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Romans 9-16

Applying Righteousness: Towards Others/Everyday

Chuck Lindsey · Sunday, 2 November 2025 · Romans 12:9-21 · 59:21 · 9,795 words

Romans S28 · 12:9-21 Grand Blanc

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What this sermon is about

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beneficial 11 uh 24 christian 36 affect 15 evil 27 cling 13 glue 6 unnecessary 6 trouble 16 hat 15 curse 13 blah 7

Topics

Hope 5 Sin 3 Prayer 2 Salvation 2 Suffering 1 The Holy Spirit 1

Scripture referenced 34

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Romans 12 0:45 Romans 12 0:52 Romans 12:9 0:52 Romans 12 2:14 Romans 12 2:58 Romans 12:8-21 7:01 Romans 12:8-21 7:27 Romans 12:9 7:33 Romans 12 7:50 Romans 12:9 8:27 Romans 12:9 13:00 Romans 12:10 16:17 Romans 12:10 18:23 Romans 12:11 19:54 Romans 12:11 20:06 Romans 12:11 25:54 Romans 12:12 28:29 Romans 12:13 32:29 Romans 12:13 32:36 Galatians 6:10 33:47 Romans 12:14 35:23 Romans 12:14 35:51 Romans 12:17 39:16 Romans 12:15 39:44 Romans 12:15 39:49 Romans 12:15 40:14 Romans 12:16 41:00 Romans 12:17-21 43:08 Romans 12:17 43:20 Romans 12:17 44:28 Romans 12:18 47:13 Romans 12:18 49:35 Romans 12:19 51:07 Romans 12:21 56:18

Transcript

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Well, good morning. It's good to see you here this morning.

If you have a Bible, I'm going to ask you to open it up to the book of Romans.

We'll be in chapter 12 this morning, picking up where we left off last week in verse 9.

So, Romans chapter 12, beginning in verse 9.

I want to welcome all of you watching online as well today.

And, you know, we're in a very practical section of the book of Romans.

And we are now trying to apply...

Things that we have been learning.

And there's some great stuff here today.

But before we jump into it, I want to point something out that is very, very important.

It's very important you hear this before we go into this section.

The book of Romans did not start out by telling us what to do.

Okay? It did not.

It did not start out by saying, don't do this, and do this, and be like that.

It did not start out that way.

In fact...

For 11 chapters, we have been told what God has done for us.

And that's really the order.

God tells you what He has done.

He tells you how good He is.

He tells you His faithfulness.

And then He says, now, respond like this.

Okay?

So the point I'm trying to make is...

11 chapters of God's faithfulness.

11 chapters of God's kindness towards us.

Who do not deserve it.

But then as we come to...

Chapter 12, we finally come to this idea of...

Now that He's done all of this, now respond.

And that is the difference between the Christian life and religion.

Okay?

Please hear that.

Religion is I am going to initiate.

I am going to get God to look at me and bless me through my activity.

That is religion, and it kills everybody.

Christianity is the...

The only.

The only truth, right?

And it is, this is what God has done for me.

And so now, I respond.

Okay?

So, what we are doing this morning as we look at chapter 12, there's a lot of do this and

be like this and think this way.

But it would be a mistake for us to come into this section in a religious way.

It would be a mistake for us to go, you know what?

I'm going to really put my head down.

I'm going to put my effort.

I'm going to put my effort in.

I'm going to grind through it.

I'm going to make this happen.

That would be a mistake.

Instead, you'd want to flip it around and say, Lord, you have been so good.

You have done so much.

Help me now as I respond to you in these things.

Okay?

So, I just, I wanted to set that before we begin into this passage of Scripture.

All right.

Well, let's go to the Lord in prayer, and let's ask Him to speak this morning.

Lord, we thank you that you are so good.

You're so good.

So good.

So kind and faithful to us.

We do not deserve your kindness, but we are so grateful for it.

I pray this morning, Lord, that you would open your word to us.

I pray you would help us to hear you.

I pray every distraction would fade away and that, Lord, we would listen to you this morning.

Lord, I have nothing to give except myself.

We have nothing to give except ourselves.

And so, this morning, we just give ourselves to you and our attention and our time to you.

we pray you would speak. It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Okay, so what does a Christian look

like, right? So like if your neighbor or your classmate or your co-worker or somebody, right,

your family member, if they came to you and they said, okay, listen, I need to know what is a

Christian, right? I just, I want you to tell me what is a Christian? What do they look like? What

do they do? What do they say? What are they about? Can you describe a real Christian to me?

I want to know, how would you describe this? How would you answer that? How would you describe

what a Christian actually is? Well, if someone asks me that, my answer to that is going to be

twofold. First of all, I would say a real Christian is somebody who actually really,

really loves Jesus, okay? That's the first part. That's true of all real Christians.

They love Jesus.

Love the Lord. And it's clear in scripture that that is a defining mark between unsaved and saved

people. Saved people love the Lord. Unsaved people love themselves, above all other things, okay?

So, but the second thing I would say is there is a real desire to please the Lord in every way

possible. That is true also in every real believer. We have the Holy Spirit of God living in us,

and so we want to please the Lord.

Please the Lord with our lives. We will do things that we don't want to do because He wants us to do

them, right? He's Lord, and so what He wants, He gets. And it's not a dry, it's not a religious

thing. It's not a compulsion for us. It is a, you have loved me, and I now respond to you, right?

Remember the difference. Religion versus Christianity. Relationship. We respond to God. We say, oh, you're not happy with that? I don't

care if I love that. I will lay that down because you're not happy with that, and you are Lord.

That's the difference. And it's all the difference in the world. Religion will grind you out and kill

you and give you nothing at the end of it. It'll crush you. Christ, the response, life becomes this

response. It becomes worship, and it's beautiful. And it's really, honestly, very freeing. So that's

how I would answer. But then I would also say, now, if you want to know what a Christian looks like,

Romans chapter 12, verse 8 through 21 has to be a part of that answer because it literally is a list

of actions, not things that we're trying to mimic. It's what we are to be, and it's what

our attitude is supposed to be. It's what our thinking is supposed to be. It's what we

are supposed to look like as believers. And the reason for this is because it's what He is.

Okay, Romans 12, 8 through 21, it literally looks like a list of what Jesus is.

It's a description of Him. So as an example, verse 9, Jesus loved without hypocrisy.

Jesus hated what is evil. Jesus clung to what is good. Jesus was kindly affectionate to others.

Jesus gave preference to others. We go on and on. You can literally read through Romans 12,

9 through 21, insert Jesus into all of it, and you'd see He fulfilled every bit of it.

Now, if you put my name there, there's a problem.

Chuck loved without hypocrisy. Oh gosh, I hope so. Chuck hated what was evil. I hope so, right?

But Him, He fulfills it perfectly, okay? And so if we are His followers, His disciples,

then we are to be like Him in these things. That's what it means to grow, to be more and more

like Him, right? So let's look at it. First up is love. Verse 9, let love be

without hypocrisy. This is literally, in Greek, it's literally love without hypocrisy. That's how

simple it is. And I would ask you, how do you love others? The word hypocrisy is a Greek word,

and it meant play acting. It described an actor putting a mask on and playing a part.

That's the word that is used here. So the meaning is really simple. Don't pretend to love people.

Don't act like you love people when you don't. We have a saying in my home, love can't be faked

and it can't be hidden. If you actually love somebody, you can't hide it. And if you don't

love them, you can't fake it, right? Everybody knows it's not genuine. It's not real. This is a

call to reality. It's a call to genuineness. It is a genuinely love other people. Now, the word love

agape, maybe you've heard that before, but that, it's very important to say this. This is not the

Greek word phileo, which would be like a brotherly love. This is a love that comes from the Lord.

The reason I mention it is because of this. This love, God has to pour out into us,

and then we pour out to others. And so what it will look like, this kind of love,

it will look like real interest in people. It will look like warm care. It will look like

help. It will look like we're trying to serve, right? We will care for people, their trouble and

their needs. We will not fake it because that's what, you know, quote unquote Christians or church

people do. We don't play a role. We actually love one another. But if this is not true in you

or in me, we've got to go to the Lord and figure out why. You see, because agape is something God

is pouring into us. And if we're not agape, if we're not loving people, it's not that God is

pouring the love into us. It's that somewhere along the way, there's a clog, right? Something

is stopping that. Something is blocking it. God's still pouring, but we're not pouring out. There's

a problem. Something's stopping it. And listen, nine times out of 10, just it's sin. Sin is

blocking. Sin is stopping. Sin is causing something to prevent the love of God poured into our hearts

to then be poured out to others.

And so it is sin. And that's why Paul says in the very next words, he says, abhor what is evil.

I cannot say this strongly enough. Hate what God hates. Hate evil. Hate wickedness. That's

the command here. That's what the word abhor means. It's the strongest word you can use

in the Greek language to describe something that you hate, that you detest. It means to

detest with horror. What is absolutely revolting to you? What causes you to cringe when you see it?

For me, that's cauliflower, right? No, I'm just kidding. Right? Like you, what is it in this

world? You see it, you hear it, and it's like, oh gosh, it just, just detested. Do you detest? Do

you hate evil sin and wrongdoing like that? Does it, does it eat you up, right? You hate this. We

are told to detest. We are told to detest evil sin and wrongdoing like that. We are told to detest

to hate it with horror, evil, and sin, and wrongdoing. As his people, we are to hate what

he hates. Man, if, if we as people truly hated what God hates, can you imagine how much would

change in our lives? If we really hated what he hated, how much would change? See, our trouble,

if we're honest, our trouble is that we often love the things God hates. We often cling to

the things God tells us to let go of. We cling to the things God tells us to let go of. We cling

to things that are evil, and we let go of things that are good. It's supposed to be opposite. We're

supposed to cling to what is good and let go of what is evil. And so look at verse nine. Look what

it says. Cling to what is good. So hate what is evil. And when you do, it will involve, please

hear this, it will involve letting go of that thing, dropping it, letting it go. Because the

only way that you can cling to what is good, it's a, it's a word that means to cling to what is good.

Glue yourself to, I like that, super glue yourself to what is good. And the only way you can do that

is when you let go of all these other things. You go, this is not good. My hands are full of things

that do not please the Lord. I will let those things go so that I can then cling to and glue

myself to what is good. And this is what God wants for us as believers. We drop the things that are

not good. And we, we hold on to, and man, it is so practical. Let go of what is killing your marriage.

Let go of it. What is in the way? Drop it, right? Bind yourself, cling to the Lord and to his word

and to your spouse and, and to good things, right? Good habits, good patterns. What is killing your

walk with the Lord? Drop it. Let go of it. Who cares what it is? Let go of it. It is killing. You

stop letting go of the things that are good and beneficial. It is so practical, practical. Glue

yourself to what is good. But as I said, we often do the opposite of this. We let go of good things

and we hold on to things that are destructive. You say, well, how do I know if it is good? Well,

the word good means useful. It means beneficial. So the question is, is this beneficial to my walk

with the Lord Jesus Christ? Is this, whatever it is that I am doing,

is this beneficial? Whatever I have, whatever I'm about, is it beneficial to my walk with the Lord

Jesus Christ? If not throw it out and glue yourself to what is, uh, this is great to do in all of

life. Is this beneficial to my marriage? If it is not throw it out, cling to what is good and

helpful. Cling to what is beneficial to your family, right? Keep going, right? Is, is this

music helpful? Is this TV show beneficial to me? Are these movies helping my mind and my heart

to connect to the Lord? And in real ways is the, the app that I've got that I opened 17,000 times a

day helpful. Is it beneficial to my life in any way? It's cracking beer on Friday. As soon as I

get home and, and, and, you know, just through the week, is this helping anything, anyone with

anything drop? What is not good? What is not beneficial? What is not helpful? Cling, bind

yourself, glue yourself to what is good. This is what Christians do.

And if you sit down and you take an inventory of your life, the things of your life, and you ask

this question, is this good? Is this beneficial? Is this helpful? I wonder how many things would

survive. Well, we're told to do it. Paul continues with our love for each other. Verse 10,

be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love. The words kindly affectionate

are very, very interesting because it refers to, uh, the care you would show for your family.

Right? So people that you consider to be your family, he's telling you, um, to essentially

look at your brothers and sisters in Christ and, and be kindly affectionate, uh, attach yourself

to is the idea, treat them as family, have the same devotion to each other. Right? So it's telling

you and I to have this devoted devotion to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Some of you,

you consider my family and I to be a part of

your family. And we feel the same way. And it's a, it's a tremendous blessing to us.

It's such an encouragement. This is the kind of thing that we're being told to do here, right?

We are family. And so as such, a decision has been made. That's what you're being told to do.

Decide that we are committed to each other. And this means that we stay devoted to each other.

It means that instead of doing what people do, where we just walk away when it's hard,

instead of that, we've made a decision. We're family. We're going to

stay together. We're going to work through problems. We're not just going to be like,

I don't need that in my life. See ya. We're going to work through problems because we've

made the decision, the commitment to each other, that we are family. You realize you

actually are family with God's people, with all of them, even the annoying ones. You will

spend all of eternity together. Some of you are like, Oh my gosh, I'm not saying you got

to be in the same spot. Okay. Listen, you know, but like all eternity together, God's people, we are

his family. And, uh, so Paul says this in verse 10, he goes on in honor, giving preference to one

another. So this is the idea similar to last week where we were talking about not thinking of

ourselves as, uh, above others, right? As more, this is the idea. We are not looking at anyone

else as though they are nothing. We are never looking at anyone else as though they are

worthless or that they are worth less than us. But instead we are honoring one another, a word,

which means to value.

Rightly. Do you value correctly? The people sitting all around you right now, right? We

genuinely consider each other to be valuable and important and costly and precious. And when that

happens, when we consider each other to be valuable, in fact, let's do that right now.

Just, just look around, just go ahead and turn to your left and right. Just look at these wonderful,

costly, very valuable people sitting all around you. They're all so different, aren't they? And

they're so very precious. And when you believe that, then you give preference to one another.

It's the only way you can do it. What it means is, is that you treat people with honor. You treat

people as though they are valuable instead of treating people as though they are less. So, uh,

in verse 11, uh, you might find this interesting. We are told not to be cool people. Some of us have

no problem with that. Uh, but we are told not to be cool people. You say, what are you talking about?

Look at verse 11, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, uh, lagging

in diligence. Uh, I mean, just to say it's, you know, the word means to be unaffected. We use the

word cool, right? If you research the word cool, it's like, I'm just, I'm just not affected by

anything. I'm just, you know, that's the idea here. Nothing really affects you. There's a

warning here, not to be like this. Now in our society, uh, this general attitude is,

everywhere. It drives me crazy. My kids get sick of me pointing out this attitude. I can't stand

this. The idea that we are unaffected by anything that happens around us drives me nuts. Like

nothing really matters. Laughing when people shouldn't drives me crazy. You should not be

laughing at that. That's not funny. That should grieve you. And instead not grieving when people

should be grieving. That drives me crazy too. We should be rightly right. Emotional,

as people rightly emotional, not overly, but rightly. But listen, this can happen in the

church where we are not affected by the things we should be affected by. Uh, you just sing the song

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It means nothing to me, right? Doesn't affect us. Doesn't

move you with any thankfulness or any worship or, or anything in any way. No response from your

heart. You just mouth the words. Cause you've heard them. Don't do that. Be affected. Listen,

I don't need

I don't need to hear anything new. I don't, I don't need to hear. I'm not trying to hear

anything new. I am trying to be moved by the things I have always heard. Okay. I want the

cross of Jesus Christ to break me every single time I think of it. That's what I want. I don't

need to hear some catchy, you know, new thing. If by the way, if it's new, it's not true. If it's

true, it ain't new. Okay. That's a little lesson for you, right? I don't need anything new. I want

to be moved by the things that are true, that are real, that are good,

right? So listen, don't just go through the motions. Don't be unaffected. Christians are

to be affected by the things that we are hearing. You don't take communion. Like it's some mid

gathering snack. Oh, well the, you know, I go to that church cause right before the message,

they pass out a snack, you know, it's pizza rolls and Pepsi. You know what I mean? It's amazing.

We don't do that. I'm just totally kidding. If this is your first time, we don't pass out pizza

rolls. Okay. Right. But like, that's almost how it's looked at like, well, now's the snack time.

You know,

it's not a snack, man. We're, we're looking to what it took to rescue us. We listened to the

sermon. We're turning, tuning in and out, barely engaged in it. Thinking about all the stuff we're

going to do today. Don't do that. Why waste your time? We live in this world as a Christian. And

for some, there's very little evidence of it because they're really not affected by it at all,

right? There's no fervor. There's no zeal. There's no passion. Uh, they're not really ever talking

about it. Well, I don't want to put it out there. I don't want to put it out there. I don't want to

push my beliefs on people. You know? No, it's just clear. It doesn't move you. It doesn't affect

you. You just don't care because you don't ever talk about it. And here's the thing that you talk

about all the things you actually care about. And everybody in your entire life knows what you

actually care about because those are the things you're passionate about. Those are the things you

talk about. They know you're a lions fan because you can't stop talking about it. You know, nobody

has to say, Hey, go, go tell everybody you're a lions fan. It's like, no, no, no. I'm going to,

I'm a lions fan. Listen, some people, you wouldn't know they were Christians at all. You, you don't

hear anything, nothing. You wouldn't know. Wow. You're a Christian. Oh yeah, man. I've been a

Christian for 20 years. Wow. Okay. Oh wow. You're married. I didn't even think you were married. I

didn't even know you had a spouse. You never talk about it. That's weird, isn't it? So listen,

if you're in religion, it's not weird, but in Christ, that's weird. So we are to be the

cool. We are to be fervent in spirit, a word that means bubbling over or boiling over. We're to be

the opposite of lagging in diligence. We are to be very affected. And so it is to be moved by God's

word. It is to be moved by worship and the things that he has done for us. It is to be deeply

affected by the goodness of God that pushes us into action. And it's amazing when someone is

excited about something, it's amazing how affected they are, right? The way they talk about those

things. So when a person says, yeah, uh, yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm a Christian. Yeah. I know

immediately, uh, they are not right. They're not. Um, because that is not how Christians talk about

about Christ. That is not how Christians talk about Christ. I love some of you. When I talk

to you about Jesus, I love to see your face because it is, is beautiful. When you say Jesus,

you look all dreamy and it's amazing because you think of who he is and what he's done. It's

to see. Well, can I ask you, are you fervent in spirit? Are you lagging in diligence? Which one

are you affected or unaffected? Cool or uncool? Well, again, we say when you're affected, you

respond. And so here's the response. Verse 11, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit. Here's

the response serving the Lord. This is what happens when you're really moved. When you're really

affected by something, you naturally want to do more. The couple that is in love bubbles over

with a really annoying effect.

For each other, right? Everybody else, but it's like service for each other. It's what they're

running around the car to open the door for the other person. You're like, wow, that's really not

that necessary to run across the car to open the door. But listen, in love describes that, doesn't

it? It describes that. If you looked at a married couple and you said that couple is in love, not

just they're married, they are in love. What are you describing? You're describing all that frivolous

stuff, all that unnecessary stuff, all that unnecessary stuff, all that unnecessary stuff,

all that bubbling over that blesses relationship. It's all the little ways that love is expressed.

The ways they look at each other, the ways they talk to each other, the things they do for each

other, the little notes that are left, the texts that say, I love you, the frivolous things. None

of that is necessary. Well, I told her I loved her on the day I married her. If it ever changes,

I'll let her know. It's dumb. Bought my wife flowers on her wedding day. She knows. Been 40 years, man.

You know, like the frivolous things that are done, the bubbling over, listen, all that unnecessary

stuff, all that unnecessary stuff. I'm just going to let you in on something. Both people want it.

All the unnecessary stuff is actually the stuff that makes relationship really, really exciting.

It's, it's really a blessing. All that frivolous stuff that marked all the early relationship

that is still wanted in the cooled off relationship. If you're in a cooled off

relationship between you and your spouse, listen, just go back to what you used to do. Oh, by the

in the Bible, if your relationship is cooled off with the Lord Jesus, go back to what you used to

do. Revelation says, repent, remember, and then begin to redo. So we remember, man, it used to be

like this. I repent now, Lord, that it's become just commonplace. And now I begin to do what I

used to do back in the day, right? With, with such fervency. So fervency is a blessing in

relationships. Serving is the expression of it. Well, in verse 12, we look at the way that

Christians suffer and go through trouble. It says they're rejoicing in hope, patient in

tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. Rejoicing in hope means that we go through this

life and all its difficulty. Let me just say that nobody gets a pass. I don't get a pass from

difficulty and trouble. You don't get a pass from difficulty and trouble. Nobody, you know, locks in

with the Lord in such a way that we are problem free, trouble free. That is a, that is a lie. We all go through

difficulty, but when we do rejoicing, not in the difficulty, we aren't glad and happy that, you

know, the car isn't working. We aren't glad and happy that, you know, the paycheck is less or

whatever, the pain, the trouble, the loss. We're not excited about that. We aren't glad and happy

that we're going through those things, but we, but we are glad and we are happy and we do rejoice.

It's not in those things. It is always in the hope. It is always in the Lord. It is the hope of what is

coming to us. It is the hope of what is coming to us. It is the hope of what is coming to us. It is the

hope of what is coming. We rejoice in the Lord and we rejoice in the hope that is coming. Folks, this is

not the end of the story. This life, praise God. And even if this life is full of trouble and pain

and difficulty and sorrow and loss and disappointment, even if this life, entire life, you have

not one good thing that happens your entire life, which is not true, but not one good thing ever

happens. This life is just a moment. It is

a breath. It is here and gone so quickly, so quickly. And it is not the end of the story.

Once this life is over, the real story begins, right? Eternity forever and ever and ever real

life for you who know him, who cling to him, who trust him. This real hope is what makes us look

at Paul says patient in our tribulation. So this means to remain in your crushing. So that's a

Paul to say, stay in the crushing. Why would I want to do that? Well, sometimes you don't have

the option, right? You're going to be in it no matter what you want or don't want. But Paul's

actually talking about staying close to the Lord in your crushing, stay close to him. And this is

what we do as God's people. How many of God's people throughout the years have, have stayed

close to the Lord and remained in the hope of what is coming one day.

While they're being persecuted, while they're being crushed, while they're being chased,

while they're being slaughtered, right? This is happening all around the world today,

all around the world today. It's happened throughout the history of the Christian church.

People who look past the right now and to the end, they're not denying the Lord. They're drawing near

to the Lord and they're trusting their patient in the crushing because they know him and they

know what's coming. And so look what it says, patient in tribulation and continuing steadfastly

in prayer. And folks, this is how you get through trouble. You don't get through trouble at the end

of a bottle. It doesn't work. The trouble's just waiting there. Once you're sober again,

you don't get through trouble with constant distraction. It's just waiting for you when

that thing is over. We get through trouble with him. It's the only answer. It's the only solution.

And man, is it a solution? Man, is it an answer? He is our hope. He is the tower that is above all

of it. He is the tower that is above all of it. He is the tower that is above all of it. He is the

hope. He is our hope, our help in trouble and in pain and loss and heartache. That is how you get

through steadfastly in prayer. In verse 13, we see how a Christian views their resources, what they

have. Verse 13, distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. As his people,

Christians see that what they have does not belong to them, but to the Lord.

Can I ask you a question? Does your bank account belong to you or to the Lord? Does your car

belong to you or does it belong to the Lord? Does your house belong to you or does it belong to the

Lord? You see, as believers, we go, it all came from him, so it's his. What does he want? Lord,

what do you want to do with your stuff? It's yours, so what do you want to do with it? That

is how a Christian sees what we have because we know from the Bible it all comes from him,

so it's not really ours anyway. It's his.

Here we are told we are to see the needs, yes, of all people, but notice what it says.

We are to especially notice the needs of God's people, right? Of the saints. Another word for

God's people or the church. Paul says the same thing in Galatians 6.10. He says,

therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, yes, but especially to those

who are of the household of faith. So listen, there are a lot of needs in this world and we are to

help meet those needs as God directs, but we are especially called to meet the needs of our fellow

brothers and sisters in Christ, okay? Not just in this church and outside, but not just in this

country, but beyond, right? Our brothers and sisters in Christ. And listen, we as Christians

are to be known not for hoarding, but for generosity. And that is what it means there,

given to hospitality. Are you known for your generosity?

In helping other people? Is that how people would describe you? Are you known for caring for people

and helping them? Even in times of difficulty for you, are you known for your help and your care

and your generosity towards others? Does your home, can your home be a place for someone to

stay who doesn't have a home? Can your dinner table be a place that

someone who is hungry can find a meal? Can your car be something that someone can, in need,

can be used to get to work, right? I mean, just on and on, right? All of that requires wisdom for

sure, but at the end of the day, we as Christians, we are to be known for our generosity and the care

for those in need. Well, in verse 14, we see how Christians are to handle being slandered,

lied about, mocked. So just a quick show of hands, how many of you really love being lied about?

Just want to get a feel for it. You love being slandered? Perfect. Nobody? Okay.

We handle these things so differently than the world. Look what it says. We don't fight.

We, verse 14, bless those who persecute us. We bless and do not curse. Let me ask you,

what do you want to do when people lie about you? Do you want to bless them when they lie

and cost you your job? Do you want to bless them? I don't know why I'm saying it like that.

I think it felt more holy. I don't know. When they mock you, when they slander you,

when they cause you problems, your neighbor, what do you want to do? When they serve you,

don't you want to slam it back in their face as hard as you possibly can? Maybe that's just me.

I'm so judgy out there. But listen, this is not what we do. This is not what we do. If you're

doing it right now and you call yourself a Christian, stop it. This is not what we do.

We don't do it because it's not what he did. This is one of the strongest examples in the

world. He was slandered. He was cursed at. He was chased. He was hunted. He was persecuted. He was

hurt. He was beat. He was whipped. He was killed. He did not return those things. So stop it. He

didn't do it. And you are, or I am, and we are not being like him. When we do these things,

we feel very justified when we are cursing, when they curse us. But the word here is bless

instead of curse, not curse. Bless, which means curse. And when we do these things,

it means to speak well of. That's the word. The word curse means to speak ill of. It means to

wish harm on someone. It means to gossip. It means to slander. It means to speak evil about them,

to your spouse, to your children, to your sister, to your brother, to your neighbor,

to your friend, right? How guilty are we of these things? Here's what it says. When they speak evil

of you, you speak well of them. So right now, they're lying about you. What do you do with

it? Well, you speak well of them. Well, they're going to get away with it. Yep, probably. Well,

that's not fair. True. Well, I don't like that. Okay, we're finally at the bottom of it. You

don't like it. Sounds good. I am sure Jesus didn't like it. I am sure the apostles have

not liked it. I am sure that our brothers and sisters in Sudan and Nigeria and all over

the world do not like it. But we are told what to do. We are not to speak evil when

they curse us. They hate you. They're slandering you to everyone they can. Welcome to the

club. There's t-shirts and hats in the back. What do you do? You do not speak evil of them.

Don't do it. Don't dishonor the Lord like that. Speak well of them. You're telling me

to speak well? To say nice things about? Yes, I am. Not me. It's the scriptures. Bless

and do not curse. Do what verse 17 says. Repay no one evil for evil. Do not do what

they are doing to you. Do the opposite. And I know it's hard. Lord knows it's hard.

But this is why he tells us to do it. This is his way and it's what he wants us to do.

So next we see the way that Christians are to generally interact with others. Look what

it says, verse 15. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. So to

do what verse 15 says, this means we cannot just be in our own world. We cannot only be

worried about ourselves. The only way we're going to be able to rejoice with others when

they are rejoicing and weep with others when they are weeping is if we actually know anybody

else. If we're actually interested. If we actually care about anything going on in anybody else's

life. If we're not in our own world. If we're in our own world, we'll never be able to do what

verse 15 says. But also this is so different, right, from the ways of the world. As Christians,

when something good happens to you, we are not jealous. That's not to be our response. Oh,

wow, you got a new car. Boy, I wish I had a new car. Oh, you got a raise? How wonderful for you.

I haven't had a raise in 25 years.

You know, that is not our response. We rejoice with those who rejoice. And listen, when we weep,

we do not ignore that and think, you know what? I got my own trouble. I don't need to cry with you.

I got enough stuff. That is not the attitude of us as believers. We weep with you when you weep.

And this is only possible if you see yourself rightly. Look what it says. Verse 16,

be of the same mind towards one another. Do not set your mind on high things,

but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Can I ask you, how do you see

yourself? We talked about it last week, but we are not to think of ourselves as above others. We are

to think of ourselves, we are to be of the same mind towards one another. It means we don't see

ourselves as above other people. The ground is level at the foot of the cross, right? That's

what we say. So we're told not to set our mind on things that are high, high things. This was a

particularly prone to an elitism that came from their learning, right? And so they would learn,

you know, philosophy and logic and mathematics and science and, you know, all these different

things, art and things. And then they would see themselves as above the common person.

And they became wise in their own opinion, as it says here, inflated view of themselves.

But the result of this is like clicks. And you hear that, right? People going to churches or

they go into things and there's clicks. These are people that go, you know, the wealthy, they're

to the exclusion of the poor. The educated are together to the exclusion of the uneducated.

The prominent are together to the exclusion of the unknown person. But listen, this is one of

the most beautiful things about the church. It's one of the most beautiful things. When we gather

together, every walk of life, every social status under the sun is represented here. I grew up in a

trailer. You might've grown up in a mansion. Who cares? We all are in the same need.

We are all looking to the same person. It's him. It's his work. We all have the same need. We all

have the same value. It doesn't matter what we have or don't have. It doesn't matter what place

in the world we're in or not in. We're all in the same place. Now, verse 17 through 21 tells us again

how to handle one of the most difficult things there is to handle. And that is being wronged.

Look what it says. Verse 17, repay no one evil for evil. We say it again. As Christians, we do not

give back what has been given.

To us in terms of wrongdoing. By the way, this will practically look like real decisions that

you make to not retaliate. There will always be every reason under the sun to retaliate, right?

You can, you can find all the reasons. And if you talk to the right people, they'll give you all the

right reasons too. Oh, you don't have to put up with that. Weird. The Bible says you do. Well,

you know, uh, this, you know, there you got to teach them a lesson. Could you give me the chapter

and the verse on that? I'm just wondering where that is, right? So there's a lot of things that

there's always a reason, uh, in this world to get revenge, to say unkind things, to do unkind things,

to do what was done to us back to the person, but we must not ever repay evil for evil. Instead,

we are to think good things. That's what the end of verse 17 says. It says, have regard for good

things in the sight of men. This is really neat because what this literally means, the have regard,

it literally means to think beforehand, to decide beforehand what you're going to do

when you're wronged, to decide beforehand and not in the moment, because in the moment,

if I haven't already decided what I'm going to do, I'm going to react. It's not probably going to be

good, right? But if I decide beforehand, Lord, when I'm wronged, when I'm lied about, when I'm

mocked, this is going to be my response. I'm going to speak well. I'm going to pray for that person.

I'm going to do the opposite. That's what you're being told to do. Decide beforehand how you will,

you know,

with being mistreated. And I would ask you, have you done this? Have you decided beforehand? In

doing this, you reveal to the people who are around you, who are watching you, by the way,

it's what it says here in the sight of all men, they're watching you. You say you're a Christian,

they're watching you. And they just want to be able to look and go, oh yeah, they're nothing.

That's, that's nothing. But when you do stuff like this, they look and they go,

what? Why would they do that? That doesn't make sense. Why are they blessing instead of

cursing? How come they're not gossiping? Why are, why are they doing good to people who just did

wrong to them? Why is this happening? Why are they responding with kindness instead of anger?

That does not make sense because it's not how the world does things, but it is how his people

do things, right? It's what he did as Christ followers and people see it. So Jesus said,

let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and what glorify your father

who is in you. And he said, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works

in heaven. They look and they see what you're doing. And they go, he must be their father.

There must be something to this. But when you freak out, like everybody else freaks out,

when you do what everybody else does, they go, oh, there's, there's nothing to that. That doesn't,

it's not real. They're just like, they're just like we are. Now, I would love to tell you

that if you do this, uh, all of your problems are going to go away. I would love to tell you

that if you, I'd love to say that once you are kind to people who are not, I would love to tell

you that all of your enemies are going to see how wonderful you are. And they're going to see how

they're going to come back to you. And they're gonna be like, man, we got that so wrong. We are

so sorry. You're wonderful. We're terrible. Please forgive us. I would love to tell you that's what

it says, but that didn't happen to Jesus. And it very often does not happen with us. So verse 18,

if it is possible, as much as depends on you live peaceably with all men, you got to understand

the words. If it is possible, it means that what Paul is about to say here with living at peace

with everyone is not always possible, right? We know this. It's not always possible,

to be at peace with everyone. And this means that despite your best efforts to do what the Lord

tells you to do, there are still going to be people that hate you. There are still going to

be people who want to cause problems for you. People you have trouble with. They can be your

neighbors. They can be your coworkers. They can be people who were at one time friends. They could

even be your family members. Some of you know that pain, you know, the pain of broken relationships.

I certainly know the pain. I'm going through the same stuff. You are, you're stuck.

Right? You want things to be better. There isn't anything more you can do. That's what it means.

If it's possible, as much as depends on you, it's not always possible because please hear this.

They will not allow peace. They refuse. And that's the point of this verse.

You have to hear this because there's so much broken stuff going on.

You have to hear what this is saying. This must be, if there are broken relationships in your life,

it must be because they will not allow reconciliation and not because you have not done

everything you can possibly do to reconcile. We are commanded. This must not be on our end.

I want you just to process that for a second. The broken relationships you have in your life

right now, have you done everything you can possibly do? Everything God wants you to do

to reconcile that relationship. If you have not, you're not fine. If you have not, you're not

fulfilling this verse yet. It has to be because they are unwilling, not because of you, not because

you're unwilling. According to verse 18, I am commanded to do everything possible. Literally

as much as depends upon you in everything, in anything that we can do to bring peace,

that must be done. So with the broken relationship in your life, have you before God

done everything? You know, God wants you to do to fix that. Have you made all the phone calls? Have

you sent all the messages? Have you wrote the letters? Have you gone to their home? Have you

you can possibly do to reconcile this relationship? Have you forgiven them? Have you owned your wrong

and asked for forgiveness? Have you prayed for them? Have you tried to work things out? Have you

wanted to work things out and been willing to do that? Is there anything left for you to do? If

there is, you need to go do that thing. As much as depends upon you, live peaceably. But very often

we say, I've tried everything. And what we mean is I've tried everything I want to. I've tried

everything I'm comfortable with instead of everything as everything. In reality, very often

we mean I haven't really done anything and they need to come to me. That's what we most often mean.

This is not the way of the Lord. It's not the way of the Lord. So we are to be, as much as depends

upon us, we are to live peaceably with all people. Now, the only way this will ever happen is if you

are in the right place in regards to these things. You cannot let anger turn into a grudge or a desire

verse 19, beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath for it is written.

Vengeance is mine. I will repay says the Lord. We so often want to put people in their place.

We want to set the record straight. We want to clear the air. We want to, uh, you've pushed me

too far. Uh, I've, I've had enough of this. Uh, I'm not a doormat, uh, all the things we say, right?

I can only let this go on for so long. Now we're not talking about physical abuse. We're not talking

in there while someone's punching you. We're not, we're not saying those things. We're talking about,

right? These things that we deal with on a regular basis. We want to avenge ourselves.

We must never do this. We are told to never avenge ourselves. Here's the decision you have

to make beforehand. Here it is. I will let the Lord deal with that. I will not take it into my

hand to try to deal with it. I will let the Lord deal with it. And man, this is hard. When you

have been wronged, it is so hard not to fight back and fire back to decide not to text back

to not try to injure them with your words or any other way. When you're lied about,

you want so badly to defend yourself, make the decision to not do that is so hard to take wrongs

against you and not to do wrong back. But listen, this is where the rubber hits the road in terms of

the Christian walk. We can't say we're Christians and ignore what Jesus wants us to do. We can't say

we're Christians, ignore what he says, and then just do whatever we want to do. James chapter

three says this, no man can tame the tongue.

It's an unruly evil. It's full of deadly poison. Watch this. Here's the inconsistency

with it. We bless our God and father. And with it, we curse people who have been made in the

image of God out of the same mouth, proceed blessing and cursing. No, my brethren, these

things ought not to be. So you can't sing to the Lord on Sunday and slander the people in your

life on Monday. It doesn't work. It's inconsistent. Something's deeply wrong. And how deeply wrong is

deeply wrong? Well, first John two nine tells us he who says he's in the light and hates his brother

is in darkness until now. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness

and does not know where he is going because darkness has blinded his eyes. Three 15 says

whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in

him. First John four 20. If someone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar for he

does not love his brother whom he has seen. How can he love God whom he has not seen?

Oh, I love the Lord, but I hate you. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. These two things are

incompatible. And so this is what we are supposed to be. Verse 20. Therefore, Paul quotes Proverbs

25. If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing,

you will heap coals of fire on his head. Don't you wish this said? Therefore, if the people who

love you are so nice to you, then you feed them, right? Take care of them. But it doesn't. It says

do good to people who hate you. Help your neighbor, your family member, your coworker who

can't stand you. Help them. The result sometimes will be what the rest of the verse says for in so

doing, you will heap coals of fire on their head. You're like, now we're talking. That's what I'm

talking about. How do I get to the part where I heap coals of fire on their head? What do I got

to do? Listen, this does not refer to hurting them. Okay. I'm going to kill them with kindness.

It's not what we're not talking about killing anybody. Not talking about hurting anybody.

The coals on the head.

The coals on the head is an Eastern picture of doing good to someone. It's, you know, that's been

unkind to you. It's this, it's been said, it's a, it's a picture of the ancient Eastern practice of

having a turban. And when it was cold, carrying a copper pot, a shallow copper pot on the top

of the head with live coals in it to keep the head warm during the cold months. And so this

would be the idea like, Hey, come over here. Let me fill the little thing so that you can be warm

is the idea. Whatever the reference is, it's, it's clearly a good thing. It's a good thing.

And not a bad thing. It means that your kindness might, might one more time. Might, might actually

turn things around. Maybe possible. Makes sense, right? Doing good to someone who hates you.

We know this. It's really the only shot you have at turning the person around. It's not going to

happen by, uh, just letting them come to their senses. That doesn't typically happen. Like

they're going to suddenly wake up one day and realize all they're wrong. Call you and apologize.

I would ask you if you're waiting for that. How many unicorns have you seen in your life?

Just one day.

Right? It's not going to happen through arguing with them. It's not going to happen through

fighting them. Often. This is the only thing that turns it doing good speaking well. So we finished

the words of verse 21. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. This is literally

do not let the evil that has been done to you overcome you. This isn't just evil in general.

This is talking about people wronging you. Don't let the wrong that has been done to you overcome

you.

But rather overcome the wrong that's been done to you. How with good. Okay. Instead of trying to heal

by hurting, hurt people, hurt people. Uh, you're never going to get rid of your hurt by hurting

others. The way you actually heal is by doing what is good by doing what is right. The way to overcome

the hurt, the pain, the loss, the disappointment, how you heal is by doing good. That's how it

is to overcome by doing what is right. So I say it again. Do not be overcome by the evil that's been

done to you. Overcome the evil that's been done to you with good. Now you might be here this morning.

You're a believer. You're failing in these things. You don't look like a Christian, even though you

call yourself one, the way to fix that first repentance. Then second is to remind yourself

of what he has done for you. And that is to ask him to help you in these things. Then you have

to actually put a foot in front of the other and do what God is telling you to do.

Make the phone call, send the message, go see the person. Maybe this morning you're sitting here

and you're like, there isn't one thing you talked about this morning that describes me. And I would

say to you, you are not born again. That's the problem. You are not born again and you need to

be born again. And if you turn to the Lord Jesus this morning, you can be forgiven of all of your

sin. You can be saved forever. You can be born again and begin to be what God has called you to

be. Be saved forever and changed forever as well. So turn to the Lord this morning. Let's talk to

him. Lord, we love you. We thank you for loving us. Thank you for your kindness and your mercy

towards us. Lord, I pray for any person here or watching who does not yet know you. I pray they

would turn to you now, admitting their need. And if that's you, just talk to the Lord Jesus. Just

open your heart. Be vulnerable to him. Talk to him this morning and ask him to save you, to forgive

you of your sin, to make you a born again person. Just go to him this morning. He is ready. He's

willing to receive you. The Bible says, all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

We thank you, Lord. We love you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.