Sermons from Moorpark Presbyterian Church

Us in a Box

Romans 12:1-2

by Dave Wilkinson

January 10, 1999

Many years ago, as one of the steps toward ordination as a pastor in the Presbyterian Church, I took a battery of psychological tests. I want all of you to know that I passed all four -- and I have a certificate saying that I’m sane -- or at least was sane -- to prove it.

One of the tests in the series was the Minnesota Multi-Phasic Inventory. This MMPI is very interesting. It takes about two hours to complete and all it it is a long series of statements to which the candidate responds "Yes" or "No." These include statements like: "I love my father more than I love my mother' or "people are all out to get me" or "Rooms with hairy walls make me nervous" or "I have a tight band around my head."

Well I was going merrily through the test denying that I salivate at the sight of mittens and admitting that I prefer working with people to mining coal, when I came to the statement. There on the fifth sheet --.right in the middle of the page -- was the statement: "I am a special agent of God" --Yes or No.

Immediately I had visions of a wild-eyed John Brown listening to what he thought was the voice of God and going off to murder people in Virginia. I thought of the "Mad Monk" Rasputin in Russia and the way his delusions helped destroy an empire. I thought of Joan of Arc listening to the voices of Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine in the fields of France and going off to lead the armies to victory. Then I thought of Charles Manson and the results of his Messianic delusions.

Then I knew. "No way am I a special agent of God!" What do they think I am -- some kind of fanatic!?! If I put down 'yes" here they'll come and haul me away for sure. People like that are nuts.

But then I began to think. If I am a Christian -- a person called out from the world by God to do His reconciling work in the world -- and perhaps especially if I am preparing to enter the ordained Christian ministry, what am I if I am not a special agent of God --even if I wouldn't ordinarily put it in those terms or start wearing a trench coat and calling myself "Agent 0-0-Heaven" ... "The name’s Wilkinson -- Pastor Wilkinson.

So, with a bit of bravado and a lot of fear and trembling I allowed as how "'Yes I am a special agent of God," and sat back to see what happened.

What was I doing in this situation? Why all this fear? Basically I was letting myself be controlled by how I thought other people might react or what they might think instead of responding with joy to what I knew to be the truth. I was trying to be other people's Christian instead of being God's Christian. I was putting myself in a box.

How do we live out the implications of our obedience to Jesus Christ in a world where Christians are only one part of a very complicated whole?" Well, in the first century, the disciples of Jesus Christ faced exactly the situation we face today in 20th Century Southern California.

They were a minority. There were a lot of competing voices -- a lot of different standards being raised up. The first century believers lived out the implications of Jesus’ Lordship in that kind of a world and we must do it too.

As the people of Christ in the world we have an evangelistic mandate and we have an ethical mandate. The evangelistic mandate is to win the world to Jesus Christ. The ethical mandate is to live out the lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives and relationships and to seek to have an ethical influence in society.

Now I knew all that -- even when I was in seminary. I knew I had a job to do. So I looked at that statement on the MMPI and finally put down that "Yes, I am a special agent of God," and waited for my fate. Fortunately, I've since learned, the scorers make special allowances for seminary students with delusions of grandeur.

But it caused me to reflect on who I was and why I was there -- and why I am here. And this morning I ask you to do the same. Who are we and why in heaven's name are we here?

In Romans 12, Paul faces up to life in a complex and seductive world. He faces up to the pressures of that world and calls upon Christians not he be tempted by that world - not to get the meaning of their lives from where they live. He writes: "Don't be conformed to this world ." J.B. Phillips translates that, "Do not let this world squeeze you into its own mold."

Now you may think, "I know exactly what Paul is talking about. He means you should not smoke or drink or play cards. And if you are really, really spiritual, you sell your television set and never drink coffee or tea again.

But that is not what Romans 12:2 is about. To think of worldliness only in terms of "I don't smoke, and I don't chew, and I don't go with girls who do" is to trivialize the problem and the seduction. I know people who have given up all sorts of stuff but are still totally saturated by the spirit of the age. They still are looking out for number 1. They still compartmentalize their lives. They think: "In church I act like a Christian" but in the office I act like a businessman and as a voter I vote my wallet.

Annie Dillard, author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, was raised in a Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that was filled with these kinds of compartmentalized people. In her book An American Childhood she wrote about her experience in the church: "The adult members of society adverted to the Bible unreasonably often, What arcana! Why did they spread this scandalous document before our eyes. If they had read it, I thought they would have hid it. They didn’t recognize the vivid danger that we would, through repeated exposure, catch a case of its wild opposition to their world. Instead they bade us study great chunks of it, and think about those chunks, and commit them to memory, and ignore them."

Dillard says it well. There is a wild opposition between the message of the Bible and the way life is usually lived in our society today. Poet T. S. Eliot wrote an epitaph for our materialistic generation:

"Here were decent godless people:

Their only monument the asphalt road

And a thousand lost golf balls."

There is no single word that perfectly describes how the world thinks, but secularism is good place to start. Secularism is an umbrella term that covers a number of other "isms," like humanism, relativism, pragmatism, hedonism, and materialism. Secularism describes the outlook and values of the majority of people in our modern world. It is a philosophy that does not look beyond this world but instead lives as if this age is all there is.

The word secular is derived from the Latin word saeculura, which means age. When Paul says "do not be conformed to this age," he is saying "Do not be secularist is your world view. Don’t get your ultimate meaning from the time and culture in which you live. You are not just a late twentieth century middle or upper middle class American with a mortgage and 2.5 children. You are a son or daughter of God. You are destined for eternity.

This does not mean that we are called to only think about Christian things -- read only Christian books and listen only to Christian music in the car. There’s nothing wrong with Christian books and Christian music. In fact, there’s a lot that’s right. But to think Christianly is not a matter of thinking only about Christian subjects but rather to think in a Christian way about everything.

A writer named Henry Blarmires suggests how we might do this at a gasoline station while we are waiting for our tank to fill with gas. He says that we might be reflecting on how a mechanized world with cars and other machines tends to make God seem unnecessary for people, or how a speeded-up world in which we use our cars to race from one appointment to another makes it difficult to think deeply about or even care for other people. Even further, we might be wondering, do material things like cars serve us, or are we enslaved to them? Do they cause us to covet and therefore break the tenth commandment? How do they impact the environment over which God has made us stewards?"

Now that sounds like a pretty stiff mental workout for one little fill-up. But his point is well taken. Blamires says, "There is nothing in our experience, however trivial, worldly, or even evil, which cannot be thought about Christianly. There is likewise nothing in our experience, however sacred which cannot be thought about in a worldly way.

For example, take the Lord’s Supper. For most Christians the Lord's Supper is probably the most spiritual of all spiritual matters. And yet it is possible to think about even it in a worldly way. For example, the person in charge of worship might be thinking that he forgot to include the cost of the communion elements in the next year's budget. Another person might be looking at the minister and criticizing his way of' handling the elements. "He's so awkward," this person might be thinking. Still another person might be reflecting on how good it is for people to observe religious ceremonies. Each of these persons is thinking in a secular way about the most sacred of Christian practices.

The issue isn’t what we think about. The issue is how we think about it.

A campus pastor told me about an interesting conversation with a college sophomore. She had come to the university, wanting to make friends, desiring to fit in, hoping to do well. Yet she soon discovered that fitting in, doing well, often carried a high price. There were pressures put upon her, subtle pressures, good natured at first, all very friendly, nevertheless there were pressures, telling her that, "People here do things this way..." or "You need to lighten up, loosen up, and get with the program."

She quickly realized that she could not afford simply to "go with the flow," passively drifting along with everyone else. She would have to spend more energy thinking through what she wanted out of life, who she wanted to be, what actions were right for her.

"At first," she confessed, "I was scared. Nobody wants to look odd, to be a killjoy, a self-righteous prig. But then I finally got the courage to say to myself, This is me. This is the life I want. It's not for everybody else, but it's right for me. I am learning the joy of being odd."

"The joy of being odd." That's a fascinating phrase. For many people on most days, joy comes from having on the right clothes, being with the right people, feeling comfortable, fitting in, not sticking out too much. This young person has discovered another way. The joy of being odd.

Boy do we all need it.

A while back I read a piece from the newsletter "Family Therapy Networker". The article was by Mary Pipher. Like Paul, she was talking about "The Day We Live In". The sentence that amazed me was this: 'It's become clearer and clearer to me that if families .just let the culture happen to them, they end up fat, addicted, broke, with houses full of junk and no time."

How different the Lord Jesus Christ! He was born into a poor family, was laid in a borrowed manger at his birth, never had a home or a bank account of his own. He said of himself, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." At His trial before Pilate He said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, My servants would fight... My kingdom is from another place" When he died He was laid in a borrowed tomb.

If there was ever an individual who operated on the basis of values above and beyond the world in which we live, it was Jesus Christ.

He is our Lord. This means that we are not to buy in to the message of the age. Instead, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.." Paul is concerned about how we think. Right behavior will follow naturally if our thinking is set straight. We are to break out of the world's way of thinking and instead let our minds be molded by the Word of God.

The word "transformed"in Romans 12:2 is the word Greek "metamorphosed." This is the word from which we get metamorphosis, the change from one form to another, as in the transformation of the tadpole to the frog or the caterpillar to the butterfly. But the full meaning of the word in Greek is even richer. In Matthew 17:2 and Mark 9:2 it is used to describe the transfiguration of Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration -- when the Lord's glorious inner essence was allowed to show through his body so that his face radiated like the sun and his clothing was white with light. Paul uses the very same word in 2 Corinthians 3:18 to say that we experience such transfiguration in Christ -- "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory."

Romans 12:2 says we are to "be continually transformed by the renewing of our minds." The verb tense Paul uses shows that this is that this is a process, a gradual transformation. The Christian is to allow himself to be changed continually so that his life conforms more and more to that of Christ. Ultimately, as Romans 8:29 says, there will be a supreme metamorphosis when we will be transformed -- the word there is summorphos -- to the image of Christ in eternity.

In Romans 12, Paul doesn’t go into detail about how the earthly process of transformation takes place. But from his other letters we know that it is by a combination of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. From my own experience I can tell you that if you open yourself to a regular time of Bible study, you will be transformed by the power that is inherent in the Word of God. I am excited that so many of you are planning to take part on the 50 Day Adventure Groups. I know the good things that have happened to those who have taken part in previous years. If you haven’t yet signed up, do it today. You will be changed to become more the person you deeply want to be.

Committed Christians do become different. A number of years ago the Gallup Poll organization devised a scale to sort out those for whom religion seemed to be important and find out if it made any difference in their lives. America claims to be a very religious country, but the nation is increasingly immoral. Gallup wanted to know if serious religion made a difference for those who considered themselves to be "highly spiritually motivated" or committed. He found that 12.5 percent of Americans are in this category, one person in eight. And he found that they really are different, so much so that he called them "a breed apart." He found that these people are distinct from the rest of the population in at least four key areas:

They are more satisfied with their lives. They are happier. Sixty-eight percent say they are "very happy" as compared with only 30 percent of those who are uncommitted.

Their families are stronger. The divorce rate among this group is far lower than among the less committed.

They tend to be more tolerant of persons of different races and religions. This is exactly opposite from what the media suggest when dealing with religion or religious leaders.

They are more involved in charitable activities than are their counterparts.

True conversion makes a difference in a person's life. If there are no differences, there is no genuine conversion. Changed people change everything. And the only thing that ever really changes people is God himself through the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If you have been called to faith in Jesus Christ, you are part of a radically changed community, the new humanity. It is your privilege to begin to make changes in our world.

But how do you get your mind renewed? Well, one place it happens is at church, wherever there is an exposition of the Scriptures, so that we hear once again that the truth is not what everyone around is telling us is true. Your mind is also renewed in your personal Bible study, when you sit down with the Word of God. When you are confused and don't know where you are, you renew your mind by reading through a passage and thinking it through and letting the Word speak to your heart. Then you go back to your routine and determine that your life will be in line with the Word of God. Your mind is renewed in prayer and by spiritual fellowship with other believers. These are all part of the process of having a renewed mind.

What are you going to do with your life? Are you going to wrap it up in a napkin of affluence and bury it in sixty or so years of self-indulgence? That would be the dullest experience you could have.

But if, in accordance with Romans 12:1 you are to be willing to bring your body to God and say, "Lord, here it is. I have trouble with it, and I'm sure you will, too, but here it is. You wanted it. I give it to you for the rest of my life, to be your instrument for whatever you want." Then God says, "All right, I'll take it." If you come on that basis, then I will tell you something: You are going to have an exciting life, beyond anything you ever dreamed. It will never be dull. It will be terribly difficult sometimes, but never dull, Paul says at the end of Romans 12:2 that you will discover that the will of God is good and acceptable and perfect.

There are a number of words in the Greek language that are translated by our word perfect. One is akribos, from which we get our word accurate, meaning correct. Another is katartizo, which means well fitted to a specific end, like a perfect solution to a puzzle. The word here in Romans 12:2 is different. It is teleos, which has the thought of something that has attained its full destiny, is complete. It can be used of one who is mature -- mature adult. It is used of Jesus, who became a complete, or perfect, human. It is used of the end of history. In our text it means that those who do the will of God discover that it is not lacking in any respect. There is a satisfying wholeness about their lives. .

To put this in negative form, it means that if we reach the end of our lives and are dissatisfied with them, this will only mean that we have been living in the world's way and have been conformed to it rather than having been transformed by the renewing of our minds. We will have been living for ourselves rather than for God and others.

I want to tell you something that you may not know. Right now you are surrounded by messages. On Easter Sunday, 1992, the people who were then a part of this congregation came up to the incomplete building and wrote on the walls. On the inside of the outer wallboard, behind the insulation, are the written prayers and hopes we had then for this place of worship. My family’s is right here. When we get to the right point in the construction of our Christian Education wing -- you will have the chance to do the same thing.

But you don’t have to wait to make your mark on the church. During the singing of the closing hymn I invite you to stand where you are now and draw a little mark on the floor with your toe. Give yourself to God, if that is what you want. He doesn't make anyone do this. That is why Paul puts it in these terms: "I beseech you, brothers and sisters. I beg you. It is the logical outcome of experiencing God’s grace -- the only thing that makes sense." God won’t force you. But will you give yourself to Him, so that you can never forget that you did it right here and right now? Make your mark. And every time you come back to this spot you will think about it. "This is where I gave myself to God. This is where I said He had a right to use me. He can use my body, my mind, and all that I am for the rest of my life."