WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.000 Hello everybody, the reading will be Romans 12 verses 9 through 21, page 1139. 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:20.000 ! Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:28.000 Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:36.000 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord's people who are in need. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:42.000 Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:46.000 Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:52.000 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:57.000 Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:00.000 Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:07.000 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:13.000 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath. 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:17.000 For it is written, it is mine to avenge. I will repay, says the Lord. 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:23.000 On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:26.000 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:33.000 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:39.000 Great. Thank you, Zane, for reading for us. 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:43.000 It's going to help you if you can have a Bible open in front of you to follow along, 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:45.000 so that you can see where we're going. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:47.000 We're going to work our way through that passage. 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:52.000 I'm going to pray and ask for the Lord's help as we begin. Let me pray. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:02:04.000 Heavenly Father, we do come this morning hungry to hear your voice from your words. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:08.000 We long, Lord, that in the midst of all the different things that are going on in our lives, 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:11.000 the things that trouble us and are on our minds right now, 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:17.000 we want to pray that above the background noise of all of that, you would clearly speak to us from your words. 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:24.000 Encourage us. Strengthen us. Help us. Speak words of grace and truth to us, we pray. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:28.000 Help me as I speak. Pray that I'd speak clearly and faithfully, 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:36.000 and that despite all of our weakness, that you would be honored and glorified. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:43.000 Well, we're back in the book of Romans, having had a two week excursion into the book of John. 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:49.000 And we're back in these final few chapters as we're going to finish off the book just on our way up to the summer. 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:58.000 And what I hope that you might have noticed as Zane read the passage this morning is that what we've got this morning is just a long list of commands. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:02.000 There are 30 commands, depending on how you count it. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:06.000 Some of them are very difficult and we're going to see that together later. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:11.000 But all we have here is a list of do this and don't do that. 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:18.000 Now, maybe this morning you're new, you're new to church perhaps, and you're thinking, well, I knew this is what church was like. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:25.000 I came to church this morning and I thought they are going to tell me I should do this and not do that and do this and not do that. 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:30.000 That's exactly what I thought about Christians all my life, you might be thinking. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.000 Or maybe you're here this morning and you've come, you're a church member even, and you think, do you know what? 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:41.000 Oh, just another list of unrealistic expectations for me to feel rubbish as a Christian about myself again. 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:51.000 Well, if that's you and you're thinking either of those things, well, and even if you're not, I'm going to start by trying to show you something really important about this list of instructions. 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:55.000 And that is this, that none of these instructions are new. 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:57.000 None of them are new. 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:07.000 Now, this might not be immediately obvious, but I think it is the key to understanding this passage, which is that what is here has been said before in the Bible. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:13.000 So these aren't 30 new instructions, but are 30 long established commands. 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:18.000 And sometimes that's obvious, right, because the Old Testament reference is explicitly stated. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:24.000 Look down at verse 19, for example, Paul says, for it is written. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:27.000 Okay, so he's obviously quoting the Old Testament. 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:30.000 This is what has been written in the Old Testament. 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:38.000 Then verse 20 is even inset and in quotations in our Bibles to show to you that that is an Old Testament quotation. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:43.000 But once you start digging into the list a bit, you find there's more than just that. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:44.000 Let me give you a few examples. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:49.000 Amos chapter 5, verse 15 says, hate evil and love good. 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:54.000 Which is pretty much what Paul directly says in verse 9, isn't it? 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:56.000 Hate what is evil, cling to what is good. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:03.000 In Psalm 97, verse 10, the psalmist says, let those who love the Lord hate evil. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:05.000 Again, that's what Paul is saying, isn't it? 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:06.000 In verse 9. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:12.000 Proverbs 3, verse 7 instructs us not to be wise in our own eyes. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:17.000 And in verse 16, Paul says, don't be wise in your own eyes. 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:19.000 It's translated by our NIVs, don't be conceited. 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:21.000 But the words are the same. 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:24.000 Don't be wise in your own eyes. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:31.000 In Psalm 138, verse 6, we find that though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly. 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:39.000 In other words, God is a God who looks on kindly those with low position, which is what Paul says in verse 16. 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:47.000 Verse 19 of our passage quotes both Proverbs 20, verse 22, which says, do not say I'll pay you back for this wrong. 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:49.000 Wait for the Lord and he will avenge. 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:54.000 And Deuteronomy 32, verse 35, which says it's mine to avenge, I will repay. 00:05:54.000 --> 00:06:03.000 And then like I mentioned earlier, verse 20 is a direct quotation of Proverbs 25, verse 21, which reads, if your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:06.000 If he's thirsty, give him water to drink. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:09.000 In doing this, you will heat burning coals on his head. 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:11.000 Now, what's the significance of that? 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:15.000 What's the significance of this list being given in the Old Testament before? 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:17.000 How does it help us understand it? 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:23.000 You know, is Paul here just flexing the fact that he is an Old Testament scholar with a long education? 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:25.000 No, I don't think that's it at all. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:27.000 He's not even just run out of ideas. 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:29.000 So he started quoting either. 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:30.000 That's not it. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:31.000 Rather, this is it. 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:34.000 And this is the key to understanding what's going on here. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:50.000 Paul thinks that the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news that he's been preaching for 11 chapters, that gospel of Jesus Christ enables obedience to the unchanging moral demands of the Old Testament. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:52.000 Let me say that again, right? 00:06:52.000 --> 00:07:03.000 Paul thinks that the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ, salvation in his name, enables obedience to the unchanging moral demands of the Old Testament. 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:07.000 Let me try and explain why this is significant and how this works. 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:11.000 Just think about how you put your whole Bible together, right? 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:14.000 The Old Testament starts with Adam and Eve, okay? 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:15.000 Adam and Eve sin. 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:16.000 They break God's law. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:18.000 They are excluded from the garden. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:21.000 They are put under the curse of God's judgment for their wickedness. 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:25.000 All of humanity after them are under the same curse. 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:26.000 We all sin. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:28.000 We all die. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:32.000 But amazingly, in the midst of all that, God promises grace. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:43.000 He says, I will undo the fall, undo sin, conquer justice, save people, crush evil through the seed of a woman, he says. 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:52.000 So suddenly, in the midst of the garden, where all things have kind of fallen apart, still God promises grace and salvation, and it's brilliant. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:08:00.000 Zoom forward in the Old Testament, and then the Old Testament law is added to the promise in order to teach the promise. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.000 And it's given to Moses at Mount Sinai, and it's preached by the prophets. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:07.000 It's articulated by the wisdom literature in the Old Testament. 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:12.000 And the law, as it's given, essentially outlines three things, okay? 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:14.000 One is how to run a nation. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:16.000 Two is how to run a temple. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:19.000 And the third is how to please God. 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:25.000 And if you've read even a very small bit of the Old Testament, or can remember a bit of the Old Testament from school, 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:30.000 you will know, won't you, that the Israelites are rubbish at all three of those things, yeah? 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.000 So the nation is sent into exile, it's defeated by foreign enemies. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:38.000 The temple is destroyed, and it's taken down brick by brick and burned. 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:45.000 And all the moral commands of the Old Testament are broken, even by the kings and the priests. 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:48.000 And then you get to the New Testament. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:53.000 And it's not plan B in the New Testament, oh, goodness, that didn't work, so I'm going to send Jesus. 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:54.000 No, it's not. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:57.000 Well, the Jesus comes as the fulfillment of all of those things. 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:05.000 So Jesus came to be the true king of God's people, which turned out to be the kingdom in his name and not a nation. 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:10.000 He's born in the royal town of Bethlehem, like David, in the line of Judah, like the kings. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:13.000 And then Jesus says, I'm the temple as well. 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:14.000 The temple is my body. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:19.000 You come to me to meet with God, you don't go to a building in Jerusalem, he says. 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:25.000 And I'm going to be the sacrifice for sin that was made in the temple as well, as I give my life on the cross, he says. 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.000 So it's in him that we receive forgiveness. 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:32.000 It's in him that we receive reconciliation with the God who made us. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:39.000 It's in him that we receive the promise of a place in his resurrection kingdom where sickness, death and sin are done away with. 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:44.000 The curse is crushed and Satan is crushed. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:49.000 In him we receive new life by the Spirit. 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:51.000 Now think about it, right? 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:59.000 When Jesus does all of that and he gives new life by the Spirit, what is it then that that new life by the Spirit wants to do? 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:03.000 Well, it doesn't rebuild the nation of Israel. 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:09.000 It doesn't rebuild the temple because the kingdom is in Jesus's name and the temple is Jesus. 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:12.000 It doesn't seek to earn salvation. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:14.000 Jesus has done that. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:16.000 But it's not not interested in the Old Testament. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:21.000 It's really interested in the Old Testament because it really wants to keep God's moral commands. 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:24.000 It really wants to love God and please God. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:32.000 Because instead this new life looks at the moral commands of God and goes, that's exactly what I want to be like. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:34.000 That's who I want to be. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:36.000 That's what I want to live like. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:37.000 That's the goal. 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:38.000 That's the roadmap. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:40.000 That's where the way I want to go. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:43.000 And it knows I'm not going to be able to do that in my own strength. 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.000 Israel tried that and failed. 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.000 But now I'm empowered by the Spirit to follow God's moral law. 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:52.000 Let me try and illustrate how this works. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:54.000 Have you ever heard of Hypershell X? 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:56.000 Ever heard of Hypershell X? 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:57.000 Perhaps you've not seen this. 00:10:57.000 --> 00:10:59.000 You'll all go away and try and buy this afterwards. 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:01.000 Or maybe you'll even be looking at it while I'm speaking. 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:05.000 But Hypershell X is one of those exoskeletons that's powered by AI. 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:10.000 So you strap it on and it enables you to do stuff that you could never have done before. 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:17.000 So it enables you to run, climb, cycle, walk up things and down things and along things that you've never been able to before. 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:19.000 It gives you power that you didn't have. 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:24.000 It says on their website, this isn't just an exoskeleton. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:28.000 It's the power to rewrite your story. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:29.000 Right? Sounds brilliant, doesn't it? 00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:32.000 Enables you to go further and do more. 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:38.000 Now, in a way, that is Paul's claim with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:43.000 The Gospel gives you both a new desire to please the Lord that you wouldn't have had on your own. 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:49.000 But alongside that, it also gives you the power to do that by the Spirit to please the Lord. 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:56.000 Literally, the Spirit gives us the power to rewrite our stories, to go further and do more than we ever could do in our own strength. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:00.000 And so Paul here is not inventing a list of moral commands. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:01.000 He has no need to do that. 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:03.000 They already exist. 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:11.000 Instead, he restates the moral instructions of the Old Testament with confidence that by the Spirit, his words are not wasted. 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:16.000 Because not in our strength, but in his strength, we will live like this. 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:22.000 There was a Christian band called Fatfish in the early noughties. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:24.000 Probably some of you are too young to remember them. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:27.000 And the rest of you might not be cool enough to remember them. 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:29.000 But anyway, do you remember, anyone remember a band called Fatfish? 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:31.000 They wrote a song and it went like this. 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:32.000 Okay? 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:33.000 I'm not going to sing it. Don't worry. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:35.000 I'm going to rap it. 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:36.000 No, I'm not. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:37.000 It went like this. 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:39.000 Run, run, run. 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:43.000 The law, it beckons me, but it gives me no limbs. 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:46.000 Fly, fly, fly. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:51.000 The gospel bids to me and lovingly gives me some wings. 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:53.000 So I will fly. 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:55.000 That's it here. 00:12:55.000 --> 00:13:00.000 The law instructs you to run, but it gives you no means to do it. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:05.000 The gospel invites you to fly and it gives you the wings to do it. 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:07.000 And that's what Paul is saying here. 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:12.000 Now I start there because we must keep this in mind because the truth is by nature, 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:15.000 we are all hardwired, aren't we, when we read a list of commands to think, 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:18.000 oh, okay, this is what I need to do to earn God's favor. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:21.000 And some of us think we do that rather well and we get proud 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:24.000 and others of us think we do it rather badly and we become discouraged. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:27.000 But that's not what this list is about at all. 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:29.000 It's not doing this list that will save you. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:33.000 God in Christ has saved you if you've trusted in him. 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:38.000 This is rather the description of the mountain that the spirit is enabling you to run up. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:40.000 I could never do that. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:42.000 I could never be like that. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:43.000 It's obviously too steep. 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:44.000 It's too high. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:45.000 I'm never going to be able to get up there. 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:48.000 And the spirit says, no, I know you couldn't. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:50.000 That's why I'm here. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:52.000 Let's go. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:55.000 Now I mentioned at the beginning that there are 30 commands. 00:13:55.000 --> 00:14:00.000 You might notice that 12 of them are related to the life of the church inside the church 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.000 and 18 of them are related to life outside the church in the world. 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:06.000 So we're going to deal with them in those two blocks, right? 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:10.000 The first 12 for church life and then 18 for life in the world. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.000 So 12 instructions to be a community of love. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:17.000 Look down at your Bibles and let me just read the commands to you again. 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:20.000 So you get a picture of the scale of the mountain. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:22.000 The spirit is inviting us to run up. 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:24.000 Love sincerely. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:25.000 Hate what is evil. 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:28.000 Cling or literally unite to what is good. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:31.000 Be devoted to one another in love. 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:33.000 Honor one another above yourselves. 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:34.000 Never lack zeal. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:36.000 Keep spiritual fervor. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:37.000 Be joyful in hope. 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:38.000 Patient in affliction. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:39.000 Faithful in prayer. 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:41.000 Share with Christians in need. 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:43.000 Practice hospitality. 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:45.000 That's some hill, isn't it? 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:46.000 It's a steep mountain. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:47.000 But notice the theme. 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:49.000 We looked at it with the kids. 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:51.000 It's really the theme is love, isn't it? 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:54.000 Love must be sincere, says Paul at the beginning. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:56.000 Literally without hypocrisy. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:01.000 That is love in the church is not to be self-interested, but other person-centered. 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:03.000 To say to someone, I love you. 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:06.000 When what you really mean is, I love what I get from you. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:08.000 Or I love what you do at church. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:09.000 That's not love. 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:11.000 That's hypocrisy, says Paul. 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:17.000 If you say you love the other, while loving yourself, it is not sincere. 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:19.000 And love must be sincere. 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:22.000 In verse 10, you're told to devote yourself to one another in love. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:25.000 And the word devoted is really another form of the word love. 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:28.000 It's really the sense here is you're to lovingly love. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:29.000 Lovingly love. 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:32.000 And the love that you're to lovingly love with is literally a brotherly love. 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:33.000 A family love. 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:39.000 Now these instructions are so strong in the list that they almost work as a summary for everything that follows. 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:43.000 A family of love that is sincerely concerned for the other above itself. 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:45.000 That's what church is to be like. 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:47.000 And what does that look like in practice? 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:50.000 Well, it hates evil in itself and in the church and in others. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:52.000 It holds on to what is good. 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:55.000 It's competitive in honoring one another. 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:57.000 In verse 11, it's zealous for the Lord. 00:15:57.000 --> 00:16:02.000 It's earnest, eager to grow and see others discipled with a spiritual fervor. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:07.000 Literally, they're a boiling spirit, which is hot for serving the Lord and obeying him. 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:10.000 In other words, church is not to be passive, right? 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:18.000 Church is to be a discipleship machine where in love for one another, we are always seeking to push one another further on and further up. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:22.000 I've not seen you at church for a few weeks. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:23.000 How are you doing? 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:24.000 How have things been? 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:25.000 How can I pray for you? 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:26.000 Do you know what? 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:34.000 I want you to know I am so thankful to God for you, for all that you do, for all that you are, for all that he's making you. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:39.000 You know, the way you prayed in church the other week, that was such a blessing to me. 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:44.000 You put into words, words that I was feeling and thinking, but I couldn't have articulated them like that. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:45.000 I'm so thankful. 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:52.000 I just want you to know that you're doing a really good job of being steadfast in the Lord in this situation. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:58.000 I know life is really terribly difficult for you right now, but I can see the Spirit is helping you to keep going. 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:06.000 In verse 12, this discipleship machine is marked by joy, patience and prayer that doesn't give up. 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:10.000 In verse 13, it's like a practical care which shares with those in need. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.000 It doesn't just practice hospitality, literally it pursues hospitality. 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:19.000 It's almost like, so hospitality invites the love of strangers, right? 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:22.000 To pursue the love of strangers, it's like you're chasing them down. 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:27.000 Not waiting for them to land in your lap, but actively looking for them and finding them. 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:29.000 So let me ask us, how are we getting on? 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:32.000 It's a beautiful mountain, isn't it? 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:36.000 But we're not supposed to be just looking at it, we're supposed to climb it. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:41.000 And we're not going to get to the top in our own strength, but still our effort is required. 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:43.000 We are required to put in effort here. 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:45.000 So how's it going? 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:47.000 Are you still climbing? 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:48.000 Or have you stopped? 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:49.000 Are you stuck somewhere? 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:51.000 Do you need some help or encouragement? 00:17:51.000 --> 00:18:02.000 About 25 years ago now, I was involved in student ministry in the Midlands, the West Midlands, in fact. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:08.000 And in the summers, a friend and I, we used to take groups of students climbing in the Welsh mountains. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:14.000 And the plan was, climb the mountains in the day, study the Bible at night, right? 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:16.000 And we would work them hard in both areas, right? 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:20.000 So we'd climb difficult mountains, and we'd push them hard in the Bible study. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:26.000 So the first thing that we would do is we'd drive from Birmingham to the foot of a mountain called Trifan. 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:30.000 And Trifan is not one of those mountains that you can just walk up. 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:32.000 You have to scramble up it. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:35.000 You are literally using your hands and feet to get up. 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:37.000 And it's not gentle. 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:39.000 You come out of the car and you walk straight up it. 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:43.000 So your calves are burning and you feel sick almost straight away. 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:45.000 It's brilliant. 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:50.000 And it's a real shock for all these young students who kind of think they're really super fit and healthy. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:52.000 They get out of the car and they think, yeah, yeah, right. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:56.000 And then after about 20 minutes, they're all like beside themselves. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:58.000 I know this isn't what I signed up for. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:00.000 You didn't tell me it was going to be like this. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:02.000 Can we stop? 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:04.000 Do we really have to go all the way to the top? 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:08.000 Now, I confess to you, I wasn't very good in those situations. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:14.000 My inclination, which is a weakness of mine, was just to tell them to stop moaning and get on with it. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:18.000 But the guy that I was with was much better at inspiring people to carry on. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:26.000 Because the way to inspire people to carry on is not to shout at them, but is to show them just how far they've already come. 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:29.000 And how great it is that they've made it so far. 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:30.000 Look down. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:32.000 Look where we've come from. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:34.000 Can you see the car that we left? 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:36.000 It's like a little dot, isn't it? 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:38.000 Look at the view up here. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:43.000 You can already look down on the RAF planes that are flying beneath us. 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:45.000 Can you imagine what it will be like at the top? 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:47.000 It's fantastic here, isn't it? 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:51.000 And that's it here, right? 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:54.000 You might read this list and think there's loads of things that we could do better. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:55.000 I'm sure you're right. 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:57.000 But look for a moment at where we are. 00:19:57.000 --> 00:19:59.000 Look at how you see love in our church. 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:02.000 How you see what God by his spirit is doing here. 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:08.000 You can see people here who love one another, who care deeply for one another above themselves. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:14.000 That despite all their differences, they get as much joy out of the success of another as they do out of their own. 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:22.000 You look around, you can see church members who battle chronic pain with great patience and even joy. 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:29.000 You can see the grieving who are continuing to hope in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:31.000 You see how people reach out to one another. 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:33.000 They include each other in their lives. 00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:36.000 They welcome strangers into their social circles. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:37.000 You know, are we perfect? 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:38.000 We're not perfect, are we? 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:40.000 Do we have further to go? 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:41.000 Yes, of course we do. 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:42.000 Might we stumble at times? 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:44.000 Might even slip down the mountain a bit? 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:45.000 Yeah, of course we will. 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:48.000 Will it be better when we get further up the mountain? 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:49.000 Of course it will be. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:52.000 Did we get here in our own strength? 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:53.000 No, we didn't. 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:55.000 Will it be our strength that takes us further up? 00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:56.000 No, it won't. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:58.000 So keep your spirits boiling. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:00.000 Don't lack zeal. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:03.000 Press on and keep going and see what God will do. 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:08.000 Secondly, 18 instructions to face the world. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:19.000 In verse 14, Paul switches from talking of the life of the church to the family of brotherly love to how we interact with a wicked and hostile world. 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:26.000 And let me say, as we look at these 18 commands, that I know that these are hard commands. 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:37.000 I know especially that for some of you, what I might have to say here as we look at these and we look at them honestly might trigger some of the really difficult situations that you personally have faced. 00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:42.000 Maybe some of the ways that people have really badly hurt you and treated you. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:45.000 If that's you this morning, please do bear with me. 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:47.000 I am not trying to upset you. 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:52.000 I want us to find grace and hope in these verses, not an extra burden to carry. 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:59.000 I want to show you that the theme here is essentially for us to know our place. 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:01.000 You might put it stay in our lane. 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:13.000 Specifically, when it comes to our interactions with the world, we are to leave the mess of the world in the hands of the Lord and not take it on ourselves to fix. 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:15.000 See how this works with me. 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.000 Paul's technique in a list of instructions is to emphasize things by repetition. 00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:23.000 You know, if you want someone to notice something, you need to say it more than once. 00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:26.000 And if you say it twice, people are more likely to notice. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:29.000 If you say it three times, people really will notice. 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:34.000 So if you have a look at verse 14, you'll see twice we're told to bless our persecutors. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:37.000 Bless those who persecute you. 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:38.000 Bless. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:42.000 And then it's further underlined by do not curse. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:44.000 So really what you've got is a triple instruction. 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:47.000 Bless, bless, bless. 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:51.000 And the idea is that that should jump out to you as an emphasis of Paul's. 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:55.000 In verse 21, the passage repeats the word overcome. 00:22:55.000 --> 00:23:00.000 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.000 And again, this repetition is meant to underline the same theme. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:10.000 When we encounter the wickedness of the world, we are to meet it with goodness. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:15.000 We're not to be squashed or destroyed by the evil, which is so prevalent and so close. 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.000 But we are to seek to squash it or overcome it with goodness. 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:22.000 Not in our strength, but with the spirit's help. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:31.000 But there's another way in this list that you bring out the emphasis, not only just by repetition, but you also by grammar. 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:35.000 So you can use stronger words if you want to emphasize something. 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:42.000 So you could tell the difference, couldn't you, if I said to you something like, do you know what? 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:45.000 I wouldn't touch the fire if I were you. 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:47.000 I wouldn't do that if I were you. 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:52.000 You could tell the difference between that instruction and the instruction that says, do not touch the fire. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:53.000 Right? 00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:56.000 The second one is an emphasis because of the grammar of the words. 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:58.000 One is a passive suggestion. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:23:59.000 The other is a command. 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:04.000 And Paul has a command like that in verse 19, a full on command. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:05.000 Look at verse 19. 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:11.000 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath. 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:16.000 For it is written, it is mine to avenge, I will repay, says the Lord. 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:21.000 And you might look at that and think that the shouted command there is don't take revenge. 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:22.000 It's not. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:26.000 The command there is leave room. 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:29.000 You might say, butt out. 00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:30.000 Right? 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:33.000 Butt out of trying to fix everything. 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:36.000 Fixing everything is above your pay grade. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:38.000 You cannot hold the world to account. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:39.000 You cannot fix every evil. 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:41.000 You cannot right every wrong. 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:42.000 That is God's job. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:44.000 God will do it and can do it. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:46.000 And you need to leave the room for him to do it. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:49.000 You can't do it and shouldn't try. 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:52.000 Paul here is not cross, he's full of compassion. 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:58.000 The verse starts with the word beloved, which the NIV has translated later as dear friends, I think. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:01.000 Paul is deeply concerned for them. 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:09.000 He wants them to understand in their suffering of injustice, endure and don't take revenge. 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:12.000 Leave justice with the Lord. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:19.000 Now we'll see next week that he doesn't mean just let everything slide until judgment day. 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:26.000 This is not an instruction for you not to phone the police if you've been mugged or an instruction to stay in abusive relationships. 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:29.000 God's wrath we'll find next week is not just future. 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:33.000 It's worked out today in the authority structures that he has put in place in the world. 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:37.000 There will be times in this world where you will need to phone the police. 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:39.000 You'll need to press charges. 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:40.000 You'll need to blow the whistle. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:42.000 You'll need to run from abuse. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:48.000 But still your posture in those situations, even to those who have hurt you and wronged you, 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:52.000 is not to pretend that you stand over them as their judge. 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:54.000 You are their witness. 00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:56.000 God is the judge. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:06.000 And if you get that wrong, if you get that dynamic wrong, it will not help you. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:09.000 You need to leave room for God to do his job. 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:15.000 So you can bless, you can forgive, you can overcome and not take revenge. 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:17.000 You can, verse 20, feed your enemy. 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:19.000 You can give them something to drink. 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:24.000 Not to let them off, but actually the opposite, to heap the coals of God's judgment on them. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:28.000 Because God is a better and more thorough judge than we are. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:31.000 Now, of course, this is not easy. 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:39.000 I know enough of your stories in this room to know that many people in this room have been the subjects of terrible, terrible injustice. 00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:44.000 Perhaps you've experienced the full onslaught of human evil at its most horrible. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:48.000 And Paul is not writing this to minimize that in any way. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:27:00.000 What he wants to say to you instead is that the road to healing is to leave room for God's wrath. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:05.000 He then expands outwards from that to other relationships in the world as well. 00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:13.000 He says in verse 15, our emotions are to be guided by sympathy for the other, not just a perpetual venting of our own frustration. 00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:18.000 Rather, we're to find ourselves weeping with the weeping and rejoicing with the rejoicing. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:25.000 So that the strength of our Christian character is shown not so much in joy when we get what we want, but when someone else gets what we want. 00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:27.000 That's hard. 00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:37.000 In verse 16, we're to live in harmony, not to use social connections to advance our status, but being willing to associate with those of low position because we're not wise in our own eyes. 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:38.000 We're not conceited. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:41.000 And Paul is gloriously realistic here, isn't he? 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:45.000 He says that we should live at peace, but only as far as it depends on us. 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:48.000 He knows it's not always within our gift. 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:53.000 It is, if it is possible, verse 18, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 00:27:53.000 --> 00:28:00.000 In other words, these instructions aren't 18 commands for a trouble-free life in the world. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:10.000 That's not possible, but still, as far as it is possible, within the instructions given in God's word, we're to live at peace, not stir up unnecessary conflict, not always looking for a fight. 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:15.000 Now, I hope you see as I've read through those things, this is very Christ-like, isn't it? 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:24.000 This is Christ with Pilate, surrendering quietly, trusting his Father to judge, suffering innocently in a way that exposed God's love and justice. 00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:30.000 And the Lord calls you an army, even in very difficult circumstances, to do exactly the same. 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.000 Let me finish with a story. 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:42.000 On the 21st of December 1988, Helga Mossy was 19. 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:51.000 She was on a flight to the US to go to work as a nanny before studying at university to study music. 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:55.000 The flight was Pan Am 103. 00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:57.000 And there was a bomb on the plane. 00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:05.000 And all 259 people on the flight were killed over a small Scottish town called Lockerbie. 00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:11.000 The grieving families all sought their own ways to deal with it. 00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:15.000 Some of them gave the rest of their lives to the campaign for justice. 00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:21.000 Others of them never really moved on in any meaningful way at all, growing bitter and resentful. 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:26.000 But Helga's parents, John and Lisa, were Christians. 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:33.000 And in the midst of their grief, the Lord spoke to them from Romans 12, verse 21. 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:40.000 He said to them, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.000 It's a word for us, they said. 00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:47.000 And by God's help, that was the mountain that they climbed. 00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:55.000 They used the publicity and attention that the tragedy drew to set up the Helga Mossy Memorial Trust 00:29:55.000 --> 00:30:00.000 to provide care and education for needy children in developing countries. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:08.000 Compensation money eventually came from the Libyan government and was invested in homes in India and the Philippines for abandoned children. 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:15.000 They were able to say that there were literally children in those countries who were alive because their daughter died. 00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:17.000 Now, did that take the pain away? 00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:19.000 Of course it didn't. 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:22.000 John described losing his daughter like an amputation. 00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:24.000 You don't get over it. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:26.000 You learn to live with it every day. 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:32.000 John spoke at the 25th anniversary service and he said this. 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:43.000 The damage that we inflict on ourselves by harboring anger and bitterness can be far more serious than the initial wound. 00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:47.000 How we deal with this second remembering is crucial. 00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:59.000 I've seen lives destroyed, not by the cruel events of life, but by the anger and bitterness, often justified that they have allowed and even encouraged to fill their thoughts. 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:02.000 I return to St. Paul's words. 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:19.000 John was deeply wounded, deeply pained, but with the Spirit's help he climbed the mountain of forgiveness. 00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:35.000 And enjoyed a glorious view from up there. 00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:38.000 And Paul says, join him. 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:44.000 Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:47.000 Let me pray as I close. 00:31:47.000 --> 00:32:07.000 Let's just have a few moments for prayer on our own, just maybe quietly reflecting on what the Lord's perhaps said to us from his word. 00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:37.000 My name is Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph Joseph 00:32:37.000 --> 00:33:00.359 fly fly fly the gospel bids to me and lovingly gives me wings so i will fly 00:33:00.359 --> 00:33:04.400 heavenly father that's what you're inviting us to do this morning 00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:11.580 and so we pray that you would help us lord we read this list of instructions and we know we can't 00:33:11.580 --> 00:33:18.380 do them in our own strength so we pray that by your spirit you will be at work in us and through us 00:33:18.380 --> 00:33:23.519 transforming us more and more into the likeness of the lord jesus 00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:31.320 who was not overcome by evil but overcame evil through the good of his cross 00:33:31.319 --> 00:33:39.240 and so lord we pray that we would be like him and i just pause to pray especially maybe for people in 00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:44.059 the room who are particularly struggling with the things that have been done to them in the past 00:33:44.059 --> 00:33:52.539 please lord help them to find healing and freedom by leaving room for your wrath and judgment 00:33:52.539 --> 00:34:00.839 and by seeking to do good please lord draw near to us please help us help us to be a community of 00:34:00.839 --> 00:34:04.680 love and support as we pray in jesus name amen 00:34:04.680 --> 00:34:12.180 who have been who have been who have been who have been who have been who have been who have been who have been