190; How to Neighbor; Romans 12
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Intro
Intro
NACC
SC3 came up big. Help desk and set up/tear down.
As a pastor it is encouraging to see our people serving before being fed.
I loved seeing that many of our folks were there investigating how we might grow as a church. More disciples, better disciples.
One thing I’m sure of; we don’t need another program. There isn’t a program or an outreach or a service format that is going to help us to be everything Jesus would have for us to be. There are some mindset changes that need to take place, but culture changes slowly.
If we are to be everything Jesus intends for us to be (all in favor?), we’re going to have to let Scripture sink further into our hearts and intentions. It has to be part of our very lives. When Jesus says, “We are to love our neighbors as ourselves,” we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Profound huh? When we take his words as marching orders, we’ll become the church he’d have us to be.
For the first time in our nations history (Billy Joel)...
Explain church movement from center of town to perceived irrelevance. As it has moved out and truth has been minimized, the church has lost ground. Mention mega-church model. We thought if the show was good enough we could explain the truth.
They moved out as people moved further out, they weren’t at the center of town anymore but they were still part and parcel with life.
Today, we are in a similar position to the early church. Christianity is a foreign concept that is viewed with scorn and suspicion.
There has never been a time in history when genuine Christianity has been needed, more than now! The Restoration movement has never been needed more than now!
Last week Kevin came in and preached. Yeast and Mustard seeds. Small but mighty. Odd thing about yeast and mustard seeds, they are always seen as negatives in Scripture.
This week we’ll talk about a change of mindset that we have to have. We have to move from “come and see” to “go and be.”
Next week we’ll talk about some of the radical expectations of being a good neighbor.
Finally, we’ll talk about some practical application for obeying Jesus in loving our neighbors. We have affectionately called it; stop being weird.
Transition
Transition
Open your Bibles to . Its the sixth book of the NT.
To understand we have to get a grasp for how Romans works. It’s a complex letter with a tightly organized argument.
You need a savior. Your sin issue is much greater than you think!
That salvation only comes by faith. Justification.
Because of that great salvation, we are free from the wrath of God, sin, the law, and death.
Now God has brought together Jews and Gentiles who trust him by faith and made one new people called the church.
That’s . With that in mind, we look at .
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1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
We have to start here because we have to realize that we need a mind-shift, a mind renewal. This is the foundation. In light of God’s mercy…our lives become living sacrifices. Not our Sunday mornings…our lives. That means:
The way I live next to, around, with my neighbors, is to be God’s.
My BBQ grill is to be used for the glory of God.
My back porch is to be used for the glory of God.
My living room is to be used for the glory of God.
The conversations I have out in our court are to be for the glory of God.
This is holy and pleasing to God.
This is true and proper worship. Therefore..., be a living sacrifice.
Faith in God’s work through Jesus Christ generates the Spirits renewal in our lives. It drives us to be obedient to the demands of the gospel. Jesus changes us and we are driven to change the world.
Don’t conform to the pattern of this world. When it comes to neighboring, the world has a pattern. That pattern says associate with people as it fits you. Most of the time it is easier to close your doors and stay safe, you can live a virtual existence through a computer screen. Jesus says, “Go love your neighbors.”
That’s a hard pill to swallow. I don’t know about you but I can keep up with something for a bit but I’ve been so formed by the world that I have a pattern myself. I’m an introvert, my home is my safe spot. Shut the door, keep everyone out. Like the old Eddy Arnold song, “Make the world go away.” But Jesus still says, “love your neighbors.” How well do we do that?
Let me ask you a question. If God answered all of your prayers for the last month, would any of you neighbor’s eternal destiny be changed? Would anyone’s?
That’s why Paul says that we have to be transformed. Its in the present passive. That means, it’s ongoing now and its something that happens to us. We don’t generate it. When we worship, serve, and immerse ourselves in God’s word, He changes us. That’s when we recognize his will for us.
Far too many Christians think they are looking for God’s will but really they are grasping at anything they can to stamp a “God’s will” approval on what they’ve already decided they want to do.
Example: I really see God’s hand in this whole process. We looked at this house on the corner of King and Cross street! They neighbors have a fish on the back of their car!
God’s will isn’t a dot on a map that I have to land on or my life is out of God’s will. God’s word tells me that God’s will is that I love him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and that I love my neighbor as myself.
Well, who is my neighbor? Let me tell you this; however I define it, it will be pretty hard to get around the fact that my neighbor is the person living next to me. We have to have a fundamental change in the way we think.
Transition
Transition
VV. 3-13 talk about the unity of the church and Christian ethics but at the end of 13, Paul transitions to those who aren’t Christians.
13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
In light of God’s mercy...
Open your lives, be hospitable, to those around you.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said the church was to be salt and light.
Light provides safety and shows truth
Salt brings out the best flavor of the meat and is a preservative.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
Romans 12:14
How do Christians act as salt and light? Practice hospitality to those around you!
Gift of friendship? Augustine?
Practice hospitality (ESV= seek to show hospitality; CSB=pursue hospitality). We aren’t hospitable if the situation arises; we make plans for it. Intentionality is the key.
Isn’t he talking about Christians? Peter tells us to be hospitable to one another, so it must be a part of it. However, the word literally means to show brotherly love to a stranger.
Transition
Transition
Can you be more specific Paul? My neighbors are kinda jacked up. Sure they need Jesus, but who is kidding who, I don’t have much in common with them. As a matter of fact, that one time...
Do you have a neighbor you don’t like? I guarantee I do.
If our lives are to be a living sacrifice, we should have the idea that this isn’t always going to be easy.
vv. 1-2 offer the foundation
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
v. 14 encourages us to enter the world in a completely counter-cultural fashion. Our task is to live in light of eschatological realities.
Do we follow the ways of Jonah or Jesus?
Kill them or Father forgive them?
Living out the gospel in our neighborhoods is a Jesus-powered lifestyle. Don’t conform to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Transition
Transition
Now Paul gets down the nuts and bolts of it.
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Rejoice with those who rejoice
Rejoice with those who rejoice
Mourn with those who mourn
Live in harmony
Don’t be proud or conceited
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
I went for a walk with a neighbor a few weeks ago. We passed the house at the end of our street...
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13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Romans 12
I didn’t have to drink to watch some ball and play corn-hole. Stop being weird!
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The Pharisees couldn’t stand that Jesus was eating with sinners. Jesus didn’t come for…he lived out the proclamation of the Kingdom.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
If you rejoice with those who rejoice, you will have the opportunity to mourn with those who mourn. One thing I am absolutely convinced of; when the storms happen, people look for something eternal to hang onto. They’ll go to Christians. Often, they’ll be open to the gospel
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Take just a second and consider the troubles you know about in the families around you right now.
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
example
But what do I say? Nothing!
When it comes time for the discussions, why not have a verse ready? Maybe share a verse that you’ve hung onto in tough times.
It is a holy honor to mourn with people and love them through difficulties.
Pursuing hospitality provides opportunities to rejoice and mourn alongside folks. It provides an opportunity to live out the realities of the gospel in front of people who need Jesus.
Then again Paul anticipates the difficulty, here and warns, live in harmony.
That means I’m going to have to lay down my pride a bit.
Don’t be proud, don’t be conceited, be willing to associate with people of low position. Be willing to love those who are messed up.
There’s a warning here to be cautions. We can get conceited when we think we’re helping those of a lower station.
As cold as charity.
Paul says, no way. How do I avoid this? Therefore, in light of God’s mercy...
In light of the reality of my own terrible sin
In light of the reality that I have an incredible salvation and justified standing through faith in Jesus.
In light of the reality that I am free from wrath, I am free from sin, I am free from the penalty of the law, and I am free from death.
In light of the reality that I am now part of one grand people group called the church and God allows me to be part of his grand plan of making everything sad come untrue.
In light of that, we have nothing to be uppity about. We like to say that we are sinners saved by grace, but do we really get it. If we do, there is no room for conceit. We’ll simply love our neighbors.
That salvation only comes by faith. Justification.
We will rejoice with them. We will mourn with them.
Close
Close
Because of that great salvation, we are free from the wrath of God, sin, the law, and death.
Phil Vischer quote
Now God has brought together Jews and Gentiles who trust him by faith and made one new people called the church.