Romans 12:2 Transformed

Decisions Before Actions

Series: Romans 12 (Is, Does, Loves, Lives)

Title: Decisions come before actions.

Scripture: Romans 12:2

Question: What is teaching you? What are you believing that’s driving your actions.

Answer (1-line): Whatever trains your mind shapes your actions that become your life.  

Prayer Prompts.

(Where do you put the sermon prayer prompt?)

Prayer prompt before worship (Pray the Zack playing)

Prayer: Lord lead me to worship you freely…without worrying what others think. In Jesus name, Amen.

Prayer prompt before sermon (on screen)

Lord work through the power and presence of your Spirit to transform my thinking to be your way of thinking, for Jesus’s glory and his name I pray, Amen.

Link to last week.

2 weeks ago, we began showing that if you are saved and belong to Jesus then your life is lived as a sacrifice…

Last week we talked about how everything in the world we live in is trying to conform you…your sin, the devil…the world that’s broken…is trying to make you into its shape.

This week…think about this as we start…

The Hook.

Every like button says something.

Every time you hit Like, you’re doing more than touching a screen…you’re actually participating in something or positively reinforcing something.

So…while you’re telling the algorithm what you want more of…you’re also teaching yourself—and others…what deserves your attention and approval.

That’s how shaping happens…by repeated influence and affirmation of others…specifically those you think highly of…

The Tension. Show why this is a problem, the specific hurt/damage/struggle it causes.

The danger isn’t only what you’re liking.

It’s what “liking” over and over is teaching you to like.

It’s not simply saying: “Do you agree with this?”

It’s repeatedly training:

“What deserves your attention?” “What deserves your approval?” “What kind of people belong?” “What is normal?” “What is desirable?”

You Like. You watch. You follow. You repeat. And eventually something that once felt strange starts feeling normal.

Romans 12:2 says…Read

Romans 12: 2 Do not be conformed to this world,[a] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Say…Pay attention—Because…whatever trains your mind shapes your actions that become your life.  

Prayer prompt before sermon (on screen) say pray this to yourself as I pray…

Lord work through the power and presence of your Spirit to transform my thinking to be your way of thinking, for Jesus’s glory and his name I pray, Amen.

The Truth.

Paul’s audience in 1stcentury Rome would have recognized the philosophical framework he was purposing by connecting what he was saying to ideas circulating among contemporary Stoic philosophers…making what he was saying…not entirely foreign. Paul’s

Intellectual change enabled moral change. So Paul painted them a picture they could understand…in essence saying: change the way you think and you’ll change the way you live…

But…Paul’s agent of change was completely different. While Romans placed the responsibility for mind renewing on the individual alone…Paul grounds his transformation in the work God does when he saves…making what was old new…if you are born in Christ you’re a new creation.

Not…think better so you can do better like the philosophers of the time…but because you’re in Christ…you now believe differently about all of reality. You see the world now through Jesus’ perspective.

Paul said to them that…transformation in Christ enables you to move beyond being conformed by the world…you don’t just resist the ideas of the world and are left to yourself…but transformation in Jesus develops new patterns of thinking that align with God’s will.

The Bridge.

Egg post on the screen.

This is the number 2 most-liked Instagram posts ever. Messi owns 1st and 3rdon Instagrams most liked ever…he has 500 million followers…roughly 1 in every 16 people on the planet…

The egg guy…has 4.4 million followers…which is still a ton…but is only 1 in 1886 people on the planet…

And this guy has the 2ndspot with a picture of an egg…

It’s an egg.

That matters because millions of people did not hit Like because this egg revealed some deep truth. They hit Like because somebody essentially said, ‘Let’s all do this together.’

And millions of people said, ‘I’m in.’

That’s what a Like button does…

Sometimes hitting it says…‘I agree with this.’

Sometimes it simply says, ‘I’m participating in this.’

But here’s what happens next:

Once enough people participate, the participation itself starts becoming pressure.

You see millions of people doing it, so now you want to do it too.

You want to like the egg…but maybe I’m not just showing you an egg for nothing…

What if we replace the egg with an idea.

1. An idea about relationships.

2. Sex.

3. Your body.

4. Success.

5. Identity.

6. What makes you valuable.

7. What’s right and wrong.

Suddenly the same process matters a lot more.

1. Everybody watches…likes…shares…

Everybody seems okay with this idea about relationships…sex…body…success…identity…value…right and wrong…

When that happens you stop asking…Is this true?...

Because you start thinking, This is normal.

You must always be wrestling…with this:

Participation can make something it feel normal. They cannot make it true.

That’s why Paul says your mind must be renewed.

If you don’t decide what is true, the pressure around you will eventually decide for you.

If truth doesn’t shape your decisions…pressure will!

You must renew your mind.

BRIDGE: Here’s how your mind gets shaped today.

ACTION: Here’s how you respond before it shapes your decisions.

How your mind gets shaped today will determine your decisions tomorrow

Jesus said that out of the overflow of your heart the mouth speaks…

James says that the tongue…what you say is the rudder that determines where the ships goes…

Together…here’s what you get:

              What shapes your mind today—steers your life tomorrow.

              Or

              Whatever trains your mind shapes your actions that become your life.  

The Action. Give one simple, practical step they can do today that will change tomorrow.

Say:

Pick one influence you know you probably wouldn’t want shaping you unchecked.

Think about one account, one creator, one friend group, one show, one playlist, one app, one relationship, one kind of content you keep going back to.

Ask: What is it teaching you to believe is normal?

Then walk through:

1. What does this make seem worth my attention? Write your answer _____________________________________

2. What does this teach me deserves approval? Write your answer _____________________________________

3. What kind of person does this make me want to become? Write your answer _____________________________________

4. What does this make feel normal that maybe shouldn’t? Write your answer _____________________________________

5. What makes this look desirable? Write your answer _____________________________________

Then ask:

If I keep taking this in for the next year, what kind of person is it training me to become?

So we’re not talking about good and bad…we’re talking about what is shaping you…forming you…and what you’ll become.

CLOSE.

What gets your attention starts earning your approval.

What gets your approval starts feeling normal…

What feels normal starts becoming desirable…

And what becomes desirable starts training your mind…shaping your actions…and becoming your life.