Lewis Memorial UMC

Last week we looked at this particular part of Paul’s letter to the Romans and we concentrated on verses 9 and 10 – letting our love be genuine, loving from the center of who we are, don’t fake your love! We looked at how Paul told us to show love and respect to all people and if we just have to be first at something, or if we just have to outdo others then outdo others in showing love and honor.

Did you have the opportunity to outdo someone in love this past week?

Did you show love and respect to all people? Well, if not, do not fear for the Lord your God has given you at least this day to try again!

Paul also told us, as Eugene Peterson put it, to run for dear life from evil and to hold on for dear life to that which is good. How did you do in THAT area last week? Did you run? Did you hold on?

In Peterson’s words Paul also told his readers to practice playing second fiddle. Putting others and their needs before our own is of God and is possible because of the love of Christ? How about this category? How did you do since we met last Sunday? How’s your second fiddling going?

Sometimes this Bible can be down right difficult! Sometimes the Bible can tell us to do something that is just so incredibly hard for us to do! No one said it was going to be easy. Jesus said being a follower of His was not going to be a simple thing to do! Jesus said that if we want to be His disciples then we need to pick up our own cross and follow Him. For some of us our own cross, our own problems, our own difficulties are things we do not do real well – like loving genuinely or running from evil or putting others before ourselves!

Paul’s words to the Christians in Rome are words for all of us still today! Let’s look at verses 11 – 13 in this 12th chapter of Romans this morning so we can see what else we can learn from Paul. I will once again be using both the NRSV and The Message, by Eugene Peterson as I did last week. Paul wrote, “Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.” Are those 3 different things, or do they some how go together?

Zeal means to be eager in your pursuit of something. It means to have passion for something. Paul is saying that we should not lag in our zeal when it comes to our Lord. But also remember that Paul wrote this to the people in the church in Rome so he also wanted the church goers to be careful not to lag in zeal for the church.

We need to keep our passion for our church and for Jesus alive and well! Look with me at Hebrews 10: 23-25. We don’t know for sure who wrote this letter to the Hebrews. Some theological historians attribute it to Paul, while others say it could have been written by any number of other early Christian leaders. The author tells us in 10:23-25………….

He was encouraging these followers of Christ to keep their passion strong for the Lord and for the church and to keep meeting together, praising together, praying together, and worshiping together!

To be ardent in spirit, as Paul wrote in Romans 12: 11, means to be fiery hot in our spirit and in our enthusiasm for our Lord and Savior. Peterson’s version says it a little differently. Instead of saying “Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit” Peterson wrote, “Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame.” How do we do that? We do this by several means! We are able to stay on fire for our Lord and to stay fueled for church through prayer, sharing our joys and concerns with others, playing 2nd fiddle, running from evil, holding strong to that which is good, and loving from the center of who we are! Coming to church helps too!

At the end of verse 11 Paul simply wrote, “Serve the Lord.” If we keep ourselves from lagging in zeal and if we stay ardent in our spirits then serving the Lord will naturally take place. We can serve the Lord in many ways, especially through serving others as we do in the life of the church. The mission team served the Lord in Ecuador some 5 hours away from here while another team served the Lord yesterday some 15 minutes from here. And many of you will serve the Lord while serving others this week through interfaith and through your prayers.

In verse 12 Paul wrote that we need to rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, and to persevere in prayer. Peterson wrote, “Be cheerfully expectant, don’t quit in hard times, and pray all the harder.” Are you cheerfully expectant about what God is going to do next for you? Do you rejoice in the hope and promises that God has made to you? I think this is why people don’t smile as much as they should. They are not expecting anything good to happen to them! As Christians we know that God is with us and if God is with us and for us then no one or no thing can be against us. As Christians we should smile big smiles because we are cheerfully expectant about God’s plan for us. I believe people would be happier if they knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are loved and cared for not only by God but also by His children. When we show someone the love of Jesus Christ then that person is honored and God is glorified!

Now Paul tells us in the same sentence that we should be patient in suffering, or in other words that we don’t quit in hard times. Look how these go together. When we rejoice in hope then we are able to be patient when we suffer. When we are cheerfully expectant and trust in the Lord completely for all of our needs then we won’t quit when times get hard. And in either case we persevere in prayer. Whether we are rejoicing or suffering we pray and give thanks to God. Paul says this same thing in Philippians 4:4 when he said that all of God’s children should rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS!

Now look at Romans 12:13, “Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.” We must ask ourselves the when, where, and how question on this one! The Bible tells us that the righteous will say to Jesus, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you drink, a stranger and welcome you, naked and clothe you, sick and in prison and visit you?” And Jesus said, “Whatever you did for the least of one of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

By not allowing our zeal to lag and by being ardent in our spirits and serving the Lord shows our marks of being true Christians. By rejoicing in hope, being patient in suffering, and persevering in prayer, we show the world the marks of a true Christian. By contributing to the needs of God’s people and by extending loving hospitality to strangers then we are showing the marks that have been left upon our life of what in means to be true Christians.

Paul has given us a lot to think about in these 3 short verses this morning. Are you leaving your mark on others? Are you living your life after the example of Jesus Christ? Are you loving all of God’s children as God has loved you?

Leave your mark starting today!