WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.960 So, we're going to return this morning. 00:00:01.960 --> 00:00:07.280 Last week we looked at verses, the first verse of Romans chapter 12. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:12.519 I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, if you remember, if you were here by the mercies 00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:17.000 of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:18.000 spiritual worship. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:21.519 Today, we're looking at the second verse. 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:24.719 We're not going to do all one verse at a time, but the first two are really important. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:28.640 So, they're foundational really to the rest of the chapter. 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:34.039 So, this verse today is, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal 00:00:34.039 --> 00:00:38.840 of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and 00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:41.320 acceptable and perfect. 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:45.560 So, it may be that for those of you who were here last week, or those of you who may be 00:00:45.560 --> 00:00:49.359 here for the rest of the summer, there'll be a bit of overlap each week. 00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:50.359 And that's fine. 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:51.760 That's important, because they all dovetail. 00:00:51.760 --> 00:00:57.760 We're not taking them out of their context or making them simply individual verses, because 00:00:57.759 --> 00:00:59.159 they're all part of the whole. 00:00:59.159 --> 00:01:01.679 However, we're looking at them in quite a bit of detail. 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:06.599 And last week, we looked at the importance of Christians, recognizing that they are living 00:01:06.599 --> 00:01:12.319 sacrifices and all the connotations of what that meant for us. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:16.319 And we saw that, especially in our relationship with God, that it's not just, you know, the 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:17.920 hour we're in church. 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:18.920 It's our bodies. 00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:24.000 It's whatever we are, whoever we are, we take Christ and Christ is with us. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:29.599 And we saw that particularly in our ongoing relationship with God, and also, it's not 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:35.640 quite so obvious at this point, but it goes on to become clear in the chapter, a relationship 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:44.359 with other Christians is hugely influenced by understanding who we are in Christ, as 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:47.079 does our relationship with the world in which we live. 00:01:47.079 --> 00:01:48.319 So in other words, it's everything. 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:49.640 It impacts everything. 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:54.319 And a true understanding of who we are as believers impacts everything that we do, the 00:01:54.319 --> 00:01:59.920 perspective we have, the conversations we have, the behavior we engage in, the choices 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:05.760 we make, everything is affected by understanding who we are as living sacrifices in Christ. 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:11.360 Now, I'm going to enrage some people here just now, especially those who are historical 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:12.360 theologians. 00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:16.759 And I plead already your forgiveness. 00:02:16.759 --> 00:02:25.280 I'm just not sure sometimes today how helpful it is to describe ourselves as Protestants. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:26.280 Okay? 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:27.280 Okay? 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:30.679 You can sack me at the end of the service. 00:02:30.679 --> 00:02:34.599 Or even to describe ourselves as non-conformists. 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:40.159 Now, hopefully I'll explain what I mean and why that's the case. 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:45.359 I get why historically that's the case, and I understand there's a reason for it and it 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:48.760 is important, but it's only part of the picture. 00:02:48.760 --> 00:02:51.600 It's only part of the picture. 00:02:51.600 --> 00:02:57.360 And we need to engage in a certain degree of spiritual nuance to understand deeper who 00:02:57.360 --> 00:02:59.040 we are as believers. 00:02:59.040 --> 00:03:03.200 Because Paul here in this verse is describing discipleship. 00:03:03.200 --> 00:03:06.200 He's describing what it is to be a living sacrifice. 00:03:06.200 --> 00:03:11.400 He spent, we saw last week, the first eleven chapters giving deep, meaningful, meaty theology 00:03:11.400 --> 00:03:15.560 about who God is, about who we are, and about salvation, the significance and importance 00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:16.560 of that. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:22.599 And here now is the more practical section of Romans, and he's describing with the authority 00:03:22.599 --> 00:03:29.879 and gifting of an apostle under the inspiration of Scripture, describing discipleship to the 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:36.520 church in Rome, but also to the church throughout time. 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:39.879 And if you read this verse, when you first read this verse, do you think that Paul's 00:03:39.879 --> 00:03:42.560 just going to use opposites? 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:44.680 Do not do this, but do this. 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:49.439 And it clearly looks like it's going to be opposites. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:56.439 Don't be conformed, and you think he's then going to give, rather, do the opposite of not 00:03:56.439 --> 00:03:58.479 being conformed. 00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:00.439 But he doesn't do that. 00:04:00.439 --> 00:04:07.479 The opposite of being and not conforming is maybe something we presume that we should 00:04:07.479 --> 00:04:08.479 be. 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:16.399 The opposite of not conforming, we think, is to fight, to protest, to oppose. 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:18.639 That's the opposite of not conforming. 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:19.639 It's kind of rebelling. 00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:24.360 Now, I know there's an element of that in the Christian faith, but he chooses not to 00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:26.439 use that opposite. 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:33.279 He doesn't say, don't conform to the pattern of this world, but be rebels, be non-conformists. 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:36.680 Rather he says something much more positive. 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:41.759 He provides a very positive alternative, which is transformation. 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:45.199 It's not the opposite of being a non-conformist. 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:46.800 It's something different. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:54.360 It's something with a much more positive slant, and that is significant and important. 00:04:54.360 --> 00:04:59.960 He challenges what I think sometimes we have the very core of an understanding of what a 00:04:59.960 --> 00:05:02.280 Christian is, which... 00:05:02.279 --> 00:05:06.919 And if we don't have that understanding, certainly the world have that understanding that the 00:05:06.919 --> 00:05:09.039 Christian is someone... 00:05:09.039 --> 00:05:11.000 It's always negative. 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:13.279 It's always against everything. 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:16.000 The Christian is someone who's against everything. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:21.319 And now there's elements of truth in these things, of course. 00:05:21.319 --> 00:05:30.799 But Paul here describes being non-conformist, not in a negative use, or negative opposite, 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:34.639 but rather in using the language of transformation. 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:40.800 Now, there's no doubt there's many things that we fight against in the light of being 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:46.199 molded by God's good, pleasing, and perfect will. 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:49.000 But it's a healing. 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:54.120 It's a rooting out of what is damaging and unhealthy to us. 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:56.720 It's a coming towards wholeness. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:58.600 It's being engulfed in this divine love. 00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:04.760 Last week we looked at what the whole summary of verses of chapters 1 to 11, that deep, 00:06:04.760 --> 00:06:07.960 meaty, meaningful theology of chapters 1 to 11 was. 00:06:07.960 --> 00:06:09.640 What's the summary of it? 00:06:09.640 --> 00:06:14.920 God's mercy, in light of God's mercy, which is in light of all that Paul had been speaking 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:15.920 about. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:22.040 So it's in the light of God's mercy that we're not to be conformed, but rather we're 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:25.000 to be transformed towards wholeness. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:32.639 Now, love will always have negative parameters, and that's true. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:35.519 But they don't define love for us, do they? 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:37.920 Usually, the negative parameters. 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:43.360 For example, negatively, I'm not going to steal from my best friend. 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:47.399 If I've got a best friend who I love, I'm not going to steal from them. 00:06:47.399 --> 00:06:51.560 Now, that's a negative parameter around my love for that person. 00:06:51.560 --> 00:06:59.120 I wouldn't do something bad or brutal like that and steal from my best friend. 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:03.399 But I wouldn't define my friendship with them as, oh, I've got this is my best friend, 00:07:03.399 --> 00:07:04.399 I don't steal from them. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:06.040 Do you see what I mean? 00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:07.040 Do you see what I mean? 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:12.160 I wouldn't define my friendship in terms of what I wouldn't do, what I would keep for 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:18.240 them doing, but nonetheless, there are parameters to love, and we'll come and see them very clearly. 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:22.879 But the core of our faith, I think it's a very important point that he makes here, is 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:27.360 how you describe your faith and how you think about your faith. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:32.040 Do you think about it negatively, or do you think about it positively? 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:37.040 Do you see yourself as a non-conformist or someone who's being transformed? 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:43.680 Because I think that there's an important perspective that we share in that. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:47.160 Or if you're not a Christian today, maybe you've been brought up in the faith, but you 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:52.000 haven't come to faith in Jesus Christ yourself, or maybe you're just invested, fantastic to 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:55.040 see if you're here today and you're just investigating the Christian faith. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:08:01.240 But maybe you think also, if I'm to become a Christian, you think of it in terms of, 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:05.960 well, there'll be enough, a lot of things I'm going to have to give up. 00:08:05.960 --> 00:08:10.160 A lot of negatives, a lot of no-mores, a lot of do-nots. 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:17.439 Now, clearly that is an important element of faith. 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:25.120 But to crouch your faith in these terms negatively, I think it's to come at faith from the wrong 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:29.520 direction, because we're to be transformed by the mercies of God. 00:08:29.520 --> 00:08:35.160 It's to be at one level, yes, it's a battle, but it's a pleasurable battle at one level, 00:08:35.160 --> 00:08:37.440 because it's a battle of life. 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:38.440 It's a battle of truth. 00:08:38.440 --> 00:08:44.600 It's a battle of coming alive from being spiritually dead. 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:51.320 If we're protestants, if we're always negative against everything in our Christian lives, 00:08:51.320 --> 00:08:56.720 you're missing the vista, you're missing the view, you're missing the beauty of Jesus 00:08:56.720 --> 00:08:58.920 Christ, the attraction. 00:08:58.920 --> 00:09:03.200 It's the attraction and the mercy of God which enables it, that makes sense of saying 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:04.640 no to ungodliness. 00:09:04.640 --> 00:09:07.920 Absolutely, we say no to ungodliness. 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:13.000 But it's because of who Jesus Christ is, and if you grasp nothing else from the study of 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:21.719 the chapter over these next few weeks, grasp His mercy, in the light of His mercy, grasp 00:09:21.719 --> 00:09:29.879 that beauty, because that's the only motive that enables your heart towards Him in love 00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:30.959 and in grace. 00:09:30.959 --> 00:09:37.759 It's the only motive that enables us to embrace the prodigality of the Father's love and to 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:40.720 love others before ourselves. 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:42.559 It covers everything. 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:48.360 It's not shallow, it's not soft, it's not sentimental, it's not cheap. 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:50.360 It's the deepest reality of the universe. 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:56.879 God is love, and He shows us His love in Christ, which is the first eleven chapters that Paul 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:02.399 takes, theologically deep stuff, to make sure we understand that. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:07.639 And last week we looked at offering our bodies to Him as living sacrifice, and that was 00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:16.840 significant into the Greek or Roman world of mystical spirituality, and all that matters 00:10:16.840 --> 00:10:20.840 was what you were like inside, what you thought inside, how your body was evil and everything 00:10:20.840 --> 00:10:23.000 else that goes with that. 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:26.799 But we saw that we're physical redeemed people. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:35.840 Our bodies are always somewhere, and therefore our bodies, our beings, our living existence 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:40.080 to be in the presence of the Holy Spirit, because our bodies are the temple of the Holy 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:41.200 Spirit. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:47.240 And that was speaking of a wholehearted consecration of love towards the living God. 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:52.960 The temporal, the physical, in fact you're sitting on material seats in a building, and 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:58.200 you can see one another, it is significant because we recognize that this is the world 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:01.720 we're living that God has created that is to be redeemed. 00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:10.399 But we also need to come to a fuller understanding of our physicality, of our humanity, because 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:12.320 it's different in Christ. 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:17.120 And that leads us to the second verse which says, not just present our bodies, but we 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:22.120 do so by the renewal of our mind. 00:11:22.120 --> 00:11:28.879 So it's, we're getting everything here, we're getting body and mind as Paul explains discipleship 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:30.399 to us. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:36.919 And therefore as believers what Paul is saying here is we are to think in a new way, all 00:11:36.919 --> 00:11:37.919 of us. 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:40.799 We're to go on thinking in a new way. 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:43.519 Christian 50 years makes no difference. 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:49.480 Christian five minutes, learn, or learning to think in a new way. 00:11:49.480 --> 00:11:52.759 That's what Paul is saying here in this chapter. 00:11:52.759 --> 00:12:00.639 This renewal is speaking of a totally fresh and in completely different thought process 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:05.360 that is to be ours as believers in the help of the Holy Spirit. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:09.600 Now you know today it's your thoughts that's triggered you to bring you here today. 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:11.840 Ah, I think we'll get up. 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:13.840 We'll get dressed. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:17.379 Ah, we'll have some breakfast and now we'll come to church. 00:12:17.379 --> 00:12:23.519 So your thoughts govern what you do, the thoughts that we have lie behind who we are and what 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:24.519 we do. 00:12:24.519 --> 00:12:30.559 They explain your priorities, your behavior, your choices, your self-image. 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:38.799 So if you're here today and you think you're ugly, worthless, beyond saving, without talent, 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:45.120 unsociable, unloved, that is going to affect every single part of your day. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:47.480 And it's going to affect the way that you interact with people. 00:12:47.480 --> 00:12:49.639 It's going to affect the way you think about God. 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:56.639 You have no confidence and you will interpret the world that you go into with that lens 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:59.320 through your thought processes. 00:12:59.320 --> 00:13:05.840 On the contrary, if you think you're great, that you're more talented than most, you're 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:09.240 good looking and intelligent, you're independent. 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:15.080 That also will cut, both these extremes will color how you, the decisions you make, the 00:13:15.080 --> 00:13:17.879 way you think of God, the way you think of people. 00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:20.440 You'll be driven by pride. 00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:28.680 And Christ comes and smashes both these extremes and everything in between, both worthlessness 00:13:28.680 --> 00:13:36.039 and proud independence and that thought process that lie behind that, the brokenness, the disorder 00:13:36.039 --> 00:13:39.159 that lies behind our thinking. 00:13:39.159 --> 00:13:47.519 We often underestimate how broken our thinking is and we don't consider the transformation 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:51.719 of our thinking that's required when we come to Christ. 00:13:51.719 --> 00:13:56.159 It's not just simply a decision we make and then life carries on the way it was as we'll 00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:59.679 come to see. 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:03.000 Chapters 1 to 11 give us the truth. 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:07.879 Remember, summarize gloriously in the mercy of God. 00:14:07.879 --> 00:14:11.080 Reconciles of who God is, who we are. 00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:16.720 Our greatest need, His remarkable answer in Christ. 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:24.120 And your call today, your call, go home and read these chapters because your call to let 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:26.960 these truths capture your mind. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:33.480 Your call to allow them, your call to make these truths begin to govern and mold your 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:34.759 thinking. 00:14:34.759 --> 00:14:40.439 And as Christians, when we become Christians, we start thinking God's thoughts. 00:14:40.439 --> 00:14:49.000 We start thinking God's truth and that molds and transforms and changes our thinking. 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:54.720 Can I say, we maybe just start thinking. 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:57.399 We're so prone not to be thinkers today. 00:14:57.399 --> 00:15:05.399 We're living in an age where the mind is dulled relentlessly and we're not encouraged to be 00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:12.480 thinkers, fill it with entertainment, with noise, with distraction, with pleasure. 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:17.159 So we don't need to think about our minds and our brokenness and our disorderness and 00:15:17.159 --> 00:15:19.759 the need for transformation. 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:26.759 So can I just make a practical plea this morning to say that silence is good. 00:15:26.759 --> 00:15:28.960 Silence is great. 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:38.120 Mental reflection is a worthy practice to engage in. 00:15:38.120 --> 00:15:44.080 Not emptying our minds, far from it, but filling our minds with God thoughts and understanding 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:47.000 how His truth transforms us. 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:53.039 I'm making myself very unpopular this morning with historical theologians, but also with 00:15:53.039 --> 00:16:01.480 probably 90% of you by saying, can I encourage you to listen to less podcasts? 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:05.519 Stop always filling your mind, even if they're good podcasts, because sometimes they still 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:11.519 dull our minds to actually apply and think about the truth that we're filling our minds 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:13.000 with all the time. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:17.679 Just something, maybe one, two podcasts less a week. 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:24.519 And instead, listen for God and listen to God in the solitude of your own mind. 00:16:24.519 --> 00:16:33.120 Listen for Him, speaking through His truth, and listen for Him saying, what truth is? 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:36.399 What part of my life and mind is to be transformed by this truth? 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:43.000 What thinking is ungodly and unhelpful and selfish and proud and self-centered that He 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:49.720 is dealing with as we embrace thoughtful silence, taking God's truth and allowing it to change 00:16:49.720 --> 00:16:50.720 us. 00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:54.879 You know, allowing it to change us. 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:55.879 Use our reason. 00:16:55.879 --> 00:16:57.639 We saw that last week, didn't we? 00:16:57.639 --> 00:16:59.279 That's our reasonable service. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:01.200 It's our logical service. 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:07.039 It's what makes sense because of His mercy that we allow Him to transform our lives. 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:13.519 And so at the same way, we're to think through what He has done for us and why that changes 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:15.399 us. 00:17:15.399 --> 00:17:19.680 So then briefly, in conclusion, two points. 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:24.159 Since I'm taking Corey's place today, I'll say in conclusion 32 times. 00:17:24.159 --> 00:17:26.639 And I'll say this is the last point, five times. 00:17:26.639 --> 00:17:28.960 And we'll still go on for another 20 minutes. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:31.879 So sorry, Corey, you're listening. 00:17:31.879 --> 00:17:35.000 So there's only two, I've only got two points. 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:36.000 Yeah. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:42.680 So in terms of working out what it means to think in a new way, to think in a new way, 00:17:42.680 --> 00:17:44.039 there's two things he says here. 00:17:44.039 --> 00:17:51.559 The first is that we are not to be conformed to this world. 00:17:51.559 --> 00:17:57.640 So to paraphrase that, it's not conforming to a godless mindset. 00:17:57.640 --> 00:18:01.200 That's what we are asked to do by thinking a new way. 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:06.400 In Christ, because of Him, we are not to conform to a godless mindset. 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:12.880 Primarily, what Paul is saying here is that we're not to fit into a system of thought 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:15.799 that leaves God out. 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:16.799 That's how we were all born. 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:19.480 We sung about that in Psalm 51. 00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:23.279 And I'm not necessarily speaking about the world out there. 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:27.039 I'm speaking about the world in here that is also out there. 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:35.559 It is a system, by nature, we leave God out of the system of our thinking and of our life. 00:18:35.559 --> 00:18:42.119 Funnily enough, to be a rebel is what we think we are, and we call ourselves that sometimes 00:18:42.119 --> 00:18:43.119 against God. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:50.359 But actually, to be a rebel against God is the most conforming reality in the world. 00:18:50.359 --> 00:18:52.720 It's the furthest thing from being a rebel. 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:57.360 By nature, it's a universally predictable mindset. 00:18:57.360 --> 00:19:00.200 It's entirely unoriginal. 00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:07.440 Everyone has a system and mindset that leaves God out and leaves worship of God out by nature. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:17.160 We are sinners, and you can call it rebels, conform, rebels who conform to godlessness. 00:19:17.160 --> 00:19:26.040 One of the temptation is for us in our hearts as believers to underplay that reality and 00:19:26.040 --> 00:19:33.759 to not consider the temptation and the danger of leaving God out of our mindset, to be selfish 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:41.800 and sinful and to remain enthroned, to leave God and His love and His grace at the edges 00:19:41.800 --> 00:19:43.960 of our existence. 00:19:43.960 --> 00:19:48.240 That is where we are to fight, primarily. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:56.160 We are not to be conformed to our sinful, selfish thinking. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:20:00.680 And that has implications for the world in which we live as well. 00:20:00.680 --> 00:20:06.559 But it's not primarily that we're non-conformist with everyone out there, or to be, although 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:12.200 it includes that, we're to be non-conformists with our own unbelieving heart. 00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:15.680 We're to be non-conformists about the greed and the selfishness and the rebellion that 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:21.680 wells up within us, that leaves God out of His place of centrality. 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:29.920 And we're not to allow ourselves to think godless thoughts about God. 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:33.279 You know, I'm good without God. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:34.759 I'm not sure if God can be trusted. 00:20:34.759 --> 00:20:36.080 I'm not sure if He's good. 00:20:36.080 --> 00:20:37.640 Maybe the difficult things are happening in your life. 00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:39.440 I'm not sure if He's good. 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:41.480 I'm not sure if He can be trusted. 00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:44.960 I'm not sure if He cares for me. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:49.559 Or that all that matters is what we feel about ourselves to be true. 00:20:49.559 --> 00:20:52.559 Or that we can't be bothered with other people who are difficult or problematic. 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:56.519 We just cancel them out of our lives, because that's what selfishness thinks not only in 00:20:56.519 --> 00:21:02.759 our own lives, but in society increasingly in which we live. 00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:06.440 Or that we think, well, this material world is everything. 00:21:06.440 --> 00:21:13.320 Life is short, just having the best time is all that matters, becoming addicted to power 00:21:13.320 --> 00:21:19.000 or pleasure or sex or comfort or wealth or health or life or live and let live, because 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:20.400 this is all that matters. 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:27.160 Oh, my life, my job, my work, my health, my body, living for today. 00:21:27.160 --> 00:21:29.320 We're only here for a short time. 00:21:29.320 --> 00:21:35.759 And thinking without considering spiritual reality, without considering eternity, without 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:39.640 considering God and who He is. 00:21:39.640 --> 00:21:46.279 And that is, we're to not conform with that godless mindset, which thinks that all there 00:21:46.279 --> 00:21:53.960 is really today and my understanding and my life, we're to completely, be radically 00:21:53.960 --> 00:21:55.480 turned upside down. 00:21:55.480 --> 00:21:59.960 Now, if Christ wasn't raised from the dead, if this wasn't the first day of the week, 00:21:59.960 --> 00:22:01.519 go for it. 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:02.519 Live like that. 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:05.720 That's fine, because our faith is a waste of time anyway. 00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:11.640 If Christ isn't risen, if we only have three scoad and ten years at best, yes, go and live 00:22:11.640 --> 00:22:16.519 a crazy life and enjoy whatever you can. 00:22:16.519 --> 00:22:23.880 But we know Christ, and we know about God, and we've come to experience His mercy, and 00:22:23.880 --> 00:22:32.759 we can't think and live as atheists if we are believers by conforming to a mindset that 00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:38.119 leaves God out, that leaves God out of the core of our hearts and lives. 00:22:38.119 --> 00:22:42.480 We can't think just like everyone around us who might not be Christians and who might 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:45.079 not believe in God. 00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:49.759 It's something radically different that we are to consider and think about. 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:54.599 So you don't become a Christian and just continue to think like you always thought and continue 00:22:54.599 --> 00:22:56.599 to live like you always lived. 00:22:56.599 --> 00:23:11.679 There's this radical non-conforming to a philosophy and a thinking of this age that leaves God 00:23:11.679 --> 00:23:12.679 out. 00:23:12.679 --> 00:23:19.359 Remember, we're living sacrifices, our bodies, wherever we are, wherever we go, Christ is 00:23:19.359 --> 00:23:20.639 with us. 00:23:20.639 --> 00:23:22.199 We take Christ. 00:23:22.199 --> 00:23:23.199 Christ is all. 00:23:23.199 --> 00:23:24.199 He's everything to us. 00:23:24.200 --> 00:23:27.080 It changes our attitude to everything. 00:23:27.080 --> 00:23:31.160 So not conforming to a Godless mindset, but rather being transformed. 00:23:31.160 --> 00:23:35.880 And with this, I will finish, okay? 00:23:35.880 --> 00:23:44.080 This is where I think we part from being Protestant or protesters primarily. 00:23:44.080 --> 00:23:45.319 It's much more glorious. 00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:49.680 It's a great word we have here for being transformed, metamorphosis. 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:55.640 That's the word that we use that comes from the Greek that is used here in transformation. 00:23:55.640 --> 00:23:57.880 It's the inner change. 00:23:57.880 --> 00:24:04.160 We don't conform because we've come to Christ and there's an inner change. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:08.080 We've been touched by the living God. 00:24:08.080 --> 00:24:11.320 That's what Jesus meant when He said, you must be born again. 00:24:11.320 --> 00:24:14.840 It's so radical, it's like a rebirth. 00:24:14.839 --> 00:24:20.480 New way of thinking, new way of living, new way of behaving because we've been touched 00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:23.879 by God's incredible grace in Christ. 00:24:23.879 --> 00:24:25.039 And He helps us. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:28.439 He helps us to understand this in nature. 00:24:28.439 --> 00:24:35.959 He gives us a beautiful example of metamorphosis of a caterpillar that is transformed into a 00:24:35.960 --> 00:24:45.440 butterfly and is metamorphized into something that flies and has wings and has outstanding 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:46.440 beauty. 00:24:46.440 --> 00:24:50.799 And the caterpillar basically disintegrates inside the cocoon. 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:59.319 It almost goes just to a soup and is regenerated and reformed in a mysterious way that we can't 00:24:59.319 --> 00:25:08.079 truly understand, new cells are formed, new beauty and freedom is birthed in this metamorphosis. 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:15.240 And that is a great picture of the Christian life and what it means to understand discipleship. 00:25:15.240 --> 00:25:17.879 Briefly, a quick grammar lesson. 00:25:17.879 --> 00:25:20.319 We talked about thinking, using our minds. 00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:22.599 So use our minds for a minute. 00:25:22.599 --> 00:25:28.839 So the grammar of this word here of being transformed, it's in the present tense. 00:25:28.839 --> 00:25:29.839 Okay? 00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:32.439 Which means it's an ongoing reality. 00:25:32.439 --> 00:25:34.000 It's a lifelong maturing. 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:35.919 It just doesn't happen like that. 00:25:35.919 --> 00:25:37.279 It takes all of our life. 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:39.119 We never stop being transformed. 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:42.839 So you come to church today as a Christian and you're looking to be transformed because 00:25:42.839 --> 00:25:45.279 there's a job yet to be done. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:46.559 There's change yet to be made. 00:25:46.559 --> 00:25:48.079 It's a maturing process. 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:49.799 We never stop transforming. 00:25:49.799 --> 00:25:51.480 It's what Paul is saying here. 00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:54.039 It's what theologians we call sanctification. 00:25:54.039 --> 00:25:59.039 We're growing and being transformed into the likeness of Christ and His mercy. 00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:04.279 It's in a passive voice, which means it's happening to us. 00:26:04.279 --> 00:26:06.079 God is doing it. 00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:11.639 We are passive and God enables us to be transformed. 00:26:11.639 --> 00:26:12.759 We submit to Him. 00:26:12.759 --> 00:26:13.879 We rely on Him. 00:26:13.879 --> 00:26:15.079 We pray to Him. 00:26:15.079 --> 00:26:16.200 We seek His blessing. 00:26:16.200 --> 00:26:19.799 We seek His power and His strength and the miracle. 00:26:19.799 --> 00:26:23.839 Yet the mood is imperative. 00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:30.759 It's a voice and it's an imperative mood, which means that it's a command and we are 00:26:30.759 --> 00:26:31.759 responsible. 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:34.480 God is telling us that we are to be transformed. 00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:38.959 Now, there's mystery and it's a paradoxical reality. 00:26:38.959 --> 00:26:41.679 But there's two verses, one of them we read earlier from Philippians. 00:26:41.679 --> 00:26:47.959 But Timothy 4, 1 Timothy 4, says, have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths, stuff 00:26:47.959 --> 00:26:48.959 that isn't true. 00:26:48.959 --> 00:26:52.599 Rather, train yourself in godliness. 00:26:52.599 --> 00:26:56.799 For while, bodily training of some value, godliness is in value of every way. 00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:00.359 So godliness is a gift. 00:27:00.359 --> 00:27:03.119 It is God's work in us, but we're to train ourselves. 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:07.439 But then more clearly in Philippians 2 where we read, it's an amazing paradoxical truth. 00:27:07.439 --> 00:27:11.480 Therefore, my beloved, as you've always obeyed so now, not only in my presence but much more 00:27:11.480 --> 00:27:12.839 in my absence. 00:27:12.839 --> 00:27:17.079 Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 00:27:17.079 --> 00:27:18.079 Why? 00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:22.679 Because it's God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. 00:27:22.679 --> 00:27:28.480 And that whole section just was like a mirror of Romans chapter 12 and Philippians chapter 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:30.519 2. 00:27:30.519 --> 00:27:38.480 So we see that it's an ongoing transformation and coming to know God through Jesus Christ. 00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:42.000 We know our Father. 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:43.480 We know that we're His children. 00:27:43.480 --> 00:27:44.480 We're accepted. 00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:45.799 We're gifted. 00:27:45.799 --> 00:27:47.759 Every day is a purpose. 00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:51.799 We don't just live for today, but every day is precious. 00:27:51.799 --> 00:27:56.480 But we live in the light of eternity that the best has still to come, that God is preparing 00:27:56.480 --> 00:28:01.680 a place, that He's transforming us and transforming us body and mind. 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:03.079 And we cooperate with Him. 00:28:03.079 --> 00:28:05.319 We're partners with Him in this great work. 00:28:05.319 --> 00:28:12.440 We don't just sit back, come to faith and then just become fat slobs spiritually. 00:28:12.440 --> 00:28:18.080 We don't just receive, we energetically follow Him and serve Him spiritually. 00:28:18.080 --> 00:28:24.140 And He's with us and we are never alone and in Him and through Him. 00:28:24.140 --> 00:28:28.480 We know the life, the fullness of life that He wants us to live. 00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:34.440 Can I say that as I mentioned last week, even in darkness, even in failure, especially 00:28:34.440 --> 00:28:39.320 in failure, failure's fine. 00:28:39.319 --> 00:28:45.480 Just through it, we learn as we take our failure back to Him and confess and seek transformation, 00:28:45.480 --> 00:28:50.839 He uses that to mature us, to make us, He says, that we understand. 00:28:50.839 --> 00:28:56.639 And I haven't really any time to go into that last section, but we learn through that renewing 00:28:56.639 --> 00:29:01.000 of our minds that God's will is good and it's acceptable. 00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:06.919 And it leads us to maturity is really the understanding of that word, perfect there, 00:29:06.919 --> 00:29:09.039 that He is taking us. 00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:14.960 As we allow Him, with all the struggles, all the battles, all the suffering, all the failure, 00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:21.519 He's molding and taking that as we go back to Him with it and using it for our good and 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:23.019 for His glory. 00:29:23.019 --> 00:29:25.639 He always says, don't be afraid. 00:29:25.639 --> 00:29:28.039 He always says, I'm with you. 00:29:28.039 --> 00:29:31.000 I will hold you by my righteous right hand. 00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:36.000 What are you doing in your struggles and battles? 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:43.279 Do you think in a worldly way that either God has rejected you or you must have done 00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:49.720 something bad or that He can't love you? 00:29:49.720 --> 00:29:54.559 Or it's just life? 00:29:54.559 --> 00:29:59.079 To have a renewed mind, we're to think differently about all the suffering and difficulties and 00:29:59.079 --> 00:30:04.960 battles and challenges and questions and aging and losing our youth and all these things 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:14.319 about life and He will take and renew us and make us new each day and give us a youthfulness. 00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:16.640 So the Christian life is one of transformation. 00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:23.799 It's one of non-conforming but also transformation. 00:30:23.799 --> 00:30:29.039 We're to ditch a mindset that leaves God out of the picture. 00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:35.639 So if you're only going to think about God again this time next week when you come to 00:30:35.639 --> 00:30:42.480 church, then you're thinking and living as if you're not a Christian. 00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:49.000 Because God wants us to change our thinking, not to be conformed to godlessness but to 00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:52.720 know that He's our partner, our friend, our Savior, our Lord. 00:30:52.720 --> 00:31:00.880 And with our bodies, our bodies are His temple and we are to be transformed by His truth, 00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:03.960 by prayer, by understanding Him. 00:31:03.960 --> 00:31:12.920 So I hope that makes some kind of sense of why I spoke about Protestants and why it's 00:31:12.920 --> 00:31:16.480 not the whole picture, well a very important picture and we don't have time to go into 00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:17.559 that. 00:31:17.559 --> 00:31:22.839 But to remember the positive reality of what it is to be a Christian, let's pray. 00:31:22.839 --> 00:31:28.559 Father God, we ask and pray that you would bless us today and bless your word to us, 00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:33.639 apply it to our hearts and enable us to live in the light of your glory. 00:31:33.639 --> 00:31:35.480 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:31:35.480 --> 00:31:52.779 Amen.