By Pastor Greg ...
A woman is sitting at her deceased
husband's funeral when a man leans in and asks, "Do you mind if I say a
word?" "No, go right
ahead," the woman replies. The man
stands and clears his throat, then says "Plethora" and sits back
down. "Thanks," the woman
says, "that means a lot."
I always say there is nothing like
a good joke… and… I know what you’re thinking; in your mind, that was nothing like a good joke. Oh well; to each his own.
I have always found that my
outlook on life improves when I take time for a chuckle or a laugh. I have been collecting jokes and funny
stories since I was a child. I tend to
be happier when I focus on happier
things. Focusing on negative things will
make me a negative person. In Christian
circles, this is called “counting your blessings.” Our outlook in life tends to be brighter when
we are thankful for what we have, instead of
everything that is negative.
Now, before I get too far into
today’s message, I want to make sure we both understand something. When I say, “Someone is a Christian,” I’m
talking about a person who has realized their relationship with God is broken, admits
their sin is the problem and trusts that
Jesus is the solution. In biblical
terms, these people were broken, felt convicted,
and have confessed Jesus as their Savior.
Christians are people who have
been spiritually reborn (see John 3).
So, when God says He expects Christians to mature in the faith, He is
speaking to those who have given their lives
to Jesus.
I wanted to make sure we were all
on the same page here; I think it’s crucial
we realize who God expects to
mature. A person who has never received
God’s Spirit is certainly not equipped to change.
It is to Christians equipped to change that the author of
Hebrews writes, “let
us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily
trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us”
[1]
(Hebrews 12:1). And, as I mentioned last
week, we must work at removing the
things in our life that keep us from growing as a Christian; we must remove those sinful actions and
thoughts from our life - things that
cause us to stumble and fail in Christian living and Christian witness. However, what must we do to remove these
stumbling blocks from our lives? How do
we stop sinning?
I’ll answer that question in a
moment, but first, let me remind you of something every Christian needs to know:
when we feel convicted about sin in our life, it is evidence that God is
lovingly calling us to be transformed. When a Christian feels remorse for the sinful
things they have done, that’s God working in their heart; He is pointing out to
one of His children an area in their life that is not holy; not
Christ-like. So, please, please, please
hear this: when God reveals sin to a
Christian, it’s not condemnation or judgment; God has not reached the end of
His rope. He is a loving Father who is pointing
out areas that need to change.
With all that being said, the Next Step in our journey with
Jesus is to respond to what the Spirit is saying. When the Spirit convicts, our response is to
take steps to remove that sin from our life…
which brings us back to the original
question: how do we remove these sins from our life?
This whole discussion is actually covered in the New Testament book
of Romans. And Paul, the first-century evangelist, suggests it begins in the mind.
According to Paul our actions and behaviors follow our thoughts.
(Romans 12:1-2 New Century
Version). “So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us
great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your
offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way
for you to worship. 2 Do not be shaped by this world; instead
be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide
what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what
is perfect”.[2]
Rather than condemn us, God has
offered to show us grace and mercy (which is: not receiving what we
deserve). And Paul says our proper
response is to offer Him our life (or “bodies” as some translations read). Our lives become a pleasing offering to God
when we stop being shaped by the world.
Paul says we are to “sacrifice” our worldly habits, attitudes, and addictions; and we do this by renewing our
mind.
Earlier in the letter to the Roman
Church, Paul wrote, “5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about
sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about
things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature
control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind
leads to life and peace” [3]
(Romans 8:5-6). Just as the wrong kinds
of food can damage the body, so too can the wrong things damage our mind and damage our spirit. And, speaking from personal experience,
Pauls’ words are quite true.
Early on, when I first started
walking with Jesus, I fell in love with what He had done for me. God had rescued me from a life dominated by
sin, so I began to ask the Lord how to respond; I started asking God what he
wanted from me. It was in that time of
prayer that the Spirit began to show me I was still being influenced by the customs and behaviors in this world. My steady diet of destructive music was influencing my mind. And when these destructive, angry, and hurtful
words stopped pouring into my mind, I noticed a significant change in my
relationship with God and with other people.
My angry and hurtful nature was being influenced by songs filled with anger and
hate; I was an angry person because I had allowed angry words to fill my mind;
my thinking influenced my actions.
Paul’s words are
so right; “Do not
be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”[4]
And this whole renewal process begins in honest prayer. God has given you His Spirit to guide
you. He speaks to your heart and reveals
the things in your life that are keeping you from being transformed. And the Spirit doesn’t show us these things
to condemn us; He reveals these things, so we might remove them
from our lives and become more holy.
Maybe you don’t feel as close to
God as you did at the beginning. You
feel like you are drifting away from the Lord.
You are finding yourself drawn right back into that same old sinful life
from your past. What can you do? How do you take that next step in your
relationship with God? Let me tell you
how.
You need to pray; you need to spend
significant time getting to know God and His word. You need to respond to what the Holy Spirit
shows you; you need to be honest and admit the world is attempting to conform you.
You need to honestly evaluate what
you permit in your life. If you find
that social media makes you angry, then choose to remove it from your
life. Maybe it’s the news, perhaps it’s music
or the people who are influencing your
life. It could be any number of
things. But you need to honestly
evaluate the things which fill your mind; according to Paul, what fills our mind is what directly influences our
spirit.
I share this with you knowing full
well that you have it much harder than I do.
I spend almost all of my time around Christians or in church-related
activities. But a great deal of your time is spent out in the world…
which means you will need to be even more
diligent in filtering what influences your mind. You will need to work even harder to maintain a life that honors
God.
No. I’m not telling you to go off somewhere and
live like a monk; you don’t need to live in a secluded monastery. You can still live in the world. However, to mature in your Christian faith, you must resist the temptation to be conformed by the world. And in your situation, that takes a lot of
work. It involves
making sacrifices. It means stepping
away from things or removing things from your life. I had to literally take that stack of records and throw them in the burn
barrel. Radical,
yes, but it was the sacrifice I needed to make.
I don’t know what is causing you
to stumble; I have no idea how the world is conforming you. But the Spirit knows. He knows what is
influencing your mind and your actions.
In love, He will reveal these things to you. And
please remember that I am committed to helping
you live a victorious Christian life.
I will do what I can to help you be transformed instead of being conformed by the world. Let me know how I can help.
[1]
Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation
(Heb 12:1). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[2]
The Everyday Bible: New Century Version.
(2005). (Ro 12:1–2). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.
[3]
Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation
(Ro 8:5–7). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[4]
New American Standard Bible: 1995 update.
(1995). (Ro 12:2). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
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