Kingdom Climate 4
I. Introduction
We confuse climate with weather. They are not the same thing. Climate is in fact defined as "a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years." So this is more than weather! Climate is in fact what sets weather into motion. Climate controls weather. Climate dictates what the weather will be like. Climate can be a great destabilizing force. So some of you are fighting storms, trouble, difficulties and you only seem to get temporary relief or respite. Then those same challenges show up on the horizon again! We expend all of our energy on fighting weather when if we would spend the same efforts on controlling the climate the storms, patterns, cycles would change! We have a tendency to react to the patterns and never do anything to address the climate that is causing those patterns. Some of you have been fighting the same fight new versions for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years and you rail against the weather but never deal with the root which is the climate that produces the weather.
So we began by saying that climate change must be preceded by climate control. Some of us are asking for climate change but we are unwilling to control the climate so the climate dictates no change. We talked about the fact that climate control dictates dismissal. There are folks in your life that have made a profession out of celebrating the death you are living through. They will try to talk you into believing that something is dead that is in reality only asleep. Until you dismiss them you will have no miracle. Then we said that the climate we allow/operate in will forecast our future. We talked about the fact that waves depends on wind. Who do you have in your life that can identify the wind and you make the changes so that the wave will stop?
So last time we shifted gears and I began to attempt to actually articulate from Paul's writings what a Kingdom Climate would look like in our individual life and in a church body. I am literally laying out for you line by line a climate that will produce a totally different weather pattern in your life. Again you can't complain about the weather that the climate you refuse to change produces. The issue is the climate we are talking about absolutely flies in the face and is absolutely opposite of our society's culture and unfortunately even most church cultures.
So Paul starts Romans 12 by addressing the first step to climate change which is to address the way you think.
II. Text
Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
So far we have said that Kingdom Climate is:
Connected
Serving
Sincere Love
Love Good
Loyal
Honoring
... Paul stops in vs. 11 and says to pull the rest of these off it will require a double dose of Holy Spirit/fervor.
Joyful
Patient in Affliction
Faithful in Prayer
Sharing with Those in Need
Hospitable
So since we are already in this so deep let's keep going! I know this is foreign territory but it is a necessary climate change! We are going to try to wrap this up today. We are going to outline 6 of the characteristics of Kingdom Climate. Don't get nervous I am going to lump three of them together.
Romans 12:14-21
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20On 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.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:14-19 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. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
Kingdom Climate dictates that we:
12. Bless.
We need to reread verse 14. Because most of us operate in pseudo Kingdom Climate and we bless those that we like, love and that treat us properly. Paul says Kingdom Climate is apparent and in operation when we grow up to the place where we actually bless those that we consider to be enemies! One version says bless those who harass you!
The word "bless" here is the Greek word "Eulogeo" from where we get the word "Eulogy". It is the same word Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount. It means "to speak well of." Did you get that? Kingdom Climate is that we speak well of those who not only speak badly of us but actually persecute and harass us. Not only do they talk smack about us but they actually take action to produce pain. Paul says bless them. Think about that a moment. He is saying that when someone is an enemy I am to call the blessings of God onto them! I refuse to do to them what they are doing to me!
Now listen that means I can't be upset when I see people who are persecuting me experiencing blessing because if I am operating in Kingdom Climate I am actually speaking blessing into their lives! I am responsible for bringing that to pass. So when a person that is harassing me wants to flaunt their blessing in my face rather than getting mad I can take credit. You don't even know man I am responsible for that. The truth is you don't have favor . . . it is my favor that is rubbing off on you! I can't get mad at the weather I create! I am so blessed by the Kingdom Climate that my climate creates weather in people I don't even like and don't even like me! When you operate in Kingdom Climate even your evil boss will be blessed . . . why . . . cause you work there!
13. No Revenge.
Verse 17 goes hand in hand with the concept of being a blessing. No Revenge. I am so determined to be a blessing and create a climate of blessing that I don't hit back. No revenge. It isn't that I can't it back. It is that I make a conscious decision and choice not to do so. It isn't that I can't think of anything to say. It is that I choose to control my tongue!
I just need to remind you that although we may be on the jury we are not the judge. We don't get to carry out the sentence. When we take revenge it is a revelation of our lack of trust in God. We think we have to take matters into our own hands. And what is worse is that we open ourselves up to getting back what we dole out. When we try to do God's job we shouldn't be surprised when it circles back around and the revenge we sow is the revenge we reap. Listen some of us can't bless because we are consumed with revenge. We literally spend hours plotting the demise, rehearsing the destruction of the one who hurt us. The truth is the only person in captivity is us. Paul says let bygones be bygones. Paul is telling us to be a fan of "Frozen" and "Let it go!" He understood that the climate of revenge produces the weather of anger, ulcers, insomnia, and sickness! Quit fantasizing about the pain you will inflict. Remember the account of Joab in the Old Testament? His brother pursued Abner in battle. Abner didn't want to hurt Joab's brother but defended himself and in the process killed him. Joab was eaten up with revenge and plotted. Finally he strikes back and kills Abner after David had brokered an agreement with Abner. The revenge cost Joab his life. Solomon realized that Joab was a man of spite and blood and has him killed. Rather than being a valuable leader to Solomon revenge causes Joab to miss out.
He says to leave room for God's wrath! Some of you keep asking why are they not experiencing any of God's wrath when you know they deserve it. Perhaps it is because there is no room for God's wrath because all the space is eaten up with ours!
He says that we are to feed them to frustrate them. We freak them out with our goodness.
Some of us never overcome evil because you don't overcome evil with evil. The climate of evil produces the weather of evil. We overcome the weather of evil with the climate of good!
14. No Jealousy.
15. Empathetic
16. No Pride
Rather than addressing these separately I am going to put them together because there is no way to be empathetic which means to put yourself in someone else's place. if you are filled with jealousy and pride. There is no way to address pride in our lives if we also don't deal with jealousy and lack of empathy.
Paul is declaring that in Kingdom Climate I am so concerned for you that I don't despise you when you are blessed. I don't look at your blessed job, blessed marriage, blessed kids, blessed life and secretly wished I had your job, your spouse, your life. No jealousy. No Paul says we should put ourselves in each other's shoes so that when you are blessed I rejoice. I will throw a celebration party when you get something I don't have. I will cheer your promotion even if I haven't been promoted in a decade. He then says when I see you in pain, distress, or broken I am so mindful of you that I mourn when you mourn. I feel your pain. Here is your homework today . . . go home get a hammer and rare back and hit your thumb as hard as you possibly can and see if the rest of your body responds to the pain of your thumb! Not possible. Every nerve ending responds. The pain gets into your feet so that you hop. It gets into your eyes so that you tear up. It even gets into your tongue! That is Kingdom Climate. When you are hurt I feel it. When you are sick I feel it. When you suffer loss I feel it.
No pride. In order for Kingdom Climate to become a reality we must let go of pride. Pride is a two sided knife. It can make you elevate yourself in your own mind so that you aren't mindful or careful of others. You become too good. But pride has another edge that cuts and that is that pride keeps from allowing anyone know when we are hurting. We are so caught up in appearances and what people may think that it keeps us from being vulnerable, real and ultimately it robs the rest of the body from being able to respond. Pride will isolate you.
17. Harmony
How many of you are honest enough to be real and admit that there are some folks in the family that aren't easy to get along with. However, Paul puts the ball in our court. He says as long as it depends on you. He doesn't say stay in harmony based on someone else reciprocating your efforts. He doesn't say stay in harmony if the other person makes it easy. As long as it is possible with you. It puts the responsibility of creating and maintaining a climate of peace on each of us. Will you run into someone that is impossible to be at peace with? Only if you live long enough! Absolutely. But Paul paints us into a corner and says if it is at all possible keep a climate of peace.
The issue most of us have is we do very little to keep peace! We make it possible to stay in turmoil, to stay angry, to stay heated. Paul says Kingdom Climate dictates that we do everything in our power (walk away, bite my tongue, keep my opinion to myself, resist my anger, give up my rights) to keep harmony. In other words, work harder at keeping peace than we do destroying it. Quit stirring the pot. Too many of us stir things up. We justify it by thinking we didn't start it, but we are not keeping harmony if we keep it going once it is started!
I recognize that some people are easier to be in relationship with. I even understand that you will hang out with and be closer to some people than you will others (Jesus did the same). However, if we are not careful we allow our preferences to turn into prejudices. So harmony is broken because I prefer that you talk like this. Harmony is broken because I prefer this kind of music. Harmony is broken because I prefer this group of people and we call it preference but it has morphed into prejudice. So let's be very clear . . . I am not loyal to, prejudice towards, fighting for, promoting any other culture but Kingdom culture. This isn't white thing, black thing, male thing, or female thing this is a kingdom thing! Quit talking about prejudice towards a style the question should be is it a kingdom sound? Quit talking about prejudice about being with a certain group the question is it a kingdom group?
We fight for racial reconciliation and equality that is guaranteed by our great nations constitution and I understand why and even though I haven't felt the sting of bigotry I stand for racial equality. However, I don't want us to settle short because God trumps the constitution and goes to an entirely higher level. There is no race, gender, etc. We spend time fighting and holding onto out culture and fail to realize we are no longer called to further our culture but to establish kingdom culture. We should be warring for kingdom reclamation . . . On earth as it is in heaven. I want us to be color blind but I refuse to allow us to be Kingdom blind!
Think about the results of this climate change. God declares that there is one place in which there is a commanded blessing. Do you remember where that place is? Where there is unity! Then contrast that against the opposite climate. Proverbs tells us that there are 7 things God hates and one of those things is someone who is constantly stirring up strife. Too many of us stir stuff up to make ourselves feel more important or because we have become so used to strife, chaos and turmoil that we will create it or keep it going just to make things feel normal. And Proverbs says God hates that. So you have a choice you can either be in harmony and experience a commanded blessing or you can stir stuff up and experience God's hate! It is all about climate!
Our climate should be:
Connected
Serving
Sincere Love
Love Good
Loyal
Honoring
Joyful
Patient in Affliction
Faithful in Prayer
Sharers
Hospitable
Bless
No Jealousy
Empathetic
No Pride
In Harmony
No Revenge
Listen this is hard work. Climate is harder to change than weather. We can seed a cloud to create rain. However, climate is a God thing. We have got to get before God and ask Him and allow Him to change our climate.
What if everyone blessed like you do? What if everyone was empathetic, had as much jealousy, had as much pride as you? What if everyone fought for peace as much as you? What if everyone took revenge like you?
