Romans 12:1-2

Let us pray.

O gracious and eternal God, we give you thanks on this, your day.

A day to recognize you as our Lord and Savior.

A day to celebrate the goodness of the Lord that all of us have found through your Son, Jesus Christ.

A day, God, to invite others in to share in this wonderful life we have discovered in you.

I pray this morning that you will use me, thy servant, to manifest your will and your way in your people.

Remove anything in me that might hinder me for being used in a way that will bring you glory.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Grace and peace, Trinity Baptist Church.

I thank Pastor Greg for that warm introduction.

I am so delighted to be here.

And as Pastor Greg indicated, we are not only co-laborers, but friends in the body of Christ.

So thank you again, and I share your sentiments of it's just good to have friends in Christ.

I also want to acknowledge his lovely wife, Jane, who has welcomed me and my family into their home.

And in these very divisive times, we are so excited to share with the world what God can do.

And bringing people who share the faith together, no matter what our backgrounds are, no matter where we came from.

We are one in Jesus Christ.

And I'm just so grateful to have both of them and call them friends.

Also, I'm glad to see the Dunlops here.

I know they are members here, but we call them our associate members as well.

They fellowship with us quite often, and they too are just real special to the Christian Tabernacle Baptist Church family.

So good to have the two of you here.

And I know you're praying for me as you do, even when I'm in my own pulpit.

I also want to thank, once again, as Pastor Greg mentioned, many of you who have helped serve in our summer enrichment camp as teachers and leading our free lunch program.

We really try to plant the seeds of the kingdom of God over the 10 weeks that we have all of the children.

And I just thank all of you for sharing in that effort.

I really do appreciate it.

And we really couldn't do it without you.

I would be remiss.

I know Pastor Greg mentioned my wife, but I just want her to wave her hand.

Of 26 years, we have been on this journey together.

And I just love her so.

And my youngest daughter, Camille, is here, the youngest of three.

And I just love being a father.

And on Friday, she received her driver's permit.

And as she was taking the picture, it brought tears to my eyes to just know that my last little one will be soon out of the house.

How many of you know it's a great privilege to be a parent?

And I just want you to know, what many of you already know, that I don't know a better way to live or to die than the way that God has instructed us in his word.

And so I am just so grateful that God has given me three children and a wonderful wife to journey life with who also loves the Lord.

I do want to thank also Pastor Nick, who has helped me get here today in so many ways administratively.

I don't know where you are, but thank you for your help as well.

I want to read into your hearing the text this morning coming from the 12th chapter of the Book of Romans.

And I'll be reading verses 1 and 2.

Romans 12, verses 1 and 2.

Romans 12:1

And I'll be reading from the New King James Version.

And it reads as follows.

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 approve what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

I want to talk just for a moment.

And I won't be long,

and I will try not to go into my American Baptist mode of getting too excited,

but I want to talk for a moment from the subject of being unplugged.

Being unplugged.

I love going to the movies.

And in particular, I love going to feel-good movies.

Movies where the good guys win and the bad guys lose.

But in addition to feel-good movies,

my second genre, if you will,

is movies involving action.

And one of my favorite action movies is called The Matrix.

And The Matrix, like many series,

the boast of The Matrix series is the original one that was produced in 1999.

And in The Matrix,

the movie is about humans creating artificial intelligence,

what is known as AI to survive.

And however,

and they don't explain how the computer,

the AI machines flip the script.

They learned that they could live independently from humans,

but they needed a power source,

a source of energy.

And so the machines in The Matrix,

they determined that the human body

contained within itself the energy,

the power source that they needed to survive.

And so the machines began to harvest human bodies.

While waiting to be consumed,

this field of human bodies,

they were plugged into The Matrix.

You have to follow the story.

And so the automated artificial intelligence machines

had become independent from humans,

and they needed humans for energy,

and they began to harvest human bodies.

And it was a field of human bodies from babies to adults,

and they were plugged into The Matrix.

It was a construct, if you will.

It was a virtual world.

It was a simulation.

So while they're waiting to be consumed by the machines,

the machine, The Matrix,

is creating a dream world for them.

It's like they were dreaming,

but yet it was appearing to them

in their own consciousness

as if they were alive.

But the actor, actor Reeves,

somehow became unplugged from The Matrix.

He was unplugged with the help of others,

and he came to see life,

not as it was,

but most importantly, how it should be.

He became unplugged from The Matrix.

You need to understand that

because in the text this morning,

Paul is pleading to you and I

to become unplugged from the world.

In some version,

the world is called this evil age.

Unplugged from The Matrix of sin,

all of us need to be unplugged

from the world of sin.

Too many of us, like the prodigal son,

we believe that life in its fullest

is leaving the Father's care

and going off into the far country of the world

and living in the flesh.

Many of you have heard the saying

that I have found in life to be true,

that sin will always take us

farther than we want to go,

keep us longer than we ever intended to stay,

and cost us more than we're willing to pay.

We need to unplug ourselves

as children of God from this worldly system.

We need to understand God's way is perfect.

In my daily devotion since the beginning of this year,

I've been praying through the Psalms.

And basically, one or two days,

I will get through a Psalms through prayer.

But I came upon, a couple of weeks ago, Psalm 51.

And I've been in Psalms 51, which is David's prayer,

and I realized through that Psalms,

God was telling me,

maybe I have not murdered anyone like David.

Maybe I have not committed adultery against my wife.

Praise the Lord.

But God was still telling me

that I still needed him to create in me a clean heart.

I still needed him to renew in me a right spirit.

Because in so many ways, no matter how much we try,

it is hard to get unplugged from the world.

It's hard for us to live according to God's values

and not according to the world's values.

Not only am I saying this morning

that we need to get unplugged from the world of sin,

we also need to get unplugged from this sense of self-sufficiency,

this sense that we can live life without God,

this sense that we don't need God for the very air that we breathe,

this sense that we don't need God to clothe us in our right minds.

We don't need God to live life to the fullest.

We believe somehow in the matrix of life

that somehow when we get up in the morning,

it's about us and not God allowing us to rise.

We need to get unplugged from a sense

that we can do anything without God.

I don't know how many of you are in this season that I am in,

but not long ago, I buried my mother,

and it was after 10 years of her experiencing dementia.

And I used to think that it was an old cliche

by people who were up in years when they would pray in church,

thank God that I'm clothed in my right mind.

But I came to realize that's a prayer that is one we need.

The older you get, the more that becomes a very relevant prayer.

We need to be unplugged from a sense of self-sufficiency.

We need to be unplugged from a world of sin.

And then also, God wants us to be unplugged

from a sense of, from the matrix of self-importance.

I don't know, the older I get,

I don't understand so much about why the church

has not turned this world upside down.

I don't understand why we, like we are today,

can't come together and worship no matter what class,

no matter what ethnicity, no matter what background.

If we are one body in Christ,

we ought to reflect that in the world and make God visible.

But somehow we just have not gotten there

because we still are plugged into this matrix,

plugged into this sense of our own self-importance.

I have found that only in death,

when we realize that our worth is not much,

when we return to the dust of the air,

we realize what really matters is our relationship with God.

What really matters is loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Paul says in this text,

I beseech you, therefore.

To which, as you know, we should ask,

what is the therefore, therefore?

Many scholars believe the therefore is there

to remind us as Christians then and now

of the biblical narrative

in which we are to live out of.

To remind us that we've been saved from sin.

To remind us we've been saved

from ourselves being our own God.

To remind us we've been saved

from our own self-importance.

And to get unplugged, to see the truth,

to see the finished work of Jesus Christ's life,

death, and resurrection.

It's time, Trinity Baptist Church,

that the church gets unplugged from this world,

this matrix, and begin to love God

with all of our heart, with all of our minds,

with all of our souls.

It's time that we begin to love our neighbors

as ourselves.

What is the therefore, therefore?

Scholars believe the therefore are there

so we can see that before Paul gets to chapter 12,

all of the mercies of God

that has been extended to us as his children.

And so Paul says, I beseech you, I beg you,

therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,

these mercies of God should motivate us

to become the people that God has called us to become.

And so if I can take a moment

to really reflect on the biblical narrative

that outlines the mercies of God

in the text this morning,

that you may begin to live out of this narrative

and begin to turn this world upside down,

I believe that if we just take a moment on this Sunday

to reflect on the biblical narrative

of the bountiful mercies of God,

all of us will leave this space forever changed.

What are those mercies that Paul reflected on

in Romans 1 through 11?

In Romans 1, 16 and 17,

Paul reminds us that we are justified by faith alone.

In Romans 3, 23, it says that all have sinned

and fallen short of the glory of God.

In Romans 6, 23, it says that the wages of sin

is death, but the gift of God is eternal life

in Jesus Christ.

In Romans 8, 12 through 17, it says,

we have been adopted into the family of God

by the blood of Jesus Christ

and are now called to live according,

not according to the flesh,

but according to the spirit of God.

We are his children and we can now cry out to him,

Abba, Father.

I'm talking about the mercies of God

that ought to motivate us to become the people of God

that God has called us to become.

In Romans 8, 17 through 18, it explains to us

we are joint heirs with him.

Romans 8, 28, which is one of my favorite verses,

says that all things work together

for the good of those who love the Lord,

who are called according to his purpose.

In Romans 8, 37 through 39,

we find these high and enriching words.

We are more than conquerors

through him that loved us.

Paul says that I am persuaded

that neither death nor life,

nor angels, nor principalities,

nor powers, nor things present,

nor things to come,

nor height, nor death,

nor any other created thing

shall be able to separate us

from the love of God

that is in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8 and 1 says,

there is now no condemnation

in those who are in Christ Jesus.

I'm talking about the mercies of God

that ought to motivate us

to live this life that God has blessed us with,

not because we deserve it,

but all because of God's unmerited favor.

It is those mercies that Paul says

that as we go into thanksgiving on Thursday,

that we ought to receive with great gratitude

and a spirit of thanksgiving.

And because of those mercies,

we ought to manifest the love of God

in three distinct ways

as we turn this world upside down.

The first thing as we consider the mercies of God

that are, I just hit a bit of them,

but if you go through Romans,

they are filled with the mercy of God

that he has bestowed upon us.

And with that backdrop,

Paul says,

I beseech you therefore, brethren,

by the mercies of God,

he wants us to do three things in this world.

First, we ought to present our bodies.

As a federal prosecutor,

when a defendant was incarcerated,

in order to bring him to court,

I had to file with the marshals

a writ of habeas corpus.

And that writ really indicated to the marshals,

you have the body.

And before any business can be done,

you need to present the body to court.

What Paul is saying to us,

irrespective of all of the mercies of God,

irrespective of how he has blessed us richly,

we still have free will.

We still have to bring our bodies

as instruments to be used of God.

We still have to present our bodies to God

that he might work out his will

in our lives and in the world

that he's left us, church,

to make him visible upon the earth.

And Paul says,

we are to present our bodies.

As the Old Testament came

and presented an offering to God,

we are to come with that same spirit

and present our bodies to him

in three ways.

One, as living sacrifices.

We are new creations in Christ.

He has made us new,

and we are to present our bodies

and present to the world

that we are not the same.

Something has happened in my soul.

God has changed my life.

He has turned me around.

And the world ought to see

that we are new creations in Christ.

All things have passed away.

I am now learning Christ.

We are living sacrifices.

Not only are we to present our bodies

as living sacrifices,

as a new creation,

we are present our bodies as holy.

That means that we are to show the world

that the Holy Spirit

is influencing our lives.

We ought to show the world

that we are operating

in the fruits of the Spirit.

Love, joy, peace.

The world ought to see in all of us

that we're not the same.

You may be mean-spirited.

You may be an unforgiving so-and-so.

You may be racist.

You may be self-centered.

But I have been changed.

I am presenting my body

as an influence,

one who has been influenced

by the Holy Spirit.

We represent our bodies

as living sacrifices.

We represent our bodies as holy.

We represent our bodies

as acceptable to God.

That term means we represent our bodies

as pleasing to God.

As you look at the Old Testament structure

of sacrifice,

it did a number of things.

But mainly,

it said to the one,

the priest,

that there was a way

to approach God.

It said to the one,

the priest,

that they had to humble themselves

and approach God

in a way that he has determined

that we should approach him.

When we present our bodies

as a living sacrifice

that is holy

in an acceptable way,

we are saying to God

that it is your way

that I'm accepting

and not my own.

It's only by doing things

God's way

are we pleasing to him.

So as we unplug from the world,

remember that part of being unplugged

is that we have to present our bodies

as living sacrifices

that is holy and acceptable to him.

As we unplug from the world,

secondly, Paul tells us in verse 2,

not to be conformed to this world.

Not to be conformed to this world.

One version says,

don't let the world squeeze you

into its mold.

Don't let the world squeeze you

into its mold.

We are not to conform like the world.

I set off my remarks

by saying I love movies.

Now, I also like Westerners.

And so there's an old Western movie

called Shane.

And Shane is about a stranger

coming into town

and forming a relationship

with one of the families there

in a time in the 1800s

where people were coming in

with guns and taking territory

and cattles.

And Shane befriends this family

and he fights that the outlaws

won't take their land.

And at the end of the movie,

Shane is lined up

with six other gunmen

and it's just him.

And there's a young boy,

a part of the family

that he's defending.

And this young boy

is looking at Shane

and these six gunmen

and he looks at Shane

and he looks at the six gunmen

and he yells out to Shane,

Shane, there's just too many, Shane.

There's just too many.

As we stand with Christ

in a world that seems

to be rapidly changing

and nobody but us

seems to believe

that God's word is the word,

it seems like it's too many.

It seems like the world is winning.

It seems like we're all alone.

But I came to remind you, church,

my brothers and sisters in Christ,

that you are not alone.

But God has called us

to buck against the current.

God has called us

to stand alone on his word.

God has called us

not to be ashamed

of the gospel of Jesus Christ

because it is the power

of God unto salvation.

I am so,

I love the Lord

and I don't care

if everybody determines

that this stuff is not true,

it will always be true to me

because God has made

a difference in my life.

God is saying,

don't be conformed.

Don't let the world

squeeze you into its mold.

I not only like movies,

I actually read as well.

And one of the stories

that I like is C.S. Lewis' book

called Screwtape Letters.

And Screwtape Letters,

C.S. Lewis says

that while we are trying

to make our way in the world,

as we get older,

we find that the world

has made its way in us.

That's where I am.

I've experienced a lot of success,

but I realize

the more I got out there

in the world

trying to make my way

in the world,

the more of my Christian self,

the more of my Christian values,

actually I began to lose

because the world

began to make its way in me.

God is saying to us,

Trinity Baptist Church,

don't be conformed.

Lastly, as we think about

the mercies of God,

the bountiful mercies of God

laid out in Romans

Romans 1 · chapter mention

chapters 1 through 12

as Paul starts his summation

of the book of Romans,

he's saying present our bodies.

That's all that we have.

Present our bodies

as living sacrifices,

new creations to the Lord,

holy and acceptable to Him.

He's saying,

I know that sometimes

like Shane,

you're standing alone,

but stand therefore.

Don't be conformed.

And lastly,

he says to us,

be transformed.

Be transformed.

Verse Romans 12, 2 says,

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.

God doesn't want us

just to resist the world.

He wants us

to change the world.

In the Greek,

that word transform

also means transfigured.

And we think about

Christ being transfigured

and his face

was shining

and God wants us

to shine

in the midst

of the darkness

like the early church.

And I just want

to highlight

a couple of things

about being transformed.

The early church

did not just listen

to the word of God.

They obeyed

the word of God

and they transformed

the world.

They transformed

the world

in many ways,

but one,

they were transformative

in the love

they showed

to the poor.

In the early church,

the historians

have found letters

of some of the early church's work.

And some of those letters

came from people

in the Roman Empire

and it showed

the early church

compassion

for the poor.

One historian

has noted

in this regard,

they discovered

a letter

from a Roman emperor

named Julian

in A.D. 360

complaining

about the charity

or love

of the Christians

to the pagans.

Listen to

what the emperor

writes.

The impious Galileans,

which they meant

Christians,

support not only

their own poor,

but ours

as well.

They transformed

the world,

not just listening

to the gospel

of Jesus Christ,

but being transfigured,

being transformative

by their compassion

to the poor.

They took care

of the poor

and the impoverished

and people took note.

I wonder how,

what in your life

that you are doing

where the world

is taking note

that you've been transformed.

Not only did

the early church

show that they

had been transfigured

by the gospel

of Jesus Christ,

by their love

for the poor,

but they also

showed that they

had been transformed

by their love

for the discarded.

Again,

in the Roman Empire,

and we're reading

in the Book of Rome,

it was often

characterized

this world,

this Roman Empire

by infanticide,

infanticide,

I'm sorry,

infanticide.

And that is,

as you know,

the killing of infants.

Primarily,

it was the discarding

of female infants

that was characteristic

of the Roman Empire.

Females were not

as valued as males.

And so it was not

uncommon for a Roman family

that if a wife

gave birth to a little girl,

that little girl

was taken out

to the dung heap,

the edge of town,

and left to die there

by exposure.

In this regard,

a letter was discovered,

written in 1 B.C.,

by a Roman name,

Hilarion.

And he wrote this letter

to his pregnant wife.

These poignant

and disturbing words.

He wrote,

If you are delivered

of a child

before I return home,

if it is a boy,

keep it.

But if it is a girl,

discard it.

You see,

the early Christians

lived out their faith,

this transformed faith,

in practical

and tangible ways.

because the Christian community

would climb through

the refuge,

climb through the garbage,

and rescue

these discarded

little girls,

and sometimes

deformed little boys.

And they would raise them

like they were

their own.

they had been renewed.

They had been renewed,

not just the outward

renewal,

not just

outwardly

worshiping God,

but they had been

changed and

transformed

in a way

that was tangible

and practical,

and that,

in a way that

changed the world.

What am I saying

to you about

being transformed?

transformed.

Every time

you forgive

someone who has

hurt you,

you are being

transformed.

Every time

you deny yourself

for the glory

of God,

you are being

transformed.

Every time

you love

your neighbor,

those who look

like you,

and those who don't,

those from different

classes,

those in different

tribes,

we have become

so tribal these days,

everybody has their

tribe,

their circle,

and the church

is no different,

but every time

we break that cycle,

every time we

unplug from the

world system,

we glorify God,

we show ourselves

to be transformed

and not conformed

to the world.

We are

unplugging

ourselves

by the

gospel of

Jesus Christ.

The world,

the word says

that thy

word

thy word

have I

had in

my heart

that I

might not

sin against

you.

Psalm 119.

Every time

we love God

with all of

our heart,

all of

our mind,

and all of

our souls,

we show

ourselves to be

a transformed

people.

This word,

be transformed,

is continuous.

We'll never

get it perfectly

right until

Christ comes

back,

but God

is daring

us to be

different.

God is

pleading with

us like,

Paul,

I beseech

you,

I beg

you to

present your

bodies as

living sacrifices

that is holy

and acceptable

unto the

Lord.

And be

not

conformed.

Don't let

the world

squeeze you

into its

mode.

Speak to

your brothers

and sisters

who you are

passing on

the street.

Assume,

since America

says that it's

80% Christian,

that every time

you're passing

someone,

he is a

Christian.

So why do

we walk

past each

other?

We can,

maybe God's

not calling

us to go

through the

refuse and

rescue babies,

but at least

we can show

the glory of

God by

saying,

hello,

how are

you?

And embracing

people with

the Christian

kiss and

a hug.

And be

transformed

by the

renewing of

your mind.

As I come

to the

close,

there's a

story of

a young

man who

goes to

visit a

hermit in

the desert.

And he

finds this

monk sitting

outside his

cave,

enjoying the

sun,

his dog

lying lazily

at his

side.

The

seeker

asks,

why is it,

Abba,

that some

seek God

and come

to the

desert

seeking

God.

And they're

zealous in

prayer for

a season,

but they

leave after

a year or

so,

while others

like you

remain

faithful to

the quest

for a

lifetime.

The old

man responds,

one day

my dog

and I

were sitting

here quietly

in the sun

as we

are now,

and suddenly

a large

white rabbit

ran across

in front

of us.

And well,

my dog

jumped up,

barked,

barking loudly,

and he took

off after

that old

rabbit.

He chased

that rabbit

over the

hills with

a passion.

Soon,

other dogs

joined in

and attracted,

they were

attracted by

his barking.

What a

sight it

was.

As the

pack of

dogs ran

barking

across the

creek,

up a

stony

embankment,

through

thickets and

thorns,

and gradually,

however,

one by

one,

the other

dogs dropped

out of

pursuit.

discouraged

by the

course,

and frustrated

by the

chase,

only my

dog

continued

hotly to

pursue the

white rabbit.

The

confused

young man

asked what

many of you

may be

thinking,

what is the

connection

between the

white rabbit

and the

quest for

God?

The

hermit

replied,

why didn't

the others

continue the

chase?

The answer

is,

only his

dog had

seen the

white rabbit.

They were

only attracted

by the

barking of

the dog.

what is my

point?

That once

you see the

rabbit,

you will

never give

up chase.

Many of

us are in

church just

following the

commotion.

Many of

us in

church because

others come

to church.

Once you

have a

real

encounter

with the

living God,

there's no

turning back.

I was a

JAG officer

in the

Marine Corps,

and I ran

from the

calling of

going into

ministry.

I always

wanted to be

a lawyer,

never wanted

to be a

preacher,

never wanted

to be a

pastor,

and I'm

sitting in

my barracks

room,

and the

presence of

God just

consumed me,

and I heard

God say to

me,

I am

here.

And from

that point

on,

I set out

to pursue

him with

all of my

heart,

with all of

my souls,

because once

you have

seen God

with your

heart's eye,

God,

if only

for a

moment.

As

Ephesians

1.18

says,

your eyes

of your

heart will

be enlightened,

and you

will seek

him forever.

Even in

the midst

of divine

silence,

you will

seek him,

because you

know that

he is

real.

God

will

be

to be

God.

So I

encourage you,

Trinity

Baptist

Church,

I encourage

you to

follow me

and follow

other believers

in the pursuit

of this

awesome God,

and I

encourage you

the next

time the

world tries

to squeeze

you into

its mold,

you're called

to be

different.

Get

comfortable

in being

peculiar.

get

comfortable

not being

like the

world.

We are

on this

narrow way,

but it

is a

glorious

way.

And I

don't know

after 54

years of

living,

a better

way to

live

or to

die

than in

accordance

with the

word of

God.

Come on,

let's give

God some

praise this

morning.

Thank you,

Lord.

Thank you.