We Few, We Happy Few...

 

Read 2 Corinthians 1

In our last episode…

It’s like watching Batman and Robin. The Caped Crusaders would catch the bad guys during the allotted time, but end up in peril once again at the end of the show.

Paul was delaying his trip to Corinth because he was realizing much success in Asia. Things changed.

They got bad, then worse. We don’t get all the details, but apparently it was more than just the Judaizers opposing Paul and his crew. He noted there was some existential risk. We call that danger.

It was more than they could handle, but not too much for God. In fact, only in these desperate times was God’s presence manifest.

It was sort of like God sending so many of Gideon’s warriors home so that it would be evident that the victory could have come only from God.

It was sort of like God hardening Pharaoh’s heart so that there would be no doubt that the Hebrew people were released from bondage in Egypt, not because of the superior negotiation skills of Moses, but by the mighty acts of God.

Paul noted that only God could have delivered them. So, one day or month or year, Paul and company stopped going from mountaintop experience to mountaintop experience. The next thing they knew they were walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

But they lived to fight and spread the gospel another day. Paul noted that the believers in Asia and those in Corinth and Achaia were like fellow combatants.

They endured pain with each other, and they celebrated victories together.

While the poetry is not there, I grasp the same sentiment and warrior spirit as in the king’s speech in Shakespeare’s Henry V.  Do you remember how he summed it all up? The words will sound familiar.

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be rememberèd—

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition;

And gentlemen in England now a-bed

Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

I’m not doing a History Channel thing on the Battle of Agincourt, the introduction of the British longbow into fifteenth-century combat, or how few we happy few happened to be.

Paul noted that it was something special to suffer for God, to suffer for the gospel.

Do you remember God telling Ananias that he would show Saul—by this time we are calling him Paul—how much he must suffer for my name.

Paul knew that he would suffer as he took the truth to a world that didn’t want to hear it.

Do you recall how the Beatitudes concluded?

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Surely, Tom isn’t going to insert a time of self-flagellation into the worship service or Sunday School.  The one who jump-started the Reformation practiced a little of that and the Cumberland Church is part of the reformed tradition.

I knew I should have gone to that meeting to see what they were up to.

The only form of self-inflicted suffering you will get this morning is to make it through the rest of the sermon.

Understand that if we live the life of a disciple, we will inevitably face persecution and suffering. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and said, “Let’s come out of this victorious together.”  Close enough.

To live is Christ. To die is gain. You know the words. Paul noted that pressing on doing the work of an evangelist might just be painful, but let’s enjoy it together.

I love seeing other veterans when I cruise, especially my fellow Marines. And when you have been places that most people never go of their own accord, you share something.

You may have been separated by miles or meters, years or decades, allies and enemies, but you chewed the same dirt or are still working the desert sand out of your ears today.

There is a connection that the timid and those governed by comfort will never know. Paul noted that he and the Corinthians were their own sort of band of brothers. Yes, the syntax reflects the masculine but applies to all who have been persecuted for following the Christ.

Those who never endured and emerged victorious over what the world threw at them should hold their manhood cheap.

Enough for the band of brothers bit.  Let’s get to discipleship. This one comes with some assurance. It is delivered in the course of Paul explaining his travel plans, but we are not talking Google Maps and GPS routings.

 But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.  Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Ok, there is a little more Band of Brothers in that, but we must extract from this the affirmative. When we ask, how can God fulfill his promises to us in the middle of my mess, we know the answer is in Christ Jesus, not in our own understanding.

So, there is your affirmation. Now, let’s have our dose of discipleship. You have heard this from me before, and probably will again.

The curse of modern Christianity is to acknowledge God, acknowledge Jesus died for our sins, and acknowledge that the Spirit lives within us, and then live unchanged lives because we hold our own understanding in such high esteem.

Knowing that the saints here in this body and in those across the road or the nation are called to put the words of our Master into practice…

Knowing that the saints across the ages, not just in this modern century, are called to put the words of our Master into practice…

Knowing that all of God’s promises are true and will be fulfilled in the name and the work of Christ Jesus…

Knowing all these things…

How can we not be changed? How can we grip our own understanding so tightly? How can we let our fellow warriors—our fellow saints—down by not surrendering it all to Christ Jesus and putting his words into practice?

Let us live as if our very souls believed that every promise is “Yes” in Christ Jesus. We are not in this alone. We have brothers and sisters in this fight with us as we invade a pagan world with the good news.

We are in league with every believer of every century. We are fellow warriors in Christ in every clime and place—couldn’t pass that one up—with every geography, regardless of where the boundaries are now drawn.

Some church bodies engage in a lot of worldly, feel-good activities. Some of you may wish we didn’t have so much scripture and did some feel-good stuff every once in a while.

Not because it feels good, but because it reinforces Paul’s words, I will give you the end of the Shakespeare quote to close. It’s a relevant affirmation.

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be rememberèd—

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition;

And gentlemen in England now a-bed

Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

In Christ, all of God’s promises are fulfilled.

We are not in this alone.

Imagine one day in eternity, coming up on a young, ruddy-looking man picking out stones from a stream. You say, “What’s up?”  The strapping young man says, “I’m fixin’ to go kill me a giant or two. You comin’?”

We are in this fight together with the saints from all ages, and some of them are excellent warriors.

We face this mean and tumultuous world with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ across time and geography. We are in good company when the world persecutes us for following Christ.

Enjoy the company of your fellow warriors.

Amen.

Fully to the Work of the Lord

 

Read 1 Corinthians 15

Let’s begin near the end of the chapter.

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

We like the words love fulfills the law, until we understand that this is more work than just rote obedience to the law. Jesus raised the bar. We go beyond the words to the intent of God’s heart.

Sin and Death are lifelong companions. Bad company corrupts good character, so we don’t want anything to do with these two characters—Sin and Death.

But there they are constantly taunting the believer to play the old game that we can never win. Instead of being bound by rules, we are charged to be unleashed by love.

This takes effort—more effort than rote obedience. There is nothing wrong with obedience. In fact, obedience is good. It is essential.

But we don’t obey for fear of going to hell. We obey out of love and sometimes that obedience takes many forms.

Most of the time it is not doing something at a specific time and place or building a stick hut in your backyard. Most of the time, we meet the demands of the law by loving our neighbor, lifting the chains of oppression for someone we probably don’t know, or just finding how to live in one accord and bring glory to God.

What’s all that mean?

To live by the law in order to achieve salvation is fruitless, even futile—only Jesus ever fully lived by the law. The hearts of the religious leaders of the day were so immersed in rote obedience to regulation that they never sought the divine heart of God that we receive through Jesus.

We have received right standing with God because the righteousness of Jesus has been imputed to us. That’s how we got here. Now, you get some familiar words from me.

How will we respond to this incredible gift?

Paul says give yourself fully to the work of the Lord. You don’t have to quit your job, but you are called to live for the Lord in your job or in school or in your retirement or…

 

How do I do that?

Love. Well, that’s a little broad, don’t you think?

Show mercy. We are supposed to love being merciful, but we want to show mercy like the pagans do—to those who reciprocate.

Forgive. Same as mercy. We like the pagan model. We don’t want to forgive those who should not be forgiven. Better take all of the mirrors out of our houses.

Help when you are able. We are better at this than other things.

Pray not only for yourself and your family, but also for those you don’t even like. I told you that this was tougher than rote compliance with the law.

Reconcile. I might forgive, a little, but I won’t forget and you can forget this whole reconciliation business. I’m down with the pagan model.

Share the good news of life in Christ Jesus. Not again.  Can’t you check this one off and move on.

Speak the truth in a spirit of love. Speaking the truth in a spirit of love, share the good news. No wimping out!

As much as is possible, get along with everyone.

Bring up your children in the way they should go. That’s not playing fair. I would have to do all of those other things to be a good example for my children.

Let the word of God judge the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. C’mon Tom, you are not playing fair.

Bring glory to God. There is a lot of latitude in that one.

Enjoy him very much while we do things in his name. You won’t hear that one much outside of those in the reformed tradition. I didn’t say enjoy life. I said enjoy God. As a collateral benefit, we get to enjoy our lives as well.

The church in Corinth was a mess, but they were saved from sin and death. We should take some consolation in the fact that whatever our mess is, God has seen it before and still loves us in spite of our mess.

It is in our messes where we often experience growth.

Forgiving something that doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter.

Now that we are free of sin and death, we are expected to forgive something that hurts a lot. We are forgiven.

Giving to the Lord when it’s from our leftovers is hardly what you would expect of a joyful giver who will not taste death.

Being at odds with another believer might seem justifiable to you, but it won’t stand up when we stand before the Lord.

Here’s the short and sweet of it.

Church, you are a mess, but you are saved from your sin and will be with God forever.

Respond appropriately to the magnitude of the gift that you have received.

Live for God.

Live in one accord with other believers.

Be known by your love.

While we would all like to live long and profitable lives in these bodies, we know that much more is waiting for us. Knowing this, live for the Lord with everything you are, have, and hope for in the days ahead.

These things that we do that we don’t want to do bring glory to God and distinguish us from the unbelieving world. They fall under the umbrella of love.

As it turns out, we are to be known as followers of Jesus by our love.

I don’t know about you—well, maybe I do—but I don’t want to blend in with the unbelieving world. I want to be known as a disciple of Jesus by my love.

That distinction is becoming more pronounced these days.

I want to bring glory to God’s name.

I want to live as what he made me to be—a victor. I want to live in the victory of Christ Jesus over sin and death.

Yes, I am a mess, but I am living in the victory of Christ Jesus.

Amen.

I don't even judge myself!

 Read 1 Corinthians 4

Paul said that he didn’t even judge himself.  That’s a statement right there!

I don’t even judge myself.

That’s Paul. Surely that’s not for us. Is it?

Realize that Paul explained that people are not qualified to judge others. Our human nature kicks in, and we condemn more than we discern.

You might be thinking, I get judged yearly on my performance evaluation. I hope not. I hope that it measures value. Judgment or discernment is involved in the evaluation process. We judge or assess the amount, number, or value of something.

We are not venturing any further into performance evaluations. Let’s focus on judging, specifically Paul's comment about not judging himself.

Among the tougher jobs that I had as a Marine officer was as a Summary Court. Yes, one individual can be assigned as the whole court.

In the court, I was the prosecutor, defendant’s counsel, clerk, and judge. I did get a Marine to serve as bailiff to get other witnesses, evidence, or coffee. It sounds easy enough—you do the whole thing.

You think it would be easy. You only have to sort things out for yourself. You are missing out if that’s what you believe. You don’t know the joy of objecting to your own questions. It does get you ready for marriage, though. So much for the rabbit trail.

The hardest part was getting the defendants to say something good about themselves. These young Marines knew they screwed up and were ready to pay the price. But as their legal counsel, you wanted to put their best side forward, even if you had to pull it out of them.

I say all of this to make a simple point. We are not prepared to judge another person. Our courts do the best they can, but what about the believer and his or her relationship with God? What about us?

Shouldn’t we judge ourselves? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a practice test? Don’t you want to know where you stand with the Lord?

Yes, you are forgiven, but what have you done with your life since you were forgiven and saved?  Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. I get that. It’s all him.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see where we stand before we stand before the Lord?

We can. We have a judge available to us all the time. It’s like an app. The word of God judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Paul didn’t need the approval of the Corinthians or Ephesians or even the Hebrew people.  God alone would judge him and if he wanted to know where he stood, he could consult God’s word, which Paul knew so well.

So today, I say:

·       Don’t be subject to what others think of you. That’s outside of your purview.

·       Don’t decide based on how others might react. Just do the right thing.

·       Do what your Master tells you to do. Its right there in black and white. Some of it might be in red.

·       Don’t judge yourself. Be receptive to what God’s word says about you, but don’t get wrapped up in others' judgment of you.

·       Don’t beat yourself up. None of you surprised God when you fell short. I might be the only one who surprised him with how far outside the lines I was coloring.

Do those and you will have a humble confidence. You will also have someone who is always upset with you.

Elsewhere, Paul noted that one should get along with everyone as much as possible. If one does not get along with someone, one should make sure it is not the Lord that one offends.

Let the word of God be your judge. Focus on practicing the Lord’s words, learning from him, and pouring yourself into your discipleship.

Amen.

Sharpening One Another

 Read Galatians 2

And so this second chapter brings us to the Proverbs, at least to one with which you are familiar.

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

So what we look at today is not so much the theology that Paul gave to the Galatians and to us but the mechanics of Christian life.  We don’t always agree.  We don’t walk on the Primrose Path.  Christian life is not all roses, sometimes it’s more like thorns.

Paul noted that he eventually went to Jerusalem to confer with the principals of the Jerusalem church and those who were leading other to Jesus.  Paul said that he knew that what he received from God was the truth.  It was the gospel.  It was his life mission.

But still, had he missed something, anything?  Peter and John had walked with Jesus for 3 years.  Did they have some insight that he missed?

Paul was certain of what Jesus commanded him to do, but still it was good to confer with other believers.

As it turned out, all were in accord as to salvation.  It is a gift of God.  The Pharisees were raising objections to the Gentile believers not following the law.  They weren’t even circumcised!

But the demands of the infiltrators were stifled, at least as far as the leadership was concerned.  It was grace and only grace that led to salvation.  It was the unfathomable love of God that took away our sin in the blood of Jesus.

Listen to what Peter had to say in this Acts 15 account.

Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

It’s not only grace for the Gentiles but grace for the Jew as well.  Nobody has ever attained righteousness through the law.  Jesus was the only one to ever fulfill the law and he was righteous to begin with. It’s an impossible journey.  It’s noble in effort but fruitless in results.

It’s grace, grace, and only grace by which we come to salvation.

Remember where I began.

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

Sometimes that means that we butt heads on occasion, not to justify ourselves, but to live a more godly life.  Paul noted that when Peter came to Antioch, he was socializing with the Jew and Gentile alike, but when some men from James joined them, Peter withdrew from associating with the Gentiles.

Do you know the term for this?  High School.

This is the nature of people to close ranks with those whom they think they are most like.  Paul noted that he told Peter, “That dog don’t hunt!”

Most likely this meant that Peter was observing only Jewish customs and not eating or socializing with the Gentile believers.

Paul proffers to Peter and to us, that we are hypocrites if we can’t live by grace in the light.  Are we ashamed of living by grace?

We could never live fully by the law in the first place, so why pretend that the part of the law we can uphold gets us to righteousness?

We should desire to live holy and righteous lives in response to grace.  But couldn’t it be some law and some grace, ok, mostly grace?

Let’s say it was ten percent living by the law and ninety percent salvation through grace, how would we handle that?

We would start by saying that I did my small part and God did the rest.  After a few years we would say it’s more like a fifty-fifty deal.  I do my part and God matches that with grace. It’s a matching 401K for salvation.

Give it a little more time and our human nature will have us saying, I did most of what was needed to get to righteousness.  God threw in a little at the end.

We will get to this statement in Paul’s letter to Ephesus, but let’s think on it now.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Salvation is a gift of God.  Period! Or exclamation mark!  It is a gift.  Our human nature would be to boast in our righteousness, but we must always remember that salvation is a gift from God.

Why do I need to remember this?

That man who used and maybe even sold drugs or stole to get them, once he receives the gift of God, he is my brother.  She is my sister in Christ Jesus.

Even the murderer who receives Jesus as Lord is my brother or sister in Christ.  His or her salvation came from God, not from their righteousness or lack thereof.

We like to look at everyone’s sins as a lifelong resume that they carry with them.  Now our sins have been washed away in the blood of Jesus, but some people can never be as good as we are now that we are saved.

That dog—that thinking—don’t hunt.  Salvation for you, for me, for anyone who repents and believes is from God. 

This is just Tom Theology here, but I think the person who was so far from God and comes to believe, actually understands God’s love better than I do.  God’s grace reached out so far to save them that they understand grace better than many of us who were brought up in the way we should go do.

Back to where I started.

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

The standard mentoring model balances challenge and support.  If there is too much challenge, people often back away.  If there is support without challenge, people just don’t grow.

The balance of challenge and support produces growth.  I like to say that we are challenged to get out of our comfort zones on a regular basis.  There is only one comfort zone appropriate to the believer and it is called GROWTH.

Think on this week’s chapter in terms of the proverb.

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

Amen.

Romans Wrap Up, Review, and Rolling of the Credits

Read Romans 16

Paul finally concludes this lengthy epistle in what we define as the 16^th chapter.  It is the longest of his letters.  That’s why it traditionally comes first in your Bibles.  His letters to the churches are sequenced not by date but by length with the short pastoral letters after that.

At the end of a stage play, the cast comes out for a last curtain call.  There are bows and curtsies.  Many are acknowledged with applause for their performances.

In a major motion picture, the credits may roll for ten minutes after the story is over.  The credits often have their own musical score.  They are something of a production in themselves.

Paul, in similar fashion, rolled the credits at the end of his longest letter.  He acknowledged those who had helped him in many ways.  We may know some of these people.  Some are from Corinth.  Some likely from Rome.  Some may have carried the letter penned by Paul’s scribe, Tertius, who is also acknowledged in this chapter for being the speech to text app that put Paul’s pontifications to papyrus.

Paul has a final piece of counsel to add to his acknowledgements, closes with a benediction, and in this final chapter has said, “That’s enough for this letter.”  His hope was to visit this congregation in person.  He mentioned that in the beginning and explained more of how that might happen near the end.

As we have approached this letter mostly as a biblical textbook, let’s do our final review.

·     By the evidence of creation itself, everyone should know there is a God.  He is real and you should know that with or without a preacher, a Bible, or instructions from another person.

·     God’s wrath awaits the rebellious person.  We deserve it.

·     OBTW—we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

·     We—just as Abraham who was the greatest example to the Jews—are justified by faith.  It’s not by our bloodline or strict compliance with the law, but by faith.

·     OK, let’s get historical and theological for a moment.  Sin entered the world through one man.  You guessed it.  Adam takes the rap for this one.  Sin’s partner in crime, death, followed closely in trace.  But through one man—Jesus who walked this earth as God in the flesh—we are made right with God again.  We are right with God.

·     We didn’t have to do anything to earn this gift of grace, so what should we do?  Go on sinning so we can get more grace.  No!  That is not who we are anymore.  In that “No” Paul begins his discourse on discipleship.

·     Discipleship is our response to God’s incredible and undeserved love.  It is how we love God back, and sometimes it is a struggle.  Salvation came in an instant.  Discipleship is a process and sometimes that process finds us doing things that we never intended to do.

·     And then we come to what we mark as Paul’s 8^th chapter.  Paul talked about struggling and then follows it with affirmation after affirmation, at the heart of it all is that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!  That affirmation alone should get us through the toughest of days.

·     Our suffering in this present age can’t compare with what is to come.  Suffering, pain, and persecution may seem intense to us now, but won’t even muster an afterthought when we are living in what God has in store for us.

·     In all of these things that we deal with in our discipleship, we need to realize that we are victorious because of Christ Jesus.  In all these things, we are more than conquerors.

·     Sometimes we can’t make sense of much of anything but we are assured that God takes all things and works them for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

·     What can we say here?  If God is for us, who can stand against us.  Remember that this is a rhetorical question.  God is for us.  We should have the boldness of David when he faced the giant named Goliath.  Don’t you wish that Mister T had written this part of the Bible.  “I pity the fool that doesn’t have God and comes up against his servant.  That poor, uncircumcised Philistine.”  God is with us!  God is for us!  Who and what can stand against us?

·     And then we come to some of the most poetic and empowering of Paul’s words.  Here they are in the New Living Translation.  And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

·     Just as it seemed that Paul was on a roll with discipleship and had accompanied it with some of the strongest affirmations in the New Testament, he changes course.  He tells us that we need to understand God’s sovereignty.  God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy.  That turns out to be a good thing for everyone who was not in the bloodline of Abraham, those people known only as gentiles at the time.

·     God has a chosen people but for a time they were blinded, numb, or in a stupor when the Messiah came, taught, healed, died for the sins of humankind, and took his life up again.  Most of the Hebrew people, especially their religious hierarchy, just missed it.

·     That’s good news for us and as it turns out, good news for these Chosen People as well.  All have been bound over to disobedience so that all my come to know God not by the bloodline of Abraham but by the sacrificial blood of Christ Jesus.

·     By the time that we get to chapter 12, Paul begins his upper level instruction in discipleship.  Some of what he has to say takes us to graduate coursework.

·     It begins with being a living sacrifice.  This could be an oxymoron or a paradox.  Most sacrifices don’t get to live.  The two words usually don’t go together, but when we give ourselves fully to God then we finally come to know the abundant life that Jesus came to give us.  I’m I thinking that I am coining my own Pauline term—paradoxymoron.  I think Living Sacrifice is a paradox of truth contain in this oxymoron.  Plus, I like inventing my own terms.

·     Next we are called to renew our minds.  We can’t just give God a little part of our mind and expect to see transformation.  We need to let him replough our entire field so we can be transformed into the exact person that he wants us to be.

·     OBTW—there is a fantastic benefit to giving our entire lives to God and surrendering to this transformation process.  We get to know God’s will.  We should not shrink back from this for it is a good and pleasing and perfect will.  Of course, we must surrender one of our biggest excuses when we become a living sacrifice and commit to the renewing of our mind; we have to give up saying, I don’t know what God wants me to do.  I don’t know what God wants me to do with my life.

·     Paul continues his discipleship discussion with a short discourse on gifts.  Our salvation was not just a Get out of Hell Free Card.  It also came with Spiritual Gifts.  We are to take our gifts and use them.  If God gifted us to teach, then teach.  If he equipped us to cook, then cook.  If he put music in you, then sing and play and lift your voice to the Lord like no other so as to bring him glory.  If it is to write, then write.  If it is to speak an immediate message from God—we call that prophesying—then speak the truth that God has given you.  Oliver Wendell Holmes once said that so many people die with their music still in them.  What a tragedy.  What terrible discipleship.  God gave us gifts so that we could put them to use and bring glory to his name and produce fruit for the body of Christ.

·     Paul then jumps to graduate level discipleship.  Love must be sincere.  Do you know how hard it is to fake sincerity?  Now that should be an oxymoron.  Our heart is being shaped like God’s.  We must have genuine love for one another—even the knuckleheads.

·     While Paul is working at the graduate level, he adds:  Bless those who persecute you.  To which many of us reply, I am happy with an undergrad degree. 

·     Do not repay evil for evil but overcome evil with good.  You can’t fake this, at least not for long.  It goes back to love must be sincere.  That goes back to our transformation.  We are being shaped in the image and likeness of Christ Jesus.  That goes back to our entire lives being given to God as our reasonable act of service, as our true worship, as the only acceptable response to God’s mercy and grace.

·     The next part doesn’t get any easier, especially for Americans.  We are to submit to authority. Ouch!  We are a nation born in rebellion.  We would rather dump tea into Boston Harbor than submit to what we thought or think is unjust governing.  This goes back to God is sovereign.

·     Those in power are there at the pleasure of God.  There serve as his lieutenants and if we are doing the right things, they shouldn’t bother us much.

·     Paul pushes further.  Pay your taxes.  Did he know what the tax rates would be in the 21^st century when he said that?  Probably not, but the counsel stands.

·     Give honor and respect where they are due.  Okay, that makes this authority stuff a little easier to stomach.  We respect our service men and women, police and emergency service workers, and even the guy who climbs the pole in the ice storm to get our power back on.

·     Here comes some more graduate level stuff. Accept fellow believers even if they are weak.

·     We probably won’t agree on everything and we don’t have to.  There are some things that we might label disputable matters.  It’s just another term for stuff that we don’t have to agree on as we respond to God’s grace with our discipleship.

·     In that context we are counseled not to be a stumbling block to those who may be struggling with their faith by how you live out your salvation.  Don’t abuse the freedom that you have in Christ by making obstacles for those who are struggling in their faith.

·     Help those who are struggling in their faith.  Encourage and coach and mentor and help!

·     Do not judge fellow believers.  We are all accepted by Christ and will all make account to God one day.  Our sin won’t come into play during this accounting.  The blood of Jesus took care of that, but we will account for how we lived out our salvation.

·     Go to God’s word for our encouragement.  These words not only challenge us to live a better life, they encourage us along the way.  Dig into God’s holy word and know hope.  The verses that we memorize, the pericopes that we study, and the entire biblical witness that we have received give us hope.

·     And so we come to Paul’s final piece of challenge and counsel.  He told the Roman believers and is telling us, “Watch out for those who try to sell you a bill of goods.”  Be on the lookout for those with teachings contrary to what you have received. 

·     Watch out for what Paul elsewhere described as one who would preach to itching ears.  They serve their own interests and not the Lord.

·     For those who have stayed the course through these 5 letters of Paul, you might have asked yourself, “Why did he start in Galatians?”  The reason is simple and straightforward—to begin with this message:  There is no other gospel!  We wrap up Romans in the way we began this series.  There is no other gospel.

·     We are to stick to what we know to be true.  Don’t compromise the truth by making it fit into what would be easier to contend with by making it comply with your comfort zone.

·     Don’t try to make the gospel friendlier to what others think of you.  Stick to the truth.

·     Remember the words of Jesus as revealed in John’s gospel.  If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed; and you will know the truth and the truth will set your free.

·     Hold fast to the truth.  No compromise.  Jesus is Lord!  Let us live our lives according to that truth that will never change.  Let’s live in response to the mercy and grace of God that we call salvation by being Christ’s disciples.

We have made it through Paul’s letter to these first century Roman believers.  We have remained faithful to the chapter per message model that we began with.  That is a double-edged sword.

It did get us through 5 of Paul’s letters at a good clip, but it also left many areas with only a 10,000 foot AGL fly over instead of digging in at every point of some very rich theology.  So don’t put Paul’s letters on the shelf.  Keep them on your reading list.  Much will sound familiar but you will find much that will speak to you anew.

Amen.