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Romans 12:9-21 Sermon  August 30

I have not done this but I think that if I went out on the street and started asking people that never go to church why do you not go to church, it would not be long until I got an answer that is along the line of “church is just a long list of do’s and don’ts and I don’t really like doing the things on the do list and I really like to do the things on the don’t list. Today’s Epistle reading is a kind of do and don’t list and many a person would be happy to do the things on the don’t list while really not being thrilled about doing the to do list items.

In the first eleven plus chapters in the Book of Romans, Paul lays out that we are only able to be saved because of God’s work and what He has done for us. Paul stresses that we are all sinners and there is nothing we can do in our own strength to save ourselves from our own sins. God uses the Law to make this crystal clear that we are sinners and we are condemned without God’s saving work.

But Jesus the Christ did die for us. He did die so that we could have a way back to the Father. We are counted as justified because of faith in Jesus Christ. We did not earn it, we certainly do not deserve it but because of faith in Jesus Christ, we are seen by the Father justified. We are united with Christ and when the Father looks upon us, He sees the blood of Christ covering us and we are pure and clean in His sight. This covering, this mercy has been extended to both Jew and Gentile alike. It does not matter a person’s ethnicity, God the Father accepts all who have faith in Jesus Christ as their savior. Paul goes through the first eleven chapters of Romans laying all this out and then we come to our reading for today. With all this knowledge and understanding what should our response be to this awesome gift?

Authentic love, authentic Christian living is a response to the grace that has been bestowed on us. It is not a means of obtaining grace. We must never ever get this confused. Authentic love, authentic Christian living is a response to the grace which has been bestowed on us. It is not a means of obtaining grace.

The English language has only one word to describe the different types of love. Ancient Greek as well many other languages use several words to describe the different types of love. The Ancient Greeks for example had three main words to describe the different types of love: Eros was used for romantic love, Philia was used for brotherly love and Agape was used for the unconditional or charitable love. When the ancient Greeks spoke about love the hearers knew what kind of love the speaker was speaking of by the word he used. Paul is using the unconditional and brotherly love in these verses. The authentic love Paul is talking about needs to be understood as an unconditional love, that we will love regardless of the situation or circumstance. This love still hates evil and will not participate with it. This may seem like a contradiction but it really is not.