Even the casual reader of Romans senses a change in style at 12:9. The sentences are suddenly much shorter. Almost all contain a command. This whole section, gives the impression of a random series of commands with little structure or unity. 

This first impression is not entirely wrong. Paul does move quickly here and with seemingly little clear continuity of subject matter. However, if we were to read this in the Greek text what you would find are some really well-thought-out patterns that cannot really be duplicated in English. And what I want you to note here this morning is that, even though these verses seem disjointed, they do feature a persistent theme: the call for a humble and gentle/meek attitude toward others, both fellow Christians (vs. 10, 13, 16) and non-Christians (vs. 14, 17–21). What Paul suggests, is a key test of the sincerity of love. In fact, what he implores is that the humility and deference toward others is, in turn, a key ingredient in the good and perfect will of God (12:2). This is what Paul illustrates in this portion of the letter to the church in Rome. 

George Orwell once said:  

“On the whole, human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.” 

You know this is true. Over and over again, history reminds us, heck our own individual pasts show us, that when left to our own will, we blow it. Time after time we choose ourselves over others and over God Himself for that matter – but notice that I said if we are left to our own will. 

Fortunately, God gives clear instruction as to what His Will is in His Word. The Bible is clear about what God desires of those whom He has called out of the world and set apart to be His own. The law of love is detailed for us in the Ten Commandments. In very black-and-white terms, God tells us how we are to love Him and our neighbours. Let’s look again at how Paul frames this. 

Love for other Christ followers 

The opening verses of this part of Romans concentrate largely on the love that we are to show our brothers and sisters in Christ:

“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”

— vs. 10-13 

That is always the believer’s first responsibility. How can we show our love toward those who disagree with us if we cannot show it toward those who are in fellowship with us? As Jesus followers, we must love God’s people because God loves them. Our love must be expressed regardless of social, economic, racial, or character differences that may exist between fellow believers. As His Church, we love each other because our fellow Brothers and Sisters are chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and so that means that our love is to be exercised in our attitudes, actions, and words. 

Love is not a theory… God intends for it to be much more than that. 

Now let’s be real about this too. Showing the love we are called to is not always easy, as we are apt to have disagreements with one another. When those disagreements are in conflict with God’s Word, those are easy to sort out. Mostly we go to the word or to those learned people wise in the word and seek interpretation if that’s required. The real, day to day problems actually come when our differences are based on traditions, cultures, and the like, and to be frank, sometimes we should be willing to compromise or accept those differences. That doesn’t mean that we have to agree, but we do have to get along. Even when we are the victim of another Christian’s bad behaviour, we are called to forgive them because God has forgiven them, and that’s not easy to do. 

One way, I have found, to determine if our love is sincere is to gauge our response to another person’s success. Have you ever been in that position – vying for that promotion at work or the starting spot on the team? Here’s the truth testing question: Can we sincerely rejoice when the other person comes out on top and not us? Is it truly love we feel when they get the promotion, or receive some recognition for work accomplished? Are we truly happy when someone announces an engagement, the birth of a healthy child, or celebrates a milestone in life? Just listen to how people speak around you today. All too often it’s not joy, instead, jealousy creeps in and prevents us from sincerely rejoicing with them and congratulating them on their happy occasion. Not all the time, but if we are honest with ourselves, sometimes.  

Love is not just a theory…Love must be sincere. 

Paul uses the Greek word Agape for love here. That word implies a love that demonstrates real affection, genuine care and concern and joy when that feeling is appropriate in the circumstance. 

Do you know what’s great about the Church? It’s that the church is this great variety of people who are at various stages in their lives and Christian walk. Each individual has their own likes and dislikes, their own joys and burdens, and their own way of expressing themselves. An old Dutch proverb translated to English says, “Every house has its own cross.” One of my mentors, now retired from Pastoring, often reminds me, “David, there is a heartache in every pew, every week. “As true brothers and sisters then, we are to “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” (verse 15). This is not just a pat on the back or expressing sympathy to a hurting brother or sister. We are to empathize with them and share with them the comfort of Jesus. Our eyes and ears and hearts must be open to both visible and hidden needs. When we detect a need, we must respond with generosity and hospitality that comes from the heart. 

FBK, that must be core to our focus moving forward. Too often the Church is known for getting bogged down in differences – music styles, building issues – not that these items aren’t important but the true church of Jesus Christ must focus on the calling it has been given and often many so-called pressing issues of importance are simply distractions that the adversary uses to pull us away from our given purpose. Our goal must not be that our or any church does everything the same way it’s always done it, the church’s calling is to proclaim Christ and Him crucified; to lead one another toward spiritual growth; and to spread the gospel out in our corner of the world. In this calling, in this purpose we must be forever united! And when we do that in a loving manner, then our corner of the world will recognize that we really mean what we say, that we want to exemplify the love that the Father has shown to us. 

How might we be able to do that? Paul gives us some specific instruction. 

Verses 14-16 give us some very clear indicators of behaviours people around us should notice, namely, “living in harmony with one another”. 

I truly think one of the most valuable earthly possession a person can have is a warm, supportive friendship. People without relationships are miserable people, everyone needs a friend. True friendships are often developed within the church community, through hospitality. If we are to be a growing, healthy church we must demonstrate true Christian hospitality – I’m thankful that this is not a new concept for this church. 

1 Peter 4:9 “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.” 

Hebrews 13:2 “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” 

Hospitality – philoxenia, is the Greek word that comes from philoxenos, which has its meaning in being fond of strangers. It’s easy to be hospitable to those we know and like to be around. The true call of being hospitable however is to show this love we are talking about to strangers as well. To make the effort to reach out into our community and neighbourhoods, to show them Jesus. This takes a real spirit of generosity.  

Love is not a theory…. Love takes a real spirit of generosity. 

Hospitality requires generosity. I don’t mean the kind of generosity that leads us to share a little bit of what we have with others. Rather, true hospitality requires that we begin to loosen the grip of those distinctions between what is mine and what is yours. The book of Genesis tells us the instance of Abraham seeing three men, three strangers approaching his tent. He doesn’t even wait for them to arrive. Instead, he runs out to meet them and says, “My lords, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and a morsel of bread—just a morsel—that you may refresh yourselves, for I am your servant.” And then, once Abraham is on the other side of the tent door, he says to Sarah, “Quick, get three big sacks of flour and make cakes.” He takes a calf—the one he was saving for a grand occasion—and gives it to his servant to be prepared. Then Abraham takes milk and makes cheese. When he is done, he lays the meal before his guests. (Mind you, this is before he knows who these guests are.) And Abraham stands by while the guests ate their fill of that “little morsel” he had promised them. 

As we look ahead to the year before us, I have to tell you that many including myself see the biggest threat to the church as not COVID or the next pandemic – I think it’s a lack of evangelism, a lack of our willingness as the Church – especially in the western world – to reach out into our communities with the Gospel message of love. In many Churches today there seems to have developed a tug of war between evangelism and discipleship – evangelism versus discipleship is not a course to be charted.  

“The church is not a destination for crowds but rather a vehicle to take gospel-sharing people to the ends of the earth. Evangelism is falling off the radar for many churches.” 

— SAM RAINER 

Evangelism is an important and necessary part of being a disciple. We’ve talked about this before, Jesus said, go and make disciples! 

We are grateful that this church has a legacy of meaningful outreach and hospitality and while that looks different during COVID, it must continue to be a core part of who we are as FBK. 

Now, Paul never makes things easy for us, does he? 

After encouraging us to love our fellow believers, and others, Paul moves on to how we ought to treat those who treat us poorly: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” (verse. 14). Paul knew that Christians do not live isolated from this sinful world but are part of it. And he also knew that the world would hate those who believe in Jesus Christ – in the first century and the twenty first century. You see, one thing we have to understand is that the scope of our Christian love, is not limited only to our fellow believers. This is something the world around us really struggles with today. In this passage, Paul stresses a loving attitude toward those who hate and persecute Christians as proper and expected. I think it’s interesting to note here that to support his argument, Paul quotes from the Old Testament books of Deuteronomy and Proverbs: 

“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:  

“If your enemy is hungry, fed him;  
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.  
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 

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

(verses. 19-21) 

Instead of treating our transgressors with contempt and seeking revenge, we are to repay their evil with goodness. 

Christians cannot justify returning evil for evil. That is the spirit of the world and the tendency of our old nature. By doing evil in response to evil, however, we become objects of evil once again. Evil remains forever evil and wrong is always wrong no matter how great the provocation may have been or how noble the cause may be. It is never permissible to sin in retaliation for another person’s sin- it doesn’t work like that! If that’s the path we choose then we are no better than those who have sinned against us. If, instead, we return good for evil, the world will notice that and this often becomes a very powerful witness to those around us. 

Contrary to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the message of blockbuster superhero movies, vengeance is not only in conflict with God’s law of love, but it is exclusively the prerogative of God. It is His to avenge. We never need to fear that justice will not prevail when are wronged. God will take care of it. And because of that truth, our is never to even the score but to express a kindness, thereby heaping coals of burning fire on his head. You will find that kindness can often perplex the mind of the one who is mistreating you so that they may begin to question their own evil motives. The love of God the believer displays in spite of hardship can again prove to be a powerful witness to the world around us. 

Love and Violence 

Of the various manifestations of love that Paul touches on in 12:9–21, none receives more attention than non-retaliation. Building on Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, Paul calls us to “bless those who persecute you” (v. 14). In verses 17–21, he returns to the same point and elaborates. Believers are to be people who do not adopt the world’s “tit-for-tat” approach to relationships. Recognizing that God will ultimately right all wrongs and avenge all evil, we are not to avenge wrongdoing ourselves but to respond to evil with kindness and love – never violence. 

Here we find one of the most distinctive of all the characteristics that are to mark Christians. The desire to avenge ourselves on those who harm us is deeply rooted in human nature. It is celebrated in books and in movies (movie theaters erupt in cheers when “the bad guy” gets his due) and is displayed in rage filled driving on our roads every day. But God calls us, as His children, to be different. We are to imitate Christ, who, when “they hurled their insults at him,” “did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats” (1 Peter 2:23). As Paul makes clear, we are to go beyond refraining from doing evil to those who harm us; we are, positively, to do them good. 

Seeking peace—to the extent that it lies with us—is a primary value in the kingdom of God. Dream with me for a moment. Imagine the transformation in society that the consistent application of such a philosophy of human relationships would bring! When Marlee and I sit in two lines of traffic having to merge into one because of construction, we almost always end up discussing how much more pleasant (and safe!) the experience would be if every driver was willing to take his or her own turn – not to mention how much more efficient it would be. 

At the end of this month, we are going to start into a deep dive into the book of Ephesians. Paul gives us so much to consider in that one letter as to what God calls us as the Church to be, but it’s also filled with a tremendous volume of individual points of application for each of us. 

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

— Ephesians 2:10 

In closing, I want to offer you two points of application through this verse this morning: 

1. Relax.
   We are not called to live at harmony with the world around us through our own strength and perseverance. We are not capable of that on our own. We are God’s own creation and through Jesus, God will do the work on our behalf. We are not called to any of this to be alone. What He has called us too has already been “prepared in advance for us to do”. 
2. The work that we are call to do is that of Evangelism – helping people meet Jesus.
   It must not be ok for us to ever be satisfied knowing that there are People in our community, in our families that are missing out on God’s mercy. Often Christians are sure neither how they should do evangelism nor that they want to. Somehow, we feel that opportunities for evangelism are more likely to cause embarrassment, uncertainty, and guilt than spontaneity, confidence, and love. I encourage you to think about Evangelism in this way: What if they saw grace extended from people who had experienced grace? What if they saw evidence of the movement from disobedience to obedience and from death to life? What if they saw a faith worth having? Evangelism needs to be a conscious activity, but it does not need to be forced. Evangelism should be the natural expression of a life joined to a loving God, the sharing of a faith worth having. 

I can’t help but think of the blight of gun violence that America is plagued with today. So many people demand the right to carry guns and use them because other people are. Even on the world stage, poverty-stricken nations spend billions of dollars on weapons so that they can keep up with their neighbours. Our children are taught to defend themselves, to “fight for their rights,” and so on. Church, Jesus suggests a better way. While it would be utopian for us to think we can transform society by our attitudes, what the church is ultimately called to do is to be a witness. And a true witness to this way of living is certainly something the world needs more of today.