Transformed

Josiah

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Martyrdom

When Americans think of martyrs many people probably think of early Christians in Rome, that Nero would persecute

Burned at stake

fed to the lions

the apostle Paul even talks about how before his conversion he would round up Christians and put them in jail

In the early church, you wouldn’t just call yourself a Christian, because there were very real consequences for doing that.

If you were a Christian, you knew it meant you could be forfeiting your life

Contrast that to today in America

Christian can mean anything from a devoted follower of Christ, to I attend church a couple times a year, to, I think Jesus was a good guy who taught good things.

But I’ve wondered how many people would maintain their Christianity in America today if the stakes were as high as they were in the early church?

I’m not saying that there are no hard circumstances to being a Christian in America

For some it has cost them family relationships, friend relationships, maybe a job because they refused to lower their standards

People will give up their “faith” for far less than the cost of their life

Question - Have we made Christianity too easy, or have easy circumstances made becoming a Christian too hard?

I’m not proposing to have the answer, but it has been a question I’ve thought about.

Statistic - More Christians have been martyred in the last 50 years worldwide than in the first 300 years of Christianity’s existence

60% of all martyres after the death of Jesus lost their lives in the 20th century.

Nigeria, China, Congo, places all over the world today where people are dying for their faith.

There is no persecution of the church in America

but ideologies pushed in our politics and culture today are starting to threaten those freedoms

Pastors have talked about how they believe that things are going to get harder for the church in the next 5 years.

What will Christianity that comes with a major cost look like in America?

Will our ranks thin out, will we see a surge of committed followers?

Once again, I’m not going to pretend I have the answers to these questions, or have a prophetic word about them,

but there is a topic that is important when it comes to this conversation, and that topic has to do with transformation

Introduction

Today I want to talk about transformation

Romans 12:2 is a well known passage that reads like this:

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.

It says we are not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewal of our mind.

As we talk about what the future holds for the church in America, it is so important we understand what transformation is.

There are 3 types of conceptions of transformation that I’ve observed

The first one is church conformity, which looks like transformation, but isn’t

The second one is restraint which is a part of transformation but it stops halfway

The third is purpose, which is fully living the transformed life

So let me break down these different conceptions of transformation

Church Conformity

Romans 12:2

Romans 12:2 (ESV)

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.

“Don’t be conformed to this world”

Conform means “to comply with, or to be similar in form or type”

“World” signifies the spirit of sin and rebellion against God that permeates our culture…the prince of the powe of the air

1John 2:16

1 John 2:16 (ESV)

For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Pornography, Coveting, Greed, Lying, Arrogance, Gossip

The Bible says we are not to comply with and be conformed to this worldly value system

It says we are to be transformed

Notice what it doesn’t say. “don’t be conformed to the world, but be conformed to the church”

I think some people can be deceived into thinking that conformity to the church is transformation.

This is where we get to church conformity…something that may look like transformation, but isn’t

Don’t be conformed to the church

Remember, conformity means similiar in form or type…you can be similiar to the church without having been transformed

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof

Many young people make the mistake of thinking conformity to church culture is transformation. You might conform to the church because:

You grew up in a Christian home

You come to church because its just what you do

You do or don’t do certain things because in the church culture it’s deemed as acceptable or unacceptable.

Conformity to the church simply means you are similiar in type externally

But mere conformity to Christianity falls so far short of transformation, because the whole Gospel message is centered on being born again....its a transformation that is internal.

If it doesn’t happen internally first, you are basing your salvation on external works

This is dangerous because people can be convinced they are something that they are not.

For some, as long as they are a part of a strong church culture, they look and act the same, but the minute they leave they conform to their new culture.

Its like a Chameleon

Let me give you one example…in our political culture today you have the two extremes of cultural politics…the conservatives and the liberals.

Conservative politics is about conserving traditional values and many times is tied to evangelical Christianity.

I’ve heard some people treat conservative as a synonym for Christian…but they are not synonymous

Conservatives can have a form of conformity to Church values and traditions, without any real transformation.

Transformation happens inwardly first, and then expresses itself outwardly

The word transformed here in Romans 12:2 is the same word used when talking about Christ when he was transfigured.

It was all his glory that was internal manifesting itself outwardly

John Piper - Conformity to the world is a to-do list of the flesh, conformity to the church is a to-do list of the law.

Mere conformity to church culture won’t bring you freedom, it will bring you another form of bondage

2 Corinthians 3:17 (ESV)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

So if, conformity to the world is a to-do list of the flesh, conformity to the church is a to-do list of the law, then transformation is a to-be list of Christ.

Transformation doesn’t start with what we do or conform to, it starts with who Christ is and who we are in him

The Apostle Paul shows this In Galatians 5:16-24, the Apostle Paul replaced the to-do list of the flesh, not with the to-do list of the law, but with the to-be list of the fruit of the spirit.

Galatians 5:18-24(ESV)

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

In other words, there is something that happens on the inside that begins to manifest itself outwardly!

The fruit of the spirit is not a new law, it is the result of being made a new creature

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Conformity to church culture might look good, but it can’t save you.

It might look like transformation, but it is emptied of all it’s power.

It just becomes a new form of bondage.

Restraint

And this is what I call, for lack of a better word, halfway transformation.

Have you ever heard the saying, “In the world, not of it?

Listen to this prayer Jesus prayed in front of his disciples:

John 17:14-17

John 17:14–17 (ESV)

This is where we get the saying “in but not of”

Jesus in his prayer was saying that the goal is not to be taken out of this world, but we are not to be of it…or in other words, not to let it define us and our lifestyles

This echoes what we read in Romans 12:2, we are in the world, but we are not to be conformed to this world.

Now there can be this deception to stop right there at “in but not of”

That’s it....you’re goal as a Christian is to “not be worldly” or your goal as a Christian is just restraint in a sinful world.

Have you ever felt like that? Where Christianity just feels like avoiding all the things you know you shouldn’t do?

Some people think of Christianity more in terms of what they can’t or shouldn’t do, rather than in terms of who they are and what they are called to do.

Let me tell you something …you are more than what you are not

Your identity and purpose as a transformed son and daughter of God is not limited to just “not being worldy”

Not being a part of something doesn’t give you purpose for your life…it just leaves you isolated

My identity does not consist of who I am not, it consists of who I am

We are commanded to “not be a part of something”, but we are also called to “be a part of something”

You weren’t taken out of something and left in a void or vaccum trying to survive and get by in life

You have been freed from something, but you have also been freed for something.

This is where we get to the purpose part

Purpose

Earlier I read a prayer that Jesus prayed in John 17, but I left the very next verse....so let me read that again with the last verse.

John 17:14-21

John 17:14–21 (ESV)

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (Here it is) As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

For Jesus being “not of the world” isn’t the destination, it’s the starting place.

You have been freed from something for something.

Someone suggested that the popular phrase should not be “in, but not of” but rather, “not of, but sent into.”

The beginning place is being “not of the world,” and the movement, the mission, the purpose is being “sent into” the world.

This is where I think we can sometimes we greatly limit ouselves in what God has called us to.

I was sharing with the youth a couple months ago a similiar message to this, and I told them that so often the mentality for their age group is just “keeping them from the world”

If we can just keep them from:

Drugs and alcohol

Get good grades in school

Keep them from falling into sexual immorality

Then we’ve done our job

I told them, “Your life has much more pupose than just “not doing drugs”, or “not giving into sexual temptations”

God has equipped and empowered them for much more than that, and the same is true for everyone here this morning and online.

God has every single one of you here on the earth, at this specific time for a purpose.

in the families he’s put you in

in the community he’s put you in

in the church you are a part of

at the job you are at

in the relationships that you have

It is for a pupose

You’ve been sent, so that others would believe in God through your word and testimony

Paul continues on from verse 3-8 to talk about the different gifts of grace that God gives to us

prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, generosity, leadership, mercy

Our purpose extends far beyound not being something.

I pray God would envision us this morning…as it says at the end of Romans 12:2 -that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Transformation is not conformity to the church, it not merely disconformity to the world…

Transformation is an inward renewal that manifests outwardly through disconformity to the world, exemplifying the fruits of the spirit, and walking in the purpose of being sent!

And it takes place by the renewing of the mind.

Renewing your mind

Is a continual process

Where we come into agreement with the work He has initiated and empowered, and we pursue Him to become like him.

New values, new motives, etc..

John Piper said it like this: Our efforts follow his initiatives and enablings.

But renewing of the mind is initiated by God firstly through salvation

Titus 3:5 (ESV)

he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

God is the one that renews the mind!

We don’t inherit new values, new motives, new purpose without first becoming a new creature.

That’s why Jesus said we need to be “born again”

Being born again is an incrdible process, but it’s not a complicated one

Really, it’s just ABC

Admit - I’m a sinner in need of a savior

Going to church won’t save me

Conformity to church culture won’t save me

Not based on external accomplishments

Believe - Believe God made your salvation possible through Jesus death and resurrection.

Confess - Confess him as Lord of your life. This is where we say :

I’m not going to be conformed to this world and it’s ideals

I’m led by the ideals of God and His purpose and calling for my life

When you do these three things, the Bible says that you’ve been born again.

ABC’s of salvation

Prayer (pray this in your heart, as I pray it out loud)Dear Lord Jesus I believe you're the son of God. I believe that on the cross you took my sin, my shame, and my guilt, and you died for it. You faced hell for me so I wouldn't have to go. You rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven, a purpose on earth, and a relationship with your father. Today Lord Jesus I turn from my sin to be born again. God is my father, Jesus is my savior, the Holy Spirit is my helper, and heaven is my home. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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