“Conforming to the World’s Normal” || Perception Vs. Reality || Week 1

It’s time for a new series! I hope you have enjoyed the “Anxiety in Anxious Times” and “Release What You Are Not in Control Of” series. I had a hard time coming up with a topic choice for this series. I was torn between burnout and what we’re going to talk about today. This series will be titled: “Perception vs. Reality”. We see headlines, social media, and the state of the world, and think, “Oh! My! Gosh! What is going on with the world?” We see the news and get a perception of what the state of the world is. The reality of the world can be WAY different than what we see from news and social media. Before we dive into the first series, let’s come up with a definition of reality and perception so that we have a consistent idea of what these words mean.

Reality is defined as “the world or the state of things as they exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them”. Perception is defined as “the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the sense.” So to make this clear: reality is the world as it exists; perception is being aware of the world as we can sense it. Do all clear? Cool! You guys rock!

Today we are diving into Paul’s letters. Those are handy ya’ know. While we usually take snips of what Paul says to these different churches and use it in whatever context we want. I’m using scripture a little differently in this series. The way I’ve used it gives us perception into what’s going on in that section, but instead, I’m going to read you the entire section of scripture to try and give us a clearer reality into what Paul is talking about. I think it will lead to some great discussion and you can hear me talk more…well, write more. You know what I mean.

Today’s message finds us in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 2, which is called “Conforming to the World’s Normal”.

Let’s start in Romans 12 with verses 1 and 2. From the Easy-to-Read version, it says: “So I beg you, brothers and sisters, because of the great mercy God has shown us, offer your lives as a living sacrifice to Him – an offering that is only for God and pleasing to him. Considering what he has done, it is only right that you should worship him this way. Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to understand and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect. There’s a lot to unpack here, and I hope you see verse 2 will the focal verse, but let’s unpack all of this.

Paul’s begging the Romans to give themselves over to God. To beg or appeal in Greek comes from a root which means “to call alongside to help”. Jesus used a related word, often translated “comforter”, about the Holy Spirit. Later on, it came to be known as exhorting, encouraging, or counseling. Paul’s acting like a counselor to his readers, but his counsel carried the full weight of his apostleship. The mercy that God shows us includes God’s love, righteousness, and the gift of faith. 

You may question how we sacrifice ourselves to God? I promise it doesn’t involve bodily harm. Under the Old Covenant, God accepted the sacrifices of dead animals. Thanks to Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice, the OT sacrifices are no longer needed. For those in Christ, the only acceptable worship is to offer themselves completely to the Lord. Under God’s control, the believer’s unredeemed body can and must be yielded to him as an instrument of righteousness. The worship mentioned tells him that among all the spiritual riches believers enjoy as the fruit of God’s mercies, it’s only necessary that they owe God their highest for of service. Believe it or not, unpacked from VERSE 1. We haven’t dived into unpacking the 2nd verse.

We must not be conformed to the people of this world. Being “conformed” refers to assuming an outward expression that doesn’t reflect what is inside, a kind of masquerade or act. The word’s form implies that Paul’s readers were already allowing this to happen and must stop. 

What world is Paul mentioning here? You’re probably thinking 60-70 AD Rome, right? This refers to “age”, which refers to the systems of beliefs, values at any time in the current world. This sum of contemporary thinking and values form the moral atmosphere of our world and is always dominated by Satan. To be “transformed” by God with a new way of thinking means the following. The Greek word, from which the English word “metamorphosis” comes from, describes a change of outward appearance. Matthew uses the same word to describe the Transfiguration. Just as Christ briefly and in a limited way displayed outwardly his inner, divine glory at the Transfiguration, Christians should outwardly create their inner, redeemed natures, not once, however, but daily. The new way of thinking is that kind of transformation that can occur only as the Holy Spirit changes our thinking through consistent study and meditation of Scripture. The renewed mind is one saturated with and controlled by the word of God. Our new thinking is supposed to tell us what is good, pleasing to God, and perfect. These words borrow from OT sacrificial language and describe a life that is morally and spiritually spotless, just as the sacrificial animals were. All right, both verses are now unpacked and put away neatly. Let’s apply the verse to our reality of things, especially right now.

Don’t be conformed to the people of this world. This isn’t saying become a sheep to what the government tells us. This isn’t saying don’t follow the rules because everyone else is doing that. This is telling us to not be conformed to the people of this world. Again being conformed refers to assuming an outward expression that doesn’t reflect what is really on the inside. That’s powerful. It’s saying to not put on an act! Don’t do something because the crowd isn’t. Don’t help someone because the crowd says that a person is an enemy. Do what’s on your heart. Do what God is telling us. Do not change who you are because the crowd says it’s not okay to be you. Be the person whom you want to be. In my opinion, as long as your way of living is not hurting yourself or anyone else, you’re cool with me. Don’t change who you because the world says who you are is not okay. Be filled with this change, this renewal of your mind that God provides. The Greek words introduced the English word “Metamorphosis”. What a great way to introduce changing mindsets! We go through a metamorphosis of our thoughts, our thinking, our values, our morals to understand what God is trying to tell us and how He shapes us. These changes can be seen once we can accept it. How you may ask? Have you heard of something called “light”? Remember, Jesus calls his disciples and us the salt of the Earth and light of the world. Once we receive the metamorphosis of our minds, the Holy Spirit flips the light switch to us in the on position and BOOM! We now radiate the Holy Spirit and what God wants us to do. This is our new reality. We view the world through God’s eyes, have the energy to change the negative about our lives, about our realities to positives that are pleasing to God. This is our sacrifice! To sacrifice what we know, to sacrifice our acting career, to sacrifice this mob mentality negative mindset, and go through this metamorphosis. To shine! To follow God’s instructions! To actively change our mindsets and do for God what’s good, pleasing, and perfect. Let’s switch to 1 Corinthians.

A little bit longer of scripture, but let’s read 1 Corinthians 2:13-16. It says: “When we say this, we don’t use words taught to us by human wisdom. We use words taught to us by the Spirit. We use the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. People who do not have God’s Spirit do not accept the things that come from his Spirit. They think these things are foolish. They cannot understand them, because they can only be understood with the Spirit’s help. We who have the Spirit can make judgments about all these things. But anyone without the Spirit is not able to make proper judgments about us. As the Scriptures say, “Who can know what is on the Lord’s mind? Who can give him advice?” But we have been given Christ’s way of thinking.”

Through the light of the word, the Holy Spirit provides his saints the capacity to discern divine truth, which the spiritually dead are unable to comprehend. The doctrine of light doesn’t mean we know everything, that we don’t need teachers, or that understanding doesn’t require hard work. Unbelievers can recognize Christians’ faults and shortcomings, but they are not able to evaluate their true nature as spiritual people who have been transformed into children of God. The Lord’s mind refers to a quote from Isaiah 40:13. The same word “mind” is used also 1 Corinthians 14:14-15, 19. Believers are allowed, by the word and the Spirit, to know the thoughts of their Lord.

Okay, this is an interesting scripture to unpack. We’re talking about Wisdom now. Pretty much, we need to rely on the wisdom provided by the Holy Spirit and not our own. People that believe have the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and can understand what God says. People that don’t believe can understand these things. Verse 14 focuses on how they can’t accept the things that come from the Spirit because they believe it’s foolish. It’s interesting to ponder this. People think it’s crazy to believe in God. People think it is crazy to follow the Holy Spirit. People think it is crazy to do things, think things, believe in things that may or may not be true because they don’t believe in it. Is it a case of they just fervently don’t believe? Maybe. Is it a case of they just don’t understand? More than likely. Their perception about God, church, Christianity may be skewed because of a hurt they had in the church from a Pastor or congregant. It may be wrong because SO much as gone wrong in a person’s life and that they can’t believe a loving and kind God would allow these consistent negative things to happen to them. If they don’t understand, are we taught to fight with them about it or to help them understand it? I believe we should help them understand it. It can only be understood with the Spirit’s help…we’re filled with the Spirit when we believe…I think it all adds up. We can make judgments about God and Christ and the Holy Spirit, judgments referring to beliefs, to tell others. Anyone who doesn’t believe can still make judgments about God and the church. It’s still an option, but verse 15 says that they can’t make PROPER judgments about us. They don’t know what’s on God’s mind, but we can know because, via the Holy Spirit, we’ve been given this way of thinking. We can see what this new perception of thought and change, not only our reality but the reality of someone else by changing their perception of who God is.

Whew…I’m done. That was a heavy message, but a fun one. Stay tuned for Part 2 next week as we dive into a couple of firsts, that is 1 John and 1 Peter. We will see what happens next in “Possessions over God.” Stay blessed!