Tuesday, February 22, 2011

EPIPHANY 7
February 20/21, 2011
Seminarian Mark Reichert
Text: Romans 12:9-21

“I urge you, brothers [and sisters], in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” “In view of God’s mercy” – that’s called Gospel motivation. Paul’s been building up to this point for eleven chapters, and we might summarize what he has been saying like this: Every one of us is a sinner who deserves death and hell, and nothing we do could ever be good enough to change that. But by God’s grace alone our sins have been forgiven and we are saved for heaven because Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross in our place. Through faith in Jesus as our Savior, we live a new spiritual life. Before we were enemies of God; now we are children of God who strive to serve him because of what he has done for us. Paul is telling us in this passage that our whole lives are an act of worship to God because what God really cares about from us now is our faith being exercised in love. In our text for today, we are told what sorts of things we can do to worship God with our lives. We find that from God’s mercy follows sincere love toward fellow Christians, and not just toward them, but also toward unbelievers and even toward those that hate us.

Now that might seem very out of the ordinary because it is so contrary to the way the world usually works. And yet verse 9 tells us, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” The reason it is so counter-intuitive is that by nature we are loveless toward anyone but ourselves, and more often we love what is evil and hate what is good and godly. We can’t carry out any of Paul’s directives here until our hearts are transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That Gospel not only changes our hearts but then also changes our lives. Now through faith in Jesus as our Savior, we live a new life patterned after him who perfectly hated what is evil – that is, except us - and clung to what is good and right. Though we were once hostile to God, now by faith we can do what pleases God.

And it all starts with our love mirroring his. God is love, and that same genuine love that he showed to us is what we are to show to our neighbors. We find the definition for that love that hates what is evil and clings to what is good in God’s Word. Sincere love is that which is motivated by appreciation for what God has done for us and shows itself in love returned to God and reflected to our neighbors. For us, love is obeying God’s commands, that’s what Jesus says; all the commandments that God gives in Scripture are really just guidance for how we can show sincere love to God and our neighbors, and Paul’s specific focus here is that that the highest, greatest love is selfless love that seeks the benefit of others.

The first encouragements Paul has for how to put selfless love into action are “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Just as in all of these cases, Jesus set the standard for us to follow. Who honored others above himself more than Jesus? Paul says in Philippians 2: “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.” Jesus’ life and teaching turns this world’s normal mode of operation on its head. Normally when people get a taste of power or authority, they only want more. That’s their sinful nature caring only about its own welfare at the expense of others. But Jesus, true God and king over the universe, uses his power to serve, and he wants the same from us. Jesus won salvation for us and our inheritance in heaven is secure, so we have nothing to fight about. Instead of serving ourselves, then, we live to build up those around us and seek their honor rather than our own, since that’s what Jesus did.

That takes some pretty sincere love, and that’s just what Paul is talking about when he tells us to “be devoted to one another in brotherly love.” In those days the greatest love was generally shown among family members, so when Paul said that, he was essentially telling them that their love toward their fellow believers was to be every bit as deep and genuine as any love shown anywhere. Christians are not called brothers and sisters for nothing – their relationship is that close and their love is that sincere. It is not a self-seeking love; we love as Christ loves us – selflessly, without any thought of return.

Yet we still lack much in matching Christ’s love. It is a constant battle for us who are sinful to always love people when often people are so hard to love. That’s why Paul adds the next phrase: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” Just as you need to keep filling up a car with gas to keep it running, so also Christians need a continual connection to God’s Word and sacraments, otherwise our spiritual zeal for serving the Lord is going to run out. The source of our motivation to serve the Lord is the Gospel, and we need a consistent supply of it to keep us working to love our neighbors as God desires.

Continuing with the car comparison, we need not only fuel for the journey but also to keep our eyes on the destination. Thus Paul’s encouragement to be joyful in hope. We rejoice at the assurance that heaven is ours through faith in Jesus, and no one can take that joy from us; because of it we have the strength to persevere and patiently endure even through any afflictions that this world might throw at us. And while we wait for our hope to be realized and we still have to deal with this world’s afflictions, Paul reminds us also to always be faithful in prayer about both spiritual and earthly things. Any of your cares, from the biggest to the least, either for yourself or for someone else, God wants to hear about them and answer them for our good. But then do your part, too – “Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” Often God answers prayer and cares for us through other people. For whatever reason someone might be in need, do everything you can to help with whatever resources you can offer, be it money or goods or even things that don’t cost a cent, like lending a hand or an ear or a word of encouragement or advice. Such is the great love that Christians should show to one another, that they are glad to go even to great lengths for the spiritual and temporal good of their fellow believers.

Recall now what Jesus said in our Gospel lesson, though. Even unbelievers show love to those who love them. What sets us apart from everyone else? Paul tells us in Galatians 6(:10): “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” To believers certainly, but not just to believers. We are to show love even to those that hate us, and as we will see, that is for a definite purpose.

A key phrase as we move on is in verse 17: “Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.” As Christians we need to be very sensitive about how we live our lives publicly, because we don’t want to do anything to hinder the Gospel or dishonor our God. Everything we do here on earth, as long as we are known by the name “Christian,” reflects on our Savior, and our conduct needs to show people that there is something special about us, because there is. Doing what is right in the eyes of everybody testifies to them that your Christian faith is about love for God and love for people because of God’s great love for us. Without words, you will be teaching people about God by the love you show and giving them a glimpse into the love of God that they too could share through faith in Jesus.

And if everything we do in this life is to reflect favorably on our Savior, we can understand why Paul tells us to “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” Again, Jesus is our standard. Remember what he said as he was being nailed to the cross? “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). The truth is that even those people that were crucifying him were no worse than you or me or anyone else before God, and yet Jesus still loved them so much that he willingly suffered on that cross to take away their sins. Jesus blessed his persecutors just as we should bless ours because ultimately we want them to recognize their sin and come to repentance and faith. We live a life worthy of the Gospel of our Savior Jesus by reflecting even to those that hate us the sincere love that above all wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Then Paul says that another way to demonstrate your sincere love and care for people is to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. But this isn’t as easy as it seems. It might seem natural, but when something good happens to someone else, are you more often genuinely happy for them, or envious that it didn’t happen to you instead? Or when something bad happens, have you ever found yourself rejoicing that they finally got what was coming to them? Such is the way of this world, but not for Christians. We have what is most important, what the world cannot offer – salvation from Jesus – and everything else is secondary. We can sincerely rejoice with those who are richly blessed by God, and mourn with those whose time in this world of sin is especially taxing. Only through the Gospel can we realize the truth that shared joy is doubled and shared sorrow is halved. Ultimately we can rejoice in hope and take comfort that heaven is coming, when our joys will be complete and God will wipe every tear from our eyes.
And so that your attitude will match your actions, Paul adds “Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” In God’s eyes there is no difference between people because all alike are filthy sinners and yet are saved by his grace alone. That’s real, sincere love. So if there is no difference between people in God’s eyes, there better not be in ours either. Remember that our Lord and God Jesus did not consider himself too dignified to wash his disciples’ feet, something only the lowliest of servants would ever be made to do. Nor did he consider himself too exalted to take on our humble human flesh and die to take away our sins. Jesus loved people that much, and we, as his representatives, should as well.

Paul then sets the foundation for his final appeal by encouraging them to “live in harmony with one another,” and just shortly afterwards he adds again: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” If it is up to you, you need to maintain peace, because as Jesus himself said, “blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). But Paul is conceding that it may not always be possible to do so. The Christian will never be the one to start a fight, but where we are forced to defend our God or our neighbor against abuse, the Christian needs to stand up for what is right for the sake of faithfulness to God’s commands. But again, what Paul is primarily warning against here is casting the God we represent and serve in a negative light. We dishonor God when we engage in unnecessary quarrels and thereby misrepresent him as the God of peace. In maintaining peace whenever possible, though, we are rightly serving our God and reflecting the spiritual peace we have through faith in Jesus.

Now Paul finally gets to his most striking point: “don’t repay anyone evil for evil.” In a sinful world it is inevitable that bad things will happen between people and that Satan will use those things as temptations to sin. Though to our shame many times those temptations work, Paul says that peace-loving Christians should take the high road. Justice will come to those who deserve it; it just won’t come from you. Whether through the government that God has established to keep law and order or through natural means or only when that person dies and stands before God’s judgment seat, they will get what’s coming to them. But as for you, God through the power of his Gospel turns the tables and uses situations like these for good. You are to bless those who persecute you, remember? Even the person who is persecuting you is a precious soul for whom Christ died. God can use such trials in your life not only for your own good, to strengthen your faith and bring you closer to him, but also for the good of that other person. If you, rather than gloating over your enemy’s misfortunes, instead show your faith in love toward that person, what a profound effect that could have! By giving love rather than taking revenge (as they probably expect), ideally you will be piling the burning coals of shame on that person’s head for what they did and hopefully leading them to repentance and faith. After all, the best way to get rid of an enemy is to turn him into a friend, right? And even better than a friend – a fellow believer. That’s overcoming evil with good.

There is an important phrase from church history that says “Let the salvation of the people be the supreme law.” The point is that everything we do should have the intent of glorifying God and serving our neighbor so as to either strengthen their faith or open a door to create faith. Our text for today has the same emphasis. Our conduct is a key part of this equation, ideally giving us an opportunity for what Peter teaches: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander” (I Peter 3:15-16). That our Lord Jesus gives us this opportunity to represent his Gospel message with not only our words but also our actions is both a task to be taken seriously and a great privilege to carry out. And we can do so faithfully, by God’s grace that has transformed our hearts, by showing the sincere love that follows from the mercy God has shown to us. Amen.

No comments:

Post a Comment