Therefore, Living in Light of Truth
In this final, synoptic study of Romans 12, we will reflect on some of the major themes from this chapter over the past ten weeks in an effort to see clearly what the Scripture means when it tells us to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed—be different! Transformation is a process! It starts with a decision to offer our lives to the Lord. Then the Lord works in us—humbling us and teaching us how to serve others within our giftedness. As we serve Him by serving others, it is His desire that our lives display the marks of a true Christian—genuine love for one another, diligent service to the Lord, patience in tribulation, persistence in prayer, and generosity in everything. Exhibiting these characteristics of a true believer is essential in our quest for overcoming the evil that persists in our lives. And we must never forget that the only way to gain victory over evil is with the righteousness of God.
Over the last two weeks, we’ve been taking a closer look at the final section of Romans 12. In this instruction, Paul gives several ways in which the believers at Rome (and by extension, to us as well) are to overcome evil with good. In light of the love and compassion that God has shown us who are in Christ Jesus, how are we supposed to treat those who oppose us and persecute us? Today’s message from Romans 12:19-20 gives us the answer.
Last week, I began our study through this last section of Romans 12. We focused in on the idea of blessing those who mistreat and malign you. We considered two ways that Paul encourages us to overcome evil with good. In today’s message, we will continue to discover what it means to overcome evil with good as we look at Romans 12:16-18.
Just as Paul challenges believers to love with authenticity in verses nine through thirteen, he is now challenging believers to overcome evil with good in verses fourteen through twenty-one. These two phrases—let love be genuine and overcome evil with good—serve as bookends to this section dealing with the characteristics of true believers. Starting in today’s study and continuing to the end of this series, we will be considering specific steps that we must take in order to overcome evil with good.
In this morning’s study, we are concluding this section of Romans 12 that is focused on genuine, authentic love. In today’s text, we learn that to genuinely love means to be generous with what God has blessed you and be gracious when others try to bless you. It also means that we should be generous in opening our lives and our homes to others and be gracious to accept invitations from others.
As we look at this next verse of Scripture in Romans 12, we want to take time to discover its unique characteristics and teaching, but we also want to see how it fits into the totality of teaching here in this passage. In order to do that, we need to take a moment to look at the immediate context of verse 12 to discern the characteristics of genuine, authentic love.
Today we are continuing our sermon series “Therefore” in the book of Romans Chapter 12. In Verse 11, Paul encourages us to live with diligence, to live with a fervent spirit, to serve the Lord. Our call to diligence doesn’t mean we just need to go do any stuff. In reference to verse 11, this call on our lives is the consistent and persistent effort to pursue God’s will and fulfill our responsibilities with a right attitude. We are going to explore how we can achieve that in our personal spiritual walk, in serving others, and sharing the Gospel.
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” It is good to rejoice over God’s gracious salvation and give thanks for His grace extended to us in Christ Jesus. But is that all we should? How deeply should God’s grace affect us? Pastor Ron shares how grace transforms our character and changes the way we treat those around us.
As an individual member of the body of Christ, a believer is the vessel by which God graciously reaches out to mankind through his/her words and actions. This is God’s charis (grace), charisma (spiritual gift, singular) or charismata (spiritual gifts, plural) at work in and through the believer. God does not want believers to live their lives under their own power, but always in dependence upon God and the outworking of His grace. When we choose to live in His power and under His control, the impact of our lives on others will be beyond anything we can imagine.
In our sermon last week, we focused in on how God wants His children to be different—we said “peculiar”—not conformed to the standards of this world but offering our lives completely to Him as holy, pleasing, living sacrifice. In some ways, the peculiarity of living a life for Christ can—in some demented way—meet this desire in us to be extraordinary. In fact, it is not uncommon for people who consider themselves to be completely sold-out to God to become proud of their perceived holiness. We may all have a deep-seated desire to be extraordinary, but God is calling us to be ordinary. If we are the superhero of our stories, there is no room for God to be glorified in or through us. But, when we see ourselves for who we are—and see God for who He really is—we will begin to see our part in His kingdom work, and our role in this work is a small (but essential) part of a much bigger work that God is accomplishing through the local, New Testament church!