Are You Conforming or Transforming

Pastor Ed began this message last week in and he talked about being a living sacrifice and this being your reasonable service, which goes right in line with what the Holy Spirit gave me before he preached.

Turn in your Bible to where we continue from where we left off last week; and it reads as thus…

- NRSV - Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The title of today’s message comes in the form of a question, Are You Conforming or Transforming?

Turn in your Bible to where we continue from where we left off last week; and it reads as thus

In the book of Romans, Paul is writing to the believer, those who have professed that they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and have received salvation. He is addressing the Saints of God, so what he says is a bit different than what he speaks for the unbeliever and depending on your level of understanding and your level of maturity; what Paul writes may be interpreted differently by each of you.

Some of you may read Paul’s letter and say to yourself, wow that was meant just for me, you take it to heart and apply it to your life…while others may read it and think what in the world was he talking about?

Romans gives the believer a standard, a guide, if you will, by which those who call themselves saved should abide and as we get to the 12th chapter Paul is giving further instructions. As we heard last week in verse one, he says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” The KJV says your reasonable service.

Paul now goes further and says, “Do not be conformed...” What does it mean to conform? The dictionary defines conform as

to be similar or identical: to be in agreement or harmony

to be obedient or compliant

to act in accordance with prevailing standards or customs

Now on the surface that doesn’t sound like a bad thing, after all, we are all on the same journey so there should be some similarities. The Scripture does say how can two walk together unless they agree and obedience is better than sacrifice…but then we get to that last one which says…to act in accordance with prevailing standards or customs.

To understand the problem with that we must read on, he adds, “to this world”. What’s the problem with the world’s prevailing standards and customs?

“to this world”

but then he adds, “to this world”

Well first they’re a moving target, they change. Someone decides they want to do something, especially here in the United States of America; where we have free speech and freedom of the press and our rights to do and be and say what we want as long as it doesn’t endanger someone else. Rights people gave their lives to protect… here in America one person can start a movement and that movement, right or wrong, whether it goes against the Word of God or not can gain momentum and all of a sudden

wrong looks like right,

wrong looks like love,

wrong looks like acceptance and

right looks like wrong,

right looks like intolerance,

right looks like hate.

When in fact wrong is wrong, right is right, God’s Word is always right, it’s always true and it’s merely a matter of belief and a refusal to conform to this world.

The danger with conforming to this world, is this world is controlled by the flesh, by feelings, by opinions, by voting and when the standard by which the decision is being measured is off, so is the decision.

When I was in the military, there were many decisions we had to make and I would explain, we make the best decisions we can with the information we have at the time. When or if we get new information then we evaluate the decision and one of three things will happen, we continue on the original path, we alter the path or we cancel the decision. When you know better, it should always be your aim to do better.

But for the world, doing better is sometimes measured with what feels good, or what seems good, but in reality that’s the very thing that’s destroying the flesh, destroying the human spirit, destroying the soul. That thing the flesh likes is always going to be in conflict with what the spirit should have, because the works of the flesh are continually evil and are always at war with the spirit.

Do not be conformed to this world. Are you trying to fit it in with those around you? That’s not always a bad thing, but what are the people around you doing? You have to look carefully at what they stand for and learn that you can love the person and hate the sin.

We are not called to condemn, that’s not our job, nor is it our call. But we are all called to convert and while you are converting don’t let your life contradict your words. What you do should not conflict with what you say and for that to happen you must go through a transformation.

To transform, you must change in character or condition. How is your character? What words would someone use to describe you? Hateful, impatient, rude, conniving, faithful, loving, caring, compassionate, patient, kind…How do you go from that first set of descriptors to the last? You transform. How do we do that?

By renewing your mind. When you renew your mind you begin again. All those things you thought were ok, even those things you may have been taught as a child will probably have to change.

Now watch this, there are some things you learned in church from a pastor, a Sunday school teacher or a deacon that were in error and you will have to change based on what you have now learned. Based on new information, based on what the Holy Spirit has revealed to you in your quiet time, during your meditation, during your prayers, even during the messages you hear preached now and based on what you’ve experienced in life, there is a transformation that needs to take place in your life because you are renewing your mind.

Why does Paul want us to renew our minds? Because as I said before, we have gotten some messed up, jacked up information downloaded into who we are and what we believe and what we do and what we think is alright but it’s not. So we must transform into what and who God wants us to be and not the world.

What in the world are you conforming to? What has the world downloaded into you that now you’re thinking hmm, is this really ok? Or the opposite, what image has the world put before you that made you think less about yourself than who God said you are? Have you allowed the airbrushed, doctored pictures of surgically sculpted bodies make you feel inadequate and unsure about yourself? It’s time to transform and renew your mind.

So Paul is not telling you this just to give you information, Paul says you are to transform, “…so that you may discern what is the will of God—...” To know the will of God, you must get the world’s view out of your head. It’s impossible to be in accord or agreement with the world and with God. Why?

I’m so glad you ask. Because the world is Satan’s territory. Satan is the Prince of the Power of the air and he works in the children of disobedience. The air that he is the prince of the power of is earth and the children of disobedience are those who have not professed Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And so we are in this world but not of this world and we must think and behave differently than the world.

When we do that

it may seem like we’re missing out on some things,

it may seem like we have to wait,

it may seem like we’re lacking,

it may seem like God’s not responding to our needs,

it may seem like God doesn’t hear us when we pray.

Don’t fret, I’m here to tell God has not forgotten about you, wait on the Lord and in due time, in your season He will answer, He will fulfill every need you have, every promise He’s made and He’ll give you what you don’t even know you want. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him”. You don’t know the half of what God can do and who He is.

You renew your mind so you can discern or distinguish between the will of God and the will of man, between the will of God and your will. It’s important to know that because

God’s will is good—moral by God’s standard, not the world’s. Understand it’s probably not going to be popular, but that’s ok, you’re not here to be popular—you’re here to do God’s will.

…and acceptable, meaning acceptable to God. God is not going accept just any old thing you decide to give him. That was the problem with Cain and Able, Cain’s sacrifice was not acceptable to God and Able’s was, so he got jealous and killed his brother. If someone does something better than you have two options, step up your game and do it over or sit down and really determine if that was yours to do. Everything you see is not yours to do.

…and perfect. God’s will is complete, whole and without blemish. Being perfect is a person who is blameless and has integrity. The standard for perfection is God. Doing His work, according to his will, and doing it His way.

You must understand, how you do what do is just as important as what you do. Case and point, the Scripture says, God loves a cheerful giver. If you give grudgingly, complaining the whole time you’re giving or even giving for attention, God is not going to honor your gift, whether that gift is money, time, or talent.

When you’re transformed, what you recognize is it’s no longer about you,

it’s about Jesus,

it’s about your brother or sister who’s lost and can’t seem to find their way out of the darkness

it’s about the Kingdom of God

it’s about storing up treasure in heaven where moths can’t eat it and rust can’t destroy it

it’s about eternity

It’s about knowing that Jesus is all you need, it’s not Jesus and...

When Jesus died on the cross He said, “It is finished” that means we don’t need anyone or anything else. We do baptism as an outward sign of an inward change.

Salvation is about confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God, that He was born of a virgin, died for your sins, was buried, after three days rose again, and ascended back to heaven where he now sits at the right hand of the Father interceding on your behalf.

If you believe that, if you receive that, you shall be saved.

Salvation doesn’t take a whole lot, just your belief that God is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do. God loves you, in fact He loves you so much that He gave His only Son to die for you and for me, just so He could have us with him in eternity.

Our God is a God of love, but He’s also a God who does not wink at, smile at or tolerate sin. Don’t get it twisted there are consequences for sin, but praise be to God there is also forgiveness for sin.

If you’ve never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, there’s no better day than today.

The doors of the church are open is today the day for your transformation?