Showing Loving Mercy to All - Romans 12:14-18 (Sermon)
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WELCOME
Good morning. It is great to be with you. We are digging deep into the book of Romans. Paul, the author, wrote 2000 years ago to the church in Rome. It was a mixed audience of Jewish and non-Jewish people. They accepted Jesus as their Savior, but they struggled to get along. As we peek at this letter, we will see some applications to our lives. Romans begins with eleven chapters of doctrine, explaining the good news that we all need God’s loving mercy, whether we come from religious families and high moral standards or not. The point Paul was making was for us to “live together in the power of the gospel, for it saves everyone who believes.” How does that work? How do we live together?
How does a church thrive when some of us want good old hymns, others want the choruses of days gone by, and some want to hear a new song?
How does that work in church when we have conservatives and liberals worshipping together? You might be sitting next to someone who voted differently from you and listens to a different news outlet from you. Can we get along? Can we live together?
How do we men live with women, and how do women live with men, in healthy, respectable ways?
How do we who are older and wiser, like myself, live peaceably with people who keep looking younger and younger and use slang words like “Slay,” “Slap,” and “ASMR”? I have to pretend that either I know what my teenagers are saying or ask. Can we live together in God-honoring ways?
The answer is yes. And in our passage for this morning, Paul puts hands and feet on the good news about God’s loving mercy and extends some direction to those outside the church as well as in it. God wants us to love genuinely, not hypocritically, from our hearts. The standard is not a cheap, squishy, superficial, warm-and-fuzzy feeling type of love. Let’s see how radical it is.
TEXT
Turn in your Bibles to Romans Chapter 12. I am going to have P.H. read for us. Would you please stand with us in honor of God’s Word? We are going to read Romans 12, verses 14-18.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. (Romans 12:14–18, ESV)
PRAY
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Help us to listen to you and follow you in all we do. We need you. I need you. You are great and glorious. Use this application for our transformation. Don’t simply fill us with information or passion. We want your recognition and our transformation. In Jesus’s name, we pray, amen. You may be seated.
STRUCTURE
Have you ever seen a fire hydrant being cleared out, with water rocketing thirty feet away, like I did this week? These verses are like Paul took his fire hydrant wrench and just cranked on it to open up the commands that flow from God’s mercies.
What was Paul’s rationale when putting them in this order?
Did they flow from his stream of consciousness?
Was he reading his Bible, and that inspired his blizzard of imperatives?
We don’t know. I look forward to talking to him in heaven and finding some answers. We do know that their theme dovetails the book’s: “to live together in the power of the gospel, for it saves everyone who believes.” God wants us to live at peace with each other. These verses invite us to express his loving mercy to all people inside and outside the church. That is the big idea of these five verses. To live together, expressing his loving mercy to all people. Why? Verses 1 and 2 are a call to love and worship God for and by his mercy with all that we are. And verses 3 through 21 explore a call to love people genuinely from the heart. How does loving God lead to loving people? We express our faith in God by what we do with our lives. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). I think of it like this: if my children tell me they love me, but every time I ask them to do something, they ignore it or laugh it off, I start to wonder, “Do they really love me?” Our actions speak volumes about our convictions. What do our deeds say about what we believe? Do we come up short each week, giving God mostly lip service? Do we sing Amazing Grace one day and live like we are little gods needing to be worshipped and obeyed the next? May it not be so. But if it is, may we then heed Paul’s advice, turn to God’s mercy, and seek to spread God’s mercy.
GREAT COMMANDS
In the first few verses of Chapter 12 it moves from worshipping God to loving people. In Paul’s day the church was divided between Jewish and non-Jewish people that blended like oil and water. In addition, the people had a society that opposed their Christianity. They suffered misunderstanding, mockery, hatred, imprisonment, and even death for their faith at times. In America, we have religious freedom and protections. But that is not the case in places like Russia, Iran, Nigeria, China, and North Korea. Yet, we too can experience individualized rejection and hatred for our faith. Some here have and can tell their story. Regardless, in these five verses God wants us to mercifully love the persecutor and the suffer, the non-Christian and the Christian. Let’s break apart each verse and look at all the commands separately.
VERSE 14
Go to verse 14:
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Romans 12:14, ESV).
This word sounds like the Sermon on the Mount we studied last year. A related passage is in Luke. I read this week that scholars call it the Sermon on the Plain, because it says in the passage that Jesus was on a plain at the time of teaching this. Perhaps Paul read this account when he was writing verse 14.
But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:27–36, ESV)
How do we be merciful like that? How do we love those who hurt? How can we obey this call to bless those who perpetrate evil against us and those we love? How do we do this when every bone in our bodies wants to ignore, avoid, appease, or assassinate our enemies to fix the situation? God gave us the motivation in a book called 1 John. He tells us that we love because God first loved us. Jesus modeled it, and Romans 12 tells us that God’s mercy motivates or empowers our mercy. God’s love can supercharge ours.
DOORMAT
At the same time, to bless those who persecute us is not a call to become doormats or complicit crooks. We can lovingly discipline, debate, and resist the evil person. Martin Luther King Jr. did. He chose a path of non-violent resistance. Jesus did. He stood up to the Pharisees. He chose the cross, not capitulation. He prayed for those who hung him on that cursed tree. He would not stoop to their level. He was in complete control when he chose silence and submission. He saw that through his death, a great good would result. Who are your enemies? You might have them. But who is close? Think of that person or those persons. What helps you love them? A couple of things have helped me besides what God said here:
I remember they are made in God’s image. There is a part of them that still reflects our great, good God.
I remember that they were children once, too. They were cute and cuddly once.
I remember that they have experienced pain and suffering that have shaped their behavior. That doesn’t excuse it, but it explains it for me. And that explanation can help me avoid being so bitter, angry, and harsh.
Lastly, I remember that they will exist forever. What that means is, if they don’t repent of their sin, then this earth is the closest they will get to heaven, and then they will suffer justice for eternity outside of it. And if they do come to Christ, they will experience God’s mercy as I experienced it. Either they will pay, or Christ will pay. I hope that they will experience God’s mercy, not his just rebuke. The bottom line is,
Genuine Love Blesses Enemies
VERSE 15
Let’s look at the next command:
“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15, ESV).
God wants us to be empathetic. He is, and we are to be too. He can sympathize with our weaknesses. He cares for us. And because he cares for us, we should care for others, especially those who belong to the community of faith. Not all of us have this ability naturally. But we can grow at it.
So, when we read in the insert in our bulletin that Mike is suffering, or Kevin is suffering, or Gary’s brother Ross is suffering, we can suffer.
We can weep with Laurie/Frank when we hear of her mom, Patty’s/Evie’s passing.
And we can rejoice with Laurie/Frank when she/he rejoices at her mom’s/his wife’s faith and freedom from sickness and pain in heaven.
But how do we do that when we are spent and have nothing left to give? How do moms and dads do that at the end of a workday? How do we reflect on what that other person must be going through? First of all, we can sit with people in their pain.
JOB
In the Old Testament, Job had friends who turned out to be pretty annoying because they tried to fix him. Who wants that? They thought his physical and circumstantial problems stemmed from his failure. So, they lectured him. No thanks. Let’s not be like that. But there is another sense in which we should be like them. We read that they sat with him for seven days in silence. They were present with him. Are you present with those around you?
PATH TO EMPATHY
Second, we can ask questions that help us understand.
Thirdly, we may need to change our schedule and cancel appointments. We may need to say no to more things to say yes to being available. We need margin in our lives. We need space in our lives to care for others. We need time and energy.
Fourth, we need help. I do. We need God’s help and the church’s help to empathize.
Genuine Love Blesses Enemies
Genuine Love Is Empathetic.
HARMONY
Look at verse 16:
“Live in harmony with one another” (Romans 12:16a, ESV).
God wants us to strive for harmony. Can you carry a tune? How about harmonizing? Can you do that? When we sing “Happy Birthday” as a staff, Pastor Mike will end by singing harmony. He jokes that that is all he can do. But it sounds great. There is a way that, with our diverse talents, backgrounds, and interests, we can together stand out like a wonderful piece of music. That doesn’t mean we all agree. It doesn’t mean we vote the same. It doesn’t mean we all get our vaccinations or not. We can disagree about lots of secondary things, but at the end of the day, let us live harmoniously, sounding more like a symphony than screaming children demanding 15 more minutes of iPad time. Mike or Joe quoted this earlier in Romans, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” Genuine love seeks harmony, not pot-stirring contention or boring uniformity.
Genuine Love Blesses Enemies
Genuine Love Is Empathetic.
Genuine Love Seeks Harmony
VERSE 16B
Keep reading. Paul also commanded,
“Do not be haughty” (Romans 12:16b, ESV).
What does “haughty” mean? [Don’t be prideful.] Don’t be a braggart. Don’t be that guy? Have you ever met a haughty person, someone vain, someone who likes to look at themselves in the mirror, someone who turns all conversations back on themselves? I have. How fun is it to be around them? Not. But, the scary thing is… I saw him the other day, looking back at me in the mirror. I can be that guy. Let’s heed this command not to be haughty. The opposite of that is what? [“Humility” is the word that comes to my mind]. So we can say, genuine love is humble.
Genuine Love Blesses Enemies
Genuine Love Is Empathetic.
Genuine Love Seeks Harmony
Genuine Love Is Humble
VERSE 16C
What does it look like to be humble? Paul went on,
“associate with the lowly” (Romans 12:16c, ESV).
A way to avoid being haughty is to connect with the lowly. Who are the lowly?
Maybe they are kids, they are physically low.
Maybe they are those with physical deficits.
Maybe they are the unpopular and socially awkward people.
Maybe they are those with fewer resources or abilities.
God wants us to put our lives in proximity with those who are not of a high caste. Connect with them. The world does the opposite. Who are the lowly in your life? Don’t forget the marginalized and minorities. Don’t just be friendly with your friends. Welcome the stranger at church. Have people over for a meal, or go out for coffee together. Learn about other people’s stories. They are fascinating. Don’t just be the people who can only talk about themselves. Be genuinely interested in other people. Jesus taught on the Mount of Olives about the final judgment, and he shared a bit about the lowly and our responsibility to care for them.
When the Son of Man comes in his glory [That is Jesus], and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25:31–40, ESV)
The book of Hebrews says that when we welcome strangers into our home for a meal, we might be inviting angels into our midst. What if you were kind to someone you didn’t know, and it turned out they were an angel? Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive. Let’s strive for that kind of blessing.
Genuine Love Blesses Enemies
Genuine Love Is Empathetic.
Genuine Love Seeks Harmony
Genuine Love Is Humble
Genuine Love Is Outward
VERSE 16D
Verse 16 expands on humility. Paul gave another prohibition:
“Never be wise in your own sight” (Romans 12:16d, ESV).
Let us not think of ourselves as the smartest person in the room; instead, let us recall that we are recipients of God’s mercy. He gave us our faculties. He gave us our parents and resources. The book of Proverbs states,
Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones. (Proverbs 3:5–8, ESV)
Who doesn’t want healing and inner refreshment? I do. The elders chose this passage as our theme verse this year. We want to trust God and his Word. If you want that too, then let us together not be wise in our own eyes, but look to God’s wisdom for our direction. Let’s have a realistic, healthy, balanced perspective of our intellect. Let’s not be know-it-alls or show-offs. God is the GOAT, the greatest of all time, not us.
Genuine Love Blesses Enemies
Genuine Love Is Empathetic.
Genuine Love Seeks Harmony
Genuine Love Is Humble
Genuine Love Is Outward
Genuine Love Is Realistic
VERSE 17a
Verse 17, circles back to an idea similar to verse 14:
“Repay no one evil for evil” (Romans 12:17a, ESV).
Not only should we not curse those who persecute us, but we shouldn’t repay them either. Genuine love doesn’t take revenge. Paul will say more about that in the coming verses. For you Bible scholars out there, you might wonder about Lex talionis? The rest of us are like, “What?” The Old Testament, Lex talionis, says an eye for an eye and tooth for tooth. That is, if someone steals something of yours, you take something of theirs. Was Paul contradicting the Old Testament? No. The Old Testament Law functioned within a theocracy. We live in a representative democracy. We don’t have a permission slip for vigilante justice. God has ordained that the government has the proverbial sword to administer justice.
VERSE 17b
If genuine love for our enemies and evil doers doesn’t repay them, then what are we to do? The answer is the rest of the verse:
“But give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all” (Romans 12:17b, ESV).
We are to seek to do what everyone knows is honorable. From my counseling and my own pain, I know there is a temptation to retaliate and take revenge. Let’s take the higher ground. Respond in honorable ways. Let us do it as an expression of faith that God will make sure justice is served.
Genuine Love Blesses Enemies
Genuine Love Is Empathetic.
Genuine Love Seeks Harmony
Genuine Love Is Humble
Genuine Love Is Outward
Genuine Love Is Realistic
Genuine Love Lives Honorably
VERSE 18
Our last verse this morning is verse 18:
“If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18, ESV).
Friends, we can’t control people. We can’t change people. But we can strive to be at peace with people. How do we seek peace? We can ask those with whom we may not be at peace if we hurt them in some way? We can seek counsel from godly people. We can pray for peace. Let’s seek to be at peace with all people so far as it depends on us.
Genuine Love Blesses Enemies
Genuine Love Is Empathetic.
Genuine Love Seeks Harmony
Genuine Love Is Humble
Genuine Love Is Outward
Genuine Love Is Realistic
Genuine Love Lives Honorably
Genuine Love Seeks Peace
STORY
A year or so ago, I read the book Captive in Iran, the story of Maryam and Marziyeh, who converted from Islam to Christianity. They were caught distributing Bibles and telling people about Jesus. The government threw them into prison for 259 days. Prison became another place where these young ladies shared their faith. They suffered false accusations, mockery, isolation, and a lack of medical care. They would pray for their persecutors, and they lived by God’s loving mercy to spread God’s love in prison. One story stuck out. A guard named Ghost came to them. They had been singing. The guard brought them their food after a day without. Maryam noticed something wrong with this guard. “Why are you upset?” Ghost confessed she was sick of working at the prison and asked for prayer! Maryam prayed for her captor at her request right then and there! She felt God’s Spirit at work. God sometimes puts us in the most unlikely places so that we can be his presence in a world of hurt and pain.
APPLICATION
As we conclude, let me repeat a few questions to think about. Let the Holy Spirit convict and change you. There is mercy for us to keep striving through God’s mercy. And when this life is over, we can rest in God’s mercy. Here you go:
How do you respond to those who hurt you? What would it look like to bless them?
What does it look like to be more interested in others than yourself? Can you hold back the urge to share your story and really enter into other people’s lives?
Who are the lowly in your life? How can you associate with them?
What broken relationships do you have? As far as it depends on you, what might seeking peace and harmony look like for you in those relationships?
PRAYER
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your Word. Help us to live out these commands. We need your mercy to show mercy, in Jesus’s name. Amen.
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