Conformity Versus Transformation

Romans 12:1-8

At my last call in Fort Bragg, CA, we served there in ministry for 15 years. Both of our children grew up there. One would think that by working for Christ in the community for that long, both in the church and in the town, we would have been seen as a real part of that community. Both Paula and I volunteered for all sorts of community activities outside of the church. In addition, both of our children at that time were going through the school system. So we were active parents and volunteered at the schools. I found, however, that despite being a soccer and softball coach and making popcorn every week for elementary-aged kids, and despite Paula serving on the swim team board, etc., we were not locals, nor would we ever be seen as locals. We didn’t have ancestral family roots in the community. The last pastor who had served for 36 years as the minister at Fort Bragg Pres said he was still considered an outsider there! So, Paula and I were also outsiders. There was a division between locals with deep historical roots and outsiders.

I share this story about the divide between locals and outsiders because a similar divide existed in the first-century church—the very issue Paul was addressing. Jewish Christian converts saw themselves as the authentic people of God, like “locals with deep historical roots,” while Gentile, non-Jewish converts saw themselves as equally authentic Christians. However, they were treated as “outsiders.” This created significant tension and disunity in the church. Jewish Christians claimed a privileged relationship with God based on their ethnicity and history, while Gentile Christians emphasized God’s rejection of Israel in favor of them. Paul describes this divide clearly in Romans 9–11 and returns to it in Romans 12:3 and following (see also 14:1–15:13). The church was deeply divided and beginning to fall apart as a result.

Here Paul says there is no place for division in the church. Instead, Paul encourages reconciliation and acceptance of diversity. Paul begins the section with his appeal for unity, calling these two opposing factions to see themselves as “brothers and sisters” and urging them first to recognize their shared faith in God, which unites them as family. He then says, thanks to God’s mercy, they are “to present their bodies as a living sacrifice which is holy and acceptable to God.” Paul uses an example that many Jewish Christian converts were familiar with- sacrifice at the temple. But instead of bringing offerings to the temple, the emphasis was now on holy living. How then does this section apply to us today?

How do we live sacrificial lives that are holy and acceptable to God? How do we worship God with our lives? Paul tells us. He says, “Do not be conformed- συσχηματίζω - suschématizó(Greek-union with & fashion = conform to the same pattern) to this world.” 

When I was in college, living at the dorms at San Francisco State, that first year I was pretty much conforming to the same pattern as those around me. It wasn’t very easy to tell that I was a person of faith, in part because I really wanted to fit in with everyone else. I didn’t talk much at all about my spiritual beliefs, and went to an occasional party(Although I’m thankful I didn’t go to a lot of those dorm parties on weekends, because I had a church job elsewhere in the Bay Area, which kept me out of trouble, most of the time!) I found myself struggling with my faith and feeling frustrated.

The next year, I began attending a Bible study, and carried my Bible around in my backpack. I began living my faith out a bit more. As a result, some of those folks whom I thought were my friends in the dorm suddenly felt uncomfortable around me, and I found myself shunned by them. Paul never said not conforming would be easy...

He goes on- but be transformed (Greek- μεταμορφόω-Metamorpho- change form, transfigure,) by the renewing(Greek- ἀνακαίνωσις (anakainósis), meaning “renewal” or “renovation-of your minds. I love this idea of the renovation of the mind, especially as Paula and I begin to renovate portions of our home, replacing windows and an ancient, heavy wooden garage door, and repainting the exterior. To Renovate, by the way, means “to restore to an earlier condition.” (American Heritage Dictionary, Dell Publishing, 1980) As we renovate our home, restoring it to an earlier condition, Paul encourages us to do the same with our minds.

Paul calls us to have our minds renovated,  that is, restored to an earlier condition of our identity as a creation of God, and a person of faith, so that our lives thrive. Our minds are cleared of sinful clutter. We are retaught how we were initially created to think, to speak, to act- as a person of faith. This renovating of the mind through the power and mercy of God enables us to discern God’s will- what in this life is good, acceptable, and perfect.

My mind in college was getting full of sinful clutter, was being squeezed into a party/have-fun lifestyle, and needed to be renovated to its former condition. Through going to a weekly Bible study and spending my Sundays in worship and leading a youth group, the Spirit renovated my mind back to being a person of faith, which then enabled me to help discern what God’s will was and what it wasn’t in my life, which led me to where I am standing in front of you right now.

So then, how are we to keep from being conformed to the world in which we live? The difficult part is knowing what this means in practice. Throughout the history of the church, the “not being conformed part” for the Christian has often been confined to legalistic lists of taboos- prohibitions regarding smoking, sex, drinking, dancing, and card playing. Today, in the church,  there are Christians who continue to define Christian distinctiveness by a list of “don’ts”. Some groups might define Christian distinctiveness as adhering to an approved stance on abortion, evolution, inclusive language, sexuality, politics, or something else. We see that happening in the White Christian Nationalist movement in America right now. While each of these issues should be thought about, prayed about, and guided by study and the Spirit, they often generate extremely divisive conflict, which is exactly what Paul is trying to prevent.

Paul's own discussion may prove helpful in sorting out how we are in the world, but not of the world. Paul might say that the behavior congruent with Christian belief is peaceable and is directed toward two different groups: Other Christians (12:3‑13; 14:1‑15:13) and non‑Christians (12:14‑21; 13:8‑10). It is also a life that is led by grace, which then enables us to perceive what is God’s will- what in this life is good, acceptable, and perfect. Theologian Paul Achtemeier translated this section as follows: “Do not let yourselves be shaped by what everyone else does, but rather let yourselves be transformed by a whole new way of thinking, so you can discern what conforms to God’s will, namely what is good, pleasing and perfect in God’s eyes.”

Paul goes on to encourage these Jewish and Gentile Christian converts to remember God’s grace, and through that grace not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think. Paul called them to think with “sober judgment”- that is, honest thinking...Paul here is leveling the playing field- no one person in that first-century church, whether Jewish or Gentile, local or outsider, was better than another.

The same holds true for us. All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, and it doesn’t matter how long you have been a member or friend of this church, how many times you have served on session or as a deacon, how many times you have given flowers, ushered, or how many times you have tuned into a broadcast. In sober judgment, we are all equal and are united equally as "one body in Christ"(vv. 4‑5). Christ unifies us as one, beyond any ethnic, political, or other differences. This passage encourages us to recognize that "in Christ" we are "one body."

For the congregation at CP, consider how you see yourselves united, and as one. Are there places where that unity is on shaky ground? Pray to remember that, in Christ, you are one body, and ask for wisdom about where you need to come together.

For our congregation here this morning, it is my sincere hope that, as we begin renovating our campus, we, too, will think of ourselves as a body made up of many parts, UNITED in the Spirit of Christ. United does not mean uniformity-we may not all agree on ideas or agree on which color to paint the sanctuary and office building or what kind of new lighting to put into the sanctuary. We can voice differing opinions and have varied ideas. Yet when all is said and done, we are still united as one body in Christ. We have a common faith in God that unites us as a family, as sisters and brothers in Christ. Our unity in Christ respects differences, and grounds everything in God’s love. If we don’t see ourselves in this way, we can be like the early church in Rome and end up breaking into angry partisan factions. Bodies united by Christ see each other, despite their differences, as kindred in Christ.