This week we will wrap up our sermon series on the topic of discipleship. Our key verse this series has been Matthew 22:37 where Jesus says the greatest commandment is, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." So far we've covered loving God with our strength and with our hearts. This week we will consider what it means to love our God with all our mind. In our passage from Romans 12 we are jumping in right at a transition point in this letter. In the first 11 chapters, Paul has given a dense theology of the sinful state of man apart from Christ, and the promises that are made to those who have trusted in Christ. Now Paul turns to how Christians are to live in light of their salvation. In chapter 12 he starts by calling the church to present their bodies as living sacrifices and to be transformed by the renewal of their minds. It is this renewed mind that allows Christians to test and discern the will of God. The Bible places a high value on the mind, and the author of Hebrews rebukes his readers for not having made progress in their understanding. The key question to answer is how are we supposed to grow in our knowledge of God.
