SPROUL: When we entered into adolescence,
one of the most powerful driving forces in our lives was the desire to be “with it.”
We don't want to stand out or be thought of being weird or bizarre or strange or alien...
Be not conformed to this world but be transformed. Now, I want you to notice those two words that
are crucial here in Romans 12. On the one hand, there is the word conform. On the other, there
is the word transform. Now they have the same root, form. And form, or morphology, has to do
with the structure of things, how things are put together, what they look like,
how they are shaped, how they’re built and so on. But the difference in these two words is the
difference in the prefix that is attached to the root. In the first instance, the prefix is con.
Now you don’t have to be a master of ancient languages to understand what chili con carne is,
it’s beans with meat. And so the prefix con means what? With. And Paul says to
the people who are the believers in the Roman community, do not be conformed to this world.
Now, that’s a hard thing for us to assimilate because when we were children,
and particularly when we entered into adolescence, one of the most powerful driving forces in our
lives was the desire to be “with it.” The worst judgment that could befall us as young
people would be to be considered out of it. We don't want to stand out or be thought of
being weird or bizarre or strange or alien to whatever culture we find ourselves involved.
Paul says, “Do not be conformed.” And instead of conformity,
the Christian is called to being transformed. Now what does trans mean? We have transatlantic,
transcontinental, transamerican, and so on. That prefix means across
or over. That is, we are called to go to a higher structure, a higher form.
The name of this radio program is taken from this text, Renewing Your Mind,
because what Paul says is the key to the transform life is through the renewing of your mind.
And that renewal of the mind means a mind that is learning the Word of God, the things of God,
the values of God, that we might be the people of God. On the one hand, we have the city of man
which seeks to have us conform to the values, the precepts, and the business of this world,
to be worldly. And that is not our call. We have been consecrated and set apart to be a transformed
people, to live in a transformed society, to be a transformed nation, to be a transformed city,
to be citizens of the city of God.