“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.”
It is difficult to decide what to write about in Romans 12:10-12. It is certainly important that we love one another with “brotherly affection.” (We could add “sisterly affection.”) We should certainly go out of our way to honor one another. Verse 11 gives advice that we all should follow, and is sorely missing in churches today: “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord." Think of the revival that we would have in our churches if we adopted each of these things. I decided to write about verse 12, because I saw virtues there that we need if we are to live at peace with God, ourselves and others, and if we want to live in victory. This verse contains what I am calling “Three Indispensable Virtues.” We are encouraged to “rejoice in hope.” The Greek word translated “hope” here is not what we call hope. We use the word as a hunch that maybe something good will happen, or maybe we will make it through. The word as used here means that we have a solid hope in Christ, no matter what is going on around us. Our situation today certainly doesn’t look very hopeful for us. We see all kinds of moral values being devalued and paganism seems to be creeping into our country – if it is not already pagan. I remind you that this is the kind of society that Paul lived in. Rome was perhaps the most pagan of all cities. But Paul had the audacity to rejoice in hope and to tell us to do the same. Our hope is not in the world situation, nor is it in political victories; rather, our hope is in Jesus Christ – period. We who truly believe that Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life, died on the cross to save us from sin, rose the third day, ascended to the Father, and has promised to return, have a hope that transcends the world. This knowledge should cause us to rejoice. I will not pretend to be happy with the direction of our country, but in this I rejoice: “I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded (convinced) that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12b) Hold to that hope and rejoice in it. We are encouraged to be “patient in tribulation.” In today’s vernacular, it would be “endure in all of your troubles.” It is easy to give up when things are not going well for us. (The Greek word translated “patience” here means more than just to wait in patience. It means to thrive in it, to live above what troubles we have.) We can get discouraged and just want to throw up our hands and quit. We might say, “What’s the use, nothing seems to be going right.” This can happen to us at home, at work, at church, or wherever we might be. When we are going through trouble, we need to remember two things: (1) No one’s life is trouble-free, and (2) It’s not all about me. No matter what your problems are today, if you will look around, you will see others with worse troubles. This is where "rejoicing in hope" comes in. You are not alone in your troubles, for the Holy Spirit is with you, and you have fellow Christians to encourage you. This brings us to a third thing that will help us "rejoice in hope" and be "patient in tribulation," and that is, “Be constant in prayer.” In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul admonished us to “pray without ceasing.” In Luke 18:1b, we are encouraged to “always pray and not to faint.” “Faint” here means to lose heart. “Take it to the Lord in prayer” is always good advice. No matter what the “it” is that we take to the Lord in prayer, He has an answer for us, and will encourage us to go forward. We should pray constantly, even when we do not feel like praying, for the Lord is always ready to listen to us and give us encouragement and guidance. Think on these three virtues! Pray over them! Memorize them! Hold them close to your heart and live in victory. Bro. Joe
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“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man (person) 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.”
We think a lot today about “self-image.” Evidently, they did in Paul’s day too, for he reminded the Roman Christians not to think of themselves more highly than they should. Does he mean that we should hate ourselves? No! Quoting from Leviticus, Jesus told us to “love our neighbors as we love ourselves.” This presupposes that we will love ourselves. This, however, does not mean to be “in love” with ourselves. In fact, Paul wrote that we should “think soberly” about ourselves. This means that we should look at ourselves honestly, and see the good and bad in us as we do in other people. I will be the first to admit that it is awfully difficult for us to look at ourselves objectively. We like to think that, though we know that we have faults, we don’t have any real bad ones. If we would think soberly about ourselves, we would think realistically about ourselves and make changes where they need to be made. I think that this is what Paul meant by, “according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” It takes faith to look at ourselves realistically and change accordingly. We need to stop and think about how often we think about ourselves during the day. It would be a humbling experience, for we think of ourselves quite often. As usual, our example for this is Jesus. He seldom thought of Himself as He reached out to others. People crowded around Jesus, sick and needy, and He tirelessly helped them. He did take some time for Himself, and helped His disciples do the same, but ultimately He was not consumed with Himself. Another biblical example is King Saul, the first king of Israel. He had been chosen as king of Israel because he stood out from the crowd. He did well, and then David came on the scene. David became a hero to the people of Israel. In fact, after victorious battles, women would meet the army and sing:”Saul has slain his thousands and David has slain his ten thousands.” This caused Saul to be jealous and he sought to kill David. Saul’s problem was that he was not thinking of the nation of which he was king. He was not thinking about how important an addition David was to his army. He thought mainly of himself. You can be like Jesus or King Saul: You can think about yourself less or waste your life obsessing about yourself. This is good advice:“Don’t think less of yourself, think about yourself less.” Bro. Joe “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
When Paul wrote 2 Timothy he knew that his days were coming to an end, and he was ready to die and go to heaven. 2 Timothy 4:7 reveals that Paul was satisfied now that his life had been worthwhile. It also gives us some insight into Paul’s character, i.e., what made Paul the outstanding person that he was. Paul wrote that he had “fought a good fight.” What did he mean by that? His life, like ours, was a daily battle to do the right thing. Like us, he had to fight with Satan every day, because Satan wanted to pull the great apostle down and ruin his witness. It is no different in our lives. Every Christian has a target on his back, and Satan takes aim at that target everyday. We are never free of his temptations. Also, Paul’s fight was with false witnesses who wanted to call people’s attention away from the centrality of Christ. It was a constant fight. It is still a fight today. There are always people who want to get us sidetracked on religion and ritual instead of focusing on Christ. Christian character is obviously built on devotion to Christ. We cannot be Christlike in our character if we don’t give our complete devotion to Him. There were other things that Paul had to fight, but what I have shared should be adequate to help us build our own character. Like Paul, we need to fight a “good” fight. That means that we hang in there and keep on fighting, even when things are difficult. Paul wrote that he had “finished the course.” Another translation of this is, “I have finished the race.” Paul saw his ministry through to its conclusion, i.e., he did not quit. You know the old saying: “A winner never quits and a quitter never wins.” What was this race that Paul was running? He was primarily called to be the missionary to the Gentiles.(Isn't it interesting that when God wanted to call a missionary to the Gentiles, He chose the meanest, and most feared Jew of that day to do it?) This would have been difficult for Paul in the beginning, because until his Damascus Road experience, he had been a devout Jew. This meant that he could have nothing to do with Gentiles. After that experience his ministry was mostly about and among Gentiles. Think of all that Paul had to do to overcome his lifelong prejudice. The fact is, though, that he did it. He went all over Palestine, Asia Minor, Greece, eventually to Rome and maybe to Spain carrying the gospel to the Gentiles. Now that he was about to die, Paul could look back on his life and see that he had finished what God had given him to do. If you want to build Christian character in your life, you need to find out what it is that God wants you to do. If you don’t already know what it is, find out, and do it to the best of your ability, following the leadership of the Holy Spirit. When we get away from God’s will, God’s purpose for us, we are wasting His time and ours. What is the “race” that God has given you to run? Will you see it through to the end? Paul wrote that he had “kept the faith.” I interpret this to mean that through it all Paul stayed true to his faith in Christ, and to the doctrines that His faith led him to. Paul did not stray from preaching Christ, and from living for Christ. If we would build Christian character, we would stay true to Christ and to His plain teachings in scripture. We cannot let ourselves get sidetracked with minor arguments over faith and practice. Are you “keeping the faith”? Do you quit when the going get's rough? Are you keeping the faith in spite of what others might say about you? Bro. Joe “Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me.”
There are three important words in this verse that can make a difference in the quality of our lives. The first word is “heart.” The Greek word Kardia is used here for heart. Literally, it refers to the muscle that keeps us alive. But it is also used to refer to the heart as the center of emotional, intellectual, spiritual and moral activity. Proverbs 4:23 warns us about being careful what we let into our hearts: “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” This can also be translated as “guard your heart.” What we let into our hearts decides the quality of our lives – or the lack thereof. We need to be careful what we see, what we think, and what we do, for if we are not careful our hearts will be led astray. We also need to be careful that we do not become “faint of heart” and spend our lives worrying and fretting. It is to this that Jesus refers in our text.. The second word is “troubled.” Jesus says “let not your hearts be troubled…” Jesus is warning His disciple’s, and us, to not let our hearts be troubled, disturbed, or afraid. Our lives can be literally ruined by letting the troubles of life make us faint of heart. Jesus knew what His disciples were about to encounter in serving Him. It is also a warning to us that we are going to face things in life that will cause us to fret and worry if we are not careful. Also, if we are not careful we will live in fear. Jesus warns us here not to be ruled by our troubles, and let them ruin our lives. Your life should not be defined by your troubles. The third word is “believe.” Jesus said: “Let not your hearts be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me.” Jesus gives the key to keeping our hearts from being troubled in the word “believe.” The word means more than to just believe that there is a God, and that Christ is really alive. It means to entrust our hearts to God, to Christ, and let Him control what we let into our hearts and let Him keep us from being controlled by our troubles. We will encounter troubles in this life, but we will never face them alone if we truly entrust our lives to Jesus. I do not know what troubles you are facing today, but I do know that they do not have to rule your heart. We will never live trouble-free lives, but we can live beyond them by entrusting our lives to Christ and to really believe that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Do you really believe this promise? Then, “let not your heart be troubled….” Really believe in Christ and not just about Him. Bro. Joe "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour."
Jesus referred to the devil as a liar: "He (the devil) was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him, When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44) It should be no surprise to us that the devil is in the business of deception when he deals with human beings. (When he deals with us....) Our problem with sin came about by the devil's deception. He convinced Eve and Adam, and that the forbidden fruit was forbidden because eating it would open their eyes and make them like God. They believed the lie and started a downward spiral that has continued through history, for they were deceived by the devil. It is safe to say that our world problems have been caused by the deceptions of the devil. Let's not be too hard of Adam and Eve, for we have had to deal with this devilish deception ourselves, and have probably succumbed to it at some time or other in our lives. (Probably?) The devil deceived David when David saw Bathsheba's beauty, and that it would be alright for him to commit adultery with her. This occurred in spite of the fact that her husband was fighting for the cause of his kingship and country. David had always had to deal with temptations, as do we all, but that one temptation took over his life at that moment, and caused him trouble in the rest of reign. David is certainly still considered a great man of God. He wrote many of the Psalms, but his failure should serve as a warning for us that the devil will not stop trying to deceive us no matter how many temptations we have overcome in the past. No one is immune to the devil's deceptions. He knows when to hit us with them when they would do the most harm to our lives, and often to the harm of our families, and to our witness for Christ. That is why we need to heed Peter's warning to "Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil, walks about seeking whom he may devour." Bro. Joe "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour."
The second tool of the devil that I want us to deal with is discouragement. Just as I had no doubt that we had all dealt with doubt, I know that all of us have dealt with discouragement at some point in our call to serve the Lord. It can sneak upon us, handcuff us, and cause us to slip away from our desire to effectively serve the Lord. This is one of the devil's most effective tools because it does not seem like sin at the time. I remember years ago talking with a preacher who had left the ministry. The best I remember, one of the main things that called him away from his call was that he gave a party at his home for the church, but no one came. I agreed that this was tough to take, but not tough enough to tell God that he would not honor His call to serve Him. I hope and pray that he overcame that discouragement, for it was from the devil to hamper him to fulfill his call to the ministry. I have to pause and not be overly critical of this brother, because discouragement has hampered me at times. I think that you know what I mean. We need to recognize the temptation of discouragement. Discouragement will cause us to quit when we need to keep going. Things will surely happen that will discourage us, and we will have to recognize its presence because the devil will sneak it in on us. Perhaps you are dealing with discouragement in your life today. It is not an unusual thing, but you have to deal with it by faith, and ignore, or overcome, the urging of the devil. Discouragement is contagious. Our discouragement can cause discouragement in other people. There is nothing more alarming to me than a church that is floundering because the members have become discouraged over some issue. The Lord is not in charge of the hearts and minds of the people who allow discouragement to call them away from doing what God wants them to do. As a general rule, what those churches need is a recommitment to the Lord instead of to their institution. I do not mean to be judgmental, but to offer warning that we need to be careful about discouragement in the Lord's work. All of us have to fight it, so let's all fight on and do not let discouragement win the day. I hope and pray that you are glad that you read this, and that you will not let discouragement cause you lose the joy of God's call on your life - whatever that call entails. Selah Bro. Joe "Be sober, vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour."
We need to read this verse as a warning to us, for the devil is still "walking about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." We are his targets, and he will deceive us, lie to us, and lead us to do his dastardly will. I want to look at some of the tools that the devil uses to deceive us. (You guessed it: I personally know about these tools.) The first tool that I want to share is doubt. I have no doubt that everyone reading this has faced this temptation in their lives at some point, and have had to deal with it. When I was about nineteen years of age, I had a wrestling match with the devil, and with the Lord, over my doubt of God's existence. Since I was about twelve years old, I knew that God was calling me into the ministry, and the devil was doing what he could to call me away from God's call on my life. Needless to say, the Lord won that wrestling match and I went on to do what He had called me to do, but I did not make that decision without dealing with the reality of the existence of God and that He had a call on my life. I had to walk past the targets of hell to reach obedience to God. The devil also uses the tool of doubt to keep us from sharing our faith with other people. There is no clearer call in the New Testament that we are to share with others the joy and fulfillment that Christ has brought into our lives. Frankly, I still have to deal with this when I am in the world on vacation, shopping, or whatever I am doing at a certain time. Sometimes the Lord will put an urge on me that the person to who whom I am speaking needs to hear about Him. This doesn't happen in all of my encounters with people, but when it happens it is clear, in spite of my doubt, that God wants me to share Him with this person. The devil is always there trying to make us ashamed of our call to witness. I imagine that you know what I mean. All of us have to deal with this tool of the devil, and we can overcome it by our faith in Jesus, and because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Hey! Deal with it in faith!. (I said the same thing to myself.) Bro. Joe "His (Joseph's) brothers also came to him, bowed down before him and said, 'We are your slaves.' But Joseph said them, 'Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20. You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result - the survival of many people."
Joseph's brothers stood before him, and were afraid of him, because they knew that they had treated him egregiously. Joseph really had them in his grasp to do with as he pleased, but instead of seeking revenge, he acted on what he correctly perceived the act of God on behalf of his people. What can Joseph teach us about not being consumed with a need for revenge when we are treated badly? First, Joseph was aware of God's presence in his life, and knew that God would protect him. It is amazing what we can do in our lives if we are aware that God is present in our lives. Jesus said, "Lo, I am with you alway unto the end of the ages." Jesus really meant that, and we can depend on His presence in our lives in every challenge that we face in life. If you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, you can be certain that He is with in everything in your life. Second, Joseph did not lose the sense of God's presence in his life. Having been sold by his elder brothers into slavery, he could have been a bitter person. But this is not what takes place in Joseph's life. He accepts the negative situation, senses God's will in it, obviously forgives his brothers and moves on with his life. Whatever you are facing in your life presently, you are not facing it alone if you have Jesus as your Savior, and the Holy Spirit as your guide. Do not let the negative things of your life make you bitter and resentful. Just know that God is with you in the good and the bad, and that He is seeking to use you for good in whatever circumstances you are facing. Third, Joseph did good when he could have done evil. He could have said to his brothers, "Alright you miserable excuses as brothers, I have you where I want you." Actually, Joseph held their lives in his hands, for he was second only to the Pharaoh in Egypt. But Joseph chose to do God's will, and to act like the godly man that he was. When Joseph could have destroyed his brothers, he gave them a better life. We need to ask ourselves if we would have done as Joseph did in his circumstance? We will if we see ourselves as living in the will of God, and carrying out His purpose. The saga of Joseph can lead us to ask some questions about ourselves, and about the effect that God's presence has on our lives? That is quite a challenge.....which the Bible intends for it to be. Bro. Joe "So Joseph sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving he said to them, 'Don't argue on the way." I read the "saga of Joseph" this morning in my morning Bible reading. I was amazed once again, that Joseph accepted the fact that his brothers sold him into slavery, and he forgave them, but our text tells us that Joseph had his "eyes wide-open" concerning the dependability of the ten of them. I am assuming that that you know something about this saga; therefore I will only deal with the text verse. The verse tells us, as mentioned above, that Joseph had accepted what his brothers did to him, and had forgiven them, but he knew them well enough to know that if they argued on the way back to their father, they would mess up a good thing on the way. In my imagination, I thought that Joseph was concerned that they would do harm to each other if they argued on the way. Joseph wanted them to go back to their father, Jacob, and bring him and his family to Egypt to safety and provision. The lesson that I learned in this morning's journey through the Bible is that God wants us to forgive other people and wish them well, no matter what harm they have caused us. Like Joseph, we need to find God's purpose in the negative things that have happened to us, and to do His will and move on with our lives. To do otherwise would cause a root of bitterness to arise in our hearts. Obviously, a root of bitterness did not take over Joseph's life. Let us beware that a root of bitterness does not take over lives. ("It ain't pretty" when it happens.) As I wrote this, some thoughts flitted through my mind that I will share with you. I asked myself if I had learned from the people who caused negative things in my life, and if I had actually forgiven them and wished them well? I had to deal with it, but I saw the value of the negative things that they had done that humbled me, and had made a better person of me. God used them to teach me to forgive and to move on without bitterness and without a need for revenge. Another thought that I had was that I hope and pray that the people to whom I have said and done negative things have forgiven me and wished me well. (I don't know if this would have been the thought of the biblical Joseph, but it was certainly the thought of this Joseph. lol) Another thought that I had was that somebody, or some people, who are reading this need to learn the lesson that Joseph taught me. Give this lesson some thought and, by all means, pray over it. Bro. Joe "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2. By whom also we have access by faith, into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God."
You might think that I am on a "revisiting" kick. Your thinking is right. There are some texts that need another visit, and the above text is one of those. First, the text tells us that we have been "justified by faith." Justification is an important word, because we cannot deserve the invitation that we have into eternal salvation. Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross at Golgotha in order for us to be able to be saved eternally, by faith in Him. We are justified by faith in Christ because of the grace of God. Second, the text tells us that through this justification by faith in Christ, "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." I am a person who wants to be at peace with the people around me. It is good news to me that through faith in Christ, I can have peace with the God of the whole universe - the perfect, almighty, eternal God. There are people who want peace with God but do not know how to get that peace. They need to know that they can have peace with God by confessing that they are sinners, and by inviting Jesus into their lives by faith, believing that He will save them when they come humbly to Him by faith. Third, the text tells that, not only do we have peace with God, we have access to Him. Do you realize how important this access is. If you tried to get in the White House, you had better have a good reason for being there, and that you mean well. That is as it should be, but we have free access to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit through faith in the Son, Who gave His life as sacrifice for our sins. Furthermore, we are reminded in verse 5, that God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us...." Fourth, the text tells us that when we have access to God, we can "rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." Why shouldn't we rejoice when Jesus paid to price on the cross to save us from our sins, and give us an eternal home in heaven? Are you rejoicing? Bro. Joe |
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