Romans chapter 12 Romans chapter 12 and then we'll start reading from verse 3 to verse 18 For by grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body, we have many members, and the members do not all have same function. So we, though many, are one body in Christ. and individual members, one of another, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. Let us use them. If prophecy in proportion to your faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does act of mercy with cheerfulness. Verse nine. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. be constant in prayer, contribute to the needs of the saints, and seek to show hospitality. We live in times where families, churches, communities, political parties, and many other institutions face similar problems, which is division. People are struggling to live with each other. You go to a workplace, you find employees plotting against their bosses. You watch the news, you hear that a political party that is less than two years old has split. You think religion will be better. You find out that pastors who are in the same church are now in competition, leading different churches in one building. You look at a family you grew up admiring, you see couples who have been married for 20 years separating. People go to school together, work together, live together, and even do business together, but they cannot stand each other. However, this is not something new. In the Book of Romans, Paul shows us two different groups, the Jews and the Greeks, or Gentiles. The relationship this group had was not a good one. In the eyes of men, it was impossible for these groups to unite because of the differences they had. In chapter one, Paul shows that the Gentiles or Greek have sinned against God. In chapter two, he shows that like Gentiles, Jews have also sinned against God. He concludes in Romans 3 verse 23 by saying, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. From there, he shows that there is hope for both groups. Both the Jews and the Greeks can be justified by faith alone. Then, in chapters 9 to 11, he shows how God previously worked through Israel to fulfill his redemption promise, and how Gentiles are also part of God's plan. Today, we are going to focus on chapter 12. In this chapter, Paul shows that God's people who have been justified are part of one body, the church community. Now that calls for unity. It is significant to note that Paul begins with justification before moving to unity. That is because true unity can only be found in Christ. True unity is only made possible by Christ. True unity is the bond that ties those who are in Christ. True unity is not possible outside Christ. By looking at 13 exhortations found in Romans 12 verses 9 through 13, I would like us to see three lessons that will ensure we remain united as a church. To remain united as a church, one, we must love one another. Verses 9 to 10. Two, we must strive together. Verses 11 to 12. And three, we must sacrificially care for each other. Verse 18. Let's look at our first point. To remain united as a church, we must love one another. Verse 9. Let love be genuine. Abort what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Like almost every church in the first century, the Church of Rome comprised both Jews and Gentiles. One of the first challenges that the church, as it began in Jerusalem, faced was incorporating Gentiles into their midst. The history between the two groups was not a good one. The Jews had always considered the Gentiles unclean, and they could not even sit or eat with them. Even after being enlightened, after knowing Christ, it was still difficult for the Jews to accept Gentiles as one of them. They thought salvation was only for the Jews. The pride of the Jews was in what Paul said in Romans 9, verse 4 to 5, when he said, to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenant, the giving of the law, the worship, the promises. To them belong the patriarch, and from their race, according to their flesh, is the Christ who is God over all. As recipients of this benefit, they wanted to hold on to them without sharing them with the Gentiles who were their enemies. We see this struggle even among the apostles of our Lord. They never thought they were supposed to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, up until Peter's vision in Acts 10. and this one reads, now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him saying, you went to uncircumcised men and ate with them. Even after understanding that the gospel was not only for the Jews, but for the Gentiles as well. They still had that Jewish conscience that made it difficult to see, or at least to accept Gentiles as one of them. We see that even with Peter's hypocrisy in Galatians 2 verse 11 to 14. But it was not only Jews who possessed this hostility. Paul warned Gentiles as well in Romans 11. He warned them against pride and arrogance. Since Jews were hardened and they were grafted in, there was a temptation to boast, thinking they were better. Not knowing the history, or rather, now knowing the history and the continual conflict between the two groups, Paul speaks about love to the Roman church. With the background they had, there was a possibility of just tolerating one another or of pretense. So Paul says, you are members of one body, united by trust, your love should be genuine. More than mere acknowledgment that you are members of one church, more than mere acknowledgment that Christ has saved both groups, you should love one another. Just like Paul's command to the Church of Rome, what drives our unity should be love, not just toleration. We should not fellowship together or serve one another just because we belong to the same church, but also because we love one another. Love should be sincere, clear, and visible. If there is one thing that people should never doubt, it is that we love one another. Because of Christ, we should be the model of what it means to love one another. Love comes from Christ. There is no true unity without love. Paul follows that by saying, Apo, what is Israel? Biblically, a command to love is not a call to compromise. By instructing the Romans to love one another, Paul was not permitting them to accept everything. In 1 Corinthians 13, verse 6, he says, love does not rejoice a drunk twin, but rejoices with the truth. Love is not a compromise of truth. Instead, it harmonizes with truth. Hence, Paul says, a poet is evil. It's like, after instructing them to love genuinely, he then tells them what loving genuinely looks like. He uses two contrasting words. he uses two contrasting words, which is abhor. That is the first word that he uses. And then the second word that he uses, it is to clean. So what we must notice here is that in the immediate context, and he's talking about sincere love, what they should hate here is hypocrisy and pretence. Paul is showing the Romans that loving genuinely means hating pretense, hating hypocrisy, and hating everything that hinders genuine love. The word abhor that Paul uses here is a strong word. It means to utterly detest. It means to see something as an abomination and to depart from it. Perhaps people might expect the usage of this word when talking about sexual sin, murder, and other sins that are deemed more heinous by many. But Paul shows that anything that acts like genuine love when in fact it is pretense, it is a serious evil and should be hated by anyone who claims to be a Christian. Now, while believers should abhor what is evil, they must hold fast or cling to what is good. A believer must be glued or firmly attached to what is good. There is anything associated with genuine love, as we will see later. After using these two words, abort and hold fast, to show them what loving genuinely looks like, Paul tells them how they should love one another. In verse 10, he says, love one another with brotherly affection. This phrase has to do with blood relationships. It was originally used between parents and their kids, and even among siblings. Many parents will tell you that this type of love comes naturally. They just love their kids. They don't struggle when it comes to loving them. The kids can frustrate the parents all day long. They can even make them angry, but they will never stop loving their kids. God referred to this kind of love in the book of Isaiah, showing how unlikely it is for a mother not to care for her kid. Isaiah 49 verse 15. Can a woman forget her nursing child that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? That might be possible in special instances, but it is highly unlikely. Paul tells the Romans that the special love that you normally reserve for your blood relatives is the love that you should have for one another. believe us as special people chosen by God, called by God, saved by God, loved by God, adopted by God to his own family. Because of Christ, we believers are blood relatives. We are a family. Therefore, we should love one another with brotherly affection, which is what Paul says. In Romans 13, after commanding them to pay taxes to whom taxes are owed, Paul showed the Romans one debt they can never settle. If we look at Romans 13 verse 8, I love how NIV put it. It says, let not debt remain outstanding, except continuing debt to love one another. For whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. Brothers and sisters, we have a debt. If we want to remain united as a church, we must remember this. We owe each other. I owe you love, you owe me love. This is a permanent debt. Listen to what Martin Luther said. He said, Christian is a servant to all and subject to everyone because of love. We conclude, therefore, that a Christian lives not in himself, but in Christ and in his neighbor. Otherwise, he's not a Christian. He lives in Christ through faith in his neighbor through love. By faith, he's caught up beyond himself into God. By love, he descends beneath himself into his neighbor. If you think about it, the scripture warns us about self-love, but commands us to love one another. The focus should be on others more than on ourselves. Paul goes on to say, outdo one another in showing honor. By nature, human beings love to be honored. They love to be respected. They love to be served. They always want to be on the receiving end. When you talk to people who are bitter because of a breakdown they had in any kind of relationship, mostly you will hear them talking about how they were mistreated or how they didn't receive the respect that they expected. It is never about what they give. It is always about what they should receive. People fail to value and appreciate the love they receive every day because they want more. Now, if you only focus on how people treat you, you will never be satisfied. Paul here is against that attitude of doing nothing other than expecting to be on the receiving end. The word I'll do here, it means to go before, to lead the way. In other words, he is saying to the Romans, take a leadership role in showing honor. This should be our attitude. We should not expect to be recipients. We should not be the ones who complain saying, no one talks to me, no one invites me. Instead, we should be the ones who lead the way. A question that should be always on our heart and our mind is, how can I love others? Or how can I serve others? Having seen how we ought to love one another, we move to our second call. To remain united as a church, we must strive together. That is verses 11 to 12. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. serve the Lord, rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. The word zeal is the word Paul normally uses when he talks about earnestness, persistent effort, or even hard work. As we saw in verse eight, he said, the one who leads must do it with zeal. Here he says, do not be slothful or lazy in zeal. What it simply means is do not be a passive Christian. Do not be an uninvolved Christian. Do not be a disengaged Christian. We need to strive together. If you are part of the body, you must play your part. For as one body, we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function. So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individual members, one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. Romans 12 verse 4 to 6. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another. As good stewards of God's very grace. 1 Peter 4 verse 10. Rather speaking in truth or rather speaking truth in love, we are to grow up every way into him who is the head into Christ. from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." Ephesians 4, 15 verse 16. Now, since everyone must play his or her role, there is no room for slothfulness. There is no room for slothfulness. So in contrast, Paul shows that what should their attitude be? He says, be fervent in spirit. The word fervent is normally used to refer to water or to a metal that is heated until it boils. Luke used this word to describe the intense zeal that Apollo's brother had when he was teaching about Jesus in Acts 18. In more familiar language, Paul is saying, instead of being lazy, be fired up. That is the same spirit we need for this church plan. The Lord is doing a great work, bringing a biblical church to Pretoria West. It is a privilege to be part of that work. Therefore, we need to be fired up. Whether we share the gospel with others or serve at the church, let us be fervent in spirit. Let us fulfill our Christian mandate. The last part of verse 11 says, serve the Lord. Serve the Lord. Another version says, serving the Lord. Paul is reminding the Romans that service they do is to the Lord. All the exhortation that have been mentioned and those that are still to be mentioned are a service to the Lord. As we fulfill our Christian mandate by evangelizing, attending church service, and serving in different ministries, we are not doing anyone a favor. What we are doing is we are serving the Lord. In fact, this phrase refers to us Christians enslaved, serving God as our master. In other words, Paul is saying, although you should do this gladly and lovingly, this is not just a voluntary service you do whenever you feel like it. This is not a feel-good exercise. You are not saving yourself. As a Christian, it is required of you to do what I'm commanding you. That's what Paul is saying. Paul is not advising them. He is not giving them recommendations. He's giving them wonderful exhortations, which are commandments from the Lord and are to be obeyed. In a church context, mostly we serve God by serving the people he put in our midst. And God commanded us to live in unity. When we love and serve one another, ultimately we are serving him. As we serve God, we also must rejoice in hope. That's what Paul says. As Christians, we have something great to look forward to. We have a glorious hope. We have an eternal hope. We have a living hope. The writer of Hebrews put it this way. Hebrews 6 verse 19 to 20. We have this as a sure, steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the cating, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Beloved, the hope that we have is the anchor of our soul. We are not just optimistic and wishful. The hope we have is sure and immovable. That's what Peter says. He says our inheritance is imperishable, undefiled and unfading. One preacher told a story about Einstein. One day, Einstein was traveling using a train. When he got on the train, he lost his ticket, unfortunately. So the conductor came looking for a ticket. And when he saw that Einstein was looking for his ticket, he said, don't worry, Einstein. I know who you are. The conductor left. Then a few minutes later, he came back. And to his surprise, Einstein was still looking for his ticket. So the conductor assured him again that he didn't need to worry because he knew who he was. But Einstein replied and said, I also know who I am, but I don't know where I'm going, which is why I'm looking for a ticket. Now, unlike Einstein, we know who we are and we know where we are going. We don't have the promises only, but you also have the one through whom all the promises of God find their fulfillment. We have Christ. We have Christ. So as we strive together, we should rejoice in that hope. In fact, the writer of Hebrews referring to Christ said, for the joy that was set before him, he enjoyed the cross. Now the question is, what joy was set before Christ? This is the joy that was set before Christ. A joy of redeeming us so that we may no longer be slaves of sin. A joy of justifying us so that we may no longer be guilty. A joy of reconciling us to God so that we may no longer be His enemies. A joy of breaking down the wall of hostility among His people so that we may live in unity. That is the joy that was said before Christ. Now, since Christ joyously enjoyed the cross, we must gratefully rejoice in hope. Now, seeing that the hope that Christians have is sure and eternal, They have every reason to be patient in tribulation, which is the next thing that Paul talks about. Now, this was a church that was in the capital of Rome. Rome was the greatest empire. If there was one dangerous city to live in as a Christian, it was in Rome. One of the major problems in Rome was the imperial cut, which was the deification or the worship of the emperors. Everybody in the empire was required to burn incense to an altar to the emperor. And it is only after doing that that they were allowed to worship any god they wanted to worship. Now, failure to do that, failure to do or to burn the incense to the emperor meant they were disloyal citizens. Christians in Rome were in danger of facing persecution and distress. For that reason, Paul exhorted them to be patient in tribulation. Life in a fallen world will never be easy for Christians. As we evangelize, trying to show people or trying to show the world the beauty and the worth of Christ, there will be resistance. As we follow Christ together, we are going to find challenges. There will be challenges. It will not be easy. But for us to endure, we need the same thing that they needed, which is to be constant or persistent in praying. Paul knew that for the church to be able to strive together, to endure persecution together, and to keep unity, there was no self-help. The church does not possess her own strength, her own wisdom, or her own solutions. But she must look to him who said, I will build my church, and the gate of hell shall not prevail against it. The best way to do that, it is through a constant prayer. If we are going to strive together, we need to pray together. And above that, we need to pray for one another. This is how Charles Spajon put it. He said, no man can do to me a true kindness in this world than to pray for me. We may face difficult times as a group or as individuals. Whatever the case may be, my brothers and sisters, you are not alone. Don't suffer alone. Don't struggle alone. Let us do this together. Sometimes we might not have answers, but you can pray together. Using the words of Isaiah, let me give you breaking news. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is everlasting God, the creator of the ends of earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might increases strength. Now that everlasting father, that everlasting God is our father. He's the one who loves us. He's the one who sees us. He's the one who hears us. He's the one whose arms are wide open. The one who said, call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you. That God is our father. He's the one that we should pray to. Beloved, our prayers will never be in vain. It is true that God is more willing to answer than we are to pray. In Luke 22, Verse 31, we see one of the scariest thing that Jesus said to Peter. Luke 22, 31 says, Simone, Simone, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. Now, this is clear. Satan wanted to crush Peter, to break him down, to destroy his faith. Now, there was not only directed to Peter, but to the entire group, since the word you is plural there. Satan wanted to destroy the followers of Jesus, and that has not changed. He still wants to destroy the followers of Jesus. But then, after saying one of the scariest things to Peter, Jesus said one of the most comforting things as well. In verse 32, he said, but I have prayed for you. Now, listen to this. Jesus, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the God-man, prayed for Peter in one of the scariest situations he faced. That tells us that prayer should be central to everything we do. It should not be our last resort. As the song says, oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Now, we have seen that to remain united as a church, we must love one another, and we must strive together. Lastly, to remain united as a church, we must sacrificially care for each other. Vested in. contributes to the needs of the saints, and seek to show hospitality. From verse nine, Paul has been largely focusing on the spiritual and emotional side of this unity. However, in verse 13, he turns to the physical part of it. In this verse, he becomes more practical. When Paul wrote this letter, he was in Corinth, and he was about to take contributions from the saints of Macedonia and Achaia to Jerusalem. He had already witnessed the beauty of sacrificial care, because in 2 Corinthians 8, verse one through four, this is what he says. We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. Paul talks about the churches of Macedonia. Now, these were facing difficulties themselves, but when they considered the saints who were struggling in Jerusalem, they decided to make contributions. Now, they had a valid reason not to contribute. Everyone would have understood, and no one really expected them to make any contribution. But Paul says they begged earnestly to take part in the relief of the saints. Instead of being begged to give, they are the ones who begged Paul. They wanted to give. Having seen or experienced this amazing kindness, Paul admonishes the Romans to take care of the needs of the saints as well. He also tells them that they should desire to show hospitality. Now, when we look closer to this, he does not say they should just practice hospitality, but he says they should seek or pursue it. They shouldn't just avail themselves to the opportunities that come, but they should look for opportunities. That's what Paul says here. So in their context, hospitality had to do mostly with accommodating travelers who were total strangers. He was not talking about inviting friends and people they were comfortable being around. But he was talking about giving accommodation to believers they didn't know. Now, if in Scripture we see believers contributing to the need of people they didn't know and being hospitable to people they never met before, how much more should we sacrificially care for one another in the same local church? Saint Aristides, who was an Athenian philosopher, wrote an apologetic work to the Roman emperor Hadrian. It was around year 125. So referring to Christians, this is what he said. He said, they love one another. They do not overlook the widow. And they save the orphan from him who treats him harshly. The one who has ministers unflinchingly to the one who does not have. When they see a stranger, they take him under their own roof, rejoice over him as a true brother. For they do not call themselves brothers according to the flesh, but according to the soul and in God. Now, this is a picture of true Christianity. This is perfect unity in display. This is sacrificial care, and this is only possible in Christ. These, brothers and sisters, are three lessons that will ensure that you remain united as a church. We must love one another. We must thrive together. And we must sacrificially care for each other. These are only possible if you are a Christian. We Christians are the only one who can claim true unity. If you are not united with Christ, you cannot live in true unity with his saints or even with other people. As one man put it, unity without the crossbell is a worthless unity. It is the very unity of hell. Let me close with this verse. 1 John 4, verse 11 to 12. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abide in us and his love is perfected in us. Now let's pray. Our great God, thank you for your dear son, Jesus Christ. In him, we have not only reconciled with you, but we have true unity as his body. Help us that you may grow in this unity by learning how to love one another, how to strive together, and how to care for each other. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.