Sermon Tone Analysis

RECORD

Last week we began a lesson in the Greek language of sorts when we started a more in-depth study of the 3 little Greek verbs that make up which says in the English

In last week’s message we discovered what it meant to no longer conform to the pattern of this world, “Kai Un Syschematizo”

No doubt over the course of the week as you pondered the message you realized just how big a challenge that is but more importantly I hope you realized how important it is after all we are called to be like Christ and not like a fallen sinful world

We’re going to pick it up from where we left off because Paul doesn’t just tell us what NOT to do but also gives us an alternative to live by

I can’t stress this enough this morning, Paul did not say that Christians need to seclude themselves away from the world to avoid being influenced by the world

To do so contradicts what Jesus commanded us that we should be salt and light

Matthew 5:

And the way that we do that is found in our second verb, “metamorphoo” “be transformed”

The Greek version of the word probably makes you think of our English word “metamorphosis” and for good reason, not only do they sound similar but they come from the same root and have very similar meanings

Turning once again to the reverse interlinear for N.T. word studies we find that the literal translation for “metamorphoo” is “to change the external form, to transfigure”

So to paraphrase what Paul has said so far here, ‘Do not let yourself become more and more like this world but instead be made completely different that what you currently are’

Paul’s command to us is that we become different, that we look different, act different, talk different, think different, be different

A couple of weeks ago on Easter weekend we considered what, as according to Paul himself, was the one and only message that he preached everywhere that he went and that was the message of the cross

The reason for this, if you remember is because the message of the cross contains the power of God for the transformation of sinners

Now some of my contemporaries may disagree with what I am about to say but I believe that the Bible teaches us that when a person, any person receives the gospel message of the cross, they are changed, maybe not 100% but they ARE changed, they HAVE to be

You can’t come into contact with the power of the transformational gospel of the cross and walk away the same

It’s like if I had a big bucket of red paint and I just took the bucket and threw it out into the congregation

Now everybody will be present for it but only those upon whom the paint lands are going to find themselves with the tell tale signs of being made red

And the more red they have on them is proof of that they were more touched by the paint I threw

Anyone who walks away without any red on them can say, ‘I was there, I saw it, I heard it, I even felt it as it went by and was inspired by it’ but unless they have the tell tale red paint on them they can not say that they were touched by it

The same can be said of salvation, only those with the tell tale mark of transformation can actually claim to have been touched by the message of the cross

And it may be a big transformation meaning that they got hit full on or it may be a small transformation meaning they kind of got the edge of it but there has to be transformation of some sort or there was no contact!

2 Corinthians 5

“if ANYONE!” not “most people” or “some people” “ANYONE!”

We are no longer to be made in the same pattern and plan that the world operates on but we are to be made completely different and please understand that the process does not end at the moment of salvation but it is a process that continues as long as we will allow the Holy Spirit to work on us

2 Corinthians 3:17-

Romans 8:29

Let me ask you a difficult question this morning, ‘Are you more like Jesus today than you were a year ago?

A month ago?

A week ago?’

Okay if the answer is “No” then the question becomes, ‘Why not?’

Unless you are already 100% like Jesus, and I don’t think any of us can say that with any shred of confidence, than there is still transformation that you need to go through

As long as the Father allows us to breath His air on this planet we have a task to do and that is to be transformed to become like Christ

And I fear that to not be involved in THAT process can only mean that we are involved in the other process which is conforming to the pattern of the world

It has to be one or the other, I don’t see any way in which we can ovoid one without participating in the other

And the way that we avoid conforming to worldly patterns and instead be transformed is by the third verb Paul uses, “anakainosis”

No that is not the name of some character from Star Wars it is the Greek word for “Renew” but because it is in the present, perfect tense we translate it “renewing” because it represents a process that is on going with no foreseeable ending

Actually an English word that would better translate the intention of this Greek word would be the word “Renovate”

Now any of you that has ever been involved in any kind of renovation project knows what that is like

The tearing down of things and the removal of things that you don’t want and then replacing those things with other things that you do want and in the places you want them to be

I recently went through the process of renovating Liane’s new office space down in Trenton and I had to tear down walls and rebuild them in other locations and relocate doors and electrical outlets and paint and trim and so on and so on

Well Paul is saying that it is the same process that we need to go through with our minds and the way that we think

The first thing that we have to do is demolition, we have to tear down the old worldly ways that we used to think like

Last week we referenced to talk about worldly standards, well let me read it again but this time going on a little farther

If we continue to think the same old way that the world thinks than we are never going to break the cycle of acting the way that the world acts and so we have to demolish those thoughts and those ways of thinking

I just love how Paul put it at the end of verse 5, “and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”

You have no idea how many times in a week or even a day that I quote this verse because some thought has come across my mind that I know doesn’t line up with how Christ would have me think

Sometimes it is just a thought and sometimes it’s a way of thinking but whatever it is I say, sometimes in my head and sometimes out loud, “No I will not accept that thought.

I take it captive, I shackle it and I command it to be obedient to the person and teachings of Jesus”

Now please understand that having the thought is not a sin and is not even a problem, the enemy is very skilled at placing thoughts, the question is then what will we do with it

Once we have learned how to do that we then need to do the next step which is rebuild, put something up in its place because God does not want a bunch of “empty headed” Christians!

Trust me we have way too many of them already

Philippians 4:

We fill our minds with the kind of things that are worthy to be the mind of someone created by God in His image and then those things slowly transform the WAY that we think

The only way we cannot be “anxious” is to stop thinking the way that the world thinks and to focus our minds on Christ the author and finisher of our faith and He, through His Spirit works in us protect our minds

But, and mark my words on this, Christ CANNOT protect your heart and minds if we are filling our head with all the things that we shouldn’t be

There’s an old computer term that goes “garbage in, garbage out” which brings me to the third step in this renovation process

We’ve been reactive in the demolition, we’ve been proactive in the rebuilding, and now the office is ready to open for a new purpose

Ephesians 4:17-2

Well our time has gone but I hope that the lessons of will stick with and that the Holy Spirit will constantly remind you of the story of the three little verbs and how, as the Amplified Bible puts it,

Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

Amplified Version

Let’s pray