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(upbeat music) - Romans chapter 12, verses one and two, part two. - Welcome to
Daily Drive Time Devotions. This is day two, and our look at the book of Romans
chapter 12.

We're looking at what Romans 12, one and two has to teach us about genuine
worship. Pastor Rick Muchow is with me once again. Hi, Rick.

- Hi, Tom. - Good to have you here. In fact, Rick, since I read the verses 12,
one and two yesterday, why don't you read them for us today?

- 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 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. - Yesterday we talked about living a life in view of
God's mercy. We talked about sacrifice being a part of worship.

We talked about seeing yourself as God sees you as holy and acceptable. There
are three other clear truths about genuine worship to be found here. Beginning
with this phrase, don't be conformed.

Rick, let me ask you, what does that say to you about worship, that phrase,
don't be conformed? - Don't be conformed. Well, it reminds me that worship is
about something greater than we can find in this world.

I wrote a song, All About Love, it's got a verse in it where it says, I want to be
like you, love every day the way that you want me to. It's getting better, I
read your letter, which is the Bible, and these are the words that you said to
me. And basically, it's all about living the life that you planned for me to
live, and not living like the world.

This verse says, don't be conformed to the pattern of this world. 1 John 2, 16
tells us what that is. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and
the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but
it's from the world.

Passion, possessions, and pride. Those are the exact opposites of worship,
because they're all about me and not all about God. It's easy to be a copy these
days.

God challenges us to be originals in a Xerox world. - I ask people from our
church to write in their questions about these chapters, and someone wrote this
about this verse, I personally struggle with God's will and conforming to the
world that we live in. Sometimes they wrote, it seems more blended than
distinct.

Possibly, as I become a better scholar of the Bible in God's word, it'll become
more clear, but at this time, I really have difficulty with this. And what I
loved about that question was the honesty in it. The honesty of struggle with
the temptation to conform to the world around us.

That's part of the secret. To truly worship God, I have to admit that
temptation, not act like it's not there. It's easy to try to blend into the
world.

In fact, enough of us do as Christians that sometimes it doesn't seem to be
distinct what the difference is. But when you pick up God's word, the distinct
difference is very clear. It's selfishness or sacrifice.

To truly worship God, I admit that temptation. And once I've admitted that, I'm
tempted to be like the world around me, then I'm ready to move on to the next
truth in this verse. The fifth truth about genuine worship.

Don't be conformed, but be transformed, be transformed. Human beings, we're sort
of imitative by nature. We need a model to copy.

And the truth is, there's only two models, the world or Christ. One conforms us,
the other transforms us. One, the world molds us into a copy of everyone else
around us.

We think we're being unique and original, even wild and crazy maybe, but we're
just like everyone around us. Jesus transforms us, not into a copy, but into the
image of God, was talked about in Genesis chapters one and two. He makes us into
someone who reflects the character and the convictions of God in this world
today.

How does that happen, this transformation? It happens by the renewing of your
mind. We could spend weeks talking about this, but just a real quick talk.

What does it mean to renew your mind? How does that happen? Well, it happens
through God's word.

And this reminds us that to be transformed doesn't mean trying to not be
something that I used to be in this world, trying to not live out some old
truth, some old pattern that is still seeming to grip my life. Maybe you're
gripped by a habit that was a part of your life before you were a believer. How
do you say no to that habit?

You don't say no to that habit by just trying to say no to the habit. That's not
the secret. The secret is to be transformed, to find out what you're going to say
yes to.

You find the truth in God's word that's the opposite of that truth, and you
attach your mind, you renew your mind by that truth. That's the secret to
change. That's the secret to genuine worship.

I know a lot of believers who are trying real hard not to do the wrong thing,
but the Bible here teaches us that the secret is to instead attach your heart
and mind to the truth of doing the right thing. That's where the power is, and
that's where the change is. Don't be conformed, but be transformed.

- Wow. I really appreciate the way the Lord has communicated his word to us. Not
only does he tell us what not to do, Tom, but he tells us that we must be
transformed.

And then the next thing he says is that we need to know God's will, what to do,
how to know what to do. Worship means knowing the ways and the will of God. To
understand God's will, we must understand the word then.

Listen, it says do 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. The words test
and approve here don't mean that we should somehow put God to the test.

These words are talking about our own heart, about coming to a place where your
heart is sure. How do you get to that place? In these verses, the process ends
where we usually want to begin with knowing God's will.

How do you know God's will in every circumstance? You worship. In order to know
God's will, you must first get to know God.

That may sound obvious, but a lot of times we try to skip right over that. We
all miss that. We want to cut to the chase and have God give us a spiritual
to-do list.

But that's not how it works. To know his will, I must first know his mercies. I
must offer myself as a living sacrifice.

I must trust his acceptance of me. And I must choose to not copy the world
around me. In order to understand his will, I must first be transformed.

In fact, God doesn't show his will to people who are not transformed. It would
be a waste. His will is a powerful thing.

And if I'm not transformed in my heart, how am I going to live out his will?
First I have to be transformed. I've always thought of it, I've pictured it like
an electrical transformer that's outside of your house.

It takes the power, the great amount of power that's in those lines outside and
steps it down so I can use it, the appliances in my house can use that power. To
try to take advantage of or figure out God's will without being transformed, it
would be like plugging an appliance in without the transformer on the outside of
your house. It would just explode.

It wouldn't give you more power, it would blow out all the circuits. The Holy
Spirit is like a spiritual transformer. He makes a great deal of power available
in our everyday lives.

And so these verses, as we've looked together about transformation and being not
conformed to this world but transformed, about understanding God's will, these
are all verses about genuine worship, getting to know God. And the question that
I have as I come to the end of this look is where am I maybe stuck in the
process? Where is it that I need to make a decision to have faith so I can move
to the next level in my relationship with God and my worship of God?

I'm asking what's in the way. The principle is we can't skip steps, we gotta
know God in order to know his will. And that involves mercy and sacrifice,
knowing I'm acceptable, that I can't be conformed, I have to be transformed.

- Rick, as we end this look at these two great verses, would you lead us in a
time of prayer and looking together at what these verses had to teach us about
genuine worship and looking together at places where we might need to express
faith in God in order to genuinely, spiritually worship him? - Let's pray.
Father, give me a new view of your mercy.

You may want to pray that prayer right now. God, give me a new view of your mercy.
Today, I offer my body as a living sacrifice.

It's hard to do sometimes, but you just need to do it step by step. Be authentic
with God, say, "Here I am. " Pray that prayer.

Today, I offer my body as a living sacrifice. I choose by faith to trust that I
am holy and acceptable to you. Some of us may be struggling with that today.

How could I be acceptable to you? But we are, his word says we are. Pray this, I
choose by faith to trust that I am holy and acceptable to you.

Strengthen me to resist the temptation to copy the world around me. Renew my
mind through your truth today. Lord, I want to know your will, but even more, I
want to know you.

- Thanks, Rick. And thanks for joining us these last two days. Tomorrow, we're
going to be continuing our look together at Romans chapter 12.

We'll be looking at verses three through eight.