Transformed Living; Transformed Giving (Romans 12:2)
Big Idea: The gospel changes us from selfish consumers to generous givers, reflecting Christ and discovering true joy beyond what the world promises.
At the end of the 20th century, many believed they created the modern world, but it is actually the modern world that has shaped us. While we believe we created technology—like cars, computers, and telephones—it’s more accurate to say that technology has shaped who we are. Instead of transforming what we’ve made, what we’ve made has transformed us.
Take the car, for example. Researchers have highlighted its immense influence, much of it unintentional. The automobile reshaped our lives, creating suburbs and separating residential areas from urban centers. It altered our lifestyles, courtship habits, recreational activities, and even the environment. It’s also become a leading cause of injury and death. Astonishingly, 25% of the national economy revolves around the car, encompassing roads, bridges, gasoline, rubber, steel, plastic, and more. Industries like auto insurance, traffic control, and even stop sign painting exist because of it.
The car has created new challenges for parents, who now spend a lot of time driving their children, a burden previous generations didn’t have. Even fenced yards are an unintended consequence of the automobile. This example vividly illustrates how the world shapes us far more than we shape it.
Nowhere is this more significant than in the realm of Christian stewardship. Stewardship is our use as trustees of the time, money, and abilities that God has given us. And to be good stewards, it is absolutely necessary that we have transformed lives. We must be thermostats that set the temperature around us, rather than thermometers that merely reflect it. It is one thing to be a weathervane, and another thing to direct the wind.
Living a Life of Transformation
In Romans 12, the apostle Paul makes a passionate appeal for transformed living. He appeals to us to resist the pressure for conformity and to proactively transform our living.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
One translation says, "Don't copy the behavior and customs of the world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." Paul is warning us against adopting the outward behavior of the world. A true Christian, by their very nature, can't actually conform to the world at the center of their being. Believers can adopt worldly behaviors and customs, making it difficult for others to recognize them as followers of Christ.
One preacher said that there are two types of hypocrisy. One type is to act better than one is. But another type of hypocrisy is to act worse than you actually are. And it's possible for a Christian to outwardly act worse than they inwardly are. Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, had an expression: "Become what you are." For Christians, inner renewal should lead to changes in outward behavior. Yet in the endless pressure of the world, the opposite often happens to the believer. Our outward behavior often conforms to the world, rather than to our true inward nature.
When Paul warns us against being transformed by the world, what does he mean? The Greek word for world, as Paul used it, means "the spirit of the times." In other words, don't conform to the prevailing attitudes and opinions and norms of the day. Don't let public opinion transform you. In Canada, indecency is defined as something that violates community standards. The problem with this is that community standards are always changing. Paul says, don't be like that!
A poll of executives shows concerning trends: 80% admit to driving drunk, 35% cheat on taxes, 75% use work supplies for personal reasons, and 78% misuse company phones for long-distance calls. But the issue runs deeper. The spirit of the age emphasizes personal happiness, links sexual freedom to fulfillment, and promotes subjective morality. It normalizes abortion as a woman's right, supports homosexuality, and reinterprets "till death do us part" to mean "as long as we're happy." These cultural messages aim to shape Christians into their mold, but Paul’s words are clear: "Do not let them!"
What I've talked about really are issues of stewardship. Stewardship involves how we manage our minds, cars, tax deductions, work supplies, and bodies. Perhaps nowhere is the world having more success in molding Christians than in the area of stewardship. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, said, "Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can." But the world today says, "Make all you can, keep all you can, spend all you can."
The startling truth is that the average Christian gives about 1% of personal income to the work of Christ. This is far, far behind the amount spent on housing, food, clothing, transportation, and recreation. The average Christian spends about 50 cents per day on the missionary work of spreading the Gospel over the globe. That's less than a soft drink in most machines. The chameleon is an interesting lizard. It changes its color to match the background. Place a chameleon on green, and it turns green. Place a chameleon on brown, and it turns brown. When it comes to giving, there is really no place for Christian chameleons. Rather than reflecting the values of human culture, we must reflect the values of God's reign.
The opposite of conforming to the world’s mold is living a life of transformation. The command "be transformed" derives from the Greek word metamorphosis, meaning a deep change in one's core nature that starts from within and extends outward. A strong example of this is the transfiguration of Jesus Christ, where his divine nature appeared in a radiant display. This transformation reflects Paul’s message in Romans 12, encouraging believers to show the inward renewal they've received in Christ outwardly.
A believer naturally shows the traits of a follower of Christ, much like the sun shines or a rose releases its fragrance. Jesus didn’t command us to “pour salt on the earth” or “shine light on the world.” Instead, he declared, “You are the salt of the earth” and “You are the light of the world.” This influence flows not from striving but from being. A fruit tree naturally allows a bud to become a flower and a flower to become fruit without forcing it. Knowing Christ transforms us and the world around us, just as sunrise follows night.
What we have to do is to prevent anything from blocking the natural expression of that inward, transforming life. We do that by keeping the commandment of the apostle John: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15).
We are not to put supreme value on the lifestyle of the world around us. In the 19th century, Henry Thoreau left the busy towns of Lexington and Concord to live for over a year at Walden Pond, a depression formed by glaciers 10,000 years ago. While living in utter simplicity, he contemplated and wrote about the world's ability to keep us slaves. 19th-century farming equipment had as much impact on transforming life as modern technology does today. Only a resolute commitment to transformed living will demonstrate a lifestyle of transformation.
This is most certainly true in the arena of stewardship. How we spend our time, money, and abilities reflects how much our lives have been changed by the gospel. In a world where Donald Trump is as much a hero as Billy Graham, we really need to think about which one we're going to emulate. Nothing so demonstrates the tangible change in our lives brought about by Christ as the willingness to give. Paul follows the remarkable chapter on Christ's resurrection in 1 Corinthians with a practical call for believers to give regularly, responsibly, and in proportion to God's work. Paul links the powerful force that resurrected Jesus to the ability to change selfish people into generous contributors to God's kingdom.
Metamorphosis occurs when a caterpillar spins a cocoon and later emerges as a beautiful monarch butterfly. A person who has been self-absorbed, materialistic, and greedy can undergo a miraculous transformation into someone spiritual, generous, and giving. This comes only by the grace of God.
How does this transformation take place? Transformation takes place, Paul says, by the renewing of the mind. Despite our generation's advanced knowledge of science, we still struggle to understand the difference between the mind and the brain, as well as between thought and its physical basis. Only divine intervention can change the mind during the life transformation known as Christian conversion. And when our mind is transformed, that change includes Christian stewardship – the living mind turns into the giving mind. It is the nature of God to give as it is the nature of light to shine. The mind of Christ can transform our minds and take us to heights of living and giving that we otherwise could not reach.
Many of us are like the barnyard duck in this little poem:
My soul is like a barnyard duck,
Muddling in the barnyard muck,
Fat and lazy with useless wings;
But sometimes when the north wind sings
And wild ducks fly overhead,
It ponders something lost and dead,
It cocks a wary, bewildered eye
And makes a feeble attempt to fly,
It's quite content with the state it's in
But it's not the duck it might have been.
There is a sense that we were intended to fly, to mount up with wings of eagles. Only transforming my life into one that gives, like the Gospel, frees me from a greedy, earthly mindset and aligns me with the selfless nature of Christ.
The Giving Life
Paul teaches in Romans 12 that we are to present ourselves as living sacrifices to God. In the Old Testament, sacrifices were external acts, often disconnected from the worshippers' personal lives. At their best, they expressed worship; at their worst, they became hollow, mechanical rituals. These sacrifices were limited to three annual feasts or occasional freewill offerings, and were only made at the temple in Jerusalem. For someone living even 50 miles away, the idea of daily sacrifice was unimaginable.
With the coming of Jesus Christ, everything changed. Material sacrifices were replaced by the offering of ourselves, not occasionally but daily, as a way of life. Worship is no longer confined to a specific place, it happens wherever we go—our homes, workplaces, recreational spaces, and churches. When we embrace life as a daily living sacrifice, giving to Christ becomes as natural as breathing. The transformed life is, by nature, a giving life.
Nature embodies this truth. A withered seed falls to the ground, and in the damp soil, it disintegrates. Yet, within that disintegration, life begins. The seed germinates, growing a shoot that becomes a stalk, which then blooms into a flower that produces more seeds. This cycle of giving and renewal illustrates a profound truth: the life that gives is the life that truly lives.
Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive," and his life and resurrection validate this truth. The transformed life is, by nature, a giving life—a double miracle of transformation. It reflects Christ's miracle within us and God's providence, transforming our energy, work, education, and training into offerings for his purposes. Our lives are converted into resources, those resources into ministry, and that ministry back into transformed lives. The cycle of giving shows the blessing of generosity.
The modern world often shapes us more than we shape it. Technology, like cars and computers, has transformed how we live, often in ways we don’t fully realize. The world molds us, often pulling us away from God’s design.
Paul’s call in Romans 12 is clear: don’t conform to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This transformation begins with the gospel—the good news that Jesus lived, died, and rose again to rescue us. Through faith in him, we are forgiven, made new, and empowered to live differently. Instead of reflecting the world’s values, we reflect Christ’s. This transformation fosters a life of generosity, enabling us to give ourselves daily as sacrifices for God's purposes. True freedom and joy come not from what we keep, but from what we give, as we live out the selfless nature of Christ.
