Men's Bible Study (3) - " ... " - Romans 12:2a

Annoucements:

Thank y’all for being here.

Week 2 in our books, if you didn’t get one you can back there.

Men’s work day.

Ladies Progressive Dinner

Title of our Study is “It’s My Turn”

We are going to spend the next week looking at Romans 12:1-2. The invitation to be a living sacrifice.

Over the next four weeks we are going to talk about (1) Spriitual motivation. (2) Spiritual Realization, (3) Spiritual Transformation, and (4) Spiritual Revelation.

Romans 12:1-2.

In our study tonight, the title of the lesson is this:

Romans 12:1-2 is the transition to the last major segment of this Epistle to the Romans. The doctrinal foundation for the Christian life has been laid down in the first 11 chapters. Now in chapters 12-15 Paul will spell out some of the ways our faith and doctrine should be demonstrated in our daily lives. These transitional verses introduce us to the attitudes and actions which should set the Christian apart from the world in which he lives.

It is vitally important that we know and understand the doctrines Paul has taught in the first 11 chapters of Romans. But we must recognize they are truths God intends for us to put into practice. We must not file these truths away in the back drawer of our minds; we must live them out in our daily walk in the Spirit. These two verses are a call to commitment, a commitment to be worked out by a whole new way of thinking and behaving. Heed well these words.

This message is:

1. For believers

2. A call to action

3. Built on foundation for what’s already been said “therefore by the mercies of God…”

But it goes even deeper than this. Chapters 1-11 describe the means whereby the actions called for in chapters 12-15 can be carried out. Chapters 1-11 also provide the motivation for doing so. Not until chapter 12 are we equipped and prepared for the application of chapters 1-11.

Recap last week:, we saw:

The Approach from Paul

Approaches with Good Motives

“I beseech you…”

He humbly implored believers.

Approaches God’s Men

Brethren...

The Appeal from Paul

In View of God’s Mercy

We talked about the motivation for us offering ourselves is “in view of the cross.:

God’s mercy includes:

Love

grace

the Holy Spirit

peace

faith

comfort

power

hope

The Action

be available

be alive

And last week we talked about Romans 12:1b… in a message titled:

It Only Makes Sense

The Presentation of a Living Sacrifice

“present” - yield to yourself

It requires a few things:

A Place

a Priest

A Provision

The Practice of a Living Sacrifice

The Spiritual Dos

Prayer

Praise

Surrender the Will

The Spiritual Don’ts

Don’t be lazy

Don’t be a pervert

So today we’re going to move into the second verse.

“A Daily Reset” -

How have you been a living sacrifice this week?

Spiritual Transformation

Randy was unsure about his choice of clothes for church so he sought some counsel from his wife. He asked, “Do you think I should change?”

She took advantage of the opportunity and replied, “It depends—are you talking about changing your shirt or making a wholesale change as a human being?”

I tell you that story because I think the question about whether or not we need to change needs to be asked ourselves?

YES! we need to change, and we need to change moment by moment.

______________________

Some people don’t want to accept their need for change. The story is told about a doctor who told a man to give up red meat, so he stopped putting ketchup on his hamburgers

Change is not always easy.

______________________

1. Renounce the World

It means to “Formally reject or abandon something.”

Renouncing something is understanding that it has no value to you, and you don’t believe in it.

It’s valuing something else more!

Some people renounce relationships.

Some people renounce faith.

As Christians, we should renounce the ways of the world...conformed.

What should I notice here?

a. Denying Conformity

A man dialed a wrong number and got the following recording: “I am not available right now, but I thank you for caring enough to call. I am making some changes in my life. Please leave a message after the beep. If I do not return your call, you are one of the changes.”

That ole boy wasn’t playing around, right? he made the decision to separate himself from some people.

Now, look back at verse 2 - “and be not...”

This is some strong language here! No playing around at all.

notice this: “and be not” is Paul saying, “be separated.”

In the Septuagint (the earliest full Greek Bible.) this phrase is also used in Genesis 12:1. What’s in Genesis 12:1? God told Abraham to separate from his own country and move!

Separation in the Bible is two fold:

from whatever is controversy to the mind of God

unto God himself.

Separation from evil implies:

separation in desire, motive, and act from the world.

separation from false teachers

2 Timothy 2:20–21 KJV 1900

20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

separation rewards us with fellowship with God!

b. Defining Conformity

what is conformity?

J.B. Phillips translated this passage like, “don’t be squeezed into the world’s mold.”

Conform - is being shaped into a certain mold.

it’s becoming a clone.

It’s being fashioned.

What are we warned to be conformed into?

The patterns of this world or “age.”

“Age” carries with it a sense of the:

beliefs -

the philosophies

the methodologies

and the strategies of the fallen world in which we live.

It is not just the world and its people in their fallen state. It is the worldviews and practices that derive from the fallen state that define the age in which humans live at any time in history.

what did Paul say about the world/age?

Galatians 1:4 (KJV 1900)

4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

2 Corinthians 4:4 (KJV 1900)

4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

1 John 5:19 KJV 1900

19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

Why would we ever want to align ourselves with the evil world?

Because it’s attractive to the flesh.

c. the Danger of Conformity

Evidence of a false regeneration

1 John 2:15–17 KJV 1900

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

You really aren’t changing.

It adjusts your standard of holiness.

Someone locally had been murdered and my mom told me about it. My response was something nonchalant

2. Renewed by the Word

you will be transformed by the renewing of your minds.