← Back Published on

August 23, 2020 Sermon: Being Transformed

  • In our Romans passage, Paul opens us up to think about different ways that we worship. That in this circumstance, our worship has to do with our whole bodies being offered on an altar.
  • While we often like to work with metaphor, it’s helpful that the Greek and what Paul is saying isn’t just talking about our minds, or our emotions. This was meant for us to think about the total package of who we are - mind, body, soul, etc.
  • We hear v. 2 all the time - don’t be conformed, but be renewed… that sounds great. Often it’s used as another way to think about not sinning, but it seems like so much more than that. Maybe a better way to think about it is how we can “repattern ourselves”. Paul gives us a path.

    • Reestabilsh our intellect to prove God’s will.
      • Often, when we talk of God, we use a lot of words of emotion. We feel God.
      • But God does give us an intellect. Our reformed heritage reminds us that is such a gift.
      • Paul invites us to pay attention, read the signs, get the evidence. Especially important as we think about what’s it’s like to not be patterns after the world.
    • Keep calm and carry on.
      • “More highly of yourselves” is easy to read as arrogance, but it’s something a little different than that.
      • It’s more of an ideal… one commentary uses a contrast of super mindedness vs. sober mindedness
      • We might all have different gifts from each other (and in a minute we’ll talk about how that’s special and important), but we shouldn’t presume that with our skill we can be a hero or a tyrant.
      • Ideally, we bring our best sober judgment to others strongly and honestly. We are serious and self-controlled, but we don’t use that over someone. And we expect others to do the same
      • This is the Greco-Roman ideal of the polis or the state that Paul was so deeply steeped in.
    • Remember we each have a role.
      • We’ve all been set aside to do certain things.
      • Again, we don’t get overly excited when we are some gift or someone is another.

  • Peter give us an example of this working

    • Peter, even in his occasional bumbling, even in his denials, he’s counted the evidence in his own mind against the world, “repatterining” himself.
    • Even his assessment of Jesus wasn’t something super excited or exclaimed, but a sober minded assessment of who Jesus is.
    • Peter was called to lead the church. Doesn’t mean that the other disciples were worthless, but also doesn’t mean that Peter didn’t have a particular calling, either. God had assigned the task.

  • How do we live this?

    • This is a time that is just rife with the desires to conform or to be so super-minded as to neglect sober mindedness
    • Every Facebook fight about something related to COVID… every Q-Anon post. Every conspiracy… it all adds up.
    • But what’s it like to seek God sober-mindedly?
      • It might be what we always do, but maybe being willing to dig deeper.
      • It may be living into what makes us who we are more honestly.
      • It may be offering everything that we all - mind, body, soul, spirit - as an offering to God.