By Pastor Lynn Sawyer Parks

Romans 12

We are finally out of 1 Corinthians, after 3 weeks there, and are moving over to Romans. This letter is considered to be one of the most influential in the New Testament because of its emphasis on salvation through the grace of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Paul is writing to Christians in Rome, in the very heart of the empire. This letter was most likely written in the late 50’s AD, possibly while Paul was in Corinth. It was before he ever made a trip to Rome but, in looking at chapter 16, we see that Paul had a lot of friends in this church. He sends greetings to many different people who he knew. He calls them friends, co-workers in Christ, brothers and sisters, and one he says has been like a mother to him. There are both men and women that he names as being important in the fellowship. In the first verse of chapter 16 he commends to the Roman Christians, a woman named Phoebe who was a deacon in the church in Cenchrae. She is the one who delivered this letter from Paul to the Roman congregation. He mentions Priscilla and Aquila, who had been part of the church in Ephesus and are now in Rome. We get the picture from chapter 16 that this church in Rome includes many people that Paul has met and interacted with in his travels.

It is thought that this church was started among Jews who had been present in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, who heard Peter preach, became believers in Jesus. and then traveled back to Rome. This congregation seems to be made up of people who have come from all different areas of the empire. It also could be that when believers traveled to Rome on business or whatever, they connected with the other believers there. We can see how the churches throughout the empire are connected in a web of relationships that grows as people move around and connect over their faith in Jesus.

This week I took some time to read from this book “All God’s Children” which is a history of the Mennonite churches in Philadelphia. In reading about the early history of Mennonites in the city, beginning in the 1800’s, I could see how a new web of relationships was built over the years that aided in the planting of over 20 churches in the last 120 years or so. There are some pictures in here of people we know, including Barbara Baynard when she was a teenager. There are stories of how people in the city came to interact with these plain dressing Mennonites and eventually came into the Mennonite church. This process was not without its problems. Mrs. Barbara has told me that the girls, when they came into the church, had to adopt the plain dress and wear the coverings on their heads. That made them really stand out in the neighborhood, but she said she never minded looking different. But in reading this history, it does tell about how the rules for dress and conduct kept people out of the church. There were people who wouldn’t conform in certain ways and the church would not let them become members. It’s a struggle when we try to incorporate people from different backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities into one body. I’m sure the Roman church experienced some of the same struggles.

Paul dedicates 11 chapters of this letter to theology and I think he does this to remind his readers that we all have the same problem which is our alienation from God because of sin. We all come to God by faith in Christ and are saved, forgiven, justified because of God’s grace when we trust in Christ. This is the common experience we have. This message of salvation by grace through faith in Christ in Romans has had a profound effect on the world. Augustine of Hippo, the great theologian and leader of the church from North Africa, was converted to Christianity and experienced freedom from lust through reading Romans. Martin Luther and John Wesley both had similar experiences to Augustine’s when they heard or read the message of Romans. All three men expressed that it was as if their understanding was enlightened or changed in some way and they found the freedom of being forgiven and placed in right relationship with Christ. All three men have had an important and lasting impact on the Church.
It may sound like I’m rambling a little bit, but the point is that this message found in Romans, is life changing across the world. The gospel message is one that applies to all people, everywhere, in all times. It changes people’s lives when we grasp that, even though our sin separates us from God, through the grace of God, Jesus Christ has come and through faith in him, we are forgiven and made right with God. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection has made it possible for us to be forgiven and made righteous so that we can live in right relationship with God. We are born again and made new and live new lives as believers in Jesus. But it’s the living out of this new life together that can be hard, as Mennonites in Philadelphia have experienced in the last 120 years of our history.

I think this is why the last part of the letter is dedicated to the ways in which Christians are to live. We’re saved, so now what? Paul begins with telling them that they should offer their bodies as living sacrifices to God. There’s no need to go to the temple with a sheep to offer it as a sacrifice. Instead offer your very bodies in sacrifice to God. But he doesn’t mean we should kill ourselves and our bodies should be burned on an altar. He means we should live out our lives as an offering to God, as an act of worship to God. To be honest, I don’t ever think of cleaning my house as an act of worship. I don’t think of walking my dog as an act of worship. There are all kinds of things I do with my body that I don’t think of as an act of worship. But that’s what Paul is getting at. The living of our lives should be acts of worship to God. Why? Because our lives are now new. We’ve been born again and given new life in Christ, which means we live in a different way than before we were born again. In reading about the conversion experiences of Augustine, Martin Luther and John Wesley, we can see that they experienced the power of the Holy Spirit that changed the way they lived. We don’t have the power to change on our own.

Paul says in verse 2 that we are not to be conformed to the pattern of this world but instead we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We aren’t to fit into the mold of this world’s ways of thinking and being. Instead our minds, the way we handle feelings, the way we think, understand, make judgements needs a complete renovation and change for the better. Then we are able to discern, test, scrutinize and prove what is genuinely of God and what is not. As long as we continue to conform to the patterns of this world and fit into its mold of thinking and being, we can’t accurately discern what is of God and what is not. It’s like if I’m facing you, I can’t discern what is behind me. If I want to know what is behind me, I have to change the direction of my focus. As long as we are facing life in the direction the world sets, we can’t see from God’s perspective. We have to repent, to turn in a new direction and start looking at life from God’s perspective and that involves a complete renovation of our minds.

Augustine lived for several years with a woman he was not married to and had a child with her. He struggled with this because his mother was a Christian and he was influenced by Christianity, including the writings of St. Ambrose who became a friend of his. But no matter how much he gave mental assent to the claims of Christianity, he couldn’t or wouldn’t change the status of this relationship and that kept him from truly surrendering to Christ. But when he read Romans, the message of the gospel pierced both his mind and his spirit and he experienced the transformation that Paul is writing about. All of our being – mind, body and spirit – have to be given over to God. This is how we are living sacrifices.

This process of renewing our minds isn’t always instantaneous. It’s something most of us work on our entire lives. This renovation of our minds is much like renovation of a house. The more work you do, the more you find needs doing. When Paul writes, in the last half of this chapter about love in action and how believers should live, we find there is plenty to be working on. He talks about not seeking revenge for wrongs suffered, which is how the world does things, but instead blessing those who persecute you, doing what is right in God’s eyes, even though it can be so tempting to strike back in some way. Paul actually says three times in verses 14-21 to not retaliate against evildoers or those who do you wrong. Instead seek to live in peace, as much as you are able and leave room for God’s wrath. If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he’s thirsty, give him something to drink. Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good. Who knows? By doing good, your enemy might be won over to Christ.
The reference to heaping burning coals on their heads might mean that they feel the heat and begin to get uncomfortable by your good treatment of them, and so become convicted of their bad treatment of you. It takes a level of spiritual maturity and dependence on the Holy Spirit to not retaliate when one feels they have been wronged. The world tells us to get back at people. In fact, our culture celebrates it when we take our enemies out. It’s completely the opposite of Jesus who prayed for those who crucified him, that God forgive them, even while they were driving nails in his hands and feet. The maturing Christian will learn to look through the lens of Jesus instead of the lens of American culture.
Our culture will bend us out of shape. When we conform to the world, or the culture around us, instead of conforming to Christ, it bends us out of shape. In the object lesson I did with the kids, we could see that the different pieces of stained glass had to be the right shape to fit with the other pieces, and they had to go in the right place in order to make a beautiful picture. The Holy Spirit is shaping us to fit together into the Body of Christ. But as long as we conform ourselves and our minds to the world around us, instead of to Christ, we won’t fit in the Body. This is the problem the Mennonites in Philadelphia faced in trying to incorporate new people into their growing church. They came up against their own culture which needed some reshaping, as well as the world’s culture, which also needed reshaping, and they had a hard time finding a way for everyone to fit. It’s a chronic problem in the church as we try to find out how Christ wants to shape us so we fit together. What is it, in our own individual thinking and ways of doing things, and in our church structures and culture, that needs renovating so that the parts all fit and work well together?

I like this word “renovate” which is what “renew” means in verse 2. We renovate things that have become old and worn out so that they are like new. This implies that the thing used to be new once upon a time. This shows the growing nature of the Church. The Body of Christ is always growing and as we grow, things that once were new, become worn out or broken. They need fixing, renovating or in some cases, they need to be discarded and something brand new needs to be brought in. The Church is always a work in progress.
In verses 9-13 Paul talks about things that will help believers in the process of growing together. He writes that love must be sincere. We talked about love a couple weeks ago and how love is patient, kind, good, hangs in there, doesn’t give up, gives the benefit of the doubt and so forth. Paul says believers are to be devoted to one another in love, honoring each other, instead of each one seeking first place. We are to maintain our energy for serving the Lord. The work of growing together can be hard. It can drain our energy. The reason newborns sleep so much is because they are growing so much. It takes all their energy. It takes energy for us to grow as a church and we have to maintain that energy which is why the practice of Sabbath is so important. The maturing Christian will be taking care of themselves, keeping their lives in balance, so there is energy to devote to the Body of Christ. This is a problem today as we hear so much talk of people being so busy with work, with life, with kids, etc. that they don’t have time for their fellow believers. We are conforming to how our culture says we are to live. We are being squeezed into its mold. It’s very hard to go against our culture when it says that, in order to get ahead and have opportunities for our loved ones, we have to do all these things that keep us from worship and fellowship with the Body of Christ.

But the damage that is done to the Body is significant when we aren’t able to contribute our gifts, our talents, our abilities to the fellowship because we are too busy elsewhere. Paul writes in verses 3-8 about the different gifts given to the Body of Christ for its health and well being. These gifts are distributed among us and we are to be sharing them with each other. Verses 4 and 5 say, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” We belong to one another and each of us has an important function to fulfill that the rest of us need. The maturing Christian will seek to share their gifts with the rest of the fellowship so that the whole Body is healthy and functioning well.

Paul writes that “if your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” All these gifts are important and needed for the healthy functioning of the Body. And this isn’t an exhaustive list. We could add more. If your gift is singing, then sing; if it is organizing, then organize; if it is praying, then pray; if it is painting, then paint; if it’s cleaning, then clean; if it is cooking, then cook. Whatever gifts you have, find a way to offer them for the benefit of the Body of Christ.

We today, have some things in common with the Roman church that received this letter. The Roman church was thought to have been started by people who received Christ on the Day of Pentecost. They had a pedigree. Our church was started by Mennonites from Lancaster, people with a pedigree. Over the years, all kinds of people from different backgrounds and cultures have come into our fellowship, just as people came into the Roman church from all around the empire. It’s a struggle for us to not conform to our American culture just as it was for these believers steeped in Roman culture. We are trying to find ways for us to all fit together, with all our different shapes and abilities and ways of doing things, just as the Roman church was and it is not easy. We are trying to grow in our faith, just as they were. And the Holy Spirit is among us just as the Spirit was with them. The Holy Spirit is at work among us, maturing us, helping us to take care of our fellowship well, to know what our gifts are and to use them for the benefit of all. The Spirit is guiding us as we seek to live out our commitments to spiritual growth, to clarity, to making disciples and leaders, and to engage with our community. The Spirit continues to teach us how to love.