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Romans 12:1-2, Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
There are four key words in verse two I want you to notice. The first is that little word “but.” Don’t be conformed BUT be transformed. It’s a strong contrast or adversative. Put off being conformed to this world’s way of thinking and acting. The world is all the godless philosophies and opinions and standards and behavior that come at us and try to get us to buy into their deceptions.
Then there’s “be transformed.” Do kids still play with transformer toys? I never had them – I played with little plastic cowboys and Indians – but I’ve seen them. A twist here and a flip there and the truck turns into a robot. Transformed is the Greek word “metamorphosis,” changing from the inside.
Then there’s that beautiful word “renewing” or re-novating. That’s not just moving the furniture around. Renovating is a total re-do. Someone finds a rusted old ‘57 Chevy in a barn and spends an enormous amount of time and money to renew it to that gleaming black ‘57 Chevy with a white convertible top and red interior. It’s been completely restored or renovated. That’s what God is doing in your life if you are His child – renewing you to the image of His Son. Many of you know, this verse is where R. C. Sproul got the title for his radio ministry, “Renewing Your Mind.”
Paul focuses this transforming and renewing in one place, your mind. Your mind is your inner being, where you think, reason, decide, hold convictions. It’s really your heart, who you are. When a young man and young lady spend time together, they aren’t getting to know each other’s nose or ear or hair, but their mind. How does this girl think? What’s important to her? What are her goals, hopes, dreams? Does she like dogs or cats? Does he get angry easily? Is he selfish? More importantly, does she or he have a spiritual mind where Christ is most important.
So, God isn’t just calling us to change our outward behavior. Progressive sanctification isn’t just quitting stuff or putting off bad habits. He’s calling us to be transformed from the inside, to be renewed in our minds. Martyn Lloyd-Jones called verse two “the most remarkable summary” of the doctrine of sanctification. Let’s look at these three words: mind, transformed, and renewed.
GOD WANTS YOUR MIND.
Your mind is the most important thing about you, the major battlefield of your spiritual life, and the target of your three enemies: the world, your flesh, and the devil. Your mind is the control center of your life. It’s right there in your mind where you think that you either glorify God or live a self-serving life. Your mind is what God is most interested in. Jeremiah 17:10 “I the Lord search the heart; I test the mind.” Second Corinthians 10:5 says we are to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. First Peter 1:13 says “gird up the loins of your mind.” That means no sloppy thinking – tuck in those ends. In Psalm 19:14 David was concerned that the meditation of his heart was pleasing to God.
Your mind is where you learn about God, where you form your convictions, your values, and what you worship. Your mind is where the image of God resides. It’s really your worship center. And you’ll be worshiping something, either God or some other idol of the heart. God wants your mind, but so does the world. The world spends billions of dollars to hammer away at your mind to buy that product, to think their way, to click on that bait. Every news agency has an agenda it is trying to sell you. The educational system today is much more than reading, writing and arithmetic. It’s all about indoctrination to a way of secular thinking. There’s an agenda. Don’t be fooled. We never heard about saving the planet back in the 50s and 60s, but now we’re concerned about that poor polar bear sitting on a melting piece of ice. We never heard about non-binary or gender dysphoria either. The battle really is over who is going to rule your mind: God or the world.
Let’s go to Ephesians 4:22-24 for insight into your mind.
Ephesians 4:22-24, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
Earlier in Ephesians 4:17 Paul said unbelievers walk in the “futility of their mind.” Here he says, “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” Your mind is more than just raw intellect. The mind has this motivating “spirit,” sort of the engine that drives your mind. Before you became a believer your mind was driven by your flesh. That’s all you had, no matter how smart you were. Here’s a brilliant zoologist. He may be able to explain that amazing cuttlefish that is able to surge with light through his body as he approaches his prey. But if that zoologist isn’t a believer, his mind hasn’t been regenerated by the Spirit of God. His thinking hasn’t been renewed by the Word of God. So, as he discusses this amazing creature, he begins to talk about the millions of years behind this fascinating creature and you realize, while he’s smart and maybe a nice guy, he doesn’t see sparks of divine glory in that cuttlefish.
If you are a true believer in Christ, the Spirit of God has regenerated your inner being and brought new life into your mind. Now the Spirit is at the driver’s wheel of your life. Your flesh is still there, trying to yank the steering wheel and take control. That’s the battle for your mind. Galatians 5:17, “The flesh wars against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh.” This is why your mind needs renewing every day. You brought all kinds of fleshly mental baggage, carnal ways of thinking into the Christian life, and you need that daily renewing, or we might call it mental cleansing. It’s easy to slip back into me-centered thinking.
God wants your mind. There’s nothing more important than your mind. Your mind is who you are. An honest man is honest in his mind. Your pride or humility, your greed or giving spirit, your anger or kindness, your self-pity or joy all flow out of your mind. That’s why Proverbs 4:23 in the NIV says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” We are responsible for our minds, our thinking, our attitudes. Plus, we’re often blind to our own ways of thinking. We think we are making sense, but we’re not. God has a plan to radically transform your life by renewing your mind. So, let’s look at that great present passive imperative: “but be transformed.”
GOD WANTS YOUR MIND TO BE TRANSFORMED.
The word “transformed” is “metamorphosis.” When Jesus was on the Mount of Metamorphosis (transfiguration, same word), He was transfigured or changed so that His glory emanated from Him to the point that His face shone like the sun and even His clothes became white as light. This was an inner change. As Warren Wiersbe put it, “The angels didn’t shine spotlights on Him.” Neither did those angels turn on the fog machines to get some clouds. He was transformed, transfigured, or metamorphosized.
This is inner spiritual change. Wiersbe also said you don’t pin wings on a caterpillar to transform it into a butterfly. No, the caterpillar goes through an amazing process from inside the chrysalis and after a 7 to 14-day metamorphosis, emerges as an adult butterfly. It is such a transformation that the butterfly doesn’t even eat the same food it used to eat. It’s like a new creation. It now drinks in nectar! It no longer crawls along. It flies! As a believer, God is transforming you from the inside.
2 Corinthians 3:18, But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
This is how you grow and change spiritually. Not a list of external dos and don’ts, but inner transformation. There’s an inner character change by the power of the Spirit and the Word of God as we look into that mirror of God’s Word, where we see the glory of the Lord. God is changing you and me from one kind of person into another. But we’re involved in the process. “Be transformed” is a present passive imperative. God is doing it, and we are involved with our wills. This is the life-changing power of the gospel.
When Carolyn and I got saved, no one gave us a list of dos and don’ts. But we immediately began to change. Cuss words were gone. My desire for tobacco went away. We went from late night parties to Bible studies. We really were new creatures, being renewed, transformed in our minds. We immediately began reading our Bibles. We listened to preaching on the radio. We went looking for a church on Sunday mornings. We very shortly invited our friends to a home Bible study on the book of Romans. Nobody told us to do all this. This is the transforming power of the gospel.
GOD WANTS YOUR MIND TO BE RENEWED BY HIS WORD AND SPIRIT.
“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Renew means new, godly, biblical ways of thinking and interpreting and desiring and wanting and loving. Who was at the center of your old way of thinking? You were! And really in so much of our thinking, we still are. When I get angry or jealous or critical or proud or greedy, I’m at the center. One wise pastor said, “God doesn’t expect perfection, but He does expect us to be growing and changing. That’s why it’s called “progressive” sanctification. The spiritual battle is in our minds and it’s a daily battle.
2 Corinthians 4:16, Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
Our outer man, our bodies, are decaying. Have you looked in the mirror lately? Tommy Nelson says, “That couple will never look better than on their wedding day, so enjoy it, because it’s downhill after that.” But what does Paul say about our inner man? Daily renewal. You should be newer today than you were yesterday. Yes, it’s often three steps forward, two steps backward, but you gained a step! This is why we need to take in God’s Word every day. Jesus repelled Satan with, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
As you feed your heart on God’s Word every day, as you apply what you read or hear, as you discipline yourself, you develop godly habits of thinking and God comes more and more into the center. Marinate or soak your heart in the great truth of God’s sovereignty which is on about every page of Scripture. When bad stuff happens, ask, “Where is God in all this?” Renewed thinking is God-centered, Christ-exalting thinking. Renewed thinking is like Joseph, who saw God in his trials. When David stood before Goliath, he saw God as infinitely greater than that Philistine. Renewed thinking is believing and knowing that God is in every circumstance in our lives. God is up to something. God is using this person, this trial to help me see my sinfulness, my weakness, my need of His daily grace and trusting Him for it.
LIVING OUT A TRANSFORMED AND RENEWED MIND.
There simply is no spiritual growth without renewing your mind by feeding and meditating on the Word of God. Drive those biblical pilings deep into your substructure where convictions are formed. Renewing your life must lead to changing your life. God didn’t give us His Word to admire, but to live it. So, let’s add one more point from Philippians 4:8. Here God gives us specific things to fill your mind in the whole transforming process of renewing your mind. This is God’s approved mind territory. If you get out of bounds, whistles blow and flags fly with warning.
Philippians 4:8, Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things (ESV-think about these things).
This is right after Paul counsels us to be anxious about nothing, but to pray about everything with thanksgiving. The peace of God will keep you, but you’ve got to take control of what you think. Here is one of the finest mind filters anywhere in the Word. This is God’s approved thinking zone. Train your brain to think on these things.
- Things that are true as opposed to things that are false. Is this true? Is what I am thinking true? Am I making excuses for myself? Am I living a lie? Is this thing I’m hearing true? Does this square with God’s Word? “God wants me to be happy and I’m not happy with this partner, so I’m divorcing her to look for someone to make me happy.” Is this true?
- Things that are honorable or noble, as opposed to disgraceful or degrading. Are my thoughts focused on building people up or tearing them down? Is this movie, this music, this video, exalting good things, or degrading people, making fathers look like idiots and gay couples look perfectly happy?
- Things that are right, as opposed to things that are wrong. Is that right? Is the way I’m thinking about this thing right, or wrong? Should I have this attitude toward my fellow worker? Is it right for those people to live together without being married? Is it right for me to pay for the thing I broke?
- Things that are pure as opposed to things that are dirty or immoral or pornographic. Am I letting my thoughts go rummaging around in the moral cesspool, thinking somehow this will be helpful to me? Or am I committed to purity as a single person and faithfulness as a married person? Are my thoughts about that girl or guy pure?
- Things that are lovely as opposed to things that are disgusting. There is nothing wrong, in fact, everything is right about wanting to look nice, wanting a lovely home, an attractive personality. But you can overdo it, right? I mean, one hour in front of the mirror raises serious questions! Also, lovely as opposed to worried, anxious, fearful, depressed, gloomy, negative? We could add the loveliness of reflecting on God’s glory all around us. Ever see a starling murmuration? That is lovely in its gracefulness!
- Things that are of good report as opposed to letting my mind dwell on slanderous, gossipy, critical thoughts about other people.
- Things that are excellent as opposed to lazy and irresponsible thinking, or just doing enough to get by or grumbling and whining. Instead, we should ask, “How can I improve?”
- Things that are praiseworthy as opposed to mulling over other people’s faults, or being envious and jealous of other people, blaming and imputing false motives.
There is no way to be transformed from our ugly sinful selves into the beauty of the likeness of Jesus Christ apart from being transformed from the inside by mind renewal. Christ went to that cross to save us and transform us from the inside out more and more into His image. Drive those shafts of God’s truth deep into the substructure of your life. Pour God’s Word into your life every chance you can.
Here’s a suggestion. Take those eight godly thought habits, write them on a 3 x 5 card, and this week work hard at keeping your thoughts within God’s approved mind zone. As you feed your heart on God’s Word, as you spend time reading good, godly books, spend time in Christian fellowship, gathering around the Word, you’ll be changing and growing. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, “Jesus calls for not a reformation of behavior but a transformation of character.” But before you are transformed and renewed in your mind, you must know Christ as your Lord and Savior. Talk to Him right where you are. Tell Him you want Him as your Savior.