A COMMITMENT TO TRANSFORMATION (ROMANS 12:1-3)
SERIES: THE COMMITMENTS DISCIPLES MAKE, PART 4
GCEFC: NOVEMBER 2, 2008
INTRODUCTION
1. For
a number of weeks we’ve been looking at Disciple
Distinctives. A distinctive is a characteristic that distinguishes something
from something else.
2. A
disciple is a person who’s committed to following Jesus Christ as Savior and
Lord. They’re committed to follow him as his disciple.
3. By
virtue of the decision to follow Christ, there are distinguishing
characteristics that mark a
disciple. A disciple is different from those who are not disciples.
4. Those
things that distinguish a disciple from those who are not disciples are…disciple distinctives.
5. The
first distinctive we’ve been looking at are the Commitments Disciples Make. One thing that distinguishes a disciple
from those who are not disciples is the commitments disciples make that those
who are not disciples do not make.
6. So
far we’ve looked at 3 of them.
a. A
commitment to the WORD OF GOD. A
disciple understands that the Word of God is their spiritual food. Their source
of spiritual truth. Their spiritual compass.
b. The
Word of God tells us what is right. What
is not right. How to get right. And how to stay right.
c. Without
the Word of God, we must rely on our own wisdom and insight as we journey
through life. Now there’s a scary thought.
d. A
disciple also makes a commitment to PRAYER.
Prayer is not about getting a reluctant God to give us what we want. Prayer
is about communication and fellowship with the living God.
e. Now,
prayer does involve asking for God’s help. When Jesus was asked how to pray, he
said we should ask God for our daily bread. Requests are a component of prayer.
Unless everything in the world is just as you want it to be.
f.
But God is not our cosmic bellhop. God does not exist
to make us happy. We exist to bring
God glory. Prayer is a marvelous privilege. We neglect it to our own loss.
g. And
we saw that a disciple makes a commitment to COMMUNITY. The Christian life is about relationships. You cannot be
a growing disciple unless you’re in a community of growing disciples.
7. This
morning we take up the next commitment that a disciple makes. A commitment to transformation. For this we go to ROM 12:1-3.
A.
IN VIEW OF
GOD’S MERCY
1. 12:1: Therefore, I urge you… You know enough about Bible study to know
that whenever you see the word therefore,
you must ask: What’s the therefore
there for?
2. We’re
about to be given a serious and lifelong command in this verse. To present our
bodies as living sacrifices. Whenever
you ask someone to do something significant. Something hard. Something
challenging—it’s nice to have a reason
why they should.
3. You
know how this works:
a. Study
hard. Why? So you can get a good grade on the test tomorrow.
b. Spend
less than you make. Why? So you’ll have reserves should some financial event
occur that you couldn’t predict.
c. Always
tell the truth. Why? So people will trust you and your word will be seen as
reliable and trustworthy.
4. We’re
about to be commanded to present our bodies for God’s service. To resist the
negative spiritual impact of the world. To commit to transformational growth.
Why?
5. Well
there’s more than one reason. But the reason given here is: in view of God’s mercy. Because of the
mercy and grace God has freely given us—WE
should do this.
6. Because
we’ve received God’s grace. Because we’ve received God’s pardon, his
forgiveness, his mercy—we should be prepared to do something in response.
7. In
fact, what we’re received from God should make 2 very profound differences:
a. Who we are.
b. How we live.
8. Now,
we can’t expect a whole lot from those who have not received God’s mercy. People who have not come to know and
understand and appreciate God’s love and grace.
9. But
those of us who have been impacted by
God’s mercy—for us it makes all the difference. For that reason, we commit
ourselves to spiritual transformation.
10. But
our commitment to transformation is a bit radical. Usually the tendency is to
sacrifice in order to obtain.
a. We
sacrifice ice cream and pie in exchange for losing weight.
b. We
sacrifice an evening of fun and relaxation to complete an important project.
c. We
sacrifice a purchase so we stay in the financial black and out of the financial
red.
11. But
here we’re asked to sacrifice not in order to gain something we don’t have. But
because of what already do have.
12. And
not only do we not sacrifice in order to gain. We don’t sacrifice in order to retain. We don’t sacrifice to obtain
God’s grace. We don’t sacrifice to keep God’s grace. We sacrifice because we
already received it and it’s ours forever.
B.
IT’S ALL OF
US, NOT JUST OUR BODY
1. But
notice it says we’re to sacrifice our bodies.
Well to the Jewish mind—your body means YOU. They saw the body as the vehicle through which we serve. You
can’t serve any other way.
2. This
is one reason why stewardship of the body is so important. Once the body is
done—our days of earthly service are over. We’re very limited that way.
3. Offering
our bodies as living sacrifices is said to be our “spiritual act of worship.”
This is one of those times when the KJV is superior to the NIV.
a. The
KJV translates it: reasonable service.
The idea is that offering our bodies as living sacrifices in God’s service is
our reasonable, rational, thought out, logical response to what he’s done for
us.
b. The
service is still spiritual. The service is still a form of worship. But
reasonable service seems to capture the idea better.
c. In
the case of Old Testament sacrifices, the animal really had no choice in the
matter. The priest never went up to the sheep and said: We’d like to use you for a sacrifice tomorrow afternoon. We’d like to
put you to death and burn you on the altar. Is this something you’d like to
participate in?
d. But
our service, though a command, is still something we must choose to do. God
won’t force us into his service. He invites us to serve based on his mercy and
grace.
4. Now,
once we’ve dedicated ourselves. Once we’ve offered ourselves. Something is to follow our commitment. That thing is TRANSFORMATION.
C.
A LIFE OF
TRANSFORMATION
1. Transformation
is certainly about change. But it’s more than that. In fact, we know this just
from the word used in the passage.
2. The
word for transformed comes from the Latin by way of Greek. The Latin word is metamorphosis, which comes from a
similar Greek word.
3. The
Greek word is made up of the word meta
meaning beyond. And the word morphe meaning form. The idea is that through transformation, something becomes
quite different than it was. Caterpillar to butterfly is the common example.
4. Transformation
involves two things. Something we do and something we don’t do. What we don’t
do is allow the world to conform us to its image.
5. Most
of the conforming is the result of individuals and groups wanting to persuade
us that their philosophy, their position, their values, and their beliefs are
superior to ours.
6. Advertisers
are masters at this. They spend billions of dollars every year trying to figure
out ways to convince us that we should spend money to buy their products.
7. And
they often succeed. In fact, if advertising wasn’t effective at conforming
consumers to the will of the seller—billions of dollars wouldn’t be spent on
doing it—it must work!
8. I
came across a quote the other day that describes this perfectly. It says: You had better be ready to change your mind
when needed or your mind will change you. It’s very easy to be conformed to
what the world desires us to be.
9. The
way a disciple fights the world’s efforts to conform him is by the DO part of the process. The DO PART is that we allow ourselves to
be transformed by something else.
10. Transformed
into what God desires for us to
become. It’s nearly a certainty that we will be transformed into somebody’s image. The only question is who’s image will it be?
11. The
key is given in the same verse (V2). Transformation
occurs as our mind is renewed. Our
minds don’t need renewing by the
world. Our natural tendency is to believe it.
12. In
order to follow the way of God, we must have our minds transformed. This isn’t natural for anyone.
13. Now
it’s very important to understand that we cannot orchestrate or engineer our
own transformation. Spiritual transformation is a work of God and only God by
his Spirit can bring it about.
14. HOWEVER—what we’re very capable of
doing is being a hindrance to the
process. We hinder the process by being passive. We hinder the process by doing nothing.
15. If
you have a garden, in order to get it to become overgrown with weeds, what do
you have to do? NOTHING. Weeds and disorder are the natural state of a garden.
To get a garden to go to seed, all that’s required is neglect.
16. It’s
the same way when it comes to spiritual transformation. In order to hinder
spiritual transformation, all that’s required is passivity.
17. So,
if the way to hinder spiritual transformation is through neglect and passivity,
then what’s the way TO spiritual
transformation? The opposite—proactivity. The answer is to not be passive but
to be proactive.
D.
THE ULTIMATE
SOLUTION
1. So
how does one exert a proactive position when it comes to our spiritual
transformation? We’ve said that transformation is a work of God. So what do WE DO?
2. What
we do is renew our mind. All volitional behavior begins in the mind. Nobody
ever chose to do something that wasn’t first something they thought.
3. First
we think it, then we decide what we’re going to do about it. We may think it
and decide not to act on the thought. Or we may think and decide to act on the thought.
4. But
make no mistake, it begins in the mind. Even those things that are now
second-nature habits didn’t begin that way.
5. When
you get into your car, you don’t have to think: Now, I will remove the key from my pocket or purse, and insert it into
the ignition, and I will turn the key in a clockwise direction until the car
starts, then I will release the key.
6. No,
you just do it without thinking. But there was a time when you did think it. Even the legal term known
as premeditated murder, or murder in the first degree is only a
description of the premeditated intention
of committing murder.
7. But
when the murder was actually committed, it was still the result of a thought. A thought that was then acted
on.
8. If
we’re going to experience spiritual transformation, our minds must be renewed
with the things of God—not things of the world. This requires investigation
into God’s Word.
9. By
having our minds renewed by the truth of the Word of God—the Spirit of God uses
the truth of God to transform the people of God to the glory of God.
10. The
end of V2 can be a bit confusing.
It’s not saying that some of God’s will is good and pleasing and perfect. The
word good is not an adjective
here—it’s a noun.
11. In
other words, good is defined as God’s
will. Whatever God’s will is…it’s good…and perfect—always.
12. God’s
will is not mysterious. It’s clear and it’s revealed. It’s found in his Word.
So as we renew our minds through the Word of God, we’re equipped for spiritual
transformation.
13. If
our minds are not renewed—we will not be transformed. It’s really that simple.
14. When
we see how much we need to change, we shouldn’t be discouraged, we should be
motivated to pursue transformation. We all need transformation. There are no
exceptions.
15. We
could take the rest of the day considering the vast amount of materials and
resources available to help facilitate our spiritual transformation. I didn’t
say resources that will bring it about—but will facilitate it. Remember, we can
hinder or facilitate our growth.
16. Never
in all of history have there been so many resources to help disciples grow. The
resources are almost without limit.
17. What
it comes down to is whether or not I want
to be transformed. You could live in a gym and still be out of shape. You
could live in a grocery store and still be hungry. You could live in a bank and
still be poor.
18. As
someone has pointed out: If you want do
so something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t want to do something—you’ll find
an excuse.
19. Spiritual
transformation should be the commitment of every disciple. I hope it’s mine. I
hope it’s yours.