How to be The Church

A Study in Romans • Sermon • Submitted 6 months ago • Presented 6 months ago

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Introduction

Last week we continued our study in Romans by looking at chapter 10 and 11 where we talked about the manner in which God saves today – by faith, and this not of ourselves! This revealed to us the silliness of trying to win our own salvation through works. God Himself demonstrated this in that we basically stumbled upon salvation, whereas the Jews had worked very hard and had not obtained it because as Paul stated, “Who has believed our report?”

We discussed the fact that discovered that in the church today, there is a strong sense that this is happening all over again, but the good news is that while we may feel helpless and alone in our pursuit of godliness, but we learned that God has reserved a remnant. Are you a part of that? Are you one of the few that will be willing to get on your knees to cry out for the condition of our city? God is eager to save us, just as He was eager to save Israel in Paul’s day, and continues to be today. The thing is, we need to position ourselves in such a way as to help rather than hinder what God is trying to do for our community. With the right amount of prayer, a neighborhood can be transformed. With continued prayer Southeast Tucson can experience revival, but in truth these goals are short-sighted. We need to pray for a transformation of our national values and morality. It is that bad and getting worse and it is up to us – the remnant to take a stand by getting down on our knees.

The Body

This week, Paul continues with his discourse discussing the differences and similarities between the Christians under grace and the Jews under the law and he picks for his topic the temple sacrifices. This is where we pick up the reading.

Romans 12:1–2 TLV

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

Here with just a few very targeted phrases, Paul brings together the question of grace versus works, and shows how both go hand in hand. We don’t offer slaughtered animals up as sacrifices to God any more. The sacrifice that a Christian makes is to “present our bodies a living sacrifice” and notice what Paul calls it – it is our “REASONABLE” act of service.

What is reasonable? Well the Greek translation is closer to “genuine”, “fair” or “true to the nature of..”, so the word here is saying that to become a living sacrifice is a genuine fair and naturally expected part of being a Christian. In fact, this offering of ourselves as a sacrifice has an additional function and that is that by following the commands of God rather than man, we prove out the genuineness of our faith, and the trustworthiness of our God before man.

He goes on to talk about what being a living sacrifice actually looks like:

Romans 12:3–8 TLV

For through the grace given me, I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think—but to use sound judgment, as God has assigned to each person a measure of faith. For just as we have many parts in one body—and all the parts do not have the same function— so we, who are many, are one body in Messiah and everyone parts of one another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace that was given to us—if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; or the one who teaches, in his teaching; or the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who gives, in generosity; the one who leads, with diligence; the one who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

That is certainly a tall order for even the most faithful and committed Christian but Paul is very clear about it.

So this is where faith and works combine – not to attain salvation, but rather that salvation may effect works in us. But what does that look like? See, the problem with many believers is that to people in the world we look just plain weird. “But pastor, doesn’t the Bible say we are a peculiar people?” Well sure, but that doesn’t mean we have to be so weird. Let’s look at how we should be:

Romans 12:3–8 TLV

The first thing is humility. Do not think more highly than you ought, but soberly because God is the one who has dealt out His faith according to His will (faith not works remember). So what you do doesn’t make you more special than someone else – it just gives you a different function in the body – ultimately though, we are one body – one big family. For example, being on worship team or being a pastor in the church is a function in the body and it is in accordance with the measure of faith Jesus gives (and in the case of singers – the measure of talent as well) this is not based on our own awesomeness.

Some may say, “but Jesus said, give honor to whom honor is due.” True enough, but Jesus also said this:

Luke 14:8–11 TLV

“When you are invited by someone to a wedding, don’t take the seat of honor, for someone more highly esteemed than you may have been invited by him. Then the one who invited both of you will come to you and say, ‘Give up this seat.’ And with shame, you would proceed to take the lowest seat. But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest seat so that when the one who invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you shall be honored in the presence of all those who are dining with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

So then, it is clear that any honor that is to be given in regard to body life, is done by God, not by man. We just recognize the gifting within someone and make a place for them in accordance with what God has bestowed upon them. Let me tell you something else. God’s gifting is not fair – in fact God Himself is not fair. He is just! There is a difference. God does what is just, what is His prerogative. And that is not always fair, but it is always just and right.

I love how after telling us what NOT to do, Paul lays in this next passage telling us what TO do, this can get confusing, because first He tells us to be humble about our gifting, but now he seems to be telling us not to be lazy about using them. This message is not inconsistent, it is intended to keep us from becoming hypocrites.

Romans 12:9–13 TLV

Let love be without hypocrisy—detesting what is evil, holding fast to the good. Be tenderly devoted to one another in brotherly love; outdo one another in giving honor. Do not be lagging in zeal; be fervent in spirit. Keep serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, enduring in distress, persisting in prayer, contributing to the needs of the kedoshim, extending hospitality.

What is the number one reason that people give for not being in church? “There are too many hypocrites!” Well, looks like God, speaking through the apostle Paul was trying to warn us about this right from the very beginning. How do we do that? Well let’s read it together.

Verse 9: Let love be without hypocrisy—detesting what is evil, holding fast to the good.

Verse 10: Be kindly affectionate to one another, and don’t play the church politics game.

Verse 11: Be watchful – excited about spiritual things and serve the Lord – not man.

Verse 12: Always remember what your hope is, so that in times of distress you’re not whiny, but rather patient. Keep praying, and taking care of each other’s needs, oh and hang out together.

Now doesn’t that sound like your kind of church? Man, if only we could find that church, we’d all join. Well guess what? God doesn’t give us the option of finding that church. He wants us to BE that church. You know unless you learn to BE that church, all you will do by going to that church before you’ve learned to BE it, is ruin it!

The only way to learn to be the church is to learn how to be one of God’s kids. We’ve already learned some of the basics, but what else is there? Well let’s keep going:

Romans 12:14–21 TLV

Bless those who persecute you—bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be proud, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Repay no one evil for evil; give thought to what is good in the eyes of all people. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live in shalom with all people. Never take your own revenge, loved ones, but give room for God’s wrath—for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,” says Adonai. Rather, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For by doing so you will heap coals of fire upon his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The strong undercurrent of church politics comes from a false premise, and that is: I have to perform to be acceptable to God and to be accepted by my brothers and sisters in the church. This is not what love is about. In fact that attitude is the antithesis of love, because it causes us to focus on ourselves rather than on each other. When we adopt that view of love, all of our service becomes about how to get the “attaboy” from the pastor or other members of the congregation. It is done to be seen! What happens if somebody else that is more gifted in you in that area comes to the church and outshines you? I’ll tell you exactly what happens in most churches. The person that was so proud of what they did becomes bugged that God would send someone more gifted than they! What was God thinking? So you know what they do? They start playing the church politics game. They start looking for any sign that that brother or sister has “slipped up” as soon as they do, they go running to the pastor, running to their friends – running to whoever will listen to tell them what has happened because they have fallen into the trap of automatically taking the best seat for themselves despite Christ’s warning to the contrary.

But pastor, what if someone is really being nasty?

Well, in that case, let God take care of it, but while you wait for God’s vengeance – just love them to death. Smother them with kindness – it is the Bible way. And you know, maybe- just maybe you might develop the compassion you need to see them with different eyes and find out that they are not so bad after all.

Let’s keep going just a little further – I’m not sure we’ll get to finish this thought today, but there is always next week right? So we continue:

Romans 13:1–7 TLV

Let every person submit himself to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are put in place by God. So whoever opposes the authority has resisted God’s direction, and those who have resisted will bring judgment on themselves. For leaders cause no fear for good behavior, but for bad. Now if you do not want to fear the authority, do what is good and you will get his approval— for he is God’s servant to you for your good. But if you do evil, be afraid—for he does not carry the sword for no reason; for he is God’s servant, an avenger who inflicts punishment on the evildoer. Therefore it is necessary to be in submission—not only because of punishment but also because of conscience. For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, attending diligently to this very thing. Pay to everyone what is due them—tribute to whom tribute is due; tax to whom tax is due; respect to whom respect is due; honor to whom honor is due.

It is God’s prerogative to make laws that bind our conscience, and we must render to God the things that are God’s. Consider what Peter had to say about food sacrificed to idols:

1 Corinthians 8:1–13 TLV

Now concerning idol sacrifices, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone thinks he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by Him. Therefore concerning the eating of idol sacrifices, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called “gods,” whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, through whom are all things, and we exist through Him. But that knowledge is not in everyone—some, so accustomed to idols up until now, eat food as an idol sacrifice; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. But food will not bring us before God. We are no worse off if we do not eat and no better off if we do eat. But watch out that this freedom of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For suppose someone sees you—who have this knowledge—dining in an idol’s temple. If his conscience is weak, won’t he be emboldened to eat idol sacrifices? For the one who is weak is destroyed by your knowledge—the brother for whom Messiah died. In this way, when you sin against the brothers and sisters and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Messiah. For this reason, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I do not cause my brother to stumble.

So clearly, God does make laws that have a purpose of conscience. But what if the governing authorities are wicked? Well consider this passage from Ecclesiastes:

Ecclesiastes 10:20 TLV

Do not ridicule the king— even in your thoughts, nor curse the rich in your bedroom. For a bird of the air may carry your voice, and a winged creature may report your words.

So what is the fear here? That someone will hear about it and tell the king? I think it is much simpler than that. I think the truth is that someone will hear – period! But I have a right to speak however I wish! True enough, but the Bible says:

1 Peter 2:15–17 TLV

For this is God’s will, that you silence the ignorance of foolish men by doing good. Live as free people, but not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil. Rather, live as God’s slaves. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

It is not about your rights! It is all about doing the honorable thing. We are not trying to win a political or theological argument, we are trying to win souls to Jesus. It is OK to disagree with the leader politically, and to oppose them vigorously at the ballot box, and even in free political discourse. You can speak about their politics or their bad decisions, but when you fail to honor the individual created in the image of God, and the position which was created by God, you have stepped over God’s boundary. I’m not the one saying it! It’s right there as plain as day. You all know my history, this one sticks in my craw just a bit. But what God is requiring of us is not just lip-service, but a subjection of soul which includes inward honor and outward reverence and respect, both in speaking to them and in speaking of them-obedience to their commands in things lawful and honest, and in other things a respectful, patient and lawful resistance.

And you know what? It doesn’t stop at government authorities, the rest of the chapter talks about submitting to bosses. Go ahead and read that when you get a chance, I don’t want to take more of your time. Suffice it to say that when it comes to being the church, we have a long way to go – I’m not just talking about New Song either – I’m talking about the church in this grand nation of ours.

Conclusion

This is a tough one! But if we claim to be seekers of the truth, then we need to seek out all truth, not just the truth that is convenient to us. Sometimes God has to tell us that we’re not measuring up in order to get our attention. The chastisement of God is a good thing. It means He loves us enough to set us straight.

Luckily, the Holy Spirit gives us the key to godly living.

Love without hypocrisy: Hate what is evil, hang on to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another, and don’t play the church politics game. Be watchful – excited about spiritual things and serve the Lord – not man, but remember that we are enjoined by scripture from speaking and acting disrespectfully against those who are in authority.

Always remember what your hope is, so that in times of distress you’re not whiny, but rather patient. Keep praying, and taking care of each other’s needs, oh and hang out together.