THE SPIRIT-CONTROLLED LIFE – PART 1 (Romans 12:9-13)
INTRODUCTION:
This morning as promised we return to where we left off in the book of Romans. Before December we had made it through Romans 12:8, so this morning we will pick up in Romans 12:9.
We are all impressed by a truly superb athlete or a musician who excels either on the instrument he plays, such as a concert pianist or by his ability to sing. What we do not see is the discipline that must be achieved for them to excel, the practice and training that the athlete puts in to be the truly superb athlete that he or she is. The hours daily that a concert pianist practices or the voice lessons and practice that a singer puts in to be able to play or sing in the way that causes us to enjoy the music that they make. It is the discipline of that person that makes it possible for them to exceed others in what they do. Paul in writing to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:8 wrote, “…for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:8, NASB95)[1] Paul is teaching Timothy that the only truly productive life for a Christian is one that is disciplined, understanding that our spiritual direction and power come from the Lord, He can only work effectively through those whose lives are subjected to Him. What is self-discipline for the Christian? It is obedience to the Word of God. It is the willing surrender of everything in our lives, meaning everything physical, emotional, social, intellectual, moral, and spiritual, subordinating all that we are to God’s will and control to the glory of God. The Christian life is an accountable life whose accountability is based on the written Word of God. When we do not obey God’s Word and we ignore His will, He will discipline us because as His children we are accountable to Him. Our lives will not be perfect and there will be times when we waver in our commitment and our obedience, but the direction of our lives should be striving for godliness and our greatest desire to become more and more like Jesus Christ.
A person who is justified by God’s grace and has presented his body as a living and holy sacrifice and who is exercising the spiritual gift that the Lord has given him, this person’s salvation will be known by how he lives, his life will give evidence of his salvation. This person will be living a supernatural life empowered and directed by the indwelling Holy Spirit. The rest of chapter 12 which we will look at over the next few weeks is a list, a comprehensive, but not exhaustive list that Paul gives us of the basic characteristics of the Christian who is living a Spirit-controlled, disciplined, and obedient life. This is our response for all that God has done for us and all that He has equipped us with. In these final 13 verses of this chapter Paul gives us some 25 distinct but closely related exhortations. As we go through these, we will be convicted of falling far short of what the Spirit-controlled life should be. It will cause us to look honestly at our lives in light of these exhortations and seek the Lord’s help to live them out in our lives. These exhortations of Paul can be grouped into four categories, exhortations concerning our personal life, our family life with other believers, our life with other people in general, and our life with those who have declared themselves as our personal enemies. This morning we will only look at the first category, personal duties. Let’s pray then get into our passage.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans 12:9-13. Please stand if you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Romans 12:9-13,
“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.” (Romans 12:9–13, NASB95)[2]
DUTIES OF A SPIRIT-CONTROLLED LIFE – PERSONAL (Romans 12:9)
Love without hypocrisy (Romans 12:9a)
As we begin this section of Scripture, Paul first gives duties that are of a personal nature, characteristics that should be evident in each person who is living a Spirit-controlled life. He begins by writing, “Let love be without hypocrisy.” (Romans 12:9a, NASB95)[3] Love should be the first thing that exemplifies a Spirit-controlled life. There are several words in the Greek language for love, each describing an aspect of love. The Greek word that Paul uses here is agapē and in the Scriptures it is proclaimed as the virtue over all other virtues. Agapē love is a selfless love, it centers on the needs and welfare of the one loved and is willing to make any sacrifice or pay any price to meets the needs or ensure the welfare of the one loved.
This is the love which God has for mankind, we know the sacrifice and the price paid to reconcile sinful man to Himself again, to restore the fellowship that existed before sin entered the world. John spoke extensively of this love in his first epistle. In 1 John 4:16 he wrote, “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (1 John 4:16, NASB95)[4] Jesus during His ministry on this earth spoke of this love as being the key to the law. Matthew 22:37-40 records His words, “And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37–40, NASB95)[5] Paul also speaks a lot about this love in his letters, writing a whole chapter on it to the Corinthians. It is so important that it is named as the first fruit of the Spirit in Galatians. Jesus said we would be known as His disciples by our love for one another.
Paul writes that this love is to be without hypocrisy. Sincere agapē love has no room for selfishness, it is in itself selfless. Hypocrisy is completely incompatible with agapē love, the two cannot exist together. By definition those who practice hypocrisy do so for their own gain, the hypocrite never considers the other person. Agapē love is just the opposite and always considers the other person. The theologian John Murray commenting on this verse wrote, “If love is the sum of virtue and hypocrisy is the epitome of vice, what a contradiction to bring the two together.”[6]
Abhor what is Evil (Romans 12:9b)
Next Paul exhorts the Spirit-controlled person to “Abhor what is evil.” (Romans 12:9b, NASB95)[7] We are to hate evil; evil is the opposite of holiness and righteousness. Proverbs 9:10 is a verse that we all are familiar with, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10, NASB95)[8] But did you know that the chapter before that in Proverbs 8:13 it says, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate.” (Proverbs 8:13, NASB95)[9]
Evil is the enemy of God and of love. The person controlled by the Spirit who genuinely loves will truly hate or abhor evil. Evil is all around us and we must face it every day. Paul already describe for us in chapter 7 his struggle to do what is right only to find himself doing what he hates, practicing the very evil that he does not wish to do. (Romans 7:14-21) If you truly desire to hate sin, when you fall back into sin, your inner godly self will strongly disapprove.
We must make a choice to avoid evil, when we flirt with sin we can be sure that we will fall into it. We see the progression in Psalm 1 where the psalmist writes, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!” (Psalm 1:1, NASB95)[10] It begins innocently enough by just walking by it, next you are standing in the path in the midst of evil and finally you are comfortably sitting with them. The psalmist says blessed is the man who does not do these things, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:2, NASB95)[11]
Paul more than once instructed Timothy to flee from evil and to pursue righteousness. As men and women of God we should not even tolerate evil in our midst because when we do, it makes pursuing righteousness impossible. Paul instructed the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21–22, NASB95)[12] If our desire is to be like Jesus Christ, we must love what He loves and hate what He hates.
Cling to what is good (Romans 12:9c)
Thirdly, Paul writes that we are to “cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9c, NASB95)[13] The verb translated cling to is from the Greek word that means “to glue.” It is a word that came to refer to any bond, physical, emotional, spiritual. It is the root of the word used in Ephesians 5:31 where Paul quoting from the Old Testament said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” (Ephesians 5:31, NASB95)[14] This word translated joined comes from the same root and means to be glued to his wife. In Romans 12 Paul tells us to bind or glue ourselves to what is good. Those things that are naturally right and worthy.
Paul had told the Philippians what those good things were in Philippians 4:8 where he wrote, “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” (Philippians 4:8, NASB95)[15] If we go back again to 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, Paul in these verses is calling us to be discerning when he writes, “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21–22, NASB95)[16] By being discerning and carefully and thoughtfully evaluating everything, we will be able to decide, judged against God Word what is evil and to reject it and what is good and to cling to it.
Paul had already told us how we can find what is good, he wrote in verse 2 of this chapter, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2, NASB95)[17] As we separate ourselves from the things of this world and fill our minds with God’s Word, which will require us to read it and know it, and that is more than a verse a day, it is reading it often and meditating on it throughout the day and the things that are good will more and more replace the things that are evil.
CONCLUSION:
Paul instructs us on how we can practically live the Spirit-controlled life by letting our love be without hypocrisy, selfless, more concerned for the one loved then the one doing the loving. Imagine if we loved everyone this way, what a different world this would be. Do you have this kind of love for others? Peter spoke of this love for one another in 1 Peter 1:22, he wrote, “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,” (1 Peter 1:22, NASB95)[18] John also instructed the readers of his first epistle to love one another, in 1 John 4:7-8 he wrote, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:7–8, NASB95)[19] This love for one another is the evidence that we know and love God, in that same chapter in 1 John down a few verses farther John wrote these words in verses 20-21, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.” (1 John 4:20–21, NASB95)[20] This love for one another shows that we love God as well. As Spirit-controlled believers, let us love as Christ loved us.
Paul also instructed us to hate what is evil, resist it, flee from it. We must be discerning and we must examine all things carefully by the Word of God, then we will know what is evil. As we are conformed to the image of Christ we will hate what He hates. We cannot get away from evil it is all around us and we are bombarded by it constantly, but we do not have to embrace it, instead by the Spirit of God we can hate it and not allow it to infect us. When we do give in to it and our inner self and the Spirit of God convicts us of it, John tells us in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, NASB95)[21] We begin again to walk in the Spirit and be controlled by the Spirit.
Finally, Paul instructed us to cling to what is good, literally bind or glue ourselves to what is good. We do this by filling our lives with God’s Word, I cannot stress enough to you that you must be in God’s Word daily, and more than a verse or two. Take 15 minutes of your day and just read God’s Word and you will begin to want more. I know that several of you did the Bible in 90 days several years ago, I encourage you to do it again. It gives you a great overview of the Bible and you see how it all fits together as you read it in such a short time. If this seems too much for you then I suggest you start by reading the Bible through in a year. There are plans that can be found on the internet. I have even printed one and put it on the back table if you would like to try to read the Bible in a year. Find some plan and use it so that you can be gluing yourself to what is good.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]MacArthur, John, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Romans 9-16. Chicago, IL : Moody Publishers, 1994.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[15]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[16]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[17]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[18]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[19]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[20]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[21]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.