The upside down: Thinking different on how we view ourself
Notes
Transcript
I. Introduction
a. The first verse I memorized beside John 3:16 was Romans 12:1-2
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 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.
ii. For a long time, I wore this passage like a badge of honor. I used it to launch ministries and discipleship platforms. I remember teaching Chip Ingram’s Making R12 Christians. In my early twenties, I understood this text to mean that Christians were supposed to live differently from the culture at all costs. I believed the harder I worked at renewing my mind, the more different—and like Jesus—I became.
Over the last decade and a half, I’ve come to realize how off base that was. Romans 12 was never primarily about what we can accomplish; it was about surrender. I was trying to transform myself after devoting myself to God, and that doesn’t work. You can no more transform yourself than you can save yourself.
b. Let me ask a question: Does anyone know why God rejected Cain’s offering? Hebrews 11:4 tells us it was because Abel offered a better sacrifice by faith. Why was one offering considered more of an act of faith? The value.
c. In the Old Testament, the sacrificial system always required your best. A burnt offering demanded a lamb without spot or blemish—it had to cost you something. To offer God something that cost you nothing was considered dishonorable. In 2 Samuel, David refuses a free offering, saying he will not sacrifice to the Lord something that costs him nothing.
That value mattered for two reasons: to remind God’s people of the high cost of sin and to show that God desires complete devotion, not half-hearted commitment. Today, Jesus is our final and sufficient sacrifice. We cannot atone for our sins—only He can. What He asks of us now is devotion and trust.
i. When we surrender to Jesus, He transforms us. He lives His life through us.
Romans 12:1–2 sets the tone for the rest of Romans. A renewed mind changes how we view ourselves, fellow believers, authorities, enemies, and the world—but it all starts with surrender.
Nate did a phenomenal job with the last two messages, so this is just an overview of how to achieve a renewed mind.
1. First, we surrender to God. This starts at salvation, but it doesn’t end there. Paul is writing to believers, reminding us that surrender is ongoing. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” those who recognize they bring nothing to God
2. Second, transformation doesn’t come from following rules but from following Him. The more time we spend with Jesus, the more we become like Him. 2 Corinthians 3:18b, “And the Lord-who is the Spirit-makes us more and more like him.”
3. Third, as redeemed people daily yield to the Spirit and come to know him through his word, our minds are renewed into the mind of Christ. Ephesians 3:22-23 “put off your old self, which is being corrupted by it’s deceitful desire; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds”
Don’t worry. God doesn’t want to make us robots. He doesn’t want to change the you that makes you, you. But he does want to get rid of the you inside that wants to destroy you.
Now let’s look at 3–8 and see how a renewed mind looks, thinks of himself.
II. Exposition
a. Romans 12:3
For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.
i. The conformed mind chooses exaltation, but the renewed mind views itself humbly.
1. Paul begins by appealing to “the grace given to me.” This is intentional. Grace means a free gift. So he’s acknowledging that his apostolic authority is not earned but received. Even as a leader, he speaks from a posture of humility.
2. Paul then repeats the word think three times, using a deliberate play on words. His point is not to look down on yourself, but to think rightly, logically, and truthfully.
3. Finally, Paul references, “To the measure of faith given to you.” While debated, I take this to mean the degree of faith one has, which Paul later addresses when he instructs us on how to handle those with weak and strong faith. All together, Paul is defining humility.
ii. The main point: A renewed mind doesn’t inflate self-importance; it sees who we truly are in the light of who God is and all he has done for us.
iii. Practical Explanation and Application: In a world where pride is celebrated—or often overlooked—God’s truth points us in a different direction. Pride is a tricky word because, in Scripture, it can be either positive or negative. In 2 Thessalonians 1:4, Paul speaks with pride as he boasts about the church’s endurance under persecution. Yet Proverbs 8:13 reminds us, “To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance.”
In American culture, the lines between the two have blurred. We speak of pride in our work, education, sports, ethnicity, nation, and families. Some good and some sinful.
So how do we tell the difference? Good pride places God at the center; bad pride places self at the center. What makes pride sinful isn’t what we celebrate, but who we exalt. I can rejoice in our church doing well, but it becomes sinful when the glory points back to leadership or me.
Biblical humility helps us see this clearly. Humility isn’t self-hate or low self-esteem—those are prideful too, because they keep the focus on self. Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less. It’s a God-centered, honest view of ourselves in light of His grace and mercy.
Muhammad Ali’s life illustrates this well. At 22, he won the heavyweight title and famously called himself “the greatest.” Many saw pride, but it was confidence—his resume spoke for itself. Outside the ring, Ali often credited God, advocated for the others, and treated them humbly. Yet his confidence sometimes crossed into arrogance.
On a flight, an attendant asked Ali to buckle during turbulence. He responded, “Superman don’t need no seat belt.” She replied, “Superman don’t need no plane, put your seatbelt on.” Though joking, his inflated self-view led to suffering. Some believe pride is what led him to take risks in the ring that messed him up later in life.
A renewed mind doesn’t say, “I suck,” when God has clearly gifted someone. It says, “God has gifted me. How can I help?” It doesn’t boast about being the best, giving praise to self. It recognizes the ability as grace and asks, “How can I serve?”
We don’t think more highly of ourselves than we should because we’re sinners in need of mercy. We don’t think more lowly of ourselves than we should because we are created and loved by God.
Paul begins here because humility is the bedrock of all Christian living.
An underlying theme of Proverbs, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Proverbs 22:4 says,
The result of humility is fear of the Lord, along with wealth, honor, and life.
This humility fuels the next set of verses. Let’s look at 4-5. So Paul uses this body analogy to describe how we should view ourselves within the church.
b. Romans 12:4-5
Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.
i. Paul is writing to Rome from the city of Corinth, and the two cities share cultural similarities. Because of that, Paul uses the same language, analogies, and addresses similar issues. It’s in these letters that we get most of our teaching on spiritual gifts.
1. 1 Corinthians 12:19-21
If they were all the same member, where would the body be? So now there are many members, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor in turn can the head say to the foot, “I do not need you.”
a. Paul couples this body analogy with humility to teach us to evaluate ourselves logically and humbly. Our gifts—no matter how impressive—are given by God, not for competition, but for collaboration. A conformed mind chooses competition; a renewed mind sees itself unified.
I once helped facilitate cultural training for the Alliance. The material we used cited a well-known study in the book The Difference. It showed that culturally similar groups initially outperformed diverse groups in problem-solving. But once unified around a shared goal, diverse groups consistently outperformed culturally similar groups—even when those groups had higher IQs and skill levels.
Diversity and unity were God’s idea. We see it in the Trinity, in creation, and even in eternity, where cultural identity remains (Rev 7). The world values competition—businesses build next to rivals to win markets. McDonald's across from Burger King, Home Depot across from Lowe’s. That strategy may work for business, but God’s kingdom is different. In the church, unity in diversity is not a trend; it’s the way. Paul says this of Spiritual gifts in Ephesians.
i. “Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”- Ephesians 4:11-13
Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
b. In Micah 4, Micah prophesies about the unity that comes through the gospel, it is often seen as a reversal of the Tower of Babel.
i. Micah 4:3
The Lord will mediate between peoples and will settle disputes between strong nations far away. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore.
Micah 4:5
Though the nations around us follow their idols, we will follow the Lord our God forever and ever.
God made us different; embrace, value, and unite in those differences.
c. Paul closes this section by explaining how we are to think about ourselves, listing the actions that flow from a renewed mindset of humility and unity.
Matthew 15:11
it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”
Defiled thoughts lead to defiled actions, but a renewed mind leads to renewed actions. What follows is not a complete list, but God-given gifts and how we are to use them.
Romans 12:6-8
According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the standard of one’s faith;
if service, in service; if teaching, in teaching; if exhorting, in exhortation;
giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.
i. The word gifts here is charismata, the plural of charisma—where we get the word charismatic. Before explaining these gifts, I want you to hear my heart.
Over the past ten years, I’ve slowly stepped away from organizational labels and affiliations. This isn’t a shot at anyone who still does; I have my reasons. I no longer identify as Reformed, evangelical, conservative, Calvinist, Baptist, or even Alliance unless asked.
One of my favorite rappers, KB, says it well in No Chains: “His glory, that's simple ridin' 'round with that tempo, That's liberal, that's conservative, that's charismatic and reformed too My wife happy and Jesus love me, ain't nothin' left to conform to.”
I accept one label: for follower of Jesus. I want to faithfully exposit (expose) scripture, make disciples, love my family, and his church.
With that said, Paul's point is that a conformed mind uses its gift for glory and to build oneself up, but a renewed mind uses them to glorify God and build his church.
Paul gives three gift categories: speaking, leading, and serving. Now, a believer can have multiple gifts, and some gifts are given to the whole church to be expressed at the time of need.
1. Speaking
a. Prophecy - Let me begin with a disclaimer. The majority of so-called prophets we see on TV, social media, and in public spaces are what I like to call “shamgod.” The shamgod is a basketball move meant to fake out defenders, and many modern “prophets” function the same way. Nearly every person I’ve encountered—online or in person—who claims the title prophet has been deeply off in foundational areas like the authority of Scripture, the Trinity, the gospel, or sin itself.
That said, abuse should never cause us to abandon biblical teaching. I want to give a clear and succinct view of prophecy based on Scripture alone. If you want more, maybe we’ll do a mini-series on spiritual gifts.
b.
i. In Scripture, prophecy falls into two categories: foretelling and forth-telling. Foretelling involves predicting future events, as seen with Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel. In the New Testament, John the Baptist, Simeon, Anna, and Agabus, who foretold a famine in Acts 11 and Paul’s arrest in Acts 21—advice Paul ignored. However, a vast majority of prophecy in the Old and New Testaments is Fourth-telling.
However, the vast majority of prophecy in both Testaments is forthtelling: communicating God’s truth to people through encouragement, guidance, warning, or correction. Most scholars agree that Paul is referring to this gift—not preaching or teaching alone—though those can include prophetic elements.
ii. A simple definition: Prophecy is believers communicating what God brings to mind through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Christians disagree less about what prophecy is and more about whether it still functions today. I believe the authoritative, foundational role of prophet has ceased, but the gift of prophecy remains active within the church.
1. Ephesians 2:19-20 says, s himself as the chief cornerstone.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
A foundation is laid once. The role has ceased, but the gift continues.
2. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21
Do not extinguish the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt. But examine all things; hold fast to what is good. Stay away from every form of evil.
3. 1 Corinthians 14:1
Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives—especially the ability to prophesy.
The purpose of prophecy, as Paul explains in verse 3, is to strengthen, encourage, and comfort.
a. Sometimes prophecy looks like someone calling you because the Lord put you on their heart, and they speak encouragement directly into the very struggle you were wrestling with that morning.
b. Other times, God uses another believer to confirm a difficult decision—not whether to obey Scripture, but decisions like which school to send your child to, which job to take, or where to serve. When we ask, God can guide us through His people.
iii. This makes some people uneasy, depending on their background, and I GET IT. Some grew up in churches where the Holy Spirit and gifts dominated everything; others came from contexts where these passages were never addressed. The fear is usually the same—that someone will undermine Scripture or claim authority equal to it. Paul anticipates that and addressed it.
When he says prophecy should be used “according to the standard of one’s faith,” similar to the word earlier in verse 3, but he uses a different word. Here, he means it must align with the apostolic teaching already given. The gift of prophecy never adds to Scripture or contradicts it—it submits to it. (1 Cor 14:37)
c. Teaching refers not to the general teaching all believers do, but to a specific gifting. It is the careful, faithful explanation of God’s revealed Word, the work of Christ, and Christian doctrine.
d. Exhortation, often translated as encouragement, literally means “to call from behind.” An ancient scholar described it as one who “stirs up the brethren to do good and unbelievers to accept the faith.” This is someone who has your back, rooting for you no matter what.
2. Service Gifts
a. Service is where we get the word deacon. This role first appears in Acts 6, when practical needs like food distribution required attention. Those gifted in serving don’t seek the spotlight; they simply want the team to win.
b. Giving describes those who generously contribute beyond expectation. They steward resources well and look for constant opportunities to bless others.
c. Mercy, or compassion, is the gift of caring deeply for the vulnerable—the sick, the elderly, and children—stepping in wherever help is needed.
3. Leading Gifts
a. Leadership involves guiding others toward a shared vision. These individuals naturally influence others. (1&2Tim, Titus)
ii. Practical Explanation and Application: Paul instructs, “you must serve,” “you must teach,” “you must encourage,” “you must be devoted,” and with mercy, you must do it happily.
Paul’s emphasis isn’t the description of the gifts, but the posture behind them. God calls us to use our gifts willingly, joyfully, and humbly—because the church needs every par
1 Corinthians 12:21-22
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor in turn can the head say to the foot, “I do not need you.” On the contrary, those members that seem to be weaker are essential,
I learned that gifts and being used by God mean that those who are most surrendered to Jesus are the most impactful. In the world, the most gifted are surrounded by others who look up to and adore them, but in the kingdom of God, the most gifted are humbly lifting others up to adore Jesus.
III. How to live it
- Surrender, stop pretending, get out of the way, and surrender.
- view ourselves humbly.
- see your brothers and sisters in Christ as teammates, not competition.
- Use your gifts to build up other Christians you're in community with. Don’t know your gifts, begin to ask your leaders or other mature Christians around you chances are they’ve already recognized it in you.
