Romans chapter 12

Having the Best Is A Simple Choice

 

One day two American businessmen were visiting in Korea. They were surprised and  amused at a sight they saw in a field. They noticed that a young man was hitched to a plow and was pulling it to plow the field. He was being guided by an older man. Later these businessmen were talking to a missionary about what they had seen. The missionary told them that these two men were father and son and both of them were Christians. They had sold their only ox and contributed the money to their church for a new building. One of the businessmen responded in an awed voice, “What an incredible sacrifice!” The missionary replied, “They did not feel that way about it. They counted it a great joy that they had an ox to give to the Lord’s work.”[fn]

What Is your reaction when you read in the Bible or hear a preacher calling for “sacrifice”? Does it strike you as being deprived of something, or of enduring misery, or of being called upon to do that very thing that you least want to do? Or do you consider it an opportunity to serve God and give Him something special? Paul begins chapter 12 of Romans with a call to Christians. Let us read it from two translations in order to get the full flavor of what he is writing.

NRSV:
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

NLT:
1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask?
2 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 know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.

Here Paul is referring to consecrated bodies and renewed minds. The Korean father and son illustrate this. Whereas the businessmen called what they had done a sacrifice and gave it a negative connotation, the two farmers considered their gift a joy and a privilege. Their minds had been transformed. To consecrate something is to dedicate it to a sacred purpose. Paul is telling us here that as saved believers in Jesus Christ, we are to dedicate our bodies to His service. You will note that right away Paul refers to God’s mercies.

God’s mercy is a theme that runs through the book of Romans. Paul writes that the Gospel message is God’s mercy to undeserving sinners, in giving His Son to die for them, in saving them by faith, in sending them His life-giving Spirit, and in making them His children.

The key word in Romans chapters 9-11 is “mercy.”

Salvation does not depend on the desire or effort of human beings, but on God’s mercy (Romans 9:16), and God’s purpose is “to make the riches of His glory known to the objects of His mercy” (Romans 9:23). The objects of His mercy are those that accept and trust in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ for their sins.

It is in view of the mercy of God that Paul issues His appeal to the moral principles and values of those who claim to be followers of Christ. Paul knows and believes that there is no greater motivation to living a holy life than the mercies of God. God’s grace is the foundation of righteous behavior. In making His appeal, Paul refers to both our bodies and our minds. When we go to the original Greek we find that what Paul in effect is saying here is that offering ourselves, mind and body, to God is the only sensible and logical response in view of God’s mercy. Therefore, if a person considers themselves to be a logical being, they would simply have no choice but to praise God.

When you think of “sacrifice” what comes to mind? Something easy? Something free? No, a sacrifice is costly. It suggests giving up something valuable and precious. Why would a person do that? It is an offering to Someone more worthy than ourselves. It is a gift of love, and yes, it may cost us. But the results of the sacrifice are well worth any cost involved. A sacrifice is purposeful and requires effort. It requires our decision. It is our choice. That is why Paul is pleading with us to present our bodies and our minds to God as living sacrifices.

It is frightening the way the body can dominate the redeemed soul. For those of us who are saved people with saved souls and who possess within us the Holy Spirit of God, is it not remarkable how much power there still is in the body to retard the work of the Holy Spirit of God? The body is the center of desire, the body is the center of disease; the body is the center of depression, the body is the center of doubts. And it must be brought into subjection to God as a living sacrifice. In 1 Corinthians 9:27 NLT, Paul says:

27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

Paul says that in order to represent Christ as He should be represented, he has to control his own body, the human part of him that wants to take control in order to satisfy his bodily desires.

It is important to know that vice and immorality are so widespread that people have become increasingly tolerant of those kinds of sins. It is amazing how many Christians will go and watch a movie that is filled with adultery. They will also sit and watch a program on television that is filled with adultery, or listen to music that is sung about fornication. Or they will go along with the lie that homosexuality is a legitimate alternative lifestyle. Is this not being caught up in the world’s system? We have come to tolerate such things and such toleration is an abandonment of our responsibility to God in light of what He sent His Son to do for us. We need to be reminded of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:12, 13 NLT:

12 You may say, “I am allowed to do anything.” But I reply, “Not everything is good for you.” And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.
13 You say, “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food.” This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them. But our bodies were not made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies.

“I must not become a slave to anything” in verse 12 needs some further consideration. How contrary this idea is to our culture today which is filled with addictive behaviors. We are addicted to computers, to video games, to food, to alcohol, to tobacco, to drugs, to chocolate, to pornography, to gambling—to almost anything. We are controlled and compelled by things and substances. Truly that is slavery. If we are enslaved to anything, then our bodies are not living sacrifices to God.

The Lord cannot work through you if He cannot work through your body. If you are going to speak you have to speak through your mouth. If you are going to hear you have to hear through your ears. If you have to see you have to see through your eyes. If you have to go somewhere you have to go with your feet. If you are going to help someone you have to help with your hands. If you are going to think you have to think with your mind. Therefore, there is no salvation that does not include the body. That is God’s desire.

When Paul refers to a “living sacrifice” he is referring to a commitment to God that never dies. It is always offered to God, always. God wants your physical body and all your humanness. He wants it brought into subjection and offered to Him. We have become so comfortable in this society. We hold things so irresponsibly in our hands. We are willing to serve God if it does not cost us too much time and if we do not miss our favorite television program. We cannot think that we can offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God if we want to hold onto what the world offers us in its multiple forms of indecent entertainment. What God wants is a complete self sacrifice. Many people claim they want to be the Lord’s servant and go into ministry, and they are nowhere near a totally unblemished self-sacrificing offering to God.

It must be difficult for God to get His work done through half-hearted people. It is with goodness, virtue, and generosity that God is satisfied.

Real worship is not elaborate prayers, it is not liturgy, it is not candles, robes, stained glass, or spiritual goose bumps in a church service. Real worship is the intelligent giving to God of our bodies, totally set apart to God. That is what God wants. God is not looking for your talent or for your gifts of leadership. God is looking for you to give of yourself. So the believer who would offer himself/herself as a “living sacrifice”  begins with the offering of their soul and the offering of their body.

And this “living sacrifice” that Paul refers to is not something that is only done in a church building, but in home life and work life and social life. No worship is pleasing to God that is only inward. Our worship must express itself in real acts of service performed by our bodies. Listen to what James wrote in James 2:14-26 NLT:

14 Dear brothers and sisters, what’s the use of saying you have faith if you don’t prove it by your actions? That kind of faith cannot save anyone.
15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing,
16 and you say, “Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
17 So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all—it is dead and useless.
18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” I say, “I cannot see your faith if you don’t have good deeds, but I will show you my faith through my good deeds.”
19 Do you still think it’s enough just to believe that there is one God? Well, even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror!
20 Fool! When will you ever learn that faith that does not result in good deeds is useless?
21 Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was declared right with God because of what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You see, he was trusting God so much that he was willing to do whatever God told him to do. His faith was made complete by what he did—by his actions.
23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, so God declared him to be righteous.” He was even called “the friend of God.”
24 So you see, we are made right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.
25 Rahab the prostitute is another example of this. She was made right with God by her actions—when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road.
26 Just as the body is dead without a spirit, so also faith is dead without good deeds.

Paul made it clear back in Romans 3:13 that human depravity also reveals itself through our bodies, Romans 3:10-18 NLT:

10 As the Scriptures say, “No one is good— not even one.
11 No one has real understanding; no one is seeking God.
13 “Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their speech is filled with lies.” “The poison of a deadly snake drips from their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “They are quick to commit murder.
16 Wherever they go, destruction and misery follow them.
17 They do not know what true peace is.”
18 “They have no fear of God to restrain them.”

On the other side of this, Christian holiness demonstrates itself by the things that believers do with their bodies. So Christians are to offer the different parts of their bodies, not to sin, but to righteousness as we see in Romans 6:13, 16, 19 NLT:

13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.
16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.
19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.

Do not be put off by the term “slaves of righteousness” because in reality that is the ticket to joy, peace, and a true freedom in Christ (2 Corinthians 3:17).

When we do these things, our tongues will speak the truth and spread the Gospel message and bring healing. Our hands will lift up those who have fallen and perform many daily tasks such as cooking, cleaning, laundry, sewing, health care, and building houses. We will put our arms around the lonely and the unloved, our ears will listen to the needy, and our eyes will always look to the throne of God and remain focused there.[fn]

So the first of Paul’s appeals is to present our bodies to God. The second appeal relates to a transformation of what we have been to what God would have us be. In order for that to happen a person must give their mind to God. Romans 12:2 says not to “be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

One of the basic elements that allows a person to be able to offer their body is to be sure that their mind has been renewed.

God is telling them not to go along with what the rest of the world is doing outside the will of God, but rather to conform only to the will of God. That theme runs through all of the Bible. A man by the name of J. B. Phillips translated Romans 12:2 in this way: “don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within.”[fn]  

We all look for a mold to conform to in one way or another. Kids in school want to be like their friends and be accepted as part of the group. Even if it means doing what they know to be wrong. Men find themselves wanting to be like famous athletes or movie stars and today many women want the same thing. Some want to be great scientists when they look at the great discoveries that are being made in various fields. Whatever it is, most of us want to be like what we admire and respect. In the long run this takes only two directions. One is to model oneself after the things of this world, and the other is to model oneself after the things of God. As for the change that takes place in the people of God (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18), it is a basic change in character and conduct, away from the standards of the world and into the image of Christ.

These two value systems, this world’s and the will of God are completely incompatible. They are on a collision course with one another. Whether we are contemplating the purpose of life or the meaning of life, about how to measure greatness or how to respond to evil, ambition, sex, honesty, money, religion or anything else, the two sets of standards divide so completely that there is no possibility of our allowing both in our lives. Our mind becomes renewed by a combination of the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.[fn]

First our mind is renewed by the Word of God and the Spirit of God, then we are able to understand and desire the will of God; and then we are increasingly transformed by it. 

It is in the mind that one’s new nature and humanness meet. It is in the mind that one makes choices as to whether they will express that new person in holiness or allow our flesh to act in worldly sinful behavior. If the body is to be holy, the mind must be renewed. So let us break this down to a simple form that anyone could understand. Do not be taken in by the false, unsaved philosophy of life. Do not be misled by the endless flow of thoughts, opinions, speculations, hopes, impulses, or aspirations that are currently in the world. Do not be misled by this whole collection of the world’s stuff, the spirit of the new age, of which Satan is the prince and ruler. The world is an instrument of Satan to promote his goals and ambitions. You can see it everywhere.[fn]

We live in an age of pride, boastfulness, and ugly egos, such as those we see in professional athletes, entertainers, politicians, and oh so many others.

I can remember something that happened several years ago that absolutely nauseated me, and as I relate this to you be assured that things have only gotten worse since then. There was an article written by a columnist in the Chicago Tribune. He wrote that there was a radio station in San Antonio that decided to give away tickets for an evening with “The Motley Crew,” a heavy metal, hard rock group. They had a contest on the radio station, KISS fm, in San Antonio. The teenagers were to write: “I will do the following for the privilege of spending an evening with The Motley Crew.”[fn]

I can tell you that you would be shocked out of your socks by what these teenagers between the ages of thirteen and seventeen wrote. I will give you just one that was kind of mild compared to the others. A rhetorical masterpiece that makes me proud my tax dollars can help support the development of their young minds. This one teenager wrote: “I would shave their bodies and where they bled I would suck the blood out of them.”[fn]Believe me, you do not really want to hear the rest. This is only a small sampling of the frightening spirit of this world. It comes through the music, it comes through the movies, it comes through the media, it comes at us from everywhere.

In Romans 12:2 we are called by the Spirit of God through the apostle, Paul, not to allow ourselves to become conformed to the purposes and ethics and standards and moralities of our time which are Satanic according to John in 1 John 5:19-21 NLT:

19 We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the power and control of the evil one.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we are in God because we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.
21 Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

Stop allowing yourselves to be influenced by this evil world. Do not masquerade wearing the costume of the world, which is not a true reflection of what is in you. Do not wear those masks that the world system calls you to wear. And so many Christians do just that. They really get wrapped up in it. They want to wear the same kind of clothes that the world wears. They want to run right down to the store and buy every new thing that comes along. They want to be a part of all the systems that are created. They want to have the same entertainment and stay current with all the new things that come along. Then they wonder why God does not bless them more.

Kenneth Wuest said it well when he said: “Stop assuming an outward expression which is patterned after the age, an expression which does not come from within, and is not  representative of what you are in your inner being as a regenerated child of God.”[fn]Stop the masquerade. Change the outward appearance to match what you have become on the inside. When Matthew 17 spoke about Jesus being transfigured, that is exactly what happened to Jesus. Matthew 17:1, 2 NLT:

1 Six days later Jesus took Peter and the two brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain.
2 As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance changed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothing became dazzling white.

Jesus’ outward appearance was made to conform to what He was on the inside. He was God in human flesh and for just a few moments His human flesh became like the person of God. You also are to be transformed on the outside to reflect what your redeemed self has become on the inside.

And whose job is it to do all this? It is the job of the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT:

18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

How does the process work? It is a two-step process. First, you must yield to the Holy Spirit as Paul had indicated earlier in chapter 6:13, 16, and 19. People sometimes have the idea that there has to be something extraordinary about being filled with the Spirit, but that is not the case. You do not have to fall over backwards, or become overly emotional, or speak in other tongues in order to be filled with the Spirit. God has wired some people with such gifts and emotions, and sometimes people do become emotional because of the extreme joy they experience. God deals with us according to our personalities. The important factor is whether or not you are asking God to constantly guide you, to love others through you, to accomplish His will in your life. This is not a one-time occurrence. You receive Christ as Savior once and for all, but when it comes to living by the Spirit, that is something you do daily. It is important to begin each day, and sometimes to renew your request during the day, by asking the Spirit to fill you and to control you. That is step one.

Step two is to put the right things into your mind so that the Holy Spirit will transform you. If you put the wrong things in your mind, the Holy Spirit will not transform you. The key ingredient for the renewing of the mind is the Word of God, the Bible. Do you want to become all that God meant for you to be? You cannot do it without knowing your Bible and those things within it that tell you what to put in your mind. If you want to study God’s Word and put His thoughts in your mind, you will become more like Him. If you want to fill your mind with reality TV, late night talk shows, trashy music, and other things of this world, then you will become like the fools that promote such things. Colossians 1:28,29 NLT:

28 So everywhere we go, we tell everyone about Christ. We warn them and teach them with all the wisdom God has given us, for we want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ.
29 I work very hard at this, as I depend on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

A perfect life comes out of perfect knowledge. Colossians 3:8-16 NLT:

8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language.
9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old evil nature and all its wicked deeds.
10 In its place you have clothed yourselves with a brand-new nature that is continually being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ, who created this new nature within you.
11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.
12 Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
13 You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
14 And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony.
15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace. And always be thankful.
16 Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.

The renewed mind is a mind that is filled and controlled by the Word of God. Do you spend as much time in the Word of God as you do participating in the attractions of the world? When something happens in your life is your immediate, involuntary response biblical? That is a renewed mind, a renewed mind that resists conformity to the world.

Finally, we must present our will to God. When we have presented our body and our mind to God, we will approve what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. We will say, “I approve of Your will, God.” We will give our will up and say, “I desire Your will, God. I don’t want what I want. I want what You want.”

A renewed mind will be expressed in a submissive will and in a body presented as a living sacrifice. It all comes in one package. You cannot present your body to God unless you have a renewed mind. Without a renewed mind you will not have the will to do that. But when you have a renewed mind, your will is submissive to God and you will offer your body as a living sacrifice.

The key to all this is a mind filled with the Word of God, an obedient will, and a body presented for service to God.

By the way, this is not something you do just once in your life. You do it every day. Every waking moment. Give God your mind renewed by the Word. Give Him your will, submitting to His will as the only thing you want. Stop exercising your will all the time. Stop grabbing for this and stop grabbing for that saying, “I need it and I want it.” You never need to fear the will of God, do you? Verse 2 tells us it is good and acceptable and perfect.

The renewed mind, the submissive will, and the consecrated body go along with the redeemed soul. What beautiful simplicity. God boils down everything we need for a good life into these two verses. Give Him your mind, your body, and your will, and you will hardly be able to handle the blessings that come back. Why not get started right now?

 

It Is All About Oneness

As we began our study in Romans chapter 12, we began by looking at verses one and two which we consider to be one of the most powerful passages in the Bible. In these two verses Paul describes the essential elements for life change. Is your life out of control? Are you unhappy? Do you feel you are living a meaningless existence? Do you feel unloved? Do you have problems with relationships? If you do and would like these things to improve, in two verses Paul describes the process for changing all of that and for beginning the process of becoming a person in whom the Holy Spirit of God will produce:

What more could anyone ask for? The Bible, by the way, refers to these things as the fruit of the Spirit. You can have money, power, and success and never have any of the above. In fact money, power, and success can prevent you from having those things. During the years that I was an atheist I found myself becoming more and more miserable as I gained wealth and success. If you want a truly satisfying and blessed life, one in which God, in His mercy, gives you the nine gifts we just listed, you must follow the instructions in Romans chapter twelve. So let us briefly review Romans 12:1, 2 (NRSV), and then we will move on:

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Do you want a good and simple definition of mercy? Suppose you were going 65 MPH down a side street and a little boy ran into the street. Your car struck and killed him. You were going 35 MPH over the speed limit. As the judge is about to sentence you to life imprisonment for negligent homicide, the boy’s father steps forward and says, “I don’t want this man to suffer. “I forgive him and I would like to accept his punishment myself and serve out his prison term.” So when you think about the meaning of the mercy of God, think of what a great price He paid so that you might have eternal life.

As we studied verses 1 and 2 we learned in addition that salvation and eternal life do not depend on the desire or effort of human beings, but on God’s mercy (Romans 9:16), and that God’s purpose in all of this is “to make the riches of His glory known to the objects of His mercy (Romans 9:23).” That is you. The objects of His mercy are those that accept and trust in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ for our sins. I know that I am an object of God’s mercy because I have believed Jesus died for my sins and I have thus made Him the Lord of my life. There is nothing more important to me than following the leading of Jesus Christ.

One essential element that brings a person to such a commitment, and allows a person to be able to offer their body as a living sacrifice in service to God is to be sure that their mind has been renewed. How does the process work? It is a two-step process. First, you must yield to the Holy Spirit as Paul indicated in chapter 6:13,16, and 19. Of utmost importance is whether or not you are asking God to constantly guide you to love others and to accomplish His will in your life. This is not a one-time occurrence. You receive Christ as Savior once and for all, but when it comes to living by the Spirit, that is something you do daily. It is important to begin each day by asking God’s  guidance, and sometimes to renew your request during the day by asking the Spirit to fill you and to control you. That is step one.

Step two is to put the right things into your mind so that the Holy Spirit will transform you. If you put the wrong things in your mind, the Holy Spirit will not transform you. And the key ingredient for the renewing of the mind is the Word of God, the Bible. Do you want to become all that God meant for you to be? You cannot do it without knowing your Bible and those things within it that tell you what to put in your mind. If you want to study God’s Word and put His thoughts in your mind, you will become more like Him. If you want to fill your mind with reality TV, late night talk shows, trashy music, chasing after money, fame, and other things this world values, then you will become like the fools that promote such things.

So first our mind is renewed by the Spirit of God and the Word of God. Then we are able to understand and desire the will of God. And then we are increasingly and amazingly transformed by it. One little Bible verse sums it up so perfectly.

Colossians 3:16 NLT:
16 Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use His words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.

Now that we are again grounded in the first two verses of this chapter, Let us continue in Romans 12:3-5 NLT:

3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.
4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function,
5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.


The connection between Paul’s appeal for believers to offer their minds and bodies to God in verses one and two, and the specific instructions he gives for doing so beginning in verse 3, are guidelines for how we should be conducting ourselves within the circle of believers in which we serve. Most often such a circle of believers is called a church. Here Paul begins to get specific about this renewed mind he just spoke of and to the things which this renewed mind should be open to receive. I like to illustrate this by suggesting that you think about your mind having a protective filter, which is the Holy Spirit. When you have bathed yourself in the Word of God in the Bible and know the will of God, all information that comes at you will have to pass through the filter of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will therefore filter out all the impurities that come at you, all the deception that Satan throws at you to try and get you back in his camp. If you are constantly letting the Holy Spirit know you want His help to protect you, He will not allow any of the pollutants to get in and do damage.

In these verses Paul instructs us to carefully and continually evaluate ourselves, our identity, and our gifts. We need to know who we are and have an accurate picture of how we may best serve Christ. We need also remember that a renewed mind is a mind similar in humility to the mind of Christ. And humility does not mean that one becomes a shrinking violet or a Casper Milquetoast.

When you became a Christian, God gave you something called a “spiritual gift.” He gave you at least one, and maybe more. We will look more closely at the various individual gifts later on. These spiritual gifts are really gifts to the Church to help it function as God intended. God gave a variety of gifts so that the body of believers would have all the parts it needs to function fully.

And no one is to consider themselves better than another because of what their gifts might be. God may have given one the gift of preaching and another the gift of encouragement. Both are equal in value and both are necessary to the body of Christ.

In verse 3 Paul tells them to be honest in the way they see themselves. In other words, when you think about yourselves make sure you avoid two serious mistakes. Number one, do not think too highly of yourself, and number two, do not think too little of yourself. But develop an attitude of who you are based on sound thinking. How do we do that? Paul tells us that first we do it by our faith and secondly through our gifts.

Now how can a person rightly recognize their gift? Verse three tells us that you recognize your gift according to the measure of faith God has given you. Whatever gift you have was given to you by God. That should tell you right from the get go how important it is to give your life totally to God. He has created you for a certain purpose and given you a talent in order to advance His kingdom. You need to know what it is and use it. If you ever want to see the maximum potential of that gift, if you ever want to see all that God can do with that gift, then you start by giving your whole self to Him. Then you will see what will happen with that gift. God will maximize it and you will be blessed and fulfilled because you are doing what you were meant to do.

Now let us get back to this “measure of faith.” This “Measure of faith” is basically the kind and amount of faith it takes to use our gift. For example, if I have the gift of preaching and teaching and submit my life to doing God’s will, then God gives me the faith it takes to use that gift. The faith measured out to me is the measure of faith to operate the gift God has given to me. He did not give you and me a gift without the ability to use the gift. If someone has the gift of hospitality, they need God’s help to maximize the gift. If someone has the gift of mercy, they need the God-given insight to hear a hurting person and see beyond the words into the pain in the heart. That is the faith that goes along with the gift and God will provide whatever level of faith we require to utilize our gift if we ask Him to do so.

So Paul tells believers to have a proper understanding of their gift and the knowledge that God is always available to help them use it. Then when you have a proper understanding of your gift and you know what it is that God has gifted you to do and you know He has given you the faith to do it, then you can be humble about it because you know it is not you doing all these things, it is God. “Well,” you might be saying to yourself, “Are they ever going to tell us how we find out what our gift is?” The answer is yes. Here are twelve things you need to do:

1. Present yourself a living sacrifice.
2. Know that you are gifted. But also know there may be a difference between your natural abilities and your spiritual gifts. God may bless your natural abilities and use them, say as a chemistry teacher, but your spiritual gift in the church may be mercy. Your spiritual gift may be something apart from your skills and natural talents, or then again it might be related to those natural skills. What we are trying to say is to be open to whatever God may want to show you for service in His Church.
3. Pray for wisdom.
4. Seek nothing—that is do not have a predetermined idea of what your gift should be and do not try to force the “evidence” to fit that idea. This further confirms what we said in number 2.
5. Examine your heart’s desires. What do you like to do?
6. Try various forms of ministry. Get involved in what God is doing in the Church.
7. Then notice what happens. Are people blessed as a result of your ministry? Do others say they see you functioning in a certain ministry or as possessing a certain quality, such as giving or helping or teaching?
8. Notice your own heart’s response. Do you feel, “Aha! This is it!” Do you feel fulfilled? Do you sense the supernatural power of God enabling you to use the gift, or to function in that ministry?
9. Seek confirmation. Do not force the issue. If several spiritual people tell you something is not your gift, believe them. If they tell you something is your gift, believe them. Because your spiritual gift is a gift to the body or the church, then the church body is often best equipped to identify it. That is, if they are prayerfully seeking spiritually gifted people and not just looking for a warm body to do a job.
10. Look for the blessing of God. That will be His way of indicating that you are using the spiritual gift He gave you.
11. Serve with your whole heart. You will never know your gift if you are not willing to serve God with all your energy and enthusiasm.
12. When you have discovered what your gift is, go for it. Cultivate the gift and use it.

 

Some people feel uncertain about beginning this search for their spiritual gift. Some make the mistake of just jumping into whatever ministry opportunity comes along and soon learn they are not gifted for that ministry. If you might be one of those people, surveys have been developed to help identify spiritual gifts. You might want to start by filling out a survey and we have one available for you to use, if you wish. You may contact us through out website at
Villagechurchofwheaton.org

When you have done all these things you may still possibly feel uncertain about your gift, but you will have a general idea of what it is you do well. So go for it and if you see that it is working well, you will know in your heart that it is right. But remember, do not try to fool yourself into believing that you have a gift that you simply want to have for one reason or another. Make sure you follow all of the above steps, especially number six.

Now let us go on to talk about how Jesus intended His Church to function. In Colossians1:18, we read:

18 Christ is the head of the church, which is his body.  (NRSV)

This simply means that the Church is composed of a head, which is Jesus, and a body which is made up of all believers. Paul elaborates on this thought as He continues in Romans12:4, 5 (NRSV):

4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function,
5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.

Paul is comparing our physical bodies to the body of Christ, the Church. Our physical bodies have many members. In other words, we have eyes, a nose, a mouth, ears, arms, legs, bones, cells, DNA, and so forth. Here Paul gives us this wonderful analogy of the body in order to help us see the relationship among believers in the church. We are one body and yet we are made up of many members who all work together to make the body function as it was designed by God to function. You know without my ever thinking about it my hands will do instantaneously what my mind tells them to do. Is it not amazing how all the parts of our physical body work together? In verse 5 Paul says we are all connected and working together in a spiritual body just as all the members of a human body are connected to work together. We share a common life, common ministry, common gifts, common resources, common joy, common sorrow, common everything. That emphasizes our unity. We are all one, yet we are all different. And as one body each of the members depends on the others.

If in your physical body you had one part, like the eyes or liver that said, “I am not going to function. I am not going to do what I am supposed to do. I am going to do what I want to do,” you would have a big problem. That is what Paul is saying. Everything in our physical body has to work together, just as everyone in the church has to work together if we want the whole body to work to its maximum design capability. If you have parts of the church that are not functioning, if you have people in the church that are not using the spiritual gifts they have been given, the whole body, the whole church suffers. If there are people in the church who are holding grudges or refusing to work alongside another church member, this hampers the use of their spiritual gifts and it puts a large barrier in the path of the church’s ministry. Paul speaks to this issue again in Colossians 3:13-16 NLT:

13 You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
14 And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony.
15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace. And always be thankful.
16 Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other.

What a passage! God has made it possible for you to live in joy and harmony with one another if you just follow a few simple instructions. Just think about it. God gave you a special gift if you are a believer. You have therefore been commissioned to use your gift in His Church, the body of Christ. If you do not use that gift in serving the church, you are crippling the body so that it will not function as well as it should. If one of our body parts does not function, we do not have a backup to do what it does. The function is therefore lost. If your hand is paralyzed it will impair your ability to function. If your other hand becomes paralyzed it will more seriously affect your ability to function. The more parts that do not function as designed, the more seriously impaired the body will be. The only part of the body that could be paralyzed in some people and actually improve their ability to function would be the tongue.

There is a book written by Paul Brand entitled, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. Paul Brand is a well known surgeon in the South. He writes some fascinating things comparing the human body with the body of Christ. In the following excerpt from his book, he describes the diversity of the body’s cells:

“I am first struck by their variety. Chemically my cells are almost all alike, but visually and functionally they are as different as animals in a zoo. Red blood cells, discs resembling life-saver candies, voyage through my blood loaded with oxygen to feed the other cells. Cartilage cells with shiny black nuclei look like bunches of black-eyed peas glued together for strength. Fat cells seem lazy and leaden like bulging white plastic garbage bags jammed together.

In contrast, skin cells form undulating patterns of softness and texture that rise and dip giving shape and beauty to our bodies. They curve and jut at unpredictable angles so that every person’s fingerprint, not to mention his or her face, is unique.

Every second my smooth muscle cells modulate the width of my blood vessels, gently push matter through my intestines, open and close the plumbing in my kidneys. When things are going well my heart is contracting rhythmically, my brain is humming with knowledge, and I barely give these cells in my body a passing thought.

But I believe these cells in my body can also teach me about larger organisms such as families, groups, communities, villages, nations, and especially about one specific community of people that is likened to a body more than thirty times in the New Testament. I speak of the body of Christ. The body of Christ, His Church, like our own bodies, is composed of individual un-like cells that are knit together to form one body.

“If the DNA were unwound and joined together end to end, the strand could stretch from the earth to the sun and back more than 400 times. Every cell possesses a genetic code so complete that the entire body could be reassembled from information in any one of the body’s cells.

Just as DNA resides in every cell in your body, so the living God who is the instruction manual for all truth resides in every cell within His Church, that is, with each individual person. Verse 5 tells us we are all different, we have differing gifts, but we have the common spiritual DNA through the presence of the living God.

Now listen carefully because you should find what follows fascinating. Again I am reading from the book by Paul Brand:

“In our figure conscious western world the word “fat” portrays a person with a lack of self-discipline who possesses an unnecessary collection of cells that should be reduced. There is, however, some value to fat. When the body needs it the fat cell releases it. Each fat cell is a storehouse containing a yellow globule of oil. Most of the time the cell lies dormant while the body eats enough food to fuel its need. If an overweight person with plenty of fat cells stops eating, they will be able to survive over a certain period of time while a thin person would starve. That is the most important function of fat.

“Sometimes a dreaded thing occurs in the body. A mutiny results in a tumor lipoma. A lipoma is a low grade benign tumor. It derives from a single fat cell that is lounging around storing fat and waiting to be called into service. The cell for some reason rebels against the leadership of the body and refuses to give up its reserves. It accepts deposits but ignores the withdrawal slips. As the cell multiplies, daughter cells follow its lead and the tumor grows like a fungus filling in crevices, pressing against muscles and organs and occasionally surgery is required.

“The cells function beautifully except for one flaw. they have become disloyal. In their activities they disregard the body’s needs. A tumor is called benign if its effect is fairly localized and it stays within membrane boundaries. But the most traumatizing condition occurs within the body when disloyal cells defy inhibition and multiply without any checks on growth, spreading rapidly throughout the body choking out normal cells. The body’s white cells armed against foreign invaders will not attack the body’s own mutinous cells. Physicians fear no other malfunction more deeply. This condition is called cancer and when out of control death results.”

The illustration Brand makes is a powerful one. There are rebellious cells in the body of Christ, the Church, as well. Some of them are benign in the ultimate sense that they do not seem to be killing the Church. They just gorge themselves by continuing to take in and take in and take in, and never give out so that the Church becomes ineffective and cannot function because all such people simply want is to get fatter and fatter. Their whole approach to things is “What are you going to do for me?” They are the people that come on Sunday to hear a sermon but do not want to get involved in the work of the church in areas such as outreach, tithing, community service, Bible studies, hospital visitation, care for the elderly, and any number of other church functions. They like to come and be fed, but they do not want to help feed others. They are also most generally the ones that gossip and criticize.

Then there are those cells that are mutinous to the point where they literally kill the church because they rebel against it. The church is always in danger of both kinds: the lazy fat cells that basically starve the church of its usefulness, power, and resources. Then there are the evil cancerous cells that eat at its very life. The people who pressure the pastor to modify the truth of the Bible in his/her messages to attract more people. The people who do not read their Bibles yet counsel others on what they think the will of God is. And then there are those who flat out simply want the church to be a social club.

We must want to be the living, healthy cells that function for the glory of God and the health of the body of Christ. In Ephesians 2:13-22, Paul speaks to how Christ came to break down the barrier, the wall of hostility that separates all people. Jesus’ purpose was to create one unified body from the many warring factions that existed, thus making peace. He offered the world an opportunity to come together into one unified body with Himself as the head of that body.

In chapter four of Ephesians, Paul continues this emphasis on oneness in verses 1-6 NLT

1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.
2 Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.
3 Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with peace.
4 We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future.
5 There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 and there is only one God and Father, who is over us all and in us all and living through us all.

If you look around at the various churches in your community and you do not see this attitude being practiced, it is simply because those churches do not place an emphasis on teaching the Word of God in the Bible, or they do not understand the Word of God in the Bible, or they do not care about the Word of God in the Bible. If any or all of these attitudes exist within a church, that church or those churches are preventing the universal Church of Jesus Christ from doing what it was meant to do. And the reason for this is that certain members of the universal body of Christ, that includes all churches everywhere, are refusing to do what they have been called to do by the head of the Church, Jesus Christ. Such churches and such people will be judged with severity. And the pastors, elders, and leaders of these churches will be punished more severely for failing to live up to the responsibility they accepted in leading God’s flock (2 Peter 2:1; James 3:1).

Now you know God’s purpose and detailed plan for His Church. Do not, therefore, ever accept anything less in the church you attend or belong to. Do not accept anything less from the pastor or pastors. If they are not teaching and living this type of doctrine, they must be called to accountability by the rest of the body. If they do not correct such leadership, they should be removed.

 

THE GIFTS

Have you ever looked around the church or the Christian world and admired the Billy Grahams, the Joe Stowells, the Anne Graham Lotzs, and wondered why you are not like them? Or, perhaps you have longed to have the faith of a George Mueller or Joni Erickson Tada. Maybe you have felt discouraged thinking, “I cannot do anything great for the Lord.” Ah, but you are wrong. If you make the effort to find and use your unique spiritual gift, God will do great things through you too. You may not get the fame those people have, but you will be just as effective in the spiritual circle in which God has placed you. And He will look upon all who use their spiritual gifts equally. Yes, you are as important in God’s eyes as Billy Graham when you faithfully execute the spiritual gift God has given specifically to you.

John Owen, the seventeenth century English Puritan writer, once wrote: “Spiritual gifts are that without which the Church cannot subsist in the world, nor can believers be useful unto one another and the rest of mankind unto the glory of Christ as they ought to be.”

In the first five verses of our study of Romans 12, we learned that God’s purpose for our lives is for our minds to be constantly renewed through our study, meditation, and prayer over the Word of God found in the Bible. We are to do this within a community of believers, the local church, so that we might function in a way to make the body of Christ effective in pointing toward the glory of God and the love He has for all people. Such a community church is also able to provide for all the needs of its members. To do our parts individually, you and I, we must identify and use the spiritual gifts God has given us to serve the church. In order to do that we are going to look at a general overview of the basic gifts God has given His people.

Romans 12:6-8:
6 God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out when you have faith that God is speaking through you.
7 If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching.
8 If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

Here Paul identifies seven spiritual gifts. Other passages in the New Testament list additional gifts. Actually there are quite a few. But this morning we will look only at the ones in Romans 12. Most of these gifts seem somewhat self-explanatory, but a little more detailed look at them might be helpful for us all. First he mentions prophecy. Prophecy has two aspects. One is to inform people of what God plans to do in the future, and the other is to speak out publicly the truth of the Word of God as found in the Bible. Prophecy is basically a gift of preaching, of proclaiming. Paul wrote about the importance of this gift in 1 Corinthians 14:1,3,4:

1 Let love be your highest goal, but also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives, especially the gift of prophecy.
3 But one who prophesies is helping others grow in the Lord, encouraging and comforting them.
4 One who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.

The Greek word for prophecy means to speak publicly. It is the gift of public speaking. Now on rare occasions it may include foretelling what the future will bring, but for the most part it simply has to do with speaking the Word of God in public.

There has never been a time through all of redemptive history, whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament or up to the present day that God has not had His preachers, His spokespersons. Sometimes they gave new revelations from God. Sometimes the prophet of God spoke as Jeremiah spoke in Jeremiah 35:12.13 (NAS):

12 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
13 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, "Will you not receive instruction by listening to My words?" declares the LORD.

There is a “Thus says the Lord” quality to prophetic messages. They are the direct words from God to His people. They are important messages which God wants people to hear and pay attention to. The prophet, or person with the gift of prophecy, is the one who brings the message. But many times the prophets were simply repeating what God had already revealed. If you go to the Old Testament and read it, you will find that the prophets instructed, exhorted, warned, rebuked, and encouraged. They stressed duty, repentance, and obedience. They promoted reverence and righteousness. They condemned sin and they promised blessing. This is simply public speaking for the purpose of bringing to the people the message of God. They spoke of practical applications that the Word of God had for life. They took the Word of God and tied it to the lives of the people. John Calvin put it this way: “By prophesying I do not understand the gift of foretelling the future, but of interpreting the Scripture so that a prophet is an interpreter of God’s will, and I might add a public proclaimer of it.” I like what Peter says about prophecy in 2 Peter 1:19 NLT:

19 Because of that, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. Pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a light shining in a dark place—until the day Christ appears and his brilliant light shines in your hearts.

Now let us go back to verse 6 of Romans 12 again: “If you prophesy then prophesy according to the proportion of faith.” When you preach make sure that you preach according to the faith, the biblical faith, the Word of God. And preach according to the power, energy, and ability that God has given you. Remember what we studied in verse 3 about the measure of faith? First God gives us a spiritual gift and then He gives us the amount of faith necessary to use that gift. When you go to prophesy, do it in proportion to the gift you have. Let us turn here for a moment to 1 Thessalonians 5. Here Paul is writing an epistle giving instruction to the church and he wraps it up with some very interesting things at the end in verses 16-22 NLT:

16 Always be joyful.
17 Keep on praying.
18 No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
19 Do not stifle the Holy Spirit.
20 Do not scoff at prophecies,
21 but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good.
22 Keep away from every kind of evil.

All of this goes together. If you despise prophesying, you will quench the Spirit, which means you make it impossible for the Holy Spirit of God to work on your behalf. If you accept prophesying, that is preaching, then test it to make sure it is good. Do not just accept everything that is preached to you without testing it to see if it is good. How do you test it? First, prophecy has to be consistent with the Word of God in Scripture. Secondly, prophecy has to give a clear witness for Jesus (Revelation 19:10). If any pastor, priest, minister, television evangelist, or self-proclaimed prophet is preaching and telling people about God and/or Jesus, and they do not satisfy both of these requirements, they are not to be believed. And you can be certain that in some way Satan is the source of what they are teaching. They themselves may even believe it, but God has blessed us with these two simple rules for determining the honesty of a preacher. And those who preach and do not satisfy these requirements are false teachers and false prophets.God Himself tells us He will test us about who and what we will believe. Let us look at Deuteronomy 13:1-4 NLT:

1 “Suppose there are prophets among you, or those who have dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles,
2 and the predicted signs or miracles take place. If the prophets then say, ‘Come, let us worship the gods of foreign nations,’
3 do not listen to them. The Lord your God is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and soul.
4 Serve only the Lord your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him.

All true biblical preaching is preaching the Word of God and lifting up and exalting God Himself and His Son Jesus Christ. There are no other gods and anyone who tells you there are is a false prophet and you are not to listen to him/her. 1 Peter 4:11 teaches us:

11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

 

Prophesying must exalt the person and work of Christ, glorify God the Father, and proclaim the Word of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. If you have that gift, use it. Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:1-5 NLT:

1 And so I solemnly urge you before God and before Christ Jesus—who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom:
2 Preach the word of God. Be persistent, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.

4 They will reject the truth and follow strange myths.
5 But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at bringing others to Christ. Complete the ministry God has given you.

Go for it! People are going to want preachers who make them feel good about themselves, who tickle their ears and entertain them. Do not worry about such things. You just preach the Word of God, and that simply means preach what is in the Bible because in all the world that is the only thing we can rely on and trust in one-hundred percent of the time.

The second gift mentioned in Romans 12 is the gift of serving. If you have the gift of serving, then serve. The gift of serving is also referred to as the gift of helps. The Greek word used in this passage is the same as the one used in 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Acts 20:35. Helps is a support gift. A gift of practical help, a gift of serving. It Is used several places in the New Testament to mean to serve a meal. It came then to be a general term for any kind of spiritual service no matter what that service may be. There are so many things that need to be done in the ministry of a church. If people were to just show up and say, “Is there anything I can do?” they would be kept busy all day long. This is the meaning of the gift of helps. You are willing to do just about anything that needs to be done. This is a very important gift and covers so many of the behind-the-scene tasks that are necessary for the church to function.

Then Paul mentions teaching and says if you have the gift of teaching, then teach. Some people will ask, “Well, what’s the difference between teaching and preaching?” The word here for teaching means a formal systematic training; a process that involves taking someone from one point to another systematically. It can refer to a teacher in a seminary, a Bible college, a Sunday School, or a small group. It can also include one-on-one discipling. It is a ministry in which someone leads a person along in the systematic understanding of the Word of God. This is the process that Matthew 28:19,20 NLT refers to where Jesus commands them:

19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Paul certainly had the gift of teaching and he also had the gift of prophecy, public preaching. Sometimes God will give a person more than one gift. In fact, in 2 Timothy 1:11 Paul says:

11 And God chose me to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this Good News.    (NLT)

Elders in the church need to have the gift of teaching. It is the ability to analyze and systematize and pass on instruction to people concerning the Word of God, to thoroughly interpret the Scriptures so they are understandable. This should be the primary role of a pastor, to thoroughly interpret the Bible for the people of the congregation. That is expository Bible teaching.

Then we come to Romans 12:8 NLT:

8 If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

The gift of encouragement that Paul first addresses in this verse is referred to in some of your translations as exhortation. “Exhortation” is probably the more accurate rendering of the word. People with the gift of exhortation minister in many ways, but it is more often on a personal basis, working with one individual at a time. Encouragers, or exhorters, may give a word of warning, or speak comfort to someone. An encourager is someone who builds up other people in their faith. Encouragers are quick to speak a word of appreciation to someone.

Leslie Flynn has defined the gift of exhortation as involving: “The supernatural ability to come alongside to help, to strengthen the weak, reassure the wavering, buttress the buffeted, steady the faltering, console the troubled, encourage the halting.”

Encouragers may give spiritual advice at times and they are often the counselors in the church. If you have this gift, you could possibly encourage people out of sin into righteousness. You could comfort those who are in trouble. You could take someone who is weak and encourage them to be strong and get stronger and trust in the Lord to work things out. Some people are just great at comforting people who are in sorrow. These are the encouragers. Oh how we need these people! If that is your gift, make sure you share it. This gift is a gift that challenges people to respond consistently to God’s will. If you are weak and defeated, you need someone to come alongside you and say: “Be strong my sister, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. God is the victor. Remember that God is your strength and He will accomplish His purpose in His time.”

Paul also mentions the gift of giving in verse 8. Everyone is called on to give, to give offerings and tithes. But the spiritual gift of giving cheerfully goes beyond that. The Greek word used in Romans 12:8 means to super give, to impart one’s earthly possessions. People with the gift of giving give generously with no mixed motives. They give with a single purpose and that is to the glory of the Lord. There is no thought about how much they need to keep for themselves. And they have no thought about hoping that others find out how much they are giving and just how generous they are. In Acts 2, Luke talks about the fact that people were selling what they had and giving to those in need. Those who have this gift feel a sense of overwhelming joy when they give and never worry that they will not have enough for themselves. There is a supernatural generosity involved in the spiritual gift of giving.

Next Paul speaks of the gift of leadership, a gift which is to be taken with a great sense of responsibility. It means to lead, to manage, to be in charge in order to get the job done. This is a gift that men and women should possess who are elected as elders and deacons in the church. Look at what we find in Acts 6:1-4 NLT:

1 But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. Those who spoke Greek complained against those who spoke Hebrew, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.
2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. “We apostles should spend our time preaching and teaching the word of God, not administering a food program,” they said.
3 “Now look around among yourselves, brothers, and select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We will put them in charge of this business.
4 Then we can spend our time in prayer and preaching and teaching the word.”

           
Mark 10:42-45 NIV:
42 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

The church needs leaders to see that the work gets done, to see that the needs of the people are met. The church needs leaders who can keep the church on course with fairness and wisdom and efficiency. This kind of management ability is indispensable to the church, when it is used with God’s wisdom and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Then Paul goes to the gift of showing mercy, kindness to others, and he says to do it gladly or cheerfully. The gift of mercy refers to those people who desire to serve others who are suffering, and includes the poor, the sick, and those who really have it tough. It is a wonderful gift. People who have this gift can be found in the jail ministry and in the hospitals. They are found out on the streets somewhere or at the rescue mission. They just have a passion in their hearts for people who are deprived. Proverbs 14:21 tells us:

21 It is sin to despise one’s neighbors; blessed are those who help the poor.

Then in verse 31 of the same chapter we read:

31 Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who help the poor honor Him.

Jesus Himself came to preach the Gospel to the poor, to free those who were captive, to bind up the brokenhearted. He came for the downcast, the downtrodden, the poor, and the needy. In James 2:5 NRSV, James writes:

5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

Paul says to do all this with cheerfulness because if you are going to serve people who are miserable, you cannot do it by being miserable yourself. Do it with joy. People who are suffering, people who are homeless, people who suffer with emotional problems, they know if a person sincerely cares about them. They know if a person is excited about helping them or are doing it because they feel it is something they have to do. And if they do not feel that sincerity, or that joy, they will not feel comfortable accepting help from such a person.

Now in verses 6, 7, and 8 Paul has given us a simple general list of gifts for believers to consider as they think about how they should respond to the mercies of God. And the list really covers all the needs of the church. Let us now review these gifts Paul has identified:

1. Prophecy - Preaching, publicly proclaiming the Word of God.
2. Serving or helps - Basically describes a person who is willing to
do whatever is necessary at any given time.
3. Teaching  - A ministry in which someone leads a person along in
the systematic understanding of the Word of God.
4. Encouragement – People who are just great at comforting people
who are in sorrow and who give wise counsel to the church.
5. Giving – When you find great joy in giving generously to the work
of the Lord so you may glorify God.
6. Leadership – To guide the government of the church, through the
principle of servant leadership, so that the work of ministry is  
unimpeded.
7. Mercy – Showing kindness to those who are suffering or who are in
need.

The first eight verses of Romans 12 outline for us the way life should be in God’s kingdom, and a way of living that can bring joy and fulfillment. Let us review how it works and then let us all try to live it every moment of every day. In verses 6-8 Paul gives us a general list of gifts that believers have. It is not an all inclusive list, there are others, but this list serves the needs of the church. In verses 4 and 5 we saw that if each of us identify which gift we have and realize we have been given that gift by God to serve the body of Christ, the church, to which we belong, the church will function according to God’s will, and we will have a fulfilling life because we are operating according to the special and unique design God incorporated into us. And verses 1-3 tell us that in order to be able to do all these things we must fill our minds with the Word of God found in the Bible and not the things of this world. In that way, we will allow God to change us so that we live the way we should live and not the way the rest of the world lives. In spite of how many people mistakenly think the Christian life is boring, I can tell you that I have been a whole lot happier since becoming a Christian than I was chasing the pleasures and values of this world. Life is just lived with a whole lot more joy in every way.

Just imagine a community of people where the head is Christ, the arms are the preachers, the legs are the servers, the hands are the teachers, the eyes are the encouragers, the ears are the givers or financial providers, the feet are the leaders, and the hearts are the mercy givers. Just imagine a body like that with each individual member or part performing their special gifts for the glory of God and consequently the benefit of all people with whom this body comes in contact. This is a church that is equipped to provide the needs of people and in so doing to proclaim the glory of God and Christ. This is the way things should be in Christ‘s Church, and if they are not, Jesus gets pretty detailed about what will happen to such churches in Revelation chapters two and three. Next we’ will get into some specifics about relationships among people and how we were designed to function in our relationships with other believers.

 

How Do God’s People Share Love For One Another?

Valentine’s Day is a day we set aside to express love for our sweethearts. As you think about that, how are your love relationships? Not just with a sweetheart, but with people in general?  Is getting along with other people a breeze for you? Do you have smooth sailing with all your relatives, your neighbors, your work associates?  And if you do, how do you relate to the difficult people around you, or people who are deliberately obnoxious, or whose value systems are the exact opposite of yours?

Paul has moved us through Romans 12 by first talking about how we are to present ourselves as living sacrifices to God, and then by telling us to discover and use our spiritual gifts. Now, Paul moves into the area of relationships.

Romans 12:9-13 NLT:
9Don't just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good.
10Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically.
 12Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful. 13When God's children are in need, be the one to help them out. And get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner or, if they need lodging, for the night.

Paul starts this section off with a stern exhortation in verse 9: “Don’t just pretend that you love others.” Ever done that? Or at least been tempted? After all, we often want to look good to others; we want to look like good Christians who are supposed to love everyone. But, face it, loving everyone is very difficult at times. And maybe it is at those times that we are tempted to pretend that we love people. But God, through Paul, is calling us on that. He is saying do not pretend to love others, really love them. Now exactly what are we talking about when we say we are to really love other people? Does that mean we run around hugging everyone we see? No. I believe God is talking here about having agape love for the people around us. That kind of love is described in 1 Corinthians 13, especially verse 4 through 7:

1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NLT:
4Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud
5or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.
6It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
7Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

What this boils down to is that true love, the kind of love God has for us, is concerned about the welfare of the person being loved. Love does not focus on the lover; it focuses on the recipient of the love, “the lovee?”  So if we love someone we will be patient and kind toward them. We will not be jealous, boastful, or rude. We will not be irritable, and we will not keep score. But notice this next sentence. If we truly love someone we are sorry when we see injustice.

Looking back at Romans 12 we see in verse 9 where Paul tells us to “really love” others. Then in verse 10 he says “love each other with genuine affection.” And what does he put between them? “Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good.” So we see that if we truly love others, we will hate evil; we will hate what is wrong and take a stand for the good, the right. These are pretty strong words and they go against much of what is taken as the norm for our current culture. They go against political correctness.

In order to keep this in its proper perspective it is essential that we understand a very basic fact about God, and that is that God is a God of absolute holiness, purity, and He Himself is without any taint of sin. Consequently He cannot tolerate any evil whatsoever. It would then follow that anyone who knows the love of God and loves God in return would have to hate evil as well. We must therefore have no tolerance of evil whatsoever. Listen to Psalm 101NLT:

1 A psalm of David. I will sing of your love and justice. I will praise you, Lord, with songs.
2 I will be careful to live a blameless life— when will you come to my aid? I will lead a life of integrity in my own home.
3 I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar. I hate all crooked dealings; I will have nothing to do with them.
4 I will reject perverse ideas and stay away from every evil.
5 I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors. I will not endure conceit and pride.
6 I will keep a protective eye on the godly, so they may dwell with me in safety. Only those who are above reproach will be allowed to serve me.
7 I will not allow deceivers to serve me, and liars will not be allowed to enter my presence.
8 My daily task will be to ferret out criminals and free the city of the Lord from their grip

Wow! David is really pumped here. David makes it clear that we are to make no compromise whatsoever with evil. We cannot allow evil even to have a sufficient opportunity to tempt us. As soon as we see it, we are to turn and walk away from it. An alcoholic should not stop at the bar to have a cup of coffee. A husband and father should stay out of the casino. In fact everyone ought to stay out of the casino. If you are married you do not allow yourself to be alone with someone of the opposite sex in a tempting environment. You should not go to the movies or watch television programs that are obscene or sexually inappropriate. A three hundred pound woman should not go to work for Krispy Kreme, and a three hundred pound man should not go to work at the chocolate factory. When we place ourselves in the cross hairs of our weaknesses, our chances of giving in to them are greatly increased.

Do you remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5:29,30?

29 So if your eye—even if it is your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
30 And if your hand—even if it is your stronger hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

Jesus was giving a tremendous verbal exaggeration in order to make the point that they must deal with sin drastically because it is so anti-God. We could just keep going on and on with passages in the Bible about the seriousness of sin and evil. How about Proverbs 8:13:

13 All who fear the Lord will hate evil. That is why I hate pride, arrogance, corruption, and perverted speech.

Our culture today tells us we should tolerate such things and that if we do not we are intolerant. Do you hate pride? Do you hate arrogance? Do you hate the perverted speech on television, radio, movies, and magazines? Or have you grown accustomed to such things in our culture, and do you tolerate them because they are so much a part of what our nation has become? Do you say as David did that you will not allow such a person in your presence because you cannot be a victim of the breaking down of the holy standards of your own life. There is a very powerful statement made in Jude 20-23 (NRSV):

20 But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit;
21 keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
22 And have mercy on some who are wavering;
23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.

When a believer is attempting to bring a person to the knowledge of and faith in Christ, that person has to have a healthy fear that they are not drawn in to the other person’s sin. So the believer must treat the environment he/she is in with a healthy fear that they not be affected by or drawn into that sin. This is a very serious warning and if you think about it I am sure you’ will realize such a fear is valid.

Someone once said our only security against sin is to be shocked by it. And when we stop being shocked by it we are no longer secure against it making inroads into our consciousness. Unfortunately in the world in which we live it has become hard to be shocked by almost any kind of sin because we have become so accustomed to it.

Every Christian needs to see the beauty of holiness and the ugly damnable reality of sin. Now because people in our world have become so tolerant of evil, there may actually be some people who wonder what evil actually is. So, perhaps we should ask the ultimate authority to answer this question for us. What does God classify as evil? If you will turn to Proverbs 6:16-19 NLT, you will find out:

16 There are six things the Lord hates—no, seven things he detests:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent,
18 a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong,
19 a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord among brothers.

God hates pride, lying, murderer, wicked schemes of any kind, immoral acts or deeds, the act of planning evil deeds, when people mislead others intentionally, and when people create trouble within a community. These are the things God hates. And I bet the thing He hates most is false religion and those that teach lies to people about what to believe. It is therefore our position to hate evil as well and to stay away from it. Now please listen carefully because I do not want you to miss the meaning of what I am about to say. A good person hates evil not because he/she fears the consequences of doing evil but rather because they love righteousness. At the end of verse 9, Paul says “cling to what is good.” The meaning there means to stick to good as if you were glued to it. Be bonded to what is good. This is what the psalmist meant in Psalm 1:1 NRSV:

1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers;

This is exactly what happens. First you walk by, then you stop to see what is going on, and then you sit right in the middle of all of it. Then verse 2:

2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night.

Hate evil and love good. Philippians 4:8 tells us how we can do that:

8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

What is the main thought in this verse? Train your mind to think about things that are good. Fill your mind with what is good. do not allow yourself to be associated in any way with what you know is not true, honorable, pure, lovely, and admirable. that is how you “cling to what is good.”

Not only are we to “fix our thoughts on” or “think about” those things, we are also to take our thoughts captive, take them captive to our obedience in Christ, as we are told in 2 Corinthians 10:5, NIV:

5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

How would you categorize the following according to the teaching thus far in Romans 12?

1. Watching the TV program Sex in the City. Good or bad?
2. Watching David Letterman or Jay Leno. Good or bad?
3. Is there a movie you have seen lately that you would be able to place in the good column?
4. How about being a Brittany Spears fan?
5. Having some “fun” at the riverboat or casino?
6. Spreading that juicy story you heard about your neighbor?
7. Watching commercial after commercial as you sit in front of the TV for four hours every night?
8. Playing violent video games?
9. Not getting around to writing your Congressman about a piece of moral legislation?
10. Getting high on drugs or alcohol?
11. Working one night a month at a soup kitchen?
12. Going to a concert of music by Bach and/or Beethoven?

      13  Watching “reality” TV?

 We know the difference between what is good and what is not. Then why do you suppose we just go ahead so frequently and do what we know to be the wrong thing to do? Because we think it will bring us pleasure, and do you know what almost always inevitably results? We feel even more uncomfortable after we have done what we know in our hearts to be wrong than if we had not done it at all. And do you know who it is who is constantly pushing our weakness buttons so that we keep doing these things? Satan, the Devil, or any number of other names by which he is called. Do you want to know how to get out from under his power over you to do these things? Romans 12: 9: “Cling to what is good. Philippians 4:8: Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Do not allow yourself to remain in the presence of any kind of evil. Flee from it. Seek good and hang around others who do the same. James 4:7 breaks this down into a two-step process:

James 4:7, Contemporary English Version (CEV)
Surrender to God! Resist the devil, and he will run from you.

We surrender or submit to God and we resist the devil.

Paul told us back in Romans 7:15 that he found himself doing the things he hated to do. He did not want to do them and yet did them. His answer to this was that it was the sin in him that generated such behavior. But the key element we see in those verses is that Paul said he hated the sin. And that is what we are told to do in verse 9 of Romans 12. Do you hate sin? That is one of the best tests for a person to determine whether or not they are saved. Even though you may stumble into sin occasionally, do you hate it when you do so? And if your answer is no, or I do not know, something is wrong. I know that when I sin I am filled with guilt and self-loathing. I want to do what is right and when I do not I just simply hate it and want to be free from it, and yet I know that I will probably do it again and I hate that even more. Yet I know God wants to help me overcome that tendency toward sin because He tells me so in 1 John 5:4, 5, NLT:

4For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory.
5And the ones who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

If you are wondering how to know what is good, God makes that easy. Read your Bible and you will find the answer to that question. I have known people who have really wanted to know Jesus as their Savior but they feel that there is so much junk in their heads as a result of the way they have lived their lives that they could never change the way they think. Boy, are they wrong. There are people who are as devoted a follower of Christ as you will find anywhere who have come out of the most horrendous of lifestyles. Do you know how they cleaned out their minds? They got re-programmed. People who have brains that are full of filth need to be re-programmed, completely washed out. The only two things that can do that are:

            1) The washing of the Word, immersing yourself in the Word of God and the
things of God that you will find in the Bible. This is the “renewing of your mind”
that we spoke about back in verse 2. As you distance yourself from the
pleasure of the world and saturate yourself with the Word of God, you will
have a renewed mind, and then you will be able to know what is the perfect
will of God.
            2) The second thing is to be filled with the Holy Spirit daily so that He is
controlling you.

Ephesians 5:18, NLT
Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you.  

When it speaks of the filling of the Spirit, the Greek word is a word that indicates we are to “keep on being filled” with the Holy Spirit. As we said last week, this is not a one-time experience. It is something we ask for frequently and regularly.

Next, in Romans 12:10 NAS, Paul tells us to:

10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;

Paul brings together in this verse two family words, “be devoted,” which describes our natural affection for relatives. In this specific case the kind of love a parent has for a child. The Greek word for “brotherly love,” actually means the kind of love that brothers and sisters have in their family relationship. Both words were applied originally to blood relationships in the human family, but Paul applies them here to the tender, warm affection which should unite the members of the family of God. For believers their Christian family is often a much more real family than their blood relatives, if those relatives are not Christians. My Church family has often been there for me when my flesh and blood family was not. In the second part of the verse he stresses that love in the Christian family is to express itself in mutual honor as well as in mutual affection. It is uncertain, however, whether the command is to esteem others more highly than yourself or whether an element of competition is implied that we should translate, “outdo one another in showing honor.” In either case we are to accord to each other the highest possible honor.

Now in verse 11 Paul begins to get very personal. There are three essential matters that relate to you and to me in verse 11, and they are very important. Romans 12:11 NRSV:

11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.

Zeal means an eagerness in pursuit of something, and the actual Greek word used in the original translation means to hurry. The idea here is do not be lazy in your haste. You are in a hurry. We have to get on with the business of the king, and the king’s business has to be done while we can do it and it has to be done now (John 9:4). So do not grow lazy in the work that needs to be done. What does Galatians 6:9 (NASB) instruct us to do?

9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

Then we read in 2 Thessalonians 3:13 NLT:

13 And I say to the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good.

There has to be purpose and intensity in the Christian life. There is no room for laziness. We could go to the book of Proverbs and do a whole study on how appalling laziness is to God. There is no room for laziness in the work of the Lord. Solomon provided us all with some solid advice in Ecclesiastes 9:10 NLT:

10 Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

Also in Colossians 3:17, NAS:

 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

In Matthew 25 we meet an habitually lazy servant who was given one talent (a form of money in those days), was too lazy to make anything of it, buried it in the ground, and it cost him his eternity.

Matthew 25:24-30 NLT:
24 “Then the servant with the one bag of gold came and said, ‘Sir, I know you are a hard man, harvesting crops you did not plant and gathering crops you did not cultivate. (these words suggest the master to be a cruel and ruthless opportunist, reaping and gathering what he had no right to claim as his own. It is obvious this man is not a genuine believer, for he has no true knowledge of his master.).[fn]
25 I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth and here it is.’
26 “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! You think I am a hard man, do you, harvesting crops I did not plant and gathering crops I did not cultivate?
27 Well, you should at least have put my money into the bank so I could have some interest.
28 Take the money from this servant and give it to the one with the ten bags of gold.
29 To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away.
30 Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Isaiah writes in Isaiah 56:10-12 NLT:

10 For the leaders of my people—the Lord’s watchmen, his shepherds—are blind to every danger. They are like silent watchdogs that give no warning when danger comes. They love to lie around, sleeping and dreaming.
11 And they are as greedy as dogs, never satisfied. They are stupid shepherds, all following their own path, all of them intent on personal gain.
12 “Come,” they say. “We will get some wine and have a party. Let’s all get drunk. Let this go on and on, and tomorrow will be even better.”

Paul is saying in Romans 12:11 that we who are ministering for Christ are to be busy at all times with a maximum output effort, doing the work of the Lord while the work can be done.

Now tied in with this in verse 11 is the principle of being fervent in spirit. Now this is a good combination because fervent means passionate or marked by great intensity of feeling. This simply means that not only should you be zealous about doing the work of the Lord, but you should have a great time being zealous. You have seen people who work very hard and are miserable about working hard. Paul is telling us to be a believer who takes great joy in being zealous in his/her work for the Lord. The Christian life ought to be filled with enthusiasm, excitement, and joy. In fact, this is the true source of the word, “enthusiasm”—to be filled with God. So again we are being exhorted to be filled with God, the Holy Spirit of God.

Finally in verse 11 Paul tells us we should have this attitude in serving the Lord. We are not to be lazy in our zeal, and we are to be fervent in our spirit as we serve the Lord. I see people who seem to get excited about a lot of things. They get excited about the things they sell. They get excited about new houses, new cars, and new wardrobes. They get all turned on at football games, baseball games, and basketball games and act like absolute idiots. People fall in love and they hear bells ringing and skyrockets going off and they are just floating on air. All they can think about is that one and only love that has come into their lives. The other person is in their thoughts every moment of every day and they have that silly little smirk on their face all the time. They go to sleep and dream about the other person and they just cannot get enough of the one they love. Any of us who have fallen in love knows what that experience is like, and it is a great feeling, is it not? I wonder how many people have experienced the same feeling in serving the Lord Jesus Christ? We are called to serve the Lord with enthusiasm. If you cannot serve Him that way the problem is in your own heart. But when people go to serve the Lord with enthusiasm, and zeal, and with a whole heart, you are going to have some problems. Because you are going to run into an ungodly worldly system and it is going to be difficult. So Paul adds three more exhortations in verse 12:

12 Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful.

No one has fully served the Lord who was not constantly aware of hope for the future. Because when you begin to serve the Lord with your whole heart things begin to happen that make you hope for the future. When we pour out all there is in this life and we run into opposition and we run into indifference and we run into apathy and we see our own weakness and our own failure, and sometimes we do things wrong and have to pick up the pieces, we need to have hope for the future. So through all our service to the Lord, no matter how enthusiastic or how committed we are, there is always the hope in our hearts that when all our service is done, everything will be the way it ought to be. The hope of better things is what brings joy to the Christian who serves. I serve because someday I want to go to the Lord and hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We serve with a whole heart here because we know there will be an eternal reward, and we long for that and hope for that. If we had no hope for that it would certainly be a bleak world for us, to serve and serve and serve and so often be defeated and never be able to do all that we want to do because of our own weaknesses. We need to know that day will come. We rejoice in the future hope and because of that verse 12 says that we are able to be patient in our tribulation. Because we see what is coming in the future we rejoice.

Then Paul continues in Romans 12:13 NLT:

13 When God’s children are in need, be the one to help them out. And get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner or, if they need lodging, for the night.

We are to love other believers with a family kind of love, which reaches out to meet their needs. We need to be committed to providing for the needs of other believers. The world is committed to getting, Christians are to be committed to giving. We are to be partners in one another’s needs. Our resources should be for one another. We share as partners. In Acts 2 and Acts 4 we see a description of the early Church selling the things they had when someone had need and taking the money from the sale and giving it to the people who had the need. Hebrews 13:16 NLT tells us:

16 Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices are very pleasing to God.

And then in 1 Timothy 6:17-19 NLT, we read:

17 Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone. But their trust should be in the living God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.
18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them.
19 By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of real life.

When somebody is in your path and they have a need, you are to try and meet it. If you cannot do it yourself, go to the church. But do not lose sight of the fact that God may have put that person in your path so that you would help them. Part of Christian living is just being partners. Think of other believers as partners.

At the end of verse 13, Paul says that we should be inclined toward hospitality. Pursue hospitality, the love of strangers. In the first century Christians opened their homes to other Christians who were traveling. In 1 Peter 4:9, Peter tells us:

9 Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.

In Luke 12:12-14, Jesus said:

12 “When you put on a luncheon or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will repay you by inviting you back.
13 Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
14 Then at the resurrection of the godly, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”

Learn to cultivate a spirit of love toward those who are not in your inner circle of family and friends. that is what it means to perform your Christian duty. May God help us to live that kind of disciplined life where we eagerly come under the standards dictated by the Bible and live by them with joy and gratitude. Next we will explore the standards by which God wants us to relate one to the other.

 

Do You Measure Up to God’s Standard for Christian Living?

Some years back a  Christian was defined by certain do’s and don’ts to which they adhered. You were considered a “good” Christian if you did not smoke, drink, dance,  play cards, go to movies, and did go to church twice on Sunday, actually three times if you included Sunday School, and once on Wednesday. Furthermore, you associated only with other church people who did or did not do the same things. In other words, Christians were very legalistic even though many of them sincerely loved the Lord and tried to obey Him in their lives. Eventually Christians began to realize that this kind of legalism was not helping them win the unsaved to the Lord. Non-Christians looked at church people and thought there was no way they wanted to give up all their “fun” and spend all their time in church. So Christians began to drop their legalism and allow movies and dancing and many other activities, until today it is hard to tell Christians from non-Christians by just observing their lifestyles. They also dropped Sunday and Wednesday evening services. The legalism is gone but so are some other important things.

What would God say about the Christian lifestyle a generation ago? What would He say about today’s Christian lifestyle? As we look at this next section in Romans we will find out what God defines as the appropriate standards for Christian living.

In Romans chapters 12-16 we come to the real purpose for Paul writing this epistle. An epistle, for those who might not be familiar with the term, is a letter that was adopted as one of the books of the New Testament. There are twenty-one such letters in the New Testament. Romans is one of those epistles (letters). The first eleven chapters of Romans are certainly filled with important truth. They serve, however, as necessary background for what we find in chapters 12-16, which deal with the foundation for Christian living. In Romans 12:9 Paul begins his description of the Christian lifestyle by describing a Christian as a person who is to have a genuine love for other Christians and not just fake loving others in order to look good.

In verses 10 -13 Paul outlines how Christians are to relate to each other.

In verse 11 Paul says that our service to Christ is to be total, enthusiastic, wholehearted, zealous, and obedient. As a result of that, verse 12 indicates that we are going to have some trials and we need to rejoice in those trials because of the hope we have in Christ. We are to remain patient and prayerful during those trials, anticipating the glory that awaits us. Verse 13 reminds us also to be aware that others are experiencing trials as well. Paul calls us to be sensitive to the needs of others and to respond to those needs, even opening our homes to strangers if necessary.  These verses, therefore, refer to the family of God and how each of us should serve others in that family.

In verses 14-16 Paul shifts his message to how we should live with everybody including unbelievers. He starts out with some folks that we might not be too inclined to like. Romans 12:14:

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

If anybody persecutes you, you are to respond by blessing them. Right now you might be asking, “OK, what does it mean ‘to bless’?”  Paul is actually quoting Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount here where Jesus taught us some of what it means to bless others. He said we are to bless the people who try to hurt us. Jesus taught this principle in Matthew 5:44 where he said:

44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

And similarly Jesus says in Luke 6:27,28:

27 “But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

Now I will have to admit this is not my most spontaneous reaction to those who treat me like this. In fact I probably do not do very well obeying Jesus in this area, and I know I must do better. We can learn a lot more about proper behavior by continuing this passage in Luke at verse 29ff:

29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.
30 Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.
31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

The response of people outside the Christian community for the most part is going to be to respond to goodness with goodness and to love with love. To show them the uniqueness of Christian love we need to respond with love to those who hate us and with goodness to those who do evil to us. We need to bless them.

Catherine Marshall, in her book, Adventures In Prayer, talks about this prayer of blessing. She comments that this is very hard for us to do. But she encourages us to pray for blessing on those individuals who hurt us, actually saying we should ask God to pour out His blessings on these people. But then she goes on to explain what we are really asking for when we ask God to bless someone. What is the greatest blessing a person can have?
What is going to make them most happy?

How would you respond to someone who murdered one of your loved ones? Would you hate them and seek vengeance or would you pray that they come to know Jesus as their Savior? What about a person who broke into your house and took many of the things for which you have a deep sentimental value? Those are just a couple of examples of how our Christianity is tested. Can you demonstrate love for those who have invaded your privacy and taken what is not theirs, who have done evil against you? This is the principle that is behind verse 14. This is what Jesus said on the cross: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34).” It is demonstrated by Steven in Acts 7:60, who laying bloody beneath the stones that are crushing out his life, looks to Heaven and says:

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.

It is so appropriate to see the example of Christ in this. Peter also writes about this in 1 Peter 2:18-23 NRSV:

18 Accept the authority of your masters with all deference, not only those who are kind and gentle but also those who are harsh.
19 For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly.
20 If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval.
21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.
22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

When they came against Jesus He never retaliated. This is distinctively Christian living.

Several years ago there was a study done at the University of California regarding stress. People today have high blood pressure and all kinds of anxiety related diseases. The study showed that most of the pressure and anxiety that comes out of the stress has nothing to do with long term assignments. In other words it is not because you are overworked on your job. It is not because you have a lot to do and a lot on your mind. Most peoples’ severe stress is related to little things like not being able to find your car keys; someone takes the parking space that you thought you were going to get; having to wait in line for something; somebody cuts you off in traffic. Those are the things that cause stress that in turn can cause physical illness. It is not the long-term difficult task. Rather it is that short fuse that so many people have. And it is all related to an ever growing egotism whereby people are consumed with their rights, and it has come to the point now that if you get in someone’s way they are just as likely to kill you as look at you.

It is actually a little frightening to be alive in the world today because you do not know what people are going to do. Egotism has come to the point where you cannot invade anybody’s territory without hostility breaking out. Is it little wonder that so many marriages do not survive? Christians, however are not to be of this world nor respond in that manner. When we are pursued with intent to do harm, we are not to retaliate.

Moving on to verse 15 of Romans 12, Paul writes:

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

This is another distinctively Christian response. We enjoy someone else’s joy, we enjoy someone else’s prosperity. That demonstrates an absence of jealousy. We also grieve with others in their grief. In Proverbs 17:5 NRSV, Solomon writes:

5 Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who are glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:26,27:

26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it (meaning the entire body of Christ);[fn] if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it (meaning the entire body of Christ).[fn]
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

When one part of your human body suffers, your whole body is effected. It is the same with the body of Christ. If you are hurt, I am hurt. If you are happy, I am happy. It is also distinctively Christian to be sympathetic, not indifferent. The world is becoming more and more cold-hearted. Let me give you what I consider to be an example. There are a handful of  societies with a lot of members that exist to prevent mistreatment of animals, and that is OK. I like animals and do not want them to be mistreated either. But these are the same people who approve of abortion, which is nothing more than legalized murder and has taken the lives of over 40 million children since the early 1970s. Stupid is the most appropriate word I can think of to describe such reasoning. Unfortunately it is most likely a result of some serious emotional disorders. Abortion is a grave and evil mistake for which this nation stands guilty before God. It is a strange contrast. We murder babies and save animals. Many of these people also believe euthanasia might be a good thing for the country. So we continue to save animals and now we not only murder children but the terminally ill and elderly as well. Save the whales, kill the babies, the terminally ill and elderly. What an oxymoron.

Another unexplainable contrast is the way people are so willing to help others who are starving half way across the world and yet do not think twice about ignoring the needy in their own neighborhood or community. Is it that they do not mind writing a check but do not want to get involved if it means giving some of their time to those who are hurting? Paul wants us to know that when you really care, you are willing to provide those who are hurting with the support they need and you cannot walk away from such people until you do that. You care so much that you feel their pain and do whatever necessary to alleviate it. You care so much that you share their tears and sorrow. In Jeremiah 9:1, Jeremiah says something that really expresses what Paul is saying in verse 15, Jeremiah 9:1 (NCV):

1 I wish my head were like a spring of water and my eyes like a fountain of tears! Then I could cry day and night for my people who have been killed.

Jeremiah cared so much for the people of Israel and their salvation that he wished himself to literally be a fountain of waters who could weep night and day in order to pour out the sadness in his heart for those people who were perishing without a right relationship with God. I can relate to this because I often have this feeling about those who have no knowledge of God and have no desire to learn about Him. I know what is going to happen to such people and there is nothing I can do if they are not willing to give God a fair chance. That literally breaks my heart because I do really care about them and their eternity. Sometimes you just want to say to them:

“How can you be so foolish? This is your eternity, your forever that we are talking about. How can you ignore the Creator of the universe who has made it perfectly clear to us that we will spend eternity in Hell if we do not have our sins covered by the sacrificial death of Jesus. There is no other authority in all the earth that can give us the truth about these things other than the Bible. Other religions are false religions and their promises are empty. One reason I am assured of this is that the founders of all those religions are still in the grave. Jesus Christ is the only one who rose from the dead to prove that He can do the same for us. Who do you want to bet your eternity on, someone who has risen from the dead or someone who is still dead in their grave? I can show you the inerrancy of the Bible and that it has one major theme from beginning to end, and it is always consistent in what it says. Besides that the Bible is the only religious writing that makes predictions that are found to come true hundreds of years later. No other religious leader performed the proven miracles that Jesus performed. How much more do you need to be convinced?”

But do you know what happens when you talk like that to an unbeliever? They dig their heels in even further, they get angry, and their pride takes over. As a matter of fact pride and anger are the two emotions that most frequently prevent a person from going to Heaven. I pray there is no one reading this who will allow themselves to be part of such a terrible tragedy.

Now Paul has another thing in mind in how we treat other people and that basically has to do with three things stated in Romans 12:16 NRSV:

16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.

“Live in harmony with one another” in the Greek reads literally, Think the same thing towards one another. We are to be of the same mind and to live in agreement with one another. Paul emphasized this again in Philippians 2:2-5:

2 Be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.
4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.

The second thing Paul tells us in verse 16 is “Do not be haughty; but associate with the lowly.” This simply means that we should not try and associate only with the rich, famous, and powerful. We should not seek glory and notoriety. We should associate with the poor and needy and those considered of lower status. It does not mean we ignore the rich and famous, it simply means we do not pursue only them. There is no place for those who consider themselves to be of the upper crust, who think they are better than everyone else. Listen to what Jesus said in Luke 14:12-14 NRSV:

12 He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid.
13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

You invite the rich to your party and the rich will invite you back. You invite the poor to your party, guess who will pay you back? God will pay you back. So who do you want to get repaid by, the rich or God? The rich or the richest? The rich cannot match what the Lord can give you. So the next time you have a party invite the poor, the lame, the blind; those who could never have you over, who could never pay you back.

Then the last thing Paul tells us in verse 13 is that we should not become wise in our own conceit. Do not think that you know everything. Do not think that you are so smart that you would not want to have certain people over because they would be so boring. There is no such thing as social status in the Church and no one is to consider themselves better than others.

Next we get into a very significant issue for 21st century Americans who are so concerned about “rights” and “getting what is due me” or “giving him/her what he/she deserves.“ We are a society that talks about “pay back time.“ Is that how God wants His children to think and react when something happens to hurt or offend them? Paul has an answer for that question as he [then] continues in verse 17, Romans 12:17:

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.

Paul is now going to instruct us on how to deal with our personal enemies. First Paul tells us not to respond with evil when others direct evil toward us. It is a very natural reaction to do that. But we are told that we are not to engage in any revenge. We are not to retaliate. We see this instruction again in 1 Thessalonians 5:15:

15 See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.

1 Peter 3:9 follows the same line of thought:

9 Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing.

Instead of giving back evil, give back good.  In the second part of Romans 12:17, Paul is telling us to be prepared for such attacks and be ready to respond in the proper manner. We are to be just like the boy scouts. Our motto is to “be prepared.” Because if you are not prepared as to what you are going to do when someone attacks you, what do you think your response is going to be? It is going to be evil for evil, is it not? That is your natural reaction. So prepare yourself to respond with good when evil comes. Be prepared to give that blessing that we talked about earlier. To be prepared means to plan ahead. Plan what your thoughts and actions or reactions will be when you get blindsided by someone’s attack. That is self-discipline, and a disciplined life has an ordered mind. Do not allow yourself to depend on your raw emotions. Pre-plan your goodness so that you are not caught unaware. Paul then adds another thought in Romans 12:18:

18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Now there are some people you can try and make peace with and it is impossible because of their anger. It takes two to make peace. Just make sure you keep your side of the street clean and never let the conflict come from you. It is amazing how an argument cannot continue when you do not feed it with your own remarks. A very wise man, King Solomon, wrote in Proverbs 15:1, NRSV:

Always try to make peace. We are to do everything we can to make peace unless it comes to a point where we would have to compromise the truth of the Word of God, and that is where we draw the line. We do not get hostile about it and we continue to seek peace, but the Word of God is not to be compromised at all. If that is what someone asks you to do to maintain peace, you do not do that. In fact in Matthew 10:34-36, Jesus says:

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
36 and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.

Jesus says He knows that even though He comes in peace there are going to be times when He cannot bring peace because He will not compromise truth. And most often such conflict will be within one’s biological family. “If it is possible, live peaceably with all people.“ Seek to be a peacemaker in a world that is full of troublemakers. James writes in James 3:17:

17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.

Do not be a troublemaker. In fact let me give you an example of what happens to a troublemaker. We want you to hear this story about Samson from Judges 14. It illustrates perfectly what happens to someone who responds with evil for every evil that is done to them. Here is a story about a man who did not know what it meant to be a peacemaker and what resulted. He was a guy who liked to retaliate and get revenge.

There was a small town in the land of Israel on the border of Dan and Judah, a town called Zorah. It is about 15 miles west of Jerusalem. In that town lived a man named Manoah. Manoah’s barren wife was given a son late in life after an angel had visited her and given her the promise. The angel also told her that this son was to live a clean and holy life, he was to be a Nazarite, because God had a special mission for him.  This son’s name was Samson. To be a Nazarite meant to be separated from the things of the world all of his life. He was not to cut his hair, he was not to drink wine or strong drink, and a number of other things that were part of the Nazarite vow. He was given the task of delivering Israel from the Philistines who had really crowded Israel. Zorah was an Israelite village. Within an hour’s walk was a Philistine village called Timnah, about 4 miles away. The Philistine army had moved into the area around Timnah so that they were within 4 miles of Israeli territory and were within 20 miles of the capital of Jerusalem. So God raised up Samson to protect Israel from the Philistines. Notice verse 1 of Judges 14 NRSV:

1 Once, Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a Philistine woman.

That was his first mistake. He should not have been hanging around that pagan Philistine village. But he had a problem. He had a lust for women and he saw a woman in Timnah that excited him. So what does he do? Verses 2,3 NRSV:

2 Then he came up, and told his father and mother, “I saw a Philistine woman at Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”
3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among your kin, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?”

Samson’s father and mother said: “What? You cannot find a nice Jewish girl? You have to break your mother’s heart and marry a Philistine? What will the family say? And you’re going to violate the Law of God against mixed marriage!” (Exodus 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:3).  But Samson demanded in Verse 3 NRSV:

“Get her for me, because she pleases me.”

Then verse 4 says:

4 His father and mother did not know that this was from the Lord; for he was seeking a pretext to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.  (NRSV)

It was not the Lord’s will that Samson lust after a Philistine woman, but the Lord was going to use Samson’s lust to accomplish His own will. Out of the lust of Samson and the chaos that brought, God would ultimately bring about the destruction of the Philistines. Verse 5-9 NRSV:

5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When he came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him.
6 The spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear apart a kid (young goat)[fn]. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson.
8 After a while he returned to marry her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.
9 He scraped it out into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.

By touching the dead body of an animal Samson had violated his Nazarite vow, another sin. This shows how giving in to one sin just leads to more sinning. Verses 10 and 11 NRSV:

10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there as the young men were accustomed to do.
11 When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

When they saw the size of Samson they probably wanted to make sure he did not tear the place apart. So Samson decided to have a little sport with them, Verses 12-18 NRSV:

12 Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.
13 But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.” So they said to him, “Ask your riddle; let us hear it.”
14 He said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.” But for three days they could not explain the riddle.
15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?”
16 So Samson’s wife wept before him, saying, “You hate me; you do not really love me. You have asked a riddle of my people, but you have not explained it to me.” He said to her, “Look, I have not told my father or my mother. Why should I tell you?”
17 She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted; and because she nagged him, on the seventh day he told her.

Here was Samson’s wife whining and crying and nagging him. There is no torture more painful to a man than this. And here was Samson at his wedding feast looking forward to a memorable honeymoon. The last thing he wanted was a wife in such an emotional state. So he told her the meaning of the riddle. Verses 17-18 NRSV:

17 Then she explained the riddle to her people.
18 The men of the town said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.”

What Samson said about the heifer was simply a scornful reference to the way they used his wife to obtain the answer to the riddle and was probably grounds for releasing him from his obligation to pay them. But since he was an honorable man, he would pay them anyway. Now Samson was so furious, verse 19:                              

19 Then the spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he went down to Ashkelon. He killed thirty men of the town, took their spoil, and gave the festal garments to those who had explained the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.  (NRSV)

The first part of this verse does not mean that God inspired Samson to commit murder. Throughout this story we see that Samson has used the gifts God gave him impulsively. God had given Samson the strength of Superman to accomplish His will, but Samson used these gifts to satisfy his lusts and desire for vengeance and retaliation. Samson traveled 28 miles to Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their wardrobes, brought them back to Timnah and gave them out to the thirty men there. Interesting comparison of numbers, is it not? While Samson had gone to kill the thirty men in Ashkelon, his bride was waiting at the altar and her father’s embarrassed, so he marries her off to Samson’s best man, verse 20:

20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.     (NRSV)

Well, just imagine Samson’s reaction when he got back, Judges 15:1,2 NRSV;

1 After a while, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife, bringing along a kid (a goat).[fn] He said, “I want to go into my wife’s room.” But her father would not allow him to go in.
2 Her father said, “I was sure that you had rejected her; so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister prettier than she? Why not take her instead?”

Samson brought a goat as a gift for his wife and her father. Kind of like a man today who would bring flowers to his wife after he had done something stupid. Then the father offered Samson his younger daughter. Why did he do that? Well, this is Samson and by now I think you understand why people did not want to make him mad. So the father said, “Here, take my other daughter. Actually you’re lucky things worked out this way because she is prettier anyhow.” Now Samson is about as enraged as he can get. He is not only enraged at the guys about the riddle, but now he is mad at the Philistines because of the pressure they put on the girl he was to marry, and her father. So, verses 3-5 of chapter 15 NRSV:

3 Samson said to them, “This time, when I do mischief to the Philistines, I will be without blame.”
4 So Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took some torches; and he turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails.
5 When he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up the shocks and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.

Talk about cruelty to animals. First Sampson took revenge for the riddle by killing 30 Philistine men. Then they gave his wife away so he took revenge for that by burning down the Philistine fields. Then in verse 6 NRSV:

The Philistines asked, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken Samson’s wife and given her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up, and burned her and her father.

This is absolutely ridiculous. This thing is getting way out of hand. Why not simply go after Samson? Because nobody wanted to mess with him. Do not forget he just killed 30 Philistines single handed. The closest they could get to hurting Samson was to do something to the woman he wanted to marry. So they killed her and added in her father for good measure. In verse 7 Samson says:

7 “If this is what you do, I swear I will not stop until I have taken revenge on you.”
8 He struck them down hip and thigh with great slaughter; and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.    (NRSV)

The term “striking down hip-and thigh” is an old Hebrew saying meaning total slaughter. When he got done he went into hiding because he needed to lay low for a while. The revenge is really escalating now. Verses 9-16 NRSV:

9 Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah, and made a raid on Lehi.
10 The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.”
11 Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and they said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then have you done to us?” He replied, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”
12 They said to him, “We have come down to bind you, so that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” Samson answered them, “Swear to me that you yourselves will not attack me.”
13 They said to him, “No, we will only bind you and give you into their hands; we will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him; and the spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.
15 Then he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached down and took it, and with it he killed a thousand men.
16 And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men.”

Sampson takes a time-out here to compose a little folk song about a massacre. Now this whole thing has escalated to this point because of revenge and retaliation over a silly riddle. Are you getting the point Paul is trying to make in Romans 12:18? Now let us continue in Judges 15:17-20 NRSV:

17 When he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and that place was called Ramath-lehi.
18 By then he was very thirsty, and he called on the Lord, saying, “You have granted this great victory by the hand of your servant. Am I now to die of thirst, and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
19 So God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came from it. When he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore it was named En-hakkore, which is at Lehi to this day.
20 And he (Samson) judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

You know what happened after that? Samson saw another Philistine woman and he liked her too. But his lust was to be his undoing. The Philistines wanted him dead so badly, and now they knew they had him because they knew his weakness. So they went to Delilah and told her to find out the source of his strength and she did. You can read the details of the rest of the story in Judges 16. But the Philistines finally killed Samson, although he took about 20,000 of them with him. The point here is that revenge never ended until everybody was dead. And it could have all been prevented if just one person along the way would have attempted to be a peacemaker.

Now let us go back to Romans. In Romans 12:19 NRSV Paul says:

19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Deuteronomy 32:35).

You should not do it. Let God do it. It is God’s promise that He will deal with sin. No sinner will ever escape. You do not need to punish anybody because God is going to take care of it. God is a just God. Read Nahum chapter 1, Habakkuk chapter 1, Psalm 37, Psalm 94. God will repay evil.

Romans 12:20 NLT:
20 No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.”

“Heaping burning coals upon their heads” is an interesting phrase. Tracing its origin we find that there was an old Egyptian ritual that was used when a person wanted to demonstrate publicly their shame and guilt and willingness to repent for what they did. The person would carry on his head a pan of burning coals which were to represent the burning pain of shame and guilt. So Paul is saying that when you treat an enemy with love and you feed him and quench his thirst, you put on their head burning guilt and shame for the evil they have done.[fn] I hope you understand the meaning of this.

Now in conclusion, verse 21:

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 

Isaiah

John

Romans

1 Peter


© Ron Teed - Used by permission. All rights Reserved.