OPENER
Think about the word Mundane. Share what comes to your mind?
Most people have an aversion to it. Why do you think that is so?
Now make it a little more personal, think about the mundaneness in your own life?
Is there any meaning or purpose in it? How do you see it?
Note: Mundane is a word that means, “’yawn’ boring, uninteresting.” The background of the word is an old word for “earthly, profane, of the world,” versus “heavenly, spiritual.” The word developed during a period of history where there was a strong separation of the sacred and the secular. This is the two-story idea of reality where the normal – the mundane – was of little importance compared to the spiritual, heavenly. Today the roles have reversed, the physical “real world” has priority, while the spiritual seen as not having much value.
The truth is:
- The mundane and the spectacular are one and the same.
- This is my Father’s world—all of it—seen and unseen.
- The mundane is where God has most often shown up in the lives of people,
because it is what human lives mostly consist of. - In a fully formed Biblical view of the world there is no separation between the spiritual
and the sacred, the mundane and the spectacular.
Our aversion to the mundane is making us: lonelier, more addicted, more discontent, more unhappy. Because of this we are often missing the life God has for us to live. Romans 12:1-2 tells us how we are to engage the battle of two-story living.
Read Passage:
Romans 12:1-2 1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
OBJECTIVE
Our objective is to understand that in order to live the life God has for us, and also have the power to actually live it, then we have to get on the altar and see our whole life as a sacrifice of gratitude to God. We are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. This is our spiritual worship.
Question: What does Paul mean by, “Presenting your body as a living sacrifice?” What motivates us to offer our body as a living sacrifice? How does it differ from the old sacrificial system?
Discuss the following statement:
Terry said, “Your theology (ideas about God) mean very little if it doesn’t show up in how you use your body…what you actually do.”
Read: 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Question: what is meant by conformed and transformed?
Discuss the following statement:
Conformed is not transformation, it is malformation, it is to become misshapen. If we allow ourselves to be squeezed into the shape of the world in opposition to God…there is no life there…our hearts, minds, relationships…become disfigured. God is after transformation into the image of Jesus.
Question:
How can we make transformation a reality?
APPLICATION:
Questions:
- What can you do right now to live the kind of transformational life—inside out—that will position you to know and do what God wants done with your life?
- Is there anything that is keeping you from transformation?
- How will you apply these verses to yourself? What views or actions are you going to make in your own life as a result of studying these verses?