Reasonable Service Explained

We are in the YBH section of Romans,  and yet this morning’s passages is one that most commentaries talk about the sentence structure and not the meaning of. Understanding that Paul used a participle does not help me practice what Paul was preaching. 😉  So, let’s see if we can unpack Paul’s lesson a little more this morning:

Romans 12:9–13 CSB

⁹ Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another. ¹¹ Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. ¹³ Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.

Last week we challenged you to hate evil and grasp good- and be un-hypocritical in your love.

This week we have 8 things to look at, but they really highlight 3 main points. And they focus on how we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice – going back to 12:1

Let’s look at them together:

Romans 12:11 CSB

¹¹ Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord.

Do not lack diligence in zeal

If you take energy and contain it, and focus it, you can use it to accomplish great things. Think of arc welders, cutters, fusion, etc. If you unleash a lot of energy without constraint you have an explosion or fall out.

Zeal without diligence leads to bad things.

We can see this in our culture quite clearly. There are many people, especially young people on college campuses, that become zealous for a cause without really understanding or knowing that cause.

Perhaps it’s the difference between ready fire aim and ready aim fire. When you practice, ready, fire, aim, somebody gets hurt, something gets broken, something gets damaged. You must first aim. You must have a target. You must make sure it’s safe. You must practice diligence.

I love people who are excited about doing things for God, and I love people who just can’t wait to get out there and accomplish things for God. But we also need to make sure that in our doing we are diligent in making sure that what we are doing is being done in a way that will honor God in a way that will demonstrate his love in a way that will bring glory to his name and accomplish his purpose.

A good example goes back to the verses we looked at last week where we talked about hating evil and clinging to good. You can be so zealous in hating evil that you say and do things that are contrary to God’s nature and God’s desire. You can end up showing hatred towards people that God created and sent his son to die for, as opposed to loving them, even though you despise the evil that they might do. You could end up using the scriptures as a weapon to attack them, as opposed to prayerfully considering ways that we can love them and show them the truth.

1 Peter 3:15–16 NIV

¹⁵ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶ keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

That we can always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within us. Yet with gentleness and respect. When we engage people who are against Christ, we engage people who believe that Christians are hateful, bigoted people, and we address them from a position of gentleness and respect we show that we have. Worked diligence into our zeal. We are anxious to share the truth, but we are going to do it in a way that will not discredit the name of God, but will give credit where it’s due and make the gospel attractive. Not because we’ve watered down the message, but we because we’ve been careful to apply it in the way that God intended.

So be zealous – have the ambition and the drive to do things for God, but make sure you are being diligent in how you do it. Make sure your actions line up with God’s word and his character.

Be fervent in spirit

fervent means boiling hot – bubbling over – be on fire.

boiling over in spirit. On fire for the Lord.

The CSB says “fervent in the Spirit” with a capital “S” symbolizing the Holy Spirit or the spirit of God.
The ESV says “fervent in spirit”

Is the “spirit” here the Holy spirit or our spirit?

The Zondervan Exegetical Commentary says this:

Romans Explanation of the Text

It probably does not refer to God’s Spirit but to the human spirit (e.g., ESV: “fervent in spirit”). ~ ZECNT

The New International Commentary says this:

The Letter to the Romans (Second Edition) C. Love and Its Manifestations (12:9–21)

Paul might be urging Christians to maintain a strong and emotional commitment to the Lord in their own spirits. But the spirit to which Paul refers is more likely… the Holy Spirit. On this view, Paul is exhorting us to allow the Holy Spirit to “set us on fire”: to open ourselves to the Spirit as he seeks to excite us about the “rational worship” to which the Lord has called us. – NICNT

Why the confusion? Paul is very cryptic in this list he created. The word for spirit is the same whether talking about the spirit of God or our spirit. It is “pneuma”. So the answer to the question, “Is this our spirit or God’s Spirit?” could be “yes!”. It certainly could apply to both.

The Gospel according to Paul: Romans Contextual Insights to Verses 9–21

This is a PRESENT ACTIVE PARTICIPLE used in the sense of an IMPERATIVE. It is literally “to boil.” This could refer to the regenerated human spirit or the indwelling Holy Spirit – The Gospel According to Paul: Romans by BOB UTLEY (Utley, R. J. (1998). The Gospel according to Paul: Romans: Vol. Volume 5. Bible Lessons International.)

It could refer to either, and our translations are split on it:

1. NLT leaves out the word “spirit” altogether, even though pneuma is in the original text ( I do not like the way they handled this particular verse)
2. NIV: “keep your spiritual fervor”
3. LEB: “enthusiastic in spirit”
4. ESV: “fervent in spirit”
5. CSB: “fervent in the Spirit”

And though I understand the idea of being fervent in the Spirit is in the Holy Spirit, and that we can only have true fervency if the Spirit gives it to us, because this is a list of things that the believers are to do, I tend to lean toward the interpretation of it being that we are to be fervent in spirit.

If we understand fervent in spirit to be about our own spirit, it would mean that we are considering our work as urgent, as priority, that the kingdom is the most important thing to live for, and therefore effects all of our conversations and interactions. We can see this exact concept in Acts chapter 18.

Acts 18:24–25 CSB

²⁴ Now a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of the Scriptures, arrived in Ephesus. ²⁵ He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately about Jesus, although he knew only John’s baptism.

This is the same phrase as our Romans passage. Did you notice the CSB translated it with a small “s” here and a capital “S” in Romans?

From this passage, what would you say is the byproduct of his being “fervent in spirit”?

Apollos was fervent in spirit and the result of that was that he was teaching “accurately” about Jesus. In other words, he was diligent in his zeal (he studied the word) and he was fervent in spirit (he was telling others and teaching others about Jesus).

• Sharing Jesus should not be an after thought – if should be the first thought
• Sharing our faith with others should be something that excites us, not that scares us.
• We need to be on fire for Jesus, passionate/boiling over about who Jesus is and what he has done for us.

When you combine these first two thoughts: diligent in zeal and fervent in spirit you could end up with the conclusion that this is a caution to us as followers of Jesus:

• that passion (being “on fire” for the Lord) is NOT GOOD if it is not THOUGHT OUT. Don’t get lazy and just say that all activity for God is good, or that all passion for God is good. It must be passion, communication and action that lines up with God’s good and perfect will – and therefore his Word.

We can be slothful, lazy, and not wanting to spend the time to see what God’s word really says about something.

“It feels like…”

“It must have been a sign from God…”

“I had peace about it…”

I can assure you, that not everything you do will for God will come from a place of peace, will have a neon sign from God or that it will feel like the right thing to do. It will be right if God says it is right. It will eventually give you peace if it is the will of God. Satan can give signs – and often will just to try to get you to believe the lie and not check the truth.

You can be on fire for God, but don’t be lazy or stupid about it! Engage your emotions, but filter them through the Word.

serve the lord

The word for serve here comes from the word “doulos”. It is commonly translated as servant.

In Romans 12 we have had three different words for “serve”

Romans 12:1 NASB95

¹ Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service [λατρεία] of worship.

λατρεία (latreuo) – service in worship, to serve in the temple

Romans 12:7 NASB95

⁷ if service, [διακονία] in his serving [διακονία]; or he who teaches, in his teaching;

διακονία (diakonia) – waiting on others, ministry (think Martha)

Romans 12:11 NASB95

¹¹ not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving [δουλεύω] the Lord;

δουλεύω (douleuo – from doulos) be a slave, serve as a slave.

So when it says to serve the Lord, it’s recognizing the position that we have of being under the authority of and commanded by, committed to the will of our Master or our Lord. And in this case the word Lord literally means master.

We we are to serve as priests, to serve as hosts, and to serve as slaves. In case you missed it, you cannot be characterized as a follower of Jesus unless you are willing to serve God and others. There really is no exception.

Mark 10:43–45 CSB

⁴³ But it is not so among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first among you will be a slave to all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The ultimate example for you and me is Jesus of course. And he said that we need to follow his example of serving one another.

Psalm 100:1–3 CSB

¹ Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the Lord! ² Serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. ³ Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us, and we are his— his people, the sheep of his pasture.

ARE YOU SERVING?

How are you serving the Lord? Have you submitted to him as your master, as the one who has the final say? Are you willing to accept his commands and obey, even when you don’t feel like it?

Be eager. Be enthusiastic. Be serving.

… all three of those things belong together, and all three of those things are meant to help us answer part of the YBH (yes, but how) of Romans 12:1-2.

Perhaps this first list of 3 is meant to define the way that we serve God while we’re loving others. We are to be fervent and not lazy. We are to be active on fire, bubbling hot and not complacent. And we are to be doing it out of an attitude of service to the one who purchased us and who gave us freedom to be able to live as a servant for Him.

If we choose to take that view of the first verse, then perhaps the next group of 3 are reminders of the attitude that we are to have while we are living out our service to each other and the Lord.

Romans 12:12 CSB

¹² Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.

We will need to rejoice in the hope that we have in Christ and not be looking for the reward of how others respond. We will need to be patient in our affliction, knowing that we have a hope for a future. Above all, we need to be persistent in our prayer so that we don’t lose sight of what’s really important and give up in doing good.

While we live out that service to God and others…

Rejoice in hope

Rejoice in hope. Rejoice is not a word I usually consider with the word hope.  I hope when I’m struggling. I hope when I’m being challenged. I hope when I need to see something beyond the current reality.

What is the hope of the Christian? The Christian’s hope is characterized by:

• Christ-centered assurance of forgiveness, resurrection, and eternal life.
• Expectation of God’s kingdom, including the return of Christ and ultimate justice.
• Biblically rooted confidence, emphasizing Scripture as the reliable witness and guide.
• Transformative power, encouraging moral, spiritual, and communal living in the present.

It is simultaneously personal, communal, and eschatological; and arises through the grace of God mediated in Christ, as verified and reinforced by Scripture.

Yes, I can rejoice that I have hope. But the fact that I need that hope means that I am going to question life, existence, relationships and so many other things. I’m going to need that hope so I can rejoice that I have that hope.

I can also read this that “I can rejoice!” because of my hope. I can rejoice in affliction – not that I am happy to have problems, but that I know it has a purpose and a result.

It is because of hope that we can be patient in affliction.

patient in affliction

This is a tough one. I want to be taken out of affliction, not try to figure out how to be patient in my affliction. I want relief from my pain, discomfort, struggle, or persecution. I don’t want to sit in it and remain in it and figure out how to wait it out. I want God to take action on those that are afflicting me.

We are not supposed to like affliction. It’s not the way that we are wired. We shouldn’t be attracted to pain and to suffering and to turmoil. However, we are reminded by Jesus that in this world we will have trouble. We will have affliction.

John 16:33 CSB

³³ I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

2 Timothy 3:12 CSB

¹² In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Why is it important that we have patience in affliction? I believe patience demonstrates a certain amount of trust and a certain amount of faith and a certain amount of hope. Of course, hope is what he just referred to in the previous point.

I can be patient because God is in control

I can be patient because I know that God will work out everything for His good, even if it means my bad. I’m not promised that it will be my good, but that it will be for good. It might cost me my life, It might cause me lots of struggle or affliction, But I can be patient knowing that my life can be used for something that brings glory to God if I remain faithful to him.

I can also be patient because of the hope that was previously mentioned. Paul says that to live is Christ and to die is gain. . So even if my affliction leads to my ultimate demise, even that brings a victory. Because to die is gain. I am no longer going to suffer. I am going to be in the presence of my Savior. But if to live is Christ, and Christ suffered, then I should also expect to suffer.

Job 13:15 CSB

¹⁵ Even if he kills me, I will hope in him. I will still defend my ways before him.

So how do you rejoice in hope and be patient in affliction? By doing the last part.

be persistent in prayer

For me personally, I would say persistence in prayer is my biggest struggle. God has placed many people in my life over the years that have been persistent prayer warriors, and they have been such a blessing and an encouragement, and at times I have very much envied their ability to persist in prayer.

When I think of persistence, the image that comes to my mind is that a child, that young child who’s trying to get mom or dad’s attention and just keeps tugging and tugging and saying mom, mom, mom, mom, mom. I know my mom got so sick of hearing that that she had days where she would look at us and say today my name is not mom. She wouldn’t tell us what her new name was. You might be thinking, I don’t want to annoy God that way.

Matthew 7:7–8 CSB

⁷ “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

The verbs for ask, seek and knock are really “keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking”. Be persistent. Why? Is God hard of hearing, like Elijah accused Baal? No. If God forgetful that we have to remind him? Absolutely not! It is more like the “give us this day our daily bread”. It is a reminder of our dependency upon him and his goodness towards us.

Besides, we are TOLD to pray all the time, about all things:

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 CSB

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray constantly, ¹⁸ give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

God’s will for you… his good, perfect and acceptable will that we talked about in 12:2.

What are some ways you can be more hopeful, patient and prayerful this week? As you server your Master in heaven, you will need those three things or you may burn out, or give up.

There almost seems to be a pivot when we go to the next verse, but it’s so important we can be so preoccupied by surviving our persecution or by hanging on, uh, an enduring through our struggles that we lose sight of the needs of others. And that type of myopic faith will suck the life out of you. And make you a miserable person. So immediately after saying we need to be prayerful and hopeful and patient in our persecution, he then goes on to say immediately and you need to share with the Saints in their needs.

Romans 12:13 CSB

¹³ Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.

Share with the saints in their need

This means that each of us needs to first of all be generous. Second of all, it means that each of us must be humble enough to admit that we have a need. For we much prefer to be the person meeting the need than the person who has the need, but in reality we are both.

We often think that we have to have all of our mess figured out and cleaned up before we can help someone else. But the reality is that we will be living in messes and problems and struggles for probably our entire life. And if we wait until everything is working well to minister to others, we may never minister to them, or we may only minister them a fraction of the time that we could be. We share with others in their need, even while we are in need.

So hypothetically speaking, what are some needs that people in church of course not you or the person next to you, but other people you know from other churches? What are some needs that they might genuinely have? The Apostle Paul encouraged the church to take care of those who are widows. Indeed, those widows that have no family to help care for them were to be provided for by the church body. Young children that are struggling because a parent is deployed would definitely be someone in need. And Jesus said that pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God is to visit widows and orphans in their distress. And though children with deployed parents are not orphans, they feel the pain of not having a parent there.

I love hearing stories of people in the church helping others. Some of you are gifted mechanically. Some of us should never touch a motor in our lives. When you use your ability to fix an engine and help a brother or sister in need, you’ve done a beautiful ministry. When you make a meal for that person who just had a baby or offered to go help clean someone’s house because they’ve been overwhelmed, or offer to mow somebody’s lawn or even the church lawn, you’ve done something beautiful in meeting the needs of others.

James 2:15–17 CSB

¹⁵ If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.

What about just listening to and praying for a brother or sister? We sometimes think that in order to meet a need we have to have answers, but I will say that more often than not, we meet a need just by having proximity, just by being around them.

Titus 3:14 CSB

¹⁴ Let our people learn to devote themselves to good works for pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.

We give, even when we need, because we know that we need to “prefer others more than ourselves”, to hold others in high esteem.

pursue hospitality

I think the word pursue next to hospitality is peculiar. It doesn’t say practice. It doesn’t say consider. It says to chase after, to engage, to pursue.

Much like the Buffalo Bills pursue the Super Bowl, though, they fall short. You and I may fall short at times, but we have a better chance of winning than they do.

When we were dating, Laura pursued me and she won, which means I really won. If you have a job and you’re looking for that next promotion, you’re pursuing it. So you’re taking classes and you’re looking at the things that are required for the next position and you’re actively engaging in those things, you’re pursuing your career path.

So what does it mean to pursue hospitality?

First of all, it must be a goal if we’re going to pursue it. Hospitality is not a thing that we need to dread. It is not a forced habit or a dreaded requirement. It is instead a prize to be sought after, a goal that is worthy of our energy. It is one of the requirements of elders is that they are hospitable and elders are called to be examples to the flock. Why would hospitality be listed with all of the other requirements? Why not just focus on biblical literacy or accuracy or truthfulness or integrity or honesty or humility? Why also throw in hospitality?

I think it goes back to the original command of loving each other without hypocrisy and having genuine love for one another. When you’re willing to sit down at the table and have a meal with someone, it is a true expression of love.

I’m Italian so I’m very passionate about food and if you invite me over for a really nice meal I will feel very well loved and since October as Pastor Appreciation Month, I’m taking reservations now for the month of October for those of you that would like to show love to me and Laura. 🤣

But hospitality is not just meals. It’s putting someone up for the night. That would have been the way that the New Testament Church would have understood it. It would be taking care of their animals, giving them a place to sleep, providing a meal for them, giving them opportunity to bathe. All of those things. Almost like the original Air BNB.

Not only does it need to be a goal, it needs to be something we do!

Some of you were missing last Sunday because you had a goal to run in a race. But if you do not show up, you cannot run. The goal is not enough, we have to pursue that goal by taking action.

As Christians we understand that as we treat others with hospitality, we are treating Jesus:

Matthew 25:40 CSB

⁴⁰ “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 10:40 CSB

⁴⁰ “The one who welcomes you welcomes me, and the one who welcomes me welcomes him who sent me.

Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality (v. 13)—Paul is still explaining what it means to love without hypocrisy.

If we were to break these verses into buckets, we might do so like this:

1. Serve the Lord with excitement and well studied, carefully thought through passion.
2. Be patient in your troubles and hang on to your hope as you pray through your problems.
3. Serve others, and minister to them, even in your need and your struggles.

Which of these do you need to commit to this week?

As you do, you accomplish:

Romans 12:1–2 CSB

¹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. ² Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.