May 27, 2001

March 17, 2002

Romans 12:9-21

Walk the Walk – Don’t Just Talk the Talk

Introduction

Illustration – From Homiletics Online: There is a "Peanuts" comic strip in which Linus is listening carefully as his sister, Lucy, boasts about her religious faith and her potential as an evangelist. She says to Linus: "I could be a terrific evangelist. Do you know that kid who sits behind me in school? I convinced him that my religion is better than his religion." Linus asks: "How did you do that?" Lucy replies: "I hit him with my lunch box."

Context – All those who follow Jesus have struggles trying to share with our friends and neighbors and coworkers and family members how much of a difference Jesus has made in our hearts and lives. We’re not sure how we should act or how to do share our faith. Paul talks about living in a way that will share what we believe. That’s what he’s telling us in Romans 12:9-21.

Scripture Passage

Romans 12:9-21 from The Message – Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply, practice playing second fiddle. Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. "I’ll do the judging," says God. "I’ll take care of it." Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Living Out Our Love

There is a phrase I really like in this translation, because I think it hits the nail on the head as far as we’re concerned. Don’t fake it. So often we get caught up in the game of playing religion instead of being in relationship with God. There are folks here today who’ve effectively acted like they’re supposed to at church activities, but when push comes to shove they’re just faking it. All of us fake it at one time or another. But we miss the whole point of what church is supposed to be about. That’s one of the main reasons our friends and neighbors and coworkers and family members don’t come to church when we invite them. We have forgotten the relationship and have settled for the religion.

The real key to this passage is found in verse nine – Love from the center of who you are. The NIV translates it Love must be sincere. The Greek carries the command voice – Love without hypocrisy. But how can we love people we don’t really care about without being hypocrites? The word hypocrite was originally used for those who acted out Roman myths and pagan religious festivals on the stages of the amphitheaters in every Roman colony. So when we’re being hypocrites, we acting out myths or pagan religious ceremonies in our lives. In essence, we’re worshipping false gods – the false gods of our own wants and desires. Paul used this term knowing full well his audience would understand all of this, because they lived at the center of Roman pagan culture. But he used it anyway. He’s saying, "Don’t act like you love everyone – love them wholeheartedly." Or, as Peterson translates it, Love from the center of who you are. But how can the center of who we are be love? Only through personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s the only way we can love from the center of who we are. That’s the only way our love can be sincere. That’s the only way we can love without hypocrisy.

You see, when it comes to relationship with Jesus, it doesn’t matter who we think we are. It doesn’t matter if we’ve been church members for years. It doesn’t matter if we’ve been attending church faithfully for years. It doesn’t even matter if we’ve been baptized. It doesn’t matter if we do all the right things and avoid all the wrong things. All of these things are very commendable, but the only way any of these things matter is if we have close, personal relationship with Jesus. Doing the right stuff as much as we can while claiming to be a Christian is hypocrisy without that personal relationship with Jesus. Personal relationship with Jesus is the only way to heaven, and it’s the only way to love others without being a hypocrite.

Illustration - Randy Rowland, in his book Get a Life! ... And a Faith That Works (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992, 88-89), wrote, I recently picked up the Saturday morning paper and found a small article describing a new product on the market. The product is the Boss-Tear-Apart-Stress Doll. The article documents advertisements for the doll that read, "Because its appendages are attached by Velcro, you can rip the head, arms and legs right off this beady-eyed captain of industry." Priced at a scant $19.95, this innovative product expresses the philosophy held by many of us. It says that we are right to justify our own goodness, be it at work or anywhere else, and then rip to shreds those who are in our way or don't please us .... I think if Paul had been selling a Velcro-jointed doll, it would have been shipped in pieces, with the object being to put it back together again. In the midst of the brokenness of our world, Paul envisioned a manner of walking through life that is constructive rather than destructive - a walk that values others and nurtures relationships. That kind of walk is exactly what will happen if our relationship with Jesus is close, personal, and takes first place in our life.

Action Follows Relationship

When we take care of our relationship with Jesus, His love filling us will overflow to others. When we allow His love to become the core of who we are, then we can love without hypocrisy. Then we are free to live in such a way that the people around us who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus will sense something different about us. Then they’ll want to know more. And the Holy Spirit will lead us in how to most effectively share with them the most important thing in our lives, our relationship with Jesus. God knows this. That’s why He inspired Paul to put love first on his list. Love for Jesus comes first.

Now when we get our relationship with Jesus on the right track, Paul then tells us how to live out that relationship. First, he says to stay in that relationship by running from evil and holding on to good. Then we’ll be able to be friends who love deeply and bring honor to others instead of to ourselves. The Greek says that we’re supposed to go ahead of them and show them the way in honoring others. That’s a powerful word picture – blazing the trail for the people we come in contact with in the way we honor them. That is what loving deeply is all about.

Second, Paul says that we have to keep ourselves fueled and aflame so we don’t burn out. In other words, we have to take daily care of that relationship with Jesus by spending quality time with Him so we don’t burn ourselves out trying to live in our own strength. In order to do that, we can’t ditch our time with Jesus during the hard times; in fact, we’ve got to spend more time with Him when times are tough. The Greek says that we’re to be "in the Spirit boiling, to the Lord serving as a slave." Our relationship with Jesus has got to be so hot that we’ll keep being His slaves even when the going gets tough. That’s keeping the flame going.

Another part of keeping that relationship going is treating others as Jesus did. Paul wrote, Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. We’re supposed to give financially and materially to help each other. We’re also supposed to extend our hospitality to strangers. The Greek says, The hospitality pursuing. The idea is that we’re constantly and without ceasing seeking strangers in need and treating them as guests by providing lodging, food, and friendship. Now that’s a hard one for me because I tend to be a bit of a private person at home. But if that’s what it takes to help someone come to know and love Jesus, that’s what I’ll have to do. That’s what we’ll all have to do.

Third, we’re commanded by God to invoke His blessing on those persecuting us. That’s a hard one, but when we couple that with the phrase Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody, we see that if we truly invoke God’s blessing on them we will do everything we can to befriend them. Notice that earlier Paul told us to be good friends rather than make good friends. We can be somebody’s friend even if they don’t consider us their friend by treating them like we do our friends. We rejoice with them, we cry with them, we get along with them, we don’t act stuck-up toward them, and we do it with God’s love from the center of who we are, and after a while God’s love working through us will begin to touch their heart. It may take years, but they will have to recognize eventually that God’s love has made a positive difference in who we are. What they choose to do with that knowledge is up to them, but we’ll have done our part.

Fourth, Paul tells us that revenge is God’s business, not ours. And that if we look hard enough we’ll see beauty in everyone. Not because they’re an awesome person, or because they’re physically attractive. God placed something of Himself in each one of us when we were created that acknowledges who He is, and that part of each and every person is where their true beauty lies. If we learn to see people as God sees them, then we’ll be learning to walk the walk and not just talk the talk, because we will see through His eyes. That’s what He’s calling us to do.

Finally, Paul tells us to be overwhelmingly generous. Our generosity has to come from the love of God within us or it will be hypocritical and the people we’re helping will see that we’re insincere. When someone gives you something, do you ever ask or think, "what’s the catch?" Our world has made us so suspicious of anyone who is generous that we immediately question their motives. We can sense when someone is giving us something just for their own benefit. Why do we think that others can’t see that in us? If we truly love from the center of who we are because of our relationship with Jesus, then any suspicions of our motives will be groundless. God’s love will shine through us, and that’s the best witness for Jesus any of us could have.

The last phrase sums up this passage – get the best of evil by doing good. That phrase also sums up how we’re supposed to walk the walk. If our love for Jesus doesn’t motivate us to do good, then we either don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus or we haven’t cultivated it enough to love like Jesus loves. If we truly want to be lifestyle evangelists, or share our faith by the way we live, we’ve got to have that close, personal relationship with Jesus. As I said before, close, personal relationship with Jesus is the only thing that matters.

Illustration – From Homiletics Online: As a seminary professor once told the class, people may not live what they profess, but they will always live what they believe. What do our lives show we believe about our relationships with Jesus and living our faith in front of a waiting world?

Conclusion

Please bow your heads and close your eyes. What’s God been whispering to your heart this morning? What has His quiet voice inside your heart been telling you? What would He have you to do this morning?
The altars are open. If you haven’t been living the way that God is calling you to, and you want receive His healing for your relationship with Him, come forward now and kneel at the altar and ask Him to help you. We’ll pray with you and for you. And if you don’t have a close, personal relationship with Jesus and your heart is longing for that, come forward and kneel and we’ll help you receive His gift of life for you. Come forward now and receive the healing you need.

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