The Call to Transformation: Spiritual Renewal During Lent

Spiritual transformation requires more than surface-level changes - it demands a complete renewal of mind and spirit. This process involves letting go of worldly patterns and embracing God's truth through regular spiritual practices like prayer and Scripture study. True transformation manifests in changed attitudes, perspectives, and actions, reflecting Christ's character in daily life. The journey isn't about achieving perfection but making consistent progress through intentional surrender and spiritual discipline.

Transcript

All right, guys, if you have your Bibles with you this morning, I'll invite you to open up to the Book of Romans. It's in the New Testament. We're going to start with Romans chapter 12. We're going to read just a short snippet. Today it's going to be Romans 12, 1 and 2.

If you don't have your Bibles, you can follow along on the screen. We have the same words up there as we're reading together. Here is the word of the Lord for us this morning. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship.

Do not conform 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.

Have you heard that Scripture before? Yeah, lots of times. We're going to talk today about what it looks like for us to be transformed and for us to be renewed. So this morning, as we get closer to the end.

As we get closer to the end of our Lenten season, as we approach Holy Week, which, remember, is coming very quickly, I think it's important for us to focus on becoming the new creation that Apostle Paul is talking about when he writes the scripture. We start this morning by reading Romans chapter 12, because I know just about everybody in us or in here today has heard this scripture before. At some point along your faith journey. Maybe it was in Sunday school as a kid. Maybe it's constantly because you listen to, you know, religious radio, whatever it is.

I know that many of us have heard this scripture before. Even though we've heard it, I don't know that we take it seriously. And I don't think that we fully get it if that makes sense for Christians to be truly people that God is calling us to be. It's really important that we understand the implications of having a renewed spirit. Paul is calling us to become something different as a result of what it is that we believe.

And I know that while we've been focusing a lot through this Lenten journey to be prepared for the saving work of Jesus on the cross through his death and resurrection. We cannot fully get it unless this journey begins to really change us. So the world. Sorry, the word conform. When Paul is talking about conform here in Scripture, it refers to the idea of shaping yourself to fit a particular standard or pattern in this Particular context.

The word conform suggests adopting values, behaviors, or maybe even the mindset of the world. Rather than seeking the spiritual renewal or alignment with God's plan and God's will for our lives. Renewing of our minds refers to a transformative process. So it changes us where our thoughts, our attitudes and perspectives are reshaped more to align with God's truth rather than what we see in the world around us. Renewing of the mind suggests an ongoing spiritual renewal.

It's not something that happens once and then you're made new and then everything is fine. It's a process. Renewing of the mind suggests it's ongoing, moving away from old patterns of thinking and embracing a more God centered mindset. So this renewal, it's an internal change that affects our worldview, our decisions, and the way that we act as human beings. And by consistently seeking holy wisdom through prayer, scripture and reflection, we begin to allow God's truth to shape our thoughts and our very lives.

We begin to live more like God has asked us to live. We kind of align more with God's will. The only problem is that God can't renew what we won't release. Transformation begins with surrender. The renewal we need in our lives starts with letting go.

And we can't be transformed by God if we keep hanging on to the broken pieces of our lives because it feels comfortable, because we recognize it, because it's easy. Have you ever cleaned out your closet? No. All right, thank you, Chuck, for being honest. Listen, we recently, and by recently I mean about three years ago, moved into a new house with a bigger closet that my wife and I share together.

We had individual closets. And yeah, I don't know that it's my fault, but that closet's a wreck. It probably, it probably is my fault actually. Yeah, I mean, I have really important things in my closet. I have, first of all, all of my wardrobe, including pants I've not worn in 10 years or so.

But I also have things like the 3D printed helmets that I have made stacked on the top of the closet shelves. I can't reach them anyway, so there's no reason to put anything up there other than something cool like 3D printed helmets. Obviously. I mean, I have old cell phone boxes, I have scrapbooks, I have. I don't know that all those things go in the closet, but I can't really bring myself to get rid of them.

My closet is overstuffed, it's not organized. And anytime I look for anything, I have to really go searching for it. That's why? You guys recognize that I have like three shirts that I wear on Sunday mornings. They're all flannel, every one of them.

Okay, that I don't really. You guys, that deserved a bigger laugh. I think maybe you believe that. You believe that I only have three flannel shirts. Okay, that's true.

Chuck does take an awful photo. Alright, leave me alone. Someday I'll clean my closet. I'll find the other shirts. But once cleaned out, our closets become organized and they're functional again, making room for what truly matters, not the stuff that we just hang on to because we have nothing else to do with it.

Spiritual renewal during Lent is much like this. When we take time to evaluate what's no longer serving us spiritually. And we take time to get rid of those things that are separating us from God or things that God has asked us to work on.

And I want to remind you on up here. Yeah, I know that you understand this, but I don't know if you fully understand the implications. The world is what shapes us. Unless we resist, without intentional change, all of us are going to default to acting as the world says it's okay to act, to talking to each other like the world says it's okay to talk to. To treat each other the way that the world says it's okay for us to treat one another.

So we started out today by reading a scripture that many of us in here had already heard. A scripture that calls us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds rather than being conformed to the ways of the world. And there's this moment where Jesus begins his journey to the cross and he's spending time in prayer. But this particular moment that he spends in time in prayer is different because he's not spending time alone in prayer as Jesus traditionally does. Jesus calls his disciples together and he begins to pray for his disciples.

And he's praying out loud. And he says in the middle of his prayer that his disciples and those who are hearing him should remain outside of the influence of world. And you can hear this as we read it together today in John, chapter 17, verses 6 through 19. And here's what it says. Jesus is praying out loud and he says, I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.

They were yours. You gave them to me. And they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me, and they accepted them.

They knew with certainty that I came from you. And they believe that you Sent me. I pray for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those you have given me. For they are yours.

All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer. But they are still in the world. And I'm coming to you, Holy Father.

Protect them by the power of your name. The name that you gave me. So that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe. By that name that you gave me.

None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction. So that Scripture would be fulfilled. I am coming to you now. But I say these things while I'm still in the world. So that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

I have given them your word and the world hated them. For they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world. But that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself. That they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus here in his prayer life is taking some time to pray to God on behalf of his disciples. And in his prayer, he recognizes that the disciples have trusted him. They've heard God's word through Jesus. They followed him everywhere he's gone. They are different because of the difference Jesus made in their lives.

His disciples have become holy. They've become sanctified is what the Word says. And their holiness is based on Jesus teaching and his love for them. They gave up their planned out, predicated and prescribed lives in order to follow Jesus. Jesus recognizes here in this prayer that his disciples have become something different.

They've been transformed. They're different than before they were when they knew him. And I would say that the main reason that Jesus recognizes this newness is that because his disciples were willing to let go of worldly expectations. And they were resisting being shaped by the world. And because of their closeness to Jesus, they were transformed into powerful evangelists for the gospel.

Right? So the whole world was changed because the disciples, 12 people scattered and told everybody they came in contact with about who Jesus was.

Church. If we want to be transformed in that same way, we have got to be close to Jesus. We have got to resist the world and be changed by Christ instead. And that's not easy.

When we seek this kind of powerful Christ transformation in our lives, we have to understand that it doesn't just happen and all becomes right in the world. Transformation is something that is ongoing. We make a decision to be transformed and then we work towards that transformation. Renewal isn't a one time event. It is a lifelong process.

So think about it this way. I mean, I know I've talked to you guys in here about my truck. I have an old S10 that has about 4 trillion miles on it, but every single car I own has over 200,000 miles on it. Okay, I know you're thinking, that's such a young man. How did he drive so many miles, right?

I love cars. I've loved cars since I was a kid. I've loved working on cars. I've loved doing all the things to make cars run. But a car will not run unless you continually maintain it, right?

One thing we have to do, every 5,000 miles, we have to do it. What is it? Oil change, right? Some people say it's 3,000, some people say 5,000. Some people drive Teslas and they'll never change their oil, ever.

But for the rest of us, when we change the oil in our cars, that is something that is renewing the lifeblood of our vehicle, right? My Toyota Mr.2, it's a 1991, has 255,000 miles on it. My 1994 S10 has 230,000. And my 2012, this is 2012 Toyota FJ Cruiser, has 245,000 miles on it. My FJ, I've never had to do any large maintenance to because I have constantly done the little things, right?

Not just changing the oil, but I also have to change the oil in the differential, the oil in the transfer case. They say that the transmission itself, you never have to touch it. It's a sealed unit from the factory. You'll never have to change the transmission fluid. First of all, I don't buy it, so I'll probably have that done at some point.

But when we see little issues with our cars, it is better to address them while they're little than to let them develop into something that is a big time problem. Imagine a once reliable car that's been driven for years without the proper maintenance, right? You skip the oil changes, you go a little too long without doing the routine maintenance, and all of those things lead to breakdowns. The same is true for our spiritual lives. Just as every vehicle needs intentional and routine maintenance to function properly, our spiritual lives are broken and less productive unless we are able to see the areas in our lives that need to be addressed, and we work on those areas.

It takes reassessment constantly and it takes action on our part. If we're not as close to God as we have felt like in years, maybe it's because we're not spending enough time in prayer. We. We see it, we address it, we change it, and then we grow closer to God in those moments.

If we want true transformation, we have to allow God to refine us. But the refining process is never easy, right? It often involves struggle. Now, the great news is, as we're moving into Lent, we're not necessarily talking about struggle, but we're talking about intentional times where we make our own lives a little harder by giving something up or taking something else on. Right.

I'm going to read to you from First Peter, chapter one, and it says three through nine. I'm going to read you the message version. I like the version in the message. Here. Here's what it says.

What a God we have and how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our master, Jesus. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven. And the future starts now. God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The day is coming when you'll have it all, life healed and whole.

I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold is put in the fire comes out of it proved pure. Genuine faith put through the suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory. You never saw him, yet you love him.

You still don't see him, yet you trust him with laughter and singing because you kept on believing. You'll get what you're looking forward to, total salvation.

Just as silver or gold or is purified in fire, our faith is strengthened when we take time to focus on making our faith stronger. Have you ever been sucked into those YouTube videos about refining gold? Anybody seen any of those? Oh, man, I. Every time.

Every time one of those comes across my feed on either TikTok or YouTube, I watch it. I'm a sucker. So I've seen everything from people who are like taking computer parts and pieces and like scraping off the gold and they refine it and purify it and they use chemicals to like, change all the whole chemistry and it turns from Gold into powder, into darker powder, and then it's washed clean and they melt it down, it becomes gold again. Weird stuff to watch, but it doesn't start that way, right? If you've ever watched the whole process of anybody digging up ore, it's a big, long process, Right.

It's amazing for us to look at this particular process and see how chemicals and heat and water can make something pure. And the amazing thing is that God does the same thing for our lives if we allow him. God wants to strip away for us sin and distractions and anything else that keeps us separated from him.

But transformation is never just about stripping out the old. It's also about stepping into the new. So when you think about pure gold or silver, you think about this beautiful, shiny thing, right? But it always starts out as. Or let me be very clear.

The time has long come and gone when you could be walking around a creek in Colorado and find a chunk of gold that's all gone. People found it. That's. Yeah, that's your necklace. You're welcome.

So now when people do this whole mining process, they're digging through solid rock to try to find gold ore. And I have been to some of those mines in Colorado. I go on Manventure every year, and I love going into the mines. I don't know, it's just really cool to see, like, old Levi's jeans that are, like 100 years old sitting in the place that they were the last time the, you know, the workers took them off. And I don't know why you're taking your pants off in a mine, but there they are.

I mean, it's weird to see old boxes of dynamite just, you know, 24, you know, 20 or more feet away from you. It's a really cool process. And there are lots of mines all around Colorado, but when they dig up ore now, it looks a lot like this. Do you see the gold in that rock? No, you don't?

No, you don't. You do. I mean, listen, this thing has a laser. I'm going to try this. You might see a little bit of shine there, but traditionally, when you're looking for gold, you don't see gold flakes in the ore.

You see a little bit more here in this one, right? Like, you see right there some gold, I'm sure. Oh, yeah. I'm a professional. I've watched enough videos to make me a pro.

But, like, that does not look to me like I want to put that on a necklace that does not look like it's worth gold. Right. But these are all gold ore. Now this one is pretty interesting because there's copper in this one. You can tell by the blue.

It's like a copper sulfite kind of situation. And apparently underneath and around, all that gold is attracted.

That's really what a lot of gold ore looks like. And you see how much it looks like here. Like, that is solid gold ore. And you can see how much gold ore is actually in it. How many ounces per ton?

0.116oz per ton.

Now this one is a little more clear. Anytime you come across these kind of crystallized quartz, oftentimes you can find gold kind of trapped in that quartz. And this one's got some shiny spots. Maybe that's gold. I don't know.

I am a professional. I just. I need to be closer to the screen to see that one. This looks like dirt to me. Right.

But apparently this is all gold ore. That's dirt, right?

That one's a little shinier. I see specks in that one.

The process says you have to mine the ore, you have to crush the ore, you have to process the ore, you melt the ore, you refine the ore, and then it finally becomes something different. It is a long and tedious process. Do you know how much gold is worth right this second? Nope. More than that.

Gold currently is $3,144.50 per troy ounce. It's basically because a troy ounce has 31.10 grams. It is basically $101 per gram of gold. Does that mean a lot to you? I just know pounds and ounces.

I don't know grams. That's weird. But when you mine for gold, you have to assay in terms of grams per ton. Now they do ounces per ton here. 0.11 ounces per ton.

If you end up with 2 grams per ton of gold, that is viewed as high grade bulk tonnage. 2 grams. That's basically $200 a ton versus of rock. You have to process in order to get that gold. And that's good, right?

Once the ore is crushed, it has to be chemically separated and concentrated. And then it's refined, it's put through the fire. Gold and silver are then usually turned into bars and then sold to jewelers and banks and treasuries, where the raw material is shaped into something different. It's put into its final form coins, jewelry, or other precious items. But the thing about gold and silver and other precious metals is that they are a significantly less value until they become something different.

It isn't until the ring is made or the coin is struck or the statue is created that gold receives its true worth. It's gold in the hands of an artist, that makes it more valuable. You guys have maybe seen this before. This is called the 1933 Golden Double Eagle coin. You ever seen one of those out in circulation?

No, you haven't. You know why? There's exactly one of these in existence outside of the Smithsonian. Now, the Smithsonian has two on display there. There is one that is currently in the hands of a private person.

This, friends, is a $20 gold coin. It's worth $20 in 1933. Right. Anybody want to guess how much a $20 coin weighs?

Close. It is 967 ounces. Right. So $20 in 1933 would be 967 ounces. Gold then was roughly $20 an ounce.

So based on gold prices today. Right. I've already told you what they were. What do you think this coin is worth? A little over $3,000.

You would be right if it wasn't the only one in existence. Right. So now it's not just that. The fact that this gold has been put through this process where artistry has happened, but now its rarity has become even more valuable. Any guesses what you want to think this coin is worth?

300,000. 10 million. 5 million. $20. Oh, 20 million.

20 million. 1, 100 trillion. Yeah. Did you have a guess, Roman? Yep.

What is it? 5 million. That's a good guess. What do you have, Sophia?

About ten hundred. That's pretty close. That's pretty close. So let me tell you, friends, because the 1933 double eagle is something that is incredibly and exquisitely struck, and it's rare. The current estimated value of this one coin is around $22.6 million.

Now, to be fair, it's an estimated value. But this coin sold at auction in 2021. And in 2021, it was sold for 18.9 million. Could you imagine one coin? So this makes this one single coin the most expensive coin ever minted and the most expensive coin ever evaluated.

Often, friends, what is formed out of what is there already is more valuable than simply what is there. Just like precious metals, we have to become something new before we can attain our truest and fullest potential.

And think about this. A goldsmith or a silversmith know that their product is perfectly refined and fully attains its value when they can clearly see their reflection in it. God does the same with us. He refines us until we begin to reflect God's image. As we journey through Lent this sacred season, we've been given again an opportunity, a holy opportunity.

We've been offered a season that gently invites us, without urgency, without crisis in our lives or pain, to pause, to reflect, and to consider the state of our own spirits. Each season of Lent serves as a mirror, showing us where we've grown comfortable, where our faith might feel routine, and areas in our lives where we can invite God to breathe new life into us. And I hope that you guys have all seen over the last four weeks that Lent is not just a time to abstain or to sacrifice. It's a time for us to wake up.

It's a season of intentional renewal, a chance to let go of the spiritual clutter we've accumulated and to make room for needed daily transformation. This renewal doesn't need to come from hardship, but it can come from our response to God's grace, calling us deeper into relationship with Himself. As the rhythm of Lent prepares us for the miracle of Easter, it asks us a simple yet profound question.

Are we ready to be made new?

The kind of renewal that Christ offers doesn't erase who we are. Christ's renewal reveals who were meant to be by clearing away anything that dims his light within us. And the hard part about transformation isn't about knowing what to do. It's about doing the things we've already identified, isn't it? We know the closet needs to clean out, be cleaned out.

We know that the car needs an oil change. We know that we need to be refined. It's easy to recognize those things. It's really hard to do those things. Second Corinthians 5, verses 1 through 5, and then 16 through 21 says this.

For we know that if the earthly tent that we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile, we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling. Because when we're clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened because we do not wish to be unclothed, but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come.

So from now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is Gone. The new is here.

All this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That God was reconciling the world to himself and Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you, on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, that we in him might become the righteousness of God. When we renew our hearts, it will lead us to new habits. Renewal means living differently. So if we're called to be newly created, the old is gone, the new is here. When we renew our spirits to look and be more like Christ, we are no longer supposed to be recognized by the world as being one of them.

We're supposed to be transformed into something new, something different, something that looks like Jesus. And we can live into this new identity. We can lean into this faith that we profess by our actions, our attitudes, in the way that we love and serve others. Our transformation has to be evident in how we live our lives.

Walking in newness takes effort. But Scripture promises us that the reward is abundant.

I don't know if you guys have ever seen me before. I grew my beard, pretty, boring face, look really young, nothing to be attracted to. But now that I have this beard, people think that I know stuff. People think that I am incredibly rugged. I could go out into the wilderness and survive, Right?

Before I grew my beard, I was seen as weak. But now people look at me and they instantly know how strong I am. Because this transformation on my face makes me seem different and stronger and better and more good. Looking wiser and all that, right? No.

Okay, where's the picture? You don't listen. My face is boring. You don't want to see it.

My life looked different after I grew my beard. It's not the same thing at all. But I feel better about myself when I look in the mirror, right? If we are made new, then our lives should look different. We should all grow beards.

Ladies.

Working on it.

All right. So how do we live transformed lives every day? How do we do it? How do we live into this transformation that God is calling us to?

Colossians 3, 9, 10 says this. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived, but now you must also rid yourself of such things as these.

Anger, rage, malice, slander, and I feel like God is talking to me right now, man and the filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised by barbarian, Scythian slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another.

If any of you has a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

You got all that? You ready to put all that into practice? Starting from the minute we walk outside today? It's a lot, isn't it? But, friends, when we don't look like this, we don't represent who Jesus is anymore.

This is who we're called to be. And don't get me wrong, I know that Jesus recognizes that we're going to fail. But Jesus calls us to continually renew our spirits every single day. That's why it's a journey.

It's kind of like this. You ever heard of a crash diet, right? Where you're like, from now on, I'm never eating sugar again as long as I live, right? And so you stop eating sugar, and then a week later you've lost 15 pounds and you're starting to look better and feel better about yourself. Crash diets are not sustainable, right?

It is much easier for us to do small things every single day than one giant thing once and then fail. Because we're not going to gain those 15 pounds back. It's going to be 37 pounds and we're going to eat everything, right?

A crash diet may bring temporary change, but true health comes from daily commitment. Spiritual renewal works just like that. It's not a one time event. It's not a one time choice. It is every single day, walking intentionally closer to God.

So spiritual disciplines make the difference. Prayer, scripture, worship, community, all help us to maintain that spiritual renewal that we're called to in this journey that we're on. It's not about perfection. It's about progress.

Anybody ever run a marathon? Like a full marathon? Anybody? One coolest guy in the room right there. Anybody done half marathons?

Okay, Sophia has. Dee's done. So here's the deal. If you've ever fallen while you were running, you have two options. At that point, you can say, I'm done, call it quits, go to the showers, eat some pasta, or you can get up and continue the race.

Christ is calling us no matter how many times we fail to continually get up and keep running this race that we've been called to. So, friends, this week, let's do a few things. Let's commit to some real transformation in our lives. Ask yourselves throughout the week, what is something I'm willing to surrender to God? Ask yourselves, maybe there's one thing that will help me live as a new creation.

What is that one thing? And in our prayer time, let's ask God to reshape us into his image. Friends, let's pray.