Renewing Your Mind - Pt 2

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:4-6 ESV).

We need to explore the reading today very carefully. The apostle warns us that “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The Christian alternative to immoral behaviors is not a new list of moral behaviors. It is the triumphant power and transformation of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ, who is our Savior, our Lord, our Treasure. “ God has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. So transformation is a profound, blood-bought, Spirit-wrought change from the inside out. I want us to understand this truth to make the point that the nonconformity to the world (cf. Romans 12:1-2) does not primarily mean the external avoidance of worldly behaviors. That’s included. But you can avoid all kinds of worldly behaviors and not be transformed. When Jesus was transfigured (transformed) the disciples recorded that “His face shown like the sun, and his clothes became white as light!” Something like that happens to us spiritually and morally. It happens in our mind first, and then, later at the resurrection on the outside. Transformation is not switching from the to-do list of the flesh to the to-do list of the law. When Paul replaces the list, the works of the flesh, he does not replace it with the works of the law, but the fruit of the Spirit (cf. Galatians 5:19-22). There is a great paradox here. The Christian life, though it is utterly submitted (cf. Romans 8:7; 10:3), even enslaved (cf. Romans 6:18, 22) to the revealed will of God, is described in the New Testament as radically free. It is very difficult to put these two images beside one another in our minds. I like to think about it in terms of knowing that when I am transformed in Christ, I love to do what I ought to do. I had a lengthy conversation with a staff member of a large emerging church recently. As we were talking they asked me how I could be so patient with so many people who seemed to be so far off the mark. They remarked that I must like being around people to spend so much time with them. I told them that I didn’t like people at all. Being alone with my family is more than enough for me. However, I did love people. I find that because my Savior loves others, his example becomes very easy to follow simply because I follow him. There’s the transformation. I don’t always do it perfectly, but that is the principle I am committed to in life. That’s the change of mind I focus on in each circumstance of life. It does set you free. Try it!