Transformed Thinking

Introduction

Which part of your body do you like least? It is easy to think that when we have pain in parts of our body that we would like to get rid of the pain and we think about cutting off that part of my body and let me be pain free. We have an expression that there are parts of our bodies that we would give away in order to gain something that we think is more valuable. “I would give my right arm to….” For the most part we take our bodies for granted until something happens that increases our awareness that something isn’t right. A broken bone reminds us of the importance of our skeleton. A heart attack reminds us of the importance of that organ that pumps blood through our body. Even some dermatological problem makes us keenly aware of the importance of our skin. In most cases we assume our bodies will work until something is wrong.

In much the same way we can take each other for granted. I don’t know if we can ever fully appreciate each other in our culture. Driven as we are culturally by individualism and the pursuit of finding our own ease, comfort, and happiness usually means that we are slow to recognize the importance of one another. We are so focused on our own interests that it takes real effort to think about others to the same intensity. Jesus said to love our neighbor just as we love self. That’s difficult on the best of days. We love ourselves a lot. Loving others to that same degree seems unreasonable at best. I’m still working on it. Add to that the reality that some of us don’t even like ourselves. Hard enough to love others when you don’t love yourself.

So maybe the real question is this—which part of your body matters less? Which part of your body are you willing to give up? Paul continues to make the point of what transformed thinking looks like. It’s very different from our culture. It’s challenging and it’s beautiful.

Frank’s message last week reminds us that God’s mercy—God choosing to be merciful to us even though we were his enemies—calls for a response. That response is not partial. It requires the entirety of self. We give our heart, mind, soul, and strength to God for him to use. This response requires transformed thinking. To give ourselves to God means that we want our thinking to change as well. We think less of self. We think more accurately about self. This is where our identity comes from. The world tells us to identify ourselves based on personality, abilities, and interests. God says to think about ourselves in light of his mercy. Once enemies but now reconciled (5:10). Once enslaved but now free (6:18). Once under law but now under grace (6:14). Once controlled by sin but now controlled by the Spirit (8:9). Once without a family but now children of God (8:16). All because of God’s mercy. No wonder Paul says our minds have been transformed. Being saved doesn’t just flip a switch in our heads too. We have to discover a different way to think.

And it starts in verse 3 how we think about ourselves. To think in sober judgment means that we no longer pursue what is best for us but we begin to think more like people of faith. We are no longer what we used to be. When we tried our way we turned away from God. So we can’t keep thinking like we did before God changed us. Sneak a peek at people around you but be sure to look at yourself too—every single person rejected God until God did something. Made in his image—we debased it. Given opportunities—we wasted them. We pursued self not God. God pursued us and we ran further away. At some point God got our attention and we chose his mercy. So there is no room for boasting—only room for praise. The transformation of our minds starts with recognizing that God made us into something we could not have been on our own.

In the transformation God also decided that he didn’t want us to all be the same in the family. Just like a body has various parts and each part has a role to play, so too does God’s people gathered in a location. Different functions require different parts. Every task requires multiple body parts. We don’t think about it until some part doesn’t work properly. It is difficult to imagine that our body would reject a part as unnecessary just because it doesn’t have a function at the precise moment other parts are working. I wrote this sermon using numerous parts of my body—fingers, elbows, hands, eyes, mind, heart, and so many more. I didn’t use my teeth, stomach, or feet. Would I say that those parts are useless? Of course not. They are needed at other times.

So God has gifted each of us in ways that allow for us to function well together. But here is where the transformed thinking occurs—verse 5, we belong to each other. Sneak that peek again. While everyone chose God, it is in that choosing that we form a new body. We no longer think only about ourselves but we think about each other. This is counter to our culture. It isn’t any longer about our own comfort, ease, and happiness; it is to see one another as God gifted and necessary for the body to function. This takes a real transformation. It requires that we accept our God given gifts and then a willingness to use those gifts for each other.

The Results

So what happens when our thinking is transformed? Paul is going to describe all kinds of ways that these early believers would alter how they lived. A lot of the focus will be on behaviors that had the possibility of making their unity better. But what about us? What happens when our thinking is transformed?

First, we discover the gift God has given to us. This takes a bit of time but it also requires us to recognize that we have been gifted in some way. While there is less about self, God in his wisdom gifts us in ways that fit us. Or maybe it is that the gift transforms us too. God’s gifts result in action. It isn’t that we are transformed in mind only. Our transformed mind results in sacrificial actions that God can use. Discovering your gift is not always obvious. But if it is true that we belong to one another then part of our transformed thinking is to learn to trust when others try to ask us to use our gifts.

Second, when we are transformed we celebrate the use of gifts. No jealousy. This allows for us to remain unified and committed to revealing the mercy of God. As Paul will write in a few short verses—we live in harmony with one another. Transformation of the mind means we think less of self and celebrate the gifts we see in others. One of Satan’s great lies is to tell us that either our gifts don’t matter or that they are not appreciated or that in some way our gift is better than another. All of these lies result in less appreciation for God’s mercy and more focus on self. When we are tempted to think more about self, you can rest assured that Satan is at work trying to make you doubt, question, and judge. All of which results in thinking more highly of yourself than you ought.

Third, transformed thinking focuses on what God has done and is doing. We go back to the start of the chapter—based on God’s mercy. Our God is so good. He is worthy of praise. We honor him when we use our gifts for each other. We reveal him when we see the gift of God in each other. We praise him when we applaud how others are using their gifts. There is this truth—when we are with God finally there will not be any desire on our part to call attention to self but a desire to point to God. Perhaps what we need to do is to start practicing what we know is going to be true eventually—smile more about how God is working in self and others for the body.

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