The Path Of Least Resistance
Romans 12:1-2
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” vs. 2a
A Date With My Daughter
For Christmas one of my daughter’s gave me a brick. Yes, a brick. But taped to the brick was a ticket to the Warriors game last Friday night. We would have a daddy/daughter date. I was excited to go and we decided to take BART. Things were going well till we neared the Oakland Coliseum. The train was full so I decided to get up and give my seat to someone who was standing since I would be getting off soon. Two seats behind us this guy was sprawled out over a couple of seats and his feet were hanging into the aisle. It was pretty obvious he had had too much to drink and as I moved in the aisle I hit his foot which must have woke him up. I turned to him and nodded my head and said sorry. Either he didn’t hear that or he didn’t care. Next thing I heard was “You think you’re better than me?” I turned and was surprised he was talking to me. He said it again and then stated in with a tirade of swear words and taunts. He was trying to pick a fight with me. I tried to ignore but then he stood up and started moving toward the door insisting that I get off the train with him, to fight. It was very uncomfortable, there were people with young kids and everyone was just kind of watching what was going to happen. I moved off the train, because it was our stop, and immediately began looking for a security and my daughter and I walked a little quickly and I guess he turned the other way because I never did see him once I got off the train. But he was doing everything he could to provoke me to fight. Now I wanted to make sure my daughter is okay and certainly didn’t want to ruin our date, but everything in me as a man screams to defend myself and my pride. But I could just see it, “Pastor arrested in drunken brawl” or something like that. Here’s the thing, the world says, “be a man,” “defend yourself,” and “Don’t let people walk all over you.” I think hotter heads would have done something and everything in me was saying I should too. But that would have been wrong and definitely would have ruined the date I was having with my daughter.
Here’s the thing; it would have been so easy to hit him once, knee him, or anything like that and he would have been down in a heart beat. He was older, drunk, and I could take him. J But that is the world’s way.
So, you might be asking, “Why bring this story up?” Because I did the right thing? No. Because inside I really wanted to do something that proved I was a man, a protector, a more superior person. I wanted to react the way the world tells a man to stand up and be a man. But God’s way are different and today we will read a passage that tells us about that. If you are able, please stand as we read Romans 12:1-2.
Read Passage – Romans 12:1-2
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
So What?
As we approach Romans 12 there is a big transition talking place. Paul starts the chapter with:
“Therefore…” vs. 1
You might be thinking “So what.” Paul always wanted to go to Rome and visit the church there but had been prevented from doing so for years. He never made it there. In lieu of that, he writes this long letter to the church there. In the first 11 chapters he focused on theology; the concept and ideals of God. In chapter 12 his letter takes a turn. He now begins to focus on putting that theology into practice in everyday living so he says “therefore.” You could put it this way; now that you understand all about God and his attributes and character, and now that you know what he says…therefore let’s talk about what following God looks like in your everyday life.
Struggling With Obedience
It seems to me that since man has contemplated God and given their lives to follow him, man has struggled with obedience. Obedience seems to be that there is a law and that we are mandated to follow it. Paul comes at it from a different perspective. After the “therefore” he says in verse 1:
“…in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice…” vs. 1
Paul’s approach to obedience is different than just the mandate to follow a law. He puts it this way: Our obedience is the product of what God has done in our lives, not something we manufacture on our own. Obedience isn’t a chore of following a law because “God said so” but it’s a response to what God has done for us. Because of his mercy, because he loves me so much and has done so much for me, I now want to offer something back; my body, so I obey.
When someone shows me how much I love them, I naturally want to show them how much I love them back. We do that in everyday life.
Ex. Someone goes the extra mile for you, so you go the extra mile for them.
Transformed Living
So Paul challenges us to be people whose lives are different or as he puts it, people who lived transformed lives base on what God has done for us. In our passage, Paul gives us some action steps to be people with transformed lives.
-Be A Person Of Conviction
First, we are to be people of conviction. Paul was a man of conviction. Notice again how he starts this passage in verse 1:
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters…” vs. 1
His words here are strong. He isn’t saying, “ you know, if you feel like it, if its not to much trouble for you, if you could…” No, he urges us. He is pleading with us. He is being very emphatic. His words are an example to us. We are to be people of conviction when it comes to our faith.
Think of this, why would someone want to follow us and believe what we believe if we are not serious about it? In our world, people want to believe at everything is okay and that somehow all roads, all religions lead to the same place. Think about it? What conviction is there in that? If everything is okay, I can believe a baseball will save me and it’s perfectly okay because all religions go to the same place. But you know, that is a cop out. That is untrue. Jesus was a man of conviction and he told us “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me.” That is conviction. Now I realize many people might not like this but there really is no value in our faith if we are not serious about it. Jesus said in his sermon on the mount in Matt. 5:
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 5:10
People won’t like you being a person of conviction. You’ll be called judgmental, a fanatic, conservative, etc. but our faith is worthless if we are not convicted to follow God.
–Be A “Non-conformist”
A second step in living transformed lives is to be a “non-conformist.” In verse 2a Paul says:
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world…” vs. 2a
Notice todays sermon is titled “The Path of Least Resistance.” That comes from these words of Paul here. It is way too easy to go along with the world and to just follow the crowd. It’s too easy to do what everyone else is doing. There is a problem with that though; Jesus said that His kingdom is not of this world. Satan has influence in this world and it will follow him. If we are conforming to this world, we are not living in Jesus kingdom. We can’t follow the world’s patterns and expect to live a life that reflects our commitment to God.
Ex. Lance Armstrong in his interview said his goal was to “win at all costs” and he did and he didn’t have a problem lying about it and cheating others.
Non-conformist look different. When we do not conform we live and act differently. Jesus said in Matt. 7:13:
“For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Matt. 7:13
Unfortunately, if we follow the world, it will lead us down the road to hell. Jesus tells us many are going that way. That means few are not going down the smaller, narrower path. Think of how many ways we follow the world and justify that and it’s just taking us down the wrong path, We follow the world when it comes to sex, to lying, to power, etc. It’s difficult to live differently. The path is not so easy. The road not so wide. People will make fun of it, laugh, and even put you down, but that doesn’t make it wrong, just a little tougher.
Ill. It’s hard to win fairly, to play by the rules and not cheat, it’s hard to be a good person, a honest person and get ahead in business, it’s hard to act with dignity and grace and still achieve. People will laugh, mock, cheat, maybe get ahead, and even put you down. Non-conformity says you live people, you live truth, you love integrity.
-The End Result: Have A New Outlook
So Paul calls for us to be renewed. Verse 2:
“…but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” vs. 2b
The transformation begins in the mind and shows itself in the action. You cannot expect your life to be different if you don’t renew your mind. That is where the change begins and that is where the change impacts your life.
I know this is tough but the reward is incredible. Listen to the end result in verse 2:
“Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” vs. 2c
Often people ask me, “How do I know what God wants me to do?” Here is the answer. When you are a person of conviction, when you do not conform to the worlds ways but renew your mind to think in God’s terms, he will lead you and you will know what His will is. It’s a promise. And God’s will is good, it’s pleasing, and it’s perfect. Those are great character traits and attributes.
I Wonder If…
Thinking back on that incident on the BART train, I wonder what would have happened if I had acted a little differently. I know how it would have turned out f I acted poorly. But what if I could have said something like: “Hey man, I don’t think I am better than you. I am just like you. And you know what, I love you because God loves you.” Now it might not have made a difference because he was drunk and he seemed to have a chip on his shoulder. But who knows, it could have been a little different. Maybe, maybe not.
