Be Transformed | Truly Transformed (September 13th, 2020) - Mike Armstrong

Alright, well let's get into the scriptures.

Like I've said, if you would uh turn in your Bibles now, uh not to Acts, we've been in Acts all through the summer, but actually Romans uh chapter 12.

Hey, Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

And as you're finding that in the New Testament, um, have you ever gotten to the place in your life where you just knew, you realized, maybe it hit you like a lightning bolt, or something was just kind of a slow, gradual realization that, hey, uh something's gotta change here.

Right?

This thing, this issue, um, I need to see this area of my life, something turn around.

Okay, maybe for you it is uh the area of uh of like diet or or exercise.

You're like, man, I haven't been uh eating too well over the summer and have been going hard at the sweets, at the treats, whatever it may be, and I've got to get that in place.

Or I've been laying around too much on the couch and I need to uh I need to get my steps in, I need to uh get a workout regimen going.

Maybe something like that you're realizing needs to change.

Uh perhaps for you it is uh the area of finances.

You know, it's something like money.

I'm just I'm spending more money than I make and I'm putting myself in debt, or I need to be a little bit more fervent when it comes to saving.

This is an area of my life that needs to change.

Perhaps for you it's a it's a sin habit.

And for a long time it's been it is seemingly manageable, uh, but it seems to be growing and getting bigger and becoming more and more kind of out of control, and you're realizing this has got to go, this has got to change.

Perhaps it's something like a spiritual discipline, and you're like, man, I know I know I need to read the Bible, but I just like never do.

And that's something that I need to I need to work on and and want to see grow.

For you, it could be an area of fear or or or worry, and I've got this, and it's it's just like constantly there, and it seems to taint and affect every decision uh that I make in my life, and I keep dragging this with me.

Listen, the examples go on, of course, but all of us are faced with these types of moments throughout uh our lives where it hits us that man, I just I need to see this thing get fixed.

I need to see some serious growth in this area of my life.

I need to be transformed.

Well, to kick our fall off here, uh we're gonna spend the next four weeks exploring how do we do this?

Like, how do we how do we actually see transformation happen in our lives?

How do we do that well?

How do we do that biblically?

Like, have you ever wondered, like, how do I how do I actually change?

Okay?

Like, like practically speaking, uh, how do I grow in an area that's been a problem, maybe for a long time, maybe for your whole life?

Like, uh, what's my responsibility in this?

And and then what's the Lord's responsibility in this process?

You know, the question I think we need to that we're gonna try and answer here, and we're certainly gonna ask it, is you know, how can we get to the place where we truly live and function as God intends us to live and function in this world?

You know, with things like like joy.

Are you a joyful person?

How about with things like gratitude, just we're like brimming with thanksgiving to the Lord for how good he is and what he has done?

How can we get to the place where we actually have have that peace that surpasses understanding, that peace that overcomes my anxiety or confidence in the Lord?

I want to get to that place or or just really live out of a strong awareness and sense of my identity that God has given us through the gospel.

Okay, so what we're gonna do here today is look at Romans 12, verse 2.

Romans 12:2

And just one verse.

And this is gonna be like the theme verse for the next four weeks, the rest of our series.

And so uh what we're looking at here is something is more of a topical series than our usual steady diet of picking an entire book of the Bible and kind of ripping through that verse by verse.

More of a topical series, but that's okay, uh, certainly once in a while, because I think it's gonna be helpful for us to just look at this topic and look at a few different areas of scripture pertaining to this idea of transformation.

What does the Bible have to say?

Transformation, change in my life, growing as a Christ follower in whatever area it might be is about.

Because I think that we have some misunderstandings of what transformation is all about.

At least it's something that I've realized I have, and uh maybe you're like me.

And so we're gonna uh do uh a bit of a dive into this over the next month or so, but let's just read this uh this verse here, Romans 12, verse 2.

Romans 12:2

I'll start in verse 1, just to give us a clean start.

Follow along.

It says, 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.

Okay, now verse two, this is the one we're looking at.

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.

Lord, as we come before you, I don't know where every single person is at in terms of their relationship with you today.

But Lord, I know that after uh kind of a crazy last six or seven months and maybe a busy summer, Lord, I'm sure there are areas of our lives that we can see and kind of realize.

Maybe it's nagging, maybe it's been screaming at us.

This needs to change.

Lord, there's an area or or maybe for many of us, more than one area, that we need to see radical transformation in.

And Lord, we know that as we read through your word that that you are a God who transforms, you are a God who changes, you are a God who sanctifies us and makes us into the image of Christ by the power of your spirit.

But Lord, at the same time, we know that we have a responsibility in this.

And and Lord, I want to I I just pray now that for anybody who may be discouraged, that growth seems to be this slow process or maybe feels like it nothing's really happening and nothing's been happening for a long time.

Lord, I pray that you would breathe new new life and new joy into us as we see that transformation uh is not just this obscure concept, Lord, but it is something that can and actually does happen.

And so, God, I pray that you would do a massive work in us as a church this fall.

God, I pray that as we uh look at your word, it would come alive and that it would hit us in a new and a fresh way here today.

So, Lord, I pray that you would uh use uh the words this morning uh to do that very thing, or to transform and Lord to do it to the glory of Jesus Christ.

And so we pray all of these things in his name.

Amen.

Amen.

All right, so uh the way that this series is gonna work here is today is really uh like an introduction or or an overview of uh of where we're gonna be going over the next uh few weeks.

And so we've got uh three points today that we're gonna look at, and uh each one of those three points are gonna be the main point of uh the next top or the main topic of the next three messages, the next three sermons.

Okay, so today's an overview and then a deeper dive over the next three Sundays.

And if none of that really makes sense to you and you don't really understand all of that, don't worry, it'll all be clear as we go.

Uh but I know some of us like to kind of see the roadmap out in front of us, and so that's uh that's it here.

But enough of that.

Let's just jump into it here.

First thing.

Okay, I can truly be transformed, okay, first uh when I determine the ways that I've conformed to this world.

Okay, this is again really the I think the first step of transformation.

Okay, you want to change, you want to see change happen in your life.

Well, we need to be properly aware of what the problem is exactly.

Okay, look at the first part of verse 2 here.

We're breaking verse 2 into three parts, three points today.

Look at here's the first part.

It says, Do not be conformed to this world.

Okay, again, this is a verse that many of us have read and seen and heard preached many, many times.

But that word conformed there means in compliance with.

Okay, in compliance with uh rules or standards or or laws.

Okay, meaning that here in this text, uh that the unsaved world, okay, they have a way of thinking and and and beliefs, they have a way of be uh behaving, and they are driven by by certain desires that are out of line with how Christ followers uh ought to think and believe and behave and and even desire uh inwardly.

Okay, so simply put, the world's way of doing things are contrary to God's ways, and as believers, we're not to become like or or or conform to that.

Okay, now in the original language here, that word conformed uh carries with it a sense that when a person is conformed to something, um an inner change has occurred.

Okay, so it's not just an external thing.

I think that makes sense.

Okay, what we what we do and how you and I act and how we behave on the outside is never just an external thing.

Okay, it always flows from what is going on inside our heart and inside our mind.

Okay, so for example, if you go to a you know a coffee shop every day on your way to work, that's never just like an external thing that happens.

Like, oh, here we go, once again, I happen to be in the Tim Hortons lineup.

Okay, that that's not that.

It starts with an in an internal thing that's that's happened.

You you know, you you've conformed, you've you've decided that you know I like the taste of this coffee, and so I'm gonna go there.

Or you know, you have certain beliefs and and uh and appreciation for how the employees there treat you.

Or you you you like how how that coffee shop is on the way to work, and so it's convenient for you, and those things are are driving you to go and make that external act of driving to your favorite coffee shop.

Okay?

Okay, so think about it like this.

Okay, if you want to be transformed, okay, in in an area of your life, okay.

Let me give you a few examples here.

We want this to be very practical as we work through this.

Okay, if you want to be transformed in the area of, let's say, anger, okay, like you recognize like I got a short fuse and and I'm and I'm snapping and I'm losing my mind and I'm cursing under my breath or out loud or punching things, whatever it might be.

Okay, you want to be transformed in that area.

Let's say you want to be transformed in the area of sexual morality, right?

This is getting out of hand, or or for you it's fear, or it's it's an addiction of some kind.

It's something like, again, a bad eating habit, or I'm just watching way too much TV.

Okay?

Again, the issue here is not just the external act of giving in to these things or doing these things outwardly.

Okay, the issue is that that somewhere inside you've conformed to the world in your thinking, in your in your beliefs deep down and in your desires.

Okay, and out from those inner thoughts and and beliefs and desires, you've chosen now to act and live outwardly in world-conforming, anti-God ways.

Okay, so so as you think about where you are at spiritually this week, okay, as you think about that, start thinking very, very, very carefully here.

Okay, that's that's your homework for this week, okay, church.

Start thinking very carefully and determining what are the different ways that I have conformed to this world.

Okay, and and off the top of your head, you may be able to come up with some issues like, well, you know, I'm I'm kind of a gossip, and that's certainly not helpful in relationships and in building a church.

Or for you, it's like, I've I've I've just grown impatient with my kids.

It's been like six, seven long months with them.

Okay, and for you it's impatience.

Or or you've noticed this coldness developing towards your spouse, or or or maybe it's a crippling anxiety that you seem to carry around with you everywhere, and it's about your future and what's gonna happen, and it just seems to affect the decisions that you make.

Okay, understand that those are all really at the end of the day, those are the symptoms of something that is going on.

Okay, so it's as you're thinking about this for your life and you're starting to spot those types of examples, really start to think about what's going on kind of under the hood.

Okay, what's going on inside you?

What are my thoughts and my beliefs and my desires behind those actions?

Because that's where the roots of those issues are found.

And again, it takes some very careful thought to determine what those things really are.

It really does.

Because remember, how you and I are conformed to this world begins internally.

Again, in what we think and what we believe and what we desire.

Okay, so when we discover where where those things are wrong, where those things are out of line with what is true and what is good and what is right in God's eyes, okay, then we can begin to really attack the problem and really get after it and see transformation begin to happen uh outwardly in how we actually uh live.

Okay, so again, there's gonna be a ton more about this uh coming next week, actually, as this will be our topic.

But let's just take a look at this verse here.

I love Romans 8, verse 6.

Romans 8:6

I've been reading through uh Romans uh myself in my own uh time in God's Word, and so let's get that up on the screen for you.

You can see this here.

Romans 8 uh verse 6.

It says this, okay, for to set the mind, okay, look at that, for to set the mind on the flesh is death.

Okay, you notice how there's there's so much there involved with with our thinking, with our mind, to set it on the flesh is death.

I mean, that's death, but look at what it says there.

But to set the mind on the spirit, on the things of God is is life and peace.

Again, not doing a deep dive into this today, but we certainly will tomorrow uh next week, lots more, but I think all of this really uh sets us up here for this next thing.

Take a look at the second thing.

Okay, I can truly be transformed when I renew what I think about and actually believe.

When I renew what I think about and actually believe.

Okay, so if the first step to transformation here is determining what's biblically off about our thinking and our beliefs and our desires, then the second step, I think just kind of makes sense, is to get our thinking and our beliefs and our desires set on the right things, right?

To get them there.

Okay, I think that's what this is really getting at here, the second part of Romans 12, verse 2.

Romans 12:2

Okay, it says, look, notice with me, uh, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

He notice that there's there's a responsibility uh placed on us here in this part of the verse.

Right?

We have, you and I as Christ followers, we have been tasked uh to you know put forth the effort required to ensure that our minds get renewed, that our minds are refreshed.

Okay, that there's an action there that you and I are to engage in.

Okay, now that being said, the Holy Spirit absolutely is involved in that, right?

He he enables uh or brings into effect the actual transformation in our hearts and and uh in our minds, the transformation that we're working towards.

Um it's it's definitely the Holy Spirit, but it's also us engaged in the process uh together.

That's what it means to be in a relationship uh with God.

It's it's two parties at work here with grace really bringing it all together and making it happen.

Okay, so keep in mind here that to see transformation happen in your life, it's not just to you know pray that the Lord would transform me kind of in this general sweeping prayer and then sit back and and expect the Lord to kind of do all the work and we just kind of are passive in the whole process.

It's not just that.

Okay, neither is it just some kind of self-help kind of program style of just us doing all the work of transforming ourselves by sheer grit and determination.

Okay, it's not that.

So we're shown here that being transformed happens as our as our minds are renewed.

Okay, meaning that it's it's crucial that you and I, we learn to think about and then actually make the choice to believe and then act upon that which is true and good.

Okay, a couple of verses uh that we'll look at again more closely in two weeks' time, but want to get this in front of you now so you can start thinking about it.

Okay, how about this one?

Philippians 4, uh verse 8 and 9.

Look at this with me.

He says, finally, this is Paul now uh speaking to the Philippians.

He says, Finally, brothers, whatever is, what's that word?

True, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, what does he tell us to do about that?

Think about these things.

Okay, like intentionally think about what is good, what is true, what is lovely, what is excellent, what is commendable, worthy of praise, all of that.

Think about these things.

Okay, but then notice how he keeps going here.

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me.

He's like, okay, so I've taught you, you have heard this, you have read these things that I've talked about.

Okay, look what he says.

Practice these things.

Practice thinking well.

Practice thinking correctly.

Get your mind going in that direction.

He says, you do that, and the God of peace will be with you.

See, there is the Lord right with us in the process as we renew our minds.

Love that passage.

How about this one?

Romans 6, verse 11.

Romans 6:11

This one jumped out at me a couple weeks ago.

Look what it says.

It says, so you also must consider.

Okay, what does it mean to consider?

It means to think, doesn't it?

To use our minds, to use our brains.

Okay, so you also must consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Okay, so when you go home today and you're tempted to give in to whatever sin it might be, you need to stop and consider the gospel.

You need to stop and consider your salvation.

Hold on a second, I need to consider myself.

I am dead to that now.

I am dead to that way of life.

I'm not gonna go chase down that rabbit hole of death.

I'm dead to that.

I am alive to God in Christ Jesus because of what He has done in me, to me, for me, through the gospel.

I need to think about this, I need to consider myself.

Okay, how about Ephesians 4, verse 22 and 23?

Ephesians 4:22

Very a lot of similarities here to Romans 12, too.

Okay, jumping partway through the sentence there.

It says, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be, look at, renewed in the spirit of your minds.

Renewed in the spirit of your minds with your thinking.

Okay, so you see there the critical importance placed on thinking about what is actually true.

Now you might be asking, like, why do we need to do that?

Well, because you and I have the very unfortunate tendency of thinking about and believing things that aren't actually true.

You and I, we believe an awful lot of lies.

I've recognized this in my own life, I mean, just recently even, and I've been actually kind of shocked and appalled by it.

But let me just give you a few examples of things that you and I tend to believe, and it may not be something you would you would consciously say, but it's almost like a subconscious thing that you believe deep down in the bedrock of your soul.

Have you ever thought these kinds of things before?

A couple of examples.

How about this?

If I don't look attractive, I'll never have true value or be worth loving.

Any of you ever thought that?

Any of you get up in the morning and that is the narrative you know, playing on repeat as you're getting ready for the day.

Unless I look good, I'm not really valuable and no one will really love me.

You realize that that is a lie.

It is just so wrong.

It really is.

How about this one?

This crisis I'm in will leave me permanently destroyed.

And beyond repair.

You ever thought about that when going through a trial?

Man, this is this is gonna this is gonna ruin me.

There's no coming back from this.

I will be permanently and forever broken and wrecked because of this.

Guess what?

Incorrect.

Incorrect according to God's word.

How about this one?

Getting real practical here.

Dating an unsafe person isn't that big of a deal, and it probably won't have any serious consequences.

False.

How about this?

The thing I've been praying about for a long time hasn't gone the way I'd like, so it must mean that God isn't truly good or care about my well-being.

These are the kinds of things that will flow through our mind and and and and and come across the screen of our mind constantly.

Right?

And we we we we don't even recognize it even, and it's there, and we we we believe it deep down, and then we make really kind of bad decisions and and live kind of crippled when the Lord wants us to be free, if we would only believe what is true.

Okay, so to be transformed by the renewal of your mind means to learn how to consciously and intentionally think about and actually choose to believe what is true instead of these things, instead of these false narratives that go through our minds.

I'm not just gonna give in to lies anymore.

I mean, what a freeing thing to realize that like you can actually change what you believe and grow in this.

It's amazing.

Now, maybe you're thinking here, like, man, I've been a Christian for a long time, and you know, I've read all these verses before and I've even memorized some of them.

I already know the truth.

I get it already.

Do you?

Because I think the my pushback to that would be that you and I, we tend to like know the truth in a very, a very surfacey, kind of head knowledge-only type way.

But in many cases, that truth doesn't permeate down deep enough.

It doesn't get down into our soul and into our heart or into our subconscious, even, where it begins to genuinely govern how we think and act and live.

It's directing our emotions uh to a good place, where it's it's transforming our desires and and leading to that practical behavior, the the that the practical living in ways that are actually in line with God's will.

Listen, I'm so pumped about all of this because I can't wait to just dive deeper into it and and and really start to peel back the layers of this, because uh personally, even, I've been learning, you know, through my times in God's Word and through some really timely conversations with some really good friends of mine, uh, that deep down I I myself believe a lot of lies.

And those gotta go.

And I'm sure in the coming days I'll even share what some of those are.

And you might be like, whoa, shocked to think that your pastor has thought that before, but I've realized that, man, that's gotta change, and I've gotta grieve that, I've got to repent of that, and then and then I've gotta really choose to believe what is true, what is what is pure, what is lovely.

I've got to be transformed by the renewal of my mind by thinking about it again and actually choosing to believe God's truth instead of those lies.

And again, I think this is so exciting because of just how doable it is.

Right?

This is this isn't some weird foreign concept that that none is so out of reach for all of us.

No, it's it's just not.

It's it's very in reach.

Again, it's first kind of determining what are the lies that you and I believe deep down that has me conforming to the to the world's ways, and and then it's about renewing my my thinking and my deep down beliefs so that they're anchored to the truth of the scriptures, so that you and I can then can then discover the awesomeness of what living according to God's will is really like and all about.

And I think that's really our last thing here this morning.

I can truly be transformed when I experience that God's will really is the best thing ever.

Okay, third part of verse two, but I'll just start at the beginning of it again.

It says, Do not be trans uh conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

Okay, we looked at that, now this, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Now, I I think that the the English translation of this part of the verse is maybe just a touch uh clunky here.

Uh the original language, which of course was the Greek, uh conveys the idea that as you and I are transformed by the renewal of our minds, the will of God, okay, which itself is good and acceptable and perfect, becomes something that we experience in our lives as the greatest thing ever.

That's what it is meant when it says there that by testing, you see it, by testing you may discern.

Okay, as our minds are renewed by the truth, will find or will discern that through experience or or or through testing, God's will really is the best thing for us.

Far better than the world's ways, far better than the lies that we seemingly get sucked into and then you know kind of live according to and end up pursuing.

If you really think about it, this last part of the verse here is such a massive part of getting to the point where we are truly transformed in those areas that we know need changing.

It happens as we experience or get a taste of how awesome God's will really is.

It's the best.

This is how uh one author, J.A.

Whitmer, puts it.

Uh he says, this as a Christian is transformed in his mind and is made more like Christ, he comes to approve and desire God's will, not his own will, for his life.

Then he discovers that God's will is what is good for him, and that it pleases God and is complete in every way.

It is all he needs.

But only by being renewed spiritually can a believer ascertain, do, and enjoy the will of God.

Okay, so so being transformed isn't just about ridding ourselves of some poor thinking habits or ceasing to do the bad or wrong things anymore, but it's about also experiencing the just the sheer goodness of believing what's true deep down and then having those beliefs catapult us now into actually living according to God's will for our lives, which again is just the best thing ever.

I mean, have you have you ever thought about and just pictured?

I mean, imagine not being an emotional, emotionally anxious train wreck all the time.

Can you imagine the freedom and the joy that we could experience if we weren't there?

Right?

Because of because of, you know, we we now live according to God's will.

And we have that peace that surpasses understanding because I'm because I'm trusting the Lord, because I'm trusting that all things work out for good, even if my life seems to be a mess.

I'm actually believing what is true, and that is calming my anxiety, and I actually have peace now, even though some of the circumstances in my life still haven't completely ironed them out smoothly.

I actually believe that all things work together for good.

Can you imagine how that is just gonna quell the anxiety?

Imagine that's the transformation that the Lord wants to do in somebody here.

I just know it.

Or imagine being free from the chains of anger.

Because you actually believe deep down that God is sovereign, that God is in control of your life, which which now allows you to release that sinful, anger-producing desire for control that you have.

I want to control my life because that makes me feel powerful, and when things don't quite go my way, and I sense that control is out of my grasp, that that causes me to get angry.

But imagine truly believing that the Lord's got this?

That the Lord is in control?

Far more than just like knowing that God is sovereign in a surface way, but it's actually like my heart is now governed by this.

Can you imagine the transformation in that?

Or imagine the healing that would happen in our marriages, when our minds have been renewed and transformed by the truth that God is the ultimate one who satisfies us and gives us that inner security that we long for.

Right?

I'm gonna find my satisfaction in Him.

Instead of desperately trying to find that ultimate security in a spouse.

But because they're so far from perfect, we're just kind of left feeling disappointed and insecure and carrying that with us all the time.

Or try to imagine what just life and and ministry would be like to each other and to the world if we truly lived as people who actually believed the gospel deep down.

Right?

That we're forgiven, that that we're made new through Christ and loved by God through Jesus.

Right?

Do you believe that?

That is what God offers you through his son Jesus.

That that is your salvation.

He would forgive all of your sin and transform you into a new creation.

Have you made that that choice to follow Christ, to confess your sin and invite him to be your Lord?

For those of us that have done that already, has that actually impacted the way that you live?

Does that have an impact on your emotions?

Does that have an impact on the decisions that you make throughout a day?

Does that have an impact on your relationships?

Can you imagine what it would be like if the gospel went down deep enough into the bedrock of our belief and actually transformed us?

Okay, all of these things, there's a couple of examples of experiencing God's will at work in us as his truth is applied to our hearts and to our minds.

But again, it really is the best thing.

Nothing touches that.

Listen, I want to pray for us here now, and and as I've been praying already for you, that the Lord would use this and the next month or so together to really do a massive shift in each of us, to transform us individually, to transform our relationships, to transform our parenting or our marriages or our service or how we just engage in the world.

Would you begin to pray for this too?

I invite you to start thinking about these things, start doing some of that homework and just assessing where am I at and what are the changes that I want to see happen in my life and how am I gonna get myself kind of thinking better and renewing my mind so that the Lord can truly transform me.

Again, I'm fired up about this.

I pray that you are or that you will be.

I'm gonna pray for you now.

Why don't you join me as we do that?

God, we thank you for this time.

Lord, I pray that this would just, I mean, we're really just wetting our whistle here.

Lord, there is a lot to unpack and a lot to dive into, Lord, but I pray that we would not be overwhelmed by this.

I pray that we would see that there actually is a blueprint and a model for changing.

And Lord, sometimes, speaking for myself, I get kind of down or discouraged or even frustrated about what I perceive to be a lack of growth in my life, but it's because I'm not really not really following the blueprint.

Lord, I pray that you would reveal these things to our hearts and encourage us here today and give us an excitement that change is possible and that change is doable and that you are doing it.

Lord, I pray that you would fill us with joy in this.

I pray that you would heal us, God.

I pray that your spirit would meet us in this.

God, that we would become far more in love with you, far more willing to enter into this process with you.

Lord, that we would be made new and be made more like Jesus Christ, so that we could be more effective in your hands, so that you would get more glory.

Of course, that is what we pray overall, and we pray that now in the mathless name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.