Conformer or Transformer?

This morning I want to attempt to tie up 2020 and set up 2021. As we look back at 2020 it certainly didn’t go as planned. When I looked at where I wanted us to go in our journey through the Word, we had to make a pretty hard and fast detour. With that being said I think we can look back on this past year and hopefully see where God has been leading us. Hopefully we can see that God is still in control and even though we face trials of various kinds he is there to see us through if we put our faith in him.

Even when the world around us is in chaos, God remains constant. He loves us. He sent Jesus to walk on this earth as a man and to be offered as a sacrifice to pay for our sins.

How is your relationship with God?

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, 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.

In Romans 12:1 we have the “therefore” of dedication, and it is this dedication that is the basis for the other relationships that Paul discussed in this section.

What is true dedication? As Paul described it here, Christian dedication involves three steps.

You give God your body (v. 1)

Before we trusted Christ, we used our bodies for sinful pleasures and purposes, but now that we belong to Him, we want to use our bodies for His glory.

Just as Jesus Christ had to take on himself a body in order to accomplish God’s will on earth, so we must yield our bodies to Christ that he might continue God’s work through us. We must yield the members of the body as “instruments of righteousness” (Roman 6:31) for the Holy Spirit to use in the doing of God’s work. The Old Testament sacrifices were dead sacrifices, but we are to be living sacrifices.

The verb “present” in this verse means “to present once and for all.”

It commands a definite commitment of the body to the Lord.

Paul gives two reasons for this commitment:

1 - it is the right response to all that God has done for us – “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God”

2 - This commitment is our “spiritual worship”. This means that every day is a worship experience when your body is yielded to the Lord.

You give God your mind (v. 2a)

The world wants to control your mind, but God wants to transform your mind.

This word transform is the same as transfigure in Matthew 17:2

Matthew 17:2 ESV

2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

It has come into our English language as the word metamorphosis. It describes a change from within. The world wants to change your mind, so it exerts pressure from without. But the Holy Spirit changes your mind by releasing power from within. If the world controls your thinking, you are a conformer; if God controls your thinking, you are a transformer.

God transforms our minds and makes us spiritually minded by using the Bible. As you spend tome meditating on God’s word, memorizing it, and making it a part of your inner being, God will gradually make your mind more spiritual (see 2 Corinthians 3:18).

You give God your will (v. 2b)

Your mind controls your body, and your will controls your mind. Many of us think we can control our will by willpower, but we usually fail.

Romans 7:15–21 ESV

15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.

It is only when we yield the will to God that His power can take over and give us the willpower (and the won’t power!) that we need to be victorious Christians. We surrender our wills to God through disciplined prayer. As we spend time in prayer, we surrender our will to God and pray, as Jesus did, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” We must pray about everything, and let God have his way in everything.

For 2021, I’m going try and begin each day by surrendering my body to the Lord. Then I’m going to spend time with His word and let him transform my mind and prepare my thinking for that new day. Finally I’m going to pray and yield the plans of the day to Him and let him work as he sees best.

To have a right relationship with God, we must start the day by yielding to him our bodies, minds, and wills.