Rejoicing In Hope
Introduction:
Romans 12:9-13 ESV
9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Paul spends the first three chapters of Romans proving that both Jews and gentiles stand before God sinners separated from God. He goes on to explain in the fourth and fifth chapters to explain that it is only trust in the faithfulness of Jesus that can bring one into right standing with God. In chapters 6-7 he talks about the struggle to overcome sin and how the solution is being dead with Christ and buried with him in baptism. Jews and gentiles stand on level ground at the foot of the cross which is the only solution. Chapter 8 is central to Romans. Here Paul relieves all those who are in Christ from condemnation. They are free to live by the power of the Spirit! In chapters 9-11, Paul unfolds the mystery of God's sovereignty and his selection of national Israel for a special purpose, before he shows that now in Christ both Jew and gentile find themselves in Israel. He finds this mind-blowing.
It seems that there was tension between the Jewish and gentile Christians in Rome and Paul was writing before he made his trip there to call for unity. Prior to the writing of Romans, the emperor had expelled all Jews from Rome. During that time the amount of gentiles in the church at Rome grew. They did not align to the Jews practices and when the Jews were able to return to Rome there was division in the church. The Jews tried to impose their practices on the gentiles; the gentiles rubbed their liberty in the Jews faces. Paul called for them to respect one another. They all needed Jesus. They were all equally sinful. They were all baptized in Jesus's Name. They were all filled with HIs Spirit.
In the next five chapters Paul turns to the practical or ethical part of the letter. How should the Jewish and gentile Christians treat one another? He begins chapter 12 with a "therefore" that is followed with admonitions about how we should live in light of the mercies of God.
Romans 12:1-2 KJV
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
God's will is our transformation, and transformation takes time and a continual willingness to yield our lives to the inner-working of the Spirit. The world is constantly pressing in on us. And it can even us our God-given gifts to press us into its mold.
This is why Paul admonishes us in the next verse:
Romans 12:3 KJV
"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."
In my Bible the translators out the heading "Gifts of Grace" before the section including verses 3-7.
Realizing that all that we have is a gift from God helps us keep things in perspective. It tends towards an attitude of humility. We are more gentle with others and ourselves when we realize that what we have, God gave us.
Proverbs 18:23 NIV
"The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly."
Matthew 5:3 KJV
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
All the things we have the ability to are gifts from God. One person said, "What we are is God's gift to us, and what we become is our gift to God." We are stewards over the manifold grace of God. We have no reason to boast, except in the cross of Christ!
Paul describes the church as one body where each individual member's gift has purpose, meaning, and value. The gifts came from God and whether it's preaching, serving, teaching, exhortation, giving, or showing mercy all of these should be used with a realization that it is about God and others.
Our gifts are not to show one another up; they are to build one another up.
Romans 12:4-8 KJV
"For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; 7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness."
With cheerfulness. In Paul's list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians, the second aspect of that fruit is "joy." If we are living for God and we are miserable, we are doing it wrong. There should not be anyone in the world more happy than the Christian.
In my ESV the next section is labelled "Marks of True Christianity." My sermon for this evening comes from verse 12, but the surrounding text is just too good to ignore.
Romans 12:9-13 ESV
9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Our love should be real. I don't know about you, but there are moments in my life where I have to work at loving some people. What I have found is that it is very hard for me to hate someone or continue to be angry with them if I am praying for them. Paul says that our love should not be fake. We should not put on a pretense of love for some ulterior motive or what we can receive. I encourage you, if there is someone you find hard to love, pray for them.
Matthew 5:43-48 KJV
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
You can have a hard time loving someone because you are jealous of them. I have found that when I rejoice with them about the season of blessing that they are experiencing, God has a way of filling my heart with love, genuine love.
Paul says that we should "abhor what is evil" and "hold fast to what is good." Some might read this verse as a justification for walking around with a sour attitude and a mind full of how much they hate what is evil. On the contrary, Paul is saying to detest the evil so much that it does not dominate your thoughts, that you refuse to allow it to find a nest in your thoughts. Your thoughts are to be filled with the good. Your Facebook feed ought to be filled with the good!
Love one another with brotherly affection. We ought to treat one another so good that people think we are biological siblings. I like the way the ESV says that we should "outdo one another in showing honor." What would our families and churches be like if we put this into practice? If we honestly complimented one another and publicly praised one another? What if instead of desiring to be seen, we spent our time trying to prop our sisters and brothers up? Oh, what a world it would be if everyone had the kind of love that Jonathan had for David! What if we were all willing to give up our seat and our place for another!?
Paul then says that we ought to serve God fervently. We ought to serve God with a fire in our bones. We ought to worship God with all that is with in us. The writer of Ecclesiastes says:
Ecclesiastes 9:10 NIV
"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom."
This takes work. We shouldn't be lazy. And there are times when we have more fire to give than at others. Something to remember in our moments of greatest victory is that we have had moments when we were tired and weary. And at the end of the day, all that energy and zeal that you have in this season is a gift from God.
1 Corinthians 15:10 KJV
"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."
So, don't judge another person's walk with God or their labor for God. Do what God has given you to do! With zeal.
Romans 14:4 NIV
"Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand."
Finally, it is from verse 12 that I would like to talk to you for a few moments this evening. It reads:
Romans 12:12
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Preaching Points:
1. Rejoice in Hope
Genesis 8:22 NKJV
“While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 KJV
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."
Psalm 74:17 KJV
“Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.”
Seasons are God's idea. We are often frustrated because we do not understand seasons. We live in a world that loves the instantaneous. We order DoorDash, have someone else do our shopping, order products delivered the next day on our Amazon Prime accounts, binge watch entire series rather than wait week to week to see the next episode.
The way God made life under the sun is with seasons. It is a God idea.
Seasons should be dealt with by having a posture of hope.
When the winter comes, we should rejoice knowing that the spring is coming. The winter is God's idea, not the devil's.
In our relationships, in our education, in our church there are moments when we face winter times. Moments when it seems things are dead, and if you will look back over your life experience you will find that there have always been seasons. Sometimes people never experience the fullness of life because they want to live in spring or summer continually.
They go from relationship to relationship, church to church, because they are looking for perpetual springtime. When the season changes at their new place or new relationship they will drag up and move on again. This is a frustrating way to live.
Paul tells the Romans and us, to "Rejoice in hope!"
We should live with hope in every season.
In spring, we relish in the hope that we can plant and labor through the summer for the harvest coming in the fall! In the winter we rejoice in hope because we know that the dead cold ground is resting for the next season.
In Genesis 1, God demonstrates this principle for us. At the end of each of His creative acts God declares it to be good. He rejoices at the incomplete. He knew what He was going to do and how it would be completed. He didn't wait until He was through to rejoice! He rejoiced in hope!
Hope is filled with expectation! Learn to rejoice at what is complete in the season you are in. You'll be less frustrated.
Our church is shifting and changing. It is a season of change. What would happen if you rejoiced in hope of what God is going to do next?
2. Be Patient in Tribulation
Life is not always going to be a bed of roses.
Jesus promised that in this life we would have tribulation, or pressure.
If we are going to receive the harvest God has promised, we must be patient.
Rejoicing in hope tends to help us to be patient. You won't drag up and quit when there is hope for the future!
Job was patient because he knew that once God had tried him, he would come forth as gold!
What you are going through right now has a purpose. God planned the seasons.
He planned the seasons of your life. Often we circumvent God's process by trying to skip seasons.
Be patient in tribulation!
3. Be Constant in Prayer
Prayer is the safeguard of hope.
We learn to periodic petitionary prayer as children. My grandparents taught it to me. When I stayed the night with them as a child, I would lay between them and they would lead the prayer for our family and their neighbors. Eventually at the end of the prayer I would take the lead praying for all the cartoon characters that I would watch on Saturday morning. Prayer was fun.
To this day, on my best days of prayer, I pray for family, this church, and my neighbors.
In order to make it through the seasons of life, it is important that we are constant in prayer.
We started something last Sunday morning. We opened up the youth class for the ladies to pray together. We opened up my office for the men to pray together.
We had a great time in the Lord on Sunday night after we had prayed together!
What often happens in churches and relationships and new ventures is that we being with a bang, but end with a fizzle.
People do not connect their experiences to the big picture of the season they are in along with others.
Prayer leads to hope!
Conclusion and exhortation
This little portion of Scripture ends with verse 13: "Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality."
In light of all these things Paul says that we should take care of one another. What would life be like if we would just take care of one another?
