The Call to Commitment
The first two verses deal with "personal dedication". One of our greatest problems
in the Church today is lack of dedication on the part of its members. We have
other problems, but all of them seem to stem from lack of dedication. Every
department and every endeavor of the church suffers from lack of dedication. What
causes this?
Matthew Henry calls these verses, "Our duty to God." Paul calls them, "A living
sacrifice". Paul recognized the need and he appealed to them and to us in a
friendly and loving way. Paul was not always gentle in his instructions but it
seems that he has learned that "more flies are caught with honey than with
vinegar".
Paul says to the Roman Jewish Christians and to us that we are to present ourselves
a living sacrifice." The word "present" denotes a voluntary action on our part.
It, like all our efforts in the name of Christ, must be freely done without any
expectation of reward or any reservations. Notice what it is that we are to
present. We are to present our bodies, this word in the Greek is all inclusive,
body, soul, money, time, all that we have, including our lives, if necessary.
A life dedicated to the Lord is a sacrificial life. I know that it is the soul
that is the object of salvation but the "saved soul" must be housed in a
"sanctified body". We are to live so that we can present our bodies "holy" and
"acceptable" to the Lord. As pure as it is possible in light of our sinful
nature, dedicated to do good and loathing the sin that is so much a part of us.
This is an "acceptable Sacrifice" by the Lord.
This, Paul says, is our spiritual worship. Elsewhere Paul calls this our
"reasonable worship". Now, how does Paul suggest that we accomplish this? Two
ways are suggested. First, we should not be "conformed' to this world. This world
is not our home, we must not be as those who are without Christ. Secondly, we must
be "transformed" by the renewal of our minds. We must continually grow
spiritually. Bible study, prayer, all those things that renews our minds are
necessary as part of our reasonable service to the Lord.
Finally, why do we do this? That we may know what is the will of God in our
lives. John said that if any man will do His will, he shall know of His
doctrines, indicating that obedience is necessary to obtain spiritual
enlightenment. Notice how Paul describes God's will. He calls it good,
acceptable and perfect, without fault and desirable to follow. So it appears that
Paul is telling us to dedicate our lives to God and in turn, He will show us what
His good and perfect will is for our lives.
In verses 3 thru 8, Paul deals with the "gifts of the Spirit". So we see that if
we obey as we are told in the last section by dedicating our lives to the will of
God, we will receive God's gifts, but first we must be properly prepared to receive
them. Paul warns us to think soberly, humbly and truthfully about ourselves,
otherwise the gifts of the Spirit will fill us with pride and self worth. To what
degree are we able to think soberly, humbly and truthfully about ourselves? Paul
says it will be according to the measure of faith that God has assigned to us.
Again we see God's prerogative at work. First in our salvation and now in our
faith, and ultimately, in our gifts. All pf this is according to God's choosing.
Therefore, what ever we have, salvation, faith or gifts, all are ours by the Grace
of God. Matthew Henry says that the best and most useful man in the world is no
better that the free Grace of God makes him. Therefore, we must never think
"highly" or "lowly" of ourselves for we are the product of God's will and if we are
gifted, are gifted for a purpose. We must not boast of our talents nor must we
bury them.
Notice God gives different gifts to different people and these according to His
Grace. Here Paul lists 7 gifts of the Spirit and they can be divided into two
groups, prophecy and ministry. Prophesy includes preaching, teaching and
exhortation. These are gifts for expounding the scriptures. These must be used
according to the portion of God's Grace. Let him who preaches or teaches do so
with all the skill and faith that God has proportioned to him. Those who expound
the doctrines must also do so according to the portion of God's Grace that they
receive. This is the explaining of church beliefs upon which our doctrine is
based.
Many ministers are good preachers but are not able to apply and interpret the Bible
to everyday problems. Many teachers are accurate and knowledgeable in the
interpretation of the Bible but fail at applying it. Matthew Henry says that good
preaching and teaching requires a clear head but good application requires a warm
heart.
The second group of spiritual gifts are called ministry. They include the work of
the Deacons, Elders, committee members and church leaders, those who give of their time.
They also include those who give of their money and those who minister apart from
the clergy. This includes all services that deal with the outward mission of the
church. Let those who serve in this capacity do so in faithfulness and diligence.
Let those who give of their money do so with liberality, having no other motive but
to glorify God. Let those who aid others do so with enthusiasm, willingly with no
complaint. Let those who show mercy do so with cheerfulness. The Lord does not
respect any service that is not properly motivated or does not come from the heart.
Only those with compassion and love can deal with the down and out of this world.
This, Paul says, is a gift from God.
None of the gifts of the Spirit that we have spoken of in this section are deserved
but are given out of love and mercy by the Lord. Therefore, let us accept them
with humility and use them for the glory of God.
The Way of Love
["Click here for Romans 12:9-21"]
I call this portion of the Book of Romans, "Twelve Rules for the Christian". Let
us list and look at these 12 rules and grade ourselves as to how well we live the
Christian life.
- "Let your love be genuine." It must not be used as a compliment or
as a pretense. Genuine Love must be applied to our enemies as well
as our friends. Love one another with brotherly affection. This
is an unselfish love that puts you second, we might say, it is easy
to love your friend but hard to love your enemy, but how many of us
can even love our friends with the kind of unselfish love the Christ
demonstrated? Yet Paul says that we are to "bless those who persecute
us". You certainly have to love them to be able to ask God's
blessing upon them. And as the result of this love, Paul says we
will be repaying good for evil. Even if he considers himself
your enemy, if he is hungry, you will feed him. If he is thirsty
you will give him water and what is all this love supposed to do
to your enemy? "It will heap burning coals upon his head."
Nothing hurts more than returning good for evil.
- "Hate What is Evil." Man's natural emotion is to love that which
is evil. Sin comes natural to the carnal man. Any goodness that
we have must be worked at with the help of the Grace of God.
It has been said that everything we like is either illegal, immoral
or fattening. From the time of Adam and Eve, these "don'ts" have
been attractive. But we must strive, with the help of God, to do
as Paul says and hate that which is evil.
- "Never Falter in Your Enthusiasm but be Aglow with the Spirit."
People like that, are a joy to be around, and you know what, it
rubs off. Enthusiasm is catching. One of the greatest deficiencies
of the Church today is that we do not observe this rule. We need,
as Christians, to set down and determine, one, what builds
enthusiasm for us, and two, what destroys enthusiasm for us.
- "Be Patient". Some people don't even like the sound of that word.
Many of our problems arise from lack of it. We demonstrate our
lack of it by being impatient when God delays the answering of
our prayers. We think people must respond immediately to our
requests or suggestions. We think we should have our wants right
now. We think our medical problems our to be resolved with the
first pill. We are not willing to work with nature, the people
who are helping us and most condemning of all, we are not willing
to work in God's time frame.
- "Be Constant in Prayer." We neglect this rule and miss out on the
blessings that it provides more than any of the others. Prayer
is a two-way communication with God. How else are to know God's
will for our lives. Lack of communication is the cause of most
disagreements and mis-understandings. It is paramount to all of
our relationships.
- "Contribute to the Needs of the Saints." First lets look at how
this applies to our church. Discover what the needs of the people
are and decide what you can do to help meat those needs. I have
discovered that at any one time, there are people that I know who
need the following. Money, understanding, love, companionship,
a willing listener, transportation, a "thank you", a pat on the
back, and much more. Matthew Henry says that it is but a "mock"
love that leads only to verbal expressions of kindness when our
brother is in need and it is within our power to meet that need.
God has promised to supply our needs and God uses the Christians
of this world to work out this mercy in the lives of many. Paul
says it is not enough to be concerned about your brother's soul
when he is in need of food and clothing. Soup, soap and salvation,
in that order. Remember the words of Jesus, what ever you do to
the least of those who belong to Him, you do to Him also.
- "Practice Hospitality." Welcome all into your home and heart. It
means that we must not only take opportunity to do this, but we
must also seek opportunity to do this. Hospitality begins at home.
In our families, our church and our world.
- "Bless Those Who Persecute You." This is a hard one. We need to
spend a little time examining this one. It is hard to continually
take abuse and not strike back. Paul understood this very well.
He had been beaten and persecuted most of his Christian life.
Much, of which, had been done by his own brethren, the Jews. Yet
Paul still loved them and would have given up his own salvation,
if it would have brought them into a relationship with Christ. He
prayed for them, he asked for God's mercy for them and God's blessing
upon them.
- "Rejoice With Those Who Rejoice and Weep With Them Who Weep." What is
Paul really asking us to do here? He is asking us to share the
emotions of others, the good times, the bad times. If we truly
love someone, we will want to share all of their experiences. we
must be careful to do this out of concern not out of curiosity.
It is not beings "nosy", nor envious, but it is being happy for
them when good things happen to them and sad for them when bad
things happen to them. Don't be too proud to help someone in trouble.
- "Live in Harmony With One Another and Don't be Haughty." That does
not mean that you have to agree with everything people do. But
weather you agree or disagree, do all that you do in love. Let
love motivate your conversation.
- "Never be Conceited but Associate With the Lowly." This is a call
to be humble. Never think more highly of yourself than others do.
Never think that you are better than someone else. Examine your
motives for what ever you do in your spiritual service for the Lord.
Never to be busy with so-called important things of important people
and neglect a child, an old person or someone that may need your
attention. Your talents are a gift from God, you didn't earn them
nor did you deserve them, therefore, be humble in all you do or say.
- "If Possible, in so far as it Depends on You, Live Peaceably." This is
a "remake" on the first rule. The first rule says, live in harmony,
this rule recognizes that sometimes it is beyond our control and
allows for that so he is saying, in so far as it depends on you,
live in harmony. Even with those that you cannot be friendly,
you must, at least, live peaceably. Labor to keep the peace and
try to patch it up when it is broken, when it is possible. Paul
realized from his own life that many disagreements are not within
our power to settle and there are even times when a settlement
would require the compromising of our faith or beliefs. He does
give us some suggestions how we might keep this rule. He suggests
that we be kind to our enemies. Feed them if they are hungry,
give them water if they thrust and by doing this, you will heap
burning coals upon their heads. Overcome evil with good.
So these are the 12 Rules for Christian Living. How did you do?
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