A reflection shared with
First Presbyterian Church, Spring City, TN, September 3, 2017
We don’t know where Paul
composed his letter to the Romans, but are comfortable he wrote to the letter late in his
ministry drawing on his whole experience within the congregations he helped
establish. His advice in this post and the last is the kind we often ignore or take lightly. We don’t much like to hear
advice from people who say they have been in our shoes. But, his words are
profoundly important to anyone who identifies as a Christian.
Understanding Paul’s
historical perspective really helps appreciate this text. A comment in the
last post bears repeating. Paul
understands a congregation is like a large family. Fights will happen and will destroy
a family or congregation if we do not afford to each other the love that Christ
commands. However, a congregation can be far more fragile than a family because
the bonds we have with each other are spiritual not familial. If we do not work
to grow spiritually, we fall back into squabbling with one another like other people
in the world.
I take some pride overall in our growth in spirit as a
congregation. We open our arms to anyone who chooses to join us, we love and
treasure our youth, usually we think before acting or saying something and we
make an extra effort to do things for others. Regardless of all that, we still
hit bumps that make our road a little harder.
One of those bumps is
bullying. The bullying that goes on in schools and community bothers me a lot,
but after thinking about why kids bully, I have come to realize that bullying
is far more sneaky and widespread that we give it credit. You don’t have to be
physically aggressive to be a bully. Bullying can be as simple as making them
the butt of a joke, laughing at someone who is shy and embarrassed rather than
forward and outgoing, or not as smart as you think you are, or as good as you
think you are. Bullying is laughing with, or pointing out a crowd of people making
fun of someone or thing. Bullying is
saying, “I’m not sitting in the same room with that other person.”
That last statement
really is an “or/else,” or “Either/or” ultimatum, “Either you do something
about them, or I’m out of here.”
It is pretty obvious
young people can learn to be bullies by copying ill-mannered behavior of their
parents. So how does this advice of Paul help us with bullying and
disagreements in general?
More of Paul’s
historical perspective on the relationship between humanity and God helps under understand his message. The superficial message in this text is
obvious: Christian fellowship rests on a humble heart and a selflessness that
acknowledges the gifts each one of us bring to our fellowship. But, the message
goes deeper.
Paul does not stop
with the problem of ego and humility. Paul says let your body be a living
sacrifice. The literal meaning of the Greek word Paul uses, soma, means “body,”
but in this case, it has a figurative meaning that transcends physical body encompassing
one's whole existence. It is not just your flesh and blood but that your whole being is
an act of spiritual worship. This implied meaning is clear by the context
of this passage describing us each and all as the body of believers, either the local congregation, or the
Church at large. When you speak harshly to, or about someone, it harms the congregation
that is the body of Christ on Earth (The Church). When we embrace those who
work against us, we strengthen the body of Christ (The Church) and our own
spiritual health. Paul says we should mirror these qualities to do that:
“Be genuine. Hate what is evil. Hold on to what is good.
Love with mutual affection and outdo each other showing honor. Show zeal and
ardor in spirit, Rejoice in hope. Be patient in suffering. Persevere in prayer.
Contribute money to the saints (Jerusalem church). Extend hospitality to
strangers. Bless your persecutors don’t curse them. Rejoice with those that
rejoice and weep with those that weep. Live in harmony. Do not be haughty.
Associate with the lowly. Don’t claim more wisdom than you have.” And here are the big challenges, “Don’t repay
evil with evil but take thought for what is noble in sight of all. Never avenge
yourself, but feed your hungry and thirsty enemies. Do not be overcome by evil,
but overcome evil with good.”
We do all these,
don’t we?
We never say, “They are impossible ideals. I’m not going to let that
person take advantage of me,” or “That person must not care about us because
they haven’t been here in a while,” or “Don’t expect me there as long as they are
there.”
We never do that…do we?
Here is more of Paul’s
view of our problem. We are born into this world carrying some baggage called
“sin.” From Adam onward, our nature is to rebel against God and his creation. Paul
describes this situation as one of “enmity.” Enmity means being in a state of active opposition or hostility to someone or thing - in this case, God.
This certainly
characterizes not only the relationship between God’s chosen people and God,
but all of us and God. Paul would say, The Law convicts us of this enmity.
The Law exists
because of this hostility. It
is written that the Law should be in our heart, and before the Law
was given God justified the Law by saying “You shall be Holy because I am
Holy.” The reality is the Law is a stumbling
block that convicts us, proves our inability to live except in a state of
enmity with God.
Paul says that Jesus
came to this world for the sole purpose to reconciling Humanity with God. If we
willingly embrace the Law rather than Christ then we are rejecting
reconciliation with God... We embrace reconciliation with God by embracing the
good news that calls for us to live according to all that guidance about
humility, love, compassion Paul describes in these verses. When we embrace
the good news, we have found the path in the world to salvation that ends upon
Christ’s return.
If you do not
remember anything else about Paul, remember two things.
First, we exist in
the present reconciled to God through Jesus by living in faith, grace and hope
for the future. We find ourselves as if standing with each foot in one of two
boats. One boat is the old world of the past where the Law, sin, wrath and
death rules, and the other boat is the world of the emerging future culminated
God’s visible rule of all becomes fulfilled. (This is Paul’s eschatological
view.) We can describe Paul’s two boats as:
enmity (beginning with Adam) doomed to death and the good news to salvation by
God, and ultimately the Parousia. The path from the old world to the new world
is sealed by our reconciliation to God by Jesus. Keep these two boats in your
head when you read Paul. Paul encourages us in all his letters to grow through
three three stages (enmity to reconciliation to salvation), from the old world
to the future world.
Second, by nature we
are all sinners and, therefore, not masters of our destiny. We cannot choose to
live a life that reflects the Law. Just like Bob Dylan sang (here is a link to the song sung by Judy Collins), we can
only choose who we wish to serve, Christ or the World. Practically that means we
have to choose, or not, to step out of the old boat and be reconciled to God,
putting both feet in the boat of salvation heading for the future. We do this
by acknowledging we are bound by our nature to sin but we can embrace
reconciliation to God through Jesus that motivates us to grow spiritually, to
be more Christ-like.
As Paul Achtemeier
said, we can make this choice only after we realize that we are not standing on
“neutral
ground.” We can’t show up righteous on Sunday and live the old reckless life
the rest of the week - if we show up at all.
We have to choose whether or not to remain in that “boat of sin and
spiritual death” or embrace the gospel that leads to the new life symbolized by
our baptism.
If you don’t think so,
look at how Paul chose to frame his advice in these 21 verses using verses 2
and 21: for his advice: v2: Do
not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and
acceptable and perfect. V21: Do not be overcome by
evil, but overcome evil with good.
That is why Paul
commends all these things to us, to be genuine, to hate what is evil, to hold
on to what is good, to love each other with mutual affection, to outdo each
other showing honor, to rejoice in hope, to be patient in suffering, to
persevere in prayer and contribute money to the saints (Jerusalem church), to
extend hospitality to strangers, to bless your persecutors and don’t curse
them, to rejoice with those that rejoice and weep with those that weep, to live
in harmony, not to be haughty, to associate with the lowly and not claim more
wisdom than you have, never to repay evil with evil but take thought for what
is noble in sight of all, never avenge yourself because that is something only
God can do, but feed your hungry and thirsty enemies. Hard commands aren’t
they?…
The nitty-gritty is there
is no easy street, no interstate highway to living the good news, it is a
narrow road full of bumps. Each one of us must decide to enter through the narrow gate or not.
We can plead with someone to forgive us or someone
else until out of breath, but it does not do any good if the other person is
thinking along the lines of, “I’m better than that other person, I hate that
other person, I will not honor that other person, I will not live in harmony with
them and I will not weep with them, and I certainly will not associate with
them because they are not as good as me or my family.”
None of us can make any
one let go of that kind of thinking. The only person who can let go negative
thinking is the person thinking negative thoughts.
The only way we can lead someone
to embrace the good news is by living it our self, glorifying God and each
other. If we make it harder for them, then their fate become a millstone around
our neck.
Why would Paul close these
recommendations by saying never respond in kind to your enemy (or anyone) but
offer them food if they are hungry or drink if they are thirsty? Because the
person cannot extinguish the reality that another person is gifting them a
selfless, and seemingly unjustified act of love and compassion. That hardened
heart may not change immediately, or at all, but you can have the confidence that
you shared Christ’s grace with them, knowing they will always feel your kindness
burning like coals on their forehead.
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