Internal Growth
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Discipleship Equipping: Internal Growth.
Need: We focus on the outward expressions. Those are the fruit, the measures. But the growth happens internally. Let’s look at what Paul says.
Romans 12:1-2
Main Idea: Spiritual worship is offering our bodies to God
Notice Paul appealing to other Christians. The only way they can do what he asks is by the mercies of God. Present your bodies as living sacrifices. Opposing Romans 1, debauchery. Paul also uses the word “offer” in Romans 6:13
13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
Living sacrifice = those in Christ are made alive. Holy and acceptable = opposite of what others are doing with their bodies. Spiritual worship = Greek word is “logikos” which means reasonable. He means, it is reasonable to offer your bodies to God because of what he has done for you. He’s gonna tell us what that looks like.
Truth #1: Spiritual worship is not conforming to this age
Exp. Do not be conformed to this world. Conformed = shaped or molded. Live in a lie that conforming refers to Christianity. That the “narrow door” of following Christ is a smaller mold to be placed into. The world which is free and relative breaks out of that mold giving us license to be however. Here’s the truth:
Everything in this world is a mold. You may think you have freedom to choose, but every decision is a path laid out by someone else. Rules to that mold you choose.
The world’s mold ensnares you. You become trapped in them because you operate under a false understanding of what it is. It is sin.
4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
I don’t care where you stand theologically, you can’t deny what God has said.
Christ - We are only able to do this because Jesus didn’t conform to this age. He stood in opposition to it. This is not the calling on our lives.
Truth #2: Spiritual worship is being transformed into God’s design
Exp. Transformed by the renewal of your mind. Transformed = changing nature.
Ill. Metamorphosis. Like a butterfly.
Exp. We need to be transformed because sin has wrecked our nature. Begins with minds because there must be a mind shift. Changing of mind. Heart follows. The mold we are called to be transformed into is the original design of God’s creation. Colossians 3:10
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Christ - Jesus is the model in which we are to be transformed. We need to be transformed into his likeness because that is not who we are while in sin. Galatians 2:20.
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Christ - The life we now live, is a life of freedom from sin because Jesus accomplished on the cross. Therefore, it is right we offer our bodies.
Truth #3: Spiritual worship produces discernment of God’s will
Exp. By testing, you may discern the will of God. Easily the most often question I get asked from people. What is God’s will? Here’s the will of God: Offer yourselves daily to the Lord. Decisions, career paths, relationships, those come after a long period of submitting yourself on the altar of God. Then, you will be able to discern it. Why? Because this is God’s design. You can’t discern God’s will by ignoring his design. How can you discern the will of God when you disobey his commands? God’s design is that spiritual worship aligns your desires with his will.
Ill. Like marriage. I only know Bethany’s desires because I have walked with her for over a decade. If I ignored her, I would never know her desires.
Christ - We are able to walk in this because Jesus obeyed the will of the Father. He gives us the HS which helps us discern. Grows us from the inside out.
Six application points:
App #1: Offer yourselves to God daily. We no longer need a sacrifice for our sins, but we must offer ourselves daily. Not to be re-saved, but to kill our flesh. He’s worth our time and our strength daily. 2 Corinthians 4:16
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
App #2: Assess your heart posture in obedience. Another problem we face is the desire for obedience. What if my heart isn’t in it? That doesn’t matter. Obedience precedes your feelings. Pray your desires follow.
App #3: Guard your heart when living in the world. John warns us about being in the world but not of the world. Peter reminds us that we are sojourners and exiles in this world. Paul writes our citizenship is in heaven. James warns we are enemies with God if we love the world. You have to live in the world. But you guard your heart. Guard what you watch. What you listen to. If it pulls you from God, stop doing it. Use wisdom.
App #4: Meditate on God’s Word. Think on his Word. More than just reading. The ability to read it should not replace allowing it to take root.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
App #5: Join healthy community. The church God built is meant for the fostering of your souls to be formed like Christ. Foster your souls to stay away from conforming to the world. Fostering your soul to know the will of God.
App #6: Run the race of endurance. Long race. Mention before. Hebrews 12:1-2. Not sprinting. Daily, slowly, growing. Nourishing your heart. Grow in your patience by living in the grace of God.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Conclusion
What step do you need to take in offering yourself to God?
