W Romans Small t truths and Big T Truths: Biblical Thinking in a Fallen World Part 2 Chapter 12:1-2 e have been talking about biblical thinking. This is an interesting concept in our world. Thinking itself is becoming a lost art. Critical thinking isn t encouraged because as people learn to think critically, they will recognize the foolishness of much of what they take for granted. This is frequently true even for us as Christians. Concerns over this problem aren t new. Neil Postman identifies two different approaches to mindlessness as offered by George Orwell in 1984 and Aldous Huxley in Brave New World. What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny failed to take into account man s almost infinite appetite for diversions. Obviously, the western cultures, led by the Unites States of America, have succumbed to the second of these two oppressions 1 IV Amazing Grace V Service That Makes Sense VI The Pattern of This Age VII This Mindless Age 2 Paul has spend eleven chapters developing the doctrine of justification, sanctification, and glorification. Now he moves on to the application section. It isn t enough to know the Word. If we are to be instruments of the advancement of the Gospel, we must live the Word. Paul begins the application by noting we need to mature in our perspective on life. Since we are new in Christ, we need to do the work, depending on the Holy Spirit, to bring our thinking in line with God s perspective rather than the world s. This is what Paul states in 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God this is your spiritual act of worship. Do 1 Boice, James Montgomery, Renewing Your Mind in a Mindless World, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI, 1993, p. 87. 2 Ibid., p. 7.
not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God s will is His good, pleasing and perfect will. Paul is calling us to Christian thinking in a non-christian world. The importance of biblical thinking cannot be overemphasized. It is for this reason I ve decided to take three sessions to cover these two verses. I am using Boice s book, Renewing Your Mind in a Mindless World, 3 as an outline and a major resource for this study. This morning is the second in the series. In part one we discussed the first three issues, using Boice s Table of Contents as our outline, when discussing biblical thinking. These are: How Should We Then Live?; Dying, We Live; How to Be a Living Sacrifice. Let me take a moment just to summarize these three. In the first section, How Should We Then Live?, the question was raised as to the impact of all Paul s truth on our lives. When we understand all God has done for us, our response should be to live up to His truth. This means we must replace the small t truths, with the big T Truths. Second in Dying, We Live we noted sacrificial living is the only way to experience true living. It is only as we live for God, rather than ourselves, that we can experience the riches of all His has to offer us. The third section, How to Be a Living Sacrifice, begins the practical discussion of how we can live for God sacrificially. Here we noted Paul is calling us to give of ourselves. This isn t limited to money or material possessions. It is a call to give of our bodies, Mind, Eyes and Ears, Tongue, and Hands and Feet. Paul has called us to live sacrificially because of God s mercy. Our motivation is a response to God s IV Amazing Grace: The basis of Paul s urging is in response to the mercies of God. These have been greatly enumerated in the first eleven chapters. The greatest mercy is the provision of our salvation. From our salvation flows God s work of sanctification and glorification. As such our lives are to be responses to that mercy. The secular world never understands Christian motivation. From the plan of salvation I learn that the true driving force in authentic Christian living is, and ever must be, not the hope of gain, but the heart of gratitude. ~ J. I. Packer 4 Once again, a Christian approach to life is certainly at odds with the world. Almost all behaviors are driven by the desire to receive, be it power, love, whatever. But the Christian per- 3 Ibid 4 Ibid., p. 47. ) 200 (
spective is to live in response to what we have already received, God s mercy. Having received this there is nothing else we can seek. When we speak of God s mercy or compassion we are talking about who God is, not who we are. We deserve judgment. But God does not treat us as we deserve, He brings us salvation. And sometimes we don t recognize God s mercy. In the Garden the consequence of the fall was death, most significantly spiritual death. One can argue that physical death was a mercy because, for God s children, it brings release from the consequences of sin. God takes the undeserving and makes them His children, allowing them to participate in great deeds. King David was a murder, but was a man after God s own heart. (see 1 Samuel 13:14.) He probably had a better understanding of the work of the Messiah than any other Old Testament Saint. (see Psalms 22-24.) Paul was a great persecutor of the Church. In believing he was serving God he brought about the death of believers in The Way. But, in spite of this Christ called him to the greatest ministry held by any of the New Testament saints. We can go all through scripture and see examples of God s mercy in the lives of His saints. Can you give any examples of His mercy in your own life, beyond the one of salvation? (see Ephesians 2 for God s mercy in Salvation.) V Service That Makes Sense: We have seen that sacrificial living flows from the realization of God s mercy. But we also need to understand that in spite of the world s perspective, service to God is reasonable, that is, it makes sense. we are not spiritual in the biblical sense except as the use of our bodies is characterized by conscious, intelligent, consecrated devotion to the service of God. ~ John Murray 5 I think probably the most important point when we are discussing the reasonableness of service is when we understand our service is an act of worship of God. The priests in the Tabernacle/Temple were employed in serving God. And how did they serve? Through acts of worship. And so, we too as priests offer up service as worship of God. As you come to him, the living Stone rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:4-5, 9). It should be noted that here is a place where the Greek is some what ambiguous. Harrison speaks to this when he points out: 5 Ibid., p. 59. ) 201 (
Next the living sacrifice is equated with spiritual worship. The exact sense is difficult to determine. Spiritual (NIV, RSV) may be an improvement on reasonable (KJV), since the latter term could be understood in the sense of adequate, seeing that no less a sacrifice could be offered in view of the sacrifice God has made in Christ for our salvation. The idea is rather that the sacrifice we render is intelligent and deliberate, perhaps to be understood in contrast to the sacrifices of the Jewish cultus in which the animals had no part in determining what was to be done with them. Worship translates latreia, which Paul has already used for the entire Jewish cultus (9:4). Here he gives it a metaphorical turn. The problem to be faced is whether worship may not be too restricted a rendering, for worship in the strict sense is adoration of God, which does not fit well with the concept of bodies ( your bodies is rendered yourselves in NIV). It is just at this point that the term service (KJV) has an advantage, since it covers the entire range of the Christian s life and activity (cf. Deut 10:12). Service is the proper sequel to worship. 6 And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. What I want to take from this section is simply an understanding that while service can be a burden, at the same time it is a blessing because it comes as a response to God s mercy and His sacrifice for us. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30). VI The Pattern of This Age: Now we come to the problem of the fallen world. This is a world without transcendence, no awareness of God and the eternal implications of the present. For secularism, all life, every human value, every human activity must be understood in light of this present time. What matters is now and only now. All access to the above and the beyond is blocked. There is no exit from the confines of this present world. ~ R. C. Sproul 7 Boice points out translators have interpreted this verse 2 in a number of ways that enhance our understanding of Paul s point. Consider This verse has two key words: world, which is actually age (aiôn, meaning, this present age in contrast to the age to come ), and do not conform, which is a compound having at its root the word for scheme. So the verse means, Do not let the age in which you live force you into its scheme of thinking and behaving. This is what some of the translations try to bring out. The New American Catholic Bible says, Do not conform yourselves to this age. The Jerusalem Bible says, Do not model yourselves on the behavior of the world around you. The Living Bible reads, Don t copy the behavior and customs of this world. Best know is the paraphrase of J.B. Phillips: Don t let the world around you squeeze you into its mold. 8 6 Harrison, Everett F., The Expositor s Bible Commentary, Romans, Zondervan Interactive Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1990. 7 Boice, p. 71. 8 Ibid., p. 72. ) 202 (
And as I counsel clients, I see the effects of being squeezed into the world s mold. What keeps us there are the small t truths. I have identified two specific kinds of small t truths that concern me. The first is, for want of a better term, societal. The second is personal. We live in a society that defines its own truths. And to make things more difficult, the definition of truth constantly changes. In fact today, thanks to postmodernism, there are no absolute truths. So some of the world s truths include: Shacking up is a reasonable choice; marriage is a convenience and not intended to be permanent; abortion, while difficult, is an appropriate action; etc. One example of this more, prevalent in the 60 s and 70 s, was society s looking down on women who realized staying at home to minister to children was more important and rewarding than a so-called career. We also have personal small t truths. These we frequently learned as children in our homes, from our peers and in school. These include: Since I was hurt by my parents as a child, I can t trust anyone; Love has to be earned based on performance so I have to please everyone; I was called stupid, therefore I am; I didn t fit in, therefore I never will; etc. Both these kinds of truth have to be recognized and then replaced with God s Truths. It is as we do this we are conformed to the image of Christ. The social truths can be exposed through the teaching of the Word within the local church. It is our responsibility here to help people step outside of the world around them, recognizing its faulty thinking and to learn God s perspective. This same approach can be used in overcoming personal truths. Sometimes though these truths are so deeply ingrained they need to be dealt with in a more intensive discipling situation, sometimes one-on-one. As we learn to recognize the fallacious thinking of the world we move into the next section which speaks to VII This Mindless Age: I don t know about you, but I get extremely frustrated with the total breakdown of logical thinking in our society. We are told there are no absolute truths, which is an absolute truth. Abortion is about women s rights and more women are aborted then men. We must defend free speech at all cost, that is unless we decide what someone says is damaging to our point of view. Has God created us rational beings, and shall we deny our humanity which he has given us? Has God spoken to us, and shall we not listen to his words? Has God renewed our mind through Christ, and shall we not think with it? John R. W. Stott 9 Or as Dr. McGee puts it, do we use sanctified common sense? So, if there are no absolutes there can be no sanctified common sense. It is this absence of truth that underlies the mindlessness of contemporary society. 9 Ibid., p. 83. ) 203 (
This can be seen most clearly in higher education. Relativism is the pattern of the day. Each culture, society, and person has the right to define personal truth, therefore, we cannot define anything as wrong. This is why young people have such a difficult time dealing with the Hitlers. Oh Hitler may have done bad things, but he believed in what he did, so how can I criticize him? If this isn t mindless, I don t know what is. It is this same approach which allows your friends to say Christianity is fine for you but they don t have to accept it for there are many approaches to God. And sadly, this kind of thinking has moved into some churches. To think biblically, we need to be aware of how we may have been affected by the world s mindlessness. So, to serve God we need to use our minds, we need to be a thinking people. Boice identifies four areas where we need to use our minds: worship, faith, holiness, and evangelism. Think about how we can be thinking in these areas. Christians need to be rational in an irrational world. We will examine this further next time when we consider: Thinking Christianly, Thinking Beyond Ourselves, and Check It Out, looking for God s will. ) 204 (
Romans 12:1-2 Biblical Thinking in a Fallen World Part 2 Introduction Lesson 34 1
Romans 12:1-2 Review I. How Should We Then Live? II. Dying,We Live III. How to Be a Living Sacrifice IV Amazing Grace The secular world never understands Christian motivation. From the plan of salvation I learn that the true driving force in authentic Christian living is, and ever must be, not the hope of gain, but the heart of gratitude. ~ J. I.Packer Lesson 34 2
Romans 12:1-2 V Service That Makes Sense we are not spiritual in the biblical sense except as the use of our bodies is characterized by conscious, intelligent, consecrated devotion to the service of God. ~ John Murray VI The Pattern of This Age For secularism, all life, every human value, every human activity must be understood in light of this present time. What matters is now and only now. All access to the above and the beyond is blocked. There is no exit from the confines of this present world. ~ R. C. Sproul VII This Mindless Age Has God created us rational beings, and shall we deny our humanity which he has given us? Has God spoken to us, and shall we not listen to his words? Has God renewed our mind through Christ, and shall we not think with it? ~ John R. W. Stott Lesson 34 3
Romans 12:1-2 Lesson 34 4