The Mature Christian
Romans • Sermon • Submitted
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The Christian’s Practice
The Christian’s Practice
9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.
Last week we left off Paul exhorting us to a place of anypokritos love within the family of God, love without hypocrisy. Christian love brings us to a place where we find ourselves hating what is evil and clinging, sometimes desperately, to what is good. We are going to continue tonight in what we can call the recipe for the mature Christian.
Through the next several verses, Paul gives us the recipe for loving one another. Some theologians see this as a rag-bag group of instructions, but each imperative adds a fresh ingredient to the recipe of love within the family of Jesus Christ.
10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;
Paul shifts from the agape love of God in the previous chapters, the agape love we share on some level with each other, to philadelphia, or brotherly love. The Bible used this word well before the city of Philadelphia was established.
Let’s put this in perspective for each of us tonight. Do you have family members, whether immediate family or extended family that you are just not close with? Most of us have family members that we are simply not close with.
Paul is saying that those in the body of Christ are meant to develop emotional attachments and that we are to do what is within our power to remain devoted to each other in tender affection. According to Jesus Christ, the bond, which is Jesus Christ, that unites this spiritual family is far more secure and lasting than than that of a purely physical family.
Now, we are called to love all people. The kind of brotherly love and giving honor and preference to one-another that Paul is speaking of here is reserved for the inner circle.
Believers have a right and a duty to discern between those who hate God and those who love God. None of us are holy and none of us are perfect. If my brother or sister has Jesus Christ alive within them, why would I not humble myself and honor them. You are not the only one with Christ in you, I am not the only one with Christ in me.
Give praise without receiving praise, love with no expectation of reciprocation, love others and help others within the body even if you think that the problem is of their own making. We all make mistakes, and most of the time, you do not know the whole story behind what brings a person to where they are. Get to know the brother or sister and get to know their story. Build relationships with one another.
11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.
Paul makes a statement here that today’s church balks at. Paul is talking about being lazy in our service, our church attendance, and our commitment to Jesus. The fellowship of the saints is a big deal. People will make every excuse to not attend church. The Apostle Paul would come unglued on today's church. There are times when we simply can not make it to church or a church event, but it becomes ever so easy to continue making excuses.
We should be enthusiastic in serving, in corporate worship, and in corporate learning. Hungry for the word and excited about the chance to come together in the body. Our spiritual passion must always be put in obedient service of the Lord. We should have great joy in our hearts for the opportunity to worship and to serve our LORD.
12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.
What is confident hope, and why should we rejoice in it? Our confident hope is in Jesus and the assurance of salvation and future glory with Him. That truth is what brings the believer to a place where we can endure under stress, and be persistent in the application of strength. Knowing that God is going to remove the trial, walk us through the trial, and ultimately bring us into His presence is where that confident hope comes from.
Patience during those times is difficult in this flesh for some. I falter waiting on God at times. When we start comparing ourselves to others, or to this world, we are going to feel inadequate or even inferior. When we focus on Jesus Christ, those things melt away.
Keep on praying. Have you ever noticed that when you don't pray, or find that your devotional time shrinks, that fire starts to smolder? That we do not remain steadfast in our conviction? It is impossible to keep joy in our hearts and endurance without communing with the Father.
13 When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.
Paul brings us back to helping each other if we are able. There is not always a quick fix. We can be ready to help in the measure that we are able to help.
Carolyn and I have helped a lot of people. I do not say this to build us up, but to share an example. We have had well over 50 different people live with us through the years. We reached out and provided a hand up. Some people grew, put their lives in order, and where able to move on to bigger and better things. Others took advantage of us. We where eager and ready to help all of them, but at some point we have to ask ourselves if we are helping someone to grow or enabling bad behavior.
We are to be generous, ready to help, and eager to be hospitable. We are also to use discernment and recognize when it is time to let it go. Remember, Jesus did not stay with the crowds or with us, He left it in their hands and in ours.
Paul is talking about each of us on an individual level. I have never asked the church to help someone in a way that I do not already do myself, or have done in the past. Paul is saying “If you have the ability, you help.”
The Christian’s Patience
The Christian’s Patience
14 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them.
So, Mr. Apostle Paul, let me get this right: If someone persecutes me, or attacks me, insults me, or mistreats me, I am to bless them?” YES! That doesn’t challenge every bit of humanness within me! The word for “bless” here is eulogeo. Eulogeo means “to speak well of.”
I can not be the only one who finds this to be difficult at times. When someone is attacking us, we are to speak well to that person. Try to find something commendable about them and share it with them. Talk about reflecting Jesus! Being the peacemaker! That right there is how we do it!
We are also to speak well about those who attack us. When we are talking to others, we do not tear down the one attacking us, instead we try to find something good about the person and share that with others. This is practice in seeing people through God’s eyes. Look what Jesus said here:
44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!
This is a command. Jesus Christ commands us to do the same. Can you imagine the impact it has on someone when hate and darkness are met with love and compassion? In my anger, and in my emotional pain, lashing out, I have been shut down by people showing me the love of Christ. I had NO WAY of retaliating without feeling shame. I once cursed God and his people. Now I stand among you. That is the impact we are to have on others.
Pray for them. Pray that the Father directs their steps, heart, and mind. Pray that God provides us with an opportunity to minster in such an amazing way to the ones who are hurting or lost.
I heard a story once a missionary to China shared. In China you can be imprisoned or executed for being a believer or even having a Bible. She went to China to teach Christian leaders. Very dangerous. She asked them what they were doing to bring others to Christ. The response shook me to the core. They told her that they learn how to pray for their executioners. The missionary told them that she was in need of their prayers. We have brothers and sisters in the LORD literally praying for their persecutors and executioners as we meet tonight, like Jesus did.
34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.
This is tough, but I want you to put yourself in Jesus’ place for a moment. Here He is in unspeakable agony, physically and emotionally. He is up on the cross. He is looking out at those who called for His death, those who betrayed Him, those who follow Him, and many non-believers. Most people there, at Calvary, persecuted Jesus. Jesus prays to the Father for forgiveness of those who were responsible. He prayed for you and me that day.
What effect that must have had on those who persecuted Him! We know that not all, but some where won to Christ that day. Millions of others after that.
15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.
You have heard me say that going to church is not just about you? This is where that comes from. Church is about corporate worship, applying the Word of God in our lives, sharing with one another, and developing relationships.
Feeling and understanding people on a deeper level requires that we spend time with others. As we develop that philadelphia love, we laugh with one another, and we weep with one another. We share in the valley experiences and the mountain top experiences. A support system is established with bonds that can not be broken. That was Jesus’ intent with the body.
Abba daddy rejoices with His people in times of Godly joy! The LORD knows our sorrows as we weep. Remember, Jesus wept. Sharing in such personal feelings and times with people brings us to a place where we can empathize with others. Those life experiences we all have traveled through allow for us to share as a way of building others up in Christ. We are called to be His witness within and outside the church.
16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!
Unity within the body. You may think someone is lower than you, they are not. You make think someone is better than you, they are not. Paul is hitting on our attitude and behavior toward other believers and their lot in life. We are to be of the same mind, Jesus, because we are of the same body with Christ as the head.
Pride is the greatest obstacle to the unity of mind and spirit in the believer.
The world is enough to make people feel like they are being looked down upon, not worthy, and even inferior. So many people are ready to associate up, when we should be trying to find common ground with those who feel that they are inferior. The term” people of low position” translates into a single Greek word that refers to either “humble people” or “humble things.”
With that being the case, I pray we all count ourselves as people of low position in the biblical sense. God bless you tonight, Let’s pray.