WWUTT 1328 Renewing Your Mind (Romans 12:2)

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The Bible says, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may know

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God's will for you. How do we know what God's will is? Well, we know when we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Thank you for subscribing, and if this has ministered to you, please let others know about our program. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study in the book of Romans chapter 12, and I'm going to begin once again by reading the first two verses the

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Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

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Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

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You know, it didn't occur to me yesterday when I was recording the devotional lesson for Romans 12 .1,

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but by the providence of God, it happens to be that these two verses have fallen on December 1st and 2nd.

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So we looked at Romans 12 .1 on 12 .1, and we're looking at Romans 12 .2

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on 12 .2. I won't be able to keep that up, though, because after I won't be doing 12 .3

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tomorrow. We'll go back to our study in Proverbs. Anyway, I just find it interesting that we're looking at Romans 12 .1

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and 2 on December 1st and 2nd. Today we look more at that second verse.

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Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

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If you were to ask me what verses have you quoted the most in your sermons,

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John 3 .16 would certainly be in there and probably John 3 .16 through 18.

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I often will quote those verses together as one passage rather than breaking that up.

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But for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

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I quote that very often because it's such a great one -verse summary of the gospel. I quote

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John 3 .36 a lot, James 1 .27, religion that God our

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Father finds pure and faultless is to love orphans and widows in their time of distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

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Some people will put more emphasis on loving orphans and widows and not so much on keeping oneself unstained by the world, but we talked a little bit about that yesterday.

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And this verse here talks about that even not being conformed to the world, but being transformed and having the mind of Christ.

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Anyway, all that to say, James 1 .27, I quote a lot, Lamentations 3 .22

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and 23, I quote that one a lot. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end.

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They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. My wife pointed out to me that whenever anyone gets into a discussion with me about the sovereignty of God, she says somewhere in that conversation, you are going to say,

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I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion, which is

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Romans 9 .15. So I quote that one a lot too. Apparently that one comes out of me. Psalm 23,

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I can't help it. Psalm 42, one as a deer pants for flowing streams.

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So my soul pants for you, O God. Psalm 51 verses 11 and 12. Cast me not away from your presence.

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Take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.

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I quote that one a lot too, because it's one of my it's from well, I was going to say it's from one of my favorite

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Keith Green songs. But the reality is the Keith Green song is from one of my favorite Psalms. It's really the way that you should say it anyway, created me a clean heart.

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That song by Keith Green, one of my favorites. I also like and will quote Psalm 119 109 because it's part of my testimony, though I hold my life in my hand continually.

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I will not forget your law because there was a time in my life I went my own way. But those things that my parents instilled in me at a very young age,

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I remembered and they kept me from doing more evil than I could have ended up doing. And that, again, all by the grace of God.

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There's also Psalm 103. God takes our sins and throws them as far as the East is from the West, and he remembers them no more.

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I quote Revelation 22 20 quite a bit, where John, at the very end of the whole

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Bible, says, Come quickly, Lord Jesus. That one shows up in my sermons and in my prayers a lot, especially.

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But when it comes down to it, if I have to say that there's one verse or one passage that I've quoted more than any other in all of my sermons, it's probably

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Romans 12, 2 and often Romans 12, 1 and 2 together. These verses were huge for me when

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I was a teenager because it gave the gospel application for me. How is it that I am supposed to live in light of the gospel that I believe in?

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And Romans 12, 1 and 2 were those two passages that helped me to understand that. So I say it a lot when it comes to taking the passage that I'm preaching on and then giving application to it.

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I will often catapult that application on Romans 12, 1 and 2, especially being told not to conform any longer to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of our minds to have the mind of Christ, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God and what is the will of God.

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It's according to what the Bible says, what is good and acceptable and perfect. And we understand what

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God's will is when we read the scriptures and then do what they say. James chapter one.

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This is another passage that I quote very often where he says, do not just be hearers of the word, do what it says.

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So if we are to take what God has said in his word and apply it to our lives and live it out, what should that look like?

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And Paul is going to expound on that more as he goes on here to the Romans, to the church there in Rome, here in Romans chapter 12.

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Now I first fell in love with this verse as a middle schooler. There was a conference that I went to in Wichita, Kansas.

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PFR was playing there. I think it was the main reason I went. That was my favorite band at the time, Pray for Rain. So PFR was playing.

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I was going to see PFR, but the theme verse of that conference for seventh and eighth graders was

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Romans 12 too. And it was even on our t -shirts. I think on the front it said like, do not be conformed.

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It was something not be conformed anyway, whatever that was. And then on the back, the NIV version of Romans 12 too.

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Do not conform yourself to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind so that you may test and approve what is

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God's will, what is good and pleasing and perfect. I think that's the NIV version. I still remember that fairly well.

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It's different now because since back then, that was in the nineties and the NIV has even changed since then.

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But anyway, so at first for me as a young teen who had my hopes and dreams,

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I had my future in front of me. I had this idea of what I wanted to be when I grew up and did something in my life.

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I lived in a small town in Southwest Kansas. I really didn't think that my future had anything to do with that little town.

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So I got to get out of this town and I got to make something myself somewhere else. So God's will for me was going to be different than whatever his will was for my parents.

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He called my parents here to this little town. He didn't call me to this little town. So I need to go out there and I need to do something else.

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So I was always latching onto verses that for me were going to give me that affirmation that God has some great awesome will for me beyond this little bitty place where I can't be the next

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Michael W. Smith. That's really what I wanted to be. So this verse meant a lot to me as a middle schooler when

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I had, hey, these aspirations of stardom in the contemporary Christian music realm.

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Don't be conformed to this world. Don't be like people in this world. Don't act like them. Be yourself.

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So I was taking like the culture's philosophy and marrying it with scripture, be who

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God made you to be, which is even that that cultural evangelicalism that doesn't mean anything.

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But do not be conformed to this world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind that made that by testing you may discern what is the will of God.

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And I thought, hey, as a kid, what the will of God is for me is I'm supposed to be a famous musician.

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So I'm supposed to not be like the world. I'm supposed to be a good Christian. And then

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God's will will become apparent for me. And what God's will for me is is what my will is for myself.

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That was what I had in my mind. But just as we considered yesterday from First Thessalonians, chapter four, verse three, it says this for this is the will of God, your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you learn how to control his own body.

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That's the will of God, not that you have these great hopes and dreams. You're going to be this big superstar and you make all this money.

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You're going to live in this rich neighborhood. You're going to drive this kind of car. And you're going to have this kind of tax bracket. You're going to have this kind of wife and these kind of kids.

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That's not the will of God. That's not what's being talked about here. Anyway, in Romans 12 to when it says that you may discern what the will of God is.

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We know what God's will is when we read the Bible and what the Bible says is God's will for you is to abstain from sexual immorality.

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In chapter five, same letter, First Thessalonians, chapter five, verse 16.

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This is verses 16, 17 and 18. In fact, rejoice, always pray without ceasing.

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Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

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So what is God's will for us that we be thankful? That we be filled with the spirit of thanksgiving for everything that we have been given in Christ Jesus, it's not just a standalone instruction that Paul is giving here saying, hey, be thankful.

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We can all nod our heads to that and say, well, yeah, sure. I need to, I need to be thankful. You know, we had Thanksgiving last week, so that's a reminder to me to be thankful.

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Paul always frames these instructions in light of Christ, just like what we have in Romans 12, one and two, that in view of the mercies of God that he has demonstrated for us in Christ, we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice unto

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God, and even here, because of what God has done for us in Christ, we are to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

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As a pastor, I've often been approached by a member of my congregation who will come to me and say,

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Pastor Gabe, what is God's will for my life? And they're ready for me to say, well, God wants you to live in this state.

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He wants you to marry this person. He wants you to make this decision at your job. He wants you to have that job instead.

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God's will for you is that he would abundantly prosper you. That's, that's the response, the answer that they want to hear from me, because such a person is asking that kind of a question from their flesh and not with the mind of God, so they're really perplexed when after asking me,

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Pastor Gabe, what is God's will for me? My answer is give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

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They'll be frustrated with that answer because they're asking from their flesh and their flesh is not satisfied with that because it means that you take your whole heart, soul, mind, body, strength, everything, and you submit it unto

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Christ in all things. And you're supposed to be thankful for exactly where you are and what you have.

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Now, that doesn't mean that you can't, as a Christian, climb the corporate ladder. I hope you are successful.

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I do. If you want me to pray for you to get that promotion at work, sure, I'll do that, but I am also going to pray that your heart will be content with whatever happens.

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Maybe you don't get the thing that you think that you deserve, the thing you want or the thing that you deserve.

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Rather, God's will for you is that you would stay right where you are for the time being. And even in that situation, in that circumstance, you continue to give thanks unto

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God because you're satisfied with whatever you are given, knowing that your sins are forgiven in Christ.

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Before Christ, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And so no matter what happens in this world, there's no reason for us to despair.

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When you fear God, you fear no man, but when you don't fear God, you fear everything else.

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If you know that you don't deserve anything, then you will be thankful for everything because you know that every good thing is given to you by Christ.

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We can have everything taken from us in this world and you would not despair because you know that in Christ Jesus, you've been given eternal life in God's forever kingdom, which is far beyond anything that we will ever have in this life.

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Everything in this world is transient. It is all passing away. The technology that you are listening to this podcast on is going out of date even as you're listening to me.

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It's not going to be too long before you're going to have to throw that contraption away and get another one. Our everything that we own, all that we possess is the stuff of tomorrow's trash heaps and garbage bins and garage sales.

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It does not last. We cannot have any dependency or true lasting happiness on any of this stuff.

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So knowing that all of the world could be taken from you and you would not despair because your hope and your trust and your everything is in Christ who is eternal.

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And has promised you all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places.

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We read that yesterday in second Peter chapter one verses three and four, all the good things of God have been promised us in Christ Jesus that we would live in the heavenly places with him forever in all eternity.

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This is God's will for you that you have in Christ. If you believe in him, you will not perish under the judgment of God that is coming and all this world, all that is transient will be laid to waste, but you have nothing to fear of that day because your faith and trust is in Christ who will raise you from the dead by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.

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As we read about in Philippians chapter three, if God has given you so much, if you have such assurance of your future, that the grave is not the end, that your stuff is certainly not the thing that is going to give you any everlasting happiness because people look for that.

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They will look for happiness in their stuff and then it's gone. Makes me happy for a little while and suddenly

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I don't have that happiness anymore. I need to go find happiness in another thing, which is just going to be transient and it's going to pass away and that happiness is going to be fleeting as well.

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So when you know that true and lasting joy is in Christ, your savior, then you will desire conforming to Christ and not to this world.

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There's no hope or dependency on this world, not of the things that are in this world, nor the ways of this world.

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We, we went through that a little more yesterday, not following the passions of your flesh, but living according to the fruit of the spirit that we would present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

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And this is your spiritual worship. So do not be conformed to this world. Don't think like the world, don't act like the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may have the mind of Christ.

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That's in, uh, in Philippians two five, that we need to have the mind of Christ. Jesus said to Peter, when he rebuked

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Peter in Matthew chapter 16 and said, get behind me, Satan, do you remember that whole thing? So Peter wanted to prevent

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Christ from going to the cross. Jesus told his disciples exactly what was about to happen. He was going to be arrested.

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He was going to be taken away. He was going to be put to death, but he said to them, take heart because I'm, I'm coming back three days later,

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I'm rising again. Peter took him aside and rebuked him so that he wouldn't go do this thing.

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And you know, Peter had good intentions. He didn't want his master to go to the cross and die, to be beaten and tortured.

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Who would want that for their teacher? And then Jesus rebukes

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Peter. He doesn't say, oh, Peter, you're such a good soul. Thank you so much for thinking so highly of me.

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No, he says, get behind me, Satan, for you are not thinking with the mind of God.

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You are thinking with the mind of man. He said, Peter, you are a hindrance to me. And if Peter had gotten his way, we would not be saved.

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So it was not the will of God. It was not according to the will of God. Peter did not have a mind that was conformed to God in that moment that he tried to prevent

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Jesus from going to the cross. We discern what is the will of God when we read the scriptures, when we understand his word, when we're not following the world, we are understanding

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Christ according to his word. And the world will hate us for that because we won't be like them. They will hate us.

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Consider what Peter would then later write in First Peter, chapter four, verse three.

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For the time is past that suffices for doing what the pagans want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties and lawless idolatry.

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With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you.

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But they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead, for this is why the gospel was preached, that we would not walk in the deadness of our sin any longer, but we would walk in newness of Christ.

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The world will hate us because we desire to live in godliness. Paul said that to Timothy, those who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

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So just because we want to live a godly life, the world will hate us for that. But we must continue on not conformed after this world, but being transformed by the renewing of our mind to think with the mind of Christ that we may know the will of God according to his word.

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And we know what his word says and how it applies to us when we think with the mind of Christ. And then we will know what is good and acceptable and perfect.

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So know that this is God's will for you. I cannot sit here and tell you where God is going to have you live one day, who you are going to marry, what your kids are going to be like or any of these other things.

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I can't tell you that. And far be it from any pastor to tell you what your flesh wants to hear.

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What I can tell you is what Jesus Christ has done. I can point you to Christ according to the scriptures.

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He died on the cross for our sins. He rose again from the grave so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life with God.

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And then if you believe this and you know this and you trust God and worship him with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength, here is what that is supposed to look like.

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And here is how you as a Christian are to live your life. That's what I can show you. And according to the will of God that we have laid out for us in the scriptures, every must everyone must come in conformity to this, not being conformed to the world, but being conformed to the mind of God as shared with us in his word through his prophets and his apostles.

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Now, when we talk about not being conformed to the world, of course, that means we're not supposed to walk in sin anymore.

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We are not to chase after sexual immorality, be angry or hold grudges with one another.

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We're not to take vengeance out on each other. Instead, we are to love one another. And Paul is going to go out, going to go on to explain these things as we study further here in Romans chapter 12.

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But let me give you one more example, one closing example here of a way that the church so very often conforms to the pattern of this world and does so very subtly, not realizing that this is thinking with the mind of man and not with the mind of God.

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Recently, Kerry Newhoff, who is like your quintessential evangelical guru, and I don't say that to be complimentary.

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He's often putting forth ideas to conform the church to a seeker sensitive sort of a mindset, trying to appease everybody instead of being what the church is supposed to be.

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And that is the people of God worshiping God. So Kerry Newhoff said this with 71 percent of boomers, the oldest generation desiring primarily a physical church experience, and only 41 percent of Gen Z, the younger generation desiring a primarily physical experience of church.

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Some kind of change seems inevitable. Here's what that statistic means. Most of the oldest generation actually wants to go to church and be with the people of God physically sitting in church.

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Whereas less than half of the youngest generation sees that even as important.

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And you're talking about just among evangelicals. So this indicates that sometime in the future, it's going to be the sort of a thing where church is going to be done mostly online.

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It will not be people going to church as the scripture instructs us to do. A friend of mine,

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Matt Karabini, who used to work with the Barna Group, which is one of those survey groups that puts forth statistics like this,

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Matt said the following, the conclusion reached from this type of study is all too common in unserious evangelical circles.

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The pattern goes like this. One group says that the church is doing this wrong.

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And researchers say, let's change what we do to appease this demographic instead of allowing all scripture, which is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training and righteousness to guide decision making in local churches.

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Researchers often suggest extra biblical measures based on opinion.

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Trends in data are only helpful in pointing where culture or young Christians may need correction.

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That happens when the inspired, authoritative word of God drives a local church's actions and not the opining of a researcher.

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Bottom line, virtual church is not church. And indeed,

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I would agree with that. If we start going in the direction of thinking that virtual church is church, that's conforming with the mind of the world.

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It is not conforming with the mind of God. His church is a visible church that is not walking in the ways of this world, but being conformed to Christ.

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And the world is going to mock us for that. We will be ridiculed. We will be hated because we live in a way that is contrary to the pattern of the world.

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But we understand what Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, verse 10. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

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Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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Let us pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that in the face of of radical change that is going on in our culture right now, that we will not be led astray, but continue to conform ourselves according to your word, desiring to do what you desire of us as followers of Jesus Christ.

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Make Christ big in our lives, that we see Jesus and we do not panic or fear the things that are happening in this world, but we be transformed by the renewing of our mind, that we may know the will of God according to your word, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

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This we pray in Jesus name. Amen. For more about our ministry, visit us online at www .utt