Love as a Way of Life

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:9-13

We’ve seen our Lord’s instructions through Paul about the workings of the spiritual gifts within the Church. Now we have instructions about how to conduct our daily lives in all situations.

The quoted text is from the New International Version. For the first phrase of verse 9, I prefer the New American Standard, which states it: “Love without hypocrisy.” Somehow it just seems more to the point. “Sincere” is a perfectly fine and meaningful word, but somehow seems to imply a saccharin, pseudo-sweetness. It must be because of my basic aversion to pious pomposity and phony shows of affection. It is an overused term in describing someone who is teaching false doctrine, but is loveable and “so sincere.” Better yet, why not “love must be REAL.” Real love is not loving for show, or for advantage, or because of indebtedness. Real love is not trying to flatter or impress. Real love comes from within the soul of the believer who is spirit-filled and overflowing with God’s grace toward fellow believers. Real love flows from the giver and is unconditional, like God’s love for us. Matter-of-fact. Benevolent. Consistent. Not necessarily “touchy-feely.”

We express our relationship to Christ by our abhorrence of evil, our loving attentiveness to one another, our zeal for the Lord, our joy, patience, faithfulness, prayer and generosity. These things are not difficult for the spirit-filled believer to practice. But from there it gets a little harder to comprehend:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Romans 12:14-16

Bless those who persecute us? Don’t curse those who make our lives more difficult? That’s the command. Now, that takes real grace. One must have strength of character to handle that. Some folks are rejoicing, some are mourning. Sensitivity to the life situations of others enables us to share their moments of victory or sorrow. We must not base our friendships on anyone’s socio-economic status. Jesus never excluded anyone who wanted to be his friend.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:17-21 

Here it is again: don’t retaliate. God knows all things. He knows what is happening to us and who is doing it. God will recompense those who persecute His own. Knowing this, and depending on the care of our Good Shepherd, our response to persecution should be: if our enemy is in need, feed him, give him drink, and wait for the Lord to deal with the evil one. The Lord will do a much more thorough job of avenging His children than we can ever do. We don’t have to see it being done, but we can relax in the certain knowledge that it will happen.

What can your enemy look forward to, who is harassing you unmercifully? Burning coals.

Personal retaliation involves YOU in the evil of your tormenter. That makes you of the same mentality as the evil one and will bring you under discipline from God. Responding in a Christlike manner keeps you in fellowship with God and will, through God’s direct intervention, overcome the evil.

Brethren, let’s just be on our best behavior toward the enemies of our faith, honoring the One we represent, and remember those burning coals.

Distribution of Gifts

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Romans 12:3-8 NIV

The grace given to Paul was his apostolic authority to instruct the Church in doctrine and conduct. After addressing the issue of Gentile believers thinking ourselves superior to the Jews, then he explained how the various gifts work together in the Church. At salvation we are given different spiritual gifts, but none are superior to the others, because it takes all of us parts to function as a whole. That’s how it works in a physical body, and that’s how it works in the spiritual Body of Christ. The physical body parts are not in competition; they have to function together for us to think, speak, walk, eat, write and get our work done. Likewise, the Church is composed of many different categories of people, each with at least one divinely bestowed spiritual gift, to do the work of Christ in the world. We need to keep in mind what our individual gifts are, what our calling is, and serve within that framework for the best results.

When the believer studies the Bible systematically, prayerfully and consistently under the teaching of a well-qualified pastor-teacher in a local Church, he will become aware of his spiritual gift, which is likely functioning, whether he knows it or not. As one grows in grace, he becomes more familiar with his gift and learns to cultivate it for the edification of the Church.

Some of the spiritual gifts listed in this passage were legitimate before the canon of scripture was complete, but not after.  This is an important distinction in Church age doctrine. Trying to perpetuate certain pre-canon gifts within the Church has caused great confusion among some groups. The word "canon" means "standard" or "rule." It is the list of authoritative and inspired Scriptures. In Protestant Christianity, the canon is the body of scripture comprised in the Bible consisting of the 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.

If this is new information to you, please clear your soul of clutter by claiming I John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Then James 1:5 - If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

This will clear the spiritual cobwebs from your soul, restore to you the filling of the Holy Spirit, and prepare you to receive and understand the truth being presented. Many Christians have stunted their spiritual growth by not learning and applying this simple technique for refreshing the soul to learn. We call it rebound. Daily sins and frustrating details of life tend to get the believer side-tracked and many say they just can't seem to memorize scripture, or grasp certain doctrines in Bible class. Relax, concentrate, claim these two promises and dig in. You'll be surprised at what you can learn and remember. Now we're ready.

Some in the Church are gifted to “prophesy.” In the time of this writing the canon of scripture was not yet complete, so some members had the gift of forthtelling God’s Word to the congregation. Now that the canon (“that which is perfect” I Corinthians 13:8-10) is complete, the forthtellers are pastors, teachers and preachers who are anointed and trained to exegete and interpret existing scripture to the congregation. “in accordance with your faith;” the revelations coming through the prophet must be in agreement with the body of truth already revealed. God is not the author of confusion. If what the “prophet” reveals contradicts what is already known of God’s Word, the prophet is not revealing truth. Nowadays, we have the complete canon in writing, so it’s easy to check his information. Individuals in the Church today do not receive new revelations from God. Part of our self-discipline is to recognize and honor the authority of the Bible, and always regard that as the standard of truth.

There are those who are gifted to “serve.” These people are of great importance to the Church, because there are always details to attend to in any assembly. LOTS of details. Service is not always a high profile gift, but it is absolutely necessary to the proper workings of a local congregation. It may have to do with organizing, cleaning, financial accounting, supplying physical necessities, planning, building, even serving at table. Some people are especially good at this kind of work, and especially sensitive to the needs of others. There is nothing “lesser” about such a gift.

The folks who are serving allow the pastor and teaching staff the freedom to study and teach, which is the most important work of the Church. Without accurate and faithful teaching, the members are not equipped to do their own works of ministry. One whose gift is teaching must make studying and teaching God’s Word the priority of his life. He needs the full support of his congregation to prepare for and perform this duty. Others besides the pastor are gifted to teach, also. All teaching within a local congregation must be in doctrinal agreement, and the pastor is the pulpit authority regarding the system of doctrine being taught. Here’s the point: if you are a teacher, and you have doctrinal disagreements with the pastor, you are not qualified to teach in his Church. If you persist in undermining the pastor’s authority it will do damage in that congregation and no one’s gifts can function properly. If you are teaching, get your doctrine straight. It is a serious responsibility.

Some are encouragers. Oh, what treasures these people are! The pastor needs encouragement to continue his stressful duties. I liken the pastor’s work to motherhood. His job is to study and teach, but almost everyone wants “a piece” of him, and it is grueling, 24/7 work. Every pastor needs at least one really faithful encourager for spiritual and emotional support, and lots of prayer. The encouragers in a congregation also are helpful to show love and support to truth-seekers, new believers, down-and-outers, returning prodigals, new parents, new widows; all of whom will be with us from time to time. They need to have mentors who will help them and pray for them in their life struggles.

Everyone is expected to give money and other gifts to support the local Church or help those with material needs. Some folks are actually gifted for this. They seem to see needs and have incomes and access to resources that the average believer does not have, and their generosity is above and beyond what is required. They keep things going when the outlook might not be the best. God provides extra for folks like this, because they will share where it is needed.

There are leadership positions that are not necessarily pastoring or teaching. The bigger the congregation, the greater the need for leaders. God appoints some to take the lead and see that things get done. It is a huge responsibility and should not ever be taken for granted.

Then there are those merciful folks. They see the failures of others, and rather than judge, they comfort and help them. They realize that all of us have our areas of weakness and everyone bottoms out every now and then. When a bungled believer has absolutely nothing to offer except his sorrow and contrition, the merciful among us will forgive him and help him get reoriented to the Christian Way of Life, without “I told you so’s.” When a believer has royally screwed up his life and needs help, it doesn’t matter to the merciful how he got in that mess. He needs help now. The merciful will help him now, and do it with a relaxed mental attitude, expecting nothing in return.

We’re in this together, Brethren. Each of us has a divinely appointed job to do. We can do it by exercising our own gifts within the congregation, and not envying or criticizing the gifts of others. God gave us our jobs. He is the only judge of how we do them.

By the way, if you pluck out an eye or cut off a toe, that member loses its function. There is no production from a severed body part. That’s why I believe none of these spiritual gifts work in isolation. It is within a local assembly that our gifts work, for the edification and production of each member of the Church. Respect for and support of each other is what gets the job done.

True and Proper Worship

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. 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. Romans 12:1-2

“Therefore,” because of all God’s graciousness and mercy Paul has described in the previous chapters, let us offer our living bodies (our whole persons) to be at the disposal of the Holy Spirit. “True and proper worship” can also read “reasonable, logical service.” We’ve seen this principle stated before in Romans 6:13. We have that choice. Remain instruments of sin and live under constant discipline and frustration, or represent God boldly and accurately in everything we think, speak or do. This is a much more fulfilling life.

Having instructed the Church in the great doctrines of total depravity (all are sinners), unlimited atonement (Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection paid the penalty for all sins) and universal grace to all humanity (eternal life is freely given to all who believe in Jesus Christ), Paul now launches into a lecture on practical theology, or application of grace doctrines for the Body of Christ. In order to grow spiritually, the believer must be oriented to God’s grace. God deals with us in grace because of His character, not because of ours. We are totally undeserving; that’s what makes it grace. The one in authority is the dispenser of grace. All we can do is receive what is freely given.

The more we learn about the character of God, the more grace-oriented we will become. Grace mental attitude is what we must develop to live the Christian Way of Life. The Christian Way of Life is not a competition. We each must learn to live our own lives as unto the Lord, with a “let live” (relaxed) attitude toward others. My own life. That’s the one I’m responsible for, and verse 2 tells me how to get that one on the right spiritual track:

“Do not be conformed to the worldliness of this age.” “Conformed”… fashioning yourself after “this world" describes a mental attitude of human viewpoint. Human viewpoint is the thinking of the unsaved man, who has no Holy Spirit guidance within his soul. Human viewpoint caters to the old sin nature. Pursuing the lusts of the flesh. Practicing mysticism. Occultism. Making decisions based on emotion (emotion cannot think!). Allowing nay-sayers and skeptics to influence our beliefs. Being ashamed to acknowledge Jesus Christ publicly. Compromising true doctrine to appease our fellow man. Allowing legalists to bully us into a works system. Worrying about circumstances we cannot change. Being intimidated by the judgment of unbelievers and spiritually stunted, neutralized Christians. That’s worldliness.

We are no longer of the world, so our way of life needs to reflect a new attitude: Grace. Love. Confidence. Peace. Faith-Rest. Let’s represent our Lord’s character. Here’s how:

“Be transformed”…changed. Oh, yes we can. That’s the whole plan. This cannot happen before you are saved, it happens after we receive the Holy Spirit and begin to learn and grow in grace under the leadership of a responsible, knowledgeable pastor-teacher and with the supportive mentoring of like-minded believers. It happens through the “renewing of your mind.” A continuous process of prayerfully submitting to the teaching of the Word of God. We learn to discern what is divine viewpoint (the mind of Christ) and why it is so superior to human viewpoint (childish self-indulgence, emotional do-goodism, counterfeit moral code, aren’t-we-wonderful mentality). We learn to know about God’s absolutely righteous, acceptable, and perfect (complete) will.

James 4:4 “…don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

As believers in the Church Age, we are permanently IN CHRIST. That is our eternal position from the moment of salvation. When we believed in His perfect atonement on the cross, we were spiritually sanctified (set apart unto God) forever. To realize a life of purpose and definition in our physical bodies (experiential sanctification), this personal transformation Paul is teaching about must be our priority. We have been freed from the enslavement of sin and the world. We are now free to fashion our minds after the Lord of the Universe, our Savior Jesus Christ. It is of utmost importance that we remember Whose we are.

God gave us His Word in writing. That is our standard for truth. Anything we see, hear or read that is contrary to God’s written Word is simply false. Any prophetic pronouncement that is unverifiable in scripture is false. Don’t waste your time on someone’s dreams and visions and feelings. If God wants us to know a principle, it is in His Word. We humans are easily deceived, but we don’t have to be. We have the provision of the Bible, we have the Holy Spirit teaching our human spirits to know the person of our God, Who is the source of everything in life. Knowing Him, loving Him and soaking up the doctrines of His Word, daily, are the means of renewing our minds so that we can think like Christ.

Willing

So many religions. So many denominations. So many cults. So many sects. "Holy" books, preachers, gurus, mystics! What's a seeker to do? Jesus has the answer in John 7:17.

"If any man is willing to do (God's) will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak of myself."

There's that all-important "if." Our understanding of God's Word is in proportion to our willingness to do His will. That's a startling qualifier for us humans to face up to. Everyone is seeking something in life, to enhance his daily experience. We need to have some meaning and purpose to justify the air we breathe. We need to realize life on a higher plane than the merely physical. At some point, everyone starts to investigate the spiritual realm.

Many go in for the "do good" religions, always working, always seeking to improve their service to mankind, always evaluating the effects of their work as a measure of worthiness. How much is enough?

Which works are more important? How do we choose one person's need as more pressing than the needs of another?

Some seem to always be searching for a feeling; a type of ecstasy that transports one to spiritual heights. The feeling must be maintained or all is lost.

There are systems of legalism, whereby the followers constantly must keep score of their good deeds versus the personal sins in their lives as they try to achieve the perfect standard of holiness they have set as their goal. (Whose standard?)

These things go on and on, because humanity needs God, and that hunger for God will not go away until we know our relationship with Him  is secure. The problem with these religions and points systems is that there can never be enough. Man by mans effort can never be perfect. Man by mans intellect can never have real understanding of God's truth. We can never be spiritual by willing ourselves to be spiritual. We become spiritual by willing to do God's will.

That's the simple, profound secret to knowing God's truth. Those who are truth seekers must humble themselves before almighty God and make themselves "sponges" for His will. Then the doors will be opened and the blessings will be poured out. "Precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little" Isaiah 28:10.

When we are willing to do God's will, we are empty vessels to receive all He has to give us. We learn about Jesus' finished work to save us from sin. Believing that, we are born again to new life in Christ. We learn a scripture. We believe that word from God. We file that in our memory banks to be applied to our daily life. As we learn and apply more of God's word, He gives us more, and guides us to those Bible study helps and Bible teachers who can help us to greater understanding. This brings growth, stability, assurance, peace of mind. The more we understand and obey of God's word, the more we will receive. God's grace is multiplied!

"He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but He who is seeking the glory of the one who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." John 7:18

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord...2 Peter 1:2