June 1, 2014
Key Passage: Romans 11:33-12:21
“Sold Out or Selling Out?”
One of the primary things the church gets hammered with by the world is the fact that there’s no real difference between us and anyone else. Certainly, in one sense, we are just like everyone else. We aren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. We struggle, fail, get discouraged, angry, and do stupid things. The saying is true: Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven. However, when people look at our lives and see nothing distinctive about it except its rules and regulations, something is drastically wrong. The key to an effective Christian life and witness is a transformation that takes place on the inside and works it way to the outside through a daily exercise of our will. In terms of your walk with Christ and the world’s influence on you, the question becomes: Are you sold out, or selling out?
Romans 12:1-2 (11:33-36) Conformed vs. Transformed
Want to be conformed to the world? Do absolutely nothing. Keep filling your mind with the same crud and continue to engage in the same sins you committed before you came to Christ. Being conformed means adhering to the following:
1. Man is the center of everything
2. Experience is more important than truth
3. Images are valued more than words
4. Values are relative. There’s no such thing as absolute truth
Never forget: being transformed is a matter of the will, not emotions or simply “knowing what to do.”
Romans 12: 3-8 Developing a Healthy Self-Esteem
There are two extremes in the Christian community: those who think too highly of themselves (spiritual arrogance) and those who suffer from spiritual inferiority (seeing yourself as non-essential in God’s work.)
1. We must recognize that every one of us has been created in the image of God
2. Our self-esteem must always be tempered by the awareness of our own sinfulness
3. Our self-esteem must embrace and mirror our position in the body of Christ
Romans 12: 9-21 What does authentic Christian love look like?
If you could assign a mathematical equation to love, it’d be 10% emotion; 20% understanding, and 70% will. This is why love is a daily choice and not just the flow of emotions or how we feel.
1. True love rejects sin but not persons
2. It regards others as more deserving than themselves
3. It retains enthusiasm despite setbacks
4. It rejoices in hope by being patient in affliction and faithful in prayer
5. It responds to needs in direct and personal ways, and especially by practicing hospitality
Q: Can you name ways in which your mind has been transformed to the likeness of Christ this year?
Q: Of the many ways love is manifested in verses 9-21, which is hardest for you? Why?
Bottom Line: Sold out or selling out? What’s your life going to stand for? Are you going to wrap it up in a world of affluence and bury it in forty more years of self-indulgence? Or, are you willing to renew your mind daily, to be transformed to the likeness of Christ? If you begin to recognize the systematic brainwashing of the world and refuse it, and constantly renew your thinking in the truth as it’s found in Jesus, the Word of God, then here’s the bottom line truth: You’re going to have an incredible and meaningful life. It’ll never be dull – maybe hard sometimes, but never dull and boring. The question we each have to answer is this: Are we sold out, or in the process of selling out?
