Romans 12:9-21

Intro

Good morning Church Family, I hope you are doing well this morning. Before we really get in to it, I want to say thank you for letting me be up here this morning. I m really am thankful for you, and that you let me come up here and keep learning, and letting me preach. I know Pastor Randy is not here this morning he is on a much needed vacation this week, but I am thankful that he also allows me to step in when he is not here. So all of that to say, thank y’all very much.

also just a little house keeping, Go Dawgs! How about them Dawgs church family. To our Clemson church family, we love you more than we loved those 7 sacks we got.

Anyways last week Pastor Randy finished up our study of Revelation, and our broader study of the end of days. That was a fun series to study through, I know if you talk to Randy he will tell you that was the most fun he’s had in studying the bible. So this week in preparation for preaching, this was kind of a free week to touch on what ever, but last week in his sermon, Pastor Randy touched on Romans 12, and I was sitting there thinking, man, that might be good to preach on next Sunday, at that time, I had not figured out what I was going to preach just yet. But i read through it this week and this seemed like this would be a good place to us to be this morning.

So that is where we are going to be this morning, so if you have a bible go ahead and flip on over to Romans 12, we are going to be primarily in verses 9-21, but we are going to look at the whole chapter. So if you have a bible great, if you don’t have a bible there should be one in the pew you can use, and if you don’t have a bible at home and you need one take that one, we can always get more bibles.

so, in the 1970’s i was not alive, some of you were, but in the mid 70’s Francis Shaffer wrote book called “How Shall We Then Live?” the book was about the rise and fall of western civilization beginning with Rome all the way to now basically, the 70’s when he wrote it, but intellectually all of the stuff we see today was present in the 70’s.

But His book was about how the church lives within each of those societies in each of those times. But his book is basically asking the question how does the church operate in society, this is why his book was titled “How Shall we then live?” He’s is asking the question, What now? what do we do? How is this supposed to work?

So that is where we find ourselves this morning, we have just finished a whole study of the End of Days? How church supposed to be in this world we find ourselves? Now what? is the question we are asking.

Context

So let’s get into this question.

Let me set the scene for where we are in the book of Romans. I know we did a whole year long study on Romans, but lets do a refresher on what’s going on. So Romans is written by Paul to the church in Rome. now who is the church in Rome. The Church in Rome is the a church that is made up of mainly Gentiles, there were some jewish people as well, but this was mainly made up of gentiles.

And Rome as a whole is a super interesting place, especially if you like history. If you look at Rome, there are a lot similarities between our modern context of living in the US. Rome owned pretty much everything from below the middle east, the eurasian steppe, all the way into modern day France and Germany, a place called Gaul. The Roman Empire was massive, and powerful. They had their hand in everything. And the city of Rome was the cultural power of the world at that time. If Romans was written today, it would have been written to the people of New York City. The center of world culture, immense financial power, and political power. If you threw DC in to NYC you would have Rome. It was the city, all roads lead to Rome, and that was pretty much true. everything ends up in Rome or Rome comes to you. Rome was the city. Even today, the name Rome still carries weight.

That is who Paul is writing to, a mix of people with different back grounds and up bringings. It was written to a people like us.

And Paul so far in this book has been setting up all of this theology. The book of Romans is probably the greatest theology book written. There is so much in there. and so far Paul in the first 3 chapter has talked about the reality of sin, that no one can escape the realities of sin, that this world is broken because of sin, no one is without blame. in chapters 3-5 Paul speaks of the realities of salvation, that Christ has come to redeem this broken world from sin and death. His death on the Cross is the foundation for our righteousness before God. Chapters 6-8 Paul explains how we become more like Christ, through the process of sanctification. How we come to know the Lord deeper, how we grow in our faith. How our walk with Christ transforms us and shapes us to be more like Christ. Then in Chapters 9-11 we see that God is who He says he is, that god is sovereign in all situations and in control of everything. That god has a chosen people, He knows them by name, That god has chosen the Church to be His people and He will be our God. Nothing happens that God does not see coming. God is the one who saves and there is nothing we can do about it.

And then we get to chapter 12, and it is here that we see a shift in what is going on in the book of Romans. The previous 11 chapters is all Theology, the previous 11 chapters is all head knowledge. It is here in chapter 12 we see this head knowledge start to become heart knowledge. We see here the theology that Paul has set up be put in to practice. This is were the rubber meets the road.

Chapter 12 is the practical aspect of theology.

verses 1 and 2 we are called to serve the Lord, our lives are not our own and we are called to lay our lives down to the Lordship.

As we come to know the Lord deeper, we take on more characteristics of God.

It is like a baby, at first when a baby is born they come out looking like there parents, I know for me I looked like both of my parents, they look like their mom or dad. As they grow older, not only do they look more and more like their parents but the start to act like their parents. The take on characteristics of the parents. I know for me, my dad and I are very similar. We have similar interests and humor, we both love BBQ. My dad was the church bass player for years, when ever we play certain songs on Sunday Morning, I can hear my dads bass playing. In the second service today the Song Majesty was a song we did all the time growing up and it was a really cool bass part, so when I was practicing with band Thursday, when I realized it was that song, I could hear all the bass fills and parts my dad would do growing up. But the more you grow up, you kinda of start to become that person, you take on the attributes of your father. You know the older i’ve gotten i’ve understood why my dad gets up early on vacation, it’s awesome. I’ve also learned that it is the smart and right thing to do leave entirely too early to go to the airport. People who went to Boston with us, can I get an Amen. We ain’t missing no flights

but as we grow in Christ we become more like Christ, the more we know Christ deeper, the more ew become like them.

Then verse 3-8 we see how this impacts the church, and how this plays out in the life of the church. We are all called to serve the Lord, we are all called to be apart of His mission. How ever you are gifted, that gift was given to you by the Lord to serve His kingdom, use that gift in the church.

And that brings us to the passage we are going to look at this morning, verse 9-21. The is where Paul goes to answer the question, “How shall we then live?” This is the discipleship portion of the book of romans, this how all of this theology impacts your daily life.

On Monday nights, I get together with a group fo guys in the church. Jeff Pruiett, Josh Edmonson, and Stanley Jones. I know it sounds like trouble, but we get together and pray and study the word together. And I hope he doesn’t mind this, but Stanley almost every time we’ve gotten together has said this,

“Evangelism without discipleship, is cruelty.”

And he is right, if Paul had just told them all of this theology and not given them any way to put this practically in place, he has left them to figure out all of this on their own. This still applies to the church today, if we are going bring people to Christ and not disciple them we are doing a disservice to them.

So this where we see Paul switch from evangelism, because even though it is full of theology, the first half or Romans is evangelistic in nature, so now he is switching to the practical aspects of theology, how to put in to practice this head knowledge, how to make this head knowledge heart knowledge.

So, How Shall we then live?

Lets read this section of scripture here together, so if you have your bible, look at verse 9,

but before we do that, let’s pray for our time in the word this morning.

pray

Okay so,lets read this together, verse 9

Romans 12:9-21

Romans 12:9–21 ESV

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Community is Essential in Christian Life

Okay so what is the first thing we see here in this text, we see three imperative statements, three things that set up the rest of this passage. Let your love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good.

Paul is saying to the people of Rome, do not be a hypocrite, the word used for genuine translates literally as un-hypocritical, if you are using the CSB translation, i believe it reads,”let your love be with our hypocrisy.”

Don’t be fake, one it’s wrong because lying, but two we can spot hypocrisy from a mile away. We can spot if from way out and when you do it, blows back on the rest of us. Don’t be hypocritical don’t be fake, don’t be two faced.

The next phrase is to abhor what is evil. and Abhor is a word we just don’t use that often, but in the literal means of the word it means to detest, it means you are repulsed by it, it if off putting, you can’t be around it,

you know its sardine milkshakes, it’s peptobismal ranch, you know if you’re a Georgia fan, it’s Auburn, if it you’re a Bama fan, it’s also Auburn, if you’re an Auburn Fan it’s happiness.

No but for real, abhor means to go out of your way not do or encourage evil. You detest what is evil, you detest sin, you cannot be around wickedness

Paul has spent the first half of this book explaining what sin is and what the effects of sin, for the Jewish people in the church, they already knew, for the gentiles that are truly being told what sin is and how sin corrupts and breaks.

Then lastly, Paul says hold fast to what is good. Hold fast to Christ. As much as Paul spent the first half of romans explaining what sin is, he also explains that true goodness only comes from the Lord, from Christ. He is saying hold fast to what is good. Be transformed by the ultimate goodness found in Christ.

Then in verses 10 and 11 we see Paul showing them how they are to live together as the brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul is imploring them to treat your brothers in christ as you would family, because that is what the church is. It is a family becoming more and more like their Father.

Verses 12 and 13, be with your family, be with your brothers and sisters in all that you do, in all that happens you are in it together as the church family, and as the family, be close to your father. Be in prayer always.

The first truth we see here in this passage is that Community is Essential in Christian Life, if you are writing things down write that down, Community is Essential in Christian Life. If we look at these verses all of this is in the context of community of the church. Christian Community is the christian life, this text tells us, there is no real solo christianity. There is no way to have christian life, that does not involve christian community, lone wolf christianity, is just hubris. There are no Christian Rambos, where it is you against the world and you are a one man christian army. No where in scripture does it advocate for a solo christianity.

So as the church, we are called to be family. We are called to serve according to our gifts. Just as a in a family everyone has different roles and gifts, so does the church.

A good example of this right now is in our music department, the church has stepped up and shouldered music in the worship services. And that is no small task, from printing out music, to song selection, to scheduling people, to holding rehearsal. To getting up here and leading to all the musicians playing. And are we perfect no, but it is genuine, it is holding fast to what is good. Church, I know that I can tell the past few weeks y’all have really sang out in both services. The Church has taken ownership of music and I think this is a really good example to the church, that the church raises up leaders, and that the church is called to serve, and is called to serve one another. of you see someone involved in music, tell them you appreciate them. encourage them, because they are doing a great job.

The church is thrives in community, community is the environment the church was meant to exist in.

Paul is saying, this is how you start to put your theology in to practice. This is where rubber meets road.

The Church grows in the Community

So let’s keep going, look at verse 14 and 15, Romans 12:14-16

Romans 12:14–16 ESV

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

What do we see here? We see some more imperatives, but these are different, these are for how we relate to the community around the church.

Remember this was written to the church in Rome, by this time the Roman officials were already starting to take issue with christians, because we believe Jesus is Lord, which means Caesar is not. Usually, the romans were fairly tolerant towards other religions, as long as you venerated Cesar, and submitted to Cesar as Lord, you were good with the Romans, they would almost encourage you to have a different religion as long as you would venerate Cesar, it was like a weird celestial insurance policy, the Romans were trying to cover their bases, if their religion was not right, at least someone in the empire had it right.

but Christianity was different, Christianity believed that Christ is Lord, and Cesar is not, we submit to the lordship of Christ, not the Lord ship of Caesar. Christians did not see Cesar as a god, because there is only one God. We know this, and we believe this, Christ is Lord. but the Roman Officials were already to starting to take umbrage with Christians. So there was probably already some persecution going on towards christians, nothing like what was coming from Nero, but that was not far off. Even in Paul’s life, he was imprisoned in a Roman Prison, which is not a great prison system known for reformation, but known for brutality.

but what does Paul say here? Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Know that God is sovereign in all situations and that how we react to persecution is a part of the witness of the church.

Then what does he say, Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. This is how we are to interact with out community, we are supposed to be in our community, we should know our community. The Church Grows in Community, if you are writing things down, write that down, The Church grows in community.

everyone you meet is a potential new brother or sister in Christ, everyone you meet needs the redemptive work of the Gospel. If we are not getting outside the four walls we will not see the church grow, and more importantly we are being disobedient to our call.

Look at what Paul says in verse 16-18 Romans 12:16-18

Romans 12:16–18 ESV

16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Paul is saying to live in peace with everyone. The second half of 16 Paul is saying here to not think too much of ourselves, associate with the lowly, weirdly, Garth Brooks was right, have friends in low places, do not think too highly of your self. the christian life is a life of humility because at one time, you were the person on the low place, you were the person who needed redemption. As christians discipleship is the goal, and to do that we have to lead people to the feet of Jesus. A great theologian whose name escapes me once said, we are just beggars showing other beggars where to get bread.

We aren’t better than anyone else. How we interact with the community matters.

Verse 18, Romans 12:18

Romans 12:18 ESV

18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

This verse is the culmination of of these verses, and Paul os meaning here is our goal is to not set out to offend people, our goal is not to be obstinate for the sake of being obstinate. Now as Christians, we are going to offend people, our goal is not to set out to offend, but as we share the Gospel we are going to offend people with our message. The Gospel is inherently offensive to a culture who sees truth as relative and who see no absolute authority. The Gospel is going to offend people because it calls people to repentance and redemption but first it points out that sin is real and that this world and the people in it are in fact broken.

So let it be said of us that if we are going to cause offense it needs to be the gospel, and nothing else if it is up to us, or our actions.

Okay so, let’s keep going. Look with me at this last section. 19-21

It is much of the same thing but there is a part about vengeance. Paul here is making a point to show that God does care about Justice and what we would call vengeance will carried out by the perfect justice of God. Paul alludes here to the old testament in Dt. 32:35

Deuteronomy 32:35 ESV

35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’

I’m not gonna lie, that is pretty heavy, and as the church we should take comfort in the fact that all things will be made right one day. But Paul here is telling us to not worry about vengeance, we are not called to worry with vengeance, because vengeance is not ours. We as the church should be concerned with the mission of God, which is to make disciples, that is a life long task and we do not have time to fool with vengeance.

P 2 Christ

So what do we do with this? Why are we talking about this, How shall we then live?

Look with me at this last verse, this verse sums up this entire passage.

Romans 12:21 ESV

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

We are to not be overcome with Evil. What was one of the main refrains in the whole of our study in Revelation? “To the one who conquers” Evil will not overcome us, because we are the ones who hold on to what is good. We are the one who know who is good. We are going to be able to overcome evil, because we are in the family of God. We are made good, we are made righteous by our Father. So how shall we then live? What does it look like to be a Christian? What does it look like to be a follower of Christ? This passage spells it out plain as day. This is what we do as Christians. This is how we are to live. No matter the circumstances we may find ourselves in, we follow the foot steps of our Father, we follow the foot steps of Christ. He willingly walked to the cross so that we would be crucified with Him, so that he would take our sins upon him, so that we could be righteous and adopted as sons and daughters of God, as sons and daughters of the King.

So how shall we then live? With one foot in front of the other, following after Christ, making disciples, and any situation we find ourselves in, we know that we are sons and daughters of the King.

when suffering comes our way, hold fast to what is good, hold fast to who is good. When we see the brokenness of this world, and see injustice, abhor what is evil, weep with those who weep. Do not be over come by evil, overcome evil with good. The Evil One will be overcome by the One who is Good. Christ is our protector, Christ is our conquer, Christ is Savior, Christ is King.

The beauty of the Gospel is that it is not what we can do to earn it, but what Christ has already done to redeem us. We cannot get to God on our own power, but Christ has come to us. To lead us home to the Fathers House. If you are Follower fo Christ here today, this text is painting a very clear picture of how you are live your life. Let your love love be genuine, Abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil by doing good. This is the way, walk in it. One foot in front of the other, following Christ.

If you are not a follower of Christ, this text is calling you to repentance and submission, this text gives you a peak at to what awaits you after this life is over if you have not submitted to the Lordship of Christ.

for the day of their calamity is at hand,

and their doom comes swiftly.’

This texting is calling you to consider what is good, and who is ultimately God. Christ has already made a way for you be in right relationship with God, walk in his footsteps. Lay down what ever life you had in mind, for the life that can only be found in Christ. If you have any questions about what that looks like, come talk to me, talk to to friend, talk to someone. Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow may be too late.

let your love be genuine, abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. Y’all Pray with me.

pray.