Saturday night, we started Push Back, a series of messages from Romans 12:1-2 about how to not be conformed to this world but transformed.We learned that Play-Doh was invented in 1956, and in 51 years of production, more than 900 million pounds have been produced. That’s as much as 2000 Statues of Liberty!

More important, we learned that Romans 12:1-2 and everything that follows it (Romans 12-16) is built on Romans 1-11: an very long and detailed explanation of the gospel.   In other words, whatever practical stuff we get in to during the Push Back series (dating, Facebook, piercings, etc.), we need to make sure that we start from the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.  His life, death, and resurrection provide the motive and power for how we live.

Further, we learned that we are to be the walking dead: a strange word picture that Paul calls, “living sacrifices.” He means that we are called to be dead - to sin, to the world, to our old way of life - and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Like an ancient Israelite sacrificing his best animal, we are called to give up those things we hold most dear to make Christ the one we love the most.

We do that when we Push Back. Most teenagers I know like being non-conformists; as Christians, we just need to be sure that we are non-conformists about the right things. Don’t conform to this world! Don’t play along, don’t blend in! Don’t be like Play-Doh, constantly reshaped as it is squeezed by the world around it.

Instead, we Push Back when we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. That means having Scripture shape all we think, say, and do. We’ll learn more over the next couple months as learn how to Push Back as we think and live biblically with the internet, our music and movies, dating, appearance, and more.

In the meantime, we came up with a list of some of the ways the world is pushing us into its mold. Here is a sampling:

• God
• Church
• Parents
• Movies/TV/Music
• Privacy
• Dating
• Appearance
• Manhood & womanhood
• Money
• Sports
• Stuff
• Time
• Education

We are being tempted to conform to the world in every one of these areas. What are some of the ways we can Push Back?

Here are some questions for further discussion:

• What is the connection between the gospel (Romans 1-11) and Christian behavior (Romans 12-16)?
• What is a living sacrifice?
• What are some of the ways you are being conformed to this world?
• What are some of the ways the world tries to lure you into conformity?
• How has God “renewed your mind” in the last year?  What is one area in which your thinking has become more Biblical?

Categories: Push Back, five15 blog