The desires of our secret heart are like a dog kennel, full of yelping, yapping, barking, baying hounds, all wanting to be turned loose. If we turned some of them loose, they would tear our lives to pieces. If we turned loose too many at one time, our lives would become unmanageable. Some of them, turned loose at the same time, would turn our lives into a civil war.

A wise spiritual director said one time, "I am only facing the two quite general, but quite sufficiently rousing facts: that we all of us have 'selves' (the enemites of our good true selves) to fight, and that only so fighting are we adult, fruitful and happy," (von Hügel, quoted in Howatch, Glittering Images, 181).

Most of us sense dimly that we might have room to improve our character. The text we look at today suggests more than inprovement. It calls for the renewal of our minds and the transformation of our character. That is, it does not merely suggest the demolition of bad habits; it offers the vision of another quality of life - a vision of what we might become in Christ. Before we look at it let me put it in its proper context.

The Great Theological Conclusions
The skeletal structure of Romans grows around half a dozen major conclusions. In Conclusion #1 in Romans 3:9 the apostle concluded, We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. "Man experiences (consciously or unconsciously) a power which works in him to bind him wholly to his mortality and corruptibility, to render impotent any knowledge of God or concern to do God's will, to provoke his merely animal appetites in forgetfulness that he is a creature of God - and that power Paul calls 'sin,'" (Dunn, Romans 1-8, 149).

From that verse to the end of chapter five the apostle took pains to teach us that whenever the evil power that mars human life reaches new depths in its degradation, the sheer generosity of God reaches new heights to counteract the degradation and replace it with holiness. That's the lesson about God the apostle learned from Jesus Christ.

Nowhere did the force called sin show its true colors more clearly than in the killing of Jesus Christ. Nowhere did the purpose of God seem so weak and foolish as on the cross. Nowhere did the love of God for frail and fallen humanity shine as on the cross. Nowhere did the power of God show its true colors so clearly than at the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Paul saw all that and said, "That is what God is like. That is how God will win the battle with evil. His grace will always absorb the worst that sin can do and then reassert its supremacy until some day evil is finished." Romans 5:20-21 summed up the second magnificient conclusion of Romans. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

That has to be translated into human experience, and the apostle's third major conclusion tells how that happens. Jesus Christ condemned sin in sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the new source of strength that empowers the Church to meet the righteous requirements of God's law. Our responsibility is to keep in step with the Spirit.

Keeping in step with the Spirit means to love God wholeheartedly and to love your neighbor as yoursef. Our focus is not on rules telling you what not to do. It is on how to give ourselves away to serve God and to benefit the people God sends across our paths everyday. To the extent that we live that way, we will meet the righteous requirements of God's law.

The pressures that dissuade us from living that way can at times be great. They can even threaten to separate us from God. Will they be successful in doing so? The apostle's fourth major conclusion raises that question and answers it.

"Shall the bothersome issues of cloning and fetal stem cell resarch, the wanton destruction of unborn children, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the global threat of terrorism, the threat to the environment, and the pervasive, destructive features of youth culture separate us from the love of Christ?"

The apostle's conclusion answers now as it did 2000 years ago. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death by weapons of mass destruction no life in vitro, neither angels nor demons, neither the present, which is most uncertain, nor the future, which we cannot know, nor any powers, political, military or economic, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And how are we to think about those who reject and sometimes actively oppose these four conclusions about God and His dealings with the world? Paul answers that question by leading us into the mysteries of divine election and predestination. The fifth major conclusion comes from Romans 11:32 and reads this way. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. God means His every act of election to lead to mercy for his human creation.

Paul's point is this. God may choose Israel to carry out His purpose, and He may choose Pharaoh to oppose His purpose, but God will use cooperation and opposition to show His mercy in all the earth. It is true, as Romans 11:18 puts it, that God has mercy on which he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. But either decision is designed to bring His mercy to the whole human family.

The Great Practical Conclusion
It is in this context that the apostle now states the great practical conclusion of Romans in chapter 12, verses one and two. I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer 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.

Worship, love and detachment govern all Christian experience. The apostle focuses on two of them in this sixth major conclusion. First, he calls us to worship our God. I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.

All worship is our response to what God has shown us about Himself in the major conclusions of Romans. His sheer generosity toward us in the face of our sins, His gift of the Spirit to empower us, His unfailing love that binds us to Himself in the face of great dangers, and His dogged determination to use either human cooperation or human opposition to show His mercy to the human family - all these elicit our worship. At its best that response is "to adore His splendour, and fling myself and all that I have at His feet;" or as Paul puts it to place our bodies at God's disposal.

"Christianity's about ... expending blood, sweat and tears to be what you've been designed by God to be and do what you've been designed by God to do .... What's incompatible is not bothering to find out who (you are), settling for something less or something other than what (you) should be, trampling on others in order to realise a self designed by the ego instead of valuing and caring for others in order to realise the true self designed by God," (Howatch, Absolute Truths, 444, parentheses mine). Placing your body at God's disposal is the personal dedication to finding out what God designed you to be.

That's worship. Then, there is detachment. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Detachment does not mean isolation from the world around us; it is more like a renewable immunization against the spiritual dangers of the world around us.

Personal desires and cultural trends, reinforced by peer pressure can squeeze us into a mold that is contrary to our calling to be followers of Christ. When the apostle tells us not to conform to the pattern of this world, he is warning us not to let these powerful forces squeeze us into their mold.

Now, the Church doesn't simply fix people so that they resis being squeezed, because people are a mystery with a mind and a long history of thinking a certain way. So, at our best we attack the mystery and the history by going after the really big prize, the renovation of the mind. Romans 12:2 sums up this strategy by saying, Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

The Pastoral Center of Gravity
So, how does the transformation take place? Romans 12-15 answer that question in some detail. The apostle begins with the indispensable environment for transformation - the Church. Let's look at verses three to five. For by grace give me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Verses 4-5 state the heart of the matter. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

The renewing of our mind is a team effort. One of the greatest feelings is to look around and say, "I'm home. These are my people. We are in this together. I can count on them. I wouldn't think of going off on my own. I wouldn't think of hurting them." That solidarity makes possible huge life changes.

In verse three the apostle takes dead aim at the one habit that imperils solidarity. Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment. We often feel that we have to prove ourselves, sometimes at the expense of other people. Proving yourself capable is a good thing. Doing it at someone else's expense is what the scripture warns us against here. Paul says here, "Let it go. Discover the measure of faith God has given you and be content with that. It will enable you to make a solid and lasting contribution to the Christian body."

In other words, find out "what you've been designed by God to be and do what you've been designed by God to do." Here in verses 6-8 are some suggestions for what you may be designed by God to do as part of the Church, the Body of Christ.

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying (meaningful preaching), let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving (and there are hundreds of ways within the Christian community and beyond), let him serve; if it is teaching (setting forth the coherence, the beauty, the basics and the subtleties of God's ways with man), let him teach; if it is encouraging (comforting, rebuking, pushing to greater achievements), let him encouarage.

If it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously. Everyone of us can give; some, not necessarily those with lots of money, seem to give prodigally. If it is leadership (embodying the visions and values of the community, making good decisions, inspiring confidence, leading the charge), let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy (to the sick, the sad, the wounded, the despairing, and the dying), let him do it cheerfully.

You can find yoursel in there somewhere, can't you? Let me tell you the secret of releasing your gifts in the life of the Church. The larger the setting you find yourself in, the less likely you will use your gifts. The smaller the setting, the more likely you will use your gifts. This worship experience is where we find most of our congregation in one place at one time, and what happens here is indispensable in our life together. But here very few people have a chance to exercise their gifts in this setting.

When you walk into a Christian education class, there may be only one or two teachers, but others in the class will have some opportunities to speak up and touch the lives of others in the class. When you gather with 8-10 people in a small group, every person contributes. Every gift in versee 6-8 comes into play. That's another reason why deacons and staff want every person in BVBC to choose to be in a small group of some kind.

Let me tell you what I think is at stake in small groups. We say that our mission is to make baptized disciples of Jesus Christ, who are characterized by worship, love and detachment. That remains ecclesiastical window dressing, unless we do the one thing on the human side that can give feet to the vision. People reach people. People get under each other's skin. People get into each other's hearts. We need each other. We need the leisure to share significant life experiences with each other, to pray for each other, to sink your teeth into the wisdom of God as given to us in the Bible.

I just don't believe we can participate in a church's life for one hour on Sunday and be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Too many contrary forces in us and in the culture work against us. We don't just go to church. We are the Church. We are part of that worldwide Community of Christ's people, who carry in themselves the life of God and the hope of the world. Making our life together good and experiencing that life together are not optional.

I'm asking you to do three things. First, pray and ask God to guide you about becoming part of a BVBC small group this fall. Second, if you are not part of a small group, it may seem strange to you. Ask some people at BVBC, who are in a small group, to tell you about their experience. Maybe that will take the sting out of it, Third, why don't you talk to some of your friends and see if they would like to join you in forming a new small group. We have a decade of experience in doing this. We can give you help in having a successful experience together in a small group setting.

So, let us place our bodies at God's disposal. Let us detach ourselves from anything that would squeeze us into an ungodly mold. Let us be renewed in our minds by being in a small group and then using our gifts to build each other up.