back to index2017-11-26 Do Not Conform But Be Transformed
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I'm going to be reading both verses, verse 1 and 2. 00:00:09.160 |
"I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies 00:00:13.040 |
as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 00:00:18.320 |
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that 00:00:23.000 |
by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." 00:00:31.760 |
Gracious Father, we thank you so much for this morning. 00:00:35.640 |
We pray that our minds may truly be renewed each time we are exposed to your word, both 00:00:44.560 |
And day to day, Father God, as we are being renewed and transformed, that we may become 00:00:49.160 |
more and more like the image of Christ in all that we are. 00:00:52.600 |
We pray that you would bless this morning, that our worship may be internal, expressed 00:00:59.320 |
We pray, Father God, that you would cause us to grow more and more to worship you in 00:01:04.920 |
So we ask, Lord, your Holy Spirit would lead and guide in Jesus' name we pray. 00:01:10.580 |
Just as a quick review, last week we looked at verse 1 and Paul again is transitioning 00:01:15.200 |
from justification to sanctification and how our response, considering the mercies 00:01:20.840 |
of God, considering 11 chapters of exposition detailed about God's mercies and what he has 00:01:26.640 |
done, what should that look like in the life of a believer other than just acknowledging 00:01:34.520 |
Sanctification is not part two of our salvation. 00:01:39.040 |
Sanctification is the other side of the same thing. 00:01:41.720 |
So you can't be justified and not be sanctified. 00:01:44.900 |
You can't say, "I've been justified, but I'm not committed to sanctification." 00:01:49.160 |
An individual who has been justified, it is only logical that they are moving on toward 00:01:57.440 |
So last week we looked at four aspects of sanctification as an introduction. 00:02:02.720 |
Sanctification requires our commitment where Paul urges them to offer their body as a living 00:02:08.240 |
So the first thing that we talked about is, are we committed to sanctification or is that 00:02:12.240 |
something that we're just allowing passively to happen in our life? 00:02:16.800 |
Secondly, sanctification is motivated and empowered by God's grace. 00:02:20.760 |
And even sanctification, even though it requires our commitment, we recognize the internal 00:02:26.280 |
work that God is doing inside of us that is being expressed externally. 00:02:30.060 |
So it is being motivated and empowered by the grace of God. 00:02:33.680 |
Third, sanctification is ultimately an act of worship. 00:02:37.420 |
That our desire to be sanctified is not simply to be a better person, but that it is God's 00:02:44.560 |
So not just Sunday worship, but whether we are cleaning up the trash can, giving, every 00:02:50.360 |
aspect of our life, both private and publicly, ultimately it is an act of worship to God. 00:02:56.320 |
Fourthly, sanctification is a logical, reasonable response of worship to God for his mercies. 00:03:02.600 |
Meaning that if you truly believe that you've been saved by the grace of God, that only 00:03:07.480 |
logical response to that is to live in obedience to God's word. 00:03:11.760 |
That you can't believe in justification and not have any application of sanctification. 00:03:16.160 |
So those are the four things that we've reviewed today. 00:03:18.760 |
And then second, in verse 2, Paul is going to go dive a little bit deeper, a little bit 00:03:25.520 |
What does that look like in the life of a believer? 00:03:28.320 |
So the first thing that he says in application, knowing that these are the basis of understanding 00:03:33.560 |
of sanctification, he says, "Do not conform to this world." 00:03:38.520 |
Or in the NIV it says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world." 00:03:42.720 |
I shared with you last week, as we were wrapping up, and I think my voice did carry enough 00:03:49.520 |
where I think most of you guys heard it, but when I got that email from the Indian pastors 00:03:56.040 |
And the reason why the email that I got last week is different from the previous emails 00:04:00.300 |
that I shared with you was that typically the persecution was just a reaction. 00:04:06.080 |
Whether the pastors were preaching the gospel and then somebody in the neighborhood didn't 00:04:09.260 |
like it and threw rocks at them and chased them out of the village. 00:04:12.800 |
But the persecution that they experienced this week was organized by the village leader. 00:04:17.680 |
And so the village leader basically demanded all the village members to come and worship 00:04:23.560 |
And so the Christians in that village who refused to go, the village leaders organized 00:04:29.020 |
a mob to go and drag them out of their house and beat them outside and inside their home. 00:04:33.800 |
And that's why it was much more serious than the other ones that we reported to you. 00:04:40.960 |
The main leader, Pastor Matthew, some of you guys who've been to India with us, he is trying 00:04:45.720 |
to talk to the village leaders to try to calm them down, to allow the Christians to be in 00:04:52.600 |
We haven't heard back from them, but I think it is, again, it is something that we need 00:04:58.720 |
And we'll, again, give you a heads up if I get more information about that. 00:05:03.400 |
One of the benefits, if you want to call it a benefit, of being in a situation where persecution 00:05:08.960 |
is clear is that the world and the church, there is a clear line where you stand. 00:05:16.120 |
And so you know who the Christians are because to be a Christian means that you're going 00:05:23.200 |
And you know exactly, if you're not going to follow Christ, you know exactly where you 00:05:25.960 |
stand because you end up being forced to serve idols and participate in other things. 00:05:31.920 |
But the danger that you and I have living in the culture that you and I live in is that 00:05:41.080 |
Other than the fact that we attend church, and you know as well as I do, attending church 00:05:47.640 |
You can be a church all your life and still not a Christian, and I think you know that. 00:05:52.680 |
So the danger that you and I live in is growing up in a culture where Christianity is embedded, 00:05:58.480 |
and I'm not talking about the general population. 00:06:00.400 |
I'm talking about the church, within the church, that it is difficult to distinguish whether 00:06:05.880 |
you are worldly or whether you are a follower of Christ because that line is not clear. 00:06:11.920 |
Even the people who say that they are followers of Christ, there is no clear distinction outside 00:06:21.000 |
If you didn't say that, would the people in your lives be able to discern that your values 00:06:27.920 |
are different, that you believe in heaven and hell, you believe that the Son of God 00:06:31.760 |
came and died for you, and so therefore your citizenship is not here? 00:06:37.240 |
Will the non-Christians in your life be able to discern that? 00:06:41.760 |
So the challenge that you and I live in is that when the scripture says, "Do not conform 00:06:47.640 |
to this world," what does that mean when even within the church it's hard for us to discern 00:06:57.160 |
So it sounds good, but in application we don't know how to apply this because there is no 00:07:02.080 |
distinction or it's very difficult to distinguish between worldliness and followers of Christ. 00:07:09.280 |
See, the first thing that he tells us in sanctification is to recognize not to live in the pattern 00:07:18.720 |
The scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 4.4 that the God of this age is Satan, and he 00:07:23.880 |
blinded the mind of the unbelievers so that they do not see the glory of the gospel of 00:07:28.160 |
So it's clear that the world that you and I live in is not neutral. 00:07:33.760 |
It is under the dominion and power of Satan himself. 00:07:39.760 |
First John 5.19, "We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power 00:07:46.320 |
So when he's talking about, "Do not follow the pattern of this world," he's not simply 00:07:50.160 |
talking about the way you dress, the way you think. 00:07:52.600 |
He's talking about everything that is within the world who is under the dominion of Satan, 00:08:00.600 |
that the first act is that he delivered us from that. 00:08:06.280 |
Colossians 1.13-14, "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us 00:08:12.120 |
from the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." 00:08:18.100 |
So typically when we think of redemption, we only focus our attention on redemption 00:08:30.540 |
But the idea of redemption in the scripture goes way beyond just your inner sin. 00:08:35.640 |
The redemption focuses not just on the inner sin, but on the outer world. 00:08:41.540 |
That the scripture says, "Not only are we condemned, but the world in itself is under 00:08:47.980 |
So when he calls us to not to be a part of the pattern of this world, that's also a part 00:08:55.940 |
He's redeeming us from the very things that caused us to be corrupt. 00:09:00.840 |
So the world that he is talking about here functions as an instrument of Satan to promote 00:09:10.720 |
So when we think about what is right and wrong, or sin or not sin, we usually think of extremes, 00:09:25.460 |
And then whatever is not labeled sin, clearly not labeled sin, we think, "Well, those things 00:09:31.740 |
The way that the Bible describes worldliness is anything that Satan uses to distract you 00:09:38.180 |
or to even prevent you from passionately serving God is under Satanic rule. 00:09:45.740 |
Satan uses thoughts, ideas, trends, philosophies, religion, politics, culture, fashion, entertainment, 00:10:05.060 |
All that is under his dominion, all that is in our culture in this world is under his 00:10:12.980 |
And so the first thing that he tells us is he saved us from the penalty of our sins, 00:10:20.340 |
The process of sanctification is to now begin to slowly remove us from the things that ultimately 00:10:28.020 |
There's a reason why the book of Hebrews says when Jesus was crucified, where was he crucified? 00:10:37.180 |
And he says, "Therefore, since Christ was crucified outside, that we ought to go to 00:10:41.780 |
him who went outside," meaning he's calling us away from the world to join him, to separate 00:10:54.280 |
The word conform literally means to be stamped out, right? 00:10:58.420 |
To be stamped out, to start to look like, act like, and sound like the world. 00:11:06.500 |
I took this water out this morning from the fridge, and my guess is this is probably about 00:11:14.380 |
And it's been sitting out here, and now the temperature obviously isn't the same. 00:11:19.060 |
Now how many of you want to guess what temperature this is now? 00:11:34.140 |
So I think the temperature in this room is probably about 70 degrees, so this is probably 00:11:39.680 |
So when the Bible talks about being lukewarm, lukewarm is basically adjusting to whatever 00:11:49.380 |
When we talk about not conforming to the world, your temptation, your peer pressure is not 00:11:58.420 |
Whatever is trendy over there, you may read about it, but that's not where the rubber 00:12:04.220 |
Your temptation is not coming from ultimately Hollywood. 00:12:07.800 |
You may watch TV and may have some temptation, but where the rubber meets the road is near 00:12:14.420 |
Whatever room that you are a part of is where the temptation is coming from. 00:12:18.700 |
So your temptation to conform is very unique to where you are. 00:12:24.140 |
So if you happen to be in whatever company that you're working, your coworkers, whatever 00:12:29.420 |
culture is that you're a part of, if you happen to be a school teacher, whatever pressure 00:12:34.340 |
that you are under as a school teacher and under the CTA or whatever it is that you're 00:12:39.300 |
a part of, your temptation is coming from that area. 00:12:43.740 |
It's to adjust to room temperature and not to stand out. 00:12:49.300 |
Now that could happen even within the church because this is where the rubber meets the 00:12:55.860 |
This is where you feel the pressure to conform. 00:13:00.600 |
So if you are in a habit of conforming, you can conform in a Christian culture and still 00:13:12.160 |
So if you happen to go to a church where the Bible is emphasized, you end up emphasizing 00:13:16.300 |
If you happen to go to a church where there's a lot of prayer, you end up praying more. 00:13:19.580 |
Do more evangelizing, you end up evangelizing. 00:13:21.940 |
And so your Christian life goes up and down based upon who you are surrounded by. 00:13:27.460 |
So if you happen to be surrounded by passionate Christians, you end up becoming passionate. 00:13:31.860 |
So if you happen to be surrounded by people who are kind of living loosely, that's what 00:13:36.980 |
And so you're constantly looking for your surrounding to change so that you can be what? 00:13:45.020 |
So the danger of living that way is that your, whatever temperature you are, is dependent 00:13:54.060 |
So when the scripture talks about not to conform, he's talking about an inner temperature inside 00:14:04.260 |
That it is not the outside temperature changing us, but it's the inside temperature that is 00:14:10.560 |
So worldliness is going to look very different based upon who you are. 00:14:18.620 |
Worldliness in some of us may not be expressed financially. 00:14:22.260 |
It may not be expressed in the way that what you watch. 00:14:25.620 |
A lot of times worldliness is happening within your own heart. 00:14:30.820 |
So when he says do not conform to the pattern of this world, it is a constant desire to 00:14:37.100 |
It is a constant desire to be like what's around you. 00:14:42.620 |
And the scripture makes it absolutely crystal clear that you cannot love God and love the 00:14:49.540 |
First of all, it says the love of the world and love of God cannot coexist in 1 John 2, 00:14:57.140 |
"Do not love the world or the things of the world. 00:14:59.580 |
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 00:15:03.100 |
For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and 00:15:05.820 |
the pride and possession is not from the Father, but is from the world. 00:15:08.900 |
And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God 00:15:18.420 |
Now it seems like, well that's pretty extreme. 00:15:24.260 |
But again in James 4, 4-5, James reiterates the same thing, maybe even stronger. 00:15:29.460 |
He says, "You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity 00:15:34.980 |
Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 00:15:39.980 |
Or do you suppose it is no purpose that Scripture says that he yearns jealousy over the spirit 00:15:49.300 |
You know what those both passages assume before he even states that? 00:15:54.060 |
There is an assumption that you have made an allegiance to God already. 00:16:00.900 |
There is an assumption that the friendship with God, your connection with God, is valuable 00:16:08.340 |
And so he speaks in saying, you can't say that you love God and love the world at the 00:16:13.980 |
But if there's never been a commitment, you don't have any affection for God. 00:16:17.860 |
And he says, if you have affection for the world, you can't have affection for God. 00:16:21.800 |
If affection for God is not at the core of who you are, so what? 00:16:35.540 |
There's no consequence for chasing the world because you don't see any difference. 00:16:40.380 |
If there is no distinction, if your life is constantly live on the border of the world 00:16:44.020 |
and the church, being worldly is here and being godly is here. 00:16:53.220 |
So if you're living your life constantly in the gray, you know what gray is? 00:16:58.620 |
And my point is not to get into controversy of what gray is. 00:17:01.220 |
Gray is something that can't be clearly identified as wrong, but clearly it is not right. 00:17:08.580 |
You can't say it's white because clearly it's not white. 00:17:12.660 |
And so because you can't say it's black, it's okay. 00:17:16.560 |
So you live constantly in a place in life where godliness is here and you're only a 00:17:25.500 |
And so when the scripture warns that you can't love God and love the world at the same time, 00:17:32.820 |
you may not say it, but in your mind, "Well, I'm doing it." 00:17:39.420 |
Only way that you see the difference is if your life, if there is an affection for Christ, 00:17:44.180 |
that being worldly, you can see the clear delineation. 00:17:48.280 |
And loving the world has direct effect in your affection and love for Christ. 00:17:52.920 |
Where everything is evaluated based upon, "Is this drawing me closer to God or further 00:18:02.560 |
Conformity, second, with the world is direct conflict to the nature of God. 00:18:08.000 |
First Peter 1, 14-15, "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passion of your 00:18:15.120 |
But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conducts, since it is 00:18:19.520 |
written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'" 00:18:23.560 |
He said the second reason why God wants us to separate from the world is because God 00:18:28.000 |
And the word holy is not, it doesn't just mean that it's morally perfect, it also means 00:18:38.720 |
So if the Holy Spirit is dwelling in us and is actively working in us, there is a constant 00:18:44.600 |
discomfort in a Christian who is constantly living in the pattern of this world. 00:18:51.680 |
Because the Holy Spirit will not be comfortable. 00:18:53.400 |
I mean, think about how detestable sin is in God's eyes that the book of Revelation 00:19:02.320 |
Revelation basically is a picture of what God thinks of sin. 00:19:08.460 |
And what he does to the world is, again, it is a painting, it is a picture of God making 00:19:15.160 |
an impression on us, on Christians, on what will happen to all that is unclean in the 00:19:21.240 |
sight of God at the end when his wrath is no longer withheld and he unleashes judgment 00:19:27.960 |
So the book of Revelation basically is a picture of what God sees in the world. 00:19:35.440 |
Because he is holy, we cannot exist in unholiness with the Holy God dwelling inside of us at 00:19:45.240 |
Thirdly, those who are of God will not be accepted by those of the world. 00:19:50.880 |
If you really are of God, and because God is holy and the world is unholy, there's 00:19:56.800 |
no way a Christian could be comfortable in the world and think that he is having both. 00:20:03.040 |
In John 15, 19, "If you are of the world, the world would love you as its own. 00:20:07.800 |
But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the 00:20:13.240 |
Think about the trouble that we have gotten ourselves into in our generation where we're 00:20:18.000 |
trying so hard to make the world comfortable inside the church. 00:20:23.600 |
Where Christians, whether inside or outside, are trying so hard to be accepted by the world. 00:20:30.880 |
Where the scripture clearly says, because they did not recognize him. 00:20:36.280 |
And if we follow the pattern of Christ, they said they will reject us as they rejected 00:20:41.640 |
Again in John 17, 14, he says, "I have given them your word and the world has hated them 00:20:46.440 |
because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." 00:20:56.280 |
And there's a reason why the scripture tells us that we are in a spiritual battle. 00:21:01.080 |
That we have an enemy who is like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. 00:21:09.760 |
And it is when we try to make an effort that somehow we're going to be righteous and holy 00:21:15.920 |
and we're going to be cool in the eyes of the world at the same time, is a direct contradiction 00:21:23.440 |
Again in 1 John 4, 4-6, it says, "Little children, you are from God and have overcome 00:21:28.440 |
For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 00:21:30.440 |
They are from the world, therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them." 00:21:38.400 |
Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. 00:21:40.560 |
By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 00:21:45.100 |
That ultimately, those who will listen to God are those whom God is reaching. 00:21:54.680 |
But fourth and finally, our sanctification is God's will for us. 00:22:01.560 |
How many of you recently have prayed for better health? 00:22:07.240 |
How many of you have recently prayed to get into a certain school? 00:22:11.880 |
How many of you have recently prayed so that you can get a particular job? 00:22:16.480 |
How many of you have prayed for your children so that they will be healthy and that certain 00:22:24.520 |
How many of you prayed for your parents for better marriages? 00:22:28.240 |
We have all kinds of things that we pray for seeking the Lord's will. 00:22:35.880 |
The Lord never spelled out that he wants you to be healthy all the time. 00:22:41.060 |
The Lord never spells out in the scripture that he wants you to be wealthy all the time. 00:22:46.200 |
He didn't say that if you believe in Jesus that all of you are going to get the best 00:22:49.920 |
jobs, all of you are going to go to the right school, that your marriage is going to be 00:22:57.000 |
And yet the content of our prayer is wanting my will be done on earth and in heaven. 00:23:09.520 |
But what the scripture makes absolutely crystal clear about his will, 1 Thessalonians 4, 3, 00:23:14.760 |
4, this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality. 00:23:22.000 |
And he gives a list of things that we are to abstain from. 00:23:25.520 |
The things, so much of the content of our prayer is so ambiguous because we're not even 00:23:34.560 |
And so much of our frustration is coming because we're trying to bend him to our will. 00:23:40.120 |
And yet when the scripture says, no, God's will is that we are sanctified, that we separate 00:23:51.180 |
How much of our frustration is because not because God is not answering us, but because 00:23:59.200 |
Because the scripture clearly says, if you abide in me, my words abide in you, then ask 00:24:06.800 |
Are you certain the things that you are crying out to God for is God's will? 00:24:13.920 |
But what we know for a fact that this is universal truth in Christianity is that God's will is 00:24:20.560 |
for us to be sanctified, to separate, to not be conformed to the pattern of this world. 00:24:29.840 |
Not only are we commanded not to be part of this world, he says, he gives us practical 00:24:35.800 |
commands to not to be conformed, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. 00:24:45.760 |
Conformity, all you have to do is take wherever you are, place it wherever you are, and adjust 00:24:53.920 |
So if you happen to be one of those people, you're a certain way at church, you're a certain 00:24:58.120 |
way at home, you're a certain way at work, you're a certain way when people watch you. 00:25:03.940 |
So whatever expectations, whatever surrounding, you just adjust. 00:25:08.480 |
So you may be godly at church and ungodly at work. 00:25:11.680 |
You're godly in public, but ungodly in private. 00:25:19.880 |
But then he goes beyond that and he says, but to be transformed. 00:25:22.940 |
The word for transform is metamorpho, and that's where we get the word for butterflies, 00:25:28.880 |
It completely becomes a completely different creature. 00:25:32.440 |
And that's how the scripture describes us, 2 Corinthians 5.17, "Therefore, if anyone 00:25:41.760 |
He doesn't say that he didn't read his Bible, now he's reading his Bible. 00:25:51.440 |
And that's why he had to cover our sins by the blood of Christ in order for the Holy 00:25:58.200 |
There will never be a time where the Holy Spirit would be okay with us living in sin. 00:26:04.600 |
And so he had to make us a new creation in order to make a dwelling in us. 00:26:08.800 |
He said, "The old has passed away, behold, the new has come." 00:26:16.320 |
We have a lot of marriages at church, and so every ceremony we say what God has put 00:26:26.540 |
So any of you who've been married know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:26:30.140 |
You become one legally and spiritually and socially you become one. 00:26:42.800 |
So the rest of our marriages, the rest of our lives, we are working to become one. 00:26:49.960 |
We're working to become one in sharing space. 00:26:53.080 |
We're working to become one in even the food that we eat, right? 00:26:57.760 |
Because you're not going to have two separate meals every day. 00:27:00.000 |
Before you got married, whatever you wanted, you had. 00:27:02.240 |
And then now you kind of have to think, like, what do we want? 00:27:04.600 |
And you have vacation, you're like, "Oh, I wanted to do this." 00:27:07.320 |
And you gather a bunch of friends who wanted to do this, and you hung out with them. 00:27:10.920 |
But once you get married, it's what do we want? 00:27:13.600 |
So the rest of our marriage, basically you're working to become one. 00:27:17.400 |
What God has declared, you're actually beginning to live out. 00:27:22.060 |
So the scripture, when it says, "Live up to the calling that you have received," basically 00:27:27.840 |
calling us to sanctification is God says, "You have been united with Christ legally. 00:27:37.540 |
Not only to say, "Oh, I've been united in justification," but now we're learning to 00:27:42.260 |
We're learning to be Christ in every situation. 00:27:47.900 |
Is that He calls us to be utterly transformed. 00:27:53.160 |
You know what's interesting is the word for transformation is metamorpho. 00:28:11.820 |
Transformation is metamorpho, but repentance literally means to change your mind. 00:28:24.600 |
We heard the gospel, recognized our sin, and we repented. 00:28:34.360 |
But your mind changing basically means that basically because you repented, your life 00:28:40.480 |
That's what we mean by the biblical meaning of repentance. 00:28:43.620 |
So when He says to metamorpho by metanoia, the changing of our mind by renewing of our 00:28:53.320 |
So we are justified by metanoia and we are being sanctified by metanoia, meaning constant 00:29:01.900 |
As we begin to recognize that there are certain patterns in me that is not according to Scripture, 00:29:09.220 |
according to a person who is now a child of God, we continually repent. 00:29:16.820 |
Not only of the external, but in particular the internal. 00:29:21.020 |
When was the last time did you repent about pride? 00:29:26.460 |
If you struggle with purity, and I'm sure you feel the pressure of the purity of pornography, 00:29:33.940 |
whatever it is that you may be struggling with, and we feel this urge to repent and 00:29:38.140 |
we repent, we confess our sins, but how often do we repent of the inner sins? 00:29:47.700 |
Sin of pride, sin of coveting, sin of bitterness, sin of divisiveness, sin of slander, whatever 00:29:55.220 |
it may be, that the sin that is dwelling within us, that sometimes manifests in our speech, 00:30:02.540 |
is just as ugly or sometimes more ugly than oftentimes the external sins that we commit. 00:30:07.980 |
And again, we're not nullifying the external sins, but how often does that change happen 00:30:13.100 |
within that nobody may know of, but you know it. 00:30:18.300 |
See, what sanctification happens when we renew our mind is constant when we recognize it 00:30:25.740 |
That's why the psalmist says, "Search me and know me, see if there's any hurtful ways in 00:30:29.900 |
Not search them and know them, see if there's any hurtful ways in them, but search me. 00:30:35.860 |
What is a pattern of the world that is in me that needs to be renewed? 00:30:41.300 |
Ephesians 4, 22-24, "To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life 00:30:47.100 |
and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds." 00:30:51.980 |
In other words, a call to repentance and to put on the new self created after the likeness 00:30:57.540 |
of God in the true righteousness and holiness. 00:31:00.380 |
Again Colossians 3, 9, "Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the 00:31:04.200 |
old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which being renewed in the knowledge 00:31:12.420 |
So as we begin to understand God, as we begin to know His holiness and how He thinks of 00:31:17.840 |
sin and His mercy and grace, and when we think about the totality in view of His mercy, it 00:31:25.340 |
brings us to repentance, transformation, and it makes us new creatures of worship. 00:31:31.060 |
Again, Philippians 2, 1-5, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort of 00:31:36.460 |
love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy." 00:31:40.540 |
All of these are descriptions of any Christian. 00:31:43.500 |
This is not special Christians who have some sort of comfort of love that other Christians 00:31:49.740 |
He's not describing participation in the Spirit where some have the Spirit and some don't. 00:31:56.800 |
So in other words, if you've been justified in your sins, "Complete my joy by being of 00:32:14.040 |
So sanctification begins by union with Christ, but an ongoing spiritual growth is learning 00:32:25.860 |
Let me explain that, like how sanctification practically happens. 00:32:31.180 |
Again, it's no secret that when I go to China, I don't get to eat much unless I go to Western 00:32:41.220 |
And the reason is because I don't like Chinese food, as I mentioned to you guys before. 00:32:47.540 |
Chinese food was one of my favorite food before I went to China. 00:32:53.820 |
And it is not, I know some of you guys are already saying like, "Oh, that's not Chinese 00:33:02.340 |
So that's what I'm referring to, the Korean Chinese food to mean Korean in Chinese. 00:33:06.080 |
So when I went to China, I've experienced so much dirt. 00:33:14.860 |
I've gone to like fancy dumpling restaurants, and the guy was making dumpling with his hand, 00:33:19.460 |
you know, did number two and didn't wash his hand and kept making dumpling. 00:33:22.980 |
And I just had so many of these stories of years coming in and out of China. 00:33:30.020 |
So when I'm in China and I smell Chinese food, it doesn't make me hungry. 00:33:34.580 |
And this is in particular in China, just because of some of those things that I've experienced. 00:33:43.900 |
I smell it over there, and immediately I don't want to eat that. 00:33:53.180 |
Now the reason why I share that with you is because if the world that you are living in 00:33:59.900 |
after you became a Christian is still the same as it was before you became a Christian, 00:34:08.020 |
it will be impossible for you to run from that. 00:34:12.000 |
Because the smell of the world, the flavor of the world, the attraction of the world 00:34:16.700 |
is causing you to be consumed to want it, and you're covering it constantly. 00:34:21.100 |
And so when you come to church and the church says, "Do not conform to the world," all you 00:34:24.960 |
hear is, "You can't have fun and be a Christian at the same time." 00:34:30.860 |
All the other people in the world can just live their life and do whatever they want, 00:34:34.380 |
but you come to church and all you do is bring guilt trip. 00:34:45.680 |
And so we nullify holiness, and we nullify sanctification, because sanctification to 00:34:55.580 |
So why can't we love the church and love the world at the same time, even though the scripture 00:35:02.180 |
And that's why he's saying not to be conformed, but be transformed by the renewing of our 00:35:07.300 |
If we do not see sin the way God sees sin, the world will be constantly a place that 00:35:15.100 |
Instead of coveting people who are in love with God and pursuing Him, we covet missionaries 00:35:22.660 |
We covet people who have better jobs than us. 00:35:24.340 |
We covet people who live in nicer houses than us. 00:35:26.620 |
We covet people who have a better income than us. 00:35:29.980 |
And so as long as we are coveting that, transformation never takes place. 00:35:34.780 |
It is a constant struggle that we wrestle with over and over again, because our appetite 00:35:43.300 |
In order for us to overcome our temptation, that which is tempting us has to be renewed 00:35:51.860 |
And that's where the study of the Word of God – and again, you can study the Word 00:35:55.460 |
of God and have all the knowledge, and your appetite never changed, because you never 00:36:00.620 |
That's the difference between somebody who's learning the language from a book versus somebody 00:36:08.300 |
So if you ever try to learn a language just from reading books, you can know the words, 00:36:13.540 |
but all the words that you know is just a direct translation from what you know in English. 00:36:19.340 |
But if you really want to know the language, you have to be immersed in that culture, because 00:36:25.820 |
You kind of have to be there and smell and experience that culture in order to know what 00:36:30.900 |
So there's a night and day difference between somebody who learned the language within the 00:36:36.060 |
culture versus somebody who learned the language from outside the culture. 00:36:40.260 |
You can still learn the language, but it's just not the same. 00:36:43.140 |
So when the Bible talks about renewing our mind, He's not simply talking about, "Oh, 00:36:48.380 |
you memorize Scripture, you know the Bible, and you did a lot of Bible study, a lot of 00:36:52.020 |
theology, and you have never immersed yourself in the things of God." 00:36:58.300 |
Lordship was just something that you talked about but never practiced. 00:37:04.120 |
You can verbalize how the world is, but it is not the pattern of your life. 00:37:09.720 |
Our natural inclination is we run toward things that make us happy. 00:37:14.820 |
And you can see when you are not under pressure, when there is no accountability and nobody's 00:37:23.740 |
What you run to, what pleases you to do, is what is drawing you. 00:37:30.300 |
But what God desires in transformation is not just conformity and just doing the right 00:37:34.860 |
thing because it just happens that the room that you are in is watching you and out of 00:37:43.780 |
But what God desires is transformation where real worship is happening from within, expressed 00:37:52.180 |
And so again, let me give you another example, a positive example. 00:37:57.420 |
You know, every Thanksgiving, my father passed away eight years ago around Thanksgiving. 00:38:03.000 |
So every Thanksgiving, what we do is we pack our bags and have lunch and we take it to 00:38:12.660 |
And so some of you guys who have loved ones, like somebody really close to you who passed 00:38:16.660 |
away, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:38:20.340 |
Before my father passed away, whenever you talk about cemetery, I mean you think of dead 00:38:29.100 |
I'm going to go to the cemetery and hang out. 00:38:33.260 |
But after you have somebody, and I've had cousins and people that I knew from church 00:38:38.060 |
who passed away before, but obviously this is the closest person that I know passed away 00:38:43.040 |
And so after he passed away, the cemetery completely became different. 00:38:47.380 |
So I remember the very first Christmas that we went to go visit my dad's grave, it's probably 00:38:54.620 |
It was weird because it transformed overnight. 00:38:58.940 |
I went there and there was Christmas trees set up by the graves. 00:39:04.400 |
So families and children, grandparents, and you could tell who passed away because sometimes 00:39:09.700 |
you'll see moms with small children around the grave and maybe the father passed away. 00:39:14.780 |
And we thought, well, we're going to go Christmas. 00:39:16.220 |
Who's going to be at the grave at the Christmas? 00:39:21.240 |
Our family chose to take it another level because we actually have a picnic over there. 00:39:28.440 |
It's a little bit weird, but we do that every Thanksgiving. 00:39:31.140 |
And then we go and have the dinner at one of our homes. 00:39:38.280 |
The way that I view the cemetery now is different because now when I go there, I don't see this 00:39:45.040 |
I see these are someone's dads, somebody's moms, husband, children. 00:39:52.080 |
So it doesn't seem as strange as it was before. 00:39:55.280 |
The only thing that changed was my perspective. 00:40:00.400 |
And so church was a place to me before I became a Christian, I hated. 00:40:06.640 |
Because all I knew about the church was what I saw growing up. 00:40:13.280 |
And I heard everything that they thought, all the stuff that was happening at church. 00:40:16.320 |
And I said, why do these people attend church? 00:40:19.760 |
If they hate each other, they can't stand each other. 00:40:26.960 |
And then now I'm here, I'm a third generation pastor doing things I hated. 00:40:33.160 |
I said, turn 18, I'm going to run from the church because I didn't see it. 00:40:36.720 |
All I saw was from a non-Christian's perspective. 00:40:40.000 |
And even after I became a Christian, it took a lot of sanctification for me to see the 00:40:46.640 |
For God said, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 00:40:53.360 |
And I began to understand how much he loves his church. 00:40:57.680 |
And when you talk about church, we're not talking about Berean community church. 00:41:07.400 |
And there are some times when it's hard for me to be patient and my flesh comes out. 00:41:12.440 |
And then the word of God reminds me how much he loves you. 00:41:17.360 |
How every single one of you was precious enough for God to send his only begotten son. 00:41:25.760 |
Not just the most precious thing, most precious thing that God the Father had, he sent to 00:41:35.460 |
And so that changed my paradigm and it continues to change my paradigm. 00:41:40.200 |
Every time I get impatient, it's like, well, these are not outsiders. 00:41:44.900 |
These are my brothers that Jesus died to purchase. 00:41:56.480 |
So when he says not to conform but be transformed by the renewing of our mind, it is our very 00:42:01.140 |
minds that has conformed to the pattern of this world, our flesh, our thoughts, our ambitions, 00:42:06.840 |
our hopes that needs to be challenged by the renewing of our mind through his scripture. 00:42:13.720 |
So that we may be able to test and approve and accept the will of God. 00:42:21.560 |
That the more we examine his will, the more we will agree with Paul that it is good, that 00:42:34.240 |
Philippians 1, 9 through 10, "It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with 00:42:40.040 |
knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent. 00:42:45.120 |
That you may understand experientially what is excellent. 00:42:49.580 |
Whatever it is that you are pursuing in light of God's will will become rubbish." 00:42:58.080 |
In light of the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ that everything that he had became 00:43:04.120 |
If you compare that to anything else in the world, it's not rubbish. 00:43:11.120 |
It's not rubbish in comparison to other things. 00:43:19.840 |
So an individual who is not being renewed in his mind, his thoughts, and his heart, 00:43:24.200 |
the world will always be a temptation to you. 00:43:33.000 |
The world seems to, if they have more money, they seem to be happy. 00:43:36.240 |
You know, people say, "Oh, money doesn't make you happy." 00:43:40.440 |
You know, they tell you that because it's hard to make money. 00:43:43.680 |
But you ask people who have money, say, "You want to let it go?" 00:43:46.800 |
Money, again, I'm not saying money itself will make you happy, but money will pay for 00:43:50.480 |
your bills and take away some of your anxiety. 00:43:55.760 |
If you're trying to overcome that temptation by your pure will, yeah, we're going to fail. 00:44:05.600 |
That's why he says to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, that our values, what 00:44:09.880 |
we hope for, what we're longing for, to have an eternal perspective, that this is a place 00:44:15.520 |
that we're just passing through, that this place is under judgment of God. 00:44:20.580 |
What we saw in the book of Revelation is what this world is headed to, so why invest so 00:44:29.800 |
To be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:44:31.880 |
Psalm 34, verse 8 says, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. 00:44:40.840 |
Establish Him as Lord in your life, in time, in finance, in our youth, when we're older. 00:44:49.920 |
Taste and see that the Lord is good, that you may be able to test and approve, which 00:44:56.880 |
Ephesians 5, 17, "Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." 00:45:05.680 |
Matthew 11, 28-30, Jesus invites us, "Come to me, all who labor and heavy laden, and 00:45:12.400 |
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. 00:45:19.760 |
How much of the turmoil inside of us is because we're between two worlds, where one is in 00:45:27.880 |
direct contradiction with the other, and you live with this constant pressure of trying 00:45:35.280 |
to satisfy both, and you just cannot, because God will not allow it. 00:45:43.320 |
He who is heavy laden and burdened, somehow you're going to find rest. 00:45:47.400 |
The Sabbath that was broken at creation, that somehow you're going to find this Sabbath 00:45:52.920 |
with money, you're going to find this Sabbath in marriage, somehow you're going to find 00:46:04.520 |
Verse 30, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." 00:46:07.680 |
You know that word for easy is literally, it means to fit well, to fit well. 00:46:13.280 |
In other words, God created you to glorify Him. 00:46:18.320 |
He made us in His image, and it is His glory that we fell short. 00:46:23.600 |
So salvation and redemption is to restore us back to what He intended for us. 00:46:29.240 |
And so He says, "For my yoke is well fitting." 00:46:35.160 |
So when we begin to function and begin to live, and the more we glorify God, the more 00:46:39.800 |
we feel alive, if you find life in Christ, you will pursue Him. 00:46:45.040 |
If you find life in the world, you will pursue it. 00:46:48.800 |
But the invitation and the promise that He gives is that if you take His yoke upon you, 00:46:57.800 |
For His yoke is what you were created for, to glorify Christ. 00:47:04.960 |
The more God is glorified in you, the more you feel alive. 00:47:09.520 |
That's what Jesus meant when He says He came to give life, to give this life abundantly. 00:47:13.200 |
I'm going to read a final passage before I invite you to take some time to pray. 00:47:17.920 |
Proverbs 3, 5-8, it says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. 00:47:25.680 |
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. 00:47:36.760 |
It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones." 00:47:40.440 |
I'm going to invite the praise team to again come up, and I'm going to ask you guys again 00:47:49.440 |
And I want to be more specific in asking you to pray, like what to pray for. 00:47:56.480 |
You're college students, and you're wrestling over what major, what path to take. 00:48:02.480 |
Do you simply make decisions based upon how much money you're going to make, the brighter 00:48:10.480 |
Those of you who are singles, you want to get married, you want to find a better job, 00:48:20.960 |
Are you being transformed by the renewing of your mind? 00:48:22.720 |
Does that have anything to do with Christ and His kingdom? 00:48:26.440 |
Those of you who are married, now that you're married and you have somebody to run this 00:48:34.800 |
But does your marriage have anything to do with pursuing Christ? 00:48:38.440 |
Does it have anything to do with glorifying Christ? 00:48:41.520 |
Those of you who have children, your perspective on raising kids, is it following the pattern 00:48:47.600 |
of this world, provide what's best, give them what's best, keep them safe? 00:48:56.080 |
Or even the ways you raise your children, even the way you value your children, is it 00:49:03.600 |
Are we being transformed by the renewing of our mind where we have godly perspective? 00:49:08.920 |
Let's take our time to really reflect where we are. 00:49:19.000 |
Are we genuinely being transformed by the Word of God and His mind? 00:49:24.400 |
Let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us, and to be specific, to pray 00:49:28.920 |
for ourselves, and pray the Psalmist's prayer. 00:49:32.120 |
Search me and know me, see if there's any hurtful ways in me, and to challenge me that 00:49:36.960 |
I may be transformed and to live for His glory. 00:49:40.240 |
So let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.