Lord, I swear there's no pain I know there's no danger In that bright world to which I go Welcome to this podcast from Faith Bible Church in Reno, Nevada. Faith Bible Church is a Christ-centered, Bible-teaching ministry dedicated to bringing the good news of the gospel to the whole world. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And now, for this week's message from Pastor Alan Battle. Our scripture reading for today is from Romans 12, verses 9 through 13. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints. And seek to show hospitality. This is the word of God. We continue in our study of the book of Romans today. In chapters one through 12, we learned what to believe. For the rest of the book, we will be looking at how to live. Rosaria Champagne Butterfield is a woman who believed the gospel and learned a new way to live. Her memoir, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, chronicles her journey from radical feminism and a lesbian lifestyle to becoming a follower of Christ. Raised and educated in liberal Catholic settings, Rosaria fell in love with the world of words. In her late 20s, allured by feminist philosophy and LGBT advocacy, she adopted a lesbian identity. She earned her PhD, then served in the English Department in Women's Studies program at Syracuse University from 1992 to 2002, and she specialized in something called queer theory. That's a real thing. She and her lesbian partner were leaders in the LGBTQ community and actively fought for the goals of that community in society. In 1997, Rosaria began researching the religious right in order to write a book about their, quote, politics of hatred against people like me, unquote. During that time, she wrote an article in the local newspaper condemning the Christian men's Promise Keepers movement. She got lots of responses to that article, some fan mail, some hate mail. But one letter was different. It was from a pastor named Ken, who asked some probing questions. She decided to contact him. At first, she was just using him as a resource for her book. She wanted to understand these crazy Christian people and figure out what made them tick. But Ken and his wife Floyd invited Rosaria to their home to discuss the issues and it became a weekly meal together. So she began reading the Bible also in order to research for her book. And this became a topic of discussion at these weekly meetings. After two years of this, Rosaria became a Christian. Not because she was convinced that lesbianism was wrong, but because she was convinced that Jesus was who he said he was. Her newfound faith triggered a crisis in her life. Here's a quote from her. I learned the first rule of repentance, that repentance requires greater intimacy with God than with our sin. How much greater? About the size of a mustard seed. Her life was radically changed when she put her mustard seed-sized faith in the Savior who bid her to stop going that way and walk this way." Repentance means a radical change of direction. Before coming to Christ, we were all walking according to the principles of this world. We were walking according to the ruler of this world, Satan. And as we saw in Romans 7-8, we were walking according to our own sinful flesh. Repentance means that we walk a different way, that we walk His way. For Rosaria, it meant that she had to leave her tenured position at the university because she no longer believed in the things she had been teaching. It meant leaving a supportive and accepting community of like-minded people. It meant that she would have to forsake her lesbian partner. In fact, she said she lost everything except the dog. In the first half of the book of Romans, we learned that there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. But we also learned that once we are saved, our lives are necessarily changed. We have a new master, we have new desires, and our old ways become hateful to us. In the second half of the book, we are learning some of the specifics of our new way of life. We learned about the need to use our spiritual gifts, those supernatural abilities that we are given to minister within the body of Christ. Today, we're going to look at some of the concrete ways we are to live out our Christianity in the real world, because true theology translates into reality. All of theology in the world is useless unless it affects the nitty-gritty of everyday life. Our living must match our theology. When I was a young hippie, my new bride and some other friends were at a swimming hole off the Yuba River one summer day, and we met a middle-aged guy there. He seemed like a nice guy, and we were thrilled to accept his invitation for a steak dinner back at his cabin in the mountains. I'll never forget talking with him, and he talked about the Bible and how he somehow felt like the prophet Jeremiah. However, at the same time, he was trying to get us to allow our wives to sleep with him. I didn't really know anything about Christianity at the time, but I knew there was something terribly wrong with this guy. His living certainly did not match his theology. Well, in the rest of the book of Romans, it's going to prescribe how Christians should live. Today, we're going to cover 14 commands found in verses 9-13 of chapter 12. And sometimes God's commands can ruffle our feathers. Did you hear about the good old boy who was a prominent businessman in a little southern town? One Sunday morning he was giving his hearty amen to everything the preacher was saying. The preacher condemned gossip and he said, And the preacher condemned drunkenness, and he said, Amen. And the preacher condemned fornication, and he said, Amen. Then the preacher condemned those who took advantage of others in business. At that point, he frowned and turned to his wife and said, Now that preacher's left off preaching, and he's commenced a meddling. Sometimes the word of God stings us. But we all have blind spots. We all have room for growth, no matter how long we've been believers. So let's begin in verse nine. Let love be genuine. Paul begins here with a quick reminder of what Jesus calls the foundation of all law. That foundation is love. Look at Matthew chapter 22, verses 35 through 40. And one of them, a lawyer asked him, asked him, Jesus, a question to test him. Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment, and a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets." That's the whole Bible. All of God's revelation to mankind has its foundation in love. And this love is a godly love. It is the Greek word agape. This is a selfless love, a love that puts others first. It's a love that prompted the Father to offer His Son as a sacrifice on the cross to save sinners. This kind of love was rare in the Greco-Roman world of Paul's day. This kind of love was viewed as weakness and was ridiculed by that world. But God says when we are weak, we are strong. God's kingdom advances by love, not by force. And it says that this love must be real. The Greek word here, translated as sincere, is unipakritos. And what does that sound like? It's where we get the word hypocrisy. And when you put an on in front of the Greek word, it makes it negative. It literally means without hypocrisy. And the New American Standard Bible translates it just that way. Let love be without hypocrisy. The underlying meaning comes from the stage. It is what actors do. They play a part. They act like someone whom they are not. Loving without hypocrisy means loving without faking it. So, love is the foundation for all of Christian living. Paul is going to launch into several seemingly random ways to flesh out that love. These next few verses remind me of the Proverbs. They are shotgun one-liners that pack a powerful and potent punch. So here we go. First one is, abhor what is evil. Before we were born again, we loved evil in one form or another. Now we are commanded to hate it. Abhor is an excellent translation here. It means to hate with intensity. It's not that we just ignore evil. If we're going to be agents for good, we must actively oppose the evil. We are to view it just as the Lord views it. He doesn't just wink at it. He calls it out. The hard part of this is learning how to hate evil while continuing to love the evildoers. I think the best way to do this is by remembering that we were and still are evildoers ourselves. It is only through the gospel that any of us are made acceptable to God. There is no room for self-righteousness. So first, we must hate the evil that we find in our own lives before we can condemn it in others. But it is right and necessary that Christians call out evil. Ephesians 5.11 says, Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. I believe that abortion is the greatest evil of our time. We need to expose it for what it is. It's murder. But Christians should not just be known for what they're against. So the next command is, hold fast to what is good. So in the case of abortion, we don't just denounce it. We do what we can to reduce it by supporting crisis pregnancy centers and other ministries to single young mothers. Christians should be the first to adopt the so-called unwanted children. To hold fast to good means to be joined with it. The same word is used in 1 Corinthians 6.17 where it says, but he who has joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. We should be intimately acquainted with good. It should be our constant pursuit. As Paul told the Philippian believers in Philippians 4.8, Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. By clinging to what is good, we must of necessity let go of what is evil. If you're busy doing God's work, you won't be doing Satan's bidding. Now Paul drills down on this theme of love in verse 10. Love one another with brotherly affection. As in the discussion about the gifts, the context for these rules of living is still the local church. This love is only possible for those who have been born again and who have joined the family of God. Look at 1 Peter 1.22-23. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. Our souls have been purified for the purpose of exhibiting this kind of love to our fellow Christians. It's a sincere love, a love without hypocrisy. And our souls can only be purified through our obedience to the truth of the gospel. In fact, John tells us this love for other Christians is one of the proofs that we have been saved. 1 John 3.14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. The intimacy and tenderness of the Christian family should surpass the love of a natural family. It should be a concrete proof to the world that we are the disciples of Jesus. Let's look at the next one. Outdo one another in showing honor. I love this one. We are to compete with one another in the body of Christ. But the competition is to outdo each other in showing honor to one another. The word honor here means to value. It means to put a high price on. It means putting aside our needs and considering the needs of others as more important than our own. The world values people for what they can do or how they look. The Bible teaches that every person is valuable because we have all been created in the image of God. Don't let the world's attitude creep into your thinking. Don't ignore those who can't do anything for you. Instead, pay them even closer attention. Jesus showed the same honor to the outcast Samaritan woman as he did to the highly esteemed Pharisee Nicodemus. James gives us a stern warning about this attitude. He says in James 2, 1-4, My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing comes in also, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, you sit here in a good place, while you say to the poor man, stand over there or sit down at my feet. Have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Back when I was working at the Kmart warehouse, we had a holiday meal served to us by all the supervisors. I'll never forget one particularly prideful boss who came by with a tray of dessert. My hands were full and I indicated he could put it down by my plate. He became indignant and said, I'll bring it to you, but I'm not going to serve it to you. This should never be the attitude of a follower of Jesus. He who washed the feet of his disciples. Okay, we're gonna have to speed things up now if we're gonna get through all of these today. So, the next one is, do not be slothful in zeal. This means simply, don't be lazy. But not just lazy in a general sense. It means, don't be lazy in your service to the Lord. And how can you accomplish this? The next phrase, you must be fervent in spirit. This literally means to be boiling or to be set on fire. We used to have a saying when I was a young believer. We said, that person is on fire for the Lord. Well, Paul here calls each of us to be on fire for God. This means that Jesus is to be our number one priority. How is that possible? only by allowing God's Spirit to fill our spirit. Only those who regularly feed their soul through prayer and Bible reading can sustain such zeal. And the purpose of this is to serve the Lord. We are no longer our own. We belong to Jesus and He is our Master and has the right to command us to do whatever He pleases. This is the very definition of Lord. The idea of a lifelong servitude can sound daunting. And it would be if we didn't have such a benevolent and loving master. We must remember that our service will one day be compensated with the ultimate reward, eternal life where we will know nothing of toil or death or suffering. And that is why we can obey the next command. Rejoice in hope. The world is going to call us fools. The devil is going to try to discourage you and get you to quit. But if you remember the hope of heaven as you toil through this life, you can rejoice. 1 Corinthians 15.58, Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. It's going to be worth it. and we can rejoice even in the midst of trouble. The next command is, be patient in tribulation. Tribulation will come. Our bodies will break down. People will betray us. People will die. But we know that it will all be worth it. Remember what we were told in Romans 8.18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. That glory is coming sooner than we realize. Our time here is just a blip in eternity. James says that this life is just a mist, a vapor that will disappear in a moment. Just as a child takes comfort in the midst of tears when her parents assure her that everything is going to be alright, you and I can take comfort in Jesus' promised return to take us to the place that he has prepared for us. I'm not saying that it's not hard, but if we have this hope before us, it's possible. Now, I jumped the gun with this one. but I'll just add some to it. The next one is be constant in prayer. As I just mentioned, fervency of spirit requires prayer. And here we see that prayer requires discipline. Constant means you don't let up. It means you persevere. It means you are diligent. To be constant means that prayer should be a regular thing. I know that some of you are constant in prayer. I don't believe that I would still be here in this pulpit if you weren't. But I have to confess that I am not so constant myself. I'm not that good with prayer, but I'm working on it. and I would appreciate your encouragement in this area of my spiritual life. The next one must also be done in the context of the local church. It says, contribute to the needs of the saints. If you think of this in financial terms, you and I don't have much need for help. But the word contribute here has a much broader meaning than material giving. It comes from the word koinonia. This is the word from which we get fellowship. It means to share. Later in chapter 15, Paul uses it in relation to sharing in spiritual blessings. So I ask you, do you need any spiritual blessings? I know that I do. And the only people that can share them with me are the saints, the family of God. We must contribute to one another. This takes us back to our use of spiritual gifts. We contribute to one another by using our gifts when we are gathered together. And there is no church unless it's gathered together. It is my conviction that the majority of us do not gather together as much as we should. Small groups are essential to spiritual health, but beyond that, close personal friendships that are based on our mutual faith in the Lord are the best way to stay focused and grow as believers. Living in isolation from one another breeds selfishness and prevents us from attacking the gates of hell as a unified army. And one of the ways we can nurture these essential relationships is by doing what is commanded here in the last part of verse 13. It says, and seek to show hospitality. Hospitality means to bring people into your home and serve them. It means sharing your life with them over a meal, or giving them a place to stay. Christians are commanded to do this with one another, as well as with strangers. And notice it says here, we are to seek to show hospitality. It means we're to look for opportunities to do it. It should be a regular habit. 1 Peter 4.9 says to Christians, show hospitality to one another without grumbling. Don't grumble about it. Don't complain about it. Just do it. Titus 1.8 gives hospitality as one of the qualifications for elders. By being hospitable, the elders set the example for the rest of the Church. This is the way that Jesus said the Church would grow. If we show love for one another, unbelievers will recognize us as His disciples and be drawn to Him. Rosaria Butterfield is an expert on the practice of hospitality. She has just published a book on the topic called The Gospel Comes with a House Key. She does a great job of building the case of why we should do it and how we should do it. I highly recommend her book. The subtitle of her book is Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World. It's radical because few people practice it. It's ordinary because what could be more common than gathering around a table for food and fellowship? It's ordinary because it doesn't have to be a big production. It's just family enjoying time together. Does that sound scary to you? Well, that's okay. That just means that Satan is at work attempting to keep you from being obedient to God's call. He wants to keep you isolated. He wants to keep you on the bench. He doesn't want you to become a threat to his kingdom. So are you ready to step out in faith and obedience and put Satan in his place? When Jesus calls us away from our old paths and bids us to walk his way, it can be scary, painful, and even messy. All of us, like Rosaria Butterfield, must forsake our old, familiar ways. At one point in Jesus' ministry, Peter came to him and bragged about the sacrifices he and the other disciples had made. Matthew 19, 27. Then Peter said in reply, See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have? Jesus told him that one day they would sit next to him on the throne, judging Israel. And then he added this. And everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my namesake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life." Rosaria Butterfield left everything, but found so much more. Her new life could not be more opposite than her former radical feminist lesbian lifestyle. Her main gig today is as a wife and mother. Yeah, she still writes books, but they're radically different from the ones she used to write. She still does public speaking, but her message is not the same one she used to teach her students at Syracuse University. But now, she spends the bulk of her time serving in the Presbyterian church that her husband pastors. She's homeschooling their four adopted children, and she is showing God's love to her community by exhibiting radically ordinary hospitality every day. I'll end with her words of testimony. She wrote this, Conversion was a train wreck. I did not want to lose everything that I loved, but the voice of my God sang a hopeful love song in the rubble of my world. I weakly believed that if Jesus could conquer death, he could make right my world. I drank, tentatively at first, then passionately, of the solace of the Holy Spirit. I rested in private peace, then community, and today in the shelter of a covenant family, where one calls me wife and many call me mothers. May Jesus make such a train wreck of our lives. Let's pray. Thank you, Father. Praise you, Lord, that you have called us to a new, radical life. You've called us to walk your way, to forsake our old ways. And Lord, that you give us the power to live this supernatural kind of life through your Holy Spirit. So Father, help us to obey the commands that you give your children. And Lord, that we might joyfully fulfill the purpose that you've given us in this life. that we might love one another, that the world would see that we are your disciples, and that your kingdom would grow. So we ask all these things in the name above every name, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Thank you for listening to the preaching of God's Word from Faith Bible Church in Reno, Nevada. We hope that it has been an encouragement to you and that the Word of God will fill your hearts and minds as you walk through this world. If you have been blessed by this ministry and would like to make a small donation to help defray the costs of this podcast, just click on the green support us button at the top of the webpage. Thank you.