Transcript AM Lesson – Non-Transformation (Romans 12 1-2)

Ephesians 2:12
Remember that at that time you
were separate from Christ,
excluded from citizenship in Israel
and foreigners to the covenants
of the promise, without hope
and without God in the world.
Vast numbers of well-intended folk
have exhausted themselves in church
work and discovered that this did not
substantively change their lives.
They found that they were just as
impatient and egocentric and fearful
as when they began lifting the heavy
load of church work.
Our lives are
fragmented.
fractured
and
As Thomas Kelly puts it, we are
living in "an intolerable scramble
of panting feverishness."
We feel the pull of many
obligations and try to fulfill them
all.
Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in
view of God’s mercy, to offer
your bodies as living sacrifices,
holy and pleasing to God – this is
your spiritual act of worship.
Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the
pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of
your mind. Then you will be able
to test and approve what God’s
will is – his good, pleasing and
perfect will.
Vampire Christianity
The widely-accepted concept that we
humans can choose to accept Christ
only because we need Him and His
blood as Savior and that we have the
right to postpone our obedience to
him as Lord is heresy!
Vampire Christianity
This heresy has created the false
impression that it is quite reasonable
to be a "vampire Christian." One in
effect says to Jesus: "I'd like a little
of your blood, please. But I don't
care to be your student or have your
character.”
Romans 6:4
We were therefore buried with
him through baptism into death
in order that, just as Christ was
raised from the dead through the
glory of the Father, we too may
live a new life.
Romans 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not a
matter of eating and drinking, but
of righteousness, peace and joy
in the Holy Spirit.
The "greatest difficulty in conversion,
is to win the heart to God; and the
greatest difficulty after conversion, is
to keep the heart with God. … Heart
work is hard work indeed.“
-John Flavel (17th Cent.)
Psalm 139:23-24
Search me, O God, and know my
heart; test me and know my
anxious thoughts. See if there is
any offensive way in me, and lead
me in the way everlasting.
We are
motives:
doubt,
honesty
guile.
each a tangled mass of
hope and fear, faith and
simplicity and duplicity,
and falsity, openness and
God is the only one who can separate
the true from the false, the only one
who can purify the motives of the
heart.
This work is solitary and interior.
It cannot be seen by anyone, not
even ourselves. It is a work known
only to God.
It is the work of heart purity, of soul
conversion, of inward transformation,
of life formation.
It begins first by our turning to the
light of Jesus.
For some, this is an excruciatingly
slow turning. For others, it is
instantaneous.
In either case, we are coming to trust
in Jesus, to accept Jesus as our Life.
1 Peter 1:23
For you have been born again,
not of perishable seed, but of
imperishable, through the living
and enduring word of God.
1 Peter 2:1-3
Therefore, rid yourselves of all
malice and all deceit, hypocrisy,
envy, and slander of every kind.
Like newborn babies, crave pure
spiritual milk, so that by it you
may grow up in your salvation,
now that you have tasted that the
Lord is good.
2 Peter 3:18
But grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. To him be
glory both now and forever!
Amen.
God is interested in our growth!
The church, starting with the
leadership, seeks to facilitate our
spiritual growth!
We must put ourself in the best
position to grow!
2 Peter 3:17
Therefore, dear friends, since you
already know this, be on your
guard so that you may not be
carried away by the error of
lawless men and fall from your
secure position.
We begin to develop a habit of
divine orientation. Behind the
foreground of daily life continues the
background of heavenly orientation.
We are not alone in this work of
the re-formation of the heart. It
is imperative for us to help each
other in every way we can.
Fellowship Gathering Power
This naturally leads to a second great
arena of work for the years ahead:
congregational renewal.
Fellowship Gathering Power
If in our churches we do not do the
hard work of spiritual formation, we
will not get spiritually formed people.
PROBLEMS / CHALLENGES
1. We have in our churches a
"hurry sickness."
Many are adrenaline addicts, and the
overall spirit of our day is one of
climb, push and shove, of noise and
hurry and crowds.
PROBLEMS / CHALLENGES
But spiritual formation work simply
does not occur in a hurry. It is
never a quick-fix deal. Patient,
time-consuming care is always the
hallmark of spiritual formation work.
PROBLEMS / CHALLENGES
2. We now have a Christian
entertainment industry that
is masquerading as worship.
PROBLEMS / CHALLENGES
3. We have an overall consumer
mentality that simply dominates
the American religious scene. It
is a mentality that keeps the
individual front and center: "I
want what I want, when I want
it, and to the measure I want it."
SOLUTIONS
The church is re-formed and
always re-forming.
And if my heart and soul and mind
and spirit are being re-formed, then I
am powerfully drawn toward anyone
and everyone who is seeking to
know, follow and serve Jesus and be
formed into the image of Jesus.
BACK INTO THE WORLD
In the beginning God plucks the
world out of our hearts. We
experience a loosening of the chains
of attachment to positions of
prominence and power. All our
longings for social recognition, to
have our name in lights, begin to
appear puny and trifling.
BACK INTO THE WORLD
We learn to let go of all control, all
managing, all manipulation. We freely
and joyfully live without guile. We
experience a glorious detachment
from this world and all it offers.
BACK INTO THE WORLD
And then, just when we have become
free from it all, God hurls the world
back into our heart—where we and
God together carry the world in
infinitely tender love.
BACK INTO THE WORLD
We deepen in our compassion for the
bruised and broken. We ache and
pray and labor for others in a new
way, a selfless way, a joy-filled way.
Our heart is enlarged toward those
on the margins. Indeed, our heart is
enlarged toward all people, toward all
of Creation.
BACK INTO THE WORLD
It is this moving of God’s Spirit that
compels millions of ordinary folk like
you and me to minister life in Christ's
good name to our neighbor, our nighbor: "the person who is near us."