A Living Sacrifice - Part 1 (Romans 12:1-21)

Announcements

Bible Study & Prayer, Wednesday at 7pm.

Those of you that utilize the shorter worship guides probably have already noticed that they’re different than what they used to be. The reasoning for this is simple, I’m trying to find ways to save money and save paper and since we project the words for all the songs, I didn’t think it was necessary to continue printing them. For the handful of you that utilize the musical notation, I ordered a few hymnals that should be here by next week, so your worship guides will be eliminated by next week. Doing this will drastically limit the amount of paper that we use—right now, we’re printing about 100 pages worth of worship guides a week, but by eliminating the words and the musical notation, we’ll be printing about 15-20 pages a week instead. As you can imagine, it’ll save us quite a bit in paper and toner. My goal is to eventually have a hymnal under every seat, but until then, we’ll have a handful spread throughout the auditorium for those that want them.

There is just a week and a half to order new t-shirts if you want them. Be aware that after March 31st, we cannot edit the order, so it is your last day to get those orders in. The link was sent to those of you in the prayer list, it’s also posted on Facebook for those that don’t get the prayer list.

On Sunday, April 3rd, we have a Quarterly Business Meeting right after the AM Worship service.

Finally, as always, let me encourage you to continue in your worship of God through your giving. Our church operates on a completely faith-based model, which means that we operate only on what is given to the church through your tithes and offerings. In order to help you worship God through your giving, we have three ways for you to do so: (1) in the back of the room, there is an offering box through which you can give with cash and check giving; (2) if you’d prefer to give with a credit, debit, or ACH transfer, you can text the number 84321 with your [$]amount and follow the text prompts or you can (3) visit us online at graceandpeacepa.com and select “Giving” in the menu bar. Everything that you give goes to the growth of this local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Psalm 46)

Our Call to Worship is Psalm 46, which is a song of the Sons of Korah. This psalm encourages us to hope and trust in God; in his power and providence. Despite spiritual enemies and despite the pain and suffering that we face in life, we can be encouraged by God because he is our help. So, have confidence in the LORD and behold the good work that he does. Please stand and read Psalm 46 with me—I’ll read the odd-numbered verses, please join me in reading the even-numbered verses.

Psalm 46 ESV

To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song. 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. 6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah 8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. 10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” 11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Congregational Singing

Brethren We Have Met to Worship

O Great God

We Will Glorify

Scripture Reading (1 Peter 1:13-25)

Our Scripture Reading this morning is 1 Peter 1:13-25. I’ve asked Tara to read it and as she comes up, I do want to give a bit of background information for you. 1 Peter was written by Peter to believers that had been exiled through Asia minor and Asia itself. They were exiled because of their faith in Jesus Christ, which means that there’s a strong theme of persecution throughout the letter. He calls them to continue in their faith, in particular, he calls them in vss. 13-25, which is our Scripture Reading text today, to be holy. To be sanctified, to be like Jesus Christ. This connects to our sermon this morning as our sermon also calls us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, which is the process of sanctification. Tara can you read 1 Peter 1:13-25?

1 Peter 1:13–25 ESV

13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Sermon

Introduction

This morning, we’re taking a brief break from our regular series in the Gospel according to John and the reason for that is two-fold: (1) as most of you know, I do take multiple seminary courses to further my own education and about once or twice a semester I have to write sermons as part of those courses—essentially to show that I can understand Scripture and teach Scripture. Every time that I do one of these sermons for class, I essentially just write the manuscript and send it to the professor, but I don’t actually preach it. Thus, so that I don’t waste those sermons, on occasion, I preach them during church services—you might remember me preaching a few psalms in the Spring of last year for the same reason. (2) I made the realization last week, that with the rate that we were working through the text, that I had actually miscalculated and because I miscalculated, we were one week ahead, which means that if we didn’t take a week off from John, we would be working through the resurrection of Jesus the week before we typically celebrate the resurrection of Jesus—and while we could’ve done that, I determined that it would be better not to.

If you have your Bible with you this morning, please turn it to Romans 12.

As you turn to Romans 12, let me give you some background information, so that you know what we’re jumping into in Romans 12. Romans is a letter written by the apostle Paul to the church in Rome. It’s important to note that Paul did not start the church in Rome; and actually, he had never been to the church in Rome, which is probably why the book of Romans is written the way it is. Whereas, many of the other letters written by Paul were much shorter and jumps straight into correcting issues within the church, Romans is significantly longer and spends the first eleven chapters talking specifically about doctrine. Why would he do this?

Because he didn’t know the people and he wanted to explain what genuine Christian doctrine was and is before jumping straight into the application that we’re now in. If you read Romans carefully, you’ll notice that the first eleven chapters focuses on what it means to believe in Jesus, what it means to claim to be a Christian, what you ought to believe as a Christian. And the last six chapters are then dedicated to the repercussions of believing—or in other words, now that you believe, here’s how you ought to live your life in light of Jesus Christ.

I’ve mentioned that Paul had never been to the Roman church and you might ask, then how did the church in Rome start? The most common answer to that is simple—on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, when Peter proclaims the Gospel to all the people, there were people from all over the world in Jerusalem that day for the festival. Thus, most scholars believe that people from Rome heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and returned home and started their own church. As to who are the people in the church in Rome, it was probably a multi-ethnic group of Jews and Gentiles, though it seems in Paul’s statements in this letter, that the majority were probably Gentile.

It’s also worth noting that Paul has a deep love for the Roman people despite never having met them. He wants to meet them and he wants to worship with them and he wants to pray with them and partner with them. That’s what drove him to write the letter to the Romans. It is the longest of Paul’s letters (many consider it his magnus opus) and it is the most systematically reasoned argument for the Christian faith given by Paul. He emphasizes the gospel as God’s power for salvation, the need for justification by faith, and the implications of salvation.

Now, I normally don’t preach just over two verses in one sermon, but because of this passages purpose as a transition between doctrine and practical theology, I do believe that we could easily and rightfully spend all of today in the first two verses of Romans and be justified in doing so. So, we’re going to do just that, this morning

Keep all this in mind as we read this morning’s text, Romans 12:1-2.

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.

As we study this passage together, we’re going to look at it as one section, but let me alert you to the fact that we’re only looking at part of Paul’s message to the Romans in Romans 12. We actually could continue to the end of this chapter and really the end of the book because what the first section is is a transition between the first part of the book and the second part of the book. And in this transition, it’s important to note, that what Paul is doing is that he’s just given us in chapters 1-11 the theological basis of our faith. In chapters 12-16 and transitions to how we should apply the theology he has just taught. Thus, Romans 12:1-2, our section for today is Paul’s Appeal for the Romans to be Living Sacrifices (1-2) and he makes this appeal based on the fact that if they truly believe in what he says in chapters 1-11, they should live like what he says in chapters 12-16. So, the first two verses gives almost the purpose of the rest of the book—if you claim to believe, then this is how you should live. Now like I said, he continues through the rest of Romans to discuss the different implications of being living sacrifices, but this morning, we’re only going to look at this concept of being a living sacrifice—what exactly does that mean and how should we seek to do it today?

Prayer for Illumination

Paul’s Appeal for the Romans to be Living Sacrifices (1-2)

Remember that Paul has just spent the vast majority of this book explaining genuine and foundational Christian doctrine.

Let me just give you a brief list of what all Paul has covered thus far in the book:

All of Romans 1-11 has focused on one singular idea—that justification is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Chapter 1-3 focuses on the universal need for salvation because of sin—or put differently, regardless of whether you’re Jewish or a Gentile, you’re still in sin and you still need a Savior.

The end of chapter 3 and chapter 4 then speaks of how God made a way for Jews and Gentiles to be saved—he provided a provision for salvation through faith in Jesus.

Chapter 5-8 then shows us the freedom that we have when we do believe in Jesus and we are saved.

Romans 5, we’re free from the wrath of God

Romans 6, we’re free from sin

Romans 7, we’re free from the Law

Romans 8, we’re free from death.

And chapters 9-11 then shows us how God chose to save, but the Israelites chose to trust in their own righteousness and their own works. And because they refused to genuinely believe in God, they never obtained salvation, but anyone, both Jew and Gentile can obtain salvation if they simply repent from sin and believe in Jesus.

You can see how this is an iteration of the core doctrines of Christianity.

That all are sinful—we’re both born in original sin and we participate in our own sins. That we’re responsible for our sins and that the wages of sin is death, but the payment for our sins is far too great for us to pay.

That the only way that we can pay of the debt owed by us is through Jesus Christ alone. That all are saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ as a gracious gift of the Father. That apart from Jesus, there is no salvation.

And that genuine salvation results in the person being set free from God’s wrath, from sin, from the Law, and from death.

Once you understand the basics of Christianity, which let’s be honest, nothing Paul has said thus far is beyond what you need to know in order to genuinely be saved, but once you’re saved, the next question is, what’s next?

And I’m not talking about the issue of baptism, though you ought to be baptized as a believer.

I’m talking about what do you do with your life now that you actually believe? Are you to go back to living just the way that you always have? Do you continue to do whatever you wish to do?

Absolutely not! The very idea of repentance is that you turn from your own way of living towards a new way of living. You’ve left behind the way that you used to think and now you’re learning to think differently by the grace of God.

Paul starts this transition towards practical application with an appeal—he is urging them or he’s exhorting them to do something in particular and it’s found in vs. 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.”

Notice first off, that he is speaking specifically to those who genuinely believe in Jesus Christ.

You can see that in the word brothers. Paul never refers to unbelievers as brothers and sisters, he only refers to genuine believers as part of this family of God that he speaks so frequently about.

So, this is Paul specifically speaking to those who claim to genuinely believe in God and his appeal is for them in particular.

He doesn’t expect unbelievers to do what he’s about to tell them to do, but he does expect those who claim to believe to follow what he’s about to say.

And again, this is in light of all the doctrinal ideas that he presented to them in chapters 1-11 or in other words, he’s saying “because of everything that I said in chapters 1-11, do this.

In addition, as he speaks directly to those who claim to genuinely believe in God, he points out that this is something that they can only do “by the mercies of God.”

That could be a general idea of the mercies of God or it could be more specific.

If he’s speaking in a general sense of “mercies of God,” this could include more general ideas—God’s mercy and compassion in allowing them to be able to do what Paul is about to tell them to do.

I’m arguing that it is a little more specific in this one way, that everything leading up to this point in Romans 12 has spoken at length about salvation given to both Jews and Greeks without their own work being necessary.

Or in other words, Paul is making this argument or appeal based on the compassion or mercy that God showed them in saving them.

Or put another way, because Jesus had saved them, this is what they ought to do: they ought “to present [their] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” There are a number of different points that can be made about this one sentence, but we can really start with one question:

What does it mean to present their bodies as a living sacrifice? Remember, that even though Paul is writing primarily to Gentile believers in Rome, there would be some familiarity behind what a sacrifice is—the Roman people were pagan in that they worshiped false gods.

They frequently would offer animals, plants, wine, money and various other substances to their false deities, they knew what it meant to offer a sacrifice.

They also knew that when you offered something as a sacrifice, you had to kill the sacrifice first. The very concept of a living sacrifice is different than the pagan gods that the unbelievers worshiped.

And the reasoning for why they would offer a living sacrifice rather than a sacrifice that had to be killed is simple—Jesus already died as their ultimate sacrifice.

They no longer have to offer anything to die for their sins because Jesus died for their sins, but that doesn’t negate the fact that they are still to offer a sacrifice.

The difference is that this new sacrifice survives the sacrificial process and this new sacrifice isn’t an animal, a plant, wine, money or whatever other substance they could use to make sacrifice.

This new sacrifice is themselves.

They are this new, living sacrifice that’s to be offered to God and is able to be offered because of God’s compassion or mercy. They can offer themselves as a living sacrifice because of the atoning work that Jesus did for them on the cross. They can be that living sacrifice because they have been saved by God.

But just like the sacrifices in the Old Testament, which had to be done a certain way with certain unblemished animals, there are certain requires for the living sacrifice of your body that Paul is appealing for them to give. bAnd he gives these requires in the remaining part of vs. 1.

Vs. 1 ends by stating that they were to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, “holy and acceptable to God.”

Our tendency when we see two words like that conjoined with and is to think of those two words as different ideas. That Paul is stating that not only does the sacrifice have to be holy, but the sacrifice needs to be acceptable, but the reality is that in a situation like this, the only acceptable sacrifices to God are holy sacrifices.

Because God doesn’t accept sacrifices that aren’t holy. So, why exactly does Paul state this idea like this?

He does it to emphasize what sort of sacrifice is required from those that genuinely believe in God.

Those that are holy in life or are at least moving towards the idea of living a holy life are the only ones that God considers acceptable or pleasing.

And what we see in Romans 12, is that there is utmost importance tied to this idea of being a living sacrifice that’s holy and acceptable to God. Why is it so important?

Because of the end of vs. 1. “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

Often, in our modern-day church culture, people get the wrong impression of what genuine worship of God is and the reason for that wrong impression is that they equate worship with singing. Thus, you’ll hear preachers, worship leaders, and congregation members calling the music worship, when the reality is that music is one part of worship, but not the only part of worship.

Or in other words, if we were to start our service and I gave announcements and we prayed together and right before we started singing, I would be wrong if I said “ok, now, let’s start worshiping.” As if our prayers weren’t worship or our Call to Worship wasn’t worship in and of itself. Or if we finished singing and I stood up to preach, I would be wrong to say, “ok, now that we’re done worshiping, let’s dig into Scripture.”

And yet, it’s common to think of the musical part of the service to be the “worship” part of the service, when the reality is that the whole service is only one part of your worship of God (or at least it should be).

It would be proper and right to call our singing in church exactly what it is, it is musical worship; but it isn’t the only part of the service that is worship and quite frankly, it shouldn’t be the only time in our lives when we think that we’re worshiping.

Our musical worship ought to be just one expression of our worship of God because our worship of God doesn’t begin and end with singing and it doesn’t begin and end at

What Romans 12:1 shows us is that our true worship of God is in presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

And the idea of spiritual worship and us worshiping God through spiritual worship is essentially vital. Why? Think with me all the way back to John 4.

In John 4, Jesus is speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well and the woman mentions that the Samaritan people don’t worship in Jerusalem despite the fact that the Jewish people claim that proper worship of Yahweh had to be done in Jerusalem.

How does Jesus respond to the woman? “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father . . . the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The idea that Paul is presenting in Romans 12 is so vital because Jesus has already made the claim that people needed to worship God spiritually.

How do we do that? By presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice.

The next logical question then is this: if I have to present my body as a living sacrifice to the LORD as part of my genuine, spiritual worship of Yahweh, what does that look like? What does it look like to worship God spiritually as a living sacrifice in a way that is holy and acceptable to God? Paul answers this question in the very next verse (and then expounds on that answer throughout Romans 12-16.

How do we present our bodies as a living sacrifice? How are we to be holy and acceptable to God? How are we to spiritually worship the LORD? Vs. 2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”

The primary definition that we give when we talk about the word holy is that whoever is described as holy is separated—separated from sin, separated from others, separated from the appearance of evil.

It’s easy for us to see how God fits that description—we serve a God that is only ever good, only ever perfect, and only ever holy, but the thing is that Paul is saying that those of us who genuinely believe are to present ourselves to the LORD as a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable.

Which means that we are to become holy. We are to be separated from sin, separated from others, and separated from the appearance of evil.

And of course, anyone in their right mind would hear that and think that this very idea sounds impossible because it is if you don’t know Jesus.

Apart from Jesus, we’re so chained down by sin that we can’t possibly become holy. We can’t possibly be transformed by the renewing of our minds, we can’t possibly be unconformed to this world.

Apart from Jesus, none of this is possible, which if you’re thinking through this with all that Paul had stated in chapters 1-11 in mind, you’ll realize that this is the point.

First and foremost, the very idea of us being able to present ourselves as a living sacrifice that’s holy and acceptable as part of our spiritual worship only exists because of what Jesus accomplished as our substitutionary atonement on the cross. The very idea of us being able to worship the LORD at all is only a result of our repentance of sin and belief in him.

Thus, this idea of not being conformed, but being transformed is another situation that simply isn’t possible without the work of Jesus on the cross and the working of the Holy Spirit within us to convict us of sin, to draw us to repentance, and to progressively sanctify us through our lives.

Or put another way, you cannot be a holy and acceptable sacrifice, you can’t spiritually worship God, and you can’t be transformed by the renewal of your mind without God working within you to make you holy and acceptable, to enable you to spiritually worship him, and to transform you by the renewing of your mind.

Apart from Jesus, none of this is possible.

And yet, the word usage in Romans 12:2, implies that there’s a certain amount of responsibility for you to not do something, but to do something else.

While the very idea of doing this and the necessary enablement of doing this is completely done by Jesus; you are responsible to seek renewal and you are responsible for not conforming to the world, you are responsible to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.

So the Holy Spirit works within us after Jesus enables these changes to be done in our lives, but there’s still a level of culpability in what Jesus says, we still bare some responsibility. And that responsibility lies in this idea of not being conformed, but being transformed.

How exactly do we not conform to the world? How exactly do we get transformed by the renewing of our minds? Clearly “do not be conformed” is the negative command while “be transformed” is the positive command.

Let’s start with conformity to the world—what exactly does it mean to be conformed to the world?

And actually ,we’d be better off if we start with the question, what exactly does the Bible mean when it speaks of the world?

And we could do a brief systematic look throughout the New Testament to get a pretty consistent idea of what the Bible means by utilizing the term world here.

Sometimes, when the Bible utilizes the word world it’s referring to the physical earth and the physical universe—passages like Hebrews 1:2 teach us that God created the world and John 13:1 shows us that Jesus knew that his time to depart the world was coming.

But often, when the Bible utilizes the term world it isn’t speaking of the physical earth or the physical universe. It’s actually speaking of something different.

So, when John writes in 1 John 2:15-16, “Do not love the world or anything in the world,” he isn’t speaking of us not loving the physical world around us—John doesn’t have some sort of disdain for enjoying God’s creation or for them to enjoy God’s creation.

And when Jesus says “if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” He isn’t speaking of creation disdaining you, though those that struggle with gardening might disagree with me.

What is John referring to and what is Jesus referring to?

Often, when the New Testament authors utilize the word world, they have in mind the inhabitants of the earth. The people of the earth, but they aren’t just focused on people in general.

When the Bible utilizes the term world in this context, its utilizing it to speak of the world’s mindset, lifestyle, or what we typically refer to as its worldview—the Bible is specifically focusing on how unbelievers think, how they live, and how they see the world.

And the command here, is that those who genuinely believe, that have experienced this mercy or compassion that God gives everyone who believe (which Paul has spent chapters 1-11 discussing), and those who are seeking to present their bodies as a living sacrifice that’s holy and acceptable are not to be conformed to the world.

Which by the way, there’s an implication here—that the way that the world thinks, lives, and sees the world isn’t how believers are supposed to think, live, and see the world.

Remember Jesus’ statement that if the world hates you it’s because it hated him first? Remember the very next verse, John 15:19, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Consider what Paul writes to the Christians in Colossi, “Put to death therefore what is earthy [or worldly] in you” and then he goes on to list a whole series of sins that epitomize how the world thinks, “Sexual immorality, impurity, inordinate affection, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. . . anger wrath, malice, slander, and obscene speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you stripped off the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created it.”

Even think back to the Old Testament, when Israel was repeatedly told not to marry or intermingle with the nations that surrounded it—some have accused the Israelites of practicing racism because of God’s Law, but what’s the real reason for God to tell them not to marry or intermingle? If the Israelites intermingled and intermarried with the surrounding nations, God knew that their distinctiveness of following him would disappear. All of the surrounding nations were pagan unbelievers—it had nothing to do with their ethnicities, it had everything to do with the fact that the pagan unbelieving nations thought differently, acted differently, and lived with a different view of life (which by the way, this is why the New Testament tells believers today not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers). They think differently, they live differently, and they see the world differently.

And if they don’t, it’s because you yourself have been conformed into their way of thinking. It isn’t because the world is becoming more Christlike, it’s because you have become more worldly in your thinking. You haven’t been transformed, you’ve been conforming to the world, which I think you can tell is sin.

Now there’s one other implication, that to think like the world, you have to be conformed to the world. Or in other words, the way that the world think isn’t the original or proper way of thinking, you have to be changed to think like the world.

The way that you think, live, and see the world has to be changed or what we should say, the way that you think needs to be warped in order to think like the world.

And we know through the doctrine of sin—hamartiology that sin is what warps the way that we think, live, and see the world, which is why repentance is a fundamental change of mind.

It’s an admission that the way that we thought and the way that we lived and the way that we saw the world was incorrect.

The way that the world thinks isn’t the proper way of thinking, which is why Scripture spends so much time offending the way we originally thought and convincing us of the proper way of thinking—that’s why the Scriptures spend so much time convincing us that what we loved before coming to Jesus needs to be removed and what we need to put on is the love that Jesus has—not just for other people, but for himself, and for the other things that he loves. We are to put on love for righteousness, justice, holiness, purity, and goodness. We are to grow in our love for what Jesus loves.

And we are to grow in our disdain for our previous sinful appetites. Much like how Paul states it in Colossians, put off the old man with his desires; put on the new man with his desires.

The world’s way of thinking isn’t how we were initially created to think, which is why the Scriptures spend so much time reorienting how we think to properly coincide with how God thinks.

We aren’t supposed to think like the world, we’re supposed to think like God thinks. Let’s look at being transformed by the renewing of our minds—what does Paul mean by this?

The Greek word that’s translated as transformed is the μεταμορφοω, which I think you can tell, is the same word that we get our word metamorphosis. In creation, a metamorphosis is a complete change of a creature—caterpillars become butterflies, tadpoles become frogs, scientists say that spiders go through metamorphosis and certain insects go through partial metamorphosis.

All of this to say that we all know what it means for a creature to go through the process of metamorphosis and the same concept is being applied to the Christian believer in Romans 12:2. That there should be a complete change of the believer from who he was, how he thought, how he acted, and the way he looked at life from before salvation and after.

And quite frankly, if someone claims to believe, but they still think the same way, they still look at life the same way, they still act the same way, then it really begs the question as to whether they’ve truly repented—because repentance is a fundamental change of mind.

You used to think one way, you used to act one way, you used to see the world a certain way; but after understanding the Gospel and believing in Jesus, you’re thinking, your actions, your worldview changes.

You might question, how do we go through this process of transformation; and I will answer that, in the application.

There’s one last statement that’s made by Paul in the last part of vs 2 that we need to look at. “That by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

This last statement made by Paul tells us something of utmost importance and it relates to how we know what God wants us to do in life, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

In a general sense, the will of God is simple, that we should be like Jesus Christ and conformed to his image.

In a more specific sense, the will of God can be a bit more complicated, but what Paul is stating at the end of verse two is that when you are transformed by the renewing of your mind, you can discern what the will of God is for your life.

How is that even possible? Because as you’re transformed, you aren’t just changing the way that you think, act, and view the world—you’re starting to love what Jesus loves and hate what Jesus hates.

Thus, as you are transformed, you begin to think how Jesus thinks and act how Jesus wants you to act, and you see the world how God wants you to see the world.

And as this process continues in your life, your wisdom and knowledge increases and it becomes easier for you to practice discernment and determine God’s will.

It becomes easier for you to think deeply about the things of God and be able to discern how God thinks about things, which allows you to determine what God’s will is.

But notice, that even while being transformed, there is still a requirement to test what you think is the will of God; and I don’t mean that in the manner of how Gideon tested God with the fleece.

I mean that in the manner of this, you still need to filter everything through Scripture—or in other words, not everything that “comes to you” will be the will of God. Many times, it’ll be your own will pretending to be God’s will.

You still need to check everything in light of God’s Word because otherwise, you run the risk of doing things thinking that you’re doing them in the name of God; and finding out that you were really doing them in your name and taking God’s name in vain instead.

Now, I think that I’ve spread application fairly evenly throughout the whole text, but as is our tradition, I do want to spend the last few minutes discussing how exactly we can apply this text to our lives today.

Application

As we studied these two verses, I think the overarching principle is simple for everyone to understand. Because of what God has done for us through chapters 1-11—by saving us through faith in Jesus Christ and freeing us from the consequence of our sins, from sins themselves, from the Law and from death. By showing us that salvation is obtainable only by repenting from sin and believing in Jesus. Because of those two prominent ideas, we are to think differently, act differently, and view the world differently. The question is (and really what are application is focused on), is how do we do this?

How do we become people who think differently, act differently, and view the world differently? The primary way is by allowing the Word of God to change us. We know this through Jesus’ high priestly prayer, “sanctify them in your truth; thy Word is truth.”

The renewing of your mind that Paul speaks of in vs. 2 is done by hearing the Word of God preached, taught, spoken, and read. It’s done by internalizing the truth of God, by meditating on God’s Word, and by allowing God’s Word to genuinely influence you.

It’s done by taking seriously what God has said in His Word and applying it to how you think, how you act, and how you view the world.

Which means that each time that we look at Scripture, we have to look at it a certain way—for many people, they look at Scripture and they see nothing but antiquated ideas and fairy tales, but if we believe that this is genuinely the Word of God, which 2 Timothy 3:16-17 teaches it is, then you have to view it not as antiquated ideas or fairy tales, but as a cohesive account of what God says about the world, about mankind, and ultimately about himself.

Coming to that realization is the first step in starting to think, act, and view the world differently.

Recognizing the inspiration of, inerrancy of, and the authority of Scripture because it is God’s Word, automatically starts the process of changing how you think, but just understanding God’s Word as God’s Word isn’t enough.

Whether you believe it’s God’s Word really is of little consequence if you never actually open it and read it and study it and delight in it.

Which is where the process of your transformation continues—because as you continue to read God’s Word and hear God’s Word and internalize the truths of God’s Word, your thinking will change and your actions will change and your worldview will change.

And as you continue to allow God’s Word to change you, you will progressively become less like the world, but more like Jesus.

While God’s Word is God’s primary means through which he transforms us through the renewing of our minds, this process also occurs incrementally through other means as well.

Through our prayer, God changes us; through fellowship with likeminded believers, God changes us; through the working of the Holy Spirit, God changes us. We call this truth the doctrine of progressive sanctification.

That as we continue walking in Christ, as we continue seeking God’s truth in his Word, as we pray, as we fellowship, as we ask the Spirit to work within us, God makes us more like his Son a little bit at a time. He sanctifies us.

The process of sanctification is a working of both the Holy Spirit and of man himself—or in other words, God changes us, but we bear some responsibility in the change as well.

We’re responsible for looking for God’s truth, we’re responsible for allowing God’s truth to transform us, we’re responsible for prayer, for fellowship, and for seeking God.

The process of not being conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds isn’t a passive event, we must participate in our sanctification as well, which is why Paul can make such an appeal. If we didn’t bear any responsibility for us being transformed than Paul would’ve simply told the Romans to pray for God to change them,

But he doesn’t; he appeals to them to present themselves as a living sacrifice as their spiritual worship.

And that appeal is based on the fact that they need to stop thinking, acting, and seeing the world like unbelievers do and they need to start being transformed by the renewing of their minds, which is precisely what our application from these two verses is.

As believers, we are to stop being conformed to the world and we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Why? Because God wants us to be living sacrifices that are holy and acceptable to him; because this is how we are supposed to worship God.

Put Simply, Romans 12:1-2 is Paul’s appeal for the Romans to change the way they think and act based on God’s saving of them—because God saved them, think differently, live differently, and view the world differently. Our application is the same—because God saved you, think differently, live differently, and view the world differently.

This is done only when you stop being conformed to the world and you’re transformed by the renewing of your mind. Thus, (1) ask God to help you be sanctified, (2) seek God’s truth in His Word, pray to him, fellowship with likeminded believers, actually seek God, and (3) take God and his truth seriously—allow His Words to change you so that you can discern the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

Take My Life and Let it Be