The Replacement Principle

Big Idea:

Transformed thinking starts with replacing lies with God’s truth

Pastor’s Translation:

I appeal to you my church family, because of the great salvation you received from God, present your whole life as a living sacrifice, set apart, and acceptable to God, which is the way you were created to live - worshiping God from your soul. Stop conforming to this world [believing the lies it constantly screams at you so that by peer pressure, they squeeze you into the devil’s mold], but rather, completely receive and embrace your new life [be who God created, saved, and freed you to be - be like Jesus!] by changing the way you think, by the Holy Spirit’s power, choosing to live for God, by participating in what is good and acceptable and perfect (in His sight).

Intro:

Hey Church Online! Happy New Year!

Who here has made New Year’s Resolutions or set goals for yourself in 2022?

...How many of you have made no progress, fallen behind, or have already quit those resolutions or goals?

If you have, you’re in good company. Most studies show that anywhere from 60-80% of resolutions or goals are abandoned within January. Add to that a stressful pandemic that won’t go away, and one Ohio State psychologist says, “After [2021]… we might be better without them (that is… resolutions that seem only to add pressure and guilt to our lives).”

I get that. But, as my social media friends know, I didn’t take that advice. And it’s not because I’m immune to the pressures of COVID. Just this week, I was at lunch with Janelle and said, “Here we go again. I’m so tired of constantly make decisions in an environment of ever-changing circumstances.” By the way, that’s called “Decision fatigue.” As a relatively new leader, I’ve battled that for the past two years! And I’m tired! I don’t need anymore stress in my life. That being said, I still set some goals!

I haven’t always been a goal-setter. But as I’ve tried to grow in my leadership, I’ve realized it’s important for me to be intentional about my future - to set goals. Furthermore, I think this fits with how God would have us live too.

You’ve probably heard the verse out of Proverbs that says...

Proverbs 29:18 KJV 1900

Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

In the Kingdom of God, it’s both important and healthy for people to know where they are going in life. If you will, what their GOALS are.

Maybe you’ve heard this one too...

Psalm 37:23 NLT

The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.

The implication is, God has a plan, a destination, a GOAL for your life. And He’s intentionally leading you towards it.

Ephesians 2:10 NLT

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

But, if God likes GOALS, if God uses GOALS, if He wants us to know and live according to those GOALS, then why are we so bad at GOALS? Well, I believe the Bible has answers for us. Answers we will discuss over the next four weeks in our new sermon series, “I Think I Can.”

Now, to give credit where credit is due… a lot of what I’m sharing is stuff I learned from Craig Groeschel, pastor of Life.Church in Oklahoma. He’s got a new book titled, “Winning the War in Your Mind,” that’s about how our thinking impacts our living. In fact, the next four weeks are based on the four principles he shares in his book.

I’ll also be sharing content from another book I recently read titled, “Soundtracks,” by Jon Acuff. Jon uses a lot of the same science and principles as Craig.

Now, I’m going to be honest, I’m a little nervous about this series. One, at least in my own mind, it kinda feels like I’m cheating. I’m not sharing “original material.” But I’m willing to get over myself because...

My personal faith has greatly grown through this material.

Whenever I share the things I’ve learned, others have greatly benefited from it.

I believe God considers our “thinking” as extremely important. Scripture reveals this. And I’ll be share more on that later.

Finally, mental health (our thinking) is a huge issue in our current culture. And while that subject is much bigger than what we will talk about, I do believe this series will help. In other words, this material is both biblical and relevant!

So, with that, let’s get started… real quick, let give you an outline of our series, and then an general outline of how we will approach each message...

The four principles we will discuss (based on Pastor Craig’s book) are:

The Replacement Principle.

The Rewiring Principle.

The Reframe Principle.

The Rejoice Principle.

Each week, we will...

Study God’s Word using a Bible passage that discusses the importance of our thinking.

Then, we will connect it to one of the four principles.

And we’ll finish by emphasizing Jesus (you’ll understand what I mean when we get to that part).

This week, our Bible passage is...

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

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. 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.

Exegesis:

So, what’s Paul talking about here? Let’s break it down together.

Paul says, “I appeal to you...” The Greek word here is “parakaleo.” It means to come alongside someone to encourage them. It is a word that be used to describe the Holy Spirit. I mention this because in this context, Paul’s appeal isn’t just a sales pitch to get them to buy into the latest self-help program. Nor is he issuing a command like a military officer. He is saying, “because I love you and want what’s best for you… therefore, by the mercies of God...”

What’s that? What are the “mercies of God?”

First off, based on the original language, it might be best to rephrase it as, “God’s mercy.” The NIV does this.

Furthermore, we could add, “I appeal to you, therefore, BECAUSE OF [instead of “by”] GOD’S MERCY.” God’s mercy being, as one Bible teacher defines it, “...the quality in God that moves Him to deliver a man from his state of sin and misery and therefore underlies his saving activity in Christ.”

In a sense, Paul is saying, “I appeal to you my church family, because of the great salvation you have received from God when you put your faith in Jesus Christ… offer your bodies (your whole life) as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.”

Simply put, “Because of the great salvation you received, your proper response is to live fully for God.”

But how exactly do we do that? Let’s keep reading. Verse 2...

“Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world...”

How do we live fully for God? We start by no longer conforming to this world. The reason being - if you were unaware - is that Satan (the devil) is the ruler of this world. And his wicked desires influence the patterns of it. His temporary earthly kingdom is actively and aggressively opposing the Kingdom of God, which includes seeking to destroy your life!

Now, you might be asking, why is the devil trying to destroy me? What’d I do? Two reasons:

The Bible tells us every human is stamped with the “image of God.”

The Bible tells us that God is radically in love with us.

The devil knows both of these things. And because the devil can’t directly assault God, he attacks the ones God loves. If He can destroy us, in his mind, he is destroying the “image of God,” which he hates.

And his favorite technique is to attack our thinking. You’ll probably never see Satan, standing in front of you, challenging you to a sword fight. But you will experience him attacking your thinking. And one way he does it is by bombarding our minds with a multitude of voices. An endless amount of distractions. In doing so, he keeps us from focusing on the One Voice that matters - God’s Voice. The devil knows if he can distract you, he can destroy you.

Pastor Craig Groeschel says, based on the research he’s done on both the brain and God’s Word, that “Your life is always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts.” As we progress thru this series, I’ll share why he believes this, but for now, I want us to understand that the enemy capitalizes on this principle, with lies, to destroy our lives.

It works likes this...

The devil attacks your thinking by filling your mind with distractive voices.

These voices not only drown out God’s voice, but thru bombardment and repetition, they become our strongest thoughts.

And when they are our strongest thoughts, we conform our lives to them.

All of a sudden, the pattern our lives matches the devil’s kingdom and we’re headed down the path of destruction.

The devil “blinds” us with distractions and lies so he can destroy us. It’s like what Paul wrote to Corinth...

2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT

Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

But here in Romans 12, Paul says, “Because Jesus saved you (gave you spiritual sight when you used to be blind), stop believing the lies and living like the devil! That’s not who you are anymore!” But the question remains… how?

Continuing with verse 2...

“… be transformed by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND [you must change your thinking]. THEN you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing, and perfect will [THEN you will be able to live the life God created you for - to accomplish the GOALS He planned for you!].”

The transformation happens by the “renewing of our mind.” Or as the NLT translates it, “… let God transform you into a new person by CHANGING THE WAY YOU THINK.”

Don’t overlook how important this is. How important your thoughts are to your new life. How you think makes all the difference when it comes to how you live in the Kingdom of God.

Yet, as we have already mentioned, we live in a world where the ruler is constantly bombarding us with lies.

Add to that the reality that many of us have spent decades listening to his message. And after years of repetition, we accept these lies without any resistance… just because it’s what we’ve always heard. For example, how many of us were told not to go swimming after we eat? Many of us live by this rule and even keep our kids out of the pool after lunch. But there is absolutely no scientific truth to back it up. In many ways, it’s a lie. But it’s a lie that has become a STRONG THOUGHT because we’ve heard all our life. Now, staying out of the pool after you eat a pizza won’t keep you out of heaven, but what about these other, more destructive lies , that are just as common in our society?

God is not real. And even if He was, He wouldn’t love you.

Only good people get into heaven.

Your feelings are the most important thing in your decision-making (aka follow your heart).

Independence is the highest value; in other words, strong people don’t need help.

There is no absolute truth. Truth is relative. So, you believe what you believe and I’ll believe what I believe. Btw - that statement, in itself, attempts to be an absolute truth, so it is self-defeating. It’s a lie.

All of these are lies.

Furthermore, our sin nature (the fact that we are born sinners) is naturally inclined towards receiving the lies of the enemy.

Ephesians 2:1–3 NLT

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

This means, before we were saved, we naturally rebelled against God. It came easy. Additionally...

1 Corinthians 2:14 NLT

But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.

God’s word tells us that before God saved us, even if we wanted to, we didn’t have the ability to understand God’s truth, which means the only thing we could receive were the devil’s lies.

Therefore, one reason we fail to live according to God’s goals for us is because we have been conditioned, by the devil, to believe lies. Our strongest thoughts are the lies of this world, and even when we hear the truths of God (and desire to respond to them), the lies still pull us into the direction of destruction. And in utter frustration, we cry out the same words Paul cried...

Romans 7:19 ESV

For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

So, what are we to do? Well, like Romans 12 says, we must change the way we think! And the first step in that process is the...

Replacement Principle:

The Replacement Principle is this: You replace lies with God’s truth. We can break this statement down into two simple steps:

You recognize the reality that in this world, we are (and have been) bombarded with lies from the enemy. They are lies that have become some of our strongest thoughts. And they are lies that our sinful nature likes, which makes them difficult to let go of.

We recognize the reality that as Christians, Christ has freed us from the power of sin. Even though our sinful nature used to be slaves to sin, Jesus freed us. And our new Master isn’t seeking to destroy us, but give us abundant life. But in order to live in this new life, we MUST change our thinking by replacing the lies with God’s truth.

Now, why does this sound “easier said than done?” Because in some way it is. It is not easy to change our thinking. It is not easy to replace our strongest thoughts with new thoughts. I like the way theologian Gordon Fee puts it...

“This ‘reprogramming’ of the mind does not take place overnight but is a lifelong process by which our way of thinking is to resemble more and more the way God wants us to think.”

I believe that’s why Paul added, “that by testing you may discern what is the will of God.” Changing our thinking is going to require work. It’s going to be difficult. It will take discipline. Honestly, It’s a war for your mind! But it’s a war we can win!

… but hear this… it’s not a war we can win because of self-disciplined and will-power. It’s a war we can win because we have a great Savior who has already won. It’s a war we can win because when we accepted Christ as our Savior, the new life we received included the Holy Spirit (the third Person of the Trinity - God Himself) living inside us. And we now have resurrection power working on our behalf!

Romans 8:11 NLT

The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

God is for us! And He will help us victoriously live in this new life as we allow Him to renew our mind! Our part is to...

Trust (by faith) in His power to make us new.

Replace the lies with His truth.

Before we close, I’m guessing some of you are skeptical about this. Maybe this sounds too pragmatic. Maybe it sounds like psychobabble cupcake sprinkled with Bible verses. I get it.

But consider this… wouldn’t you agree that if Jesus practiced something, it would be a model for the correct way to live, and we should practice too? I mean..

1 John 2:6 NLT

Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

Well, check this out...

Matthew 4:1–11 NLT

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ ” Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’” Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.” “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.

Do you guys see it? How did Jesus defeat Satan? With the Replacement Principle. Satan attacked with lies. Jesus replaced it with God’s truth.

Response:

As we close, let me give you some next steps to begin practicing the Replacement Principle:

1) Determine your destination?

Where is the current goal line for your life? Maybe some of you have never surrendered to Jesus as Lord and are headed towards destruction. But that doesn’t have to be your final destination. It’s definitely NOT God’s goal for your life. God wants to save you! And He says if you’ll turn from your sins, put your faith in Jesus as Savior, He’ll give you a new life. New goals. And a new final destination: Heaven.

But maybe you have decided to follow Jesus, but your strongest thoughts are STILL moving you in the wrong direction. Well then, your next step is to take some time, this week, to discern what are your strongest thoughts are, and do they need to be replaced.

Write down what are the major beliefs in your life.

Where are these strong thoughts taking you? (towards God or away from Him)?

Based on that, do they need to be replaced?

2) Apply the Replacement Principle.

When you find a lie, replace it with God’s truth. And one of the best way to activate the Replacement Principle, and have God’s truth become your strongest thoughts, is to memorize Scripture.

Psalm 119:11 NLT

I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

My encouragement - my appeal to you is - find one verse this week, memorize it, and meditate on it. If you’d like, use “this” verse!

3) Let the Holy Spirit help your hustle.

Again, the Replacement Principle isn’t about will power. It’s about God’s power. But God has chosen the process to involve our participation. Transformation, by the renewing of our mind, doesn’t happen by spiritual osmosis. We must be active. We must partner with God. We hustle to do our part, while being radically dependent on God’s help. What difficult belief do you need to replace with God’s help? He’s ready. Will you let him?

Before we pray to close, I want to spend a few minutes at the beginning of this year, in communion. For our Church Online family, you should’ve received communion elements in the mail this week. Go ahead and pull those out now.

Communion:

1 Cor. 10

Let’s pray.

Father, thank you for this new year. We believe it is a year that you have made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. This year, may our faith increase. Change our thinking by the power of the Holy Spirit. Helps us to be transformed into the likeness of Your Son Jesus Christ. Give us the power and wisdom to cast out the destructive lies in our lives and replace them with the truth of You Word! In Jesus name, amen.

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