10 Rules to the Christian Life: An Antidote to Division

In 2016, clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson found himself go from college professor to internet lightning rod when he posted a video on YouTube criticizing political correctness and Bill C-16 in Canada, which compelled the use of preferred pronouns in Canada. This video became “viral” and Peterson has become a popular youtuber, and even has a internet vlog where he shares his opinion on culture, politics and life.

Two years later, in 2018, Dr. Peterson wrote the book “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos”. The book sought to provide life advice through essays in abstract ethical principles, psychology, mythology, religion, and personal anecdotes. The book's central idea is that "suffering is built into the structure of being" and although it can be unbearable, people have a choice either to withdraw, which is a "suicidal gesture", or to face suffering and transcend it. Peterson concludes in his book that it is "better to seek meaning rather than happiness."

His rules which include:

"Stand up straight with your shoulders back."

"Make friends with people who want the best for you."

"Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world." the infamous “Make your bed” chapter

And "Pet a cat when you encounter one in the street."

Each of these though often abstract deal with Peterson’s advice for young men and women in how to find meaning in life.

And while Peterson has some really good insight, he misses some of what is truly important in the life of a Christian.

Paul, writing to the Romans in similar fashion is giving the Roman Church practical advice on how to live life among other believers in a way that is itself an Antidote to Chaos.

The Title of My Sermon today is the 10 Rules to the Christian Life: An Antidote to Division. In these four verses Paul gives the Church in Rome practical advise in how to do life together.

1. Be Devoted to Love (v. 9-10)

The first command that Paul gives the Romans is to be devoted to love. Following Paul’s commands to Make our Love Sincere and to hate what is evil and hold fast to what is good, Paul now gives practical application.

In v. 9, he uses the word agape to describe love, a reflection of the Love of God, but here, Paul uses a compound Greek word philostorgio from the Greek words Phileo which mean friends or familiar, and storge which means familial love, or the love a family has for one another. The word is paired with another word that uses Phileo as a root, Philadelphia. We recognize this word from the city of the same name, and it’s moniker as the “City of Brotherly Love.” Paul literally is saying love one another the way you love your own family, you own kin.

In the church, we are more than just members of a body together, we are a family. There is a tenderness that Paul is calling for.

Romans 1. Among Believers (12:1–21)

“It is difficult to express how ingenious almost all men are in counterfeiting a love which they do not really possess.” Love must never be used as a disguise for ulterior aims. True love is free from all pretense and hypocrisy.

2. Honor One Another (v. 10)

The result of this tender love will be that we will not seek our own good but outdo one another in showing one another honor. Or put another way in showing respect, we should set an example of humble submission to one another.

Philippians 2:3 ESV

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

"To have this attitude is a blow against personal pride...we can't be jealous or covetous about honors. We should rejoice in any honor that our brother or sister gets." - R. C. Sproul

3. Be Zealous (v. 11)

The text actually says don't be lazy in zeal. Paul is calling us to be zealous in our spirit in serving God.

2 Corinthians 7:11–12 ESV

For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God.

This is a call to zeal, a call to life. The Christian life is not to be done begrudgingly. Loving God and loving others is not some depressing ordeal. It’s a to push on with something quickly, assiduously, zealously. The next seven admonitions are actually building off of this one. This command to not be lazy in zeal is followed by seven imperatives. An imperative is a command. Just as before he was saying be loving and here’s what that looks like, Paul is in essence be Zealous, and here’s how to do it.

So how do we keep our zeal? What are these seven practical exhortations in the following verses?

4. Be Spirited

The word for fervent means to boil like a pot on a stove, to be inflamed. God does not want us to be dispassionate worshippers. He calls us to be passionate in our worship. The text literally is literally saying what the old song says that we often sing so dispassionately, “Set Your Soul on Fire”.

Have you ever been on fire? I have, well part of me has.

Several weeks ago, I was in the kitchen trying to get the griddle to light. Ms. Betty K was there and we had one of the long lighters under the griddle trying to light the burners underneath. I was getting frustrated until in a whoosh the gas pouring out of the burner finally found the light and a fireball erupted out from under the stove. In an instant I was jumping and hopping and beating my arm as the hair on my arms and hands were set afire by the light.

There was no dispassionate calm in that moment. I was on fire and I wanted it out!

How often do we come to church and our services seems more like a funeral than a worship gathering? How often are we just trying to accomplish the order and not seriously seeking to worship the King?

In whatever you do you are to put your whole heart and soul into it (cf. Col 3:23). Believers are to be aglow with the Spirit. The life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit radically alters the way a person lives.

Colossians 3:23 ESV

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

God desires passion from his people! He wants us to be passionate, but also disciplined.

5. Serve the Lord

We are to be zealous, but zeal without focus is not what God is calling us to.

God wants passionate discipline among his people as we serve him. Our passion is not about the feelings we feel. It's not about the emotions we feel, it's about being fervent in our service, but it’s a controlled passion.

Some are zealous but all over the place. We’ve all met them. They are so passionate for God and they get so excited for something and want to get out there and just do something, but in the end when the fun begins to wane, they lose steam and jump to another thing they’re zealous about.

Others are focused, but there's no passion, warmth or spirit.

God is calling us to service. Focused service of the King of kings and Lord of lords, but he is not calling us to a life that is dull and boring. In fact, a Spirit-Filled believer cannot live a life of drudgery.

We are to serve passionately and focused.

When passion and focus meet, God’s kingdom is expanded.

6. Rejoice in Hope

The hope Paul is referring to here is the hope that he’s been speaking of throughout Romans and really throughout all of scripture. It’s the hope of Eternal life as provided for us in Christ.

We rejoice in our hope of salvation

1 Thessalonians 5:8 ESV

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

In our Justification

Galatians 5:5 ESV

For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

In our glorious inheritance

Ephesians 1:18 ESV

having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

Our share in God's glory

Romans 5:2 ESV

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Paul is encouraging his readers to rejoice in the hope of the Provision of Christ and the promise of Heaven, and this is especially clear when we think about the next two rules:

7. Patient in Suffering

Given the suffering of the saints, patience is key. Paul is calling on us not to focus on our present suffering.

We tend to focus on what's around us, what's happening to us now. This is what animals do. They focus on the now. But Christ calls us to put aside our animal instincts and to instead focus on his glory in the midst of the affliction we are to expect to those who faithfully follow Christ.

This is why later in v. 14 Paul says:

Romans 12:14 ESV

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

Notice, this suffering, this persecution, this offense by the world is something that is expected. Paul doesn’t say, if afflicted be patient, but rather be patient in affliction. There’s an expectation and a realization of the reality of affliction.

Later in Philippians Paul will say:

Philippians 1:29 ESV

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,

Affliction is the expected reality of the true believer.But let’s not miss this important truth, we are to be patient in affliction together! These word are written to the church. They are given to the body. Affliction carried alone can lead to despondency and dispair, but God has given us the church to carry the burden of affliction.

That’s why the Baptist minister John Bunyan could write having been jailed for 12 years by the king of England:

“Afflictions make the heart more deep, more experimental, more knowing and profound, and so, more able to hold, to contain, and beat more.” John Bunyan

8. Pray Faithfully

The key to this type of heaven centered attitude is prayer. Prayer is essential to surviving the affliction the church is sure to receive. This to is a call to both private and corporate prayer.

Romans 1. Among Believers (12:1–21)

“No man should be surprised when life collapses if he insists on living it alone.”

-William Barclay

2 Corinthians 1:11 ESV

You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

The prayers of the saints are a help to those who receive, but also for us who pray as we see brothers and sisters girded and lifted through affliction.

If my faith is weak, seeing God’s provision to the body of Christ, especially paired with the command to not envy, but rejoice in the good done to our brothers and sisters in Christ will encourage and gird us for our own affliction.

That’s why keeping a prayer journal is so important so you can go back and see the faithful hand of God in the working out of is will in your prayers.

9. Give Consistently

Paul commands that we "give to the needs of the saints". Paul reminds us that not only are we to pray, but we are to serve by bearing the burdens of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

"We are called to bear one another’s burdens, and to be alert to needs that are afflicting the people of God with whom we are in contact. We are to be generous persons, not selfish or miserly. We are to help make a contribution to the lives of those around us."

R. C. Sproul, The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 1994), 203.

Galatians 6:2 ESV

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:10 ESV

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Notice we are called to do good to others, particularly those in the household of faith. God has blessed us by giving us to one another. When we serve each other faithfully God is glorified, his people are edified, his church is strengthened and the gospel proclaimed!

10. Be Hospitable

Finally, Paul calls us to open our homes to one another. Hospitality in the ancient world was a very important virtue. Today we are called to be aware of others in our community. The days of the "welcoming committee" in our communities may be over, but as Christians this call to Christian Hospitality is one of the best evangelism techniques we are missing.

The article “What Good is a Tree?” in Reader’s Digest explained that when the roots of trees touch, there is a substance that reduces competition. In fact, this unknown fungus helps link roots of different trees—even of dissimilar species. A whole forest may be linked together. If one tree has access to water, another to nutrients, and a third to sunlight, the trees have the means to share with one another.

Like trees in a forest, Christians in the church need and support one another.

Having one mind, the mind of Christ, is the only way to achieve peace and unity. It is also the only way to carry out the ministry of Christ.

So there you have it. 10 Calls upon the life of the Christian, ten ways we can show love to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Which one do you struggle with the most? WHich one causes you to stumble? Which one do you fail in? Would you ask God to help you love your church, and love others well today?