Thinking Differently
Notes
Transcript
This is a common saying, but I remember someone once telling us that kids are born believing that they are the centre of the universe - sort of like Toronto - and our biggest job as parents is to convince them that they’re not.
Eventually, the hope is that we will raise our kids to be decently functioning adults.
As we come back to our series in Romans this week, we have hit the part where the proverbial rubber meets the road. Throughout chapters 1-11, we have read repeated reminders that the Father initiated a plan of salvation to redeem us from the sin that had trapped us. From the very beginning, we were created for relationship with God. God the Father, knowing that we would turn away from that relationship, still created us but even before Creation, he had planned out the way that he would bring us back from our sin. Because of the choices of our first parents, Adam and Eve, we were under the curse of sin, separated from God and condemned to eternity without him. Whatever you have heard about what Hell is, just know that it is worse than you think - and you don’t want to be there.
Unwilling to see his prized creation perish apart from him, God the Father sent God the Son who would live the sinless life that we were intended to live, die a death - in our place - that took our punishment for us and was raised again on the third day to break the power of sin and death forever. Those are the basics of what Christians call ‘the Gospel.’ The good news that in the person of Jesus, God the Son carried out the the Father’s plan for our redemption. Paul explains this whole story in much theological detail in the first 11 chapters of the book along with many of its implications - and he helps us understand how we can become a part of this story in which Jesus is the central character: the Hero.
Now to be clear, I have just tried to condense 17 weeks of teaching into a sentence. If you want to learn more about the way we have been teaching Romans, you can check out the sermon tab of our website - srbc.ca.
While the entire book of Romans has been amazing, there have been two really showstopping moments for me as we have gone through it - both of them starting with the word, ‘therefore.’
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Romans 5:1, Paul tells us that because of Jesus, we have peace with God. That is to say that in our sin, we were at war with the Father, but Jesus the Son, set it right so now, in him, we are at peace.
The second is in Romans 8:1
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,
Not only has Jesus brought about peace in our relationship with God going forward, he has restored peace and freed us from the condemnation of our past sin. This helps explain where we get our explanation of the past, present and future power of the gospel. We often talk about how the gospel has saved us from the penalty of sin, it is also saving us from the power of sin and will save us from the presence of sin. We are justified - we have been legally declared innocent, so there is no condemnation, and then as we come into today’s passage, we see the way that God wants to change us into new people - living out the resurrection life that Jesus has called us into.
As parents, we do the best we can to help our children be a little less selfish as they grow. When the Spirit of God draws us to Jesus and we respond in faith, we are re-born into way of being. In a very real way, we re-start as infants. We have been raised in worldly patterns and expectations and, though we would probably vehemently deny it, in this rebirth, we need to be taught that it is not all about us.
So as we dig into the passage Paul starts with another ‘therefore.’ Romans 12:1
Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God…
Kyle likes to say that when we encounter a therefore, we need to ask what it’s there for. I had always heard it a little differently - wherefore the therfore? Either way, the meaning is the same: therefore is a significant word. The way that I understand it best is to replace it with ‘since all of this is true…’ Think back to all of the things that we’ve seen about the ways that humans actively work to suppress the truth about God, the ways that we show our greatest creativity by inventing new ways to express our sinful hearts. More importantly, think back to all of the things that we have learned about Jesus, and the cross, and the resurrection, how the gospel has so much power over our sin that we can be justified, forgiven and declared innocent. Therefore - in view of all of these mercies that God has poured out on us in such extravagant ways, we MUST respond.
How? Romans 12:1
I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.
I love music. I don’t think I need to do much to convince you of that. But somewhere along the line, churches have conflated ‘music,’ and ‘worship.’ While worship certainly INCLUDES music, they are not the same thing. Everything that happens here in our gathering is worship - music, sharing, communion, preaching, reading, baptisms, etc… And while worship INCLUDES everything that happens in a Sunday gathering, those are not the same thing. Paul is telling us that all of life - everywhere my body goes, and everything I do with it is worship. Under the OT covenant, people did have to GO to worship. They went to the temple. However, as followers of Jesus, we have been made holy and pleasing to God. In another of his letters, Paul writes 1 Co 6:19-20
Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.
And let me just say this, because as you can imagine, I have probably heard it a million times. This has nothing to do with tattoos! It has everything to do with where the Spirit resides. Since the Spirit is always with me, everything I do can and should be an act of worship (1 Co 10:31)
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.
The truth is that we are always worshipping. God created us to worship - the question is who or what is the object of our worship? Paul is urging us to make God the object of our worship as we sacrifice ourselves to him in reponse to his ultimate sacrifice for us. However before coming to Jesus, and then in spiritual infancy, our tendency is to make ourselves the object of our worship. It’s not about what is holy and pleasing to God, it’s about pleasing Me! So, whatever makes me feel comfortable, or significant, or satisfied.
Some followers of Jesus stay stunted in spiritual infancy for their entire lives because the object of their affection remains themselves. When’s the next big vacation? When can I make my next big purchase? How can I be more comfortable? How can I find more pleasure in life? No one is saying that spiritual maturity means that you can’t have nice things, rest of pleasure. But Western culture has made these things the point and Jesus - through Paul’s words - is inviting us into something radically different.
Many of us are familiar enough with the words of Jesus that we understand that his is an upside-down kingdom.
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.
If anyone wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all.
Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left a house, wife or brothers or sisters, parents or children because of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more at this time, and eternal life in the age to come.
You have been conditioned to believe that what brings you pleasure is the best thing. Musicians do a great job of reinforcing this point. Sheryl Crow wants us to know that if it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad. Sloan teachs us that if it feels good, do it, even if you shouldn’t. Jesus says ‘how about your die to your self - put aside your quest for pleasure and comfort and stuff and success and come follow me, you may have no place to lay your head, but I will give you real life.’
Growing beyond spiritual infancy means starting down the path of self-denial. You will never mature spiritually if you will not learn to say no to yourself. Time is our number one commodity and we are hard pressed to give over any of it to God as part of our worship because our kids need so many sports and activities, or it’s my only day to sleep in, or I have too much homework, or I’m just so tired after work. I get it, but don’t let other things inadvertently become objects of worship. What good is the most talented kid, or the greatest education, or the most fulfilling job, if at the end of your life, you missed out on Jesus or worse, you made someone else miss out on him too?
Money doesn’t cost us as much as time, so we’re happy to ‘sacrifice’ our money, but don’t ask me to give my time. Do you know who else says this? The world. This is the world’s way of doing things and the church - as much as we like to believe that we’re different - has largely gone back to the world’s system because it’s familiar, and it’s comfortable and it doesn’t have to cost me much time.
So, Paul says, look at all these amazing things that the Father has accomplished for you through the incarnation of the Son. He held nothing back from you, he poured himself out for you - physically, emotionally, spiritually, relational - he gave EVERYTHING until he died for you and if you have responded in faith you are free from slavery to sin, you have been justified, you are free from condemnation and most significantly, you have a place in his eternal kingdom to which the sufferings of this present time are not even worth comparing! THEREFORE - since this is all true - how could you possibly NOT offer your bodies as a living sacrifice? Your life was bought with the cost of his, so now, will you live for him?
How do we do this? We pursue spiritual maturity.
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Spiritual maturity means that we leave the world’s systems and culture behind. The grammar of this verse is interesting. Paul could have said something quite different. He could have told us to make sure that we don’t conform, or to transform ourselves. Those would be ‘active imperatives.’ Instead he chose the passive voice for these imperatives. It shows us the difference between law and grace - law would say ‘fix yourself,’ grace (which we encounter in Jesus) says, ‘let me do it for you.’ Let is still a verb, it means I still have to be willing, but then Jesus does the work.
Anyone here like to bake bread? I’m pretty sure that one step in baking bread is waiting for the dough to rise. The baker’s job is to mix together and probably knead (I don’t know when you do that) the dough. Then you put the dough in a warmish place and give it time. Our house always seems cold, so often when Amanda makes bread, she has to put the dough in our bathroom because that’s the only place that is consistently warm in our house. What has the baker done? They created the conditions for the dough to rise. If everything is correct, the dough will naturally rise, if not, then something went wrong along the way. But when the dough is given the opportunity to do what it’s supposed to do, it will do what it’s supposed to do.
The same is true for our hearts. If we sit in complete passivity and do nothing to promote spiritual growth, nothing will happen, we will continue to be conformed to this age. However, by creating the right conditions - in Paul’s words - renewing our minds, our minds will be transformed into something that can discern how to please the Father. Conformity or transformation are the byproducts of our focus. If we just live by the status quo, we continue on in conformity. However, if we truly desire transformation into a renewed mind that can discern God’s will, our focus has to shift to the things that will renew our mind.
In a couple of other places, Paul says that transformation looks like this:
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
But when the kindness of God our Saviour and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us… through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
When we create space to behold the glory of the Lord, we by extension create space for the Spirit to regenerate and renew our minds. We behold the glory of the Lord most consistently in his Word. When we read the Bible, God reveals himself to us. Sometimes he directly tells us what he is like, sometimes we infer by the works that he does, sometimes we can conclude what he is like by the words that he says and sometimes it takes some work. But we cannot and will not be move beyond spiritual infancy or in the words of Paul, we cannot discern God’s will if we are not being transformed, we will not be transformed if we are not actively creating the conditions for that to happen by renewing our minds, and God’s primary vehicle for mind-renewal is his written Word.
As Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16, every word of the Bible is written…
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,
So, read it, pray the words of Scripture, meditate on its words while you drive, before you go to sleep, and memorize Scripture. But this doesn’t mean that you should also become a recluse who only sits around reading, because you have to do what it says. God has also given you a community of people in whom you can behold the glory of the Lord, with whom you can talk about and learn the Bible together, and you can’t very well practice the ‘one anothers’ of the NT by yourself.
I want to wrap up with verse 3, it is a transition point to next weeks message about spiritual gifts and I want to tee it up well for Kyle as he leads us in the Word next week. In verse 2, Paul gives us the goal - transformation, the means - the renewing of your mind, and the point - the ability to discern (and by extension live into) God’s will.
In verse 3, he tells us what God’s good, pleasing and perfect will for the church is…
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.
In John 17, Jesus prayed that the church would be united in Him. One of the most practical ways that we can be united is by submission to one another, not thinking of myself more highly than I should. Practically, this means not valuing my own contributions, my own gifts, my own voice to the exclusion of others. Paul will go on in this coming passage to explain the church is a body. As he writes elsewhere…
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
Another part of renewing our minds means recognizing that what the world says is incorrect - I am not the most important, I am a part of something bigger, I am not the king of my castle. As we’ll see next week, we are not UNimportant, because God has given each of us gifts to contribute, but renewing my mind means seeing myself as a part of God’s story, not as the hero of my own.
