LIVING IN LOVE

Romans 12:9 - 21

INTRODUCTION:   

I have a nephew who suffers from Tourette Syndrome.  He exhibits tics of various sorts.  Sometimes they are head-jerks.  Sometimes he sniffs and snorts.  Sometimes he blinks.  Often his jerks are accompanied by grunts or even shouts.  Grade school was very difficult for him because other children can be so cruel.  Junior High was a little better because the kids had got used to him and they had accepted him. 

But High School was a tremendous challenge because his parents had moved to a different state and he had to face a whole new peer group.  Fortunately, the students in the new school were pretty good and I don’t think he suffered too much ridicule.  The fact that he was an excellent wrestler certainly helped him find a niche.

And now he is a young adult.  Can you imagine trying to find a job when you suffer from Tourette?  Or trying to find a date?  Life has not been easy for my nephew. 

Experts say that six to ten children out of every 1000 are afflicted with Tourette syndrome.  Tourette syndrome can vary from being a mild annoyance to being a debilitating illness.  In Tourette syndrome, the patient presents multiple physical tics and at least one vocal tic.  These tics are involuntary movements or involuntary sounds.  “Involuntary movements” or “involuntary sounds” simply means that the parts of the body are not under the control of the mind and they are not working together in harmony.

Often, in the church, as if suffering from some sort of spiritual Tourettes, we exhibit involuntary actions and make involuntary comments.  You know: thoughtless, mindless, heartless words and deeds.

·         We react, without thinking, when someone hurts our feelings.

·         We respond, without thinking, when we don’t get our way.

·         We  retaliate without thinking when we have been wronged.

Such expressions show that we are not functioning under the control of him who is the head of the church.

In the Body of Christ, there is not always unity, harmony and cooperation among the parts of the Body.  Sometimes church members do things that harm other members, hurt other members and hinder other members in their walk with the Lord.

In the latter part of Romans 12, Paul writes about the Body of Christ and how the parts of the Body should relate to one another.
              

I.                    HOW TO ACT IN ACCORD (12:9-16)

^9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ^10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. ^11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ^12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ^13 Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

^14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ^15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ^16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.  Do not be conceited.

Ten commandments for how to be a healthy Body:

A.     Act with sincerity: The Greek word Paul uses is anhypocritos or “unhypocritical”.  The love that Christians display toward one another is to be no play-acting and no hypocrisy.  Then, almost as if Paul thinks we might need for him to be more specific and even more clear, he adds: hate what is evil; cling to what is good.  Christians are to show discernment.  Love is not an emotion, it is a devotion.  Those who are devoted to one another will demonstrate that by despising anything that is evil because the evil in the world threatens those we love.  We hate the sin because we love the sinner and cannot abide the one we love being oppressed by the wickedness of sin.  If you have trouble understanding that, talk to any parent whose child has been chemically dependent.  Because that parent loves the child, he hates the booze, the drugs or whatever the addiction may be.

B.     Act with devotion: Paul says we are to be devoted to one another with brotherly love and the word he uses for “devoted’ is a word that specifically refers to the natural affection people have for relatives.  As I mentioned last week, in the words of Bill and Gloria Gaither, “you will notice we say brother and sister around here; that’s because we’re a family and these folks are so dear.”  References to the Family of God, terms like “brother” and “sister” really do reflect the relationship we have because of Christ Jesus.  And again, Paul helps us know, in very practical terms, what that family devotion looks like.  It is demonstrated when we honor one another as better than ourselves.  We seek to advance the welfare, the goals and the interests of the others because we are devoted to them and we regard the others as better than ourselves. 

For some people, that is just hard…very hard.  Because they are well-educated, because they are well-off, because they are highly opinionated, it is hard for them to regard others as better than themselves and therefore, it is hard for them to honor others as better than themselves.  Have you ever known anyone who thought he always knew best, always had the brightest ideas and should always get his own way?  That is absolutely antithetical to what Paul is teaching in this text. As William Barclay says, “The mark of the Christian…has always been humility.”

C.    Act with zeal: Athletes must sustain their focus.  Musicians must maintain their concentration.  Business people must keep their edge.  In any endeavor, to be successful, you must not become sluggish.  There is a certain intensity that is required of the Christian if he is to live a life that is pleasing to God. 

Again, Paul fleshes this out for us so we cannot be mistaken about his meaning.  He says we are to keep our spiritual fervor.  The Revised Standard Version of the Bible translates this phrase: “be aglow with the Spirit.”  Isn’t that good?  We are to be so energized by the Holy Spirit that we are absolutely aglow with him.  He is to be bubbling within us and bubbling forth from us.

And the sphere within which the fervor of the Spirit is to be manifest, the arena in which the glow is to be seen and felt is in our service for the Lord.  Ours is not to be grudging, halfhearted and dull servitude arising from a reluctant sense of duty.  No, ours is to be passionate service arising from a heart that is on fire for the Lord.

D.    Act with joy: But not just any joy: the joy that springs from hope.  For the Christian, hope is a natural consequence of faith.  If we believe in God; if we believe that Jesus is the son of God; if we believe that Jesus died to pay the price for our sins, that he rose again, that he is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven and that he intercedes for us, we must have hope.  I know I am guilty of sin but I also know that my penalty has been paid.  I know that there is a judgment day coming but I also know that I have a friend who will plead my case and (catch this), he is the Judge’s only son!  Don’t you see, faith in God and hope for eternity go hand-in-hand. 

Not only that, hope and joy are inextricably linked.

·         If we have the assurance that no matter how unjust things are in the here and now, there will be a reconciling of the books in the hereafter, we have enough hope to cope and that brings us joy. 

·         If we can be sure that, no matter how much we suffer in this life, that in the next all tears will be wiped away, we have enough hope to cope and that brings us joy.

·         If we can be certain that when this life is over, we will be going to a place where there will be no sorrow, no crying, no pain and no death, we have enough hope to cope and that brings us joy.

But the opposite is also true.  Despair is a companion to hopelessness.  When we lose hope, we forfeit our joy.  So Paul tells us to be joyful in hope.

E.     Act with patience: “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction.  In the difficult time, be patient.  In the time of tribulation, be triumphant.  It is easy to be patient in times of ease when everything is going our way.  But to demonstrate patience in the face of pestilence, is a sterling virtue.

F.     Act with faithfulness: Faithful in prayer.  It sounds so easy, doesn’t it?  But we get busy and we forget to pray.  We suffer disappointment and we fail to pray.  We are assailed with doubt and we cannot pray.  We pray and pray and pray for some important request and we do not see an answer to our prayers so we give up praying.

In his book The Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster listed prayer as one of the important disciplines in the Christian life.  To say that it is a discipline is to say that we must make ourselves practice prayer whether we feel like praying or not.  And sometimes we will not.  But when you do not feel like praying, pray even more.  Be faithful in prayer.

G.    Act with generosity: Paul has two practical applications of the injunction to act with generosity.  He tells us to share with the needy, and he tells us to practice hospitality.  In a world bent on getting, the Christian is bent on giving.  When the Body of Christ practices generosity, the Body grows closer in unity and in harmony.  Scripture teaches that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  You will grow closer to the people to whom you show generosity.

And you will grow closer to those to whom you show hospitality.  Scholars tell us that in the first century, the inns were unsafe and unsavory.  Furthermore, Ray Kroc had yet invented McDonalds, Dave Thomas had not yet invented Wendy’s and Satan had not yet invented White Castle.  For Christians to practice hospitality was more than politeness, it was a practical necessity.

And isn’t it interesting that when Paul wrote to Timothy and when he wrote to Titus and told these young ministers about elders, he said that one of the characteristics of an elder is that he is hospitable?  Hospitality is to be highly prized among spiritual leaders.  Why?  Because it helps to bind the church into a close-knit fellowship.

H.     Act with sympathy: Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.  If we are to be a healthy body where there is unity and cooperation, we cannot stand aloof from one another’s joys or sorrows.  Sympathy is to feel for: we feel sorry for those who experience loss; we feel pity for those who experience shame; etc.  Sympathy is to feel for but empathy is to feel with.  With empathy, when a brother or sister is grieving, you grieve, too.  With empathy, when another is in pain, you also hurt.  With empathy, when one experiences a loss, we all mourn.  And when one experiences gain, we all feel the joy.  Shared joys and shared sorrows grow a body closer.

I.         Act with harmony: Very simply, Paul says we are to live in harmony with one another.  Do you know the definition of harmony?  Harmony means to be compatible; but it does not mean to be identical.  Musically, harmony is the simultaneous combination of different notes that compliment one another.

Sometimes musicians will sing or play in unison.  Unison is when all the instruments or voices are playing or singing the same notes.  Unison can be an effective for emphasis but too much unison is pretty boring.  It takes different people playing different parts to make harmony.  It takes different people singing different notes to make harmony.  Understand this, though: those different notes must compliment one another if they are to create harmony.

Paul does not promote uniformity in the Body of Christ.  Far from it.  He teaches that different parts of the body have different gifts and different functions.  Paul does not promote uniformity but he does promote unity through harmony as each different person does his distinct part in concert with all of the other parts.

J.      Act with humility: “Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.  Do not be conceited.”  John R. W. Stott says that “few kinds of pride are worse than snobbery.  Snobs are obsessed with questions of status, with stratification of society into ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ classes…”   Jesus, who truly was God in human form, did not count equality with God as something to clutch, grasp and hold; rather he emptied himself and became a servant to the least on earth.  And in Philippians 2, Paul says we are to follow his example.  If you think you are better than the least, you have a problem with pride and a crisis of conceit.  As we associate with all peoples regardless of their position and as we regard each other as better than ourselves, the Body becomes a more harmonious whole – to the glory of God.

All of this I have grouped under the heading, “how to act when there is accord”.  But what about when there isn’t?  How are we to act when people aren’t getting along?  Paul addresses that, too.

II.                  HOW TO ACT WHEN THERE IS DISCORD (12:17-21)

^17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. ^18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ^19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. ^20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

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

If there are ten commandments for how to act when there is accord in the church, there is one commandment for how to act when you have been wronged: Do what is right even if you have been wronged. 

That’s it.  Pretty simple, isn’t it?  Do the right thing even if no body else is.  Do the loving thing even if your love is not reciprocated.  Be Christlike even if the other guy is not.  If we obey this one command to do what is right even if we have been wronged, we will help to strengthen and unify the Body of Christ of which we are a part.

CONCLUSION: 

Take the time to look around you in this auditorium today. These are the people with whom you will be spending eternity.  Since we are going to be together forever, don’t you think we ought to start now to learn to live together in unity, harmony and cooperation?

INVITATION:                        #225 – “Blest Be The Tie That Binds”    

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