Don't Just Have External Conformity - Tim Conway

Paul is not calling for mere
mechanical conformity.

You know, somebody can come in the church

and they can see how we act.

They can see how we talk.

They can listen to people

who have studied Scripture.

A parrot can imitate what we say.

I've more than once felt

people say the right things,

but something's wrong with them.

And it comes back to this -
the spirit of the mind.

Paul is not looking for mere external

mechanical conformity.

He's asking us to put into practice

an intelligent change.

You see what's happening?

When we get to putting on the new man,

clothing ourselves with the new man -

it's not just external conformity to GCC

or external conformity

to what we think Christianity looks like.

It's got to happen at a deeper level.

This is an intelligent conformity.

Something is happening in the brain

where we think different.

Our thinking is superior
to what it was before.

There is actually an intelligent
change taking place.

Put on the new man.

Yes, but the Christian
must not do anything

without knowing why he's doing it.

Intelligence is essential.

Knowledge is essential.

The spirit of the mind

operated on by the
Spirit of God is essential.

If you do not know why
you are living the Christian life,

you're not equipped to put
on the new man as you ought.

This comes out everywhere.

One of my favorite places
is there in Romans 6.

What does Paul say?

Paul says, "You must count yourself

(reckon yourselves) to be dead to sin."

Then he goes to on to say:

Don't let sin reign in your mortal bodies.

But before he says don't let sin reign,

he says you've got to consider yourselves

to be dead to sin and alive to God.

You've got to think the right way.

And if you don't think the right way,

you don't fight the right way.

And it all becomes external

(incomplete thought).

Anybody can come in here say

I see the way they homeschool.
I'm going to homeschool that way.

I see the way they dress.
I'm going to dress that way.

I hear the way they talk.
I'm going to talk that way.

And we get people like
that that come in here

and they're doing that.

But the spirit of the mind.

You get talking to them very closely,

you begin watching their life,

and it seems like something's wrong.

They're seeking to conform,
but it seems like it's external.

It seems like something's not right here.

And ultimately, something
isn't right there.

This sermon excerpt was
taken from the full sermon:

"Be Renewed in the Spirit of Your Mind"

by Tim Conway.