Be Transformed By the Renewal of the Mind

The message from Pastor Jason Booth is about the importance of being transformed by the renewal of our minds. He emphasizes that our salvation does not come from conforming to the world or religious practices, but through faith in Christ. He warns against the temptation to rely on our own works for righteousness and encourages us to present ourselves as living sacrifices to God. Our minds can be renewed by the Spirit, and we can find hope and rest in Christ, who is our solid foundation. The Scripture calls us to be conformed to God's ways, not the ways of the world. The following message is brought to you by the people of Redeemer Church of Piketon, Ohio. For more information, please visit RedeemerPiketon.org. And now, here's Pastor Jason Booth with the message. 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. Do not be conformed to the 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. We trust the Lord will add His own blessing to the public reading of His Word today, for our good and for His glory. Amen. The title of the message this morning is Be Transformed by the Renewal of Your Mind. We sang a song just a moment ago, and it struck me as I was listening, that the Lord is the one who frees us. And so we sang that song, Thank God I'm Free. Now, many of you out there didn't get to hear the song, but the chorus is very simple. It's, Thank God I'm free from this world of sin. I've been washed in the blood of Jesus. I've been born again. Hallelujah, I'm saved by His wonderful grace. I'm glad that I found out He would bring me out and show me the way. And as I was listening to that song, I thought, well, it's rather fitting for the morning's message because it is true that the Lord Himself shows us this good news. He reveals this truth. Christ is preached by the command of God. He tells us to go and preach to all nations. What we preach is news. It's information that the Spirit of God then uses to supernaturally reveal this truth to the hearer. For faith cometh by hearing, and what? Hearing by the Word of God. And so when we find out this truth, flesh and blood did not reveal this to us. Our Lord taught us as much. This is spiritually discerned for spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Here, Paul reminds Christians from whence their salvation came from. It does not come from conformity to the world. That includes the world's religiosity, the world's insistence on doing this deed or that deed, shunning this type of food and for this type of food or leaving this activity and doing more of this activity. The doings and not doings, the tastes, don't taste, the touch, not touch. All of those works of our hands are not the gospel. We aren't to be conformed to those things, but rather we are to be transformed by the renewal of our mind. Beloved, who changes our mind concerning righteousness? This is the work of God. And how is it that as Christians we move in this day to day world? We know our minds have been changed. We've been granted evangelical repentance. We know that there is no righteousness in our own self, our own flesh. We, as the Scripture says, I know that in me that is in my flesh, no good thing dwells. But greater is He who is in me than he that is in the world. This old flesh will rot and die one day. This is true. Your bodies are getting older too, just like mine. And if the Lord carries one day, each and every one of us will breathe our last on this side of the veil. But thanks be to God, we've been transformed. Today, we cling to it by faith. Tomorrow, we lay sight on it with heavenly eyes. Won't it be wonderful there? The old hymn, won't it be wonderful there? Having no burdens to bear, joyously singing with heart bells all ringing. Oh, won't it be wonderful there? This isn't pie in the sky. Why is it that we find our hope and our rest in Christ? How is it that we can look for that city whose builder and maker is God? The Scripture is clear. Our minds have been transformed. We know what is wood, hay and stubble. And we also know what the rock of Christ is and how we can build on that firm foundation. For no other foundation can man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. You can't build on anything else. Build your home on any other foundation, but the rock and the winds and the waves and the storms of this life will destroy it. But Christ is that solid rock. The Scripture speaks of our God as the cleft in the rock. And in light of all of this transformative work wrought in us by God through the Spirit, because of the finished work of Jesus Christ and for Christ's own purpose and glory, He calls us, by the mercies of God, by grace, He calls us to present our bodies. Isn't that something that we're called by God's grace? To live these lives as though we're dead to this world. Now, this is an interesting way, a turn of phrase here in the Scriptures. The Bible says, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. As a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. We are able to present ourselves as living sacrifices because of what Christ has done. He has saved us. We wear the righteous robes of another beloved. Mind you, there are people in this world that will preach this text and say, you see, you've got to work and you've got to do all these things in order to appease God by your constant sacrificial lives. And I'm here to tell you the Scriptures calling us to reckon ourselves dead to this world and its systems, dead to this world and its religiosity and alive to God with worshipful hearts and minds renewed by the Spirit. Because now we no longer seek for righteousness in this old world. We seek the righteousness that is of another. And so there's a temptation in verse two. We have this temptation because we are still yet in this old world. We are creatures who have a backsliding mentality, prone to wonder. Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. People that tell you they never have an inkling of self-doubt. People that tell you they never have an inkling of any kind of looking back to their old life. They're liars. They're just liars. And so verse two tells us, don't lose the forest for the trees. You have been made new in Christ. You are living sacrifices. You are holy and acceptable to God for Christ's sake. So don't be conformed to this world. Now, here again, the religion, the religionists of our day would say, this means I've got a list of about 12 things you can't do. And if you don't do these things, then you're somehow holy. But if you do these things, you're not holy. And I'm going to tell you right now, it is possible to be an unholy mess and do a lot of crazy things in this world. But it is just as possible for you to lock yourself in a room and think you're better than everybody else and think you're so holy and righteous, and you'll just be a stench in God's nose. I'm not bad because I don't do X, Y, or Z. Well, if that's where you're putting your hope, you are a rotten mess of a sinner. And I'm not saying that because I think I'm better than you. I'm saying that because you haven't grasped by faith the true righteousness. The Scripture calls us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. It may as well be asking us to build a bridge to the moon with wet noodles. I can't renew my mind. The Scripture isn't calling you to work your way into a deeper, renewed state in God. That's not what the Scripture's calling you to do. The self-righteous religionists, they're the ones who'll say, I need to not do this and do this and maybe knock on 800 doors this week. Say the Jehovah's Witnesses. That's why they go out and they knock on all those doors. They think they're earning some extra little tidbit of possible assurance that they might be one day included in that exalted number in the heavens. Roman Catholics will go and do all the works they can do in order to try to appease God and maybe shorten their stint in purgatory, that place of purification that finishes the job Christ couldn't on the cross. Works religion abounds. Oh, and don't think that the Protestant folks are somehow immune. You've got churches in our very community that teach everybody that you can lose your salvation if you don't do any number of things. And, you know, I've got people standing up in churches right now, not three miles from this building, saying in their testimony service, pray for me that I make it in. Well, now isn't that just a thing? What is that? Beloved, this is the conformity to the world that we're being warned about. Looking to physical things. Looking to the actions of our hands to somehow make us appealing to God. But instead, the Scripture calls us to renew our minds. Again, an impossible task in ourselves. With man, it is impossible, beloved. But with God, all things are possible. The man looked at his little daughter laying dead in her bed, and he thought to himself, she's gone. And the Lord said, no! She's sleeping. You see, when we don't even see a way through, the Lord makes the way. The children of Israel understood this. They had their backs against the mountains. They had the armies coming in on them from Pharaoh. They had the Red Sea in front of them. And they had nowhere to go. No hope in this world. What did they do? Well, God told them to march right through the ocean. Imagine that! You're all going to walk through the ocean. You're going to walk through the Great Sea. God makes a way. God makes a way. He calls us to be conformed, not to this world, but to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. How can this be? Well, as we are tempted in this world to fall into the trap of religiosity, we're tempted to fall into the self-righteous works religion camp. And let me tell you, your flesh will constantly look to do just that, because we are religious people by nature. We love to be able to brag about how much better we got it than the neighbor. Why do you think when they sell you bundle packages at the store, it's like, the platinum bundle is better than the gold bundle. And then when you buy the platinum bundle, you get to tell all your friends that, I didn't just settle for that mere gold bundle. I stepped up. I bought the platinum bundle. And then you ask, well, what's the platinum one? I don't know, but that certificate of authenticity they gave me is sure popping, and it's hanging on the fridge. You're like, what? People love, they love fringe benefits. People love that little extra bit that gets them a little bit more notoriety than their neighbor. You know, the neighbor buys a red car. The other neighbor buys two red cars. Then the neighbor down the street says, red is the old color, and he's got a bright blue one in his yard. The next thing you know, the neighbors are, we call that keeping up with the Joneses. Here the Scripture calls us against all that silliness. The Scripture says, don't be conformed to the world. Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. And now listen, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Well, Christ is good, acceptable, and perfect. So if whatever is not of Christ is sin. So ask yourself, am I trusting in my own works? Am I leaning on my own achievements? Or has God graciously given me this gift of faith to trust in Christ alone? Am I leaning on Christ alone for all righteousness? Or do I find myself looking in other directions? Beloved, be transformed by faith. I pray that the Lord would give you an understanding that you wouldn't lean on your own works. You wouldn't trust in the chariots and the horses of this world, but that you would remember the name of the Lord your God. And so, why is it important that we keep our eyes on Christ? Because it is the antidote for pride. Look at verse 3. For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. And then the scripture goes on and talks about how we use gifts of grace to minister one to the other because we are all members of one body, but we serve different capacities. Not everyone in the church will serve in the same way, but everyone's service to the kingdom of God is essential. The Lord has ordained means whereby the message of the gospel and his ministry goes forth in this world. And so, yes, people say, well, I thought you folks were sovereign grace folks that believe God's going to save his people no matter what. Yes. Well, why do you preach? And I look immediately at them and say, because God has an ordained means whereby he reaps his harvest. And he says, how shall they hear except there be a preacher? So, we are commanded and we in love, and how else can I say it, with vitality go forth preaching this good news. Beloved, this is the only news that matters. But I like what the scripture says in verse 3. As we talk about being transformed by the renewing of our mind, how we talk about how it is that the closer we come to Christ in the scriptures, the farther away we push all this other junk. But then in verse 3 it says, don't get arrogant. Don't thank yourself more highly than you ought. Last Sunday, the sermon was God does as he pleases. And we talked about how Christian people need to be gracious, need to be patient, need to be loving. Even when someone doesn't agree with you, or when they hate the very gospel you present them, do not think yourself superior. Because how is it that you know Jesus except by His grace? You'd be in the same gutter that they're in without the grace and mercy of God. And so, even as the scripture tells us to seek to follow Christ alone for righteousness, and to not follow the world, to be transformed by the renewal of our mind, the mind of Christ, we have the mind of Christ. We test all things by the standard of Christ to know what is good and acceptable and perfect. And then verse 3 says, and by the way, you pack of sinners, don't use this as an excuse to be haughty or self-righteous. Don't think too highly of yourself. So even as Paul is writing to Christians to seek Christ, seek Christ's face, and by Christ you can determine what is the standard of all other things. He is holy. He is good. He is your all in all. Even as you do this though, be humble. Fight that inkling of pride that will just rear its ugly head. Verse 4 says, for as in one body we have many members, and members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. And we have different gifts, in verse 6, and we exercise these gifts in proportion to our faith. The Lord hasn't equipped us all to do the same job. I taught school for many years, public school, and I always looked on with a little bit of horror and admiration as a kindergarten teacher. I'd peer into the classroom and I would just see mayhem. I'd see 25 little tricycle motors just running in every direction, warm sticky fingers, coughing. That room was an industrial hazard zone. Kids running every which way in various states of dress at times. I mean, kids are kids, little ones especially. And the school teacher there, totally calm, enjoying her day. In her mind, everything was going as planned and it was just fine, right? And I think to myself, she was gifted and given the temperament to handle that situation. Now, my classroom down the hallway, you know, in the other building, well, one big building in the schools around here, but way down the hallway, 12th grade, got a bunch of kids in there and it's time to be quiet and I stand in front of the classroom and say, okay, be quiet. What a difference a few years of maturity makes. But also, I would dare venture that the kindergarten teacher would be just as mortified in my high school classroom as I would be if I was stuck in that kindergarten classroom. Why? Because even in this earthly world, in our day-to-day lives, we all have different temperaments. We're built to do different jobs. Some of you want to be left completely alone in your work and so you find jobs where you're not dealing face-to-face with the public every day, all day. Others of us work with the public on a day-to-day basis and some of us work in offices. I know I work in an office environment and I have people coming in, dealing with me sometimes and they'll say things like, I don't know how you stand being in this office all day and I say, well, what do you do for a living? They say, I grade timber. So their office is literally out there, some place out there in the foothills, grading timber and doing all that outdoor stuff and they are constricted being inside. We are different. We have different temperaments. Well, even in the church, the Scripture says that we have different functions. We have different callings. There are certain things, even the little things around here that we do that some people do and other people don't and we all work together to get the service prepared, to get our time together ready to go. We have different people doing different responsibilities and roles and we work together as one unit to do the job. We have different gifts. The Scripture says in verse 6, according to the grace given us and then the Scripture says, if having these different gifts, let us use them. So again, another call to action. This is where I'll stop for today. We're transformed by the renewing of our mind. This renewal is wrought by the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit revealing Christ to us. When we realize that our standard is Christ, you want to know what's good and perfect and holy in this world? The standard is Christ. Now compare your activities even to Christ. Beloved, this is the love affair we have with our God. He loves us. So ask yourself before doing a particular thing, is this Christ? Is this what Christ would have me do? And His love will constrain you better than fear any day of the week. It's His love that constrains us. He loves us, so don't do the things that will bring reproach to the Lord. People say about us all the time, oh, they're antinomian. They don't have any kind of desire to be pleasing to God. And I tell you, I have a very serious understanding of what the law really is. And I know I'm a lawbreaker. And I also put no confidence in my flesh. I won't be righteous because of what I do or don't do. But that doesn't stop me from serving the Lord as He gives me strength, as He gives me the willingness to do the right thing, to shun the wrong, to do the right. Those little victories along the way are all by the grace of God. And I know one day, I'll study sin and war no more. There'll be no more battle in this heart of mine. There'll be no more struggle. I'll be with Him and He'll glorify me and He'll make me sinless. In the meantime, His love constrains. His love protects. And His love calls me to love the brethren, to do right by one another, to be patient with one another. That's even in the text we just read. Taking care of our neighbors, not thinking too highly of ourselves. Humility goes a long way, doesn't it? This is by the transforming power and work of the Holy Spirit of God in the Gospel. It's all paid for by the work of Jesus. The Spirit of God comes and testifies of Christ. We believe that by faith as He grants us that faith and makes us alive to believe it. And now He calls us in our day-to-day lives. That's all things against Christ. Don't be conformed to this world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. What is this renewing? Well, the Scripture says, repent therefore and be converted that times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord. Now, we've repented of dead works. We've repented of all those things that the world and false religion will say makes you okay. We look to Christ alone as our standard. And now as we look to Christ, we by faith believe that He will refresh us because out of our bellies will flow rivers of living water. There are days when your soul might just seem dry as a desert. I'm telling you, look to Christ. Is He not the honey that pours out of the rock? Is He not the water that poured out and quenched the thirst of all of those in the wilderness wandering? Is He not the gate of the sheep? Is He not the door? Is He not the good shepherd? Is He not the great physician? Is He not He who was lifted up to draw all men unto Him? He is our Savior. He is our substitute. He is our surety. Beloved, He is our all in all. And He will tend to His people. Thank God for having renewed minds. Thank God for the gift of faith. Thank God that we can look to Him and know that in Him is life and life more abundantly. We've been transformed. Don't be a jerk about it. Nothing worse than sovereign grace folks going around acting the fool. Don't do that. Why? Because the preacher's trying to scare you? No, because if you're saved, the Lord loves you and He's placed His seal upon you. Behave as children. You know, your own mother, if she's coming to town, you probably took the dirty socks off the floor and maybe run the vacuum sweeper. It's a gift of love that the Lord gives us to seek His faith to do the right thing. Be good to your neighbors and share this good news gospel. And in doing so, you are renewing your mind You are forcing this old dirt bag flesh of ours to look to things above and not to the left or to the right. What a thought. Lord, we thank You for transforming our minds, for renewing us in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank You God for loving us so much. Thank You for the simple message of looking to Christ to live. Looking to Christ as our standard and shunning all of the silliness this world would afford. Lord, I pray that You would guard Your people. Lord, guard us from our own pride, from our own desire for aggrandizement. Guard us from that sin of thinking we're superior to our brother. Help us to be humble. And oh God, I pray that You would give us the ability to share this gospel in new and exciting ways this week. We ask God for these blessings through Christ our Lord, thanking You for the transformation of our minds. Amen. Amen. Amen. You have just heard a message from Pastor Jason Deutze of Redeemer Church of Piketon, Ohio. To learn more about the good news of Jesus, please visit RedeemerPiketon.org.