Romans 12 - Part 3

12:11-12

“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” (Romans 12:11-13 NIV)

Energetic and enthusiastic service should characterize believers in Jesus. Sometimes I find this a discouraging requirement, especially as I have gotten old, and energy is a scarce commodity! But zeal (i.e., enthusiasm, “spiritual fervor”) can show itself in ways that do not require that we all be 18-year-olds! There are some Christians whose very presence I find uplifting. I’m sure they have their share of troubles and reasons to worry and fret. But somehow they find inner resources by which to maintain a positive outlook. I need to be less negative about the whole experience of living. We all have our hardships. But when we go around with long faces, we are not helping our brothers and sisters in Christ to handle their own burdens. There is already more than enough hardship in life without my adding more to a friend by my gloomy and pessimistic attitude.

Verse 12 gives us two important resources to fuel our flagging enthusiasm and zeal: they are hope and prayer. ‘Hope” in the language of the Bible never means wishful thinking, but rather a sure prospect—not just the action of hoping, but the thing hoped for. We know that in the end God will triumph over evil, and we as members of the body of Christ will participate in that final glorious and eternal celebration. Specifically, the nature of our hope is in the promises of God in the scripture. Paul could say to those who brought charges against him, that he did what he did because of the hope given in the ancient prophets:

Acts 23:6 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead.”

Acts 24:15 and I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.

Acts 26:6-7 And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial today. This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. O king, it is because of this hope that the Jews are accusing me.

After Jesus’ resurrection, the early believers were infused with new and exciting hopes, the promise of the Holy Spirit to indwell them, empower them, and the promise of the return of Jesus to reign. This latter event was always in their minds. They ended every celebration of the Lord’s Supper with the Aramaic words marana tha “come, O Lord!” (1 Cor. 16:22). And Paul could refer to the return of Jesus as “that blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).

Secondly, by prayer we can call upon the infinite resources of God and find those resources bubbling up within us by the Holy spirit who lives in us.

And thirdly, we can act upon our hope in the present both by patience in hard times and by giving to others in need, even when we ourselves might be short of resources. In the delightful musical The Sound of Music Julie Andrews sang a song which embodies a profound psychological truth.

Whenever I feel afraid, I hold my head erect and whistle a happy tune, so no one will suspect I'm afraid. The result of this deception is very strange to tell, for when I fool the people I fear, I fool myself as well!

There is something about putting our faith into concrete action that turns around and re-energizes the faith that produced it. Fear and worry are paralyzing emotions. Faith in our loving God is liberating.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

I wrote in earlier postings how Romans 12-16 portrays how we who believe can live now, as though already in the eschatological kingdom of Christ. We know that we are living in the kingdom already, because we experience in the Holy Spirit the powers of the coming age, powers that enable us to do the morally impossible. Skeptics sometimes criticize Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount as “unrealistic” and “impractical”. But isn’t that precisely what proves that Christians today already have access to the powers of the coming age? Jesus can expect impossible feats from us, because he has made them possible through his death and resurrection, and through giving us the Holy Spirit to live in us and empower us. Paul here paraphrases Jesus’ own teachings (Matt. 5:39, 44; Mark 9:50), that we should turn the other cheek, love those who hate and harm us.

But, although Jesus expects us to do seemingly “impossible” things by faith and love, he does not require us to do what is actually impossible. Verse 18 reads “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Living at peace with another person requires that both of you are willing. For that reason, Paul adds “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you”. Some people will resist making peace, no matter how much you concede to them. We are to do good to all men, even those who hate us. but God does not guarantee the recipients will respond gratefully. Our motive should always be to please Jesus. Pleasing a stubbornly antagonistic person is sometimes not possible.