YouTube video sermon
Romans 12:3-21
Let’s begin this morning by taking a little trip down “memory lane” (for most of you). The year is 1965.
- Average cost of a house was $13,600
- Average cost of a new car was $2,650 (E-Type Jag was $5,500)
- Average yearly income was $6,450
- Cost of a loaf of bread was $0.21, and a gallon of gas $0.31
- The Vietnam War continued to escalate and worsen as more and more men are killed, captured or found missing in action.
- At the same time, the Anti-War movement continued to grow – ultimately giving rise to a march of 35,000 protestors in Washington, D.C. on November 13th.
- There’s civil unrest, rioting, looting and arson in Los Angeles.
- It’s also the first year where mandated health warnings appeared on cigarette packets, and smoking became a “no-no.”
- The latest craze in kid’s toys is the Super Ball and the Skateboard.
- Fashions also changed; women’s skirts got shorter and men’s hair grew longer – unless, that is, you were a knob at The Citadel (like my dad), then you head was shaved.
- The miniskirt made its debut along with a daytime television show that’s still airing today (“Days of Our Lives”).
- The word Hypertext was created to describe linking in early computer systems and computer networking.
- The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is completed and a simple little song is recorded by Jackie DeShannon with lyrics by Hal David and music by Burt Bacharach. (Any guesses as to the title of that song?)
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love.
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.
What the world needs now is love, sweet love.
No, not just for some but for everyone.”
That’s the chorus of this super simple pop hit from 1965. It hit #1 in Canada and broke the Top 10 in the US, finishing at #7. And while the world around us grows darker by the day, spiritually and morally, it’s imperative that Christians shine brighter and brighter.
Indeed, what the world needs now is love. But it’s not “love” for love’s sake. It’s not some ethereal and emotional feeling seeking to detach from reality and the complexities of life. Rather, what the world needs today is love rooted in the mercies of God. What the world needs now is love that’s grounded in the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ. What you and I need to do today, what the church needs to be about today is manifesting the love of Christ by offering ourselves as living sacrifices. And while this might sound easy, can I go ahead and spoil it for you. It’s not.
Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Romans 12. Last week we looked at Paul’s transition from the heavy doctrine of chapters 1-11 to the more practical everyday instruction of chapters 12-16, and what I just offered to you is exactly what Paul said we should do. In view of God’s mercy, reflecting upon the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ, we’re compelled to offer everything we are to God as living sacrifices. Don’t be squeezed into the mold of this world, but rather be changed from the inside out by the renewing of your mind in God’s holy Word aided by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Today, Paul is going to explain what he means by offering yourself as a living sacrifice. In case you’re wondering, “What does a living sacrifice actually look like?” Paul is going to describe it for us. Normally, when we think of the sacrificial process, we think of taking meat off the bone. Today, however, Paul is going to put some meat on the bone. He’s going to offer some pretty basic instructions. He’s going to tell us what a living sacrifice is and does. The difficulty comes in applying what God intended by these instructions and what the world intends by them.
I’m going to begin reading this morning at verse 3 and continue to the end of the chapter (v. 21), and I would like to ask the congregation to stand for the reading of God’s Word:
3 For by the 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. 4 For as in one body we have many members, [parts] and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
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.
Father, even now, as we contemplate these exhortations and injunctions that come to us from the pen of your anointed apostle, we pray that we may feel the weight of these mandates and that they may grasp us in our hearts and in our souls. For we ask it in Jesus’ name, Amen.
This section of Romans 12 breaks down into three fairly distinct parts. Verses 3-8 are a description of what living sacrifices look like to the body of Christ. We see and hear how Christians are to deal with other believers in the church. Verses 9-21 address how living sacrifices are to behave among non-Christians, among the world, among those outside the church. And within verses 9-21 there are at least two groups of people that are hinted at – let’s call them the neighbor and the enemy.
Now, I want to be careful here. Too often we make a distinction in our relationships with other people. We think (and often live as if) there are the church goers (i.e. Christians), there are the good people (nice, friendly, helpful folk that may or may not believe in Jesus), and then there are the bad people (mean-spirited, evil, hateful definitely not believing in God). But the reality – at least according to the Bible – is this: you’re either a believer in Jesus or you’re an enemy of God. There’s no being in the middle. To be in the middle is to be non-believer. There are the sheep and there are the goats. There’s the wheat and there’s the tares. There’s the narrow gate and the wide gate. Over and over we’re told there are two kinds of people in the Bible: those that recognize Jesus for who He is and worship Him and love Him and follow Him, and those that deny Him and reject Him or are just simply indifferent, uninterested, and don’t care.
So, I want to be careful not to set up a false dichotomy, but you can see that some of the instructions and directions given in verses 9-21 can be applied to the general stranger and neighborly co-worker, and others are directed to definite enemies. So, we have instructions on what it looks like to be a living sacrifice among Christian folk, among neighborly non-Christian folk, and among hostile and downright evil folk.
Living Sacrifices Among Other Believers
Following World War II, a group of German students volunteered to rebuild a cathedral that had suffered heavy damage from Allied bombing. There was a large statue of Jesus with outstretched arms which had the inscription “Come unto Me” across the bottom. The hands of the statue had been blown off and couldn’t be reattached, so the students decided. They left the statue of Jesus without hands and changed the inscription to read, “Christ has no hands but ours.”
It’s been suggested that perhaps they got that idea from a poem that’s attributed to St. Teresa of Avila (a 16th century nun) titled Christ Has No Body But Yours. While the authenticity of that story and St. Teresa’s poem are a matter for debate, the message they convey is not: Christians are called to be Christ’s presence in the world today. And that’s what Paul says here.
God has given to each believer a unique way of serving Him. It’s entirely inconsistent with Scripture for a person to be a deeply committed follower of Christ and not have a ministry for Christ. If we’re taking this “living sacrifice” business to heart, and we’re in the process of being transformed from the inside out, then it follows that we will have a ministry. We will have some means of carrying out our devotion to Jesus in this world, and especially in His church.
But before Paul lists some of those areas of ministry, he begins with a sober judgment of one’s self. “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you” (v. 3, NIV). Literally, the Greek text says, “Don’t get hyper about yourself.” We remember that apart from the grace and mercy of God we’re nothing.
And then Paul gives us a list of spiritual gifts: prophecy, serving, teaching, exhortation (or encouragement), giving financially, leadership and mercy. Now, please note, this list is not exhaustive. In fact, you find a similar list in 1 Corinthians 12 that includes additional gifts that aren’t mentioned here. So, don’t look at this list as being all there is to ministry in the body of Christ. Nevertheless, Paul spells out that being the church, being the body of Christ, won’t happen unless we’re all doing our respective parts.
We could spend an entire service just going through each of these gifts, but time doesn’t allow for that. But there are two things I do want you to see before we move on to our next point. Look at verses 4-5 (again), “For as in one body we have many members, [parts] and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
There is absolutely no ranking of gifts. There’s no degree of superiority of one person’s gift as compared to another person’s gift. The fact that prophecy comes before mercy does not make it No. 1 and mercy No. 7. Remember how Paul began this section? (Humility) There’s an awful lot of flaws and sins and mistakes that can be overcome in the body of Christ, but when one person (or a group of people) begins to elevate a particular gift as more important than another watch out. Nip that in the bud. Be gracious, but address it.
We’re all guilty of doing this to some degree or another. For example, by virtue of my being the pastor, many people will perceive preaching as more important than say serving, or teaching more important than leading, or whatever. We need to be careful to keep this in proper perspective. Yes, there’s no denying that preaching and expounding the Word of God is an important part of the life of the church. But remember, when you’re at home recovering from surgery or suffering the pain of cancer treatments or hospice has been called in because your time on earth is drawing to a close, do you want a gifted expositor to visit you or someone with the gift of mercy? Do you want a brilliant teacher or someone with the gift of encouragement or service?
Some of you might even be thinking that you’re off the hook here. “I haven’t been called to preach. I don’t have the gift of teaching. I’m no deacon. I don’t need to serve. I can’t sing or play the piano.” Listen, if you consider yourself a believer… If you’ve experienced regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit… If you’ve confessed your sin and turned to Jesus Christ in faith, then you have a gift.
And, that leads me to the second point I want to make before moving on and that is this; if you’re not presently using your spiritual gift to minister to the church and/or others, then you’re actively sinning and you need to repent of that sin and begin using your gift to bring glory to Christ Jesus. You say, “Well, now, pastor that’s a bit harsh.” Is it? Look at verse 6.
If you’re reading from the ESV, NKJV, NASB, or some other similar translation, then you’ll have a phrase in there that basically says, “…then use your gift…” The ESV says, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them…” The NASB puts it like this, “Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly…” Bottom line – use your gift. Exercise your giftedness by serving the church and serving Christ.
Living Sacrifices Among Non-Believers
As you look at verses 9-21 you notice something very different almost immediately. The difference is even visually noticeable. Paul’s style of writing changes pretty dramatically. It’s somewhat similar to how he ended the previous section on spiritual gifts, but even more pronounced in this section. In fact, it’s almost as if Paul had been in the audience taking notes when Jesus gave His most famous sermon – the Sermon on the Mount – because many of the bullet points and pithy statements that Paul lays out in this section are nothing more than a restatement of Jesus’ teaching.
And this is where putting this “living sacrifices” business into practice gets really difficult. Paul begins with this statement, “Let love be genuine.” Love must be sincere. Let love be without hypocrisy. Don’t just pretend to love others; really love them.
And the reason that I tell you that being a living sacrifice is hard is because our world has a very different definition of love than what the Apostle Paul does here. This is where you and I begin to understand that singing a chorus like “what the world needs now is love, sweet love” just won’t work. Sure, we need love, but we need it to be authentic. We need it to be genuine. It can’t be phony. It can’t be based on platitudes. It can’t be superficial. In fact, the word that Paul uses here is agape. It’s divine love. It’s a supernatural love. It’s a love that comes from knowing Christ and offering yourself as a living sacrifice to Him and His purposes.
And no sooner has Paul given us this platform to start on, then he gives us two very strong statements. He says, “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” This is where being a living sacrifice among non-believers gets uncomfortable. You see, if our secular society had written verse 9 it would only contain the first part: “Let love be genuine.” And then it would skip right over and pick up with verse 10 where Paul speaks of being devoted to one another in brotherly love. But the Bible doesn’t do that. Sandwiched in the middle of the beginning of verse 9 and verse 10 are these hard statements to “Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”
Our world emphasizes love to the extent that it doesn’t make any distinction between good and evil. But by including these two statements, we’re immediately warned of the fact that there are some things that need to be hated. (Please note, I did NOT say some people need to be hated.) Rather, some things need to be abhorred. Some things need to be loathed. Some things need to be despised. Why? Because they’re evil. There are some practices and behaviors that our society allows to take place that are pure evil, and what’s even more disturbing is that our pulpits are silent on the matter.
One of those is abortion. I do not see where the Bible gives women (or men, in the case of forced abortion) the license and freedom to murder, dismember and otherwise extinguish the life of an unborn baby. Another is sexual assault and physical abuse of anyone (child/teenager/adult). When we start justifying evil according to our understanding, we dilute the truth of God’s Word. For example, when we rename adultery an “affair,” and homosexuality an “alternative lifestyle,” and murder of the unborn as “choice,” then we’re headed for serious trouble. Contrary to our world’s understanding of God, there are some evil things that God hates and we are called to join Him and abhor what is evil.
At the same time, however, the Apostle tells us to “cling to that which is good.” Again, the language that’s used here in the text is intense. The root word for “cling” is the same Greek root for the word “glue.” We’re to hold fast to that which is good. Let it be cemented it to our souls, that we don’t drop it or lose it with the next wind of cultural fantasy that comes our way.
As with the previous group of verses, we could spend an entire service considering what each of these statements means but for the most part they’re straightforward. Plus, we have one more specific group of people to focus on.
Living Sacrifices Among The Enemy
We are seeing this play out before our very eyes in cities and towns across our country. And oh, how hard it is to show evidence of being a living sacrifice and loving our enemy when we’ve been wronged. Yet Paul says, “Repay no one evil for evil…”
If someone hurts us or offends us, sometimes we say, “It’s payback time. What goes around comes around.” Then we look for the opportunity to wound the one who has wounded us, and wound them back. We want to get even. In fact, it’s actually worse than getting even; we’re very seldom satisfied with getting even. Getting even is a tie, and a tie is like kissing your sister. It doesn’t give us any real satisfaction. We don’t want to get even. We want to get one up. We want to dominate. We want to win when it comes to the battle of human relationships.
And Paul says that kind of disposition that reigns in the human heart is a manifestation of corruption, and is itself an example of moral evil. If we’re victims of somebody else’s sin, the flesh wants to get even and pay it back. And the payback involves us in committing sin because somebody has committed sin against us. And Paul says, “No, that’s not the way the Christian life is to be. We’re not supposed to return evil for evil.” That’s the basic premise.
Then he continues, “but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.” Now this doesn’t mean that we have to constantly be the arbiter of what men think is honorable. In other words, we don’t have to worry, “Oh, if I do this will it be considered honorable in that guy’s eyes. And if it’s honorable in his eye will it also be honorable in her eyes. And if not, then how should I respond so that they’re both satisfied.” No, no. If that’s what this text meant, then you can see how impossible that is. What one man honors another dishonors.
What this text is saying is that people are watching. Even if they’re unbelievers, and even if they slander you day after day, is there something they see in your life that even in their unbelief they cannot deny? Do they see that you have a tender heart? Do they see that your word can be trusted? Do they see that you’re not out to destroy them? As hostile as unbelievers may be to Christians, they’re not blind. They can see certain virtues, even if they won’t and don’t adhere to them. That’s what Paul means here; “give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.”
And to the degree possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with one another. Remember, Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). This is not easy. This is hard word. This is what a living sacrifice looks like among the enemy – to refuse to take revenge, to give them food and drink, to give them your coat, to walk an extra mile, to overcome evil with good. It was the grand strategy of Jesus. It was the grand strategy of the apostolic church. And it’s the grand strategy of the Christian life.
Let me conclude this morning by reading a poem written by Annie Johnson Flint that summarizes this entire section of Romans 12. It’s titled The World’s Bible.
Christ has no hands but our hands
To do His work today;
He has no feet but our feet
To lead men in His way;
He has no tongues but our tongues
To tell men how He died;
He has no help but our help
To bring them to His side.
We are the only Bible
The careless world will read;
We are the sinner’s Gospel,
We are the scoffer’s creed;
We are the Lord’s last message,
Given in deed and word;
What if the type is crooked?
What if the print is blurred?
What if our hands are busy
With work other than His?
What if our feet are walking
Where sin’s allurement is?
What if our tongues are speaking
Of things His lips would spurn?
How can we hope to help Him
And hasten His return?