New Creations in Action (Romans 12:9-21)

Good morning.

We are going to be in Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

So if you can turn to your by in your Bibles to Romans 12.

Just a little bit of housekeeping as we're doing this.

We're just going to acknowledge the elephants in the room.

Number one, there's a freeway there.

So there's a little bit of road noise, and this is the only time that North County people wish there were more Teslas.

Also, there is In N Out right over there.

Right?

When you start smelling that onion smell, it is not your neighbor.

I promise.

It is the smell over there.

Number three, the kids' ministry is right over there, of course.

With that, my wife is more enjoyable than me.

She's teaching the kids, so please don't just pick up your chair and go over there.

She's more fun, but we're going to be here and it'll be good.

So, we're going to be in Romans chapter 12, starting in verse 9.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

If you're able to, please stand for the reading of God's word.

Thank you.

Romans 12 9.

Let love be without hypocrisy.

Detest evil, cling to what is good.

Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters.

Outdo one another in showing honor.

Do not lack diligence and zeal.

Be fervent in the Spirit, serve the Lord.

Rejoice in hope.

Be patient in affliction.

Be persistent in prayer.

Share with the saints in their needs.

Pursue hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you.

Bless and do not curse.

Rejoice with those who rejoice.

Weep with those who weep.

Live in harmony with one another.

Do not be proud, instead associate with the humble.

Do not be wise in your own estimation.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil.

Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone's eyes.

If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Friends, do not avenge yourselves.

Instead, leave room for God's wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me, I will repay, says the Lord.

But if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

If he's thirsty, give him something to drink, for in so doing you will heap fiery coals on his head.

Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

And Lord, I thank you for this morning, and I ask that you would fill us all with your spirit, those of us who follow you, and that you would fill me to teach, and to rightly divide your word, and to say nothing I shouldn't, and everything I should, and that you would fill the spirit of the fill the hearers with your spirit to rightly discern.

And I ask that you would be glorified in this time, in your name.

Amen.

Please have a seat.

Alright.

This is an interesting passage because we've been going through the book of Romans.

There's been a lot of density to it, a lot of theological concepts, a lot of things he's really hammering home.

And here we get this laundry list of different more practical things.

This is kind of like Paul's take on Proverbs, for lack of a better way to put it.

So there's a little bit less cohesive flow through the whole thing and more practical points.

So having that said, we we always get a little weird when it talks about when there's things in scripture that clearly talk about this is how we should act as Christians, right?

And we that's because we really like the easy answers.

We like the answers that you can put on an like on an Instagram picture and say, this is what this is what God wants.

It's not always that easy.

And so uh the in trying to distinguish between what we are supposed to do as Christians and works-based salvation, here's the analogy for it.

Um the house that we rent has a bunch of oak trees around it, which are really, really cool, and they rain acorns perpetually.

I did not know this.

And so, part of what it means to be a kid in our family is to help sweep the walkways of all of those acorns.

By the time you're done with it, you can start over.

It's like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, they're just gonna keep going.

But um, but with that, um, that is a part of what is expected as part of our family.

Now, if we ask our kids to sweep up the acorns and they do not do it, do we kick them out of the family?

No.

No, that would that's that would be an overreaction, right?

Okay.

However, there is disappointment, right?

There's frustration, and there are natural consequences, because what that means is that when that when we told them to do it, if they didn't do it, they're gonna be doing it when they wish they had their screen time instead.

That's it, there's very natural consequences that occur when we don't do what's expected as a family member.

That's kind of like what it's like to be a follower of Christ, is that we are expected to do the family work, to be a part of the family business.

And that's what this passage talks about, is what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus.

Now, these are not salvific issues, to where if you're not checking off this list, then you're probably not saved.

That would be like kicking you out of the family for not sweeping up the acorns.

A little bit crazy.

So, we're expected to do things as followers of Christ.

It's just not determining our salvation in this sense.

On the other side, if we woke up one morning and looked out there and some random kid is sweeping up the acorns, it'd be like, Nikki, you know this kid?

He's got good form.

Would that kid therefore be a part of our family because he did the job?

No, that's crazy.

I mean, we'd probably give him some water, we might even like pay him if he did a fantastic job, and that's in.

But that doesn't make him a member of our family.

And that's the part, that's what Paul is pushing back against in this book, against works-based salvation.

If you do the job, then you're God's child.

So that's not what we're looking at here.

What we're looking at here is what it looks like to be a part of a family, and to be a part of God's family, and what it looks like to be a part of the body of Christ, with him as the head, which was spoken of really, really well last week in the beginning of chapter 12, with the gifts functioning together for the good of the body motivated by love.

Okay.

So starting off here in verses 9 and 10, let love be without hypocrisy, detest evil, cling to what is good.

Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters, outdo one another in showing honor.

One thing I love about scripture is that whenever it talks about spiritual gifts, because Christians get all weird about spiritual gifts, as if that's like, I'm dating myself here, but that's like the quiz in the back of the magazine that tells you, like, you know, who you are and how awesome you are.

But like, the spiritual gifts are there for the purpose of serving one another as part of the body, and it's always in the context of serving one another as a body, and in the context of fueled and motivated by love.

Those are inseparable.

Whether that's here, whether that's 1 Corinthians, uh, the places that we see in Ephesians 4, we see that over and over and over that love is an impetus here.

And what I love here is we see two different extremes here.

He's he's couching us in here.

Let love be withheld, hypocrisy, detest evil, cling to what's good.

Also, love one another deeply as brothers and sisters, outdo one another in showing honor.

We've talked through the book of Romans how this is a book that's made up of Jews, I mean, a church in Rome that's made up of Jews and Gentiles, and there's constant friction as a result of that, if they're going through that, the two different sides attacking one another.

Here, this shows two sides of Christians, brothers and sisters, because we are wired in very specific ways.

And that's a good thing.

God has wired us that way.

Just as He's gifted us in a certain way, He's wired us that way.

So odds are good that you gravitate naturally more towards verse 9 or more towards verse 10.

And that's okay.

Because when I say let love be without hypocrisy, detest evil and cling to what's good, those of us who are a little bit more um on the prophet, prophetic side, discernment side, are like, yes, without hypocrisy, pure, dete what's evil, cling to what's good, and that's a good thing.

People are we are wired more this way.

And on the other side, those of us who are more um relational, read verse 10 and say, love one another deeply as brothers and sisters, outdo one another in showing honor, and they go, yes, that's how Jesus did it.

That's the real Christianity, and that's good.

And that's a good thing, because that's how people are wired.

Just as people are gifted in different ways, people are wired in different ways.

Now, what we don't want to do here is say, we need to be in the middle between those two.

Because he actually wired us in specific ways with more leanings.

However, we need to be refined in those leanings and be more aware of the others.

You can't have one without the other.

So, in with the side that's with love without hypocrisy, hate what's evil, cling to what's good.

That is a wonderful thing because we're holding a line there.

We're holding a line on truth.

Where it gets dicey is because we have our own definitions of evil and good, and that usually suspiciously align with whatever we don't like and whatever we like.

So that's the dark side of that.

The good side of that is truth needs to be held and not compromised on.

That's a part of God's character, right?

So, what this looks like on the other side, though what we want to be re if we're wired this way, how we want to be refined a little bit in this, let me put it this way.

Okay.

If you drink milk or put it in your cereal or your coffee or whatever, it is a very normal and natural thing to take it out of the fridge and just give it a little sniff.

Right?

Make sure your milk's good.

That's normal.

That's normal behavior.

If your friend invites you over for dinner, it is not normal behavior to go into their fridge and give their milk a little sniff.

That ain't normal.

Okay?

So, your big takeaway, if you are leaning more on verse 9, don't be a milk sniffer.

That's what we're going away with here.

So, with that in mind, we really want to make sure we hold that in truth.

And for those of us who lean more on the verse 10 side, we could learn from that and we could grow in that.

For those of us who are more on the upright, the truth side on that, um, that needs to be refined and needs to be refined by verse 10.

Loving one another deeply as brothers and sisters.

Outdo one another in showing honor.

And so the good side of this is loving one another deeply, honoring one another, compassion, grace, forgiveness, kindness.

This is there's a lot of strengths here.

And so if some of us are wired this way, that's a really good thing and really, really important.

The danger in that is what I what I would call killing with kindness.

And so the best way that I can see that is we are so concerned with making people feel loved and safe and comfortable that we compromise truth.

And that's the that's the danger on this side.

And so uh, with that, we want to avoid killing people with kindness by making them feel so comfortable that they don't feel the need to actually follow the Lord.

So those are the two sides, and we can learn both of those and become something, the goal is not to become in the middle of that.

The goal is to become a new creation, to become something different entirely.

And so I'm spending a little more time on those two verses because they're so fundamental to how we view life and how we view scripture and how we view the world.

Because if we are still all consumed with hating evil and clinging to what's good, and yet we don't love one another deeply and outdo one another in showing honor, then we are wrathful and rage-filled and uh attacking anything that moves.

And on the other side, if we are so consumed with loving one another deeply and outdoing one another and showing honor to the expense of the truth and tolerating evil, that's a problem too.

And we see that in the book of Revelation, where we have on both sides to the Church of Ephesus, uh, they were doing all these amazing things, they didn't tolerate what's evil, but they left their first love.

And then on the other side, you have churches like Thyrotire and Pergamon who were doing these great things.

However, they were tolerating evil, and that's a problem, and they were got harsh rebukes as a result.

So, all that to say, we're called to be refined.

I'm again spending a lot of time on these two verses because these see how these show how we are supposed to be something different.

Not extreme over here, extreme over here, right in the middle, but something that's not natural to us because it's supernatural to be conformed to the image of Jesus.

Okay.

Verse 11: don't lack diligence and zeal, be fervent in the spirit, serve the Lord.

Don't lack diligence in zeal.

It's an interesting translation that everybody really breaks down to don't be spiritually lazy.

Don't be slack, but rather be fervent in the spirit, serve the Lord.

And the the challenge in that is it's very, very easy to be consumers.

It's very easy to be passive in our faith, and to uh say, okay, I've got it, I'm set, that box is checked, I can do whatever I want, and I don't really need to engage as a body.

And here he's calling us to diligence, fervency, and service.

When Paul wrote to the church of Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 4, 11 and 12, and 2 Thessalonians 3, 6 through 12, he reminded them, because the church did a lot of great things.

They put, they uh resisted and not resisted, but they bore under persecution, they were surviving.

But um, one of the things he was telling them is like, hey, how about you uh get a job and get to work?

Because they're basically just going, okay, we're good, Jesus is coming back, I'm just gonna hang out and do nothing and just be a consumer.

And Paul's like, hey, how about you uh contribute to the body and also get moving on that?

So super important in that that we are actually diligent, fervent, and serving the Lord.

Something that's cool, I'm just this was not uh something I expect to say.

It was so amazing to see so many people setting this up this morning and doing so joyfully.

Um the way that I am wired, joyfully and really, really, really hot, don't mix at all.

And it was so cool just to see just the uh just the natural, supernatural service in that.

So we have it, we have an amazing church, which is so cool.

Continuing forward, verse 12 rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction, be persistent in prayer.

These are such good words, and they are all intertwined.

Rejoicing in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.

We need to, in order to be patient in affliction, maintain our joy and our hope in our salvation and in our inheritance waiting for us in heaven, that is untouchable, undefiled.

We need to be patient in affliction so that we endure through what is promised is coming and is now.

But that requires patience and endurance.

And then also be persistent in prayer, not giving up, not uh being slack in that, but that gives us patience, that gives us hope, that gives us joy in the midst of affliction.

Uh, earlier in this book in Romans 5, 3 through 5, Paul says not only that, we rejoice in our afflictions because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.

This hope will not disappoint us because God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Just such a beautiful thing.

All of those verses, all of those words in this passage in Romans 5, 3 through 5, and talking about how this hope does not disappoint, that this is a part of following Jesus, is that exercise and that stirring up of rejoicing and patience and persistence within ourselves.

Verse 13, share with the saints in their needs, pursue hospitality.

So this is the verse that is not possible to do in isolation.

You cannot, okay, we we learn this in like preschool.

You can't share if there's no one to share with.

That's not sharing, that's hoarding, which is our natural uh tendency.

Share with the saints in their needs, pursue hospitality.

This involves giving that is at a cost to us, and that's what we're called to do as members of the body of Christ.

Now think about this as we as think about being a body.

And you eat food, what would happen if the head and the mouth was like, all that nutrients that just came in, that's all mine.

I did the work, I chewed it, I swallowed it, I fired all the neurons, this is all mine, all y'all can fend for yourself.

That would be problematic for the body, right?

On the other side, what would it look like if one arm has a big uh gaping wound in it, and the other arm is like, gee, I'd really love to help, but I'm saving all of these platelets for myself so that I can be comfortable and safe later.

I can't help you out.

Thoughts and prayers.

We're called to help one another out.

We're called to bless those who uh sorry, to share with the saints in their needs and to pursue hospitality and to that involves being active and involved and thinking of others.

Verse 14, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse.

How are we doing on that these days?

As a as a as the uh the big C church in evangelical American Christianity.

Doing doing pretty awesome.

We got this whole blessing those who persecute you and blessing and do not curse.

We got that dialed.

Not so much.

Here's the challenge is that to this we are called, of course.

The extreme version, Jesus on the cross, saying, Father, forgive them.

They don't know what they're doing, to the people who crucify them.

Isn't that amazing?

On a more fully human perspective, Stephen doing the same thing as he's being stoned to death for his faith, and saying, Don't hold the sin against them in the book of Acts.

Yet we've somehow seen it, come to see it as a virtue to curse those who persecute us.

And here's the thing.

So my son does Muay Thai kickboxing, and uh he does it uh twice a week, and he's done really, really well with it, and it's cool to see.

So on Fridays, he fights with the adults.

And some of these adults are terrifying, but they're so good with him, and they're they're basically like older brothers, and it's so cool to see.

Uh, one of them in particular, who is like pretty much the top dog in that gym, is what we would call a counterpuncher.

So, what that means is you throw something at him, not only does he have a plan to evade, but he is already loaded with a plan to fire back.

And so basically, the whole point of being a counterpuncher is somebody's attack is their weakness.

When they're leaning forward, that's the opening for them to attack.

And that is the virtue that somehow we see that as a virtue for ourselves, for our YouTube pastors, for our politicians, for our social media presence, that as if counterpunching is what God has called us to do.

It's basically like there's an outrage button.

As soon as someone comes near it, we fire.

And that is contrary to what God has called us to.

Contrary, directly contrary.

How did we get to the point where we thought this was normal behavior, and not only normal behavior, but we feel like we're uh righteously indignant when we do so?

It's cra it is crazy.

I'll just say that as strong as I can.

God did not call us to be counterpunchers, instead, to bless those who persecute us and to bless and do not curse.

Moving on to verse 15.

Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.

Again, this involves relational capital.

That involves being involved with other people's lives and knowing them and being known by them.

Rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep.

Um, I would venture to say most of us would rather rejoice with those who rejoice than to weep with those who weep.

That's the hard part.

But some of us are wired that way too.

But with that, those are important things because it involves, again, being a part of a body.

How do we do that?

How are we involved in that way?

And it will cost because it costs time and it costs uh involvement, it costs emotional request.

Replenishment.

So, but that's what that's what it looks like.

These are all descriptors, boots on the ground, for what it looks like to be a part of the body of Christ in the first half of Romans 12.

Verse 16: live in harmony with one another.

Do not be proud.

Instead, associate with the humble and do not be wise in your own estimation.

This verse is what I call the junior high lunchroom verse.

Okay.

Live in harmony with one another.

Can you please just stop bickering?

Guys, come on.

Just get along.

Get along.

Okay.

Don't be proud.

Don't sit there and be like, how do I get to the cool table?

That's all I want is to sit at the cool table.

Instead, associate with the humble.

I don't want to sit at that table.

I don't want to, I want to, I don't want my identity to be associated with these people over here.

I want to be over here with the cool people.

Live in harmony with one another, don't be proud, instead, associate with the humble.

We see in the book of James, he hits this really, really hard constantly showing favoritism for those who are wealthy, showing favoritism with those who are impressive as opposed to the poor or to the humble in their lowly state.

And what is more lowly than the God of the universe descending from his throne in the form of a person to live with the humans who defy him.

And then don't be wise in your own estimation, in verse, continuing in verse 16.

But first with the living in harmony, Hebrews 12, 14 through 15.

Pursue peace with everyone and holiness.

Without it no one will see the Lord.

Make sure no one falls short of the grace of God, and no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and defiling many.

Bitterness is the antithesis of harmony.

Bitterness will kill harmony.

When hurt, when anger, when outrage, when entitlement take root, bitterness grows up and starts to choke out harmony.

And that's what we are called to do is to live in harmony with that.

Now being wise in one's own eyes, Scripture actually has a lot to say about that.

Here's a few smatterings of it.

Proverbs 3:7, don't be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

Proverbs 3:7

Proverbs 26, 12.

Do you see a person who is wise in his own eyes?

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

So the author of Proverbs here, in their wisdom, is saying, It is better to be a moron than to be wise in your own eyes.

And then, James 3, 13, who among you is wise in understanding by his good conduct he should show his works are done in the gentleness that comes from wisdom.

He's saying, if you are wise in understanding, that should bring fruit of good conduct and gentleness springing out of that wisdom.

Somehow we feel that we tend to feel that wisdom results in us showing what we know.

Telling everyone what we know.

And if they don't know what we know, we gotta let them know what we know, you know?

And here there's a gentleness that's involved.

And not being wise in one's own eyes.

Um one of those, you know, for he who has ears to hear, let him hear things.

I think this is the Achilles heel of our particular evangelical tribe, being wise in our own eyes.

Uh, but with it's one of those things too, of like, how do we associate with the humbled?

How do we show gentleness, and how do we take care of one another?

Verse 17, don't repay evil for evil.

Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone's eyes.

He's continuing this whole thing of don't repay evil for evil.

Because that's natural, right?

That's normal behavior, but we are called to be something different and something else.

Now, focusing on what is honorable in everyone's eyes.

That is an interesting phrase.

What is honorable in the eyes of all, that is what we are to give careful thought to.

Now, I would venture to say that we are much more prone in 22 Atascadero to uh give careful thought to what is honorable in our own tribe's eyes, in our own group's eyes.

That helps fuel our identity, that helps fuel our acceptance of that, that helps fuel who we are and who we are not.

What if we were to give careful thought to what is honorable in the eyes of all?

Zoom up a little bit outside of our own little bubbles, stop attacking the people on the other side of the wall, milk sniffer, and instead give thought to what's honorable in everyone's eyes.

Now, what is honorable is not in conflict with what is true and what is good.

Those are never in contrast, those are never in uh contrast.

We see in Philippians 4:8 verse, we know well.

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable.

If there's any moral excellence and anything praiseworthy, dwell on these things.

Dwell on these things.

Live in it, soak in it, abide in them, and that's how we give careful thought to what is honorable in everyone's eyes.

If you're anything like me, it's easy to take my time in scripture and read through it and soak in that for X amount of time, and then spend a whole lot more time soaking in things that fuel outrage and fuel bitterness and fuel division.

So I can spend uh 15 minutes soaking in what's honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable, and then spend the next chunk of time on social media, on the news, on YouTube, on all these different things to go, why am I so angry all the time?

Why am I so just outraged and just ready to counterpunch?

What's the deal with that?

And I'm just as guilty of that as anybody else.

How do we soak, soak into these things?

And then verse 19, friends, don't avenge yourselves.

Instead, leave room for God's wrath because it's written, Vengeance belongs to me, I will repay, says the Lord.

Don't avenge yourselves.

Instead, leave room for God's wrath.

Why?

Number one, according to James 1, the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

One does not lead to the other.

There's no connection between the two.

The wrath of man, righteousness of God, this does not lead to that.

But instead leave room for God's wrath.

Now, why is this so hard?

Because uh vengeance and wrath is really hard to delegate.

Because I'm really convinced that I'm the best one to do that, because I know my situation best, and I know that other person, and know that they did that on purpose, and I know that this is all intentional and it's all nefarious, and here's the thing.

We have a terrible view of ourselves and of others.

We do not see ourselves clearly, we do not see others clearly, we don't see situations clearly.

And our vision is clouded and God's is not.

And here's how I would put it something that really is challenging to me.

If I truly thought that my cause is just, wouldn't I want the God of the universe who has all power, authority, wisdom, and resources to be the one dispensing the wrath?

If I truly thought I had an airtight case, wouldn't I want, for lack of a better way to say it, the guy with the biggest stick to uh be the one dispensing the wrath?

Why is it that I feel like no, no, I gotta be the one to do it and just like, you know.

That's crazy.

But that's how we're wired is to go, no, I need to, I need to avenge myself and I need to le I need to do my own wrath.

Can you see how that is difficult to function as a body if we're attacking one another and attacking anything else?

The uh the Lord is really, really good at doing this.

He's really, really good at uh dispensing wrath justly.

We saw we went through that when we went over Romans 1.

And he says, Vengeance belongs to me, I will repay, says the Lord.

He's basically saying, Stay in your lane, kid.

Vengeance belongs to me.

So, in verse 20, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

If he's thirsty, give him something to drink, for in doing so you will keep fiery coals on his head.

There is one thing I know is a fact.

Whenever a pastor or a teacher studies this verse, they are all of a sudden the foremost expert on how coals are used in ancient Near East Asia.

Because here's how in Bible times coals were used, here's how in the Old Testament the coals were used, and here's how this verse is exactly explained.

I don't know, but here's the thing, here's what I know.

If I go into this first going, tell me more about this coal heaping, I'm already in the wrong state of mind.

That's that's the big takeaway here.

If I sit there and go, how do I heap fiery coals on my enemy's head?

What does that look like?

That's called a red flag.

Maybe I'm just outing myself here, but that's okay.

If your enemy is hungry, feed him.

If you're thirsty, give him something to drink.

Return a curse with a blessing.

Out of your own resources, at a net loss.

We have so much access to food and drink that this is like, okay, cool, whatever.

It's a big deal to give you anybody your food or your drink, which makes sense throughout scripture when we see somebody who is like treating their guests and slaughtering the fatted calf and bringing all these things before.

That's a big deal.

And here, feed your enemy and give them something to drink, for in doing so you will heat fiery coals in your head.

But this is something I've heard that I think it makes the most sense to me, is that in blessing somebody who curses you, you are basically bringing a burning shame of how they've been treating you.

They feel that shame when you bless them with how they've cursed you.

Basically, there is a conviction there.

Best way that I've seen that.

It says in 1 Peter 3, 8 through 9, finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic.

Love one another, be compassionate and humble, not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult, but on the contrary giving a blessing.

Since this, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing.

Here Peter is saying, Don't bring evil for evil or insult for insult, but rather give a blessing, because that's how the that's how the body of Christ works.

You were called to this.

It's like being a part of that family and having that expectation of, like, okay, this is what we do to upkeep our the body of Christ and the family.

This is what you were called to.

And then in verse 21, don't be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

Don't be overcome by evil.

Evil comes in different forms.

Evil comes in uh compromise of sin.

Evil comes in bitterness and outbursts of wrath.

Evil comes in many different ways, and we're very it's very, very easy for us to see the thing we don't struggle with, and a lot harder to see the thing that we do struggle with, and call that ego evil.

Don't be conquered, but rather conquer evil with good by doing what we are called to do.

Here God calls us to live as something entirely different.

Living is how he's wired us with the different giftings he's given us, with the different burdens he's given us, but being refined in the midst of that, to be more to his image, not just coming onto this happy medium to where we're all homogeneous and exactly alike, but rather in our differences, pursuing Christ and looking more like him, conquering evil with good, and being made into a body part that serves one another, not out of compulsion or out of obligation or bitterness, but rather out of a just a burden to want to bless one another, even if they are persecuting us, to uh honor one another, even if they are not honorable themselves, and for being circumspect in that way and being involved in everyone's lives.

And that's what I love about this passage.

It's a really good practical boots on the ground explosion for the first half of Romans 12, which is more conceptual about being a part of a body, taking care of one another.

Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you so much for today.

I thank you for the blessing of knowing you.

I thank you for the gift of being called yours.

I thank you that you are patient and you are gentle, that you do discipline us as sons, that you chasten us, and yet you do not cast us off.

I thank you for what an amazing gift it is to know you and to be known by you.

I ask, Lord, that we would be conformed more to your image, not based on our own efforts and strivings, but rather as a result of the uh sparking of the Holy Spirit working within us that motivates us to get to work and to be something totally different and something new, along the lines of how you have wired us and how you have gifted us, and yet refined and holy in your eyes.

Be glorified in your name.

Amen.