Lest There Be Any Misunderstanding
Lest There Be Any Misunderstanding by Rev. L. John Gable
June 10, 2018
There is a dividing point in every one of Paul’s letters at which he moves from theory to praxis; from the theoretical to the practical; from explaining really good theology to offering really practical guidelines for living, and chapter 12 is that dividing point in Romans.
Up to this point in our study we have seen that Paul has carefully explained the essential doctrines of our faith: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God – all, not some (3:23); God proves His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (5:8); the righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe (3:22); you must now consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to Christ (6:11); There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (8:1); for nothing can separate us from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord (8:39) and so on.
That is all good theology that shapes and informs our faith, but why then does Paul feel the need, as did Jesus before him, to spell out this good theology in such practical terms as we read this morning in chapter 12? Might it be that both of them realize it is a human tendency for us to nod in agreement with the truths we hear “in here” and then have some difficulty applying them to the way we actually live our lives “out there”? In chapter 12, Paul answers the “so what” question, the “what difference does any of this make in the way I live my life” question; the “Yes, I understand that God has extended His grace to me while I was yet a sinner, but what does that have to do with the way I treat my neighbor who has offended me?” question. For some reason that is not always an easy connection for us to make, so for this very reason, Paul, as did Jesus before him, moves from theory to praxis; from the theoretical to the practical; from giving us really good theology to offering us really practical guidelines for living.
Last week Oscar spoke about the distinction Paul makes between being “conformed” to the ways of this world and being “transformed” by the very Spirit of God, so that the gifts God has given us can be used for Kingdom purposes not simply for our own ends and self-interest. In our lesson today he gets down to where “the rubber hits the road”, lest there be any misunderstanding about what he’s saying.
I know I have told you this story before, but just after our son Timm graduated from college, he moved to Wilmington, N.C. to live with his cousin and begin his professional career. He called one day to say that a hurricane was headed right at Wilmington and he sounded kind of excited about it. I distinctly recall hearing myself say these exact words to him, “Timm, I know this is your first hurricane, but don’t do anything stupid.”
As it turned out, the hurricane diverted north and missed Wilmington by a couple of hundred miles, so we knew Timm was safe and out of harm’s way; what we didn’t know, however, is what he and Nathan did once it was clear that the hurricane was going to miss them. He called the following day and said, “You wouldn’t believe what we did! (Never a good opening line!) The wind and the waves were incredible, so we went over to the inland waterway to see what was going on and saw that the storm surge was making an incredible current, so we put on life preservers and wrapped styro-foam noodles around our waists, then we’d jump off the pier and let the current shoot us about ¼ of a mile down the coast, where we’d get out, walk back and do it all over again.”
And then he said the words every parent waits to hear. He said, “Dad, every time we did it, I thought to myself, ‘I wonder if this is what Dad meant when he said, “I know this is your first hurricane, but don’t do anything stupid?”
You know I thought my instructions were perfectly clear. I didn’t think I had to spell it out in any more detail, but apparently I was mistaken. He was doing exactly what I had intended him not to do.
So here we see that Paul wants to be very clear in his teaching to the church in Rome. He wants to be specific in how grace can be applied to our lives and relationships, without becoming legalistic, without having to spell out every detail or possible scenario. He wants to offer guidelines for gracious living with clear examples without those examples being seen as being exclusive, just another set of laws or rules or regulations to be navigated around. So he offers examples of ways that God’s grace given to us can be lived out in our lives, and he begins by giving instructions to those within the Church.
He writes, “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.”
I distinctly remember where I was sitting when I read this passage last August 15. As many of you know I take a week of study leave each summer to plan my preaching schedule for the year. Kristin and I were in Door County, WI and I was laying out our study through Romans. I read this passage just days after the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA, a rally intended to unite the white nationalist movement in the United States which was attended by white supremacists, white nationalists, Klansmen and neo-nazis. The event turned violent when protesters clashed with counter-protesters and became deadly when a young man aligned with the white supremacist movement rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one woman and leaving 19 others injured. In the days following the President was criticized for being slow to condemn the white supremacist movement. Two days later, under some duress, he made a statement condemning their actions, but then the following day he went off script and essentially blamed both sides for their complicity in the conflict. As I watched and listened, these words of Paul rang in my ears: “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”
You who know me well enough know that I am a-political. I am non-partisan in my preaching and teaching, yet that day as I was preparing sermons for the year I was also compelled to write a letter to each of you. Let me quote myself from August 17, 2017. “Dear friends, though I am away I have been watching the events unfolding in Charlottesville, VA, as I am sure you have. Watching men and women march and chant racial and anti-Semitic epitaphs is repulsive and unacceptable in a civil society. Then, in the aftermath, engaging in debates as to who is “in the right” is not only futile, but disappointing and disheartening. Certain truths are non-negotiable.
“The Apostle Paul is unambiguous when he writes ‘hate what is evil’. The events of Charlottesville must be called what they are “evil”; hence unacceptable for us as Americans, and counter to the clear teaching of the Gospels for us as Christians.
“What can we do? What must we do? Edmund Burke speaks a truth that is a companion to the words of the Apostle Paul’s, when he says, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men and women to do nothing.” While doing nothing is tempting, we cannot allow that to be an option. We must “hate what is evil and hold fast to what is good.” We must live out these principles: in our church and community, rejecting any expression of racism or bigotry in others and confessing and repenting of them in ourselves, as well as in our individual interactions with persons who are in any way “different” than we are in race, creed or any other social condition.
“Now is the time for us to “hate what is evil and hold fast to what is good”; for us to do the seemingly insignificant “something” rather than the timid and infuriating “nothing”. Now is the time for us to say, as Christians and as Americans, ‘This behavior will not be tolerated any longer among us’. Please join me as we pray for our nation.” I am as committed to those words now as I was when I wrote them nearly a year ago. We must be willing to name the enemy, even when the enemy is us.
Paul then continues his teaching by giving instruction as to the way the Church, those of us who are followers of Jesus, are to relate to the larger society in which we live. He writes, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing so you will heap burning coals on their heads.” That isn’t as bad as it may sound. Not only is it reminding us that God is in the position to judge, not us; in the first century that saying about “burning coals” meant, if you do something nice to someone who has tried to harm or offend you, your kindness might lead them to feel ashamed for their actions which may then lead to their repentance. Then Paul ends this section by saying, “Do not overcome evil by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
What is so interesting to me is that we can sit in here and nod our heads in agreement with these teachings, then find them so difficult to actually put in to practice out there. We find them too radical, too impractical; and that is exactly why Paul, and Jesus before him, felt it necessary to actually spell out their good theology for us in such clear terms, lest there be any misunderstanding. Here we are being given very clear instructions as to what it means to break free from “conformity” to the ways of this world and to be “transformed” by God’s grace to live by His Kingdom values.
Let me close with this story. I grew up in a suburb of St. Louis and while I didn’t really recognize it at the time, my community was very segregated. I knew that all of my black friends lived on one side of town and I on another, but I didn’t really think a whole lot about it, at the time. In recent years I have come to a greater awareness of my own bias and bigotry and this has become an open topic of conversation within our family even as it has here at Tab and in this community. There is a racism and prejudice in all of us that must be owned and addressed if it is to be eradicated.
So, in light of those conversations, a month or so ago, my mother who still lives in St. Louis, invited a group of her friends to come to her home to have a conversation about racism. About 30 of her friends attended and she invited one of my sister’s friends and his wife to come and share with this small group what it was like to grow up as an African American in our little community. He told of how he and his friends were discriminated against in ways both overt and covert, even though he was the star of the football team. He and his friends weren’t allowed to go or do what my sister and her friends were allowed to do. The stories he told were heartbreaking and hard to hear, but they were also honest and healing and they honored truths which needed to be told and heard. I tell you this story because my mother is 94 years old. No one is ever too old or too young, and it is never too late, to do the right thing. It is never too soon or too late to “let love be genuine; to hate what is evil; to hold fast to what is good; to love one another with mutual affection, to outdo one another in showing honor”, not in theory alone but in practice. Amen.