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Romans 12v3-8
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16 September 2012 am Arcadia
Your mind matters to God
In order to know and do the will of God you and I must
not conform to the patterns of this world but be
transformed by the renewing of our minds.
To live a God pleasing Christian life you do not need a
new list of behaviour. That approach leaves you in
bondage and leads you down paths of legalism and
frustration.
To live a God pleasing Christian life you do need to
embrace the truth of the Bible; you do need to apply this
truth in real life, but you are to do so with a new mind
and new heart.
Christian living is not will-power religion. It is the
overflow of a new mind and a new heart created by the
Holy Spirit.
But where do we begin to unfold the way the Christian
mind thinks? What is the one primary area of thinking
that you need to cultivate in the renewing of your mind?
1 You need to cultivate healthy thinking about
yourself
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So and so said he thought… The world thinks in a
certain way. The world has a particular mind set. The
world operates with a certain bent that consistently
elevates self.
I found this quote by an unknown author that
describes the shape of the world’s thinking. “Think highly
of yourself, for the world takes you at your own estimate”.
This thinking has its roots in the deception of Satan
telling Eve that if she were to disobey God she would be
like God (Genesis 3:5). The intention of the people in
building the tower of Babel was to make a name for
themselves (Genesis 11:4).
Consequences followed the fall. Man chose a way of
living that did not honour God or appreciate Him. They
became futile in their thinking with God giving them up
Romans 1:28 to a debased mind to do what ought not to be
done.
Take a moment to consider the outcome of thinking of
yourself more highly than you ought.
The result is pride. An inflated view of yourself will
lead to you having an arrogant disposition that gushes
with self-importance.
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This kind of over estimation in your thinking leads you
or me to think of ourselves as legends and others as
lesser mortals.
Can you see why some people consider themselves
as indispensable and others as insignificant and easily
discarded? They have a distorted view of themselves
which will result in dysfunctional relationships and
fruitless ministry.
It shows itself in people who float around in an air of
superiority with expectations of attention. People like
this can be very demanding; constantly wanting to be
served by others and the world.
Sadly you will find this kind of thinking in the church.
It is the reason we have bullies, whiners, pot stirrers,
patronisers, deceivers, up-streamers, clingers,
wounders and a whole host of other extremely
demanding people.
There is another subtle form of pride or over
estimation. It occurs when people are self-deprecating.
They have a false modesty; constantly self-consciously
talking about themselves as if they were nobodies.
The “down talk” of themselves is an invitation to be
corrected …”no no; you are really a great person”. Selfpity is just a different expression of pride. Once again
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this kind of thinking affects relationships and cooperation in the church.
This is the reason for so much inactivity in the church,
so much alienation from each other and in some
instances so much exhaustion.
Your thinking about yourself affects your relationship
with others and your usefulness in the church and even
in the world.
Inaccurate inflated thinking of self is destroys
relationships amongst people and dishonours God
and the work of His kingdom.
And so as recipients of God’s mercy, as new
creatures in Christ, as those born from above with the
new life purpose of being worshipers of God we must
not conform to the pattern of this world by be transformed
by the renewing of our minds.
Romans 12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to
everyone among you not to think of himself more
highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober
judgment,
Here is a challenge to right thinking about yourself.
The kind of thinking Paul is urging on us can be
described as “sober judgment” or “healthily” or even
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“savedly”. Our minds have been saved from its
twistedness; its debased state; its futile activity…
It means that there is an accurate and healthy way of
thinking about yourself. Paul adds the phrase …each
according to the measure of faith God has assigned.
1.1 How do you think healthily about yourself?
The way to think soberly about yourself is do so with the
measure of faith God has assigned?
This sentence can be interpreted in 2 ways. In my
opinion both are true and useful in the pathway to right
thinking about you.
 The objective standard of faith God has
assigned.
The idea here is that God has allotted to each believer
a standard of faith (objectively) by which to measure
himself – and that standard is Christ.
Cranfield: …to estimate oneself according to the standard
which consists of one’s faith in Christ is really to recognize
that Christ Himself in whom God’s judgement and mercy are
revealed is the one by whom alone one must measure oneself
and also one’s fellow men.
My mind immediately ran across to
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Philippians 2:1 So if there is any encouragement in
Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the
Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy
by being of the same mind, having the same love, being
in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from
rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more
significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not
only to his own interests, but also to the interests of
others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is
yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form
of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be
grasped…
In the light of who Christ is and what He has done and
who you are and what you have received; how can you
think of yourself more highly than you ought?
If Christ is your standard there is no doubt in your
mind that all you have and are is as a result of His
kindness and grace to you.
On the one end of the scale you are no more than a
wretched sinner knowing Romans 6:23 the wages of sin is
death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus
our Lord.
On the other end of the scale received grace (and a
gift) to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his
name among the nations (Romans 1:5).
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If truly make Christ our standard, we will experience the
reality of the opening beatitude Matthew 5:3 "Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Once again it is evident that transformation by means
of renewal comes from beholding Christ. Accurate and
healthy thinking about yourself will grow in the same
proportion as you knowing Christ.
This connects with the other interpretation of the
phrase “the measure of faith God has assigned”.
 The subjective measure of faith God has
assigned
The NIV takes this view suggesting that this measure of
faith is an individual matter. Each individual must
consider how much faith (subjectively) God has given
each of us and assess ourselves accordingly.
What does your faith look like? Is it weak or is it
strong? Don’t ignore where you are at. Don’t be blind to
the condition of your faith.
If you in examining the way you think about yourself
find what is not pleasing to God and even shocking to
you in the light of Christ the objective standard there is
hope for progress.
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In fact all of us, those who are weaker in faith and those
who are stronger in faith have not arrived.
2 Thessalonians 1:3 We ought always to give thanks
to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith
is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you
for one another is increasing.
Your subjective experience of faith must not be static
or retarding. It can and must grow. Your faith may be
weak as those mentioned in Romans 14:1 As for the one
who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over
opinions.
And what becomes more and more evident is that with
healthy thinking, with growing faith, with growing
humility (synonyms) comes improved relationships and
mobilized (body) ministry
2 Why should you think healthily about yourself?
Healthy and right thinking will lead to transformation
in your relationships and ministry and this serves to
honour God.
Look at the transition from v3 to v4 and all the way to
the end of the chapter
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Romans 12:4 For as in one body we have many
members, and the members do not all have the same
function,
The word “for” gives the immediate reason why you
should not think too highly of yourself but rather with
sober judgement.
The reason is that you are part of the church and live
in a world with people. As a believer you need to
relate to people in the church and elsewhere is a certain
way.
I have heard it said, “ministry would be great if it wasn’t
for the people”. But there are people. There are many
people; some who are still being sanctified, others who
are still living in the futility of their thinking with a
debased mind.
With the right (humble) mind set we would be more
patient with each other, we would be more accepting of
those who are different to us, our friendships would be
deeper and richer, we would be more caring and loving
to those in need and who are the unlovable, we would
be more cooperative in our partnership in the gospel…
Your mind matters to God. Inflated thinking about
yourself will be destructive. Pride hurts and destroys
relationships and immobilizes ministry. Humility and
faith build relationships and propels ministry.
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Healthy thinking about yourself will lead to godly ways
of relating to people in the church, in the world and
even in government (v4ff).
Conclusion
For some time now we have made an effort to improve
our bulletin and the way we make appeals to you and
others to participate more fully in the life of the church.
We have used different personalities; especially those
who sparkle up front. These are great improvements
but they are not the solution to greater servanthood and
stronger relationships in the church.
It is a naïve thing to believe that just a little more “ra ra”
and “razmataz” and we will have a slick and humming
church.
The road to improved relationships and mobilized
ministry has more to do with renewed believer’s minds
thinking soberly about themselves
 Are you using your God given spiritual gifts?
 Are you humbly serving others?
Your answer will reveal whether you have an inflated
view or a healthy view of yourself.