4. Set Apart in the Way We Think
Question 1:
When have you been surprised that you changed your mind about something?
THE POINT
Living for Christ changes the way we think.
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
Journalist Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990) was a British sympathizer to Communism. Traveling to Moscow in the 1930s, he learned his naïve enthusiasm was misplaced. He soon realized that the USSR’s Joseph Stalin was responsible for the Great Famine’s ten million victims.
Disillusioned, Muggeridge volunteered for Britain during World War II and became a spy. Unable to shake feelings of a meaningless existence, he went to a remote African beach to commit suicide. There he swam out into the black watery abyss.
After reaching a considerable distance from the shore, exhausted, he realized he no longer wanted to die. Fearful he would never make it, his desperate desire to live ultimately brought him back.
Muggeridge began to find success as a writer after the war. Ultimately, he found Christ. This radically changed his thinking and his writing changed as well. Infused with penetrating force and moral clarity, Muggeridge became one of the greatest journalists of the twentieth century.
Muggeridge learned that living for Christ changes the way we think. In this session, we’ll discover how life takes on new meaning when we live for Christ, instead of ourselves.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Romans 12:1-2
1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Romans 12 forces us to look backward to Romans 11 to see what was happening. This is important and will bear on the meaning of this study. Keep in mind that Paul had addressed the book to the believers in Rome (1:7). At some parts of the book, he spoke to believers in general. In other portions, he spoke about issues relevant to Christians from a Jewish heritage or from a Gentile heritage.
In chapters 9-11, Paul addressed how God viewed the Jews in light of the covenants, and the divine prerogative to include Gentiles in His gospel plan. Paul reminded Roman Gentile believers that the grace of God had come to them through the new covenant. This new sacred agreement between them and God had been occasioned by the failure of the Jews to fulfill all the responsibilities of the conditional agreement called the old covenant. This fact, and the reality that animal sacrifice was ultimately an impermanent and insufficient means of removing human sin, made a new covenant necessary (Heb. 10:4-10). Jesus personally fulfilled the terms of the old covenant and initiated the new covenant at the moment of His death and fulfilled through His resurrection three days later.
It was on this basis that Paul issued several challenges to the Roman believers. He argued that in view of the mercies of God upon both Jews and Gentiles as seen in the lavish provisions of the old and especially the new covenant, they were duty-bound to do what God was commanding.
Question 2:
How has your mind been renewed or transformed since
beginning a relationship with Christ?
In a direct reference to the sacrifices of animals’ bodies in the old covenant and Christ’s bodily sacrifices in the new, they were urged to present their own “bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.” Paul considered this an act of true worship, appropriate and fitting in light of what God had done for them—and for us.
Offering our bodies as a living sacrifice is biblical, but also practical. In a previous session, we learned how the Bible views the passions and tendencies of our physical bodies as a source of frequent temptation and disobedience to God. We were commanded to put the deeds of the flesh to death and to consider our bodies as being dead to sin (Rom. 6:11). Here, God balances that point by giving a positive view of our bodies—telling us that they are capable of being offered as a sacrificial form of worship that God welcomes.
In addition, the believers in Rome were told not to be conformed to the present age, but to live in a way that is spiritually countercultural. Because living for Christ changes the way we think, this leads to a renewed mind, resulting in personal transformation. Transformation is a spiritual condition so radical that the Bible uses the biological term “metamorphosis.” Transformation means “to change form.” When we become a child of God, our entire perspective—our value system, ethical standards, morality, and worldview—begins to undergo a complete and transformational shift. This is what God intends.
Question 3:
What habits do we need to practice in order to have our thinking changed?
Romans 12:3-5
3 For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. 4 Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, 5 in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.
Having challenged the Romans to devote themselves to a new level of transformative thinking and living, Paul quickly pivoted to warn believers to be circumspect in how they view themselves. He knew that possessing great knowledge and having unique spiritual experiences with God could lead a person to develop spiritual pride. Pride attempts to rob God of His glory. That realization is behind Paul’s warning.
Engage
LIVING FOR CHRIST
Rank the commands from this passage for yourself– from 1 (I do this the most consistently) to 10 (I do this the least of all the commands in this list). Put a star by one or two where you would especially like God’s help to grow.
____ I love others without hypocrisy (gossip, malice, unkindness in my heart).
____ I hate what God calls evil, and focus on and hold tight to what He calls good.
____ I truly love other believers and consider them my brothers and sisters.
____ I look for ways to take the first step in loving and honoring fellow believers.
____ I am diligent and fervent in how I walk in the Spirit and serve the Lord.
____ I seek to live with hope and a rejoicing heart.
____ I am patient when I face affliction and difficulties.
____ I am diligent and committed to live in a constant state of prayer.
____ I strive to be open-handed and generous to meet the needs of others.
____ I welcome others into my real life.
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
2 CORINTHIANS 10:5
In many cases, pride manifests by people thinking too highly of themselves (narcissism). Today’s social media has only exacerbated this problem, as people create carefully constructed and radically idealized views of themselves. But some have the opposite problem. Having a perilously low view of oneself is also biblically inadequate (echoism). Such people struggle with debilitating feelings of inadequacy and anxiety. These are examples of being self-absorbed and can cause depression because they are out of spiritual balance. Paul addressed both.
Paul built on this rejection of self-comparison by saying “in humility consider others as more important than yourselves” (Phil. 2:3). When we embody this attitude, we exhibit a posture of serving others in the way God has equipped us. We are no longer self-absorbed or self-conscious. We begin to demonstrate the personal dignity and others-centered focus needed to serve one another. As Christians recognize themselves as members of Christ’s body, each part knows its place and the work of God through the church becomes coordinated in executing God’s will in their congregation, community, and the world.
Question 4:
What are some ways we think wrongly about ourselves?
Romans 12:9-13
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. 10 Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another. 11 Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. 13 Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.
As Christians express their God-given roles in the body of Christ, love is made manifest. The expression of spiritual gifts within a congregation result in the edification of the church. But it doesn’t stop there. The same love that characterizes believers’ devotion to God and relationship to one another is also seen in how we live in the world. The transformed believer becomes an agent of God’s work and witness in Christian living (vv. 1-2), Christian ministry (vv. 3-8), and Christian ethics (v. 9). Each of these has a love motivation.
Indeed, love would be what set Christians apart in the eyes of the world. Paul gives several imperatives that help us focus on what it means to live a sacrificial life:
- We are to love without hypocrisy. Love and pretense can’t exist together, and love has little to do with sentiment.
- We are to detest evil and cling to what is good. Love isn’t real if it doesn’t discriminate between evil and good.
- We are to love one another deeply as brothers and sisters and take the lead in honoring one another. Paul describes believers as family and calls us to that kind of significant and sacrificial love.
- We are not to lack diligence in zeal. Instead, we are to be fervent in the Spirit and to serve the Lord.
- We are to rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction, and persistent in prayer. Our hope is a certain hope, one based in the Person of Christ Himself. A rejoicing people is more likely to be a loving one. Prayer will help in this regard.
- We are also to share with the saints in their needs and to pursue hospitality. Of course, we are to share with people far from God too, as we are able. But God’s people are the first priority. One of the ways we do that is through our hospitality.
This is the way we are to live. Our love should be without hypocrisy—a love for good, and a hatred of evil. Our attitudes and behaviors must be characterized by honor, diligence, patience, persistence, hospitality, and generosity. But everything should be motivated by love. That’s what sets us apart from the world.
Question 5:
What do you think our group does well when it comes to these verses?
LIVE IT OUT
Living for Christ changes the way we think. Choose one of the following applications:
Recognize. Assess your self-image. Evaluate whether your view of yourself is consistent with how God sees you. If you identify spiritual pride, be quick to confess it and root it out wherever it can be found.
Read. Spend some time working on the transforming of your mind. We know that this is God’s work, but God uses means. Consider reading a book like The Mind of Christ by T. W. Hunt.
Reproduce. Connect with a Christian friend to share what you have learned. Set an appointment this week and encourage that friend to share principles from this session with another person the following week.
Living for Christ changes the way we think. The truths of this lesson should make their way into our daily Christian lives—so God can transform our lives and be a blessing to others for the glory of God.
