How To Change Your Mind: Romans 12:2

alright well let's dig in so open your Bibles please to Romans chapter 12 last week we talked about the sanctification of the body presenting your bodies to the Lord as an act of worship today we are talking about a hugely important issue hugely important issue for us on a daily basis and over the course of our lives and that is the mind your your mind not your brain your mind this is this is where the greatest spiritual battles of your life take place that takes place right in here if you you think like say look at the book of Job job was attacked physically so that he might be affected mentally the stresses and the struggles were going through on the outside aren't where the battle takes place it's where it hits us inside of ourselves or the inner person and that's where the battleground is and that also according to the Bible is where the transformation takes place for the disciple of Jesus the ongoing transformation of the work of God's Spirit in us in our minds I'm so hugely important hugely important anxiety desires beliefs attitudes hopes loves obsessions that all takes place inside here inside this person not just on the outside so last week we talked about offering our bodies to the Lord this week we're talking about being renewed in our minds focusing inward tonight but before we start focusing inward I want to offer a disclaimer people often focus inward for therapeutic reasons you know you need to think about yourself is the advice that we sometimes hear which not sure how if that's the right way to say it really I think that focusing inward for therapeutic reasons for reasons of of helping myself clouds our judgement because that's sort of a narcissistic motive I'm focusing on me for me that's kind of a narcissistic motive and so it of course is it's flawed from the beginning so it causes problems that kind of thing is problematic in fact some of modern therapy nah I'm not against all modern therapy but some of modern therapy it just creates narcissists it just creates people that are obsessed with themselves thinking about themselves focused on themselves and as long they're happy with themself then everything's okay and that kind of becomes the result of the word the theory the the therapy person just mirrors back whatever the person says affirming whatever they affirm and denying whatever they deny that sort of attitude rather we should not appease ourselves we should focus inward tonight for a different reason we should focus inward for worshipful reasons I'm taking a look inside me for the glory of God that's the purpose that's the motive that's the reason so I do need to look in the sky I need to consider inside of this person I am but for the Lord and that gives me clarity when I see these things I see them clearly and it gives me focused on what to do about it so let me just read the verses we're in today Romans 1 in Chapter 12 verses 1 & 2 last week we went over verse 1 I'll read it for recap I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service and then that carries forward that connects to the verse 2 it's kind of the result of verse 1 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 so let's pull verse 2 apart kind of piece by piece first thing it says is do not be wet conformed don't be conformed to this world to be conformed is to change someone's behavior to be like something else now I'm being conformed I had a friend who when she would hang out with certain people she would take on their behavior isms and this wasn't the spiritual issue this was just a weird quirk she had she would just take on their behavior isms if they had slang that they use that she would use slang by the end of that conversation we know some people like this they'll be talking normals and they pick up the phone to answer and they're talking totally different because of the person that's on the other side of the phone you know you know an emo kid might be hanging with his buddies and his mom calls and he's like you know like all of a sudden it's a new behavior because of who he's talking with that's the idea of me conforming my behavior to be like the world the issue here though isn't slaying or mannerisms in a simple sense it's really the issue of sin so don't don't change your behavior to be like the world please don't do this this is this is a command in scripture Christian you're not supposed to be like the world you know don't be like them this is in our in our culture where we live here in Southern California this is not something we pay a lot of attention to sometimes a lot of Christians take pride in how much they are like the world in fact some churches this is this is their goal is to be as much like the world as possible and so we need to analyze this but first I've got to ask the question what does it mean the world what does that men do not be conformed to this world what do what do I mean by world because the Bible uses the word world in different ways in our English translation in particular it'll use the word world referring to all people like John 3:16 God so loved the world well obviously this is a different context than what Romans 12:2 is talking about God loves the world so much don't be like the world okay this is a different context the world here's talking about all people that exist the people themselves the world is also used to talk about the physical universe and God created he created the world he made all things this is this is a real sort of material type concept of the world it's used in that sense too but it's also used the world as a phrase meaning the non-christian realm of influence where God is not reigning as king so this is any area of society where God is not being submitted to that's the world in this negative sense in this sense of don't be like don't be like this world so it's the world system the world's standards and the world's way of living don't be like them this doesn't mean you can't get involved in government it means that you get involved in government but you don't act in the ungodly ways that some of the government leaders sitting across the aisle from you are acting it doesn't mean you can't get involved in a business that's working in this world to get money and provide for people and all that you can but you don't do it in the worldly way you we do all of our things in a godly way Galatians chapter 1 verse 4 mentions this concept as well it says who gave himself for our sins speaking of Jesus that he might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father that's actually the same Greek word that we have here in Romans 12:2 don't be like this world he also it says in Galatians 1:4 that he might deliver us from this present evil age this world same Greek word same sense so for Christians we have this sense of separation I mean now here I'm living in this world but I'm separate from it and I've actually felt this way since I got saved as long as I've been a Christian I always felt a sense of not belonging not I'm not saying not loving not caring for that's not the issue at all no no there's more eleven more care more concern and more involvement to try to make a difference in the world all those things but less identity in this world I don't I don't belong there's a sense of separation there this is a biblical dichotomy a dichotomies fancy word for when you when you separate something into two sections if I cut an apple in half I've made a dichotomy I've cut the left side in the right side and you're in one or the other that's the deal so you've got the world and you have the church or those who belong to God there those who are his so there's a a negative and a positive thing I'm now according to Romans 12:2 do not be conformed don't change my behavior to be like this world the ungodly living of this world but be transformed and that's the positive so the negative don't be conformed the positive but be transformed why do I labor that point because some people think you can do both I can be conformed to this world and it has no effect on me whatsoever how many of us have heard someone say this well I'm doing this ungodly thing but it has no impact on me whatsoever says you but the Bible says you reap what you sow so obviously it's gonna have an impact on you obviously it will affect me if I make bad decisions Christians don't be deceived God is not mocked whatever a man so is he will also reap meaning this is an area where we can be deceived so I can be conformed to this world and as much as I am conformed to this world I will not be transformed in my mind there's a choice being made when I yield to sin it's not just the momentary issue of sin it's the effect it has on the internal person who of who I am that's what this scripture is getting at let me read you some other scriptures on this because I think this is a hugely important issue first John chapter 2 it's speaking of the world here first John 2 verses 15 through 17 it says do not love the world or the things in the world if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him if anyone let me read it again if anyone loves the world speaking about that ungodliness that we see in the world if you love this the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world and the world is passing away and the lust of it but he who does the will of God abides forever in James for we have another strong admonition about this issue James 4 verses 4 and 5 he says adulterers and adulteresses do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God I'm gonna read that again because the words are really powerful here do you not know that friendship with the world friendship with the world is enmity with God enmity so as a hatred whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God or do you think that the scripture says in vain the spirit who dwells in us yearns to jealously God doesn't want to share us with ungodliness so the world here I take in the sense of ungodliness I don't think it means I have a friend who's not saved so I'm a friend of the world no that's not what this means it means I am aligning myself with ungodliness in my life ungodliness is not just something that's around me right it's not just I'm in Sodom but now it's Sodom's in me that's the thing when the world gets into me that's when I'm becoming this friend of the world you know if if your friends surprised to find out you're a Christian you're probably not doing it right that's that's what I'm reading here so I wrote I read these scriptures to us because there are many people who self-righteously love the idea of being Friends of the world and I don't understand this kind of Christianity I've never been this kind of person but I've met plenty of people who are where they look down on anybody who like me just starts talking in the direction of being sanctified and set apart and other than the things that are going on the world and their life smells like legalism to me Mike oh you don't understand the Liberty we have in Christ you're like oh you've yours weak brother weak brother you know and this is the attitude they may have but when it comes to sin there's no question I don't fit into this world I'm not supposed to be like this world I'm to deliberately purposefully avoid being like the world when it comes to anything that touches the issue of sin this is pretty strong I think that there's an application when we read this concept in Scripture there's an application to ministries in general and I give a word to anybody who's serving your ministry is we have to divorce our ministries from the disease of popularity confirmation that is thinking that the numbers you're looking at mean you're doing good or the numbers you don't see mean you're doing bad by this standard of numbers most ministries throughout the Bible were failures by the standard of numbers if you went to Elijah's time the ministry that was doing really good was the Ministry of Jezebel and her prophets of Baal there's the big thriving ministry and there's Elijah who I can't even find anybody else who loves the Lord this is this is really a bad deal in fact okay I'm a cowboy chapel pastor I've so I've been to the Calvary Chapel some of the kaabah chapel like conferences and things like this I usually don't make it to those things because I'm like three days in the middle of the week man who's got time for that but but but but when I've gone out it's always like this we all know that the size of your church doesn't matter yet and I would never do this to another pastor but I've had him ask to me over and over again so where do you fellowship Oh Hosanna in Bellflower oh how BIG's your church and I'm just like if I was a little more snarky than I am I would just make up random numbers see how they responded you know I'll be like oh there's only three of us it's just three of us me and my sister and her kid that's all we got yeah like or I would be like oh we have 15,000 yeah 15,000 that's each service 57 services each Sunday like I'm not like that so I wouldn't do that but I just I would just be curious if the rest of the time they'd walk around and look at you and be like that guy's only got three people is he even a pastor like that guys 15,000 like whatever he says it must be right but if you if you realize we're not friends of the world we're not like the world the church is ultimately for the church like our gathering is for believers and for those who are interested in possibly I don't know maybe becoming a believer and following Jesus that's what our meeting is for it's ideally for this now we try to extend an element of outreach in our gatherings and that sort of thing but it's for believers and so that we might be unlike this world and more transform to be like Jesus and this is something we can rejoice in we have to stop looking at ministries and thinking while look how big they are they must be doing something right it's entirely possible that you could say look how big they are they must be doing something wrong I'm not saying that's the it's equally possible right it's just as likely that they're messing up and that's why so many people don't seem to mind sitting in the pews they're like I've come as an unbeliever and I never feel convicted like well then alright that's not the kind of church I want man I'd rather have a hundred people that love Jesus and ten thousand people that are like I'm an atheist but I still go to church because I feel happy there you know like okay that's cute but that's not the point is it we're not to be conformed to this world so John 15 jesus said this John 15 verses 18 and 19 he says if the world hates you you know that you must be doing something wrong oh no I'm sorry that wasn't that wasn't Jesus that was some other preacher he says if the world hates you you know that it hated me before it hated you if you were of the world the world would love its own yet because you were not of the world but I chose you out of the world therefore the world hates you if the ungodly elements in society are hating you and your ministry that's not really a big deal that's what they did to Jesus that's what Jesus said they would do to us don't worry about it now this is so liberating to Christianity when I go I don't have to please the Lord the church and the world in fact I want to please the Lord bless the church and reach the world but I certainly don't have to please any except for one of those you know this is this is what I want to do so I think this is this is great now to be rounded I like you know I want to be rounded I want to be a rounded biblical thinker around a biblical liver liver that's income heart height at all you know what I mean so I want to avoid someone taking this and perhaps they are kind of a legalist type person or perhaps they do take us in the wrong sense so let's let's round this out what would be some wrong ways of saying that's worldly like if I go that's worldly and I'm pointing at something that's really not worldly what would that sort of thing be well for one thing trendy doesn't equal worldly if it's trendy that doesn't mean it's worldly if guys start growing their hair long because if some trend or tying it up and some ridiculous looking man bun that's weird to me because I didn't grow up with that probably and because you look like a girl but it's it's just a trend it really doesn't matter it's not worldly just because it's trendy if someone comes in and they wonder like dude that guy's completely trendy everything about him is totally trendy okay who cares there are some who would think that trendy equals worldly and I'll give you an example of this J Vernon McGee who I actually really love and appreciate his ministry and I say currently because he still has a ministry he's going through the Bible every five years on on radio all over the world even though he long ago went to be with the Lord but his ministry through the Bible if you listen to his have you guys heard his stuff before if you listen to his ministry through the Bible you might come across that one study he taught where he talked about how drums were evil and didn't belong in the church anybody else ever hear that you ever noticed that when you taught that one I was like mr. McGee okay what he's saying that drones are evil and don't belong in the church why because in his generation he grew up in drums were not really used they became popularized maybe in jazz bands became popularized by rock bands who had a lot of ungodly elements in their music so he associated drums with the ungodly stuff the worldly stuff that was in this rock music he associated that with rock music so when someone wanted to bring the drums into the church he just figured you're bringing the ungodliness into the church too he said the last time I checked round pieces of wood with skin on top of them don't automatically bring sin into the building to my knowledge and after reading Psalm 150 I don't see how anybody could say any particular instrument is evil I mean I'm just saying Psalm 150 it says like praise him with everything and it specifically mentions drums and loud clanging cymbals and things like that so I'm going alright Jay Burnham ickey what happened to you you're a godly guy what was your mistake you mistook a trend for worldly instead of seeing the worldliness in the trend you just saw and attach the to like somebody maybe they've listened to carnal country music and it really stumbled them so now if they hear anything that's country related at all they feel like it's wicked and sinful yet there might be country music that totally glorifies the Lord and so we shouldn't say no there's not and I'm not a big country fan but I don't really care my point is we have to separate the trend from the ungodliness in the trend to be able to see clearly on those issues now if it stumbles you don't do it we'll get there in Romans 14 we'll get to the issue of personal conscience and what stumbles you but I don't want us to say Trinity equals worldly we have to separate the trend from the sin I knew of a girl who came to our youth ministry and she'd come to from a different church and she came and asked me after church and she she says Pastor Mike have a question for you so what is it she says is it okay for girls to wear pants is it a sin if they wear pants and I said of course obviously yes no but what actually happened is she went to a church not not far from yours to few blocks away where the whole congregation all the girls wear dresses now I don't care that they were addresses that's fine I think dresses are nice I like when girls wear dresses I think it's nice but they taught that it was sin if they didn't and that's a different issue isn't it I mean I don't see in scripture where it says you know it definitely says like in the law actually said girls wear girl clothes guy work I clothes don't be cross-dressing that's actually in the Levitical law I don't think that we're under the law but there's a principle there where gods like look I made gender for a reason we should preserve these gendered distinctions that's important but last time I was in the girls section also sounds weird I go with shopping with my wife so we're so last that we were together she's like do you like this shirt or whatever yes I noticed that there were I don't know girl pants so I figure if their girl pants and they're girls that I probably nothing wrong with it so that again is the issue of associating trends because they're Church probably came from a trendy tradition where skirts and dresses as what girls wore guys were pants and then when random trends of society shifted along those lines they couldn't separate the trend from the sin so that that's a mistake that we sometimes make so I think another one is slang doesn't necessarily equal worldly if someone used this slang and I think cussing is sin I I'm fully convinced that cussing is sin and I know many believers even around the world disagree with me on this they're wrong but maybe they'll come around just say no corrupt word so but as far as I know society these words are corrupt so we shouldn't allow them to come out of our mouths but but let's say that someone just has slang like they're just they just talk whatever and some slangy terms and that sort of thing this isn't necessarily like an ungodly thing or a worldly thing this is just probably a regional thing the area where they live and the group they hung out with growing up that's not really an issue sinfulness worldliness that equals lack of submission to God so I think if there's a sense in which within this trend there's a rebellion to God the rebellion is the issue not the trend and that would be I think a wise way we could analyze our own lives there are certain things that are popular do I partake of these things well okay there are certain trends that come in with clothing that are not only trendy they're also very lusty very carnal they are meant to stir up lust in other people okay well that's a sin issue there it's connected to a trend but the sin issue is what we really got to deal with so we should address those issues as well so that's one side we don't want to identify worldliness wrong but the other issue is this a lot of Christians they have bad excuses for worldliness so are there kind of on the flip side there they're not maybe like me I've always I've always leaned more conservative leaned more like better safe than sorry like don't partake you know kind of issue that's the way I've always leaned but there are others who lean the other way and they typically say things like well it doesn't bother me but I'm like I keep looking for that scripture passage that says and when you follow Jesus just don't do anything that doesn't bother you like it's not about you first question does it bother my Lord and Savior second question does it bother my neighbors and my friends and loved ones third question does it bother me that's the order of things but they go straight to does it bother me and they don't think about anything else that is a mistake so there's some bad excuses for worldliness sometimes it's outreach its outreach man I'm witnessing to these people when I hang out with these ungodly people and we do ungodly things and we have ungodly jokes and we have ungodly relationships but they cuss less when I'm around so it's outreach biblically let me say this this is a dictionary issue right outreach is a gospel term not a relational term outreach is not a relationship relationships aren't outreach they're relationships outreach is what you do with with sharing the gospel to people so if I go and I feed the homeless but I don't share the gospel that's not outreach that's feeding the homeless which is good but don't call it outreach check this is just confusion if I go and I hang out my friends and I spend week after week and month after month and year after year with them and I never show the gospel that's not outreach that's just friendship so this is just the biblical term outreach in fact to to preach the gospel like break it down it means what to say it out loud the gospel you are a sinner you need Jesus he paid for you God loves you turn your life to Him that that would be preaching the gospel but it requires words so sometimes we become worldly when use outreach as an excuse but we're not actually out reaching another one that I sometimes have heard is the accusation of legalism this is when I heard a lot when I was younger because I sort of almost hung out with two different kinds of Christians I had like these kinds of Christians that were very strict you know and I felt like aligned with that like I say there's a strict sort of careful walk with the Lord abstain from anything that you might seem problematic you know in your walk and another group of Christians that never really worried about any of that kind of stuff and looked at you funny if you brought it up they were like how have you seen that movie and you're like no I haven't seen that they're like and they were like judging you for not partaking or something it was weird you know and I kind of had these two different groups and the accusation of legalism would come up if someone found out that I didn't like listen to secular music or something like that oh you're legalist I didn't say you couldn't just this didn't you know I don't wanna is that okay and they looked down actually on me to be honest what's a biblical response well legalism is it isn't is a serious issue if you are a legalist here's the important thing to know you're not saved legalism biblically the legalists issue is someone who thinks you have to perform works to be saved the law of works is how you'll be saved that's legalism telling Christians they're under the law that was legalism but we've taken that word and we've imported it to our Christian vernacular where it's like someone goes I don't know if that was very loving the way you just talked to your mom oh don't be legalist man wait a minute I thought love was the greatest command that's not legalism that's just love now I don't like it when people point out my problems but that doesn't mean they're a legalist that's that's just not very careful theology so no standard of actually living holy can be called legalism and dismissed now somebody who believes in the real standard of holiness were called to can become sort of a blind you know judge machine to everyone they're around I'm in a fix and tweak everybody and all their issues every time they do something wrong every time they look sideways I'll be like what would Jesus do you know I'm gonna and I'm gonna do this over and over and I and I forget that the call is for me to follow Jesus not for me to grout everybody by the neck and force them to follow Jesus like that but it it really is a constant work of grace in my life and you shouldn't expect everyone to know everything you know about sanctification all at once but but those are bad excuses for worldliness though to say it's outreach but you're actually in sin that's not outreach you're just in sin to say it's legalism and then you go and do your sin that's not legalism dude that's holiness we're called to holiness that's good but there is a sobering reality that I may not feel or see my own worldliness we're like the the frog in the in the pot of water you know this you guys have all heard the analogy if you take a frog a cold-blooded creature you throw it into a bottle of boiling water it's gonna jump out freak out and get out of there as quick as possible but if you put it in a pot of room-temperature water and then you turn the fire on and let the heat slowly rise the Frog doesn't realize the temperature's going up because it can't tell because it's acclimated to the temperature and so it just gets cooked right there now I must say I don't know if this is true and I don't recommend you try it to find out so I have been told I'm not sure who figured this out or why but it's a fitting analogy for what happens though I'm in the I'm in the world and I'm in a worldly part of the world we live in Southern California like this is a pretty ungodly area and I have to think that I may be desensitized to some of my own ungodliness just because of those around me not so much you guys as the world around me you know not you not you obviously but um but I don't want to be like this I want to not be conformed to the world but I want to be transformed do you know how much of the Bible the New Testament in particular is written to Christians to try to say like hey wake up hey wake up you have this amazing calling in your life hey over here over here look up turn your eyes upon heaven rid your life of worldliness follow Jesus in fact the way cup passage Corinthians wake up oh you sleeper arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you that was written to Christians I mean read that read the letters in Revelation about what Jesus says to the churches and one time we were at a meeting and somebody asked like what what church in the book of Revelation do you think we are and and everybody went around and and you and you yeah if you know those seven churches well you know there's only two to pick from if you know for you to say who you want to be right and you're like but we're not being martyrs so I guess we can't be that wine yes okay so you're like Philadelphia yeah but the reality is that if you if you went to all those churches they all would have thought they were Philadelphia right that so I just want to be honest and say look I'm not looking at myself in wordly for self approval I'm looking inwardly for God's direction Lord show me if there's worldliness in my heart because I don't want it to be there show me just to live more godly I want to be renewed in my mind well that means I need to be not conformed to this world so that I can be transformed so much of the Bible's like this let me read to you one one of the verses in mind Hebrews 5:14 or Paul writes Paul excuse me it might be Paul I really don't know who it is some people think it was Paul Hebrews 5:14 he says but solid food belongs to those who were full age that is those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil let me explain the context of that verse he's writing to them and he's like telling him about these gospel issues and Old Testament pictures and new Testament realities and all this stuff and he says to them oh I want to I want to teach you so much more theology but you're dimwits you're spiritually dull and he then explains why they're spiritually dull he says the reason why is cuz I want to give you solid food like deeper theology that's the solid food but instead he says yeah but you don't have what your senses exercised to discern both good and evil you aren't careful in what you call good and in what you call evil you casually let evil come into your zone or your life without identifying it for what it is and therefore get this you're not ready for deeper theology that's really interesting to me they weren't having a right attitude of holiness and so they weren't ready for deeper theology so in other words our attitude towards sin and worldliness prepares us to have a mind that's impacted more by God that's exactly what Romans is talking about don't be conformed about be transformed now let me ask you a question is a rhetorical question don't answer out loud anyway if you had to pick between these two options what which one would you pick option one living a life that is just totally too strict one that's way way too strict you do not need to be this strict in your Christian life about how much you pray I want you read the Bible all the things you abstain from you do not have to be this strict but that's one option you're way too strict the other option is you're not strict enough and you let sin into your life but imagine this from this day forward you have to pick and stick to whichever one you chose living a more relaxed life where there's more sin or living the much stricter life but you know you're safe you're not sinning but you're doing more than you even have to do by far which would you pick just think which is you're just d'azur in yourself just go towards that's the direction I would go because that might reveal something about us and you start to maybe if you're like me feel the struggle of sin about how you're like Lord I want to live a holy life and you're like but I'm kind of lazy too and we start to realize this it seems to me that that reveals maybe what side we lean on so do not be conformed to this world but be transformed and not that word in the Greek it's the same word we get our English word metamorphosis so really is transformed so Christians are to be transformers more than meets the eye we are that's from the old cartoon that sound by the way we are on a journey of some people like that's worldly my girl okay listen to the first part of my message where as a Christians were on a journey of inside out transformation from the inside out we're being transformed we're being changed second corinthians 3:18 talks about this so listen to this verse and think of how it relates to our topic but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord let me read that I'm gonna read the concepts that I just read to you in Reverse it sound kind of strange but I think it helps the verse come together for you God's Spirit is taking me from glory to glory and I'm being transformed into his image butBut the first part of that verse 13 is amazing with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord as in a mirror if I'm looking in a mirror what am I seeing me so what I'm seeing is I'm seeing God's glory being worked out in me God's glory in my transformation is I'm becoming more christ-like I'm be I'm becoming more and more of His image so it's currently it's an internal thing this is an internal transformation now later on this is there's an external transformation that takes place right my body will be renewed as well I will have a body fit for eternity fit for glory all of that I can't wait for that I want to I want to upgrade this this betrayed this model up for the better one all right that would be really nice but Romans 12:2 is speaking on the internal it's speaking about the internal glory to glory the the internal transformation speaking to my mind my behavior my nature all of that so I see what I think is a key concept in Romans twelve verses one and two key for the Christian life but it's it's it's also throughout the book of Romans so let me see if I can if I can take what I share with you so far show you how this fits with what we've seen throughout the book of Romans I mean he he'd slowly got us to chapter 12 right let's not forget everything else we've heard based on Romans 1 I think I can say that when a person chooses sin they become more sinful in their very inner person because Romans 1 it says that over and over again it says they didn't choose to retain the knowledge of God so God gave them over to a debased mind it says that they they chose sin so God gave them over to vile passions so they become more and more wicked and sinful because of the choices they make they choose to sin and it become a sin jesus said if anyone sins he becomes a slave of sin so this is the downside right that my my choices of what I do with my body in the area of sin affect my internal person and I go I instead of going from glory to glory I go from gory to gory I get I go downhill instead of uphill that that's the issue I become I become conformed but Romans 12 verses 1 and 2 it gives us a completely opposite picture of this it says in verse 1 present your bodies to the Lord and in verse 2 and your minds will be transformed renewed so just like in Chapter 1 we see them committing sin with their bodies and becoming internally more sinful in chapter 12 we see the Christian life is living daily moment by moment for Jesus with my physical body and then that resulting in the renewal of my internal person I'm saying you can change your mind with your actions you can change your mind with your actions which is good news because some of us are like I really could use some internal mental transformation Lord and the idea is stop conforming to the world and there may be things that come to your mind right now I know exactly this is this way there's this way in that way these are the things I'm doing that are conforming stop that commit your ways to the Lord physically with your own body and let God renew your mind I think that's really good news so what is meant by mind what's my mind in this context I think it means multiple things it refers to and this is the word itself it can refer to these different things it could be the your way of thinking just your general attitude about things this is kind of like the way you think about things your intellect itself so intellectual capacities your emotional core that is included in this idea of the mind especially in the Greek and it can also refer to the inner stuff of motives and desires and basically all that occupies your conscious self so it really is more than just an intellectual thing it goes into much more dimensions than that of a person's character so what then if that's my mind if my mind is my emotions my thoughts my attitudes my desires my hopes my fears all that's included in my mind then how do I get my mind renewed renewed I like that word renewed it's not just new its renewed I need my mind renewed because I because the the things of this world pollute it and then God renews and restores it maybe your mind has been conformed and you look in your mind and your inner self is like there are some ways in which I get stuck on bitterness I get stuck on selfishness I get stuck on anger I get stuck on lust I'm just like it's like this is part of who I am the beautiful thing here is that as you walk in obedience to God he'll renew the internal parts that you don't know how to affect and how to change I think this is like a formula in this sense to be renewed you can be renewed there's hope for you so the renewal here is like the undoing of Romans 1:28 I mean in fact let me read that verse to you it says even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which we're not fitting and so as Christians I'm doing the things that are fitting and getting a renewed mind people don't realize this the the evil people in Romans 1 are the saved people in Romans 12 let this sink in that God is doing a transformative work constantly in us as believers now I'm tempted as a pastor and as a Bible teacher someone who especially loves being biblical thinking biblically about everything I'm tempted to talk about the Bible now right about having our minds renewed and speaking about the Bible and I could because the Bible powerfully in our minds and changes us from the inside out that's absolutely true but that's not the point of the passage the point of this passage is not about reading and studying the scripture it's about living godly lives and having that make us more godly on the inside the inner person becomes more of that so that is ultimately by his spirit so this transformation of my mind comes through acts of obedience let me summarize this point because I think this is a principle of Christianity that nobody ever taught me that I want us to hopefully get into our arts when we yield our bodies to sin it takes our minds along with it our inner person goes down that road and we become more of that thing also when we yield our bodies to God it takes our minds along for the ride and we become more godly from the inside out some people say people don't change actually based on Scripture people can't stay the same whatever actions they do they will be changed one way or another and this is actually beautiful news Ephesians 4 comes right alongside this biblical principle it says this in Ephesians 4 verses 22 through 24 we read this last week I believe that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts do you see how that principles taking place there the old man his conduct was doing this and he was in the growing more corrupt that was before Christ and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness so I'm now living a holy life living a godly life and this renewal of my mind is taking place there's a connection between your behavior and your mind your inner person so anybody who says it doesn't affect me I don't care what the action is it doesn't affect me they're wrong I know some people who go man I tried reading the Bible I was reading it every day and I had no effect on me and like I I've had people tell me that before not many people but there's been a few and I just thought huh so what happened when you stopped reading the Bible oh yeah well my life wind down here little okay well what do you want me to tell you you know we say it has no effect on us because we're just dim-witted sometimes okay I don't necessarily know I'm the worst patient the doctor because the doctors are like when did these symptoms first come up and I'm like I don't know it was like let me a couple years ago I don't remember you know and then they go well how bad does it hurt on a scale of one to ten and I'm like I don't know I always say like four because I don't know I'm just like really unaware of these types of things until they become extreme right and then you're like that tends to be the way it is as a Christian sometimes our spirits are being impact and ineffective negatively by things and we're unaware of these issues I'm just saying let's just take God's Word that sin always requires a cost and that right living godly living always carries a blessing that's beautiful that's beautiful so what's the end result now we get to the hard part of Romans 12:2 the part that I think a lot of people don't understand even after sitting in a Bible study so let me see if I can try to help with this this difficult phrase that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God prove okay that's not how English usually works prove the perfect and good and acceptable will of God this is a difficult phrase and it's difficult because I think we don't have a perfect English word to put in place of the Greek word that's there there's one of those moments where it's a Jenna SiC why you know my favorite French word because it means I don't know what it is so you sound really sophisticated when you're really just saying you're ignorant this word this word translator prove it has a certain age in Issaquah you know we don't know what it okay it's doc Amazo is the is the actual Greek word but it means to prove by testing to examine to interpret to discern to demonstrate to judge as good or to approve what English word says all that yeah we don't have a really good equivalent for that so as I understand it these definitions all relate to one of really three different things recognizing something for what it is demonstrating the truthfulness of that thing like showing it to others or yourself and endorsing or approving of that thing so I see it for what it is I demonstrate that it's real and I approve of it I'm affirming of those things of the factual truthfulness of it so think of that in place of the word prove that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God that you may these three things dim recognize the truthfulness that God's will is acceptable good and perfect that you may demonstrate to the world that God's will is acceptable good and perfect and that you may affirm the truthfulness of that fact as well so you're recognizing and affirming it and demonstrating it so let's talk about those concepts that's why in any translation you're gonna have a difficult time on that particular verse I think so let's take those three concepts recognizing God's will this is not just as some people take it if I'm being renewed in my mind I recognize God's will as in I know if I should go left or right at the stoplight that's not primarily the issue if God's will scripture is more emphasizing God's will for our lives in general than it is emphasizing God's will for our lives in little decisions we make in fact some of us we we have the disease of not being able to make choices I always want divine direction for each choice I make because I don't want any bad things to happen in my life here's the thought if you lean on that side of things God you have to confirm to me what to do all the time God would not have written the book of Proverbs if he didn't want you to make decisions think about it why would you need wisdom if all you needed was direction wisdom comes for those things now God I do believe the Lord does sometimes lead us and guide us in our choices and sometimes in my life I pray I seek the Lord I have no direction so I make wisdom with wise counsel I make a choice and I look forward and I use godly principles in my life and that's perfectly fair there's nothing ungodly or unspiritual about that but the main will of God that we're talking about in Romans 12:2 I think is God's will our sanctification that's what first Thessalonians says 1st Thessalonians 4:13 it says this is the will of God are you ready this is the will of God O Lord is his name Toby what's his name I wouldn't marry a man you know is that is that the will of God or like listen listen is it is it gonna be I'm gonna be a trashman what's my job Lord I want to know this is the will of God criminal okay your sanctification oh that's not as exciting to me that should be more exciting to you because this is a bigger deal than who you married your sanctification this is a bigger deal to my job you get this may be a shocking reality here but the phrase that you may be able to prove God's will it might here be saying if you don't offer your bodies to the Lord you won't even know what sanctification looks like you will you literally will turn to people and say it doesn't bother me my sin has no impact on me I think I'm fine because you can't see because you become darkened also we demonstrate God's will that would be in godly living and in the transformation that takes place in our lives so we're I'm not I'm proving God's will in the sense of recognizing and improving in the sense of demonstrating it so I live out God's will like I mean that's kind of exciting if you think God's amazing and you're thinking you get to live out his will in this world that's pretty exciting and then finally you get to endorse his will and I think this is real maturity he's when the Christian they not only know that's right that's wrong but they they agree they agree that's wrong and it's actually wrong it's not secretly good you know stolen waters are sweet proverbs says stolen waters are sweet rumors and gossip they're like tasty trifles tasty I'm also tasty truffles but that would be different but they're like these I remember stealing the candy bar when I was a kid I thought well this candy bar tastes better than normal candy bars because it had the excitement of theft but now I'm grown in spiritual maturity from the time I was 9 till now slightly and if I was to see like any part sure but not fed if I stole a candy bar now it would it would taste bitter in my mouth at this point because I've grown in my spiritual maturity to the point where I actually see some things as being not just don't do that but as it's actually wrong like you sin takes on the EU factor the yuck factor in the spiritually mature Christian and godliness takes on the satisfaction factor in the spiritually mature Christian so the immature believer they have they're not yet learning this how to approve of the good and acceptable and perfect will of God so those are three qualities of God's will are specifically three things that you need to renewed mine to understand that's that God's will is good God's will is acceptable and God's will is perfect so let's unpack those I love words in the scripture that they're they're there for a reason again it's not primarily about specific decisions you make in life you might want it to be about that and I'm fine if it's about that but I'm just reading the past of saying I don't think that's the case this is primarily about the opposite of worldliness which would be godliness don't be conformed to this world be transformed from the inside out so first God's will is good his will is good that is it's morally upright God's will is good whatever he wants that's the right thing to do morally but there's another side of that good coin and that's just like it's good like today we went out with my mom and we got lunch and we had some chocolate cake for dessert and you know what that cake was it was good that's what it was it was good it was really tasty it was good the barbecue was pretty good too so that's another side of the coin of God's will being good that I look at God's will and I go God your will is good I love it it's desirable it's satisfying it's pleasurable it's pleasurable I don't say no to sin like no no sin oh I want you so bad but no I'm just gonna go do good things like it's a burden but rather it's like you know yuck get away sin oh I'm gonna delight in the things of the Lord cuz I see that they're good so the spiritually mature believer sees that God's will is good it's wonderful it's also acceptable God's will is acceptable and here's a question I have is well who is it acceptable to me or the Lord well ultimately it's acceptable to the Lord obviously it's it's the good and pleasing or except the ones pleasing same word here but it also is acceptable to me like pleasing satisfying to me God's will is satisfying look at what Jesus said when he was in fact John chapter 4 you might turn there John 4 verse 34 we'll look at I'll give you a second to turn there which I rarely do sorry bad Bible teacher but in John 4 Jesus encounters the woman at the well and he's outside of the town of Samaria and he tells the disciples to go to Samaria for what reason he says go into the town because I am hungry so they go to get him some food he encounters this woman he'd all this great stuff happens they're too much to unpack today right and then the disciples come back and they're like all right Laura we brought you some food and then what does he say to them John 4:34 he says to them my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work you know what's pleasing what's satisfying to me doing God's will greater than my daily food is following his holy word that is a mature believers position now if you don't feel this way that's because you just need a continual renewal of your mind as you will submit your bodies to the Lord not conformed to this world and your mind is renewed you get more of the sense of the satisfaction of just doing God's will and just being pleased in it God I did your will this is beautiful for ministry purposes because when you minister to people you sometimes look at the reactions and you want to be satisfied by the reactions satisfied by the impact you think you see but Jesus is giving us an example here to not be satisfied by the impact I think I see but to be satisfied by simply the act of obeying God that's that's a little deeper that's a little bit more and then finally his will is what good acceptable and perfect perfect now that any time you just about anytime you see the word perfect in your New Testament it comes from a Greek word that can mean perfect mature complete full-grown so I am perfect in the sense that I'm fully grown like as far as I'm not getting any taller I'm not getting any bigger I'm a full-grown man I'm perfect in that sense I'm certainly not perfect in other senses that's for sure so you have to when you see that word perfect or mature or complete it just depends in the context what we mean when we speak of God's will being perfect I think there's a maturity and a completeness in God's will in the sense that there's nothing to add to it God I know that you want me to do this but oh I feel like my life would be better if I just sprinkled in a little bit of sin a little bit of compromise but the mature Christian can see that God's will is perfect and it doesn't need any additives doesn't need anything added to it it's complete that's all you need is the will of God some act like God's will is the lesser life instead of the greater life the mature Christian sees the God's will is the greatest life you could possibly live the immature Christian or possibly carnal Christian they think that people who are living that that really really faithful walk with Jesus that they're just missing out and they look at them and they're like man I don't think I could live like you you give up so much and and then the mature believer looks over at them and says I don't think I could live like you you give up so much and that's the mature believers mind so to see that God's will is good perfect it's acceptable it's all of those things the world gets all three of these wrong right they don't think God's will is ultimately really good they just think of it as oppressive most of the time they don't think it's really acceptable or that it's really satisfying it's not enough and and they don't think it's perfect in the sense of this this isn't the mature life this isn't the best life this isn't none of those things that just the world's can be so don't be conformed to this world that's the point right now we don't wanna be conformed in our actions or our attitudes but I think the easiest thing to spot is when our attitudes or our exceed our actions are wrong attitudes are a little harder to discern it's hard for me to be aware of my attitude most of the time but but I can at least be aware of my actions and focus on those and so it's a good practice to look at your daily life the things you're doing and just just be like Lord is this action pleasing to you is this within your will and if you're thinking like but that means I can't just walk on the beach and enjoy the air and I'm like well yeah yes you can as unto the Lord actually that that would be the whole point now there's there's the big debates we can get into over conscious conscience conscience issues issues of conscience your personal where you draw the lines on what music you listen to what movies you listen to or watch or don't watch and all that kind of stuff that's how handled in chapter 14 so we'll be getting there just just wait it'll be it sometime within the next 18 months we'll be in chapter 14 it doesn't I'll just say this it it it shouldn't matter that your issue doesn't bother you until after you've asked does it bother a little Lord and does it bother or hurt my neighbor then you can ask if it bothers you but first we need to put others first to put the Lord first and if you say well I know this is wrong but it has no effect on me that's certainly not true certainly not true I I once talked to a guy who was in ministry who said that him and his wife would get mad at each other and call each other names and yell at each other that happened all the time and it had no effect on his marriage and I looked at him the way you just like to me really I'm thinking it affects your marriage thinking it affects your marriage and I don't know if they're still married or not but you yeah do not be deceived God is not mocked whatsoever you sow you will reap that's just the reality of it so having our minds renewed in closing right is focused on offering my body to the Lord and this affects a transformation in my but I need to make a decision to not absorb the worldliness of the world so I can be sanctified and set apart for the Lord and there is hope if your inner life is a little messed up and your mind seems a little corrupted focus on submitting your body to the Lord and let him work on your mind let's pray father God we thank you for this word it's so applicable into our daily moment-to-moment life to submit our bodies to you to live unto you physically Lord so that we might see our internal self transform more and more into the image of Christ from glory to glory God be glorified in us let us become mature Christians who see the goodness of your will the perfection of your will and the satisfaction of your will we pray God that you just give us clear minds in Jesus name Amen [Music] energy [Music]

Channel: Mike Winger

Views: 56,213

Rating: 4.8946691 out of 5

Keywords: Mike Winger, BibleThinker, Bible Thinker, How do I change the way I think, change from the inside out, renewed mind, how to get a renewed mind, help, not of this world, do not conform, what is worldliness, transformed, spiritual transformation, how strict should Christians be, what does Romans 12:2 mean, Romans, Romans 12:2, prove the will of God, what is a renewed mind, how do I renew my mind, do not be conformed to this world

Id: wHrwITXWkEY

Length: 58min 20sec (3500 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 20 2017