Week 23 — Abiding Resists Conformity | Alex Spry | Romans 12:1–2

Jun 14, 2026 • Bro. Alex Spry

Full Sunday Morning Bible Class including; lesson of the day, discussions, questions and answers. Speaker: Bro. Alex Spry

Tension: Cultural conformity vs. spiritual transformation

Formation Outcome: Renewed thinking

Grounding Questions:

• Where do you feel the strongest pressure to conform?

• What voices most often shape the way people think today?

Expository Teaching:

Romans 12 begins with Paul’s appeal:

“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice…”

This comes after eleven chapters of explaining God’s mercy. Paul’s logic is important: believers do not offer themselves to God in order to earn mercy; they offer themselves because they have received mercy.

Then Paul says:

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”

The word “conformed” carries the idea of being pressed into a pattern. The world is always discipling people. Culture forms values, desires, assumptions, and habits, often without people realizing it.

But Paul says believers are not to be shaped by the age around them. Instead, they are to be transformed from within by renewed thinking.

This connects deeply to the ABIDE theme. Remaining in Christ means allowing His truth to reshape how we see God, ourselves, others, success, suffering, purpose, and holiness.

The mind becomes a battleground for formation.

If the world shapes the mind, the life follows the world’s pattern.

If Christ renews the mind, the life begins to discern the will of God.

The tension is not whether we will be formed. The question is who or what will form us.

Group Discussion Questions:

• What does conformity look like in subtle ways?

• Why does Paul connect transformation with the renewal of the mind?

• What practice helps you resist being shaped by the wrong voices?

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MacDonald Ave Church of Christ, Richmond, CA Sunday Morning Bible Class, June 14, 2026 (Revision.1)