Romans 12,9-21
We have been exploring in these verses in Romans 12 for some time now.
I like to think of this passage as being like a tree. The root can be found where we began some weeks ago in verses 9 & 10. Do you remember the root? " Love must be completely sincere. Hate what is evil, hold on to what is good. Love one another warmly as Christian brothers" And the root of course goes even deeper back indeed into the teaching of Jesus who said that we must love one another.
Paul is building and expanding on the foundations he has laid and he now addresses another great issue in verses 15 & 16. He writes, "
"Be happy with those are happy, weep with those who weep. Have the same concern for everyone. Do not be proud but accept humble duties. Do not think of yourselves as wise." As has been our habit over the past weeks so let us consider these verses as we read them in a different translation.
The NIV reads: "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited."
Now at its simplest verse 15 means exactly what it says, " Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn."
It is an exhortation to show real loving concern for one another to be sensitive to one anothers needs. It is another aspect of what Hodge called looking after "one of our own".
However there is another deeper meaning that can and should be drawn from this apparently straight forward verse. For Paul is thinking of far more here than just having a sympathetic attitude towards our brothers and sisters in Christ.
In order to understand his thinking we must look briefly at 1st Corinthians 9 v19ff
"Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law......to those not having the law I became as one not having the law so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings."
Do you see what that must mean for us? We are to get along side people sharing in their lives, sharing in their ups and downs, joys and sorrows. It is not something just to be reserved for fellow believers but a whole way of dealing with others.
In other words Paul takes this attitude and teaches us that it is the very basis of what we call evangelism and that which leads to church growth. Not crass evangelism but true & real sharing of Christ with others. For what better way is there than to get along side them share and weep and care for them and in that way the opportunity arises in conversation and sharing and caring to lay the claims of Christ before others.
A man called Boreham writing during the First World War likened the whole process to a game of dominoes.
He wrote:
The beauty is that anyone can play the game. You have but to grasp two essential principles. You must clearly understand in the first place that, at every turn, you must match your companion's play, laying a six beside his six, a three beside his three, and so on. And you must clearly understand in the second place that the whole success lies not in hoarding but in spending. Victory lies in paying out the little ivory tablets with as prodigal a hand as possible. It is better in dominoes to give than to keep. It is better to play a domino with twelve black dots than a domino with only two. Dominoes teaches me to measure my life by loss instead of gain, not by wine drunk but by wine poured out...."
And so he goes on....it is in truth a most helpful little illustration. For it brings home to us the reality and depth of that simple phrase "rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep." It allows us a real insight into the depth of Paul's thinking and also of our own response to this command.
Paul is now really laying down before us both the cost and the challenge of loving like Jesus, of obeying that great command to Love one another. And as we explore ever further and deeper so the task of being like Our Saviour seems ever harder. And in truth it would be downright impossible without the transforming grace of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.
However let's move on for we are not only to show sympathy and understanding and friendship to others we are to have a correct attitude. one of the "in" phrases of the moment is "an attitude problem" and behind that much overused phrase lies a reality that must be addressed,
Paul says to us; "
"Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of a low position. Do not be conceited,"
I don't know about you but as soon as I begin to read these words "live in harmony with one another" I am instantly drawn back into the Old Testament and there in particular to the Psalms. The Psalms are of course always a source of great and wondrous blessing to the eager soul and so consider Psalm 133 which we quote in its entirety:
"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity. It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on he beard, running down on Aaron's beard down upon the collar of his robes. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion, for there the Lord bestows his blessing even life evermore."
Last Monday I hear David Searle say at a conference that The Bible always provides a commentary on what it says and by reference to the passage as a whole and then beyond that to the whole of scripture we may come to understand what any verse or collection of verses means. That is a valuable precept for all of us to keep in mind. We have already seen this in practice this morning when we found in Corinthians a commentary on verse 15 and now in verse 16 we are able to look to the Psalms for further insight into that simple and beautiful phrase - "Live in harmony with one another".
I lay this idea before you because it will be used to an even greater extent in allowing us to comes to grips with the next part of verse 16. "Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited."
Paul would not raise this as an issue if he wasn't very much aware of the fact that puffing us up is one of basic tricks of the evil one. It is an attitude problem of the first degree. For When we are proud or put on airs and graces we exhibit the fundamental sin that was the cause of the Fall. It is highlighted in the New Testament in many places but perhaps nowhere better than in 3 John verse 9ff:
"I wrote to the church but Diotrophes who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church."
Now such an attitude is all too common but in order to learn what we should be like and how we should behave then we need to look closely at Jesus for in looking at the sinless one we see man as he ought to have been had he not sinned in the Garden of Eden.
Jesus in teaching the crowds said: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart ......."
Learn from him....how true that is.....he was born the son of carpenter he had no home of his own. He came from the despised town of Nazareth. In other words in human terms he was a nothing and a nobody. His apparent pedigree is the exact opposite of all that we would hold as essential. And yet it is the right way. It is the way we should be. The fallen and sinful nature of man has so distorted the image of God within us that we can no longer see what is right. It is perverted, twisted and distorted. As Paul put it we see through a glass darkly.
Isaiah says of Jesus " He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him."
They accused Jesus of having no formal education, they didn't like the people he mixed with ..... the ordinary people, the sinners, the unclean.
Jesus got up from the table and washed the feet of his disciples.....
"I am among you as one who serves" he said.
Do you see that? Do you see that all that Jesus was is exactly the opposite of all that our human nature says to us is good and desirable?
And yet it is not Jesus who has reversed things rather it is man in his rebellion who has distorted the true nature of love and life.
The closer we come to Jesus the more we begin to understand the true nature of christian love and service. And it requires the consistent and active use of our minds for such a way of living and behaving will never arrive if we depend on our emotions. We are by the grace of God to learn to control ourselves and to live in love as Christ is teaching day by day.