This morning’s sermon looked at Rom 12:9-21, verses packed with commands about how we should be and what we should do. It’s important to get the balance between knowing, being and doing right; all three are important to a balanced Christian walk.
For us to be the people God wants us to be and live a life of service as commanded in Rom 12:9-21, we have to have God (and love) at the centre of our beings – Christ living in us (see Gal 2:20-21). All our doing, if it’s simply oriented in ourselves, will not be enough to please God; all our striving to be ‘better people’ can’t actually get us close enough to God (see Rom 3:23, John 15:4).
Being
Paul gives us 6 commands about how we should be and 4 about how we should not be. The positives are:
1.Be devoted to one another in love
2.Be joyful in hope
3.Be patient in affliction
4.Be faithful in prayer
5.Be willing to associate with people of low position
6.Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone
The negatives are:
1.Never be lacking in zeal
2.Do not be proud
3.Do not be conceited
4.Do not be overcome by evil
Paul reminds us that love has to be free from hypocrisy and dissimulation; it has to be sincere. Much of what he talks about here relate to the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, patience, faithfulness etc.), another indication that we must have God’s life within us if we are to be all that He intends us to be. Humility and pride are contrasted, and we are not be slothful or indolent, but must have God’s energy, enthusiasm and passion within us. If we are going to do what is right, we have to ‘be careful’, having thought through beforehand what God’s Word says to do in certain situations, for in a crisis, we will react instinctively. Knowledge has to be assimilated, hence the need for transformed and renewed thinking (Rom 12:1-2).
Doing
Some of the things we are commanded to do (such as showing hospitality to people and honouring others) seem eminently practical and reasonable. Many of these commands are connected with others so that there is a balance between what we shouldn’t do and what we should do. Paul tells the Romans to hate what is evil and cling to what is good, for example, offering us a contrast between our response to evil and our response to good, reminding us that we are to be ‘glued’ to all that God says is good (which is why we need to know God’s Word.) However, much of what Paul teaches us in this section goes against the grain: we are commanded to bless those who persecute us and not to take revenge, for example, showing kindness and forgiveness to all (see also Matt 5:43-45, Eph 4:32). Thackeray commented, ‘Revenge may be wicked, but it’s natural’ , and we often feel that God asks more of us than is humanly possible.
We need not only to reflect on Jesus’s response to enemies (see Luke 23:34) but how Christ’s life in us produces the same response (see Acts 7:60). Paul is calling for supernatural behaviour indicating a spiritual origin and maturity. We cannot live the Christian life from the outside in, but from the inside out. As Darrell Bock says, ‘The reason the disciple can love all humanity is that the disciple knows that God will deal justly with all one day.’ We have to give room for God’s vengeance, understanding that He will deal with everything justly (see also Matt 5:40-42, Luke 6:36).
Paul sums up this section of advice and commands by saying, ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’ (Rom 12:21) We may feel that evil is prevalent and will prevail, but God reminds us that He is in control and love never fails. Martin Luther King Jr said, ‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.’ As Boromir discovered in The Lord of the Rings, the evil ring of power could not be used to wage war against the Dark Lord. Evil cannot be overcome by a stronger force of the same kind; it can only be overcome by good. Paul tells the Ephesians to ‘put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.’ (Eph 6:13) If we are to stand strong this year, we have to be integrated people, people who know the truth of God’s Word and who live by that truth, people who are becoming all that God intended us to be as we allow Him free reign in our lives and people who will do all the things God tells us to do, whether those things make sense to us or not.