Dec. 3, 2017 Renewed Minds Think Like This by Pastor Josh Sheldon

Romans 12:3-16 and the Call to Renewed Thinking

Our text this morning is what Ken just read to you, Romans chapter 12, beginning at verse three, and we will go this morning through verse 16. God willing, next time we come back to Romans, finish off what he read, verses 17 through 21.

This morning, verses three through 16. Now, you recall a couple of weeks ago when we opened up chapter 12 of Romans, that we did chapter 12, verse one, and then last week, chapter 12, verse two. One message for each of those two verses.

Romans 12, one tells us something, and it tells us what is the proper response that we, the believer in Christ, make to God because of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. What do we do? And the answer is, you present yourselves, your lives, as a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable service to God.

That's verse one. A reasonable, well-thought-through act of spiritual worship that embodies the entire being that we are. And then the next verse, 12, two, tells us something else about this. It tells us that conformity with the world has to give way to something else, to renewal of the mind.

Therefore, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Worldly ways give way to godly ways. Worldly ways become smaller, and godly, scriptural, biblical ways become more and more as the mind is transformed.

And by that process, by that process of giving ourselves as a living sacrifice to God, that process of being transformed by renewal of the mind, we're able to discern something, the good and perfect and acceptable will of God.

As we live out God's will, we prove, we are living examples, if you will, of the goodness and the acceptability and the perfection of all that God would have of his people. So that's the first two verses of chapter 12 of Romans.

How Renewed Minds Think About Humility

And now, in the verses that were read to you a moment ago, the apostle's gonna show us how these renewed and transformed minds actually think. If he says be transformed by the renewing of your mind, the mind is a noun, it's this gray matter between the ears, the brain, be transformed by the renewing of the brain, well, that results in something.

The brain thinks. And Paul's saying to us, you are transformed by the renewing of your mind, but that results in something, different thinking. And he's gonna show us what this looks like. He's gonna show us what it looks like.

Verses three and 16, those two verses, it begins and ends this section here, three through 16, but it gives us a common idea, a bracketing, if you will, that surrounds the description of the gifts of the church.

Some of them in commands do this, some of them a description of what it looks like. But between these two, or on either side of these two, I should say, verse three and then verse 16, we have this one idea that we need to look at before we jump into what we are to do.

Everyone wants to roll up their sleeves and get involved and find out which of those gifts is mine, and therefore, how I'm going to effectuate it here in the church. We need to slow down. We need to take things in order.

We need to look at what the Scriptures say, what the Apostle Paul, by the inspiration of the Spirit, would have us to understand. So we dare not jump too quickly to see what we do or how we exercise our gifts, or even what those gifts are, without looking carefully at these guideposts.

You see, transformed minds have equality. There's something that we need to see in the life of a person whose mind is transformed, who's being renewed by this transformative process, and it's simply this, humility.

Transformed minds are humble. They're humble. Before anyone comes forward, in the exercise of their giftedness, prior to presuming to serve the church, let this be found, humility. The Apostle says in another place that all that is not from faith is sin.

And I want to borrow from that, and this true, this stark statement he makes about faith and sin, if it's not faith, it is sin. I want to borrow from that, and I want to say that all that does not flow from humility is therefore pride.

And pride is, of course, sin. It's that black and white. It's that clear. The differences are that stark. All not from humility is pride, and if it's pride, it is sin. It is from a mind not transformed by renewal.

And so this morning, we want to understand, before we get into gifts, before we want to jump in and do what we think God has gifted us to do, and we all must do what God has gifted us to do, but before we jump in and go into the fray and start serving, let us be sure, let us check ourselves carefully and see if we have this one overriding, most important quality of humility.

Have you been transformed by the renewal of your mind? That's a question I put to all of us, including myself. Have you been transformed? If you answer affirmative, then what you've just said is, I am a humble person.

So I want to look at the first and the last verse in order in this little section. Verse three and then verse 16. And then we, Lord willing, will get to what lies between. Verse three, for by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

I said at the beginning, and you're gonna hear it several times in this message, I think, that if verse two, or excuse me, yeah, verse two, be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that thing that we have, this physical part of us between the ears, here is what that mind is to generate, what you are to think.

In that one verse I read, verse three, think is in there four times. Just in one verse. Not to think too highly than he ought to think, that's twice, but to think three times with sober think. Four times in one verse.

And if you look now at verse 16, live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited. And this idea of humility in verse three, don't think too much of yourself.

Verse 16, don't be haughty, don't be high-minded, but associate with the lowly and never be conceited. In a word, be humble. And there in verse 16, three more thinks like this. You with one another think together, is sort of what it says or means.

That's once. Not highly of yourself, think twice. Do not think of yourself as wise. Three times. So in just these two verses, and this is the reason I chose these as brackets surrounding the gifts and what they are and how they're employed.

Humility. Transformed minds. Minds not conformed, no longer conformed to worldly thinking. But biblical, godly, we must say Christ-like thinking. Humility. Sober judgment. He says, think of yourself with sober judgment.

Think of yourself rightly. It comes from a word that's elsewhere translated as sound mind. We might even say in a homiletic sense, to be sane, to not be insane, if you will. Because other than this, to be other than humble, if you know Jesus Christ, that would be almost insanity to not be humble if you truly do know him.

The word means sound mind. Mark 5 .15 relates an incident, and I wanna read this to you. That's where Jesus comes to this demoniac. It's also in Luke chapter eight. The demoniac who, according to Mark, lived among the tombs and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart and he broke the shackles in pieces.

No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. Now many of you have read this incident and you know that Jesus casts out this legion, this cadre of demons from him, and then we read, the people came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there clothed and in his right, in his sound, in his sober judgment mind.

In Titus 2 .6, it is used of the need for younger men to be self-controlled, to have sober judgment, to be in their right minds. It's the same way it's used in 2 Timothy 1 .7, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and of self-control, of sound mind, of right, godly, biblical, Christ-like thinking.

Not fear but power and love, not high-minded but sober judgment, not conceited but associating with the lowly. The demoniac, of course, is an extraordinary example but the incident makes the same general point as the rest of them, that sound minds are those that are given over to Jesus Christ, that are controlled by him, that are, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and you are inhabited by his spirit, a sound mind is just that.

One that is not just dominated but literally inhabited by Christ in his spirit. Given over to Christ and trying and willing to follow him in all that he requires of us. Romans 12 .3 and 16 tell us that the sound, sober, right-thinking mind is what?

It's a humble mind. For many, if not most of us, true humility is a radical departure from the way we think or the way we want to think or the way we used to think. I think if there's one thing that we could say that the Apostle Paul means, and for most of us this applies, when he says, do not be conformed any longer to this world, humility is a radical departure.

I would suggest to us that if we become truly humble, the way the scriptures would have us be humble, the way Christ modeled humility, we have radically disconformed ourselves to the world's ways. I mean, self-centeredness is a tenacious worldview, one that departs from us only with a hard-fought battle.

By God's grace and the power of his indwelling spirit, we are able to excise this worldly demeanor, but it is a process. It's one where we need to do a lot of gut checks, if you will, and look at ourselves carefully and ask ourselves, am I, in this or that instance, thinking of myself more highly than I ought to think and how high should we think of ourselves?

And we'll get to that as we go through this. I resist the urge here to simply read off to you examples from the history we have in the scripture, narrative examples of humility, and then I could close and I could say something like, now go and do likewise, because none of us do well enough, so now do your best to do as David did or as Paul did or whatever the case is.

And Jesus, of course, would be the ultimate example. Wouldn't he not? He, the Son of God, he said of himself that he was humble and lowly in heart. I mean, the Son of Man, God in the flesh had no inflated view of himself.

Philippians 2 .8 says that as a man, he humbled himself to his Father's will, which culminated in the cross, obedience even to that ignominious death. But rather than simply say to you, be like him, consider the importance that Paul, the author of this book, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and a man with a spirit like ours, puts on this one quality in the Christian, this right-thinking mind, this not-worldly-conformed mind that thinks with humility, sober judgment, sound judgment, not insane judgment.

We had 11 chapters of almost pure theology in this book of Romans. And it all led to chapter 12, where we are now. And that began with this call to sacrificial living and transformed minds. And the very next verse, 12 .3, gives us the first description of what that transformed mind looks like.

How do renewed minds think? Not more highly than we ought to think. Sober judgment, do not be haughty, never be conceited. How prevalent is this in humankind? I don't even say in our day, because Paul wrote this 2 ,000 years ago, to a church not unlike us, men and women with feet of clay, sinners saved by grace.

The ones that Paul calls saints consistently in the scripture. And yet, how hard do we have to work every day, every moment, to maintain the qualities, everything that that title that God gives us, because we're in Christ Jesus, saint, how hard do we have to work to maintain what that all stands for?

Here, I think, is one of the hardest. This idea of the saints, this idea of humility. I once heard a famous preacher on the radio say that self-esteem is God's will for us. He said that God doesn't want us dragging our toes in the mud, kicking ourselves all the time, feeling poorly about ourselves.

We're supposed to feel good, we're supposed to have a high level of self-esteem, he said, and I was rather shocked. He's not my favorite preacher, I'm not gonna name him to you, but I was a little shocked because I listened to him on the way home, because it's better than talk radio.

I thought, he couldn't have said that. So I turned up the radio, and he did. He repeated himself. And what he said was, if you wanna have the self-esteem, the self-view, the worldview, beginning with yourself, that God Almighty wants you to have, here's what you do.

Just look to the cross. And there's kind of a drum roll, silence. And he said, because you were worth dying for. That's how valuable you are. And I was just shocked. I said, well, that's pure worldliness.

That's just straight from the books of psychology. Feel good about yourself, you're valuable, you're worthwhile. And I think, yeah, look to the cross. Look to the cross. Yes, church, look to the cross, always.

But don't look there to see how wonderful we are. Don't look there to see how worthy we are to have received the benefit of Christ's suffering. Not for that. Look there to see ourselves in the right perspective.

Look there with a sound, with a sober mind, with good judgment, and see the awful price that the only sinless man suffered for us. Not because we are worthy of the salvation that we have, but because he was worthy to win it.

Not because of our value, but because of his. Because his blood to the Father is precious. And those for whom he bled will certainly come to him. But not because we've done anything, not because there's anything in us that's worth coming to him for.

In his humility, the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve unworthy sinners. And in Philippians chapter two, verse five, Paul says that this is to be our mindset. The humility of Christ is to be our mindset.

Think like Christ. He says not to just you and me, and that other person sitting next to you. He says it to the church. All of you together with one mind, think with the humility, with the determined obedience to Christ, or that Christ had to God, and his determination by God's will to serve others.

Think like that together, church, is what he says. That's sound and sober judgment. That's humility. There's no room here for anyone to say, well, I'm just an unworthy worm. I'm not good enough to stand before the church.

I don't have anything of value to give to the church, so I'm just going to humbly sit and let others do it. And neither is there room here for here I am to save the day. Humility is so hard to come by.

It's not thinking of oneself to be beneath people, but neither is it placing ourselves over them. You need to hear me on this. In this environment, and I mean by this environment, I mean this whole hard-charging Silicon Valley where so many accomplished people are drawn because their unique skills and ambitions are appreciated and they're well compensated, where education, that in most places is stratospheric, in this area is commonplace.

It's very easy for many of us to look at those highly accomplished people and to place ourselves qualitatively beneath them. To think, well, I can't stand before that one because they went here or they work there.

They make this much money or they live in that home, and I only this and fill in the blank. And say, therefore, I need to sit quietly and timidly and let those better people do it. There's no room for that kind of humility here.

Do you ever think like that? Do you ever say to yourself that somehow you're less than him or her? Those who went to that school here or there, they now earn this or that much? I wanna tell you, if you ever think that way, if that kind of thought process holds you back from serving Christ's body, and we'll get to that in a few moments, that this is Christ's body.

If you ever think like that and you think it's humility, I wanna tell you something. That's a false humility. And if it's false humility, it's pride. Paul never ranks saints that way, and we dare not do it either.

In 2 Corinthians 11 and Philippians 2, where Paul puts forth his own sparkling resume, remember, it wasn't to lift himself up above anyone else. It was to bring those who were lifting themselves up down.

Not to lift Paul up, but to bring them down to where they should be. You see, godly, biblical, Christ-honoring, Christ-imitating humility is a great leveler, that we're all in this together. And there's not a single sinner saved by God's grace who deserved to be saved by God's grace, and there's not one in all history that God looks at and says, well, okay, that's number one, and you're number whatever it is, so we're gonna rank them out that way.

Doesn't happen. What Christ did on the cross, and God's grace in opening your eyes to that, and giving you faith to believe that, levels us all out. Humility is a product of sober, rational assessment.

In this book of Romans, it came after 11 chapters, it puts us all in the same boat, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All have sinned, for there is no difference, says Paul, Jew and Gentile, Jew and Greek alike, male, female, slave, free, rich, poor, all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.

We're all in the same boat, needing God's grace. Not one sinner, not one sinner in all history is better or worse than another, or more or less deserving of God's favor, or gained any share in Christ because they earned it, or deserved it, more than you, or less than you.

Gifts in the Body of Christ and the Call to Serve

Now some of us just can't wait to get to the good part here, can we? Just dying for the preacher to get to the gifts, the ones described in verses six through eight, and you're dying for me to get there, because you know that as a good preacher, we're gonna turn to 1 Corinthians 12, because that's where we have more detail on what the gifts are, and how they're gonna be used, and then I'll present to you, this is why they were like that then, and this is what they're like now, and this is how many they had then because the scripture wasn't finished, but this is what we have today, and we'll go into that whole cessation idea, and you just can't wait for all that, but I'm not ready to go there, and frankly, most of you are not ready either.

The scripture has more to say in order to prepare us for that. Remember 1 Corinthians 12, where we get the greatest detail on the gifting that God gives the church, is preceded by 11 chapters, much of which is a call to unity that's premised on mutual humility.

Remember that that chapter, 1 Corinthians 12, is immediately followed by an entire chapter devoted to the primacy of love, and where does love come from? Well, it comes from God. It's a gift of God to us that we show to each other, of course.

It also comes from humility. It's so important. It's the first command we get after 11 chapters in Romans. It's so important. It precedes the description of Christ's gifts to his church. In Romans 12, where the list is very short, it comes only after the demand for humility in all of us, and most especially in anyone desiring to exercise their giftedness.

So you who are anxious to roll up your sleeves and do something, and you who, when you hear the inventory of Christ's gifts, you look around at others, and you're certain that that's the one who's so endowed, and you not being thus equipped, you are free from the responsibility of having to come forward.

For all of us, there's even yet another prerequisite. The sober-thinking humble are, by God's decree, placed here in a body, in a body. For as in one body, verses four and five, we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

That word for it connects all this to verse three. So why is humility crucial? Well, on a practical level, it's crucial because we're all together in a body. We're bound together as the body of Christ.

In Ephesians 2, verses 22 and 23, it's one of many places where the church is likened to this living, breathing, growing entity. There in Ephesians, Christ is a cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a temple.

In the Lord, in him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by his Spirit. Notice the dynamic verbs that he uses, that we are being built, we are growing, it grows, we are being joined because we together are a body, always growing.

Now, do you have this conception of the church? Do you realize what it means that we're together the body of Christ our Lord and the dwelling place of the Spirit of God? And this is not a social gathering that we're about here today.

We meet together on Sundays for corporate worship and you there, whoever you are, you are part of the same body as I and the rest are. And you over there, what gift has God apportioned to you? Our body cannot be without it.

You know, we all know that you can live without an appendix, right? You're born with an appendix as part of your body but you don't need it. And that's why if you have a swollen appendix, what do they call it?

A burst, I forget the word. My wife had that several years ago. They can just take it out, it's very commonplace. You don't need it, they can just remove it. But I think about that and I wanted to say something like, you know, if you're the appendix, don't feel useless because even though the body doesn't really need you, we do or something like that, but this is not a medical dissertation.

Paul's not writing a scientific treatise here. For him, for Christ, for us, there are no useless parts. One form of false humility says that I am better able to serve others, serve than others are. The other form of a false humility is that that other one is so much better than me that I'm not worthy to serve there.

Both are not transformed, both are not renewed. Neither of those is sober thinking. Both of them, in their own way, are pride. And both of them deny that we, together, are the body. There's another detail to attend and then we can do some exploration of the gifts.

In verse six, we read, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. In 1 Corinthians 12, 11, Paul says, all these are empowered by one and the same Holy Spirit who portions to each one individually as he wills.

In Ephesians 4, 8, we read that it is Christ who, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. Christ ascended on high, he is back with his Father now. He sits at his Father's right hand and he rules now through the hearts of the saints in his church.

And as he ascended on high, he did give gifts to the church that we could serve him and serve each other. And he gave us what we need. They are gifts from Christ to all of us and that could be you individually.

When we go through the list of the gifts that we have in verses six through eight, it's not a comprehensive list, it's just a representative list. Understand that if we are together a body, we need every one of you because God apportioned you to be here and gave you this or that function within this.

And without you, without you acting within that function that God apportioned you and set you here to be, without that humility that comes forward with that service, we're incomplete. Responsibility to contribute is not optional.

God in his wisdom has not gifted each one to the same function. I mean, were that the case, we might end up being a body with three arms and no eyes or we might have four mouths to speak but no tongues to form the words.

It would be ridiculous. Things be done decently, things have to be done orderly but things have to be done. And according to what Paul says here, with Ephesians four, with first Corinthians 12, every saint, every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is joined to a body of believers as a member of that one singular body of Christ in order to do something.

The parable of the talents would come to bear here. I'm not gonna read the whole thing to you but it's familiar to all of us really. And that's that parable where Jesus speaks of a master who's going to go on a long journey.

And you think of Jesus Christ going to go to the cross, spend three days in the ground, be resurrected and finally ascend to his father. He's going to go on a long journey. And before he goes, he gives talents to his servants.

One gets 10, one gets five, one gets one. A talent was of course a measure of money. It was quite a bit of money back then. He gave those gifts, those resources to those three servants. Think there, Ephesians four, Romans 12, first Corinthians 12, Christ giving gifts to his church.

You, me. So he goes on this long journey and then he comes back and think there of Christ's second coming. He comes back and when he comes back, he demands an accounting for those talents. What did they do with the 10, the five and the one?

Think there of the judgment seat. We will all stand before Christ when he returns. And of course, you know how this turns out, right? The one who had the 10 talents, he used those to his master's honor and he gets the well done, good and faithful servant.

You have been faithful as a few, I'll give you much. The one who had five talents, he used them to his master's honor, to the good of his master. He served his master with them. Well done, good and faithful servant.

You've been faithful with little, I will trust you now with much. And he goes to the one who had one. You all know what he did, right? He had buried it under a rock. He said, I know you're a harsh master that you make yourself benefit from what you didn't earn so I just want to give you back your one talent and there it is and he says, you wicked servant.

And he sent him out of his presence less than pleased. You see, serving in the body of Christ where God has put you is not an option. You don't get to say that I'm better than this person therefore I'm gonna take over what they should be doing because I'm more capable.

That's false humility. That's not humility at all, that's pride. Nor do you get to say because this other person over here is so much more accomplished and smarter or whatever than me, I'll let them go.

That's false humility. It's not an option here. So with all that before us, understanding this is what it means to have a renewed mind, to be transformed in our thinking, to no longer be conformed to this worldly way of thinking, understanding that God has apportioned a gift to each of us in the church for a reason and in his sovereignty placed you here with all humility.

With that in mind, are you ready to hear what these gifts are, what these functions are? Again, I look at this and I think this is a representative list. In other places, Paul gives quite a bit more detail.

If prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in his generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.

Is it too simple for me to say simply do what God has gifted you to do? Perform within this body the way God has set you here to perform, to do, to serve. This doesn't mean that we're gonna yank you out of the pew and make you do something that you're not equipped for, that you're uncomfortable with.

What this says is that each one of you who calls Providence Bible Church of Sunnyvale your home has to understand that God has set you here and that God set you here for a reason. And none of us can be here and simply be passive recipients of the service of this church.

There's room here for everyone. Those uncomfortable with being out in front find God and Christ-honoring ways to serve in the background. We know who you are and we're usually happy to leave you there in your quiet privacy, but rest assured that we know that you, and we know you and we know what you're doing.

And we appreciate it, we bless God for it, we thank God for it. I only ask that you be sure that you are there because that is where God has placed you. That you don't remain in the background because you think yourself a background kind of person, that that's where God has you serving us.

And with you not there, we are incomplete, we are not functioning correctly. We're stumbling because our leg is too short. So thank God for that. Don't be worried by this message that I'm gonna pull you out of there and make you do something that was gonna terrify you that you don't think you're ready for.

For others, those who are seemingly more prominent because of their roles, let us be likewise certain that what we do is what Christ has gifted us to do and that we rely on the Spirit of God for our abilities.

Let us be sure in our spirits that we know we together are one and the same body. So with all this in place, I think Paul's thrust here is first, serve. Go out of your way to look for ways to serve. This is why I had Ken read about the incident with David and Mephibosheth.

That David, once his kingdom was secure, he went out of his way to do good to Jonathan's son. He found a way to show kindness to him. He asked about it and he followed up on it. The grace given to us is meant for each of us to help all of us.

Serve as God's grace has enabled you. The second thing is be sure that what you do is what God has meant for you. You may wish to preach, but that may not be God's will. You may not be equipped for that.

You may wish to lead in song, but again, there's a certain equipping, there's a certain talent for it that God gives. Jesus finishes the talents parable by saying, for to everyone who has more, excuse me, for everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance.

But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Use your gifts here. Christ says he'll give you more. Not more to make you more grand, not more so you can think of yourself more highly than you ought, more so you can serve the way Christ served people.

It's not a free-for-all. Things have to be done decently and orderly. I mean, if you're equipped with the mouthpiece for a trombone, you're not gonna use it to play a cello. Come to the leadership. We can talk together, we can pray together, we can see where you think God would have you fit in.

I can say with all confidence the leadership in this church has always, within reasonable bounds, made opportunity available for everyone to exercise their giftedness. People who come to me and say, Pastor, I would like to serve in this or that way, I feel like I have a talent for this, that God has given me an ambition towards this area, whatever it is, we talk, we pray.

And I can say, I'm not trying to be boastful here. That would negate everything I'm preaching, wouldn't it? But I put the responsibility to you to understand that this door has always been open. And when people come to me and say, this is how I'd like to serve, I've found ways to make that opportunity available.

Others of you have found me calling you to my office and saying, I think you're ready to serve in this or that way, and have taken up the call. I bless God for that. The responsibility to come is yours.

The responsibility for the opportunity is mine. It works together. And that's really all I have to say about the gifts that Christ has apportioned to the church. The list here is not complete. There are other things that Paul lists elsewhere.

And perhaps we'll come back to this when we come back to Romans after a short hiatus for the next three weeks of December. And maybe we'll flesh those out in some more detail, and you'll understand, you'll have a greater inventory to look at and to pray about and say, I think this is where God has me, or I never thought of that one, and I feel the Spirit of God telling me this is where I need to stand up and come to the pastor and tell him I want to serve here or there.

And even as I say this, I hadn't actually planned it, but it'd be a good idea to come back and do one message on just that subject and to present this whole thing to you, what these are and how they're to be used, how to look at it and see if that is how God has placed you here.

Marks of Genuine Christian Conduct

And we read verses nine through 16, just as sort of a trailer for all that. Let love be genuine, abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good, love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who reap. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.

Never be conceited. Well, this message was titled Renewed Minds Think Like This. Renewed, transformed minds think this way. They are humble. They think of themselves in light of Christ and his intention for how we help and serve each other.

If you're connected by faith to Christ, if you are, then you are connected by him to us. We are all individually and together part of each other. And may it be in this place that Christ receives much honor here in Sunnyvale as we serve one another as he's enabled us.