Refreshing Change—Romans 12:2—1/1/2012 Copyright by Mark Vaughan 1/2012 Keywords—sanctification, counseling, spiritual growth, Bible, hope As we enter a New Year in our culture, much focus in the media and in our lives is given to reflecting on the past year. Countdowns of the year’s best songs and sports plays and news stories and much more are paraded out to celebrate last year. And predictions and plans are made for the New Year in front of us. In a similar way, I was reviewing my sermons to see where we should pick up our study of Paul’s letter to the Romans today.

To even be a Christian is to be a person in the process of changing. The Bible calls it the process of sanctification, of growth in the grace and knowledge of God, of bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Jesus said a Christian is a good tree that bears good fruit and a fruitful vine that abides in Him. If you want to follow Jesus, He said to die to yourself and be willing to figuratively cut off your hand or gouge out your eye to kill sin and make changes and enter heaven. So change is not an optional part of the Christian life. Change is essential and it should be progressing in each of us.

My plan was to address God’s commanded will since I addressed God’s planned will before breaking to focus on Christmas. But as I read and listened, I was so grateful to God for how He has met us in His Word that I realized I needed to hear it again. We’ve conducted a thorough analysis and application of the riches of Romans 12:1-2 as we came to those pivotal and powerful verses. And I personally need to hear and think on those truths again, especially as I evaluate last year and approach a new year. Romans 12:1-2 is a passage that needs daily review in our lives because it turns the corner of putting theology into practice.

We may not always see it or be aware of it because we may be too close to objectively observe it, but we should be pursuing change. It’s funny—someone commented to my wife last week about the various sins I confessed for us all in my opening prayer on Christmas Sunday wondering if I’d been in their home. The answer’s no, but even if I had been in every one of your homes or in none of your homes, I could confess much sin because I’ve been in my home and worse than that—I’ve been in my own heart. It’s silly to act like you don’t have issues—we all battle sin. And that means we all—kids & adults—need to change in some way.

Romans 12:1-2 take the glories of the Gospel and the riches of God’s Word and applies them to bring about real change. And change is important—we all have areas needing change. The Christian change of transformation and renewal that Romans 12:1-2 lead us toward is very, very important.

We don’t just need to change so we’ll have a better bod or cooler persona or more worldly success; we need to change because we are each far from complete likeness to Jesus Christ. Being like Christ is not only a worthy goal to pursue, but every habit or failure that keeps us from being like Christ is sin. 1

And sin is serious—sin is destructive to relationships & people & society and most of all it hinders our fellowship with God. So we must take fighting sin and changing to be like Christ seriously. We must do what it takes to understand and pursue and enjoy biblical change as a Christian. Most of you know that and many of you have walked through Romans 12:1-2 with us to study how to change biblically. But if you are like me, the internet browser or computer screen of your mind has lost connection with those truths and you could use a refresher. So my goal this morning is to hit that refresher button for us in a way that God will clearly shine His light again to direct us to change.

Biblical change is not seeking to fix our lives up to get God on our side or get God to accept us. A Christian is not someone who relates to God by our performance or self-effort or good works. Romans 12:1 begins by Paul urging his readers as brothers, which means Christians. Then that word “therefore” is a transitional word that builds Christian change on a foundation of Christian truths in the previous 11 chapters. Christians are urged to change because of what we have already received freely as a gift by God’s grace in Christ. That’s what Paul means when verse 1 says, “by the mercies of God.” It is only by those mercies that biblical change comes.

Some of you thanked me last year for holding your feet to the fire and not letting you get off easy without changing. Well, I need that more than you do and I pray we’ll all be helped today by refreshing our hearts with a biblical look at Christian change. I’m going to give you 3 reminders about biblical change today as we refresh our hearts with the riches of Romans 12:1-2. The 1st of those 3 points is to remember the foundation for change. Point #1—remember the foundation for change.

So we must be clear that to be a Christian who is able to change, you must first and most of all be one who has received God’s mercies. Kids don’t miss this—to be a Christian is first to be justified by God’s gracious mercy, to be declared right with God based on the Person and work of Jesus who lived, died and rose again. His perfect life is the only righteousness that earns heaven because no one else has what it takes to merit God’s favor And His death is the only offering sufficient to pay the punishment for our sin so that we can be forgiven and free.

Look at Romans 12:1-2 with me and let’s read that together. [READ] To rightly seek change, we need to have the right foundation. So we need to say first that Christian change is not something we pursue in an effort to get right with God.

And His resurrection is the secure assurance that all He has accomplished is complete and trustworthy for His people. Chapters 3, 4, & 5 of Romans make clear that the way to become a Christian is to abandon all self-effort and self-trust and self-righteousness and bank only and fully on Jesus Christ. 2

Then 2ndly this morning, remember the process for change. But getting right with God is not the only part of a Christian foundation for change. Romans 6 explains how we die to our old self when we trust Christ and we have been raised to new life with new power by the Holy Spirit so that we actually CAN change.

Point #2 in our change refresher—remember the process for change. Now I’m going to move quickly through material from several sermons to refresh our minds on this process of change. I’ll use outline points from those sermons to point us to the text.

We are no longer slaves to sin and Romans 7 says we’re no longer married to the law because we’re married to Christ.

In Romans 12:1, Paul first urges an offering of our bodies wholly to God in sacrificial worship—read that again. [READ]

And that new relationship empowers us to change. We are to be set apart as holy and alive to Him and pleasing to Him. So, as Romans 8 says, Christians face no condemnation but have secure rest in the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And this gracious God is the sovereign Ruler of history, orchestrating His plan to be faithful to His promises to show mercy to Israel and the nations as Romans 9-11 explain. With that brief recap of Romans 1-11, we recall that the foundation for change is anchored in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Do not try to change with any other foundation because it will not last and it will not be acceptable to God. Seek to change first by being reconciled to God through faith in Jesus. Then with all the freedom and power and hope and security of being in Jesus, give yourself to God’s good design for change. Don’t change to get God to be good to you. Change because God is already so good to you and you trust Him to increasingly prove His goodness as you follow Him. So first remember the foundation for change.

That is worship of God and it is reasonable worship. The term at the end of verse 1 is better translated reasonable service of worship rather than spiritual service of worship. Certainly it is spiritual, but the emphasis here is that it makes sense to serve this great and gracious God in this way. It makes sense to give up ruling your own life and submit to the rule of our Creator who has proven to be so loving and wise and glorious. So in summing up those phrases for biblical change, we said 1st that change begins as we worship God as a better Master. If you are trying to note all of this, that’s like a 1st sub-point under today’s 2nd refresher on process of change. And these outlines and notes can all be found on our website. That 1st sub-point then and 1st point from a sermon a month ago is that change begins as we worship God as a better Master. Change involves repentance and faith, which means it involves turning from 1 master to trust God as the 1 true Good Master. 3

We get that point from the passive verb “be transformed”. And that’s what verse 1 is calling for because you will not change if you do not first of all believe change is desirable. If you do not trust God’s ways as better and you do not want to give up the idols your heart treasures, then you will not change. That’s why the goal in evangelism and parenting is to lead people to respond to a Person, to trust God in Christ as good and worthy to follow, not merely to get kids or adults to make a decision. Salvation is by faith and the path of growth continues by turning from false hopes to true promises of our gracious God. And as we make those turns of worship, we must be prepared for the war from the world that assaults our souls. As Romans 12:2 says next, we must not be conformed to this world, meaning we must not be squeezed into the patterns and priorities of this passing age. We must not be pressed by the apparent tyranny of the urgent as if eternity is not the most pressing matter in every circumstance. This warning of verse 2 is a contrast between this age & the next, between storing up treasures on earth or in heaven. We summed up that part of the change process by noting 2ndly that change progresses as we see this age as a bad influence. Change--#2—progresses as we see this age as a bad influence. Then 3rdly in review of the change process, we said that change happens as we trust God’s Spirit as the promised power.

Verse 2 commands something to be done to us, that we be transformed and the Holy Spirit is the One who does it. The Holy Spirit is the promised power to change us as we trust God’s truths and respond in obedience. But change is not merely external—it starts inside as verse 2 tells us that transformation comes by the renewing of the mind. Read Romans 12:2 again now as we move into that verse. [READ] You will not truly and lastingly change if you do not think about why the promises of sin are always destructive lies and why the promises of God are always better. We will not change if we do not attack the motives and beliefs behind our choices so that our minds are renewed as the fuel for changing our attitudes and words and actions. So we summed up 4thly that change deepens as we engage our mind as the real battlefield. #4—change deepens as we engage our mind as the real battlefield. Those are 4 sermon points that walked us through this biblical process for change as Christians and I quickly review them today as a refresher on the process for change. 1st—Change begins as we worship God as a better Master. 2nd—Change progresses as we see this age as a bad influence. 3rd—Change happens as we trust God’s Spirit as the promised power.

A 3rd refresher sub-point about the change process—Change happens as we trust God’s Spirit as the promised power.

4-change deepens as we engage our mind as the real battlefield. 4

But engaging in the battle for our minds is not an automatic practice as if we can coast along without being on the alert and working to think. So we noted how Romans 12:2 reverses the curse of Romans 1:18-32 where the mind decays into utter uselessness. Mind renewal requires knowing that the mind is not neutral, that the mind is not naturally sensitive to spiritual things or aware of dangers. Mind renewal requires awareness and preparedness and work. So in another sermon, we noted that mind renewal requires knowing (1) that the mind is not neutral and (2) that meditation is not optional. We read Psalm 1 earlier in our Scripture reading and I urge you to recall that the man happily blessed is the one who meditates.

You must think biblically to experience the blessings of Christian growth and change. But when our minds are renewed and the Spirit transforms us from one level of glorious Christlikeness to the next, then we fulfill the purpose of God for our lives in this world. And we see that purpose in the last phrase of Romans 12:2—so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. That is referring to the commanded will of God, not the planned will of God, and it’s crucial to distinguish between those two ways the will of God is spoken of in Scripture.

The blessed man faithfully reads his Bible and puts himself under solid Bible teaching, but he does not just read his Bible and listen to truth.

God’s planned will does not change—it is His decreed, sovereign plan for the ages and He will accomplish it as Isaiah 46 and Ephesians 1 and other passages tell us.

He does those things AND takes time to think on what he reads and interpret it rightly and make applications of it to his life.

But God’s commanded will is revealed in Scripture as all we need for life and godliness, as 2nd Peter 1 puts it.

The blessed man is the one today who, for example, takes the suggested questions we include at the bottom of your bulletin and reviews them and thinks about how to apply the truth he heard. We have Bible-reading plans in the foyer to help you start your year on a plan to read the Scriptures on your own. I urge you to prioritize daily Bible reading & weekly nourishing in sermons and Bible studies and small groups. But then don’t stop there—take time to THINK on what you read and hear and pray over those truths and apply them. For men and women and boys and girls, that kind of extended pursuit of biblical thinking is the path to change.

So in the Bible, we have the revealed will of God contained in commands and principles and promises for how to live. God’s commanded will is what we can find in making decisions because it is revealed in the pages of Scripture. He never says He’ll tell us the future by revealing His planned will ahead of time, but He does tell us that He has given us enough in Scripture to make wise choices to follow Him. And as we meditate upon His Word and apply it to our daily lives, we test out His commanded will to see how it works. We act on what He has said by faith, not seeing the results ahead of time, but trusting the God who in is charge of results. 5

Then in time we see God prove His faithfulness to His Word in the blessings He brings and in the pleasures of Him drawing near to us. As we experience that, we test and prove and approve of God’s commanded will—that’s what verse 2 means when it says we prove what the will of God is. We prove that God’s designs for marriage and relationships and parenting and work and church and finances and serving and all of life are good and pleasing and perfect. We prove His Word is good, meaning is it happy and desirable and excellent and useful and admirable and joyful. And we prove His Word is pleasing in the same way verse 1 says our sacrificial living is pleasing to Him, it is acceptable to God. That means as we follow God’s ways, we experience His pleasure by the peace of a clear conscience and rest of assurance in Him and the pleasure of walking with Him. And then verse 2 says we prove that God’s will is perfect, meaning it is complete and not lacking in any way.

Now 3rdly and lastly today, remember the purpose for change. God’s purpose for change in Romans 12:2 is to display His will as good, pleasing and perfect through our lives as His people. God has a transcendent, majestic purpose for transforming lives. God is displaying His glorious goodness through each of us who are Christians even as we feel how far we fall short. God is painting pictures of His power before the world through you and me as Christians who are changed and changing. God is directing a drama of redemptive transformation through the daily details of life for His adopted children. God is proclaiming that He is good and gracious and powerful and faithful and wise and loving and saving and ruling through Christians. Romans 12:2 states that as a purpose of Christian change. Isn’t that glorious? Your life and your pursuit of change as a Christian matter.

We prove that God’s Word is sufficient for life and godliness and His Spirit it enough to empower us to respond rightly. We see and affirm that God comes through on His Word. That is one of the glorious higher purposes of change for us as Christians while we still live in this fallen world. And that’s a 3rd overall refresher point I draw to your attention—point #3—remember the purpose for change. In our broad refresher outline today we’ve seen to remember (1) the foundation for change and (2) the process for change.

They matter for the glory of God on display in the world. And they matter for the spread of the Gospel to your family and your coworkers and neighbors and all who know you. God uses the changed and changing lives of His people to lead others to seek the saving transformation only Jesus can give. When people do see you dealing with your anxiety or depression or anger or addictions or other issues by the power of the Spirit applying biblical truth, they take notice. 6

They stop and realize something is different about the God you follow. So remember & recommit to the priority of biblical change. When they see healing of relationships and marriages and money troubles and other problems, they realize the Bible has help and hope for broken people. When they see Christians persevere through trials and display joy and peace and show sacrificial love and service, they cannot escape the reality that God must be at work on this earth.

And remember that it is all and only possible because of what Jesus has first done to free us from slavery to sin & give us new life in Him. So let’s bow now in prayer to thank Him as we commit to changing for His glory as we prepare for communion. Pray with me as we remember Christ’s death until He comes again.

So embrace the power and pleasure of change as a Christian and don’t shrink back from sharing what God has done. Don’t play shy to protect your pride by hiding that you’ve battled serious issues and that God is helping you in gracious daily progress. Don’t love the appearance of having it all together more than you love God’s glory shown by telling how HE has it all together as He daily transforms you by His grace. Love and share and extol the glory of God for how He changes us in the messes we make of our lives and how He graciously loves us and accepts us not because we change well but because Jesus lived well. Romans 1:16 says the Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes and God wants that power on display through the people He saves. So pray and pursue the experience of Christian change so you can display and proclaim God’s glory in your world. Let people see the Gospel as the only hope both for eternal life and also for lasting help in the issues of this life. We are leading actors in the story God is writing through our lives as He breathes fresh applications of His Word into our lives to display His glory to those around us. 7