Three Choices For A Wonderful Life - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. We divorce at the same rate. We abuse our children at the same rate. We're under psychotherapy at the same rate. Everything about us, we're as materialistic at the same rate. We're just like them. We've been conformed. They've squeezed us into the mold. And it all happens between our ears.

This is where it happens. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. God gave us so much through His mercy. Shouldn't that motivate us in some way? But apparently it doesn't.

For so many of us it doesn't. This is a very interesting thing because notice what he says then. He said it's acceptable to God and he says which is your spiritual service of worship. Now what's so unique about that is the word spiritual isn't spiritual. It's not the word spiritual. The word spiritual is pneumatous.

You see pneuma, spirit. He's not talking about spiritual. This actual word is the word logikos. We get an English word from it, logic. The King James translators understood this and they said reasonable.

Notice I'll say it that way though. He said present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your logical service of worship. Consider what God's mercies have done in your life. Why wouldn't you? Isn't it logical? What God has done for you isn't that logical that you would do it. Notice he says when you do that, that's worship. Now think about that. We not only don't do it but we redefine worship in all kinds of other ways. Not this way.

We don't care for this much. So we divine worship and worship is if I attend church most Sundays. I'm worshiping. That's worship. You know worship is liturgy.

If I can go through a liturgy that means I worship God. Worship is stained glass windows or flowing robes. That's worship. Not worship at all.

A worship is really snappy music. That's worship. That's really what worship is. None of those things are worship.

They can be in the context of worship. But worship, and by the way this is so important to God. Remember Jesus talking to the woman at the well in John 4 said God is seeking worshipers. Now God doesn't have many needs. There's very few things that God is seeking. He's seeking worshipers. Because of his grace, his love, his mercy, he's seeking worshipers. It's an important thing to God.

So what is he saying here? He's saying I urge you brethren by the mercies of God to present your body as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your logical service of worship. Worship is total devotion to God. You want to know what worship is, that's what it is.

I'm all in. I'm totally devoted. That's what worship is. It always begins with this choice. You don't make this choice, you don't worship. That's what God is saying. If you're going to worship to me, you're going to give me logically what's mine. I've given you all the mercies, all the grace, all the love.

Now you present yourself to me. That's what worship really is. And he goes into the next choice, the third choice, and he tells us it's in two spots, what not to do and what to do. Look what he says next then in verse two. He says, and let me continue my idea, do not be conformed to this world. This is part of the choice.

This is the second part. Do not, he says, be conformed to this world. Not is the word may, strongest negative to the Greeks. He said, absolutely do not be conformed to this world.

The word conformed is sus gametizo. It means an outward expression that doesn't really reflect what's going on the inside. And this is really a neat play on words of what he does here. He said, do not allow the world to make you look like you're of the world because that's not who you are. You're a child of God. You're a new creature in Christ.

All the old things have passed away. That's who you are on the inside. He said, don't let the world make you look like you're one of them. Whatever you do, don't let that happen. Don't be conformed.

J.B. Phillips in his great paraphrase, the Greek scholar said, don't let the world squeeze you into its mold. This is hard for us. Kenneth Weiss, the New Testament scholar, says, stop assuming an outward expression which is patterned after this world, an expression which does not come from nor is representative of what you are in your inner being as a regenerated child of God. This is where we fail. We don't do it.

We allow the world to squeeze us into its mold and we look just like the world. In the New Testament, there was only one church that did that and that was the Church of Corinth. It was the worst church. And Paul said, you know, when I look at you people and the lives that you live, I can't tell any difference between you and unbelievers at all.

I just don't see it. He actually called them the word carnal. They were carnal Christians. He said, you look just like people in the world. Every study that's done, every poll that's done in the last 40 years says the church in America is exactly like that. We look just like the unsaved world in every way they can measure. We divorce at the same rate. We abuse our children at the same rate. We're under psychotherapy at the same rate. Everything about us, we're as materialistic at the same rate. We're just like them. We've been conformed. They've squeezed us into the mold and it all happens between our ears.

This is where it happens. We'll come back here, but go with me now to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 3. Listen to what Paul says.

Paul says this. He said, for though we walk in the flesh, that means we live in the real world. You and I live in the real world. We're real people in the real world.

We just walk around in the flesh. He said, we do not war according to the flesh though. That's not where our battle is. He goes on and he says, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying, now watch, speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. We are taking every thought captive to obedience of Christ. Where's the war between our ears?

The war is how do you think? We're trying to destroy, as he says here, speculations of what the world says. You see, that's hard for us. God says, consider everyone else as more important than you are. The world says, look out for number one and you're number one. You see, which one do we do more often? Which one do we allow to be part of our lives? We conform to the world.

The only time we're different in the world is they're probably sleeping or golfing this morning and you're sitting here. That's the difference, but it has to be more than that. There has to be much more than that. That's what he finds.

Let me show you why this works so well. Go with me to 1 John chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2 verse 15. And I want you to see what John says about this. John says in verse 15, do not love the world. And see, Christians are always like, yeah, I don't love the world.

John adds something though. Do not love the world nor the things of the world. Uh oh. We like the things. It's the world we don't like, but we like the things of the world.

You see, we like money and fame and we like that. He said, do not love the world nor the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, love of the Father is not in them.

That's really a strong statement. See, I can't say I love the world or the things of the world and I love God. God says, don't say that to me. He says, but all that is in the world boils down to this, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. It's not from the Father. It's from the world.

That's how the world squeezes. The first thing is he says here, notice, he says the lust of the flesh. The passion to feel, the lust of the flesh, the passion to feel. I mean, they used to say this on commercials. If it feels good, do it. You told that all the time. If this feels good, do it. And by the way, if you do it enough, guess what you are? You're a narcissist. And our world is filled with narcissism. Whatever makes you feel good, you just do it. You see, as I'm looking out for number one and I like the way that makes me feel, so I'm going to do that.

And it creates narcissism. Then he says the lust of the eyes. That's the passion to have, to covet. I want that. I want that. The lust of the eyes.

Do you think our world knows that? How many commercials or advertisements do you see a day? Why do they do that? It works. That's why they do it.

They pay all that money so they can do it. And the next thing you're there, you're sitting there waiting for the game to start or restart. And you say, you know, I think I need a new car. Or, hey, do you want a pizza? No. What? What? Yeah.

They just put it in front of you. We covet the lust of the eyes and we say we want that. We're not narcissists.

We're materialists. And we think that this whole idea of accumulating more is great. The whole key in life is just to keep accumulating more and more and more. But I want to tell you, when you're dead, you don't take anything with you.

Nothing. But we don't quite believe that. We believe I want to accumulate more.

That's how the world squeezes us into his mold. And then he says, in the boastful pride of life, the passion to be someone. I really want to be someone. My egotism. I want to be famous. I want to be someone. Jesus is the only one we should want to be. He's the only celebrity of the universe.

It's not me, it's not you. You see, but you can see how these things fly right in the face of what God is saying in Romans 12. Now back to Romans 12 for just a moment. He says, do not be conformed the negative to this world. But he said, but I want you to be transformed. I want you to be transformed. Perfect. Perfect. It's a present passive imperative.

You know what it means? When it's passive voice, you can't do this on your own. As a Christian, you can't transform yourself. You don't transform yourself by getting up in the morning and saying, I'm going to try harder.

You ever do that? I'm just going to try harder. That's my problem. I don't try hard enough. Look, don't do that.

That won't be it. That's not how you change. Transformation is something God does in you and he'll only do it in you if you make the choice.

You see, he'll make only if you make the choice. He says transformed. What a great word. It's the word metamorphosis. It's exact and metamorphosis means the reality on the inside becomes apparent on the outside.

Just the opposite. That's how green worms become beautiful butterflies. That's called metamorphosis. It looks like a green worm, but it's not.

By its nature, when it comes out of the cocoon, it's a beautiful butterfly. That's us. Who we really are on the inside should start showing up on who we are on the outside.

And unfortunately, that happens only rarely to us. Let me give you another beautiful picture of this. Go with me to Matthew 17. Gospel of Matthew chapter 17, verse 1. It says, six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and his brother, and he led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them. And his face shone like the sun and his garments became as white as light. That word transfigured, same word is transformed.

It's the exact same word. It's metamorphosis. What did Jesus do there? He has his three disciples with him. He goes up on the mountain and he says, he goes, guys, look at this. This is who I really am.

You want to know who I really am? You're looking at it. Just exactly what John saw in the revelation of John to John in chapter one. You see Christ for all of his glory.

That's called transformation or transfiguration. And what he's telling us in Romans is that's what should happen to us. On the outside, we should start looking like what we are on the inside. Let's go back again to Romans 12. He says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed.

Another thing that's amazing, it's imperative, you're commanded. God says, you've got to be transformed. You see, what happens when we're totally different on the outside than we are on the inside as Christians? What do people call us? Hypocrites.

And they see it easy. They say, you're a hypocrite. You talk one way, but you're not like that at all. You see, he says, no, we can't do that. I have to be on the outside what I am on the inside. He said, but be transformed. How does this happen? He says, by the renewing of your mind.

That's how you do it. I have to renew my mind. You see, Chip Ingram says, look, spiritual growth never comes by just hard effort.

It's not enough. He said, spiritual growth does not begin with focusing on behavior. Spiritual growth does not even begin with focusing on our attitudes. Spiritual growth always begins by focusing on our thinking. Spiritual growth is accomplished by the Spirit of God through the Word of God.

The renewing aspect, I begin to think differently. You see, when I became a Christian, I had all my thought process down. I knew how to react to almost everything. And relatively to everybody, I would probably have been considered a good guy. OK, so and I had my way of seeing everything in the world. Then I started reading the Bible and started realizing, wait a minute, things that I think are acceptable, God does not.

The way I think, God does not. And I have to, in a sense, renew or change the way I think. And so do you.

I have to do this. It's the only way I can be transformed. Grant Osborne, a New Testament scholar, said it is clear that the mind is where spiritual growth occurs and in the mind's decisions and choices are made.

They determine one spiritual direction in your spiritual destiny. Griffin Thomas said the only way to prevent an outward shape of our lives from being fashioned like that of the world is to take care of the inward spirit of our being by being transformed by the renewing of our mind. That's true for every one of us. It's hard to imagine, but in your life right now as a child of God, you're either being conformed into the world or you're being transformed by God. You can't be both. You see, you're one or the other. The world's either conforming you or you're being transformed.

And that's a choice he says that you and I have to make here. And this is present tense. Continually being transformed.

God transforms me day in, day out, week in, week out, month in, month out, year in, year out, decade in, decade out. It's a process over a long haul. And notice then what the result of this renewal is. So that you may prove what the will of God is. That which is good, acceptable and perfect. That's the result of my renewal. My life proves the will of God. That's what he says. Your life will prove what the will of God is.

It's good, acceptable, perfect or the word means complete. A transformed mind plus the power of the Holy Spirit will transform my will, which changes my life. But God won't do it if I don't make the choice.

I have to choose to buy the field or the pearl. That's eternal life. I have to choose to present myself a living sacrifice to God. But I have to choose to allow the word of God to transform me by renewing the way I think.

Three choices. And if we don't make these three choices, we end up as defeated Christians. And some of us try to immunize ourselves against becoming religious and doing activities, but in our heart we're still worrisome, fearful, guilty. We have all these terrible emotions.

We have no peace. And the reason is we've never allowed what's inside of us, who we really are, to become part of the outside of us and who we are. John White, the late psychiatrist and Christian author, wrote these words. He said, Bible study has torn my life apart and remade it. This is to say that God, through his word, has done so.

If I could write poetry about it, I would. If I could sing, he said, through paper I would flood your soul with glorious melodies that express what I have found. I cannot exaggerate, for there are no expressions majestic enough to tell of the glory that I have seen and of the wonder of finding that I, a neurotic, unstable, middle-aged man, now have my feet firmly planted in eternity. I breathe the air of heaven, and all this comes to me through the careful study of God's word.

No shortcuts, people. And I can testify to that. It changes you. And it changes me. J.C. Ryle writes this, A long time ago, the Bible has worked moral miracles on thousands. It has made drunkards sober. Unchased people have become pure.

Thieves became honest. Violent and tempered people became meek. It has wholly altered the source of man's lives. It has taught worldly people to sink first the kingdom of God. It has taught lovers of pleasure to become lovers of God. It has taught the stream of men's affections to run upwards instead of running downwards. And this it has done, he said, in every part of the world, and it's still doing it today because they made these choices. He goes on and he says, do we understand, men and women, the power that God has given us and the potential that it has if we follow it carefully? If we allow these two agents and these two actions to work together, the word of God and the spirit of God in our lives, it will literally change us from the people that we are so that we can become finally the people that we've always wanted to be. That's true for all of us. And yet we live so many defeated lives and I'm telling you it's because we won't make these choices.

So I'll end the way I started. Questions. If you're going to make the choice, what are the risks? If you choose to give your life to God as a living sacrifice and you choose to allow the word of God to transform you through the renewal of your thinking, what are the risks?

What are the potential rewards? Most importantly, the last one, what would you do? Or what are you going to do? Make the choice.

Let's pray. Father, it's an amazing thing that in some ways this seems simplistic, but in others we all know how difficult this is. If we're honest with ourselves, our problem is that our values, our thoughts have been conformed to the world and we struggle with anything in any way to think in a different way. But Father, it really becomes the key to our lives. It becomes not only what God wants for us, but ultimately it becomes exactly what we want for us. If we make these choices and we follow through on our choice, we all get to live the life that we so urgently want to live. We live a life full of joy and peace and hope.

No matter what the circumstances are, who wouldn't want a life like this? And yet for some reason, Father, what we end up doing is never making the choice. May your spirit convict us and empower us to follow through this time. For our good and for your glory in Christ's name, Amen. That's OnePlace.com and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word, 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.