Letter to Christians in Rome: Chapter 12 (pt 19 of 30)

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12)

I love the way J.B. Phillips phrases this verse: “Base your happiness on your hope in Christ. When trials come endure them patiently, steadfastly maintain the habit of prayer.” What Paul was saying is that the exercise of grace affects our convictions. What I mean is that your beliefs affects how you behave?. It’s true. As James told us, you know your faith by your works. You know you are standing beneath an apple tree because of the fruit hanging over your head. You can also tell what you believe by how you behave. Many Christians think they believe many things that they really do not believe. How do I know they don’t? Because they don’t put them into practice. Don’t say you believe God heals, and complain that you are sick. Don’t worry over your finances if you believe God is your provider.

Letter to Christians in Rome: Chapter 12 (pt 18 of 30)

Let us not allow slackness to spoil our work and let us keep the fires of the spirit burning, as we do our work for God. (Romans 12:11)

Letter to Christians in Rome: Chapter 12 (pt 17 of 30)

Let us have real warm affection for one another as between brothers, and a willingness to let the other man have the credit. (Romans 12:10)

Letter to Christians in Rome: Chapter 12 (pt 16 of 30)

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. (Romans 12:9)

Another way to look at that is that the exercise of grace affects our character. The work of the grace of God in the life of the believer is to change that person into the image of Jesus Christ. For that to happen, our attitudes must change. Our character must be transformed, and the greatest evidence of this change is that we can now love, freely and fully. We can love by grace.

Letter to Christians in Rome: Chapter 12 (pt 15 of 30)

I heard a story of a man who, walking down the street, passed a used-book store. As he was passing by, he saw a book, through the window entitled, How to Hug. He thought it might be an interesting book, so he went in to buy it. He was disappointed to find out that it was actually a volume of an encyclopedia covering subjects beginning with the words “How” through “Hug” (How to Hug, get it?

Letter to Christians in Rome: Chapter 12 (pt 14 of 30)

The next gift is the gift of guiding. Think of it as the gift of leadership. Oh, how we need leadership in the Church of God today! We need leadership like we find in 1 Chronicles 12:32, about the “men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” We are told to exercise leadership with diligence. If we are going to be people who know what to do in these times, we must be diligent.

Letter to Christians in Rome: Chapter 12 (pt 13 of 30)

The second set of gifts here are gifts that extend the work of God. You might call them serving gifts.

. . . if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. (Romans 12:8)

Letter to Christians in Rome: Chapter 12 (pt 12 of 30)

Let’s look at two categories of spiritual gifts mentioned in our text. We will call them speaking and serving gifts, or gifts given to expound the Word of God, and gifts given to extend the work of God.

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage . . . (Romans 12:6-8)

Letter to Christians in Rome: Chapter 12 (pt 11 of 30)

Not only do we have an intelligent relationship with the other members of the body of Christ, we have an intimate relationship.

For just as you have many members in one physical body and those members differ in their functions, so we, though many in number, compose one body in Christ and are all members of one another (Romans 12: 4-5)

Letter to Christians in Rome: Chapter 12 (pt 10 of 30)

This relationship I have been talking about is an intelligent relationship. It is a relationship based on a fair consideration of who we are related to. Paul wrote:

Don’t cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance, but try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities by the light of the faith that God has given to you all. (Romans 12:3)