Category: Romans

About a month ago, after 86 years of life, Johnny Kline died in Tennessee.

If you don’t know who Johnny was, you aren’t somehow deficient. He was famous, but not as an individual. He was part of a famous team. Johnny was once a Harlem Globetrotter.

If you never got the chance to see the Globetrotters back in the day, you really missed a treat. They were hilarious, talented and worked like a well-oiled basketball playing (and sometimes goofing off) machine. Individually, each man was a highly skilled black man, at a time in American history when opportunities for men of color were few and prejudice was even more bold than now. These men broke molds. They crashed through barriers. They made us laugh – but they did it as a team. People don’t recall each of the individuals, they think of them as one identity. That is what good teams produce.

You might think team sports are exciting to watch, but it is much harder than it appears to coordinate a vibrant team! It was never easy to get people to work together well. Getting people to think in tandem, let alone work in tandem is very difficult.

Did you ever see a team take on a group-oriented obstacle course? They include some very interesting group building exercises. On the better courses, there is a high wall over which each member must pass. They attempt to climb to the top of the wall, and toss their legs over the wall, and then descend the other side without getting hurt or getting hung up in the netting over the wall. Such obstacle courses offer teams a visual opportunity since dealing with obstacles is what a team must learn to do. These courses are all about building teamwork, and they can be very effective.

Today, we want to return to a discussion from Romans about living out our faith together. We want to think about teamwork while we look at Paul’s words to an ancient church that was “on mission.”

We have been studying Paul’s words and we have been looking closely at his teaching on how they should practically care for one another as team members. In Romans 15, his instruction includes a big idea about how to think as a team. In essence…

Key Principle: In Biblical terms, “I” don’t go to Heaven, “we” do.

Romans 15 isn’t about a new subject, but a continuation of the discussion Paul had from the previous chapter.

If you look back, you will note that he was already writing to them about stronger believers and weaker believers from the opening verse of the last chapter.

In Romans 14:1 he admonished the strong believers to invite into the fold the weaker, but to be careful with them as it regarded their convictions. Their ideas may not have been well-founded, but they were deep – and caring for them took precedent over some harsh form of “crash training.” It wasn’t that Paul wanted the weak to remain so; it was because he knew that people don’t care what you know until they know that you care about them.

The areas of conviction cited by Paul were two: consumption and celebration. Some believed consumption of certain things violated Biblical principles. They thought abstaining was the only godly response, and all who partook were of a lesser spiritual quality.

I find the verses comforting because the same tendency exists centuries later among believers. There have always been believers who defined spirituality by what they DON’T do, rather than intimacy with Jesus.

As we keep reading from this letter, we will also find another tendency that has traveled with the church down through the centuries – the tendency to think of Christianity in individual terms. Paul sought to make clear that in many respects Christianity is a team sport.

At the core of his teaching was a word to the strong believers of his time: Believers are intended to be intentional about progressing together as a team.

Look at the opening in Romans 15:

Romans 15:1 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.

The verse offered two instructions:

• First, the strong were to lift, bear and carry the weak who were unable to carry themselves.
• Second, the strong were to put their own pleasure behind the needs of those who needed their help.

Our faith is not a competitive race, where we each line up and launch out at the sound of a starting gun, breezing past one another in pursuit of Jesus. It is a team endeavor. We only win when we all break the tape together.

Baby Christians celebrate (rightfully) that Jesus saved THEM. They think in terms of their own growth… in the same way a physical CHILD does. The point is, believers must GROW UP.

The first growth point is when believers learn why “together” is important.

If you keep reading, it becomes readily apparent WHY the instruction was issued.

Romans 15:2 Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. 3 For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.” 4 For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Did you notice there were three reasons why this focus on the “other” was marked out as very important:

First, believers are commanded to seek to please our brother in a way that builds him up.

Second, believers are called to remember the example of our Savior. If Jesus put our needs first, we are to put the needs of others ahead of our own. We pale in comparison to His importance, and He did it willingly for us, and for the glory of His Father.

Third, believers must follow the pattern that was outlined for us in the Scriptures, in order to navigate this world successfully, applying well the Word that brings hope.

Don’t miss the caution here. It is easy for a believer to feel as though they have gained strength, and they are ready to “go it alone.” Individualism seems responsible, but our call is to slow down and bring those who cannot make it alone with us.

If we put other people before us, we demonstrate maturity and care. We act like Jesus. We model the lifestyle of someone who both HEARS the Word and LIVES the truths found in it.

At this point in the narrative, I can’t help feeling like Paul seemed to break into a song. I keep picturing in my head a musical praise interlude. He dropped in words of praise in verses five and six:

Romans 15:5 “Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. “

Can’t you picture Paul stepping out of the scene on a stage and breaking into song?

It may take a moment to get past the “break out in praise” appearance of the passage (at least it did in my mind). Go on and you will grasp the underlying truth here…

Believers may gain most when “forward progress” seems least.

Did you notice how Paul shared that God gives perseverance? He also made the point that God gives encouragement. He even hints that God gives unity that leads to the blended sound of harmonious praise.

At the risk of sounding obvious, let me caution you about requesting perseverance from God. What generally builds muscle really hurts in the process.

At the same time, I think there is something more here. There are things that we cannot rush through in life.

I have a confession: I have a tendency to walk fast, and I find myself often having to stop and wait for Dottie to catch up. I don’t know why I do things quickly, but I am finished a plate of food before my wife has finished her first few bites. I walk quickly, I eat quickly – I live like I am in some kind of race to accomplish more. I honestly don’t know why. I have thought long and hard about it, but I just cannot understand where it comes from.

What I know is that it is an impulse that must be fought when I am with other people. There is no prize to the guy who finishes eating first at the banquet.

Think about Paul’s exclamation of praise for a moment. Take a moment to grab a truth. Essentially, when we make our faith about individualism, we rob it of its essence.

God intended the strong believer to focus attention on getting the weak over the wall with the rest of the team.

In a sense, the weak were a GIFT to the strong – because they forced the strong to slow down and help others who can’t get over the wall without assistance. The teamwork that results from the strong helping the weak is part of the design of the body of Christ.

At our core, we are to learn that getting there together is more important than getting there first. “I” don’t go to Heaven; “we” do. “I” don’t run the race;
“we” do.

Deeply rooted in the Christian life and experience is a team making its way through an obstacle course.

Have you ever considered how some of the best lessons come from hurting people in the grip of tough experiences, even when they aren’t getting the team to move ahead in profound ways?

Consider Mary’s story for a moment. In the book “It’s Not Fair” she wrote:

“While battling my first bout of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, my treatment was like rafting down an unknown river. As a Long Island gal, Billy Joel’s “River of Dreams” seemed to be the sound track of my life during that time. Despite the hair loss, chemo, and keeping an Excel spreadsheet of my kids’ schedules and sleepovers with friends and relatives, the lunacy of it all did not escape me. As I rode the rapids toward my bone marrow transplant, I could not get over the sheer comedy that comes from trying to live a typical life in such an atypical way. Morbid humor is truly something that must be embedded in one’s DNA, because it can seem really inappropriate at times. Not to mention, people really don’t know how to react or treat you when, well you know, you have no eyelashes, eyebrows, head hair, and just look like a freak.

In my case, nearly 100 percent of the time, most people, when totally surprised or unguarded, responded with kindness and genuine compassion.

This was most evident in two cases. My neighbor Jim, a sixty-five-year-old former Marine from the Greatest Generation, opened the door to find me in my gray hoodie, sloppy warm-up pants, scruffy sneakers, red bandana covering my cue ball head of no hair, red eyes from crying crying out of frustration, and a face mask. I had just waved good-bye to my children, who were being parceled out to loving friends for a few weeks as I prepared to go to Johns Hopkins for my transplant (twelve-week stay). Unfortunately I was locked out of my house. When Jim opened the door, his face went into shock. Without a word, his face clearly said, “I am being mugged in broad daylight by a druggie gang member!” Once I saw that he didn’t recognize me— why not?— I quickly said, “Hi, Jim, it’s me, Mary, from across the street, and I am locked out. Can you help me?” His demeanor changed in a nanosecond. Without skipping a heartbeat he said, “Oh, Mary, [cough, gulp], I am so sorry. I didn’t recognize you there. Must be these glasses [as he wiped them].” His graceful save made me smile, as did his breaking-and-entering skills using a credit card.

Not one week later, as I lay in my hospital bed, I felt another ripple of gallows humor. The female doctor, clearly practicing her bedside manner, sat on my bed, leaned in to tell me how my treatment was progressing, and the whole time had an angelic look and a purposeful calming cadence to her voice. All were useless. Once seated, I looked at her navy blue monogrammed name that was embroidered on her crisp white doctor’s coat— Dr. Maggot. Whatever she said, I couldn’t hear, as my insides were busting and I was trying ever so gallantly not to cry from laughter or pee my pants (bedpan optional). It made me wonder about so many things, most notably how a person with the name Maggot would go into medicine. When she asked if I had any questions, I fought the urge to spit out, “Have you ever thought of using an umlaut with your name?”

From that point forward, I knew that funny, illogical, and nonsensical stuff happens every day and will continue to be there even when you are thrust into a gushing river of unfair stuff. You just need to keep looking for it and finding it.

-From: Dale, Melanie (2016-08-16). It’s Not Fair: Learning to Love the Life You Didn’t Choose (Kindle Locations 286-288). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

It was in the pain of another’s experience that we all heard the possibility of finding humor in the circumstances.

Maybe it isn’t clear to you, but the Bible teaches that we can move so fast, we rush past God’s best lessons…because they often come from weakened people. Look around the room. Those who may be weakest physically may be a special gift from God to all of us. Those who hurt are a treasure planted in this place to teach all of us important lessons. It isn’t all about speed and progress – it is about the whole team moving ahead in spite of the hurting.

They aren’t a problem; they are a blessing. They aren’t a distraction; they are an opportunity to put others first.

In a sense, slower progress can mean more God. No individual on the team may become a superstar in this scenario, but the whole team can become more healthy, more balanced and more secure when they learn to work together. Progress may be less dramatic, but it will be more lasting.

Believers will struggle with our differences – but that is part of the learning process.

Paul argued that because God intended us to pull together, both the weak and the strong, we must fight the pull to reject one another because of our differences. He wrote:

Romans 15:7 “Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.”

In short, Jesus accepted US – so we can learn to accept EACH OTHER.

When we consider what we are compared to Who He is, we see it clearly. We are flawed; standing beside the One Who is perfect. We are selfish; standing beside One Who gave His very life for those who mutinied. We are no bargain.

With the truth in mind that I am not a superstar, not the key to the future of the movement, not the greatest thing to happen to Christianity since Christ…. I can look with tenderness to the one who is struggling behind me to get over the wall. I can help them with their obstacle. It may slow me down, but the point is to get there together.

Paul drove home the point of acceptance by mentioning that Jesus accepted both Jew and Gentile, while he quietly called them to accept each other. He wrote:

Romans 15:8 For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, 9 and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, “Therefore I will give praise to You among the Gentiles, And I will sing to Your name.” 10 Again he says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.” 11 And again, “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, And let all the peoples praise Him.” 12 Again Isaiah says, “There shall come the root of Jesse, And He who arises to rule over the Gentiles, In Him shall the Gentiles hope.”

Jesus served the Jewish people and fulfilled the promises God made to their fathers. Yet, He also served the Gentiles and fulfilled some promises that were more cryptic, but nevertheless included in the Scriptures. The Savior DID the things God promised. He did them for all of us. He accepted both Jew and Gentile, and didn’t decide He would do for one what He would not do for the other.

Here is the truth: We see differences more easily than we see similarities. We pick out what distinguishes one person from another more often and more deeply than we attempt to see each other as the same. That won’t build a good team.

We all have days that fall apart. We all make mistakes. We are all wrestling dragons of our own making. We are all facing frailties that come with living in a fallen world. Stuff breaks on all of us. We could all use a decent dose of hope.

Did you notice the ending verse of our section sounds like Paul broke out in song again?

Romans 15:13 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

A Few Words about Hope

I cannot leave the passage without mentioning that if you read the first thirteen verses of the chapter, you will note four times the word “hope” falls off the page (15:4,12 and twice in 15:13). Obviously, running beneath the teaching of the passage was another theme – God wanted to make plain how hope could change the Roman believers and where they could find it.

The Greek word for hope is “elpis” – taken from elpō, “to anticipate or welcome”). It means simply the “expectation of what is certain to happen.” It is used to denote how the experience of “pre-savoring” a taste as the dish you love is being plated in front of you, after you have snuck a taste from the serving tray.

Hope in the Bible is more than a glancing wish for the future – it is an expectation based on a taste of experience already attained.

Hope of Heaven is rooted in the taste of the Spirit – the presence of the Holy One in this life. Our hope is in the Lord Himself, and the expectation comes because we have, in some small way, already engaged Him in this life. What we expect in His arms is based on what we have received while touched by His Spirit.

Don’t overlook that in the text, there are four sources of hope found tucked within the passage:

First, there is the record of God’s work in the people of the Book. The Scriptures are designed to give us hope as we follow the contours of the lives of believers who went before – each with their own set of challenges and pains. The story isn’t about how good they were, but rather about how good God is in spite of how fickle they were. That should encourage us: Our future doesn’t depend on our ability to pull off life well.

Second, the promises found in the Scriptures were designed to bring us hope. We can gain important insights from the past, but hope is about a certain future. Paul grabbed four passages from the Bible to emphasize that God promised (and was now keeping His Word) to plunge those who followed Jesus from the Gentile world into an ocean of hope. He mentioned God doing it for Jews, but he drove it home repeatedly in the case of Gentiles, because it was something harder for the people to believe.

Third, hope comes from the presence of God Himself, as is clear in the first part of verse thirteen. The God of hope can fill you with resolute assurance and the sense that all things are coming to be what they should be as you trust Him more. That is the careful rendering of the verse.

Finally, hope is driven deep within by the powerful impact of the Holy Spirit. It grows by the Spirit’s expansion with you. The term “abound” in the end of verse thirteen demonstrates that hope is something the Spirit inflates inside of you by His own power, like a compressor fills a tire. Hope floods in and fills up space left uncomfortably empty by the assault of troubles.

Records, promises, the presence of God and the inflating work of His Spirit are all at work to fill us with hope – when we don’t fill our lives with fake answers, false memes and platitudes. When you need real hope, you need to come emptied to the One Who alone can offer it.

God’s Word, when lived, will birth hope within His people. The hope isn’t for one of us – it is for ALL OF US.

In Biblical terms, “I” don’t go to Heaven, “we” do.

Christianity isn’t an individual thing – it is a team thing. I am supposed to be heading toward the goal, arm in arm, with my team mates. This isn’t about ME as much as it is about US.

There are certainly aspects of my walk that are individual.

The yielding of my heart to Jesus is my responsibility. The authenticity of my desire to know and follow Jesus is a personal matter.

Yet, if I forget that is paired in the Word with the sense that I belong to others and they to me, I turn family into footrace and replace team with individual super-stardom. That isn’t the plan – it never was.

Think about your faith this way:

Play for the team and don’t hog the ball. You see, ball hogs don’t trust the team. They have an inflated view of themselves, and a cynical view of team mates.

Would you be offended if I noted that many Christians look like spiritual ball hogs?

Recently, Dottie and I had the delight to travel to Ireland. When we arrived in Dublin, we got a rental car. I admit driving on the other side of the road is a bit of a challenge, so I insisted we get an automatic. I didn’t think I could shift with my left hand while driving on the left side of the road.

The hardest part of the driving were the one hundred and fifty “roundabouts” (or circles), because the driver must access them in the opposite direction from what we do here. It can be confusing. In order to drive effectively, we have to be able to re-train our focus. We have to look right when we would naturally think to look left. We cannot keep our old focus and drive effectively under the new rules.

In Romans 14, Paul moved into a set of instructions with the believers that pressed them to focus on a different way of looking at each other, and the traffic of believers merged into the church body. Here is the central truth of the passage…

Key Principle: Believers have to learn how to “stay in our assigned lane of conscience” while we offer great care to others around us.

As you may recall, the letter was designed to answer five big questions:

What happened to mankind? Why is sin rampant and why is the world full of troubles. Paul answered with essentially one word: mutiny. Man’s rebellion caused his troubles (cp. Romans 1-3).

What did God do about man’s rebellious and languishing state? The second question was answered by a single word as well: gift. God gave His Son to remedy sin’s hold on man (cp. Romans 4-5).

How can I cast off sin’s hold on my life as a follower of Jesus? Through Paul’s quill, God instructed Jesus followers that the prison doors of sinful behavior have been unlocked by God, and we can be free to walk in God’s Spirit (cp. Romans 6-8).

Is God really trustworthy in keeping His promises? A large part of the Epistle deals specifically with the history of God and His promises to Israel, as a case study in His trustworthiness (cp. Romans 9-11).

What should a healthy walk with Jesus look like in practical and daily lifestyle? This is the section we continue with in our study today.

We have spoken about care for and appreciation of other believers and their gifts (Romans 12), as well as submission to authorities outside the church (Romans 13), but now we turn our attention to a n issue of contention among believers:

How should we handle other believers with whom we may fundamentally disagree on some life practice?

Romans 14:1 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.

Because we are to be inspected by God and transformed in thinking, as well as the fact that we are to regard others as more important (whether brothers or authorities outside the church), we must seek to bring in those who, for reasons of their own, may be unable to handle a personal liberty to which we have subscribed. We must not be hard-hearted toward them when they cannot separate their own preferences from absolute truth. We must handle their opinions with care.

Paul offered two test cases:

Test One: Consumption – Some believe it acceptable to consume something that others believe would be wrong to consume.

Romans 14:2 One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.

Skip down a few verses and you will note a second test case issue…

Test Two: Celebration – Some believe following a certain calendar of celebration to be that which honors the Lord, while others find no reason to do so.

Romans 14:5 One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.

John attends a monthly cigar club. As a group, they get together each month to try out a new cigar as they sit about and talk. He doesn’t smoke as a rule, but doesn’t feel twelve cigars a year will hurt him, since he keeps good oral hygiene and doesn’t inhale. Suzie thinks that tobacco in any form was grown from the garden of Satan, but she drinks flavored coffee that contains the equivalent of seven teaspoons of sugar every morning. She struggles with her weight, but she can’t face the day without her coffee.

Alex drinks a beer with his lunch, while his friend Brian thinks that alcohol is intrinsically evil. He has searched the Scripture and acknowledges that alcohol wasn’t avoided by the ancients in the text, but he regards principles of purity in consumption to such a degree he honestly cannot see how it isn’t clear to Alex.

Lisa believes the celebration of the birth of Jesus has been terribly tainted with commercialism and overladen with ancient pagan practices like tree decorating and gift giving. She believes every aspect of the celebration of the season has been marred. When she showed up at church and saw a Christmas tree, she protested. She cannot be a part of a group that won’t follow Jesus with their whole heart! She is thinking she should leave and visit other churches, but all the other churches have them as well. She is hurt because she feels the church of her time is going apostate.

All of these people are believers. They are trying to follow Jesus as He has taught them. None of the issues is specifically commanded or forbidden in Scripture. They are trying to follow principles of the Word, but the way they see an issue is complicated by their personality, their experience and their perception of what is essential and important. None of them oppose any verse of Scripture openly to the best of their knowledge. Each has a strong view about what they do.

Let’s be clear: The issues under consideration are NOT a reference to things God carefully outlined in His Word.

Sabbath for Jewish believers is not in view in regards to celebration, because Jews were commanded by God specifically for “all their generations, forever” to celebrate that day. Those who came to Jesus from such a background learned the benefits of keeping the Sabbath as a Jewish Jesus follower. They experienced something wonderful. The problem was not their obedience to that command; it was the application to others who did not come to Christ from the same background. They carried their heartfelt celebration into the assembly and disdained those who didn’t follow suit. They assumed that anyone who didn’t keep Sabbath just wasn’t willing to give it all to Jesus. Sabbath, commanded to the Jewish believer, was never subscribed to by the believer from Gentile background. Some got on board and learned to keep it after they were saved, but others didn’t – because they didn’t see it as a necessary thing. They saw it as something God told the Jewish people to do.

Meat knowingly and publicly consumed that was offered to idols is not in view here since there was a specific command regarding that. Apparently, some concluded the best way to avoid the problem was to simply become a vegetarian. The problem is they carried that conviction into the assembly as the standard of truth, when the private consumption of such meats was not forbidden (see 1 Corinthians 10).

The point is, the issues of consumption and celebration were not issues of debate when the text of Scripture was clear. We aren’t talking about some who feel that lying to their boss may be acceptable. That isn’t a judgment call – it is simple sin. It is a violation of the text in its simplest terms. For instance, Jews were not allowed to eat pork – and that was specified. Coming to Jesus didn’t lift their restriction, despite some who have tried to say otherwise.

• In a debate in the Gospel of Mark over the washing of hands, some have read “by this Jesus made all foods clean” to mean that Jesus approved ham for Jews. That wasn’t the issue under discussion – the way to wash hands was the debate.

• There is another story in the New Testament where Simon Peter has a “vision of a sheet filled with edibles” dropping from Heaven in Acts 10. God told him, “Arise, kill and eat!” Peter objected because some of the sheet contained acceptable foods for Jews (called kosher) while other items were unacceptable animals that were commanded by God not to be consumed. Peter declined to eat what Scripture said was unclean. Some concluded that God was adjusting His Laws, given long before at Sinai, because Jesus had come. Yet, Jesus made clear He didn’t come to uproot the Law. The point of the story was about the men who were about to knock on the door down below the roof Peter was on – and he noted a lesson from the sheet that God showed him “PEOPLE God says are clean, are clean.” Peter was learning about people, not receiving a change of dietary restrictions.

By the way, Gentiles who came to Jesus never had such restrictions, and were not commanded to sign on to all of the restrictions that belonged to Jewish people when they came to Jesus. The differences between them, though one in Christ and saved by the identical way, still meant they lived out God’s Word differently.

Nothing in the teaching of Romans 14 is about undoing Scripture. If God commanded it specifically, it was not in view in this passage.

Add to that, the heart of the teaching is not to settle the issues on their face, since they are subjective matters of conviction and conscience and not objective matters of truth. Rather, the teaching is about how to get along in a divided atmosphere where all cannot agree and each has deep-seated reason.

Paul offered several essential instructions to the church:

Instruction One: It isn’t our job to make everyone agree with our view, but it is our job to regard each other with love and care.

Romans 14:3 The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.

Look closely at the verse. The central issue isn’t about who is right at all. The issue is how we treat one another – the one who consumes and the one who abstains. The consumer must not “regard with contempt” the abstainer, nor should the abstainer judge the consumer. God can and will work in the heart of both – if we don’t hinder Him by wounding another trying to help out God in the process.

Here are a couple questions: How do we disciple people if we can’t take deduction and application of passages of Scripture to help them know right from wrong? Since we are attempting to equip them, how can we do that if we don’t teach them to go beyond the letter of the Scripture to apply its principles? Those are fair and mature questions.

Paul isn’t silent about discipleship. His letters are filled with the application of Hebrew Scriptures to early church issues, and how to get the timeless principles into contemporary life. At the same time, he acknowledged that God gave each believer His own Spirit, and is willing to work within each of us to convict of sin, direct in lifestyle and work with each of us over the long haul of life.

The central teaching here shouldn’t get buried in detail: Don’t think that because you are certain you shouldn’t do something, that everyone else who doesn’t see it your way is somehow smaller in the eyes of God. You may be right – but your view may not take into account other things that go beyond your culture, your life experience and your personal connection to God.

God put you in the body, but reserved the right to run the lives of His people without your approval.

This idea leads right into the second instruction…

Instruction Two: It isn’t our job to decide if the other’s convictions are warranted for them, but it is our responsibility to recognize we all serve the same Master, Who alone is the proper judge of each of us.

Romans 14:4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Paul made clear a central truth we must re-emphasize and remember: We don’t work for one another. We all work for Jesus. He is the Judge,

When we make it our business to check out the liberty of others beyond the obedience to the text of Scripture, we set ourselves up to become haughty and judgmental. It is worth remembering this isn’t the only place Paul offers instruction on this (see 1 Corinthians 8-10) but it is the tenor of everything he taught.

There is a tendency in many of us as we mature to believe we have been placed in the lives of others as God’s interpreter of Law.

The fact is: Beyond living out the principles ourselves, many of us have had to learn to project those principles into decisions we made as a family. We may have decided our children couldn’t participate in some activities with some other children, because our conviction was solid on our lifestyle, and the other family did not regard the issue we felt strongly about in the same way. It was our responsibility to take the conviction of the Spirit and make a judgment for our children. That is called parenting.

Here is the caution, however.

While we should be open about why we concluded from the Word that participation is wrong for our family, we must also teach our children the principles of GRACE.

We must teach them that, even though it seems clear to us, it isn’t “the truth” as much as it is “our heartfelt conviction” with which others had the right to disagree. We wouldn’t attend the event, but we wouldn’t quietly condemn them in our hearts as “less than obedient” and whisper gossip about them to each other.

God will grow the people to whom we aren’t commanded to take responsibility. We have to offer grace and let Him do it.

Instruction Three: It isn’t our job to focus on what is right for others, but we are called to focus on Jesus’ ownership of us all.

Romans 14:6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. 7 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; 8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Don’t overlook two simple caveats:

• We aren’t talking about the expressed command of Scripture.
• We aren’t talking about someone in a leadership position of responsibility for others.

We made clear before that all the things in the passage regard subjective thinking: personal judgments. This ISN’T about whether pornography is “ok for me” since sexual purity is made clear in the text. It may regard how one looks at a Baroque nude sculpture of Gian Lorenzo Bernini in an art museum, but it certainly isn’t about porn.

In addition, the teaching here does not take into account one who is given charge of others to set standards for the whole group.

For instance, if a worship leader was given the directive to decide what standard of dress was appropriate for those in the team, they have the right to make a judgment regarding the dress of those on the team when they are participating. That isn’t being judgy; it is leading in a given setting. If they determine a certain length of dress is too short for those leading worship, they are to be heard because they were charged with leadership in that area.

At the same time, that doesn’t make them the “dress length sheriff” for the church. They don’t get to show up at the youth swim night and measure bathing suits. That isn’t their job.

What Paul made clear in verses six through nine are these three ideas:

• People may decide differently regarding personal issues of conscience, but the Lord will teach each of them individually to yield to Him (14:6).

• Believers grow to understand who the Lordship of Jesus affects our daily lives over time (14:7).

• Ultimately, our lives are in His hand, not in each other’s hands (14:8-9).

Instruction Four: It isn’t our job to become “life fruit inspectors” of one another, but rather we must learn to focus on the “gaze of Jesus” on our practices and behaviors.

Romans 14:10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God.” 12 So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.

Scripture isn’t silent about the fact that even believers will answer for our choices when we stand before Jesus. Everyone faces two judgments: one over sin and one over works. For believers, sin was judged at the Cross of Jesus. Yet, our works will still be evaluated as Jesus gazes at what we bring Him as the prized accomplishments of this life.

The simple fact is that we live for Jesus, not for self. If that is true of each of us, we need to focus much more on living with Him and for Him – and spend less time figuring out His call to everyone else around us.

Paul offered this final analysis:

Stop trying to fix other people and start cleaning up things that can cause them to trip over in YOUR life. He said it this way:

Romans 14:13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.

Stop worrying about being the teacher over those God didn’t give you responsibility and let other people grow and develop without playing Holy Spirit for them. Paul personalized this:

Romans 14:14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

Paul recognized that God gave a conscience to each of us, and life experiences shape that conscience. We don’t see everything the same way, and we shouldn’t expect to. Let others have convictions in areas you don’t. Allow God to convict you about things others are allowed to do – but YOU aren’t.

In all things, keep your eye on whether your liberty and conviction will lead another to walk away from obedience and intimacy with Jesus. Don’t deliberately do what will offend and hurt them, because it hinders their walk. Love them enough to be careful as God leads you. Don’t let your testimony take a beating out of your own carelessness.

Romans 14:15 For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

To those who are tempted to judge everyone, stop making trouble. Stop the gossip. Grow up and be truly mature. You don’t know everything, and your judgmental spirit isn’t helping to equip people. Maybe you believe something strongly, but the other person doesn’t. God will grow him in His time. He will grow YOU as well…

Romans 14:19 So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. 20 Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense.

Ultimately, don’t do what will cause another to fall into sin. He doesn’t say, “Don’t do anything other people won’t like.” Rather, he restricts his comment to those who are so deeply impressionable that your participation will license their wrong choices. He wrote:

Romans 14:21 It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. 22 The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God.

Finally, Paul said, “Make your choices wisely and honestly.”

Romans 14:22b “…Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.

Let me be clear here: Some of us have chosen to participate in things that violate our conscience. We have a nagging sense gnawing inside that we are engaged in something we shouldn’t be, but we hide it under the liberty bell. If that is you, drop the pretense and remember that you will give a report to Jesus concerning that thing.

Believers have to learn how to “stay in our assigned lane of conscience” while we offer great care to others around us.

John can have his monthly cigar. I don’t smoke them and I don’t like them. I have had two in my life, and enjoyed neither. I don’t need the distraction, but I am not going to tell him he can’t because it will harm him unless I am willing to cut all the sugar out of my diet.

Suzie can think that tobacco is rolled sin. She just needs to live according to that and still show care to John.

Alex can drink his beer with his lunch if Jesus said to him it is ok. I won’t join him, because I cannot afford the calories. Brian’s objections about alcohol should be taught in his home to his children, but he should also teach them to have grace to those who see it another way.

Lisa must stop believing she is the only one with the Spirit at work in her. She needs to get off Facebook and stop condemning others over whom God has not placed her. She should promote Christmas celebrations that offer a way to magnify Jesus, rather than trying to correct the rest of us with long diatribes on the history of the Christmas tree. The rest of us need to hear her heart. She loves Jesus, and she doesn’t want Him disrespected in our methods of celebration.

In the end, believers have to learn how to “stay in our assigned lane of conscience” while we offer great care to others around us.

Ask any nurse or care giver, and they will tell you: “Pain increases at night, but it seems to slowly relinquish some of its hold as the sun rises.” It seems that as a new day comes, the throbbing that came in with the darkness recedes back into the body, only to be prompted to strike out again when the sun goes down.

Sunrise helps ease pain. It is a well-documented notion.

I must admit that I love to watch the sunrise in the morning out back of my house! As the morning dawns the birds awaken, and the animals stir all around my house (and there are plenty of them!). The once formless dark forest beside our house begins to come into clear view. Shapes are defined because sunrise brings light, and light brings clarity.

This isn’t poetry; it’s a Scripture idea. Paul made note that the sunrise is coming soon, and that should change our sense of urgency about what we DO and our desire to be transformed to be more like Jesus. Think about it:

• In Romans 12, Paul made clear believers should act in a certain pattern within the church by using their gifts and appreciating others in the inter-connected nature of the church body.

• In Romans 13, Paul appealed to the believers to allow God to change them in relation to the way they handle people OUTSIDE THE CHURCH in their local community – especially in relation to those who were in charge of the society.

Yet, what sticks out to me is not simply the commands (though we will look at each) but the reason for commitment to the call to change. It is found near the end of the chapter…

Romans 13:11 Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. 12 The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Do you see it? Paul shared the central reason for following some of the instruction he gave in verses 1-10 of the passage. He said it was simply because the alarm clock was about to go off. A new day was about to dawn.

If you listen closely, you can hear the optimism in his words. He called the time believers live in the present age the word “dark,” but he also promised a soon coming light.

Did you happen to notice how he characterized believers in the darkness of this world? He noted it was a time when believers seem to be “dozing” a bit. Is that a fair characterization?

Actually, I think it is.

In some ways, even the most disciplined and mature believers among us spend far more time providing for the flesh in daily life than for the real world – the spiritual one. The effect of that fact is we tend to see the physical life as more important, and dare I say it, more real.

It isn’t more real; it is fleeting. It isn’t more important; it is temporary.

Yet things aren’t as they seem. Life in the here and now SEEMS more real and more permanent than any misty thoughts of Heaven and eternity. Talk to anyone who doesn’t believe in life beyond this one, and you will hear clearly that denial of self in this life is loss – even if it is because we know we have been called to do so with a greater life after in mind.

Listen again to what Paul said (in my own paraphrase):

Romans 13:11 “We obey these things, we make these changes, because the alarm clock is about to snap us awake from this sleepy existence (with its unreal and dreamy qualities). We are about to wake up to reality. That reality is our rescue from the world we have come to think is: “Oh so important.” The practices that go with the sleepy, dark and temporal world are about to be over. That fact presses us to unhand deeds that go with the darkness of this world and cover ourselves with the armor of light.

Our time on earth has temporary demand and temporary rewards. Someday, most of the things of this world will be as useless to you as a hair brush to a bald man. Because of that, Paul said it was time for the Roman believers to wake up to reality.

Stop and look for a moment, before reading the list of things Paul commanded them to DO in the chapter, at the final command found in the last line of Romans 13, at verse 14:

Romans 13:14“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to [its] lusts.”

Now ask, “What does that truly mean?”

The command has two parts:

• Put on Jesus Christ.
• Make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

Are you hungry right now? If I hunger and get into my car to drive to a restaurant and order a meal, am I being disobedient to this passage? Am I letting my hunger determine my eating? Isn’t that why God gave me the impulse to eat anyway? What does Paul mean by “make no provision for the flesh” then?

Am I about to listen to a message that encourages me to look at a model Christian as the one who leaves church on Sunday in their car without using the air conditioner? Will they refuse a good restaurant for lunch and go home to eat bread, drink water and send the money they would have spent to missionaries? Will they avoid comforts through the week, and sleep on a hard floor rather than a soft mattress?

“You’re being silly!” some will protest. Maybe I am. Now, let me ask you, how does one make NO PROVISION for the flesh in regard to its lusts and walk through a buffet line?

There must be more to this! The passage appears to tell us what God expects from us, but not HOW God expects us to do what He told us to do.

I think, when it is all said and done, you will see the “how” more clearly. Let’s back out of the passage, set it in context, and then try to understand the truth. The big idea of the text is this…

Key Principle: I can’t put on Jesus until I actively seek to peel off self.

Now let’s unpack that.

First, let’s set this truth in the context of the letter Paul was writing, so we are sure that what we take away is consistent with its original message to its original audience. As you may recall, the letter was designed to answer five big questions:

What happened to mankind? Why is sin rampant and why is the world full of troubles. Paul answered with essentially one word: mutiny. Man’s rebellion caused his troubles (cp. Romans 1-3).

What did God do about man’s rebellious and languishing state? The second question was answered by a single word as well: gift. God gave His Son to remedy sin’s hold on man (cp. Romans 4-5).

How can I cast off sin’s hold on my life as a follower of Jesus? Through Paul’s quill, God instructed Jesus followers that the prison doors of sinful behavior have been unlocked by God, and we can be free to walk in God’s Spirit (cp. Romans 6-8).

Is God really trustworthy in keeping His promises? A large part of the Epistle deals specifically with the history of God and His promises to Israel, as a case study in Hi trustworthiness (cp. Romans 9-11).

What should a healthy walk with Jesus look like in practical and daily lifestyle? This is the section we again study today – the section that explains how a mature and healthy believer should appear, or how they should demonstrate Jesus in daily life (cp. Romans 12-16).

Next, look at the grammar of what Paul said God expected to fulfill the commands of the first part of the Romans 13.

Romans 13:14“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to [its] lusts.”

Notice three things:

• In this metaphor, Jesus is One you can “put on” like you would put on new clothing. If you think of trying on new clothes, you can easily understand you cannot put on the new until you remove the old.

• Second, the term “flesh” is modified by the term “lusts” – making them one and the same. He isn’t talking badly about our physical bodies (nor our God-given nees like food, etc.) , but rather making the point that we cannot and must not pander to the fallen urges that he summarized by the word “lusts.” Lust, in this context, is a strong desire once imbedded into us by God, but torqued through the Fall. Most often in the New Testament, lust of the flesh is a description of an implanted hunger the enemy uses to draw us into fulfilling our felt needs without God.

• A believer is not to make provision for the desire that leads us to fulfill a hunger without God and His provided plan as shared in His Word.

Four Instructions for Believers from Romans 13

Set in this context are the four instructions of the chapter. Go back to the beginning of the text and review quickly…

Instruction One: Believers are to learn to let God put people over us we wouldn’t always choose.

As a follower of Jesus, we accept that what is happening in the physical world is but a symptom of the spiritual world. We believe that behind the scenes are two competing agendas – that of a loving God and another of a deceiving enemy. Though God’s enemy has great power on our planet, he is limited to the realm God has set for him until the time that evil is brought to an end. Ultimately, all things happen under the authority of our Heavenly Father – even the things He is not pleased by. Yet, the underlying system, though at times suffering from later corruptions, is still a reflection of His original establishment. Paul put it this way…

Romans 13:1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil.

Romans 13:3b “…Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.

If you follow the logic of his argument, you will see:

Paul told them the deliberately place themselves in subjection to authorities in light of the Author of their place of authority (13:1). In order to drive home Divine reasons, Paul had to press the case as to why subjection was so important. He enumerates several reasons:

God designed authority and placed people into it. (Romans 13:1) From the original call of man in the Garden, ruling and ordering were part of what God wanted man to accomplish.

Resisting the structures God put in place was often a proxy battle for resisting God Himself (Romans 13:2). We need signs and symbols of authority to remind us to obey – because we can get feisty or thoughtless and do what we want, even if it isn’t right. Authorities were designed, in some ways, to help deter wrong action.

Think of the police car you see when traveling down the road. What is the first thing you do? You look down at the speed limit. Why? Because if you are going the right speed, you anticipate he won’t stop you. He isn’t looking for more paperwork to do if he doesn’t need to do it. His presence slows people down and gets them thinking about obeying the signs.

Subjecting ourselves will most often put us in a place of peace and not fear. When the one in authority sees a clear demonstration that we understand their importance and function, they are far more likely to have a positive exchange with us (Romans 13:3b).

Resisting authority and violating law, even in an imperfect and fallen world, should make us afraid. Deterrence is a God thing. God has put within man a sense of the society in which they live. He has made us nervous when doing wrong from our earliest “cookie heist” as a child. That built in anxiety is called “guilt” and is part of our “conscience.”

We are, when all is said and done, to be in subjection because it can save us pain and trouble, but also because it helps us keep peace inside. When we do nothing to violate law, we move through life without hiding the guilt of our transgressions (Romans 13:4-5).

The battle with submission is a battle of the ego.

Let’s say it this way: We actively seek to “peel off self” when we set aside ego and learn humility and respect. It is an act of worship, especially when it is consciously done to obey the teachings of Jesus.

Do not be drawn into the trap of only respecting an authority after you make them prove they deserve it. That is another form of deep rebellion and arrogance. It is a popular notion, but one that assumes God is not behind authority structures.

But there is more…

Instruction Two: Believers are to learn to practice submission in demonstrable and practical ways.

God doesn’t want us to subscribe to a theory of obedience; He wants us to practice truth in life. This became very pointed when Paul connected the truth of submission to our use of money to demonstrate submission and honor. He noted:

Romans 13:6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for [rulers] are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax [is due]; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.

Here is the truth: Believers must not embrace civil authority and then feel justified starving its ability to collect revenue necessary to perform its vital civil tasks. The passage requires that we openly agree to pay, honor and show respect to those in authority without compromise. Bear in mind Paul was a Roman, writing during the early years of Emperor Nero. Though he was not yet acting out, there were ample illustrations of inequitable rulers readily available at the time.

Don’t cynically read this as some kind of patronizing passage to keep the authorities off the back of the early church leaders – it is both their record and the breathed Word of God!

The instruction was clearly to respect, fear and honor civil authority based on their placement by God. This included paying taxes into a system that used the money for purposes we wouldn’t individually agree to as believers.

We actively seek to “peel off self” when we practice the theory of submission in something as physical as money. Even mature believers may find themselves negotiating terms of obedience when they don’t like the way the taxes are used. That is a distraction from the call to give to temporal rulers the temporary (but prized) bank balance.

There is yet a third instruction…

Instruction Three: Believers need to learn to see others through eyes of love and act in ways respecting them and their things.

It is important for us to note that when God calls for us to give honor, fear and treasure to civil authority, He has the right to direct my finances. All that I have has come into my life because of My Heavenly Father. Listen to what God directed:

Romans 13:8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled [the] law. 9 For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of [the] law.

Obviously, Paul argues that believers are to keep a ledger clear of debt as much as is possible, but recognize there is one part of the ledger that can never be clear: the part concerning our love. We OWE it to people to love them.

• If we violate the sacredness of another’s marriage – we steal from someone. We steal their special bond, violate the sacredness of their promises and covenant to each other, and potentially wound their children and family.

• When we murder another human being, we steal their right to more opportunities for forgiveness, more chances to find love and experience grace – we take from them what is not ours to take.

• When we take from another the things that are justly theirs, we remove from them the fruit of their labors, and we show ourselves discontented with what God has placed rightfully in our hands.

All these are sins: adultery, murder, theft. We must not take, but we are equally commanded not to withhold – or we also sin.

• We are not to withhold our deliberate action to meet the needs of those around us, without the expectation of any specific return on our action.

• We are to love, because we were commanded to by God. That alone is reason enough.

Love is about the other person, not about you. The battle inside is about placing other people first, when our default is about making ourselves first. We deliberately “peel off self” when we think of the needs of others over our own needs.

There is one final command…

Instruction Four: Believers are to learn to put on Jesus’ character and choices.

In putting others before me, I must also put Jesus before me. I put on Jesus when I deliberately take off my right to choose and put on His choices. The end of the text calls for us to deliberately change our appearance…

Romans 13:11 [Do] this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.

Paul warned the hour was later than they thought. We don’t have time to put this off. We have to get busy.

Paul also warned that we can be sleepy when we should be vigilant. We can easily get the idea that important things are not that important.

Paul anticipated that our rescue from this life was about to happen, any day. He wasn’t depressed. He wasn’t disgusted with this life. He was acknowledging a truth we must ponder to stay on track: We don’t belong here. We aren’t designed to live with the pain of death, the struggle with sin and the power of the enemy forever. We will be set free.

The night will pass. The pain will go away. The fog of putting hope in my body and its pleasures will be lifted. I will see the Savior. I will know peace. I will experience the delight of one-ness with God. I will have the eternal life Jesus promised…and it is coming SOON!

Paul continued:

Romans 13:12 The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave properly as in the day…

Paul told them to act NOW as we will act THEN. Believers are to bring Heaven into the room, not try to sneak darkness into Heaven when they go. Our values are to be transformed to eternal ones.

What does that look like? It includes separating ourselves from pandering to our physical wants and desires apart from an intimate walk with Jesus. He wrote:

Romans 13:13b “…not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.

Note the areas: Partying to release us from responsible action, sexual indulgence to release us from the tensions of desire, sensual feeding to grow the fallen nature’s hold within us, fostering anger and division to feed our ego and the stirred broken spirit within us.

Each of these exalts OUR NEEDS over others. Each removes our conscious choice to follow Jesus and not make a god out of our belly – our hungers, our desires. Paul ended with clear words…

Romans 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to [its] lusts.

Instead of indulging self I am to put on the actions and attitudes of Jesus in my daily choices. That is the Christian life. Some things are to be increasingly evident: My Christ-like thinking will cause me to focus on fulfilling the desires of my Father and enable me to put my hungers behind His desires.

If we took the time to read Paul description in detail of the works of the flesh that he wrote not long after, it would sound like this:

Galatians 5:19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Look at the WAR WITHIN YOU as a believer for a minute. In Galatians 5, God made clear the works of the flesh are all ABOUT ME taking care of ME (at least my perceived needs). Here we have a list of fifteen deeds we can be drawn into – all of which displease God and enslave us: (Note: The Greek words are defined below).

• Immorality: porneia; illicit sexual activity to use my body for self-pleasure without regard to the proper bonding use of the gift of sexuality.

• Impurity: a-katharsia; uncleansed living, living with unbridled desires that are not corrected. This is literally about living in a withdrawn state from God, because you refuse to yield to His cleansing and have the relationship restored. It is hiding in guilt and isolation from God, because you don’t want to stop doing what you are doing.

There is an old story about how a mountain lion felt so good after eating an entire bull, he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter tracked the sound and shot him… The moral of that story: When you’re full of bull, keep your mouth shut.

• Sensuality: aselgia; shameless hungers for self-fulfillment.

• Idolatry: idolateria; shaping an ideal of value and bowing in allegiance to it.

• Sorcery: farmakia; using anesthetizing drugs for release from reality.

• Enmities: echthros; someone who harbors irreconcilable hostility, with actions prompted by envy or hatred.

• Strife: eris; someone who brings wrangling and dissention with gossip and trouble making.

• Jealousy: zélos; someone who burns for things that belong to others.

• Outbursts of anger: thoomus; someone who boils over and lashes out verbally or physically.

• Disputes: erithia; someone who manipulates for personal gain.

• Dissensions: dikhosetia; someone who forces a wedge between people to divide them.

• Factions: ha heresis; someone who labels people to keep them apart.

• Envying: fthonos; someone who plots another’s downfall out of jealousy.

• Drunkenness: methay; someone who refuses to take their pain to their Savior.

• Carousing: komos; someone who celebrates feeling in the here and now more than a sense of pleasing God.

All of these items are about ME. MY PLEASURE. MY HAPPINESS. MY STATISFACTION. MY NEEDS. MY WANTS… and they stand in direct contrast to the “other person centered” lifestyle taught in the Scriptures. They are the things we are to peel off to put on Jesus.

Paul claimed that ACTIONS AND BEHAVIORS could show the reality of a person’s true walk with God.

That is either true, or its not. If it IS, we may need a time of examination.

In a world centered on individual rights and liberties almost to the exclusion of community responsibility, this thinking challenges us to be transformed. The shocking claim is this: There is, in fact, a connection between how I live and whether or not I truly belong to Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. Let that soak in for a moment. Paul actually claims that people who truly have Jesus as their Savior make choices to walk a different path than they had when they came to Christ.

We deliberately “peel off self” when we recognize the lateness of the hour and snap out of the delusion of night. The battle with procrastination is fueled by the belief the hour is not as late as it truly is.

A recent article by two CNN reporters (Rachel Held Evans & Laura Sessions Stepp). Attempted to explain why many are leaving the American church. CNN decided to counsel churches on what congregations needed to do to start appealing to the upcoming generation. What was their conclusion? People were leaving congregations because the church wasn’t meeting their WANTS.

Throughout their descriptions of Americans they repeatedly shared what they “want.” CNN was saying: unless the church accommodated these WANTS they’d lose people.

Paul would completely understand that thinking. Jesus isn’t asking to join YOUR WAY, He is calling us to abandon our way for HIS.

The simple call of the believer is to put on Jesus and peel off self. I can’t put on Jesus until I peel off self.

We must be careful that you and I aren’t living two different sets of values – one for Sunday (a “quick slip on” version of a Jesus costume) and another for Monday (the self beneath). Let me offer a story about someone who tried it…

I heard about a farmer who was 2 hours late getting home. His wife questioned him about it and he explained that on his way home he saw his preacher on the road and picked him up. “What does that have to do with being late? The man replied, “Once that preacher got in the wagon those mules couldn’t understand a word I said!”

How much would you pay for financial advice from any of these wealthy people? I think it is safe to say that people pay a great amount of money for expert advice.

If our church could bring any expert from any time or place, how much would the counsel of the Apostle Paul be worth? It is obvious it would be worth more than could easily be calculated. Yet, we DO have an opportunity to “bring Paul in” and listen to his counsel for the church. We have something even MORE. We have the God-inspired directives Paul recorded, that were more than his mere impressions of how the body should behave.

When you need to teach another, there are two ways that are extremely effective. The first is to model, or show them how by doing it in front of them. The second is to offer specific and measurable verbal instruction on what to do. Paul closed his letter to the Romans with both model and verbal instruction.

Key Principle: Healthy practices for believers are not intuitive; they must be learned.

Let’s take a look first at the way Paul modeled healthy discipleship for people of his time.

Paul’s Model of Healthy Discipleship

It is significant in my mind the record of modeling preceded and is longer than the record of final instructions. We could argue that Paul had been instructing them for chapters, and that would be a fair observation. Yet, when it came time for a summary of what God wanted to do among the people of Rome and in the church body, the modeling was more profoundly recorded than the final instructions.

It is important that we remember that people get more from our example then from our words, particularly if they are close to us. Any good parent knows that our children observe our way before they hear our words. The same is true in a work setting, a community setting – and yes, even in a church setting. People are watching you, whether you are conscious of it or not. Your behaviors are being recorded, even when you aren’t asking anyone to notice you.

Here are some of the behaviors that Paul demonstrated as God used his life to model ministry and healthy discipleship:

Paul looked out for others in ministry.

Before you dig deeply, notice that Paul didn’t ignore or overlook the contributions of many people as he wrapped up the letter. On first glance, you will easily see the chapter is FILLED with names of people. Look at the opening two verses:

Romans 16:1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea; 2 that you receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and that you help her in whatever matter she may have need of you; for she herself has also been a helper of many, and of myself as well.

Tucked into the verses there is a reference and two directives given by the apostle. He explained that Phoebe was a servant (the word is the same as “deaconess” and may mean that she held that office, if such an office was formed at that time). In any case, she was a proper servant of Jesus, and was to be seen as such. In that context, Paul called on the people to both “receive” her and “help” her.

Here we can easily notice three things:

Paul took time to point out people that might have easily been un-noticed by the body. Believers don’t mean to overlook people – but we must recognize that we DO overlook people.

Paul made clear that those who had a testimony of service must be more carefully regarded than others who just had strong opinions about things. More regard should be given to those who are actively engaged in the work than to those who simply want to call from the sidelines with their opinion about how they would do it if they were busy at the task.

Paul called believers to trust this servant to know what she needed, and be willing to provide it. He didn’t make them into a committee to give counsel on the work. He asked them to provide and assist, not counsel and coach.

Paul remembered what others did for him.

Paul didn’t only recall people that worked hard for the body; he recalled people who made a difference in his life. Take a look at verse three:

Romans 16:3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles; 5 also greet the church that is in their house.

Did you notice the words “risked their own necks” in verse four? As best we can tell, this was no simple idiom at the time. It appears they were in danger of hanging or strangulation.

Ritual strangulation was the favored Roman means of execution that avoided bloodshed. It was the only form of death routinely practiced within the city of Rome. There are many examples:

Assinoe, Cleopatra’s younger sister was a failed rebel queen, and was captured by Julius Caesar. He had already promised loyalty to Cleopatra’s claim of reign over Egypt, and he made known he was planning to have Assinoe strangled (as he did with Vercingetorix, the Gallic leader who had surrendered to him). The crowd rejected the notion that a noble girl be publicly shamed beforehand and thus Caesar found himself unable politically to follow through (but later Marc Antony authorized the deed).

It is very likely that Priscilla and Aquila faced a judgment they were argued from by a lawyer on behalf of housing Paul and promoting the work he had among them. They may have been found reading his letters in a meeting. We simply don’t know.

We should remember that our faith was first lived out by people at great peril and profound sacrifice. Many died in Paul’s generation simply because they followed Jesus, and lived as one body in Christ. Paul remembered those who took risk – especially for him and his ministry.

Paul remembered who God reached in his ministry.

Romans 16:5b …Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia.

Paul fondly recalled Epaenetus, and recalled those who came to Christ because of his ministry. What an encouragement! He looked back on his life and could see the faces of those who would be eternally in Heaven because God gave him a moment to preach or teach and God opened their hearts! He never forgot them. If you have such faces, you won’t either!

Paul interconnected believers (and reminded them to commend others for their service).

Romans 16:6 Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. 7 Greet Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, who are outstanding among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. …12 Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, workers in the Lord. Greet Persis the beloved, who has worked hard in the Lord. 13 Greet Rufus, a choice man in the Lord, also his mother and mine. 14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the brethren with them. 15 Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

Paul greeted many, and let them greet each other – because Paul wanted to join people together. Mature believers aren’t just trying to join people to Jesus; but are trying to tie believers together in the here and now. We are family builders. We are networkers. We want people to connect.

Note something else…

Paul’s connections were deep with other believers.

He wrote:

Romans 16:8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys my beloved. 10 Greet Apelles, the approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus. 11 Greet Herodion, my kinsman. Greet those of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord.

Listen to the words “beloved” and “approved” and “kinsman.” Recently I was dealing with a man who was leaving his church to go to another because he didn’t like some of the things that went on at his original church. It wasn’t sin; the church was making decisions that didn’t suit his preferences. He became disgruntled, and like any American “shopper” he decided to vote with his feet. He left. When I spoke to him, I asked him if it hurt him to leave the other people in the church. “Why would it?” He asked. I explained that he wasn’t really a part of that church. He was a spectator, not a family member. When we deeply connect, walking away becomes hard. It is supposed to become difficult. Paul felt and expressed a deep connection to other believers.

Paul connected to a team in every place he ministered.

Romans 16:21 Timothy my fellow worker greets you, and so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen. 22 I, Tertius, who write this letter, greet you in the Lord. 23 Gaius, host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer greets you, and Quartus, the brother. 24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

After the picture that Paul left us with his work, we should take a few moments to listen to his last instructions, and hear his heart for the church at Rome. Echoing over the ages, we see these same issues are still with us in the church of our time.

Paul’s Final Instructions to Healthy Believers

Paul pressed the churches to be vigilant about shutting down people pushing other agendas.

Romans 16:17 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. 18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

Believers have to be trained (including those of us who lead) to put ourselves under the text of the Word and the domination of the Spirit of God. Those who resist that will divide the body, and must be dealt with.

Let’s look at three aspects of this instruction:

First, WHO is included in this?

Note the terms: “those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teachings which you learned.” Now look at verse eighteen and observe “slaves…to their own appetites.” You get the impression that these are people who cause disruption because what they want to do is add license to something God has told the church not to do. Because the issue seems to be their appetites, it appears they want to draw the church into something that satiates a desire, but not something that was allowed by the apostles in their teaching and establishment of the church.

Beloved, the church wasn’t designed to be “edgy.” We don’t have to look and sound like throw-backs to the fifties, but we also cannot ride every new popular trend. We have to measure what we will be involved in entirely on the teachings of the Word as they have been given to us.

Let me caution you here: the teachings of the Word mean the proper understanding and application of the text. Because people used to believe something was wrong, and they thought the Bible was the reason for that belief – did not mean the Bible taught what they thought.

Missionaries to Hawaii, one hundred years ago, taught the Hawaiians to wear long underwear under their grass skirts in order to be truly “modest” in the Victorian sense of the term. There is no Biblical prohibition to wearing grass skirts in tropical climates, but the missionaries from Europe and America felt the Bible justified their teaching. When other missionaries indicated that was an oversimplification of the text, they were immediately seen as liberal and compromising.

I have lived through the “evil” of PowerPoint worship words, the “horror” of drum sets in worship, and a variety of other strong opinions that were framed as Biblical values, but were really cultural preferences. The Bible is filled with references to worship with drums, but if the Beatles and Stones had them, they represented the introduction of the devil into the sanctuary. After all, if people keep the beat by tapping their feet, they will abandon all sensual restraints, won’t they? Don’t giggle! I have sat through those sermons!

At the same time, just because a practice has been largely accepted in the world, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t carefully examine it under the microscope of the Word of God. We should, and must be sure it does not pull the church away from God in licensing something for which God has not given approval.

Second, WHAT is the church told to do about them?

There are two primary instructions: “keep your eye on” and “turn away from them” in the two verses. Take those two apart.

It is not a negative thing for elders, team leaders and those who are given charge over some area of the flock to watch out for things that would divide the work and appeal to the flesh in an “out of bounds” way. That is part of leadership. Though the term “keep your eye on” is given to all of the brethren, functionally speaking it was a leadership issue. We don’t want, need or accept the idea that everyone has equal right to walk up to someone else here and tell them what to do. That isn’t how leadership works. There are people in the body who will watch over the flock. If you are appointed as one of them – do the job. If you aren’t – don’t try to play a role you weren’t given. It only hurts people and disrupts the work without any accountable system to fix what breaks.

Let me be clear: If you don’t like the temperature, ask an usher about it. Don’t touch the control. You aren’t appointed to do that. In that same vein: if you see a young woman from our teen group wearing something you find too loose or too suggestive – don’t take it on yourself to address the issue with the young lady without relationship. There are two options here: build the relationship first, or find the shepherd of that young lady in the ministry. Among our youth, we have both men and women leading them, because they include both in that ministry.

Finally, HOW do we spot those who are a danger to the body?

We cannot “keep an eye” out for those who are bringing in contradictory license and disrupting the body if we don’t know what the Word teaches. We need to be careful to separate what momma taught me, and what I actually have verses and application for in the proving of a teaching. If we take the time to study, pray and seek God – we will hear His direction. It may be exactly what we were told. In my experience, it may just as well NOT be what we thought it was.

Paul made clear innocence isn’t naïve.

Romans 16:19 For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.

If you look closely at what Paul wanted them to really know and understand, it was a life of things he called “good.” The word (ag-ath-os’) means something that is “intrinsically good, good by its nature.” These “good things” were what believers were to “become wise” in, (to “become wise” is the Greek word “sophos” the word from which we get “sophistry and sophisticated). In other words, believers were instructed to become learned, cultivated, skilled and clever in things that were intrinsically good.

All around us we find people who place a high value on “street smart,” but often what they mean by it is actually “sin smart.” For so many, even among believers, you “really know what is going on” when you understand every element of base humor used by evening talk show hosts. When you know “slang” you are smart.

Paul didn’t place the value there; he placed it on people who became clever at things that were good by their nature. Honestly, it gets tougher and tougher, but we have to teach those who come behind us what is truly good, and how to cultivate that within them.

Art and beauty are good. We need to learn more of the great masters who tried to reflect God’s design in the world, and less of the artists who had a world view of a shattered existence. The world had many who wrote intricate pieces of music to reflect God’s greatness, and they are getting buried under a pile of one hit wonders that appeal to sensuality until they die a lonely death on the discount rack a few weeks later.

There is beauty, there is good, and our world has many praiseworthy things we can master – but we must reflect the value of learning those things. I applaud those who are pushing their children to be both practical and play a musical instrument, both hard working and art conscious. They are teaching them to value “good.” That is what Paul would applaud.

He ended with a note of confidence and praise, because that is the “tone” a believer should possess.

Paul shared confidence God would bring victory in their churches.

Romans 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you… 25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, 26 but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.

Paul made three things clear:

First, God was about to act in a way among them that would result in Satan’s crushing. He wasn’t going to get the last word or the best of them. God was on the move, and the points Satan had “on the board” were about to get run over.

Second, Paul shared that victory would come in the grace of the Lord, not solely because of their efforts. Our works give God an opportunity to show Himself strong through us, but they aren’t a NEED. God can show up and bless us (and He does) at any time, whether we have done anything to prepare for it or not. Grace is undeserved. We must always be reminded the things we have received from Him were not because of us, but because of His goodness.

Third and finally, Paul made clear that Jesus is the One Who is building up the believers through the truth and getting them ready to present to His Father. This was the truth proclaimed through the ages. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. We are His poem. He is at work in us to show the grand design of the Master planner. God is at work changing us to be something incredible.

It may seem strange that the apostle seemed to end on a set of things that share a common thread of grace. On the surface, they seem passive. It looks like we could conclude: “Since God is crushing the enemy and Jesus is bringing us to victory and preparing us to meet His Father—and since we are a “work in progress” of God, doesn’t that sort of imply that what I become isn’t about MY EFFORT, but rather HIS WORK?

In a way, it does imply that. At the same time, it followed many words of instruction in the letter. In other words, this is a balancing truth. We are to do right; but our doing isn’t the whole story. We are to walk with God, but our walk alone isn’t what will make us acceptable to the Father.

You are to work to become what God intended you to be when He saved you – but you cannot complete any of that “becoming” without the good hand of God and the grace of God creating in your life a thousand things you cannot deserve and would not have thought to pick up along the way. God helps you put in your tool box things you don’t know you need when He tells you to put them there. He offers you experiences that change you, that YOU don’t see coming. He gives you people who will impact your life powerfully on a morning you didn’t know something life-changing would be said or explained. God is at work to give you what you don’t know you need, to make you better than you have planned. He is the only wise God. In the end, when you see how He placed things in your life, you will praise Him in Heaven and see He is every bit worthy of that praise.

That perspective will make you healthy – but it requires more than obedience; it requires the grace of God that He freely gives, even when we aren’t looking. Knowing that truth, in that knowledge we will be pressed to become grateful in advance of each gift of God. We have to learn it; it doesn’t come naturally.

Healthy practices for believers are not intuitive; they must be learned.

I hate shopping for groceries, I really do! There are too many choices. I don’t feel confident when I shop that I will pick the right brand, the right size and get it at the right price. Honestly, shopping is my wife Dottie’s domain.

If she sends me to get something at the store, I have to remind her that I am not native to that environment. I don’t intuitively know where the cheaper nuts can be found on the inner racks of the store, so I will probably buy the more accessible (and more expensive) ones from the obvious end cap rack next to the fresh fruits and veggies. I know they have another shelf somewhere with them, but I don’t know where it is, and I don’t want to waste a half hour searching for it. I will just buy the more expensive and console myself at the amount of time I saved doing it

My chief problem when I am charged with shopping is that I have to think like Dottie if I am to have any hope of choosing the right things. I have to ask “Which of these would Dottie buy in all these choices?” I have to search my mind for the few times I may have paid any attention at all to the brand of the item that she normally brings home.

The fact is, I am not buying these things for myself – I am bringing home what I buy – and the choices will be inspected. I don’t mind shopping for tools, because I don’t have this problem. She doesn’t care what tool I buy, as long as it helps me more rapidly complete the list of repairs she wants done.

Here’s my point: When you are making choices for someone else, you have to learn to think like them. You have to see with their eyes, and learn to perceive what they value. You have to choose with the knowledge that your choice will be judged as adequate or lacking. This isn’t a silly story of an inept Pastor trying to pick up a few groceries, there is a spiritual principle to consider…

One of the easiest things to say as a Christian, but hardest things to do is to really surrender my daily choices to my Savior.

In a culture that prizes personal freedoms and individual choices, it is quite easy to forget that surrender is not an optional aspect of our faith; it is at the very heart of it. My choices will, one day, be inspected by Jesus as I watch. I am not ignorant of the fact that even now, I am to make each with HIS DESIRES first in mind.

In fact, in 2 Corinthians 5, Paul told openly mentioned that Jesus would measure our choices, when he wrote (writing to believers):

2 Corinthians 5: 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

The word “bad” is the common Greek word for “worthless.” Paul suggests that we will have things in our lives that are worthless, even though we chose them and cherished them.

Let me ask you something. If Paul really believed that, what do you suppose drove his daily choices? Fortunately, we don’t have to guess. He reviewed his decision-making priority with some simple but penetrating words from the same chapter. Listen to what he wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:

2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf… 20b “… we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Paul began by saying Jesus’ love controls him, and therefore his choices. He responds in his choices to knowing the love of Jesus. As a result, his choices reflected Jesus’ character, the Savior’s chief passion and His most excellent joy. Paul was a CONTROLLED man – and it was by his choice the surrender of control became real.

Why did he give up making choices solely on the basis of what he felt, what pleased him and what he thought would gain him personally? The end of verse fourteen explained that Jesus died for all and in response each of us must die to self for Him. In case that was a bit cryptic, look very closely at the simple wording of 2 Corinthians 5:15:

“He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again…”

Did you catch those words? Jesus died for me, and His expectation is that I would fully comprehend that as a follower of Him, my choices are NOT MY OWN. Let’s say it this way:

Key Principle: When it is all said and done, our salvation is “lived out” in choices surrendered to Jesus’ direction and approval.

With that in mind, flip back for a moment to Romans 12 as we continue our study.

As you may recall, the Roman Epistle was designed to answer five big questions:

What happened to mankind? Why is sin rampant and why is the world full of troubles. Paul answered with essentially one word: mutiny. Man’s rebellion caused his troubles (cp. Romans 1-3).

What did God do about man’s rebellious and languishing state? The second question was answered by a single word as well: gift. God gave His Son to remedy sin’s hold on man (cp. Romans 4-5).

How can I cast off sin’s hold on my life as a follower of Jesus? Through Paul’s quill, God instructed Jesus followers that the prison doors of sinful behavior have been unlocked by God, and we can be free to walk in God’s Spirit (cp. Romans 6-8).

Is God really trustworthy in keeping His promises? A large part of the Epistle deals specifically with the history of God and His promises to Israel, as a case study in Hi trustworthiness (cp. Romans 9-11).

What should a healthy walk with Jesus look like in practical and daily lifestyle? This is the section we begin in our study today.

Walking back into the dialogue of Romans 12, we looked last time at three statements that Paul made to set the stage for walking in health. We noted:

• A healthy Christian regularly seeks a heart inspection by Jesus (12:1). His intense gaze helps me remember that I need to be careful how I allow my heart to entertain itself.

• Second, we learned that a healthy Christian learns to think differently than the fallen world from which they emerge (12:2). It is easy to get pressed into the mold the world tries to impose when it comes to moral thinking and values systems.

• Third, a healthy Christian thinks accurately about self (12:3). We may be tempted, because we have a relationship with God, to think WE are more than others around us. We aren’t – HE is.

• Fourth, a healthy Christian recognizes the value of others in the body and tries to get connected to them (12:4-5).

• Fifth, a healthy Christian desires to understand and operate in their gifting, using it to the fullest for the body’s good (12:6-8).

Let’s move on with our list from this chapter in today’s lesson… Go to verse 9 and pick up reading where we left off last time.

Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. 17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Sixth, a healthy Christian knows how to treat people in a God honoring way (12:9-20).

In short order, Paul offers a whole list of practical ways we can treat each other in a godly way.

He began his list in Romans 12:9:

Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy.

First, he said, our surrendered choice of ceding life to the goals of Jesus should be seen in HOW WE LOVE PEOPLE. That is where the life turn of surrender meets the road of life. The term an-ypókritos simply means “not phony” or “put on, describing sincere and authentic love free from hidden agendas and selfish motives.

Don’t you get tired of all the phony pitches you hear in a week? Between advertisers and a flood of heavily editorialized “news” accounts, it get sickening trying to get to the truth. You watch your boss talk to a customer one way to their face, and use the opposite terms behind their back. You really like your neighbor, but you have learned she is a gossip peddler in spite of the fact that she seems to be nice face to face.

God starts His control in our lives with a demand for authentic relationship. Stop faking it.

People in the world are desperate to encounter an authentically loving person today. Since the days of “How to win friends and influence people” (Dale Carnegie) salesmen have feigned care for us – when they honestly wanted to profit from us.

I believe AUTHENTICITY is one of the greatest gifts you can develop in yourself for other people.

It truly seems to me that we are tempted to put on a mask because of some very basic fears:

• We fear that people will be able to peer inside us and expose the truth about who we are – with all our faults, foibles and failures.

• We fear when we are exposed for who we truly are, people will reject us and walk away because we aren’t as good as they thought before.

• We fear we will face intense pain and hurt out of that rejection.

All three fears drive us to a hidden hypocrisy. Paul said love – but make it AUTHENTIC love. Stop faking it.

If you don’t care as you should, it isn’t a personality flaw; it is SIN. Ask God to help you deal with your cold heart toward other people.

Next, Paul said:

Romans 12:9b “…Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.

“Abhor” is actually the term apos-toog-eh’-o, which is to detest, and the term for “evil” is ponērós, which is an unusual word derived from the term for “pains of arduous labor.” The idea isn’t just “doing bad things” as it seems to be the inevitable agonies and miseries that accompany evil. In an ethical sense the words mean “Shun evil, that brings miseries in the results.”

Think about that! Do you recall a moment in your life when you KNEW what you were choosing was WRONG – but you did it anyway? Do you recall thinking, “But that will hurt so and so” but that didn’t stop your desire for momentary satisfaction? Did you ever say something to deliberately hurt another because you were hurt?

Paul wrote: Detest selections in your choices that will bring misery to you and those around you. Just walk away… You can find that satisfaction without compromising values and hurting people in your life. You don’t need to cheat. You don’t have to lie. Don’t entertain your heart in these things, or the detesting will fade away.

We MUST grow to be REPULSED by the conniving behaviors that create pain.

Watch five movies about someone who cheats on their spouse, and you may well start to think it is normal. It may be, but in a fallen world, so is DEATH. Because it is common doesn’t mean you are going to really have a good experience. He continued…

Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love;

It is likely if we were honest, that some would get off the merry-go-round at this point. Our lives are busy. We have way too many commitments to come to church today and get a long list of people we should be devoted to. After all, some of them, no matter how you cut it, will take more from us than they could ever give back. C’mon Pastor, how am I supposed to take care of ME and still “be devoted” to this whole room of people?

That’s a fair question, albeit a rather blunt one! Let’s put the words in context.

First, they aren’t an opinion or an optional appeal. This is a command. We can obey it or not, but it is a command.

Second, remember 2 Corinthians 5:15? We weren’t saved to live for self, but to serve the interests and desires of the Savior. Paul commanded them to philó-storgos “Foster the special affection shared between family members!”

You can choose to try to be a church without family affection, but on the authority of the Word I will flatly tell you it will not work. A church that is healthy is filled with people who put others and their needs ahead of their own. Oh that we believed the verse enough to do it! Oh that we truly tried to foster a bond with one another that intentionally pushes past our petty differences and temporal fussiness! Paul was “on a roll” and kept pressing…

Romans 12:10b “…give preference to one another in honor;

How can I be devoted to the others in the body? I can pro-ēgéomai (from pró, “before” and hēgéomai, “lead to an important conclusion”). Put the idea together. We are to lead the way, modeling the right example of gracious and proper behavior, i.e. so others can follow the one “going first.”

We are to put others first with what the text calls “honor.” The word timḗ (from tiō, “accord due respect”) means we are to treat others with a true perceived value; we handle them as something precious. The text says we must put others ahead because we think they are worth so much to God, we don’t want to handle them improperly.

Love is about valuing others. Humility is about seeing them as of greater worth than your cherished opinion, your deep desire or your personal reputation. Don’t forget:

Love drove Jesus to spend time with people other religious leaders thought would ruin their reputation and waste their time.

God took time with people who were broken. Should I do less? Not according to the Word! Paul added more texture to these commands. He wrote about the quality of my labor in loving, helping and caring with these words:

Romans 12:11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

My caring, loving and serving is to be an energetic work,, not a resistant one. The word ok-nērós is from oknéō, “to delay”. I am to “get to it” and not dawdle. I must intentionally invite God to warm my heart toward people, so that I don’t “drag my feet” when it comes to showing love.I have to drop my reluctant attitude, and stop being secretly unwilling to act, protecting some kind of “spiritual disinterest” as a good thing.

Honestly, let me plead with you to put away the excuses about “I just didn’t grow up that way” or “my personality doesn’t express love.” Frankly, if I preach the truth, none of that matters. You live for Jesus. You serve Jesus. You do, as much as is within you, what He commands, what He desires, what He says. We don’t get a special pass because we had a dad who didn’t tell us he loved us – because we have a Heavenly Father that has made that point clear.

He told us to do something: serve without dragging our feet. Love with gusto and help with vigor.

We will never grow to be healthy is we try to avoid the exercise God prescribed… Let me remind you that Scripture makes the point that people with many problems are a gift to the church – not a problem. They are like the hill you climb to keep you fit. They force the church into learning and practicing being helpful.

At the same time, I am not licensing those who would perpetually need help because of their own laziness. There are other passages that address them as well.

What kind of people ought believers to be?

First, we aren’t just hopeful, we are noisy about hope. Paul offered this in Romans 12:12 “rejoicing in hope.”

We are to be a people of HOPE, an OPTIMISTIC bunch.

The word “rejoicing is “xaírō” and “favorably disposed, leaning towards” and its cognate is xáris, “grace.” We LEAN INTO the gift God gave us in this life – the gift of HOPE (certainty of a promised future). Hope is the word HOPE is elpís from the word “to anticipate or to be prepared to welcome.” This is a word for excited expectation of what is certain to follow. That is the chief reason verse twelve offers for the next phrase:

Romans 12:12b “…persevering in tribulation…

How can we endure times of throbbing pain or angry persecution? We do it with the anticipation that the same God who created clouds and stars, the God who sculpted canyons – He has a plan that goes beyond the now. We are excited at the anticipation of what will happen when time surrenders to eternity. How do we keep THAT perspective? Keep reading… We are to become a people…

Romans 12:12b “…devoted to prayer,

We actively, intentionally, moment by moment are trading our sorrows and fears with God’s peace and purposes by handing them to Him. We work at prayer. We lean on Him in prayer. We seek His face in prayer. When we leave the huddle and move into the world, we START by looking squarely at the needs of the team God can use us to meet. Paul went on and share that believers are:

Romans 12:13 contributing to the needs of the saints…

We are looking for ways to meet the needs of the others in the body. We WANT to SEEK their needs and meet them, not flee their needs and use the time for ourselves. One of those needs is OTHER PEOPLE. Paul reminds believers are:

Romans 12: 13b “…practicing hospitality.

Together they face hurt. Together they pray. Together they encourage one another. They don’t lash out, because they have the Spirit, the Word and the support of brothers and sisters. That is why they can:

Romans 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

That is why they learn to:

Romans 12:5 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

That is how they maintain the unity of the Spirit and meet the words of this command:

Romans 12:16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

The key is that last phrase. Don’t be too important to care. You aren’t and I am not either. We need each other, and we prove we believe that when we take time for one another. Love will keep me looking for other’s needs. Humility will help me hold back “lashing out” when people do wrong to me. It will build respect for others and help me do what helps them. It will build peace between people. A humble spirit is the antithesis of a vengeful one. It feeds the hungry – even when they don’t deserve it.

Finally, a healthy Christian knows how to get beyond defense (12:21).

Let me finish the words of this chapter with one thought. There is endurance in the healthy.

Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Healthy, mature Jesus followers can take a punch without running to the corner and sobbing. Why?

First, they have resources. The others on the team are fast to rally and protect them when they are under attack. The Spirit of God will bolster them when they cry out to Him.

Second, they know that no injustice in this life has the final word. There is a future. It is certain. God knows what we face and He is prepared to wipe the tears from our eyes. He doesn’t promise to deliver us from the tears HERE, but He does promise to set things in order in the end.

Rejoice in that realization. Make noise about that hope! Let this life become Hi opportunity to direct your steps and walk with you all through the journey. Don’t resist Him. Don’t lead Him. Don’t try to bargain obedience. He wants to dance; but only if He leads.

When it is all said and done, our salvation is “lived out” in choices surrendered to Jesus’ direction and approval.

In my formative years of Pastoral training, I became familiar with a writer that had a real influence on my life. His name was Gordon MacDonald, and you may have read some of his books. I found his insights helpful and his style of writing something really I connected with. Part way through my college career, his spiritual life appeared to have “flat lined.” He fell into sin and it became public exposed. For a number of years he stopped writing (at least so far as I was aware). After a time, another book came out. This time, a fallen, broken, publicly humbled and then gracefully restored man presented his journey over the edge and back – writing in a way that was both helpful and (I have to believe) deeply personal and embarrassing.

In an even later work, he reflected with these penetrating words:

“My perception is that broken-world people exist in large numbers, and they ask similar questions over and over again. Can my world ever be rebuilt? Do I have any value? Can I be useful again? Is there life after misbehavior. My answer is yes. That is what grace is all about. A marvelous, forgiving, healing grace says that all things can be new. The escape route from sin is Jesus. The wellspring of forgiveness is Jesus. The power to mend broken lives and set us on our feet again is Jesus. The one who can guard us against the devastation of sin is Jesus.“

Over the years, MacDonald has written a number of impacting works. Personally, I have been challenged as he has publicly probed and examined his inner life (like few others since C.S. Lewis did so in his grief). He wrote titles like: Ordering Your Private World, Rebuilding Your Broken World, Restoring Your Spiritual Passion, Mid-course Correction and A Resilient Life – and these are just a few. He serves, now nearly 80, at Denver Seminary as its head.

I mention his testimony and his pain to remind you of what is at stake when we play church but don’t deal with what lurks beneath in our broken and selfish heart. We are talking frankly about our spiritual health in this series, and I want our thoughts to probe deeply inside us. I need reflection and self-testing (as well as a healthy dose of the Spirit’s conviction and the Word’s testing), and I am certain some of you do as well.

In our last study, we began examining the last part of Paul’s letter to the Roman church in the first century, looking for direction on gaining and maintaining spiritual health. We noted that:

• Healthy habits are individually attained. No one can monitor your intake like you can, and no one can force you to take the stairs instead of the elevator should you choose to ignore your need for regular exercise. You can always sneak a cookie others don’t see.
• Making rules on healthy habits doesn’t produce as much health as it does guilt. A guilty heart hides behind the bushes when God shows up in the Garden. Since that isn’t what we desire to produce, we need to find another way forward than to simply list laws of health and send you out feeling like failures.

Here is the key to this study:

Key Principle: God has not only told us how we can be rescued from sin, He has told us how we can accomplish in this life the mission He gave each of us.

As you may recall, the letter was designed to answer five big questions:

What happened to mankind? Why is sin rampant and why is the world full of troubles. Paul answered with essentially one word: mutiny. Man’s rebellion caused his troubles (cp. Romans 1-3).

What did God do about man’s rebellious and languishing state? The second question was answered by a single word as well: gift. God gave His Son to remedy sin’s hold on man (cp. Romans 4-5).

How can I cast off sin’s hold on my life as a follower of Jesus? Through Paul’s quill, God instructed Jesus followers that the prison doors of sinful behavior have been unlocked by God, and we can be free to walk in God’s Spirit (cp. Romans 6-8).

Is God really trustworthy in keeping His promises? A large part of the Epistle deals specifically with the history of God and His promises to Israel, as a case study in Hi trustworthiness (cp. Romans 9-11).

What should a healthy walk with Jesus look like in practical and daily lifestyle? This is the section we begin in our study today.

Walking back into the dialogue of Romans 12, we looked last time at three statements that Paul made to set the stage for walking in health. We noted:

• A healthy Christian regularly seeks a heart inspection by Jesus (12:1). His intense gaze helps me remember that I need to be careful how I allow my heart to entertain itself.

• We also learned that a healthy Christian learns to think differently than the fallen world from which they emerge (12:2). It is easy to get pressed into the mold the world tries to impose when it comes to moral thinking and values systems.

• Third, a healthy Christian thinks accurately about self (12:3). We may be tempted, because we have a relationship with God, to think WE are more than others around us. We aren’t – HE is.

Let’s journey past the first three verses and keep reading, while we look for evidences that God is doing a transforming work in us. Listen to these words for a moment:

Romans 12:4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly:

Romans 12:4 and 5 compare our relationships as believers to the body in which we live.

He established that our body is made up, by God’s brilliant design, of many parts that not only look different from one another, but he was pushing to the idea at the end of verse four that all the parts perform different and complimentary functions. You aren’t one big eyeball, and you shouldn’t be. That’s just weird to think about. Your body is designed with each part doing what it does. When one doesn’t, you quickly realize something’s missing. Here is the truth: because the body functions as a unit, any part that fails to operate properly hurts the function of the whole.

As God designed your body, so God designed a believer to function in connected relationship to other believers. You needn’t look for some deeper truth in the passage than this: body parts are connected, and so believers should be. It is how God designed us to work – as ONE UNIT.

Christianity is wholly incompatible with radical individualism. We are designed to follow Jesus TOGETHER.

I CANNOT OVEREMPHASIZE the point, because we have been thoroughly Americanized. We believe we were meant to drive down the street in our “wheeled living rooms” with a stereo entertaining us in a closed and personal environment, as we sing aloud with our favorite band or worship leader. We walk on the street with headphones on that say “unapproachable, please don’t BUG me.” Our people take countless “selfies” and buy one product after another that begins with the most used pronoun in the English language – “I.”
Paul wrote simple words: “The Christian life is NOT designed to be lived in disconnection from other believers.

We need to check our attitudes when we can show up at church only when there is “something designed for me” and when the music “touches me.” If we can easily quit and move on when we don’t like what the band plays, as if that is at the heart of what we came for – we are missing something. If we come and sit with people we don’t know and (if the truth were told) don’t really have time to get to know – something is wrong with our concept of the body.

Some of us honestly think: “After all, I have enough friends. I have TV. I have my golf partners. I have my bridge club. What do I really need the rest of these people for? I came for what I need, to get instruction in the Bible so I can grow, and I can be, and I can have, and I can honor… wait? Is that what the Bible teaches?

Here is an important question: Can I consider myself a mature believer and still act as though I entirely miss the point of the basic body concept of Romans 12:4?

Beloved, we are SUPPOSED to live a life connected to other believers. Yet, here is the secret we don’t often acknowledge: We must learn to WANT to be connected. It isn’t “natural” anymore.

Remember, the mere fact that Paul was teaching about this, indicates it is not innate in us to know the truth of our vital connection to one another. We must learn to care about the other parts, just as we learn to care about body parts that perform different functions.

The truth is that many parts of my body that I only acknowledge when they hurt. The rest of the time I just expect them to do their job. When they don’t, I want to help them. If it happens too often that they hurt, I get annoyed at them. The same can happen in a church if we aren’t careful. Rather than feel compassion for those who hurt more often than the norm, we can actually project that we are annoyed at them. Dear ones, we must want connection and we must remember we need it – even when it is difficult. Let’s say it this way: A healthy Christian recognizes the value of others in the body and tries to get connected to them.

Paul moved to a very specific way of sharing how we can learn to be connected in the use of our gifts. Here, Paul noted… A healthy Christian desires to understand and operate in their gifting, using it to the fullest for the body’s good.

He wrote it this way:

Romans 12:6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Paul offered a number of details in this passage about gifts of the Spirit.

The words “since we have” in the beginning of verse six remind us that believers possess the Spirit of God from the moment of their salvation, and with the seal of the Spirit comes a unique package of gifts for Divine enablement to help us accomplish our assignment from God both individually and as one body.

The word “differ” in verse six tells us that we don’t all get the same gift package. God gives what God knows will work best, and we receive what we are given before we even identify what it is.

The last part of verse six is written in our English Bible in italics. That means the words are not a translation, but are inferred in the original. Most of the time the translator gets it right, but it isn’t foolproof. Here, it appears the best linguists feel Paul was making the point that we have the gifting of God, but we need to use each gift according to its unique purpose.

What are these gifts?

The New Testament divides the gifts into “ministry” or “service gifts; “manifestation” gifts or “special signs that “God is at work.” In one place, Ephesians 4, God also revealed there are “men” gifts (in the generic sense), that is gifted people who are suited to the work in one place and then dropped into another place by God’s grace and power.

Seven gifts are listed here. This isn’t the only list in the New Testament (another companion list is found in 1 Corinthians 12).

The List

Here we have seven gifts mentioned:

• Romans 12:6b “…prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;

• Romans 12:7 “…if service, in his serving”

• Romans 12:7b “… he who teaches, in his teaching”

• Romans 12:8 “… or he who exhorts, in his exhortation”

• Romans 12:8b “… he who gives, with liberality”

• Romans 12:8b “… he who leads, with diligence”

• Romans 12:8b “… he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”

Several have no word about the gift except to use it to its fullest, with zeal to help others in the body. Four of the gifts on the list have a description of HOW to best use the gift. Let’s look at each “up close” for a moment, and be sure we understand each of them.

The Prophetic Gift

Let me ask you as I begin to consider the list, “Are you a prophet?” It is a legitimate question. Some of the body has been gifted for the special task of giving Divine truth. God may have suited you to be someone who can research, examine, study and then deliver a careful explanation of what God said in His Word. Before we go further, I should say that in the early church, this often took a form that was combined with a manifestation sign of the Spirit (sometimes a tongue or a word like that) because they didn’t yet have God’s Word in writing. Today, it exists, I believe, in a different form.

The term is pretty broad in its meaning. It is more than just a white-bearded guy standing on a box on a street corner proclaiming the coming of an asteroid. Consider the term prophecy as it used here. The word is prophēteía (from pró or “before” and phēmí which is to “make clear or assert something as a priority.” It is something clarified beforehand or spoken with clarity in the front of a meeting. If you are terrified to speak in public, this probably isn’t your gift. If, on the other hand, you are honestly checking other passages while I am speaking and putting together the places prophecy as a word appears, you may be one of who is a prophetic voice that hasn’t been activated yet.

If that is the case, my best advice to you is to study to show yourself an approved workman. Do the work in the text before you look for an audience to listen to you. We should also remember that Paul made clear this gift was to me exercised “according to the measure (analogia) of your faith (pistis).” A person so gifted is to teach what God has made known to him from the revelation of His Word according to the measure of what they have already studied. In other words, we are to teach what we know from our labors. When it comes to the Word of God, don’t “shoot from the hip.” Don’t speak above what you know. Study and deliver the best that you can, but don’t go beyond what your real work. That is a big part of his point. We have to take the work seriously. We aren’t doing brain surgery, but the stakes are often higher than that! One more thing: remember prophetically gifted people spend more time preparing themselves in the Word and prayer than preparing the message. If you have ever seen this at work, you know exactly what I mean.

The Gift of Service

Paul turned his attention to another gifted ministry partner, the one with the gift of service. This is the word diakonía (which came from the term “waiter” in the ancient world and is translated “ministry”). We get the title of “Deacon” from it. The word specifically refers to gift of a Spirit-empowered desire and ability to serve guided by a specific knowledge of God’s Word. A person gifted for service delights in caring for the practical needs of others, but knows the difference between meeting a need and enabling someone, because they have the Spirit and have learned from God’s Word. They find joy in making a difference in the lives of others, even if it is by doing the most menial of things. My picture of this, ever-present in my mind, was Tom Solyntjes singing to Anita Byng as she lay dying in her bed. He shows love like few other men I have ever seen, and I have never forgotten it. Tom didn’t sing because he thought he sounded like a rock star – he did it out of a love for Jesus that he expressed in a quiet voice for a sister who was leaving this earth.

The Gift of Teaching

Maybe you have the gift of teaching? The word used for this in the NT, is didáskō, which nearly always refers to teaching the Scriptures in the Bible, but was used more broadly in literature of that time. Deep within someone with this gift is a special joy that is reserved for watching those you have worked to impart knowledge to work it out for themselves. Teachers LOVE to see students pick up the truth and “run with it.” It isn’t the gift of incessant studying to look like the smartest in the room, it is the gift of imparting, modeling and releasing. It is exciting and challenging, because you can invest years and the student may never become what they could be. Ask any parent about that disappointment, and they will tell you they have either seen it happen, or experienced it themselves. I have to admit to you that has been my chief motivation for many years. I would rather see others take what I have tried to teach and model and put it into practice than I would like to see people watch me do it. It isn’t a sign of old-age or laziness, it is a joy of watching others walk in truth and become what they were made to be for Jesus’ sake. Didasko isn’t about becoming famous for being good at something; it is about building up others and watching with joy as they launch out.

The Gift of Exhortation

Deeply embedded among the troops of the Lord are those who have the gift of exhortation. They are sometimes “encouragers” and at other times “prodders” to those around them. In my life, I have needed some who would make clear what God wanted me to do, and others who would give me that extra little “push” to get it done. The term “parakaléō’ is take from pará, “from close-beside” and kaléō, “to call.” It is, properly, “beckon” from “close-up.” If you are one of these, you probably have been enabled to see through problems faster than most of us. You grasp the nature of oncoming problems, and you have a deep compulsion to cry warning and prepare us. You want, out of love and because of your gift, to warn us about what we aren’t seeing and doing. The problem is, without close relationship, you can easily sound caustic to the rest of us. You are valuable, even vital to the body – but you must learn to be careful. You can easily lose track of when your counsel is Biblical, and when it is about deeply held opinions based on personal biases and ideas. You must bathe in the Word and prayer, or the gift meant to build will crush others. Be careful with it, but don’t deny it. Foster the Biblical use of it! Make sure there is relationship beneath it, so you don’t presume to sound like an uninvited authority in someone’s life. Be very careful about using this gift on social media platforms. What is very clear to you may not be clear to the people to whom you want to give warning!

The Gift of Giving

Some in the body of Christ have a burning desire to supply others with what they want. Think of this gift like you think of parenting a small child. You see them struggling to carry the trash bag, so you want to go and help. You watch them trying to learn to ride a bike and you want to buy training wheels to make it easier. That impulse to provide things for you’re your children to help them, when pressed into the specific “gift of giving” as it is found here is the Spirit nudging you to spread that impulse into others around you. The term giving is literally translated “I offer so that a change of owner is produced; I give mine and make it yours. In the text, this is to be done with haplótēs , a strange word that translates literally “singleness, without folds, like a piece of cloth unfolded.” In this context, it denotes “not over-complicated or needlessly complex. The text argues that if you have the gift of giving, don’t get caught up in complexity – just do it. Take care of what God puts in your heart is a need. Don’t announce it. Don’t make fanfare and parade it about. Just do it. Get it done. Keep it simple.

The Gift of Leadership

Perhaps you have been gifted with leadership. You may not yet have the place to lead, but you have the gift, and God is developing you. The word comes from two other words: pro and histémi. They simply mean “to put before, to set over, to manage.” God has gifted some in the body to feel responsible for what goes on, and when they are affirmed and put in a place of responsibility, they show they are both capable and gifted in this area. The text makes clear this is to be done with spoudḗ (quick movement or swiftness to show zealous diligence). It is as though someone gifted with leadership is pushing us forward to “speedy diligence” to cause the body to quickly obey what the Lord reveals is His priority. Leaders help us elevate the best over the good – the most important over the important – and they press us to do so with earnest swiftness and true intensity.

The Gift of Mercy

Perhaps you are someone who hurts for people in a powerful way. You cannot help but be concerned for the welfare of anyone who is hurting. You might be one of the people with the gift of mercy. The term “eleéō” as God defines it, is helping only on His terms. This gift is to be used with hilarótēs form the word for “already won over” and in this context means with “cheerful readiness.” If you have the gift of mercy, helping mustn’t become hassled. The word hides in it a caution that you not overwork yourself until you are unable to be cheerful about the work.

Here is the important truth behind the passage:

God has not only told us how we can be rescued from sin, He has told us how we can accomplish in this life the mission He gave each of us.

For decades, Americans have been talking about health care. We have been searching for answers as to how best to utilize the medical brain trust that we have in our country to aid everyday Americans when they become ill or incapacitated. The discussion can be heard from Main Street to Wall Street, at kitchen tables and in the halls of Congress. We are still working to find solutions to this complex set of problems.

Some have tried to address it from legislating nutrition. They have taught the food pyramid, but that wasn’t enough. They sought ways to penalize those who would not practice healthy selections, and chose to harm their bodies with large amounts of calories and sugars, etc. In New York City, they have tried to regulate “sugared drinks” for instance. Yet, even that isn’t really stemming the unhealthy trends in modern life.

For this series, we would like to look at another kind of health – the spiritual health and maintenance of individual followers of Jesus – in order to grasp what we should be doing, and how we should conduct ourselves in a manner pleasing to our Savior. In doing so, we will hit some of the same snares we encounter when addressing physical health:

Healthy habits are individually attained. No one can monitor your intake like you can, and no one can force you to take the stairs instead of the elevator should you choose to ignore your need for regular exercise.

Making rules on healthy habits doesn’t produce as much health as it does guilt. A guilty heart hides behind the bushes when God shows up in the Garden. Since that isn’t what we desire to produce, we need to find another way forward than to simply list laws of health and send you out feeling like failures.

Here is the key to what we will study together:

Key Principle: God has not only told us how we can be rescued from sin, He has told us how we can accomplish in this life the mission He gave each of us.

Since there are timeless truths God has entrusted to us in His Word about how to walk in healthy ways as a Jesus follower, here is our plan. We want to explore the patterns of health He made clear we need. Each of us will be encouraged to consider three parts to our spitirual health, just as we would our physical health.

First, we will be encouraged to be careful about what we allow into our hearts just as we would be encouraged in the area of nutrition in our body. We will need to spend some time focusing on the choices we make in consumption.

Second, we will be encouraged to forthrightly look at how we use what we know to follow and serve Jesus. Here we can explore both the basic disciplines of the faith, and the use of every gift God has bestowed on us.

Third, we will be encouraged to reflect on what we choose to keep inside our lives – what we retain. This area is often neglected, but it is a critical part of a healthy walk.

Let’s open to the last part of the letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman believers of the first century. Take a moment and try to put on their sandals and understand the problems and conditions under which they found themselves, so you can more accurately grasp what the Apostle told them.

There are four things you should know about this letter to really understand it.

First, the letter is in the written form of an Epistle, so it was understood from its reception to be a publicly read instruction for the whole body of those who claimed to follow Jesus. We know that, because it was addressed in Romans 1:7 to “to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints…” The form of the letter as an Epistle was a known literary form in the New Testament period. That means this isn’t a personal note, but an address that every believer needed to heed.

Second, the people of the church at Rome included both returned Jews and Gentiles. (Many Jews had been evicted from Rome under Emperor Caligula and again under Emperor Claudius, as refernced in Acts 18:2 in the case of Priscilla and Aquila). The letter includes a way forward for both Messianic Jews and former Gentiles who have come to Jesus. Everyone, regardless of their background, could find help in the pages of this Epistle.

Third, the letter was probably drafted by Paul during his third mission journey (cp. Acts 18:23-21:16) likely while Paul was re-visiting the church for about three months in Corinth. Paul instructed the church in Achaia by letter, but needed to come to those churches and encourage believers. During that trip, Paul took the time to address the Roman church about his desire to come to them. The letter includes a warm desire of Paul to engage people lovingly, not some loose tossing of platitudes and flippantly “judgment loaded” standards. Everyone who listens will hear an inviting voice in its words.

The letter was designed to answer five big questions:

What happened to mankind? Why is sin rampant and why is the world full of troubles. Paul answered with essentially one word: mutiny. Man’s rebellion caused his troubles (cp. Romans 1-3).

What did God do about man’s rebellious and languishing state? The second question was answered by a single word as well: gift. God gave His Son to remedy sin’s hold on man (cp. Romans 4-5).

How can I cast off sin’s hold on my life as a follower of Jesus? Through Paul’s quill, God instructed Jesus followers that the prison doors of sinful behavior have been unlocked by God, and we can be free to walk in God’s Spirit (cp. Romans 6-8).

Is God really trustworthy in keeping His promises? A large part of the Epistle deals specifically with the history of God and His promises to Israel, as a case study in Hi trustworthiness (cp. Romans 9-11).

What should a healthy walk with Jesus look like in practical and daily lifestyle? This is the section we begin in our study today.

My frame was given to me by God, and I am therefore called to do what He told me with what He gave me. I completely grasp that some part of my physical health is genetic. To some extent, then, each of God’s directives must be personalized because we are not all the same. On the other hand, some principles aren’t very personal at all. For instance, I understand that what I eat and drink (my daily diet) plays a significant role in my physical health. Though it plays out differently in each of us, the overall principle is still at work. In addition to that, I recognize the amount I move, push and work out my body and its muscles has much to do with my physical health. Exercise isn’t everything, but it is a component of health.

In the spiritual world, then, let’s ask the question Paul seems to be answering in the last part of the Epistle to the Romans: “What are the practices of a Jesus follower who truly wants to be healthy in their walk?”

Let’s unpack Paul’s response to that question by looking over the whole list found in Romans 12, and then doing a “deeper dive” on the first three items on the list. We will pick up the others next time.

In Romans 12, Paul enumerated seven important attributes of a healthy Jesus follower. He made clear that a healthy follower:

1. Sought regular heart inspections from the Lord (12:1).
2. Was openly being transformed in thinking from their old views (12:2).
3. Had a proper measure of their life and influence (12:3).
4. Had a deepening appreciation of the other believers in the body (12:4-6a).
5. Possesses a hunger to discern their function in the body (12:6b-8).
6. Builds different kinds of relationships because of their faith (12:9-20).
7. Draws on sustaining power from Jesus, not self (12:21).

Remember our key principle? It included the words: “He has told us how we can accomplish in this life the mission He gave each of us.”

As you look more intently, don’t forget, that is God’s purpose. He is working to change you to get you prepared to accomplish the purpose for which you were designed. He is your Coach, your Personal trainer, and your Guide through the changes that must come to get you ready for what is ahead. Start with where the passage begins… start with the work that must be done on our heart. Paul made clear:

First, a healthy Christian regularly seeks a heart inspection.

Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Most all of us know this verse! Don’t pass off the familiar and bypass the importance of its rich content. Paul urged them, based on the argument he had already made concerning the “mutiny of mankind” together with God’s costly liberation of those who choose to follow Jesus, to place themselves in a deliberate place of inspection before God.

The active verb of the sentence is “to present your bodies.” The term parístēmi is a compound word from pará which means “from close-beside” and hístēmi, which means “to stand.”

The term means to stand close beside, and in this form it is likely to be understood as “ready to exhibit inner traits.” The point is that every believer must learn to habitually recall they live each moment with Jesus watching. Recalling His personal and painful self-sacrifice for us is part of our daily desire to be inspected by Him. Jesus sacrificed Himself for our eternal life, and we must be prepared to live as one who demonstrates sincere gratitude.

Back in 1998, Tom Hanks played a starring role in the hit classic movie “Saving Private Ryan.” There is an ending scene in that movie that illustrates this sense very well. For the unenlightened, the movie chronicled how a man whose family name was “Ryan” was sought out and saved (to be brought home to his family) at the great expense of others who died keeping the order from command to locate and return him. The last scene finds an old man, Ryan in his later years, kneeling at the graves of the men who perished to get him to safety years before. Ryan was engaged in a vivid memory of one of the men who was shot and slipping away. His dying words (the actor played by Hanks) whispered to Ryan: “Earn this!” A man offered those words with his last breath. Ryan understood the depth of that request. In effect, the dying man said: “We died to get you home. We died to follow our orders because someone thinks you are worth saving at all costs. Don’t let our life be wasted! Live yours like what we did mattered.” As the elderly Ryan wept, his wife approached him kneeling at those graves. He looked up and said to his wife and said: “Tell me I am a good man.” He wanted an inspection on his life to verify he did what he was asked to do.

Don’t overplay the illustration, but don’t ignore it.

Jesus didn’t tell you to live in such a way as to earn your salvation. You can’t; He died for you and He alone has the power to forgive you. The Bible is clear on that. He did, however, stress on a number of occasions in His Word that you “walk worthy” of the price paid for you (as in Ephesians 4:1ff). You can’t earn your walk with God, but you can live in such a way that you gratefully show you recognize the incredible cost He paid. Your other choice is to live thoughtlessly, as one “entitled.”

A healthy Christian is one who daily considers the fact that Jesus paid dearly for us, and that He is daily watching our lives. A healthy Christian longs for the inspection to produce a smile on the Master’s face. Paul simply asserted it is reasonable for God to expect us to live for His approval, since He paid dearly for our freedom.

Say it again and again in your heart: “Jesus, You paid dearly for me. Look with piercing eyes into my walk. Try my thoughts. Measure my desires. Convict me of selfish thinking. I need Your inspection!” Yet, there is much more…

Second, a healthy Christian learns to think differently than the fallen world from which they emerge.

John’s Gospel recorded that Jesus prayed for His disciples only hours before His arrest and eventual Crucifixion, and God preserved the prayer for us in John 17. Jesus said to the Father:

John 17:14″I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15″I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil [one]. 16″They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17″Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18″As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19″For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

Hang out in any church for very long and you will hear these verses summarized as “We live IN the world, but are not OF the world.” Though that is catchy, it probably leaves many people with the wrong impression. Jesus didn’t leave you here so you could live in a permanent state of discomfort and protest over the wickedness in the world. Read the words carefully. They reveal:

1. Jesus is not of this world and neither are we – because we have believed the Word of God (John 17:14 and again in 17:16).

2. Jesus didn’t want us REMOVED from the world, but rather removed from the imprisonment of the fallen world’s temporary ruler (John 17:15).

3. What must set the believer apart from the world is a God- initiated separation revealed through God making His Word clear to us (John 17:17).

4. The destination of the believer isn’t FROM the world, but INTO THE WORLD – but it must be on mission.

We all agree Jesus doesn’t want His followers to be “of the world” in their thinking and in their choices. At the same time, notice that when Jesus says we are “not of the world” He isn’t making escape our destination to some holy huddle in disassociation from the active mutiny in this world.

No, this was no offer of an “escape hatch” from the world, but a confident assertion that by learning to firmly trust His Word, His followers would be truly prepared to walk boldly into the fallen world, changed by His teaching and not easily wooed by their beckoning.

Look at the way Paul addressed the same notion in Romans 12:2. He wrote these words:

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Essentially, Paul wrote three compelling truths in the verse we just read.

He told them (based on living a conscious and inspected life in verse one) they are to intentionally block the influence of the world’s powerful stamping machine that would press us into a certain “mold” of the world.

We live in a conflicted world that both demands freedom of choice for every individual and then, in turn, increasingly punishes those who don’t choose as the culture dictates. You are completely free to choose, as long as your choice agrees with the ever-shifting moral value system of our times.

When Paul wrote “do not be conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) the text literally reads “don’t let the world press you into its mold.” That deserves a close look if we are going to be sure and avoid this trap.

This makes plain the notion the world has a constructed mold, and they want you to follow their pressures to become what they are. Conversely, it reminds you that, as a believer under the power of a transforming Savior, you need not buckle. God never commands you to resist what you cannot resist. This is a call to firmly stand without acquiescing to the re-shaping pressures, and you CAN do it. He has given you the power.

I love that Paul didn’t just offer a negative of what NOT to do, but offset it with a positive. He didn’t just offer a “brace yourself for the coming powerful pummeling of the world” but rather he said, “open yourself to God in order to move forward!” When he wrote “be transformed” he referred to the “renewed mind.” Part of this call addresses the intentional work of the believer, while another part of the call is the result of that work.

Paul instructed the believer to invest time focusing their mind on grasping His Word, intentionally allowing it to rush in like a flood and rearrange our thinking within.

As I learn and yield to God’s Word, it will retire my old way of thinking and give me a new look at life. The transformation (the Greek word from which we take “metamorphosis”) isn’t something I do (God does it in me), but rather the effect of something I do. When I open to the flood stream, the rushing stream does its work.

Don’t miss the term “prove what the will of God is.” This comes from a term that means “what passes the necessary scrutiny and is found acceptable because it is genuine and verified.” What a truth!

Paul argued those who were pressed into the mold of the world were living unacceptably to God, not engaging Him at all. They lived a life largely absent of the scrutiny and validation of their Creator.

Ask one who does not yet know Jesus and they will tell you “I hope I’ll get to Heaven. I HOPE God will be happy with my life.” Yet, they have no assurance because they haven’t addressed the fact that God has made known His desires in His Word. They live a life unproven, uncertain, untested and unresolved.

A believer is called to live differently. Each is called to live with an eye keenly fixed on what God has said about life. He will use those words to transform their values, convert their ethics and (as they mature) empower new choices.

Third, a healthy Christian thinks accurately about self.

How we see ourselves has a dramatic effect on how we treat others, and how we navigate life. Paul wrote:

Romans 12:3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

The world’s “thinking mold” impressed deep into us a false standard by which to measure ourselves – the yard stick of me against another person. It works in every way – from “fashion conformity” to our modern expression of values. As the world changes, our vocabulary changes and our fashion is “updated.” Not all of that change is a bad thing, since I cannot reach people if I grudgingly cling to speaking Chaucer’s English while the world moves on. I don’t want to be a distracting oddity. As the world changes how they address issues, I will need to keep apace in order to effectively communicate timeless values. At the same time, this constant change can be a danger, if I find my identity in it.

Look at what Paul wrote closely. He offered words seasoned with grace to the Roman believers, calling them to measure themselves properly and with “sound judgment.” He called them to make the “yard stick” the “measure of faith.” We have often said it: “Faith is God glasses.” It is “seeing things the way God says they are, not the way my eye would see things without looking through His revealed truths.”

Here, Paul made clear we are to see ourselves through the Word’s measure, not the world’s measure.

With a transformed mind, I measure my life’s success by a singular standard. “Did I deliberately commit to allowing God’s Word to do its work in and through me?”

That is the big third commitment of the text. Paul made clear that transformation by God comes from my intentional yielding of heart to God’s Word.

Let’s stop with these three for this lesson. Let’s rehearse the truths with these three desires:

• I want a regular and piercing heart inspection of Jesus.
• I want the Word to flood in and rearrange my thinking.
• I want to see myself properly.

God has not only told us how we can be rescued from sin, He has told us how we can accomplish in this life the mission He gave each of us.

Step into the workshop of a blacksmith, and you can discern three kinds of tools.

In the dark corner, on an old bench, lay a pile of tools that are in disuse. They appear outdated, broken, dull, rusty. They sit among the cobwebs, covered by a layer of dust and dirt. They appear to be useless to their master, oblivious to their purpose. They may have once been used, but they haven’t been called upon for quite some time. They are comfortable, but they are essentially unworkable.

In the shop’s center there are other tools positioned on or near the anvil. They have heated and often made molten hot. They have become repeatedly fashioned, each time closer to their final look. They are often changed by the blacksmiths hammer. They aren’t DONE, but they are BECOMING as they accept their purpose.

In the hands of the blacksmith, there are his chief tools. They are of greatest usefulness because they have allowed molding. They have submitted to the grind of sharpening. They have been filed, pounded and defined. They are ready for the blacksmith’s use. They are effective because he can count on them to do what he calls on them to accomplish.

In God’s church, there are three kinds of believers. Some wish to be used, but only if God will submit to their terms. They live broken lives, self choices – with talents wasting and time slipping away. Alive in their own purposes and dreams, they don’t seek the Master’s shaping. They run from the fire, push back at the filing and flee the pound of re-shaping. They want to be used, but they don’t seem to be willing to submit to the Master’s purpose.

Others believers are mid-shaping. They are open and hungry to change, accepting the file to peel off wounds of the past. They want to know the Master’s touch, be it comfortable or not. They want to be used even if it means giving up their dreams, their shape, their plan – all to be shaped by the Master. They have learned to welcome the painful pounding of the hammer, but they still long to be remade and repurposed.

Still others are well placed in their Master’s powerful and creative hands. They demand nothing, but surrender all.

What you can become is up to His shaping. How you get there is up to your willingness.

Because I have had the opportunity to travel a great deal in my life, I have discovered that each place holds its own little joy. One of my personal favorites is the “Eternal City” of Rome. There are many things I enjoy about that city, but perhaps one of my favorite is sitting in a café along her lighted streets and outdoor restaurants on a cool evening. The food is incredible. The people come out in droves for an evening stroll, and there is often laughter echoing in the alleys from people enjoying one another at the small eateries all over the city. There is something that takes away from the experience and really makes me crazy however…Have you ever eaten in a restaurant where the table tips back and forth either because the floor beneath or the table legs are not leveled?

Since many Roman pavements have been in place for decades (and in many cases centuries!) the paving stone isn’t usually very even, and the tables moves every time you put any pressure on them. It can be very annoying watching the bread basket jump every time you forget and lean a bit on the edge of the table. I know it isn’t a life and death matter – but it is annoying. Sometimes, it seems to me, the problem is NOT the pavement, but the table itself! I don’t know a lot about making furniture, but I do know that making and assembling the legs on a table or chair can be the most difficult part – and getting the lengths exact is critical if you don’t want constant rocking effect of a playground see-saw. I have watched people put things beneath the leg of the table to keep it steady. I have even seen people get up and move the table to an different location to entirely to settle it – or maybe they think the server in the other section is more attentive, I am not sure.

I have admitted to not having much experience in furniture making, but I know this: the minimum number of legs for a stool is three. Less than that number and the stool will fall down. A mono-pod can help steady the photographer’s camera, but it won’t stand up unassisted. A tripod utilizes the irreducibly minimal number of legs to hold up a camera. It takes at least three. Four or more is not better – it is a problem, because the leveling is much harder and adds to the difficulty. A tripod is perfect for the job. In the final chapter in the Epistle to the Romans, Paul closes the letter to the church, but also offers us a window to understanding three “legs” on which ministry is rested. He didn’t do it by way of instruction per se, but if you look closely, you will not three truths that balance a church, or eve an individual follower of Jesus, that flow out of the narrative he wrote.

Key Principle: Thriving believers have three priorities that hold up their message: relationship, truth and worship.

On first impression, Paul’s letters often close with a “shopping list of greetings” and some closing random thoughts and instructions that many skip over when they read. Wading through a long list of people we don’t know isn’t particularly helpful, so we may want to ask: “Why would God include these in His Word?” There are, no doubt, several answers to this question. It isn’t nearly as obscure as you may think.

For example, the last chapter of Romans can easily be divided into three sections that highlight each of the three “legs” upon which ministry (and the Christian life for that matter) get their stand. First, part of the passage indicates what should be at the heart of ministry work – relationships. Second, they explain the church’s largest concern – the propagation of the truth. Finally, they remind us of our goal this side of Heaven, that is to begin the worship of God that will characterize our eternal life – but do it on a fallen and rebellious planet right now! Each of these three legs holds up the message of the church. Each exalts Jesus. Each needs to be in balance with the other. Perhaps the best way to show how they work together is to offer a thought of what they look like “out of balance”:

• In some circles the FAMILY is so emphasized that the body of Christ becomes the local manifestation of a CLUB of FRIENDS – more keen on fellowship than any instruction or outreach. In extreme cases, like at first century Corinth, the relationships even trumped a commitment to truth – until Paul corrected them. You see this in cases where church leaders fail to take a stand on the Word because they feel it would hurt their popularity or reduce their mass appeal. They forget the church is not ours, the message is not ours and changes are not up to us. If it is truly God’s church – careful study of His Word on things is what would be appropriate. We are FOR what He is FOR; against what He has stated He is against – no matter the popularity of that message.

• In some churches the TRUTH is all there is that seems to bring the body together. That may seem fine on first glance, but if you look more closely, they don’t demonstrate that they like each other much at all. Each comes for what they GET, not to CONNECT with other believers. They emphasize preaching and teaching, but there is little or no body life. Sadly, I have been a part of some of these kinds of churches in my life. They don’t laugh together. They are gone minutes after the end of the service. There is no reason to “hang around”. Something is obviously missing from the DNA strand of such a place. Commitment to truth cannot dismiss commitment to community and outreach – or part of the truth is not actually being grasped.

• Finally, some churches are out of balance when it comes to their notions of WORSHIP. They equate style with substance, emotion with Spirit, and they appear deeply in love with a Jesus they barely know. The truth is not well explained. They have zeal, but little knowledge. They sing and cry out desperately for a Christ Who has been carefully revealed in the pages of a Bible – but the text is wholly unfamiliar to them. They draw people by the band, but not by the Savior. The emotion and zeal is high In such places, where the Spirit is exchanged for soul – and all done in sincerity.

Body Life: We must guard relationships as something incredibly special (16:1-16, 21-24):

Let’s take some time to look at each leg of ministry God outlined, beginning where the text does, in relationship. There are two parts of the narrative that exemplify relationship in Romans 16. The first sixteen verses, and then a small section in verses 21-24 near the end of the text. Opening the last part of the letter, Paul noted things believers do for one another as though they were natural.

1) They give Recognition: They commend those who serve well:

16:1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea…10 Greet Apelles, the approved in Christ.

The common discussion about verse one is the fact that Phoebe’s position in the church was either a “deaconess” – that is a woman of the commission of the Deaconate, or the generic term for servant. The grammar doesn’t help, so some churches believe she served in a position, and others think he wasn’t saying that at all. I believe there is sufficient evidence that she was, in fact, a holder of position, and I have taught and accepted both men and women as part of the serving commission called the Deaconate.

Founded out of a need to “wait on tables” in Acts 6, the initial band of men chosen to meet the practical needs of the fellowship appears to have expanded to include women a few years later. Early church evidence suggests that women were needed to fill this role because men were not adequate to care for the specific range of needs that single and elderly women had.

I am less concerned about that issue here, than about the understanding of RECOGNIZING the work people who are busy in ministry. I want to be frank with you. I am up front. I teach and lead and as a result, I get affirmed by many in the rooms where I serve. Yet, the longer I serve, the more I realize that there are many who need to be recognized as vital or my work will not continue.

In my case, my wife first comes to mind. Many see me, but few see how I am able to accomplish things on three continents – writing, leading and teaching – and keep the schedule together. The secret is that Dottie pays the bills. She tracks all the accounting. She keeps a thousand details working and tries to keep them off my desk.

Behind my wife, there is also the team in ministry that helps keep things flowing around me without telling me what I don’t need to know. Matt and his wife, Ben and his wife, David and his wife, Pat and the wife he wishes he had, elders that catch many of the financial dealings and legal matters, deacons that work to care for practical issues of church families – all these work to make what happens on Sunday only the storefront of the actual work. I get concerned when we forget that often leaders only hear when things AREN’T what people want. Let me say it clearly: NEVER underestimate the power of a kind word of recognition to the leader and servant who is oft behind the scenes.

2) They offer Respect: The give reception to those who walk well:

16:2 that you receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints.

Another form of this is the way they greet one another:

16:3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus…6 Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you…10b “Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus… 11b “Greet those of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord. 12 Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, workers in the Lord…15 Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

Paul didn’t only ask them to greet people. Later in the passage, Paul sends greetings…Romans 16:21 Timothy my fellow worker greets you, and so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen. 22 I, Tertius, who write this letter, greet you in the Lord. 23 Gaius, host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer greets you, and Quartus, the brother. 24 [The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.]

It is funny to hear the team of ministry had their own greeting. They kissed, expressed love and care, and built practical ways to show they needed and wanted to be a team.

3) They extend Relief: They help those called to do the work:

16:2b “…and that you help her in whatever matter she may have need of you; for she herself has also been a helper of many, and of myself as well.

Leaders need help. Servants need help. It is easy to think that someone else has ‘more time on their hands’ than you do. Here is what I know – we all have twenty-four hours in a day, but some are pressed to care for the needs of many others beside themselves. That’s why summer seemed long when you were a child, but flies by now that you are an adult, responsible for bills, people and projects. We need to remember not to spend all we make, nor expends all the energy we have – so that there is something we can do to help when needs arise.

4) They take Risks: They endure hazards for one another:

16:4 who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles…16:7 Greet Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, who are outstanding among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

In the days ahead, I suspect I will have to say less and less about this. What happens when it is no longer possible to teach in a public university if you won’t openly align yourself with ungodly teaching and character? More of us will risk career and financial security to stand in the front lines of our cultures clash with our faith. We need to understand that is just the beginning of risks…

Last year our online teaching was systematically taken apart by a group in the Near East that threatened us and hacked our systems, time after time. Several people, including Bill Daly worked around the clock to get our systems secured – and the fight continues. The threats were real and personal – and this has only just begun. I deeply appreciated those who worked to keep us going, and others who encouraged the team through the constant disruptions.

5) They Relish time together: They love one another:

16:5b “…Greet Epaenetus, my beloved who is the first convert to Christ from Asia, also greet the church that is in their house.. … 8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys my beloved. 12b Greet Persis the beloved, who has worked hard in the Lord.

Look at the number of people they addressed with the term “beloved” and you will get the impression that they actually cared for one another. Let me cut to the point: Before you waste another week enraged about politics and upset about a decline of our culture, try asking the question: “Who can I invite over this week from my church? Who can I write a note of encouragement to? What problem can I solve or burden can I lighten for someone else? Cook a meal and deliver it finished and ready. Offer to clean the house of someone you know is physically struggling. You will be surprised how practical love for one another will build strength no sermon can deliver.

6) They Relate to one another as family:

16:11 Greet Herodion, my kinsman…13 Greet Rufus, a choice man in the Lord, also his mother and mine. 14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the brethren with them.

Believers have to understand that we are connected. Let me offer an example: “Some missionaries in the Philippines set up a croquet game in their front yard. Several of their neighbors became interested and wanted to join the fun. The missionaries explained the game and started them out, each with a mallet and ball. As the game progressed, opportunity came for one of the players to take advantage of another by knocking that person’s ball out of the court. A missionary explained the procedure, but his advice only puzzled the friend. “Why would I want to knock his ball out of the court?” he asked. “So you will be the one to win!” a missionary said. The short-statured man, clad only in a loincloth, shook his head in bewilderment. Competition is generally ruled out in a hunting and gathering society, where people survive not by competing but by sharing equally in every activity. The game continued, but no one followed the missionaries’ advice. When a player successfully got through all the wickets, the game was not over for him. He went back and gave aid and advice to his fellows. As the final player moved toward the last wicket, the affair was still very much a team effort. And finally, when the last wicket was played, the “team” shouted happily, “We won! We won!” That is how the Church, the body of Christ, should be. We’re a team. We all win together.” (adapted from A-Z Preaching illustrator).

We hurt ourselves when we fight, rather than trying to aid one another. We must be found ACTIVELY BINDING ourselves together in relationships of practical love for one another. The early church spread more by caring for each others’ needs and then using that as the platform to get people to hear of Jesus than any sophisticated concert, program or brochure. The way we treat each other is FAMILY, but we mean that in the positive Biblical model – not the modern family.

Abraham Lincoln was once being criticized for his attitude towards his opponents. “Why do you try to make friends with them?” a colleague asked. “You should try to destroy them.” Am I not destroying my enemies,” the President asked gently, “when I make them my friends?”

Remember, it is not the job of a Christian to SEEK recognition, but it is the job of the body to offer it!

Paul’s example showed clearly the first LEG of the PLATFORM THAT EXALTS JESUS AND THE GOSPEL is CONNECTED BODY LIFE.

In addition to such “body life”, we must remember that love is only real when based on truth. Love based on a lie is the emotional fluff of infatuation. We must, therefore, remember that relationship is tied to a second leg…

Truth: We must guard the foundation as something incredibly precious (16:17-20):

Romans 16:17 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. 18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. 19 For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Relationship alone (CONNECTED BODY LIFE) will not exalt Christ completely, though it is a good start. Paul added a priority holding fast to the truths that provided CAREFUL BODY GUARDS. We must be vigilant stewards of truth (16:17-24). We are about FAMILY, but we are also very much about TRUTH. Guarding includes:

• Keeping an eye on (v. 17, skopeo: to scope out; mark and identify) those who seem to be raising divisions (dichostasia: “to stand apart”) and setting up people to walk away from the Biblical teachings (“hindrances” is skandalon: from “the stick trigger of a trap” – 16:17a). We must guard the church to be a “safe place” for the young believer – who is easy prey when no one is watching over them.

• Individually keeping away from (ekleeno: deviate away from them) those who divert people into false teaching. They are slaves to their own bellies (koleia: related to the idea of colon- 16:17b-18a). Each of us need to measure the fruit of leaders before we follow them. We need to ask – “Are they leading people to the Mastery of Jesus, or into license and self-will?”

• Individually stepping away from those who would lead away by cunning (“smooth”: craestologia: plausible though untrue words and “flattering speech”: eulogia – false praise) the innocent (akakos: “unsuspecting” are those without suspicion through innocent nature -16:18b). Do you see an agenda that is not holy in their words? Back away.

• Individually making wise choices between things that are “good” (agathos: generous and good natured) and “innocent: (akherias: wine term for unmixed, pure) and evil (kakos: of defiled nature – 16:19). Satan is behind this destructive work, but he will be defeated (16:20).

I love the translation by JB Phillips: “I want to see you experts in good and not even beginners in evil”

The Enemy’s strategy is sowing tares among the wheat, inhibiting the sharing of the Gospel, enticing believers to fall into sin that will negate their credibility, distracting churches and Christians from their true mission by focusing on side-issues, creating societies and cultures that make the Gospel sound absurd or make it difficult for Christians to live Christ-like lives, breaking up families….doing whatever he can to distract from God’s glory….

From time to time I hear believers explain why their kids need to be socially balanced and educated in the sin sickness of the world system. I don’t buy it. They’ll catch on to sin soon enough – it comes naturally! There is a third leg we should talk about…

Celebration: Guard our purpose (to bring Him glory) as something prized:

Romans 16:25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, 26 but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.

We are about FAMILY (CONNECTED BODY LIFE) and TRUTH (CAREFUL BODY GUARDS), but we have another leg to the platform that elevates Jesus: CONTINUOUS BODY CELEBRATION: Blessing God for body life worship (16:25-27). Worship includes:

A proclamation that God is able (dunamis: He has the power) to bring stability (“establish” is sterizo: probably from a nautical term to lash down for a storm – firm, bring stable foundation to) in accordance with the message of the Gospel. God, who began the with bringing the world salvation through sending His Son (Gospel = euangellion), and then guided the message to our ears is able to take my wobbly faith and inconsistent behaviors and lead us to our redemption (kerugma= proclamation). We praise Him for what the Gospel does, and for Who He is! (16:25a)

Paul told a young Pastor: 2 Timothy 1:12 “I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

Paul wrote to a young church: Philippians 1:3-6 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, 5 in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

A proclamation that God’s plan is made known (PHANEROO – clarified, displayed) in His Word, revealed by the move of the Spirit, not “cleverly devised myths of men” (16:25b-26). The verses offer five details:

Romans 16:26 but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.”

God’s plan is in writing (graphic). God’s plan came by prophets. God’s plan was according to His command. God’s plan was open to all. God’s plan leads to heeding to the Master’s voice.

Peter also testified to this:

2 Peter 1:16 “For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 19 So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

We offer a proclamation that God knows what He is doing (“wise” – 16:27). We need to sing and praise, pray and proclaim that we might remember that God is always good, always working and always doing things right! God ALONE (monos) is WISE (sophos is skilled and knowledgeable). OUR WORSHIP MUST SHOW CONFIDENCE THAT GOD KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING!

Our proclamation must be to glorify (reflect the after image) God (16:27). We reflect God’s attributes to honor Him with a mirror of Himself.

Honor, praise, renown, distinction – all are words synonymous with glory. As a manifestation of the work of His hands, all creation brings glory to God. In Genesis 1:31 we read, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning-the sixth day.” Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” God’s very work praises Him and brings Him glory. Glory to God is displayed through His mighty actions. Psalm 111:3, “Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever.” In Psalm 138:5 we read, “May they sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great.” Exodus 15:11 says, “Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you – majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” No one can accomplish what God can. He is above and beyond our comprehension. (allaboutGod.com)

There are three “legs” that elevate the Gospel on a platform to be seen by those who are without – family ties in which believers were connected, carefully recognized and guarded truths around which the core values of the believers are founded and a celebrative and vibrant worship that proclaimed God’s character and majesty. It is TOUGH to level the legs of a table. Family, Truth and Worship must be balanced and used to exalt Jesus – not our church. It isn’t about OUR FAME, but about HIS STORY!

Thriving believers have three priorities that hold up their message: relationship, truth and worship.

Walt Disney was a dreamer. His crowning vision was EPCOT; Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. He envisioned the perfect city of 20,000 using all of the most modern advances technology. One problem, Walt Disney died before his dream was ever realized. It was so big and complex and outside the box that no one else in the Disney company ever fully grasped the dream and had little idea how to make it work after he was gone. What Walt Disney intended as a living breathing perfect city turned out only to be an entertainment center.

Jesus left a blueprint for His church so vast, so marvelous, and so innovative – a living, breathing, expanding organism that would permeate and transform people around the world. As time went on, some of His followers lost the vision and couldn’t wrap their minds around such a magnificent plan. Rather than a community of loving, passionate follower of Christ dedicated to demonstrating the power of the Christ-transformed life in a dark world, they began to do what they knew best, build buildings and run organizations and develop entertainment centers that would hopefully draw the crowds to hear the story but miss the transforming power of Christ. (Adapted from a sermon by David Welch, Life Signs of a Healthy Church, 10/19/2009).