“Heart-y Commitments”
Romans 12:11-13
In the Western World, so many people eat and exercise to be “Heart Smart”. It is far more important, though, for followers of Jesus to exercise God’s Love than it is to watch what you eat. We looked at Romans 12:9-10 over the last two weeks: “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.”
Today God adds 8 Critical Commitments to a HEART-Y EXERCISE plan in verses 11-13. Let your Christian life be: “not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.”
Heart-y Exercises strengthen your heart of Love for Christ, for the Body of Christ, and for those outside of the Body of Christ. Strap yourself in…hope you didn’t stay up too late last night and had your caffeine this morning!
1. In your Christian life you should “Not be lagging in Diligence”: Don’t be lazy in loving others, but quick to love others, just as God has loved you. Run toward the opportunity to show others the love of Christ, not away from it. Jesus had said in Matthew 25:26: “You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.”
2. Commit to being “Fervent in spirit”: BE “boiling over” with enthusiasm and energy for Christ and love for others. Not COLD for Christ but energetic for Him and others. The word was use to describe boiling water and fermenting grapes. We are not to be lukewarm with Christ’s Spirit, “HOT” with His Spirit. Revelation 3:15-16 gives us an example: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot ; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
3. “Serving the Lord”: Very simply it means Submitting to, obeying, and serving the Savior. If you have been born of His Spirit, it IS a privilege to be devoted to serving the Savior and others; What great Love He has had for me! How could I NOT serve Him? Jesus said in Luke 16:13: "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." We serve Him WHOLEHEARTEDLY because we belong to Him! Serving is not burdensome for Believers, it is a privilege!
4. We also exist, “Rejoicing in Hope”. (chairo-to rejoice exceedingly: You remember this word, associated with chara-joy, eucharisteo-give thanks, eucharistia-thanksgiving, charis-grace. Hope for the Christian is joyful and confident expectation of what God promises; we can trust implicitly and entirely in the TRUTH He has given to us and we TRUST HIM because His track record is impeccable. He is God, and we are NOT! We rejoice in His Grace GIVEN and anticipate what He will COMPLETE in us. We live in Joyful confidence for the future present and the future on account of God’s past history, not our own.
Colossians 1:23: “Continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the HOPE of the gospel (of Jesus Christ) that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven.”
I decided to take a little break from study so I picked up Tim Keller’s book, “The Reason for God,” and I opened to these words in the chapter “The Dance of God” (p 218):
Listen to this: “But wait you say…God calls us to glorify, praise and serve him. How can you say He doesn’t seek His own glory?” Yes, He does ask us to obey him unconditionally, to glorify, praise and center our lives around him. But now, I hope, you finally see why he does that. HE WANTS OUR JOY! He has infinite happiness not through self-centeredness, but through self-giving, OTHER-centered love. And the only way we, who have been created in His image, can have this same joy, is if we center our entire lives around Him instead of ourselves.”
How apropos! God desires our joy, and FOLLOWERS of Christ FIND JOY in serving and loving Him. If we have truly accepted and received His Love, we will serve others through self-giving and other-centered love and find “exceeding joy”.
Are you ALWAYS JOYFUL? Not hardly. It’s tough here! If you have had an easy and pleasant life then God hasn’t disciplined you, and you have not disciplined yourself. If you have it easy then you haven’t yet “denied yourself, taken up your cross and followed Him”. If you have it easy, you aren’t placing your life on the altar as a living sacrifice to Him. The next Critical Commitment is that you be…
5. “Persevering in Tribulation” The word for “tribulation” has to do with pressing and squashing grapes…No pressing, no new wine. We are commanded to REMAIN in love even through pressing persecution. In His people’s suffering, Christ Himself builds up the church, showing that in fact He has already broken the power of affliction…and even death! So we rejoice in hope, and REMAIN through pressing persecution. Romans 5:3: “We also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance. And Romans 8:35 reminded us that neither distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword will ever separate us from the love of Christ!
In Colossians 1:24, Paul says: “Now I rejoice (not moan) in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the Church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.” The enemies of the cross did not have their fill in Christ’s death, so they turn to His followers, but persecution of them only continues to build Christ’s beloved Church Body. So we PERSEVERE through persecution.
6. The fact is, we cannot and will not be able to do ANY of the ABOVE nor anything else without being Devoted to Prayer. If you have No Prayer, you have No GODLY POWER. No Prayer, no persistence in the faith. No Prayer, no spiritual growth. If you do NOT have a prayerful life, you are lacking God’s Power and you lack Christian discipline. Realize that NONE of these things mentioned today are gifts: They are the disciplines and commitments that flow from a life that has been redeemed. We may NEED REMINDERS and exhortation to keep us on track or get us BACK on track, but they are not assigned to certain believers.
Do you want to be growing in the grace and faith of the Lord Jesus? Be devoted to Prayer. The early Church growth is spelled out in Acts1:14: “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer.” And in Acts 2:42: “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” They were Devoted to Prayer.
7. “Contributing to the needs of Saints” Did you notice that ALL of these traits are OTHER- CENTERED. The word for “Contributing” is “Koinôneô”, meaning “to come into communion or fellowship with, to become a sharer, IMPORTANT to be made a partner.” Koinoneo is being in partnership with each other, for the sake of the Gospel and the Glory of God. The word for “Needs” is necessities! “Saints” are the Household of faith- Those folks sitting next to you. Now let’s be absolutely realistic for a few minutes.
Avoiding the saints or not KNOWING other saints, or NOT GIVING because we don’t KNOW their needs, does not excuse disobedience to God’s Will for us. We have a responsibility to each other. We have opportunities every week to KNOW one another and care for each other. What did God do when He recognized our great need as UNBELIEVERS? God partnered with His Son and with His Spirit to bring us EVERYTHING WE NEEDED to Live, to live abundantly, and to live eternally.
What did the early Church do in response to God’s Love to them? Acts 2:45 says: “And they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.” You have to know the people in this room before you will know their needs. In regard to being MERCIFUL to others, Jesus said: “Go and do LIKEWISE." The New Living Translation puts it this way: “When God's children are in need, (YOU) be the one to help them out,” especially in the Household of Faith.
8. Lastly, we consciously and continually commit ourselves to “Practicing Hospitality”. The word for “Practicing” (diôkô) is stronger than it appears: It means “to seek after eagerly, earnestly endeavour to acquire.” Hospitality is “philoxenia”, (“philoxenia”- a good friend+stranger NOT “xenophobe”-stranger+fear) “Be a good friend to strangers, not fearful of them.”
A proper translation of this part of the verse would be: “Pursue the love of strangers.” When was the last time you did either of these, invite a stranger to your home or provide lodging for someone for the night? This has nothing to do with gifting, it has to do with obeying.
Hebrews 13:1-3 is clear in this regard: “Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” In the Old Testament, people entertained angels unaware, but that isn’t what this is talking about: here is the realization that you don’t know how God will use the love of Christ which YOU display to those who are outside of your comfort zone and who are outside of the Body of Christ, but that does not stop you from obeying God.
Two points in closing: 1. Have you received the Love of God in Christ as the only way of salvation? If you have, then you POSSESS His self-giving, seIf-sacrificing love. If you HAVEN’T received His Love, you don’t have it to give to others.
1Timothy 1:14: “The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an EXAMPLE for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.”
2. Have you committed to the LORD a Diligent, Fervent, Persistent, Prayerful, Holy Spirit-filled, Self-less Hearty exercise plan of displaying the Love of God to others in your life?
1 Corinthians 4: 2: “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” Timothy Keller quotes an anonymous woman having said: “If I was saved by my good works then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be like a taxpayer with ‘rights’- I would have done my duty and not I would deserve a certain quality of life. But if I am a sinner saved by sheer grace- then there’s nothing He cannot ask of me.” (“The Reason for God”. p182)
In the quietness of your own heart, take some time to examine your own life and see if there are things that God has required of you in which you are being disobedient or stubborn. Are you being faithful to the Love that God has given to you in your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ?
OUTLINE:
1. “Not lagging in Diligence”: Don’t be lazy in loving; BE quick to love others. Matt.25:26
2. “Fervent in Spirit”: BE “boiling over” with enthusiasm and energy for Christ. Rev. 3:15-16
3. “Serving the Lord”: Obeying and submitting to and serving the Savior. Luke 16:13
4. “Rejoicing in Hope” (chairo-to rejoice exceedingly, chara-joy, eucharisteo-give thanks, eucharistia-thanksgiving, charis-grace) We live in Joyful confidence in the present and future on account of God’s history. Col. 1:24
5. “Persevering in Tribulation”: We REMAIN in love even through pressing persecution. Romans 5:3, 8:35, Col. 1:23
6. “Devoted to Prayer”: No Prayer, No POWER from God. Acts1:14, 2:42
7. “Contributing to the Saints” (koinôneô): God partnered with His Son and with His Spirit to bring us EVERYTHING WE NEEDED to Live, to live abundantly, and to live eternally: “Go and do LIKEWISE." Acts 2:45
8. “Practicing Hospitality”- (“philoxenia”- a good friend+stranger NOT “xenophobe”-stranger+fear) “Be a good friend to strangers, not fearful of them.” Heb. 13:2
