Renew Your Mind: Romans 12:1-2
A lot of people make resolutions at the new year to modify their behavior and practice. The practice of making resolutions can be dated back over 3,000 years to the ancient Babylonians. People have been using the new year to make new commitments and changes for thousands of years.
Why do people make resolutions? Often it is to use the date as a marker for a fresh start for a new beginning. Resolutions can be a great thing for some people and a hindrance to others. They become a hindrance when they are made within our own limited understanding and ability.
Making a resolution based on what we are instructed in God’s Word to do, will always go further than trying to do something of our own accord. Knowing that, you can ask, what is God’s instruction for our daily lives? One passage that sums it up well is Romans 12:1-2.
Romans 12:1-2 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. 2 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.” (ESV)
Paul tells his readers what God’s instruction is for daily living. It’s common in Paul’s writings for him to give doctrine first, followed by a command. He has spent time pointing the Roman Christians to reflect on their salvation in Christ and to recognize the power and hope they know have in a relationship with Christ. All that will now allow them to live a life committed to God through worship and obedience.
So, what is Paul telling us to do in light of all that Christ has done?
The first practice or duty is to give our body to God. Because of what our salvation means we are to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God each and every day. This is a total dedication of how we are to be living for God’s honor and glory in our life.
Earlier in Romans, Paul spoke to this same thing. In Chapter 6 verse 13, Paul says, “Do not offer any parts of [your body] to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness.” (CSB) Later in that same chapter in 6:19, he says, “just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification.” (CSB) We are to literally give everything to God – our whole self! And as we do that, we grow in our relationship with Him.
He is literally saying there is nothing more important you can do than this. We cannot only give him some of our life. When we commit our lives to God through Christ, we are to be giving Him everything with nothing held in reserve. We literally live to make God known with all that we do. Making Him known by using our life as a living sacrifice, is really at the core of worshiping Him.
God is worthy of our gathering as a church to worship him together as we do every week in all the different elements of our services. This worship starts with the individual members of the Body of Christ, living for Him with all that you are in your daily life.
Do you want to worship God? Then live a holy life of worship in everyday life. When you are with your family, honor God in what you watch and what you do for entertainment. When you are at work, let the things you say and how you behave with your coworkers honor God. When you are in public, let the way you treat people and conduct yourself honor God. Living contrary to God’s Word has been a problem for His people throughout time.
When we follow the command from Paul here to “present our bodies as a living sacrifice”, then we are truly worshiping God.
The second practice or duty that Paul tells Christians is to give our minds to God. How do we give our mind to God? Paul says, “Do not be conformed” and, “Be transformed”.
We are not to look like the rest of the world. As Christians, we should have a different worldview than that of the rest of the world. We should view things through a lens that is shaped by God’s Word. Then we will look like and act like something completely different than that of the world.
So, we need to ask, what are some things that shape and mold us into the world’s expectations? Every time we watch the news… When we binge-watch shows and movies… As we spend hours scrolling social media we are being shaped by the world.
No person is able, in and of themselves, to break the patterns of this world outside of walking daily with Christ through His Word.
Let’s think about this for a minute and ask some hard questions. Are you spending more time on social media each day than you are reading God’s Word? Are you spending more time watching the news for direction than you are trusting in God’s Word for direction? Are you entertained more by the what the world gives us through stupid stunts and crass entertainment than you are by being about the work of the Lord?
All those elements can have some good things about them, but what goes in, comes out in some shape, form, or fashion at some point.
It really boils to down to asking where our priorities are? For where our heart is, there is our treasure also (Matthew 6:21 paraphrase). Our priorities today, affect generations!
Shane Pruitt shared what is called the 4-Generation Fade:
Generation 1: Parents don’t make church and faith a priority for their kids.
Generation 2: Those kids grow up and make church and faith an even less of a priority for their kids.
Generation 3: Those kids grow up and make church and faith no priority for their kids.
Generation 4: Those kids grow up with no concept of God.
Paul is not the only one to talk about the danger of conforming to the world. 1 Peter 1:14-16 tells us, “As obedient [followers of God], do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (ESV) John also reminds us in 1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (ESV) Christians are to be different from the non-Christian society.
Then we need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. The Holy Spirit renews our mind through prayer, by reading God’s Word and following it in practice, by worshiping Him individually and corporately, and by making known God’s work in our life and the lives of those around us.
Paul goes on to reveal why this transforming and renewal of our mind is so important. It’s so we can know what God expects and how He is leading in our life on a daily basis. We will be able to recognize, appreciate, and practice what honors God.
Giving our body and our minds to God is not easy. It is not something we work at for a week or two, and then we’re done. This is a lifelong journey of growing through our relationship with Christ. Pastor Craig phrased that idea like this: “This is a process that suggests that the gospel doesn’t offer a life filled with cheap, easy grace.” The gospel offers something better – something lasting! It takes work, but it brings life! It brings a constant growth that offers fulfillment and contentment in this life and hope for eternity.
What are we to do with what we see in God’s Word here? The first step in giving your body and mind to God is beginning a relationship with Jesus Christ. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
In what ways are we not living like we are Christ followers? There is always some area of life where we are not in step. January 1 can be a good marker to make a change.
In thinking through the process of making changes, pray for wisdom (James 1:5) regarding what resolutions God would have you make and how to fulfill them. Rely on his strength and not your own. Find accountability and don’t give up when you make mistakes. In all of it, give God the glory!
Wherever God is moving in your life today to give Him your body and mind, now is the time to respond. Don’t wait another day. Come down front at the end of the service if you are with us in person today. If you aren’t with us in person, contact the church offices through a visit, email, or social media platforms and we will be happy to talk with you more about what God is doing in your life.
