Not Conformed to the World

REFLECTION QUOTES

“American freedom, like American greatness, was not derived from itself, and it cannot be sustained by itself.”

~Os Guinness, contemporary author and social critic

“Commodification has led most people to view God as a device to be used rather than an all-powerful Creator to be revered.”

~Skye Jethani, contemporary author and pastor

“There is a widespread sense of loss…, if not always of God, then at least of meaning.”

“Objectification of the world gives a sense of power, and control, which is intensified by every victory of instrumental reason.”

“There is a certain way of being human that is my way. I am called upon to live my life in this way, and not in imitation of anyone else’s life. But this notion gives a new importance to being true to myself. If I am not, I miss the point of my life; I miss what being human is for me.”

~Charles Taylor, noted philosopher at McGill University

“The difference [God’s] timelessness makes is that this now (which slips away from you even as you say the word now) is for Him infinite.”

~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

“All along the Bible…always presents its truth in an existential manner, and that means that I cannot afford to sit back and consider it casually in a detached way. The Bible says you cannot do that because you are in an uncertain world, and your whole life is uncertain. And, therefore, it always appeals to us to give it great attention.”

~D. M. Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981), medical doctor and famed London minister

“We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.”

~John R.W. Stott (1921-2011), noted English clergyman and theologian

SERMON PASSAGE

Romans 12:1-2

1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Psalm 1:1-4

1How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.