Transformed Chapel Sermon Series - Pastor Stacey Shiflett

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Transformed Sermon Series

Chapel Sermon Series

Romans 12:2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Intro: Verse one has several key words.

A. Beseech – the great Apostle Paul is literally begging here

Paul was using some of the strongest possible language here. This was not just a simple request, but beseeching.

B. Brethren – he’s talking to the believer; the Christians; the brethren

The fact that they were brethren means they shared the same Father.

They were part of the family of God.

God doesn’t have multiple standards and multiple sets of guidelines for His children.

God’s children are expected to live differently.

· Philippians 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

· 1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

C. Bodies – the one part of us that we want to claim is ours; our bodies

· 1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

· 1 Corinthians 6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

· Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

Then we get to our text verse – verse 2:

· 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Paul is clear – be not conformed to this world.

I. What it means to be CONFORMED

· Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world…

Greek Lexicon: 1) to conform one’s self (i.e. one’s mind and character) to another’s pattern, (fashion one’s self according to)

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary:

1. To make like, in external appearance; to reduce to a like shape, or form, with something else; with to; as, to conform any thing to a model.

2. More generally, to reduce to a likeness or correspondence in manners, opinions or moral qualities.

3. To comply with or yield to; to live or act according to; as, to conform to the fashion or to custom.

4. To comply with; to obey; as, to conform to the laws of the state.

God’s plan in the area of being conformed is clear in Romans 8:29

· Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

We cannot be conformed to this world and be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ AT THE SAME TIME!

God’s plan is clear about our attitude toward the world.

Notice the Bible’s clear teaching about being CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD:

John 17

· 14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

· 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

· 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

1 John 2:15

· 15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

· 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

· 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

· Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

· James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

· James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

2 Peter 1

· 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

· 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

II. What it means to be TRANSFORMED

Greek Lexicon: 1) to change into another form, to transform, to transfigure

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary:

1. To change the form of; to change the shape or appearance; to metamorphose; as a caterpillar transformed into a butterfly.

This will be the study we will look at over this semester.

Being transformed is God’s plan.