Be Transformed
Romans 12v2a
19th April 2024
Recently, we've studied Romans 11v33-36, a wonderful outburst of praise to our awesome God, and Romans 12v1, which urges us to respond to Him by offering ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. There is no better way to use our time on earth. There is no higher calling. As I said last time, two things need to happen for us to live this life of sacrifice to God. We must choose to do it, and we must understand and apply the next thing Paul writes:
Romans 12v2a
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind.
J. B Phillips translated the first part of this verse as "Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould". The teaching of the Bible is very different from what we'll learn in school, and at work, and from the television, newspapers and social media. It's very different from what we'll hear from our non-Christian friends. We have to decide whether to trust God's values or the world's values. They are more different that we'd like to think. The world says all sorts of things that are contrary to what the Bible says. Here's just a couple:
- The world says "Look after number one". Jesus said, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9v23).
- The world says "Make lots of money to provide for your and your family's security" but the only real security is security in God, not in money. The Bible says "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." (1 Timothy 6v10).
John Stott, a great Christian leader, preacher and commentator, said this: These two value systems, this world and God's will, are incompatible, even in direct collision with one another. Whether we're thinking about the purpose of life, or the meaning of life, about how to measure greatness or how to respond to evil, about ambition or sex or honesty or money or community or religion or anything else. The two sets of standards diverge so completely there is no possibility of compromise. No wonder that Karl Barth called Christian ethics "The great disturbance".
2 Corinthians 6v17
Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.
We've been saved out of the world, and we're called to be transformed to become utterly different from the world. The Greek word translated as "transformed" here is "metamorphoo", from which we get the word "metamorphosis". The same word is used of Jesus at the Transfiguration. When Jesus the man was revealed to be Jesus the God, He was metamorphosed, transformed. We, too, are being transformed, so that the glory of God shines through us, as our minds are made like Christ's mind.
To be transformed from worldly people into God-oriented people, we must be renewed in every part of our mind. That transformation is not just learning a lot of propositions about how Christians ought to behave. Christianity is not a matter of remembering a set of rules. The New Covenant described by God in Jeremiah 31 contains this promise, "I will write my laws on their hearts". God wants to change how we think and how we feel. That's how we become more like Jesus.
Since we're commanded to be transformed, it must be possible. 2 Peter 1v4 says that by what God has done through Christ and through His promises to us,we can participate in the divine nature. In 1 Corinthians 2v16, Paul says "we have the mind of Christ". That's true to the degree that our minds have been renewed. I don't just want to do what Jesus does. I want to feel what Jesus feels, love what Jesus loves, hate what Jesus hates, think the way Jesus thinks. This transformation has started in every Christian. Paul urges us to co-operate with the Holy Spirit in the completion of this process.
The word "metamorphoo" here is in the present passive imperative tense.
- It's passive because it's something done to us. We can't renew our own minds. We need God's help. We co-operate with Him through reading and studying the Bible, through prayer, and through worship. The Holy Spirit works through these activities to renew our minds. The Bible teaches us about God, about ourselves, and about God's purposes. As we pray, we commune with God, and become more like our heavenly Father. As we worship, we look into the face of Jesus. So more and more and more we can say with truth and credibility, that we have the mind of Christ.
- It's imperative because it's a command. Every Christian should seek to have his mind renewed.
- It's present because our minds were not completely renewed and made perfect the day we believed. It's a life-long process.
The Greek word that the Bible translates as "repentance" is metanoia". It means "change of mind". Repentance is not fundamentally about changing our actions; It's about changing our attitudes, our priorities, our understanding, growing in wisdom, thinking the way Jesus thinks. If we try to change our actions without changing our minds, the change will be temporary at best. If we change our minds, our actions will also change, and the change will be permanent.
I'd like to finish this week my mentioning three situations where we resist this wonderful work of being transformed by the renewing of our minds.
As we get older, we can resist the renewing of our minds. The longer we've walked with God, the more we think we know it all. If a new theological idea comes up and we don't already know it, we think it must be wrong. That's terrible, isn't it? You can't put new wine in an old wineskin. The older I get, the more I pray "Don't let me be an old wineskin." I want to be able to receive new truth. I want the renewing of my mind to go on till the day I die, and maybe past the day I die. Maybe this continues in glory. I don't what to settle for what I know now. I don't what to settle for who I am now, or how I think now. I want to go on being metamorphosed, to be more and more like Jesus.
Perhaps, although we're generally happy for God to shape our thinking, there are one or two areas that we will not let go of. Have you ever seen a bonsai tree? They're tiny trees, each kept in a small tub. The person who shapes them needs great skill to prune them in such a way that they retain their balance. But if you do it badly, one branch can grow and grow because you never prune it properly, and the whole thing looks wrong, ridiculous, unbalanced, and you have to throw it away and start again. And for a Christian to be changed, metamorphosed, transformed, renewed in most of our minds, but have two or three areas where we are not going to change our mind whatever God says, we become unbalanced, unhealthy, inelegant.
Is there any part of your mind that you've never actually changed since you came to know Jesus? Is there anything about which you think "I've always thought that, and I'm not going to change now". Give it to Jesus. For example, if you've always had the same political views since before you got saved, maybe it's time to ask Jesus if they're right or not. Or your view about family, or money, or anything. God wants to renew all of our minds. To live a healthy Christian life is to submit all of ourselves to Christ, to put all of ourselves on the altar, and not to have two or three things that God is not allowed to touch.
Also, some of us have been through some traumatic, painful experiences, perhaps many years ago. God wants to heal our minds of those experiences. Will you let Jesus in to transform that part of your mind? If you will, He will bring you to a peace you can't currently imagine. Or you could continue to keep that part of your mind locked away, and let God can touch all the stuff that doesn't hurt, but not touch the stuff that does. But don't we want God to touch the stuff that does?
We'll look at the second half of this verse next time.