Perennial Non-Conformists

I was ordained when I was 28 years old.

I'd been involved in Christian ministry for quite a few years.

Obviously, I had to train to be ordained.

I was ordained when I was a 28-year-old man.

And within, I can't remember now if it was the first Sunday

when I went to my first church or second or third,

but very early on, I met a woman in a motorized scooter wheelchair.

And I discovered during coffee that she had Lou Gehrig's disease.

That's the disease where your mind is completely unaffected,

but over time, you lose all of the functions in your body.

And one of the very, very first things she said to me

was that she wanted to die,

that she was looking for someone to kill her.

She didn't want to die right then,

but she knew that she was going to be going to a thing

that she thought would be completely and utterly unbearable,

where her mind would be completely fine

and she would lose control of her body.

And she was very open about telling me

that she was hoping that somebody would help her kill herself

when the time came.

I'm a 28-year-old guy.

I'd been in Christian leadership for about almost 12 years.

I had never come across anything like that in my entire life.

I didn't know what on earth to say.

I probably looked like a deer caught in the headlights

as she talked to me.

To be honest, I probably always hoped after that

she wouldn't talk to me at coffee time

because I wouldn't know what to say to her.

And in this particular church that I served at,

there were a lot of shut-ins that we had to visit

and there was this one shut-in in particular,

this one woman who I had to visit.

She was at what we would now call the Elizabeth Breer Center.

I can't remember what her illness was,

but she had increasingly lost all functions in her body.

She didn't have Lou Gehrig's disease.

It was something else,

but her mind was still completely strong.

And I would go in to visit her

and she could only lie down flat in bed

or if the nurses came and moved her.

And she still had just the barest control of her vocal cords.

And she had to speak into this little thing

that would amplify her voice so I could hear her.

I hated visiting her

because I didn't know what on earth I would ever say to her.

But it was my job to visit her.

She ended up being,

she was a very, very devout Christian

and she didn't want to die.

I mean, she didn't want somebody to kill her, I should say.

She wanted to be with Jesus,

but she didn't want somebody to kill her.

And her name was Diane.

I can't remember the name of the first one.

Her name was Diane

and in many ways she was really important to me

in my early years as a minister

because you're dealing with somebody,

you can't say,

does the Lord heal you or,

you know,

it's going to get better.

It's not going to get better.

I mean, it's going to get better when she goes to heaven,

but it's not going to get better here earthly.

It was very, very a hard thing.

I hated visiting her,

but I had to visit her and I did visit her.

And I learned a lot from her.

Now this is 30 years later.

Doctor assisted killing is about to become law in all of Canada.

And it's very, very interesting that at the heart,

even though a lot of the discourse

around doctor assisted killing

is dealing with an uncontrollable pain,

the fact of the matter is,

is that the real thing that's going on

is that for most people,

they fear more than pain in many cases.

They fear one of two things.

They fear the situation where,

like with dementia,

where their mind goes,

but their body is completely healthy.

And we fear that our mind would go

while our body is completely healthy

and we could live for years and years and years and years

and we want to be able to kill ourselves.

And the other thing that we fear

is like these two ladies that I've just mentioned.

That our mind is completely and utterly fine,

but our body goes.

And we're a mind trapped in a body that doesn't work.

And we want to die.

It's in light of that,

you can see how these two deeply held fears in our culture,

and it's not completely just in our cultures.

If we're exempt,

every one of us has,

we have to be honest,

if we got that type of prognosis

that we were going to enter into dementia,

or if we had that prognosis

that our body was going to fail,

but our mind was fine,

that would be a terrifying thing for us.

And it's in light of this

that we can see how unattractive

the gospel is for so many people.

Because in the text that Abby read

just a few minutes ago

that we didn't maybe pick up on,

at the end of the day,

it appears as if

we are asking God

to help us give up control of our body

and control of our mind.

The two things we fear,

the Bible asks us to do.

So let's look at that text.

Be very helpful.

It's Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

In fact, actually,

you should get your Bibles

in case you want to write or make notes,

but Andrew,

this is one of those times,

I know it has to be a shorter sermon today,

but we're going to say the verse.

Originally,

I was going to preach on Romans 12,

1 to 8,

and I realized that

we're just going to move

3 to 8 later on after Easter,

and we're just going to look

at these two verses.

We're just going to meditate upon them,

and if we get them at all in our mind,

if you, like me,

would like to memorize these verses,

then that's a really good thing.

So Andrew,

if you could put up Romans 12,

1 to 2.

Could you folks say that with me out loud?

And this version might be

a little bit different than your version.

Some of it's more literally translated

because actually the literal translation

in some ways is more helpful.

It's more helpful when you understand it.

And so let's say this together.

I appeal to you, therefore,

brothers and sisters,

by the mercies of God,

to present your bodies

as a living sacrifice,

holy and pleasing to God,

which is your rational worship.

Do not be conformed to this age,

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 pleasing and perfect.

There you go.

It's actually a very, very funny translation.

You see there where it says

a living sacrifice?

Another way,

the word for sacrifice there

is the word for the act

and the sacrifice where you kill.

So we're actually saying

a living killing.

That's actually what you're saying here,

a living killing.

That's a weird idea.

So you'll notice with this,

so what on earth,

you can see right in here

that it is talking about that, right?

Present your bodies as a living killing.

And then do not be,

and bodies there,

as we're going to see,

I'll tell you right now,

we don't have to see it later,

bodies there means

everything that makes us us.

But it's so easy for us to think,

in many cultures,

it's easy for us to think

that the most important things about us

is our mind,

or spiritual things,

or our feelings,

or our ideas.

And sometimes it can be

almost as if we forget

that we have bodies.

And so the language here

is to make this very, very concrete.

It's not George

in some abstract, romantic, ideal way,

where I'm a legend in my own mind.

It's the George,

that if you follow George

around 24-7

and you see what George actually does

and what he spends his money on

and the books that he reads

and the books he doesn't read

and the good things

and the bad things that he does.

That's why the word bodies is used.

It's your actual life,

including your body

and all of the things that you do.

And we see then

from that big perspective,

excuse me,

that we're being asked

to give up control.

So who on earth

would ever want to do that?

Like how on earth

could that ever possibly make sense?

Well, you'll notice

that the text is actually

a very, very interesting text

and it begins with this,

therefore.

It's going to follow from,

it follows from all of the things

that have gone on.

And in fact,

actually,

if you go and look,

excuse me,

Romans is written

in a very interesting way.

In some ways,

in all of the New Testament

and maybe all of the Bible,

there's no book

that's been so carefully structured

in certain ways.

And those of you

who have been here before,

you know how I say

how the first 15 verses

is just,

yeah, hi, I'm Paul,

looking forward to seeing you,

I'm doing this,

I'm doing that.

And then 16 and 17,

he gives you the basic idea

of the whole book.

And then basically,

well actually,

why don't you put up

Romans 1, 16 to 17 right now?

Can you read this?

We've read this,

if you're a guest here,

we've read this verse together

every Sunday

that we've looked at Romans

because all of the book

of Romans follows from this.

Could you read it with me?

And so what Paul has been doing

from chapter 1, verse 16

to the end of chapter 11

is he's been telling us

what the gospel is.

What is the good news?

He's been telling us

what the good news is,

he's been explaining it,

and he's been defending it

from certain misconceptions,

and he's been defending it

from certain criticisms.

And what he says

is that the good news,

hang on a sec, sorry.

I have something in my throat.

I feel actually fine,

but it's like just a bit

of a something in my throat.

Anyway,

so what he's been telling you

is that God has provided

something,

he has provided a power

that will make us right

with himself.

That we are to recognize

that we are helpless

in terms of making ourselves

right with God,

but that God,

seeing our helplessness

and still loving us,

he has provided the power

that will make us right with him.

And this power

that will make us right with him

is something which is right,

it's just,

that as you get more

and more deeply

into the mystery

of what he's done

and how he's thought,

you understand

that everything he's done

is not only just,

but more than that,

it's merciful,

because he's seen our need

and provided a power

to make us right

with himself.

And at the very,

very heart of that power

to make us right

with himself

is the death of Jesus

upon the cross.

It's his sinless life,

it's his teaching,

it's his perfect obedience

culminating in his death

upon the cross

and his mighty resurrection.

And this is the good news,

that when you put your faith

and trust in Jesus,

God in his grace

provides a power

by which he comes

into your life

and makes you right with him.

And that's what Paul

has been trying to defend

and explain for 11 chapters.

Now, if you ever look at books

on how to preach,

one of the things

that books on how to preach

nowadays say

is that you have to answer

two questions,

so what and now what.

And so for 11 chapters,

there's been lots of now what's

that have been implied,

but now Paul is going to answer

the now what question.

If this is all true,

if there really is a God

who does exist,

if he really does love you,

if we really are helpless

to make,

oh, thank you so much, Daniel,

if we really are helpless

to make ourselves right with him,

if Jesus and his death

upon the cross,

his perfect life

and his death upon the cross

and his resurrection

really is God's power,

this news is God's power

that when we hear it

and we receive it,

we ask in faith

that this would be true of us,

that this would somehow

get in us

and that we would get in it,

and that then God's power

is unleashed

to make us right with him.

Well, what on earth

does that mean

in terms of how we live?

And so if you go back

to the text,

we're not going to read it aloud,

Romans 12, 1 and 2,

did you put it back

on the screen?

Romans 12, 1 and 2?

That's the therefore.

The therefore.

Because one of the things

that we're going to see

as we go on

is that God's grace,

this salvation,

isn't just a moment

where we're made right with him,

but salvation means

that our lives

start to be changed,

they start to be transformed,

they start to no longer

be conformed

to certain things

but transformed

into other things.

And Paul here

is going to give

in these two verses

in a sense

the key or the model,

the basic understanding

of all of the rest

of the book of Romans

in terms of how you live.

And it's very,

very counterintuitive.

It's very counterintuitive

and it's very different

maybe than many

of the things

that you hear.

I've learned

lots of good things

on focus on the family,

but one of the problems

with focus on the family

is that often it slides

into moralism

and therapy.

And moralism

and therapy

actually often

doesn't help us

change our lives.

I know that's

a shocking thing

to say about a,

for a group

that many people think

is like right almost

up there with the Bible,

but it's often

just moralism

and therapy.

And the Bible

is going to say here,

Paul is going to say

that actual change

comes about something

different.

It's not moralism

and it's not therapy.

Look at what it says.

I appeal to you therefore,

brothers and sisters,

by the mercies

of God.

By the mercies

of God.

It's telling us

that

what we need to do

to begin

to change

is to be gripped

by the mercies

of God,

to contemplate

and think upon

the mercies

of God.

I've gotten myself

out of notes.

Andrew,

could you put

the first sermon

point up?

I've sort of

got out of track.

I apologize.

Actually,

last Sunday,

it was,

here's just like

two confessions.

You can pray for me.

In my sermon,

I get talking.

You see,

I don't have a written text.

I'm talking and talking

and then I realize,

good grief,

I just got way

out of order.

And I don't know

how you folks

felt the sermon,

but I actually spent

the last three quarters

of the sermon

in stark terror

because I'd gotten

way out of order

from my notes

and my illustrations

got out of order

and I spent the rest

of the time

trying to get back

on order.

Anyway,

this is very simple.

So what's the significance

of the gospel

and the mercies of God?

It's right up here.

Only through the gospel

will I seek to please

the true and living God

who is pleased

with me first.

See,

that's one of the things

that Paul has been

trying to establish.

That in the gospel,

by Jesus' death

upon the cross

and his resurrection,

every single thing

that I have done wrong

that breaks my fellowship

with God,

with the created order,

with other human beings,

every single thing,

even those things

that if I live

to be another 50 years,

these things

that are in the future,

every single one

of these things

with nothing left over

has been taken away

by Jesus.

And it's not just

that I have a clean slate,

but that the perfect life

of Jesus,

his perfect life

of obedience,

his perfect relationship

with the Father,

all of that,

as we saw in Romans 6,

that when I put my faith

and trust in Jesus,

it's that what happens

is he becomes

my substitute

and he exchanges

his position for mine

and he bestows upon me

his perfect obedience.

And that is how

I now stand

before the Father

in very, very traditional

Anglican dress

to illustrate that.

The minister wears all black

and on top of the all black,

he wears a white robe

and normally the white robe

would allow some of the black

to peek out.

And it's to be

a walking illustration

or a lesson

that my sins were black

and I am clothed

in the righteousness

of Jesus.

And so that means

that I don't have to worry

about my Father in Heaven

being pleased with me.

He is pleased with me.

I mean, there's things

obviously I have to do.

I've done things

that I have to say

I'm sorry for.

I mean, because I want,

but everything

in the Christian life

flows from the fact

that my salvation

is completely and utterly

accomplished by Jesus.

I've done nothing.

And that when I put my faith

and trust in Jesus,

the standing of my Father,

my Heavenly Father,

towards me

is that he's pleased with me.

And so that means

that the entire Christian life

is not that,

oh, if I just help

in the nursery,

then maybe God

will be pleased with me.

If I just sing

in the praise band,

maybe God

will be pleased with me.

If I just,

you know,

if I don't do naughty things,

maybe God

will be pleased with me.

That the Christian life

is not about trying

to get God

to please you,

but that

he is pleased with me.

Like,

I can't make him,

in a sense,

more pleased with me,

but he's pleased with me.

You see,

it takes a whole,

the whole Christian faith

is to flow out of gratitude,

not out of fear.

When I went to

first year university,

I fell into the very,

very trap

that many,

many first year university

students fall into.

I majored in having fun

for my first term.

I minored in going to class.

And the reason was

is that in high school,

they took attendance

and they had

regular assignments.

And if you didn't show up

and if you didn't do

the assignments,

there'd be a phone call

to my parents.

So my compliance

was basically fear-driven.

You go to university,

I don't know if there's

any professors present,

but you know,

from the outside,

it looks like they don't

give a hoot

whether you show up

to class or not.

It doesn't bother them,

they still get paid.

And nobody calls up anybody

if you don't hand in

your papers

or don't do your midterms

or anything.

And so at the end

of my first term,

I was desperately failing

three of my five classes.

And it was out of fear

of failure

that I started

to press into my work.

And a lot of people,

the Christian life

is a fear of failure.

And what Paul is saying here

when he says,

I appeal to you therefore,

brothers and sisters,

by the mercies of God,

he's saying,

you know what

does the gospel

told us?

The gospel has told us

that God is pleased

with you in Jesus.

He's pleased with you.

Your motivation,

there's a fundamental security

as you're gripped

by the gospel,

there's a security

that you act out of.

And it's very interesting

if you're looking there,

it says,

by the mercies of God.

It's very intentional.

It doesn't say mercy.

Mercy's abstract.

Oh yes,

God is merciful.

Oh yes,

God is love.

Well,

how has he been merciful

or loving?

Don't know.

But the word mercies

is to be concrete

and historical

and specific.

That's why it says it.

That we're not just to think

of how God is love

or God is mercy,

that we're to think

of God's mercies.

We're to think about Jesus.

We're to think about him

when he was tempted

by the devil

in the wilderness.

That we're to think upon him

as he feeds the 5,000,

as he calls to Peter

to walk on the water.

We are to think about him

as he heals

the Gadarene demoniac,

as he deals with the woman

at the well,

as he deals with the woman

caught in adultery.

We're to think about him

as we think about his perfect life.

And most of all,

we're to think about him

as when he had the option,

Joey,

the hymn sang it very well,

it was love that held Jesus

to the cross,

not the nails.

And we're to think about

the mercies.

And this leads us

to the second thing.

If you could put up

the second point.

I will lack an interest

in holiness

if I am not gripped

by the gospel

and contemplate God's mercies.

I will lack an interest

in holiness

if I am not gripped

by the gospel

and contemplate God's mercies.

Listen to Romans 12,

1 and 2 again.

Or the verse 1.

I appeal to you therefore,

brothers and sisters,

by the mercies of God

to present your bodies

as a living sacrifice,

holy and pleasing to God,

which is your rational worship.

It calls us to remember

what Jesus did for us

on the cross,

how our Father

is now pleased with us.

If this,

you know,

I use the example

over these last few weeks,

if I grow this church

so that it's as big

as Joel Osteen's church,

God's not going to be

more pleased with me

than he is today.

Do you know how freeing that is

when that starts to grip you?

But does that mean

that you do nothing?

No, it doesn't mean

what you do nothing.

It means that you relate to God

from a completely

different perspective.

And you not only relate

to God from a perspective

of not having to win his favor,

but you can begin

to relate to God

out of gratitude

because you think

upon his mercies.

And it's as you think

upon his mercies

that within you

becomes a desire.

It becomes reasonable.

It, in fact,

becomes rational.

Irrational

to offer your body

as a living killing.

So, in fact,

when we have no interest

in holiness,

it might very well be

that what's motivating us

is our fear of failure

or a desire to accomplish

or to try to make God

pleased with us.

And the Bible here

is very counterintuitive.

Do you want to deal

with a desire for holiness?

Be gripped by the gospel

and contemplate

the mercies of God.

And as that happens,

it starts to become rational

to say,

I'm going to hold

somebody else's

crying kid.

It starts to become

rational to say,

I'm going to give away

10% of everything I make.

It starts to become

rational to say

that I'm going to

risk being stupid

by telling somebody

about Jesus

or by offering

to pray for them.

I,

the way to change

is not by that

old story

being the little train

that could.

Gotta make it,

gotta make it,

gotta make it,

gotta make it.

That just gets us tired.

It doesn't go anywhere.

It's to be gripped

by the gospel

and contemplate

the mercies of God.

One more thing

can you put up?

The third point,

please, Andrew.

As I am gripped

by the gospel,

it is rational

to present

every square inch

of who I am

to God

as a living sacrifice.

As I am gripped

by the gospel,

it is rational

to present

every square inch

of who I am

to God

as a living sacrifice.

See,

one of the problems

with the sexual revolution

and how it's bent

lots of churches

out of shape

and the heart

of the sexual revolution

began amongst heterosexuals

and now it's moved

into,

you know,

in terms of

how we deal

with those

who are same-sex attracted

and now how we deal

with those

who believe

that they were meant

to have a different gender

than they are,

than their sex,

is that it's bent

churches out of shape

because there's

a fundamental part

of the person

who says,

oh yeah,

okay, God,

you can have my emotions,

you can have this,

you can have that,

but this thing

is perfect already

and I'm holding on to it.

You have no right

to define it,

no right to limit it,

no right,

you can't say

that you have to make

this whole.

To a heterosexual man

who wants to find

every third woman

he sees attractive,

that there's no right

for you, Father,

to actually try

to curb that in me.

For a man

who sees another man

and wants to sexually

know him,

there's no right

for you to change

that in me.

For a man

who actually thinks

he's a woman,

there's no right

for you to change

that in me.

But this text

is saying something

very counter-cultural.

It's saying that

as you're gripped

by what Jesus

has done for you

on the cross

and as you're mindful

of the mercies of God,

as that deepens

within you,

it becomes rational

for you to understand

that every square inch

of who you are,

every square inch

of who you are

is to be offered

to God

as a living sacrifice.

See, one of the ironies,

if you could put up

Romans 12, 1 and 2,

we're going to read it.

The second part

would be quick

because I'm very conscious

of my time here.

Oh yeah,

actually we're doing

pretty good.

Just before we all

read this together

as a thing,

you know,

one of the deep ironies

in our culture,

it's a very,

very deep irony.

I don't know

how to talk about it

in public.

You know,

maybe by me saying this

it will help you

think about it publicly.

But what are the two

deep fears in our culture?

I began this sermon

with this,

this move to have

doctors be able

to assist people

to kill themselves.

And that it's a right

that we force people

over against their

conscience to do this,

which is what the law

wants to do.

And force nurses

to refer or participate

or at least participate

by referring.

Force doctors to do it.

And as I said,

it's not often as much

worried about pain,

but underneath this

is this loss of control.

This fear that the mind

can be perfectly fine

and the body

loses its control.

And the fear that

you could have a body

that's fine,

but the mind

loses itself.

And because of this

deep fear,

it's deeply ironical

that the culture's

response to it

is to kill both.

Like,

how's that a win?

Like,

if you have a mind

that's still fine

but your body's going

and your fear

of losing control,

how is it a win

if you lose control

of your mind

and your body

in death?

And the opposite.

Like,

how is that actually,

like,

you're going deeper

into losing control?

And what we desire

by going deeper

into losing control

in a way that's crazy,

if you understand

there really is a God

that does exist,

who loves you so much

that he sent his son

to die upon the cross

for you,

that he's pleased with you

when you put your faith

and trust in him,

that everything

that you need to do

to make yourself right

with God

has been done by him

because you can't do it

for yourself.

And then he asks you

to lose control

of your body

and your mind.

This is a losing

of control

of your body

and your mind

that actually gives you

proper control

of your body

and your mind.

It's sane.

It's an outline

of moral,

intellectual,

emotional,

and relational sanity.

Some other time

we'll have to talk,

I mean,

I, you know,

obviously,

and there's people

in this congregation

who have to live

with people,

their loved ones

who are losing

this type of control

or we all have friends

like it and I,

there's obviously

lots of other things

that need to be said

about the nature

of community

and how to help people

who are going through

such unbelievably

tough times.

But you see that,

look that,

our culture never seems

to dawn on them

that they're actually

seeking an irrational

solution to the problem.

And at the same time

that they don't recognize

their own irrationality,

they look at a text

like this

that actually is rational.

It makes sense.

This is only half

of the verse.

Could you read this

with me again?

And by the way,

I mean,

I give you little points

to try to help

to ground

what the text is saying,

but my hope

and my prayer

is that when you

leave from here,

you want to memorize

Romans 12, 1 and 2,

not my words.

If you go away

thinking about my words

and you forget

about the Bible,

I failed.

I failed.

Because my words

are just my words.

These words

are God's words.

Could you read it

with me again, please?

I appeal to you,

therefore,

brothers and sisters,

by the mercies of God,

to present your bodies

as a living sacrifice,

holy and pleasing to God,

which is your rational worship.

Do not be conformed

to this age,

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 pleasing

and perfect.

And now,

here's the big

countercultural idea

in the second part

of the text

where it says,

do not be conformed

to this age,

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 pleasing

and perfect.

Andrew,

if you could put up

point four,

I know I have to go quicker.

My mind is renewed

as I walk

in God's will.

My mind is renewed

as I walk

in God's will.

See what it says here?

It doesn't say

your mind is renewed

as you think

great thoughts,

as you work

on increasing

your IQ,

as you work

on your reasoning

abilities

or any of those things.

It actually doesn't

tell us that.

You know,

if you think about it,

you just think about

your life a lot.

A lot of times,

the mind follows

the will.

I want to have that.

I want to go out

and I want to go drinking.

And then your mind

comes up with reasons

as to why that's reasonable.

I had a hard day

at the office.

I'll feel so much better.

I can be with my friends.

It'll help me forget my,

you know,

whatever it is,

you know?

So yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah.

You know,

you want to cheat

on your taxes.

Well,

the government is corrupt.

The government is evil.

Civil servants

just waste all their time.

You know,

whatever it is,

you'll just come up

with reasons

to lie on your taxes

and cheat.

The mind often

follows the will.

We don't think about it,

especially in a city

like Ottawa

with very high IQ

and lots of

well-educated people.

But the Bible here

is pointing to a different way

to have our minds changed.

And it begins

with the will.

Obviously,

the mind is at work here

because the mind

has to help understand

what God's will is.

But what really brings

about transformation

is walking in God's will.

If you could put up

the next point,

Andrew,

as well.

I usually need

to obey my way

to mental clarity.

When I refuse

to obey God's will,

I lose mental clarity.

I usually need

to obey my way

to mental clarity.

When I refuse

to obey God's will,

I lose mental clarity.

See,

it's very,

very interesting.

It says here,

do not be conformed

to this age,

but be transformed

by the renewal

of your mind.

And the two words

conformed and transformed,

they have the different sense.

It's not as obvious

in English,

but in the original language,

it's very obvious.

They're in the passive tense.

So what it means is

it's saying,

like if you've ever

been to a cottage

and you're on a cottage

that has a very,

like a river

with some flow,

if somebody tells you

just go put the canoe

out at the end of the dock,

if you put the canoe

at the end of the dock

and you don't tie

the canoe down,

the river will take

the canoe away.

You have to tie the canoe

or it will go.

And the word here

is that if we don't do anything,

we'll be conformed

to this age.

It's like putting a canoe

at the end of the dock

and not tying it down.

The canoe will be taken away

by the current.

And the text is saying

if you don't do anything,

if you just sort of go with,

if you just live,

the age,

you'll conform to the age.

But if you want

to be transformed,

it's also in the passive.

It's implying that God

does the transformation.

But in this case,

you need to give God permission.

You need to say,

God,

I give you permission

to transform my mind

and renew me.

And it's God who does it.

And the means by which

is as we hear the Bible

and we think about

the mercies of God

and we begin to understand

who God is

and what his will is,

that we try to obey it.

And so it is

that I usually need

to obey my way

to mental clarity.

And when I refuse

to obey God's will,

I lose mental clarity.

Sixth point,

here's the good thing

for the Christian.

My mind always needs

more renewing.

It doesn't matter

if you're here

and you're 90 years old.

It doesn't matter

if you're here

and you're 18 years old.

Your mind always needs

more renewing.

The very, very heart

of the Christian faith

is that there's this call

to constant renewal

for the rest of our lives.

It's going to look

a little bit different

if you're 96

and you're walking around

like this.

This is racing down

the hallway.

I don't know.

If I'm 96 and I can do that,

I'm just going to still be glad

that I can be vertical

and move at all.

Let me tell you,

that'll be fast for me

and I'll be happy.

Hopefully,

I'll give God praise

and glory for it.

So,

could you put up

Romans 12, 1 and 2

one more time?

We're going to read it

one more time

and then we're just going

to say something in closing

to summarize it for us

and then we'll,

I think we're going to

sing a hymn and go.

I'll say a prayer,

we'll sing a hymn and go.

Here it is.

Say it with me, please.

I appeal to you,

therefore,

brothers and sisters,

by the mercies of God

to present your bodies

as a living sacrifice,

holy and pleasing to God,

which is your rational worship.

Do not be conformed

to this age,

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 pleasing

and perfect.

Final slide,

Andrew, please.

The gospel is the good news

that Jesus Christ crucified

is the power of God

for salvation.

The Christian life begins

when I receive the gospel

by faith alone.

The Christian walk

is grounded on the gospel,

shaped by the gospel,

pushed by the gospel,

and pulled by the gospel.

Let's stand.

Father, you know right now

some area in every person's life here

we're struggling to obey.

Father, maybe it's a wife

who's struggling to obey,

to try to respect her husband.

Father, maybe it's a husband here

who's just really controlled

with some anger

or willfulness

and we don't want to obey.

Maybe, Father,

it's some of us

that we want to try

to cut corners at work

or cheat at work

in some type of way.

Or, Father,

maybe some of us

we're hanging on to bitterness

and we're refusing to forgive.

And, Father,

you know that every single one of us

have obedience challenges before us.

And we ask, Father,

that in your mercy

you would pour out

your Holy Spirit upon us,

that you would make us

disciples of Jesus

who are gripped by the gospel,

that you would help us

to think upon your mercies.

And so, Father,

instill and grow within us

a desire for holiness,

a desire to walk in obedience.

Father, we ask that you would

pour out your Holy Spirit

in such a way upon us.

And this we ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.