Grow With Pastor Joe

Have you ever noticed that everyone wants the rewards of knowing Jesus, but few can handle the responsibility that comes with it? Every relationship demands joint responsibility. Well, we know that Jesus always holds up on His end, the issue then lies with us. Our relationship with Christ does bring great and eternal rewards. The greatest reward that there is, is simply knowing Christ through our union and communion with Him. However, there is also no greater responsibility than to walk in continual consecrated communion with the Lord Jesus Christ in this world. The book of Romans gives the doctrines of the gospel but then spends the last several chapters on the duties of gospel filled grace fueled living for the good of the church and glory of Christ. Rom. 12 gives over forty different specific commands or instructions for how to responsibly live out the Christian life. It is to be done in consecration to Christ, connection to His Church, and with grace filled character and conduct with those in Christ as well as in the world. Each of us are responsible with how we respond to our relationship to Christ, His church, and those in the world. No one can respond rightly for you. All that God expects of you He enables you to do by His Spirit at work in and through you. Your job is to surrender and yield to His word, work, and will. All that you are and do as a believer is “of Him, through Him, and to Him.” It is by His grace and for His glory. The commands given to the Christian for us to obey and live out in faith can only be accomplished through His work of grace. We need grace to grow and give Him glory. Without Him, we are nothing and have nothing in and of ourselves. We are totally reliant upon His grace, but our issue when trouble comes is that we often resort to self-reliance and not His grace. The question is, what are you reliant on?

            When we speak of responding with grace, we first must receive it. Grace is available not just for salvation, but for sanctification and service. What the gospel calls us to is to live a grace filled life that is radically counterculture. We are not to be “conformed to this world, but be transformed.” The world and the believer are distinct. We are different and incompatible. The world and our fleshly nature react to things in life. How you immediately and initially react comes from your instinct. But the gospel calls us not to react to the world around us, but to respond to it. Grace allows us to take a pause before proceeding. Grace enables us to respond to the problems around us. How you react or respond matters. If you react in your flesh, then go back to Rom. 12:1-2. Let’s face it, we all do at times. This is why we must constantly depend upon and draw upon His grace to respond to all of life with grace because of what the gospel has done for us in our life. Until we lay down our personal rights, preferences, and self-focus we will never be able to respond rightly. God has given you grace in the gospel. He continues to give grace so that we would be enabled to respond to all of life, especially our relationships with grace.

            Rom. 12:14-21 is a broader list of gospel demands on our life that require us to respond with grace in each of these circumstances experienced in our daily life. The passage says, “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. ¹⁷ Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. ¹⁸ If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. ¹⁹ Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. ²⁰ Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. ²¹ Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Clearly, the Christian is called to live differently and the only way to live that way is by grace through faith. It is not of our flesh, but by faith as we constantly draw upon His grace to live out the Christian life. Today’s study will focus in on Rom. 12:14-15 which calls us to respond with grace in persecutions and pain.

            First, we must respond with grace in persecutions. Rom. 12:14 says, “¹⁴ Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.” That is a lot easier said than done. All of life is truly easier said than done. We know the theory of this command but putting it into practice requires us to step outside of ourselves and look to His grace to empower us to obey Him. Let’s remember the cultural context in which Paul is writing. He is writing to the small, but growing church in Rome that is in the very heart of the evil Roman Empire. Persecution is on the rise. Persecution began in Jerusalem shortly after the gospel began exploding through the days of the early church in the book of Acts. Paul himself was one who was a persecutor of the church before his dramatic conversion (See Acts 9; Phil. 3:6). Paul knew what it meant to be a persecutor and be persecuted (2 Cor. 11-12). As Paul writes this, he is writing to people who expected to be persecuted because it was inevitable. The early church expected it as if it came with the territory, which it does (See Acts; 2 Tim. 3:10-17).  It was the common experience of the common Christian. Here in our little town, in our little world in our little neck of the woods, we don’t expect it and we rarely, if it all, experience even a taste of what it means to be persecuted. Yet, throughout the world today, nearly 2,000 years later, the Church of Christ is still being hunted, jailed, tortured, ostracized, and killed for their faith. The word “persecution” is the word “dioko” which was used in Rom. 12:13 for the believer to “be given to” hospitality. Here, it means to pursue hard after and hunt down. The word can be used both in a positive and negative sense. Here, the idea is that those who are in Christ are going to be hunted down and pursued, not for any evil that they have done, but for their faith in Christ. You aren’t being persecuted for Christ if you instigated it through a poor testimony or sinful act. It is living by faith and having a good testimony that leads to persecution. Jesus had laid the groundwork for this concept in John 15:18-19; 16:1-3 as He prepares His disciples for what they will face in the coming future as they are used to establish the Church and carry the gospel to all the world.

The gospel calls us to bless those that persecute us by the grace of God. Gospel filled grace fueled living seeks to bless those who hunt us down in pursuit of our destruction. It is the gospel itself that shows us the most wonderful pictures of this command given to the believer. Jesus dying for His rebellious, unbelieving, sinful enemies is what His grace is all about. Jesus in His life, death, and resurrection blesses those who persecuted Him. Paul knew all about this as he himself persecuted Jesus (Jesus’ own words in Acts 9) and then became one who would bless those that persecuted him by preaching the gospel of grace. If we are ever going to face persecution, we need grace but even more, we need it to not just endure persecution but be able to bless those that are against us. Grace is needed as we experience persecution and grace to endure it with a gracious response for the good of our persecutor and glory of Christ.  The word “bless” is the word “eulogeo” which is where we get the word eulogy from. It means to speak good of another. Wait a minute Jesus, you expect me to speak well of one who curses and persecutes me? The answer is yes. This word is also in the present tense, meaning it should be a continual habit and lifestyle. This is only attained by the work of grace in our life. Responding with grace by blessing our persecutor is what the gospel expects of us, but we must keep the gospel, grace, and glory of Jesus at the forefront of our minds. Not only are we commanded to bless, but we are called to “curse not.” The word “curse” is the word “kataraomai” meaning to call a curse upon, to pray against, wish evil or harm upon; even to damn another. It is much more natural for us to wish evil on those that wish evil on us. The world says, go tit for tat. Jesus says bless your persecutors. The gospel exemplifies what it means to do this, and it is the grace of God that enables us to do likewise as Christ did. By the grace of God, we should pray for those who pray for our destruction and even actively seek it out. Jesus said in Matthew 5:10-12, “¹⁰ Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  ¹¹ Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. ¹² Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Then later in Matthew 5:43-48  He says, “⁴³ Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. ⁴⁴ But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; ⁴⁵ That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶ For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? ⁴⁷ And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? ⁴⁸ Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Jesus is the only human who ever was a candidate to curse His persecutors, instead He remained silent. 1 Pet. 2:21-23 says, “²¹ For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: ²² Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: ²³ Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:” In the early church, the first martyr and deacon Stephen would do like Jesus by praying for forgiveness for those who persecuted him even unto death (See Acts 7:54-60). If and when persecution comes, will you react or respond? Will you yield to His grace and pray for your persecutors? If you have a problem with someone, or better yet, if you know someone has a problem with you; by grace through faith begin to pray for God to bless them each day. What you’ll find is peace and a heart that is more dependent upon His grace. You will quickly become more consumed with the gospel, grace, and glory of Jesus than your own grudge. His grace and glory will consume you and your bitter heart will melt. Let the gospel drive you to respond to persecution with grace to bless those who persecute you! They need grace too!

            Second, we must respond with grace in the pains of life. Weeping with the hurting, broken, and mourning is easy, but rejoicing when others succeed is hard. We must fight envy and jealousy with as much fierceness as we would fight a home intruder. All temptation is a home intruder into your heart and home. Rom. 12:15 says, “¹⁵ Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” One of your greatest pains is being happy for the joy that others have when they receive an answer to prayer, blessing, promotion, success etc. The word “rejoice” was also previously used in the passage and it has the meaning to be filled with joy and cheer. My wife and I have struggled with infertility for over eight years now. That is 96+ ovulation and menstrual cycles to remind us that we have not conceived. This is on the blog and may not make the sermon. That’s up to God. The point is, I know how deep the pain is and how increasingly difficult it is to celebrate joyously for others, receiving the very blessing that avoids you. Jealousy. Envy. Anger. Resentment. Loneliness. I’m sure that you have a struggle too, this one is mine. This week I’ll preach to a room with pregnant women, take lunch to my wife as she babysits a child that calls her “Mama” but isn’t ours; and even celebrate friends who finally see their baby on a screen at their doctor’s visit. But we still weep for ourselves and must learn to rejoice for and with them. The funny thing is, as a pastor, I am called (and equipped by God though I often reject or forget it) to rejoice and weep with everyone around me at a moment’s notice. I have left a joy filled home with friends to then go sit in a living room for hours with a dying child as the family surrounds the poor boy weeping and mournfully struggling with their faith in the midst of grief. There are days that I rejoice for others and weep for myself. Today is one of those days. It seems that I have more of those. But. Grace. Grace. God’s grace. Grace enables us to both rejoice with those that rejoice while weeping for our own condition. It also allows us to have joy while others sorrow, but ultimately grace empowers us by the Spirit of God to rejoice with those that rejoice without envy, jealousy, or pride. He empowers us to weep with those that weep in their darkest moments of life while pointing them to the light of the gospel. The word “weep” means crying, wailing, and an external manifestation of grief. Weeping is a deep reminder of our need of both the gospel and grace of God. The gospel and grace of God are reminders that one day the glorious presence of Jesus will dry our eyes and ban sorrow from ever touching our heart again. Both rejoicing and weeping for others requires us to take our eyes off of ourselves and fix them on Jesus and others. There are three common responses to people who are rejoicing or weeping. One, there is apathy. Apathy is the response of not having a response. It is selfish and self-centered focused solely on self-preservation. It gives no tears or grace or shouts of joy. Two, there is empathy. This is what the world says we need more of, but it is just the other extreme. Empathy takes on another’s grief while offering no help or hope in the situation. If there is a drowning man, apathy ignores him, but empathy goes and drowns next to the man. Empathy cares too much, offers no hope, only weeps, and loses focus on the gospel and grace of Jesus. Three, there is biblical sympathy. Sympathy sympathizes with the pain while offering pity with a purpose. Biblical sympathy keeps focus on the gospel and grace of God through grief. It doesn’t get too high or too low. It feels pain but looks to the healing touch of the grace of God. It recognizes suffering while offering gospel hope for eternity without suffering. Biblical sympathy is how we are to weep with those that weep. In life, we will experience both rejoicing and weeping. How we respond in moments of joy and sorrow matters. Grace is needed for both so that we would be balanced and biblical. The gospel grounds us so that in times of rejoicing and weeping our focus is on the grace and glory of Jesus in either the successes or sorrows of life (in ours or another’s). Because we belong to Jesus and His church, we are assured that He cares about both our rejoicing and weeping. He does both for us and is deeply acquainted with both seasons that we experience. Because of this, we too are called by the grace of God to do likewise for others. Genuinely rejoice with those that rejoice. Celebrate the grace of Jesus to the glory of Jesus. But let the gospel remind you that it is our greatest hope to rejoice in the pains of life. Genuinely weep with those that weep. Grieve, but do so with the grace of God while focusing on the glorious hope that the gospel brings. Don’t give in to the extremes of apathy and empathy. Respond with grace to have biblical sympathy, or pity with purpose. Rejoicing can be a pain for you when you don’t want to rejoice for another. Weeping can be a pain because we hate the reminders of this fallen world in our life and the pain that we experience. The gospel and grace of Jesus allow us to do both. By the grace of God, you can respond with grace in times of pain.

            Persecution should be expected by the Christian, but you won’t ever experience it if your life is not consecrated to Christ. If and when it comes to you, how will you respond? Don’t say that you’d gladly die for Jesus when you can’t get to church on time or consistently. Don’t say you’d lost your head for Him, when He doesn’t have all of your heart. But if it comes, will you respond with grace? Will you pray for your persecutors, for their forgiveness and redemption? If you are cursing or praying against someone then you need to repent, not them. Do you seek other’s blessing, or do you seek their cursing and demise? Perhaps even harder than that, can you rejoice with those that rejoice? Do you weep with those that weep? Do you hear the drowning soul crying for relief? Do not turn away in apathy and do not throw your life away in empathy. By grace, offer biblical sympathy with the hope of the gospel for the good of others and glory of Christ. We can glorify the Lord when we learn to stop reacting and start responding. Pause. Breathe. Pray. Give grace a chance to work in and through you. There is grace for you. Receive His grace to respond with grace through persecutions and pain.