Romans 12:1-8 "Not Conformed, But Transformed"

1:03And Christians must think selflessly. We've got to think differently, soberly, and selflessly. So let's pick up in Romans 12:1, where we're going to see that first truth. Christians must think differently. Romans 12:1. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. So, what Paul is doing here in verse 1 is he is making a connection between everything that he's taught in Romans 1 through 11 and what he's about to teach in Romans 12 through 16. He says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, therefore, on the basis of everything that I've just taught, this is my appeal to you, by the mercies of God.

2:03Mercy is probably the most common word that's used in Romans 9, 10, and 11. It turns up all the time. We are learning about the mercy of God over and over again. And so, what Paul says here is that everything is in view of God's mercy. Everything is in view of the fact that we were once, at one time, disobedient to God, but we have received mercy. God has not treated us as our sins deserve. You see, God's mercy is the greatest incentive, it is the greatest motivation for living a holy life.

2:42You're not going to be able to drum up holiness on your own. You're not going to be able to white-knuckle it and just try to become a holy person. It has to be based on the mercy of God. We live in response to how God has dealt with us. And this is Jesus' point. In the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18. In this parable, a king forgives the enormous debt of one of his servants, a debt that's so big he couldn't repay it in many lifetimes.

3:14But that servant goes out and he finds another fellow servant and he begins to choke him because he owes him a few dollars. And he chokes him and he says, You pay me what you owe me. But the king learns of that first servant's behavior and he calls him in. I want you to see how the king deals with this servant when he learns of his behavior. Look at Matthew 18. Then his master summoned him and said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you?

4:00The king is outraged because his incredible act of mercy seemed to have no effect on his servant's life. You would expect someone who had received such incredible mercy to be a transformed person, to be completely different in the way that they dealt with other people, especially those who needed mercy in their own life. But his mercy did not seem to have any effect on the servant. Can you imagine? It's outraged. Courageous, and it's supposed to be. But remember that every parable in the Bible, Jesus tells these parables as a mirror so that we can see ourselves clearly in it.

4:44And so, this parable of the unforgiving servant is meant to reflect back to us how we often live our lives, that we have received incredible mercy from God. We owed God far more than an enormous sum of money. We owe God everything, our very life, our salvation, everything is dependent upon Him. And so, we should be living in view of God's mercy. Our lives should be different. So, look what Paul says, verse 1. 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.

5:34So, Paul's charge is to present our bodies as living sacrifices. Now, under the old covenant, sacrifices were offered every single day and every single year in the temple. And they were reminders that the wages of sin is death, that if you sin against God, your blood needs to be shed. You deserve to die for your sins. But God is merciful and gracious, and the sacrificial system pointed to the reality that he was going to send another to take our place, to have his blood shed in our place for our sin.

6:14But here's what you need to see: those sacrifices, bulls and sheep, and oxen and birds, those sacrifices were killed. Their blood was shed, they were placed on the altar, and they were burned. It was one and done. But we are called to something different, to something far greater than that. We are called to present our bodies as living sacrifices, living sacrifices. That means that we do not just offer worship to God on Christmas and Easter. That means we don't just offer worship to God on Sunday mornings. That means we don't just offer worship to God when we're reading our Bible and praying.

7:18That means we don't just offer our hearts to God. A lot of Christians talk about giving your heart to Jesus. Well, don't get me wrong. Jesus wants your heart. It's just that he wants your whole body as well. All of you. Nothing held back. Not your mind and what you think about. Not your eyes and what you look at. Not your hands and what you touch. Not your feet and where they take you. Nothing held back. Christians are called to present our bodies, every part of us to God as a living sacrifice. We are called to die to ourselves every day to pick up our cross and follow Jesus. Every moment of every day, we are living as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

8:19So the difference between a living sacrifice and a dead sacrifice is like the difference between a husband who says, I would die for my family and a husband who proves that by dying to himself and his desires every single day. Anybody can say that they would die for Jesus. It's not hard to say that. But it's a lot harder to pick up your cross and die to yourself every single day, offering your body as a living sacrifice. Sacrifice. Friends, that is what we are called to do as Christians.

9:06We're called to be living sacrifices whose lives are holy and acceptable to God. Paul says that is our spiritual worship. That phrase spiritual worship, I love this. In other translations, they translate that reasonable service. Think about that phrase. Sometimes spiritual worship, that sounds like high and holy. Like, what does that mean? This is your reasonable service. The most reasonable thing that you could do for a God who has sent His only begotten Son to live and die and rise again for you, the most reasonable thing in the world is for you to say, God, I owe you my whole life, and so I'm going to live that way.

9:50I'm going to think that way. I'm going to serve that way. I'm going to give that way. I'm going to talk that way. That's how I'm going to live my life. That's the most reasonable thing in the world. But the question is, how is that going to happen? Because honestly, that does not come naturally to any of us, does it? It's not natural for us to live our entire life for God. So look at verse 2. Here's how this is going to happen: 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.

10:43So Paul starts out and he says, Don't be conformed to this world. Now, a lot of time we kind of read these phrases in the Bible, but it's like, what does he mean, this world? What does that mean? Well, the Apostle John gives us a great working definition of what Paul means by this world in 1 John chapter 2. Take a look on the screen. John says, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

11:43So the world is shorthand for a way of desiring and thinking and living that is opposed to the way God wants us to desire and think and live. As Christians, we must not be conformed to, molded, and shaped by the world, how the world desires and thinks and lives. But the reality is, you don't have to try to be conformed to the world. It takes zero effort. It's what comes naturally to every one of us. You don't have to plan for it, work for it, train for it. It just happens naturally from birth. So what we need then is, verse 2, we need to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. So instead of being conformed to the world, shaped and molded by the world, we need to have our minds transformed.

12:54And that Greek word translated transformed is metamorphao. It's where we get our English word metamorphosis. That's a profound change in nature, like when a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. That's what we are called to, to a metamorphosis, a profound change in nature, a transformation in the way that we live our lives. But again, how does that? Take place, it takes place by the renewal of your mind. Why do we need renewed minds? Well, it's because the world is discipling us.

13:48The world is discipling us to desire what it desires and to think the way that it thinks so that we will live the way that it wants us to live. Think about this: everything that you watch, everything that you listen to, everything that you read is discipling you. It's training you to desire certain things and think certain things so that you will live in a certain way. Look what Jesus says in Luke 6:40. Let this sink into your heart. A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher.

14:43You are going to be like whoever you pick as a teacher. So, friends, hear me. It is no wonder that more and more professing Christians sound like Fox News and sound. Like MSNBC and sound like Joe Rogan and sound like Jen Hatmaker because these are the people that we have chosen as our teachers. You cannot spend hours a week, hours and hours a week, a day, some watching Fox News, MSNBC, listening to Joe Rogan, listening to Jen Hatmaker, and not come out looking like them and sounding like them. You can't. It's not possible. You are not going to counteract four hours a day of cable news with 15 minutes of Bible reading. It's not going to happen.

15:48So I think for some of us, we need to really consider who actually is discipling us. At whose feet are we really sitting? Who is shaping what we desire and think and how we live? We need to be transformed by the renewal of our minds, which happens through God's Word and God's Spirit. When we read the Bible or we hear it read, when we hear the word preached and taught, God's Spirit is using God's Word to renew our minds. So, that we desire what God wants us to desire, and we think what God wants us to think, and then we live the way that God wants us to live. We are transformed by it.

16:45And the result of that transformation: look at the end of verse 2. Here's the result of this transformation: that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. As our minds are renewed, we grow in our ability to test everything against the Word of God. That's one of the reasons that the last 10 years have been so disorienting for many of us who are being discipled by the Word of God.

17:29Because you hear Christians say stuff, and you're like, What? That's not good, acceptable, or perfect. That doesn't conform to the will of God. What are you talking about? But they can't see it because they've become like their teachers. So, you've got Christians talking past each other. In the church, because we don't have the same standard. Our desires are different. Our minds and thoughts are different. So our lives are different. So, if you're a believer, I want to challenge you this morning to carefully consider who is discipling you.

18:26I understand that some of you, it's 2025. I understand that some of you need to be on social media because of your work or because you have to keep up with grandma or whatever else. I get that, okay? There's no judgment. There is Christian freedom with social media. I cannot understand why so many believers spend hours a day scrolling on it. I have never, ever, ever seen it do a single person any good. I think it was John Mark Comer that likened social media to basically like pollution. And he's like, Look, if you want the benefits of like factories and cars and stuff like that, you've got to put up with some pollution. They're going to create it. But you don't want to drink that in for fun. Social media. I got to keep up with grandma. Great. Grandma, I love you. Hope you're doing well. Love the pics.

19:35I got to post on it for my work. Okay, buy this stuff. This stuff is cool. Come to this thing. Neat. Then get away. Get away. What are we doing? What are we doing? Scrolling for hours and hours. So many people need your time and attention. Believers need to be discipled. The lost need to be evangelized. Christians in the church need help. And here we are, scrolling away. Friends, I challenge you, carefully consider who is discipling you. There is a direct connection between the teachers that you have chosen and the kind of disciple that you are becoming.

20:16Christians must think differently. And that happens as our minds are renewed. Let's take that second point now. Christians must think soberly. Verse 3. 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. So here in verse 3, Paul mentions the grace given to him, probably a reference to his calling as an apostle. And then he couples that with one of Jesus' favorite phrases, I say to you.

21:06He reminds us that he's writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit with the authority of God. And what does he say? He says we are not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. That is a common temptation, isn't it? It's not a temptation for all of us all of the time, but it's a common temptation for most of us a lot of the time to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. Pride leads us to conclude that we know best, that we do best, that we are the best. And above all, pride leads us to conclude that we do not need other people.

21:54Now, there is a common myth out there, especially in the world of Silicon Valley, and that myth is the self-made person. The self-made person. In other words, a person can be successful alone by himself or by herself without any help from other people. One of the podcasts I've really enjoyed and benefited from over the years is a show called How I Built This. And they interview all of these different entrepreneurs and people that have started companies and organizations, fascinating stories. And one of the things that they All have in common is that at some point in the episode, every one of them says, I could have never been successful. I could have never made it to the top. I couldn't have gotten to where I got today without the help of other people. Without that contact, without this connection, without this network, I simply would not have been successful.

22:55But pride leads us to a different story, doesn't it? Pride tells us you don't need anyone else. You can be successful on your own. People will just get in your way and slow you down. And sadly, that's how many professing Christians feel about the church. They think more highly of themselves than they ought to think, and as a result, they conclude that they can be faithful, fruitful Christians apart from other believers in the local church. But that is not sober thinking.

23:35When you're not sober, you're not thinking clearly. You're not perceiving the situation rightly. Look at verse 4. Paul says, For as in one body 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. One of another. In the Bible, the church is referred to often as the body of Christ. Paul uses that metaphor to explain that each one of us is a part of a spiritual body. Now, we understand a human body is composed of different parts, different members. They all perform different functions. Some parts of our body perform one function and one function only. Others perform several. Some of the parts of our body we use once in a while, and some we use every second of every day without even realizing it or thinking about it.

24:45I want you to look at 1 Corinthians 12 on the screen. I'm going to quote Paul at length here because this passage is so critical to understand. If the foot should say, he's talking about the body of Christ, using the human body as an analogy, if the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each member of the body. One of them as he chose.

25:33If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow the greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

26:37Pride tells us that we do not need other Christians. We will be fine on our own. Paul says that thinking is spiritually drunk and needs to go home. Every believer is just one part of the body of Christ. We need other Christians. Christians and they need us. Look at verse 5 again. Look what Paul says. So we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another. So, friends, we need to allow this verse to speak into our Western American sensibilities, our rugged individualism.

27:28Because non-Christians can live individually, they can act like the only question that matters is what's best for me. But Christians cannot live that way. We do not have the freedom to live that way because we don't belong to ourselves. We belong to Christ and we belong to each other. What that means is that if you're a Christian and you refuse to join a local church, or you just kind of never get around to joining a local church, what you're saying is, I don't need the church, and the church doesn't need me.

28:18You're not thinking soberly about the situation. You are an eye, an ear, a hand, a foot, living detached from the body. You need the rest of us. We need you. And don't misunderstand. You don't have to join this local church. You don't have to join New Life Baptist Church. But if these verses mean anything, you need to join a faithful local church. Because when you do that, you're saying, I need the church, and the church needs me. That is sober thinking, and Christians must think soberly.

29:03Let's pick up now in verse 6, where we'll encounter that last truth: Christians must think selflessly. Verse 6. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them, if prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.

29:47Now, Paul is talking about spiritual gifts, and depending on your background, you might be like, oh boy, where is this going? Have no fear. Spiritual gifts are awesome when you let the Bible teach you what they are and how to use them. Let's look on the screen at 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Here's what Paul says. Now, there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Now, I want to leave that up there for just a moment. I want you to notice three truths about spiritual gifts briefly. First, there are varieties of them. They're not all the same. Second, spiritual gifts are given to us by God. They are not skills that you can just work hard to acquire over time.

31:03And then, third, every believer is given at least one spiritual gift for the common good, to build up the body of Christ. Look what that says. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. What that means is you, believer, have at least one spiritual gift. It might be one of the ones that we... Just read about in Romans 12 might be one of the ones from 1 Corinthians 12 or Ephesians 4 or 1 Peter 4. It might not be listed in the Bible. Because all of those lists are a little bit different. I don't think we have to conclude that they're exhaustive, that that's all of the spiritual gifts. But here's what is true. When you believed in Jesus, you received the Holy Spirit. And when you received the Holy Spirit, you also received at least one spiritual gift for the common good to build up the body of Christ. What that means is no Christian can despair because every one of us has at least one spiritual gift. Nobody can say, I'm useless, I have nothing to offer.

32:22But it also means that no Christian can boast because nobody has all of the spiritual gifts. Nobody can say, I'm self-sufficient, I don't need any other members of the body. So look at verse 6. Here's Paul's charge. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. Let us use our spiritual gifts. And New Life, I want to begin with a strong encouragement to you. You all do this. So well, you excel at using your spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ.

33:08We have 211 members here at New Life, and nearly every member is serving on one or more ministry teams. Just this morning alone, approximately 85 members of this church, 40% of our membership, is going to serve you or your family or your children in some way. 85 people here are going to be involved in service. New Life is not a church where 20% of the people do 80% of the work. We are a church where about 90% of the people do 100% of the work. And that is an awesome thing worth celebrating. But now here's the other side. Here's the challenge.

34:01If you are not using your spiritual gift or gifts in the context of the church, you are hurting the rest of us. We're like a person who has lost an eye or an ear or a hand or a foot. Now, are we making it? Are we getting by? Sure. If you've lost your hands, you can learn to pick up stuff with your feet. It's not easy, but you can do it. People who don't have eyes learn to get around without them. But it's not easy. And so understand: if you're not serving the church, you are thinking selfishly, not selflessly.

34:51You are coming only to receive from the body of Christ, not to give and receive. And it shouldn't be that way. It's time to step up. I want to encourage you to register for our next Explore membership class. Pull out your phone, get on Church Center, click Start Serving, and get involved. It's time to start using the spiritual gifts according to the grace that God has given you. Now, what might those gifts be? Again, these lists aren't exhaustive, but they can be kind of characterized or categorized into two different categories: speaking gifts and serving gifts. So think about these speaking gifts. Look at verse 6. That would be things like prophecy, declaring God's word to God's people, probably normally in the new covenant, in the act of preaching. Teaching is another gift mentioned. That would be explaining God's word to God's people, like in a classroom or in a discipleship setting.

35:56Exhortation. That means to urge, import. Or console. It's building up other believers through public or private encouragement. So you might have one or more of those speaking gifts. Or maybe you've got a serving gift. Look at the different serving gifts here. The first one is, follow me, service, that's rendering assistance or help by performing tasks. We see also contributing, sharing money or possessions, which Paul says should be done graciously, generously. Leading, that's managing, influencing others to follow a recommended course of action. Paul says that should be done zealously, not lazily or for personal gain. And then he mentions acts of mercy. Those should be performed cheerfully, not begrudgingly. So there's a lot you could say about the gifts, but the focus here is not the gifts themselves, but that God has given all of us at least one gift by his grace, and we are to use them to build up the body of Christ. They are for the benefit of others, not for ourselves. Christians must think selflessly.

37:13So, friends, as I close this morning, I want to begin with a word to my brothers and sisters in Christ. We are living sacrifices, and so we have to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. That is what's required. The world does not value or think the way God wants us to value and think. It does not rightly assess the problem with this world, which is sin and its consequences, and therefore it can never offer the right solution, which it always poses as more education or better technology or more medical advancements. Those things are all good, but they will not get to the root of the problem, which is sin and its consequences. We need to understand that, to value that, to think that way. And that is why it is so important that we gather together regularly. It's important to gather for worship on Sunday morning, even when you've had a busy week and a busy weekend. It's important for you or you and your spouse or you and your spouse and your children to stay for 11 o'clock discipleship because we're being trained to value and love the things that God says we should value and love instead of what the world values and loves. It's important to have an intentional plan for your discipleship and your family's discipleship. Come tonight to the family equipping training, which is going to be all about leading family worship now or in the future in your home. But friends, we've got to have our Minds transformed, and that's only going to happen as we together are affected by the Spirit of God and the Word of God through the people of God.

39:11So, I want to challenge you in that way if you're a Christian. If you're not yet a Christian, then maybe you've heard this sermon this morning and you're like, Pastor Alan, I don't think that I think differently. I don't think soberly about myself. I certainly don't think selflessly. I don't think about others. I think about what's best for me. And if you're in that place, you have to understand every Christian has been there. We still fall into that thinking from time to time. But you are no different than the rest of us. What you need to recognize is that your selfishness is putting you at odds with God and the people that he has created around you in this world to love and serve. The solution for you is not more education. It's not better technology. It's not medical advancements. It's nothing else. The solution is repentance and faith. This is why God selflessly sent his own son. Why Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. He did it for you. He came and he lived and he died and he rose again so that through faith you could be reconciled to God and to other people and enjoy the life that God has created you for.

40:30And died to give you. And so, I want to implore you this morning: if you're not yet a believer in Jesus Christ, turn to him so that you can live in the ways that we're talking about to the glory of God and for the good of everyone who knows you, everyone in your life. That's what this is about. The transformed life starts with the mercy of God, and the mercy of God comes to you through the person and work of Jesus. Receive him today.

41:00Let's pray, Father. We so badly need to have our minds transformed, we need them renewed so that all of us, our whole bodies, can be transformed. And we recognize that we cannot do that on our own. And so, we pray that by your spirit and by your word, you would begin transforming us through our minds. Forgive us for the ways that we have been conformed to this world, for the ways that we are not living as living sacrifices to you.

41:45Help us to use our spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ. And, God, for those who are not yet believers in Jesus, we pray that through your Spirit and your Word, They would know that hope can be found because you are a merciful God, one who has not treated us as our sins deserve, but has treated us as your son deserved, who alone was perfect, who alone was good, who alone was wise. I pray that many would look to him in faith this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

42:36Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.