Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
__________

A reading from Romans: Romans 12:17-21 (NLT)

Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.

Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”

Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
__________

Reflection: Romans 12:17-21 (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

The will of God for changed relationships: (Romans 12:1– 15: 13)

Now all believers, irrespective of their ethnic origin, are brothers and sisters in the one international family of God, and so all have precisely the same vocation to be the holy, committed, humble, loving and conscientious people of God…. God’s grace, far from encouraging or condoning sin, is the spring and foundation of righteous conduct.

(Romans 12:17-21) Our relationship to our enemies: not retaliation but service

How should Christians respond to evildoers?

1. ‘Do not curse’ (14)… but bless.  There is no better way to express our positive wishes for our enemies’ welfare than to turn them into prayer and into action.

2. ‘Do not repay anyone evil for evil’ (17)… but do what is right and live at peace. To refuse to repay evil is to refuse to inflame a quarrel. But this is not enough. We have also to take the initiative in positive peacemaking, even if, as the two qualifications indicate (‘ if it is possible’ and ‘as far as it depends on you’), this is not always possible. For sometimes other people either are not willing to live at peace with us, or lay down a condition for reconciliation which would involve an unacceptable moral compromise.

3. ‘Do not take revenge’ (19)… but leave this to God.  The very two activities which are prohibited to us (retaliation and punishment) are now said to belong to God. The reason the repayment or judging of evil is forbidden to us is not that it is wrong in itself (for evil deserves to be punished and should be), but that it is God’s prerogative, not ours. We are to ‘leave it to the wrath of God’, which is expressed now through the state’s administration of justice, since the magistrate is ‘God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer’(13: 4), and which will be finally expressed on ‘the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed’(2: 5).

4. ‘Do not be overcome by evil’ (21)… but serve enemies and overcome evil with good.  Our personal responsibility is to love and serve our enemy according to his needs, and genuinely to seek his highest good. The coals of fire this may heap on him are intended to heal, not to hurt, to win, not to alienate, in fact, to shame him into repentance.

Thus Paul draws a vital distinction between the duty of private citizens to love and serve the evildoer, and the duty of public servants, as official agents of God’s wrath, to bring him to trial and, if convicted, to punish him. Far from being incompatible with each other, both principles are seen operating in Jesus at the cross. On the one hand, ‘when they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate’. On the other, ‘he entrusted himself to him who judges justly’, in confidence that God’s justice would prevail.
__________

“Love Your Enemies”

__________

Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
__________

A reading from Romans: Romans 12:9-16 (NLT)

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!
__________

Reflection: Romans 12:9-16 (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

The will of God for changed relationships: (Romans 12:1– 15: 13)

Now all believers, irrespective of their ethnic origin, are brothers and sisters in the one international family of God, and so all have precisely the same vocation to be the holy, committed, humble, loving and conscientious people of God…. God’s grace, far from encouraging or condoning sin, is the spring and foundation of righteous conduct.

(Romans 12:9-16) Our relationship to one another: love in the family of God

Paul’s recipe for love in the family of God has twelve components.

1. Sincerity – ‘without hypocrisy’…. Love and hypocrisy exclude one another. ‘If love is the sum of virtue, and hypocrisy the epitome of vice,’ wrote John Murray, ‘what a contradiction to bring these together!’

2. Discernment – ‘loathing of evil’, while ‘clinging to what is good’…. Love is so passionately devoted to the beloved object that it hates every evil which is incompatible with his or her highest welfare.

3. Affection – ‘typically, love of parent for child’…. applied originally to blood relationships in the human family, but Paul reapplies them to the tender, warm affection which should unite the members of the family of God.

4. Honor – ‘esteem others more highly than yourself’… or ‘outdo one another in showing honor’. In either case we are to accord to each other the highest possible honor.

5. Enthusiasm – not to ‘be lazy’ in zeal,… be ‘aglow with the Spirit’. The picture is not so much of a glowing lamp as of a boiling, bubbling pot…. Practical commitment to serving ‘the Lord’ will keep zeal rooted in reality.

6. Patience – ‘joyful in hope’, ‘patient in affliction’, ‘faithful in prayer’…. Our confident Christian expectation of the Lord’s return and the glory to follow… is the source of abiding joy. But it also calls for patience, as meanwhile we endure tribulation and persevere in prayer.

7. Generosity – ‘share in people’s needs and sufferings’, or ‘share out our resources with them.’ In the early Jerusalem church… they shared their possessions with those more needy than themselves.

8. Hospitality – ‘pursue’ hospitality. Origen commented: ‘We are not just to receive the stranger when he comes to us, but actually to inquire after, and look carefully for, strangers, to pursue them and search them out everywhere, lest perchance somewhere they may sit in the streets or lie without a roof over their heads.’

9. Good will – ‘bless’ those who curse us, ‘pray’ for them and ‘do good’ to them. There is no better way to express our positive wishes for our enemies’ welfare than to turn them into prayer and into action….  The call to bless [our persecutors] is a necessary challenge to Christian love.

10. Sympathy – Love never stands aloof from other people’s joys or pains. Love identifies with them, sings with them and suffers with them. Love enters deeply into their experiences and their emotions, their laughter and their tears, and feels solidarity with them, whatever their mood.

11. Harmony – ‘be of the same mind’, and so ‘live in agreement with one another’…. Since Christians have a renewed mind, it should also be a common mind, sharing the same basic convictions and concerns. Without this common mind we cannot live or work together in harmony.

12. Humility –  Be willing to associate with people of low position…. As JB puts it, ‘Never be condescending, but make real friends with the poor.’

What a comprehensive picture of Christian love Paul gives us! Love is sincere, discerning, affectionate and respectful. It is both enthusiastic and patient, both generous and hospitable, both benevolent and sympathetic. It is marked by both harmony and humility. Christian churches would be happier communities if we all loved one another like that.
__________

“For The Lost & Lonely”

For the lost and lonely / For the hopeless outcast / You have come for me / You have come for us all / For the victim and the villain / The judge and the accuser / To the right and wrong / You have come for us all

For you have come / In grace and love, / Acceptance and with peace / For you have come / With mercy for our tears / Embracing all our fears

For the poor and homeless / The refugee and orphan, / For the rich and poor / You have come for us all / For the proud and righteous, / For the strong and mighty / Those who have no need / You still come for us all.

For you have come / In grace and love, / Acceptance and with peace / For you have come / With mercy for our tears / Embracing all our fears
__________

Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
__________

A reading from Romans: Romans 12:3-8 (NLT)

Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
__________

Reflection: Romans 12:3-8 (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

The will of God for changed relationships: (Romans 12: 1– 15: 13)

Now all believers, irrespective of their ethnic origin, are brothers and sisters in the one international family of God, and so all have precisely the same vocation to be the holy, committed, humble, loving and conscientious people of God…. God’s grace, far from encouraging or condoning sin, is the spring and foundation of righteous conduct.

(Romans 12:3–8) Our relationship to ourselves: thinking soberly about our gifts

Our renewed mind, which is capable of discerning and approving God’s will, must also be active in evaluating ourselves, our identity and our gifts. For we need to know who we are, and to have an accurate, balanced and above all sober self-image. A renewed mind is a humble mind like Christ’s.
_____

In thinking about ourselves we must avoid both too high an estimate of ourselves and (Paul might have added) too low an estimate. Instead, and positively, we are to develop a sober judgment. How? First by reference to our faith, and secondly by reference to our gifts.

1.  God’s gospel: saving faith in Christ crucified…. Only this gospel of the cross, indeed only ‘Christ himself in whom God’s judgment and mercy are revealed’, can enable us to measure ourselves soberly.
2.  God’s gifts: we are dependent on one another, and the one-anotherness of the Christian fellowship is enhanced by the diversity of our gifts. The recognition that God is the giver of the gifts is indispensable if we are to ‘form a sober estimate’ (REB) of ourselves.

Just as God’s grace had made Paul an apostle (3), so his grace bestows different gifts  on other members of Christ’s body. Paul proceeds to give his readers a sample of seven gifts, which he urges them to exercise conscientiously for the common good. He divides them into two categories, which might be called ‘speaking gifts’ (prophesying, teaching and encouraging) and ‘service gifts’ (serving, contributing, leading and showing mercy).
__________

“By God’s Grace”

__________

Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
__________

A reading from Romans: Romans 12:1-2 (NLT)

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice — the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

__________

Reflection: Romans 12:1-2 (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

The will of God for changed relationships: (Romans 12: 1– 15: 13)

Now all believers, irrespective of their ethnic origin, are brothers and sisters in the one international family of God, and so all have precisely the same vocation to be the holy, committed, humble, loving and conscientious people of God…. God’s grace, far from encouraging or condoning sin, is the spring and foundation of righteous conduct.

(Romans 12:1-2) Our relationship to God: consecrated bodies and renewed minds

What is this living sacrifice, this rational, spiritual worship? It is not to be offered in the temple courts or in the church building, but rather in home life and in the market-place. It is the presentation of our bodies to God.

Paul is clear that the presentation of our bodies is our spiritual act of worship…. No worship is pleasing to God which is purely inward, abstract and mystical; it must express itself in concrete acts of service performed by our bodies.
_____

Paul issues the summons to the people of God not to be conformed to the prevailing culture, but rather to be transformed. Both verbs are present passive imperatives and denote the continuing attitudes which we are to retain. We must go on refusing to conform to the world’s ways and go on letting ourselves be transformed according to God’s will. J. B. Phillip’s paraphrase catches the alternative: ‘Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God remold your minds from within.’

We human beings seem to be imitative by nature. We need a model to copy, and ultimately there are only two. There is this world, literally ‘this age’, which is passing away, and there is God’s will, which is good, pleasing and perfect…. These two value systems (this world and God’s will) are incompatible, even in direct collision with one another.

Whether we are thinking about the purpose of life or the meaning of life, about how to measure greatness or how to respond to evil, about ambition, sex, honesty, money, community, religion or anything else, the two sets of standards diverge so completely that there is no possibility of compromise.

Here then are the stages of Christian moral transformation: first our mind is renewed by the Word and Spirit of God; then we are able to discern and desire the will of God; and then we are increasingly transformed by it.
__________

“Living Sacrifice”

__________

Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
__________

A reading from Isaiah: Isaiah 52:7-10 (NLT)

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!

The watchmen shout and sing with joy, for before their very eyes they see the Lord returning to Jerusalem. Let the ruins of Jerusalem break into joyful song, for the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.

The Lord has demonstrated his holy power before the eyes of all the nations. All the ends of the earth will see the victory of our God.

A reading from Romans: Romans 10:13-17 (NLT)

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?

That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “ Lord , who has believed our message?” So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
__________

Reflection: A Manifesto of Evangelism (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

A summary of Paul’s teaching on evangelism:

‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ (Romans 10: 15).

1. The need for evangelism: evangelism is necessary because until people hear and receive the gospel they are lost.

2. The scope of evangelism: the whole human race must be given the chance to hear the gospel.

3. The incentive to evangelism: evangelism arises from the love and the longing of the heart.

4. The nature of evangelism: evangelism is sharing with others the good news of Christ crucified and risen.

5. The logic of evangelism: evangelism demands the sending out of evangelists, so that people may call on Christ for salvation.

6. The result of evangelism: evangelism brings such blessings to those who believe, that it arouses the envy of others.

7. The hope for evangelism: evangelism has hope of success only if it rests on the election of God.

8. The goal of evangelism: evangelism introduces converts into the people of God, and so brings glory to God .
_____

The ultimate goal of evangelism is the glory of God. The gospel displays his power, proclaims his name, makes known the riches of his glory, and reveals his mercy. There is no room for boasting; only for humble, grateful, wondering adoration. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.
__________

“Who will go for me?”

__________

Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen