb is present tense, so It's literally be continuously being transformed. So this is to characterize your entire lifestyle from conversion until the day you die, every day of your life, every stage of your spiritual development ought to be characterized by this ongoing continuous transformation that we are called to here.

So it's never It's never finished. You should never stop being transformed. if you, you say to the apostle Paul, Paul, I, I've been saved. I got saved today, what should I do now?

Paul would say, be transformed. If you came to Paul and said, Paul, I, I've known the Lord for 5 years now and there's been wonderful things that have happened in my life and I've been changed so much already, what should I do now? Paul would say, be continuously being transformed. If you came to Paul and said, Paul, I've known the Lord for 40 years.

I'm 65 years old now, I'm reaching retirement, and I cannot believe how different I am compared to 40 years ago. God has been so good and I can share with you all the ways that God has transformed me. What do I do now? Paul would say, be continuously being transformed.

Every day of our lives this is to be a priority, ongoing transformation. The mistake that we make is sometimes that we think we've changed enough. And we're like, thank you Lord for changing me. This is great and you can stop now.

I'm OK now, and we, we see some change, and we think therefore that we have changed enough. Or we reach some plateau spiritually, where we've grown to a point and then we kinda start looking around in the church and it's like, what, I'm about where everyone else is and In fact, upon closer inspection, I'm actually ahead of most people around me. So I'll settle right here and you stop growing, you stop changing, you stop being transformed, and you just kinda conform to the spiritual norm of those believers around you.

And I would beg of you, if you're a part of the Cornerstone family, don't do that here.

Grow beyond us. And let the Lord use you to raise the bar and inspire the rest of us that further change is possible. Another mistake we make is we make our transformation conditional. we basically will say, I, I will change and be transformed if you change.

And let yourself be transformed. A husband or wife may say, yeah, I know that I should be doing this. I know I should be, more faithful than I've been in this area and my, love for you, but, I'm not gonna change until you change. Or someone may say, I know that my attitude's wrong, I know that I'm sinning with the way that I'm responding to these circumstances, but honestly, I need my circumstances to change if I myself am going to change and be able to obey God in this particular area of failure in my life.

And we just need to understand, guys, that one of the insidious things about that mindset is that we We diminish the finished work of Christ when we do that. What you're really saying is, yeah, I know I need to change. And I know I need Jesus to change, I need his death, his resurrection, ascension, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. I need all of that in order for me to change, and I also need for you to do such and such, then I can be changed, or I need my circumstance to change in order for me to change.

What you're doing is you're living a lifestyle where it's Christ plus someone else changing, your spouse changing, your circumstances changing in order for you to obey. And what you're doing is you're diminishing the finished work of Christ and its role in your life. Christ has done all that needs to be done to enable you and I. To undergo this journey of transformation, whether or not anybody else joins us in that, whether or not the people in our lives are allowing God to transform them.

As they ought, whether or not our circumstances ever change. God has provided everything for us to experience transformation. There is a 5th implication in this command as we look at this command be transformed. And that is that apparently you can't transform yourself, only God can.

The voice, most commentators will suggest that this command be transformed as passive in its orientation or in its voice. So the command is not transform yourself, like you're the subject, you're the one that does the transforming of yourself. It's be transformed or let yourself be transformed. Implied in this is that there is someone.

That is seeking to transform you, and the command is to let that someone do that. Let yourself be transformed by that person. And obviously that person is the God who has saved us and who is more for us than we can imagine. So don't walk out of here and say I'm gonna change my life, I'm gonna transform my life.

The message to take away from this command is God stands at the ready to transform me, and I am going to let him. Do that. A 6th implication of this command is that transformation, even though it's not something you do and it's something God does, transformation is something that you must choose. Paul is giving a command to you, and he's appealing to you.

Your will, and he's wanting you to make a choice, he's wanting you to respond to this command by saying, yes, I will let myself be transformed, because apparently your will has something to do with your transformation, even though God is the one who does it. Does that make sense? So God is seeking to transform you, but he will only transform you to the degree that you choose to allow him. To do so.

A 7th implication of this command in Romans 12:2, is that the transformation that God is wanting to produce in you is radical. It is radical. God is not into behavior modification. The command here is not, let yourself be tweaked.

Let yourself be adjusted by God. Let God do some behavior modification. Let yourself be improved in some areas of your life. Now, the command quite literally is allow yourself under the grace of God to undergo a radical revolution.

Let yourself be transformed. The word that is translated transformed here is the Greek word, we get our English word metamorphosis from like a caterpillar being transformed into a butterfly. That's a radical change, that's more than a tweaking. that's going on in that case.

This word speaks of a radical change in the very substance of who we are, affecting every area of our lives. It is radical change that God is calling us to. So God is standing at the ready to do this radical revolutionary transformation in our lives. And Paul says, let him do this.

Now implied in the depth of this word and also the fact that it's present tense and it's ongoing. it also indicates that this is, Though it is radical and deep, it is slow going. It's a process. A caterpillar does not turn into a butterfly in 1 2nd or overnight.

There, there is time where that metamorphosis is occurring and it's not even visible to people who might be watching it that anything is actually happening. And then there's that explosive moment where everyone gets to see the final product. And so, there's gonna be days where you're, you're, you're doing what God wants you to do to position yourself to be transformed. And the change may not always be evident from day to day, but maybe week by week, or maybe month by month, year by year, decade by decade, you can look back and see the things you've learned in ways that God has changed you, even though there are still Many more areas of your life where transformation is needed on a deeper level.

Throw this in, another implication of this command is that it's not an option. This is not, hey, if you're a Christian, here's, here's one alternative for you to consider. How about a lifestyle of transformation, you can choose this or not, and either way, it's acceptable to God. No, this is the only lifestyle that's acceptable to God, and that is a lifestyle wherein we are allowing God to take us on this journey of radical transformation.

So this is the change. God has saved us. He's forgiven us. He has clothed us with the righteousness of Jesus.

And brought us into a relationship with Himself, and we're fully accepted in Christ, we are loved by God, nothing will ever separate us from this love, and this God who is so for us in all these and more ways, stands at the ready to do this work of transformation in us. And Paul says, let it happen. Make a choice to let this happen. You say, well, I I think I'm ready to let this happen.

is there anything that I should do? I know that God's the one who does this. Is there anything that I should do to position myself to experience this rich, transforming work in my life? And what I want to suggest to you from the text this morning is 6 things that you can do.

We'll call them steps. That you can engage in towards this transformation, towards positioning yourself to, in a way to where God can most richly do this work of transforming. You Are you interested? I hope so because it's the only sermon I've prepared.

The, the first step to take would be to embrace the fact that the purpose of all things, including you, is to glorify God. this is a change that when it first occurs in us, it's not even visible to anyone else, but it's perhaps the most radical revolutionary change that can happen in anyone's life. Paul says regarding God at the very end of Romans 11, for from him and through him and to Him are all things and to Him be the glory forever. Amen.

Everything comes from God, everything happens through God, and everything goes back to God for The purpose of glorifying Him. And I am a part of that everything. And so as we listen to Paul in worship at the end of Romans 11, we behold a man who is not at the center of his own universe, but God is at the center of Paul's universe. And Paul, revolves or orbits around God.

And Paul's life is not about Paul, but all about God. If you are interested in experiencing transformation, what you need to do is get off the throne of your own life and recognize that God is the one who is on that throne. You need to remove yourself from the center of your universe and allow God to assume his rightful place at the center of your life, and your life now needs to orbit around him, rather than forcing him to orbit around you. Basically, you want to be transformed.

You want to position yourself to experience radical transformation, get over yourself, and be all about God. And basically be able to come to God and say, God, you're at the center of my life, everything revolves around you. My life is so not about me. This is all about you and what your kingdom purposes are.

God, you have every right and my permission to do anything you see fit and rearranging my life, doing any work you want to do in me, through my circumstances, through other people, through your word, through your Spirit. Do anything that you see fit for my good and for your glory. My life is all about you. There's a radical change in thinking that comes over a person when their life orbits around God rather than forcing God to orbit around them.

Chris Wright in his book, The Mission of God says it this way, a radical God-centered perspective, so God at the center rather than us at the center, Turns inside out and upside down some of the common ways we are accustomed to think. It constantly forces us to open our eyes to the big picture, rather than shelter in the easy narcissism of our own small worlds. We're talking about more than just sprinkling a little bit of God into your life, applying God, into your life somehow and somewhere and that God is somehow honored by that.

No, he is only honored by him assuming his position on the throne and you revolving around him.

It's not about you, it's all about God. Steve Timmas and Tim Chester in their book Total Church, expressed it this way, we often ask, where does God fit into the story of my life, when the real question is, where does my little life fit into this great story of God's mission? We want to be driven by a purpose that has been tailored just right for our own individual lives, when we should be seeing the purpose of all life, including our own, wrapped up in the great mission of God for the whole of creation.

They go on to say we talk about applying the Bible to our lives.

What would it mean though, to apply our lives to the Bible instead? Assuming the Bible to be the reality, the real story to which we are called to conform ourselves. That's basically what we're talking about here. You want to experience radical transformation in your life, then Let your life be all about God.

Get over yourself and be all about Him. Those who orbit around him are those that experience transformation in the richest and deepest of ways. There's a second thing to do to position yourself to experience radical transformation, and that is surrender everything you are and have to God. Surrender everything you are and have to God.

Paul says, I urge you, therefore, brethren, in verse one, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. what he's calling us to, as we saw two weeks ago, is as believers in Jesus to come to God and present ourselves to God as a sacrifice, and when people would offer a sacrifice, they were handing that sacrifice over to God to where that sacrifice now belonged to God and not to that person.

Anymore. As we present our whole selves all the way down to our physical bodies as a sacrifice to God, there is a handing over that is occurring and we're saying, God, I don't belong to me anymore.

I give myself to you in full surrender. It's interesting that Paul gives this command to surrender ourselves before he gives the command to let ourselves be transformed. Teaching us that transformation happens most deeply on the other side of surrender. Do you get that?

often, what we'll do, all of us, if we're pressed on it, would say, well, yeah, there's ways I need to grow. there's ways I need to change, who doesn't need to change? So yeah, I, I need to grow and change, and I see areas of weakness in my life, but what we'll do sometimes is we'll try to change those areas. Or we'll let God do it, but we want to remain in control of that.

God, can you change me and what we're really saying is I'm gonna give you permission in this category to work to a certain degree, and then I will, I will tell you when to stop. And we want to hold on to control, right? And therefore, we don't allow ourselves to experience transformation as richly as we would if we gave ourselves in full surrender to God, who is the ultimate and great surgeon. I was thinking this week about in connection with this about, the, the level of trust and surrender that's involved when you go to a doctor who's going to do surgery.

And, you get to know the doctor, you ask him a million questions, and you want to go to someone that you trust, and after your questions are answered, think about how trusting we are. We, we allow that doctor to put us under, we're totally asleep, no control, and we give him permission to do anything that he deems is best for our health. That's total surrender and abandonment to a human. Doctor.

And in most cases, there are some exceptions to this, but in most cases, we allow the doctor to put us to sleep, meaning it just, we're, we're totally out. And I was thinking about why do they put us to sleep? Well, part of it is so that we don't feel pain. But I think part of the reason that they knock us out is so that we won't be a pain in the process, right?

Because that's what we, I know that's what I would do. I'd be like, so what are you about to do with that instrument there? do you really need to cut that big, careful, I'd be, I would be getting in the way of the doctor as he's doing what he's been trained to do. So the best thing is just knock him out.

So that we have freedom to do what we need to do as deeply as we need to do it. That trust that we place in a human doctor is a decent metaphor for what it is that God is calling forth from us. God stands at the ready to do this transforming work. He's like, I need you to surrender to me completely.

And, and utterly. And yet, we don't let our lives revolve around God, it's still about us, and we're afraid to fully surrender so we maintain control and therefore we truncate, we limit the ability. of God to accomplish this transformation in us. When you think about it along these lines, you begin to realize that though all of us would say we want to be transformed, for the most part, we're about as transformed as we really want to be.

We're about as transformed as we've chosen to allow God to transform us, and our desire for that control is what limits, it limits the degree to which this deep and rich transformation. That God wants to accomplish in us can actually be accomplished. There's a 3rd thing to do or step to take to position ourselves to experience this radical transformation, and that is to consciously resist the influence of the world every day, to consciously. Intelligently resist the influence of the world every day.

Paul, it's interesting, before he gives the command to be transformed, says, and do not be conformed to this world. This could be translated. Stop letting yourselves be conformed to this world. And the word that is translated conformed here.

It implies that there is a world, there is an age, this present age, in comparison or in opposition to the age to come. And so there is a world and that world is seeking to apply pressure to us, to press us into its mold after its image, which is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life and everything. that goes along with those three things. There is a world applying pressure in our lives to press us into its mold.

And if we are seriously keen on transformation into Christ likeness, we need to recognize that and resist the effort of the world to press us into its own mold. There is a pressure there. You say, well, Pastor, I don't, I don't feel any pressure. Well, there's a reason you're not feeling pressure, because the world obviously is just shaping you into its mold.

You only feel that pressure if you're actually resisting it. If you're just going along with it and whatever the world says, whatever's popular, and whatever the prevailing thinking is, you're just going right into that and being shaped by that, you're never gonna feel any pressure. You're just being molded by those influences that are out there. Those that are serious about true Christ-like transformation are individuals who, who realize that there are 22 entities that are seeking to change me.

God wants to change me into the image of Christ, and there is the world and the God of this world. That is seeking to press me into its mold. I choose transformation by God into the image of Christ, and as a part of that, I am saying no to this influence of the world, and I am wanting to continuously be resisting the effort of the world to press me into its mold. And so I would encourage you guys, if you're serious about transformation, God's not gonna be able to transform you very deeply if at the same time, you're allowing yourself to be molded and shaped by the world.

Just not going to happen. You're gonna be influenced by one or the other. And you say yes to God and no to the world. And I know this is complex.

you can't just wake up one morning and say no world, and the world says, OK, I'll leave you alone today and let God transform you. No, we have to be alert. we have to be thinking. I would encourage you to be critical, be a critical thinker, because the influence of the world, it's the stuff we just imbibe without even thinking.

We don't even recognize it. We just find ourselves thinking a certain way and we just think, well, of course this is true, this is, this, this type of thought just comes naturally when we don't realize that someone gave us that thought. That thought has been put into us by. By the world around us or by the devil or by our own flesh, all of which are consistent with, with the world.

So be critical of everything. When, when people say to you, oh, you gotta have this, you gotta do this, you, you've gotta try this, you've gotta go see this, just stop and ask, according to who? Who made up this rule that I gotta do this and I gotta have that and I gotta see this, that everyone else is seeing. Where did that come from?

Who made that rule? And who put them in charge of me and how I live my life. All of us have been shaped by this age in ways that are morally bad and, and, and in some ways that are morally neutral, but even looking at the ways we've been shaped by things that are morally neutral, can shed light on how we ought to think critically about those things that are of spiritual significance., for example, I, I know something about everyone in this room. 25 years ago, not a one of you had a cellphone, and not a one of you was complaining about it.

And I heard one guy say recently, people say that necessity is the mother of invention. This guy was an inventor, and he said the opposite is true. Invention is the mother of necessity. He says people like us invent things, and then it becomes necessary.

And now most of us in this room, we can't imagine life without cell phones. I'm not saying get rid of your cell phones. I'm just saying. Just somehow we've brought that in.

When it comes to the internet, we were all living fine without the internet a quarter of a century ago, and now it's a necessity, and I'm not saying having the internet is bad, but it's just there are certain things in this particular age that we deem necessary. And have we really thought critically about these things and a million other things that are of greater spiritual import? Asking, should I allow this into my life? What will be the effects of allowing this into my life?

I remember reading a number of years ago, an Amish person was driving his buggy somewhere in the Midwest in an eighteen-wheeler, got in some accident and killed some members of this man's family and destroyed his buggy. And the company that, that owned the, the truck wanted to assume responsibility to care for this man. And they offered him a $250,000 settlement. Here, here's a check, just take this.

And this man evaluated, rather than just taking that, he thought that through and he was like, how will this affect the way I live my life, the way I relate to other people, the things I put my trust in. And based on his analysis of that, this man refused the money. And said, just keep it. I, this, this would alter my life too much.

I'm not saying if you're offered a quarter of a million dollars, turn it down. I'm not saying that. And if you've ever been offered a $2,500,000 and you said I'll take it, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. but I, I at least appreciate the fact that this man was willing to criticize something.

Before he just unthinkingly allowed it into his life. We just need, even the things we do decide to allow into our homes and into our lives need to be thoroughly criticized and investigated. What is this? Who said I need this?

What will be the intended and unintended effects of having this in my life or in my home? We need to be a people that thinks critically, rather than just unthinkingly buys into whatever people are saying around us. Is it not true, as some say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? Is that not true?

And so when we just live our lives imitating the world, we're flattering the world and what in the world has the world done to merit that flattery? What we allow ourselves to be shaped by is one of the clearest indications of what we worship. And where the true worship of our heart lies. Let's be a thinking people, as the amplified Bible says, they translate this command this way, do not be conformed to this world, this age fashioned after and adapted to its external superficial customs.

Another writer says this modern society beams a collage of intense images at believers and nonbelievers alike through the media, advertising polls, style, social and materialistic pressure, and ideologies. These images are often most effective when they are least recognized. The Christian life is an ongoing discipline of learning to be transformed by the lordship of Christ rather than being conformed to social, moral, and even spiritual images of the world. It's a lifestyle of saying no to certain influences on a regular basis and yes to the influence of God as he seeks to transform us.

There is a 4th step to take if you want to position yourself to experience. Radical transformation and that is the continuously engaging in the task of renewing your mind. Paul says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That, that phrase by the renewing of your mind offers so much promise and hope to us.

Implied in that though is also a criticism. Paul says, all these things in the gospel are true of you, but your mind needs to be renewed. You now have to change the way you think until your thinking is fully gospelized. Your mind needs to be renewed in order for you to experience transformation, teaching us that true, lasting, deep-seated, revolutionary transformation, it comes through the mind.

You will only be transformed to the degree that you allow your mind to be renewed, so the battle is fought. It is won and lost in. The mind, and he says, renew by the renewing, the ongoing renewing of your mind. This is to be a daily ongoing continuous task of renewing our mind.

And let's say it this way, you may say to Paul, well, I gotta renew my mind, what do I renew my mind with? Paul would say, that's what I've been doing in chapters 1 through 11. That's why I waited until now to give you this command. I've been seeking to renew your mind in these previous 11 chapters, as I have reviewed for you who Christ is, what he has done, and the 57 verses regarding your justification in Christ, your freedom from sin, your relationship and peace with God, the love that you have with God.

God, how God is totally for you, how God uses your circumstances, even your trials and hardships to do great good in you, and he causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and who are called according to His purpose. The reason I have gone through all these things with you is to give you the data. With which I am now calling you to renew your mind. You renew your mind with this stuff that I've been going over with you up to this point of the letter.

To renew your mind is to gospelize your mind. Even though all of us who have believed in Jesus are children of God, we're children of God, and yet, is there not a lot of orphan thinking still in our brains? We're free from sin, we're Free from sin's power, we don't have to sin anymore. Paul tells us that, but then in Romans 6, he says, think this way, reckon, mentally reckon yourself to be dead to sin.

It's true, you need to think this way and reckon it to be true. That's renewing our minds. It means learning the gospel. And then unlearning anything that pre-exists in our minds that is contrary to the gospel.

Write that down in your notes because this is important. renewing your mind involves more than learning gospel, it means unlearning anything that's contrary to the gospel. A lot of us do a lot of learning, but we don't do a lot of unlearning. When we come into our Christian experience, there's a lot of thinking that's still in our brains, that's absolutely contrary to the gospel, that's informed by our past, by our upbringing, by our past history.

And so forth, and this renewing of our mind is recognizing those things that are contrary to the gospel, rejecting those things, and downloading into our minds those things that are of the gospel. A good translation of the word renew is to renovate. what it means to renovate a home. To renovate a home is to, to take out the old and to bring in the new.

If you got a bunch of old rickety furniture and you just get rid of it all to where now the home is empty, and then you invite people in and say, hey, I want you to see how I renovated my home, and they come in and the house is totally empty. They would say you haven't renovated your home, you just got rid of the old stuff. And if you kept all of your old stuff, but simply bought all new stuff and brought that in to where now it's sitting with all the old stuff, you still haven't renovated your home because you've left the old stuff in there.

You might have bought a brand new couch, but you're still sitting on the old couch.

So the renovation hasn't really happened. And that's what happens to many of us. We, we bring in this new gospel couch into our brains, but then something happens and, and where are we sitting? We're sitting on the old couch.

That's contrary to the gospel. And we're thinking ways that are contrary to the way that God wants us to think. I would encourage you, if you want to renew your mind, read your Bible, read it every day, memorize passages of scripture, not just a verse here and there, but, but large sections of scripture, meditate upon those sections of scripture and, and take them and own them as your own thoughts. Enter them into your own trains of thought to where now you're thinking these thoughts.

As you're memorizing and meditating. foresee circumstances, like the next time I am tempted in this particular area, here's the way I'm going to think in that temptation, and imagine yourself in that situation, visualize it, and see yourself responding in a godly way, thinking right thoughts. Let your imagination begin to get wrapped around. That anticipation of the coming temptations and opportunities to obey God.

Fellowship around these truths with other people so that the sparks will fly inside your brain and they'll go deeper. I find that when I'm meditating by myself, there are things I learn and internalize, and then when I'm fellowshipping with other people, sometimes the depth. of the meditation is exponential and it goes deeper and thoughts occur to me that did not occur to me before. So read and memorize and study and renew your mind as Paul is instructing here in Romans 1 through 11, you got 300+ verses of gospel truth to renew your mind with.

You will be transformed as deeply as you allow your mind to be renewed very quickly, because we're out of time. Make it your daily ambition. You want to be transformed, make it your daily ambition to discover and demonstrate that God's will is exceedingly good. Paul says, don't be conformed to this world, be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

what he's saying there? Like he's telling us, get up in the morning and say today, I am going, today will be an experiment where I will prove in my life today, that the heart of God expressed in the will of God is good. And the word acceptable is that word we saw two weeks ago. It's more than acceptable.

It's pleasing, and it's more than pleasing. It's extremely pleasing. That I want my life to put this to the test and by the choices I make, as I surrender to God and to His good pleasure, and I allow him to transform me. And as I am renewing my mind, even though this is radically different than anything I've ever done before, I'm going to live this way by the grace of God today and allow him to do his good work in me.

And I am going to find out in my own experience, and discover in my experience that God's will is good. And it's extremely pleasing, not just to him, but ultimately to me, and it's perfect. Meaning it's, it's perfect for who I am. It's perfect.

It fits with the way that God originally created me to be. It's a perfect match for how God has created me to be in Christ. And guys, if we live this way, guaranteed, if you follow God, allow him to transform you, you will arrive at powerful moments in this life, and especially in the life to come, where you will testify and say, I know by experience that the heart of God and the will of God is extremely good, extremely pleasing. And it's perfect.

The 6th and final step to take, and this is simply an introduction to where we'll pick up next time and that is live in community with your brothers and sisters in Christ. You wanna experience transformation, you're not gonna do that on your own. Verse 3, all the way actually through the end of the chapter, Paul just unpacks for us what living in community looks like. You wanna experience transformation?

Link your life with your brothers and sisters in the Lord, present yourself together before God, along with them in unity with them, and began to live a life of, of community with your brothers and sisters in Christ and the context of the local church, and you will find transformation in that rich matrix of communal relationships with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to help us to live this out. If you're here today and, and, and there, there are issues in your life and things in your life and character that you're just hopeless, this is never gonna change.

You're in the right place this morning.

God loves you and he's made provision for you in Jesus to transform you. If you will surrender your life to him and make your life all about him. And believe in His Son Jesus Christ, and call out to Him. To save you and to transform you, and to make you like himself.

God, I just ask on my behalf and all of us who are here, teach us what all this means. We are in kindergarten and understanding these things. Help us as individuals and as a church to be a transforming community. Daily, weekly being transformed into the image of Christ that we would be really passionate.

About the renewal of our minds, knowing that transformation happens through the channel of minds that are renewed and so that's not gonna happen automatically. We're not gonna wake up some morning and find our minds renewed. This is a task that you give to us, and you provide us richly with all that we need in terms of gospel furnishings to bring into our minds. Help us to be faithful to Learn them, to receive them, meditate upon them and to day by day unlearn anything contrary to you and your ways.

We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to give of our offerings to you. Right now, we ask that you would receive these funds and do much with them for the glory of Jesus. We ask all these things in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said, Amen.