Principles Governing the Congregation, Part 1
Notes
Transcript
A Brief Summary
A Brief Summary
In this next section, Rom. 12 - 15:13, Paul goes into the purpose and calling of all followers of Yeshua. As mentioned before, I have broken up this section of Romans as follows:
Rom. 12:1-8 Ministries of the Congregation
Rom. 12:9-21 Principles governing the Congregation
Rom. 13:1-7 Respect for authority
Rom. 13:8-14 Call to love and hope
Rom. 14:1-12 Respecting one another
Rom. 14:13-23 Pursuing shalom
Rom. 15:1-13 Strengthening one another
Last time we focused in on the Ministry Gifts given to the Congregation. Today we will look at the principles that should govern our lives especially in the context of the Congregation. Let’s re-read Rom. 12:9-21
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. 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.
Love Without Hypocrisy
Love Without Hypocrisy
We finished up last time by discussing the spiritual gift of Mercy. I mentioned that some people are gifted in the area of ministering to the sick and needy, whereas the rest of us will need to work on developing a skill in this area.
In reality, regardless of how each of us is gifted, we all need to operate from a foundation of love. Paul shows us in 1 Cor 13:1-3
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all that I own and if I hand over my body so I might boast but have not love, I gain nothing.
Even if we have powerful gifts of Prophecy, speaking in other tongues or living self-sacrificially, this is all meaningless if it is not done with an underlying motivation of love.
The word “hypocrisy” comes from the actors who would hold up a mask and pretend to be another character. When we love, it must be sincere/real, or else, any action that we do is of no value to God or others. There are many good deeds that will not get any rewards from God, because they were not done with the right attitude. Yeshua puts it this way in Matt. 7:22-23
Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, and drive out demons in Your name, and perform many miracles in Your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’ ”
So how do we love others, especially when we do not feel like it?
Firstly, John tells us in 1 John 4:17-19
In this way, love is made perfect among us, so that we should have boldness on the Day of Judgment. For just as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and the one who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love, because He first loved us.
The more that we know we are loved by God, the more we are able to share that love with others. God loved us first, and we are supposed to reflect that love toward everyone around us.
Now some people are more difficult to love than others, and I think that this is why Paul finished up Romans 12:9b saying, “detesting what is evil, holding fast to the good.” Sometimes there is a lot of evil in a person, and we are not called to approve of the wickedness, sin and evil in a person. Rather we are called to look past that evil, and see the good buried in others. Sometimes that good can be buried way down under many layers of pain and sorrow, anger and hatred. But isn’t that how God treats us? Does God only see the person we are today, or does He also see the person that we could one day be (with His help)? We are called to act toward others as God does to us.
Give Honour
Give Honour
Paul now, in vs. 10, uses a different Greek word for brotherly love. Not only should we love each other without condition, or as a carrer, but we should also like one another, as a friend. Paul speaks about being devoted to each other, that indicates a commitment stronger than that of a simple aquaintence. We should all be committed to the growth of each other. Paul says in 1 Cor. 13:7 that love:
[Love] bears all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things, it endures all things.
That seems to indicate that we are in it for the long-haul. For as long as the Lord brings our paths together, we should seek to help each other become more like Yeshua. We should be filled with hope for each other, and willing to endure many bumps from each other. If it was easy, then it would not required patience, and “Love is patient.”
It is not enough, however, to simply wait for each other. Paul tells us to be proactive in “outdoing each other by giving honour.”
To “honor” is “to accord recognition and show appreciation.” Presumably, this is based not on some personal attractiveness that is perceived in others or usefulness that is known about them, but rather on the fact that every [Believer] has [Messiah] in his or her heart and is of the highest worth. Consequently, this recognition is based upon the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) rather than the old. One honors God when he or she recognizes His transforming work in the lives of others. [Believers], like their Lord, care nothing for their own prestige and esteem; rather, they live for the sake of others and their advancement.
When I read something like that, I wonder, “How on earth I will be able to do that?” But just as the commentator mentions at the end, we are called to be like Yeshua. Just as Yeshua said in John 15:4
Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. The branch cannot itself produce fruit, unless it abides on the vine. Likewise, you cannot produce fruit unless you abide in Me.
Serve the Lord
Serve the Lord
In Rom. 12:11-12, Paul now focuses on six attributes necessary for of our relationship with God. These are:
Do not be lagging in zeal; be fervent in spirit. Keep serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, enduring in distress, persisting in prayer,
All of these attributes have to do with finishing strong/running the race well, all the way to the end. How many have been walking with the Lord for more that 20 years? Have you found that sometimes your zeal may have decreased? Do we still have that fervency that we had when we first came to the Lord? We should. I am speaking to myself. What are we doing that continues to stoke the fire of love that Yeshua first put in our lives?
Paul reminds the believers that we look forward with hope to what Yeshua has promised in Phil. 3:12-16
Not that I have already obtained this or been perfected, but I press on if only I might take hold of that for which Messiah Yeshua took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself as having taken hold of this. But this one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal for the reward of the upward calling of God in Messiah Yeshua. Therefore let all who are mature have this attitude; and if you have a different attitude in anything, this also God will reveal to you. Nevertheless, let us live up to the same standard we have attained.
Notice that Paul says in verse 15, that those who are “mature” should have this attitude? If we have found that we are not where we were, let’s remember what Yeshua said in Rev. 2:4-5
“But this I have against you, that you have forsaken your first love. Remember then from where you have fallen. Repent and do the deeds you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your menorah from its place—unless you repent.
Sometimes we need to remember the things that we used to do for Yeshua and the love that we felt at that time. I sometimes choose to remember what Yeshua saved me from, and the person I was, and it brings tears to my eyes and I once again remember the love that He has for me. This is a way of returning to that first love.
Extending Hospitality
Extending Hospitality
We should continually look for ways that we can bless believers in tangible ways. As I mentioned last week, some people are gifted in this way, and the rest of us can develop a skill. We have an amazing opportunity where we can show hospitality to Israeli backpackers. It is a way of providing them with a safe place where they are loved, fed and cared for, a home away from home.
Yeshua is clear in Luke 14:12-14
Then Yeshua was also saying to the one who invited Him, “When you host a luncheon or dinner, don’t invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors. Otherwise they might invite you in return as your payback. But when you host a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind; and you will be blessed, since they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
This tests our heart attitude. Are we blessing others simple to be blessed here and how? Or are we investing in our eternal reward? We should always have eyes for the day that Yeshua returns, and seek to do everything only to be seen by Him and rewarded when He returns.
Bless those who Persecute
Bless those who Persecute
This next section, vs. 14-21 reminds me of the Sermon that Yeshua gave on the mountain in Matt. 5. In fact there is so much in this next section, that I would do it injustice to attempt to cover it today. I will only say that the next section can only be accomplished by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh manifest in our lives by the fruit of love.
Application
Application
The entire last section of the letter to Rome is all about application. When we are looking at our actions, we should also be looking at our attitudes and motivations. Last week we read John 15:9-14 about abiding in the love of Yeshua, today I want to read Luke 7:36-48
Now one of the Pharisees was asking Yeshua if He would eat with him. Upon entering the Pharisee’s home, He reclined at the table. And behold, a woman in the town who was a sinner, when she discovered that Yeshua was reclining at the Pharisee’s home, brought an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to drench His feet with tears and kept wiping them with her head of hair. Then she was kissing His feet and anointing them with perfume. Now when the Pharisee who invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this were a prophet, He would know what sort of woman is touching Him—that she’s a sinner.” And answering, Yeshua said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he said, “Say it, Teacher!” “A moneylender had two debtors. One owed him five hundred denarii, but the other fifty. When neither could repay him, he canceled both debts. So which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” “You have judged correctly,” Yeshua said. Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you didn’t give Me water for My feet. But she has drenched My feet with tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet Me with a kiss; but from the time she entered, she has not stopped kissing My feet. You didn’t anoint My head with oil, but she has anointed My feet with perfume. For this reason I tell you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven—for she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little. He then said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”
We need to know, and be reminded of, just how much Yeshua loves us. If you do not know or do not feel loved by God, maybe you do not realize how big your sins were?
