Verse 1: “I plead with you…
(see
previous chapter – Romans 11). Paul has just finished writing the words
that finish chapter 11:33-36
33Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are his riches
and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his
decisions and his methods! 34For who can know what the Lord
is thinking? Who knows enough to be his counselor? 35And who
could ever give him so much that he would have to pay it back? 36For
everything comes from him; everything exists by his power and is
intended for his glory. To him be glory evermore. Amen.
Paul
has just explained to the church in Rome how God has caused the gospel
to go out to and save the rest of the world (the gentiles), and how he
will one day pour out the same blessing on the Jewish again (that’s not
to say that salvation is out of their reach now, far from it.) Paul
cannot help himself from exalting in God, in his riches, grace, love,
wisdom and knowledge. He concludes that God is so much higher than we
are in every way. He concludes that he is deserving of all the praise,
of everything we can possibly give to him in appreciation of who he is
and what he’s done for us. That’s way he pleads with the Romans,
and consequently us. He is desperate for all believers to do what is the
only suitable thing to do – give up everything we have and are to God.
The
process of transformation begins when we make the decision to stop
conforming because of who we are now and what God has done for us.
The
next stage is for us to give our lives over to God to do with as he
pleases:
A) Sacrifice your life
Verse 1 “Give your bodies to God.
Let them be a living and holy sacrifice…
The
word sacrifice would have made a more telling impression on the
Christians he was writing to at the time. They would probably have seen
an animal sacrificed at the altar. They would have seen how the animal
was emptied of every last ounce of blood; they would have seen how the
different parts of the animal were spread on the altar and they would
have then seen those parts completely burned up as an offering to God.
That would have been a striking piece of imagery and would have been
extremely challenging for them. That same challenge is to us. There’s
nothing half-hearted about that appeal is there! We are told to give up
our lives, every single part of our beings. We are to sacrifice our own
desires, our own wants, our own dreams and to makes them God’s desires
for us and God’s dreams through us.
“Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping,
eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God
as an offering” – The Message
Verse 1 “when you think of what
God has done for you, is that too much to ask?”
Part
of laying down your life as a sacrifice for God is not conforming to the
ways of the world that oppose or contradict God’s ways. Paul is pleading
with us to leave those ways behind based on the argument that God is
worth it and that it’s not too much to ask given what he’s done for us.
B)
Stop Conforming
What
is the pattern and culture of the world? A world mindset takes God out
of the equation, is dominated by sin and the physical, cares little for
eternity and only lives for self.
Every
day we are bombarded by ideas and lifestyles that are presented to us as
natural and satisfying. We tend to be imitators and not instigators by
nature, always influenced by what we see, hear and experience – who we
spend time with, what we do.
It
all seems so innocent and harmless
So
often we can find ourselves watching TV or doing things with others that
we shouldn’t but it just doesn’t seem that bad. After all,
‘everybody else is doing it, watching it, saying it, and they
think it’s OK’ – does it matter that much? It is no small thing to go
along with the flow as if it doesn’t really matter – it does! It matters
to God and it should matter to us. No sin is a small sin. One small sin
would have been enough to put Jesus through the suffering and hell that
he went through for you and I. There is no small sin when it’s committed
before the King of all Kings. One small sin of rebellion is enough to
commit a person to hell for ever – that matters!
Illustration
– We’ve all seen those films where at the end one character is trying to
convince another to come back with them to a different land or country
but they don’t want to leave their familiar surroundings behind. The
land that Paul is trying to convince us to leave behind is a
place of poverty, sadness and deception, and the land we’re invited to
(and even belong to already as citizens) is a place of fulfilment and
life where God and truth is King. We’d be swapping a dying and doomed
world for a world of joy, riches and eternal life.
C)
Let God Transform you
Once
we’ve decided to stop conforming and to give ourselves to God we are in
a better position to then be transformed by God.
The
chief way in which you stop conforming is to positively allow God to
transform you instead. It’s a daunting prospect to imagine that we have
the task of changing all by ourselves, well here the bible says that we
can leave the work of transforming up to God. Yes, we play our part, we
don’t just sit back and relax expecting God to do it all, but the
spiritual transformation is in the capable and powerful hands of God –
now that’s a relief!!
Verse 2 “by the renewing of your
mind” (“by changing the way you think”)
“Every thought that we think is a brick
in the house of our lives.”
It
starts in the mind and is a process that goes on and continues each day
of our lives. “Where the mind goes, the man follows.”
Every
thought that we think is a brick in the house of our lives. Our lives
are built on the thoughts that we have about life. If you fill your mind
with junk then your life is going to resemble a weak and dirty old
shack. Don’t you want to build a house that is strong, clean and noble –
a fitting residence for the Holy Spirit?
What’s it going to be – Good thoughts or
bad thoughts?
Bad Thoughts
Satan
lies and deceives us. The world has taken on his lies and deceptions,
and has fallen for them ‘hook, line and sinker’. The sad thing is that
the Church so often follows suit.
The lies that
demolish instead of building up:
-
Money is the root of
all happiness – don’t follow the world’s financial charter
-
Sin satisfies – it is
only ever pleasurable for the moment but it demolishes the strength
of your spiritual life
-
Get what you can for
yourself (what a selfish and cruel society that breeds) – no, give
what you can to others
-
God won’t get you
through difficult times or persecution – no, he always does
How do
you counteract the lies of the devil and change the way you think?
Good
Thoughts
Don’t
go on what you think or on what you feel. Both are highly
unreliable and sin tarnished sources, rather you rely on the word of
God.
Truth sets you free -
-
Let it formulate your
views/ideas about life
-
Let it be your sin
checker/dirt filter – filter out rubbish into harmful waste bin.
-
Let it inspire your
actions
-
Refill daily. Begin
each day by reminding yourself of how to think and live.
Key
daily thoughts
Begin
each day by filling your mind with the right thoughts – it won’t happen
naturally or by chance
1) Live to please and glorify God
a) Honour him by doing things to the best of your ability
b) Try to know God’s presence throughout the day and
consciously do things for him
c) Remember to give selflessly – look to bless and help
others whenever you can
d) Resolve to be more like
Christ – love, patience, peace, joy, forgiveness, holiness in speech
and action – always looking to be morally positive and healthy.
Make
God proud of you
2) Tell people the good
news
a)
Don’t give people a reason to reject the gospel by the way you
behave
b) Look for an opportunity to
tell someone some or all of the gospel – even if it’s just to
mention that we are Christians and enjoy church or are so glad that we
are Christians.
Make a difference for eternity
The
process – decide not to conform, give yourself to him completely, renew
your mind with the word of God, and watch Him transform you. Then
you will know what it is like to live God’s way, to have him change you
into the person you want to be and to be used by him.
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