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Marks of a True Christian: Romans 12

by Dr Steve Griffiths

On the night of the 14 July, 2005 in northern Kenya, an old priest was walking home through the darkness at the end of his working day. Out of the gloom appeared three men who, according to the news reports, "executed him by shooting him in the head and throat". They disappeared into the night. He was 77, much loved and respected. Thousands came to his funeral. At first, it was thought that members of one ethnic group caught up in a dispute had shot him. The priest had been trying to mediate between these two groups to reduce tensions. But sadly, the reality was much more mundane. In September 2005, his alleged killer was arrested. It turned out to be a fellow priest, who had killed his colleague in a dispute over the control of church money. This was not an attack on the church from the outside but a dispute on the inside.

How tragic when a churchman settles the disagreement with another over control of money by murder. "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Bit hollow, isn't it? Of course we could always say: "Well that man wasn't a true Christian". So how do we know if we are acting as Jesus would? What are the marks of a true Christian?

Introduction

The letter of Romans was written to the church already existing in Rome. We must not imagine a large building with hundreds of Christians coming and going. We need to forget St Peter's and the Vatican! Chapter 16 gives us a better picture of what the Roman church was like- a number of small groups in houses where Christians gathered for worship, prayer, teaching and communion. There were possibly around a hundred Christians or so in a city of at least a million. Paul hoped to use the Roman Church as a springboard to get to Spain and so he dictated this letter to Tertius during the early days of AD 57.

Three years after writing this letter, Paul did reach Rome but not in the way he expected. He went as a prisoner, was held under house arrest to two years and then … probably died outside the walls of Rome, beheaded at a spot along the road to Ostia. We are grateful that even though Paul never went to Spain, he started to plan the trip and so he wrote this great letter. I have three points which I would like to bring out for this passage for us to think about. 1. A living sacrifice 2. Living together in Jesus 3. Living alongside the world for Jesus

1. A living sacrifice (v1-8)

In the first part of Romans (1 to 11), Paul began with God's righteousness, went on to describe the way that all men and women have fallen away from God into a universal idolatry, disobedience and sin. This has corrupted the whole of the good created order around us, bringing brokenness and suffering. Paul talks about God's rescue plan for a world characterised by disobedience through and through. God worked within the world to save the world. Having made a good world, this would seem the appropriate way to work. The plan involved calling some of His creatures, although sinful, to work through and set the context for God's own coming onto the stage of human history in the person of Jesus to bear the world's sin. The result was that we could be right with God through faith not good deeds. All human effort and pride was humbled. Mercy - rather than reward - was available for all.

"Therefore," says Paul, "in view of this master plan, this mercy plan I have just explained, you need to respond with practical thanksgiving." We need to note that this chapter is not a checklist to tick off our good deeds, which will earn us a reward with God. Paul has been at great pains to show us that salvation is ours as a gift and we can do nothing to earn it. He is saying here that the proper response to the great gift of God is a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, is worship - not to attempt to try again to earn favour with God. Do we think that we worship God in some sort of abstract, mystical way?

All too often as evangelicals we talk about "giving our hearts to God". Paul said something that would have shocked and stunned his Greek hearers who saw the body not as something good but as the prison of the soul. Our spiritual act of worship is to offer our bodies - not in a temple court or in a church building but in our homes, in our marriages, in our hospitals and clinics, in our clubs. Offer our bodies as a spiritual act of worship. Our worship of God is not an inward mystical thing but an outward practical thing. It is not a dead sacrifice, something that is offered once only but a living sacrifice.

Day after day, by what we do with our bodies, we either praise and worship God or we do not. Our lips are to speak the truth and the gospel, our hands to lift up the fallen, to change a catheter, to type a letter, to remove an appendix, our arms to embrace the unlovely and unloved, our ears to listen to the cries of the distressed and our eyes to look on what is pure and look patiently and humbly to God.

I am sure you know the problem with a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice keeps crawling off the altar! Paul knows that our daily mundane life is difficult to keep on offering to God so look at what he says next. The apostle Paul saw world history as being divided into two parts, this present age and the age to come. Because of Jesus' death and resurrection, the age to come has broken in to this present evil age. So we need to stop the world dictating to us and we need to set the terms!

When Paul says, "the world", he does not mean the created world which God made and called good. He means the world of attitudes and actions, which are in opposition to God. What are those wrong attitudes and actions? As medical people in Singapore, we live and work in a certain culture and world-view. Paul does not mean that we reject everything of our culture and world view but he wants us to think through everything with renewed minds. Some things may be compatible with being a Christian. Others are not. · The world says to look out for number one. Jesus says to look out for the least of these. · The world says to spend time with those who can help you advance. Jesus says to spend time with the poor who can do nothing to make you more successful or reach your goals. · The world says that the one with the most toys wins. Jesus says the one with treasure stored in heaven wins. · The world says get even and exact revenge. Jesus says to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. · The world is fearful of disease, the future, the economy. Jesus says to not worry about tomorrow. · The world says to build your financial security and you will be happy. Jesus says to build on the solid rock of trust in Him alone. · The world evaluates us by our title, power, and position. Jesus evaluates us by our fruit.

How can these different ideas be reconciled? There is no chance of compromise here. There is no middle ground. There is a negative and positive here, a refusal to conform to the world's pressures and a positive allowing ourselves to know God's transforming power in our minds. Our minds can be renewed by the Word of God. As we consider the New Year how about committing to memory not just the Krebs cycle, not just the latest cytotoxic regime, but commit to memory the Word of God?

We also need the Holy Spirit's help with our twisted minds, not to conform to the standard of the world, not to be squeezed into its mould, but rather to know the transforming power of God in the way we think. We are challenged not to be a chameleon, which takes its colour from its surroundings but rather to bring God's colour into our surroundings. We are not to live two different lives.

Recently, we were in Taiwan and were told of the burgeoning foetus ghost situation. There is now a massive cottage industry in helping women to be free of guilt they feel after abortion. When trouble comes into their lives, they are being diagnosed as attacks by the ghost of the foetus they aborted. People are spending huge amounts of time and money to be free from the power of the foetus ghost. In Taiwan, Christians are disproportionately represented among the middle and upper classes, especially in the medical field. Is there a Christian voice among Taiwanese Christian doctors speaking out against the abortion industry? What will be the tough issues facing Singaporean Christian health professionals in the near future? What will we need to be counter-cultural on?

Paul tells us our renewed minds need to begin to think of ourselves as we should. We are created, have fallen, and are redeemed. We should be without arrogance and without disdain as we think of ourselves. We need to think of ourselves with sober judgement as part of the fellowship of God's people. Being loved by God is quite special enough without thinking that our skills or our family connections make us more special.

In Zimbabwe, 20 years ago, we had many North Koreans who came to assist with development. Korean instructors helped to train a new brigade of Zimbabwe's army. They also brought with them magazines about the government of North Korea. I was fascinated to read about Kim Il Sung, "the great leader". Everywhere he went, he gave "on the spot guidance" to everyone. Building a new dam? Kim Il Sung was there to give on the spot guidance to architects, engineers, labourers, electricians and interior designers. Developing a new university course? Kim Il Sung was there to give on the spot guidance to the dean, lecturers, scientists and students. The man was omniscient!

As well as thinking too highly of ourselves, there may be some of us who have a very low opinion of ourselves. But the renewed mind is a humble mind, not thinking too highly or too lowly of ourselves. We may differ in skills, in our gifts but our value to God is the same. We are priceless, not from any intrinsic worth of our own but because of the value that God has placed on us.

Paul reminds us to avoid individualistic thinking - we grow and mature together. Mark Dever in his book "Nine Marks of a Healthy Church" talks about a friend who worked with a campus Christian ministry. On Sundays, he would slip into church after the hymns, sit there for the sermon and then slip out again because he did not get anything out of the rest of the service. Mark said to him: "Have you ever thought of joining the church?" He responded: "Why would I join the church? I think they would just slow me down spiritually." Mark said: "Have you ever thought that maybe God wants you to link arms with those people, and that even though they might slow you down a little, you might help to speed them up - and that is part of God's plan for how we're supposed to live as Christians together."

We measure ourselves by God's gospel and by God's gifts. The gifts Paul lists are service, teaching, encouragement, leadership, giving money and acts of mercy - not usually seen as spiritual! These gifts are not primarily about the benefit to the giver. They are given so we can give in turn to build the fellowship of God's people.

2. Living together in Jesus (v 9-13)

All too often, belonging to a church is like belonging to a hobby group or a club. We go to it because we find people of a similar background, social class, race, or education level. If it isn't there, we shop around until we find a church that suits us, that has enough people like us. The problem with uniformity, with all being the same is that there is absolutely nothing supernatural about that. We are not bound together by Jesus despite our differences but we are bound together by what we naturally have in common. That is no kind of sign to the world at all - it confirms the thought that the church is just another hobby group.

In our right relationship with other Christians, Paul tells us firstly to love without hypocrisy, without stage-acting. Why doesn't Paul say "love must be great" or "love must be kind"? All too often as we deal with our fellow-believers we think "How will this make me look?" We need to develop self-forgetfulness in serving one another. We are not to make much of ourselves as we love but we are to make much of Jesus. We will be set free from the bondage of seeking the praise of men. "Let love be without hypocrisy" is really a command to know, love and find our satisfaction in Jesus so that we do not crave the praise of men any more.

We often sing and say, "Love is blind" Here Paul talks about love and hate right next to each other. True love is not blind but always morally discerning. As we love people we loathe what is evil and we cling like glue to what is good. Now just let me highlight verse 10 for a minute. We have a choice between selfish ambition and serving others. The world and the church are full of go-getters and status-seekers hungry for prestige, always longing to be known as the best, aggressively ambitious for their own honour. But here is the perspective of a renewed mind. Paul says we should not compete to get honour but we should compete to show honour.

We are to be devoted to one another in brotherly love. This week, I heard a story about Changi Prison from a regular visitor. He was told by one of the prisoners that he had cried that week as he had only cried once before, when his father died. The prisoner had been in the prison chapel with some other prisoners when through the door, came a group of senior prison officials. The officials knelt on the floor, "and then the Deputy Director of the Singapore Prison Service washed my feet. I sobbed like a baby along with all my fellow prisoners. The believing prison guards showed me they were really my brothers." Do we make real friends with Christians who are of lower social status than us? How do we as Christians treat fellow Christians where we work? How do we treat Christian nurses, cleaners, porters, and administrative staff in the places where we work? Do we know which of them are believers? Do we know their names?

You know what Jesus says about the result not of our uniformity but of our Christian unity? In all our diversity of race, culture, thought, music, status, intellectual ability…..we are to be united so that what? So that the world may believe that God sent Jesus. Are you stunned by that? Jesus says that when we live in unity, that is evangelism. We demonstrate that God really does exist and that Jesus really did rise from the dead. What we say from the pulpit, in our Bible studies, in our prayer groups must be confirmed by our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ in the hospital, surgery and university and research unit.

The biggest barrier to the Word of God is not outdated methods or poor presentation. It is the reality of life in our Christian communities. We gossip, trample each other insensitively and are bitter about past slights. We do not forgive each other, put ourselves first and are jealous of one another. Do our relationships enhance the words we speak…or do they contradict them? Our words of good news must be backed up by lives of good news. We cannot have one without the other. Men are always looking for better methods, but God is looking for better men…and women.

3. Living alongside the world for Jesus (v 14-21)

In Cambodia, there is a cultural concept of kum, disproportionate revenge. You must take revenge and do it in such a way that people will never think of trying counter-revenge. This was graphically shown us when a neighbour had a dispute with a clothes seller because the neighbour had not paid a debt. The neighbour was embarrassed by the clothes-seller because of the public dispute. Her revenge was to go around to the clothes shop one evening and hurl a hand-grenade into the shop. The shop was burned down, the family concerned lost their livelihood and nearly their lives. Revenge was a terrible escalation of the situation. It added to evil.

Finally, we are to live in right relationship with our enemies -you might find this surprising. True Christians living in right relationship to God, understanding themselves and in good relationships with other Christians will have enemies. Why do I say this? We will have enemies: because of the stumbling block of the cross (it is offensive to say salvation is free and unmerited), because of the love and purity of Jesus (which shames human selfishness), because of the priority commands to love God and neighbour (no room for self-love) and the call to take up the cross (which is far too threatening to comfort and security).

In our relationship with our enemies, it is not retaliation that we seek but service. It is not cursing but blessing. As we avoid revenge and do the loving thing towards our enemies, we "heap burning coals" on their heads, we fill them with shame. Sometimes through our actions, enemies become friends but even if they do not, revenge is not for us but should be left to God. We are not overcome with evil but we overcome evil with good.

The Amish people, found in the United States, are a deeply religious people, who live simply and dressed plainly. Recently, there was a horrific shooting of five Amish girls at school. The gunman rounded up the girls, tied them up, placed his revolver against their heads and pulled the trigger. He then killed himself. It was a horrible evil act which shocked the world. But then something else happened, which shocked the world too. The grieving Amish parents came together to offer forgiveness to the killer's family. They also shared money that the public had given with the killer's wife so that she would be able to care for her own children. Love your enemies. Overcome evil with good. What does this mean for you?

Conclusion

Chapter 12 is about radical transformation of all our relationships - obeying God, understanding ourselves, loving one another and serving our enemies. But I want to leave you with a key verse for this rededication service. You are welcome to forget everything else but remember this verse as we go together into this New Year. We are to be joyful in hope -- two wonderful words. Joy replaces bitterness, sinfulness, laziness, greed.

In what is our joy? In God who made this beautiful world who redeemed it from its fall in us, and who is coming back to restore it and renew our physical bodies. We are to be patient in affliction. Affliction is where we live as Christian believers. We are to set our timer for the long run. Jesus is with us in our affliction. And then we are to be faithful or constant in prayer. This does not mean constantly in prayer so much as it means to make time, to be regular, to build it in to the working day. As we as Christian medical professionals go on our way, may we know joy in the future hope that we have, patience in whatever may come our way and a growing relationship with God in prayer.

This message was given at the CMDF's Re-dedication Service on 26 January 2007 at Wesley Methodist Church