The Nonconformity of the Church

The account of Cortez and the Spaniards conquest of the Aztec Empire is replete with human sacrifice. Sacrifice played a major role in the Iliad and Odyssey by Homer. The Achaeans and the Trojans constantly offered oblations of wine and slaughtered animals to their gods. Various sacrifices dominate the Old Testament people of God. Ancient people were obsessed with sacrifice. The killing and offering of animals to the gods was the focal point of their worship. Thus, when Paul uses the metaphor of sacrifice in Romans 12:1, he is picking up an idea very familiar to his readers.

The apostle Paul commands, "Present your bodies a living sacrifice to God. Believers in Christ offer their bodies, we offer our bodies, as sacrifices to God. The word "body focuses on the "embodied nature of our persons. We are physical beings. We live in a material world. Gardening, walking, running, training; all the jobs and routines we carry out in our calling can be acts of devotion to our Lord. The notion that service to God only takes place at Church is nonsense. What we do with our bodies ought to be pleasing to the Lord, no matter where we are. On another occasion, Paul said, "…Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31).

Notice as well that the body we offer to God as a living sacrifice becomes our reasonable "service. In Greek the word for "service is "liturgy. The apostle thus links the body to holy places during holy times. Christianity emphasizes the wholeness of the person. God does not save souls; He saves people with their bodies and souls. Disembodied souls worship God in Heaven during the intermediate period as they await the general resurrection, but we on earth worship the Blessed Trinity body and soul. Hence, the Church has designed bodily worship. At certain points in the liturgy there is opportunity for standing, sitting, kneeling, bowing, walking, making the sign of the cross, lifting hands, and other liturgical motions. These movements are voluntary. You can opt out. Nevertheless, the union of body and soul suggests that there may be spiritual value to them.

Romans 12:2 says, "And do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Let’s consider the exhortation, "Do not be conformed to this world. What does the word "world mean in Scripture? If we are to be un-conformed to the world we need to know what it is. In Scripture the term "world is used, not in a geographic sense, but in an ethical sense. Rather than the planet that astronauts gaze on from the windows of their rocket ships in outer space, the round sphere we walk on, the word "world denotes the realm of disobedience. The world represents the life of man apart from God and bound to sinful impulses. Thus, in this particular passage from Romans 12, the "world means whatever is ethically separated from God, whatever is in rebellion to Him, and opposed to Christ. "Do not be conformed to it. It is in this sense that the Church is committed to nonconformity.

What specifically, qualifies as the world of disobedience? The gay, feminist and pro-choice agendas are movements that rebel against God. But the nonconformity of the Church against the world also includes subtle attitudes in our society that we breathe in; hedonism, narcissism, the worldly ways of parenting, casual sex outside of marriage, disrespect for authority, greed, and moral relativism. Conformity to these things is a constant temptation. There is nothing wrong with watching network television, reading secular books, and listening to secular music, but an immersion in those things will create a secular mind, it will foster conformity to the world.

Some believers are too willing to please the world, too ready to soften the hard edges of orthodoxy, too eager to accommodate themselves to contemporary standards, and too excited about the latest fad of popular culture. No doubt it is natural to want to fit in and have others like us. Conformity to the crowd holds the promise of acceptance; swimming with the current is easy. Several times I have walked upstream, jumped into a river and floated down. It is fun. But drifting with the current can be fatal if it causes you to conform yourself to the world, behaving contrary to Christian morality, and adopting a non-Christian worldview. In a perverse culture, the Church stands as a nonconforming body, and the Christian who tries to conform to the world wanders onto a slippery slope. Making peace with the world can lead you away from Christ altogether. And to the degree you conform your thinking and conduct to the world, to that degree your life becomes shallow, confused, meaningless, miserable, and finally, death-loving. Yes, the most zealous rebels against God come to love death. The Proverb says, "All those who hate me love death (Prov. 8:36).

Scripture says: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. What is a renewed mind? A renewed mind is transformed. The Greek word for "transformed is the one from which we get metamorphosis. Remember the guy who turned into a giant beetle and hung on the ceiling? Somebody threw an apple at him and locked him in his room. He underwent an unpleasant metamorphosis. We need to undergo a positive metamorphosis. We need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds into the image of Christ. How is this possible? God does it. How does He do it? Through the means of grace! God’s Word is the key means of grace: reading and memorizing and meditating upon Scripture will reprogram our minds like nothing else. The intellectual goal of the Christian is to think like God thinks, to think biblically, and using Scripture, attain wisdom and maturity in all areas of life. So the Lord gives us the Bible as the primary means of grace for the process of sanctifying the mind, transforming it into the likeness of Christ. Other means of grace also help our mind metamorphosis. Prayer, habitual prayer reformats the thinking; our minds are renewed by frequent fellowship with other believers in the Church, and regular feeding on Christ through the sacrament of Holy Communion. These are the elements that renew the mind and transform the whole person.

Let us move on to Romans 12:3-5. [Read them.]

"Not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, indicates the importance of humility in maintaining the unity of God’s people. Some people overestimate themselves. Some people underestimate themselves. To think soberly means balance. Do you have a balanced perception of your abilities? Self-delusion and self-denial often cloud our opinion of ourselves. Almost all convicted felons are people of high self-esteem who believe themselves superior to others in their intelligence and talents. My sister told me about an actress who thought she was the best, yet on stage she was a disaster time and again. She was terrible, and kept blaming the people doing the hiring when she never got any jobs. It is difficult to think soberly of yourself. What does your report card say? What does the boss say? What does the Pastor say? If you think you are good in sports, what do the statistics demonstrate? What do your teammates think? What does the free market show? Most importantly, what does God think? The Proverb says, "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts (Proverbs 21:2). St. Paul warns us, "Be careful not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think.

The phrases in Romans 12 teach us things about the Church. It says, "We, being many, are one body in Christ. In other words, the Church is the body of Christ. A body is a metaphor that tells us what the Church ought to be. Is the Church primarily visible or invisible? Divisible or indivisible? Local or universal? Does it turn off and on like a light through history? Is there continuity from the time of Christ?

The body of Christ image implies that the Church is visible, united, and universal. It has existed since Adam and Eve. The primary discontinuity is the fact that since the incarnation, Christ has been the Head of the Church, which is now His body and bride. The body of Christ metaphor shows that Christians must work to maintain a healthy unified life in the Church. A couple days ago I read an article in the newspaper. The piece quoted a guy who described himself as an "unaffiliated Christian. As the article unfolded I learned that this unaffiliated Christian never attends Church, and probably never prays or reads the Bible. The world prefers unaffiliated, non-churched Christians. The devil likes unaffiliated Christians too. The tendency among church members today is to leave the church or switch to another as soon as they get disappointed, or they detect some kind of imperfection in it. As sinners, we are naturally divisive. It is amazing how divisive people are. They can’t get along. They divide. Fullerton now has two Pony League baseball leagues. Why? I was told that half the coaches hate the other half of the coaches and vice versa. Their animus is so strong they decided to split up and form two separate leagues. In our Outreach meeting yesterday, someone expressed his amazement that the Church is comprised of people who are so different one from another, and who would not normally come together, and yet we do come together in Christ. Christ is the glue that transcends our differences and unifies us.

John Calvin had some words of warning for people who wanted to abandon the Church. He wrote, "He who voluntarily deserts the outward communion of the Church (where the Word of God is preached and the sacraments are administered) is without excuse. Neither the vices of the few nor the vices of the many in any way prevent us from duly professing our faith there in ceremonies ordained by God. For a godly conscience is not wounded by the unworthiness of another, whether pastor or layman, nor are the sacraments less pure and salutary for a holy and upright man because they are handled by unclean persons.

Calvin understood the tendency of man. It is easy to look around the parish and think: the pastor is corrupt, that person rubs me the wrong way, he is immature, she is thoughtless, and so on. We find shortcomings. The temptation is to quit. Sometimes that is the right decision. You don’t want to stay in a church that ordains a homosexual man who abandoned his wife and children. But in most cases, to walk away from the Church with no intention to join another parish is wrong. This temptation must be resisted. Normally, it is better to remain in the Church and work out the problems. Hopping from church to church is less than ideal, and television church is not church. The apostle states, "We are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Church is where you see people and talk to them in their physical presence. One reason people leave the church is because they don’t like people. They like books more than they like people. They like ideas more than they like people. They like money more than they like people. When Paul says, "We are one body in Christ, it suggests that we must try to like people. In fact, Jesus told us to love other people.

There are good reasons God has placed you in the Church and doesn’t want you to leave it. "You cannot fully "renew your mind without the active help of other believers. You cannot understand what Scripture teaches apart from dialog with others who are reading that same Scripture. You cannot live the life of a disciple of Christ apart from others who encourage you, pray for you, and set an example for you. You cannot discern the blind spots in your obedience to Christ without other believers to point them out to you. If you think you can do all this isolated from the Church then you are thinking of yourself more highly than you ought to think, and it is time to start thinking more soberly.

The apostle Paul begins to discuss the topic of spiritual gifts. But that will have to wait for another sermon. Finding and using your gifts in the Church is valuable. Lay ministry is needful; but chiefly God wants the Church to help you be holy. If the Lord uses the worship and ministry of St. Luke’s to make you more righteous this year, then plenty of lay ministry will happen. Ministry is going take place inside and outside the church. In terms of the pressures of the world around you, you will become a nonconformist. You will not be conformed to the world. Your mind will become more renewed by God’s Word. You will think a little more closely to the way God thinks. You will estimate yourself honestly - not too high, not too low. You will like people better. Then you will utilize the gifts God has given you to serve others. These are the things that God’s Word puts before you today. Getting up on the altar and offering your self a living sacrifice to the Lord is part of the Christian lifestyle. It is difficult. God the Holy Spirit, help us to grow in these areas.

Let us pray.