A REFRIGERATOR LIST FOR WINNERS

Romans 12:9-16

9) “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10) Be kindly affection-ed one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another; 11) Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12) Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; 13) Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. 14) Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. 15) Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16) Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.”

Introduction

A preacher once told about three kids who made a new club. They had three
rules. Nobody acts big. Nobody acts little. Everybody acts medium. Pretty good
advice!

In the verses that precede this section of Romans twelve, Paul talks about
being living sacrifices and that it starts inside. We become what we think about
(and what we think about ourselves). Now this is part two of being a living
sacrifice—living sacrifices living together.

I.      Love Must Be Sincere (v. 9).

(This is a Greek word that you know, anhupocritos, not
hypocritical, not fake.)

A.  Love and pretense cannot exist together.

B.  It has little to do with sentiment, but a lot to do with determination,
commitment, decision.

II.     Love Hates Evil. It Clings to Good (v. 9).

A.  Love is not real if it fails to discriminate between evil and good.

B.  If I love you, I won’t lead you off toward something ungodly.
Standards work. A standardless society does not work. Love clings to
good things, and quickly turns away from low things. 

III.     Love Is Being a Devoted Friend (v. 10).

IV.    Love Honors Another Above Yourself (v. 10).

A.  This may be the hardest on the list.

B.  To do this I have to have enough sense of my worth as a child of God
and as a possession of the Son of God that I don’t have to scratch and
battle for the upper hand with you.

V.     Love Is Zealous, with Spiritual Fervor (v. 11).

Right in the middle of this is a spiritual reminder; “serving the Lord.” If
we need to outdo others, outdo them in devotion to Christ. 

VI.    Love Is Joyful (Because of Hope) (v. 12).

VII.   Love Is Patient in Affliction (v. 12).

It holds out. We will not be delivered from all misfortune, but in the
midst of misfortune we will be sustained. 

VIII.    Love Is Faithful in Prayer (v. 12).

We mentioned mother. This one has mother written all over it. One
father of adult children prays for his sons and their wives every day. That
might get him up to a third of his wife’s prayers for them. 

IX.    Love Shares with God’s People Who Are in Need (v. 13).

It shares with godless people too, as it can. But God’s people are a first
priority.

X.     Love Practices Hospitality (v. 13).

Is your house a place where children clamor to come, where
missionaries and traveling friends can always find a bed, where a lot of
folks in the church family have pulled up under your table, where brothers
and sisters can find an ear, a chair, and a prayer? 

XI.    Love Blesses Those Who Persecute (v. 14).

XII.   Love Rejoices with Those Who Rejoice (v. 15).

It will do that even with those who have achieved a success that you
want, but may never enjoy yourself. 

XIII.  Love Mourns with Those Who Mourn (v. 15).

It lifts up part of the pain. 

XIV. Love Stretches Its Social Range Past Its Comfort Zones (v. 16).

Conclusion

Remember, all letter long, Paul reminds us that this is God-guided living that
we cannot produce on our own. We need a Savior. We need the Spirit. We may have them.

A Welcome Visit

     Some visitors are rather intrusive. They are like your relatives at Christmas who remind you of Proverbs 25:17, “Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house—too much of you, and he will hate you. “     

     Other visitors are tolerated. You don’t enjoy them much, but you can get through it with God’s help. And, you usually feel good that you endured it. It’s something like kissing your sister.

     But some visitors refresh you. They are very welcome, and you come away as a better person. You are glad to roll out the red carpet for them because they stimulate you and leave you never the same.

     When Jesus visited earth his visit was received in all three of these ways. Zechariah (John’s the Baptist’s Father) was never the same as a result of the Son of God’s visit. You remember the plot: Luke’s orderly account begins with a priest’s encounter with an angel. The encounter left him silent until his son was born. When he was able to speak his first words they were about God’s visit to earth. Only later did he talk about his own son.

     In the coming of Jesus Christ, God visited the world and left it never the same. For that visit, from Zechariah’s perspective, was:

 
I.    A Spiritual Visit.  The language is political: horn, David’s reign, deliverance from enemies, preparation for a king’s visit, and peace. But the meaning of the language is spiritual: redemption, salvation, forgiveness, mercy, remembered covenant, service to God, and light for those in darkness.

II.    A Long-Awaited Visit:  One thing that makes Christmas to be Christmas is the sense of anticipation. Only Easter could rival that sense of the giving of new fife. In a sense this is the last prophecy before the coming of the Messiah. We should notice the longing that is in it. It is similar to Simeon’s response (Luke 2:28-32).

III.    An Effectual Visit:  Some visits happen and leave you with a first-class yawn. But this visit makes an actual difference. John the Baptist’s whole life is wrapped up in this prophecy. Listen: Our service, holiness, righteousness, moral excellence, and peace are at stake.

Conclusion:  Jesus got upset because the Jews didn’t recognize their visitor (Luke 19:44). There are few things as embarrassing as being in the presence of greatness and not knowing it. Will Christmas catch us unaware of what God is doing in the world? Will you respond like scrooge, complaining about this visit? Will you respond like the Jews, nonchalant? That’s the question we all must answer in this New Year of 2014. The very existence of our families and our nation is at stake.

Yesterday, Today & Forever

     Yesterday “You shall not go out with haste, … for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard” (Isaiah 52:12).
 

     Security from Yesterday. “… God requires an account of what is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.

     Security for Tomorrow. “… the Lord will go before you … .” This is a gracious revelation—that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard.” And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.

     Security for Today. “You shall not go out with haste … .” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.

     Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.