Romans part XVI
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good.
Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another.
Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord.
Be passionate about obedience! Look for opportunities to serve! Don’t be lazy about serving God but instead be diligent and fervent about where God might be calling you to serve. There is an old missionary named Jim Elliot who once said, “Wherever you are at, be all there”. Wherever God has put us, we need to be all in for His Kingdom and for serving His people.
Rejoice in hope;
What makes you celebrate? Paul tells us to celebrate in hope. Hope isn’t sitting around and wishing. I wish this would happen or I wish they would do that. Hope is the confidence we have in our future and in God’s promises. Hope is waiting in expectation for the Lord to keep His promises. It isn’t something we do, it is something we have. The hope Paul uses isn’t a verb to be done but a noun to behold. Rejoice in the expectation of God’s faithfulness.
be patient in affliction;
How do we respond when bad things happen to us?
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Paul calls us to be patient in suffering and affliction. The people he was writing to would have been familiar with experiencing affliction because of their faith. It can be hard not to retaliate when people treat us poorly, but Paul calls us to be patient and to trust the Lord in times of difficulty.
be persistent in prayer.
Prayer needs to be a constant in our lives. Prayer is how we talk to God. We thank Him, we bring our wants and needs to Him, we bring our weaknesses and our hurts to Him. Prayer strengthens our relationship with God. Prayer grows us in our humility and our communication with God. It brings us into the holy places before the throne of God and He hears us. Do you consider prayer to be an important part of your relationship with Christ?
Share with the saints in their needs;
Paul calls us to be generous with what God has given us. Don’t hoard the things you have but give freely and generously as people have need. Are you generous with what God has blessed you with?
pursue hospitality.
Hospitality is when we welcome people into our homes and lives. Offering a meal, a place to stay, being a source of comfort for people. Again Paul is calling us to an attitude of service and selflessness. Are you a comfort to the people around you? Are you kind and welcoming?
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
We are called to treat people with kindness. Don’t curse the people who treat you poorly but instead bless them. Jesus is the easiest example of this. He loved His enemies and gave Himself to people who were rejecting Him.
Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
Paul again reminds us of the relationship we have with each other. We are called to unity. To love our neighbor as ourselves. We share one another’s burdens. No one should have to go through something alone. We are a community brought together in Christ. When our brother or sister is happy we rejoice with them. When they are hurting we hurt with them. We are all part of one body connected by love.
Live in harmony with one another.
We are all different people from all different backgrounds but that doesn’t mean we should be divisive. Paul calls us to work together to live in harmony. We all have different roles to play in this body that we are a part of. We shouldn’t be people of hostility but people of peace.
Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble.
What kind of friends do you keep? Paul tells us we shouldn’t be proud or arrogant and that we shouldn’t hang out with people who are either. He says to associate with the humble.
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
Do not be wise in your own estimation.
He continues by saying we shouldn’t be wise in our own estimation. Don’t be a know-it-all. Be open to wisdom and wise counsel. Don’t think you have it all figured out when you are still growing. Great leaders are teachable or coachable. If you can’t take instruction or think you are too good to learn you need to take a step back. That is a lesson for every aspect of life but especially in the church. Great leaders are followers first. To make disciples you have to be a disciple.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil.
Following Christ means not taking revenge or retaliating. That doesn’t mean we don’t pursue justice or hold people accountable. Justice is good, not evil. We can be the bigger person and do what is right as opposed to trying to get even or retaliate. Jesus calls us to love our enemies instead of hating our enemies.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
We aren’t called to take matters into our own hands we are just called to love.
Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes.
How we live is important. Live in a way that is honorable. Our lives should point people to Jesus. When the world sees how we act and respond to situations it should point them to what Christ has done in our lives. If we call ourselves Christians but there is no difference between how we talk, think, and act compared to the lost world around us something needs to change. We are ambassadors for Christ and His Kingdom. We don’t represent our interests but are a representative of God.
If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
We need to do whatever we need to do in order to be at peace with the people around us. If we need to offer forgiveness or ask someone to forgive us we need to do it. This doesn’t mean that we are guaranteed a good relationship with everyone. It doesn’t mean we have to let people who hurt us have full access to our lives. It doesn’t mean we can’t have frustrations or struggles. What it means is that we do what we can to be at peace. As far as it depends on us. Am I being the bigger person? Am I offering forgiveness? Have I hurt them? You can only control yourself. You can’t control what other people do or how they respond. As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord. But
When people hurt us we shouldn’t try to avenge ourselves but should let God handle it. He is the judge, not me. Imagine you’re hearing this as a Christian in the first century. People have burned your house down for believing in Jesus. They are throwing you in prison, beating you, even feeding you to lions, and Paul says, “Don’t avenge yourself”. That can be really difficult because sometimes people really hurt us. God doesn’t call us to fight or defend ourselves He calls us to love. Vengeance is the Lord’s to repay. People will hurt you and mistreat you and we can trust that God will take care of it. That isn’t our responsibility to bear.
If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.
This is what we focus on. Meeting the needs of our enemies. When we love our enemies, they hate it. For these Christians being put to death, their attackers would do anything to get them to reject Christ, give up, and walk away from the faith. They tried everything they could to get them to slip and fall. Repaying love for evil is our way of standing firm on the hope we have in Christ. Imagine you hate this person for what they believe so you have them thrown into the Colosseum to have them eaten by lions, but rather than curse you and scream and cry they begin to sing worship songs and pray for you. That was what was happening. Choosing to love rather than evil points the world to the goodness of God that we have come to know in Christ who loved us when we were His enemies.
Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.
This ties all we talked about together into one phrase.