Paul started this chapter urging his readers to offer themselves as living and holy sacrifices to God and to be “transformed” by the “renewing” of their minds. (v.1-2)
He went on to promote unity within the diversity that exists in every local church community. (v.3-8)
Starting in verse 9, he continues to paint a picture of what a community of believers will do when they are living as sacrifices for God and being transformed by the renewing of their minds. We see this in the form of commands and instruction he gives in verses 9-21.
Our love should be more than nice sounding words and phrases. We should love others genuinely and take action appropriate to the love we’re expressing verbally.
The Greek words for “evil” and “good” in verse 9 relate especially to evil and good that effect others, being harmful or helpful.
Have we gotten used to news reports about suffering caused by evil? Is there no frustration or grief inside us when we hear about divided families or tense relationships in our community? If the harm evil does to us and others doesn’t internally disturb us, we need to refresh our perspective and sensitivity toward it.
By contrast, we should connect ourselves to efforts that help others (believers in particular) grow or be encouraged. Utilizing the “gifting” God has equipped us with (such as those described in verses 6-8) is one way to “cling to what is good”. (v.9)
We should be committed to believers in our local community, not allowing ourselves to passively blend into the crowd, but forging supportive relationships with each other. And although its our instinct to look out for ourselves, we should look for every opportunity to give others preferential treatment over ourselves. This can have a multitude of applications, including the people we share a Sunday morning class with and the family members we live with. (v.10)
We should strive to live this way persistently and passionately, avoiding the temptation to meet a “good deed quota” and then relax for a bit. We should have an awareness that this kind of living is not primarily for other people or measured by their perception. This sacrificial living is for Yahweh, the God of the universe, and he is constantly aware of and honored by each invisible sacrifice. (v.11)
Our hope for the future God has promised us should make us excited and cause us to anxiously look forward to eternity with God. The Greek word used for “hope” here isn’t “wishful thinking”. It’s the desire of some good with the expectation of obtaining it. This kind of hope confidently looks forward to what God has promised. It’s not a feeling that we have to psyche ourselves into. It’s the natural outgrowth of “renewing our minds” in pursuit of the truth. It’s this kind of hope that the Holy Spirit uses to bring us through difficult, painful moments or seasons of life.
We should also be devoted to prayer. It’s been said that there is no quicker way to humble a believer than to ask them about their prayer life. Although prayer is a means of expressing our needs and desires to God, it is even more a means of getting on the same page with God.
A read-through of the Psalms reveals that prayer is about expressing our feelings, whatever they are, to God, and about meditating on who God is and what he desires from us. It’s so easy for me to pray when life is going south and neglect prayer when everything is “as it should be”. But prayer is one half of our conversation with God. (The other half being scripture or scripture-consistent experiences of the Holy Spirit.) Like any relationship, we will gain from it the more we invest in it. And prayer is our means of investing. (v.12)
We should readily share or give what we have to help the needs of Christians in our community. Many churches have ministries designed to stay aware of and care for needs in their congregations. This would be one way in which your financial giving to your church makes a real, tangible impact on others, as most church budgets designate a percentage of their income from weekly giving to helping those in the church. You might also consider contacting your church’s “ministry” of this kind and seeing how you can donate or help. (Or you might talk to your pastor and start a ministry like this if your church doesn’t have one already!)
Whether you are the “anti-social” kind of geek, or the type that loves being the life of the party, we should also grow in our ability and willingness to be hospitable to others. At the time Paul wrote Romans, “hospitality” meant providing a room and food for the night for travelers with a letter from the church that was sending them. Obviously times have changed, but we can still readily invite believers to our homes for dinner and hanging out. We might also consider a modern application of this verse to be supporting Christian missionaries in some way. (v.13)
Next- More on what a “transforming” community looks like.
Coffee House Question- Which of these areas do you find most challenging to live out, and which have you seen some encouraging growth in recently?
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