Torch, Fall 1994

We're to stop allowing ourselves to be outwardly conformed to the world's values. Second, we're to start being transformed. Put on. Rehabituate. That is, make new habits every time the situation or the need arises. We 're to change our outward actions to be consistent with our regenerated inner being, rather than allow that expression to come from our totally depraved nature. That is exactly what Jesus told the Pharisees. He said, " .. .first, clean the inside of the cup and the dish so that the outside of it may become clean also" (Matthew 23:26 NAS). I think we spend a lot of time on the outside without caring for the inside. How much time do we spend getting to look like we look? Obviously, some of us don't spend a lot of time. But most of us spend a great deal of time. We do whatever we can to make that outward look the best we can. What if we spent that kind of time on the inward man and not just on the outward man? Jesus said, " ...the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart..." (Matthew 15:18 NAS). Real change comes from the inside out, not from the outside in. Paul says that we have a power inside us already that we received when we trusted in Jesus Christ. But we need to learn to appropriate that power and to put it into action. Every time that we are faced with a situation which is potentially sinful, we need to respond according to our new inward nature. So, the next time somebody wants to gossip about a friend, we don't have to join in, because we can work from the inside out-not conformed to the world, but changed because of Jesus on the inside. That way, we can act like who we really are, His children. We can carry out these two principles only by renewing our minds. We renew our minds by simply putting in the Word of God. This renewing, anacanosis in the Greek, is our gradual conforming more and more to a new spiritual realm. It begins at spiritual rebirth; it is carried on, Paul says, by the work of the Holy Spirit. I would like to suggest that while God can use 12 Torch the intellect, it is primarily the spirit that He wants to use. He wants to manifest things to us from a spiritual perspective through the Word of God, renewing our spirits and minds so that they are receiving spiritual input and not worldly input. Many of us are adept or "good at" sinning because we have practiced it all our lives. But we are not as good at being Christians, because we have not habitually, definitely, intentionally given our lives over to the Holy Spirit until it is "second nature" to do so. Then He will crucify the flesh. I hear people at church saying, "You know, I just want to be myself." That frightens me. God never tells us to be ourselves. When people say, "I just want to be myself," I see lying going on. I see cursing going on. I see hatred coming out! God tells us to crucify self and let Jesus live through us. Then our crucified self will become the channel and the medium by which God will manifest Himself. The apostle Paul said, "For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2 NAS). Now, we cannot do any of this without making a total commitment to Jesus Christ and then feeding on the Word of God. Let me put it this way. The Word of God is the raw material that the Holy Spirit will use to mold us into a spiritual life. 2 Timothy 3:16 (NAS) states, "All scripture is inspired by God [God breathed] ...profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man [or woman] of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." It is the scripture we use to begin to change our worldly point of view. The next process is devaluation. We've got to devalue everything we hold dear. We've got to say, "Look, this car is important, this computer is important, these friends are important, but they're not as important as God is to me. How I look is important, but not as important as Christ being in control of my life." And He works that process through suffering. As we suffer, we have to devalue all those things that we trust in because we find out that none of them is stable. There is only One who said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5 NAS) . There is only One who can keep that promise- Jesus Christ. What is the effect of all of this? The effect, Paul says, is that we will know what the will of God is. He gives three adjectives describing the will of God: it's good, it's pleasing, it's perfect. We are either doing God's will or we're doing our own thing. He is saying now we can know His will, now we can begin to experience it. We can get it into our lives in power every day. In closing, I submit the Joey Johnson expanded translation of Romans 12:1,2: "I beg you brothers, sisters, based on the mercies of God, give your body as a living, burnt sacrifice which is acceptable to God. It is your service of intelligent worship. Stop living according to the norms and the value programming of the world, but be changed by the renewing of your mind to God's values through the input of the Word of God, yielding to the Holy Spirit that you may be able to repeatedly discover the good, acceptable, perfect will of God." Totally committing our lives to Jesus in this way develops a personal, biblical value system which leads to victorious, overcoming, abundant, Christian life. By doing that, we will not be just old vessels docked somewhere, but we will become ocean-going war vessels for Jesus Christ. In Him, we can win victory that will ultimately glorify Him in His kingdom.