Chameleons and Butterflies

Ro 12:1–2 (NIV)

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Introduction

Let me start this morning by asking a question. How many times have you heard someone say, “I going to do my own thing.” I don’t want any part of church, I don’t want any part of Christianity, and I don’t want any part of Christ, because I want to live my life the way that I want to. So many people say they don’t want any part of Christianity because they are afraid that somehow, someway, it will prove to be too confining for them. I remember when I was a teenager in high school. I know it’s hard to believe but one day I was there. A very well known musician named Bob Dylan wrote and recorded a song entitled, “You Gotta Serve Somebody”. The lyrics went something like this: You may be an ambassador to England or France, You may like to gamble, you might like to dance, You may be the heavyweight champion of the world, You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls. You may be a construction worker working on a home, You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome, You might own guns and you might even own tanks, You might be somebody’s landlord, you might even own banks. But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed. You’re gonna have to serve somebody, Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

Talk about the lead up:

Paul has been sharing the message of the Gospel arguing in a sense about the sacrifice of Jesus and how he is meant to be our salvation

Romans A. The Exhortation to Personal Sacrifice (12:1–2)

This verse is one of the most important in all the Bible, and contains more key theological terms and truths for its size than perhaps any other verse of Scripture. Having completed his explanation of sin, salvation, sanctification, and sovereignty, Paul now does to the Roman believers, in a manner of speaking, what the Holy Spirit does in our lives—he urges the Rome believers to act on the truth they have received.

Present yourself as a living sacrifice

Romans (A. The Exhortation to Personal Sacrifice (12:1–2))

In view of God’s mercy. Paul says, it is only reasonable that you offer yourselves to God. Prior to this verse in Romans, Paul has mentioned the mercy of God ten times (Rom. 9:15 [twice], 16, 18 [twice], 23; 11:30, 31 [twice], 32), and mentions it two more times following this verse (12:8 [the mercy of God manifested by human instruments]; 15:9). His conclusion to chapter 11 summarizes all that he has taught on the sovereignty of God in salvation by saying that “God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all” (Rom. 11:32).

When that lamb, or bullock was given to the temple priests to be prepared for the sacrifice, the owner relinquished all rights to the animal. From that moment forth, it became the property of God. No part of the sacrificial animal was ever used for any other purpose than as a sacrifice unto God. It was sacred and dedicated. The owner could not take it back. The priests could not use its flesh for meat. Every part of it was consumed upon the altar or poured out upon the altar for the cleansing of the sin of Israel.

Paul’s use of the words “present” (the verb used is the technical expression for presenting a victim for sacrifice) and “sacrifice” show clearly that he expects the believers to hand over their bodies to God in a manner resembling the way the people of Israel presented their offerings to the Lord. There were, of course, two main kinds of offerings: first, those which led to reconciliation; and, second, those which were an expression of celebration after reconciliation had been accomplished.

Our sacrifice is to be an appreciation and celebration of what Christ has done for our lives

The word “sacrifice” is similar to that of a defeated general in a military situation would hand over his sword, thereby demonstrating the surrender of his whole being

The sacrifice is to be unique in that it will be “living” as opposed to the Old Testament Sacrificial system

This is the same word used throughout the OT and also when Jesus is presented at the Temple by Mary and Joseph.

God will always require a sacrifice without spot or blemish. He will never accept second best

We can’t come to church only when we feel like it and expect God to accept that as a sacrificial service to Him

We can’t come to church only when it’s convenient and expect God to accept our sacrifice.

We can’t come to church or serve God because we are forced to do so and think that God will be pleased with us

We can’t come to church or serve God just because it’s the right thing to do. That’s not the reason that God will accept.

We can’t offer the sacrifice of our lives to God’s service and expect God to accept that sacrifice unless we are giving ourselves willingly and completely to him.

God is sick and tired of Christians who play around with the world and still claim to be living for Him. Either we are living for Him or we aren’t – there is no fence!

God is tired of those who claim to love Him and yet they love the things of the world.

God is tired of those who say they love Him and will not spend time in prayer with Him.

God is tired of those who come to His house on Sunday and get into the party life every other day of the week.

God is tired of those who praise Him in the church and use His name in vain every chance they get.

God hates hypocrites and He says that He will spew them out of His mouth. They leave a bad taste.

There is nothing worse, in the sight of God, than those who claim to love Him, say they want to serve Him and yet will not surrender their heart and life to Him completely.

God doesn’t want conformist

The New International Version Chapter 1

14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.

To conform means to be squeezed into a mold. Allowing yourself to be made like the world is allowing some one else to shape and make you the person they want you to become

These folks are like a chameleon in the wilds of nature. If a chameleon is around green leaves, he blends in and turns green. If he is around any other color he will change to match that color too. That makes him hard to spot so that he can hide from his enemies.

The average person watches about 141 hours of TV per month or 1,692 hours per year how much time do we spend with God 1 to 3 hours a week at church anf if we spent just about and 1 hour a day in prayer and his word that would still be less than 10 hours a week.

So my question is whom do you serve

The New International Version Chapter 25

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

Because human beings are inveterate conformists, the temptation to simply fit into the picture and fade into the scenery can be practically overwhelming.

Romans 8:3–8 NIV

3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

God wants transformers

The committed life, however, is shown by the degree in which the believer stays in the secular world without being trapped by it and without failing to be a witness to it. The tension is aptly described by the Master’s words explaining that we are “in the world but not of it.”

To be “transformed” is to be literally “metamorphosed” or changed into another form. We may draw an analogy with the way caterpillars shed their crinkly skins to become transparent butterflies.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Renew your mind

We could go so far as to say that we were brainwashed by sin.

So how can we renew our mind?

We can resist temptation by meditating on God’s truth and and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide and shape our thoughts and behavior.

Understood in this way, discipleship is not simply about changing our behavior or learning a few lessons—it requires a complete cognitive makeover..

But how exactly is the renewing to take place? What is to “fuel” the metamorphosis that takes place in the believer’s life? Transformation (“conformation” to the image of Christ) happens when the renewed mind begins to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. It is the will of God—his standards, his desires, his motives, his values, his practices—which gradually pull the monarch butterfly of the believer out of the world’s cocoon into which he or she has been squeezed. It is a knowledge and practice of the will of God that leads to spiritual growth and maturity in the Christian’s life.

Boa, Kenneth, and William Kruidenier. Romans. Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000, p. 366.