The Road to Romans 2016!
So, What
does Love act like???
|
|
Romans
12:14–21 (ESV)
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not
curse them.
15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who
weep.
16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty,
but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
17Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do
what is honorable in the sight of all.
18If possible, so far as it depends on you, live
peaceably with all.
19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to
the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the
Lord.”
20To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap
burning coals on his head.”
21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
good.
Don’t
forget we transform not just conform! And some times transforming means change!
We can conform and never change but Paul jumps right in the the things that we
need to start and change!
Last
week we talked about what love is, and this week we talk about how love acts! And
we do that in the context of our enemies! You know the ones, the ones persecuting
you, the ones that gossip about you, the ones that talk behind your back. They might
be jealous, they might be envious of you and Paul says, that’s right, you need to
love them to!
Let the change begin!
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not
curse them.
·
So he just jumps right in!
·
Some days its hard to bless those who help us
·
And he starts off with Bless those who persecute
us!
·
He knows what we want to do
o
Curse them
o
Punish them
o
Get back at them!!
o
But nope! He says bless them!!
·
This plays it to a them through out t he Gospel
o
valuing others more than ourselves
o
putting others first
o
no matter who they are or what they do (to a
point)
o
but in general we should always think of others
first!
Matthew 5:44 (ESV)
44But I say to you, Love
your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
·
Jesus was always about putting others first!
·
He did you
·
He didn’t look to give you what you deserve
·
He gave you what you never deserved!!
Let’s keep this in the right context!
15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who
weep.
·
We are still talking about your enemies, the
ones who persecute you!
·
That means
o Not
being jealous
o That
means being happy with them when something good happens
o That
means morning with them when things go sideways
Offering empathy to someone who
persecutes you is a variation of valuing others more than ourselves—even enemies
who curse us. Paul calls for empathy rather than hatred for the pain these
people may be going through. He extends this
theme of empathy through verse 15, rejoicing and weeping and taking part in the
circumstances rather than responding with jealousy or anger.
So what does love
act like???
16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty,
but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
·
Live in
harmony with one another
o
Being like minded
o
Paul challenges us not to pursue our own
interests to the exclusion of others.
Philippians
2:1–4 (NLT)
1Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ?
Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your
hearts tender and compassionate?
2Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working
together with one mind and purpose.
3Don’t be selfish;
don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better
than yourselves.
4Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take
an interest in others, too.
o
We as followers
of Jesus need to try and live at peace with everyone
o
We need to look
out for others
o
We need to
think of their needs
o
We need to walk
a mile in their shoes
o
Look at the
words
§
Loving
§
Working together
§
One mind
§
Thinking of
others
§
Take a interest
in others
§
Don’t be
selfish
o
Not just with
the folks you love, but the ones you don’t too!!
·
Don’t be haughty!
Proverbs
18:12 (NLT)
12Haughtiness goes before destruction; humility
precedes honor.
Proverbs
16:18 (NLT)
18Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness
before a fall.
·
Arrogance is an
ugly thing
·
And Paul
reminds us don’t!
·
Nothing good
comes out of it
·
Too many
Christians, think way to highly of them self!
·
Associate with the lowly! Sounds easy!
o We all look down on someone
o It can be because
§ We make more than they do
§ We have a better job
§ We have a better marriage
§ Smarter kids
§ Better car
§ Nicer horse
§ Smarter dog
o Our sinful self always looks for a reason to better
than someone
o And we are always jealous of the ones we perceive to
have more
Paul is saying no matter where they
rank on the social latter we treat everyone the same!!
·
Never be wise in your own sight. WHO,ME???
Proverbs 3:7
(ESV)
7Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
·
This is a
problem that is ramped in the church today
·
We think way to
high on our selves
·
And to be
honest I see as much sin in the church as I see out!
·
We just hide it
better!
·
We need to
start being humble
·
Repentant
·
Honest about
who we are
·
Instead of
putting our selves up, we need to start lifting Jesus up
·
He saved you,
you did nothing
·
You have
nothing to think good about yourself!!!!
If we are to respond in
faith to God’s free gift of grace and turn from our sinful ways, Paul says we
must also abandon the structures and hierarchies that embody sin in our
society—easy in theory, but very difficult in practice.
Part of living the Christian life that we have lost!
17Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do
what is honorable in the sight of all.
·
Thake the high
road
·
Grin and bear
it
·
What ever you
call it
·
Some times you
have to suck it up and take it
·
People need to
see Jesus in you
·
Pick on Robert for
a min!
·
Some times
doing the honorable thing hurts
o But its what Jesus did
o And he expects his followers to do the same thing
Luke 9:23
(ESV)
23And he said to all, “If
anyone would come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross daily
and follow me.
We should make peace when ever we can!
18If possible, so far as it depends on you, live
peaceably with all.
·
That means we
extend our hand in forgiveness
·
That means we
seek forgiveness when we sin against others
·
We extend the
hand, if they reach back great!
·
If not, we don’t
treat them different
·
We continue to
show God grace, because that what he did with us!!
Its Gods place not yours!
19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to
the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the
Lord.”
·
Gods justice is
perfect Justice
·
Gods judgement
is perfect Judgement
·
And its his
choice! Not yours!
·
God is the
author and ruler of your life and there’s also
Proverbs
20:22 (ESV)
22Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.
We should always do the right thing! And leave the
justice to God
20To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap
burning coals on his head.”
·
When we respond
generously to those who have wronged us, we leave retribution in God’s hands.
·
Paul says this
counterintuitive response has the effect of “heaping burning coals on their
head,” referring to Proverbs 25:21–22, where God promises to reward us for not
giving into our desire for vengeance.
·
So they get
what is coning to them in Gods time
·
And God will
reward you for doing what he calls you to do!
No comments:
Post a Comment