Our scripture today is meant to help us scrutinize our own lives and discern the degree to which we conform to Christ’s example and standard. Before we go into the text, I admonish you to resist the significant temptation to skip over applying this text to yourself and immediately begin judging others by the standard it sets. That act, in and of itself is counter to what we are teaching here.

So then, what is it that we are teaching here? What is the point of our review of these twelve verses? Quite simply to review what Paul defined a Christian as. Now, there are a number of layers to defining “what a Christian is” and we haven’t the time to go into all of them today. At some level, you can boil it down and simply say that a Christian is a disciple of Christ, one who believes in Christ for salvation, a follower of His ways.

Now that is a useful definition, and we could certainly go into greater detail in specifying exactly what justification, sanctification, and glorification have to do with being a Christian, or we could talk about what a sinner is and how grace makes a sinner a Christian.

But rather than go into so many technical details, we are simply going to take a mile high view of a Christian. Arguably, this view that we are going to take is the one that non-Christians should see – although in our society they rarely do.

This scripture in Romans provides us with a number of Apostolic Commands. Now you may think, what’s an Apostolic Command? Well, that my way of saying that an Apostle (in this case, Paul) made a directive statement (a.k.a. – a command) as to what Christian’s should do or how Christian’s should things.

I’m sure you are familiar with the Ten Commandments, which we are studying in the adult Sunday school at Christ the King church this Fall, and I highly encourage you to come learn more about them with us. So, as you are familiar with the Ten Commandments then let us say that these Apostolic Commands that Paul provides are a type of commandment, although we would certainly consider them of subservient to the Ten Commandments, they none the less carry all of the weight of scripture and are just as applicable to the lives of every Christian.

Lets read through the scripture one more time, and then let us break out the directive statements, or commands, that the apostle Paul is directing to those of us who claim Christ as our Lord and Saviour.

Romans 12:9-21

⁹Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ¹⁰Love one another with brotherly affection. Out do one another in showing honor. ¹¹Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹²Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ¹³Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. ¹⁴Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited. ¹⁷Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Now, by my count, we have twenty seven directives in this scripture. That is twenty seven statements that give us direct guidance on how we live our Christian lives, what we should be striving to show the world, and what those who are not Christians should see as the marks of our service to Christ. Let me list them off for you, as you follow along with the scripture.

1. Let love be genuine
2. Abhor what is evil
3. Hold fast to what is good
4. Love one another with brotherly affection.
5. Out do one another in showing honor.
6. Do not be slothful in zeal
7. Be fervent in spirit
8. Serve the Lord
9. Rejoice in hope
10. Be patient in tribulation
11. Be constant in prayer.
12. Contribute to the needs of the saints
13. Seek to show hospitality to the saints
14. Bless those who persecute you
15. Do not curse those who persecute you
16. Rejoice with those who rejoice
17. Weep with those who weep
18. Live in harmony with one another
19. Do not be haughty
20. Associate with the lowly.
21. Never be conceited.
22. Repay no one evil for evil
23. Give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all
24. So far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
25. Never avenge yourselves
26. “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink;
27. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

So then, I am tempted to go through the list, directive by directive and explain to you what each directive means, help associate it with some action that you might take in your own life, and thereby show you how each is applicable to you today and ensure you understand how to apply it in your own life.

But as I look through the list, most of them, if not all or them, seem quite self-evident. Perhaps it is more profitable to discuss the body of instructions themselves than to delve into the specifics that most children probably understand quite handily.

This body of scripture is one which I recommend that you study in whole and seek to apply in your life everyday. It is unfortunately quite easy to say that all of this can be summed up by the commandments to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul, – and to love your neighbor as yourself – and then ignore what that should look like. Our scripture today builds a framework for the Christian life on the foundation of those two commandments. It provides details that help enrich and clarify exactly how we love our neighbor as ourselves, it demonstrates precisely what it means to Love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, body, and soul.

Not only do I recommend that you study this scripture in whole, I would go so far as to suggest that it is well worth your time and energy to memorize it and make it a permanent part of your personal knowledge of scripture, to call it to mind regularly, and to use it as a template when you are making decisions.

It is certainly the type of scripture that is of the utmost applicability. While we can read any amount of other scripture, and walk away wondering how we apply it in our lives, this is scripture that is readily applicable. Read through it once every morning when you get up, perhaps before or after you do your daily devotions, maybe it is something that you could review at breakfast each morning. I promise you that such a practice would be ultimately rewarding once you attain the promise of Heaven.

How could your life not change if you were thinking in terms of these directives on a daily basis? Certainly we each choose poorly on occasion, and we make mistakes in the directions we go and some things we do. I can attest that I struggle constantly to make the right decisions, and I occasionally deceive myself into believing that some action I would like to take is “right” under the circumstance, or that Scripture doesn’t necessarily cover this decision and while it might be borderline, certainly I can get away with it.

However, as I come to terms with this scripture, I find few decisions that some aspect of these directives do not cover. From how to interact with someone whom I think dislikes me and is out to get me, to how I should handle troubles when they descend upon me, to who I should hang out with and associate with (how many of you have associated with the lowly recently?), to whether I should cry or rejoice with someone else.

There is such a myriad of topics that are directly applicable that it is difficult to conceive of compiling a distinct list. And of all these directives, I would like to close by bringing two of them into focus for you.

The first, this scripture starts with the command to let love be genuine, do you hear that, genuine. Why genuine? Why not some other adjective? Because we have a tendency to “fake” love. Look to First Corinthians 13 to find a clear definition of what genuine love is and then ask yourself how often it is prevalent in your life. Without love, we can do nothing. None of these directives mean anything if they are not empowered by love. Do not “pretend” – but seek to genuinely care for others and God and let that Love breath strength and life into your execution of these other commands.

The last, this scripture ends with the command to not be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good. Every time you disregard one of the commands, you are being overcome by evil. That is to say, when you ignore the command to not avenge yourself, but you decide to “Get Even” – then you are being overcome by evil.

We are Christians, and our calling is a most holy and sanctified calling, we are to overcome evil with good. Not the self determined “good” by which we look at the world around us and declare ourselves “good” because in comparison we simply aren’t as “bad” as the rest of them. But with the “good” that God has defined and provided us amply example of in His Scripture. Remember these things, apply them in your life each day.

1. Let love be genuine
2. Abhor what is evil
3. Hold fast to what is good
4. Love one another with brotherly affection.
5. Out do one another in showing honor.
6. Do not be slothful in zeal
7. Be fervent in spirit
8. Serve the Lord
9. Rejoice in hope
10. Be patient in tribulation
11. Be constant in prayer.
12. Contribute to the needs of the saints
13. Seek to show hospitality to the saints
14. Bless those who persecute you
15. Do not curse those who persecute you
16. Rejoice with those who rejoice
17. Weep with those who weep
18. Live in harmony with one another
19. Do not be haughty
20. Associate with the lowly.
21. Never be conceited.
22. Repay no one evil for evil,
23. Give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all
24. So far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
25. Never avenge yourselves
26. “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
27. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.