A New Way of Thinking, Romans 12 – by Reverend David Blackwell
Overview
Reverend David Blackwell discusses Romans 12, read from the New Living Translation at the 2025 Montana Christian Festival. His talk is called a New Way of Thinking, Romans 12.
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.
He opens by racing through the first eleven chapters of Romans to explain the “therefore” at the top of chapter 12. Paul establishes that everyone is fallen and depraved, that the consequence is death, but that the gift of God is forgiveness through Christ, culminating in Romans 10:9-10. Chapter 12 is the action point that all of that has been building toward.
The core argument is a swap. There is an old way of thinking that has to go before the new one can take hold, and Dave names three old patterns:
Self-determination, which he traces back to the serpent’s offer to Eve. The idea that we master our own destiny is what the world’s self-help culture teaches, and Paul himself dismantles it in Romans 7 by admitting he does the things he doesn’t want to do.
Self-preservation, which comes from the curse after the fall. He illustrates it with a story about spending $75 on tomato and pepper plants and harvesting exactly one tomato and one pepper, making the point that no one actually feeds themselves. Only God makes things grow.
Self-validation, which shows up either as seeking affirmation (“just tell me you like me”) or as seeking achievement (“just acknowledge I was successful”).
The second half of Romans 12 supplies the replacements, one for each:
Live out your faith submissively together (verses 4-5). We are many parts of one body, and we belong to each other, which he reinforces with the Philippians 2 hymn about Christ taking the form of a household servant. This is not a casual affiliation. Being absent from the body deprives it of something essential.
Live out your gift (verses 6-9). Prophecy, service, teaching, encouragement, giving, leadership, kindness. Don’t envy someone else’s gift or judge yourself against it. Your gift is your unique and indispensable function in the community.
Love regardless. Rather than expand on this, since earlier speakers had covered love that morning, he simply reads the rest of the chapter through the passage on feeding your enemy and conquering evil with good.
He closes with a warning about what Satan will suggest in the next twelve hours: that you can start asking for these things once you’re finished with self-determination, self-preservation, and self-validation, adding the new mindset on as an extra. Paul isn’t describing an addition, he says. It’s a replacement. Let the old go entirely.
Teaching Transcript
Good morning, everybody. How are you doing? Excellent.
I’m glad that you’re here. It’s a privilege to be with you. I get the opportunity to do this just about every year. Let me get this thing going. That way I can tell Kurt exactly how far over time I went. Yeah, when he says you went 20 minutes over, no, it was 10 minutes and 47 seconds.
I know exactly how long it went. I get, I have kind of I’m a little different than all of the other speakers that’s that’s that are that are up here because Kurt and Loretta attend our church regularly, and when Ted calls everybody together and starts putting the program together, he’ll tell everybody else, you know, just choose your topic around this general theme.
Kurt’s been scouting all year. So, he tells me exactly what I’m going to speak on when I get here. The conversation goes the same. It went the same this year as it does every year. He said, “Dave, I’ve been checking your sermons all year. I’ve been listening to all the good ones. There were three of them. And uh here’s the one I want you to do this year.” So, thanks to Kurt Belts.
Listen fast cuz I’m going to have to talk fast. In the next 28 minutes and 55 seconds, we’ve got to cover the entire book of Romans. Okay. Specifically, as we think about a new way of thinking. We’re going to cover Romans chapter 12. If you want to, you can turn there, and we’re just going to camp out there for the whole time.
So, just hang with me. We’re going to start with these first three verses as we begin Romans chapter 12. Today, I’m reading from the New Living Translation because it just flows better when you’re talking rather than when you’re, you know, when you’re reading some of the other translations; it’s easier to put things together.
But for the ear, I just think the New Living Translation puts it best. So listen to these first three verses from Romans chapter 12 as we get started today. And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind that he will find acceptable.
This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning.
Don’t think of yourselves as better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Let God transform us into new people by changing the way we think. That is Paul’s word to the church 2,000 years ago. It is the Lord’s word to the church today.
Let’s pray for a few minutes, and then we’ll unpack it. Heavenly Father, as we uh as we uh come to this kind of concluding time for for for for being in your word, your word to us for all time, your word to us today, Father, as we come to this kind of concluding set for that, we simply ask that you not hear Dave Blackwell or Ted Biden, we ask that we are able to hear the soft shuffle of sandled feet as our Lord Jesus comes and speaks to us individually.
It may be through a word that simply leaps off the printed page of the Scriptures, or it may be a phrase that is mentioned somewhere along the way. It may be a comment that we hear afterward from a neighbor, a friend, a brother, or a sister. But Father, let what we experience in these moments change us into new people.
That’s what we ask in Christ we pray. Amen. Being transformed into new people by changing the way we think. This very these this Romans chapter 12 begins with those words. And so, dear brothers and sisters, in the Old King James it’s starts off Therefore. And the old preachers always told us, if you see that word therefore, figure out what it’s there for.
you know and uh and and this Romans chapter 12 it’s there because of everything that Paul has said in the book of Romans prior now remember how the book of pri book book of Romans came about Paul is trying to get to the Roman church in order to visit them for the first time it’s one of the churches that he did not found so he is introducing himself to them and he gives them his magnum opus of theology in this in in in the book of Romans and it just kind of flows this way it begins with Hey, everybody is fallen.
Everybody is messed up. We’re all depraved. We all seek our own gods. We all fall into all sorts of stuff that come from trying to be our own god rather than letting the creator of the universe, the one who created us, guide our lives. Paul starts off with a wonderful introduction. I’m sure that everybody was thrilled that he was on his way to talk to them after he tells them that you’re all depraved.
So Paul starts off with that, and then he says, “And here are the consequences of that. You’re, you’re because you are depraved, you are dead.” You know, you all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That’s where he ends up in Romans chapter 3. And then he moves on, right? But the wages of sin is death.
We are all dead people walking. Yeah. throughout this though is interspersed that is interspersed with hope because after Romans 3:23 he speaks though of the salvation of Christ in Romans 3:24 in Romans 6:23 he says the consequences of your depravity the wages of your sin is death but should say that with a with a with a high inflection but the gift of God is forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Lord that’s where Paul’s going in this whole book that’s what all That’s all the preamble to Romans chapter 12.
We’re all depraved. We’re all messed up. Apart from Christ, we are dead in our trespasses and sins. But with Christ, we have hope. We do have forgiveness. We do have acceptance in God, in God’s sight. And that kind of culminates with Romans 10:9 and 10. Let me flip back to it just very quickly so that we read it, so that we hear it together.
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God. And it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the scriptures tell us, anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.
Okay, we’ve covered the first 10 chapters of Romans. And that brings us to Romans chapter 12, to the action point of the book, to the action point of Paul’s letter as he writes in Romans chapter 12. And so, even though we were depraved and dead, God has made us alive in Christ. He has given us the opportunity to accept who he is, to accept what he has done, to be made into new people.
Since all of that has taken place, since God has done all of that for us. And so, dear brothers and sisters, since he’s done all of that for us, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind that he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
Singing, singing our songs and praying our prayers. Those are wonderful, and those are the those are steps in the process. Don’t get me wrong. Don’t go home and say, “Pastor Dave said I don’t have to pray anymore.” Okay? But genuine heart worship comes when we hand ourselves over to the Father to do with as he will.
And then Paul goes on to define that. This is our money verse for this thing. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know what God’s will for you is, which is good and pleasing and perfect. That verse just kind of jumps out at me every time I read it.
When we did this for this for for our church, it just jumped out at me. There’s this: don’t copy the customs of this world. But let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. And once you allow him to change the way you think in the power of the Holy Spirit, that’s when you will begin to know God’s will for your life.
Paul has this little this this this little thing going on here and there. The implication is if you don’t let God change the way you think, you’re not going to understand God’s will for your life. How many of us would like to know God’s will? Okay, most everybody raised their hand. 76% of you raised your hand. You know, 90% of statistics are made up on the spot.
So, 76% of you said you’d love to know God’s go God’s will. Well, if you want to know God’s will, let him change the way you think. And without changing the way you think, you won’t really know the will of God. You’ll be stabbing at it. But it’s going to be like looking through the glass darkly, as Paul said in another place.
We’ll be kind of thinking, Yeah, okay, maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s not it. Well, we’ll just dive in and hope for the best. No. To know God’s will for our lives, to experience everything that he has for us. He wants to change the way we think. Now, as I started doing this, as I prepared this sermon the first time, I started and it jumped out at me.
It said, don’t be conformed to, you know, the old King James, don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You know, you know, don’t copy the customs of this world. The implication is that, in our default fallen nature, we will copy the customs of this world. We will conform. We will fall into an old nature way of thinking.
You know that’s just inherent in us. We have to continually invite the Spirit to teach and show us a new way of thinking. And as I was looking at that for me, you know, as I was looking at that for my life, I was sitting there going, hm, okay, he’s got a new way for me to think; I guess I should figure out and be really clear with myself about this old way of thinking that he wants me to get rid of.
You know, he wants to replace the way I think now with something new. Well, what’s this old way of thinking that he wants to get rid of in my life? Let me give you three ideas. These are not bad things. They’re just things, okay? They may not be classified as sin in our lives. They are just the customs and traditions of the fallen world in which we live.
Let me be clear about what Paul is saying as we start talking about these. These are the things that Paul says God wants to replace in our lives with a new way of thinking. The first one is self-determination. That’s the temptation that that that that that that Satan gave to Eve in the garden.
You know, you need to be like God. You need to be the master of your own destiny. You need to be the person who controls everything that you do in your life. You know better than the one who created you. What is good for you? Self-determination is a custom, and it’s a common theme for how we are taught to think by the world in which we live.
Is it not right? You know, self-help books, right? You can be your own boss. You can be your you can fix yourself. You can determine for yourself who you’re going to be. I’ve made the mistake myself of telling people at times, you need to be the best version of yourselves, right? You know, I got news for you. I’ll just talk about me.
You don’t want the best version of me. You know, you are better with a mediocre messed up Dave than a firing all on all cylinders messed up Dave. You know, why do you want to be the best version of messed up? Self-determination, though, is a way that we are taught to think. We guide ourselves. We take care if we we we we determine our own destiny and go where we want to go.
We follow the desires of our own heart. Even when those desires aren’t bad, we follow the desires of our own heart. Self-determination is one of the old ways of thinking that God wants to replace because the truth of it is we are not masters of our own destiny. That is an illusion and a delusion. That we truly can control who we are.
Paul talked about that earlier in Romans. He said, “I try to control who I am. I try to be master of my own destiny. And man, I end up messed up. I don’t understand myself.” You’re familiar with that passage in Romans chapter 7. Probably the things that I don’t want to do, I end up doing. The things that I want to do, I end up not doing.
I am just such I am just such a wreck. Who will deliver me from this body of death? Self-determination is one of the customary ways of thinking in this world that Paul says God wants to release us from and replace with something new. Quick question just to think about in your own mind and heart. Are you captive to thinking in terms of self-determination? Are you and I captive? Are you, as a are you individually, captive to thinking I need to be the master of my own destiny?
That is a way of thinking that God wants to remove from our lives. The second one is self-preservation. Now, self-preservation comes from the fall. When you read after Eve gives Adam the apple, Adam messes it up for all of us. That’s another sermon for another time. Once that happens, there is a curse that is placed on all of creation.
We bring it upon ourselves, and God says to Adam, “You’re going to have to take care of yourself from this point on. You know, you’re going to have to work. You’re going to have to toil the ground and it will be it will give you thistles and briars and you’re going to have by the sweat of your brow will you feed your family.
Self-preservation is deep within us. I’ve got to take care of me. And the first thing I’ve got to do is take care of me. I think Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Self-preservation is one of the first ones. I can’t remember exactly. I probably misquoted that. Y’all tell me later. Just go with me for now. But taking care of ourselves and making sure that we are surviving first is a is is a cultural it’s a it’s it’s an internal it’s a it’s a fallen mindset that we have to be ready to let God release in our lives and deliver us from, because we can’t take care of ourselves.
We can’t, you know, I’ve been fascinated reading some of the some of the stuff and I I just it’s funny when I when I hear people say, “Well, you know, where are you going to get your food?” From the grocery store, like everybody else. You know, we live in a rural area, so we know that food doesn’t come from grocery stores.
You know, they come it comes from the farmers market, right? I can’t grow food, folks. I am totally helpless. You know, I kill silk flowers. I can’t grow anything. I’ve tried to grow a garden. We spent $75 on tomato plants and green pepper plants one time. We got one tomato and one pepper, literally that big. I think we still have it in the freezer because I just can’t bring myself to eat a $75 pepper.
Self preservation. If I were required to grow my own food, I’d be dead in 20 minutes, you know. And guess what? Truthfully, that’s true for every single human being on the planet because there’s nobody who can grow their own food. Only God makes it grow. Self-preservation is an illusion and a delusion. You know, but our old way of thinking is we’ve got we got to we get to determine who we are ourselves, and we’ve got to take care of ourselves.
Old ways of thinking, Paul would say. The third one is self- validation. Self- validation. We need to feel good about us, and we do that in so many different ways. There are people who look for affirmation from their friends, from their spouses, from their families, from their workplace, from their community. Just tell me I’m doing a good job.
Just tell me you like me. Self- validation is an old way of thinking. Some of us don’t look for se for self validation through affirmation. We look for it through achievement. I really don’t care if you like me or not. Just acknowledge that I’ve been successful. You know, there are lots of ways. These are some of the old paradigms.
As I looked at this verse of scripture, I said, Lord, what are you looking to get rid of in my life? If you want to replace this with a new way of thinking so that I can be a new person, what is the old way of thinking that you want to get rid of so that I won’t be an old person anymore? Figuratively, not literally.
Self-determination, self-preservation, looking for validation of ourselves in places that can never really replace the validation of a well-done, good, and faithful servant from God in our heart. These are all places that we are influenced by our fallen nature and by the culture around us. These are the places where we are encouraged and the and and and the and the avenues in which we are encouraged to think.
Paul says, “Let me transform, let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” So, who would like to change the way they think? Now, I could say at this point, “That’s great. My job’s done. Be you know, be fruitful and multiply and move on.” Okay? But the rest of Romans 12, see God doesn’t just give us he doesn’t just give us a command and say, “Okay, go figure it out.”
For the rest of Romans chapter 12, Paul defines this new way of thinking. Let me give you these three things real quick. And I’ve got eight minutes and 30 seconds left to go. So I’m so, so, listen fast. The first one: don’t say I am the master of my own destiny. Rather, live out your faith submissively together.
Live out your faith submissively together. It’s verses four and five. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. Let me read that again. And we all belong to each other.
The idea that we are not independent agents is consistent throughout all of Scripture. When you read Philippians chapter 2 and you see what what what how how Paul describes Jesus. It’s it’s probably the oldest Christian hymn there is said it says have this mind among you and in Christ as as it was in Christ Jesus who even though he was in the form of God did not account equality with God a a thing to be grasped but took on the form of a doula servant not just a human being but a servant the household slave who washes the dirty feet of the master as he comes into the house. This is who you are. We belong to each other. Look at the person beside you and just say, “I belong to you.”
Okay. Yeah, folks. That’s not just a fun exercise. And that’s not just something that Paul says flippantly. It’s not like, “Yeah, I like you, and we belong to the same church, and we hang out together sometime.”
We are inextricably linked and in and in indelibly responsible to one another. Let that mindset ask the Holy Spirit for that mindset in your life. Lord, the Christians with whom I with whom I w- with whom I associate and whom I with whom I reside in my community of faith. I don’t belong to it. I am inextricably connected with each and every one of them.
And when I do something that hurts me, I do something that hurts them. When I w when I am absent from them, I deprive them of something essential in their Christian life. Ask the Holy Spirit for that new way of thinking, and it will change your Christian walk forever. Got to hustle. We’re getting through all of Romans in now 5 minutes and 30 seconds.
The second piece of this: don’t just live faithfully together, but live your gift. That’s what verses 6 through9 tell us. In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So, if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.
If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership abilities, take the responsibility seriously. And as he g if if he has given you a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
Live out your gift first, whatever it might be. Don’t get upset because God hasn’t given you a different gift. Just embrace the one that he has given you. Because that gives you a unique and indispensable function within the community of faith in which you reside. Live out your gift. Make that your mindset.
Let that become the heartbeat that drives you. Instead of striving for self-preservation, live out your gift. Give as God would have you to give in whatever it is. Don’t judge yourself by somebody else’s gift. If they’re a leader and you’re not, don’t worry about it. If you’re the giver and somebody else is not, don’t worry about it.
Just live out your part. Let that become the heartbeat that drives you, and God will bless you in the middle of it. Last thing we got to, I got to hit here. Love regardless. We’ve heard a couple of teachings already this morning on that. So, I’m not going to elaborate on that much. I’m simply going to finish off reading what Paul had to say in Romans chapter 12 about this new way of thinking.
Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection. And take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble. And keep on praying.
When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to pl to practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them. Pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other.
Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all. Ouch. Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God.
For the scriptures say, “I will take revenge. I will pay back, says the Lord.” Instead, if your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame upon their heads. Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. Live faith together. Live out your gift.
Love regardless. It is a Holy Spirit imprinted new way of thinking that Paul is saying will change us into new people. Ask for these in your life. When you feel yourself starting to say, “Man, I can do my own thing, or I’m the master of my own destiny.” Instead, remember Romans 12: 4-6. No, I am not the master of my own destiny.
I am connected to to this to to this body of believers united under Christ that is greater than anything I might want for myself. When you’re sitting there going, ” I’ve got to take care of myself. No, I have to live out my gift. read Romans 6 12 6-9 and say no I’ve got a gift that comes first that I am to give to others rather than worrying about what I get forselves when we are looking for validation from others instead instead ask the Holy Spirit to imprint on your heart no I love and I love and I love and I love because that is what my father has called me to do. He has called me to represent his son well in this world. And the only validation I need is a well done, good and faithful servant at the end. Now, I close with this piece because I’m only 4 seconds over. Here’s what Satan will tempt us to do there. I would be willing to bet there’s not a single person in here because you’re all wonderful Christian people.
You would not be here if you did not want to follow Jesus with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. So, you’re sitting there going, “Yes, I need to start asking the Spirit for these things in my life.” So, here’s what Satan will try to do to you in the next 12 hours. What he’ll say is Yes, you should start asking for those things after you’re done with self-determination and after you’re done with self-preservation and after you’re done with self-validation; then the Lord can add these things on as the extras in your life.
Don’t listen to him. What Paul is describing to the church at Rome, not the pagans in Rome, to the church at Rome is let all of this other stuff go completely. We are not adding this to the end of our list of how we think. We replace the old way that we think with this new way of thinking. If we will allow the Spirit to do this in our lives, you will find the peace and contentment that God always intended for you to have.
And most importantly, he will be glorified by what you do. You will finally get to know; you will be able to see clearly every time his good and perfect will for you. To God be the glory. Thanks for letting me hang out, mate.
