Because God Worship Series: 04 – HOLDING FAST TO GOOD

Because God Worship Series: Holding Fast to Good Romans 12:9-21, Matthew 16:21-28

As I get older, I find that it is very important to write things down, otherwise I forget them. It can be an inconvenience to forget things but sometimes there are more serious repercussions if I forget!

Karen is a list maker. She makes lists on paper. She makes lists on the memo app on her phone. That’s the only way she can remember the multitude of things she’s got to remember. Things we need to get done at home. Things for school. What we need at the grocery. Things we need to get for her mom and dad. Christmas lists. Food lists for gatherings with family and friends. It keeps things running smoothly and efficiently.

Paul was a list maker, too. He loved lists; and there are plenty of them in his letters. Today’s passage from Romans 12:9-21 _NRSV is one of his lists. Listen carefully, in and of itself, this passage clearly proclaims a message to us all.

⁹ Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; ¹⁰ love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹ Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. ¹³ Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. ¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. ¹⁸ If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰ No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

That’s a pretty extensive list! And he has set the bar pretty high! Right off the get-go, we are challenged.

In the New Living Translation verse 9 reads, “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them.” Paul is saying, “Don’t fake it. Don’t go into it halfheartedly. Make it real, make it sincere, put your whole self into it. Love genuinely. Got it?”

Next, he says “hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good”. I’m going to stretch your brain a little. Go along with me, and I think you’ll be glad you did.

Paul divides our responsibilities into inside and outside, and these words of good and evil are an inside kind of statement. One of the issues of being a Christian in the world today is that we tend to do inside work outside and outside work on the inside. Let me explain.

Our goal as followers of Christ is to be like Him. And Paul is trying to help us establish rules of behavior for the community of faith. He is showing us how to do it and giving us examples of who we are trying to be. He describes life within the community in dynamic, powerful ways. We are connected; we are accountable; we are invested in one another’s lives.

This difficult work of hating evil and holding fast to the good is an inside job. We’re not being told to go and change the world; no, here we are being called to the difficult task of cleaning our own house. We are called to not let the world creep in around the edges of our thinking. We are encouraged to root it out, to stand against it, to call one another to a higher standard. We are to be in the business of transforming lives.

One very important component of accomplishing this formidable task that has to be at the forefront of our every act is love, and Paul is quick to point that out. The tools we must use are respect, honor, patience, and prayer, not judgment, punishment, and vengeance.

But, again, we put our whole selves into this process. We pour ourselves out for the community, for those within the community who are struggling to learn how to live and to love as Christ calls us to love. And we never give up.

In this day and age, one of the biggest hurdles we have to overcome, in all walks of life, both in and outside of the church, is forgiveness. It’s like we are just looking for something to tick us off and then when it does, we just get a white-knuckle vice grip on that grudge and we refuse to forgive. We don’t give it any consideration whatsoever!

Do you remember Peter’s counting question? “How often should I forgive someone who sins against me?” Matthew 18:21 _NLT Jesus’ answer? “More than you can count.” Paul puts it like this: “Do not be lazy but work hard, serving the Lord with all your heart.” v11 _NCV

Serving the Lord with all of your heart is hard work, it’s no walk in the park! We can’t be lackadaisical. It takes a concerted effort on our part, every moment of every day!

So, our inward work is essential, but it is much, much more than that and Paul quickly moves us out. But before we rush out the door, let’s pause for a moment at the threshold.

Think about that… Wouldn’t you agree that if you were not a part of this body of believers, that crossing the threshold into our places of worship would be difficult to do? And in reality, it doesn’t make any difference if you are a follower of Christ or not. Even when Karen and I have visited other churches there’s a bit of anxiety when we cross that threshold.

The life of the church is found in how the guest is welcomed and included. The spirit of the church is felt by the strangers who find themselves in need or simply in proximity to the church and are caught up in the generous hospitality that draws them in.

When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. v13 _NLT

Having opened the door, Paul now runs out with enthusiasm and opportunity, dragging us right along. From verse 14 on, we are now living in the world around us. Notice there is no crusading spirit for living in the world.

Let me expand that word “crusading”. At the core of it all, we are not necessarily called to tout our social, political, or religious agendas flavoring them with just enough Scripture that we can justify our actions

What we are all called, exclusively, to is to service and love and honor and respect—the same tools we took up on the inside, but here we use them with even more tenderness.

Rejoice with those who rejoice [sharing others’ joy], and weep with those who weep [sharing others’ grief]. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty [conceited, self-important, exclusive], but associate with humble people [those with a realistic self-view]. v15-16 _AMP

And then Paul wraps it up with the whole vengeance being God’s providence thing.

But…here is where we find the rub. Here is where we struggle. This is where we tend to pull up on the reigns. What’s behind this idea from Paul is that we are going to get hurt.

I’d be willing to invest in my community if it didn’t cost me so much, right? I’d be more willing to share my faith, to trust my neighbor, to sacrifice for those who need if I didn’t get taken advantage of, if I didn’t get the rug pulled out from under me, if I knew everything was going to work out to my advantage, or at least to cause me minimal damage.

But that has never been part of the promise.

Safety was never high on Jesus’ list of concerns. Why else would Paul be telling us how to respond if everything was always going to go our way?

You’ve never heard me say that this journey was going to be an easy one—only that it is worth it. Living in harmony, even with those who don’t want to live in harmony with us, is worth the effort it takes. Loving is worth the effort and the rejection we receive. Hope is worth the effort, even when despair seems so much more logical.

Finally, in verse 20, we come to the coals. The notes of the Amplified Bible share that this may refer to an ancient Egyptian custom in which a penitent person carried a bowl of burning embers on his head to show his shame and guilt. By analogy, being kind to an enemy may lead him to shame and repentance.

Paul may also have been trying to say that the cold pleasure we take in getting revenge is nothing compared to the warm joy of serving or healing or helping. So, go ahead, heap some coals. It’ll do us all some good!

Let’s wrap things up with our text from Matthew 16.

It’s an “in your face” kind of passage as Jesus sets Peter straight, but even in the middle of His confrontation, Jesus is living out Paul’s entire list. And then he carefully invites us to do the same.

Once again, this journey we are on is not an easy one. And Jesus’ life is living proof. But what love could be more genuine than a love that surrenders all, a love that endures suffering for another?

Jesus doesn’t make a list because He is the list. And as such, he becomes our model and hope. No, it was His task alone to sacrifice himself on the cross for the salvation of the world. But we can live each day in humble surrender to the needs of others, seeking to bring justice to a world that is broken and peace to a world tearing itself apart with divisions and hatred that rise up all around us with frightening regularity.

Like Peter, however, we too often wish for an easier faith, a pain-free, risk-free discipleship. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” v22 _NLT

Jesus’ response to this outburst reminds us that when we seek such a path, we are in opposition to the work of Jesus in the world. “Satan” in Hebrew means adversary, opposition. Is it too much of a stretch to imagine that those who preach an easy grace, or a comfortable faith, are taking an adversarial role in diminishing the power of the supreme, genuine act of love that Jesus and, through him, all followers seek to live out?

Jesus continues to exclaim, “Get behind Me, Satan!” Get in My path, follow My steps, do as I do. Stop opposing and start following! “Do not lag in zeal,” v11 Paul writes. “Hold fast to what is good.” v9

_{Core by DEREK WEBER  /  PREACHING NOTES}

Sept 6th, 2020, Sun, 9:00 am