Be Transformed

Romans Chapter 12

Introduction: Theoretical and Practical
About a year ago now, my dad retired from Stelco. His job there for thirty years was primarily as a pipe fitter. His job essentially was to maintain and repair anything in the plant that had to do with pipes. So weather it was the taps to the sinks in the washrooms or the portions of the various machinery that required pipes to carry water for cooling, or hydraulics or what have you, he repaired it.
Growing up with dad meant that I was exposed to various forms of plumbing jobs. I remember watching him sodder a pipe as a young kid and learning from him how to replace a tap. You could say that growing up with dad I was exposed to a lot of practical experience in plumbing. What I did not get a lot of is the theory behind plumbing. I did learn some of the basics, but not nearly enough to qualify me as a pipe fitter or a plumber. What I know I learned from him. I know how to replace a toilet, or how to fix a tap. But all the ins and outs of why things are the way they are and how they work I don’t know. As a result when I am doing a plumbing job that I am not familiar with, or I run into a problem that I can’t handle, I regularly pick up the phone and call dad.
You see in life we seem to have formed this separation between theoretical and practical learning. We go to school and learn the theory behind something, then, either as an apprentice or on the job itself we are required to learn the practical side of the job. We’ve even begun to classify schooling in these terms. I remember a friend of mine who was trying to decide what school to go to after high school. She was told that one school offered a great education into the theory of her particular field of study, but the other offered a better hands on, or practical experience. She chose the practical school.
The truth is however that we really cannot separate the theoretical from the practical. In fact the practical aspects rely on a strong understanding of the theoretical. Similarly strong theoretical understanding without practical knowledge is useless. The same can be said about our spiritual life.
Just like all the other aspects of life, we tend to separate the practical side of our Christian walk from the theory or theology of Scripture. We tend to separate head knowledge from heart knowledge. We tend to separate studying scripture and learning from the practical application of scripture and living for Christ. The truth this morning is that the two are inseparable. We cannot truly live for Christ without first understanding what he did for us. We cannot follow Him without understanding who He is and what He did. We cannot apply the practical aspects of living for Christ without understanding things like, sin, forgiveness, the role of the Holy Spirit and spiritual warfare. All these theological truths have an impact on how we live.
Similarly if we study theology and can understand even some of the most difficult concepts of scripture and they have no impact on our lives, then our understanding is useless. Scripture and doctrine must impact our lives. We cannot separate the theology from the practical living Christ has called us to. This mornings passage really drives that home.
As you turn with me to Romans chapter 12 this morning let me give you a little bit of background. You see the first 11 chapters of Romans is devoted to theology. Paul spends these chapters teaching the Romans about such concepts as the law, and sin. He teaches them about righteousness and faithfulness. He teaches them that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. He teaches them about the justification of Abraham through faith and how we too can only be justified by that same faith. He teaches about being dead to sin and living in the spirit. On and on throughout the first eleven chapters the apostle Paul teaches the Romans about key truths of the Christian Faith.
Now that we get to Chapter twelve, he begins to tell us how those truths are to impact our lives. Infact in his mind it is only natural that they would have an impact on our lives. He does not waste any time telling us that they should, instead he gets right into the application. Starting at verse 1 of Chapter twelve we read that application.

Verses 1-2 (Theology impacts your personal life)
The first application Paul gives us is a personal one. Doctrine he says, specifically the doctrine that he laid out in the first eleven chapters, must have an effect on us individually. It must impact our personal life. This impact is to be the same for every believer. We should all respond the same way. The first response is to offer our bodies as living sacrifices.

a) Initial response is to offer our bodies as living sacrifices
i truly a response to doctrine (therefore)
What does it mean to offer our bodies as living sacrifices? The first thing we need to realize is that it truly is a response to doctrine. Paul begins here by saying therefore. What he means is “as a result of everything that I just said,” Specifically he is referring to God’s mercy. The reader of this letter would immediately be reminded of passages like verses 30-32 of chapter 11;

“Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.”

Here we are reminded that we were disobedient to God. That our lives were lived in disobedience and that God through his mercy chose to overcome that disobedience. We are reminded that the form in which he chose to show that mercy was in the giving of his son, to be born, to live a perfect life, to die, taking on himself the punishment for our disobedience and to rise again to free us from the bonds of death. That is the mercy of God.

Paul asks us to look upon that mercy. He asks us to look on all that God has chosen to do for us and to respond. He is saying to us, Therefore, as a result of God’s mercy we need to respond

ii an urgent matter
But this is not a simple passive request. Nor is it a mere suggestion. To Paul this is an urgent matter. He urges the believers in Rome to respond. To him this is not just a good idea or a nice principle to think about. No this is an essential part of every believer’s life. And so Paul urges the Romans to respond appropriately to the mercy of God. He urges them to respond by offering their bodies as a living sacrifice.

iii living sacrifice
Once again Paul alludes to a previous passage in the book. Chapter 6:11-13

“In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive in God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been bought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.”

Simply put we are to offer our lives in response to the sacrifice of his. It is a willingness release control, to say no longer what I want, no longer what my desires are Lord but rather what your desires are. My life is now yours Lord to do with as you please not as I please. Because of his willingness to sacrifice his life for us, we are to offer our lives as a sacrifice to him.

For the Roman readers this would conjure up the image of the animal sacrifices from the old testament. You see once an animal was offered on the altar, there was no chance of turning back. Once the sacrifice was completed the one giving the sacrifice could not come back and change their mind. The sacrifice was not brought to the temple on the condition that it could only be sacrificed until it was needed later on. It was offered, with the understanding that once the sacrifice was completed the animal would be dead.

This idea of a sacrifice is a strong image. When we offer something to God it is a total letting go of that thing. When we sacrifice something we are releasing all claim that we have. We are giving it up once and for all. So when we choose to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice we are choosing to let go of any claim we have to control over our own lives. Our sacrifice however is not one that leads to death, but rather one that leads to life. Paul calls it a living sacrifice, offered to God so that he can now live in us and through us.

This Paul says is our spiritual act of worship.
iv spiritual act of worship

Now it’s interesting because the King James Bible translates this word worship as service. Some have debated weather worship fits here or service. I think the answer is not one or the other. No it is both. You see worship is more than just what we do here on Sunday mornings. While this service is a part of what it means to worship God true worship involves every aspect of our lives. True worship Paul says is, giving our lives over to God as a sacrifice of obedience. And a big part of that obedience is service. We can not get away from the fact that we are to worship God through serving Him.

Our worship is to saturate every part of our lives. If we live our lives the way we want to for six days a week and then come here on Sunday morning, we are not worshiping. If we continue to live our lives for ourselves instead of for Him then all we have done this morning is offer lip service. Instead we are to offer our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice. We are to devote our lives to His purpose and to his glory not only will we find that we are serving him in an acceptable manner but we will also be worshiping God in the truest sense.

Transition:

And so our first response to true doctrine is to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Once we have done that our understanding of theology will continue to impact us. In fact it will transform our lives

b) As it renews our minds it will transform our lives

When we give out lives over to God as a living sacrifice, our lives are not changed right away. We do not suddenly become perfect and able to live out the perfect life. No, instead, God chooses to change us gradually. This is a transforming process where we become more like Him.

i mind is renewed by his word

The first thing we need to realize about this process is that it starts with our minds. It is our way of thinking it is the way we make decisions. The process starts by changing what is in here. That can only be done by the word of God. As we read it and study it and learn from it, it will impact our minds. It will renew our minds and change the way we think.

Paul (our pastor), likes to use the illustration of human mushrooms. Seeing as it fits here I’m going to borrow it for a little bit. The idea is that we are all like mushrooms. That in our lives as we grew up without Christ, whether that be for four years or forty, we lived in the dark. We were surrounded by darkness, and we were fed a lot of fertilizer. At the moment we accepted Christ we were brought from darkness to light. But we still have the fertilizer to deal with. We still have the years of dirt stored up here in our heads and we need to remove it. The process of removing that dirt and replacing it with the truth of scripture is what Paul is talking about here.

Let me give you some examples:

And so the first part is to study and understand the word of God. Allow it to impact the way you think. Allow it to renew your mind, clearing out the dirt that was in it and replacing it with the truth. Then as our minds are renewed as our thinking is changed it will transform our lives.

ii change from living as to this world

Paul makes it very clear as to what transformation is taking place here. He tells us not to conform any longer to the pattern of this world. He says, “Look, this is how you used to live. You used to live in this world, by the morals and values of this world. Now is the time to stop. Now is the time to turn away from the values of this world and be transformed. Do not live any longer trying to please the world. Trying to live up to the standards of the people around you or trying to keep up with your neighbours.” Allow yourself instead to be transformed. As you read the scripture, as you study it and learn from it, apply it to your life. Allow it to impact your life so that you are transformed from the person you were, all covered in fertilizer and living in darkness to the person that God has called you to be.

There are three ways I want to challenge you to do that this morning. The first is by doing what you are doing right now. Coming to church on a Sunday morning. One of the keys that we hold to here is the teaching of God’s word. It is our desire to make this a place where people can come. Where people can here the word of God read, where they can learn from it be challenged from it and allow it to impact their lives and transform them into people of God. And so I want to challenge you this morning to make sure that this is a priority in your life. That it is important to you to come on Sunday mornings and allow your mind to be renewed by the teaching of God’s word.

The second challenge this morning is to look into it a little deeper. Stay after the services for leftovers. This is a time where we delve a little deeper into the passage and some of the core applications of the passage are brought out. Get involved in a group that is studying God’s word throughout the week and seeking to apply it to their lives.

The third challenge is to read this book on your own. Take some time out of every day and read God’s word. Allow your mind to be renewed as you read it and apply it to your own personal life, allowing God to transform you. This is probably the most effective way. As you read the scripture on your own and allow God, to speak to you through it, it becomes a personal time. A time where God is able to speak directly to your life, without any outside interference or distractions. Through this your life will be transformed.

Not only that, but we will also be able to discern the will of God.

c) We will be able to discern the will of God
i a result of renewed minds and transformed lives

Paul tells us that as a result of our minds being renewed and our lives being changed we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is. A renewed mind is a mind that is able to understand what God’s will is. That understanding again comes from scripture. As we seek to study his word we will know his will for our lives. God will make his will clear to us if we stay faithful in the renewing of our minds.

ii transformed life seeks His will

In fact the two ideas are connected. In order for us not to be conformed to this world. In order for us to be transformed into the new creation that Christ has called us to. We need to be following the will of God. The implication here is that we are not only seeking to understand God’s will but actually striving to live it out, and that is how our lives are transformed. The two ideas here are mutually dependant on each other.

On the one hand the life that is being transformed by the renewing of the mind, is able to ascertain the will of God. On the other hand it is through seeking God’s will and doing God’s will that our lives are able to be transformed.

Yet this is often the reason people choose not to allow their lives to be transformed. We don’t like trusting our lives to the will of God. For some strange reason we seem to have become convinced that God is this mean ol’ fuddy duddy that wants to ruin our fun. We are convinced that a life that is lived according to God’s will is one that is boring and full of rules and regulations. But notice what Paul says about God’s will. He says that it is good, pleasing and perfect

iii His will is good, pleasing and perfect

Now the sceptics here this morning are probably thinking, “yah sure, by who’s standards are we talking here.” And the interesting thing about it is that some of the scholars have asked the same question. In fact some suggest that what Paul means here is that when we do God’s will then our actions are good and pleasing and perfect in God’s eyes. Others suggest that we will find God’s will in our lives is good, pleasing and perfect. So of course the question you are asking now is, “okay then, which is it?” The definitive answer, is both.

When we do God’s will he is pleased by it. It is good and it is perfect in his eyes. But the other is also true. When we decide to live according to His will and follow His plan for our lives then we will experience it in a way that is good, pleasing and perfect for us.

Lorr and I have experienced that first hand this last year. A while ago we began to get challenged to start considering the possibility of entering the missions field. Now let me tell you that this was the last thing on my mind. For me I had my plan. But God kept prodding me and slowly my thinking began to change. I began to seek God’s will and soon that lead to Lorr and I applying to WEC. Throughout the application process, we had to make some large decisions. One of them lead to us choosing to put our house up for sale. Every step of the way God directed. We sought his will and he made it clear to us what direction we should go.

Some of the decisions that we have made in the process were tough. It was hard for me to be willing to let go of the things that I have. Yet I can honestly say that every time we stepped out in following the will of God for us it has proven to be a good, pleasing and perfect path for us.

The path is not over yet. We have been accepted as candidates at WEC but now there are a number of other decisions to be made and details to be worked out. The key for us now is to continue to look to God for direction as he leads and guides us through this process. But I know without a doubt that whatever he has in store for us it will be, good, it will be pleasing and it will definitely be the perfect plan for us.

Application

Perhaps you are here this morning and you are still trying to live by your own will. You are still interested in living out your plan for life, and you are finding that it isn’t quite as good, as you thought it would be. Perhaps it’s not as pleasing as you had hoped and your finding that its working out to be a little less then perfect.

The challenge to you this morning is too look to God. Seek out His will, and his plan for your life. You will find that plan to be good, pleasing and perfect as well. It will not be without difficulty. It will not be a life that does not have to experience trials, nor will you have everything handed to you on a silver platter. In fact you will probably find, as I did, that you will be asked to make a few sacrifices on the way. But when you go through each step and look back you will be able to say that the experience was a good one. The end result will be one that is pleasing and you will find that it was perfectly suited for where you were at that time.

But remember the key to knowing his will. The key to being able to test and approve the will of God is to have a mind that is being transformed by his word, and it is to be living a life that has been presented to Him as an offering, dedicated to serving Him and living for Him.

God’s mercy to us demands that we offer ourselves to God, being transformed by renewing our minds, so that we may be able to understand and apply His will.

We often look at the New Year as a chance for a new start. I want to challenge you this morning to make this year the year that you truly dedicate your life to God. Along with the apostle Paul I want to urge you to offer yourselves to Him. Allow yourselves to be transformed and as you seek out His will and as you see His will unfold in your lives, He will be glorified and the end result will be one that is good, pleasing and perfect.