APPLIED CHRISTIANITY
III. “Aglow With the Spirit”
9-4-05
Ken Peterson
Romans 12:9-21
INTRODUCTION
It is difficult to comprehend the devastation and suffering along the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It is sobering to think of the suddenness of the destruction and the desperation we’ve been seeing of people who are without water, food, or a way of escaping the flooded city of New Orleans. As we pray for them, doesn’t it make a lot of our pursuits and concerns seem trivial? We get caught up in a world that majors in the unimportant: “How do I look?;” “I need the right brand of sneakers;” “Where will I have lunch and what do I want to eat?” Suddenly, a lot of what preoccupies us as important is really not that big of a deal. After watching the news the other night, I took my walk and was thinking, “What is of real value and importance?” With images of people who have lost all their material things and maybe even family members or friends fresh in my mind, my thoughts turned around the question, “What should we be living for?” Suddenly, my wondering about whether I should fertilize my lawn again before the irrigation water is shut off for the season lost its importance. I thought of 2 Pet. 3:11, set in the context of the day of the Lord and how all the things of this world will be destroyed, the question asked is, “...What kind of people ought you to be?” Peter answers the question saying we ought to be living holy and godly lives– for living our lives for God and His kingdom is of eternal value.
However, just how do your practice “holy and godly?” That isn’t easy for me to comprehend. But Paul closes out this great chapter of Romans 12 with a list that looks a lot like what it means to put “holy and godly” into practice. It is a picture of life boiled down to its essence, giving us what is truly important. These are short, terse statements which in itself is unusual for Paul. He is known for his l-o-n-g sentences. These staccato commands may seem a bit disjointed, like the climax of a fireworks show where they just throw everything left up into the air at once. But actually, beneath the surface, it is all about love. Each statement is a manifestation of God’s love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. I see verse 11,
Never be lacking in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serving the Lord,
as the key to all that Paul is saying here about love. That glow isn’t like the glow we saw on the “Touched by an Angel” TV program, but it is shown in practical expressions of love.
LOVE
He begins with, “Love must be sincere (9).” What does sincere love look like? A few years ago, a group of professionals posed the question, “What does love mean?” to a group of four to eight year-olds. Here’s a sampling of responses.
Rebecca, age 8 said, “When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”
Jenny, age 4 said, “There are two kinds of love. Our love. God’s love. But God makes both kinds of them.”
class=Section2>Noelle, age 7 said, “Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.”
Bobby, age 5 said, “Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.”
Mary Ann, age 4 said, “love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.”
Lauren, age 4 said, “I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.”
Billy, age 4 said, “When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth.”
Jessica, age 8 said, “You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you” unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”
Isn’t that some great insight from those children? Yes, love is all of that. Paul’s list of abrupt commands all point to the fact that love isn’t about feelings, but about specific actions we can take. Listen to some of those as The Message puts verses 9-17.
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.
From what Paul is saying, it is clear that love is a verb, an action word. It involves doing. Our culture has distilled love into a feeling and that has gotten us into a lot of trouble. Love is something we do. It is also a decision we make. You get that from Paul’s series of commands. In essence he’s saying, “Don’t think about how you feel. Get going and do what love would do.” Love involves saying “no” to selfishness. It often requires great sacrifice. But love is what makes life worthwhile, and when we love we are most like God, for “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:16).
Now, remember this is not a self-help reform program. This is a picture of the Spirit-filled life. How do we keep the Spirit-life burning, surging energetically within us so this love flows through us? Ann Lamott gives us an intriguing image when she writes, “The Gulf Stream will pass through a straw, provided that the straw is aligned with the Gulf Stream, and not at cross-purpose with the Gulf Stream.” If we think of our lives as a straw, the love, the greatness, the glory of God can all pass through our lives to bless others– provided we are aligned with God in Christ Jesus.
How do we keep aligned? That is what Paul has been telling us in this chapter that we covered in the first two sermons. This is a good time to review (and the steps are on your bulletin insert).
1. Our motivation comes from understanding God’s incredible love in providing our salvation– “In view of God’s mercy...” (12:1)
2. We then surrender all of our lives to Him as “....living sacrifices” (12:1).
3. We say “no” to the pattern of this world, daring to be different in following Christ (12:2).
4. We say “yes” to renewing our minds, filling ourselves with the truths and the life God offers in Christ (12:2).
5. We get plugged into the Body of Christ, the church, sharing our gifts and receiving the gifts of others. We are designed to grow in community with other believers (12:3-8).
Those are all steps to keeping our spiritual fervor or being aglow with the Spirit (11). Paul is ending this chapter with a bracing snapshot of Spirit-filled living. So, if you are lacking in love, compassion, joy, patience, or anything else on the list, the remedy is to be found in the these five steps involved in applying our faith. Through them, you can get aligned so the life of the Spirit can begin flowing through you, pouring forth a love that is not your own.
FORGIVE
While forgiving others for their wrongs toward us is all a part of love, it in itself is a big enough subject that Paul gives special attention to it and offers a very helpful insight in vs. 17-21.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil.
Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.
18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you,
live at peace with everyone.
19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath,
for it is written: "It is mine to avenge;
I will repay," says the Lord.
20 On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
21 Do not be overcome by evil,
but overcome evil with good.
Of course our natural inclination toward those who hurt us is to strike back and try to get even. If it is not possible to act in an overt way, our anger toward them can turn into a bitterness and resentment. We can’t stand to be in their presence so we avoid them. That anger comes marching through our hearts at odd moments. “Resent” means to “feel again.” All the awfulness of that original feeling of hurt, anger, and injustice comes boiling up with all its power to control us and constrict our lives. We are trapped in an endless cycle of angry feelings. Of course, the ultimate irony is that our resentment and bitterness is not hurting the person who hurt us but it is only destroying our lives. As someone observed, “Hatred is a banquet until you realize you are the main course.” There is only one way out, forgiveness.
Barry Fox in the book, Making Miracles, tells of meeting Rose Nelson who was brutally beaten by two drunk teenage boys leaving her unable to walk. She was forced to sell her home after medical bills ate up he modest savings. Does she have a reason to be resentful? You bet she does. Yet, her smile, peace, and love are evident as she sits in her wheelchair. When asked how she can be so loving after what happened to her, she replies:
O my, I could have dried up after the boys beat me. I was afraid I would. That’s why I decided to be full of love and to give my love to everyone. The more I love everyone else, the better I feel. And the better I feel, the more I love the world. Love cured my fear.
Rose made a conscious choice not to nurse her resentment or bitterness. She recognized what deadly poison they would be. But also she acknowledges that love is a choice, a decision we make– it is not just feelings. She didn’t feel like loving, but made a choice to do so.
How do we make that choice? I think Paul offers us one of the most important keys to making that choice in quoting Deut. 32:35– Vengeance I mine, saith the Lord, I will repay. Isn’t the thing that worries us about forgiving is that maybe the other person will get away with it and they won’t be punished for their nastiness? We feel we’ll be annihilated if we don’t fight back. But this verse helps, because here it is couched in terms of trusting God. It is a call to surrender our right, our need to get even, and let God take care of it. Paul says, Leave room for God’s wrath.
Of course, God doesn’t settle all accounts in this life to our satisfaction. That’s where faith comes in. But in the end, I believe we will be satisfied that justice was done when we see the full picture from heaven’s perspective.
So, in forgiving, we’re not saying, “What you did is okay.” Rather when we forgive we acknowledge that it was wrong, but we are also saying, “I surrender my right to get even or resent you. I’ll turn that over to God.” Then, we are on the road to freedom from the tyranny of resentment.
You see, the moment we curse them, we join them. The only way to conquer evil is to absorb it. We take it into ourselves and by grace we neutralize its harm. Abraham Lincoln said, “Do I not conquer my enemy by making him my friend?” When we repay evil with evil, evil is all there is– bigger and more toxic piles of it. Isn’t that what we see in the Middle East? The only way to reverse the process is to behave in the opposite way– blessing our enemies, feeding them, and loving them. That’s what Jesus did. He took all the meanness and evil of the world and ran it through the filter of his own body, repaying evil with good and death with life.
CONCLUSION
One other thing I like about this passage is the positive, forward momentum. There is action all the way through. He goes from, “hate what is evil; cling to what is good” all the way to his final, “do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” In between we hear, “be devoted,” “honor,” “be aglow,” “be joyful, patient, faithful,” etc.
Too often our approach to Christianity is rather defensive and passive. We think of it as not doing a lot of things and avoiding things. There’s truth to the saying, “The best defense is a good offense.” So, when we have momentum, attacking the difficulties of life, forgiving, moving outward, it all makes us much less prone to falling. Indeed, we make a difference in our world.
Remember, each time we forgive someone who hurt us, open our heart to a friend, or are reconciled to an enemy we are aligning ourselves with God and His purpose for the world. Each act of hospitality, every word of encouragement, and every time we bless the difficult people in our lives we are moving against the darkness of this world, bringing the light of Christ. I think the famous prayer of St. Frances summarizes a lot of this for us. Let’s join in praying it in unison. The words are in your bulletin.
Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not seek so much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.