September 3 2023
Romans 12:3-16
With tomorrow being Labor Day, I can’t help but think of when I attended school. You see, for some of us, Labor Day was the official last day of summer vacation. Memorial Day was the beginning of our vacation, July 4th was somewhere about the middle, and when the first of September came, the end was near. You see, this going off to school was part of who we were when we were young because this meant that we were to see ourselves as being students. For twelve years, being a student was not just something that we did but rather it defined who we were. When people would ask who we were we would often say that we were a student who attended such-and-such a grade at a specific school. So, for twelve years there was no question about who we were to know ourselves as being because along with all of our family connections we had a new identity placed upon us, that of being a student. And it was important that we started seeing ourselves as being students because if you knew yourself as a student then you also understood that students are supposed to study; that’s just what students do. So, over time, you were supposed to catch on that studying was to be expected and that there should not be any resistance when called on to do so.
Well, this knowing ourselves as a student for twelve years or more, this is a great help in figuring out what it means for us to be a priest for God. This, after all, is what Paul is trying to teach us here in this twelfth chapter of Romans. This knowing that we are to consider ourselves to be a priest is a theme that runs through this section of Paul’s letter. And not only are we to know who we are but Paul also begins this chapter by telling us that we are to know our God as being a merciful God. God’s mercy is his choice to give us life when we deserved death for our disobedience. God makes this choice out of his steadfast, faithful, love which has always loved us and always will love us whether we are obedient to do his will or not. So, because we know God to be a God of a holy love then we also know that we can trust God to provide everything that we need for life. As God’s treasure, we can be certain that God is intently focused upon what is going on in our lives. Our God is aware of what we need before we even utter a prayer. It is crucial that we have experienced our God as a God who is merciful because only then are we set free from the anxiety, worry and fear, that drive the people of our world. In our freedom, we are to be those who seek first the kingdom of God and be people who will pursue his righteousness. So Paul speaks here about the truth which Jesus told his disciples, in the seventeenth chapter of John, the third verse, where he prays, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” These first few verses of this twelfth chapter of Romans challenges us to ask ourselves just how well do we know God because our life in the age of the resurrection depends upon this knowledge.
Well, Paul not only insists that we know with certainty just who our God is but in our section of this twelfth chapter for today, Paul wants us to consider just how well do we know ourselves? Just as when we were in school we had to know ourselves as being a student so too in this new life in the Spirit, Paul wants us to know ourselves as being a priest, a servant of God. When we know the tender mercy of God through which we have been given life instead of death then Paul says the only logical next step is for us to offer ourselves in service to this God who loves us. As a priest we are to offer up the desires of this earthly life, sacrifice them, so that the Spirit might reign in us and give us eternal life. Once we have experienced God’s love and mercy for ourselves, then we are to go and show to others the very same love and mercy God has shown to us. So, through us who are priests to God, the love of heaven finds a home here on earth.
What comes next in this twelfth chapter of Romans seems somewhat out of place with what Paul has just written because Paul states that by the grace given to him Paul says to this little house church, “to not think of yourselves more highly than you ought to think but instead you should think with sensible thoughts according to the measure of faith that you had received”. Here it seems that Paul is referring to what he has previously written in the eleventh chapter, where, in the eighteenth verse, Paul warns the Gentiles to not be arrogant toward their Jewish brothers and sisters. Paul was reminding the Gentiles that they had become part of the story of the Jews not the other way around. The issue, as Paul will reveal later, was that the faith of the Gentiles was strong enough that they could eat the meat of idols with no hesitation. Their Jewish brothers and sisters though, refused to eat the meat of idols because this went against the warnings found in the Law. So, the Gentile contingent thought that because their faith was stronger then they were the ones with power. Theirs was a power-brokers mindset looking for what gave them an edge in their social circles and they felt that their faith set them apart from their Jewish brothers and sisters. The Jewish believers of course countered this claim of the Gentiles by stating that they were the real privileged people because they were the ones that God had given the Law and salvation was from them because Jesus was their Messiah King. So do you see how these two mindsets, being either a power broker or a privilege seeker wreaked havoc in this little house church? The problem was that both groups were looking for what set them apart or above the rest of the pack. It didn’t matter if it was their extraordinary faith or their cherished privilege of being one of God’s people, the problem was that they understood themselves as people who were above the rest, thinking of themselves as people who could look down on those who did not fit their criteria.
What this church was supposed to do instead of thinking how to stand out from the rest was to think with sensible thinking, which sounds a lot like logical thinking which points us to the priesthood. The faith demonstrated by the Gentiles as a sign of their superiority was really a gift given to them by God not to set them apart but to lead them into greater service, by helping those whose faith was weak to become more certain of the mercy of God. You see, what Gentiles and Jew alike had forgotten is that they were part of one body, the body of Christ. In the body, there can be no “us” and “them”, only, “us”. You see, the whole reason that we must first, present our bodies as the sacrifice necessary for life is that we have a new body, the body of Christ. We are, as Paul tells us, “… though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” Now, what Paul says next is not that we have been given gifts but instead we have been given the Gift. Through out his letter, Paul speaks of the Gift which in every case refers to the Holy Spirit for he is given to us by the baptism of the Holy Spirit that Jesus has poured out upon us. Here I believe that Paul is thinking of something that he has written earlier as found in the eighth chapter where he tells us that the mind with the Spirit is life and peace. This is as we know an echo from the prophet Malachi, the second chapter, where God speaks of his covenant with his priests, that it was one of life and peace. So, here in the twelfth chapter, Paul is describing this life of the priesthood that is ours when our mind is in the firm grasp of the Spirit. What Paul writes about is not individual gifts, but rather he is speaking about our life together in the body of Christ, where in the Spirit we know ourselves as priests to God. We know this to be true because when Paul speaks of prophecy occurring in the congregation, Paul states that the prophecy is given according to our faith. The faith Paul speaks of is the collective faith of the body for Christ. What Paul is saying here is that God is only going to reveal in prophecy what those of the weakest faith can believe in. As these who are weak in faith hear the prophecy of God and they believe in this truth and watch as the truth of God unfolds, this is when their faith will grow. So, God here is speaking to how the church is to work with those of a weak faith instead of seeing a person’s weak faith as an opportunity for others to look down on them.
Yet, not only does the Holy Spirit, in the midst of the congregation, bring about prophecy, he also moves others to serve those in need. The mind of the Spirit can be seen at work bringing forth teaching and words of comfort and encouragement for those who need lifted up. As people give generously and others provide a model of the life God calls us to live, again and again the mind of the Spirit is seen as orchestrating the life of the congregation, those who know themselves to be priests to God. And not surprising, Paul caps off our life in the body of Christ as being a place where people are willing to joyfully offer mercy which mirrors the mercy of God upon which this life is founded.
As I read this description of a congregation whose outward activities stream forth from the inner working of the mind of the Spirit, it seems as if Paul has something more in mind than just a mere outline of our life together. Much like when you work on a jig saw puzzle, as each piece is put in place the image can at last be seen, this is what seems to be happening as Paul describes the body of Christ. We began with prophecy, and then added service, and alongside we placed teaching, and then we set alongside this, the activity of bringing comfort. Beside these we placed the actions of giving and the work of modeling the life that God expects of us. Lastly, we fitted into place the piece that brought our picture into focus, the action of joyful mercy. As we lay all of these actions together do you see what all these various pieces display? The answer is that they are a profound picture of Jesus himself. Jesus was spoken of as being a prophet and he would only reveal what his “little faith”, disciples could understand. Jesus said that he had come to serve and not be served. It is Jesus who taught on the hillside and along the way. It is Jesus who comforted the hurting and the sick, and it is Jesus who freely gave so those who received were told to freely give. And of course, Jesus modeled the life God expects of us calling others to simply, ‘Follow me”. Jesus, the very son of God, is joyfully merciful, going to the cross to offer us mercy all because of the joy that laid ahead of him. As we talked about it last week, the role of the priest of God is to bring heaven on earth. And just what should we expect when heaven comes upon earth? The answer of course is that when heaven comes upon the earth that this will look just like Jesus, who came from his Father’s side in heaven to walk upon the earth.
So, Paul, in broad strokes, paints us a picture with the actions of those controlled by the inner working of the Spirit and the result is an image of Christ. Yet Paul goes further, and he speaks of what life will be like for those who now know themselves as being priests to God. Paul says that our love is to be real; there is no room here for faking it ‘till you make it. The love we give to others should be without hypocrisy. This love we are to show to others is the holy love of God, the love that desires the very best for someone else regardless of the cost to us. Of course this means to us that the evil of the world should make us sick and we should respond by holding on to what is good for dear life. This is probably a reminder Paul is giving to us that God is working in all things for good and we, as his priests, are to be working with him.
As priests, we are to love others as our brothers and our sisters in Christ, preferring that they, and not us, receive honor. As those who are servants of God we should be on fire for him, enthusiastic about the work he has called us to do. We are to be joyous people because we have a living hope and in that hope we are people who can endure in affliction. Of course, as priests we need to be constantly in prayer, seeking always the will of our Father. We are to make sure that those who are a part of the assembly have all that they need and Paul says that we are to actively pursue showing hospitality to strangers. So, this real love we show is not just for the people just like us, it is also to be shown to those who are nothing like us so that through the love of Christ they might be a stranger to us no longer. And our love is not to extend outward just to strangers but we are also called to love and bless those who want to hunt us down and persecute us. Again, Paul says, as if we might have misheard him, we are to bless and not curse those who oppose us. Here Paul is quoting the words of Jesus, who in the fifth chapter of Matthew, the forty-fourth verse, taught his disciples that they were to, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” And this is what we will do when we have the mind of the Spirit because this is the very way of God. Paul concludes his teaching of the priesthood by saying that we are to, “Rejoice with those rejoicing and weep with those weeping, being of the same mind toward one another, not with a mind that thinks that they are better than everyone else, like that mattered, but instead, associate with the lowly”. Here Paul ends his teaching on the life of being a priest by ending where he had first began, telling the people of this church that they had better stop all of this thinking that you are somehow wiser than you really are. They were to remember the teachings of Jesus who said, as found at the end of the tenth chapter of Mark, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be the slave of all.” This is what this church at Rome had sorely forgotten that true greatness is found not by power brokering or privilege seeking but rather true greatness is when the mind of the Spirit leads us to be a priest to God.
And what about us? Are we ready to be truly great? If so, then do we really know ourselves as being priests to God? Are we certain that it only makes logical sense to serve the God who has chosen to give us a life instead of the death we deserve? If we are certain that, yes, our merciful God deserves our service, then let us allow the Spirit of God to be what directs our actions, and know ourselves as the priests that God longs for us to be!Amen!
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