The Standard of Christian Life

And now in Romans verse 9, love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil. Cling to what is good. Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lack diligence. Be fervent in 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.

Be in agreement 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. Try to do what is honorable in everyone's eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. Good morning.

Well, interesting list if you're listening to all of the things that we're supposed to be doing. And I think I should turn around and look and see if you're not doing this as the list gets longer. But I think it's important to point out, to start with, that everything, when you get to this part of the Book of Romans and any book of the Word of God, when you get to the point where this is how the Christian life looks like, or what it looks like based on the doctrine we've just been through in the first part of the epistle. And we are now in the Romans 12 is what the life should look like based on the doctrine that has been given in the first nine chapters. So I thought that, and had Jim read, I want you to notice a couple of things.

I urge you therefore, brethren, how? By the mercies of God. to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Another translation says, it's your normal service to do that. So the Lord bought you on the cross and you belong to him. And so this body, which is still a sinful body, is to be presented to him and the motivation is by his mercy, by his mercy. And then he says, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You have to think different. Your mind has to change.

Why? So that you may prove what the will of God is. The doctrine in the first part of Romans explains what God's will is and what he's done. Now we're going to prove it out in our life and this is how it's done. That which is good and acceptable and perfect, that's what he's after. If I say I believe in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I've become a believer.

There's a life that goes with that, that your old life has nothing to do with. You live in a fallen world, and you don't have the mind for it to start with. So he says, be transformed. So by the time we get down to the due verses, you start to see some interesting things.

A quote from Newell, he said, the Christian must cherish the instincts of the new nature, cherish the instincts of the new nature and be subject to God's word who has called him out to be a witness of Christ here below where evil meets him at every step and every turn. The good natured person who would shrink the differences, shirk the differences and apologize for sin, which shows the lack of the salt of the life of the Son of God will soon be seen to be honey and to end in leaven instead of being the flour and oil which God looks for in such offerings. So when God calls us to live the life, he means it.

No compromise. He doesn't compromise. So when we look at the first verse we're talking about today, he says, let love be without hypocrisy. What's interesting about this verse, there's no verb there. The word hypocrisy is there and love is there, but the word let's not there. But this word for love is agape, which is God's characteristic of God's love. And really, an easy definition is that God is a lover. And he doesn't need instructions on how to do this. That's who he is. He finds great value in the object of who he loves. And it doesn't matter whether you respond or not, he still loves you.

We're not that way in the way we love. We'll love you as long as you behave yourself. Love is of God, and so it's the deepest interest that it should ever be the genuine and incorrupt and the higher its source, the higher its source nature, and the character, the most dangerous where That which is false hijacks its place and name and misleading others, oneself, under a fair but false affection. We want to tell people we love them, but is it agape?

Love is the activity of the divine nature in the goodness and therefore is inseparable from the nature as reproduced in the child of God. You and I are being conformed on a moment-by-moment basis into the image of Christ. This is who he is. He's love.

And you will find in your life as you grow that you will begin to love others just because you do, and not because of what they do. 1 John 3, 18, little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. Let's do that because that's the life. So without hypocrisy, it's a cool word. It really means don't do it with concealment or suppression. Without hypocrisy, don't let love be hidden. Let it go. Let it be out there. Or you could say love unhypocritically. That's kind of how the Greek would be translated. Hypocrite, to take up another statement in reference to one who has decided for oneself to reply. In other words, don't do it that way, just love. To be an actor, this word also means to be an actor on a stage, to impersonate anyone, play a part, to simulate, feign, pretend, or to play the hypocrite.

It's interesting in listening to a guy this week, he said, if you know about Greek drama, you know that they never wore costumes, no scenes, but they all wore masks. And if a guy comes out on the stage and he's got a sort of a frown on his face, you know he's the bad guy. And if a guy comes out on stage and he's got a smiley face, he's the good guy, right? But what you say behind that mask may or may not be indicative of what the mask is really trying to portray. So we all wear this mask and we talk from behind it. The point is here is get rid of the mask and just love. The world is full of extravagant expressions of affection and so are many professing Christians without real love in their heart. It's a heck of an indictment, but it's true.

And then along with that, in the same sentence, comma, abhor what is evil. Really interesting, abhor is a word made up of two Greek words, to dislike, or to have a horror for. It's a lot more than just kind of thinking it's probably not a good idea to hate. Abhor means you really are, you're engaged. The prefix oppo, which means off, away from, it shows separation. Separate yourself or abhor evil. Now, evil is the word poneros, evil in active opposition to what's good.

And we say, well, you know, don't we all live under the auspices of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden? And really, when I became a Christian, what happened was is that I just moved from those evil branches over to the good ones. That's not what this means. This means you got down out of that tree, went down in the garden, and you got up in the tree of life, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're talking about his life. not your goodness, his goodness, through you.

But where love is real, there is and must be a hating of evil. Because the close attachment to good, if the good attracts, the evil offends and vice versa. If I like evil, I'm gonna hate the good. If I like good, I'm not gonna like the evil. You don't get both. This is one of those things where if this goes up, this goes down, like this. So abhor the which is evil. It's impossible to the unregenerate man and only intimately possible, intermittently possible for the carnal Christian to do this.

To one who has submitted to the first two verses, and that's why we started with those two verses, of this chapter and surrender to the Lord, it is a holy instinct. Hate evil, you that love the Lord, Jehovah. Psalm 97, 10. If you belong to the Lord and you have his life, hating evil is what you're gonna be about. The Christian will express his hatred and evil by loving that which is good. To be a good Christian, you gotta be a good hater. Does that make sense? I think it makes a lot of sense.

So, cling to what is good. This just doesn't mean to rub shoulders. The word cling means to grab a hold of. It's like the word for glue. Glue yourself, cement yourself to what is good. You know, put it on you and stick to it. cleave to that which is good, hang on to it. Here is not only the negative, the abhorrence of evil, but the positive, the discerning and holding fast to that which is good. Newell said in connection, abhorring evil, cleaving to good is a word necessary in our own day, our own day, 1937, especially because we live in a Laodicean time of sickly sentiment where a lenient kindness abounds, the essence of which is a spirit of believing that all religions are equally valid towards evil in a particular evil against Christ. That's what Christendom's all about. We're all the same, all the same. You got up this morning and prayed for the Pope, didn't you?

Verse 10, be devoted to one another in brotherly love and give preference to one another. Devoted is this word Philadelphia, and we're very familiar with this word. It's made up of philio, to have affection for, to be fond of, and adolphos, a brother. exhibiting brotherly affection, the brotherhood here being that of believers. Notice the distinguishment. Not every brother believers. Brotherly love is, I'm not gonna say the word, but stergio to love, which implies particularly a natural affection, a sentiment innate and peculiar to men as men.

You know, we've lived in a society now for probably 40 or 50 years where men aren't supposed to be men anymore. They're supposed to be really into this warm, fuzzy nonsense. And that we're not supposed to love. It takes a real Christian man to be a lover. To tell your kids, to tell your wife, we love you. And we're not kidding about that. To tell all of you, I love you. And I'm not kidding about that. And I'm not just saying it, I really do.

It's part of the life that I have. The word filios storgos represents Christians as bound by family ties. We talked about the last couple of weeks that we're all members of the same body, one of another. It's intended to define more specifically the character of Philadelphia or brotherly love. All Christians love the brethren.

That is a sign of the spiritual life. Brotherly love would take account of all the conditions and circumstances in which, excuse me, in which the brethren are found and would be effectively concerned about them as to their families, their health, and their business. I see that here. We're, you know, we put, I shouldn't say it this way, put a prayer list together, but we talk about, well, how so-and-so is doing, and what's happening with them, and do they need any help, and that kind of thing.

It's just part of who you are, this brotherly love. So, devoted to one another and give preference to one another in honor. This is a really interesting phrase because giving preferences, preferring one another, you take the lead in preferring them over you. You don't wait for it. You take the lead. You go before as a leader and you say, I'm gonna honor you above myself.

Now imagine a group, just this group, that everybody sitting here had that in their minds. I'm gonna honor you before I honor myself. Would it change the way we function? I think it really would. Being prepared then, than the other to recognize and honor God's gifts in your brother. You know, what did we find out last week or two weeks ago?

Every one of us has a measure of grace and a gift given to us by the Holy Spirit, every one of us. And we honor them for what God has done in them and for them, for the contribution to the body of Christ. The word honor, a value by which a price is fixed, respect, reverence, veneration, honor. Hence the word means to respect the respect shown another, which is measured by one's evaluation of another.

1 John 3.14, we know, we know, we have passed out of death into life.

Why? Because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. How do I know as a believer, in serious question before God, how do I know that I really was crucified, buried, resurrected with Christ? How do I know that? John says it's because I love the brethren. If I don't love the brethren, I better sort of reassess what I'm doing here. I love the brethren. Who does not love abides in death. I may be a believer, but if I'm not a lover, where am I living? I'm living in the old man who's death.

Charles Coates said this, it supposes that each saint can be regarded as worthy of honor. It is worthwhile to take pains to discover the honorable features that are there, those features by which saints contribute to the organism in which they are divinely set. I am not to wait for others to honor me as a contributor, but I am to take the lead in paying honor to them. It is right to honor every believer, for he's called, he's redeemed, justified, and dwelt by the Holy Spirit. and is an essential part of the company who are the one body in Christ.

The purpose of God could not be complete without him. Do you realize it? Pick anybody here. Do you realize that without you, the purpose of God would not be complete? It wouldn't be. Everybody in there has to be part of it. I was thinking, too, this week, as I was reading A Hungry Heart a couple days ago, whenever you get in front of somebody or in a class and you start going through the list of the stuff you ought to be doing, which is really what this is, it's really easy to, like Jim said, start writing it down, putting a stick, putting a Scotch tape on it, because it's going on a refrigerator list, like I saw, I gotta live. I want to read us a couple things to you from Hungry Heart from a few days ago.

When the standard of the Christian life is low, the responsibility for growth is placed on the believer. But when it is known that God's standard for us is his son, all expectations of maturity must be placed in him. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do his good pleasure. Everything we're talking about this morning is something that God is gonna work into every one of us. You're never gonna be, and I'm never gonna be in a position to go to God and say, hey, I got number six down. No, I don't. I don't have anything down that he didn't do.

And he says, not lagging behind in diligence, Lagging behind, slothful, from the verb ocneo, to delay, to feel loathe, to be slow. Best word is lazy. That's the best word. Diligence is this word we've seen before, the same word translated or affairs, but only in spiritual manners. Don't be lazy about spiritual matters. Martin Luther said, in regard to zeal, don't be lazy. Gee, that's pretty astute for a guy who lived several hundred years ago.

It denotes the moral earnestness with which one should give himself to his faith gifting. Whatever your gift is, the zeal that you have for that, you have to be earnest about it. You have to have a zeal about it. Satan would use the doctrine of grace or the assurance of your faith to settle down believers into spiritual slothfulness.

Isn't that interesting? He will. Oh, I don't have to do that. I'm living under grace. I'm saved. Everything's cool. I don't have to even think about living this kind of a life. Well, like my buddy Strong used to say, well, just hang on to your chair because you're going for a ride.

God intends to implement this life in you. And especially if you presented your body a living sacrifice and your mind is being transformed. So I would say just be on the lookout for spiritual laziness. Fervent in spirit serving the Lord. Fervent here is a word that means really hot or boiling. It can be used with the word love or anger or zeal. It can be used good or bad.

It's used of Apollos in Acts 18.25, which means Arden. Arden Apollos was a guy who was preaching the baptism of John the Baptist, and Aquila gets a hold of him and says, come on, there's more for you to learn. But he had the zeal. Paul was, you talk about Mr. Zeal, for a long time Mr. Bad, and then good. when the Lord got a hold of them.

To be passionate in spirit of serving the Lord in any capacity he calls you to do. Christ loves us with infinite fervency. Let us serve him in the same spirit. The word spirit refers to the human spirit as that part of man which gives him God consciousness or to the attitude or disposition of a man as that man's spirit is good or it's to the Holy Spirit. It can be to any of those.

Fervent in spirit serving the Lord, a definite article appears before the word spirit in the Greek text. If the definite article, the absence of the Greek definite article emphasizes the character of the person. If that were absent here, the reference would be to the disposition or attitude of a person. But the presence of the article points to the Holy Spirit, and it is locative of sphere, which means Paul exhorts to fervency in the Christian life, which is produced by the Holy Spirit, not produced by the flesh.

There's the grace. There it is, right there. Burning zealousness would mean that one has a definite purpose in life. And in this case, serving the Lord. Not merely kind and gracious sentiments, but a fervor of divine warmth in one's spirit, leading to active service. And it doesn't matter what it is, whatever he's gifted you for.

Surely, we all covet more of this. to be more definitely serving the Lord. Much that is sorrowful amongst the people of God arises from slothfulness or laziness. There's a lack of the definite purpose to serve the Lord and people get engrossed with all kinds of selfish pursuits. A quote from Charles Coates again.

Rejoicing in hope. Rejoicing in the sphere of hope. That is, when your earthly prospects get dark, the Christians rejoice and should be in the sphere of a hope that God, that the Lord grow him in the trial. And in the meantime, take care of his afflicted child. There's two things that go on.

Trials are to be understood that they are things that God has brought into our life to precipitate our growth. And in the meantime, we accept the affliction that comes with it. There's nothing that happens to any of us as believers that wasn't ordained of God to start with. Not yesterday, in eternity. He knows every one of us individually and the thing that will cause us to grow the best. And trials and suffering are right at the top of the list. There's an unmixed joy in all what is a matter of hope. Even if the present time is a time of tribulation and endurance, we do not look to be relieved of the pressure, but for support that we may endure it in the pressure.

Romans 5.3 has become one of my favorite verses. And not only this, but we also exalt or we're excited about are tribulations.

Why? Because we know that tribulation brings about perseverance. And this word perseverance, hupomone, is Chester McCauley's favorite word. He says what it means is load-carrying ability. You've got to carry your brother around, and this makes you strong to do it. And God is always working that in every one of us. rejoicing in hope, preserving, persevering in tribulation, persevering, here's the word, hupomone, to remain under, to remain under the test in a God-honoring manner, not seeking to escape it, but eager to learn the lesson it was sent to teach, patience, hupomone.

Patience and trial is the only path to perfection. where James says we should count manifold trials to be all joy. You know, my old man says to me, easy for you to say. You don't know what I'm suffering. And let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing. How important is it to you to be lacking in nothing that the Lord has called you to be?

Conform to his son. Tribulation, pressing together, pressure, oppression. It means the squeeze is on. Devoted to prayer. Now, this is a really interesting one because you know my story about the guy from the mission who came into the Bible study when I was working in the mission. He said, boy, I've been working on this. Devoted to prayer. The Lord says, pray without ceasing. I'm up to 65% of the time.

Really? Is that what devoted to prayer means? It means to persevere, to give constant attention to a thing, to be steadfastly attentive to and to give unmitting care to and wait uncontinually to be in constant readiness. What is prayer, really? Is it not just communication between you and the Lord? Isn't that what it really is? He doesn't want you driving down I-25 repeating some prayer that's written down that you memorized. That's not, well, he wants to talk to you. And he wants you to listen and he wants you to talk. He wants to hear what you have to say.

Prayer steadfastly continuing as did the early Christians, and there's a bunch of quotes and acts, but don't forget to watch expectantly to give thanks in your prayers. Thank you, Father, for the trial. Thank you for the circumstance I find myself in. I wouldn't grow without it.

The word is used of a soldier who waited on Cornelius continually. Acts 10, seven, it's really interesting. And when the angel who was speaking to him had departed, he summoned two of his servants and a devout soldier of those who were in constant attendance upon him. That's us. We're one of those soldiers who are in constant attention about the Lord all the time. And oh, by the way, we're indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

So if you are a little older and you forgot, he's there to remind you. Everything that you read in God's word is really a reminder. Peter says it all the time. Let me remind you, let me remind you. God's word is always reminding us. in prayer, this came from Newell, he says, 10 will attend Bible teaching, 100 Sunday preaching, two or three who in prayer steadfastly continuing, but if you, if you of that two or three, you prevail, and to you Christ reveals himself and you will become channels of blessing to countless others. Isn't that interesting? Wouldn't you love to be in a position where you're the one or two that prevails, and because of that, you're countless blessings to other people?

Absolutely. It takes for granted that all those exhortations that have been presented our bodies to God according to the opening verse of this chapter, and thus, by the indwelling spirit, we are able to walk in his revealed will. as those who could not do, we could not do under any kind of a law system. You can't do this under a law system. This has to be under a grace system. Coats again.

So there is perseverance in prayer. There's confidence in God. Confidence in God is expressed by continuing in prayer. Think of the privilege of it to talk to God about things. We can pray about everything that stands connected with the will of God. It is the way we get inward support and power to go on. As to requests, often the soul gets the assurance of being heard, the sense of having an audience. As J.B. Stoney used to say, if a man presents a petition to the king and the king says your request is granted, The man goes away satisfied, though it may be some time before he gets what he desired. This is a time when exercise, dependence, confidence must be maintained continually. I had to put that in there, I thought that was a great saying.

Contributing, and lastly, last verse, contributing to the needs of the saints and practicing hospitality. Distributing the needs of the saints. Notice it doesn't say distributing to the needs of everybody who walks in the front door. It says the saints. Implies that God does not intend to keep the saints immune from necessities. Really? Boy, that's a surprise.

Everybody in this room has a necessity of some kind, but that those necessities furnish opportunity for his grace and to come out in others. to the needs of the saints contributing, so to make another's necessity one's own as to relieve them. If you come upon somebody who has a need, what this verse is saying, it becomes your need now. Distributing, contributing, to enter into fellowship, make oneself a share or a partner in that person's need. This exhortation is to make oneself a share or partner in the needs of our fellow saints in the sense that we act as if those needs were our very own. We would satisfy our own needs and the exhortation is to satisfy those of our Christian brother. You wake up in the morning and what do you first start thinking about? My needs. Well, maybe you wake up tomorrow and think about my brother's needs. He needs me today.

When you follow this injunction and begin wisely to inquire about the saints' needs, you're gonna get surprised by a couple of things. The first thing you'll be surprised about, the actual pressing necessity of many saints that are all around you. And two, the way God will supply your own necessities as you minister to them. Ever think about that? As I'm ministering or you're ministering to them, he's meeting your necessities too.

Practicing hospitality. To pursue, to seek after, eagerly, earnestly endeavoring to acquire. Hospitality. Fondness or affection for strangers. hospitable, generous guests. What's interesting about this verse is that if you put it in the context of the early church, because of the persecution that was going on, if people were traveling, there weren't any Motel 6s. They stayed with you. And what Paul is saying here, it should, sorry. It should be our practice to be as hospitable to saints as we can possibly be. The verb indicates not only the hospitality is to be furnished when sought, but that Christians are to seek opportunities for exercising it. The hospitality referred to here is a giving of food, clothing, shelter to needy and persecuted Christians.

We don't see many of those yet. who have lost these due to their testimony for the Lord Jesus. So we should not be a social, seeking hospitality would not be social entertaining of persons we like, but a readiness to receive saints who might have need of care such as strangers passing through.

I'm just getting to learn about this, you know. Don and I know that the house that we have is the Lord's house, and anybody that's a believer can stay there any time, no matter what. But we have people around us who think we're nuts. How do you know that... Well, why do you open up your house and why do you... Because that's the way you are as a believer.

It shows a fundamental spirit of Christian giving. We're stewards, and whatever we have, we are guardians of it to be used by the Spirit of God through you in whatever capacity He wants us to do it. It's not saying in our hearts that we have is our own, but holding all stewardship to the Lord, ready to be ministered as He shall direct you.

It's true that Paul in his epistle, which give the constitution of the church of God, that's really what he's doing here, does not direct those who are rich in this world's goods to sell all they have, but to do good, to be rich in goods, works ready to distribute, willing to communicate. 1 Timothy 6. 17 through nine, instruct those who are rich in this present world, not to be conceited or fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

Instruct them to do good. And Donna was telling, we were studying First Timothy on Sunday school, she said, the letter was written from Paul to Timothy. not Paul to the church that Timothy ran, Paul to Timothy. So he's telling Timothy, instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasures of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.

Life indeed. This is the divine protection against the awful community of goods idea of socialism and communism. Because the Bible teaches constantly the rights of personal property. God gives you, as a steward, personal property. But now he tells you, as a believer, here's what you do with it. The rights of personal property and also the foundation of the principle of giving. So, in closing, I want to read one more paragraph to you.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Christian's very life, and the Holy Spirit dwells within our spirit to manifest Him, to work out all that is in Him, and to reproduce Him in us. We must remember that there is something in the sight of God that's higher than work. There is Christ-likeness. There is our Father's purpose, and it is His work to do.

Let's close. Father, how careful we are to study your Word and to learn and to grow. to be conformed, to let you conform us to the image of the Lord Jesus. And then these principles of how that life works and looks, you will make real in our lives, and we'll walk in that way. We're thankful for that. We're thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our very life. And we pray in His name. Amen.