Transformed to Transform

Introduction

Opening Story/Illustration: When I was a teenager in Youth Group I remember one night going to youth service and we had a visitor come in the door. He was probably 15 or 16 years old. He introduced himself and in our conversation with him, we came to the realization that this was the first time in his life that this young man had been inside a church. My youth pastor, my friends, and I were shocked. I don’t think we had ever met someone who had lived in our little community who had never been to a church at least once in their life.

But here’s the sad reality - If that happened today, I wouldn’t be shocked. In fact, if the statistics are right, Church attendance in America is on a sharp decline and the number of people who have never attended a church is on the rise.

We are, as you know in a period of great change.

In fact, Political Strategist Doug Sosnik has argued that we will look back on this moment as a “hinge” moment…a connection moment that ties together two historical periods in time, one before and one afterwards.

The Church is growing explosively in the southern hemisphere in places like Asia, Africa, and South America. But in places like Europe and the United States it seems to be dying.

Philip Jenkins has argued that by the year 2050 only one out of five Christians will be a non-latino white person, and the center of the Christian world will have shifted firmly to the southern hemisphere.

The fastest growing religious group in America is what’s known as “the nones.” These are people who have no religious affiliation.

“The number of nones in the 1930s and 1940s hovered around 5 percent. By 1990, that number had risen to only 8.1 percent, a mere 3 percent rise in over half a century. Between 1990 and 2008—just eighteen years—the number of nones nearly doubled, jumping from 8.1 percent to 15 percent. Then in just four short years, it climbed to nearly 20 percent, representing one out of every five Americans. And for adults under the age of thirty, it increased to one out of every three people. But it’s gotten worse. The latest figures from the General Social Survey were released in 2015, filling in the gap between 2012 and 2014. This was followed by findings released from the Pew Research Center based on its massive US Religious Landscape Study. In just two years, the nones climbed from 19 percent to 23 percent, or nearly one out of every four adults. The nones are no longer the second largest religious group in the United States; they are the largest. And they are still, by far, the fastest growing.”

“More troubling is that of the 85 percent of American adults who were raised Christian, nearly a quarter of them no longer identify with Christianity. Former Christians now represent 19.2 percent of the US adult population overall.”

“There are more than four former Christians for every convert to Christianity. And the rise of the nones and the fall of Christians is widespread, crossing race, gender, educational, and geographic barriers. Forget the Bible Belt or the Catholic North. This is happening everywhere and across every demographic.”

What does all this mean for the Church? What does all this mean for missions in our own back door? How do we respond to all of this?

In her book, “The Gospel Comes with a House Key,” Rosaria Butterfield spells out how many of us feel. She says, “Let’s face it: we have become unwelcome guests in this post-Christian world. Our children ride their scooters in neighborhoods where conservative Christianity is dismissed or denounced as irrelevant, irrational, discriminatory, and dangerous....Christian common sense is declared ‘hate speech’ by the new keepers of this culture. The old rules don’t apply anymore. Many Christians do not know what to say to their unbelieving neighbors. The language and the logic have changed almost overnight.”

She goes on to tell us that we have basically 3 options in response to this crisis, but I want to add a 4th one here:

1) Hunker down in our homes and churches and keep the world out.

2) Compromise the Message of the Gospel.

3) Sacrifice for the Good of the Other. She says, “Instead, God calls us to make sacrifices that hurt so that others can be served and maybe even saved. We are called to die. Nothing Less.”

4) I would add anger - Be angry at the way things are and try to angrily get them back to the way they were.

In a sense we have almost gone through the stages of grief - We are in a state of grief because there is a feeling that we have lost our way of life.

We’ve denied it and tried to hide from it (Fear)

We’ve become Angry about it (Anger)

We’ve tried to bargain with it (Compromise)

All of this has left us in despair and depression

But the good new is - The next stage is acceptance - And by this I mean accepting that there is a problem and finding a real way forward.

Listen, what I’m not saying is that the gospel will be lost. Jesus is going to build his church regardless of what we do or what the Church in North America does. The question is are we going to be a part of what he is doing?

Transition to Scripture: We have, in opinion, what I would call a Crisis of formation. That rather than being people formed by the Spirit into the image of Jesus, we have allowed all sorts of other people and sources to form and disciple us. Paul had something to say about this in Romans 12. It’s a very familiar passage of scripture this morning and I want to look at it, hopefully from a different angle.

Scripture: Romans 12:1-2, 9-21

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.

Romans 12:9–21 ESV

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Transition to Points:

The Idea Paul is getting at here in verses one and two is this - Based on all that Jesus has done for us, our reasonable response is to give our lives to Him fully and totally. But there is a reminder here that there is a world, a culture that wants to force us into it’s mold. The idea here of “conform” is like this Playdough with this cookie cutter. Paul is reminding us that the culture has a pattern or a mold for us they want to shape us in. He says instead of allowing yourself to be molded and formed like the world, be transformed by renewing your mind.

What we think is important. Right thinking comes before right behavior. Paul is telling us here that we need to let the word of God and the Spirit of God begin to work in our thought life to transform us from the inside out.

So we read this passage in Romans 12 and we often read it in this sense - Don’t conform to the world. So that means no drinking, no cussing, no Murdering, no stealing, no sex outside of marriage. We sort of check off these things we don’t do and we look at ourselves and say we are good. But what if - What if Satan were a little bit sharper than that. What if he’s using the world and the culture around us to form us in ways we aren’t even paying attention to? What if we are being subtly conformed to the world - and think about this - What if that way of thinking has hindered our Evangelism? What if our thought process has been wrong? What if We’re missing the mark on reaching people because our thinking is off?

Points

Don’t be conformed to Fear

Many of us live our lives afraid. When it comes to sharing our faith with those around us, one of the number one issue that comes up is fear.

We are afraid we won’t know what to say or do.

We are afraid we won’t have all the answers.

Another belief we often have is this - We are afraid if we get around “those people” that somehow that will mess up our Christian walk. Or we are afraid of what other Christians will think of us if they see us with that person or in that place.

We’re afraid of all the ungodliness in our culture and we are afraid of how it might influence our lives

Illustration: I remember being in a Sunday school class some years ago and the teacher was teaching and the issue came up - having unsaved friends. And she taught us that we shouldn’t have any unsaved friends. I remember something inside me that it didn’t set right with me. I didn’t have any smarts back then to back it up or say anything. But the obvious counter-argument is this:

If we never get around unsaved people, how are we supposed to share the message of the Gospel with them?

Imagine with me, it’s missions Sunday, so let’s imagine that we support a missionary who goes to the field and begins his or her work. They don’t learn the language like most missionaries would. They don’t go out and meet the people. Instead, they get with their fellow missionaries form their home country and they start a little church. They meet together every day and pray that God would help them reach the culture around them. But they never learn the language, they never go out and spend time with anyone other than their fellow missionaries. They don’t want to meet anyone else - They claim the culture there is scary ungodly and they need to protect themselves and their children from its influence. WE WOULD PULL THIS MISSIONARY OFF THE FIELD AND TAKE AWAY THEIR SUPPORT.

YET, IF WE AREN’T CAREFUL, Churches do this every week - They have meetings for the missionaries - YOU AND ME - and we get together inside our buildings and we pray for the people out there and we ring our hands afraid and wondering what in the world are we going to do! IT’S NO WONDER THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD HAS PULLED HIS SUPPORT FROM MANY CHURCHES! THEY AREN’T DOING ANYTHING WORTH SUPPORTING BECAUSE THEY’RE LIVING IN FEAR!

If we back up for just a moment to Romans 8:31-39

Romans 8:31–39 ESV

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This passage, Paul reminds us - God is for us. God is with us. God Loves us.

When you know God loves you, is with you, and is for you, you can engage the world in Love!

You don’t have to shrink back. You don’t have to be afraid. You don’t have to fear your neighbor - God is with you!

Fear Says - The world is scary. Hide and don’t do anything. If we play our cards right we can keep what we have inside our own little world.

What often happens though is instead of engaging we sit in our fear. Sit there long enough and it turns into anger. We begin to look at the world and say, “Something needs to be done.” And we are absolutely right.

Don’t be conformed to anger

We see injustice and all the immorality around us and all the problems in our society and we say “Someone needs to change something!”

The problem then comes not in our anger itself, but in the object of our anger. Or in what we do with our anger.

There is a righteous, Holy Anger that ought to burn in each of us when we see injustice and unrighteousness.

But that anger cannot lead us to throw stones at the very people Jesus died for and wants us to reach.

Our world says - If they don’t agree with you, they are the enemy.

Your enemy needs to be defeated. They punched you, punch them back.

You enemy needs to be fought off. They curse you, you curse them back.

Even our language is bad here - We are in a culture “war” we are in a battle for the heart of our country - and We are in a war - But the real enemy isn’t who we think it is. The world wants to try and tell us that our enemy is:

LGBTQ community

The democrats

The republicans

The Liberals

The Conservatives

Whites

Blacks

Hispanics

The Government

The Young

The Old

Let’s give them that for a moment. Let’s let them define our enemies for us. Let’s say that democrats and republicans are enemies. How then should we treat our “enemies?”

Matthew 5:43-48

Matthew 5:43–48 ESV

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Jesus means love your enemies.

Paul echoes the words of Jesus in our passage - Romans 12:14-21

Romans 12:14–21 ESV

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Vengeance and hatred have no place in the life of a Christian…Period.

Watch what you post on Social media! We are, if I had to guess, a more conservative Church. But do you realize that the vast majority of people who don’t attend church aren’t conservative? What do you think happens when you see liberals as your enemy? You can’t reach them. If you lead with that you’ll never reach them.

Jesus, not your political ideology is the center of this thing - And Jesus wasn’t a conservative or a liberal. He said that things that made liberal tax collectors and sinners uncomfortable and he said things that made the conservative pharisees uncomfortable - He’s an equal opportunity offender.

We aren’t getting people saved so we can help them become conservative or liberal. We reach them because they need Jesus. If Jesus feels the need to change their political opinion, let him do it.

Now, to be sure, I’m not saying we shouldn’t have robust debate that we shouldn’t talk about politics that we shouldn’t vote or care - But at the end of the day Let’s let Jesus be the main thing PERIOD!

Anger Says: The World is scary and that group over there is the real problem. If we will just all stand up and fight, maybe we can get back to the way we like things.

Don’t be conformed to Compromise

Romans 12:9

Romans 12:9 ESV

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

Some people avoid fear and anger all together and they just get comfortable with the world around them.

They settle in with the world and look just like the world. They aren’t afraid or mad, they just want to fit in and do what everyone else is doing. They just want to all get along.

Too many churches are changing their stances on things lately because they want to fit in with the world. They want everyone to like them. Under the name of “love” and fear of offense we have decided we can longer tell people the truth.

Paul tells us here though, That we are to HATE what is evil. The idea here gives us a picture of hating something so much we shudder at the thought of it.

We need to look at our own lives and hate the evil that so easily creeps up.

We should daily look into our own hearts and minds and ask God to search us and know us and reveal anything wicked inside of us.

We ought to live lives of repentance - running from Evil and running towards Jesus.

We need to focus ourselves on Jesus and allow him to eliminate habits form our lives that displease him.

We should shudder at the thought of sin and evil in our lives.

We need to Hate Evil and injustice in the world.

Injustice and evil ought to make us shudder

We should shudder over Poverty and it’s effect

We should shudder over the evil of abortion

We should shudder over the millions of people around the world who have been forced out of their homes because of war

We should shudder over murder, rape, homosexuality, gluttony, theft, and all the other evils in our society.

The biggest injustice though? That you and I sit here every week and hear the message of Jesus and there are literally billions of people in this world who have never even heard his name.

We should shudder at the fact that there are billions of people who do not know Jesus.

We cannot compromise and water down the gospel and get comfortable and say these things don’t matter.

What Does all this mean practically?

If we shouldn’t be conformed to fear, anger or compromise, what does it look like to be transformed?

Romans 12:19-21

Romans 12:19–21 ESV

19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Instead of anger, fear, or compromise, a transformed mind and life looks a lot like Jesus. It looks like self sacrificial love.

It looks like a willingness to eat with tax collectors and sinners.

It looks like a willingness to leave the comfort of heaven and enter into a broken world full of broken people and serve and give himself for the very people that hated him.

I used to read this verse and think this was like during a war and I’m in the desert and my enemy is across the hill over there and we’re shooting at each other..but I discover he has no food and he’s starving. So I throw him some of my food and then we keep shooting at each other.

But perhaps it’s Jesus way of telling us - Bring your enemies to the table. Maybe Jesus wants us to bring the lost to the table.

I don’t know about you, but I get hungry at least 3 times a day.

Fear Says - I Can’t bring them to the table, they might hurt me

Anger Says - I Can’t bring them to the table, I’ve got to hurt them

Compromise Says - I’ll bring them to the table and instead of giving the gospel I’ll give up the gospel.

Love Say Says -

I’ll bring them to the table and listen

I’ll bring them to the table and live out truth

I’ll bring them to the table and show them Jesus by sacrificing my time, my energy, sometimes my way so that Someone might be saved.

I’m in this relationship for the long haul. I love you despite your opinions, your lifestyle, or your brokenness - Because that’s exactly how Jesus Loves you.

I love you too much not to live and tell you the truth when the moment is appropriate.

Love transforms my enemy into my brother or Sister.

This is the way of Jesus - While we were sinners Christ Died for Us.

While they are sinners - We must give our lives for them.

Conclusion

Main Idea: Let the Spirit renew your mind and Transform you so that he can use you to bring transformation in the lives of others.

What does this look like? I want to close with this story. Some of you may have heard it before.

Rosaria Butterfield was a professor at Syracuse University. She was a lesbian and was extremely against God, the Church, and anything having to do with Christianity. She wrote a piece in the news paper against the group promise keepers that was coming to her City. The piece got a lot of praise and a lot of criticism. One of the deacons at the presbyterian church down the road from her read the article and got upset. He took the paper to the pastor’s office and said, “We’ve got to do something about this lady. We’ve got to shut her up.” The pastor did do something. He wrote Rosaria a Letter and invited her to dinner with him and his wife. She accepted, only because she was getting ready to write a book to try and discredit the Bible and the religious right and she thought if she was going to write this, she ought to do good research and what better source then a pastor. She went to dinner skeptical, but the pastor didn’t invite her to church and he didn’t preach to her. He just talked with her. The dinner ended and they said they enjoyed their meal and they would love to meet together again. They did. And that meal turned into a relationship. Eventually, after several years, she began attending church. She gave her life to Jesus, she gave up her previous way of life, she’s now a Pastors wife.

I share that to say - This is what Missions in our backyard looks like. We make it so complicated - But it’s not. Just go out and have a meal with someone who isn’t like you. Love them and watch Jesus transform them.

Here’s our homework for the week:

Find someone different from you, who doesn’t know Jesus, and start a relationship with them.

Introduce yourself to your neighbors - have them over for coffee or dinner. Start a conversation

Find that coworker who doesn’t know Jesus and take them to lunch.

That grandson or granddaughter who is far from God - Take them out to eat.

Listen more than you talk

Love them and be a friend - For the long haul - They aren’t a project or a problem to be solved - They are a person to be loved.

Pray and listen to what the Spirit is saying - Obey, and watch what God does!

Here’s the key - How can I invite lost people to the table? How can I keep inviting lost people to the table?

Missionaries used to pack their belongings in a casket. They would do this because they were planning to die on the field and never come back.

We need to pack our anger, our fear, and our compromise in the coffin and we need to go into our world and make disciples.

We sing the old song, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.” We follow Jesus into the world. We follow Jesus to the table with our enemies. We follow Jesus to the cross and we give ourselves so that others might know how much Jesus loves them.