Finding God's Will (Part 2)

Romans 12:2

Pastor Ryan

Part of Romans—How God Does the Impossible

April 14, 2024

There’s something unmistakable about awe, wonder, joyful overflow, beholding majesty – these are all elements of worship that are experienced in the presence of God. It’s the motivation behind complete surrender from Romans 12:1.

• But if we are going to live as living sacrifices, we saw last week that we must pursue

ongoing activities: resisting conformity to the forces and temptations of the world, as we looked at last week, and, as we will see today, being transformed by the renewal of our minds.
• This process (resisting conformity to the world and being transformed by the renewal of our minds) is pursued by your daily

and is fueled from a very specific source.

Active or Passive?

• These two verbs, conform and transform, are in the

voice. You see this by the fact that they are accompanied by the word “be”. “Do not be conformed” and “be transformed” – what does passive voice entail?
• Passive voice in language occurs when the

of an action becomes the subject of a sentence. When passive voice is used, the subject of the sentence is the recipient of the action rather than the doer. This shifts focus from who is performing the action to who is receiving or affected by the action.
• The idea is that the passive voice verb puts the activity on something or

else. It is being done to the believer.
• In Romans 12:2 there are two ever-present influences as work. There is the

force of the world system, culture, or value system that we all live in and there another influence here that is implied but not explicitly mentioned.
• What influence or influences work

in the individual Christian?

// Ezekiel 36:26-27 | And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

• Remember the

of the Holy Spirit that we explored as we studied Romans 8?

// Romans 8:14 | For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
// Romans 8:26-29 | Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

• The Holy Spirit has been put within every believer to influence towards

// Galatians 5:22-23 | But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
// Ephesians 5:18-21 | And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
// Now watch this, it’s interesting that Paul says almost the same thing in Colossians 3, but uses a different term besides the “Spirit” >> Colossians 3:16 | Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
// In Paul’s mind, being filled with the Holy Spirit and making a hospitable or favorable environment in your heart and mind to the Word of Christ are synonymous. Jesus would agree with this. Look at what the Spirit uses as the primary tangible tool of His influence >> John 16:13-14 | When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

• The Holy Spirit inside each believer uses the

of

as the tool of influence for the purpose of change towards Christlikeness.

Be Transformed

• Being transformed is the

of being conformed.
• The word “conformed” in Greek was where we get the English word “scheme.” The word “transformed” in Greek is where we get the English word “

”.
• For the Christian, this transformation is the Holy Spirit making you what

have always wanted to be and what

desires for you to be to make the greatest impact for His kingdom.

// Ephesians 2:10 | For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
// 2 Corinthians 5:17 | Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

• This process, from our side, is called spiritual formation and

. This process, from the side of the Holy Spirit, is called

, ultimately resulting in glorification.

So, in summary, Christians should resist the temptation to conform to the world around them, but should instead surrender to the influence of the Holy Spirit and His work of transforming them into what God wants them to be.God loves us too much to let us stay as we are.