The Renewing of the Mind

 The Renewing of the Mind

Romans 12.1-2

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

 

Introduction

 

     The human mind is one of the most amazing miracles of God’s creation. If you want to upset an evolutionist, ask them if the mind can be seen under a microscope and how it supposedly evolved. The mind is clearly one of the unique features of human beings. It has the capacity for immense good and for immense evil and everything in between. Many people mind their clothes they wear, the car they drive, the work they do, and the friends they have. But we don’t always pay much attention to our minds. We’re very concerned about our blood pressure, our weight, our strength, etc. But what about our minds? Is our thinking good or evil? Are our desires pleasing to God or not? Are our feelings hurting us or helping us? God wants our minds to be renewed according to His will that we might live our lives constructively and not destructively, dedicated to holiness and not to evil. Our minds need to be renewed by God’s wisdom rather than ruined by sin. How? That’s what this sermon is about.

 

1. Refuse to Be Conformed to the Mindset of the World

 

     The apostle Paul urges us to be living sacrifices to God. That is the goal of the “transformed mind.” But I’m going to set that aside for a moment and start with the problem that we all face. Paul said, “Do not be conformed to the world.”  The first thing we need to know is that our minds can be shaped in a good or bad way. Our thoughts, feelings, and desires can be turned to the good or the bad.  The good mind comes from God, who created our minds. The bad mind comes when there is no input by God and when we have forsaken our Creator. These two ways of thinking – Thinking the thoughts of God and thinking the thoughts apart from God will always be contrary to one another. 

 

     The Bible shows us how this has happened in the past. Pharaoh resisted the mind of God when he refused to let Israel go free from slavery. The prophets of Baal resisted the mind of God when they lured Israel to worship the idol of materialism and lust. The Pharisees resisted the mind of God when they refused the forgiveness of God in Jesus. Solomon said that the talk of a foolish man, a man who rejects the mind of God, ends in “raving madness” (Ecclesiastes 10.13). Paul warns us in his letter to the Ephesians not to walk with those who in the “futility of their mind” are “alienated from the life of God,” and have given themselves over to “lewdness” (NKJ), “licentiousness” (KJV), ἀσέλγεια (Greek) “total lack of self-control.” This is literally “losing your mind.” 

 

     Is this not the mind of many around us today? Unrestrained lust fed by the steady online stream of pornography? Unrestrained anger which explodes into domestic violence, road rage and murder suicides? Unrestrained imaginations that wage war against nature itself with people thinking they can do and be anything they want without any consequences? None of this will end well. 

 

      All of these examples point to one thing: Either our minds are formed by the teachings of God’s word or not. In every age there are those who want to force people to conform to ideas that are contrary to God’s word and His will. Paul urges us not to be conformed in this way. The word here for “conform” literally refers to the way something is forced into a mold and forced to take the shape of that mold. The Christian mind is molded and shaped by God’s word. 

 

     Many people reject this Christian mindset. They have in every age, and they always will. They prefer to see themselves as God and to live by their own will. You and I cannot stop that. We cannot control that. But we can refuse to be controlled by it and conformed to it. We will always be of another mind, another will, another way of living – this is the way of Christ, to whom we have been called.   

 

2. Be Transformed By the Renewing of the Mind

 

     Our resistance to all of this comes when our minds were “transformed” by what Paul calls the “renewing of the mind.” Paul’s words show us that we were once conformed to the mind of this world. We were also gods unto ourselves, dominated by sin, and destined to destruction. But our minds were renewed by the word of God. The Holy Spirit enabled us to accept our guilt, to repent of our sins, and to believe in Jesus for our forgiveness. 

 

Paul talks a lot about this transformed mind in the eighth chapter of Romans:

 

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8.5-8) 

 

     Notice that there are two different mindsets. One is of the flesh, that is, it is without God’s input. It is the mind of sin and transgression. The other is the mind of the Spirit, that is, of Gods word. We remain transformed and renewed when God’s word is continually shaping our thoughts, desires, words, and actions. A person with the mindset of the Spirit is a person who simply asks themselves a lot: What does God want me to think, say, & do? This question never comes to the mind of those conformed to the world.

 

     Let me share with you a good example of a mind that was transformed by God’s word. Rosaria Butterfield was a professor of queer theory and feminist criticism at Syracuse University, and an advocate of LGBTQ+ causes, an atheist, and was in the process of writing a book against Christianity. She received a letter from a pastor that was warm, intellectually serious, and raised legitimate questions about life. This led her to begin reading the Bible seriously. She realized the Bible presented a much different moral universe, but she was also attracted to the beauty, coherence, and the authority of the Bible. She began to realize that she was not just reading Scripture. She said in her own words: “Scripture was reading me.” She felt convicted of her sin and was turned to Jesus and His grace. She knew this would destroy her career and friendships. But she couldn’t go on opposing the will of God. She was transformed. You can read more about her experience in her book, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. There have been many, many examples of this throughout history. 

 

     But I would like you to think about your own transformation and how it happened and is happening. Think about the events of life and the people you have met that have drawn you closer to God. In my life I think my parents, my sixth grade Sunday School teacher, the vicar who taught my confirmation class, my pastors, and my Christian college and seminary professors. All of them were part of the team that transformed my mind to the mind of Christ. They all had one thing in common: They pointed me to the word of God and encouraged me to read it so that I could “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” 

 

3. Be a Living Sacrifice to Help Save.

 

     When our minds are working in this way, our lives will show it. This is what Paul means when he says that we should become “living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.” The transformed mind asks this question: Am I pleasing to God? Just asking yourself that question several times a day can make a big difference in your life. The sacrifices that God commanded the people of Israel before the sacrifice of Christ were very important. They were the means of grace through which Israel received forgiveness and through which they also offered to God their thanksgiving and praise. But even then, God also expected Israel to be living sacrifices through faithful living. David said, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and crushed heart, God will not despise” (Psalm 51.17).

 

     Jesus Christ became the ultimately pleasing sacrifice that took away not only the sins of Israel but also those of the whole world. And, when we live in that joy and renewal of that forgiveness, our lives also become a living sacrifice.  St. John Chrysostom (d. 407) preached about this when he said, 

 

"How can the body become a sacrifice? Let the eye look on no evil, and it is a sacrifice. Let the tongue utter nothing base, and it is an offering. Let the hand work no sin, and it is a holocaust (burnt offering). But more, this suffices not, but besides we must actively exert ourselves for good; the hand giving alms, the mouth blessing them that curse us, the ear ever at leisure for listening to God" (Chrysostom). [Isn’t it amazing that a sermon that is more than more than 1,600 years old still speaks today!]

 

     Sometimes Christians think that they must have some kind of control over the age in which they live, that somehow they should be able to convince the world to operate by the transformed mind in Christ. This has never happened and never will happen. “Broad,” Jesus said, “is the way of destruction, and there are many who go in by it” (Matthew 7.13). This is what I call the “minority temptation.” When we were children, we asked our parents: “Everyone else is doing it, why can’t I?” Now as adults we wonder: “Everyone else is still doing it and even more so, maybe I’m wrong?” Not at all. Those who told us not to follow the crowd that doesn’t follow Christ were right because it is God that ultimately tells us this. He urges us to stand fast, and to be the living sacrifices – the representatives of His Son, Jesus, in this world. This is what Paul calls “our reasonable service.” Don’t worry when the world scorns you for believing that God created the world, that the one way of salvation is in Jesus, and that we are called to holy not an unholy life. We are here, in this situation now, to show people the mind of God. How would they ever come to know it and perhaps believe it unless they see it in us?

 

Conclusion

 

     Every Sunday morning when you come to worship, every day when you read and remember some words from the Bible, and every moment spent in prayer is a “renewing of the mind” experience. Maybe some will join you. Maybe many will join you. Maybe none will join. But either way we have no choice but to live in the mind of Christ. The only other alternative is the mind of the world and sinful flesh which is nothing more than a step into the abyss of madness. I thank God; we thank God, that He has awakened us to this, and that every step we take in this walk with Jesus is a step to a better life, a better future, and better eternity. Amen. 

The Power of God's Word and Beautiful Feet - Romans 10.12-17

 

The Power of God’s Word & Beautiful Feet

 

Romans 10:12-17 (NKJV) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

 

Introduction

 

     What is power? When you hear that word you might think of a big tractor with an eight hundred horsepower engine? You might think of financial power like one of the thirteen billionaires who live in this state? You might think of political power and the ability to persuade millions of people to vote for you and the power that gives to affect the lives of even more people? These kinds of power have been well known and sought after for thousands of years. But they are not really the most powerful things in this world. Jeremiah said it well in this beautiful sentence: "Let not the wiseman glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth" (Jeremiah 29.23-24). The greatest power in this world and in our own personal lives is to know and believe in the true God of grace and salvation. This is the power of God's word. I encourage everyone to think about this, believe this, and live in the power of God's word. 

 

Hearing for Salvation

 

     It all begins with hearing and listening. The saying, "A picture paints a thousand words" is true. God has spoken to us with an infinite number of words that are painted for us in the amazing creation of this world. A beautiful sunrise, a majestic mountain, a sky filled with thousands of stars, are all ways in which God convinces us that He is our Creator and Ruler over this world. But God also speaks to us in an even more powerful way through the words of His prophets, apostles, and especially through His Son Jesus. As beautiful as the creation may be, it also has an ugly side that everyone knows. I picked up a peach to eat yesterday, but it was going rotten. One of our cats was slowing down last week, and we think it might be dying. The headlines constantly report terrible and frightening crimes. And try as I might, I can't stop every bad thought. I can't speak and do everything according to the Creator's will. Sin and all the effects of sin, especially death, are part of this world and my world. 

 

    For that reason God has spoken to us in another way and for another reason. In our current Sunday morning Bible study we are reading the Book of Hebrews. It begins this way: "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high..." (Hebrews 1.11-3). God speaks to us with words, particularly the words of Jesus, to save us from the corruption of sin in this world and to give us the fullness of His blessings.

 

     When Jesus came walking on the water to the disciples, they cried out in fear. Was it a ghost? But when Jesus spoke to them, “Be of good cheer. It is I; do not be afraid” (Matthew 14.27), they began to believe. It was not the appearance of Jesus that helped them, but it was the voice of Jesus. 

 

     In the Bible, God tells us that “faith comes by hearing.” Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go, You have the words of eternal life" (John 6.68). In the upper room Jesus prayed “for those who will believe in Me through their word (the word of the apostles)” (John 17.20). Again and again in the Book of Acts Peter, John and the Apostles and Paul and Barnabus spoke in the synagogues and in the streets, and multitudes believed. 

 

The Response of Rejection

 

     However, as Paul points out in Romans ten, as many as believed, many more did not believe. In the synagogue at Iconium, Paul and Barnabus preached the good news and multitudes believed. “But," we are told, "the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren” (Acts 14.3). Most of the world not only rejects the Gospel, they actively work against it to suppress it trying to prevent people from believing. They try to poison peoples minds against the Gospel.  Christians have been arrested for protesting or even praying near abortion clinics. A few years ago the Atlanta Fire Chief was fired for self-publishing a book about his Biblical beliefs on sexuality and marriage. A student at Georgia Gwinnett College was forbidden to pass out Christian literature near the campus library because it made other students uncomfortable. During the COVID pandemic inconsistent rules of our government placed stronger restrictions on worship than on other activities. These examples reflect a strong desire by many to marginalize or restrict Christian beliefs with which they disagree.  The further we go from this country, the worse it gets. Just recently seventy Christians were beheaded in the Democratic Republic of Congo by Islamic radicals. Lord, have mercy! We need to remember the terrible ways the Ruler of Darkeness directs his disciples against the disciples of Jesus.

 

  The Final Victory

 

     Yet, when we see the world’s efforts to suppress the Gospel, we should not be discouraged. It actually confirms the truth of God’s word since He has warned us of this. God told Isaiah this about the people of Israel: [These are] Children who will not hear the law of the LORD... [Who say] to the prophets, 'Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits'" (Isaiah 30.9-10). Just before he died Paul warned: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables" (2 Timothy 4.3-4). 

 

     We can also turn to the many promises God has made about how the word of God will not ultimately be suppressed: 

 

Isaiah: 55.11 It “shall succeed.”

Isaiah 40.8 “The word of our God shall stand forever.”

Matthew 7:24 Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock...

John 10:35 Jesus said, “Scripture cannot be broken.”

1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross... is the power of God”

Romans 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation...”

1 Thessalonians 2.13. The word, “also effectively works in you who believe.”  

 

    Years ago I was called to a hospital to comfort a member. This young lady had been overwhelmed by the powers of sin in this world and in her life. She had what people today would call a "melt down." It's one thing to go to the doctor for a cut. It's another thing to struggle with bitter disagreements between people. But one of the worst attacks the Evil One can level against someone is to overwhelm them physical, mentally and spiritually with despair. By the time I saw, she was much better. As she sat on her bed she told me how things began to turn around for her, how the roller coaster of despair leading to a likely suicide was stopped. Since she came in late in the afternoon when the shifts were changing, and there wasn't much the medical staff could do except to keep her safe in a hospital room. At least there she was under their watchful eye and wouldn't be able to hurt herself or anyone else. But this was far from any kind of recovery. But as the darkness desended upon her, something beautiful happened. The cleaning lady came in to tidy her room, and she was quietly singing Christian hymns to herself. Noticing the poor young lady crying, the cleaning lady put down her mop and went over to her to rub her back and continued to sing about Jesus. She stayed with her as long as she could, and then went on with her work. That simple act of love and particularly a love rooted in the words of God in those hymns halted the powers of evil at work in her life. This cleaning lady was a good example of what Paul, quoting Isaiah, called "beautiful feet." "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” 

 

   The world God created is beautiful, but it is a rotting world, rotting away in sin. The good news of Jesus, of His perfect life, of His great sacrifice for us on the cross, of His assurance that our sins are forgiven and that we won't rot away with this world; this good news is even better that all that God has created. Together, knowing the beauty of God's creation and the beauty of His good news in Jesus, we have all we need to be happy forever. 

 

Conclusion

 

     For our part, we are very thankful for any way in which the Gospel is proclaimed. We personally take advantage of our own opportunities to hear it, and we actively support its continued publication and proclamation. Paul’s words, “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” is our great motivator. This is all we have to know to remind ourselves to turn off the TV and turn to the word of God. This is all we have to know to write a check that helps make the preaching of God’s word possible. This is all we have to know to find the courage to bring up the Gospel in our everyday lives like the cleaning lady I mentioned. As we live in the Gospel and share the Gospel it spreads from one person to the next. Faith comes by hearing so that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 

 

     Let the devil try to drive us to doubt and despair. Let the world try to stop the hearing and the believing of the word of God. We will not be discouraged. We will continue to trust God and the power of His word. Amen.