[MUSIC PLAYING] Calvary Church is
dedicated to doctrine, and we want you to experience
the life change that comes from knowing God's word
and applying it to your life. So we explain the
Bible verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. [CLAPPING] All right, let's turn in our
Bibles to the book of Romans, chapter 12. We come to the
graduation chapter of the book of Romans, the
fourth great transition of this book. Remember, I gave
you four sections that this book is divided into? And you know them,
you memorized them, you are a Roman
expert at this point. You know that it talks about the
wrath of God, the grace of God, the plan of God, and
now the will of God. See, I knew you knew it. So it's the graduation chapter,
because he says, "I beseech you therefore." And the Christian life
always has a therefore. That is, it leads you somewhere. It brings you to a place
of once you know something, now you do something
with what you know. That's the therefore. Now Paul does use
this term quite a bit. But in the book of
Romans, there are four transitional therefores. And I just thought it
would be appropriate if you looked at them with me. So go back to chapter three, and
let's look at this first one. Romans chapter 3, in verse 19. Now we know that
whatever the law says, it says to those who
are under the law. That every mouth may be
stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the
deeds of the law, no flesh will be
justified in His sight, for by the law is
the knowledge of sin. The first therefore is the
therefore of condemnation. The gavel goes down. The judge says Jew,
Gentile, every person, guilty before God. That's the first one. The second one is
in chapter five. So turn the page to
chapter 5, verse 1. Therefore, having been
justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. This second therefore is that
therefore of justification. Even though the gavel
goes down and pronounces the world guilty, because
you've trusted in Christ, the gavel goes down
on your behalf, whereby God treats you as
though you have never sinned. Even though you have, even
though you're not perfect, He regards you, He treats you,
as though you were as righteous as His Son. You have been
justified by faith. So that's the therefore
of justification. The third one is in
chapter 8, verse 1. There is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus, who do not walk according
to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. This is the therefore
of exoneration. You are not condemned,
and nothing and no one can make you condemned. Again, the gavel has
gone down on your behalf, pronouncing you as though you
have not sinned, justified. And there is no
condemnation, and no one can bring condemnation
against you. You have been exonerated. And then, in chapter 12,
verse 1, is the fourth one. This is the therefore
of consecration. Because all of these
are true, therefore I am going to do something with
myself, my body, my life. So, he begins. I beseech you, I
urge you, I beg you. I beseech you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Notice that he says I
urge you or I beseech you by the mercies of God, in
view of the mercies of God. The JB Phillips
translation-- one that I'm going to refer
to a few times tonight-- the JB Phillips translation
puts it this way. With eyes wide open
to the mercies of God. Think of what God has done as
recorded by Paul the apostle. Guilty? All mankind. But God has declared
you not guilty. He's forgiven you. He's justified you. He's adopted you. He's promised you
heaven after this life. He has promised to walk with
you during the hardest times and make sense out of
the trials of life. In view of all of those
things that we would call-- and Paul sums up-- as
the mercies of God, I beseech you therefore
that you would present your bodies to God. I do think it's good
from time to time to review the mercies
of God in your own life, to stop and think
of how God has taken the moments, the relationships,
the decisions, the mistakes, and woven them together
in perfection to bring you to where you are. My mind goes back to
a young teenager who was aimless, often on
drugs, unsure, insecure, no real future, but how that God
in 1973 got a hold of his heart and saved me and
gave me purpose. And then I think
of, not only that, which is a great mercy of God,
but that I was bouncing around to a few churches. But by the mercy of God,
He let me reside finally at a Bible teaching church
under a great mentor pastor who fed the Word of God
and gave a good role model of pastoral ministry. And then I think about
feeling alone, and wondering where the Lord would
lead me after that, only to meet a beautiful young
girl by the name of Lenya. And how in 1981, we got
married and then the Lord put it on our hearts
to go east, to go back east, to Albuquerque. [LAUGHTER] Way far away back east. And just, let's just
see what will happen. Let's just give it a shot, and
see if the Lord's in it, only to discover by His mercy,
the Lord was in it. So it's good to stop, put
the pause button on, and just review the mercies of God and
how He has patched together your life for His purpose. So I beseech you, I
urge you therefore, because of all that God has
done, by the mercies of God, that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice. Now that happens to
be technical language. The word present yourself is
a technical term often used to refer to the
Levitical priests who would offer their animal
sacrifices on the altar. And you know, it says
in the book of Peter, we are a holy priesthood, and we
offer up spiritual sacrifices. The first sacrifice is ourself. We, as a priest, offer
ourselves to God. We do this every day. Lord, I'm yours. Take my body. Take my will. Take my affections. Take my passions. Take my time and use me. You and I are priests. Imagine my mother, who raised
me as a Roman Catholic. The day I came to
her and she said, as she looked at
me, she goes, oh, I had always hoped that
you would be a priest. And I smiled. I said, mom, your prayers
have been answered. [LAUGHTER] I am one. And she gave me
that quizzical look. And I went on to explain
how the Bible says we are a holy priesthood. And I offer these sacrifices
to God, as do you, every day. So here's the problem though. When you have a dead sacrifice,
it can't go anywhere. You take an animal. You kill it, slit its
throat, bleed it out, put it on the altar. It is a burnt
offering to the Lord. It's totally consumed. It is totally sacrificed. Because it has no
life, it has no will. It doesn't go anywhere. It's dead. The problem is with
the living sacrifices. Living sacrifices-- that is
a sacrifice to God, not dead, but while you live, your life
is lived in sacrificial ministry to the Lord. But because it's a
living sacrifice, living sacrifices
have a tendency to want to squirm off the altar. Ever do that? Lord, I give you my life. Well, I'm going to
take it back right now. I'll give it to you later. [LAUGHTER] Right? Or Lord, I recommit. Why are you recommitting? Because you had taken it back. You had gone the
other direction. The only reason we make
prayers of re-commitment is because the sacrifice
has squirmed off the altar. But we are to be a
living sacrifice. That is our life lived
for the glory of God. Present your body. Why the body? What's the big deal
about the body? Now the reason I'm
asking the question is because some Christians,
I have discovered, have what I would only describe as a
philosophical dualism in life. Let me explain. They would say, well,
the Spirit is important, and that which is
spiritual is important, but that which is physical
is not all that important. My body isn't all
that important. I can do what I
want with my body. And I bring that
up, because that was the exact same
philosophy of Gnostic heresy in the early church. They had a
philosophical dualism. They believed that the
spirit was important, the body was not. Therefore, they could
sort of live however they wanted with their body,
as long as their spirit was dedicated to God. That was Gnosticism. It's not quite the same, but
some Christians today just think their body isn't
all that important. They don't take care of it. They don't see it as a
vessel, as a temple of God. Why would God be so interested
in you giving your body to Him? Because your body can
become a base of operations for the Holy Spirit to work in,
to move in, to operate from, to do His work in the world. Put in the parlance
of 1 Corinthians, you are the temple
of the Holy Spirit, the place where God resides,
a place where worship is conducted, the place-- the base of
operations-- from which God moves among His people. How about if you
were to see your body as a base of operations
from which God could work with your family, with your
neighbors, with your friends, at your work? If you saw yourself
as that, then you could live a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable, which is your reasonable service. So your body is important. God gives want it to become
a base of operations for Him to work through. Think of the Bible. Think of people in
the Scripture who dedicated their lives,
their bodies, to the Lord. Think of, for example,
the womb of Sarah. Barren, an older woman. But eventually, though it
took God some time with her, she surrendered her life,
her body, to the Lord and her womb conceived Isaac. And the plan of God,
the Salvation of Israel and the world
through Jesus Christ, eventually came
through that lineage. Think of the mouth of Moses. Moses said I can't talk, I'm
a man of uncircumcised lips, I really can't do this. But surrendered to God,
he became a very powerful spokesperson before Pharaoh,
before the children of Israel. Think of the hands of David. This little shepherd boy, but
the Holy Spirit governing, controlling those hands, he
was able to slay Goliath. He was able to lead his people,
and he became a very important King in Israel's history. So your bodies are important. Present your bodies to God
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable, which is
your reasonable service. It's the smartest
thing you could do. It's the wisest
move you could make. Some translations say your
spiritual act of worship. That's OK, too. That's a good translation. I prefer reasonable service. The Greek word is
logikos, logical. Think of it this way. When you think of the mercies of
God, when you think of all that God has done for you, when
you think of the plan of God and how God was able to
let that gavel go down and declare you justified
and not guilty and all the plan that God has for
you, when you understand those mercies, the most logical
thing you could ever do, the smartest move you could
ever make, is to say, Lord, I'm presenting my body to you. That's why I think this
is a superior translation. It is your reasonable service. OK, all of that for verse one. Let's mosey on. And do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed-- totally changed, a
complete alteration-- transformed by the
renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So the presentation of your
body leads to the transformation of your mind and your life. One leads to the other. Do not be conformed to
this world but transformed. Now in verse two, there's a
couple of different parts. There's the negative,
and there's the positive. Do you see it? Here's the negative. Do not be conformed. Do you know that God calls you
and I to be nonconformists? You don't have to conform to
the thinking, the attitudes, the values of this
worldly system. Be a nonconformist. Jesus, in the
Sermon on the Mount, in speaking of the pagan world,
He said do not be like them. Be a nonconformist. Do not be conformed
to this world. Now I mentioned the JB
Phillips translation, right? I said I was going to
quote a few times from it. In the JB Phillips translation,
verse two is rendered this way. Don't let the world squeeze
you into its own mold. Isn't that good? Don't let the world squeeze
you into its own mold. Oh, it will try. It wants you to parrot
its weird value system and say all the right
things, and be all woke and be all spoke and be all
that they say you ought to be. Don't be conformed
to this world. Be a nonconformist. Don't let the world squeeze
you into its own mold. Why is it that we
conform, by the way? Why do we conform to the world? Fear. Nobody likes to be
rejected by a peer group. Everybody fears not fitting in. Everybody's afraid of
what other people are going to think of them. Everybody's afraid
of the backlash if they take a
stand, what somebody is going to write
on their Instagram or what they're
going to tweet back or an email they're
going to get or somebody gossiping behind their backs. It's fear of the crowd
that makes us conform to the values of this world. But He says don't be conformed. That's the negative;
here's the positive. But be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Just like your body
matters, your mind matters. Too many Christian
institutions have an unwritten rule
when you enter them, and that is please check
your brain at the door. No more thinking critically
after this point. Now you just swallow
everything we give you. No. Your mind matters, and you
should think critically, and if need be,
question necessarily. Even Paul the apostle
congratulated the Bereans, because they were more noble
than those in Thessalonica in that they received
the word of God with all readiness of mine but
they searched the Scriptures daily to see if
these things be so. Be a Berean. Do that. Can you imagine listening
to Paul the apostle and even having the
thought, well, I don't know if that's true? And somebody go, what do
you mean that's not true? That's Paul the apostle, man. So? I want to make sure that is
in line with the Scripture. I'm going to search
the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul
just said is true. And Paul said, I like that. They're more noble than
those in Thessalonica because they did that. So your mind matters to God. You are to love the
Lord your God with all of your heart, mind,
soul, and strength. To think through
things intelligently, clearly, critically. Be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that you may prove-- now we've
gone through the negative and the positive. Here's the practical. The practical part
this is where it will lead you when you do that. When you don't conform
but you are transformed, you will prove-- the result will
be you'll discover what is the good, acceptable,
and perfect will of God. I don't think I've ever
met a Christian who doesn't want to know the will of God. A person comes to know Christ. They're all excited that
their sins are forgiven. They have heaven
waiting for them. They have purpose for life. But they quickly
come to the place where they say, I
wonder what God wants from my life, what
He wants me to do, what area He'd be
leading me into. What is the will of God? How do I discover the
perfect will of God? And then, unfortunately,
some think well, it must be difficult. Or
it must be strange, weird. In discovering the will of God,
maybe God will give me a sign. Maybe I'll hear a
voice from heaven, I'll see lights line up. Somebody will speak
a word of prophecy to me, that's how I'll
discover the will of God. God could use any
of those means. But I've discovered
that usually God moves supernaturally naturally,
not supernaturally weirdly, not supernaturally strangely,
but just naturally. You will just discover. You'll walk in it. The Lord will put you
in the right place. And you will discover,
you will prove, what is that good, acceptable,
and perfect will of God. Now I'm going to say
something to you, but I want you to take
it in this context. Love God with all of your
heart, mind, soul, and strength, and then do what you want. Now, pick that apart. Think critically
what I just said. If you love the Lord your
God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength,
what you will want will be the will of God. If you love Him, you
want to honor Him, you want to glorify
Him, you're thinking I want to follow the
dictates of Scripture, then do what you want. Because what you
want is you're going to discover what He wants. You're going to
want what He wants. He'll place those
desires in your heart. You'll prove what is that good,
acceptable, and perfect will of God. For I say through the
grace given to me, to everyone who is among
you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to
think, but to think soberly as God has dealt to each
one a measure of faith. Now let me give that
part of the verse to you in the Phillips translation. This translation says do not
think of himself more highly than he ought. The Phillips translation says
don't cherish exaggerated ideas of your own importance. Again, that's so good. Don't cherish exaggerated
ideas of your own importance. Now I've discovered this happens
when God starts using a person, that the natural reaction
to God using them is wow, I must be pretty awesome. [LAUGHTER] I am pretty awesome. I mean, that was amazing
what the Lord did in my life. And so you start
having exaggerated ideas of your own importance. No. All that proves is God
is willing to condescend and use even you. And me. God has chosen--
remember what it says. God has chosen the foolish
things of this world to confound the wise. First Corinthians 13. That is my life verse. If a doctor performs an
operation in a surgical suite under sterile conditions with
a great backup team and all the latest technology,
happens every day. But if a doctor can
do that same operation in a primitive environment
without that backup system, without that technology, and
only has a little kitchen knife that he or she heats
up and makes sterile, and for that operation
to be successful, now that's something special. And after the operation,
you don't take the knife and go praise you knife. You are the most
awesome knife ever. It's not the knife. It's the one who held the knife. It's the one who did the work. It's not the tool. So don't have exaggerated-- I'm a knife. So? Who's the surgeon, man? Who's the doc behind you? So don't think of
yourself more highly than he ought to think,
but think soberly, as God has dealt to each
one a measure of faith. Now he's going to go on to
speak about the body of Christ and love in the body of Christ
and gifts that promote unity in the church to fulfill
His will among us. And it says the God has dealt
to each one a measure of faith. One thing I have discovered
about God and how He uses us is the Lord is not an ogre. He doesn't call
you to do something that you go, oh man,
I'd hate to do that. I've had people say, I'd hate
to go to the mission field. Chances are He's
not calling you. Now He might, but if He does,
He'll give you a love for it. He'll give you a
desire to do it. He'll put the will
within your heart. It's not like God is so
mean and He twists your arm and He's going to force you
to do stuff you hate to do. No, God has given you
a measure of faith so that you will operate
in a certain area and it's a perfect fit. A perfect fit. He's a gracious and loving God. So, for as we have many
members in one body-- this is the human
body as an analogy-- but all the members do not
have the same function. Right? First Corinthians chapter 12. If the whole body were an eye,
where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear,
where would be the seeing? There's different parts
in the human body. So we, being many-- that is we, as the body of
Christ, Church members-- we being many are one body in
Christ and individually members one of another,
having then gifts, differing according to the
grace that is given to us. Let us use them. I mentioned a doctor. And I mentioned a kitchen
knife or a scalpel. That's just one tool. The doctor has needles,
different gauges of needles, different
shapes of needles, different kinds of suture,
different tools like retractors and hemostats and blades,
etc., to do what he does, besides a number of other tools. Every tool is important. A mechanic doesn't just
have a screwdriver, but has a screwdriver
and a pliers and a bunch of other
tools to do a job. When somebody comes
to me and says, well, what is the best
spiritual gift to have? That's like asking what's the
best tool in your toolbox? Or what is the best implement
for the doctor to use? And the answer of course would
be well, it depends on what job you want to do. If you want to weld something,
a hammer is not your best tool. In fact, you can beat
something all day long and it won't help, won't
accomplish the job. If you're trying to hammer
a nail into a piece of wood, a screwdriver is
not your best tool. A hammer would be. So when the Bible says
covet the best gifts-- and it does say that, desire
the best gifts of the Spirit-- what is the best gift? Well, it depends on what
God has called you to do. And the best gift for you
will be given by God to you to accomplish the work
He's called you to do. You can rest assured of that. So He's given you
a measure of faith, and He's given you
whatever gift is needed to fulfill and to
bless the body of Christ. In Romans chapter 12, he
mentions some spiritual gifts. He mentions seven
spiritual gifts. That's not how many
spiritual gifts there are. If you were to look at 1
Corinthians chapter 12, he lists 17 spiritual gifts. If you look at the
book of Ephesians, he mentions five
spiritual gifts. So-- and I've read so
many books on this-- some will say when
it comes to gifts of the Spirit, gifts of the
Holy Spirit, there are 22 gifts. Or some will say 21 gifts. Or the number floats, depending
on how you read the words. But it doesn't matter, right? I don't think the
number matters. I think that it's
the same Spirit who works all of these things
all and in all, Paul said. So you can have a person
with one gift or two gifts or three gifts of the
Spirit, and then you'll have somebody else
with one of those gifts but a couple of other gifts,
so that the combination is pretty endless. And so that the use and
working of the spiritual gift in the body of Christ can
be like a fingerprint, very individual, very stylized,
very not like another. And even two people with
the same gift of the Spirit are going to
operate differently. They're going to have
their own personality. So you get two-- let's say, pastor teachers-- and they are given the
same passage of Scripture, I guarantee you're going to
have two different sermons, two different ways of looking at it. Same truths, but
different styles. OK, enough said on that. Let's kind of go through this. Having then gifts differing
according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, let us prophesy
in proportion to our faith. I'm not going to go
through all these gifts and describe all
the use of them. I have done that. I've done that in depth. I've done that with
every gift of the Spirit. I will say this-- and there is
dispute as to if prophecy means preaching the Word, or if it
means something more specific-- in the Old Testament, prophets
often foretold the future. Yes? They predicted. Sometimes they didn't predict. Sometimes it was
not foretelling. Sometimes it was
just forth telling. They were just saying
thus says the Lord. It was God speaking
into a situation or to an event
happening in the country or in the city, with the
kingdom, with the king. And it wasn't a
prediction per se. It was just God's word,
God's will, for that moment. The idea of New
Testament prophecy-- and there were prophets
in the New Testament-- seemed to be more
local than universal. That is, it's not like a thus
sayeth the Lord in Isaiah that will be carried on throughout
all of history as a part of Scripture, but rather more
like the prophet Agabus, who-- when Paul went to Caesarea
on his way to Jerusalem-- Agabus, it says, was
a prophet, and he took Paul's sash or his belt
and he bound himself with it. And then he stood up in the
midst of the little assembly gathered in Caesarea,
held up his hands with the sash of Paul wrapped
around it, and says thus says the Lord, the One
who owns this belt will be bound in Jerusalem. Then Paul said well,
that's my belt. And they all looked
at Paul and said well, you're the dude that's
going to get arrested then. You're going to be bound. And he was. So they took that
to mean God doesn't want you to go to Jerusalem,
and they begged him, Paul, don't go, because the prophecy that
faithful prophet just spoke said you're going
to get arrested. Well Paul didn't see
that as a prohibition. Paul saw that as a confirmation. He said, OK, so I'm
going to get arrested. He goes, what do you mean,
weeping and breaking my heart? This is Paul speaking. What do you mean weeping
and breaking my heart? I'm ready not only
to be arrested, but to die for the
Name of the Lord Jesus. OK, a man like that
is unstoppable. A man who is ready to
get arrested and die-- what do you do? Well, you let him go. And he did. But it was Agabus,
the prophet, who gave that very specific prophecy. So if prophecy, let us
prophecy, speak forth, in proportion to our faith. Perhaps a better
translation would be in proportion to
the faith, the faith, like we talked about this last
weekend, the body of Christian Truth. Or ministry. Let us use it in
our ministering. Now this word, ministry,
this spiritual gift, means the gift of
practical service. The word Paul uses
here is diakonia. Diakonia is the
word, the Greek word, whereby we get our word deacon,
a servant, a practical servant in the church. So if God has given you
that measure of faith and the ministry of
practical serving, meeting needs practically in
people's lives, then do it. He who teaches, in teaching. That's what I feel
my primary gift is. I think I have other
gifts of the Spirit, but primarily this is
the gift of the Spirit that I exercise here for this
local body most frequently. And a gift of teaching is the
ability to interpret the text and to clarify its meaning,
to be able to explain the meaning clearly to people. Like in the book of Nehemiah,
when Ezra the priest stood up on a platform of wood,
read the text of Scripture, and it says gave the sense. Gave the sense,
explained the meaning, made the application to
the hearts of the people. Now as a teacher, I will
just say I believe-- and I might be biased on this-- I believe the gift of teaching
and the use of teaching is one of the most needed
gifts in the church. And let me explain. In my view, many
pulpits lack teaching. They have preaching. They have exhorting. They have entertaining. But few have preaching. In fact, in many churches--
and I've seen many of them-- when a pulpit committee
looks for a pastor, they rarely look for
a teacher, especially an expository teacher. They want somebody who
has other gifts, somebody who can raise the
budget, somebody who can meet with
donors, somebody who can be nice and visit
all the people all the time. And thus he may not have
time to prepare a message. But the message--
ah, it's incidental, it's not as important. I believe it's dire. I believe it's very important. God has given us a Book, and a
teacher will explain clearly, simply, the meaning of that. So he who teaches in teaching--
so that's my little bias, that's my little soapbox. But I qualified
it, I warned you. [LAUGHTER] Verse eight, he who exhorts-- and that is a spiritual
gift-- in exhortation. The word in Greek for exhort
or exhortation is parakaleo. And parakaleo is better
translated encouraging. You know, we think of
somebody who exhorts, and they get in your grill,
and they have a furrowed brow, and they tell you what to do. Actually, an exhorter
encourages you to do it. And it might have
a firmness to it. That gift might be
expressed that way, but teaching lays
the foundation, and exhortation is
the gentle prod that uses the gift of
teaching and instruction and motivates a person. See? So here's an example. Let's say I hold
up a skateboard, since we have a skate park here. And I hold up a skateboard
and go, man, first of all, let me tell you about
this skateboard. This skateboard
is a long board-- and I'm only going by
what I have at home. So a longboard is different
than a shorter skateboard. It's smoother, but it
doesn't turn as well, but the wheels are a little
bit bigger so they're softer. And I start explaining all
the parts and the bearings and the trucks and how it
operates and the tape on top that gives you grip. And so you're getting
all this instruction. All that's good. Now you know how it operates. But somebody with the
gift of exhortation is the guy who gives you
a push on the skateboard. It's one thing to
have the instruction, but it's another thing to get
the push and get some momentum. Now you need both. You need instruction, because
you don't want somebody just putting somebody
who knows nothing about this on a skateboard and
just pushes them down a hill. That would be cruel. So you need instruction. But if you just get instruction
but you don't have somebody to help you put
it into practice, it's just head knowledge. So teaching and
exhortation are two gifts that often operate together. So many times, the
teacher will also be a preacher, and vise versa. He who exhorts in exhortation. He who gives with liberality--
there is a gift of giving. All of us are called to give
and support the Lord's work, but some people God
gives a special enabling to see a need and the
financial wherewithal and the heart to meet that need. He who leads with diligence. I believe this leadership
gift referred to here is known as, in 1 Corinthians
12, the gift of administration. The ability to administrate
and to lead that way. He who shows mercy
with cheerfulness, another spiritual gift. Thank God for those who have the
gift of mercy when we need it. Verse nine, let love
be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. And here's what I
want you to notice as we go through the
rest of this chapter. There are 30 short
little commands, just sort of one strung upon
another, little staccato exhortations. Do this, do that,
this, that, 30 of them. And they all primarily
deal with love, how we love the family of
God, how we love hostility or the world, even in
the midst of hostility, and how we love
even our enemies. So let love be
without hypocrisy. Those two words,
without hypocrisy, one word in the Greek language. Anypokritos, Anypokritos,
without hypocrisy. Anypokritos, a hypocrite,
literally hypokrites, Greek word, was nothing
more than an actor. A stage actor who
wore in his hand, had in his hand, a mask
or two, and put a mask up and spoke words before a crowd. Like let's say he
has a happy face, puts that up and says
words, and takes that off and puts up the sad
face and says things. That is an actor. That's a hypokrites. To say this-- let
love be anypokritos, without hypocrisy-- is to say
let your love be so genuine that you're not wearing
a mask when you say it and when you act it. It's love without a mask. Love with a mask,
hypocritical love, is where somebody says sweet
sappy little sentimental nice things to you to
make you feel good, then stabs you in the back. That's hypocritical love. Judas Iscariot loved
Jesus hypocritically. He came to the
garden with a kiss. And Jesus said you betray
the Son of Man with a kiss? That's hypocrisy. It's a show of
affection outwardly, but inwardly you're a traitor. So let your love be real. Let it be genuine,
without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. You could do a sermon
on each one of these. They are all so good. Be kindly affectionate to one
another with brotherly love. Now, I'm sorry to go into so
much of the Greek language, but it's a play on
words in this verse. So when he says be
kindly affectionate, he uses the word philostorgos. And then he says brotherly love. It's the word philadelphia. Phileo or philia
is brotherly love. So it's a play on words. Be philostorgos to one
another with philadelphia. All of that to say love like
you're part of the same family. You're in the family of God. That's your brother
and your sister. Well, not my real brother--
yeah, more so, deeper, because of the spiritual bond. So be kindly affectionate,
philostorgos to one another with philadelphia, with
real brotherly love. In honor, giving
preference to one another, not lagging in diligence,
fervent in spirit. That means burning
hot, red hot in spirit. Serving the Lord, rejoicing in
hope, patient in tribulation, continuing
steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the
saints, given to hospitality. Now in verse 11,
just notice this. Whole thing about not
lagging in diligence but fervent in spirit,
serving the Lord. Have you noticed-- see
if you've noticed this. There seem to be seasons in
the Christian experience. At first, we're red hot. We're on fire. We're so excited. Jesus is so real. My sins are forgiven. I'm going to heaven. I know God. Do you know God? I mean, we're just amped, right? We get so excited. And that's so awesome. It's great. Right? That's zeal. And it's zeal
according to knowledge. But then, when we get
a lot of knowledge, we get a lot of Bible knowledge,
we know a lot of Greek words, like I just rattled
off, we can sometimes tend to become so mind
heavy and emotionally light. Yes, I remember when
I was that amped up, when I was a young believer,
when I was immature and I just kind of mouthed off. [LAUGHTER] And as we grow through these
seasons of the Christian life, we start even disdaining
being a fanatic. Nobody wants to be a fanatic. Well, you are a fanatic. Some of you are sports fanatics. Sports fan. Fan is short for fanatic. Some of you will go to a game
or you'll watch a game at home, and somebody makes a
touchdown or a home run, and you don't sit there
and go oh, how lovely. [LAUGHTER] You yell-- the
neighbors hear you. The dogs bark in
the neighborhood. [LAUGHTER] Fanatic? You're a fan, man. You're excited. And yet when it comes to
the things of God, which ought to be really exciting, we
can tend to become so passive. We're afraid. Well, I don't want to
be a spiritual fanatic. You know what? Try it. I don't mean be fake. Right? Painted fire never
warmed anyone. But allow the Holy Spirit to
work in you and excitement for the most important, worthy
things in the universe, God Himself. [CLAPPING] And I've found it's a lot
easier to cool down a fanatic than warm up a corpse. [LAUGHTER] Somebody's a little too fanatic. So? Give them to me all day long. You know, it's a lot easier to
work with that than try to hoo, hoo, come on, to
somebody who's dead. [LAUGHTER] I've always loved
the 24th chapter of the book of Luke, the
two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus came and spoke to them,
spoke the Scripture to them. And after he left, they
turned to each other and said did not our
hearts burn within us as He spoke to us along the way? May God give us that. On fire, fervent in spirit,
not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit,
serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope,
patient in tribulation, continuing
steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of
the saints, given to philonexia, hospitality. Literally, the
love of strangers, loving the strangers. Think about this
word when it comes to the crisis of the border. Think of this when it
comes to immigration. No matter what you think
of what laws should be-- and you have the right to
think whatever you want, I'm not here to tell
you what to think-- I am here to tell
you that however a person comes into our
country, love the stranger. Love the stranger. See that as an opportunity
for the gospel, to get a person
who is on their way not to heaven, but perhaps to
hell, rescued and on their way to heaven, and them being
brothers and sisters in your faith. Hospitality. Now he shifts gears a
little bit in verse 14. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those that rejoice
and weep with those that weep. To live in Rome was very
difficult for a Christian. It was a volatile situation. It was becoming more and more
hostile and more and more volatile to live out the
Christian life in a pagan Roman environment. Hence the need to bless
those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Now that's impossible,
and God calls you to it. It's impossible in the flesh. It's impossible on your own. It's impossible
without God's help. But Jesus said what's impossible
with man is possible with God. Now listen. The Bible says in
the book of Romans, God has shed abroad the
love of God in our hearts. Remember that verse? So if the love of God flows into
you, you know what that means? The love of God can
flow out of you. Well man, I'm just
out of love, man. I've run out of love. [LAUGHTER] Impossible. The love of God is
flowing into you. The love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts. The love of God keeps coming
in, unless you've shut it off. So it is never ending. You never are at an
end of your capacity to show love to another
person, because the love of God has been shed abroad
in our hearts. So based on that, bless
those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice
and weep with those who weep. The second part is
easier than the first. Easy for me to weep with
somebody who's weeping. Pastor, I'm-- [SOBBING]. Oh, I'll put my arm
around, let's pray. And here's why it's easier. I'm not going through that. You are. I can try to enter
into your emotion. I'll do my best to do that. Jesus did. Jesus wept at the
grave of Lazarus, entering into the emotion
of Mary and Martha. But that's much easier
than the first part. Rejoice with those that rejoice. You say no, that's actually
easier than weeping with those who weep. No, I disagree. I think it's harder to rejoice
with those who are rejoicing. OK? Here's an example. Your car's beat up. I'm not saying it is,
but let's say it is. Beat up. You can't afford a new one. Somebody comes up to you and
says, can you believe it? The Lord blessed me
with a brand new car. Rejoice with me. [LAUGHTER] And you try. And you go-- [LAUGHTER] All right? It's not a real
smile, but praise God. Hallelujah. [LAUGHTER] It's hard, because they're
blessed and you ain't. Right? You feel me? You got that? Well, that's impossible. Yeah, on your own it is. Rejoice with those that rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind
toward one another. Do not set your
mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don't be afraid to hang out
with ordinary common people. Do not be wise in
your own opinion. No exaggerated-- don't
cherish exaggerated thoughts of your own importance. Repay no one for evil. Have regard for good things
in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as
much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. I'm glad he said the
caveat if it is possible. I'm glad he didn't say
live at peace with all men. That ain't possible. Some people won't have it. But if it's possible,
if you can do it, if-- and for it to be
possible, both parties have to be willing. And if both parties are willing,
if the other party is willing, you should also be willing. So if it is possible, as
much as depends on you, never let the inability to be
at peace with your neighbor be on your side of the fence. Be at peace with all men. There was a book out, I
remember, in the early 1980s, by Joyce Landorf-- now that, that goes back-- called Irregular People. And basically, the
theme in her book is that everybody has in
their life at least one irregular person. It's that person every
time you see him, they say some remark
that makes you feel bad. They can't help themselves. There's always just that rub. They're inappropriate. They're mistimed. All that. And it's how to deal
irregular people. But then the book
also makes the point that you are also an irregular
person to somebody else. [LAUGHTER] And how to change that as well. If it's possible, as
much it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge
yourselves but rather give place to wrath. For it is written,
vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. Some of us wish that
verse wasn't there, because honestly
vengeance is so much fun. [LAUGHTER] It's so fun in the flesh
to plot and to plan getting that person back. Oh, it's going to feel so good. Oh, when they hear this,
when they see this. It's fun. It's sinful, but
it's a blast, right? That's just honest. You know what I mean. The Chinese had a proverb
that if your enemy wrongs you, buy each of his children a drum. [LAUGHTER] Right? That's the way you
get back at him. Just have all their
kids be a drummer. No offense if you're a drummer. My respect to parents who
let their kids be drummers. Therefore, verse 20, if your
enemy hungers, feed him. If he thirsts, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap
coals of fire on his head. That's an Egyptian custom. It's an old Middle
Eastern custom. When somebody wanted to
show public contriteness that they had done
something wrong to somebody and they wanted everybody to
know that they're admitting they're wrong, so just so
you know I admit my wrong, I'm letting it be
known that I bear the shame, what they
would do is they would carry a pan of
hot coals on their head. I know that sounds really weird. But it was not to
burn their head. They would have a
little cloth tuffet, and then they would put a
little thing with hot coals. The idea is I'm bearing the
heat of the shame and the pain that I have caused other people. So the idea of loving
your enemy is you're going to heap fires of coals. You're going to make
them feel really bad by you treating them so good. And they'll be humiliated,
they'll be shamed, because of your not
acting like them, but you're acting with
such love that it's going to cause a sensation. They're going to
want to stop that. That's the idea. In so doing, you will heap
coals of fire in his head. Do not be overcome by evil,
but overcome evil with good. Overcome evil with good. You say well, I don't
have any enemies. I don't know. I'm not going to give a show of
hands and say, how many of you don't have any enemies? Because if you look up
enemy in a dictionary, one of the definitions
is not somebody who wants to kill you
or shoot you or destroy you, but an antagonist. Anybody have an
antagonist in their life? Think of that as an enemy. David had a number of enemies. He said You prepare
a table for me in the presence of my enemies. David had Amalekites as enemies. David had Philistines
as enemies. David had Goliath as enemies. David had a father-in-law
as an enemy, King Saul. David had a son named
Absalom who was an enemy. Jesus said a man's enemies will
be those of his own household. Some of you have frenemies. [LAUGHTER] People who act like friends
but are out to do you harm. Aren't you glad it says if it's
possible, be at peace with all? Give it your best. In some cases,
you'll be successful. In some cases, you won't. And when you're not,
you've done your best. You've tried to reach out. You've tried to make peace. But you've honored the Lord. Father, thank You that You've
given us an opportunity to consider your Word,
to make application to our lives in this very, very
practical section of this book that we're getting into. I pray, Father, that You
will enable us going forward to be trained by
these very words, to be conformed,
not to the world but conformed to Your standard. Really transformed,
changed totally. We present, Father, our bodies
to You as living sacrifices. It's the most logical
thing we could ever do. It's the smartest move
we could ever make. We give them to You now. We pray that You will use us. We pray that You will
conform our thought patterns, our thinking, our minds, after
Your image, for Your glory, in Jesus' name. Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING] For more resources from Calvary
Church and Skip Heitzig, visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching in our series Expound.
